First (Scots) Presbyterian Church balcony

I first heard the opening notes of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in 1993. It was coming from the snowy static reception on a red, plastic, black and white Soviet-made TV in Budapest, Hungary. In the early 1990s MTV (thanks BBC!) had a 30-second commercial for itself that ran repeatedly – you know, like MTV did things in the early 90s. They had a clever spot that opened with “Spring” – the first notes in the audio link below– and it featured time-lapse photography of a flower blooming. It quickly cut (a la 1990s MTV jump editing) to a cold winter and a stop-motion figure of some something shivering and becoming frozen. Good ol’ MTV, way back when they played videos…

The opening bars are captivating, uplifting. During the two year Eastern Europe Grand Tour, a street vender in Krakow, Poland sold me Vivaldi’s Four Seasons on a cheaply pirated cassette. The cover art was poorly photocopied, the music barely recognizable on the muted bootleg format. But still, I could dig it.

Skip to Thursday June 4th 2009 at Piccolo Spoleto where I heard Vivaldi’s Four Seasons performed live for the first time. Wow, when they hit those opening notes (click and listen,about 3 minutes)… Not to get all warm and fuzzy, but music does move the soul, n’est pas?

Four violins, one bass, one cello, one harpsichord. They took turns with brisk high notes (feeling cold, or with the high energy of springtime) and long drawn-out tones (showing a stability, stillness, or a marked change in surroundings). After the performance one of the violinists was backstage checking her cellphone voicemail. Seemed odd to glimpse her as a mere mortal, she’d led me for the past hour to transcend the day to day. Thanks, I needed that.

First (Scots) Presbyterian Church stained glass

Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, the 18th century masterpiece performed by Amos Lawrence and Charleston Baroque, June 4th, 2009 at Spoleto USA, Charleston, SC.
Series: Classical: Early Music Series
Thanks to Ellen Dressler Moryl and the Department of Cultural Affairs for the City of Charleston for Piccolo Spoleto.
Personally, I waited a long time to hear this live and you brought it to us, thank you.

The18th century masterpiece performed in the intimate setting and amazing acoustics of First (Scots) Presbyterian Church

Meeting St at Tradd St

If you’re in the mood for scandal and risqué tales of decadence, College of Charleston’s Piccolo Spoleto Stelle di Domani production of ‘Quills’ will definitely fit the bill. Also, if you’re looking for great, young talent that serves the subject well and makes you forget that they’re still in college, you’re in luck.

After leaving the Theatre 220 show, a few things came to mind. First, make sure that you familiarize yourself with who the Marquis de Sade is. I had imagined that the majority of the patrons would have been familiar with the story of the French aristocrat who sought the ultimate pleasure at all times and whose novels of sadism and other controversial subjects enraged readers during the French Revolution era. Judging by the gasps that I heard when stories were acted out, it seems that this was not the case. To depict the obscene stories that the Marquis was obsessed with, actors stood behind a white sheet and served as Shadow Puppets for the acts, which were very sensational and creatively mastered.

Second, as you’re watching the Marquis de Sade describe these stories as they’re acted out, you realize that they’re not all that far-fetched from some of the horrors that we hear about in the present day. For a man that was considered so depraved that he spent almost half of his life in insane asylums, you start to feel bad for the guy. Was he just ahead of his time or was he really the monster that they made him out to be? Also, the fact that the full frontal nudity lasts for over an hour is quite an undertaking in itself.

A talented cast and an exciting story, ‘Quills’ is an excellent choice for those looking for a thrill.

A second performance! By popular demand from those at the previous performance and those that let it slip by…
Drink Small, South Carolina’s iconic 76-year-old blues legend will perform
Friday June 5th 4PM to 7PM at Mad River Bar and Grille.
Two weeks ago, Drink Small the Blues Doctor, made a huge splash opening the Piccolo Spoleto Early Bird Blues Series.
Drink (his real name) captivated a happy hour crowd of 150 with his razorwire guitar and deep bass vocals. Songs both kindhearted and edgy, Drink Small is South Carolina’s greatest living blues artist with wild tales and wicked skills. He has been recording since the mid-1950s.

Click and listen to 4 minutes of Drink-ism by South Carolina’s greatest living blues artist.

