HIRSUTE AND TALENTED A Little Rock man is in the running for a $20,000 cash prize on the strength of his musical skills and his hairy face.
Cliff Prowse is among 10 finalists in the Most Talented Beard in America contest, presented by men's grooming product company Wahl.
The 29-year-old Prowse, who performs in a duo with his wife, Susan Erwin Prowse, learned about the contest just before the Oct. 9 deadline and hustled to put together a video entry.
"We actually had a performance online, and after that we stayed up until about 4 a.m. doing the video," he says.
The clip shows Prowse performing an original song on guitar, bass, mandolin, drums, violin, keyboards and other instruments.
"We didn't have much time, and I didn't have all of my recording gear, so we had to do things a bit unorthodox. I just started with a little guitar riff, ... I had to arrange it in my head as we went."
He began growing his beard about five years ago.
"I actually couldn't grow a beard until I was about 24," he says with a chuckle. "It was horribly patchy."
Just because he doesn't shave doesn't mean he lets his whiskers go willy-nilly.
"I keep my neckline trimmed. My wife stays on me about keeping it groomed. She makes fun of me and says it takes longer for me to do my beard than for her to do her hair, which is probably true."
The pair organize the annual Yadaloo Music & Arts Festival in North Little Rock, which went online for its second iteration this year, and make their living as musicians. In 2019, Cliff says, they were on the road for more than half the year. October and November usually find them at regular gigs at the Red Piano in Santa Barbara, Calif., and St. Maarten in the Caribbean.
Because of the pandemic, however, live shows have dried up. The prize money from the contest would be a sweet windfall.
"Being musicians and self-employed, covid has hit us pretty hard," Prowse says. "We lost out on a ton of gigs. It would be a really great thing to have. Even second or third place -- the top three places are $20,000, $10,000 and $5,000. I'd be ecstatic to have any of the top three spots."
Deadline for the vote is Dec. 9. To see Prowse's video and to vote, visit arkansasonline.com/1129papertrails.
A NOTABLE AUTHOR "The Vapors: A Southern Family, the New York Mob, and the Rise and Fall of Hot Springs, America's Forgotten Capital of Vice," a debut book by Hot Springs native David Hill, is among the New York Times' 100 Notable Books of 2020.
When not writing about gambling, Hill, who lives in Nyack, N.Y., hosts "Gamblers," an entertaining new podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network, in which he explores the remarkable lives of six professional gamblers.
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