Colonial Traide Faire among festival’s history events -
ABINGDON, Va. – This year, the Virginia Highlands Festival welcomes the return of the Colonial Trade Faire, being held at the Fields-Penn House at the corner of Cummings and Main streets.
moreABINGDON, Va. – Get ready to party.
Abingdon’s two-week-long Virginia Highlands Festival kicks off on July 24 with a mix of arts, antiques, outdoor activities, music and literary events.
It’s also on the move.
Time to jazz it up, Bristol. The Diamonds are performing for Tunes @ Noon.
moreETSU to open show’s run with Veterans Day military salute; pre-show ‘60s-music concerts before each curtain.
moreJayson Paul, half of Cryme Tyme: “You have to be persistent and you have to love it to make it in the WWE.“
moreThe Bristol, Tenn.-born Barr returns to the Mountain Empire on Sept. 7 with his film “Mow Crew” and the film’s director Taylor Toole in tow.
moreMusic, dance, theater, festival, fairs and more are listed in Herald Courier’s entertainment calendars.
moreBarter Theatre will be holding auditions for male and female young actors for roles in the upcoming production of WMKS: Christmas 1942 on Saturday, September 12 from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. at Barter Theatre’s Main Stage in Abingdon.
moreWhen Elton John sang “Sad Songs (Say So Much)” surely Knoxville, Tenn.’s Sam Quinn was on his mind.
moreStar of VH1’s “Rock of Love with Bret Michaels” and Poison front man Bret Michaels will appear at a State Street venue in Bristol, Tenn., on Aug. 9.
moreA glance at weekend entertainment. This week’s free music download: The Grateful Dead.
moreLet me be clear from the get-go: I am not an expert on film, arty or otherwise. But I am a Southerner and, I like to think, a somewhat dispassion-ate observer of the human scene, at least in my rather confused and confusing part of the old Confederacy.
moreA new locally produced film addresses the reality of life in Southwest Virginia. The film, called “This is Not the South,” focuses on the lives of three young Bristol, Va., residents as they interact with their community and each other.
moreGet ready to party. Abingdon’s two-week-long Virginia Highlands Festival kicks off July 25 with a mix of arts, antiques, outdoor activities, music and literary events.
And kids? You got kids?
Led Zeppelin recorded nine albums. They performed more than 500 concerts. And they’ve spawned more than 50 working tribute bands, more than a dozen of which are named after their song “Custard Pie.” Including Asheville, N.C.’s Custard Pie.
more10 young musicians from this area are scheduled to attend a White House music series event Tuesday.
moreCountry upstart wrote songs made famous by Travit Tritt, Billy Carrington.
moreIf sandpaper and soul met a rose and birthed a child, that child would probably sound something like Janis Joplin.
moreKody Norris sings like dynamite explodes. He’s young and he’s loud, confident and you bet bluegrass proud.
Hear the Mountain City, Tenn., bluegrasser on July 4 at the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, Va. Then, wait a spell and see him again on July 17 at Lay’s Hardware in Coeburn, Va. Either place on either night, and it’s the same Norris.
BRISTOL, Va. – Roll out the red carpet. And pack your favorite napkin.
Bristol celebrates the Fourth of July this year with “Star-Spangled Weekend,” which includes a gathering at Cumberland Square Park plus a grand reopening of the Bristol train station.
Rock rolls in the Mountain Empire. Think not? Then head out to Red Barn Campground in Bristol, Tenn., on June 26-27 for the Any Festival II. An abundance of bands will hit the hills with a litany of styles of rock.
moreLoads of music innovators converge upon this year’s Song of the Mountains Festival.
moreMistaken identity follows Those Darlins like a bad Tim McGraw song.
moreRock star. You’re on top of the world. You hear your songs on the radio, watch records sell in the millions and play concerts for legions of screaming fans. That was life as Candlebox knew it circa 1994 and ’95. Note the word was.
moreTheatre Bristol will seal its 43rd season with a song. Check that. Forty classic songs from the pens of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller via “Smokey Joe’s Café” caps Theatre Bristol’s 43rd season.
moreFive years ago, life as Ricky Kiser knew it changed forever.
moreIn Downtown Bristol or Steele Creek Park, bring a chair or just stand and dance.
moreAfter nearly 40 years of roads to thousands of gigs, blues musician Steady Rollin’ Bob Margolin’s nickname means more with every mile.
moreOut of control. That describes Shinedown’s Brent Smith until about 16 months ago
moreWhen Gaye Adegbalola first performed on stage as a member of Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women, she did so before a hometown crowd in Fredericksburg, Va. The year was 1984, the crowd small. But a spark caught that night.
