Archive for December, 2009 « Columbia City Paper

Archive for December, 2009

Higher education officials push action plan, funding

Ken Wingate

By Andy Brack

For South Carolina to get out of the cellar on several generational problems – low education levels, poverty, high unemployment and more – its leaders need to make a sustained commitment to improving higher education dramatically, two state higher education leaders say.

“You’re really rolling the ball uphill if you have to convince the public about the value of higher education,” said Columbia lawyer Ken Wingate, chair of the state Commission on Higher Education.

Wingate and the CHE’s executive director, Dr. Garrison Walter, have been speaking to civic clubs and the media across the state to highlight an “action plan” that seeks to push South Carolina forward economically.  (See the plan online:  http://www.che.sc.gov/HigherEd_ActionPlan.htm)

Walter said the Palmetto State needs to focus more on the growing knowledge economy, which means an increased emphasis on higher education.  If more South Carolinians have college degrees, they’ll earn more money.

“We have a lack of public priority focus and a lack of public focus on higher education.” he said.  “Our state is far behind economically and we’re not catching up.”

For example, per capita income and the state’s rank in the number of people with bachelor’s degrees is about the same in 2006 as it was in 1990.  Additionally, South Carolina’s public colleges and universities rank 15th out of 16 Southern states in the per student average in money that comes from state sources.  In the current state budget, funding is down $203 million from two years earlier to $555 million.

Wingate said CHE has a strategy to make higher education a public priority for South Carolina.  Three goals include:

·         Raise education levels. About 22 percent of S.C. adults have at least a bachelor’s degree.  The goal is to have 30 percent by 2030 – a so-called 30-by-30 goal.

·         Increase research and innovation. By creating new pathways to learning and technology, the state will create more of a culture of discovery, which should increase personal income.

·         Improve workforce training and educational services. Such a goal would align educational programs with important state clusters and connect adults with higher education in more flexible ways.

Wingate said several of the priority recommendations would cost little or no money.  Examples:  Enacting “regulatory relief” to allow colleges and universities to cut red tape from hiring, procurement and facility enhancement; strengthening ties between technical colleges and universities; strengthening services to give more value; and creating a cost reduction committee to promote and share best practices among institutions.

Other measures would cost more, particularly increasing state funding and borrowing through the state’s bonding power.  Other ideas:  compulsory high school attendance through age 18; improving library funding; better marketing of college opportunities; and predictable capital funding streams.

At this point, it’s unclear how much an increased financial commitment to higher education will cost, Walter said.   The Commission is working with college presidents to develop a funding plan.

But he said it likely will have two characteristics:  restoring past budget cuts to increase higher education’s share of state funding and phasing in restorations due to the state’s economic situation.

“We appreciate that the state has many needs and that many have suffered as a result of the current recession,” Walter said.  “On the other hand, if the state doesn’t invest in higher education soon, it will fall further behind the rest of the nation and be ever more vulnerable to economic downturns.”

Wingate said that instead of declining state financial support, colleges and universities “have got to find the political mettle to make higher education not only an add-on to the state budget but the key to economic prosperity,” Wingate said.

If higher education can become a state priority, studies show individuals will earn twice as much over their lifetimes, the state will add billions to its gross state product and South Carolina will generate almost 45,000 permanent jobs, Wingate added.

“If people don’t believe education, including higher education, is important, we can’t possibly make the progress we need.”

So what will it be, Legislature?  More of the same on the bottom or a cupful of courage to take a new path that invests in South Carolina’s people?  The choice is obvious.  Now it’s time to get to work.

Andy Brack, publisher of Statehouse Report, can be reached at: brack@statehousereport.com.

Book Review: Calling Out Liberty

Calling Out Liberty: The Stono Slave Rebellion and the Universal Struggle for Human Rights by Jack Shuler, University of Mississippi Press. 217 pages. $50.00.

Review by Will Moredock

Most of the important ideas spawned on South Carolina soil have been discredited by history: nullification of federal laws, as espoused by John C. Calhoun; romanticism of plantation culture, created by novelist William Gilmore Simms; celebration of the “Lost Cause,” first proclaimed by Charleston clergyman John L. Girardeau.

Yet, another idea, one which is coming to shape the course of national and international relations, one which may provide a framework for future world order, had an early and forceful shout out right here in the Lowcountry. That, at least, is the argument of of Denison University scholar and Orangeburg native Jack Shuler.

