Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 15, 1994 TAG: 9403150092
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHLEEN WILSON
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Out came a denim-clad youthful combination of Charles Durning and George Wendt, shimmying down the hall with a long-neck bottle of Busch and a desire to swing in the other room where all the action was.
He forked over the $3 cover charge to Dretha Phillips, then grabbed her and spun her into a dance she'll not likely forget.
"Do you know him?" I asked when she recovered. "No," she said laughing. "But I do now. Name's Lenny. Says his father was a shoemaker and that he's got soul. "I'll tell you, though, he is one helluva dancer."
If you've never been to CC's, you'll find it where Billy's Barn used to be. Now that Charlie and Carol Goad have bought the place, it's become a sort of honky-tonk Cheers, packed with characters who all wind up friends.
There wasn't a parking space to be had on Saturday night.
That's great news when the establishment is a bar.
It's even better news if that bar is the location of a fund-raiser your organization is hosting.
On Saturday night, CC's seemed an unlikely location for party to raise money for the Blue Ridge Writers' Conference. There really wasn't a writer in
the place ... probably why it was such a fun party.
Phillips, an associate professor of sociology at Roanoke College, dreamed up this affair when she found the board needed money and didn't even have stationery.
"We did it because we like `the doctor' so much," said Carol Goad, referring to Dretha.
Many of the folks were there because she'd met them there at happy hours on various occasions. About a hundred turned up to have a good time.
The Blue Ridge Writers' Conference board got the money.
Dave would play anything you wanted. Thought the dance floor was going to collapse during "Blueberry Hill" and "Old Time Rock and Roll."
Lulu's brother-in-law, Dave Blankenship, impressed the heck out of me with hismoves to "Play That Funky Music." "Hell, I'm can't dance," he swore.
"Got the wrong shoes on _ sneakers. You should see me in my boots."
Larry "Wiggy" Tomlin and his table erupted into the Salem High fight song, holding bottles of beer in one hand while trading high-fives with the other to celebrate Salem's state championship victory over Louisa County that afternoon. Though Wiggy was born in Lynchburg, he moved to Salem with he was
almost 3 and was raised in the Baptist home. When he was in high school in Salem, it was Andrew Lewis High.
Why did he and the other eight at his table choose CC's for the big celebration?
"I just love her!" he said of Dretha.
Input file was 0061 Output file was /asst/csi/0315/pass2/0092
by CNB