Dec 13-19, 2017
Sloane Siobhan – Into the Dark
Cover Story
Rising Artist Sloane Siobhan Maps Black Girl Magic
The young Artist is a bit like the black and brown fairyfolk in her paintings: reserved, mysterious even, her smile charged with a palpable sense of mischief. Black Girl Magic, the series of portraits Sloane Siobhan is currently creating, illuminates a corner of her studio with a quiet intensity. A full-featured, plaited and wistful woman…
No, We Don’t Want Diddy Buying the Panthers
And you can’t be serious
Star Wars: The Last Jedi: A Force to be reckoned with
STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI *** (out of four) DIRECTED BY Rian Johnson STARS Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher When Star Wars: The Force Awakens debuted exactly two years ago, its detractors groused that it was a timid and lazy movie insofar as it never deviated much from the template established by the original Star Wars…
The Shape of Water makes a splash
THE SHAPE OF WATER *** (out of four) DIRECTED BY Guillermo del Toro STARS Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon Beauty and the Beast meets The Creature from the Black Lagoon in The Shape of Water, an unusual love story that emerges as writer-director Guillermo del Toro’s best English-language movie to date. Del Toro, whose Spanish-language efforts…
Code of Silence, Dolores Claiborne, Pulp among new home entertainment titles
(View From The Couch is a weekly column that reviews what’s new on Blu-ray, DVD and Streaming. Ratings are on a four-star scale.) BRANNIGAN (1975). Admittedly, it’s not nearly as much fun as when Detroit cop Eddie Murphy went to Beverly Hills, but fans of John Wayne will nevertheless get a modest kick out of…
It’s Poppin’ at Hoppin’
If the lights were turned off inside South End’s newest craft beer attraction Hoppin’, you may mistake this spot for just another commercial space waiting to be filled. As one of my former co-workers and I pulled up to the corner of West Bland and Winnifred streets on a recent Wednesday night, the warm light…
News of the Weird: Won’t Believe Your Hairless Eyes
People Different From Us Chengdu, China, street barber Xiong Gaowu offers a most unusual service at his roadside location in Sichuan province. For $12, Xiong will scrap the inside of his customers’ eyelids using a straight razor, according to Reuters. Xiong suggests being “gentle, very, very gentle” when performing eyelid shaving, or “blade wash eyes,”…
Success of ‘OrderFire’ Inspires New Spinoff Series Focusing on Craft Cocktail Scene
We would tell you how the popular Charlotte culinary web series OrderFire came about, but nobody really knows for sure. “Marc [Jacksina, host of OrderFire] and I have slightly different memories of how it all came together,” says director/producer Peter Taylor. “It’s kind of funny because I’ve been trying to nail him down like, ‘We…
Former Troubled Police Officer Wants to Help Reform Burned Out Cops
The video begins with five officers standing over Michael Fox, pushing him down to the ground as fights rage around them. To the left of the screen, his brother, John Fox, pushes at officers, trying to get them to back away. They close in tighter. The video, along with another one shot at about the…
The Blotter: A Minor Problem
Group Sext A couple in their mid-50s were alarmed when some unknown person hopped into the wrong group text with them and other members of their family and refused to stop sending lewd texts. The couple told police that they were a part of a group text that included them and seven others, when a…
‘A Soulful Noel’ Is Not Your Normal Christmas Show
Sometimes it happens when you’re looking through an old family photo album. Other times the thought may come with the smell of a tasty treat baking in the oven. Or maybe it comes later, during the act of hanging an ornament on a tree. But something will eventually trigger the words, “OK, now it feels…
When Communities Connect
While editing freelance contributor Emiene Wright’s terrific cover story on Charlotte artist Sloane Siobhan this week, I ran across a quote that moved me: “Little kids don’t color like this.” Siobhan was quoting an unnamed early art instructor who had seen something special in the budding painter at an early age. I felt the piece…
Charles Walker Releases Emo-Country Debut
It’s final exams week at Appalachian State University, and Charlotte native Charles Walker Austin-Zimmerman is sleep deprived. Not only has he had to cram for his finals, but he’s had to deal with the mastering and artwork for his debut EP, Whole Again. It’s a remarkable set of music — five songs detailing the anxieties…
