STARGAZER
For All Signs There continues to be much tension in the air this week. Meetings, discussions, and negotiations will be flying rapidly across lines of communication. The symbolism suggests two intransigent parties at odds, with a balancing third party who is attempting to find the common ground. One adversarial party believes he is right by…
Adventures In Modern Listing
Lists, Lists, and More Lists 1. Introduction 2. Write introduction, explaining why we’re filling most of an issue with lists. 3. Lists are one of the most universally shared artifacts of postmodern culture, so we decided to experiment with expressing our views and our takes on contemporary life via a commonly seen, yet sorely underrated,…
Books I Wish I’d Written
Christopher Davis, poet and associate professor, UNC Charlotte: “I wish I had written a book of poetry called, in the original Italian, Lavorare Stanca, and in English, Hard Labor, by the mid-20th-century Italian poet Cesare Pavese. Pavese describes the hard lives and the small, quiet, familiar moments of salvation in the lives of working people…
How Bush Buys Positive War Spin
It’s war. The nation’s president is mad with imperial delusions. There is a burgeoning anti-war movement whose message of peace screams for just a smidgen of fair attention from the media. Liberties face vicious attacks from the very leaders who have sworn to defend the Constitution; the press responds with yawns and shrugs. Courageous dissenters…
An Artful Balance
The more I think about Joe Walters’ work and what I want to say about it the more baffled I become. The drawings and the sculptural work are straightforward, not the least bit confusing. The show at Joie Lassiter Gallery consists of several groupings: drawings of trees and the landscape and sculptural forms of plant…
Fox18’s Mathis Not Suspended
Since we put this column up on our website last week, the Observer has backtracked on its assertion that Fox18 weatherman Mark Mathis has been suspended (but without ever mentioning that their original report was wrong, of course). What we reported as of last Wednesday is that even though Mathis’ 30-day absence still has tongues…
A Newly Imagined Dream
Often during his tenure as Charlotte Rep’s artistic director, Steve Umberger cultivated a loyal local audience for fledgling comedies and dramas, putting up works-in-progress in rudimentary reading-stage productions. Now at Theatre Charlotte, Umberger is engaged in an altogether different kind of cultivation. He’s taking a familiar favorite, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, experimenting with an…
Losing Our Mojo
There’s one sure way to test whether Charlotte still has the momentum it takes to become a big, bustling, world-class city: new businesses will want to locate here, and with them, they’ll bring new jobs. If you’ve heard the giddy announcements by the Charlotte Chamber over the last two months that Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s economy is picking…
In Search of Truth For Dare
Writing Across the Grain is the theme of CPCC’s annual Spring Literary Festival. In its 11th year, the festival offers a variety of speakers and programs that celebrate writers and their work. North Carolina writer Marjorie Hudson is one of the presenters this year and she spoke with Creative Loafing recently about her “genre busting”…
Letters
Respect For Opinions of Mankind Thanks for Hal Crowther’s great cover story “At The Twilight’s Last Gleaming” (Mar. 5). It is strong rhetoric which is required at this time, and it is used well. The time for appeasement is gone. As Americans, we grow up with the basic tenet of respect for the opinions of…
Arts Agenda
Classical Music 2003 Jazz Discovery Music Festival Jazz trumpeter Marvin Stamm will perform with Bill Mays, Rufus Reid and Ed Soph followed by The Winthrop University Jazz Ensemble. In addition, the festival will also include performances by area high school bands throughout the day as well as a master class with the Marvin Stamm Quartet…
News of the Weird
Bowling for meteors: In January, the engineers and hobbyists of Utah’s Salt Lake Astronomical Society told reporters they were planning to air-drop bowling balls, at very high altitude, to check out their impact when they land on the salt flats, to simulate the impact of meteorites. The society said it had been frustrated that it…
Places To Go, Things To Eat
10 Spots Where You Can Fill Up For Under A 10 Spot 1. Price’s Chicken Coop 2. Greg’s Famous Bar-B-Q 3. The Penguin 4. Mert’s Heart and Soul 5. IHOP 6. Restaurant y Taqueria La Unica (on Central) 7. Cousin James 8. Brooks Brothers 9. Landmark Diner 10. La Canasta Dominicana Restaurant Five Neighborhoods Where…