On September 9, 1739, a group of slaves broke into a storehouse 15 miles south of Charleston, killing two storekeepers and arming themselves with guns and powder. This was the opening act of the Stono Rebellion, a brief and violent uprising that left 23 whites and some several dozen slaves dead. The revolt was put down in less than 24 hours and has been largely forgotten in popular history and memory. Yet it has reverberated for nearly three centuries through the subconscious mind of the South, taking the form of racial fears, racist laws, and the politics of regional extremism.

With some evidence, Shuler makes the argument that the Stono rebels – recent arrivals from Portugese West Africa – were Catholic converts with an understanding of the Portugese language. As such, they would have been able to communicate with Spanish agents from Florida, who infiltrated the wilderness plantations on the periphery of the colony, mingled with the slaves and promised freedom to all who could escape their bonds and flee to St. Augustine. He also argues that communication among slaves was more sophisticated than most scholars have assumed, including the use of drums, flags, shouts and perhaps written messages.  White accounts of the rebellion do indicate that as the Africans moved across the countryside, killing, plundering and recruiting more participants, and later as they stood and fought a hopeless battle against white militia, they used flags and battle formations. What is not as easy to accept is that they were “calling out liberty” as they marched along.

The idea of liberty – as in “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” as in “Liberty! Equality! Fraternity!” — was part of an 18th century dialog, to be sure, but it was a dialog of intellectuals, aristocrats and bourgeoisie.  Shuler expounds at length on the evolution of Enlightenment thinking through the 17th and 18th centuries, including the writings of John Locke, who also created the founding constitution for the Carolina colony.

There is no question that the slaves of St. Paul’s Parish wished to escape their bondage, to flee the rice plantations and make their way south. There is no question that they were enraged at their white tormentors and wreaked a bloody vengeance on them. But Shuler argues that they were imbued  with some 18th century bourgeois notion of liberty and that the rebels were deliberately striking at the social and economic infrastructure of the colony. His evidence is sketchy and circumstantial, to say the least.

It is much easier to believe that the Stono slaves did what slaves have done from the beginning of history – took any opportunity to rise up against their masters and flee toward the light of freedom. The Roman slaves who revolted with Spartacus in 71 B.C. certainly had not heard of John Locke or any other modern political thinkers. But they possessed the one requisite for a slave uprising – human nature in the face of unyielding oppression.

Shuler is much more affective in arguing that the Stono Rebellion fed the rising 18th century conversation about political rights and personal freedom. He writes: “Rebellions were truly human reactions to capture and enslavement, but such actions take on added significance in America because they were the first steps n the development of the abolition movement – the first international human rights campaign.” Of course, at the same time the Revolutionary spirit was rising in this country, terrified whites were passing ever more repressive laws to control their slaves.

There are a number of incidents cited in Shuler’s book that the reader can see reflected in modern attitudes and behaviors. The South Carolina Gazette, the colony’s only newspaper in 1739, felt that its first responsibility was to protect the image of the colony, and so blacked out the story of the rebellion from its pages altogether. After the rebellion, colonial leaders insisted that the only reason their slaves had revolted was that they had been provoked by Spanish agents. Their argument anticipated by more than two centuries those white southern leaders who insisted that racial strife in their fiefdoms was the result of “outside agitators.”

Fear of the Future

By Will Moredock

Fundamentalism began as reaction to modernism

Much has been written this year in observance of the birth of Charles Darwin in 1809 and the publication of his monumental work, On the Origin of Species, in 1859. Another important date – one which has gone largely unnoticed, yet which is also important in its perverse way to the ideas of our modern world – is 1909, the year in which a couple of oil tycoons met and hired theologian A.C. Dixon to produce a series of books called The Fundamentals.

Conceived as a reaction to Darwin and the other voices of modernism, The Fundamentals were a collection of 90 essays by prominent American and British clerics, compiled into 12 volumes and published between 1910 and 1915. They became the intellectual basis of modern fundamentalism.

For the past three decades the political and cultural movement collectively known as the Christian right has been powered in large part by the ideas of fundamentalism. Adherents of these principles generally will tell you that they are following ancient doctrine; in truth, much of their ideology – including the Rapture and Second Coming – is actually quite recent.

“(Fundamentalism) is the intellectual underpinning of a lot of modern social and political ideas,” according to Elijah Siegler, assistant professor of religion at the College of Charleston. “George W. Bush was the high-water mark of fundamentalism in American society.”

The fundamentalist movement has had a long and twisting path since it was launched a century ago.

