TheState.com: Weekend

Ten reasons to attend Familyfest

Fri, 25 May 2012 08:40 EDT

If you didn’t know, Familyfest, the annual Gospel celebration hosted by Glory Communications in Finlay Park, is a big deal. Glory Communications, which owns Columbia radio stations WFMV-FM 95.3 and WGCV-AM 620, expects more than 30,000 people to converge on the park. After church, of course.

The fest begins at 4 p.m. and will feature headliners John P. Kee and Myron Butler, among other singers and church and community choirs. Vendors will be selling food from hot dogs to burgers to fish, and children can play in the Kids Korner.

Now in its 18th year, Familyfest is also the stage for the presentation of the Future Leader Scholarship. Since 1998, according to a press release, the scholarship has assisted 81 college-bound students. The total donated: $124,000.

We asked Tony Gee, the afternoon DJ and program director at WFMV, for 10 reasons why people should attend Familyfest. The first is rather obvious, right?

1.It’s free.

Ten reasons to attend the Bluegrass and Country Music Hoe Down

Fri, 25 May 2012 08:42 EDT

The best pickin’ in the state tonight through Sunday will be in Santee.

The Bluegrass and Country Music Hoe Down, the annual Memorial Day Weekend festival held at Lone Star Barbecue and Mercantile, is celebrating its 10th year. Ten bands will perform, with nine pickin’ and singing under Lone Star’s oak and pine trees while guests relax on their blankets or in their lawn chairs.

Starting at 5:45 tonight, Lonesome Dove Country Band and The Blue Iguanas Bluegrass Band will perform. On Saturday, the lineup of music that starts at 12:45 p.m. includes The Claude Lucas Bluegrass Band, The Red Top Ramblers, Common Ground and Pine Hill Ramblers. (There’s also an open stage at 2:15 p.m.)

The festival’s last day begins at 11:30 a.m. with the Ladies of the Pickin’ Parlor, who will sing gospel and bluegrass tunes in Lone Star’s dining hall. The Sugar Loaf Mountain Boys, Tristina Miller and Mandy’s Diving Horses Band will perform outside.

We talked to Pat Williams, owner of Lone Star, and asked him to give us 10 reasons why people should be in Santee this weekend.

Meet the prize winners

Thu, 24 May 2012 18:00 EDT

THE WINNERS: Grand Prize Winners From Last Year aren’t playing a genre-defying game. It just sounds like it. “Rocket People,” the album the Atlanta-based band released earlier this month, is experimental hip-hop meshed with rock, electronica and other alternative genres.

The trio — Believe, Slaughter and No Name the Great Nameless — will perform Thursday at New Brookland Tavern. The concert is a stop on the band’s way to Philadelphia to play the fifth annual Roots Picnic, the concert hosted by hip-hop luminaries The Roots.

GPWFLY could be the next band with a Columbia connection to make national noise. (Note: I don’t like the acronym, because it reminds me of another Georgia hip-hop group, F.L.Y. You remember them, right? No? It’s a shame because while hip-hop is still "Swag Surfin’," the Fast Life Yungstaz have long been put out to sea.)

Believe (real name Walter Harvey), who raps, sings and plays various instruments, is a Columbia native and a 1998 Richland Northeast High School graduate. He moved to Atlanta after graduating, but he settled for a time in New Jersey where he worked for Sugar Hill Gang Records, the music-production factory owned by Sylvia Robinson, who is often referred to as the mother of hip-hop.

WillPower, another beat maker who once called Columbia home and is now based in Atlanta, also worked for Robinson. Both Believe and WillPower had similar experiences making beats for Robinson: neither made any money off their work.

