LRU Visiting Writers Sherman Alexie

Tonight we went to the Visiting Writers presentation at Lenoir-Rhyne University.  It featured Sherman Alexie, a Native American who is also a writer, poet, movie maker and obviously an exquisite stand-up comedian.  

This was our third trip this year to see a Visiting Writer at LRU in Hickory.  Two of them were in the 230 seat Belk Centrum, one featuring Isabel Wilkerson, and like tonight, the place was also packed with two closed-circuit theaters also filled.  The other one was in the Monroe Auditorium and it was also filled to see Jon Meachum.  

I could recite some of Alexie’s punch lines, but won’t, because he delivers them so beautifully.  He has stories to tell, stories that won’t quit, stories that really can’t even get started good because they take flight and morph into something else.  You sit there wondering what on earth he is talking about, and then suddenly you realize he’s talking about you!  And by then, he’s already on to something else that you probably never thought of until you realize where he is going.  And then he goes some place else.  And the crowd loved it.  And Alexie loved it.  Obviously, I loved it.

The producers asked we not take photographs and that was a shame because there were so MANY wonderful opportunities.  

After his presentation he received questions.  I asked the first one which was about the Native American’s concept of God or Spirit or Energy.  He obviously missed my focus because he clearly interpreted it as being a religious question.  His response was that all tribes had their own concept of god and they were all different and he didn’t want to talk about his own concepts.  The second questioner asked him if he ever had considered “stand-up” comedy  work.  His response to that was excoriating, lengthy and  humorous.  The third, and last questioner asked a question that went on and on, assuming the nature of a statement or two and finally led into a question that I don’t think was ever even asked because Alexie began getting involved in the thing. 

So this season for the Visiting Writers at LRU comes to an end.  It was a great year and next year promises to be even better.  It’s another thing that Hickory does really, really good.

Art of Poetry, Spring 2014 at the Hickory Museum of Art

The Art of Poetry reading was held at the Hickory Museum of Art, Saturday March 8, 2014 at 2:00 p.m.  Eleven poets read aloud their poems in front of the art which had been the inspiration for the writing.  The presentation was seen by about 40 people who attended the event.  

Before reading, I pointed out that my father had worked for the railroad as a foreman for 46 years, most of that with steam locomotives, and the railroad had been an intimate part of my life.  Also it was the first place I ever worked, beginning as a laborer in 1947.  My reading is reprinted here:

            The Railroad Soul

The railroad’s soul screamed out at me,

shrieking through its white-hot whistle.

The conductor shouted “ALL Aboard!” and swung

on the train, the last one to leave the platform.

The locomotive belched and it roared and snorted

and white steam shot across the ramp.

Like a mighty sledge hammer hitting the ground, it 

thumped and clobbered and pounded its way,

dragging its cars and the people on board, 

out of the railroad station.

Later in a different part of the land

its whistle sailed out through the night.  Wild! 

Free! Going Somewhere! Making a brand new world!

The first time I heard it was before I was born,

and I’ve heard it every night since.

My daddy was a foreman for the railroad gang

and the trains and the workers performed for him.

He made them always run on time.   And

They didn’t like his iron hand on them, insisting that

they do everything right.   That’s why the railroad

shrieked and screamed!   And why I still run on time.

©John Womack, 2014.  All rights reserved.

Severe Weather Checklist

Current weather forecast reminds me of several weather events when we lived all alone, out in the forests of the western North Carolina Smoky Mountains.  Twice we lost power for six days, once for seven.  Trees that fall over roads not only take down your power lines, but they also block your access to and from your property.  Even worse, all our water came from a well 216 feet down – so – no electricity; no water!

Also, being a veteran of the Air Force as a member of flight crews and commander of a missile crew, I am VERY familiar with checklists.  We were required to use them every time we operated a piece of equipment, even if it was the thousandth time we had fired it up.  The main purpose is to remind you of some simple thing that NEEDS to be done at a certain time - it's a lot like following a recipe.  These checklists also permitted us to perform a lot of pretty tricky and potentially dangerous procedures safely. 

