I trotted along to Piccolo’s Outdoor Juried art show in Marion Square, Downtown Charleston, expecting to find a preponderance of lame floral watercolors. Sure enough there were more than a bunch of those, but some pieces stood out amongst the dull stuff.

Ladson-based Dennis Clevenger has painted realistic collections of tools, nails and other workaday doodads for his “Steel Strings Across America” series. With a predominance of red and wooden plank backgrounds, there was nothing else like his barbed wire studies in the show. He even adds a messy frame-within-a-frame for “Ode to his Three-Legged Horse,” which features three horse shoes.

Clevenger doesn’t try to prettify his landscapes, either. “Birds of a Feather” depicts a cacophony of shaggy egrets with a dense, dark forest behind them. He captures the “wild” part of wildlife a lot better than most tarted-up tableaux.

Steven Jordan is a one-man franchise, selling cards, prints, books and “Piggolo Spoleto” T-shirts. His cheeky sense of humor is his best selling point. Puns are his thing – a “Draw Bridge” series shows a hand drawing a bridge – but he’s also an accomplished artist, mixing computer-manipulated photography with pastels and pencil strokes.

Scott Henderson drops little elements of color into his photographs, highlighting aspects with green or gold. He also uses clever low or canted angles to make familiar objects look more interesting (like a “French Huegenot” church still). Henderson also shares fellow artist John Duckworth’s passion for blurry landscapes (the “Painting with Light” series).

Also in the show were Tyler Ann Blanton, monkeying around with religious iconography via a pair of stained glass-style chimps; Jeannette Cooper Nicholson, who paints sumptuous orchids with oils; Peggy Howe, painting lively nude figures, and Sherry Browne with a boothful of unique collages.

Those were just some of the ones that caught my eye. Go see all the work for yourself – just give yourself plenty of time to do it. The exhibition will run until June 11.

The new Piccolo Spoleto photography show A Global Insight launched this weekend and the artists were present at the Addlestone Library, alternately running around, causing a fuss and looking bored.

While that sounds like the behavior of most artists I've come across, these were all aged 6-16. Through the Eyes of Kids exhibits black and white photos taken by them via the local “Viewpoint” project, and the results are a mixed bag with shots of shoes, grinning friends and street scenes.

On the advice of curator Gene Furchgott, I interviewed the kids. They weren’t impressed by my journalistic credentials, and they had as many questions for me as I did for them. What was I doing there? What was I writing? Why was I an American? (I didn’t say they were straightforward questions).

Kids with Cameras, the Calcutta, India-based initiative that stands alongside “Viewpoint” in the show, prides itself on training its photographers in lighting, composition, the development of point-of-view, editing and sequencing for narrative. The “Viewpoint” kids had other ideas. Although the project gives them basic lessons, they told me “we just pick whatever we like.”

“I just squeeze the button and that’s it,” said one lad from Charleston’s lower East Side. Furchgott admits that the kids have ideas of their own, taking shots from angles that wouldn’t even have crossed his mind.

Watching the Charleston kids bounce around the library, I was amazed that they could stay still long enough to take a good shot. But the proof is in the exhibition itself – frank, creative, vigorous camerawork, right there in black and white.

Candace Ivy is one of the calmest, most long-suffering artists I’ve ever known, and she’s had to be with her installation in Charleston's Old City Jail.

After sweating through construction of her Murmur Piccolo show in the un-air conditioned cells, she had to light her drawings and mylar panels. She found this task arduous because of the changing Charleston sunlight that other local artists live for, and it didn’t help that a show intended for the sooty darkness of night would only be open during the day.

With her installation all set up, including video projections and the occasional visiting pigeon, she had to contend with speaker trouble. Deep, rumbling sounds of trains and natural noises are supposed to fill the jail, but on her opening day only one set of speakers worked. She rushed her engineer all the way from Sumter to fix the problem, but that wasn’t the last of her worries.

Apparently a tour goes through the jail at night, and one of the guides had seen fit to install a red light in one of Candace’s cells. While most artists would be freaking out at the mere thought of someone tampering with their work, Candace agreed that the light added something to her roomful of wisteria.

