Jazz and Poetry

Margery Bain Franklin rug making with Ronnie Mosseller

2009-07-29T08:00:00.001-04:00

Ronnie Mosseller introduced me to a dear friend Margery Bain Franklin so I could hear the story of the rugs they have made together over the years. At 93 years old Marge may have finally put down that habit, but she still keeps herself busy. We sat down one hot afternoon in her cool apartment at White Oak to visit about rugs and life in general.

Ronnie draws the picture free hand on the canvas, and what is this tool that you use?

Ronnie: It’s a wood shuttle hooker or needle.

With wool.

Marge: This is done on monk’s cloth.

Ronnie: What was the first rug you made for me?

Marge: That one.

She points to the one on the floor in her hallway.

Ronnie: The coat of arms.

Marge: A family crest.

Ronnie: That’s a 3 x 5 rug.

Marge: When you put in the lettering, you do it from the mirror image. Here’s a good example.

Marge pulls out her rug making photo album.

Marge: You see I’m working on the rug and here’s the frame, and this is the way it turns out.

Everything you’re doing is backwards. Who’s coat of arms is that?

Marge: That was my first husband’s. This is my last one.

You’re not doing any more?

Marge: I’m finished.

Why are you done?

Marge: It’s hard on the back. You stand and twist and turn. My back decided it’s too much work.

I notice in the texture that parts are loops and parts are fuzzy, how do you do that?

Marge: Ask him.

Ronnie: We go random shear. We cut it randomly and not all cut. You can get down to velvet cut, but we never do that anymore unless it’s a great big formal rug. This is just 70 cut.

Marge: I think he did a really tremendous job on this Cape Hatteras light house.

Wow that’s beautiful.

Marge: My daughter has that one.

How many rugs have you done?

Marge: About 30.

Many of lighthouses. Why lighthouses?

Ronnie: She has a big beautiful book of lighthouses.

Marge: Yeah, Dick has a book of lighthouses.

How do you decide?

Ronnie: She usually comes to me with her ideas and I sketch them out.

Marge: My kids have most of them.

Ronnie: What year was that first one you made? When was that?

Marge: That was in about 1985. My first husband was still alive when I did that. It was a lot of fun. Ron has one in the governor’s mansion, don’t you Ron?

Ronnie: Yes.

How did you meet up with Ronnie and start doing rugs?

Marge: My neighbor had his coat of arms done and it gave me the idea, “Well, I’ll get my coat of arms done.” I went to Ron then and that’s what got me started.

Ronnie: I met Marge Bain when I was working with her husband in the little theatre.

Marge: My name is Margery Bain Franklin, don’t forget Phillip now. We were working with Tryon Little Theatre doing plays. Gayle and I were doing props and you were acting and directing.

You knew he did rugs as well as theatre and so when you wanted to do the coat of arms you asked him how to get started?

Marge: That’s what got me started.

How long does it take to do one of these?

Ronnie: She’s faster than anybody else.

Marge: About a month because I take it home you see and do it here. That’s why it only takes me a month. I have so much time on my hands now.

What will you do with your time now that you’re done with rugs?

Marge: I’m knitting and reading. Ron has such an eye for color, the way he merges things up, the sky.

That sunset is beautiful the way it blends.

Marge: I’m not after publicity, write about Ronnie.

But I did write about Ronnie already working with the theatre.

Ronnie: I had been out of the theatre almost twenty years and they talked me into doing another one last year. Of course I couldn’t hear the cues so they had to have two women there, one to open the door and one to say, “Now” and push me out.

Marge: He was the comedian.

Ronnie: Weren’t you a prompter too?

Marge: No, I was in props. It was when we first moved to Tryon. It was a good way to get acquainted is to join. Join the Tryon Little Theatre, join the church, so on and so forth.

Ronnie: They put you to work don’t they? I’m telling you, something’s going on all the time.

Where did you move to Tryon from?

Marge: Summit, New Jersey. My first husband and I came down and he died in 1987. I married Phillip in 1993.

You met Phillip in Tryon?

Marge: I met Phillip in an elder hostel in Canada. He was my brother’s roommate. He was living up in Union City, New Jersey and I lived down here. Finally, four years later we got married.

Can I ask how old you were when you got married the second time?

Ronnie: What are you 94?

Marge: I’m 93 right now.

Ronnie: You were about 70.

Most of my family members didn’t live long enough to consider remarrying at 70.

Ronnie: That’s a custom in Tryon. Half of the widows in Tryon remarry again. They may be 80 years old.

Have you remarried?

Ronnie: No.

What’s the secret to living so long and happily? You must have figured out something.

Ronnie: Did you grow up on a farm?

Marge: It wasn’t a farm exactly. My family had four acres and they had a beautiful garden during the depression. They had a marvelous garden and we raised chickens so the chicken manure was good for the garden. It wasn’t exactly a farm.

Ronnie: But you had a healthy life that way. I had a great-grandmother that lived to 104. Marge, where did you live besides New Jersey and here?

Marge: I lived in Louisiana for a while when my husband was working for Louisiana State University.

Ronnie: What was he doing?

Marge: He was in the registrar’s office working the IBM machines. That’s when the war came and he volunteered and got into the Naval Reserves. I came home to mama in New Jersey with my three kids.

Then when the war was over did you stay in New Jersey?

Marge: I stayed in New Jersey and became a legal secretary. My husband told me, “Every woman should know how to support herself.” That’s when I went to school to learn typing, shorthand, and bookkeeping and got a job with a law firm. I was a legal secretary about 25 years.

Ronnie: Your husband was modern thinking and smart.

Marge: I thought that was very good advice. Especially now a days.

Ronnie: I have a question. When you made your first coat of arms rug didn’t you come into the classes?

Marge: I made it at your studio when you had the old church. Dick made me a frame and I did a few on my own.

Ronnie: Then you started making them at home pretty soon after that. She was the easiest student I ever had.

Marge: I enjoyed doing it at home rather than working at Ron’s place for a while and get my back tired and have to go home. It was easy to do it here because I could lie down on the couch and rest my back and get up and do it some more.

Ronnie: If I had thought and followed the thing that she did like that I wouldn’t have wound up with nine students filling up my rug shop every week.

Marge: I often wondered about those people working on rugs at your shop, “Why don’t they finish them.”

Ronnie: I know. They allegedly were coming and then, “I’m not coming in this week. I’ve got something to do.” The rugs stayed there for 7-10 months. I realized that I was not making any money off that.

Marge: I’m always anxious when I start one, I want to finish it. It was fun to do.

Ronnie: Marge doesn’t know what the word procrastination means.

What type of knitting are you doing these days?

Marge: I’m making a sweater for my daughter-in-law. I’ve done a lot of knitting. I enjoy that.

When did you get started with hand crafts?

Marge: I always did like to sew. I made clothes for myself. Years ago I had one of these treadle machines. Now I’ve got a beautiful feather weight Singer sewing machine, but I haven’t been doing much sewing lately. I don’t need anything.

When did you start sewing and knitting?

Marge: When I was twelve years old I went to a boarding school. My great aunt was a nun and I went to a church boarding school. I had to go down to the convent to visit my great aunt. She taught me how to knit and I’ve been knitting ever since. I like to work with my hands. In fact I was going to become an artist. I was going to have art classes at the high school in Summit. I told mother I had signed up for the art class and she said, “I want to go too.” I took mother too and the class was filled and I said, “Okay ma, you take my place and I will go home.” Mother went to painting and this is one of hers. This is up at Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire. I have several of hers and the kids have several of hers.

When did you finish your last rug?

Ronnie: About two weeks ago.

Marge: Yeah.

Are you sure you’re not going to do any more?

Marge: Nobody believes me.

Ronnie: You never know. She’s said that seven times, or four times.

The rug hook piece that you use, where did you find that?

Marge: I think I got that from a flea market because I had been hooking using Ron’s needles. It has a big hole in it doesn’t it?

Ronnie: I’ll show you how it works. We run two threads at the same time so we can run two different colors at the same time or two different shades. That’s how we do that blending in the sky. It just goes back and forth like this in the canvas and it makes a stitch every time it goes in.

How long have you known Marge?

Marge: We moved to Tryon in 1974. Gayle and I joined Tryon Little Theatre and I met you.

Ronnie: In 1974. After that I directed Blythe Spirit and you all helped back stage on that in 1975.

Marge: I remember I had five words to say in one of them. Usually I was in props, but in one play I had five words to say. I was the maid.

Ronnie: You can’t remember the play?

Marge: I can’t remember the play, no. That was a long time ago. We didn’t work on props forever. I just wanted to get acquainted in Tryon when we first moved here. I guess we worked in props about five years. Then I became a legal secretary. I didn’t have time for props.

Ronnie: What other organizations did you get involved in besides the little theatre?

Marge: Well I did bookkeeping for the cancer society.

Ronnie: Volunteering.

Marge: I worked at Carol Anne Farms. I worked for Bud Slater.

Ronnie: I did a 100 rugs for him.

Marge: I used to work with him a couple of days a week just for a couple of hours.

Ronnie: They’re a sweet couple.

Marge: Oh, I know. So sweet. I worked at the Habitat Resale Store. I had about four volunteer jobs. I worked for the Red Cross.

Do you ever slow down?

Ronnie: I think she made that last rug not in a month, but in about three weeks.

Marge: Well I don’t have anything else to do. That’s why I finish them so fast.

Ronnie: Most of my students take six or seven months.

Marge: I think that’s one of my favorite ones.

It hangs right there where you can see it from your chair.

Marge: Look at the shading he’s got in that, the shading on the left.
There’s shading on the lighthouse itself and shading on the sky.

Marge: Isn’t that beautiful. I love the fence. That’s a lighthouse up in Maine. I took a picture of it when we were visiting Maine.

It is beautiful.

Betty Burdue carries on annual Morris the horse tradition

2009-07-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

You’ve no doubt seen Morris hanging out in the center of town at the corner of Trade and Pacolet, but have you seen the annual prints to commemorate this quirky small town tradition? Betty Burdue has been handed the torch and just completed the 2009 watercolor prints of Morris. I met Betty at her home studio one afternoon to see her watercolor work which fills most of her basement.

Do you paint every day?

Not every day. Right now I’m pretty busy doing local scenes. I take all these pictures of churches and I thought the local church people would like to have theirs. I just finished this one. This is the United Congregational Church in Tryon. This is the Episcopalian. I just started on it.

This is last year’s version of Morris, and this is this year’s version of it.

Oh fun!

That’s his birthplace.

He’s gone for a trip to look at his birthplace at Tryon Toy Makers.

I’m happy with it. These are note cards I have throughout town.

I love the sunflowers.

As we sat down on Betty’s back patio to continue our conversation she handed me a copy of an article explaining the history of Morris the horse. Morris has become a symbol of Tryon and the equine size recreation of the most popular toy created in 1928 by the Tryon Toy Makers & Woodcarvers shop was given as a gift to the Tryon Riding and Hunt Club. Tryon House on Trade Street has a collection of original, not for sale Morris horses as well as new local Morris horses made by local artists including Betty’s husband. They also display the collection of Morris watercolor paintings from previous years.

I’ve been checking into the history of these Tryon Toy Makers. This article was in Our State magazine and it tells all about Eleanor Vance and Charlotte Yale. I didn’t know they were missionaries. I had never heard that. It told how they started. They went to England where they studied with a famous wood carver. They were up in Asheville for so long. The back part tells about the Tryon Toy Makers when they came down here.

I found this very interesting. “‘Tryon has always been an unusual place,’ says art historian Michael McClure author of The Tryon Toy Makers and Wood Carvers. ‘When Vance and Yale moved here, women could not sit on the jury in the Columbus Courthouse, but just down hill in Tryon they were running the town.’” They joined a thriving artist colony, which I’m sure you’re familiar with, which included many creative independent women from New England and elsewhere. They’d come on the train each summer and stay around in through here. Then it mentions all the famous people that were artists, and teaching young boys and girls to be weavers.

They were here until the Second World War and they decided they had enough. They must have been pretty elderly by that time because they were talking about the turn of the century being up in Asheville. 1869-1954 was Eleanor Vance’s life and Charlotte 1870-1958.

Eleanor Park Vance learned her wood carving at the Cincinnati Art School and she met Charlotte Yale at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. They both prepared for missionary work. I don’t think either one of them married. When they came down to Tryon all these wealthy women wanted toys for their children and grandchildren. The First World War was on and they couldn’t get these things from Germany or Europe. That’s why they had the ladies make all these things. It became something national. It says here, “World War I had disrupted the flow of hand crafted toys from Germany and Austria. Visiting New England blue bloods like Anna Cabin Putnam and Madelyn Yale Lynn president of Deerfield Industries in Massachusetts actively marketed the toys among their wide circle of friends and to Marshall Field in Chicago and other big stores. Company catalogs emphasized that the purchase of toys would help struggling mountain crafts people.” Eventually they came down here to take care of these “struggling crafts people.” “With the approach of World War II the dynamic duo ran out of steam. They were getting along in years and decided to retire closing up the Toy House as a retail outlet in 1940.” It says two different young couples took over shortly thereafter, but they didn’t have the marketing connections so it just fell by the wayside.

It looks like with these letters there’s a joy and affection with the people they correspond with and the later letters written by others are more business oriented and to the point. It’s amazing how much your tone in terms of written communication impacts your business.

That’s right. I mentioned they have new wooden Morris horses made by local artisans now. My husband is one of them. He was the only one until just recently. They’re Christmas ornaments.

When we came to Tryon, we belonged to the Tryon Country Club and they found out that I was an artist. Marc Brady the pro there said, “Could you paint a picture with Morris the horse on our golf course? We’d like to have it maybe on hole number nine with the club house in the background.” I said, “Yeah, I can do that.” So, here it is with that look on his face. He sold quite a few of these and he mentioned it to Mary at Tryon House.

She said, “Oh, would you have her stop in and see me. We don’t have anyone that can do the Morris the horse annual picture any more.” I thought, “Well okay.”
2008 was the first year you painted the official Morris the horse painting?
I’ve taken over doing it. Last year she did fabulous with the prints. I think she sold 58 of them 16 x 20. It has worked out so well.

Has painting been your profession, or is that something you’ve just done in your free time?

It was just a pastime. I went to night school. Enjoying myself, let’s put it that way. In the summer’s there, over the last fifteen years or so, we had the weekends with the white tents and the fine artists and I did those. My husband was my gofer.

It’s nice to have a gofer.

You have to have a gofer. We had a boat that we went to every weekend, a Carver Mariner 33 footer.

I noticed there was a lot of nautical influence in your paintings upstairs.

Oh yes, I did every lighthouse in Michigan and all these nautical things with the boats. They sold very well at those shows, especially at Algonac which was right on the water. If you looked across the river Ontario was there. We were between Ontario and Michigan on this little island called Harsens. I got to do a lot of painting there too.

So you’ve found a niche painting the Morris pictures and you didn’t even seek it out, it found you.

You’re right. I worked for 32 years in a school system in business.

Did you teach?

I was the administrative clerk of finance. I did all the investments for the school paychecks every two weeks. I had to deal with the banks and CDs and all that. My husband was in the newspaper business. He worked up in Romeo in Michigan at the Romeo Observer which was a little weekly magazine. This is all entirely different for us. We’re only here six months of the year. We spend the other half in Florida. When we get old, then we’ll be here full time. I’ve found this new thing to do here with the cards and all.

How did you find Tryon in the first place?

We had these dear friends that lived up in Rochester Hills, Michigan with us and they played golf with Jay and all of a sudden they disappeared. Nobody knew where they had gone. One night about nine o’clock the phone rang and it was Bruce. Bruce and Sandy who owed the property where there’s the new restaurant out on 108.

Giardini?

Giardini. They bought the property from Bruce and Sandy, but that’s getting ahead of my story. He said, “Hi, I miss my buddies.” Their son had told them, “I found this wonderful town, Columbus, with mountains in the background, a stream running through, and a for sale sign on this piece of property. Dad, you’ve got to come down and look at it.” This was just what they needed. They packed up the car, came down, looked at it, bought the property, and were here for fourteen years. Bruce said, “You’re never going to come visit us.” We said, “Yes, we will.” On our way from Florida to Michigan we would stop by and fell in love with the whole area. We did it for three years. Finally the third year we found this place, and here we are in Tryon. Then our friends Sandy and Bruce had a buyer for their property which was the Giardinis, and they went back to Michigan.

Oh, no. You finally get settle here and they leave? Do they come down and visit you now?

We’re trying to talk them into it.

Did you study watercolor in your free time?

In my free time until I retired. We have two daughters. One is a teacher in Michigan. She teaches autistic children. The other daughter had to move to Washington D.C. Her husband is a White House correspondent for National Public Radio. We had two daughters in college for three years, so it was very necessary that we both work throughout our marriage. Since we retired, life has been wonderful. Our health has been good, and we’re pursuing our interests, which for me has been painting. Down in Florida we live in a lovely town on the gulf side of Venice called Nokomis after Hiawatha’s grandmother. Venice has a fabulous art center there and I take a lot of classes just to keep myself busy.

I noticed your father’s painting was oil and you have some oils you’ve painted upstairs in the house, but most of what you’re doing is watercolors. Is there a reason for choosing watercolor over oil?

The funny thing on that, I did oils when I got into the art shows in Michigan. My husband would sit and watch the people carrying packages by and he said, “You know, they’re all admiring your work, but they’re all buying watercolors. They’re cheaper.” I said, “Well, I guess I could learn how to do watercolors, but it’s supposedly an unforgiving art.” I took up watercolor painting and have been doing it ever since.

Why are the watercolors less expensive?

You can have prints made of them is the main reason. With oil, that’s the original and that’s that. With watercolors you can get prints made and they’re on paper rather than on canvas.

We took a break to travel down to Tryon House and visit with Mary and see the display of Morris watercolors. Who started the Morris watercolor series?
Mary: Paul Keenan.

How long did he do them annually?

Mary: The paper used to do huge write-ups about him so there’s a lot of history there. He was a Tryon artist, but he actually lives in Saluda now. The earliest one I see is 1993.

He stopped two or three years ago then?

Mary: Yes, as he got older. I have all of the number one prints except for three. If you can find the Tryon First Settlers, that one goes for about $250.

Betty: You used to be the only store that could sell Morris the horse items right?

Mary: This store has the trademark on receptacles, trash cans, mailboxes, jewelry, and apparel. We do not have the trademark on the wood carvings, because the whole thing is the result of the Tryon Toy Makers. When I bought the store part of the purchase price was for the trademark. People got over being upset about the lady in 1983 just deciding to trademark things that were being made for years, but nobody contested it, they let her do it. When Larry and Vicki purchased it, people liked them and they just understood that this was the only place that the wood carvings were sold. People were real loyal with that.
Betty: That’s why The Bookshelf can carry the paintings and some of the wood carvings. Vines and Stuff has some of my note cards, but they don’t have Morris on them.

You can stop in to visit Mary at the Tryon House and see the series of Morris prints for yourself. Betty Burdue’s Morris 2009 prints are now available for purchase to continue this fun tradition commemorating the history of artists and crafts people in our community.

Linda Hudgins prepares to open her studio for Art Trek Tryon

2009-07-10T08:00:00.000-04:00

I had a chance recently to preview the studio space of Linda Hudgins who will be participating in the first open studio tour of the area sponsored by the Upstairs Artspace. The upcoming Art Trek Tryon will give art lovers a sneak peek into the work habits of some of the talented local artists.

How did you find this studio space?

I actually had been looking for a studio space for a couple of years and one rainy day I had a meeting cancelled. We were supposed to do dying for felting over at Cindy Walker’s and we couldn’t do it because it was raining. I drove back by here, saw a “For Sale” sign, said “Oh, I’ll check it out,” and came by. I saw it had a basement like a house I had before where I worked in the basement. I called the real estate agent and she said, “I can show it to you now.” I came to see it and walked into this space here and just loved it. I got somebody to come and look at it for me to make sure because I don’t know anything about houses. They said, “It’s a good house, go for it.” I made an offer and the woman took it. In two days I had signed the papers.

Wow, that’s fast!

I’ve been here three years I realized. It’s just been a really good space for me.
You use the downstairs space for work, and upstairs you have art that is displayed and it’s also a guest house for relatives.

As a matter of fact, I’ve had an artist who was doing installation for the Upstairs. She was looking for a place to stay because she needed to be here to work on that. I said, “I have a place!” It worked out wonderfully.

How did you get into this first Art Trek in Tryon?

I’m an artist here in Tryon who has a studio first of all. Secondly, I’ve shown at the Upstairs so we’re not unfamiliar with each other. They came and looked at my studio and asked me to do it and I said yes.

What do you hope it will be like?

I had hoped they would do it for a long time and it just seems so right because there are so many artists around. Greenville has a really big one and other people do it. I’m really glad they’re doing it and I think it will be popular. I think people will come here because it’s a good place to visit. There will be the excitement of going to see where these artists live and work.

Do you feel a pressure to have your studio look a certain way?

Not too much, but I do notice the bugs more. Seeing it through their eyes I’m going to try to get the bugs cleaned out. I actually think my workspace should look like my space. It’s not too bad.

My workspace doesn’t look this neat.

I’ll try to make room to walk through and get rid of those cords on the floor where I have lighting. I’ll have to pick up and put away a few things.

But for the most part it will be as it is when you’re working here.

Right.

You mentioned working with acrylics, and oils in the summer because of the ventilation.

I’m going to tell you what’s going on here. I’ll leave it unrolled partially. You can see it online. I had a show in January at the Spartanburg Art Museum and after that show I wanted to get away from thinking about how people were responding to my work. That’s another step in between me and the work and I wanted to get rid of that. I decided that if I just painted on something that wasn’t already stretched. I had no idea what was going to happen to it. It was just paint, paint, paint. Then I could do that. Well it worked. I started this and put it on a piece of wood. I had a whole long length of canvas. I just gesso as far down as it would go and I started painting. I would paint about this much.

About a foot or two.

Then I would roll it up and gesso the bottom and paint again. It was very freeing in that I didn’t have to worry about what was on the other side. I didn’t have to worry about anything except what I was doing right at that moment. Then I told a friend what I was doing. I used to live in China and she said, “They paint scrolls in China, don’t they?” I was doing a scroll. Luckily I had not thought about it. I was really very free before…

Before you thought about it?

Right. What’s happened since then is I have a friend who has called and said, “Linda I’ve shown your art to so and so here in Zhongshan.” It’s the city that China has named after Sun Yat-sen in Guangdong province. She said, “He’s seen your work and he would like you to bring some work and show in Zhongshan.” I said, “Well, guess what? I have some things I can roll to bring.” If it works out, it seems like such a nice coincidence. You just do what seems right and see what happens. I also had all these other things that I had already started just taping to the wall. I like this idea of it not being something I was thinking about presenting. It was just things I’m playing around with and learning from. I’m learning every time I paint.

This scroll is not the same material as that.

Good, you’re right. It’s thin and see-through. The paint goes through a little bit. I’m actually going to buy some silk organza and paint on that as well. I just happened to find this in Spartanburg at a good price.

A muslin or cotton?

It’s either batiste or thin muslin. It is cotton.

There’s an art group, a few of us who meet together and somebody said they had windows they’d taken out of their house. Maybe we could do a project with those windows. I was painting on that and thought, “Windows? Maybe this could go through the window.” Then I thought that’s too stiff, what if I had something that was see-through and light and could just float through that window. It would be like ideas just running in and out of space. I’m enjoying it so far.

How long have you been painting?

All my life. Even as a child that was my thing to do. I was a child before parents knew how to direct their children towards what they loved. They did buy me finger paints. I loved those. They did buy me paint by numbers and I did one and I said, “I know how that was done and I don’t want to do another one.” I didn’t do another one, but I had paints.

Did you go to school for art then?

Yeah, I went to Converse and majored in art.

You grew up in this area?

