FOCUS: Enjoy the season at the Charleston Gaillard Center
COMMENTARY, Brack: Power for the people: Let’s look at how we do electricity in S.C.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Titan Termite & Pest Control
PALMETTO POEM: In December Artroom
GOOD NEWS: Airport predicts a banner year of travel in and out of Charleston
FEEDBACK: Send us your thoughts
MYSTERY PHOTO: Tell us about this artwork
S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA: Alfred Hutty
CALENDAR: Holiday events crowd the calendar
FOCUSFOCUS: Enjoy the season at the Charleston Gaillard Center
Holiday Pops at the Gaillard
Staff reports | Take a break from the frenzy of the holiday “to do” list by enjoying an afternoon or evening at the Charleston Gaillard Center.
Two of the biggest names in big band jazz will be at the Gaillard on Friday, Dec., 7 and Saturday, Dec. On Friday, Harry Connick Jr. brings his big band and New Orleans influence to toast the holiday and perform a selection of holiday favorites. New Orleans native Wynton Marsalis brings back the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra on Saturday for a big band holiday concert that is certain to swing in the holiday spirit. Both shows begin at 7:30 pm.
Marsalis on trumpet
Fans of inspired holiday music can ring in the holidays with Chris Tomlin, an accomplished church singer whose worship-focused catalogue has made him TIME Magazine’s “most often sung artist anywhere.” Join Chris as he brings praise and worship to the meaning of holiday spirit. This performance is on Sunday, Dec. 9 at 7:30 p.m.
Join members of the Seacoast Churches as they present Christmas Collective LIVE, an unforgettable night of Christmas music and worship. Headlined by Seacoast Worship, Christmas Collective LIVE will feature Robbie Madison with special guests, Kidscoast Worship. This performance is on Friday, Dec. 14 at 7 p.m.
Charleston’s own School of the Arts has a special family performance on Dec. 17 at 7 p.m. Featuring the School of the Arts Symphony and Singers, the 7 p.m. performance will feature holiday favorites that will be a hit with the entire family.
Rounding out the holiday season, the Charleston Gaillard Center is proud to present the world-acclaimed Vienna Boys Choir, known as one of the finest vocal ensembles in the world. The Choir was first established by Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I in 1498, and since then, the many incarnations of the group have been continuously performing. The enormously popular chorus is comprised of young male singers, ages 10-14 who are admitted by a rigorous audition process. The program for this concert includes classical choral pieces as well as traditional holiday carols. The performance is on Friday, Dec. 21 at 7 p.m.
There are three coming performances at the Charleston Gaillard Center presented by the Charleston Symphony: Holiday Brass with Doc Severinson (Dec. 4 at 7:30 p.m.), Swingin’ Christmas with Tony Desare (Dec. 11 at 7:30 p.m.) and Holiday Pops (Dec/ 22 at 7:30 p.m.).
And if these shows don’t whet your whistle, you can always give the gift of tickets for future events by calling the Gaillard Box Office at 843-242-3099. Speaking of gifts, membership is a great way to be involved in the Gaillard, and the gift of membership provides great benefits, such as pre-sale access to tickets, invitations to member-only events and exclusive access to back-of-house tours.
- More information on membership
- Have a comment? Send to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com
BRACK: Power for the people: Let’s look at how we do electricity in S.C.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | There’s a huge disconnect going on with electricity in South Carolina.
On one hand, we’re in the second year of trying to figure out why there was a $9 billion debacle of a nuclear power plant project in Fairfield County being built by SCE&G and Santee Cooper. There’s been finger-pointing by legislators, finger-pointing about the legislature, testimony to regulators, lawsuits, and on and on. At the end of the day, it’s still a mess and it’s probably going to consume the legislature again in 2019.
On the other hand is what people generally aren’t talking about: Why the whole thing is such a big deal. The answer, as you might expect, is money.
SCANA, SCE&G’s parent company, quietly issued a press release on the Saturday after Thanksgiving as South Carolinians absorbed the Clemson-Carolina football game or were still in a holiday food coma brought on by eating turkey leftovers – or both. The release announced a $2 billion settlement with ratepayers upset by higher rates being charged for years to help build the unfinished project. That’s a lot of money to try to make something go away. But there’s a reason it may be a good deal: it provides some certainty for company budgeteers who would be able to plan and not have an unknown liability that could balloon if lawsuits didn’t go their way.
