Next week’s grand opening that gets underway at 6:30p.m. will include holiday entertainment and the official lighting of over 1 million lights by Mayor Johnny Piper. Special guests including Santa Claus, the Channel 4 News Snowbird, Charlie Brown and Mrs. Tennessee International Cydney Miller will be at the ceremony to visit with the children.

Christmas on the Cumberland officially opens November 24 and runs through January 1. It will be open to the public nightly from 5-10p.m. and 5-11p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Admission to the event is free.

Walking through a garden of holiday lights...

Santa Claus will be at Christmas on the Cumberland visiting with from the children every night from 5-9p.m. and on Fridays and Saturdays from 5-10p.m. with the exception of December 11 and 12.

This year’s Christmas on the Cumberland will feature two nights of family fun in Santa’s Workshop. On December 18 children and parents can come and decorate their own Christmas cookies supplied by Kroger. Children and their parents can return the following night on December 19 to create wooden Christmas ornaments with materials provided by Lowes Home Improvement. Participation in Santa’s workshop is 6-8p.m. or until supplies run out. in the RiverWalk Museum.

Visitors can also enjoy performances by local dance academies during Christmas on the Cumberland. On November 27 Christy’s Dance Connection, Natalie’s Dance Network and Acro Dance Express will perform beginning at 6p.m. Lana’s Dance Center will perform November 28 at 6:45p.m.

Christmas on the Cumberland is presented by the City of Clarksville and is sponsored by Wendy’s, The Leaf Chronicle, Charter Communications, Clarksville Family Magazine, WJZM, Lamar Advertising, TVClarksville.com, Q108 FM, The Beaver 100.3 FM, Eagle 94.3 FM, and Z97.5 FM, among others.

For more information on Christmas on the Cumberland visit www.christmasonthecumberland.com or call Clarksville Parks and Recreation at 931-645-7476.

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The fund-raiser will feature Eric “The Preacher” Yow’s Trick Shot Madness – An Artistic Pool Show. Eric Yow is ranked 4th in the World in Artistic Pool Shooting. He is a multi-talented Clarksville resident. He is lawyer with a the Goble law firm, a Preacher, and a world class Artistic Pool Champion. He will be performing perform his impressive and, often amazing trick shot demonstrations beginning at: 11:00am, 1:00pm and 2:00 pm. There is no admission charge to watch the demonstrations.The Operation Turnaround program has been operating for four  years and was the brain-child of Officer Tony Marshall. It targets troubled youth and gets them involved in a myriad of different programs. Many of the youth in the program have been in some sort of trouble with the law and are mandated to enter the program. There are others which are referred to the program because they are on a pathway which may lead them into the judicial system.

Operation Turnaround sponsors many different programs such as: youth football teams, basketball, cooking, sewing classes, auto body painting and repairs, mentoring classes, and the list goes on. The purpose of the program is to provide life skills to the participants, as well as positive role models to influence their lives.

Photo Gallery

Eric “The Preacher” Yow performing in 2008

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It’s the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, and this strange parade of pilgrims can mean only one thing – Bread and Words. For the last 15 years, the University’s languages and literature department has hosted the benefit reading and dinner, showcasing the school’s literary talent while raising money for the local Loaves and Fishes soup kitchen.

The readers at this year’s 15th Annual Bread and Words Benefit are (from left) Chris Burawa, director of the APSU Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts, Barry Kitterman, APSU professor, Ashley Wakefield, graduate student, Bethany Ann Cooper, undergraduate student, and William Boakes, graduate student. (Photo By Charles Booth/APSU Public Relations and Marketing)

This year’s Bread and Words event begins at 6 p.m. on Nov. 24 with a dinner of soup, artisan bread and a few desserts provided by Lovin’ Spoonful and Silke’s. An hour later, APSU faculty and students head to the front of the ballroom to read from their work. This year’s readers include Barry Kitterman, an APSU professor and novelist; Chris Burawa, an award-winning poet and director of the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts; graduate students Ashley Wakefield and William Boakes; and undergraduate student Bethany Ann Cooper.

Guitarist Chuck Emery and saxophonist Tony Greaves will also provide music during the evening. The languages and literature department is seeking only a $5 donation for admission into Bread and Words, with all proceeds going to Loaves and Fishes.

For more information, contact Susan Wallace at or 221-7031.

The goal of the conference is to bring together the key green jobs as pathways out of poverty players from around the state along with key partners to create a strategy plan in support of a Green Jobs Corps in Tennessee (Friday). To educate and inspire the public and our allies about the green jobs movement nationally and locally (Saturday). Lastly To encourage youth to become actively involved in the green movement (Saturday).

