Sunday, August 10, 2008

Show Review: Mayberry Gang Put on a Great Show!

Oh what a great show! Fantastic music - lots of laughter - stories of old .... The James Garner Center in Troy, North Carolina, was packed with Mayberry fans on Saturday night, August 9, 2008. They came from several states to see actual stars from The Andy Griffith Show - The Darlings and Charlene. Tribute artists - Barney, Otis, Opie, Howard, Ernst T. Bass, Briscoe Darling, Goober and Ellen Brown. Floyd was out of town and couldn't make the show. (Maybe he was at a hair cutting convention!)







More than 500 people enjoyed the show. The Tribute gang came on first - with Maggie Peterson, who played Charlene on the show - doing a song early on. In real life, she performs in Las Vegas with The Cat Pack. The Darlings - Rodney and Doug - can be seen performing in Branson, Missouri.





The Darlings gave an outstanding performance and answered a host of questions from the audience. They played tunes from the show - and some others - including one from Bob Dylan.

Tribute artists David Browning (Barney), Kenneth Junkin (Otis), Jamie Sullivan (Opie), Jeff Branch (Howard), Phil Fox (Ernest T. Bass), Bob Mundy (Briscoe Darling) and Tim Pettigrew (Goober Pyle) gave outstanding performances and held the audience's attention throughout the night. Why, Aunt Bee even came!

The show ended with most everyone standing in line for autographs, photos and time to talk to their favorite characters.

Photos and videos will be posted on You Tube, Fickr and this blog. We encourage you to share your photos too.

(Click on photos to enlarge them.)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOW! I had a swell time appearing as Opie at this D.A.R.E. fundraiser. It was great visiting with "Charlene", "The Darlings" & the other tribute artists, who are my Mayberry Family. Growing up in Mayberry has been a great adventure for me. Congratulations "Howard" (Jeff Branch)! You did a great job organizing this event and it showed by the packed audience. It was fun meeting the fans of the show.

Anonymous said...

Nice blog! Remember it is Aunt Bee with two e's. Glad everyone made it to the TV station on time - the police were likely setting up a rolling road block to slow down traffic for a temporary lane closure. Much safer than just stopping traffic (even Barney would have wanted it that way).