Workshop Theatre Premieres Contemporary Musical Memoir Hundred Days Directed by Chad Henderson

“It's Columbia. We are better served by seeing something for the first time rather than a variation on what we've seen before. We've all seen that. We need new, we deserve it. We deserve the newest things now.”

- Chad Henderson

Hundred Days is a musical memoir based on a true story that premiered for the first time in 2018. This fresh, contemporary take on the goal of loving and living fully is coming tomorrow to Workshop Theatre. Running from May 12 – May 27, the show is directed by Chad Henderson with music direction by Tom Beard and a cast that features Katie Leitner, Catherine Hunsinger, Taylor Diveley, Kari Lebby, and Patty Boggs. 

The show has been described as “luminous,” “exhilarating,” and “raw,” and Leitner herself asserts that “people can expect to be immersed in a multi-media, emotionally gut-wrenching story accompanied by powerful folk- blues ballads, dense and haunting harmonies, uplifting folk pop toe-tappers, and clap-along rock tunes.” 

Jasper sat down one-on-one with director Henderson to get more details on the show.

JASPER: How did you decide to direct this show? 

HENDERSON: This show has been a three-year journey for me. My friend and collaborator Jonathan Whitton sent me an email about this play with a message that read something like "You need to know about this. You're welcome." He was right. It is entirely the type of work I seek and savor. I kept my eyes on the licensing for the show, because in this market you are at the whims of the licensing companies. This was all before the closures of the pandemic. Fast-forward some time later, and Workshop Theatre took my submission seriously. They were willing to produce a "little musical that would be one of the hardest things to achieve." I'm so glad that Jeni McCaughan and the script selection committee committed to this production—they have been absolutely amazing to work with.

JASPER: What makes you excited about this musical, specifically? 

HENDERSON: Honestly, this is the kind of work that I gravitate towards, having spent four years in a rock band and being a lover of live music. I have directed theatrical works like "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," "Spring Awakening," "Passing Strange" and "American Idiot." These all have a special place in my heart because they closely align with my personal aesthetic and have an impactful connection to the type of storytelling that moves me as an artist.

JASPER: Why this story here? Why now? 

HENDERSON: It's Columbia. We are better served by seeing something for the first time rather than a variation on what we've seen before. We've all seen that. We need new, we deserve it. We deserve the newest things now. Also, love is timeless—and that is still (somehow) a revolutionary thing to explore presently.

JASPER: How long have y’all been working on this?

HENDERSON: I've been working on this for three years now in my mind. I've been dreaming of a local cast for that long as well. I'm very lucky that two of the original people I dreamed of are working on this production (Katie Leitner and Catherine Hunsinger). Even luckier to have one of my favorite collaborators, Tom Beard, reach out to me to ask, "what are we doing next." Then after a string of auditions and conversations we found the remaining alchemy that this production needed: Taylor Diveley, Kari Lebby and Patty Boggs.

JASPER: Have there been any unique challenges in this show? 

HENDERSON: Once the casting was complete, the challenge fell to the actors. They have to be a band. They have to create that synergy. They also have to be open to the unknown due to the fact that the show is a live set from a band, and the story that arises from their performance must be a sneak attack.

JASPER: What’s special about your rendition? 

HENDERSON: I'm me and this is me doing what I love to do: make it as hard as possible for everyone. So, while the cast is rehearsing tirelessly to become a band with 90 minutes of music and banter to memorize—while also being able to live truthfully in the moment—we have added a film element to the production. We spent three weekends filming auxiliary storytelling that is presented through on-stage media.

JASPER: Have there been any exciting “oh my god this is it” moments? 

HENDERSON: I've had many "Oh My God" moments. They've happened at every rehearsal, which is a testament to this cast. Damn, they're good!

JASPER: The music in this show is described as “anthemic folk-punk music” — what can a not music-savvy person expect?  

HENDERSON: If you have heard the works of Mumford and Sons, Ani DiFranco, Frou Frou, Queen, Jump Little Children, Son Volt, or anything else that sounds totally relatable but also entirely singular—that's what it sounds like. The music lifts your heart because the compositions have that effect. It's also very Americana. There's no banjo or mandolin, but plenty of cello and accordion. It also doesn't sound French. I don't know...the music is singular. It's the Bengsons [group who originally created and performed the show]. Just come hear for yourself or get a taste on Spotify or Apple Music.

JASPER: How would you summarize this story in your own words? 

HENDERSON: It's about love (cue memories of Christian in Moulin Rouge). It's about the rewards, challenges, magnetisms, insanities, and fears of love. It's about the weight of commitment: the work that comes with it, but ultimately the joys.

JASPER: Why should people see this show?  

HENDERSON: Simply put: It's one of the few contemporary shows you can experience in the coming months. To call it a musical is misleading. You're coming to see a band. A very good band. It just so happens they are going to make you relate to their crazy story in 90 mins flat. Also, the bar is open throughout the show because...that's just civil, isn't it? It's a show and space where you'll be comfortable, and you'll leave with plenty to talk about. You might even kiss somebody (if they consent).

It’s hard to describe what to expect, but in attending Hundred Days, you are guaranteed a once-in-a-lifetime story. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll groove. For more details about and to get tickets, visit Workshop Theatre’s website.

A Message from Cindi for Midlands Gives 2023

Please Consider Supporting the Jasper Project This Year During Midlands Gives.

Jasper is an all-volunteer 501c3 with NO paid employees and NO overhead, so your donations go directly to the Columbia, SC arts community via events and publications.

Me with Jasper Project board president Wade Sellers and Elvis (aka Patrick Baxley) at Bernie Love 2023

Welcome to one of my favorite times of the year—the time for me to report back to you, our supporters, on how the Jasper Project has been using the funds you entrusted to us over the past year. It’s a joy to celebrate what we can accomplish together with your funding and the Jasper Project’s labors of love.

I always have a soft spot in my heart for Jasper Magazine, which was the seed of the Jasper Project and remains my favorite project of all. Last spring, we published a beautiful issue featuring Lindsay Radford Wiggins on the cover and Michael Krajewski as our centerfold artist. Kristine Hartvigsen wrote the piece on Lindsay, and I had the honor of writing about Michael who, actually, was the centerfold in the first ever issue back in fall 2011. This time, however, he is fully clothed!  We also featured a piece on Mike Miller’s new book, The Hip Shot, WOW Production’s first YouTube series,  Quincy Pugh’s Veteran’s Day Parade painting series, Carleen Maur’s experimental filmmaking, Artists for Africa, and two new books from Muddy Ford Press, (Jasper’s original underwriter before we became a non-profit under the leadership of Larry Hembree), including Night Bloomer by Jane Zenger and More God Than Dead by Angelo Geter. We wrote artist profiles on Lucy Bailey, Diko Pekdemir-Lewis, and Rebecca Horne; Music editor Kevin Oliver compiled a jam-packed article on 10 music artists to watch in the coming year; Will South wrote a piece on Tyrone Geter and his work and life in Gambia; and I had the honor of profiling David Platts, the ED of the SC Arts commission. Sadly, we also memorialized Wim Roefs and Mary Bentz Gilkerson.

Our fall 2022 issue of Jasper featured Wilma King on the cover and Jim Arendt in the centerfold. We wrote about Wideman-Davis dance, Baba Seitu Amenwahsa, Steven Chapp and Jerred Metz, Arischa Connor’s television successes, the Soda City jazz scene, Jamie Blackburn, poet Monifa Lemons and her stint as an actor on Lena Waithe’s film, Crooked Trees Gon Give Me Wings, Carla Daron’s new book The Orchid Tattoo, Amy Brower and the life of a casting agent, new theatre editor Libby Campbell, Dustin Whitehead’s new film Hero, Elizabeth Catlett, and included several poems and music reviews.

I don’t want to give too much away about the spring 2023 issue which is releasing on Saturday May 20th at the Artists Showing Artists event, hosted by Desirée Richardson of Death Ray Robin, but if you meet me that evening at the One Columbia Co-Op at 1013 Duke Avenue, you’ll get some fresh print featuring Philip Mullen, Olga Yukhno, Bohumila Augustinova, Katie Leitner, Dick Moons, Ivan Segura, Drink Small, Alyssa Stewart, and lots of surprises

Fall Lines volume IX - Cover art by Sean Rayford — https://www.seanrayford.com/

After the magazine my next favorite project has to be Fall Lines—a literary convergence. We just released our 9th volume and issued the call for our 10th. I’m incredibly excited to announce that, in addition to the Broad River Prize for Prose, which went this year to Tim Conroy, and Saluda River Prize for Poetry, which went this year to Jo Angela Edwins, that next year we will also be offering the Combahee River Prize to a SC BIPOC writer of poetry or prose. We’ve also formed an ad hoc committee, captained by poet Randy Spencer,  to study the best ways to grow Fall Lines as it moves into its 10th year.

Along the same lines we awarded the Lizelia Prize, named in honor of anti-Jim Crow poet-activist Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer, to Myrtle Beach poet Maria Picone. Maria will have her poetry chapbook titled Adoptee Song, published by Muddy Ford Press through a sponsoring relationship with the Jasper Project. Board member Len Lawson managed this project.

We devoted a lot of our time last summer to the Play Right Series, a project managed by board member Jon Tuttle. The winner of last year’s Play Right Series was first-time playwright, Colby Quick. After spending the summer working with Community Producers Ed Madden, Bert Easter, James and Kirkland Smith, Paul Leo and Eric Tucker, Bill Schmidt, Wade Sellers, and myself, as well as the cast of Colby’s winning play, Moon Swallower, we presented a heavily produced staged reading, directed by Chad Henderson, at the Columbia Music Festival Association in August. We were also delighted to invite the public to the reading and, via our relationship with Muddy Ford Press, offer published copies of Moon Swallower for sale.

Jasper Friends Dick Moons and BA Hohman pose with our host, Clark Ellefson, outside the Art Bar

In December, Clark Ellefson and Andy Rodgers hosted the Jasper Project at the Art Bar on Park Street where we staged our first official Santa Crawl, inviting all comers to don their Santa suits and drink like it was Christmas. We had a fabulous time and enjoyed a delicious house-created cocktail list with a portion of each sale going to the Jasper Project. Thanks Clark, Andy, and everyone at the Art Bar!

In February, the good folks in the Capital City Playboys invited us to partner with them on the fundraiser concert event, An Evening with Bernie Love—A Tribute to Elvis. We themed the event around Valentine’s Day and welcomed more than 100 folks to the 701 Whaley Market space where Marty Fort, Jay Matheson, Kevin Brewer, and Patrick Baxley as Elvis! We also hosted artists Jamie Peterson, Gina Langston Brewer, Cait Maloney, and Lindsay Radford Wiggins who showed and sold their work. At the same time, and thanks to Lee Ann Kornegay, we had reserved the Community Hallway Gallery at 701 Whaley for the month of February to stage an art exhibit we called Love Hurts/Love Heals featuring K. Wayne Thornley and Wilma King.

In March, created a new event called Artists Showing Artists. Artists Showing Artists is an opportunity for established artists to share the spotlight with other artists who may be emerging, new to the area, or who they want to highlight. The project encourages collaboration within and between disciplines and enlightens the community about both the featured artists and the art curation process. Our first event featured Saul Seibert who invited poet Alyssa Stewart (we’re publishing her first ever published poem in the next issue of Jasper Magazine - thanks Saul!), visual artist Virginia Russo, and rapper Keith Smiley.

