"'All we are trying to do is to present good theatre.' So said unnamed 'leaders' of Workshop Theatre, in a 1968 newspaper article which assessed their first season and promoted the second. It's almost impossible to imagine that the group often referred to the upstart or breakaway theatre, founded by rebels or young Turks, is nearing the half-century mark, and harder still to imagine that soon the curtain will fall on their familiar location at Bull and Gervais Streets. Still, audiences know that a second act always follows that curtain, and that a theatre is far more than a building, however beloved that building may be. In keeping with this issue's theme of women artists, we thought it only appropriate to consider all that Workshop has meant to so many people over the years, and to tell its story through the eyes, ears, and memories of some - only a handful out of dozens, hundreds even - of its most distinguished leading ladies. ..." - August Krickel For the full story and photos, check out page 30 of the magazine below:
In Jasper Vol. 3, No. 4: Indie Grits - Cue Seth Gadsden
"The Indie Grits Film Festival returns for its eighth session this April 11th through the 20th in Columbia. Hosted by the Nickelodeon Theater, South Carolina's oldest art house cinema, what started as an intimate local independent film festival has skyrocketed to become one of what MovieMaker magazine has named one of the "Top 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World." Over the past seven years Indie Grits has established itself as the Southeast's premier film and culture festival by offering attendees a cross section of do-it-yourself media makers as well as annually expanding the festival to include elements of performance art, food, and music. ..." - Wade Sellers For the full story, check out page 38 of the magazine below:
In Jasper Vol. 3, No. 4: Ashley Concannon - Through The Dancer's Eyes
"Any given day finds 25-year-old Ashley Concannon crouching in the corner of the Columbia City Ballet studios between rehearsals. Usually she is sewing ribbons onto a pair of pointe shoes, taping her toes, stretching, exercising, or completing one of the many tasks demanded of her by her profession, but when she can find the time she sneaks behind the lens of her Canon Rebel T3i to capture a glimpse of life in the dance studio from another artistic perspective--that of a photographer. ..." - Bonnie Boiter-Jolley For the full article and photos, check out page 46 of the magazine below:
In Jasper Vol. 3, No. 4: Maria Fabrizio's Wordless News
"A newspaper article detailing the death of a Pentecostal snake handler may not normally bring art to mind, but for Maria Fabrizio, the headline is one of many she's been inspired to transform into visual art. For the past year, the local Columbia artist has taken popular news stories and put them into simple digitized illustrations and posted them on her blog, Wordless News, 'One headline per day, vowel and consonant free.' The blog and its creator has garnered significant attention over the past few months. Though Fabrizio wouldn't name much of her own work 'art' in the classic scene, her creativity and talent are making waves in Columbia's art community and beyond. ..." - Joanna Savold For the full article, check out page 42 of the magazine below:
In Jasper Vol. 3, No. 4: Motherboards + Matrixes: A Look at Runaway Runway designer Jesse Cody
"Artist, photographer, and veteran Runaway Runway designer Jesse Cody, 23, knows who her favorite artist is: it depends on when you ask her. 'Ask me when I wake up--it's Rene Magritte,' says Cody, comfortable in a faded Punisher movie t-shirt. 'Lunch time rolls around--it's Ryan Murphy. The sun starts to go down--it's Marilyn Manson.' 'But you know, I can't say that I can think of any one artist that has influenced my work,' says Cody, motioning towards the remnants of her Runaway Runway 2012 design. 'I believe it is, like most of my work, the love child of any and all artists in my mind, including myself.' ..." - Giesela Lubecke
For the full article and photos, click through the screenshot below:
"Who Killed the Boss?" returns to Theatre Rowe in Richland Mall
In preparation for the feature on Theatre Rowe Productions (aka Columbia Dinner Theatre, and the Southeastern Theatrical Arts Bandits, or S.T.A.B.) found on pg. 8 of the current print edition of Jasper, I attended a performance of James Daab's Who Killed the Boss? back in January. As detailed in the article, a fair number of this relatively new group's performances are a combination of dinner theatre and participatory murder mysteries, although other productions have included classics like Of Mice and Men, the upcoming Sunshine Class Social Committee (not a mystery, but still a dinner theatre performance, opening March 28th) and Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks (neither a mystery nor a dinner show, opening May 16th.) After a run of a few weekends, the mysteries then become part of the group's repertoire, and will periodically return, either at the home base in Richland Mall, or at any number of locations on the road (see www.scdinnertheatre.com for dates and hosting venues.) This weekend, Who Killed the Boss? returns with a vengeance, as befits any tale of tongue-in-cheek murder and mystery. These shows are produced and presented for fun, since the dinner, the experience of an evening out with family or friends, and the interaction with the cast is as much or more of the end goal than anything else, so it's hard to do a traditional theatre review. Here then is more of an account of what you can expect.
