Clubs, Groups and More Personalities

Someone told us recently that this section is always one of their favorite parts of our Myrtle Beach write-ups because our little vignettes about places and people, apart from being entertaining, help to clearly bring good memories about them to the forefront.  We must say we never thought of it serving that purpose and instead have viewed it simply as a smorgasbord or potpourri of bits and pieces loosely tied with a common them.  With that little trivia out of the way, we'll move along with our bits and pieces which, of course, will include some gossipy stuff and a few opinions here and there. 

Harold Bessent – We've figured out - it didn't take too much thinking about the feedback we've received - that Harold has lots of fans (and a few who aren't quite so enamored) that like reading anything we share about him.  Talk about someone who is larger than life (and we're not speaking of his relative size, which is somewhat substantial too), he most definitely is an iconic and generally much loved person who is and has been for a long time a prominent figure in Carolina Beach Music.  We, and thousands more, love hearing the promo for his clubs on 94.9 FM which conclude with him saying in his gravely voice "You ain't been to the beach unless you seen me, Fat Harold."

He was for the most part in a chipper, light hearted mood when we talked with him, but we noticed he's also getting more and more inclined to want to initiate and venture into discussions of serious matters with us, and we value his trust and friendship that make him comfortable doing so.  He's truly a fascinating gentleman in so many respects and his insights to life, often gained the hard way, are just remarkable.  There's no doubt if time and circumstances permitted we could spend endless hours sharing thoughts and perspectives with each other and never tire of doing so.  On one occasion Harold got that wry grin on his face when he told Ed that he loves our writing because we "call things the way they are" and aren't caught up in and intimidated by local politics and the powers that be.  "You guys aren't afraid of anything and I love it!" he exclaimed while laughing and slapping his knee.  Mr. Harold has lots of interesting opinions.

Mariellen Minor – We had a great time sharing thoughts and stories with Harold's daughter, Mariellen.  She regaled us with fascinating tales about spending a semester in Chile living with a local family there as part of the pursuit of her university major in Spanish.  She and her husband, Chris, are expecting their first child in July.  It was funny listening to her describe Harold's reaction when he first learned of the pregnancy.  She said he just looked at her for two days without saying much of anything, as if trying to digest that this could be happening to his little girl.  We know for a fact, apart from whatever initial shock and internalization there may have been, he's certainly fine with it now and is looking forward to his first grandchild.

It was agreed Mariellen and Harold will be our guests for dinner at the Melting Pot during our next visit in April.  Mariellen made the restaurant selection - should be fun and interesting.

Ms. LuLu – Lord, we love that woman and she does take good care of us.  We talked for hours this trip while she plied us with Coors Lights at Fat Harold's Beach Club where she was manning the grill and it wasn't nearly enough - talk that is, not beer which was plentiful.  Sandra was again discussing her current fascination, decorative food carving, with LuLu who later sent her some information about a carving kit and accompanying "how to do it" book.  That was ordered, has arrived and Sandra is eager to begin trying some of the techniques.

And, of course, LuLu filled us in on all the latest happenings (read that as "gossip") in OD and the Carolina Beach Music scene.  We also greatly enjoy her opinions of such matters and many other things in the world.  Says she quit smoking - way to go girl!  We invited her to be one of our table guests for the Extravaganza but she declined saying she was on duty to cook for the crowd that would be there that day.

JD Cash – Apart from enjoying his company and that of his friend, Janet, on the day of the Extravaganza, we spent our normal fun time with him at Club 2001.  Nobody, and we mean nobody, can even come close to entertaining and managing the crowd there in Razzies (the beach club) as he does when he's DJ'ing and also sometimes joining in with the live performances to do a few songs.  Occasionally the manager of 2001, Roger Davisson, will have other DJs fill in or do nights JD isn't working, but in spite of some of them being locally known personalities whom we appreciate, the feedback we're getting is they're just not in the same league.  Speaking of Roger, it was great, as usual, to chat with him and enjoy his friendship.  He really does have a first class operation at 2001 and it's a place we always enjoy visiting for evening entertainment which we highly recommend to others.  Both evenings we visited this trip CoCo Loco was playing and the second one Gary Lowder was featured doing vocals with them which made it very enjoyable.  We also saw Gary performing at the Fat Harold's Beach Music Extravaganza.  He's got a good voice.

Back on the subject of JD and Janet, on our last day of the trip they met us at Deckerz in OD for lunch and a few beers.  Janet committed a real faux pas from our viewpoint - she surreptitiously paid the bill before we had a chance to do so.  Thanks Janet, but don't ever do that again.  After Deckerz we swung by Judy's House of Oldies and then drove over to HOTO's in Cherry Grove for another round of drinks and then said our "goodbyes".

Shopping

Judy's House of Oldies – We actually visited on two days.  The first one Judy Collins was there and among other things we had some laughs about the stories that are starting to circulate with regard to the recent Beach Music theme cruises that stopped in Nassau.  Those of you who know Joey Warren of 94.9 FM should ask him if he enjoyed his debut performance at Senor Frogs.  Funny, funny, funny - but Joey probably didn't think so at the time.

After talking with Judy we browsed a bit and then bought the Sugar Bees "Pollination Tour".  The second visit was prompted by our interest in a song we heard Tim Clark perform at the Extravaganza.  JD found what we wanted on the Thinking About You SOS 2008 compilation CD - "Love Thang".  Tim does a very nice job with that.  By the way, there are a lot of good tracks on that CD by various artists - we recommend it.

Two Blondes on the Beach – 214 Main Street, Ocean Drive, North Myrtle Beach, SC 29582.  We met one of the owners, Sheila Wright, in Harold's Beach Club and that caused us to want to visit this establishment.  Interesting little place near Harold's on Main Street in OD with lots of stuff with many items featuring funny "blonde" themes.  Being a brunette, Sandra passed on those but did buy some Tidewater flip flops which were especially nice.  She also bought an attractive silk scarf.

Sheila invited us to attend a fashion show the Two Blondes will be conducting at Harold's on April 21 during the Spring Safari for SOS.  We would like to attend, but as usual we're constrained by Sandra's business schedule which may preclude us being able to do that.