Organist Gail Archer opens the 2011-12 Organ at Davidson series Tuesday. She'll also lead an organ master class Monday night.

By BILL KISER
DavidsonNews.net

Ever seen “Macbeth”? The Connie Company – Davidson Community Players’ youth program – will put its own twist on Shakespeare’s classic tragedy this week in five performances over three days beginning Friday night. Looking for something more thought-provoking? Holocaust survivor Susan Cernyak-Spatz of Charlotte will talk about her suffering at the hands of the Nazi regime on Monday afternoon at Davidson College. And author Sebastian Junger, whose book “The Perfect Storm” was made into a major motion picture, will deliver a lecture — also at Davidson College — on Tuesday night. Read the full story

By BILL KISER
DavidsonNews.net

Davidson Lands Conservancy’s Run for Green and Green Day Festival will be Saturday morning in downtown Davidson. Are you running? Meanwhile, have you seen Davidson Community Players’ production of “The Guys” yet? Anne Nelson’s play about healing after 9/11 in New York City concludes its run this weekend at Armour Street Theatre.

Feeling more like catching some good local music? Davidson’s Summit Coffee will hold its Songwriters Showcase Thursday night, while the Mooresville law firm of Homesley and Wingo will host the Blues and Burritos benefit Saturday evening. Also Saturday, Davidson Local plays a benefit for DavidsonNews.net and CorneliusNews.net at Summit. And the Davidson Symphony and Jazz Ensemble will perform in the final installment of the Davidson Concerts on the Green Sunday. Read the full story

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An estimated 356 people young and old, from Davidson and beyond, swarmed the Davidson Village Green Saturday to set an (unofficial) Guinness Book of World Records mark for the most people bouncing paddle balls at one time. Here’s a 4-minute video of the record, produced by DavidsonNews.net.

RELATED LINK: Sept. 3, 2011, “356 paddleballers set a world record on the Green.”

Can’t see the video? Watch it directly on YouTube.

"The Help," a new film based on the best-selling book by Kathryn Stockett, opens at Our Town Cinemas this week.

By KARYN JESTER
DavidsonNews.net

The Cornelius Planning Board and the Lake Norman Marine Commission have meetings on Monday and the Davidson Board of Commissioners and the Lake Norman Community Development Council have meetings on Tuesday. Other meetings this week include Davidson’s Coalition for Fiscal Responsibility and the Lake Norman Transportation Commission. There’s an International Tournament of Champions wheelchair basketball tournament this week in Huntersville, where 250 athletes from around the world will be competing. The Baroque Orchestra of North Carolina will be playing at Davidson College Presbyterian Church on Friday and Davidson College Wildcats Fan Day is on Saturday.

These events and more below, or in our day-by-day calendar at right. Also, at right on this page, see our movie show times listings for Our Town Cinemas where “The Help” opens on Wednesday, joining “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” “Crazy, Stupid, Love,” “Cowboys & Aliens,” “Captain America: The First Avenger,” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.”

“The Help” is also this year’s DavidsonReads community reading book.  The 7 p.m. screening next Tuesday, Aug. 16, is a kick-off for a series of events related to the book. That show is sold out, but tickets remain for all other shows, Our Town Cinemas’ Jan Black said Monday. Some book clubs may be planning to see the film. Ms. Black said reservations for groups are available by contacting the box office (see information at right).  Read the full story

Davidson College Cemetery on North Main Street.

This week, we decided to walk to some places in Davidson that are a bit out of the way, and less well-known. We wrote a three-question Davidson Trivia quiz about the places we ended up, where we saw gnomes, historic graves and sculpture. If you know about all these, great! If not, it’s time to check out some of the less well known parts of Davidson in your free time.

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Charlotte's Blue Chip Jazz Band plays a Concert on the Green Sunday at 6 p.m. in downtown Davidson.

It’s reunion weekend at Davidson College, and the area is host to a pair of Saturday fund-raisers – the Loopy for a Cause 24-hour run for Batten’s Disease research, on the Davidson Village Green, and the Collier Lilly Ride 4 Life at Davidson College, to raise money and awareness for organ donation.  A new play festival opens this weekend at The Warehouse Performing Arts Center in Cornelius, featuring a collection of short plays called “Grave Comedies.” Rural Hill will be celebrating and re-enacting the wedding of the historic site’s founders on Saturday, and there’s a jazz Concert on the Green on Sunday.

These events and more below, or in our day-by-day calendar at right. At right on this page, see our movie show times listings for Our Town Cinemas where “X-Men: First Class” opens, joining “The Hangover Part II,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” “Kung Fu Panda 2,” and “Bridesmaids.”

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