I have lived two lives: B.U.S. (Before United States) and AI (After Immigration). A lot of the vestiges of my past life are still in Britain - short stories, plays, notes for nascent novels and piles of teaching materials.

When I moved to Charleston, SC four years ago, I had to start from scratch, coming up with new ideas and completing a fresh novel (Undead on Arrival) in the process.

But I miss the junk I accumulated in my old life; all those manuscripts waiting to be rejected, the scripts that are yet to be polished and filmed. So this is an exciting time for me - I'm hoping to ship the rest my work over soon, bundling it together into one oeuvre. Not to impress anybody, but just to say this is what I've done. I've been writing for 20 years, and this is the pile of dead tree slivers to show for it.

Plus, I finally get my CD collection back.

For the latest issue of the Charleston City Paper, I was going to write about how wonderful Studio Open is.

It's the only gallery in Folly Beach, a seaside town in South Carolina. The owner/artist Sherry Browne told me that she'd be closing up to focus on her own painting and sculpture. So I wrote a whole bunch of nice things about the gallery's top shows, the artists who'd shown there, and how much I'd miss the place.

A few hours before the paper went to the printers, Sherry called me up and told me she'd had a change of heart. One frantic rewrite later, I put together an updated story.

This isn't the first time this has happened - I wrote a piece on John Carroll Doyle retiring from the gallery side of things last year; a week or so later he was made an offer he couldn't refuse to stay open. That's artists for you. Can't live with 'em, can't paint 'em into a corner.

More images from the Dialogical Imagination show at 10 Storehouse Row North Chuck, which I reviewed last week for the City Paper.

Above: "Girlfriend Invented" by Matthew Kucynski.

Above: "Sticks 'n' Stones" by Emily Ruiz.

Above: A painting, hanging sculptures & found object work by Emily Ruiz.

Above: "Mommy in a Bottle/Daddy's Blue Collar Lunchbox" by Emily Ruiz.

Pix from a show at North Charleston's 10 Storehouse Row...

You can read a review of it here.

It runs through June 30, when a closing reception will be held.

Abstract art by curator Louis DiNunzio.

There was a whole section of our Felder Film Fest devoted to advising parents on getting their kids into the movie & TV biz.

We don't want a bunch of toothy-grinned brats tapdancing around town, vicariously pushed onto the silver screen by their stage moms. No! We want real pint sized people with down-to-earth parents who know what's best for their kids.

The workshop was led by a veritable who's who of South Carolina casting agents. Here are the photos to prove it...

Festival co-organizer Chris Weatherhead of Actors' Theatre of SC havin' a laugh with Del Brown of Coastal Talent Kids.

Rebecca & Cory Dueger of CD Models & Talent; Chris & Del; Lisa Morelli, the masterbrain behind our Family Fest. Why is it no one ever wants to sit in the front row at these things? What are they, shy?

Rebecca & Cory, Chris, Richard Futch - who has been busy casting Army Wives recently - and Del.

Rebecca & Cory Dueger answer some burning thespian questions.

CP writer Jason Zwiker gives a fair assessment of this year’s Felder Film Fest in his brand new review. The festival’s been showing local, national and international indie films for four years now, awarding trophies to the best short films received.

This year, the Bronze Palmetto went to West Ashley-based Richard Almes for Florence Crittendon, a docudrama about pregnant homeless teens.

The Silver Palmetto went to The National Criminal Education Center, a mockumentary; the Gold Palmetto went to Mr. Extion.

This year also marked the first Family section of the Fest, with its very own Pineapple Awards. Personal faves: a skateboarding doc by Aaron Michael Johns (Skateboarding Is…) and a Bronze-winning guide to Dance Dance Revolution by Justin Denning and Brenda Lerner.

The specs for Skateboarding Is... provided by Aaron are a great indicator of the low-budget resourcefulness of our filmmakers:

Skateboarding Is... was shot with a Panasonic DVX 100A (no lens) inthe 24p framerate and a Sony VX2100 with a .3X Century Optics Fisheyelens (death lens) attached in the 29.97 framerate. Used a few tripods for a few shots, but most of it was hand held.

