Up & Coming Weekly

September 03, 2019

Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.

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16 UCW SEPTEMBER 4-10, 2019 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM September is a busy month at the Giv- ens Performing Arts Center in Pembroke, with two first-rate performances. e 2019-2020 season opens with the Blind Boys of Alabama on Sept. 12 followed by Extreme Illusions & Escapes Sept. 20. e Blind Boys of Alabama have been singing together for seven decades. In that time, America has experienced World War II, the civil rights movement and the Sum- mer of Love; the moon landing, Vietnam and the fall of the Berlin Wall; John F. Ken- nedy, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X; the invention of the jukebox, the atomic bomb and the internet. And the Blind Boys have been there through it all, influencing music in the South and helping to shape musical culture that bridges two millennia. e original band members met as children at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind and performed their way to the White House, entertaining three different presidents. e Blind Boys released their debut single "I Can See Everybody's Mother But Mine," in 1948. Since then, they've won five GRAM- MY Awards, plus another recognizing them for their lifetime achievement. According to the band's website, e New York Times said that they "came to epitomize what is known as jubilee singing, a livelier breed of gospel music," adding that "they made it zestier still by add- ing jazz and blues idioms and turning up the volume, creating a sound … like the rock 'n' roll that grew out of it." TIME Magazine raved that "they're always hunting for - and finding - the perfect note or harmo- ny that lifts an old tune into the sublime," while e Washington Post praised their "soul-stirring harmo- nies" and "range of cross-genre collaborations," and e New Yorker simply called them "legendary." "When the Blind Boys started out, we weren't even thinking about all these accolades and all that stuff," founding member Jimmy Carter told NPR. "We just wanted to get out and sing gospel and tell the world about gospel music." e Blind Boys of Alabama will be at GPAC Sept. 12. e show starts at 7:30 p.m. Call 910-521-6361 or visit https://www.uncp.edu/resources/gpac/profes- sional-artist-series/blind-boys-alabama for tickets and information. Extreme Illusions and Escapes fist came to GAPC in 2017. A rav- ing hit two years ago, Josh Knotts and Lea are back with brand new acts. Winners of the 2016 Merlin Award and the 2016 Fair and Festival Entertainers of the Year Award, the pair will bring Las Vegas-style performances to the Sandhills. e high-energy shows, skillful escapes and large-scale illusions keep audiences spellbound. e Sept. 20 show at GPAC starts at 8 p.m. VIsit https://www.uncp.edu/resources/gpac/profession- al-artist-series/extreme-illusions-and-escapes to purchase tickets. Season tickets are available. Go for an upgrade and join the Act 1 Diner's Club. e Diner's Club includes dinner before specific performances, for just $35. Menus include dinners like port wine poached pear, petite beef medallions with shrimp risotto, grilled asparagus and a red wine demi-glace, and New York- style cheesecake. e dinners are served in the Chancellor's Dining room in the James B. Chavis Center. Order meal tickets at tickets.com, or call 910-521-6361. Visit https://www.uncp.edu/resources/gpac/act- 1-diners-club to learn more about Act 1. Blind Boys of Alabama open Givens' season a STAFF REPORT EVENT e Blind Boys of Alabama released their first single in 1948. "Cumberland County's Community Newspaper"

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