Tuning Up: COVID claims S.C. shag master + awards + more
Good morning!
“Tuning Up” is a morning post series where The Hub delivers curated, quick-hit arts stories of interest to readers. Sometimes there will be one story, sometimes there will be several. Get in tune now, and have a masterpiece of a day. And now, in no particular order…
Columbia Film Society welcomes Dr. Thaddeus Jones
From a CFS email:
Meet Thaddeus Jones, our new CFS Director of Programming! Dr. Jones will direct film programming for the Nick and lead the Indie Grits Fellowship and media education programs. He has 15 years experience in filmmaking, media instruction and writing and for the last ten years, has managed his own media production company, fanatikproductions. He has been connected to CFS as a film curator and Indie Grits Fellow.
Jeppy McDowell dies at 76
Jeptha Joseph McDowell, better known as “Jeppy,” made North Myrtle Beach home and worked his way into being a legend in the local shag dancing scene. (Confused? You see, the shag is South Carolina’s state dance.)
The State reports “McDowell died due to complications from COVID-19 on Oct. 17. He was 76.
COVID-19 is hitting the Grand Strand shag community hard. More on his passing from The State:
McDowell’s passing comes as others in the North Myrtle Beach shag community have fallen ill and died. In late September, several North Myrtle Beach clubs and restaurants participated in an unofficial Shaggin’ On Main event. In the days and weeks that followed, at least 14 people tested positive for COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.
Two others connected to the shag community have also died, though, like McDowell, it remains unclear if their deaths are related to the events. According to data from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, 210 people in the North Myrtle Beach zip code tested positive for COVID-19 in the two weeks following the events.
Read the full story from The State here (subscription possibly required).
Two weeks’ notice
This is your two-weeks’ notice that nomination time is coming to a close for the South Carolina Governor’s Awards for the Arts and the Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award. Nominations for both are due by 11:59 p.m. ET Friday, Nov. 6.
