Events Calendar

Produced by High Spirits Events, this high-energy is set to take place on Sunday, April 7 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at The Old Cigar Warehouse, 912 S. Main Street, Greenville. More than 1,000 people were in attendance at last year’s fiesta with over 25 chefs and bartenders battling it out to craft the best taco and Lunazul 100% Agave Tequila cocktail.

Tickets go on sale Friday, February 1, 2019 and can be purchased at www.tacotequilafiesta.com. VIP tickets, available for advance purchase only, are $60 and include 10 tasting tokens for the event as well as early admission starting at 3 p.m. General admission tickets start at $45 in advance, or $55 day of, and include eight tequila tasting tokens and 4 p.m. admission. All tickets include unlimited tacos, live entertainment, and games to enjoy throughout the event. For every ticket sold, $1 will benefit Greenville Technical College’s Culinary Program.

All attendees must be 21 years of age or older and have a valid ID on them to enter the fiesta. In addition to the drink tickets included with your ticket, there will be cash bars on site. Any restaurants or bartenders who wish to take part in the 2019 Tacos & Tequila Fiesta can go to www.tacotequilafiesta.com.

Judging for best taco, best sidekick (side dish or dessert) and best cocktail using Lunazul 100% Agave Tequila will be done by local judges. Winners for each category will gain bragging rights for a year as well as the coveted Golden Sombrero Award. In addition to the judge’s awards, there will also be a People’s Choice Award and Social Media Star Award for the bartenders and chefs that will be calculated using social media channels.

“Greenville has definitely become more of a foodie city which is why I think the event has been such a success the past few years,” said Tammy Johnson, High Spirits Hospitality’s CEO. “We are hoping to add even more businesses to the fun and expect a great turnout for the 2019 fiesta.”

Lunazul is the presenting sponsor for the event, while Gold Level Sponsors include Republic National Distributing Company, Modelo, GVL Today, Liquid Catering, Bravo1 Protection, The Old Cigar Warehouse, Heaven Hill Brands, Greenville Technical College, FamZing Photography & Video and Complete PR. Silver Level Sponsors are Collective Music Solutions, Tri County Rentals, Those interested in becoming a sponsor can visit www.tacotequilafiesta.com/sponsors.

Hot off an international tour, the global dance sensation TAP DOGS hits the road on an international tour of jaw dropping new surprises. Experience the thrill of a revitalized genre of dance. Seventy-five action packed minutes of part theatre, part dance, part rock concert and part construction site. An adrenaline pumped cast turns traditional tap dancing upside-down and into the ultimate night out.

TAP DOGS premiered at the Sydney Theatre Festival and success quickly followed with seasons in London, New York, Tokyo, Paris, Berlin, Shanghai and around the world. Created by Oliver Award-winning choreographer Dein Perry, and originally directed by Nigel Triffitt, with music by Andrew Wilkie and lighting by Gavin Norris.

TAP DOGS is set to electrify the stage as they jump through scaffold, tap upside down, grind steel and tap on water in Charlotte, NC.

You can add tickets for this show now to a Broadway Lights PNC season ticket order. Call 704-335-1010 for season ticket information.

https://www.facebook.com/events/153613881997885/?event_time_id=153613901997883

Hot off an international tour, the global dance sensation TAP DOGS hits the road on an international tour of jaw dropping new surprises. Experience the thrill of a revitalized genre of dance. Seventy-five action packed minutes of part theatre, part dance, part rock concert and part construction site. An adrenaline pumped cast turns traditional tap dancing upside-down and into the ultimate night out.

TAP DOGS premiered at the Sydney Theatre Festival and success quickly followed with seasons in London, New York, Tokyo, Paris, Berlin, Shanghai and around the world. Created by Oliver Award-winning choreographer Dein Perry, and originally directed by Nigel Triffitt, with music by Andrew Wilkie and lighting by Gavin Norris.

TAP DOGS is set to electrify the stage as they jump through scaffold, tap upside down, grind steel and tap on water in Charlotte, NC.

You can add tickets for this show now to a Broadway Lights PNC season ticket order. Call 704-335-1010 for season ticket information.

https://www.facebook.com/events/153613881997885/

Atlantic Institute of South Carolina cordially invites you to the Annual Peace and Dialogue Awards Dinner in Greenville.

