"No Dwelling: Homeless in America", Jerry Douglas, "Heart of Wilderness", and UNCG Spring Dance
No Dwelling: Homeless in America
No Dwelling: Homeless in America explores the causes behind homelessness and the toll it takes on those affected. As is quickly revealed in the play, the challenges that homeless people face on a day-to-day basis are enormous and the problem of homelessness is extremely widespread.
Nationally more than half a million Americans experience homelessness on any one given night in this country. Partners Ending Homelessness puts that figure at nearly 1,000 daily in Guilford County alone!
NC A&T State University in Greensboro is doing its part to change that statistic through this informative and artistic production which runs through April 26th in the Paul Robeson Theatre on the campus of North Carolina A&T State University Greensboro. No Dwelling: Homeless in America playwright Miller Lucky is also a professional actor, coach, director, author, and applied theatre and new works scientist. He's joined by play consultant, substance abuse, and human services counselor, Rev. Tyrone Rigsby, and A&T student actors Dominique Williams and Jlaney Jenkins who perform this short spoken word piece from the play.
The play runs through April 26th with evening shows at 7 and Sunday matinees at 3 in the Paul Robeson Theatre on the campus of North Carolina A&T State University, 1601 East Market Street, Greensboro. After the Sunday, April 19th show, there'll be a panel discussion and audience talk back with the playwright, Rev. Rigsby and others.
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Merlefest: Jerry Douglas
This year Merlefest runs from April 23rd through the 26th with close to 120 bands. And we're not talking just ANY bands. These are the best of the best Bluegrass, OldTimey, New Grass traditional music bands in the country: Steep Canyon Rangers, The Avett Brothers, Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn ,The Del McCoury Band, The Marshall Tucker Band, Earls of Leicester, Steep Canyon Rangers, Trampled By Turtles, Sam Bush Band, The Kruger Brothers, The Steel Wheels, Jim Lauderdale, The Honeycutters, Mipso,Wayne Henderson, and Farmer Jason over at the kids tent.
And there's the world's finest dobro player, Mr. Jerry Douglas and his Grammy Award winning band for 2014 Best Bluegrass album: The Earls of Leicester.
The dobro is a guitar you play on your lap. Its typically played with a steel slide, and it has a sound that's kind of like a weeping banjo. You'd know it if you heard it ‘cause the dobro has appeared on countless songs, especially in bluegrass and country music. Based on statistics alone, if you've ever heard a recording of a dobro, there's a good chance you heard it played by David's guest, Jerry Douglas.
Click on Jerry Douglas discography on his website and you'll find 796 albums currently in the Douglas database, but even that staggering number is not complete. Jerry's working on a new album of his own now, and he recently was kind enough to take some time off between mixing sessions at his home studio in Nashville to talk with me about Merlefest's early beginnings, and we began with his decades-long career as a first call studio musician in Music City.
Next weekend Jerry and his band The Earls of Leichester will be performing at Merlefest in Wilkesboro. Jerry's one of only a handful of artists who's performed at the festival every single year since its inception way back in 1988. Merlefest is a celebration of what the late Doc Watson termed ‘traditional plus' music, a unique mix of musical styles based on the traditional, roots-oriented sounds of the Appalachian region…
He and The Earls of Leichester are slated to perform on Friday April 24th at 3:30 during Merlefest 2015. MerleFest is considered one of the premier music festivals in the country, and an annual homecoming for musicians and music fans. Held on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, MerleFest is a celebration of ‘traditional plus' music, a unique mix of music based on the traditional, roots-oriented sounds of the Appalachian region, including bluegrass and old-time music, and expanded to include Americana, country, blues, rock and many other styles. The festival opens on Thursday the 23rd and runs through the 26th with more than 100 bands on 13 stages including a Little Pickers stage for family musicians and kids.
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RiverRun International Film Festival
The 17th annual RiverRun International Film Festival is screening over 165 films, from now through April 26th. You can choose from documentaries, animated shorts, archival screenings, and full length narrative features. One feature screening during their Altered States: New Directions in American Cinema program is Heart of Wilderness.
Heart of Wilderness is a tension filled adventure, filmed amongst the stark grandeur of northern Minnesota. Its a tale of a desperate man in a dangerous situation. If films like No Country for Old Men, Out of The Furnace, or A Simple Plan are your cup of suspense, you might want to grab a seat at one of it's three screenings.
Heart of Wilderness is screening at The 17th annual RiverRun International Film Festival on April 19th at 1pm at a/perture cinema, April 20th at 5pm at Hanesbrands Theatre, and April 21st at 7:30pm at a/perture cinema. In addition, director Towle Neu will be at the screenings, along with co-writer Kevin Burns, producer Mike Forstein and lead actors Patrick Mulvey and Sarah Prikryl.
Eddie spoke with director Towle Neu from his home in Minneapolis
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UNCG Spring Dance
Dance is going in lots of new and interesting directions these days at UNCG, with top notch professional UNCG faculty, visiting guest artists and lecturers from around the country, and returning alumni dancers and educators who share their unique perspectives with students as well.
Spring Dance brings all of those elements together beginning with dance teacher, choreographer, performer and UNCG Associate Professor B.J. Sullivan. B.J.'s choreography has been described as being unique, fluid and physical. Her work goes beyond the sentimental and romantic to give audience members a truly kinesthetic experience. She's joined in the studio by UNCG alumnae and WFU faculty Amy Love Beasley. Amy has two works on the Spring Dance program. Her recent choreography titled Assembly:Buoyancy explores the space between freedom, confinement, release and gravity. This Place is the Place asks questions and attempts to chart a journey through location, identity, states of being and community. Heady stuff, but these are two extremely thoughtful artists who stopped by to share their thoughts on dance and dancing.
Spring Dance 2015 is Friday night April 17th at 8, and Saturday at 2 and 8 on the campus of UNCG.
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