Posted: 27 Feb 2010 08:46 PM PST

More than 1,000 children and parents filled the Abilene Civic Center auditorium to catch a glimpse of scaly reptiles that aren't normally seen in the Abilene area.

A group called Gator Country showed off several alligators, crocodiles, snakes and other reptiles during two shows Saturday.

After the show, onlookers were able to purchase another ticket for a nature trail, which allowed them to pet the reptiles that were shown on stage.

"My favorite part was getting to hold the big yellow snake," 10-year-old Drake Coleman said. "I wasn't really nervous because I knew nothing bad was going to happen."

The Gator Country event was a fundraiser for the Children's Performing Art Series, a program that brings professional children's theater companies to Abilene.

"This was a special performance; we wanted to do something special for families and kids," said Lynn Barnett, executive director of the Abilene Cultural Affairs Council. "We have one more show this year, which is the 'Little Mermaid,' and that is coming up next month. After the 'Little Mermaid,' we'll be doing a renewal season for the 2010-2011 season."

Throughout the first program, 15 children stood on stage alongside Gary Saurage, co-owner of Gator Country and head alligator handler. Saurage was there with the rest of the Gator team, a group of individuals from Beaumont who work at a wildlife park, which rescues and houses alligators. The Gator Country Wildlife Center was created in 2006 and houses 250 alligators.

Saurage and his team came with more than alligators — they also brought television cameras. On April 9, Saurage will be featured in a new series on CMT titled "Gator 911." The series will follow Saurage and his team as they attempt to rescue and house hundreds of alligators.

"This show is going to be really exciting," Saurage said. "We catch alligators in the most extreme way that has ever been shown on TV, and we hope to have a huge fan base."

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Symphony's winter season finale set - Herald-Dispatch

Posted: 27 Feb 2010 08:53 PM PST

HUNTINGTON -- The Huntington Symphony Orchestra closes out its 2009-2010 Winter Season, "Kaleidosounds: A World of Music and Color" with its final performance on Saturday, March 20, at the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center in downtown Huntington.

The concert, titled "Russian Rhapsody," features the nearly 50-member-strong symphony under the direction of Kimo Furumoto, and a special guest star, pianist Alexander Tutunov.

Widely recognized as one of the most outstanding virtuosos of the former Soviet Union, Tutnov is a former first prize winner of the Belarusian National Piano Competition and winner of the Russian National Piano Competition.

His playing was described by Soviet Culture, Moscow, as "exhilarating and inspired, and which demonstrated a unique talent."

Tickets are on sale now and are $18, $26 and $31.

Obtain tickets by stopping by the ticket office at 763 3rd Ave., Huntington, or by calling 304-781-8343.

Tutunov now lives in Ashland, Ore., where is professor of piano and artist in residence at Southern Oregon University.

A successful piano pedagogue, he continues to prepare award-winning students. Tutunov is artist in residence at the University of Alaska Southeast, artistic director of the SOU International Piano Institute, and was recently named associate director of the Chinese-American International Piano Institute in Chengdu, China.

Tutunov maintains a busy performing schedule in Europe, China, Mexico and the United States as a recitalist, soloist with orchestra, and on radio and television. Tutunov serves as an adjudicator for piano competitions.

Tutunov's recording of the Abeliovich Piano Concerto was featured as part of the Emmy Award-winning soundtrack for the History Channel documentary, "Russia: Land of Tsars," and his CD of the Tchaikovsky Concert Fantasy with the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra was produced in January 2008.

Other recordings include: Concerto for Piano & Orchestra by Peter Sacco with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra (Albany Records) and the solo piano works of Lev Abeliovich Sonatas & Frescoes, Trio, Songs (Altarus Records). The CD America's Millennium Tribute to Adolphe Sax on the AUR label, which includes Tutunov's recording of "Transformations" by Todd Barton, received a Grammy nomination.

Tutunov graduated magna cum laude from the Central Music School of the Moscow Conservatory and University of North Texas. Awarded his doctoral diploma with honors in concert performance from the Belarusian State Conservatory, Tutunov has taught at the Minsk College of Music, the University of North Texas, and Illinois Wesleyan University.

For more info on the Huntington Symphony, go online at www.huntingtonsymphony.org.

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State Archive offers lecture on pre-1850 genealogy - Charleston Gazette

Posted: 27 Feb 2010 08:46 PM PST

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Archives and History Library of the West Virginia Division of Culture and History will present its next after-hours lecture from 6 to 7:30 p.m. March 2 at the Culture Center.

"Going Back Before 1850: Genealogical Strategies for Early American Research" will be led by Jaime Simmons, research specialist with archives and history. All sessions are free and open to the public. The library will close at 5 p.m. and reopen at 5:45 p.m. for lecture participants only.

Simmons will discuss county formation and its implications for locating records, migration within western Virginia, and the importance of structuring research around multiple events in each generation. She also will provide participants with an introduction to other sources such as tax records, wills and deeds.

