Use Your Noodle
March is chock-full of momentous occasions. We have the ides of March, St. Patrick’s Day, the first day of Spring, Easter (this year), Roger Daltrey and Tammy Faye Bakker’s birthdays, and – most important – it’s National Noodle Month! The Chinese are on record as making noodles as early as 3000 B.C., and it is…
More Diverse Than You Think
In 2000, the Charlotte community ranked 39th out of 40 US communities in a Harvard survey that measured levels of trust between the races. Today, different racial and ethnic groups are increasingly rubbing elbows, and not just in our schools, but in a majority of the census tracts in the county. In 1980, the bulk…
A daughter who deserves choices
My most terrifying moment in decades slammed into me like a runaway 18-wheeler on Feb. 1 at 6:14am. Nurses at Egleston Children’s Hospital on the Emory University campus in Atlanta wheeled my 14-year-old daughter Amy away for major surgery. Any parent knows the feeling — the point at which you’re helpless to aid a child…
Wine Ramblings
This is my digest of what’s being talked about around the wine industry’s water coolers. PINOT POWER Thanks to the movie Sideways, pinot noir is red hot. The sexy porch scene starring pinot as foreplay is lighting the libidos of Americans and sending them to their wallets. AC Nielsen reported that, since the movie opened…
Poverty in Mecklenburg
First, the good news. Today’s poor in Mecklenburg County are living far better than they did 30 years ago, according to a report to county commissioners last week. Adjusted for inflation, expenditures by the poorest 15 percent of the population are about equal to those of the median American household in the 1970s. “When thinking…
An Open Soundcheck, A Closed Club
Last week, I was offered the opportunity to go see the band Wilco soundcheck at Ovens Auditorium. As I had neglected to pay the $30+ for a ticket, I eagerly accepted. My thought process went as follows: great band – one of the best in the world, according to some critics – a chance to…
Wine List
International Wine Tasting Presented by the French-American Chamber of Commerceof NC. Inlingua, 6060 JA Jones Dr., Suite 215. Thu., March 10, 6-9 p.m. $15. 704-847-8152. Wine Classes A romp in the vineyards of Tuscany. Mar. 8, 6:30-8pm. $30. Mint Museum of Craft & Design, 220 N. Tryon St. 704-344-8027. Wine Classes Great for beginners. Every…
It’s Not Bad Enough To Be Raped
Over 5,000 victims of sexual assault report to North Carolina hospital emergency rooms every year. Even though nurses who examine these women say the victims’ number one concern is the possibility of becoming pregnant as a result of the rape, as many as 1,000 victims are sent away from NC hospitals each year without receiving…
Bad groupie
I presume we can all agree that totally naked people are practically powerless. And in my case it doesn’t even matter that I was not totally naked. I was naked enough, and quibbling over it would only mean that I am not even very good at being bad. And in this case, I was very…
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. $$ Azteca, 116 Woodlawn Rd., 704-525-5110; 9709 Independence Blvd., 704-814-9877; 1863 W. Franklin Blvd. (Gastonia), 704-866-7574. A favorite of…
Horns of A Rhino Dilemma
From the “it’s not illegal, but it sure has a fishy smell” department comes the news that CMS board member Larry Gauvreau begins a new job this week as the publisher of The Rhinoceros Times, the conservative weekly paper that carries the motto that it has “all the rumors fit to print”. Although Gauvreau has…
Dubya’s Doobies
Gary V. Gilmore Butcher “Personally, I like it that he’s such a casual guy. And you just know he’s got to be a reggae fan, too.” Janey Byars Baker “It’s pretty ironic, considering how many former users have been driven back to drugs since he became President.” Mildred Piersall Housewife “You watch – the price…
Good Eats
@DG-L1Header:All Around Town @DG-Listing:Anntony’s Caribbean, 6434-F West Sugarcreek Rd., 704-598-6863; 2001 E. 7th St., 704-342-0749. A hint of the tropics; rotisserie chicken with Jamaican jerk sauce, ribs, Paradise Island fish special, curries, and Caribbean styled greens. $$ @DG-Listing:Azteca, 116 Woodlawn Rd., 704-525-5110; 9709 Independence Blvd., 704-814-9877; 1863 W. Franklin Blvd. (Gastonia), 704-866-7574. A favorite of…
Reality Strolling
The concept of “stroll districts” disturbs me. You may remember the term surfaced recently in Charlotte’s debate about attracting the “creative class,” young entrepreneurs whose wealth-producing proclivities promise increased economic development for our city in coming decades. Among the “cool” attributes of places that attract these young, energetic professionals are urban neighborhoods with streets lined…
