Charleston Gazette

Gazz will give out five sets of tickets to a special FestivALL Charleston kick-off show of "Mountain Stage" at 8 p.m. June 19 at the Clay Center. The show features bluesman Buddy Guy in a special extended segment, along with Shemekia Copeland, Duke Robillard and Lil' Ed and the Blues Imperial. See mountainstage.org for more details on the artists.

Cover Story: ; Urban Renewal; Country Megastar Keith Urban Returns to Charleston Tonight Will His West Virginia Bandmates Finally Take Him to Tudors - or Maybe a Curvy Local Backroad?

WANT TO GO? Keith Urban With The Zac Brown Band WHEN: 7:30 p.m. today WHERE: Charleston Civic Center TICKETS: $20.75 to $61.50 INFO: www.charlestonciviccenter .com Keith Urban says bandmates Jerry Flowers and Brian Meadows, both West Virginians, have never taken him to look for the Mothman, have never offered him a biscuit from Tudor's Biscuit World and have never, ever given him a plateful of ramps.

Flair, Forethought and Discovery' Leon Redbone Visits the Lincoln County High School Performing Arts Center

WANT TO GO? Leon Redbone An Evening with Leon Redbone WHEN: 6 p.m. Sunday WHERE: Lincoln County High School Performing Arts Center, Hamlin TICKETS: Lincoln County High School policy states that no tickets will be sold at the door on the evening of the performance. Admission is $30, and all tickets must be purchased in advance. Tickets are available online at www.myspace.com/ lincolnfriendsofthearts or by calling 304-824-3248. Singer Leon Redbone has a distinctive, one-of-a-kind voice, a famou...

6 Questions: ; 'Vive Le Vaudeville Variety,' Where the Odd Is Expected

Hands down, it should be the most unusual evening in town, starting 7 p.m. Saturday as "Vive le Vaudeville Variety" comes to the LaBelle Theater, 311 D St. in South Charleston. Billed as "A Sassy Show of Flamboyant Flare," the evening has been put together by Jenna Brooke Smith, a local belly dancer and features everything from the seventysomething Shaefer Fun Dancers to Tae Kwon Do master Jason Painter. Gazz caught up with her via phone and e-mail. Cover is $5. For more, visit www.jennabrook...

Pixar's 'Up' Sails Into the Stratosphere of Success

Up HHHH RATING: PG for some peril and action DIRECTOR: Pete Docter CAST: Voices of Ed Asner and Jordan Nagai Another year, another Pixar triumph.

Nbc Sets Historic Low in Prime-Time Ratings

NEW YORK - NBC set a low-water mark of historic proportions for TV viewership last week. The network averaged 4.4 million prime-time viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Rainbow Pride 2009: ; 9-Day Event Starts Friday; Here's What's Going On

The Rainbow Pride of West Virginia 2009 Celebration begins Friday and runs through June 7. The nine-day schedule includes a mix of family events, nonfamily events, and events intended for specific members of the gay community. For more information, visit www.pridewv.org.

In Short

Hall of Fame exhibit The traveling West Virginia Music Hall of Fame exhibit visits the state Capitol Complex today . The exhibit on wheels will be located on the north side of the main Capitol building, in the circle near the fountain. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., live music will be performed by John Lilly, the Carpenter Ants, Todd Burge and Dubie Joe.

Film Clips

* "UP 3D": HHHH. Pixar's first foray into 3D animation is a whimsical, breezy film about the real meaning of a journey of a lifetime. Amazingly textured visuals that work within the story and not as merely effect and a feel good story. Rated PG. * "TERMINATOR: SALVATION": HH. The fourth film in the Terminator franchise is a noisy visit to a dystopian future ruled by machines. Christian Bale growls his way through as John Connors, a messiah of the human survivors. There's inventive camera work...

Play Combines Survivor of Holocaust and Actors

The horror of the Holocaust hits home at 7 p.m. Friday at John Adams Middle School when students present "And Then They Came For Me," a multimedia play that combines videotaped interviews with Holocaust survivors Ed Silverburg and Eva Schloss with live actors recreating scenes from their lives. Middle school students will act the parts of Silverburg, Anne Frank's first boyfriend whom she mentions in her famous diaries, and Schloss, who lived in the same apartment building as Frank. Schloss's ...

Gazzopolis: ; Web: Rfc-71 Online Now

Radio Free Charleston number 71, is online now in the 'Multimedia' section of thegazz.com site. This installment of Rudy Panucci's local "music, film, animation and weirdness program" includes new music from WATT4, vintage music from Hitchcock Circus, a Plant Ro Duction Mini Movie, and a special appearance from IWA East Coast's Mad Man Pondo - and a friend. Some of you may actually be a fan of this friend. After seeing Hitchcock Circus perform live on the show, you can see them perform live a...

New Sounds

Various Artists "Classic Protest Songs"

Gm All but Certain to File for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

DETROIT - General Motors, the company that put tail fins on a Cadillac and was once the nation's largest employer, moved to the edge of bankruptcy Wednesday as debtholders refused a last-ditch deal. Crosstown rival Chrysler hoped to pull off a quick exit from Chapter 11 and prove there is hope yet for a leaner Detroit. Investors who are owed billions of dollars by GM rebelled against a plan to accept a sliver stake in the company in exchange for their bonds, one of the government-imposed cond...

Think Big by Thinking Small: ; Sustainability Fair Wants to Change Your Life

Barbara Frierson and Amy McLaughlin's hopes for Saturday's Kanawha Valley Sustainability Fair at Charleston's Habitat for Humanity ReStore are not modest. They want it to change lives. The sustainability fair, they say, will offer information and education, but also food, live entertainment and fun things to while away a hopefully sunny afternoon.

Alcan Says Rate Hike Risks 1,000 Jobs: ; Appalachian Power Says Its Rates Are Low

Appalachian Power's proposed massive rate hike could put more than 1,000 jobs at risk at Alcan Rolled Products' aluminum plant in Ravenswood, a company executive says. Michael "Todd" Ritchie, energy and environment director at Alcan, said the Jackson County rolling plant would "suffer substantially" if the state Public Service Commission approves the power company's electricity rate hike request, according to testimony filed with the PSC earlier this week.

State Audit: ; Crashes Raise Calls for Discipline; 23 Accidents in 5 Years has Cost Over $500,000

With 19 employees involved in 23 traffic accidents in state vehicles over the past five years, the Alcohol Beverage Control Administration needs to take steps to discipline employees with unsafe driving records, a legislative audit released this week concludes. Cost to the state for accident claims paid by the Board of Risk and Insurance Management and by the ABCA topped $514,000 during the five-year period, the audit determined.