TheState.com: Living

3-For Thursday

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:42 EDT

Contemporary dance

The South Carolina Contemporary Dance Company will perform at 7:30 p.m. at Township Auditorium. SCCDC, under the direction of Miriam Barbosa, will showcase various works, some of which contain aerial movements. The Township is at 1703 Taylor St. $25 or $50, which includes V.I.P. table seating a catered food by Miyo’s and Earth Fare; (803) 758-5962 for table reservations or (803) 576-2350 for general admission

Taking flight

“Flight” will be performed at 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday at Longstreet Theatre. “Flight,” an original play written by USC professor Robyn Hunt and conceived and directed by USC professor Steven Pearson, is, according to press notes, a “theatrical poem that explores the thrill and daring of the first women aviators.” The play, which was workshopped at USC, premiered in 2011 at the Connelly Theatre in New York. The theater is at 1300 Greene St. $5; (803) 777-2551

Food & Wine series

Take a road trip to Sumter for it’s annual Iris Festival this Friday, Saturday and Sunday

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:45 EDT

Year-Round Telephone Book Recycling: As the new 2013 phone books are being delivered, Keep the Midlands Beautiful encourages residents to recycle last year’s books. In Lexington and Richland counties and Columbia, take phone books to a drop-off facility and put them in the recycling bin for newspaper. Residents of Columbia, Forest Acres and Lexington County can also recycle phone books in their recycling bins curbside. Richland County will accept them in their recycling roll carts curbside. (803) 733-1139; www.keepthemidlands beautiful.org

Free plant identifications: The A.C. Moore Herbarium at the University of South Carolina provides free plant identifications. Bring your unknown plant by Coker Life Sciences. (803) 777-8196

Rhythm and Blooms: Riverbanks Zoo and Garden hosts music and flowers after hours featuring live entertainment and local artists in the Botanical Garden tonight and every Thursday evening in May. A cash bar and food will be available. Admission is free for members, and $5 for the general public. (803) 779-8717; www.riverbanks.org

Sumter’s Iris Festival: The annual festival featuring concerts, a parade, arts and crafts, flower show and more will be 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday at Swan Lake - Iris Gardens, 822, W. Liberty St., Sumter. www.irisfestival.org

Lexington County Master Gardeners 12th Annual Garden Tour: Lexington County Master Gardener Volunteers 12th annual tour is May 30, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and June 1, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Tour proceeds go to the Sam Cheatham Scholarship for Lexington County horticulture students. Details: www.scmmga.org

Distress call becomes art in Spoleto’s ‘Mayday Mayday’

Thu, 23 May 2013 00:40 EDT

May Day. In Great Britain, May Day — May 1 — is a celebration of the fertility that comes with a new spring season. There are parties, festivals and rallies.

Mayday. It’s a universally accepted distress call, usually pronounced twice.

On May Day 2004, Tristan Sturrock made a Mayday call — when his phone went dead. Sturrock, who last performed at Spoleto Festival USA in Kneehigh Theatre’s “Tristan & Yseult,” will share his story in the one-man production “Mayday Mayday.”

The festival, which officially begins Friday, runs through June 9. There will be about 160 performances during over two weeks, making it one of the largest in Spoleto history. It’s an extraordinary undertaking for organizers since one of Spoleto’s primary venues, Gaillard Municipal Auditorium, is in the midst of a renovation and the festival will be without it for two seasons.

The TD Arena at the College of Charleston, the home of the Cougars’ basketball teams, will be transformed into a performance venue.

City chicks: Backyard poultry making a comeback

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:57 EDT

A sign on the fence in Anne-Marie Anderson’s Decatur, Ga., home reads: “Beware of Chickens.” Walk in and Anderson’s 18 birds roam freely, digging among the fallen leaves. They squawk and flap their wings to cross a stream. Glenda, one of the bigger chickens, waddles straight through the water.

“Here, here chick-chicks,” Anderson clucks in a British accent, doling out food.

“It’s very nice to hang out with a cup of coffee and watch the chickens running around clucking. They exude general contentment.”

Anderson and her family are among the growing number of city dwellers nationwide who keep chickens in their backyards.

