In this comedy from Tony Award-winning writer Matthew Lopez, Casey is young, he’s broke, his landlord’s knocking at the door, and he just found out his wife is going to have a baby. To make matters even more desperate, Casey is fired from his gig as an Elvis impersonator in a run-down, small-town Florida bar. When the bar owner brings in a b-level drag show, but half of the duo can’t go on, Casey steps into the spotlight. This drag-to-riches musical comedy features our own local legend Delighted Tobehere.

WHO SHOULD SEE THIS SHOW:  We all admit that the best part of sports movies is the montage that shows our underdog protagonist slowly start to improve while “Gonna Fly Now” blares over the speakers, right?  So when is the last time you saw the theatrical version of that, but with a hilarious twist?  Say what if an Elvis impersonator was fired from his job but then forced to do a drag number in front of a rowdy bar without any training?  And then what if it turns out this Elvis impersonator is actually really good at being a drag queen?  And then what if he hides this new career from his very pregnant wife?   Matthew Lopez (Tony winner for THE INHERITANCE) delivers a big-hearted, delightful fish out of water story with GEORGIA MCBRIDE.  It delivers big laughs and even bigger lip sync numbers.  A drag to riches story featuring Greenville’s own Delighted Tobehere in a role they were born to play, this is a night you won’t want to miss.  If you want a big-hearted comedy like CHRISTMAS ON THE ROCKS or NATIVE GARDENS, this show is for you!

Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, To Kill a Mockingbird opens in a sleepy Alabama town in the midst of the Great Depression, where Scout and her brother, Jem, live with their widowed father, Atticus Finch. When a young black man is accused of a terrible crime, the idyllic facade of the seemingly peaceful town begins to crack. Driven by an unshakeable moral conviction, local lawyer Atticus defends the man in a trial that sends violent waves through the community. Timeless and lingering, this hard-hitting work explores prejudice, compassion and the courage to do what is right, even when it comes at great cost.

Explore Biltmore House with an Audio Guide that introduces you to the Vanderbilt family and their magnificent home’s history, architecture, and collections of fine art and furnishings.

PLUS: Immersive, multi-sensory Italian Renaissance Alive exhibition created by Grande Experiences

PLUS: FREE next-day access to Biltmore’s Gardens and Grounds

This visit includes access to:

• Italian Renaissance Alive at Amherst at Deerpark®
• 8,000 Acres of Gardens and Grounds for two consecutive days
• Antler Hill Village & Winery
• Complimentary Wine Tastings at the Winery
• Tastings require a Day-of-Visit Reservation, which can be made by:
  • Scanning the QR Code found in your Estate Guide
  • Visiting any Guest Services location
• Complimentary parking

Art Exhibition: Italian Renaissance Alive

This fascinating experience takes you on a spellbinding tour of Italy, fully immersing you in the beauty and brilliance of iconic masterworks from the greatest artistic period in history

This will be a total of about 6 miles. We will start at Sulphur Springs trail head, start in reverse do 2 miles to Brissy Ridge, hike 2.2 miles in reverse and return to Sulphur Springs.

Please bring water, poles are optional.

Included with admission

Back by popular demand, The Vanderbilts at Home and Abroad exhibition offers guests:

• An opportunity to view rarely-seen treasures from the Biltmore collection
• A first-hand look at the Vanderbilts’ lifestyle
• Deeper insights into George, Edith, and Cornelia’s personalities, both at home and on their extensive travels

Access to exhibitions at The Biltmore Legacy is included with Biltmore daytime admission.

Join us for a relaxing ride through quiet countryside on your way to small town life in western North Carolina on the Tuckasegee River Excursion. Departing from Bryson City, this 4 hour excursion travels 32 miles round-trip to Dillsboro and back to the Bryson City Depot. Pass by the famous movie set of The Fugitive starring Harrison Ford!

• About This Trip
• Things To Do
• Itinerary
• Classes of Service and Pricing
• Class Comparison
• How to Purchase
• Schedule
• The Tuckasegee (tuck-uh-SEE-jee) River Excursion includes an 1 hour and 20 minute layover in the historic town of Dillsboro, where you’ll find more than 50 shops, restaurants, a brewery, and country inns. There is time to shop, snack, and visit the many unique shops before returning to Bryson City.

