The Art of Africa tonight and "First Weekends?"

So many wonderful arts events are going on in the city of Columbia tonight. Has it occurred to anyone else  that First Thursday may be outgrowing the 3 or 4 hours it's been allocated on Thursday nights? Could there possibly be a First Friday, as well? Or maybe even a First Weekend? Some of us who love our First Thursdays were chatting yesterday and the subject came up. With the arts community as buzzing as it is these days, it's not an exaggeration to speculate that Columbia may be on the way to becoming a Southeastern arts destination. Certainly, the introduction of a First Weekend Series could make that happen. Start on Thursday as usual, but continue with gallery hours -- even openings -- and performances on Friday night, Saturday afternoon panel discussions and symposia, Saturday evening soirees, Sunday morning choral performances over brunch? If not every month, then what about seasonally?

Let's talk about this, OK?

In the meantime, one of the exciting events scheduled for tonight is a multi-disciplinary arts endeavor at Anastasia & Friends Gallery on Main Street called, The Art of Africa. In addition to the visual arts in Anastasia's gallery, videographer Lee Ann Kornegay will show images from her various trips to Africa on a constant loop while the Next Door Drummers perform outside.

Can you say, "Sensory Explosion?"

We could talk more about the event but A & F provided Jasper with a lovely and informative press release. Let's just take a look at it below, shall we?

____

What do Anastasia Chernoff and Lee Ann Kornegay have in common when it comes to Africa?

Inspiration and a love of the culture, people and art.

Together with visual artists Rodgers Boykin, Michaela Pilar Brown, Wendell Brown, Tyrone Geter, Arianne Comer King, and Keith Tolen.

And performances by Abou Sylla, Next Door Drummers, and Sufia Giza Amenwashu.

Art that comes from Africa, is created by artists with African roots and that has been inspired by Africa. The exhibition will be a combination of paintings, sculpture, film, music, mixed media and textiles.

An explosion of color, texture and emotions, The Art of Africa brings connection to the culture and gives a perspective from many sides.

“My trip to Botswana, South Africa and Robben Island in 2005 changed my life.” says Anastasia.  “I was overwhelmed by the warmth of the people and their respectful co-existence with the animals and nature surrounding them.  When my guide spoke to me about the trials of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, my heart was stung with an even deeper love for these beautiful, forgiving people. I thought to myself, if only the world could subscribe to this policy of understanding and be able to live in harmony WITH each other and not AGAINST each other … how would that look? And to be able to fully understand the importance/impact of forgiveness, not just for others, but for self, too?  For me, it was a thunderbolt of enlightenment from these simple, yet wise people who lived in the bush. The inspiration was so empowering, that I immediately began to sculpt (for the first time in my life) when I returned home.  This show honors that initial influence.”

Kornegay, traveled to Guinea in 2000 & 2002 to study and film the cultural arts and between 2003 and 2005 went to Ivory Coast and Nigeria on work assignments. “I wept the first time I flew in over Africa.  It was a powerful feeling, a visceral reaction. My trips to Guinea put me in the company of some the best West African musicians and dancers of our time.  I was and still am humbled by that.

One of those musicians, Abou Sylla, master balafonist and Jeli will be performing at The Art of Africa.  A singer, storyteller and doyen, Abou is a treat for the ears.

Wendell Brown, a fiber artist feels family history “forced me as an artist to use my work as a platform to look at the acculturation of African slaves in the United States. What survived of African culture in America?  What is it today? “

In search for answers, I looked at the Congo, Nail Fetish Sculptures (nkisi nkondi), and the masks of West, and Central African. Studying these objects revealed to me the stitch that united the African Art forms with African American quilts. “

Arianne Comer King indigo artist says:

“It took going to Oshogbo to lock in my pathway

I am an indigo child

Osun Ronke

A Native Daughter

I celebrate my blessing

a messenger through the magnificent world of creating

Looking at waters, beautiful southern skies and ancient trees

I humbly yet joyously live to create through all the senses

All the elements of the arts

No limitations

Just be

A vessel of exploration

Ashe Gon!”

____

Jasper Magazine – the Word on Columbia Arts debuts in print in

Two Weeks!

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Columbia Comics meets Columbia Soul at ColaCon 2011

Time to pull out your favorite super hero/villain costume, Columbia! Our progressive little city is hosting the first of its kind ColaCon at the Columbia Museum of Art from 5 p.m. to midnight this Friday. This isn’t your standard comic book convention, my fellow fantasy lovers. ColaCon is where hip-hop music and comic book culture intersect to create an evening of eclectic goodness.

Organized by the talented Preach Jacobs, ColaCon will feature all of the traditional elements of a comic book convention, including lectures and panels from some of the top professionals in the industry, as well as inkers, writers, graphic novelists, illustrators and more.

Columbia native Sanford Greene, an accomplished comic book illustrator, will be a featured artist and will speak on the panel “Indie Music & Art in Modern Culture.” Green has worked on many high profile comic books including Amazing Spider-Man, Army of Darkness, Deadpool and more. Also a Columbia native, Marvel Editor Jody LeHeup will be speaking on the panel “Want to Get Into Comics” and will give aspiring artists, writers and inkers portfolio reviews.

