May 25 to May 31, 2009

YOUR WEEK IN EVENTS IS WAITING! So get out there and heart your community! If you want to see everything happenin’ in our fantastic little corner of Virginia, check out our main calendar of events here or for the best of the best, pick up A Useful Paper today! It’s all FREE, yo!

TUESDAY

Open Projector Night

Time: 7pm
Place: The Grandin Theatre, 1310 Grandin Rd SW, Roanoke, VA
Price: $6.50
Info: Held at the historic Grandin Theatre, local filmmakers are provided the opportunity to showcase their work, as well as, network with other filmmakers and receive feedback from their peers and the audience. Open Projector Night is paneled by the Young Curators and the Teen Advisory Committee of the Taubman Museum of Art.
LINK TO EVENT PAGE

FRIDAY-SUNDAY

Lebanese Festival

Time: May 29: 12-8pm; May 30: 12-10pm; May 31: 12-8pm
Place: St. Elisa Maronite Catholic Church, 4730 Cove Rd, Roanoke, VA
Price: FREE
Info: A celebration of Lebanese culture with traditional Lebanese dances, games, food, music and more. Features delicacies like tabouli and spinach pies and falafel. Takeout orders available.
LINK TO EVENT PAGE

FRIDAY

Keith Urban & Dierks Bentley

Time: 7pm
Place: Roanoke Performing Arts Theatre, Roanoke, VA
Price: $61.50-$71.50
Info: As if a night with Grammy Award winner Keith Urban, one of the most explosive and critically hailed live acts isn’t enough, now he comes together with Dierks Bentley as his opener. “Dierks will be a great addition to the show… I know that we are going to give our fans in Roanoke a night to remember,” said Urban. “A night they’ll leave their cares at the door and let loose for a few hours.”
LINK TO EVENT PAGE

My Empty Phantom

Time: 8pm
Place: The Water Heater, 813 5th Street SW, Roanoke, VA
Price: $5
Info: With Silence at Central Park and We Were Animals. All ages are welcome. My Empty Phantom (Jesse Beaman) brings his classically ambient sounds all the way from Austin, TX back to The Water for what will be a fantastic show! His live performances are like an open invitation for a thought provoking experience where before you even realize it you are sucked into his world of sound.
LINK TO EVENT PAGE

SATURDAY

Neighbors Helping Neighbors

Time: 8am
Place: Old Southwest, 502 Janette Ave SW, Roanoke, VA
Price: FREE
Info: Volunteers, residents and good hearted people come on out and help paint / landscape for a homeowner in Old Southwest who is financially and physically unable to do so themselves. Another way to “Pay it Forward” and give back to the community. Lunch provided!
LINK TO EVENT PAGE

Woofstock 2009

Time: 11am
Place: Elmwood Park, Downtown Roanoke, VA
Price: TBA
Info: A fantastic event for pets and their owners alike to benefit local animal rescues. In Woofstock’s first year they raised more than twenty one hundred dollars for The Franklin County Humane Society, The Harmony Rescue, and The Dalmatian Rescue of Southwest Virginia. Take the whole family to Elmwood Park, four legged members of course included, for a fun filled day of food, games, contests, music and a whole lot more!
LINK TO EVENT PAGE

Punch Brothers with Chris Thile

Time: 7:30pm
Place: Theater at Lime Kiln, Lime Kiln Rd, Lexington, VA
Price: $12-$20
Info: One of the most inventive musicians of his generation, 26-year-old phenomenon Chris Thile, brings us his virtuosic hybrid bluegrass ensemble, Punch Brothers. Thile has changed the mandolin forever, elevating it from its origins as a folk and bluegrass instrument to the sophistication and brilliance of the finest jazz improvisation and classical performance.
LINK TO EVENT PAGE

Rock Symphony Cirque

Time: 8pm
Place: Salem Civic Center, 1001 Roanoke Boulevard, Salem, VA
Price: $25+
Info: Celebrating 50 Years of Motown. This special concert includes the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, rock band Jeans ‘n’ Classics and performers from Cirque de la Symphonie and marks the second annual collaboration between all three ensembles.
LINK TO EVENT PAGE

