The latest entry in Carolina Performing Arts' "The Rite of Spring at One Hundred" series is particularly intriguing: "RADHE RADHE -- The Rites of Holi," an interpretation of the Stravinsky masterwork as inspired by the Holi Festival in India and various associated Hindu myths and legends. Check the preview in Friday's paper for more, as explained by pianist/composer Vijay Iyer.

I wonder if there's still time for the Carolina Performing Arts braintrust to make any late additions to the lineup of its "Rite of Spring" centennial series -- because surely they're going to want to work this in.

Ya think?

A lot of years, it can be difficult to figure out what we should focus on in the annual fall arts preview. But not this year. Carolina Performing Arts is putting on a multi-faceted and incredibly ambitious program, "The Rite of Spring at One Hundred," premiering various works inspired by the centennial anniversary of the fabled (and oft-covered) Stravinsky masterpiece.

The series commences in late September and runs into next spring. For particulars, see the story in Sunday's paper.

This had already been a pretty amazing weekend for cool and unlikely covers, thanks to Saturday night's Bad Plus/Stravinsky festivities. But it got even better Sunday night, courtesy of the young Oklahoma singer/songwriter John Fullbright. Playing for a small crowd at Raleigh's Berkeley Cafe, he closed with Roy Orbison's epic "Crying" -- a song I never would have guessed Fullbright could pull off, given the operatic falsetto of Orbison's original. But Fullbright's raspy midrange howl worked perfectly; made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, even.

"Crying" was a great capper to a very fine set. Fullbright really is quite amazing, in that he writes about stuff that a 22-year-old really shouldn't be able to evoke (and he seems like such a normal dude offstage). But I think he's one of the best songwriters out there right now. At one point, he played two astonishing songs back to back, "Satan & St. Paul" and "Unlocked Doors," and he mentioned that he'd written both the same night; that was a pretty good night's work, I'd say. "Jericho" was another highlight. I only wish a bigger crowd had turned out, but so it goes.

I've been watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" since I was a kid, and wondering about the source of one particular sound effect in it. There's a scene where Snoopy is in his role as World War I flying ace, shot down behind enemy lines and furtively sneaking around -- to the soundtrack of a moody and quiet flute, accented by a high-pitched, almost screechy noise. Saturday night, I learned how you get that sound courtesy of Dave King, drummer for The Bad Plus: You rub a drumstick around the top edge of a cymbal in a circular motion. Presto!

Something else I learned from The Bad Plus at last night's show is that it really is possible for three people to pull off "The Rite of Spring." This was the world premiere of the Minneapolis jazz trio's version of the 1913 Stravinsky masterwork, which they've been laboring on for the past year, and it was impressive. Most of the heavy lifting fell to pianist Ethan Iverson, who had to replicate or at least suggest the piece's signature melodic elements enough to be recognizable. But all three of them played amazingly, filling in the spaces of music usually rendered by scores of musicians in orchestras.

No, I don't know "The Rite of Spring" backwards and forwards... Okay, I'll admit my knowledge of it basically comes from Walt Disney's "Fantasia." But they did a fantastic job of capturing the essence and full sweep of the piece, as this lay listener knows it.

"Piece o' cake, piece o' cake," Iverson quipped afterward. Maybe I was imagining it, but the posture of all three players suggested relief as they took their bows.

You've got to give The Bad Plus credit for not shying away from a challenge. Like taking on Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring," rearranged for a trio. It's hard to imagine that, but it should make for a fascinating live-show experience next weekend. For particulars, see the preview in Sunday's paper.