Q&A with Singer/Songwriter and South Carolina Native Marshall Chapman

One of the advantages of having Lee Smith as our One Book, One Columbia author is she has a lot of cool friends—like South Carolina native Marshall Chapman, one of the state’s most significant musical figures of the last 40 years. Chapman has been a songwriter and performer in Nashville since the 1970s, and her songs have found their way on albums by Jimmy Buffett, Emmylou Harris, and Joe Cocker, among others, and she also has 13 solo albums of her own. Of those, the most recent two, Big Lonesome (2010) and Blaze of Glory (2013), represent some of the finest work of her career. These albums come on the heels of Chapman’s turn to prose—her two critically-acclaimed and award-winning memoirs, Goodbye Little Rock and Roller (2003) and They Came to Nashville (2010), both books which demonstrated a life lived hard and well. In recent years Chapman has also written for such publications as Oxford American, Nashville Arts Magazine, Garden & Gun, and Southern Living.

This is all in addition to her collaboration with Smith, Jill McCorkle, and Matraca Berg, Good Ole Girls, a musical play which has toured throughout the South and had a brief run off-Broadway. Chapman will be performing songs from that play with Smith and McCorkle at 701 Whaley this Thursday, February 26th as part of the closing party for this year’s One Book festivities. Chapman will also be playing a show on Wednesday, May 13^th, at Conundrum Music Hall.

Jasper caught up with Chapman recently to chat about her long history in the musical world and late-career renaissance.

Jasper: Blaze of Glory was one of the best-reviewed albums of your career. Do you think you could have imagined 30 or 40 years ago that you would still be making great music?

Marshall Chapman: No, not really. Mainly because I never thought I'd live this long. (laughs)

J: How has the songwriting process changed over the years?

MC: I don't chase it like I used to. These days, I just let the songs come to me.

J: Did you have any specific goals or ideas in mind when you were writing for this record?

MC: Not really. But I knew I was onto something. At first, I thought it was going to be this sexy record. I even had a working title—Sexagenarian. But then it deepened into the whole mortality thing. As soon as I finished "Blaze of Glory," [the song] I knew it would be the title of the album. And also the last song you hear.

J: These songs all feel really fresh, even though it's still very much the sound and style you were working in during the 1970s and 1980s. The straight-up Bo Diddley take on “Love in the Wind” and the soulful rendition of “Nearness of You,” for instance, sound like reinvigorated takes on classic territory.  Why do you think that is?

MC: Oh, I don't know. I was working with producers and co-producers back in the 70s and 80s. I didn't really know that much about making records. I was like Gidget goes to Nashville and gets a Record Deal. But with these last two [Blaze of Glory and Big Lonesome], I was much more focused. Probably because I'm older. It's like ... Last call to get it right! I've been doing this a long time. And it's taken every bit of that time to learn how to trust myself in the studio.

J: You didn’t tour as much behind this record as Big Lonesome, and you’ve become more of a writer, actor, and collaborator (like on Good Ol’ Girls) in recent years. How does that balance work? Has the lack of touring affected your ability to promote your music?

Well, there's a personal reason I didn't tour as much behind this album as with Big Lonesome. Let's just say all the wheels supporting my life came off all at once and leave it at that. As for "lack of touring" affecting my "ability to promote" my music, those two things are pretty much entwined. Nothing gets the word out like a live performance. But it's true. I'm cutting back on live performances.

As for the rest, I've always enjoyed writing prose, so writing the two books felt pretty natural. I've always been interested in the stories behind songs. Especially when the stories are better than the songs!

The idea for Good Ol' Girls was conceived by songwriter Matraca Berg. Matraca called me out of the blue one day, saying she wanted to do a musical with me and Lee Smith. She was a big fan of Lee's writing, but she didn't know her. So I called Lee, since I knew her from when she lived in Nashville in the 1970s. At first Lee didn't seem interested. But then she called me back saying she was in and that she was bringing in Jill McCorkle and a director! [Paul Fergusen, who ended up doing the

adaptation.] The show has toured the South and even had a run off-Broadway. It's playing in a couple of theaters this spring. But this week at 701 Whaley, Lee, Jill and I will be doing our own version of Good Ol' Girls. And probably throw in some new stuff. I never really know what's gonna happen when the three of us get together. But I can assure you this -- something will happen! It's outrageous whenever the three of us get together. Why we haven't been arrested is beyond me.

As for acting, I've done three movies in the past three years—all since turning sixty-two. Maybe the Universe is trying to tell me something.

J: You’ve lived in Nashville for a long time (since you matriculated at Vanderbilt?). What does being from South Carolina mean to you now? What’s it like coming back for tours?

MC: Where you come from ... it stays with you. Especially if you're from South Carolina! Seriously, it's always special coming back to South Carolina to perform. I was in Spartanburg a lot this past fall dealing with the death of my mom. I was driving around there thinking, Hmmmm, maybe I could come back and live here! I even looked at some property off St. John Street.

J: You’ve written two award-winning non-fiction books about your life, Goodbye, Little Rock and Roller and They Came to Nashville. Any plans for a third, either fiction or non-fiction?

MC: Well, I've been writing a monthly column called "Beyond Words" for a Nashville magazine for nearly five years. They told me I could write about anything I wanted, and I imagine I've taken them to task on that. (laughs) Anyway, I'm thinking about putting a collection of those [essays] in a book. As for a novel ... I've had a few stories published, so I've danced around fiction. But the idea of writing an entire novel like Lee and Jill do all the time terrifies me. Which means I'll probably do it one day.

J: The record closes with the title track, which is a kind of uplifting take on mortality, almost like a gospel song. You also recount the most pivotal moment of your life, seeing Elvis as a 7 year-old in the song. Can you tell me a little bit about the idea and inspiration behind that tune?

MC: I wrote the first verse to that song while sitting at my breakfast table. I had a feeling it might be a keeper, so I captured just that little bit on a little recorder. A few weeks later, I returned to it and immediately wrote a second verse. And then a bridge about Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin and a few other musical heroes who died young, i.e., in a blaze of glory. But something wasn't right. It felt forced. So I went for a walk, and when I got back, I started from from scratch. I just went back to where it all began—seeing Elvis. As soon as I wrote "that colored balcony came crashing to the floor," I'm thinking, Now what! I mean, you don't want to raise the bar too high. So I got real quiet. And then that last verse about the sun just landed on the page. "Blaze of Glory" wrote itself. All I had to do was get out of the way.

For more information about Marshall Chapman and the latest updates about her various projects, check out tallgirl.com

REVIEW: CCB's Body & Movement Explored by David Ligon

The art scene has progressed immensely in Columbia, SC over the past decade, and while Columbia City Ballet may have previously seemed to lag behind, performing the same pool of two- and three-act story ballets since William Starrett took over, only creating new ones every few years, the company seems to be moving forward of late and progressing along with the city.

On Friday, February 20 at 7:30 PM Columbia City Ballet presented its third annual Body & Movement Explored series. This event is a departure from what the company typically performs. Starrett has said this is an experimental project for the dancers as well as emerging choreographer to see if it can bring in an audience, and one day be presented on a bigger stage.

It is always exciting to see dancers you have become familiar with onstage be able to share another part of themselves with the audience. Most of the choreography was by Columbia City Ballet dancers. This year marks the first time choreographers came from out of state and volunteered their time to create works, including Rachel Leonard, a freelance choreographer from Florida; Jenny Broe, Owner of StudioFX in Charleston; Kevin James of Smuin Ballet; and former CCB principal dancer, Wayland Anderson. The Columbia City Ballet choreographers included soloist Philip Ingrassia, and corps members Ashley Concannon, Amanda Summey, and Denis Vezetiu.

Mr. Vezetiu choreographed two pieces as well as co-choreographed one with Ms. Concannon. His most captivating was his pas de deux, "Walk," which showcased his incredible strength and control as he manipulated dancer Nadine Tetrick around his body. She never touched the floor, as he was always controlling her. Her port de bras reacted to him like movement through water. They were one body moving together creating something beautiful to Ludovico Einaudi's minimalist score.

Ludovico music was used in four different pieces, as well as other minimalist composers including Philip Glass and Zoe Keating. What is interesting is how these composers created an atmosphere and texture with their music, rather than becoming monotonous because of its repetitiveness, lack of dynamic contrast with only slight rhythmic and melodic variations.

