Join us for a performance of the long-running KING MACKEREL & THE BLUES ARE RUNNING, a night of music and stories about fishing and life along the Carolina coastline. The night will be full of tall tales and rollicking songs told by The Coastal Cohorts, an adventure you don’t want to miss.
The Musical
KING MACKEREL & THE BLUES ARE RUNNING is a long-running and beloved theatrical performance of music and stories about fishing and life along the Carolina coastline. Called “a pure salt watered delight” by the late Clive Barnes, New York Post theater critic, KING MACKEREL & THE BLUES ARE RUNNING is full of tall tales and rollicking songs told by The Coastal Cohorts–a trio of good-ole boys who happen to be staging a benefit concert to save the Corncake Inlet Inn. The lively cast of fishermen-musicians sings up a storm, tells fish stories, ghost stories, and relates accounts of first loves and ones that got away.
Productions and Personnel
The musical, written and conceived by Bland Simpson and Jim Wann with help from Don Dixon and Jerry Leath Mills, has had many productions around the Carolinas, up and down the East Coast, and from Atlanta to Indianapolis to Calgary in Canada. The original line-up of Coastal Cohorts has carried the show from Key West to Martha’s Vineyard over KING MACKEREL & THE BLUES ARE RUNNING’S 35-year run. Those players include Don Dixon, bassist, singer-songwriter and renowned record producer of such musical groups as REM, the Smithereens, Marti Jones, Hootie & the Blowfish and more; Bland Simpson, pianist, of the Red Clay Ramblers and Kenan Distinguished Professor of English & Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina; and Jim Wann, guitarist, principal composer-lyricist of Pump Boys & Dinettes, the Broadway hit that was a Tony and Drama Desk Nominee for Best Broadway Musical and winner of the Olivier Award in the U.K.
History
KING MACKEREL & THE BLUES ARE RUNNING opened in 1985 at a westside Chapel Hill club called Rhythm Alley (occupying a former location of Cat’s Cradle). The original trio has played over 80 performances at the West Bank Café (Laurie Beechman Theater) in New York; played a month at the Kennedy Center, two nights on Martha’s Vineyard; 30+ years of shows at Joslyn Theater in Morehead City with North Carolina Coastal Federation and Core Sound Waterfowl Museum as partners; regional theater runs in Flat Rock, Charlotte, and Fayetteville (by the river); three big fundraisers for the Tybee Post Theater, Tybee Island, GA (Patricia Miller, Producer); sold-out fundraisers for the NC Nature Conservancy (Durham) and Ronald MacDonald House (Chapel Hill); and a PBS Special for WUNC- TV, to name some.
— Tickets —
Members (of either organization): $30 each
Non-Members: $35
Not a member? Join either organization below to receive $5 off per ticket!
Tickets purchased prior to October 15 will be mailed.
Tickets purchased October 15 or later will be available at will-call on the day/time of the event.
— SPONSORSHIPS —
Please join the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center and the North Carolina Coastal Federation for The Coastal Cohorts in concert performing King Mackerel & the Blues are Running.
Your sponsorship will help the lively cast of fishermen-musicians delight audiences as they sing up a storm, tell fish stories, and relate accounts of first loves and the ones that got away. Both shows will benefit the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and the Coastal Federation.
• SPONSOR LEVELS •
$1000 - 12 tickets with reserved seating to any show, and recognition in the playbill, sponsor poster, event webpage, and social media promotion.
$500 - 8 tickets with reserved seating to any show, and recognition in the playbill and sponsor poster.
$250 - 4 tickets with reserved seating to any show, and recognition in the playbill and sponsor poster.
Both evening shows will mutually benefit the
Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and the NC Coastal Federation.
