Category: Features

A local PGA Tour pro is taking a different approach to this year’s Masters Tournament.

Masters Week is always special for Augusta residents Chloe and Luke List, but to say that it has great promise this year is a gimme.

Luke, a two-time PGA Tour winner, will make his third appearance inside the ropes at Augusta National Golf Club when the Masters Tournament gets underway.

“The Masters has such a rich history,” he says. “You just feel it at the tournament and the golf course. You feel the presence of Clifford Roberts and Bobby Jones. It’s as close to heaven as you can get.”

He played in his first Masters in 2005 when he was a Vanderbilt University sophomore, qualifying as the U.S. Amateur runner-up the previous year. He finished T33 and even made a hole-in-one on the seventh hole in the Par 3 Contest.

Seventeen years later he was invited for the first time as a professional after securing his inaugural PGA Tour win at the 2022 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego. However, he missed the cut.

“When I played at the Masters as an amateur, I had a good time and enjoyed myself,” says Luke. “Two years ago, I put too much pressure on myself. The caretaker in me wanted to look after my family and friends.”

This year he’s taking a different approach.

“I can’t worry about entertaining friends and family,” he says. “I have a job to do. The Masters is a tournament I want to compete in and try to win. I want to be there on Sunday.”

Luke qualified for this year’s tournament in dramatic fashion. On the first hole of a five-man, sudden-death playoff at the 2023 Sanderson Farms Championship in October, he drained a 45-foot birdie putt for his second career victory. While he looks forward to competing in the Masters, he still plans to enjoy himself – and take pleasure in seeing family and friends.

“Every green you walk off, you see somebody you know,” he says. “It’s great to have support from everyone.”

Chloe is looking forward to the tournament as well. “I feel more excited this year because we know what to expect,” she says.

From watching Luke practice on the main course with their children in tow to taking part in the Par 3 Contest as a family, she also has fond memories of the 2022 Masters.

“It was so special to drive down Magnolia Lane with Luke for the first time,” she says. “I made a six-foot putt in the Par 3 Contest two years ago, and everybody cheered for me. I thought, ‘Oh, wow! That’s what that feels like.’”

Fast Start

Luke, who calls his ball striking and iron play the strongest parts of his game, believes Augusta National suits him well.

“Putting has been my nemesis my whole career, but I’ve turned a corner in that,” he says. “When you control your speed and make short putts, you’ve got a big advantage.”

He also got off to a fast start this season. Making the cut in six of his first eight events, his results include two Top 25s, a Top 10 and a T2 finish at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles.

The tournament, which he led for several holes, wasn’t just memorable for Luke’s performance, though. That week he and Chloe, who met in 2013 when they both lived in Los Angeles, also had the chance to relive the genesis of their relationship by recreating their first date.

Luke, who grew up in Jasper, Georgia, and Chloe, a 2008 Evans High School graduate, were set up by a mutual friend. Fittingly, they started the evening with drinks at The Georgian, a Santa Monica hotel, and then had dinner at the Huntley Hotel. This year the couple, who recently celebrated their eighth wedding anniversary, had Valentine’s Day dinner at the Huntley.

Luke still recalls his first impression of his future wife.

“I thought she was gorgeous. After our first date, I texted a friend and said, ‘That’s it for me. I’m done with dating. This is the girl I want to marry,’” Luke says. “I knew that was my last first date ever.”

The feeling was mutual.

“He was charming,” says Chloe. “It was love at first sight. I texted the friend who set us up during the date and said, ‘He’s my husband.’”

At the time Luke had lost his PGA Tour card and was back on the Korn Ferry Tour, and he invited Chloe to watch him play in a tournament in the San Francisco area.

“I asked him what I should wear. I said, ‘Is it like the Masters?’” recalls Chloe. “He said, ‘You can wear your pajamas. You might be the only spectator there.’”

Although she had gone to the Masters when she was growing up and worked at the tournament during high school, she didn’t follow golf or know much about it. However, Luke credits her with keeping him going when he struggled on the course.

“I kept pushing and following my dream,” he says. “She could see my passion and how much it meant to me. Even when I wasn’t playing well, I didn’t want to pursue anything else.”

Putting Down Roots

While the start of his career was rocky, the Lists have settled seamlessly into life here after moving to Augusta in 2018. They wanted to raise their family in the Southeast, and they considered living in Nashville, Charlotte and St. Simon’s Island. However, with Chloe’s family still in the area, a homecoming for her made perfect sense.

“It’s been such a dream to put down roots here,” says Luke. “The ability for me to leave town and know that my family is in good hands is great. It helps me be able to take care of business.”

Their children were born here – daughter Ryann in 2018 and son Harrison in 2021 – and the Lists support local children’s charities.

