What? A weekend with no Wildcat basketball? Say it ain’t so! Alas, folks, you’ll have to be content with watching that other Carolina team in the Final Four this weekend, though you can feel free to voice your warm thoughts about Curry and Co. to the college’s comments page. Meanwhile, in Davidson this weekend, the college will pursue its other strength: academics. There will be public lectures on scary physics, medical ethics and Greco-Roman antiquity to help you move on from March Madness moping. Plus, there’s an interfaith Passover Seder, a play set in the Great Taxi Strike of 1934, wildflower identification classes, an education forum on middle schools, rocking chair art (yes, you read that right), salsa dancing, angel poetry readings, a Russian folk music concert, trail clearing and more. Whew!

Weekend of April 3-6

EVENTS –

Thursday, April 3

Mayor John Woods and Hugh Hattabaugh, area superintendent for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ North Learning Community, will host the second of two Community Education Forums Thursday, 6:30 – 8 p.m., at the Davidson Town Hall. This one focuses on middle and high school issues. (See our March 28 report on the first forum, which dealt with elementary issues.)

Davidson College students will join campuses across the state in bringing attention to genocide in Darfur with a candlelight vigil Thursday at the flagpole in front of the Chambers Building. See our recent post on STAND.

David Mermin of Cornell University will be offering physics lectures Thursday evening and Friday afternoon. Thursday’s topic, intended for the general public, is “Spooky Actions at a Distance” and will address some of the more bizarre aspects of quantum mechanics. Friday afternoon Dr. Mermin will discuss “What Has Quantum Mechanics to Do with Factoring?” Thursday’s evening talk will be at 7 p.m. in the 900 room of the union. Friday’s lecture, aimed at physics students, will be at 2:30 p.m. in Room 146 of the Dana Science Laboratory. For more information, call 704-894-2073.

The Davidson College Theatre Department will present Clifford Odets’ play “Waiting for Lefty” through Sunday at the Duke Family Performance Hall. The play is set in the midst of the New York taxi strike on 1934, and “poignantly depicts the struggle to survive, live, love, and pursue dreams during the Great Depression.” (The photo, by Bill Giduz, is of Suzanne Lenz and Josh Carson, who have the leading roles in the play.) Performances are scheduled for April 2-3 at 7:30 p.m., April 4-5 at 8 p.m., and April 6 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15 for general admission, $11 for seniors, and $6 for students. Special two-for-one pricing for the April 2 and April 6 shows. For reservations and ticket information, call 704-894-2135 from 10-4 weekdays, or order online at www.davidson.edu/tickets. (Read a preview of the play in The Davidsonian, the college student newspaper.)

Friday, April 4

Main Street Books will host a story hour for the five-and-under crowd, starting at 10 a.m. Friday morning. The store is located at 126 South Main in Davidson and can be reached at 704-892-6841.

The college’s Organization of Latin Students (OLAS), the Timmy Foundation and PS present the Bailemos! Ball. Come eat a delicious Latin American Dinner and dance to a live salsa band Friday from 6-10 p.m. at the union’s Vail Commons. Tickets are $12 at the Timmy table near the fireplace in the Davidson College Union or $15 at door. Proceeds will go toward building a hospital in Ecuador through the Timmy Foundation, a non-governmental organization dedicated to providing healthcare to South American countries. Eight-person tables are on sale for $100.

A Davidson College affiliate of STAND, the Student Anti Genocide Coalition, will hold an outdoor concert on the Belk dormitory lawn Friday from 7-9:30 p.m., featuring performances by four student groups: The Delilahs, Shades of Brown, Milo and The Pulitz Surprise. See our recent post on STAND.

At Summit Coffee on Main Street Friday, the Mike Strauss Trio performs 8-11 p.m.

Saturday, April 5

LakeNormanMommies.com will hold its first community-wide consignment sale Saturday, 7 a.m. – 2 p.m. at Raceworld USA in Cornelius. More than 2,000 items of “anything kids or babies” will be available. Details: www.lakenormanmommies.com

Ethics Professor Alexander Capron of the University of Southern California will present the keynote lecture, titled “Authority and Responsibility in Medicine and Health Care,” during the annual Frederick Womble Speas Symposium. The free talk will begin at 8:30 a.m. Saturday in the union’s 900 Room. For more information, call 704-894-2482.

Downtown Davidson, Inc. is hosting a new event Saturday, Rocking Chairs on the Green, which will run from 9 a.m. until noon and feature transformed comfort furniture pieces created by community groups and businesses. There will also be jugglers, face painters and refreshments. The event is co-hosted with Creative Art Exchange as part of the “April is for Arts” program.

The Davidson Lands Conservancy and the Catawba Lands Conservancy will sponsor guided tours or hands-on wildflower identification classes throughout the day Saturday, starting at 9 a.m. This event will be held at the Catawba Wildflower Glen near Mountain Island Lake. To register, call Davidson Lands Conservancy at 704-892-1910 or Catawba Lands Conservancy at 704-342-3330. No pets. Registration is limited.

