SC Day 5 - Pork, Prints, and Pants
I started out today by heading back to Greenville on a day when the museums I wanted to see were open. I built up museum seeing strength by getting brunch at local favorite, Sully's Steamers. Known for their bagels I ordered the Charlie's Choice, which had Turkey, american cheese, tomato, lettuce, avocado, and parmesan peppercorn sauce on a cheddar jalapeño bagel. The sandwich was so good, but I definitely underestimated my tolerance for jalapeño. I thought it would be a little hint of kick that would compliment the sandwich nicely. The flavor was good, but it was hot!
Desperate to cool my mouth down and slightly caffeine depleted from not getting an earlier morning coffee, I killed two birds with one stone by going to the Creme Shack. They specialize in rolled ice cream which seems to be a big trend all of a sudden. I got some iced coffee and one of their signature ice cream creations. It. was. decadent. I got a Samoa themed ice cream, which included vanilla rolled ice cream with coconut, toasted coconut, chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, little caramel balls, and one full Samoa cookie. It was a little more than I was bargaining for but I wasn't exactly complaining. It was probably the tastiest way I could have cooled my mouth down after my jalapeño miscalculation. The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the caramel balls because they were a little too frozen, which made them slightly difficult to eat. It was a pretty minor complaint in an otherwise very enjoyable ice cream experience. I think the people in Greenville were definitely a little surprised by me wanting ice cream and iced coffee in what they must think of as pretty cold weather. I think I was also just wearing a t-shirt because I thought it was nice out.
With a cooled down tongue, I headed for the Greenville County Museum of Art. Admission was free, and you got more than your money's worth. The gallery exhibit was focused I saw was a mix of art from two previous special exhibitions about race, one focused on representations of black bodies by white artists and the other celebrating works by Black artists. I think both of those galleries sounded really interesting, but seeing them put into conversation was a super cool way of exploring all the complex multiple facets of racial identity and representation. The centerpiece was a wall with two massive paintings: It Ain't Necessarily So by Margaret Bowland and Billie's Blues by Frederick Brown. Each work was very impressive on its own, but taken together you get a really striking and complicated look at representations of race.
The next exhibit was a collection of works by Jasper Johns, one of South Carolina's most prominent artists. His work specializes in a dreamlike combination of abstract forms and recognizable figuress. Some of his works were hard for me to connect with but I really like the print below. Clearly people must like him a lot because some of his paintings of the American Flag have sold for tens of millions of dollars to the Museum of Modern Art. As much as I like looking at art, and I've seen quite a bit of it at this point, how it's monetary values are decided upon still totally baffles me.
The next featured artist was Jamie Wyeth, son of Andrew Wyeth. I mainly know his father from the absolutely stunning Christina's World, which I couldn't take my eyes off of when I first saw in MoMa as a young kid. It also features weirdly prominently in the comic book series Preacher which is another of my all time favorite works of art. I've seen a few Wyeth paintings in my travels, and I associate him with that kind of dark realism of Christina's World, so I was very surprised and kind of excited to see a sillier more lyrical touch in his son's paintings. I was very surprise indeed that one painting even featured a naked Arnold Schwarzenegger in the middle of a fancy ballroom. Now that's the kind of thing that to me should be worth millions of dollars.
After Jamie, the museum did actually have a a pretty extensive permanent collection of his father's drawings and paintings. They definitely weren't silly, but some were more lighthearted than others, and I am absolutely floored by how photo-realistic his paintings and drawings could be. H was just amazing.
The last big gallery on the first floor was divided into three parts: Expressionism in the South, Impressionism in the South, and portraits made by Sidney Dickinson. The different styles from the totally abstract to the completely representational were really cool to see among the various artists. Everything was really good, but the impressionist works probably struck me the most with their hazy, lazy approach to Southern landscapes.
The first exhibit I saw on the next floor was my personal favorite. It was entitle Stranger Things and featured works by a South Carolina artist named Craig Crawford. Much like the show Stranger Things, Crawford's art was a fun mix of the playful and nightmarish. I really liked how he used lots of different techniques, such as custom frames and intentional smudging to create different psychological effects in his weird and wild paintings.
The next gallery was quite a bit different than all the others, and featured beautifully carved and highly realistic sculptures of different birds made by a local artist named Grainger McKoy. McKoy had actually gained a degree in zoology so birds weren't purely an aesthetic interest for him. Some of his sculptures were actually of birds that have since gone extinct and were partially an exercise in faithfully recreating them for study.