Registration

Follow this link for registration. Register early and save money. Early registration deadline is November 20th.

Schedule

Friday, December 4th, will be Strategy Day. A networking session will be held for people who are working to bring green jobs to their communities.

• 8 am to 9:30 am: Breakfast meeting with Apollo Alliance
• 10 am to 5 pm: Strategy Session for Green Jobs Activists
• 5:30 to 7:30 pm: Green Jobs Reception at LeQuire Gallery

Saturday, December 5th will be People’s Day, with speakers, workshops, films, music, poetry and other activities centered around the movement for green jobs in Tennessee.

• 8:30-9 am: Registration, coffee
• 9-9:30 am: Music, Welcome
• 9:30-10:45 am: plenary Green for All, Apollo Alliance
• 11am-12pm: Workshops
• 12-1:15 pm: Lunch, Youth speaks performance
• 1:20-2:20 pm: Plenary
• 2:30-3:30 pm: Workshops

They will also have a Youth Track that will feature special youth workshops and performance by Youth Speaks of Nashville. It will run concurrently with the above schedule on Saturday.

Speakers

There will be several prominent speakers attending the gathering:

• Julian Mocine-McQueen of Green For All;
• Ron Ruggiero of the Apollo Alliance;
• a representative from PolicyLink;
• a group of activists from Asheville, North Carolina.

Mocine-McQueen will be speaking on Saturday, December 5th, in an afternoon session.  Individuals interested in attending this part of the gathering only have to pay $5, and again, this fee can be waived for economic hardships.

The aforementioned speakers are at the forefront of the movement to bring green jobs to low and moderate income communities.

For more information contact4  Sekou Franklin at (615) 300-6566.

Al and Emily Cantrell

Contra dance refers to several partnered folk dance styles, in which couples dance in two facing lines. A caller guides new and experienced dancers through a variety of dances. A dancer and his or her partner dance a series of figures, or moves, with each other and with another couple for a short period of time. They then repeat the same figures with the next couple. In the late 17th century, English country dances were introduced to French court dancing. The merging of the two styles resulted in contra dance. Eventually, it was westernized in the United States, giving way to the popular square dance.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Cantrells in the Robert Redford film "A River Runs Through It"

The Cantrells have been touring their original folk and bluegrass music in concerts and festivals since 1985. They have recorded CD’s with Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas and Mark Schatz of Nickel Creek. Emily and Al were hand-picked by Robert Redford for his film A River Runs Through It. Previously, the Cantrells instructed a workshop at the Customs House on the history of Tennessee music.

Susan Kevra began calling and teaching traditional dances in 1991. She has worked throughout America and across the Atlantic. She is a member of the English Country Dance Band and author of “Trip to Phan Reel” and “The Country of Marriage.” Susan resides in Nashville, where she teaches at Vanderbilt University.

The Customs House Museum’s Harvest dance is funded in part from a Tennessee Arts Commission grant. Ticket prices are $25 for couples and $15 for individuals. Tickets for the event can be purchased at the door on the night of the dance. The Customs House Museum is located at 200 South Second Street in historic downtown Clarksville. Museum hours are 10 am to 5 pm Tuesday through Saturday and 1 pm to 5 pm on Sundays. Admissions for entry are $5 adults, $4 Senior citizens, $2 college students, $1 ages 6 – 18, and free under age 6.

When a group of wind musicians approached Richard Strauss in the early 1940s about writing them some music, the German composer apparently created one of the “most difficult pieces ever written for wind instruments.”

The Gateway Chamber Ensemble

The Sonatina in F, known informally as “From an Invalid’s Workshop,” is so challenging, professional orchestras and college wind ensembles typically stay away from it.

“It’s never played,” Gregory Wolynec, APSU professor of music, said. “I have it in my office. It’s a rental, and the last date the score was rented out was 1982.”

But then one night earlier this year, Wolynec and several friends huddled around a table at a nearby restaurant, discussing complicated wind arrangements. The group consisted of APSU faculty members and professional musicians from around the region, who, for the last year, have performed together as the Gateway Chamber Ensemble.

Their conversation that evening soon turned into a contest on who could find the most difficult wind piece available. When it was all over, they had committed themselves to performing a wind serenade concert at APSU featuring Strauss’ notorious “From an Invalid’s Workshop.”

“It’s ridiculously hard, and we’re going to do it on two rehearsals,” he said. “Not one member of the ensemble has ever played the piece. Not one member of the ensemble has ever heard the piece live.”

