- 2 months ago
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🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00I'm currently in a yellow aeroplane, and beneath me is the state of Georgia.
00:26A lot of Georgia is made of mountains, forests, and farmland.
00:41It's the mythical slow south, but in reality it's a two-speed state.
00:47The urban areas are inventive, industrious, and dynamic.
00:52Welcome to the hip-hop, bustling, booming, sunbelt city of Atlanta.
01:02The Great American South.
01:07From the Atlantic to the Gulf, and a few points in between, in a runabout sort of way.
01:13Come with me, exploring its rich, its wondrous, and, let's face it, its sometimes troubled history.
01:19Rejoicing in the spiritual.
01:24And the creative.
01:26Now I have faith in welding.
01:28Wrapping myself in legend and myth.
01:31It's like a sort of American Gothic novel.
01:33Stuffing myself with southern food.
01:36And what is your secret?
01:38Me.
01:40I want to explore America where the crawdads sing.
01:48By land.
01:49By air.
01:50By water.
01:51It promises to be uplifting, exciting, and very beautiful.
01:56I'm going with Griff.
01:58Yes, ma'am.
01:59The Great American South.
02:01I've changed my mind!
02:02Ours for the taking.
02:03Safe travels!
02:24It's a natural city.
02:25It just keeps going and going.
02:27Yeah, you're absolutely right.
02:29The phrase you'll hear people say is Atlanta is an hour away from Atlanta.
02:32It's a huge area with a lot of people.
02:38The very phrase urban sprawl was first coined for southeastern cities like the one beneath me.
02:45Atlanta spreads 132 square miles along its freeways.
02:51It's the state capital of Georgia, but America's hub because it's roughly three hours from the home of the rest of the US.
03:00But some here may say that the rest of the US is only three hours from Atlanta.
03:06Wes, that was terrific.
03:07Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
03:08I loved it.
03:09And what a way to see the city and arrive in this extraordinary place.
03:16Wes, thank you very much.
03:17Glad you enjoyed it.
03:18Make sure you cut a shine.
03:20I'll try.
03:21I'll make sure I cut a shine.
03:23Of course.
03:24I'm in Atlanta.
03:25Thank you, Captain.
03:28Everything looks shiny in this place.
03:31Massive freeways.
03:33Chunky office buildings.
03:35So where better to start my journey of discovery than right at the birthplace of the city.
03:42Five Points, Atlanta.
03:44OK, now this is confusing to me because it definitely says Five Points Transit Station pointing that way.
03:50We go around the other side.
03:56It says Five Points Transit Station and it's pointing that way.
04:02Hi, hi.
04:03Excuse me.
04:04I'm looking for Five Points.
04:05Is that near here?
04:06This is Five Points.
04:07This is Five Points.
04:08Yes.
04:09OK, so I found it.
04:10Yes, it is found.
04:11OK, so this is the very beginning of Atlanta is here.
04:16Oh.
04:17This is where in 1837, less than 200 years ago, the engineer stuck in a marker post to be the zero mile point on his new railway.
04:32At the time, he reckoned there would never be more here than a tavern, a blacksmiths and a couple of houses.
04:43There are now six million people in Atlanta.
04:48The New South is really not a new idea at all.
04:51It was first coined in 1874 as a plan to throw off the lazy country reputation of the Old South.
04:59This city became a setter for invention and enterprise.
05:04A doctor here in Atlanta came up with a recipe for a thing that he called Coca-Cola.
05:13This idea was turned into a brand.
05:17The recipe was sold by the doctor and Coca-Cola took off.
05:23Many other famous American companies were founded right here in Atlanta.
05:28CNN, Home Depot, Spanx.
05:33This city has railway lines and motorways etched in its DNA.
05:38But 21st century sensibilities are reshaping its future and mine.
05:48Intrinsically, I don't believe in electric bikes.
05:53I think as long as you've got two legs, you really ought to use your two legs to power yourself along.
06:02And the number of people who say to me, we keep so fit these days riding electric bikes.
06:07Keep fit?
06:09Let me see if I've got the fitness to get this thing going.
06:11Don't walk away.
06:13Don't walk away.
06:14Don't walk away.
06:15We can always find the answer.
06:18I know we have so much to share.
06:21Yeah.
06:22OK.
06:23Maybe I'm wrong.
06:24We're riding now on a thing called the Beltline.
