Stars Fell on Spartanburg: Hub City's Celebrity Encounters

What happens when Hollywood celebrities, big-time sports figures, and national politicians make their way to a Southern city known for its cotton mills, chili cheeseburgers, and Baptist churches? A new book called Stars Fell on Spartanburg: Hub City's Celebrity Encounters. Stars Fell on Spartanburg presents eyewitness accounts of dozens of celebrity stopovers in the Hub City. These stories are told through personal essay, oral history, and, to spice it up, poetry, fiction, and song. Pop culture meets local history and creative writing in this entertaining, illustrated volume that has something for everyone. Fifty writers and storytellers take you along on their adventures: fetching a soft drink for Elvis Presley at the Carolina Theatre, sharing a microphone with the Beach Boys, chauffeuring football legend Bart Starr. They invite you to go antiquing on Main Street with Martha Stewart, to sneak up on Julia Roberts at the local ballpark, to eat a fancy dinner with actress Joanne Woodward, and to visit heavyweight champ Jack Dempsey in the old Cleveland Hotel. They take you on the tour bus with Hank Williams Jr., to a downtown poolroom with a barefoot Harry Connick Jr., and back in time to encounter baseball giant Ty Cobb, famous evangelist Billy Sunday, and renowned scientist George Washington Carver. You'll see the stars as you never have before and bear witness to a Southern city's dance with fame.