Considering I host the show 3 Wide Life, I couldn't have been more proud when my intern voluntarily went to cover nightlife at the track ...
By Tiffany Handy
If you’re under 16, you can’t drive a car … unless it’s a race car that is.
Raise your hand if you like the idea of 10-15 unlicensed drivers behind the wheel, going around in circles and crashing into one another. You can’t see it, but I'm raising my hand ...
For the past four summers, I have been going to Lowes Motor Speedway for the Summer Shootout Series. The cost is a mere $7 a person — and just like at NASCAR races, you are able to bring a cooler … because the Beast of the Southeast is BYOB after all.
The Summer Shootout is racing in the raw — there’s the Bandolero BANDITS (8-11 year-olds), the Young Lions (12-16 years-old) and the Masters (40 and older). Meanwhile, semi-professional and professional drivers race round the front stretch and through the pits for 10-20 laps. There are plenty of crashes followed by hundreds of hoots and hollers from the crowd. Last Tuesday, one crash was so good — if it’s morally right to say that — that the ambulance had to come. No one was injured in the making of this entertainment.
Honor the Red, White and Blue with Red, White and Brew … Red, White and Boom … Red, White, and Pabst Blue Ribbon. There are all kinds of ways to celebrate our independence and do a little indepen-dance in Charlotte, but below are the Brittney After Dark party picks, as in pick of party.
Britt’s pick …
Inaugural Queen City Hot Dog Eating Contest. There’s just something about shoving wieners in your mouth at a rapid rate that sounds fun … and to benefit the troops no less. Friday, July 3 at Alley Cat - $2 door donation that includes one free hotdog and there’s a $1000 cash prize to whoever can inhale the most wieners.
The Intern’s Party Picks ….
When I first moved here, I had to beg my friends to stop going to B&B, as they called it, because it's the only place they went (granted, it was one of the only places to go), but, now, I feel bad because come Tuesday Brick and Barrel is sealing the barrel and shutting their doors.
I guess that's what happens when the EpiCentre takes half of your staff and pretty much all your customers. I am slightly surprised no one is trying to sue them for a monopoly — or just challenge them to a game of it or something.
But they'll be blowing out the Barrel with a blow-out bash all weekend long before they blow the doors off on Tuesday.
Hey, when one bar closes, another door opens...
Meanwhile, Murphy's off Woodlawn also closed. To be honest, the only reason I ever went there was for one random night of karaoke, and to partake in the Charlotte SkeeBall League — which has since relocated to Hef's and Blondes ... had some good times there. Moment of silence, please.
By Sarah Coombes
It’s no secret that Charlotte nightlife draws us in like a moth to a flame. However, despite being a wild child in the city, things are always sweeter in the South… in Ballantyne that is. And while I’m not a part of the million-dollar home owner’s association, I still know how to party like a Ballantyne baller. Despite being 30 minutes from the city, you’d think Ballantyne was a mini-Uptown. Don’t believe me? Let me give you the tour…
We have our own sinfully satisfying dessert place… at least, now we do. On June 19, City Tavern at Stonecrest opened its new Wine and Dessert Bar — and the place is totally sweet! The menu ranges from “Tiramisu” to “Death by Chocolate” — and when you take a bite, you’ll feel like you’ve died and gone to heaven. While City Tavern owns the Dessert Bar, it’s off to the side and has different hours. The bar opens 5 p.m. – closing, Thursday – Saturday. So pick your vice.
Speaking of vices, there’s also the D’Vine Wine Café. With its warm colored walls and comfy couches, the inside looks like a fancy Mediterranean villa. And alongside its menu of meat and cheese plates, you can dig into some Chocolate Dessert Sushi — make mine a Swedish fish roll!
Michael Waltrip is a trip! … and rather flexible might I add.