Yeah, I grew up south of Spartanburg and I got a scholarship to Converse. I’m glad I did because Professor Cook had gone to the Pennsylvania Academy. He was a good student at Pennsylvania Academy. He taught us all that good academic stuff about color, form, and all that. You can see this is not academic like that, but still it has a lot of knowledge about color.

It’s underneath.

Even if it’s not there I have the confidence of knowing that I know that stuff.
They are inviting paintings. There’s an order to the chaos.

The rest of the schooling is that I have a Masters from the Rhode Island School of Design which was another kind of schooling. I went because I taught at the Day School and they sent me there for my Masters degree. That was good. I asked them and they did. It was a good experience.

What are your goals with your artwork at this point?

Just to continue to find out what there is in me and out there to come together over that. I’m picking up something from where ever I am. I lived in China for three years. I came home and just started painting things unlike what I had done before. After about three or four years I took a group of friends back to China and it was like everywhere I looked, “That’s my painting.” It wasn’t like images it was like this little bit of something. It was a combination of my love of color and despite parts of China being very gray, overall China is very colorful. I was seeing that I had taken some of China in and put it on that canvas not knowing that’s what I was doing.

I have some paintings I did in Africa and with my brush strokes they looked African. You know how African art has these broad angular strokes? Well I have some landscapes I did in Africa and they look like that. It’s interesting to find out how these things get filtered through me somehow.

These trips to Africa and China, are they something that’s grown out of your work?

No. I used to travel with friends. I’ve been in lots of European countries. We used to go with paintings on our backs to paint and spend a month travelling around painting.

My husband died in 1986 and I was still at the Day School. I stayed there a few years and I decided this was not the way I wanted to spend the rest of my life just living here, going to school and coming home. I took a year off and decided that I would apply to the Peace Corps because I wanted to do that when I was young. They sent me to Botswana to teach art.

The Peace Corps is normally two years, but I extended for a third year. When I came home I knew I wasn’t ready to come home. I started looking at the information Peace Corps sent me about other opportunities. There was an advertisement about teaching in China. I sent off my application and they called me. It was a position teaching English and they wanted me to teach art. I said, “Yes.” I taught art to children who were equivalent to our 4-6th grade. I was speaking English, they were speaking English and we could understand each other. I spent three years in China.

How long have you been back in Tryon?

I came home in 1999 and I lived in Spartanburg for a little while and knew I didn’t want to settle in Spartanburg. I started looking around and found a little house at Lake Lanier that was similar to this but a lot bigger. I bought that house and lived there for three or four years. I met a man and we decided to buy a house together and it had a room in the basement that was unfinished. It didn’t take me long to outgrown that for a studio. Then I started looking and found this place. I’ve been here three years. I was sort of without a good studio for two years doing smaller things.

Are these smaller pieces on the wall from the smaller studio?

This is just so much fun. It’s just an acrylic sketch book. I’m a little bit frugal and when I’m working on a painting and I’ve finished with a color I will come and put it on a piece of paper. Then when I’m finished painting in the afternoon I will take my palette knife and come and scrape it on the paper and I’m just watching what happens and building up compositions. This is what I’m calling my sketchbook. I love doing it.

It’s beautiful!

I’m thinking this is also something I can take to China.

When do you go?

The time is October. I’m hoping it all works out.

Is there anything else on your schedule?

I’m glad you asked. I sent four pastel drawings that I did studying this work and they’re going to be at Meredith College in September at the Women’s Caucus for Art. The show is called Echos. It’s supposed to be work in a series.

For the Art Trek will there be tour guides or maps?

Everybody gets a map and they’re on their own to go where they want to, when they want to in that certain period of time.

If somebody wants to contact you before or after the show what’s the best way to reach you?

By email lindahudgins@att.net I guess or by phone 828-894-8394. I have a website www.lindahudginsart.com and my contact information is also there. People generally don’t come except by appointment here. Those two days you’ll be able to drop by as a special exception.

Art Trek Tryon takes place July 25-26, 2009 and features an open studio tour of 40 artists in Polk County and Landrum. A preview party exhibiting works from participating artists will be held at the Upstairs Artspace Friday July 24 from 5-8 p.m.

Dr. Elizabeth Child transitions from fundraising back to classical piano

2009-07-03T08:00:00.002-04:00

In a time when many people are wondering about job security, Beth Child has made a bold choice to leave behind her “day job” at Hospice and return to her passion with classical piano. I took a moment one afternoon to sit down and visit with her about this courageous transition.

You just left Hospice. How long did you work with them?

I’ve been with them two years. I’ve been with St. Luke’s Hospital Foundation for five. I look at it as a seven year chunk where I worked in the non-profit area. I started part-time at St. Luke’s. I needed to leave music for a while for a lot of reasons. I thought, “I think maybe this is a job I can do!” I took courses, learned a lot, and did a lot. They were both wonderful jobs, great organizations. It took me seven years to realize it just didn’t fit me and the music did and always had. I needed to go back to it.

Did you go to college for music?

I started piano lessons in first grade. I started Converse College and got my Bachelors in Performance, then went to University of Michigan for a Masters in Performance, and then the Julliard School for a Doctorate in Performance. I loved doing it.

Have you taught?

I did teach at Furman just before starting work at St. Luke’s Hospital. For six months I took the place of a faculty member that was on sabbatical. I had a taste of college teaching and it was great. I knew at that point that I had to step aside from what I had done my whole life because my heart just wasn’t in it. I had lived in New York a long time and had gone through a divorce and the music just wasn’t speaking to me like it had. Sometimes life is like that, you’ve got to put something down and then you end up growing and changing in this other place that you went. Then you can come back to it. It’s scary, but I feel it’s something I have to try.

What types of performances were you doing before you got into the fundraising world?

I was living in New York, so I was playing some chamber music with friends and library series performances in New Jersey and Connecticut. I was teaching a lot. I had a private studio at my home in Brooklyn and taught all ages except beginners. I got concerts down here because I have ties in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. You can do pretty well managing a career for yourself. It’s not quite like acting where you really have to have a manager. It’s hard now because my home is Tryon. What I have done in the last two months since I got out of the non-profit arena is network like crazy to set up some concerts. I have one in Spartanburg and one in Greenville in the fall, one at Tryon Estates next March, and for The Hobbit this summer. I played a couple years ago for Alice in Wonderland and it’s a lot of fun. There’s no music written for it, but the fun part is you get to read the script and then talk with everybody else on the team and see what composers might fit. You get to work with little kids, which is wonderful.

Will you actually pick specific pieces for The Hobbit?

Since I can’t improvise very well, I go through all the music I have in the house. First, I read the script. Some music does come to mind and then I’ll go find it. For this one I’ve settled on Grieg who’s Norwegian.

I love Grieg’s lyric piano pieces.

Yeah, he’s written a ton of stuff. Also, Bartok and Debussy. I’m going to stick to those three because then you really have to hunt. Probably the most time consuming thing is finding the music and finding where to put it. Gandalf the wizard raises his sword and there’s this blue light on him. I’ve found music for the blue light.

Wow! How do you pick blue light music?

It’s hard. We’ve had good production meetings where we sit with the set designer, the costume designer, and the lighting designer. They tell me what they’re concept is and we bat things about. I’m really just using my own instincts and creativity. I think it helped doing Alice and Wonderland before.

It also helps having in your brain an array of classical melodies.

This Hobbit has a little bit of Asian influence in the costumes. It’s not your typical English shire. I don’t want to say anymore because I can’t put it into words like the director and other people can do.

Will there be any Asian influences in the music?

A little bit. Debussy wrote a piece called Pagodes. There’s some of that in there. Really, I think Chinese and Japanese music influenced a lot of European composers.

Are you a strictly classical player?

Yeah, and that’s tough to get work. If only I could play like Fred Whiskin. If only I could play good party piano. I can read anything, but I just don’t play by ear and jazz doesn’t come that easily.

Who are your favorite composers?

That is so hard to answer. I’m asked that a lot and it changes from year to year. It used to be Mozart and then Bach. I think right now it’s the romantic era. That’s where I really want to spend all my time. I’m practicing Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Schuman, and Liszt.

How did you make the leap from Brooklyn to Tryon?

My grand parents had retired here in the 1970s and so I’ve been coming for a long time. They’re no longer living, but my parents then retired here in the 1980s and my mom is still here. I came back home so to speak. My father’s from Spartanburg. I still have a few relatives there.

I need a new headshot. I need a new demo CD. The ones I have from New York are too old. I need a new glossy flyer. It’s very different. It’s taken two months just to get back in the swing of this. The clothes are different. You’ve got to think about how your hair looks. I won’t use Beth Child; it will be Elizabeth Child because that sounds better for a stage name. It feels like the right place to be even though the economy has made things tough. I’m going to keep an open mind.

It seems like in this economy people are moving toward things they know they are passionate about.

I think so. It just makes me so mad that these companies did such stupid things and lost people’s money. I’m going to something that is very real and meaningful to me, because you just don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. I think as far as people wanting lessons and wanting to hear good music and concerts, that’s still in demand. People need the arts. It speaks to everybody whether it’s visual arts, the performing arts, or writing.

What would you say to somebody who’s thinking about a career in music and college for music?

I would go for it and realize that there are a lot of good careers in music. It may not be performing. It may be working with music and media. It may be teaching people over the age of 65 who want to learn new things. I think today’s musician is just going to have to think very broadly. Doing more than one thing is good. Branching out and even being able to play other instruments is good.

Did you ever play Carnegie Hall or have dreams of playing in Carnegie Hall?

I’ve played in Carnegie Recital Hall twice. I made my New York debut there. That’s the gorgeous small hall that’s attached to Carnegie Hall. It’s called Weill Recital Hall now. In 1984 when I made my debut it was called Carnegie Recital Hall which of course sounded really good. That’s where everybody made their debut at the time. I got a New York Times review. Playing in “the” Carnegie Hall, I would love that. That’s every performers dream because the acoustics are so incredible and of course the history of all the people who have played there.

That’s not in my sights right now. I have to kind of start small right now just to get my feet wet again. I’m President of Rotary Club until the end of June and one of the Rotarians asked what it was like getting back into it. “Aren’t your fingers stiff?” I was trying to describe it. The fingers part is like riding a bike, but my brain is seven years older and playing from memory and under pressure you have to do a lot of it.

Do you practice on a regular basis?

I do.

How much time do you put into practice?

I’m trying four hours a day, five days a week right now. That’s just to build repertoire and get it in good enough shape to play like I was used to playing.

That’s like a part time job and you don’t get paid to practice.

That’s right. I think the tougher thing for me will be teaching. I love teaching and I would like to have some intermediate and advanced students. In September I’ll know more about adjunct work at colleges. Furman may have need for accompanists and teachers of piano minors. I think that’s the hardest thing. How do I teach and what does that look like? I want to be teaching and performing in some manner and slowing build up gigs and make money at it. I have a few now, but I need more. I’m just going to take my time. I poured my heart and soul into learning about fundraising. I want to do things all the way when I do them. It’s putting on the brakes with that and going back takes time. You can’t just flip a switch.

You’ll be doing a demo. Do you have a studio for that?

I do not. That’s brand new too because everything I did before was in New York. That’s why the networking is so important. Somebody told me about someone very good in Spartanburg who does head shots. I’m going to need a lot more than that. I’m just starting this process.

I have poured myself into this Rotary year as president. June 25 is my last Thursday as president. I expect to really pour myself into music.

How was it being President of Rotary?

I started with Rotary when I started with St. Luke’s Hospital. It was important to my boss at the time. My mother reminded me that my grandfather had been a Rotarian. I really liked it. I think it does a tremendous amount of good for the community and also for the world. They’re known for helping eradicate polio. I have grown at the two jobs and in Rotary because I’ve had leadership positions and had to do public speaking. It really helped build confidence.

I think that’s made it easier to go back and have that confidence on the stage. I had that to some extent before, but I think it’s better now. I’ve loved the piano since I was a little girl. When I was ten I was already practicing three hours a day.

I’ve heard music lessons as a child is one of the key pieces to keeping kids away from risky behaviors.

I read a good article in Clavier that music lessons, because of the discipline required, can really help the kids that are so into their computers and the video games where their attention span is so short. You have to learn how to be a good listener. It’s a skill they may not get in school. Music lessons can do a lot for today’s child.

When you mention that you won’t take beginning students, is it because of age or level?

Just a certain level, I really don’t take beginners anymore. I don’t have the patience to teach the note names and the staff.

You want students who can already read music…

…and know their rhythms. Age doesn’t really matter. Early intermediate is fine.

When is The Hobbit?

It’s the very end of July.

Is there anything else local coming up?

Hospice is doing a fundraiser October 10. It’s a choral concert at Tryon Fine Arts Center and I am accompanying for that, but I’m playing one solo piece. It’s a Liszt piano piece that’s a transcription of a Schumann song. It’s gorgeous. The only problem is that it’s three and half minutes and then it’s gone. It’s so beautiful.

You can reach Dr. Elizabeth Child by calling 828-859-6508 or emailing mechild@windstream.net.

Pastor Jorel Lawson grandson of Nina Simone visits Tryon

2009-06-26T08:00:00.002-04:00

I had the opportunity to meet with Pastor Jorel Lawson when he made a visit to Tryon in June and spoke at St. Luke’s C.M.E. church. The following is our conversation on the Friday afternoon before he spoke at the church.

What do you think of your first visit to Tryon?

Very historic in the sense that my family roots and background are here in Tryon. My great-grandmother Reverend Mrs. Mary Waymond was the pastor of St. Luke’s many years back and it’s where my grandma Nina was born and raised. I saw the house. It was my first time seeing all of that, the church, the house, and even the gravesite. You know that touched me in a very special way.

Where did you actually grow up?

My mother was serving in the Air Force back in 1984, she was stationed in Tucson, Arizona and that’s where I was born. I was there for six weeks and then I was sent to upstate New York where I spent twelve years growing up from infant to adolescence. Then from there at the age of thirteen for my first time I was sent to Ghana, West Africa to do schooling there for about two years. At age fifteen I came back from Ghana and I lived in Chicago. There I stayed and resided for about nine years. I went back to Ghana in 2007 to do missionary work. I also met my wife there. Before I left Ghana, we got engaged, then I left, and then six months later we got married. Since we got married, I decided to move there and I’ve been living there ever since.

You were raised as much in Ghana as any place in the U.S. it sounds like.

Yes.

How would you compare your experience living in Ghana to living in Chicago and upstate New York?

America is very fast paced. We Americans, our mind is always running a thousand miles an hour. We’re always busy. That’s why the time goes so fast, whereby in Ghana it’s kind of slow paced. You got to turn the pace and make it fast and move the way you want to move. If you don’t take time it will start getting boring.

Ghana is lively, but it’s not as lively as the states where some cities are full of noise. Chicago is just noisy, but here in Tryon it’s calm, peaceful, and very quiet. It’s the same thing with Ghana. At the same time you have some lively places. Where I’m at it’s mostly quiet. That’s the similarities between the two.

What was your impetus to do missionary work in Ghana?

I have a burden to help people. Like Jesus said in the scriptures, “The son of man came to seek and save that which was lost.” I believe that as we fulfill the steps of Jesus of walking as he walked that we should go out there and help people in the world. Now of course, I had my fair share of high school life. I was a knuckle head being disobedient and doing what a teenager would normally do. As I got older I saw that this is not the life for me. I used to do drugs. I used to hang out with the wrong crowd and be under a lot of peer pressure, dating different women, and also got in trouble with the law, little misdemeanor stuff. As I got older I saw that this was not a life, and this was not a future for me. I know that I have a higher calling. When I finally came to my senses, I used to watch about Africa on the T.V. and I used to see the people just suffering living in poverty. When you see them, they look like they have no future. As I devoted myself to the ministry and became an ordained minister I had a burden to go out there and help the people. If I can help a soul and help a person to know who they are and what they’re here for I don’t mind my leaving my country.

Was there any specific point that really turned your head around to get your life on track?

The last couple of years before I went full time into the ministry I was a geothermal technician. I was working in a construction company dealing with geothermal energy, from the earth. I was working on trucks, with bobcats, and lifting steel. It was a dirty job. I hate dirty jobs, but they paid good money. If it’s paying good money, you don’t care what happens as long as they’re paying you. I was doing that for a while, but as time went on I got bored with it. We used to go as far as 600-700 feet deep down in the earth. We used to deal with geysers. I just got tired of coming home smelling like gas and kerosene. I just said, “This is not the life for me.” My mother in 2007 came to Chicago, looked in my face and said, “Son, you know this is not you. You have a higher calling. Chicago is not your home. This job that you’re working, yes it pays the bills but you won’t be doing this for long.” When my mom spoke that into me then I saw things on a different note. I said, “Well I’m going to go ahead and quit this job.” For the last six-seven months of that year after I met my wife and we were engaged, I was just working my socks off. I said, “I know I’m not going to be working here soon, so let me just gather up all the money that I can and then I’ll just go ahead and dismiss myself.”

Going back to Ghana, how is that ministry working?

Basically the ministry that I deal with is Charismatic and Pentecostal. I deal with a lot of ministers because when people hear that you’re an American and hear your accent they immediately want to draw close to you. At the same time you have to be watchful because some people will draw close to you just to use you and to get what you have. I go to the villages. In March I was in a village that was about thirteen hours away from the capital of Ghana. Out there, the villagers’ houses are made out of mud. I was just taken aback by how I saw these people making houses out of mud and cow manure and it doesn’t stink. I was very fascinated to see how these people survive. When I go out there and minister, I go out with pastors who know the area and know the community. Basically they are my translators. The one thing about it, we don’t give up. If it fails, hey, I’m going to keep on trying until something succeeds. That’s what we normally do there.

What types of change have you seen from the work that you’ve done so far?

Lives being blessed and changed. When I first arrived, a lot of people weren’t happy with their lives especially regarding marriage and their personal lives. After you sit down and counsel them you help them to see that they are of more value to God than how somebody else would look at them. What every African that lives on the continent of Africa needs, is encouragement. They need somebody who will sit down and listen to them word for word. When they see that someone is listening, and when they see that someone is taking the time to invest in trying to help them then they will respond positively. God puts people in other people’s lives for a reason.

Would you say that the problems with family and needing encouragement are different in Ghana than in America?

As for America, we have counselors, community centers, and even therapists that people go and see to talk about their problems and whatever they’re going through. Ghana on the other hand, they don’t have that, or if they do it’s very rare. They’re suffering because poverty is what’s killing the mindset and the mentality of the African. They work so hard, but they only get paid so little. They go through other means such as prostitution, alcoholism, and drugs. Right now prostitution is one of the main things going on there because there is no money. Now Ghana is right behind South Africa for the HIV/AIDS. You have people getting pregnant from age eleven up to fourteen. Shockingly, the people that get these kids pregnant are young themselves. Since the young ladies are not prepared for parenthood, their hearts and their minds can’t handle that, they tend to leave the child with their mother or with their grandparents and they run away. There’s no such thing as child support. You don’t go to court for that. The males can get away with that severely over there. It leaves the women in such an awkward position because in Africa people look at them different. If you’re having babies at this age then you don’t respect yourself, you must be a prostitute. Instead of trying to encourage them, you have some people that just discourage them. Then they’re just doing it more and more. The latter part is worse then when they first started.

It’s not only in Africa or America, but it’s in the whole world there are people walking without hope. You have to believe that it is going to get better. We can all bring changes in our society, community, city, and our country. If we don’t realize that, then we’ll always be stuck in the same predicament and having people feeling sorry for us. You are somebody, you can do exploits, and you can always talk to somebody. Spiritually the church is the backbone of every country in the world because the church is a place where you come to for peace, solace, tranquility, counseling, anything.

Is Ghana predominantly Christian? Or what is the religious make-up of that country?

You have varieties. Christian is the main religion. Of course, you have Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, and Islam. It depends on the region. The Greater Accra Region, that’s where I live, you have about 95% Christian with other religions following behind that.

In Ghana you don’t have a state religion?

No, you have the freedom to choose what religion you want.

Is there communication between the religions?

There is communication between the religions. I believe that wars could be prevented if people can just communicate accurately.

Any other plans for your visit here?

I got here on the 15 of May and everything has been so fast paced for me. I made stops like New York, Stroudsburg and Allentown, Pennsylvania, Miami. I’ve been to Jacksonville. I just got here on Wednesday coming from Chicago. I’ll be leaving for Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania early Monday morning. Dr. Armbrust has already taken me for a tour of the whole place. Today I’m just relaxing and then tomorrow St. Luke’s and another Baptist church are going to be having a little barbecue. I was invited over there to come and grace the occasion. Apart from that I’ll be speaking at St. Luke’s on Sunday. When I’m done speaking at St. Luke’s then my itinerary is finished and I just prepare and get ready to go back. Every city that I’ve gone to I’ve made contacts and formed good relationships and friends. Also, we’re trying to collect funds, trying to help sponsor the work in Africa, trying to build churches, trying to send clothes and food to those that are less fortunate. By God’s grace I’ve been very successful doing that. When I go back to Ghana everyone will be able to hear a positive report of what the Lord has been doing here.

How has your mom responded to the work that you’ve been doing?

My mom has been very supportive of my ministry. She has actually invested in my career and she’s very proud of what I’ve become and what I’m doing. She looks at it as a big transformation. She’s going to be continually supporting me in what I’m going to be doing. I thank God for that. I’m very thankful that she has an understanding heart to know that this is what I want to do, this is my dream.

Will your wife come with you on your next visit?

My wife is back in Ghana, but I’m planning for her to come with me the next time that I come around. It will be her first time coming to the U.S.

If people are interested in contributing to your ministry, how do they contact you?

We have three contacts and we have an email address. We have the Amazing Grace International Church. We have our email address which is globaloutreach.2008@yahoo.com or my cell phone which is an international number 011-233-243-909-262.

Richard Sharkey designing the look of Les Misérables

2009-06-19T08:00:00.000-04:00

As rehearsals started at the beginning of June with the students for this summer’s Tryon Little Theatre/Tryon Youth Center teen musical, I stopped by the TLT Workshop to meet the newest member of the production team for this year’s show Richard Sharkey.

How long have you been in Tryon?

My wife and I moved up in August 2007 from Tampa, Florida where I’d been working at the University of Tampa. I was their resident lighting and set person that does anything that needs to be done except costuming. I taught a theatre class for the university. I’ve taught stage craft at a couple of different universities. I primarily worked with professional theatre companies though until I started working with the University of Tampa. Then I said, “Whoever gave me a regular salary could have me full time and I wouldn’t work any where else.” Finally, I wrote a letter to president of the University of Tampa saying it’s ridiculous that a university this large of a theatre department doesn’t have a full time tech person. I worked there from 1989 until I retired about four years ago.

You had a good long stint at the university then.

Yeah, fifteen years. I worked with theatres that used the University so I was really familiar with the space and I did a lot of freelance for them in places. Another company that I worked for, Stageworks, did their performing in there around the university schedule.

What type of lighting equipment have you worked with?

When I first started at the University of Houston, I went to school in 1963, they had a little theatre and in the attic there were twelve rheostat dimmers and if you wanted to do a fade out it took twelve people. I used a lot of different types of things, but I’ve been using a computer lighting board for a long time and I’m really happy with it because it does the same thing every time.

In the middle of my college years they switched over to a computer system for the first time. There were so many new things possible with the computer board. How did you train yourself up from the old rheostat dimmers to the computer technology available now?

First of all, I love computers since they first came out in the early 80’s and the video games were type entry like, “Look west” and it would say, “West is a tree with a hole under it.” My brother-in-law was trying to sell and make computers at that time. I got involved in computers and my brother is a musician and computer draftsman. He could never really make enough money to play music full time so he started doing drafting for a company in Houston. I bought my first computer which was an Amiga, and then Don gave me a regular computer with CAD on it. I started doing all the designs on CAD. Really crude when you look back on it, I can’t believe that at the time it was great. I’ve been a computer person all along really. I use a computer program for lighting. I first started working when I got out of college at the Showboat Dinner Theatre which is an equity theatre in St. Petersburg that brought in the stars. They had eighteen dimmers on the wall in a preset board and I would cut out a piece of paper so when I did the fade up I would bring the paper up and it would move the dimmers.