Thursday, April 11, 2019 at 6:30pm
Furman University’s Younts Conference Center
3300 Poinsett Hwy, Greenville, SC 29617
Cost is $400 for a table of 7 or $60pp

The Atlantic Peace & Dialogue Awards is a derivative of our former Dialogue and Friendship Dinners, which have taken place annually for the last 10 years. The purpose of the awards is to recognize influential people and organizations that actively promote diversity and intercultural exchange in the workplace, through public service, or other vocational spheres in their communities.

Please join us for an evening to reflection, kindness and gratitude as we acknowledge 2019 Honorees and listen to Keynote Speaker Brian Luke Seaward:

Speaker- Brian Luke Seaward: Presenting: Stand Like Mountain, Flow Like Water: Moving From Fear To Love:
brian

Brian Luke Seaward is regarded as one of the foremost experts in the field of stress management and a pioneer in the fields of mind-body-spirit healing and corporate health promotion. The wisdom of Brian Luke Seaward can be found quoted in PBS specials, The Chicago Tribune, The Huffington Post, college graduation speeches, medical seminars, boardroom meetings, church sermons, and keynote addresses all over the world. He has authored more than twelve books, including the classic best sellers, Stand Like Mountain, Flow Like Water, The Art of Calm and Stressed Is Desserts Spelled Backward and the leading college textbook, Managing Stress (9E). Dr. Seaward’s mission, as expressed through his legacy of acclaimed books, documentary films and public appearances, is to make this a better world in which to live by having each of us reach our highest potential. His corporate clients include Hewlett Packard, Royal Caribbean, Wells Fargo, TransAmerica, Procter & Gamble, Conoco-Phillips, Motorola, Quaker Oats, John Deere, BP-Amoco, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Maxtor-Seagate, Organic Valley Dairy, US ARMY, The US Airforce and many others. For 25 years he served on the faculty of the University of Colorado Consortium for Public Health and now currently he is a faculty member of The Graduate Institute. Dr. Seaward is the Executive Director of the Paramount Wellness Institute in Boulder, CO. Former Good Morning America host, Joan Lunden says, “Dr. Seaward’s words have touched my life profoundly and helped me to find grace and dignity, the patience and compassion needed to navigate my ever-changing course. They have helped me understand that it is the way I choose to see the world that I will create the world I see.” It’s been said several times that Brian Luke Seaward looks like James Taylor, dresses like Indiana Jones, and writes like Mark Twain. In the role of traveler, visionary, mystic, healer and mentor, Dr. Seaward has created a legacy in the field of wellness and health promotion for all to share. He can be contacted at www.Brianlukeseaward.net

2019 Awardees – Atlantic Peace & Dialogue Awards
Peace and Dialogue Award: Adela Mendoza, Executive Director of Hispanic Alliance.

Adela is an international professional skilled at building strategic collaborative partnerships, facilitating cross-cultural relationships, and leading diverse teams and coalitions. As the Executive Director of the Hispanic Alliance, Adela is helping build collective capacity to embrace the emerging Hispanic population as a thriving, productive, and positive contributor to the community at large.
Adela is a native of Veracruz, Mexico, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Journalism from Universidad del Valle and worked for a leading radio station directing media relations, planning and managing large-scale event logistics attended annually by over 12,000 people, and coordinating communications with international recording companies.

Before joining the Alliance, Adela worked for SE Consulting, Inc., and was Statewide Program Manager for the South Carolina Immigrant Victim Network, where she helped establish international cooperative relations among foreign consulates and US organizations.

In 2013, Adela was selected as an Aspen Ideas Festival Scholar among 60 leaders from around the world chosen for their accomplishments and their ability to transform ideas into action. She continues to engage with and take inspiration from the Institute in the development of the Student DREAMers Alliance leadership program. Adela is a Liberty Fellow and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. She is also a graduate of Leadership Greenville and Furman University’s Riley Institute Diversity Leaders Institute, which honored her in 2018 with their “Outstanding Contribution to International Diversity Award.”

Adela is a founding member of Upstate International and serves on the boards of Community Foundation of Greenville, United Way Community Investment Cabinet, Goodwill Industries of the Upstate/Midlands, the International Center of the Upstate, and the advisory boards of the Greenville Chamber of Commerce and MedEx Academy.

Adela’s dream for South Carolina is that we, collectively, will build an ecosystem of opportunity where every person has access to the conditions and resources to thrive.