So, putting together the recurrent problems with power outages, and the longing for a non-existent checklist, I built my own.  Here it is for anyone who might be interested:

Severe Weather Checklist Master

Preparation Phase:

kerosene acquire

kerosene lanterns

kerosene heater

Oil lamps 

Oil - verify amount

dog food

wash clothes & dishes

batteries (D and 6v dc)

verify lighters available

check camera and video tape status (for insurance claims)

Corded telephone prepare

Warning Phase: OR NIGHTFALL

Plug-suckers charge

kerosene lanterns prepare

lawn furniture in

garbage and compost out

deck & yard secure

verify 7 bags of ice in freezer 

(3 stay in freezer, 2 for ice chests  on Day 2; 2  more on Day 3) 

cars fill with gasoline

back cars in garage/car port

recharge battery in camcorder, cell phones, iTouch, 

Siege Phase:

animals in

monitor radios and tv

items from refrigerator-freezer to big freezer 

distribute kerosene lanterns and oil lamps

I'm sure that anyone who tries this will come up with necessary and important additions.  Please let me know if you do.  I can add them to my own!

The Hickory Community Theater and "Trying" – Magnificient.

Hickory Community Theatre, Fireman’s Kitchen, in Hickory, North Carolina presented tonight the play  “Trying”, starring Charles Jeffers and Emma Lee Mayfield Kurts.  

“Trying” is a two-character play based on the author's experience during 1967-1968 when she worked for Francis Biddle at his home in Washington, D.C.   Judge Biddle had been Attorney General of the United States under Franklin Roosevelt. After the war, President Truman named him Chief Judge of the American Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. The play is about a young Canadian girl and an old, Philadelphia aristocrat, "trying" to understand each other in what Biddle knows is the final year of his life.

The play presents two very different characters, and it chronicles a dynamic development in both of their personalities as they encounter together the twin challenges of  changing Life and Technology.   In the period which followed World War Two,  many of civilization's historical foundations were being replaced with new patterns being born and many of the old traditions dying at the same time.  The characters carried this rebirth and passing-away beautifully and the actors presented it magnificently.  Most of the people in the Fireman's Kitchen, including those at my table were enthralled. 

Birthday Party for Robert Burns with the Belfast Boys

For what more could one possibly wish?  Tonight we had a great gathering to honor an anniversary of the birth of one of the great poets of the English – more or less – language.  Yes, Robert Burns was born 255 years ago tonight in Alway, Scotland.  Burns later became the national poet of Scotland by sending messages to generations still unborn in his magic phrasing of emotions such as “A Red, Red Rose”, “Is there for Honest Povertry”, “Scots Wha Hae”, and even “Auld Lang Syne”.  There are more statutes of Robert Burns around the world than for ANY other non-religious character except Queen Victoria and Columbus!  Such is the fame a great poet can achieve, but – the poor chap WAS a poet, after all, and it is estimated that upon his death that his total net worth was approximately 1£.

BUT.  All that is now history.  Tonight is a night for celebration!  And so we all gather at the great Scots pub of . . . well, actually McCroskeys Irish Pub in Hickory, North Carolina, and listen to the great Scotsmen of hmmm . . . well, actually, the Belfast Boys!  But hey, what do the Scots, the Irish and Americans all have in common?  Yeah, England!  So let’s go gather together for song, ceremony, food and drink!

Haggis was served well.  Marched in with an escort, presented with a  prayer, carved with a flourish, and then reverently dispersed in tiny serving cups to the grateful? crowd.  

So we had it all.  Burns, poetry, prayer, ceremony, haggis, and music by Adrian Rice and Allyn Mearns, “The Belfast Boys”.  Good music, great songs, well presented.  A good evening.  Hickory, The Friendly City, at its best. 

Congratulations, Juliana!

Hickory International Council and the Great Decisions Meetings.

The Hickory International Council is another great reason to live in Hickory, the Friendly City in North Carolina. 

The council sponsors many different items, one of which is the Great Decisions meetings which take place on six Tuesday evenings beginning in September of each year.

We’ve been meeting now for three years, and while we haven’t really made any decisions yet, we sure have talked about many of the great decisions that are now knocking on our national and International doors demanding to be let in or responded to.  In these discussions we have several study guides, including a small book from the Foreign Policy Association of America, and roughly a 25 minute film about the topic for the evening shown before each meeting.   Here we find out what is behind and underneath the current news  stories, you know, the important stuff.  Those details that are often not covered very well on TV or on the net.  

The Hickory International Council also meets on the third Thursday of each month on the second floor of Patrick Beaver Library beginning at 5:30.  Come on by, find out what you have been missing, meet some new friends.  Reach out and touch the world.

