R.I.P. Earl Scruggs

North Carolina has produced more than its share of influential musicians: John Coltrane, James Taylor, Link Wray. But Earl Scruggs may even top that impressive list. Scruggs, who grew up in Shelby but who would go on to "transform acoustic music with his fiery five-string banjo style," died Wednesday at 88 in Nashville.

From the News & Observer:

... Scruggs won international fame initially as the duet partner of guitarist Lester Flatt between 1948 and 1969. The duet and their band, the Foggy Mountain Boys, lived briefly in Raleigh in 1952 while playing on radio station WPTF.

Scruggs was known nationally and internationally for intricate tunes such as “Foggy Mountain Breakdown,” made famous in the 1967 film “Bonnie and Clyde,” and “The Beverly Hillbillies” theme. He attracted fans all over the world and admirers as diverse as comedian Steve Martin, actress Angelina Jolie and pop-rocker Elton John.

ad more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/03/28/1966179/banjo-great-earl-scruggs-dies.html#storylink=cpy

At the time Scruggs achieved stardom, the banjo was an instrument most closely associated with the cornball humor and rowdy songs of traveling medicine shows. In later years, the New York Times famously dubbed him the Paganini of the banjo, a reference to the famed violinist. ...

Scruggs had been in poor health for months; his family said his death came as a result of “natural causes.” In January, likely aware of Scruggs’ fragile state, Martin wrote a eulogistic piece for The New Yorker praising the performer who heavily influenced Martin’s own banjo style.

...

Scruggs, a soft-spoken, modest person who generally found time to give an ear to the fans who wanted just a word with the legendary figure, won virtually every award that popular music could present. From membership in the Country Music Hall of Fame to three Grammy awards to performances at the White House, he was recognized widely as a genius of folk music.

Born Jan. 6, 1924, Scruggs worked around the family farm and in area mills as he developed a more sophisticated, revved-up version of the area’s three-finger banjo style. While in his early 20s, he earned a place, along with Flatt, in the band of Kentucky singer and mandolin master Bill Monroe, another giant figure in the formation of bluegrass.

With Flatt and Scruggs to spur him to new musical heights, Monroe created tremendous musical excitement as the band played regular engagements on the Grand Ole Opry and crisscrossed the South playing auditoriums, country churches and schoolhouses.

In 1948, Flatt and Scruggs went on their own to create a band that would surpass Monroe’s in popularity, both with their original songs and their blazing-fast, intricate picking.

“He was so far ahead of his time, that so many players today are still trying to figure out the little things he did 60 years ago,” Mills said.

Scruggs was the behind-the-scenes business force of the act, working in concert with his business-savvy wife, Louise, who died in 2006. The group toured constantly, moving around the South to bases such as Bristol, Tenn., and Raleigh, where son Randy was born in 1952.

...

Always a more adventurous musician than Flatt, Scruggs parted ways with the guitarist in 1969 and started a band with sons Randy, Gary and Steve. They perfected a country-rock sound that brought them widespread acceptance in the burgeoning youth culture of the day.

Scruggs was plagued by injuries and left the Earl Scruggs Revue to issue solo records beginning in the 1980s. He and Louise were famous as hosts of picking parties where bold-face names such Chet Atkins and Vince Gill rubbed elbows with new pickers in town and hosts of family members.

Scruggs always remembered North Carolina fondly. His home area is repaying the favor with the development of the Earl Scruggs Center in Shelby as a monument to the farm boy who brought fame to the banjo, even as it brought fame to him.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/03/28/1966179/banjo-great-earl-scruggs-dies.html#storylink=cpy

Once again, Biltmore leads the way

Asheville's Biltmore Estate is sure hard to top. The site once again leads the list of most visited North Carolina museums and historic attractions, and for the sixth consecutive year attracted more than a million visitors.

The largest private home in America drew 1,101,413 guests during 2011, according to a press release.

"We are always honored to be recognized as a favorite destination for visitors to the Carolinas," said Bill Cecil, President and CEO of Biltmore. "Despite the tough economic conditions of the last few years, people are continuing to travel and we are honored when they choose Biltmore as a destination. We believe the variety of things to do at the estate, including Biltmore House, our gardens, the winery and Antler Hill Village, makes the visit fun and memorable."

Fort Macon State Park in Atlantic Beach placed second in the annual survey conducted by Carolina Publishing Associates with 757,000 guests. Rounding out the top five most visited museums and historic attractions were Discovery Place of Charlotte, with 745,060 visiting, the NC Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh with 712,313 and the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro with 694,929.

AP: Mysterious orbs confound NC county for decades

If you've read this blog before, you know we are HUGE fans of North Carolina's many ghost stories. One of my all-time faves is the Brown Mountain Lights. Well, the Associated Press recently tackled this age-old legend.