A skateboard makes a great dolly.

It was edited with Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premier, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Photoshop, and i made the DVD in Adobe Encore.

The 1st song was written, preformed, and recorded in his dorm room recording studio by Seth Batlin. He used Pro Tools to record and edit it.

The 2nd song is an uncopyrighted song protected by Archive.org's Creative Commons License.

With the Felder Film Festival done & dusted for another year, it’s time for me to get back to teaching.

Next Monday (June 18) I’ll be starting a 6-week acting class for beginning and intermediate actors, throwing them some stage and screen scenes and hopefully making some new friends.

The classes are organized by the North Charleston Cultural Arts Department. They will be held at the North Charleston Cultural and Civic Center Complex on the Old Navy Base, North Chuck. Interested actors can contact the NCCA for more info.

Dare Everything wound up last night at Coco’s Café, 843 Houston Northcutt Blvd., Mt. Pleasant.

Artist Bea Aaronson tells me off when I write about her shows without giving them a full review, but I’m risking her wrath to mention this show with its wealth of imagination on display; Bea and her cohort Stephen Eaker are like an unstoppable force, constantly creating.

They still have a show at Spark Studio on Hagood Avenue, downtown Charleston. Metamorphoses runs through June 26, with "sculptural explorations" by Aaronson and Eaker.

Today marks the start of the fourth annual Felder Film Festival, where a bunch of short films vie for the Palmetto Awards for best film. As last year, it's held at Holiday Inn, Folly Beach.


Here's the schedule for this year:


JUNE 3rd


1 p.m. - a free seminar for parents who'd like their children to work in film/TV.

2 p.m. - screening of family-friendly films in a new section for the Festival. These films are up for the Pineapple Awards. Here's a pic from one of 'em, Sadie Turns Seven.




4.15 - a filmmakers' workshop with a focus on new technology, and how to use it to make and sell movies.


7 p.m. - screening of shorts for grown-ups.


JUNE 4th


4.15 - a screenwriters' workshop


7 p.m. - more shorts and the festival finale.


As one of the organizers, I offer my services for free and all the film screenings are free, too.

The Post & Courier gave the fest some groovy coverage and the event seems to get bigger and better each year. I'm already looking at entries for 2008... but then, I have an inkling of who's won this year's awards. No, I don't take bribes. Unless they involve DVD box sets.

In a recent overview of visual arts that can be seen during the Spoleto Festival, I mentioned a mural in the second floor windows of Reed Bros. on Upper King. The store has long supported contemporary artists with shows inside the building and art on the exterior.

Philip "The Machine" Hyman, main creator of the mural, says he did it with "local artists." He also tells me that there are more murals in Cumberlands, 301 King St., by Hyman, Jonathan Nicolson of Chas band A Decent Animal, and a street artist who calls himself Ishmael.

There's also a great piece of graffiti round the side of the establishment. Since our fair city doesn't take kindly to such things, I won't mention the artist's name here. Just in case.

Not telling how long it's going to be there so if you want to take a look, you'd better be quick about it.

Drawings Redux

Cool drawings at the Redux Contemporary Art Center on St. Philips St., downtown Chas right now... they're Exquisite Corpse drawings, where a piece of paper is folded in three and a seperate artist works on each third, leaving little tick lines on the fold for another to follow.

Some of the contributions have been sent from across the US and abroad; others were spawned during a recent informal drawing session at Redux.

The art's only up for a few days, although gallery director Seth Curcio is considering extending the exhibition until June 4th or so.

"The Exquisite Corpse" (aka "exquisite cadaver" or "rotating corpse") method is defined by Redux thusly:

A group of words or images are collectively assembled, to form a unified composition. Each collaborator adds to the composition in sequence, either by following a rule or by being allowed to see the end of what the previous person contributed.

Once the final drawing or writing is complete the paper can be unfolded to reveal a new composition which is a synthesis of several artistic styles.