Things to do and see, May 25-31

Thu, 24 May 2012 18:04 EDT

Two solo exhibitions will open at Gallery 80808. “Anna Redwine: Nocturnes” and “Laura Spong: The Way Is Open,” both presented by if ART Gallery, features new works from the artists. Redwine’s expressionistic paintings, created with ink, watercolor crayon, pastel and gouache on board, are “non-representational responses to my subconscious and specifically informed by senses other than sight,” she said in a press release. Spong will exhibit work with heightened color, but the shapes and ideas within remain abstract. The shows run through June 5. The artist reception is from 5-9 tonight. Redwine will give a gallery talk at 2 p.m. Sunday and Spong will do the same at 2 p.m. June 3. The gallery is at 808 Lady St. Free; (803) 238-2351

“Grease” at Town Theatre was so popular that it was held over for six days. If you haven’t seen it — or just want to see it again — there’s only two more shows: at 8 tonight and Saturday. The theater is at 1012 Sumter St. $12-$20; www.towntheatre.com or (803) 799-2510

Movie review: ‘Men in Black 3’

Sat, 26 May 2012 00:08 EDT

In pop culture terms, it has been light years since the “Men in Black” franchise’s last installment.

A full decade has passed since Agents J and K last battled nefarious aliens bent on the destruction of Earth, and after numerous false starts, rumors of an embattled production and an estimated $375 million budget, “Men in Black 3” has arrived, bearing little trace of its reportedly tortuous creation.

Re-teaming stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones with director Barry Sonnenfeld, this briskly paced episode provides modest entertainment, finding surprising pathos in an otherwise lightweight narrative, even as it waves away the stench of the financially successful but unsatisfying “Men in Black II.”

Once more, the gregarious J (Smith) and the taciturn K (Jones, whose performance more or less serves as a bookend) are keeping the world safe for humanity, but something’s troubling K. As the Men in Black mourn the loss of leader Zed and welcome the new chief, Agent O (Emma Thompson, in a glorified cameo), Agent K disappears suddenly, sending Agent J hurtling back to 1969 to meet up with the younger version of his partner (Josh Brolin). Together, they must stop the menacing Boris (a wasted Jermaine Clement, “Flight of the Conchords”) from annihilating humanity.

While Jones provides some early, welcome doses of surly comic relief, “Men in Black 3” is really a Will Smith vehicle. He’s in nearly every scene and, despite Etan Cohen, David Koepp, Jeff Nathanson, and Michael Soccio’s breezy script, provides plenty of obvious improvisation. Together with Brolin (whose imitation of Jones is eerily accurate), the pair keeps the film humming and brings the chaos to an unexpectedly poignant conclusion.

Movie review: ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’

Thu, 24 May 2012 18:22 EDT

What a drag it is getting old — especially for the generation that once went around singing, “What a drag it is getting old.”

“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” is a movie about a specific variety of old age, what could be called early old age. The characters in this latest film from John Madden (“Shakespeare in Love”) are not decrepit, and most still have romantic aspirations. Yet they have the sense that time is getting shorter, as well as a bewildered awareness that the world might be passing them by, or getting ready to. And as they are from a culture and an era that only values youth, they see no compensation in old age and can’t even pretend at any wisdom beyond resignation.

The film brings together a handful of people from various conditions of life and places them in a funky old hotel in the hectic Indian city of Jaipur. Some of the residents are broke and think they might want to settle in India, where Western money goes far, and some are there for other reasons. If there is an unintended lesson in this movie, it’s this old favorite: Don’t get old with no money. Provide, provide.

There are two other possible lessons: India’s a colorful place for a travelogue, and Dev Patel, who plays the hyper hotel manager, has more in him than “Slumdog Millionaire.”

Perhaps I should admit that a part of me just wants to keep “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” at a distance, because there is something about it so glum and hangdog — and hangdog in that distinctly British, expect-nothing-from-life sort of way — that I’d rather not believe it. I’d rather not believe that just being 70, for example, is so inherently miserable that it gives people no choice but to be contemplative, angry or pathetic. In this case, we define pathetic as seemingly happy, but in a way that incites pity, not envy.

New roles

Thu, 24 May 2012 18:44 EDT

Looking for a way to spice up your workout? Pole dancing is sure to change up a bland routine.

