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February 21, 2008 – 1:46 pm
When living in Atlanta, I had a spot in an old warehouse district that would blow transformers 2 or 3 times a year. When the power went out, the cinder block boxes we lived in were pitch black. So, my neighbors and I would slowly wander out into the street and alleyways to wait it out. It was the only time I met many of them and it usually ended up being a little street party.
Last night the 10 o’clock news led with details of the lunar eclipse, so I grabbed my camera and tripod and wandered out to get a shot. Sure enough, many of my neighbors had the same idea. This little cul-de-sac is not exactly a “howdy neighbor” kind of place, so I was not surprised that everyone basically stayed by their doors and stared at the moon.
I set up and got a few cloud obscured shots, but had a hard time keeping it zoomed in (that’s why I will never by another one-touch zoom). My next door neighbor’s boyfriend drove up and decided to have his dinner on his car while watching me shoot. So, cheeseburger dude spent the next ten minutes telling me how I should have seen it earlier and I wasn’t going to get anything good, blah blah.
Well, here’s what I got. Not exactly ready for Astronomy magazine, but it’s something.
February 1, 2008 – 11:34 pm
So, here it is, my plan for the new charlestoncitypaper.com:
Leverage local listing databases with augmented folksonomic tag cloud phrasings to invigorate Twitter chatter blocks using widgetized Facebook API classes. Then, initiate an intermediary custom CMS development program that prioritizes multi-tabbed thematic query forms in a cross-column stack sytem followed by rotating Flash video clips with hybrid pre-roll categorization.
Establish new editorial protocols that re-purpose pre-exisiting “pithy” and “witty” headline writing methodology to include known keyword rank boosters such as “big cock” and “nude beach” that translate into high value SEO traffic conversions. Maximize diversified platform convergence by recontextualizing content assets into truncated XML feeds suitable for redistribution into device independent content delivery technologies.
Automate self-monitoring banner inventory delivery caps as defined by maximum deliveries per IP address range filtered by a combed MaxMind Geotargeting database. Monetize remnant zone inventory by partnering with national CPM microscale banner wholesalers.
Uh, yeah. Strange, but inevitable, and somewhat true.
January 25, 2008 – 1:32 pm
It’s pretty rare that spot news happens so close to a newsroom, but that’s exactly what happened today. A hauling truck got smacked in the rear by a slow moving train on East Bay st., one block from the newsroom. The train operators were tight lipped and the truck driver was being checked out in an ambulance. From what I could tell, it looked like the truck made a run for it, trying to beat the train across the intersection. Trains are a common sight around here and are usually more than vocal about their presence. The driver wasn’t hurt and I overheard a paramedic say they weren’t even going to transport him. Here’s some shots.
  
January 21, 2008 – 10:57 am
After a weekend filled with laughter, pizza, and muscadine wine, the Charleston Comedy Fest has come to a close. Saturday night’s finale at Theatre 99 brought many of the performers together for one big gang-bang blowout. Hot Sauce, The Have Nots!, The Apple Sisters, and many more got on stage to share a last laugh. Here’s some shots of that performance:
Click here for complete gallery…
January 7, 2008 – 12:05 pm
The Map Room was invaded on Saturday by Pour It Now’s latest fundraising monster, the Battle for ‘Crete. 8 bands over 6 hours kept the energy up for a multi-generational skatefest. Highlights included Motormouth Mabel’s irritating yet effective wierdness, girls with hula hoops rocking out to Hybrid Mutants, a slamming full Sabbath set by A Decent Animal, crowd favorite FLK getting the pit in motion, and a closer by White Boy Crazy that lived up to it’s name.
John Pundt made screenprints on the spot and sold them for a dirt cheap 5 bucks. Kevin Taylor’s nostalgic look at a centerpiece of 80s skating in Charleston, the municipal pool downtown, brought in the old-schoolers to swap Vans high top stories. Closing out the night was a screening of the sick video from Lakai called “Fully Flared”.