It’s that kind of laid-back attitude that will make Candace fit right in around here.

I'm very sad to hear about the death of Rick Huff, a resident of Folly Beach, SC since 1991. He died in a house fire two days ago at the too-young age of 60.

Rick was a multi-talented musician with a great sense of humor. His two albums, Cheaper than Therapy and Come On Down, reflect his droll attitude and his love for "The Edge of America."

Most of all he was a nice guy, and I'm not just saying that to be polite. He's another reminder that it's not the things we leave behind that we'll be remembered for; it's the way we treat other people.

That being the case, Rick deserves to be remembered fondly for a long time to come.

Charleston is abuzz with its upcoming arts festival Spoleto USA at the moment. Commencing next week, the event seems modest compared to, say, the Edinburgh Festival, but it's still been keeping me busy thru May (and will continue to give me headaches until June 7th).

Along with the fast-approaching end to principal photography of the Revolutionary War movie I'm directing, that doesn't leave much time for my screenwriting site, which has been revamped and restructured, and is worth a look if you haven't checked it out recently.

It's packed with lots of juicy advice on writing for movies from yours truly, and it doesn't cost a penny. Who says the best things in life ain't free?

Well, the deadline's passed for this year's film fest.. and the work really starts for me.

The shorts will have to checked for technical glitches and screened for our panel of judges, then the festival itself has to be marketed... enough to keep me busy until June 4th.

Here's the full details:

3RD ANNUAL FOLLY FELDER FILM FESTIVAL
Part of Piccolo Spoleto

The third annual Folly Felder Film Festival will be held Sunday, June 4th and Monday, June 5th from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm, as a free event of The Piccolo Spoleto Festival, but this time will be in the Holiday Inn Charleston On The Beach ballroom accommodating a larger audience for the popular event. Coordinated by Media Director, Nick Smith of Actors’ Theatre of South Carolina’s Moving Images Group, the festival is a showcase for filmmakers as far away as Canada and as local as John’s Island.

The film shorts, as long as fifteen minutes, compete for The Golden Palmetto and a $500 prize. The unique awards are made by a Folly Beach artist every year. Last year, Sandy Marr was the creator of the awards and this year’s artist will be named at the festival. A reception follows the screenings with a cash bar.

The Festival was created by three film industry mavericks; Mr. Smith, director, writer, actor and novelist, who ran the Film School of Scotland for five years, Clarence Felder, veteran film, TV and Broadway star, and world renowned director of photography, Michael Givens, who just shot the Celestine Prophecies. They agreed South Carolina has the potential for a solid film industry, but there is a great need to encourage new filmmakers to develop their craft here.

“We have been shooting an independent feature here now for over a year for the Moving Images Group of our company, Actors’ Theatre. It’s a huge historical action-adventure project and we’ve incorporated the talents of over forty students” said Clarence Felder.

“These students work on all levels of production,” Nick Smith added. “We are very proud of what they are doing also on their own. They find scripts, and shoot them. They don’t just talk about it. It’s very exciting to have them compete in a national arena in this showcase.”

Sponsors of the event are Actors’ Theatre of South Carolina’s Moving Images Group, The Charleston Center for Cosmetic & Restorative Dentistry, Weight Watchers, The City of Folly Beach, and Charleston Magazine.

SUNDAY, JUNE 4TH & MONDAY, JUNE 5TH----7:00 PM TO 9:00 PM

HOLIDAY INN, CHARLESTON ON THE BEACH, Folly Beach
BALLROOM, #1 Center Street

FREE PICCOLO SPOLETO EVENT

For INFORMATION call: 588-2447 ext. 1
www.actorstheatreofsc.org

A quick roundup of stuff I'm involved in, or have been writing about recently:

My book signing at Ravenous Reader went well today. I was able to talk to a couple of amazing artists who popped in to say hello, RT Shepard & Bea Aaronson - worth the price of admission alone. My next event will be at Millennium Books & Music in mid-June...

