Blogging is a strange business for me. It’s a way for family and friends to keep up with my doings, so there’s usually a personal quotient to what I write – and I’ve never been all that comfortable blowing my own trumpet (I’d rather get someone else to do it for me).

Then there’s always the possibility that a perfect stranger will happen upon The Scratching Post, wondering “who does this geezer think he is?” So to all the strangers out there, please forgive the self-indulgentness of my year-end review. It’s a tradition, okay?

2006 was a whirlwind year in which I wrapped principal photography on my first feature film and got hooked on MySpace, Lost and toasted rye bread.

Also this year, Folly Beach musician Rick Huff died in a tragic accident. I listen to his witty music often; at the age of 60, he had produced two CDs – Come On Down and Cheaper Than Therapy. He is sorely missed.


Back in JANUARY I didn’t see so much of my son Sam. I was deep into filming For Liberty at Fort King George, GA, with action scenes courtesy of the mighty Jim Sawgrass playing a Catawba Native, complete with screams high-pitched enough to curdle milk, blood, cream and my producer’s hair.

FEBRUARY gave me a chance to visit the big Book Fest in Columbia. I was disappointed, partly because I attended a really lame book reading that numbed my wits quicker than a VH1 special and also because I’d got the event a bit mixed up with the SC Writer’s Conference.

MARCH and APRIL were packed full of filming, teaching for the Actors’ Theatre of SC and gathering short movies together for their Folly Felder Film Festival.

MAY heralded Theatre/verv’s cool adaptation of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, performed at The Dark Room in downtown Charleston. I grabbed as much glory as I could in a last-minute role, and almost ended up reviewing the show for the City Paper. That would have been awkward. You can imagine my rave remarks about a bit player called Nick Smith.

In JUNE, the third Folly Felder Film Fest gave me a chance to screen some great movies, including One Step Forward, Two Steps Back by Simon Harvey. He was a member of Kneehigh Theatre, who stormed Spoleto with Tristan and Yseult. I enjoyed hanging out with the British actors in Folly, but the bastards haven’t so much as replied to my emails since.

I also visited North Carolina for the first time, climbing a Smokey Mountain and catching fireflies with my son. Back in Charleston, I was invited to attend an Emerging Arts Leaders Meeting at the Gibbes, where new Executive Director Todd Smith unveiled his Now! show. It was very different from the museum of art’s traditional stuff, and a bold move on Todd’s part to slip it in so soon after he took over. I smelled a scoop that, as it happened, I sat on until my CP editor wrote a preview of the show.

JULY was spent editing The Siege of Charleston, a documentary covering a massive reenactment at Drayton Hall and Magnolia Plantation. I cut it together on Final Cut Pro and my word of advice to any editors out there is, if you’re thinking of using that software for a professional project: don’t. It sucks.

AUGUST gave me my second chance of the year to take a break – I thought. I visited Edisto Beach, SC, where the Actors’ Theatre held sway. It was a wonderful couple of days’ experience with memories to cherish, mostly of meeting, thinking and talking about For Liberty. Ah well. Who needs relaxation anyway?

This was also the month when I first worked for Creative Spark, a children’s development center in Mt. Pleasant. I had a great time there because the kids (in their tweens and early teens) were interested in acting. They loved it! Only one parent complained, about the theological ramifications of including a scene from Labyrinth in our workshops (it’s got goblins in it!).

On a sadder note, another musician passed away that month. Maynard Ferguson was a great jazz musician who amazed me in my youth by achieving the impossible – turning The Empire Strikes Back score into an entertaining jazz bash.

This year more than ever I felt emotionally involved in the tragedies that the people around me had suffered, none more so than September 11th. Maybe it was because it was the 5th anniversary, or the movie and TV coverage that got to me. I think it was the realization that my friends were still reeling from the attack. It’s easy to be objective when you’re far away in Europe, but here in the US, people still care. That’s important.

Touchstone visited Charleston to film a pilot for a TV show called Army Wives, so I hooked up with them in the Extras Casting department. The show has subsequently been picked up (not because of my contribution, sadly) for Lifetime and the series will be shot here.

Meanwhile Sam started First Grade, and my wife Ros shot a snazzy documentary about local artist Lese Corrigan. But where would I show it?