Public and Community Service Award: Jerry Blassingame founder of Soteria Community Development Corporation:

Jerry Blassingame is the Executive Director of Soteria Community Development Corporation. He endeavors to empower individuals and the community through education, affordable housing, financial literacy, community and economic development, and entrepreneurship. His passion is assisting individuals who have been incarcerated through reentry and helping them to become productive citizens.

Jerry attended Columbia International University and studied architectural engineering at Greenville Technical College. Jerry received a 20 year prison sentence in 1995 and only served 3 ½ years after being paroled in 1999. He is also a Social Entrepreneur who believes in social enterprise for the non- profit sector. Jerry has continued to fight for change in legislation since he was granted a pardon in 2004. One of his greatest accomplishments was to receive the Chuck Colson award from IPM through Wheaton College in 2014.

Jerry has served as PTA President for PJ Fisher Middle School. He is also Vice President of Correctional Ministries and Chaplain Association International based out of Wheaton College through the Institute for Prison Ministries. Jerry is currently Chair of the Greenville Reentry Coalition and 2016 fellow of JustLeadershipUSA

Jerry lives in Greenville South Carolina with his wife, Stephanie of 20 years and 3 of their 6 kids. He is an active part of the community and an advocate for economic and social justice.

Media and Communications Award: Pastor Curtis Johnson Gospel Director for JAMZ:

Pastor Curtis L. Johnson is the Senior Pastor of the V alley Brook Outreach Baptist Church, a position he’s held since 1993. He also serves as the Gospel Director of 107.3 JAMZ, WJMZ in Greenville, SC for which he has received the South Carolina Broadcaster Service Award.

Pastor Johnson has been a pillar of the community as the founder and member of many projects and committees that promote peace and equality. He is currently the Chairman of the Board for one of the leading anti-poverty Community Action Agencies in SC, SHARE (Sunbelt Human Advancement Resources). In addition, Pastor Johnson is on the Diversity Advisory Committees for the Greenville Health System (Prisma) and Greenville Technical College.

Pastor Johnson Founded and is the Chairman of the MLK Dream Weekend. This 10-year multi-event program celebrates in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King and has produced over $1 million in scholarships to deserving students across the Upstate.

Pastor Johnson organized the 107 Days of Nonviolence Service Project, which was designed to address the violence in the community. It was also designed to inspire youth and adults of the Upstate to embrace nonviolence as a lifestyle, and improve the quality of life in the Upstate. This effort helped to account for a 15% reduction in violent crime in Greenville County during the 107 Days.

He recently received the Presidential Lifetime Volunteer Service Award from the Obama Administration.

Through his preaching and teaching, God has used Pastor Johnson to affect the lives of many churches, pastors, men, women and youth. Pastor Johnson and his wife of 27 years, Charla Johnson have two sons, Isaiah & Joshua.

Impact and Innovation Award: Roann Abdeladl, Youth Interfaith Organization:
Roann Abdeladl is the Founder and Executive Director of the Youth Interfaith. As a first generation Muslim-American, she recognized the prominent Islamophobia in her community, which then inspired her to found the Youth Interfaith. In addition to Youth Interfaith, she is the speech captain of her school’s Speech and Debate Team, founded and leads her mosque’s youth group, Young Muslims Greenville, teaches Sunday school at the Islamic Society of Greenville, volunteers through her school’s Students in Action Team, serves as the secretary of Greenville Health System’s Health Careers Club, and advocates for various social justice issues. Roann is passionate about Youth Interfaith because she believes in the transformative power of youth voices to building a tolerant, peaceful generation.

Cost is $400 for a table of 7 or $60pp

https://www.facebook.com/events/2269724596645372/

KG + Vine

Presents

NITTI GRITTI

Vine Nightclub – Greenville, SC

Thursday, April 11, 2019
____________

Featuring:

NITTI GRITTI

www.facebook.com/djnittigritti
www.soundcloud.com/nittigritti

NITTI GRITTI is the name that continues to push the boundaries of electronic music. With an ever-expanding list of A-list supporters including DJ Snake, Diplo, Dillon Francis, Major Lazer, and Tiesto, NITTI has proven himself a heavyweight within the dance music community.