Let’s get a few things out of the way up front:

• You wear regular workout clothes, and you keep them on.

• There are no mirrors.

• It’s appropriate for women of all ages.

‘Men in Black 3’ wasn’t an easy sequel to make

Thu, 24 May 2012 18:27 EDT

Often film sequels are slam dunks at the box office, a seamless continuation from where a previous hit left off.

But as the new installment of the 15-year-old franchise “Men in Black” proves, getting to the big screen isn’t always a cakewalk.

One of the most troubled productions in recent Hollywood memory, Sony Pictures’ latest movie in the Will Smith-Tommy Lee Jones sci-fi-comedy franchise encountered multiple script rewrites, a discontented star and a three-month production shutdown as writers and studio executives scrambled to fix a project that nearly fell apart.

By the time it was over, the studio had run up a tab of nearly $250 million — making “Men in Black 3” one of the most expensive releases of the summer.

The film known as “MIB3” faces formidable marketing challenges given that the last sequel came out a decade ago. That means an entire generation of youngsters has never seen an “MIB” in theaters, and the bar for summer event pictures has risen considerably by such high-octane spectacles as current mega-hit “The Avengers.”

Why ‘Think Like a Man’ remains popular

Thu, 24 May 2012 18:26 EDT

Hulk-smashing the lousy economy, “The Avengers” joined the billion-dollar club Mother’s Day weekend.

It’s only the 12th movie to have taken in more than $1 billion at the box office worldwide, and it did so in just 19 days. After movie ticket sales hitting a 16-year low last year, the superhero blockbuster is Hollywood’s big story.

But so is “Think Like a Man.” Sure, its first four weeks saw it take in a total of $81.9 million and hold a spot at No. 3 at the box office the weekend “The Avengers” debuted, and that might seem minuscule next to those mighty “Avenger” figures.

It’s not. The romantic comedy, based on Steve Harvey’s bestselling book, “Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man,” was made for a mere $12 million. It wasn’t expected to go that far. This past weekend, it was in eighth place, right behind “Hunger Games.” Despite unseating “Hunger Games” and debuting at No. 1 its opening weekend April 20-22, critics didn’t believe the hype. Many predicted “The Five-Year Engagement” would upstage it. Didn’t happen.

The movie, featuring an all-star African-American cast, continues to hold its own.

Columbia’s in a festival spirit

Thu, 17 May 2012 14:33 EDT

FESTIVE COLUMBIA: Columbia will learn if it can sustain a three-day music festival once again.

The Famously Hot Music Festival, which was announced last week, will be held August 24-26 in Finlay Park. The last three-day outdoor event in Columbia was the 3 Rivers Music Festival. After seven years the festival ended in 2006, which I thought was easily its best year.

A comparison is inevitable, but The Famously Hot Music Festival is indeed different. Whereas 3 Rivers had various music genres represented daily, Famously Hot will focus on a single genre each day — electronic dance music, or EDM, Friday; rock on Saturday; and Sunday it’s country.

“I like the idea of appealing to different audiences with different musical tastes,” said Dave Stewart of SS Productions, the festival’s organizer. “We wanted to be able to focus on a particular type music and give people what they want to hear.”

Stewart is host of “The S&M Morning Show,” WARQ-FM Rock 93.5’s morning program, but this isn’t a radio station event.

Think like a man — or woman — and go to the black expo

Fri, 18 May 2012 10:30 EDT

The Columbia Black Expo, in its 15th year, consistently books popular entertainment. This year the event, held at the Colonial Life Arena, is adding some features.

New this year is the Historically Black High School Challenge. Alumni of the area’s segregated black schools will compete in an interactive black history trivia contest. Only one of those schools – C.A. Johnson High School – remains open. Also new is the Greek Village, an area where fraternities and sororities can showcase their organizations.

Attendees will get to peruse various vendors and sit in on seminars such as “Finding Money for College,” “Making Your Home Energy Wise” and “Can You Act Like a Lady and Think Like a Man?” The Gospel Best competition, hosted by gospel legend Bobby Jones, will feature performers with talents beyond singing.

