The Charlotte Observer du lieu suivant : Charlotte, North Carolina • 59

I (the (Charlotte Thrills FRIDAY MARCH 21 1997 Section Household name Pop singer Nancy Wilson says she need to be discovered by a new generation they already know her Page6E Carowinds opens its weekend schedule on Saturday on tap at the Carolinas theme park Page3E i A i i i 1 i :4 1 i i 71 i A mama gator sails through when not protecting a nest the waters of eastern North Carolina by choice scoot away from as invisible on a gray day as a stray humans rather than confront us log Alligators are timid Hot Buttons hattan Rhythm Kings good rhythm Best known for their role in for the Manhattan Rhythm Kings will be singing and tapping their way into the North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center tonight and Saturday Courtesy of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra which will accompany the trio in a pops program conducted by Peter McCoppin the three will sing their own arrangements of tunes from the and WillaJ Conrad The Manhattan Rhythm Kings with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra 8 pm today and Saturday Blumenthal Center 130 Tryon St Tickets: Information: 372-1000 10 am-6 pm today-Saturday Out of darkness light Jaar: Let There Be is the name of the exhibit that opens Saturday at The Light Factory casting his light on a dark place: He went to Rwanda in 1994 during the ethnically motivated slaughter wrought by warring Hutus and Tutsis The Chilean-born Jaar has lived in New York since 1982 but his travels have taken him to Hong Kong detention centers full of Vietnamese refugees and waste dumps where Nigerian children played How big is this show which uses light boxes to examine the lives of individuals trapped by politics? be installed in all galleries of the photographic center Jaar will appear at a preview 6-8 pm today and give a gallery talk at 7 Eyes of Gutete a limited-edition book signed and numbered by Jaar will be on sale for $100 Lawrence Toppman "Alfredo Jaar let There Be Light" Saturday througi May 4 The Light Factory 809 West Hill SL (a block east of Morebead off Cedar) Hours: 10 a m-6 pm Wednesdays and Fridays 10 am-8 pm Thursdays noon-6 pm Satmdays-Sundays 333-9755 vilely hours Playing card an author poet singer and songwriter all under the contemporary Christian rubric Saturday night at Ovens Auditorium Michael Card will perform the music that has won him five Gospel Music Association Dove Awards including his hit single and selections from "The Final Word" and For those not familiar with Card he brings an intriguing approach to his work: His storytelling songs have focused on exploring the characters and texts of the Scriptures "Unveiled his latest album tackles the Book of Revelation a timely topic as we approach the millennium Storypage 6E KayMcFadden Michael Card 7 pm Saturday Ovens Auditorium Tickets: Life" WRCM-FM (91 9) concert line at 841-4678 or the station request line at 570-9200 24 hours a day Displays at Discovery Place the Mint tell of prehistoric presence in our midst By LAWRENCE TOPPMAN Staff Writer Martha Strawn is one distressed little alligator Eyes clamped jaws clenched she winces at the thought of a hawk swooping down from the Everglades sky to tear her apart Strawn squawks calling for help And here comes Mama bellying through the underbrush thrashing the tail that can break a leg and readying the jaws no hands on earth can open when they close down on bone thing there was a fence between says Strawn today "I knew gotten the distress call down pretty well but I expect it to work like Mama Gator went away frustrated wondering why been called back to protect an empty nest But Strawn was satisfied: squeezed off another few shots among the 40000 devoted to the American alligator over the last nine years see through her eyes Saturday as Discovery Place and the Mint Museum of Art open simultaneous exhibitions If those satisfy your gatorosity $3995 buys her thorough handsome book "Alligators: Prehistoric Presence in the American Johns Hopkins University Press sent a batch to Charlotte Strawn will sign them 10 am to 2 pm Saturday at Discovery Place nip over to the Mint for a 3 pm slide lecture then end the day there with a public reception be the leading attraction at the Mint but she may be upstaged at Discovery Place by her artistic collaborators: The museum is importing an 8-footer from Gatorland for demonstrations over opening weekend also supplying a mounted 11-foot alligator and a cluster of baby gators for the run of the exhibit which lasts through Sept 1 (The Mint show is up through June 1) This art trifecta