Aug 30 – Sep 5, 2011

Aug 30 - Sep 5, 2011 / Vol. 25 / No. 27

Cover Story

The Best of The Blotter 2011

Creative Loafing’s annual “Best of The Blotter” issue has hit the streets a little early this year — and that has me thinking about the new way I look at seasons since I started writing this weekly crime column three years ago. Back in the days of my innocence, I thought of the summer as…

Ryan Pitkin

Crawl Space: Carlleena Person

Crawl Space is a new Web mini-series that showcases local artists and gives them a chance to talk about their work. In this first episode, Carlleena Person talks her beautiful imperfections. Related Stories

Kimberly Lawson

Swig: How to make Soul Gastrolounge’s X-Rated Martini

This week, Creative Loafing unveils a new Web mini-series called Swig. For the next few weeks, we’ll take you into some of Charlotte’s most popular bars and restaurants and ask bartenders how to make some of their most popular drinks. In this episode of “Swig,” bartender Adam Frers of Soul Gastrolounge, 1500-B Central Ave., shows…

Kimberly Lawson

Style Stalker: Larina Greene

Today, we unveil a new Web mini-series on Klepto, titled Style Stalker. Our videographer Brooks Newkirk hunted down the stylish of Charlotte and asked them to describe how they approach their look. Check out the first video. Related Stories

Kimberly Lawson

Amos’ Southend, 8/27/11

The Runway ‘Raiser was a fashion show featuring some of the hottest fall looks from various shops around town — only to be modeled by “bearded ladies.” Sponsored in part by Enemy To Fashion and Beards Because, the event raised money for the battered women’s shelter. Photos by Hannah McBride.

Kimberly Lawson

Interview: Chatting with The Foreign Exchange

FOREIGN-ERS: The Foreign Exchange — Phonte (front) and Nicolay The Foreign Exchange — the Grammy-nominated, Durham-based musical duo — doesn’t hit Charlotte that often. And that’s a shame. This city needs more of the melodic, hip-hop-flavored soul sounds that FE members Phonte and Nicolay are famous for creating. We recently caught up with the pair…

Carlton Hargro

Phife of A Tribe Called Quest hits the Q.C. Aug. 31

Fans of the legendary rap crew A Tribe Called Quest should be sure to stop by the nightlife event Pop Life tomorrow (Aug. 31) … that’s when you’ll get the chance to see and meet Phife Dawg in the flesh. Phife has been rocking the mic for decades — alongside Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed and Jarobi…

Carlton Hargro

The Carolina Regional Minority Partnership Coalition to monitor Democratic National Convention minority contracts

I’m going to be shouting about this through the end of the Democratic National Committee’s big party, double pinkie swear: Don’t forget that the 2012 DNC’s is branding itself as “The People’s Convention.” From Qcitymetro.com: The Carolina Regional Minority Partnership Coalition, a Charlotte group formed to push for minority business participation in contracts awarded for…

Rhiannon Fionn

CD REVIEW: Grown Up Avenger Stuff’s Disagreements with Gravity

THE DEAL: Charlotte rock quartet releases debut eight-song album. THE GOOD: Grown Up Avenger Stuff’s debut features eight songs that center around a melodic yet aggressive approach to rock that combines elements from metal rhythms as much as pop sensibility. The album kicks off with the title track — a distortion-infused song that features the…

Jeff Hahne

CD REVIEW: The War On Drugs’ Slave Ambient

Secretly Canadian; Release date: Aug. 16, 2011 THE DEAL: Hyped Philly act draws comparisons it hasn’t earned. THE GOOD: Ever since their intriguing debut full-length, Wagonwheel Blues, there’s been a movement to anoint this Philly band and its songwriter Adam Granduciel the Next Great American Artiste. Within the WoD cult, a trio of legends appear…

John Schacht

D.C. protests that make big oil quake

The White House was rocked Tuesday, not only by the 5.9 Richter-scale earthquake, but by the protests mounting outside its gates. More than 2,100 people say they’ll risk arrest there during the next two weeks. They oppose the Keystone XL pipeline project, designed to carry heavy crude oil from the tar sands of Alberta, Canada,…

Amy Goodman

Star-crossed crossword

Answers to last week’s puzzle ACROSS 1. Seen filming men at Park Road Park — BILL JAMES 4. Historic mixed blessing — BANK OF AMERICA 7. Alumni of Three Stooges University — NCDEPTOFTRANSPORTATION 10. The Titanic, the Hindenburg and the ______ — NASCARHALLOFFAME 13. Goofball fundamentalist preacher — TOOMANYTOCHOOSEFROM 17. Someone whose family should be…

John Grooms

Theater review: Paul Robeson

By any conventional reckoning, the biography of Paul Robeson is the story of five or six extraordinary black men. As the current On Q/Opera Carolina production reminds us, Paul Robeson was a Phi Beta Kappa scholar and valedictorian at Rutgers University, a first-team All-American football player in 1917 and 1918, a Shakespearean actor and Hollywood…

Perry Tannenbaum

It’s not you. It’s me.