Meanwhile, Dominion Energy recently offered another deal (a third) to try to get regulators to approve its offer to buy SCE&G. Dominion knows that buying SCE&G would be a sweet deal over time. Why? Because South Carolinians are among the nation’s top users of electricity in the country and have the highest bills in the country.
According to ChooseEnergy.com: “South Carolina earned the dubious distinction of highest electric bills per household in 2016, thanks to a combination of high usage and relatively high prices. On average, Palmetto State residents paid $146 per month for electricity, totaling up to $1,753 for the year. That’s nearly double the amount paid by the state with the lowest electric bills.”
While our rates are 19th highest in the country, any utility executive with half a brain can easily read the tea leaves: South Carolinians are used to paying a lot to keep their homes, businesses and air-conditioners running, which translates into an investment so good that cash registers will keep scooping up money for years and years.
Unless the playing field changes.
Two ideas come to mind. First, as suggested for years, there’s a great potential for South Carolinians to save money on electricity by improving energy efficiencies at homes and businesses. It’s low-hanging financial fruit. One expert thinks bills could go down by as much as 20 percent if South Carolinians did things like adding more insulation, switched to more energy-efficient appliances and adjusted the thermostat so it’s a little cooler inside in the winter and a little warmer in the summer.
Second, it may be time for legislators and regulators to look at how power is distributed. Currently, geographic areas generally are bound to one company through service agreements. In essence, these agreements are mini-monopolies, as state Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, wrote in a recent op-ed:
“Economics 101 teaches that whenever the producer of something has a monopoly and the consumer has no choice, the quality of goods and services decreases while prices rise,” Davis writes. “But in South Carolina, instead of allowing competition from multiple producers to give consumers choices in both service and rates, the legislature has given the big utilities (Santee Cooper, Duke Power and SCANA) service-area monopolies and guaranteed them (on average) a 10.2 percent return on invested capital – even when they make poor decisions.
“Predictably, these big utilities pursue capital-intensive projects in order to maximize their return. That’s why, despite a steady decrease over the past decade in the wholesale price of power in our country, retail rates charged by the utilities in our state have soared.”
So maybe it’s time to look at the whole power mess in a new way. We should figure out ways to bolster more energy efficiencies so families can save money and more power plants don’t have to be built. And, let’s explore ways to curb power monopolies.
- Have a comment? Send to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com
SPOTLIGHT: Titan Termite & Pest Control
Titan Termite & Pest Control, headquartered in Charleston, is a full service residential, commercial and industrial pest control company serving South Carolina. It is a third-generation, family-owned company known for outstanding customer service. Each associate is dedicated to the customer and exhibits integrity and respect. Titan’s pest professionals can assist your commercial or residential location with general pest control, termite inspections, termite control, flea control, bed bug extermination, ant control and more. Titan Termite and Pest Control continues to set high standards so that its customers receive the best possible service. Titan’s technicians are knowledgeable of the latest in pest control techniques, which enables the company to customize effective treatment plans for every situation.
- Free estimate: 888-794-5603.
- Contact Titan online.
- To meet all of our underwriters, click here.
POEM: In December Artroom
By Kit Loney, republished with permission
Here is how you get filing cabinets to fly:
Begin with stuffing drawers bulge with pictures–
dragonflies, butterflies, all things on wings.
Airplanes and rocket ships, dancers,
sports page clippings of leaping athletes.
Jam more pictures: Leonardo‘s helicopters,
parachutes, birds. Giotto’s angels.
From ceiling suspend flocks
of origami cranes, flapping.
Scatter floor with glitterspill,
storm of snowflake snips. And now,
David and Rodney spark over some
mumble about somebody’s mama.
Your filing cabinets kick off their wheels
and hurl their weight like sumo wrestlers.
Later, Mr. Jackson will climb over the pile
of crumpled metal and cascading paper,
clear the doorway where they crash-
landed. (Nobody squashed– a miracle!)