Jenny Broe, one of the visiting choreographers, created an enthralling contemporary piece of work to an up-tempo, club remix version of Bryan Adams’ “Wicked Games.” The choreography was seamless throughout, creating a battle between the dancers as to who could out dance whom. There was no pause for the dancers who moved from one structure to the next in groups or in pairs. The dancers would enter or leave the arena by walking fiercely like runway models. The other stand out choreographer was Rachel Leonard, who choreographed the opening piece “Speak” as well as the finale “Garcons et das Filles et des Bancs”. The last piece was set to operatic music with four sets of couples divided by gender and sitting on benches. There were phallic movements and a titillating flirtation from the four girls and four boys making it humorous and engaging fun. The boys unfortunately, missed some of the musical cues that would've made her vision really come to life.

Starrett recently commented that this is an experimental show trying to find an audience and support. He choreographed a pas de deux, “All for You,” for real life married couple Ingrassia and Autumn Hill. It was a tongue and cheek country western, on the bayou piece with choreography familiar to anyone who has seen Starrett’s previous work. For the music he collaborated with Josh McCaa who is married to CCB principal, Claire McCaa. McCaa’s country western music and voice were great, but didn’t quite sync up to the choreography. Starrett’s work with CCB is typically classical story-line fairytale ballets, like CCB’s upcoming “Cinderella.” “All For You” gave Starrett a chance to try something on a smaller scale and in a less-serious mood. It might have seemed that Starrett was going for laughs at times rather than substance, but maybe the programming of a light piece provided a good contrast with the passionate and personal work of the other choreographers.

Amanda Summey's piece “Identity Crisis” was fresh and thought provoking. Hip-hop, with elements of contemporary ballet, the eight women were wearing red masks that covered the lower half of the face and wearing street clothes. With their faces covered, they had to rely completely on body movement for expression. The music used was just a rapper with no instruments, but the rap voices layered on top of each other, creating a vocalized rhythm. Summey is a poly-artist: a visual artist and sketcher, ballet dancer, choreographer, and theater graduate from Northwestern University, she brings graffiti street art and intellectualism to her work.

The dancers who stood out were the constant duo, Bonnie Boiter-Jolley and Claire Richards. They were in the most pieces but were always paired together. Although these two compliment each other physically – they are tall, slender and blond – it would have been nice to see them dance separately, for each brings her own versatility to the stage.

In the future, CCB should model this show after other workshops around the country by auditioning choreographers to present full-length works (20-30 minutes) so the dancers can get fully invested in the work. There are theaters that can host such an event, other than the informal black box, that won’t run up the cost as much as putting it on at the Koger Center would. Having a professional event at such an informal space has its downsides: there isn’t enough lighting to explore the space, and the sound was a little low, which in turn meant we could hear every step and breath taken on stage. I believe the Columbia arts community will support a mixed-repertory series. Body & Movement Explored should be expanded and promoted bringing one-act ballets of various lengths with plot-less rather than story line structures. I think the series could be artistically and fiscally viable.

Review: Justin Townes Earle @ Music Farm 2/20/15

Singer/songwriter Justin Townes Earle arrived in town hot on the heels of the release of two new albums, the tandem pair of Single Mothers and Absent Fathers, both of which take a leaner approach in terms of sound and arrangement than the genre hopscotching of Harlem River Blues and the soul turn of Nothing’s Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now.

Fittingly, then, he took the stage with just one sideman—the sturdy pedal steel and electric guitarist Paul Niehaus, a prolific session player whose solos shined bright but never overtake the spotlight. And even though Earle is a gifted guitarist in his own right, much of the night’s focus was on his inimitable vocal delivery, something which has become increasingly more pronounced in recent years. He's formidable even when he's singing straight, but its the masterful, swooping shifts in volume and timbre that are his secret weapons, livening up even the most plainspoken of tales with melancholy ache and longing. Often during the set it seemed as if he was deliberately slackening the tempo in order to wring even greater nuance out of his singing, something which suggests a certain joy in the act of performing that feels cozy and comfortable even in the cavernous walls of the Music Farm.

And while the music had an almost reverential quality to it—Earle seems to be downplaying some of his more humorous and ribald material this time around—his between-song banter with the crowd more than made up for it, as whimsical asides provided new perspectives on tunes like “Christchurch Women” and “Am I That Lonely Tonight?” while he turned tender in introducing  “Learning to Cry” as his wife’s favorite tune followed by what he said was his mother’s, “Mama’s Eyes.” While those moments were poignant, he also tacked on to the latter that “Nashville spreads bastard children like sprinklers.” The combination of emotional openness and hardened wit that serves his songs so well was quite apparent.

Earle appeared to be working without a set list for much of the night, and the show pulled fairly evenly across his albums save for his twangy debut LP. Highlights abounded, particularly when Niehaus was at his most effective, like on “Memphis in the Rain” and “Burning Pictures,” but workhorses like “Harlem River Blues” and Earle’s familiar take on “Can’t Hardly Wait” were clearly the biggest crowd pleasers.

The only thing lacking was one of his bruising confessional ballads (“Won’t Be the Last Time,” “Who Am I To Say”), but that could be chalked to an increasingly large catalog of songs to pull from. Here’s to hoping the presence of the Music Farm means we’ll be seeing Earle here again soon.

USC Symphony Orchestra Celebrates Master of Song, Cole Porter - Feb. 24th

 

Warm the cold February chill with a tribute to Cole Porter, one of the major songwriters for the Broadway stage. The concert takes place at the Koger Center for the Arts on Tuesday, February 24 at 7:30 p.m. Four soloists and chorus celebrate some of Porter’s greatest hits including I Get a Kick Out of You, You’re the Top, All Through the Night, I Love Paris, Begin the Beguine, So in Love, and Night and Day.

Led by acclaimed director Donald Portnoy, University of South Carolina’s premier orchestra ensemble, the USC Symphony Orchestra, has received accolades for its fine and mature performances. Tickets are on sale now at capitoltickets.com.

Joining the USC Symphony Orchestra for the concert are USC music faculty members, Tina Milhorn Stallard (soprano), Janet Hopkins (mezzo-soprano), Walter Cuttino (tenor), Jacob Will (baritone), and the Dreher High School Chorus.

Unlike many successful Broadway composers, Porter wrote the lyrics as well as the music for his songs, which are full of double entendres, clever internal rhymes, and sophisticated uses of melody, rhythm and harmony. Some of the cleverest, funniest and most romantic songs ever written came from the pen of Cole Porter.

Born in Peru, Indiana in 1891, Cole Porter was born into a wealthy family, studying violin and piano as a child at the insistence of his mother. Although violin was a struggle for the young Cole, the piano allowed him to produce the harmonies that captivated him and that would set him on his way to a successful musical career.

Although he was not a good student, he attended Worcester Academy in preparation for an Ivy League college, and it was there that he began composing witty songs at the age of eight. He soon learned he could win over the boys his age with the risqué lyrics that would become his trademark.

Porter went on to Yale University, where he almost flunked out – he was too busy with extracurricular musical activities. It was here that he began to get his songs published. Most students at Yale knew him for the fight songs he would write, many of which continue to be Yale classics.

Surprisingly, the likeable and industrious Porter was accepted to Harvard Law School, but was subsequently transferred into the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. During his first year at Harvard in 1915, he had two of his songs performed in Broadway shows, and his own “patriotic comic opera,” See America First, made it to the Broadway stage the following year.

Porter was able to enjoy a charmed social life flitting between Paris, London and Venice. After some early flops, he eventually won over critics and audiences. He produced one of his greatest hits with Gay Divorce, Fred Astaire’s last stage show, which was later made into a blockbuster Hollywood film starring Astaire and Ginger Rodgers. Many hits followed, and in 1948 he wrote his masterpiece, Kiss Me, Kate, winning the coveted Tony Award for Best Score.

Tickets are on sale now by calling Capitol Tickets at 803-251-2222, online at capitoltickets.com, or in person at the Koger Box Office, corner of Greene and Park Streets. $30 general public; $25 senior citizens, USC faculty and staff; $8 students.

