Is it hot in here, or is it just me?
Joe Pasta is my go-to place for a dish of chicken parm.
Or veal.
Parmesan.
Garlic bread.
A mini pizza. Crunchy salad
Sitting at the bar, I was startled when I saw the chef create several intense bursts of flame. Not sure what he was preparing, but I asked him to tell me when he was going to make it flare again.
He came over soon and asked "Are you ready?"
My camera and I braced and WHOOSH!
I don't think it was my meal - or a bowl of spaghetti - in the dancing flame.
A nice dining tradition when going to a show at the Performing Arts Center, is stopping to eat in Centre Pointe at
FATZ CAFE.
It's on the edge of Tanger Outlet Shops and has always been a treat.
The grilled salmon with skewered veggies, served over rice is a favorite. And, for dessert, I tried the peanut butter and chocolate pie.
The Oreo cookie was a special surprise.
A new place I knew as a favorite food truck now had moved indoors on upper Meeting Street by the off ramps of the Ravenel bridge.
Hello, My Name Is BBQ was larger inside the building than I expected.
But, then, food trucks usually do not offer dine-in seating.
Oh, it still has its "meals-on-wheels" and appears at food truck rodeos but the inside move intrigued me.
I stopped in on a Saturday evening on my way to the Music Farm and had them create a Pork on Pork meal for me by adding bacon to the Holy City BBQ menu item.
You really can't get too much of a good thing.
They offered the largest variety of barbecue sauces I have ever seen. Mild to hot to outrageous. Mustard, tomato and Jalapenos. Hit the link and check out their menu.
(Click on the photos to see more detail.)
I have heard comments around me like
"Hah, He must be a blogger." when I take out my camera to snap a shot of my meal.
I usually hand the commenting person my card.
It says I DO have a blog.
Labels: Centre Pointe, chicken parm, Fatz Cafe, Hey, Joe Pasta, My Name Is BBQ, PAC, Please click http://photo.meetup.com/687., Tabger Outlet Stores, veal parmesan
Going to the John.....
"Sir Elton, how are you sir?"
Er, I mean Sir John?
May I just call you Reginald?
You may call me Chuck.
I'll be the guy in the 14th row. With the white hair.
You started making your 250 million records back in 1967.
Yet, YOUR hair is not white.
I had several of your albums when I graduated college and enjoy your music still.
That's why I'm glad you came back to Charleston.
Enjoyed your performance here 4 years ago and look forward to a marvelous night tomorrow.
Another piano player I like -
Ben Folds - appeared at the Performing Arts Center a few years ago.
Guess you don't play in smaller venues like that.
He seemed to have a good time.
Is it possible you "touch up" your hair?
I tell people I dyed mine this color.
(Click on the photo of Ben Folds for details.)
The
Elton John photo is from the internet and it is as big as it'll get. I hope to have some of my own VERY soon.
Looking forward to a cold beer and some cool iconic music.
Labels: Ben Folds, coliseum, Elton John, ng Arts Center, OBE, PAC, Performing Arts Center, Reginald Kenneth Dwight, Sir John
Now I Need A Coffee Table...
I just created a 30-page
Coffee Table book.
The 9" x 12" hard cover book is filled with colorful photos I've taken with my small digital camera - a Canon
S90 - at concerts, music venues and Blues Festivals.I don't own a SLR (Single Lens Reflex).
This is really slick looking!
An online company called
MyPublisher makes it easy and simple to do.
I was able to self-publish it in just a few days so you KNOW it can't be too complicated.
I was surprised that it wasn't very expensive either.
One of the members of my local
photography group brought a beautiful one to a meeting a few years ago.
We passed it around and were impressed with the quality of his book.
His wife had tapped into his photo files and blew him away with the surprise Christmas present.
In fact, he told us, she did a
2 for the price of 1 deal and he sent the other one to his son.
I downloaded the free software and then gathered together the pictures I wanted to include in my first book.
There are many page layouts just a click away.
You can easily change your mind, enlarge or shrink the photos and choose to use captions or not.
I decided to have text only on the cover and on the spine.
My photos include a 2-page spread of a
Paul McCartney concert in Charlotte.
There's a shot of me holding a ticket to a 1965 Beatles concert in San Diego.
Other music venues include the
Pour House in West Ashley, the
Music Farm, North Charleston
Performing Arts Center, the
Tin Roof, Home Team BBQ,
Windjammer, the old
Dough Re Mi and the
Charleston Music Hall.
Trombone Shorty is on the cover, joyfully performing at the College of Charleston Cistern.
John Mellencamp is onstage in Columbia, as is
Billy Joel and
James Taylor...in three separate shows.
I was front row center for a
ZZ TOP show and have an extreme close up of one of the two long-bearded guitar players.
