It's a Monster: FestivALL

The ever-growing celebration that is known as FestivALL invades Charleston this week - and this story from the Herald-Dispatch will tell you about some (though not all) of the events you can see:

The Tri-State is plum packed with summer festivals.

But there is only one FestivALL.

Like the LeBron James of festivals, FestivALL Charleston shoots and scores with an amazingly diverse game.

Here’s a look at the super-sized festival that runs June 18 through June 27, with an all-you-can-enjoy buffet of live music, dance, theater, art, food and community fellowship.

Here’s a look at just a few highlights from the FestivALL. For a full schedule go online at www.festivallcharleston.com.

Let There Be Butterflies

In years past, FestivALL has always had something cool from Europe like English chalk artist Julian Beever.

This year, it is the multi-media production from Italy called Compagnia T.P.O. Farfalle (Butterflies).

The 50-minute-long, interactive show that charts the lives of butterflies with ultra modern visual and audio technology mixed with Old World theatrical charm takes flight in the intimate Walker Theater (120 seats) inside the Clay Center. The Avampato Discovery Museum will be offering butterfly workshops to coincide with the performances.

Wednesday, June 16 through Sunday, June 20, there will be several daily shows and installations where you can stay after the performance and explore the environment on your own.

Tickets are $18 adults, $10 kids and $5 for the installations. Go online at www.theclaycenter.org for more info.

A Mountain of music

One of the Mountain State’s coolest exports, Mountain Stage, has been sending sweet, original tunes around the planet’s airwaves for decades.

It kicks off FestivALL at 8 p.m. Friday, June 18, with a special show at the Clay Center featuring Grammy Award-winning pianist and songwriter, Marc Cohn, doing a one-hour set, as well as other guests including two Australians,North Australia native Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu and Kate Miller-Heidke as well as Austin, Texas, resident Sahara Smith, a 20-year-old who has been working with renowned producer T Bone Burnett.

Tickets are $29 reserved. Call 304-561-3570 or visit www.theclaycenter.org.

Advance tickets are also available at Taylor Books in downtown Charleston.

Got wheels

At 10 a.m. Saturday, June 19, FestivALL will have an Art on Wheels art parade that winds through downtown ending up at Capitol Market where entries will be judged for most creative. Anyone who has a bike, scooter, wheelchair, stroller, carriage or wagon, has the chance to spiff it up and parade it through the streets during FestivALL’s Art Parade. All ages are invited, although you must register by Tuesday, June 15.

For more information, contact FestivallArtParade@gmail.com or call 304-729-4ART(4278).

Smoke on the Water

Charleston has a great chili history, as it is home to the Capitol Market Green Chili Shoot-Out, the world’s largest green chili cook-off, and last October, Charleston hosted the ICS World Championships at Appalachian Power Park.

Come and celebrate that spicy heritage with the Smoke on the Water Chili Cook-Off that from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, June 19, with a slew of chili samples (two tickets for $1) a kids area, the always-popular Hot Pepper Eating contest, a frozen t-shirt contest, and live music beginning at 11 a.m. with Buckstone and the Diablo Blues Band, All proceeds go to HospiceCare.

Go online at www.smokeonthewater.org.

A Hall of Fame Performance

The West Virginia Music Hall of Fame (with funding from Brewer and Co.) brings the musical A-game to the stage to celebrate the Mountain State’s birthday on Sunday, June 20.

From noon to 6 p.m., they’ll be rolling free music on the new Schoenbaum Stage of the recently redesigned Haddad Riverfront Park led by 2008 West Virginia Music Hall of Fame inductee Charlie McCoy, the WV Superpickers (featuring Russ Hicks, Wayne Moss and Robert Shafer), the Bob Thompson Unit, Brian Diller, Kanawha Valley Community Band, and Beckley’s Gospel Reunion.

Bob Kravos, nephew of 2008 WV Music Hall of Fame inductee Frankie Yankovic, will perform. He will also present one of his uncle’s bandstands to the Hall of Fame. There will also be a raffle for a guitar and harmonica autographed by Charlie McCoy and the WV Superpickers (courtesy of Cheap Beats). Sponsorships are available by calling the WV Music Hall of Fame at 304-342-4412.

Step right up for ‘Barnum’

The Charleston Light Opera Guild shines a spotlight on America’s greatest showman, P.T. Barnum, in the hit musical, Barnum, that runs 8 p.m. Saturday, June 19; 3 p.m. Sunday, June 20; 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, June 25-26 and then 3 p.m. Sunday, June 27.

Enjoy exploring Barnum’s fascinating life with his wife, Chairy and his living curiosities from Joice Heth, the oldest woman in the world to Tom Thumb, the smallest man and finally Barnum’s first respectable attraction, Jenny Lind, the Swedish Nightingale.

Tickets are $20 at the Charleston Civic Center Little Theatre box office. Call 304-343-2287 or 304-343-2287.

Diamonds are a sister's best friend

Charleston native Neil Diamond tribute act, Theron Denson, “The Black Diamond,” who is now living and working out in Las Vegas, gets to roll home and open for one of his favorite groups, and old friends, The Pointer Sisters, as they are the featured guests for the annual Charleston FestivALL Mayor’s Concert.

That show is at 8 p.m. Thursday, June 24, at the Clay Center.

For anyone who was asleep in the ‘70s and ‘80s, the Pointer Sisters, are Grammy Award-winning R&B and pop singing sisters who have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, were inducted into the Soul Train Hall of Fame, and left behind a ton of hits since they burst out of the church and onto the national scene back in the early 1970s.

Tickets are $47.50 to $57.50. They are available at www.theclaycenter.org or by calling 304-561-3570

Go online at www.theclaycenter.org for more info.

Wine & All That Jazz

A production of Charleston’s Fund for the Arts at the University of Charleston, this eight-hour party starts at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 26, and is headlined by Grammy winning sax man, Joe Lovano. Other acts include Dugan Carter, Bluenotes, Actual Rhinoceros, Matias-Rocha y Nueva Trova featuring Othello Molineaux, Bob Thompson Unit.

Tickets are $18 advance or $20 at the gate or at Fund for the Arts and the Wine Shop at Capitol Market. Go online at www.festivallcharleston.com.

Up On The Ridge with Mountain Stage

Mountain Stage celebrates Father’s Day by hosting red-hot country act, Dierks Bentley, who has headed down the Americana Music road with a new bluegrass flavored CD called “Up on the Ridge” featuring The Travelin’ McCourys, Ronnie (mandolin) and Robbie (banjo).

They all visit for a special Mountain Stage show at the Clay Center, at 7 p.m. Sunday, June 20. Other acts include gypsy jazz and more from the John Jorgenson Quartet, another guitar hero, Bill Kirchen, off beat-humor and fantastic songwriting by Canadian Fred Eaglesmith (he’ll be on The David Letterman Show on June 19) and Nashville harmonica legend, Charlie McCoy, an Oak Hill, W.Va., native.

Tickets are $20 in advance, $29 day of show. Go online at www.mountainstage.org for more info.

A river runs through it

On the River Queen sternwheeler (the free “water taxi” between Haddad Riverfront Park and the Wine & All That Jazz Festival held at the University of Charleston on Saturday June 26), enjoy two original 10-minute, river-themed plays picked by the Charleston Stage Company in their “The River Play” contest.

Colleen Anderson and Michael Davis collaborated “Deep Issues” and Derek J. Samms penned the comic “Lady Fortune and her Sternwheel.” Play times are 11 a.m., noon, 1 and 2 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free. Call 304-766-5721 or visit the CSC website www.charlestonstagecompany.com.