Classic Greek “Call-To-Action” Play The Trojan Women Comes to Lab Theatre

The UofSC Department of Theatre and Dance will present The Trojan Women, translated from Euripides’ ancient text by acclaimed scholar Nicholas Rudall, Feb. 26- March 1 at the Lab Theatre.

Show times are 8pm nightly. Tickets are $5, and available only at the door.  The Lab Theatre is located at 1400 Wheat St. in the Booker T. Washington building.

Senior theatre major Kelsea Woods is directing the centuries-old Greek meditation on the brutality of battle, which continues to move and inspire audiences, even in the present day. Euripides’ classic tragedy tells of the fates of the women who remain in the city of Troy after its destruction during the Trojan War.  Woods’ production of the play intends to give audience members a firsthand look at the human cost of war, as told by the women left to survive in the aftermath of their fractured world.

The director plans to use the entire Lab Theatre space, as well as unconventional seating, to immerse the audience in the action of the play.

“I knew I wanted to use different staging elements to really enhance the experience of this play, instead of just watching it proscenium style,” says Woods. “I’m playing with the sensation of place and time, and using design elements as characters almost. The audience will be considered ‘Trojan Women’ and there will be a set of rules to let them know what they are getting into. The whole Lab space will be playing space, the characters have been living their daily lives here, and the audience is walking straight into that.”

Woods’ vision for the production injects a contemporary, urban aesthetic into the ancient, war-torn world of the main characters. She imagines the surviving women of Troy living in a derelict subway, abandoned during the years of violence.

“These women have watched their families be killed and their city be destroyed, and they are waiting to see what is next for them,” says Woods. “But, they aren’t just going to sit around and do nothing.  This play was originally a call-to-action for the Greek people… and I see echoes of that within the Trojan Women themselves.”

Woods says she was drawn to direct the play after spending last summer in London at the American Institute of Foreign Study.  As a scholar with USC Beyond Boundaries and USC Carolina Global Study, Woods conducted research on experimental and immersive theatre.  Additionally, she began a dialogue with Dr. Josephine Machon, author of the pioneering textbook, Immersive Theatres, to further delve into the concepts.

“In my mind, immersive theatre is really an extra-sensory experience,” Woods says about the unorthodox production style.  “It’s really about imbuing all the senses and pulling you into the world of the story as if it’s happening around you.”

Appearing in the production are undergraduate students Jamie Boller, Rebecca Shrom, Cami Reid, John Floyd, Jon Whit McClinton, Jasmine James, Elizabeth Houck, Haley Sprankle, Brooke Smith and Ashley Graham.

“This production won’t be just ‘theatre,’ it will be an actual life experience,” says Woods. “That’s what immersive theatre does — it enhances your ability to intellectualize and interpret the text because you have now lived it, felt it and experienced it first hand. You will come out of this play a different person in some way, shape, or form.”

For more information on The Trojan Women or the theatre program at the University of South Carolina, contact Kevin Bush by phone at 803-777-9353 or via email at bushk@mailbox.sc.edu.

Art from the Ashes Final Event - Readings by the Literary Artists Tuesday Night

Tuesday night, join us for part three of Jasper's Art from the Ashes project -- a reading of the works in the monograph by the writers themselves.

7 pm at Tapp's

Readers include:

Betsy Breen - winner of the Best in Book Award, sponsored by Historic Columbia

Al Black

Jonathan Butler

Debra Daniel

Rachel Hainey

Ed Madden

Don McCallister

Tom Poland

Susan Levi Wallach

Cindi Boiter

Artists for Africa Postcaard Art Sale - Thursday Night - by Abby Davis

This Thursday, February 12^th, Artists for Africa will host their second annual Postcard Art fundraiser at Embassy Suites Columbia. There will be over 300 pieces of original, postcard-sized works to choose from. The postcard art has been contributed by over 100 artists, some established and some emerging. The pieces will be exhibited anonymously, each available for $65, and the artist’s identity will not be revealed until after the work has been purchased.

Featured artists include Tish Lowe, Mana Hewitt, Bill Davis, Barbie Mathis, Toni Elkins, Robin Gadient, Bonnie Goldberg, Marian Soule, Cami Hutchinson, Susilee Lamb, Julia Moore, K. Page Morris, Nini Ward, Carey Weathers, Charlene Wells, Jen Gorlewski, Steve Teets, Pete Holland, and Michael Krajewski. Additionally, 40 pieces from CA Johnson students will also be featured and sold for $15 each. Each student piece sold will provide a new school uniform for a student in Kenya.

This exciting event offers not only a unique and entertaining way to expand your collection at an amazing price, but it also supports a tremendously worthy cause. The money raised from the Postcard Art fundraiser will be supporting Artists for Africa. Artists for Africa is a non-profit organization created for the purpose of supporting Anno’s Africa, a non-profit organization which brings arts classes to children in the slums of Kenya. Artists for Africa strives to provide an alternative arts education to orphans and vulnerable children in Africa. In the past, funds raised by Artists for Africa have gone towards drums, leotards, guitars, watercolors, trampolines, juggling kits, crayons, sound systems, mono-cycles, and more. The program is currently operating only in Nairobi, but the goal is to spread throughout urban Kenya and eventually expand to other countries in Africa as well.

Enjoy a lovely evening, expand your collection at an incredible price, and support an invaluable cause all at once! The event will last from 6 – 10pm, with the sale beginning at 7. Artwork will be sold first come, first served, at $65 each ($15 for student pieces) and buyers are invited to purchase as many pieces as they wish. Tickets to the event are $15 and can be purchased at www.brownpapertickets.com. For more information about Postcard Art and Art and Artists for Africa visit www.artistsforafricausa.org.

-by Abby Davis

You Better Sit Down - Tales from My Parents' Divorce opens 2/20

The Richard and Debbie Cohn Trustus Side Door Theatre is about to house a fresh documentary-style theatre piece called You Better Sit Down: Tales from My Parents’ Divorce. This show examines a social phenomenon that affects Americans daily. You Better Sit Down: Tales from My Parents’ Divorce opens in the Trustus Side Door Theatre on Friday February 20^th and runs through Saturday, March 7, 2015. Tickets may be purchased at www.trustus.org.

Crafted from interviews between the original cast and their own parents, You Better Sit Down is a heartbreaking and hilarious account of the parents' marriages and their subsequent divorces. These delicate parent-child conversations have yielded unique insights into falling in love, falling out of love, and rebuilding a life after the complex experience of dividing a family. The show explores each couple's first meeting, the ups and downs of their marriage, their split, and the surprising perspectives on life after divorce. This show will be a distinct evening in the theatre for Trustus patrons as Columbia rarely sees documentary-style productions.

Director and Trustus Company Member Scott Herr will make his directing debut at Trustus with You Better Sit Down. He is passionate about bringing this material to life for Columbia audiences. “The script is a well-rounded piece - there are some very funny and touching moments in the show,” said Herr. “Even though the title of the piece and the stories are about divorce, I have come to see that the piece really wants to examine the nature of love and what that looks like in a marriage.”

Director Scott Herr wanted a cast that would create relationships with the audience in this confessional-theatre piece. The four-person cast consists of Trustus Company member Raia Jane Hirsch (The Motherf**ker With the Hat), Patrick Dodds (Evil Dead: The Musical), and Trustus newcomers Joey Opperman and Patti Anderson.

“You Better Sit Down accurately chronicles the phases of a relationship quite nicely,” said Herr. “What is really telling is that the show doesn’t sugarcoat anything. You see right from the beginning the quirks and failings in each person that eventually grow and become larger once they’ve married.”

You Better Sit Down: Tales from My Parents’ Divorce opens in The Richard and Debbie Cohn Trustus Side Door Theatre on Friday February 20^th and runs through March 7^th, 2015. A talk-back will follow the matinee on February 22^nd, 2015. The doors and box office open thirty minutes prior to curtain, and all Trustus Side Door tickets are $20 for general admission and $15 for students. Reservations can be made by calling the Trustus Box Office at (803) 254-9732, and tickets may be purchased online at www.trustus.org.

The Richard and Debbie Cohn Trustus Side Door Theatre is located at 520 Lady Street, behind the Gervais St. Publix. Parking is available on Lady Street and on Pulaski Street. The Trustus Side Door Theatre entrance is through the glass doors on the Huger St. side of the building.