So you could move them all at the same time?

It had little cross-fader thing, but when you’re doing a big show that’s tough. One time we did a production of Cabaret and I had almost 600 light cues in it. It was five different dimmer boards working together and my wife ran part of it and I ran part of it. It could be a lot of fun and a real challenge.

600 light cues in a two hour show is…

That’s about five a minute.

That’s a lot.

We treated it somewhat as a rock show particularly for the girls that were performing in the Cabaret. Les Miz is going to have lots of flashing lights too because of the battle scene and the barricade with the smoke and everything.

Did you study lighting design in college?

I went into college very naïve. I was seventeen and very young and all I wanted to do was theatre, but I had a lot of trouble with professors. I ended up on academic probation. I went into the service and ended up in Tokyo. I went to an audition for a theatre over there and ended up running a little theatre company in Tokyo for two years, which was wonderful. That’s where I started designing. I’d been interested in lights all along. In my first year of college I would sneak into the theatre and let them lock the building and I would go play with the lights for six or seven hours and then I would go down and sleep on a cot for an hour or two and when the students started coming in I’d wake up and go to class. Basically, that’s where I learned how to light shows and what lighting does. I refined that over the years. I see things in light and I can look at the space and I can visualize the set, which is a gift. I thought everyone could do that, but they can’t. Now CAD makes it really easy because I can create three dimensional drawings and look at it and see what it’s going to look like from back stage or the side and where the sightline problems are.

You also are designing the set for Les Miz?

I’m working with Chris on it and we’re talking about things. I’m sure some of his influence will be in the set and some of my influence will be in the set.

Were you originally from Houston?

No, I actually grew up in Denver, Colorado until my senior year when we moved to Houston. I went to high school, one year of college and then went into the service, which is probably the best thing that ever happened to me. They sent me to Indiana University and I studied Russian for nine months. I was supposed to be a Russian linguist but they decided they had too many people, so they put me in what they called a TRANSEC unit. This was during the Viet Nam war. Three weeks into basic training the Gulf of Tonkin incident happened where we’re basically at war and I’m going, “Why did I enlist?”

Did you end up going to Viet Nam?

No, I ended up in Tokyo at a TRANSEC unit where we monitored American communications pretending we were Chinese or the Soviets to see what intelligence we got. I sat in a little building with a trunk line from Hawaii and we picked what phone lines we wanted to listen to. If we did that today people would arrest us. They made it illegal in 1971 or ’72 to just listen to anything that you want to.

So, I met a girl in Japan who went to University of South Florida. The west coast of Florida sounded pretty good, sun and fun. I went to USF and graduated from there and went to work at the Showboat Dinner Theatre. Showboat needed someone to help on the set. It was Don Ameche and the guy who was directing decided they had to build all the furniture for the set and they were hopelessly behind. They brought me in to help catch up and I caught up and they offered me a job and eventually I took over lighting and set design. The Showboat was wonderful. It was an equity star theatre. They brought in all the people I’d dreamed about meeting when I was a kid, Ozzie and Harriet, Gale Storm, Bob Cummings, Cesar Romero, Martha Ray, all these people that I’d seen in movies forever and I finally got to work with them. I did three sets for Cesar, and two for Martha and Elkie Summers. I did a couple sets for Bob Crane before he was killed.

It was a fun seven years. I enjoyed it, but I got tired of doing big musical comedies and a little theatre company, The Alice People, asked if I’d come design for them. They did the show about the Alice People involved with the Manhattan Project which is a very bizarre, strange Alice in Wonderland. It’s not a children’s show. They took their name from the first production that they did. I started designing for both companies. I did this for two years. I don’t know how I did it because my normal day would have me up at six and over at the Showboat to build sound and music until five thirty, stop at the Chinese place and get something to eat on the way, start rehearsal at six thirty or seven, rehearse until ten or eleven, go home, get up the next morning, and go do it again. I was designing and building about 22 productions a year at that point.

That’s a lot.

The Showboat would basically do a new show every five weeks unless they did a musical. When they did the Sound of Music, which I had to run lights on, it ran for nine and a half months, something like 378 performances.

I’ll show you a set I did. There’s a play by one of the Southern female playwrights called The Old Timers Game. I did sets with painted floors like this one.

It looks like a real wood grain floor, but it’s just paint?

Yes.

That’s beautiful.

The Old Timers Game took place in a dugout. We built everything and had Styrofoam bricks. I have some really great compliments from this show. One was a St. Petersburg artist came in and said, “Wow, the paint job on this was incredible.” I had beams that came out like in the stadium with all kinds of aging stuff on it. The other thing that was really neat was, a father brought his little son to this show and at the end he turned to his dad and said, “Dad, why didn’t we watch the baseball game?” I went, “Yes! It works.” That’s the magic of theatre.

It’s going to be fun to work here with a theatre company that the people are here and they want to do it. They want to be involved in it.

The Tryon Little Theatre has a good team that works together to make these shows. Where are you at for the design of Les Misérables at this point?

We have the basic design, but there are still a lot of questions that aren’t answered. We have a revolve in the middle that turns around and becomes the barricade for the beginning of act two. I know there’s a bridge that’s going to be flown in that I will have to design. It’s in my head.

The flying bridge is going to happen?

Yes, the flying bridge is going to happen. I’ve got to find out about the lighting equipment and what we’ll be able to do with the lights for that scene. There are three elements about lighting, lighting the performer, lighting the set, and creating the mood. In Les Miz we’re going for a period feel so I know we’re going to use amber and blues from the front and light from the back.

And this opens…

July 9. I know it’s going to be fun and exciting.

Les Miz is a big show.

It’s a very ambitious show. CATS was an ambitious show and they said they did wonderful. Chris talks about how he’d rather do intelligent, hard shows.

The kids pulled it off last year. I can’t wait to see how they do with the challenge this year. If people are interested in contacting you about projects or ideas about upcoming shows is there a way for them to reach you?

They could reach me through Tryon Little Theatre or at my home phone 828-749-3810.

Look for Richard Sharkey’s design debut at the Tryon Fine Arts Center this summer with the TLT/TYC teen musical Les Misérables. The box office opens at the TLT Workshop on June 22 for advance ticket sales. The production will run one weekend July 9-12. For more information contact the TLT Workshop at 828-859-2466 or www.tltinfo.org.

Jim Peterman making soulful music with Shane Pruitt

2009-06-12T08:00:00.001-04:00

This is the continuation of the conversation with Jim Peterman from Wednesday’s edition.
Mostly you do the local gigs by yourself and if you’re traveling it’s for Shane Pruitt.

That band is all of our main effort right now.

Have you been recording?

We recorded something a year ago and we were trying to be back in the studio this spring, but we didn’t make it. If we’re there by fall I wouldn’t be surprised. We’ve got maybe four originals that we could have together. On the last one, there are three. The last three on the CD were recorded at Smithe’s Olde Bar in Atlanta.

Up the skinny little staircase you carried…

A Hammond B3. We recorded at a studio in Atlanta and then the guys that did it have a really nice remote rig and they brought that and know the guys that run the sound there so they could plug into the board mix and did a combination of both.

You made the product and you carry the product with you?

We sell them at shows. We’ve got a pretty busy schedule. I work full time so I’m fitting all this stuff in. Bill the drummer got laid off from his job after 27 years. He’s a “gentleman of leisure” now. Shane does this full time for a living between teaching and playing. I’ve decided that I just want to give up construction work and do this. This is what I love to do the most, but I haven’t been involved since back in Wisconsin with anybody that was really worth going to pay to see regularly for a decent amount of money, but I think this band will become that.

People want to know that if they spend their money, they’re going to enjoy themselves. They don’t go out to have a bad time.

Or risk going out to have a bad time. You know I’ve done the remodeling work for 38 years going on 39 and it’s lost its glamour. This is so inviting. This trio just has brought out the best in all three of us. It’s funny, I was in a band called Cocktail Frank and when that band broke up Bill the drummer and I put a group together with a bass player and Shane. We had played at the Nu-Way. That’s kind of like the home base.

I’ve only been to the Hub Bub in Spartanburg.

The Nu-Way is grittier, a roots place.

I haven’t been to the gritty side of Spartanburg yet.

Anyway we played a gig there and it’s always a great crowd and we always sound good there. You just feel comfortable to get down and the people there really like what we’re doing. It was one of those nights where we just had a great night and the owner said we could stay if we wanted and play. The bass player Rick, a really good friend who does sound now for the Pruitt band, just wanted to go home. The three of us stayed until 4:30-5:00 in the morning. That’s how the Shane Pruitt Band started. I was playing bass on the organ instead of having a bass player and we decided that wasn’t too bad.

That was all you needed.

We got a couple of other gigs and then that was it. We were going with that trio.

It’s nice when you find the right balance.

It is and it was one guy less so we could do more colorful experimental stuff. It was wonderful, it still is. That was three years ago.

The thing about a good music show is that it does lift you up and take you a better mind set than when you walked in the door.

If it’s done its job, it’s done that. You play blues because you feel it. I think all three of us have a pretty soulful connection to music that we play. We’re not a flat out jam band, but with a little bit of a shell and then within that we go off. We’ve got songs that have their space for a solo and the solos are always different. Then within the framework of our stuff, one song might go two or three different places that it never went before and it might last for a while, where the night before it was just what we usually do with it, but always expressive and spritely. That’s really great.

You surprise each other.

Keeping tuned into each other, what we count on is playing off of each other. I think you’re displaying a combination of three guys’ feelings that night. It’s always a little different. Somebody might be up, somebody might be down, and somebody might be in a more rock and roll head or a jazz thing or whatever. It starts out and works itself into this thing with all three moving together with the other influences of the day or the week or whatever to create what it creates that night. It’s not always extraordinary, but it’s always good.

How would you compare working with this group to working with Steve Miller?

There was a jam part of that band as well just in the solo section, but the tune got pretty much played the same every night, which is like most bands. Then the solo part would be the interesting part and it could sometimes change and get really long. Curly Cook is way creative, he’s one of my favorite people. He’s a good rhythm and lead guitar player. He was kind of the guy in that group that initiated that stretching part of the tunes and he left early on because he and Steve couldn’t get along. The form that he had created within those tunes we still played after he left allowed for a fair amount of improvisation and some change in tone and color of the song. Whenever you played it, it could be somewhat different. I was more just a player in that band doing the part that needed to be done.

With this band the three of us are just there to inspire one another and play what comes out that night when you’re playing. We still follow all of the form of a tune. A verse is a verse and all, but this band is just far more encouraging to intelligently follow your spontaneity along with the other guys to be creating something fresh. It’s not always way new, not always completely different than it ever was before, but you’re trying to respond to whatever the stimulus is.

You’re actually having a conversation on stage with sound.

Yeah.

You can come back and listen every time they play because…

…it’s not the same show. I would say that’s where we are. Consequently I’ve been a weekend warrior forever. I got divorced three years ago. My wife enjoyed my music, but she just wasn’t ever up for going out and watching it. Not to get into my divorce, but just to relate to that, once I was not in that environment anymore and I was playing a lot. I kept my business going, I never let that suffer. I’ve really blossomed in the last three or four years far more than I ever thought I would. I’m a good player, a good group player, a good singer. I’ve always got enough to offer that I’d be able to play with somebody and have a good time. I’m singing and playing far stronger than I ever did before. I wouldn’t advocate divorce for any reason for anyone, but just that change in arena, responsibility, being able to have music as more of a focus, and then falling in line with these three guys it’s been wonderful. It’s really important to me now. I’ve always loved music, but there’s an opportunity now to really develop myself as far as I choose to develop which wasn’t there before when I was married because it just wasn’t in the scheme of things.

An artist’s lifestyle, even if they have a day job is hard on the traditional family unit. It takes an understanding partner to juggle a routine that is not just the regular 9 to 5. It’s not normal.

Look at Charlie Parker. He had this lady “The Duchess.” She was probably just the queen of heavy weights as far as being the right person to be with a jazz musician. I think she saw the genius in Charlie Parker and she loved who he was. At times it was argumentative or contrary, but she was there for a long time through that situation. That’s a rare person. It could well have been that you never would have heard as much of Charlie Parker as you did without the Duchess having been involved helping it happen and loving it.

I remember Pat going with me to a Tuesday night thing and a Thursday night thing and I grew more in that first year than I ever thought that I would have. It’s funny because it was the same me and the same fingers you know, but it was a different frame of mind. I didn’t feel held back. This whole different deal was like running with light shoes and not heavy shoes. I really like the way that I stand with music at this point.

That sounds like a good place to be. You’ve got the band and if nothing else every other Tuesday at Lilac Wine Bar.

I’ve developed more singing there than I have in a long time. It’s quieter. People can hear you and you can really feel the room more. If the music’s really loud and you’ve got a lot of lights on you it’s hard to get a very intimate feel of how the people are responding to what you are doing. The Wine Bar is this really nice alternative where you know almost all the people who are in there anyway. You know they’re pretty much in there because they want to hear you play and sing. I love that.

It’s not like you’re hitting replay on the same CD that you heard the last time you were there.

That’s part of the thing with music is keeping your stuff fresh. With the Wine Bar I’m kind of running through all the old stuff I’ve ever done, some of it in a different way. I need to learn some new material, which is great. That’s wonderful that a gig promotes that. Benton Wharton played a couple times with me at the Wine Bar. He’s our manager now with the Shane Pruitt Band. Last Tuesday we didn’t have anybody there. I was disappointed, but that happens. What would have happened to me ten years ago, I probably would have been so discouraged from the situation, but now every chance you get to sit down with another musician and play for two hours is a good situation. It would be great if there were thirty people there that were all going crazy, but if there’s six and they’re not getting in your way at the least and enjoying it at best the two of you still have that opportunity to relate and play good music. That’s learning for me too. I’m getting there. How big that crowd is doesn’t really make a difference, but how well you’re playing, that’s what it is.

Besides Tuesdays, is there another place people can track you down?

If they go to Bill Fletcher’s MySpace he seems to be keeping up with his site. The Shane Pruitt Band website is going through some changes now that Benton Wharton is involved. We’ll be at the Music Camp with Belleville Outfit. They’re putting the show together. We’ve played with them a few times when they’ve come to town. That’s going to be a lot of fun.

They have a website for that festival www.themusiccamp.com. I know some Tryon folks are headed down to camp next weekend at that. In the meantime bite into one of the tasty groups at Harmon Field this weekend for the Blue Ridge BBQ & Music Festival. Jim Peterman will be playing the Main Stage with the Shane Pruitt Band at 4:15 p.m. on Saturday.

Jim Peterman cooking up music for the soul at the BBQ Festival

2009-06-10T08:00:00.000-04:00

I caught Jim Peterman playing at Lilac Wine Bar one evening with Shane Pruitt and enjoyed it so much I try to make a point to stop by on a Tuesday night just to see who’s playing when I’m in town. I’d heard a rumor about him playing with the Steve Miller Band and was curious to find out more about his travels before landing in Tryon. The only problem was finding a time for our schedules to match up. After trying to talk by phone during a thunderstorm while he was driving to a gig, we finally settled down and finished the conversation in person.
What bands have you played with at this point?

The ones people around here would know are Steve Miller, the Cocktail Frank Band with Wanda Johnson, and the Shane Pruitt Band.

Where are you from?

Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

What brought you to Tryon?

My in-laws moved down here to retire and my wife and I decided we liked the area when we came down to visit, so we moved.

When did you start playing with Steve Miller?

In Madison, Wisconsin we all went to school up there, Steve Miller and Boz Skaggs. Steve left school a couple years before I graduated and started that band in San Francisco in 1966. I went out in 1967 to see how it would sound and it sounded good to add keyboard. After I graduated in June of 1967 I went out there and joined the group. Boz and I both left the band in November 1968 and he went on to do his own thing and I moved back to Milwaukee. I did the first two albums with the band and then left. Left before the money started coming in.

Why did you leave the band?

Personal reasons and I wasn’t happy.

What did you do when you moved back?

We actually moved to Beloit, Wisconsin a little college town. My wife, that was her former residence and her folks were living there so we picked that as a spot. I worked in a factory there for a while. Then got an interview with people at Electra Records to work as a PR man and got the job and moved to Cincinnati, OH.

What did you study in college?

I was an art major with painting and ceramics and then studied music.

Do you still paint?

It pretty much got left behind for music. I’m a remodeling general contractor; I’ve done that for 35 years. I get to use the drawing part of art in that and some design and color choice. I’ve been able to use it some. It’s been nice. Music is more my passion than art. I’ve ended up where I should be I believe.

How long were you in Cincinnati?

I lived there for two years and then they wanted me to move to California and I didn’t want to go, so I left that job behind. I was farming and teaching, whatever I could do to pay the bills. I went pretty much from something to nothing in one day, but we did all right. I learned how to do farming with some animals and doing hay and that sort of thing. I slept good with that work. A friend of mine, who was the first rhythm guitar player with Steve Miller, Curly Cook came to visit me where we were in living outside of Cincinnati in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. He came to live with us for a while and he and I were working on music just the two of us. He plays guitar, so it was guitar and piano. That was working very well but we decided to move back to Wisconsin and he moved with us. Then we started a band there called the Watermelon Band.

What type of music?

Old rock and roll, more rhythm and blues than blues stuff. We were a hot bar band. A fellow name Ben Sindran who we knew from college played piano with us then and I was playing organ. He’s had a show on NPR for many years Jazz Alive. There was one show he had where he went to a performance and was running the show live from a club. He’s got a book called Black Talk that they use for teaching jazz in some schools. He’s a well rounded individual and hot player. But I had a wife and daughter and music wasn’t good for family life at that point in time. I tried my hand at carpentry and stayed with that up until now as far making a living. I just wasn’t providing as much as I wanted to provide as far as the hours I was working, so I went into construction full time. I would play in a band every once in while. Bands tend to come and go. I was a weekend warrior.

I played in a black Baptist church in Wisconsin as the organist for five years. I probably learned more about music and developing a style in that five years as anywhere. I would bring my friends in when we did concerts. During church they didn’t allow any drums. This girl brought me in who was the piano player and I played organ, but then when we had a concert we brought in drums, bass, and horns. It was a lot of fun. Nobody read music. I mean I studied it in school and I can still read chord charts, but I play by ear. The choir in that church, we’d learn by rote, just playing a tape over and over until everyone learned their part. Then I started playing with a girls group from that choir. We traveled in Milwaukee and Chicago for about five years.

You played in Greenville recently?

Yeah, at the Bohemian Café and then at the Music & Sports Festival in Asheville’s Carrier Park.

This was with the Shane Pruitt band?

Yeah. I played solo at Rogers Park for something that Crys Armbrust put together. I guess it was just a fun thing to do for Tryon. It was me and Woody Cowan had a group there. There was a black church group from Landrum there. Crys did some shape note song with two other ladies. Barbara Tilly and Pam McNeil did a number. Barbara Tilly had a woodwind quintet there and they did two songs. It was just soup to nuts. Tuesday I play at the Lilac Wine Bar and I do that by myself, and the rest is with the Shane Pruitt Band.

It’s seems like I’ve heard you do everything from gospel to southern rock, do you have a way of classifying what you do? Do you have a genre that you prefer?

I guess that you’d say that we’re a blues/R&B oriented band. We’ve got a strong gospel thing. The organ is a pretty commanding instrument anyway and the Hammond organ has got that really unique sound. That’s the organ in all the black churches and what jazz is played on is that Hammond. We’ve got that and then the time that I spent in that black Baptist church in Wisconsin and with that group afterwards. That’s always a sound that I really loved anyway before I did all that. Having gone to school for those years while I was playing behind the choir there and the men’s chorus, the women’s chorus, and the children’s choir. In the end you end up playing for everybody and you’re there all the time. They were wonderful folks. I made just dear friends in that community, but it got way too time consuming. What I learned playing-wise from that experience is probably thirty percent of what I play now. Consequently I think people would say we’ve got a strong spiritual sound as well as blues. It’s who we are and everybody plays into it well.

Find out more about Jim Peterman and the Shane Pruitt Band in the Friday edition of the Bulletin. Even better, catch them playing live at the Blue Ridge BBQ & Music Festival on the Main Stage in Harmon Field on Saturday at 4 p.m. Check out the entire line-up of great music this year at www.blueridgebbqfestival.com.

Author Bobbi Sommer comes of age in her 70’s with The Fig Rejection (part 2)

2009-06-05T08:00:00.003-04:00

This is a continuation of the conversation with Bobbi Sommer about writing her novel The Fig Rejection.

It’s interesting how you discover things about the writing after you’ve written it. In the final edit I always find things I hadn’t discovered before.

I would just wake up so excited to get coffee, bread, a short walk in, and start typing. I would sit there all day long and type. It didn’t take that long to write the book but all the rewrites. When I was doing it, I had what I guess would have been a tragedy, but I thought, “Well, if that’s the way it is, that’s the way it is.”

I was messing around with it one night and totally deleted it, the whole thing gone. I called my teacher who I was taking classes with on the computer at college. She didn’t seem to know what to do. My godsend was, and it’s in the acknowledgments there, Pam Stone and I had become friends.

She’s a comedian. She used to come from L.A. to a little place here. She happened to come in the store. I was working at a decorator’s store and antique shop in Landrum. She had no makeup on and I kept looking at her and finally said, “You’re the girl on Coach, aren’t you?” She said, “Yes I am.” I said, “Well I love that and I think you’re the best thing on it” because I did. She told me she had left her house in the winter and the pipes broke and it had poured water in her house for about three weeks. It took the walls, the floors, and everything but the ceiling and stick work. She had just had it redone with the insurance company. She was getting ready to move in all the stuff she had put in her barn and she had been robbed. That’s how I happened to meet her and we became very good friends.

Of course she writes and she has those radio programs and wrote for comedies. I would send the book to her as I was going along and I had just sent her the last total copy. I called her and she was so great she mailed it back to me. This friend, this man that used to help me with the computer, I called him right away and he said, “I have a friend that has a scanner. I’ll scan it for you and get it back in a form you can work with.” When he started doing it, he couldn’t get the scanner right away so he started copying it. He enjoyed it so much he copied the whole thing. He wanted to know what happened. That was great. I got my book back like that. I had just made up my mind when I realized what I had done that there was no way I could rewrite it from scratch and I wasn’t even going to try. It just wasn’t meant to be. I had a lot of fun doing it, and in the meantime I had met some great people at the school, Monica Jones and Gil Westmore. We had a little writing group and that was a lot of fun. I had really recognized a lot of joy from writing the book. I just figured if it’s gone it’s gone.

That’s amazing. Still, it sat on the shelf even after you got it back.

It sat on the shelf from whatever year that would have been until Charlie and I got together and one day he said, “I’d like to read your book.” It was years. I think it was 1997 when I wrote that book.

Do you feel like the schedule of the law firm contributed to your consistency working on this book? We’re you filling that gap of time that you would have been at the computer in the office, or was this something totally different?

It’s very hard. I’ve had a kind of traumatic life and it comes out in this book some. I think when I started with the writing, I did well. I got all A’s in all those classes. I love poetry, but I like rhyming poetry. I hated school, and I know a lot if it was because I was a very unhappy child. That was just another thing I had to do. When I did this college stuff it was wonderful because I got to choose what I wanted to do. That’s probably why I was good at it. I probably could have been good at school, but I was a disturbed child so I wasn’t practicing good study habits.

Why do you call yourself a disturbed child?

Disturbed is probably not the word, unhappy or confused child maybe. My father left us when I was eight, which is in the book because Molly is me. It was just my mother and me. My mother was a very bright woman and very talented, but she did everything wrong that you do with the child when you’re getting a divorce. She’d show me love letters from my father’s other woman. My mother and I didn’t have a good relationship and I very rarely saw my dad. It was hard times. My mother had to work really hard to support us and then she married a number of times.

