Hamburger² This new book is (mostly) about Greensboro but contains a smattering of TVparty! style features that are relevant to the region in some way, local kid shows like Old Rebel and Bob Gordon, of course. Amos ‘n' Andy was a disturbing but fascinating four decades long societal conundrum but if we are ever to have frank discussions about race it’s important to recognize the unfortunate media landscape that existed leading up to the Civil Rights era. We need to autopsy the injuries, pick at the sores, otherwise we’re left with modern day assumptions based entirely on images. How much of a coincidence was it that the Amos 'n’ Andy radio program finally ceased production mere months after the February 1st Woolworth’s sit-ins? There's the story of The New Andy Griffith Show, the iconic North Carolinian's attempt to get back into weekly TV in 1971 by playing the folksy mayor of a city modeled after Greensboro - along with a lighthearted look at the plethora of toy guns seen on TV in the 50s & 60s. Most of the book is more specific to North Carolina and especially Greensboro. Turns out WBIG's morning man Bob Poole was the first modern radio DJ... wait'll you see his Party Bus in action. The rich Greek heritage behind downtown Greensboro restaurants 1930-1970s and the spectacular fires that devastated the area. Dialing For Dollars and other shows that paid you to watch; attending college with Pat McCrory; how you bought liquor during Prohibition; whatever happened to Biff Burger, Burger Chef, Roy Rogers, and what the heck was Mahalia Jackson's "Glori-fried" chicken, the untold story of Jayne Mansfield's week-long visits to the Triad, Judy Garland plays the Greensboro coliseum... and so much more! Towards the end things turn dark, my six month investigation into the torture and death of the East Coast's leading Rave promoter in 1999, told in excruciating detail. If you read the two-parter in Yes! Weekly you only got part of the story, truncated and rearranged for publication. What I attempted to do was what 'Serial' (which debuted weeks after writing this) did—tell a story almost to the end, then track back to the beginning, telling it from a different perspective. In this case, one of the teenagers in prison for the crime. 270 pages. Hundreds of pictures and rich in storytelling, Hamburger² is not your father's book about the Gate City. Here's a sample:
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Hamburger² ORDER NOW FROM AMAZON
Bob Poole, the First Modern Radio DJ / I Was a Dancing Cigarette Pack on TV / History of Restaurants in Downtown Greensboro / The New Andy Griffith Show / Kids, TV & Guns / The Old Rebel Show / Pat McCrory vs The Hippies / Bob Gordon Theater / Jayne Mansfield Paints the Town Passion Pink / Spectacular Architecture of 300 South Elm / Aunt Bee's Siler City Cat House / Amos 'n' Andy Show / Torture and Savage Slaying of the East Coast Rave King / ...and much more! 270 pages packed with hundreds of photos and stories from Greensboro's rich past - along with some fascinating television history in the mix.
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