Hambly and Jackson, Harp Artists in Chapel of Rest, Lenoir, NC

Gráinne Hambly and William Jackson are perhaps the two most accomplished and famous harpists in the world, and Sunday afternoon September 13, 2013, they delighted a full audience in the small Chapel of Rest in Happy Valley, North Carolina, just north of Lenoir.  

                                                    She played Irish harp, he played a Scottish harp.  I couldn’t tell the difference and didn’t ask them later when we had an opportunity while talking with them, but I remember that she used more dramatic gestures while playing and he used almost none in his work.  I did ask why they did not use sheet music and they said, smiling,  that was "the way they did it".

 Besides playing both solo and duets, Gráinne also accompanied William on a concertina, and William accompanied her on a penny flute and with an Irish bouzouki.  Gráinne pointed out how the harp is often used with other instruments, but it also has music that is unique to it alone.

     The Chapel of Rest has a reputation of being haunted, and it IS haunted – at least by the story that a former pastor was distraught over his wife’s affair with another man.  The preacher had gone to the church to pray about the matter on a Saturday night, and then hanged himself from a beam on the ceiling of the church.  He was found, hanging there the next morning by the arriving congregation.   We also have it on good faith that that did not happen.  But then the person who discounted that story had other stories to tell that sent chills up the spine almost as good as the music produced by two of the most famous harpists in the world.  

Today, the chapel was clearly haunted by beautiful music and a cool breeze drifted through the open windows carrying the slight tang of apples in its air.  

http://champlainvalleytradarts.com/grainne-hambly-william-jackson/

http://www.harpagency.com/artist1.htm

Oktoberfest in Hickory, 2013.

Wow.  What a show!  Another of the great things about living in Hickory, the friendly city.  Somebody said that Hickory’s Oktoberfest had been rated one of the best in the US.  Don’t know HOW that scoring came about but If you go there, you will know WHY it happened.

(These pictures will enlarge if you tap on them)

It’s big.  Especially big for a town the size of Hickory.  And it’s even bigger than it IS, because all the stuff is going on all the time and all at the same time.  

There’s a lot of food here.  My wife and I got bratwurst with sauerkraut and mustard at the Berliner Kindl pavilion.  The sausages were not good and neither of us could eat the meat.  Would be interested in hearing from others to find out what experience they had.  Normally I wouldn't mention this but since we paid $16 for the 2 sandwiches, the Berliner Kindl should be interested in some feedback from their clients.

Alcohol is definitely present.  Beer, especially some good craft brews are available.  Under the big tent where the Oompah Band presents their magic, there is both bottle beer and draft.  The Wine Shop has tables in front of their shop where wine and beer are obviously enjoyed and yes you can hear the music.

Music is the heart and soul of the big Oktoberfest and you can’t get away from the sound of music if you are in downtown Hickory.  That’s why everybody is “dancing” as they walk along the sidewalks, “conducting” with the mementos they have bought as they walk along or perhaps just tapping their toes if they are sitting and eating.

And for me, the greatest treat of all is the Oompah Band, playing polkas and dance tunes and marching music, on and on into the smiles of the enthusiastic audiences seated and standing and dancing in front of them.

They will be there again TODAY, Sunday October 13, 2013, so what are you doing reading this now?  You can do that tomorrow!  Get downtown!! Now!!!

"It's Not You, It's Me" - Footcandle Film Society in Hickory, NC

One of the nice things about living in Hickory, the friendly city, is the Footcandle Film Society.  They bring some of the most enjoyable films that have been made, many of which have flown below the Hoopla Level, right here to us.  Tonight we saw “It’s Not You, It’s Me”, and after the viewing we talked with the writer and director of the film, Nathan Ives who was present. 

The performance was at the Carolina Theater in downtown Hickory, and it featured an innovative view into some of the different dimensions of the human psyche, particularly into the mind and emotions, and all of this done in an innovative and delightful way.

Here is more information about the movie:   http://www.mulefilms.com/projects/inyim/     also: http://www.haute-lifestyle.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=577:its-not-you-its-me-review-romance-for-all-of-us&catid=168&Itemid=435.

The movie will be shown again at the Carolina Theater in Hickory at 7:00 p.m. on both 10/13/2013 and 10/15/2013.  Price will be $10, If not a Footcandle member,  and no minors.  