The trio's drummer is clean shaved but his name is Frank Beard.
(Click on the photos - twice - for more details.)
Take a moment to see what kind of book you can make with MyPublisher.
They have various special offers and I think you'll be pleased with the possibilities to be creative.
I'm planning a sequel.
Labels: Billy Joel, Fiery Ron's Hime Team BBQ, Frank Beard, MyPublisher, PAC, Paul McCartney, Windjammer, ZZ Top Dough Re Mi
TOSH.2260
Daniel Tosh is the star and producer of
TOSH.O on Comedy Central.
He brought his offbeat stand-up comedy style to Charleston for the first time Friday night.
Daniel filled all 2260 seats at the Performing Arts Center.
Twice.
His target audience is the 20-30 year old crowd and they trekked north to see the situational comedian talk of everything from shopping in Charleston on Black Friday to global unemployment to handicap parking spaces for the
"lucky ones."
He started the show with a smarmy
"As many of you know, I was born in North Charleston. He continued "I went to North Charleston College and some high school I forget the name."
"My dad works at Boeing and my mom takes crap off trees and sews it into hats."
The young crowd loved it.
If you've ever seen his show or one of his concerts, you know I really can't quote much of his act.
And, for that, we thank you.
(Click on the photos for a larger - but not much better quality - image.)
Since cameras were forbidden, I feel my shots from the 14th row came out pretty good. I didn't feel guilty because I was surrounded by I-Phones and other cells stuck up in the air taking pictures.
We were warned if you held your phone (or camera?) up "too long" they knew you were videotaping and you would be in big trouble.
I guess that means you couldn't be his "Viewer Video of the Week."
Labels: Comedy Central, Daniel Tosh, North Charleston College, PAC, Performing Arts Center, Tosh.O, Viewer Video of the week
Lucinda Williams .. my 4th time!
The
BLESSED lady was back in Charleston.
Miss Williams had her contacts in this time.
No
eyeglasses were offered from the audience to help her see the lyrics.
That happened at the
Performing Arts Center in 2008.
She played the
Charleston Music Hall Sunday night and remarked that she really thought it was a great venue.
"I like the twinkling lights behind me. They look like stars."
I agree it's a beautiful room and under-used for visiting acts.
More intimate than the
Music Farm where I saw her a few years ago.
Her touring bus was parked right at the curb out front.
How convenient can you get?
"BLESSED" is the name of the new album by the 3-time Grammy winning singer-songwriter.
She was backed by long time bassist David Sutton and drummer Butch Norton.
Lead guitar was Blake Mills.
They formed a tight musical group.
Her nearly 2 hour show (short intermission) was a sweet mixture of Blues, Country and folk rock.
There were some very tender moments when she put aside her guitar and sang from the heart.
I also enjoyed Lucinda in
Memphis in 2002 at the Beale Street Music Festival.
I look forward to the next time.
(Be sure to click on the photos for more details.Security didn't bother her camera and phone-toting fans and the lighting/sound was excellent.) Support live music!
Labels: Beale Street Music Festival, Blake Mills, Blessed album, Butch Norton, Charleston Music Hall, David Sutton, Lucinda Williams, PAC
Can't Quite Make That out ....
I would have loaned
Lucinda Williams MY glasses but then I couldn't see.
At the Performing Arts Center Saturday night, the singer and her band
Buick 6 played a show that got better and better as her voice deepened and she relaxed a bit.
"You're a great audience..I like the shouted comments," she told the crowd.
She explained she had a book of lyrics on a stand in front of her so she could
"just sing and not worry about remembering all the words." Then she flubbed a line.
"Oh, I meant to get more contact lenses before we started this 8-week tour for Little Honey, the new album, but I forgot to do that."
She was laughing at herself for a moment as members of the band kidded her and then a fan ran up to the edge of the stage and offered her a pair of glasses.
"Oh, I have glasses, I just didn't want to wear them tonight," she laughed and started the song over.
This time she got it right and the supportive crowd roared its approval.
We ARE nationally recognized as a polite city after all.
Labels: 8-week tour, Buick 6, contact lenses, eyeglasses, Little Honey, Lucinda Williams, PAC, polite city
Wanda's Going To China.
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This time next week, Blues Singer
Wanda Johnson - from the South Carolina upstate - will be on her way to perform in Macau, China.
That's what they mean when they say
"Talent will take you a long way."
Caught her and
Shrimp City Slim (Gary Erwin) last night at A Dough Re Mi in Mt. Pleasant for several excellent sets and it's no wonder she's in demand around the world. Her Blues chops are finely tuned.
Sitting in with Shrimp's band was
Dr. Pickup from Paris, France so it was a really international Friday night. The whole band will travel with Miss Wanda so it should be quite a show.
