Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 7, 1992 TAG: 9202070075
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Donna Alvis-Banks
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
FATHER-SON BLUES TONIGHT AT VA. TECH
Turner Foddrell took a fancy to the blues by listening to Blind Boy Fuller records.Thirty years later, Lynn Foddrell was listening to B.B. King.
Together, Turner and Lynn Foddrell play a brand of blues that fuses the generation gap. The father-and-son team from Patrick County play their own renditions of old blues and country tunes.
"I liked Fuller but I didn't try to copy him," Turner says. "I've always had my own style."
Born in 1928 in a log cabin near Stuart, Va., Turner was one of 10 children. Seven of them followed in their parents' footsteps, playing blues and country music at "frolics and tobacco barns."
Turner's son, Lynn, was born in 1956. He started playing guitar at age 5.
"He could just about get his fingers over the strings," Turner recalls. "I used to want people to play with me and so Lynn said, `Well, daddy, I'll play with you,' and so I started him out on the top strings and it didn't take him long."
These days Turner and Lynn Foddrell are in demand at folk festivals around the country. They have performed at the Wolftrap American Music Festival, the Smithsonian's American Folklife Festival and most recently at the Lincoln Center in New York for a "Roots of Rock 'N' Roll" concert. In the spring, they will play at Carnegie Hall in the Folk Masters Series.
The Foddrells made their first recordings at the Blue Ridge Institute in Ferrum in 1977. Their latest tape is entitled "It Ain't Rock, It's the Blues."
Tonight the Foddrells are performing in a benefit concert called "Country Blues" at 7:30 p.m. in Virginia Tech's McBryde Auditorium.
Part of the Black History Month events at Tech, the concert will benefit the Concerned Citizens for Nellies Cave Community, a non-profit organization working to preserve local African-American communities.
Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for students. Advance tickets are available at Annie Kay's Whole Foods on South Main Street in Blacksburg.
Tonight's concert is sponsored by Virginia Tech's Appalachian Studies Program and the Black Student Alliance. For more information, call Elizabeth Fine at 552-1208.
\ THE JAZZMEN COMETH: Ramsey Lewis and Billy Taylor will get together Wednesday evening at 7:30 in Virginia Tech's Burruss Hall . . . and when these two jazzmen get together, they get it all together!
Yes, Lewis is to Taylor what coffee is to doughnuts.
Lewis has recorded over 60 albums in a career spanning more than 40 years. Along the way, he earned seven gold albums and two Grammy awards. In the mid-1960's, he topped the pop charts with hits like "The In Crowd," "Hang on Sloopy" and "Wade in the Water."
Taylor's accomplishments are just too numerous to list. Winner of two Peabody Awards and an Emmy, he also received the first certificate of recognition given by the U.S. Congressional Art Caucus. Since 1981, he has been a regular arts correspondent on CBS-TV's "Sunday Morning" show. He also has toured the world as an ambassador of music.
In 1989, Lewis and Taylor recorded an album together on the CBS Masterworks label. "We Meet Again" features nine jazz classics selected from the duo's concert tours.
While the two pianists have delightfully different playing styles, they also have a musical rapport and spontaneity on stage that's equally delightful.
Taylor's forte is classic jazz. Lewis has a knack for the blues. They share a love for what Taylor calls "America's classical music" - jazz.
Tickets for Wednesday's concert are on sale now at the Arts at Virginia Tech box office on the first floor of Squires Student Center. Tickets are $14 for adults, $7 for children, $11 for VT faculty and staff or $4 for VT students.
For ticket information, call 231-5615, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays.
\ SOMETHING NEW: When Anna Fariello and Margaret Devaney put their heads together, light bulbs began to flicker and glow.
They began hearing voices, too.
The two Radford University artists created a multimedia show called "Voices." Developed over a two-year period, the show features choreographed dance movements, a reading of Anais Nin's "Diaries" and a visual arts presentation with slides of 19th century cemetery statues.
Devaney, chairwoman of the dance department, and Fariello, director of galleries at RU, say "Voices" is something new.
"It's a completely novel performance based on shared ideas and goals," noted Fariello.
Public performances of "Voices" are at 5 and 7 p.m. Tuesday in Preston Auditorium. A reception at 6 p.m. in Flossie Martin Gallery is open to the public, too.
Tickets for the shows are $3. The reception is free. Advance tickets are available at the Heth Hall information desk.
\ CAN WE TALK? Comedian George Folks wants to talk about sex.
The Black Student Alliance at Virginia Tech is sponsoring an appearance by Folks Thursday at 7 p.m. in Burruss Auditorium.
"Let's Talk About Sex" is the name of the show. It's free and open to the open-minded.
For more information, call the Black Student Alliance at 231-6076.
\ EVERYONE LOVES THE CIRCUS: That's why everyone loves "Barnum."
The original musical production based on the life of the legendary P.T. Barnum won three Tony awards. The showfeatures a complete circus with comic clowns and thrilling aerial acts.
Big League Theatricals of New York will bring "Barnum" to Radford University Wednesday for one performance in Preston Auditorium. Curtain time is 8 p.m.
Admission is $6 for the public and free for RU students. For ticket information, call the Heth Hall information desk at 831-5420.
\ WORTH 2,000 WORDS: You won't want to miss the work of two photographers currently on display in the New River Valley.
Aileen Fletcher's photography, including handpainted prints, is the exhibit in the President's lobby at New River Community College. Fletcher, an art instructor at the college, recently won the Lynchburg Area Artist's Award and awards at the Lynchburg Sidewalk Art Show and the Bath County Regional Art Show.
Hours for the exhibit in Godbey Hall are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Better hurry, though. It ends Monday.
At Virginia Tech's Cranwell International Center, photographer Rod Sinclair has an exhibit entitled, "Un Espiritu de Esperanza: Faces of Central America." These are images that go way beyond surface appearances.
A reception for Sinclair will be held Sunday from 4-6 p.m. at the center. Members of the community are invited to meet the artist then.
Regular hours at the Cranwell International Center are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. "Faces of Central America" will be on display through Feb. 29.