In Atlanta, more than 2,000 “backyard poultry buffs” have joined the city’s Backyard Poultry Meetup, a group that plans monthly meetings for conversations with “eggsperts.”

Memorial Day offerings

Thu, 23 May 2013 00:14 EDT

A sampling of Memorial Day weekend activities honoring those who have served.

The SC Railroad Museum in Winnsboro will offer free trains rides to active and retired military personnel, and their families Saturday. Trains will depart at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Saturday. No reservations are needed, but military identification is required. The rides are being sponsored by the Nexsen Pruet law firm. The SC Railroad Museum is located at 110 Industrial Park Road, Winnsboro. scrm.org.

The Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall is in Sumter as part of this year’s Iris Festival. The wall will open with a special ceremony at 5:30 p.m. Friday. It will be accessible 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday through Sunday, the same hours as the festival, which features concerts, arts and crafts and a flower show. Swan Lake-Iris Gardens, 822 W. Liberty St., Sumter. irisfestival.org

Palmetto Concert Band offers a free Memorial Day concert, 4 p.m. Sunday at the Koger Center for the Arts, 1051 Greene St. Selections will include “Summon the Heroes,” “Victory at Sea,” “American Salute,” “Armed Forces Salute” and “Stars and Stripes Forever.” palmettoconcertband.org

Historic Columbia Foundation will offer active duty military personnel and their families free tours of its historic house museums from the day after Memorial Day through Sept. 1 as one of 1,800 museums across America participating in the Blue Star Museums program. historiccolumbia.org

Midlands health notes

Tue, 21 May 2013 16:44 EDT

Community health workers ready to help

South Carolina’s first group of 18 community health workers has completed training as part of a program designed to improve efficiency and quality of health care for Medicaid beneficiaries.

The training was part of the S.C. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Access at the Right Time initiative. The 18 community health workers will work as liaisons with 14 primary care practices throughout the state. They will help Medicaid recipients navigate the health care system – getting to medical appointments, getting prescriptions filled and adhering to treatment guidelines.

The community health workers completed a six-week training program and passed a certification exam at Midlands Technical College. HHS provided a $6,000 grant per practice to cover education and training costs, as well as administrative costs for the first year.

Graduates preparing to work in the Midlands include: Elaine H. McCafferty, Carolina Pediatrics, Columbia; Joanne K. Mubarak, Carolina Pediatrics, Columbia; Kimberly D. Browning, Colonial Family Practice, Sumter; Kasey P. McCarty, Fairfield Medical Associates, Winnsboro; Michelle Durham, Fairfield Medical Associates, Winnsboro; William Hardy, Lakeview Family Medicine, Lexington; and Sharice C. Milton, Palmetto Family Medicine Center, Columbia.

Overcoming a fear of frying (chicken)

Wed, 22 May 2013 00:27 EDT

When did frying chicken become so intimidating? There are cooks out there who have spherified martini olives and piped buttercreams without ever biting into a piece of homemade fried chicken.

There are even more cooks who have attempted fried chicken once, only to renounce it immediately.

“It was too far outside my comfort zone,” said one friend, an accomplished cook who has stuffed many a zucchini.

Another friend brought picture-perfect chicken to a picnic (wrapped in a tea towel, yet) that was raw at the bone.

I have sympathy for these people. They have been traumatized by grease fires, flour-crusted kitchen counters and crushed hopes.

S.C.’s new Idol has busy week in spotlight

Tue, 21 May 2013 20:38 EDT

St. Helena Island native and newly crowned American Idol Candice Glover will sing the national anthem at the National Memorial Day Concert on Sunday in Washington, D.C.

The concert begins at 8 p.m. and will air on PBS.

Since winning “Idol” on Thursday, Glover has been busy with TV appearances and interviews.

The night after winning, Glover was a guest on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.” She told Leno though she is excited she won, she also is happy the show is over.

“I’m definitely glad that I don’t have to sing every Wednesday and have to worry about being cut the next day or the stress and everything,” Glover said. “But I’m glad I won, as well.”

A night of swan songs on ‘SNL’

Sun, 19 May 2013 23:36 EDT

As Stefon, the city correspondent of “Weekend Update,” used to say of a favorite New York nightspot: This club has everything.

