Big shows planned for MU homecoming

HUNTINGTON -- It's Marshall University Homecoming week so go ahead, expect to have it all.

OK, chip-shot field goals and extra points not included.

At least off the football field, it's going to be so easy to get your party on.

Here's a look at just a few of the incoming big shows this weekend.

It's Miller time

We're not just talking about the champagne of beers here, it's time for MU fans to hit the way-back jukebox button for The Steve Miller Band, a crew self-professed to be equal parts "jokers, smokers and midnight tokers."

The Marshall University Alumni Association and Student Activities Programming Board are sponsoring "An Evening with the Steve Miller Band" at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14 at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena.

If you haven't turned on a classic rock station in 30 years, SMB has chalked up such sing-a-long fare as "The Joker," "Rock 'n Me," "Fly Like an Eagle," and "Jet Airliner."

Tickets are $55, $45 and a 1970s-like $25.

Tickets are available at the arena box office, all Ticketmaster locations and at www.ticketmaster.com. Tickets may be charged by phone by calling 304-523-5757 in Huntington and 304-342-5757 in Charleston.

A pre-concert reception, featuring hors d'oeuvres and a wine and beer cash bar, will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday at the Hall of Fame Café. Cost for the reception is $10 per person.

Jesco -- Unleashed a final time

Nobody, and we mean nobody clogs on a doghouse like Jesco White.

White, the internationally known celeb and liquor-fueled mountain dancer brings his Boone County shuffles on up to Shamrock's Pub, 2050 3rd Ave., for a 10 p.m. show with his guitarist Jay Hill (of the Dirty Coal River Band).

Hill, who just recorded a 15-song CD of the Dancin' Outlaw called "Jesco White and Jay Hill: Appalachian Royalty," said this may be Jesco's last appearance.

The Good Ol' Boys and a Girl open up the show before these two threaten to lay down more rockabilly-and-whiskey-juiced Irish stomp dancing than could be legal.

Tickets are $10 in advance or $12 at the door.

Get all jazzed up

If you're cultural tastes are upstream of tap-dancing on doghouses, then you might enjoy the Marshall Music Department's second annual Homecoming Cabaret at 7:30 and 10 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15 in the Jomie Jazz Forum.

The price is right, free, and the music includes a program of vocal jazz ensembles and solos with a combo of seasoned jazz instrumentalists is a collaboration of Linda Dobbs, professor of voice and Sean Parsons of Marshall's Jazz Studies faculty.

Call 304-696-3117.

Flexing metal muscle for literacy

Club Echo, 1318 4th Ave., Huntington, turns the heat up for locally-based, nationally-traveling metal mavens, Bobaflex.

The Mason County masters of metal headline a Tri-State Literacy Council benefit show Thursday, Nov. 13 at the club with special guests Hydrovibe, Line Work, Dimension 13 and Voices of Anatole.

Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door.

Concert promoter Jerod Welker, a junior at Marshall, said the benefit idea was birthed in his communications class which brainstorms fun ways to raise money for local charities.

"It definitely is more cool than writing a newsletter for some agency," Welker said. "We figured why not do a benefit concert and we kind of wanted to take it to the limit."

Call Welker for more info at 304-395-4200.

Step that step

A big MU tradition at Homecoming is getting those step teams into Huntington from all over the region.

This year, the Step Show, sponsored by the National Pan-Hellenic Council, stomps the yard after the football game all the way into downtown.

Show time is at 8 p.m. Saturday in the Jean Carlo Stephenson Auditorium in Huntington City Hall. Tickets are $15. Call 304-696-2283.

E2ntertainment has got the official stepshow afterparty covered just around the corner and down the block at Fluid Nightclub, 611 4th Ave., Huntington.

A 'Chamber' of secrets

Perhaps one of the best kept music secrets of sorts in the region -- The Marshall University Chamber Choir, a select 33-voice ensemble under the direction of Dr. David Castleberry.

The group, which has performed at the prestigious Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, S.C., will present a concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16 in Smith Recital Hall on the Huntington campus.

The concert is free and open to the public and will include selections by Monteverdi, Schubert, Distler, Whitacre, and others.

A festival feast

From 3 to 7 p.m. Sunday, get a slice of the diverse life on campus as Marshall University kicks off International Education Week with its 45th annual International Festival in the Memorial Student Center's Don Morris Room on MU's campus.

The International Festival features exotic foods, traditional music and dance, along with displays representing more than 60 countries and cultures.

All of this will be provided by MU international students and international community individuals and groups. Admission to the International Festival is free and open to the public.

Currently, Marshall has 451 international students from 61 countries, a five percent increase over fall semester 2007. The university also sends about 150 students each year to study abroad.

Call 304-696-2465.

A mountain of a jazz man

Jazz giant Bob Thompson has taken his jazz piano game all over the world, and is heard weekly 'round the world as the house pianist for the internationally-heard-and-seen show Mountain Stage.

While Thompson is in Charleston Sunday night for Mountain Stage, he brings his contemporary jazz band, The Bob Thompson Quartet up to Huntington at 8 p.m. Friday for a gig at the V Club, 741 6th Ave., Huntington.

Call 304-781-0680.

The V brings more locally-grown jam to the stage post game on Saturday with a tag team night featuring The Yetti and 40-lb Snapper.

Go online at www.myspace.com/wvvclub.

Courtesy of Steve Miller Band

Steve Miller and Norton Buffalo perform in Santa Barbara, California.

Mark Webb/The Herald-Dispatch

Alpha Kappa Alpha members perform during the Burning Sands '07 step show at the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center in this file photo from Oct. 27, 2007. Marshall continues its tradition of Homecoming Step Shows with a show sponsored by the National Pan-Hellenic Council at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Jean Carlo Stephenson Auditorium at City Hall.