moreCombine the Three Stooges with classical music, and you have an idea of P.D.Q. Bach.
moreSunday afternoon. Just as seven-time Nascar champion Jeff Gordon chalked up the checkered at Texas Motor Speedway, the phone rang here in Bristol. “Hello, this is Sidney Barnes,” came the voice by phone from Ashville, N.C.
moreMusic amounts to more than something nice that plays on the radio. Just ask Zane Myers, the executive director of Symphony of the Mountains (SOTM). “Music here in Southern Appalachia is in our blood,” Myers said. Indeed, blood, sweat and notes will spill on stage when SOTM offers a show on April 4 at the Paramount Center for the Arts in Bristol, Tenn.
moreRed rushed to Barry Scott’s face. Veins rose along his neck. Hand on heart, his band Second Wind gathered ‘round a coffee table, the former member of Doyle Lawson’s Quicksilver led a quartet of gospel songs with equal parts dynamite and devotion.
moreHarlem Globetrotters score big with crowds of all ages.
moreRussell Moore and IIIrd Tyme Out and Mountain Heart have gone through some changes. The bands will be on stage at Bristol’s Paramount Center for the Arts on March 15.
moreImagine life without a home or food on the table. Send in the heroes.
moreA choreographed clash of poetry and athleticism, humor and heart. Plug imagination into the equation, and then you have “Disney on Ice.”
moreLove blooms throughout the catalog of Gary Puckett.
moreIn life, Conway Twitty was known as the best friend a song ever had.
morePhotography Done Right, in association with Bays Mountain Park, is hosting the first-ever Bays Mountain Park Photography Competition.
moreClimb on board a bull with Cory Rasch, the Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Cowboy.
more“Puttin’ On The Hitz!” comes to the Paramount Center in downtown Bristol on Thursday, Feb. 5, at 7:30 p.m.
moreA giant screen displays song lyrics while multi-colored lights whip around the auditorium. Musicians dance and jump as they perform on electric guitars, drums and tambourines, while across the auditorium, young people dance and sway with the music while singing along at the tops of their voices.
moreCut Hinder and they bleed chicks, booze, and rock and roll.
“Absolutely!” said Joe “Blower” Garvey, founding member and lead guitarist for the Oklahoma City-based rock band.
See and hear for yourself on Jan. 24 when Hinder opens for fellow million-selling rockers 3 Doors Down at Freedom Hall in Johnson City, Tenn.
An American original is coming to the Paramount Center in downtown Bristol, Tenn.
more“Original”, “innovative”, “fearless”, “ambitious”, “propulsive”, “a marvel of emotion and razor sharp focus.” Words from those who’ve heard one of American music’s most compelling bands, Cadillac Sky.
moreTurmoil brewed in the political pot of Prague, Czechoslovakia circa 1968. The then-Communist Soviet Union invaded and had the country in a stranglehold.
Tomas Kubinek was born into that world. Three years into his life, his parents snapped him up and escaped Soviet rule for refugee camps in Austria. They eventually relocated to Canada. Thus began the remarkable life of Kubinek.
“Sesame Street Live: Elmo Makes Music” is scheduled to step out of television and onto the stage at Freedom Hall in Johnson City, Tenn. on Jan. 13-14. The show stars Elmo in a music revue that features about 20 songs.
moreSuperstar gospel singer CeCe Winans has fans all over the world. But just maybe her biggest fan lives right here in the Tri-Cities.
moreChristmas calls for joy and celebration.
Bristol Virginia Seniors Show Choir intends to offer and prompt a sleigh full of each via music of the season.
When they take to the stage of the Paramount Center for the Arts in Bristol, Tenn. on Dec. 16 to offer their Christmas show, “Making Christmas Memories,” the 70-or-so active members of the choir aim to spread the joy.
Several months back 900,000 children entered the 2008 babyGap and GapKids Casting Call. Clothing retailer Gap spawned the search as a means of finding kids for a national advertising campaign for its line of children’s clothing. Online voting for winners in the four categories begins on Dec. 8 and runs through Dec. 21. Vote for your favorite at http://www.gap.com/castingcall.
moreJonathan Phebus is 27 years old, attends ETSU, and does what many kids can only dream of. He designs video games. While he works as a programmer and has been doing that since he was five, that’s not where his passion lies. Plus, stocking stuffers for the video gamer in your life.
moreShare thoughts of holiday season and enter Christmas story contest
moreWelcome to Tuna, Texas. More exactly, “A Tuna Christmas.”
moreFriday, Nov 21 7:30p
at J.E. Broyhill Civic Center, Lenoir, NC
Concert to celebrate the release of her new CD, “Sleepless Nights.“
Gospel Singer Set For Nov. 18 Show In Greeneville. Sweet voice, girl-next-door looks, daughter of a doctor, wife of a Country Music Hall of Fame member.
moreLily Tomlin long ago embraced the unpredictable and the unlikely.
moreHollywood long ago perfected the practice of scaring the stuffing out of us. Just watch 1973’s “The Exorcist.”
