Sumter Accessibility 2009

Despite the cutback in funding for the arts, curator Frank McCauley has put together an impressive exhibition for the 11th annual Sumter Accessibility art installation. The artists will all have their works on Main Street this year, returning the event after a couple of years centered inside and on the grounds of the Sumter County Gallery of Art. Frank said he hopes this will make the exhibition truly more accessible to everyone.
One of the great things about Accessibility is the opportunity to meet and see the work of artists from all over the world. Their ideas and techniques always seem to have a different slant, usually very innovative and intriguing.
Frank said he received hundreds of responses to his call for entries, and he has selected artists from Canada, Israel, Argentina, Taiwan, New York, California. Huge installations representing landscapes, videos, film, graffiti art and more are in store for those of us who attend the Friday, Oct. 16 opening.
In recent years, Accessibility curators have included local artists, returning the exhibition to its roots when Peggy Chilcutt and Martha Greenway recruited several local female artists to create installations using grocery carts -- it was called Eve a la Cart. That was a big success, and Peggy and Martha followed it with male artists, also using grocery carts. From that modest start, Sumter Accessibility has grown to an internationally recognized and respected art happening.
This year, local artists Terrance McDow and Jamie Caplinger will have their works exhibited downtown in the McDuffie Furniture building. Also at that site, Accessibility will offer a chance to see the work of local high school students, an opportunity not often afforded to those who don't have children or grandchildren studying art in their schools.
Frank said he first saw Accessibility several years ago, when the opening night theme was Night of 100 Marilyns. A Summerville native, he was working on his undergraduate degree in fine arts at Winthrop University. The music, local women dressed as Marilyn Monroe and other entertainment inspired him to bring back more of that element, he said.
So during the opening, from 6-9 p.m., Sumter Cruisers will present a classic car display on Main Street, and the beach and variety music band Second Nature will play. At 7:30 p.m. Sapphire Moon Dance Company will present a unique performance.
Artistic Director Angela Gallo, who also teaches dance at Coker College in Hartsville, describes the company’s focus as being on “human relationships and socio-political issues on successes, failures, and strength – on falling, getting up and persistence.”
Sapphire Moon combines dance with theater by merging text, music, props, videos or other media and installations, so their performance will fit in nicely with McCauley's film and video focus. The company’s mission is to present dance theater works that inspire thought and use dance to take the audience out of their daily routines.
Frank said Canadian artist Jarod Charzewski is expected to arrive in Sumter this Friday, Oct. 9, to begin work on his huge installation at 12 S.Main St. People visiting the downtown area can drop in to see him work and ask questions about his technique and philosophy of his art. Graffiti artist Blu, from Bologna, Italy, will also be working next week, but his arrival date is not set yet.
Sumter Accessibility 2009 looks to be most intriguing. Visit Main Street between the hours and 6 and 9 p.m. on Oct. 16 to see art by some of the world's most creative and cutting edge artists.

I'm curious how Sumter audiences will receive the next Sumter Little Theatre production, Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman." It's a Pulitzer Prize winner and a classic, a word that a lot of people are really leery of -- unless it's followed by "musical" or "comedy" or both.
"Death of a Salesman" is a drama, a tragedy of almost Greek proportions. You know what's going to happen to the lead character, the salesman Willy Loman, from the title alone. How he gets there, well, that's the thing.
Miller's story and his portraits of the characters, especially Willy, are masterful.
Maybe that's why, as director Eric Bultman pointed out, "everybody who auditioned really wanted to do this play. They didn't care what part they got, they just wanted to do it."
Luckily for Eric -- and Sumter -- he got some of the cream of the town's acting crop. David Brown as Willy. It's undoubtedly the most challenging role David's played, but I have no doubt he'll nail it.
Dee Renko as his wife, Braden Bunch and Cristian Badiu as his sons; Mike Duffy, Buzz Cornell, fresh off his triumph as Tevye in "Fiddler on the Roof" ...
I went over to the theater today, mainly to get a feel for the set, as I imagined it would be difficult on SLT's small stage. It's not finished yet, but the skeleton was enough that Eric was able to walk me through it and show me where the different scenes are set.
He and the crew have made some modifications that will allow the lighting to set the mood in many scenes. The costumes, too, will play an important part, Eric said. That's one thing about SLT's productions: They can be appreciated for all their aspects -- acting, set, light and sound design, costumes, etc. -- and sometimes you're so drawn into the show you don't recognize the contributions of each. It's like being a kid again and either thinking it's real, or that the actors are making it up as they go along.
Eric just started in his position as SLT's executive director this summer, so he had no part in selecting the season, but he's excited about directing the Miller play.
He told me he's determined to find out exactly what "community theater" means, having just come from academia, earning his master's degree and teaching college students. Then he had to go off to teach his SLT Youth Theatre class.
I suspect we'll find his talents and those of the cast and crew more than up to the challenge of "Death of a Salesman." I, for one, wouldn't miss the chance to see what the combined gifts of those involved bring to our community theater. It's bound to be a gem.