“It’s really about exposing the best in our community,” said Darrin Thomas, president of Thomas Media Group, the publishers of Black Pages USA and host of Black Expo.

We talked to Thomas about the expo’s growth, the high school challenge and the best way to navigate Saturday’s all-day affair.

What’s playing at Midlands theaters, May 18

Thu, 17 May 2012 14:24 EDT

For local showtimes, tickets, trailers and more, visit thestate.com/movies; also get movie showtimes with our smartphone app; find instructions on downloading at thestate.com.

For local showtimes, tickets, trailers and more, visit thestate.com/movies

Otis Taylor’s Picks of the Week, May 18

Thu, 17 May 2012 14:33 EDT

5 tonight: Spring Out at Jillian’s. Spring Out is, of course, the sibling of Fall Out, the concert put on by WARQ-FM Rock 93.5 in the fall. The bands playing the spring version: Awolnation, Neon Trees, Twin Atlantic and The Features. Jillian’s is at 800 Gervais St. $16; www.warq.com

7:30 tonight: Buzz Cason at Second Line House Concerts. Buzz Cason is a Nashville-based singer who mixes folk, pop, rock and country into his songs. As with most Nashville performers without a household name, Cason, who sang background for Elvis and Kenny Rogers, has written for many of country music’s stars. Socializing begins at 6 p.m. Bring a covered dish to share. $15; (803) 530-6753 or briogrande@gmail.com

8 and 10:30 tonight and Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday: D.L. Hughley at Comedy House Theatre. D.L. Hughley, one of The Original Kings of Comedy, also has had a successful TV career. He starred in the sitcom “The Hughleys”; he was a correspondent on NBC’s short-lived “The Jay Leno Show”; and he hosted a comedy news show on CNN. Speaking of the news, Hughleys, like most comedians, touches on current events. But he is especially successful trading news bits because of his “can-you-believe-this?” voice is a beacon of incredulity. The theater is at 2768 Decker Blvd.; (803) 798-9898 or www.comedyhouse.us

9 tonight: Ben G at 5 Points Pub. Ben G and his B-Fam crew know how to party. And rap, something not all rappers, local and beyond, find essential. Ben G is a feel-good MC, which is probably why his shows are like parties, reunions with friends. His shows typically include a live drummer, an accompaniment that elevates the performance exponentially. The pub is at 2020 Devine St.; (803) 253-7888

9 tonight: Geoff Achison at The Venue on Broad. Geoff Achison, a blues guitarist from Australia, bounces easily between blues, funk and rock. The Venue is at 1020 Broad St., Camden. $10; (803) 713-8333

Things to do and see, May 18

Thu, 17 May 2012 14:21 EDT

Friday, May 18

The Young Sandlapper Singers, an ensemble of more than 30 children from the Midlands in grades three through eight, will present a spring concert at 7 p.m. The program, titled “What a Wonderful World,” is at Church of the Good Shepherd, 1512 Blanding St. Free; sandlappersingers.org

Mark Hayes, a pianist and Christian-music composer, will perform three shows at Saxe Gotha Presbyterian Church. The first is at 7:30 tonight and the others are at the 8:30 and 11 a.m. services Sunday. The Lexington County Choral Society, which in conjunction with the church is hosting the show, will perform with Hayes tonight. The church is at 5503 Sunset Boulevard Lexington. $5-$15; lexcochoralsoc.org

Blythefest, a two-day festival in Blythewood, opens at 5 this evening with a twist on traditional karaoke. You can pay to sing and you can pay to stop someone else from singing. Cody Lester and Gospel Road also will perform. On Saturday, the community yard sale opens at 8 a.m. Capital City Cloggers and Sam’s Revenge, among others, will entertain the crowd. There are also children’s activities, a silent auction and book sale. Blythefest will be hosted by Trinity United Methodist Church, 90 Boney Road, Blythewood. Free; trinityblythewood.com

Saturday, May 19

Regional Concert Calendar, May 18

Thu, 17 May 2012 14:16 EDT

Make plans to see your favorite entertainers. Call the venue for show times and ticket prices. Some dates might be tentative or might not yet have tickets on sale.

