Harding students l ike to be entertained, and there was a va riety of programs provided for them thi s year. The Student Assoc iation and its sponsor, Dr. Jerome Barnes, deserved much of the c redit, as they worked hard to showcase the best talent available. Fol lowing shows by Gene Cotton and Pau l Davis was no easy task either, but professionals get paid to perform, and that's exactly what The Riverboat Ragtime Revue, The Shoppe, Frede ri ck Moyer, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and Michael Iceberg did. Appearing October 5 was the Riverboat Ragtime Revue, a musical comedy group featuring piano, banjo, songs, dances and the comedy of Mark Twain. Paul Gray and the Gas l ight Gang served up a fine menu of New Orleans-style Dixieland . former member of the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra. The show was staged aboard a steamboat backdrop, w ith Master of Ceremonies Mark Twain, admirably played by Donald Cow; Dr. Cliff Ganus III arranged for the appearance, and coordinated Harding's effort in the program, whi ch featured over 300 high school and col lege music students, representi ng several choral groups including the Harding A Cappe ll a and Chorale, in a joint choral-ensemble performance of Ralph Vaughan The Shoppe was well the student body in the 18 appearance. A Dalla sextet, the group has J. Radcl; ffe awarded the Entertainer of the Year title by the Country Music Revue Association. Consisting of Clarke and Jack Wilcox, Lou Chavez, Kevin Bai ley, Mike Ca ldwe ll and Mark Cathey, the Shoppe's reportoire cons isted of songs by Hank Wil l iams, Kenny Rogers, the Oak Ridge Boys and other popu l ar artists, spiced by comedy and instrumentals . Frederick Moyer was a young, gifted pianist from Massachusetts. He gave an exce llent recital during chape l November 30 and then followed that evening with a superb performance for the general public. Moyer, 25, made his debut at Carneg ie Hall l ast spring and was making a world-wide concert tour. The program he presented at Hard ing was heavy on the sonata side, which gave a heavy, serious, somber effect to hi s performance. The 69-piece Arkansas Symphony O rc he st ra traveled to Searcy February 1 for its first Harding performance since 1980. The audience got their first look at second-year conductor Robert"'" Henderson, a Iliam's "Serenade to Music." )ther numbers included "SymJny No. 28 in C Major" and "Non J Andrai" from The Marriage of taro by Mozart, " Toreador Song" from Carmen by Georges Bizet. Michael Icebe rg returned to Harding, which he called " his favorite place to perform," for the third stra ight year, and perf ormed on his incred ibl e Iceberg Machine, which was a seri es of seven synthes izers, a drum computer and other speCial eff-ect devices housed in a seven-foot tall copper pyramid. His February 24 show began with an eeri e strain of music and a huge cloud of smoke on stage. As the air cleared, the tip of the pyramid lifted to revea l Iceberg, and his mirror image along w ith his mirrored keyboards. The early 70's music consisted of Led Zeppelin 's " Stairway to Heaven, " Eric Clapton's " Layla," and the Moody Blue's " Knights in White Sat in," among others. The amazing sou nd range of the synthes izers impressed the Hard ing audience for a capt ivating concert. All in all , it was an enjoyable concert season for the Harding campus. ~ - Bruce Cook Concerts/25
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