Photos by Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

Eddie Wiggins, 87, conducts a rehearsal of the Northwest Jazz Band for a May 4 concert at the Dumas Center for Artistic & Cultural Development.

A Northwest Jazz Band saxophone player moves to the music as he rehearses.

It's spring. Could there be a better time to get jazzed?

Roanoke's favorite 80-something clarinetist Eddie Wiggins and his Northwest Jazz Band will perform two concerts at the Dumas Center for Artistic & Cultural Development, at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. May 4. The band drew an overflow crowd to the Dumas for its Christmas concert in December.

"Spring Fever Jazz" will begin with a medley of military music and also include show tunes, Wiggins said. "The whole idea is variety, with an emphasis on jazz."

The two concerts will feature the return of longtime Roanoke percussionist Ronnie Law, who recently moved to Atlanta, but has come home for the shows. "I'm excited to be back here in town and playing with my old friends," said Law, a drummer for 20-plus years with the William Penn Trio.

The concerts will also feature singer Nadirah Wright, Penn, and of course, Wiggins, still going strong at 87.

Tickets are $10. To reserve them, call 265-8115.

The view from inside

The Hokie stone walls are rising in the lobby. The maple floorboards, thousands of them, are scattered throughout the second-floor galleries, waiting for their nails. Most of the curving walls and ceilings have already taken shape. The grid work for the sweeping staircase awaits its glass treads.

But one of the most eye-popping things about the inside of the rapidly emerging Taubman Museum of Art is the view outside. From the glass-enclosed entryway, for example, you can see the H&C Coffee sign, the Dr Pepper sign and the Mill Mountain Star lined up in a row, like a huge display of neon art.

And from the back of the broad, curving second-floor hallway, the nearby walkway to Hotel Roanoke looks like part of the museum, and an extension of all that glass.

Speaking of that hallway, it's loooong -- much longer than you might guess from standing outside. That's because architect Randall Stout made it run diagonally nearly all the way across the lot.

"It's going to be beautiful," museum Executive Director Georganne Bingham said of the museum's interior.

One unanswered question concerns the space once designated for an IMAX theater. The IMAX was scrapped for financial reasons after Stout's design was already complete.

Part of the space will become a traditional movie theater and lobby, Bingham said. The rest -- some 4,000 square feet -- will be sealed off until museum officials decide what to do with it.

The $66 million museum is scheduled to open Nov. 8, though construction will be complete sometime this summer. For up-to-date images visit the museum's webcam at www.artmuseumroanoke.org.

Pick a winner

Know somebody in Virginia who deserves to be recognized for his or her contribution to the arts? Tell the Virginia Commission for the Arts, which is seeking nominees for the Governor's Awards for the Arts 2008.

The awards, which have been presented only three times in Virginia, recognize outstanding lifetime achievement by Virginia artists, arts organization and those who support and encourage the arts.

Nominations may be made by anyone in the commonwealth and must be sent or e-mailed to the Virginia Commission for the Arts no later than May 15. Forms are available online at www.arts.virginia.gov or at www.theartscouncil.org. Nominees must be native Virginians or residents of Virginia.

For more information, contact area coordinator Laura Rawlings at the Arts Council of the Blue Ridge: 342-5791; lrawlings@theartscouncil.org