Of Ugly Sweaters, Funny Tunes & Smart Fundraising

It's not that Jasper doesn't care for fashion -- he adores a dapper chapeau and a neatly cinched windsor or pratt -- it's just that Jasper doesn't require haute couture of his friends or neighbors and is, in fact, a bit more inclined toward the comfies than the prissies in his own personal trousseau. And, of course, he only wears natural fibers. So the old boy was a bit taken aback Friday last when, in order to attend a night of merry-making at his beloved Trustus Theatre, he was implored to don garb specifically in the category of ugly -- an ugly sweater, to be precise.

It was all part of the plan to raise money for Trustus via their Ugly Sweater Karaoke Night in which lucky patrons paid a mere $10 at the door, filled their cups with $1 and $2 beer, then spent the evening laughing at one another as well as themselves. And while there were many chuckles to be enjoyed over the course of the evening -- both at the sweaters and the singing -- the joke was on the hosts because the impromptu vocals of several of the stage regulars was nothing short of stellar. Special kudos to Kim Harne, Kevin Bush, Terrance Henderson, and Walter Graham -- Jasper even swooned a bit, when the latter took the stage.

Congrats to the young bloods at Trustus for asking for about the only kind of money people can give these days, and giving folks a fun, silly, and easy-going way of giving it.

And now, for a look at those (gasp!) sweaters!

(With thanks to Kristine Hartvigsen for her photography.)

Horizontal Hold

Last month when Jasper Magazine conducted its First Annual Pint and Poem Walk, a few folks asked for a copy of this poem, so here it is for those who asked (and those who didn't.) It's an amusing, odd piece I wrote under the influence of pain medicine after my eardrum ruptured. I was deaf in that ear for nearly a month. Anyway, here goes: horizontal hold

narcotics kill the pain

my mind a barren pool rusty ladder descends into earth and weeds

three lesbians gather wood together they build a Frank Lloyd Wright doghouse

monogamy -- monotony one of them is cheating on her husband

i have weird dreams of my dead father a fire engine Leonard Nimoy and a 19 percent raise

my carpet is the state fair for roaches city pigeons die quietly on my windowsill heads folded neatly into wings

loose audio tape lies in a tangled pile at my feet

i am openly seduced glistening nude in hues of violet by a body without a face

amplified pounding in my head clock ticking blood pumping machine-driven raucous vacuum

find me, bring me down where I can feel again

my antenna flails in the wind please slide on a tennis ball and help ride me of all this static

-- Kristine Hartvigsen

On Jasper Issue #2 -- a message

A Message from Cindi: By now I hope that most of you have had the opportunity to take a look at the newest edition of Jasper -- The Word on Columbia Arts. We released the new copy on Tuesday, November 15th, and have been steadily distributing it throughout the week. Unfortunately, being the mom & pop kind of shop that we are, we don't have a large van or a crew of delivery persons to make distribution simple and efficient. But we do have a list and we're checking it twice, so if a stack of Jaspers has not materialized in your gallery, boutique, or restaurant space yet, no worries. Monday will come and your magazines will, too.

I do want to take a moment and comment on this, the second issue of Jasper. It's a little different from issue #1.

The first difference you may notice is the cover. Heyward Sims, our design editor, came up with the cool look of the magazine cover being torn away to expose the art living on the inside. I like the way the reader opens the magazine to find the full image - in this case, Thomas Crouch's American Crow, waiting right there in all it's glory. (Visit www.jaspercolumbia.com to see more of Crouch's work.)

Some of you also may have noticed that the magazine is a little heftier. That's because, in our efforts to give Columbia artists their due, we increased the number of pages from 48 to 56 and plan on continuing with this trend.  There's no shortage of stories -- we just need the pages to write them on.

We also added two new departments to this issue. Jasper Takes Notice and Day Jobs. Of the two, I'm most excited about Day Jobs.

I fear that, too often, people on the outside of the arts community fail to realize how difficult it is to be and declare oneself an artist. Very few folks can do this without relying on a day job to help them make ends meet. And in the process, these artists become two-fold contributors to our culture -- via their day jobs and their work as artists.

I'm tired of folks who aren't in the know making assumptions about the lifestyles of artists. Of all the people I know, artists are almost universally the hardest working. Their art isn't a luxury -- it's a necessity; and they make sacrifices for it in hours of sleep, dollars earned, and relationships untended that those of us who just love art, rather than create it, will never know. Dammit.

Our other new department, Jasper Takes Notice, allows us -- sometimes with the help of advisers -- to shine a little light of attention on a fresh and new local artist who has caught our collective eye. Jasper's first Newly Noticed Artist is Rachel Borgman, a student at USC. We were most taken by Rachel's warm and glowing color palette and the Old World aesthetic she brings to her work. We don't want to take our eyes off of Rachel as she grows and matures as an artist.

Of course, you'll likely find other tweaks and turns in this issue of the magazine that weren't there in the last. While we want you to be comfortable with our pages, we never want you to be bored -- so expect things to shake up a bit every now and then.

But there are a few things that will never change:

Our  promise to release a magazine every other month on the 15th of the month (unless the 15th falls on a weekend in which case we'll release it the Thursday before)* just like we said we would; and,

Our commitment to the principle that those of us who endeavor on this magazine do so for one overriding reason -- it's not about our egos, or the writing or the photography or the design; it's not about the magazine itself. It is about the art and the fact that, because of it, Columbia is a better place to live than it would be without it. We're simply proud to be a part of the process.

That said, we'd like to know what You think about the magazine. What would you like to see more or less or? Who would You recommend Jasper to take notice of? What have we not written about that you would like to see in our pages? Write us at DearJasper@jaspercolumbia.com -- we'd love to hear from you.

Thank you for reading friends -- please keep in touch.

*The Jasper January 2012 issue releases on Thursday, January 12, 2012 with a party at the Art Studios at the Arcade on Main Street

Review -- August Krickel on Workshop Theatre's The Dixie Swim Club

Jasper has a thing for feisty women of a certain age, especially when they periodically reunite to do some female bonding, and to recharge their collective vitality.  The reunion going on at Workshop Theatre isn’t just the one we see on stage in The Dixie Swim Club, which opened to a packed and appreciative house this past Friday, but also the reunion of veteran director Cynthia Gilliam and some of Columbia's favorite actresses.  Depicting four girls-only beach weekends stretching over several decades, Workshop's new production is strong on laughs and characterization, a little bit less so on depth and substance, but you enjoy the performances of the five leads so much, that's all that matters.  

