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Comment Archives: Stories: Music+Clubs
Re: “How to Be a Busker (Legally)”
I am a frequent presence in the down town street performer scene. I'm gonna remain anonymous due the rediculous sensitivity of the subject. I just wanna say that this is just wrong and a true example of backwards and narrow minded legislation and legality from charleston. 1) The fact that this city is so unforgiving and closed minded towards something that has been and is becoming more and more significant in not only the charleston music & art scene but the tourist scene as well... Is for lack of a better description COMPLETELY ILOGICAL & INEXCUSABLE. There's absolutely no remote good reason (outside of greed & ignorance) that I not only have to pay an ungodly robbery of fees ($100+) for a license that's so infantisimal that the cops couldn't even tell me how much it costs (by a long shot there guess being "around 10$") when they actually decided to hassle me for no good reason that I could think of or that could be given. 2)I didn't come out and start playing for people just to make some pocket money or supplement my income in any way. In fact when I first started playing out here I quite frequently & respectfully refused tips or donations as I believed it took away from the purity and lagitamacy of my intentions and message which I adimately believe and convey.(peace, love, understanding & the underestimated power of positivity & what I refer to as the will & the way) it wasn't until people were flat out INSISTING I accept there tips that I (after much self control & patience) gave in and started graciously accepting them. 3)I hold myself to very strict professional standards when it comes to my performance. I replace and water down lyrics as well as even song choice in respect to where I am and who I'm playing for. 4)I posses a GOD GIVEN tallent to entertain a very wide variety of people which has been credited by listeners to everything from simply entertain to change someone's initial view of charleston for the better to even keeping someone from "making a very big irreversible mistake." Comparing what I do to operating a business is apples to oranges and frankly insulting. I didn't buy this gift it was given to me to use. No body taught me or persuaded to peruse music. It simply came to me by chance and second nature...this is just scratching the surface of how backwards and ignorant it is for an artist such as myself to have pay so much and pass through an absolutely unreasonable amount of red tape (almost as if the beaurocratic phillistine PRICK who's inflicting these requirements simply doesn't want us out there at all.) meanwhile your run of the mill begger, grifter, con artist & drug junky can freely sit in the same spot with their hand out and a sob story to con people out of there money. I've witnessed this and my response is WTF! Whoever is making the decisions this needs to make like computer and get with the program because this is an absolute sabatoge to the layed back and open atmosphere of charleston which about 9 out of 10 tourists come here for and expect to experience. It doesn't make sense why you can be a strait bum and beg discretely but if your given a gratuity for being good at something you love then your treated as though your some con artist or snake oil salesmen. The fact that this is even being made into an issue the city should address and regulate so much is just fucking WRONG and makes me and MANY others question what exactly are the priorities of our city government, who's really runnin the show and what exactly are their intentions for our great city. As for this musician/victim of backwards beaurocracy I end with this. You will still stop me from doing what I was put here on this earth to do when pry my intstrument from my cold death gripping hands. If that makes me an outlaw then SO be it. Why should I try to appease and comply with laws that are borderline unconstitutional and absolutely unreasonable in so many blaintant ways. Call me what you want "criminal" "vagrant" but the fact is that MANY others would call me a "freedom fighter" and a "true patriot." With that said there are a lot more people (including a significant number of charleston's precious tourists" who are much more inclined to agree with me than the deep pocketed narrow minded philistines who have put me and many other hardworking professional entertainers in the unfortunate position we are in. If any of those people are reading this trust & believe that there is a lot more of us than there are you. We care, we vote, and we are well prepared for revolutionary means to stand up for our rights and ourselves.
Re: “Steve Martin and Edie Brickell are a match made in bluegrass heaven”
So the article offers a 3 year old song from an earlier release? Anyway, the new CD is AWESOME. Read the Amazon reviews!
Re: “Old Crow Medicine Show to headline First Flush FesTEAval”
If you don't like good beer or family friendly music, this is the event for you!
