Electric Friends: King Dusko After-Party Unites Charleston's Emerging Creative Class

Brave Baby

It is rare that an event delivers on its promise, particularly when that promise is based on an idea, but the BACE League of Charleston–sponsored Brave Baby album release show at Charleston Music Hall this past Saturday did just that.

The immediate idea was to get young voters to register, and it was not a well-kept secret that this initiative was tied to the upcoming mayoral campaign, which as Susto’s Johnny Delaware said from stage could turn Charleston “into the next Myrtle Beach.”

Before the evening’s headliner, Brave Baby, took the stage, a message from BACE Charleston projected an even broader idea, though, challenging the audience to take a look at the community of people around them who, whether they realized it or not, have an immense opportunity to have a progressive voice in Charleston.

While that was certainly true, this was most evident at the official after-party of the event, hosted by King Dusko. The crowd under the tent was composed of Hearts and Plugs artists—including band members from Brave Baby and Susto, fresh off the Music Hall stage—cast members from the closing night of Marie Antoinette at PURE Theatre, and a sundry collection of other local artists, performers, filmmakers, and musicians.

The private, password-entry, blacked-out party was less of a who’s who, cool-kids roll call and much more a continuation of the moment captured by BACE Charleston’s message earlier that night: a feeling of inevitability that change in Charleston is coming. The same Condé Nast reviews that have flooded the streets with tourists have been met with an equal influx of creative, active youth—the difference is, the latter groups stays, while the former go back to their desk jobs and upload beach pictures to Facebook.

The party itself featured free cocktails from Cathead Vodka, pizza from D’Alessandro’s, and, as you might suspect, plenty of tallboy PBRs. However nice these refreshments were, it was again the idea that mattered. The environment at King Dusko felt exactly like the kind of event that co-owner McKenzie Eddy has been pursuing since Dusko opened just a couple years ago: a place where people can come together, share, and collaborate.

The hard work of the creative community in Charleston is bearing its fruit, which I would speculate means that there will be many more parties, in the truest sense of the word: a celebration of what has happened, and what is yet to come.