January 7, 2008 – 11:29 am
I got a chance to see the newly re-united Snake Oil Medicine Show at the Pour House on Saturday. They decorated the stage with all kinds of toys art and blacklights, creating a surreal glow around happy people playing happy music. Frisky fiddler Caroline Pond shined with one of the most distinctive voices I’ve hear out of a bluegrass band. Think Betty Boop twinged with Maria from West Side Story. Here’s some shots from the night:
  
December 17, 2007 – 4:52 pm
Bert’s Bar held a final blowout on Friday night to celebrate 30 years of good times and old friends. Hundreds of people showed up to bid farewell to the legendary Sullivan’s Island watering hole. Locals and wellwishers paraded through downtown from the bar to the Firehouse, escorted by a brass band and hoisting a coffin to memorialize an old friend. Below are some photos I got that night.
From Music Editor T. Ballard Lesemann:
Bert’s Bar (a.k.a. Bert’s Island Characters) epitomized the Lowcountry beach bum hangout. No frills, cold beer, greasy grub, sandy floors, and colorful local characters with strong geechee accents. It was an institution in its own shabby way, a beachfront watering hole for many year-round regulars and seasonal visitors. After 23 years in business, it’s sad to hear about the Sullivan’s Island bar’s closing last week. Bar owner Tim Runyan blames a forthcoming step hike in the rent, the recent smoking ban, and the influx of wealthy immigrants to the Sullivan’s for the bar’s recent problems. With live blues, bluegrass, and rock music throughout the week and a low-key grill menu, Bert’s was the antidote to the more yuppified bars on the same block (Poe’s Tavern and Off The Hook, in particular). In my recent years back in Charleston, it was fun occasionally stroll right past those hotspots and into Bert’s for a cold beer and surly chat with a bartender or regular. It was easy to chat in Bert’s. There were few distractions, few attitude problems, and plenty of local color. The place will be missed.
From staff writer Stratton Lawrence :
Bert’s was one of the few reasons I had to travel east of the Cooper. On an island of million dollar Cadillacs, Bert’s was the old VW with the pop-top. I was never a local or a regular, but I enjoyed the aura of a place that certainly catered to its own family. As a music venue, the small stage and cramped dance floor lent itself to more collaborations and special guests than any other performance space in Charleston. Sullivan’s Island has lost more than a piece of its soul — it may have to survive on just a pulse (and Yankee dollars) from here on out. I worry that Bunky Odom will now only make rare appearances away from his RadioFreeCharleston listening room, and am collecting donations of Pabst Blue Ribbon to tide him through these trying days.
November 18, 2007 – 3:23 pm
Tired of unruly tenants on our previous server, we decided to a get place of our own and here it is. You might have noticed that the blogs have been pretty rocky over the past week and they’ve been silent for the past 24 hours. Now we’ve got a little black box all to ourselves somewhere out in Los Angeles. I had to personally get digitized and fight my way through the Master Control Program’s game servers and then…um, well that’s actually the movie Tron, but you get the idea. So, nerd humor aside, it’s nice to have things working again.
November 15, 2007 – 12:16 pm
 Battlemind is the US Army’s latest attempt at training and then addressing psychological issues faced by soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan. It lumps all problems into a nuetral and army-like acronym, PTSD. The resulting website is at once chilling and revealing. Here’s a few excerpts:
Reality check for pre-deployment:
Facts of Combat:
• Combat is sudden, intense, and life threatening.
• It is the Soldiers’ job to kill the enemy.
• Innocent women and children are often killed in combat.
• No Soldier knows how he/she will perform in combat until the moment
arrives.
• All Soldiers are affected.
Despite the good natured tone of this paragraph, this sounds like a serious and real problem:
“After a combat deployment, many service members talk about feeling like they need to have a weapon on them to feel safe. The key is remembering that at home there is no enemy trying to kill you. Don’t carry a loaded weapon in your car. If you do, that’s a sign the transition isn’t going so well. So watch out for yourself and your buddies.”