For more information or reservations call the box office Tuesdays through Saturdays 1-6 pm at 803-254-9732. Visit www.trustus.org for all show information and season info.

Review: Whiplash - by Wade Sellers

 

“The two most harmful words in the English language are good job,” spews Terence Fletcher to his former jazz pupil Andrew Nieman through scotch soaked lips as the two sit in a New York jazz club. The words are greeted by a naïve but understanding grin from Neiman. It’s meant to be an exposed moment for Fletcher who, for the better part of the last 70 minutes of the film Whiplash, from director Damien Chazelle, has been brutally using a well-honed set of skills to force the young music prodigy to submit before him.

Fletcher’s Jazz Ensemble instructor is played with full force by J.K. Simmons. Simmons is a veteran character actor, whose past roles on Law and Order, The Amazing Spiderman and various commercials result in a recognizable face would be hard to overcome if not for his years of experience. If ever there was a role of a lifetime made for someone, Fletcher is that for Simmons. Young and experienced Miles Teller (Divergent, Footloose) plays the young drumming prodigy Andrew Neiman.

Whiplash draws its inspiration from director Damien Chazelle’s own high school experiences and Simmon’s bullish and hyper-demanding jazz teacher, first fleshed out in a short film that screened at the 2013 Sundance film festival. It is a hyper-realized version of Chazelle’s experience with his own instructor.

Andrew Nieman is a young jazz percussionist with a single focus, to be remembered as one of the great jazz drummers in history. He attends the fictional Shaffer Music Conservatory in New York City. Hand-picked by Fletcher to be part of his jazz studio ensemble, Nieman is eager to showcase his talents with the best of the best at the school. Before the first rehearsal the eager percussionist receives a few words of encouragement from Fletcher in the hallway outside their classroom. Behind the closed studio door, Nieman is quickly introduced to Fletcher’s classroom demeanor. Fletcher bullies and intimidates his students when their performance doesn’t please his ear. He is a brute, with no hesitation to pick apart any weakness of performance in front of him. It is a brutal game of give and take between teacher and pupil throughout the film.

Nieman seems to separate himself from his fellow students at the beginning, not only with his willingness to learn, but his willingness to accept the abuse that Fletcher deals to him. In fact, he almost welcomes it, using it as more motivation to become better, to master his instrument.

Simmons’ Academy Award nomination for his performance is well warranted. He commands the screen as the abusive teacher. In even his most vile moments, there is a sense that his abusiveness is not without a reason and that saves his character. The surprise is that Teller’s name was left off major awards lists.

While there are small notes on Simmons performance, (it very much resembles the R. Lee Ermey character in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket), Teller's performance is nearly perfect. Having the benefit a new young face, mixed with talent and heavyweight film experience already, he creates a character that is nearly impossible to normally communicate to an audience. Hyper-focused individuals usually leave a trail of bad history. It is hard for those that surround them to understand many of their life choices and choices in personal relationships, usually choosing their goals over those relationships. Teller successfully lets us into Neiman’s mind and lets us know why he makes the choices he does in his pursuits. When Neiman breaks up with his girlfriend, a sadly one-dimensional character played by Melissa Benoist, he is cold and logical, and we are there with him. In the real world he is an asshole.

The answer to much of Neiman’s willingness to accept the abuse from Fletcher, in search of greater accomplishments, can be found in Teller’s father Jim, played by Paul Reiser. The first words we hear out of Reiser’s mouth, as he sits in a movie theater with his son, as a stranger bumps into him are “I’m sorry.” During a meal with friends and family where Miles’s accomplishments are minimized in comparison to those of the two other young men at the table, Reiser’s character remains silent, letting his son fend for himself. A trait that, based on Neiman’s response, he is well practiced at. Reiser handles the role well. To the point that we needed more body to his character rather than just serving as a representative that doesn’t understand what it takes to be great.

Whiplash plays back and forth really well. You can feel the director’s hand, wanting his film to serve as a visual representation of a jazz ensemble. It pushes and pulls with force, loud and soft, fast and slow, in a way few films in recent memory have. A few moments stray off course, but never too far. At the heart are two of the most honest characters present on the screen in a number of years. After ninety minutes of a steady and confidant performance all of the pieces come together to create an explosive and memorable ending. The sheer weight of the main character’s desire will force its way onto any audience.

Wade Sellers is the Film Editor for Jasper Magazine and the executive director of Coal powered Filmworks.

Arts & Draughts Friday Night w/ local brew - by Abby Davis

The 19^th installment of Arts & Draughts is happening this Friday, February 6^th, and you do not want to miss it. The Columbia Museum of Art will be filled with art, music, food, beer, entertainment, and the inevitable happiness that these things bring about.

River Rat Brewery will be offering tastings of their Broad River Red Ale. Phil Blair says, “This is the first time we’ve used a true local brewery and the response has been tremendous. I’m really looking forward to seeing people discovering it for the first time and seeing the brewery experience the program for the first time.” The Wurst Wagen, Bone-In Artisan Barbecue on Wheels, and The Belgian Waffle Truck, will provide the food.

There will be musical performances from Charlotte’s Sinners & Saints, Amigo, and Zack Joseph from Nashville. Blair says, “Our only real focus on the musical performances is quality; every act is handpicked by me with the goal of having the best show we can put together. I look for artists that aren’t oversaturated, that I think the diverse crowd will enjoy seeing and hearing, artists you don’t have to have any prior knowledge of, artists that are clearly talented and enjoyable.” The music will even extend outdoors with tunes provided by the Greater Columbia Society for the Preservation of Soul.

In addition to treats for your taste buds and ears, the event will feature docent-led tours, a puppet show by Lyon Hill, live chess in the galleries, screenings of Indie Grits Film Festival shorts, a scavenger hunt through the galleries, a Love-ly photo booth, creator space to make artful valentines, and even more.

Blair says, “We try to have as many interactive projects and as many galleries and gallery tours available as possible and partner with people doing cool things any chance we get. We really want people to be able to engage with the museum and the program in whatever way they enjoy most.” His favorite aspect of the event is “seeing the whole being more than the sum of the parts – Columbia embracing a real, diverse group of cultural components as one celebration.”

The event usually draws close to 1,000 people, but continues to expand. The last Arts & Draughts in November set an attendance record with close to 1,3000. Blair says, “Though it’s the 19^th installment, it almost seems new. We’re looking forward to growing and adding different elements in the future. Now that it’s proven that Columbia really enjoys this event, it’s our duty to make it fresh and keep it interesting.”

Tickets are $8, $5 for members of the museum, and available at columbiamuseum.org/artsanddraughts/event?e=5-3&s=4.

-by Abby Davis

The Amateurs of the Opera by Kirby Knowlton and Haley Sprankle

 

 (Palmetto Opera generously offered two guest tickets to Jasper interns who would write about their first experience at the opera. Please find the young women's article below.)

The Palmetto Opera has been working to make opera a part of Midlands and South Carolina culture since 2001. Its mission is to contribute to the community’s entertainment, education, and economy and to introduce as many people to opera as it can. The Palmetto Opera also aims to promote local talent by hiring local performers and utilizing Columbia venues. Overall, it hopes to bring opera to people who’ve never experienced it before, people like Jasper intern Haley and me (Kirby).

Last Saturday, Haley and I had the pleasure of attending the Palmetto Opera’s Great Moments in Italian Opera at Harbison Theater. The show featured a full orchestra of local Columbia musicians and a troupe of world-class traveling soloists Teatro Lirico D’Europa. Directed by Giorgio Lalov, Teatro Lirico D’Europa is composed of baritone Dobromir Momekov, soprano Stanislava Ivanova, mezzo-soprano Viara Zhelezova, and tenors Fabián Robles and Simon Kyung. The company has toured extensively around the world, performing at top international stages and musical festivals. Their latest traveling concert is Great Moments in Italian Opera, a sampler of the best-loved Italian arias with an opportunity to meet the performers afterward. The show is made up of solos, duets, and ensembles from some of the most influential operas ever written.

“Have you two ever been to the opera before?”

“No ma’am,” we both replied.

So what could two non-opera-goers such as ourselves possibly think or have to say about the opera?

