For the second time in a week ... I slept in, but I didn’t throw a hissy fit this time. In fact, I probably would have thrown a hissy fit if I actually did wake up for the 6:30 a.m. call time for the Cooper River Bridge Run. 40,000 people ran across the Arthur Ravenel Bridge in Charleston, about 10,000 of which came in from Charlotte for it — and about 5,000 thousand of them actually ran. The Cooper River Bridge Run weekend is not just a 10K, it’s like a corporate spring break — Charlotte on the beach.
For some runners the Bridge Run is a masquerade of a marathon. My friend dressed up as a cop to run while her friend dressed up like a burglar and they ran the entire race like a criminal pursuit. I just did my own little "Cooper River Bridge Rollerblade" along the beach where people were a hot mess. Half of them because they were sweaty from running, the other half were just drunk. A group of Charlotteans were even going around conducting beach breathalyzers. When I blew a .00 they handed me a beer and told me I was under the legal limit and that I needed to drink up to catch up by order of the law ... twist my arm.
That afternoon I went to Windjammers, which kinda felt like being at the Rusty Rudder. I heard Zac Brown Band’s Chicken Fried (who is playing at Coyote Joe's on May 21 ) three times within a 30-minute time span ... and I didn’t mind at all.
While I am wild as in slightly crazy, my friend, Jonathan, is wild as in the wilderness, so, while I was up in NYC being a city girl, I called on my outdoorsy boy to attend the season grand opening of the US National Whitewater Center and the unveiling of the new mega zip line. Zip-a-dee-do-dah, Zip-a-dee-ay ... my oh my what a shitty day (to be outside embarking on outdoor activities that is).
By Jonathan Grubbs
Rainy weather didn’t stop the U.S. National Whitewater Center from un’zipping’ its new Mega Zip attraction last Thursday. Mayor Pat McCrory and County Councilwoman JenniferRoberts even came for the unveiling of their four new 1,123-foot long ziplines extending across the unruly rapids of the world’s largest Olympic whitewater training center. Unfortunately, the mayor and councilwoman were both ‘uninvited’ to ride it due to the rainy and ‘unsafe’ weather conditions. As a consolation, they both decided to ride down the class III and IV rapids together... in the rain.
Although this even marked the official introduction of the Mega Zip, it’s actually been open to the public since last November — and I’ve had the privilege of zipping down the zipline, reaching speeds of around 20 mph.
New York City doesn’t sleep and nor did I for the 50 some hours I was there.
Tuesday morning I woke up in Charlotte at 6:15 a.m. with my flight leaving at 6 ... shit!
I literally jumped out of bed and basically threw a temper tantrum — everything short of laying on the floor kicking and wailing my arms. $200 pissed down the drain later, I sat down and shut the front door. I made a mistake — oh well!
I decided that rather than beating myself up about it, I should just chalk it up to fate. “A fate mistake.” There was a legitimate reason I missed my flight ... and not just because I turned my alarm off rather than pressing the snooze button to try and sneak in that extra 9 minutes of sleep. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.
I flew to NYC for the MAXIM Magazine reunion party. As in the staff’s five-year-reunion. I was enrolled in the Dennis Pub Club, Class of 2004. Because although I worked for Dennis Publishing right out of college, we played more than I did while in college. We even had a co-ed intramural softball team — that had multiple cases of PBR quietly confiscated by the Central Park security in the middle of the game. I even made the greatest 100 moments of MAXIM history ... (number 34) for winning a hush puppy eating contest. I ate my way to the middle.
HOM is where the party is. HOM is re-opening this Saturday with Redman’s DJ, DJ Dice and DJ Magic from Power 98. I wonder if DJ Magic does magic tricks at his appearances ... cause that would be even cooler.
For the big UNC game TILT is having a Pig Roast serving up Carolina Bar-B-BLUE and $2 Tarheel shots (Saturday 7 – 11 p.m. )
If you like big butts, I will not lie … you need to go to the 1st Annual “Celebration of Curves” Fashion Show Saturday at Grand Central Events & Catering. Hosted by Jaye Delai of Jaye & Monica and featuring The Kurvy Kuties of ATL and Curveaous Cuties Calendar Models
Crave dessert bar and lounge opened up last night ... sweet! (literally)
Décor 1202 is also new on the nightlife menu, it opened last week on CPCC campus. Friday is their first First, First Friday, which according to the flier is “America’s #1 Urban Event and Afterparty”
Ding! Ding! Ding! The Battle of the Thursday Happy Hours has a winner ... the EpiCentre.
There will be an "Alive After Five Thank You Celebration" on Thursday April 16 at the Wachovia Plaza then Charlotte's biggest event is permanently moving to the EpiCentre. The launch of Alive After Five At EpiCentre kicks off Thursday April 23 at the Pavilion at EpiCentre.
Winter may be over, but if you still haven’t migrated south, it's about time to make a spring flight because there’s never been a better time to fly over to Ballantyne. While Brittney's out of town, I headed back out to see what's going on...
If you’re ready to mix it up, Ballantyne Village, is hosting a Mix at Six during the month of April. Even better, Simplified will be playing on April 22 and on April 29 will be Coconut Grove. Could it be any simpler? So, with the rush of spring fever, step out of the club for a night and head outdoors.
