COMMUNITY BRIEFS

     Rock concert benefits charities
      The Las Vegas Jaycees will present a multi-band benefit, "Rock for Research '97," Saturday at the Huntridge Performing Arts Theater, 1208 E. Charleston Blvd.
      Copperpot, The Creeps, A Band Called Mesh, Fact Meets Fiction and The Ruffnecks are scheduled to perform. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.
      The Jaycees have selected three charitable organizations to receive proceeds from the event: The Southern Nevada Cancer Research Foundation, Aid for AIDS of Nevada, and The Mission Inn, a Jaycee-chartered project for children with AIDS.
      Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door. For ticket and concert information, call 457-8832.
     
     Entries open for fair contests
      Entries are being sought for three contests to be held during the Clark County Fair, April 10 through April 13.
      The fair's first-ever talent contest is seeking audition tapes from performers throughout Southern Nevada with music, vocal or specialty acts.
      Audition tapes, audio or video, must be submitted by March 21. Tapes should be four minutes in length.
      Cash prizes will be awarded and winners will perform at 8 p.m. April 11 on the Plaza stage.
      The second contest, "Grandest of the Grands," a contest honoring grandparents, is also seeking entries.
      Children must write a letter of 200 words or less explaining why they think their grandparents are the best grandparents in Clark County.
      An official set of rules is available by calling the Clark County Fair at 1-702-398-3247. Complete applications must be submitted by March 31.
      Audition tapes and letters should be sent to Clark County Fair, P.O. Box 143, Logandale, Nev., 89021.
      Pictures worth a thousand words are worth at least a $100 first prize in the third contest sponsored by the Clark County Fair.
      Students in grades eight through 12 are eligible to compete. Photos must be taken April 7 through 14, and must represent different aspects of the fair, such as juried exhibits, displays, the rodeo or fair tear-down.
      Cash prizes will be awarded. For more information on how to enter, call the fair office at 1-702-398-3247, or pick up an official Exhibitor's Handbook at any Clark County Library.
     
     YMCA offers CPR classes
      Basic emergency response and adult CPR will be taught March 22 at the Bennett Family YMCA, 4141 Meadows Lane. Each participant will be instructed through teaching and video in Adult CPR and will receive a certificate good for one year if the skills and written test are completed.
      The three-hour course will start on the hour from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Registration fees are $5 in advance and $7 at the door. To register and for further information, call 791-3311.
     
     Musical Arts Society sets concert
      The Southern Nevada Musical Arts Society will present Johann Sebastian Bach's dramatic "St. John Passion" at 3 p.m. March 23 in Artemus Ham Concert Hall on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway.
      The concert, under the direction of Douglas R. Peterson, will feature the combined 80-voice Musical Arts Chorus and the Premiere Chorale of Los Angeles and the 21-piece Musical Arts Orchestra.
      Guest solo roles will be sung by Jonathan Mack as the Evangelist; Neil Wilson as Jesus; and Rabbi Gary Golbart as Pilate. Solo arias will be sung by soprano Rebecca Martindale Cervantes and countertenor Voltaire Verzosa.
      Mack, a tenor, is in his 12th year with the Los Angeles Music Center Opera Company. Mack sang the role of Evangelist in the society's highly acclaimed performance of early music and has appeared in many orchestral concerts in Colorado.
      Terry Danne, founder/director of the Premiere Choral and an instructor at Pierce College, has been an assistant conductor to the late Roger Wagner.
      Tickets to the "St. John Passion" are available by calling the UNLV Performing Arts Center at 895-3801. Tickets are $10 general admission and $7 for students, military and handicapped.