Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • 368

ST BETS 13 THE HARTFORD COURANT THURSDAY DECEMBER 24, 1987 COMING WEEK Sunday You." The band's last album, "Club Ninja," came out almost two years ago, but fear not, air guitarists: BOC has been hard at work in the studio and is back on the road promoting "Imaginos," scheduled for release sometime in Freebies I DEC. 27 Step right up, ladies 'n' gents, for the GREAT INTERPLANETARY SOAPBOX REVIVAL, an old- fashioned medicine show at the Wadsworth Atheneum's Avery Theater, 600 Main Hartford. This family show features juggling, music, storytelling and vaudeville-style entertainment performed by Marc Levitt who studied mime and juggling in San Francisco and toured with the Looking Glass Theatre's Spy Glass troupe and Sylvan Vaicaitis who has worked with the American Film Institute in Hollywood, Trinity Square Theatre, Circus Wagon Theatre, Looking Glass Theatre and the Rhode Island College Dance Company. Show time is 2 p.m. and tickets available at the door are $4 for adults and $2 for youngsters under 12.

Information: March 1988. The new lineup Eric Bloom on guitars and vocals, Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser on lead guitar and Allen Lanier on keyboards, synthesizers and guitar, assisted by newcomers Jon Rogers on bass and Ron Riddle on drums plays a 10 p.m. show at Toad's Place, 300 York New Haven. Tickets are $12.50 in advance and $13.50 at the door. Doors open at 8 p.m.; no opening act is booked.

Information: 562-5589. Enjoy the wholesome harmonies of THE KINGSTON TRIO when the folks who first popularized folk music perform at the Palace Theatre of the Arts, 61 Atlantic Stamford. There still are $9 tickets available for balcony seating. Local folk heroes Howie Bursen and Sally Rogers are opening the 8 p.m. show.

Information: 323-2131. Take the family out to a ball game or two and see some exciting action during the 10th anniversary CONNECTICUT MUTUAL CLASSIC Monday and Tuesday at the Hartford Civic Center, 1 Civic Center Plaza, Hartford. The annual college basketball tournament featuring a twin-bill each evening begins Monday with a game between San Francisco and Princeton at 7 p.m., followed by a contest between the University of Connecticut and University of Hartford at 9 p.m. Tuesday's program includes a consolation game at 7 p.m., with the championship game scheduled for 9 p.m. Tickets each evening are $8 and $10.

Information: 727-8080. Monday DEC. 28 It's been a long time since we've last heard from BLUE OYSTER CULT, masters of satirical metal classics such as "(Don't Fear) The Reaper," "Godzilla" "Joan Crawford (Has Risen From the Grave)" and "Burnin' for Hoop It Up Spend an invigorating Christmas Eve crooning holiday favorites and munching on marshmallows roasted at the bonfire during a CAROL SING today at 6:30 pjn. at the village green at the junction of Routes 10 and 4 in -Farmington. Eileen Packard and Paul Recker otherwise known as PEANUTBUTTERJAM perform "Crocodiles Eat Pizza With Their Tails," "Adding Is a Way of Putting Tilings Together," The Fire Safety Song" and other songs for children during a concert Monday at 7 p.m.

in the auditorium of East Hartford High School, 869 Forbes St, East Hartford. In the event of inclement weather, the show sponsored by the East Hartford Parks and Recreation Department will be postponed to Tuesday. Follow the misadventures of a boy who trades his cow for some magic beans when Michael Graham's Spring Valley Puppet Theater performs "JACK AND THE BEANSTALK," a show for younpters 5 and older Tuesday at 2 p.m. at the Cromwell Belden Public Library, 39 West St, Cromwell. Although admission to the puppet show is free, registration is required.

Tickets must be picked up before performance day. Information: 632-3460. If you're one of the thousands of people who have attended some of the 260-odd events held at Hartford's Bushnell Memorial Hall each year, you Erobably are familiar with the main all and "Drama," the gorgeous art deco ceiling mural painted by Barry Faulkner during the Depression. Now you can discover some of the building's lesser-known sights by taking a half-hour BACKSTAGE AT THE BUSHNELL tour, running Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The drop-in guided tours highlighting the hall's history, art and architecture are peppered with anecdotes about some of the entertainers who have performed there in the past Stops include the autograph room, the walls of which are covered with the signatures of stars such as Katharine Hepburn (signing herself "local Helen Hayes and Judy Garland; the Green Room, where performers wait just before going out on stage; the projection booth; and the organ bay with its Austin organ. Hour-long group tours there is a $1 per person charge for those also are available and can be scheduled by calling Jed Rardin at 527-3123. CALENDAR STAFF BEST BETS: Ruth Dunn CALENDAR Editor: Jocelyn McClurg 241-6462 CALENDAR Listings: Ruth Dunn 241-6468 ADVERTISING: (203) 241-6200 Castle closed, but view still is breathtaking own. Imagine the wonderful things that money can buy. Make plans for improvements you will implement in the spring.

When the cold brings you back to reality and ushers you toward your car, wherever it may be, console yourself with these notions. One, money can't buy you love or taste. And William Gillette, like all those of his times, can no longer take the walk you just did. From Hartford, take 1-91 South to Route 9 South. Take Exit 7, follow the ramp onto Route 82, left at the stop sign (you're still on 82), right at the light (still 82), across the river and follow the winding 82 for about five miles until you see a sign on the right for Gillette Castle.

Take that right. The entrance to the park is on the right. To get to the ferry slip, go past the entrance, go -right at the stop sign and there you are. what is hidden the rest of the year. There are opulent homes secluded away here and there along the river.

Hawks that ply the thermal currents often can be seen perched on a naked branch. Looking straight down from the castle's stone patio, you are likely to spy a deer or raccoon at the bottom of the sheer drop leading toward the water. If nothing else, the wind is always there to keep you company. Now, you can just drive on up the paved road, like thousands do each year, or you can park your car in the lot by the Hadlyme Ferry slip and hike up the steep trail, like a rugged individualist. The latter course will afford you numerous different views of the river, as you simultaneously get to know the landscape that attracted Gillette.

On a weekday, or even a weekend morning, you may find yourself to be the only person on the entire hill besides the state employee holed up in the castle. Saunter around the great stone castle as if it were your acre estate, with steep cliffs and dark forests, is now a state park. There is no more serene a spot in the whole of Connecticut. The castle is not open right now. This is just as well.

For starters, it means that the hordes of humanity that come to visit when it is open are nowhere in sight. Second, the inside is every bit as tacky as the stone exterior the surrounding countryside makes far more pleasant viewing. Now these are -harsh words for a Connecticut landmark, but one peek at this odd edifice will confirm that it resembles not so much a castle as a massive birthday cake oozing Vanilla frosting. William Gillette cannot be faulted on one thing: location. With your back to his former abode, you can see for miles up and down and across the mighty Connecticut River.

Spectacular at any time, this panorama has a special charm even in the dead of winter. The lack of foliage allows the viewer to see holidays, and account, are what's next? ys are those for those who exchanging se that either rn in public is )ush comes to mid use a little away from I busy Jillette was id quiet on tructed his ill overlooking ut River in years and the famous i stage ck Holmes, 919. His 184- David Holahan is a free-lance writer who lives in East Haddam..