Marginal Arts Festival & Other Early March Events…

Hey guys, its that time of year again! The Marginal Arts Festival is set to start on March 3rd and run through the 8th taking place all throughout the town. Here’s a list of some things taking place that week, some Marginal and some you should just know about period!

 

What’s there to do on a Tuesday? How about a show at the Bazaar?! On March 1st Roanoke folk duo the Delta Function play the popular venue with two acts from Richmond. Andy Cobb of the Itchy Hearts will be performing as a part of his tour. Also along for show will be the River City Ramblers (not to be confused with Roanoke’s own Riverbank Ramblers). This show will start at 9pm and cost you $5, get there early!

 

On Thursday (3/2) the Awful Arthur’s at Towers brings the Holy Ghost Tent Revival to Roanoke. The North Carolina band has earned quite a reputation scoring spots on many top shows and festivals including last year’s Floyd Fest. Known for their energetic shows, harmonies, and on stage banter the group is quite a sight to behold! Doors open at 7pm with the actual show starting at 9pm, 21 and up only.

 

On Thursday, March 3rd, the Unicorn Stables Project will host their exhibit and Marginal Arts Festival contribution: Secret Histories of a Space Age. Here’s a description straight from the unicorn’s mouth…

“An interactive performance and visual arts event documenting mankind’s illustrious past of space exploration. Secret Histories of a Space Age delves into all of our final frontiers. It shows us where we have boldly gone and where we hope to go. This is the history of all of us; real or imagined, fan-based or original. Let us freeze dry all our food and pretend there is no gravity and try not fall into black holes.
So say we all!”

This event starts at 5pm and runs til 9pm, all are welcome!

 

 

Also on Thursday is Philosophy, INC Probes Roanoke event at the Taubman Museum of Art. In what some are viewing as the first time the museum is embracing its role as a community forum for the arts. Showcasing local artists, outsider art, local celebrities and the avant-garde of Roanoke. The goal for all of this is to bring together many diverse types of the Roanoke community and have local artists portray how they see the community. There will be many different kinds of fun activities for all including Roanoke band the Circus Practice playing around 6pm. This is a Marginal Arts event. Starting at 6pm on March 3rd this exhibit will run the whole month at the Taubman.

 

Adding to the events kicking off the Marginal Arts Festival is an event hosted by the Elanor D. Wilson Gallery at Hollins University. Drive By Press is an artistic venture taken on by Greg Nanney, Joe Velasquez and their 14th century printing press. The two have been on and off the road since 2005 taking their printing press all across the nation to share art with various communities. For those who get to witness this undertaking learn about the history of printmaking and get a piece they can call their own. These demonstrations will start the 3rd & 4th at 10AM. Lectures on printmaking and the history of Drive By Press will start on the 3rd & 4th as well at 3PM.

 

Rounding out the Thursday happenings is a non-Marginal Arts show. Roanoke favorite Another Roadside Attraction will be playing Studio Roanoke with Michiganders, Jake Simmons & the Little Ghosts. This show should be a fun one as Another Roadside Attraction always manages to provide a good time! Starting at 8pm and only costing $5 at the door!

 

 

Kicking off the Friday events for all things Marginal is the Labyrinth Revue! Taking place at the Metropolitan Community Church of the Blue Ridge the revue features an eclectic line-up of local and national artists. Featuring Mark Perry of Heevahava, No Shame Theatre, Another Roadside Attraction, the experimental poets known as the Be Blank Consort, jazz & classical music by Music After Midnight musicians, Cathy Fisher & Mo Aulick, Carol Burch-Brown & Ann Kilkelly and singer Sidney Vaught. The performance will start at 7:30pm and run til midnight.

 

Also on Friday at the Bazaar local hip-hop artist Fiyah Works will perform with producer/DJ, Magnetic. Known for her sass and energy as a performer Fiyah has developed a large-sized online following through Facebook and Reverbnation. Come out to the Bazaar on Friday the 5th and find out why. Show starts at 9pm, $3.

 

 

Starting the Saturday MAF events is the 3rd Annual Marginal Arts Parade starting at noon. The parade will be starting at the intersection of Campbell and 2nd downtown in front of Community High. Parade organizers invite everyone to join this parade procession, just show up in front of Community High at 11am. Their will be special guests accompanying the parade route this year which the Marginal Arts are proud to have along, the Bread and Butter Puppet Theater Group. If you are interested in volunteering the puppet show needs thirty volunteers alone! This is said to be a great time with the route ending at the Taubman Museum of Art where the Absurdist Street Carnival will greet paraders. For those with little ones feel free to bring them out and follow the parade down to the carnival where there will be many fun events for all ages. Some of these activities include an inflatable bouncer, Stuffed Animal Re-purposing station, visual poetry station, a Cabaret Voltaire sound booth, puppet-making station and more! Performers include Staten Island performance artists Day de Dada, Fluxus artists Keith Buchholtz and Reid Altenus, Bread & Butter Puppet Theater Group, U.K.-based performance artists Zierle & Carter and the Post-NeoAbsurdist Anti-Collective performing traditional Punch & Judy pieces. Feel free to dress to your oddest and come out to celebrate the arts with the 3rd Annual Marginal Arts Parade & Absurdist Street Carnival! It all starts at noon!

