Poets who know it perform at Art Bar

If you’re an aspiring poet, there are several places to hone your craft locally.

One of those is at Art Bar on Tuesday night, July 8, during Verse Works.

It’s an all-night open mic, which means you can get on stage whenever the spirit catches you. You can even do it when there’s nobody in the room.

And if you just want to hear some inspired spoken word, Verse Works is a good place to be.

It starts at 8:30 p.m. Art Bar is at 1211 Park St.; (803) 929-0198.

SOUL IN THE SUMMER: That phrase from “Field of Dreams” — “If you build it, they will come” —has inspired many to become entrepreneurs. Rickey Belgrave, a local concert promoter, didn’t build anything: What he did was rent a building that came with more than 10 acres of land.

And it gave him the idea to host the Summer Soul Series in the yard behind his new club, San Terro Sports Bar & Lounge (www.santerro.com) in Gadsden. The series is for “mature adults.” In other words, people over 25.

The initial concert on June 21 featured crooning pretty boy Christopher Williams. “He was very personable,” Belgrave said. “He shook all the hands and kissed all the ladies.”

On Saturday, July 5, the second installment will feature the funk and R&B of Lakeside and the robotic synth-R&B of Midnight Star, two bands that had filed for old-school status before Hootie and The Blowfish made the cover of Rolling Stone.

Nostalgia tours have always been popular, and in the past few years, soul music has enjoyed a resurgence commercially.

A Lakeside song you will recall is the 1980 hit “Fantastic Voyage,” which Coolio sampled for his 1994 chart-topper of the same name. Midnight Star’s dance floor hits included “No Parking on the Dance Floor,”“Operator,”“Wet My Whistle,”“Electricity” and “Freak-A-Zoid.”

One single, “Midas Touch,” has a golden pickup line. (Go to YouTube for the video.)

Belgrave, a local promoter for Red Chair Entertainment, which has booked rappers and R&B singers such as Lil Wayne, Pretty Ricky, Trick Daddy and Trina at The Township, had a calling to open his own spot.

“The fever hit me. I’m older now, more contemporary,” Belgrave said. “I was just going to do a hip-hop club, but my interests changed as I got in there.

“So we wanted to make it more of a venue.”

That’s where the back lot comes in. There’s plenty of room to stretch and dance.

“Man, I want to do Woodstock if I can,” Belgrave said.

Saturday’s show starts at 4 p.m. Tickets cost $30 at the door and $50 for the V.I.P. tent.

San Terro Sports Bar & Lounge also is open Monday through Friday. It’s at 7950 Bluff Road, Gadsden; (803) 353-9600.

BIG LOVE: One dance night isn’t enough, as Art Bar has added “Shawn’s Big Love” (Thursday nights) to its schedule, pairing it with Friday night’s iPop! This is for those of you who have sulked since Art Bar began hosting live music on Saturdays (the four-year anniversary is July 12). “Shawn’s Big Love” promises the best dance music of the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, as well as old school hip-hop and classic underground. That sounds familiar.

ART ON PARADE: Art lovers will either be enthused or overwhelmed by Trade Pandemic on Saturday night, July 5, at Art Bar. Visual art, music and fashion will attempt to coexist at this show, the brainchild of Greg Slattery, the guitarist and singer of Shallow Palace, which will release its debut EP, “Six Gun Hotel.”

Slattery, who also works for All-In Entertainment, said he wanted to get “artistic-minded individuals” together in one room.

“People complain about the lack of an art and music scene in Columbia, but it’s not going to get any better unless we utilize what we have,” he said.

“My goal is to have people see all the great things we have in the region and all the people who will support it.”

Something About Vampires and Sluts, Bourbon Brothers and leavelifealone — the solo project of Mike Scofield, formerly of MiKenPike — will perform. There also will be sets by DJ Variant, who plays drum n’ bass, and Straighten Up!, a duo of funk and soul spinners and members of the Greater Columbia Society For the Preservation of Soul.

Works by photographers, painters, screen printers, glassblowers and tattoo artists will be displayed. Artists featured include Kennan Goddard-Donovan (sketches), Stephanie Walz (abstract painting and jewelry, among other mediums) and Caroline DeSanctis (handbags).

Shallow Palace, a contemporary band that plays with classic rock reverence, could have had a CD release show like every other local band. Apparently that wasn’t enough.

“Honestly, it’s not even really about our CD release at this point,” Slattery said. “This is a way that I know we will get to enjoy our first CD release show with the people in the community I have come to love.”