Chloe is involved with Heart and Sole, which benefits the Children’s Hospital of Georgia heart program, and Ronald McDonald House Charities is a passion for both of them.

In December, the Lists presented a check for $250,000 to Children’s Hospital of Georgia to support the expansion of its Children’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. The donation was made possible by the proceeds Luke earned when he won the RSM Birdies for Love charity competition during the 2022-23 PGA Tour season.

He doesn’t remember how many birdies he had – just that he won by a single birdie. “It was nerve-wracking because I really wanted to get it done,” says Luke.

The contribution was especially meaningful to the couple because Harrison, who was born prematurely, spent two weeks in intensive care at Children’s Hospital. After leaving the hospital, he soon was readmitted due to RSV, a respiratory virus, and was intubated for two days.

“Hopefully, in the next year we can get our own foundation up and going,” Chloe says. “Children’s charities are something we’re passionate about, but we would love to support a broad range of charities.”

‘Rich Golf Culture’

The local golf scene was a draw for settling down here as well. Luke loves to play rounds with friends at area courses such as Augusta Country Club, Champions Retreat, Forest Hills, Sage Valley and The Tree Farm.

“There’s a rich golf culture here that’s really special,” says Luke. “There are a lot of good private and public golf courses around town.”

His favorite tour stops include Torrey Pines, Riviera, Quail Hollow and Harbour Town Golf Links. And of course, Augusta National.

“The West Coast will always have a special place in my heart, but obviously, the Masters is number one,” he says. “I’ve been dreaming about that my entire life. Living here, but not being in it was very difficult for me. We have always stayed in town during the Masters. It’s such a great week. You make the most of it.”

Luke, whose golf idols are Davis Love III and Ernie Els, makes the most of life on the PGA Tour as well.

“It’s a fantastic job to play golf for a living,” he says. “I love traveling and being able to give back to the community.”

However, because of time away from family and how difficult it is to win, PGA Tour life isn’t as glamorous as it seems.

Before the Florida swing, Luke said, “I’ve played 263 times, and I’ve won twice in my entire career. You have to take little victories where you can to build your confidence.”

Chloe also has helped him take the ups and downs of professional golf in stride since he has become a husband and father.

“Life is not all about golf. There’s so much outside of golf,” she says. “Once we had kids, it’s been a lot easier to stay grounded and never get too high or too low. Luke can come home and just be Dad.”

The Excitement of Competing

Luke, who learned to play golf when he was about 6 years old from his late grandfather, Robert Brown, also has strived to maintain his core values since becoming a pro golfer.

“I try to stay the same and treat people how I would like to be treated,” he says. “The game keeps you humble. Golf teaches you so much about yourself. When you’re in contention, it’s nice to see how you handle it to reach your goals and achieve your dreams.”

He also remembers the way his grandfather taught him to play. “He taught me the basic fundamentals, but he really kept it fun,” Luke says.

A piece of advice from another golfer has stuck with him as well.

“When I was about 10 or 11, I played a practice round with an older kid that was headed to college,” Luke recalls. “He told me, ‘Play as much as you can.’ Practice is fun, but it doesn’t compare with competing. Practice doesn’t simulate the excitement or nerves of a competitive tournament.”

While Luke once just hoped to earn a college golf scholarship (he did) and considered playing on the PGA Tour “a pipedream,” his top goal now is to win a major.

“My confidence level and my ability to trust my game is growing,” he says.

His first PGA Tour victory, with his family waiting by the 18th green, is certainly a career highlight. However, he’s not ready to pinpoint his biggest thrill on the golf course just yet.

“That’s to be determined,” Luke says. “I feel like it’s still out there.”

By Betsy Gilliland

French wine, Southern-inspired cuisine and a brush of art gave these party guests a taste of the unexpected.

Nothing helps people bond quite like sharing good food, fine wine and a chance to indulge in their creative sides.

Just ask the guests who attended “A Parisian Night Meets Charleston” at the Appling home of retired veterans Cynthia Stein and her husband, Troy Rader.

The party, where French wine culture merged with upscale Southern-inspired cuisine, was the pilot project for Cynthia’s new business, Hope Enterprises: Life Interactive. As an experience coordinator, she puts together immersive activities to help people enrich their lives and broaden their horizons.

“Being in the military, I have traveled a lot in my life,” said Cynthia. “In Europe, you can hop on a train and have an immersive experience in a different country in a day or two. I wanted to bring that same concept here.”

For the inaugural venture, she collaborated with sommelier and certified specialist of wine Hailey Etzel, who owns Etzel Consulting, and local artist Anne Luckey of ArtsAnneCrafts.

While Hailey educated the guests about the particulars of pairing food and wine, her husband Brian manned the grill to prepare food for the five-course meal. Anne led a hands-on art project in which each guest painted a Charleston-inspired, laser-cut wood ornament.