But, at this particular moment, three students wheel
a piano to the gym for the holiday concert–
one pushing, one steering the bull of it past
your door, and a third kid skipping alongside, playing
Jingle Bells as they roll, then Heart and Soul.
Kit Loney’s poems have appeared in Prime Number, Fall Lines, Emrys Journal, Kakalak, Yemassee, Qarrtsiluni, Waccamaw, One, and Poetry East. She received the 2012 Carrie McCray Nickens Poetry Fellowship from SC Academy of Authors. She has an MFA in Fiber Arts, and for twenty years taught middle school art on James Island.
GOOD NEWSGOOD NEWS: Airport predicts a banner year of travel in and out of Charleston
Staff reports | The number of people flying in and out of Charleston International Airport in October increased 13 percent over 2017. That puts the airport on target to exceed 4 million passengers by the end of 2018.
“It has been an exciting year at Charleston International Airport,” said Paul G. Campbell Jr., Executive Director and CEO of the Charleston County Aviation Authority. “Our legacy air carriers are busier than ever and our new airlines are receiving great support from the Lowcountry.”
In October, 205,262 people flew out of the airport while 204,550 people arrived in Charleston on a flight. So far in this year, 3.7 million people have flown in and out of the airport. The 12- month total for 2017 was 3.9 million.
“We are thankful for the continued prosperity at the airport and look forward to what the end of the year brings,” Campbell said. “I am confident it will be a new all-time passenger record for us.”
Also in Good News:
GREAT GIFT: If you’re looking for a local kind of holiday gift, take a look at a new book, “The Angel Oak Story,” by Ruth M. Miller with Linda V. Lennon. A review copy of the 92-page, photo-filled book arrived in the mail a few days back from History Press and we couldn’t put it down. It told the history of the magnificent tree and how it survived in the same family for 242 years – and how the city of Charleston saved it. The charming book also included memories of area residents about Johns Island and the tree over the years. The paperback is $19.99. View online.
FREE PARKING: The city of Charleston and Charleston County government are offering two hours of free holiday parking at various downtown garages through Jan. 1, 2019. You can either print the voucher or download a mobile version. PRINT | MOBILE. The voucher is valid at the following garages: Visitor Center Garage, 34 St.Philip, Concord-Cumberland, E. Bay-Prioleau, Aquarium, Midtown, Majestic Square and Queen Street.
NEW PRESIDENT: Congratulations to Andrew T. Hsu, who was elected last week at the 23rd president of the College of Charleston by its board of trustees. “Dr. Hsu is an extraordinary individual – he is a scholar, a community builder, a fundraiser and a visionary leader,” said Board of Trustees Chair David Hay in a message to the campus community. “We were all impressed with Dr. Hsu’s experience, his accomplishments in forming industry partnerships, his commitment to diversity and his passion for the liberal arts. Over the course of the search process, Dr. Hsu has not only proven himself a great higher-education thinker, but also a great doer, with a track record of inspiring accomplishments across his career.”
NEW PARK OPEN: Meggett County Park, a new 416-acre park with grand oak trees, wildlife, wetlands, five miles of trails, is now open. It is located at 7247 Ethel Post Office Road, which lies just south of Highway 165 between the Toogoodoo and the Wadmalaw Rivers. In its early stages of being available for public use, the park will not be regularly staffed, nor will it have restrooms on site. Learn more.
LIBRARY CARD CONTEST. Library lovers age 18 and older are encouraged to submit an original design in a first-ever contest for a future limited edition library card. Patrons will have a chance to vote online for the finalists. A library committee will select the winning card design to be printed and made available to library patrons in the spring of 2019. Participants may submit multiple entries, and all artwork must be original and free of copyright restrictions. Submissions will only be accepted online and must be uploaded to the contest webpage by midnight on Dec. 31. Visit ccpl.org to review the design template, see a complete list of contest rules, and upload your design.
REPORT CARDS ISSUED. South Carolina schools got mixed reviews on the new report cards issued by the S.C. Department of Education. The bad news? About 43 percent of diploma earners last school year were deemed college-ready, and 66 percent were deemed career-ready — and the state’s graduation rate has declined. But some education leaders are already pushing back, saying the report cards could be misleading.