 

 

Also while you’re at the parade/carnival make it a point to swing by the Shadowbox‘s Community Bake Sale! Starting at noon come and enjoy baked goods made by your community at reasonable prices. Feel free to donate any baked good of your chosing to go towards the sale. Also feel free to stop by and volunteer you time! The proceeds go toward a special project the Shadowbox is trying to put together for Roanoke. All unsold baked goods will be donated at the end of the event.

 

Later on that evening join the Shadowbox crew as they present one of the worst horror films ever made, Troll 2. Known for being nothing like the first Troll because this sequel features goblins instead of trolls that are from the town of Snilbog (goblins spelled backwards) no less! This film is full of laughs although they may be unintentional. Written and directed by Italians, delivered in broken English by Americans and featuring dwarfs in burlap sacks with latex goblin masks this film easily deserves a viewing! So visit the Shadowbox during the day for their bake sale then stick around for Troll 2! This “film” starts at 8pm.

 

Adding to Saturday’s huge line-up of events is one of the few non-Marginal activites that night. Roanoke locals Life In A Foxhole celebrate their newest release at Grace Covenant Church. Joining them on the bill will be Atlanta, GA band Listener, Nancy & 2 Meteors and the John Barry Conception. Titled the “March Mustache Stache Bash” and set to start at 7pm, $5.

 

Also join the Unicorn Stables Project that Saturday for Sci-fi themed live model drawing. Come draw from life and enter contests to win prizes! There’s a $7 entry fee for the evening but speaking from past experience at the Unicorn Stables its totally worth it! Starts at 7pm and runs til 9pm.

 

To round out Saturday’s massive amount of madness is a reading of John M. Bennett’s newest book Textis Globbolalicus. This will not be a normal reading however, the group will be reading in their own language of sorts called Globbolalia. Be prepared for something that makes no sense at all! Members of the Post-NeoAbsurdist groups from all around the U.S. will be there reading from the book. There will also be performances by Post-NeoAbsurdists as part of the Flux-Mazz event at the Labyrinth space for the Marginal Arts Festival. This event is taking place at the Metropolitan Community Church of the Blue Ridge starting around 3:30pm and runs all throughout the evening.

 

Thanks to Jovan Rahsman of roanoke revolution for the awesome new felt header at the top of our page!

Some good ways to spend the end of February!

On Wednesday (2/23) Roanoke local band Savannah Shoulders is set to perform acoustically on WSLS 10 at 12pm in promotion of their debut full-length “Another Light”. The following night the band will be performing at Kirk Avenue Music Hall in support of their album as a part of the High School Night performance series. This show is set to start at 7pm and costs $5.

 

This Thursday (2/24) the Surf N Turf Grill on Grandin Rd. will be hosting its second poetry slam. The rules will apparently be the same as they were before. Best out of three rounds of turns wins $20. Head on down to the Grandin Village on Thursday at 9pm to check out and try your hand at the poetry slam.

 

On Friday (2/25) the Bazaar on Brandon Rd. will host the Watershed Conspiracy with the Riverbank Ramblers. With both bands hailing from Roanoke this will be an all local all roots revival show. The two bands tend to take old time music and put a punk feel to it making it a bit modern with respect to the traditional. Come on down to the Bazaar and check out these two great groups! Starts at 9pm and will cost you $3 at the door.

 

Also on Friday (2/25) Roanoke locals Nancy & 2 Meteors headline a ska show at JELP Studio. Playing on the bill will be Bedford ska-punk band That Band With the Fat Kids and Richmond’s own ska/reggae group Murphy’s Kids. This show will be a good one for those lovers of ska still out there! The show starts at 9pm and serves as the opening of the JELP Art Gallery on Kirk & 1st, downtown.

 

In Blacksburg on Friday (2/25) local favorite Nash Smith & the Ganges celebrate the release of their newest cassette tape! Playing with them will be fellow Blacksburgers Samantha Mulder and DJ May. This show is taking place at Champ’s in downtown Blacksburg at 9pm.

