Thanks to Eric Lindsey, Jonas Criscoe, Sarah Witt, Stephen Long and Margaret Ann Mabry for getting the Hub City/HUB-BUB store back in business. (Its former home now houses stacks and stacks of HUB-BUB chairs.) You will find this store right inside the office. Here Margaret Ann Mabry shows off the merchandise …
Over the past few weeks, some of you may have noticed the sweet new raised garden beds outside Hub-Bub’s back door…well…technically it’s the front door but in the back of the building. Thanks to donations of lumber, soil, plants and a hose; and the carpentry/planting expertise of our AIRs; we will soon be enjoying fresh spinach and beans (that is if the local pigeons don’t get to it first). Now one of the beds is located right outside of our back/front door which means that it’s easy to stretch the hose from the spicket across Hub Bub Way to reach the little okra sprouts and squash flowers. BUT to get to the other bed you have to cross Hub Bub Way, walk all the way past the warehouse and into the burnt out field behind the warehouse but before the concrete wall (should have known better than to build veggie bed above pile of rock and field of yellow grass with burn markings from 100% direct sun…will do better next time). Anyway, that’s a long way to walk with a hose. So what’s the solution? Rain barrels! A rain barrel is a big old barrel with a filter on top and a spicket at the bottom. You put it on the corner of your house (or warehouse) and cut the gutter so that instead of having water pour to the ground to water your driveway, it pours into your rain barrel. You attach a hose to the spicket at the bottom and voila…fresh rain water on your veggie garden that is 150+ paces away. The Carolina Garden World is hosting a rain barrel workshop on Saturday July 19th where for just 50 bucks you can get a rain barrel of your own and learn how to set the thing up. For more info, contact Ned Barret at Upstate Forever. Thanks Ned for sending a rain barrel our way! nbarrett@upstateforever.org
I’m putting in a plug here for Moody Black and for a great event coming up at the Showroom Friday, July 25, starting at 8 pm. That night the Upstate Carolina Poetry Slam Team (yay) takes on a trio of North Carolina slam teams (boo) in some sort of crazy regional competition. If you’ve never been to a poetry slam, you don’t know what you’re missing. Clear your calendar now — Moody always needs judges and scorekeepers from the audience — because I promise you will be entertained. Admission is $5, and if you want to be one of the five lucky folks to participate in a preliminary open mic, leave me a comment here. Betsy
Slam poster
To celebrate the 4th of July in style, the AIRs and I headed up the hill to Saluda, NC for the annual Coon Dog Day Festival. For those of you who have not been, well shame on you! It is the best day of the year in my opinion. First there’s a hillbilly parade (and these are real hillbillies folks…not people dressed up like hillbillies but authentic ones). The parade lasts about an hour and then the sound of banjos and spoons fills the air. They have this old band with probably 10 guys up on stage playing the bass, mandolin, banjo, spoons…whatever. And people are dancing in the streets. I mean, people are breaking it d.o.w.n. Sarah was right up there with them by the way. She had these two little kids running in circles. We had taken a short lunch break right before the band started and stopped in at the Purple Onion Cafe for sandwiches and beers. That place is great too. They get a lot of the same smaller music acts that come to The Showroom. The afternoon at Coon Dog Day is focused more on the coon dogs themselves. I’ve been asked many times to define what a coon dog is. I can’t tell you specifically what one is but I can tell you what it is not. It is not a hybrid mix of dog and coon. Coon dogs chase racoons up trees. They often bark at them. In fact, there is a coon dog barking competition during coon dog day. All very exciting. We (unfortunately) missed all of the coon dog day dog competitions to go swimming in the Greene River. Afterwards, we spent some time at my brother’s house which is a cultural experience of its own. That night included sombreros, muscle tees, biking videos and mullet wig. Good times. Now we are back in action at Hub-Bub and looking forward to the Asylum Street Spankers on Friday night. Hope we’ll see you there!
We’re all still reeling from the amazing show last week. The artists created an amazing space (see Alix’s post below) but it wouldn’t have been the same at all without the huge turnout from the community. It was really exciting to see such a diverse group of people come to see the show and meet the artists. Thank you, thank you, thank you, I hope everyone had a good time, we sure did.