Our next Artists Showing Artists event will feature Desirée Richardson of Death Ray Robin as our Artist Host. I hope you can join us on May 20th to pick up a copy of the spring issue of Jasper Magazine and check out all the artists Desirée has invited to join us!

In fact, our various gallery spaces across town have grown considerably, helping Jasper to spotlight the work of artists in small, captured spaces. We do a First Thursday artist-in-residence rotation at Sound Bites Eatery on Sumter Street that has thus far included Michael Shepard, Alex Ruskell, Kimber Carpenter, Ginny Merritt, Adam Corbett, Quincy Pugh. Marius Valdes, Gina Langston Brewer, Lindsay Radford Wiggins, Lucas Sams, Colleen Crichter, and Keith Tolen.

Steven White speaking to theatre goers at Harbison Theatre

In January, the Koger Center opened a space on the second floor of their building just outside of the Donor’s Gallery for the Jasper Project to show the art of Columbia-based artists. We opened with Thomas Crouch, then Lindsay Radford, followed by Quincy Pugh. We’ve scheduled additional visual artists to fill out the remainder of 2023 and are already programming into 2024 at the Koger Center as well as at Harbison Theatre in Irmo, where we’ve shown David Yaghjian, Steven White, Michael Krajewski, Lori Isom Starnes, and are currently showing Olga Yukhno. We also keep a running gallery at Motor Supply Bistro and in the sidewalk gallery at the Meridien Building on Main Street.  

I’m actually thrilled to announce that the Jasper Galleries helped put almost $18,000 into the pockets of working artists in Columbia since last March!

Board Member Bert Easter staffs the kegerator at a Jasper Project House Party

As the Jasper Project board of directors has grown, we’ve done a bit of reorganization. Christina Xan, whose work on the Tiny Gallery continues to be so efficient that we tapped her to manage all our gallery spaces, is now also serving as our treasurer. Emily Moffitt was also elected board secretary in January, just after officially joining the board, and Wade Sellers and Kristin Cobb both continue as board president and vice president respectively. Bekah Rice is officially our digital manager as well as our operations manager and, typically, our events director. We welcomed new members to the board including visual artists Ginny Merett and Kimber Carpenter, and Jasper Magazine theatre editor Libby Campbell

I’m sure I’m forgetting an event, a happening, or a party.

Please remember, it is your support of Jasper’s passion for supporting, promoting, and validating Midlands-area artists that allows us to do what we love. Thank you for your continued support.

Cindi

April 2023

Please enjoy a few more photos from the past year of the Jasper Project below —

Carla Damron at Richland Library leading discussion on her book, The Orchid Tattoo, for Jasper’s Nightstand Book Club

Me judging the Mad Hatter Art Show

Featured Artist Wilma King talks with artist Gerard Erley at the Love Hurts/Love Heals art show that she shared with K. Wayne Thornley— a Jasper Project with 701 Whaley

Lisa Hammond served as the poetry judge for Saluda River Prize for Poetry in 2022’s Fall Lines

Jasper was invited by the good folks at Curiosity Coffee to arrange a pumpkin carving contest among the city’s artists — it was a huge success, a lot of fun, and we had some beautiful (and terrifying) pumpkins result!

Point person = Bekah Rice

We featured the art of the four artists on the board at Artista Vista this spring - Ginny Merett, Kimber Carpenter, Laura Garner Hine and Emily Moffitt

Olga Yukhno speaking to theatre goers at Harbison Theatre for her spring exhibit

Our 2019 project, The Supper Table, is still touring. Here it is at the Myrtle Beach Gallery of Art just after being on exhibit at the Morris Center for Arts and History

Michael Krajewski with his exhibit at the Jasper Gallery at Harbison Theatre

Q&A with Bobby Hatfield: Growing in Hope

Bobby Hatfield is a musical scientist, an explorer of sound, experience, and emotions. Well known in the Columbia scene for his piano chops and unique song writing style, his live performances are something to behold– they never disappoint. Read about his growth as an artist, process, thoughts on Columbia and fellow musicians.

“I find art focused on the wounds maybe sometimes helps the pace of nursing those wounds, because it gives them context during their time rather than random infinite tyranny, and creating can be hard during those times but the unchecked loop can be disastrous. But while I breath I hope.”

Bobby Hatfield — photo— Kati Baldwin

JASPER: Tell us a little about how you got started and the projects you have been a part of over the years. 

HATFIELD: After 5 year run of The Sea Wolf Mutiny, Numbtongue was an idea to develop and experiment with songwriting and songcraft within purposeful constraints. What can I do when it is just me? What can I write around bass guitar as the lead voice? Can you write a Waltz at 4 beats per measure? And furthermore, can I deconstruct both the art that folks have heard already as well as continue to deconstruct myself as “the self” and the contradictory mechanics of faith and doubt, love and hate, heaven and hell, destiny and choice, hope, and hopelessness, and other rather cliche anxieties into an entirely not cliche expression? What could it mean to take away everything I relied on and create from scratch?  

I found myself as the side man on keys for ET Anderson, not out front. This helped me learn a way to exist in the more joyful bombast of TSWM, where I wasn’t the focus but could provoke a response through someone else’s music and be felt rather than heard. Staying busy with that let my musical imagination go a bit wild. My first release, Exhumation, was an attempt to sound as though it was a time capsule discovered in the sands of the internet, as though guitar distortion had never been heard before, to ask the question of nostalgia: “are you worth my time?” 

So, if my first release “exhumation” was about an abstract rebirth of sorts, my sophomore release Phantom Limbs is more about wiping the dust off such a creature as me, seemingly just discovered, and seeing who’s there now. And while it didn’t happen in a linear emotional way, what was looking back at me was a person in lament. A person with anger and trust issues. A person who had felt betrayed and not really dealt with or admitted to what that meant. And what I found in that fundamental sorrow was that, through no plan of my own, I found myself yearning to express these emotions in simple terms, and it bothered me that I needed to make beautiful monuments to what seemed less than beautiful feelings. Things like trying to process the sudden suicide of a friend and somehow search the hope. But I’ve learned since making and releasing it that to exude such thoughts doesn’t have to be a bad thing, and creating these songs as permanent places meant justifying the feelings as valid. Literally doing them Justice. We grow around pain and loss and grief the same way rings on a tree reveal their history on earth. And for me this album was a record of a tree still standing and growing in hope despite the damage, and really naming the feelings gives them a wholeness that you can then grow around. They don’t necessarily “heal” in the sense that you ever feel like you did before you required healing, but maybe just maybe you will feel them as apart of you whole. It was a struggle to get this record off my chest no doubt, but if there’s hope in simply admitting hopelessness, to continue on is to live your life carrying it but maybe not nursing it anymore. I find art focused on the wounds maybe sometimes helps the pace of nursing those wounds, because it gives them context during their time rather than random infinite tyranny, and creating can be hard during those times but the unchecked loop can be disastrous. But while I breath I hope. 

Numbtongue is kind of this idea that “you can’t taste it but you know it’s there” either because you’ve felt it so much or said it so much or because it’s hard to but words on it, and the new record title “Phantom Limbs” is similar as an idea where these specific instances exist longer after your done feeling them, and I know as I get distance from some of these songs creation, there’s an ability to look at them and the feeling inhabiting them more objectively, which makes it far easier to sing. I hope that what I’ve tried to do with this project is hope.

JASPER: What does your writing process look like? How has it changed or evolved over the years?

HATFIELD: Early on it was almost exclusively me writing and singing from the piano & later a guitar, but I wasn’t comfortable with just learning, so most of my early guitar playing [consisted of] alternate tunings that I felt were unique tonally. But I’ve constantly challenged myself into the next phase of something that might not feel natural to me but then I try to inhabit it in “my style.” I remember spending an entire year exclusively forcing myself to write or compose songs on the guitar in the standard tuning. Just to see if I could fit inside the mold. I liked what I learned about myself as an artist, but oddly I haven’t ever released more than one song publicly that was in standard tuning. I tried to stay in that traditional songwriter vein at first because I didn’t play other instruments so piano felt like a home base, and it still does. As I’ve gotten older and wilier about what is “allowed to be a song” and being my own producer on almost everything numbtongue related…. Inspiration can vary widely.

Sometimes it’s a lyric I like that falls out of my mouth acapella and then I try and find chords around it. Sometimes I start with a drumbeat that is lyrical itself already and I try to write against a unique linguistic beat. Sometimes I start with a bass line. What’s interesting is often a song will start on one instrument and end up totally focused on another one by the end. That is the case with my new song “I Will You Will” off my new record, it is very piano heavy live. But it began on acoustic guitar strumming the chord progression in a completely different key, than it is now., and all I had was the words “I never thought I never thought I would give up on you” just strumming 8th notes in standard tuning. That one idea that fell out randomly gestated for about 6 months or so, maybe longer. Now you won’t hear a single acoustic guitar on the song on the record because it was the vehicle that got me there, not necessarily the end product.  

Because I still love the concept record, some songs are born out of a communicative necessity in relation to the rest of a record of songs. Sometimes I realize “wow this song needs better track coming before it” or I hear an entirely new idea that should come after a song that already exists, and I’ve always really tried hard to make sure track 7 is interesting because records are risk of the sagging middle by track 7. I feel like a lot of artists in the past used tracks 7 for a perhaps average or mediocre song at times. I try to avoid mediocre or anything that takes up unnecessary space. I like writing with the sense that everything has  purpose and identity musically, even my singing voice, which I will fundamentally alter to fit the song if I can manage to make it sound convincing.  

JASPER: Do you have any tips or tricks for finding inspiration or getting over writer's block? 

HATFIELD: I find that it helps to chase rabbits even down their holes, and record yourself doing it. It may feel and sound dumb but if you watch and listen later, the replay can be informative even if uncomfortable. But also allowing writer’s block to be the block it is and let it rest, just walk around it, and move on to something different entirely that may feel freer or more fun and distracting. You can always come back to that block later; it is not the end of your world. Sometimes paths are dead ends for you. Walking around the block in the road can also be “maybe this is boring and I should juke styles right here and don something surprising just to hard left it both for myself and the listener so we can walk away from this dead end in real time together” and then you can decide if you want to repeat the phrase that dead ended and it feels like a pattern then that just has a dead end. Music is helpful in that it is a mercifully repetitive and endlessly self-healing of its mistakes in that way at times. It can also be deciding to rest and recharge and come back at it fresh in the morning. I need this advice because I am notorious for working 5+ hours straight in an idea that I hate later, but sometimes you have to see where the rabbit hole goes. I’ve sadly had a lot of success grinding an idea for five hours to a place I think is finished and sincerely liking the result of my efforts so I guess sometimes the advice is take a wrecking ball of ego to the writers block and destroy it by force of will. 

JASPER: How do you know when something is done? 

HATFIELD: The easiest answer is it’s done when it’s done? But the clearer answer is it’s done when you can hear everything you need to hear and feel what you want to feel. I find that it’s always a moment with my songs where I smile and say “oh there you are” as if it was always there until it finally makes sense what I want to hear.

JASPER: What is your favorite or least favorite show you've played in and why? 

HATFIELD: Favorite shows: all house shows. I have never played in a bad house show. The Price Street House Show was probably 2013 or 2014 with my old band The Sea Wolf Mutiny. It was up a flight of stairs on the second floor of this house right off Main Street in downtown Columbia SC. At the time I was playing this 250lb Yamaha cp60 keyboard that required 2-4 people to move so it was a quite a chore to get it up to a second story. We passed out tambourines. It was so hot. There was this guy reading poetry as the opener and he was incredible, absolutely slayed, one of the coolest opening acts ever at a show. I think his name was Connor. The energy of a house show is already something different because it feels personal and special and no one else is here but us and it’s always very “all hands-on deck” we’re in this together audience and band and crew alike … but that normal vibe was on absolute overdrive by the time we played this night.   