06:30It's got trees all the way along it and it runs for 22 miles.
06:37This huge cycling lane was built out of the old railway system that once linked industrial Atlanta.
06:43Ryan Gravel came up with the notion as a student project.
06:48It's a brilliant idea.
06:50And it looks as if every single cool dude in the entirety of Atlanta is on it at the moment.
07:01As bike routes go, this feels just about the safest I've ever been on.
07:07When I say safe, of course, I mean for me on the bike.
07:11Not necessarily for the pedestrians who might meet me.
07:18Oh, I'm sorry.
07:22I'm in a city of boom and bust.
07:25Leveled during the Civil War, reborn in the early 20th century.
07:29It nearly went broke during the 60s and 70s while the South struggled with its identity.
07:34But then, in 1996, a miracle.
07:38The Olympics came to town.
07:41So, in the last few years, has it become a world city?
07:45There's no question about that.
07:47That happened in 96.
07:48You gotta understand the Olympics coming to America is one thing.
07:51But Atlanta?
07:52That was unheard of.
07:53But by the time it comes here in 96, the world is starting to see what we have.
07:57And that's what made Atlanta special because other parts of the South do not have that.
08:0196 on, people moved here and decided, well, you know what?
08:04I like it and I'll stay.
08:06That never happened in the South.
08:08People moved away.
08:09The whole Great Migration was people moving away from the South and moving to Detroit,
08:12Philadelphia, New York.
08:13My parents are two of them.
08:15Approximately six million black people left the American South between 1910 and the 1970s,
08:22escaping segregation, violence and economic hardship.
08:26That was your mentality.
08:27When you graduate from high school in North Carolina, you gotta go North.
08:30You wanna be something.
08:31Now, everyone's coming South to be something.
08:34Okay, so you...
08:35Everyone I meet is from Chicago and Detroit, Pittsburgh, whatever.
08:37You can be something here in Atlanta.
08:39I'm living good for that.
08:41And can you, I mean, I've been told to cut a shine.
08:44Is it possible to cut a shine?
08:45What does that mean, cut a shine?
08:47To come from New York like me and have a little bit of experience, a little bit of talent.
08:52Well, maybe a lot of talent.
08:53And start your career here and make a way.
08:56And now I'm the Editor-in-Chief of the only black newspaper in Atlanta.
08:59I'm a kid from Brooklyn.
09:00I'm a kid from Brooklyn.
09:01I've cut a shine here.
09:02Okay.
09:03And I'm not the only one, I'm sure.
09:04Music, fashion, etc.
09:05There's so many ways to do that in Atlanta and that was not the case before the Olympics.
09:09The world came here and they stayed.
09:11And people have been cutting a shine here big time.
09:15More than ten billionaires now call Georgia home.
09:20But I wonder if they use this means to get around the place.
09:25Well, I'm looking for my hotel now which is in Peach Tree Street.
09:30Although I must get confused because there are 55 separate peach tree streets in Atlanta.
09:40And it's reckoned that none of them are actually named after a peach tree.
09:47They're probably named after the Native American village which was called Standing Pitch Tree.
09:55Now, am I the first to check in here on two minuscule wheels?
10:00Well, I'm just saying it must be one of the grooviest places in the whole of the United States of America.
10:15Because this is the Hyatt and it was designed by an Atlanta architect, John Portman, in 1967.
10:24And it was used as a template on a lot of other hotels which have a similar layout.
10:33At the moment, the hotel is filling up because there's a convention of missionaries.
10:42But in 1970, there was a very different crowd because Atlanta was the scene of Muhammad Ali's comeback fight.
10:54He had an exhibition match against Jerry Quarry.
11:00This place filled up with the aristocracy of black culture.
11:06Diana Ross, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sidney Poitier, they all came here.
11:13And of course, hordes and hordes of sports enthusiasts.
11:19And there was a moment after having won the fight.
11:23Muhammad Ali got into one of these see-through lifts and ascended that night.
11:30Going up, taking his place at the top of the hierarchy.
11:35Plenty of Atlanta still to explore.
11:42But I'm using my southern downtime productively as later,
11:45I'm going to be in mountain country.
11:47Hopefully jamming with bluegrass finger pickers.
11:51Could this be my chance to shine?
11:54It doesn't sound anything like Mountain Dew or Foggy Bottom.
