Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts™
State College, Pennsylvania

July 10-13, 2008 ~ Children's Day is July 9, 2008

DAILY SCHEDULES:   Children's Day July 9   ~   July 10   ~   July 11   ~   July 12   ~   July 13

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS ~ Saturday, July 12, 2008

= HOT PICK!
b = Button required for admittance

Youth Stage at Central Parklet

Sponsored by AccuWeather.com
Laura Boswell 2:00 pm
Joseph Dabney 3:00 pm
Julia Voris 4:00 pm

Festival Sand Sculpture
Festival goers can watch something incredible emerge over several from a 25 ton pile of sand in Central Parklet.

Sand sculptor Brad Goll has been “carving” sand since 1985, and through the years has grown accomplished at creating realistic and fantastic figures. In fact, with a record nine titles in the World Sand Sculpting Championships under his belt, Brad is the Lance Armstrong of sand sculpting.

Brad was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and was raised in several parts of the country, thus preparing him for the nomadic life style of professional sand sculpture.

After high school Brad entered the work force in construction, where he earned enough money to move to California. Upon his arrival in California in 1985, Brad soon found his way to the beaches. His first sand sculpture was a foot print, but now after several years experience he is now adept at carving a full human figure.

Brad got involved in sand sculpture through sand sculpting competitions at the beach. After winning numerous contests, it was inevitable that he would become an integral part of early professional sand sculpture. After several years of work experience, Brad along with his two partners formed Sandscapes in 1992. It wasn’t long until Sandscapes had risen to the top of the sand sculpting world.

Even though Brad is busy full time doing professional sand sculpture at fairs, festivals and shopping centers he hasn’t forgotten his beginnings at the beach. Every year along with his partners he competes at the World Sand Sculpting Championship at Harrison Hot Springs in British Columbia, Canada.

The Artists’ Showcase
The Artists Showcase will be held on the plaza of the State College Municipal Building on South Allen Street, and on the Willard Building Plaza on the Penn State campus. Each artist demonstrates for roughly one hour. You’ll enjoy seeing and hearing how some of our talented exhibitors work.

Demonstrations are at 10:00 am, 10:30 am, noon, 12:30 pm 2:00 pm, 2:30 pm, and 4:00 pm and 4:30 pm.

On Saturday, July 12, the Allen Street Stage is sponsored by McQuaide Blasko Law Offices

Songwriting Workshop with Jim Colbert
b 11:00 a.m.; Presby
Sponsored by the Acoustic Brewhouse

State College Area Municipal Band
11:30 a.m.; Shell • concert band
The band was formed in 1967 for the first Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts. It has grown and improved and now lives on as a full-season hometown concert band, conducted by Dr. Ned C. Deihl, familiar to thousands of Nittany Lion football fans as the former director of Penn State’s Blue Band. In the 13th season under Dr. Deihl’s baton, the band plays a great variety of concert band music, and especially delights in pops numbers or light classics. The State College Municipal Band is among the best community bands in the country
• Ned C. Deihl, (814) 238-8187

Rustical Quality String Band
12:00 p.m.; Allen • Appalachian string band
The Rustical Quality String Band has been performing together for more than 30 years. This Festival favorite has played for festivals, happenings, and celebrations of all kinds. Penn State President Graham Spanier frequently sits in on washboard and will do so again this year.
• Celia Millington-Wyckoff, (814) 238-4295

Pennsylvania Dance Theatre
b 1:00 p.m.; State • dance
Pennsylvania Dance Theatre, now in its 29th season, is a contemporary dance company dedicated to the production, creation, and teaching of contemporary dance. The company has performed nationally and internationally, continues building a committed pool of collaborating artists, and also serves as an influential presence in regional arts in education programs.

Pennsylvania Dance Theatre presents AgniMa, a repertory concert with two world premieres featuring original composition of music, original set design, and original choreography by internationally and nationally acclaimed artists.