Students from numerous colleges and universities will be presenting and discussing academic papers on Greco-Roman antiquity Saturday, 9 a.m. – 5 pm. at the Sloan Music Center. The event, titled the Regional Undergraduate Research Symposium in Classics, is free and open to the public. For more information, call 704-894-2934.

Beth Shalom of Lake Norman will host a Passover Seder starting at 5 p.m. Saturday in the congregation house for Davidson College Presbyterian Church. The event is free though donations will be accepted. This traditional Jewish Seder dinner will include songs, readings and special foods. RSVP to Beth Shalom by emailing: info@bethshalomlkn.org. The event is designed as an interfaith experience and is hosted by Beth Shalom and DCPC.

Summit Coffee on Main Street has live music from 8-11 p.m. birthday boy Billy Jones performs, with help from the local combo The Pocket.

Sunday, April 6

A volunteer work session for Fisher Farm Park (off of Shearer Road) will be held Sunday, 8-11 a.m. Volunteers will work to clear walking and hiking trails at the town-owned park. Experienced trail builders will lead groups. Meet in the parking lot and bring your own work gloves and lunch. Volunteers should be at least high school age. Work days continue April 13, 20 and 27.

The Lyra Vocal Ensemble from St. Petersburg, Russia, will performs Russian Orthodox church music and traditional songs of Russia and Ukraine in the final concert of the 2007-2008 Music at St. Alban’s Series. The concert will be held Sunday, starting at 3 p.m. at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church. For details and ticket info, click on the concert series website.

Davidson College sophomore Stephen Westerfield will perform a free cello concert, featuring a variety of classical works, Sunday, 3-4:30 p.m. at the Sloan Music Center’s Tyler-Tallman Hall.

Davidson College voice students will offer a free “Liederabend” performance Sunday, starting at 7:30 p.m. in the Sloan Music Center’s Tyler-Tallman Hall. Singers will perform a variety of works from classical to Broadway. For information call 704-894-2848.

So Alive Gallery, located at 108 S. Main Street, will offer “Wings, Lies, Light,” a poetry performance Sunday, 6-8 p.m. featuring poets: Terri Wolfe, Tootsie O’Hara, Clarence Eden, Louise Rockwell, Gilda Morina Syverson and Ann Campanella. Artist Gilda Morina Syverson’s collection of angels will be on display as the performers read poems on the themes of wings, lies and light. An antiphonal reading, the audience will sit facing the artwork and have the opportunity to study the angels as the poets speak. The exhibit “Angelic Presence” runs through mid-May. Gallery hours: Tuesdays to Friday, noon to 5 p.m., Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free.

SPORTS –

The men’s basketball team may be done with its tourney run, but spring sports at Davidson College are in full swing. Speaking of swings, this weekend, catch the women’s tennis team in action Saturday, starting at 11 a.m. at the Covington Tennis Courts. The Wildcats (5-1 Southern, 13-4 overall) will face Boston University. Click on Wildcat Athletics for more details. And don’t forget to vote for Stephen Curry’s three-pointer in the NCAA on-line contest!

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

• FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 7:15 – 10:30 p.m., Davidson IB Middle School gym – Contra dancing with band Hey for Three and caller Diane Silver. Tickets are $7 for general admission.
• SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 8 a.m. to noon, Village Green, Downtown Davidson – Community Rummage Sale. Details in our Feb. 9 news item.
• WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 7 p.m., Davidson College Duke Family Performance Hall – Lecture “Do We Want to be the New Rome?” by Ambassador Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations. In the final installment of the college’s Bank of America Lecture Series, Mr. Haass will be speaking about principles, power, and the future of American leadership. Admission is free, but tickets are required. They may be obtained in person at the College Union ticket office from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays, or at the door beginning an hour before the talk. For more information, call 704-894-2135.
• SUNDAY, April 20 , 7:30 p.m., Davidson College Alvarez College Union 900 Room – Free literary reading by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, prize-winning author of young adult novels. Ms. Murdock will read from her books “Dairy Queen” and “The Off-Season” For more information call 704-894-2254.
• THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 12:30 p.m., River Run Country Club – Fourth Annual Dick Sanderson Driving 4 Life Golf Tournament, raising money for research into ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease and to help Mr. Sanderson and his family, who live in Davidson. Registration now underway. Details at http://www.dicksandersondriving4life.org/
• MONDAY, APRIL 28, 10 a.m. -6 p.m. , River Run Country Club – Russell B. Knox Memorial Golf Tournament, sponsored by Cornelius/Lake Norman, Davidson, Huntersville, North Charlotte Lions Clubs. Range opens 10 a.m., registration and lunch at 11:30 a.m., 1 p.m. shotgun start, 5:30 p.m. prize drawings, 6 p.m. award ceremony. The tournament in memory of former Davidson Mayor Russell B. Knox raises money for Lions programs and charities. For information, call Ed Roberts at 704-892-0276.
• SATURDAY, MAY 3 – Davidson Town Day!