The Lost Symbol, the lost night's sleep

I'm heading over to Alice Drive to poke around the outside of the Masonic Temple. Not really, but I'm really tempted after staying up until 2 a.m. last night to read Dan Brown's new thriller, "The Lost Symbol."
It's a good book, almost as good as "The Da Vinci Code." This time Brown takes on the Masons -- and even the Shriners, sort of, as well as almost all the world's religions, past and present and maybe future.
Robert Langdon, master symbologist and college professor, is called on by his friend Peter Solomon, a 33rd degree Mason and the most exalted ruler of Washington,D.C., Masons, to fill in for an ill lecturer. Of course, Langdon doesn't know what's really in store for him when he gets to D.C., and I don't want to spoil the story, so I'll just say there are murder, mayhem, advanced science, ancient and modern mysteries regarding man's relationship to the divine, a very diabolical villain and danger -- lots of danger.
Many of Washington's landmarks figure in the story, and I can imagine there will be "Lost Symbol" tours of D.C. to rival the "Da Vinci Code" guided tours that followed that book and film.
One of the best things about the book -- besides the riveting suspense -- is that Brown has thoroughly researched his facts on the Masons, religion and science. I have new respect for Isaac Newton. Learning so much when I'm feeling this deliciously guilty somehow makes me feel better.
It'll be interesting to see how the Catholic Church and Christians (as well as Mormons, Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, Hindus and others) react to this book. Brown doesn't diss religion; in fact, he honors it in some ways, even though Langdon is clearly a non-believer.
For those people who complained because it took Brown five years to write his follow-up to "The Da Vinci Code," I have to say it's amazing he could have researched and collated his facts in that short period of time. It's well worth the wait.
Mystery lovers shouldn't miss this one.

King of instruments

I grew up in small churches where the music was made only with a piano or a tiny console organ and, in one case, only voices. Later, I listened to Billy Preston's Hammond organ when he was known as "the 5th Beatle."
It was only as an adult that I came to appreciate the music of the pipe organ, primarily because a close friend, Crys Armbrust, a wonderful musician, allowed me to hear the capabilities of the organ in a local church. While he was practicing for a service, I lay in the center aisle, listening. I remember thinking that Phil Specter's so-called "wall of sound" paled in comparison.
On Tuesday, Linda Coyne demonstrated Trinity United Methodist Church's new Rodgers Masterpiece Organ for me. Trinity's sanctuary has great acoustics, but it's big and it was empty. The instrument still filled the space, wonderfully.
If karaoke means "empty orchestra," then "organ" must mean full symphony! Of course, Linda's playing had a lot to do with it, too. Besides playing several selections demonstrating the Rodgers' versatility, she played several individual sounds that were indistinguishable from the instruments they duplicated -- flutes, bells, bagpipes.
Sumter native Al Murrell, vice president of the Daffer organ company, designed the organ to fit Trinity's needs. If you're not a member of Trinity, you're still invited to the dedication recital on Sept. 20 at 4 p.m. to judge for yourself. Admission is free, and a reception follows. Hector Olivera will play -- you can check out his talents at www.hectorolivera.com.
Trinity is located at 226 W. Liberty St.