FEEDBACKTwo great ways to send us your thoughts
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Send us a letter: We love hearing from readers. Comments are limited to 250 words or less. Please include your name and contact information. Send your letters to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com. | Read our feedback policy.
Tell us what you love about the Lowcountry. Send a short comment – 100 words to 150 words – that describes something you really enjoy about the Lowcountry. It can be big or small. It can be a place, a thing or something you see. It might the bakery where you get a morning croissant or a business or government entity doing a good job. We’ll highlight your entry in a coming issue of Charleston Currents. We look forward to hearing from you.
MYSTERYMYSTERY: Tell us more about this artwork
This looks pretty interesting, but what is it and who made it? Send your guess to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com. And don’t forget to include your name and the town in which you live.
Our previous Mystery Photo
Our Nov. 26 mystery, “Who painted this?” may have looked like a watercolor by Alice Huger Smith to some, but actually was part of a 1920 oil painting of Magnolia Gardens by Charleston Renaissance artist Alfred Hutty. You can learn more about Hutty in the new full issue of Charleston Currents in the S.C. Encyclopedia entry.
Congratulations to the readers who correctly identified the image: George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Jim McMahan and Charlie King, both of Charleston; Marnie Huger of Richmond, Va.; Cheryl Smithem of Summerville; and Bud Ferillo of Columbia.
Smithem shared this: “Years ago, I gave a regular talk at the Gibbes Art Gallery about the Charleston Renaissance. I love Hutty’s works and his reported quote when he visited Charleston for the initial time: ‘Come quick. Have found heaven.’ … I fear that it is not quite as heavenly as it was then. Too many hotels and too many people. We are becoming more and more like Venice, Italy: Strangled by our success and environment.”
Graf shared the quote about how Hutty moved to Charleston in 1919 “when he was in his early 40s and immediately cabled his wife — “Come quickly. Have found heaven.” Hutty had worked as a stained glass designer in Kansas City and at Tiffany Glass Studios in New York. He had a long association with the Woodstock, NY art community and with Lowell Birge Harrison, who was also a mentor of fellow Charleston artist Alice Ravenel Huger Smith. Even after he moved to Charleston, Hutty maintained a studio in Woodstock until his death in 1954. Primarily an oil and watercolor painter, Hutty did not seriously take up etching until after his move to Charleston but quickly demonstrated his complete mastery of the medium, winning national awards and was the first American to be elected to the British Society of the Graphic Arts.” (Source: AshevilleArt.com).
Send us a mystery: If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Send it along to editor@charlestoncurrents.com.
S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIAHISTORY: Artist Alfred Heber Hutty
S.C. Encyclopedia | Artist Alfred Heber Hutty was born in Grand Haven, Michigan, on Sept. 16, 1877. He grew up in Kansas and at age fifteen won a scholarship to the St. Louis School of Fine Arts. He supported himself by working in a stained glass studio in St. Louis until 1907. He then moved east to attend the summer school of the Art Students League in Woodstock, New York, where the tonalist landscape painter Birge Harrison became his mentor. Hutty obtained a position with the Tiffany Glass Studios, working on commission while living in Woodstock.
Hutty
In 1919, in pursuit of a warmer place to spend winters, Hutty discovered Charleston, and until three years before his death, he alternated residences between Woodstock in the summer and Charleston in the winter. From 1920 until 1924 he served as the first director of the School of the Carolina Art Association at the Gibbes Art Gallery. In 1923 he became one of the founding members of the Charleston Etchers’ Club. His oil paintings of Charleston streetscapes and lowcountry gardens are impressionistic, a stylistic approach ideally suited to the floral splendor of spring foliage. However, he earned greater fame for his etchings and drypoints. In 1929 the noted art connoisseur and collector Duncan Phillips wrote a small monograph on Hutty. The volume was the second in a series on American etchers and reflects the burgeoning national interest in prints. Phillips discussed Hutty’s considerable talent with rendering trees of all kinds, and equated some of his Charleston prints to the work of DuBose Heyward. As a seasonal resident of Charleston from the 1920s through the 1940s, Hutty is closely identified with the Charleston Renaissance.
