I Can Sing the Rainbow Too - multicultural events mark this weekend's calendar of events

Give it up for Black History Month

"From Slavery to Freedom: Africans in Frederick," will take place Saturday, Feb. 17 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will honor Lord D. Nickens, who grew up in Maryland during segregation.

The 93-year-old Nickens will give an oral history of his life and will speak about problems he faced, his service in the U.S. Army and the many influential African-Americans during the time of the civil rights movements.

The program will include performances by The Maranatha! Singers, a 50-person choir--comprised mostly of University of Florida and Santa Fe Community College students--comprised from the University Methodist Church and Student Center in Gainesville, Fla.; the Hallel Dance Ministry of Thomas Tabernacle in Frederick, Md.; the Walkersville High School Steppers; the Bernetta R. Brown Dancers; and various other groups.

For more information about the film and Jones-DeWeever's lecture, please contact Tamelyn Tucker-Worgs, assistant professor of history at Hood, by phone at (301) 696-3686 or by e-mail attuckerworgs@hood.edu. For more information about Hood's other Black History Month events, please contact Kiran Chadda, director of multicultural affairs and the International Student Program at Hood, by phone at (301) 696-3799 or bye-mail at kchadda@hood.edu.

• Celebrate the Chinese New Year

There will be a Lunar New Year Show on February 17th 2007 at Governor Thomas Johnson High School from 6:00 to 8:30PM sponsored by Learning Institute For Enrichment (LIFE) & Discovery.

Admission is $6.00 per person, (age 4 and up). For more information call (301) 631-6838

• Mardi Gras

The Frederick Woman’s Civic Club will hold its annual Mardi Gras Ball on Saturday, Feb. 17 at the FSK Holiday Inn. For more information contact (301) 663-5875

Frederick Cellars in Shab Row will celebrate Mardi Gras on Saturday night with local blues artist Bo Weevil from 6 to 8 PM. For more information contact (301) 668-0311

• Toys

The Central Maryland Antique Tractor Club is holding their annual Toy Show & Auction this Saturday and Sunday at the Frederick Fairgrounds in building 9. For additional information contact cmatc@cmatc.org or go to http://www.cmatc.org/.

• Daytrippin Shepherdstown, WV

If you haven't made it out here, Shepherdstown is a pleasant day trip from Frederick. A 45 minute drive, the town can be accessed via Harper's Ferry, or via Boonsboro and is home to a handful of quality dining establishments, small shops, several performance venues and Shepherd University. For a town as small as it is, there always seems to be something happening. This weekend...

Nationally known poet Richard Garcia will conduct a one-day poetry workshop in Shepherdstown on Saturday. The event is being sponsored by the Sotto Voce Poetry Festival, which is held annually in Shepherdstown in the fall.

The workshop will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on the second floor of the Stone Soup Bistro restaurant on German Street. It will include on-the-spot writing exercises and take-home assignments, readings and critiques, information about the business side of poetry, and publishing tips.

The fee for enrollment will be $75. A free luncheon will be provided. No pre-registration is necessary; anyone interested should simply come to the restaurant before 9:30 a.m.

For more information contact Hope Maxwell-Snyder at 301-667-1391 or hms@hbp.com. Garcia, who was one of the headliners at last fall's Sotto Voce festival, is the author of The Flying Garcias (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1991), Rancho Notorious, (BOA Editions, 2001), and most recently, The Persistence of Objects (BOA Editions, 2006). Among his many awards are the Pushcart Prize and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information about him see his website at http://www.richardgarcia.info/.

On Sunday, owner of the Blue Moon Cafe in Shepherdstown, WV, and Cheryl Mansley, founder of the RiverHouse Concerts, will launch a brand new, weekly music series. The series, Blue Moon Sundays, will take place in the heart of Shepherdstown each Sunday evening at the Blue Moon Café on North Princes Street.

For the concerts, King is preparing a new look for his café, as well as special dinner menus, and Mansley is booking a diverse selection of artists. The series debuts this Sunday with John Lilly and Diana Jones.

Lilly specializes in Americana, roots, country and folk.

Nashville songwriter and NewSong Recordings artist Diana Jones will share the evening with Lilly.

Admission for this show is $10/person at the door. Doors open at 5:30pm, dinner will be served from 6 to 7:00pm, and music starts at 7:00pm. For more information, call (304) 876-1920

Doors Open 5:30pm, dinner served: 6:00-7:00pm

Concert: 7:00pm, dinner and drinks available for purchase

The Ice Storm...

Just a brief post to explain the lack of posts this week. It's been a particularly busy week at the Smith household and I have found myself using large portions of the time I would normally reserve for blogging and research in the futile effort of digging my car from its icy tomb.

I finally succeded sometime this afternoon in getting it free.

I will try to get a few listings up before the weekend so people have an idea of what's going on this weekend - although considering the condition of the back roads, staying in certainly seems like a viable option. That being said, I will be daytripping down to Culpeper, VA this Saturday and will return with a review of the town and at least one of its dining establishments for your perusal.

For you long-range planners, check out FredNet for a big to-do next weekend. I'll add my own reminder of the event next week.