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5 CONTACT TJS ' ™EY SAIDIT VjWi J 1 U J MARK TWAIN: “A classic is some Story ideas? Questions? Comments? thing that everybody wants to have E-mail us at gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com ^read and nobody wants to read.” ~~ . J Studentsfind retro clothes, trinkets at local thrift stores BY ALLYSON BIRD THE GAMECOCK A thrift store isn’t just a spot to find vintage T-shirts without the paying for Abercrombie’s faux fad ing, and it isn’t just a place that benefits the needy. It’s a college in stitution. Columbia has its fair share of these venues where one can rum mage through the piles of clothes and trinkets tofind treasures that someone else has tired of. Goodwill trains the disabled and disadvantaged to develop work skills. With its two, double sided, store-length racks of T shirts, Goodwill at 555 St. ■ Andrews Road is the best place for vintage T-shirts. It’s the spot to get commemorative shirts from schools you never went to and ac tivities you never participated in. Don’t feel bad — all the rock stars do it. Oldies and ’80s pop play throughout the large store, fitting the mood and the merchandise. Merchandise includes $2.99 Nikes, $9.99 speakers, and a $9.99 plus size wedding dress. The store also carries furniture, a full line of children’s clothing, toys and essentially any imagin able clothing item from any decade. Although a bit lacking in the trinket department, Goodwill has many regional collectibles, books and a Preparation H coffee mug that has, ahem, since been sold. Goodwill Regional Manager Missy Burkhardt said they can’t *. 1 categorize customers “there’s no set income, no set standard.” Goodwill is a nonprofit organi zation that uses 97.3 percent of its proceeds to cover operating costs and to work toward its mission of training the disabled and disad vantaged. In the back of this par ticular location, the trainees sort, hang and tag the vats of donations in the spirit of a 48-hour turnaround goal. His House, at 764 Meeting St. in West Columbia, helps alcoholic and homeless men. With religious images painted on its exterior and plenty more messages inside, His House was the busiest thrift store. Complete with a room dedicated to furniture and art, a deer head for $50 and stoplights for $75, it has the most variety. Other merchandise includes a puzzle section, roller-skate shoes, bowling balls, hunting knives, $1 T-shirts, the occasional SpongeBob, glassware and Asian decorations. The men accepted by His House are to adhere to strict rules including mandatory church at tendance, no visitations or leav ing premises for 90 days and no “fraternizing” with female cus tomers. “We’ benefit recovering alco holics. We feed, clothe and shelter about 70 men a day,” the Rev. Garland 0. Ramsey said. Customers to the store include many college students, according to Ramsey. Weco, at 750 Meeting St., helps abused women and children and women recently released from jail. Compared to Columbia’s other ♦ THRIFTING, SEE PAGE 6 || , .* ’ PHOTO BY MORGAN FORD/THE GAMECOCK Goodwill on St. Andrews Road Is the perfect example of one man’s trash becoming another man’s treasure. Museum * • offers more than just art PHOTO BY SILVIA MARTINEZ/THE GAMECOCK The Columbia Museum of Art offers tours of its 17 regular exhibits and other galleries Tuesdays through Sundays. BY ELIZABETH GIBBONS THE GAMECOCK Students who want a taste of Columbia’s cultured side should look no further than the Columbia Museum of Art. The newly renovated museum has been open since 1998 and offers 17 permanent galleries and sev eral Changing Exhibition Galleries, which feature tempo rary exhibits of nationally prominent artists such as William A. Clark and Clement Greenberg. Currently featured at the mu seum is “Children of Children: Portraits of Teenage Parents,” a black-and-white photograph col lection by Michael Nye, as well as “Defining Craft,” a collection of various crafts produced from such media as metal, glass, clay and wood. “Children of Children” ex plores an increasingly prominent sociological issue in the form of modem photography. Nye’s work features people ages 12 to 100 whose lives have been profoundly touched by teenage pregnancy. Fifty photographs, accompanied by audio tracks containing first person narratives, capture each individual’s story. Nye is a nationally renowned photographer who has previ ously received a Mid-America National Endowment for the Arts grant. Nye’s work tries to bring social injustices to the forefront, and he is now work ing on an exhibit highlighting