 

On Saturday (2/26) Lynchburg two-piece the Late Virginia Summers headlines the Bazaar on Brandon Rd. With them will be Charlottesville’s Manorlady along with Boone, NC band Easy Company. Also playing will be Roanoke local turned Boone resident and Personal Records member, Arte Povera. This should be a good show for those who like ambient folk influenced music that’s a bit experimental to boot! This show starts at 9pm and costs $5.

 

On Sunday (2/27) Nancy & 2 Meteors score the classic Fritz Lang film “Metropolis” live at Studio Roanoke. Nancy will be putting a different spin on the film venturing away from the film’s original score. Come out to see this it will be a great time for all! Starts at 8pm, don’t be late!

 

 

 

Join us next week as we give you the very busy list of Marginal Arts Festival activities going on around town as well as show, films and events that are happening in the area! Stay tuned!!!

Mid February Events

We hope everybody had a great/terrible/okay/lonely/lovely Valentine’s Day! Now that its past us let’s look forward to the future, say this week?…

 

 

Kicking off our list of Friday happenings is the Shortwave Society performing at Dogtown Roadhouse in Floyd! Part electronic, part acoustic, part orchestral and all pop this eclectic group from Knoxville put on quite a show. I saw them at last year’s Floyd Fest and thought they were one of the better acts to play the bigger stage. The string arrangements are worth going for alone! Make it a point to head out to Floyd on Friday night, catch the Jamboree, head to Dogtown, grab a great wood fire oven pizza and enjoy the sounds of the Shortwave Society. Show starts at 8pm.

 

Also on Friday (2/18) at the Bazaar on Brandon Rd. the Circus Practice and local magician Nelson Oliver put on a special birthday bash! The Great Aquarius Birthday Bash will be celebrating the birthdays of Bazaar owner Jamie Booker, Circus Practice member Sarah Garrison and local craft maker/lover of music Cat Conover. The admission is $3 for Aquarius people and $5 for the rest of us. I hear there may be a Scorpio revolt in the parking lot! Starts at 9:30pm.

 

To round up what’s happening on Friday is Another Roadside Attraction playing at Village Grill. Starting at 9pm and running late these folks have enough material to keep you entertained and rocking all night. One of the most eclectic and original bands in Roanoke and worth stopping by for a while if not the whole performance. Go to the Grill and grab one of their wraps (I suggest the SouthWest with Buffalo Chips) with a Roanoke Railhouse and check out Another Roadside Attraction! Its FREE!!!

 

On Saturday the Bazaar hosts yet another awesome show of the weekend with the Bastards of Fate and Mount Pleasant/D.C. band Frau Eva. Frau Eva is an orchestrated folk rock band which has been playing shows since 2008. Come and welcome them to their first show in Roanoke! Stick around for Roanoke’s own Bastards of Fate! This show starts at 9pm and is $5 at the door.

 

That same Saturday in Floyd at Dogtown Roadhouse/ Sun Music Hall is Morwenna Lasko & Jay Pun. Combing elements of folk, jazz and funk the duo have been playing together since their college years. Graduates of Berklee College of Music and classmates of Esperanza Spalding, St. Vincent and Elizabeth & the Catapult this duo will play starting at 9pm and run late with the cover being $10.

 

On Monday at the Shadowbox 1986 cult classic horror Maximum Overdrive will show at 8pm. This movie was written and directed by Stephen King based on his book of the same name. Starring Emilio Estavez and… others this film tells a story of 18-wheelers that come to life to destroy humankind under the influence of a comet. Check out the hilarious trailer above and notice the Green Goblin grill on the truck towards the end of the trailer! 8pm sharp!

 

Also on Monday in Charlottesville one of my favorite New York bands comes to the Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar. The Beets headline the show while getting support from Junk Culture and Teen Dreams. This show looks to be a good line up and is worth the drive to Charlottesville. Presented by local radio station WTJU 91.1 and booking agency Holy Smokes. This show is set to start at 9pm, $7.

 

We’ll see you next week!!!

Valentine’s Day Week & Weekend

This Tuesday (Feb. 8th) the downtown Roanoke Public Library will feature another installment of their series Emerging Artists, this time in collaboration with multimedia group “mediumless“. Mediumless is a collective of Lynchburg artists from different backgrounds ranging from photography to play writing. This event will take place on the Howery Mezzanine with Lynchburg instrumental surf rock band Alaska providing the music. The evening will showcase mediumless members Rhonda Glick, Jake Siner and John Gosslee. This event starts at 6pm costing you nothing and providing you with free refreshments!