2018 positioned itself as a massive year for NITTI GRITTI. He started off the year on a headlining World Tour, where he performed across the United States, China, and Australia. His biggest release “Crack” was signed to Tiesto’s label, Musical Freedom, and was the seventh most played track at Ultra Music Festival. He also has shown his talents expand far beyond dance music by co-producing Enrique Iglesias’ latest single, “Move To Miami” featuring Pitbull and Bad Bunny’s “200 MPH” with Diplo. He’s also released official remixes for Bazzi’s “Mine” and Mario’s “Drowning.” NITTI GRITTI ended the year performing over 100 shows across 3 continents coupled with several superstar collaborations.

Known for his contagious energy behind the decks and ingenious productions, NITTI GRITTI has garnered a dedicated following of both producers and fans alike, and is ready to dominate the music scene. It’s time to get down to the NITTI GRITTI.

Along with..

Choppastix

Mass

18+

Vine Nightclub.com

Vine Nightclub

21 East Coffee Street

Greenville, SC 29601

https://www.facebook.com/events/559615757891996/

DeTour de Skunk is a charity bicycle ride through the foothills of the Blue Ridge that begins and ends at the parking area of the SpringSkunk Music Fest (4063 Jordan Rd, Greer, SC 29651) on Saturday April 13, 2019. Check in starts at 8:00 am, the ride starts at 9:00 am. Riders get a commemorative t-shirt, a wristband good for a few hours of entry to the festival afterwards and a cold beer (if 21, of course). More details at albinoskunk.com/detour-de-skunk.

The beneficiary of our Spring 2019 ride will be James Schlender of Songs From The Road Band. James underwent open heart surgery to replace a valve right before his band played our Fall 2018 festival. Gladly, he’s back on his feet and on-stage now, but has incurred great cost. Details about James and a link to make a direct donation are found here: https://www.gofundme.com/help-james-schlender

The ride costs $35. Advance signup is closed. Saturday morning day-of sign-up will be available starting at 8:00 am (cash or check). Please be there by 8:30 am, as the ride leaves at 9:00 am.

There are two routes of differing distance and difficulty. The short route is a beginner-friendly 15 mile run (639 total feet of gain) along rolling country roads from the Skunk Farm to 1909 Campbell’s Covered Bridge and back. The long route, which is 34 miles (1928 total feet of gain) and has a couple of more difficult climbs, includes the short route and also goes through Tigerville and past the 1820 Poinsett Bridge. There are parks at each bridge. We’ll have manned rest stops at each with refreshments, and for a look and photos if you like.

Route information is immediately below for Ride WIth GPS (website or downloadable to app.) and Google Maps. Note that the Google Maps Long Route shows an optional Bypass if you wish to go further than the Short Route takes you (through Tigerville and up to Route 11), but you want to skip the difficult climb past the Poinsett Bridge.

We will have pre-race equipment checks and adjustments and an on-call SAG vehicle if a need arises on the routes. We will have personnel with food and drink at each rest stop.

And as a reminder, we now have two private showers for campers and cyclists!

Routes:
Short (Ride With GPS)
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/29603705

Short (Google Maps)
https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?vps=4&gl=us&ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=215145243543798057688.0004dfff1ba1030a6a978&dg=feature

Long (Ride With GPS)
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/29603653

Long (Google Maps)
https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?vps=2&gl=us&ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=215145243543798057688.0004dfff2f4c53d504c03&dg=feature

https://www.facebook.com/events/337934863433457/

Blue Ridge Chapter of the Antique and Classic Boat society & Hart County Chamber of Commerce proudly present the 2019 Lake Hartwell Antique Boat Festival held at Hartwell Marina on April 13th from 10 am-3 pm. Come out and enjoy this family friendly event with food, music, crafts, and of course antique boats! Admission is free! Parking is $5!

https://www.facebook.com/events/1116814721812705/

START LOCATION: Please see festival map with Blue X. We will walk around the path directly in front of the Kid Zone/Barnet Park Stage

Join the Spartanburg Silly Walkers for their inaugural SILLY WALK at the 2019 Spartanburg Soaring! International Kite Festival!

Show off your stupendous strut, your most wondrous wiggle; our loopy lap around the festival is inspired by the 1970 Monty Python skit, “The Ministry of Silly Walks”.

Be sure to wear your silliest clothes, bring your silliest gear, and make the silliest noises!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ministry_of_Silly_Walks

https://www.facebook.com/events/2219805718102182/

Come join in the celebratory cavorting that will be our 25th Anniversary Season! It’s hard to believe we’ve been running through Falls Park in Greenville all of these years and audiences keep coming back year after year! In fact, this festival continues bring back actors, designers, production staff and volunteers because they know the USF is the most unique and fun way to spend a summer.