‘What’s Next?’

As dinner jazz music played in the background, the guests mingled together in the house, outside on the patio and by the pool. The leisurely pace of the party allowed everyone to get to know each other as they savored the food and wine.

“Wine and food can complement or contrast with each other,” said Hailey. “They both have so many different properties. They fill in the gaps with each other and enhance each other.”

The first two courses were served inside. Featuring brie in puff pastry with blackberry preserves, the amuse bouche was paired with the bubbly Cave de Bissey Cremant de Bourgogne.

“The amuse bouche is a palate teaser to awaken the senses,” Hailey said. “We paired the rich, creamy, buttery brie with a dry, acidic bubbly. Life is too short to eat mediocre food.”

For the appetizer, Brian grilled Cajun shrimp in the fully equipped outdoor kitchen and served it over maple sweet potato hash with bacon and pecans. Hailey paired the appetizer with a contrasting 2021 Hugel Gentil Alsace.

“The food was amazing, and it’s fun to learn how to pair it with wine,” said guest Jannene Olson, who attended culinary school with her husband, Craig. “We have a lot of parties and people over for dinner at our house. People love food, but a lot of people feel like they can’t cook or don’t have the time to cook.”

Cari and Anthony Osborne, who have lived in the area for two years, agreed.

“I feel like we’ve done a lot different things here,” Cari said. “So, what’s next? It’s nice that we don’t have to travel to do something like this.”

Outside Their Comfort Zone

Following the appetizer, the guests settled down at one of two tables to paint an ornament that featured a scene from the Battery or Rainbow Row in Charleston.

“If you can color in a coloring book, then you can paint the ornaments,” said Anne. “There is no wrong way.”

Concentrating on the task at hand, no one shied away from the art portion of the evening.

“If I had told my husband we were going to do an art project tonight, he would have stayed home,” Jannene says.

Instead, he appreciated the novel activity.

“When we entertain, we play a lot of games,” Craig said. “I like the art component of the party.”

Another guest, Kaitlyn McGinnis, said she usually doesn’t “do art” unless her son makes her.

However, the group enjoyed revisiting their younger days.

“We’ve had the chance to develop some other talents or explore ones we haven’t used for a while,” said Anthony. “I haven’t painted since high school, so that was fun.”

With paintbrush in hand, John-Michael Brady admitted, “I’m out of my comfort zone a little bit.” However, he added, “I’m in an environment where I feel comfortable.”

Anne tied a bow on the finished products, and Cynthia and Troy hung their ornaments on a small lighted tree in their living room.

Complement and Contrast

After putting the finishing touches on their ornaments, the guests took their salad plates outside under a full moon in the night sky.

Paired with a 2020 Clair Chante Beaujolais Villages, the salad included a spring mix, strawberries, chèvre, almonds and raspberry vinaigrette.

While the food and wine flavors contrasted with each other in the amuse bouche and appetizer, the flavors in the salad and wine complemented each other.

“All of the flavors in the wine are sweeter than the flavors in the salad,” said Hailey.

For the main course, Brian treated the guests to grilled ribeye over whipped potatoes, haricot verts and compound butter. A 2018 Chateau L’Hospital, Graves, Bordeaux, accompanied the entrée, and Hailey stressed one of her favorite tips for pairing food and wine – serve “cab with a slab.”

“This wine is a big, bold red with lots of dark fruit flavors,” she said.

Dessert featured New York cheesecake with Fruitland Augusta peach vodka compote and brown sugar bacon streusel, and it was paired with a 2016 Sablette Sauternes.

For the party, Hailey selected wines that typically would not be found on a restaurant menu.

“I love teaching people about wine,” she said. “I want them to know that it doesn’t take a lot of money or knowledge to elevate the food and wine experience. Wine is a glass of a certain place during a certain time.”

The Etzels love the memories that wine evokes.

“We remember things based on the wine we were drinking at the time,” said Brian.

Touching All the Senses

To Cynthia, creating memories is a large part of her business concept.

“You have to give people something to walk away with and talk about,” Troy said.

That’s just what Cynthia had in mind.

“I wanted people to leave feeling like, ‘Wow! That was amazing. All of my senses were touched,’” she said.

Mission accomplished.

By Leigh Howard

The food truck and popup scene is cookin’ up fun all around town.

Some people might think food trucks are all about bringing creative dining options to customers. That’s not wrong, but we’ll let you in on a secret. Food truck culture really is about bringing people together and making them happy. And few things make people happier than sharing good food among friends.

“Everyone meets and greets each other when a food truck comes out,” says Andre Walker, owner and creator of Funnel Cake Lounge. “They can enjoy their meal or sweet treat and have a good time before they go back to reality.”