I took a little time to talk with LeHeup before he heads our way from the Big Apple. Here is what he had to say:

• What is it like coming back to Columbia for the first ever ColaCon as a Marvel Editor? It’s great! I always enjoy coming home to South Carolina, but it’s especially exciting to be coming back for ColaCon. Preach Jacobs has put together an incredible show and I’m thrilled that as an editor working in comics I can be a part of it. I’m flattered to be asked.
• What role has Columbia played in pushing you forward to achieve your dreams? When I was living in Columbia, it was not a city that pushed artists forward. The support just wasn’t there. Plenty of artists tried to get things going, put on events, that kind of thing, and people just didn’t come out. It was a very frustrating thing to watch and to experience. You’ve got people bitching that there’s not enough of an art culture in Columbia and then those same people don’t go out and support it, either with their presence or their dollar. It was that stagnation that actually pushed me out of Columbia. That was a few years ago though and things seem to be getting better now. The response to ColaCon and other recent events has been big so that’s very heartening. Much love out to everyone living here fighting the good fight.
• What are you looking for in the portfolio reviews you will be conducting at ColaCon? I’m looking for a lot of things. First and foremost I’m looking for ways to help the artist whose portfolio I’m reviewing to become better. An artist that’s not ready this year might be ready next year if they work on their craft, so giving them good criticism and enabling them to improve is good for them and it’s good for me as an editor. Beyond that I’m looking at an artist's sense of page composition and layout, storytelling from panel to panel, anatomy, perspective, special relationships between characters and environments, consistency from panel to panel, ability to cartoon and to have characters emote, and a general idea for whether this person’s work is competitive with artists I currently work with.
• Didn’t you just get a book nominated for a Harvey Award? Aren't the Harvey Awards like the Oscars of comics? Tell us a little bit about that. Hah! Well, they’re more like the Golden Globes. The Eisners are sort of like the Oscars if you want to follow that analogy. But yes, I was nominated for a Harvey Award for Strange Tales Vol. II and it was a huge honor.
• What are you currently working on at marvel? I’m currently editing a title called UNCANNY X-FORCE along with three other projects that haven’t been announced yet.
• Are we going to see any of your own comics anytime in the near future? Yeah, I hope so. Not for a while though. Got a few things I have left to do as an editor first.
• Anything you want to say to those aspiring to work in comics? Stop talking about it, study the craft, and do it. Let nothing stop you. If you get your ass kicked trying, get up and try it again.

Jacobs has planned a solid comic book convention, as well as taking it a step further to ensure our senses are stimulated throughout the entire evening by bringing in some of the top hip-hop, soul and alternative sounds from the southeast. Also appearing is Talib Kweli, an MC from Brooklyn, NY, as the headlining act.  Kweli first gained recognition through a collaboration with MC Mos Def called, Black Star. He is also a frequent collaborator with artists like Kanye West and has sold 2 million albums worldwide.

All around, this is going to be a one-of-a-kind event not to be missed. If you are interested in comics and/or good music, it is a great time for you to check out what is going on in the local and regional scene.

General tickets are $20 and $15 for Columbia Museum of Art members.For more information on ColaCon check out http://cola-con.com/. We hope to see you there (in costume)! So, until then, tell Jasper what super hero/villain you plan to impersonate at ColaCon on Friday. For me, I’m thinking Poison Ivy.

-Margey Bolen

Jasper Magazine - the Word on Columbia Arts debuts in print in

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In Praise of Small Rooms

As Bobby Houck, Hank Futch, and David Stewart of the Blue Dogs were getting settled onstage to begin their set last night in the White Mule, Houck leaned into the microphone and thanked everyone for coming out. Then he mentioned that it was the third time they’d played the cozy basement bar on Main Street and how much they enjoyed the room. “So let’s give a hand to the White Mule for hanging in there,” Houck said. “It’s not easy to do these days.” The crowd cheered, the Dogs kicked into their first song, and I basked in the intimacy of seeing some live music in the company of about 40 or 50 other people.

It’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, especially after catching a couple shows at the new Conundrum Music Hall in West Columbia. Live music in a small room with just a few folks can be a wonderful thing. Being up-close-and-personal with the action is a big plus, and meeting the performers at the break and chatting with fellow concert-goers can make the whole thing feel like a family affair.

I’ve come to cherish these intimate musical encounters, and I’m beginning to think that these smaller rooms with smaller crowds is all Columbia needs to keep its music scene alive and well.

This way of thinking goes totally against the grain of what I’ve preached for years: That the big black eye on the Columbia arts community is the lack of a mid-sized music venue that can comfortably accommodate 500 to 1,000 people. For years I’ve whined about Greenville having The Handlebar and Charleston having The Music Farm, and Columbia having, well, nothing of comparable size and quality. Valiant efforts have been made (Senate Park, Headliners, etc.), but for whatever reason, these clubs failed.

So I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not location, quality of the sound, or the space that eventually does these clubs in, it’s the local-music audience, or lack thereof. At a Neko Case show a few years ago at the Orange Peel in Asheville, I ran into at least a dozen folks from Columbia who had trekked north for the gig.

“Why can’t we get a show like this in Columbia?” one of them grumbled.

“Because if Neko played Columbia, there’d only be the 12 of us in the audience,” replied another.