Two orange orbs, just about 10 feet off the ground, floated past Steve Woody and his father as they hunted deer more than 50 years ago. The mysterious lights passed them, then dropped down the side of a gorge in the Blue Ridge foothills.

For at least a century, the Brown Mountain Lights have confounded residents and tourists in a rugged patch of Burke County, bobbing and weaving near a modest peak. Are they reflections from automobile headlights? Brush fires? A paranormal phenomenon, or something natural not yet explained by science?

"I didn't feel anything spooky or look around for Martians or anything like that," Woody said. "It was just a unique situation. It's just as vivid now as when I was 12 years old."

Whatever the explanation, tourism officials are hoping all those decades of unanswered questions add up to a boost in visitors making their way to scenic outlooks around Linville Gorge with the goal of spotting something mysterious.

Unexplained mysteries like the Brown Mountain Lights have been the subject of cable TV documentaries and have fueled vast online communities of amateur investigators. Ed Phillips, Burke County's tourism director, is hoping to capitalize on that.

Earlier this month, a sellout crowd of 120 paid $20 a head to attend a symposium on the lights at Morganton City Hall, and there was a crowd outside the door hoping to get in at the last minute.

"It's a good problem to have," Phillips said. "I could have sold 500 tickets."

...

The Brown Mountain Lights have drawn serious scientific interest since the 1920s, when the U.S. Geological Survey issued a report concluding the lights were reflections from automobiles, trains and brush fires.

Daniel Caton, a professor in the physics and astronomy department at Appalachian State University, thinks that's part of the explanation for what people have reported seeing over the years. But Caton thinks there's more to the lights, at least in some cases.

Caton said that about seven years ago, he was ready to give up studying the lights when he began hearing from people who said they saw them from mere feet away, not miles across the Linville Gorge. Those accounts sounded to Caton a lot like firsthand reports of ball lightning, a little-understood but naturally occurring phenomenon involving luminous spheres often said to move or bounce about in the air.

No more Andy's burgers ... well, sorta

Like Hardee's before it, Andy's Burgers, Shakes & Fries has become something of an Eastern North Carolina success story. The burger restaurant chain has been so successful, in fact, it is looking to branch out. And because of this, the restaurant has changed its name to Highway 55.

From a release:

Although the name is changing, the restaurant chain’s concept will stay the same as it’s been since its establishment in 1991 and Highway 55 will continue to deliver the brand’s traditional American classics in the same family-friendly, ‘50s diner setting. Patrons can expect to see the new Highway 55 signs in each of the 100 existing locations by the end of summer 2012, and in all new locations throughout the southeast.

The name change was sparked by a potential legal battle over the federal trademark for the name Andy’s that arose as the company prepared to expand outside of its home state. After being known as Andy’s for 20 years, founder and president Kenny Moore decided that a systemwide switch to Highway 55 was the most cost effective way to grow the brand, and would mark the beginning of its next 20 years of success.

“We’re looking at the name change as a positive opportunity to start new and fresh,” Moore said. “Customers will see we’re the same Andy’s they’ve always known, the only difference is the new name. What we’ve built for the past 20 years isn’t going to change at all.”

The company certainly knows where its bread is buttered.

"To celebrate the new name, a mural map of Highway 55, a 192-mile highway stretching across North Carolina from Durham to Oriental, will be painted on the walls of each location. A timeline painted above the map will give patrons a glimpse of Highway 55’s history from 1991 to the present," said the release.

“Some of our locations are 20 years old, so we are using the shift to Highway 55 as a way to refurbish,” said Moore. “We’re changing uniforms and signage – we’ll gradually phase out the old name and logos.”

Moore originally selected the name Andy’s back in 1991 when he opened his first location in Goldsboro, N.C. Andy, Moore’s son, was 18 months old at the time. Since its inception, the chain has stayed true to its classic American concept while growing to include more than 100 restaurants across North Carolina. This year, as Highway 55, the chain will expand outside of North Carolina for the first time when a location opens in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The Myrtle Beach restaurant is the start of a greater plan to open 275 additional restaurants in the southeast over the next 6-7 years.

Of those 275 locations, area development agreements are in the works to open 100 locations in Florida—with the first location to open in Palm City— 75 locations in western North Carolina, and 50 locations in South Carolina and Virginia each. A new location in Snow Hill, N.C. is slated to open in mid-February, and the Myrtle Beach location will open before April. Looking ahead to the fourth quarter of 2012, a store in Greenville, N.C. is planned to open near the end of the year.

Longtime Andy’s franchisees J.R. Cottle and Chris LaCoe are partnering together to develop the 50 upcoming South Carolina Highway 55 locations. Cottle currently owns three North Carolina restaurants—in Rockingham, Lumberton and Locust, and LaCoe owns four in Gum Branch, Leland, Shallotte and Surf City.

“We’re positioned to go into this year with a new name, a fresh start and ambitious plans for growth,” Moore said. “People will watch and see Highway 55 really take off this year.”

