Karma Cleanser
Dear Karma Cleanser: While in a Tokyo bank last year with my friend K., I noticed a little plastic plaque with Japanese writing on it. The plaque had one piece that was magnetic. It said: “blah blah (blah) blah blah,” where the piece in parentheses was removable. It couldn’t be an exchange rate because they…
Kissinger’s Back
Asking Henry Kissinger to investigate government malfeasance or nonfeasance is akin to asking Slobodan Milosevic to investigate war crimes. Pretty damn akin, since Kissinger has been accused, with cause, of engaging in war crimes of his own. Moreover, he’s been a poster-child for the worst excesses of secret government and secret warfare. Yet George W.…
Turkey Leftovers
RADOKHere’s to you, Mrs. Robinson: Chris Robinson sings to his missus Ah, Thanksgiving. Time for turkey (a bird which, strangely enough, tastes best as a burger), pro football (yes! The Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys! What meaningful skirmishes!) and family. Oh, and parades. Charlotteans love a parade. And they love no parade like they…
Holy Card Catalog!
For years comic books were viewed as children’s fodder, certainly nothing a respectable “literary” adult would admit to reading regularly. Now, following in the wake of increasingly complex, and successful, comics treatments of serious subjects — not to mention years of comic-based movie success — things are finally stirring in the mainstream. Seems the big…
A Screaming Across The Sky
There’s a new show in the Knight Gallery at Spirit Square, one worth seeing. The artist is Peggy Rivers, a Rock Hill artist and recent 18-month artist in residence at Tryon Center for the Arts — oops, I mean the McColl Center for Visual Arts. I forgot we’re renaming the city a block at a…
Gridiron Greed
Larry Johnson is one of the best college football players in America. The Penn State running back is so good, he is one of the leading candidates for the Heisman Trophy, college football’s highest honor. In a November 23 game against Michigan State, Johnson became only the ninth player in NCAA Division I-A history to…
Daydream Nation
More than forty years after his death, James Thurber is best remembered for creating “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” The hero retreats from his daily life as a humdrum henpecked Waterbury husband into a romantic fantasy world where he’s the essence of cool. Piloting his prop plane through a gathering hurricane, performing nerve-wracking surgery…
Stump A Politician
Thanks, Dan McCorkle, for making this column possible. I knew that if I waited long enough, some schlep would gloat on the record about how our elected officials steal elections. That someone would actually put it in writing and name names was more than I had hoped for. But that’s exactly what McCorkle did. McCorkle’s…
Once A Skateboarder. . .
Skateboarding has been around for over 40 years now. What was once an outlet for surfers to practice carving lines on the asphalt when the waves were down has become a staple of international youth culture, as well as the fastest growing sport in the world.The Answer Is Never gives two interwoven looks at skateboarding:…
Charlotte’s Man in Black
The day before his team’s first game in late November, Bobby Lutz looks like basketball’s Man in Black, dressed in black crinkly sweatpants and a long-sleeve black T-shirt with “Charlotte” emblazoned on the front. He even has dark hair, though that could change soon. Come time for March Madness, Charlotte’s men’s basketball coach could be…
Arts Agenda
Classical Music 2nd Annual Holiday Concert The Greensboro Symphony Orchestra will present a concert of holiday favorites. Sponsored by The United Arts Council of Gaston County. Thu., Dec. 5, 8 p.m. $25. Proceeds will go to the United Arts Council of Gaston County. Unity Place, 201 W. Franklin Blvd., Gastonia. 704-853-2787. Choral Concert A choral…
The Blotter
Shopping For Less: At one value store, customers were definitely getting more for their buck — they were getting groceries for no money at all. No, not another marketing ploy, just some old-fashioned embezzlement by some of the store’s employees. During some of the slower hours during the 24-hour day, these employees must have grown…
What’s New?
