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COLUMBIA — Whataburger, the popular Texas-based burger chain, is one step closer to opening a location in the Capital City.

The fast food chain's Killian Commons Parkway location, one of three planned for the Columbia area, broke ground on April 5. The restaurant is set to open in September.

The area's other locations include one in Irmo and another in Lexington. The chain also plans to open up eateries in the Upstate.

The burger chain, which started in 1950 in Corpus Christi, Tex., is set for 202 Bridgeberry Lane in Columbia.

Teriyaki Madness to open in Five Points

An Asian fusion chain has circled an opening date for its first Columbia location.

Teriyaki Madness, which is set for 942 Harden St. in Five Points, will open its doors April 12, according to a press release from the restaurant.

The Colorado-based chain has locations across 20 states and in 3 countries. Its Five Points location was first reported in September of last year.

The restaurant offers a variety of bowls, including chicken teriyaki bowls and spicy tofu teriyaki bowls, and sides like chicken eggrolls and crab rangoons, according to the website.

It will open alongside a strip of other popular chain businesses like Orangetheory Fitness, a boutique gym and Flying Biscuit Cafe, a Southern food brunch place.

Parlour 818, new hair salon, opens

A new luxury salon, Parlour 818, celebrated opening its doors on Millwood Avenue April 5.

The salon, which offers everything from hair cuts to hair extension applications, comes from Florence native Lex Moore.

"Parlour 818 was meant to feel like home, or like you were going to visit your best friend," Moore writes on her website.

The salon is located at 3306 Millwood Avenue and is open Mondays through Fridays 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.

Other business news you might've missed:

For the second year in a row, and for only the second time in Columbia's history, two restaurateurs from here have been named finalists in the James Beard Foundation awards.

"What are those?" you might ask. Essentially, the James Beards are akin to the Oscars or a Pulitzer, but for folks in the food and dining industry. They recognize excellence from chefs, bartenders and restaurateurs all across the country with categories like Outstanding Restaurant and Best Chef for each region.

This year, Robbie Robinson, owner and pitmaster of City Limits BBQ in West Columbia, is nominated for Best Chef: Southeast. This is Robinson's first nomination and it comes after he moved his longtime food truck to a brick and mortar location last year.

Lula Drake Wine Parlour, a wine bar and restaurant on Main Street in Columbia, is nominated for a second year in a row. This year, the bar is nominated in the Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program category. Last year, it was nominated for Outstanding Hospitality.

Columbia had two of the state's four nominations in the national awards. You can read more in-depth coverage of that news here.

In other restaurant news, the U.S. Department of Labor recovered more than a quarter of a million dollars from owners of Krafty Draft Brew Pub for around two dozen employees who the federal agency said were not compensated fairly. The Lexington restaurant's owners were found to be operating an invalid tip pool and using tips to cover most of the servers' salaries.

Lastly, if you're headed to the airport soon, be prepared to pay a little more for parking. The Columbia Metropolitan Airport announced it would up surface level parking from $10 to $12 a day and garage parking from $14 to $17 a day.

Now and again, a smattering of rather idealistic or sentimental posts flutter across my Instagram feed. They tend to ruminate on the joys and sorrows of participating in the DIY music scene of Columbia, its foibles, setbacks and horrors, the opportunistic trends of mid-size city creativity, yet they mostly focus on the triumphs of community and unity in its cyclical trance-like dance around the Art (capitalization intended).

I’ve observed that these posts typically reflect on how “we” as participants in a subculture around the local music scene have poured blood/tears/gallons of sweat equity into work that has an inevitably short lifespan or even falls unrecognized to the wayside, disregarded by Columbia-at-large.

My growing affinity for this community of creative ponderers evolved over the past four years since returning to the city full time; despite bouncing around for the previous 15 years, I’ve always thought of Columbia as home.

The relationship I have with Columbia’s music scene started with a lot of enthusiasm and naïveté. Over time, I’ve come to understand it as a network of shape-shifting players who, despite false starts and the occasional fallings-out, serve to “push the envelope” of an underground world of possibility a little further.

With each new venue (DIY or otherwise) that pops up and fades away, I’ve seen another little wave of hope on the horizon — a hope that there is a legacy here and that we aren’t just working on all this for nothing …

It sounds silly to say, “I’ve always loved music.”

Although, there hasn’t been a day in my life when I didn’t hum or mumble a tune, didn’t listen to something new and vividly daydream music videos in my head or make up new lyrics to instrumentation I’m familiar with. I, of course, wrote my own melodies in fits and starts as a teenager, and I was always, always listening.