Lyman and Milton Stewart were oil magnates and founders of the Union Oil Co., who took it  upon themselves to finance seminaries, missionary work and the publication of Bible tracts and Christian books. Lyman Stewart’s most ambitious project was the publication of The Fundamentals, which encapsulated a lot of free-floating ideas that had been inhabiting the fringe American theology for generations.

Fundamentalism was riding high in the decade after publication of its manifesto. It fueled the Red Scare of the 1920s, made war on Catholics and immigrants, imposed Prohibition on the nation. But Prohibition was a disaster, and the Scopes “Monkey Trial” was a deep embarrassment to the movement. Fundamentalism withdrew from the mainstream, becoming politically and culturally marginal until it reemerged a half-century later as the Christian right.

A chief characteristic of fundamentalism is its obsession with the End Times and Second Coming. Those cryptic passages from Revelation, which mainstream Christians have scratched their heads over and generally placed on the shelf with mysticism and witchcraft, became the centerpiece of fundamentalist ideology. For the  fundamentalist, the end of the world is imminent and nothing else matters.

One consequence of this peculiar world view, Siegler said, is that most fundamentalists disregard environmental warnings and eschew almost all forms of social and political reform. The important thing for the fundamentalist is to get right with god and prepare to be whooshed up in the Rapture. The world and the people in it are not worth saving.

You can understand how this theology would have a deep appeal to political and economic conservatives. In fact, Siegler suggests that the nexus of big business and religion at the launch of the fundamentalist movement is no accident. It has been repeated a number of times in the past century, including in the rise of the Christian right and the emergence of a secretive sect of wealthy and powerful Christian politicians who operate out of a house on C Street in Washington, D.C. In his book, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, Jeff Sharlet describes how this group worked against FDR’s New Deal in the 1930s and supported rightwing dictatorships around the world during the Cold War.

In American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America, Chris Hedges describes how the Republican Party joined forces with Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and other fundamentalist leaders in the 1970s in a bold grab to put traditional Republicans in control of Washington, and put fundamentalist Christians in control of American culture.

Their scheme almost worked. George W. Bush served two terms as president (whether he was elected is still debated) and GOP leaders spoke just a few years ago of a permanent Republican majority in the Congress. A number of factors contributed to the fact that Democrats now hold the White House and the Congress – not least of which was the fact the the fundamentalists overplayed their hand after the 2004 election and scared a lot of moderates away.

Fundamentalism is in eclipse as a political force today, but it is still alive and well. And like a cancer, it can always return. It is an authoritarian ideology, an intrinsic and intractable enemy of peace and freedom. All freedom-loving people should know its signs and be wary of its dangers.

See Will Moredock’s blog at www.charlestoncitypaper.com/blogs/thegoodfight.

Art Bar’s The Nightmare After Christmas

December 26th

Prognosis
No Wasted Motion
DJ Evelfaery
DJ D
Lets be honest, nothing says the Christmas season like industrial (someone was telling me the other day that all “industrial” bands that followed the demise of Industrial Records were technically “post-industrial” bands…please give me a fucking break)  I mean after all that cheery happy crap with Santa Claus and your family it’s good to have a break.  This show provides that outlet.  The headliner Prognosis is a quality synth industrial band out of the ATL.  Think Covenant, Funker Vogt or even old FLA or Haujobb.  Plus, there are going to be some DJs so there is bound to be a darker dance party emerging.  And that is what makes this a more fun show to go to than if it was a metal show on the 26th.  It’s dark but still danceable as opposed to just something you can bang your head to.  It’s not like industrial bands roll into Cola on a weekly basis so please get out there and support the acts from this region.  Sadly, the last industrial show in Cola that jumps to mind for me was Sister Machine Gun and that was a while ago (I am sure I am missing some other shows but no one’s perfect).
-Norbet Sykes