Our 2019 Season is:
Romeo and Juliet (May 23 to June 16)
The Tempest (July 11 to August 4)
All roles are currently available.

To make an appointment to audition or for more information, please call 864.787.4016. In order to audition, please prepare a Shakespearean monologue of no longer than one minute. Bring along a head shot and resume, if you don’t have one that is not a deal breaker.

If you are a USF veteran, please know you are invited to come to the callback evenings.

Callbacks for Romeo and Juliet will be on April 14, 3-6ish
Callbacks for The Tempest will be on April 15, 7-10ish
All callbacks will take place at 211 Eisenhower Dr, Greenville, SC

If you are still a student and a veteran, you are required to schedule an audition appointment and prepare a monologue. That’s how we get to see how much you have learned and improved since we last met.

In honor of the anniversary year, we will also be scheduling other events throughout the season. Stay tuned to this page for further information.

If you know of anyone who might wish to join our merry band of Festivians, please feel free to add them to this invite.

https://www.facebook.com/events/393136901469534/

Come out and join us … $10 per person (includes 1 pint )

Dragon Boat is the event, Release The Kraken is our team, and a Passion to do something about CANCER is the why!!

The Dragon Boat Upstate Festival benefits cancer research and survivorship programs at the Cancer Institute of Greenville Health System and the South Carolina Ovarian Cancer Foundation. To date, Dragon Boat Upstate Festival has raised $3M for local cancer research and survivorship programs.

https://www.facebook.com/events/296038034598489/

Join us for our monthly Jazz Brunch Series with the Firecracker Jazz Band and Culture SHOCK Food Truck! This series runs April – October. Hope you can join us!

In hundreds of performances since 2003, Firecracker Jazz Band has played everywhere from street corners, speakeasies, jazz festivals from coast to coast, beer-soaked dance halls, Bonaroo and the Kennedy Center. Based in the beautiful confluence of plentiful music and majestic mountains that is Asheville, N.C., a performance by Firecracker Jazz Band is not to be missed. With jubilant vigor that spills from the stage to the streets, these six musicians revitalize traditional jazz with unbounded energy. In paying homage to the pioneers of early 20th Century Jazz, including that of Dixieland and New Orleans, Firecracker Jazz Band carries the torch that was once lit by such greats as Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong & Bix Beiderbecke.

So bring your dancing shoes and remember: Speak Easy, Dance Hard.

www.firecrackerjazz.com

https://www.facebook.com/events/355850858365244/

Robert Earl Keen
plus Pierce Edens
Show: 8pm
Doors: 7pm
$30 – $32
Ages 18+

Tickeets & Info: www.theorangepeel.net/event/robert-earl-keen-2/

“The road goes on forever …”

It’s not always easy to sum up a career – let alone a life’s ambition – so succinctly, but those five words from Robert Earl Keen’s calling-card anthem just about do it. You can complete the lyric with the next five words – the ones routinely shouted back at Keen by thousands of fans a night (“and the party never ends!”) – just to punctuate the point with a flourish, but it’s the part about the journey that gets right to the heart of what makes Keen tick. Some people take up a life of playing music with the goal of someday reaching a destination of fame and fortune; but from the get-go, Keen just wanted to write and sing his own songs, and to keep writing and singing them for as long as possible.

“I always thought that I wanted to play music, and I always knew that you had to get some recognition in order to continue to play music,” Keen says. “But I never thought of it in terms of getting to be a big star. I thought of it in terms of having a really, really good career and writing some good songs, and getting onstage and having a really good time.”

Now three-decades on from the release of his debut album – with eighteen other records to his name, thousands of shows under his belt and still no end in sight to the road ahead – Keen remains as committed to and inspired by his muse as ever. And as for accruing recognition, well, he’s done alright on that front, too; from his humble beginnings on the Texas folk scene, he’s blazed a peer, critic, and fan-lauded trail that’s earned him living-legend (not to mention pioneer) status in the Americana music world. And though the Houston native has never worn his Texas heart on his sleeve, he’s long been regarded as one of the Lone Star State’s finest (not to mention top-drawing) true singer-songwriters. He was still a relative unknown in 1989 when his third studio album, West Textures, was released – especially on the triple bill he shared at the time touring with legends Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark – but once fellow Texas icon Joe Ely recorded both “The Road Goes on Forever” and “Whenever Kindness Fails” on his 1993 album, Love and Danger, the secret was out on Keen’s credentials as a songwriter’s songwriter. By the end of the decade, Keen was a veritable household name in Texas, headlining a millennial New Year’s Eve celebration in Austin that drew an estimated 200,000 people. A dozen years later, he was inducted into the Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame along with the late, great Van Zandt and his longtime friend from Texas A & M, Lyle Lovett.