The script (by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten, i.e., the team responsible for numerous down-home community/regional theatre favorites like the Dearly Beloved/Futrelle Family trilogy) introduces us to five gal pals who have kept their friendship going long after the heyday of their championship college swim team.  Once a year, all spouses, children and telephones are banished, and the quintet meet at a beach house in the Outer Banks, with the expected results. The framework is part Same Time, Next Year, part Big Chill, with liberal doses of Designing Women and Steel Magnolias, but it works, thanks to excellent casting and direction.

Four of the five are recognizable types:  Barbara Lowrance plays the flirtatious and often-married Lexie, Leigh Stephenson plays the former team captain Sheree, Andi Cooper plays the career woman Dinah, and Drucilla Brookshire plays the Southern-fried Vernadette. Tracy Rice has the biggest challenge as Jeri Neal, who reinvents herself several times in the course of the play. In the hands of less seasoned actresses, these roles could be quite stereotypical and derivative: Lexie is a more vulnerable version of Sex and the City's Samantha, attorney Dinah is basically Miranda, preppy and optimistic Sheree is a variation on Charlotte, while long-suffering yet wisecracking Vernadette is more like Roseanne's sitcom character.  (That three fairly collegiate types would be this close to two fairly rural country girls is a bit of a stretch, but not overly distracting.)  Likewise, the plot doesn't forge any new territory; you can pretty much guess in advance what sort of challenges five friends will face as they age from 44 to 77.  There will be marriages and divorces, children and grandchildren, issues with careers and health, and ultimately, as with any group of friends, someone will be the first to pass on.  I doubt I'm giving away any plot spoilers when I reveal that through it all, their friendship is the one rewarding constant on which they can depend. Thankfully, Gilliam has cast the right performers to make the evening a showcase for their acting skills.

A few weeks ago, I noted that many of the Midlands' finest performers from the past few decades were gathered together for Jim Thigpen's swan song at Trustus; just about everyone who missed out on being in that cast turns up here.  (In fact, Gilliam directed a number of these actresses in a similar show, Ladies of the Alamo, several decades ago at Workshop, and the only Alamo alums not in this were onstage a mile away down at Trustus!)   Top honors have to go to Brookshire, who takes what could have been a stock, down-home comic relief character and makes her believable, while getting some of the biggest laughs of the evening.  While the storyline is fairly thin, the script is replete with classic, quotable one-liners, as when Vernadette declares that she "never knew true happiness until I got married, and then it was too late," or when Lexie reveals that she gave her ex "the thinnest years of my life." Actually, this is the sort of show where, believe it or not, references to divorce, infidelity, even early-stage dementia can become jokes. For me the tenderest moment was when Stephenson's eternally youthful ex-athlete breaks into tears not because of some tragedy, but upon realizing that she's going to be a grandmother.  Another highlight (and a perfect audition piece or monologue for someone looking) is Vernadette's defiant and hilarious defense of biscuits, deep fat fryers, and the Southern way of life - this actually got a huge round of applause in the middle of the scene on opening night.  All five play a tad younger than their actual age as the play begins, and define their progression through the years more with their voices and physicality than actual make-up (although Cherelle Guyton's wigs are extremely believable and help to define both age and personality.)

Randy Strange's ultra-realistic set is one of the best I can recall in recent years at Workshop. The show wisely avoids too many references to specific times or places (in fact, it could probably be done fairly well on a bare stage with a few chairs) but Strange has gone all-out, crafting a believable beach house setting.  Something that I really admired was the detail lavished on a screened-in porch at stage left, which doesn't really figure into any plot elements, but makes for a familiar and credible feel.  Chuck Sightler's sound design is subtle and effective, with passing noises (thunder, rain, a car horn) coming from the right direction, and often muted, not distracting from the dialogue.  A minor quibble would be a lot of wasted space above the set, which could have been used for projected images of sand dunes and sea oats, or perhaps to suggest changing climate (clouds, storms, the sun, etc.)

In the program, Gilliam notes that this production is not great dramatic literature, but I'd say that she and the cast nevertheless give it their all, as if it were.  The Dixie Swim Club, as above, is a showcase for the skills of its cast and director, and Columbians who have followed them over the years will enjoy seeing the team back together again.   The Dixie Swim Club runs through Sat, Dec. 3rd; contact the Workshop Box Office at 799-6551 for ticket information.

~ August Krickel

Jasper Issue 2 Release Event Music & David Adedokun

We here at Jasper are super-stoked that David Adedokun, a local singer/songwriter who often goes under the name The Daylight Hours, is headlining, and curating, the musical performances at the release of Vol. 1, No. 2 of our magazine.

As long time fans of David A., we want to tell you exactly why you should be excited too.

While it’s been awhile since we’ve heard new tunes from Mr. A (although we hear he has a bunch of new ones he’s ready to play on Tuesday), his 2007 debut How To Make A Mess of Things was, in fact, a stunning display of lyrical prowess and pop sensibility that we still count as one of our all-time favorite local releases. The songs on the record are performed by a stripped down-yet-emphatic backing band that largely leave the spotlight for Adedokun’s soaring voice, strong melodies and clear-headed (and occasionally cynical) meditations on relationships, true love, faith, and (on the closing “Old #7”) the bottle.

Mr. A has the local indie-pop act Dead Surf and singer/songwriter Dylan Dickerson opening up for him inside 701 Whaley, with Tom Hall & the Plowboys taking over the outdoors deck.

Come celebrate some great music in addition to all the great art covered in Jasper Magazine, No. 2!

-- Kyle Petersen

(Kyle Petersen is the Music Editor for Jasper -- The Word on Columbia Arts. Read more of Kyle's work at www.jaspercolumbia.net.)

