THE HIGH POINT ENTERPRISE
& LIFE KAZOO
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BOOKS: Tiya Miles speaks Saturday in Winston-Salem. 4D
Thursday October 14, 2010 Vicki Knopfler vknopfler@hpe.com (336) 888-3601
MOVIES: Reviews of films playing at local theaters. 3D FOR KIDS: ”Yo Gabba! Live! There’s a Party in My City” shows Saturday. 4D
Life&Style (336) 888-3527
High Points this week
BUSH BOOK
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Stories “THOSE WERE THE DAYS: A 1900 Visit with Grandma Payne” is the title of a story program 3-4:30 p.m. Saturday in the Children’s Story Room, High Point Neal F. Austin Public Library, 901 N. Main St. Ruby Allred portrays her grandmother, Louisa Motsinger Payne, a local farm wife circa 1900. Allred describes daily life and displays objects and pictures from her grandmother’s time period. Free
Music KYLE KOCH, a classical guitarist, performs 2-4 p.m. Sunday at High Point Neal F. Austin Public Library, 901 N. Main St. His performance is part of the library’s series that showcases local musicians. Free MERCURY NASHVILLE | |AP
Fair
Cover of latest CD by Billy Currington, “Enjoy Yourself.”
THE N.C. STATE FAIR opens today and continues through Oct. 24 at the State Fairgrounds, 1025 Blue Ridge Road, Raleigh. Today is preview day, and events open at 3 p.m. The fairground is open 8 a.m.-midnight daily. Midway rides operate 10 a.m.-midnight. Exhibit halls are open 9 a.m.-9:45 p.m. Admission is $8 for adults, $3 for age 6-12, free for seniors and age 5 and younger. Ride tickets are $1 per ticket or $10 for a sheet of 18 tickets. The lineup for concerts, all at 7:30 p.m. in Dorton Arena, is: Danny Gokey, today, $5; Casting Crowns, Friday, $15; Honor Society, Saturday, $5; Carolina Chocolate Drops, Sunday, $5; Easton Corbin, Monday, $5; Chris Young, Tuesday, $5; Gloriana, Wednesday, $5; Jeffrey Osborne, Oct. 21, $10; Chris Tomlin, Oct. 22, $10; Darius Rucker, Oct. 23, $20; Justin Moore, Oct. 24, $5. www.ncstatefair.org/2010
Dance THE OLD-TIME SQUARE Dance will be held 7-10 p.m. Saturday at Denton Civic Center on W. Salisbury Street. Music will be provided by the Oak Tree Boys, with fiddler Max Lanning. Dancers may not wear shoes with taps. $5 for adults, free for children 12 and younger.
Currington runs through life at own speed CAITLIN R. KING ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
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ASHVILLE, Tenn. – Billy Currington has a no-rush policy. He doesn’t have to say it or put it in a contract: It’s written in his DNA. The 36-year-old country singer from the Georgia coast recently released his fourth album, “Enjoy Yourself,” and the leadoff single, “Pretty Good At Drinkin’ Beer,” hit the No. 1 spot at the same time for his sixth chart topper. It’s a sign that he should continue to listen to his internal clock. Some of the songs he chose for the new album he found years ago, but they just didn’t feel right for a project until now. “I just kept stashing them to the side,” he said in a recent interview. When it came time to record the album, he had about
30 tracks. He eventually narrowed them to 10, including a cover of the Dave Barnes song, “Until You,” and one he co-wrote, “Bad Day of Fishing.” Currington says each track reflects a different aspect of his personality. “I definitely would never record a song that didn’t fit me,” he said. Currington is opening shows on Carrie Underwood’s 46-city tour this fall: “It’s a blessing because she’s so huge as an artist and brings so many people to the table that we’ve never seen, we’ve never played in front of.” But life on the road means that he has no real home. Instead, he hops around to different parts of the country without committing to one location, whether it’s Hawaii, Georgia or Nashville: “Everywhere is just ‘Rent a place, rent an apartment, rent a whatever.’ ” Home will be a tour bus
for the next few months. When he’s out on the road, Currington stays in shape by running 30 minutes to an hour each day. He will usually take off for a run with one of his band members in the middle of the day. “Wherever we’re at, whatever town, we just run the town and come back. It’s pretty simple,” he said. “No maps, no GPS, we just go. We always seem to find our way back.” Musically, Currington is confident he’s on the right track for success. He’s just in no hurry to get to his ultimate destination. Right now he’s content to enjoy the journey. “What you see out there is pretty much what I am, very laid back,” he said. “In my own way I’m crazy, but I have fun with it. I love life. I love people, love what I do, love my family, and I’m always thankful for what I got.”
