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Tag Archives: UNCSA

JC Superstar or: Dixon Does It

05 Thursday Apr 2018

Posted by TGBII in Life as We Know It, Music Review

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Alice Cooper, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Barry Dennen, Ben Daniels, Bob Bingham, Brandon Victor Dixon, Brian Keith, Carl Anderson, Erik Grönwall, Ian Gillan, Jesus Christ Superstar, Jin Ha, John Gustafson, John Legend, Josh Mostel, Kurt Yaghjian, Larry Marshall, Mike d'Abo, Murray Head, NBC, Norm Lewis, Sara Bareilles, Ted Neeley, Tim Rice, UNCSA, Victor Brox, Wicked, Yvonne Elliman

Salutations™!!

This past Sunday was Easter and NBC presented a live version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice masterpiece, Jesus Christ Superstar. And, I must say that I thought it was brilliant. In many ways, at least to me, it was superior to other versions. Not in all but there were several ways.

norm-lewis-jesus-christ-superstar

Norm Lewis as Caiaphas (©NBC)

 

John Legend has a great voice and I think he did a fine job singing. His acting was suspect, but he’s never been known as an actor. Some questioned casting him. Not me, I think it was an admirable job. Now, it is totally my belief that this story, despite its name, isn’t about Jesus. I think it’s about Judas. In all the versions I have heard and/or seen, Judas always outdoes Jesus. But, back to Jesus, John Legend did great but he comes in third in my rating behind Ted Neeley and Ian Gillan in that order, although Ted and Ian can alternate depending on my mood.

Like I said, the true star of this show was Judas and in such, Brandon Victor Dixon played a fantastic Judas. His voice was powerful and his range wide. There was a time toward the end that he was seemingly struggling to hit some notes but he still hit them. I’ve only seen the film and heard the Original UK Recording so those folk had time between performances. This was all in one. Dixon killed. He had emotion, passion (pun!), discourse, regret and power in the part. I’m rating him tied for first with both Carl Anderson and Murray Head. Judas is my favorite character and I have really loved each performance, each for different reasons.

Another of my favorite characters in the story is Caiaphas, played by Norm Lewis in this production. I think Lewis had the best voice of the three (Victor Brox in the UK and Bob Bingham in the film). He kept the low growly parts rough and the higher baritone parts smooth. And, dang! I want those cloaks the Pharisees/Sanhedrin wore. Those looked cool as heck. Lewis’ hairstyle was soooo the part, too. He made the part cool, for sure. Again, he wins as best.

Another star of this show that didn’t get enough respect in the reviews that I read was Jin Ha who played Annas another of the Sanhedrin. His register was spot on and he really captured the spirit of the part. I think his voice is better than both Brian Keith (UK) and Kurt Yaghjian (film). He, too, looked cool in the Sanhedrin cloak.

I don’t think the performances of John Gustafson (UK) and Larry Marshall (film) were all in your face, but the portrayal of Simon Zealotes by Erik Grönwall is quite memorable. It could be the half-shaved head with the geometric tattoos or the over-the-top performance or that strong high-pitched voice. Who knows, but Grönwall knocks it out of the park. Grönwall won the 2009 Swedish Idol contest. He’s also in a hard rock band over in Sweden. Interesting dude and a great high voice.

Ben Daniels’ Pontius Pilate was a cool character. His costume was top-notch and his performance went along with that. I don’t know if it was just out of his range or he was just playing the part but at the end of his trial (and the 39 lashes) his voice gets disheveled, shaky and “weak.” I would like to think that the character’s urgent circumstance led to the frazzled sounds coming from his mouth. Both the UK and film versions were played by Barry Dennen. I think Daniels was the best of the two, although I do dig his version of “Pilate and Christ.”

King Herod and “King Herod’s Song” are one of my favorite character/song combos in this story. The incomparable Alice Cooper played Herod in this production. Former lead singer of Manfred Mann, Mike d’Abo played the part in the UK version and Josh Mostel (son of famous Broadway/film actor, Zero Mostel) is in the film. I loved Alice’s performance, but he takes the passenger seat compared to Mostel’s. His floaty/flighty performance in the film was so much fun.