Thanks to Dan Cook & the Free Times for giving One Book, One Columbia a nice welcome for 2012

With much appreciation to Free Times editor, Dan Cook, Jasper is re-posting his Arts Beat blog from Friday November 11th, which is an excellent example of how to whip up enthusiasm about something of which Columbians have a right to be proud -- reading and the second year of our One Book, One Columbia program.  Read below for more info via Dan.

~~~

One Book Program Seeks Reading Advocates

by Dan Cook, November 11th 02:57pm

Spearheaded by City Councilwoman Belinda Gergel, the One Book One Columbia program was launched in April with the goal of promoting not only literacy, but also community dialogue. The idea was simple: Get as many people in the city as possible to read the same book at the same time, and then get them talking about it.

The book that launched the program, Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years, served as a starting point for conversations about history, family, race, religion, education and much more. (See the Free Times story "Can a Book Get Columbians Talking?" for more background on the program.)

Now it's time for the launch of the 2012 One Book program. On Dec. 13 at 5 p.m., the Richland County Public Library will host an orientation for reading advocates; advocates are volunteers who agree to read the book and promote the program within their own ciricles of friends, acquaintances and co-workers.

Interested in being a reading advocate for the One Book program? Contact Gergel at bfgergel@columbiasc.net by Dec. 5.

As for what book has been chosen for the 2012 One Book program, you'll just have to wait ... the title will be announced at the Dec. 13 event.

May Evans Kirby & Stepson, Staff Sergeant Richard Kirby, Share Poetry on This Veterans' Day

Through the magic of social media, Jasper had the opportunity to read a lovely poem this morning, written by a loyal and loving member of the Columbia's arts community, May Evans Kirby. May Weatherwax Evans married local musician, attorney and ne'er-do-well Bentz Kirby on December 12, 2009 when Bentz's son Richard was 24 years old.

She and Richard have been getting to know one another ever since.

She writes, "This morning, my stepson and Bentz's son, Richard Kirby, Jr., posted a poem on his wall. He is a Staff Sergeant in the Air Force and is currently serving in Afghanistan. The poem took my breath away. We chatted on Facebook, and we talked about how much work can go into writing a poem. I told him Worthy [Evans -- May's brother] told me his pieces are always in the works, which made me feel better."

May continues, "I got to know Richard a little better this morning. Thank God for Facebook, Bentz Kirby (for the making of Richard and the marrying of me) and all the amazing gifts each of us has, and what a blessing it is when they are shared."

Here is the poem May shared with Richard this Veteran's Day morning, and below that, the poem Richard wrote which inspired her to share her own.

The Wall

"Let tyrants shake their iron rods..." I became my fifth-grade self when I heard the band playing ... the hymn I once loved.

Blue eyes stare at me from under a cap of blond curls, A reminder of the wall names as young children who also once stood wondering.

As his parents lift their beloved's name from the cold black stone, they boy and I watch each other- I think he wonders why he is there. The shame of knowing makes me look away.

Carnations weep from the granite base, A sad irony, this beautiful statuary and the ravenous war which engulfed young men and spat out undending casualties.

I cry because I know, and the little boy does not, of the many lists (not nearly as beautiful) already made, and the others yet to come.

I cry again when the music stops, and the lone last band member walks away, instrument and chair in hand. ~May Kirby, 2006

A Fleeting Dream...

I sit upon a string unwinding And remember times that are behind me Of love, of hate, and wasted days Of the straight and narrow, of wandered ways Times of cheer and times of woe And forward to the times unknown On I move, seeking my Eleanor My dream to hold forever more

Still I wait, my thoughts roam free I've consider long, how things could be If everyone could see as I Keep those close they push aside Yet only thine-self one can control Even that bears a heavy toll For the pain that resides in ones own heart Can tear a man's world apart

Though time may heal your mortal coil The demons left inside will kill your soul Of this I pray that all will see And know how true friends should be Still it matters not the feeling felt You can only play what cards are dealt.

~ Richard Kirby

(May Evans Kirby is originally from Alexandria Virginia. When she is not writing poetry she is a customer support rep at a local educational software company.)

Book It to Main on Saturday

I remember the first time I heard eboniramm, the local jazz & blues poet-performer, at a literary event.  That voice, that presence, that easy movement between gospel and blues, between song and poem, between joy and pain.  Stunning. She's on the line up of remarkable poets and performers scheduled for Bookin' It On Main: A Celebration of Black Writers, set for this Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., in and around the Columbia Museum of Art.  Also on the line up is the launch of Home Is Where, a collection of poetry by African American writers edited by Kwame Dawes.  This is an unprecedented collection of writing by a real range of poets, including winners of the National Book Award and Ansfield-Wolf Award and participants in the Cave Canem workshops.  Beautiful work, politically important, and, you can get a copy on Saturday at the festival (and get lots of the participating writers to sign it as well).

Here's Sharon Strange, one of the writers scheduled for Saturday, reading her poem "Unforgettable" on NPR.

Eighteen of the country's finest poets — all of them featured in the new anthology —will be reading Saturday.  They'll be joined by comic book artists, musicians, the Richland Northeast GAP Choir, and local storyteller Darion McCloud (whose acting and directing work many of us have seen with Trustus Theatre and the critically acclaimed NiA Company, our local multi-ethnic theatre company).

There will be readings, writing workshops, book signings, music.  There's also a BYOB - Bring Your Own Book (not beer!) for younger children, during which children who bring a book can have it read aloud.

Here's the schedule of readings, all in the Columbia Museum of Art:

10 a.m. Porchia Moore Joyce Rose-Harris Michele Reese Howard L. Craft Glenis Redmond

11:45 a.m. celeste doaks eboniramm Lenard D. Moore Linda Beatrice Brown

1:30 p.m. Candace Wiley Nichole Gause Stephanie Suell Monique Davis

3 p.m. Sharan Strange Tanure Ojaide Earl Braggs Monifa Jackson KING Shakur

A ground-breaking anthology and a day full of performances and readings.  This promises to be an amazing event!

On the Wings of a Snow White Dove ...

It was a Saturday night back in September at Bill’s Music Shop & Pickin’ Parlor, and the place had the feel of a great big family picnic. There were laughter and hugs. Small children scampered here and there. A long table was filled with covered-dish staples, and folks were unpacking guitars, banjos, and fiddles.

A hush fell over the crowd when someone said the guest of honor was on his way. Cameras were readied, kids were shushed, and when the doors to the Pickin’ Parlor swung open, in stepped Bill Wells, the man who has championed bluegrass music in South Carolina for the past 26 years."