An overstatement, surely, but not by much. Although there’s a solid core of knowledgeable and dedicated music fans in Columbia, on the whole, the audience is neither large nor curious.

And that’s what got me thinking that these smaller rooms are a perfect fit for now. White Mule, Conundrum, New Brookland Tavern, Utopia, Whig, Five Points Pub, and others are doing their best to bring good music to town and provide a stage for aspiring local artists. So we as music fans should attend as many shows as we can and PAY ATTENTION to what’s being played.

Who knows? We might develop a valid live-music culture here, and our lackadaisical audience might turn into one that’s larger and more loyal. Only then will the talent bookers who route tours for people like Neko Case start casting approving eyes towards Columbia, and only then might we need that 1,000-seat room.

- Mike Miller

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Josh Roberts and the Hinges @ 5 Points Pub This Saturday Night

 Josh Roberts and the Hinges

We here at Jasper are pretty excited about featuring Mr. Roberts in Volume 1, Number of 1 of our magazine, as well as having him be the special musical guest at our release party, but we couldn’t resist telling you that he’s playing with his full band tonight at the newly re-instated 5 Points Pub.

Roberts calls his music “rock and roll with the roots showing,” which roughly translates (at least for this band) as electric guitar explorations that recall some of the best rock music of the 60s and 70s, with amble forays into blues, country and old-school folk. The best part is. According to Roberts when “every fifth song or so, we’ll [The Hinges] dive off a cliff and see where it takes us.”

Anytime these guys are in town, the possibility exists for seeing not just the best local show all year, but the best rock show all year period. So get it out.

Check out his website, www.joshrobertsandthehinges.com

- K. Petersen

Shooting Match Coming to Saluda Shoals Park

I admit it. I’m a shutterbug. I’m also just a tad competitive, so it’s like catnip when a photography contest comes around. You may have heard that the always breathtaking unearth celebration of nature and the arts is returning to Saluda Shoals Park at the end of September, and festival organizers are seeking submissions for their unearth Amateur Photography Contest. Do I hear bike trip? My son and I soon will trek to Saluda Shoals in pursuit of that winning photo because, to qualify, photos must be taken at Saluda Shoals Park. The judges will be looking for images that capture the magic and natural beauty of the park. You can take pictures of trees, the river, trails, animals, and even people enjoying the park (but be sure to get photo releases if you submit any pictures with identifiable people in them; the critters, however, probably don’t have legal representation).

While I’m on the subject (and although I’m merely a hobbyist at this point), I would like to offer some tips for shooting your best nature photos. Did you ever notice how most sunset photos tend to look alike? Sure, they’re pretty and all, but boring unless there’s some special, different element to them. And while it’s great to stand back and see the “big picture,” I’ve had some surprising success focusing on tiny, off the beaten path treasures I happen upon. There is so much beauty everywhere you look as long as you just see. Fungi are among nature’s most fascinating ‘sculptures,’ and they come in all sort of shapes and colors. Don’t overlook the lichen on tree bark, insects, small reptiles, even the tiniest of flowers. Focus your lens on them and see what happens.

Earlier this year, I took a hiking trip to Jones Gap State Park in the Upstate. I just happened to bring my camera with me. Here are a few examples of what I found there (and shot on sight) over the course of just a couple of hours.

See. It’s OK to get down and dirty, play a little Pachisi with the beetles. There’s a lot that’s below (or even above eye level). Anyway, I was pleased with these shots.

OK. I know a lot of you will want to join me at the unearth photo contest AWARDS CEREMONY on Thursday, Sept. 29. Photos will be exhibited at the park’s Environmental Education Center throughout the entire unearth weekend, Sept. 30 – Oct. 2. Cash prizes will be awarded in Adult and Junior divisions in each of four categories: General Nature, Human Nature, and Digital Creativity. The deadline for entries is Saturday, September 17, at 5:00 p.m. For a copy of contest rules, go to www.unearthsaluda.org or call (803) 772-1228.

And if I see you on the trails at Saluda Shoals Park between now and the 17th, well, … bring it!

- K. Hartvigsen

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Mind Gravy Poetry

Mind Gravy Poetry is the brain child of Columbia newcomer, Al Black, who took things into his own hands when he moved to the city and didn't find a poetry reading series that met his personal needs. (There are several other poetry reading series in town including a Tuesday night session that leans toward slam at the Art Bar and, when university classes are in session, a series that originated out of the MFA program at USC, called The Shark's Parlor.) Al's lovely wife returned to college when their four children got older, completing her Ph.D. from Purdue University at the age of 55, and moving to Newberry College in August 2008 to teach. In Indianapolis, the Blacks' hometown, Al had been very active in the music and poetry scene and he regularly contributed satire to a liberal blog.

Missing his old Indianapolis fun and a venue for sharing written word poetry, Al started Mind Gravy at the now defunct Gotham Bagels a little over a year ago. The site of the readings has changed as businesses closed and the group of regulars grew, and in February the regular reading moved to Artsy Fartsy Art Gallery and Coffee Bar in Cayce.

"We are bursting at the seams," Al says. "Most nights we have 10 or more people standing and we total 40-50 people."

Tonight, Jasper Magazine literary editor, Ed Madden, along with Ray McManus will be the featured poets. Rev. Marv Ward is the musical guest.

