from the desk of Mike G.

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hello, friends and neighbors:

On this Friday, Jan. 18, the Spiral Joy Band hosts an expedition to that realm of sound sometimes portrayed as psychedelic folk, or maybe psychographic misbranding, all at the She-Sha restaurant and hookah bar on Blacksburg's Draper Road during the 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. or so celebration of the latest issue of 16 Squares magazine. Poetry, gongs, reeds and strings; much, much, much more.

And on Saturday, Jan. 19, the Black Twig Pickers return to the Cellar to revel in the sonic properties of deep winter, how the sound of banjos, fiddle, guitar and board can seemingly carry for miles across the frozen drifts -- a patter of sleet, arranged for dancing or hibernetic meditation. Please remember to tip your bartender. Yowling, whooping, twanging and yawping begins at 9 p.m. and carries through to midnight or so. Come early and catch it all --

More info at www.klang.org, www.blacktwigpickers.org, et al

See you there,

--lskadjf