That's how I began my column a few weeks ago for the new issue of Jasper, which will be released next week. I'd heard that Bill was suffering from stage-four melanoma and was in a bad way. I'd known Bill for more than 20 years, and a friendlier, more humble person you'd never meet. In a small way, I wanted to pay tribute to the man who raised awareness of bluegrass in the Midlands and gave pickers and grinners a place to call home on Meeting Street in West Columbia for more than two decades.

Bill died yesterday, and his passing has left a hole in the heart of the Columbia music community. Bill was steadfast in his devotion to the music he loved, and for him, pure acoustic bluegrass music was the highest art there is. I'm sure he's circling around a single microphone up in heaven right now with Bill Monroe and Lester Flatt, having a good ol' gospel sing. Rest in peace, old friend.

Bill Sings Life's Evening Sun here.

Someday We'll Meet Again Sweetheart

Listen to Bill sing more here.

-- Mike Miller is associate editor at Jasper --The Word on Columbia Arts

www.jaspercolumbia.com

(To read Mike's column on Bill, please pick up a copy of Jasper Vol. 1 No. 2 available throughout Columbia and the Midlands on Tuesday, November 15th, 2011.)

Show Preview: Free Times Music Crawl

 

Every year Columbia’s (rather under-appreciated) alt. weekly puts on a locals-centered music festival designed to illustrate just how much music gets made around these parts. This year, the crawl spans 2 days, features 41 bands, and takes place across 6 stages—all of which means any reasonably interested music fan is gonna have a hard time not finding some local music to blow their socks off. With so many options though, how does one choose where to be and when? Well, this week’s Free Times has provided extensive coverage to give you a feel for the bands here, but we thought we’d also tell you what Jasper recommends…

Friday Night: Arts & Draughts at the Columbia Museum of Art

This is the easy night, since none of the bands overlap. However, Jasper would like to HIGHLY recommend coming out tonight for the following reasons: 1) Arts & Draughts is always a good time—good beer on tap, the Bone-In BBQ food truck will be there, and you are supporting our thoroughly awesome art museum, 2) Jasper’s editor-in-chief is giving a unique perspectives tour of the museum’s permanent collection tour (see previous blog here), and 3) these bands are just awesome.  The night kicks off at 7 pm with a great buzz band out of Denver, CO, The Lumineers, who remind us of The Head and the Heart mixed with Mumford & Sons.

Listen to the Lumineers here.

Following them up are Columbia’s own Say Brother, who play amped-up blues and country tunes with punk rock fervor.

Listen to Say Brother here.

Mac Leaphart and his Ragged Company take the stage at 9 pm, and Leaphart’s songs are written with the poignancy and humor of John Prine, but this a band that takes it cues from Gram Parsons and The Rolling Stones.

Listen to Mac Leaphart here.

And, most, importantly, South Carolina’s most badass musical duo closes the show, Charleston’s Shovels & Rope. I could go on for pages about Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent, the husband-and-wife team who power through their amazing songs with minimal accompaniment in a way that is simply breathtaking. Seriously, you only need to hear Ms. Hearst’s voice once live to be forever taken with the band’s music.

Listen to Shovels and Rope here.

Saturday Night: Free Times Music Crawl, the Main Event

Alright, where to begin? First off, it is worth noting that the stages are set up roughly to accommodate a music fan’s particular interests. Wet Willie’s features R&B and Hip-Hop acts (including joke rappers Sweet Vans, who might actually appeal more to the indie rock crowd), Flying Saucer has mainly bluegrass/alt. country bands (with Myrtle Beach’s new wave-ish Octopus Jones being the odd man out), and Art Bar, Kelly’s, and the Tin Roof are the primary rock stages, with each venue having a pretty thorough mix of acts. Jasper always has a difficult time getting down to Wet Willie’s at these events despite best intentions, largely because the distance between that stage and the rest of the venues eats up valuable time. Anyway, let’s get down to the schedule:

7:10-7:40pm – Pinna (Kelly’s)

Even if you are the kind of person who hates jam bands, this is still an act worth checking out. Lead guitarist and singer George Fetner (who has a degree in music composition from USC) is one of the town’s most gifted guitar players, and he and his band mates, more than most jam bands, actually engage and surprise their listeners with their adventurous improvisational forays.

7:30-8:00pm – Those Lavender Whales (Art Bar-indoors)

A quirky indie pop act who don’t quite sound like anyone else, this is a group also worth checking out because they run Fork & Spoon records, one of the most admirable record label/collectives in town.

Check out Those Lavender Whales here.

8:10-8:40pm – Ye Mighty! (Kelly’s)

Although it might seem silly to call a band “buzz worthy” within the confines of a local scene, it’s easy to call Ye Mighty! just that. Featuring the wonderful vocals of Beth Dickerson and a cast of well-known scene members backing her up, the group plays swirling post-punk that threatens to burst into full-blown anthems.

8:40-9:10pm – Marshall Brown (Tin Roof)

Brown is a singer/songwriter whose music is absolutely drenched in 60s and 70s psychedelia, mixed with a bit of the bedroom pop eclecticism that sprouted up in the 90s. Even in a town with a music scene as diverse and quirky as Columbia’s, Brown stands out for forging his own, singular path.

Here's some Marshall Brown

9:20-9:50pm – Fayth Hope (Wet Willie’s)

Hope makes music in the neo-soul tradition, which means an earthy mix of soul and R&B with a decidedly retro feel. She has a gorgeous voice, and the advance tracks from her forthcoming LP are positively tantalizing.

9:30-10:00pm – Death Becomes Even the Maiden (Art Bar – indoors)

This overlaps a bit with Hope, and could not be more different, but Jasper is also equally excited to see the heavy, complex post-rock of DBETM again as well—although, full disclosure, guitarist Heyward Sims is our design editor. Even if he wasn’t, though, it would be hard not to champion dark, propulsive tunes and formidable chops.

Listen to DBETM here.

10:10-10:40pm – Elonzo (Kelly’s)

A Rock Hill family band with a definite Southern vibe, these guys make dreamy, grandiose indie folk-pop with a hint of Americana. This is the kind of music that tends to disarm even the most cynical of us with its buoyant, cathartic musical releases into the stratosphere.

10:50-11:20pm – The Unawares (Flying Saucer)

Jasper has previously reviewed the band’s new record  here, and we are psyched to see some of these new songs played in action.

11:00-Midnight – Magnetic Flowers (Art Bar outdoors)

Kinetic, literary indie folk/rock at its finest.  Built around three songwriters, four singers, and the dizzying keyboard parts of Adam Cullum, the band’s well-layered sound and penchant for capturing the unvarnished truth about their generation (for better or worse) in their lyrics makes them one of the scene’s most powerful acts.

12:10-12:40am – Junior Astronomers (Kelly’s)

Built upon the ferocity and dynamics of emo, Charlotte’s Junior Astronomers can credit their success to incorporating classic rock arrangements and energetic, prog-like guitar parts. That, and the unfettered passion of lead singer Terrrence Richard’s vocals and on-stage charisma.

Here's some Junior Astronomers.

1:00-1:45am – The Restoration (Art Bar – indoors)

