Reading: Masha Hamilton - 8/20/08 - Wednesday |
7:30 pm - 8:30 pm |
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Please join us for a reading, discussion and reception for author, Masha Hamilton, the author of three novels: Staircase of a Thousand Steps, (2001) a Booksense pick by independent booksellers and a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection; The Distance Between Us, (2004) named one of the best books of the year by Library Journal, and The Camel Bookmobile, (2007) also a Booksense pick. Booksense called the latest novel an excellent book club selection, Booklist called it “a poignant, ennobling, and buoyant tale of risks and rewards, surrender and sacrifice,” and the New York Times said: “Hamilton makes us see how much is really at stake in a poverty-stricken place where every possession carries the weight of significance.”Masha is in town as part of the Spartanburg High School Summer Reading Program.
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Exhibit Opening - ABC Show - 9/5/08 - Friday |
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm |
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“The ABCs” are short for alphabet – the basis of our language. Without the alphabet we couldn’t string a word together and therefore would be unable to communicate in the way that we do. Wikipedia defines alphabet as “a standardized set of letters — basic written symbols — each of which roughly represents a phoneme of a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past.” The word "alphabet" came into Middle English from the Late Latin word Alphabetum, which in turn originated in the Ancient Greek Alphabetos, from alpha and beta, the first two letters of the Greek alphabet. Letters of the alphabet may be highly stylized or broken down into the most primitive lines and strokes but still represent the same basic idea. These different variations or fonts have the power of representing a specific mood, period of time, attitude or brand. HUB-BUB pays homage to the alphabet with The ABC Show, an invitational art exhibit. Twenty six regional and national artists were each given a letter and invited to create a piece of artwork for the show with the letter as the subject matter. |
Art Mart - 9/6/08 - Saturday |
3:00 pm - 9:00 pm |
Kudzu Telegraph book release - 9/8/08 - Monday |
7:30 pm - 8:30 pm |
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Jimmy Buffet has his "Coconut Telegraph," but he's got nothing on nature writer John Lane, who sends his musings into the world each week in a popular newspaper column named after the ubiquitous green vine that's swallowing the South. Lane is a champion of the underdog, and what he seeks to protect is the character and the beauty of the place he lives. Hub City hosts a book launch, reading and signing for John Lane at the Showroom. John is a founder of the Hub City Writers Project, and his book of nature essays is Hub City's 34th title. Lane, a much published poet and essayist, is a soldier for sustainability and a warrior for wildness. Using both wit and wisdom he takes on the environmental issues of our times, often by simply taking us on a walk through the woods or a drive up the highway. Just when he seems to write best about animals in his South Carolina Upcountry backyard-deer, tree frogs, and, yes, coyotes-he captivates us with a river adventure. He writes with as much intensity about old maps or a favorite pickup truck as he does about the socio-political issues that concern him-land use, urban planning, and conservation. These four dozen short essays, published by Community Journals in upstate South Carolina, will make you look more closely at the world around you and also, Lane hopes, will make you look ahead: to take actions, large and small, to protect the place you live. John Lane, an English and environmental studies professor at Wofford College, is the author of eleven books of poetry and prose, including Circling Home (UGA Press, 2007). |
Spark n' Boil - 9/9/08 - Tuesday |
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm |
| “It’s your second chance to get your name on the board. Come play with us and break the rules.” SNB is a community “play” group, open to anyone wishing to exercise their intuition and exchange unbridled energy with both peers and strangers. Through unconvential and, potentially, childish activities, we strive to stimulate and enable our natural instincts that are often cast aside in contemporary society. By dismissing behavoiral and cultural expectations, we will liberate ourselves as individuals, and learn to accept the great diversity that makes each of us eternally exciting, tantalizing, thrilling, enthralling, gallbladderific...forever unboringness!
