The 2nd annual Groundhog Day benefit concert at the Charleston Music Hall last night was full of musical magic and intrigue.  Gifted puppeteer Will Schutze opened the show with a marionette dance and song medley and the curtain opened on a fabric-draped stage with musicians and instruments cloaked in lights.  For the next three hours there was a nearly seamless progression of knockout performances, a real thrill ride for jazz-lovers, with a bent for Americana and Latin flavors.

Musical mastermind Bill Carson put together a carefully curated and enthralling program of old and new songs written by many of the local musicians on stage or culled from his archives of personal favorites.  He tweaked arrangements to weave genres together (let’s throw some banjo in that one!) or build tension. Joel Hamilton’s now-iconic “Tourniquet” was a reprise from last year, but with noticeable changes and a twist at the end that made it oh-so-satisfying.  What Carson does with mood is brilliant.

Some creative forces will be teaming up this weekend for a concert that looks pretty interesting.  It’s the Groundhog Day Concert, and it will be happening Saturday night, January 31st at the Charleston Music Hall (37 John Street, downtown).  It’s described as an “intimate evening of music” and is spearheaded by the cool folks at the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art.  There will be music by The Opposite of a Train – Bill Carson, Nathan Koci, and Ron Wiltrout; Owen Beverly, Jack Burg, John Cobb, Michael Flynn, Clint Fore, Joel Hamilton, Kevin Hamilton, Rachel Kate Gillon, Jonathan Gray, Mark Sterbank, Lindsay Holler, and Stephanie Underhill.  There will also be a special performance by Mr. Bonetangles   –  puppeteer Will Schutze’s rising star who recently had an impressive performance in Jon Favreau’s delightful new movie, “Chef.”

This Saturday, Charleston Music Hall will host a Groundhog Day benefit concert. The concert will feature music by The Opposite of a Train (Bill Carson, Nathan Koci, and Ron Wiltrout), along with performances by Owen Beverly, Jack Burg, John Cobb, Michael Flynn, Clint Fore, Joel Hamilton, Kevin Hamilton, Lindsay Holler, Rachel Kate Gillon, Jonathan Gray, Mark Sterbank, and Stephanie Underhill. The night will also feature a special cameo performance from Mr. Bonetangles by puppeteer, Will Schutze.

Bill Carson, the concert’s music director, says, “This concert is a way for the local music community to show its support for the fantastic contemporary arts programming that the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art provides year-round, and year after year. The Halsey often collaborates with musicians, actors, filmmakers, architects, designers, and others to create its unique multi-disciplinary offerings. The participating musicians all want to shine the spotlight on the Halsey Institute in gratitude for their dynamic and inspirational role in this community.”

The Pulse Dome Project, an exploration in bio-architecture, was ZanFagna’s search for a way to “grow” a house and create a structure in harmony with nature. 

In 2009, after living in Italy, New York, California, Illinois and elsewhere, ZanFagna, with his wife, Joyce, settled in Mount Pleasant, S.C., to be closer to family. Family members approached Mark Sloan, director and senior curator of the College of Charleston’s Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, asking him to look at ZanFagna’s work. Sloan plowed through paintings, drawings, sculptures and more, in a variety styles, but it was the Pulse Dome Project that drew him in. 

In 2012, Sloan curated an exhibition featuring Pulse Dome, as well as work from ZanFagna’s “Cyborg Notes.”

Groundhog Day Concert

Charleston Music Hall

January 31 | 8:00 p.m. | $15–$50

Bill Carson reassembles his cast of like-minded musical friends to share songs at this benefit for the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art. Performers will include Ron Wiltrout, Rachel Kate, Joel Hamilton, Stephanie Underhill, Clint Fore, Jonathan Gray, and Jack Burg.

The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston, in collaboration with the Charleston Music Hall, presents an evening of music featuring Charleston’s finest locally and nationally recognized musical acts on January 31, 2015 at 8 p.m. at the Charleston Music Hall (37 John St. Doors open at 7 p.m.).

He’s probably not the first one you’ll notice on stage. His is a small white flame charisma, not a raging red burn.

Bill Carson is slight, bespectacled, quiet, perfectly content to show off his friends. He stands there, unassuming, behind his twangy hollow-body guitar.

So it might come as a surprise to discover that Carson is the primary force making all this music happen.

Offering technical experimentation, metaphoric expansiveness and curiosity, Patterns of Place does not look like any other art that has been made before, and includes a series of six three-dimensional maps that Potter calls Isomorphic Map Tables and 100 1:1 Map Insets, as well as an extensive catalogue and a video about the artist.

In a blog post today, street artist Shepard Fairey laid out his top five moments of 2014 and lo and behold: the show he did this May at the Halsey Institute for Contemporary Art was number one. The Insistent Image: Recurring Motifs in the Art of Shepard Fairey and Jasper Johns comprised not only Fairey’s prints and paintings, but also four murals and one installation in five different spots in Charleston. (Read our cover story, “Raw Power: Shepard Fairey explores empire and the American Dream this Spoleto season,” on the exhibit here.)