We played something called Dead Tree Festival another time that was a house show of equally ineffable and palpable anticipation that you could cut with a knife, but the show was shut down by the police 3 songs in. The floor was also beginning to “smile” under the weight of the humanity standing on it.  

JASPER: Who are some of your favorite local artists and why? 

HATFIELD: Well this is hard to answer because I don’t know if I should answer with latelies or evers. I will go with lately: I fell in love with Gamine like 1 minute and 12 seconds into their inaugural set at GrungeProm we played together last year, just an instant classic Columbia band waiting to happen; it’s like the Cure meets Nirvana and shoegaze; it is not a criticism to say I love that they feel like a work in progress happening before your eyes being born from stone they are personally carving themselves out of, but they could immortalize any moment in the process of that progress and it would be great.  

Rex Darling vocalist Catherine (Hunsinger) is just effortless and has such stellar tone under constant control and sounds like it can go anywhere she wants, beautiful voice.  

Stagbriar are deep long running friends of mine, and their song “Open Floor Plan” is a crown jewel of theirs to me, I love the way it uses this simple rotating bassline polyrhythmically against their duo harmonies. 

Dear Blanca boys will always have a special place in my heart, not the least of which because Dylan Dickerson, their leading man, has been so helpful and encouraging via his role at Comfort Monk promoting my latest release Phantom Limbs.

Death Ray Robin, Desiree Richardson’s solo project is another favorite new person for me. I saw her perform also at GrungeProm last year for the first time and oh wow, is she gifted or what? I knew immediately a fellow meticulous producer who knows exactly what they want from a song they made, and has a tight control of vision and execution to boot, but she not only crafts beats and chord progressions and soundscapes from scratch but there was a moment she abandoned the mic entirely, because she didn’t need it whatsoever and turned her set over to the opera within and it was as mesmerizing to watch her balance it all as it was to hear.  

And last but certainly not least my friend Alyssa Stewart, whose project Local Honey opened my Phantom Limbs Album Release last October. Columbia has rarely seen as erudite a songwriter and poet, who also developed a live set that sounded like a seasoned professional after only a couple of public performances. With many years of stage performance and classical vocal performance training, there’s certainly a foundation to explain such ease but it’s such a different experience becoming vulnerable with your own songwriting in front of perfect strangers. And she met the moment of her first outing at New Brookland Tavern with such aplomb, ease, and whimsy, knowing that nerves could best her at moment was impossible. I couldn’t have been more impressed nor have gushed more to her afterwards. I really hope everyone gets to hear her and see her perform her original music in this region and beyond. If she wants it, she’s got a cool music future. 

Oh and p.s. I’m happy People Person is a thing again in Columbia. 

JASPER: What do you think about Columbia's art/music scene and how has it changed over the years? 

HATFIELD: I think Covid brought a lot of communal art experience to such a halt that it altered the reality of the return to normal. It actually feels like there are 5 or 6 music scenes happening all at once right now. I think some folks are playing catch up, but some folks are trying to start things for the first time that they didn’t have a chance to start for two years. It’s a bit difficult to keep up with the sheer volume of scene activity happening. A lot of my peers from before Covid hit haven’t been as active since, and it’s been tricky getting back at it even for Numbtongue. So I think what I’m seeing is almost too much of a good thing? It’s hard to call it bad but I think Columbia has grown performance opportunities given the types of venues that host music downtown has diversified and you still have the old haunts that host music. Places are selling out for shows and it’s kinda crazy overdrive some weeks. It has actually gotten way harder if not impossible to avoid booking a date that doesn’t conflict with someone else’s show lately. Which I suppose is a good problem to have. I think it just snuck up on me.

So I think there’s a fair amount of activity that is siloed and invisible across a few music scenes right now. I do think there seem to be more opportunities now than ever to seek a performance, but it does create the challenge of being able to do anything unique enough as an independent local to make a statement or draw. But as far as cultural growth, I am completely enamored with Columbia’s local non-chain business developments from Noma bistro, Transmission Arcade, Curiosity Coffee, The Warmouth, All Good Books, etc. That’s just the start of a very long list of new businesses over near where I live in town. Downtown Columbia at least seems more vibrant and diverse than ever. So despite the sense of rarity shows might have held in the past, there’s some rare air were all living in still trying to move past Covid and it feels like everyone is trying to get as much done as possible before the world tried to end again. I don’t know maybe I’m making a mountain out of a mole hill. It seems great?

JASPER: What advice do you have for other artists?

HATFIELD: Never stop. If you’re an artist, keep creating. If you’re an aspiring artist, keep creating. You or the world will only be the better for it. Create, oh creator, and thus be recreated.

JASPER: Any other things you want folks to know 

HATFIELD: Stream my new record Phantom Limbs, it’s available everywhere. 

You can see Numbtoungue this Sunday, April 23rd at New Brookland Tavern with Secret Guest, Summer of Snakes, and Gamine at 6pm. Also make sure to wish Bobby a happy Birthday!

Facebook Event

Steel Hands Brewery Announces FREE Nashville Nights Concert Series

Once the Students are gone and the Locals come out to play …

Recognizing the fact that Columbia and the Midlands area are so much more than a college community, Steel Hands Brewery has announced a series of free concerts at their Cayce brewery every Friday night starting June 2nd and going into August 11th.

Curated and hosted by Michael Haney, Nashville Nights will offer family friendly performances mostly by Nashville-based singer songwriters, but kicking the series off is Channing Wilson. A Georgia Boy, Wilson plans to bring his band for this special performance on June 2nd.

A singer songwriter, Wilson has performed with or written for the likes of Luke Combs, the Oak Ridge Boys, Travis Tritt, and Riley Green. His work is raw, gritty, and honest. He says he grew up listening to Waylon and Wille, and that his dad was a huge Hank Williams, Jr. fan—all of which influenced him as he was developing his chops and is still evident in his music today.

Channing Wilson

The series follows Wilson with SC native Chuck Cannon. A singer songwriter whose music ranges from country to Irish folk and many genres in between, Cannon has written for Toby Keith, John Michael Montgomery, Winonna Judd, Lonestar, Night Ranger, Sarah Buxton, his late wife Lari White, and more.

Chuck Cannon

Cayce Mayor Elise Partin calls Steel Hands Brewery a “destination brewery,” saying the “musical experiences that they bring to our region is unparalleled.”

Additional artists filling out the series are Paul McDonald, Levi Lowry, Ben Donaher, Chris Canterbury, Lone Hollow and more. Check out the entire lineup with thumbnails on what to expect.

And check back with The Jasper Project as we keep you up to date on what’s coming next for Steel Hands Brewery this spring and summer.

Jasper Talks with Lindsay Holler Ahead of the Southern Sounds Music Festival

For the first time, the Koger Center will host a free, outdoor music festival on April 30th, 2023, from 5 to 8 p.m. The festival, titled “Southern Sounds Music Festival,” continues the “Southern Sounds” series that the Koger Center started earlier this year. The featured acts are Lindsay Holler, Rebekah Todd and Admiral Radio, with the latter being the act to introduce the series altogether. Now that Lindsay Holler has moved from the Lowcountry to the capital city, she has gotten to really start feeling for the magic of Columbia music performance. We spoke to Lindsay Holler about what it’s like to be a part of this lineup, becoming a part of the ever-growing Columbia music scene, and more.

Jasper: What’s the one thing you’re most excited about with this music festival?

Holler: I’m in the process of finishing recording a new record, so this show is an opportunity for my band and I to start taking these new songs and studio arrangements and working them out on stage. From my experience, songs can sometimes take on a new life when they migrate from studio to stage.

Jasper: This is the first free music festival of this scale produced by the Koger Center. How does it feel to be a part of a brand-new project like this?

Holler: It’s a great opportunity for my band and I, and we are grateful to be a part of it! The Koger Center obviously has an amazing reputation in Columbia, and as a recent transplant, this kind of festival affords us some additional exposure for my band, when we’re able to share a bill with multiple acts.

Jasper: Have you worked with Admiral Radio or Rebekah Todd before?

Holler: I’ve never had the opportunity to work with Rebekah Todd. I have had the pleasure of working with Admiral Radio many times before. When I lived in Charleston, I produced a concert series at the Charleston Music Hall, called the “Women &” series. Becca was gracious enough to come down to Charleston and perform in several of these “Women &” concerts. I’ve performed with all of Admiral Radio several times in Charleston too, but this is my first Columbia show with them!

Jasper: What’s your favorite thing about performing live? What pushed you to pursue music performance as a career?

Holler: I’ve always been able to sing, and started out singing in the church choir and school chorus when I was growing up. I was accepted to Berklee College of Music, on a vocal scholarship, and earned a Bachelor’s in Jazz Performance from the College of Charleston. Once I got out of college, I focused on writing my own songs and working on my own sound. The music scene in Charleston was a fruitful place, when I was coming up – lots of talented creative people to play with and try things. I love performing live and communicating with people. It’s a collective experience that is so exciting and can’t be replicated!

Jasper: Have you gotten acquainted with the local Columbia music scene? Have you played anywhere locally since you moved here, or are there any places on your performance bucket list?

Holler: I’m still new to the scene here and finding my way. Back in the day, when I was still living in Charleston, I did come up to play some shows at Conundrum in West Cola and The White Mule on Main Street.

The Southern Sounds Music Festival will take place on the Koger Center’s Plaza Stage. Food and drinks will be for sale through Horseshoe Catering and food truck vendors. If you have any questions, contact the Koger Center at (803) 777-7500.

Jack Williams Concert at Tree of Life (ToL) Coffeehouse

JACK WILLIAMS

The non-profit ToL Coffeehouse is now working to restart its singer/songwriter concert series, which began 30 years ago in Columbia and was paused during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jack Williams, a nationally touring performer and long-time Coffeehouse favorite who grew up in our area, will perform April 22 at the Tree of Life Congregation at 6719 North Trenholm Road in Columbia. He will be performing with the Winterline Band, which consists of Columbia-area musicians Cary Taylor, Susan Taylor, and Danny Harlow.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with sandwiches from Groucho’s, plus desserts and beverages. Music starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 if purchased online in advance (at tol-coffeehouse.square.site) or $27 at the door.

The Coffeehouse music series had its roots in house concerts held by Dr. Jimmy Riddle, a Columbia psychiatrist with a passion for folk music. His concerts featured nationally touring singer/songwriters. About 1993, local singer songwriter Susan Corbett suggested holding similar concerts at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship at Heyward and Woodward streets in Shandon, where she served as religious education director. The concert series became known as the UU Coffeehouse.

“A bunch of us helped in a variety of ways — selling tickets at the door, helping run sound, managing the kitchen, setting up the sanctuary, putting posters around town, and anything else needed to hold shows,” said Mike Paget, then a member of the fellowship and longtime volunteer.

Paget took over as director of the series from about 2000 to 2013, when he moved to Kansas City, where he started the Green Guitar Folk House. Steve Fisher took over until the last concert at the UU in February 2017. The UU had decided to no longer host the event, and the Tree of Life Congregation picked it up.