had Strawn dashing about last week like a hungry gator in search of a bream She chased down slides fretted over her interactive video presentation (which Discovery Place will use) and spotted photos removing tiny imperfections that look like blotches when prints are blown up She took time out to talk at her home outside Davidson just across the Iredell County line full of gators: wooden ceramic metal foam rubber (on a funky hat brim) and even real in the form of a seven-foot purplish skin stretched up her kitchen wall not a says Strawn believe in those a by-product: It came to me from Leroy Overstreet who hunts nuisance alligators and sent me the skin of one that (Over-street also sent her a folksy informative essay for her book) Despite making a Reptile-o-Rama of her home Strawn doesn't sentimentalize gators She grew up around them in Lake Wales Fla swam in a lake where gators lived at the other she says "But we were smart enough to let them be and they let us Please see GATORS page 14E Warner Bros Jennifer Lopez dutifully portrays the slain Tejano singer as perfectly angelic Film bio genuflects to La Santa Selena not a Hispanic teen-ager searching for pop-culture role models among a sea of white and black faces So I know what impact the 1995 murder of Selena Quintanilla Perez had on her audience When I see a movie as sanitized as an intensive care unit not seeing through the eyes of a devotee studying a saint I see a long picture with more syrup than a pancake house so worshipful that Mother Teresa should be this lucky with her film biography This is not the first uplifting biopic about a Mexican-Ameri-can pop singer who died young (1987) paid tribute to Richie Valens who adapted the traditional folk tune of the title and wrote the '50s classic had grit: We saw Valens making mistakes being a bit hot-headed Selena make a false move from the age of nine until her killing by the president of her fan club The worst thing she does in the whole movie is let a pet chicken sleep in her bathtub (Second worst: She steals Doritos from her food cabinet which is way off limits) Even when she runs off with her lead guitarist they marry instantly and return to the open arms of her forgiving family Writer-director Gregory Nava See TOPPMAN page HE SELENA STARS: Jennifer Lopez Edward James Olmos Jon Seda WRITER-DIRECTOR: Gregory Nava RATING: PG: Modest profanity RUNNING TIME: 130 minutes excellent -oooo -AVERAGE -POOR WRETCHED RAZZLE-DAZZLE WHO: Harlem Globetrotters WHERE Charlotte Coliseum WHEN: 3 pm Sunday ADMISSION: $9 and $12 for reserved seating Limited VIP and Magic Circle also available DETAILS: 357-4700 9 am-5 pm today 10 am-11 pm Saturday noon-5 pm Sunday A baby alligator emerges from Its egg Only one of five newborns will reach adulthood In the wild Much of Martha Strawn's book published in the Center for American Places series details the Southeastern spots that alligators inhabit same magic when Globetrotters suit up New names By SEAN JENSEN Staff Writer Years before Boston Celtics legend Bob Cousy fashioned a be-hind-the-back dribble in the 1950s the Harlem Marques Haynes was performing magic with a basketball Los Angeles Lakers legend Ka-reem Abdul-Jabbar flung hooks inside the lane but the Lou Dunbar slung them from halfcourt On playgrounds at YMCAs on college courts and In NBA arenas players sport a brand of basketball Eloneered by the Globetrotters lo-look passes Alley-oops Shake-and-bake dribbles The world-famous basketball troupe will light up the Charlotte Coliseum on Sunday with an arsenal of aerial antics improv comedy and on-court wizardry The Globetrotters featuring playmakers like Derrick Canada will battle the International All-Stars at 3 pm Growing up in East Orange NJ Canada watched the Globetrotters cartoon and to" show religiously Now kids watch him "The Globetrotters are he says "Parents take their child and then the child takes their child It may be only an hour or two but everyone leaves But when the over and the trademark red- white-and-blue basketballs are racked many children return to places that force them to mature quickly Canada says "Where I grew up there were drugs and he says "But back then kids were allowed to be kids We had a playground every few blocks kids have too much to worry about Even the toys are more grown up got cellular phone toys What happened to racing cars?" Although his futher died when Canada was 3 his mother was everything he needed He honored Please see CANADA page ICC MARK SLUOERStafT Derrick Canada and the other Globetrotter will bring their no-look passes alley-oops and shake-and-bake dribbling to the Coliseum i i.