Tonight's the closing night for Rosencrantz & Guildenstern, in which I play murderous scoundrel Claudius (typecast again!) - you can read the City Paper's review right here.

And while you're visiting the CP site, you can also catch a couple of my art & theatre reviews. There's some great stuff out there at the moment. Enjoy!

After a brief talk on screenwriting at the "Evening of Film-making" event on May 8th, a North Chas Cultural Arts Fest slot presented by the Carolina Film Alliance, I'm back on the book tour track.

My next appearance will be at the wonderfully named Ravenous Reader, 520 Folly Rd on James Island. The frolicks will take place on May 13th from 11 a.m-1 p.m., with a pre-event TV appearance the day before (Channel 5's Live5News, 4 p.m.).

This time Tips won't be with me, but we've both been invited back to Millennium Music next month. We must have done something right.

JC Conway is a local director who doesn't mind a challenge and is not afraid to take risks. That's probably why he cast me as Claudius in his production of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, which ends its run on May 13 at The Dark Room, 145 Calhoun St, downtown Charleston.

Here's JC's rather esoteric plug for the show:

Theatre /’verv/ are taking on the complicated and cheeky play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Not only is this local theater company be up to the challenge of this production, but it is also doing it in the round to ensure that the audience feels involved in the action and to provide a more intimate feeling and look to the production.

This show, directed by JC Conway, and starring David Barr, Beth Curley and Curtis Worthington, can be enjoyed at The Dark Room beneath the Terrace on Calhoun Street. All shows are at 7:30pm. Remaining performance dates are May 11-13th.

Tom Stoppard’s play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, demonstrates the absurdity of our universe and our own personal existence. Two protagonists live in a world where anything can happen and no laws of reality apply, where coins always land on heads, and the performance of a play causes your life to become an unfolding performance. Everything is ridiculous, yet a constant state of confusion dominates.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are two friends who get caught up in the world of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and become minor characters in the telling of the story. Instead of experiencing panic at their unexpected change of situation, they deal with the strangeness by playing along and even enjoying themselves as if Hamlet was a rubics cube to solve. Witty banter and silly word play ensue as these two characters are stuck in this Shakespearean tragedy.

The protagonists are not the only colorful and complex characters offered in this play. One can always enjoy the rousing cast of Players who are desperate to make a buck, even if it means performing transvestite melodrama, in other words overacted Greek tragedies with men in skirts.

At the drop of a mere coin, they set up a whole new universe using props, costumes, and rather badly prepared actors. Now it may sound like the beginnings of a bad performance, funny at the least, but in this world where magic can happen, drama comes to life and the audience is sucked in beyond their normal expectations.

Suddenly, Polonius is addressing you and Hamlet is delivering you a friendly hug and asking for your advice. You cannot seem to remember who you are or where you are. What would you do if you were entrapped in a world of iambic pentameter and tragic murder?

Are you still scared of absurdist theatre? Did you see Waiting for Godot and wonder if it had just been bizarre actors waiting on stage for the curtain to rise? And perhaps it did not rise until you left the theatre at ten o’clock. There is no need to worry: your state of confusion is just what Rosencrantz and Guildenstern experience in their play. They sympathize with you, and they even make light of the situations where life perplexes us so much that we miss our cue or screw up an entrance.

Come see how satisfying it is to watch others lose their way, when you know right where you are: relaxing in a seat with a cocktail and program. Ticket prices are $12/general and $10/student. For more information call (843)343-6560.

Book Pawing

I guess the big news today is another book signing of The Kitty Killer Cult at Millennium Books & Music. It's on the corner of King and Calhoun Streets, downtown Charleston from 2.30 till the back of 4 p.m.

But this isn't just any old signing, oh no. Not by a long chalk. This is the first time I'll be bringing my cat, Tips with me. We both appeared on ABC television last Friday to talk about the book, and I spent most of my time trying to stop her from howling off-camera. Once she was out of her crate (which she hates) and sitting on my lap she was fine, although she did almost escape once behind the set, where she could have been lost for days.

Fortunately, Logan the Weather Dog was taking a day off.