The following letter is from Elizabeth Hay of Andrews, NC
Gary Carden appeared Friday, October 17, at the Valleytown Cultural Arts Center in Andrews NC as the centerpiece for their annual week long Chautauqua event. He had the audience completely entranced with his presentation of "Blow the Tannery Whistle," a series of short stories of his childhood experiences and memories.
No one can capture and/or portray the Appalachian character like Gary can. The man should be declared a national treasure. He had the audience totally captivated, but more to the point, the man is authentic. He understands and conveys mountain ways without making fun or getting a cheap laugh.
We have had our Chautauqua for seven years now, and have had one of Gary's plays every year.He was kind enough to come in person this year. I don't know how we are going to top that one. We are honored that he would come, and he walked away with our hearts, as he always does.
To get your own DVD of Gary's stories, contact him at:gcarden@aol.com or click here
Thank you, Elizabeth. One of the things that puzzles me about telling stories for the Andrews Chatuaqua AVE is that there were so few people there from other towns in the region
ReplyDelete(Murphy, Hayesville, Robbinsville, etc.) Why is that?
Gary Carden
Gary, the local newspapers carry only what is happening in their county. In Clay county, little news comes to us from Andrews, NC.
ReplyDeleteWe only have weekly newspapers published in this region. Elizabeth says, and I agree, it is hard to publicize your events outside your county because of this.
She and I agreed to help each other in the future with publicity for events in our areas.
Tonight I finally saw Gary's story telling DVD and I laughed and learned so much about Gary, our own National Treasure.
ReplyDeleteThe sixty minute DVD is the most entertaining program I've seen lately. I skipped the nightly TV shows because I didn't want to turn off my DVD player even though I could have and gone back to it later.
Many of you probably already know this man's talent, but I thought while watching him tell his delightful stories, he should be a TV star, and folks from all over this country should be seeing him perform.