Dianne Reeves glides through her set in a lovely fashion

The Gaillard Auditorium was glistening last night as renowned jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves took us though an unmistakable set of her fabulous talents.  She has been working with 2 guitar players as of recent and getting away from her standard instrumentation of either a jazz trio, big band or orchestra.

My first thought was how is she going to fill in all the gaps with just 2 guitars. Boy was I ever wrong.  Spoleto Festival is no stranger to Reeves either as she has performed on several occasions in town.

As expected from the minute go, she had the crowd in the palm of her hands. She focused  mostly on her original works that evening showcasing her many styles and sounds from around the globe. One heard everything from samba to blues and pretty much everything in between.

It is this reviewer's opinion that Dianne, has absolutely come into her own and is riding a wave of success as far as she can.

She has the unique quality of perfect pitch and a range the size of the stratosphere.  Her arrangements were wonderfully thought out and the pace of the show moved along in such a way that it really made you think that you were sitting in her living room one on one.

Bravo to all involved.

Lemon Anderson moves, astounds and leaves crowd wanting RAP!

My girl friend Ashley and I strolled in to the County of Kings show last night shortly before 7:00 at the Emmett Robinson Theater at the College of Charleston. I had the opportunity to interview Lemon earlier that afternoon. Even after the interview, I still was not exactly sure how he was going to be presenting his show. Much to my delight it was a combination of pros, poetry and hip hop music.

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His life growing up in urban Brooklyn nothing like anything any of the audience members can imagine. He spent from the ages of 16-20 in jail! He came out a better man and knew that he had to do something positive with his life. He has. By the time he was 27, he was on the stage at the Tony's accepting an award and he has never looked back since.

What's very interesting to me is that Lemon is a quiet guy. He isn't the thug guy that he grew up acting like at all. He jokes about how the hipsters and yuppies still can not stand each other in Brooklyn.

His show has this unique quality of ripping you right into the middle of his life just as it were happening right in front of you. You clearly know that there's this actor on stage, but the cleverly worded delivery has this way of transporting you to the very time and place of his choosing and thus making it oh that much more believable.

From the needle and belt overdosing of his mother on Heroine, to her death of AIDS, Lemon gets beyond personal and still finds a way to keep it way cool. Do not walk. . RUN to see this show. You will thank me!

An evening with Karrin Allyson

One of the magical parts of Spoleto for me is the opportunity to sit down with artists that have the most wonderful vibe about them. When I sat down with Karrin the other day, it was like playing an old fashioned game of catch up. You know. . .the norm of name dropping of industry players, venues in the city and beyond and the like. I have enjoyed Mrs. Allyson's music for quite some time.

 Her newest album entitled Round Midnight was just released this month. That marks her 13th album. After my interview with her, I was so excited about seeing her show at one of my favorite venues in the city;The College of Charleston Cistern. It truly is perfect. Sitting under the stars and being serenaded by fabulous jazz. It was however still quite hot and muggy and buggy!

Karrin entered the  stage and performed to a crowd of about 600 guests. The anticipation was about to kill me. She started singing and to be honest I am not sure if it was vocal fatigue or what, but her breath support just didn't seem to be there.

Her song selections leaned towards the slower side of jazz. However, with that said, quite witty choices. It is especially of note that  Karrin chooses her sets each night and no night is ever the same. She even threw in a Simon and Garfunkle tune last night.

She can be seen at the Cistern again this evening. tickets are available at the Gaillard Auditorium.

LR does SPOLETO

Charleston is known for many things. It is known for its rich history, its fabulous cuisine and dining scene and for 17 days it is known as the host for an international arts festival known as Spoleto.

 Now don't get me wrong: Charleston does have its year round arts agencies. Some quite fabulous. . while others. .well community theater is what it is. . and that's TERRIBLE. in any case: I have a spoilt eye and palate for the arts. I expect the best and demand it from all of our performers. It is by saying this one can clearly see why I adore this time of year and manage to stay out of my NYC offices for 3 whole weeks.

For those of you who may not know: Spoleto Festival was brought to Charleston back in 1975 by founder Gian Carlo Mennotti. It has had its ups and downs financially. These days, mainly ups!

It's energizing, it is exhilarating. . it is what the arts is supposed to be about. Some pieces just out there and spine tingling brilliant, while others. . make you ask what the hell did I just see.Either way, it is the talent that is showcased during the 17 days that just brings an entirely different energy to the city.

This year I am covering the festival for my nationally syndicated radio program The Sunday Morning Mimosa, ABC television both locally and nationally in some instances, I will also be giving you my readers reviews, an inside scoop on what's happening within the festival, festival fashion, festival gossip,pictures from back stage, admission into exclusive society events and more.

I will be starting with an overview of everything that we will be seeing this season. Each night you may expect that I will offer our own creative insight to each piece and then give you an idea of how I and whatever guest I took with me that particular evening thought about the piece.

Get ready. . It's going to be a fun 17 days. On your mark, get set. . . . SPOLETO!!!!!

Signature i-phone covers and designer converse for take away items? It's being done!!!

Ok, we all attended them at one point or another. It is coming of age thing for all kids. . either the Bar/Bat mitzvah party or the sweet 16. Clearly, it's not my first rodeo producing either of these events. What is the one thing that people look for from an event planner on these types of parties? How to keep the kids busy so they won't be "getting busy!"

Well I thought I would share a couple of cool trends for these parties. Obviously, budget is always a factor. However, I will show some really great ideas if budget was not an issue and for those a little more concerned with their budgets.

The Social Network:

What is the one thing that these kids all have in common? a face book and or twitter accounts. Create an I-pad zone where they can update their status right there and bring in a social media company to collect those status updates and tweets and project them on a wall somewhere within the event space. This will keep them busy for hours and they will love to see what each other is writing. Now of course our our social media producers will be watching for any non-airable material.

each tweet is projected on the screens around the room. thanks to Visual-Live

Customized Phone Cover Lounge:

The kids will go crazy over this one where they can make their own signature i-phone or blackberry phone cover.

 here's one done by Marc Jacobs!

If budget is no issue at all: get a bunch of Converse shoes and create your own look for a signature take away item. How cool to have your own child's logo and put it on a shoe for a take away item. Jeff Zucker  formerly from NBC Universal did just that for his son Andrew's bar mitzvah the other day.