Choose Charleston

For someone with wee ones who is new in town, this publication is handier than a sack full of moist towelettes and Zweiback.

If you’re looking for the skinny on summer day camps and mom-friendly businesses, this recently relaunched glossy will steer you right. Formerly a much slimmer and smaller periodical, Lowcountry Parent got all shined up and polished when it was purchased by the Greenville News. Today, it sports a bright, clean look and a plethora of handy tips on the theory and science of rug monkey raising.

Got kids in one of the local schools? No need to try to find a place where you can pick this one up - the schools hand them out.

Odds are you can find a recent copy of Lowcountry Parent by rooting around in the 50 to 100 pounds of papers, books, notebooks, and supplies the young’ins are lugging around in their backpacks these days.

 We continue our discussion of free & local periodicals with the paper one is most likely to grab when new in the area (and looking for the lowdown on what is what and why): Charleston City Paper.

Fair is fair disclosure: I am a regular contributor to this paper.

Some say it all began, many years ago, with a tall stranger on horseback. The hooves clacked and echoed along King Street as crowds of college students, stunned into silence, watched.

“You there,” the newcomer to town said, pointing toward a young man. “If you wanted to know what band is playing at Cumberland’s tonight, where would you look?”

The young man had no reply.

“Mm,” said the newcomer. He turned toward another. “You, there. I see around me a vast constellation of eateries. How am I to know which offers not only the most succulent fare but also the best service and value for my dollar?”

The poor child could only peep. It was worse than the newcomer feared.

“And your alternate news source, where might it be found?”

The crowd could only shrug. One brave soul asked, “Alternate?”

And so the newcomer set to work.

Okay, fair is fair again, so it may not have happened exactly that way, but the fact remains that the beginnings of Charleston City Paper were marked by a blur of activity by a mere handful of staff. You could count them on the fingers of your hand. They raised the paper into being from the ground up by writing, photographing, editing, procuring ads, designing and proofing pages, even distributing all by themselves.

More than a decade later, Charleston City Paper is a serious force in local culture, producing in-depth coverage of major arts festivals and events, and it is the go-to source for finding reviews of local shows, news of local interest, and cuisine features you can sink your teeth into.

And, yeah, there is a bit of attitude and snark in there as well. Some are upset by that. But those who cannot laugh at themselves… well, you know the rest.

City Paper takes a bit of ribbing on occasion, but I will say this: go to other towns and look for the local alt press paper. Find one and hold it side by side with Charleston City Paper. Unless you happened to grab a Village Voice, you’re going to notice right away that CCP holds considerably more pages, more weight, and the quality of the writing and art tends to be much better.

Chalk that up of years of dedication and refusal to compromise by a founding staff who simply pressed forward when others shook their heads.

Yeah, yeah, we all know that there is a whole bunch of stuff available online. But sometimes you just want the weight of paper in your hands, something you can flip open and read on the beach, while you’re waiting for your table at the restaurant, or at the bus stop.

Scenario - you breeze into town and want to know what’s what: where to go for lunch, who is playing at the clubs, what galleries are showing the newest art, as well as the basic who is who and why in this here town.

Solution - you grab some “free & local” from the stacks you find in the entryways to eateries. Over the next few days, I’ll give you a run-down of some of the major players in the local free press.

We’ll start with Skirt! Magazine.

The story of how publisher Nikki Hardin launched Skirt! is something of a local legend. Basically, she began by assembling the kind of words and pictures that she and her friends loved to peruse anyway, i.e. create the kind of story that you yourself would want to read - not bad advice for any budding writer.

To say that “Skirt! caught on” is like saying that “a few customers decided that sliced bread was a good thing.” Today, there are local editions of Skirt! Magazine in Atlanta, Augusta, Charleston, Charlotte, Columbia, Jacksonville, Knoxville, and Savannah.

 All that happened in just a little more than a dozen years.

Grab a copy of Skirt! Magazine and you’ll be leafing through big, bold oversized pages chock-full of poetry and sassy illustration. The photography is stunning, thanks to the contributions of shutter-superstars like Marni Rothschild and Leigh Webber, and the essays make for good breezy reads. The whole thing is put together like a well-loved mix tape: equal parts fun and informative, with a definite attitude.

Those who don’t live in a city with its own print edition of Skirt! can find a nice slice of the content online.

It amazes me, every so often, not only how quickly change can occur but also how quickly we adapt to change.

Just yesterday, I was swapping e-mail messages with a local editor about just how many of our daily tasks are now done in front of a computer these days. Everything from casual correspondence with friends to browsing for books, submitting a resume, paying taxes,  and ordering dinner can be done with just a few deft strokes to the keyboard.

Not so long ago, while swiping my debit card at the local grocery store, I remembered reading - way back when in my high school days - a newspaper article about how we were beginning to move toward becoming a cash-less society. Back then, I thought, “Ridiculous!”

Time proved me wrong!

Modern technology has even re-aligned how we connect with others and share our stories. Remember when pen pals swapped anecdotes with pen and paper? Remember licking stamps?

Today, I can follow the lives of boatloads of local bloggers with ease. I can discover not only how people react to the latest stories in the Post & Courier, Charleston City Paper, Skirt, and Charleston Magazine, I can also catch a glimpse of the daily life of a downtown pastry chef, read the reflections of a retired photojournalist, walk with a charming lady, and see Charleston through the eyes of an Englishman still somewhat new to our shore.

It’s a whole new way of approaching the old time sitting on the porch and chatting up the neighbors thing.

Now in its fourth year, the Folly Festival Film Festival supports, encourages, and acts as a showcase for filmmakers, in particular for local talent from South Carolina.

The Folly Felder is a beautiful fit for Piccolo Spoleto, a local arts extravaganza that runs alongside the more internationally flavored Spoleto Festival each year.

Short film has become an increasingly accesible art form, thanks in large part to digital technology and new ways and means of distribution now possible.

A well-made short can be a special delight. Time constraints force artists to make full use of their talents, to snip away unneeded bits and keep the story in tight focus throughout.

This year’s festival paid special recognition to three extraordinary shorts. The bronze went to local filmmaker Richard Almes of Mt. Pleasant, the silver to Merrill Weekley, just up the coast in Surfside Beach, and a well-deserved gold to Barry Battles and Griffin Hood of Alabama.

The major film industry, as we all know, has had more than a few flirtations with Charleston and other South Carolina locations. While this is an obvious choice for films about the American Civil War, it is also becoming recognized that the spectacular landscapes and beauty of the South Carolina Lowcountry make it outstanding for other features as well.

Hey, here in Charleston, we’re always ready for our close-up.

Many of you have at least read, if not sent, letters to the editor about the change in format of the morning show at WXLY, Y102.5. Allison Keller and Leo Windham were dumped for some nationally syndicated morning team. At least Allison is still there, Clear Channel let Leo go.

This was a very disappointing turn of events. I’ve always enjoyed Leo, especially when he worked with his brother, Woody, on the old Breeze radio network. I really miss those stations and their Beach, Boogie and Blues format.

Well, Leo is back. Not on the air, but in a new format, which I hope really catches on. Check out LeoWindham.com. You can read Leo’s Blog, learn more about the man himself and listen to his podcasts, full of some of the best music around.

Oh, and while you’re there, check out some of Leo’s real estate listings, too. Longe live the Breeze.