The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 11

THE BOSTON SUNDAY GLOBE JANUARY 24, 1999 nh lir Calendar Tales at 2:30 p.m. Jan. 31: oceanogra- phy for fun lecture series, N.H. ma-1 rine animals 1:30 p.m.,' History walk, p.m. Seacoast Science Center, Odiorne Point State Park, Route Call 436-8043.

PlayersForum Stage Company present the comedy "Greater Tuna" in a dinner-theater format at the Rochester Country Club Jan. 29 and 30. Evening begins with cocktails at 6, followed by buffet dinner at 6:30 and play at 8. Dinner-theater package $25, tax and gratuity included. Reservations required.

Call 332-0985. Continued from preceding page explored Maya cave sites. Also showing: "Faculty Collectors; Student Curators," works from the private collections of UNH faculty which have been studied by students. And Along the Water's Edge: Seascapes from the Permanent Collection" rounds out all the exhibits, which run Jan. 26-April 11.

Gallery open 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Thurs. 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Sat and Sun. 1-5 p.m. Call 862-3713. Mask: tea The Mill Pond Center for the Arts, 50 Newmarket Road, presents its third Chamber Music Tea Jan.

31, 1 p.m. Music by Handel, Bach, Purcell and Gordon Jacob will be performed by bass-baritone David Ripley, harpsichordist Lynda Cope-land and oboist Margaret Herlehy. The concert is followed by tea and desserts. Tickets $15. Call 868-2068.

Talk by historian on meetinghouse tragedy The Durham Historic Associations presents UNH professor emeritus of history Charles Clark with a slide-illustrated lecture on the incident that became the subject of his recently published book, "The Meetinghouse Tragedy," Jan. 26, 7 p.m., Durham Evangelical Church, Dover Road (Route 108). The trage-. dy occurred in Wilton in 1773 during the construction of a new meetinghouse. The center roof beam gave way, dropping 53 men three stories and collapsing tons of trusswork, planks and metal tools on them.

Five of the workers died. Clark, a specialist in New England history, first learned of the accident when he came across a ballad memorializing it He RYE Marine science center activities Jan. 30: Beachcombing, 11:30 a.m.; History Walk, 1:30 p.m. and Lighthouse (UW 36 Lowell Street MiDCbester. NU 03101 003.6 44.IIS0 Boston Style Restaurant in the heart of Manchester, New Hampshire a Music at the Dolphin Striker Harvey Reid today.

Dawn Khambet Jan. 26. Tom Dean Jan. 27. Benny Phitzer Jan.

28. The Burning Sensations Jan. 29. Mojo Rhythm Jan. 30.

Jim Gallant Jan. 31. The Dolphin Striker, 15 Bow St. Call 431-5222. Sneak previews Two sneak previews from the PBS series "I'll Make Me a World: A Century of African-American Arts," will be offered at The Music Hall, 28 Chestnut center of downtown, Jan.

26, 7 p.m. Free admission. Call 8684352. Children's theater Theatreworks USA brings its production of "Charlotte's Web" to The Music Hall's Weekend Family Series today at 3 p.m. All seats $9.

Call 436-2400. Ladysmlth Black Mambazo The bestselling African recording artists Ladysmith Black Mambazo, best known from Paul Simon's "Grace-land" album, perform Jan. 28, 8 p.m., at The Music Hall, 28 Chestnut St. Tickets: $26 and $23. Call 8684352.

Trombones and conch shells Jazz trombonist Steve Turre, a regular player with the Saturday Night Live Band, leads the 12-piece Sanctified Shells Jan. 30, 8 p.m., at The Music Hall, 28 Chestnut St. Tickets: $25 and $21; $13 for students. Call 436-2400. Book signing Stroudwater Books, 775 Lafayette Plaza, presents a talk and book signing with nature photographer Paul Rezendes, author of "The Wild Within," Jan.

26, 7 p.m. Call 433-7168. World premiere The Players' Ring presents the world premiere of "Coo-coo, Baby, Goodbye," Jan. 28-Feb. 7 at The Players' Ring, 105 Marcy St.

Special preview performance Jan. 28. All other shows Fri. and Sat at 8 p.m., Sun. at 7 p.m.