Or partake in Abingdon’s Star Museum Stagefright tours. Scheduled for Oct. 23-25 and 28-31, the tours delve into the dark side of Hollywood courtesy artifacts from the collection of spiritualist C. Robert Weisfeld.
Ed and Carol Bowers sing gospel music. Willy Pierce umpires youth baseball. Rick Webb volunteers in the service of children.
Family and friendship tie them together.
And so does Halloween.
Patron Everlasting; “I always close my eyes and dedicate the show to my mom,“ said Sally Struthers.
moreHello?”
Unknown Hinson, please.
“You got him,” Hinson said.
So began an hour-long journey into the whacked out world of Unknown Hinson, “king of country western troubadours.”
The 2008 National Storytelling Festival runs Friday through Sunday in Jonesborough, Tennessee. The weekend-long literary festival features spoken word, call and response and fairy tales for all ages.
moreThe Unicoi County Apple Festival kicks off Friday through Saturday in downtown Erwin. The festivities run from 8a.m. to 8p.m. both days.
moreAbout six years or so ago, Candace Bellamy was doing just fine as a physician. Then, came voice lessons. Simple, right? Only thing, the buoyant Bellamy discovered her talent. That led to a roll in Theatre Bristol’s production of “Hello Dolly!”
moreSummer’s gone yet September sizzles. Symphony of the Mountains opens its 62nd year with a gala at the Eastman Employee Center in Kingsport entitled Sizzling September Night.
moreAppalachian oral traditions of course highlight music.
Music will reside front and center at the Ralph Stanley Festival in Clintwood. Headlined by the John Cowan Band and Abingdon’s Dixie Bee-Liners, the program that runs from Sept. 26-28 also includes Bristol’s Fire in the Kitchen and the Mullins Family Singers.
Storytelling occupies significant space, too, said Aaron Davis, executive director and curator of the Ralph Stanley Museum and Traditional Mountain Music Center.
Barter Theater officially opened its production of the Disney classic on stage in Abingdon Sunday afternoon with a cast and crew who came together for yet another of this season’s truly magical performances.
moreThe Academy of Strings and Bays Mountain Park will present “Bach on the Mountain” Saturday, September 27 at 11:00 a.m. in the beautiful natural setting of the tree-shaded park amphitheater.
moreIf one could peek inside Bill Campbell’s home one would see thousands of CDs and records. Chances are nary a rock album rolls within Campbell’s collection.
Instead, opera rocks Campbell’s world.
Rhythm and Roots may as well be called anything and everything. Well, almost.
moreDock Boggs was a graveyard singer. He sang with a voice as if from beyond the grave – raw and otherworldly.
moreRecall Linda Lavin. Broadway star, singer, theater owner. Oh yeah, and she also starred in the lead role of the CBS hit television comedy “Alice.”
Lavin will perform at the Paramount Center for the Arts in Bristol, Tenn. on Sept. 11. That’s tonight.
Music and fairs fit like blue and jeans.
moreOne of America’s all-time favorite recording acts, the legendary TAMS are coming to the Niswonger Performing Arts Center on Saturday, Sept. 6. The
moreThink 1970s. Blues, country, rock, pop and even gospel intertwined in the styles of such acts as the Eagles and Leon Russell.
Rita Coolidge thrived amid the mix.
Welcome, race fans. Come along for a look at the region’s other calling card, music.
Entertainment does not pause while NASCAR’s rockets cool their jets between races. Try music.
Bristol gifted the world with what has become known as the Bristol Sessions, 1927 recording sessions that spawned the start of the seminal careers of Jimmie Rodgers and Hiltons, Va.’s Carter Family. Blues legend Brownie McGhee grew up in Kingsport, Tenn. There’s much more, but you get the idea.
Now, get the music.
