Americana In-the-Round: Free Live Music at the Main Library

I love live music. There's no crying in baseball, and there's no faking in live music. To sound good, you simply have to be good.

So with that, StarCityFAME is excited to be going to the Roanoke Public Main Library on Jefferson Street tomorrow night (June 16th) where Emerging Artists will be presenting "American In-the-Round" on the Patio from 6PM to 8PM.

The performers are folk and country artists of the down-home-bred type, a genre called "Americana." We will be catching three such performers, who will be taking turns throughout the night with songs answering songs back and forth until time runs out. That's a neat way to share stage billing.

I looked up each artists' websites to check out their music and was pleasantly surprised at the maturity of songwriting and singing talents they possess. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's show!! (Hey, I'm a 80's hair-band fan, okay? It's taking me a while to get acclimated to the folk-bluegrass-country thing down here in SW Virginia. Wanna see my spandex?)

Emerging Artists' Program Developer River Laker has given StarCityFAME the green light to run footage of the event. I am hoping we can get great audio as that has been a bummer for us due to the authorizations needed for tapping into a live sound board. Perhaps we may get that okay this time around. Now THAT would be AWESOME!! (Keeping my fingers crossed...)

Here is a line-up of tomorrow night's artists (Bio's posted courtesy of their websites):

Jonathan Byrd - http://www.jonathanbyrd.com/

A native of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Jonathan grew up singing in the Southern Baptist church, where his father preached and his mother played piano. After four years in the Navy, he returned to Chapel Hill to play in rock bands in that legendary underground music scene. A friend of Jonathan's invited him to an old time fiddle festival in the mountains of southwest Virginia, where his writing began to change. Assimilating the sounds of southern traditional music, Byrd wrote new songs in an ancient style.

Doug and Telisha Williams - http://www.dandtw.com/

With their open, inviting personalities and intriguing stage presence, the duo is quickly growing their fan base. First timers at their live shows feel like old friends and part of the family after just a song or two. A single set of their music can bring audience members to their feet in applause, to their knees in prayer, and back to the bar to buy another beer.
Married and living in southwest Virginia, they tour constantly around the South and up into the North, crossing ever-widening boundaries with every step.

Danny Schmidt - http://www.dannyschmidt.com/

Austin, TX-based singer/songwriter Danny Schmidt is a writer's writer, with a lyrical depth drawing comparisons to Leonard Cohen, Townes Van Zandt, and Dave Carter. Upon winning the prestigious Kerrville New Folk award in 2007, Sing Out Magazine tagged Schmidt "the best new songwriter we've heard in 15 years." Just one man sitting alone on stage with his acoustic guitar and his poetry, in the timeless troubadour tradition, his musical influences draw from deeply-rooted Appalachian mountain gospel to haunted English balladry, from syncopated Piedmont country blues to vagabond 60’s protest folk-stumpery. But it all boils down to just great songwriting, in a singular style all his own. Not to be missed.

Okay kids... and grown-ups... See you there!!!
(Remember: The evening's performance is FREE!!! There will be refreshments, also. WHOA!!!)

Roanoke Local Colors Celebrates its 19th Year!!

This past May 16th, we once again witnessed the amazing Local Colors Festival at Elmwood Park in beautiful Downtown Roanoke, VA. Led by Founder and Executive Director of Local Colors, Pearl Fu, this annual festival is an internationally recognized cultural event. It is also one of the largest and most anticipated events held in Roanoke.

Pearl began Local Colors 19 years ago and it has grown from four participants in the parade to 89 countries this year. The opening ceremony, before the Parade of Nations, saw each country's members lining up all around the amphitheatre area and winding around the park in vibrant hues of their representative nations' customary and traditional garb, carrying the flags of their native or ancestral lands - a glorious sight to see and acknowledge that people the world over feel priviledged to make a new life here in the greatest land on earth and still can be proud of their heritage as well.

Ms Fu explains on its organization's website, "Local Colors highlights the ethnic and cultural diversity of the Roanoke Valley. It has opened the minds and hearts of many, enriching the quality of life for all who have been part of it."

The annual Local Colors has been documented as a Local Legacy and awarded an Outstanding Event in Southwest Virginia by the Library of Congress. It draws crowds of up to 30,000 - which is an amazing feat for a one day festival - and it is easy to see why. Under the directorship of Ms Fu, this event is spectacular! She personally "enlists" new entries continually throughout the year (and I feel obliged now to consider joining too as a representative of Hungary).

