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…
Here Comes The Neighborhood
One of the most common complaints I hear is that Charlotte is comprised of too many piecemeal neighborhoods, all containing a few cool elements but too far removed from each other. There’s NoDa, of course, as well as the burgeoning Plaza-Midwood area. One area that often gets overlooked, though, is the Camden neighborhood, located within…
Kingston Via Rio
Reggae’s first family battles Bob Marley preached “One Love,” but as fate would have it, it’s been anything but, according to Aston “Family Man” Barrett, who with his brother, Carlton, helped form the band that would catapult Marley and reggae into the global consciousness. While the Wailers continue to tour with new lead singer Gary…
We Have A Vision
The members of the Charlotte Mecklenburg school board, humble public servants all, spent $12,000 on a retreat at the Grandover Resort in Greensboro, a pricey golfing and spa resort. Though steep, the expenditure was for a great cause: the board was trying to put together a “vision statement.” And wait — not only a vision…
Keen Quits the Highway
For some performers, music is an industry, a factory where product is turned out solely in hopes of profit. But Robert Earl Keen takes a different approach. “My idea about this whole business is to have some fun and create some kind of challenge and see if I can pull it off,” Keen says. “And…
The Blotter
PUSHING YOUR LUCK: A grocery store manager witnessed a young woman take a 12-pack of beer from a display, slip it inside her backpack, and stroll out the door without paying. The woman placed the stolen brew in her parked car and then returned to the store, by which time the store manager had called…
Sit & Spin
Pavement Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain Matador Let’s say you’re a fan of a band. For our purposes, let’s call the band Pavement, an established indie rock band with a large-scale (for an indie band, that is) following. You have all of Pavement’s albums, some EPs, and even some 7-inch vinyl. What more could you possibly…
See & Do
NOVEMBER 17 – WEDNESDAY Songwriter Marc Cohn, the 1991 Grammy winner for “Best New Artist,” will appear at Neighborhood Theatre tonight at 8pm along with support act Vienna Teng. Best known for his piano-driven hit “Walking in Memphis,” Cohn has countered the famed Grammy kiss of death by doing session work and smaller-venue solo tours…
Music Menu
WEDNESDAY 11.17 4th Ward — Charlotte power pop combo recently retooled itself with new members and are putting the final touches on their forthcoming release Then There Were 4 with famed knob-twister Jamie Hoover. The quartet, led by Mike Shannon, obviously sound like they’re rarin’ to go on the unmastered batch of tunes I’ve heard.…
Ask the Advice Goddess
Chump Change Several months ago, I met this amazing woman. We fell in love quickly, and everything seemed perfect, but it turned out she’d been speaking with her ex-husband about reuniting all along. He subsequently moved back in. Days afterward, she called me, promising their relationship was “really over.” I forgave her and started seeing…
Soundboard
Wednesday, Nov. 17 Amos’ Southend Synthetic Pulse w/ Angels on Acid Breakfast Club DJ Boney B Double Door Inn 4th Ward & Ultralush The Evening Muse Spottiswoode & His Enemies w / Danielle Howle The Gin Mill Wizard’s Road Show Harry and Jean’s, Rock Hill Gary Marcus, Christian Tamburr, Ryan Weaver, David Binkley and Jeff…
Stargazer
For All Signs The cosmic lesson this week is on the subject of grief. If you are feeling sorrow, remember that feelings have a life of their own and should be respected. Share with someone you trust. Give those who love you the gift of allowing them to help. Experiencing loss accelerates soul growth and…
Homeward, Auteur
Long before filmmaker Michael Moore began inserting himself into his films as a lefty Regular Joe quipping on the agonies of war, gun violence and capitalism, there was Ross McElwee. It was soft-spoken Southerner McElwee, now 57, who pioneered the form of personal documentary Moore and his ilk have parlayed into nothing short of a…
A High-Concept Hoedown
While some might argue that NC Dance Theatre’s strong suit is its recently achieved mastery of prime Balanchine ballet repertoire, it’s evident that key people piloting the company have a notion that there may be too much starch in that suit. Last week’s Innovative Works, like the “Beatles Barbeque [sic] & Balanchine” program that opened…
A Fine Whine
The key scene in Sideways arrives when Miles (Paul Giamatti), a lovable loser who collects unhappy memories the way some people collect stamps, cuts through his own haze of despair long enough to open up to Maya (Virginia Madsen), who like Miles is a divorced individual with a great passion for wine. As Miles explains…
Pigskin Rules!