Images of Christmas

By Todd Morehead
We’ve gotten comments –some good, some not so good—about our holiday themed cover art over the years. Last issue we ran a photo of Jesus squaring off nose-to-nose with Santa to tie into the theme of our liberal/conservative gift list and to illustrate the dichotomy of the holiday itself. Of those readers to whom I’ve spoken, none seemed more affected than a young boy at the West Metro Parade of Lights in West Columbia. He actually had Christmas issues from the last two years stuffed into his jacket pockets. City Paper, it seemed, had driven the little guy to a crossroads.
I was on my third doughnut when I saw him standing nearby and staring down at a crumpled copy of the December 3 edition. The boy, slight for his age, had a shock of thin brown hair that had been mussed, I assumed, by the Spider Man toboggan he had tucked under his arm. His large brown eyes seemed to be transfixed on the cover image and his lips worked silently while he tried to make out the words.
“Hey, little fella,” I said walking up to him. “Where’d you find that?”
Without looking up, he cocked a mittened thumb over his shoulder to the dumpster behind Zesto. I noticed, then, that he also had the December 3, 2008 edition rolled up and hanging out of his jacket pocket. Even partially hidden, I recognized the cover illustration of a brutalized Santa Claus hanging from a cross.
“Wow, kid, you must be a fan.”
“Not really. My dad says these guys hate Jesus.” He wiped his nose on his jacket sleeve. “Santa Claus, too.”
“Actually, I think that image was supposed to represent the ailing American construct of Christmas in this bleak economic landscape; an ode to modern capitalism, if you will.”
He shrugged. I noticed that he had a small piece of notebook paper in his other mitten and when I squinted at it I made out a few items listed in green crayon. It was his Christmas list! He had written in big red letters that he hoped Santa visited him this year, because he didn’t come last year.
Before I could comment on the list, a youth group from a local Pentecostal church began to sing carols from the bed of a pickup truck. One caroler started to toss candy canes toward us, but I waved her away. The boy ignored the float, too. I followed his gaze to a small terrier that was wagging his whole back end and tugging playfully on a bright red leash, while a little girl laughed gaily and fed it bits from her cookie. The little boy’s eyes lingered on the dog and an expression of familiarity and recent grief seemed to pass across his face. He pulled out the bloodied image of Santa begging for death from the cover of City Paper and stared at it for a long moment.
“Mister?” he asked finally, tugging on my pant leg. “Do you think Santa is in heaven with my dog Patches?”
“Nah. Dogs don’t go to heaven, silly.”
I got down on one knee, took the toboggan from under his arm and pulled it onto his head to keep his ears warm.
“Listen,” I said, “You know how your grandma has been asleep in the hospital for a few months with the beeping machines and tubes? Santa’s kind of like that right now.”
“Oh.” The boy’s voice cracked and his bottom lip began to tremble. He looked away toward the parade to gather himself. After a moment, he looked up and his eyes were filled with tears.
“I only did one bad thing this year, mister, I swear! I – I thought maybe it would make Santa mad at me again.” The boy’s eyes widened and he seemed to physically stoop under the weight of some dawning, unnamed horror. “Do… do you think because of me?” He brought a mitten up to his mouth and gaped at the mutilated image of Santa. “Did I do this to Santa?”
“Come on, kid.” I took a bite of doughnut and stared out at the street. “Don’t beat yourself up over it.”
A passing fire engine blared its horn and I thought I heard the Shriner mini cars buzzing in the distance. I needed another nip from the flask in the porta john to properly enjoy them.
“You should, uh, run along now, kid. And find yourself a good spot. You don’t want to miss Andre Bauer do you? I hear they’re gonna have him propped up in the back of a convertible.”
“Whoopee,” he said flatly.
He hung his head, turned without a word, took a few steps and stopped with his back to me. Silhouetted against the glow of twinkling lights, he looked like a North Pole elf who’d been around the block one too many times. He seemed to gather himself to turn and ask another question but it never came. After a moment he let the Christmas list fall from his hand. It fluttered briefly on the curb amid the glitter and confetti and then it dropped silently between the grates of a sewer drain. Once it had drifted out of sight, the boy walked away without looking back at the parade.
I watched him make his way past the brightly lit snowflakes and candy canes hanging from the telephone poles, the smell of hot cocoa wafting on the breeze. He kicked a trash can near the corner, then shuffled past laughing families lining the sidewalk, the copy of City Paper still clutched tightly in his little fist.
I sighed at the image and smiled. Man, I love Christmas.

