Checking in on Mack-Dowell County

As you know, we here at Ashvegas love the mack-daddy of local weird news (and sometimes the not-so-weird), Mack-Dowell County. So here we go:

Some hum-and-strum from Doc and David

Doc Watson and David Holt plan to put on a two-hour show at East McDowell Junior High School’s auditorium at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 17. This is very cool. I love that Doc’s still playing high school auditoriums. I saw him play in a school auditorium down in eastern NC some 15 years ago.

“This is really a grand opportunity for anyone in McDowell County who’s never seen Doc or David,” said Bob Frisbee, one of the concert’s organizers.
A friend of Holt, Frisbee was able to book the four-time Grammy winner for the McDowell concert. Holt suggested that he and Watson do the show together.

It’s time to see Doc now. He’s not getting any younger.

Arthel Lane “Doc” Watson was born in 1923 in Watauga County, and has been a musician all his life. A master of flat-picking and fingerpicking guitar styles, he recorded his first album in 1963, according to the Doc’s Guitar Web site.
With at least 60 albums and six Grammy awards under his belt, the 82-year-old has logged an impressive career. He’s received honorary degrees from Appalachian State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The newspaper also says the $25-a-seat show will sell out. In Marion, buy tix at the McDowell arts center office and Killough’s Music and Loan, and in Old Fort at Frisbee’s grocery store.

From Mayberry to Mack-Dowell
The McDowell News reports that filming for a possible reality show based in McDowell continues to go well. Why does the newspaper continue to pimp the hell out of this story? We have no clue.

Bill Stanton, a former NYPD officer turned private investigator turned producer who visited McDowell in December 2003 on another project, likened the county to an evolved Mayberry.

The reality series would center on the Sheriff’s Office and its employees but incorporate other folks, like newspaper reporters, court staff and interesting citizens of McDowell County.

Stanton, independent producer Banks Tarver and a film crew visited the area a few weeks ago and shot three days’ worth of footage for a test tape that will be presented to Court TV.

In an interview last week, Tarver said he was pleased with the filming, which involved following sheriff’s deputies on calls and in their off-duty lives.

“We were really happy with what we got,” Tarver stated. “Everyone there has been so nice to us. We’re just trying to capture a slice of life in McDowell County.”

They may well have gotten some good stuff, from what we’ve seen reported in the local newspaper: police Macing diabetic drivers; naked guys in cornfields flashing motorists; lots of good dumb-crook news; and more.

Roy’s their boy

The city of Marion wants to honor UNC men’s basketball coach Roy Williams, who was born in Mack-Dowell and won his first NCAA tournament championship earlier this year.

The Marion city council wants to host a meeting of the Institute of Government and someone suggested getting Roy as the speaker. They’ll need something to spice up that boring meeting, that’s for sure.

City officials said if Williams is invited to come here and he accepts, they could use that opportunity to recognize him in some way.

The head coach for the Tar Heels was born Aug. 1, 1950 in Marion, according to the media guide from UNC. Councilman Mike Edwards, a Carolina graduate, said he sent an e-mail to Williams’ office asking where he was born and the response stated he was born here.

Williams, though, grew up in a community near Asheville.

UNC’s official response apparently settles a debate about whether Williams was born in Marion or, as the Kansas Jayhawks Web site once said, Spruce Pine.

At Tuesday’s meeting, city officials said, if he is able to come here, they could honor him by erecting a sign that recognizes Marion as his birthplace. They could also have an event at some place like McDowell High where the public could meet the coach who led Carolina’s men’s basketball team to a national championship. A smaller reception with the Institute of Government could be held at the Depot or the Community Building.

Not all city officials are quite so enthusiastic about the idea. When Williams’ name was mentioned, Mayor Pro Tem Steve Little good naturedly asked “Who?” as a way to tease the Carolina fans on the council. Little is a Wake Forest graduate.

There’s always a hater in the bunch.

Go to the McDowell News online for all this good stuff and more.