The Return of the Jam Room Music Festival - A Q & A with Trey Lofton

The Jasper Project is extremely excited for the return of Columbia’s premier free music festival, Jam Room Music Festival on Saturday, October 1st. The Jam Room Music Festival has been a tremendous hit with the city for almost a decade, and this year’s will be the first festival hosted since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. We talked to Trey Lofton about the behind-the-scenes action of Jam Room, expectations for the year, and a little bit in between.

Jasper: How did you go about choosing which bands would participate?

Lofton: This is my first year being involved with the Jam Room Music Festival. I thought it was important to have input from the whole board. I reviewed all the previous lineups and generated a list of roughly 75 bands that I thought would fit the template that had been established. I met with several members of the board to go over that list to see if my ideas matched their expectations. They seemed highly enthusiastic about the names I had produced, so I began the process of contacting artists and agents. There is only so much money to go around so you must reach out to bands at different price levels. 

Bailey Road Band

We were fortunate to have several of the first bands we reached out to express interest. Once a few of the pieces were in place the next challenge was to make sure that we were being diverse in our lineup. That narrows down the next wave of inquiries. We also thought in terms of local, regional, and national acts. I think we did particularly well in this regard. We have two acts from here in Columbia (Bailey Road Band, Dear Blanca). We have two local / regional acts in The Explorers Club and The Shaniqua Brown. Both bands originated in Charleston and have played Columbia many times. The Shaniqua Brown is performing after a 10-year hiatus. I saw they were doing a reunion show in Charleston and thought they would be a great addition. The Explorers Club also originated in Charleston but have relocated to Nashville and are primarily a studio project of lead singer Jason Brewer these days.

Titan to Tachyons

Then we have a half dozen national acts. Mourning [A] BLKStar are a collective from Cleveland. I first heard them after their last album was named one of the best of 2020 by The Wire magazine. Shiner is from Kansas City, Missouri. They had some big albums in the college radio world in 90s. They had been on hiatus but put out a new album and planned to tour in 2020. Titan To Tachyons are from NYC. To people familiar with the Avant Garde jazz scene in NYC, the band is something of a super group: most notable is bassist Trevor Dunn who is a member of Mr. Bungle amongst many other groups. But the other members play in dozens of projects that involve luminaries like John Zorn and John Medeski. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Titus Andronicus are two big names to emerge from the indie, punk, college radio scenes of the 2000s. The Sun Ra Arkestra are part of a legacy spanning near 70 years. 

Jasper: How did COVID impact the organizational aspects of the festival? Did you decide to do anything differently or did COVID open any unexpected creative avenues for everyone to explore?

Lofton: I’m new to the board so it is hard for me to compare; I know that there are a few new members. Whenever that happens on a small board like our you lose some institutional memory. Covid has certainly had a major effect on the concert industry in general. Supply is high but demand is through the roof. Most bands and venues were shuttered for two years. While there are a lot of bands looking for an opportunity to perform there are way more venues trying to get back to putting on shows. A lot of bands are booking further out than I have previously dealt with, and I think prices are higher than they have been, along with touring costs. But now that we have a lineup in place, I don’t think we have any current COVID related obstacles to overcome.

Jasper: What would you like newcomers to Jam Room to know about the festival? Anything they should know about or do to prepare for the day?

Lofton: We would like people to know that the Jam Room Music Festival is a free community event that is meant for everyone. We are primarily funded by the generous support of the City of Columbia and Richland County through their h-tax programs. A music scene is an essential part of any community. The Jam Room Music Festival is an opportunity to celebrate that scene but also appreciate varied styles and artists from around the country. This year we feature rock, pop, soul, and jazz with variations of each. Wear comfortable shoes, pack sunscreen, and stay hydrated!

Stay tuned for more about Jam Room through Jasper!

Koger Center Brings Squonk to the New Outside Stage

If you’ve never heard of Squonk, then you’re in for an absolute treat! 

On September 25th and 26th , the Koger Center for the Arts will officially open their brand-new outdoor Plaza Stage with three performances of Hand to Hand. The performances are free to the public, with two performances on Sunday at 2:00 PM and 6:00 PM, and one at 6:00 PM on Monday.  

With a booming sound that has traveled across the United States since the ‘90s, Squonk is a performing arts group based out of Pittsburgh and are known for their extravagant stage presence. 

The group has competed on America’s Got Talent, performed on both Broadway and off- Broadway, and has even opened for prestigious performing arts festivals abroad and in South Korea. Their performances have been met only with critical acclaim, and the colossal interactive elements that always appear within their shows ensure that audiences never forget the first time they ever see Squonk perform. 

The iconic giant purple hands that Squonk brings, along with the rest of the performers in the troupe, are what make this show so distinguishable. The hands constantly move with the musicians on stage and can be manipulated by audience members invited up to the stage.  

Squonk’s performances are a part of a new Koger Presents series that focuses on the incorporation of the Plaza Stage into the already numerous performance spaces the organization has to offer. Audience members will be able to enjoy the stage performance while relaxing on the lawn surrounding the stage, located right in front of the lobby doors and near the University of South Carolina’s School of Music building.  

For those who want a more personalized experience with the members of Squonk, the troupe will offer a free hands-on session from 12-2 PM on September 26 near Russell House at the heart of UofSC’s campus. This will allow students and other attendees to interact with the props and performers before their last performance of the weekend. 

More information about the show can be found at KogerCenterForTheArts.com.

COLUMBIA REPERTORY DANCE COMPANY PRESENTS “NEXT” FOR THREE EVENINGS AT CMFA ARTSPACE

The Columbia Repertory Dance Company will present a full evening of dance for three nights at the CMFA Artspace, September 9 -11, 2022.

NEXT

centers on the idea of progress, and features a number of pieces that reflect the nature of life and moving forward in today's climate.

The Columbia Repertory Dance Company will perform NEXT on Friday, September 9th, 2022 at 7:30 PM, Saturday, September 10th 2022, at 7:30 PM and Sunday, September 11th, 2022 at 2PM at CMFA Artspace (914 Pulaski St, Columbia, SC 29201). Admission is $30 for this event, and more info and tickets can be found at www.coladance.com or https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/5534979

With NEXT, Columbia Repertory Dance Company presents their third annual summer concert and first as a nonprofit organization. Featuring South Carolina choreographers Angela Gallo, Erin Bailey, Dale Lam, Ashlee Taylor and Artistic Director Stephanie Wilkins, the organization will mount an evening of high caliber entertainment that changes common perceptions of dance in Columbia, and follows their mission

statement in helping to both employ SC dance artists and ultimately aid in their retention in the state. The company will showcase a variety of work that represents snapshots of the emotional and physical world and offers something relatable but elevated as the world learns how to exist post-COVID. By collaborating with local artists and organizations and blending the highly physical with the highly emotional, Columbia

Repertory Dance Company aims to create an experience that draws people in and encourages them to make dance a regular part of their arts consumption.

In 2018 co-founders Bonnie Boiter-Jolley and Stephanie Wilkins founded the Columbia Summer Repertory Dance Company with a desire to offer dancers more options in a city focused heavily on ballet. They started with the financial sponsorship of the Jasper Project, a plan focused on summer performances (Columbia’s dance offseason) and a sold out debut performance in 2019 which was followed by a sold out concert in 2021.