I remember not ever feeling loved and feeling no self-esteem. It took me into my sixties to get over from that. That took forever. I just seemed to attract men that thrived on that. I was married a number of times, but I’ve come out on top. I really have. I have an entirely different outlook on myself and I’m sure writing that book helped too as well as meeting some of the people that I’ve met and realizing that I’m a good person. You don’t have to know how to spell. Some of the brightest ones I know in this town don’t know how to spell.

Sometimes when you step away from an unhealthy pattern you find that everything opens up in front of you.

We’d been married over 25 years and it was scary when that ended, but it was the best thing once I got over the anger. It brought back all that childhood stuff and all the rejection with my mother, my father and numerous other people. There was nowhere else to go.

It was time to move on.

It was time to get over this and it took some doing, but boy when it clicked in I was another person totally. I set my boundaries and when Charlie and I got together I told him, “No man will ever make me unhappy again.” He’s been wonderful. We don’t know when we’re young and insecure getting into relationships. You’re trying to put your best foot forward and you maybe don’t say the things you ought to say. They may not take you serious if you do. You’ve got to learn those hard knocks and decide when you’re not going to do that anymore. I realized through the years you send out vibes. You really do. Men just honed right in on my insecurities.

I’m still working on being myself.

That’s good, you don’t have to wait until you’re in your 60’s, believe me. I know there are people that are doing that a lot earlier, but it’s tough. I know it’s entirely different now with women and everything. But basically, I think women are very much the same. They’re care givers, they want to nurture, and they want to be loved in return. The men have the upper hand. I still think they do. I know a lot of them have changed. I see it in my sons. What’s nice is when they have themselves in control and don’t want to make you unhappy, but want to have a good relationship.

You have The Fig Rejection at The BookShelf in Tryon now and it’s published through AuthorHouse. Is it available other places?

Yes, at the publisher’s website and they have a copy at the Polk Library and the Lanier Library. It’s in the paperbacks at the Lanier Library. Charlie said one day, “I went down and requested your book from the Polk Library.” I said, “They don’t have my book.” Do you know, it was a month later and they called up and they had it? I don’t know where they got it, but we have a copy of it thanks to Charlie. I gave them the one at Lanier. It’s interesting to me the men that have read it and like it. That pleases me. Jay even liked it. He said, “I want to know what happens to the rest of them.”

Is there going to be a sequel?

Oh, I doubt it. I don’t think I could do it because I wouldn’t know where to go with them. When the time came to stop, it just came. I was living over at Pine Crest at the time. I would walk around the inn a lot saying, “How am I going to put these together?” Ann and Ken Huff who own the Orchard Inn up in Saluda brought a game to a dinner called the “Ungame.” It’s a great game. It’s not a win-lose game. It’s more to get you talking. I had only played that the one time, and I called Ann and asked if I could borrow her copy of it. She said yes, she was using it in her class. You’ll see in book how the Ungame is in there. I actually played it. I never set it up or made up a question for them to answer. I just set the board up and gave every character a thing and drew their card. It worked out beautifully. It just brought so much out because of the kind of game it was. It’s in there a couple times they play the game.

I would love to write some more. I started another book. I like Edward Hopper. You’re probably familiar with the Nighthawks the picture of the people in the diner. I came up with a story of a girl that gets so involved with that picture that she can go into it and be there. I looked at a lot of his other pictures. I did biographies of everybody. I found in the middle of the first book that I had to stop and do profiles on everybody because I couldn’t remember dates and how they fell. I just had to stop writing and do a bio on each one when they got married and everything. It made it a lot easier. I guess other writers start out that way, and I did with this other book. I had an idea of the kind of people I wanted in it. I’ve given it to Corrie and others to read but it just didn’t come like the first one. That one just flowed so easy.

Good, we just might see another book from you on the Nighthawks. I’ll be waiting for it.

Please stop by The BookShelf in Tryon to find a copy of The Fig Rejection for yourself. I’ve been reading it since our conversation and have enjoyed how well Bobbi transports the reader to another time and place, but in the end the words she has to share bring me back to myself.

Author Bobbi Sommer comes of age in her 70’s with The Fig Rejection

2009-06-03T08:00:00.006-04:00

Bobbi Sommer has rediscovered herself through writing and published her first novel The Fig Rejection which she started in her sixties and published after ten years of sitting on the shelf. After hearing rave reviews from local readers, I managed to get in contact with Bobbi and visit with her over lunch. The conversation

When did this book actually start for you?

I would say probably eleven years ago. I never intended to write a book, it just happened. Then it sat on the shelf for ten years with nothing going on.

But something happened eleven years ago that allowed you the time to write?

Yes, I was just coming out of a divorce and was probably by myself for the first time ever. Caroline O’Neill is a wonderful woman who taught at the United Nations at the literary department for years. At the time she taught at the college here, small classes that were college courses. She was a friend of a neighbor of mine. I lived over on Pine Crest. I got invited to New Year’s Eve dinner at my neighbor’s house. I ended up being there for supper and that’s where I met Caroline O’Neill. I’m a shy person and I was trying to make conversation with Caroline. “I see you have these creative writing courses,” I said, “I would love to take something like that, but I can’t spell.” She said, “You don’t need to spell.” She described the course to me and I decided to do that. I took nearly everything she taught at the college, a lot of English, but I didn’t take her speech class because I didn’t want to public speak.

I just started writing stuff, mainly family because that’s what I knew about. It never started out to be a book. It just took over and turned into the book. Truly, like Corrie Woods said, it wrote itself.

It’s wonderful when it happens that way.

I really had a marvelous time and just loved the writing. I would sit down and write for four or five hours on the computer and then when I got through I would look at it and see what I had written. I didn’t know what I had written, it was just there. Some of it is autobiographical with one person, the others are totally fiction. It’s hard for me to say, “I decided to write a book.”

It’s more like the book decided it was coming out of you.

That’s right, it really did. In the meantime I had taken a number of courses, but nothing to do with writing a book. As a matter of fact, I think I was totally out of Caroline’s classes before I started writing the book. It was a very enjoyable experience. I thought, “I’m not ever going to do anything with this,” and I just tucked it away.

It was put on the shelf. When did it come back off the shelf again?

It came back off the shelf again when I met Charlie and one day I said something about the book. He wanted to read it, he did, and he liked it. Then he thought I ought to do something with it. I said, “Nah, I’m not going to go through that. I’m too old.” Then a few years later he said, “I’m going to get the stuff and get that book copyrighted.” He did that. Then Corrie said, “I think you should self publish it.” She had done a lot of research for her book. She’s just a brilliant girl anyway. She knew where to go and how to do it and she just did it for me. I just sat back and watched her go for it. That part was easy.

It’s nice to have someone else say, “This is worth my time to make sure other people can share this.”

It is, she’s good at that. I think someday she’ll end up doing a lot more for people that way.

The book cover says you were originally from Florida, but then moved to Tryon. When did you move to Tryon?

The first time I came to Tryon I stayed seventeen years. Then I got together with Charlie. Charlie and I used to go to school together, and he looked me up. That’s how we got together. I went back to Florida for seven years with him. I came back here in 2005.

The time goes so fast, and before you know it decades go by. When I came here it was an entirely different life and that life is gone now. I was getting out of that life when I started writing. I think that was the catalyst really that got me going. I could put down all the stuff and read it. I never journaled or anything, but it was the same idea in a more structured form turning it in and getting grades.

When you talk about life change, how would you describe your life before Tryon?

Before I came to Tryon and started writing I worked in a law office. I was the office manager for my husband’s law office in Stuart, Florida. Then we decided we wanted to move. He was getting close to retirement age. We decided we’d like to move up here. Jay Lichty, my son, helped us find the town. Then my husband George said, “Well you go ahead and go settle in up there and I’ll continue to work.” It was very profitable right then. He was very successful and he ended up staying.

You ended up here, by yourself for the first time while he was still finishing the work down there.

He would come back and forth.

I spent a couple of weeks at a time in a law office that was not the easiest work environment.

I don’t think I really would have picked it. My first job was with a friend of mine who needed someone and I needed to go to work and do something. I went in his office and it just mushroomed from there.

Is that how you met your husband?

Yeah, actually it is. He came there to study in the law library and ended up being a partner and one thing led to another and we got together. It’s hard work and it is hard working for your husband especially.

Coming up here you escaped the stress of the work environment and finally had space and time to yourself.

Total freedom.

Was that frightening at first?

No, it really wasn’t. It’s such a little town, and Jay had already moved here, so that was a connection. Everybody was so nice. Jay’s ex-wife Colleen Wilson who is now married to the huntsman for the Green Creek Hounds was into the horses. I was into horses too back in Florida I had a whole lot of horses. We had someone that trained them and showed them for us.

What breed?

We had a mixture. We had Appaloosa and Quarter Horse hunter jumpers. I had a real good girl showing those for me. We went out to Oklahoma City to the big show out there. He was very good that horse, he was wonderful. I never rode to that level. I started too late.

You did ride?

I didn’t jump. Trail rides.

You left the farm behind, but came up here and connected with the equine folks?

I met some very nice people, still good friends with all of them. I had this freedom all of the sudden. It didn’t do much for the marriage though. That’s why when I was writing to the book and taking the college courses I was at an entirely different stage in my life. I had grown up. I had some time to figure out who I was and what I wanted with my relationships and stuff. I wanted to change a lot of the stuff about my life. In that book you’ll see. There’s some of that in that book too.

It says on the back of the book, “Is it ever too late to come of age? How long from the time you started writing the book at four hours a day to when you finished and set it on the shelf?

I guess maybe about a year. I did a lot of rewriting and editing which I love. If I had my life to live over that’s probably what I would have liked to have done, although they would have to get me to learn how to spell.

They have spell check for that now.

There were times when I would read something and I’d go back and say, “No, that’s not where I wanted to go.” But, oddly enough the characters just do what they want to do. Sometimes unbeknownst to you, you just don’t know what they’re going to do. That’s exactly how most of that book is, it was just a kind of serendipity some of it. Like the title of it, The Fig Rejection. Caroline O’Neill the teacher lives two houses up from here. She invited us over to pick figs with the same friend who had us over to supper that night. A big tree, trees that you can walk under, you don’t think about fig trees being so big.

I’ve seen a couple in this area that big.

They’re really wonderful. Somebody said something about one little fig that they picked, “Oh, I’m going to have to reject you.” When they said that, I thought, “What a great name for a title of a book.” I wasn’t doing anything like that at the time, but I remembered that I thought it was a clever name, so when I wrote the book the beginning has the fig tree.

I noticed it started out with that.

It was really interesting because after I started rereading it when I was going to get it published I noticed that with those three women and the man there’s all kinds of rejection. I never thought of it like that, the title had nothing to do with that, but these people suffered or doled out a lot of rejection in their lives. I thought how apropos that it ended up having rejection in the title.

The conversation with Bobbi Sommer will continue in Friday’s edition of the Tryon Daily Bulletin.

Janet Orselli & Rema Keen present creative Feats

2009-05-22T08:00:00.002-04:00

There’s a fun collection of Feats currently at the Upstairs Artspace. Tonight the installation will come alive with an active performance blending the artwork of Janet Orselli with the storytelling of Rema Keen. I met with both artists at the Gallery Coffeehouse to find out more about how this collaboration came to life.

What was the genesis for this idea?

Janet: As we’ve collaborated it’s become an entity of its own. People might not see a total direct connection between the work and the performance that we do. A mutual friend said, “Oh, you’re an installation artist? I know a woman who’s a performance artist. You guys should get to know each other because you’re in the same general vicinity.”

Rema: Janet called me one Saturday. My friend had emailed me to let me know she’d given Janet my phone number and we talked for a while on the phone. Then a few days later I invited her out to my house. We had talked for a few hours, then 30 minutes on the phone, and the next day Janet said, “Let’s do something together.” I said, “Okay.” We talked about it and that’s how it initially began.

According to Janet’s email, you just met at the end of March this year. So, it was from this mutual friend introducing you that you decided to do something together?

Janet: I’ve done performances as part of my installations in the past. Each time it started out as just me doing the performance and then I started encouraging other people to do parts of it, but I’ve never actually collaborated with someone as far as planning it and putting it together.

When you got together and decided you wanted to do this, what were some of the key ideas you decided you wanted to play with?

Janet: Well, humor certainly as well as tying in to the art work. The idea of transformation and moving on, because it’s all about feet, the feet had to be pretty important. Feet are a symbol, kind of a metaphor for not getting stuck in the past, moving forward going on to the next great adventure.

Rema: There are a lot of different levels with feet and we’re having a good time with it. We talked about how we each do performances and what they entail. It’s been really interesting for me, I’ve learned a lot from Janet about her work. When she first said, “I’m an installation artist,” I thought she installed plants in landscape. We started to find threads of commonality in our work. We both wanted to involve other artists and learn more about each other’s art work. Storytelling is very audience interactive and about being right out there. She tells a story one way with her art work and I tell a story another way with mine. Combining them is just the next step.

Janet: I’ve always been looking recently for ways to involve the audience more in my work and not be so distant from them. A lot of times I’m unable to hear the reaction of the audience to my work because I’m not right there to come and see it. This is a way to share the work in a different art form, and share what is behind it without it being a secret. It makes it more accessible.

When people come to this performance what are they going to see?

Rema: A little of both. Of course they’re going to view Janet’s work upstairs. The performance will be downstairs. It is going to be storytelling. It’s going to be poetry, some movement, and gosh, it’s just going to be some fun, a lot about feet. This is going to be the first step in hopefully maybe a bigger collaboration. We’ve had a very short time to put something together so this is a piece of a work in progress. Next time we’ll do something on a larger scale. This is an experiment.

Do both of you live in the Tryon area, or are you commuting in because this is where the space is?

Janet: I live in Mill Spring which is not far.

Rema: I live in Campobello.

Is it because Upstairs Artspace had the space and they wanted to do the show?

Janet: I only really found out about my part of the show maybe two months ago. This is really quickly put together. Then it was a week later that I contacted Rema. It’s only been a month and a half that we knew that we were going to do this. It’s going to be fresh.

Have you done shows with the Upstairs Artspace before?

Janet: Yes, at their grand opening in the new space I had an installation in the whole downstairs.

This is a continuation of that relationship.

Rema: Before that in the mid ‘90’s I’d done some things with performances in the Upstairs when it was at the other location.

What are your backgrounds that led you to be ready to collaborate at this point?

Janet: Well my early background is an undergraduate in psychology. In 2oo1 I got my MFA from Clemson and began immediately focusing on installation art. Pretty much that’s what I’ve done since 2001 is work as a professional artist and focus on art doing installations in different museums and places.

Do you find that the psychology degree feeds into your artwork?

Janet: Oh, yes. There are always themes that run through it that relate to relationships and human connections.

Do you think people will learn something more from your artwork than they would if they sat down with you in an analyzing session and talked through it all with you?

Janet: That’s a good question. It’s just another form of communication that I see. It’s a different way to communicate. I learn more about myself and even about people through making the art and interacting with people about the art. It’s just a very unique form of communication.

And you Rema?

Rema: I went to college in Virginia and I got degrees in English Literature and Theatre. I travelled for many years in my twenties with the Roadside Theatre out of the Appalshop in Kentucky. Then I started my own theatre company with another woman called Too Many Hats. We toured for a while. I toured two one-woman shows, one of which I co-wrote based on the life of my grandmother. I’ve done theatre in one form or another pretty much all of my life. I’ve kept my finger in it. When I moved here I got out of the loop. I’ve done lots of other jobs. As an artist I’m sure you know there’re a lot of different things you have to do if you don’t do your art. I’m on the South Carolina Roster of Teaching Artists. I’m in the schools sometimes. My main business is a greenhouse business. I grow perennials and herbs. That’s what my day job is and I just do this when I can. In the last few years I’ve been concentrating on getting back into the art full time, storytelling and writing more. When it’s in your blood, if you don’t do it you think whatever else you do is not your real job. I should be an artist.

I understand that frustration. It’s like sitting at someone else’s computer answering emails I don’t care about.

Rema: When that novel is sitting on your desk at home.

Janet: It’s that desire to share that creative process with other people at a certain level that sometimes we miss in this day and age where we don’t have as much direct connection with other people. I think that’s why I want to get more involved with performance as a way to work directly with people about ideas, feelings, culture, what’s going on, and to find ways to help people to tell their stories. I feel like that’s what I’m doing through my art, I’m telling a story about myself and sometimes as I’m making the work I don’t know what it means until I get to the end. Other people tell me, “Oh, I see this in it and I see that in it.” I’m putting the pieces together and saying, “Oh wow! That’s about this larger picture and myself and my place in the world.” There’s a desire now at this point to bring other people into that process. A start is to work with Rema as well as to find ways to use that in the community. To encourage the community to be more involved in telling their story. This community has such great possibilities because it’s a small town and there are all these connections and history. It has this southern quality where storytelling is such a big part of being here in this rural setting. I just really want to enlarge the whole process and this is really just the beginning.

Rema: I think that’s where Janet and I connect is on that level. With storytelling theatre whether in the schools with fifth graders telling stories about their scars, or with the community of older people at Tryon Estates telling their stories. Behind every scar there’s a story. I think that’s where they connect. One of my favorite sayings is, “In the specific you find the universal.” I found that in telling my grandmother’s story about being a coal miner’s wife and her husband was killed in the coal mines leaving her with seven kids in his wake. Every time I told that story it never failed, where ever I was. Whether I was in Virginia in the coal fields or if I was in California somebody would come up and make a comment like, “My grandmother told stories just like that,” or “My grandfather died that way.” In the specific story about my grandmother people could relate to different aspects of it just in the telling.

Janet: I want to include the objects too. I think some people have stories within the objects, or they inspire stories. Especially old and worn objects, because just like a person that gets older this object has had a history too and becomes a symbol for people. For instance, let’s say an old shoes they have this history, somebody owned them, somebody wore them and you know the old roller skates and all of that. I’m thinking, I have a project that I did with some students to write stories where I brought out all of these old objects and they would pick an object. They would use that as a basis for a story. Either they would pretend they were the object and write from the object’s point of view or they would pretend that they had owned the object and what had happened to that object. I just like this combination of storytelling with using objects as inspiration or using objects in a play or something that is performed. We’re kind of throwing around those idea of how to my use of objects and Rema’s storytelling into a whole.

Do you think you’ll travel with this after your first performance here at the Upstairs?

Rema: Maybe, yeah. If we can get it up and going I think we would like that.

Janet: That would be fun. Even with the same installation I’ve had people come in with totally different experiences based on their own experience. I’ve had people come in and see all these old objects and say, “Oh, that’s so depressing.” While other people say, “This is the most comforting space. I feel so at home.” It is just amazing how people bring their own experience and background with them and the expression of how that space made them feel, or what memories it brought up. It’s really interesting to hear people’s perspective on that.

Rema: With storytelling, being on the stage, the audience is so much a part of the story. The way we do this is very minimal. The audience has to use their imagination and you have to put yourself out of the way to tell the story. It is interesting in every space when you start telling the story how you connect with the audience. You can feel it immediately if they’re with you. It does make a difference in the space and the town.

Shall we wander down and look at the work? The first thing that catches my eye is an old turtle shell, piano hammer and skate.

Janet: I have always loved turtles. They’re very symbolic to me. I like the combination of the slowness of the turtle and the roller skate. The turtle wants to go faster and accomplish things.

Is that a skate key you’re wearing around your neck?

Janet: Yes, I thought it was fun. I don’t think it would even work because it’s so rusty, but I like the idea of it.

The number one song on the charts the day I was born was Brand New Key by Melanie even though I never had a pair like this.

Janet: Oh, I did. I can’t believe they allowed it. They look like torture instruments, don’t they? That’s what I like about them too. It’s back in time. A different age, different time, different way of doing things people didn’t worry about it. I don’t think parents would let kids go on these skates today.

It’s dangerous, you’d hurt yourself.

Janet: You have to be protected. These started out as just fun things I was doing in my studio because I didn’t have enough space to work. This work is much smaller. My website will show you the larger installations. These are more a focus on individual works. Most of my works are a room you enter where it’s like a space. It’s like a room in someone’s house maybe with odd things in it. This is more of a display that what I usually do, with more focus on individual objects. Yet, I think they speak to each other. They’re connected.

Heavy Load, Beat It, these are just fun! Where do you find all this? Did you scavenge every thrift store for roller skates?

Janet: It’s so much fun naming them after the fact, to try to find something funny. I find that I can’t plan ahead what I’m going to do. I’m just open to whatever seems to speak to me. I just went through this series of everywhere I would go I’d find these old roller skates and I’d find these old, I think they’re called a shoe lass. I don’t even know if they still use those. I kept finding those and thought, “These seem to be coming up so how can I use them?”

These are child size. I remember my dad had one that had a metal extension but part if it was wood.

Janet: Those may be more like shoe trees to keep the show stretched. I have one whole series of pieces where I used old crutches. These are kind of connected to that same idea of motion and movement.

SinkOr makes me think of Wynken, Blynken, & Nod in their little shoe boat.

Janet: I like to play off of a lot of children’s themes and the idea of these almost as if they’re toys, but yet their not toys. They have a serious quality, but yet a fun quality too.

If I was a kid and walked into a house and saw them I’d want to play with them.

Janet: I would have been curious to see the fourth graders Cindy brought. I bet that was a challenge for them not to touch them.

It’s interesting to see how there are similar pieces, but each has its own unique thing going on with it. The piano hammers appear in a few, but never doing the same thing.

Janet: Sometimes by the title I make sense of what it’s about, but it’s also about the combination of all of them together. That’s why even though they’re displayed almost as individual items I think of them as a whole. Each is like a unique individual and maybe some part of them is being represented by the piece. Like Beat It, “we need to speed up and get going faster,” or Put Your Foot Down, “we need to put a stop to this.” Guilt is has the gavel coming down on your toe.

People will come in for the show and they’ll be able to see this up here, but the actual performance will be downstairs.

Janet: I think most of them are going to stay up here, but I’ve got related objects that we’ll have down there that will be part of the performance. It’ll have some connections.

How many people do you think will fit downstairs?

Janet: I know they have sixty chairs.

If people want a chair they need to be one of the first 60 people down there.

Janet: Yeah, and the doors open at 6:20 p.m. We’ll have some really light refreshments and hopefully we can get started right at 7 p.m. with the performance.

This is a one night only performance this evening and a chance to see two intriguing local artists join together in pushing the boundaries of their crafts together. For more information about Janet Orselli’s work visit her website www.janetorselli.com. You can also reach the artists by phone or email Janet at 828-899-8021 or jorselli@hotmail.com and Rema at 864-978-1615 or rema27@windstream.net.

Blair Martin turns Tryon history into inspiration

2009-05-15T08:00:00.003-04:00

I ran into Blair a while back as she was moving into her new studio space over Owens Pharmacy. She was so excited about this space that she had seen from below with all the windows on the corner. Once she was moved in I stopped by to see how part of the old hospital had been converted into her artist’s studio.

Did you paint all this color for yourself when you moved in?

The former tenet had painted flowers all over the place. She had painted all of this color. She had painted the caps at the junctures of the pipes with smiley faces. You find them everywhere.

With the color and whimsy of your artwork, it fits you.

It does, it’s lively and I really couldn’t care less. I would have been upset if it had been battleship grey. I love it with the light and everything; it’s exactly what I wanted.

How did you find out about this place?

I’d just been asking around. I looked at a bunch of other spaces. Rents can be exorbitant for an artist who’s probably not going to generate much income anyway. I think Bill Ingham said, “I think there might be some spaces over Owen’s Pharmacy. I don’t know, but stop by and ask about it.” The guys with the surveying company are the sons of the owner of the building and the pharmacists are her daughter and son-in-law. When I asked they said, “Yeah, I think my mother would rent a space.” There are some great spaces up here for artists.

Did you have a studio space before?

I worked at home. I worked out in our sort of solarium on the end of the house. We also eat there, we sit there, we drink there, and so you know…

It wasn’t just your work space.

No. It’s open to everything else. It’s a small house. I enjoy painting there, but I really like having my own space. It couldn’t always be a mess. With this I lock the doors and nobody comes in. It can be a mess. I love it.

