The Buckinghams Concert, June 20, 2009

A good time was had by all at The Buckinghams concert on June 20 at Odell Williamson Auditorium at Brunswick Community College. The concert was brought to Brunswick County by the North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce.




Photos from the concert:

Quick look at Friday's VIP Party for The Buckinghams - Concert Tonight!

Several hundred people partied pretty hardy at Murry Art & Frame last evening at the VIP Party prior to tonight's 7PM concert with The Buckinghams at Odell Williamson Auditorium at Brunswick Community College.

Some VIP tickets ($45) are still available (we already had the party but you'll get preferred reserved seating). General admission tickets $25. For tix call (910) 381-3833 or they'll also be available at the door (don't go late, we do expect a sellout!).

Here are a few pics from last night's VIP party. More to come in a later post after the concert.

What's This? The Buckinghams in concert this Saturday? Wow!!

Guess something must be going on. Saw this banner above Murray Art & Frame in Leland today. That site is the scene of the VIP Party Friday night, the night before Saturday's concert by The Buckinghams

The concert will be at Odell Williamson Auditorium at Brunswick Community College at 7PM. The VIP party is also going to be a blast!

For more info or just to get tickets quick, call (910) 371-3833.

You can also watch the video below for samples of The Buckinghams hits and for shots of the North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce Concert Committee hard at work preparing for the concert.

Come see The Buckinghams Live on June 20th at 7PM at Odell Williamson Auditorium

The North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce presents The Buckinghams, live at Odell Williamson Auditorium at Brunswick Community College, 7:00PM June 20th. Come see this awesome group, even better now than in the 60s when they topped the charts with a whole passle of hits including "Hey, Baby, They're Playing Our Song", "Don't You Care", "Susan", "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy", and "Kind of a Drag".


The video below has lots of music from The Buckinghams along with stills and video clips of the NBCC Concert Committee hard at work.


VIP Tickets are $45 each - including reserved, preferred seating, a party the night before the concert with The Buckinghams at Murray Art & Frame in Leland, and a prep-concert party at Odell Williamson.

General Admission tickets are $25 each.

Tickets are available at:
North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce, (910) 383-0553
Murray Art & Frame, (910) 371-3833
Odell Williamson Auditorium, (910) 755-7416

Do You Dare Hear the NBCC Concert Committee Meeting 6-3-09 Sing "Don't You Care?"

Stop right now and buy your tickets to The Buckinghams on June 20th at Odell Williamson Auditorium at Brunswick Community College. VIP tickets are $45 each and include a party in Leland on Friday evening June 19th with The Buckinghams, a pre-concert party at the auditorium, and reserved great seating. General admission tickets are $25. Call the Chamber Office at 910-383-0553, Murray Art & Frame at 910-371-3833, or Odell Auditorium at 910-755-7416.

The Concert Committee meets every week on Wednesday to do concert committee stuff. I'm not really sure what all that is, but they do like to laugh and sing.

So here's their latest attempt at one of The Buckingham's biggest hits, "Don't You Care?" The performers below are Victor Pearsall, Charlie Rivenbark, George Murray, Randy Rhodes, and George Patterson. They're helped along by Dana Fisher (seated - holding a sheet with the lyrics).

Hit it

See you at the concert, I promise you you're going to love it. For more info on The Buckinghams, click this highlighted sentence.

Social Media Test for Selling two Great New Listings in Brunswick Forest - Come to Open Houses to Win Golf, Beer, Food or Concert Tix!

I'm generally an energetic guy but today I'm practically tripping over myself as I work on this blog post.

I have two fantastic new listings in the esteemed Jefferson Landing section of Brunswick Forest and I'm pulling out all the stops to get as many people to see these great houses as we can during the month of June. Because these two existing homes are such super deals, I am confident they will go under contract during the first few weeks but I want everyone who's interested to have a chance to check them out.

Here's the quick version: come to open houses every Saturday and Sunday during June from 1-4PM. Tour both homes, fill out comment sheets, and you'll be entered for drawings for a prize of your choice for each home for each weekend day. Yes, if you come every weekend day during June, you could theoretically win 16 times.