Trashed on Fiction

Time: 7pm
Place: The Water Heater, 813 5th Street SW, Roanoke, VA
Price: $5
Info: The Brooklyn-Jersey City based band has been steadily gaining attention with recent shows and an unofficial endorsement by Barack Obama (very unofficial, likely an outright lie). Influenced by the roots-rock of Creedence Clearwater Revival, Neil Young, The Band, the early country rock of Gram Parsons and their latter-day disciples Wilco, Trashed On Fiction synthesizes these bands into infectious, noisy rock and roll songs.
LINK TO EVENT PAGE

SATURDAY-SUNDAY

Sidewalk Art Show

Time: All Day
Place: Outside the Taubman Museum of Art, Downtown Roanoke, VA
Price: FREE
Info: Taubman Museum of Art’s Sidewalk Art Show is one of the largest shows on the East Coast. The juried show features original art from prominent artists usually seen in galleries and private collections, as well as work by lesser known local and regional artists. Items for sale include oils, pastels, watercolors, mixed media, graphics, photography, sculpture, and jewelry.
LINK TO EVENT PAGE

MAY IS BIKE MONTH!

Get pedaling! Each week this month we’ll tell you about fantastic bike events and specials going on around Roanoke! For more information, visit bikeroanoke.com. Here’s what’s happening this week…

Saturday, May 30th…

Ciclovia

Time: 9am to 1pm
Place: Downtown – Jefferson St. and Elm Ave.
Price: FREE
Info: Ciclovia, originally started in Bogota, Colombia, is an event in which some section or sections of roadway are shut down and made available to bicycles, pedestrians, and other users. Roanoke’s first Ciclovia will shut down sections of Jefferson and Franklin Roads in downtown Roanoke, providing easy pedestrian and bicycle access between Elmwood Park and the downtown Market, and though the busiest part of Jefferson to Campbell Avenue. Plus, free outdoor aerobics classes by the YMCA. Get your ride a tuneup at the free bike clinic and helmet giveway by Sharebike. Tour downtown on Sharebike’s Pedycab, or just enjoy roaming around downtown. Ciclovia is the community’s opportunity to reclaim pedestrian and bicycle space to be used by people rather than cars, so we encourage you to celebrate with your own events! Show off your best tricked-out bike or your best bike tricks, or bring the kids and their tricycles down and let them take over the asphalt!

Every Tuesday in May…

Blue Ridge Bicycle Club Tuesday Night Ride

Time: 5:30pm to 7:30pm
Place: Virginia Museum of Transportation
Price: FREE
Info: The weekly BRBC Tuesday Night Ride starts at the Virginia Museum of Transportation and follows a route up Mill Mountain, down the Blue Ridge Parkway, and back to Downtown Roanoke. Riders join up at the Cornerstone pub for post-ride thirst quenching and fellowship.

Blue Ridge Bicycle Club Lowlander Ride

Time: 5:30pm to 7:30pm
Place: Virginia Museum of Transportation
Price: FREE
Info: The weekly BRBC Tuesday Night Lowlanders Ride starts at the Virginia Museum of Transportation. The route is approximately 17-20 miles and mostly flat. From the Transportation Museum the group rides west to 10th Street, takes the 10th Street bridge and ends up riding Shenandoah Ave to 24th Street. The route continues through Norwich to Main Street, cross Main Street Bridge to the Roanoke River Greenway to Tinker Creek Greenway to Wise Avenue to Cornerstone.

Every Wednesday in May…

Mill Mountain Mama Rides

Time: 10am to 12am when weather allows.
Place: Wasena Greenway Parking Lot
Price: FREE
Info: Take that bike out of storage and let’s ride! This ride is for women new to bicycling or wanting to refresh their skills. Helmet and bicycle fit, bike safety check, stop/start techniques and group riding skills will be practiced.

Blue 5 Bike Nights

Time: Wednesday Evenings
Where: Blue 5 Restaurant, 312 2nd St., Downtown Roanoke
Info: Downtown Roanoke restaurant Blue 5 will host a Bike Night every Wednesday in their downstairs expansion. The night will consist of showing bike-related movies, discounts for cyclists, and others.

Every Friday in May…

Casual Fridays at Tudor’s Biscuit World

Time: 7am to 8am
Place: Tudor’s Biscuit World, 23 Church Ave., Downtown Roanokoke
Info: Tudor’s is offering a fantastic breakfast deal: $2 for a three-topping biscuit and small coffee to anyone who arrives by bike! Just show proof of your ride (for example, your bike helmet) and you’re good to go!