Tickets: $9 and $7. Call 436-8123. Durufle Requiem The Seacoast Singers under the direction of Nancy Brown, present the Durufle Requiem at St. James Church, Lafayette Road, Jan. 30 at 7:30 p.m.

$5 donation. Call 868-6389. sands of pins. Exhibits of Indonesian masks and handwoven blankets by members of the N.H. Weavers Guild are also on display.

In conjunction with the blanket exhibit, museum visitors are encouraged to bring a new or used blanket in good condition for donation to the the Portsmouth Coalition for Emergency Shelter; blanket donors receive free museum admission. Make a fabulous felt finger puppet today. Create a quilted picture frame Jan. 25. Science exploration Jan.

27. Weave with natural fibers Jan. 28. Lace-a-project Jan. 29.

Cloth tie-dying Jan. 30 and 31. First Friday of every month is "My Grandparents Me" Day, when all grandparents admitted free, and a special activity is offered for adults and children to complete together. Museum located at 280 Marcy St. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

and Sun. 1-5 p.m. Admission: $4 adults and children, $3 seniors, free for ages under 2. Call 436-3853. Jazz at the Press Room Singer, songwriter and guitarist John Per-rault and partner Mike Rogers (on harmonica) celebrate the release of their new CD, "Rough Cuts," with a.

concert 1-4 p.m. today; $6. The Jim Howe Trio with soprano sax virtuoso Bob Wilbur and pianist Chris Neville today, 5-9 p.m; The Press Room, 77 Daniel St. Call 431-5186. Watercolor exhibit Seacoast area watercolorist Peg Duffin displays her work at the Portsmouth Regional Hospital Art Wall (second floor) through Jan.

31. Duffin is a member of the Seacoast Artists Association. Abridged Shakespeare The Seacoast Repertory Theatre, 125 Bow presents "The Compleat Works of Wllm Shakspr (abridged)," an outlandish jaunt through the plays and sonnets of Shakespeare with three actors playing all parts, Thurs. at 7 p.m., Fri. and Sat.

at 8 p.m., and Sun. at 3 p.m., through Feb. 21. Receive $2 off price of admission by bringing non-perishable food to be donated. Karen's Restaurant, 105 Daniels offers 25 percent discount on dinner to theater patrons on Thurs.

nights. Tickets: $17 and $20 with discounts for children, students and seniors. For theater reservations, call 433- 4472; for dinner at Karen's, 431-1948. ESP Marilyn Sewall gives a program on extra sensory perception Jan. 25, 7 p.m., at the Exeter Public Library.

Free. Call 772-3101. Concert series On Jan. 30, 7:30 p.m., the Cooperative Middle School, off Guinea Road, launches its series "The Heaths." Featured artists are Sarah Heath, Lucy McLellan and Peggy Ogilvy, who perform jazz, folk, Renaissance and contemporary acoustic music. They will be joined by jazz guitarist Tony Lombardozzi.

Tickets: $10 for adults, $5 for children. Call 778-7772, ext. 8700. HAMPSTEAP Reading discussion Independent scholar Barbara Hardy Beierl leads discussion Henrik Ibsen's play "A Doll's House" Jan. 25, 7 p.m., Hamp-stead Public Library.

Sponsored by the N.H. Humanities Council. Call 329-6411. HAMPTON School House Rock W.H.S. Inter-acat '98 presesnts Prescott Park Arts Festival production of School House Rock, Jan.

29, 7 p.m.,'Winnacunnet High School Auditorium, Alumni Drive. $5 for adults, $4 for students and seniors. Call 926-3395, ext. 233. NEWMARKET Music at the Stone Church Acid jazz, jazz and rock by Miracle Orchestra with Flow tonight Groove and rock by Actual Size with Stand Up Eight Jan.

29. Country rock and rock by The Rocket Band with The Darlings Jan. 30. The Stone Church, top of the highest hill downtown. All shows for ages 21 and over.

