Jul 25-31, 2018
Queen City Needle Exchange, Charlotte Regional Harm Reduction Coalition; Dammit Wesley; AKITA; River Ratz; Mr. K’s Soft Ice Cream
Charlotte ‘Hamilton’ Sales Go Awry After Bot Interference
Two-hour delay leaves internet fans in fits
Sarah Delia Talks ‘She Says’ Podcast and Upcoming Panel Discussion
I meet Sarah Delia at the Starbucks in the Hilton Charlotte University Place, just across the parking lot from the offices of WFAE. In front of the hotel, two large PDGA flags fly, and a conference room next to the Starbucks has been converted into a mini-convention hall for disc golfers. I mention that Charlotte…
‘Creative Loafing’ Writers Win Five Awards and an Honorable Mention at National AAN Convention
Kia O. Moore, Ryan Pitkin, Mark Kemp and Lara Americo awarded
Mission: Impossible — Fallout: Cruising for kicks
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE — FALLOUT *** (out of four) DIRECTED BY Christopher McQuarrie STARS Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill When it comes to the Mission: Impossible film franchise, there’s the John Woo installment and then there’s all the rest. That is to say, there’s Mission: Impossible II, the sole bad entry in the series, and then there…
Eighth Grade makes the grade
EIGHTH GRADE ***1/2 (out of four) DIRECTED BY Bo Burnham STARS Elsie Fisher, Josh Hamilton Hereditary was unsettling through its pervasive atmosphere of dread, while First Reformed was unnerving in its implications involving violence and vindication. Yet for a summer ’18 outing that truly gets under the skin while simultaneously wreaking havoc on our emotions…
Disobedience, Ready Player One, Marlene Dietrich box set among new home entertainment titles
(View From The Couch is a weekly column that reviews what’s new on Blu-ray, DVD and Streaming. Ratings are on a four-star scale.) THE CAT O’ NINE TAILS (1971). Following the global success of his striking directorial debut, the 1970 giallo The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Italian auteur Dario Argento imported more American stars…
Weezer and Pixies thrill amphitheatre crowd
Rock trio thrills Charlotte crowd on a hot summer night.
Listen Up: Dollar Signs Cash In on ‘Local Vibes’
A whole 52 episodes! By our horrible math that means we’ve been up to this Local Vibes thing for a year (we missed two weeks, so maybe a little longer). To celebrate, we brought in local favorites Dollar Signs — or three of them, anyway — to discuss open mics, anxiety, and the new album,…
News of the Weird: Get the Horns
Karma Walt Dean King, 69, just wanted to take a look at a used car for sale on July 4. But when he approached the vehicle in the small California town of Tracy, about 60 miles east of San Francisco, he was suddenly knocked off his feet by a bull that had gotten loose. King…
A Blast From the Past Hits Charlotte
When’s the last time you’ve heard a song that reminded you of your past: a high school dance party, a drive with your best friend or a family member, an ex-girlfriend or boyfriend? Whatever the case may be, music has a way of transporting you back to specific moments that are nostalgic. That’s what I…
Mr. K’s Keeps It Old School as South End Shifts
In a sea of new and trendy businesses on South Boulevard, one classic sign stands out among the rest. Mr. K’s Soft Ice Cream’s original 1967 sign still stands on the corner across the street from yet another apartment development currently under construction. The vintage storefront may look out of place, but it serves as…
New Coalition Aims to Expand Syringe-Exchange Program in Charlotte
Cat Nelson was introduced to heroin at age 13 by a friend’s parent. Now 32, she looks back on it as a fateful experience. “I kind of sought it out. From a young age, I always wanted to get high. I think I was born this way,” Nelson says, a mischievous grin on her face.…
Industry Experts Discuss the ‘Green Wave,’ Social Barriers and Business Tips
Never mind that the North Carolina General Assembly has ignored every serious cannabis reform bill filed for more than a decade, industry insiders – both locally and nationally – are gearing up for the green wave they say is a’comin’ to the Carolinas. You can see it beginning to bud in the fields where North…
Dammit Wesley Gets the Conversation Rolling
“The arts have always been a very powerful weapon,” Jimi Thompson says, “especially for people of color.” Thompson is better known as Dammit Wesley, the 31-year-old painter, innovator and part-owner of the BlkMrktCLT art gallery and photography studio at Camp North End, which celebrates its one-year anniversary on Friday, July 27. Thompson is seldom at…
River Ratz Talk About Their Family-Friendly “Fun-Grass” Vibe
OLD-TIME STRING BANDS may be among the least hip or cool musical outfits you could think of, but they’re also among the most fun to dance to. Go see a band like the Carolina Chocolate Drops and try to remain seated. You can’t do it. String-band music and its later offshoot bluegrass are, by definition,…
Recovery From Addiction Is Optimal, but Harm Reduction Saves Lives, Too
For Drug addicts, the obvious way to get truly healthy and return to being a functioning member of society is to stop using and stay stopped. That’s a no-brainer, and there are many treatment programs and support groups in the Charlotte area that are more than happy and willing to help addicts get clean and…
Ride the ‘Night Train’ With Charlotte’s Hot New Funk Band AKITA
ON A RECENT FRIDAY, ’round midnight, AKITA is cooking up a warm and meaty stew of deep, throbbing funk — guttural bass lines and stinging guitar that creep and crawl in lockstep with some sharp, spot-on drumming and tasteful blurts of tenor sax and trombone. Right now, the music is simmering in the intro of…