This is where we are closing out the night (unless John Wesley Satterfield is still playing over at Kelly’s). The Restoration are one of our favorite bands in the city. Their 19^th century concept is heartfelt  and authentic, the stories are told with complexity and death, and Daniel Machado and Adam Corbett just write great songs. This ambitious, chamber pop-meets-old-time folk band deserves to be a national name—and we here in the Capitol City should just count ourselves lucky that they happen to sprout up here, and are willing to share with us their tunes in the wee hours of Sunday morning…

And it's The Restoration

-- Kyle Petersen is the Music Editor of Jasper -- The Word on  Columbia Arts

Unique Perspective Tour at CMA Arts & Draughts tonight

A note from cindi --

Tonight, I have the honor of combining two of my favorite topics of conversation -- gender studies and art --  into a singular discussion when I host a Unique Perspective Tour as part of the Columbia Museum of Art's Arts and Draughts event.

I'll be talking about the duality of representations of women in the visual arts from pre-Renaissance through the 20th century, and how feminist theory informs this reality.

Essentially, we'll be looking at the social construction of women as either good girls (think Doris Day or the Virgin Mother) or bad girls (think Marilyn Monroe and Mary Magdalene) with little in between. Our permanent collection at the CMA is replete with images that reinforce this dichotmization of women into one of two categories. We'll take a look at some of these images and, at the same time, examine the icons and attributes in the paintings and draw some conclusions from these, too.

I recognize how hard it will be to tear yourself away from the outstanding bands the CMA has performing tonight -- Say Brother, Shovels and Rope, and the like. Not to mention some of the other cool activities those wild women and men at the museum have planned. But if you take a notion, join me upstairs at 8 and again at 9 as we talk serious stuff about an aspect of the role of women in the world of art.

And by the way, does our local art museum seriously rock or what?

See you tonight!

Jasper's Ghost Story Salon at 701 Whaley = Scarily Fun

The Jasper family has been busy of late putting together the finishing touches on your next issue of the magazine, but we took some time to celebrate All Saint's Eve by staging a Ghost Story Salon on Halloween night as part of the 701 Whaley amazing Halloween Costume party staged by Tracie Broom and Debi Shadel of Flock and Rally.  We were fortunate to have some of the most talented story tellers in the community share their gifts of conjuring up a mood with us. Sometimes it was a little hard to hear, but it was always a lot of fun. Have a look below at the tellers of the tales.

Occupy Poetry

 By Guest Blogger, Susan Levi Wallach

Did you hear the one about four poets walking into a bar? How about four bars (which is about right for poets)? How about a pint in each for them and their friends (actually, friends of Jasper Magazine, who, given the evening’s literary and other perks, got quite a deal for $25 a head)? The poets: Ed Madden, Ray McManus, Tara Powell, and Kristine Hartvigsen. The bars: White Mule, The Whig, Hunter Gatherer, and Thirsty Fellow, which spread from Columbia’s midtown Main Street to south of the Vista on Gadsden, leaving plenty of opportunities to stop between hops shops to read aloud a poem or five for the assembled crowd. The crowd: about two dozen (even before the first pint it was difficult to count, this crowd being social, with everyone wanting to talk to everyone else. If you know what I’m talking about, then you were (or should have been) on Jasper Magazine’s first Pint & Poem Walk on Wednesday.

Everyone seemed to agree that poetry and beer make for a better mix than, say, poetry and lecture halls or auditoriums or anywhere an audience is expected to stay still and dry until the wine-and-cheese reception afterward, when they’re expected to remain on their best behavior and the wine is rarely any good.

Cindi Boiter, Jasper’s founder, editor, and the evening’s host, said London pubs and poets do such things all the time. Why not Columbia? (A question that has the makings of a motto for the city’s arts community: Why not, Columbia? or Why not Columbia? — why shouldn’t this little city, where the cost of living is low and artists and writers are more plentiful than a lot of people realize make the arts as much of a priority as big business?)

A stop in front of the Statehouse marked the Pint & Poem midpoint at 9:30 p.m., and the Occupy Columbia brigade clearly felt more enthusiastic about having few poets in their midst than they would have been about, say, a group of CEOs and other one percenters. Having in the past several days perfected the rhythm of antiphonal chanting, they gathered about Madden with placards in hand, repeating each line of the poem he read as if it were a slogan (sometimes, the line particularly complex, he had to say it twice till everyone got it right). Poetry for the rest of us.

Letter to Travis

by Ed Madden

I saw that photo of you, lean, grinning, skinny jeans, flannel shirt, newsboy cap, and nearby,

my former student Anna, hair dyed black, arms crossed over her tie-dyed purple tee, leaning

on a not-quite-life-sized bronze George Washington (the one boxed off at the MLK march

earlier this year, unfortunate fodder for FOX to spout off about respect and legacy and shit like that,

the one with the broken cane, broken off by Union troops in 1865 and never repaired,

as if he’s doomed to limp down here, and he was shot later by drunken Governor Ben Tillman, the one

so racist he got his own statue in 1940, just across the square from George, standing watch

now over a cluster of punks in sleeping bags, just down the lawn from the one for gynecological

marvel J. Marion Sims, who Nazi-doctored black women, then ran off to New York to experiment

on destitute Irish immigrant women -- such difficult history here, stories of the black, the poor.). I heard more

about George this morning on NPR, his whiskey distillery back in business, though without the slave labor,

that story after the one about Occupy Washington clustered near K Street. The front pages

of the local papers are Gadhafi’s slaughter, the body stashed in a shopping center freezer, GOP

would-be’s descending on us for another debate, the state fair ending this weekend, its rides and fried things.

I’ve got the list of what you guys need, Travis, gloves, storage tubs, “head warming stuff,”

water, and I plan to drop by later with supplies. For now, though, I look out my window,

the weather beautiful if cool, fair weather, the dogwood gone red and finches fidgeting among the limbs.

Too easy, probably, to turn all pastoral at times like these, to tend my own garden,

the last tomatoes ripening up, collards almost ready, needing that chill to sweeten a bit.

A dear friend wrote me this week, says he’s scared he’ll lose his job come the new year,

a fear we hear over and over, though the GOP folks tell us it’s our own fault that we’re

not the rich -- individual responsibility and all that. I want to believe in the joy

and resistance I see there on your face, Travis, the will revealed in Anna’s crossed arms.

I want to believe it, I want it to last, I want it to win. I’ll stop by later with gloves and water.

Release Your Freak Tonight at the Carpe Noctem FREAK SHOW

Give into your inner freak tonight at Unbound Dance’s third annual Carpe Noctem FREAK SHOW from 7 p.m. to midnight at 701 Whaley. This freaky fundraising gala includes performances by Unbound Dance, Columbia Alternacirque and Party Time Gurls featuring Carla Cox.