The company has extended their season length and become a 501c3 non-profit organization. The group’s popularity among Columbia natives comes from their commitment to exploring refreshing narratives and styles of dance in their work.

The Columbia Repertory Dance Company will perform NEXT on Friday, September 9th, 2022 at 7:30 PM, Saturday, September 10th 2022, at 7:30 PM and Sunday, September 11th, 2022 at 2PM at CMFA Artspace (914 Pulaski St, Columbia, SC 29201). Admission is $30 for this event, and more info and tickets can be found at www.coladance.com or https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/5534979

~ * ~

The Columbia Repertory Dance Company’s mission is to broaden the experience of professional dance artists and patrons in Columbia, SC through multidisciplinary collaborative performances year-round. We aim to retain the talents of South Carolina dance artists and provide a spectrum of professional opportunities while inspiring and developing a broader and deeper understanding of dance in Columbia and surrounding areas.

BUY TICKETS HERE!

Coming Up at CMA--Adia Victoria and More than Rhythm: A Black Musical Experience

It’s nice when successful artists come home. Sure, there are sometimes sour grapes in the back (what some like to call the anti-Hooties), but for the most part South Carolinians welcome their success stories back with pride and grace. That will be easy to do on Friday, August 26th when Columbia Museum of Art welcomes Adia Victoria to their Conversation and Concert titled More Than Rhythm: A Black Music Series Featuring Adia Victoria.

Singer-songwriter and poet, Adia Victoria, was born in Spartanburg, SC and lived in the upstate until she left high school and moved from New York City to Atlanta and finally to Nashville where she resides today. She released her first album, Beyond the Bloodhounds, a reference to Harriet Jacob’s autobiography, Incident in the Life of a Slave Girl, in 2016, followed by Silences in 2019 and A Southern Gothic in 2021, which was written mostly in Paris.

Having toured internationally for the past few years and performing some gigs in the US with Jason Isbell and the 400 unit, Victoria is performing in Columbia as part of a multidisciplinary event that will include song, poetry, dance, and discourse. Dr. Mason Hickman, musician and civil engineer with a uniquely math and science approach to his guitar work, will be performing with Victoria and Dr. Birgitta Johnson, professor and ethnomusicologist at the University of SC will be performing host duties.

According to the CMA, the “More Than Rhythm series returns for its second season with a special performance from South Carolina native and globally recognized blues musician Adia Victoria. On break from her world tour, Victoria joins host and ethnomusicologist Dr. Birgitta Johnson to discuss her journey as an eclectic 21st-century blues artist before taking the stage with guitarist Mason Hickman. Their performance includes original poetry paired with dance interpretations by Columbia-based dancer Erin Bailey.”

The CMA galleries and bar will open at 6 pm with a Conversation at 7 pm, followed by an 8 pm concert. The event is free, but seats must be reserved by contacting the museum.

THE BEAT: Isabelle's Gift Revisits American Idle by Kevin Oliver

One of the Columbia music scene’s most iconic hard rock acts, Isabelle’s Gift, will be celebrating two things this week with its show Friday night at New Brookland Tavern. 2022 marks 30 years since the band’s first live shows, and singer Chris Sutton will turn 50 this week. For those reasons, and more, the band felt it was appropriate to mark the occasion and it has chosen an interesting way to do it– with a set that promises a full performance of the 2006 album American Idle.  

“We hadn’t played much for the past few years, even going into covid,” Admits Sutton, in a recent conversation with him and bassist Jason Carrion in the space where it all began–the former Rockafella’s, now Jake’s Bar & Grill, at 2112 Devine Street. “Everyone was separating, splintered apart, with kids and jobs and other things going on. Also, who wants to see a bunch of dudes our age get up there and play rock and roll?”  

Carrion agreed and noted that the logistics alone were daunting–but when they did convene with the idea to do another show, things clicked naturally. 

“I was very uncertain about where things were going to go–we couldn’t jam, it was a long time to not work on music together,” He says. The turning point came when he and Sutton recruited former Gift member (and current Soda City Riot, Gruzer, and Firenest member Travis Nicholson) and former Throttlerod leader Matt Whitehead.  

“We’ve all been friends for decades,” Carrion notes. “We toured with Throttlerod, Travis was in the band before, Scott (Frey, the drummer for Isabelle’s Gift’s last several years) came from the punk scene with Bedlam Hour. There’s a lot of history there. Chris and I have been playing together longer than most people’s marriages.” 

The addition of Nicholson and Whitehead changed the dynamic in the room and expanded what was possible.
“It’s a room full of gunslingers,” Sutton says. “It was pretty nerve wracking the first time we all practiced together, actually, because it felt like everybody was on their game except me.”

Nicholson is a natural fit, having been in the band before. He and Sutton have remained close over the years, too. 

“He helped write some of the stuff that was on American Idle,” Chris recalls. “Our families are close; our kids have played together for years. With Matt, it has been a bucket list kind of thing for me to play with him ever since our bands toured together.”  

Whitehead has been a revelation of sorts during the process of rehearsing the songs for this show, Sutton admits. 

“Going back and revisiting these songs, I was still writing on guitar for some of them and I feel like I was poorly trying to do what Matt was doing really well right off the bat with Throttlerod. So now, it’s almost like he’s going back in time and fixing everything that I did.” 

It’s important to both Sutton and Carrion to note that although they are playing an entire album of older material, the songs and the band may not sound like fans remember from the recording–and that’s fine with them. 

“It’s a texture that he adds to a lot of the songs,” Carrion says. “He’ll put melodies in places they didn’t exist before.” 

“I told both Matt and Travis that I wanted to make sure the verses were the same, and we kept the hooks, but I wanted them to bring their own feel to everything else,” Sutton says. “There’s no question there will be a difference in the sound, it almost feels like I’m fronting Clutch at times. Plus, I have a bunch of backup vocalists in the band now, which is exciting.” 

Rehearsals have revealed one major problem, Sutton says, and it has to do with how equally excited the entire band seems to be with the proceedings. 

“I’m concerned about keeping our tempos slower,” He admits. “We’re playing these songs in practice like we’re trying to kill somebody with them.” 

Isabelle’s Gift has always been the angry red-faced stepchild of the local scene, railing against mediocrity, hypocrites, traditional society, and more in their music and motifs. American Idle, released through the Jimmy Franks label of the Bloodhound Gang, was a high-water mark for the group, combining the sludgy Soundgarden vibe of their bottom end grooves with a punk fury reminiscent of Charlotte legends Antiseen. Topically, many of the subjects broached are still relevant a decade and a half later, and Sutton says getting reacquainted with how his younger self felt back then was not just surreal, it was affirming of his own life journey. 

“I remember the things I said, and the way I sang, as something I was embarrassed about,” Sutton says. “I realized that not only was I proud of some of the songwriting that was on it, the music is great, and it told a much more intricate story than I remembered–it made me a little more proud of who I was, and I’d forgotten a lot of that.”  

It was the album’s unexpected current relevance that inspired the idea to just perform the whole thing, he says.  

“It was scary how topical it was, and with the exception of maybe one song title and a couple of lyrics it even fits into current events,” Sutton says. “Usually guys our age are going to run into problems about things we said in our past being politically incorrect now, or not in step with some of the things we are defending these days, but it all checked so many weird boxes.  