Kirby: Hey, this music actually sounds familiar! No, I’ve definitely heard this before. It’s funny how much opera is a part of culture that I would have heard it before and never consciously processed it.

Haley: That girl in the orchestra was in my computer science class last semester. Wow, they sound great! I had no idea how talented she is!

Kirby: Am I supposed to be understanding these words? I mean, is this English and just different-sounding because it’s opera? Or am I listening to Italian? Does it matter? Nope. I can definitely tell what this guy’s singing about. That’s a I’ve-Got-Lady-Problems face.

Haley: Ivanova has wonderful dynamic changes for a soprano. I find most sopranos to just be loud, but she exhibits beautiful control over her voice through her breath support. Even her vocal runs are at a perfect volume, and are gorgeous at that!

Kirby: It appears that in opera, the relationship between the singer and the audience is much more tangible than in other types of live performance. Several times in Momekov’s first solo, he would pause to give the audience a moment to laugh or react. It seems as though the singers sing with more gusto when the audience gives them a reason to.

Haley: Not only does Momekov have a lovely, powerful voice that he’s able to send to all corners of the room, but his stage presence is also enviable. Through his facial expressions and body language, he was able to playfully engage the audience. He drew us into the song and destroyed the language barrier that kept the audience from understanding the piece.

Kirby: Maybe opera is the simplest, most innate incarnations of human emotion. I don’t even know the plots of these stories, but if I just sit back and listen, it almost doesn’t matter. The performers cease to make music come out of their mouths. After a certain point, it’s pure, concentrated emotion. The notes turn into elongated cries, sighs, and laughs. Even without understanding the words, I can understand the feelings.

Haley: The passion behind each singer’s performance is so breath-taking. Not only does each singer command the stage during their solos, but they also create dynamic relationships between each other in duets and group numbers. As each voice compliments the other, the singers emote and relate to each other beautifully. Through their wonderful performance and the structure of the music itself, the audience is able to fall into the story of each relationship between the singers onstage.

Kirby: Honestly, I never understood the appeal of opera until Kyung’s first solo. I tried to come to this performance with an open mind, but there was still a voice in the back of my head whining and wondering how long it would take. But during Kyung’s aria, I understood all the to-do, that going to the opera is not just a fancy, high-culture activity, but something that speaks to and enriches the deepest parts of you. At its best moments, opera transcends entertainment and becomes something you don’t seek out because you want to, but because you need to. We go around with all these ideas about how to be, but when it comes down to it, all humans want is to connect to other humans. And I’m glad the opera was one way that I was able to do that.

Haley: From beginning to end, I was truly engaged in each moment of the performance. I was skeptical at how I would be able to understand the opera and its culture of it all, but it was all too easy to fall in love with. Each and every performer displayed vocal technique that I could only dream of, and acted out pieces in a way that even the most unfamiliar audience member could comprehend. This lively, energetic evening did not display the propriety and exclusivity that I would have expected from the opera, but rather an all-inclusivity that sought to bring in people from all backgrounds to help them find an appreciation for opera. That was almost more beautiful than the performance itself.

“The only way opera is going to become a real part of culture in Columbia is when folks like you come out to support it,” Kathy Newman, the Chair of the Board of Directors for the Palmetto Opera said.

Other than what Kirby has gathered from popular culture and what I’ve (Haley) learned in my musical theatre training, the two of us had no idea what to expect when we entered Harbison Theater for the performance, but even non-opera-goers such as ourselves would recognize some of these names, such as La Traviata and La Boheme.

The general population seems to have the impression that they are disconnected from the opera, when the opera is incorporated into most aspects of pop culture without our realization of it. Whether it’s in a movie, a television series, or even a video game, opera surrounds us. Its powerful themes and iconic tunes ingratiate themselves into our everyday lives, but it’s our jobs now to recognize it.

So, what does this mean for you? Go to the opera, listen to ETV radio and NPR in hopes of catching some classical music, be aware of the score when you’re watching a movie. As for Kirby and me, you may just catch us at the next event for the Palmetto Opera.

Go to palmettoopera.org for more information on their mission, opera, and future shows.

"CMA Chamber Music on Main" First Concert of 2015

The Columbia Museum of Art presents the third concert in the 13^th season of "CMA Chamber Music on Main"on Tuesday, February 10, 2015, at 7:00 p.m., intimately set in the museum's DuBose-Poston Reception Hall. Artistic director and internationally acclaimed cellist Edward Arron hosts an evening of chamber music with a debut by a new violinist and an arrangement by popular clarinetist.

"Our first concert of 2015 brings back two Columbia favorites and 'CMA Chamber Music on Main' veterans: clarinetist Todd Palmer and pianist Gilles Vonsattel," says Arron. "And we will have another exciting Columbia debut, this time by the virtuosic and passionate young violinist Bella Hristova, whose career is rapidly on the rise. The program includes one of Beethoven's great masterpieces of the classical era, a captivating and entertaining suite by Stravinsky, a vividly colorful sonata by Debussy, and the South Carolina premiere of our very own Todd Palmer's trio arrangement of the Grand Duo Concertant by Carl Maria von Weber. This program promises to be a thriller! I look forward to seeing you in February."

Gilles Vonsattel on piano, Todd Palmer on clarinet, and Bella Hristova on violin join Arron to perform:

• Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Trio in c minor, Opus 1, No. 3
• Igor Stravinsky - Suite from L'histoire du Soldat for Clarinet, Violin, and Piano
• Claude Debussy - Sonata for Violin and Piano
• Carl Maria von Weber - Grand 'Trio' Concertant for Clarinet, Piano, and Cello (arr. Todd Palmer)

Upcoming concerts in the 2014-2015 season are:

• Tuesday, March 10
• Tuesday, April 28

Presented by U.S. Trust. $40 / $30 for members / $5 for students. All seats are on a first-come, first-served basis.

Happy hour at 6:00 p.m. Concert begins at 7:00 p.m. Museum shop and galleries open during happy hour.

For tickets and program information, visit columbiamuseum.org

Mavis Staples Plays Harbison Theatre this Saturday, January 31st

If you pick up Greg Kot’s new biography on The Staple Singers, I’ll Take You There: Mavis Staples, The Staple Singers, and the March Up Freedom’s Highway, you’ll notice that, time and time again, he returns to waxing poetic about two things: Roebuck “Pops” Staple’s guitar tone, and Mavis Staple’s voice. And indeed, there’s something definitive about these two sounds, something that seems important if you want to understand the broad history of American music. And, really, America itself. While the group definitely had their share of hits and mainstream success, they’ve always been more important than the numbers suggested. They brought gospel into the mainstream in a way starkly different than their contemporaries, blending rural blues and Americana influences into their spiritual and topical songs with a spiritual fervor that’s never quite been equaled. Guitar player after guitar player, from Stax’s Steve Cropper (of Booker T and the MGs) to Ry Cooder, rave about the shaky tremolo guitar tone that defined the group’s early sound, while the surprise of the little girl with the deep, earth-shaking voice is one that still confounds audiences today.

Mavis started singing in her family group when she was just 11 years old, but from the start she was the star power. While Pops and her brother Pervis also took lead vocal turns, it was Mavis that had audiences enraptured. The Staple Singer’s first big hit was “Uncloudy Day,” which features the young singer starting her lead vocal in her lowest register, something that shocked audiences experiencing the group for the first time.