How long have you been in Tryon?

Almost five years now.

Where did you come from?

I’m originally from Richmond, Virginia and my husband’s company is still there. He has an ad agency. Then we also have a place in Key West we are trying to sell. Bill’s from Hendersonville originally and we used to come to visit his mother. We were looking around for just a cottage, a summer place since Key West is so hot. We planned to make that our primary residence and we had always wanted a mountain cottage. We went everywhere. We looked out west, Maine, Canada, and Puerto Rico.

We were driving around after coming down to visit his mother. He said, “I want to show you the area my mother grew up in,” because she grew up in Tryon. We thought it was charming and were going back to her house up US 176 and saw this “for sale” sign at the bottom of a piece of property that was up on the hill. I said, “That’s kind of a neat property.” He said, “That almost the kind of place like my mother describes that she grew up in.” It had a “for sale” sign and it was Sunday. We drove past it and I said, “You know what, let’s turn back. Let’s call the guy.” We did and he wasn’t there. I said, “Drive up there.” Bill does not do stuff like that. He said, “No.” I said, “Drive up there. I’ll go find out what this is.”

You were willing to be the nosey person.

We drive up to the top of the driveway which ended at the house. I got out of the car and knocked on the door and knocked and knocked. I think the front door was open so I knew someone was there. Finally, this poor woman came to the door in a towel dripping. I said, “Sorry to bother you, but I’m interested in your house.” She was somewhat put out. She said, “Pardon the towel; I’ve been in the pool. I didn’t know how to get into the house from the pool without you seeing me.” She suggested we make an appointment with her agent.

We went back to Richmond and Bill said, “If you’re really interested you call the agent and you can go back down there and look at it.” I called the agent, came down and looked at it and loved it. It’s this little rock cottage on the top of the hill right next to the Norman Wilder Conservancy. It was just charming. We found out after we had talked to the realtor and his mother that not only was it near where she grew up, it was the house she grew up in. His grandfather had built it from rock on the mountain that it sits on. It was too serendipitous to not pay attention. He had warned me, “Now if you decide you want it, do not tell her that you have this history with it because if we did get the house there would be no bargaining room at all.” Well, I told her. I felt like I needed to. What happened was she managed to get out of another contract. She felt like we ought to have it. She was just as nice about it as she could be. It turned out everything fell into place. So, that’s how we got here.

You stumbled upon a family home that he had never seen.

We didn’t even know if it was still here. We had no idea. It was built when she was a toddler. She only lived here until she was twelve. His grandfather died right after the house was built. He died in the house. They stayed there a little while longer and then moved away.

That’s a neat find. As an artist how did that transition affect your work?

I’d done a billion different jobs. I was working for a theatre a long time as the publicist, PR, and marketing. I did playwriting and set design and costume design and it was a great job.

What theatre was that?

Theatre Four. Anyway, I got recruited from there by a guy who was doing some design for me to interview with an ad agency in town and did. I’d always wanted to be in advertising. At least I thought I did. I don’t know anything about it. I went into advertising from that point and he made me creative director. I did that for fifteen years. I didn’t do any design. I basically was a writer and producer for all that time. I think I quit that job like nine times and every time they’d call and say just come on back it will be okay. I’d go back because I wanted the money.

I quit for the last time. I wanted to paint. I hadn’t really gotten started, but I was dabbling.

I started collecting Haitian art down in Key West when we’d go down there. I just absolutely loved it. I started going to Haiti. I went and bought a ton of stuff from artists. I was an otherworldly experience to be there because it was at the time, and probably still, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. It just absolutely dilapidated. There’s no infrastructure at all. I started meeting people and I was fascinated by the culture and the mixtures of religion. There’s a very dark sense of humor that permeates. I bought a whole boat load of stuff and brought it back and realized I had to open a gallery. I did, in an up and coming area in Richmond. I did that for about four years going back and forth to Haiti. I don’t think I lost any money, but I sure didn’t make any. I loved going to Haiti and buying the art and working with these very unusual people I met over there. I didn’t like being a shop keeper. I did a lot of talks on Haitian art because I learned so much about it by doing it. Finally, I decided I wanted to close it because I wanted to paint full time.

I started just doing that, very cartoonish.

The cactus?

It’s a cactus lady. In fact, it’s got a caption on it that says, “time of the month.” Somebody from Key West saw them and I started showing down there. I’ve only had one show in Richmond.

Did you have training in painting?

No, I had wanted to major in art. I lived in Richmond and there’s a wonderful art school there which is the Commonwealth University. It was 1968 when I started college, and it was still Richmond Polytechnic at the time. I told my mother I wanted to go there and she said, “Absolutely not, they’re all beatniks. You’re not going to a school with beatniks.” I did not go there and went to the University of Richmond. Their art department was nothing to speak of, so I majored in French and Italian because foreign languages were my love and didn’t really get back to art. I had jobs where I did a lot of illustrating. I didn’t start painting until about eight to ten years ago. I played around with different mediums. Oil I didn’t have the patience for because when I start something I want to finish it. The oil wouldn’t dry, I’d paint it anyway and it would turn to mud. Then I tried colored pencils and things were too tight. I’ve tried a lot of different things, but acrylics seem to be the best for me. I can manipulate it a little bit. It dries quickly so I can keep painting. That’s what I do. I tend to paint out of my head. I don’t have any interest in landscape or still life. I like people and I like nonsense stuff.

I’m sitting across from these mermen here.

I did a series, it was part of a show at the Upstairs and the subhead was “Tales from the family tree.” In this, for example, the guy in the hat is my grandfather, the turtle is my grandmother and the other two people were two friends. I remember they always used to go to the beach together every year. I love to marry people to animals. I did stories to go with all of them. The little boxes are part of the stories. A lot of them have stuff in the background from Key West. That’s a lighthouse from Key West with Jade and Pearl. She’s in the park in front of the light house where a lot of people did yoga with her dog and the flower in the box is a lotus.

The children’s book I’m working on is what some of these that are unfinished are about. It’s going to be based on something I did for my first granddaughter when she was born. I did a series in verse of what I called her “guardianimals.” I make up the stories visually.

The children’s book will be about the guardianimals?

That one’s called a “Mouch.” They absorb things that the child has a hard time with and they take care of it for them. That one is “Yardvark” that does yard work. That one is “Frocks” who likes to wear girlie dresses. That one is “Wake Uppy Puppy.”

Do you have a deadline set to finish it?

I do. I just went to this conference with a panel of editors for children’s picture books and they are committed to accept for six months any manuscripts you have for review. They’ll give you feedback regardless. That’s the goal. I have to be in the right frame of mind to write and I never know when that’s going to be.
It seems like this space certainly has a fanciful air with the light and color.
Energy is what I like. I like the energy in art and people. That’s why I don’t do still life or landscapes. I like to feel that electricity. I need to be doing something.

If other artists are interested in joining Blair in renting a downtown studio space you may stop by and inquire at Owen’s Pharmacy.

Dorothy Tatnall building skills and sharing joy at Tryon Arts & Crafts

2009-05-13T08:00:00.001-04:00

I heard there was a student at Tryon Arts & Crafts winning hearts and sharing her new skills to help others. I stopped by Tryon Arts & Crafts on a Tuesday to meet Dorothy Tatnall and her friend Teresa Reinhart while she was working on a new project in Nancy’s pottery class.
What are you making there?

Dorothy: It’s a mobile with fish. We did one with leaves and now we’re doing fish.

The mobile I saw with the leaves out front was yours?

Dorothy: Yes.

Nancy: Dorothy’s got three things in the kiln right now. They’re being bisque fired.

When do those come out?

Nancy: The kiln is going now, so it will be Thursday.

Dorothy: It does take a while.

Nancy: Right now they’re green ware.

Green ware?

Nancy: They’ll be bisque ware when they come out. There’s no color they are just natural clay fired once so they’re hard and firm. That’s what her things will look like when they come out of the kiln on Thursday.

How long have you been taking classes here?

Dorothy: Two years I think it is.

Nancy: Dorothy made a birdhouse and some mugs like this with texture. What else did you make?

Dorothy: I made a bowl and I gave it to my dad and my step-mom and they’re putting their fruit in it.

Good use for it.

Nancy: You made the tic tac toe and the wind chimes.

Cute, the tic tac toe had hearts!

Dorothy: The name of it was “You Won my Heart.”

Nancy: We made whistles the first time with little animals.

Dorothy: It’s like an animal type thing, but you put a hole in it.

Oh cool!

Dorothy: I made a bunny rabbit.

Nancy: You did something with coils.

Dorothy: I made a bowl.

Nancy: Yes, a couple bowls. What else? We made some trivets and some trays.

How did you get started coming here?

Dorothy: We came to an open house and saw the stuff that was in the open house. I liked it, so I decided to take art classes.

And you’re still here two years later, so you must like it.

Dorothy: Yeah. I really like it.

Have you taken any other classes or have you focused on the pottery?

Dorothy: I took the stained glass class and I took the lapidary class with rocks and stuff. I took those classes and now I’m back here.

This is your favorite class. Now, you were going to show me something.

Dorothy: Yeah.

Beautiful! This was sold for the silent auction. The money from the auction did what?

Dorothy: It was for a scholarship to here for another person with disabilities.

Do they know who will get the scholarship, or is that still to be determined?

Teresa: It’s still going to be determined at the moment, but because Dorothy knows the community…

Dorothy: Yes.

Teresa: …they’re going to take her recommendation as far as the first one. Now if it happens that other people want to donate to the scholarship fund then we would love that.

Dorothy: Yes.

Teresa: The more the merrier.

So what’s happening with the fish mobile you’re working on now? Why are there two different colors of clay?

Dorothy: This is a low fire clay, and this is a high fire clay.

Will they all be part of the same mobile?

Dorothy: Yes.

What else is different about them?

Dorothy: This one will dry white, and this will be a brownish color.

Teresa: When it gets done you use different types of glazes on each one.

Depending on how it’s fired there are different types of glazes.

Teresa: We had done the leaves before and really liked them.

Dorothy: So, now we’re gonna do fish.

Did the leaf mobile have both types of clay?

Teresa: No just the red clay.

Dorothy: We didn’t paint both sides.

Are you going to paint both sides of the fish?

Teresa: We’re trying to, which is why we’re trying that.

I imagine if it’s a flat piece it’s hard to paint both sides. How are you going to do that?

Dorothy: I don’t know. Nancy might know.

Nancy: Once these are bisqued you can glaze both sides. However, we have these stilts to hold it up. We cannot let this sit on our kiln shelf because it’s like glass it just glues it right to it.

Teresa: Dorothy, while I cut do you want to quiet the edges and decorate?

Dorothy: Okay.

What does quiet the edges mean?

Dorothy: It’s to make the edges smooth. That’s why you have to quiet the edges because you can’t have rough edges. You do that with your fingers. You dip them in the water.

Teresa: She’s going to show you right now.

Nancy: If the edges are sharp, when they come out of the kiln they can cut you.

Dorothy you’re from Tryon and Teresa from Rutherfordton, so how did you meet?

Teresa: I actually work for Monarch which is a company that provides services for persons with developmental disabilities. That’s how we got to know each other and we’ve been together about three years now.

So did you grow up here in Tryon Dorothy?

Dorothy: No, actually I’m from Cleveland, Ohio.

But your dad and step-mom live down here now.

Dorothy: We used to live in Ohio, but then they moved down here and they brought me down here.

How long have you been in Tryon now?

Dorothy: Five years. My dad and step-mom have been here longer than I have.

How’s it living here compared to Cleveland?

Dorothy: I miss my sister because she lives there and my nieces and nephews live there, my brother, my step-brother…

You have a lot of family there. Do you go visit sometimes?

Dorothy: Sometimes I do.

What do you like about Tryon?

Dorothy: I live in this apartment building with other people and it’s across the street from IGA.

You can walk to the IGA?

Dorothy: You can walk to the IGA and the Dollar store too.

That’s handy.

Teresa: She has her own job.

Dorothy: I have a job at the Polk County Vocational Workshop.

What do you do over there?

Dorothy: Smile makers. We put together for the doctor’s office for the kids the pad and cell phone holder and candy.

It’s a little happy pack for the kids who have to go to the doctor?

Dorothy: Yeah! Basically that’s what it is.

That’s a nice job to have.

Teresa: She pays for her own classes with the money that she makes.

Dorothy: Yes, I do.

Wow!

Teresa: When they told us about the student art show she wanted to enter right away. Then they gave us the little form that said, “Do you want to sell your pieces?” We thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to put the price of a class on it for somebody.

When it sold it would be the equivalent of somebody actually being able to take a class?

Dorothy: Yes.

Wonderful!

Teresa: Dorothy also has a spot in the community garden this year.

Dorothy: We’re growing squash, watermelon, cantaloupe, green peppers, yellow peppers, tomatoes, beans, corn, and flowers.

That’s a big garden!

Teresa: Dorothy also volunteers with the community. She helped with TROT.

What is TROT?

Dorothy: Helping children with disabilities hold on the horse.

Do you ride too?

Dorothy: No. I just walk. There are other people doing it too.

It’s a big social event.

Dorothy: Yeah, so I did that.

Teresa: And the barbecue festival.

What did you do for the barbecue festival?

Dorothy: Recycle. I think me and my dad are going to do it this year too. We usually do it on Saturday and then Sunday we go to it.

Will Tryon Arts & Crafts have something in conjunction with the festival?

Nancy: We always do. We have an open house and will have a booth too and there will be demonstration. I work with younger kids spinning pottery on the wheel.

Dorothy, do you think you think you’ll have another piece to auction for a class again?

Dorothy: I don’t know.

Teresa: We certainly wouldn’t mind.

Dorothy: No, we wouldn’t.

Teresa: We just think that other people with developmental disabilities should be able to do this too. It makes you feel good, don’t it Dorothy?

Dorothy: Yes.

Nancy: I think that the work that Dorothy has done just over the past couple of years is an inspiration for people to hear.

Dorothy: It was fun doing that stuff.

Well you’re looking like you’re having fun here today. Thank you for sharing it with me.

If you are interested in viewing Dorothy’s work or would like to donate to the scholarship fund she has started please contact Tryon Arts & Crafts or stop by their gallery and heritage museum on Harmon Field Road.

Lena Duncan infusing the community with talent

2009-05-01T08:00:00.000-04:00

You’ve probably seen the back of Lena’s head more than her face when she’s playing piano in the pit for one of the Tryon Little Theatre musicals. However, for those on stage her face is the most important focal point, because she’s the one following the musical score. A nod from her tells the chorus when to cut off, or a big breath cues them for the next entrance. What the audience never sees is that while her hands are busy at the keys, her face is conducting the singers on stage.
This weekend will find Lena accompanying many hopeful young singers as they audition for Les Misérables. Next weekend she’ll be the master of the keys for various performers during the Morris Awards at Tryon Fine Arts Center. This summer she’ll be guiding teens to sing one of the most challenging scores written for musical theatre. Without her dedication and patience it would be difficult to pull off these musical events. Between our busy schedules, now that we’re not working on the same shows, Lena and I have been emailing back and forth. The following questions and answers come from those emails.

How many shows for Tryon Little Theatre have you done over the years and what are some of your favorites?

I have been a cast member of 8 TLT musicals and musical director for 3 TLT shows and 3 Tryon Youth Center/TLT summer youth productions. It’s hard to identify specific favorites as all of the shows have held a certain appeal.

When did you first get involved with TLT productions?

My first show was South Pacific in September of 2000. Other than a play or two in junior high, this was my first theatrical experience. Several friends were active with TLT and encouraged me to audition.

It sounds like you’ve been kept busy with TLT since you first got involved. What keeps drawing you back? Or, how do you explain to someone who’s never been worked on a production the value of the time and effort you put into rehearsing a production?

I believe I have participated in every major musical production since South Pacific. I enjoy the dramas and comedies as well, but as a spectator. To identify one specific thing would have to be the interaction with the cast and crew and the friendships and camaraderie that develop when you’re spending weeks working together on a project. Until you’ve actually done it, no one can really describe the time and effort that goes into planning and producing a show and the satisfaction of being involved in such a successful program.

You are also the pianist for a local church?

Currently, I am the pianist at Landrum Presbyterian Church. I have served there since 2004. Prior to that, I served as pianist for Columbus Baptist Church for 13 years and substitute in neighboring churches when my schedule allows.

What are some of your favorite types of music to play?

I enjoy playing all types of music and enjoy the challenge of technically difficult pieces. Because of limited practice time, most of what I play is driven by the project in progress, planning and playing for weekly church services and special occasions as they arise. I’m anxiously awaiting the score for Les Miserable, the TYC/TLT summer show for 2009.

How are the TLT/TYC shows different from the main stage series? What are some of your favorite moments working with the kids?

I don’t really see any difference in the process of TLT/TYC shows, except the age of the performers. We strive to give the kids the same quality experience that the adult shows have. I have always had a love of working with kids. They are energetic and usually enthusiastic about trying new things. I have been musical director for three summer youth productions and have enjoyed all of them, but would have to say that our experience with the production of CATS last summer is my favorite. The cast worked really hard on the music and choreography, but that show was a total package: the costume design, make-up, set design, the pit musicians, and the stage and tech crew. There were many people who voiced concern that CATS was beyond what our group could do, but under Chris’s direction, those young people set an example that holds true in most things: Set your expectations high and more times than not, you get more than you expected.

How long have you been playing piano and where did you get your musical education?

I do not have a degree in music. When I was in school, general music was not part of the school curriculum, but the PTA at our local elementary school saw the value in music education and funded a music teacher for our school. We had 30 minutes of general music, twice per week. Our general music teacher also taught piano lessons in a small room adjacent to the school auditorium and her students were allowed out of class for their assigned lesson time. I began piano lessons as a first grader and took lessons for 8 years. I did not have a piano at home during that time and had to go to my grandparents home to practice. Early on, I practiced regularly, but as I got older and involved in more activities, efforts to practice diminished. I regret that today, but isn’t that typical that we don’t realize what special opportunities we have at the time. Aside from musical instruction in the school setting, my church had a very strong music program, beginning with preschool age. So it’s difficult for me to remember a time when music was not a huge part of my life. Back then, most girls took piano lessons and it was like a rite of passage as older girls graduated and we had the opportunity to play for the children and youth choirs at church.

What are you preparing at this time for the Morris Awards?

I have been asked to provide accompaniment for two musical numbers that will be performed during the Awards ceremony. Pam McNeil will also be providing accompaniment for some of the performers.

What will people see when they come to this event?

This event is going to be a lot of fun. People can cast their ballot by visiting local businesses in the days leading up to the event. Attendees will be greeted to a red carpet experience, Tryon style that could include limousine arrivals and paparazzi.

Can you give us some tidbits to look forward to?

We have a group of talented people in our area that spans many decades of participation in the various community arts programs. This is an opportunity to showcase these talents. I believe there are going to be several vocal numbers and a dance or two.

Anything else you would like to mention to the community about the Morris Awards or the upcoming summer production of Les Mis?

I would just encourage the community to get out and cast their ballots and be sure to attend the Morris Awards.

As for Les Mis, auditions are May 1 and 2, with callbacks on May 3. I hope to see a large number of youth audition for this show. I believe this show has the potential to be another “best ever” production.

You’ll find Lena Duncan at 516 South Trade Street in the Tryon Little Theatre Workshop this weekend for the Les Misérables auditions and then at the piano again in the Tryon Fine Arts Center next Saturday May 9 for the Morris Awards. For more information and tickets to performances please call the Tryon Fine Arts Center box office at 828-859-8322 ext. 214.

Local arts focus on youth & the classic vocals of Susan Werner

2009-04-29T08:00:00.001-04:00

Times are a changing. In order to meet the challenges with grace, we are shifting the local arts calendars to Wednesdays and will be moving from the “Spotlight” listings to more interviews with local artists and historians. This means that there won’t be a Regional Arts Section listing of things like the New French Broad River Festival or the Flat Rock Spring Fling this weekend. Though, I would like to give a shout out to the Rutherford Consort Chamber Concert Thursday at Isothermal in Spindale and the Greer Idol Competition on Friday in downtown Greer. It does mean that I will be able to spend more time seeing what artists are doing and talking to them rather than reading emails about hundreds of events in the arts that are happening in our region every day. So, here’s the last local run down for this area and look for more features about our local artists in the weeks to come.

Thursday

The Wine Cellar in Saluda invites you to “Meet the Artist” Jim Shackelford at 7 p.m. Jim’s series of creation paintings just recently debuted in Asheville during the Lent season. Come meet him and view his latest inspirations on the canvas. Visit www.saludainn.com or call 828-749-9698 for more information.

The Purple Onion welcomes Asheville sweetheart Eliza Lynn back from her stint in Nashville where she’s been working with producer/guitarist Thomm Jutz continuing to broaden her range of Foothills Folk to Texas Swing.

Friday

What are the kids doing this summer? Tryon Little Theatre and Tryon Youth Center invite you to take a magical journey this summer with theatre. Auditions begin Friday night for Les Misérables directed by Chris Tinkler with music direction from Lena Duncan from 6-8 p.m. at the TLT Workshop at 516 South Trade Street. Auditions are open to 12-21 year olds who are asked to come with sheet music prepared to sing and move. Additional auditions for this sensational musical will be held Saturday from 4-5:30 p.m. Callbacks will be on Sunday afternoon at the director’s discretion. Under 12? Well don’t fret, because Marianne Carruth is also holding auditions this weekend for 8-12 year olds interested in taking a theatrical adventure this summer with The Hobbit at 1-4 p.m. on Saturday and 1-2:30 p.m. on Sunday. Youth interested in this fantastical play will need to come prepared to read from the script and move. For more information please call Marianne Carruth about the Hobbit at 828-859-9355 or Betty Brewer about Les Miz at 828-894-8722.

Saturday
Tryon Fine Arts Center welcomes Susan Werner for the final concert in this year’s arts series. This well rounded and talented musician will take the audience on a journey through the American gambit of genres ranging from gospel and blues to folk and jazz with some classical pieces to season the mix. Werner will be joined by Trina Hamlin on back up vocals and harmonica as well as cellist Julia Biber. Have you ever heard Cat Stevens mixed with Bach or Vivaldi with Paul Simon? This is sure to be a memorable evening of luscious music. Call 828-859-8322 ext. 214 to reserve your tickets for Saturday night’s performance at 7:30 p.m.

The Purple Onion invites you to catch the harmonious female trio Volatile Baby as they make another visit to Saluda for a lively evening of music.

Dance the night away in Saluda with The Kelly Road Band at the Saluda Mountain Jamboree from 8-11 p.m.

Strut your stuff down Trade Street in Tryon with your sweetie and catch Fred “the jazz man” Whiskin at 6 p.m. on the piano at Lilac Wine & Piano Bar. Perk up with the art on display at the Gallery Coffeehouse and then dance over to Brickyard Salley at Elmo’s.

Sunnyview’s got southern rock, blues, and folk with Black Lightning at the Ultimate Basement from 7 p.m. until midnight. For more information about this event please visit www.hightechheaven.net.

Monday

Tryon Concert Association also concludes its subscription series at Tryon Fine Arts Center this week with Angela Hewitt on piano and Daniel Mueller-Schott on cello at 8 p.m. For more information about becoming a subscriber to this world class series of chamber music please email info@TryonConcertAssociation.com or visit their website tryonconcertassociation.googlepages.com.

From roots to blooms the arts are alive this weekend

2009-04-23T08:00:00.000-04:00

Today

Are your hands itching to get busy with a new project this spring? Check out the classes that start this week over at Tryon Arts & Crafts and give them something useful to do. Create useful and beautiful items with pottery and woodworking classes that will be enjoyed for years to come. Call 828-859-8323 to reserve your spot today.

