Choose Charleston

Mother’s Day is quickly approaching, are you prepared to make this day a special one?  If you are searching the web for last minute Mother’s Day idea’s for a Charleston mom, maybe I can help! As always, the safe bet is flowers.  Can you go wrong with flowers?  Sound like a winner! Visit this local Charleston florist then.  If you think your mom would enjoy spending the day with you, then check out The North Charleston Arts Festival.  The last day will be May 12, 2007 so you can go before Mothers Day or on the day if you would like.  Lastly, call your mom and just tell her how much you love her!

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.

Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr. announced yesterday that he will seek a ninth term in the coming election.

I did not personally attend the announcement at Ackerman Park so I can only assume that the gathered crowd kind of looked at him, then at one another, shrugged, and said, “Uh, yeah, Joe… um, well, you ARE the mayor of Charleston.”

Or rather, “…you are THE mayor of Charleston.”

After 32 consecutive years of having him in office, it gets kind of difficult to imagine anyone else doing the job.

Charleston tends to be recognized as a rather polite, well-mannered, place to live or visit; a place where gentlemen would tip their hats to ladies were hats still in vogue and where doors are routinely held as a courtesy.

It has been mentioned more than once, however, in articles on the polite society of Charleston that our manners tend to become a bit less gentile when we are behind the wheel.

Try to merge into traffic on I-26 somewhere around exit 209 around the middle of the day and you’ll soon be telling a whole different story about politeness.

So we are kinder pedestrians than motorists.

It’s also been noted, on those occasions when local media has experimented with allowing online readers to add commentary to news stories (or when online forums have been built to discuss local issues) that politeness tends to be kicked out the window along with the rest of the trappings of civil behavior.

This, it should be mentioned, is hardly unique to Charleston.

I’ll be biting my nails, wringing my hands with worry, every time I flip through the latest issue of Charleston Magazine from here on out.

Society editor extraordinaire Ida Becker just launched a crash-hot new daredeviling in the Palmetto State column called Living on the Edge.

Me, I’m sitting at home with the latest issue of Backpacker and a few ideas bouncing around. She’s out there in the world with a whip and a chair, telling those lions to mind.

Doubly clever and delightfully daring, Ms. Becker is the kind of elegant young gal who might of an afternoon favor a spot of skydiving, plan a trek off to Tibet, and later lure the fête set toward her lens for a bit of clicky-clicky, perchance at an evening soirée on Church or State.

That, and she’s a good writer.

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//

Award-winning food writer Holly Herrick, perhaps best known locally for her work with The Post & Courier, has long been an advocate for local, seasonal food choices - fresh from the farm fare that only travels a few miles down the road from where it was grown to where it is sold at farmers’ markets.

Those interested in hands-on, close up and personal, instruction in the art of orchestrating showstopper meals from ingredients selected at the Charleston Farmers’ Market on Marion Square can now sign up for small (limited to four students) Saturday morning classes with Holly.

Now only do students get a slow walk through the entire process, from choosing the freshest in-season products to top flight cooking techniques, the class culminates in a savory meal complete with wine pairings.

Information on registration for classes is available online or by calling (843) 720-3109.