Fountain Express

[Fountain, NC] Buddy Zincone and Greenville Grass headline the upcoming weekend of live musical entertainment at Fountain General Store with a Saturday night concert of classic and new bluegrass. A free bluegrass jam on Thursday night is followed by the return of Russ Varnell and the Too Country Band on Friday night.

Zincone and Greenville Grass is a quintet of Pitt County bluegrass musicians who frequently jam together but don't often perform at public venues. Zincone, who plays banjo, is joined by Willie Nelms on bass; Lane Hollis on fiddle; Tom Scott on mandolin; and Bill Poplin on guitar. All five share vocals.

Zincone, a leader of the Greenville bluegrass scene since the 1960s, says that bluegrass is "a style of music, not a set list of songs."

He adds: "We love playing the traditional songs, and we also love showing how various songs -- including rock and folk -- can be adapted to the bluegrass style."

Buddy Zincone and Greenville Grass perform May 20 at 7:30 p.m.; general admission is $5.

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Russ Varnell, who fronts one of the most popular country bands in eastern North Carolina, recently attended the star-studded funeral of his main musical influence, Buck Owens, in Bakersfield, California, where he was seated with the Owens family.

Varnell's close association with Owens over the past decade arose out of his fortuitous finding of Owens' original Nudie suit at the Raleigh fairgrounds flea market. In the ensuing years, Varnell visited Owens often, where he performed with Owens at his legendary Crystal Palace and also on several Owens recording sessions.

A Varnell show is always what he calls "pure honky-tonk country music." He mixes some of his original compositions in with a set list of classic country covers of artists such as Porter Waggoner, Elvis, Merle Haggard, George Jones, Ernest Tubb, Del Reeves and Hank Williams, Sr.

A native of the Wilson County community of Black Creek, Varnell has in recent years expanded his performance range into the southeast and as far away as Texas.

Russ Varnell and his Too Country Band perform at 8 p.m. on May 20; general admission is $8.

Hear Russ perform "Whoop-dee-do" (2.4 MB) from his CD Playin' Every Honky Tonk in Town.

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Fountain General Store's monthly bluegrass jam, hosted by Greenville picker Jack Wrzesinski, begins at 7:30 on May 18. It is free and all levels of musicians are welcome.

R.A. Fountain, General Store and Internet Cafe, is located in historic downtown Fountain, at the intersection of US 258 and NC 222. Its family atmosphere is smoke- and alcohol-free.

Reserved seats are available for all shows at an additional charge. Prices are always posted on our up-coming events page. For further information, phone 252-749-3228.

International Mail Art Show "Crossroads: World" Opens June 3

The international mail art show "Crossroads: World" opens June 3 for a summer run at Fountain General Store.

The show includes 116 pieces, with entries mailed to Fountain from 14 international artists representing 12 countries and 52 artists from 13 U.S. states. Local artists in the show include Mel Stanforth of Greenville and a couple from the Greene County town of Walstonburg who identify themselves only by initials.

"We got a flyswatter and three flies from Chicago," said store proprietor Alex Albright, "a nicely decorated Frisbee from Minnesota, and a surprising number of very fine paintings, collages, and pieces of stamp and photocopy art."

The show was promoted on web pages throughout the world that specialize in announcing calls for entries for mail art exhibits. Albright said he was pleased by the response, especially for his shop's first venture into the correspondence mail art world, which first gained notice and popularity through the work of Ray Johnson in New York City in the 1950s.

Johnson's artistic aesthetics were honed at Black Mountain College, where he studied in the 1940s with Josef Albers. Among the BMC crowd with which he associated in NYC in the '50s were John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Robert Rauschenberg, and Cy Twombly.

Mail art principles are simple, basic, and adaptable, said Albright: "The art is a gift, really, to the community that hosts the show. Whatever's mailed is exhibited, and documentation of the show is returned to all artists."

The original call for entries asked artists to connect their world with that of Fountain, "a small crossroads town in rural eastern North Carolina." All entries, the call stated, would be displayed, "subject to small town Southern sensibilities and tastes."

"So on one of the entries," Albright noted, "we had to black out a word."

"Crossroads: World" received several entries from Ocracoke-based Bob Ray, and Carbondale, Ill.-based Richard Canard (a.k.a. Richard Craven), who lives in what he calls "the state of Illusion." In 1976 Craven curated a one-man show of Johnson's correspondence art at the NC Museum of Art.

"Crossroads: World" will officially open for a summer run on June 3 with a reception for the artists from 5 to 7 p.m. and a concert by Wilson-based singer-songwriter Chet Nichols beginning at 8 p.m.

Nichols, who studied art at ECU, has been described as "an eastern Carolina Springsteen," though his narrative songs are more reflective of the tobacco belt than the rust belt of Bruce Springsteen's world.