Arriving at the performance space upstairs at Richland Mall, I naturally wonder, as anyone 
who grew up in Forest Acres often does, not only who killed the boss, but who killed the mall? Thankfully Theatre Rowe, their nearby neighbor Columbia Children's Theatre, and of course the movie theatres on the roof are ensuring that there is plenty of liveliness in the space where many of us once haunted Miri's Records, the Happy Bookseller, the Colonial store, the Liggett's drugstore, Woolworth's, and of course the air-conditioned, rocking-chair theatre. Founder/owner/principal director (and frequent actor in performances) Philip Rowe greets me at a reception desk just inside, and this is where any details on reservations, tickets, etc. are worked out. Usually, however, this has been already done over the phone, after you have made your reservations either online or by phone, since the mechanics of ensuring the right number of dishes for the right number of people make advance planning a necessity. My choices this evening were simple - lasagna, or veggie lasagna, along with salad, rolls, and dessert. There is usually a veggie choice, and since the menu changes nightly, you may want to make sure what the featured entree is, in case you have some special dietary need. Beer and wine are extra, and can be ordered from your server at your table.
A lovely young lady shows me to my seat, and introduces herself as Amanda, the intern. Sweet, I think - the theatre has gotten big enough to have interns! A quick check of my program, however, reveals that there are three actors credited as "Amanda." Lesson One: everyone is already in character when you arrive, and most often your server is also one of the cast. Lesson Two: most roles are double and triple-cast, meaning that depending on the dynamics of who is playing opposite whom, you may see a very different show than what someone else saw the night before. The play begins, and as I'm told is common with this sub-genre of entertainment, especially in works by Daab, a scenario is quickly established to explain the dinner/audience scenario. Here, we are all employees of National United Technology Services, and the setting is the annual office party. Previous/future titles include like Marriage Can Be Murder (similarly set at a wedding reception) and Murdered by the Mob (set in a speakeasy), so there's always some excuse for food and drink to be consumed. In keeping with the office setting, the characters - who will soon be our suspects - engage in a team-building exercise, which involves... you guessed it: serving dinner to a large group of people.
Amanda the intern, played by Aleesa Johnson the night I attended, is sweet, young, naive, and hot. The role would normally be played by a blonde bombshell, a la Loni Anderson in WKRP, perhaps a tall, leggy super-model type, and/or a bubblehead, whereas Johnson is petite, tan, and perky. Which allows her to play with the character's lines, which are written broadly and almost generically, so that a wide variety of performers can do the role. Her cluelessness derives not from being dumb, but from being innocent: she marvels at how nice everyone is, like the IT guy who comes by her desk every day to spend time working on her computer, and the boss who promotes employee wellness by giving her shoulder runs daily. Bill the IT guy (Jesse B. Thompson in this performance) is of course a computer geek, which one would imagine as either an older guy, a la Les Nessman from WKRP (there are a lot of similarities to that classic comedy here) or perhaps Leonard from The Big Bang Theory. Thompson, though, is likewise a good-looking young 20-something, so he too plays with his characterization, using thick glasses, conservative dress, and a shy manner to portray a different kind of geek. Rowe himself plays Rob the sales guy, another WKRP type, whose cocksure manner is grudgingly tolerated due to his generation of the majority of the company's revenue. Rowe gets the lion's share of the laughs as a sort of smarmy, macho, annoying tool, and I'd love to see him play some gangster in Murdered by the Mob, or in The Altos, a Sopranos spoof produced last fall, and sure to return at some point.
