It’s Good to be King
For three decades now, Tom Petty has been as reliable an American songwriter as anyone you care to mention, Leonard Cohen, Stevie Wonder and Bruce Springsteen included. On this, the 30th anniversary of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ self-titled debut, and on the eve of Petty’s tour (billed as his last) to support Highway Companion,…
Why has the US restored diplomatic ties with Libya?
On May 15, while the rest of us were busy celebrating Slovenian Armed Forces Day and the 65th birthday of nylon stockings, President Bush was busy dramatically altering US foreign policy. It was on that date that President Bush fully restored US diplomatic relations with North African Arab dictatorship Libya, and instructed Condi to remove…
Crunk Kin
After the giddy high of Gnarls Barkley’s St. Elsewhere (the Cee-Lo/Danger Mouse collaboration reviewed in this space last week), I lacked the heart to survey the current slate of hip-hop releases. Indeed, listening to Purple City’s The Purple Album (Purple City/Babygrande/Koch; **) — anointed “The second coming of gangsta rap” by The Source — was…
Poised to Make Noise
We would like to share with you what TV on the Radio has to say about its upcoming new release, Return to Cookie Mountain, or what its thoughts are on winning the prestigious 2004 Shortlist Music Prize for the full-length debut, Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes. We’d also like to know what motivated the quintet…
Out of the Nest
My daughter will graduate from high school on Monday. Recently, the Army called for at least the third time, trying to recruit her. Both of these things make me uneasy. I’m not worried about my daughter going off to college. She’s very bright, has multiple talents and will be well-prepared to make her mark in…
Bugged Out
The 101 former residents of Mecklenburg Mills might have been spared a lot of trouble if the city had inspected the building when the city took it over from bankrupt developers. Or if the city had made upkeep — basic tasks, such as termite inspections — a condition of the millions of dollars loaned to…
The Status of Battered Women
Advocates for domestic violence are worried they may have a new battle: countering the anti-immigrant furor that supports asking even crime victims to disclose their immigration status. Battered women who are in this country illegally are already frightened of the police, says Jane Taylor, shelter service coordinator of United Family Services’ Shelter for Battered Women.…
911 is a Joke in Yo Town
My People
The Blotter
Big Bad Wolf: A man became angered when his mother continued to hold firm on her stance not to sell her house. When he did not get his way, the son threatened to burn the house down. He did not threaten to huff and puff. Wanted: Charlotte Bobcat: A wily criminal broke into a Frito…
Too Beautiful for Words
The song “Too Beautiful for Words” from the Broadway musical The Color Purple is sung by Shug Avery (Elisabeth Withers-Mendes) as a thank you to the downtrodden Celie (LaChanze), and it is a symbol of the characters’ burgeoning relationship. It’s also an accurate description of the overall feeling of the story that began as a…
June 8 — June 14, 2006
Gemini The Twins (May 20 — June 21) This is a very good week in lots of ways. You are in line for accolades and appreciation from your audience, whomever that may be. A project you have worked on for several weeks has arrived at the point of harvest and it is clearly a hit.…
Karma Cleanser
Dear Karma Cleanser: Every so often, my partner and I have a confession hour when we can tell each other anything bad we’ve done and not get in trouble for it. We did this early on in the relationship and it worked fine. I learned a lot about what the boundaries of the relationship are…
Confessin’ the Blues
If you couldn’t tell there was a different breed of people in our city last week, just consider the line my friend Kimiko heard from a racing fan during the Speed Street festivities. After telling her she was the prettiest girl of all time, the guy added a little get-to-know-you question: “Who’s your favorite number?”…
Going Postal
Peddle power Kudos to Ms. Servatius for picking up on an important shift on light rail plans that the Charlotte Observer is reluctant to touch (“End of the Line,” May 31). As head of B.I.K.E.S., the nonprofit voice of bicycle advocacy for the Charlotte community, I need to remind your audience that trolleys and buses…
Drivin’ n’ Cryin’
At the time, it made sense. Renee Stockler and her husband were expecting a baby and they wanted the suburban dream: big house, big yard, nice neighborhood. On a half-acre in Union County, right around the corner from a new elementary school, they built their house just the way they wanted it — with a…
Cheap Thrills
4TH SATURDAYS UPTOWN Billed as “A Cultural Exchange & Global Marketplace,” this free event boasts something for everyone. Shopping for the shopaholics, entertainment for the perpetually bored, food for erebody and peace for the single moms in the form of a children’s village (hallelujah!). It’s ongoing on the fourth Saturday of every month from 10am-5pm…
Film Clips: The Proposition, Poseidon, United 93, more