Columbia

Colonial Life Arena, Lincoln and Greene streets. LMCtix.com; 855) 456-2849. Saturday, Black Expo; June 8-10, “Elmo’s Super Heroes”

Comedy House Theatre, 2768 Decker Blvd., (803) 798-9898.comedyhouse.us. Tonight-Sunday, D.L. Hughley; Tuesday-May 27, Thea Vidale

A round-up of restaurant news in the Columbia area, May 18

Thu, 17 May 2012 14:32 EDT

Now open

Pasta Fresca opened Tuesday at the new location, 4722 Forest Drive, a block from Trenholm Plaza. The new spot features outdoor patio dining, a full bar and space for private parties. (803) 787-1838; pasta-fresca.net

Milano Pizza is open at 3724 Covenant Road in Forest Acres (next to the Dollar General). Individual menu items include pastas, calzones, strombolis, salads and subs in addition to pizza and a buffet. The take-out order of baked spaghetti and meatballs easily fed four. (803) 790-8808 or facebook.com

New menus

Dianne’s on Devine has revamped their menu. New items include prime center cut rack of pork and a Prezzo Fisso (fixed price) dinner option of a three-course meal with a glass of wine for patrons who check-in on Facebook. Look over the new menu at diannesondevine.com

Review: Expect laughs in ‘What to Expect’

Fri, 18 May 2012 00:40 EDT

“What to Expect When You’re Expecting” is a “Valentine’s Day” take on impending parenthood. Assorted couples cope with pregnancies, planned and unplanned, adoption and the epic change that is coming to their lives.

It’s wafer-thin, but it has plenty of laughs – a lot of them involving pregnant women’s bodily functions, the rest coming from Chris Rock, who unloads lots of daddy-to-be wisdom on one prospective father. But what’s surprising is how touching this film from the director of “Waking Ned Devine” manages to be. Kirk Jones and the screenwriters found real pathos in adapting the Heidi Murkoff self-help book, dubbed America’s “pregnancy bible.”

Elizabeth Banks plays Wendy, a self-help book author, a pregnancy “expert” who has never been able to get pregnant herself. Until now. She and hubby Gary (Ben Falcone) are all set to glow with the “angel’s kisses” of “this miracle.” And then her husband’s ex-race car driver dad (Dennis Quaid) and his trophy bride (Brooklyn Decker) one-up them. Father and mother-in-law are expecting twins.

Anna Kendrick is the food-truck chef whose one-night tumble with a high school flame (Chace Crawford), also a food-truck cook, put her in a family way.

Cameron Diaz is a super-fit TV fitness guru newly pregnant with her “Celebrity Dance Factor” partner (Matthew Morrison of TV’s “Glee”). Sure, she found out she was pregnant by throwing up on live TV. But she figures as fit as she is, she can do this pregnancy thing in her spare time.

Review: Cohen struggles to stay on-script in ‘The Dictator’

Sat, 19 May 2012 01:09 EDT

With “The Dictator,” Sacha Baron Cohen and his partner in comic crime, director Larry Charles, leave the improvisation of “Borat” and “Bruno” behind and return to the more structured world of scripted comedy. And the strain shows.

The unruliness, the chaos of their improvised “gotcha” mockumentaries, is missing. Cohen, forced to remember lines, stick to a script and sustain a character who only exists when the director says “Action,” struggles with the voice, the persona.

The result is a fitfully hilarious farce made up of patched-together comic “bits” – the bit where the dictator stages his own Olympics (and shoots other sprinters to win his race), the bit where the dictator, having anointed himself his nation’s chief surgeon, attempts to deliver a baby (with the camera taking an in-utero point of view), the bit where the dictator and a flunky have an amused, animated pseudo-Arabic chat about exploding fireworks, American landmarks and Osama bin Laden in front of tourists on a New York helicopter tour.