I’ve saved Mary Magdalene for last. As much as I loved what Yvonne Elliman did in both the UK and film versions, Sara Bareilles tore them up. I think she looked the part, played the part and sounded the part, each by 1000. Mary isn’t one of my favorite characters in the story but she plays the “innocent resignation” quite well. “Everything’s Alright” has been stuck in my head since Sunday. Bareilles’s version in particular. It was great.

The chorus and extras were all where they needed to be and the story was updated for 2018 as opposed to 33 CE/AD/etc. It was more street and less ancient. The orchestra was great. The young guitarist that started the show was quite awesome. The costumes and some of the set design/work was done in part by UNCSA alumni. It was visually stunning.

Now, not everything was great. I loved that they had the audience but the audience was a bit overly enthusiastic. Every time someone would sing, they’d go crazy. It was great but every breath didn’t need to be applauded. The sound mixing was a bit off, at least in the beginning. You could hear a lot of the music but not so much of the singing; it was spotty and patchy. Later in the show that straightened itself out.

I did like the “during the commercial” spycam of backstage and even front of the house while the commercial breaks happened. That was good.

All in all, I loved this version. I have watched it twice. I have recently watched the film again and I’ve listened to the film soundtrack no less than four times since Sunday (including once today). I think this set the standard for the live musicals if NBC is going to continue to do it. They teased Wicked which is my favorite Musical Theatre show during this, I wonder if that’s next? We’ll see. I think most of the reviews were positive and I definitely give this a 4.5 out of 5 on it. I hope they do more of it. I miss going to Charlotte for the Broadway Lights series. Great stuff. Now, where’s the remote? I have another watch in me.

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

—
“So, you are the Christ, you’re the great Jesus Christ? Prove to me that you’re divine; change my water into wine. That’s all you need do, then I’ll know it’s all true. Come on, King of the Jews.” – “King Herod’s Song (Try It and See)” (Webber/Rice)

Black Butte Porter or: The Less Desirables Beer of the Week

04 Wednesday Oct 2017

Posted by TGBII in Beer

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Tags

Beer, Beer of the Week, BeerAdvocate, City Beverage, The Less Desirables, The Less Desirables Network, UNCSA, Untappd

Salutations™!!

City Beverage, the Official Beer Sponsor of The Less Desirables, presents The Less Desirables Beer of the Week, Black Butte Porter, by Deschutes Brewery.

20171004_154052

Groot says he’ll fight you for it…

 

So, Caitlin isn’t here any longer and we can have the dark stuff again. Truthfully, I’d trade the dark stuff to have her back but she had to move on. I’ve had a few Deschutes brews and I think they do a great job. It’s dark and a porter (my favorite kind of beer) and from a reputable brewery, then, yes! Let’s do it! It’s 5.2% ABV so not too heavy.

BeerAdvocate has changed its overall scoring system which I think is fantastic. It rates each beer on its own merit and not compared to other beers. On The Less Desirables, we still rate it against the style, but yet on its own merits. So, the new rating system has it at 4.18/5. Their rating starts around 3.75, considering that anything ranked by a drinker at that percentage must actually like the beer. So, this is a good score. Untappd has it rated at 3.83 caps out of 5.

Have you had this beer before? What did you think? If not, or you just have a hankering for more, head down to City Beverage and grab your sixer. Tell them that it’s the beer of the week and get 5% off your order. This weekend is their annual tent sale so they will have a ton of beer and wine, much of the beer and almost all of the wine opened for sampling and you can save up to 60% off of cases of beer and wine. It goes from 9am-6pm and they’re at 915 Burke Street!

Tune in later this evening or early tomorrow to hear what Danielle, the UNCSA folks coming in and I think of it!