My parents ensured that I got bottle-fed by the 1994 albums “Swamp Ophelia” (Indigo Girls) and “Cracked Rear View” (Hootie and the Blowfish). I learned the merit of Southern songwriters and the impact they could make on the industry, long before Darius Rucker turned his gaze to solo country releases.

Concert and Music News

At the age of 4, I ended up at the Grand Ole Opry for a rather historic moment in country music history — Josh Turner’s Opry debut in 2001 where (according to my tiny kid-brain memory) there were multiple, minutes-long standing ovations after he performed “Long Black Train” at the end of his set and again as an encore.

I refused to sit still in church as a kid and could often be found breaking it down to “Amazing Grace” in the aisle, even if it wasn’t the peppier version my dad coined. I hated piano lessons and ended up teaching myself guitar because dad was terrible at teaching the things that felt natural to him — I have inherited that propensity.

I remember my first arena show and leaving halfway through to go have a panic attack in the hall; my friends couldn’t find me for an hour and were pretty upset — this was back when I had a flip phone (that sweet blue Samsung Intensity II), and of course it was on silent and I wasn’t checking it because I was HAVING A PANIC ATTACK …

When I lived in South Florida, I snuck into a music festival during finals week with my roommate and got to hear Macklemore perform “Thrift Shop,” of all things. I remember the exhilaration of breaking the rules and feeling the energy wash over me while dangling from a chain-link fence, barefoot and out of breath.

Arts & Entertainment

It wasn’t until after college and moving back to Columbia in December 2020 that music became really intimate for me. I think my first show after returning was a house show in August 2021 … at a house that has since been demolished on River Drive, near the first house I remember living in as a kid.

I don’t even remember who played that night, I just remember thinking “this is actually kind of cool” — I went to a handful of shows at Art Bar and New Brookland Tavern (State Street location) around that time too, and I recall being surprised that I was actually having a good time.

I got bit by a hyperfixation bug in early 2022 and got a new mirrorless camera. Photography has always been one of my preferred art forms, but in this instance it was a “right place, right time” situation, and I ended up taking it to NBT with me for a show, somewhat last-minute and somehow ended up taking some of my favorite photos I’ve ever produced. The band was a Belgian shoegaze act called Slow Crush. I don’t know how Carlin (Thompson) got them, but I’m so glad he did.

It was surreal — I felt like I’d stepped into another universe, lured in by the muse, by the art that was possessed and mastered by the people in front of me. A month or so after that, I remember emailing a few of the photos I took that night and my resume to David Clarey, the then-Free Times managing editor, and I started covering music as a freelancer.

My observations of Columbia compile over layers of deep affection for the space, for this home, coated and wadded up with some feelings of disdain for the avarice of more politically minded folks, as well as a possessive adoration of the possibilities that have a tendency to spring forth from the cracks between the bricks.

Another trend I’ve observed is that these efforts toward constructing a space for everyone to create and explore their art are never “for nothing.” Even at shows where literally every tiny thing that could go wrong does go wrong, somebody still walks away with a smile and a sense that they’re a part of something. To me, that’s what matters the most.

We are all here, making art, pushing each other, learning, piecing things together with duct tape and shoestrings, holding our teeth just right and hoping it works out this time. And somehow it does (mostly) work! And we do it again the next week, because it worked!

I am at all times balancing a sense of frustration with the limitations of being a Southerner and an artist in tandem with my intrinsic desire to repossess my home and orient it toward systemic self-improvement. My goal, now as contributing editor for arts & culture at the Free Times, is to continue documenting what works (and what doesn’t) in a way that sheds light on the vibrant impetus of it all:

The first day of spring is just a week away and pending anymore out-of-season, late frost situations, we will all be spending more time outdoors.

That means it’s the prime time for pollen, bees, and getting your garden started. If you don’t have a green thumb, then maybe you can get your front yard looking fresh, green, and and ready for spring with new plants.

With the soil warming up, we figured now would be a good time to dig in, especially since the Capital City has a variety of locally owned shops to check out and several plant-centric events on the horizon.

Columbia Garden Club Spring Plant Exchange | Saturday, March 16 | Held in the Talbot’s parking lot at 4809 Forest Dr., donations will be accepted 9:15 a.m.- 9:45 a.m., followed by the exchange beginning at 10 a.m. sharp.