One of the hottest spices on the market right now is Aleppo Pepper, a rich red pepper that delivers the heat without the fire. This fruity-flavored chile, aka Capsicum Annuum or the Near East Pepper, is from the Aleppo region of Syria and is used frequently in some Indian dishes as a stand-alone spice. Greeks…
Letters
Kudos to CL WRITERS Everyone needs a pat on the back sometimes, especially when she deserves it, and even if she asks for it. So, Tara, here’s to you: the hardest working reporter in Charlotte, and a fine writer. Thanks. P.S. Notice that the last publication you wrote for folded soon after you quit? That…
Good Eats
All Around Town Anntony’s Caribbean, 400 S. Tryon St., 704-339-0303; 2001 E. 7th St., 704-342-0749. All locations have different owners. A hint of the tropics; rotisserie chicken with Jamaican jerk sauce, ribs, Paradise Island fish special, curries, and Caribbean styled greens. $$ Azteca, 116 Woodlawn Rd., 704-525-5110; 9709 Independence Blvd., 704-814-9877; 1863 W. Franklin Blvd.…
News of the Weird
Prison freedom: Alberta (Canada) judge Shelagh Creagh ruled in October that prison inmate Shane Arthur Wilson could not be punished for carrying around a homemade plastic knife since Wilson said the knife was only for defending himself against prison gangs. This, and a similar decision currently being appealed by another Alberta judge have predictably outraged…
Screw It!
Wouldn’t life be a dream without corkscrews? If all of a sudden, wineries switched to screwcaps, the wrist wrenching cork pulling process would disappear and opening wine would be as easy as unsealing a jug of MD 20/20. How novel.And this might happen since the supply of cork is dwindling. Even though the cork oak…
Wrap It Up
With the recent passing of Thanksgiving, the holiday season is now in full throttle, ready or not. If you are a procrastinator of sorts and there’s a music fan on your list, CL is here to provide you with a few ideas, especially if you’re looking to go (and spend) beyond the usual CD or…
Line Up Early — It’s Springsteen
When tickets for the Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concert in Charlotte went on sale in August, buyers found a new option for their $75. Along with the usual reserved seats, Ticketmaster offered something called “Standing Room Main Floor No Seats,” aka General Admission. Standing room used to be regarded as the least…
Soundboard
Wednesday, Dec. 4 Cajun Queen 7th Street Gator Band Charleston Chops, Cornelius Kent Steel Coach’s Sports Bar Brandon O’Brien The Evening Muse Rick Spreitzer, Bill West & Eric Balkey JB’Z The Sweaty Head Band The Meeting House Restaurant John Alexander Trio Midtown 51 Dialed In Mojo Restaurant & Spirits Sassagrass Pewter Rose Tom Billotto, Jimmy…
Music Menu
WEDNESDAY 12.4 Sassagrass — It’s a family tradition. This quaint, old-timey outfit out of Boone plays warm bluegrass born and raised right here in sunny North Carolina. There’s a front porch family sing-a-long feel about it and the sound seems to blow down the foothills like a cool breeze on a sizzling summer day. When…
See and Do
WEDNESDAY, DEC 4 Anybody who’s gotten their hands on correspondence between their parents, grandparents or great-grandparents during the “wars” knows what an incredible treasure they’ve discovered. Tonight at the Levine Museum of the New South, Andrew Carroll presents an evening of “War Letters,” including a lecture, book signing and a chance for all to share…
Gobble, Gobble
Audiences in the mood for escapist fare at this point in the holiday season should continue to turn their attention toward the successful twofer of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Die Another Day, since the batch of films served up over Thanksgiving week proved on the whole to be about as appetizing…
It’s A Bobblehead World
Bobbleheads are everywhere this Christmas. We first remember the faded bobblehead dogs and cats that were in the back windows of lots of cars in the 1960s. But according to James McCurtis, Jr., in an article published in the Lansing State Journal, “Bobblehead dolls have been around for more than 300 years. The first doll…
Film Clips
CURRENT RELEASES DIE ANOTHER DAY Just as it took Roger Moore a couple of movies to grow into the part of James Bond, so too has it taken Pierce Brosnan a while to satisfactorily pull off the role at the center of the most successful franchise in film history. His newfound conviction (he’s become less…
Stargazer
For All Signs A solar eclipse occurred in the early morning of December 4 in the sign of Sagittarius. This heralds a three-week period in which the global news may be significant. We are in the frame of mind for confrontation, which often precipitates crises, both personal and universal. Fortunately there are also aspects that…
Of Joints And Junior
All the warning signs were there: the furtive phone calls, the vague explanations, the red eyes, and the unmistakable smell. John and Debby knew something was going on with their then 15-year-old son. They demanded to see what was inside his footlocker, which he had recently secured with a padlock. Grudgingly, he opened it. Both…