Most entries for "Crossroads: World" can be viewed at rafountain.com/crossroads.
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Artists whose work will be included in "Crossroads: World"

NC Artists

DRF of Walstonburg, NC
EFF of Walstonburg, NC
David Norris of Wilmington, NC
Barbara Ray of Ocracoke, NC
Bob Ray of Ocracoke, NC
Mel Stanforth of Greenville, NC

Artists from Other States

Vycki Angel of Pinson, AL
Anne L. Braunschweig of Corrales, NM
Pati Bristow of Los Altos, CA
Dan Buck of Armour, SD
Richard Canard of Carbondale, Illusion
Eric Carlson of Forest Grove, OR
Eva W. Christopherson of St. Peter, MN
Dan of Portland, OR
Jesse Edwards of Granada Hills, CA
René Z. Garza of Weslaco, TX
Mim Golub of Richmond, VA
Lex Loeb of Portland, OR
16 from Maggie O., friends & family
Pondidia of Troy, NY
Tim Scannell of Port Angeles, WA
Scott Thomas of Lexington, KY
R. Trawick of Fontana, CA
Joseph A. Uphoff of Colorado Springs, CO
Yvette van der Velde of Plain City, OH
Vickiwin of Bryon, MN
Sean Whatever of So. Charleston, WV
Pablo Wright of Cincinnati, OH
Tamara Wyndham of New York, NY

International artists

Jo Bennet of Alton Hants, UK
Muhammad Rasfan B. Hj. Abu Bakar of Selamgor, Malaysia
Denis Charnot of Marnaz, France
Ryosuke Cohen of Osaka, Japan
Ah Davin of Lapalud, France
Costas Evangelatos of Athens, Greece
Luis Diaz Garcia of Madrid, Spain
G.D.P. of Sint-Katharina-Lombeek, Belgium
Sinasi Gunes of Sisli - Istanbul, Turkey
Jean-Luc LaCroix of Marolles, France
Millesime/Sinepress of Bathori, Hungary
peg leg of Surrey, B.C., Canada
Barry Edgar Pilsher of Court Donegal, Eire
Morena Regaiolli of Venice, Italy
Miriam Tagliati of Bologna, Italy

June Music at Fountain General Store: Mark Your Calendars

Thursday, June 1, 8 p.m. -- $8, $10.50 reserved
Don Helms & Malpass Family
Classic Hank Williams from the steel guitarist who defined Hank's sound, teamed up with the best country/bluegrass band in eastern NC.
ABOUT 30 SEATS REMAIN TO BE SOLD.

Friday, June 2, 8 p.m. -- $5
Steve Creech Sextet, with Carol-Ann Tucker
Hot jazz and classic ballads: a big city kind of show

Saturday, June 3, 8 p.m. -- $3
Chet Nichols
Alt-Americana, original songs from the Springsteen of eastern NC

Thursday, June 8, 7:30 p.m. -- $3
Farm & Home
Shorty Mooring and the Gaddis Brothers always put on a great bluegrass show.

Friday, June 9, 8 p.m. -- $3
PK Dwyer
Recently named "best blues act" in Seattle, Washington area

Saturday, June 10, 7:30 p.m. -- $3
Walking by Faith
Bluegrass and bluegrass gospel with some pop standards in original acoustic style

Sunday, June 11, 8 p.m. -- FREE
Dustin the Furniture
Real Live Tigers
Two traveling shows, both performing original material

Thursday, June 15, 7:30 p.m. -- $3
Four-Way Grass
Bluegrass from the Lenoir County crossroads of Four-Way

Friday, June 16, 8 p.m. -- $5
Tamalyn with Steve Creech Sextet
Country music from Las Vegas via Greenville, with the inimitable Creech and crew

Saturday, June 17, $7:30 p.m. -- $5
Bluegrass Redemption
One of Fountain's favorite bluegrass bands finally returns

Sunday, June 18, 3:00 p.m. -- FREE
Melody Brown
Outstanding original acoustic music from Zebulon-based singer-songwriter

Thursday, June 22, 8 p.m. -- $3
Javis Street Bluegrass Band
ECU students bring jamming fever to their bluegrass shows

Friday, June 23, 8 p.m. -- $5
Andy Coats
West coast blues from this Raleigh native who's recently returned to live in NC

Saturday, June 24, 7:30 -- $7.50
High Ground Bluegrass Band
Great bluegrass from the Shendandoah Valley in Virginia

Sunday, June 25, 8 p.m. -- FREE
Joe Wilson
Forever in Motion
Original music from traveling troubadours

Thursday, June 29, 7:30 p.m. -- $3
Dymond City Express
Williamston-based bluegrass band makes their Fountain debut

Friday, June 30, 8 p.m. -- $5
Heather Berry & Dominion Grass
Blue Circle Recording artists -- supported by Tom T. & Dixie Hall

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