Sunday, May 16, 2010

Thursday, May 13, 2010

$2,000 Scholarship Available: Southeast Old Threshers' Reunion Pageant

DENTON, N.C. -- The Southeast Thresher’s Queen Scholarship Pageant is seeking contestants. It will be held on Saturday, June 26, 2010, just days before the start of 40th Southeast Old Thresher’s Reunion.


The winner will receive a $2,000 scholarship.

The new queen will reign over the Thresher’s Reunion during its five-day run and serve as the Threshers’ Goodwill Ambassador to many festivals, pageants and parades throughout North Carolina.

Held at the Denton FarmPark, the Southeast Old Threshers Reunion is one of the largest antique gas and steam engine shows in the country. It includes a variety of farming demonstrations, steam engine train rides, country, gospel and bluegrass entertainment and crafts. It will be held June 30-July 4.

The 2010 queen will be crowned by reigning 2009 Queen – Natalie Caviness of Asheboro, N.C. Natalie is a student at Randolph County Early College and will graduate in June.

Contestants must be a rising high school senior, either through public or home school, and can be up to 25 years old. Girls must be single, never have had a child or been married. They should either reside, work or attend school in any of the following counties: Alamance, Anson, Cabarrus, Caswell, Catawba, Chatham, Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Gaston, Guilford, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Montgomery, Moore, Randolph, Richmond, Rockingham, Rowan, Stanly, Stokes, Surry, Union and Yadkin.

Second and Third place finishers will receive scholarships of $450 and $350 respectively. Additional awards will be given in four competition categories: Best Interview, Best “Country Cutie” Outfit, Best Casual Outfit and Most Photogenic.

Entry fees are $50. The application deadline is June 12, 2010. For entry forms, rules and further information call Denton FarmPark at 1-800-458-2755, visit us on Facebook at the Southeast Threshers Queen Pageant or email manager@threshers.com.

The Denton FarmPark is located 20 miles south of Lexington off N.C. Hwy. 109 and 20 miles southeast of Asheboro off N.C. Hwy. 49.

The Grascals to Perform at Big Lick Bluegrass Festival

Big Lick, N.C. – The Grascals have played with George Jones, Porter Wagoner, Vince Gill, Dolly Parton, Charlie Daniels and are just coming off the Hank Williams Jr. Rowdy Friends Tour – and will be appearing at the Big Lick Bluegrass Festival in Big Lick on Saturday, June 12.

The festival will be held at the Big Lick Festival Park in Big Lick, N.C., on Friday, June 11 and Saturday, June 12.

Big Lick is a community on N.C. Hwy. 205 between Charlotte and Albemarle, just off N.C. Hwy. 24/27. It was named for a salt lick that is still somewhere in the woods. Any local deer can tell you its whereabouts.

The Big Lick festival has traditionally had some of the biggest names in bluegrass music – and this year the trend continues.

The Grascals. Goldwing Express. Bill Yates and The Country Gentlemen Tribute Show. Bluegrass Brothers. Deeper Shade of Blue. Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out.

Fans will hear old ballads from the Bill Yates and The Country Gentlemen Tribute Show; traditional mountain music from the Bluegrass Brothers; and a more contemporary sound from The Grascals. Rising stars, The Rye Hollar Boys, are teenagers who come from a family of musicians in the N.C. mountains.

Grascals guitarist and vocalist Terry Eldredge is looking forward to the show. Organizer Jeff Branch and he have been friends since the early ‘80s. “So we’re going to put on an especially entertaining show at Big Lick,” Eldredge says. “Dolly Parton always used to say right before we took the stage, ‘Make it fun!’ That’s what we’re gonna do.”

The Grascals will be singing songs from their newest CD, “The Famous Lefty Flynn’s.” Eldredge sings the title track. “Grascals guitarist Jamie Johnson wrote a ballad with a little truth and a little fiction in it – about a fellow who lived a hard life.” he explains. “But I can’t tell you how the story ends. You’ll have to listen to find out!”

“I was very moved at the 2009 Big Lick festival,” says Bill Yates. “A man in the audience cried when he told me he thought he would never hear a voice like Charlie Waller again. He was the lead singer and guitarist for the original Country Gentlemen group. We’ll be singing some favorites.”

Yates also looks forward to the after-party jamming session behind the stage where many of the musicians, and members of the audience, pull out their guitars, banjos and whatever and play into the wee hours of the morning.

Branch likes to share some little-known tidbits about the performers.

Eldredge chews gum throughout his entire performance to keep his mouth moist. Grascals banjo player Kristin Scott Benson and her husband, Wayne Benson, who plays the mandolin for Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out, will be able to perform at the same festival, something they typically don’t get to do. She was voted the 2009 Banjo Player of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association. And Branch points out that Frank Poindexter, dobro player for Deeper Shade of Blue, is the uncle of legendary Tony Rice who is considered the top bluegrass guitar player in America.
The Big Lick Bluegrass Festival opens at 6 p.m. on Friday, June 11 with the Rye Hollar Boys, Southern Junction and Bluegrass Brothers.

