English friends come to Marion to see OMD
Staff writer
If Mohammad won't come to the mountain, then the mountain must come to him, right?
Imagine you're a Beatles fan in 1964, or 1970. The Beatles do not tour outside the United Kingdom, so if you want to see them, you have to go to London or Liverpool.
Well, of course, the Fab Four DID tour the U.S. and elsewhere.
But the Ozark Mountain Daredevils do not tour outside the United States and have not done so.
So Steve Lewis, from Whorlton, England, in County Durham, and David Nolan, from Leeds, in Yorkshire, both "huge" Daredevil fans, upon seeing that the Marion concert Saturday night was the Daredevils' only "outing" this year, anywhere, decided to spend a good bit of their 2003 holiday (we say vacation) in Marion.
They were at the OMDs Chingawassa Days' highlight concert in Central Park Saturday night, were introduced, and then got to meet the band and visit with them in their trailer for 20 minutes or so post-show.
They got the band's autographs.
Lewis has been a fan of the popular group from the 70s and 80s for 20 years, he said, and got his friend, Nolan, into the band about two years ago.
Lewis is an analytical chemist and Nolan works in computer networking.
The British family that was in Marion for the Chingawassa festival of 2002 contacted Lewis and told him they had a ball here, and he determined to come across the big pond to see the boys from Springfield, Mo.
Margo Yates, director of the Marion Chamber of Commerce, asked "last year's British family," also from County Durham, to contact Lewis back in England.
After Saturday night, the two planned to go to Missouri to do some hill-walking, or hiking, and to Wichita. They flew into Chicago last week.
Nolan said he has been to New York City a couple of times, and Lewis lived in Arizona for two years, about nine years ago.
But neither had ever been to Kansas until now. Lewis had seen Texas, Oklahoma, Alaska, California, and many other parts of the U.S., but not the great midsection.
The men rented a car at the Chicago airport and drove to Des Moines, Iowa, then down to Kansas City, and on to Marion.
And had a jolly good time.