Doors open at 8:30 p.m., music starts at 9:30. Call 659-6321. PORTSMOUTH Children's museum activities "Dino Detective," a new addition to the 19 hands-on exhibits at The Children's Museum of Portsmouth, enables visitors to assume the role of paleontologists and experience a triceratops dig. With "First Impressions," a 5-foot tall screen of movable plastic pins, visitors can create their own unique sculptures by pressing their hands or bodies against the thou h.fV mi Snow Report STORM TOTAL LAST WEEK, 3V4 FEET! 100 OPEN, ALL LIFTS day Ski Stay flex package from 69dayT 5 Nights Lodging Lift ticket for any 4 out of 5 days Day oft to enjoy Stowe's activities One group lesson Ski day Option to Smuggler's Notch Choice of Night Skiing Ticket or High Performance SkiSnowboard Demo Vacation Value Book 8 day packages available 6sed on pet perton. double occupancy.

Not valid 1A9V. 118 199. .54 January Mom, rv ii i. I'm uip Herbed Cheese Croissants Butternut Pumpkin Soup Herb crusted pan seared Tuna with Aioli nr rrpn-k "ctarian t-assoulet Eggplant with Oregano Date Apple Squares WINTER WNCHEOKLWIIHMRIEND Your five course luncheon Taxes and gratuity inciuaea. IB "oi will sign copies of his book, which was illustrated by John Hatch, UNH art professor emeritus, shortly be fore his death.

Call 868-2529. EXETER Handcrafted furniture Curly red dak, cherry and walnut furniture ranging from a hand-carved, high-back rocking chair to a highly figured 10-drawer dresser designed and constructed by Jeff Lind is featured through Jan. 30 at the League of N.H. Craftsmen, 61 Water St. Open 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

and Sun. noon-4 p.m. Call 778-8282: I Pichitv Place Nutting Hill Rd, Mason, NH 603-878-1151 Gift Shop Bookstore Greenhouse Herb Garden Call for reservations directions Open 7 days a week Enthusiasm for rhythms shows growth ROCHESTER Dinner theater The Garrison tries to bring as much of this music as possible into the schools. "I think there should be drumming at every school. It's a great outlet for all the wild and creative energy that kids have," she says.

"It's just a little pricey to get started." Which is why she and her hus band started Arts Bridge The World, a nonprofit organization designed to bring world music to un der-served communities starting with their own. Whether students are inspired to take up drums as a serious, medita tive study, or to look for the spiritual, healing powers of a less-regimented drum circle, Schust is happy that they will be able to find plenty of support these days in their own New Hampshire communities. "It crosses all borders, different cultures and races," she says "Ageism, and racism: All the 'isms' are thrown into the garbage with drumming. It's a wonderful thing." at Montshire jjcierigje Take a trip back in time, when gigantic prehistoric mammals stalked the landscape. Exhibit includes eight full-sized skeletons.

Artifacts illustrations tell the story of early humans. First appearance in N.E.! tit inn is vl i point 28 Sponsored by: Vermont's Own Montshire Museum, Norwich, VT Open 7 days, 10 am-5 pm Phone: (802) 649-2200 (Early 4 pm closing on Jan. 30) we started making drums and conned all our friends into trying it out," Schust says. Today, the Schust's homespun company, Timbre Drums, is recognized by many musicians for its high-quality, hand-crafted instruments. The Schusts make Ashiko drums long, conical drums with 10-inch cowskin heads that taper to a 6-inch opening at the bottom.

Schust also teaches drum classes in New London, Concord and Cornish. And for the last two years she and her husband have run a four-day African drum camp with master drummers and dancers from Mali, West Africa, right in their hometown of Andover. "The town had to listen to drums all weekend, 'cause we were playing drums outside for the most part," she says. The Schusts concentrate on the highly skilled methods and traditions of hand drumming, such as those carried on by Hafiz Shabazz and his world music percussion ensemble in the academic environment of Dartmouth College. That takes lots of time and dedication, she says.

And it is difficult to find true teachers: She is fighting with the Immigration and Naturalization Service right now to bring back her favorite teacher from Mali this year. But in the meantime, Schust CHEQUERS HARBOUR Pdiakthl (inina Witkdn btuntl Serving Lunch St Dinner Daily 253-8613 rt. 25, centre harbor says. "I think a lot of it was brought to the forefront by people like Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead, and people like Babatunde Olatunji -he's one of the grandfathers of the drumming movement." Armstrong, a world-music specialist who writes music in the jazz idiom and plays the sitar, among other things, teaches youth and adult drumming classes at The Bell Center in Dover. He also has more than 30 drummers under his wing each year at Phillips Exeter Academy, where he collaborates with a guest choreographer for a dance-and-drum concert every May.

