American postmodernist Robert Rauschenberg died last week at the age of 82, leaving behind a body of work containing an estimated 6,000 pieces. After stints in the army, the Kansas City Art Institute and the Acadmie Julian in Paris, Rauschenberg studied at Black Mountain College, where he thrived under the tutelage of Josef Albers. Rauschenberg split time between Black Mountain and New York City for a few years after graduation, but that's where the North Carolina connection ends. In later years, he bounced between a Greenwich Village apartment and a pied-a-terre on the Florida island of Captiva.

The Children's Theatre of Winston-Salem wraps its season with a play entitled If You Give a Pig a Party. This play, which is aimed at the early elementary set, opens at 10 a.m. Thursday and will be performed by Charlotte's Taradiddle Players.

This 28-year-old musician was born in Dickson, Tenn. on Aug. 20, and according to his family he showed musical interest at a surprisingly young age. Originally from the Atlanta area, Matt Schwartz began his career on a professional level with a music business degree from Georgia State University.

This is the Southeast Hottest Live music venue!

The RiverRun International Film Festival is one of the premier film festivals in the Southeastern United States. Located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, home of the nation's first arts council, the festival showcases a rich blend of works by independent, international and student filmmakers.

Out by the mall, cruising Winston-Salem's fringe in the rain, we were looking for lunch and having no luck. We wanted a meal - not just a quick grab-and-go but an actual, bona fide repast to mark the middle of the day in the middle of the week. And then, in between slaps of the windshield wipers, I saw it. I have known about Bleu since its opening a year and a half ago caused a figurative maelstrom in culinary circles.

Got way too much to wrote about this week and not much space in which to do it, so here's a barrage of short-burst tidbits designed to get your intellectual salivary glands flowing. Brew Nerds, the Winston-Salem coffee house which manages to boost the status of both jittery caffeine junkies and pocket protectors, has opened its second outpost in downtown Winston-Salem on West 4th Street, in the location that was once SIN Coffee Bar.

The big news this week - just in case you live in a cave or somehow missed the boat on Beatlemania - is the Heavy Rebel Weekender in Winston-Salem. We've got a cover story about it this week, so you don't need to turn to me for the details. There are a couple rad Independence Day shows, but otherwise it's a light week. Apparently, musicians and club owners like to take some time off for holidays too. Also, significantly, Elliott's Revue in Winston-Salem has taken a summer break on booking shows, and Garage owner Richard Emmett is getting busy with the Eastern Music Festival Fringe series.

The June heat is rising off the asphalt and the telephone wires are buzzing. No room for anything but the essentials here. "The Moravians' Passion for Music" features performances by JF Peter and W. Piecl, and Andrew Willis and Gesa Kordes at Calvary Moravian Church in Winston-Salem on Wednesday, while "The Excitement of Improvisation" features performances by violinist Ingrid Matthews, harpsichordist Joe Gasho, lute and theorbo player John Lenti, cellist Nika Zlatzric, recorder player Justin Godoy and soprano Ah Hong at Gray Auditorium in the Old Salem Visitors Center.