Time marches on. Nearly 20 years have marched on since Tracy Lawrence hit number one with his first single, “Sticks and Stones” in 1991. Several major record labels have come and gone. Hits came and hits went. Personal stability, it’s his. Kids, he has two. So when Lawrence opens the Appalachian Fair in Gray, Tenn., on Aug. 18 bear in mind that life as he knew it in ’91 sure is different than life as he knows it now.
moreSinger Coming to ‘Mountain Stage’ in Bristol
To hell and back. Five years ago, Carlene Carter journeyed deep into the black when one family member after another died. She lost her mother, June Carter Cash, her stepfather Johnny Cash, her half-sister, two aunts and her longtime boyfriend Howie Epstein within an eight-month period.
moreThe 12th UMOJA/Unity festival will take place August 8-9, 2008, on the grounds of Freedom Hall Civic Center in Johnson City, Tn. Friday and Saturday organizers have planned a variety of music, entertainment, a parade and great food. Events are free - and the goal is to celebrate the unity of local cultures. News Channel 11 at noon talks with Umoja organizers Bill Jennings and Tim Swecker about the upcoming events.
moreA local woman is featured in an episode of the Oxygen Network’s series Snapped.
moreThe biggest annual party in Abingdon will begins Friday. The two-week-long Virginia Highlands Festival – celebrating all that is great about this colonial-era town – kicks off with a variety of shows, exhibits, craft demonstrations and more.
moreIf Earth, Wind and Fire started today, no other band would sound like them.
moreFun Fest Kicks Off Friday With News Channel 11’s Morning Edition. We have a full schedule of events for Fun Fest 2008 as well as tickets and registration info inside.
moreA huge tent sprawls across the lawn, covering 1,000 seats and housing the big stage.
moreThe Independence Day Celebration runs all week long. The Bristol Herald Courier, News Channel 11 and Tri-Cities.com complied a list of events happening around the Tri-Cities region. Keyword: “July 4th.“ Did you miss your favorite parade? View the 55th Annual Mack Riddle American Legion 4th of July Parade. Thousands of people lined the streets of Kingsport for the annual Mack Riddle American Legion 4th of July Parade. News Channel 11 aired the parade live from 10am until noon. A myriad of marching bands, performances, classic cars took to the streets. If you missed the fun, the entire parade is just a click away here on Tricities.com.
moreThis Week at the International Storytelling Center: Storytelling Live! with Paul Taylor.
Taylor will be telling stories daily June 24 – June 28 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults; $9 for seniors, students, and children under 18.
Bluegrass. Ignorance relegates it to one pile. One sound. Reality proves otherwise. Take The Grascals and The Steeldrivers. Hear both decidedly different bands during the Earhart Music Festival in Bristol, Tenn. on June 20 and 21, respectively.
moreThe special one-night engagement with teh comedienne and actress who brought to life such characters as the snorting telephone operator Ernestine and fiesty executive secretary Violet Newstead will be held November 8th at 8pm and benefit the Barter Theatre’s Annual Fund For Artistic Excellence.
moreThe Incredible Hulk put the smack down on Kung Fu Panda this weekend. The green machine came in first at the weekend box office, knocking the furry fighter down to number two in theaters.
moreThe Carter County Covered Bridge Celebration is just one of many fun hot spots this Father’s Day weekend. Here are some of the events featured Friday morning on News Channel 11’s Morning Edition.
moreThe 42nd Annual Covered Bridge Celebration events run June 10- 15 in Elizabethton. The festival revolves around the beauty of the Covered Bridge Park, Edwards Island Park (Kid’s Park), and the musical Breezeway. The Elizabethton Chamber of Commerce kicks of the fun Tuesday with the Taste Of Carter County. View program packet information inside.
moreIt’s not a story to share on Mother’s Day, and it’s not one she’s proud of, but Eula Mantz wants to finally make peace with her past.
moreThe Blue Plum Festival invades downtown Johnson City this weekend. Click here for the schedule of music events.
moreLolly Kiser is a grin-a-minute person. Very welcoming. She refers to folks as “honey” or “sweetheart” and such. Really friendly person. But Kiser tightens her straps on the serious at the mention of cystic fibrosis.
moreBorn to boogie. On Feb. 10, 1970, three teenagers stepped on stage in Beaumont, Texas. Built on blues and razor sharp rock, the band boogied hotter than three pawn shop pistols.
moreJoe Diffie looked like a superstar in 1990. An unknown singer who hit number one with his first and third singles, the stars looked golden for Diffie.
moreAlleys are not made for festivals. Flocks of people typically flock elsewhere.
moreJames King paused. Silence on the line. Then came a sniffle and his choked up voice. “I’m going to visit Carter again,” King said.
moreSouthwest Virginia bluegrass singer Ernie Thacker makes a comeback appearance following a car crash two years back.
more
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