Columbia City Paper

YOUR WAR QUESTIONS ANSWERED 

A couple weeks ago, I mentioned how I keep a list of important things I
don’t understand (canine foot odor, Hillary Clinton’s appointment as
Secretary of State, etc.).
This week, I add to the list.
Why don’t people laugh-out-loud, or at least give a sarcastic eye-roll,
when they hear about U.S. troops overseas assisting elections? Too many
U.S. states and municipalities have dysfunctional voting systems for us
to be proudly tutoring anyone else.
Three months after the November 4, 2008 election, Minnesota STILL
hasn’t resolved its U.S. Senate election. Yet we have 140,000-or-so
U.S. troops in Iraq who just spent much of their January helping run
that country’s provincial elections.
The U.S. is like that sketchy guy who came up to me in Home Depot the
other day. After striking up a nervous conversation with me near in the
plumbing aisle, he pulled out a business card and invited me to a
seminar promising me financial independence.
I was polite, but during his pitch I kept thinking, “If your plan for
accumulating wealth is so friggin’ effective, then why are you at Home
Depot on a Tuesday afternoon sneakily handing your business card to
underemployed strangers with leaky toilets?” All I’m doing is saying.
With that out of the way, let’s get to the good news.

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Mike Krewjewski won’t be the only artist at 701 Whaley on February 14th,
but he’ll be the only one using the female body as a canvas. “My
imagery on the human body expresses the concept of the idea of
disposable art like grafitti on a wall. But, a flesh canvas makes it
much more fragile,” he told City Paper.

Feb. 14th from 7pm-11pm at 701 Whaley Street

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Bands to battle for shot at Metal Blade Records compilation

Scratch n Spin Record Shoppe, Recordstoreday.com, and New Brookland Tavern have teamed up with Metal Blade Records (Cannibal Corpse, As I Lay Dying) to search for the next great metal band. South Carolina-based unsigned metal bands can submit a CD/demo to Scratch n Spin to be considered for “West Hell MetalFest ‘09” to be held at New Brookland Tavern on Monday, February 23. This music showcase will be a battle of the bands, with the top five bands chosen by Scratch n Spin competing to advance to the national round of the “Next Great Metal Band Competition.” In addition to moving on to the next round, the winner of the showcase will be featured on an upcoming compilation presented by RecordStoreDay.com and Metal Blade.
Brian Slagel, president of Metal Blade (the guy who discovered Slayer), will decide on a national winner once all regional winners have been announced. The national champ will win a prize pack from Puma, Atticus, Krank Amps, AKT Enterprises and more.

Interested bands:
Submissions (including contact info and demo) will be taken through Feb. 17 at Scratch n Spin or can be mailed to: West Hell MetalFest 09, 513 12th St., West Columbia, SC  29169. Bands may also call 803-794-8888 or check out www.myspace.com/scratch_n_spin for more details. 

If you plan to go:
Monday, Feb. 23. Doors: 7 p.m. $2 cover. Door prizes and free beer (Courtesy of Scratch n Spin) for all fans over 21, while supplies last.

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Unknown Hinson Feb 21, 2009
New Brookland Tavern
The self proclaimed “king of country-western troubadours” is returning to Columbia on the 21st.  Unknown Hinson is probably more famous for providing the voice of Early Cuyler on Adult Swim’s Squidbillies than he is for being a musician, but that is by no means an indictment of his musicianship.  His shows consist of a great mix of rockabilly, blues and country-western songs interspersed with pontifications about women, rock-n-roll and “party liquor.”  If you’re looking to have some fun and listen to some good music, this is a can’t miss.

If Unknown Hinson isn’t your speed, one of New York City’s favorite jam bands also heads into Columbia on the 21st.  Self described as “progressive groove,” U-Melt will be entertaining fans with a set of original songs as well as several covers. Their music includes elements of traditional and progressive rock, jazz, salsa, and electronic dance music.  The band tours incessantly logging over 500 shows in the past three years, which has produced a very tight technical sound.  The big question here is how long will they play.  They are billing the show as “An Evening with U-Melt,” and it very well could be.  The band once played a seven hour overnight set at a music festival.  With a showtime of 9:30 and bars being forced to close at 2am on Saturdays, you could be looking at a four and a half hour set.

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Can anybody paint music? See for yourself. Tariq’s solo exhibition at City Art strives to—and many will say succeeds at—bringing the rhythm and fluidity of jazz to the canvas. 
“My work dances with emotion across the canvas,” Tariq says. “I create with bold colors, strong design and composition and lively characters.”
Tariq earned his undergraduate degree from Howard University, where he says the strong African American studies program inspired his art.  Before arriving in Columbia his works were primarily set in a jazz club scene, his paintings focused on the musicians and their instruments. Recently, however, he changed his focus to the jazz audience.

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