On exhibit Saturdays and Sundays from 12 – 4 p.m., Rocky Cove Railroad is a G-Scale (garden scale) model train that demonstrates the coming of trains to western North Carolina at the turn of the 20th century. The exhibit is located below the Grand Promenade. Please note, Rocky Cove Railroad will not operate in rainy or wet conditions.

“The idea is not to live forever; it is to create something that will.”

Andy Warhol

One of the 20^th century’s best-known artists, Andy Warhol (1928-1987) made his name in the early 1960s with paintings and prints of brand celebrities and foods ranging from Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor to Coca-Cola and Campbell’s Soup.  These brash, innovative works are considered icons of Pop Art, a movement that both critiqued and celebrated postwar American consumer culture.  By the end of the decade, Warhol had become a celebrity in his own right, equally famous for his platinum wig and the star-studded parties he threw in his studio, the Factory, as he was for his paintings, drawings, sculpture, and films.

Before spearheading the Pop Art movement, in the 1950s Warhol achieved success on Madison Avenue as one of New York’s most popular advertising artists.  A skilled and inventive illustrator, Warhol won several Art Director’s Club awards for his work on Columbia records LP cover designs, I. Miller shoe drawings, and additional advertising work for Martini & Rossi, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue magazines.

Once his Pop art career exploded in 1962, Warhol focused on silkscreen painting and filmmaking.  He based his paintings on imagery he found in the American mass media: news photos, celebrity head shots, film stills, comics, logos, and advertisements. To convert his source images into paintings, Warhol made them into photo silkscreens and printed them on canvas.  Smudges, misalignments, and inconsistencies were accepted, giving the paintings a handmade appearance.  Sometimes the paintings included a single image, as in John Wayne (1986) and the Endangered Species series (1983).  These became larger-than-life iconic portraits, while those printed in grids, suggested the way that repetition can simultaneously embed an image in one’s memory and deaden its effect.

Works by Warhol, at the Upcountry History Museum, on loan from The Cochran Collection, LaGrange, GA, will feature 36 iconic masterworks by Warhol, dating from 1968 through his last series done in 1986. This once-in-a- lifetime exhibition includes a broad cross-section of examples from Warhol’s storied career.

The exhibit explores Warhol’s responses to major moments in U.S. history, including the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Neil Armstrong’s moon landing, and the perception of Native Americans in the aftermath of the bicentennial of the United States. Also included is Warhol’s entire series of “Myths”.  This body of work was completed in 1981 and showcases Warhol’s lifetime fascination with Hollywood imagery.  “Myths” marks a return to Warhol’s formative encounters with figures such as Howdy Doody, the Wicked Witch of the West, Superman, Mickey Mouse and many more.

Join Pastry Chef Leslie on Sunday, March 12th at 2:00 pm for a baking class!

If you’ve had anything bread-based from Camilla Kitchen, you know the magic that is Pastry Chef Leslie’s baking. Now she wants to share that with all of you! This will be an intimate class held in the Gallery (4th floor) of M. Judson for ten people, where you’ll prepare your tarte from start to almost finish. While you’ll bake your cake at home (and get all those good smells), you’ll still get to end the baking class with a tasting. What a lovely way to spend a Sunday!

Your ticket covers the cost of ingredients and instruction, with the option to add on the featured cookbook.

