Blue Ridge Country July/August 2023 - 67

COURTESY OF WYMT
CLOCKWISE:
The Harlan, Kentucky, Boys Choir got an invitation to sing at the Capitol.
The Hustler Magazine v. Falwell trial in Roanoke, Virginia, in 1984, reached a
final verdict at the Supreme Court in 1988.
A January Blizzard pounded Upstate, South Carolina, including The Clock Drive-In.
hirty-five years ago, as the
first issue of Blue Ridge
Country was making its
way into homes across the
southern Appalachian region,
lots of other things
were going on as well.
As a part of our celebration,
we're traveling back to 1988-a
time when the Asheville Tourists
had a role in the baseball rom-com
" Bull Durham, " when Virginia
native Edna Lewis published her
tantalizing cookbook " In Pursuit
of Flavor " and a when a famous
Supreme Court ruling settled a
conflict between a porn king and
a televangelist. What else happened
in 1988? We scoured news
feeds (the paper kind) to find out.
The Harlan Boys Choir is inT
vited
to the Capitol. Since its
creation in 1965, the Harlan,
Kentucky, chorale group has
been entertaining international
audiences-some as far away as
Austria-with a pleasant sound.
In 1988, for instance, the boys
were invited to perform at George
H.W. Bush's inauguration the following
January. According to an
article published in The Washington
Post that month, the choir
offered a harmonious rendition
of " This Is My Country. " Though
one kid forgot his gloves and two
others were running fevers, the
performance left audience-goers
hushed and teary-eyed.
January Blizzard pounds Upstate.
Winter temperatures in
Upstate South Carolina rarely dip
below freezing. But in January
of 1988, a massive low-pressure
system developed over the Gulf
of Mexico and headed north,
bringing with it loads and loads
of snow. According to an article
in The Greenville News, Greenville-a
place that receives three
inches of wintry mix per year-
was hit with an entire foot of the
white stuff. The snow fell so hard
and fast that an awning collapsed
at The Clock on Wade Hampton
Boulevard and scores of people
were left stranded on I-85
Supreme Court overrules Hustler
Magazine v. Falwell verdict.
As a men's pornographic magazine,
Hustler was no stranger to
controversy. But in 1983, owner
Larry Flynt turned up the heat
when he published a full-page
THE GREENVILLE NEWS
satirical Campari advertisement
that mocked televangelist and political
commentator Jerry Falwell,
Sr. Salacious as could be, the ad
depicted Falwell as an incestuous
drunkard who lost his virginity to
his mother in an outhouse. The
reverend sued the magazine and
Flynt for libel, invasion of privacy
and emotional damages. In 1984,
a federal district court in Virginia
ruled in Falwell's favor. But four
years later, the Supreme Court
unanimously overturned the Virginia
jury's verdict against Hustler
on grounds of First Amendment
rights.
Dolly Parton founds the Dollywood
Foundation. Not one to rest
on her laurels, Parton polished
off an award-winning album in
JULY/AUGUST 2023 67
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Blue Ridge Country July/August 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge Country July/August 2023