the issue of schizophrenia. In addition to the galleries, the museum offers concerts, lec tures, classes and films that are featured each Friday night as part of its “Art Fridays After Dark.” The program lets visitors experience art first hand through different media. These Art Friday events offer a cash bar, as well as cafe-style seating in the museum’s restaurant, Cafe Monet. Tonight at 7, the museum will show the critically acclaimed film “The Bone Collector,’’which is based on South Carolina au thor Jeffrey Deaver’s book of the same name. Admission to the Art Friday events is free after 5 p.m. Michael Roh, the museum’s director of plahning and facili ties, said he is thrilled about the results of recent renovations there. “With the new technology and renovations here, as op posed to the old location on the corner of Senate and Bull, the Columbia Museum of Art now has the capacity to exhibit any show as well as offer various oth er programs of interest to the city of Columbia,” he said. The museum is also afford able for students, thanks to cor porate sponsorships. Admission for students is $2 Sunday through Friday. Saturday ad mission is free to the general public. The museum is open Tuesdays through Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Weekend hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. om Fridays, Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m. The museum is closed on Mondays. Comments on this story ? E-mail gainecockmixeditor@hotmail.com New Brookland Tavern to showcase local bands for free BY ERICA RUTLEDGE THE GAMECOCK The New Brookland Tavern will promote both fledgling and well-known local bands in its new concert series, Carolina Homegrown. Carolina Productions Concerts Commissioner Josh Terry is col laborating with New Brookland Tavern’s booking agent and pub lic-relations director, Jonathan Dunagin, to produce the 12-week series. New Brookland Tavern, the Jam Room and SCbands.com are sponsoring this year’s events, and USC students will be among some of the performers to take the stage. Dunagin says Terry developed the idea of showcasing area bands and that he just volunteered to provide the location and sound for the event. USC students should “expect to hear a lot of very talented bands for free in one of Columbia’s best music venues,” Dunagin said. “I’ve always wanted to be in volved in a weekly event that showcases local bands in a man ner that exposes them to the uni versity, and it’s free for people to attend.” The series is a great opportuni ty for bands, new and old, to gain experience on stage. It will also at tract more attention to the local music scene, helping area bands gain publicity and respect fromColumbia. Terry and Dunagin recognized this need to promote local talent that was not being heard. “We’re basing every thing off originality and trying to get a lot of bands out there that otherwise you wouldn’t get to hear about,” Terry says. This is also a great opportuni ty for USC students and other col lege students to be entertained and become more aware of the differ ent music genres that are preva lent in the local scene. Students won’t have to drive three or four hours and pay to see a good con cert. They will be able to see shows free of charge and five minutes away from campus. Dunagin hopes listeners will embrace the diversity of music that will be presented during the series. He wants people to become more aware of the music commu nity in Columbia, hoping to make local music as popular as it has been in the past. “Columbia needs to give them a chance and currently the mu sic scene isn’t embraced like it has been before. But events like these, and people like Josh, make it possible for live music to become ‘cool’ again,” Dunagin said. Carolina Homegrown will showcase B.Y.O.B. participants Roni Zagoria, Tigerbot Hesh, Dan Johns and Brett Treacy. The series will also showcase artists such as Lyrikal Buddah, Infinite, Loch Ness Johnny, Jason Sposa of Love Apple, Hot Lava Monster and Don’t Tell Dick, along with a host of other local bands. The first Carolina Homegrown show will be on Feb. 10, and the series will continue through April 29. If students don’t plan on taking any excursions during spring break, they can also catch their fa vorite local bands live during the week of March 10 through 16. For more information, go to www.newbrooklandtavem.com or can (803) 791-4413. Comments on this story?S-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com FILE PHOTO/THE GAMECOCK New Brookland Tavern will hold Carolina Homegrown, a 12-week showcase for local bands.