In training, Battlemind is a psychological approach to getting a soldier ready for combat and is actually an acronym for a variety of states of mind needed in combat. They’re using the same approach to then “de-program” vets after deployment. It gets pretty twisted.
Here are the intended effects along with post-deployment consequences:
Battlemind concepts for soldiers:
Buddies (Cohesion) Vs. Withdrawal
Accountability Vs. Controlling
Targeted Vs. Inappropriate Aggression
Tactical Awareness Vs. Hypervigilance
Lethally Armed Vs. “Locked & Loaded” At Home
Emotional Control Vs. Detachment
Mission Opsec Vs. Secretiveness
Individual Responsibility Vs. Guilt
Non-Defensive (Combat) Vs. Aggressive Driving
Discipline & Ordering Vs. Conflict
Ok, that seems reasonable because it directly correlates with their training. But I don’t see how the spouses would have any desire to follow this sterile and vague program, especially since they didn’t have the initial training as a reference point.:
Battlemind for spouses:
Buddies (Social Support)
Adding/Subtracting Family Roles
Taking Control
Talking it Out
Loyalty and Commitment
Emotional Balance
Mental Health and Readiness
Independence
Navigating the Army System
Denial of Self (Self-Sacrifice)
After surfing the net for responses to the program, I got the sense that vets are glad to at least have these issues acknowleged:
I hope that it simply makes people more aware of the issue of PTSD; one of the things that holds people back from getting any sort of mental health assistance is that they feel “different” or “damaged” in ways that other people “can’t understand”… telling them that they’re not alone may help them to seek help.
Ultimately, I feel like the Army has produced the ultimate anti-war testament with this program. It’s good that they’re confronting (on a basic level) the realities of what vets face when they return, but in doing so they’ve shone a bright light on why we shouldn’t send them over there in the first place.
November 2, 2007 – 3:46 pm
 I totaled my first car listening to Agnostic Front’s third album. Cruising over the california hills from Leaders of the NYC Hardcore scene in the late eighties, their stripped down sound mutated into a punishing Oi!/thrash metal hybrid that led the way for many acts to follow (Hatebreed, anyone?). They decided to call it quits in 1992 with a final show at CBGB’s, but reformed in ‘97, and have been going strong ever since. Their halloween show was one of the first of a worldwide tour that has them travelling to Spain, Russia, Germany and of course, New Jersey.
Opening act Seventh Star brought a dose of Floridian growling over crunching guitar. Their core fans hadn’t shown up yet and I think they were a little disappointed with the passive response they got. I’m sure back in their hometown of Ocala, Fl, these guys kill it. They did give a shout-out to a 16th Century Church reformer, “This one’s dedicated to Martin Luther!”. Not quite the fist raising call to arms I was expecting at a hardcore show.
Boston punks Death Before Dishonor went on just as the crowd had reached critical density. The pit opened for business and the air punchers got busy wilding out. Lead Singer Brian Harris kept the intensity up and drove through their bass-thick anthems like a true veteran. DBD has a huge following in the Northeast and I’m sure they’re used to much larger crowds, but they didn’t hold back at all. Amazing considering their current tour has them playing shows almost every night for two months straight.
By the time Agnostic Front went on, Cumberland’s had finally filled up. Singer Roger Miret jumped right into it and didn’t let up for the rest of the night. The pit was filled with a mix of generations slamming into each other and circling in unison. From the range of ages out there, I felt like I was looking at the whole history of hardcore. Except for one drunk dude who got booted quickly, everybody kept the intensity up without having to throw down.
AF has been doing this a long time and delivered a wide ranging set. They ditched some of the metal styled timing changes and solos on their older albums and went for a straight up assault. ‘The Eliminator’ churned the pit into a frenzy that didn’t recede until Miret brought everyone in to sing ‘Still Here’ with him with fists in the air.
Some of material was hard to pick out. I guess they wanted to mix it up with material from their impending album (’Warriors’, coming out Nov.6). The new songs were just as intense as anything they made in the eighties.
This was a rare chance for Charleston to see these hardcore legends.
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