Unlike the other leading figures—Alice Ravenel Huger Smith, Elizabeth O’Neill Verner, and Anna Heyward Taylor—Hutty was not a native South Carolinian, and he was the only man making art full-time. He aggressively marketed his work, mounting annual exhibitions at the newly-opened Fort Sumter Hotel, hoping to appeal to the growing number of tourists.
Unlike his female counterparts, Hutty rarely idealized the city and its residents, choosing instead to show the decay and decrepitude that lay around him. His proficiency with drypoint—an enhancement of the etching technique, which created rich, inky lines—complemented his rendering of live oaks draped with Spanish moss, dilapidated old buildings and animated African Americans.
Hutty maintained his press in the old kitchen house of his property at 46 Tradd Street, and from time to time he took on students. He was also active in the local theater group, the Footlight Players. The Gibbes Museum of Art owns the largest public collection of his work, the gift of his widow. His estate and archive, including plates and many trial proofs of his etchings, belong to Carolina Fine Paintings and Prints, Charleston. Other repositories of his work include the Columbia Museum of Art, the Greenville County Museum of Art, the Library of Congress, and the Boston Public Library. Hutty died on June 17, 1954, in Woodstock.
— Excerpted from an entry by Martha R. Severens. This entry hasn’t been updated since 2006. To read more about this or 2,000 other entries about South Carolina, check out The South Carolina Encyclopedia, published in 2006 by USC Press. (Information used by permission.)
ON THE CALENDARCALENDAR: Holiday events crowd the calendar
Charleston Christmas Special: Thirteen shows from Dec. 8 to Dec. 23, Charleston Music Hall, 37 John St., Charleston. Producers Brad and Jennifer Moranz have worked all year to create a brand-new holiday show that’s nothing short of spectacular. Tickets are on sale now.
Holiday Movie Night: 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Dec. 14, Hampton Park, 30 Mary Murray Drive, Charleston. A holiday movie chosen by community members will begin at 5:30 p.m. Free popcorn and holiday activities. More.
Holiday Festival of Lights. The Holiday Festival of Lights is in full swing at James Island County Park every evening through Jan. 1, 2019. This spectacular light show, now in its 29th year, is one of Charleston’s most beloved holiday events, featuring an estimated two million shimmering lights. The Holiday Festival of Lights is every evening at 5:30 p.m. nightly and closes at 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. More info: http://www.HolidayFestivalofLights.com
Guevara art show: Through Jan. 11, 2019 (Tuesdays through Saturdays), Redux Contemporary Art Center, 1056 King St., Charleston. Redux will present new work by fiber artist Camela Guevara in a show titled “Care Work.” Click to learn more.
Chaplin/Amble art show: Dec. 6, 2018, through Jan. 31, 2019, North Charleston City Gallery at the Charleston Area Convention Center, 5001 Coliseum Drive, North Charleston. Paintings by the current City of North Charleston Artist-in-Residence Quintin Chaplin, as well as photographs by local artist Richard Amble will be on exhibit
Early morning bird walks at Caw Caw: 8:30 a.m. every Wednesday and Saturday, Caw Caw Interpretive Center, Ravenel. You can learn about habitats and birds, butterflies and other organisms in this two-hour session. Registration not required, but participants are to be 15 and up. $10 per person or free to Gold Pass holders. More: http://www.CharlestonCountyParks.com.
AREA FARMERS MARKETS
SATURDAYS: The holiday Charleston Farmers Market, will be open Dec. 8. 9, 15 and 16.
SATURDAYS: Johns Island Farmers Market operates each Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. year-round with more than 50 local farmers and vendors, food trucks, music and more. The market is located on the campus of Charleston Collegiate School, 2024 Academy Road, Johns Island.
SATURDAYS: The Town Market on James Island is closed for the season, but a holiday market is set for Dec. 7. Click the link for details. Location: James Island Youth Soccer Club, 871 Fort Johnson Road, James Island.
- If you have an event to list on our calendar, please send it to feedback@charlestoncurrents.com for consideration. The calendar is updated weekly on Mondays.
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Charleston Currents offers insightful community comment and good news on events each week. It cuts through the information clutter to offer the best of what’s happening locally.
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Charleston Currents is provided to you weekly by:
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