A few more things Al would like friends of Jasper to keep in mind:

*We are a free venue & no participants are paid

*We go every Wednesday from 8-10 PM

*We start with a guest musician (original music), followed by the featured poet and then open mic

*We have had featured poets from VA, NC, TN, GA, FL & SC

*70% of the featured poets are page poets, but we have featured performance, slam, dub and hip hop poets in the past

*Our music runs from SC folk/country to R&B, hip hop and everything in between

*Open mic is limited to 2 pieces per person – all types of poetry, all types of music, an occasional dance, once a magician and once a comedian – we try to be positive and encouraging of all levels artistic expression

*We expect to begin webcasting in October – this will widen our market and our reach for featured poets

*Al doesn't feature himself, but sometimes he'll read a piece or two during open mic

*Occasionally, we will have an artist paint during the event

*An interesting note -- about two months ago, the house-mother for a group home for developmentally handicapped women started bringing 6 of the women to Mind Gravy. They come each week, enjoy themselves, leave at 9:30 and are respected & appreciated by our regulars – it is the most unusual thing I have ever seen. (Jasper's heart swelled a little when he read this.)

*The first Wednesday of each month is youth night – adults come, but it is youth performers

*The 2nd & 4th Wednesdays are normal Mind Gravy

*The 3rd Wednesdays Al hosts the Columbia Writer’s Alliance -- same format, but Al is trying to encourage this organization started by African-American women - so we call it Mind Gravy presents Columbia Writer’s Alliance

*Whenever we have a 5th Wednesday, we do it on some special theme – this month has a 5th Wednesday and the theme is percussion; we have some different percussionists coming in and, of course, poetry

*Mind Gravy operates on the premise that cross-pollination of different art forms at the event increases the audience size and diversity, engenders appreciation of differences between art forms; creates an environment that encourages collaboration and, is just a delightfully wonderful time.

Well, those dear readers who are familiar with the mission of Jasper Magazine, know that Al just said the magic words. Collaboration, coming out of our single-disciplinary arts caves, and contributing to and taking inspiration from other artistic genres and communities is a sure-fire way of building and enriching a sustaining community of artists and arts lovers.

Congratulations to Al Black and the participants of Mind Gravy for being pro-active and pro-arts. Be sure to check them out tonight or any Wednesday when you need some words to soothe your soul.

And before you leave us today, please take a moment to look to your right on this screen and go ahead a and subscribe to your daily dose of "What Jasper Said." We don't want you to miss a word.

And please check out our website at www.jaspercolumbia.com.

Thanks, Y'all.

-- cb

A Poem by Marjory Wentworth

Today, Jasper's been thinking about the Charleston Earthquake of 1886.  As the Holy City braces for a possible visit from Irene later this week, let's send some positive energy down I-26, and spend a few moments considering the images of rebirth and renewal SC Poet Laureate Marjory Wentworth evokes in this poem... Charleston Rooftops

Everything that lifts into the air has purpose: even the granite tipped war monument rising above palmetto trees points like an arrow toward the sun; chimneys, stove pipes, weather vanes and steeples— the flag at half mast, flapping in the wind. Streets clog with memories of smoke tinged wind— of a dark sky on fire fueling the air, flames swirling around steeples, and a harbor blocked by ships of war. Cannons fired toward the ever present sun until the avenues lined with oak trees were abandoned, and the trees thrust transcendent into the wind reached like prayers toward the sun. Odors of ruin and rot lingered in the air above the streets emptied by war; the bells silent in the steeples.

Beyond scaffold enshrouded steeples, sunlight weaves through leaf-thick oak trees now filled with blossom and song, though war saturates the brick and memory of wind spinning with salt through summer air that simmers beneath the blood streaked sun. Red runs through ribbons of sun across the skyline and steeples lifting off tin sloped roofs into air filled with flowering trees. Always the tireless ocean wind ripples the worn-out flags of war. The names of the enemy change, but war is the inscrutable language spoken beneath this sun. The flag at half-mast, stiffens in the wind. Funeral bells sound from the steeples. In the cemetery, beneath the oak trees, taps linger on the broken air. The sounds of war will rumble in the wind. As steeple bells call through the sun filled air, birds nest in trees twisting toward heaven.

Originally published by the Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, April 2009 (www.deadmule.com)

Vino & van Gogh? Yes, please.

This past Friday, my parents and I went to Greenville to a place called "Vino & van Gogh." Essentially, Vino & van Gogh is a place where an individual could go to drink wine (or another beverage of choice) and paint with acrylic on canvas. Usually there is a theme each night, so each person in the class would paint the same subject. The theme for the night we visited was "Starry Night Greenville." Vincent van Gogh is one of my absolute favorite artists and his "Starry Night" is by far my favorite painting, so naturally this was right up my alley. What could be better than wine, van Gogh, and "Starry Night"?

As I was painting my Greenville-style "Starry Night," I started chatting with the owner, Marquin Campbell, and began to wonder why Greenville has two places like this -- Design with Wine and Vino & van Gogh -- while Columbia has none. This makes no sense to me.

Columbia has an active arts community yet little that actually allows people to create even modest works of their own for fun. Sure we all love going to art openings and seeing art by individuals we all know and love, and even art by those we do not know. So why not have something that allows people to express themselves on a blank canvas with things they love -- drinks, good friends, and paint? One doesn't even have to know how to paint or be good at painting to enjoy this.

