Rodeo

Ignite the charcoal, crack the crabs. Then rise to your feet for a salute to another tradition of Maryland summer: the Admirals rocking Ocean City.The Baltimore band, formed by seven teen-agers at the Lutherville teen center in 1958, debuted in Ocean City in 1961. It inaugurates its 34th straight summer there next Monday, opening for seven days at the Sheraton Fontainebleau Hotel. The Admirals are also booked at the hotel Aug. 15-21 and Sept. 12-18."If you went around Ocean City and asked people, 'Of all the bands that have played clubs and hotels in the area, which one comes to mind?

About 7,000 people came to the Harford County Equestrian Center on Tollgate Road for the first professional rodeo in Harford County last Saturday afternoon.More than 87 entrants from Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey participated in the Harford Rodeo, which was the first competition in the 1991 rodeo season.Rodeo organizers said they were happy with the attendance. A second Harford Rodeo is planned for next year.Proceeds from the rodeo will benefit the Harford County Farm Fair-4H-Equestrian Center building and maintenance fund.

Ninety-two girls, all members of Brownie and Junior Girl Scout troops in Winfield and Mount Airy, competed in a bicycle rodeo Saturday morning at Mount Airy Elementary.The rodeo stresses and teaches bicycle safety.Girls completed an obstacle course that included seven stations, such as checking the air in the bike's tires or making sure the chainis on correctly.Winners in the Junior Girl Scout category were:* Christiana Caro, first.* Erica Norton, second.* Sarah Moriell, third.Brownie Girl Scout winners were:* Carly Clayton,first.

The parent company that produced such products as Twinkies, Zingers and Ho Hos is turning off its ovens for good, which certainly has to stir memories for baby boomers, not just of the iconic snacks it produced but of the TV shows it sponsored in the 1950s. I spent Saturday afternoons in those years stretched on the living room floor of my central Jersey home, and I'm sure I wasn't the only kid doing that. I watched a pigtailed Gail Davis race across the screen of our DuMont television set playing sharpshooter Annie Oakley in a series by the same name that aired on ABC. The show opened with Annie and her rifle, which she quickly pulled to one side and commenced firing as an announcer intoned the show's name.

Port City Bass Anglers will hold its seventh annual kids fishing festival and reel kids casting event at Bynum Run Park on Churchville Road in Bel Air this Saturday, July 16. At this free event, junior anglers will participate in a tournament and have a fun day of fishing that will be split into two age groups from 5 years old through 15 years old. Registration will begin at 8 a.m. at the park entrance. The fishing will take place from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. In addition, participating youngsters will have the option to compete in a casting, flipping and pitching contest.

When Tony Valdez arrives in Maryland today for the Atlantic Stampede '93, he will do what he has done in other rodeo rings across the country -- wrestle 500-pound horned steers to the ground.Broad shouldered and slim-hipped, the 32-year-old Mr. Valdez will be competing with the best of the chute doggers for a first-place finish and a silver belt buckle the size of Texas.And when he's not dodging steer horns or dusting dirt from his cowboy duds, you'll find him in a more chic Western outfit, riding in the back of a vintage convertible as Chili Pepper, Miss International Gay Rodeo Association.

Barbara Rose let her sons Chip and Randy Ridgely grow up to be cowboys, and on Sunday the Cooksville farm boys will thank her as they put on Howard County's first rodeo.Mrs. Rose died in June of cancer at 46. Starting at noon on Mother's Day at the county fairgrounds in West Friendship, the brothers will dedicate Bull Blast '95 to her.The two Glenelg High School graduates also hope to realize something else with their bucking bulls, country and western music, pit beef, rodeo clowns' rope tricks and even a "mutton busting" involving children trying to ride sheep.

The city of Taneytown and police are co-sponsoring a bicycle rodeo from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at Taneytown Memorial Park.Children ages 8 to 16 are invited. The rodeo will include an obstacle course, bike safety check, raffles, bike identification engraving, photo identifications, food and prizes.The rodeo is free. Registration begins at 9 a.m. at the park on Route 140.Also sponsoring the event are Sears, Sheetz Inc. and Carroll County Health Department.Information: 410-751-1100.FiresUnion Bridge: Firefighters assisted Frederick County at 8: 06 a.m. Thursday, responding to a trash fire on Lehigh and Clemsonville roads.

EXTREME SPORTS with a Wild West theme have found a niche at a North Carroll church that offers an annual rodeo where hardy youths can test their mettle by riding bulls, roping calves and chasing pigs. The rodeo, sponsored by Grace Bible Church on Charmil Drive in Manchester, is expected to attract 2,500 spectators. The event, down to the hot dogs, is free. It will be held from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. The rain date is Sept. 16. "Local people carry their cooler and blanket, sit on the bank, spend the afternoon watching the rodeo.

It used to be that rock and roll always had a strong sense of place. New York was not the same as New Orleans, nor was Detroit quite like Dallas. And that often made for audible differences in the music, meaning that Dion and the Belmonts sounded nothing like Frankie Ford, and Bob Seger seemed little like ZZ Top.That's mostly gone now, though. Rock and roll today is rootless, borderless, generic. It's not, as Gertrude Stein might say, that there's no there there; instead, it's because modern bands are so eager for international success that they don't want their music to seem provincial.