A reminder via our pal Bruce Doneff at the Beaufort Film Society:
"Only two weeks remain for entries to the first-ever Beaufort International Film Festival Poster Contest—deadline 31 August. Contest rules and submission guidelines can be found here: http://www.beaufortfilmsociety.org"
The winner will be chosen from 10 finalists and revealed during an Unveiling Party, September 30th at Artworks in the K-mart shopping center. Buy tickets on-line at the website above. We'll see you there and don't forget the 6th annual Beaufort International Film Festival coming in February, 2011.
The Beaufort International Film Festival is produced by:
The 55th edition of the Beaufort Water Festival kicks off this weekend on the waterfront. Be sure and pick up the latest issue of the Lowcountry Weekly for a complete rundown of the festival and an entertainment preview.
Got a note from Maria out at Bella Luna in Frogmore. Seems somebody's been spreading a rumor that the restaurant is closed. NOT TRUE, she says, "We certainly are open and business is steady! We do have an awesome special involving sea scallops, fresh LOCAL grouper and black risotto. "
Believe me Chef Josh is turning out dishes to warm the cockles of any epicurean's heart without breaking the bank. This is fresh, local Italian done in both traditional and not so traditional styles in a relaxed casual atmosphere. Like I posted before: EAT THERE NOW!
Italian food. The first thing that probably springs to mind is something heavy, something doughy or pasta-bound - something in a heavy coma-inducing sauce. The truth is, that's what we've come to expect from mass-marketed pizza joints and our cultural obsession with carbs. Italian cuisine has many, many styles and approaches and almost all of them (when executed properly) depend on fresh, local, seasonal ingredients. Those three words are getting a lot of play these days with a renewed emphasis on quality and the growing awareness among American consumers (finally!) of what's available at the corner produce stand or just off the boats at the local docks.
Case in point: the Crab Cake at Maria Jackson's Bella Luna in the heart of Frogmore. It's nearly all fresh local crab, pan sauteed and served atop fresh local sweet corn in a sweet red pepper sauce, topped with jalapeno aoli. In a word: Damn.
Hey, you can still get spectacular, fresh made to order pizzas (8 minutes from call in to pick up at their very own drive-thru) as well as a large selection of the classic dishes. But I'm begging you, try the grilled vegetable salad: sliced summer squash, zucchini, portabello, sweet peppers, artichoke hearts and succulent slow-roasted tomatoes all lightly grilled and served on a bed of fresh mixed greens and herbs. Most of it was picked just up the road a piece. The concentrated flavors of the tomatoes and peppers explode like sweet summer sunshine on your taste buds.
Satisfy that summer sweet tooth with an Italian Bomba - a frozen confection of layered fruit ice wrapped in a chocolate shell.
Frankly, for dishes of this caliber the prices are a steal - and at all three meals. No pretense involved. This is Lowcountry casual. Bella Luna has a full bar and a nice wine list, too. Give Maria a call and tell her we sent you. Look for more on Bella Luna in an upcoming issue of The Lowcountry Weekly.
We're lucky to live in such a beautiful place and we all have our favorite spots in the Lowcountry. We'd like to know where you hang out or go to get away from it all. What are your favorite places? Are any of them in danger of being overrun by development or neglect?
The Backyard Tourist is always looking for a new place to visit, a fresh perspective on what makes our back yard so unique.
The studio at WJWJ before the load in for the upcoming production of Sam Shepard's True West.
Lowcountry Weekly Publisher (and well-known local thespian), Jeff Evans, teams up with Tom Schuster to mount the first ever theatrical production at ETV Lowcountry. Get all the details in the 3/31 issue.
Tom Schuster, Set Designer Jim Passanante and Jeff Evans load in Passanante's set.
The production not only marks a first for the TV studio, it's also an interesting collaboration of a serious concentration of talent. Schuster's worked as a professional actor for decades with more than 100 plays and dozens of film and TV roles.