Last night the room was packed and, on one side, a happy crowd helped a fellow celebrate his birthday and, on the other side, a group of ladies also were eating pizza and birthday cake.
Tonight I'll be sitting down front at the Performing Arts Center in North Charleston for the
Lucinda Williams concert. Last time she was here, it was packed-shoulder-to-shoulder at the
Music Farm.Labels: A Dough Re Mi, birthday, China, Dr. Pickup, France, Gary Erwin, Lucinda Williams, Miss Wanda Johnson, PAC, Paris, Performing Arts Center, Shrimp City Slim
Lyle Lovett : Not Just Big ...Large!
Wow. He wasn't kidding..his band IS large.
When the lights first came up, 10 people were on stage, playing some great music and the audience at the Performing Arts Theatre in North Charleston clapped and rocked.
After the opening instrumental, the lights came up again, and Lyle Lovett was on stage, along with an added 3 energetic male singers AND
a choir composed of 10 beautiful singing voices from local Charleston churches.
That many people indeed count as a very, very LARGE band.
The 2 1/2 hour show included many of his quirky songs and his nice comments about Charleston - and his 4th of July stroll around town - provoked many shouted exchanges from the audience.
I was in the midst of a real dialogue.
At one point, he aimed his guitar so the reflected lights bounced out into the darkened hall so he could see faces in the happy, appreciative crowd.
The last time I had seen Mr. Lovett at the PAC, it was about a year ago. It was
The Songwriters Tour and he was seated on a bare stage with John Hiatt, Joe Ely and Guy Clark.
Not nearly as large a group, just another fine evening with talented artists.
Labels: Guy Clark, Joe Ely, John Hiatt, large band, local church choirs, Lyle Lovett, PAC, Performing Arts Center, singers, songwriters, Songwriters Tour
Music .... From AA to ZZ TOPS
Well, I finally ran out of days to continue covering Piccolo Spoleto as a
SpoJo but I received a special surprise last night from my buddy.
He had won two tickets to the
ZZ Top show at the Performing Arts Center. He heard a radio station promotion, called and got right through. How lucky can you get!?
First Row. Smack dab in the center. But, wait..there's more!
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As usual, people all around me had those dinky little cameras built into their cell phones but, this time, my small - but very effective - digital camera
WAS ALLOWED.
I have been seated up close for concerts before (10th row for The Eagles, second row for David Sedaris) but this time I could freely take pictures. Legally!
As
Tops fans know, this Hall of Fame trio has played together almost 40 years with the same three people. No changes since 1969.
Billy F. Gibbons, guitar, has the reddish hair color and the gray beard is bassist Dusty Hill. Hey, sitting this close, with a good camera, I'm able to see more and share more.
Frank Beard, the drummer, has long blonde hair and smokes filtered cigarettes.
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(Click on photos for awesome details!)
Labels: Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, Frank Beard, PAC, ZZ Top
David Sedaris reading
Wow. David Sedaris is a great writer and he reads real pretty too. I have enjoyed several of his humorous books - loaned to me by Raj - but last night at the Performing Arts Center, Raj and I sat in the second row and watched him closely as he read various short pieces for a little more than an hour and then sparkled for another 20 minutes of Q & A from the audience. The crowd looked to be nearly a sellout in the 2,400 seat facility.
Raj had wondered as we drove over if this were the right venue. It's big and it could look bad if only a few hundred showed. Not a problem.
When we were in a long line waiting to pay parking, I panicked and thought for a moment a hockey playoff game was also happening next door! Nope, just the power of Public Rodeo as David said he was once introduced during an interview. He is a frequent and funny contributor to NPR.
Speaking of hockey next door in the Coliseum, my last time there I had noticed a sign hanging above the top seats, far above the ice: "Ceiling Fans". Tonight I felt sorry for all the people sitting behind us further back and up in the nosebleed seats. They were missing the subtle grins, tics, smiles and eye-rolling David displayed as he read various pieces and excerpts from his diary. David would create a pregnant pause and then take a sip of water from a goblet, staring over the rim as he analyzed the crowd's reaction. He later admitted he enjoyed "testing" a piece, hearing it and editing in his mind. A large wooden podium was the single prop on the front edge of the huge bare stage with a curtain draped across the rear.
He finished and gave a little bow and as David left stage right to heavy applause, we got up and headed for the exit and my car parked right in front. Raj had to work tonight and we got back to my house a few minutes after 10. He had time for two cups of coffee and then changed into his scrubs and took off for the hospital. As usual, he was on time for his 11pm shift.
Sitting down front for a one-man show is the best way. The closer the better.
Labels: David Sedaris, NPR, PAC, second row
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