Thoughts on this? I'm kinda "meh" with the name change.

The shad boat: The 'pick-up truck' of watercraft

The latest issue of Coastwatch*, the N.C. Sea Grant program's beautiful publication, has a wonderful piece on some of North Carolina's more "coastal" state symbols, such as the state shell (Scotch bonnet -- pronounced "bonn-ay") and the state fish (red drum).

Sure, it's interesting enough to have an official state shell or state fish, but I've always been intrigued that North Carolina can boast an official state boat. I knew little about the shad boat before reading this article; it now makes perfect sense why it's the state boat.

"Despite its graceful appearance, the shad boat, commonly referred to as the 'pickup truck' of watercraft, navigated our not-so-tranquil sounds in the late 19th and early 20th centuries," writes Coastwatch.

Tom Harrison with Go Wild in Washington County has more about the history of the boat:

The Albemarle Sound, being an expansive but relatively shallow body of water, has a reputation for being extremely rough in high winds. Therefore in the days of sail, traditional small sailing craft were generally not well-suited for weather conditions in the Albemarle Sound. This led to the development and evolution of what became known as the Albemarle Sound Shad Boat.

This shallow draft work boat is unique because it is the only known America sailboat design that had a combination of a spritsail, jib, and a topsail! (A sprit is a pole or spar extended diagonally upward from a mast to the topmost corner of a fore-and-aft sail, serving to extend the sail. A spritsail doesn’t usually have a traditional boom along the bottom of the sail.) The topsail was added to provide additional working canvas high in the air so the boats could work close to forested shores that would becalm the lower spritsail or jib.

The Albemarle Sound Shad Boat is a durable round-bottomed boat with a heart-shaped transom. It was developed after the Civil War and was also known as a “seine boat”. It had a straight bow that was sharply raked, (a boating term meaning, inclined from vertical). Typically, the Albemarle Sound Shad Boat was 18’-33’ in length and was constructed with native Atlantic White Cedar, locally known as Juniper. In boat shops this light-weight naturally rot resistant wood was often called “Southern Cedar”.

The hull was carvel planked, meaning the board planking ran longitudinal and was attached to the frame with nails or screws. The advantage of this traditional construction method was that if a board began to rot or was damaged, it could easily be removed and replaced without ripping the boat apart. The hull was un-decked except for washboards along the gunwales and was most often painted white. It was ballasted with 15-30 sandbags, depending on the size of the boat. The sandbag covers were made of sailcloth and the sandbags were shifted from the center to the windward side during a blow.

According to Coastwatch, original shad boats are still displayed at several locations in North Carolina, including the Roanoke Island Festival Park, the Currituck Heritage Park Museum in Corolla, the Museum of the Albemarle in Elizabeth City and the Port O'Plymouth Maritime Museum.

As a (very) amateur sailor, it seems like these boats would be easy on which to learn. Is this true, or am I just WAY off base?

*If you're a fan of the coast, seafood, sea life, etc., and you're not reading Coastwatch, you are really missing out.

Our State mag unveils new travel N.C. mobile phone app

From a press release:

Smartphone users have a new digital tool to help them discover and explore the Tar Heel state as Our State magazine, North Carolina's long- time source of travel information and stories, launches a new app called TRAVEL NORTH CAROLINA. Perfect for North Carolina residents looking to travel or for visitors from out of state, the app is free to download for Apple and Google Android devices. It comes pre-loaded more than 1,000 points of interest around the state, organized by region of the state into themed tours and categories. Other features include: Easy-to-use navigation, organized by region of North Carolina. Turn-by-turn GPS directions to all points of interest. Clickable addresses, phone numbers, and websites for easy planning Photos, videos, and social media links for selected points of interest. Themed tours including attractions, historical sites, lighthouses, museums, national and state parks, outdoor adventures, shopping, and more. · Statewide tours like "Breakfast in North Carolina" and the "North Carolina Food Tour" inspired by Our State magazine content. TRAVEL NORTH CAROLINA is available for download in the App Store and Android Market. Details are available at ourstate.com/app

N.C. film news involves 'Caged Heat' (code name for 'Iron Man 3')

There's a flurry of North Carolina-related motion picture news of late. First was the report that Greg Kinnear and Jennifer Connelly will begin work in Wilmington next month.

Producer Judy Cairo confirmed Friday afternoon reports from national entertainment publications Variety and The Hollywood Reporter that the independent film "Writers" is on its way to the area.

"We'll be filming in Wilmington in March, primarily around Wrightsville Beach," Cairo said. "Greg Kinnear plays a famous novelist who lives in a beach community, thus the attraction of shooting in Wilmington. Jennifer Connelly plays his ex-wife, with whom he's obsessed."

