Studio Virginia

Studio Virginia airs Thursdays at 7:30 pm

DECEMBER

12.28.02 - On our Christmas show last year, WVTF's Sean Tubbs spoke to Eletha Bolden of Roanoke's Harrison Museum of African American Culture about Kwanzaa, the year-end celebration that has become more prominent in recent years.:

12.14.02 - This week's show features an "artists survival kit" of sorts, as various artists talk about ways they make money while pursing their craft. Plus, a discussion with well-known landscape and wildlife painter Terry Isaac.

12.7.02 - Grundy-born author Lee Smith talks about her new novel, "The Last Girls," and about growing up in Southwest Virginia. Plus a look at great book ideas for Christmas gifts and a literary critique of the Harry Potter phenomena from a Ferrum College Professor.

NOVEMBER

11.30.02 - This week's show features the other-worldy sound of the Tallis Scholars, a Renaisance singing group that's touring the state, and part two of our interview with Blacksburg author and art critic Suzi Gablik.

11.23.02 - Author Tom Orrell talks about his Civil War-era book set in the Shenandoah Valley, Shenandoah Whispers and Echoes. Also a sneak preview of a new film about Lewis and Clark, and a Harrisonburg musician looks to make his mark in the Big Apple.

11.16.02 - On this week's show, we'll have an interview with a man who lives and breathes Elvis Presley. Keith Brown is a Roanoke "Tribute Artist" who may soon be headlining his own show about The King. Plus "Elvis 101" at the University of Virginia, and a modern day Indiana Jones talks about his work for National Geographic.

11.9.02 - This week's program features a local folk music group that mixes a number of styles with a dash of humor. Also, a rare violin concerto is finally performed. And the "neon man" helps light the way at the newly re-vamped Grandin Theatre in Roanoke.

11.2.02 - George Butler who studied fiction and earned his masters degree at Hollins College in Roanoke during the 1960s, recently returned to his alma mater to screen "The Endurance" for students and answer questions about his profession. Deirdre Quinn, a 1993 graduate of Lynchburg College returned to her alma mater to talk about her Hollywood experiences.

OCTOBER

10.26.02 - This week's guest is Karen Adams Sulkin, a former features writer for The Roanoke Times, who now writes short stories from home. Her specialty is stories dealing with ghosts. Also, for Halloween, a showing of the 1925 film, "Phantom of the Opera" at Greene Memorial United Methodist Church.

10.19.02 - The Grandin Theatre is ready for the curtain to rise once again, a year after the Roanoke landmark went dark...plus the Virginia Film Festival, and Staunton's Statler Brothers bid the country music world farewell.

10.12.02 - This season Roanoke Symphony Orchestra Music Director and Conductor David Wiley is turning the spotlight on a handful of Roanoke Symphony Orchestra members as they take solo turns...several for the first time. Two of them, piccolo and flute player Julee Hickcox and bass player Bleda Elibal, joined us recently along with Joe Cobb, director of marketing and public relations for the RSO.

10.5.02 - This week's guests are best selling author Adriana Trigiani and art critic Suzi Gablik, who has written a book about her journey through the art world. Also, a peek at the Blue Ridge Writer's Conference to be held next weekend in Blacksburg.

SEPTEMBER

9.28.02 - Gene Marrano interviews Roanoke native and jazz singer Rene Marie, who appeared at the annual Taste of the Blue Ridge Blues and Jazz Festival in downtown Roanoke's Elmwood Park. Plus a snapshot from the Floyd World Music Festival, delivered by Joanna Roufa.

9.21.02 - This week's guest is Judy Larson who exits as executive director of Roanoke's Art Museum of Western Virginia this month to take over directorship of the Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. Also on the show: a preview of Floyd's World Music Festival.

9.14.02 - Gene Marrano interviews Judy Clark, western Virginia director for Young Audiences, a statewide program that brings artists and musicians of all stripes into Virginia's schools in an effort to spur student interest interest in the arts. Jenefer Davies-Mansfield, director of the Roanoke Ballet Theater and a Young Audiences performer, also takes part in the discussion. Cara Modisett interviews musician Curley Ennis, who is performing at Floyd's World Music Fest, and Charlie Perkinson previews the Taste of the Blue Ridge Blues & Jazz Festival.

AUGUST

8.31.02 - The Roanoke Rescue Mission's "Soup, Soul and Salvation," the Roanoke Ballet Theatre's aerial ballet performance, and acoustic blues musician Scott Perry, performing at the World Music Festival in Floyd.

8.24.02 - The first in a two-part series about the Roanoke Rescue Mission. Last year, the Roanoke Rescue Mission opened an art gallery in Tanglewood Mall to help raise funds for its outreach programs. Mission officials say that "Art on a Mission" has been a huge success. We'll take a look in this first of a two-part series.

8.17.02 - Another visit to Garth Newel Music Center; learn how volunteers work to maintain the Appalachian Trail; and a review of Solazo, a five-piece Latin American band performing at the World Music Festival in Floyd.

8.10.02 - Feature on the play, "Kin," by Jeff Barker, which focuses on Carrie Buck and the eugenics movement. Also a story about the Commonwealth Performance Series at Blackfriar's Playhouse in Staunton.