The Blotter
And The Award for Most Boorish Behavior Goes To…: During an awards banquet at a local temple, one female attendee threatened another with bodily harm. Have a Drink on Me: After an argument broke out between a middle-aged couple, a woman opened up the refrigerator, pulled out a container of Kool-Aid, and threw it in…
His Aim’s Still True
For a veteran song-slinger like Elvis Costello, whose musical longevity is matched only by the diversity of its unexpected twists and turns, the magnitude of his long-ago arrival on the music scene diminishes with time, especially in our current nipple-barin’, profanity-flingin’, reality show-watchin’, Clear Channel dominatin’ cycnical culture. So rather than the brain-scrambling eargasm that…
Crash of the Titans
Just five years ago, it would have been unthinkable, says Bill McCoy, the former head of the UNCC Urban Institute and a longtime authority on all things Charlotte. Yet last week, it happened. With relatively little fanfare, Charlotte Repertory Theatre bit the dust. Until recently, the 30-year-old professional theater company was an institution on the…
See & Do
03 – THURSDAY The only female Attorney General of the United States, Janet “the Waco Wrangler” Reno, will speak on current events and entertain questions from the audience tonight at 7pm in Dana Auditorium at Queens University of Charlotte. Her speech is part of the university’s Learning Society speaker series which has formerly featured such…
Living with Jazz, Comprehending Audio Culture
As writer’s clubs go, few are as exclusive, exalted and excoriated as the too often ego-driven fraternity of jaz critics. It’s a select ensemble of (mostly) men who loom nearly as large within the genre as the players themselves; read enough liner notes, essays and collected works, and the biases stand out like a Charlie…
News of the Weird
LEAD STORY: Some of the well-intentioned donations for victims of the December tsunami are bewilderingly inappropriate (such as ski jackets and Viagra), according to a February Wall Street Journal dispatch from Sri Lanka. Relief workers are being distracted by shipments of, for example, moisturizing gel, sweaters, women’s dress shoes, Arctic-weather tents and thong underwear. Crucial…
Stargazer
Pisces The Fish (Feb. 18 – Mar. 19) There is almost more happening than you can hold in your mind. You are truly swimming in two directions right now. One side is happy, upbeat, even excited. The other is much more somber. Love life is up and down. Children are troublesome. For All Signs This…
Rhythm of the Ass
Beat the Donkey If you’ve come to see somebody’s ass get whooped, you’re in the wrong line. Beat The Donkey is no ultimate fighting contest, nor a perverse South of the Border, animal-abusing spectacle. What you get with the oddly named band is Brazilian percussionist Cyro Baptista and his 10-piece ensemble in a presentation that’s…
Chew on This, ChoicePoint
SUGGBLOG There’s a solution to the dire threat posed to every American by ChoicePoint, the Atlanta-based “data miner” that has been cheerfully selling your most sensitive personal information to any Tom, Dick and Scumbag who ponies up a little cash. As we’ve reported (http://charlotte.creativeloafing.com/2003-12-31/news_cover.html), plenty of smoke has been wafting from ChoicePoint’s robo-snoops for years,…
CL Theater Award
In a year when some bemoaned the drooping of Charlotte’s fringe theater scene – and the paralysis of Charlotte Rep – there was actually an unprecedented amount of theater activity in the Queen City. Keeping up with all that was going on in 2004 meant attending over 75 productions and special events. We’ll further winnow…
Sit & Spin
Mogwai Government Commissions Matador Included in the press packet accompanying these BBC sessions was a New York Times concert review chronicling a recent Irving Plaza show by Mogwai, during which the Scottish five-piece reduced many fans to tears through the sheer emotional power of their music — and entirely without the benefit of lyrics. That…
Letters
Be Creative: Lower Taxes In “City Crawls Closer To Cool” (Feb. 16), Sam Boykin has a point — Charlotte greatly lacks in appeal for 25-to-38-year-olds (being part of this demographic, my partner and I know all too well). However, his proposed solution would do nothing to fix the problem. Boykin’s plan would only swap one…
My Carolina Two-Step
Two major dance companies in North Carolina have received considerable éclat in the New York press over the past year: Raleigh-based Carolina Ballet and Charlotte’s best performing arts company, North Carolina Dance Theatre. Last week was ideal for seeing both heralded companies in action. With a rare lull in theater openings here in Charlotte, I…
