This weekend marks the start of Holy Week on the Christian calendar, so you may see a few palms being waved about on Sunday morning, which is Palm Sunday, and egg hunts here and there (we list two below).  For the sports crowd, Palm Sunday is better known as “Selection Sunday” which is when an elusive committee located somewhere in a bunker will decide how the top 65 men’s basketball teams (including our own Wildcats) will be seeded in the NCAA championships brackets.  The weekend also features a St. Patrick’s Day Eve concert by Nancy Whiskey, a play by middle school students, a men’s choir concert and fundraisers for the Lake Norman Animal Shelter, leukemia patient Paige Knox and the Angels of ’97.  College students will be involved in a rally, art exhibit, poetry reading and dance concert.

Weekend of March 13-16

EVENTS –

Students at Davidson College will hold a “Rally for Change” at the college union Thursday at 7 p.m. to promote respect for diversity in the wake of a racial incident that has been widely debated on campus.  See the full DavidsonNews report by Michelle Jester.

Davidson College visiting artist Tonya Clay will have a reception Thursday, 7 p.m., at the Belk Visual Art Center, for her exhibit “Tonya J. Clay: Mindscapes in a MultiPlied Moment”.   Click here for the DavidsonNews 4-minute interview with the artist.

Poet and translator Khaled Mattawa will read from his work and present writing awards to Davidson Colllege students Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the 900 room of the college union.  Dr. Mattawa is a native of Libya and a professor of creative writing at the University of Michigan.

Summit Coffee will have live music this weekend, featuring harp/mandolin Americana specialists The Orsons Thursday.  Saturday will be the SummitCares fundraising event for March, featuring Pete & J, with guests Kate Minogue and Kelly Gardner. Tickets are $10, with proceeds going to the Lake Norman Animal Shelter.  Bands play from 8-11 p.m.

Bailey Middle School will present a student-led performance of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” featuring students acting, ushering, and handling lights, sound, makeup and more.  Plus, members of the school’s orchestra and band will perform the overture.  Tickets are $2 at the door and performances are scheduled for 7 p.m Friday and 5 p.m. Saturday.

Davidson College student bands, Milo and The Puliz Surprise, and Winston Salem’s Fighting Instinct will perform a benefit concert for the Building Tomorrow program on Friday, March 14 at 7:30 pm in Duke Family Performance Hall. Funds raised at the concert will be used to help the international Building Tomorrow program to build primary schools in Uganda.

The Bradford Store  will hold its Easter Carnival Saturday, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., featuring a petting zoo, photos with live bunnies and an Easter Egg Hunt (bring your own basket – hunt starts at 11:30 a.m.) at the Bradford Store, located at 15915 Davidson-Concord Road (Hwy. 73).

The 12th annual community spaghetti dinner for the Angels of ’97 will be held Saturday at the North Mecklenburg High School cafeteria, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.  Besides the dinner, there will also be sports clinics, a silent auction, live auction and craft bazaar.  The event commemorates five students who died in car accidents or of illnesses before they could graduate with North Meck’s Class of 1997.

A bone marrow registration drive and spaghetti supper to benefit AML leukemia patient Paige Knox will be held Saturday, 5-8 p.m. at the American Legion Building in Cornelius. There will be live music by the gospel quartet Witness starting at 7 p.m. Details in our March 8 news item.

Davidson Express will be in concert as part of the Mooresville Concerts Saturday, 7:30 p.m., at the Charles Mack Citizens Center in Mooresville. Ticket info: 704-662-3334. Listen to an interview and music from Davidson Express in our DavidsonNews.net “4-Minute Interview”

Sunday, March 16, is Palm Sunday on the Christian liturgical calendar.  Many area churches will have special services marking the start of the Easter Holy Week. 

The Annual Eggstravaganza egg hunt and family fun day will be held from 2-4 p.m. Sunday at the North Mecklenburg Park.  This event is hosted by the parks and recreation departments of Davidson, Cornelius and Huntersville. Free for ages 10 and under, featuring egg hunts, inflatables, face painting and more.

Davidson Presbyterian Church will hold its annual men’s anniversary choir concert Sunday, 3 p.m., at the church (located at 116 Depot Street).  Other area church choirs will join in this musical celebration.

The next Davidson Historical Society meeting, will be at 4 p.m. Sunday at Town Hall.  The meeting will feature Dr. Kristi Multhaup, Davidson College psychology professor, and students from her Autobiographical Memory & Reminiscence class discussing their Fall 2007 Reminiscence Project. Free. For information, call 704-896-8718.

The Gamut Dance Company, which formed last year as a company of Davidson College students with formal dance training, will present their own choreography and also their cooperative projects with the North Carolina Dance Theatre Sunday at 7 p.m. in the Duke Family Performance Hall.  Tickets are $9.

Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day Eve with a free concert of Celtic music featuring the local band Nancy Whiskey (Henry Lebedinsky, Kate Minogue, Jon Singleton and Steve Burnside) Sunday, 9-10 p.m. at the 900 room of the Davidson College union.

SPORTS –

In Wildcats sports this weekend, keep your fingers crossed for the NCAA men’s basketball championship’s “Selection Sunday.”  This is a committee that will pick the 34 best at-large teams (Davidson has an automatic bid as the winner of the Southern Conference) and then decide how to seed all 65 teams for the championship bracket.  In other words, these are the people who decide if Davidson is a No. 12 seed facing a No. 5 team, a No. 7 facing a No. 8, or the other way around.  Starting at about 6 p.m., the 10-member selection committee makes the brackets public, and this will be televised live by both CBS and ESPN.  The Wildcat hoops squad will gather in front of television screens to see what their pick will be.  The public is invited to join them at about 5:45 p.m. Sunday in the college union.

While the men’s basketball team is chewing on their nails, sports fans have several home women’s events to consider.  The women’s lacrosse team plays Vermont Thursday at 7 p.m., while the Wildcat women’s tennis takes on Wesetern Carolina Sunday ata 1 p.m. Click on Wildcat Athletics for more details.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

• MARCH 18, 7:30 p.m., Davidson College Sloan Music Center, Tyler-Tallman Hall – Author Judith Lingle Ryan will discuss her book “Journey From Mount Rainier,” about dealing with the loss of her son Sean, in a mountaineering accident.
• APRIL 12, 8 a.m. to noon, Village Green, Downtown Davidson – Community Rummage Sale. Details in our Feb. 9 news item.

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