Xark!

The view from South of Broad

(Click on image to see it full-size)

Of course, for the locals, the shorthand version for this entire map is just "Charleston" and "Off."

Graphic by Dan Conover for Xark!

Tonight's flooding

Flooding in North Central Charleston, SC from Dan Conover on Vimeo.

We fixed the flooding downtown, which was good, but is the public works drainage fairy ever going to find her way to North Central?

By the way, the storm that dumped all this rain was rotating and produced gusts of at least 50 mph.

Happy solstice, y'all!

On the Run with PURE Theatre

PURE Theatre: Episode 1 from Dan Conover on Vimeo.

Episode 1: Actors and PURE Theatre co-founders Sharon Graci and Rodney Lee Rogers start their day.

PURE Theatre: Episode 2. The Move-in. from Dan Conover on Vimeo.

Episode 2: The PURE crew gets to work unloading their gear and constructing their new theater.

PURE Theatre: Episode 3. Showtime from Dan Conover on Vimeo.

Episode 3: Sharon gets behind the wheel of the Penske for her first truck-driving experience; everyone hustles to get ready for the first performance of Vaud Rats.

Cross-posted from Janet's SpoletoToday site.

BRUNCH OF THE LIVING DEAD

BRUNCH OF THE LIVING DEAD from Dan Conover on Vimeo.

I held off on releasing this in hopes of getting the audio sweetened by May 27, which happens to be International Zombie Day. When that didn't happen, I decided it was time to make a few little fixes and put this baby out!

Look for the polished version -- complete with the documentaries "The Making of 'Brunch of the Living Dead,'" and "The Making of 'The Making of Brunch of the Living Dead,'" on the special DVD director's cut, which should be available to anyone who asks me for one later this summer...

Why we're not blogging here

Today my mother wrote to see if we were OK, because we haven't been blogging much. This, then, is the 21st century: "Now be sure to eat right. And wear clean underwear and a nice hat. And be sure to blog every day."

In fact, the reason we're not blogging much at Xark is because Janet and I are blogging/vlogging and podcasting our collective asses off at SpoletoToday 2008. Janet's in charge this year, which means her dream has finally come true: She gets to tell me what to do, and I have to do it.

Here are the videos I've put up so far...

Monkey: Journey to the Grocery Store

Monkey: Journey to the Grocery Store from Dan Conover on Vimeo.

The second (better) Amistad video

Amistad: Race, art, history and opera from Dan Conover on Vimeo.

Hidden Charleston

Leftovers from working an assignment on Thursday.

SC State Criterium Championships

It's Lowcountry Volkswagen Race Weekend, and these are photos from the pro-level SC State Criterium Championship race, which took place this afternoon just down the street from Chez Xark at beautiful Hampton Park. More photos in my Flickrstream...

Magic = Doing what you imagine

Twenty-six years ago I sold my clothes and books to buy groceries and Bugler tobacco to last me out the final two weeks of school and exams. Twenty-five years ago I had a script for a 10-minute film I could have shot with borrowed equipment if I'd had less than $200. Twenty-four years ago I could have quit my job cutting greens for $4 an hour and made double that if I could have come up with $500 to buy a used pickup truck and a push power mower.

Later that year (1984)  I thought it might be a good move to start a coffee shop in a vacant storefront on Howard Street in Boone, NC, just a few blocks from campus. Thought I could offer people a place to drink coffee and smoke cigarettes and talk talk talk.  I could have pulled it off for less than $1,000 in 1984, and I even had friends who wanted in on the idea. But they were broke too.

And so we didn't start a coffee house, and I joined the Army instead.

I like to remember this now, because it doesn't really seem that long ago that I lived in a world where I could imagine anything but I couldn't do very much about any of it. Not very many people could. The deck was stacked against people without money or access, and we shaped our dreams accordingly.

"Brunch of the Living Dead": Scenes from Day 1

Our Xark TV production of "BOTLD" got underway Sunday afternoon. Here's a taste of what you missed if you weren't there. With the cool kids.

Losers.

(btw: this episode of XARK TV is now part of the XARK TV CHANNEL at vimeo. be the first to subscribe! this video also available on facebook and youtube... dc)

Confederate kitsch quick sketch

I was down on the battery with some new pens today, so ...

The South Carolina Hit Parade

The South Carolina Hit Parade from Dan Conover on Vimeo.

Jack McCray has been building a reputation for decades as Charleston's foremost authority on jazz history, and that's the way most people know him. He's the guy who wrote the book, literally, on local jazz (Charleston Jazz, Arcadia Press, 2007), and given his background as a writer and editor, it's easy to give him that label and move on.

But trying to put a simple label on Jack is invariably stupid. If you love jazz, do you just write about it? Or do you help create it? Promote it? Spread it?

Jack has produced other events, but his latest project might be his most ambitious. He's booked the top venue in the city and overseen the construction of an honest-to-God big band.

Reason? Because Charleston's contributions to jazz have been deeply connected to the big-band tradition. His show, The South Carolina Hit Parade, is two hours of music from South Carolina jazz innovators played by South Carolina jazz musicians.

I think Jack is doing something historic. The problem? Since so few people understand the context of Charleston's previous jazz history, the value of this event isn't widely appreciated... yet.

Jack and I have been sitting next to each other at work for about a year. I pulled him aside yesterday and did this quickie interview. As always, Jack is just interesting.

(For the record, I'm sure Jack would want me to point out just how collaborative all this is -- he repeatedly tried to list all the musicians and partners involved in this project, and I invariably cut them out for time. Sorry, Jack.)
                           