New Releases THE PROPOSITION A cold, hard film chiefly populated by cold, hard men, The Proposition finds director John Hillcoat and scripter Nick Cave (yes, the musician) transplanting what is generally perceived as a quintessential American genre — the Western — to the equally sparse Australian terrain. It’s an easy and, in retrospect, obvious fit,…
Self-Help for Superheroes
We know about the larger-than-life problems faced by superheroes: evil alien squid clone death squads, flaming ultra-anthracite asteroids, Germans. As graphic novels and the movies that tell their tales have matured, we have even come to know of the superheroes’ titanically tortured souls — their incinerated home worlds, their murdered parents, their secret longings to…
View From The Couch
THE BETTE DAVIS COLLECTION, VOL. 2 (1937-1962). The greatest actress that the American cinema has ever been privileged to serve returns in another collection of her notable Warner Bros. hits. While many performers are only able to prove their prowess when handed colorful or villainous roles, Davis excelled in that she was able to bring…
Beautiful People
Here are a few of the people on my interdimensional friends list. The Button King is still alive and living in South Carolina, near Columbia. Road trip, anyone? The Button King www.scbuttonking.com Lucia Pamela www.intoouterspace.com Marchesa Luisa Casati www.marchesacasati.com Quentin Crisp www.crisperanto.org Sun Ra www.elrarecords.com
Burn, Baby, Burn
I’m not one to deny Al Gore his day in the sun or anything. Someone has to save us all before climate change deep fries the earth or whatever. I just think it’s unfair that Gore should get such a big spotlight when he’s only the latest in a long line of brave climate crusaders.…
Not Just Kool-Aid
When people think of Beaujolais … well, they don’t really think of Beaujolais at all, do they? Those who remember it recall a watery, acidic, too-fruity Kool-Aid called Beaujolais Nouveau that accompanies a November celebration. Once the party’s over, they buy some, drink it the next night or “age” it until some pitiable — and…
See & Do
Wednesday, June 14 Texas singer-songwriter James McMurtry has bookended a slew of potent recordings, beginning with the brilliant debut Too Long in the Wasteland and continuing with last year’s Childish Things. The secret is in the lively characters McMurtry creates — maybe its in the genes as James is the son of novelist Larry McMurtry…
Starry, Starry Nights
Eating in the dark isn’t as alarming as it sounds. Though Charlotte’s light pollution doesn’t allow many of us to eat in the dark with only star-filled skies anymore, there’s still something to be said of the smell of jasmine, magnolias and gardenias in the Southern night air. A number of the first eateries to…
Rented Men
Grant keeps saying I have lesbian taste, even though I am neither a lesbian nor have I ever tasted one. But still, he feels that just because I buy crap from IKEA and drive a PT Cruiser — in other words, just because I have a sense of practicality — I am automatically a repressed…
Exile on Speed Street
Normally, I jump start every morning with Regis and Kelly and a side of espresso, but last Friday was a little different. I kicked off the day at the live taping of Regis and Kelly at Lowe’s Motor Speedway — plus three espressos (considering I had to be there at 6am). Technically, it wasn’t nightlife.…
Booked for Dopiness
Odds were stacked against Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte when they brought the latest Reduced Shakespeare to town. Beginning with The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged), the Reduced Company’s travesties have been reproduced around the metro area in four different forms. After the powdered versions of the Bible and American history made the rounds, the…
Marah
Marah’s songs are peopled with the down-and-outers, could-have-beens and never-will-bes most of us studiously ignore as we drive through our decaying city centers, doors locked and eyes averted. On the highly acclaimed Kids In Philly, the Brothers Bielanko (Dave and Serge) took us on a bus ride through the urban bouillabaisse of their hometown digs.…
Show Tunes And Car-Toons
A Prairie Home Companion, Robert Altman’s best film since the one-two punch of The Player and Short Cuts back in the early 1990s, might at first glance seem like a minor work, an ambling, congenial picture constructed as little more than an opportunity to corral several major talents and give them a chance to sing…
Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham
In 1998, Nick Lowe convinced legendary Southern songwriting team Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham to pair up as a performing team for a series of UK dates. The duo — Penn on acoustic guitar and tackling the lion’s share of lead vocals, Oldham on electric piano and harmonies — didn’t disappoint, either. They served up…
Slender Size Me
After the release of Super Size Me, the 2004 documentary that showed director Morgan Spurlock’s burgeoning girth after exclusively eating McDonald’s food for a month, Americans became more aware of the unhealthy choices offered at fast food chains. Capitalizing on that new awareness, Carolinas Medical Center has teamed up with nine locally owned restaurants and…