Images of Christmas By Todd MoreheadWe’ve gotten comments –some good, some not so good—about our holiday themed cover art over the years. Last issue we ran a photo of Jesus squaring off nose-to-nose with Santa to tie into the theme of our liberal/conservative gift list and to illustrate the dichotomy of the holiday itself. Of those readers to whom I’ve spoken, none seemed more affected than a young boy at the West Metro Parade of Lights in West Columbia. He actually had Christmas issues from the last two years stuffed into his jacket pockets. City Paper, it seemed, had driven the little guy to a crossroads.I was on my third doughnut when I saw him standing nearby and staring down at a crumpled copy of the December 3 edition. The boy, slight for his age, had a shock of thin brown hair that had been mussed, I assumed, by the Spider Man toboggan he had tucked under his arm. His large brown eyes seemed to be transfixed on the cover image and his lips worked silently while he tried to make out the words. “Hey, little fella,” I said walking up to him. “Where’d you find that?” Without looking up, he cocked a mittened thumb over his shoulder to the dumpster behind Zesto. I noticed, then, that he also had the December 3, 2008 edition rolled up and hanging out of his jacket pocket. Even partially hidden, I recognized the cover illustration of a brutalized Santa Claus hanging from a cross.“Wow, kid, you must be a fan.”“Not really. My dad says these guys hate Jesus.” He wiped his nose on his jacket sleeve. “Santa Claus, too.” “Actually, I think that image was supposed to represent the ailing American construct of Christmas in this bleak economic landscape; an ode to modern capitalism, if you will.”He shrugged. I noticed that he had a small piece of notebook paper in his other mitten and when I squinted at it I made out a few items listed in green crayon. It was his Christmas list! He had written in big red letters that he hoped Santa visited him this year, because he didn’t come last year.Before I could comment on the list, a youth group from a local Pentecostal church began to sing carols from the bed of a pickup truck. One caroler started to toss candy canes toward us, but I waved her away. The boy ignored the float, too. I followed his gaze to a small terrier that was wagging his whole back end and tugging playfully on a bright red leash, while a little girl laughed gaily and fed it bits from her cookie. The little boy’s eyes lingered on the dog and an expression of familiarity and recent grief seemed to pass across his face. He pulled out the bloodied image of Santa begging for death from the cover of City Paper and stared at it for a long moment.“Mister?” he asked finally, tugging on my pant leg. “Do you think Santa is in heaven with my dog Patches?”“Nah. Dogs don’t go to heaven, silly.”I got down on one knee, took the toboggan from under his arm and pulled it onto his head to keep his ears warm. “Listen,” I said, “You know how your grandma has been asleep in the hospital for a few months with the beeping machines and tubes? Santa’s kind of like that right now.”“Oh.” The boy’s voice cracked and his bottom lip began to tremble. He looked away toward the parade to gather himself. After a moment, he looked up and his eyes were filled with tears.“I only did one bad thing this year, mister, I swear! I – I thought maybe it would make Santa mad at me again.” The boy’s eyes widened and he seemed to physically stoop under the weight of some dawning, unnamed horror. “Do… do you think because of me?” He brought a mitten up to his mouth and gaped at the mutilated image of Santa. “Did I do this to Santa?”“Come on, kid.” I took a bite of doughnut and stared out at the street. “Don’t beat yourself up over it.”A passing fire engine blared its horn and I thought I heard the Shriner mini cars buzzing in the distance. I needed another nip from the flask in the porta john to properly enjoy them.“You should, uh, run along now, kid. And find yourself a good spot. You don’t want to miss Andre Bauer do you? I hear they’re gonna have him propped up in the back of a convertible.” “Whoopee,” he said flatly.  He hung his head, turned without a word, took a few steps and stopped with his back to me. Silhouetted against the glow of twinkling lights, he looked like a North Pole elf who’d been around the block one too many times. He seemed to gather himself to turn and ask another question but it never came. After a moment he let the Christmas list fall from his hand. It fluttered briefly on the curb amid the glitter and confetti and then it dropped silently between the grates of a sewer drain. Once it had drifted out of sight, the boy walked away without looking back at the parade. I watched him make his way past the brightly lit snowflakes and candy canes hanging from the telephone poles, the smell of hot cocoa wafting on the breeze. He kicked a trash can near the corner, then shuffled past laughing families lining the sidewalk, the copy of City Paper still clutched tightly in his little fist. I sighed at the image and smiled. Man, I love Christmas.

The Year of the Radical Right

James Ellroy should be required reading for all of us, including the radical right.

By Baynard Woods

Radical Conservatives controlled the country for most of this decade. But last year saw the birth of the Conservative counterculture. Obama’s election has allowed racists, insurance companies, polluters, Bible Beaters, anti-intellectuals, End Timers, Conspiracy theorists, Birchers, Birthers, Beck, Nativists, red state Red baiters, lobbyists, Dobbsists and disgruntled Baby Boomers afraid that they aren’t the center of the world anymore, to come together and present themselves as anti-fascist, anti-communist, and anti-elitist patriots, naming their movement after the Boston Tea Party. Right-wingers hated Clinton, Carter and Johnson pretty good—but they were all Southern at least. The Right has not known such countercultural fury since the election of John Kennedy in 1960, when the paranoid Bircher/Klan counterculture was equally, or more, important than the leftist counterculture that was developing. Countercultures are always represented as much by style as by substance. The historian Richard Hofstadter detailed this style in his book The Paranoid Style in American Politics, which came out in 1964. That paranoid style is alive again—and in many ways it models itself on that previous countercultural moment.