Mobile Food Culture
Reality for Andre is that his food truck has been good for business. He opened Funnel Cake Lounge in Martinez in 2021 and added the food truck in August 2022.

“A lot of my customers were coming into my store and requesting a food truck,” says Andre.

He initially opposed the idea because of the additional expenses involved, but ultimately he discovered that the customer is always right.

“I love it,” Andre says. “I regret not doing it sooner.”

Big T’s Seafood, which has been in business for 12 years and moved its restaurant to Grovetown in 2018, added a food truck in 2021. Owners Tim Daniels Sr. and his wife, Veronica, made the leap because they wanted to expand their reach in the community.

“We get to see people that we don’t see at the restaurant,” says Tim. “We get to go into different neighborhoods, and we’ve picked up a lot of new customers.”

For Nuni Hernandez, who went the popup tent instead of food truck route,” her foray into the mobile food culture has followed the ups and downs of her life. The Crazy Empanada owner first ventured into the concept when she saw a version of herself in the movie, Chef. In this 2014 film, a head chef trades his restaurant job for a food truck to reclaim his creative promise and reunite his family.

Opening her first popup in 2017 when she was going through a divorce, Nuni, a culinary student at the time, took her last $20 and bought enough dough to make 50 empanadas. She took them to the Augusta Market and sold every one of them.

“Movies can be inspiring. Movies can take you a long way,” she says.

Nuni opened a Crazy Empanada restaurant in 2020 but closed it in 2022 when she lost her father. However, the fulltime chef would like to “get back out there” and do popups again.

“I love what I do,” she says. “I love to see people’s reactions when they have my food. People love everything about our concepts.”

Mouth-Dropping, Eye-Popping Food
Local food trucks are available for occasions ranging from festivals and community events like Columbia County’s popular Food Truck Friday to private gatherings such as office parties, family reunions, weddings, church outings and neighborhood get-togethers. Food truck operators say people typically reach out to them through word-of-mouth or social media, and their menus vary according to the size of the event.

Funnel Cake Lounge, which temporarily closed its storefront for remodeling from February to mid-June, limits its offerings for large events to keep the line moving. Nevertheless, 13 items including S’more Lovin, Banana Jamma, Plain Jane Powdered Sugar and Cheesecake Lover, plus the most popular funnel cakes – Strawberry Shortcake and Cookie Crumble – are always on the menu.

With other creations such as Oh Split, Counting My Dough, Driving Me Bananas, Where It All Pecan and Cereal Killer, however, the funn’l never end with this food truck. In addition, customers can create their own combinations with ingredients ranging from ice cream and cookie dough to nuts and gummy bears.

There’s nothing Andre enjoys more than seeing his customers’ reactions to the desserts. “I love to watch people’s mouth drop and see their eyes get big,” he says.

Big T’s serves fried foods including shrimp, catfish, tilapia, green tomatoes and hush puppies. Catfish is the most popular item on the food truck. For a private event, the menu depends on the customer’s request.

“A lot of people like food trucks for convenience,” says Tim. “They think, ‘I’ve never been to that restaurant, but I’ll try the food truck.’”

He says the key to his success is, “Clean, clean, clean – and fresh.”

With its Latin fusion menu, the Crazy Empanada quickly became known for its Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican and Brazilian foods such as Cuban sandwiches, empanadas, arepas, tacos and fried tostones.

“I get to tell a story with every food I make,” Nuni says. “I get to tell the story of my grandmother making me my favorite empanada. My Cuban sandwich is a reminder of my youth in Florida with my friends. I want people to feel like they’re in my house. I want them to have a great experience.”

Good Business Model
Food trucks run on generators, and standard equipment ranges from grills and fryers to freezers, warming cabinets to heating tables, sinks to refrigerators. They also have to adhere to health department regulations, and these three entrepreneurs say the mobile food concept has been a good business model.

“A food truck is really profitable if you do it right,” Andre says. “Since we’ve been under renovation, our food truck has been booked every single day.”

Food trucks are fairly easy and economical to start, the operators say, and their mobility is a definite advantage.

“If your business isn’t thriving in one place, you can go to another,” Andre says. “It’s a good way to market yourself, and it’s a good networking tool. It gives you an opportunity to meet people from all over and expand. It has allowed me to take Funnel Cake Lounge to other cities, and people are interesting in franchising it.”

Nuni, who says presentation is just as important as innovation, agrees. “You can go anywhere. A restaurant cannot move,” she says. “Once you make a name for yourself, everybody wants you.”

In addition, Andre says food trucks are another revenue source for struggling businesses. He also lets his employees set their own schedules by staffing the food truck. “They can take a break or get their 40 hours a week to meet their sales goals,” he says. “They can be their own boss and help you grow your business.”

