Arts & Lifestyle
4 Of Interest ...
Author Black well to discuss book
Reynolda House Museum of American Art will
host a book talk with Kate Blackwell, author of the
debut short-story collection "You Won't Remember
This" on Tuesday, Jan. 22 at 5:30 p.m. The talk will
be followed by a cash bar reception.
In each story, Blackwell looks at life with a
direct gaze, and she writes with elegant measured
tones and with beautiful melancholy humor.
A Winston-Salem native, Blackwell is a free
lance writer and teacher in Washington, D.C. Her
stories have been published in 'multiple literary jour
nals. In addition to writing fictional stories, she has
co-authored non-fiction books, and has published
several book reviews and travel articles.
"You Won't Remember Thi$," a collection of 12
short-stories, illuminates the lives of men and
women who appear unremarkable until they explode
quietly on the page. Written in Southern story
telling tradition, the collection touches on such life
issues as marriage, adultery, malfeasance, aging,
and pregnancy.
The cost of the program is $8 and $5 for mem
bers and students. For information, please call 336
758-5150 or visit the website at reynoldahouse.org.
Piano talent Sudbin to
perform with Nt Symphony
Young pianist Yevgeny Sudbin will be the North
Carolina Symphony's guest artist in concerts at
Memorial Hall in Chapel Hill on Thursday, Jan. 24
and at Meymandi Concert Hall at Progress Energy
Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh on Friday
and Saturday, Jan. 25 and Jan. 26. All concerts begin
at 8 pjn.
Sudbin, who plays with a spine-tingling brilliance
uim lias ijccii euuijjcucu iu uiai
of a young Vladimir Horowitz,
is garnering lavish praise from
critics and audiences around
the world. Of his performance
of Tchaikovsky's Piano
Concerto No. 1, The Times
(London) said: *'Once Sudbin
leaps up those opening
octaves, memories of [other]
performances quickly
fade... [he] gives us another Sudbin
concerto entirely: exciting, for- ^
ward looking, with harmonies and structural Shifts
that constantly take us by surprise." The Daily
Telegraph (London) calls him "one of the most fasci
nating and auspiciously talented pianists of the
younger generation," and "potentially one of the
greatest pianists of the 21st century."
Other works on the January programs include a
collection of music gathered from 18th-century
French composer Jean- Philippe Rameau's Ballet Suite
No. 1 from Platte, and the concert premjere of
Friandises, written for the New York City Ballet and
The Juilliard School by highly-regarded contempo
rary composer Christopher Rouse.
For tickets or more information, visit the
Symphony's web site, www.ncsymphony.org or call
the box office at 919-733-2750.
Cook tops Chappelle's record
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Dane Cook has broken
'a Laugh Factory endurance record set less than a
month ago by Dave Chappelle.
In what is becoming a heated battle between the
two comedians, Cook told jokes at the Sunset Strip
comedy club for 7 hours, beating the record
Chappelle, 34, set at 6 hours and 12 minutes in
December.
Cook went on stage one night last week and con
tinued until nearly 7 ?.m. Wednesday, and at one
point even sent out for food to keep the audience fed
and happy.
"If this rivalry keeps up I'm going to turn the
Laugh Factory into a bed and breakfast," club owner
Jamie Masada said.
Last April, Cook set a record with an act lasting
3 hours and 50 minutes, breaking a mark set by
Richard Pryor in 1980 of 2 hours and 41 minutes.
Chappelle broke the record later that month, then
broke his own record in December.
Cook, 35, most recently appeared with Steve
Carell in the film "Dan in Real Life."
CBS retools " Early Show'
NEW. YORK (AP) - CBS News is asking
dozens of its affiliates to take a leap of faith in the
morning.
The network relaunched "The Early Show"
Monday with a new set, a new leader and an end to
the "blended" format where some 43 stations - cov
ering 20 percent of the country - ditched much of
the national feed for its own local programming.
With the changes, CBS News executives believe
they will finally have a shot at the titanic task of
challenging the morning news leaders at NBC's
"Today" show and ABC's "Good Morning
America." a
For many affiliates, it's a risky leap. It means
<s giving up on a format where they led or were com
petitive in the ratings at 7 a.m. in favor of a network
show that has been No. 3 for decades, no matter
what CBS has tried to do differently.
"The Early Show" format retains host Harry
Smith, who has quietly become a CBS News stal
wart and chief substitute in the evening for Katie
Couric. He's joined by veteran Julie Chen and new
comer Maggie Rodriguez, who worked in Miami
local news for seven years and served a brief
apprenticeship at CBS' weekend morning news
before moving to "The Early Show" in December.
Rodriguez replaced Hannah Storm.
*
A look at
'Senator
No'
UNC-TV to premiere Jesse
Helms^documentary Tuesday
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE .
"No American politician is more contro
versial * beloved in some quarters and hated in
others, than Jesse Helms," wrote The
Almanac of American Politics as the arch
conservative North Carolina Republican
neared the end of his 30-year U.S. Senate
career.
On Tuesday, Jan. 15, at 9 p.m., UNC-TV
presents "Senator No: Jesse Helms," a 90
minute biographical documentary from inde
pendent filmmaker Jcjin Wilson. The film
chronicles Helms's Tife from his humble
childhood in Monroe, to his two decades as
an outspoken print and television editorialist,
to his five contentious terms in tfie U.S.
Senate and the fierce political battles that
landed him there.
"Whether you like him or dislike him,"
political scientist Larry Sabato says in the
film, "he was at the heart of the conservative
movement that changed America from the
1970s to today."
The documentary traces the origins of
Helms's politics, from his Southern Baptist
roots in the Jim Crow South to his political
baptism in North Carolina's racially charged
1950 U.S. Senate race between liberal Frank
Porter Graham and conservative Willis
Smith. Trumpeting Old South values as an
editorialist and politician, Helms crashes
headlong into the civil rights movement,
communism, abortion, gay rights - virtually
every major issue of his time.
