Cold Soldiers continues its inexorable climb to completion. In recent weeks we've filmed an exchange between the hero John Dance and a soldier named Paul Coyle. Coyle is a straight role for John Brennan, best known for comedy shows such as The Banana Monologues.

We've also introduced a character called Mr. Winter, head orderly of the institute where Cold Soldiers is set. Winter's played by Chris Gay, who gave an excellent performance in Brad Jayne's 2007 short film The Song of Pumpkin Brown.

Most recently we've shot crowd scenes outside the institute. You can read an extra's-eye-view of the shoot on Chuck Boyd's blog, Chuckography.

For more news and information about the film, you can visit its MySpace page or the official website. It's still under construction but it will give you an idea of what we're trying to achieve.

With Piccolo Spoleto reaching its last weekend, I've just finished reviewing my last batch of plays for the local papers. Since the festival is about more than just theatre, there are still other events to cover; tonight I'll be spending An Evening with Jay Clifford at the American Theatre.

Last night I was at the fifth Felder Film Festival, and it was great to watch my short film Undead on Arrival with a crowd of people - a very different experience from watching hit counters on a YouTube site. That's why internet video won't be replacing TV or movie theaters just yet...

On Tuesday I saw Cloud Tectonics at Lance Hall, near the Circular Congregational Church. PURE Theatre managed to breathe fresh life into a show they've done a few times already.

The next night I saw The Great War, a multimedia story told with miniscule models that were videotaped and beamed onto a big screen. One of the best elements of the show was the sound and music, provided by

The Charleston SC-based abstract artist on the evils of phone messages. In the background is his painting, Don't Answer the Phone.

In this alternate take from a documentary on Charlestonian Patrick Pelletier, the artist discusses his abstract painting King of the Castle.

I've been all over Spoleto and its Piccolo fringe since it started. One of the most enjoyable experiences for me has been recording podcasts for Spoleto Today ("SpoTo Spocasts"), the Post & Courier's daily audio coverage of the festival.

You can hear an conversation between SpoTo honcho Janet Edens, myself and three enthusiastic ladies from the Charleston Academy of Music here.

Today we discussed the best of the fest so far.

With events going on all over town throughout the day, I find myself writing up my coverage late at night and into the wee hours of the morning.

Maybe I should skip the aftershow parties and get straight to work?

Nah. It's not going to happen.

The organizers of Charleston's International Film Festival turned out to be a nice bunch of folks. They provided an enjoyable experience for filmmakers, local moviegoers and visitors. The Terrace Theater was an appropriate venue for a cautious first year of a festival.

For me, the event offered a chance to help out where I could, catch up with friends and introduce a few entertaining films that I wouldn't have seen otherwise. I'm glad Osso Bucco won the Audience Choice award; with its infectious charm and competent acting, this crowd pleaser deserved its prize.

Best of all I got to see Post & Courier film critic Bill Thompson letting his hair down. This inveterate newshound is usually stuck at his desk barking at people on the phone or weeping into his popcorn in a dark screening room, so I'm sure a few late night parties in venues like Bridgeside and the Cottage on the Creek in Mount Pleasant didn't do him any harm.

The Golden Crescent Award for best film went to Camille. The Jury Award for Best Feature went to Crazy. (Incidentally, one of the jury members was my fellow West Countryman John Cleese). The Golden Crescent Screenplay Competition was won by Natashia Sanders for her script, The Spinning Wheel.

For full details on winners and a wrap up of the event, visit the International Film Festival website.

An alternate take from Patrick Pelletier, a documentary about the Charleston, SC painter filmed in 2007.

This week, the Spoleto Festival has descended on Charleston like a day-glo fog. I can see the signs already: Calhoun Street jammed with out-of-state vehicles, tents nestled on Marion Square like a Native American reservation, and Chinese acrobats shopping at the local Asian grocery store (what's wrong with Publix?).

Spoleto is a 17 day festival of music, theatre and dance. Visual art is non-existent, because it's harder to charge an entry fee for art shows. But fear not, all lovers of marsh paintings. There's also a Piccolo Spoleto - a fringe fest organized by the city's Office of Cultural Affairs. Piccolo is full of plays, musicians, comedy and -yay! - artists.

I'll be covering as much of the festival(s) as I can and contributing reviews, podcasts and videos to Charleston's local papers. If I ever get past all the traffic on Calhoun Street.

Earlier in the year I went to a Production Design Associates tradeshow with Clandestine Films producer Trevor Erickson. There we met artist Kevin Harrison, who has been making some beautiful ads and promotional films for PDA. He gave us a demonstration of the company's glidecam.

It takes a lot to get Trevor excited. This did the trick.

No sooner do I wrap filming of one competition (music videos for Jay Clifford's Know When to Walk Away) than another one comes up - but this time I was on the other side of the camera.

Author Paolo Coelho has teamed up with HP to bring his novel The Witch of Portobello to celluloid life. Filmmakers have been invited to shoot shorts from the points of view of different characters in the book. The best films will hopefully be combined into a feature.