Thanks again to Alan Jackson, founder and developer of the Footcandle Film Society of Hickory.

Belfast Boys – in Hickory, NC, Oct 2013.

At about ten o”clock tonight, the Irish sun rose out of the Irish Sea to shine  brightly – one might even say “loudly” (at times) – over McCroskys Irish Pub in Hickory, the friendly city, in NC.

The “Belfast Boys”, Adrian Rice and Alyn Mearns, played some of the great songs of Ireland, using guitar, mandolin and the souls of Irishmen everywhere.

The evening was magnificent.  It was filled with good food, good music, good beer and a lot of clapping of hands and swaying of bodies, not all of them rigorously Irish, but still, mostly dedicated to a musical study of  Irishology.

Jon Meacham at LRU in Hickory, NC 2013.0912

Illuminating.  Funny.  Riveting.  A masterful performance tonight in Hickory, the friendly city, by a masterful performer. 

Winer of Pulitzer Prize as an author, also an executive editor and executive vice president at Random House, former editor-in-chief of Newsweek, contributing editor to Time Magazine, editor-st-large of WNET, and  –  well, he has accumulated a lot of honors in his first 44 years.  The next 44 will be positively amazing.

A very enjoyable evening.  He revealed some of the brilliance of Thomas Jefferson, and also a bit of his dark side too.    All this was interspersed with funny comments.  Jokes that took maybe 8 or 9 seconds to tell, then a 5 second comment even funner than the joke was, then a  couple of comments even funner than that and THEN a funny word that summed it all up.  We listened, enjoyed, learned and applauded. 

Above all, we got the  image of our country being born with considerable labor pains.  Meacham made it clear that this country was built by people who maybe didn’t even really like each other, but they learned to work out their differences and build something that was not what they wanted, but it was representative of all of them.

Questions were opened but there were none!  So that lasted about 30 seconds and we walked out each of us with our own unasked questions.  I wondered if Meacham thought the nation would have survived if it had not been born in an act of treason to the British King?  I also wanted to find out how religious Meacham thought the Founding Fathers really were.  He mentioned Jefferson as being “different” about that issue, and also Benjamin Franklin “tempered” Jefferson on at least one occasion about that.    

Squeeing - A Billboard Nation.

Are we becoming a Nation of Headlines?   I’ve said it before, and I’ve heard a lot of other people say it too:  “I know what  you mean – I saw that article too, I didn’t READ it, but I saw the headline.”  Of course we’re talking about the internet, mostly Google and especially Facebook and Twitter.  We’ll read a Text maybe on our smartphone, but that’s short and pithy, kind of like an abbreviated headline.  

So we get a lot of information this way, we get a lot of facts, well, almost facts anyway, but at least we kind of know what’s going on and what is important.  It’s like driving down the highway.  There are billboards all over the roadside (at least in America, most civilized societies have abolished them).  The key thing about the billboard is the amount of information it squeeses.  Sometimes you will see one that is covered with print and you can’t read it as you go by.  You don’t know what it said.  The billboard experts will help you with your that.  They will condense it to no more than eight words.  That’s all that most people can read whizzing past at highway speed.  

Then there are Bumper Stickers.  Same thing.  Designed to grab shattered attention.  Not to explain but to exult.  Squeeing more in aggregate than in distinction, and the value is measured not in output but in Goob’ls, or voluminous intake of squees occasionally followed by Got-its, a sense of primitive communication and quietly screamed in the manner of a grunt.       

Well, the wheels of time turn, grinding very fine or perhaps not so fine at all, especially if you don’t have time to grind, barely even time to turn, certainly not to explain yourself, because the person you are squeeing at already understands and knows.  But it still helps to be herd.  I mean heard.  

sticking to it

Hello tower, this is Cat 35, just landed on runway 18, taxiing in

Amelie's in NoDa

2013.0815Th1220.  Ate in Amelie's up in NoDa.  This was our second time.  Ate here last year on August 16th, looks like a pattern developing. 

 Last year I had a truly magnificant Croque- monsieur, this time a “simple” Jamón with Cheese.  The cheese was melted into the jamón and into the flaky baguette-croissant and the whole thing was all dribbled internally with varying amounts of sweetness and hotness  scattered here and there.  So cool I ate it sitting on the ceiling.  Nobody noticed me up there because I fit right in  – at Amelies.  You know what I mean if you have been there.  And if  you haven’t,  you need to go.

