The concert was part of a family-oriented "Thursday Rock" program, occurring until Aug. 9 and sponsored by Chapel Hill Downtown Commission. It is the first of three summer concerts to be held in the downtown area.
For tonight's installment of the program, the Ackland Art Museum is open until 9 p.m. with its "Linda McCartney's Sixties: Portrait of an Era" exhibit. And a movie, "That Thing You Do," will be shown at 9 p.m. at James C. Wallace Plaza.
Pat and Bob Gingrich, a couple at the concert, brought their daughter, Abby, 9, and their son, Corey, 11. "The Hot Nuts are racy! I do not think my mother would approve me going to a party (where Doug Clark played)," Pat Gingrich said.
But the Hot Nuts left their more suggestive songs, like "Ding-A-Ling," out of the set.
It looked like children had the most fun that night. Abby Gingrich taught her parents and brother how to dance while the Hot Nuts were playing old hits. "She's good at it," Abby said about her mother's dancing.
Jacob Hart, 2, tried to catch lightning bugs with his hands, but every time he reached one he was afraid of touching it and would run away to hide behind his father, Doug. "He doesn't know what to do with it," Hart said. "And I am afraid he'll catch one and eat it."
Other children were catching lightning bugs with plastic glasses. And everybody enjoyed picnics on the lawn.
The Hot Nuts are famous for their fraternity parties, and many people were talking about them. "At least nobody got naked there," said William Morgan, recalling crazy antics of past Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts parties in the `80s. Morgan and Hart said that Clark did not look 65, but maybe about 45.
Clark organized his first group, The Tops, in 1955. A year later they were known for wild and exciting performances, and the group's name was changed to Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts.