There were many world dancers, singers, and musicians on stage after the Parade of Nations. This year, Local Colors incorporated an International Fashion Show to the repertoire. Visitors were entertained for six hours as well as educated in facts of each nation's backgrounds while the weather cooperated as if out of respect for such an enormously important day to Roanokers and fans from all over.

Star City FAME ran footage of much of the day's celebration and thank Ms Fu for granting camera access to the Local Colors Festival. Below is a short video collage of the Parade of Nations and we will bring you more highlights of this beautiful event shortly, so stay tuned!!

See you around Roanoke!!

Festival in the Park - Memorial Day Weekend

First, Happy Memorial Day to you all!! Thank you U.S. Veterans everywhere - and you are everywhere on this planet keeping us safe here at home. Thank you for your past and present sacrifices, which are heroic and successful efforts - always!

This weekend in Roanoke, EventZone is bringing us its 40th Festival in the Park to celebrate Memorial Day with a BANG!! We have been so fortunate not to have the rain that was expected the whole weekend, and the festivities are continuing without being rained out. (Hopefully, we'll be spared today too!)

The good people at EventZone graciously allowed me at Star City FAME and Hans Moore of AhhaPictures to run around Elmwood Park and film some of Saturday night's highlights of the festival. Many thanks to Debbie McClure and Larry Landolt, VP and Executive Director respectively on the EventZone Board of Directors, for giving us permission to run footage. We will be presenting the video here and on YouTube as fast as we can edit it... so stay tuned for that!!

ALSO - EventZone is always looking for volunteers to help with their many events and festivals throughout the calendar year. The people of Roanoke have so many opportunities to be of service to our wonderful city. By assisting with EventZone functions, they are strengthening Roanoke's desirable offerings to visitors and area dwellers alike. Plus, it is hands-down the most fun you can have while volunteering!!

So far, this weekend has brought us acts from around the nation and locally. Beginning on Thursday, May 21st, Cox and Q99 sponsored 12 O'Clock Knob, the Jordan Harmon Band, and tribute band Bruce in the USA. WDBJ7 and Star Country presented Grant Randolph and the Allstar Band, Jamie O'Neal, and Jason Michael Carroll on Friday. Saturday's show, which Hans and I attended and shot video (for all you folks!!), featured Blues Agents, Az Izz, and Dickey Betts and Great Southern, sponsored by Bud Light and WROV.

Last evening, I volunteered at the stage for a super terrific show, sponsored by radio station Star Country 94.9FM. It was "Unplugged" and very personal! Trent Tomlinson opened the show, followed by the fabulous Heidi Newfield, and closed with Jimmy Wayne.

(Trent Tomlinson - Image courtesy Katiedid at wikipedia.org)(Heidi Newfield - Image by Brian Tipton, courtesy comt.com)(Jimmy Wayne - Image by Brian Tipton, courtesy cmt.com)

Roanoke is always pleased to be visited by wonderful artists - and I'd like to thank them all for bringing their tour through our fine Valley, as we are particularly supportive of the Arts here in Roanoke.

Tonight, to close the Festival's Memorial Day weekend shows, Kroger, Oakey's, and Q99 will sponsor local studio (and now performing) act Aamen, Anders and Brown, and 1964: The Tribute. Hope you can make it to the Park!!

... see you around Roanoke!!

Hello and Welcome to Star City Fame

Well, here we go. My name is Ron Bergeron, a long-time musician and songwriter who has had to wear corporate hats for over 3 decades. The past several years took me from my home state up in Central Noizee Joizee to a small and unique Metro area in SW Virginia that looked something like the North Counties of my old state, except the cost of living here is about 1/2 or better in this beautiful Blue Ridge region.

That's my story in a nutshell. I didn't need to roam around much while I was working as an IT consultant, but soon as that project was through, I had to get out of my house a little more often, other than driving to the airport. (By the way, if you've never flown in or out of Roanoke Regional Airport, you have got to do it. It's breath-taking to see the mountains surrounding this valley.)

I had little occasion to run Downtown or go into SW County or to shop at the malls (which I don't really do anyway because I prefer buying from non-chain businesses). Once I got to know a few people and had some things to do about town, I quickly realized that Roanoke had tons more things available for its residents than most of the large cities I've lived in and around in the Tri-State NYC area. How could that be possible???