With the fourth coming up on Friday there’s not alot happening around here this week. A few meetings, working on the fall music line-up, getting info out and together for the next exhibit are all things keeping me busy. I’m looking forward to Thursday though when my bud Andrew Blanchard has his opening at the Guild Gallery at ye ol’ Chapman Cultural Center. Andrew has been working his ass off getting ready for this show spending days and nights in the printroom at Converse. I’m looking forward to seeing everything all together. I’ve heard rumor that there might be some HUB-BUB imagery included. Check out the article about his show, Spartan’scapes, in last week’s Herald Journal and come to the opening, it’s free and goes from 6-8pm. Here’s a little teaser.
Wow. The artists-in-residence Entry Show Thursday was such a fun night! Thanks to everyone for coming out to show your support. It was a big crowd to celebrate the beginning of another great year for the Hub-Bub AIR Program.
Everyone’s work for the show came together so well. Each installation/video/performance/poem held its own but also worked really well with each other. Jonas’ cardboard collage visually mimicked his video loop and created a calm almost trance-inducing vibe. His work was juxtaposed to Ellie’s pink toothpick balls/vines of kudzu/black paint dripping on plastic silverware/insulation installation. A nice contrast. Sarah’s gingerbread house performance was a hit! For those of you who missed it, Sarah built a sweet gingerbread house with a window, red door and a working doorbell. Unsuspecting visitors would ring the bell; she would show them a plate of gingerbread cookies; signal if they wanted one; and then stomp on the cookie and sweep it out at their feet! Not to worry though…she had baked a batch of delicious gingerbread men that were available to anyone who wanted one. She an Ellie both provided homemade food for the crowd. We’ve got more of Ellie’s homemade pickled eggs in the gallery if anyone wants to come by. Sarah also showed two of her films…one entitled “Washing with Witt” and a sad but humorous performance she did while in Iceland. Hanging from the ceiling all the way to the floor is a sculptural piece of Sarah’s and I would argue that it’s the largest (or at least the tallest) peanut butter and jelly sandwich on the planet. Her shellacked sculpture of brown bread dripping with pb and j complimented Jonas’ cardboard squares spread out on the gallery wall. So…you see…everything worked together really well. Patrick was on stage around 8pm for a poetry reading. If he weren’t so darn funny, the whole house would have been in tears. That man writes some beautiful sad poems.
Thanks again for everybody who came out last night. The crowd was so diverse with kids of all ages…2 months to 80+.
Alix
oh…and thanks Sarah for reintroducing Depeche Mode to my itunes.
tonight for the AIR Entry Show. It starts at 7 and lasts until 9 with a reading by Patrick at 8pm on the dot. Be there or be square! The AIRs have been working diligently since their arrival to create work for this. They’ve put together some outrageous installations (and insulation) that has transformed the gallery space into something…well…really fun! The show will be up for a month so you can come see it anytime but tonight is your one and only chance to catch a performance by Sarah and Patrick’s reading.
Also…stop by the Chapman Cultural Center on your way over to Hub-Bub. They’ve got a great exhibit opening from 6-8pm: “Art and the Animal/Penguins and the Art of Being Cool”
See you tonight…
I spent the past week in Charleston/Isle of Palms and I have to say it’s good to be home. As to the title of this post, I got a little bit of a tan spending a few days sitting on the beach. I lathered up most days trying to avoid the whole skin cancer thing but but went au naturale for a couple of hours on the last day just for a little visual proof that I actually took a vacation. As far as rest goes, I don’t know if I would really call it all that restful. Nieces and nephews made sure that I didn’t sleep in too long most days but it was a good time and gave me a chance to relax and re-energize. Thanks to Samantha’s mom for setting up the whole vacation and finding a such a comfortable place to stay. We got back Friday afternoon just in time to catch the end of the puppet parade downtown, what a cool thing for Spartanburg. The parade ended in with a big gathering in the greenspace near the clock tower. There were kids everywhere including Boys and Girls Club groups with Nikki and Heidi, Kris and students from the Spark group, Jane, Mark Scott and others from the city, Betsy Fleming from Converse, AIRS and other HUB-BUB folks. It was great way to return to Spartanburg and my first chance to see Doug McAbee’s sculptures that had been planted in the space while I was away. Cate has been working on making that happen for a while, good job Cate. Now we need about four or five more.
