Apr 27 – May 3, 2016

Apr 27 - May 3, 2016 / Vol. 30 / No. 10

Green Room offers wall-to-wall thrills

GREEN ROOM *** (out of four) DIRECTED BY Jeremy Saulnier STARS Anton Yelchin, Patrick Stewart Red-meat catharsis for Blue State moviegoers, Green Room demonstrates what happens when a group of alternative punk rockers are forced to mix it up with right-wing skinheads whose taste in décor leans toward swastikas and Confederate flags. Short on depth…

Matt Brunson

Keanu: Meow mix

KEANU *** (out of four) DIRECTED BY Peter Atencio STARS Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele Yes, there are references to both Keanu Reeves and The Matrix in Keanu — heck, there’s even a gag related to the actor’s dopey action flick Point Break. First and foremost, though, the film is a cinematic coming-out party for Keegan-Michael…

Matt Brunson

Theater review: Fly by Night

Is everything pre-ordained by a higher power? Or might everything that happens simply be the inevitable outcome when the algorithms of time and space work upon the star stuff that materialized in the wake of the Big Bang? If not, might a lucky ring or a soothsayer’s gaze into a crystal ball shift the gears…

Perry Tannenbaum

Bizarre crime from Charlotte police files (April 28)

Run Forrest A thief near the Johnson C. Smith University campus will be much stronger and faster the next time they hit the streets for a spree, after stealing tens of thousands of dollars worth of bone growth technology from a vehicle. A woman called police to report that someone broke into her car overnight…

Ryan Pitkin

Weekly horoscope (April 28-May 4)

For All Signs: This week brings the second of six challenging aspects between Saturn and Pluto. The last will occur in November of 2019. The effects of this aspect have been in the air for over a year already. This pair, as all planets, has both positive and negative sides. On the bright side we…

Vivian Carol

Three questions for Patrick McManaman of Famous Toastery

Brunch is popular here in the South. So it should come as not surprise that an eatery like Famous Toastery would become a hot spot. The franchise opened its first location — a small house-turned-restaurant in Huntersville — in 2005, sporting a menu consisting of items like stuffed French toast with strawberry cream cheese, omelets,…

Laura Eason

Patabamba makes music for Latinos and non-Latinos alike

Liza Ortiz remembers having second thoughts about the demon masks. “We had planned to wear the masks for two songs,” the Patabamba keyboardist says, but the band kept them on for their entire Halloween show at Snug Harbor. Ortiz struggled to sing through the mask’s teeth, she recalls while laughing. “It was a mess, but…

Pat Moran

A Purple Shadow

We all have those moments burned into our brain when something tragic or significant happens. You know you’ll recall the story forever, so you store it in your memory shelf like so many virtual snow globes until the inevitable question is presented. Last week, one of these unfortunate events played out across America. Where were…

Charles Easley

Life after a band called Death

The most compelling sequence in Charlotte filmmaker Jeff Howlett’s documentary A Band Called Death was not filmed by him, but by a man who had passed away before Howlett ever knew his story. It’s a grainy home video from the ’90s of Dannis Hackney’s wedding, filmed by his brother David, founder of the band Death…

Ryan Pitkin

Sabor spreads to NoDa and beyond

Sabor means “flavor” in Spanish, and Sabor Latin Street Grill founder Dalton Espaillat knows flavor. Born and raised in Santiago, Dominican Republic, Espaillat recalls a childhood growing up on flavorful Latin street food. “The easiest food to find is on the streets,” he says. “It’s a big part of Latin American communities. Eighty percent of…

Madeline Lemieux

Pedestrians rule the asphalt during Open Streets 704

Aside from road construction, concerts, festivals and 5Ks, it’s hard to imagine a reason for shutting busy streets down on a Sunday. There is, of course, the fictional case of zombie apocalypses and other catastrophes that movies have left imprinted on our minds. But that’s not what Open Streets 704, happening on roadways scattered about…

Anita Overcash

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