Through synchronized physical and intellectual challenges, we will examine the established model of a “respectable” adult, with theater games, gentle partner stretching, show and tell, journaling, public performances, story hour, paper bag puppetry, food fights, gum chewing contests, free haircuts, modern dance, upholstering lessons, ant farming, large-scale balloon caressing, Swedish audio instruction, lense popping, lime-hydration techniques…even snack time. SNB will provide a nurturing environment, brimming with spontanaeity. We will generate trust, love and freedom within the community, and hope you like us anyway. SNB workshops will meet two Tuesday evenings during the early part of each month at HUB-BUB in preparation for a live performance that will take place in the Spartanburg community later in the month. Please contact Sarah or Ellie for more details. Sarah@hub-bub.com or Ellie@hub-bub.com |
The Belleville Outfit - 9/12/08 - Friday |
8:30 pm - 10:30 pm |
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An Evening with The Belleville Outfit
(seated show) Tickets : $15 advance/$18 door With a tight, seamless, and an acoustic sound that's uniquely their's — a mix of gypsy swing, big band jazz and cross-genre Americana music, original songs and some clever covers — the startling six-piece Belleville Outfit of Austin belies the tender age of its members and its vast experience garnered swiftly after its union around Merlefest 2007 in Wilkesboro, N.C. In fact, in just twelve months, the band has played for more than 25,000 people, ridden in a van-with-trailer to shows all the way from Texas to Tennessee, from Colorado to New York, and sold out shows up and down the East Coast and through Texas. Along the way, they've played the Strawberry Festival, the Kerrville Folk Festival, South by Southwest, the Four Corners Festival, Old Settlers Festival, and more. They've shared stages with the likes of Lyle Lovett, Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The Del McCoury Band, The Waybacks, and The Duhks, and recorded a full-length album with producers John Rees and Bil Vorndick. When the band is home, members soak up other acts’ music, absorbing how music transmits energy from musician to listener, healing both — always learning, learning from the past but breathing their own interpretations into what they hear. The Belleville Outfit came together when The DesChamps Band of Spartanburg, was offered a slot at Merlefest 2007. The former band of singer-songwriter-guitarist Rob Teter was no more, so he got former band-mate, singer-guitarist Marshall Hood, and vocalist-violinist Phoebe Hunt (who’s won Daniel Pearl Foundation honors) to New Orleans to meet drummer Jonathan Konya, pianist Connor Forsyth and upright bass player Jeff Brown. After two days of marathon rehearsals, the band was ready for its first shows together — complete with a sound that mixes members’ Appalachian roots and the traditional jazz of New Orleans, American swing, blues, country, soul and gypsy music. Teter, Forsyth and Konya had been studying music at Loyola New Orleans for two years, and Hunt had earned a degree in history at the University of Texas at Austin while playing in a local folk trio, The Hudsons and learning to play the fiddle. Brown, a member of The DesChamps Band, had joined the military. Hood was playing gigs for Austin’s Toni Price and Warren Hood and the Hoodlums. But after Merlefest, they each decided to give the band their all. Its name (“belle ville” means beautiful town in French) honors New Orleans and the dramatic influence Hurricane Katrina had on the city and the Loyola trio. And “Belleville” is also Django Reinhardt song, which exemplifies a great portion of its sound. The band’s debut independent album, WANDERIN’, was released on Feb. 5, 2008, and spent sixteen weeks in the Top 20 on the Americana Music Charts, rising as high as #10. In April 2008 it was the fourth-most heavily-played album on XM Radio's X-Country station. Upcoming festival performances include the Austin City Limits Festival in September and the Joshua Tree Roots & Music Festival in California in October. Austin Chronicle music critic Jim Caligiuri named the Belleville Outfit the "best new local band" in Austin in 2008. Belleville Outfit site and myspace |
The Belleville Outfit - 9/13/08 - Saturday |
8:30 pm - 11:30 pm |
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House Party with The Belleville Outfit
(non-seated show)
Opening act to be announced Tickets : $12 advance/$15 door See Friday Nights show for bio. |
Spark n' Boil - alternate location tonight - 9/16/08 - Tuesday |
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm |
| “It’s your second chance to get your name on the board. Come play with us and break the rules.”
SNB is a community “play” group, open to anyone wishing to exercise their intuition and exchange unbridled energy with both peers and strangers. Through unconvential and, potentially, childish activities, we strive to stimulate and enable our natural instincts that are often cast aside in contemporary society. By dismissing behavoiral and cultural expectations, we will liberate ourselves as individuals, and learn to accept the great diversity that makes each of us eternally exciting, tantalizing, thrilling, enthralling, gallbladderific...forever unboringness!
Through synchronized physical and intellectual challenges, we will examine the established model of a “respectable” adult, with theater games, gentle partner stretching, show and tell, journaling, public performances, story hour, paper bag puppetry, food fights, gum chewing contests, free haircuts, modern dance, upholstering lessons, ant farming, large-scale balloon caressing, Swedish audio instruction, lense popping, lime-hydration techniques…even snack time. SNB will provide a nurturing environment, brimming with spontanaeity. We will generate trust, love and freedom within the community, and hope you like us anyway. SNB workshops will meet two Tuesday evenings during the early part of each month at HUB-BUB in preparation for a live performance that will take place in the Spartanburg community later in the month. Please contact Sarah or Ellie for more details. Sarah@hub-bub.com or Ellie@hub-bub.com |
Swing Dancing - 9/17/08 - Wednesday |
7:00 pm - 10:00 pm |
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Swing dance lessons with Paul Hoke, 7-8 pm;
dancing 8-10 pm. $5
(Zoot suit optional)
This is the great dance for those who have 2 Left feet! but are ready to see what this "Swing thing" is all about. Songs with a pronounced rhythm are chosen and many of the songs played will be readily recognized from movies, cartoons and commercials. Dances and lessons are open to all ages. We rotate during the lesson so feel free to come solo or with a couple of friends and we will take care of getting you a partner or two for the lesson. Even if you know how to dance the lesson is a great way to meet others and help them pick up the material quicker. This is a laid back fun evening so feel free to come dressed comfortable. Find out more about Upstate Swing.