 

Also on Tuesday is another great show at the Bazaar! Roanoke locals the Situationist head the bill while Rochester, NY group Attic Abasement opens. This is a great pairing of bands and should not be missed!  Starting at 9pm this show only costs $5, perfect timing for those who are also attending the library event. Catch two shows in one day! While you’re at it take a look at Attic Abasement’s video for their song “A Werewolf” HERE. The above photo of the Situationist’s Geoff Conley was taken by Kent Moore.

 

Playing from February 9 til the 20th Studio Roanoke presents the New Testament. Written and directed by Kenley Smith this play serves as the third and final part in a trilogy of plays by Smith shown at Studio Roanoke. Containing adult language and brief nudity intended for mature audiences only. Dates and times are listed in the flier above, for contact info to reserve your seat call 540-343-3054 or order your ticket online HERE.

 

On Thursday (Feb. 10th) Grandin Village restaurant Surf N Turf Grill will host a poetry slam. Starting at 9pm this will be a competition… for poetry. Hey its $20 to whoever wins out of three rounds! So who cares, go tell some poetry and win some cash. That $20 could go toward a crabby paddie or a couple of nice tall pints from one of their many taps! Get there early to sign up and review the slam rules.

 

Also on Thursday is a show to be excited about… in Charlottesville. Blacksburg’s Wild Nothing is sharing the bill with L.A. group Abe Vigoda at the Trinity Irish Pub. Both bands were voted in the Top 50 albums of 2010 by Pitchfork. Opening the show will be Blacksburg’s Hoop Dreams featuring former members of Wild Nothing. Presented by Charlottesville based promotional group Holy Smokes. Doors open at 7:30pm.

 

 

On Friday (Feb. 11th) the Bazaar hosts two out of town acts. Richmond’s Ryan B. & the Dead Sea and Uncle Bengine & the Restraining Orders. Come out for a night of folk, roots and rock starting at 9pm and costing you $5!

 

Also at the Bazaar on Saturday (Feb. 12th) is Roanoke group the John Barry Conception. Opening for the guys will be South Carolinian singer/songwriter Julie Slonecki. This is sure to be quite the fun show featuring a Roanoke band you don’t get to see quite as much. Make sure to come out early in order to catch both acts! This show starts at 9pm and costs $5.

 

On Sunday (Feb. 13th) the Shadowbox is showing what some consider to be the definitive Jean-Luc Godard film. Breathless (A Bout de Souffle) is a film about a boy from Paris involved in a life of crime and a girl from America oblivious to his dark side. When she discovers what he’s been up to the relationship starts to crumble and turns to betrayal. Truly a masterpiece and one of the gems of the French New Wave film period! Make sure you make it out to see this one! Starting at 8pm and running til 9:30pm.

 

That same Sunday at Martin’s Downtown is the Illbotz CD release party! Celebrating their newest album titled “Pudding is Delicious” this show will feature Roanoke heavyweights the Bastards of Fate. Also playing will be Richmond pirate party band Craptain Jack & the Schmees. The Illbotz will be selling their new CDs, shirts, stickers, pudding and prison tattoos! Starting at 9pm, don’t miss it!

 

Some call him odd, others call him drunk but most call him Roanoke filmmaker Charles E. Cullen. Join the host of local public access show “Chicken Chat” as he presents to you the “Theatre of Doom”. Along with Cullen and company will be local magician/illusionist Nelson Oliver. Described as a “two hour decent into madness” don’t miss this show! Taking place this Sunday (Feb. 13th) at Studio Roanoke’s Guerrilla Playhouse at 8pm, $5!

 

 

Charlottesville radio station WTJU 91.1FM will be holding its annual week long fundraiser starting February 14th and running til February 20th. The “2011 WTJU Rock Marathon” will feature not only blocks of different genres of pop rock but will also give tribute to essential labels and artists throughout the decades. Also this week will feature a different Charlottesville area band playing live in studio every night! The bands playing live in studio will be Borrowed Beams of Light, Andrew Cedermark, Left & Right, Dzian!, Sarah White & the Pearls, Cosair and Invisible Hand.

 

On Valentine’s Day the Unicorn Stables Project present to you the “Valentine’s Day Art Extravaganza”! The evening will include classical Greek Mythology drawing of live models from 7:30-9pm and a party from 9pm til 11pm. Throughout the evening you can expect glitter, performance, crafts, contests, music, treats, love and dancing! Some fun activities include a toast with Bacchus, an anti-Valentine’s Day celebration in the “Hades Room”, body-building tips from Greek heroes and trying to score Aphrodite’s number. Music provided by DJ Joneski with visuals by Mateo Marquez. You can enjoy all of this for $3-$5 and your ID. Above flier art by Mateo Marquez.

 

We hope you all have a great Valentine’s Day and we’ll see you next week!