Footage and transcripts of Helms's
"Viewpoint" editorials on WRAL-TV include
one in which he calls the 1964 Civil Rights
Act "the single most dangerous piece of leg
See Helms on A13
KRT Photo by Chuck Kennedy
Former Sen. Jesse Helms arrives at a White House in 2002.
Burton to headline schools' MLK events
^ ? ? I
f _ PRNewsFoto
Through his Emmy-winning show "Reading Rainbow," actor
LeVar Burton promotes literacy.
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
Actor LeVar Burton, known for his
role as Kunta Kinte in the award-win
ning television miniseries "Roots" and
more recently as host of the PBS shbw
"Reading Rainbow," will speak at Wake
Forest University Jan. 21 as part of a
weeklong celebration of the legacy of
Martin Luther King Jr. sponsored by
Wake Forest and Winston-Salem State
University.
The program, featuring Burton's
address titled "On Common Ground:
Striving for Unity, Striving for
Purpose," will begin at 7 p.m. in Wait
Chapel and is free and open to the pub
lic. In addition to Burton's speech, the
Jan. 21 program will include a video
presentation from Maya Angelou,
Reynolds Professor of American Studies
at Wake Forest, and performances by the
Wake Forest and Winston-Salem State
gospel choirs.
"We will commemorate two histori
cal milestones this year: 2007 was the
30th Anniversary of 'Roots' and 2008 is
the 40th anniversary of the assassination
of Dr. King," said Barbee Oakes, direc
tor of Wake Forest's Office of
Multicultural Affairs.
Burton, host and series producer of
"Reading Rainbow," the Emmy Award
winning PBS series for children, is an
advocate for literacy. He calls literacy
"one of the fundamental building blocks
See Burton on A13
WXII's
Pulitzer new
board chair
at NCSA .
?
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE <
The North Carolina School
of the Arts (NCSA) recently
elected a new chair of its*Board
of Trustees: Michael pdgar
Pulitzer, Jr., of Winston-Salem. .
In addition, Lee A. Chaden,
Claire C. Christopher .and
Jackson L).
" J . D . "
Wilson,
Jr., all of
Winston
Salem,
and
B arbarg
Goodmon
of Raleigh
have
joined the Puluzer
board. '?
Pulitzer is a broadcast
ing/digital media executive
who serves as station manager
for WXII TV/Digital Media,
which has the network affilia
tion with NBC and is owned by
Hearst Argyle Television. He
serves as president of the UNC
School Journalism Foundation
and is a past president (2002) of
the Notfh Carolina^Association
of Broadcasters. He also is a
board member of the Arts
Council of Winston-Salem and
Forsyth County, for which he
recently chaired a strategic
planning summit. He is a past
chairman of the Piedmont Triad
Film Commission. He is the
current and founding chairman
of the Arthritis Foundation of
the Carolinas' Piedmont Triad
Council and serves on Rotary,
Hospice, Youth Opportunities
and Piedmont Club boards. He
is married to Ramelle Cochrane
Pulitzer, owner and director of
the Hawthorne Gallery in
Winston-Salem.
Chaden has been executive
chairman of Hanesbrands Inc.
since April 2006. Christopher
serves on the Board of
Directors of the North Carolina
Botanical Garden in Chapel
Hill, the Weatherspoon Arts
Foundation of the University of
North Carolina at Greensboro,
the Friends of the Art Board of
Sweet Briar College, the Board
of the Center for Women
Writers of Salem College, and
the Reynolda House Museum
of American Art Advisory
Board. x
Wilson is president and
CEO of Excalibur Enterprises,
Inc., a marketing communica
tions firm based in Winston
Salem that he founded in 1972.
Goodmon is president ^ and
executive director of the AJ.
Fletcher Foundation, which
supports nonprofit organiza
tions in their endeavors to
enrich the lives and well-being
of people in North Carolina.
The NCSA Board of
Trustees is composed of 19 cit
izens with eight members elect
ed by the University of North
Carolina Board of Governors
and four appointed by the gov
ernor of North Carolina.
UNCG professor td speak at stamp ceremony
Legendary writer Charles Chestnut
once headed Fayetteville State University
*
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
Dr. Sally Ann Ferguson, an English pro
fessor at The University of North Carolina
at Greensboro, has admired and studied
novelist Lnanes w. cnesnun tor
years.
Chesnutt was a black man
who could easily have "passed"
for white. But he chose instead
to embrace his heritage, and to
write frankly about racial ten
sions.
This month, the U.S. Postal
Service will honor Chesnutt
with a stamp in its Black
Heritage Series. And Ferguson
is proud to mark the occasion by
speaking at an all-day event
Wednesday, Jan. 23, at Fayetteville State
University's Charles Chesnutt Library.
Chesnutt, born in 1858, was the second
principal of what is now FSU.
"If you're going to look at 19th-century
I
Ferguson
American literature, you've got to read
Chesnutt," said Ferguson. Houghton
Mifflin recently published "Charles W.
Chesnutt: Selected Writings," edition
she edited, in their New
Riverside benes on American
Literature. She is also writing a
full-length critical study of
Chesnutt's works.
Chesnutt grew up in
Fayetteville but left the area for
Cleveland, Ohio, in 1893.
Widely considered the first
major black novelist, he pub
lished several essays, novels
and short story collections
including "The Marrow of
Tradition," "The House Behind
the Cedars" and "The Conjure
Woman." "Marrow" is a fictionalized
account of the brutal 1898 Wilmington race
riots.
"All Chesnutt did was deal with facts,"
Ferguson said.
BlflCpmiTftCE
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USA