To be fair, I got to the First Flush a few hours after opening and with a poor attitude. I'd hoped things would get better. Nope. Parking was, of course, as far as you could get from the event; forgiveable, but made worse by a parking attendant who directed us the nearest entrance, only to be turned away to re-trace our steps as it was "reentry only".
Upon entering we were subjected to the worst disappointment: the beer selection. Although the beer was provided by Lee Distributors (maybe the biggest craft beer supplier in town), the selection was limited to light american lagers and RJ Rockers peach beer. No local beers, no craft beers. I felt like I was at Wave-Fest circa 2002. Maybe all the good beer was allocated to Brittlebank park beer fest? $5 for a 16oz miller was expensive but expected (festival draft cups are usually 20oz, with craft beers in 16oz). $8 for a vodka drink (firefly sweet tea conspicuously absent) was just gouging.
The food trucks were great (as always) and there seemed to enough to serve everyone. I particularly enjoyed my Auto-Banh bahn mi.
The grounds are nice, with plenty of shade. There is however, a major bottleneck: a choke point the width of a single sidewalk that separates the entrance, the toilets, and most of the food from the main area. A handful of foot bridges over the ubiquitous ditches would help relieve pedestrian congestion.
My second biggest complaint is the music selection. Not that it was bad, but when Old Crow Medicine Show is headlining, I expect some complimentary music, not the mix of local rock and white-guy reggae/hip hop that dominated the (loud) main stage. None of it was terribly family-friendly. No bluegrass, no americana, no old-timey music was to be heard. Some of the best music could barely be heard, coming from the very quiet second stage.
The other bottleneck becomes apparent when 1000 cars try to leave at the same time: there's only one way out. I don't think it would be asking too much to divert some of those beer profits to building a second exit. We weren't the last cars in, but it took a solid 45 minutes to get to Maybank Hwy at midnight.
I went to First Flush a few years ago when it was a smaller affair. Now that it's grown into it's current incarnation I won't be going back.
Re: “Sol Slam returns to the 'Jammer July 19-20”
*
$35 Weekend Pass — includes both days, 10% off of your bar tab AND a downloadable mixtape of tracks from all Sol Slam artists
* $15 Friday Night
* $25 Saturday Full Festival — includes all day and night shows and fun
* $20 Saturday Night Only — ticket valid for 7pm to the end of the night (Reckoning, Yarn, Dangermuffin, Sol Driven Train)
* $5 Saturday Day — only walkup tickets available
Re: “Live Music: Elim Bolt, Modern Man, Charles Walker & The Dynamites, Swank Sinatra”
Punk is dead.
Re: “Live Music: Elim Bolt, Modern Man, Charles Walker & The Dynamites, Swank Sinatra”
What is punk? An interesting question that will lead to hours and hours of debate, with the disciples of 80s West Coast Punk-D.C. Punk arguing for ascetic purity and self-flagellation while the lovers of 90s pop punk will argue that it largely comes down to which T-shirts at Hot Topic were the most popular. Nearly all will ignore that 70s punk was motivated more by poverty than anything else while the proto-punk of the late 60s was fueled by drugs and art house-shock theater pretentions; "punk" was not on their minds. Money and fame were.
And just in case anyone has forgotten, the Sex Pistols were a pre-fab band hand-selected by a fashion designer.
Re: “Live Music: Elim Bolt, Modern Man, Charles Walker & The Dynamites, Swank Sinatra”
green day? really? The Whitney Houston of punk? Who cares, Haire? You wouldn't know punk if it hit you in the head with a dead fish
Re: “Savage Souls release first two tracks from ambitious mixtape project”
Pronghorn,
Wiki sums it up pretty nicely.
