Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 1, 1994 TAG: 9407010054
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Donna Alvis-Banks
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
There will be a controlled burning in the gazebo at Montgomery Museum, 300 Pepper St., Saturday at 4 p.m.
Everyone's invited to come celebrate the burning of the museum's mortgage at the special ceremony for this 11th anniversary celebration!
Museum volunteers have planned a day full of activities, starting at 1 p.m. Craftsmen will demonstrate such old-time skills such as chair caning, basket making, weaving, candlewicking and ornamental needlework on the museum lawn. Inside the museum's art center, you'll find a display of photographs by Blacksburg photographer Madeline Hylton. A reception for Hylton runs from 2 to 4 p.m.
In addition to the art and crafts, there's live musical entertainment by Edwin and Sandi Lacy of the Fresh Water Band.
Following the note burning ceremony, museum volunteers will dish out a home cooked meal that includes pork barbecue, turkey salad, beans, potato chips, pickles, homemade breads, cakes and cold drinks.
Admission to the celebration is free. The meal costs $10 for adults and $5 for kids under 12.
Montgomery Museum occupies a 19th century home originally built and used as a manse for the Presbyterian Church of Christiansburg. The museum has a collection of items of local historical interest, including the 19th century artwork of Lewis Miller. Miller, who lived from 1796 to 1882, completed more than 2,000 sketches.
Regular museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Sunday, 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Group tours may be arranged by appointment.
For more information on the museum or Saturday's celebration, call 382-5644.
A TEEN TRADITION: For the past 25 years, at least 10,000 young people have been part of The Young Continentals. They have traveled more than 2 million miles and visited 70 countries.
While their faces have changed over the years, their purpose is still the same. The Young Continentals, a group of teen-age performers who are selected through national auditions, aims to spread the message that life counts!
In 1982, the group received a Dove Award from the Gospel Music Association for "Dreamer," a musical based on the life of Joseph. All told, the organization has produced more than 35 gospel albums.
The current tour features 30 teens who dance, sing and delight audiences with their high-energy musical program. The tour includes a stop in Christiansburg tonight for one show at Straight Street Youth Center.
The program starts at 7 tonight at the center, 300 N. Franklin St. Admission is free, and the program is open to the young and the young-at-heart.
TONIGHT, TONIGHT: You won't want to miss the outdoor concert tonight at Virginia Tech. The Miller-Rowe Consort will perform at Henderson Hall lawn across from College Avenue, starting at 6.
Classical guitarist Michael Miller and David Rowe, hammer dulcimer, will play their own arrangements of traditional, folk and sacred music from the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods.
The duo is based in Spartanburg, S.C. Miller teaches guitar at several colleges in South Carolina and has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the Southeast.
David Rowe graduated from Winthrop College with a degree in music education and received his master of divinity degree from Erskine Theological Seminary. He's now the pastor of Blacksburg Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in Blacksburg, S.C. (Yes! There is another Blacksburg!)
Tonight's concert is part of the Summer Arts Festival sponsored by the Town of Blacksburg and Virginia Tech. Admission is free, and everyone is encouraged to bring blankets, lawn chairs and picnic dinners for an old-fashioned outing on the lawn.
A LITTLE BACKGROUND: The first motion picture theaters were called nickelodeons. For only 5 cents, you could enter a whole new world.
The nickelodeons were usually stores converted into theaters by the addition of chairs. The primitive movie houses caught on quickly. By 1907, there were about 5,000 of them spread out across the country.
At Radford University, the tradition goes on. The monthly "Nickelodeon Film Series" brings back some of your favorite big screen classics.
Three films will be shown Saturday, 7 p.m., in room 108 at Russell Hall. A serial feature, "Return of the Spy Smasher," will be followed by two great cowboy films, "Carson City Kid" and "The Story of the Lone Ranger."
Best of all, you can save your nickel. Admission is free.
STITCHES ANYONE? The Rev. Billy C. Wirtz has been described as "the funniest piano playing madman (with the worst shoes) anywhere."
No wonder. Who can argue with the madman defense when Wirtz sings lines like these: "I went back with my fourth wife for the third time to give her a second chance to make a number one fool out of me."
Wirtz is sometimes offensive and always irreverently hilarious in his musical comedy routine. His newest album, "A Turn for the Wirtz, Confessions of a Hillbilly Love-God," is a mix of country, blues and plenty of schtick.
The madman says there's logic in his lunacy.
"What I try to do is come in and play good music and blow off some of the steam of a world that's becoming unspeakably hard and grim to live in."
You can catch Wirtz tonight at the South Main Cafe in Blacksburg. The show starts at 10. Admission is $5 if you're over 21 or $6 if you're under 21.
by CNB