Fiddle

"I would like to challenge everyone to commit a spontaneous act of kindness. If you're the recipient of this act of kindness, pass it on to someone else. The holidays are a very stressful time; let's try to make it a little better for each other. To have some real fun, pay for the person behind you at the drive-through, then watch the look on their face. " - Hagerstown "Did you ever have a problem remembering which side of your auto the gas tank is on? Look at the dashboard, and you will see a gas symbol.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - The four tattooed 20-somethings from The Fox Hunt raise a few eyebrows when they show up to gigs. "They kind of look at us like, 'What kind of music do you guys play?' These kids, looking like a rock 'n' roll band, pulling out fiddles and banjos," said Matt Kline, vocalist, guitarist and songwriter. Curiosity, Kline said, is a good thing for The Fox Hunt, a bluegrass and country band out of the Eastern Panhandle. The band's oldest member is 25. "I guess it is a little rare for us to be young and playing the style we do," said Kline, 23, of Harpers Ferry, W.Va.

You might call him the Fiddler on the Route. Hagerstown postman James "Jimmie" Brown has trod the same Greenberry Hills mail route since 1979, all the while teaching himself to play the fiddle and 10 other musical instruments. At one point in his life Brown delivered mail by day and played solo acoustic guitar in bars at night. His alter ego was "Downtown Jimmie Brown," he said. "I think a lot of mailmen have split personalities," joked Brown, 53. The Boonsboro resident will perform Sept.

ROME, Ga. -- Rome turned the tables on Hagerstown on Wednesday. Or did the Suns turn those tables on themselves? Hagerstown committed four errors, including three in the first four innings to stake the Braves to a 4-0 lead, en route to a 7-1 loss to Rome. Rome had problems with errors in the first two games of the series to help the Suns (15-11) to victories. The Braves scored two runs in each of the third, fourth and fifth innings to knock out Suns starter Daniel Rosenbaum (1-1)

koelble@herald-mail.com There is a plague working through the Hagerstown Suns. It is called defense. For the third straight game, errors were critical as the Suns lost to Rome 5-3 Monday in the opener of an eight-game homestand at Municipal Stadium. One specific error - a Bill Buckner-type miscue by first baseman Travis Ishikawa - prolonged Rome's third inning to set the stage for Maryland native Steve Pyzik to launch a two-run double for a 3-0 lead. Unearned runs were prevalent during Sunday's doubleheader in Hickory and manager Mike Ramsey had the Suns out on the field at 1:30 p.m., Monday for extra work.

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - Scandinavian fiddle might be the "big deal" folk instrument that "nobody has ever heard of," explained Joanie Blanton, folk music enthusiast and organizer of the Upper Potomac Scandinavian Fiddle & Dance Weekend, which begins Friday. "Celtic stuff sort of steals the thunder," Blanton said. Scandinavian fiddle music is influenced by Nordic and Viking traditions. Generally, if people are fans of Celtic music, they are likely to be fans of Scandinavian music, Blanton said.

GREENCASTLE, Pa. - When the film "Gone with the Wind" was released in Dec. 15, 1939, it started a 70-year love affair between the public and Scarlett O'Hara. Local fans who want to see a piece of "Gone with the Wind" history can visit the Allison-Antrim Museum on Sunday, Jan. 11; Tuesday, Jan. 13; or Thursday, Jan. 15; for a special exhibit of items related to the film. Bonnie A. Shockey, president of the museum's board of directors, said this is an opportunity for those in the area to see memorabilia from the film as well as items that once belonged to Maria Ziegler, a local girl who lived in the mid-1800s.

"I bought me a cat, my cat pleased me, I fed my cat under yonder tree. My cat says fiddle eye fee. " Aaron Copland's charming tune, complete with animal sounds, is hard to shake. Featured solist Corey Evan Rotz performed it during the annual Maryland Symphony Orchestra's Salute to Independence last weekend at Antietam National Battlefield. My kids and I have had fun with the lyrics, hummed the tune and laughed a lot about the experience. If you were not among the estimated 35,000 people who attended, you missed a great opportunity.

Tinkering with Maryland's election process will apparently be a bipartisan process in Maryland this year. That's evidenced by Gov. Robert Ehrlich's hint that he might call the legislature back into session to get the OK to scrap a glitch-prone electronic voting system. But it would be a mistake to further confuse the process this close to the Nov. 7 general election, when there is a simpler solution available. There is no doubt that the electronic voting system has some major flaws.

kauffman@herald-mail.com They're not the leading scorers on their teams, nor are they necessarily the first names you think of when their teams are mentioned. But these seven players all have something in common: They all have had more than a small role in their teams' successes this season. · Chris Hannigan, senior, Walkersville. With the way fellow senior Luther Weedon opened the season - shooting the lights out at a 23.7-points-per-game clip - it became too easy to forget what Hannigan means to the No. 6 Lions.