The middle child of a geologist father and an attorney mother, Keen was weaned on classic rock (in particular, the psychedelic blues trio Cream) and his older brother’s Willie Nelson records – but it was his younger sister’s downtown Houston celebrity status as a “world-champion foosball player” that exposed him to the area’s acoustic folk scene. By the time he started working on his English degree at Texas A&M, he was teaching himself guitar and setting his poetic musings to song. That in turn led to a college fling with a bluegrass ensemble (featuring his childhood friend Bryan Duckworth, who would continue to play fiddle with Keen well into the ’90s) and front-porch picking parties with fellow Aggie Lovett at Keen’s rental house – salad days captured in spirit on the Keen/Lovett co-write, “The Front Porch Song,” which both artists would eventually record on their respective debut albums.

While Lovett’s self-titled debut was released on major-label Curb Records, Keen took the road less travelled, self-financing and producing 1984’s No Kinda Dancer and leasing it to the independent label Rounder Records, which issued it on its Philo imprint. “It was difficult, because I didn’t know what I was doing … I literally opened up the phonebook and looked for studios,” Keen recalls. “I basically put it all together through brute force and ignorance, but I was shocked with how well it worked out and very happy with it. We had a release party at Butch Hancock’s Dixie Bar and Bustop, and Lyle and Nanci Griffith and a lot of those people who were a part of the Austin folkie scene came out.”

Keen himself had already started to make quite a name for himself on that scene, thanks to four years of constant regional gigging and winning the Kerrville Folk Festival’s prestigious New Folk songwriting competition in 1983. After his debut’s release, he began touring more and more outside of the state lines, eventually moving to Nashville in 1986. Keen’s stint in Music City, U.S.A., lasted just under two years, but he returned to Texas armed with a publishing deal, a new label (another indie, Sugar Hill), and a national booking agent. He closed the decade with 1988’s The Live Album and the following year’s West Textures, the album that marked the debut of “The Road Goes on Forever” and, not inconsequently, kicked his career into high gear.

With hindsight, Keen admits he no idea at the time of writing it that his song about a couple of ill-fated lovers running afoul of the law would have the legs it did, but he readily points to the forward thinking of DJ Steve Coffman of San Antonio radio station KRIO for helping to start the fire. “He talked the station into doing sort of a free-form programing format, basically anything he liked, which turned out to be some Texas music along with a lot of cool sort of pop music,” he says. “So all of a sudden, I heard my song back-to-back with the Sheryl Crow song that was popular at the time, and that was the first time that I really felt like I was a real part of the music business, despite having been in it already for a pretty long time. And right after that, I went to a show in San Antonio and there were 1,500 people there – whereas up to that point I’d been playing to, max, maybe 150. That was the real ah-hah moment for me that really got me going and kept me going, because before that I’d been doing this for eight or 10 years and had a lot of rejection but very little success.”

