July 1, 2003
July/August 2003
Calvin Gilmore off stage; up close and personal with the man behind The Carolina Opry. By Michael Hetzer.
It’s minutes before showtime backstage at The Carolina Opry, and Calvin Gilmore is huddled up with about a dozen of his performers. In the darkness of the stage wing, Gilmore says a prayer; then they all cry, “One, two, three. It’s SHOWTIME!”
A few feet away, the Opry’s music director, Gary Brown, smirks. “It’s something I guess they’ve been doing since the beginning.”
The beginning. When would that be? Was it opening night, 1986, before…
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May 23, 2003
May 2003
The Sun News
By Kent Kimes
Calvin Gilmore is admittedly going about things backward. Usually, country stars hit the charts, then attach their names to a venue, ie. The Alabama Theatre, the now-defunct Ronnie Milsap and Gatlin Brothers theaters at Fantasy Harbour and countless venues in Branson, Mo.
Gilmore made a name for himself as the founder and star of The Carolina Opry without the benefit of a hit record. Now, Gilmore is recording a new album in Nashville, Tenn, and performing tonight and Saturday at Music City’s hallowed ground, The Grand Ole Opry…
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August 5, 1998
August 1998
Myrtle Beach stakes a place in the entertainment world
Myrtle Beach, SC – The number one attraction in Myrtle Beach is the 60 miles (97 kilometers) of coastline known as the Grand Strand. It’s so popular, in fact, that in 1997 AAA named the area the country’s number two summer vacation destination, trailing only Orlando, FL.
While the surf and sands draw the crowds as they have for decades, in recent years, the entertainment industry has given the city a new wave of success…
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May 1, 1997
May/June 1997
Myrtle Beach
Look out, Branson! This southern “upstart” offers a banquet of country favorites with golf and surf on the side
By: Audrey T. Hingley
Country music has been making waves in Myrtle Beach for a decade, causing some observers to dub the coastal South Carolina town “Branson-by-the-sea.” Comparisons with Branson, the tiny Ozarks town that has become a mecca for country music fans, are inevitable now that family-oriented music shows in grandiose theaters are a nightly ritual in this once-sleepy southern beach town.
If you’re looking for nonstop country music, Myrtle Beach’s 10 theaters can’t rival Branson’s 30 country music venues. But ...
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April 18, 1995
April 1995
How does a quiet city become a tourist spot? Ask Myrtle Beach, SC
By: Emory Thomas, Jr.
Myrtle Beach, SC – This town’s old-fashioned, seaside Pavilion, with its dance hall and amusement park, sits at the center of Robert H. McElveen’s fondest summer memories.
“The biggest thing in the world,” recalls the 72-year-old optometrist from Gaffney, SC, “was to take your girl down to the Pavilion for the big dance. Boy, when that band would start, and you had your girl, and the moon came up – that was the prettiest thing on earth.”
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