I played a character called Heron Ryan in a short made by South Carolina filmmakers for the comp. The shoot was highly professional despite a modest budget, with some sumptuous images created with a Panasonic Pro HD camera.

The script by Beth Slagsvol and Shannon Bogan changed a lot since I first saw it, and I had to think on my feet when I arrived at the first Charleston location on Saturday morning. My agent had told me I'd be playing a different character, so I'd studied a different scene. But I figured things out as best I could.

On Sunday I appeared in a protest scene in the morning. Apparently some people don't take kindly to witched, even in this day and age. A downtown Charleston street doubled for Portobello Road, complete with black cab.

In the afternoon a "white room" was set up in a warehouse on Brigade Street. The room was created with white boards on the floor and white flowing curtains for walls. I was surrounded by professional dancers, ballet and tango experts. I danced with them and tried not to look too stupid.

A friend saw me doing this called her husband on her cellphone. She couldn't believe the sight. "Nick Smith's dancing," she said in hushed tones.

By the end of the day the film had wrapped and I'd figured out how my character fit into the story. Hopefully, Beth and Shannon's version of events will make the final cut. It's not too late to enter the competition yourself, mind. Further details below.

Although the movie theatre at Citadel Mall has won a reprieve - the ex-AMC concern has been taken over by a regional company - another West Ashley entertainment mecca is closing its doors today.

The Map Room on Sam Rittenburg Blvd blames low attendance numbers, high gas prices, Charleston's smoking ban and the economy on its dwindling profits. So it's pulled the plug. You can read the full story on the City Paper website.

The Map Room's a short walk from my house, and it's best known to me as an alternative art venue (hosting group shows of underground artists), a film and theatre space (for example, Theatre/verv performed there, and the Star Wars short Volition premiered there as well).

Most of all it was a music venue. A cap to my birthday party was a show by Southern Culture on the Skids at The Map Room. I didn't go - I was busy bursting out of a cake, or the other way round - but my pals did. A good time was had by all.

We'll miss you, Map Room.

Even though I spent the first 31 years of my life in Great Britain, there aren't many things I miss about the Old Country. Here's a few:

1. Fish and chips.

Think those fish and chips at the English-theme restaurant are the real deal? Not on your nelly. I'd have to go back to Blighty for a real fish supper, with battered seafood and plump greasy chips smothered in vinegar and wrapped in paper.

2. Bovril.

This tasty meat spread can be imported from Canada, but customs regards any strange substance shipped over the border with great suspicion.

3. My mum.

Mum loves to sing and she enjoys a good knees-up (translation: party). A shindig just isn't a shindig without her.

4. Self-effacing British humor.

The kind of thing you don't miss till it's gone. US ads are so straight-laced and dull; the best British commercials are ironic, satirical and fun. Like this ad for Energy Wasting Day, which was held on April 1st 2008.





Love it. There's nothing funnier than a fat balding man in his underpants (unless I'm the guy in the underpants, and I've just locked myself out of the house on my way to pick up the morning paper).

Anyway, that's enough maudlin homesick blogging. If you're in Charleston and you love the Earth, there are several events coming up that you can read about on the City Paper website. Guaranteed no energy wasting.

Books-a-Million in West Ashley was so impressed with my signing there last month that they've asked me back to do another one - either that or they want to make a few bucks.

I'll be signing copies of my latest thriller, Undead on Arrival on April 19 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The store is at 832 Orleans Road, Charleston SC. Feel free to drop in, say hello and have a chat.

AMC has announced that it will close its two movie theaters at our local malls (West Ashley and Northwoods). It seems that there just aren't enough shoppers who want to go see a film after a hard day's browsing, and the 6-screeners can't compete with the city's larger mulitplexes.

Since I'm a fully signed-up slave to celluloid I've frequented the AMC at Citadel Mall often. One of my favorite experiences there: watching the Dawn of the Dead remake. The movie's set in a mall, so to view it then step out of the theater and see a very similar mall was a mind-rattling experience.

You can read the full story about the closures on the Post & Courier website. I take exception to their comment that Charleston's multiplexes are state-of-the-art, though; only one - away out in Summerville - is equipped with up to date digital video projection equipment.

I recently got to check out the latest show from national-level ballet company, Charleston Ballet Theatre. As a finale to their 20th Anniversary celebrations they presented three oldies-but-goodies: Poetry with a Splash of Blood, Wings and Rite of Spring. The latter was powerful despite featuring male dancers ho looked like they were dressed in swimming caps and diapers.

Here's what the City Paper A&E editor John Stoehr had to say:

"Nick Smith, always up for seeing svelte dancers emerge from a pile of dirt (not kidding), enjoyed the show and sent us this review."

John sees right through me. I'm an ODB at heart.

See what I mean about the diapers?

Also in this week's City Paper: my review of the Little City Theatre Company's musical, Songs for a New World. I'm not a huge fan of musical theatre - I'm no Rent boy - but this collection of songs was well performed. I expect more good things soon from this brand new local company.