The Blotter
All Fenced In: A man drove into another man’s fence and left his vehicle at the scene. The reckless driver was later identified and charged with hit and run.Beer Run: During a confrontation at a local bar, three men were attacked. They were all hit in the head and face with glass beer bottles and…
Corkscrew
The Wine List ARTHUR’S RESTAURANTS AND WINE SHOPS 4400 Sharon Rd. Mar. 19-New Zealand Wines; Mar. 25-France vs. California. Classes are held from 6:30-8pm. Light snacks and bread will be served. Credit card required at registration. Cancellations accepted until one week before class. $20 per person. 704-366-8610. BARONE’S WINE ROOM Birkdale Village, Huntersville, offers wine…
Goodeats
Dilworth/Southend 300 East, 300 East Blvd., 704-332-6507. Locals have long gathered at this casual neighborhood bistro in a vintage house featuring an eclectic menu. L, D $$$ Berrybrook Farms Natural Foods, 1257 East Blvd., 704-334-6528. Homemade soups, herbed tofu sandwiches, bean burritos, and freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable juices found in a natural food shop.…
Music Musings
5 Musical Artist Names That Are A Joy To Say Aloud 1. The Bevis Frond 2. Gastr del Sol 3. Foo Fighters 4. The GZA 5. Bjork — Tim C. Davis Top 5 Languid Charlotte-Area Acts (In No Particular Order) 1. Pyramid 2. The Houston Brothers 3. The Goldenrods 4. Les Dirt Clods 5. The…
Fest Or Famine
I’ve had a lot of e-mails recently from folks inquiring about this year’s CityFest Live! festival. The CityFest folks have released some information regarding the event specifics — however, at press time, the only artists that have been confirmed are Acoustic Syndicate, Widespread Panic, 38 Special, Cowboy Mouth, The Big Wu and Caitlin Cary. Check…
Soundboard
Wednesday, Mar. 12 Big Al’s Pub, Mooresville Scott Johnson Brickhouse Tavern, Davidson Robin Brown w/ Andy Seets Cajun Queen 7th Street Gator Band Connolly’s On Fifth Rich acoustic Double Door Inn Baby Joshua The Evening Muse Sonny Sonnenstein & Gina Young Fat City Spitvalves, Green Goblin, No More Graduate, Uptown Renelvis Lynn’s Randy Rowland The…
Music Menu
THURSDAY 3.13 Avett Brothers — Part sweetwater harmonies, part jug band, and 100 percent authentic, Concord’s Scott and Seth Avett, formerly of Nemo, mix North Carolina traditional musics (Piedmont blues, bluegrass and roadhouse country) together into a sound that ought to have label folks sniffing like mad, if only they knew what the good shit…
See & Do
MARCH12 WEDNESDAY The Charlotte Checkers are definitely winding down the season with a bang. They will face off against the Wheeling Nailers tonight at 7:05pm, the Richmond Renegades Friday at 7:35pm, the Reading Royals Sunday at 3:05pm, and the Atlantic City Boardwalk Tuesday 7:05. There are only two home games at Cricket Arena left following…
Secretary: Of Human Bondage
You win some, you lose some. At least that’s how this month’s Charlotte Film Society schedule should be assessed, especially when compared to the strong slate they usually serve up to the city’s art-house market. This month, though, there’s only one title that’s worth its marquee billing, and even this one’s only for specialized audiences…
Film at 11
Man, film is everywhere in rock nowadays, and why not? The line between music and video and stardom has been blurred by the camera over the last 10 years or so. Fortunately, Charlotte has a number of bands that understand the visual medium rather well — see Pyramid, Bellglide, The Interstellars — as well as…
Film Clips
NEW RELEASES BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE For more years than I can count, Disney’s Touchstone arm has specialized in bland, toothless comedies (usually starring the likes of Jim Belushi or Martin Short) that are about as threatening as a dead Chihuahua. Love it or hate it, their latest work doesn’t allow for similar fence-sitting, not…
Karma Cleanser
Dear Karma Cleanser: I’ve been engaged to my fiance for about seven months and we’ve been living together for about eight months. We get along fine except that one of her ex-boyfriend’s names keep popping up all the time. She told me that they had decided they were better off as friends. She insists that’s…
Doherty Fired, Other Questions Arise
One piece of the sexual abuse puzzle haunting the Diocese of Charlotte fell into place last week. With the firing of Charlotte Catholic High School teacher Mark Doherty by a unanimous vote of the nine-person lay review board, the diocese took a step toward regaining the confidence of angry parishioners. Following the release of old…