Pervis Staples, From I’ll Take You There:

“We’d trick ‘em. The audience would be looking for me to come up with the low part—this was for the people who had heard the record but had never seen us before. I’d come up to the mike and switch over at the last second where Cleotha was, then Mavis would step up. That messed them up, but it woke up the crowd. When you wake up the crowd in church, the spirit starts hitting ‘em. It goes through them. Even the ones who want you to think they’ve already sanctified were going at it. It’s like they couldn’t believe what they were seeing, like a little miracle or the hand of God or some s#!t like that.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmBNuNNnGHY

Their early records were very bluesy, rustic gospel numbers, but they would later spend time on labels like Stax and Warner Brothers that would seem them branch out with more elaborate, pop-friendly production and songs that could serve both religious and secular audiences. Folks like Bob Dylan and The Band were huge fans, with the latter developing their trademark vocal blend by imitating the family and the former carrying on a pseudo-courtship and friendship with Mavis that lasts to this day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCSzL5-SPHM

The other reason the group’s place in American history is so outsized, though, is that they in many ways soundtracked the Civil Rights Movement. Pops developed a close relationship with MLK and Jesse Jackson, and the Staple Singers often opened up for the leaders at Civil Rights rallies. They sang many of the traditional gospel tunes, like “We Shall Overcome,” that were repurposed for the movement, and Pops himself wrote many original tunes inspired by the movement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA8tX0PNgss

While the fortunes of the group waxed and waned over the course of the 1980s and 1990s, Mavis is currently in the middle of a late-career renaissance. With the help of folks like Ry Cooder and Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, since the mid-2000s she’s returned to a sound and style reminiscent of the Staples Singer’s early days with great success. In 2015, as we celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act and the critically acclaimed Selma is in theaters, we are incredibly fortunate to be able to also go see  Mavis, arguably one of the best soul singers ever, take us to church in Harbison Theatre. -Kyle Petersen

Tickets are still available SOLD OUT at the Harbison Theatre website here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZKPOes4SwY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5RTxtzAbLk

One Columbia and the City of Columbia Install Second Public Art Sculpture

 

One Columbia for Arts and History and the City of Columbia are proud to announce the installation of a second sculpture resulting from the public art pilot program.

Commissioned with a generous donation from Agapé Senior, the piece entitled “Moments” was created by artists Shaun Dargan Cassidy and Tom Stanley. Both artists are faculty members in the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Winthrop University.

“Agapé Senior is pleased to support the City and One Columbia’s public arts initiative by funding this sculpture.  Our company works to improve the communities in which we serve through local chambers and Rotary clubs, as well as non-profit support, and now with the corporate headquarters on Main Street, this opportunity just seemed like a great fit for us.  Plus, I am a graduate of Winthrop University so having the artists from my alma mater create the piece, this project came full circle for me personally.” says Scott Middleton, Founder and CEO of Agapé Senior.

The stainless steel sculpture is composed of open box structure with an attic above and a tree root system below evoking memory and a collected lifetime of stories. These elements combine into a new sapling that grows up from these symbols of one’s life moments.

Artist Shaun Cassidy explains “’Moments’ was designed to use recognizable imagery to act as triggers to provoke associations with memory, decay, growth, the past and the future. The sculpture is intended to be both contemplative and aspirational and to provide a quiet moment of beautiful visual poetry on Main Street.” Cassidy adds, “We are grateful to One Columbia for the opportunity to create a significant permanent work in such a prestigious location in Columbia.”

“Not only is this a great addition to Main Street, it also serves to demonstrate public art’s power to transform Columbia into a true City of Creativity,” said Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin. “None of this would be possible without strong public/private partnerships with great businesses like Agape and we’re very excited about what the future holds.”

“It is a privilege to work with businesses like Agapé that have a strong dedication to making Columbia the finest city it can be,” Lee Snelgrove, Executive Director of One Columbia for Arts and History states. “This sculpture in particular reflects the values of our City in how we’re taking unique elements of our past to create new growth. Art is an important part of our identity.”

A public announcement ceremony will be held on Thursday, February 5 at 10am at the sculpture on the 1600 block of Main Street.

The installation of this sculpture would not have been possible without the joint efforts of multiple departments of the City of Columbia, the City Center Partnership, and the Greater Columbia Community Relations Council.

Artists interested in submitting their qualifications for consideration for future projects can find the call for artists on the One Columbia for Arts and History website at onecolumbiasc.com.

Drawing the Line with Eileen Blyth

 

Artist Eileen Blyth's upcoming solo art show “Drawing the Line”, does exactly as its title suggests. It drives us to decide at what point we've reached our limits, exhausted all possibilities, seen all there is to see.

With a nod to graphic arts icon Milton Glaser, the show encourages viewers to look closer, to examine the tiniest details and open their minds to new or unforeseen perspectives.

According to Glaser, no artist should stop exploring and discovering new prospects. Just because an artist has landed on something that resonates-that sells or is widely celebrated at one moment in time - does not mean that the artist is done and should be satisfied to produce within the confines of that success. “When you do something that basically is guaranteed to succeed, you're closing the possibility for discovery,” Glaser said. “The arts provide a sense of enlargement and the sense that you haven't come to the end of your understanding.”

An established painter, sculptor, and installation artist, Blyth is pushing herself to shift and mutate boundaries, to ensure that she is growing creatively. For many years, Blyth has alternated between two-dimensional paintings and three-dimensional sculptures, all falling under the abstract umbrella. Recently, she noticed that some 3-D effects were showing up in her 3-D work. "It was surprising to recognize the 3-D lines and shadows within the confines of the 2-D line and composition. There was an internal shift, a moment of playfulness that intrigued me." Blyth says. “It is not meant to be the purpose of the work; it is just the bonus. The viewer is invited to discover what he is actually seeing, a suggestion that transcends the natural world.”

With this in mind, Blyth decided to take stock, to look back at her purest origins. Last fall, she enrolled in a life drawing class. “I realized I hadn't picked up a piece of charcoal since college,” she explained. “I wondered whether I could still draw the human figure. I didn't forget how to draw, but I had to reconnect my eye and hand, my memory and reality. After a long while, an artist can forget how to actually ‘see’.”

“I was exploring the foundation and inspiration, the origin of my marks, penetrating lines that punctuate so many of my paintings. Was I saying anything relevant with the lines and shadows, or was I just repeating myself?”

Blyth’s new work reflects on the unspoken dialogue that takes place between artist and viewer. It seeks to reshape perspectives and connect with the viewer in new ways. “I want to convey something personal in every piece,” Blyth said. “I want to make authentic connections that are meditative and mindful of perpetuating circles we all naturally experience.”

There is playfulness in many of these paintings. They invite viewers to join visual puzzle pieces, to make their own discoveries within the lines.

“Drawing the Line” runs from February 13-24, 2015, at Vista Studios Gallery 80808 on Lady Street in the Congaree Vista. There will be an opening reception on Friday, February 13, 2015 from 6:00-9:00pm. For further details, visit www.vistastudios80808.com or email e@eileenblyth.com.

Art from the Ashes Book Launch and Gallery Opening on February 1st at Tapp’s - A JASPER Project

 

Over the course of four evenings in the summer of 2014, more than two dozen literary, visual, and musical artists gathered in the Jasper Magazine office with experts on the February 17^th, 1865 burning of Columbia. The artists immersed themselves in the events that took place the night of the burning as well as the days and nights leading to and immediately following it. Six months later, their inspirations have come to fruition in a multi-disciplinary series of arts events – Art from the Ashes.

Art from the Ashes: Columbia Residents Respond to the Burning of Their City is a collection of poetry, prose, and even a screenplay by some of Columbia, SC’s most dynamic writers, including Ed Madden, Tara Powell, Ray McManus, Susan Levi Wallach, Tom Poland, Al Black, Jonathan Butler, Rachel Haynie, Debra Daniel, Will Garland, Betsy Breen, and Don McCallister. Edited by Jasper Magazine’s Cynthia Boiter, it is a publication of Muddy Ford Press and the first in the press’s new series, Muddy Ford Monographs.

In concert with the book launch, Art from the Ashes: The Gallery will open on the same evening, also at Tapp’s, and will run throughout the month of February. Participating visual artists include Susan Lenz, Kirkland Smith, Christian Thee, Michael Krajewski, Jarid Lyfe Brown, Whitney LeJeune, Mary Bentz Gilkerson, Cedric Umoja, Michaela Pilar Brown, Alejandro Garcia-Lemos, and Kara Gunter.

Join us as we celebrate the book launch and gallery opening from 5 – 7 pm. Visual artists will be on hand to answer questions about their work and literary artists will be signing and reading from their writings. Musician Jack McGregor, who created a three movement musical composition in response to the burning, will premiere his work as well.

Additional events include a Visual Artists Panel Presentation on Thursday, February 5^th at 7 pm and a Reading and Book Signing on February 17^th at 7 pm, followed by a concert by Columbia-based musical artist, the Dubber.

All events take place at Tapp’s Arts Center on Main Street and are free and open to the public

Westward Bound: The New Frontier of First Thursdays and Frame of Mind by Haley Sprankle

The arts have become and continue to remain an integral part of Columbia with the plethora of local theaters, visual artists, literary artists, dance companies, and musicians present. While all of this art was here, not many were aware of it due to a lack of shared understanding across disciplines. That seemingly changed after the start of one, free event.