Ironically, the Coffeehouse venue in Shandon was built in 1952 by the Tree of Life Congregation and served as its synagogue until it moved to Forest Acres in 1986. Ellis Paul kicked off the renamed ToL Coffeehouse series with a concert at the Trenholm Road synagogue Nov. 17, 2017. In another irony, Ellis Paul played Feb. 15, 2020, which turned out to be the series final concert before the COVID-19 pandemic caused the cancellation of the season’s final show, which had been planned for April 15.

If this event is successful, the volunteers who run the ToL Coffeehouse hope to launch a full series of four or five concerts this fall. 

Virginia Russo Joins Saul Seibert for Artists Showing Artists THIS THURSDAY

For the first installation of the Jasper Project’s Artists Showing Artists series taking place this Thursday night at 7 at The Living Room, Saul Seibert chose Artist Virginia Russo as one of the artists he would like to feature. 

Kara Virginia Russo is a visual and performance artist who grew up in the tiny lake towns of 1980's central Florida, before moving north and earning a BFA from Converse College in Spartanburg, SC. After living for a while in both Asia and Europe, she returned to settle with her husband and two children in South Carolina, where she splits her time as an artist between Columbia and Greenville. Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions from Charleston to Asheville.  

Most recently, she collaborated on Zion: a Composition by Saul Seibert, contributing album art, projection visuals, merchandise design and creation, and live ritual based performance art.

According to Russo, “My job as an artist is primarily to SEE, and only secondarily to communicate what I see. In expressing what is unseen (both within and without), I have found it helpful to use the visual language of an inner world I think of simply as The Planet. I like to explore the tension of navigating the wild terrain of the unseen from the safety of the imaginary. Think of my work as paintings, photographs, and explorer’s notes from a place you’ve never been, but one which feels immediately familiar.

“My pieces are built of layers upon layers of wet in wet watercolor and ink, relying on long experience to predict what the unleashed media might do, while staying open to surprise. Over the wet media (or occasionally under), I layer pencil, oil and chalk pastel, collage, and embroidery. I think of the wet media as attempts to paint mystery, and the dry media as attempts to expound and interpret to myself what I have painted, like notes in the margin of a well-loved book.” 

Russo continues, “My collaboration with Saul on Zion happened one day while he was looking at some of my recent work. I remember him sending me a message in response to some pieces that read simply, "I know this place."  I felt the same way the first time I heard the beginnings of the music. The work we've done together has been based on that ever since. We are artistically walking the same landscape. I see my role as simply making visible what is already there inside the music. When I listen to Zion, I'm transported to this place that is unique to Zion but is set in some other corner of my own imaginary world that all my work comes from. I can walk around, explore, see the features of this world, and then come back and paint it. The performance art is the same, I use the body as an instrument to convey visually the emotions and narrative of the piece in real time for the audience at live shows. I contribute all visual art for the project, from designing and hand printing the shirts, to the album art, to the bank of film that Ash Lennox, who does our live visual sets, pulls from. It's an incredible piece of music, and I still can't believe I get to collaborate on it. The musicians are phenomenal, I'm blown away every single time they play it.  

“Zion as a project was more or less part of my life as an artist for two years, from the very beginning of the project. It provided the steady thread all through an overseas move back to America, and all the transition that came with it. Zion stayed the same, I think the project kept me sane.  

“When the collaboration began, I had only been making art again for a year after a decade long hiatus. Zion provided the framework I needed to find my voice and confidence. I would ask Saul his opinion, and he would just say that he trusted me completely. I had complete artistic freedom, which was intimidating at first, but challenged me to grow as an artist in ways I'm grateful for. I grew into the project, in a sense. Every now and then, Saul would say something like "wouldn't it be cool if..." and I knew I was about to learn to do something I didn't think I could do. I picked up whole skill sets I had never tried before, ranging from stop motion, to illustration, to block printing. Saul had such confidence in my abilities, anything seemed possible. On top of that, Columbia has welcomed me into the creative community, and I can't imagine making art without all this support.” 

Join Jasper on Thursday night as we facilitate Rebekah Corbett’s project, Artists Showing Artists with Saul Seibert. Saul has invited poet-songwriters, Alyssa Stewart, and NoN (Keith Smyly), as well as his band King Saul and the Heretics. Art will be on display and available for sale by Virginia Russo, Adam Corbett, and Emily Moffitt. 

Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door. 

The Living Room, 6729 Two Notch Road #70, Columbia, SC, 29223

Tickets

jasperproject.org/artists-showing-artists/tickets

Refillable Jasper cups for beer and wine will be available for $10 as well as hotdogs and a selection of baked goods. 

All proceeds go toward supporting the Jasper Project’s mission.

Previewing the Parker Quartet’s Beethoven Cycle

“The length and impact the Parker Quartet has had on the School of Music is unique. The level of commitment they have to us is unparalled.” - Dean Tayloe Harding

“Although I know these works well, this will be the first time in my life that I’ve heard the complete cycle live. For our community and our students, this is really a once in a lifetime experience.” - Dan Sweaney

Photo by Beowulf Sheehan

It is an impressive feat to complete and perform a Beethoven string quartet. It is even more impressive when you perform all 16 of them in the span of one week. Despite the daunting task, the Parker Quartet are up to the challenge.

Founded and based in Boston, the Parker Quartet are the current quartet in residence at the University of South Carolina’s School of Music. Founded in 2002, the group currently consists of Daniel Chong (violin), Ken Hamao (violin), Jessica Bodner (viola) and Kee-Hyun Kim (cello). This year marks their tenth year of working with the music department, providing masterclasses for the dedicated students of USC and concerts for all audiences across the Midlands. They have grown so close with the music community and capital altogether; according to School of Music Dean Tayloe Harding, it is evident among the faculty and staff at the School of Music that the Quartet thinks of the city “as a second home.” Everyone at the School of Music has enjoyed getting to see the growth and development of this quartet alongside their own Gamecock musicians. “The beautiful thing about this quartet is that they’re young, but each member plays like they’ve been playing for decades, like the Emerson Quartet,” Harding said. “They play like they have been together as a group their whole lives. There is a unique symbiosis within the group and with the school that makes the residency so easy to sustain.” Associate Professor of Viola Dan Sweaney and his students have gotten to work extensively with the members of the quartet, and to him, all the members “have really become like family.” Alumni of the University continue to attend the concerts and often invite their own students to attend with them. Other projects that the Parker Quartet have accomplished through their residency include visiting schools in the area, working with the USC String Project and performing for the inmates at the DJJ Juvenile Detention Center.

To the untrained ear, this concert series may not sound so intimidating. In the past, the School of Music has conducted series of musical cycles for individual composers; one such cycle presented 32 of Beethoven’s piano sonatas as a concert series with Dr. Scott Price, the School of Music’s Coordinator of Piano pedagogy. Harding said, “That kind of series is way more common than the complete quartet cycle. It is rare for something on this scale to be done since the quartets make up a half, quarter, or full concert length on their own.” There have been other cycles of concerts for other famous composers at the School of Music, like a community Mozart festival back when Harding first arrived at the School of Music. There is a poignancy that this Beethoven cycle has that is incomparable to anything the department has ever done in the past, which automatically sets this series above any expectations audiences may have. The rarity of this Beethoven series is unmatched and a major incentive for audiences to attend. Beethoven’s string quartets are considered the pinnacle examples of the genre, and Carnegie Hall’s short guide to the group separates the pieces into three groups: Early Period, Middle Period and Late Period. The tones vary from the “introspective and tempestuous” Quartet in C-sharp Minor, Op. 131 to the “humorous” Quartet in F Major, Op. 59.

The School of Music and the Parker Quartet are partnering with Historic Columbia to host four of the six concerts at historical locations around the city. Each of these concert venues-Rutledge Chapel, the Robert Mills House, Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, and the Seibels House-all existed during Beethoven’s lifetime. “Chamber music was originally meant to be played in the home and later in small venues,” Sweaney said. “The historic homes are precisely where chamber music would have been played during the classical era.” This cycle bolsters relationships between local Columbia organizations and departments within the University umbrella and develops the foot traffic among the involved facilities further.

The venues and lack of price tag for tickets all contribute to the mission of making classical music accessible to audiences across Columbia. The growth in accessibility provides a pathway to a newfound appreciation for the genre, which is exactly what Sweaney and Harding want audiences to experience. “We hope to reach people who love chamber music and some people who’ve never heard a string quartet before,” Sweaney said. “They might just become chamber music lovers after this.” According to Harding, even though several of the venues have already sold out, the larger venue performances are located on campus-specifically in Johnson Hall of Darla Moore School of Business and the School of Music Recital Hall-and there will be livestreams available for each performance.

You can reserve seats for any or all concerts online through Eventbrite. For more information or if you have any questions, contact Audra Vaz, the Assistant Dean for Advancement for the School of Music, at audra.vaz@sc.edu. If you want to read more about the quartets, check out the Carnegie Hall’s guide.

Artists Showing Artists: A Night with Saul Seibert and Friends

Jasper is excited to introduce a new event series, Artists Showing Artists, where we invite a local artist to curate an evening of their favorite artists from different disciplines. Our hope is that the series will give fans a chance to get to know the featured artist better through seeing the local artists who inspire them, while also highlighting these lesser-known creators. Our first event will be March 23rd at The Living Room from 7–9pm, and we are featuring local musician and writer Saul Siebert as our curator. He has invited a selection of poet-songwriters, visual artists, and his band—King Saul and the Heretics—to perform.

Performers

Saul Seibert

Seibert is a performer, writer and composer from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is the former singer and songwriter for South Carolina's veteran punk rock band, Boo Hag. Seibert has contributed musical scores to various commercials as well as independent cult classic films such as, "Party Hardy" and last year's award-winning film, "Bad Girls". His most recent work can be heard in the popular mainstream film He's All That. In 2022, Seibert’s musical arrangements and compositions were adapted to the much-anticipated video game Bugs and Boo Hags. In 2023, Seibert released the instrumental concept album, Zion, A Composition Acts 1, 2, & 3. Currently Seibert resides in Columbia, SC, and is writing and recording a record set to release in 2023 under the name King Saul and The Heretics. He has been a contributing writer to Jasper Magazine and the popular blog Manifestation Station. Smoke weed. Live free. 

Alyssa Stewart

Steward is a Poet and Songwriter who has naturalized to Columbia over the past twenty-five years. On her art she says, “I’m so glad to serve whatever work comes to me—be it writing, singing, dancing, or any other form of creative expression, and grateful for the abundance of communities around town in which to share. I would be less myself without my friends and family.”

NoN (Keith Smyly)

The genre known as "alternative" Hip Hop is a meandering path that leads listeners in many different directions. Within it, there is such a vast array of so many styles that one would question whether or not the artists that make it up could be classified as a singular art form. The ties that bind these practitioners together is in its cerebral poeticism, its complete disregard for conventional subject matter and its use of typically untraditional soundscapes. NoN, Columbia based Hip Hop project, conceptualized in its entirety by musician/writer Keith Smyly, sits comfortably in this "genre." With the release of two EPs—"Elusive Positive Aspects” and “Random Acts”—along with a full-length release titled So Lame, NoN set out to be the tie that binds humanity together with his lyrics. His leave no one out approach saw him pen songs like "Hearse Surfer," which seamlessly connected topics like child mental health, a failing class system, organized religion, and death; to "Pride, Dice and Chips," which recognizes the burdens and difficulty of putting philosophical questions of self and honesty into art; to "Free Mustache Rides," an homage to a favorite sexual past time. With a new release entitled Picture Album in the works, NoN will keep it personal but not to the exclusion of listeners: "I make people music. I try to pull from very, very personal experiences with the idea that most folks go through similar things. Human emotion is human emotion. And, while positive aspects may be elusive, they do exist." NoN. It is an alternative…to whatever else it is you’re listening to. 