After that, though, success came in spades. Although he continued to steer clear of the Garth Brooks-dominated waters of the country mainstream, the perfect storm of Keen’s literate song craft, razor wit and killer band (more on that in a bit) stirred up a grassroots sensation in Texas not seen since the ’70s heyday of maverick “outlaw country” upstarts Willie, Waylon, and Jerry Jeff Walker. Armed with two more albums (1993’s A Bigger Piece of Sky and ’94’s Gringo Honeymoon) brimming with instant classics like “Corpus Christi Bay,” “Whenever Kindness Fails,” “Gringo Honeymoon,” “Dreadful Selfish Crime” and “Merry Christmas From the Family,” he began packing dancehalls, roadhouses, theaters, and festival grounds with diverse crowds of rowdy college kids, serious singer-songwriter fans and plenty of folks who, like Keen himself, had been around the Texas music scene long enough to remember Willie’s earliest 4th of July Picnics. And the phenomenon was not confined to the Texas state lines. Famed producer and pedal steel ace Lloyd Maines (Joe Ely, Terry Allen) helped Keen and his band bottle lighting on 1996’s No. 2 Live Dinner, a next-best-thing-to-being-there concert document that remains one of Keen’s best-selling albums, and the burgeoning Americana music scene (bolstered by AAA radio stations across the country and magazines like No Depression) embraced Keen as one of its prime movers. In the wake of albums like 1997’s Picnic and ’98’s Walking Distance (both released on major-label Arista), one would have been hard-pressed to tell the difference between a rabid Robert Earl Keen crowd at Texas’ legendary Gruene Hall and those at New York City joints like Tramps and the Bowery Ballroom. Little wonder, then, that when the songwriter-revering “Americana” style was officially recognized by the industry 1998, Keen was the genre’s first artist to be featured on the cover of the radio trade magazine Gavin.

The ’90s may have been a boom period for Keen, but his momentum hasn’t ebbed a bit since the turn of the century – nor has his pursuit of continued growth as a writer and artist. If anything, his output from the last decade has been marked by some of the most adventurous music of his career. “Wild Wind,” an unforgettable highlight from Gravitational Forces, his Gurf Morlix-produced 2001 debut for the Nashville-based Americana label Lost Highway, captured the character (and characters) of a small Texas town with a cinematic eye reminiscent of The Last Picture Show; but the album’s title track also found Keen wryly experimenting with spacey, beatnik jazz. For the freewheelin’, freak-flag-flying Farm Fresh Onions (2003, Audium/Koch), Keen and producer Rich Brotherton (his longtime guitarist) took the band into the proverbial garage to knock out their most rocking set of songs to date – most notably the psychedelic rave-up of the title track. Brotherton also produced the more rootsy but equally playful What I Really Mean (2005, E1 Music), but Lloyd Maines was back at the helm for 2009’s eclectic The Rose Hotel and 2011’s spirited Ready for Confetti (both released by Lost Highway). The later was especially well received by fans and critics alike, with AllMusic’s Thom Jurek raving, “Ready for Confetti is, without question, Keen’s most inspired and focused project in nearly 20 years.” His latest project released in 2015, “Happy Prisoner: The Bluegrass Sessions” was a straight -ahead “love postcard to bluegrass”. This was something Keen had wanted to do for a long time and it was now or never. Keen is ranked Billboard’s No. 2, 2015 Bluegrass Artist of the year. His current recording, Happy Prisoner: The Bluegrass Sessions, charted as 2015’s Top 5 album at Americana Radio and Billboard’s 2015 No. 2 album on the Bluegrass Albums chart.

Earlier this year, Keen played three weeks of sold-out theater dates with Lyle Lovett, just two longtime college friends swapping songs on acoustic guitars like they used to do on Keen’s front porch in College Station. But the lion’s share of his concert schedule still finds him playing full-tilt with his seasoned road and studio band: Brotherton on guitar, Bill Whitbeck on bass, Tom Van Schaik on drums, and Marty Muse on steel guitar. “I’ve been with this band for 20 years now,” Keen says proudly. “I used to think that was just sort of an interesting fact, but now it’s almost a total anomaly – that just doesn’t happen much. I always felt like once you lock into the right bunch of people, you try to do the best by them that you can. So we’ve been able to stay together a long time, and I think one thing that makes it worthwhile for people to come see us as an act is the fact that it’s not like we’re trying to work it all out onstage – we’ve already worked everything out.”

REK has had the honor of working with music legends Dave Matthews, Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow, Eric Church, Gary Clark, Jr. among others. He was inducted into the Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2012. In March 2015, Robert Earl Keen was recognized as the first recipient of BMI’s official Troubadour Award. Keen is an active member of NARAS and was invited to be a participant in the prestigious “Grammys On The Hill” where he sang the National Anthem at the opening ceremony and was a member of the delegation that lobbied US Congress to support musicians’ rights, specifically the “Fair Pay for Fair Play Act”.

But the road goes on and on, with no time for resting on laurels. Not that Keen’s complaining. “I had a relatively open schedule for 2016 back at the beginning of the year, but it has just filled in like you wouldn’t believe,” he marvels during a rare day off in Kerrville, Texas (where he lives with his wife and two daughters). “I’ve broke my record this year – I’ve packed for five trips at one time, because I wasn’t going to be starting any of them in the same place. It’s been crazy!