Helen the office manager would normally be a controlling queen bee, in the vein of Joan from Mad Men, but Lisa Buchanan portrays her as more of a mother hen. Which is a great set-up for some of the comedy, when the ostensibly matronly figure unexpectedly lets down her hair to proposition another character. (Although I still recall Buchanan lasciviously writhing before me in another audience-interaction show years ago, when she played a particularly depraved Transylvanian party-goer in the original Rocky Horror at Trustus.) William Antley and Marcy Francis play the boss and his wife. Given the title of the show, it's no secret that the boss will be murdered, and Antley will return later as a different character to help the audience solve the murder.
The plot exposition is very much like any episode of Murder, She Wrote, with personalities and motives developed over the course of the first two scenes, just done with lots of comedy. Actors roam around the space, sometimes sitting down in a spare chair at your table. It's more than theatre-in-the-round - it's like 3-D, total-immersion-theatre. In the particular piece, I'm told later that there isn't nearly as much interaction with the audience, but in some cases, actors will engage you in conversation, asking you about possible clues, or giving you the chance to interrogate them. The show begins at 7 PM (although the house - and therefore the bar - opens around 6:15.) Salad comes out after the first scene, followed by the main course at 7:40 just when the murder happens. A long intermission allows for leisurely consumption of dinner, followed by the investigation, a break for desert, your chance to try to solve the mystery, and your check (if you had drinks or anything extra) arrives by 8:30 or so, followed by the big reveal of the killer, and you're done by perhaps 8:45. Lesson Three: if you turn in some silly wisecrack along with your guess as to the murderer's identity, like, oh, let's just hypothetically say something like "because I want to see her in handcuffs," your reasoning is likely to be read aloud to the audience. But that's encouraged. Anyone who correctly ID's the killer wins a prize, often a discounted ticket to another show. The food was good, and the overall experience was fun. Clearly both the cast and the audience were having a good time. Obviously, you don't go to a murder mystery looking for Shakespeare (although I still think Who's Killing the Capulets? would make for a great concept) but you won't be disappointed if you simply want a nice family evening out, with dinner and a show.
The night I attended in January had a smaller audience, as it was towards the end of the production's initial run. It was a nice mix of all ages: a couple celebrating a birthday, a young husband and wife and their in-laws, a larger group enjoying couples' night out, some folks on dates, and a few individual attendees just there for fun. Other performances sell out quickly, meaning a hundred or more people in attendance, many often part of group reservations. Meals are provided by A&J Catering, a side project of the chef at the Clarion Townhouse, meaning that there is no on-site kitchen - the meals are delivered, making those reservations in advance crucial. Who Killed the Boss? returns for two performances only this Friday, March 21, and Saturday, March 22. Entree choices include chicken marsala and sautéed tilapia with chardonnay sauce, along with rice pilaf, and sautéed squash and zucchini. Mmmmmmm. Tickets are going fast, so call 803-200-2012, or visit www.scdinnertheatre.com for information.
~ August Krickel
"Biloxi Blues" at Workshop Theatre - a review by August Krickel
Last spring, Workshop Theatre audiences were introduced to the young Eugene Jerome, a horny, wisecracking, young teenager with a sensitive, intellectual side in Brighton Beach Memoirs. The alter-ego for playwright Neil Simon in his acclaimed and semi-autobiographical "Eugene trilogy" (also referred to as the "BB trilogy"), Eugene has now matured. Into a horny, wisecracking older teenager with a sensitive intellectual side. It's 1943, and he's in boot camp in Mississippi, experiencing Biloxi Blues. Director David Britt returns with a strong and age-appropriate young cast to track this next step of Eugene's journey. The tone is intentionally uneven, alternating between classic sketch comedy, sweet romance, and intense, character-driven drama, and the language and themes are at times as R-rated as you'd expect from the setting, but it's an amazingly honest memoir from Simon.
As Eugene, Jason Fernandes strikes the perfect tone as a young man in the process of finding himself. He still has an incredible gift for wordplay and funny observations about life, which, as in the earlier play, he often delivers to the audience directly, narrating the play's action which stops long enough for him to break the fourth wall. Yet Eugene now knows he wants to be writer; he's read all the great authors whom he hopes to emulate, and in his journal, his observations on life and human nature are fairly deep and insightful. Matthew Broderick played the role on Broadway to great acclaim just before filming Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Eugene is a wittier (if less mischievous) Ferris, if Ferris were a Jewish New Yorker. (In one of those "Awwww" moments, Broderick evidently brought cast mate Alan Ruck, who played Pvt. Carney on Broadway, along to Hollywood, where Ruck played Ferris's best friend Cameron.) Fernandes's bio indicates he is from Long Island and a freshman in college, so he already has the accent and age down pat. Resembling a young Adam Sandler, he successfully navigates the tricky jumps in tone from wisdom to naiveté to working the crowd like a Borscht Belt comedian.