This year was the perfect time then for the release of Blood’s a Rover the final volume of the trilogy that may well be the great work of fiction about the right-wing counterculture, James Ellroy’s Underworld USA.

With this dark and daunting book, Ellroy, a crime writer known for Black Dahlia and L.A. Confidential, completes his strange, disturbing and ultimately compelling picture of American politics as crime. The trilogy begins with American Tabloid just before the election of John Kennedy and leads to his assassination—an event arranged by two of the book’s main characters. Ellroy’s timing was perfect. American Tabloid may have chronicled the early sixties but it came out in 1995, just as the radical right was rising again as an anti-Clinton insurgency. The Cold Six Thousand, which came out in 2001, followed many of the same characters as they helped instigate and orchestrate the escalation in Viet Nam, the drug trade, and the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy.

These books are about the heroes of the tea-bag movement, the small-time and often conflicted operatives working with some loose government sanction. It is hard to believe how insightful Ellroy was. Ellroy’s heroes help us understand the part of the country that it is most important for us to understand—our worst part. The heroes of Ellroy’s books are the torturers at Abu Ghraib. They are the bumbling CIA operatives found guilty of kidnapping in Italy, and the Blackwater employees who went on “snatch and grab” missions with them.

The New Radical Right might try to distance itself from Bush, but Cheney and Rumsfeld remain its patron saints, with their brash, defiant, almost rock n’ roll style. Joe Wilson was just Rumsfeld on the other end of the podium. The Boston Tea Party was not a demonstration—it was an act of destruction, of radical subversion. The tea party was intended to incite revolution. By using this name, DeMint and his cohort admit that their purpose is to subvert the government of the United States. This is where DeMint gets some of his radical chic. You can almost hear him with his buddies making fun of how square his country cousin Lindsey is.

Sanford’s trip to Argentina was the big story this year, but perhaps it should have been DeMint’s trip to Honduras. It shows that DeMint has gone full-retro, embracing Right Wing Latin American coups in open defiance of the U.S. policy. Oh, how it brings back memories. It almost makes one giddy. This was the year, remember, when DeMint and G. Gordon Liddy, Nixon’s Watergate man, came together to say that the president was a Nazi.

As it happens, Liddy bears a striking resemblance to James Ellroy. If I were inclined to give Wilson and DeMint a gift, I would definitely buy them Ellroy’s Blood’s a Rover. And I would recommend it to the rest of the country, so we know what we’re talking about when we’re talking about tea-baggers.

Holiday Toons: RedMeat/Derf/Hots/Stripwax


What You Own When ‘Everything Is Rent’

Rent at Trustus: Kevin Bush (Mark), Jason Stokes (Roger)

Rent at Trustus: Kevin Bush (Mark), Jason Stokes (Roger)

By Garrett Kellerhals

Christmastime in New York City evokes images that range from sparkling seventy-foot trees to pricey department store windows.  The high rises are lit up and the hotel rooms are packed out as the crisp night skyline twinkles with the holidays, bringing hope and joy to everyone anticipating gifts and glad tidings. At least those are the scenes and scenarios found above Houston Street. South of Houston is where the mainstream has met its match in the counter-culture movement of modern-day Bohemia, complete with starving artists and young intellectuals awaiting their breakthrough.  This month, Trustus Theatre has brought the East Village’s own ‘Alphabet City avant-garde’ to Columbia in its presentation of the award winning musical monster, “Rent.”

The show –that could be described as something between a rock opera and an epic ode to the spirit of the 90s—tells the story of an eclectic group of roommates, lovers, neighbors, and friends all searching for a higher sense of community and expression amid growing distance and disease which threatens to tear them all apart.  Mark is the show’s narrator who, behind his video camera, introduces us to his collective band of characters who are all broke, beat down and cold on Christmas Eve.  Trustus company member Kevin Bush (“Bat Boy: The Musical,” Trustus; “Rocky Horror Show” Trustus) brings his seasoned acting skills and talent to Mark’s grounded narrator and stylish vocalist.  Fittingly, fellow company member Jason Stokes plays the role of Mark’s roommate and troubled songwriter, Roger.  Stokes (“The Full Monty,” Workshop; “Rocky Horror Show,” Trustus) displays an incredibly strong voice that demonstrates the pain and passion of these artists’ plight.  For the season filled with giving, these two do a fantastic job presenting the talent that they and the entire cast have to deliver with a lengthy passage of “people living with, living with, living with—not dying from disease.”