The venue is an old church, which was a pleasant bolt from the blue for many folks at his show in May. It stands with other venues where Drink has brought the house down - the Chicago Blues Festival, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, King Biscuit, Mississippi Valley…the list goes on.

Drink Small, iconic blues legend

This show is must for any fan or student of music, southern culture, and anyone seeking to experience a real-deal artist. See you there – get there early, everyone else will. Bona fide blues performances this good usually occur in a dangerous venue – but with this Piccolo Spoleto Early Bird Blues Series you can introduce the family to a blues icon and still get home before the streetlights come on.
click for venue info: Mad River Bar & Grille 32 N. Market Street, Downtown Charleston
6/5 4PM - 7PM Food and drink available for purchase.
More Drink Small info from his
DrinkSmallBlues.com /bio
Thanks and kudos to Shrimp City Slim (aka Gary Erwin), a keyboard player, singer, songwriter based in Charleston, SC, for his efforts in making this show happen.
Have a Drink sample from CD Baby.
Photo courtesy of drinksmallblues.com/bio

Tweeter Katie Rather Moore has sent us this rather impressionistic and fine photo of the Punch Brothers live and ongoing at the Cistern at College of Charleston. You can tell she was dancing when she took it.

The Punch Brothers, The Cistern

Spoleto frisson!

Mayor Joe spoke Italian
then gave his traditional opening declaration:
“And now maestro, Let the music begin,
The dancers dance, The choirs sing,
The children play, And the banners fly,
I hereby declare that
the thirty-third Spoleto festival USA has begun!”
Listen to it - Click for the audio of the event.
2 minutes 20 seconds

BOOM goes the confetti cannon,
and Whoo-Hoo goes the crowd!
The snappy snare drum kicks in, the brass blows,
and away we go. . . Spoleto USA 2009 is underway.

... about to "let the dancers dance..."

Sunny but not as steamy as most years

Sometimes we amaze ourselves — as with today when we manage to talk about nearly all things Spoleto, even though it’s coming to a gradual end. But we’ve had fun, right - huh? Of course we have.

The awesome Janet is back in the SpoStudio with regular BritBoy Geoff hosting.

Hear today’s podcast direct by following this link, or why not subscribe permanently here throughout the duration of the festival and get it fed to your MP3 player automatically. There’s also our guide to podcasting here.

There’s no Janet today — and Harriet is sick too! So it’s an all-male show on your ‘cast today as Geoff hosts with Dan and Jack acting as his wingmen. Geoff was obviously out too late last night, as he keeps thinking that it’s Wednesday and not Thursday, but apart from that I think we almost make sense …

Hear today’s podcast direct by following this link, or why not subscribe permanently here throughout the duration of the festival and get it fed to your MP3 player automatically. There’s also our guide to podcasting here.

Geoff’s back in the studio with Janet for Podcast number thirteen, discussing whe she’s bought Monkey tickets twice, how much it costs to run the Piccolo Fringe, and what we all got up to last night - performance wise, that is.

Hear today’s podcast direct by following this link, or why not subscribe permanently here throughout the duration of the festival and get it fed to your MP3 player automatically. There’s also our guide to podcasting here.

There’s no chance of you getting up and leaving before 40 minutes of one of our podcasts - we’re keeping them nice and snappy this year and not longer than 10 minutes!

The same cannot be said for the P&C’s official Spoleto reviewer Tim Page, who left ‘Monkey’ last night after 40 minutes despite its “many excellences” … Harriet’s in the studio trying to explain why.

I also catch up with the manager of Pure Theatre R.W. ‘Smiddy’ Smith, to talk about the Piccolo shows that they’re running this year.

Hear today’s podcast direct by following this link, or why not subscribe permanently here throughout the duration of the festival and get it fed to your MP3 player automatically. There’s also our guide to podcasting here.

And when we say ‘house’, we mean ‘podcast studio’. Welcome Mr. Conover and his dulcet tones for the first time this year, to discuss those staging issues onboard the Amistad, as well as highlighting some of the local visual art that Piccolo has to offer.

Hear today’s podcast direct by following this link, or why not subscribe permanently here throughout the duration of the festival and get it fed to your MP3 player automatically. There’s also our guide to podcasting here.