Celebrating the “Music and Poetry of the Americas,” seven internationally acclaimed guitarists highlight the Radford University 11th International Guitar Festival, held April 20-22, all day at the Performance Hall in the Covington Center for Visual and Performing Arts. The festival is held in conjunction with Radford After Dark, the RU International Education Center and the RU English Club, with all of the weekend’s festival events free and open to the public.

The annual guitar festival has been a popular attraction at RU for over a decade, consistently drawing a wide audience to the New River Valley with music lovers, students and aficionados of guitar coming from across the entire commonwealth, Maryland, North Carolina and even New York State.

This year’s festival theme with its unique south of the equator flavor was born from a “confluence of synchronicities,” according to festival coordinator, RU Director of Guitar Studies Dr. Robert Trent.

“Between my own professional activities and the discovery of several expert guitarists, poets and musicologist in the music of South America, and the availability of a superb saxophone and guitar duo from the U.S. led to ‘Music and Poetry of the Americas,’ said Trent, who has performed in Venezuela over the last year, and will be appearing on the popular mid-day WSLS-NBC program “Daytime Blue Ridge” on Thursday, April 19 at noon. This summer, Trent will also perform, teach and adjudicate in two international music festivals, one of which is the largest of its kind in South America.

Highlights of the guitar festival’s performance schedule at RU include: Venezuelan poet and musicologist Alejandro Bruzual in a multi-media presentation of the music and poetry of Venezuela; Venezuelan guitarist Douglas Esteves; Brazilian guitarist Gilson Antunes; Peruvian guitarist and winner of the Naumburg Prize Jorge Caballero; the Saxophone and Guitar Duo of Duo Montagnard; poetry readings by RU students; a community guitar orchestra comprised both of RU students and those across Virginia, and much more.

“It not only crosses borders, it also crosses cultural, ethnic, popular and arts-music boundaries,” Trent said of guitar’s influence throughout the world.

“It is the great equalizer,” he said, noting how music has the power to form immeasurable bonds worldwide.

“Maybe we should even have a guitar program at the United Nations,” Trent quipped. “I am a strong advocate of cross-disciplinary learning. That’s a primary goal of mine, to bring international scholar-artists into our community, to have them interact with our students and all citizens … we need to be world citizens, and this festival—with workshops, concerts and lecture—are open without fee to all citizens.”

All festival events are free to the public, with registration required for participation. For more information, please call (540) 831-5177.

On Saturday April 14th at 7:00 p.m., Sustain Floyd will host a viewing of “Carbon Nation”, a documentary about climate change solutions, at the Floyd Country Store. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and tickets to view the film will be $5.00.

A panel discussion will follow the film. For more information, visit www.sustainfloyd.org.

Benefit for Kendall Bayne

Where: Radford University in Preston Hall

When: February 9th  7-10 p.m.

Admission: 1$ – plus donations

Tonight, in Preston Hall, Radford University students will be rocking out to raise money for 15-year-old Roanoke girl, Kendall Bayne. RU Parks, Recreation and Tourism students are putting on “Battle of the Bands” to raise money for Bayne, who was diagnosed with a rare childhood cancer, Adrenal Cortical Carcinoma, last February.

“She lives up the street from me in Roanoke. And I’m up here in Radford. I wanted to get involved some way,” said Senior Ben Perfater, who coordinated this event with the help of his classmates.

“It was the first thing that popped in my mind. Maybe we can do something for this girl,” Perfater said.

The entry fee is only one dollar, but bands will have their own donation buckets. The buckets will be used as the voting process and donations will be accepted throughout the entire concert. At the end of the show, the band with the most donations wins.

A variety of music will fill Preston Hall tonight in honor of Bayne, who will not be present due to another surgery. Eight bands are scheduled to play music from rock to “easy-listening country” and from blue-grass to jam bands. All band members are students at RU.

“All money that we make goes to Kendall,” Senior Sarah Davis said. “Everything.”

If you can’t make it out tonight, there is always a way to help Kendall Bayne and her family at kendallbayne.com

Brad Paisley wants one, Vince Gill wants one, Eric Clapton has one. What is it? a handcrafted guitar from Wayne Henderson of Southwest Virginia. Click here to watch Taylor Faw’s multimedia profile.