The Wine Cellar in Saluda invites you to “Meet the Artist” John M. Waddill with a special reception at 7 p.m. Stop in to view Mr. Waddill’s new work on display and learn more about how his work has developed from his training at Ringling and Parsons and later working as an illustrator in the textile industry. He has won major awards and his work has earned permanent homes in the collections at Columbia Museum of Art, Gibbs Art Gallery, The Mint Museum, Clemson College, Wake Forest College, and the University of South Carolina.

Get rooted at The Purple Onion with Bucktown Kickback from Nashville, Tennessee. This “friction pickin’” group will have you foot stomping and hand clapping to their bluegrass roots rock sound. Perhaps you’ll even find some words of inspiration from their clever narrative lyrics.

Friday

Enjoy A Tribute to Norman Luboff at Polk County High School sung by the Community Chorus led by Richard Kennedy either tonight at 8 p.m. or Sunday at 3 p.m. Luboff recorded and arranged music for such reknowned singers as Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Jo Stafford, and Doris Day. The selections in the program blend the voices in beautiful arrangements of both popular tunes from the sixties like Fools Rush In as well as gospel and spiritual standards such as Just a Closer Walk with Thee. Tickets are available from Tryon Rotarians and at the Tryon Daily Bulletin. All proceeds benefit the Rotary Scholarship Fund.

The Music Makers invite you to join them once more to dance and listen at the Tryon Youth Center while they share a variety of styles of music. Enjoy a family friendly evening of great music with Woody Cowan, Sue Wilson, and Stephanie Murdock from 8-11 p.m. Tickets are limited so please reserve in advance by calling 828-446-2059.

Saturday

Music is in full bloom from 1-5 p.m. at Rogers Park with the Polk County High School Green Team’s Earth Day Celebration. Phil & Gay Johnson, The Lone Derangers, The Kevin Scanlen Project, and Noah Stockdale will be keeping your toes tapping with a wide variety of fun music while the kids are busy with fun and educational activities. Call PCHS for more information at 828-894-2525.

Keep the good vibes going that evening by joining Tuesday School of Tryon for a evening of music with the Highway 29 Band at F.E.N.C.E. The evening will include an auction of fabulous items to benefit the school. Contact www.tuesdayschool.org or call 828-859-0258 for more information.

The Purple Onion invites you to an evening of funky roots with the Scoot Pittman Trio. This group of fresh and versatile North Carolina musicians will liven up your evening with original tunes that layer blues, gospel, and roots, with funky fun.

Dance the night away in Saluda with John Monroe & the Ghostriders at the Saluda Mountain Jamboree from 8-11 p.m. This South Carolina native has been kicking it in Nashville with the likes of Tim McGraw, Mark Chestnut, Resless Heart, Aaron Tippin, Mary Stuart, and Allison Krauss among others. Listen in at www.johnmonroe.org and then put on your dancing shoes and get down to the “Party with the Beat.”

Tryon is alive with music once again starting with Fred “the jazz man” Whiskin at 6 p.m. on the piano at Lilac Wine & Piano Bar. Perk up with the art on display at the Gallery Coffeehouse and then dance over to Weird Mojo at Elmo’s where the talented trio Steve Whiteside, Tom Hearn, and Mikey Van Dusen are better than any jukebox when it comes to name that tune of rock and roll.

Looking for hardcore metal? Sunnyview’s got it with State of Konfusion and The Nameless at the Ultimate Basement from 7 p.m. until midnight. For more information about this event please visit www.hightechheaven.net.

Sunday

Upstairs Artspace invites you to join them at 2 p.m. for a Walk & Talk tour of “Sightings: New Faces from Asheville and Greenville.” Learn more about the new art blooming from fresh and avant-garde artists Hillary Frye, Alan Hollar, Heather Knight, Mitchell Lonas, Tom Pazderka, Warren Perdue, Tom Schram, Katy Cassell, Tim Cassell, David Slone, Jacob Stephens, and Enid Williams. While you’re there check out the whimsical installation “Feats” by Mills Spring artist Janet Orselli. Call 828-859-2828 for information.

Upcoming

The Morris Awards are coming to Tryon Fine Arts Center on May 9. Find out more about the event and cast your vote for your favorite local entertainers now by filling out a ballot from www.tryonarts.org/files/Ballot.pdf or any of these fine local businesses: The Book Shelf, The Coffeehouse, Isadora’s Closet, Kyoto Japanese Steak House, Lake Lanier Tea House, The Lilac Wine Bar, Owen’s Pharmacy, Persimmon’s Bistro, P.J.’s Fashions, Simply Irresistible Gallery, Tryon Horse Gift Shop, Tryon Mountain Hardwar, Twigs Unique Gifts, Tryon Fine Arts Center, Simple Simon’s Sweet’s & Savories, Stone Soup Market and Café, The Village Book Shoppe, Vines & Stuff, Watson’s Flooring and Appliances, or Williamson’s Paint Center. Tickets to the awards event are on sale now at the Tryon Fine Arts Center box office 828-859-8322 ext. 214. While you’re on the phone, don’t forget to get your tickets for the amazing Susan Werner concert on May 2.

Also, did you know that Rich Nelson will be giving his first local painting workshop at Tryon Painters & Sculptors from May 3-9? The workshop is nearing its limit so call now to reserve your spot for this intensive figure/portrait painting course. Visit www.richnelson.com for more information or call 828-859-0318.

Jim Farrell risk taking with L.A. premiere of original script

2009-04-17T08:00:00.003-04:00

Jim Farrell is one of those faces you see in Tryon. You can see him hauling a load of trees and brush through town or sitting down at the piano in the Gallery Coffeehouse to play a new tune. After many phone calls we finally found time to meet in person so I could ask him some questions about his latest project. He’s written a new play that will premiere in Los Angeles, California this spring.

Where did you come from before landing in Tryon?

I was born in Washington D.C. After college I taught English in a prep school for two years. I left teaching to pursue a music career and a year or so later I had the good fortune to be cast in a new Broadway musical called HAIR.

That must have been exciting!

Singing acting and dancing in HAIR was spectacular fun. There were no downsides. The show played around the world to packed houses for years.

Eventually, I left the New York to tour the U.S. doing solo and duo performances of songs I had been writing while working in Broadway shows.

What kind of roles have you played?

I had a lot of good leading roles. In almost all of them I played someone that was absolutely divorced from how I look, think, walk, and stand. That’s acting isn’t it? I played Lennie in Of Mice and Men which is maybe one of my favorites. I played Norman Thayer, the old man in On Golden Pond.

Probably if I somebody told my life story it would be interesting, but to me it’s more interesting talking about where ideas come from, like the play, how it’s starts out of absolutely nowhere and now it’s going to be put on and I don’t know if it’s going to be any good. Now it’s in the hands of the theatre and the director. I’ll be candid about it, I wrote it. I haven’t seen it. I’m not going to see it until I see it.

So you’re sitting here in Tryon, how did your play end up in L.A.?

It would be a cool thing if I was so well known that people in Los Angeles call me up that don’t know me, but know of my name. A guy that I know in L.A., who actually has a house here and a place L.A. is a Communications Professor at West Los Angeles College out there now.

Did you meet him here?

Bill Buchynski was the music programmer at WNCW before moving West to act and teach. He listened to a bazillion CDs and mine was in his top ten. That’s kind of how I met him. I knew him a little bit before. In 1998, I was living in this little tiny trailer in the woods off Hwy 221 in Western North Carolina composing songs for my CD “Fallen Angels” when I was asked about doing a show in Tryon, NC.

We did the play at the Tryon Fine Arts Center, but the director, Donna Orzano, had won an award to go to New York City and do this play at the Workhouse Theatre.

What show was this?

I played Grouch Marx in the show A Day in Hollywood a Night in the Ukraine. I got to go to New York where I used to act and Bill and I got to go together. He has a Masters in Fine Arts and has done tons of theatre. Going to New York and with the show was a real bonding thing. Donna is a very imaginative director. She has been a huge help to me on my latest project. She encouraged me to move to Tryon.

You were working on a CD, but also do theatre. What all do you do?

I have to be careful because right when I was making the CD, which I wanted to make forever, they throw this play thing in there and I actually put the CD on hold. I try to be humble about these things. I know how to do a lot in the performing arts. I’m a poet, performance poet, actor, singer, composer, songwriter, short story writer, children’s story writer, director, and I’ve done all of these things for money. I just do them.

Since moving to this unique place, I have written, produced, and directed a full length documentary “Kitty Hawk to Computers.” I’ve written and produced three children’s plays, penned a novel, two volumes of poetry, and published a satirical newspaper called the Bullsheet (The “How Much is a Trillion?” issue is due out soon). I’ve put on half a dozen shows in Roger’s Park, done a number of artist-in-residence gigs, and expanded my business Farrellworks Tree and Land Sculpting service.

But theatre was how you made the connection with Bill who’s now in L.A.

And I made the connection to Tryon. With all due respect to the surrounding territory, Tryon is the coolest place within 50 miles until you get to Asheville. I mean it’s not the trailer on Hwy 221.

When you get up on a project like the script, I’m going to write this play all by myself. I’m going to make up everything probably including most of the lighting cues and technical stuff. Probably the single most difficult aspect of that is that it’s very lonesome. I call it penetrating loneliness. It’s just so isolating. Then you have the lunatic aspect of it. There are a lot of plays and then there’s William Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw, and Eugene O’Neill. Maybe we don’t even need another play. If you can’t look at that, you’re missing the point. If your heroes are just so astounding it takes the pressure off. You’re not going to write Midsummer Night’s Dream. If you write music, you’re not going to be Joni Mitchell.

It forces you to be yourself.

Exactly, I don’t think the stuff I make up is derivative. I wouldn’t make a CD of covers, and I probably wouldn’t write an adaption of a novel. I really only know how to make up stuff. The process of making stuff up is lonely, lunatic, and also hopefully surprising. I drive myself better than I am driven. This is part of where the lunacy comes in. You have to commit yourself even if you’re writing a song. If you’re writing a song, that’s micro, if you’re writing a novel, that’s macro. I’m always looking over my shoulder going, “What are you doing? Why are you agonizing over scene two? I want to see the end. Come on!” The play is probably finished, but I was working on it last night and have been working on it since last April.

How did the project start?

In April 2007 I got a call from Bill Buchynski my buddy who I met doing A Day in Hollywood a Night in the Ukraine. He’s kind of a fan too, which is strange thing to say. I have brothers and sisters and my one sister in particular is just a fan. She really likes my stuff. In no way is it demeaning, it’s a big deal that my big sister is a fan. That’s so important because you might only have three.

Bill had called to ask if I would write a play for him to direct at the college. They put on an original production every year and last year was a David Mamet play. He said, “I think there should be a Jim Farrell play.” I said, “Yeah, me too. Just have someone write it and I’ll put my name on the bottom. I’ve got to go.” He said, “Come on, write a play that I can direct and we’ll use the nice theatre on campus in the heart of Hollywood. We’re right down the street from Sony Pictures and National Public Radio.” I said, “Bill, I’ve got trees to fell.”

But you ended up writing it anyway?

I hang up and I go to Google to bring up a pie chart of L.A. and look at the demographics, Caucasian, Latino, African American, and Asian. I thought if I was going to write this play I’d like to have 20-somethings with dynamic energy and enthusiasm. I’ll bet that this college class could be really multi-ethnic. I’ve been carrying this character Muhammad O’Hara around in my head since I wrote a poem about him on 9/11 who is American with a Muslim mother and an Irish Catholic father. I decided I wanted that to be one of the layers of the play. I made up a couple other characters like Emilio Chan who has a Chinese father and Mexican mother. I started with that and began writing Flight 2009 that same day.

One phone call sent you google-ing the pie-chart and…

I wrote him a one page treatment that same day and emailed it to him. He said, “I have to show it to some other people. I’m not the only one to decide. I love the idea.” Then he said, “Can you write two or three pages of dialogue to get some feel for it.” I said, “I guess so.” I did and that’s all it took. That was last April and we knew it wouldn’t start rehearsing until February.

Where did you put these characters?

The play centers around ten college students stranded at Los Angles Airport waiting for their charter flight to the United Nations where they will read their individual essays. Each student’s essay deals with the big questions war, money, ethnicity, God etc. During the play they share their social opinions and their individual opinions about themselves. To boil it all down, it’s about perspective and the blending of cultures and ethnicities.

You finished the script by February?

Absolutely, I don’t know of any crucible that is as demanding and unpredictable as a play that will now become a theatrical performance. The creeping doubt comes in, wondering if it will really work. There’s something so frightening about the part of the process where you’re going to do it and it’s going to open on this day. This play opens on April 22 and I’m not in L.A. I’d like to be there, but it would be prohibitively expensive. It’s a collaborative art form. If you write a novel, it’s not like you sit next to everyone who reads it. It’s the same as in the movies except there you have so much more money on the table.

You’ve been making edits during rehearsals?

I was out there for the casting and have started seeing these characters now as people. You start thinking something as simple as, “I don’t need that many words to come out of his mouth right now. He’s got that kind of energy that he can just dash off this one liner and it will make sense rather than having to explain.” It’s a leap of faith, a risk.

It takes nerve to put your work out there.

But you’re also nervous to some extent.

In April 2006 I got married and moved to a beautiful farm in Green Creek. I wondered what effect this radical change in my lifestyle would have on my creative work. I spent a lot of years alone. One of the things that excited me about this was that I could write in this family house. It’s a totally different environment for me. Obviously my “new life” with Laura, Sammi, six horses, three cats and two dogs is a source of inspiration.

My wife Laura and her daughter Samantha Hasse will be flying with me to L.A. for the opening of Flight 2009 at the West Los Angeles College theatre. It will run five nights and we’ll see what happens with it. I intend to take it other places. It’s very expensive to be creative.

There was no compensation when you started on the idea.

In the movies writers get an advance, but that’s a bit of a myth. It’s like farming. When you get all the stuff in bushels and take it to the market, then you’ll get paid for it, but not until then. There’s where the lunacy, loneliness and risk come in. You have to believe in the quality of your work. Somebody asked me once what the headlight was at the end of my tunnel and I said, “It sounds crazy, but I guess if someone laughs and falls off their chair or they burst into tears, that’s the payoff.” That’s what I’m working for, that catharsis.

When people ask me where the ideas come from I can only say a tiny bit of imagination, a seizure if you will, sets off a long tedious process that I can only describe as “blue collar work.” If you think “making up stuff is easy,” think again.

Visit www.farrellworks.com to find out more about Jim Farrell and the multitude of his creative projects.

“The Week of the Horse” celebrated through the arts

2009-04-16T08:00:00.008-04:00

Looking for a bit of literature and history about the Steeplechase? Don’t forget to visit your local merchants this week. The Book Shelf in Tryon and Pace’s Store in Saluda both offer new books by local authors relating to the foothills culture. If you prefer to search for old treasures Noah’s Ark Book Attic and The Village Book Shoppe offer a rich history of books.

Today

Start your weekend early by stepping outside this afternoon at 4 p.m. Join the Tryon Garden Club for the official dedication of Barney Eiserloh’s sculpture “Bringing the World to Foothills” in the Depot Garden above the clock tower at the Train Depot in the center of Tryon.

Then stop in to The Coach House in Landrum for a “Week of the Horse” reception for equestrian artists Joan MacIntyre and Erik Olsen from 5-8 p.m. Sneak a peek at Joan’s piece “The Road to Appleby Fair” before the Draft and Carriage Horse Invitational at MacKinac Island, Michigan this July. Erik will be showing his equine sports photography in the Coffee Shoppe.

Afterward, continue your pre-race adventure with dinner at The Purple Onion with troubadour horse woman Beth Wood from Lubbock, Texas now residing in Colorado. This free spirited folk singer will inspire you with her songs of the west. Winner of the 2005 Kerrville New Folk Contest, she travels the country sharing her talents with music and storytelling.

Friday

Upstairs Artspace welcomes new faces in town to join with local art lovers for a reception from 5-8 p.m. of “Sightings: New Faces from Asheville and Greenville.” This show features several artists from Asheville and Greenville who are new to the region and have never exhibited at Upstairs Artspace. The show will feature fresh and avant-garde work in painting, sculpture, mixed media, porcelain, and turned wood from artists Hillary Frye, Alan Hollar, Heather Knight, Mitchell Lonas, Tom Pazderka, Warren Perdue, Tom Schram, Katy Cassell, Tim Cassell, David Slone, Jacob Stephens, and Enid Williams. On the whimsical side, a separate installation “Feats” by Mills Spring artist Janet Orselli will also be available for viewing in preparation for a live performance later in May. Elaina Prevett will provide music and there will be refreshments available. Call 828-859-2828 for information.

After the art and refreshments, stroll on down the sidewalk to find John Tyndal at the keys at Lilac Wine & Piano Bar and enjoy a light delicious meal. Hearty eaters will enjoy the grill at Elmo’s, but be prepared for a fun and wacky night of Karaoke.

Saturday

The Purple Onion invites you to a relaxing dinner with Nikki Talley. This Asheville sweetheart songwriter’s husky voice and lyrical guitar playing will calm your nerves after a hot day at the races. If you want to dance the night away in Saluda then head on over to the Saluda Mountain Jamboree for country and rock favorites from Southern Pointe from 8-11 p.m.

Lake Lanier Tea House of Landrum invites you to enjoy dinner at sunset over the lake with the rousing gospel, blues and country piano and vocals of Polk County’s own Jennifer Prince who is back from Nashville this week to join the festivities. Call 864-457-5423 for reservations.

In Tryon, the “sweet spot” to sit back relax will be at the Lilac Wine & Piano Bar with Fred “the jazz man” Whiskin starting early at 6 p.m. Dr. Whiskin is a local favorite who you can also find on Wednesday evenings in Tryon as well as Fridays at the Purple Onion in Saluda. To ensure seating for your party please call 828-859-5205. Enjoy the fine selection of wines, but to keep the evening sweet consider walking down to grab a cup of coffee at the Gallery Coffeehouse and dancing down to Weird Mojo at Elmo’s. Featuring music from equestrian dynamo Susie Kocher, Weird Mojo mixes Susie’s beautiful voice with the tight trio of Steve Whiteside, Tom Hearn, and Mikey Van Dusen. They’ll keep your weekend rockin’ and rollin’ at as the night goes on.

On the other side of the county you’ll find a blues jam session with RiYeN RoOtS at the Ultimate Basement in Sunnyview starting at 7 p.m. This Asheville guitarist will be hosting an open jam friendly to all ages and skill levels. For more information about this event please visit www.hightechheaven.net.

Sunday

Once you’re rested up from Steeplechase, F.E.N.C.E. invites you to return with the whole family for a concert of Irish music in the Great Room from 4-5:30 p.m. Coloratura soprano Donna Gallagher from Dublin accompanied by harpist Anna Bennett will be sharing a variety of selections from Irish musicals, operas, and operettas. Already an award winner in Ireland, Donna currently is studying with Rebecca Turner for a Masters in Vocal Performance from The Petrie School of Music. For more information about this free concert please call 828-859-9021 or email info@fence.org.

Tuesday

Lanier Library invites you to join them for the first annual Sidney Lanier Poetry Award reading and reception at noon. Tryon poet Cathy Smith Bowers head of the Queens University MFA Writing Program who judged the competition will read from her work. There are seven adult finalists and three high school finalists from among 143 entries received from across the Carolinas. The winners will be awarded followed by a reception with refreshments. The event is free and open to the public.

Wednesday

Stone Soup in Landrum offers a wine and cheese reception for artists Charlotte Morris Costa and Beverly Kies. Charlotte will be sharing her new line of fun, functional and whimsical earthenware. Beverly is presenting colorful animal and landscape paintings.

Bernard Eiserloh commemorates the trains with sculpture

2009-04-15T08:00:00.010-04:00

Bernard who goes by Barney has just completed a sculpture to be dedicated in the Tryon Depot Park by the Tryon Garden Club on April 16. I had the chance to meet and visit with Barney and his wife Linda over ice cream at Simple Simon’s.
Your sculpture is the train piece that’s hiding under the tarp up there?

Barney: Right.

I went up and peeked at it, but it’s a little hard to see right now because it’s hiding under the tarp. Was it specifically created for the Depot?
Barney: This was something done for the Tryon Garden Club.
Linda: They run the Depot Garden and they were looking for a sculpture I guess for a couple years.

Barney: At a reasonable cost.

Linda: They had a specific place they wanted a sculpture with a railroad theme.

Barney: So they were looking around, and wanted something reasonable. They didn’t want to spend a lot of money. Word got out. Because Linda belongs to the Tryon Garden Club she came back and said, “You know they’re looking for a sculpture for the Depot.” I said, “I’d be glad to talk to them. It would be a great opportunity.” We did, and we got together and I came up with a sketch of what I wanted it to look like. The theme is “Bringing the World to the Foothills.” The railroad, that’s what it did. We took Anna Beth Connery’s class.

That was over at Isothermal?

Barney: Yes. She told us the history of the area, how much influence the railroad had on this area, and how fortunate it was that the railroad came through here for this area. We wanted to commemorate that occasion.

So, you’re not from Tryon originally?

Barney: We moved here about a year and a half ago from the Chicago suburbs.

How did you find Tryon from the Chicago suburbs?

Barney: We were in Wisconsin and our next door neighbors retired and moved down to Tryon and invited us here 35 or 40 years ago.

Linda: They were a whole generation older.

Barney: We fell in love with Tryon then, but couldn’t retire. Then when retirement came up we decided we wanted to move here.

You already had the plan. In Chicago were you building sculptures? What was your main focus there?

Barney: Mainly just making a living and working and then I semi-retired in the last couple of years we were up there and I started taking welding courses to refresh myself. I learned how to weld and work with metal when I was a teenager. I learned from my father. I’ve been working with metal all my life welding and so on, but not to the degree I wanted to because I couldn’t. I knew I wanted to do that after I retired. That’s what led to this.

Was this your first planned creative project?

Barney: I’ve done some other projects, but this is the largest one I’ve ever done.

Linda: He had done a couple things so that I knew that I would feel comfortable saying my husband can do it if he sets his mind to it. It’s beautiful with a lot of thought going into it.

Barney: I was fortunate to have the Garden Club trust me enough to commission me to do this. I told them I would charge no labor, but just materials and supplies. So that’s what I’ve done.

That’s a bargain.

Barney: It’s a bargain for them and it is fun for me.

Looking at this drawing, did you do something with engineering in your previous work?

Barney: No, but I’ve always been interested in it, observed structures, and how loads are distributed on bridges and other structures.

Your interest has been in that area even though your vocation did not necessarily use those skills.

Barney: Right. I had that influence and I started studying sculptures. People influenced me like David Smith and Jose de Rivera. They both influenced me quite a bit with their very creative styles. Local artists have been an influence and inspired me. When we go to an opening here at the Upstairs Gallery or something it’s so humbling to see their work. They’re so good. It’s an inspiration.

You came here all geared up and started breathing in all the art.

Barney: Right. Bill Crowell up at Saluda Forge was also an influence on me. I took a forging class here at Tryon Arts & Crafts. I took welding courses back in Illinois to get up to speed. Then I bought my welder. I had started playing with it when I was in Illinois. Now that retired, I have time to do it.

Linda: He started the welding courses when he was transitioning with part time retirement.

This was a well planned transition, and Tryon is getting your first project?

Barney: This is the first major piece since I’ve retired.

Well that’s quite the splashy introduction to the community!

Barney: Yes, jump in! Once you’re committed you’ve got to go ahead and hang in there.

Once you got this all drawn out, how long did it take you to build this piece?

Barney: Starting back in July, last summer, it’s been about nine months.

Linda: Now that it’s delivered!

Barney: I was working at least three days a week. It was a joy to get up and have that time to do it. In my dreams I would create things.

Were there any challenges that you ran into that were unexpected?

Barney: Yeah, trying to get that feeling of flow into the work and how to support all this metal. I had to find the railroad rails to create this and figure out how to make the rest of the smaller ones. Gibbs Welding has been real help to me. They’re in South Carolina, they have a lot of metal up there that I bought from them and they helped me find pieces of metal.

Those are real rails for the first part?