But this is nothing new for the group. For the last year, they have located difficult, rarely heard works, and after studying and rehearsing the music in their own time, the members come together to successfully present these pieces to the local community. And on Monday evening, the Strauss work will be one of three demanding compositions the audience will hear. The ensemble also intends to tackle an overture by Rossini and Dvorak’s Serenade in D minor for winds.

“It’s a program of three very challenging, but approachable works,” Wolynec said. “The great thing about the ensemble is everyone’s prepared, everyone shows up wanting to play literature they don’t get to play anywhere else and we put on a world-class performance.”

Monday’s concert offers Clarksville residents an opportunity to hear top musicians perform rarely heard masterworks. The show is free for APSU students, $8 for adults, $5 for students and senior citizens and $20 for a family of four. For more information, contact Wolynec at 221-7642 or .

When you think of hunger and poverty, a lot of people think about 3rd world countries and they may not be aware that right here in Clarksville, Montgomery County we have a big need.  There are many people who are hungry, and although we have several local programs like Urban Ministries Grace Assistance Food Pantry, Loaves and Fishes (Soup Kitchen), FUEL and others, the need is still great. Agencies have reported close to a 40% increase in the number of persons they are serving, up from last year at this time. According to the USDA, over 36 million Americans are food insecure…and just do not have enough to eat.

Empty Bowls

Last year the First Annual Clarksville Empty Bowls initiative raised over $ 10,700 helping raise awareness about hunger issues and putting food on the tables of many local families. Much of the Clarksville community pitches in to fill the Empty Bowls. Local restaurants supply the breads, churches provide desserts, and local businesses and others donate funds for the ingredients to make the homemade soups that are served at the supper.

The 2010 Empty Bowls event will be held on Tuesday, February 23, 2010 from 4:30-7:00 pm. at the Waterstreet Events Center on Riverside Drive in Clarksville.  More than 500 bowls have been made and donated for the upcoming soup supper by artists from the Tennessee Association of Craft Artists, APSU Art Dept. students and local citizens.  A silent auction and a few other fundraising efforts at the event will all go towards supporting Loaves and Fishes, United Methodist Urban Ministries-Grace Assistance Food Pantry and the F.U.E.L program, local programs feeding Clarksville’s hungry.

Organizers plan to serve 500 at the 2010 Empty Bowls Event. There will be plenty of comfort food for everyone. This year there are plans to have crafters on a potter’s wheel crafting bowls while soup is being served and local musicians providing entertainment.

Sponsors, donations for soup ingredients and volunteers are needed. For more information, contact Rita Arancibia at 931-551-5450 or e-mail: rita.. Tickets will go on sale in mid December.

Photos from the 2009 Empty Bowls

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The two wars cast a long shadow over those who survived. It changed who they were and how they saw the world. For two composers, the Hungarian Bela Bartok and the Russian Dmitri Shostakovich, the horrific times also forever transformed the music they created.

“They were very affected by what’s going on, and it was coming out in their music,” Dr. Jeffrey Wood, Austin Peay State University professor of music, said. “They’re violent pieces. They’re aggressive to the point of almost being primitive, barbaric. I sense the war very close to the surface.”

Wood also found the music to be elegiac and beautiful. And he felt now was the time to share these works, and what they represent, with the community. At 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 17, he’ll perform a selection of Bartok’s and Shostakovich’s music at the APSU Music/Mass Communication Building Concert Hall, titled “In the Shadow of War: Currents in 20th Century Music, 1910-1950.”

“It struck me about the possibility of doing a recital using pieces that were, in a sense, written in a shadow with the war as a dominant thing,” Wood said. “We’re right now in this weird state culturally where there is a war going on, but you sure wouldn’t know it. Less so in this community because there’s a greater immediacy, but there has been a tendency to ignore it because it isn’t the size of either World War I or World War II.”

The concert, as arranged by Wood, tells a sort of story of the times. It opens with the Bartok piece “Four Dirges,” which, though it was written in 1910, hints with its dark themes of the atrocities to come. The program consists of two pieces by each composer, and ends with the Shostakovich work, “Prelude and Fuge in D minor,” which was written around 1950.

“‘The Prelude and Fugue’ is very triumphal in a way,” Wood said. “It’s as if he’s saying in spite of everything that’s happened you haven’t got me yet.”

Wood admits the pieces aren’t easy on the listener. They reflect a sadness and fear prevalent in those days, but he defends them as not only moving and beautiful, but culturally significant.