Visual Artists

Art will be on display and available to purchase from the following artists:

Kara Virginia Russo

Russo is an abstract mixed media and interdisciplinary artist, whose work deals with themes of mysticism and spiritual reality. After earning her BFA from Converse College in 2005, she lived in Asia and Europe before returning to settle in South Carolina with her husband and two children. Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions in Columbia, Greenville, and Charleston. 

Adam Corbett

Corbett is a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and visual artist from Lexington, South Carolina. After releasing numerous records, helping to produce a musical, and taking a break from his career as a music teacher, Corbett branched out into visual art as a way to cope with the COVID-19 lockdown. Throughout that period, he has experimented with various mediums in a variety of formats focusing always on exploration, play, and following his muse.

Emily Moffitt

Moffitt is a recent graduate of the University of South Carolina's School of Visual Art and Design. Growing up, she always found enjoyment through sketching and drawing her own original characters or art based on her favorite books and video games. Now as a young artist, she aims to blend the realms of fine art and illustration through her work, always experimenting with new techniques and materials to create new works. As she gets older, she continues to learn how events from a person's life can shape their art and style, for better or worse. Her favorite media to work with include ink pens, India ink, and gouache, and she values the power of mark making through these tools.

Tickets for the event are $12 in advance—and can be purchased online—and will be $15 at the door.
Refillable Jasper cups for beer and wine will be available for $10 as well as hotdogs and a selection of baked goods.
All proceeds go toward supporting the Jasper Project’s mission.

Philharmonic Collaborates with Local Nonprofits to Present a Weekend of Music and Sensation

By Liz Stalker

Ayano Kataoka

This coming weekend, the South Carolina Philharmonic will present two noteworthy concerts at the Koger Center: Firebirds of a Feather on Saturday, February 18th at 7:30 p.m., and Sensory Friendly Family Concert on Sunday, February 19th at 3:00 p.m. Both concerts are a part of the Philharmonic’s Music for a Cause program, a program that involves partnering with other non-profit organizations in order to raise awareness and funds for important causes through the Philharmonic’s various Masterworks concerts.

Firebirds of a Feather is a concert centered around the fantastical nature of our aviary friends. The concert is bookended by Igor Stravinsky, starting with Song of the Nightingale, and concluding with The Firebird Suite—one of his most renowned works—with Takashi Yoshimatsu’s composition, Bird Rhythmics, at its center. The SC Philharmonic’s Marketing Director, Chad Henderson, describes the selection of pieces as “a great opportunity for audiences to ignite their creativity and let the story form in their mind based on how they interpret the music.”

The Philharmonic will play alongside featured soloist Ayano Kataoka, a percussionist whose marimba skills will be particularly highlighted through these pieces. Kataoka started performing as a marimbist as early as nine years old, leaving her home in Japan to tour around China. She went on to amass a number of impressive degrees in music and perform all over the world. Kataoka is currently the Professor of Percussion at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and continues to be a season artist of the Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Center of Performing Arts in Manhattan.

Firebirds of a Feather is being put on in partnership with Feathered Friends Forever, an organization dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation, and sanctuary of abused and neglected birds as well as adoption services for responsible bird lovers. Patrons who get there early can check out the live birds that will be in the lobby prior to the show, thanks to handlers from the organization. The birds in attendance will be highly social, imbued with some of the playfulness of the music that will follow, and present a unique opportunity for the audience to, as Henderson puts it, “learn more about these fantastic animals and create a personal connection to aviary rescue.”

Sensory Friendly Family Concert is, at its core, a concert designed for all families, inclusive to children of all ages and abilities. This concert, which will be just under an hour in length and feature themes from well-known children’s movies, such as the Harry Potter franchise and Moana, invites audience members to participate in whatever way they feel moved, such as singing, dancing, vocalizing, and moving about. The concert will also prioritize the ability of audience members to exit the theater with ease as needed. In addition to this, there will be a variety of accommodations available to theatergoers, including a quiet room, spinners, and changing stations that accommodate children with disabilities, and the lobby and auditorium will both be open an hour before the concert begins.

The Philharmonic has partnered with a number of organizations for Sensory Friendly Family Concert. Their current partners include The Unumb Center for Neurodevelopment, The SC Commission for the Blind, Family Connections of SC, Key Changes Therapy Services, Carolina Autism and Neurodevelopment Research Center, and Palmetto Animal Assisted Life Services. This concert will be the first of many Philharmonic inclusive family concerts.

“The SC Philharmonic is definitely committed to making these accessible family concerts a more regular occurrence,” Henderson shares on the commitment to inclusion, “It’s important that we make it possible for everyone in our community to experience symphonic music. The Koger Center is dedicated to working with us on diminishing boundaries as we go forward.”

Tickets for both events are available on the Koger Center’s website

Tuning in to Admiral Radio – An Interview with Becca and Coty and Preview of their Upcoming Koger Center Concert

“As a kid, the Koger Center was like that crown jewel of the city where so many foundational memories live for me. It’s really an honor to be able to perform here, especially with Coty. It’s something I never dreamed would happen.” - Becca Smith

On Thursday, January 26, Admiral Radio will perform at the Koger Center for the Arts at 7:30 PM to kick off their new series, “Live in the Lobby: Southern Sounds.” If you’re unfamiliar with Admiral Radio, the husband-and-wife singer-songwriter duo of Becca Smith and Coty Hoover is known for their unique Americana style of musicianship. Their name stems from their beloved eponymous radio from 1941, which promptly inspired the duo’s passion for delivering comfort and storytelling through music. To newcomers who could hear them for the first time at the Koger Center, Admiral Radio describes their sound as something “not quite country or traditional bluegrass, but rather something in between of all those things,” taking inspiration from artists like Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel and Shovels & Rope. Always on the lookout for inspiration and new material, each artist they listen to and love end up being reflected in their own work.

The new series, “Southern Sounds,” adds to the lobby repertoire at the Koger Center as they continue to maximize the use of every space within the facility. When it comes to describing the sound of the South, Becca and Coty say it as “hard to pin down. No matter the genre, whether it’s jazz, country, R&B, rap, folk, rock, soul, indie, or something in between, it’s the stories we tell that seem to resonate most and cross over.”

“Live in the Lobby” paves the way for more intimate concert settings, reducing the physical and metaphorical barrier between the audience and the performer.

“I grew up going to the Koger Center. It was something that my late grandmother had a strong appreciation for, and she made an effort to share the arts with me,” Becca says. “If you’re from the Midlands or even the state at large, you know this venue.”

As the Koger Center continues to define itself as a performing arts venue for all forms of music, not just classical, the duo is excited for the continuous development of Columbia’s music scene. “There are so many things to love about Columbia’s music scene. Columbia’s scene reflects its people: it’s DIY, gritty, humble, and special. What we love most is the sense of community we’ve found,” the duo says. They’d love for more listening rooms and general spaces to share a bond over music with the rest of Columbia, and the Koger Center continues to push for those opportunities, too.

With an abundant level of love for their craft and for Columbia always visible to those around them, Admiral Radio is an absolute treat to watch live. They thrive on the communication shared between themselves and the audience when they perform. “Sharing feels like a moot point without an audience there to help make sense of the world with you. Hearing people’s stories and knowing their names is what gives us the biggest feeling of inspiration and purpose when we perform live,” Becca and Coty say. The attitude they share towards live performances sets the tone for a magnificent evening of music and camaraderie this Thursday, and it’s something you won’t want to miss.  

Jasper Presents a Two-Part Valentine's Day Event -- An Evening with Bernie Love A Tribute to Elvis AND Love Hurts/Love Heals - New Art from Wilma King and K. Wayne Thornley

Jasper Presents a Two-Part Valentine’s Day Celebration:

Love Hurts/Love Heals featuring the art of Wilma King and K. Wayne Thornley followed by An Evening with Bernie Love—A Tribute to Elvis, both at 701 Whaley

Worried about taking that special someone to yet another crowded and overpriced boring Valentine’s Day dinner? Put your fears aside as The Jasper Project has your Valentine’s Day festivities figured out!

Join us on Tuesday February 14th at 701 Whaley for a two-part arts party.

Part One – from 5 – 7 pm in the 701 Community Hall Gallery we welcome esteemed Columbia-based artists Wilma King and K. Wayne Thornley for their interpretations of the phenomenon of Love Hurts/ Love Heals. Both artists’ works will line the halls for your interpretive pleasure, and you and your date are invited to enjoy wine and light snacks as you view the work.

Part Two – from 7 – 10 pm and following the Love Hurts/Love Heals exhibit, wander just a few feet over to the 701 Whaley Market Space where a night of Vegas-style entertainment awaits you both at An Evening with Bernie Love – A Tribute to Elvis. Featuring Patrick Baxley in the title role accompanied by Marty Fort, Jay Matheson, and Kevin Brewer, this tribute will focus on some of the King’s most romantic musical numbers performed in a classic Vegas cocktail party type setting.

Food will be provided by Chef Joe Turkaly and champagne and beer will be available for purchase.

Did you wait too late to shop for a special little something special for your beloved? No worries! Columbia artists Cait Maloney, Lindsay Radford, and Gina Langston Brewer will be on hand with a selection of their original romantic art gifts, and portrait artist Jamie Peterson will be commissioning small portraits of you and your sweetie based on photos you have taken at the event.

Doors for Bernie Love open at 7 pm with the main event kicking off at 8:30 pm when the King arrives in true Vegas style. Tickets to An Evening with Bernie Love are $20 and are available in advance at www.Jasper.org or by clicking here. A limited number of tables are available for $500.

Love Hurts/Love Heals is a free drop-in event. .

Welcome to 2023! Cola-based Artists Share Their New Year’s Resolutions

We often struggled with creating our own New Year’s Resolutions, so this year, Jasper turned to creators themselves to see what they hoped for their 2023s. Hoping you take as much inspiration from these as we as did! 