So when is Columbia going to offer an experience similar to the one I had at Vino & van Gogh?

--Lenza Jolley

Lenza's mom, Kim Jolley, is pictured with her work in progress

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For more info on Vino and van Gogh, visit vinoandvangogh.net.

Meet Jasper associate editor, Mike Miller

(photo by Mark Green)

Mike Miller has been a surfer, janitor, tennis bum, shoe salesman, bellhop, and newspaper journalist. He writes short stories, poems, and songs, and he's penned a book about the local rock band Hootie & The Blowfish. He is the author of a collection of short stories titled, Lonesome Pines – Living and Dying in a Little Town, and almost eerily resembles Mickey Watson of the famed musical group The Cedar Creek Boys.

But that’s not surprising.

Mike knows his way around rock ‘n’ roll and the literature from which it sometimes emanates. He once bumped into John Prine in a bar in Galway, Ireland; ran into Tom Waits at the airport in San Diego; and asked Pat Conroy for writing tips one morning after breakfast at the old Martin's Restaurant on Devine Street.

Despite these close encounters, Mike says, “very little real talent has rubbed off.” Yet he continues to trudge along, stringing words together in various forms of prose, banging away at the same old guitar chords, and trying to make just a little sense of the wacky world around him.

Jasper is pleased to have Mike ply his trade for our little arts magazine. In addition to writing feature stories, copy editing, and tending to whatever tidbits of arts news that catch his eye, Mike will be crafting his own column in each issue of the magazine. We're all pretty excited about it.

Jasper likes Mike.

For more of Jasper Magazine -- The WORD on Columbia Arts, please visit us at

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Behind the scenes (and the wardrobe and lighting) of Swing '39

Some of the staff of Jasper had the good fortune last night to attend the closing performance of TRUSTUS Theatre's most recent play, Swing '39. Directed by Chad Henderson, a young man who, full disclosure, is dear to the heart of this writer, Swing '39 was the winner of the TRUSTUS Playwright's Festival.  Written by Alessandro King, a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, Swing '39 was developed during readings both at Sarah Lawrence and at New Dramatists, "the country's premiere center for the support and development of playwrights," according to their website. While we enjoyed the play and thought the second act made up for some needed editing on the playwright's part in the first, we were also duly impressed by the set design, lighting design, and costuming.

Danny Harrington, who did the scenic design, was able to capture the essence of early 20th century propriety in his pink, center-stage Davenport which appeared to be as appropriately uncomfortable as it was beautiful.

Costume Designer, Alexis Doktor, one of the two most under-recognized and over-achieving members of the Columbia arts community, scored an A+ again with her too snug pencil skirts for the women and too large suits for the men. Her wardrobe decisions well reflected the constraining sex role constructs of the pre-World War II era. (And the shoes chosen for Sylvia, played by Bianca Raso, were to die for!)

Aaron Pelzek, the other of the two most under-recognized and over-achieving members of the Columbia arts community, announced he was serious about his lighting design in the first few seconds of the show when he dramatically lit the stage, one fixture at a time, to the tune of the opening music.

Finally, hats off to Elena Martinez-Vidal who played the off-stage voice of Sylvia's mother with a demanding whine that would put that of Howard Wolowitz's Ma to shame. That said, at least one member of our theatre-going party has not been able to get Dr. Hook's rendition of Sylvia's Mother out of her head since reading the program last night.

Other standouts from the performance include G. Scott Wild in the role of Benny Goodman and Rozlyn Stanley as his love interest, Maggie. Wild, seen most recently as John Wilkes Booth in  the TRUSTUS production of Stephen Sondheim's Assassins, also directed by Henderson, was a snarling portrait of professionalism. Stanley embodied the kind of sensual naiveté that would allow a girl of her character's age to become involved in a tryst with such an unlikely partner.

Kudos to the cast and crew of Swing '39. We're looking forward to seeing more of you all on our city's stages in the near future.

-- C. Boiter

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David Yaghjian's Everyman Conjures a Connection

 

While gazing last night at repeated depictions of the central character in David Yaghjian’s wonderful new exhibit, “Everyman Turns Six,” I kept thinking that somehow I knew this bald, pot-bellied, middle-aged man who preferred being naked or wearing only his underwear. Everyman is a loose cannon, that’s for sure. He’s the scary neighbor who is sometimes funny, sometimes dangerous. The one you hear talking to himself while he’s unfolding cheap lawn furniture. Tom Waits’ “Buzz Fledderjohn.” Mike Cooley’s “Bob.” No, wait a second. I’ve got it: He’s Charles Bukowski.

Bukowski was the heavy-drinking, womanizing waster who scribbled poems between (and during) sessions in the seediest bars of Los Angeles. He lived in flophouses and flea-bit hotels. His best friends were winos and prostitutes. He was the Everyman of poets. Like Yaghjian’s creation, Bukowski could have easily fired up a leaf blower in the front yard while wearing nothing but his tighty-whiteys. I can hear him now, screaming a verse over the leaf blower to a passing girl on the sidewalk, “Your swagger breaks the Eiffel tower, turns the heads of old newsboys long ago gone sexually to pot; your caged malarky, your idiot’s dance, mugging it, delightful --- don’t ever wash stained underwear or chase your acts of love through neighborhood alleys!” (From “Plea to a Passing Maid,” 1969)

For years, academics have panned Bukowski’s work, but regular folks who like an occasional verse or two, have found his poems honest and refreshing, as well as disgusting and titillating. I’m no art critic, and my association of Bukowski with Everyman is certainly not derived from some deep understanding of Yaghjian’s thought-provoking paintings. The connection was simply triggered by physical similarity and a shared artistic weirdness I sensed from the paintings.