12:05I'm going to cut a shine like this, aren't I?
12:20Of course I am.
12:22Who doesn't like to walk a city, smell it, feel the pavement under your feet and follow the crowd?
12:28Especially when they're all going in the same direction.
12:31The Dallas Cowboys are in town to take on Atlanta's mighty Falcons.
12:39I'm getting excited.
12:41I've got no skin in this game at all.
12:44But it gets to you, doesn't it?
12:47The pre-game tailgate party is the place for me.
12:51Cars and American football grew up together.
12:54As the game got more popular, stadiums just weren't big enough.
12:58But the carpet ox were.
13:01You're a falcon!
13:02I would say, yeah.
13:03You're a falcon.
13:04I see you are too.
13:05I am for today.
13:08We're taking it slow to get there.
13:10We're in the south.
13:11It's no hurry.
13:12We just sort of stroll along to get into the tailgate party.
13:16I don't have tickets to the big game, but then I don't really want them.
13:25My sort of action is taking place well outside the stadium.
13:29And this is the way to enjoy sport.
13:32I'm going to keep my distance from the bucking bronco.
13:36Just there.
13:41I have to try the ribs.
13:43Oh, my goodness.
13:44This rib is serious.
13:46Smoking most.
13:47How you doing, brother?
13:48This is my first tailgate party.
13:50Oh, you're going to make it slim.
13:51You're going to make it happen.
13:53What is a tailgate party?
13:56Everybody pick their favorite teams.
13:58Right.
13:59Just eat, be merry, and feel so good.
14:02Okay.
14:03Just like when you bite in town at rib.
14:05Oh.
14:07What time does the game start?
14:09At 1 o'clock.
14:10Some people go see the game.
14:12Yeah.
14:13And some people go to the game and come back.
14:15Right.
14:16To tailgate and have after parties and drink and everything.
14:21From here.
14:22Yeah.
14:23I've got to get it in the hole.
14:24Woo.
14:25Woo!
14:30Good.
14:31I missed the ball entirely.
14:33Hey!
14:34Hey!
14:35Hey!
14:36Yeah!
14:37Come on, hey!
14:38Hey!
14:39Hey!
14:40Hey!
14:41Hey!
14:42Hey!
14:43Hey!
14:44Hey!
14:45Hey!
14:46Hey!
14:47Hey!
14:48Hey!
14:49Hey!
14:50Hey!
14:51Hey!
14:52Hey!
14:53Hey!
14:54I'm noticing you're here in the middle of Atlanta
15:04and you're wearing a cowboy shirt.
15:06Are you an Atlanta guy or a Dallas guy?
15:09I'm an Atlanta guy, but I'm a cowboy's fiend.
15:13What I did was I quickly went off
15:15and got what I thought would show my loyalty here.
15:18Yeah, yeah.
15:18Yeah, yeah, and now I find you've got a cowboy shirt on.
15:22You know, I like the color, but this is always the American team.
15:26Y'all are, though, and we are.
15:28And what way is this game going to go today?
15:31Honestly?
15:32Yeah.
15:3327-13, Cowboys.
15:3727-13, okay, I'll take that.
15:39You'll take that.
15:40How much?
15:41Oh!
15:42Oh, I'll scale it up for him.
15:46Football, music, and barbecue.
15:49A well-tried Atlanta recipe.
15:55I'll take this.
15:57Mmm.
15:59Well, it's too good for words.
16:04It's too good for words.
16:06And what is your secret?
16:09Me.
16:11LAUGHTER
16:11You're an Atlanta person.
16:16Now I am.
16:17Now you are.
16:17Where did you come from for the fall?
16:19New Jersey.
16:19New Jersey!
16:20Yes.
16:21And how do you find it down here in the South?
16:23I love it.
16:25The hospitality is great.
16:27By meeting people, shaking hands, saying hello.
16:31They don't do too much there up north.
16:33I had thought a tailgate party was going to be all about the football.
16:38I was wrong.
16:39This is the New South, where you can scream and dance with total strangers.
16:44And frankly, Scarlet, they don't give a damn.
16:48But a tailgate party, you just go with the flow.
16:51I thought, when I came here, I might be able to cut a shine here.
16:57And I came, I dragged, I'm sitting on a ball.
17:00I've got to get off this thing before it starts.
17:04I don't know what you're thinking.
