Up & Coming Weekly

JANUARY 20-26, 2010 UCW 7 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM In the '50s, Paul Anka had teenage girls screaming. Today, the girls have gotten a little older, as has Anka, but they still thrill to his music and his ability to entertain an audience. On Tuesday, Jan. 26, Fayetteville will welcome the legendary showman to the Crown Theatre as part of the Community Concerts series. The mission of Community Concerts is a simple one — to bring the fi nest in top-notch entertainment to Fayetteville. It's something they've been doing successfully for the past 74 years, and the impact it has on the quality of life in the community is more far reaching than just great entertainment. The organization supports outreach programs for Boys and Girls Club members and deserving seniors as well as music clinics for youth and a music scholarship fund. This year's season opened with the Doobie Brothers in October. The nearly sold-out event garnered an impressive response from concert goers who have come to expect nothing but the best from this series. " We've been fortunate to enjoy a lot of support and because of that we are able to bring in top-notch acts," said Community Concerts Marketing Committee Representative Kristy Meave. "Community Concerts brings an important quality of life impact with it. When people have one more fun thing to do on a weekday evening it is good for the whole town. We've been doing this for a very, very long time. The town was much smaller 74 years ago and as the town has grown the acts have grown, too. We got a lot of positive feedback from the Doobie Brothers concert it hit our target audience." "Paul Anka has been a heart throb since the 1950s," said Meave. "In fact, he was a heart throb while he was still a teen." A singer/songwriter with decades of staying power, Anka has recorded more than 125 albums, including 10 in other languages. His worldwide sales top 15 million and he has authored more than 900 songs, 130 of which have been recorded by other artist including "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" (Buddy Holly), "Shes a Lady" (Tom Jones), "Puppy Love" (Donny Osmond) and "My Way" (Frank Sinatra). Born in Ottawa, Canada, in 1941, Anka knew he wanted to be a singer and songwriter at a very young age. By the time he was 13, he was singing wherever he could fi nd an audience. Now, all these years later, he is still thriving on stage and delivering great shows to his audiences. According to www.paulanka.com, Anka is not showing any signs of slowing down. "He works not for fun, not to eat, but because one must. However, these days he works when he wants to work, where he wants to work. 'I perform because I still need to,' he says. 'It's one of those things that's in your blood. Because, in the beginning, people didn't come to see me because I was a performer. They came to see me because I had a hit song. Now they come because they know I'll give them a performance like no one else.'" Meave is certain that Fayetteville will get a show that they won't soon forget. "He's such a crowd pleaser and he loves to wow people. I'm sure he will sing all the favorites, which span decades, as well as a few of his newer songs. He is such a wonderful performer, I think that the audience will be pleased." The show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster ( 800 745-3000) or by calling the Crown Box Offi ce at 438-4100. Paul Anka to Headline Community Concerts by STEPHANIE CRIDER For the past three years the Cumberland County Public Library System and the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra have joined forces to present a lecture series and pre-concert to provide a preview to the community of the compositions to be performed in the coming FSO season. "The pre-concert presentations are part of our education program and target adults in the community," says Fatrice Currie, education coordinator of the FSO. Funded by the North Carolina Arts Council's Arts and Audiences grant, the Symphony @ Your Library Lecture Series is free, informative and can be of interest to all ages. Audiences experience a style of music that evokes an array of emotions as lecturer, Joanna Hersey, intermittingly shares details about the lives of the composers, the music and the time period. Hersey is an assistant professor at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke and a tuba player. FSO musicians joining her for the series at the Headquarters Library in downtown Fayetteville are: Dr. Tim Altman, Trumpet; Dr. Larry Wells, Trumpet; Steve Skillman, French Horn; and Nikki McCaslin on Trombone. "Ms. Hersey will delight the audience with interesting, and sometimes humorous historical and cultural facts about the composers and their compositions that will be performed at the next concert on Feb. 6," says Currie. Hersey and fellow musicians will expose the public to the exciting lineup in store for the FSO's new season. The season includes William Grant Still's Afro-American Symphony in celebration of Black History Month for the Feb. 6 concert at Seabrook Auditorium, located on the campus of Fayetteville State University, a program that also features the suite from Stravinsky's Firebird Ballet. The March 13 concert at Methodist University's Reeves Auditorium highlights Beethoven's powerful Symphony No. 4 as well as Vivaldi's lively concerto, and features Altman and Wells who are participating in the Symphony @ Your Library series. The May 1 season fi nale, also at Reeves Auditorium, includes Mussorgky's Pictures at an Exhibition along with other exciting pieces that showcase the immeasurable talent of the FSO. "This is our third year of the series with the symphony, and we're glad to give people a taste of what's upcoming," says Jane Castro, CCPL Headquarters Services Manager. The fi rst of three presentations from the Symphony @ Your Library series is Jan. 27 at the Cumberland County Public Library Headquarters in the Pate Room from 7-8:30 p.m. Symphony at Library Educates, Entertains by CHANEL COLEMAN STEPHANIE CRIDER, Staff Writer. COMMENTS? 484-6200 ext. 222 or stephanie@upandcomingweekly.com. CHANEL COLEMAN, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? 484-6200 ext. 222 or stephanie@upandcomingweekly.com.

• Cover