Another standout in the cast is William Cavitt as Wykowski, ostensibly the gung-ho bully in Eugene's platoon. Unrecognizable from the dapper British gentleman he played in High Voltage's Dracula last fall, Cavitt also excels at revealing the humanity in what could have easily been a stereotypical stock character. Stephen Canada also has some good moments as sad sack Carney, and like Cavitt, does a great job with capturing the Northern accent. Canada and Fernandes have a surprisingly touching scene which shows how clearly, yet simultaneously subtly, Eugene is growing up. Seemingly insulting Carney as untrustworthy due to his constant vacillation, Eugene explains that they are both about to be in combat situations where decisiveness can save their lives, which is a very mature observation for a kid just a few weeks into basic training.
As local hooker Rowena, Jennifer Moody Sanchez is appropriately sexy and vampy, 
showing trace elements of compassion as she realizes that she will be Eugene's first. (As above, part of the honest nature of this play is that we find ourselves rooting for an innocent kid to lose his virginity to a hooker.) Her Southern accent drips with magnolia blossom honey, much like Park Overall's film portrayal, and almost seems too extreme, but we've all known ladies from that era who drawl with great pride, plus this is a memory play, and that's surely how all Southern accents sounded to both Simon and Eugene.
Winsome Haley Sprankle shines as Daisy, the adorable sort of red-headed Catholic school girl that we'd all go fight Hitler for in a heartbeat. Her scenes with Eugene are a great example of Simon's excellence with dialogue: Eugene, as the surrogate for the playwright, has the advantage of a middle-aged Tony-winner from the 1980's writing his snappy lines, while Daisy speaks like the heroine of a 1940's war movie. The way they flirt at a USO dance by bonding over literature is just incredibly well-written, and well-acted by these young performers: he is familiar with Fitzgerald's Daisy Buchanan and Henry James's Daisy Miller, she counters that she also likes Tolstoy's Anna Karenina and O'Neill's Anna Christie, and of course he points out that he likes writers named Eugene. That's the basis for true love right there, or what passes for it when millions of young men were shipping off to war, with no guarantee of return. Fernandes, Cavitt, Canada, Sanchez and Sprankle are also uniformly strong with projection.
A pivotal subplot involves misfit Pvt. Epstein (Colby Gambrell) and the harsh discipline 
of Drill Sgt. Toomey (Lee Williams.) Eugene acknowledges Epstein's criticism that he is too much of an observer, recording his life experiences with a writer's skill, but rarely taking the lead. Both characters suffer from the anti-Semitism of the era, but Eugene finds a way to blend in via his wit and social skills, which is a recurring theme, and source of guilt, for many Jewish authors. Eugene rarely jokes in his diary entries, and writes that he admires Epstein, but suspects that he is a homosexual, which bothers him - and it bothers him that it bothers him. Which is about as eloquent and honest a line as I can imagine.
Toomey goes through the expected tyrannical procedures familiar to us from a hundred movies, and from the war stories of our fathers and grandfathers, but again, Simon shows his dramatic gift via tiny nuances of characterization: no matter how harsh Toomey is on his men, the one time he will come to someone's defense is if anyone within the unit is anything but supportive of his fellow soldiers. And sure enough, halfway through the play, no one is complaining about the physical rigors of boot camp any more, and the aggressive barracks-room banter has acquired a sort of rough camaraderie and acceptance. Epstein is often called the central character of the piece, but Gambrell rushes a lot of his lines, and more often cedes focus to Fernandes. Williams likewise has got the right anger and aggression for Toomey, but I never quite accepted him as a tough non-com, although he'd make a terrific rigid captain or major. That said, he is quite convincing in an unexpectedly tender moment when the platoon loses one of their own, calling the youth "son" as only a leader can. Williams has had a baptism by fire in his first two years of local theatre, tackling challenging roles in works by Henley and Albee, and I look forward to more from him in the future. I also suspect that a few run-throughs with a live audience by the time you read this will have given Gambrell the opportunity to even out a little of his delivery.
