Author Archives: Stephanie Barna
I’m the editor of the Charleston City Paper. I also co-own the paper with my husband Blair Barna and the publisher Noel Mermer. I could probably do a blog just about working with your spouse, but I’ll spare you. Instead, I’ll post random musings, political rants, foodie thoughts, and various other stuff that’s relevant to the Charleston community. Or maybe it will only be relevant to me.
Matt and Ben review: D, This celeb-u-spoof of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck fails to splatter
These guys are probably glad this review hasn’t yet hit the site. I’m posting it here for now.
Matt and Ben
Imitation is the highest form of dullness
In 1995 Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were little known actors. By 1997, after they won Academy Awards for Good Will Hunting, they fell drunk on media attention. Soon [...]
Vaud Rats review: A+
For some reason (I’m looking at you Curry) this review has not yet made it to our site, so I’m posting it here until we can get it on the regular site.
Let Him Entertain You
K. Brian Neel croons and hoofs his way back to the heyday of vaudeville
If the graveyard at the Circular Congregational [...]
Vaud Rats Is A Piccolo Must-See
It’s not made it to the website quite yet, but Elizabeth Pandolfi’s review of Vaud Rats claims that it’s a must-see. She loved K. Brian Neel’s performance:
Vaud Rats, Neel’s one-man ukelele operetta which he wrote and stars in, is dynamic, engrossing, funny, heartbreaking, poignant, unique — all those things that make a night at the [...]
Spoleto Reunites
Mayor Joseph Riley and his counterpart from Spoleto, Italy made a promise mere minutes ago at the Opening Ceremonies that the two festivals — Spoleto Festival USA and Spoleto Festival dei du Mondi — will renew their ties and reestablish the relationship the two fests once enjoyed in the early days of the U.S. festival, [...]
Thursday Reviews
From editor Stephanie Barna:
A couple of new reviews rolled in today:
CP Music Editor Ballard Lesemann caught Marcus Tardelli’s first concert and gave his performance an A. From his review: “Clad in a sharp, all-black outfit, the 29-year-old musician proceeded to absolutely dazzle the large audience with a variety of Latin/Brazilian styles (samba, bossa nova, baião) [...]
And the Winners Are…
From visual arts writer Nick Smith:
As a co-founder and coordinator of Piccolo’s Folly Felder Film Fest, I have parts of my job that I love and parts that I hate. The good parts include viewing all the entries as they come in; this year, that meant I got to watch gems like Todd Tinkham’s And [...]
Topdog/Underdog Review
From editor Stephanie Barna:
For us at the City Paper, it’s easy to completely check out for the final weekend of Spoleto. By this time, we’ve put our final Spoleto issue to bed and we’re exhausted from three weeks-plus of intense work and deadline pressure. But, there are still shows opening. Last night, Jennifer Corley saw [...]
Lovell Sisters at Millennium
From music critic Lindsay Koob:
I confess a secret weakness for good bluegrass music, and it’s something of a relief to talk about it right now, surrounded as we are by all the classical stuff. The three Lovell sisters, a charming, rock-solid teenage sister act, performed at the Charleston Music Hall for last year’s Piccolo Spoleto, [...]
New Reviews
From editor Stephanie Barna:
I got to see Mike Daisey’s Monopoly! last night. A great show. I love this guy. I saw him last year, and I think I liked this year’s monologue even better. Monopoly interweaves a whole host of stories — Tesla and Edison, WalMart, Monopoly, Microsoft — in a way that makes [...]
More Prime Piccolo
From music critic Lindsay Koob:
Russian music often drips like a leaky faucet — but ah, what drippings! I’ve been yakking on all week about how Mahler bares all of life’s primal fears and frayed nerves. Well, the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff does much the same thing, but in a different way. It might help to [...]