Edmunds High School Class of 1944 reunion

Some held canes, one or two, walkers, and many weren't there at all -- but for a few short hours on Friday, the Edmunds High School class of 1944 was 17 again, as the Sumter City Centre, decorated in school colors of purple and white, filled shortly after noon for the class' 65th reunion.
Tears and laughter were in abundance, but mostly there were smiles and big hugs all around. In his invocation, the Rev. A.B. Parsons, a class of '44 member himself, noted “we are overcome with emotions and memories,” and reminded his classmates, “Our time on earth doesn't last forever.”
There were copies of a rather extensive list of deceased class members, but the list of those still living was longer.
Reminiscences, a display of materials from their school years, as well as pictures of grandchildren and, in some cases, great grandchildren, were shared.
World War II raged for almost all of their three years in high school -- there were only 11 years of public school in those days -- and much of their time outside of class was spent in activities aimed at getting ready for war and supporting the military and civilian effort to end it. But there were football games and dances, first dates and lasting romances, too.
In short, they had a lot to talk about.
A historic overview of Sumter and Edmunds High School was presented by Sammy Way, who then led the class on a bus tour of parts of the city. The class of 1944 ended its reunion by attending the House of Bluegrass concert at the Sumter Opera House.
Bittersweet goodbyes and promises to keep in touch and even some talk of another reunion filled the entrance of the Opera House as the class of '44 departed for their homes and hotel rooms, perhaps with the words from the old Edmunds High School alma mater still in their heads;
Here's to the land that gave me birth,
Here's to the flag she flies.
Here's to her sons, the best on earth.
Here's to her starry skies ...
O Sumter High, dear Sumter High,
We never shall forget.
That golden haze of student days
Is round about us yet.
Those days of yore will come no more,
But through the future years,
The thought of you,
so good, so true,
will fill our eyes with tears ...

Synchronicity?

Leonard Cohen is haunting me. It's a good haunting. I mean, what if it were Peter Frampton?
Today at breakfast, I read in The New Yorker Sasha Frere-Jones' review/appreciation of Cohen, who's not exactly making a comeback. To those who appreciate his words and his deep, worn, experienced voice, his bluesy, cool jazz and pop -- even beat -- music and style, he's always been there in our heads and on our turntables. Frere-Jones calls this his "return." The essay brought back memories.
My first taste of Cohen's music came in the summer of 1969. At Winthrop College, it was the beginning of the "hippie" era. Steve White, a local man I'd met when we played two-thirds of Bertoldt Brecht's God in Winthrop's production of "The Good Woman of Setzuan," was known on campus and in town as "the first hippie in South Carolina." Probably not true, but it felt good to believe we knew such a person. He was a good musician and a good listener.
On the 7th floor of Richardson Hall, there were only 3 students that summer, and we didn't really know each other. Carol Conroy and I had become friends after a very spirited argument about "King Lear" in Les Reynolds' Shakespearean tragedies class.Still, in 1969 there was a trust among visual artist Anne Hendricks, poet Carol and me. We never locked our doors, hardly ever closed them at all. It was a '60s thing, for sure.
This particular night, really about 3 a.m., Carol came in my room while I was sleeping and shook me awake. Always an insomniac, she'd been reading or writing for hours.
"Come with me," she said. "You've got to hear the most beautiful song ever written."
I followed her across the hall, sat on the floor and watched her move the needle of her phonograph to the smooth groove between cuts on an album, not able to see the artist's name or read the title of the album or the song.
A clear soprano I later learned was Judy Collins started singing "Suzanne takes you down to her place by the river. You can hear the boats go by, you can spend the night beside her ... and she feeds you tea and oranges that come all the way from China ..."
At that moment, it was truly the most beautiful song in the world.
I've been remembering that pivotal summer all day, how much of it was lived to the lyrics of Leonard Cohen and later to those of Joni Mitchell. It was the summer that, thanks to Carol and Anne and Leonard Cohen I traded basketball for books and music and poetry.
Or maybe it was just hormones.
Tonight after dinner I turned on SCETV. They were in a beg-a-thon break, but almost immediately faded to "Leonard Cohen Live in London." He came to the microphone playing the intro to "Suzanne" alone on his guitar. In his 70s, his voice hasn't changed all that much. The musical accompaniment was simple, because simple was what was right. He wore a fedora and a double-breasted suit on his very lean body and he bent into his handheld microphone like he was telling it a story no one else knew, though the song is more than 4 decades old. It'll make you cry. ETV will show it again.
Remember "Bird on a Wire?"
"Like a bird on a wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir,
I have tried in my way to be free."
Listen to Leonard Cohen some time. I'll loan you an LP or make you a cassette tape. That's the way to hear his music if you can't see him in person. It'll make you appreciate the perfect melding of poetry and music.
Carol's a marvelous poet living in New York City now. I have her books. She still hand writes wonderful letters and cards to me. Anne's making art near Clemson. I'm writing a little, but mostly appreciating music and literature and sincere friendships.
I've got Jennifer Warnes' record "Famous Blue Raincoat" on my turntable right now, and I'll follow it with 1968's "The Songs of Leonard Cohen."
Really, I'll make you a tape.

