THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 18, 1994 TAG: 9407180047
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
The Famous Unknowns, a very well-known trio on acoustical guitars, will play Thursday from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Norfolk Botanical Garden.
Their fans range from middle age to an ODU junior who works here and often hears one of the three, Lewis McGehee.
``He is good and he is a good person,'' she said.
I found McGehee Friday at Phillips in Waterside; and, sure enough, as she said, he has a slow grin, a soft voice, and ``a mellifluous guitar.''
The other two are Robbin Thompson, a partner in a recording studio, In Your Ear, in Richmond, and Mike Lille, who will be flying in from Nashville, Tenn.
Avant Gardeners arranged the concert, part of a series for a wide audience, including families, to bring picnics to the three-tiered lawn above the pool.
Even on a humid night, the tree-cloistered garden is cool. The gates open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $5. Children 5 and younger are free.
All three soloists are composers. Peter Lawrence, the garden's development director, booked them after hearing in April their debut of an album in the Rogues Club.
``We were lucky to get them,'' he said. ``It's a rare opportunity.''
McGehee noted Friday that he had picked up the guitar at age 7 when his parents gave him a Roy Rogers model. By 10, he was the youngest member of a Richmond group, the Concepts. He smiled. ``That sounds heavy, doesn't it?''
In the 1950s, he was listening to Elvis, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers.
A philosophy major at William and Mary, he was playing at a mixer for the freshman class when he saw Marsha Blevins, daughter of a Chesapeake high school principal.
They met, dated two years, married, and settled in Chesapeake. They have four young daughters.
The trio formed at a night for songwriters fostered by The Coast, 93.7 FM. (The Coast and Portfolio sponsor Thursday's outing.)
The three still enjoy getting together for special occasions. As they were preparing their album, Thompson telephoned McGehee to report that he had thought of the name, The Famous Unknowns, and a jacket design to match it.
The three are depicted with their eyes masked with black bars as if they are incognito.
Each will take a turn singing while the other two back him up.
Mostly they play in Virginia, focusing on Hampton Roads' seven cities.
``It's such a big market,'' McGehee said. ``and we play so harmoniously together. We checked our egos at the door. We all felt we were bringing something to the table, and we just have fun.''
Audiences do, too, it seems. ILLUSTRATION: BILL KELLEY III/Staff
Lewis McGehee, one of The Famous Unknowns.
by CNB