Attendees will be greeted at the door by a consortium of perilous women known as the Columbia QuadSquad. They will enter into a menacing carnival scene designed by local lighting designer Aaron Pelzek, scenic designer Kimi Maeda and puppeteer Lyon Hill.

Unbound Dance will perform three original pieces including an encore of the audience favorite “Thriller.” Emcee Alex Smith will guide the audience through their freakiest carnival experience while Charleston’s DJ Lola pumps music on the dance floor between sets.

In addition to live entertainment, FREAK SHOW will tempt the audience with a silent auction, carnival foods, caged freaks and cash bar. Attendees may want to disguise themselves so they are encouraged to wear their craziest carnival costume for a chance to win the FREAK SHOW Costume Contest.

Carpe Noctem FREAK SHOW is open to the public. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the door. A portion of the proceeds will go to Unbound’s dear friend, Amy Hardy, who is battling stage four metastatic breast cancer at the age of 30. The remaining proceeds will go to Unbound Dance.

-- Margey Bolen

Review -- August: Osage County

Jasper loves dysfunctional families.  Wait, let's clarify that - Jasper loves Pulitzer Prize-winning dramas about dysfunctional families, and there's a doozy of one running right now through Sat. Nov. 12th, at Trustus Theatre. August: Osage County, by Tracy Letts, is billed as Jim Thigpen's directorial swan song; he and wife Kay, with whom he founded Trustus 26 years ago, will retire at the end of this season (see the current issue of Jasper at http://jaspercolumbia.net/current-issue/ for details.) Fortunately, he has assembled a highly functional cast of family, both literal (brother Ron Hale and daughter Erin Wilson) and theatrical (a veritable who's who of local theatrical talent) to bring this provocative and compelling work to Columbia audiences.

The show recounts a few weeks in the lives of the Weston family, disrupted by the disappearance of the father. His three daughters return home, family and significant others in tow, to support their mother, and along the way we meet an aunt, and uncle, a cousin, and a few innocent bystanders. I was only familiar with this work from some reviews I read a few years ago, when it premiered and promptly won the Tony and N.Y. Drama Critics' Circle Awards for Best Play, the Drama Desk and Outer Critics' Circle Awards for Best New Play, and the Pulitzer. As a result, I had some misconceptions going in.  This is in no way, shape or fashion a comedy, even a dark one.  There are certainly some witty lines; most of the characters are fairly eloquent people connected to academia, and often barbs spoken in moments of great anger, frustration, and passion get some big laughs. Nevertheless, this play is a tragedy of the ordinary, an examination of the dark underbelly of contemporary American society, depicted before us via one truly unfortunate family.

Likewise, the title notwithstanding, this isn't really a rural or country-themed play at all.  While there is a plaid shirt here, some cowboy boots there, a backdrop that suggests dull stucco or adobe walls, and a Native American housekeeper, the setting isn't so much Oklahoma as it is any desolate location, and the desolation is as much spiritual as literal. One character notes that this isn't the Midwest, but rather the Plains, which he compares to the Blues, just not as interesting.  Nor is the show particularly surreal or avant-garde, as I somehow had expected. Sadly, the obstacles that confront these characters (with perhaps one Southern Gothic exception) are all too commonplace: divorce, infidelity, youthful rebellion, repression, substance abuse, suicide, and depression. The language is sometimes quite eloquent and poetic, but more often quite down-to-earth and familiar.

Yet this is a tremendously entertaining evening at the theatre, thanks to the supremely talented cast. While each of the thirteen actors gets his or her moment to shine on stage, top honors have to go to Libby Campbell Turner, in the central role of Violet, the harsh matriarch of the Weston family. We first see Violet helplessly struggling to form her words and thoughts as a result of her addiction to painkillers; the effect is shocking, especially for those familiar with Campbell Turner's assertive stage presence in any number of shows over the last several decades. Have no fear, however: Violet's coherence returns with a vengeance, as she tries to bring down each of her three daughters in turn. We chillingly realize that while the pills may have loosened her tongue, they surely didn't create her venom.

Violet's main adversary is her eldest daughter, Barbara, played by Dewey Scott-Wiley. She and Paul Kaufmann (as her husband Bill) are masters of the stage whisper, which they must employ for a marital spat that they desperately wish to remain unheard.  Scott-Wiley expertly depicts this ordinary yet complex character, as we see her first channeling her father in an alcohol-fueled intellectual ramble, then mirroring her mother, attempting in vain to control all around her, while still clad in her nightclothes.

Another standout is Gerald Floyd, as Violet's amiable but long-suffering brother-in-law whom she bitingly notes is now the family patriarch "by default," after her husband's disappearance. In a play where characters often naturalistically talk over one another, timing is everything, and Floyd is the champ, portraying a man who rarely gets a word in edgewise, yet always makes his point known.  Late in the third act, his demand that his wife (played by Elena Martinez-Vidal) show some shred of decency and compassion to their son, was for me perhaps the most moving moment in the play.

Another cast member whose vocal talent must be noted is Ellen Rodillo-Fowler, as the housekeeper Johnna. Brassy and feisty just a few weeks ago in Third Finger, Left Hand, here she plays soft and stoic, often pausing a half-second before most of her lines, and thus showing the depth and thought behind them.  Ron Hale, as Violet's husband, shines in the opening scene, waxing poetic and philosophical while concealing the depths of despair into which he has fallen. Sarah Crouch as the granddaughter Jean, Joe Morales as the local Sheriff, Kevin Bush as the supposed loser cousin "Little" Charles, Erin Wilson as the frustrated, plain-Jane middle daughter, and Robin Gottlieb as the somewhat spoiled youngest daughter who foolishly thinks she has escaped the family cycle, all do fine work, many playing against type.  Stann Gwynn as Gottlieb's fiancé has perhaps the fewest lines, but is memorable for making the audience wonder which is creepier: his interaction with Jean (which quickly moves into "Like to watch gladiator movies?" territory) or his career as a yuppie entrepreneur profiting from the Persian Gulf conflict.

One suspects that just as every great actor must try Hamlet in his youth, Macbeth in middle age and Lear as he gets older, so too must every playwright, Letts included, take a stab at a tragedy of family dysfunction.  August: Osage County presents us with no moral or lesson, but rather portrays people making the choices they must, but then living with the consequences.  I was reminded more than once during the show of a line spoken by Clint Eastwood in the film Gran Torino, about how "the thing that haunts a man most is what he isn't ordered to do."