The better butter movie

Watching "Julie and Julia" at the Beacon Theatre Saturday afternoon was almost as satisfying as a plateful of Julia Child's boeuf bourguignon. My three companions and I had been waiting with much anticipation to see the film, mainly because as baby boomers, we all remember watching Child's show, "The French Chef," live on our black-and-white TVs. In my family's case, that was a 17-inch Philco portable my father showed up with one night, perhaps straight from having won it in a poker game.
It was a Friday, and the Eptings and Mixons were coming over for dinner.Daddy set the TV up in the living room, turned it on to warm up (this took a while back then), then, when he heard a car drive up, he turned out the lights. The other families, neither of which had a TV yet (we "watched" Superman and The Lone Ranger on big radio consoles), were surprised and excited at the blue glow of the test pattern, an Indian chief in a circle. Then we watched the Friday night fights, a ritual my father and I followed religiously until a boxer died from the battering he took in a fight, and boxing went out of vogue for years.
But I digress ...
It was a transporting experience to watch Meryl Streep become Julia Child. Oh, Amy Adams was fine as Julie Powell, who had cooked all of the recipes in "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in a single year, but it was Streep who was the star. She got Julia's voice, mannerisms and personality; it was almost as if she were channeling her.
Another star of the film is ... butter. Gobs and gobs of butter. If anyone came out of that theater not feeling hungry, more power to them.
My companions and I immediately drove to The Farm Store and purchased two 2-pound logs of unsalted, organic butter made at the Happy Cow in Lamar. We each vowed to cook a recipe from Julia's book for our next birthday gathering in October. And one of us went home, spread some butter on a piece of bread and savored every bite.
There was some sadness associated with Saturday's experience, too.
We realized we have few friends who regularly cook meals, whether gourmet or just homestyle, from scratch for themselves and friends. Frozen meals, microwaves, prepackaged meals from the store, takeout -- while valuable in their own ways, these could be killing the fine art of cooking real food. I even know people in their 20s who didn't know you can pop popcorn on top of the stove in a pot. And they've never tasted real macaroni and cheese, or macaroni pie, as my mother calls it.
I wonder how Julia Child would fare on "The Next Food Network Star" or "Chopped." Could she be the selfish barracuda it seems to take for those TV reality shows? Would she be willing to sacrifice her art for the quick cooking required on "Chopped?" I don't think so.
No matter. She is pretty much responsible for TV cooking shows as we know them today. And even if cooking good food remains a spectator sport ("Top Chef," "Chopped" or "Kitchen Nightmares"), I know at least four people who'll be cooking at home a lot more.
We'll open "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" randomly, close our eyes and drop our finger on the page. And wonderful aromas of breads, sauces, stews and desserts will warm our kitchens as we bring back the "family" dinners we ate around the dining room table while Milton Berle cavorted in our living rooms.
I bet those 20-somethings will eat it, too. I just hope they'll cook a little bit.