Among the several standouts of this fully dysfunctional family of individuals were a handful of singers that deserve special mention for their exquisite voices and powerful delivery.  Though new to the Trustus stage, Katie Leitner (“Guys and Dolls,” Town Theater) brought out the angst and anticipation of Mimi like a veteran of the main stage, adding a memorable sweetness to a character that could be easily be disliked otherwise.  The relationship of Maureen and Joanne is a bit of a rough and awkward mess, but the actresses who portray them do so with a steady hand for their craft.  Jocelyn Brannon (“Caroline, or Change,” Workshop) has one incredible voice and delivers an R&B diva’s attitude in each note of Joanne’s numbers.  Maureen might be the most complex of the girls on stage and her character is brilliantly lassoed by another Trustus company member, Robin Gottlieb (“Rocky Horror Show,” Trustus; “Elephant’s Graveyard,” Trustus).  Gottlieb’s representation of the girl who wants it all was spot on and leaves audiences both a little tickled and slightly tormented by how she gets what she wants.  Two singers who also require special mention for the exquisite treat of their highly trained voices are Linda Posey and Lindsey Brown.  Both hold degrees in Music Education and beautifully represent their respective institutions of Columbia College and the University of South Carolina.

A list of accolades for this amazing collection of singers and performers would not be complete without mentioning Terrence Henderson (“Fierce Love,” Trustus; “The Full Monty,” Workshop).  In his role as Tom Collins, he upholds the soul and charm of the band of brothers and sisters with a soothing voice that brings home the compassion and understanding necessary to the story.  Henderson plays another oft overlooked role required by such a huge performance, that of choreographer.  Thanks to his sight and skill for dance, the cast moves with an engaging energy that keeps audiences tuned into the rough and tumble journey through loss and fortune.

I would be remiss to write a review without mentioning the directorial contributions to such a grand display of lives and lessons.  Christopher Cockrell’s musical direction delivered the score from the rooftops with rhythm and style that perfectly complimented the strength of the singers who owned the show.  Trustus Theatre continues to delight Columbia audiences by placing such vision and talent in the hands of Dewey Scott-Wiley. She anchors “Rent’s” colossal ship of dreams and ideals and allows the cast to steer audiences towards Broadway’s bright lights with their masterful voices and refined talent.

RENT will continue its runs next year, January 7 – 23 at Trustus Theatre.  The curtain rises at various times depending on the day of the show.  Tickets are $25.  Call 254.9732 for reservations.  To learn more about Trustus Theatre, visit  HYPERLINK “http://www.trustus.org” www.trustus.org

Vocal Booth

Snoop

Greetings to you!!!  Hope all is well out there.  Much has gone down since we last shot the breeze.  The Vocal Booth is proud to wish all of you out there some Happy Holidays (From Hanukkah, Christmas, New Years, and Of Course Kwanzaa).  As the holiday season is upon us, the music keeps on pumping.  Timbaland is back another album, OC and AG (Remember them?) of D.I.T.C. fame have released their first collabo album in the vein of Method Man and Redman….BANGER! Gucci Mane had to undergo his major label release behind bars, but the streets love it.   Rhianna has released her 4th album to little fanfare, but she gets brownie points for her extremely vivid and emotional writing, and as expected, Chris Brown has flopped.  His album is truly having a hard time making any type of connection with the people.  I must say that the people have spoken…Beat a woman, lose your female fans.  Women are the #1 consumers of everything.  Not a smart move. Let’s get it!!!!