First Thursdays on Main Street.

“It started with the creation of the Frame of Mind Series. I had space in my retail location that I wanted to fill with art (as I approach my eyewear as a wearable form of art). I connected with local artists and started doing a monthly art series (Frame of Mind Series). This lead to me asking my neighbors to do something similar on the same night, the concept being strength in numbers. The rest is history,” says the man behind the screen of First Thursdays, Mark Plessinger.

Plessinger owns the eyewear boutique Frame of Mind where he not only sells unique eye wear, but also features local visual artists.

“There are two main influences [in starting Frame of Mind]. One is my experience in the eyewear industry. I have worked in almost all facets of the industry (from big box chain to small private doctor to eyewear boutique). I understand where the markets exist within the industry and what I needed to do to set myself apart from others,” Plessinger explains. “The other is art. My family is filled to overflowing with artists and I have inherited a very art centric viewpoint of the world and business.”

Plessinger’s business was located in the heart of Columbia, but is now making the move to West Columbia.

“We are going to continue to do art, just like we have always done. The big difference is going to be a change from an "alternative art space" to an actual gallery. We are establishing a roster of artists who will be represented in their "home" gallery (Frame of Mind). We will continue to do the Frame of Mind Series, but on a less frequent schedule. Also, since the space is bigger than our current space, we will be incorporating events from our Shamelessly Hot brand into the location,” Plessinger says.

With this move comes a transition for First Thursdays on Main Street as Plessinger no longer will spearhead the initiative.

“Everything transitions, everything has a lifespan. I created First Thursdays on Main based on a specific model. It was designed to give the growing retail and restaurant sector on Main Street a free place to highlight their businesses. We picked a consistent date, create a brand, and a PR arm and gave the street the ability to fill in with what they wanted to do. It was a very low cost, grass roots idea (and one that was successful),” Plessinger says. “However, like everything, the event has grown and changed. Thus a new model is needed for its continued growth and success. We have begun to partner with a local event producer with the idea of them creating a new model (with new ideas and goals). We believe that this will give the event and Main Street the best opportunity to grow.”

These new beginnings in our familiar territory of Columbia bring about a new leader.

“After Mark moves, the essential parts of First Thursdays will continue. Preach Jacobs will be taking over as the leader of the event series, but many of the same organizations and merchants will participate,” Lee Snelgrove, the Executive Director of One Columbia, adds. “There could be some delays or minor lulls in the transition and it will likely take some time to develop a similar momentum that it once had. But, there are already a few events planned for the night of February 5^th. So, overall I don't think there will be much trouble during the transition.”

Although Plessinger is moving on to a new frontier, his impact on Columbia has set a standard for the arts community that will not be lost.

“One of the most amazing things about the Columbia art scene is its size and depth,” Plessinger says. “If I see a difference in our community now, it is that the city is slowly beginning to recognize that depth and size." - Haley Sprankle

Review: Mark Rapp & Stephanie Wilkin's "Woven"

By: David Ligon

As the lights come up, the stage was occupied by three platforms high above the floor with a five man band occupying them. After a subtle “one, two, three” from the bandleader they began to perform a big and brassy opening number called “Celebrating Life.” It immediately transported the audience to a New Orleans dancehall with the dancers onstage, coming in and out in pairs as they did the Charleston with huge smiles on their faces. It’s no surprise that New Orleans would have an influence on how composer Mark Rapp would shape his full-length work, Woven. He had lived and worked in New Orleans for the past decade, and most of the pieces that would become Woven were apart of Rapp’s master’s thesis. He and his collaborator, choreographer Stephanie Wilkin, both share a rich and experienced history that starts in Columbia then leads on to New York City, where they each found success. Neither had met each other until Rapp caught the interest of Katie Fox, the Executive Director of the Harbison Theater at Midlands Technical College. The theater ultimately invested in this show as part of Midlands Tech’s Performance Incubator series, with Woven as its third fully-funded collaboration. Katie Fox led a “speed date,” as she refers to it, while helping Rapp search for the perfect choreographer.  When he saw Wilkins’ choreography on a DVD, he was moved, and the collaboration began.

The intention of this series is to have the show previewed and then for it to become a touring work. After its debut, Fox was thrilled to announce that the show had already received two offers from production companies to begin touring.

Requiring two months of preparation, Woven is an ambitious collaboration, a 90-minute work combining jazz music and contemporary dance. Jazz music can sometimes be intimidating and difficult to choreograph because it’s scattered melody and improvisations, which pushes some choreographers away.  But Wilkins took that challenge head on and let her strong and fabulous dancers improvise in certain ways, just as jazz musicians tend to do. Wilkins makes a great effort to blend in interesting nods to swing dance while keeping a contemporary framework. Contemporary choreography has a way of being led by raw emotion, and deals with pedestrian movement and expands on it, sometimes playing off what your partner does on stage with a set of rules. Ms. Wilkins had very interesting ideas, new lifts I hadn’t seen before, and new combinations of movement that worked well with the evening’s music. The structure of her movement is interesting, because it incorporated a lyrical contemporary style, as well as Broadway and swing. It created unique juxtapositions not often seen. The structure of the movement gives more organization to the often-scattered music that can be associated with jazz.

Wilkins is an Adjunct Professor at the University of South Carolina, and when she was looking for talent, she picked five dancers from the university: Emily Anzalone, Rhe’a Hughes, Vidal X. James, Dallas King, and Dustin Praylow. She used one professional dancer from Columbia, Anthony Hinrichs, who currently dances with UNBOUND, a local contemporary-jazz company and is also on the faculty of Southern Strutt in Irmo. The dancers were enthusiastic about being a part of this work, and they danced with great ease despite the difficulty of Wilkins’ choreography.

With just six dancers in total, which is small amount for a 90 minute full-length work, it sometimes felt like the piece hadn’t reached its full potential. In the future perhaps more dancers can be added, spreading out the responsibilities to create a broader feel and really explore the main characters more. Hopefully a bigger cast can be incorporated in the future so Ms. Wilkins can have more to work with and not tire out the dancers. The moment where this was most clear was a video break in the fifth section of the first act, “Sweet Serene.” It was obviously meant as a break for the dancers, who until that point had been dancing wonderfully in couples and as a group. The video montage felt unnecessary since the dancers would be constantly going in and out of character. The constant real life or blooper moments that were happening on screen took away from the storyline and the music didn’t seem to sync that well either.

The night was comprised of two acts with eleven pieces of music with a story revolving around a couple and the evolution of a relationship from first encounters, to breaking up, to self-loathing, and ultimately getting back together. Dallas King and Anthony Hinrichs took on these demanding roles. Ms. Wilkins not only gave them athletic, aerobic challenging choreography, but she was also able to capture the emotions needed for the storyline.

The couple that was featured in the video, King and Hinrichs, now appears onstage, and the struggle that was depicted towards the end of the video is now more visually stimulating. The expressiveness that the film tried to capture is better understood on stage. After Ms. King leaves, Mr. Hinrichs is left all alone and he began to dance passionately and expressively, using a lot contractions and pliés as he is dancing through his pain. He’d jump high and turn, a tour en l’air, and immediately jump to the floor into a push up position, crawl out from that and tour en l’air again, all while playing the angsty adolescent boy trying to find love. He shakes a lot as if he was going insane from a broken heart, and he tries to compose himself but he can’t. He collapses; giving up under one of the platforms, and the moody cool jazz score is an appropriate ending to the first part of the evening. The second act opens with Ms. King dancing to slow lyrical number, almost pensive about what had happened in the previous act.  The movement quality is so strong with Ms. King that she is quite able to express the pain her character is going through. In the end they found their way back together dancing a beautiful pas de deux of him mimicking her every move, as if to say we’ve got this together.

