The Pull Of The Macon Music Scene
September 29, 2022By Tom Poland I find my mind drifting back to Macon, and then I find myself driving kudzu-bordered roads. Macon, Georgia sits in the middle of Georgia. It’s not…
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The Rocky Horror Show returns to Trustus Theatre
September 27, 2022Let’s do the Time Warp again. The Rocky Horror Show returns to the Thigpen Main Stage just in time for Halloween. Running September 30th through October 29th, this spooky, sensual…
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Columbia Museum of Art traveling exhibition to make hometown stop
September 23, 2022European Splendors: Highlights from the Kress Collection opens October 1 The Columbia Museum of Art announces featured fall exhibition European Splendors: Highlights from the Kress Collection, on view Saturday, October…
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Transitions Homeless Center unveils art exhibit featuring client artwork at CAE
September 22, 2022The Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE) welcomed back to the airport longtime nonprofit partner, Transitions Homeless Center. Each year, Transitions works alongside CAE to highlight the outstanding, artistic talents of its…
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Book Event Season Is Upon Us
September 21, 2022By Tom Poland She asked, and I told her. “What’s the writing life like?” “It’s a sentence to solitary confinement. You work in isolation for long periods, and that’s…
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The Power Of Moonlit Imagery
September 15, 2022By Tom Poland Herman Melville created Moby Dick, the great white sperm whale that bit off Ahab’s leg. James Dickey had a 12-point white buck that swam from island…
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Columbia Museum of Art’s Binder podcast wins gold
September 15, 2022Southeastern Museums Conference technology award received in recognition of innovative use of media production The Columbia Museum of Art is pleased to announce it is a recipient of the 2022…
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The Music Man Comes to Town – September 9-25
September 13, 2022When a con man tries to swindle an entire town out of their money to start a boys’ band, it leads to an old-fashioned love story. It’s Meredith Willson’s The…
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5th Annual ColaJazz Fest, Mark Rapp
September 13, 2022Mark Rapp, the Executive Director of the ColaJazz Foundation, talks about the upcoming ColaJazz Fest – September 24, 25. Saturday night’s gala features two intimate concerts inside the main lobby…
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Step Afrika! Dances Into Irmo – Sept. 17
September 12, 2022Get ready to be in awe as the sounds of West and Southern Africa make their way to the Midlands. Coming to Harbison Theatre at Midlands Technical College (HT@MTC), Saturday,…
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Enjoy Art in the Garden at the 2nd Annual Unumb Center Social
September 12, 2022The Unumb Center for Neurodevelopment cordially invites the Midlands community to join them for the second annual Unumb Center Social on Thursday, October 27th from 6-9 o’clock in the evening…
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The National Park Nearest You
September 8, 2022By Tom Poland Here in the classic South, we have two choices when it comes to national parks. We have the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and…
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Melrose Heights brings artists and entertainment to a historic Columbia neighborhood
September 8, 2022The Historic Melrose Art in the Yard will welcome around eighty artists and artisans to show and sell their original work in the historic, downtown Columbia neighborhood. The event will…
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South Carolina State Fair discount tickets are now available
September 7, 2022Discount admission and ride tickets for the 153rd annual South Carolina State Fair are on sale now through Tuesday, Oct. 11. Patrons can save up to 50% by purchasing S.C.…
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Nominate S.C.’s best artists, advocates for arts awards now!