The next session will be "The Combat Scenario: Early West Virginia Coal Mining's Culture of Danger" on April 6, with Paul Rakes, a former coal miner who is now a professor of history at WVU Institute of Technology.

Registration is not required, but is requested to ensure proper seating. Contact Robert Taylor at 304-558-0230, ext. 163, or Bobby.L.Tay...@wv.gov.

The Archives and History Library is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday.

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STEPHANIE SALTER: How about ‘Different Strokes for Different Folks ... - Tribune-Star

Posted: 27 Feb 2010 08:46 PM PST

Published: February 27, 2010 11:47 pm

STEPHANIE SALTER: How about 'Different Strokes for Different Folks' in the key of G?

By Stephanie Salter
The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE — This may sound odd coming from a newspaper columnist, but I'm beginning to tire of Opinion USA.

In fact, I keep thinking opinions these days are like German Marks during the Weimar Republic: Billions upon billions are in circulation, but they're worth next-to-nothing. And, yes, I include mine in the count.

When is the last time someone's opinion changed your mind?

How often do you hear or read an opinion that is the opposite of yours and spend a few minutes considering its merits?

How often, instead, do you see the headline of a column or letter to the editor, or note the identifying label beneath a TV talking head, and either think, "Right on!" or call that person a nasty name?

Have you ever read or heard an opinion that, after you've considered it, you concluded: "I don't agree with that, but it's a heck of a well-argued point"?

No, most of us are too busy shouting at each other and impugning one another's character based on political affiliation, preferred economic system or church of choice. In a time of unprecedented communication capabilities, we seem as a nation to be employing the sort of societal thought processes that made the Salem witch trials such a bright chapter in American history.

I think the tipping point for me was a story I read recently about a self-proclaimed "conservative" organization that has issued a nationwide call for people to send packages of actual garbage to the Fox News pundit, Glenn Beck.

Their beef?

In the words of their leader, a Californian named Mark Dice, "Glenn Beck repeatedly attacks 9/11 Truthers (people who believe the government is covering up evidence surrounding the September 11th attacks or allowed the attacks to happen on purpose as a pretext for war)." The parenthesis are Dice's.

Now, for anyone who does not know my particular place on the political spectrum, make no mistake, I am no Beckian. His assumptions and pronouncements on many topics, not just 9/11 Truthers, are often so far out, they seem to be coming to him from deep space via tin foil helmet.

In an e-mailed news release, Dice said Beck "repeatedly slandered 9/11 Truthers by saying that the holocaust museum shooter was a hero to us when we despise violence, he has said that we're the kind of group a Timothy McVeigh would come from … he hates 9/11 victims families and wanted them to shut up when they wanted an investigation."

Yes, well, imagine how the president felt when Beck declared that Barack Obama has "a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture."

But a call for American citizens to send garbage to another citizen through the U.S. mail? That is about as conservative as it is sophisticated.

"We're sending Glenn Beck some symbols of what he is," said Dice's e-mail, adding that the mailed garbage can be thought of as "'decorations' for Glenn's office."

Oh, my. People who think of themselves as conservatives are attacking a self-proclaimed conservative who makes his living attacking people who think of themselves as liberals, moderates and (to him) deficient conservatives, all of whom — by the rules of the opinion game — perpetually counter-attack him.

Talk about your circular firing squad.

Here's another metaphor: Opinion USA, whether professional or amateur, has become a crowded, but really bad piano bar.

The guy at the keyboard — i.e., traditional institutions of civilization, including government, organized religion and mass media — has either lost control of the proceedings or just doesn't care anymore. Meanwhile, the customer-singers — we opinionated, but not necessarily educated citizens — have turned into divas and divos, interested in nobody's turn at the microphone but our own.

A great piano bar does not require a lot of elements, but those that are necessary must be top quality.

Number One is the perfect host, a piano player who knows and loves a wide variety of music, is skilled enough to transpose keys to accommodate singers of diverse range and talent, and who genuinely cares about the community he or she creates and nurtures around that fun, funky, musical bar.

The second crucial element is an open, supportive clientele, people who also know and love music, like to perform a song outside the shower stall, but totally buy into the concept of a stage shared with strangers or slight acquaintances.

If only one of these singers is a non-team-playing prima donna — someone who dismisses other singers' musical choices or abilities and despises the efforts of the Dolly Parton clone or the Tony Bennett wannabe — those selfish, judgmental vibes can bring down the whole room.

At a great piano bar, one person can belt out "The Music of the Night," another can channel Al Green for "Let's Stay Together," another can twang through "Your Cheatin' Heart," and everyone else can think, "I would never sing that," but each song always ends with a hearty — and heartfelt — round of applause.

You came, you sang, you deserve a hand from people who actually listened to your song.

With that kind of model, Opinion USA might one day again be a place worth frequenting. At least no one would show up there with a package of garbage for mailing.

By the way, that'll be 3 million Marks.

Stephanie Salter can be reached at (812) 231-4229 or stephanie.salter@tribstar.com