Archive for November, 2008

It has been yet another active week on the Spartanburg vlogosphere. It seems like Hub City’s online community is growing in leaps and bounds, and it’s a very exciting time for those of us who enjoy the democratization of the video format. Let’s take a look at what I’ve found, shall we? Our first video... »

It should be of no surprise that when bloggers have real-life things to do, their blogs tend to suffer. As you might imagine, Thanksgiving — with its family gatherings and post-Turkey shopping bonanzas — has definitely slowed the flow of Spartanburg blog posts to a trickle. Some of the more stalwart souls have posted... »

To put it lightly, Spartanburg’s GOP Chairman Rick Beltram is controversial. He’s been in hot water with the SC GOP for doing consulting work against GOP candidates (while head of the local GOP and working out of the Spartanburg GOP office), and he’s been panned for selling lists from the free “Voter Vault” Republican... »

Here’s the gimmick: Each week, we’ll pick two local bands — an opening act and a headliner — link to a site where you can listen to their songs for free, then ask you to spend a few moments of your precious time to tell us what you think about them. Some may be... »

What’s are the hot topics on the local discussion forums this Thanksgiving day? Let’s take a look, shall we? Over at the TalkUpstate forums, comments seem to be encouraging of the recent story Outdoor Journal: Lack of a fall turkey season in S C a shame and disgrace. Meanwhile, there’s a great discussion going on... »

It’s that time of the year again — bursting bellies and, for better or worse, lots of family interaction. As such, we thought we’d start the day off with a simple question for all of you who are prepping for Turkey Day tomorrow. What are your plans for Thanksgiving? »

OK, I will warn you ahead of time: I really struggled not to make this year’s Thanksgiving column an episode of sappy, feel-good sweetness. I did manage to keep it somewhat reigned in, but I can’t make the same promise when it comes to my Christmas column. The truth is: I simply love this time... »

Typically, Mondays are the day where I scour the local news outlets to find something to praise, take issue with, rebut or simply elaborate on. This week, however, I’d like to try something new. I’d like you to find some local news worth talking about, and share it with the rest of us. For the... »

For the last several weeks, the Spartanburg video-blog scene has been very active, with a surprising number of interesting vids going up each day. This week, however, there has been something of a lull. Still, we were able to find a few worthy things. Let’s start with this video from a recent show at Ground... »

It has been more than a month since we last posted a regular Blog Report, owing to the Sparkle City Blog Awards (which took three weeks) and the recent round-up of local Mommyblogs. During that time, I was able to give the Spark’s sister project, SparkleCityBlogs.com, a major facelift and add in an RSS... »

After some discussion and some technical tinkering, I’ve decided to test out the idea of having a user forum on SpartanburgSpark.com. The forum is simple — no sub-forums, very basic navigation — but for talking about all things Spartanburg, it should be a good start. Since this is a new element to the site, and... »

Tonight is opening night for The Mikado, the fall production of the Converse Opera Theatre. It will run this weekend only, starting at 7:30pm Friday and Saturday and at 2:30pm on Sunday. Come early to catch the “Opera Talk” with Ross Magoulas, who will discuss the Mikado’s plot, its writers, Gilbert and Sullivan, and... »

Here’s the gimmick: Each week, we’ll pick two local bands — an opening act and a headliner — link to a site where you can listen to their songs for free, then ask you to spend a few moments of your precious time to tell us what you think about them. Some may be... »

This week, we launch a new feature here at SpartanburgSpark.com — The Forum Fanatic. The idea is simple enough: Each week, we’ll visit several of the local web forums to see what the hot topics of the day are, and report back here with what we’ve found. Let’s start off with that massive mastodon of... »

Each week, we ask you — our dear readers — to tell us what you’ve got lined-up for the weekend. Are you planning to check out local acoustic-rock act Hindsight (performing with Brandywine) at the HUB-BUB on Friday? Wanting to get your thrash on at tomorrow’s Lecherous Nocturne CD-release at Ground Zero more your speed?... »