“Within minutes of me telling the other guys the idea at rehearsal, we were blasting through the album, and I got left in the dust because I didn’t remember as much of the songs as the rest of the band.” 

Ultimately, it all started coming back to him, and in the process of working through the songs again, Sutton says it was a cathartic experience for him. 

“I don’t like to come right out and say some of the things I’m saying in these songs, but it’s unbelievably fitting in today’s political climate,” He admits. “I’ve always dealt with a lot of trauma, I’m lucky to be alive, and I didn’t plan on living this long. Back then I was pretty suicidal and I’m not now. Those are feelings I’ll be working through my entire life. I’m a completely different person than I was back then, but the trauma might even be felt stronger.” 

At this point the biggest question might be how the band’s new chapter might be read by fans old and, possibly, new. Sutton and Carrion both admit they are unsure, but optimistic.

“I don’t how it fits into today’s environment, how people who used to like us may take where we are coming from,” He says. 

“The last time we played a live show was in February, three years ago,” Carrion says. “We played that Ramones tribute show earlier this year, and getting to know those people, and the excitement behind that and other local shows lately, I love seeing the support now.” 

As for American Idle, growing up, and looking back, Sutton has the last, encouraging words for himself–words that might apply to anyone taking stock of their list of accomplishments later in life. 

“It’s so fucking honest, all the way through. I felt like walking up to myself like I was one of my kids and saying, ‘Good for you, you did better than I thought you did…you were honest, and it feels real as shit.’” 

Isabelle’s Gift plays this Friday, July 22nd, at New Brookland Tavern. Shun and the Transonics open the show. Visit www.newbrooklandtavern.com for tickets and more information. 

JAM ROOM MUSIC FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES LINEUP FOR OCTOBER 1ST

Jam Room Music Festival returns to Main Street to bring free live music to the streets of Columbia

——— OCTOBER 1 ———

The Jam Room Music Festival returns to Columbia, SC’s Main Street for the first time since 2019. This year’s festival is headlined by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Titus Andronicus, both of whom are celebrating new music releases. The festival will take place on October 1 and feature two stages, one on Main Street and one on Hampton Street in front of the Columbia Museum of Art. 

“It’s great to have the Jam Room Fest back and bringing live indie music to the heart of South Carolina,” says festival Executive Director and owner of the Jam Room Recording Studio Jay Matheson. “After two years off due to the pandemic, we’ve been looking forward to bringing the festival back, and we couldn’t be more excited about this year’s lineup. It’s hard to believe we’ve been doing the festival for nearly a decade, and we’re still looking forward to growing it for years to come.” 

Jay Matheson photo credit Ken Lucas

Now in its 9th year, the Jam Room Music Festival has brought acts such as Superchunk, Blonde Redhead, Justin Townes Earle, Son Volt, Waxahatchee, and Guided by Voices to its stages. 

In addition to venerable headliners CYHSY and Titus Andronicus, the festival will also host Titan to Tachyons, Shiner, Mourning [A] BLKstar, Bailey Road Band, The Explorer’s Club, and Columbia’s own local music champions Dear Blanca. In all, the festival will book up to 12 acts, with several more to be announced. 

ELVIS TRIBUTE by BERNIE LOVE & THE MEMPHIS THREE (aka Columbia's Favorite Playboys & Friend) - July 2nd at the Art Bar

JULY 2ND, 2022!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A few words from Marty Fort, founder and director of the Columbia Arts Academy and longtime member of the Capital City Playboys, who encourages music lovers to mark their calendars for July 2nd.

“So everyone's excited for the new [Warner Brothers} ELVIS movie coming, out...But I want to HIGHLY encourage you to come to Art Bar on July 2nd to see Columbia's full blown and brand NEW Elvis Tribute set Bernie Love featuring the Capital City Playboys with Patrick Baxley bringing the heat as Elvis.” 

“[We’re] so excited to rock this set of Elvis tunes, many of which we performed at the Guest House at Graceland in April. So come out for this EARLY show 8:30 p.m. Who knows if we'll ever do it again?” 

Bernie Love will be followed by a rocking set by the Capital City Playboys as well as Jared Petteys and the Headliners. There may even be more surprises in store.

The Art Bar is located at 1211 Park Street in Columbia’s historic Congaree Vista.

THE BEAT: Both Sides Now Lang Owen explores stories and sounds on his new album "She’s My Memory"

By Kevin Oliver

Columbia singer-songwriter Lang Owen’s new album She’s My Memory is a relationships album, but not in the classic boy-meets-girl pop music mold. Rather, the sixty-something Owen has collected what amounts to a lifetime of thoughts here on friendships of all kinds, from romantic partners new and old to co-workers and the people we see on TV screens and newspaper bylines. In putting the album together, he also relied on musical relationships built over the past five years since he emerged onto the local scene. 

Owen enlisted fellow songwriter and guitarist Todd Mathis as his producer, with a diverse cast of additional players on board and additional recording and mastering from Carl Burnitz. The result is a shimmering statement of purpose, a beautifully rendered collection of songs that tell stories in a way that captures the heart and the imagination. Musical touchstones from James Taylor to Joni Mitchell, Emmylou Harris, Todd Rundgren, and more reveal themselves upon repeated listens, but Owen has firmly established his own sound and style with this new album.

There are stories both told and implied here, from the simple work ethic of “Man With A Broom,” to the internal evaluation of “Where Does The River Start?” Of the latter, Owen says, “On the surface the narrator is dealing with a breakup, but in my mind, he’s questioning himself–how did I get to this point, where am I going from here, and especially, how have I made some of the choices I did along the way?” 

Some of the choices Owen made in recording these songs included expanding his musical palette well beyond just himself, with the assistance of producer Todd Mathis. It was all in the preparation, Owen says.

“We sat down with scratch tracks of the songs I recorded on my own and brainstormed what kind of instrumentation would work with each,” He recalls. Guest musicians who ended up participating include drummer Mike Scarboro (The Runout), guitarist Zach Bingham, and backing vocals from Becca Smith of Admiral Radio. Bass duties were split between Chris Paget, Jeff Gregory (The Runout), Mathis’ former bandmate Kevin Kimbrell, and Mathis himself, who also filled multiple other instrumental roles. 

Being in a “band” situation isn’t exactly a new thing for Owen, though it had been a while, he admits.

“I played in bands in the 1980s, and I enjoyed playing with other people,” He says. “When I picked music back up in 2017(after decades as a teacher, visual artist, and social worker), I played by myself mostly because I just didn’t know any other musicians.” 

There are story songs here that those who have followed Owen’s solo acoustic shows the past few years will recognize as falling directly in his usual style, such as the topical “Last Gasp Of The News.” This time around there are also songs where the sound falls more toward the “band” side of things, with a particular vibe that a simple acoustic guitar arrangement wouldn’t be able to achieve as vividly.

“Collection Day” is one such tune, with an unhurried, yet rhythmic indie rock feel not too far from bands such as Yo La Tengo. “Smile From You” leans on Owen’s strummed guitar, but the other elements contribute to the song’s unsettled, foreboding atmosphere of an uncomfortable snapshot in time.

