Last night was the Spoleto SCENE’s infamous White Party. It was held at Linda Ketner’s house on East Bay Street, which is actually for sale. The party climbed the four stories and spilled out into the garden. Everyone was in white.

The cast from both Don John and Dogugeashi were there to imbibe and let their hair down. It’s always so fun when the casts from these performances arrive. Theyre always starving it seems! Which I suppose is a good thing as Caviar and Bananas did the catering and Ice Box supplied the drinks.

Don John and his ladies.

Members of Dogugaeshi

Yesterday evening, I attended a cocktail party for the VIP Spoleto goers at Bear and Dawn Dyke’s house on Legare Street. It was a gorgeous affair, the hydrangeas were all in bloom, there were colorful linens on the tables and the “is it going to rain?” lighting was perfect for photos.

There was an awesome band on the piazza called the Garage Cuban Band. Well, 4 of the 5 of them were there with a stand up bass, trumpet, accordion and drums. Apparently, they’re playing at the Pour House this Sunday, go check them out!

Fork catered the event, I’ve been seeing them all over town at these Spoleto parties. I really like that they care a lot about how the food looks before I photogrpaph it!

The “Southie”. Bourbon, lime, spring of mint, yum.

Garage Cuban

The Spolet SCENE party for Dogugaeshi was held aboard two of Coastal Yacht Chater’s yachts at the Ashley Harborage Marina on a gorgeous summer’s evening. I guess technically, it’s still Spring. But we don’t worry about semantics in Charleston when it’s 90-degrees out.

There was a great turn out of SCENE members and really, who wants to miss out lounging on a boat as the sun is going down while sipping elderberry and champagne?  As a side note, I’d never seen so many pairs of Ray-Bans at one time in my life. Someone else pointed out that we looked like a J. Crew catalog.

There were SCENE members from as far off as LA, though most are locals you’d know and recognize. Here are some pics to make you envious. Maybe you should join SCENE for Spoleto 2010?

Jeffrey Rhodes, of Margo Kaufman Gallery fame, gets a kiss from Taylor Webb.

Justin Nathanson and Brad Jayne of The Cut Company have been creating short film clips for the Spoleto festival this year. They are everywhere! The Digitel has a link to their video here.

Appetizers were sponsored by Iverson Catering and the drinks by IceBox Innovative Beverage Services.

The SCENE.

Last night, the Spoleto SCENE members were invited to a pre-party for the performance of Don John. The Studio 54-style party was held at Charleston Green and Jeffrey Rhodes of Margo Kauffman Gallery helped to bring this party together. We have Jeffrey to thank for the topless men serving Blackberry Vodka drinks and champagne as well as the “decorate your own afro wig” area.

It was a lot of hobnobbing of the under-40 Spoleto SCENEsters. Those who didn’t get too crazy at the table of powdered sugar laid out as cocaine went on to see an awesome performance of Don John at the Memminger.

The bar was packed, not just for the drinks but also for the view.

Caroline Nuttall of Charlie with the owner of Charleston Green Home.

Jeffrey skipped the afro wig and went straight to decorating his own hair.

Olivia Pool of Art Magazine shows of her afro.

All these fun parites wouldn’t be possible without these two, Scott Sowell and Mary Ramsey!

This year. the theme for the Bedon’s Alley party was based on the opera, Louise. Thus, Bedon’s alley was turned into Bohemian Paris for the night.  As you entered, you could hear an accordion playing in the background and you were greeted with a table full of devilishly dangerous drinks of absinthe, sambuca, red bull and grenadine.

French films played on large screens over the party as guests walked along the alley, stopping for sweet and savory crepes, fresh cooked french fries and of course, French cheese. It is a highly coveted party to be invited to, especially as this is the last year of the Bedon’s Alley party, or so I hear.

If you couldn’t be there, here is what you missed:

Denise Barto (left), of All Occasions and the event planner for the Bedon’s party poses with with her husband and JoAnn Nipper (center).

French fils played on large screens during the party.

Betsey Flemming and Nigel Redden pose with members from the Don John performance.

On Tuesday, May 19, just before Spoleto officially began, some of Charles Wadsworth’s biggest fans gave him a farewell luncheon at McCrady’s. In fact Charles was the only man in a room full of female admirers who have all been wooed over the years by his charm and talent.

Mitchell Crosby of JMC Charleston helped to design this luncheon farewell for Charles and came up with the idea to include a tube of lipstick from Saks at each of the guests seats so that they could plant kisses on Charles. Also ont he table were photos of Charles from through out the years and were perfect for seeing how influential Charles Wadsworth has been to the Spoleto Festival over the years.

The luncheon was capped off with a performance by “Page Turner”, a former student of Charles’ and he, or rather “she”, was quite the entertainer!