By OCTOBER, as far as the press was concerned, I’d wrapped For Liberty (as I write this, we’re planning a few pick-up shots). I also filmed a local Jones Ford Commercial, where I risked typecasting as a goofy nerd (I don’t know why they picked me to play him).

NOVEMBER provided me with the opportunity to screen Ros’ doc at the Gibbes, along with a group of other great films from directors like Donna Hurt and Ron Mangravite. Happily, I’ve been invited to do another film night next year. Unhappily, it takes a hell of a lot of work to get the films together, secure permission to screen them and publicize the events. But I’m not worrying about that quite yet.

DECEMBER marked my fourth year as a Santa Claus for the City of Charleston; contributed to a US art show for the first time; gave me a chance to meet the talented California-born abstract artist Patrick Pelletier and catch a glimpse of Oscar-winner Cliff Robertson at a Christmas do. I was also cheered up by the news that my fourth book, Undead On Arrival, was heading for the typesetters. That’s a sweet note to end on, isn’t it? So I’ll shut up. Happy New Year, everybody.

Here's a slice of journalism that I'll be proud to show my grandma. In the new double issue of the City Paper, there's a little piece on Condoms in a Can.

The German, jolly-loving inventors are inviting men to stick their john thomases into specially designed cannisters. Inside are nozzles that spray on a rubber coating. They promise a safer, faster form of sex.

Will it catch on? Or is this just an excuse for an organization to attarct attention to its regular condom-related products? Watch this space to find out.

In the two and a half weeks that I’ve been dressing up as Santa for the City, I’ve weathered biting cold winds, gusts of heat and hundreds of hugs from sweaty, snot-crusted children.

To bulk up as the big guy, I wear an upper body stocking with fleece attached (my “fat suit”), extra-large Santa pants that threaten to fall down when I walk across Marion Square, a belt buckled with safety pins, a heavy coat with white fur cuffs and collar and a beard strapped tight around my head and chin.

I don’t recommend wearing this on a shadeless 78 degree day, especially if your job requires you to be ceaselessly jolly.

I’ve stripped off as many layers as I can without losing my guise and a few passers-by have wondered why St. Nick looks so skinny. Could it be the dehydration, or the pounds of flesh I’ve been sweating off?

If it gets any warmer, I’ll have to go the Florida Santa route – Bermuda shorts, sandals and sunglasses. It’s about time Charleston’s old elf got some Sunshine State style.

One Christmas was so much like another, in those years around the sea-town corner now and out of all sound except the distant speaking of the voices I sometimes hear a moment before sleep, that I can never remember whether it snowed for six days and six nights when I was twelve or whether it snowed for twelve days and twelve nights when I was six.

That's the opening of Dylan Thomas' A Child's Christmas in Wales, which is as entertaining and effervescent now as at its inception as a radio play back in 1955.

Yesterday I saw a new version of the play at the Footlight Theatre, with Clarence Felder as Thomas and musical interludes from three chamber musicians: Regina H. Helcher on flute, Timothy O'Malley on cello and the incredinly talented Nonoko Okado on violin.

They're all from Charleston House Concerts, and this was a rare example of a three-company production between CHC, Actors' Theatre of SC and The Footlight Players.

With lots of humor, instrumental versions of popular Christmas carols and a tight running time (just under an hour), the show reminded me of Thomas' genius with his rich descriptions of family traditions and snow-bound Welsh winters. It runs until Sunday, so get those tickets while they're hot.

Pictured: CHC cellist Timothy O'Malley, Clarence Felder and some kid with a Christmas present stuck to his chest.

Who could be more appropriate to jolly things up at Sunday’s Lighting of the Menorah ceremony than… Santa?

Last Sunday, I was called upon to represent the roll-bellied icon of Christmas-lovers everywhere slap bang in the middle of a Hanukkah celebration. Modern-day Christmas musak was replaced by the Jewish Choral Society, yule treats made way for latkes and typical exchanges between children and myself went like this.

CHILD: Know what I want for Christmas?
SANTA: What’s that, my dear?
CHILD: Nothing. I don’t celebrate it.