Wayne Henderson tries out one of his creations

By Shaina Stockton |  New River Voice correspondent

When “Speed Junkie” first saw roller derby on TV, she knew that it was the sport she wanted to play. Disappointed that she couldn’t find a team close enough to home, she decided to start a group of her own. Since the group formed out of Christiansburg in 2007, the NRV Roller Girls have been whipping through obstacles to compete on a national level.

By Corey Mann / New River Voice correspondent

BLACKSBURG, Va. – Three plays into the game on a windy, chillingly cold Thursday night, the Hokie faithful must have wondered whether it had been worth battling the cold, with heat bags in one hand and hot cocoa in the other.

At 1:18, the Tar Heels were up by 7.

Thursday night games in Blacksburg are a yearly tradition for the Hokies, having beaten Georgia Tech last season on a Thursday night in Blacksburg 28-21. Just two seasons ago, North Carolina came into Blacksburg for a Thursday night game and upset the then No. 14 ranked Hokies, which undoubtedly was a hot topic for tailgaters before the game.

“North Carolina has played tough against good teams this year. They came in here and upset the Hokies two years ago; they can’t sleep on these guys,” said Sean Foley, a Hokie fan and Radford student.

North Carolina won the toss and elected to kick off to start the game and take the ball in the second half. Following a short return by David Wilson, Virginia Tech starting quarterback Logan Thomas was hit from behind on the first play from scrimmage, fumbling the ball.

It was recovered by the Tar Heels. Three plays and 20 yards later, running back Giovanni Bernard scored the first touchdown of the game on a four-yard rush. As if the stinging wind and harsh cold weren’t enough, the Hokies fell behind early as the Tar Heels took advantage of the first turnover of the game.

On Tech’s second offensive possession, short passes to senior Jarrett Boykin led the Hokies down the field. Just out of field goal range, head coach Frank Beamer decided to go for it on fourth down with a short pass to the right side of the field, which fell short.

After the failed conversion, North Carolina drove down the field into the red zone, looking to push the lead to two scores. Just five yards out of the end zone, RB Ryan Houston fumbled on a second down running play.

It was recovered by Virginia Tech, giving the Hokies some momentum going into the second quarter.

The Tar Heels have won six games this season. In all of those, they had not given up a single point in the first quarter. Leading 7-0 over the No. 9 ranked Virginia Tech Hokies after the first wasn’t a good sign.

The second quarter was a different story at Lane Stadium, as the Hokie defense held the Tar Heels to a punt and a missed field goal to end the half. The Hokies began the quarter with a long drive, resulting in an 11 yard touchdown pass to tight end Chris Drager. The game was tied 7-7. Follwoing a North Carolina punt, Logan Thomas led the Hokies down the field once again, and coach Beamer was forced to take a field goal, giving the Hokies a 10-7 lead going into the half.

The Hokies came out strong in the second half, as the defense held the Tar Heels to five plays before having to punt on the first drive. From there, the Hokies offense exploded.

During the next three possessions, the Hokies offense produced two more touchdowns. Thomas pushed ahead with a 23 yard touchdown run and his second touchdown pass of the game, this time to for a four-yard score to D.J. Coles. The Hokies went into the final quarter with a 24-7 lead. The tide had turned; the Hokie faithful were as rowdy as ever.

As the fourth quarter began, students filed out of the stadium, and more fans hurried to their cars to get warm. Most believed the game was over, but the Tar Heels put on the pressure. After missing a field on their first drive, the Tar Heels found the zone on their second drive with a short pass by Quarterback Bryn Renner to Wide Receiver Erik Highsmith.  After another punt by the Hokies, North Carolina scored again, bringing the score to 24-21, with just under three minutes left to play.

After a failed onside kick that didn’t go the required 10 yards, the Hokies played keep away until giving the ball over on downs with five seconds left in the game. An incomplete pass sealed head coach Frank Beamer’s 250th career victory, the most wins of all active head coaches in Division 1 College Football.

The night seals another 10-win season, as the Hokies move to 10-1 overall, and are guaranteed at least a share of the Coastal Division title of the Atlantic Coast Conference, giving them the front seat to the ACC Championship Game and a chance at a BCS Bowl Game.

Virginia Tech finishes the regular season Nov. 26 in Charlottesville against their in-state rival, the University of Virginia Cavaliers. UVA is having a fairly good season, at 7-3, with big wins over Georgia Tech and Miami, and big losses to North Carolina and Southern Miss. If all goes as expected, the Hokies will find themselves in a rematch against Clemson on Dec. 3, in the ACC Championship Game.