September 6, 2022Nominate S.C.’s best artists, advocates for arts awards now! • Governor’s Awards for the Arts and Folk Heritage Awards recognize arts achievement, influence, and support • Nomination window closes Sunday,…
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Botanical Beauty—For Women Only
August 31, 2022By Tom Poland What’s behind a name? Lots most of the time. Sometimes it’s obvious, sometimes it’s a mystery, but often it’s botanical. I’ve not met a woman named…
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S.C. Arts Commission doubles grantmaking record with $11.9 million investment
August 30, 2022FY22 grants for arts and arts learning impacted 43 counties The South Carolina Arts Commission is announcing that it more than doubled its previous grant-making record by investing $11.9 million…
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S.C. Arts Commission expands team of arts professionals
August 26, 2022The South Carolina Arts Commission is announcing that four skilled professionals joined its team so far in 2022, creating two departments, expanding another, and providing critical support for a growing…
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The Gospel. Sunday Piano Memories
August 25, 2022By Tom Poland The old book and instrument of wood and ivory need each other. In fact, they share what biologists call a symbiotic relationship. In my recall of…
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Art museum affinity group celebrates Black Philanthropy Month and Give 8/28
August 22, 2022The Friends of African American Art & Culture (FAAAC), an affinity group of the Columbia Museum of Art (CMA), will kick off a four-day online event to raise money for…
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The Purple Xperience to debut at Harbison Theatre
August 22, 2022Harbison Theatre at Midlands Technical College (HT@MTC) is proud to welcome the first show of our 2022-2023 season. Hailing from Minneapolis, MN, The Purple Xperience pays tribute to the late,…
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Columbia Museum of Art affinity group welcomes largest class of new board members
August 18, 2022The Friends of African American Art and Culture (FAAAC), an affinity group of the Columbia Museum of Art (CMA), is pleased to welcome its largest class of new board members…
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Ferns, Nature’s Colonists
August 18, 2022By Tom Poland Ferns bless us with classic Southern settings but doing so isn’t always easy. Random winds pick up fern spores and scatter them, their destiny determined by…
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ColaJazz Fest returns Sept. 24 – 25 featuring local and national musicians
August 15, 2022Saturday, Sept. 24, 6 – 10 p.m. at the State Museum Sunday, Sept. 25, 1 – 8 p.m. at the Hampton-Preston Mansion and Gardens Brought to you by the 2021…
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Rob Shaw Framing and Gallery presents The Cat behind the Hat
August 15, 2022WHAT: The Art of Dr. Seuss Collection WHEN: August 26-28, 2022 Friday, August 26, 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday, August 27, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, August 28, 11…
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Prime & Prim Week in Columbia, SC
August 11, 2022Pretty Pennies, Every Penny Counts will be partnering with its parent company, Prime and Prim Studio of the Arts to sponsor a week dedicated to the arts. Known as Prime…
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Vintage Enamelware
August 10, 2022By Tom Poland I was visiting the past at the Lincoln County History Park when I spied a graceful blue enamelware pot sitting among fire logs. Warm memories came…
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JerryFest returns to Five Points this October!
August 9, 2022In honor of what would have been Jerry Garcia’s 80th birthday last week, the Five Points Association announces the return of JerryFest on Sunday, October 2, 2022. A FREE outdoor concert annually held…
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Adia Victoria opens season of More Than Rhythm: A Black Music Series
August 5, 2022Season 2 features blues, classical, soul, and old-time folk music The Columbia Museum of Art announces the second season of More Than Rhythm: A Black Music Series, hosted by ethnomusicologist…
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Thistles, A Prickly Subject
August 4, 2022By Tom Poland We’d be walking to a farm pond in quest of bream when Grandmom Poland would spot a thistle. “Watch out for that nettle.” She’d hardly break…
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Harbison Theatre at Midlands Technical College opens colorful 11th season
August 1, 2022The most colorful seats in town are turning purple, then red-white-and-blue, for Harbison Theatre’s 11th season. Notable performances include the Purple xPeRIeNCE Tribute Show and country music superstar Craig Morgan.…
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Unbound to present “(in)FINITE”
August 1, 2022August 26 & 27 Eighty-one dancers will take the stage for “(in)FINITE,” a show to be presented by the Columbia dance collective Unbound on Aug. 26 and 27. Performances will…
