One thing the brothers don't give out
easily is a free hand up for musicians.
"We hear it all the time," says Alvin.
"'Hey, put me on!' But they don't wanna
work. People still call every day and want
to send us songs – and 9 times out of 10,
we don't wanna hear them. We can tell
when somebody hasn't put in the effort."
e brothers can't help comparing
today's effortless access to information and
technology to their own coming-of-age
story, one marked with dogged tenacity and
a need to always be better and do better.
"Macon gave us odds we knew we had
to overcome," says Alvin. "We weren't
thinking about overcoming Macon, we
were thinking about overcoming the
world. We looked at it with a world view."
When they think about Macon, the
brothers are heartened by the downtown
revitalization and expansion, and by the
explosion of arts and business in the city
they once called home.
"It's a good thing, and it's been a long
time coming," says Alvin. "And it needs to
keep going. Don't stop now."
One thing they miss from their
hometown is Nu-Way hot dogs. Alvin,
reminded of those century-old iconic
chili-slathered gut-bombs, echoes the
sentiment. "Hell yeah, Nu-Way," he says
softly, as if he's accessing some deep, good
comfort-food memory.
Turns out, no matter how far you travel,
how many celebrities you meet, how palatial
your home is or what kind of lavish hat you
have on, if you've got Macon in your blood,
you're forever bewitched by the siren song
of those historic hot dogs. And that's exactly
the kind of thing that keeps these brothers
humble and real enough to truly fly high.
Follow Alvin and Calvin on Instagram at
@twinsalvincalvin to see what they're
doing next and spend some time
poring through their archives to see
them chilling with Martha Stewart,
opening for Prince in the '80s and
hanging out with all manner of cool
people. Visit @themachinegroup100 on
Youtube to check out vintage
AC Black videos. Visit the Machine
Group at themachinegroup.org.
Celebrate the good life
& great stories
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FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 | maconmagazine.com 67