Obviously, the exception would be Manhattan. Otherwise, the next closest "town" or city I can compare Roanoke to would be something like New Brunswick, NJ... but only because they have a younger university population, the county seat, lively night life, huge medical facilities, arts organizations and a theatre (not a movie-house). The landscape does not have similarities. But as for action, I can go there and not get bored.

Roanoke is working on having its own teaching hospital from what I understand, with Carilion. So, while we have no formal UNIVERSITY, we do have nearby Roanoke College, Virginia Tech, Radford University, and local learning centers like Virginia Western, National College, Roanoke Higher Education Center, and more. We're not slacking in education, and we have major players in Roanoke as far as employment and technology.

To rattle off a few, the Roanoke Valley is home to Norfolk Southern Railroad, Carilion Healthcare, ITT, General Electric, Lewis-Gale Medical, and a host of logistics companies, like FedEx, UPS, and other major common carriers. We have some of the area's best sound local banks. We also have huge financial and insurance institutions. Appalachian Power is one of our biggest energy companies. We have several communications services as well, one being Cox Communications which brings many of us our cable TV, internet and telephone services. I am a customer of theirs, but I am also a long-time customer of Verizon, which continues to be my wireless provider. (Geez, did I just make it sound like... "yep, we got electric.")

Real Estate is what brought me here originally. Home prices compared to the NY-Metro area is a difference that can take you out of a cottage and put you into a brand new golf course mansionette... if you do it right.

What Roanoke shouldn't be lagging in, though, is its young residents. I keep hearing stuff about how we can't hold onto our young people. Young adults leave their roots all over. It's not an uncommon phenomenon. But young people also come back after getting their fill of big-city life. Right now, with the economy being stale everywhere, work is going to depend on education level more than ever, I believe. And Roanoke is not the backward town that some outsiders might mistake it for. Far from it.

YEP. WE GOT ELECTRIC...

Roanoke. Downtown is a place that reminds me of the mid-60's Main Street shopping era. I loved it then, and I love it now. Feels like home to me. I like to shop at stores where I know the owner's name. People are so worried about sales reps remembering their customers' names. Anybody can do that. Do YOU know your shopkeeper's name? How many store owners do you know personally? Have you ever thought they might be residents of your town? That they are not the big-box alterers of the landscape and rather care more about your purchase than how many cheap widgets they can ship in a marine container for a bigger profit?

That's the guy and gal I'm talking about.

Is that classic? Is that somehow "retro?"

I'm thinking, we need to see the forest from the trees. All the global-mindedness ain't gonna happen on some blanket pulled over the earth, even if that blanket is our great friend, the internet. Reach out and actually touch someone, please. Do it often. Get out into the air. Walk, bike, or drive to somebody's real life thing.

Fun happens offline. You can do Meet-up, Twitter, Facebook, and all that, to see what your friends and co-workers are doing... and go. You can peruse The Roanoke Times, City Magazine, The Roanoker, whatever, for what's going on out there... and go.

Go. Go. Go.

Get out and do something because there's TONS OF STUFF TO DO ALL OVER ROANOKE!!Free stuff. Group stuff. Alone stuff. Volunteer stuff. Participation stuff. Creative stuff. Sit and watch stuff. Walk, bike, hike stuff. Cruise-around in your car stuff. Sports stuff. Kids stuff. Senior stuff. Civic stuff. Shopping stuff. Entertainment stuff. Learn-how-to-do stuff. Crafts stuff. Mentor stuff. Food stuff. Party stuff. Teach stuff.

And events galore!!! I had no idea how many events go on in the Greater Roanoke Valley, from Downtown Street festivals to Regional Music festivals. So if you are not sure where to go or to find out what's going on - definitely click on any of the linked words here in this post. And come on back to the Star City Fame blog so you can find out more about events and organizations (to get you going) in this l'il old town that isn't so little.

Okay, that's it for now. I just wanted to share with you how much I really dig being a resident (and taxpayer since it helps make this the city and county it is) of Roanoke...

And now that Star City Fame is getting rolling, you'll see some more stuff back here to give ya's a well-rounded idea about this multi-faceted Valley.

PS - The flowers are blooming!!!