The Wilmington Regional Film Commission's website, according to the Star-News, now lists "The Occult" and "Heart of the Country" in preproduction, along with "The Conjuring" and "Caged Heat," which is widely known as the code name for "Iron Man 3."

Johnny Griffin, director of the film commission, said both new movies are feature films and "here and in the process of getting organized" for production. He said he was unable to disclose additional details.

According to the website for "Heart of the Country," produced by Bayridge Films, the movie's principal photography is tentatively slated for March and April in Wilmington and New York City. It's based on the novel by Rene Gutteridge and John Ward and is a modern retelling of "The Prodigal" story.

No further information on "The Occult" was available Tuesday morning.

And, finally, Mike Wiley is getting rave reviews as he performs ALL 36 ROLES in the feature film, "Dar He: The Lynching of Emmett Till," according to a press release. A N.C. screening is set for Feb. 13.

Wiley and the North Carolina filmmakers deliver riveting performances in the story, trial, and unbelievable confessions of those accused of Emmett Till's murder in this 1955 tragedy which changed the course of history in the United States.

Two and a half years in the making by award winning North Carolina filmmakers, the World and European premieres are now set for "Dar He". A screening for North Carolina media has been added to the calendar. ...

"Dar He: The Lynching of Emmett Till" was adapted from the critically acclaimed one man show written and performed by local theatre heavyweight, Mike Wiley, similarly titled "Dar He: The Story of Emmett Till." It is a true-crime drama of a 14-year old Black boy from Chicago murdered for allegedly whistling at a White woman while visiting family in Money, Mississippi in 1955. The screenplay was crafted from public record and the historic interviews conducted by William Bradford Huie of Look magazine. When the story was published, it became a lightning rod across the nation for moral outrage. "His death was a spark that ignited the Civil Rights Movement in America," Ed Bradley, Emmy Award-winning journalist.

"Dar He" was created by acclaimed North Carolina filmmakers who collaborated on other films including, "Empty Space" (2009) and "Wolf Call" (2010). These films are winners of fifteen festival awards, eight nominations, dozens of official selections, special screenings, and other honors. "Wolf Call" is currently on festival tour and nominated for a Black Reel Award for Outstanding Short Film. The international success of both these films helped inspire the making of "Dar He". Mr. Wiley is winner of numerous best actor awards from 2009 to 2011 for his performance in both films, including Best Actor at the 25th Black International Cinema Berlin and Best Actor at the Carrboro Film Festival in 2009 and 2010.

Quick hits: People stealing Venus fly traps, and Sierra Nevada chooses our state

3 poachers arrested for uprooting rare N.C. Venus fly traps
"The Venus flytrap's precarious survival in the wild along the coast of the Carolinas faces an added threat from poachers looking to cash in by uprooting and selling them," says the AP.

"Three people were arrested this week and charged with uprooting an endangered species without permission, a misdemeanor. North Carolina wildlife enforcement officer Matt Criscoe says they took about 200 of the bug-eating plants, which they expected to sell for about 10 cents apiece. ..."

Sierra Nevada choose N.C. for East Coast expansion

"West Coast craft beer-maker Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. is opening a production site in North Carolina to expand its East Coast reach," says reports.

"The Chico, Calif.-based company said Wednesday it chose a site along the French Broad River 12 miles south of Asheville as the home of its East Coast brewery.

"Sierra Nevada founder Ken Grossman says the mountain region's beer culture, water quality and quality of life were right for his company...."

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/01/25/4214752/sierra-nevada-chooses-nc-for-east.html#storylink=cpy

Sports Hall of Fame to hit the road

I'm fortunate that I can walk just a few blocks (either from home or work) to spend my lunch hour marveling at the wonderful exhibits in the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame, which is housed in the N.C. Museum of History. Not everyone is as lucky. The good news is that very soon there will be a mobile version of the sports museum. Not a mobile app, mind you, but a real, honest-to-goodness mobile unit that will take the story of the state's sports heritage out and about.

From WECT:

While the Hall of Fame itself remains in Raleigh, a small version of it will be on the road, hopefully by the spring of next year.

"It is a mobile unit that we are very excited about," said [Museum Executive Director Don] Fish. "It will offer us the opportunity to expose the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame throughout the state and encourage people to come back here, to Raleigh, for the full view of the museum."

Hall of Fame officials hope the new mobile unit will be up and running by May 2012, just in time for the next induction ceremony and the 50^th anniversary of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.

If you have never made it to the Sports Hall of Fame, I highly recommend it. As WECT describes it, you'll find "the story of NASCAR legend Richard Petty, who emerged from the small town of Randleman, to become one of the most famous sports figures in the country's history" to Jimmy V's warm-up suit to Choo-Choo Justice's jersey and much more.

Patrick Sky, folk music legend

Full disclosure: I had probably worked with Patrick Sky for about six years before a co-worker pointed out that the bearded dude with the wicked sense of humor had, at one point, been one of the most respected folks music songwriters of the 1960s. Seriously.