As above, several scenes are Simon's chance to lend his considerable comedic talent to vintage skits about fresh recruits bantering with their drill sergeant, and GI's with a weekend pass at a whorehouse. Other scenes, however, are genuinely moving drama, with Simon demonstrating that his career could have gone in the direction of his idols like Fitzgerald, had comic genius not been his meal ticket to fame. Simon is of course famous for his comedies, but we need to remember that he has more Tony and Oscar nominations than any other writer in the world. He has won the Pulitzer, and four Tony awards, including one for this very play, which beat out Tracers, As Is, and new works from August Wilson and David Rabe, for best play in 1985. The juxtaposition of jokes and raw emotion may be a little unsettling for those looking for The Odd Couple, as will the language and frank sexuality, but the pay-off is worth it.
A couple of random notes: I commend the male cast for fully committing to their roles - all sport military buzz-cuts, significantly helping the show's authenticity, and all manage to do some intense push-ups on stage while not dropping a single line. Also, full disclosure, I may not be entirely impartial here, because a lifetime ago I played Eugene's older brother in the third play in this trilogy, and when Eugene declares that there must be at least 52 sexual positions, since he once saw a pack of dirty playing cards, I instantly thought "Well, his brother had to have given him those!"
Biloxi Blues runs through Sat. March 29th at Workshop Theatre; call the box office at (803) 799-6551, or visit http://www.workshoptheatre.com/BiloxiBlues.html for ticket information.
~ August Krickel
In Jasper No. 3, Vol. 3: Artists + Poets Collaborate in Columbia Broadside Project
"'Getting 30 people to work together is a bit of a logistical nightmare,' laughs Darien Cavanaugh, coordinator for the Columbia Broadside Project, an ambitious venture pairing South Carolina writers and artists in collaborative projects. But if all goes as planned, the Columbia Broadside Project show will open at Tapp's Art Center on January 17, with an impressive range of original and collaborative writing and art--a type of collaboration, Cavanaugh says, that we haven't seen before. ..." - Ed Madden For the full article, artwork, and centerfold, view the magazine here:
In Jasper Vol. 3, No. 3: Book Review - A Shared Voice: A Tapestry of Tales
"Upon picking up the anthology A Shared Voice: A Tapestry of Tales (Lamar University Press, 2013), one instantly asks what a conversation in narrative is and why the editors, University of South Carolina-Aiken faculty members Tom Mack and Andrew Geyer, chose to only publish works by writers from the Carolinas and Texas. The answer to the pairing of states is due to historical, cultural, and literary connections that are detailed in the introduction. The literary conversation, which the editors call a tapestry, consists of twenty-four short stories -- twelve by writers from Texas, twelve by writers from the Carolinas. Of the twelve for each region, six are 'anchor' tales and six are 'responses' to the 'anchor' tales by writers from the other region. This premise makes the collection unique and also exciting as the readers discover the connections between the 'anchor' tales and the 'response' tales. ..." - Brandi Perry
For the full review, check out page 22 of the magazine here:
In Jasper No. 3. Vol. 3: 2014 Masters of Art--Lee Sipe, Phillip Mullen, Tyrone Jeter, and Stephen Chesley
"There are artists in any community who set the standards. Artists whose work others admire, study, and learn from. Their bodies of work demonstrate not only the artist's professional evolution but her or his process of problem solving--the artist's journey from questioning and exploration to a place of accomplishment, control, confidence, and finesse. Studying these artists' work is like reading a book you can't put down or traveling to a place you'll never forget. There is so much there to take in. So much to take away. We call these artists Masters. ..." For more, including large-scale photos of these artists' work, start on page 46 of the magazine:
In Jasper Vol. 3, No. 3: The Things Bob Ross Never Taught Me: Working with Palette Knives, Red Wine, & Rob Shaw
"If I'm truthful here, this story begins with the discovery of green paw prints on my dining room table. Up until that moment, I couldn't figure out the angle that I'd take for this piece. I'd gone to a painting class, I drank the wine and shot the proverbial shit with the other patrons. And I have walked in there with zero expectations on what my finished product could possibly look like. In fact, I assumed that I would be impressed with myself if I managed to paint anything that extended beyond crudely drawn stick figures. ..." - story and photos by Will Garland For the full story and accompanying photos, start on page 41 of the magazine:
