Texas Toe-Step

By: Wayne Lee Gay
Star-Telegram Dance Critic

HOUSTON - Coyotes, pioneers and dance-hall denizens filled the stage of Brown Theater on Thursday night as Houston Ballet's new artistic director Stanton Welch presented his first evening-length ballet for the company.

Tales of Texas, a salute to his adopted state by the Australian-born Welch, is three distinct one-act ballets. Each has a different look, and each will be easy to excerpt or to perform alone in a repertory program -- not just in Texas, but anywhere in the world.

‘That’s My Home’
Kent Street: Accomplished People and a Lot of Good Stories to Tell

By: Stephanie M. Mangino
The Winchester Star

Most Winchester residents know about Kent Street.

But what they know may be wrong.

When Kent Street is mentioned, often the first thing that comes to mind is the image of a neighborhood infested with drugs.

That negative perception may have created a bit of emotional distance between the rest of the city and the street.

But this is a neighborhood where teachers, writers, military personnel, medical professionals, company presidents, entrepreneurs, and even entertainment legends grew up.

Houston Ballet's Tales of Texas

Houston Ballet lost Ben Stevenson to Fort Worth, but its new artistic director, thirtysomething Australian Stanton Welch, is no slouch, either. One of the planet's hottest choreographers, he's celebrating his arrival in the Lone Star State with the world premiere of Tales of Texas, which uses music by Aaron Copland, Patsy Cline and Matthew Pierce in three acts. Principal dancer Lauren Anderson is one of the stars. There'll be six performances Thursday through March 21. Call (800) 828-ARTS or see www.houstonballet.org.

Today In History

In 1963, country music performers Patsy Cline, "Cowboy" Copas and "Hawkshaw" Hawkins died in a plane crash near Camden, Tennessee.

2nd Annual Patsy Cline Day Saturday

The Second Annual Tribute to Patsy Cline is Saturday, March 6 at Briarwood School. The day will include a traveling country music museum, the Patsy Cline Sing-a-Like Contest, performances by Barely Breathin’, The Ryan Holladay Band and Patsy Cline impersonator Naomi Morrison who stole the show at last year’s event. Admission is free. There are still openings in the Patsy Cline Sing-a-Like Contest. The entry fee is $40. Prizes of $500, $300 and $200 will be awarded for first, second and third places respectively.

‘A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline’
Wayside Theatre Production Vividly Portrays the Winchester Singer’s Gentler Side

By: F.C. Lowe
The Winchester Star

After living in Winchester for more than 30 years, one cannot escape the Patsy Cline factor.

She lived here, she worked here, and she started her career here.

Her songs still echo throughout some of her former haunts. The juke box at Lynette’s Triangle Diner in Winchester has many of Patsy’s hits still available for 25 cents a play. Her likeness still beams out of the window at Gaunt’s Drug Store where she worked.

I thought I had heard it all and knew it all about her, but boy, was I surprised.

A gentler, kinder Patsy was evident in the Wayside Theatre’s performance of Dean Regan's “A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline,” starring Morgan Duke.

‘I Love Playing Patsy Cline’
Actress Stars In Wayside Performance About the Life of Winchester Singer

By: Karl B. Hille
The Winchester Star

Morgan Duke may not know her way around Winchester very well, but she knows more about one of Winchester’s shining stars than most people who grew up here.

Duke, a professional actress and singer, has portrayed Winchester’s Patsy Cline for five years on stages around the country, and is now coming to the Wayside Theatre.

She has visited most of the locales associated with the deep-voiced country singer. While in town rehearsing for “A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline” this week, she got turned around downtown and ran across another stop on the informal Cline tour.

“When I was lost, I stopped to ask directions and I was right next to Gaunt’s Drug Store where she (Patsy) used to work,” Duke said.

The Wayside Theatre's production of "A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline" is being staged in conjunction with Celebrating Patsy Cline, Inc. A percentage of the ticket sales for the entire run will go to CPC for the Museum project. A special memorial weekend will be held March 5-6.

On Friday, March 5, the Wayside will offer fans a special rate of $21.00 per person if I can guarantee 20 or more reservations. Also, a supper consisting of Patsy's favorites (fried chicken, potato salad, green beans, relish tray, rolls and something apple for dessert) will be served before the performance. Cost of the meal is $7.00. Total will be $28 for the evening. Great price! The cast will be present.

