Blue Highway will perform along with Mel McDaniel at 7 p.m. May 31 at George Washington High School. The event is planned to raise funds for the Danville Shrine Club.

The sprawling steel coaster is billed as the longest floorless coaster in the world with the longest loop

This year, Hollywood decreed that summer arrive early. The cinematic solstice, incredibly, was May 2, which marked the release of the first summer blockbuster, “Iron Man.”

Sequels! Reboots! Unnecessary adaptations of television shows! This summer - like most summers before it - is filled with brainless cinematic candy projected onto a giant screen for your viewing pleasure.

Bluegrass musician Wayne Henderson will perform from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History, 975 Main St. The New North Carolina Ramblers also will perform, and a public jam session will follow.

If you go
WHO: Danville Symphony Orchestra
WHERE: George Washington High School
WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday
HOW MUCH: Free
CONTACT: (434) 797-2666

Confederate Railroad will perform at 6 p.m. May 17 as part of Festival in the Park, running May 16-18 at Ballou Park.

But it keeps hit show in the news

The North Theatre’s David Lynch film festival, featuring “Eraserhead,“ “Inland Empire” and “Lynch (one),“ runs May 10-12.

The Danville Museum of Fine Art and History will hold its annual Art on the Lawn from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.

In case the first one didn’t live up to expectations, the North Theatre is hosting a “second-chance prom” fundraiser Saturday as part of an ongoing revitalization effort.

Magic, bluegrass on tap!

Derby Day, featuring racing, a hat contest, refreshments and prizes, will run from 3 to 7 p.m. May 3 at the Institute for Advanced Learning & Research.

Daryle Singletary will perform at 4 p.m. Sunday as part of the Providence Fire & Rescue’s Spring Fling Festival, a two-day event running Saturday and Sunday in Providence.

Americana and bluegrass music fans, listen up. The 21st annual musical event known simply as MerleFest starts Thursday and runs through Sunday on the campus of the Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro.

After a paltry winter and spring at the box office, the big summer movie season is nearly here. From InRich.com

Katie Couric went from being America’s morning sweetheart to being another anchor who couldn’t fill Walter Cronkite’s shoes.

Danville’s Peyton Turner will share her latest single, a song written in honor of her experiences on the show, on the “Rock of Love 2” reunion, airing Sunday on VH1.

Danville native Thomas Allen will perform Friday with the Morgan State University Choir, one of the most prestigious in the nation, the final show of the Danville Concert Association season.

The Yelena Eckemoff Quartet, featuring Yelena Eckemoff, Michael Bolejack, Gray Hackelman and Evan Thee, will perform at 7:30 p.m. April 17 at Averett University. The concert, which will be held in Pritchett Auditorium, is free and open to the public.

The Averett University Theatre Department will present “Proof” at 7:30 p.m. tonight through Saturday at Averett’s Pritchett Auditorium.

The Little Theatre of Danville will present “Cabaret” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday and April 18-19 and 2 p.m. Sunday and April 20 at the North Theatre, 629 North Main St.

The festival, running from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday at the Community Market, 629 Craghead St., will feature 10 wineries along with various craft vendors and music from the beach band Flipside beginning at 3 p.m.

This isn’t about me. It’s about you and your tax rebate, or what’s commonly known in Washington as the This Ought To Shut Them Up For A While Economic Stimulus Plan.

But, if I were among the winners of the annual Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest, you would absorb every written word as if it were a morsel of heavenly goodness, marveling at the shape of my letters, gasping at the perfection of my slant and finally collapsing into a puddle of pure joy at the precision of my spacing.

The following includes movies that are opening or are currently playing in Danville. Locations are listed at the end of each review. For more information, call the Danville Stadium Cinemas at (434) 792-9885, or the Park Theatre at (434) 793-9470.

Country acts will dominate at the Carrington Pavilion this summer.

Find out who’s playing, what’s on stage and where to hang out.

“Landscape of Slavery: The Plantation in American Art,“ now at the University of Virginia Art Museum, includes 92 works, mostly paintings, displayed in an introductory first-floor gallery and four second-floor galleries.

Danville native Michael Adcock has played venues around the world, including the famed Carnegie Hall, but he ultimately finds it more stressful to play for a hometown crowd.