“War impacts our culture whether we acknowledge it or not,” he said. “These two composers were looking at the world around them without blinking, something I sometimes think we don’t do enough of.”

The concert is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Wood at 931-221-7819 or .

“I’m curious about the ideas and emotions this landscape doesn’t care about, but is necessarily shaped by – both literally and figuratively,” he said. “This ambivalence hurts my ego because it ignores the language that it has become in my mind.”

This is what the artist ponders as he touches his brush to a canvas. The works he’s created through this contemplation will be on display this month with the Trahern Gallery’s new show “Dermabrasion: Exhibition of Works by Warren Greene.”

“These paintings are landscape paintings, but they are also figurative paintings.  These surfaces on each piece are worked and reworked with enough repetition they almost go off on their own if it weren’t for the regularity of the actions of my trowels, brushes and sanders,” Greene said.

“In the end, they form a kind of corpus, composed of sometimes translucent and other times opaque skins that sometimes hide and other times reveal. The forms they create on the surface seem to emerge both organically and synthetically.”

Greene, who earned his Master of Fine Arts from the Memphis College of Art, has made a name for himself in recent years, with numerous exhibitions of his work at venues such as Memphis’s Perry Nicole Fine Art Gallery, the Dixon Gallery and Gardens and Lyon and Lyon Fine Art in New Orleans.

In addition to these exhibits and his teaching duties, Greene has curated innovative shows, such as this fall’s “Jettison: New Ideas in Abstraction,” and he’s conducted several lectures at colleges throughout Tennessee. His work is found in the collections of Debbi Fields, Paragon National Bank and US Bank, among others.

His exhibition opens at 7 p.m., Nov. 9 with a reception. It runs through Dec. 2, and the pieces in “Dermabrasion” are for sale.

For more information on this show, contact the APSU Department of Art at 931-221-7333.

The dedication ceremony will take place at 10:30 A.M. at the Montgomery County Courthouse, 1 Millennium Plaza, in Clarksville TN. The public is invited and encouraged to attend the dedication free of charge.

The project was made possible by donations from the members of Beachaven Garden Club, Sandra Watson, President; Clarksville Garden Club, Pat Arendt, President; and Les Candides Garden Club, Edith Hudson, President. We want to show our deep support and appreciation of those who have defended our freedom in the past, those who are at great risk in defending us today, and those who may do so in the future.

The Blue Star Memorial Program of the National Garden Clubs, Inc., began in 1945 to honor the men and women serving in the Armed Forces during World War II. The name was chosen for the iconic Blue Star appearing on flags and banners displayed in homes, churches, and businesses to honor sons and daughters away at war. Garden clubs envisioned a ribbon of living memorial plantings traversing every state. The designation of Blue Star Highways was achieved through petitions to state legislatures and through cooperation with Departments of Transportation. A uniform Memorial Marker was designed to identify the highways.

The Blue Star Memorial Program has grown to extend thousands of miles across the continental United States, Alaska, and Hawaii. Markers continue to be dedicated each year, not just on highways but at veterans’ facilities, National Cemeteries, parks, and civic historic sites. The Memorial Markers are a fitting tribute to show our appreciation for the men and women in our Armed Forces who fly our skies, sail our seas, and guard our shores, service members who stand ready at a moment’s notice to defend our country.

Annette Shrader, Chairman of the BSMM Dedication Committee, started this project in Clarksville last year. Annette is Past President of the Tennessee Federation of Garden Clubs, Inc., Past Director of TFGC District II, and Past President of the Clarksville Garden Club.

For more information about the Blue Star Memorial Program, visit the National Garden Clubs website at www.gardenclub.org under Special Projects.

This production stars Justin Barnum as Stanley Kowalski and Alicia Kelly as Blanche DuBois, with Chase Kamata (Stella), Brendan Cataldo (Mitch), Linda Speir (Eunice), Phil Perry (Steve), Jay Doolittle (Doctor) and Judi Sinks (Nurse). Webb Booth, Hugh Poland and Jacob Ritchart play newsboys.

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE runs through November 21, playing Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7pm and Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, with a 2pm matinee on Saturday, November 14.  Regular priced tickets are $15 (adults) and $10 (ages 13 and under), and may be purchased online at www.roxyregionaltheatre.org, by phone at (931) 645-7699 during regular box office hours (9am-2pm, weekdays), or at the theatre.

Due to strong language and sexual content, this production is rated “M” for mature audiences.

Festivities begin at 4p.m. Local businesses will have booths along Franklin Street from 4-7p.m. where kids can trick-or-treat safely with the supervision of their parents.