Also on the artsy front, my hard-rockin' pals at Chamber Music Charleston will perform Dvorak and Francaix at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 67 Anson Street, Charleston on April 13.

Like CBT, they're excellent at what they do and man, do they know how to have fun.

Aw, now this is a pity. From the City Paper's A&E Blog:

Venue News: Buxton’s East Bay Theatre shuttered

The former site of ghost storytelling, the Magnolia Singers, and many Piccolo Spoleto concerts, Buxton’s East Bay Theatre, a tiny nook seating about 70 at the most, closed in December.

Owner Julian T. Buxton III told me the reason was financial. He couldn’t meet the cost of a lease held by the Southeastern Management Group. The theater was built in 2005 using 40 seats from the old Garden Theatre on King Street (currently occupied by an Urban Outfitters).

The seats have now been sold to a “guy living on Edisto,” Buxton told me, “for his own private theater.” Chad Yonce, of Southeastern Management Group, told me the space is being turned into — what else? — condos.

“I’m sad to see it go,” Buxton said.

In its inaugural year, I co-directed a play at the theatre called Christmas in Charlestowne, and visited it last year to discuss a multimedia ghost production.

I've also attended Piccolo shows there like Hobo: The Musical and Paul Thomas: Late Bloomer, where the performers made great use of the modest space.

I also filmed Pirates! The Revenge of Colonel Rhett at the East bay Theatre. This inventive show is making a welcome return at the Charleston Convention Center.

Like Buxton, I'm sad to see it closed. It's yet another example of the arts being squuezed out of downtown Charleston by rising rent costs. For shame!

Looks like the opening of Medical Univeristy of South Carolina (MUSC)'s new building, Ashley River Tower, will be delayed again.

Staff have been hoping to move in for weeks, ready to unsqueeze themselves from MUSC's main building on Ashley Avenue, where space is tighter than a weasel's butt. A move-in date of early February looks unlikely, though, if the latest rumors are true - the main driveway for ambulances is too narrow for the vehicles and will have to be rejigged.

As it stands, the Tower is a concoction of three different lumps - the most prominent is a shiny glass sail-shaped structure. At a size of approximately 641,000 square feet it could hardly be tucked away, but it really looks out of place in the historically inclined Holy City.

But no matter how imposing the new sections of the hospital may be, they ain't going to do people much good if they're not staffed or up to code. Pull your finger out, MUSC!

I thought Charleston poet and filmmaker Devin Dukes might be wild and crazy, judging by his - er -unusual short film project about Spanish Moss muff coverers, The Merkin Man. But he turned out to be good-natured and helpful.

He's currently working on a feature film that, if I understand correctly, combines comedy, history and time travel (Bill & Ted's Redneck Adventure, anyone?).

In a small town like this, it's no surprise that I was familiar with one or two people who help him with his films. One is Steve Zimmerman, who edited The Merkin Man and was also videographer on The Man Who Shot God.

When Steve delivered a screening copy of Merkin to me in December, I was in full Holiday Magic mode so I asked him to deliver the DVD to Santa on Marion Square. Steve was a good sport when he visited the grotto, but he quickly left me (dressed as St. Nick) to deal with the horde of children that was then descending upon me. He looked like he felt kind of sorry for me, for some reason...

You can read my Charleston City Paper review of The Merkin Man here.

Here's a blog post from Charleston City Paper's Arts & Entertainment editor, John Stoehr back in December '07 (sounds like a long time ago, doesn't it?):

"Be sure to check out Nick Smith’s review of an old-school screen printing show at 52.5. The exhibit, set among racks of CDs and punk ‘zines, runs through Dec. 31. And while you’re at it, Mr. Nick has a new novel out called Undead on Arrival.

"The official launch party was earlier this month at The Black Cart. He’ll do a book signing and reading on Jan. 12 at 2 p.m. Barnes & Noble, 1812 Sam Rittenberg Blvd. Smith, evidently a lover of Felis silvestris catus, is also the author Milk Treading and The Kitty Killer Cult. For more information, call the bookstore at (843) 556-8979 or go to http://arts.ccpblogs.com/2007/12/19/journal-screen-printing-101-and-mr-nick/www.bn.com."

Hogmanay in West Ashley

I was kept awake last night by fireworks raging past my window 'til 2.30 a.m. +, and the sound of merry Rednecks whoopin' and hollerin' the New Year in - the glorious sounds of America's annual rebirth.

In Hogmanays past I've been punched, trampled, propositioned by soused old ladies or left alone to contemplate my frail mortality, my personal history and the universe's future.

The more I look forward, the less seems to have changed; on a personal level, I'm still scared by the mere idea of performing on stage, even though I've done it countless times and I've taught acting to hundreds of people (a new course starts at the North Charleston Cultural Arts Center on Jan. 28).

That fear has something to do with the fight or flight reponse, apparently. But I'm stubborn which is why, perversely, I'm determined to get back up there as soon as I can...