Critics have called this the first great play of the new century. I'm not so sure I'd quite go that far, but there are certainly echoes of any number of classics:  Lillian Hellman's "little foxes, that spoil the vines," the spectre of substance abuse from A Long Day's Journey Into Night,  the bleak sense of frustration and yearning from  Chekhov's The Three Sisters and Turgenev's A Month in the Country, families coping with long-repressed secrets from Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, Ibsen's The Wild Duck,  and a dozen Tennessee Williams works, and the domestic battles in the homes of academics from Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and On Golden Pond.   Shoot, stick togas on the Westons and you'd basically have the cursed House of Atreus.  Time will tell if this is the latest retelling of eternal themes from the human experience, or a well-crafted pastiche of those themes, designed as an acting tour-de-force for a talented ensemble.

Either way, it rarely gets better than this if you want to see some of Columbia's finest performers flexing their dramatic muscles in some rich and juicy material. Director Thigpen made a wise choice for his finale, and deftly pulls it all together for a rich and thought-provoking evening at the theatre.

If you're going, note that the show runs a solid three and a half hours, with two intermissions, but it feels like not much more than two. Just be sure to make dinner and babysitter arrangements accordingly.  Call the Trustus Box Office at 254-9732 for ticket information.

~ August Krickel

Tom Poland reflects on his play, Solid Ground -- Guest Blog

I wanted to send this little news release of sorts to friends, former students, special clients, and those of you who knew I was writing a play this summer. Some of you expressed a desire to see the play but let me tell you it is one exhausting drive down to south Georgia. My drive, roundtrip was almost 900 miles and 15 hours. If I go down in March 2012 to see the play again, I'll fly into Tallahassee, rent a car, and drive up to little Colquitt, Georgia.

I am glad I went. Everyone down there is so gracious and friendly and the countryside is beautiful ... brilliant cotton fields, massive live oaks, and majestic pecan orchards draped in Spanish moss. Being a native Georgian, I was glad to see many parts of the state I'd never seen.

"Solid Ground," my play, uses a cast of more than 50 people. It's directed by Phil Funkenbusch of the Abraham Lincoln Museum Theater in Springfield, Illinois. The two-act, two-hour show is about a man's route to salvation. It deals with the after effects of the Depression, the harsh realities of farming, and the beauty of the land. The stories it's based on are true. Life was vastly different back then. No daycare for instance. One young couple, poor and struggling to make ends meet, took their infant daughter into the cotton fields and laid her down in a blanket. While they were picking cotton, a rattlesnake bit the child and she died. Lots of true stories like this and beautiful original music truly make the play an event. It has sad moments and funny moments but not one dull moment. Lots of crying by the audience ... it's moving the way they do it. I could get intellectual on you but I'm not that kind of guy. It's just a good story based on oral histories. I heard from several people that it's their favorite play of all they've staged in 19 years. I was humbled by the cast and crowd's reaction to me when I was introduced around and after the show.

The sweetest moment for me was right after the play, three little girls about nine years old walked up to me and handed me a promotional brochure about the play. "We want you to have this," said one little girl with her front teeth missing. Each little girl had signed the brochure for me! It's something I will keep forever.

Would I write another play? Yes indeed. It's really something to see ideas and words that bounced in around your head all summer find their way to a stage.

Swamp Gravy, the theater company down there, by the way, began on Broadway in New York City when a citizen from Colquitt met Director Richard Geer (No not that Richard ... he spells his name Gere) and the two talked about a way to revitalize Colquitt. That's where the idea for Swamp Gravy began. Today it is acknowledged by the Georgia General Assembly as "Georgia's Official Folk Life Play" and its plays have been performed at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, at Atlanta's Seven Stages Theater and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Tom Law Celebrates 4 Months at Conundrum with a Free Concert Featuring David Greenberger & The Shaking Ray Levis

Spoken word performer David Greenberger can claim the title artist in a number of ways.

As a young painter, Greenberger took a day job working at a nursing home to help pay the bills. But what he soon found was that, visual arts aside, the young man had struck gold in the form of the conversations he enjoyed with residents of the home. While most people who capitalize on conversations with the elderly focus on mining their memories, Greenberger is more interested in his subjects as individuals – normal and not-so-normal human beings with an agency and capacity to impact the world as much in their elder years as in their youth.

Greenberger began publishing a zine, The Duplex Planet, in 1979 in which he recorded his interviews with the residents of a Boston nursing home. He has since become a somewhat regular contributor to NPR’s All things Considered, developed Duplex Planet comics and CDs, and overseen spoken word performances of his collections – and he still publishes his zine.

But more importantly, Greenberger is coming to Columbia for a free performance, along with the Shaking Ray Levis, this Thursday night at Conundrum Music Hall. If you haven’t made it out to the coolest new music venue in the state yet, Thursday night’s concert and performance is the perfect opportunity. Conundrum is located at 626 Meeting Street, West Columbia. The show starts at 8 pm and, once again, it’s a free show and proprietor Tom Law’s special gift to the community.

And while you’re there, give Tom a pat on the back and wish him Happy Anniversary – it’s the 4 month anniversary of the hall.

An Art Show with Legs

We’re lucky in Columbia that on most any given Friday, there’s an art opening somewhere. This past Friday found me checking out the work of someone new (at least to me). I’d heard some buzz about this young artist, Lindsay Wiggins, but I hadn’t yet seen her work. To be honest, descriptions of its surrealist bent did not fill me with delight. That’s not to say I don’t like surrealist art. It’s just that there seems to be a lot of it these days, and, to me, it has to be truly spectacular to capture my interest. I need to recognize something compelling in it and feel a connection. Wiggins’ show at ART+Cayce Gallery at 1329 State Street in West Columbia did not disappoint. In fact, it quite surprised me; I found it both captivating and inspirational.

Titled “Dreams and Memories,” the show certainly evokes the subconscious sensibility of dreams. And while Wiggins’ rich color palate of reds, greens, and ochers leans to the darker side, her paintings have a vibrant, sometimes whimsical balance to them, particularly those in which she includes her adorable white pooch, Smooch. One of my favorites happens to be “Self Portrait with Smooch” (pictured), which immediately called to my mind Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus.” It’s hard to put my finger on exactly why, but the Botticelli aesthetic may come from the colors and details. The most dramatic element to me is the way Wiggins’ hair is lifted and carried by crows. The image was aptly chosen for the show’s promotional post card. Another painting I liked a great deal features Smooch with legs surreally elongated and bowed in the shape of a hot-air balloon floating across the blue canvas, with jellyfish floating alongside Smooch as if sentries.