Most of the bits are funny, but the film that connects them is flat, the performances – especially Cohen’s – incomplete, under-developed and poorly cut together.

Cohen plays General-Admiral Aladeen (think “Aladdin,” with an accent), dictator-for-life of the North African nation of Wadiya. Any resemblance to Libya is purely intentional.

New on DVD, May 18

Thu, 17 May 2012 14:07 EDT

“Albert Nobbs,” Grade B-plus: Some of the most powerful moments in films are those with no dialogue and little action. It’s in these moments that you can tell the difference between those hired to act in movies and those who really act.

Oscar nominee Glenn Close shows in “Albert Nobbs” her superlative acting skills by turning scenes where the camera just lingers on her face into emotionally explosive moments. In her eyes you see the pain, frustration, fear and hope that her character faces as she lives her life as a lie.

This is a quietly powerful film that works because of Close’s skill. She breathes life into the character with such dignity that you will hang on every word that’s not said.

“The Grey,” Grade B: A group of survivors of a plane crash must battle a pack of hungry wolves. Liam Neeson stars.

Unlike the traditional horror film, “The Grey” doesn’t allow for passive viewing. Joe Carnahan shot the film in sub-zero weather, giving it an authentic feel.

Review: Silly, bombastic ‘Battleship’ takes plenty of hits

Thu, 17 May 2012 14:42 EDT

There will be bigger movies this summer, and better ones and worse ones.

But there will not be a dumber movie than “Battleship.”

Ponderous and pandering, shameless and head-slappingly silly, this Navy vs. Aliens epic delivers a few thrills and a few laughs. In between the head-slaps, that is.

A pointless prologue establishes that NASA has sent signals to a distant Earth-like planet. Warnings from one scientist (Hamish Linklater, of “The New Adventures of Old Christine,” has the Jeff Goldblum role) that this is like the Incans inviting Conquistadors to visit are ignored.

Meanwhile, a reckless repeat offender (Taylor Kitsch) gets a bit buzzed on his birthday and commits a grand gesture (and very funny) break-in, just to fetch the fair Brooklyn Decker a microwave burrito. It’s jail or the Navy, declares his Navy officer brother (Alexander Skarsgard).

Plan your 3-day weekend

Thu, 17 May 2012 00:32 EDT

Thursday

Terra’s ‘Greenhorns’

The Nickelodeon Theatre, as part of its Green on the Screen series, will screen the film “The Greenhorns” on the patio at Terra at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. “The Greenhorns,” according to the film’s website, “explores the lives of America’s young farming community.” The post-film discussion will include Gray Moore of Carolina Heritage Farms. A three-course meal by Mike Davis, Terra’s chef, will be served. It will feature pork from Carolina Heritage Farms. Terra is at 100 State St., West Columbia. $100; nickelodeon.org

Friday

Movie review: ’Dark Shadows’

Fri, 11 May 2012 06:52 EDT

This isn’t your mother’s gothic soap opera. Johnny Depp reimagines Barnabas Collins as a fish out of water

There’s one thing everyone will be able to agree on regarding Tim Burton’s cinematic reimagining of the old TV series “Dark Shadows”: This isn’t your mother’s gothic soap opera.

The original, which ran from 1966 to 1971, smashed the daytime-TV mold by introducing cool supernatural storylines into the usual heat of love triangles and broken hearts. Long before staid afternoon dramas like “General Hospital,” in order to attract young viewers, juiced up their storylines with fantastical elements, and newcomers like “Passions” sported a town witch, “Dark Shadows” lured the after-school crowd with a manic mix of magic and melodrama.

To top it off, well in advance of Anne Rice and “True Blood,” “Dark Shadows” made vampires hip and sexy.