“We spent a lot of time on working out that one,” Owen says. “It went through a lot of different variations to get where it did–any time you work with great musicians, they’ll come up with great ideas.” 

Even with the expanded arrangements and feel of the recording sessions, Owen’s flair for narrative shines through. The title track “She’s My Memory” is a story song about telling stories, where a comment from a co-worker about remembering his life better than he does prompted a story of a person losing their memory who is still able to remember it through his wife’s anecdotes.

“I think that song sets the tone for the album,” Owen concludes, “which in part is about the importance of relationships to our well-being.” 

In “Everybody Here” the opening lines, in their own way, reach that same conclusion–we all help each other, whether we realize it or not: 

“Everybody here’s my therapist

I need all the help I can get

I look around, I’m losing my ground

I don’t like what I see one bit

I float by like a whisper, you hand me a megaphone

In our own little worlds somehow, we’re not alone

We’re not alone”

Lang Owen releases “She’s My Memory” officially on all platforms June 17th. The release show, featuring a full backing band of many of the players on the album, happens at Curiosity Coffee on Saturday, June 18th, from 5-8 p.m. $10 

Facebook Event with ticket link

WE DANCE - New Project by Wideman-Davis Dance Premieres at Tribeca Film Fest June 18th

By Christina Xan

Tanya Wideman Davis and Thaddeus Davis

Dancers, creators, professors, directors. Columbia couple Thaddeus Davis and Tanya Wideman-Davis have many titles. In their newest project, however, not only are they exploring a novel medium to them – film – but are stepping back from titles and stripping down to question what it means for them to inhabit the bodies they are in, where those bodies came from, and what those implications mean for all who migrate within America. 

“We've been really thinking about patterns of migration and thinking about our families…how the shaping of the way we eat is different than the way we may have grown up,” Wideman-Davis reflects, “How we can figure out new pathways to merge old and new ways of thinking about food and have those communal experiences still be nurturing. 

We Dance is a 12-minute experimental film that combines documentary, dialogue, imagery, and dance to share, less a narrative, and more a story—or perhaps more accurately, a series of stories. The film has three parts: in part 1, “Spin,” Wideman-Davis reflects on her grandmother’s home in Chicago; in part 2, “Rise,” Davis reflects on his grandmother’s home in Montgomery; and in part 3, “Hold,” the two reflect on their lives together. 

“A big part of this didn't start out as a love story, but in the end, it was that. But it wasn't just about the love between the two of us, but the love for these pivotal women—Tanya's grandmother and mother and my mother and grandmother” Davis intimates, “People in our families who sustained us like food and allowed us to have these careers that we've had in dance and beyond.” 

In the first two segments, each of the pair’s grandmothers are seen baking a staple in their history—pound cake and sweet potato pie. This focus on food is in many ways the hinge of the stories being told. Food is more than a substance for staying alive – it is life-defining. The process of sourcing and consuming food, the accessibility of food, and how food shifts across region and culture all define our bodies. For certain groups of people, like the black adults and elders featured in the video, food is a distinct way of finding, creating, and asserting identity. 

While the women bake in the background, Wideman-Davis and Davis narrate, speaking words related to the cooking process, themes of their life, and dialogue they recall from these inspirational women. Stitched within the cooking and the words are images from the cities and surrounding areas these families call home – houses, cityscapes, rivers – as well as extemporaneous dance from the married pair. 

Throughout the film, the two dance and speak their histories. And though this intimate portrait allows you to know the duo better, it is not only their story. “It's not just the black migratory patterns. That's what it references, but this is a part of the migratory patterns of people around the world,” Davis emphasizes. 

One of their hopes in creating this film is that the viewer will be able to understand more about where they come from, their own migrations, and how each individual history is in some way interlaced with collective histories. What foods do you eat? How did what you ate shift as you moved from place to place? What did you take with you or leave behind? How does your body express what you consume? How do you dance? 

For if food represents a part of our identity in which we take within us what is part of our culture and selves then dance is how we reveal outwards what is part of our culture and selves. In the migration process, wherever and whatever the reason in moving, we are doing just that—moving. Sometimes the world moves around us while sometimes we move around the world, but this film asks us to acknowledge and embrace the movement, learn how and when flow versus resist, all the while being grounded by what always moves with, in, and out of us—food.  

This is exemplified in a scene towards the end of the short film where Wideman-Davis and Davis stand, completely still, hands clasped around each other’s, in white garb, as an Alabama river rushes fast and hard around them.  

“There’s something about being in that water, at that specific space that was a segregated space,” Wideman-Davis ruminates, “To come back to it and to have to anchor yourself in the water with this current, knowing that it has all the racialized history and the deadly components that it could have had 20 years ago, us being there.” 

It is this stunning tension that has gotten the attention of film festivals nationwide, with We Dance being accepted to the Oxford Film Festival, the Fort Myers Beach International Film Festival, the Experimental, Dance & Film Festival, the WorldFest Houston International Film Festival, the Ouray International Film Festival, and, most excitingly, the Tribeca Film Festival, where it will premiere Saturday, June 18th.  

The two’s hard work could not have been possible without director and cinematographer Ethan Payne and director and writer Brian Foster, all of whom met when Wideman-Davis and Davis were sanctioned by the Southern Foodways Alliance. 

If you’d like to see the culmination of all their efforts and dive into a world that not only teaches you about the vulnerable movement of others but of yourself, starting June 8th, you can purchase a $25 ticket to all Tribeca shorts here: https://www.tribecafilm.com/films/we-dance-2022

COLUMBIA REPERTORY DANCE COMPANY MAKES CHARLESTON DEBUT AT CANNON PARK AS PICCOLO SPOLETO POP-UP SELECTION

The Columbia Repertory Dance Company will make its Charleston debut at Cannon Park on May 29, 2022 as an official selection of the Piccolo Spoleto Festival.

This dance concert is presented as part of Piccolo Spoleto’s new Pop-Up program which transforms neighborhood parks and public places around Charleston into pop-up performance spaces.

This performance will also feature performances by Columbia pop band Say Femme with Charleston dancer and choreographer Jenny Broe opening.

The concert will begin at 7:00 PM at Cannon Park, and admission is free to the public.

In the company’s third season, Columbia Repertory Dance Company will be premiering new pieces from their 2022 season featuring works by Artistic Director Stephanie Wilkins. Attendees will experience athleticism and emotionally evocative performances that have become a trademark for the group over the last three years.

In 2018, co-founders Bonnie Boiter-Jolley and Stephanie Wilkins founded the Columbia Summer Repertory Dance Company with a desire to offer dancers more options in a city focused heavily on ballet. They started with the financial backing of a local arts organization, a plan focused on summer performances (Columbia’s dance offseason) and a sold out debut performance in 2019 which was followed by a sold out concert in 2020. In the past year, the company has extended their season length and become a 501c3 non-profit organization. The group’s popularity among Columbia natives comes from their commitment to exploring refreshing narratives and styles of dance in their work. The Columbia Repertory Dance Company will perform on Sunday, May 29, 2022 at 7:00 PM at Cannon Park (131 Rutledge Ave, Charleston, SC 29401). Admission is free for this public event, and more info can be found at http://www.piccolospoleto.com/ or at www.coladance.com.

