Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 12, 1993 TAG: 9303110207
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
SHINE ON WITH PIONEER OF BLUEGRASS
"Blue moooon of Kentucky keep on shinin'. . . ."Bill Monroe - the original man in the moooon - just keeps on shining.
At 81, he still stands out in a crowd. The imposing man in the white Stetson is known and loved as the father of bluegrass music.
Monroe was honored recently with a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement in country and bluegrass music. He has been called one of "but a handful of true stylistic inventors in country music."
Known for his soulful high tenor and masterful mandolin picking, Monroe has recorded hundreds of albums with his band, The Bluegrass Boys. One collection, "A Voice From on High," is devoted entirely to Monroe's gospel sound and is often cited as the best all-gospel bluegrass album ever released.
Many of Monroe's songs are bluegrass classics: "Muleskinner Blues," Footprints in the Snow" and "Kentucky Waltz," to name a few.
Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys will visit Christiansburg High School tonight for one performance at 7:30. Local radio station WFNR is sponsoring the show.
Tickets at the door are $10. Advance discount tickets, $8, are available at WFNR, New River Valley Mall, Texaco Food Mart and Handi Food Store in Christiansburg, as well as at the Riner Food Center.
\ A LITTLE OF THIS, A LITTLE OF THAT: Add the magic stone and voila! You've got stone stew.
The Wilderness Road Regional Museum in Newbern will serve up its traditional stone stew luncheon Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Along with savory stew, you'll find corn bread, pickles, relishes, homemade desserts and hot and cold drinks. The complete meal is $3.50 for adults or $1.75 for children 12 and under.
The current exhibit at the museum is "Heritage Highlights of the City of Radford." The museum also has books for sale, including the "Radford Centennial Cookbook" and several titles by Linda Killen and Daniel Dunbar Howe.
Admission to the museum is free.
Don't be surprised if you stumble upon a group of Civil War or Revolutionary War soldiers Sunday. There's a re-enactors' boot camp scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The events coincide with Newbern's Founder's Day celebration honoring Pulaski County's oldest settlement.
To get there from Interstate 81, take Exit 98 and follow the brown signs to the historic district.
\ WHAT HAPPENS IN THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS? All kinds of delightfully disgusting things!
A man laughs himself to death, the winos and panhandlers rise from the sewers of skid row to sing and dance, a talking plant turns into a carnivorous cactus with a thirst for human blood.
"Little Shop of Horrors," the Broadway musical that scooped up all the choicest drama awards in 1983, is now on a national tour in a production by The Troika Organization. It will stop at Virginia Tech Monday for a performance in Burruss Auditorium. Curtain time is 7:30 p.m.
Based on the 1960 film directed by Roger Corman, "Little Shop of Horrors" is a spoof on many genres, including science fiction, "B" movies, musical comedy itself and the Faust legend.
The script and lyrics are by Howard Ashman and the musical score is Alan Mencken's. The two won Oscars for "The Little Mermaid" and "Beauty and the Beast."
The touring show is part of the Virginia Tech Union's Broadway Series. Tickets are on sale now at the box office in Squires Student Center. They are $16 for adults, $8 for children under 12, $13 for Tech faculty and staff and $5 for Tech students.
\ FOR THE LIGHT-HEARTED: The advanced choral students at Blacksburg Middle School will entertain tonight with an adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan's original operetta, "The Pirates of Penzance." It starts at 7:30 in the school auditorium.
The singing youths are all eighth-graders and are directed by Samantha Quesenberry.
Admission to tonight's performance is free.
\ VOICES GREAT AND SMALL: On Tuesday, Christiansburg High School's choral department will present "A Song Between Friends," an evening devoted to showcasing fine arts in the Christiansburg area schools.
It starts with an exhibit of art work by students from kindergarten through 12th grade. The exhibit, in the lower commons of the high school, opens at 6:30 p.m.
At 7:30, more than 400 students will join voices in a special public concert. Disc jockey Scott Stevens of WPSK will serve as master of ceremonies.
Admission to the concert and the art exhibit is free.
\ TWO FOR THE SHOW: Virginia Tech's Theatre Arts-University Theatre will present two one-act plays, beginning Thursday and running through March 20, in room 204 of the Performing Arts Building on campus. The plays, "This Property is Condemned" by Tennessee Williams and "Dutchman" by Leroi Jones, both deal with oppression and racism in America.
Williams' play is set in rural Mississippi and involves two children who typify the oppressed lives of poor people in a small town.
"Dutchman" is about a young white woman who confronts a young black man on a subway in New York. Leroi Jones, who has since changed his name to Imamu Amiri Baraka, shows how blacks in an urban center are trapped by whites who are trapped by their own racism.
Curtain time each evening is at 8. The doors will open at 7:40. Admission is free but seating is limited.
\ MORE DRAMA: Playmakers & Company, the community theater group that's been entertaining the New River Valley since 1979, is ready to roll again. The group's newest production, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," opens Thursday and runs through March 20 at University Mall in Blacksburg. The play will have a second run March 25 through 27.
Jack Nicholson, you might remember, starred in the Oscar-winning movie based on the play. It deals with the lives of people confined to a state mental hospital.
The play is not recommended for youths under 17 because of mature situations and objectionable language.
Curtain time each evening is at 7:30. Admission is $5 or $3 for senior citizens.
\ LIVE FROM NEW YORK IT'S . . . Satan and Adam?
Sterling "Satan" Magee (who prefers to be called Mister Satan) and Adam Gussow, who have been performing their blues act in the United States and abroad for the past three years, will stop at Buddy's in Blacksburg Thursday for one performance.
The diverse duo has played at the biggest jazz festivals in the country, as well as on National Public Radio's "Bluestage" and "All Things Considered." They were featured in a cameo role in the movie "Rattle & Hum" with the Irish rock group U2.
The twosome started jamming together six years ago on the streets of Harlem. An unlikely match, Mister Satan is a Mississippi-born musician with a long track record in rhythm and blues circles and Adam Gussow is a Princeton graduate who gave up his Brooks Brothers pin-striped suit to play harmonica.
By the way, Mister Satan earned his nickname by playing like a demon. He plays guitar while simultaneously singing and banging out rhythms with his feet on his homemade trap set.
Thursday's performance begins at 10:30 p.m. at Buddy's, 130 Jackson St. The cover charge for this show is $4.