Artists shared the simple but deep desire to create more, from the general to the specific:

“To sketch everyday” – Laura Garner Hine

“To create more art, see more art and share more art” – Keith Tolen

“To create a fresh collection of meaningful works to show by the end of the year.” – Ashley Herring Warthen

“To be more consistent and spend time in the studio every day.” – Olga Yuhkno

“To sketch a few times each week even though I am working a regular job and still in school.” – Heather Lynn Endicott

“To complete my translation of Havamal, and put together the video where I tell the story.” – Price Lassahn-Worrell

Some artists addressed the desire to return to unfinished projects – with both earnest desire and humor:

“To finish a few of the many unfinished works sitting in my studio. To find creative inspiration and spurs.” – B.A. Hohman

“My 2023 New Year's resolution is to finish all the craft projects from 2022 that I should have done in 2021, since I started them in 2020 after buying the supplies for them in 2019.” – Valerie Lamott

A recurrent theme was the desire to stop listening to the nagging voice in the back of our minds that tries to scare us or quiet us:

“To be less critical of my art and to be more open to ideas flowing in and reconnect with my inner voice.” Renee Rouillier

“To override my inner critic and follow my intuition.” – Ginny Meret

Similarly, artists shared a desire for understanding of themselves and the space they occupy:

“To respect the fact that life brings changes and art sometimes has to occupy a different position on the list of priorities.” – Mary Ann Haven

“To paint more of what I WANT to paint.” – Sean Madden

“To paint and write (about my daily experiences, culture, and cooking) on a daily basis in 2023. I could not manage to paint or write regularly in 2022 although I realize and internalize how painting and writing are effectively helpful to my inner peace and well-being (my mental health) and nurture my inner child.” – Khin Myat

The desire for self-exploration came up again and again:

“To explore new mediums, to be more vulnerable, to be more generous.” – Lucy Bailey

“To delve deeper into the world of sound & rhythm by availing myself of educational opportunities. The goal being to broaden and enhance my understanding of how sound affects us and to incorporate that knowledge into my craft.” – Dick Moons

“To play with more mix media, experiment more with oils, delve into interchangeable art with my business partner Barry wheeler who always pushes me to keep exploring.” – Michael Krajewski

“To allow Artist-Self more Exploration of Shadow Self//privately (perhaps publicly) …let those kids merge—dissolve some things and mend some others, all the while being colorful, honest and vulnerable through visual & written prophetic blabber!” – Emily Wright

And, artists expressed a desire to grow within a community, with goals for unity and collaboration:

“1. Listen to people more and work on humility as well as developing healthy, in person relationship that encourage aggressive kindness. 2. Help cultivate and create a culture of collaboration with “Columbia-Centric" artists from all mediums in order to reinforce a positive art infrastructure. 3. Finish writing and producing three original albums. 4. Stay clean and sober. 5. Serve the city.” – Saul Seibert

“To see, and be a part of, more collaboration with artists and our communities. Utilizing our talents and materials to create and unify....” – Gina Langston Brewer

The common message among these various goals is this: create what you want to create, create whenever you can, and create in constellations. The act of making something, of there now being something where there once was nothing, may often be simple, but it is magical. Go into 2023 treating yourself with grace and with the open-mind and willingness to create something where there wasn’t something before.

And Happy New Year—from all of us!

Columbia Artists Share Their Christmas Wishes for the Art Community

It’s that time of year again, where we deck our halls and trim our trees, scoot closer on our couches to those we love, and curl up tight in our blankets as we sip hot chocolate (which South Carolinians can actually do this year—brr!). It’s in these moments of peace and joy we often close our eyes to make our Christmas wish. This year, here at Jasper, we asked a handful of our local artists their wish, specifically: “If you could make one Christmas wish for the Columbia arts community, what would it be?”

Artists wished for more space—places old and new alike where they can freely share their creative gifts with the city they love.

“Main St. Back…”
—Michael Krajewski, visual artist

“More places to show (and make) art!”
—Lucas Sams, visual artist

“An artist’s alley in a public space where anyone can contribute however/whenever they want!”
—Cait Maloney, visual artist

“As a member of the Cola arts community, if I had one present for Christmas, it would be to have more spaces like CMFA (or to expand CMFA), where community members can rehearse and perform and support each other (for free)!! CMFA has been invaluable to Bonnie [Boiter-Jolley] and I’s company, the Columbia Repertory Dance Company!” 
—Stephanie Wilkins, dancer and Artistic Director of Columbia Repertory Dance Company

Artists wished for an expansion of funds for local artists so that they can express themselves fully and without burden.

“I think the community could give back to the artists—no strings attached guaranteed income for those who pour into the community with their creative gifts and talents. This would help artists have the opportunity to at least cover living expenses due to the increase of the cost of living and still have the opportunity to pursue a creative career.”
—Maya Smith, visual artist

I’d wish for sufficient financing for artists to present their art to the community. There are many costs involved in producing a play, a concert, a ballet, and other art events that ticket prices alone cannot cover. To have the financial support from the public and private sectors to present our art in the best way possible would be an amazing Christmas present.
— Becky Hunter, performer

Artists wished to spend more time with each other, to acknowledge each other and create inter-community support.

“More togetherness throughout the arts community where everyone mutually supports each other, meets together quarterly, and promotes each other.” 
—Arischa Conner Frierson, actor

“A 3-Day retreat filled with Skill Shares and Improv and Games so that we can learn to love each other even more. Like Family <3”
—Monifa Lemons, poet and actor

And, finally, artists wished for the chance to grow as humans and creators, not just within themselves but within a community as a whole where each person can better the other.

“My holiday wish (mostly for myself but also) for the Columbia arts community is for the courage to be open. I know I can seem insular because of my own internal obstacles, but I think collaboration can elevate our art beyond our skillsets and help us fulfill and even exceed our creative concepts. Collaboration builds our artistic support systems and creates informed testing audiences. While I believe it’s important for one to make the art one needs to make without regard to how others may receive it, I believe it’s also nice to be able to ask for constructive criticism and maybe be given encouragement along the way to a project’s completion. I don’t know if I’ll personally gain this kind of courage by the time January rolls around (or ever), but I’m always hopeful I will and that others might, too!”
— Desirée Richardson (Death Ray Robin), musician

“As a social worker, I was trained to practice from a ‘strengths perspective.’ This perspective acknowledges challenges while encouraging us to identify and work with whatever resources we have access to within ourselves and the community. So, the gift I’m hopeful for this year is our collective vision to see the strengths that exist within the Columbia arts community and to employ those resources in fostering expressive projects that bring meaning to people’s lives.”
—Lang Owen, musician

“My Christmas wish for Columbia is…more people of skill and intellect and intuition and caring go see more shows and performances and exhibitions. These people would then share their thoughts and impressions with the rest of us. Helping to strengthen and spur the conversations between art and artists and patrons. CRITICS! I want more critics of every size, shape, gender, sex, color and perspective to do good work in Columbia.”
—Darion McCloud, performer and storyteller

“I want all the artists and soon-to-be artists in Columbia to find, embrace, and share their gift. I hope that even when it’s dark they see they are loved and supported.”
—Adam Corbett, musician and visual artist

From our family of artists and art supporters, we thank everyone for the love they have shown this community this year, and our Christmas wish for you today and always is that you have all the joy and support there is to offer. Merriest of Christmases—and have an extra boozy eggnog on us!

THE BEAT: My Favorite Music of 2022 by Kevin Oliver

The following is a list of my favorite music released by Columbia, South Carolina artists in 2022. It is woefully incomplete, as there were many other artists and albums I enjoyed this year, but these are the ones that have really made a home in my head for the foreseeable future. 

 

1. Saul Seibert, etc., Zion: A Composition

An extremely ambitious multimedia project is probably impossible to fully appreciate in just its audio form, but the three movements that comprise Zion are at least enjoyable that way, if not as mind-blowing as the full three-dimensional live experience. The ebb and flow of the various parts, instruments, and their arrangement throughout create a psychedelic space in which a listener can exist however they choose–passive acceptance, interactive challenge, or somewhere in between. 

Music | Zion. A Composition. (bandcamp.com) 

2. Lang Owen, She's My Memory

It’s not hyperbole to say that Columbia hasn’t ever produced a songwriter quite like Lang Owen before; his combination of 70’s singer-songwriter style and an incisive, observational writing technique would be rare anywhere these days. The songs here are his best so far and defy a simple paragraph explanation–so do me a favor, go listen and let them speak to you, too. To paraphrase “The Long Way,” he’ll take you the long way and then bring you back another. 

She's My Memory | Lang Owen (bandcamp.com)

3. EZ Shakes, Everything Changes

An Americana powerhouse of a band over their two full length releases, on this brief three-song EP, EZ Shakes announced their transition into a sonically more rock ‘n’ roll soundscape. The Velvets-meets-Neil Young feel of “Damn Fools” is driven by the most addictive two-note bass line ever, courtesy bassist Jim Taylor, while singer and bandleader Zach Seibert stretches his vocal instrument on “Waiting on the Bubble To Pop,” a Wilco-esque slice of sublime, chiming tunefulness that shifts gears effortlessly. It’s a cliche to say it, but the worst thing about this release is that at three songs, it’s way too damn short. 

▶︎ Everything Changes | E.Z. Shakes (bandcamp.com) 

4. Numbtongue, Phantom Limbs

Bobby Hatfield has been turning heads and ears with drama-filled rock since his days with The Sea Wolf Mutiny. As Numbtongue, his musical vision has only expanded, eschewing the limitations of a traditional ‘band’ with a combination of acoustic and synthetic sounds. On this new album, the arrangements are next level, with multiple themes threaded throughout and even the smallest elements adding texture and finesse to the songs. There are traces of everything from Radiohead to Tyler the Creator here arranged in chasms of genre and style that Hatfield not only manages to cross but bind together in a way that somehow makes perfect sense.

▶︎ Phantom Limbs | numbtongue (bandcamp.com)  

5. Brandy and the Butcher, Lucky Foot

There are female singers, and then there are frontwomen. Liz Hale is the latter, a blast-your-face-off vocalist who’s all attitude, all the time. The band has no choice but to keep up with her energy level, and they succeed handily here, diving headlong into a bracing set of songs that evoke all the great punk and rock raconteurs, from The Stooges and MC5 to The Cramps and X. 

▶︎ Lucky Foot | Brandy and the Butcher (bandcamp.com) 

6. Candy Coffins, Once Do It With Feeling 

Jame Lathren has a fondness for 80s goth-rock and the dramatic flair of David Bowie, and that comes through loud and clear on the darkly rendered songs here as he snarls and sneers. The delay effects from former Bachelors Of Art guitarist Tom Alewine don’t hurt in setting the proper mood, either. But it is Lathren’s songwriting that lifts this above being a simple genre exercise and into classic songcraft as he details the rise and fall of a relationship over the course of ten songs. 

 Candy Coffins (bandcamp.com)  

7. Moses Andrews, Exodus Pt II

Confessional songwriting is a genre unto itself, but Moses Andrews puts himself out there in ways not often heard with this collection. Contributing bass, drums, organ, synth, and vocals along with a supporting cast of locals such as Cecil Decker and Sean Thomson, Andrews touches on hip-hop, country, pop, and indie rock sounds in the process of illustrating the world through his own experiences with others. The mirror he’s holding up here is uncomfortable, but entirely accurate and needed. 

▶︎ Exodus Pt. II | Moses Andrews III (bandcamp.com)

8. Rex Darling, Living Room Diaries

One of the more adventurous live acts to surface in Columbia in recent years, this recorded effort delivers on that promise with atmospheric, exotic pop music that packs a surprising punch. There are traces of cabaret jazz and more than a little Amy Winehouse in vocalist Catherine Hunsinger’s style, while the guitar work of John Vail introduces jam rock and 70s fusion into the improbable mix. All that, and the songs are playful, inventive, and catchy as hell. 

https://open.spotify.com/album/2mfp1JvgUm5jguQeEXMBI2?si=TNuD1sLzQqCJyT5fwihboQ 

9. Todd Mathis and Clayton Mathis, Home

Siblings have made some great music together, but this is no sibling harmony album. Instead, these are the brothers who sit on their dad’s back porch reminiscing about all the shit they did to each other as kids. Steeped in family ties, this is some of Todd’s most endearing and accessible work.

Home | Todd Mathis, Clayton Mathis | Todd Mathis (bandcamp.com) 

10. Hillmouse, See You In The Car 

Tyler Gordon’s current musical vehicle is transporting a nicely done batch of new songs here, the kind of timeless melodies that evokes everyone from Tommy Keene to Ed Sheeran–a wide range, to be sure. His world-weary vocal delivery stops the proceedings from skidding into saccharine-sweet territory, instead parking Hillmouse in a post-emo lethargic swoon. 

