Archive for May, 2009

Here’s a video from the recent Spartanburg High School production of Alan Menken’s classic b-movie musical Little Shop of Horrors. And, if you don’t know anything about the movie, the exposition in the scene more or less says it all. Although their posts are somewhat irregular, the Spartanburg Herald-Journal’s GoUpstate.com has been experimenting with video... »

What’s been the haps on the local blogosphere? There’s only one way to find out, and that’s to dive in headfirst to this pool of online content here in Spartanburg. Over at the 4P Photoblog, Craig Lee does a little sky-gazing. And with the right kind of eyes, even something as mundane as a few... »

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... »

It’s nearly the weekend, and that means it’s time for me to ask people what their big weekend entertainment plans are. Any local concerts you’re excited about? Any plays? Have some cool, vague plans you’d like share? “Like what?” you may be asking yourself right now. Well, there’s the 18th Annual Plum Hollow Alternative Bluegrass Festival... »

In HUB-BUB’s Artist-in-Residence (AiR) program, three young artists and one young writer “live free and create” in downtown Spartanburg for 11 months. As its third year draws to a close, I spoke with two of HUB-BUB’s founders, some former residents, and the 2008-09 residents to get an inside glimpse into the origins and workings... »

I remember being a kid during the Carter administration. This was during the change of government in Iran, a hostage situation with our embassy over there and and oil embargo that led to lines at the pump. I also remember during that time the president rolling back speed limits to 55 miles per hour,... »

In my short time as the Spark’s local political columnist, I’ve been called a lot of names.  It goes with the territory really, and it’s not something that I really spend that much time worrying about.  The truth is, if you don’t have the stomach to see your ideas criticized in ways that are... »

We start off with a video by JamarcusGaston about the “Un-Road Trip,” a cross-country, car-free adventure taken by Boaz Frankel. Frankel’s trip uses “every mode of transportation except for a gas powered car,” and recently brought him through Spartanburg. As you may know, I’ve been following the exploits of David, aka Kratos87Fan19, as he documents... »

About once a month or so, I like to snoop around the internet looking for new local blogs to add to the SparkleCityBlogs.com blogroll. But it’s been at least two months since I’ve done this, so I was somewhat surprised to find a wealth of new voices in the local blogosphere. Here’s a quick rundown... »

One of the very first regular features I started writing for the Spark was Listening Party. This shouldn’t be terribly surprising, as Spartanburg has massive, largely undocumented local music scene just begging to be examined. And, since I’ve spent much of my professional career writing about music, it seemed only fitting that I make... »

A few weeks ago, Chris from Flying Oskar wrote a column heavily criticizing the recent threat of criminal charges against craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster by South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster. If you’re not familiar with the conflict, McMaster is claiming that “craigslist has knowingly allowed the site to be used for illegal and... »

Over the past few weeks, I’ve had a number of conversations about the future direction of downtown Spartanburg. Many of these have been long, sprawling discussions touching on topics like the changing demographics of the city, the business developments and redevelopments in downtown, and the hard-to-ignore changes in local politics. While the specifics are... »

We want to encourage our children’s creative artistry. We hang their art work on our fridges or paste them up in our cubicles. We try to give them the basic tools so that our kids can have everything they need to make their next masterpiece. However when it comes to one particular tool in... »

  Principled stands are commonplace in the South Carolina politics.  There’s never been a shortage of local and state leaders willing to martyr themselves in the name of some cause in order to score a few brownie points with this group or that.  Every good politician knows that at certain times, it’s more politically beneficial to be... »

A nice random collection of videos popped up in this week’s search. For instance, here’s a video by msnicole2 simply called” CHiLLiN.” I’ll leave it to you to decide their level of chill. Blogger and ex-Eagle Scout William Bryant tells us the twelve points of Scout Law. In addition to staying up late to record music,... »