Columbia Operatic Laboratory presents original production of Mozart’s The Impresario 5/12

Columbia Operatic Laboratory (COLab) is presenting the opera The Impresario, which features music by Mozart and a new libretto and book by Evelyn Clary at 6:00 pm on Thursday, May 12 at Jubilee! Circle.

Originally created in 1786 for a private performance for Emperor Joseph II and eighty of his besties, the story tells the tale of two sopranos vying to be prima donna of an opera company.  In this new English adaptation of the libretto, Frances Honda Coppola, sung by Maria Beery, and her assistant Bradley Pittman, played by Bradley Fuller who also serves as the accompanist, are leading a financially struggling small opera company. Bitcoin investor Gil Bates, played by Austin Means, offers to fund their entire season if they employ his…er…mature girlfriend Goldie Dawn, played by Clary, and his new young fling, Alicia Silverstone, played by Sara Jackson. Of course, all manner of hilarity ensues. Michael T. Brown is directing the performance.

True to COLab fashion, the show has gotten a makeover.  The show is set in modern day Columbia with spoken words and dialogue in contemporary English.  Gone are the sexist overtones of women tearing each other down rather than working together, and clunky dialogue that plagued the original.  “Impresario is arguably the world’s first musical comedy. Its spoken dialogue, arias that can be taken out of context, social commentary, everyday characters and happy ending put it more in line with musical comedy than the operas of its day,” says Clary. 

“The enduring legacy of this show lies in its larger commentary on the business of making art” says Brown.  “The issues that were tackled in the original of how an arts organization can stay ‘true’ to the spirit of their work and maintain financial viability, all while handling plenty of off-stage drama has captured the imagination of performers and audiences for over two hundred years.  And as is often the case, presenting this as satire prompts us to reflect on serious issues with some levity and fun.”

 This is a comic one act opera for everyone – not just for the opera aficionados. This is not something you will hear every day!

CoLab is hoping to extend this run and is hoping to book gigs at other venues for this piece as well as others from their expanding repertoire.

Jubilee! Circle is located at 6729 Two Notch Rd right next to Very’s Restaurant in Columbia. Admission is $10 by cash or check at the door. Jubilee! Circle will have snacks and drinks available for purchase.

Columbia Operatic Laboratory is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. For booking, please email ColumbiaOperaticLaboratory@gmail.com. For more information on the production, or to make a donation, go to Columbia Operatic Laboratory on Facebook.

A Midlands Gives Message from Cindi & Wade -- The Jasper Project's State of the Heart

Thank you!

As we approach Midlands Gives next week and you make your decisions on where to invest your gifts, we’d like to report back to you on how the Jasper Project has used the tokens of your kindness since last year.

First and foremost, we have published two 64-page issues of Jasper Magazine and we have another issue in design now that will be in your hands in a matter of weeks.  These issues have reviewed, previewed, examined, explained, memorialized, and celebrated more than 100 of our Midlands-based artists. The issue coming your way will look at the art of Lindsay Radford, Quincy Pugh, Rebecca Horne, Lucy Bailey, Tyrone Geter, Diko Pekdemir-Lewis, Mike Miller, Jane Zenger, Josetra Baxter, Tamara Finkbeiner, Terri McCord, Juan Cruz, Saul Seibert, Rex Darling, Tam the Viibe, Desiree, Katera, Lang Owen, Hillmouse, Space Force, Candy Coffins, Admiral Radio, Carleen Maur, the mission of SCAC ED David Platts, and the international efforts of Columbian-founded dance organization, Artists for Africa.

We have published a dual volume of Fall Lines – a literary convergence, celebrating the prose and poetry of 60 SC writers, awarding the Broad River Prizes for Prose to Randy Spencer and Kasie Whitener and the Saluda River Prizes for Poetry to Angelo Geter and Lisa Hammond, while at the same time celebrating the photography of Crush Rush. And we have issued a call for Fall Lines 2022.

We have conceptualized and implemented a competition for the publication of a chapbook for a SC BIPOC writer in honor of Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer and the winner is being announced and celebrated as we speak. Board member Len Lawson brought us this beautiful idea and will edit the book which will be published this fall. 

We have implemented another issue of the Play Right Series, with new board member Jon Tuttle issuing a call for an original, unpublished one-act script, overseeing the adjudication, and selecting young playwright Colby Quick as the winner. Nine community producers have joined director Chad Henderson and his cast to learn more about the page to stage process for theatre arts, and we will invite you to join us for a staged reading of Moon Swallower in August. 

We have featured one artist per month in our virtual Tiny Gallery under the direction of board member Christina Xan, including artists whose work you know very well and artists whose work we think you’ll be happy to learn about including Gina Langston Brewer, Adam Corbett, Bohumila Augustinova, and more.

Because of the dedication of our amazing web maven and board member Bekah Rice, we have a website that is comprehensive, up-to-date, easy to maneuver, and quite lovely, if we do say so ourselves. Since last spring we have brought the good news of Columbia arts to you via more than 160 Online Jasper (previously blog) posts. And counting.

We threw a fabulous party to celebrate the 10th birthday of Jasper Magazine, and, with board member Laura Garner Hine’s incredible work, we welcomed more than 30 artists to demonstrate and celebrate their talents.

We have shown art for Columbia artists at Jasper Galleries that include Harbison Theatre, Motor Supply, also under the management of Laura Garner Hine, and our sidewalk gallery at the Meridian building conceptualized and realized by board member Bert Easter.

We have included the work of 25 (and counting) brilliant SC writers under the auspices of the Jasper Writes project, implemented in conjunction with Jasper poetry editor, Ed Madden. 

We have helped a new non-profit spread its wings by serving as the fiscal agent to Columbia (Summer) Repertory Dance Company, which is now its own entity. Bye bye little birdie! 

We have launched several new projects including:

• A new weekly music column by Kevin Oliver called THE BEAT;

• First Thursday featured artist exhibitions at Sound Bites Eatery – with artists including Marius Valdes, Ginny Merritt, and Quincy Pugh lined up for the next few months, and Alex Ruskell showing his work in May;

• The monthly Jasper Poetry Salon hosted by Al Black at the One Columbia Co-Op;

• Another monthly singer/songwriter happening called Front Porch Swing, also by Al Black, also at the One Columbia Co-Op.

• Last Thanksgiving, we launched a weekly newsletter called Sundays with Jasper that keeps the community up-to-date on Jasper news and arts happenings in general. You can sign up for Sundays with Jasper here.

Of course, none of this could have been done without the support of our community and your recognition of the vital role grassroots arts organizations play in the landscape of an arts community.

We continue to vow to you that every penny that comes the way of the Jasper Project will go directly back into the greater Midlands area arts community as we keep our overhead close to zero, save for insurance and rent (when we have a brick-and-mortar home.) None of your generous funding goes to payroll, taxes, or nice desks and chairs. We work from our homes and from our hearts.

It's worked this way for 10 ½ years. We’re keeping at it as long as you let us.

Thank you for your continued support.

Cindi Boiter, Wade Sellers, and the entire board of the Jasper Project and staff of Jasper Magazine

Jasper Welcomes the Multi-talented Alex Ruskell to First Thursdays (slightly) Off Main at Sound Bites Eatery

After a resounding success at Jasper’s first First Thursday featuring artist Michael Shepard in April, we are thrilled to be back at the new arts downtown dining den, Sound Bites Eatery, for First Thursday in May.