▶︎ See You In The Car | Hillmouse (bandcamp.com)

THE BEAT: The Living Room Aims for Listening Room Vibe by Kevin Oliver

When the subject of venues in Columbia comes up, the most often repeated “missing link” in the local scene is the presence of a real listening room–a space for music that’s not connected to a bar, or a restaurant, or any other business, really. The last time we had something like that here would be the UU Coffeehouse Series that the Unitarian Universalist Church in Shandon hosted for many years, later shifted to the Tree of Life synagogue for a couple of seasons. It’s an important option, especially for the kind of thoughtful, sometimes quieter folk and acoustic acts that don’t translate as well in a noisy, more boisterous room. 

Inspired in part by those UU shows, the new venue dubbed “The Living Room” aims to provide just such an opportunity at its space on Two Notch Road in northeast Columbia that the spiritual community Jubilee! Circle has called home since 2019.

Rev. Candace Chellew is the pastor at Jubilee! Circle, and she says it was an idea borne of both necessity and also a desire to open up the space to more events.

“As with most businesses that survived the pandemic, we decided to use one of the best assets we have–our space,” She says. We’ve rebranded it as The Living Room because it has that cozy atmosphere, and we added areas with couches and coffee tables to complete the ‘living room’ feel.” 

The goal, she adds, is to mold the space to each performer’s needs. They’ve already hosted singer-songwriter Lang Owen and performances by the Columbia Operatic Laboratory’s “Pirates Of Penzance” sing-along, and this Friday, December 16th, they’ll welcome indie folk and rock singer-songwriter Danielle Howle, performing with her current semi-acoustic trio that includes Josh Roberts on lead guitar.

Lang Owen performing at the Living Room

It’s as much about the attendees for Chellew as it is about the performing artists, she says.
“We intend to make this a space to enhance the lives of people who attend, and to support the local music scene and the artists seeking such a listening room atmosphere to build their audience and share their talents.”

The eventual goal is to replicate what the UU Coffeehouse series did, bringing in national and regional talent in addition to the more local artists, with at least one show per month. 

“Love is what we are, that is what we should always be teaching and projecting into the world. The arts are to us a way to extend that love to the community as a whole; music and arts are healing ministries that bring together people of all political, social, ethnic, and economic stripes, and Jubilee! Circle seeks to remind everyone of our ultimate unity with one another at a spiritual level.” - Candace Chellew

They are also including a charity/nonprofit element to each show, Chellew adds. “With the Danielle Howle show, it’s a silent auction to raise money for Pawmetto Lifeline, but with each event we do, we’d like to find a way to get the crowd to support other organizations within the community with their donations, time, and talent.” 

Chellew sees the Living Room as a natural extension of the mission of Jubilee! Circle in the community. “Unlike many spiritual communities, we don’t evangelize, and we’re not trying to get you to believe anything in particular or adhere to specific doctrine,” She says. “Our message is simple: Love is what we are, that is what we should always be teaching and projecting into the world. The arts are to us a way to extend that love to the community as a whole; music and arts are healing ministries that bring together people of all political, social, ethnic, and economic stripes, and Jubilee! Circle seeks to remind everyone of our ultimate unity with one another at a spiritual level. Everyone who leaves one of our events with a song in their heart becomes a force for love and healing in the world–whether they are conscious of it or not.” 

If you’re interested in putting some of Danielle Howle’s songs in your heart, the show is this Friday, December 16th,  at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $22 online or at the venue,  6729 Two Notch Road ##70 Columbia, SC 29223.

click for tickets

click for silent auction promo video

SC Jazz Masterworks Ensemble Big Band Holiday Concert

South Carolina’s celebrated big band ensemble performs Dec. 17th, 2022

From our friends at SC Philharmonic—

The SC Jazz Masterworks Ensemble, under the direction of Music Director Robert Gardiner, continues the 22/23 Season with SWINGIN’ HOLIDAYS on Saturday, December 17, 2022 at 7:30 PM at the W.W. Hootie Johnson Performance Hall at USC (1014 Greene St., Columbia, SC 29201). This special holiday concert features the SC Jazz Masterworks Ensemble, a 20-piece big band that is comprised of some of the most outstanding jazz musicians, soloists, and bandleaders from across the Carolinas. SWINGIN’ HOLIDAYS will feature the return of international touring and recording artist Kobie Watkins (drums) to the ensemble, and Robert Lewis (saxophone), the Director of the Charleston Jazz Orchestra, will be performing with the ensemble as a guest artist. This concert is presented in partnership with USC Jazz. Reserved seating tickets range from $25 to $50, and can be purchased at www.scjazz.org. 

SWINGIN’ HOLIDAYS is presented in partnership with USC Jazz, and will boast a full evening of entertainment with two acts of amazing big-band holiday jazz from the SC Jazz Masterworks Ensemble. Audiences will also enjoy a pre-concert performance by a student combo from USC Jazz in the lobby. The SC Jazz Masterworks Ensemble set will also include performances from USC Jazz faculty Lauren Meccia (saxophone/vocalist), Matthew White (trumpet), Michael Wilkinson (trombone), and Bert Ligon (piano/composer, Distinguished Prof. Emeritus). 

SWINGIN’ HOLIDAYS will feature time-cherished holiday jazz classics. The program includes arrangements of “Jingle Bells”, “All I Want for Christmas,” “Let it Snow,” “What Child is This?” and many other jazzy tunes of the season that will leave audiences’ toes tapping. 

The ensemble for SWINGIN’ HOLIDAYS will feature the following musicians: VOCALS: Kristi Hood (Dick Goodwin Big Band), Edwin Hamilton (Freelance musician, Minister of Music, Augusta, Ga); SAXOPHONES: Robert Lewis (Director, Charleston Jazz Orchestra), Bill King (King William Jazz Collective, USAF), Tracy Patterson (Assoc. Professor/Woodwind Chair, Winthrop Univ.), Mark Sterbank (Charleston Jazz Orchestra, Prof. Charleston Southern), Lauren Meccia (Instructor of Jazz Studies at USC); TRUMPETS: Charlie Polk (SC Philharmonic Orchestra), Matthew White (Assoc. Professor of Jazz Studies, USC), Chip Crotts (Director of Jazz Studies, Georgia Tech), Tim Leahey (USAF Airmen of Note, retired) TROMBONES: Michael Wilkinson (Asst. Professor of Trombone, USC), Brad Jepson (Co-Founder, Greenville Jazz Collective), Major Bailey (Assistant Director of Bands at SC State University); Robert Slade (Commander and Conductor of the 208th Army Band) RHYTHM: Bert Ligon, (piano, composer, Distinguished Prof. Emeritus, USC), Shannon Hoover (bass, Co-founder of the Greenville Jazz Collective) and Kobie Watkins (drums, international touring and recording artist). 

SWINGIN’ HOLIDAYS is a one-night only performance on December 17, 2022 at 7:30 PM at the W.W. Hootie Johnson Performance Hall at USC. Reserved seating tickets range from $25 to $50, and can be purchased at www.scjazz.org.

This program is supported in part by the South Carolina Arts Commission which is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts and collaborates in its work with the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies and South Arts.

Christmas at Redbank: A Night of Traditional and Not-So-Traditional Songs of the Season

Leading the sing-along at Christmas at Red Bank — all photos by Leslie Ann Smith

If you’re a fan of local music and have lived in the midlands a while you are likely familiar with Christmas at Redbank. For seventeen years Redbank Methodist Church in Lexington has hosted an array of local musicians presenting their unique take on classic and sometimes completely original Christmas songs. Jasper Magazine’s music editor Kevin Oliver is the creator and founder of the concert and shares some inside baseball about the event, “Most of the acts perform acoustic, but some add electric instruments and bigger arrangements. We started acoustic simply due to logistical concerns with getting a dozen or more acts on and off a stage in two hours’ time, and it just became what we did.”  

Along with music the audience can also now expect poetry and scripture readings. Oliver notes that last year the readings, “really tied the show together as less a string of performances punctuated by me talking, and more of a fluid, almost theatrical story.” They have chosen to do them again this year with Jasper board member, poet Al Black, narrating.

Al Black

Along with the new format Oliver says that what makes the event so successful and keeps the night fresh is, “outside of the requirement that songs be ‘sacred’ and not ‘Santa’ in theme/content, I allow the artists involved to pick what they want to sing. That usually includes familiar carols and hymns, but they can also throw me for a loop with a left field or unexpected selection. I try not to reveal too many of the song choices ahead of time, because that's part of the magic of the show--you know who's about to sing, but not WHAT they will come up with.” 

Throughout the years the lineup has included an assortment of popular local musicians and bigger names who are just passing through or are returning home like Ryan Monroe, who is now in Band of Horses. Johnny Irion and Sarah Lee Guthrie, daughter of Arlo Guthrie, Mark Bryan, Jake Etheridge, Hannah Miller, and Danielle Howle are frequent performers, as well.

Todd Mathis

This year’s lineup includes Brent Lundy, Band of Pilgrims, Admiral Radio, Todd Mathis, The Water Kickers, Ashleigh Morse with Jim Morse, Chris Reed, Prettier Than Matt, Buck and Rhonda Mooneyhan, James Etheridge, Jr., Matt and Becky Goudelock, and Al Black. Oliver mentions that this year there are a few new names on the bill, “Chris Reed is a local musician that's burning up the local bar and restaurant scene but also performing original rock with his band The Bad Kids, and I'm glad to have him aboard this year as our rookie. The Water Kickers are a new group name, but the duo has both appeared at CARB before with other ensembles. Brodie Porterfield was in the Dawn Key Shotguns, while Kelley McLachlan Douglas Porterfield was in both Post Timey String Band and The Prairie Willows. Ashleigh Morse will be expanding the CARB family as well, bringing her father Jim Morse along for a song–he's been a Columbia musician for a long time himself.”

Kevin Oliver, founder of Christmas at Red Bank and Music Editor for Jasper Magazine

The show is Sunday, December 4th from 6:30pm-9pm. It is free to attend, but an offering will be collected for Mission Lexington (formerly LICS). This opportunity to give has been a part of the event from the start and each year they raise an average of $1,200 for the organization with last year's total reaching over $1,500. Find more details and get directions to the church from the Facebook event.

REVIEW: CMA's Baker and Baker present Zion. A Composition by Saul Seibert

Zion. A Composition

Live at Columbia Museum of Art

Thursday, Nov 17th, 2022

Baker & Baker Series

by Kevin Oliver

An ambitious instrumental and visual art piece conceptualized by Saul Seibert with help from artist Virginia Russo, multimedia from Ash Lennox, and a cast of fellow musicians, Zion. A Composition came alive in multiple dimensions on Thursday evening at the Columbia Museum of Art, as part of their ongoing Baker & Baker concert series. 

Seibert opened the evening with a short explanation of the story behind the composition, and as he told the family background in front of multiple members of his own family in the audience, the anticipation in the audience built. The delineation of the three acts: The Diaspora, The Sojourn, and The Ascent, was a useful glossary of sorts for the crowd to reference, but as the piece unfolded, there was no visual division on screen or stage to indicate when one movement ended and a new one began. As such, at several lulls in the program audience members interjected applause and exclamations, seemingly unsure if something was ending or maybe just overwhelmed with appreciation of what had just transpired in a concluded segment.  