Does anybody really want to a read a “goodbye” column? I sure as hell don’t want to write one. But, oh well — I guess when you’re the outgoing editor in chief of a newspaper/media entity, you sort of have to write a farewell piece. Soooo … here we go … First, I’d like to…

Carlton Hargro

Exhibit: Solo Exhibit of Works by Willie Kohler

Chicago artist Willie Kohler’s one-man exhibit showcases abstract oil paintings inspired by nature and the outdoors. The colorful display, which includes “She Brings The Calm” (pictured), opens with a reception from 6 p.m.-8 p.m. Sept. 2. Kohler will also discuss his work at noon on Sept. 2 and 11 a.m.-1 p.m. on Sept. 3. Through…

Anita Overcash

Republican mayoral candidate Scott Stone opens up

Scott Stone, the Republican challenger in Charlotte’s mayoral race, isn’t a politician. He’s never held office in the city, but he doesn’t think that’s a reason not to vote for him. So why should anyone vote for Stone, especially when Charlotte’s current mayor, Anthony Foxx, hasn’t had many — if any — public gaffes or…

Cheris Hodges

Exhibit: Works by Pam Winegard and Janet Lasher

This new exhibit at Winthrop University is a multi-media installation of works by M.F.A. candidate Pam Winegard and regional artist Janet Lasher. Lasher’s pictured untitled drawing was created by using oil and ink. Exhibit runs Sept. 5-16. Lewandowski Student Gallery, 107 McLaurin Hall, Winthrop University, Rock Hill. 803-323-2493. www2.winthrop.edu/vpa/galleries.

Anita Overcash

School daze: Rethinking college education

At some point as a society we are going to have to admit to ourselves that not all kids should go to college. Billions of tax dollars later, a national study shows that our state public school system, which attempts from kindergarten to push all students toward a college track, utterly fails a large number…

Tara Servatius

Genome’s genesis: New gallery is up and ready to show

In the last few years, Charlotte has watched its roster of art galleries dwindle. But a new gallery in Uptown may herald a reversal of this depressing trend. Genome, which debuted on July 9, is owned by John Josef, an Internet developer and entrepreneur who moved here from Orlando in April. Josef’s business is portable,…

Barbara Schreiber

Fashionista for a night: The FYI on FNO

Effie Loukas, glam boutique owner and one of the most fashionable women in Charlotte, has been envisioning, planning and slaving over one of the most stylish events to happen this year. And she’s not alone. Across the globe, Sept. 8 will be a day when members of the fashion community join to celebrate a global…

Lauren Blake

Weekly horoscope (Aug. 31-Sept. 6)

Virgo The Virgin (Aug. 22-Sept. 22) During the next seven years of Uranus in Aries, you’ll be introduced to a much greater perspective on the world of finance. You are also likely to grow through exposure to those who can teach you more deeply about yourself, psychologically, sexually and spiritually. Issues around birth, death and…

Vivian Carol

Cottage Chic owner mixes simplicity with the unconventional

If there is one thing Charlotte native Julie Page Smith has learned from being a homeowner, it’s that a fresh coat of paint works wonders. Especially since the living room walls of her cozy South Charlotte home were painted bright red when she and her husband first toured the moderately sized, one-story house. “That was…

Kyra Gemberling

Capsule reviews of films playing the week of Aug. 31

ANOTHER EARTH In one of those cinematic chicken-or-the-egg conundrums, viewers are left to wonder what came first to the folks who wrote Another Earth: a storyline that led to a Twilight Zone-ish ending, or a Twilight Zone-ish ending that led to the story preceding it? After all, the film’s final shot is such a fanciful…

Matt Brunson

Style stalking Jordan Hewitt

Student Jordan Hewitt may be majoring in International Studies, but there’s no doubt she has already graduated from the school of style. The fashionable travel aficionado has graced too many countries to count, always outfitted in a first-class ensemble. Hewitt’s love of culture and creativity is constantly inspiring new trends and looks. When quizzed on…

Lauren Blake

The Debt: Worth collecting

Don’t be turned off by the worrisome facts that its U.S. release date has kept changing, it’s already made the global rounds since last September, and it’s being buried with an end-of-summer release date. An English-language remake of a 2007 Israeli film of the same name, The Debt (*** out of four) is actually a…

Matt Brunson

The Guard: Arresting entertainment

Nobody can curse like the Irish, and that’s proven again in The Guard (***1/2 out of four), in which the various characters turn profanity into an art form. But this delightful endeavor — one of the year’s best as we prepare to head into the Oscar-bait seasons — doesn’t just provide an amusing workout for…

Matt Brunson

Where to find it: Jamaican Barbecue Jerk Sauce

Eric Wilkins tells the story of having the best jerk chicken of his life from a street vendor near Gitmo (Guantanamo Bay Naval Base) while he was there with the U.S. Navy. Wilkins searched the Charlotte area to find a sauce that achieved that extraordinary flavor so he could duplicate this meal on his grill…

Tricia Childress

Our Idiot Brother a clever comedy

After the likes of The Change-Up and The Hangover Part II (to name but two of a million), I was beginning to give up on ever again seeing any “man-child” movies that offered anything of value. Thank goodness, then, for Our Idiot Brother, which realizes there’s more to this type of tale than scatological gags.…

Matt Brunson

The waiting game at Chickadee’s Cafe

Timing may be the most critical element to success in a business. Comedians must have it for successful delivery, and a restaurant must have correct timing as well. Timing is particularly relevant at lunch. In a culture that has a one-hour lunch break as the norm, being able to get in and out of a…

Tricia Childress

Point Blank hits its mark

Art-house patrons who made the French thriller Tell No One a specialized hit three years ago won’t want to miss Point Blank, another breathless import about an ordinary man whose wife is taken from him. Here, it’s nurse’s aide Samuel Pierret (Gilles Lellouche), whose kindly act of preventing a patient, a hood named Hugo Sartet…

Matt Brunson

Ben Sollee hits pop music from the orchestral side

When it comes down to it, there’s really no specific formula on how to write a song. In the same way, there’s no requirement of which instruments can and can’t be used. Sure, guitars and drums are probably the most common, but who says how something should or shouldn’t be done on the highway to…

Jeff Hahne

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