THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 15, 1995 TAG: 9510120146
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: John Harper
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Remember those coffeehouses of the late '50s and early '60s?
You know, where all the cool, hep literary cats hung out. A place where caffeine and conversation converged. A place where a man could wear a beret, a woman could wear capri pants (sort of like what Mary Tyler Moore wore on the Dick Van Dyke Show), and writers could share their words with an open-minded audience.
Maione's Restaurant in Nags Head recreates the cool coffeehouse every Wednesday at 9 p.m.
``We have wine bottles with candles on each table,'' says the restaurant's owner, Joe Maione. ``We also put burlap over the windows, so it's dark.''
The waitresses wear capri pants. Cool jazz of Dave Brubeck and Miles Davis wanders through the air. Amateur and professional writers offer musings about life. Some of the material is serious; some is fun.
``We want the readings to be amusing, not depressing,'' Maione says. ``but certainly thought provoking.''
Maione says the response to the literary night has been good.
``It's only been going for three weeks,'' he says. ``It takes time to build anything up.''
Maione spent 30 years in the restaurant business in New Jersey before opening his Outer Banks restaurant in July. He also hung out at the Robert Bruce Hotel in Asbury Park, N.J. and the Inkwell in Long Branch, N.J., two classic coffeehouses of the '60s.
``I loved those places,'' he says. ``So, when I moved here, I thought, `Let's do something different, like the coffeehouse deal.' ''
Maione says all writers and poets are invited to the coffeehouse night. He also says bongo players are needed. As Maynard G. Krebs would say, ``That would be the utmost.''
Jack Kerouac and the other beat writers spent a lot of time in coffeehouses. If Kerouac were alive today, and living on the Outer Banks, he may very well have found his way into Maione's coffeehouse.
He could have shared his visions of the Outer Banks with the coffeehouse crowd. Maybe he could have called his piece ``On the Beach Road.''
Surfing the airwaves
The Grand Old Opry turns 70 this month, and WNHW-Carolina 92 will air some special programming to commemorate the event Oct. 16-20.
WNHW manager/morning man Ken Mann recently attended the Country Music Awards show in Nashville. While he was there, Mann got enough interviews with country music stars to fill a 10-gallon hat.
Mann's discussions with the Grand Old Opry stars will air each day at 7 a.m. Here's the lineup: Jeannie Pruitt, Stonewall Jackson, Billy Walker, George Hamilton IV and Mike Snider. Each segment runs 5-10 minutes.
Mann and his wife, Paula, also spent time with the current crop of country music stars. Among the performers Mann interviewed are Alan Jackson, Vince Gill, Clint Black and Tracy Byrd.
``Everywhere we turned,'' Mann says, ``there was another big star. Country music artists are very accommodating.''
WNHW will also rebroadcast the Country Radio Music Awards Show, hosted by Clint Black, at 10 a.m. on Oct. 21.
All of WNHW's special programming will also air on sister station WYND on Hatteras Island.
Paul Katabian is the new general manager of WVOD-99.1 in Manteo. Katabian, a 15-year broadcast veteran, most recently was sales manager at Benchmark Communications' in Hampton Roads. Before joining Benchmark, Katabian held the general manager post at WAFX and WGH in Norfolk.
Steve Ellis has taken over the 8-ll p.m. shift at WOBR-95.3 in Wanchese. Ellis describes his show as ``all requests.'' by CNB