I was supposed to return on Saturday but cut my vacation short after booking Hot Club of Cowtown. I’m sure that the show could have gone down without me but I had to get back to make sure it all worked out and of course enjoy an incredible band. Sure enough it was one of the best shows we’ve ever had at the Showroom (I know I say that all the time). Hot Club of Cowtown consists of three amazingly talented, world-class musicians and the show blew me away. We ended up with only fifty or so people some coming from Greenville, Charlotte, Raleigh and other surrounding cities. I’m not sure why more Spartanburg folks didn’t come out but we will have them back if we can work it out. All of the band members, Elana, Whit and Jake, were super nice people and a pleasure to work with. Elana brought along her dog Ava who wandered around the Showroom during the second set before taking her place on the front sofa. Please, if you see these guys on the schedule again do yourself a favor and come to the show. You will not be disappointed.
It kills me when people say there isn’t anything to do around here. More and more there are weeks when I have more things that I want to do than I have time for. This turned out to be a huge music weekend in Spartanburg. Aside from our show on Friday there was the big event at the Music Camp last night. I went out with Jonas, Patrick and Margaret Ann getting there just in time for the last two acts. We missed DAM Combo, Shane Pruitt Band and Col. Gene Wyatt Trio but caught the Greencards and The Belleville Outfit. The Greencards were great but Belleville stole the show. They were rockstars and put on a blowout performance complete with fog, lightshow and a beautiful grand piano. The crowd pushed to the front of the stage creating a sea of people dancing, screaming and tossing beach balls. Congrats on an impressive show guys, you get better everytime I see you! The music continues today with a free show at Duncan park. Kudzu, The Watts and Shane Pruitt Band will play out at the amphitheater where Jazz in The Park used to take place. Gather your blanket, cooler and kids/dogs and head out there.
I love my job, HUB-BUB and the city that I live in and it’s hard for me to tear myself away from all that. I have to thank Betsy, Alix, Margaret Ann, Sara and the Artists-In-Residence for holding down the fort while I was away. It’s going to be a busy week getting back to business and preparing for the opening on Thursday. I hope you will all come out to support the new AIRs. It’s been great getting to know them for the past few weeks and I’m sure that the show is going to be something not to be missed. Of course you can see the exhibit for a month but it won’t be like being at the opening with Sarah giving a one-time performance and Patrick reading some of his writings. Check out the article and video in today’s Herald Journal and make plans to be at the Showroom Thursday between 7 and 9.
It’s a lot of work getting ready for vacation usually involves many other people. Thanks to our neighbor Sherrie for keeping an eye on our house and gathering the mail. Also thanks to the folks at Woodland Pet Resort. This is the first time we have used their services and they took good care of our two Great Danes. If you’re looking for a nice place to send your animals while you’re away I recommend them. Each of our dogs had their own room and they even have webcams in them so you can check in on them from afar. Sounds kinda crazy and probably is, we love our dogs. It’s good to be home with the dogs, our friends and all the things I love. Getting away gives you a renewed appreciation for everything.
Stephen’s first night with the new Flip video camera produced this video of Shane Pruitt and his band playing the Showroom the night of June 13. Stephen’s been on a well-deserved vacation for a week, and it sat in the camera til I squandered an entire Saturday morning trying to learn how to edit it and get it up on the blog. It’s a week late, but here’s a classic Shane solo. Enjoy … Betsy
Have you ever been into the old gym at Wofford College in the middle of June during a heatwave in the South? Its hot. Add a bunch of kids, some crazy artists, a few dedicated professors and some giant cardboard monsters and it gets even hotter. But…that’s what you gotta do if you want to pull together a slew of giant puppets for a puppet parade. Wofford has brought in Beth Nixon, an artist from Philadelphia who has been working with the Boys and Girls Club for the better part of the week to construct an army of outrageous creatures that will be marching up and down Main Street on Friday afternoon. SO – please stop by if you can. The Hub-Bub Artists-in-Residence enjoyed helping out earlier this week and are looking forward to riding their bright orange bikes in the parade. Should be a a fun and festive day.
