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Well, we knew there was a “Dav” in there somewhere. Janet at Spoleto Today kindly illuminated the identity of the super-talented violinist who wowed the crowds on Saturday at the Reggae party. His name’s Daniel Davis. Find out more about him here.
Took the family to the Reggae Block Dance last night. Here’s the 8-year-old’s assessment:
I thought it was fun even though I could not see. First of all if you’re taking kids, get there early. So you can get seats on the Custom House because if the kids get tired of the music and dancing they can play in that little lawn. That’s where ALL the kids hangout.
If you get there late and find an ok parking spot 2or3 blocks away take a pedicab. It’s the right thing to do. Also if you get there late don’t get stuck in traffic around the front and don’t go to either side you can’t see, go to the little lawn by The Custom House.
If you’re looking for food, go to the market, or just eat at home. But IF you’re looking for dessert go to Koolie, they have THE BEST ice cream in Charleston! I suggest that you should get the caramel. But it does not matter, they are all good! After you’re finished, go to the market when it’s not too crowded. We got a blinking necklace for 3 bucks. Also try to stop by the candy store. Mark my words, don’t go if you have a 5 year old or younger.’
The crowd was pleasant and happy to be there. The Dis n Dat Band, a local violinist (David… can’t remember his last name), and Pato Banton kept the crowd grooving, and the night was perfectly pleasant. Great night to be outside, swaying in the moonlight.
If you missed last night’s Reggae event, you’ll get a chance to catch a similar event next Saturday night when the Sister City Jazz Block Party takes over the same spot.
Music Editor Ballard Lesemann is out today after having some wisdom teeth removed this morning. He left me this voicemail.
Today, Charleston County school kids ate a lunch sponsored by, of all things, Shrek.
A report from my second grader:
“Today we had Far-Far-Away tacos and Shrek salad and Donkey milk. It tasted like a reguler lunch but the name made me have to like it. If you don’t like the name you must hate shrek and secend of all you must be crazy! I realy don’t know HOW Shrek GOT into the lunch menu. They must have a HOLE lot of MONEY!”
A whole lot of money is right. The lunch menu this month came home with two full-color ads on the printout along with the sponsored lunch on May 8.
Shrek recently came under fire by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood who took issue with the Dept. of Health and Human Services using Shrek in ads to encourage kids to exercise and be healthy. A big fat ogre promoting healthy living is ironic on a number of levels, sixteen of which are the promotional tie-ins with junk food.
As my eight-year-old says, you’d have to be crazy and hate Shrek not to like the stuff he’s pimping. Now, the obvious question: why are we letting schools give the pimps access to our kids?
Welcome to another installment of Marketing People Send Us the Stupidest Crap.
The last time we posted about the swag that crosses our desks, we had received a poorly-executed “art” book that celebrated the female ass and a faux-Wheaties box with Will Ferrell and Jon Heder on it (marketing material for Blades of Glory that proves Hollywood types have more money than they know what to do with).
This time around it’s smokeless snuff tobacco (ew) and a pair of sunglasses (thanks).
 
Over at Star Scientific Inc., they’ve discovered a growing market niche — “the smokeless tobacco” user. To meet the needs of this growing consumer category (6% annual increase!) and to answer the public health crisis smoking creates, Star has created patented dissolvable tobacco products that are — get this — “between 10 and 1,000 times less hazardous than smoking.”
Ariva® and Stonewall® will soon be available at a retailer near you — “the new dissolvable products flavors will be identified in the marketplace as ‘Better Than Cigarettes’® — Find Out Why.’”
Did we get sent some confidential company memorandums by mistake? Good thing they registered that trademark — it’s pretty catchy, that.
The second page of the release reads like a sinister tobacco company memo written by a lawyer: “This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company has tried, whenever possible, to identify these forward-looking statements using words such as ‘anticipates,’ ‘believes,’ ‘estimates,’ ‘expects,”plans,’ ‘intends,’ and similar expressions. … The risks, uncertainties and contingencies include, without limitation, the challenges inherent in new product development initiatives, particulary in the smokeless tobacco area….”
Ick.
The second item that crossed my desk this week was on a much lighter note. Marshall’s announced the opening of its new juniors boutique — The Cube — by sending out a cube-shaped box (is that redundant?) with a pair of hot pink J. Lo sunglasses on a nest of green paper. Now that’s the kind of swag I can take home and wear.
Interested in tonight’s Democratic presidential debate — the first of the 2008 election cycle — being held in Orangeburg?
Newsweek’s Howard Fineman has an astute analysis of the Democratic race and how S.C. will factor into the equation.
My favorite observation about S.C:
“This state has a way of making more than its share of history.”
April 26, 2007 – 12:27 pm
Apparently, according to this very long voice mail — voicemailnew.mp3 — GW Bush is an alien, his parents were never married, and Hillary can never be president because she’s a man. Oh, yeah, and Guiliani is a terrorist.
Boy, it’s fun working at a newspaper. The crazies all have your number!
So last night, we decided to eat dinner at the new Uptown: A Finer Diner on Upper King near Marion Square. From Calhoun, we took a right on King and as we reached the old library we came upon — gasp — a parking space! I looked around and noticed several available spots — RIGHT OUTSIDE OUR DESTINATION! Huh? I figured it must be a fluke. The timing was right — everyone was leaving downtown, so the streets were empty.
But then, today for lunch, we wanted to eat at Basil, so we took a right from Calhoun Street again and as we reached the American Theater we found a spot RIGHT OUTSIDE OUR DESTINATION! Huh? I looked around and noticed more empty parking spaces — at lunchtime — on King Street. Weird, I know.
But then we started thinking a bit more about this phenomenon and decided that the crowds had long ago abandoned Upper King because of the Streetscape mess.
I know I did. For months, I’ve avoided Basil and Beerworks and Rue and every other spot I once frequented regularly. It was that bad. But then, a few weeks ago, Streetscape came to completion and Upper King Street revealed its true nature — wide streets, easy parking, and tons of shops, restaurants, and bars. And no crowds! Shhhh. Don’t tell anyone, but there’s this great up-and-coming district downtown that no one knows about — yet.
Took my daughter to work today. Problem is, I work at the City Paper. She ran into her daddy’s office and found the poster in the picture.
The ever-sharp Sara Miller reminded me that “Vile Cat Shat Feces On My Lord” is an anagram of the words “Charleston Comedy Festival” that the Late Night Players came up with at the Comedy Fest in January. Blair (husband and advertising director at CP) bought said poster after the show and promptly forgot about it in his office.
Nice.
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