Thankfully, it didn't take long to prove my co-worker correct. (Thank you, Google.) Yes, before he retired became an "IT guy" (he retired just a few years ago), Pat Sky was a legend in Greenwich Village and beyond.

From Wikipedia:

A contemporary of Bob Dylan and others in the Greenwich Village folk boom of the 1960s, following military service Sky released a number of well received albums from 1965 onwards and played with many of the leading performers of the period, particularly Buffy Sainte-Marie, Eric Andersen and the blues singer Mississippi John Hurt (whose Vanguard albums Sky produced). Sky's song "Many A Mile" became a folk club staple, and has been recorded by Sainte-Marie and others.

Becoming increasingly disillusioned with the music business and politically radical, Sky released the controversial and scabrously satirical Songs That Made America Famous in 1973 (the album was recorded in 1971 but rejected by several record companies before it found a home); to this day he claims to have received no royalties for the album. This album featured the earlier known recorded version of the song "Luang Prabang," written by Sky's friend Dave Van Ronk. Patrick Sky had honed his politically charged satire in earlier albums, but Songs That Made America Famous raised the stakes. The Adelphi Records website describes how the content was, indeed, shocking; yet, how several critics encouraged the public to rush to buy these timely and brilliant "explicit lyrics" while it could. Sky gradually moved into the field of Irish traditional music, founding Green Linnet Records in 1973. Today he is recognised as an expert in building and playing the Irish uillean pipes, often performing with his wife, Cathy. He has also published several books on the subject.

The same co-worker today alerted me to this piece from "Around Carolina" that catches up with Pat and his uillean pipe work (both musically and by trade). Glad to see Pat is still involved in the music business.

The decline of Christmas tree sales

This Wall Street Journal piece is interesting on a couple of levels. One, it's about the sale of Christmas trees, which is vital to N.C.'s economy. Secondly, it references research being conducted at N.C. State University, where they are attempting to create the "perfect Christmas tree."

As sales of live trees decline, Christmas tree growers nationwide are increasingly turning to research and marketing to develop and promote the perfect holiday decoration.

In a greenhouse at North Carolina State University, Christmas tree geneticist John Frampton, tests DNA and blends characteristics of trees from around the world in search of the perfect Christmas tree. "We're trying to find a tree that grows faster, is better quality and has pest resistance," he said.

While about 40 percent of US households, or about 37 million of 94 million homes, bought live Christmas trees in 1991, that percentage declined to 23 percent, or 27 million of 118 million homes, last year, according to the National Christmas Tree Association, a trade group.

The reason is partly demographic. Many baby boomers stop buying live trees as they get older. Many people in their 30s and 40s never developed the habit, having grown up in split households or sometimes with artificial trees.

"I don't want to be all doom and gloom because nobody wants to hear that," said Rick Dungey, spokesman for the National Christmas Tree Association. "But we as an industry have some big challenges."

And when consumers do buy real trees in today's tough economy, they're opting for shorter, less expensive ones -- often four feet or smaller -- which are less profitable for growers.

At the same time, sales of artificial trees made in China have skyrocketed, thanks to quality improvements and other demographic shifts, as many city dwellers opt against the hassle of hauling, maintaining and recycling a live tree.

Consumers will spend about $1.01 billion on artificial trees this year, compared to $984 million on real trees, according to a recent Nielsen survey conducted for the American Christmas Tree Association, which represents artificial tree retailers.

To combat the tough headwinds, growers are putting more of their own money into Christmas tree marketing and research, often on their own farms.

Christmas tree growers are a diffuse bunch, ranging from Pacific Northwest magnates to mom-and-pop shops in the Carolinas. But the growers surveyed by the National Christmas Tree Association said they were willing to pay a 15-cent tax per tree for a coordinated marketing and research program, similar to "Got milk?" for the dairy industry.

...

Email: 'For NC People'

I'm not sure where this originated, but I received this email from my mother (Hi, Mom!) yesterday. It's pretty darn comprehensive about the many things North Carolinians can be proud of. Enjoy.

(My apologies for the font size differential. That's how it came via email.)

North Carolina is one of the most populated (9,250,000) and geographically longest, in the old South. From Manteo in the east to Murphy in the west, North Carolina is 560 miles long, making it the longest state east of the Mississippi . (Measured east west.)

The Biltmore Estate has the largest privately owned home in the United States . The main house, modeled after a French chateau, has 250 rooms and more than 33,000 square feet of living space. Built between 1885 and 1898 by the George Vanderbilt family.

Before Jamestown Va.(1607) or Plymouth Mass.(1620) was even thought of, Fort Raleigh on Roanoke Island became the first English colony (given the impetus by Sir Walter Raleigh) in the new world in 1585. The first American born in the New World of Caucasian parentage and European heritage, a little girl named Virginia Dare, happened here on Roanoke Island at Fort Raleigh . Dare County, in Eastern NC , was named in honor of her.