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

—
“This is the beer that started it all. A rich, creamy mouthfeel complements a layered depth, revealing distinctive chocolate and coffee notes. Full of flavor, yet easy to drink.” – Deschutes Brewery

 

Sausage Party or: The Less Desirables Movie of the Week

05 Saturday Aug 2017

Posted by TGBII in Movie Review

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a/perture Cinema, Alan Menken, Bill Hader, Danny McBride, Edward Norton, IMDb, Kristen Wiig, Michael Cera, Movies, Netflix, Rotten Tomatoes, Seth Rogan, The Less Desirables, UNCSA, Woody Allen

Salutations™!!

a/perture cinema, the Official Movie Sponsor of The Less Desirables, presents The Less Desirables Movie of the Week, Sausage Party (2016), starring Seth Rogan, Kristen Wiig, Edward Norton and Michael Cera.

MV5BMjkxOTk1MzY4MF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwODQzOTU5ODE@._V1_SY1000_CR0,0,674,1000_AL_

©Columbia Pictures

 

Per IMDb: “A sausage strives to discover the truth about his existence.”

At Shopwell’s Supermarket, there’s a celebration every morning. Every kind of inanimate object you can think of is celebrating because they could be picked by “the gods” to take into paradise. In particular, Frank (Rogan) is a sausage that is sitting right next to his girlfriend, Brenda (Wiig) on a shelf waiting to go into the Great Beyond. They talk about what they’re going to do and it’s pretty graphic. Instead, they just touch “tips.”

Food and grocery items get picked up, one after the other. Beets, peanut butter, jelly, flour, bananas, even a douche gets chosen to take that eternal journey. One item, however, Honey Mustard (UNCSA alum Danny McBride), has been on the outside but is returned and he’s flipping out. He keeps trying to tell everyone that things aren’t what they seem but no one listens. Honey Mustard tries to commit suicide by jumping off the edge of the cart. Frank tries to help him by grabbing his leg. Brenda helps Frank by grabbing his leg (yes the groceries have legs, shoes, gloves, eyes and mouths) and the human woman who is driving the shopping cart crashes into another shopper causing many of the grocery items to topple, including Frank, Brenda, Douche and some flour that clouds the entire area, creating a scene of chaos not unlike that of a building collapse. The humans don’t notice (it seems on purpose) and go on like nothing happened, running over some of the items.

Douche blames Frank and Brenda for causing the accident and for bending his nozzle, also for ruining his chances of “getting up in” the human purchasing him. Douche is picked up by the store janitor and tossed into the trash only to get out of a dumpster and find a dying juice box, which, after he sucks him dry, makes him stronger and powerful. He continues to murder innocent liquids to become even more powerful, searching for Frank and Brenda to exact revenge. Does he find them? Do Frank and Brenda find the truth of the Great Beyond? You’ll have to watch to find out.

This is probably the crudest film I’ve ever seen, especially for a cartoon. Then again, the crudest prior was Team America: World Police which was a big puppet show. The overt sexual innuendo was non-stop. The racial/sexuality/religious/creed stereotypes were embellished and swollen to mega proportions. It was definitely offensive and meant to be that way. All that being said, I loved it. It was hilarious at points, clever the entire time and a very fun movie to watch. I believe that was the point for most of it, how nonpolitically correct could they be? Lots and that’s good. There was definitely understated but definitely present political and social commentary that was spread throughout the entire film. The 9/11 quality of the cart crash was brow-raising but needed to demonstrate the devastation the groceries felt.

The characters were stereotypical but spot on. Perhaps not so much stereotypical but representative? The voice actors gave the characters life and Edward Norton does a great Woody Allen impression. Something else I found funny was that the original music was composed by Alan Menken (Beauty & the Beast, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid) who normally does a lot of Disney-esque fairy tale stuff. That was great. Let’s say the Meat Loaf cameo was pretty great, too.