And, in similar over-the-top fashion, “Saturday Night Live” pulled out all the stops in its season finale to say goodbye to Bill Hader, who played Stefon and numerous other characters on the series, while another star-studded sketch all but confirmed that his fellow cast member Fred Armisen would be leaving the show as well.

Hader, an eight-year veteran of “Saturday Night Live” who announced his departure last week, reprised the role of Stefon in a “Weekend Update” segment on Saturday. After an apparent tiff with the “Weekend Update” anchor, Seth Meyers (who also had one foot out the door), Stefon fled to a church where he prepared to marry Anderson Cooper, surrounded by some of his favorite night-life characters.

But Meyers broke up this wedding, a la “The Graduate,” and returned Stefon to the “Weekend Update” stage, where the two shared a final embrace.

Armisen, who has been on “Saturday Night Live” for 11 years, revisited his punk-rock star Ian Rubbish for the final sketch of the night. Though Armisen has not announced his plans for next season, he gathered onstage with some of his real-life rock ’n’ roll pals, including his “Portlandia” co-star, Carrie Brownstein, and musicians like Steve Jones, Aimee Mann and Kim Gordon, to sing what sounded like a swan song: “It’s been all right,” the lyrics went. “I’ve had a lovely night with you.”

Happy 100th birthday, T-shirt [with list of all-time favs]

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:48 EDT

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the T-shirt. In 1913, the U.S. Navy issued crewneck T-shirts to be worn under uniforms. It quickly caught on as an essential — and sexy — piece of clothing. For years, it was called a “Gob” or sailor shirt.

Fun facts:

• In 1932, the University of Southern California (the other USC) printed “Property of USC” T-shirts for their football players. The tees were promptly stolen, as was the idea.

• In 1948, the Army created its iconic T-shirt, simply stating “Army.”

• Famous T-shirt wearers include James Dean, Marlon Brando and Sherman from “The Big Bang Theory.”

Book review: ‘Inferno’

Sat, 18 May 2013 21:07 EDT

One of the first characters to appear in “Inferno” is a spike-haired, malevolent biker chick dressed in black leather. She looks like trouble in more ways than one. What is the girl with the dragon tattoo doing in Dan Brown’s new book?

She’s scaring Robert Langdon, the tweedy symbologist who stars in Brown’s breakneck, brain-teasing capers. Reader, she will scare you too. The early sections of “Inferno” come so close to self-parody that Brown seems to have lost his bearings — as has Langdon, who begins the book in a hospital bed with a case of amnesia that dulls his showy wits. When Robert Langdon of “The Da Vinci Code” can’t tell what day of the week it is, the whole Dan Brown brainiac franchise appears to be in trouble.

But “Inferno” is jampacked with tricks. And that shaky opening turns out to be one of them. To the great relief of anyone who enjoys him, Brown winds up not only laying a breadcrumb trail of clues about Dante (this is “Inferno,” after all) but also playing games with time, gender, identity, famous tourist attractions and futuristic medicine. Then there’s the bit with the symmetrical clockwise Archimedean spiral, which will have people slowly rotating their copies of “Inferno,” trying not to look silly as they scrutinize the rounded calligraphy on Page 255.

There is even a twist built into its 14/5/13 publication date, a numerical anagram of 3.1415, the approximate value of pi. Why? Because Dante divided hell into circles. Because pi is a hint about measuring them. And because Brown’s readership has never met an embedded secret it didn’t like.

As is his wont, Brown begins with a crazily grandiose prologue, this one a little more unhinged than usual. “O, willful ignorants!” exclaims some mystery figure. “Do you not see the future? Do you not grasp the splendor of my creation?” That said, this guy with a God complex leaps off a building — or, as “Inferno” puts it, takes his “final step, into the abyss.” And then Robert Langdon’s beautiful, ponytailed doctor yanks him out of bed so they can begin racing breathlessly through … where?

Spoleto Festival USA’s talking points

Sat, 18 May 2013 21:02 EDT

One of the most talked about performances at this year’s Spoleto Festival USA, the 37th edition of the arts festival that brings world-class performers to Charleston, will undoubtedly be Compagnie XY’s “Le Grand C.”