Tim has found that overhead isn’t as high for a food truck as it is for a restaurant.

“We get the food out because we’re not serving as much as we serve at a restaurant,” he says. “We actually reach more people because we can go to private parties and private events. We’re mobile, and we can move our business around.”

Keeping up with demand has been the biggest operational challenge for Funnel Cake Lounge. Andre says he turns down 40 to 50 bookings, including about 10 in Columbia County, per month because the food truck is on the road so often.

He also says that driving long distances, weather cancelations and limited storage space can be disadvantages.

“People are disappointed if you run out of something,” he adds.

The biggest challenge in operating a food truck for Big T’s is staffing because it pulls servers away from the restaurant. However, Tim chooses the people that go on the food truck with him.

Overall, however, the food truck operators have found that these enterprises increase their accessibility to their customers and their customers’ interactions with each other.

“At a restaurant, people sit, order, eat and go. They’re more casual and connected when they’re eating outside,” Nuni says. “Popups bring people together because they get to talk and share and see when they’re waiting for their food. I hear people ask each other, ‘What is that? Where did you get that?’”

After all, novelty is a food truck staple.

“This is how people discover new foods,” Andre says. “With a food truck, you can take a risk. It allows for more variety, and people venture out to see what’s not in a brick-and-mortar store.”

Food Truck Fridays
The Columbia County Food Truck Friday series rotates among three different county parks. The hours are 6-9 p.m., and live music begins at 7 p.m. Bring chairs and blankets.

July 14
Gateway Park, Grovetown

July 28
Evans Towne Center Park

August 25
Evans Towne Center Park

September 8
Eubank Blanchard Par, Appling

September 22
Evans Towne Center Park

By Betsy Gilliland

 

A Columbia County couple showcases their talents on a reality TV baking show competition.

Grovetown resident Sharon Hutko loves being in the kitchen – and she can take the heat. In her spare time (she also works fulltime in human resources at SRP Federal Credit Union), she has a catering business and owns the local Jimmy John’s restaurants with her husband, Mike.

It’s her specialty cakes, however, that really attract attention from near and far.

During Masters Week last year, a casting producer for “Baking It,” a reality TV competition that launched in December and is streaming on Peacock TV, reached out to Sharon after seeing her cakes on her Instagram page, @sharonhutkocakes. The producer invited her to audition for the show, and Sharon was all in.

The six-episode series features eight teams of two bakers that vie to win a $50,000 cash prize and the title of “Best in Dough.” As part of the application process, Sharon and a partner submitted photos and videos. They met individually with the show’s creator and producers on Zoom. They also had to complete and document baking challenges that were sent to them.

At the last minute, however, Sharon’s baking partner had to withdraw because of covid protocols. So she turned to her life partner to join her.

“Mike came on board five days before we left. He had to go through a background check. We didn’t know he would be allowed to go until the night before we flew out,” says Sharon. “It was a whirlwind for him.”

They filmed the show, a spinoff of the crafting competition “Making It,” in Los Angeles for two weeks in August. While Sharon ended up with an unexpected partner, all of the contestants got a surprise when they met the hosts of the show for the first time. In fact, they had no idea who they were going to be until the hosts – Maya Rudolph and Andy Samberg – walked onto the set.

“It was so exciting,” Sharon says. “I have been a fan of both of them since their Saturday Night Live days.”

Southern Pride

In each episode, the baking teams – which consisted of spouses, siblings, twins, best friends and a father and son duo – had to complete various challenges. Some of them were small challenges; others were “big ol’ bakes.”

The shorter challenges took about an hour to 90 minutes to complete. The teams had 2 1/2 to 3 hours to finish the longer challenges.

“Our call time was at 6 a.m., and we would work until midnight. But if a challenge was three hours, it was filmed for three hours,” says Sharon. “I thought there was no way we could make a three-tiered cake in three hours, but we sure did.”

During those long hours, however, they also filmed other portions of each episode such as the reveals and the judging. In addition, the shows are sprinkled with highlights of the delicious bond between Rudolph and Samberg, who are prone to cracking jokes or bursting into song at any moment.

As an added ingredient, four opinionated grandmothers – all accomplished bakers themselves –judged the competition.

“When they say ‘opinionated grannies,’ that was 100 percent the case,” says Sharon. “If they didn’t like something, they would tell us why. But they also were positive and encouraging.”

Sharon and Mike were honored that they were the only team to represent the South, so they made sure to add a dollop of Southern pride goodness to all of their recipes.

“They would give us a category, and they left it open as to what we would submit,” says Sharon. “I wanted the things that we made to represent the South. We really just wanted to make the South proud.”

For instance, in the first episode, the Hutkos made pecan tassies with bourbon and bacon. In another show, the contestants were combined into two super groups – the Naughty team and Nice team – of six bakers, and they prepared a biscuit and a protein.