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Lost in the Trees - 9/19/08 - Friday |
9:00 pm - 11:00 pm |
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Tickets : $8 After fronting The b-sides and The Never for years, Ari Picker is finally ready to reveal his solo work to the masses, under the moniker Lost in the Trees. A compilation of songs written over the last 7 years, the Lost in the Trees repertoire represents some of Picker’s most haunting and personal songwriting to date, coupled with his most elaborate and engaging orchestral arrangements. Picker’s time at Berklee College of Music in Boston has allowed his flair for classical music to flourish into an integrated aspect of his songwriting. The network of enthusiastic musicians at Berklee also allowed Picker to form a 9-piece backing orchestra for his compositions, evolving Lost in the Trees from a solo project to a fully active mini-orchestra including violins, viola, cello, upright bass, trombone, melodica and banjo. Picker’s love of cinematic scores is apparent on Time Taunts Me, but many of the songs are still based in good old fashioned songwriting. The synthesis of movie music and guitar-based folk songs creates an atmosphere in which Picker can be dramatic but not histrionic and straightforward but not boring. Just listen and you’ll see.
Lost in the Trees myspace and site "a sublime blending of Tchaikovsky's ''Peter and the Wolf'' with a dash of Vivaldi and the vocal stylings of a suaver Ben Gibbard from Death Cab" ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
"sounds a lot like the soundtrack to your favourite indie film"
POP MATTERS
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Reading & Music: Thomas Rain Crowe - 9/22/08 - Monday |
7:30 pm - 8:30 pm |
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"Baby Beat" Poet Thomas Rain Crowe and his spoken-word accompaniest band, the Boatrockers, perform. |
Geoff Achison & the Souldiggers - 9/26/08 - Friday |
8:00 pm - 11:00 pm |
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Tickets : $10 Having taught himself to play in the isolation of rural Australia, he has developed a blues/funk style all his own that can be delicate one moment and explosive the next. Unaware of how the sounds he was hearing on his limited record collection were produced, he invented some of his own techniques - without the aid of pedals or gadgets. As a result, watching this guy wrench sounds from his simple set-up can be something of a spectacle.
Geoff also possesses a soulful voice that has evoked favorable comparisons to Joe Cocker or Warren Haynes. An award winning songwriter to boot, Geoff’s live set features an infectious mix of catchy original tunes, improvised jamming and inspired versions of blues & soul classics.
He has toured regularly around the globe and won honours on 3 continents. Years of touring, recording and performing has seen him share stages and open shows with such high calibre artists as Jorma Kaukonen & Hot Tuna, John Mayall, Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown, Hubert Sumlin, Levon Helm and John Mayer as well as top Aussies 'Dutch' Tilders, Phil Manning, Jeff Lang and Tommy Emmanuel.
Growing up in the small town of Malmsbury, Geoff somehow developed a passion for American blues music and taught himself to play on a beat up instrument he discovered 'under the stairs' of the family home. In his early 20's he found employment as lead guitarist with Melbourne's top blues band 'Dutch Tilders & The Blues Club'. After 5 years relentless touring around Australia Geoff departed to pursue his own musical ideas and formed the first incarnation of his own band 'The Souldiggers'.
“The idea was to have a name that described the music and I greatly admired the blues philosophy - tapping into one’s soul for honesty and truth. That’s what ‘Souldiggers’ is meant to convey.”
Unimpressed with local recording lables, he formed his own Jupiter 2 Records with fellow music enthusiast Nic Quittner and released the first of many recordings of his original blues/funk/soul flavoured materiel in 1994.
Geoff started his worldwide explorations in 1995 with his first trip to the USA.
He represented the Melbourne Blues Society at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis and won the coveted Albert King Award for his guitar skills. He went on to accept an endorsement deal with the Gibson guitar company's acoustic division. He formed a US based Souldiggers group in 1998 and recorded his 3rd album 'Gettin' Evil' in Portland, Oregon. He returns regularly to America playing a vvariety of clubs and music festivals. Jorma Kaukonen (of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna fame) has invited Geoff each year since '98 as a guest instructor at his Fur Peace Ranch guitar camp in Ohio.
Moving to London in 1997 Geoff established a UK following and recorded a live album with a British version of The Souldiggers.
Whilst working the US and Australian circuits Geoff also kept up a presence in England and formed yet another competent group of musicians. His popularity amongst fans in the know has grown with each visit and Geoff has garnered something of a cult following in each of these regions. His list of awards is formidable. Most recently he was honoured as an official patron of the Frankston International Guitar Festival (hosted in his new home town) and also won the Melbourne Blues Society's awards for 'Best Blues Band' and 'Best Male Performer'.
Geoff is actively touring and producing new music.
With a seemingly never ending schedule of gigs and tours Geoff has managed to find time to release the live Souldiggin' DVD featuring the Aussie Souldiggers in an energetic performance at one of their regular venues. A new batch of original songs Little Big Men hit the shelves in 2006 and Geoff's 10th album Acho Solo , a collection of solo acoustic songs was released in February 2007.
In October of 2007 Jupiter 2 Records released a CD version of the 'Live' DVD session simply titled Souldiggin' CD.
Geoff has now relocated to the USA.
In an exciting career move he has brought his family to Atlanta, Georgia where he is currently working with management/booking agency Brilliant Productions. Geoff Achison's site and myspace |
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