ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 2, 1996 TAG: 9602020007
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: Out & ABOUT
SOURCE: DONNA ALVIS BANKS
We are politicians, preachers, poets and prostitutes.
Builders and bigots. Teachers and traitors. Saints and sinners.
Rich. Poor. Somewhere in between.
In a word, we are America.
Jacob Holdt left his native Denmark and set out to find America with $40 in his pocket and a camera in his hand. For five years, the photographer hitchhiked across the country. Between 1972 and 1977, he traveled 118,000 miles.
The self-proclaimed ``vagabond'' says he sold his blood twice a week so he could buy film. He took thousands and thousands of pictures of the people he found.
Holdt stayed in more than 400 homes, studying the lives of the poorest sharecroppers and some of the wealthiest families, including Rockefellers. He came to know criminals and drug addicts, toiled alongside migrant workers, infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan and witnessed the Native American uprising at Wounded Knee.
Holdt saw the America some of us will never know.
He said 1974 was a ``turning year'' for him. It was then that he hatched the idea for ``American Pictures,'' a multimedia show about his experience.
Holdt takes his show on the road, sharing it with audiences all over the country. ``American Pictures'' features more than 3,000 of Holdt's photographs with music and text.
Student Life at Radford University will bring the show to Preston Auditorium on Tuesday. It starts at 7 p.m. and it's free.
WHAT IS THE LINDY, ANYWAY? The Lindy - or Lindy Hop - originated in Harlem's Savoy Ballroom in the '20s. The vigorous dance was the ancestor of the jitterbug and swing.
Leslie Combs, who studied with the great swing dancer Frankie Manning, will visit Blacksburg on Saturday for a series of Lindy workshops. This is your chance to learn from one of the top teachers.
Combs will lead a beginner's class at 10 a.m., followed by intermediate classes at 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. The workshops will be held in the fellowship hall at the Unitarian Fellowship on Gladewood Drive. The cost for each workshop is $12 at the door, but you'll get discounts for registering early for more than one workshop. Call Charlie or Lisa Cottingham at 381-5028.
On Saturday night, you're invited to bring your new skills to the big swing dance at the Blacksburg Community Center. The Southwest Virginia Swing Dance Society is hauling in a hot band for this dance, the King Bees from Boone, N.C.
The King Bees play blues, R&B and early rock 'n' roll - and have lots of fun doing it! Members of the group are Penny ``Queen Bee'' Zamagni, Rob ``Hound Dog'' Baskerville and Mike ``Kid'' Rhodes.
Even if you don't dance, you'll want to hear this band.
The dance runs from 8 to 11 p.m. A swing class starts at 7 p.m. for beginners and those who want a warm-up.
Admission is $9 for both. Senior swingers and students get in for $7.
HAYES HOT: Wade Hayes is that new country music singer who has everyone in the biz singing his praises.
Billboard magazine called his first album, ``Old Enough to Know Better,'' an ``appealing debut that promises more.''
``At first, newcomer Hayes sounds like any number of hat acts,'' a reviewer wrote, ``but repeated listens reveal a welcome edge with an authenticity that is lacking in some of the new country voices.''
Hayes, who hails from Bethel Acres, Okla., has that cowboy humor characteristic of the Sooner State. His videos on Country Music Television are entertaining evidence.
You can catch Hayes' live show Thursday at Radford University. He'll perform at 8 p.m. in Preston Auditorium.
Tickets are $10 in advance for Radford University students and staff and $15 for the public. They're available at the box office in Heth Student Center. The cost on Thursday is $15 for everyone.
For ticket information, call 831-5420.
SPIRITUAL THEMES: That's the title of the exhibition at the Norwood Gallery in downtown Radford.
You'll see photos, paintings, collage, ceramic pieces and fiber art in this display by Heaven & Earth, a local artists' alliance.
Participants in the show include Martha Dillard, Joe Germana, Emogene Huff, Nadine Allen, Madeline Hylton, Judy Schwab, Laurie Zuckerman and Kelly Sisson of Blacksburg. Christiansburg artists are Gary Harkrader, Jean Nelson, Jeht Matous and Alex Wind. Jennifer Collins of Radford, Kanta Bosniak of Pilot and Kathleen Duncan of Indian Valley round out the group.
``Spiritual Themes'' continues through Feb. 19. You can see it weekdays from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. or Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission to the gallery in the Norwood Center is free.
WOULD YOU HIRE THIS MAN? His resume lists his specialties as ``throwing axes, horseback riding, roller-blading, flaming sword tricks and duck talk,'' to name just a few.
After graduating from Radford University, Greg Ramsey went on to study combat - as a profession! A certified actor combatant, Ramsey also trained as a Shakespearean actor in England. He has performed with the National Shakespeare Company and in theaters and at festivals around the United States.
Ramsey's wife, Kate, has her own claims to fame. She's a graduate of Yale University's theater program and lists among her talents the ability to vocalize in just about any dialect you can name.
The Ramseys are performing a one-of-a-kind show that includes humorous - and hairy - swordplay. Greg plays the role of Ramsey MacGregor, a swashbuckling Scot. Kate is Tracy May McGillicudy, his sidekick. Together, the duo is called Kiss of Steel.
Greg and Kate Ramsey will bring Kiss of Steel to Radford University's Porterfield Theatre for one performance tonight at 8. Admission is free for all.
MELLOW CELLO: Clyde Shaw, cellist for the Audubon Quartet, will go solo Saturday. He'll perform at 8 p.m. in Virginia Tech's Squires Recital Salon.
Shaw will play J.S. Bach's Suite in G Major, as well as Suite for Unaccompanied Cello by Spanish composer Gasper Cassado. Also featured is a piece by Jon Polifrone, Tech's composer-in-residence, arranged and titled ``Voices'' by Shaw. Finally, Shaw will play a comical theatrical piece, ``Possessed,'' by John Steinmetz.
Steinmetz will join in Saturday's concert via telephone. The composer will give a talk from his home in Pasadena, Calif., just before Shaw's performance of ``Possessed.''
Tickets for the recital are $3 and will be available at the door Saturday night.
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