The Hutkos’ team, the Naughty team, won that competition with its cracked black pepper and cream cheese biscuits, which was Sharon’s recipe, and lamb chop lollipops with sweet peach sauce.

“It was a feel-good, not a cutthroat, competition,” says Sharon. “They told us to think of it as summer camp. The whole atmosphere was so positive and encouraging and such a good experience.”

Icing on the Cake

The Hutkos bake in three episodes, but they have watched all of them. Sometimes, though, the experience still seems like the stuff of make believe. One night when they were about to stream an episode of “Yellowstone” on Peacock, they got a jolt when they saw a clip of themselves for a “Baking It” program.

“It doesn’t seem real,” Sharon says. “Mike has been recognized a couple of times since the show.”

She also says he was the perfect culinary colleague for her. “I could not have asked for a better partner,” she says. “He was great in the challenges. He knew what I needed for the competition and outside of the show.”

However, Sharon says the best part of “Baking It” was building new relationships, particularly with the other contestants.

“The teams got along so well,” she says. “We still communicate with each other every day. We have a big group chat. We have gone from talking about the show to sharing our daily lives with each other.”

Sharon definitely is open to blending another baking show into her life one day.

“It was such a great experience. Everybody who was involved with the show was truly, truly so kind. I don’t know if that’s the norm,” she says. “I loved it so much. I would love to something like this again.”

Sharon also can be found at sharonhutkocakes.com or facebook.com/SharonHutkoCakes.

By Sarah James

Two Martinez residents have been revving up donations with cross-country road trips to fight ALS.

Even though he is half his age, 29-year-old Martinez resident John Robert Herzberg has always enjoyed doing things with his cousin and godfather, Mark Lang, 58, of Jupiter, Florida.

“He’s my best friend. He’s my mentor. We’ve always been super close,” says Herzberg. “He got me into doing things like kayaking, boating and body surfing at the beach. We played golf nonstop.”

Now, however, Lang can do none of those things. He was diagnosed with ALS in 2017 at age 55.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, is a progressive nervous system disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing loss of muscle control. ALS also is called Lou Gehrig’s disease, after the New York Yankees first baseman who was diagnosed with it.

Typically, onset of the disease is gradual, and initial symptoms vary in different people. They can begin in the muscles that control speech and swallowing or in the hands, arms, legs or feet.

However, all ALS patients experience progressive muscle weakness and paralysis, ultimately losing the ability to speak, eat, move and breathe. The mean survival time for ALS patients is three to five years, and there is no cure for the disease.

Lang’s first symptom was weakness in his hand, which he initially thought was caused by a pinched nerve. Within 18 months, he had lost the ability to walk or speak. “He’s in the late stages now,” Herzberg says. “He can only speak using his eyes.”

According to the Georgia Chapter of the ALS Association, at least 16,000 people are estimated to have the disease at any given time and a little more than 5,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with ALS each year. (That’s 15 new cases a day.)

Most people who develop ALS are between the ages of 40 and 70, with an average age of 55 at the time of diagnosis. Someone is diagnosed with the disease and someone loses their battle with it every 90 minutes.

“Right now, all we can do is just help make ALS patients comfortable and help them have the best quality of life possible in the time they have left,” says Brandy Quarles, the Augusta University ALS Clinic research operations coordinator. “Our ultimate goal is to find treatment.”

On the Road

To do his part, Herzberg wanted to find a way to raise money and bring awareness to the rare disease. So, armed with a rented van, a tripod and a sense of adventure, he and his girlfriend, Bethany Marshall of Martinez, went on a two-week, cross-country road trip from Martinez to San Diego and back last October.

“I wanted to do something crazy to get people’s attention,” says Herzberg, who studies design and media production at Augusta Tech. “We wanted to do something out of the ordinary. It took a year of planning and saving.”

Herzberg and Marshall stopped in places such as New Orleans, the Grand Canyon and Memphis to visit Graceland, which, much to his surprise, turned out to be Herzberg’s favorite stop. While most of the places they visited were planned, they made some spontaneous stops as well. They made detours to Las Vegas and to Albuquerque, New Mexico so Herzberg, a diehard “Breaking Bad” fan, could see where the TV show was filmed.

On the return trip home, they also had to stop in Oklahoma City after the van’s transmission blew out. They rented a car to get back to Georgia.

Driving eight to 10 hours each day, they stopped often to set up the tripod to take photographs at the various sites they visited. Herzberg posted the images on his Facebook and Instagram pages, @DriveAwayALS, to bring awareness to the cause, and welcome signs were a favorite spot for photo ops. He declared himself an unofficial resident of each state they visited, but the cowboy hat he bought at a Texas gas station became a frequent prop in the pictures.

