By Bob Andelman
April, 1983

SOUTHEAST

Florida

To find that good music the gray long hairs are always reminiscing about, consider the International Folk Festival (Miami, late May), New College Summer Music Festival (Sarasota, June weekends), Miami Beach Auditorium Pops Concerts (June – late August Sun. eves.), or The Summer Music Series on Virginia Key, where you can listen in the stands or from a boat offshore.

Georgia

Cordele is the site of the Cony Grove Bluegrass Festival in early June.

Elsewhere: Elizabethton’s Country Music Week kicks o the third seven days in June, featuring performances by national stars and local talent. For talent of a different kind, try rockin’ out at Atlanta’s Fox and Agora Theaters; the South’s premier city also sponsors a Theater of the Stars from early July through mid-August.

North Carolina

Billed as the oldest professional summer theater in North Carolina, the Flat Rock Playhouse’s State Theater is said to consist of 97-year-old men performing “Ain’t Misbehavin’” That is a lie, of course, The State Theater, consisting of talented actors and actresses of all ages, carries on all summer from June to Labor Day.

The Easter Philharmonic Orchestra can be heard from the last week in June until the first week in August at Greensboro’s Eastern Music Festival. The Orchestra is composed of payers and leading symphonies, universities and music conservatories.

Alabama

When within the state’s limits this year, consider being or not being from mid-July to late August at Anniston’s Shakespeare Festival. The classical plays are featured in repertory.

Mississippi

Shrimp and pickles.

Not together (fortunately), these two delicacies highlight the summer festival season in the state some seniors have to spell to graduate. The seafood gala is in Biloxi in early June, featuring street dancing, marine parade, and the blessing of the shrimp fleet. June is pickle time in Wiggins for all fans.

Tennessee

Two international music festivals can be found in Nashville this summer. Both (Country in June, Gospel in July) feature big name stars and lotsa good times and tunes.

Arkansas

The Arkansas Folklore Society Meeting and Folk Fest (June through August at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville) features traditional music, including performances on such rarely seen instruments as zithers, mandolins and dobros.

Fort Smith is home of the Arkansas Bluegrass and country Festival in June, a traditional country-style festival with more than its share of bluegrass music.