EVENT — Erin go bragh (and bald!)
St. Patrick’s Day
Fri. March 17
Various events and locations
This year, there’s enough Irish to go around for everyone, from the wee lads and lasses to the silverbacks, as the world celebrates the life of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. Revelers can start the day off with the Charleston Ancient Order of Hibernians, the S.C. Irish Historical Society, and the Knights of Columbus as they attend the 8 a.m. Mass at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church (134 St. Philip St.), march in a St. Patrick’s Day parade on King Street at 10 a.m., raise the Irish flag at the de facto City Hall (at the corner of Broad and Church streets), and enjoy a traditional Irish luncheon accompanied by step dancers, bagpipers, and Irish sing-a-longs at the Knights of Columbus Hall at noon (143 Calhoun St.). When the sun goes down, the intrepid can head up to McNeill’s Pub (10597 Dorchester Road) for St. Baldrick’s Day, an annual event that raises funds for childhood cancer research through the shaving of volunteers’ heads. So far, about a dozen people have signed up to go under the clippers, including Heineken Skywalker, singer with the Hybrid Mutants; of course, you don’t have to go cue ball to donate — you could just kick back, enjoy some corned beef and cabbage and the sounds of local musicians Andre and ThaDJEFFECT, and give a few extra dollars for those who don’t have a choice in the baldness matter.
FRIDAY
SPORTS — Ball juggling at its finest
Carolina Challenge Cup
Sat. March 18 6 and 8:15 p.m.
Wed. March 22 6 and 8:15 p.m.
Sat. March 25 6 and 8:15 p.m.
$15-25/doubleheader
Blackbaud Stadium
1990 Daniel Island Dr.
971-GOAL (4625)
www.charlestonbattery.com
Clean that old caked mud off of those cleats and shin-guards; soccer season has arrived! If you’re more the spectator than participatory type, the Charleston Battery has just the thing to wet your whistle for the start of their official season — the third annual Carolina Challenge Cup, featuring matches between our own Battery and Major League Soccer teams DC United and the newly-renamed Houston Dynamo (formerly Houston 1836, and before that, the San Jose Earthquakes) and Red Bull New York (formerly MetroStars). Even casual soccer fans will recognize DC United’s teenage soccer prodigy, midfielder Freddy Adu (pictured above), touted by some as this generation’s Pele — a soccer icon with whom Adu recently appeared in a Sierra Mist commercial. Discounts are available for series and group tickets, and fans hoping to catch a glimpse of Adu should snap them up now — he turns 17 in June, and will finally be legal to play in European clubs (meaning he can make big bucks overseas, where “football” is less “just a game” and more a continent-wide obsession).
SATURDAY AND WEDNESDAY
VISUAL ARTS — Redux aims for the bull’s-eye
The Unlikely Target
Opening Sat. March 18, 6 p.m.
On view through April 13
Redux Contemporary Art Center
136 St. Philip St.
722-0697
www.reduxstudios.org
In the Redux tradition of presenting envelope-pushing artwork, the art center presents The Unlikely Target, a national juried painting exhibition featuring 20 artists from all over the world, including artist Ryan Scheidt from Berlin, Germany and two up-and-coming artists from right here in Charleston, Townsend Davidson and Karin Olah (an excerpt from Olah’s “A Discourse” is pictured above). Juror Brad Thomas, the director and senior curator of the Smith/Avery Galleries at Davidson College, selected works that “challenge the traditional notions of painting and provide new and innovative approaches to the media,” and with 20 unique viewpoints and styles represented, there should be a little something to pique every aesthete’s interest.
SATURDAY
CONCERT MUSIC — Stained glass and clear tones
Soaring Sounds
Sat. March 18
8 p.m.
$15-50, $5/students
Gaillard Municipal Auditorium
77 Calhoun St.
554-6060
www.charlestonsymphony.com
For the seventh in this year’s Masterworks Series of concerts, the Charleston Symphony Orchestra will present three distinctly different, yet sonically soaring (hence the name) works. Guest violinist Colin Jacobsen, described by The New York Times as “born to the instrument and its sweet lyric possibilities,” will join the CSO in performing a Violin Concerto by Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 7 by Dvorak, and blue cathedral, an original piece by contemporary composer Jennifer Higdon that evokes a journey through a glass cathedral suspended in the sky. Higdon will be in attendance at the performance and will give a lecture about blue cathedral on Fri. March 17 at 5 p.m. in Room 309 of the Simons Center for the Arts (54 St. Philip St.) at the College of Charleston.
SATURDAY
COMEDY — What’s the deal … with Regan?
Brian Regan
Thurs. March 16
8 p.m.
$33.50
N. Charleston Performing Arts Center
5001 Coliseum Dr.
554-6060
www.brianregan.com
Comedian Brian Regan has forged his own path in the world of comedy, performing at clubs across the country and winning awards and acclaim since his breakthrough in the K-Rock/Miller Lite Funniest Person in New York contest in 1988. Regan, who works clean and combines the physicality of Will Ferrell with the wry observations of Jerry Seinfeld, is something of the “comedian’s comedian,” sticking steadfastly to stand-up comedy and the late-night TV circuit and not migrating over to sitcom-land or movie stardom. In the process, he’s seen the attendance at his shows increase year after year, until finally, in 2005, his audiences grew too large for comedy clubs and he embarked on a mostly sold-out, 40-city theater tour. He’s labeled this jaunt “Brian Regan, The ‘You Too’ Tour,” and reviews tout his willingness to take audience requests for old bits, so make sure to review your copy of his 2004 DVD, I Walked On The Moon, and warm up those vocal cords.
THURSDAY
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