Owner Leora Davalos stands next to the door of VIP room at The Vault, at 227 Hale Street in Charleston, W.Va.. Photo by Chip Ellis from Sept. 27, 2007 Gazz article

Sweet and Sour met up recently at The Vault, Charleston’s newest upscale lounge. “Beers to You” blogger Rich Ireland does a Beer-O-Meter at his gazzblog. We are going to use him as inspiration and do a Design-O-Meter on this new much-talked about hotspot. Thanks, Rich! Joining Sweet and Sour is ‘Noel Cole Coward Porter,’ a certified lounge lizard and design fashionista from way back.
———-
Sour: “Rich didn’t give The Vault a good rating on his Beer-O-Meter. What do you think of the design and ambiance?” (more…)

Sweet and Sour wish to offer a heartfelt memorial tribute to Martha Wehrle, the legendary arts and community leader, who indeed lived up to all the wonderful things printed in her obituary said by all those important people as Bob Schwarz reported in the Nov. 2 print edition of the Charleston Gazette. Not only does she deserve a “Sweet & Sour Lifetime Achievement Award” for supporting the arts — she supported art back when hardly anyone did — her life was a delightful achievement in itself.

———-
Sweet: “What a great lady. Refined but not condescending. Loved and respected by many people from all classes and backgrounds. She was one of the greatest people I’ve ever known. A supremely, fully developed human being. An idol and role model.”
Sour: “And she was fun to be around and hilarious. She once told me at the W.Va. International Film Fest (which she helped to launch): “You are an enigma wrapped within a conundrum.”
———-
Sweet: “Certainly pegged you. And she really stuck up for artists trying to scrounge a living. Once, when some rich arts board types were griping about non-rich artists relentlessly hustling money and support, she stopped them in their tracks and said: “And which of you doesn’t do the same thing, I ask you?’ I was there when she did it and nearly cheered.”
Sour: “Martha Wehrle was also directly responsible for many of the arts opportunities we have in this city and state. We will sorely miss her guidance and friendship.”
Sweet and Sour: “We are thankful to have known you, Martha. Your memory lives on with the many people and organizations you helped over the years.”

Photo of Kenova’s annual Pumpkin House by Dave Fatela

Sweet & Sour weigh in on some of the best visual arts experiences of the just-concluded Halloween season:

Sweet: “My favorite of the Halloween season, artistically, had to be the Pumpkin House in Kenova, WV. Thousands of pumpkins are decorated each year at Halloween-time and placed on a Victorian-era-looking house everywhere. Porch, windows, roof — pumpkins are aflame and it works! It is an annual Halloween treat which draws national attention. Bravo! Ric Griffith deserves another LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT (along with Gallery Eleven and The Art Store so far) in the arts. He has been organizing carving thousands of pumpkins to display at his home for about 30 years.

He gets a number of community members to volunteer and hundreds, possibly thousands, enjoy the show. There are various theme scenes and just thousands of the best, inventive carved pumpkins ever. And it’s all free. People buy, donate, help carve, whatever so the area will have a fun, arty aesthetic experience shared by all.” (more…)