The drawing prize choices are:

1. A round of golf with cart use at Magnolia Greens Golf Plantation (value $30-$45)
2. A gift certificate to Front Street Brewery (value $35)
3. A gift certificate to Antonios Pizza and Pasta Restaurant (value $35)
4. Tickets to The Buckinghams concert June 20th - either 1 VIP Ticket (value $45) or 2 general admission tickets ($50 value)


So here's some general information. Both homes were built in 2007 and each one has plenty of inside and outside living spaces. They're both brick homes with open floor plans, great kitchens with granite counter tops, etc., three bedrooms, two and a half or three full baths, home offices, two car garages, and water view.

Both homes are priced significantly below new construction. And yes, you can still have one of these homes built new, but it will cost more, take 4-6 months, and you won't necessarily know what the rest of the neighborhood will look like. And if you were to build either of these homes on a lake or pond? - Whoa! The price would be way higher!

I won't go into all the details of each house in this post, but here is the link to my Cape Fear area listings page blog where you can see all my listings. Each house also has its own blog - the links for which are below.

Jefferson Landing Brunswick Forest - 2178 Talmadge Drive, Leland, NC 28451. 3 bedrooms, 3 full baths, FROG, office, screened porch, lake front, 2,436 heated and cooled square feet. MLS# 433951. $364,500. Blog: http://www.2178TalmadgeDrive.blogspot.com

Jefferson Landing Brunswick Forest - 1202 Lillibridge Drive, Leland, NC 28451. 3 bedrooms, 2 full and one half bath, office, caged lanai, fenced back yard, 2306 heated and cooled square feet. MLS# 433958. $384,500. Blog: http://www.1202LillibridgeDrive.blogspot.com

OK, so these are two awesome houses. But how is this a social media experiment? Well, here's the 411 on that. We are going to track how people who come to our 16 open houses in June heard about them. We will

- advertise the open houses in the Star News on the weekend days of the open houses,

- we'll also have the open houses on all the major and even some of the minor real estate web sites, and

- I'm also going to list/promote the houses on my blogs (like here), on the 5 area social media sites, and on the hottest social media applications - including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, and MySpace.

So we'll have all kinds of coverage and promotion.

It will be very interesting to see which form or forms of advertising/promotion bring the most people.

But you don't need to be concerned about that (unless you're interested and if so let me know and at the end of the month I'll send you the stats). I'd love it if you focus on the houses (the owners would, too), but even if you just want chances to win a round of golf, dinner at Wilmington's premier micro brewery, dinner at Leland's focal local Italian restaurant, or concert tickets to an awesome group, The Buckinghams on June 20th, come check out the houses, every Saturday and Sunday during June from 1-4PM.

North Carolina Brunswick County Superior Court Judge Ola Lewis Addresses the North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce

We had another fantabulous North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce speaker luncheon yesterday and it was notable for several reasons.

The first headliner was the speaker herself, of course, Superior Court Judge Ola Lewis. If you don't know her this may sound odd to say about a judge (yes, in the real NC court system, NOT on American Idol or Dancing with the Stars) but Judge Ola is a personal powerhouse, a judicial gem, and a compassionate Rockstar!

I imagine Judge Ola would be pretty tough to be up against from the wrong side of the bench (that's just imagining, no first hand knowledge), but even then there's no question one would be facing a person who combines intense intelligence with burning concern for all the people involved and for our whole region.

May sound like high praise, and it is. One measure that I'm not Judge Ola's only fan is that we had (by far) the largest crowd at a speaker luncheon all this year, with almost 60 active community members taking time from their days to hear the Judge.

In the photo below Judge Ola Lewis (in the center) laughs with NBCC Chamber members and staff before the luncheon.