17:06Go on, Griff, go for it.
17:08Are you mad?
17:11For the record, Atlanta finally defeated the Cowboys 27-21,
17:16after about three hours.
17:19So the car park party went on all night long.
17:22Partying together might not have been such a simple option 80 years ago.
17:30Atlanta has not always been an easygoing place for African-American people.
17:35In 1939, the seminal southern movie Gone with the Wind
17:39had its premiere here in this city.
17:43The great stars turned up, Vivian Leigh and Clark Gable
17:47and Olivia de Havilland and the producer David O. Selznick.
17:49But one star wasn't allowed to come.
17:56And that was Hattie McDaniel.
17:59She gave an incredible performance and she won an Oscar.
18:04But this was a segregated town in 1939.
18:09One person who did see it was Martin Luther King Jr.
18:12He was very little at the time,
18:14but he was dressed up as an enslaved person
18:18and sang in a choir.
18:22It's hardly surprising that 20 years later,
18:25Atlanta was at the forefront of the civil rights movement in America.
18:30And so, of course, was Dr. Martin Luther King.
18:35He was pastor at the church.
18:38And I almost feel I can't come here without paying a sort of pilgrimage
18:44to visit the site of his work,
18:48his great non-violent protest,
18:52which ended so tragically.
18:55He was born here and his legacy remains visible across the city.
18:59I believe there are over 20 sites across Atlanta
19:05named in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s honour.
19:09I've read an awful lot about segregation
19:12and you can only, as a white person,
19:15find yourself wholly ashamed
19:17about things that happened in the first half of the 20th century.
19:21And it needed people like Martin Luther King
19:31to present an argument that resulted in change.
19:37It's been nearly 60 years since King was assassinated.
19:42What he dreamt of is still alive and taking shape here in Atlanta
19:45and throughout the South.
19:48Though many feel there's more to be done.
19:50Atlanta has seen a lot of change this century.
20:04You can see it in the people, the cityscape and the food.
20:08Even the famed Michelin restaurant critics agree.
20:12I've found my way over to the West Midtown area now
20:15and I'm feeling, well, I'm feeling a little bit hungry.
20:18I've come to a place called Twisted Soul,
20:22which means I intend to eat well.
20:28I've come to explore another essential part
20:31of black Southern culture here, soul food.
20:34But at its delicious, world-renowned best.
20:39Deborah, hello.
20:41All right, so we're going to do the Southern thing.
20:42And we are hugs.
20:44All righty.
20:45Welcome.
20:46Welcome.
20:47So I'm going to ask you, first of all,
20:49what are we going to make here?
20:51Okay, so we are going to make our infamous collard green roll.
20:56And I got my inspiration from the Greek grape leaf that is stuffed.
21:03Yeah, of course.
21:03And I thought, why can't I do this with a collard green?
21:06So I've cooked these collards.
21:09They've got vegetables in them, peppers, onions, garlic,
21:13a little salt, a little pepper, paprika.
21:15So they've got a little bit of flavor.
21:17These are cold.
21:18Shall I try?
21:18You ready?
21:19You ready?
21:19Let me try and have a go.
21:21Okay, so let me get you a good leaf
21:23that won't present too many problems for you.
21:28All right, so that's a good leaf.
21:29Okay, that's a very pretty leaf.
21:31That's a pretty leaf.
21:32Tell me about soul food, as opposed to, say, Southern food.
21:36You know, I think Southern food
21:39is food that's indigenous to the South.
21:43Soul food is food that's indigenous to the South,
21:47but it also is a food that was presented by slaves.
21:51It's from slavery, you know,
21:53and it was how slaves took, you know,
21:58the scraps and made them delicious
22:00because it wasn't easy to make these things good,
22:03make them nutritious,
22:05and then you're feeding your family.
22:07You want your family to enjoy it.
22:08You want them to love it.
22:10Like the very best Italian cooking,
22:12the very best French cooking.
22:13It's mama's cooking to begin with.
22:15It comes from the soul.
22:17It comes from the heart.
22:18Okay.
22:19Yeah, yeah.
22:20So I should start.
22:22Yeah, but I gave you a little bit here, okay?
22:24Right.
22:24Just look at me, watch me go.
22:26I'm going to watch you do it.
22:27Okay, so we're going to fold over first.
22:29Okay.