With two of the three movements already released for a while prior to this live performance, and the third just completed, it was still a much different experience watching the musicians perform the entire piece live. Left to right, they filled the CMA stage: Seibert’s older brother Zach Seibert (E.Z. Shakes) sat quietly cooking up some sinister electric guitar tones, Marshall Brown contributed keyboard swirls of varying tone and intensity, Kevin Brewer held down the beats even as they came and went throughout, Darren Woodlief, also seated, provided a solid bass presence that asserted itself fully in the final movement. Sean Thomson was the musical wizard of the night, starting on spooky, sensual sitar and moving to steel guitar and some wicked electrified mandolin. Seibert himself stood center stage, hollow body guitar in hand throughout, the ringleader of this spiritual, musical circus troupe.  

Every musical composition has an arc, that up-down movement that gives it an interesting story to tell. Zion’s first movement, Diaspora, came through as a slow-building bundle of potentialities, with the audience a bit on edge, unsure of where it might be headed, perhaps. The preshow preface alluded to one beginning to rid themselves of preconceived ideologies, attitudes, and casting those things out, and the music reflected such a sweeping task. Thomson’s sitar was prominent through the early passages, giving this portion a raga-like intonation that allowed listeners to settle into the aural universe of Zion.  

As the middle section opened up, the music soared, searching for those times of sojourn, as the movement’s title suggests–those places of rest, as one searches for home. At times the band resembled arena rockers on an extended jam, bluesy and blustery and supremely confident. In these sections, the drumming and the guitars evoked the percussive jazz plains of Steve Tibbetts’ 1980s work, or a more democratic take on the guitar orchestras of Rhys Chatham. In between those searing, searching sections the dynamic shifted to hushed tones, leaving sometimes a single instrument moaning, or clicking along softly as the band reloaded for the next swell like a surfer coiling his muscles for the next wave. 

It is in its final movement, however, that Zion finds, well, Zion. The Ascent is a lumbering leviathan of a groove, somewhere between Soundgarden-level grunge and the groaning Krautrock grooves of Can or Neu!, just a beast of a display anchored by Woodlief’s mammoth bass riffing. Again, however, there are interludes, lulls in the action. Life isn’t all one trajectory, after all, and neither is the ascent to Zion, musically speaking. The mountain does eventually get conquered, and in conclusion the music doesn’t so much fade away as plant itself on the peak and say “done.”  

Visually, artist Virginia Russo’s live painting/art added a facet to the proceedings that didn’t have to be there, but the performance was richer and fuller for it. As the band’s musical arc proceeded to rise and fall, so did Russo at the front of the stage, clad in black with a rolled out white canvas in front of her. She proceeded to paint over the entire canvas with her hands, no brushes, and then pick up the fully paint-saturated canvas and cut it into long, increasingly narrow strips. Those, she then rolled up before pulling them back apart, one ripped square at a time. The squares were then arranged on a new, clean white canvas to make a totally different piece of art. It was a perfect visual analogy for the thematic elements of the musical composition and served to reinforce those themes as the audience both listened and watched the proceedings.  

Other parts of her artwork for Zion were projected throughout as sometimes moving images on two large screens behind the musicians, lending a psychedelia gauziness to the already evocative visuals. 

Overall, I’d call this a nearly unqualified success, to write and perform such a challenging piece of multimedia art here in Columbia. I’m not sure I’ve seen anything quite like it locally, and Seibert’s prior resume as a garage rock raconteur certainly wouldn’t have hinted at the possibility of something like this coming forth. Going in, Seibert told me himself that there would be very, very limited live performances of this project, and I understand why–the preparation and commitment of all the participants was fully on display for this one.

Building The Sound: Q&A with the Guitarist and Bassist of Eighth House

We talked with Gabe Crawford, well-known guitarist for many a local project, and new to the scene bassist, Laurent Duverglas, about their new band Eighth House. Their sound is described by Crawford as “Loud pretty chords, quiet vocals, dub bass, and slo mosh beats,” but you can hear them for yourself at their first show November 16th at New Brookland Tavern with Cathedral Bells, and Surf Rock is Dead.

“If there is a sound missing in your town, build it, and they will come!” – Gabe Crawford

JASPER: How did Eighth House come to be?

DUVERGLAS: I like to think of the story of how Eighth House came to fruition as almost like a true love at first sight kind of tale. I'd been playing bass for a couple of years by the time I moved to Columbia in July of 2021, but I never thought Columbia would be home to the kind of band I'd always dreamed of being a part of. Shortly after moving, I became enamored with the Cola queer, alternative, and music scenes. I first became acquainted with Gabe after I learned he designed the poster used to promote The Beautiful Neighborhood's Grunge prom, from then on it seemed as if out paths never failed to cross. I quickly knew him to be the guy in a million bands, something we still joke about, but also to be this really loving and genuine dude. One night we got to talking about music and we suddenly realized that not only did we have the same taste in music, we were both lovers of "the scene that celebrates itself" - shoegaze.

We formed our first lineup which included our wonderful lyricist and vocalist, Heather. The weekend after that, we had our first practice and a show booked at New Brookland Tavern for the 16th of November. Eventually we recruited the enigmatic multi-instrumentalist behind Cloud Repair, Richard, to join Gabe on guitar. Lastly, we were able to enlist the spectacular drummer from many Columbia bands including Gamine, Rugstain (Jenny) to join me on the rhythm section!

JASPER: Gabe, what sets Eight House apart from the other bands you are currently in?

CRAWFORD: It’s much different sound compared to the other bands I compose/manage because it’s almost completely new people working towards a different sound.

JASPER: Can you talk about all the bands/projects you are involved with?

CRAWFORD: Eighth House is the newest project at the moment, earlier this year I started Gamine with friends Cassidy Spencer and Shane Sanders and months before the original Covid Shutdown. I was asked to be in what would become Flippants by Austin Syms, which I now share with him, for the last few years I have played alongside Richard Wells in his Cloud Repair project, and I work with Kat Hammond in their Charlie Boy collective as well. Each band is sooo different, Flippants is punk band where I focus more on dominant 7th melodies and angular guitar devices, Gamine is where I compose with the bassline as the first layer with emphasis on minor keys, synth lines, and 80s Goth tropes, Eighth House is a space dedicated to alternative guitar tunings, different distortion textures, wandering chord progressions, and 90’s pop/rock sensibilities. 

JASPER: How do you manage your time? 

DUVERGLAS: Currently the band meets once a week to practice which is more than manageable for me as I devote most of my time to my PhD studies.

CRAWFORD: With a planner, pen, and ink. I am often late to things, but I plan my day as it shows itself to me, unless some event has been written in the planner first.

JASPER: What motivates you? 

DUVERGLAS: I would say a culmination of things! The first being my band members and many others within the cola art, fashion, and music scenes. There are a lot of talented creatives in this city and being around them is like an ever-flowing stream of wisdom. Second, I spent so much time in my childhood obsessed with the music and art direction from a lot of video games. Heather and I most recently spoke about our love for the Silent Hill games but particularly their soundtracks. Akira Yamaoka crafted such beautiful testaments to industrial, drone, noise, trip hop, and alternative music with those games, they truly transcend the medium.

CRAWFORD: Columbia lacks certain sounds, we have plenty of stellar metal bands, cover bands, and folksy southern sounds, but we lack the current sounds of the underground, so I just fill in the gaps with the right people and live for the stage, I enjoy booking and the “always-go” lifestyle.

JASPER: What does your writing process look like? 

DUVERGLAS: I will listen to a whole bunch of music that is explicitly reminiscent of shoegaze stylings and then start messing around on my bass until I come into any fun sounding basslines. When I first picked up my bass, I was still reeling off my utter infatuation with post-punk and can say that most of my influences come from that vein of musician. I don't know anything about music theory and though I'd like to learn it to enhance my playing, I also enjoy the ignorance I currently possess because I don't seem to be analyzing everything from a set framework.

CRAWFORD: Right now, I demo out most of a song and then give it to the band, it is filtered through the other members into the song that you hear, and I am only composing the chords and possibly the melody as well, with Heather our singer doing the vocals and words, Laurent also composing songs and pieces, Jenni creating the drum parts and Richard working with me to compose the 2nd guitar parts.

JASPER: What do you do when you are creatively blocked or just not feelin' it? 

DUVERGLAS: I immerse myself in another world! I love reading novels and watching movies where the focus is on character-driven narratives. I seem to get lost in these movies where "nothing" happens, they in turn always inspire something be it a song idea, lyrics, or a poem.

CRAWFORD: Usually Reference listen, I go and wade in the world of music until the inspiration or drive shows itself to me again.

JASPER: Who are some of your favorite local artists? 

DUVERGLAS: There are so many! I feel honored to share space in the Cola scene with artists and groups such as Gamine, Bones Hamilton, Opus & The Frequencies, Flippants, Rex Darling (who just released their first album - Living Room Diaries), Charlie Boy, Cloud Repair, and Death Ray Robin to name a few.

CRAWFORD: Hah! Not locals anymore unfortunately but Melon In was an amazing project that I got to work on, I love them as well as Cloud Repair, which is why I have Richard in the band. And of course, Stagbriar and the like.

JASPER: If you could write or play the soundtrack to a movie what would it be and why?

DUVERGLAS: This is such a fun question! What comes to mind is working for queer and shoegaze obsessed Gregg Araki to create yet another shoegaze-filled soundtrack for a movie of his. But I'd equally love for some academic to contract an album designed to test the effects of, say, shoegaze on animal behavior.

CRAWFORD: Been a huge fan of the film Legend (1986) and I have always really enjoyed the Tangerine Dream soundtrack for the movie, but I would love to take a crack at that.

JASPER: Do you have a favorite Columbia music moment?

DUVERGLAS: Definitely the first time I saw Flippants at the Museum of Art's Arts and Draughts! As an audience member, seeing Austin prepare a ladder on stage and a table close to the audience with a cake on it was bizarre. It wasn't until I saw him jump onto the cake from the ladder did, I understand what was happening. Further, seeing Gabe hop onto Brad's shoulders to finish the set was hilarious. I'll never forget that show! 

CRAWFORD: There are a couple of Eras that I think on all the time, 2010-2015 was the Shredquarters/Queen Punx Palace/ era 

JASPER: What are your thoughts on Columbia's art scene?

CRAWFORD: Columbia’s art scene, everyone knows everyone I think, as much as there are the different groups in town everyone knows everyone, and collaboration is so easy, I think.

JASPER: What could make the scene better? 

CRAWFORD: Money haha, Money would make it better and by that, I mean infrastructure for art in Columbia, as well as more venues, and art spaces available to book at. There literally needs to be a venue that bridges the gap between the room size of Art Bar/NBT and The Senate.

JASPER: What advice do you have for other artists? 

DUVERGLAS: It seems as if the biggest hesitation a lot of people have when it comes to creating, in this case, music is that they have no "talent". This may be biased coming from my punk and post-punk upbringing, but I don't believe one needs to be a classically trained artist to make something that moves people. So, if you make art and you're afraid to share it - please do! If you want to make art and are afraid to do so - please do! Your voice is unique to you, the world is ready to hear it.

CRAWFORD: If there is a sound missing in your town, build it, and they will come!

JASPER: As someone involved in lots of projects, can you offer any advice or thoughts to others hoping to start a band?

CRAWFORD: Find people who are just interested in the idea, look, or sound of the band and then just be ok with the music organically changing as you filter your ideas thru the others.

JASPER: What can we expect at the show on the 16th? 

DUVERGLAS: Roughly a 30-minute set, we'll be playing one cover and four originals! But more importantly, we aim to foster a safe and inclusive space at all of our shows. We won't tolerate any harassment of any within the audience and will also be bringing noise-protecting earplugs for any who wants them!

You can follow the band on Instagram and buy tickets for the show online at New Brookland Taverns website.