Late one evening, a man was walking back from the store to his home. Moonlight trickled through tree limbs and Spanish moss like a stained glass canopy. The air was warm…and very still. Even the crickets had gone quiet as if they themselves didn’t want to disturb the now deafening silence. Sweat trickled down the back of the man’s neck, and yet he crossed his arms over himself and quickened his pace.

Upon passing the Second Presbyterian Church, the man caught wafts of voices echoing off of stone and brick. He stopped dead in his tracks to listen…

“I’ll take this one, you take that one”

“I’ll take that one, you take this one”

“You take this one, I’ll take…”

The conversation continued. The man amazed, realized that he was listening to God and the Devil in the midst of dividing up the souls that made their final resting place only a few yards away in the church’s graveyard. Worried he had lost his mind, he ran back to the store, made his plight, and convinced the store owner to come back with him to listen.

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From Robert Behre:

What most would have shocked Spoleto’s first audiences in 1977? That there would be a regional African American country music trio (mostly guitar, banjo and fiddle but also kazoo, snare drum and jug) featured prominently and welcomed warmly during the 2008 festival?

Or that this trio’s first festival performance would occur exactly one night after the first African American managed to clinch the nomination for president of a major political party?

Would the last generation of Charlestonians have raised their collective eyebrows more about a group of black Spoleto performers talking about how their grandparents religiously watched “Hee-Haw” and how they eagerly anticipated their debut at the Grand Old Opry? Or that a black politician with less than four years experience on the national stage defeated a white candidate from the Democratic party’s establishment thanks in part to his overwhelming win in South Carolina?

Maybe the strangest thing is simply this: Sen. Barack Obama most recently appeared in Charleston in January at the College of Charleston’s Cistern, the very same place where the Carolina Chocolate Drops rocked a Spoleto crowd Wednesday night.

One additional coincidence: The temperature was in the 80s both times.

OK, that’s maybe the least shocking thing.

An Afternoon of Porgy and Bess

Today, I took in An Afternoon of Porgy and Bess. The program, which played to a capacity crowd, featured selections from the Heyward/Gershwin opera by soprano D’Jaris Whipper-Lewis and tenor/baritone Richard Blakeney. Robert Rosen provided a excellent overview of the history surrounding the work with his A Short History of George Gershwin in Charleston.

Both Whipper-Lewis and Blakeney, accompanied by Chamber Music Charleston thrilled with their beautiful renditions of Summertime, Oh, I Plenty O’ Nuttin, and It Ain’t Necessarily So. I found Whipper-Lewis’s Strawberry Woman especially beautiful.

If you can, do catch this gorgeous program of history and music time next around. It’s a lovely way to spend an hour.

Seeking A Landscape

Next, I headed to the Gibbs to see the exhibitLandscape of Slavery: The Plantation in American Art.

Dan’s post about race and art got me thinking about my own skittishness on the subject of slavery and plantation life. My maternal grandparents were sharecroppers in Marlboro County, SC, and my mother would tell my siblings and me how she picked and chopped cotton for $2.00 a day, how she hated it, and what she did to avoid it.

She also told us about how my grandfather picked 1000 lbs of cotton in one day, and how proud he was of that. I thought about how difficult that must have been and how determined he was to excel at something. For my grandparents, “smart” implied more industriousness than intelligence, and my grandfather was known as especially smart.

As I toured the exhibit which, had art ranging from the pastoral to the provocative, I thought a lot about my mother, grandparents and other sharecroppers and slaves who worked those fields with the hope of a better life.

I thought the exhibit well done and thoughtful. Some of the works, a photo of the charred remains of a lynched man and a photo of a slave woman stripped to the waist were a bit jarring, but it’s all part of a journey that our country is still traveling.

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More photos from yesterday’s Reggae Block Dance.

The headliner, Slice International kept the party going despite some early technical difficulties. It was my first block dance, and I enjoyed the music, dancing, and people spotting.

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According to Piccolo, here’s what’s hot this year. Piccolo, supposedly the Little Sister to the Big Festival, has hundreds and hundreds of events. Once we have plowed through the program, we’ll tell ya what we think. You can get Piccolo’s e-newsletter by signing up at the Web site.

Also note that: Piccolo’s annual Reggae Block Dance is moving to a new location in 2008…Marion Square.
REGGAE BLOCK DANCE
Saturday, May 24, 2008 from 7-11pm
SLICE International headlines this annual outdoor music event favorite! Enjoy the pulsating rhythms of the Caribbean as Piccolo brings African drumming, dance and reggae music to Marion Square.

CUBAN BLOCK PARTY
Saturday, May 31, 2008 from 7-11pm
The Jazz Artists of Charleston bring the sounds and flavor of Cuba to Marion Square with a concert featuring the Garage Cuban Band, followed by headliner Havana Son.

TICKET BROCHURES AND PROGRAM GUIDES:
Ticket brochures have arrived and are in the mail! If you can’t wait to get one, go to a Charleston Area Publix Super Market to get your free copy or go to the Gaillard Auditorium in Downtown Charleston.

Wondering What the Hot Tickets are So Far For This Year’s Festival?