May brings us the bright and whimsical art of Alex Ruskell!

When Ruskell isn’t serving as the director of Academic Success at the UofSC Law School, he is a member of the equally bright and whimsical band, the Merry Chevaliers.

A champion of silliness and advocate of art in all its frivolity, Ruskell’s art offers a dose of something most of us have come to cherish of late — a reason to smile.

Joining Alex for this opening event will be Dick not Richard who will be laying down the groove and keeping our heads bopping and our hips swinging.

Come out for an evening of visual art, music, and fabulous food!

Free and open to the public — See You Thursday at First Thursday (slightly) off Main at Sound Bites Eatery - 1425 Sumter Street.

Columbia Baroque Presents “Catesby Comes to the Carolinas: A 300th Anniversary Celebration” May 10, 2022

Richard Stone

From our good friends at Columbia Baroque …

Columbia Baroque invites you to join us Tuesday, May 10 as we present ”Catesby Comes to the Carolinas: A 300th Anniversary Celebration” the final program of our concert series, “Around the Globe: Exploring Unfamiliar Territories.” Our concert is a collaboration with the Catesby 300 organization as they lead the celebration of the 300th anniversary of Mark Catesby in the Carolinas. We are delighted to welcome John Myers, historian, and guest artist Richard Stone, theorbo and lute, who joins our performers Brittnee Siemon, mezzo-soprano; Mary Hostetler Hoyt, baroque violin; Erika Cutler, baroque violin; Gail Ann Schroeder, viola da gamba; and William Douglas, harpsichord. 

The renowned English naturalist, Mark Catesby came to the Carolinas in 1722 to study flora and fauna, the results of which were included in his Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands. In addition, Catesby enjoyed singing and was especially fond of the music of Georg Frederic Handel.

Our concert will open with a delightful trio sonata by William McGibbon followed by English songs from the pub favored by Catesby as a participant. To connect with Catesby’s love of nature, we will include a section of music in imitation of birds followed by solo selections for each member of our ensemble. The program will conclude with music by Catesby’s favorite composer, Georg Frederic Handel.  

The Washington Post has described lutenist Richard Stone's playing as having "the energy of a rock solo and the craft of a classical cadenza." His recordings of the Fasch lute concerto and the complete Weiss lute concerti are available on Chandos. Other recording and broadcast credits include Deutsche Grammophon, Polygram, NPR, the BBC and Czech Radio. He has been guest soloist with Apollo's Fire, Handel and Haydn Society, Mark Morris Dance Group, the Boston Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Stone co-founded and co-directs Philadelphia baroque orchestra Tempesta di Mare and is professor of lute and theorbo at the Peabody Institute. 

A career teacher, John Myers began as an adult educator for unique groups in South Carolina: migrant and seasonal farmworkers and for state Native Americans, specifically the Catawba Nation. He retired from the South Carolina Department of Education in 2019 and is now employed as a historical interpreter at the Lexington County Museum. An avid birder, Myers is a member of the Audubon Society of Columbia and a team leader of the Catesby 300 planning committee, a group of SC state and national park administrators, statewide educators and museum administrators and historians. 

Columbia Baroque’s “Catesby Comes to the Carolinas: A 300th Anniversary Celebration” will be presented Tuesday evening, May 10 in the Recital Hall at the University of South Carolina School of Music, 813 Assembly St. in Columbia. Come early for “Concert Conversations,” hosted by scholar, Peter Hoyt beginning at 7 p.m. with the performance at 7:30 p.m.  

Tickets are $20. All students attend free. For ticket purchasing and information visit www.columbiabaroque.org. 

Midlands Area Music Students Travel with Instructor Marty Fort to Perform at GRACELAND April 6th

Wednesday April 6th, 7 p.m. music students from the Columbia Arts Academy® rock the Guest House at GRACELAND in Memphis, TN.

Home of Elvis, there’s a full two days of music from schools all over the country performing rock, pop, classical music and more April 6th and 7th. They have a 450 seat gorgeous theater on the Graceland property and our students could not be more excited to perform. The Columbia Arts Academy® students will perform Wednesday April 6th 7:00 p.m. ET and a live stream is available at www.columbiaartsacademy.com. The students range in age from 7-18 and include piano, voice, guitar, drums students rocking out classic hits at the birth place of rock and roll. Following the students, the Capital City Playboys and the Columbia Arts Academy® teachers band who performed with Kirk Hammett of Metallica at the Columbia Museum of Art in 2020 perform a full two hour set.

Marty Fort

The Columbia Arts Academy® is dedicated to showcasing their students at the top venues around the country. They’re fresh off of their standing ovation last year at the Foster Theater at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The public is invited to tune in for the live stream and cheer on these upcoming artists as they play the big stage in Memphis.

Jasper reached out to Fort to get a bit more info on the upcoming adventure.

What made you choose Graceland as a destination for your students?

I’m a huge Elvis fan and a few years back they opened a new resort there the Guest House at Graceland. It has an amazing 450 seat theater (photo attached) and they allow student groups to perform. It’s the perfect venue and a part of history, so we’re all very excite about it.

What do you hope they'll take away from this experience?

The thing I didn’t expect, but I learned from the last road trip is that for many of them it’s a resume builder.

They are looking to get into college, have careers in entertainment, so for them, to perform at a venue of this caliber is huge. I would have given anything to have this kind of opportunity when I was there age. At that time in my life we were happy to just play a backyard party. But I do also have to say, Art Boerke was very good at letting high school bands play Rockafellas. My first show playing there was when I was 16

This is your second time taking your students on the road, right?

Yes, played Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foster Theater last year, got a standing ovation from a room largely of strangers from around the country.

Do you have a third setting in mind?

Getting ready to sign the contract and will be doing the big reveal after that. All I can say is, the venue and the city are literally one of the top 3 entertainment capitals, so that can narrow down anyone’s guess.

THE BEAT: Art Bar Concert Review March 12, 2022 by Emily Moffitt

Video game track covers, electrifying synths, and rock and roll; Art Bar’s live music concert on March 12 had it all.

The night featured performances by Outer Ego, Dead Spring, Harry and the Hootenannies, and Bad Stars, giving the audience a plethora of genres and new music to listen to.

Several of the bands debuted new music they were working on, and some performed excellent covers by other well-known groups, like Outer Ego’s great cover of Daft Punk’s “Something About Us” and Harry and the Hootenannies’ getting the crowd going by performing the original Powerpuff Girls theme song.

With so much variation between each group, there was enough to go around for the crowd to enjoy and dance to. The intimate spacing of the stage to the audience in Art Bar bolstered the mood of the entire room, encouraging conversation between the performers and the crowd through the music and during breaks.

It was a great night and a fantastic concert and gives us plenty to look forward to in terms of future gigs for all of the groups involved here.

Columbia Operatic Laboratory is Back at Art Bar 3/25 - GET YOU SOME FREE OPERA!

“Not your MeeMaw’s Opera Company …”

The Jasper Project is all about bringing Art to the people. Even when we, the people, aren’t expecting it and maybe didn’t even know we were missing it.