While they were on the road, donors made contributions through a link on his social media platforms. In their travels they met other people whose families have been affected by ALS, and some of them donated money as well.

“People are very warm-hearted. Once they saw the ALS sticker on the side of the van, they wanted to know what we were doing,” says Herzberg. “A lot of people on Instagram would randomly contribute, too.”

The goal was to raise $5,000 at $1 per mile in the Drive Away ALS campaign, and he surpassed that goal.

“People from all over the world have reached out to me wanting to contribute or travel with us,” Herzberg says.

For instance, he says two girls from Norway contacted him a couple of weeks after their trip to say they were inspired by him to sail across the Atlantic Ocean to raise money for ALS.

“It makes me ecstatic that a local person is taking the initiative to raise funds and raise awareness about ALS,” says Quarles. “Supporting ALS patients is important. These families are going through a lot. ALS doesn’t affect the mind. Our patients still want the same things they always did. It’s important that people participate and help the ALS community.”

More Work to Do

Herzberg has not stopped raising money for ALS. The couple hit the road again this past summer, traveling 2,000 miles to Niagara Falls and back. Along the way, they stopped in Pittsburgh on June 2 for Major League Baseball’s inaugural Lou Gehrig Day to watch the Pirates take on Lang’s favorite team, the Miami Marlins.

Gehrig lost his battle with the disease June 2, 1941 almost two years after he was diagnosed with ALS on his 36th birthday. The annual, league-wide event will be a time to honor and celebrate Gehrig’s legacy as well as to raise awareness and funds to fight the disease.

Herzberg and his team, Drive Away ALS, also will participate in the ALS Association’s Walk to Defeat ALS (walktodefeatals.org) at Georgia State Stadium in Atlanta on Saturday, September 25.

Herzberg and Marshall have visited more than 20 states since October, and they plan to schedule another fundraising trip to South Dakota. And he still finds time to visit Lang in Florida every couple of months and keep him up-to-date on the Drive Away ALS fundraising efforts.

“Mark loves it,” Herzberg says. “If the tables were turned, he would have done the same thing for me.”

By Sarah James

A local artist spreads good will and happiness through his music and paintings.
As a self-taught painter and musician, local artist Billy S doesn’t have to search hard for inspiration. He simply works from the heart – just like his lives his life.

“I try to be loving, kind and generous because those things come back to me,” he says.

And whether he is wielding a paintbrush or a guitar, he always seems to strike the right note with his upbeat, vibrant style.

‘Make People Dance’
Billy’s paintings are displayed at various venues in the area, and he is slated to release a new, 19-song record called Do It Now on Valentine’s Day. “It’s acoustic only. One guitar, one voice,” he says.

The record includes dance songs and ballads, and “Do It Now” also is the name of the introductory song on the album. “The first words of the song are ‘Love one another,’” Billy says. “That’s our purpose for being here.”

Another song called “The Flame” is about something or someone important in your life that is no longer here.

“A few songs might make you cry a little bit in a good way,” he says. “I never want to write a sad song unless it helps.”

“The Flame” and “Do It Now” can be downloaded at billys.bandcamp.com/track/the-flame. In addition, Billy will give an acoustic solo performance of his new record in a concert, fittingly called “Love,” at Southbound Smokehouse at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, February 15. Love is a recurring theme in his work.

“There are all kinds of love like friendship or romantic love, so it’s very inspiring,” says Billy, who grew up as the middle of five children. “I was loved, but I was also disciplined. And I respected love.”

Billy is not just a solo artist, however. He also plays in a band called billy s electric power trio with Dave “Muz” Mercer, who sings and plays drums, guitar and bass; and Alex Bruce, who plays bass. Billy is the lead singer and plays guitar.

The band will perform a live set at Southbound Smokehouse on February 15 as well. “Playing live with the trio is one of the things I enjoy most,” Billy says.

In addition to Southbound Smokehouse, he and his band play at various local venues and events including The Soul Bar, Stillwater Taproom and Arts in the Heart.

“I just want to make people dance,” he says. “Some people listen to the lyrics, and some people don’t. You want people to escape for a minute. I want my songs to bring back good memories. I’d rather heal than harm.”

He first started playing music when he was about 17 years old after a new neighbor, who had a guitar, told Billy he needed to get a bass. He never had played before, but he played two notes on the top string. Then in 15 minutes, he wrote a five-verse song entitled “Nevermore,” based on Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven.”

“I realized I was a songwriter this whole time,” says Billy, who also taught himself to play the piano.

When he was studying computer drafting at Aiken Technical College, he went on the road with a band. He came home and told his father he wanted to quit school to tour with the musicians. Billy says his dad asked him how much he was getting paid and said, “Do it.”