The name AgniMa is a compilation of the Sanskrit word Agni, meaning fire, and a shortened version of the word Magic. Reflecting the general theme of transformation – as each of the works have been transformed in some manner – new music, new scenic design – or in the case of new choreography – the representation of change and growth, or transformation, after disaster. AgniMa, also carries the double meaning of a play on words of enigma – as transformation is often a mystery.
• Tina Konrath (814) 883-6907

Rick Hirsch & Liquid Jazz
1:30 p.m.; Shell • jazz
While Liquid Jazz is a hard-hitting jazz sextet in the tradition of Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers, its musical turf is broad, focusing on memorable originals and off beat covers. The band’s influences range from Mingus to Miles, from Tito Puente to the Fab Four and from James Taylor to James Brown.

All of the members of Liquid Jazz have performed with numbers jazz luminaries, including Max Roach, Wynton Marsalis, Clark Terry,, and Tito Puente. They are all alums of the beloved Valley Jazz Orchestra: Billy Test (piano), Aaron Kimmell (drums), Jeff Beck (bass), Greg Johnson (sax), Paul Leskowicz (trombone) and Rick Hirsch (sax).

Come join Liquid Jazz for a little bit of funk, Latin jazz, blues, contemporary chamber music, and, of course, a whole lotta jazz!
• Rick Hirsch (814) 867-9935

Fieldstone
2:00 p.m.; Allen • Celtic/Appalachian
Giving Celtic music an artful American twist, Fieldstone mixes traditional Scottish and Irish tuens with Old Time and Appalachian Influences. Drawing from their varied musical backgrounds, the trio moves from Old World to New, incorporating Renaissance melodies with original material, coloring jigs and reels with a bit of bluegrass, offering up fresh versions of centuries old ballads.
• Bekki Titchner (814) 772-8389

Musicians from Music at Penn’s Woods
b 3:00 p.m.; St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church • classical

Straight Drive
3:30 p.m.; Shell • bluegrass
Straight Drive has played at many storied venues, including New York City’s Carnegie Hall, in May 2007. Vocalist Jen Larson has been a guest on A Prairie Home Companion many times. In 2005 the band released, I’ll Take a Page from Your Book.

Eric Himan
4:00 p.m.; Allen • rock/folk (Enjoy Video Below)
When indie rocker Eric Himan’s best friend said “Make the album that’s gonna change your life” the result was his recently released CD, Resonate. Greeted with the great press it deserves, it’s available Borders Books and Music nationwide. Eric was nominated for the New Now Next Award in the Brink of Fame Music Artist category on MTV’s Logo network.

Homecoming Rikshaw Brass Band
Sponsored by Mortgage Source
4:30 p.m.; Festival Route • scramble band
Homecoming Rikshaw Brass Band is a New Orleans style “street band” inspired by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and Kermit Ruffins’ Rebirth Marching Jazz Band. Band leader and former San Francisco and New York City bike messenger Dr. Chris Byrne combined his love of music with his love of cycling and rigged his pedacab to make HRBB the first such band to march with a regular drum set. HRBB features Phil Jensen on tuba, Chris Gamble, Duane Bullock, and Grace Byrne on trombones, Derek Kirschner and Chris Byrne, saxes, Derek McDonald, trumpet, and Ronnie Burrage, drums. Kevin Gombotz will provide the pedal power.

Last Train Home
5:30 p.m.; Shell • roots/rock/country
"One of the country's most formidable roots-rock bands." That's the assessment of the music critic for the Nashville newspaper, The Tennessean. Now in its 11th year of making great music, Last Train Home continues to prove the truth of that assessment with every live show and each new release.

Named Washington DC's "Artist of the Year" in 2003, Last Train Home has since relocated to Nashville and is making big waves in Music City with its powerfully evocative roots-rock music. Part country, part rock, part blues, bluegrass and even a little Tin Pan Alley, Last Train Home has spent the better part of the past five years as a full-time touring band.

Led by Eric Brace, a former music writer with The Washington Post, the band has become a must-see live act. In 2005, they performed on the CBS Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, and on the acclaimed public radio show, Mountain Stage."