Wingard Markets Spring Fling | Friday, March 15-16 | Enjoy discounts like 25% off all plants and more.

Garden Design with Bill Guess | Thursday, March 21 | Register to attend this event where the B.B. Barns garden coach presents several formulas for botanical combinations.

Boone Fox Farm BFF Spring Plant Sale | Saturday | 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. | City Roots, 1005 Airport Blvd., Columbia | Includes a farm tour at 10 a.m. and noon.

Lexington Herb Bunch Festival | Saturday, April 6 | 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. | Lexington County Museum, 231 Fox St., Lexington | Supports agricultural student scholarships.

Historic Columbia’s Spring Plant Sale | April 11, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. (HC members only), April 12, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., April 13, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. | Hampton-Preston Mansion, 1615 Blanding St., Columbia | One of two plant sales Historic Columbia holds every year, attendees can purchase plants propagated from the Living Collections across all of the historic sites.

Midlands Plant & Flower Festival | April 11-14 | Thursday-Saturday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. | SC State Farmers Market, 3483 Charleston Hwy., West Columbia | Offers a wide selection of plants and garden arts.

Midlands Spring Native Plant Sale | Saturday, April 13 | 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. | The plant sale focuses on blooming perennials, grasses, and our favorite smaller blooming shrubs and trees.

Richland County Master Gardeners Annual Plant Sale | Thursday, April 18 + Friday, April 19 | 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. | Master Gardeners will assist with garden and plant selections.

Riverbanks Zoo Spring Plant Sale (Members only) | Saturday, April 20 | 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Riverbanks Growing Center, 1201 Seminole Dr., West Columbia | Features a variety of annuals, perennials, trees, and special collections.

Columbia was the brunt of writer Myles Isreal's jokes.

Isreal, who lives in Atlanta, had ties to South Carolina’s rural communities, which formed his negative opinion of the state and Columbia. But when he got the opportunity to work on his script with University of South Carolina professor and filmmaker Dustin Whitehead, “Hero” became an ode to Isreal’s laughing stock.

Columbia plays a key role in the movie with a soundtrack chock full of local musicians, backdrops featuring the city’s murals, fans of the USC women’s basketball team and — who could forget — trains.

“I've been in Columbia for two years,” the film's director, Whitehead, said. “Really what I was thinking was ‘what am I excited about in this town?’”

“Hero” is a movie about a college dropout and a USC student. They get pregnant and struggle with deciding their futures. It’s not only a showcase of the city, but a feature on fatherhood, “Blerd” (Black nerd) culture and subverting societal expectations of Black Americans.

Concert and Music News

The movie features an almost all-Black cast, but for Isreal and the rest of the cast, it’s a story about everyone.

“It's actually funny because I never really heard of the term ‘Blerd,’” Isreal said. “I always felt like, as people of color, you have to be put into boxes about being who you are as a person.”

The main character, Tre, played by Anthony Currie, dresses like a Trojan soldier with his friends and does live action role playing, for example.

“I just wanted to do something that stepped outside of that box and just have a person or a character that's like, ‘look, it's somebody who is a black skin color, but just because they're Black they're not a type-cast,’” Isreal said. “They could be into different things, they can be into nerdier or pop-culture stuff.”

Columbia actor Darion McCloud plays a father in “Hero.” His character is such a good father, it gets annoying as he eggs his son on to watch a USC women’s basketball game with him, Whitehead said.

McCloud, a father to a 15-year-old, agreed to act in the movie, without reading the script, once he found out Whitehead would be working on it. He wanted to “represent the dads,” and quickly realized the movie was special.

“The myth is Black fathers, they're not engaged,” McCloud said. “And I was like, ‘wow, why is the story so different?’ It shouldn't be, but that's the reality.”

The production of “Hero” was also unique in that much of the crew were students.

McCloud came in with low expectations, because it’s a student film. Expectations that would be shattered.

“I expected a student film,” McCloud said. “They look like someone's learning to write this story and someone's learning how to run audio ...they look like student projects, and when I saw the film, I fell in love.”

Arts & Entertainment

“Hero” is the third movie created by nonprofit, Local Cinema Studios. The nonprofit’s mission is to connect film students to professionals in the industry.

McCloud is a theater actor and “natural storyteller.” He had grown accustomed to professional crews, but the less-experienced crew on "Hero" presented its own advantages.

“People were open, sometimes they didn't know what they were doing, but they still executed at a high level,” McCloud said. “Young people take on a challenge and meet that challenge. On set, there weren't a lot of egos.”

