See & Do
OCTOBER 6 – WEDNESDAY My tree-house is better than yours and equally earthshaking issues are at the root of A Tree With Arms, James Saba’s expose of playground politics. CAST’s second show of the season stars Buddy Hanson and Jason Gilbert as arboreal warriors Corky and Joel. Of course, there are mundane distractions amid the…
Lords of The Nein
First, that name: No, Durham’s The Nein isn’t the Triangle’s answer to Can or Kraftwerk, or Nena and her “99 Luftballoons” for that matter. Like many of us, they just didn’t happen to make it all the way through the Lord of the Rings trilogy, opting for the film version instead.”(We) thought that was the…
News of the Weird
Lead story: To publicize the use of fat as an alternative method of harvesting stem cells to grow new human tissue, Austin, Texas, plastic surgeon Dr. Robert Ersek, who is overweight, called in reporters in August to watch as he liposuctioned 1-1/2 pounds of his own fat from the left side of his abdomen. As…
Ask the Advice Goddess
Hot To Not I’ve been with my girlfriend for two years. At first, things were amazing, but after six months she said she didn’t want to have sex anymore because she was afraid of getting pregnant. Being the understanding guy, I said OK, and for the last 15 months we haven’t made love. Now, despite…
Sit & Spin
Tom Waits Real Gone Anti Hearing Tom Waits throw himself into his theatrical musical roles, it’s easy to think he was born in Tin Pan Alley, grew up in Weimar Berlin, works the freak show circuit, haunts pawn shops, sells blood for food, plays piano in a whorehouse, and has something — or someone –…
Stargazer
For All Signs On Oct. 13 at 10:48 pm EDT, we will experience a partial eclipse of the Sun. It will not be visible in North America. Eclipses occur in pairs and this is the first. The second eclipse will be lunar and occurs on Oct. 27. In ancient times eclipses were believed frightening, heralding…
Music Menu
WEDNESDAY 10.6 The Big Wu — This Minnesota troupe’s marathon-length shows are a guaranteed draw among the converted. Those unfamiliar with The Big Wu can expect a funky-acoustic groove that shuffles like jazz but rocks out as well, all honed with multiple instruments and vocalists. A jam band rooted in interplay among the musicians; then…
Involuntary Eternity
Some of us grasp for what is easily in reach. Others reach for what is beyond our grasp. The photography and crafts exhibit showing through October at Hodges Taylor Gallery offers work from many artists who’ve reached for and achieved a sustained, confident and lyrical proficiency. It also shows works from one artist who has…
Soundboard
Wednesday, Oct. 6 Amos’ Southend The Big Wu w/ the Chris McCarty Band Blue Melinda Hansen, Royce Guin, Korey Dudley & Rob Knox Breakfast Club DJ Boney B Bricktop Lounge DJ Christian and Brigmunton The Evening Muse Tosco House Party Open Mic w/ Brianna Lane Lava Java Open Mic w / Sam Midtown 51 Brian…
La Renee Reigns Without Strain
Blonder, slimmer and securely at the top of her game, Renee Fleming majestically entered Belk Theater last Wednesday — in a stunning purple gown that seemed to have its own wind machine fanning its diaphanous folds. For all her queenly serenity, La Renee seemed at first unaware she was among worshipers. She dipped tentatively down…
Caffeine Buzz
In his new film Coffee and Cigarettes, writer/director Jim Jarmusch eavesdrops on 11 seemingly casual conversations between actors and musicians over — what else? — coffee and cigarettes. Inspired by the caffeine-fueled chats, movie critics Felicia Feaster and Curt Holman discuss the film at a popular coffee house. Feaster: I never see movies that make…
Back to Iran
Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi (Pantheon). Persepolis was Satrapi’s award-winning comics format memoir of growing up in Tehran as part of an intellectual, politically liberal family during the days of the Shah, his overthrow, life under the ayatollahs, and the disastrous war against Iraq. At the end of that book, her parents sent the 14-year-old…
Passion Of The Python
The anniversary re-release of 1979’s Monty Python’s Life of Brian descended on theaters like divine grace. After the unholy hype, fervent arguments and on-screen tortures of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, Brian’s 25-year-old religious satire comes as a blessed relief, like sneaking off for dirty jokes and beer after a blood-and-thunder sermon at…
Arts Agenda
Classical Music Chamber Music Janice Bradner, piano, Matt Lavin, cello, and Tatiana Karpova, violin. Sun., Oct. 10, 3 p.m. Free. Frances May Barnes Recital Hall, Winthrop University. 803-323-2255. Charlotte Symphony Conducting Serenade for 13 Winds and Metamorphosen, Strauss interpreter Christof Perick will express the artist’s teenage optimism to adult reflection. Also Brahm’s Symphony No.1. www.charlottesymphony.org.…
View From The Couch
ALADDIN (1992). One of the early entries in the resurgence of the Disney animated feature (following The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast), Aladdin finally makes its DVD debut in a digital transfer that’s every bit as eye-popping as what played theaters 12 years ago. Visually, this box office smash represents one of Disney’s…
One Fish, Two Fish
Of all the Dr. Seuss books for early readers, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish stands out as a favorite for its simplicity. Sometimes keeping it simple is the hardest thing to do. Simplicity is at the heart of the 100-seat Blue Fish, A Casual Neighborhood Seafood Restaurant and Bar, which opened last…
Film Clips
NEW RELEASES SHARK TALE Forget the Finding Nemo comparisons: On its own, Shark Tale still only qualifies as so much cinematic chum. Call me old-school, but when it comes to animated features, I prefer the lyrical classicism of Beauty and the Beast and Pinocchio to the hipster stylings of Shrek. But current tastes dictate that…
Kobe Won
All beef lovers, which now include many meat-loving Atkinites, know of Kobe beef, the well-marbled meat from Japan that costs over $100 a pound. Kobe is actually the name of a county, just as Champagne is in France. Each year only about 4000 head of Kobe cattle come on the Japanese market, so if you…
