The City of Harrisburg and various other sponsors including McNaughton Homes, Vartan and State Farm Insurance are promoting “A Summer’s Romance Concert” in the Amphitheater at Reservoir Park as a benefit for the Whitaker Center for the Performing Arts. The main attraction will be 46 year-old pianist and recording artist Bob Barry. Barry, a local resident, just released his third full-length album “Provisions for the Souls” and touts it as music to “relax, think, drive, love and dream to”. Barry has performed at Carnegie Hall and has provided the sound consultation for more than 35 major artists including Aerosmith, Ray Charles, Chicago, Billy Joel and Bonnie Rait. His second offering “Windows and Bridges” became the number one selling regional artist album in 1996 and Barry hopes to repeat that performance with “Provisions”.

Barry’s guest for the “Summer Romance Concert” is Bradley Joseph, the acclaimed keyboardist on the multi-platinum album “Yanni – Live at the Acropolis”. Barry is very excited about the concert and the prospect of having Joseph as his guest. “This is a wonderful opportunity that doesn’t come around very often in this area.” says Barry, who’s been touring Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio. “As can be seen from the sales of my albums, there is a demand for this type of music and I’m very excited to be able to benefit such a worthy cause.” Both artists will be performing cross-sections of their works.

The 31st annual “Art of the State: Pennsylvania ’98” will open with an Awards Ceremony and Gala Reception on Saturday July 11th at 7:00 p.m. at the State Museum of Pennsylvania. The exhibit is designed to promote and recognize Pennsylvanian artists and is co-sponsored by The State Museum and the Greater Harrisburg Arts Council. The jurors selected more than 122 works of arts from Pennsylvania artists from several different mediums including Painting, Sculpture, Works on Paper, Crafts and Photography. Some of the local artists that won prizes include Michael T. Thrush of Harrisburg whose oil on canvas piece Merit won second prize in painting and Scott R. Jones of New Cumberland whose low-fire white clay piece Bulb won Third Prize in the Craft competition. The State Museum will grant its traditional Purchase Award of $1,000 and will add the selected piece to its permanent collection.

Molly Yoder, Assistant to the Senior Curator of the Fine Art Department of the Museum states that “I’ve been working around these pieces for the last six weeks or so getting ready for the exhibit and it’s just astounding how everyday I still marvel at the works. There’s a great variety this year with many interesting pieces and I think the public will really enjoy this show.”

The band has now added lead singer Gary Cherone, formerly of the group Extreme, to their line-up and have cut a new album Van Halen III. The album was produced by Mike Post and Eddie Van Halen and was written by the band and is being promoted as “over an hour of richly textured music, all of which will amaze long-time fans of the band and will undoubtedly reign in a new, younger throng of admirers.”

Blues fans will be treated to a warm-up set by Kenny Wayne Shepherd, a 20 year-old singer and guitarist from Shreveport. Kenny’s debut album Ledbetter Heights gained critical acclaim in 1996 and showed “a maturity of style rare in a young artist”.

Tired of politicians pushing you around? Well, come to The Beetle Bop Car Hop in Camp Hill at the intersection of Gettysburg Road and Carlisle Road on July 27th and get your revenge. Contact Helpline in conjunction with The Beetle Bop Car Hop is holding a special night of fun with live entertainment and celebrity waiters such as Barbara Hafer, several State Representatives, four County Commissioners and various radio personalities such as Jen Shade from the Edge and Hawaiian Chris James from 93.5. The new re-vamped “Herbie the Love Bug” will also be putting in an appearance courtesy of Autohaus in Harrisburg.

Sharon Stabinski, Executive Director of Contact Helpline, states that response has been good from the celebrities they’ve asked to participate and that there will be many more who will be responding within the next few weeks. “We appreciate Jen opening up the Beetle Bop for a special night of fun to benefit CONTACT.”

The Beetle Bop will be opening special hours from 5:30-8:30 p.m. on the 27th and the celebrity waiters and waitresses will be serving up the house specialties such as open pit roast beef sandwiches, pork barbeque, chargrilled burgers and thick shakes. The Beetle Bop will provide both eat-in and car hop service in addition to its ice cream window.

Have you been waxing nostalgic about the demise of the Hershey Starlight Ballroom? Well, for one night only, Open Stage of Harrisburg will be reviving that epitome of class and swing for a fundraising event in the Atrium of Strawberry Square. Robert Stednycki of the Greater Harrisburg Arts Council will be in charge of decorating the Atrium to create that elusive charm of the ballrooms of the thirties and forties. Larry Elgart and His Orchestra will be performing along with a special dance exhibition by Jonathan Wilkes and Katusha Demidova, the 1998 US National Ballroom Champions. The event’s major sponsors are First Union/CoreStates Bank and HARSCO Corporation.