All in all, I think the film was great. It’s not something to watch with your kids unless your kids are over the age of 15 or so. Entertaining and fun, but as I said, definitely crude. Rotten Tomatoes has it rated at 82% Fresh with an Audience score of only 51%. I don’t know what happened there. IMDb has it at 6.3 stars out of 10. I watched the film on Netflix and I rate it 4.25 stars out of 5. Have you seen it? What did you think? What would you like to read/hear me review?

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

—
“It’s all a lie. Everything you’ve been told, everything you believe in.” – Honey Mustard

Hidden Harmony or: Va, Tosca!

27 Thursday Oct 2016

Posted by TGBII in Life as We Know It, Podcasting

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Tags

Giacomo Puccini, Jake Gardner, Jill Gardner, Piedmont Opera, The Less Desirables, Tosca, UNCSA

Salutations™!!

A fiery, jealous opera diva. A depraved government official. A tortured artist. Jealous lovers. Murder.

To see intrigue like this just go to the Stevens Center of the UNCSA on October 28th, 30thtosca-1 and November 1st when Piedmont Opera presents Giacomo Puccini’s masterpiece, Tosca, the 39th season’s opener. “It’s on everyone’s lips.”

The Less Desirables had the two leads, Jill (Floria Tosca) and Jake (Baron Scarpia) Gardner on the show and we had a fantastic time with them, both. Jill and Jake are larger-than-life personalities, with booming voices that sound of silk… and that’s just when they talk. Jill and Jake are highly sought after, the world over for their abilities and talent. And who gets them? We do! The Piedmont Opera does. Winston-Salem. The Triad. And, I believe we all can’t wait to see and hear this.

You can get more info or purchase tickets by visiting Piedmont Opera website. You can also call 336.725.7101.

Rosemary’s Baby or: The Less Desirables Movie of the Week

09 Saturday Jan 2016

Posted by TGBII in Movie Review

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a/perture Cinema, Angela Dorian, Charles Grodin, IMDb, John Cassavetes, Maurice Evans, Mia Farrow, Netflix, Planet of the Apes, Ralph Bellamy, Roman Polanski, Rosemary's Baby, Rotten Tomatoes, Ruth Gordon, Sharon Tate, Sidney Blackmer, The Less Desirables, UNCSA, Victoria Vetri

Salutations™!!

The Less Desirables Movie of the Week, brought to you by a/perture cinema, the Official Movie Sponsor of The Less Desirables, presents Rosemary’s Baby (1968), starring Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, the incomparable Ruth Gordon and Sidney Blackmer.

Per IMDb: “A young couple move into an apartment, only to be surrounded by peculiar neighbors and occurrences. When the wife becomes mysteriously pregnant, paranoia over the safety of her unborn child begins to control her life.”

Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse (played by Farrow and Cassavetes) move into an Rosemarys_baby_posterapartment in a fancy-shmancy yet old and  gothic building in Manhattan as Guy tries to jump start his acting career. Their landlord, known as “Hutch” (played by Maurice Evans, who was Dr. Zaius in the Planet of the Apes films in the 60s) attempts to talk them them out of it because the building has an unsavory history. They get close to their neighbors, an elderly couple named Roman and Minnie Castevet. Guy begins to spend a great deal of time with them, and I mean a lot. They get on Rosemary’s nerves.

Then, strange things begin to happen. Things like: a young woman Rosemary meets in the laundry inexplicably commits suicide, Rosemary’s strange dreams that seem remarkably real and she starts hearing strange noises and voices in the walls. Also, Guy becomes quite distant. However, his acting career takes off. One night after a realistic dream about getting raped by a monster, Rosemary becomes pregnant. She starts suspecting that her neighbors and her husband plan to do her baby harm. She goes through a lot of sickness and their old friend Hutch falls ill and dies right after visiting Rosemary.

Rosemary gets information from Hutch’s assistant, after he dies, that bewilders her. She goes into labor and it’s quite horrible. She is sedated and when she comes to, she’s told the baby has died. But, has it…? To find out what happened, you’ll have to watch the film.

