but two independent theater companies perform- Dance Theater — collaborated, but Fringe has grown and sub- The 2012 Fringe Festival also includes the NC Dance Festival ing the same weekend in a place like Greensboro missions come in from all over the place.

Lovett’s next-door neighbor, Cynthia Davis, was watching the television drama “CSI” as the intruders completed their work undetected by nearby residents, making off with a flat-screen TV, a computer monitor, a digital camera, a cell phone, jewelry, a checkbook, old coins and a topaz 1975 Ragsdale High School class ring.

Nostalgia, Frank Fairfield pointed out last Friday night, is an affliction to which few in history have been immune. Like a walking compendium of folk music lore, the old-time iconoclast could spend as much time talking about the songs he played at the Haw River Ballroom as he did playing them.

Imagine my surprise. I sat and took a quick look at the menu — interesting appetizers like Italian nachos, homemade soups, a bevy of salads and some greatlooking sandwiches. But all of this was an exercise in futility. When my server approached, he could tell just by the look on my face that I would be taking a few laps around that buffet.

The list of keynote speakers at UNCG’s annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration is long and impressive, with names like Ralph Abernathy, Michael Eric Dyson, Myrlie Evers-Williams and Manning Marable, as well as the more recent ones like Franklin McCain, Angela Davis, Julian Bond and Al Sharpton. This year was no exception, as Elaine Brown, former chair and defense minister of the Black Panther Party, took the stage at Aycock Auditorium on Jan. 17.

Mark Wahlberg, also a producer, stars as Chris Farraday, now a legitimate businessman (security systems) after a long and lucrative turn as a smuggler.