22:29So fold over.
22:30Fold over.
22:31Okay.
22:31Now let's take our sides
22:33and bring them in nice and tight.
22:35Okay.
22:35Okay.
22:36All right.
22:36All right, now you got a little tight bundle.
22:38Now we're going to roll it,
22:39and we're going to roll it tightly.
22:41Uh-huh.
22:44I'm a bit slower than you are.
22:45That's okay.
22:47That's okay.
22:47I've done millions of these over the years.
22:50Okay, I bet you have.
22:51But you're looking good.
22:52You're looking good.
22:53Look at that.
22:54That's a good looking one.
22:55Yes.
22:56I think you did pretty good.
23:01Oh, delicious.
23:02Okay.
23:03So this is our fried chicken plate.
23:05This is what we sell tons of,
23:08more than anything.
23:08It's been on the restaurant menu since 1998,
23:14and it has not changed.
23:16Fried chicken is a real important part of soul food.
23:20It's a staple of soul food.
23:21Yes.
23:22And then this is a play on something I grew up with.
23:26You'll find different regions have different twists of their own.
23:31So here, catfish or fish and grits.
23:35I grew up in the Midwest in Kansas City,
23:37and I think for this dish,
23:40you see some of the Italian influence
23:42because there was like big mafia back in the day,
23:44and there's big arguments between us
23:47and the soul food world
23:48about is that proper or is it not?
23:50But it's proper because that's what we had.
23:52So help yourself, grab your fork, dig in.
23:59You're in the heart of an incredible Atlanta food scene.
24:03You've won a Michelin award.
24:05With Michelin recognition, yes.
24:07But it's sort of indicative, isn't it,
24:09that Michelin here,
24:11that everything in Atlanta is pretty hot.
24:15Yeah, I'm glad Michelin came.
24:17The food scene here is broad.
24:20It's not just Southern food.
24:23The Asian food here is absolutely amazing.
24:27You know, the Latin cuisine is absolutely amazing.
24:31That's because of the mix of people who are coming.
24:34Yes.
24:35This city is still growing.
24:36Yes, it is rapidly.
24:38I'm getting the feeling you're excited about Atlanta.
24:41Yeah, yeah.
24:42I love it.
24:43I love this place.
24:44Yes, I do.
24:45Yes, I do.
24:46I love the food, the people.
24:48To me, it's the window into different cultures.
24:52It's just that window.
24:54It's been fantastic.
24:55I've discovered so many things I love in one serving.
25:01Like me, after that meal, the Atlantic population is growing.
25:09Currently, 48% of residents are African American, but in this New South, there are a lot of other communities who have been settled here for many years.
25:18We are in Oakland Cemetery for a Day of the Dead.
25:24That's a Mexican festival to celebrate the souls of the departed.
25:29And you come to commune with them for one or two days in the year simply in order to say, hello, let's get together and have a good time.
25:37There's a lot of money being spent on being dead here.
25:49There's miles of this.
25:52It's like a different world.
25:56There are worlds within worlds in the South.
25:59I'm definitely out with Sean in this place.
26:02You look terrifying.
26:07It's half a million Mexicans in Georgia.
26:09Half a million?
26:10Half a million.
26:11This event in different shapes and forms has been going on in Atlanta for over 15 years.
26:16Our estimations is that at least half of the people who come to the festival are not Mexican, who just love this tradition.
26:24They are embracing it.
26:25What do you think of Atlanta?
26:27I think it's a great city.
26:28I think it's a city that not a lot of people outside the United States appreciate, how important it is in terms of a global city, where everything's here.
26:35Mexico's here, but all countries in the world are here.
26:38On this Day of the Dead, the city feels wholly alive and still inventive.
26:44Do you fancy an ice cream?
26:45Perhaps one made of your favorite breakfast cereal?
26:51Hi, welcome in.
26:53Hello, hello.
26:53What can I get started for you today?
26:55Right, well, I'd like a cone.
26:57Okay.
26:57I got you for a cone.
26:58And what base flavor of ice cream would you like?
27:00I'd like some vanilla and chocolate.
27:02Can that both fit in the cake?
27:03Absolutely, it can.
27:04And then blend it inside.
27:06You want something chocolatey.
27:10Okay, give me one thing that you like, and I'll build around it.
27:13Sort of Coco Pops type thing.
27:15Got you.