In Jasper No. 3, Vol. 3: Feature - Filmmaker Steve Daniels
"The Old Columbia Speedway sits off Highway 321 in Cayce, South Carolina. Overgrown brush and trees hide the old asphalt track from plain view. A disjointed array of old Big Wheels and tricycles are strewn throughout the brush. They are painted and rigged to look like the bastard plastic and metal children of post apocalyptic automobiles. Next to the three wheeled destruction machines are a mish-mash of weapons, including golf balls with nails glued to them to look like road spikes, machetes, and axes. An old suitcase sits open on the ground, holding a variety of Super 8mm film cameras. To the right, a variety of snacks, crackers, and candles are spread on top of a fold-out table. A cooler sits open, full of ice, bottled water, and sugar free Red Bulls. A low rising cement wall with newly painted black and white racing checkers divides the brush from the old asphalt track. Filmmaker Steve Daniels stands on the track, holding one of the cameras. He turns, then walks back towards the makeshift camp of his new film, M is for Marauder. ..." - Wade Sellers For the full story, check it out here:
In Jasper No. 3, Vol. 3: Larry J. McMullen, April 30, 1943-December 6, 2013
"On December 6th, 2013, the final curtain fell on the life of Larry McMullen, actor, director, professor, set builder, husband, father, and truly ' the universal curmudgeon.'..." - Barb McMullen
In Jasper Vol. 3, No. 3: The Art of the Meal w/ Terra's Mike Davis
"Chef and owner Mike Davis opened Terra in West Columbia in 2006. Back then few of Columbia's independent restaurants listed ingredients from local farms on their menus. The idea of being concerned about food origins was still relatively new here. It would be another year before the Columbia chapter of the Slow Food USA movement would be established in 2007, and a couple of years after that when City Roots would have its groundbreaking ceremony in 2009. ..." - Jonathan Sharpe For more, check out the rest of the article on page 18 of Jasper here:
In Jasper Vol. 3, No. 3: Record Review - The Restoration's New South Blues EP
"The title track to The Restoration new EP is a song that has been featured in their set list for a year or two now, and it’s one of their best. A jaunty, bluesy melody is tied to lead songwriter Daniel Machado’s scathing political critique of the “new South” as he connects the dots between the South of the day and the one he castigates in his more historically-oriented fare. It’s full of jaw-droppingly good one liners (“‘You lie!,’ Boeing Jets / Don’t tread on Neo-Confederates” and “Literary legacy / Bob Jones University” are two of my favorites) as he refers to the South as “the most trusted brand” for ignorance and bigotry. In short, it’s a stunner, and it also marks the evolution of Machado as a singer, as he’s gotten more surly and irascible since some of the more romantic material on Constance. That voice is evident on his other, more tossed-off efforts here, the blues jam “Keep On Keepin’ On” and the cutting acoustic number “Nobody Cares Who You Are.”
The EP is rounded out by a richly arranged effort by bassist Adam Corbett, “Possible Country,” which narrates a rather odd eavesdropping experience in a bathroom stall, and a 12 minute ambient/field recording expedition called “Sketches of the State Fair” which has some percussion and free jazz-style fingerpicking overdubbed onto the background sounds of the fair. It’s an interesting piece that unfortunately marks the dividing line between the more serious efforts here (the title track and “Possible Country”) from the odds and sods feel of the other numbers. Still, given the overwhelming concepts that typically accompany a Restoration record, New South Blues also has the virtue of presenting the group as “just” a rock band, and a pretty damn good one at that." - Kyle Petersen
For more record reviews, check out pages 14-15 of the magazine here:
In Jasper Vol. 3, No. 3: Record Review - Death of Paris' Gossip EP
"There’s probably a natural tendency for music criticism to champion the quirky and oddball, or the adventurous and epic, at the expense of the simple pleasures of surging choruses and indelible hooks. Particularly in a town like Columbia that hosts a relative wealth of indie rock outliers, a band like Death of Paris can feel a bit incongruous in their unabashed affection for Technicolor synth-pop songs that are more Paramore than Passion Pit, as well as their brazen bid for mainstream success. And yet, Gossip is a triumphant, a six song collection that hits the nail on the head over and over again. From the adrenaline-soaked opening salvos of “Give + Take” and “Shut Up & Kiss Me” to the aiming-for-the-rafters ballads “72” and “Secret,” the band demonstrates an extraordinary adeptness for creating the kind of huge pop moments that would seemingly fit snuggly on Top 40 radio or romantic comedy soundtracks.