Folk Musician Jam
5:30 p.m.; Park • folk
Folk musicians will have a chance to jam at the Festival on Saturday, at the Accu-Weather.com Youth Stage in Central Parklet. This jam session is produced in cooperation with the Acoustic Brew Concert Series. So, bring your guitar, fiddle, or banjo and come downtown and enjoy the fun.

Deirdre Flint
Sponsored by Appalachian Ski & Outdoors
6:00 p.m.; Allen • folk/satirical
No two ways about it, Deirdre Flint is a perennial favorite with Festival-goers. With songs about cheerleaders, the metric system and past life regression, Deirdre's music and humor land her at the intersection where folk music and stand-up comedy collide. Since her first CD, The Shuffleboard Queens was released, she has toured the country, performed at Kerrville Folk Festival, Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, the Kennedy Center, and World Café. Her second CD Then Again proves that she is a major talent to be watched. The New York Times, USA Today agree with Billboard Magazine when they speak of Deirdre...."This is grown up satire with a non-cynical wink and easily more compelling than so much that reaches the million-selling mark.”
• Deirdre Flint (215) 668-6472

Entrain
Sponsored by the Penn State Alumni Association
7:30 p.m.; Shell
Epic in sound and kaleidoscopic in vision, the eclectic Martha's Vineyard-based six-piece band Entrain has been thrilling critics and fans alike since its founding in 1993.

Entrain has recorded seven albums, all of which have been praised for their ability to shift effortlessly between musical styles - from rock, blues, calypso and ska, to zydeco, jazz and funk - often within the same song."The whole Entrain concept is based around the drums and infectious rhythms. Once we've got that.... anything goes, everything goes," explains group founder Tom Major. Entrain's latest record Entrain 7-Just a Matter of Time! has enjoyed heavy rotation in such trendsetter markets as Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New England, Upstate New York, Aspen, Santa Fe, Houston, Cincinnati, and Nashville, among others.

Since its inception, Entrain has jammed with the likes of singer/songwriter James Taylor, Grateful Dead Alum Bob Weir and rock legend Bo Diddley, Not to mention amateur saxophonist and former professional Leader of the Free World President William Jefferson Clinton. If you’ve never been to an Entrain show, you’ll soon know why Entrain is an enormously popular live act.

Jonathan Burns
b 7:30 p.m.; Mem • vaudeville/comedy
Originally from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Jonathan Burns has performed magic, stunts, and comedy across the country, including at First Night® Annapolis. Not a run of the mill saw a show girl in half magician; Jonathan was graduated from Millersville University in 2004 with a degree in Art Education. However, there will not be a test at the end of the performance. He’ll mesmerize you, astonish you, and best of all, keep you laughing.

Paragon Ragtime Orchestra presents The Clown Princes
B 8:00 p.m.; Schwab
Sponsor: The Schreyer Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Penn PAT

Take a trip back in time to the era when Schawb Auditorium was a new building. Automobiles weren’t commonplace, air travel was unheard of, and Penn State’s enrollment was measured in hundreds not in thousands. Movies were silent, and the soundtrack would have been provided by a live orchestra, large organ, or in smaller communities, a piano.

We are especially delighted to present silent films by Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and Buster Keaton — the three most popular and influential comedians of the silent film era. As they were when they were first released the films will be accompanied by a live orchestra. The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra will perform the music especially written for each of the films when they were released in the early twentieth century. The evening will be a rare treat for the Festival audience.

The visual quality of silent movies — especially those produced during the 1920s — was often extremely high. From the beginning of the Silent Film era, the musical accompaniment was regarded as an essential part of the performance.

The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra is the world's only year-round, professional ensemble re-creating "America's Original Music" - the syncopated sounds of early musical theater, silent cinema, and vintage dance. Since its debut in 1988 at debut at Alice Tully Hall - the first concert ever presented at Lincoln Center by such an ensemble, hen Paragon Ragtime Orchestra has appeared at hundreds of leading arts venues, including the Ravinia Festival, the Smithsonian Institution, Chautauqua, the Brucknerhaus (Austria), the New York 92nd Street Y, and the American Dance Festival.