27:16I got you, baby.
27:16So I got you for a vanilla and chocolate cone with some cocoa puffs, a little cream on top, and some chocolate sauce.
27:22Is that all for you today?
27:23That's lovely.
27:24All right.
27:25All right.
27:25You have a seat anywhere.
27:26I'm going to bring it right out to you, okay?
27:28Thank you very much.
27:28This is what's known as Southern Comfort.
27:32I'm looking around here at least four members of the crew.
27:39If you'd all probably like an ice cream as well, but they can have theirs later.
27:42There we are.
27:46That's delightful.
27:47There you are, my love.
27:50Now, I just got to ask you this, because am I allowed to take it out and eat it in the street?
27:55Absolutely, you can.
27:57Did you know that there was a Georgian bylaw?
28:01No ice cream on the street, but only on a Sunday.
28:05Are you serious?
28:06You're joking.
28:07No, I'm not.
28:07I'm not joking.
28:09Well, wish me luck with this.
28:11Absolutely.
28:11I do wish you the best of luck.
28:13Thank you for stopping in.
28:17Is modern Atlanta finally outgrowing its somewhat restrictive past?
28:37Well, there's a shortage of trees in Atlanta.
28:40Atlanta, it's calculated that the city has about 50% of it covered by tree shade, which is what
28:49they're there for.
28:49This is the Canopy Walk in the Atlanta Botanical Garden, and it takes me up into these gorgeous
29:02monsters.
29:04Atlanta is actually called the City in the Forest.
29:10Now, I have to say, if I really want to see trees, if I have to experience the fall in all its glory, I think I have to head out to the rest of Georgia.
29:26We have this one opened up, so I want to show you a little bit of the outside and how we open it, and then we'll take a look in.
29:37It's clearly about three times the size of any hotel that I've managed to stay in so far.
29:43The Appalachian mountains are calling to me.
29:46Blue grass and white lightning await.
29:48Fortunately, I get to take my mountain home comforts along.
29:52Is there anything more essentially southern than a massive, oversized RV, except perhaps a slightly more tiddly one?
30:09I fell completely at a cut of shine in Atlanta.
30:12How could you possibly do that?
30:14It's a city of billionaires.
30:16Everybody is showing off, and some people very successfully indeed.
30:20We're sort of on the outskirts of Atlanta, moving out.
30:28And you get a sort of taste of modern America.
30:31In the old days, the billboards used to advertise all sorts of things.
30:34A lot of cigarettes, Burma shave, you name it.
30:38And now, Jesus, fast food, and lawyers are after your business.
30:45Especially if you're driving an RV, of course.
30:50There's a lot more to Georgia than just Atlanta.
31:00There's many millions of miles of tree-covered beauty.
31:06And to the north and to the west, the mountains.
31:13North-east of Atlanta, the Lonecker is called the Gateway to the Appalachians.
31:43Slow mountain talk and fast banjo plucking.
31:47Think moonshine hill folk and horror movies.
31:49But today, the beauty is the major draw for a tourist.
31:53The area has a history.
31:56Yee-haw!
31:57And this whole town owes its existence to a gold rush.
32:03When Americans say there's gold in them, they're hills, they're actually referring to these hills.
32:10In 1829, gold fever broke out here.
32:14Well before the California strike, at its peak, 15,000 miners came to get rich quick.
32:20Today, it is a rather quieter place.
32:23You can definitely feel the beginning of winter coming on here now.
32:28And about 200 years ago, the winter was the setting for a terrible tragedy.
32:35Prospectors came out further and further into the hills, which were officially designated the Cherokee Nation.
32:43And ultimately, Andrew Jackson, the president, said, get rid of the Indians.
32:54So, they did.
32:56They sent 7,000 troops and they herded the entire Cherokee Nation off their country in one of the bitterest winters that they had ever known.
33:07The Indian Removal Act of 1830 ultimately meant that around 50,000 Native Americans were driven off their lands in the south and relocated west of the Mississippi.
33:20As the Europeans arrived, so they wanted the Native Americans moved further and further west.
33:29The initial forced march resulted in 6,000 deaths.
33:33It was called the Trail of Tears.
33:37Today, it's hard to comprehend such brutality and indifference to the First Nations people and their connection to the land, especially when it's such a beautiful place.
33:47Where others come in search of a very different, or perhaps even redemptive, trail.