So, it’s no wonder that a high priest of pop culture like director Burton would be intrigued enough to craft an update. But fans of the series may be disappointed. While the show was often inadvertently humorous (largely because it seemed to have a budget of about $1.50), the intent – in its story of the rich but haunted and trouble-plagued Collins family – was to be some blend of “Dracula” and “Wuthering Heights.”

On the Scene: Music makers looking for next big thing

Thu, 10 May 2012 17:49 EDT

BIG BREAK: Your shot at fame — your big break! — could be right around the corner. If not that close, it’s at least within city limits.

On Saturday, the All in Music Tour kicks off in Columbia. But this isn’t a concert: it’s a 40-city tour of auditions, as All In Music Ent. is seeking the next big star. Mel Smith, the tour’s primary organizer, knows what it takes to be a famous performer.

Smith is the senior vice president of promotion for Cash Money Records, the recording label home of Lil Wayne. The Cash Money pipeline now includes Wayne’s imprint, Young Money, which features Drake, Nicki Minaj and Tyga. (YMCMB, the combined label effort of Young Money and Cash Money, has signed a slew of performers in recent months, including Mystikal, Busta Rhymes and, oddly, Limp Bizkit. DJ Khaled’s We the Best record label signed days ago.)

The All In Music Tour and All In Music Ent. is not affiliated with Cash Money or Young Money, but Smith has a successful track record. He’s a former senior vice president at Bad Boy Records, the label owned by Diddy. He has also worked with Geto Boys, Scarface, and DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. The latter now raps — and acts, for that matter — as Will Smith.

Smith is looking for his own stars to cultivate.

Things to do and see, May 11-17

Sat, 12 May 2012 08:51 EDT

“Andrew Lippa’s Wild Party” will turn Workshop Theatre into the ultimate party house — of the ’20s. The theater will present the musical that centers on what happens when a vaudeville dancer and a vaudeville clown decide to throw a party. You can imagine the steamy situations that occur when things get wild in the lovers’ Manhattan apartment. The production runs through May 26. Showtimes: 8 p.m., except 3 p.m. Sunday and May 20. The theater is at 1136 Bull St. $16 to $22; (803) 799-4876 or workshoptheatre.com

Michel McNinch’s work will be featured in two exhibitions this month. The first, “Channeling Myself and Other Goddesses,” is a solo show at Gallery 80808. The second show McNinch will participate in is the Piccolo Spoleto Outdoor Art Exhibition, which opens May 25. Gallery 80808 is at 808 Lady St.; www.vistastudios80808.com

Otis Taylor’s Picks of the Week

Thu, 10 May 2012 17:51 EDT

9 tonight: Faun Fables at Conundrum Music Hall. The band trades in arrangements that splice ethereal vocals, instrumentation and presentation into an at times haunting sound. One of the reasons Tom Law opened Conundrum was so there would be a venue in town to host expressive and experimental bands such Faun Fables. Conundrum is at 626 Meeting St., West Columbia. www.conundrum.us

10 tonight: End of the World Tour at 5 Points Pub. This show, hosted by Crunk!, promises to get crunk. That’s what happens when you have headliners in Lil’ Brod and Collard Green, two of the hardest working MCs on the scene. Their brand of street hip-hop rarely is showcased in Five Points, so you can imagine how live this show will get at a club with a solid sound system. With Frank Peters, Carolina Haze, Deezy Slim and others. The pub is at 2020 Devine St. $5; (803) 253-7888

6 p.m. Saturday: FAVOR concert at West Columbia Riverwalk Amphitheater. FAVOR is an acronym for Faces and Voices of Recovery, an organization that advocates for addiction recovery. Randall Bramblett, ever popular in these parts, will perform, as well as Pocket Buddha. Bramblett has been a sideman for Widespread Panic, Steve Winwood and Gregg Allman, so you know he can play. In fact, this is the fourth time in just under a year that he has played a Midlands venue. This concert is also part of the CMC Steel Rhythm on the River concert series. The amphitheater is at 121 Alexander Road, West Columbia. Free; www.favor-midlands.org