
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, August 5, 1993                   TAG: 9309100392
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

NONSTOP

VINCE Coleman, a journeyman outfielder for the New York Mets, last month tossed the equivalent of a quarter-stick of dynamite into a group of autograph seekers waiting in the players' parking lot after a game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. He was charged this week with unlawful possession of an explosive device.

Some touring rock bands are notorious for testing the limits of their audiences' tolerance. They're late to start and early to finish, and spend as much time onstage talking as playing.

And then there's Willie Nelson, the headliner at last weekend's Roanoke Symphony Orchestra pops concert in Salem.

OK, the acoustics of the Salem Civic Center aren't great, and Nelson was a little behind schedule (though not badly so). But from the moment he and his band opened with ``Whiskey River'' until they left the stage, it was more than two solid hours of music. No intermission, no jawing; the only (and very brief) pause was for Nelson to inform the crowd it was merely the 7th-inning stretch, with more to come.

Some entertainers work hard to give good value to their fans, and some don't. Nelson did.

by CNB