4 WCC CAMPUS VOICE - APRIL 26. 2000
Modeling his invention, "Thundeiwear," Holt uses
bodyslapping rhythms to create an entire percussion
section. PHOTO: ASHLEY BARNES
Holt sings, plays
10 instruments
to wow audience
By ASHLIE BARNES
What 4-time grammy award-
winning entertainer, famous for
his tales, ballads, and tunes
accompanied by his talents on a
variety of musical instruments,
gave a free concert February 24,
at 7:30 pm in WCC’s Lecture
Hall?
David Holt, musician,
storyteller, historian, and
television host who entertained a
full house at WCC,and also
performed for students at Fremont
STARS, February 24, and
Grantham School, February 25.
The concert was sponsored by
grants from the Weil Rosenthal
endowment of the WCC
Foundation and the Community
Arts Council.
Judy Lewis, music teacher in
the Wayne County Public school
system, and Marshalle Lewis,
music coordinater in the fine arts
program at WCC,. coordinated
and sponsored the event.
According to Margeret
Baddour, instructor at WCC who
helped to arrange the concert,
“David Holt had heard about the
floods in Eastern NC and told
Judy Lewis that he would cancel
another engagement to perform at
WCC, dedicating his performance
to the eastern NC flood victims.”
She said Holt had been booked
up for the next 3 years.
The host of the PBS show
“Folkways,’’Holt resides in
Fairview, NC, where he
interviews the old- time mountain
people, to gain information about
folk-style music and traditional
storytelling.
Holt gave a very entertaining
performance including such songs
as “Greasy Greens,” “Cripple
Creek,” “Gimmie Back My Wig,”
and “Black-eyed Susie,” which he
accompanied with music on a
variety of instruments, and
encouraged the audiance to
participate.
Holt displayed expert skills ‘
using a banjo, a washboard—one
of the only instruments available
for Blacks in the 1870's--a mouth
bow (the first string instrument
invented), a harmonica, steel ^
guitar, steel ukelele, hand bow,
bones, spoons, and jaw harp.
Holt credits much of his talent
and knowledge to his father, a
folklorist who taught him how to
play the spoons and the bones
when he was a child.
Holt closed the performance by
dressing in a jumpsuit he invented
and labels, “Thunder Wear.”
The suit has electronic drum
pads inserted in different places.
He can hit the suit on his knee,
chest or arm and, using a foot
pedal to change the pitch, make
an impressive variety of sounds
and rhythms.
Alan Malpass, tight, WCC student and fine arts music
major, responds to Holt's invitation for an audience
member to accompany him on the stump fiddle while
Holt played the washboard. PHOTO: VOICE STAFF
Dr. Ed Hogan, left, as Mr. Keckwick, drives Adam
Williams, as the young Mr. Kipps, to the estate.
Horror thrilts
tfieater-goers
By ALI MCLAWHORN and
TENNILYA ECHARJ3
More than 500 people attended
The Woman in Black, a
suspensefiil drama directed by
Mary K. Rowland, drama
instructor at Wayne and Johnston
Community Colleges.
The production was performed
in the campus Lecture Hall 4 times
on Jan. 13-15 at 8 p.m. and at 3
p.m. on Saturday.
The play was free to faculty,
staff, students, and the general
public thanks to grants from the
Foundation of WCC.
The play, adapted by Stephen
Mallatratt from the book by Susan
Hill, starred Dr. Edmond Hogari,
Director of Human Services;
Adam Williams, a WCC fine arts
major in drama, and Shannon
Eubank, also a WCC student, who
portrayed the woman in black.
Hogan assumed several
personas in the production; Mr.
Jerome, Mr. Daly, Mr. Keckwick,
and Tomes.
The plot was a haunting mystery
about Mr. Kipps, Hogan’s
character, who hires an actor to
help him tell a horrific story from
his past.
Kipps learns about a family
tragedy in which a mother, a
nurse, and a child were drowned
after a buggy accident. Local
legend has it that the mother’s
ghost continues to haunt the
region.
Special effects included fog,
music, whimpering dogs, and a
full moon. Authentic Victorian
costumes added to the realism of
the play.
continued p. 5