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Great Crowd Turns Out to Share Memories and Enjoy a Beautiful Day of Music at Sunday’s P.B. Scott’s Roundup

Original P.B. Scott’s bartenders Dean Lyons, Michel Umphlett and Richie Cheek

A crowd of at least 300 people filled the parking lot at Twigs for the first P.B. Scott’s Roundup that was featured on the grounds of where the iconic building used to stand in Blowing Rock.

Two bands that used to frequent the stage at P.B. Scotts in the 1970s, Sidewinder and Nantucket, played some of their greatest hits and took a lot of people back to their younger years to remember when the music was everything.

“We had a lot of last-minute people because the weather was so good. We had no problems and no complaints,” said event organizer Jean Travers. “The people loved it, the bands loved it, and everything was great. It was so cool to see people with their original P.B. Scott’s memorabilia.”

Travers said that plans are already in the works for next year’s event, and similar to this year, the bands featured will continue to be those that played at the original P.B. Scotts.

Many music fans and former employees were on hand for the special reunion. Former bartenders Dean Lyons, Richie Cheek, and Michel Umphlett shared a couple of their favorite memories working those nights out on the town.

“When beers went from 75 cents to 95 cents, we hated it because it killed our tips. We went from getting 15-cent tips to just give cents,” they laughed. “But on good nights we would make 40 dollars in tips. We were there for the work, the money and the pleasure.”

Customers used to “brownbag” their own liquor in and mix it with their favorite sodas that they could get for 75 cents. Makers Mark bourbon and SunDrop was the favorite mixed drink of the P.B. Scott’s era

Dean, Richie and Michael all mentioned one of their favorite bands that came to P.B. Scott’s being The Nighthawks, a roots rock band from Washington, D.C. that dates back to 1972. The Nighthawks are still performing to this day.

Cheek was also a big fan of Root Boy Slim while Umphlett was fond of the tunes played by 83-year-old Papa John.

Randy Kelly, who managed the original P.B. Scott’s and went on to manage Legends in Boone before retiring in 2017, thought the roundup was fantastic for everyone involved and was “exceedingly well organized” for something that was done in a parking lot.

“There were more people than we expected with it being the first one and knowing that the weekend was a back-to-school weekend at all the colleges,” Kelly said. “It was perfect weather; it was like your best high school reunion where the people all had something in common.”

Kelly remembered back to his days at P.B. Scott’s when live music was nearly impossible to come by around these parts.

“There were no live music clubs in this end of the state so it gave people a place to come in and see great music in a room larger than 20 people,” he said.

P.B. Scott’s closed its doors for the final time in 1983, yet somehow, the old building lives on in the memories and stories from attendees and with people still wanting to own pieces of memorabilia.

“To my knowledge, no clubs that have been closed as long as P.B. Scott’s have any sort of reunions like his,” Randy added. “Everybody wants another shirt, they’re so afraid that their last one, which contains all their memories, won’t last the rest of their lives so they buy a new one every time they can.”

A special Facebook group has been ongoing letting people know about P.B. Scott’s reunion events and allowing people to come together and share their memories online. The group page can be found here.

 

Pictures from the P.B. Scott’s Round-Up

More Pictures from Jan Todd