See Beauty, Listen to Ring, and Reception with Cheek

Living the role of artist makes it hard to find time and money on weekend evenings to enjoy what other artists are doing. However, while I was living in Seattle in my early 20s I made it work by keeping a day job in a box office or other arts administration position which allowed me the special privilege of receiving tickets to plays and concerts or simply showing my pay stub at a club and being allowed in the door. The basic theory being if you’re “in the business” you’d still spend any money you had to spare on either the artist’s recordings or the bar. If you were a broke artist without a night gig, at least you weren’t watching TV but socializing and networking in an artistic environment.

Lately most of my weekends have been filled with work, so it was a rare treat last weekend to get out, even on a skimpy budget. With a little help from my friends I was able to see the fabulous Firecracker Jazz Band at Jack of the Wood in Asheville Friday. Saturday, I enjoyed a comfortable evening of conversation at the Gallery Coffeehouse and a few games of pool at Elmo’s in Tryon. Including the money spent on me by friends glad to see me out last weekend, the total cost was less than the price of taking a date to the movies in Spartanburg.

This weekend I’m paying my artistic dues by spending my weekend at Tryon Fine Arts Center making up the Beast for the Tryon Youth Center/Tryon Little Theatre production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. However, it won’t feel like work since the show is coming together beautifully and each night it will be exciting to hear how the audience responds to the wonderful spunky, silly, spooky, and even heart warming moments these teenagers are sharing with this show. The show opens tonight and only runs through Sunday, so be sure to call the box office for tickets. These teens deserve full houses for what they’ve learned socially and artistically this summer to present this lovely musical to the community.

If I wasn’t spending all my time at the theatre, I would catch a few more of the talented offerings in the area this weekend. Tonight Jason Ring brings his jazz guitar zest to the Purple Onion. You can choose your own budget for this event with their wide range of food offerings and donations at the door rather than a cover charge. Although, I’d say it wouldn’t hurt to bring at least enough cash for a CD to take home once this fellow wins your heart with his “flaming fingers.”
If you missed Aaron Burdett’s soulful mountain music last weekend you can catch him Friday night at Tosh’s Whistlestop Café. This is another “pay what you can” type of event that is well worth any hard earned dollars you can spare for the peaceful bliss of listening to beautiful music in the cool evening air.

Finally, even if I don’t make it to the artist reception Saturday night, I must find the time to make my way over to the Red Clover Gallery in Landrum to see the new exhibit INSIDE/OUT by plein air painter Linda Cheek. Her impressionistic style looks almost photographic to my eyes and each piece seems to invite me to step into that joyful moment as if the painting were merely a window to another place. I’m sure that walking through an entire exhibit of her work would help remind me that, as she says, “Everything under the sun is beautiful.”