That’s why we love the way the Columbia Operatic Lab works.

At the Columbia Operatic Lab, their mission is the demystification of opera — removing all those stuffy misconceptions that opera is only for CeRtAiN PeOpLe — i.e., the kind who can afford to put on their schmanciest clothes and don their tiaras and and cummerbunds for the occasion of listening to stories of life presented vocally.

The Columbia Operatic Lab reminds us that the history of opera is full of comedy, drama, sex, irreverence, murder, and more. At one moment opera will make us LOL and at the next if will create a lump in our throats the size of Bizet’s big toe.

What’s more, they make this oft-misunderstood art form accessible by planning free concerts at local bars and simply passing the hat to help sustain their organization.

We love this!

And we’re happy to share the details of the COL’s next venture into the beauty of opera. Here’s what they shared with us …

Columbia Operatic Laboratory is presenting a concert of operatic music at Art Bar at 6:30pm on Friday, March 25. “This is not your MeeMaw’s opera company” says Evelyn Clary, who is a board member, “We will have fantastic professionals singing dearly loved operatic pieces, but we will put our fresh and fun spin on the evening. You need not be an opera nerd to enjoy the beauty of the music and share some laughs with us.”

Even those who are not opera buffs will recognize quite a few of the tunes. There will be selections from Carmen, Barber of Seville, Pirates of Penzance, and Impresario (which will be staged by the company in May). Also, they will perform an operatic setting of a portion of Night of the Living Dead.

Joining board members Michael T. Brown and Jerryana Williams-Bibiloni are baritone Greg Pipkin and Soda City’s favorite Jezebel, TrashyAmber. Bradley Fuller will accompany them. All are alumni of the University of South Carolina School of Music. “One goal of our company,” says Brown, “is to highlight SC grown talent and to provide professional performance opportunities for local artists.”

There is no cover charge, but donations to Columbia Operatic Laboratory, a 501(c)(3) are gratefully accepted. For more information on the event, check out Facebook.com/ColumbiaOperaticLaboratory

Art Bar is located at 1211 Park Street in Columbia and is a 21 and up establishment.

THE BEAT: Local Music at St. Pat's in 5 Points by Kevin Oliver

Sure, the hype for the return of the annual St. Pat’s in Five Points festival is focused on the headliners Blues Traveler and national acts such as Surfaces, Laney Wilson, and Big Something, but what often gets lost in the coverage is that St. Pat’s is also one of the biggest local music festival opportunities of the year. Columbia bands are well represented on the main stages in 2022, and every year there are additional acts playing at unofficial side stages, local bars, and restaurants in the area, and more. To help you plan a locals-focused day at the festival, here’s a rundown of area artists and when to find them on what stage:

Villanova 

2:40 pm, Greene and Harden St. Stage 

Possibly the most popular local act to play St. Pat’s multiple times, Villa*Nova brings the noise every year. The current lineup includes founding members Bobby Dredd and DJ Able One alongside singer and guitarist Brian Conner. The band released their first new music since 2015 last year, the single “Vipers,” which revealed a commitment to a heavier sound within their melodic funk roots. There’s still plenty of the funk/rock/hip-hop hybrid left in the band’s back catalog to please their longtime fans, however.

George Fetner and the Strays

1:10 - 2:10 p.m., Greene and Harden St Stage 

George Fetner has corralled his band of musical misfits into a herd of magnanimous proportions that turns any stage into a groove-laden party. Despite the near double-digit number of band members on stage, tight arrangements make the proceedings chug along purposefully. If you’re into bands such as Lake Street Dive, or the classic jams of WAR, there’s plenty to love in the joy-filled, tuneful workouts that Fetner and the Strays produce. 

Stranger Company

12:00-12:50 Harden and Blossom St Stage

A newer presence locally, this young quartet has tapped into a jam band style of rock, blues, and jazz that hearkens back to the 70’s classic rock of acts such as Wet Willie, Santana, and Sea Level, where the grooves and the guitar licks were what mattered. 

Ashley Wright and the Vance Gap Ramblers

12:00-12:50  Saluda and Devine St Stage 

Ashley Wright and her band have managed to create twang-friendly tunes that transcend stereotypes and cut close to the emotional bone. The band’s delicate arrangements juxtaposed with Ashley Wright’s full-throated alto voice bring to mind Gillian Welch and Watchhouse. 

Sourwood Honey Tribute Band

7:00-8:30, Home Team BBQ Stage 

The beloved Sourwood Honey was a bar-packing mainstay of the regional club circuit in the 1990s, with the dual front of Ryan Goforth and Chris Conner and ace guitarist Herbie Jeffcoat taking on the wingman position. Their brand of jam-friendly southern country rock was always a cut above the rest due largely to Conner’s songwriting skills, showcased on the pair of full-length albums the band issued in their prime. 

Conner passed from cancer back in 2007 but a few years back most of the remaining band members reconvened around Chris’ younger brother Brian Conner (of Villa*Nova), and called it a “tribute,” with Brian taking over his late brother’s parts; the goal is to keep the memory of Chris alive and reintroduce the band’s classic songs to audiences old and new. 

The Ramblers

4:10-5:10, Home Team BBQ Stage 

Taylor Nicholson logged plenty of miles as the lead singer for the popular regional rock act Atlas Road Crew; this outfit aims to provide plenty of classic rock and blues vibes on familiar material.

Danielle Howle & the Tantrums

2:40-3:40, Home Team BBQ Stage

 The nostalgic aspect of this year’s St. Pat’s Festival is encapsulated in the fact that Howle, a former Columbia resident and musician who now calls the Charleston area home, was playing the festival as early as the 1990s with her band Lay Quiet Awhile. The Tantrums was her next full rock band, featuring members from another late great local act, Blightobody, and the group recorded several albums for Daemon Records in the late 1990s, gaining airplay locally and regionally with songs such as “She Has A Past.” 

Soul Mites

1:10-2:10, Home Team BBQ Stage

The perennial party band for many Columbia natives, The Soul Mites only come out and play any more on special occasions like this.. The gruff, insistent voice of Tim Davis may be the focal point, but his supporting cast gives him a funky soul drenched rock ‘n’ roll machine to carry his crooning to another level.

THE BEAT - Kismet Kind’s Sad Girl Rock

By Kevin Oliver

“Kismet” is the word for the Arabic concept of destiny, or fate–not the kind one is resigned to, but the kind that greets you with promise, anticipation, and the joy of discovery along the way. The Greenville duo Kismet Kind chose the word as their moniker because of a chance meeting, with joyful repercussions that are still playing out. 

“We met in a kismet fashion in downtown Greenville, through an introduction by a mutual friend,” says Corinne Twigg, who along with Ashley Piotrowski is the entire band. Corrine had a track record as a local singer-songwriter, so they connected immediately over music, since Ashley was a drummer–an instrument largely absent from the former’s then all-acoustic style. “A promise to hang out and jam together turned into a series of Sundays spent in Ashley’s music room,” Twigg says. 

The resulting collaboration intrigued both musicians enough that eventually, they decided to take things public; their first show was about a year ago here in Columbia at New Brookland Tavern–where they return this Friday, March 4th.  