It isn’t always easy being Robert Earl Keen, but somebody’s got to do it. And now more than ever, he’s up to the task and loving every minute of it.

https://www.facebook.com/events/642758906155460/

Marion Strobel, PhD, brings her knowledge of women in American History to the story of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and her life as a First Lady, celebrity, wife of a tycoon, but especially her role as a wife and a mother.

This talk continues Greenville Chautauqua’s 2019 Season, “It’s Revolutionary!” with interactive lectures on the historical figures that will appear in the June’s History Comes Alive Festival.

The 2019 Library Talk Series celebrates a 21-year community partnership of Greenville Chautauqua and the Greenville County Library System and is free and open to the public.

• When – Tuesday April 16, 2019
• Where – Greenville County Hughes Main Library, 25 Heritage Green Pl. downtown Greenville, 29601
• Time – 7:00 – 8:30 pm
• For more information call 864-244-1499 or visit http://bit.ly/2UwJ8lJ

https://www.facebook.com/events/2105808062789573/

(Tips/No cover)

PALEFACE was schooled musically by friend Daniel Johnston and soon discovered at an NYC open mic by Danny Fields (The Stooges, The Ramones, MC5). He’s released over a dozen records including two major label releases, and has been called a major influence & inspiration by a wide range of artists including Grammy Award recipient BECK. Paleface has collaborated on three albums by The Avett Brothers. He is also visual artist who’s been selling his collectible music inspired paintings at concerts, art shows, festivals and via his website
http://PalefaceOnline.com/

“Paleface is a gem, a brilliant man…one of the greatest songwriters on Earth” The Avett Brothers

“Paleface is a great songwriter, a generous friend, and a big influence on my early stuff” BECK

“A rousing showman we’re lucky to get to see him play live” Creative Loafing, Tampa

“Melodic songs with a sunny vibe while maintaining an edge.” The New Yorker

“His bright songwriting and even more fiery performance style will set a room in motion… it’s fiercely fresh in pulse, and he and his band light up stages every night.” – Orlando Weekly

“indie folk-pop duo with eclectic style and grace, funky, hip, and even interactive” New Times, Palm Beach

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*Please rsvp for event reminder + invite / share with friends, if you’d like to help spread the word. Thanks so much ?✌?

https://www.facebook.com/events/2123897154344933/

Bottle Cap Group has hidden Golden Eggs city-wide for a chance to win amazing prizes!

Be on the lookout for Gift cards from all of our restaurant and bars ranging from $5-$200, Wells Fargo Championship Tickets, Country Carolina Music Festival tickets and more. First person to find an egg, snags the prize!

They have hidden eggs around downtown Greenville. Best of luck!

Snap a photo of your egg and tag #goldeneggclt

https://www.facebook.com/events/169028637335342/

Don’t want to run a crowded 5k? Do you want to run on a certified course with a small town vibe? This is the race for you. Located in beautiful downtown Pickens, this race finishes on the Doodle Trail at the Pickens Trail Head. The course is certified and the same course as the Doodle Trail 5k run in July. Following the awards ceremony, head over to the Azalea Festival for music, food and drinks. Register at RunSignup.com

https://www.facebook.com/events/325953091368394/

OLE # 4 will be bringing you your favorite Classic Country and Southern Rock tunes! This year we will also be bringing you quite a few of our original tunes!

https://www.facebook.com/events/423130518437852/

Kid friendly and adult themed fun! Bigger and better than last year! 25+ Clemson University, local and state organizations, activities, GUIDED NATURE WALKS!, great food and live music! FREE ADMISSION!

Update: This year’s celebration is already shaping up to be our best Earth Day event ever! We have already confirmed participation from: musicians Wild Pines (4-5:30PM), Conservation Theory (5:30-7PM) and Meoldy Garden (1PM); GREAT food from Palmetto’s Smoke House and Oyster Bar as well as shaved ice by Appalachian Snow! The list of conservation and wildlife organizations has grown too quickly to mention them all here. Festival attendees will be treated to a variety of fascinating and fun activities and displays. Please put this event on your calendar now and join us to celebrate and protect our planet.

https://www.facebook.com/events/379950392834089/

Music Festival with food, drink, dancing and entertainment benefiting local charities.

https://www.facebook.com/events/219701865625124/