The group traveled across the country, playing on Sunset Strip, in New York City’s Greenwich Village and Washington, D.C. On their days off, Billy visited art galleries.

He ultimately quit the band in the 1990s, and on his birthday in 1994, when he had a job waiting tables, he decided to take a mental health day. He spotted a box of paints – with dust on it – that a former girlfriend had given him.

“I had a few canvases, and I started squirting paint on them. When I woke up the next morning, I had 10 paintings,” says Billy. “I showed them to my brother, and he couldn’t believe I had done them. I said, ‘What do you think this is?’ My brother punched me in the arm and said, ‘It’s art, stupid.’”

Color & Shape
From that first jab in the arm from his brother, Billy has welcomed brutally honest feedback about his work. He laughs as he recalls the friend who told him, “That ain’t your best” about some of his work. Another man who used to work at the downtown Augusta Mellow Mushroom, where Billy has artwork on display, said of his guitar painting, “I could have done that.”

“I’m a little radical, but I like a punch or two. I want people to tell me the truth,” he says.

However, his truth tellers have given him encouragement as well.

For instance, in 1995, several months after Billy started painting, a friend suggested he show his work to Al Beyer, a former USC Aiken art professor who retired in 2018. Billy still remembers what he told him. “He said, ‘Billy, what you have here is what we try to teach.’”

Billy says Beyer didn’t want to teach him. However, the professor told him he could come to his class to paint and use his supplies, and he said he would answer any questions.

A Billy S painting typically includes several identifying characteristics. First and foremost, Billy likes color – lots of color – and shapes.

“I wish there were more colors,” he says. “I even think on the other side of our existence, there are more colors.”

He uses sacred geometry, which ascribes symbolic and sacred meanings to certain geometric shapes and proportions, and the Golden Ratio in much of his artwork as well. The Golden Ratio is a common mathematical ratio found in nature (think the spiral of a seashell or the eye of a hurricane), which can be used to bring harmony and structure to artwork (like the “Mona Lisa”).

In addition, Billy sometimes adds a long swirl to his paintings because a deaf girl told him that the symbol means “artist.” A half-mask sometimes shows up in his paintings as well. “That’s me, looking into the painting,” he says.

For anyone who still might harbor any doubts about his distinctive style, he also signs his work with a signature “B.” “It’s not a rounded ‘B,’” he says. “I want it to be almost like a mark, like it’s carved.”

He works primarily with acrylics, but he also uses oils. “I love what acrylic does. It’s so forgiving,” Billy says. “There are no mistakes. You just paint over it, and that gives the painting texture.”

With his artwork, he says, “I try to make another place. I wouldn’t mind if the art gives people someplace else to go.”

Giving as Much as He Gets
When Billy sits down in front of a canvas, sometimes he has an idea or an image in mind and sometimes he doesn’t. “Anything you see will come out. I’m painting from my head or my spirit,” he says. “I don’t draw anything. I just start painting. I like the sound of a brush.”

That free-spirited approach most likely dates back to elementary school when he had a clear disdain for pencils. “I always wrote with a pen instead of a pencil because I hated the sound that a pencil makes,” says Billy. “But when I was in fourth grade, I was told I had to use a No. 2 pencil like everyone else.”
(Conformity isn’t exactly his M.O. He once was let go from a church quartet for having long hair.)

Billy has learned that his art will take care of him “one way or another.”

“When I’ve tried to use my art to make money, I would end up giving it away,” he says. “I’ve learned not to sell it, just share it. I feel like everything I paint is for somebody.”

When he displays his artwork, he usually doesn’t put a price on his paintings because he doesn’t want cost to influence someone’s reaction to them. He says people always try to give him more money for his paintings than the asking price.

“The titles usually mean more than the prices,” Billy says.

However, “survival” is a factor in selling his artwork, he quips. “And seeing the person and what it does to them.”

In addition to Mellow Mushroom in Evans and Augusta, his work is or has been displayed at places such as Nacho Mama’s, New Moon Café, Hire Grounds Café, Augusta University Medical Center, Art on Broad, 600 Broad, USC Aiken’s Etherredge Center, other South Carolina galleries and even hair salons.

“I like being in a gallery,” says Billy. “But I would almost rather be where anyone can see my work, not just people who go to galleries.”

He also tries to give as much as he gets from his talents.

“If I had some music success, I would want to go to some of my art supporters, buy my paintings back for a lot of money and then give the paintings back to them,” Billy says.

In the meantime, though, he says his artwork “allows me to live inside and keep warm and eat my organic stuff. I’m safe, secure, happy, fed, and I have a future.”

And he plans for the coming years to be as productive as the past years.

“I want to make sure I do everything I’m supposed to do, and I feel like I have,” Billy says. “I have lived the life of five people.”

By Betsy Gilliland