Now, here is the important part: reservations for this group rate have to be made through me. Checks should be made payable to CPC for $28 (including show and meal). I have to have a count by February 18th, because seats are being booked as we speak and some of the nights are booked solid!!! Folks can e-mail me at cline2004@yahoo.com to book at that special rate. If more than 20 folks respond, I can make arrangements for those extra seats. Real important that I have a count for the group rate by February 18th.

On Saturday, March 6, there will be two performances, matinee and evening, with a Wine and Cheese Reception for the cast and fans at each performance. March 6 bookings can be made through Wayside Theatre at $26.00 per seat. The Wine and Cheese Reception is $3.00.

The Wayside Theatre, the oldest professional theatre company in the Commonwealth of Virginia, will open it's 2004 season with "A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline," a musical by Dean Reagan.

Cline was America’s first female Country Music Star, known as the Queen of Country Music. This is a loving tribute to Patsy’s career from her hometown, Winchester, VA and WINC radio roots to dusty roadhouse gigs, to Grand Ole Opry, Las Vegas, and Carnegie Hall and to her death on March 5, 1963.

The musical runs from January 31 thru March 28.

Jamaica: Country Music's Home Away From Home

By: HOWARD CAMPBELL
Observer writer

When Kenny Rogers performs at the Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival on January 23 at the Wyndham Rose Hall Resort in Montego Bay, it will be the country legend's first show in this country. Rogers, like many country singers, is extremely popular in Jamaica but unlike their Rhythm And Blues counterparts, not many country stars have performed here.

Jamaicans' love affair with country music goes back to the 1950s when the sound was known as country and western. Singer Marty Robbins, arguably the country singer with the most influence on Jamaican music, was starting out then while others such as Skeeter Davis and Jim Reeves were already established.

Rogers and Dolly Parton kept the country train chugging along in the 1970s and 1980s, and in recent times, Leann Rimes, Faith Hill and Shania Twain have had big hits here. But long before VH1 and Country Music Television, Jamaicans depended on the record store and radio for their fill of music from 'Down South'.

I was only three years old when Patsy stopped showing up at the "Opry." It was years before I learned that she had died in a plane crash. I sensed sadness around the house and at the Ryman during that time, but I really didn't know why or what was going on. I guess I was being protected from the awful event.

Great new 3 part series started last night called "The Voice" tracing the history of the world`s oldest instrument. It kicked off with the ladies, starting with Bessie Smith,Mahalia Jackson etc and ran the gamut through Nellie Melba, Maria Callas, Jeanette MacDonald, Judy Garland, Edith Piaf, Patsy Cline, through to Aretha Franklin and Beyoncé! For once, the "talking heads" were well informed and did not always restrict their comments to their own genre. Dianne Reeves was very interesting on Callas for example. There were some rare clips of most of the singers mentioned and just as delightful were the contributions by Nancy Wilson, Deniece Williams, Chaka Khan, Renee Fleming, Pavarotti, Kathryn Grayson, Barbara Cook, k.d.lang, etc. A real Diva fest!

Can Someone Dead 40 Years Make $400,000?

By: KEITH RUSSELL
Staff Writer

In Great Britain, he was right up there with the Beatles.

In India, his Christmas album still finds its way onto best seller lists each December.

In the Netherlands, three of his hits were among radio listeners' favorite songs of 2003. In South Africa, where fans once mobbed him, a well-known performer released a duet in October that spliced her voice alongside his decades-old recordings of songs in Afrikaans.

He is "Gentleman" Jim Reeves, the crooner with the velvet voice who transcended his country music roots and continues to captivate fans worldwide, almost 40 years after dying in a plane crash.

Recalling Backstage At The 'Opry'

When his daughter Libby was growing up, Grand Ole Opry photographer Les Leverett made her stand backstage, on the left side, because over on right side "was where the really dirty jokes were going on."

But Libby, now the grown and married author Libby Leverett-Crew, wasn't all that sheltered. She came of age while embraced in the bosom of the Opry family, a close-knit community of artists and supporters who loved a good time and each other.

Sensing that she'd been blessed with a unique vantage point on a historic time and marvelous characters, Crew gathered her thoughts and memories into "Saturday Nights With Daddy At The Opry," a new book from Rutledge Hill Press.