Music Menu
THURSDAY 3.3 Love.45 : This modern rock quartet has all their I’s dotted and T’s crossed, but don’t try to squeeze a square peg into a round musical hole. The self-titled new recording is tightly produced (by 3 Doors Down guitarist Chris Henderson), catchy, hooky, and ready to be served up on your friendly neighborhood…
Your Master’s Voice
Skeptical about corporate-owned news sources? You should be, according to the essays collected in News Incorporated: Corporate Media Ownership and Its Threat to Democracy. This book contains vital information to any “consumer” of news media and exposes the unhealthy relationship between our government and those we expect to monitor it. The various writers are learned,…
Soundboard
Wednesday, Mar. 2 Breakfast Club DJ Boney B Comet Grill Pervis & Sonya Lee Double Door Inn Weedeater w/ Animal Bag, New Blacks, Buster Rogue and more The Evening Muse Tosco House Party w/ Anne Deming & Eric Himan The Gin Mill Wizard’s Road Show Jack Mason’s Food & Spirits Open Mic w/ Kevin Hartwick<…
Good story, static art
Ex Machina is an ambitious graphic novel in which a superhero saves one of the twin towers on 9/11 and later becomes mayor of NYC. Tossing a superhero onto a political battlefield isn’t uncommon, but our hero, Mitchell Hundred, gives up his superhero life to work solely in politics. This framework sets up thousands of…
Still Cool
It’s actually a sequel to the 1995 comedy Get Shorty, but you might think Be Cool (opening this Friday) was some kind of follow-up to Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, based on how much the trailers and TV spots have been playing up a particular scene that reunites former dance partners John Travolta and Uma Thurman.…
Arts Agenda
Classical Music Chamber Music of Charlotte Concert A repertoire of musical selections that showcase the style and moods reflected in the paintings in The Dalton Collection. Sun., March 6, 3-4:30 p.m. Free, after museum admission. Mint Museum of Art, 2730 Randolph Rd. 704-337-2000. The Charlotte Concert Band The program, March Madness, will include marches from…
The Passion Of Shylock
Approximately one year after the firestorm over The Passion of the Christ and the nature of its anti-Semitic content, the most notorious Jewish character in the literary canon takes the big screen. In William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, bloodthirsty moneylender Shylock arrives to reignite contemporary arguments over Jewish-Christian tensions. Merchant finished principal photography at…
Getting Real About EthniCity
Next Generation Consulting, that now-notorious outfit that hired focus groups of “young professionals” to determine Charlotte’s hipness factor, noted that one element that would make the Queen City “cool” is to have “authentic” ethnic restaurants, especially “authentic” ethnic restaurants in the city core. I’m going to assume for the moment that these “young professionals” did…
View From The Couch
HOOSIERS (1986). Long considered one of the best sports movies ever made by those in the know (i.e. wags at Sports Illustrated and ESPN and basketball fans across the country), Hoosiers works the underdog formula so expertly that it’s no surprise the film still has the ability to uplift audiences nearly 20 years later. Much…
Private Spaces
When I think of private rooms, Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Southeast Asian Spice Market in New York comes to mind. These rooms were not created for business, receptions, or baby showers. Off to the side of the bar area – decked out like the production set for Miss Saigon – are small intimate dining nooks, many connected…
Film Clips
New Releases BRIDE & PREJUDICE So that’s what the most beautiful woman in the world looks like. Much ink has been spilled over Indian actress Aishwarya Rai, who won the 1994 Miss World title and who’s routinely described as not only a woman of staggering loveliness but also a savvy entrepreneur whose business acumen has…
Grape Leaf Group Therapy
Stuffed grape leaves are heady little treats, but we rarely think about making them ourselves. They seem too exotic and complicated for home chow, but what they really need is brawn, not brains. There’s not much to the homey meat filling, but you need lots of warm bodies to man the grape leaf assembly line.…
School Choice Consequences
William Clark tried to tell them. Back in 1998, the nationally renowned demographer and UCLA professor noticed a troubling trend. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg School system seemed to be having difficulty attracting white kids. If something wasn’t done about it, within a few years the racial composition of the system would change substantially, Clark warned. White parents…