"Hero" was the first film set for Carly Siegel, who plays the female lead, Jess. She worked as both an actor and production assistant. She plans on being an actor in New York, Los Angeles or London.

“I could see the whole process happening,” Siegel said. “It's something that I absolutely love, and I'm totally ready to get back on set once again but we'll see when that happens.”

Arts & Entertainment

The cast and crew said that “Hero” defies all expectations. It’s a movie about fatherhood. It’s controversial, intimate and artistic and its prerogative is to inspire everyone in Columbia.

“My hope is that people will experience the film as a narrative and be moved by the journey of the characters," Whitehead said. “(And) beyond that, be inspired to create within the community of Columbia, of South Carolina.”

“Hero” premiered April 5 at The Nick theatre on Main Street and will be showing until April 18.

COLUMBIA — The premise of local filmmaker Chris Bickel’s latest effort "Pater Noster and the Mission of Light," is almost too perfect.

The film centers around a record store employee whose discovery of a rare vinyl from the 1970s draws her into a hippie commune cult, with predictably disastrous consequences. It feels like a story that should have been told before, and one that someone like Bickel is perfectly suited to tell.

Bickel has a lengthy history in Columbia as a hardcore punk rocker, experimental producer and devoted record collector and hawker. In 2017, he started cranking out independent films, starting with “The Theta Girl,” a film that feels like Bickel spent a lifetime crafting.

As it turns out, though, the idea for the film, and the sprawling accompanying soundtrack, came well ahead of the story.

“In (2022), I hooked up with this really cool couple, Rob and Shauna Tansey, who are these gearheads that just picks up all these old cars and always have cool stuff. I ended up using some of their cars in 'Bad Girls,'” explained Bickel.

Shauna Tansey texted Bickel one day, "Hey, by the way, I just bought this old school bus. And I'm thinking about painting it with like a psychedelic paint job, like the Furthur bus." The Further bus was featured in the 1969 documentary, "Merry Band of Pranksters."

Music Features

That initial inspiration — as well as his own encounter with a record by Ya Ho Wa 13 the house band for real-life cult, The Source Family — led to story behind “Pater Noster.”

And, in another twist, Bickel embarked on the soundtrack’s creation well before the script was in hand.

“I realized before I even wrote the script that I wanted to have a band, and to do so I wanted to record a whole album of the songs before the script was even finished,” Bickel recalled of the fake band he created for the project.

Bickel reached out to a bevy of local musician friends, gave them "a general idea of what's gonna go on in the movie," and asked the artists to each bring a song. "And so that's what we did," he said. "And it all kind of came together pretty quick.”

Utilizing a large core group of players that included long-time collaborators like Stan Gardner and the Jam Room’s Jay Matheson -- both of whom played with Bickel in the impetuously conceptual hard-rock party band Confederate Fagg -- as well as local artists and multi-instrumentalists like Marshall Brown and Sean Thomson who could conjure up the retro vibes and “psychedelic head-music,” Bickel’s soundtrack quickly took on a life of its own. It includes everything from Pink Floyd-esque space ruminations to stoner rock romps to hippie-folk singer/songwriter-isms, all tied together by Bickel’s sonic tinkering and distinctive vision.

“It was a weird ask, but I told everybody to write something as if it’s being made in 1972, but you're just on the cusp of things, ahead of the game,” he said of the soundtrack prompt. “It was sort of all over the place, but I thought that that's what it would be like if there was this cult of people that were all highly intelligent and they were just really in tune with music and art at the time.”

Two singles have already been released. One a sprightly Joe Buck Roberts (Debbie & the Skanks) led hippie-folk number, the other a creepy Gardner-penned proto-post-punk number submerged in a swirl of special effects.

Bickel plans to release a song a week over the next few months, using the steady drip as a way to finish funding the film’s post-production and release costs. As of Nov. 28, Bickel raised more than $23,000, according to Indie Gogo, far surpassing his $16,000 goal.

“I thought that this would be the best way to promote the crowdfunding campaign without begging every day," he said. Bickel said the music offers value beyond asking folks to "please give us money."

"Hopefully, people would enjoy the music and want to buy the soundtrack," he said. The soundtrack is available in a number of different vinyl variants. "If they preorder it, then I have the money to work with to finish all the movie stuff.”

More information about Bickel’s crowdfunding campaign for the film can be found at indiegogo.com

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