When the National Football League, guided by its young commissioner, Pete Rozelle, signed a landmark $4.7 million TV contract with CBS in 1962, it put the league’s broadcast rights in one collective basket while making each franchise an equal partner in broadcast revenue. Four decades later, Major League Baseball has yet to solve that same…
View From The Couch
BILL HICKS LIVE: SATIRIST, SOCIAL CRITIC, STAND-UP COMEDIAN (2004). Comedian Bill Hicks died from cancer in 1994 at age 32. Since then, his critical reputation and popularity have grown steadily, going beyond “cult favorite” status till now he’s almost routinely lumped in with revolutionary comic icons like Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor. I wouldn’t go…
Yeshiva Boy’s Family
Joshua Braff completed his first novel a good while back, but his agent couldn’t find anyone willing to publish it. It was too quiet, they thought. Then Braff wrote The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green — and quiet it’s not. It’s a loud, funny, bittersweet look at a fictional Jewish family that lives in New…
Film Clips
NEW RELEASES AFTER THE SUNSET As a celebration of the incomparable beauty of Salma Hayek, After the Sunset surely ranks as a four-star affair, lovingly photographing this earthbound Aphrodite as she sashays around the film’s tropical setting in any number of bikinis and low-cut gowns. Oglers of Pierce Brosnan should also find this a thumbs-up…
Arts Agenda
Classical Music Anthony Dean Griffey Griffey, a tenor, will perform a set of songs written by Andre Previn. Fri., Nov. 19, 8:15 p.m. Free. George A. Batte Jr. Fine Arts Center, Wingate University. 704-233-8312. Charlotte Symphony Neighborhood Concerts These intimate and informal concerts encompass four centuries of works for chamber orchestra. Nov. 18: Duke Family…
Into The Cinematic Unknown!
Throughout the Great Depression that rocked America during the 1930s, the citizens of this great nation always managed to scrape up enough loose change to go to the movies. Cinema provided relief from the ugliness of the real world, and Americans found it easy to lose themselves for a couple of hours in the presence…
Charlotte Cooks
Mary looked at the small white rice encrusted ball in front of her. “These look like those porcupine meatballs we made in cooking class in high school,” she noted. Then she popped the Asian Chinese Snowball into her mouth. “It just doesn’t taste like anything from high school,” she added. Downstairs near the baking lab…
Clobbered
Looking back, it’s pretty obvious why Democrat Parks Helms, the grandfather of the local Democratic Party, felt comfortable enough to take a 10-day vacation to Italy during the crucial month before the election. He obviously knew something the Republicans wouldn’t learn about until after Nov. 2. The boom didn’t hit until election night, when the…
Cutting Edge
“Fried chicken is best served without a side of provincial bluster,” begins John T. Edge’s just-published treatise-cum-travelogue, Fried Chicken: An American Story. Startling words, perhaps, from a food writer who has thus far made the South his primary subject of discourse. But Edge, director of the Southern Foodways Alliance at the University of Mississippi, knew…
From al Qaeda With Love
They say we’re fighting the terrorists on their own turf so they won’t come here to kill us, and they’re right. Terrorists don’t have to come here to kill us. The state of North Carolina and the federal government will take care of that for them. If terrorists decided to detonate a nuclear bomb or…
Liquid Offerings
Thanksgiving is the food lovers’ holiday. Those who like to cook have the opportunity to use all the gadgets and high tech equipment in the kitchen while those who like to eat have that opportunity in abundance. Traditionally, the most frequently paired wine with Thanksgiving is Riesling. But does a Riesling cut through the cloying…
Tempered Capitalism
When I say that the capitalist system produces ugliness, squalor and environmental blight if left entirely unchecked, I speak as a supporter of capitalism. But I speak also as someone who takes a critical longterm view of our actions, not a doctrinaire disciple of immediate self-gratification. I see that our personal and public lives in…
Corn Cob Hype
You can hang it up, but can you eat it? This time of the year, everywhere you look doors are decorated with bunches of Indian corn, those colorful cobs of red, white, yellow, blue and brown kernels. They’re also used as table decorations in floral arrangements or in cornucopia baskets. The corn that gives our…
Letters
If It’s Tuesday . . . I read about Tim Davis’s experience standing in line to vote last Wednesday with many like-minded folks (“Scene & Herd,” Nov. 10). I believe we may have determined why Kerry lost. — Bill Stroupe, Cherryville, NC Get A Clue, Tim! Maybe Timothy C. Davis can take partial credit for…
All In Good Taste
GRAND OPENING: September 27, 2004 EXECUTIVE CHEF: Therease Mahmoud. She received a degree in culinary arts and restaurant management from Scottsdale Culinary Institute in Scottsdale, Arizona, and has traveled the world cooking and learning various types of cuisines. Tastefully Yours originally began as just a catering business; the Mahmouds hope that the cafe “will attract…
News of the Weird
Lead story: Ultra-orthodox California Rabbi Nachum Shifren, 53, cuts a dashing figure on the beach at Malibu, where he is the legendary surfer “Shifty,” easily distinguishable on 20-foot waves by his long beard, according to a September profile in the San Diego Union-Tribune. In his spare time (he says he is ready to ride 24/6,…