The last gallery on the lower level featured works by an artist name Stephen Scott Young, a highly accomplished water colorist, and focused entirely on elderly veterans. There was something really quietly powerful about the mundaneness on the surface of the portraits versus the extraordinary lives you know the subjects lived.
In the same plaza as the art museum, my next stop was the Upcountry History Museum. The Upcountry, distinct from the Low Country, refers to Greenville and the northern regions of South Carolina. The museum traced the history of the region from early colonial days up to the present. One story I liked from the colonial days is how one guy got around laws limiting the amount of land that Europeans were allowed to buy by having his half-Native American son buy a bunch of land and then give it to him. It was just so sleazy in a very classically colonial way.
The historical stuff that interested me the most though was the Civil War exhibits. We used to joke in my high school history classes, that South Carolina "always ruined everything" because they were the first state to secede so it was really cool to actually hear their side of things which paints a more complex picture. My favorite part from this period of history was the replications of actual newspapers from that time period from both Unionist and Secessionist newspapers. Getting to see the competing voices fighting over this issue made history feel much more alive and contemporary as opposed to something that was set in stone in exactly one way.
One of the things I didn't know about Greenville specifically was that it was where Pepsi really got it's start. They happened to also have vending machine so you could get that authentic Greenville soda. I'll be honest it still tasted like any pepsi, I've had before but there was something cool about having it there.
The other big notable product to come from the Upcountry was Duke's mayonnaise. As horribly revolting as the product is to me, the rags to riches story of Eugenia Duke was so lovable I was able to overlook the fact that it so heavily involved mayo.
As interesting as all the history was, I'll be honest I wasn't paying total attention because I was so excited about the special exhibit. It was a large collection of forty years' worth of costumes, outfits, and posters from Katherine Hepburn movies. As far as I can tell, she had no special ties to South Carolina or Greenville and the museum just had the exhibit because it was really cool. I kinda love that, and I was inclined to agree with them. I mainly think of Katherine Hepburn as an old woman in my head because she kept making good movies for so long most of my favorite ones I've seen are from a period where she was older (The African Queen, Rooster Cogburn and the Lady, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, etc.) so it was cool seeing how her costumes changed when she kind of transitioned from being a young starlet to Hollywood royalty. She was just so talented and such a hilarious and vivacious personality. Truly larger than life, she did whatever she wanted. My favorite story was that she was supposed to take a promotional photo for a movie and she showed up in jeans. The producers were all pissed because a woman? In jeans? can you even imagine? Katherine however, wanted to wear jeans, and she did not give a flying fig for these dumb old men, so she stripped to her underwear and refused to put anything on until they let her take the pictures in jeans. She won.
The other thing I was really impressed by was the fact that she was also a very talented artist and would draw how she wanted her costumes to look and someone would find them for her or have them made.
Please note below the photograph of her pinning a male co-star to the ground while dressed as a gladiator. I love her so much.
The other special exhibit was on art by children's book author and artist Jan Brett from South Carolina. Her art was really layered in terms of creating scenes and worlds and everything just had a really sweet quality to it. My favorite pieces were from a book about a hedgehog going into outer space. It's important to dream big, even if you are hedgehog.
After the museum, I set out to get dinner at what my friend described as the best BBQ place in South Carolina, Circle M BBQ. But first I had to impulsively pull over and take a picture of this big bull.
Located in Liberty, Circle M is only open on Friday and Saturdays. Everything is freshly pit roasted, and when they run out they run out so you usually have to make a reservation. I tempted fate by not doing this, and just getting there early and napping in my car until they opened, thus getting to indulge in my favorite hobby and securing my cut of the fine BBQ. The woman working the cash register was super nice, and even though she scared the hell out of me doing, she came to tap on my window just to let me know that they were ready to serve me whenever I was ready. I got a sandwich piled high with probably the best pulled pork I had ever had. I got a side of Brunswick stew which I had never had before. It was a tomato based soup with veggies, fresh chicken, and some pork as well. It was also so reasonably priced that I don't understand how they make any money, except that it's so good that must sell absolutely all of it. I would believe that.
After dinner, I got coffee at Drip Coffee in the Five Points neighborhood back in Columbia. It had been recommended to me earlier in the week, and it was a really cozy spot. They made a honey vanilla latte which was really good, but I guess every part of that was always gonna win me over.
