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!!!