Evans is the founder of Lowcountry Shakespeare and worked as an actor on the west coast before relocating to SC some years back. And Passanante's one of Hollywood's hardest working Scenic Artists with credits like Die Hard III, Cold Mountain and Forrest Gump on his resume. He designed and built this set from scratch in six days in between movie gigs.
WJWJ Operations Manager Scott Johns behind the camera as Your Day's, Bob Schuster tapes a segment for broadcast.
My friend, colleague and longtime Lowcountry journalist, Richard Brooks, delivers the goods on Beaufort's "parking problem" - a problem, in this writer's opinion, which has only just begun. - Mark Shaffer
By Richard Brooks, special to Lowcountry Weekly
Note: The following statement was delivered to the Beaufort City Council on Tuesday, March 9. The council voted to increase parking fees from 50 cents to $1 an hour and increase fines from $3 to $10. A decision to extend enforcement hours from 6 to 9 p.m. was delayed.
Mayor and council:
Unfortunately, when we get past the concept and arrive at the details, any ordinance is probably inevitable. So I suppose new parking regulations are a done deal. But let me offer a few philosophical observations to keep y’all up at night after you do what you’re going to do anyway.
First, after who-knows-how-many years of talking about it I still don’t believe there is, or ever was, a parking problem downtown. There’s a perceived parking problem. And then there are meetings to talk about the so-called parking problem. And the “parking problem” has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The problem is we can’t shut up about parking. When an issue is framed as a problem, the natural tendency is not to leave well enough alone but to solve the problem. You feel obligated to do something. But anything you do is going to make somebody unhappy. I don’t envy you. But I’m not going to give you a break, either. You could have done nothing. Or better yet, you could have considered free parking – which is a valid model for downtown revitalization. Greenville, Spartanburg and Pendleton in the Upstate, Georgetown on the coast and Bluffton right here in Beaufort all made free parking a part of their downtown rejuvenation programs. The customer-friendly idea is to bring people downtown and encourage them to stay a while, take in some historic or natural sights, walk in the park and maybe even spend some money. I don’t think you even considered the free-parking option. If you did, it wasn’t for long.
Secondly, you should think about the unintended consequences of creating a law enforcement revenue stream. It’s simply bad public policy. The purpose of law enforcement is safety, not revenue. Your ordinance creates a whole new criminal class – downtown visitors. And your private law enforcement arm is ruthlessly vigilant for two reasons: Paying itself; and paying you enough so you let it keep paying itself. And you are on a path of no return. You already have a long-term contract with the parking mercenaries and you’re already financially committed to buying the appropriate toys: Credit card scanner meters and kiosks and cell-phone alerts and such – none of which contributes to policing the city – preventing and solving real crimes against people and property. Instead, it creates resentment toward law enforcement. It begs the question: “Don’t you guys have anything better to do. Go catch some crooks.” I realize the Lanier people aren’t sworn police officers, but they’re enforcing your law on your behalf and you have to explain that fine distinction to the public. Then the public can resent you, too.
Thirdly and finally, I’m still wondering how this revenue stream arrived at the doorstep of the Redevelopment Commission. If I understand correctly, most downtown parking revenue will fund the commission’s efforts to revitalize Uptown, Boundary Street, Bladen Street and other areas that are not downtown. Downtown merchants who support this are cutting their own throats: creating new competition for themselves, discouraging their own customers from shopping downtown, and effectively encouraging their customers to go somewhere else. This is effectively robbing Peter to pay Paul – and Paul has free parking.
This all adds up to customer aggravation. Whatever it costs to park downtown, I’ll probably pay it. But I’ll be aggravated. When the meter expires, I’ll pay the fine. But I’ll be aggravated. And eventually, people just avoid aggravation. So, all other things being equal, visiting downtown or not might be based on the path of least aggravation.
Richard Brooks doesn't live or work or own a business downtown, but spends a lot of time there anyway.
Okay, so those are two words I would not normally associate with each other. But Matt & Ted Lee certainly do. In fact, they love these little sweet/sour/garlicky bites so much they've packed a few jars along on their latest book tour. (They've also got a cooler full of their famous boiled peanuts, a Lee Brothers road trip necessity.)