That’s one of the things great art can do: Dust out the back corners of your mind and help you make creative connections you might not have otherwise. “Everyman Turns Six” runs through Sept. 6 at 80808 Gallery in the Vista.

Here’s another (R-rated) Bukowski poem to be going on with, one called “Drunk, ol’ Bukowski, Drunk.”

I hold to the edge of the table with my belly dangling over my belt

and I glare at the lampshade the smoke clearing over North Hollywood

the boys put their muskets down lift high their fish-green beer

as I fall forward off the couch kiss rug hairs like cunt hairs

close as I’ve been in a

long time.

--Mike Miller

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Jasper Goes Punk Rock with Kid Anthem

So, if there is anything Jasper gets more disappointed about than people ragging on Columbia’s art and music scene, it’s when he himself misses something great about it. Case in point is the local punk rock band Kid Anthem’s debut EP, which was released back in October of last year. It’s possible he even heard about the band, but had a unfair knee-jerk reaction against a genre that seems fraught with easy musical crutches of speed and shouting, with an emphasis on sloppiness over tunes.

This was totally not the case with Kid Anthem. Featuring a slate of experienced scene member and a modus operandi that leans more towards anthemic than anarchic, Kid Anthem cherry picks from the best of the punk and alt. rock tradition. Jasper hears echoes of Bad Brains, Social Distortion, Bad Religion, Superchunk, and lots of other bands that we don’t know enough about to name check. Big guitars and propulsive drumming dominate these songs courtesy of Eric McCord (Pop 39)and Chris Shirah (Burns Out Bright, Ye Mighty!) respectively, but there are also some surprisingly wicked bass lines weaving in and out of these songs (played by Thank God drummer Troy Thames) too. Throw in some dedicated background vocals giving the group a touch of Phil Specter pop, and it becomes clear that this is a group taking the term “power trio” seriously.

Even after a couple of listens, Jasper was amazed at the way the group seems to even-handily divide time between big choruses and hooks with moments where the band opens up some space and plays with one  another.   Some people are always going to be a little turned off by punk rock. But if you have an open mind and want to hear a band right here in town taking the musicality of punk rock quite seriously, check out the EP here. It’s free!

-- Kyle Petersen

Jasper says, "Arms be bound with rope and shame"

One thing about Jasper, he gets his hands dirty. Sometimes he comments about the art he sees and hears, but sometimes he’s got his hands down in it, making something. So sometimes we’ll write about what we’re doing.

So: I’ve been cutting up Jesus. Will I go to hell for this?

I’m working with a collaborative of artists –visual artists, filmmakers, performance artists—on a show called Saint Sebastian: From Martyr to Gay Starlet. The one-night-only gallery show will be Sept. 1 at Friday Cottage Artspace downtown (1830 Henderson). (Yes, we know, we know: same night as First Thursday.) The event was planned in conjunction with SC Gay Pride on Sept 3; the idea was to add an art element to the week of events.

The show, conceived by Alejandro García-Lemos and Leslie Pierce, explores the quirky iconography of Saint Sebastian, martyred twice (the first time didn’t work—Saint Irene pulled all the arrows out), his eyes always raised to heaven but his body writhing across this history of Western art in masochistic ecstasy. How does a Christian martyr become a gay icon? What is it about his story, his image, the representations of his martyred body? (The publicity art—which juxtaposes a male pin-up with stained glass, by Leslie Pierce—captures, I think, some of the weirdness of this icon.)

There’s a great image of Sebastian in the Columbia Museum of Art. The Virgin and Child are pure Byzantine, blue and gold and flat, but Sebastian is looking over the Virgin’s shoulder like the Renaissance, naturalistic, a real body, the cords of his strong neck.

The Sebastian show will include visual art, performance art, photography, film, a small souvenir chapbook of original art and poetry, a DJ, a cash bar, and a couple of boys standing around with arrows.

I’ve been writing poems about Sebastian—some about the image and history, some responding to specific works by the other artists. The interactions and collaborations have been rich and rewarding. (Note to self: there should be more interdisciplinary artist collaborations. Such a great way to generate new work.) A film visually responds to a poem which responds to a print, the film incorporating a voiceover of the poem and the imagery of the print. A photo documents a performance art piece which uses a poem which responds to a print (the poem projected—performance art into film—onto a male body).

I was asked to turn a small room into a poetry chapel. I’ve got icons, prayer cards (with a prayer to Sebastian.) Among other things, I wanted some prayer banners. My partner found some huge folk religious art canvases at a local auction—interesting because the artist was painting traditional Christian images, but clearly had a special interest in the textures of men’s bodies—the veins on arms, the carefully painted chest hair on an apostle. (And that carefully draped loincloth across the fisher of men, looking so like a wardrobe malfunction about to happen, the hand of Jesus so carefully positioned there, as if he’s about to rip it off.)