Wife also had a chocolate thing with a lot of creeeamy soft yellow stuff inside trying to get of its shell. 

Where is Amelie's?  2424 N Davidson St #102, 

Charlotte, NC 28205.  Phone 704.376.1781

http://www.ameliesfrenchbakery.com

Hours are tricky:  24/7/365.

I hear it gets kinda spooky around two in the morning.   But haven’t been there then – yet.

The selection of pastries and deserts are the nearest thing I have ever seen to the streets of Paris.  Absolutely recommend Amelies "in the highest!"

Hickory Crawdads Win Big

It was a great night for baseball in Hickory.  I could almost hear Harry Caray calling muffled from somewhere deep in my memories “It’s a BEAUTIFUL baseball night here in Hickory!  Come on DOWN to LP Frans Stadium!”   And it WAS a beautifully cool evening with nice breezes blowing wonderful smells and familiar sounds across the stadium.

We took two teen-age granddaughters with us and I was GIVEN 4 free tickets for “my service” to my country (the guy selling me the tickets spotted my military ID card which was partially visible in my wallet).  “Thank you for your service.” He said as he handed me the tickets.  I was amazed, stunned, astonished. 

The Hickory team is nicknamed the “Crawdads” and casually called “Dads”.   And they have a VERY rhythmic person inside a dramatically friendly costume who plays the role of "Counsellor Crawdad" .  The “Dad” was a big hit with the kids, and played significant roles in between inning events. 

Game ended in the bottom of 9th inning with two outs when  Lewis Brinson, batting with a runner on base, hit a 3-2 pitch for a walk-off home run.  He could barely get to the plate because of his ecstatic teammates. 

The between-innings distractions from the loud speakers and impromptu performances by enthusiastic volunteers that I had found annoying last time seem to be developing their own kitschistic persona.  The crowd obviously recognized and joyfully participated in the joyous nonsense.

One of the side effects is that there are loud-speakered comments between pitches, which shut down before the next pitch.  .  .  BUT the crowd learns to do that too!  Even when the home team is putting on a late-game rally!  Last night the crowd finally broke through and started carying on the cheering  and shouting as Nomar Mazara (the batter before Brinson) hit his long fly ball to center field.  

Yea!  Yea!

Springtime

I wandered out on a cool day last week, walking around my property with Winter, who has really enjoyed his visit this year.    I had noticed he seemed to be a bit out of sorts since the about the middle of February. And now, suddenly he "froze" as he glanced to his right - and he turned white with shock. What's the matter? I asked as I looked in that direction. He didn't answer, and then I saw her! A young lady, dressed in a daffodil yellow dress, swinging on a tree limb - she looked to be about 20 or so years old. Then, amazingly, I noticed that I could see her dress was very flimsy! Astonishing! And in such cool weather! Let's go see who she is, I said, but Winter replied that he thought he better leave. I looked back at the girl, and noticed that I could not only see partly through her clothes, but also through her body! And as I watched, she slowly disappeared! I looked back at Winter, but he too was gone. I pulled my jacket about me and looked again at the now bare branch. The girl was clearly gone, but the forest seemed different than it had before she showed up. Back at the house I found a note from Winter thanking me for the wonderful season, and saying he would see me next year. He had taken his Canon and his other things and a couple of my snowdrifts and icicles. He said he didn't think I would mind. I didn't. He said he would send some more early in March when he gets where he's going. I wonder who the girl was? And why is it sometimes you can see her and sometimes not?  And why do the forests look different after she shows up?

Dr. Brian Raichle, ASU, and Hickory's Science After Dark. Bistro 127.

Dr. Brian Raichle from the Department of Technology & Environmental Design at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC presented the Science After Dark series Tuesday night, April 9, 2013, at Bistro 1-2-7- in Hickory, NC.  

His topic was “Renewable Energy:  Present and in Your Future”.  This was a snapshot of current energy generation and consumption patterns, including but not limited to renewable energy.  He pointed out that many homeowners do not know how much money they pay monthly for their electricity and the average homeowner has no idea of how many kilowatt hours his house uses each month.  And here is the beginning of the process of getting control over your electricity consumption profile.

Dr. Raichle described state-of-the-art technologies with an emphasis on those suitable for the average homeowner to adapt.  He described the rapid fall in the construction costs of adding solar energy to your home and showed how we can all begin with a simple installation that will provide power to the grid that can reduce the monthly energy costs of our own home.  Then of course, we can proceed to increase that amount as we wish to do so.

Dr. Raichle’s presentation was dynamic, vibrant and very personable.  He answered questions and encouraged questions and discussion from the participants during his presentation.  He got his ideas across so well that many of us were figuring out costs and payback data.  This is an example of why Hickory’s version of “Science Cafés”, which we call “Science After Dark” does so well.  Here is the place where we can hear a qualified scientist speaking about some of the events which are changing our world.  But rather than being in a college classroom atmosphere we all are gathered in a pub, cafe or bistro, and the presentation is informal and we – us neophytes – can actually ask these people questions that have bothered us about their topic.  

For more information see http://sciencecafes.org/what/

http://www.catawbascience.org/sci_afterdark.html

http://www.catawbascience.org/events_cal.html

TEDxHickory 2013

Would you like to make a presentation at TEDxHickory?  You can DO it! Yes you can – don’t worry about the people up there on the stage struggling with the floor covering, the lighting, the microphones, losing their places, and all that.  There’s ANOTHER way, maybe a BETTER way to get your ideas across at TEDxHickory!  

Emily Miller
"Craftomics"

There is a Magic Key that a lot of people find at TEDs.  It is called the Key of Networking. And even before the main show begins, Networking is well under way.  Networking begins an hour or so before the performers even get on the stage, and then there is a lunch break, (Networking break), probably another break later on, and when the show is over, sure some of the people will rush out and run away, but those who have important questions to ask, or things they want to say or talk about, will hang around for a while to get to know other attendees.  It’s a great opportunity to meet the people who are making Hickory into the city it will be ten years from now.  This is the place to bring your ideas, your questions about the future, and general outlines of things you are trying to bring into our community right now.  

Get some really good business cards made up.  I print mine out on my computer, but next year, before TEDxHickory 2104,  I will go by a fine shop in Hickory and get some professional cards made and I will take those with me.  I urge you to do the same.  Why?  At TEDxHickory, everybody you meet will ask you “what brings you here”, or “what do you do?”  And you will be ready.  Your business cards are your introduction.  And if those people are curious, or maybe say something like “that looks interesting”, you might have some small handy brochures printed on stock paper and about the size of a postcard or an envelope.  They can be professionally prepared also, printed on slick paper, perhaps folded over one time.  And for those people who have deeper questions, you will have some handouts won’t you?  And – oh yes – don’t forget to ask THEM those same questions:  What brings YOU here, and what do YOU do?  And listen to them.  And ask them questions.  Get their business card and see if they have any handouts.  You might want to contact them in the future.

Ted Abernathy
"Technology ~ Competitiveness"

A lot of the presentations at TEDxHickory mentioned significant hot-button items such as Curiosity, Innovation, Creativity, Ideas, Imagination and other concepts and everyone agrees that these issues are “great” but there was not much discussion about what those things ARE, or how to find or develop these concepts and feelings.   And this is where you can break through the crowd, and rise above the questions.

Remember those brochures and handouts we talked about earlier?  Those you are going to prepare and bring next year?  They really NEED to have some of those great ideas right out there in front, rousing curiosity, ringing bells, pointing out how you search for and recognize problems in your work, and how you find and apply skills and knowledge to create something new, or a better way to do an old project.  Show how you ask yourself and your fellow workers important questions, and how you and they search together for and recognize clues that can lead to a really creative product or service.  

Belfast Boys at McCrosky's on St. Patrick's Day in Hickory.

Adrian Rice

Ireland came to Hickory today in the form of leprechauns, fairies, tallll green hats, a lot of good Irishish food and, and the Belfast Boys!  Indeed, Alyn Mearns and Adrian Rice, both born and raised in Belfast, Ireland, brought the soul of their native land into our new neighborhood bar and grill here in Hickory, just 5 minutes from where yours truly lives.
 But the place was packed, both inside and outside, and this was right after noon on a Sunday.  The Belfast Boys played from 1 p.m. until 3:30, then left for another stint at Rock Barn, also here in Hickory from 6 to 9 p.m. Last night they were playing in Raliegh.  When you're good, when you're THIS good,word travels fast.

Alyn Mearns