2nd South Carolina String Band in Hickory

To the Catawba Science Center auditorium to watch a performance by the “2nd South Carolina String Band” as they played music from the American Civil War period.


Stories were told and background information provided that made the music even more interesting. They talked about how Stephen Foster was going to name his great epic “The Pee Dee” instead of “Swaunee”, and his producer was the one who supposedly came up with the name change, although there is no official hook anywhere upon which to hang that allegation.

The auditorium was perhaps one-third filled and occasionally the crowd joined in clapping and singing. There was a lot of toe-tapping and head-bobbing throughout.

“The Ministral Boy to the War Has Gone” by flutist Greg Hernandez was a show stopper, but the biggest hit of the day was the finale, “Dixie” which was played by the entire ensemble standing and sung by the entire audience who were also standing. The band has a significant presence on the web. Just Google "2nd South Carolina String Band" or begin at http://www.civilwarband.com/about.shtml

Later to a “baseball” contest in which Lenoir-Rhyne University was easily out-played by the Mars Hill College team. We saw the first four innings of the last game, the second double-header played in two days. LRU lost all four games at home 22-13, 8-5, 13-9 and 14-3. We accidentally set in the Mars Hill fan section, and they seemed like nice people. (Easy to seem nice with a weekend like that!) We enjoyed the parched peanuts http://web.mac.com/fauxtaographer/iWeb/Blue%20Mountain%20Kitchen/Dips%20%26%20Fancies.html we had fired up for the occasion.