REVIEW

Back just in time with a great last minute stocking stuffer, and fresh off the release of his critically-acclaimed, 10th studio album, Snoop Dogg has jumped back in the driver’s seat with his new album, Malice In Wonderland. Chopped filled with songs about women (Gangsta Love, Pimpin’ Ain’t EZ), his hometown and partying (I Wanna Rock, 1800), and love locked down (Special), Malice In Wonderland is the perfect addition for the ‘EastSide Rider’ in all of us.  Coming in 14 songs (with 2 interludes) deep and just under 50 minutes, Snoop Dogg has crafted a jewel.  From warm, simmering, and powerful G-Funk melodies reminiscent of Ice Cube’s Lethal Injection, DJ Quik’s Way 2 Fonky, and a sprinkle of E-40’s In A Major Way, the production quality is definitely a strong suit for ‘The Boss’.  If there is a drawback to Malice In Wonderland, it would be a little too many songs with weak guest appearances (Soulja Boy, Problem) and no presence of The DPGC  Collective (sans DJ EZ D*CK). Malice In Wonderland was an album created by Snoop Dogg as a testament to the prowess of his musical legacy and current stylistic influence.  This is also an album that celebrates the power of loyalty to one’s craft, crew, and core audience.  The beautifully crafted ‘Special’ featuring Brandy & Pharell is the perfect celebration to those who’ve stood by Calvin Broadus from day one and still to this day.  The Boss Lady, Mrs. Broadus,  is also a big influence on how this album was crafted and arranged together; Snoop is 10 toes down in love with this woman  By all means grab yourself a copy, grab a Swisher Sweet, and be sure not to forget your favorite poison of choice….this will ensure that you will rock.  GO SUPPORT REAL MUSIC!!!

EVENTS

Any artist, musician, band, record label, producer, manager, songwriter, DJ, B-Boy, and overall music lover; if you are looking for some exposure and support for your project…The Record Report (SC’s 1st & Only Live Radio Talk Show dedicated to EVERYTHING MUSIC!!!) is looking for some show guests.  Be sure to call 803.546.2319 or send in an email to…  HYPERLINK “mailto:therecordreport.com@gmail.com” therecordreport.com@gmail.com for more info.  Also be on the lookout for The Vocal Booth Year End Wrap-Up Issue coming sooner than you think.  More details on the way!!!

WORDS OF WISDOM

Thanks for all the love and support.  Have a safe, happy, and family filled holiday.  See you in the New Year!!!!  Be sure to stay sucker-free!!!

DJ KINGPIN-VILLIAN of VINYL    kingpinvillianofvinyl@gmail.com

Arts Notebook

ansel adams mt williamson

Local Arts Preview for 2010

By Judit Trunkos

Columbia’s galleries and artists are looking forward to next year. Columbia City Paper asked some of the most prominent galleries and artists to give us a sneak peak into the upcoming year’s art events and projects. Art lovers will be satisfied to hear that art in Columbia is thriving and next year’s exhibitions and shows will be better than ever.

Maryellyn Cannizzaro, owner of Art + Cayce, says her space “is dedicated to exhibiting art that often eludes a formal venue.” Andrew Norton Weber and Suzy Scarborough both exhibited at the venue last year and recently received an invitation from the Ministry of Culture in Ecuador to have a two-person show there from December 2009 through January 2010.

ART + CAYCE celebrates new and established artists whose work connects to the Midlands. Plans call for four to six openings each year featuring a gallery talk. Next year’s planned exhibitions will feature “Larry Racioppo: Photography of Architectural Ruins” in the spring 2010.

Brilliant Image

McMaster Gallery at the University of South Carolina exhibits both faculty and student works, but also artists who are not part of the USC family.

Starting Jan. 15 artist Jonathan Brilliant will create “a dynamic and engaging installation reflecting his interest in the effects of labor, performance, and materials applied to an exhibition space.  This exhibition is part of his cross country traveling series ‘Have Sticks Will Travel Tour’ where he will be visiting various galleries to build massive, suspended sculptures from coffee stirrer sticks,” says gallery director, Mana Hewitt.

HoFP Gallery offers a unique combination of regional and global work, from traditional southern landscapes to international modern paintings.  Alice Perritt is the owner of HoFP Gallery and a certified Professional Framer who brings over 20 years of experience in art and custom framing to HoFP Gallery.  Alice brings a style and creativity to her work that has garnered numerous accolades for her business.

“HoFP has had a full year,” Perritt says. “We just closed a show of paintings by Maya Eventov that was one of our top three most successful ever.”

Columbia Museum of Art brought amazing shows last year, including the famous Impressionism traveling exhibition “Turner to Cézanne: Masterpieces from the Davies Collection” and the ongoing “Ansel Adams: Masterworks” photography show. For the upcoming year, the museum promises artlovers “The Chemistry of Color: Contemporary African-American Artists,” starting Feb. 5. The show will feature approximately 70 paintings, sculptures and works on paper chronicling the accomplishments of African-American artists in the second half of the 20th Century. Among the artists included are Benny Andrews, Romare Bearden, Sam Gilliam, Barkley Hendricks, Jacob Lawrence, Howardena Pindell, Faith Ringgold, Betye Saar and Raymond Saunders.

From May 21-September 19 the museum will feature “Imperial Splendor: Renaissance Tapestries from Vienna.”

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