Although some credit for the shiny sonic sheen should probably go to seasoned producers Zack Odom and Kenneth Mount, the band clearly maintains its own identity. Keyboardist Blake Arambula’s touch is present throughout, particularly in the stop-shift breakdowns on “New Blood” and “Shut Up & Kiss Me,” and the solid support of guitarist Patrick Beardsley and drummer Bryan Lee Bass gives these songs a distinctly full-band feel that was lacking in the group’s two-person self-titled debut in 2010. Still, the nature of the material inevitably puts the onus is mostly on Doyle, who surely has the powerhouse pipes to sell these kind of songs, but can often slide into the muck of cliché in striving for universal appeal. That’s about the only knock you can make on this eminently radio-ready batch of tunes." - Kyle Petersen
For more record reviews, check out page 14-15 of the magazine here:
In Jasper Vol. 3, No. 3: Record Review – Youth Model's All New Scars LP
"This pop-rock turn from longtime drummer Matt Holmes comes across as an impressive studio collaboration, with Holmes taking songwriting and composition duties but allowing Archer Avenue producer Kenny McWilliams to track bass, guitars, keys, and backing vocals to elegantly flesh out the drummer’s originals. The end result is an album that escapes feeling too generic through the fact that Holmes is an able songwriting craftsmen and an understated-yet-engaging vocalist who gets McWilliams’ hyper-polished treatment. And while Holmes borrows from a host of influences, from The Black Keys and OK Go to The Killers and Kings of Leon, he tends to be a synthesizer rather than imitator, lending Youth Model a pleasant (and surprising) sense of authenticity rather than a crass bid for mainstream success." - Kyle Petersen
For more record reviews, check out pages 14-15 of the magazine here:
In Jasper Vol. 3, No. 3: Record Review - Yosef's Run Wild LP
"Yosef, the rock moniker for Hunter Duncan, trades in the grandiose Britpop of Radiohead and Muse, a style which depends on an acrobatic vocal presence that can stretch out syllables and lean into a wall of guitars. Fortunately, Duncan is more than up to the task, capable of misanthropic Thom Yorke-style croons in one moment and the swooning romanticism of Keane in the next. And while the gleaming pile of anthemic guitars parts and earnest lyricism might lean a bit too heavily into Coldplay and Remy Zero territory, Duncan’s devotion to creating a grandeur and atmospheric sprawl across these seven songs sustains a mood of seriousness and sense of purpose even in those few faltering moments." - Kyle Petersen
For more record reviews, see page 14 of the magazine here:
<
In Jasper Vol. 3, No. 3: John Fitz Rogers - New Works and Meanderings
"Rolling down the hill on Blossom Street toward the Congaree, John Fitz Rogers heard a sunset. On his route home from the USC School of Music a few years ago, "there was this amazing sunset with these pink hues. As I was driving I was trying to keep my eyes on the road, but also watch the sunset. I've always been fascinated with sunsets, and this one was incredibly striking.' While the notion of drawing inspiration from natural phenomenon is the stuff of Romantic legend, composers tend to hear ideas at inconvenient times - half-mesmerized by a wash of auditory luster, half-squinting toward a traffic light lost in the sun, both hands clenching the steering wheel. Rogers admit fascination with numerous affairs of the everyday, but particularly with sunsets: the slowness, the ephemeral grace, the colors as they imperceptibly slide and shift. Fascination enough with the constancy and change of this particular sunset became the basis for his most recent orchestral work, The Passing Sun, which was commissioned by the South Carolina Philharmonic; its premiered on January 11, 2014. ..." - Tom Dempster For more, read the full article on page 12 here:
In Jasper Vol. 3, No. 3: Stages All Over the Midlands
"'If you build it, they will come.' That's a dicey proposition at best for businesses, more so for a fledgling arts organization during a recession. Still, with unwavering optimism based on experience, actor/director Robert Harrelson created On Stage Productions and hasn't looked back since. ..." - August Krickel For more, check out the full article on page 6 here: