Ballentine Backs Arts

Ballentine Ford Lincoln Toyota is sponsoring the 2011 Music on Maxwell concert series at Sundance Gallery at photographer Jon Holloway’s studio on Maxwell Avenue in Uptown Greenwood. The series opens 7:30 p.m. Jan. 27 with headliner Robbie Fulks and Angela Easterling. The series is built on the premise of being a listening room where music is the focus and talking is very limited. “Jon has a great venue. It’s very important that it’s downtown,” Ballentine said. “If the downtown’s not doing well, then the city suffers. We’re trying to revitalize downtown, and I think this is one of the ways to do it.”

Ballentine understands what’s happened in Greenville can happen here with the development of the Emerald Triangle, which is centered around the Arts Center, The Museum and Greenwood Community Theatre. With a centerpiece to build around, more opportunities can open up in other parts of Uptown.

“Just look at Greenville,” Ballentine said. “Everything in Greenville is built around the Peace Center. We’re trying to get the Arts Center to be what people build around.”

The Peace Center is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.

“It’s important to have a vibrant downtown,” Ballentine said. “This is one of the pieces.”

“Securing a corporate sponsor has allowed this series to continue, otherwise we would not be able to do this,” Holloway said. “It’s that simple. Bal taking the initiative to want to see this as a wonderful venue for Greenwood says a lot about him and his business.”

Other supporters include John Stroud of Odell Co., musician and banker David Bell, and Andy and Janet Sykora of Custom Audio and Lighting.

Ballentine also noted the Arts Center complex with the Federal Building, Greenwood Community Theatre and The Museum, Greenwood County Library, Howard’s on Main and T.W. Boons as reasons for people to visit Uptown.

He said he was also pleased with the push to have people living in Uptown.

“That’s all the pieces of the puzzle that you need to have a vibrant downtown,” Ballentine said. “There’s so much to be gained by having more and more opportunities in Uptown. The arts are an important part of any community, and one look at the downtowns of Greenville and Newberry can attest to that. Not only are the arts important for the arts, but the arts can be used to attract residents, business and industry and visitors.

“You have to have a diversity of things for people to do. Businesses that are moving into town are looking for that.”

Ballentine has been supportive of Music on Maxwell throughout the years, but recently decided to up his involvement. He likes the concept of the series and the day of the week for most of the concerts.

The majority of concerts have been on Thursday nights, often considered off nights for shows.

The upcoming season features three Thursday night shows and one Saturday performance. Thursday shows are Fulks and Easterling on Jan. 27, Kevin Gordon with Emily Hearn on Feb. 17 and Roman Candle with Jennifer Nicely on March 24. Romantica with Mike Powell is the lone Saturday show March 12.

Fulks lives in Chicago and plays alternative country and is noted for his ability to turnout off-the-cuff novelty songs. Easterling hails from the upstate of South Carolina and plays folk and Americana music.

Season tickets for the four performances are $60 and will not be available after the first show. Individual tickets are $20.

“I’m not the most artsy person in the world,” Ballentine said. “It was entertainment on a Thursday night. I went down there and had a good time. There was a good crowd of people. It just kind of led from there.

“It gave us something different to do. We’ve been able to go to most all of them.”

Holloway has teamed with Nick Hyduke since Music on Maxwell was first started. Hyduke, the director of Abbeville County Career Center, is connected to the music world and finds the performers to play Music on Maxwell. Among the former performers are Ari Hest, Jesse Harris, Everybody Fields and Romantica, which is on the 2011 schedule.

Ballentine has learned to appreciate the musical genres the series has featured in the past, including folk, Americana, bluegrass and country.

“I’ve enjoyed them all. It’s where your friends go. It’s fun. It’s not too long. It’s a different type of band or music we hadn’t had it Greenwood,” Ballentine said. “It’s an entertainment. It’s something different. It’s important to have diversity in different types of things and that’s what this brings.”

What really sold Ballentine on the series was the 2010 performance by the Trishas. The four girl band from Texas is Jamie Wilson, Liz Foster, Kelley Mickwee and Savannah Welch. Wilson performed a Music on Maxwell concert as a member of the Gougers.

“It was sold out,” Ballentine said of The Trishas’ show in May 2010. “I said to Jon, ‘We need to do this more often.’”

Ballentine also knew that despite some assistance, Holloway and Hyduke had been running the series by themselves.

“Truly, they needed some help,” Ballentine said. “I said, ‘Look, I’ll do this for you to get the program going for next year and let’s see how it goes.’ That’s where the commitment came from.”

“After the Trishas, he said, ‘Please let me know if I can do anything to help this continue,” Holloway said.

Ballentine recognizes the effort that goes into a project such as the Music on Maxwell series.

“It’s a lot of work to do it. You’ve got to make something out of it. But there are a lot of talented people around that don’t cost a lot of money. You can get good people in,” Ballentine said. “You’ve got to have people step up and be sponsors to front load the thing so he’s not stepping so far out on a limb that it gets broke out from under him.”

The economic turn put a strain on Music on Maxwell which went on hiatus for a while.

“We were waiting for things to settle down a little bit, and hopefully bring this series back,” Holloway said.

Holloway and Hyduke said they hope the revived Music on Maxwell series is back to stay.

“We’ll have to wait and see,” Holloway said. “If this spring series is successful, we can continue in the fall.”

Ballentine offered some encouragement.

“It’s taken a while,” Ballentine said. “You have to be consistent in what you do. The first one might not be the best one. If you consistently have good talent, you’ll have more people coming in to each concert. It will be something people will be signing up for. You’ve got to have it.”