Fighting On All Fronts
“I volunteered for the Army on my birthday They draft the white trash first round here anyway…” — Steve Earle, “Copperhead Road” A large percentage of the men and women who carry the war in Iraq on their shoulders entered the military straight from the small towns of rural America. They were looking for something…
Bright, Genuine and Vietnamese Saigon Bistro
EXECUTIVE CHEF: Luan Nguyen AMBIENCE: A bright, inviting decor sets the tone in this family owned and run restaurant. White tile flooring is offset by one deep red wall while tranquil black and white paintings of Vietnam line the walls. TYPE OF CUISINE: Opened September 1, 2004, “Saigon Bistro primarily wants to offer the customers…
Brothers in Arms
In these days of DNA sampling and detailed crime scene investigation, it’s hard to imagine that there are still such things as unsolved murders. But they happen, more than we want to think about. A “cold case” (a case that remains unsolved) — especially if it’s a murder — leaves family and friends frustrated by…
Veg Out
October is Vegetarian Awareness Month, a time to ponder the relative benefits of a meat-free diet. It can’t be denied that it’s much easier on the body to eat plant foods loaded with health-promoting vitamins, fiber, and anti-oxidants than to fill up on high cholesterol, satu-rated fat-laden, disease-causing animal flesh. According to the National Cancer…
Election Hit and Run?
What occurred after a Republican fundraiser earlier this month may well have been a partisan hate-crime. At least that’s how it looks to the alleged victim, a protester who says an enraged Republican deliberately tried to run him over with his car after the high-dollar event in Eastover, which was headlined by none other than…
Hey, chick: Take it all off!
Most meat eaters love tearing into a properly seasoned tender-fleshed roast chicken but stop short when it’s their turn to pull out the roasting pan. The dual challenge of seasoning the bird adequately and arriving at a balance between cooked and overcooked meat is enough to make the most confident cooks run to the nearest…
FUME Lights Fuse
Rhonda Lennon isn’t interested in wading into a decades-old civil rights battle. She just wants new schools in the suburbs, schools that will help ease the overcrowding that grows worse with every new subdivision built. But last week, she may have inadvertently lit the fuse on a powder keg of racial tension that’s been brewing…
Prime Real Estate
Although brand and grape names trigger Pavlovian memories that reach into your soul and wallet, the grape’s soil and location produce the flavor you crave. That special spot is called an “appellation of origin,” and Sonoma County is breaking out two new ones, Bennett Valley and Rockpile. In the United States, there are three levels…
The Viewers Have Spoken
With the turning of the leaves and harvest of the pumpkin patch, new fall TV shows debut and already some favorites and one dog have emerged in the Charlotte market. Some are old and some are new, but in a bit of surprise, reality doesn’t necessarily rule. The aforementioned “dog” is the much hyped Jane…
Undertaker Slays Chimp!
I came away from last week’s Presidential debate with the troubling realization that President Bush will never, in fact simply cannot admit that his big Iraq adventure is a disaster. I don’t just mean that he can’t admit it publicly for all the obvious political reasons; he literally doesn’t seem to be able to admit…
Good Eats
All Around Town Anntony’s Caribbean, 6434-F West Sugarcreek Rd., 704-598-6863; 2001 E. 7th St., 704-342-0749. 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. (Gastonia), 704-866-7574. A favorite of…
Justice Denied
In 1998, two young women were brutally raped two months apart in Mecklenburg County. For six years, while city officials yapped about trivialities like the arena, art funding and the trolley, their rape kits sat untested in police property control. Meanwhile, city leaders found time and money for everything under the sun — their pet…
A Night at the Improv
Say the words “improvisational music” and most people will think of a band like Phish: extended drum solos or extended flights of fancy played on the guitar, with everything returning to the original theme in a big, climactic ending that sends the twirlers reeling in the aisles. Real improv goes a step further, steering clear…
Swing State Tour
Pop quiz: to which band do the following liner notes refer? —– are a highly original and refreshing group to listen to. They subscribe to the theory that rock and roll should by rights be made an art, and to this end they have experimented widely with technique and form…they have borrowed the principle that…
Green Lungs
Parks are the “lungs” of a city, cleaning our environment and refreshing our collective spirits by contact with nature. The need for more cleansing green space in our city was brought home to me forcibly last week: flying back into Charlotte revealed the dramatic layer of brown smog hovering over the town like a deadly…
The Blotter
THE THREE MEAN STOOGES: A trio of losers entered a convenience store, forced the female clerk into the back, and assaulted her by striking her in the face. They then brought the clerk back to the front of the store to open the cash register, from which they stole $600. The police report indicates the…
Kane is Able
Since starting her record label Big Fat (now Firepink) to release her first CD, This Time Last Year, Christine Kane has hired a business coach. She’s also hired a publicist and booking agent, and opened an office in Asheville’s downtown business district. She’s been a Borders bookstore “pick artist” in the Folk category, and has…
Letters
Bill James Should Trade Places In less than a month, we will have new leaders at every level of government. As a nation, we continue to grow more partisan and divided. I was astounded and worried by Mecklenburg County Commissioner Bill James’ point of view in the CL article “Gang of Five, Pt. 2” (by…