So, what happens when a confessional singer-songwriter crosses paths with a rock ‘n’ roll drummer? In Kismet Kind’s case, the musical mind-meld creates a cacophony of swirling guitar sounds and crashing cymbals, underpinned by Piotrowski’s propulsive timekeeping. An audio collision of Sleater-Kinney and Speedy Ortiz, the tuneful racket supports lyrics that would still feel equally at home in a sensitive indie folk song. The more electric, eclectic sound amplifies not only the instruments, but the themes addressed in the song’s subjects.  

“We wear our hearts on our sleeves,” Twigg says. “We find the writing process to be just as healing and as cathartic for us as it is to share the finished product in a room full of listeners.” 

The duo has even coined a name, or a subgenre, for what they do– “Sad Girl Rock.” 

“That most closely describes the emotional nature of our sound,” Twigg explains. “We aren’t your typical female duo because we aren’t afraid to connect with the loneliest person in the room from our vulnerable place on stage.” 

Their star has risen quickly on their home turf, with the Upstate Music Awards nominating them for “Best Duo/Group” and “Best Live Act,” an impressive achievement for a brand-new act. 

“To be as fresh on the scene as we are, seeing our name on anything–let alone nominations for the Upstate Music Awards–floored us,” Twigg says. “What means even more is to see familiar faces at our shows; it’s amazing to feel that support and it never gets old.” 

There are no formal studio recordings of Kismet Kind yet, but the duo is working on something for release in 2022. Until then, you can hear some of their music on a livestream they did last summer with the YouTube channel At The Addition: https://youtu.be/OOfx2IohVUc

Where: New Brookland Tavern

When: 7:00 p.m.

With: Hillmouse, Death Ray Robin

How Much: $10

The Beat: Sports and Music Don't Mix--Or Do They? Tales of Sports Related Gigs Gone Wild By Kevin Oliver

Sports and popular music have a long, intertwined history, from Super Bowl halftime shows to the Beatles playing Shea Stadium, longtime home of the New York Mets and the New York Jets. (And who can forget the “Jock Jams” phenomenon?”) On a local level, the relationship tends to be one of competing for audience attention, as the screens in the bars got bigger and the stages got smaller. Being in a college town like Columbia makes it especially challenging for bands booking gigs on game days. On one hand, the venues are full of customers, drinking, eating, and a captive audience for the lucky band on the calendar. On the other hand, that audience is there for the game, not the music, usually, and that can present challenges that make it a less than great experience for the musicians just trying to do their job.

Kevin Pettit, currently of the band 48 Fables, has been around the local scene for years and originally gained some notoriety as a member of Celtic rockers Loch Ness Johnny, where he had his own memorable sports vs. music moment.

“We were playing at the Flying Saucer in Columbia on a college bowl game weekend, and it was packed–I think it was Florida playing someone I can’t recall,” He says. “The big screen television in the bar was facing us on the other side of the room from the stage, and somehow we were able to time several song endings to coincide with a touchdown being scored in the game. So, when the crowd went crazy because someone scored, we took a bow and thanked ‘the great audience.’ It was good, silly fun.”

Not much has changed, according to Chris Reed, who plays both cover gigs and original music with his band The Bad Kids. “I played during the last Clemson-Carolina football game,” He says. “There was definitely a lot of oddly timed applause, which is awkward as hell but in the end it’s all just part of the job.”

It isn’t just football fans who can initiate some great sports-related gig stories, though. Bassist and guitarist Darren Woodlief, who has played around town with numerous acts, remembers an early gig with his rock band Pocket Buddha as an especially memorable evening.

“The band was me, Dave Britt, and Zack Jones, and this was our first sort of out of town gig over in Camden for the Carolina Cup steeplechase race day,” he says. “We were at a bar downtown that was a welcome respite for many very drunk folks who'd been out in the sun all day, a good number of whom may not have actually seen a horse. We played all the cover songs we knew and at the end of our 3 hours a small group of equine enthusiasts were not ready for the party to be over. After some negotiation, we agreed to play another 30 minutes for $50 bucks each. Rejuvenated by the bonus and the chance to again play the songs we knew best, we did our thing and left feeling exhausted but grateful.”

Just like not every game can end in a win for your team, not every gig on a game day turns out great. Josh Roberts, who has toured with his band The Hinges for years throughout the southeast and beyond, can attest to how bad timing can ruin a gig.

“The Hinges were playing Tasty World in Athens, Georgia on the night of the Carolina/Georgia game, maybe 2008 or 2009. It was a solid lineup, all the other bands were from Athens, and everyone was having a good time, hanging around the venue all evening, excited about the show.  Then, what wasn’t supposed to happen did, and the Gamecocks beat Georgia in an ugly game. We watched it at the venue, and at the end you could feel all the air let out of the town. It felt bad everywhere. The show was totally deflated. Hardly anyone came, and that strange feeling in the air just stuck around.” 

The Hinges’ bad luck followed them home in 2010, he adds.

“During the 2010 SEC championship with Auburn and Cam Newton vs. the Gamecocks, the same thing happened in Columbia. We were playing The Five Points Pub, which we had been reliably packing full of folks. We sound checked early because of the game, went elsewhere to watch it, and when it was over we could just feel it then, too. City deflation. Very small turnout and a strange feeling over everything.”

It wasn’t all bad for the band in either case, however, as non-football fans who are fans of a band don’t really care who won or lost, they just want to see their favorite band play, Roberts notes. “I will say that in both those cases a bunch of serious music fans came late and had a good time. I got the feeling a lot of those folks were anti-sports in general, and were pointedly not going to let something like that mess with their show.”

And then there are the experiences that have nothing to do with the game outcome or the distracting televisions. Sometimes it’s just professional musicians trying to get things done, and they wind up improvising.

Fiddler Jim Graddick remembers a 2013 incident where he was invited to play the Carolina/Clemson halftime show at Williams-Brice Stadium with banjo legend Randy Lucas.

“It was Dick Goodwin’s idea to have a bluegrass band play ‘Dueling Banjos’ with the Carolina band,” Graddick says. “They let us in without tickets since we were with the marching band, and when I went out to use the restroom about halfway through the second quarter, security wouldn’t let me back in since I had no ticket. I explained that I was playing the halftime show, to which the guard flatly responded, ‘Yeah, sure–me too.’” 

Of course, there are many musicians who are also big sports fans–who can forget the famous line in Hootie & the Blowfish’s hit song “Only Wanna Be With You” where Darius Rucker namechecks his favorite NFL team with the line “You wonder why I’m such a baby, ‘cause the Dolphins make me cry.” 

Patrick Davis is a well-known Gamecock supporter, writing and releasing several classic song tributes to USC sports teams. His sound and production crew lead of choice, local audio engineer Wayne Munn, remembers how they would sometimes have to make allowances for those gigs that clashed with USC game times. “We did a show at (NASCAR driver) Michael Waltrip’s house the day of a Carolina/Clemson football game with Patrick and the band,” Munn says. “We set up iPads behind the edge of the two front walls of the stage, so the band could watch the game as they were performing.”

So, wherever you choose to watch the Super Bowl this week, or any other major sporting event, if there is a local band playing there at the same time you should at least try to applaud at the right time–and drop in an extra tip, as the musicians are working a little harder than usual to have a good gig.