This film has one of the most famous “reveals” in cinematic history. Sure, now it’s somewhat predictable but in 1968, it was shocking. A few notables here: Roman Castevet was played by Salisbury, NC native, and one of those responsible for starting up the UNC School of the Arts. Ruth Gordon plays Minnie Castevet and won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in this film. This was Charles Grodin’s first major film role, he played Dr. Hill. Ralph Bellamy plays Dr. Sapirstein although I didn’t catch that at first. Rosemary tells neighbor (who eventually becomes the woman that commits suicide in the film), Terry, that she looks like actress Victoria Vetri to which she replies that she gets that all the time. Terry is played by Angela Dorian, whose real name is Victoria Vetri and she’s in jail for the murder of her husband.

The imagery, especially later in the film, is vivid. Makeup for Mia Farrow was fantastic, especially during the pregnancy time frame. She looked great, especially with that pixie cut hairdo. This was Roman Polanski’s first American-made picture and was made while engaged to Sharon Tate.

Rotten Tomatoes rates the film at 99% Fresh with an Audience Score of 87%. That’s the highest I’ve ever seen the Tomatometer. IMDb has it at 8.0 stars out of 10. Both are fantastic ratings. I concur with nearly all the ratings and reviews there, too. I watched the film on Netflix and I am rating it at 5 Stars. I highly recommend it if you like the classic horror films, supernatural thrillers and dark films in general. Have you seen it? Do you agree with what I’ve said about it? Let me know and tell me something you’d like to see/hear me review as I have room to add in the schedule in this new year.

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

—
“This is no dream! This is really happening!” – Rosemary Woodhouse

She’s Gotta Have It or: RiverRun and Run and Run

17 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by TGBII in Movie Review, Podcasting

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Tags

a/perture Cinema, Film, HanesBrands Theater, Hollywood Shuffle, RiverRun International Film Festival, SECCA, Shaft, She's Gotta Have It, Spike Lee, The Less Desirables, UNCSA, Winston-Salem, WSNC

Salutations™!!

Although there were two films shown last night as”openers” today is the first day of the 17th Annual RiverRun International Film Festival. The Less Desirables are media sponsors of the event and if you come to the films or parties or anything else that has to do with the festival, look for me. I may be at that event. I’ll warn you, I won’t be at every event, but you should be at every one you can be.

Last night, Fresh Dressed played at the HanesBrands Theater and Reality played atlogo-230x43-px SECCA.  Other outlets for the films this year are UNCSA Ace Theatre Complex and a/perture Cinema (Official Movie Sponsor of The Less Desirables).  For the closer on April 26, Manglehorn, starring Al Pacino and directed by David Gordon Green, will play at UNCSA Main.

There will be Narrative Features, Documentaries, Altered States (new directions in American cinema), films from the past, Films with Class and the one that I hope to catch a few films from, Spotlight on Black Filmmakers: 1971-1991.  This category will feature films such as Boyz N the Hood, Daughters of the Dust, Hollywood Shuffle, Killer of Sheep, The Horse, She’s Gotta Have It (a Spike Lee Joint) and the 1971 version of Shaft, he’s one bad motha … you get the idea. I think it’s awesome that they’re showing those films.  I have seen most of them but never on the big screen. That would be awesome. All in all, it’s 165 films, 91 shorts, 74 features from 35 countries. That’s a shload of films.

RiverRun is also is an Academy qualifying festival for Documentary Shorts and Animated Shorts. This means that submissions in these categories are judged and the winners are eligible to be Oscar nominees.  So you may be able to see some of those films that when you watch the Oscars go, when would I have seen that!?  I know I’ve been guilty of saying that before.

So, RiverRun is running from April 16-April 26. The box office is located at the Stevens Center (405 W 4th Street). There are several ways to purchase tickets for RiverRun outside of the box office.  To find out more about these plans and such, check out the website.  Have fun, enjoy the festivities and enjoy some great films!

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!!