Many of Wiggins’ paintings include animals, especially horses with bizarrely elongated legs that appear to bleed off the bottom edge of the canvas. These were my personal favorites, particularly “Passion,” “Circus I” and “Circus II.” I loved the strong vertical lines and the lilting geometry of the leggy animal paintings. Crows and birds of many varieties also populate a number of pieces, both subtly and otherwise.

Strolling around the gallery, I overheard several references to Salvador Dali, and I personally saw fine details in a couple of pieces that were reminiscent of Edvard Munch’s famous “Scream” (see detail, pictured).

The pieces in Wiggins’ show are priced to sell, but I give you fair warning. It’s not easy to select just one. And lots of them sold on Friday. Wiggins’ show at ART+Cayce runs through October 31. If you’re a collector, I’d get in early while this young woman’s paintings remain so affordable. I believe (and hope) we’ll be seeing a lot more of Lindsay Wiggins on the arts scene in the near future.

-- K. Hartvigsen

Kristine Hartvigsen is associate editor of Jasper Magazine -- Read more of Kristine's work at www.jaspercolumbia.com

Change is Good

Change is always good, but at no time is it better than when it benefits both the arts and humanity at the same time.

WACH TV, in conjunction with the City of Columbia and a whole slew of other partners, is once again sponsoring Change for Change, a community art project which benefits Columbia's Climate Protection Action Campaign. After having raised more than $7000 last year, this year's Change for Change campaign is bigger and better than ever. The brainchild of WACH TV's Kacey Liles and the City of Columbia's CPAP guru Mary Pay Baldauf, Change for Change recycles out-of-service parking meters, via the artistic sensibilities of some of Columbia's most innovative artists, and the result is public art that ranges from the whimsical to the intentionally scary.

Part of the Jasper crew had the opportunity to join WACH TV's Kristin Morris for coffee last week and we got the low-down on this year's campaign which kicks off this week with a preview from 5:30 until 8:30 on Wednesday night, October 19th, at anastasia & FRIENDS gallery at 1534 Main Street. At least six brand new recycled meters will be on hand as well as several of last year's favorites. According to Kristin, who acts as artist liaison, "I was literally overwhelmed by the talent last year, and we expect this year to be even better."

On the organizational side of the project, a few things have changed. For one thing, participating artists will recoup 10% of the proceeds of the sale of their creations. "We hope that will at least help to offset some of their expenses," Kristin explains.

The Wednesday night event will feature new work by Anastasia Chernoff, Paul Kaufmann, Matt Kramer, Katherine Elliott, Sammy Lopez, and James Lalumondier. Music will be provided by C. Neil Scott & Matt "Musician X" Falter - Sax & Drums/Percussion Duet. And from 8 until 8:30 the gallery will revisit last week's über - successful Black Light, Black Night -- An Ultraviolet Light Experience party for those who missed it on First Thursday.

But Wednesday night is when the fun is just beginning. Artists may still pick up parking meter canvasses and have plenty of time to prep them for the big show which will take place on December 20th at 701 Whaley. Meters and posts will be available Wednesday night. For more information go to http://www.midlandsconnect.com/changeforchange.

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It Was 15 Years Ago Today ....

It didn’t matter if you were a fan of Willie, Hootie or Neil. What really mattered was that Farm Aid was coming to Columbia, and everyone was excited.

There was no denying, It was going to be a big deal. A large part of the pop-culture universe would shift its focus to South Carolina for a day, and that day was exactly 15 years ago, Oct. 12, 1996. It was a day I’ll always remember, because I’ve never felt so many good vibes in one place, with so many famous musicians just hanging out and enjoying each others company.

Farm Aid was founded in 1985 to raise public awareness about the plight of the American family farmer. Its masterminds were Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, and John Conlee, and its mission was to provide assistance to families whose livelihood depended on agriculture.

Hootie and the Blowfish were at the top of the pop charts at the time, and the Columbia-based quartet played an energetic set at the 1985 Farm Aid in Lexington, Kentucky. Afterwards, they invited Willie to bring the show to Columbia in 1996. A quick check of the calendar to see when the Gamecocks were out of town, and voila! Farm Aid was booked for Williams-Brice Stadium on Oct. 12.

It was announced to the public in July of 1996 (Willie rolled into town in his tour bus and did a press conference at the stadium), and everyone immediately wanted to know who would play … in addition to Willie, Neil, and Mellencamp of course. When the line-up was announced, anticipation swelled. Country stars abounded. Tim McGraw, Ricky Van Shelton, Hal Ketchum, Gretchen Peters, and Martina McBride were coming, just to name a few. Pop-rock stars such as Jewel and Rusted Root were scheduled. I almost blew a gasket when I saw Steve Earle, Son Volt, Robert Earl Keen, and the Texas Tornados on the bill. I can now confess, 15 years later, to doing something a tad unethical for a newspaper reporter. I finagled an artist’s laminate, hung out all day backstage, and had the time of my life. Heck, I’m a music fan and this was a chance of a lifetime. Besides, I got some great stories by posing as a country-rocker, so I don’t feel too bad about it.

Tickets were a whopping $27, and gates opened at 10 a.m. The first act was scheduled to start around 11:30, so I took a seat on a folding table near the load-in gate just to see what I could see. I knew it was going to be a good day when I looked to my left and the first person to come walking by was Steve Earle.

“Hey, Steve,” I said.

He glanced at my laminate and took a seat next to me on the table. For about 10 minutes we talked about Farm Aid and Columbia, and I confessed I was a hometown boy. He laughed and asked me about a club he’d played with the Dukes years back that was under a big water tower.

“Oh, that must have been Sylvester’s,” I said.

So it was cool when I heard Earle mention from the stage a few hours later about how he’d played Columbia before at the old club formerly on Pickens Street.

And that was pretty much how my day went. I’d spot somebody and chat with them for a while. Robert Earl Keen. Jay Farrar of Son Volt. Marshall Chapman. I actually chased a couple folks down, because I just had to say hey. Freddy Fender for one, who was wearing the largest belt buckle known to man. And David Crosby for another, a surprise visitor who came to sing with Hootie (and Neil Young, too, as it turned out).

Speaking of Neil, he provided the strangest episode of the day. As it got close to time for his set, the stagehands constructed a private tunnel from his tour bus to the stage so he wouldn’t be distracted. It was a big disappointment for me, because Neil has always been one of my biggest heroes. But he didn’t disappoint when he took the stage that night with Crazy Horse and played one of the loudest hour-long sets I’d ever heard.

As I made my way to my car around midnight (the show was supposed to end at 11 p.m.), I was exhausted but exhilarated by the phenomenal music I’d heard. In fact, I was still hearing it, because Willie and Family were onstage, playing into the night.

It was a magical (and historical) day for Columbia, and I’m still thankful that I had the opportunity to take part in it all.