33:56It's incredibly pleasant to just take a stroll in the Appalachian woods in the fall.
34:03But for some people, that stroll becomes the most incredible undertaking.
34:10Because here, in northwestern Georgia, is the bottom of the Appalachian Mountain Range.
34:20And that stretches 2,000 miles.
34:25And there's a trail that hikers take that goes the entire length.
34:31And at the end of this footbath is a hostel, which is a safe haven for hardcore strollers.
34:41Hey, welcome to Above the Clouds Hostel.
34:44We're at the beginning of the trail, aren't we?
34:47Yeah, the beginning of the Appalachian Trail.
34:49Well, give or take, it changes.
34:51But it doesn't stay in Georgia.
34:54It starts in Georgia, goes through Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.
35:07This is a long, long walk.
35:09It's a long walk.
35:10It's sort of like a bucket list walk.
35:12It is, yes, but one where it hopes to have made that list at a fairly young age.
35:17So can I ask, what does taking this trek mean to you then?
35:20In my personal experience, I had done hiking in the past, but as soon as I started hiking on the Appalachian Trail, I needed to relearn how to hike.
35:28Because this is not a graded path.
35:32I always tell people, you have to actually love it enough to see the fun through heat waves, getting hailed on.
35:42Would you recommend what you do to people?
35:44Absolutely.
35:44I'm sorry.
35:45You know, there's no better way to spend your time.
35:48No, hiking has its own culture and true believers take it very seriously.
35:53So much so that they even change their identities to reflect their experience.
35:58So you have names, individual names, which your, shall we say, your parents gave you some time ago.
36:07And then you've got trail names as well.
36:09How do they come about?
36:10While you're hiking, you're not there to be the person you were.
36:14You're there for a new experience and to figure out a new way to navigate life.
36:19So what comes with that in the culture is we're going to give you a new name, a new way for you to identify yourself.
36:24Oh.
36:25And you say, Rudolph is your trail name.
36:28Yes.
36:28When did you get that name?
36:29So this was a really foggy day and we were going up a mountain and there was a lot of switchbacks.
36:33So the trail is just zigzagging up the mountain.
36:36And I went ahead of my friends.
36:38All they could see is the bright red bag through the fog.
36:42And they said they followed it like Rudolph's nose.
36:45So then from then on it was named Rudolph.
36:48And that's it.
36:48And you're happy to be Rudolph?
36:50I'm very happy to be Rudolph.
36:51Yeah.
36:51While Rudolph, Twinkle Toes and Moose Juice set off.
36:59All right.
37:00Load them up.
37:01Y'all have a great hike.
37:03The hostel owner, Lucky, takes me to get a flavor of the Great Path to the North.
37:07I was expecting like a wider and bigger and sort of more open trail.
37:15Well, that's interesting because the trail, what makes it special in my mind is that it's a walking only trail.
37:22No horses, no motorized vehicles.
37:24Only people are allowed on the trail.
37:27We call them the Appalachians.
37:28You call them the Appalachians.
37:30There's a joke that we have about that.
37:31In the South, we call it the Appalachian Trail, as in T-C-H, Appalachian.
37:35In the North, they call it the Appalachian Trail.
37:38Right.
37:38And I always joke, if you're going to hike the Appalachian Trail or the Appalachian Trail, either one, they're both hard.
37:46Whatever your motivation for pulling on your boots and shouldering your pack, only 25% who attempt the full distance are ever successful.
37:58So I've been told to cut a shine.
38:00Do you know what cut a shine means?
38:02I don't.
38:06Were you supposed to?
38:06We got up to the mountains.
38:08Cut a shine?
38:09I've been in the mountains asking people.
38:11No, I mean, it's to do with moonshine.
38:13Cut a shine.
38:13And like a break a leg?
38:14Is that like a break a leg thing?
38:16Could be.
38:17Well, don't break a leg.
38:18Well, maybe he was being complimentary and he was being helpful.
38:21Cut a shine.
38:21Have a fun time.
38:22Have a fun time.
38:23If they were, I might have to Google that.
38:25Okay.
38:26Griff, look, I've got to get back to the hostel and watch after my guest.
38:29Right.
38:29You enjoy the rest of your hike.
38:32I shall certainly venture.
38:34I'll see you when you get back.
38:36Okay.
38:36Okay.