Ted Lee and Matt Lee
They've also packed along Matt's wife and six month old son (the newest Lee Brother), plus a
station wagon loaded with boxes of books and pampers, diaper bags, a hand truck and baby buggy strapped to the roof. Rock stars.
The Lees invited me by their rooms at City Lofts for a chat and to sample the pickled grapes (yeah, I'm hooked). The chat turned into a lengthy conversation on food, Southern cooking
and culture, and the work behind the books - which is hard, intense and expensive.
"You could go broke writing a cookbook," say Ted.
Book signing on Bay St.
Ted Lee, Matt Lee and Peggy Reynolds
The brothers won the prestigious James Beard Award for their first effort and signed copies of that and their latest, Simple Fresh Southern, at a book party hosted by Peggy Reynolds at her stunning Bay St. home. (There was also free food and wine which never discourages a fine turnout for a book signing, particularly if journalists are involved.)
Debbi Covington, Margaret Evans, Mark Shaffer, Jeff Evans, Carlotta Ungaro
Look for the interview with Matt and Ted to pop up right here sometime soon. In the meantime, if you missed out on all of this, Bay St. Trading Company has plenty of signed copies for sale.
I'm of the mind that the only problem we have with parking downtown is that we have to pay for it. More on that later. I do know this: I've covered dining and nightlife in a lot of places and the current plan to meter and ticket until 9 or 10 at night will negatively impact on downtown.
A few squeaky wheels seem to be driving the argument for jacking parking costs and hours through the roof on the myth that downtown employees hog all the parking on Bay St. This is - as all the restaurant and bar owners/employees know - ridiculous. Just plain dumb. First of all, we're talking a couple of blocks of spaces here. If that's what this is all about, I just don't follow the logic. And considering the history of crimes committed against the people walking out of these places with pockets full of cash in the wee hours, I'm pretty sure they deserve safe parking, not less of it.
Now, as for the Lanier Parking Solutions, I've been collecting quite a lengthy list of complaints involving rude, aggressive behavior, and unreasonable behavior. I was chatting with a Bay St. restaurant owner recently when an older gentleman came in to get change for the meter. By the time he'd walked twenty paces and back, Lanier had ticketed him despite the protestations of his wife sitting in the car. If your chatting on your mobile and haven't managed to drop coin in the meter, watch out. You may get a ticket just sitting there. I've had several people tell me they've been interrupted and told to pay up - one way or the other. Lanier brags on their website about their meteoric rise and exponential profit growth. It's all about the money.
And on, and on, and on. This isn't the way we do things here. Not when there's plenty of free - hassle free - parking SOB. (City Council: talk to somebody in Georgetown or our namesake in NC!)
And finally, after canvassing people in other cities "managed" by Lanier, the question "is it any better?" was always answered the same way: "No. It's just more expensive, more of a hassle."
That's Pat Conroy and Michael O'Keefe in the foyer of Tidalholm where The Great Santini was shot more than three decades ago. This was a cocktail reception to coincide with the Beaufort International Film Festival...
...and Pat's reunion with cast mates O'Keefe and Blythe Danner (above).
We'll wrap up our BIFF coverage in the upcoming March 3rd issue and catch up with some images and observations right here in the meantime. During this little soiree, I got a chance to sit down with Michael O'Keefe in the den (before everybody discovered it) and chatted about his career, his friendship with Pat and what Ben Meechum meant to him. So look for that.
Michael O'Keefe & Harriet Keyserling
We'll also begin a two part interview with Pat about his association with the movies and how the film versions of his books altered his rocky relationship with his dad, plus a whole lot more.
Lowcountry Publisher Jeff Evans & Pat Conroy
This year's edition of BIFF hit all the right notes. Ron Tucker and everyone who helped pull this monumental task off deserve a huge round of applause. You know it's a hit when people are already scheming to come back next year on the first day of the event. More to come...
Blogs
Michael O'Keefe & Harriet Keyserling
Lowcountry Publisher Jeff Evans & Pat Conroy