Barney: Yes, and then there’s a diminished size as they go up so I made the smaller ones. It was a once step at a time challenge to make the piece flow and make it support it well and safe for people to touch.

Linda: When he did the ball to symbolize the world, he went online to find out what was the actual tilt of the earth.

Barney: I had it tilted at 23.5 degrees.

Did you ever think, “Oh, what have I gotten myself into?”

Barney: No, but it was hard. I had to bend these rails in the fork of a tree using a winch. It took a lot of patience.

Linda: And the winch was not a woman.

Not a wench, but a winch.

Barney: It’s been a joy for me to do it and I’m just happy as can be to be able to donate it to the Tryon Garden Club.

The dedication will be on April 16 at 4 p.m. and will we see more work from you appear after this?

Barney: I hope so! Yes. I want to work with Tryon Painters & Sculptors at TFAC.

But, since this one took you nine months are you considering some smaller work?

Barney: Yes. I’d rather do some smaller work.

Linda: This felt like it took up our whole garage.

Barney: It did, it took our whole garage.

Linda: He kept going back and re-measuring the diamond shaped area…

Barney: …where it fits, to make sure it would fit.

Linda: All the people who came by the house and looked at it said, “How is that going to fit into this little place?” But, it’s perfect.

Barney: It was a privilege and a lot of fun.

Do you think you’ll ever make a bigger one?

Barney: I might be inspired to do that. You never know.

Do you have another project you’re working on right now?

Barney: There are a lot of things I have in mind to do. I want to work with nature’s gifts to show and emphasize wind and sunlight in a piece that would actually revolve. I’m looking at prisms right now to see how the refraction of light will cast a rainbow onto the piece. What I’d like to do is incorporate stained glass with the steel craft. I took two stained glass classes over at Tryon Arts & Crafts also. Those people are great over there. That’s a wonderful medium for color and beauty.

Are there specific instructors you would recommend to others?

Barney: Cheryl Stippich. Dianna and the other people over there are just so gracious to welcome people in and show them skills they never had before. It’s a wonderful opportunity for adults to learn new skills.

They make the arts community accessible to new comers to the area.

Barney: A lot of people are artistic and just don’t know it, or don’t know their medium. Practically all people have artistic tendencies, but they just don’t know how to express them.

It looks like you’ve found at least one piece of your medium.

Barney: Once you get started on a project, it’s like a good book, you can’t put it down. You have to work on it until you’re done. Linda knew where to find me.

Linda: His attachment to perfection was amazing to me to watch how much time he was willing to put in, because he wanted to get it just right. He also had concern for safety of any children who might play on or around it, and secured it all together so it won’t collapse.

Barney: I’ve jumped on it.

Linda: I wish I’d gotten a picture of that. He had knee surgery. He was given a brace to go around his knee and told to wear it for two days. The day after I heard him welding in the garage and came out and told him, “You’ve got to wear your brace!” I came out a couple hours later when I heard him welding again, and he was lying stomach down on three chairs with his welding mask on and the brace on his leg still working.

That shows his perfectionism and drive.

Barney: It’s such a privilege to be retired and enjoy this place.

Join the Tryon Garden Club at 4 p.m. Thursday, April 16 for the official unveiling and dedication of the sculpture celebrating the history of the trains combined with the creative spirit of the area that continues to bring the world to Tryon.

Get your mojo working & step out to enjoy the work of local artists

2009-04-09T08:00:00.003-04:00

My performance schedule has had me tied up in Asheville and I’ll continue to bounce up and down the mountain the rest of this month. Please continue to support your favorite local artists to keep them from stretching their gas dollars to find enough work. I was lucky to make it to Tryon to participate in Saturday’s foolishness and experience the excellent work of the entire cast of Cuckoo’s Nest last Sunday at the Tryon Little Theatre Workshop. As a special closer to the season, TLT will present the 1st Annual Morris Awards in May featuring and celebrating a variety of the talented volunteers who have graced the stage this season. Look for more details in the coming weeks for this exciting new event.

Please don’t miss out on two exhibits finishing up this weekend. At the Upstairs Artspace you’ll find the final weekend of The Hannon Barbershop Project and Black Artists Show. If you feel like traveling a bit, see what local artists are doing down in Spartanburg and enjoy the final weekend of the work of Patricia Cole-Ferullo and Carol Beth Icard at MYST. This new gallery focusing on abstract and experimental art is located at 154 West Main Street. Call 864-585-3335 for more information.

Today

Perhaps after a trip to the local galleries you’ll sit back and enjoy the work of visual artists like Rich Nelson and Luke Lichterman while Susan Bennett plays the standards tonight at the Lilac Wine & Piano Bar starting at 7 p.m.

Take a scenic drive up to Saluda and relax with the “blues grass” sounds of songwriter Brian Ashley Jones at the Purple Onion tonight at 7 p.m.

Friday

John Tyndal hits the keys at 6 p.m. and plays until 10 p.m. Play name that tune as John blends one old favorite into another.

Fred Whiskin entertains during dinner with everything from elegant Blues to intriguing Brubeck at the Purple Onion from 7-9 p.m.

Weird Mojo will get your weekend rockin’ and rollin’ at Elmo’s Too in Columbus. Support your local artists whose well polished musical talents pack big city fun into our local clubs. Susie Kocher pours her high energy vocals from the stage with Mikey Van Dusen on drums, Steve Whiteside on guitar, and Tom Hearn holding down the bass. If you’re too tired for dancing on Friday, catch the guys Saturday night at Elmo’s in Tryon.

Saturday

The Purple Onion welcomes the musical bard from Florida Nick Annis. Mixing humor and bittersweet poetry with flowing guitar chords, Annis is a troubadour of award winning original songs and stories. Catch his set during dinner and then take your dancing shoes on over to the Saluda Mountain Jamboree and finish the night off cutting a rug to Kelly Road.
Fred “the jazz man” Whiskin swings the Lilac Wine Bar starting early at 6 p.m. This will give you plenty of time to enjoy his set before walking down the block to grab a cup of coffee at the Gallery Coffeehouse to perk up just in time for the feature at the Tryon Movie Theatre. Or, stick around to visit with friends as John Tyndal provides continuous music from 8-10 p.m. To ensure seating for your party please call 828-859-5205.
On the other side of the county you’ll find Sword & Shield playing Christian rock music at the Ultimate Basement in Sunnyview from 7 p.m. until midnight. Blending a heavy metal sound with a positive message these fellows from Rutherfordton provide head banging fun for the whole family. For more information about this event please visit www.hightechheaven.net.

Sunday

Happy Easter! No matter how you celebrate, a good brunch is certainly in order. Several local restaurants invite you to commune with friends and family over a special dining experience for the occasion.

Lilac Wine & Piano Bar opens at 11 a.m. with music from Susan Bennett at the keyboard. Easter Eggs Benedict are just one of the fun items on the menu with mimosas available after noon until 2 p.m. For reservations please call 828-859-5205.

The Pine Crest Inn offers a special menu from award-winning Chef Amanda from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. with reservations available by calling 828-859-9135.

Lake Lanier Tea House invites your whole family to enjoy a special brunch buffet from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. on the lake. The Easter Bunny will be making a guest appearance to entertain the young and young at heart. For reservations please call 864-457-5423.

Cuckoos, Willie Wonka, Fools, & North Carolina Dance Theatre

2009-04-02T08:00:00.002-04:00

As spring bursts into bloom the artists in Polk County are throwing open their doors and offering a bit of colorful reprieve from the stark weather and financial news.
Tryon Arts & Crafts has a new workshops this weekend to start your own creativity flowing. The Lilac Wine Bar has thumbed their nose at the economy and added a touch of class to Tryon’s music scene. Every night of the week you’ll find a uniquely talented player at the piano to draw in listeners with selective taste. Elmo’s & Elmo’s Too while keeping the karaoke tradition alive are also bringing a interesting mix of new local and regional bands through their doors to liven up a Friday or Saturday night. Check the music listings to see who’s playing each night and sample the variety of musicianship for yourself.

Today

In Saluda, The Purple Onion has a long running tradition for a great variety of music to match your dining experience. My pick for this week is the lively percussive guitar and intriguing songs of Jacob Johnson at starting at 7 p.m. tonight. Jacob is the only singer songwriter I’ve ever seen completely silence the rowdy camp counselors at the Back Room in Flat Rock on a summer open mic night and make them really listen to what he was singing and playing. In fact, I was so impressed I immediately went home and looked up his myspace page just so I could hear more of his music. Don’t miss this chance to catch him live.

The buzz is out from those who’ve seen the show that One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a hit. From retired psychiatrists to editors and other entertainers, the rave reviews keep reaching my ears. I already have my tickets reserved for the last performance. Don’t be caught in the cold, seating is limited in the workshop. Call the box office to reserve your tickets today. Cuckoo’s Nest continues tonight at the Tryon Little Theatre Workshop running Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. and Sun. at 3 p.m. For information call 828-859-2466 or visit www.tltinfo.org.

For a small community, there are still new treasures to find each week. Sometime, when I have an evening free again, I want to visit The Cellar at Saluda Inn. Each month they bring in a new show of artwork from one of the area’s fine artists. You might consider every night a reception with wine and art, but tonight is your chance to “Meet the Artist.” Join in celebrating the newly completed work on display from wood turner Dave Prudhomme at 7 p.m. Dave has spent 30 years working with wood and moved to Saluda from Florida to be closer to the source of the trees that he finds make the most interesting art. For more information and directions to their location at 229 Greenville Street in Saluda please call 828-749-9698.

Friday

In the summer the theatre is all about the kids in the region, but don’t miss the chance to see the talented youth of our community in Ronald Dahl’s amazing story that takes you behind the scenes of a chocolate factory. Polk County High School presents Willie Wonka this weekend with performances Friday & Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. Donna Everett has these kids singing, dancing, and even flying thanks to flight director Stu Cox with ZFX flying.

Saturday

Most of us have been overly serious during the work week wrestling dollars and sense. Kick the blahs by donning your most foolish attire for Tryon’s 3rd Annual April Fools Festival from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Trade Street. Tryon Downtown Development Association invites the community to come together downtown for a frivolous day of fun. Bring along the family’s best friend dressed up for the day as well and meet at St. Luke’s Thrift Store parking lot for the Doggie Costume Contest at 11 a.m. All proceeds from the entry fees will be donated in the name of the winning foolish canine to Foothills Humane Society. As you stroll down the street you’ll discover live music in front of Merle Norman and some Rhythm Rascals jazzing it up at the Gallery Coffeehouse. Individuals and groups are invited to flaunt their creative spirit in a parade down Trade Street at 12:30 p.m. Meet at the corner of Market and Trade streets to join the line up. The foolish sports portion of the day involves the infamous Outhouse Races and a brand new Big Wheel Race for adults. New contestants are always welcome. For more information about how your group of friends or organization can participate please call 864-978-0056. The day wraps up with a free performance in the Shops of Tryon parking lot from a talented group of musicians the Lone Derangers in a rare local appearance.

Monday

Tryon Fine Arts Center welcomes the North Carolina Dance Theatre to the stage at 7:30 p.m. Allow yourself to be swept away by the beauty of elegant artists who blend athleticism with grace and music. Marvel at their interpretations of classic choreographers including Alivin Ailey, George Balanchine, and Twyla Tharp. Contact the TFAC box office at 828-859-8322 ext. 214 to secure your tickets today. Interested in meeting the artists themselves? Inquire when you purchase tickets about reservations for the Post Show Reception sponsored by Persimmons Bistro.

Lisa Kelly Simone sharing the light of her legacy

2009-03-27T08:01:00.007-04:00

I had the pleasure of listening to Lisa Kelly Simone as she shared her life story and her musical gifts with the students of Tryon Elementary. Afterwards, we had a little time to visit about her career that has recently carried her from starring roles on Broadway to producing a jazz album using her mother Nina Simone’s charts called Simone on Simone.

I’ve heard you answer a lot of questions today. One that stood out was when the student asked about your favorite moment with your mom. You said it was being introduced by her to sing on stage. What was it like growing up with a superstar?

Lisa: It was many things. What I realized, when people ask me a lot of questions about my life it also forces me to reflect on certain things that I don’t normally think about. It was okay, it was normal for me. That was my mommy and I didn’t even realize that she was famous until I was around 10 or 11 years old and she had a different name. We traveled a lot and my mother was very temperamental. Every time she sat down at the piano all I remember was just perfection. It was always beautiful to watch her fingers move, to hear what came out of it, and to sit next to her. It was many things. Now that I’m following so closely in her footsteps and have embraced my legacy, embraced everything that goes along with that, the more that I’m on this journey of self discovery and self acceptance, the more grounded I become and the more that I understand her and myself.

When that child asked me that, the fact that I would share one of the happiest moments in my life with the world as the first cut on my CD is indicative of how far I’ve come and what wonderful moment that was.

You mentioned as a teenager you went off to the military because you thought you knew everything. Was that a moment of rebellion?

Yes, I call it active rebellion. I wanted to be a lawyer. I wanted to major in English. I actually combined my last year of high school with my first year of college so that I could accelerate my dreams. I wanted to go to college in San Diego. My uncle Carrol Waymon actually was a professor of psychology there and he offered me to come there. I also asked my dad and everybody if they would help me fill out the application paperwork for Alfred University as a plan B just in case San Diego didn’t work out. All my elders were like, “No, San Diego’s going to be fine, it’s going to work out.” Well there was one clincher. After I graduated and was halfway through the summer my uncle had yet to send me an application and I knew that there was no way I would be able to get in for that semester. I realized I had to have a fall back. The Air Force wound up being that. I still don’t recall how the Air Force became an option in my life, but it did. I wound up going into a career field that had nothing to do with law, had nothing to do with what I had been planning for all those years. I realize now that I kind of was sleep walking for a while as I had to learn about drafting and surveying and quality assurance. It was like moving to another planet.

At what point did you decide that you had to come back to the music and to your mother’s music?

Well that’s two different parts in my life. I rediscovered singing when I was active duty in Germany. I tell everyone, I had the notorious glass of wine. A girlfriend of mine was an American black woman who had her own hair salon in Frankfurt, Germany. She was a civilian and a lot of us got our hair done there. She and I were hanging out one night. We went to a bistro and I had a glass of wine and this guy was playing the piano in the bistro. He was also an African American and the way he patted his foot, he did his whole foot up and down, reminded me of the south, of somebody in church. I don’t know what inspired me to do so, but he must have been singing a song that I liked because I got up and I started singing with him. Next thing you know, I say within a week or two, I got a phone call from a woman who I didn’t know asking me if I wanted to be one of her background singers. I remember saying, “Who are you and how did you get my number?” Come to find out that my girlfriend, who’s name was Janine, she had been raving about my singing in the salon. This lady’s name was Joan Faulkner and she had her own act and she would go around Europe singing. She needed a background singer and apparently whatever Janine said inspired her to call me. Janine gave her my number. I was like, “What the heck, I can harmonize, I can do that.” That is how this all began. Musicians who played for her started to ask me if I was interested in doing my own shows, which I’d never considered.

My first show ever by myself was at a ski resort in Switzerland. I was twenty eight. I didn’t like my job. I couldn’t see myself doing it for the rest of my life and it was almost as if I’d gotten to a point in my life where I said, “What do I want to really do when I grow up?” It’s interesting because I went right back to something that had been in my face all my life. I said to myself, “If I can go to this ski resort and do what I think I can do, maybe this is what I should be doing for the rest of my life.” Apparently it worked, because I’m here right now.

It seems to have worked very well. Then what brought you to your mom’s music?

Actually, it was after she passed and when we were trying to figure out about two years ago how to best to put together a project that would showcase me and get us the type of attention, for lack of a better word, that we were hoping to get. We threw around some ideas. Of course I’ve been writing music for about seventeen years, my own songs, and so I automatically took for granted that of course it would be my own songs. It didn’t happen that way. I was approached about a big band project. It’s interesting when the stars line up how everything just is easy and falls into place. I live in Pennsylvania right now and there just happened to be an eighteen piece big band in Pennsylvania that were ready to work and wanted to work with me. I was gifted by my mother over fifty of her big band arrangements. I happened to have the albums that went along with a lot of my favorite songs. I had another glass of wine and after that glass of wine it only took me forty five minutes to pick out eleven songs, match them up to the albums, and say this is the album. The name Simone on Simone had actually come up about eleven years ago when I was living in Chicago and it always stuck with me. It just made perfect sense. Next thing you know, we recorded everything in three days.

It’s interesting though, when we make decisions in our lives, when we pick a certain path in our lives it’s for one reason, and as we go down that path so many other things are revealed to us. This has been a journey of discovery and self acceptance. I turned around to embrace my legacy. Many reporters have asked me, “Most kids who are ‘daughters and sons of’ run away from that and try to be autonomous and separate themselves from their legacy. You on the other hand have turned and embraced it.” I’ve told them I’m very secure in who I am and where I come from. You can only run for so long. At some point you do have to turn around and face who you are, where you come from, and pass that on to your children. I’m so happy that the making of Simone on Simone has helped me to become so much more grounded and celebrate my legacy.

Wonderful.

Thank you.

In terms of your mom’s legacy, part of her legacy was during the 60’s and she was very active and vocal about civil rights. It turned some heads in Tryon.

I’ll say.

How does it feel to know that there are people trying to commemorate your mother through the sculpture and the scholarship fund at this point in Tryon?

It feels wonderful. She deserves it and so much more. My mother died alone. She died afraid that if she couldn’t sing anymore, what was she going to do to support herself? She had no idea how much she was loved and adored and how much her music has promoted healing. I’ve had so many people tell me how much her music has helped them to heal in different aspects of their lives. Even former president Bill Clinton has referred to, “I wish I knew how it would feel to be free” and how it helped him in many moments in his tenure as our president.

It feels wonderful. What I choose to say to people is, “Let’s not wait until they’ve passed away for them to know how much they are loved and adored by us.” When they move on to the other side it really isn’t that important to them anymore. I wish she was here to see this, to experience this. But I’m here, my daughter’s here and we are very, very pleased. That’s not even an adequate word. I’m still trying to find the proper words to convey how I feel about all of the love and adoration that poured forth with regards to my mom, her memory, her message, and everything she left with us.

You mentioned you went to school over in Spindale and Rutherfordton. What do Tryon and its surrounding area mean to you?

It’s interesting because I started writing my blog for my facebook and my myspace last night. My computer doesn’t work very well where we are, so I put it on notebook paper last night. I did mention that because I travelled so much, went to school in so many places, and my mom wasn’t around a lot, that my time in North Carolina was as close to as close to a normal childhood as I ever got a chance to live. Then again what’s normal? I learned how to fry chicken here. I learned my 23rd psalm here. I was in the choir here. I learned Precious Lord here. I could just be a kid and I didn’t have to worry so much about where am I going to be next week, what school am I going to, or am I going to leave my friends? Things that are important to a child were met here. Actually, after leaving the elementary school today I think, I’m going to pray on this, my heart is singing because I think I’m going to bring my daughter here to go to fifth grade this year. In which case, I’ll be here. It’s about home. Like I told the kids earlier, a foundation, knowing who you are and where you come from, why your parents came here, and their background. That’s the foundation upon which you can fly. I’m a very integral part of my daughter’s life and coming here to her ancestors home feels right. If she’s here, you better know I’m going to be right here.

Your mom felt she had to leave this area in order to be who she was, and never really came back to those roots. What do you think she would say about you thinking about moving here to raise your daughter?

She’s most pleased. My mother’s always with me. Now that she’s not concentrating so much on things outside of herself, she exists in pure love. I know that she doesn’t want me to cry anymore. She wants me to be more in touch with my family, my roots, and this journey that I’m on. It doesn’t stop with me, it continues with my child and their children. My children actually, my daughter’s the youngest, she’s the only one left at home. Hopefully, I will have started a precedent within our family whereby your foundation, roots, and ancestry remains quite important. Once you get to a certain point as a grown up, I don’t think you can get much further if you don’t know who you are and where you come from. I’m living witness to that. At the age of 46 I’m happier than I’ve ever been. A lot has to do with what I’ve chosen to do with my family and my legacy. Forgiveness, healing, and growth, maybe I can pass that along to a lot of the young people so they won’t have as many hurdles to overcome as we did.

I really enjoyed listening to you talk to those kids today. You had some straight up, kind, and wonderful answers to their questions. I felt inspired just by listening to you answer kids’ questions.

I’m glad. I have something I’ll share with you. When I asked God, when I was stationed in Germany, I prayed. I kid you not, because “superstar” is a moniker everybody uses now. At the end of the 80’s I prayed to be a superstar, literally. God answers prayer. It might take you a hundred years to get there, but he answers prayer. I have always felt that I wasn’t that specific and that he took me a circuitous route through theatre and this and that. I prayed to be a superstar and I asked God to help me to inspire love and positivity in others through the example of my own life. When you said I inspired, thank you for that because that means that I’m doing my job.

I wish there were more superstars out there that were that focused in their intention about what they’re doing for the people they are performing for and sharing their time with.

Maybe I can help to set a new precedent. You know it’s not all about just getting up there and being cute and shaking your butt and singing something you’re not connected to. It’s a type a ministry, and that is how I look at my singing. My eldest son, who you will get to meet is a reverend, and I told him, “You’re carrying on the legacy of the pulpit and I’m carrying on the musical side. We’ve got it going on!” It just makes him glow all over because he really doesn’t know that much about the family’s legacy. I look forward to bringing my kids here so they can dig their heels into the red dirt and soak up who they are and know that they are indeed carrying on that calling that’s in their heart. It’s actually something that’s in their blood. Yes, hopefully I can establish a new precedent for other entertainers to take what they do a little more seriously.

What projects do you currently have in the works?

I just came out of the studio at the end of February. In ten days we laid down seven tracks and one of them is “Young Gifted and Black” that I’m redoing. The CD will be anywhere from 12-14 songs, so I go back in July to continue laying down those tracks so I’m way ahead of the curve. It’s due to come out in January. My daughter who’s nine has joined me in the studio. She’s doing backgrounds and she’s a D.I.T., a Diva in Training. She comes on stage with me. She actually fronted a 19 piece big band in August. I’m teaching her about mic control and all that stuff. All this is in the works and my husband and I have a lot of other international things going on. In terms of my career the next project is the CD I’m working on now as I continue to tour and promote Simone on Simone.

Wonderful! I hope you do make this your home so we get to see you occasionally.

Me too! I’m about to learn how to make those buttermilk biscuits before I leave. Miss Bernice has some tricks. My cousin Robin Thomas, before she passed away she lived in Spindale and she told me about applesauce or mayonnaise in the cornbread. I’m going to learn how to do the mayonnaise from Miss Bernice. I travel with my cast iron pans everywhere I go. I’m looking forward to coming back. In coming here I’m kind of surprised that I feel as at home as I do here and I thank everyone here for welcoming my husband and I as wonderfully as you have and making us feel part of the community. We do look forward to coming back.

Lavin Cuddihee & Marianne Carruth head to head over Cuckoo’s Nest

2009-03-27T08:00:00.001-04:00

You are two faces that I’ve seen around theatre and the arts in Tryon, but never onstage. What about One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest brought you out into the spotlight again?

Marianne: This is the first show I’ve done with TLT in 22 years. It’s just time.

Lavin: That’s funny, because we both went away for 22 years.
Marianne: Ooh?

Lavin: Our birthdays are two days apart.

What about this 22 year? Was it the show itself or the right time and the right place?

Lavin: Well, it was the right show because I was involved with experimental theatre in California. At the time, I liked to do that type of theatre. Things like first runs, not that this show is that, but at the end of the day this show is just so meaty and so unusual and so me, I had to come down when I heard that it was auditioning and see if they would give me some part, any part.

What part did they give you?

Lavin: McMurphy, Randall P. McMurphy.

And that was played by…

Marianne: Jack Nicholson.

Lavin: Jack in the film, Kirk Douglas when it debuted on Broadway.

It’s the meatiest of meaty parts.