8.3.02 - Cara Modisett visits the Garth Newel Music Center in Bath County, Virginia, where chamber music is performed in an unusual setting - a barn. She'll be talking with young musicians participating in Garth Newel's annual chamber music summer program at the beginning of the program and at the end. This will be the first of two reports. One of the hottest toys in Europe and Japan is virtually unknown in the United States. But a new exhibit at the Science Museum of Western Virginia is dedicated to showing off "Kapla" blocks. These long, thin wooden planks can be stacked to create everything from sculptures to spirals to steeples. Dutchie Hughes takes a tour. In 1884, one American and four Scots designed a 35 acre, nine hole golf course on a secluded estate in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. Little did they know that Oakhurst Links was the first course to be built anywhere in the United States. Gene Marrano talks with Vikki Keller, co-author of a new account of the construction of the historic course.

JULY

7.27.02 - Puppets with Pizazz, Summer Music Games, Virginia Highlands Festival

7.20.02 - Over 80 works of folk art from the collection of William and Ann Oppenheimer are on display through September 29 at the Art Museum of Western Virginia. Cara Modisett will talk with director Judy Larson about the exhibit and about folk art. And a tour guided by Piedmont Arts Association Assistant Director Anne Frazier and look back at the history of the Piedmont Arts Association in Martinsville, where three new art exhibits open this weekend.

7.13.02 - George Garrett, Poet Laureate of Virginia

7.6.02 - Floyd Festival, John Henry, Fair & Tender Ladies, & Matt Labarge

JUNE

6.29.02 - Wintergreen Performing Arts, Stick to Your Guns, & Cruisin'

6.22.02 - Copper, Blue Ridge Dinner Theatre, and Highway Child

6.15.02 - James River Batteau Festival, Merry Wives of Windsor, and author Phyllis Lee Levin

6.8.02 - A lesson in Feng Shui, and the Roanoke Chapter of the American Guild of Organists

6.1.02 - Charlottesville's Second Street Gallery, youth radio project, and Jay Purdy's radio diary

MAY

5.25.02 - Salem celebrates its bicentennial, and poetry from inmates at the Botetourt Correctional Facility

5.18.02 - Author David Baldacci

5.11.02 - A conversation with Amherst County painter and sculptor Ed Dolinger; a preview of the Titantic memorabilia exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Transportation, the renovation of the Paramount in Charlottesville and the (New Dixie) Theater in Staunton; and an essay on the importance of music from Albemarle High School junior Sarah Bush.

5.4.02 - Studio Virginia celebrates its first anniversary with a look back at earlier features and interviews. We also talk with the creators of Blackbird, a new online journal being produced by Virginia Commonwealth University and the New Virginia Review. Click here for the Blackbird journal.

APRIL

4.27.02 - A conversation with Baxter Black, cowboy poet and former large animal veterinarian. Black talks about overcoming shyness, his introduction to public radio, and his new collection of poetry.

4.20.02 - Hosted by students attending the National Youth in Radio Training. Inn to Inn Walking along the New River Trail in Southwest Virginia, a new mural in Roanoke stirs up controversy, filmmaking at Hollins University, and Highlander Records celebrates the 100th birthday of American composer Richard Rodgers.

4.13.02 - Three writers from the journal Artemis read their works, a preview of the 2002 Open Studios tour in Roanoke, a profile of the Human Hands exhibit at the Kluge-Ruhe Collection of Aboriginal Art in Charlottesville.

4.6.02 - Roanoke artists and cultural organizations have their legal questions answered, quilting at the Jefferson Center, and mountain music meets Jewish fiddlers.

MARCH

3.30.02 - A look at two Acapella groups at Roanoke College, the roots music of Cowboy Celtic, Depression-era art at Lynchburg College's Daura Gallery, and Innocence Lost II in downtown Lynchburg.

3.23.02 - Sounds from the Virginia Festival of the Book in Charlottesville. Featured authors include Maria Arana, Grace Simpson, Robert Sanabria, Carl Clark, Susan Tyler Hitchcock and Christopher Phillips.

3.16.02 - A talk with Kentucky writer Silas House, the author of Clay’s Quilt. A talk with Sandy McAdams, the owner of Daedalus Books in Charlottesville.

FEBRUARY

2.23.02 - A profile on Bedford's Little Town Players, a new arts center is planned in Charlottesville, the grand-daughter of a Confederate General speaks in Lynchburg, and how Virginia artists use mp3.com to expose people to their music.

2.16.02 - A preview of the Kimoyo celebration being held at Roanoke's Shaftman Hall, Studios on the Square reopens on Campbell Avenue in downtown Roanoke, Danville storyteller Fred Motley reads a story, and a tribute to the late guitarist John Jackson.

2.9.02 - A preview of Lexington's Chocolate Festival, Buchanan poet Keith Cartwright reads three selections, a visit to the Maier Museum of Art on the campus of Randolph Macon Woman’s College in Lynchburg.

2.2.02 - A talk about writing with Radford University English Professor Tim Poland, a preview of Charlottesville's Midnight Ramble film festival and a new production of Death and the Maiden in Radford.

JANUARY

1.19.02 - Lexington composer Terry Vosbein on a new composition, Singer-songwriter David Ranson of New York City returns to Lynchburg for a one-night show, and Roanoke, a preview of a Charlottesville tribute to Martin Luther King Jr, and an essay from Roanoke musician Bill Hudson about the future of the recording industry.