Chocolate Drops launch 2010-11 ACE series

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The Carolina Chocolate Drops will perform Tuesday, Sept. 21, at the Fine and Performing Arts Center on the Western Carolina University campus. The concert is part of the 2010-11 Arts and Cultural Events Performance Series at WCU.

A black string band, an all-male chorus, irreverent sketch comedy and an environmental writer with a question fill the bill for the 2010-11 Arts and Cultural Events Performance Series at Western Carolina University.

Student-friendly entertainment is the focus for this year’s ACE performances, formerly the Lectures, Concerts and Exhibitions Series, said Lori Davis, assistant director for campus activities.

“The First Kid to Learn English from Mexico," part of Doxita, will show Tuesday, Sept. 21, at WCU's University Center theater.

“What guided the series was finding entertainment that students could relate to,” Davis said.

The series entertainment is as follows:

• Doxita, 11 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 21, A.K. Hinds University Center theater. Doxita, a traveling festival, highlights diversity of nonfiction short films. To be shown at WCU are “Steel Homes” (U.K., 10 minutes), about memories of loved ones; “Slaves” (Sweden, 15 minutes), the animated story of two Sudanese youth captured for slavery; “The First Kid to Learn English from Mexico” (U.S., 20 minutes), the chronicle of a 9-year-old Mexican boy’s struggle to adapt to a new country; “12 Notes Down” (Denmark, 28 minutes), the portrait of a choirboy whose voice is changing. Free.
• The Carolina Chocolate Drops, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 21, at the Fine and Performing Arts Center. Members Rhiannon Giddens, Dom Flemons and Justin Robinson sing and trade instruments, including banjo, fiddle, guitar, harmonica, snare drum, bones, jug and kazoo, to produce music in a style that Rolling Stone magazine has called “dirt-floor-dance electricity.” The band, of Durham, has performed on “Fresh Air,” “Mountain Stage” and the BBC, at the 2010 Bonnaroo music festival and the Blue Grass and Old Time Fiddlers Convention in Mount Airy, and as the opening act for Taj Mahal. Tickets are $10 ($5 for students).
• Chanticleer, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 3, at the Fine and Performing Arts Center. A blend of 12 male voices, from countertenor to bass, Chanticleer was founded in 1978 and has performed around the world. The chorus is a member of the American Classical Music Hall of Fame, and the San Francisco Chronicle has called the ensemble “one of the world’s best.” Tickets are $15 ($10 WCU faculty/staff and senior citizens, $5 students) and go on sale Friday, Oct. 1.
• Koresh Dance Company, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 20, at the Fine and Performing Arts Center. Known for powerful stage presence and high-energy style, the Koresh Dance Company presents a combination of ballet, modern and jazz dance. Founded in 1991 by Israeli born choreographer Ronen Koresh, the dance company has been hailed as an extraordinary newcomer. Tickets are $5 and go on sale Wednesday, Dec. 1.
• The Second City, “Fair and Unbalanced,” 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 17, at the Fine and Performing Arts Center. From the Beltway to Hollywood elite, “Fair and Unbalanced” explores the foibles of politicians, celebrities and even significant others. The 50-year-old Second City comedy troupe is improvisation-based with 11 touring ensembles and theaters in Chicago and Toronto. Alumni include Alan Arkin, Joan Rivers, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, John Candy, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Horatio Sanz, Mike Myers, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert and Tina Fey. Tickets are $10 ($5 students) and go on sale Tuesday, Jan. 4.
• Alan Weisman, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 7, Coulter Building recital hall (part of the 2011 Spring Literary Festival). Weisman’s 2007 scientific best seller, “The World Without Us,” examined humanity’s effect on the environment by posing the question, “What would happen to the Earth if humans vanished?” The work was named Time magazine’s best nonfiction book of 2007 and was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award in Nonfiction. Weisman is author of numerous books and articles and also produces radio documentaries.

The goal of ACE is to bring high quality, entertaining, thought-provoking arts and cultural events to the WCU campus.

For tickets to events in the Fine and Performing Arts Center, call the box office at 828-227-2479 or go online. For more information about ACE, contact Davis at 828-227-3622 or ledavis@wcu.edu.