After writing about the Charleston Ballet Theatre’s Seven Deadly Sins, and in particular Jill Eathorne-Bahr’s drawing inspiration for her choreography from the magical fantastical work of representational painter Paul Cadmus (that’s “Lust” to the left), I came across this song. It’s originally by The Specials on the legendary Trojan Records, home of reggae. Last year, DJ Spooky reworked a boat-load of songs from Trojan’s vaults, including this one called “Ghost Town.” Spooky, aka That Subliminal Kid, splices in Slim Smith’s “Doctor Satan Echo Chamber” voice-over. I love how ominous it sounds. There is, for me anyway, a connection between this booming, dark and dreadful voice, the archetypes of the Seven Deadly Sins (to be performed at CBT’s King Street studios this weekend; see my story coming Wednesday) and Cadmus’ eerie, sensational paintings. Here’s an mp3 of the tune. Listen to it while looking at Cadmus’ “Lust.” Yipe.
- John Stoehr
Arts Editor
There's more to art than you think. It's not just theater, paintings, books and dance. It's the enterprise of human creativity and it takes vastly different shapes and forms. Here you'll find my thoughts about the arts in Charleston and beyond. Neither of us knows what to expect.