Pepsi Cola is ours, developed and first served in New Bern NC in 1898 and unless you have had one in a clear ten-ounce glass bottle, with a slight crust of ice on top, you have missed a real treat. Try pouring about half a pack of salted peanuts into one sometime.

North Carolinians , native or adopted, say "ma'am and sir" and call their mothers "mama" and their fathers 'daddy”. They know that 'y'all' is perfectly good English and never means just one person. ‘Fixinto’ is perfectly acceptable, too. 'Didjaeat' is an invitation to lunch or dinner (or supper as we like to call it and y'all can too...if 'yountoo').

And if y'all don't like the way we talk, you can just jump back into your car and I-95, I-85, I-77, and I-40 will take you right back to where ever you may be from.

We have a Long history of developing some of the world's greatest athletes. We gave the world 'Sugar' Ray Leonard, Michael Jordan, David Thompson, Lou Hudson, Bobby Jones, Bob McAdoo, Walt Bellamy, Jim 'Catfish' Hunter, Gaylord Perry, Jim Beatty, Sonny Jurgenson, Roman Gabriel, Wray Carlton, Charlie 'Choo Choo' Justice, 'Meadow Lark' Lemon, Trot Nixon, Enos Slaughter and Josh Hamiliton. If you don't know who these people are, you ought to find out before you go to bed tonight. Just Google'em.

The Golfing Hall of Fame is located in Pinehurst NC , and the greatest and toughest golf courses in US golf are also found there.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame is also newly located in Uptown (or downtown for non-native Charlotteans). The stock car Hall has some fantastic new digs for the recently State approved Sport of Stock Car Racing as North Carolina 's favorite Sport.

The first powered flight by the Wright brothers happened at Kitty Hawk , NC on the outer banks.

Fontana Dam is the tallest dam in the Eastern United States , at 480 feet high just SW of Asheville high in the mountains.

On autumn Saturdays, every Fall, the Carolina blue faithful will gather in Chapel Hill for another rendition of 'What it was, was football' made famous by Andy Griffin while he was a student at UNC. NC State fans gather in Raleigh to see and hear the Wolfpack howl, while Duke and Wake Forest pull their devilous and demon like shenanigans on the gridiron in Durham and Winston-Salem respectively. In the winter, we play and follow College basketball, where between the three of them, UNC , NC State and Duke share 12 national NCAA Championships in the sport of Roundball.

The highest mountaintops east of the Mississippi are found in western NC with Mt. Mitchell at 6,684' being the tallest among many more taller than any other state east of the Mississippi and if all were flattened, NC would be larger than Texas .

Prior to prohibition NC was the nation’s largest wine producer and it is now rebuilding a huge wine industry with wineries from the NC coastal plain to the NC mountains. Here we come, California !

Yes, we are better than California with which we share everything geographically, except for Redwoods, deserts and fault lines. Thank Heaven.

Charlotte with its more than a million and a half people (sometimes called Metrolina) is the leading banking city in the South and second only to New York in the entire US banking industry.

In 1864, Sherman burned parts of Raleigh and North Carolina on his March to Richmond and Washington after waging his war of attrition in his infamous march to the sea through the Deep South .

We're called the " Tar Heel State " because our confederate troops during the Civil War were said to stick in a fight better than other southern troops by none other than Marse Robert E. Lee. The NC Rebel troops were a proud lot that proclaimed they "were the first at Bethel , the farthest north at Gettysburg and the last at Appomattox "! The last Southern Port closed by the North's blockade of the South's Seaports during the Civil War was Wilmington and Fort Fisher at the mouth of the Cape Fear River in 1865. The Battle of Bentonville NC, fought March 19-21, 1865, was the last full-scale action of the Civil War in which a Confederate army was able to mount a tactical offensive campaign against Gen. Sherman on his way through the Carolinas towards Richmond , Va. .

We do produce the most tobacco and cigarettes, not to mention some of the best peanuts, pecans, and poultry found in this country.

The High Point/Thomasville area is a US leader in the production of famous furniture and it hosts the Annual US Furniture Merchandise Mart.

The best pork barbecue in the world comes from our Carolina pits. We are also the leading pork producer in the US . Yes, God intended for iced tea to be served "sweet." And yes, Grits are one of the major food groups. Mustard, Collard and Turnip Greens are too.

Elvis wasn't ours, but other singer/musicians were, Randy Travis, George Hamilton IV, Crash Craddock, Ben E. King, Thelonius Monk, Ronnie Milsap, Donna Fargo, Earl Scruggs, Don Gibson, Stonewall Jackson, Doc Watson and Charlie Daniels are and so is author Thomas Wolf, who wrote 'Look Homeward Angel'. And Scotty McCreery is 2011's American Idol.