The South Carolina Hit Parade, March 22, 2008, at the Charleston Music Hall, from 7-9 p.m. Tickets are $40 at the door, $30 in advance at etix.com.

Images of the road

So we're back from our tour of the Deep South: 7 days, 6 states and plenty of gas ($3.17 a gallon in Alabama).  I've taken some of my photographs and put them in a gallery. There was snow and cool architecture and plenty of new ideas and new friends. Check it out if you have time.

Video Review: Sewee Shell Mound trail

XARK TV: Sewee Shell Mound Trail from Dan Conover on Vimeo.

New from XARK TV and XARK Charleston: a multimedia review of a trail to one of our oldest local archaeological sites (video posted here).

As a bonus for any Dead Lunetiks who might congregate here, this is the link to a video short of Luke playing an original composition at what amounts to a guitar school recital (like a piano recital, only it's supposed to rock). It contains footage of two former Dead Lunetik babes, circa 1982-84, as they are today. Can you spot  them?

South Tibwin, Hampton, Sewee...

For my mom, who hasn't seen me since I up and shaved my head...

That's an 18th-century rice impoundment from Tibwin Plantation behind me.

South Carolina Primary Numbers

So here's a few numbers from the South Carolina Democratic Primary. They are, of course, unofficial, and gleaned from sites such as CNN and Charleston.net:

Total number of votes cast
Dem Primary (1/26):     530,322 (54.5%)
GOP Primary  (1/19):     442,918 (45.5%)
Total:                                 973,240

87404 more voters went to the polls in the Democratic Primary than GOP primary. Yes, it was raining and cold on the 19th. It was overcast and cold on the 26th as well. In fact, as Dan and I walked to our polling place, it was sprinkling and windy and made my eyes water.

2004 Dem primary:      280000

Using the total number of votes in both primaries, here are some figures calculated by xark and rounded:
Percentage of total votes in both primaries:
Obama             30%
McCain            15%
Clinton          14%
Huckabee      13%
Edwards           9%

Another fun figure:
If you take the top two vote-getters in each  primary,  Obama and Clinton  for Dems and McCain and Huckabee for GOP, the Dems got 44% of the total  number of votes cast, compared to  28%  for the  Republicans. Interesting, if nothing else.

Polish the tiara, ladies!

Mark your calendars: The fifth annual International Princess Day will be celebrated on Dec. 14.

The history:

Also known as "Wear Your Tiara to Work Day," International Princess Day is held each year to raise awareness of the thrills of being a girl ...

The idea for IPD originated from the observation that qualities of the feminine were seen as negatives in certain arenas by both sexes. (Plus Princess Carol and I had birthdays within days of each other in December, so it was convenient.)

(There's more on IPD  here. But, uh, yeah, we've capriciously changed some things from last year already so stay tuned to xark!) All princesses are invited to wear a tiara all day: at work, at home, at the mall, anywhere.  Plan to take lots of photos! That can be published!  For those here in the Lowcountry, there will be a celebration after work, I'm thinking  5-8 or  at a place TBA, but most likely a bar downtown, unless other princesses have better ideas. I hope to  have  discounts for  those wearing tiaras, courtesy of Guerrilla Muse, my online store. Yes! There is IPD merchandise available!!!

Full details will go out as soon as possible, but plan to participate and join the fun! Feel free to spread the word to any and all of your royal friends.

King Street

Moultrie: The full package

The long-anticipated unveiling of Charleston's new statue of Gen. William Moultrie, the Revolutionary War hero of the Battle of Sullivan's Island, finally took place in June, and by all accounts the city's seer-suckered elites were suitably thrilled.

The eight-foot bronze atop a marble pedestal looks as if it could have been proudly cast and displayed in the 19th century -- or earlier -- making this one modern monument that got made without any any annoying input from those modern art smartasses, Bauhaus Marxists all...

Not that there was zero oversight. Back in 2000 Moultrie backers had to win approval for their concept from the city's Commission on Art and History, which wanted to see how the thing would fit in at White Point Gardens, better known as The Battery. Proponents propped nine feet of painted cardboard atop an existing (and since removed) monument to give the boardmembers some sense of its scale, then stood in serious contemplation while confused tourists tried to figure out why these locals were so interested in cardboard.

I had assigned a reporter to cover this event. At one point, a 6-year-old tourist boy standing beside the reporter turned to his parents and said, "That looks like a giant green penis."

Which, by the way, happens to be the smart-ass modern art/architecture critique of most heroic sculpture: It's phallic, intentionally projecting power and authority and control. Hence, smart-ass intellectuals and children see penises everywhere, while people who like such sculpture tend to be offended by the mere use of the word "penis" in public.

But I digress.

I finally stopped by to take a good look at Moultrie on Thursday while shooting a nearby artifact,  and something struck me: It seems the artist has endowed Charleston's defender with a bulging manhood that would make the members of Spinal Tap weep with envy.

Has it always been thus?  Perhaps. But what I see in this statue is a 21st century imagination of a 19th century work of kitsch -- blissfully inhabiting  an irony-free world that  refuses to acknowledge the miseries and awakenings of the 20th century.

Hence, in this one bronze we see the martial romance of the 19 century, plus the penis-size obsession of the 21st century.

Can a heroic figure today be truly heroic without the full package? One suspects Michaelangelo's David would bear a distinct resemblance to Johnny Wad were he to be carved in this horribly conflicted decade...

St. Patrick's Day Parade, Charleston

Photos by Luke Conover.