Title: Rock Camp 4 Girls Appalachia’s Cupcake WarLocation: Habitat for Humanity Restore 815 Court Street Charleston, WVLink out: Click hereDescription: You have been officially invited to a Cupcake War! This sweet treat is to be held on January 28th, 2012 at the Habitat for Humanity Restore in Charleston, WV from 11-3pm. Come taste some of Charleston’s finest homemade cupcakes and cast your vote. Date: 2012-01-28

Title: Charleston Community Music AssociationLocation: 200 Civic Center Drive, Charleston, WV 25301Link out: Click hereDescription: Charleston Community Music Association
Municipal Auditorium
January 29, 2012 – 3pm
Southern Fried Jazz on January 29. Bandleader and trumpeter Don Edwards leads this Dixiland Jazz band that includes West Virginia native Paul O’Connor on trombone.
Date: 2012-01-29

Title: Rascal Flatts with Sara Evans and Hunter HayesLocation: 200 Civic Center Drive, Charleston, WV 25301Link out: Click hereDescription: RASCAL FLATTS Live in Concert with SARA EVANS and HUNTER HAYES will perform at the Charleston Civic Center Coliseum January 12, 2012 @ 7:30pm. Tickets go on sale Friday, October 14, at 10:00am.
Prices are $61.75 and $41.75 depending on seating location.
Date: 2012-01-12

Title: First Day Hike at Kanawha State ForestLocation: 7500 Kanawha State Forest Drive Charleston, WV 25314Link out: Click hereDescription: First Day Hikes are staff led hikes, held annually on New Year’s Day and are designed to encourage visitors to enjoy state parks year round and to promote good health and exercise by working off those calories gained during the holidays.
Massachusetts state parks began offering First Day Hikes over 20 years ago and the Northeast State Park Directors are encouraging park systems across the United States to replicate the activity. Kanawha …

Why Look at Animals? examines the ways animals have been represented photographically over time, from the romantic pastoral images of P.H. Emerson, to the sardonic and edgy metaphors of John Heartfield, to the scientific documents of Eadweard Muybridge and Harold Edgerton.
The exhibition showcases both familiar and unfamiliar selections from the George Eastman House collection and also explores the variety of ways in which photographs work, using images of animals to demonstrate taxonomy, formal aesthetic, humor, sentiment, and aide memoire.
Highlights of this survey exhibition include early zoo photographs by …

Carnaval Rio! is a fundraising masquerade to benefit Clay Center and The Charleston Ballet education programs. The event will be held on January 21, 2012 starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Clay Center. Tickets are ar $150 per person or just $125 if purchased by 5 p.m on Jan. 6.
Escape the cold for a sizzling Brazilian summer night of exotic food, drinks, dancing and entertainment. Strike up the samba for a glamorous masquerade inspired by the electrifying Carnaval celebration in Rio de Janeiro.

The indigenous Warli people of western India revere the land and uphold a deep belief in the balance between themselves and the earth. Using their everyday landscape as inspiration, they craft dynamic wall paintings that depict a life lived in purposeful coexistence with nature, using art to find the spiritual in the everyday.
In South India, kolams are drawn each morning with rice flour as concious offerings to Mother Earth. These daily rituals create a sacred space and become a link between the intimate home and the vastness of the outside …

Three particularly well-established businesses function as anchors of the city’s Village District and are owned by female entrepreneurs. Libby Chatfield of Charleston Bread, Ann Seville of Taylor Books and Ellen Beal of Ellen’s Homemade Ice Cream are these well-loved establishments, and they were recently highlighted in the Charleston Daily Mail.
In 1995, Taylor Books opened near the mid-point of the seven-block street. Two years later, Ellen’s Homemade Ice Cream opened directly across the street, and in 2006 Charleston Bread arrived on the scene a few blocks down. The three shops thrive, …

Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. — winner of “America’s Got Talent”, will be singing in a benefit concert for Charleston Montessori School on 17th March, at the Charleston Marriott Pavilion.
Murphy’s performance help raise funds for scholarships, as well as implement programs for Charleston Montessori students. Tickets to the fundraiser are pegged at USD 250, and a table of 10 can be availed at USD 2500.
Tickets can be purchased by calling the school at 304-340-9000; tickets include hors d’oeuvres and several glasses of wine. A cash bar also will be available.

Charleston’s annual FestivALL Mayor’s Concert will feature Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr. Larry Groce, the executive director of FestivALL, says the concert is a fabulous way to celebrate West Virginia’s 149th birthday.
Tickets for the June 20th event at the Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences in Charleston go on sale Wednesday at 8:30am. The tickets will sell for $25, $35 and $45.
Also scheduled to appear during the Mayor’s Concert is West Virginia native and bluegrass legend Johnny Staats. Groce says they plan to add other local musicians to make cameo …