The event started at 4 p.m. and was a collaboration between the CofC’s Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies Program and the Office of Cultural Affairs. Fair enough, Santa (hired by OCA) was billed as being at the square every Sunday until 5 p.m., and it would have looked bad if I’d stomped off right in the middle of the ceremony. But Kriss Kringle still looked mighty incongruous and I kept my trademark ho-hos to a minimum. As the always-tactful Mrs. Claus put it, “I’ve never felt so out of place.”

Ruth Ann Wiley as Mrs Claus: still smilin'.

My final shift as Father Christmas is fast approaching. (Two more days and I'll be back in the world. I'm so short man I can taste it!) So I've been posting as many little messages as I can onto the City Paper's Backchannel, where my editor recently decided to share my clean little secret with the whole of Charleston.

You can read his introduction here, and once you've done that you might like to visit my flickr page to catch some poses of this Santa in ho-ho mode.

There are also some shots from the Misfit Toy Show and more For Liberty snaps. For the love of all that's holy, give 'em a visit - they took me bloody ages to upload.

A new year means a new book event, this time at Barnes & Noble West Ashley, 1812 Sam Rittenberg Blvd, Charleston SC.

It'll take place on January 13th from 12-2 p.m., and I know that sounds like a long way off but when you consider that there are only 12 days left of this year, it might be closer than you think.

I've just heard from my publisher that my next novel, Undead on Arrival, is being typeset and should be printed next month. It'll be their lead title for March 2007. And here's a proof copy of the doggone cover! Woohoo!

I was woken at 3 a.m. this morning by a call from the cops.

They'd found my old '95 Toyota Corolla abandoned in North Chuck, with some of my personal details still in the glove box. Funny, that - as I explained to the fuzz, the car was sold many moons ago to a guy at Gerald's Tires, who said he wanted it for his mum.

When I bought the pre-owned Toyota, I'd only been in America a few days and I did it under duress - my son Sam (3 at the time) was howling with a big splinter under his toenail. So I ponied up $3000 and bought the damned car.

Maybe it's jinxed. It keeps coming back to haunt me worse than a half-heated tin of Campbell's Chunky Chilli. I wonder where the cursed Corolla will turn up next?

With the art show, my acting students' showcase, the Ravenous Reader book signing and a modicum of Christmas shopping out of the way, I'm finally able to get stuck into my most challenging thespian role, the one that requires the most patience, fortitude and baby powder - Santy Claus.

This is my fourth year as a Santa for the City's Holiday Magic program. This week heat's been the biggest problem. Think playing Father Christmas is an easy gig? Try wearing Santa pants and an itchy beard in high-60s heat.

Last week, I was beset by cold and heavy winds; but at least then I had an authentic cherry-red nose (or berry blue, at least).

On Saturday morning, light blinding my eyes, I finally emerged from my studio (aka the laundry room) with a bunch of art in my hands. While assembling toys for the latest PROK event (my first art show in the US), I gained a new appreciation for the work that artists do: the long hours they spend creating their work, the cost of materials, the psychological trauma of making something that may or may not sell, be loved or receive favorable criticism.

The toy-themed art show was held at the Village Tavern, Mount Pleasant, last night. The folks who dropped in liked the gear. I contributed some twisted action figures to the exhibition; here's one that went down particularly well, probably because of the title ("Sucking Chest Wound") more than anything else.

Misfit Toy Show

Check out the great flyer for a new art show at the Village Tavern in Mount Pleasant, SC:



Great, isn't it? The last show by PROK (the People's Revolution Ov Kulture) rocked so I'm looking forward to this one.

This time around the Prokkers have invited me to contribute some art to the show, so I've been canibalizing action figures in preparation for next Sunday. It will be my first time exhibiting this kind of art in the US. Will my imagination exceed my talent? Come along and find out!

Here's the full gen on the evening:

On Dec. 10, 2006 @ the Village Tavern, the People's Revolution Ov Kulture presents The Misfit Toy Show!

There will be 10 artists featured, including: Eleazar Cruz, Pete McDonough, Lynette McDonough, ESAD, Mollie Tracy, Mark Johnson, Nick Smith, Philip Hyman, John Pundt and Geoff Cormier.

DJ Kurfu will provide the audio and there will be a lot of other fun like Give-aways, Clothes, Prints, Art and Games!

There will be a small 5 dollar admission fee to help the starving artists.