Francis Fisher, chief engineer for “Mountain Stage.” Click to enlarge. Photo by Walker DeVille

If you have ever been in the audience at a “Mountain Stage” show at the Cultural Center Theater in the state Capitol Complex, you have never seen this man. But you have heard him. For at some point in the pre-show warm-up, Larry Groce or Andy Ridenour ask the show’s chief engineer, Francis Fisher (above), to say hello as they gauge the loudness of audience response on the recording Fisher is masterminding for eventual radio broadcast of that day’s show. Where is this disembodied voice coming from? From a downstairs cubby-hole — this cubbyhole and command center — down the hallway from the Green Room, where ‘Mountain Stage’ acts await their call to the stage.

Click to enlarge. Photo by Walker DeVille

Charleston awoke this morning draped in a white stole of snow. That’s the city skyline off in the Kanawha Valley down there, as seen from on high in the hills on the west side of town. A proper, satisfying snow. We haven’t had enough of those. A friend runs an office in Huntington where her office manager has announced she and her husband are contemplating moving (much to my friend’s chagrin, because she’s a good co-worker) — and the issue? Just not enough good snow, which the couple love. So, they’re looking at a move into West Virginia’s ’snow belt,’ off in the Greenbrier Valley near Lewisburg. Now, there’s a life decision I can appreciate: ‘Snowification — the desire to be snowed in.’

Snow for sale along Edgewood Drive in Charleston. Click to enlarge. Photo by Walker DeVille

Elizabeth Segessenman is on the flute for Comparsa on Mountain Stage. Click photos to enlarge them. By Walker DeVille

Mountain Stage staff had to be nimble on their feet when showcase act Buckwheat Zydeco canceled at the last minute for this past Sunday’s show. The vacancy was filled with a quick call to Eduardo Canelon, the Venezuelan-born lead singer of West Virginia’s premiere Latin dance band, Comparsa. They took to the stage with all but brass player Al Peery, who was unavailable on such short notice.

It was a very good weekend for the band. On Saturday night, they commanded the same stage as headliners at a FOOTMAD concert in the Cultural Center Theater in the state Capitol Complex. I didn’t make it but a friend did and said it was an excellent show. This is one dance-friendly band and the FOOTMAD show was set up to accommodate the urge, with salsa lessons and cumbia moves part of the evening’s package. The band also has its first CD out, “La Nueva Comparsa,” long in the making and accomplished in its sound. For more on the group, visit latinmusicwv.com.

NOTE: Click small thumbnail images below to enlarge them. Photo by Walker DeVille

This shot is the only way to accurately reflect the blazing fingers of Samir Joubran, part of a triplet of brotherly oud players, Le Joubran Trio, who set Mountain Stage on fire with their playing on Sunday. But speed wasn’t the only thing hypnotic about the performance by the three Palestinian family members, joined on stage by the equally accomplished percussionist Yousef Hbeisch. You could see it in the audience as listeners swayed to the music’s pulse like cobras weaving to an Indian flute. Then, as the group finished their third and last song, the audience erupted onto its feet in a standing ovation. (more…)

Click to enlarge. Photo by Walker DeVille

Karen Allen & Sean Richardson are two of Charleston’s most consistently creative and entertaining performers and singer-songwriters. They’re seen here at the recent opening of the “Breaking Art” show in a house on Hansford Street (See more photos a few posts ago). According to Richardson’s Myspace site, his next performance is a solo gig starting 6:30 pm., Feb. 27, at Lola’s restaurant in South Hills. That painting behind them, by Beckley-based reggae-jazz-blues performer Shayar, is, of course, an instructional one in how to properly use a marijuana cigarette in a social setting without inhaling, Clintonian style.

Click to enlarge. Photo by Walker DeVille

There’s a reason parking garages figure so prominently in the story lines of so many murder mysteries, horror movies and comedies (there was a whole “Seinfeld” episode about being stuck in one). Parking garages are full of ominous, empty spaces late at night. Plus, when you are being pursued by (take your pick) zombies, the police state, the murderous ancient cabal that secretly runs the world, a parking garage is a good place to duck into or race out of and lose their trail. But parking garages (like this one at the corner of Virginia and McFarland streets in Charleston, W.Va.) are also real-world epistemological representations of the multiple layers of reality and our ability to travel among diferent dimensions of experience. I actually have no idea what that means, but have always wanted to use the word epistemological in this blog. Plus, in the web video age, you have a new breed of “Parking Garage Moron” videos.

Click to enlarge. Photo by Walker DeVille

A lone light burns in the steeple of the Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral at Virginia Street and Leon Sullivan Way, as dusk comes on one late afternoon this week. Does anyone know — are these electronic bells or real ones? They chime the hours as does another church down the road a bit. That’s one of the nicest bits about waking up in almost any European town — the bells. Charleston is blessed to have bells of its own ringing out the hours, even if its electronic and not some monk.

Click to enlarge. Photo by Walker DeVille

OK, you ex-patriot West Virginians living in overly warm climes. You woke up today, went to your backyard and plucked fresh oranges from your orange grove and had the maid squeeze you fresh orange juice, which you sipped while you watched the workers toiling, picking grapes in your sunny backyard vineyards. Sure, it’s a good life. And, oh, that tan you’ve got could be competitive in the George Hamilton Cocoa Butter Open… But, really, now, West Virginia ex-pat, don’t you now and then, in your heart of hearts, miss snow? Here, then, a fix from Ye Old Sod — a snowflaky morning dawns on the city of Charleston and the South Side Bridge. You’re welcome.

P.S.– Click the photo to Super-Size Me dimensions and you’ll see a long line of pigeons holding a squabble, which is a pigeon powpow. And bad pun.

P.S.S–Today’s precipitation is still a pansy snow. Click here to view a slideshow of last decent snowdump on Charleston, set to the gorgeous Heidi Muller song “Snowdance” off her and Bob Webb’s “Seeing Things” CD.

Click to enlarge. Photo by Walker DeVile

What secrets lurk in the hearts of men — and West Virginia Capitol Domes? And will Culture and History czar Randall Reid-Smith and successive layers of authority above him succeed in their ousting of archivist Fred Armstrong without any repercussions at all — except for 134 letters to the editor and a picket line gauntlet or two? And what about the Mystery of the Missing State Museum (and the remarkable commentary it generated over at sister blog, Art Attack)? Just asking on a Monday…

If your local florist is out, quick head to Capitol Market’s Purple Onion to save your Valentine’s Day hide. Click to enlarge. Photos by Walker DeVille

One must see red on Valentine’s Day, so here’s some I saw today. I don’t get to the Purple Onion at Charleston’s Capitol Market often enough, but when I do I am always impressed by the variety, as well as the satisfying feng shui of its displays of all manner of treats, staples and gifts. It’s like a dollop of a European market had blown away and right over the Allegheny Mountains into downtown. See more market photos on the jump… (more…)