The most disconnected part of the evening was when the dancers would leave the stage and do not return at all as the music finished. This happened more than once and it was disappointing that the dancers never really got to give their own punctuation at the end of each movement. These moments however were to give each musician time to do their own thing and give the improvisatory nature of the music its own autonomy. These jazz solos, although quite impressive, felt vacant because the dancing suddenly stops and the stage is free from movement. It felt as if there were two shows going on or the story of the song had yet to be completed. But when the dancers were on stage the juxtaposition of these two mediums worked really well together. The jazz music gave each movement a breath of happiness when sometimes contemporary movement can feel overly emotional and pained, although it didn’t seem like this was Ms. Wilkins’ approach. This show was a success because it brought two mediums together not often seen, and did an exceptional job. People will be clapping their hands with the dancers, and stomping their feet to the amazing music presented. Hopefully the show can add a few more dancers and then this already amazing production can be polished and made even better for people all across America.

Diving a little deeper … In the Red and Brown Water at Trustus Theatre: A Preview by Rosalind Graverson

 

When Columbia starts trusting the arts programs and supporting them more, the organizations can start taking more risks and exploring. Trustus Theatre has reached a point where they can start sharing unique theatre experiences with their audiences. That's exactly what their production of In the Red and Brown Water is.

First in The Brother/Sister Plays trilogy, written by Tarell Alvin McCraney, the series blends Yoruba mythology with a modern day story set in the Louisiana projects. The trilogy is described as a choreopoem, combining poetry, movement, music, and song. The language throughout the show is beautifully lyrical, but it's not what you expect to hear from the average citizen of Louisiana.  Along with the poetry, the actors are also called to say their stage directions, reminiscent of Shakespeare's asides.

The cast features some familiar faces: Avery Bateman, Kendrick Marion, Katrina Blanding, Kevin Bush, Annette Dees Grevious, and Jabar Hankins; and some new ones as well: Bakari Lebby, LaTrell Brennan, Felicia Meyers, and Leroy Kelly.

Not only does the audience get to experience something new, but the production team and cast do as well. We asked Avery Bateman to share some of her experiences getting to know her character, Oya, and Kendrick Marion to explain some of the differences in the rehearsal process between this production and a more typical play or musical.

Avery: “Oya is a completely different character in comparison to the others I've portrayed throughout the years. She delves deep into a part of my spirit that I have not returned to in a while. She is both regal and vulnerable. Her regal persona is that of her Orisha/Goddess name. "Oya" known as "The Mother of Nine" is the orisha or storms, wind, change, magic, death and the cemetery, and the guardian between worlds. She is the bringer of death and new life (hope). Oya's orisha persona has every right to stand high and tall with pride. However, her vulnerable persona, her humane side is a type of soul that is complex and broken. Oya's broken spirit gives her a complexity that I as an actress must sit and think about every now and then so that I give her the correct amount of balance when on stage. I must say that I am extremely blessed to not have experienced all that "Oya the human" has experienced in my youth. Everything that she loves deeply is taken from her against her will. I've not had the privilege of portraying a person of this definition in all my years of theatre. I've only ever portrayed the comic-relief character or the misunderstood villian or the obliviously happy sunshine. All of them had great dimension but none of them reached into my chest and broke my heart as much as Oya. I love this character; she has helped me understand love and life in a way I don't think I would have ever understood fully if not for this show.”

Kendrick: “This production differs from your normal straight play because there are so many other elements and textures involved with this piece. The text itself reads like poetry, and McCraney challenges the actors to portray it as such, while still making it feel natural and conversational. Both the music (most of which we arranged) and the stylized movement help to tell the story in an almost ethereal way. This has been an incredibly challenging piece, but an amazing experience, and I cannot wait for Columbia to take the journey to San Pere, Louisiana with us!”

Also, in the gallery at Trustus, Ernest Lee , The Chicken Man, will have his art showing and for sale. Wednesday, February 4th at 7:30, he will have a meet and greet and give a talk, "The Life and Art of Ernest Lee, The 'Chicken Man.'"

Be sure to get your tickets for In The Red and Brown Water, opening Friday, January 23rd and running through February 7th.

Movie Review: DJ Spooky's "Rebirth of a Nation," Showing Monday, Jan. 19 at 7pm at The Nick

Watching the Birth of a Nation (1915) is a chore.

Based on the novel The Clansman by Thomas Dixon, Jr. and directed by D.W. Griffith, the film is an dramatic and epic silent film that tells the tale of two prominent families, one from the North and one from the South. Proceeding from antebellum unity, both political and between the two families, and the horrors of the Civil War in Part I, it continues into the violent, untenable Reconstruction period which ends the familial and political reconciliation thanks to the Ku Klux Klan. It’s pretty painfully racist throughout, too.

Renowned for its cinematic innovations as well as for its powerful cultural impact upon its initial release, viewers usually have to grit their teeth to get through its nearly 200 minute runtime today. The power the film had as the first major full-length picture and the thrilling cinematic storytelling innovations it introduced are mostly lost on us, unless we’re looking for them, and the rampant historical inaccuracies, downright creepy use of blackface (used most often when white female characters are also in the scene), and outrageously blunt racism are shocking and alienating to audiences used to the likes of Selma (2014) and 12 Years a Slave (2013).

This disconnect is partly why, as DJ Spooky (née Paul Miller) insists, it is so important that we see and understand the film today. While there have many spirited debates about what it’s actual box office haul was, Birth of a Nation was easily the most popular film of its time, even as it faced boycotts (mostly north of the Mason-Dixon line) from the NAACP. It was the first film screened at the White House, where President Wilson purportedly said that it was like “writing history with lightning. And my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.” It is often credited with the resurgence of the Klan in the 1920s, and was used as a recruitment tool for the white supremacist group up until the 1960s.

What’s more, Birth of a Nation serves as one of the most powerful examples of the ways moving images can play an outsized, almost coercive role in how our society understands the world around us. DJ Spooky actually says that he was inspired to make the remix by watching 24 hour news coverage of the Iraq War and Hurricane Katrina, noting the present-day way narratives of race and power are constructed by the stories told through moving images. This is his main entry point into his “remix,” Rebirth of a Nation (2007). Originally conceived and commissioned as a live performance by a number of arts festivals, including Spoleto USA, Miller’s goal was to apply the DJ turntable principles to film, cutting, splicing, and upending the film to different ends than the ones intended by its creator. More importantly, he also gave it a new, more dissonant score that fits modern sensibilities around the film much better. Eventually, these performances gave way to a full-length film, with the score performed by the Kronos Quartet in addition to Spooky himself.

Perhaps somewhat problematically, this remixed version of Birth of a Nation makes the whole experience easier to stomach. Cut almost in half to 100 minutes, a feat achieved partly through editing (much of Part I appears cut out) and partly through speeding up key sequences, the film rides its hypnotic score, which alternates between ghostly, oscillating synth lines, understated string parts, and the occasional high lonesome wail of harmonica, through its convoluted narrative with relative ease. While hardly spliced and diced to the extent that the term “remix” suggests, there are some nice use of lines and shapes as well as highlights, lens filters, and shifts in focus, which work as a kind of hip close-reading of the film as well. Those changes as well as the occasionally clunky voiceover allow audiences both a stronger and more comfortable sense of disconnect from the visceral experience of the film--as well as a means to critique and deconstruct some of the ways in which Griffith is manipulating us.

That being said, these interventions can often feel half-baked, particularly when long stretches go by with a mere lens filter shift or when scenes pregnant with meaning, like the two infamous near-rape scenes which gives the films its bizarre sexual charge, are left uncommented upon. The film shines brightest, actually, in its opening minutes when it connects the film’s politics of racism, fear, and extreme prejudice with heartbreaking news footage from the 21^st century and (somewhat bluntly) overlays DJ Spooky’s thesis via voiceover. There are also key interventions in the name of historical accuracy, like during parts of the Reconstruction section, or times when the voiceover inserts an important cultural mythos being formed, like when the “superhero” white man fights off multitudes of free black men in the barn. In a film so fraught with meaning and multiple layers of meaning, it would have nice to see more of them though.

All in all, it’s difficult not to recommend this film, particularly if you’ve never seen the source material. It retains much of what’s important (and troubling) about the original while allowing an easier, quicker, and more critically distant position that makes the entire process ever-so-slightly less painful. And it’s important to understand this film if you want to understand the country's history, present, and future. -Kyle Petersen

Rebirth of a Nation is screening at The Nickelodeon Theatre on Monday, January 19^th at 7pm. For more information or to purchase tickets go here.