Loonis: Celebrating a Lyrical Life:
Author Jerry Shinn Brings His Loonis McGlohon Biography
To North Carolina Bookwatch, Sunday, October 16, at 5 PM

People who knew Loonis McGlohon will tell you that he was probably the most extraordinary individual they ever met: jazz pianist, Presbyterian choir director, songwriter, composer, civic leader, humanitarian, award-winning broadcaster, devoted husband and father. He chose to live and work in his home state of North Carolina, but he played before enthusiastic audiences across America and around the world, and wrote songs that were performed and recorded by some of America's most famous singers, including Frank Sinatra and Eileen Farrell.

Jerry Shinn's new biography Loonis! Celebrating a Lyrical Life is an affectionate, humorous, fascinating, and inspiring look at this remarkable man and his Eastern Carolina roots, his family, his friends, his community and state and, most of all, his music. On the upcoming episode of UNC-TV's local literary series North Carolina Bookwatch with DG Martin, Sunday, October 16, at 5 PM, Shinn shares the larger story of Loonis McGlohon's creative, gracious, and generous life.

"[Loonis] was a friend, and an ever-closer friend in his later years," says Shinn. "In 1996, [Loonis] had been battling cancer for several years.and frankly, a lot of us thought he was about to die. I became concerned having heard his wonderful stories over the years that we were gonna lose that when we lost him."

As a result, McGlohon's long-time friend tape recorded hours of McGlohon fascinating stories and spent years trying to persuade McGlohon to work with him on a book about his fascinating life. Following Loonis McGlohon's death, Shinn received the McGlohon family's blessing to preserve these stories in print in Loonis! Celebrating a Lyrical Life.

"Loonis was an extraordinary person," says Shinn. "He's a hard person to describe because he did so many things-and he did all of them well."

Jerry Shinn is a former editorial page editor and associate editor at The Charlotte Observer, where he won several North Carolina Press Association awards for his editorials and columns. He is also the author of A Great, Public Compassion: The Story of Charlotte Memorial Hospital and Carolinas Medical Center. Shinn was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, grew up in Gaffney, South Carolina, and is a Phi Beta Kappa and honors graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He and his wife, Anne, live in Charlotte and have a daughter, a son, and two granddaughters.

Don't miss DG Martin's all-new interview with Jerry Shinn on North Carolina Bookwatch, Sunday, October 16, at 5 PM, only on UNC-TV!

During this season of North Carolina Bookwatch, guests also include: Shannon Ravenel (New Stories from the South, 2005), Emily Herring Wilson (No One Gardens Alone), Randall Kenan (Walking On Water), Ann B. Ross (Miss Julia's School Of Beauty), Lawrence Earley (Looking for Longleaf), Peter Perret (A Well-Tempered Mind), Timothy Tyson (Blood Done Sign My Name), Moreton Neal (Remembering Bill Neal), Quinn Dalton (Bulletproof Girl), Henry Petroski (Pushing the Limits), Bill Morris (Saltwater Cowboys), Amy Tiemann (Mojo Mom), Robert Irwin (Robert Irwin 40 Years),  Tommy Hays (The Pleasure was Mine),  Mary Kay Andrews (Hissy Fit), Michael Parker (If You Want Me to Stay), Lawrence Naumoff (A Southern Tragedy, in Crimson and Yellow), Martha Witt (Broken As Things Are) and Gerhard Weinberg (Visions of Victory: The Hopes of Eight World War II Leader).

Funding for North Carolina Bookwatch is provided by UNC-TV members and by Quail Ridge Books and Music, Raleigh's independent, full service bookstore, bringing readers and writers together since 1984.

North Carolina Bookwatch is part of UNC-TV's ongoing commitment to produce programs for and about North Carolina. UNC-TV is the statewide 11-station broadcast network of the University of North Carolina. For more information, please visit www.unctv.org/ncbookwatch.

For more information about North Carolina Bookwatch and UNC-TV's other local productions, please visit our website at www.unctv.org.

-UNC-TV-