And I still miss Andy of Mayberry every day.

Born in Smithfield , Ava Gardner may have been North Carolina 's prettiest and most famous movie star, .

Every North Carolinian and citizen of the USA needs to visit Salem, the sister city of Winston to see how colonial Moravians put their talent and work ethic to work building this early Carolina city into the treasure it is today. This work ethic turned an entire generation of Tar Heel people into the best employers and employees in this great land developing a great textile, tobacco, and seafood and furniture industry.

Because of our extensive coast line of over 300 miles, and even more extensive shore line of over 1,000 miles, sea oats, pelicans, shrimp boats, shrimp and oysters are held high in our thoughts as peculiarly ours even though many states also share these same attributes. In the seafood industry, a type of southern fried seafood served in southern restaurants, is called Calabash Style and is named after the southeastern most NC village of Calabash .

Proud, decent, honest and unpretentious people are our heritage that is reflected in our State Motto, Esse Quam Videri, which means, " To be rather than to seem."

And lastly, North Carolina ain't exactly heaven - but it will do until I get there.

It's the most N.C. time of the year

We typically highlight this just about every year on this blog (though we apparently forgot to last year -- sorry!), but right around Thanksgiving is when we start to get into the most N.C. time of the year?

What does that mean? you ask? Well, first of all, thanks for asking. What it means is as you're digging into turkey and sweet potatoes, and decorating that Christmas tree, you are probably doing some of the best economic support for the Old North State that is possible. And the good news is that families all across the rest of the nation are doing it too.

We published this a few years ago. While the numbers may be off some, they're probably not off by that much.

At that time, the state was the second-largest turkey-producing state after Minnesota. (And probably is still.)

And then there are the sweet potatoes.

North Carolina has been the number one producer of sweet potatoes in the United States, according to the Department of Agriculture. "Today more than 40% of the natinal [sic] supply of sweet potatoes comes from North Carolina."

And, finally, the holiday season closes out with Christmas trees.

"The North Carolina Christmas Tree Industry is ranked second in the nation in number of trees harvested and first in the nation in terms of dollars made per tree," according to the N.C. Christmas Tree Association.

"The North Carolina Fraser fir has been judged the Nation's best through a contest sponsored by the National Christmas Tree Association and chosen for the official White House Christmas tree nine times (more than any other species) 1971, 1973, 1982, 1984, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2005, and 2007 [and 2008]."

Update: According to this article, N.C. is still second for Christmas trees. Damn you, Oregon! We're gunning for ya!

More 'we talk funny' entries

WRAL's Bill Leslie wrote yesterday about pronunciation issues in the Tar Heel State. Today, just as he promised, he unveiled a "pronunciation primer" for those "furriners" who don't know that Angier is pronounced "AN-juhr," never "an-JEER." Hurumph.

Making Bill's list?

Bahama bah-HAY-ma (not like the islands)

Buies Creek BOO-ees Creek

Chalybeate Springs ka-LIB-ee-ut*

Cherryville CHAIR-ee-vil

Clinton KLINT-un (though some locals insist on KLINN-un)

(*Though I've always heard it pronounced "ka-LIB-ut.")

We did a similar list a while back. On our list were such places like ...

Conetoe (kuh-NEE-tuh)

Concord (CON-CORD -- not CON-kerd)

Etowah (EH-tuh-wuh)

Harnett (HAR-nit)

Mebane (MEB-in -- not muh-BAIN)

N.C. gov't. leaders to Big East: Consider ECU

Time (in conference expansion mania) to pull out the big guns.

Three of the state's top elected officials are asking the rapidly changing Big East Conference to invite East Carolina University into the league, according to reports.

Gov. Beverly Perdue's office said Monday she and U.S. Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan signed a letter dated Oct. 26 to presidents of Big East schools. The letter said ECU would strengthen the conference by bringing in a school with an ardent fan base, proven Sports record and growing academic reach.

East Carolina currently plays in Conference USA but applied to the Big East in September.

The Big East has been considering some teams for all Sports and others for football only to make up for the departures of Pittsburgh and Syracuse to the Atlantic Coast Conference and West Virginia to the Big 12.

We told you so: 'Iron Man 3' coming to N.C.

You read it here first (well, not really), but it was confirmed that "Iron Man 3" will be filmed in North Carolina.

North Carolina's race to catch up with states that have lured film projects with better financial incentives has paid off with a major motion picture production commitment.

"Iron Man 3," starring Robert Downey Jr. as a comic-book superhero, will be produced from beginning to end in this state, Gov. Bev Perdue announced at EUE/Screen Gems Studios on Thursday.

"My top priority is creating jobs, and this film production will mean high-quality, well-paying jobs for North Carolinians," Perdue said. "I pushed hard to get the revamped film incentive passed, with the help of a number of lawmakers, and now we see that initiative doing exactly what it was designed to do."

