Super Bowl Sunday is almost upon us. Weather predictions for the New River Valley include an impending winter storm Friday and Saturday, so get out now to get the ingredients for your Super Bowl snacks.

BHG.com has some tremendous recipes for appetizers to make in your slow cooker. They are super easy and you won’t have to spend hours in the kitchen. They just need a few minutes prep time and then they go into the slow cooker while you do other things.

Ranging from classic favorites such as meatballs, wings, and dips to recipes a bit more out of the ordinary such as Bagna Cauda, these amazing appetizers will be so good, you might just decide to make them the whole meal!

On Friday, Feb. 5, from 5 to 8 p.m., The Jacksonville Center in Floyd will be combining its monthly First Friday event with a reception to honor the Blue Ridge Camera Club exhibits currently on display. In the event of inclement weather, the reception will be postponed until Friday, Feb. 12. A notice will be posted to the Jacksonville Center Web site, by Feb. 4, if rescheduling is necessary.

The Blue Ridge Camera Club includes members from Carroll, Floyd, Grayson, Wythe, and surrounding counties. By bringing together photographers from a variety of backgrounds and skill levels, members are given the opportunity to share ideas and techniques.

Photographs by club members are currently being exhibited in the Hayloft Gallery. An overview of the club itself is on display in the newly refurbished Breezeway Gallery.

“Refurbishing the Breezeway Gallery has truly been a community endeavor, from the picture rails donated by the Blue Ridge Camera Club, to paint colors selected by studio artist Carolyn Deck, to the efforts of an amazing volunteer paint crew including Don and Glenda George, Marie Woolum, Marie Daniel, Shirley Thomas, and Gloria Hilton,” said Executive Director John McEnhill.

First Friday is a free monthly event at The Jacksonville Center and features a new Breezeway Gallery exhibit and other recent developments at the center. The public is welcome and refreshments will be provided.

The center’s regular winter hours of operation through March are: Monday and Tuesdays, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.; Wednesday to Saturday, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.; and closed on Sundays. For more information, please visit www.jacksonvillecenter.org, e-mail info@jacksonvillecenter.org, or call 540. 745.2784.

It had been a snowy weekend. I had barely been out of the house. All the K-12 public schools in the area had already announced they would be closed on Monday, so I had assumed the Will Kimbrough show at Roanoke’s Kirk Avenue Music Hall Sunday, Jan. 31, had been canceled due to weather.

At almost 6 p.m., my wife (and New River Voice Managing Editor) Taryn Chase checked out the Facebook page for Kirk Ave. and saw that the show was still on. It was a long trip on a cold, Sunday night in which road conditions were less than ideal, but I had a Subaru and thought, “Why not?” (more…)

Join the White Rabbit, Cheshire Cat, the Caterpillar, Mad Hatter, and the certifiably crazy Queen of Hearts when Alice and Barter audiences go down the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland beginning Feb. 4. Those attending the show on or before Feb. 14, will receive a special gift: an Alice in Wonderland poster. (more…)

The fifth annual French and Francophone film festival, organized by Virginia Tech’s Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, begins this weekend and will be the featured matinee offering at The Lyric theatre in downtown Blacksburg on Saturdays throughout February. The films are free and open to the public. The films are in the original language version with English subtitles.

The film series is sponsored by the Cercle Francophone in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech. The Tournées Festival was made possible with the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Ministry of Culture (CNC).

Jan. 30 at 3 p.m. — The Girl from Monaco / La Fille de Monaco
Directed by Anne Fontaine
On the exuberant backdrop of the French Riviera, an ambitious and racy woman overturns the life of a rigid attorney. Fontaine takes the audience from comedy to tragedy in this disturbing film.
2008. Drama. 95 min. Rated R.

Feb. 6 at 3 p.m. - The Secret of the Grain / La Graine et le Mulet
Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche
In the Southern French city of Sète, an immigrant dockworker and divorced father struggles with a sense of failure until he decides to pursue his dream of opening a floating couscous restaurant. An engrossing family drama with elements of social commentary.
2007. Drama. 151 min. Not rated.

Feb. 13 at 3 p.m. – The Beaches of Agnes / Les Plages d’Agnès
Directed by Agnès Varda
Acclaimed French filmmaker Varda revisits the loves and places that fashioned her heart and art in a unique and enchanting autobiographical documentary.
2009. Art film. 110 min. Not rated.

Feb. 20 at 2 p.m. - Being Jewish in France / Comme une Juif en France
Directed by Yves Jeuland
Combining rare archival documents and footage in a sweeping visual feat, this film traces the history of the Jewish population in France – the first country to grant Jews citizenship.
2007. Documentary. 185 min. Not rated.

Feb. 27 at 3 p.m. - Azur and Asmar / Azur et Asmar
Created and Directed by Michel Ocelot.
In a medieval Maghreb wonderland, blue-eyed Azur and dark-eyed Asmar grow up as brothers. Years later they become rivals in a quest for the Djinn-fairy, which only one of them may conquer. In French and Arabic.
2007. Animation. 84 minutes. Rated PG.

Radford University’s highlight event for the February arts season will be a performance by the Moscow State Radio Symphony Orchestra Feb. 10 at 8 p.m., in Bondurant Auditorium, Preston Hall. The concert is part of RU’s University Performance Series.The all Tchaikovsky concert features “Hamlet’s Fantasy Overture after Shakespeare in F minor, Op 6;” “Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35,” with Nadezda Tokareva as violinist; and “Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 29: Pathetique.”

Admission is free with RU I.D., $15 general public, and $7.50 children. Tickets go on sale two weeks prior to the event at the Hurlburt Hall Information Desk. To learn more, call 540.831.5420.