CLASSICAL MUSIC: Choral Artists: Sandlapper Singers / Early Music: Vivaldi Guitar Concertos / Spotlight Concerts: St. Petersburg String Quartet at Mepkin Abbey / Young Artists: CofC “Broadway Highlights”

DANCE: Dance Festival / Great Gig Dance Ensemble / Twisted Tango

JAZZ AND BLUES: Harbor Cruise: Rolling on the River Review / Ann Caldwell in John Street Jazz / Tommy Gill Trio Upstairs at Mistral / The Voice of Wanda Johnson

MUSICAL THEATRE: Always Patsy Cline / PIAF: Love Conquers All / God’s Trombones /

PICCOLO FRINGE: A Complete History of Charleston For Morons / Harvard Sailing Team / I Live Next Door to Horses / Cody Rivers Spectacular II

SPECIAL EVENTS: An Afternoon of Porgy & Bess / The Lovell Sisters / Charleston Men’s Chorus / Memorial Day Concert / Na Fidleiri

THEATRE: The Mammologues / All About Bette / A Devil Inside / The Tragedian

ME: (to peninsular waitress at end of lunch rush): “How are you today?”

WAITRESS: “I’m about ready to be done with Spoleto, I can tell you that.”

My waitress’ complaints:

1. Elderly patrons
2. From out-of-town
3. Specifically, North Carolina (ouch)
4. Don’t know what they want
5. Act suspicious, confused and hostile
6. Move slow, but in a hurry
7. “…they all want to split up their checks in these weird ways…”
8. “…they bark at you… I can understand that you need to get your check in a hurry because you have to make it to a show, but there are ways of doing it that don’t require barking.”

“I’m sorry to download on you, honey”, she said. “Whachu want to drank?”

Today’s video blog tells the story of an unlikely Piccolo Spoleto act: Sprockets, a family circus act that hails from exactly nowhere.

Partners Scott and Izzy and their 10-year-old son Theo have been on the road in a 1962 Bristol double-decker bus since 1997, when they set out to busk their way from England to Australia. Family friend Joe joined them two years ago in South America, and the bus only arrived in the United States three weeks ago. Its destination: Charleston, where Scott and Izzy believed their comedy-circus act had been booked as part of Piccolo Spoleto.

Only it hadn’t. Through some mix up, the roving circus had been assigned nothing more than the standard busking license that all street performers must buy.

So when Sprockets pulled into town (coasting down hills all the way from Alabama with a blown engine), the members faced an immediate quandry. Where could they park their bus? And how could they get on the Piccolo program at the last possible moment?

Answer: After booking a performance at Buist Academy early last week, the group persuaded Ellen Dressler Moryl, Charleston director of cultural affairs, to attend. The culture czarina liked what she saw, and with the city’s blessing Sprockets got a prime location on Marion Square.

This talented couple puts on their fun show daily at 2 p.m. Stop by and give them some love… and a donation. They’ve still got to get that engine fixed, and they’ve got to make it to Canada this summer…

[flashvideo width="400" height="300" filename="wp-content/videos/27vlog.flv" returnpage="http://www.spoletotoday.com/" /]

So the parties are underway, anyway…

At the Gibbes: A party for the museum’s big spring traveling exhibit Rodin: In His Own Words. Patrons and the paying public got a first look at the controversial bronzes (on display here through Aug. 12) and milled around under tents in the Gibbes’ walled garden.

In attendance: Paolo Dalla Zorza of Paolo’s Gelato on John Street (and Atlanta).

And here’s some social news: The chef/veterinarian/pilot/businessman/raconteur/gelato alchemist is throwing a Spoleto party at his West Ashley home Friday night for the Italian ambassador, and to get in the mood, he brought gelato in the colors of the Italian flag Thursday night. “They’re not in the right order, though,” he said, and shrugged.

Seen walking by the Gibbes en route other locales: Singers Amanda Squitieri (Diamantine), Monica Yunus (Argentine) and Eugene Bancoveanu (Scapin) of the opera L’Ile de Merlin went strolling by with friends, apparently taking the King-to-Meeting shortcut through the SCE&G parking lot. I gave them a big thumbs-up, and meant it, and if I can like an opera, that’s really saying something (here’s the link to my video from their dress rehearsal on Tuesday).

All three seemed genuinely surprised to be recognized and photographed. Flattered, even. But doesn’t it look to you like Squitieri is used to having her picture taken? She does that look on stage, too.

(Photos: That’s Yunus, a friend, and Bancoveanu in the top shot; Squitieri is on the left)

I spotted Yunus, Constance Hauman and several other members of the Merlin crew a few minutes later at the Sottile Theatre.

The draw: A rehearsal of the opera Faustus, The Last Night. While the theater seemed like a friendly reunion for the opera tribe, I was under wary (but friendly) supervision throughout my short visit.

I was there, apparently, for one thing, and very specifically for that one thing: To stand by the door, in the orchestra pit, with a handheld recorder. Which, mind you, is kind of cool if you’ve never been in an orchestra pit during an opera.

Impressions of the opera? None, since apparently hanging around in the audience and watching the performance wasn’t part of the offer that said “you can stand in the orchestra pit.” I got a brief glimpse of the stage as I was being escorted back to George Street by a very nice intern, and I think I spotted three opera singers in bright costumes, one of which appeared rather birdlike. And I think two of them were standing on a scaffold.

Musical impression: In addition to the main orchestra down in the pit there’s also some kind of special commando orchestra squad up in the balcony, and they play this growly brass fanfare. Other than that, the music I heard was twitchy and modern.

Oh, and this is interesting: The opera is sung in English and still has English sub-titles.

In attendance: Faustus composer and librettist Pascal Dusapin, who leaned into the pit alongside conductor John Kennedy and gave the orchestra a little pep-talk that offered this conclusion:

I’m sorry for my English. But it was an honor to discover your enthusiasm. I love you.

Well, bless his heart.