So for the banners I cut up bodies—Jesus, apostles, thieves on crosses. Something wicked and vaguely erotic about it. Disembodied arms. An arrow (real arrow) in the side. Wrists bound with golden rope. A prayer. “Arms be bound with rope and shame.”

-- Ed Madden

If Art and Fashion had a Baby

An artist sits at one of those checkered tables at Cool Beans and sips on a Red Bull while sketching waifish silhouettes. At first glance, this Lexington native seems to be focusing on her drawings carefully with reading glasses. But sitting across from her, you notice the absence of lenses and that in fact you are looking directly into the framed eyes of Katherine Elliott. Without any lenses, and without a filter, this graduate of NYC's Fashion Institute of Technology is a control freak when it comes to aesthetics, likes to use the word 'vomit' in various contexts, and is not afraid of cockroaches, well at least not anymore.

"I use to be completely terrified of cockroaches and of any other creature like them,” she explains “until I was hypnotized. And it really worked!"

Elliott describes her first confrontation with a cockroach after the hypnosis as calm and easy: "I stared at it and said to myself, that is a huge flying cockroach."

But while her fear has transformed into fascination, the thought of finding a roach in her boudoir still disquiets Elliot: "I still don't think I would want to touch a cockroach, but at least now I'm painting them."

Since the hypnosis last May, insects have been appearing in Elliott's art. And while beetles and roaches have become a motif in several of her works, Elliot does not let them take on lives of their own. She is still very much in control of what the insects are allowed to do and how. What dictates the tone of her painting are Elliott's moods, two of which can be distinguished in her oil paintings "Happiness" and "Demeter."

Inspired by the devastated divine mother, "Demeter" is painted in muddy greens and browns. In it, insects act passively as filthy wallpaper in the background while desperation and loneliness are personified in the expression of Demeter.

But in "Happiness," beetles are welcomed to the spotlight as they crawl all over a woman’s body. Judging by her serene brow, the pretty subject is quite alright with it. "Happiness" showcases the twisted and delicate of Elliot's art, a psychology of hers that pushes spectators to the (rose-colored) edge.

Elliott is edgy and not just in her art. She is loud, funny, and makes voices when telling stories that will engage the crap out of you. For some reason, though, she did not fit in with the other kids growing up. But there are no sob stories here. There is always comedic relief with Elliott, such as when she describes her dim schoolgirl years. "Some days I would wear a bright pink wig to class," she says. "It was really cute, with side-swept bangs and layers. And it also had a built-in scalp so that it looked real. People would tell me ‘take off that wig, Katherine,’ and I would reply, ‘No, it's my real hair,’ and then I would point to the scalp."

Elliott's best school memories spurt from the two years she spent at the Governor's School for the Arts. There, she focused on painting and graphic design, honing skills she had first developed years before at the Tri-District Arts Consortium at Columbia College.

At the Governor's School, the young artist was particularly inspired by her art history teacher, Dana Howard. It was in Howard's class that Elliot was first exposed to one of her favorite artists, Edvard Munch."I have a soft spot for Munch's work, especially for his etchings and drawings," she says.

Elliott uses "creepy" and "elegant" to describe the etchings and drawings by Munch that she loves so much. This vocabulary is not surprising with the young artist, as anyone might find Elliott's own paintings to be eerie and chic.

Perhaps because of her FIT background, Elliott's waifish figures and subjects are mostly inspired by fashion. Model-like and almost skeletal, her subjects maintain an exaggerated modern beauty. Elliott's leading ladies evoke an angular and nymph-like aura similar to that of unhealthily thin fashion models. "I have always felt that curvy women are the most beautiful," Elliott explains, "but in my paintings, I choose this aesthetic. She’s not supposed to look pretty in the real way."

When asked why fashion and not art, Elliott's answer is simple: "Well when I was in high school, I got this crazy notion that I would never make money doing fine art." And so Elliott decided to devise a career in which she would make clothing that was "artful and fun." It was a practical decision and, while the young artist thought she would be able to take advantage of her background in art, Elliott soon realized that her time behind the drawing board would be minimal and that sending e-mails, fitting models, and the long hours would in fact be the bulk of that career.

"I think if I was living in the ‘70s right now, I would have enjoyed myself in the fashion industry because there was a lot of freehand drawing involved," she says. "But nowadays everything is done by computer, and there isn't a real need for fashion illustrators, something that I would have been interested in."

Six years in New York City led to a bachelor's degree in fashion design, unforgettable rooftop photo shoots, summertime internships with Derek Lam and Bill Blass Group, as well as a position with Calvin Klein's women's collection. But it wasn't for her. Elliott ran out of money and returned, reluctantly, to her roots in Lexington. It's the best move she has ever made: "Well now that I've moved to Columbia, I really love it down here even though I thought I was going to hate it and vomit and cry everyday!"

Though she is still a baby in her career, it is exciting to watch Elliott's first steps. Her debut gallery showing took place during August's First Thursday, where she showed a ceramic slab piece, meant to look like a castle, for the “Vessels” show at the Anastasia and Friends gallery on Main Street.