Read more from the News & Observer here.

For the famous Scotty McCreery, the OBX is where it's at

Garner's Scotty McCreery is big time. He has the No. 1 country album in America, and last night he sang the national anthem before Game 1 of the World Series.

But he's a North Carolinian through and through. He tuned up for the World Series by singing the anthem at a recent N.C. State football game, and he also recently spoke with Fox News about his favorite vacation destination, the Outer Banks.

Outer Banks, North Carolina is where I spent a lot of my summers growing up. I’ve got a seashell on the top of my dresser to remind me of some of the good times. I think there’s actually a picture in a magazine recently of me, my sister, and my mom and there’s a rainbow behind us in Outer Banks. We’d go down to Jockey’s Ridge, which is a 100-foot tall dune and eat at a lot of cool places.

...

Fox411: You seem to know the Outer Banks intimately, what activities do you recommend?

McCreery: There’s always a lot of stuff to do. We never went hang gliding. We wanted to do that off Jockey’s Ridge but I think I was a little too scared to do that. But we’re always in the ocean and hanging out.

Fox411: Family seems to be a crucial element for a vacation at Outer Banks for you.

McCreery: My grandma used to have this little place, we called it “the tin can.” She had a little camper type thing and we’d go there for the summers and hang out. It’s not one of those commercial beaches where there are tall buildings behind the beach. It’s just a nice place with cottages, sand and water. The family has been split apart and on different sides of the country. So it’ll be nice to get together and we’ll be heading to the Outer Banks enjoying ourselves, bring the fishing pole and have a good time.

...

Gazetteer fun: V-Z

The highly entertaining and educational North Carolina Gazetteer was recently updated for the first time since it was first published in 1968.

We figured we would highlight some of our favorites from the book every now and then. This version will look at random listings that begin with letters V through Z. (Click here to see some older versions.) There are some 2,ooo-plus listings in the Gazetteer, so feel free to search for your own faves.

Valle Crucis, community in central Watauga County near the junction of Dutch Creek and Watauga River. Est in 1842 as an Episcopal mission. The name, Latin for "Valley of the Cross," was adopted because of the shape of the Watauga River there. The valley has an area of approx. 600 acres. Alt. 3,000.


Whaley, community in n(orth) Avery County. Said to have been named for one Whaley, who became frightened by a screech owl and hid in a hollow log until morning.


Xenia, community in central Duplin County served by post office, 1891-1903. Name derived from Greek word meaning hospitality.


Yadkin College, town in w(estern) Davidson County on Yadkin River. Inc. 1875, but long inactive in municipal affairs. Named for the Methodist Protestant college opened there in 1865, closed in 1924. One college building and the ruins of another remain.


Zeke Island, sandy island in the Cape Fear River opposite Snow Marsh in s(outh)e(ast) Brunswick County.

Firth, Blunt filming in Wilmington

Apparently the bad reviews of the Durham-filmed "Main Street" have not kept Colin Firth out of the Tar Heel State. He and Emily Blunt are currently filming "Arthur Newman" in and around Wilmington, according to the Star-News.

... Firth, dressed in rolled up khakis and a plaid shirt and with a small orange tent in the background, strolled down the beach Thursday afternoon near the Fort Fisher State Recreation Area, waded into the surf and tossed his top into the water, revealing a short-sleeve, white T-shirt.

The temperature, elevated by the bright sun and nearly cloudless sky, hovered around 80 and a brisk south-southwest wind blew as "Arthur Newman, Golf Pro" made its Pleasure Island debut.

Before Firth lost his shirt, the crew filmed some boats maneuvering near the shore – a scene meant to simulate a search for Firth's character based on the discovery of his lone piece of clothing floating in the water, said Pat Story, the movie's publicist.

The film planned additional shooting in Carolina Beach on Thursday and Friday nights, when the production is to close off Lake Park Boulevard from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. between Charlotte and Atlanta avenues for low-speed chase scenes.

Academy Award winner Firth and Golden Globe winner Emily Blunt are starring in "Arthur Newman," which opened offices at EUE/Screen Gems Studios last month and will shoot in the area from mid-October to mid-November.

"We couldn't be more excited," said producer Alisa Tager on the set Thursday afternoon. "We needed a place with a certain amount of geographic diversity and architectural diversity, and we found it in the Wilmington area."

Avett Brothers win big at Americana Awards

Just a few days after performing an emotional benefit show in Greensboro, the Avett Brothers, that most "Carolinian" of bands, were honored as Duo/Group of the Year at the Americana Awards. The Concord band held the same title in 2007 and 2010. Seth and Scott Avett (sans bassist Bob Crawford, who is dealing with a family health issue) accepted the award at the 10th Annual Americana Awards and Honors ceremony in Nashville Thursday.

The Avetts were among the night's performers playing "The Once and Future Carpenter." The band continues its fall tour in Dallas Friday.