Choose Charleston

Now that the hot, dry winds of summer are settling back a bit, the October scares are starting to settle into place.

Creative Spark Center for the Arts, the National Park Service at Fort Moultrie, and Poe’s Tavern are working hand in claw to produce a creepy thrill in the catacombs this Halloween season. Poe: Back from the Grave will feature live actors from PURE Theatre and Cabaret Kiki. Saturday, October 13. 7, 7:30, 8, and 8:30 PM. $25. For more information, call Creative Spark (843) 881-3780.

And don’t forget the ghosts of Charleston proper.

 Charleston Lore & Legends Ghost Theatre is debuting a brand new show for the season. Check them out one block south of the Market, at 161 Church Street, Monday through Saturday, 10 AM to 10 PM, and Sunday, 12 PM to 8 PM, if you dare. Shows every hour and a half. Adults $9, Children 4-12, $6, and children 3 and under, Free. For more information, call (843) 937-0916.

Music fans yearning for some soulful songs about the South Carolina Lowcountry can skip on over to Morgan Creek Grill tonight on the Isle of Palms. Carroll Brown and Clay Rice will be on the upstairs deck (enclosed) starting at 7 p.m.

Seafood, ribs, and songs over the water. That ought to do you for a Friday night.

I stopped by the John Ancrum SPCA off of Leeds Avenue today to browse around. There are oodles of adoptable cats, kittens, dogs, puppies, bunnies, and even a guinea pig available.

Today, I was looking for a kitten, male, robust enough to handle himself around our two older male cats. Sure there will be a bit of hissing in the beginning - territory and dominance establishing behavior, all that good stuff - but the hope is that within a few weeks they will all be buddies.

I noticed while I was there that the SPCA is having a benefit on August 24, 6-9 p.m. “A Furry Affair” art show and auction, packed with appearances by local celebrities, at the City Gallery.

Cool! Sounds like it will be an evening to remember, the cat’s pajamas even.

Fine art photographers and admirers of the same, take note.

William A. Davis III will be at Alterman Studios this evening, as part of the Second Monday Lecture Series (Free, 7 p.m., call 577 0647 for more information).

This lecture will include a showing of his travel photographs from across the Northern United States (New England straight on over to Washington state) as well as from the Southeast.

Charleston’s hep cats and swinging dames are sure to have seen copies of ART Magazine, the latest venture from publisher extraordinaire Olivia Pool, about town.

Ms. Pool, of course, was the driving force behind the late critically acclaimed Domain Magazine and is known to have contributed many a “Special to” piece to the Post & Courier Preview section.

As she is among the most cosmopolitan of Charlestonian cognoscenti, it is only natural that Olivia would be helping to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the birth of the Persian poet Rumi.

The celebration proper, hosted by the Sophia Institute, will be in October but Rumi rejoicers yearning for an early taste of soul can catch a screening of “Rumi: Poet of the Heart” at Charleston County Library on August 14, 7 p.m.

The screening is free, open to the public, and will be a good way to schmooze with the local art and soul minded while grooving to ancient rhymes.

It was busy, busy, busy and hot, hot, hot this weekend.

Waves of heat and an occasional shower hit Folly Beach but that did not dissuade the crowds gathered for the Governor’s Cup of Surfing. The Post & Courier has a nice gallery of images from the event here.

Then, I was out late Saturday night covering the photography chores at a spectacular anniversary party.

Crowds were just beginning to fill in along Market and East Bay by the time I was heading home. Big waves of folks rolling in to party at City Bar, et cetera. It was still hot, even with the sun long gone, but the young folks of Charleston were lined up all the same ready to cut the rug, trip the light fantastic, whatever they’re calling it these days.

Me, I was the old dude lugging camera equipment up the steps of the parking garage, old bones creaking, dogs barking, ready for a few hours sleep.