New children’s TV channel debuts DAVID BAUDER AP TELEVISION WRITER
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EW YORK – The Discovery Kids channel disappeared last weekend and in its place appeared The Hub, a new television network backed by the toy maker Hasbro that is focusing on a 6-year-old to 11-year-old audience. The Hub debued at 10 a.m. Sunday and gave viewers a sampling of some of the programming it will be rolling out over the next six months. “This is the last great opportunity to launch a great kids’ business,” said Margaret Loesch, the network’s CEO. The veteran television executive helped start up Fox’s children’s business. Discovery Kids is seen in about 60 million U.S. homes with cable and satellite, slightly more than half the homes with TV. Unhappy with the
THE HUB | AP
Musician Christina Milian and daughter Violet at The Hub TV Launch event Oct. 1 in Los Angeles. ratings, Discovery Communications accepted $300 million from Hasbro Inc. last year to start over in a joint venture. It’s virtually impossible these days for any new network to start with that many homes unless
it is taking the space of an old one. Hasbro will contribute “Transformers Prime” and “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,” programs based on characters that are also Hasbro toys.
Other shows include Jim Henson’s “Fraggle Rock,” ‘’Meerkat Manor,” ‘’Men in Black,” ‘’Strawberry Shortcake Berry Bitty Adventures,” ‘’The Twisted Whiskers Show” and “Batman Beyond.” Early testing showed enthusiasm for “Family Game Night,” a primetime show designed to bring youngsters and their parents together to watch competition in games such as “Sorry” and “Operation.” Loesch said she believed popular children’s’ networks Nickelodeon and The Disney Channel are starting to offer more programming aimed at a teen and tween audience, leaving a chance to gain a foothold among younger viewers. “I think they’ll be successful,” said Derek Baine, a senior analyst at SNL Kagan, who focuses on cable network businesses. “They have a lot
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of money behind them and a lot of powerful brand names in Hasbro to leverage.” The Hub can’t pay as much in licensing fees to producers of children’s series, but will compete by allowing the creators to maintain ownership of their shows, Loesch said. That’s often a sticking point in deals with the larger children’s’ networks, she said. Baine said he saw that less as a strategy and more a cost-saving effort; Discovery has found that launching Oprah Winfrey’s new network was more expensive than originally planned. Hasbro’s involvement has raised concerns about exposing the young audience to too much commercialism. Loesch said it’s the same issue at Nick and Disney. “When you see what we’re doing, we will pass any smell test,” she said.
NEW YORK (AP) – Former President George W. Bush’s memoir will arrive next month with a huge first printing and an e-book with multimedia extras, Crown Publishers said in a statement Thursday. “Decision Points” will have a print run of 1.5 million copies, the same number given six years ago for Bill Clinton’s “My Life,” which went on to sell more than 2 million copies, far greater than for most presidential memoirs. Crown, an imprint of Random House Inc., also announced that an enhanced e-book edition will be available, featuring video highlights of Bush’s presidency, photographs not included in the hardcover book and personal correspondence. “Decision Points,” which comes out Nov. 9, a week after Election Day, will not be a conventional narrative, but a reflection of important decisions and moments in Bush’s life, including the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the war in Iraq. Bush left office two years ago with low approval ratings and skepticism among publishers about the appeal of a memoir by him, but Republicans are looking to make substantial gains in next month’s elections. A month before publication, “Decision Points” is already in the top five on Barnes & Noble’s website and the top 200 on Amazon.com. “We believe there is a broad and large readership nationwide waiting to read President Bush’s book and that this readership will be fully engaged by what he has written,” said Crown publisher Tina Constable.
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