Photos: Lots of patron love!
We love seeing patrons our lobbies, gallery spaces, and theatre. Last week, we hosted three nights of performances and free events in the Moss Arts Center as part of the Crooked Road Festival (March 19-23), AND we had an awesome exhibition opening for Aspects of the Self: Portraits of our Times on Friday, March 21, from 6-8 p.m. We had such a wide range of guests here in the Moss Arts Center, and we couldn’t have loved it more!
Take a look at some of these friendly, smiling faces. We might be biased (OK, OK; we are), but we think our patrons are the best around!
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Tons of free events as part of Crooked Road Festival
The Crooked Road Festival is about to kick off throughout Montgomery County on Wednesday, March 19, 2014. While there are three sold-out headliners, performing on stage at the Moss Arts Center, there are so MANY free or low-cost events that you can still catch.
Want an exhaustive list? Of course you do–let’s dig in! (Pro tip: click each location to see it on a Google map.)
Wednesday, March 19
Virginia Heritage Music Instrument Exhibit
Student Art Exhibition: Music of the Crooked Road
Additional dates March 1-April 30
11 a.m.-3 p.m.
Montgomery Museum & Lewis Miller Art Center
Free
Instrument-Making Demonstration: John Hollandsworth
Wednesday, March 19
11 a.m.-3 p.m.
Montgomery Museum & Lewis Miller Art Center
Free
Open House with Old Time Music and Square Dance, featuring Katie and the Bubbatones with fiddler Kathleen O’Connell and caller Liam Kelley
6 p.m., open house begins
6:30 p.m., presentation
7 p.m., music begins
Prices Fork Elementary School Cafetorium
Additional band members will be John Hollandsworth, Russ Boyd, Eddie Ogle, and Sam Linkous.
Free
Thursday, March 20
The New Town Connection Exhibit
Noon-5 p.m.
St. Luke and Odd Fellows Hall
The New Town Connection exhibit tells the story of African-American Appalachian music through the stories, images, video, and music of New Town at St. Luke and Odd Fellows Hall.
Free
Instrument-Making Demonstration: Olen Gardner, John Hollandsworth, Mac Traynham, and Clinton Smith
The Virginia Luthiers: Instrument Display
6:30-7:45 p.m.
Moss Arts Center
Free
Crooked Road After Hours Music Social
11 p.m.-2 a.m.
Holiday Inn University Blacksburg
Just when you thought there was no way to pack any more fun into The Crooked Road Festival in Montgomery County, The Crooked Road is hosting an after-hours music social from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Thursday, March 20, and Friday, March 21, at the Holiday Inn University Blacksburg at 900 Prices Fork Rd. Relax, connect with friends, order food or drink from the menu, and enjoy non-stop music and dance into the wee hours with artists from the evening concerts and the surrounding area. This event is a fundraiser to support the work of The Crooked Road, with a suggested donation at the door of $10.
Friday, March 21
Instrument-Making Demonstration: Olen Gardner
Friday, March 21
11 a.m.-3 p.m.
Montgomery Museum & Lewis Miller Art Center
Free
The New Town Connection Exhibit
Noon-5 p.m.
St. Luke and Odd Fellows Hall
The New Town Connection exhibit tells the story of African-American Appalachian music through the stories, images, video, and music of New Town at St. Luke and Odd Fellows Hall.
Free
Pete Reiniger, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings: Presentation on producing Long Time…Seldom Scene, the group’s newest recording
6:45-7:30 p.m
Moss Arts Center
Pete Reiniger will give a two-part presentation on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and on the production of Long Time…Seldom Scene, including the story of the Smithsonian’s acquisition of the Folkways Record label, the growth of its catalog through the acquisition of other labels and newly generated releases since 1988, and the particulars of producing Long Time…Seldom Scene for Smithsonian Folkways. Reiniger is sound production supervisor for Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, the non-profit record label of the national museum. He has spent more than 35 years working with traditional musics of the world on recordings and in live sound for concerts and festivals. The recordings he has engineered, mixed, and/or mastered include old-time, bluegrass, blues, gospel, Cajun, polka, Tex-Mex, American Indian, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Cape Breton, Caribbean, Asian, African, and various Latin musics. He has also worked on jazz recordings and children’s recordings. He is honored to have been awarded three GRAMMYS, one as engineer/mixer for Quetzal’s “Imaginaries,” Best Latin Urban, Rock, or Alternative 2012; one as engineer/mixer for Los Texmaniacs’ “Borders y Bailes,” Best Tejano 2009; and one as a compilation producer for the “The Anthology of American Folk Music,” Best Historical 1997.
Free
Crooked Road After Hours Music Social
11 p.m.-2 a.m.
Holiday Inn University Blacksburg
Just when you thought there was no way to pack any more fun into The Crooked Road Festival in Montgomery County, The Crooked Road is hosting an after-hours music social from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Thursday, March 20, and Friday, March 21, at the Holiday Inn University Blacksburg at 900 Prices Fork Rd. Relax, connect with friends, order food or drink from the menu, and enjoy non-stop music and dance into the wee hours with artists from the evening concerts and the surrounding area. This event is a fundraiser to support the work of The Crooked Road, with a suggested donation at the door of $10.
Saturday, March 22
The New Town Connection Exhibit
Noon-4 p.m.