His classes, like Benoit's classes, are very different from a drum circle in that there is little to no improvisation allowed. Students learn multiple rhythm patterns, and work on specific traditional "tunes" in the West African tradition tunes such as "Koukou," from Guinea, and the almost universally known "Fanga," which was popularized by Olatunji. "I feel that people have a sense of community by playing together," Armstrong says. "Even in this little group, they get together outside of class, and drum." Some students are trying to get involved in music for the first time, and see drumming as a way in: "I feel rhythm is the basis of music," Armstrong says. "It's where everything comes from." Some students are dancers or theater people looking for a way to improve their art.

Some students are jazz drummers looking for the roots of all those complex rhythms they play with sticks on a kit. But however they start, Armstrong says, "it's infectious. It's pretty hard to stop. You go further and further because it just becomes a deeper and deeper experience." Grace Schust's father was a jazz drummer. Drumming was always going on in her home.

And though she enjoyed the instrument she had felt the trap kit was somehow off limits to women, she says. Then she saw pictures of women hand-drumming in Cuba, and saw a way into that world. Schust started drumming in the West African tradition in 1984. By 1991, she and her husband, James, were longing to find people in their own neck of the woods to join them. "We wanted people to drum with, but nobody had drums.

So since we are carpenters and cabinet makers, DRUMS rVkntmioil fmm Panro TtfW healing, says Corey, a licensed mas i sage therapist and owner of Getting In Touch, an alternative health com-j pany in Milford. The ancient, spiritu-i. al side of drumming is very much a part of her drive to keep the circle going, she says but so is the fun and cqmmunity. 'As the night goes on, and the in- tensity grows, sweaters and jackets I typhis group come off. "Some people come just to clear their minds," she says.

"We ask peo-i pie to state why they're there sometimes in our opening warm-up. Peo-i pie come to learn to play they want to learn songs and want to learn rhythmic patterns. Some find it re-I laxing. There's a lot of joy in drum-i ming. You just play and have a blast, and a lot of times when it's over ev-! erybody just bursts out laughing, 'cause it shifts you.

It's very intense. It shifts you in a very positive way." i Jolene Benoit, who offers a struc-! hired class teaching West African rhythms every Wednesday at a barn in Candia, sees the polyrhythms of drum music as metaphor for life. I "It's a lot of playing three against four, which is very different. There's a stress point in the music," she says. "You create tension, and sort of push through it.

It's supposed to teach you in your life to push through that tension, and not be dis-, tracted by it" "i Of course, the only reason drum-I mers exist is for dancers, Benoit says, and she encourages her drummers to collaborate with those of the more bodily coordinated genre, She 1 herself drummed for the Song-! weavers in Concord for three years, and works with the Henniker-based ivntYinn'o Aanna anA rlmm twMino TTV4111V.11 UU'IVV. Ml 1 V. vA mi. a vufw, Pangea. Participants in her course span all ages, from the high schooler who's writing a paper on her drum-; ming experience to older folks who have always wanted to learn an in-' strument Randy Armstrong, co-founder of 1 the wildly popular DOAH World Music Ensemble and frequent First Night favorite Unu Mondo, has been a front-row witness to the growing enthusiasm for rhythms and cultures tie first started exploring in the 1970s.

I ''Most of the '90s there has been an" explosion of people being inter-1 ested in drumming," Armstrong The Temperature is Droppiri but the Slots are HOT! (T The cold weather won't stop this floating party! Come out on any one of our cruises, Wednesday thru Sunday and enjoy Hot Slots, a great meal and New England's Best Entertainment Leal! New England's only Floating Casino, The Vegas Express, is a multilevel, climate-controlled cruise ship over 200 feet long. Cruises Feature: 4 1 75 Slot Machines Caribbean Poker Blackjack, Craps Roulette 4 Baccarat action Free Gourmet Buffet Parking LEISURE CASINO CRUISES Floating Fun Info Reservations Toll Free: 1-877-872-6287 6 Rowe Square, off Main Street, Gloucester, AAA (Only 30 Minutes North of Boston off Rt. 1 28) Ship's Registry: US.