When asked what other avenues of artistic expression she is involved with, Elliott responds with a litany of projects and ideas. She embroiders, plays with clay, designs a line of women's pastel-colored accessories and purses under her line of Rive Gauche Craft, and she orchestrates fashion photo shoots, too.

"I've been known to throw together a tripod," she says as she takes my car keys and gently places them underneath her Nikon camera, which sits atop books at a Cool Beans table. On the day of this conversation, I was told to "dress up." Elliott would take pictures of me, herself, and of us together.

"There is something wonderful about directing and appearing at the same time!” she says.  “It puts me in ultimate control."

While her photo shoots are casual, friendly, and spontaneous, Elliott takes them quite seriously. Except for a few photographs with her handmade lambskin clutches, the shoots are not done for marketing. Most of the time, they are simply manifestations of creativity: "It’s sort of like an excess vomit of creativity that I have to channel somehow, and so I'll just grab a camera and go.”

-- Karina Salehi

Director of Advertising

Jasper Magazine

Poet Cassie Premo Steele responds to artist Bonnie Goldberg

Last year at one of Mark Plessinger's multi-disciplinary arts events at Frame of Mind, the local writer and poet, Cassie Premo Steele, created poetry in response to some of the paintings by artist, Bonnie Goldberg, whose work you saw in Jasper's last message. At Jasper, we love it when artists come together to inspire one another and share their gifts with each other and those of us who are lucky enough to stand and watch.

Here are two of the poems Cassie wrote for that night. For more of Cassie, please visit her at www.cassiepremosteele.com.

Look this way

Look this way, he said,

as she turned her head

away from him, again.

Her own shoulder

makes a better bed

than his ever did.

It took her years

to believe it, though.

His hard bones,

she thought,

were the best

she could do.

Hand on hip,

she finally said

the words: We're through.

For Goldberg's Drawing 202, ‘nude female standing.’

Your daughter turns from you

Your daughter turns from you daily now,

with the grace of a dancer, and somehow

you learn to accept it, that carpet she weaves

and walks away upon each day.

You knew this day would come, even

before she could walk and you spent

hours drumming on her thighs and

humming lullabies. You were preparing.

You saw flashes of it at two and ten,

her rage slicing the way for her to cut

away from you. You were smug

and thought you knew wisdom.

Becoming daughter to mother, we learn cutting.

As mothers, we learn waving goodbye and staying.

The lesson of grandmothering: Crying. Smiling.

Never saying how hard it is to see them leaving.

For Goldberg's Painting 145, ‘promises.’

Cassie Premo Steele is the author of eight books and teaches writing and everyday creativity at The Co-Creating Studio. Check her out at www.cassiepremosteele.com

Can you name Bonnie Goldberg's models?

Local artist, Bonnie Goldberg, has built a reputation not just by creating images of beautiful women and men, but by somehow, through that incomprehensible magic that is artistic interpretation, committing the essence of her models to canvass.

Though Goldberg primarily paints women, the portrait above is of two local artists, a man and a woman, who recently performed at a public event.

Can you name the artists above? (No fair posting if you're related to the models or have already seen them identified.) Post your guesses in the comment section below.

For more of Bonnie, visit her at www.bonniegoldberg.com

Jasper was in the news again

Thanks to Otis Taylor for officially welcoming Jasper to the Columbia arts scene in Sunday's The State paper. If you missed his kind introduction, we've copied it below. Let us introduce you to Jasper.

Jasper: The Word on Columbia Arts is a magazine that will release its first issue on Sept. 15. The website launched last week and already the writers, in a section labeled “what Jasper said,” has begun posting interesting ideas.

For example, the following was written in a post titled “Sometimes, Jasper is bored”: “Jasper just wishes that his beloved ballet ADs would believe in their audiences enough to know that they want to be challenged — they’re getting tired of the same old, same old. Yes, they love their sleeping beauties and their enamored pirates, but when an audience already knows the score to a show by heart then, honey, it’s time to change the show.”

The post went on to mention area choreographers who would, undoubtedly, make sparks fly if they were allowed to choreograph for Columbia City Ballet or Columbia Classical Ballet.

Jasper, which will be published by Muddy Ford Press, will have a familiar tone when it rolls off the press. Editor Cynthia Boiter heads a staff that includes Kristine Hartvigsen, Ed Madden and Kyle Petersen, writers who had their work previously featured in undefined magazine.

If you haven’t already made the connection, Jasper shares a name with Jasper Johns, a contemporary painter and printmaker who was raised in South Carolina. Jasper, the magazine, will be printed bi-monthly.

Read more: http://www.thestate.com/2011/08/07/1923628/arts-planner.html#ixzz1UeLK7CXg

A poem by Ed Madden

Dream fathers

By Ed Madden

We drive across the bridge, late at night, a hundred feet or so of clattering boards—

no rail, no rim, just jagged planks, and river flowing slow and brown below. The bridge

collapsed last year. I cross it every night in sleep—sometimes alone, sometimes with him—

but always away from home. The bridge's end may veer; each night I go someplace else,

dark cypress swamp on either side. One night my father is the driver and the car.

He opens up the door of his side, and I climb in. I cross the bridge again,

riding in the body of my father.

Dream fathers and more of Ed’s poetry can be found in his most recent book of poetry, Prodigal: Variations, 2011. Ed is the poetry editor for Jasper Magazine.