Costume contests begin at 5p.m. Costumes will be judged in several age categories including Babies, Toddlers, Kids ages 5-8, Pre-teens ages 9-12, Teens ages 13-17, Adults ages 18-54, Seniors ages 55 & up and Dogs. All costumes should be in good taste and appropriate for a family event.

Among other activities, is the Pumpkin Carving and Painting Contest. Adults and children are invited to attend the Downtown Market on Saturday, October 24 where they may purchase and decorate pumpkins to enter into the contest. The carved and painted pumpkins will be displayed throughout Franklin Street businesses where they will be judged. The Carving and Painting contest is divided into several categories: Painting for ages 1-3, Painting for ages 4-6, carving for ages 7-9, carving for ages 10-13, carving for ages 14-17, carving for ages 18-54 and carving for ages 55 and up.

This is sure to be a night of frightful fun for everyone! For more details on the event and information about being a business vendor, contact the Clarksville Parks and Recreation Office at 645-7476 or visit www.cityofclarksville.com/parksandrec.

He used these macabre terms recently to describe the University’s annual Percussion Ensemble Halloween Concert. For the last 25 years, this strange blend of music and mayhem has set the mood for the October holiday, and it’s proven to be wildly popular among Clarksville residents.

“It’s a very family-friendly concert, and it’s always a sell-out,” Steinquest said.

At 6 and 8 p.m. this Friday, APSU musicians will once again don costumes and perform a mix of Halloween music in an eerily decorated concert hall inside the Music/Mass Communication Building.

The 2008 Percussion Ensemble Halloween Concert

The evening begins with “This is Halloween,” from the Tim Burton-produced film “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” It’ll feature the APSU voice faculty, including Gail Robinson-Oturu, Sharon Mabry, Doug Rose, Tom King and Korre Foster.

“There is scary classical piano music by Bela Bartok and creepy orchestral music by Hector Berlioz arranged for the ensemble,” Steinquest said. “The voice faculty may be forced into playing a life-or-death game show during the Berlioz!”

If they survive, the show will continue with a strange, robotic piece, titled “Starship Groove,” and “two violently percussive ensembles,” Steinquest said, known as “The Doomsday Machine” and “Ku-Ka-Ilimoku.”

“But ‘Mist,’ a beautifully haunting all-keyboard piece, acts as a counterbalance,” he said.

This year’s performance marks the concert’s 25th anniversary, but Steinquest is still hesitant to give away too many details about the show. He likes to keep attendees guessing from year to year as to what elaborate costume he might be wearing.

“It’s a bigger secret than anything from Dan Brown’s latest novel,” he said. “You’ll just have to come to find out.”

He did, however, let slip that the two big drumming apes from last year, Chris Brooks and Chris Crockarell, might make an encore appearance. He also said the show will close with “Above,” a song by the Blue Man Group, featuring APSU music professor Stanley Yates on electric guitar.

Admission to the Halloween concert is two cans of food, which will be donated to Loaves and Fishes, or $3. For more information, or tickets, contact the music department office at 221-7818.

Images from the 2008 Halloween Concert

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Visitors will be taken back to the earliest days of Port Royal by hearing a first hand account by long hunter and settler John Montgomery. They will then continue on their journey through time by meeting various residents from the 1830’s through the 1920’s, all have their unique stories to tell. Afterwards there will be hot apple cider, and other refreshments, as well as a bonfire to huddle around and swap stories with present day locals! The event is free and open to the public. This is the perfect fall evening outing for the whole family.

A tour listens to one of the re-enactors tell his tale

Located in Adams, Port Royal was the site of one of the earliest colonial communities and trading posts in Middle Tennessee.  It was first settled in the early 1780s, and also served as a Longhunter camp as early as 1775. The town of Port Royal was founded in 1797 and rose to great prominence in the early part of the 19th century because of its strategic location at the head of navigation on the Red River, serving all of northern Middle Tennessee and South Central Kentucky. Port Royal became the only stop in Tennessee on the “Great Western Road” stagecoach line between Nashville, Tennessee, and Golconda, Illinois, and served as such until the 20th century. In 1977, the state of Tennessee received the deed to 26 acres of land at Port Royal and designated it a State Historic Park in 1978.

Port Royal State Park is the second Tennessee State Park to be named an official site on the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, joining Red Clay State Historic Park in Bradley County.   This park is a satellite of Dunbar Cave State Park.  For more information about the park, please visit www.tnstateparks.com/PortRoyal.

For more information or questions about this event and the park please contact Port Royal State Historic Area at 931-358-9696

Photo Gallery

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