—
“We’re scouring the world, each year, to find the best new films of all stripes to show our audiences.” – Andrew Rodgers, Executive Director of RiverRun International Film Festival on UNC-TV’s North Carolina Now

Closing Time or: Where Have All The Bistros Gone

19 Thursday Mar 2015

Posted by TGBII in Food, Rant

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

a/perture Cinema, Augustine's Bistro, Bulls Tavern, Camino Bakery, Community Arts Cafe, Corks Caps & Taps, Downtown Deli, Downtown Thai, Downtown Winston-Salem, Foothills Brewing, Fourth Street, Hutch & Harris, Jeffrey Adams on 4th, Jimmy John's, Kabobs on 4th, King's Crab Shack & Oyster Bar, Mellow Mushroom, Mooney's, Mozelle's, Olde Fourth Street Filling Station, Quanto Basta, Recreation Billiards, Relish, Skippy's Hot Dogs, SoundLizzard, Spirit Gum Theatre Company, Stevens Center, The Honey Pot, The Less Desirables, Tropical Smoothie Cafe, UNCSA, Washington Perk & Provision Company, West End Cafe, West End Coffee Shop, Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce, Winston-Salem Journal, WS Chamber

Salutations™!!

There have been two high profile (at least to me) closings announced this week in my favorite part of Winston-Salem and on the same city block.  This past Tuesday Augustine’s Bistro sent out a very short, but to the point, email to the restaurant’s closest supporters, friends and family announcing that they were closing as of that day.  No head’s up, no closing ceremony, no time for goodbyes.  About 45 minutes prior to that I received texts from both Aly Reich, the manager and Chris McDonough, the Mixologist (Intoxicologist?) Extraordinaire informing me that they were closing.  They had just found out minutes before.  According to an article by Michael Hastings of the Winston-Salem Journal, Eric Muck, the owner said that business just wasn’t there, as well as some preconceived notions of potential clients about the location.  We’ll get to that in a bit.

Today, in an article from Lynn Felder of Relish and WSJ, it was announced that The Community Arts Cafe is closing as of March 31. CAC was a performance center, cafe, wine & beer bar with a kitchen that was, for a time, a restaurant and catering area.  I saw a performance by Spirit Gum Theater Company there as well as some of the SoundLizzard showcases there.  The kitchen was the kitchen for La Rana Loca and Encore restaurants before that, complete with some beer taps.

Fourth Street is the new main street in Downtown Winston-Salem. a/perture Cinema, Camino Bakery, Washington Perk, Mellow Mushroom, Jeffrey Adams on 4th, Hutch & Harris, Kings Crab Shack & Oyster Bar, Downtown Thai, The Honey Pot, Kabobs on 4th, Tropical Smoothie Cafe, Jimmy John’s, Foothills Brewing, Skippy’s Hot Dogs, Corks Caps & Taps, Quanto Basta, West End Coffee Shop, Mozelle’s, Olde Fourth Street Filling Station, Mooney’s, Downtown Deli, West End Cafe, Recreation Billiards, Bulls Tavern, The Stevens Center, The Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce and The Less Desirables are just a FEW businesses on this street within a 9 block (or so) area.  This is the street to be on.  Now, both of these are on the 400 block of 4th Street.  That’s two locations in one week announcing closings within 100 yards of each other. What in the world is going on!?  I have some theories and I’m going to expound on them.  These may be slightly off base or they may be close, but they’re mine.

CAC

Logo of Community Arts Cafe

Let’s start with CAC.  When it opened, it was an innovation to what was going on downtown.  It was Fourth Street’s alternative to Trade Streets art galleries and had a performance center area that had a decent beer and wine selection.  They eventually added catering and a restaurant. The space is huge and they’ve sublet some of it.  But, really most people didn’t even know it was there.  There was a sign, yes, but it wasn’t flashy and didn’t get in your face.  Even when people did see it, it wasn’t really clear what it was. A chalk sandwich board outside becomes commonplace on the street and people tend to stop reading or looking.  Posters in the windows weren’t really indicative, either.  So, there was challenge number one. Then not too long ago, the WS Chamber took over the entire upper part, of the building. In doing so, they basically branded the whole building as WS Chamber.  That’s the prominent signage and I’ll admit, that while I knew about CAC being in there, it was lost on the appearance that it was WS Chamber’s building and they did everything in there.  If someone didn’t have business to do with the Chamber, then why go in, right?  The Chamber are so dominant in that space that when they moved in they demanded (and got) all the parking behind the building and no one is allowed to park there without having credentials. The Chamber are brutal, at times. Yeah, I said it.