Lavin: There aren’t any bigger parts, I don’t think, not in this show. Unless of course maybe the director. I was not expecting to be cast in that role, but when Chris asked me if I would like to do it I didn’t hesitate, most definitely.

What about for you Marianne?

Marianne: Why this show? Well, I love this show and it’s a good meaty female role and it is fun. I was really glad that Chris wanted me to do this part. Yeah, I was thrilled. When he said he was going to do it, I was thinking, “Mmm, that’s the part I want next year.”

What has been occupying you the last 22 years instead of the stage?

Marianne: Well the last 10 years I’ve been doing children’s theatre, teaching children and I never did that before. I just did that after I had children. I thought I would always act. I like to do experimental stuff, that’s my favorite, off the wall parts and small cast multiple parts. That kind of thing has always appealed to me.

What’s some of your background in acting before coming to Tryon Little Theatre and working with the children?

Marianne: I like doing Shakespeare. I think the last big role I did was Viola before this one, so there’s your age range. I worked with a theatre company in San Antonio and we did some original stuff. We wrote our own monologues and put them together. I like doing that kind of thing. Triumph of the Spider Monkey and really bizarre things. In college I did Amelia and Mrs. Higgins. I’ve always done a Mrs. Higgins, Gwendolyn Fairfax, that kind of thing, haughty annoying women.

The haughty annoying women have always been…

Marianne: fun.

Lavin: They come natural.

Marianne: Yeah, unfortunately that’s the part that’s blown my mind. They say, “What part are you?” I say, “Nurse Ratched.” They say, “Ah ha ha, of course.” I thought I was nice.

You mentioned college, did you go to school for theatre?

Marianne: I majored in Speech and Drama.

From?

Marianne: Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.

How did that get you to Tryon?

Marianne: I was born in Tryon. I grew up here. I went out to school in Texas because of an advisor that found a school he thought would match me well and he was right. They had a good program out there. The guy who started Dallas Theatre Center was running that theatre program at the time. It was an artsy approach to acting. It wasn’t very practical at all. But, it was real rich and a lot of fun and we played with colors and lines and shapes and sounds. A more abstract approach to theatre than some schools teach. I found that appealing. Then after college I did some outdoor drama.

Lavin: So did I.

Marianne: Did you really do outdoor drama? Which one did you do?

Lavin: Tecumseh.

Marianne: In Ohio.

Lavin: Chillicothe, Ohio.

We’ve had a lot of Tecumseh company members at Poetry Alive!

Marianne: I was an intern up at the Playhouse too and Robroy Farquhar was such a sweet man, I told him, “I’m going to do outdoor drama.” He said, “Oh, it’s a good experience, but don’t do it twice.”

Lavin: I did not.

Marianne: I didn’t either.

Lavin: I wouldn’t trade that summer for anything. That summer was great.

Marianne: It was pretty fun. It’s an experience.

Lavin: Tecumseh is supposed to be the largest outdoor drama in a huge amphitheatre. Everybody lives on site. The stars, which I was not, lived in little cabins. All the grunts, everybody else, we lived in tents, all summer.

Marianne: I had the female lead, and I lived in just horrible places. It was a bad.

Lavin: We got paid nothing. I ate peanut butter and jelly two and three times a day for sixty days.

Marianne: Extra crunchy. I’m not going to go into too much detail about my summer doing outdoor drama, but it was an experience.

Lavin: You need some Irish whiskey to get through it.

Marianne: I meant to bring some, but I ran out of time.

Were you a theatre major as well, or was it something that you just dove into?
Lavin: My mom was a theatre person. She wasn’t in plays so much, but she was a dancer. She was real involved with it when she was growing up. It was always around. I never really got into it. I did some community theatre in high school. I never did any high school productions, and I can’t remember why. Maybe it was just because I didn’t want to get in front of my peers. I didn’t mind to get in front of the community. I don’t know what that was about.

When you’re graduating from high school, you’re at this crossroads. What do you want to be when you grow up? I am that crossroads again right now, actually. I’m a big automobile fan as well. I wanted to get into something automotive, or I wanted to get into the theatre and it was almost a spin of the wheel, a turn of the card.

Marianne: Hey ya, hey ya, hey ya…

Lavin: So, I picked theatre. I went to Webster College in St. Louis, Missouri because, even though we were living in Ohio at the time, I grew up in St. Louis. I thought it would be nice to go back. My mom knew they had a great program there; they still have a great program. I think it is Webster University now. I was putting myself through school so between not really liking to go to school and not being able to afford to go to school I went spottily.

Then I felt was done with the whole theatre thing for a while. At that time my folks moved down to Greenville from Ohio. I helped them move down here and got in a production at the Warehouse theatre back in 1977, I think. I did two shows down there and then I left. I went to the Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. I studied there for a couple years and then did some plays. Everything from little tiny roles to somewhat big roles, p.a. work, film work, directing; I totally immersed in it and found out I was not making any money at any of it. So my wife said, we weren’t married at the time, “We’re going to California.” I said, “I’m not going to California, I want to stay here in New York.” “Well, I’m going to California,” she said, “if you want to get married you have to go to California.”

We got married and went to California. I did a few shows there and then started getting into some film because that started actually paying. I did photo double work. I started getting into the stunt thing quite a bit actually. Drifting back at the same time and doing experimental theatre. Then all of the sudden one day I was done with it, I needed to move on. I went back to school for the automobile thing and that’s what I’ve been doing since then basically, industrial design. I’ve been working for myself since 1994.

When did you find Tryon?

Lavin: A couple years ago we were out here visiting my parents and getting reacquainted with the area since Greenville and Greer and all the area had changed tremendously. I found myself coming through Tryon one day by mistake. I thought, “Wow, what a great little town.” We were thinking about relocating and here it is.

A couple people asked me if I wanted to do shows.

Marianne: I’ve asked you. I was thrilled when you auditioned.

Lavin: It just had to be the right show.

So, here you are.

Lavin: I’ve wanted to something with Marianne for some time now. We’ve only lived here for three years in June. I can’t believe how many people I’ve met since we’ve been here. It’s a nice social venue.

Marianne: He’s doing a great job.

Lavin: As are you.

Marianne: It’s inspiring.

Is it hard jumping back into the role of actor after being a director for so long working with the kids?

Marianne: Only because I just have to keep my mouth shut. Chris is doing a great job. I trust myself in his hands. I don’t know the line any more, but then I realize I like it when actors give me ideas, so I’m not stepping on toes. It’s not been hard. It’s unfortunately too easy of a role for me to step back into.
There was one night Lavin you came on like gangbusters and it was easy to come back, it was inspiring. You could do Nurse Ratched as melodrama, but she’s actually quite professional. I find myself thinking, “Why is he doing this, and how can I help him?”

Lavin: McMurphy sees her as someone who wishes she was a doctor and is only a nurse.

Marianne: Bingo.

What about Ken Kesey’s social commentary plays to today’s audience now that mental health care has changed in this country?

Marianne: The power struggle.

Lavin: I hadn’t thought much about it when I first signed on, but I think it plays to a modern audience.

Marianne: It’s dated in a lot of ways.

Lavin: I think that some of the underlying things that are going on are still there. Actually, just because the way we’ve socially evolved, a new twist is being added to it. Once upon a time there was, “the man is the man, and the woman is there to look after the man.” McMurphy, as far as women go, he’s a big kid in a candy store. All women are candy to him, he’s got the biggest sweet tooth, and he thinks he deserves it. That’s who he is. There are still a lot of people like that. However, things have changed to a point where a woman’s role in society has evolved. But they’re still trying to be more than they’ve been.

Marianne: Also the relationship with all of the patients. All those guys depend on each other. That’s certainly topical. They create their own little world where McMurphy becomes their leader.

Lavin: They even talk about it, there’s the scene when the doctor’s talking about how they’ve got this microcosm of society.

Marianne: A society in miniature.

Lavin: McMurphy’s so far outside of society, the longer he stays in this environment he starts to depend on – not necessarily their friendship, he doesn’t really have a friendship with them, but there’s definitely a connection. Seemingly he is so independent prior to coming here, now he’s finding out he’s the big fish in the little pond. But now, all of the sudden he’s thinking these guys have got something he doesn’t have, and what is that? We’ll find out what that is. He’s almost starting to be confronted with who his is.

If you look past the lobotomies and the verbiage, the things that date the play, I am sure some people will go, “I’m a lot like that guy,” or “I know what she’s going through.”

Marianne: They’re strong characters and they’re symbols at the same time.

Lavin: There’s still a lot in this play for me to figure out and that’s the fun thing about doing shows. The better the cast is and the longer the show runs you usually start seeing some really neat things happen. This is a comedy, but a black comedy, a disturbing comedy.

Have you done anything to alter the graphic language, or are you doing it true to the script?

Marianne: No he has not. Initially he was going to. He was going to smooth things out but that’s just not how McMurphy is.

Lavin: In 1963 when this came out it probably raised a few eyebrows.

Marianne: It was in your face then.

Lavin: Here now, even in this town, everybody’s pretty much up to speed, and they want to hear something and feel comfortable about hearing it. It’s different than hearing it in a restaurant or hearing it in a bar or someone else’s home. It’s not like you haven’t been warned there’s graphic language.

Marianne: It is graphic, and I think parts of it are very difficult to watch, but it’s very real. It’s very raw. It’s not going to be boring.

What do you hope people will take away from this show?

Lavin: First of all, I’d like them to feel that they’ve spent some quality time at the theatre. There’s so much work that goes into it. I had forgotten. I hope they come away, at the very least, with a quality theatre experience.

Marianne: I just want them to be moved. I want them to come away having laughed and cried and maybe surprised. I want them to remember it and think about it.

Lavin: It’s a play you could see twice because there is so much really going on. There’s so much to see.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest opens tonight at Tryon Little Theatre Workshop, 516 S. Trade Street and runs through April 5. Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. Call the box office at 828-859-2466 or visit www.tltinfo.org for more information.

Cuckoo’s Nest opens at TLT & get foolish with El Gleno Grande

2009-03-26T08:00:00.000-04:00

Today

One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest opens tonight at the Tryon Little Theatre Workshop running Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. and Sun. at 3 p.m. through April 5. See tomorrow’s paper for a unique “head to head” conversation with Marianne Carruth and Lavin Cuddihee who face off as Nurse Ratched and McMurphy in Ken Kesey’s classic dark comedy set in a mental institution. This thrilling play will keep you on the edged of your seat. For information call 828-859-2466 or visit www.tltinfo.org.

Before the show, catch a bite of dinner and enjoy listening to standards from Susan Bennett on the piano at Lilac Wine from 5-9 p.m. Up in Saluda you’ll find the smooth vocals of folk singer Alan Barrington at The Purple Onion starting at 7 p.m.

Polk County’s own cultural treasures Phil & Gaye Johnson will perform a free concert of acoustic music mixing old roots traditions with country, bluegrass, and western swing at Isothermal Community College’s Polk Campus at 7 p.m. For more information call 828-894-3092.

Don’t miss the final installments of the free movie series at Upstairs Artspace this week featuring classic black films of the 30’s and 40’s. Tonight is Lying Lips, Friday’s feature is Girl in Room 20, and Saturday finishes the series with Blood of Jesus. All movies start at 7 p.m. and last about an hour. Saturday’s feature will start with a reception at 6 p.m. and a live performance from Victoria Casey-McDonald dramatizing the life of African-Americans in the Appalachian Mountains connecting to the installation “Love/Loss/Love” by Marie T. Cochran. Contact the gallery at 828-859-2828 for more information.

Friday

Have you wandered up Ola Mae Way from downtown lately to see what’s going on at Simply Irresistible and Saluda Forge? John Richards of Burnsville has delivered more “trashformations” including pets for the alien women and the pets of pets. Large steel sculptures of Ray Fulk have arrived as well as Gorilla Bags. What are Gorilla Bags? Stop in to see how billboards have been recycled into fun and funky bags of all sizes that benefit the Gorilla Haven in Georgia.

John Tyndal will be entertaining the room on the piano at Lilac Wine from 5-9 p.m. Maybe inspired by his talent and a couple glasses of wine you’ll decide to let your inner performer out later with some Karaoke at Elmo’s.

Saturday

Take time during your day to stop in The Book Shelf to check out what happening with the book release for Andy Millard’s new work “The Graduate’s Book of Practical Wisdom.”

Depending on your mood there is plenty of music in these hills to get your evening started right. For something fresh and fun, try checking out the funk and world sounds of Sol Driven Train blending a sweet horn section with southern grooves at The Purple Onion from 8-10 p.m.

Saluda Mountain Jamboree welcomes back Legacy to keep you dancing from 8-11 p.m. Call 828-749-3676 for more information.

Fred Whiskin will jazz up the night at Lilac Wine from 6-8 p.m. followed by Brad Gee on the keys until 10 p.m. For reservations call 828-859-5205. You can also find Dr. “Jazz” Whiskin on Fridays at The Purple Onion from 7-9 p.m. and every Wednesday at Lilac Wine in Tryon.

For the night owls, local band Brickyard Sally featuring John Edney and crew will heat up the night at Elmo’s in Tryon with classic and southern rock favorites.

Sunday

Lilac Wine invites you to join them for brunch from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. with the music of Susan Bennett on the piano.

Tryon Painters & Sculptors welcomes you to join them for a reception from 5-7 p.m. for artist Reda Kay. Kay’s show “Journeys in Mixed Media” will be in Gallery I at Tryon Fine Arts Center until May 1 featuring abstract art on paper, board, and canvas in a colorful collages inspired by her travels around the world.

Winkie & Red Dog invite everyone who loves the blues to join the jam at Elmo’s Too in Columbus at 4 p.m. Musicians and dancers of all levels are welcome. Then later head over to Tryon where Johnny Rawls heats up the night at Elmo’s with some sweet soul and blues.

Monday

Kathleen Carson welcomes you to get rhythm in your feet and join a fun group of folks for tap dancing at Tryon Fine Arts Center. For more information please email Kathleen at handpaintedtiles@windstream.net.

Or, warm up those vocal chords and sing along with Becky Oliver at Lilac Wine from 7-9 p.m. during board game night.

Wednesday

No fooling, Tryon Fine Arts Center presents Glenn Singer as “el gleno grande” for a wacky and wild evening of visual comedy. This equestrian comedian will be presenting arts in education performances at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. and then a feature performance at 7:30 p.m. for the general public. His outrageous full circus equestrian act that has brought him attention on America’s Funniest Videos and sent him to such venues as Universal Studios and the casinos of Las Vegas to entertain the crowds. Visit the Tryon Fine Arts Center website at www.tryonarts.org for more information, or contact the Center's Box office at 828-859-8322 ext.214 to reserve your ticket or to inquire about group rates.

Hobey Ford brings puppets to life in Tryon

2009-03-20T08:00:00.002-04:00

This weekend brings Super Saturday to Tryon, a day filled with entertainment for kids of all ages. One of the guest artists this year is Weaverville puppeteer Hobey Ford. Connecting his art to curriculum has allowed him to travel the country, so I took a moment to visit his workshop and discover the work behind the magic. A small two story building sits among the trees at the bottom of his driveway. As I enter I am surrounded by shelves of puppets of various shapes, sizes and materials. He invites me to sit at the workbench with him

So this is the workshop?

I make my puppets in here and tour them around.

How long have you been doing that?

Probably about 30 years. About 1980 is when I got really busy, but I started fooling with all of this in 1976.

What started you?

I was an art major and I remembered really great assembly programs when I was growing up in school. One of them was a marionette show. Marionettes fascinated me. In college I started making some just for fun. I went into New York City and visited Bil Baird’s studio (the puppeteer behind the Lonely Goatherd sequence in Sound of Music). I saw that it was a really neat little side pool of the arts. I knew that it was hard to compete with the hundreds and thousands of other art students in America. I didn’t know how I was going to do that, because I really didn’t even relate to modern art too much.

Hobey moves a dulcimer off the bench that he had been working on when I arrived. You also do instrument repair?

It’s been a hobby. I got into puppetry because I like making things. Over the years I’ve worked on my wife’s marimbas for her marimba band.

How did you first put together a show?

I joined a puppetry organization and their festivals have a lot of shows. Every year I would go and there would be some of the world’s best puppeteers there. I saw a lot of really good puppetry. During the day at the festival we would have workshops for different things. I would do them in rod mechanisms and others would do them in marionette stringing or sound systems.

Do you create the puppets first and then find the story for the puppets or the other way around?

I do it both ways. I get inspiration from music and stories, but often it will be like I’ll really want to make an otter puppet and then he’ll work his way into a show. For Animalia (the show I’m doing in Tryon), that show began with the music of Paul Winter Consort. They’ve played in this area a bunch of times. Paul does sort of a nature inspired light jazz, maybe even New Age jazz. Thirty years ago when I heard the music I thought, “Wow, this would be great for animal puppets.” I started creating some of them then.

The show Animalia came together when I was out in the field and walked up on a little monarch chrysalis. It was actually a caterpillar turning into a chrysalis at the moment I walked up on it. I started researching it and Animalia is centered around this little metamorphosis piece. All these other animals are in it too, but that’s the central piece in it.

That sounds like it would be a tricky thing to create with puppets.

I can show you some of it if you like.

That would be great!

I start with a little teeny caterpillar and a big leaf. As it progresses it gets bigger and each time it comes out, it’s a little bigger.

Oh, now it has the feet and the antennae.

Then it goes in here and there’s a mechanism that closes up the body and when I pull this cable out, his body just sort of goes “woooring” like that and comes loose and is attached to the leaf with Velcro.

Suddenly you have the chrysalis appearing out of the body of the caterpillar.
It’s sort of an awesome moment. It’s covered over and then you come back later and it’s this and inside this is the monarch butterfly.

Oh wow!

These pull out of its wings, they are the superstructure for its wings, but to be able to put it inside, its little feet have Velcro. This all wraps up and it goes inside that chrysalis which has a little door mechanism. When I pull that it sort of unfolds and eventually hangs out from its legs and then these are behind the chrysalis and I push them in like that and then slowly it gets ready to fly away.

Oh cool!

The whole thing is highly realistic.

Yeah! Is that foam that you use?

It’s carved foam rubber. Here’s some regular foam rubber here and I carve it. Here’s the otter. They move realistically.

It gives them a flexibility that you don’t get with a wooden puppet.

These swim around and the whole time I’m just dressed in black clothes in full view, no hood on or anything. I’m working in a Japanese technique called Bunraku. It’s really adapted Bunraku, but it’s the idea of working without a stage in the open. They focus on the puppet and you disappear.

Is that a crane?

This is a heron. I have this little school of fish that it can go down into and catch one and eat it.

That actually has some wood parts.

This I carved out of wood, little wooden eyes and plastic feathers because I want them to fold up. Then the legs are like marionette legs reversed. It’s a combination of sculpture, visual arts, engineering, and then manipulating them to look like they’re alive by observing how animals move. Then you get into telling a story with them.

A whale!

This is one of the larger ones comparatively.

I remember the dragon!

He’s seen better days. He may be officially retired, I’m not sure yet. He actually is repairable. Ever time I get him out I have to spend two or three days gluing him back together again.

Is he the largest puppet you’ve ever made?

Oh yeah. When he was in his full glory, he was about 30 feet long. I built him for UNCA’s The Hobbit production in the Carol Belk Theatre. Then he was in Beowulf with Smokey Mountain Repertory. Then at Flat Rock Playhouse he was in Aladdin. Then he was the Firecracker Jazz Band dragon.

Now he’s actually mechanized in some way.

He’s highly mechanized. His mouth opens, his eyelids open and close, his irises light up red, he blows silk fire and smoke comes out of his nostrils. All of that is controlled from back here with this mechanism and the wings flap out with a separate mechanism. Originally he was a five person puppet. I got him to where I could do him one person sort of.

He’s a big guy. Hobey refers to a metal dog puppet asleep in a dog house by the door.

John Payne and I built that for the Firecracker’s music video. He wasn’t quite ready yet, so he has a little cameo. I inherited it from John.

Animalia is the show you’re bringing to Tryon, but do you have several that are in production?

Yeah. I have a show of folk tales and then another show of folk tales with shadow puppetry. They’re all family or K-6 oriented curriculum. They all tie into the curriculum one way or another.

Animalia is obviously tied with science and nature.

Yeah, it’s animal science, metamorphosis, life cycles, and all that stuff. The folk tale one will be centered around folk or fairy tales and ties in that way. I have one of Native American stories. Little American folk tales and things like that.

What’s your favorite puppet?

I really like that otter lot. I’ve got this one character who doesn’t perform a whole lot any more. This is a fun little guy, a little dog who’s a rod puppet. He was one of my earliest characters. I hardly use him anymore. He comes out in the demo. He has a little wagging tale. He’s one of my favorites.

He’s cute!

The sea otter, and then I have an eagle that’s really fun as far as foam puppets go. He’s a really fun puppet to operate. Basically he flies through and flies around the audience.

That foam gives it a life like look.

Now if you look at it up close, this one’s ready for retirement, but he’s never still so some of that makes him look realer than if he were perfect. He’s getting ready for an upgrade.

You carve the foam, and then what do you use to paint it?

I’ll get acrylics and then I’ll spray it with water and stain it with the acrylics. Then I go into to it and put in mechanisms if it’s going to have eye mechanisms or head mechanisms or legs and all of that. I’m thinking about all of that when I’m building them.

Come on up here. This is both a rehearsal studio and a film studio and storage area. I have the green screen here and I’ve got green pajamas so that I can get out here with whales or dolphins and totally disappear and put it into a different background.

Oh cool!

This is sort of a side thing that I’m working on and taping some of the older shows. I have a show all about whaling that I don’t really do anymore, but I want to make a film of it because I’ve got all the parts.

Record while you can still do the show.

Then I can stop and go and edit and all of that.

There’s a little fisherman guy here.

This guy is about thirty years old here. He’s Quagmire Ranklebee, an old mountain man. He’s in this little elves and fairies story. He’s an early character and I used to perform him over a microphone stand at McDibb’s which was a little bar in Black Mountain. I don’t know if you remember it.

I believe McDibb’s was where Poetry Alive! was born.

That’s right. This is Ichabod Crane. He was in Tryon last time I was there probably about eight or nine years ago with Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It’s a very traditional rod puppet.

That’s carved and then the clothes are added.

They’re carved out of holly and they’re not even painted. Then I sew the clothes and make all the stuff. These are some of the ones that are going to be in a film. That’s what happens up here.

It’s great to have the space.

At times I’ve converted it into a fifty person theatre for friends and family to come and help look at a show and give a critique. Lately it’s been a film studio. We did some of the Firecracker Jazz Band’s green screen stuff when Glinda was in a bubble here.

This is basically your full time endeavor.

I’m around the studio about half the year. Then the other half, a week here, a week there I’m touring. I’m in between tours now. Last time I was in Raleigh. In a week or two I go to Indiana, Kentucky and then up to Rochester, New York.

You’ve set it up so that you have time to work in the studio and then you’ll go out for a week or so in one direction and then come back.

Then I have time to work on the film making or mess with the instruments or repair and rebuild work. I teach workshops too. I’m a Kennedy Center artist. I work with their education department with arts integration across the states. Each state has a Kennedy Center partner and about thirty of us go around the country and work with teachers learning how to bring our art form into the curriculum. That’s a piece of my work. The last little part is my toy company.

Hobey slips a couple of sets of eyes on his fingers, turning his hands into puppets.
This is a little toy that I have a patent on and they’re all over the world. They’re called Peepers. They’ve copied me on television in China, but in Arden I have about 35,000 of these made a year.

It’s a simple puppet.

These are in Animalia. My hands become different animals and then it all goes into the real looking animal puppets.

I’m looking forward to seeing this. I’ve seen pieces of your puppets, but never a whole show.

This one is fun. A good portion of it is non-verbal, just the music and the animals, very visual, and popular for a lot of ages.

Super Saturday is so much fun because you get all ages and multiple generations coming out for the shows. It should be a lot of fun. You can find more photos, information, and videos about Hobey Ford by visiting his website at www.hobeyford.com or his booking agency www.loydartists.com.