The second headline of the story is where it was held! Steve Pagley of Antonio's Pizza and Pasta Restaurant has been promising to open the space adjacent to his original restaurant as a much-needed area meeting place and it was finished just in time (the C.O. was issued at 5PM Monday!) Wow, Steve, even though I'd seen the space while it was in transition from a skate and surfboard shop, it looked fabulous! I'm not sure the official room capacity, but we easily seated nearly 60 folks for a virtual panapoly of pizza selections (plus salad, of course).

Below Jay Merritt and Brenda Bozeman check in with Steve Pagley and Chamber Luncheon Chieftress Alice Razzano.

Early arrivals got the first pick of the pizza - Joyce clearly thinks that's a great idea!

NBCC Executive Director Terry Grillo in a quick video welcome:



If you look closely youo can see Chamber President Peggy O'Leary doing her best imitation of Adam Lambert.

Check out the new space. The projection system will be installed next week but the screen's already there.

Justin Williams and Marge Brown plan their personal pizza procurement strategy.

Here's a happy table.

More eager eating.

A view from the line. (My fav, btw, was the crumbled bacon pizza.)

We had two guest speakers prior to the main event, plus a special announcement of a new chamber affinity program. George Murray also showed the brand new banner created for The Buckingham concert on June 20th.

The first guest speaker was Sharon Mariaca, representing the Brunswick Community College Small Business Council. The SBC has many classes and services (many cost-free) for local business owners. In order to assess the needs and preferences of local entrepreneurs the SBC wants to survey as many local businesses as possible. To participate in the survey, contact Sharon at mariaca@aol.com

The second speaker was Michael Roberts, Co-Chairman of the Wilmington Metropolitan Planning Organization Citizens Advisory Committee. Mike spoke with us about the area's many transportation needs, proposed projects, potential funding, and timelines. The name of their overview project is Cape Fear Commutes 2035, aptly focusing on long-term transportation needs of our rapidly-growing region.

To participate in a survey of area transportation needs, go to www.capefearcommutes.org

The photo below caught Mike in mid-presentation:

I missed the chance to grab a photo of George Murray's super concert banner for The Buckinghams, but the bottom line is there are still sponsorship opportunities available although many have already signed on. The VIP tickets ($45 for preferred seating, a party with the band the night before AND a pre-concert party) are about 2/3 sold out and there are still, to this date, plenty of general admission seating tickets for $25, but sales are moving right along for this sure-to-sell-out concert. Here's the concert poster.

I captured the video clip below to give a quick sense of Judge Ola's presence and energy (this is not the whole presentation, just the first minute or so):

The next five photos, taken as quickly as my flash would recharge, attempt to convey why Judge Ola Lewis is so well respected and loved in our region. Before you look at them, also note that she shared the speaker's position with two participants in the Brunswick County Drug Program - a proactive, very successful program that works to help people with substance issues. Both gentleman were articulate, open, persuasive, and pretty funny, too. (One guy threatened to get out his Bible and keep us there all night!)

After the luncheon Terry Grillo tried to explain the Gina and Ken Schiess and Mike Roberts that if they wanted Tiramasu for dessert they'd have to order it in the restaurant, it was NOT included in the luncheon menu.

Judge Ola's two guests speak with Chamber Ambassador Bob Koenig.

After the luncheon people didn't want to leave.

Plus Dana Fisher wanted to pose with her snazzy black and yellow ensemble (actually I asked to her to, not that she was terribly shy about it - LOL).

Leland Police Community Relations Officer Robert Ernst and Mayor ProTem Brenda Bozeman spoke with Terry Grillo.

The North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce's new affinity program offerred in conjunction with Marge and Bruce Brown of Fat City Cards, an independent SendOutCards distributorship, is a relationship marketing program NBCC members can join to simultaneously help their own businesses maintain great customer relations and help the Chamber of Commerce make money.

During the luncheon it was announced that any NBCC member who signs up as an Entrepreneur with SendOutCards through the Chamber program through June 6th will be entered in a drawing for two VIP tickets to the The Buckinghams concert!

Below Chamber Ambassador and PrePaid Legal representative Monica Clark speaks about how using SendOutCards helps her business.