In addition to its worldwide concert hall, university, and festival appearances, the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra has acquired a considerable following both here and abroad through its radio programs on the New York Times' WQXR, National Public Radio, the British Broadcasting Corporation, and the Voice of America networks. Since 1989 the Walt Disney Company has relied on the Orchestra's recordings for the outdoor theme music heard at Main Street, U.S.A. at Disney Land, Disney World, and Euro Disney.

Over the years the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra has been heard on the soundtracks of several motion pictures and television programs. The Orchestra's audio and video recordings have been widely praised, and considered instrumental in rekindling interest in America's rich traditions of theater, cinema, and dance orchestra music.

Paragon Ragtime Orchestra's performance sponsored by:
   
       

This project is partially supported by a grant from Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour, a program developed and funded by The Heinz Endowments; the William Penn Foundation; the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency; and The Pew Charitable Trusts; and administered by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation.

Jukebox the Ghost
8:00 p.m.; Allen • pop/rock
If one day you woke up and Schoolhouse Rock had become an actual band, it would be Jukebox The Ghost. A group of George Washington University alums, Jukebox the Ghost plays tuneful yet erudite rock that's playful, without lapsing into the cloying. The songs are largely piano centered numbers that leap cheerfully from track to track with a youthful innocence that's infectious without seeming to try too hard. Jukebox the Ghost is a trio featuring Ben Thornewill, Tommy Siegel and Jesse Kristin. Chemistry, talent, skill (OK, and hard work, too) are the key ingredients to Let Live & Let Ghosts, the band’s first album. Thornewill's piano work and spirited songwriting marry brilliantly against Tommy Siegel's grainy guitar style. Even without a bassist, Thornewill adapts the piano rhythmically against Jesse Kristin's punchy drumming.
The trio has been building momentum since selling out their first headlining show in Washington, D.C. earlier this year. With music that's dynamic and often delightful...the band demonstrates ingenuity to match its ambition.” - Washington Post

Trout Fishing in America
B 9:30 p.m. Memorial Field
Three time Grammy Award nominee Trout Fishing in America is the long-standing musical partnership of Keith Grimwood and Ezra Idlet. The name, taken from an early Richard Brautigan novel, seems almost as incongruent and intriguing as a picture of this musical duo - Idlet (guitar) stands six feet nine inches and Grimwood (bass), five feet five and one-half inches.

Trout Fishing in America has an impressive body of work. The newest release, Grammy nominated, My Best Day, was recorded before a live audience sponsored by the Arkansas Educational Television Network. The songs on the album cover a range of topics and themes, from odes to friends whom we love despite the fact they talk too much to snowflakes named Bob.
www.troutmusic.com

Cloverleaf
10:00 p.m.; Allen
Cloverleaf is a piano driven rock band which formed in the summer of 2005 in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. In 2006 they were selected as a quarterfinalist in MTV-U’s Best Music on Campus contest, and in 2007 they were chosen to appear on the MTV Campus Invasion Tour. Their EP, Spectrum, was released in March 2008.

Velveeta
Sponsored by the Penn State Alumni Association
10:00 p.m.; Shell
Velveeta the cheese food is a staple in the dairy case at fine supermarkets across the country. Developed in 1918 by Swiss immigrant Emil Frey of the Monroe Cheese Company in Monroe, New York, Velveeta is a quintessentially American consumer product. Velveeta, the musical phenomenon, has been a staple of the central Pennsylvania nightclub scene since a legendary performance in State College in the summer of 1995. With a repertoire made of “80’s cheese”, otherwise known as cover tunes that you just can’t get out of your head, Velveeta the musical phenomenon is a quintessentially Penn State musical experience. It will make you nostalgic for the early days of MTV.

DAILY SCHEDULES:   Children's Day July 9   ~   July 10   ~   July 11   ~   July 12   ~   July 13

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