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Today’s Email Announcements

Tim White and VW Boys at Heritage Hall Feb. 13

Saturday, February 13, 7pm, Tim White and the VW Boys, sponsored by M & S Lawn Care & FUMC’s Unique Boutique. Sixteen years ago the band’s banjo player, Tim White, came up with the idea to combine comedy, bluegrass and magic to create a variety show.Whether it’s singing about if they still look good naked or about 16 chickens and a tambourine or joking with their audience members, the VW Boys offer a rare kind of entertainment for audiences of all ages.“What we have, the VW Boys, that other bands don’t have is more variety of entertaining the crowd because we’ve got something for everybody there,” guitarist and magician Dave Vaught said. “I don’t care how young or how old, we’ve got something for them.” heraldcourier.com/news/local/vw-boys-show-runs-on-humor-music-magic/article. Tickets $10Adv/$12 Door.

Friday, March 4th &  March 11th ; Saturday, March 5th & 12th – 7pm; Sunday, March 6th – 3 pm; JC Community Theatre presents Play On, by Rick Abbott, directed by Kathy Terrill. This is a hilarious story of a theater group trying desperately to put on a play in spite of maddening interference from a haughty author who keeps revising the script.  Act 1 Rehearsal, Act 2 Dress Rehearsal Night and Act 3 The actual play in which if anything can go wrong it does.  This is a play within a play.

Heritage Hall is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the Area with quality entertainment at affordable pricing. Most evening shows start at 7pm; most tickets are $10 advance and $12 at door, and most youth seats are $5. For tickets, or reservations, call 423-727-7444 and leave a message. The Box Office is open on Tuesday – Friday, 12 – 2 pm at 126 College Street, For more information visit heritagehalltheatre.org.

Upcoming Events at Watauga Library

Valentine Party

Celebrate with or without a Valentine by playing Chocolate Bingo at the library! There is no downside here – if you have a special someone, you have chocolates to share; if you don’t, then you get to keep the sweet treats to yourself! Snacks and craft opportunities will be provided!

Thursday, February 11th at 4:00 pm

in the Library meeting room

Free Tax Help with VITA

Watauga County Public Library has again teamed up with the Volunteer Income tax Assistance Program to offer free individual income tax filing help.

 Appointments are available Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings, February through mid-April.

Call the Reference Department at (828)264-8784, Extension 2, to learn if you qualify, to make an appointment, to ask questions, or to learn what to bring to your tax help session.

Teen Financial Literacy

Presenter: Amber Mellon, Lecturer in Mathematical Sciences at ASU

This month’s focus will be on paying for college. Specifically, teens will learn how to evaluate college costs, avoid the credit card craze, calculate taxes, and decipher payroll deductions. They will learn how to prepare for emergencies and gain an understanding of the risks and annual expenses related to investing. Budgeting and saving will be revisited for their critical role in dealing with these challenges.

Monday, February 8th at 5:30 pm

At NC Works Career Center

130 Poplar Grove Road Connector, Boone

Thursday, February 18th at 5:00 pm

At Watauga County Public Library

140 Queen Street, Boone

Food will be served at both events. RSVP by calling (828) 264-8784 ext. 2.

Flugelhornist Kelly Watkins, App Symphony Band to Perform Feb. 16

Chief Musician Kelly Watkins with the U.S. Coast Guard will join the Appalachian Symphony Band for a Feb. 16 performance at Appalachian State University. The 8 p.m. performance in the Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts is free and open to the public. Watkins will perform on flugelhorn and also conduct the band for several compositions.

Titled “Kaleidoscope of Diversity,” the program features music from various cultures.

The program opens with “Early Light,” a 1999 composition by Carolyn Bremer. Written for the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, the material is largely derived from “The Star Spangled Banner.”

Next, the band will perform the N.C. premiere of Mark Camphouse’s “Homage to the Dream.” The composition honors the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

James Barnes’ tone poem for wind band, “Trail of Tears,” depicts the federal government’s 1,500 mile forced relocation of tribes of the Cherokees, Choctaws, Creeks, Chickasaws and the Seminoles from the southeastern United States to eastern Oklahoma.

Watkins will perform Richard Peaslee’s “Nightsongs,” adapted for winds by Chuck Dotas. The composition is one of the few written specifically for flugelhorn. Watkins will conduct the band in a performance of E.E. Bagley’s “National Emblem,” a rousing march published in 1906.

The concert concludes with Carmen Dragon’s “La Cucaracha” based on traditional Mexican folk songs.

A native of Texas, Watkins is also a member of United States Coast Guard Brass Quintet. She currently serves as the artistic director and conductor of the Lesbian and Gay Big Apple Corps Symphonic Band in New York City. Prior to joining the Coast Guard Band, Watkins performed with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, the Peoria Symphony Orchestra, Opera Illinois and the Illinois State University Faculty Brass Quintet.

In April 2009 and April 2012, she was awarded first prize in the North American Brass Band Association Adult High Brass Slow Melody Solo Competition and in 2003 was awarded grand prize at the International Women’s Brass Conference Solo Competition. Additionally, she was a prize-winner at the 2001 and 2002 International Trumpet Guild Solo Competitions and the 2002 National Trumpet Competition.

Watkins holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern State University of Louisiana and a Master of Music degree from Illinois State University. She has pursued additional studies in arts administration at Boston University and studied conducting privately with Dr. James Patrick Miller at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She has served as president and executive director of the International Women’s Brass Conference, and currently serves on its board of directors.

The Appalachian Symphony Band is directed by Kevin Gray Richardson. Graduate conductors are Matthew Brusseau and Onsby Rose.

Livestock Indemnity Program

If you have suffered livestock death losses due to the recent winter snow storms please call the Watauga/Avery Farm Service Agency for more information about our Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP) at 828 264-3850, ext. 2 or come by the office at 971 West King St, Boone NC 28607.

The 2014 Farm Bill authorized the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP) to provide benefits to eligible livestock producers for livestock deaths in excess of normal mortality caused by adverse weather such as extreme cold, blizzards, and winter storms. The 2014 Farm Bill makes LIP a permanent program. Producers are reminded that if you do suffer loss of livestock please document with pictures if at all possible. A Notice of Loss must be filed with Farm Service Agency within 30 days of when the loss is apparent, and you must provide the office with your beginning and ending inventory. Supporting documentation such as calving records or veterinarian records will also need to be provided.

Some examples of eligible livestock include cattle, poultry, swine, sheep and goats for commercial production.