38:36Quite a lot of scary films were set in these woods.
38:54Deliverance.
38:55Cocaine bear.
38:59The descent.
39:05Well, there we are.
39:05I mean, the trail stretches over 2,000 miles ahead of me here.
39:09And people do walk it and do walk it entirely on their own.
39:15I, I, I, I don't know.
39:25I, I, I, I'd rather get the feeling that maybe I should be seeking shelter.
39:28I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I
39:58Yeah, nasty.
40:00But this is my last night to practice
40:02before I have to try to cut a shine with a proper bluegrass band.
40:09The Banjo Killer.
40:28I'm feeling hopelessly nervous now because this is the chicken house.
40:37Home of bluegrass in Dallonaga in the Appalachians.
40:46I don't really want to get my Banjo out here.
40:58Hi. Hello. How are you?
41:03I'm very pleased to be here.
41:06This is the chicken house?
41:07This is the chicken house.
41:17You have concerts here?
41:19Yes, about once every week, most every Saturday.
41:24These bluegrass players, it's just amazing what they can do with their instruments.
41:30What is bluegrass?
41:31Bluegrass, it actually came from some of the settlers that came in here back in the 16th, 17th century.
41:39Scottish, the Irish, they brought music here with them.
41:43A man by the name of Bill Monroe, he took this type of music and kind of energized it.
41:50And he put the pizzazz there too, I guess you'd say.
41:54And they were from a state to where it was a type of plant was bluegrass.
41:59And so he said he was going to call it Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys.
42:05And so from about 1940 on, he was the father of bluegrass music.
42:11Everybody recognizes when they hear it.
42:13It's an animated sort of country music.
42:15Yes.
42:16And it just, so it just went all over the world.
42:19But we love it, so we're proud to be part of it.
42:24Listen, when I first arrived, the first man I met in Atlanta said,
42:29Griff, he said, you've got to go out and you've got to cut a shine.
42:33And I said, you're all right.
42:36I didn't know what he meant.
42:37Well, I asked a lot of people in Atlanta.
42:39They didn't know.
42:40What on earth I was talking about?
42:42That cutting a shine, yeah.
42:44So what does cutting a shine mean?
42:46Everybody gets to have their time to do the lead part.
42:50And when they're cutting a shine, they're sitting around and they look over at the other person
42:55and it's his time to do the banjo or his time to do the fiddle.
42:59And so they get their turn.
43:01I think it's a bit presumptuous of me to think that I can cut a shine.
43:05Oh, you're going to cut a shine. You'll be fine. You're going to do great.
43:08Do you mean the band might stop and suddenly all look at me?
43:12And it's my turn to go ba-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum.
43:15They'll never know the difference. Everything will be great.
43:19I'm not sure everyone believes that.
43:21They've assigned me a mentor.
43:23As long as a reminder.
43:25Mike.
43:26Mike is our banjo player.
43:27Pleased to meet you.
43:28Pleased to meet you.
43:30It's even in tune.
43:32Is it?
43:33It sounds pretty good.
43:34Okay.
43:35I know a song that's a good one.
43:36Okay, good.
43:37You may know it and you may not.
43:38A Little Brown Jug.
43:40Ah ha ha, you and me, a little brown jug, oh I love thee.
43:45Ah ha ha, you and me, a little brown jug, oh I love thee.
43:50That's all there is to it.
43:51Okay, let me just try that.
43:52Ah ha ha, you and me, a little brown jug, oh I love thee.
44:08I can't play and sing at the same time.
44:12Good.
44:13A Little Brown Jug never sounded that way before.
44:16We'll incorporate that into a new verse.
44:19I think we'll need a new version once I start playing.
44:25This is it.
44:27Time to play with the Gospel Chicken House Band.
44:32You be near me, sit down near me and then the two of us can watch the place.
44:36Alright.
44:49o
45:06o
45:09If you want to cut a shine, you need to make sure that there are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 other musicians banging it out all around you.
45:37Who knows what I sounded like during that?
45:41You never will.
45:42I'm happy to say that I'm not here to cut a shine.
45:45I'm just here to join in.
45:47Welcome to Sweet Home, Alabama, where I'll learn to just have a little faith.
45:55Sound him up.
45:58Just got to go over there and throw up.
46:07Sweet Home, Alabama, where I'll learn to just have a little faith.
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