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Boneyards
July 28, 2022By Tom Poland Their name belies their beauty, though its definition rings true. “Boneyard, | ˈbōnyärd |Noun, informal, a cemetery.” A cemetery they are, the resting places of maritime…
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Columbia Museum of Art’s board of trustees adds eight new members
July 28, 2022Talented local leaders bring their skills to the museum The Columbia Museum of Art announces eight new members elected to serve on its board of trustees for the 2022 –…
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Sonya Diimmler painting exhibit to open August 5 at Rob Shaw Framing and Gallery
July 20, 2022On Friday, August 5, from 6 to 9 p.m., Rob Shaw Framing and Gallery, 324 State Street in West Columbia, will host an opening reception for an August exhibit of…
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A Peach Of A Summer
July 20, 2022By Tom Poland From my orchard of memories a lonely peach tree stands in the front yard of my youth. The tree looked sickly and produced fruit a tad…
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Porch Sitting
July 14, 2022By Tom Poland It’s a vanishing art, porch sitting. There was a time, though, when folks retired to the porch just to pass the time. As a boy, I…
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Flavia B. Harton appointed to S.C. Arts Commission board
July 12, 2022The South Carolina Arts Commission welcomes Flavia B. Harton of Greenville to its nine-member board of directors after her appointment by Gov. Henry McMaster effective July 1. Harton has extensive…
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S.C. Arts Commission names FY2023 fellowship recipients
July 8, 2022Program changes reinforce the arts’ influence in the creative economy A diverse group of four South Carolina artists working in different artistic disciplines are the latest recipients of new-look $10,000…
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The Rocky Shoals Highway
July 7, 2022By Tom Poland Come May-June I burn the Rocky Shoals Highway up. I drive from Irmo, South Carolina to McCormick County and on into Georgia. My mission? Visiting two…
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South Carolina State Fair Accepting Entries for 2022 Competitive Exhibits
July 6, 2022The South Carolina State Fair is now accepting entries for this year’s competitive exhibits, which will be on display Oct. 12-23, 2022, at the S.C. State Fair. The annual exhibits will…
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Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
July 2, 2022Let’s Go Go Go with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Don’t miss this high energy song and dance summer spectacular LIVE on the Town Theatre stage. Disco, calypso, rap,…
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Folk Medicine Remedies
June 30, 2022By Tom Poland Like the Black Crowe’s “Remedy, and its line, I need a remedy”, folks of yesteryear needed remedies and they came up with them. We call their…
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Through Broken Glass
June 16, 2022By Tom Poland The old church just wanted to be left alone, but that didn’t happen. Someone shot out her windows. Some kid’s BBs shattered panes, leaving sharp jagged…
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A Creek Runs Through It
June 9, 2022By Tom Poland Writers title works and often they fail to come up with a good one. Half Asleep In Frog Pajamas comes to mind. Sometimes a gem of…
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Arts Grow SC to expand, first executive director named
June 8, 2022The South Carolina Arts Commission and the South Carolina Department of Education announce the expansion of Arts Grow SC as a permanent fixture in the state’s arts learning landscape. An…
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South Carolina Film Commission and the University of South Carolina partner on a film project to help expand the state’s production industry
June 2, 2022In an effort to continue growing South Carolina’s film industry, the South Carolina Film Commission is pleased to announce a new partnership with the University of South Carolina (UofSC). The…
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Trustus Theatre presents First Date the Musical
June 1, 2022The perfect date night show comes to Trustus Theatre this summer. First Date, Broadway’s musical comedy, opens on the Thigpen Main Stage on Friday, June 17th and runs through July…
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More Than Rhythm: A Black Music Series returns with Benny Starr
May 31, 2022Celebrate Black Music Month with a free talk and concert at the CMA The Columbia Museum of Art presents More Than Rhythm: A Black Music Series with Benny Starr, the…
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The Friends of African American Art & Culture celebrates first-ever art acquisition
May 27, 2022Honor a major milestone at FAAAC presents Modern Rhythms on June 2 CMA affinity group the Friends of African American Art & Culture (FAAAC) announces their first-ever art acquisition —…
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