On Saturday, shows start at noon with Deeper Shade of Blue, Goldwing Express, Bill Yates and Friends, Bluegrass Brothers, Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out ending with The Grascals at 11 p.m.

Adult admission is $10 on Friday and $25 on Saturday. Reduced tickets are available after 6 p.m. on Saturday for $15. Two day passes are available through June 1 for $25.

Tickets for children ages 12-16 are $5 on Friday and $12 on Saturday. Children under 12 years of age will be admitted free.

Everyone is encouraged to bring lawn chairs. Large tents will be available to provide shade. Concessions will be available.

Camping is available at the Big Lick Festival Park. For reservations, call 704-485-4906.

The Big Lick Festival Park is located at 640 South Oak Ridge Road.

For tickets and information, call Jeff Branch at 704-985-6987, visit Big Lick Bluegrass Festival on Facebook or www.biglickbluegrass.com.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Hello Dali! Salvador Dali Exhibit in Fayetteville - Feb. 12-28, 2010

Works from Salvador Dali, one of the world’s greatest artists in the past 100 years, will be on display in Fayetteville, N.C. It’s the only city in the Southeast chosen to host the national touring exhibition this year.

The show, “Dali Illustrates Dante’s The Divine Comedy,” will be held through Feb. 28 at the Festival Park Plaza Building in downtown Fayetteville.

The exhibit combines two art forms – poetry and painting.

It pulls together two time periods – the 1300s and the 1950s.

And it will be shown in a city known for being home to military people who have traveled worldwide, some of whom have already seen Dali’s works.

It all started with Dante Alighieri who penned “The Divine Comedy.” He was an Italian poet who wrote his concept of life after death, and the imaginary trek the human soul travels through hell, purgatory and heaven.

Deep stuff.

He wrote during the time of the Great European Famine, the Hundred Years War, and the bubonic plague. It wasn’t a pretty time in world history. Death was often a topic of discussion.

So Dante’s poem was timely.

Fast forward to the 1950s.

To commemorate the 700th anniversary of the poem, the Italian government commissioned Dali to illustrate it. After a few years, he had completed 100 illustrations representing each of the verses.

It is those 100 illustrations that the public will see at the Fayetteville show. Exhibition labels will be in English and Spanish.

But who was Dali?

Born in 1904 in Spain, Dali was a renegade of sorts who bucked conventional art styles. He was kicked out of French and Spanish art schools for a number of reasons, and was highly influenced by Impressionism, Surrealism, Cubism, and Futurism.

By the age of 40, he had gained recognition for his work in Europe and the United States. He had designed the Dream of Venus pavilion at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York and costumes and sets for ballets performed at The Metropolitan Opera House and the International Theatre in New York.

His resume included working with Alfred Hitchcock on the film, Spellbound; Walt Disney on the film, Destino; and, Doubleday Publishing Company to illustrate Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

Dali’s work was influenced by the dropping of the atomic bomb. The religious and nuclear fusion elements can be seen in his illustrations of Dante’s poem.

In 1964, Dali was awarded the Gran Cruz de Isabel la Católica, the highest Spanish distinction. The following year, The Gallery of Modern Art in New York launched the Salvador Dali 1910-1965 exhibition.

Dali died in Spain in 1989. His legacy of writings, jewelry and painting masterpieces is displayed in museums and galleries worldwide.

The Fayetteville Museum of Art is exhibiting the show at the Festival Park Plaza Building at 225 Ray Avenue.

Tickets are $10 for adults, $6 for students 6 and older and free for those 5 and younger. Groups with 20 members should call the museum at 910-485-5121 in advance of their visit to register for reduced rates. Hours are Monday-Friday: 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; Saturday: 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sunday: 1-4 p.m.

For more information, log onto http://www.visitfayettevillenc.com/exhibits or call 888-98-HEROES (43763).

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Fayetteville, NC to Host National Art Exhibit

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – Fayetteville has been chosen as the only city in the Southeast to display the art show, Art of the Masters: A Survey of African American Images, 1980-2000. The national touring exhibit was first displayed at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at the New York Public Library. After leaving Fayetteville, the show will move to Chicago.
The exhibition will be shown at the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County from Jan. 22-March 6. Admission is free. Personalized tours are available with advance registration.
The collection includes stunning artwork from John Biggers, Robert Colescott, Adger W. Cowans and many others with national and international acclaim. Hours are Monday through Thursday: 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Friday: 8:30-noon; Saturday: noon-1 p.m. The Arts Council is located at 301 Hay Street in downtown Fayetteville. For more information, call 910-323-1776 or visit www.theartscouncil.com.
For more information about other area events, log onto www.VisitFayettevilleNC.com.