St. Luke and Odd Fellows Hall
The New Town Connection exhibit tells the story of African-American Appalachian music through the stories, images, video, and music of New Town at St. Luke and Odd Fellows Hall.
Free
Eastern Montgomery County Gospel Music Program, with Nancy Smith and Friends and the Eastern Montgomery County Community Choir
1-3 p.m.
Shawsville Middle School
Free
Oral History of St. Paul’s African Methodist Episcopal Church by Jacquelyn Eaves, with St. Paul’s Choir, Alexis Johnson, Michael Herndon and Lynette Wilcox, Enlightened Gospel Choir, and Ada Sherman
2-3 p.m.
St. Paul’s African Methodist Episcopal Church
Free
Clogging Workshop with Phil Louer and Jen Barton; Square Dance with Giles Mountain String Band and callers Ginger Wagner and Phil Louer
2-5 p.m.
Moss Arts Center
No experience is necessary! All dances will be taught first.
Free
An Evening of Beans and Banjos
6-8 p.m.
Meadowbrook Center
The Shawsville Ruritan Club is hosting an evening of Beans and Banjos. That’s beans, cornbread, and dessert with a side order of entertainment by Fort Vause, featuring banjoist George Smith. Beans and Banjos raises money for the Shawsville Ruritan Club and the club’s scholarship fund for graduates of Eastern Montgomery High School. Admission is free, but the club suggests a donation of $5 per person.
Free (donations welcome)
Traditional Music Concert with Olen Gardner and Friends, The Blackberries, The Gravel Road, and Mike Mitchell
6-8 p.m.
Main Street Baptist Church
Free
Crankies Performance by Anna Roberts-Gevalt and Elizabeth LaPrelle
7-7:30 p.m.
Moss Arts Center
Old time balladeers Anna Roberts-Gevalt and Elizabeth LaPrelle perform original “crankies”—scrolling illustrations, made out of cloth or paper, that depict a story that is sung or spoken—that were collaboratively designed and built with students from Prices Fork and Harding Avenue Elementary Schools.
Free
Sunday, March 23
Square Dance with the Indian Run String Band, caller: Phil Louer
4-7 p.m.
Homestead Farm, Riner
Free
Digging into the inaugural season
By now you’ve probably seen the lineup. You’ve likely narrowed it down to your top, say, 10 choices. Or better yet, your top 21 (that would be all of them).
We’ve already heard from some of you that you can’t possibly narrow it down, so you’ll just come to as many as you can. To which we say, “Yes, please! Come on in!”
But for those of you who are still looking things over, allow us to help guide the way a bit.
(Speaking of “guide,” have you seen our Inaugural Season Guide yet? When the hard copies were delivered to our office, we may or may not have spent some time gazing longingly at them, petting the different pages with different textures, and–in one instance–smelling the brand new ink smell. I think we’re in love! Kudos to our Creative Services Manager Brian Yohn for all his hard work.)
Anyway, back to the season. Let’s jump right on in, shall we?
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Crooked Road Festival offered fun for all kinds of heritage music fans
The Crooked Road Festival was an enormous success, both here at the Moss Arts Center and across Montgomery County at the numerous participating locations. We all had such a great time putting it together–and an even better time sharing the festivities with all of you. We greeted many familiar faces and met even more new ones at the many events over the five-day festival. And with so many ways to participate, it’s no surprise!
The festival kicked off Wednesday, March 19, 2014, with everything from an instrument exhibit and a student exhibition to an instrument-making demonstration and a kick off open house and square dance, all across Blacksburg and Christiansburg.
Thursday, March 20, brought an instrument-making demonstration (this time, with lots of participating artists) , the first big live performance of the festival with Mountain Fling, Mac and Jenny Traynham, and the big dogs, Wayne Henderson and the Virginia Luthiers. After the show, folks gathered for a meet-and-greet social over at the Holiday Inn in Blacksburg for some late-night fun. Check out some photos from the instrument-making demonstration in the Cube at the Moss Arts Center.
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Another day on Friday meant another round of exhibits, instrument-making demonstrations, live music, and late-night meeting and greeting. No Strings Attached and The Seldom Scene graced the stage at the Moss Arts Center, but not before Pete Reiniger of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings gave a very special talk all about the making of Long Time…Seldom Scene.
Saturday, March 22, was jam-packed with events, including a gospel music program; an oral history of St. Paul’s African Methodist Episcopal Church; a clogging workshop, followed by a square dance to put new skills in action; “An Evening of Beans and Banjos;” a free concert by Olen Gardner and Friends, The Blackberries, The Gravel Road, and Mike Mitchell; a Crankies performance for and by Montgomery County students; and a finale concert by the Indian Run Stringband, the Hoorah Cloggers, and the Rickie Simpkins Quartet.
Woo! That makes us exhausted just thinking about everything that was going on! Catch your breath; we’ve got some photos from the Crankies performance by Anna Roberts-Gevalt and Elizabeth LePralle, also in the Cube at the Moss Arts Center.
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But, of course, such a high-energy festival couldn’t go out without one last bang: Sunday, March 23, 2014, saw one final square dance with the Indian Run Stringband and caller Phil Louer over at the Homestead Farm in Riner.
We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves over the course of this festival, brimming to overflowing with some of this area’s best heritage music, dancing, and so much more!
What was your favorite part of the festival?