THE BOOK

A 2016 James Beard Award nominee featuring more than eighty recipes from New York-based food writer and author of the popular dessert blog Love, Cake.Raise your desserts to a whole new level of flavor with The New Sugar & Spice, a collection of more than eighty unique, unexpected, and uniformly delicious recipes for spice-centric sweets. Veteran baker Samantha Seneviratne’s recipes will open your eyes to a world of baking possibilities: Her spicy, pepper-flecked Chile-Chocolate Truffles prove that heat and sweet really do go hand-in-hand, and a fresh batch of aromatic, cinnamon-laced Maple Sticky Buns will have the whole family racing into the kitchen.Discover new recipes from around the globe, such as Sri Lankan Love Cake or Swedish-inspired Saffron Currant Braid. Or, give your classic standbys a bold upgrade, such as making Raspberry Shortcakes with zingy Double Ginger Biscuits. Filled with fascinating histories, origin stories, and innovative uses for the world’s most enticing spices—including vanilla, cinnamon, peppercorns, and cardamom—The New Sugar & Spice guarantees that dessert will be the most talked-about part of your meal.
THE RECIPE
“If you have trepidations about piecrust, let this tarte tatin ease your mind. From France, tarte tatin is a simple upside-down caramelized fruit tart. No matter what you do, however it slumps or curves, and whatever bubbles up, the dessert is always beautiful. Rusti and lovely. Legend has it that tarte tatin was born from a mistake when Mme. Fanny Tatin forgot to line her apple tart with pastry. She threw the pastry on top, flipped the tart over, and created the classic. I make my version with succulent pears and a bit of anise seed to flavor the bittersweet caramel. Serve it with a traditional dollop of crème fraîche.” (from author Samantha Seneviratne)

Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, To Kill a Mockingbird opens in a sleepy Alabama town in the midst of the Great Depression, where Scout and her brother, Jem, live with their widowed father, Atticus Finch. When a young black man is accused of a terrible crime, the idyllic facade of the seemingly peaceful town begins to crack. Driven by an unshakeable moral conviction, local lawyer Atticus defends the man in a trial that sends violent waves through the community. Timeless and lingering, this hard-hitting work explores prejudice, compassion and the courage to do what is right, even when it comes at great cost.

We are trying a new venue, the “W XYZ® Bar” at ALOFT Greenville.

Just a late Sunday afternoon to relax with friends. Nothing special.

This location has both indoor and outdoor spaces. Please plan accordingly.

The ‘Boomers Connect in Upstate SC’ Meetup Group does not officially collect dues through the Meetup website. We prefer to have a voluntary system. You can give your Event Host or one of the Organizers your contribution at any event. We have no set minimum but recommend $5 annually.

Lastly, if you already have a magnetic name tag, please bring it with you. If you don’t, or forget to bring yours, one will be provided. Not an issue.

On the heels of their sold out Spring, 2022 Dreams in Gold arena tour Grammy-award winning rock band Greta Van Fleet announce new arena shows for this fall. Kicking off August 16 in Quebec City, QC the band will make stops in 42 cities across the U.S. and Canada; including September 30 at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, October 18 at PNC Arena Raleigh, October 19 at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville SC, October 28 at Spectrum Center Charlotte.    

There will be a Fan Presale on March 2 and a Local Venue Presale on March 3, with general ticket on sale March 4 at 12 p.m. at LiveNation.com. Fans can sign up for presale at peacefularmy.com.

The expansive new dates follow the band’s spring tour, which sold out over 100K tickets in just two days and kicks off coming up on March 10; Full dates below and HERE. Greta Van Fleet recently joined Metallica on February 25 in Las Vegas and announced two additional August dates with them recently

Greta Van Fleet will be joined by a host of acclaimed artists on their fall tour, including Houndmouth plus Robert Finley in Charlottesville VA and Durand Jones & The Indications plus Crown Lands in Raleigh, Greenville, and Charlotte.

Earlier this year, the band’s Jake Kiszka partnered with Gibson to honor the SG, a seminal guitar in the rock ‘n’ roll revolution which celebrates its 61st anniversary this year. Watch his interview HERE.

The group is touring in support of their acclaimed sophomore album The Battle at Garden’s Gate, released last year to extensive chart and critical success. The album debuted at #1 Billboard Rock Album, #1 Billboard Hard Rock Album, #1 Billboard Vinyl Album, #2 Billboard Top Album Sales and in the Top 10 on the Billboard 200. The album currently has 275K in sales with streaming numbers at 200 million and continuing to climb.

MercyMe’s “Always Only Jesus” tour returns to the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium on March 12, 2023.