Well we made it! Last night we attended a concert given by Doc Watson at the Farthing Memorial Hall, part of the Appalachian State University. The concert was sold out, but we had booked tickets back in August and had tickets for the fifth row, just left of centre.
The weather was awful, it had rained all day, so we had just mooched around. We had breakfast in the Boone Drug Store - a genuine Dug Store, with a griddle, boothes, a pharmacy and shop which sold all sorts of odd bits. I didn't see a Soda Fountain though. After that we wandered the mains street, which like the cowby towns of old had covered sidewalks and big square fronts, with tin shack (not quite) buildings behind. We crossed the main street to visit the Mast General Store. which had all sorts of fascinating clothes and equipment. The interest lasted until we saw the prices. Still raining we visted WalMart and the local Mall, then back to the trailer for a rest.
In the evening we drove, through the rain still, to the auditorium and seated ourselves, the people to our left were from Florida, but had a house in NC, they aparently are called SnowFlakes. The lady to our right was 80, and as we exchanged life histories it became clear that she had been a Moonmaid, which was the vocal backing group for a 40's Big Band called The Vaugh Monroe Orchestra. Her name is Tinker (Cunningham) Rautenberg. It was fascinating to talk to her.
The Doc Watson concert was excellent. Doc sung some of his old songs and told stories of his early days, supported and questioned by David Holt, who was also very good. A chap called Riley Baugus also played, his claim to fame is that he is a local player, he also performed some of the music for Cold Mountain, and played on the recent Alison Kraus/Robert Plant record. Doc Watson is very gentle in his approach, so it made for a relaxing evening. Our early booking paid off as we had seats in the fifth row and the 1750 seater auditorium was sold out for the concert. Although videoing and photography was not allowed I sneaked a couple of pics as a record of our evening.
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