While in the five points area, I got a drink at a place called Publico. It was very hip and my bartender was very friendly. I got Legal Remedy's Malice Maple Bacon Imperial Stout and it was one of the best beers, I've had in a while. The sweetness of the maple compliments the salty/savory flavor from the bacon without either flavor being so much as to overwhelm the rich creamy stout. Heaven. I had hoped to just kind of sit quietly and have a drink, because I had planned to meet up with Ally later and was just trying to wind down. Instead a very drunk old man at the bar told me he was very important in this town, and then he talked to me for about fifteen minutes about golf, law, and Sam Kinnison, all while occasionally touching my shoulder. It started off kind of endearing, but got a little off-putting after a while so I excused myself as politely as I could.
I went back to my Air BnB and crashed for a bit, and then went back out to meet up with Ally and do some more bar hopping. We started out at a place called New Brookland Tavern which Was really cool. They actually do open mics there on Monday, but I had been up in Greenville doing the Coffee Underground Mic. There was also karaoke happening there that night. I did not perform because I couldn't get drunk enough to do karaoke and also drive home, but I had fun just watching. One woman sang the hell out of Britney Spears, which is I think the perfect thing to do with Karaoke where you want a song that is really fun if you do it well, but you can pass of as ironic if you don't do it well. I also got to meet a local comic there who was nice enough to give me the names of people to contact as I worked my way through the south.
After that we met up with some of her friends at a different bar where there was a big holiday party going on. I'll be honest, much like karaoke I was not drunk enough to be there. Ally's friends were really nice, but the place was popping. At one point, a drunk girl was standing on a chair to dance to All I Want for Christmas Is You and she just instantly fell over on top of me. It was kind of overwhelming for me as a bit of a homebody but I tried to put on a "having fun" face because I liked the people I was with and didn't want to be a wet blanket. I was very relieved though when we did end up going back to Bar None, which had become my unofficial home base for the week. I stayed there a little bit getting to have conversations I could actually hear which was nice, but I still ended up turning in a little earlier than everyone else because I was worn out. That was a sign of day fully used though.
Favorite Random Sightings: Southern Fried Cotton (call me crazy, but I think it doesn't matter how the cotton's prepared, it probably won't taste good.); Madvape; Slab Town; Martin Sausage Road
Regional Observations: It turns out that in Columbia the police cars just keep their blue lights on so you know that they're police cars, which I'm not used to. I found this out because I saw blue lights behind when I was driving home from dinner, so I essentially pulled myself over. The police officer was surprised that I abruptly pulled over. We had a very confusing conversation where we were each trying to figure out why the other had pulled us over. I asked, "Is everything alright, Officer?" to which he replied completely in earnest, "I don't know is everything alright?". My reply to this "I don't think I was speeding and I haven't had anything to drink (all true at this point in time)" did not exactly make him less suspicious of me. After a while, we figured out what had happened and each had a good laugh about it. You learn something new everyday.
Albums Listened To: Loverboy by Brett Dennen (I always liked this album, but I very rarely listen to it all the way through, so it was way better than I remembered it); The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys by Traffic; Ludo by Ludo (just Girls on Trampolines); Lumpy Gravy by Frank Zappa (a weird mix of orchestral pieces, spoken word, jazz, doo wop and everything in between); Made in the Shade by the Rolling Stones; Madvillainy by Madvillain (Madlib and Doom at the top of their games, one of my all time favorites)
People's Favorite Jokes:
Did you know we have a bagel that can fly? A plane bagel (some very cute context, my cashier at the bagel place couldn't think of a joke on the spot so he wrote this on my order receipt with a drawing of a flying bagel on it)
Special International Jokes: A South African One-Liner Comedian named Pius Xulu found my blog through Instagram and asked if I wouldn't mind giving him a shout out. I said of course, if he'd send me some of his favorite jokes so here they are and feel free to follow him or see his shows if you're visiting South Africa any time soon:
They said they couldn't wait to see what I had in store and I said, "No pressure... I don't have a store"
I saw a duck today and I asked myself, "How is that related to Tape?" Duck Tape. Now THAT's a sticky situation"
Songs of the Day:
I really like this song and there is something oddly sweet about how weird this venue is
This is long, but rapping over live jazz is so cool especially when the rapper/ jazz band combo is as good as this.