"In hip hop's earliest days, the music only existed in live form, and the music was spread via tapes of parties and shows.Hip Hop mixtapes first appeared in the mid-1970s in New York City, featuring artists such as Kool Herc and Afrika Bambaata.[8] As more tapes became available, they began to be collected and traded by fans. In the mid-1980s, DJs, such as Brucie B, began recording their live music and selling their own mixtapes, which was soon followed by other DJs such as Kid Capri and Doo Wop.[8] Ron G moved the mixtape forward in the early 1990s by blending R&B a cappellas with hip hop beats (known as "blends").[8] Blend tapes became increasingly popular by the mid-1990s[citation needed], and fans increasingly looked for exclusive tracks and freestyles on the tapes. Also since the 1990s, it describes releases used to promote one or more new artists, or as a pre-release by more established artists to promote upcoming "official" albums. In the hip hop scene, mix tape is often displayed as a single term mixtape."
Re: “Swank Sinatra defends Psy, calls Billie Joe Armstong the 'HIV of music'”
quien sera BILLY?
Re: “Swank Sinatra defends Psy, calls Billie Joe Armstong the 'HIV of music'”
I'm gonna go ahead and not make it to this gig.
Re: “Modern Man explores the outer limits of noise rock”
Interesting until the Morrissey on quaaludes vocals kicked in.
Also, that's not "noise". Not even close.
http://ebnc.bandcamp.com/
Go ahead. Try this.
Re: “Swank Sinatra defends Psy, calls Billie Joe Armstong the 'HIV of music'”
Boy, I bet if those guys were any good someone might give enough of a shit to put them into NME's list of snarkiest popstar quotes.
Re: “Savage Souls release first two tracks from ambitious mixtape project”
Excuse my ignorance, but what is a "mixtape"?
Re: “Savage Souls release first two tracks from ambitious mixtape project”
Two more are now live! Dogs of War and Total Package. Peep game, Charleston. That's what rappers say right? Peep game? Word.
Re: “X-Factor returns to North Chuck”
Jack Hunter auditioned for this.
Re: “X-Factor returns to North Chuck”
What are the dates? Tickets online shows 21 and 22nd while this article shows 22 and 23
Re: “Southern Ground Music and Food Festival announces lineup”
No doubt. Being on the way to somewhere else is a major factor when touring. Helps a lot. And Chs isn't.
Things are not as barren as they used to be. Passion Pit, Beach House have played one off shows at
the Farm. Not a consistent flow though.
I think the majority of musical taste here goes toward rockabilly as opposed to indie/synthpop too so that's a big factor.
Re: “Southern Ground Music and Food Festival announces lineup”
Probably because there's only one interstate in and out of here. If we were better linked to Atlanta and Raleigh, then maybe....
Re: “Southern Ground Music and Food Festival announces lineup”
IDK, it would be great to snag a relevant indie rock fest here. But AVL with Moogfest/Mountain Oasis and SVH's Stopover already have that covered.
We have a great local scene but Charleston seems to have less pull/cred on the national indie rock scene than AVL's Orange Peel or Carrboros Cats Cradle for example.
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Oak Steakhouse
This is one of my favorite downtown restaurants. I have tried every appetizer and always… -brewengineer
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Craftsmen Kitchen and Tap House
I finally made it into the peninsula to visit Craftsmen Kitchen, after a couple month… -brewengineer
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Charleston Bakery
Web site advertising, sign on door, and telephone message says hours are 7 AM to… -Jim McKelvey
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Chopsticks House
This is truly the tastiest Chinese food in recent memory. After 10 years living near… -drval
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Phuong Restaurant
Yes! -Paul Cheney
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Steve Martin and Edie Brickell are a match made in bluegrass heaven
Love Has Come for Them
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CJO stages an outstanding reimagining of Porgy & Bess
Our only complaint: It was for one night only
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John Baizley talks about his art and the bus accident that nearly ended Baroness
Second Life
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Hip-hop folkie McKenzie Eddy opens new music venue, gallery
King Dusko to host Angie Aparo on June 9
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Jonathan Scales Fourchestra to play Pour House June 4
Head to the islands without buying a plane ticket
Re: “John Baizley talks about his art and the bus accident that nearly ended Baroness”
They'll be doing an in-store on Monday at 4pm at Monster Music in WA!