Though you may not know it / you could be a poet

Only way to find out / is to come out and shout

With a mic in your hand / you’ll be leading the band

So Marjory Wentworth I’m not. Still, my sad poetastry should not dissuade you from schlepping on out to the East Bay Meeting House (159 East Bay Street) clad in your finest black turtleneck and a raspberry beret with a stack of scribbled verse under your arm should you yourself be a finer meter-reader.

Shelly Warters will be on acoustic guitar tonight, Friday, August 3, at 9 p.m. and on Monday, August 6, special guest poet Barbara Presnell will be presenting her finest work.

For more information on this or other Monday Night Blues events, ring Elle Davis at 437-1958 / but don’t call too late / ’cause that wouldn’t be great//

Those with a yen for yarn, take heed.

The Charleston Museum is once again offering a workshop on natural dyes for yarns.  On Saturday, August 25, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Suzanne Collins will give you the skinny on natural dyes, the what and wherefore of fibers, and the basic game plan for putting the two together.

Whether you’re in it for the indigo or whooping for worsted wool, it should be a class to remember.

These workshops sell out faster than Acme delivers to Wile E. Coyote so make sure you get your name in quick (there is also a dye workshop on August 4 but it’s too late, baby, as Carole King would say, for that one).

$25 will get you in the door should you happen to be a museum member and $35 will do the trick if you aren’t.

Register online or by calling (843) 722-2996 ext. 235.

It’s the big two-double-oh for the City Market, one of the top destinations in town for tourists.

To say that Market Street has a storied past is an understatement.

Longtime Charlestonians recall the days when wandering into the Market was a rather dicey proposition. When the chain supermarkets first hit the area, the former go-to place for fresh food withered and went wild with weeds, so to speak. Lots of flies and buzzards circling in the skies are some of the visuals with which oral historians pepper their tales of those days.

Luckily, King Joe and like-minded preservationists were coming into power back then. The Market did an about face in step with the rest of the slightly North of Broad Street area.

Today, it is vibrant and bustling with activity. Everything from artisan sweetgrass baskets to art prints, kitschy t-shirts, candy, and keepsakes are sold in the Market these days.

Market Street is also a good jumping-off point for just about anything else you might choose to do while touring the peninsula.

Wild Wing Cafe and Tristan are just two of the many eateries on Market Street. Charleston Legends and Lore Ghost Theatre is a short walk down Church Street from the Market. The Shops at Charleston Place are just across Meeting Street, FIG and Jestine’s Kitchen are within walking distance, as is King Street shopping.

I first met Trey and Traci Smith a couple of years ago while covering the autumn Halloween scene for Charleston City Paper. Trey and Traci know how to scare up a good show. They ought to - for the past sixteen years, they have masterminded frightfully good carnivals, haunted houses, and hayrides, both in Nashville and the South Carolina Lowcountry.

So when I heard that they were opening a brand new ghost show downtown, I made it a point to catch a preview (those familiar with my blog Wicked Winter know my penchant for ghost stories, legends, and myths).

People can now catch Trey and Traci’s eerie twists on local lore and legend all year long. No more need to wait until October to discover what chills and thrills they’ve been brewing. Charleston Legends & Lore Ghost Theater (161 Church Street, across from Tommy Condon’s Restaurant) features shows on the hour and half hour Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 12 noon to 8 p.m.

The show itself is 22 minutes of harrowing history, told by a series of ghosts. A young boy who succumbed to fever soon after arriving in Charles Towne sets the stage, revealing details about the earliest days of Lowcountry colonization even as his revenant rattles about across the stage and staircase.

An early patriot executed for defying the British, a confederate soldier from the Time of Northern Aggression, Blackbeard the Pirate, a kindly lady speaking Gullah, and an ominous boo-hag all make their lingering presences known to the audience.

It’s actually a pretty exciting way to learn a few facts about the wicked, wanton history of Charleston from the early (pre-Riley) days of pirates, plagues, and peril.

The show is for all ages. Younger kids might get a bit weirded out by some of the objects moving about on the stage (Trey is very, very good at his craft) but the scariest stuff has been held in reserve.

But don’t fret, fright fans: Trey has plans for the scariest stuff later on, closer to Halloween.