UNCSA Stevens Center

Mundo, the former name of Augustine’s Bistro, being dwarfed by UNCSA Stevens Center signage

Let’s talk Augustine’s.  Augustine’s was at 401 W 4th. It was located in the UNCSA’s Stevens Center complex. Notice I said in the complex. Yes, it was in the same building but it wasn’t necessarily part of the Stevens Center.  However, that is one of the major problems.  People see the decorative awning of the Stevens Center that wraps all the way around the building and it full encompasses where Augustine’s was.  In fact, the Stevens Center’s branding was on the extreme edges of the awning, beyond any signage that any restaurant had out there. You can see from the picture here, what I mean. Thank you to Fam Brownlee for that picture.

So, with the perception of Augustine’s being part of the UNCSA, there are a few stigmas.  You get the low-brows who think the theatre is snooty and pompous and “I don’t want anything to do with those artsy-fartsy kind.” Or, because it’s in there, then it must be expensive.  The fact is, I believe that Augustine’s prices could have actually been a little higher; the quality and portion size (no matter what some ridiculous Yelp! reviewers may have said) were very reasonably priced and I think Eric and Audrey shorted themselves slightly.  I commend them for keeping the prices down as best as they can.  I just think it was particular component of the problem. Another thing, being that no matter how much signage you put out, UNCSA isn’t going to let you outshine them so your signs will never be indicative of what is inside. That being said, they think the restaurant is just part of the Steven Center which gives the misconception that they’re only open when there are shows going on.  They were open Tuesday through Saturday and even opening for lunches in the last month or so.

Another thing about this location is no restauranteur is going to have money to spend on upfitting the kitchen and refrigeration of the place and they’re in dire need of it.  UNCSA certainly isn’t going to pay to replace that, but they’ve had a problem with it for a while.  Compound all these ingredients and they either all are the problem or they contribute to it.

I’m not putting down either the Chamber nor UNCSA’s Stevens Center, but their being there is killing the potential for smaller businesses, namely restaurants in their presence.  The 400 block of Fourth Street at least on the northern side is dominated by those two locations. The irony is that the Chamber is supposed to be there to help businesses not oppress them. Whilst they maintain such visible and occupied presence, nothing else can survive.  Like grass when there are large trees around.  The trees absorb all the nutrients and the surrounding area is barren.

Both CAC and Augustine’s were reliant on word of mouth, however, if no one knows you’re there, they can’t tell anyone else. These locations have no money for marketing and without a marketing budget, there will be no traffic to your place.  Places like I mentioned before on this street had prominent signage that represented their establishments.

I’m challenging you all to become more aware of what is happening in this town that we love or if you’re from out of town, at least try to be more aware of what this town has to offer.  I’m bracing for the next big closure.  Which, sometimes when one thing goes another takes its place, but I’m afraid that the two spaces I’ve discussed are prompted to fail no matter what goes in there unless something changes on the marketing/signage front.  According to Hastings’s article about UNCSA there’s talk that they’ll re-purpose Augustine’s for something that isn’t a restaurant. I’d be relieved if that happened because anything that goes in there, to would be doomed for failure.

None of these factors are the lone factors, I believe.  It’s a culmination of many things, these just being the prominent ones in my mind. These are great locations that happen to be horrible locales.

Enough of my venting for the day.  Don’t let our foodie town erode away.

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

—
“For an adult, the world is constantly trying to clamp down on itself. Routine, responsibility, decay of institutions, corruption: this is all the world closing in.” – Bruce Springsteen

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