Oct 18-24, 2006

Oct 18-24, 2006 / Vol. 20 / No. 33

Forbes List: The Sequel

Last week in QC After Dark … I challenged the validity of the research presented by Forbes.com, which gave Charlotte 25th place among the top 40 cities for singles. I mean, come on, Raleigh–Durham was placed sixth, above New York City. That rating system makes as much sense to me as the college football rating…

Steve Smith’s Circle

The Cali boy with #89 on his back is known as the go-to-guy on the Cats’ offensive line (of course somebody had to step up after that Muhammed guy left). You know they say it never rains in Southern California, but when it does, it pours. Already this season, Smith’s had 31 receptions for a…

Divine Inspiration

Finding Faith … and losing it: Gladys Knight – the finest rock singer that never truly was. If only the hardcore belter of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and “On and On” had come up fronting a blues-rock band in San Francisco rather than apprenticing at church in Hot’lanta. Oh well. This gap in…

Kandia Crazy Horse

See & Do

Wednesday, October 18 After an evening of warm-up events, the Cackalacky Film Festival officially kicks off today for a five-day run of screenings at various area venues. Over 50 movies in different formats — features, documentaries, shorts and student films — will be shown over the course of the festival, with many of the filmmakers…

President Carter

I’ll admit it: I came late to the Jay-Z party. As a 1990’s adherent of the Roots and the Pharcyde, I wasn’t trying to hear that sound or feel that flow. But after hearing the “waved away picks” lick a couple dozen times, I was finally convinced that I might need to investigate. While the…

David Swerdlick

Did North Korea actually explode a nuke? If so, now what?

“The nuclear test was conducted with indigenous wisdom and technology 100 percent.” The above, eerily Dr. Seuss-like declaration, appeared last week on North Korea’s English-language propaganda Web site. The reliably weird Korean Central News Agency (www.kcna.co.jp) was announcing that, on Oct. 9, North Korea exploded a nuclear device. The other big news stories out of…

Andisheh Nouraee

The Left

Hagerstown, Md., is only an hour and a half northwest of D.C., but back in 1983 this rural ‘burg might as well have been on another planet. Redneck bars + 7-Eleven culture = boredom, though, and that’s the formula for punk bands. Enter the Left, weaned on 1960s crud (Sonics, Standells, Elevators) and ’70s thud…

Fred Mills

Cheap Thrills

CAROLINA RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL Though the original Renaissance took place over 500 years ago, the Carolina version celebrates its thirteenth anniversary. In keeping with the spirit of its European origins, our festival features a medieval amusement park, a 9-stage theater, a 20-acre circus, an arts and crafts fair, a jousting tournament and a feast. The grounds…

Branna Calloway

Oct. 18 – Oct. 24, 2006

Scorpio The Phoenix: (Oct. 23 — Nov. 20) If you sense a desire to take over any situation, use caution. It may not be in your best interest. Mars, the warrior planet, enters your sign this week and will be traveling with you until Dec. 4. This energy is best used to handle physically heavy…

Vivian Carol

Letters to the Editor

Get the whole story, will ya? I am writing in response to your recent articles on the Catawba Nation, specifically the piece titled, “A Language in Crisis” (Oct. 4). While the article captures the urgency with which scholars, supporters of traditional and indigenous cultures and the Catawbas themselves must work to preserve the rich cultural…

View From The Couch

BODY DOUBLE (1984). Is Body Double Brian De Palma’s most underrated film or merely a guilty pleasure on my part? Naturally, I make the case for the former. Savaged by most critics upon its original release (Roger Ebert was one of its sole defenders), the film blew me away back in ’84 and, 22 years…

Matt Brunson

Will it come back to bite you?

Dear Karma Cleanser: I am 38 years old. Make that 39. I celebrated my birthday this week basically alone. I moved to a new city this year and even though I brought a good friend along for the move, our friendship has suffered because we are roommates and he works different hours than me. My…

Film Clips

New Releases KEEPING MUM Mary Poppins commits murder most foul in Keeping Mum, a slight but worthwhile comedy that proudly displays its droll British humor at every turn. Rowan Atkinson, toning down his Bean befuddlement just a tad, plays Walter Goodfellow, the vicar of a miniscule English burg as well as the head of a…

Matt Brunson

The Blotter

How Large Is Your Crotch?: A suspect was busted for trying to conceal items in his pants at a TJ Max. The man tried to conceal a baseball hat and an electric shaver in his knickers. How Large Is Your Purse?: An employee at Jerry’s Market (not Jerry) observed a woman put a whole ham…

Boy Meets Girl

Helen Berhane, 27, saw her husband only three times before she married him in April. Two of those times, they crammed in quick conversations at Islamic conferences in busy hotel lobbies, places public enough to make their face-to-face meeting an acceptable one in the eyes of Allah. Jibril Hough, spokesman for the Islamic Society of…

Esoterica

Old Mexican masks, weird cameras, an archive of really obscure art, sculptures made from braided plastic grocery bags and cigarette machines that don’t sell smokes … obscurity is its own reward. Art-o-mat www.artomat.org E.B.O.L.A. www.ebola2004.com UbuWeb www.ubu.com Lomography www.lomography.com Mexican Masks www.mexicanmasks.us

Little Shiva

Slumlords of Sludge

Melvins: these slumlords of sludge are in fact the godfathers of grunge. Leader Buzz Osborne (aka King Buzzo), an Aberdeen, Wash., homie, is the true-life inspiration for fellow Aberdeener Kurt Cobain. In other words, Buzz is to Kurt as the Melvins are to Nirvana. More to the point, these noisemeisters create a dense, slow-moving, propulsive,…

Lew Herman

Recent

See all

Gift this article