Compagnie XY, a French contemporary circus troupe, adds more muscle, dramatic flair and intrigue to Spoleto’s recent slate of physical theater. Two years ago it was Circa, a theatrical circus of physical strength aided by humor. Last year, Traces, referred to as a cabaret-circus, combined acrobatics with alternative forms of dance to engage audiences.

Compagnie XY is similar in that it uses a physical display to elicit an emotional response.

“I feel that we should have programming that is thought-provoking,” Nigel Redden, Spoleto’s general director, told The State when the festival’s lineup was announced in December. “Some of the programs that we mount, they should involve a certain amount of emotional content that can be something you really have to get your teeth into, and other things should be fun. Some things should be provocative. And some things should be simply entertaining.

“The trick is to get the balance right.”

Local book events, 5/19-5/25

Sat, 18 May 2013 21:05 EDT

Email event details along with a contact phone number to books@thestate.com.

SOUTH CAROLINA BOOK FESTIVAL: The festival, featuring book signings, antiquarian book fair, books sales and appraisals and a children’s pavilion with performances and storytelling, wraps up today from noon-4 p.m. www.scbookfestivalorg

OPENING RECEPTION & BOOK SIGNING: The Columbia Museum of Art, 1515 Main St., hosts a Members’ Opening Reception for “Found in Translation: the Art of Steven Naifeh” from 2-4 p.m. today. A lecture follows the book signing. Individual membership admits one; all other levels admit two. Call (803) 799-2810.

“HANDS ON WITH THE COLUMBIA MUSEUM OF ART”: Join Columbia Museum of Art staff for a day of stories and hands on art activities from 10:30-11:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Richland Library, main branch, 1431 Assembly St. Children of all ages are welcome. Call (803) 929-3457

READY TO READ: The Kershaw County Public Library, Camden branch, 1304 Broad St., hosts storytime for children ages 5-9 from 11:15 a.m.-noon Wednesday. Call (803) 425-1508

Spoleto Festival rises to greater heights

Sat, 18 May 2013 21:05 EDT

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

For 17 days each summer, the sleepy seaside town of Charleston, S.C., turns into a busy hive of cultural activity, with every possible venue, large and small, filled from noon to night with the sights and sounds of opera, jazz, theater, dance and more during the annual Spoleto Festival USA.

Considered one of the top such annual cultural events in the country, if not the world, the festival brings cutting-edge performers and artists from around the globe to the Southeast for an intense art marathon that’s sure to give a jolt to even the most jaded culture vulture.

This year, festival organizers have crammed more than 120 performances between May 24 and June 9, making 2013 the largest and busiest Spoleto Festival yet. The fringe-style events of the concurrent side-festival Piccolo Spoleto, which announced its lineup at the end of March, will more than double the options.

To help you sort through it all, we’ve picked eight “can’t-miss” highlights from the lineup for Spoleto 2013.

Largest Spoleto season to unfold next week in SC

Sat, 18 May 2013 16:39 EDT

From comic book art to Shakespeare and Japanese opera, the new season of the Spoleto Festival USA will be the largest ever, offering 160 performances during the 17 days the festival lights up stages across this seaside city.

The internationally known arts festival, founded by the composer Gian Carlo Menotti, will open its 37th season Friday with the traditional speeches, brass fanfare and shower of confetti on the steps of Charleston City Hall.

The festival continues through June 9, when the Red Stick Ramblers - a Cajun, honky-tonk and swing ensemble - perform outdoors before a fireworks display at Middleton Place Plantation outside Charleston.

In all there will be 160 performances by 45 artists and ensembles, compared with 140 performances last season. The city's companion festival, Piccolo Spoleto, is staging an additional 700 performances.

The festival was founded in 1977 by Menotti as a companion to his Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy. He left the Charleston festival in 1993 in a dispute over his successor and died in 2007 at age 95.

Faith events in and around Columbia, May 18-24 and beyond

Fri, 17 May 2013 19:23 EDT

Email photographs from your Midlands faith events – pastor anniversaries, programs and services and community outreach – to dkujawa@thestate.com. We will post them at thestate.com/religion.