A crotch shot of Julianne Hough at Whisky River’s one year anniversary party. Enjoy this boys cause she’s taken. So taken in fact there’s a t –shirt of her and her boyfriend making out on it. See…
It was Vargas … then Amnesia … then V Lounge … then V on 4th … and now it’s Bentley’s RSVP. Sign companies throughout Charlotte probably really like that location.
I RSVP'ed yes to the recently opened Bentley's to check it out when my girl Jacinda was hosting the party with the official DJ of the Black-Eyed-Peas, DJ Rocky Rock.
There was a NASCAR race on downstairs, which was kind of random, but later the television switched to show live footage of the dance floor upstairs. Because the downstairs is a lounge, and the upstairs is a club. And the VIP sections upstairs are segregated nicely with two different sections — one for those that want to be seen ... and one for those that don’t.
There’s free parking on the corner of 4th and so, if nothing else, it’s a good place to park, go in for a drink (if you’re the passenger) and a dance (if you’re the driver) – and you can mosey elsewhere later. But you need not mosey if you're looking to dance — it's the kind of place your hips can’t sit still. The house DJ is so good he won a trophy.
For some reason every time I used to drive by the Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte I pictured it to be like a playhouse, with school play caliber shows starring little kids … but that was about as accurate as me also thinking the Aquatic Center down the road from it was an Aquarium. (I am just going to say that I was being more attentive to driving rather than what I was driving by … that’s my story and I’m sticking to it).
Well, I actually went into the Actor’s Theatre to see the frightfully funny and horrifically humorous Evil Dead: The Musical. That’s right, I said a horror–comedy-musical … that genre blend in itself is worth seeing. At points in the play you’ll wonder why you’re laughing at a woman singing about the fact that all the men in her life keep getting killed by Candarian demons, but the comedy comes in as they make fun of the cheese factor in horror flicks. Such as the romance clichés and “bit part demons.”
And the musical was classic with lyrics like, “I’m the man, I bitch slap evil with my one good hand” and “What the Fuck was That?”
Out of business that is.
Apparently Babe Ruth doesn't just create curses in baseball, but in bars as well because it's game over for George Hermans in the French Quarter. The baseball bar struck out and had to close it's doors. When I asked why, the response I got was: "The EpiCentre."
R.I.P George Herman's
By Sarah Coombes
This summer, Ballantyne Resort is putting a new spin on the after work party – literally as they’re having DJ Lotta Noize from Greensboro spin at their weekly pool parties.
The Ballantyne Resort recently opened its new outdoor pool which hosts weekly pool parties every Thursday. It's kinda like an Alive after Five just with an added feature... a big-ass pool equipped with two bars and a pool menu. The weekly swim soiree runs (or should I say swims) thru Sept. 3 from 7 – 11 p.m.
But Ballantyne Resort will be fitting into something else tonight — a swimsuit fashion show. Charlotte Style magazine will be hosting its Summer Soiree from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. And with the pool party, it’s just another way Ballantyne wears its new party look well. Tickets are $25 and $20 for guests with a "Style card." And while you’re feeling good in the sun, you can feel good on the inside too, because Style’s Summer Soiree benefits Dress for Success Charlotte.
I always thought I belonged in the circus with the sideshow freaks … but I found another form of circus act welcoming me to their big-time-big-top. Although, they called me a dork when I hadn’t yet seen their show, referring to it as “Nitrus Circus,” as opposed to the correct name of the popular MTV show — Nitro Circus.
But I quickly became a fan of these fun and funny guys, and apparently I fit right in when I suggested we hijack paddle boats and race them through the lake at University – apparently that was illegal though, so we just ended up playing beer pong at Boardwalk Billy’s instead … with water.
I met up with the guys (and gal) Tex, Jim “T-Rex,” Andy Bell, Travis Pastrana and Jolene in University due to the fact they were staying at the Hilton and remaining within walking distance. Nitro Circus set up tents, and shut down downtown in order to film their show here, including Andy and Travis racing Scott Speed and Brian Vicker’s RedBull cars through Uptown Charlotte.
And meanwhile in University …
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