Read more about spiritual life and events at thestate.com/religion.

ANTIOCH BAPTIST CHURCH: Women’s Day celebration, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. today and Women’s Day worship service, 11 a.m. Sunday, 5715 Koon Road. (803) 786-0119

BETH SHALOM SYNAGOGUE: Religious School end of the year family picnic, 10 a.m. Sunday at Sesquicentennial state Park. (803) 782-2500

BETHLEHEM BAPTIST OF COLUMBIA: 100th anniversary events, 10 a.m. today and 11 a.m. Sunday, 1218 Lyon St. (803) 254-5651

Candice Glover's American Idol win still sinking in

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:00 EDT

After being selected the new “American Idol” on Thursday night, Candice Glover sang her coronation song, “I Am Beautiful,” through a voice choked with tears.

She struggled to get through her final performance on the show, and for the first time this season, her pitch wasn’t perfect.

She was thinking about all she’d gone through to get to that moment.

“Mostly I just thought about the fact that I’ve been here three times already,” the 23-year-old, who had auditioned for the show’s ninth and 11th seasons, said in a conference call Friday afternoon.

Her mother, Carole Glover, struggled to find the words to describe that moment.

Harmonic patterns: New exhibit at Columbia Museum of Art

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:08 EDT

Steven Naifeh composes happiness by creating art.

“Found in Translation: The Art of Steven Naifeh,” an exhibition of Naifeh’s geometric abstractions, has an almost inescapable allure. Touring the exhibition is like attending a joyous celebration without music — and yet there is melody exploding on the Columbia Museum of Art’s walls.

The art is colorful and incandescent, and many of the 26 works have a geometric heart — a center — from which the patterns expand, some appearing to be in motion. They resonate, the shapes becoming notes stacked on top of notes until the gallery swells to a crescendo.

“It starts small and it explodes,” Will South, the museum’s chief curator said “And there’s nothing in here that’s negative. These things are defined, in part, by what they’re not.”

In this show, the first retrospective museum exhibition of Naifeh’s paintings and sculptures, the artist invites viewers to experience work informed and influenced by Arab and Islamic art. There are expressions of harmony, order, balance and perfection.

Things to do and see, May 17-23

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:11 EDT

Friday, May 17

Columbia Children’s Theatre will host Review Revue: Celebrating Our Past to Benefit Our Future at 6 p.m. Friday, second level, Richland Mall, 3400 Forest Drive. Event will feature many of the high points of the past 47 Mainstage and Youtheatre productions along with heavy hors d’oeurves, cash bar and a silent auction. The revue is being produced by CCT’s S.T.A.R. (Student Thespians Achieving Results) program, a philanthropic group that allows Columbia area youth to participate in performance opportunities benefiting nonprofits. Tickets are $15 and may be purchased at http://www.columbiachildrenstheatre.com

Saturday, May 18

The S.C. Book Festival will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center, 1101 Lincoln St. On Saturday, a panel headlined by author Pat Conroy, the newly appointed editor-at-large of The USC Press new Story River Books series, will be at 11:20 a.m. Best-selling author Ron Rash will headline panels Saturday and Sunday. The festival also pays tribute to the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s “Pride & Prejudice.” Admission is free. Print out the two-day schedule of events posted at www.scbookfestival.org,

George Benson gets a taste of Columbia at Black Expo event

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:13 EDT

George Benson readily shared his secret strategy for making hit records.

“People like simple things they can get with,” said Benson, a guitarist and vocalist who will perform at Taste of Black Columbia Friday night at the Carolina Coliseum. The event precedes the Columbia Black Expo on Saturday at the Colonial Life Arena.

He used “Turn Your Love Around,” a R&B hit from his 1981 album “The George Benson Collection,” as an example. The song is built on drum samples, layered synthesizers and horns.

“The secret is to take a song that is sophisticated and make it uncomplicated so people can absorb it,” Benson said. “I jump on it and just get to the essentials.”

The rhythm is simple, but funky and Benson’s vocals cajole and encourage the object of his desire with a hint of blues.