For more outside music, Ballantyne Village has the Live Music in the Plaza event sponsored by the Village Bistro — just in case mixing isn’t for you. Band names haven't been released yet, but the events are on April 4, 11, 18 and 25 and will start at 6:30 p.m.
If they say New York is the city that never sleeps, than Charlotte is the city that never walks. That’s right readers, Ballantyne is hosting another bar crawl on April 3. Ballantyne’s Nightlife Crawl , costs $10 per person and starts at 6:30 p.m. till 2 a.m. The crawl begins at On the Roxx, Ballantyne or Wild Wing Café in Epicenter... which, I don’t mean to be technical, but is definitely not in Ballantyne.
And located underneath the flashy lights, you know the ones I told you I’m always swerving by, there is Ballantyne Theatre. The theatre specializes in independent films... but from time to time they take us back to the past with its retro film series — a revisit to the movies that started it all — kinda like this article for me! Tickets are $5 and in the past they’ve shown movies such as Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Blade Runner and more. And just like Epicenter, Ballantyne offers gourmet foods and alcohol!
So as long as the rain stays away, we can all go out to Ballantyne to play.
While the Plaza Midwood Art Krawl was rained out, the Carolina Cup went on rain and NO shine ... and, for lack of better terms (and weather) was a complete and utter shit show.
The Carolina Cup is kinda like a NASCAR race, with a different form of horse power ... in regards to the amount of heavy partying off the track. Except all the men wear really tacky preppy and plaid pants and the girls wear Easter dresses and big hats.
At 9:30 a.m., I boarded a bus, was handed a mimosa and found myself on an Easter egg hunt on the bus. The weather looked nice the whole 2.5-hour ride there, but as soon as we parked ... torrential down-pour. After hiking through inches of mud we got to our tent — cold, wet and dirty.
There was one of two options — be a Debbie downer, or get sloppy-wet drunk. It was raining so hard if I had shampoo I could’ve washed my hair. Our tent broke out a slip and slide and a neighboring tent broke out the karaoke and started singing (and dancing) in the rain. And after a few beers, it was a glorious feeling.
By the end of the day everyone was just pretty much playing in the mudd. Some southern Carolinian took the horsing around. Like this guy ...
When we night-lifers hear the word "crawl," we usually think "too drunk to stand." However, Plaza Midwood’s Art Krawl isn’t just about the art of drinking. But since the weather was wet, the art scene was dry – as in there was barely anybody out. A local PM patron informed me the rain keeps postponing the event, but I didn’t let it rain on my parade.
It took a mere five paces down Central Avenue before I sighted a handful of paintings in front of Zada Janes, but no artist in sight. And though the cafés and galleries were advertising the Krawl, a lot of them were closed. Ten paces later, I found shelter from the rain in “Queen’s Gallery” — the apparent home of the Art Krawl.
While chillin' out to live music you can admire the ships and the harbors, the flowers and the landscapes. Unfortunately, I can’t show you as I wasn’t allowed to publish any photographs, but you know what they say, a picture is worth a thousand words — but I don't have that long of a word count. Though I appreciated the beauty of each painting, I knew nothing about them and was ready for a drink — because a glass or two of wine can make the art challenged feel like an art expert, and depending on how many glasses you drink, perhaps even the artist itself.
It was then that I found my favorite piece of art ... in the hands of the bartenders, the alcohol artist.
The bartender explained the Art Krawl typically has tents lined up outside and galleries open for display, but on Saturday the Art Krawl was more like a pub crawl because the watered down weather kept the PM watering holes busy.
This Friday you have your pick from NoDa’s Gallery Crawl and Historic SouthEnd’s Gallery Crawl
And according to the weather forecast the sunshine will be on display.
As in the band; I really just went to the KISS 95.1 studios to rock out with Chad Rock and Danny and Foz from REHAB.
Our conversations quickly went from
CHAD ROCK: “How are you?”
DANNY: “I feel like a million pennies”
CHAD ROCK: “Well you look like shit man!”
DANNY: “Yeah, we got a little rowdy last night”
ME: (pointing to his fresh bloody knuckles): “What’d you punch last night?”
DANNY: “The TV”
Ouch ...
Before I knew it we were having a “tell off” about bed wetting stories and singing in studio karaoke. They remixed November Rain, Living on a Prayer … and My Humps. “My lovely lady lumps, check em’ out” … Danny’s deep man voice made it sound even better than Fergie. I then got to sing along to the best sing along song, ever – theirs: "Bartender."
The rockstars who truly party like rockstars rated Charlotte in the top 5 in terms of party towns.
“Everything’s new, the women are hot and every show we’ve played here someone gets kicked out,” Danny said as Foz nodded in agreement, “there’s a bald headed bouncer at Amos' that will fuck shit up.”
They were in town to play an all ages show at Amo’s SouthEnd … and they left me an autographed album to give to you.
Just as Ponce de Leon set out looking for the Fountain of Youth, I set out looking for the Fountain of Detox — as in escape from hangover hell. Sure, there’s Advil and Pepto for the breakfast of champions, a greasy morning after meal and even getting hair off the dog that bit you. But if you don’t want to follow-up the 500 liquid calories with McDonalds, or drink like you’re on vacation, my hippie ass has found a holistic approach to hangover healing ... The Hydration Station at Planet Beach Contempo Spa in Caramel Commons.
It’s the perfect hangover elixir. You lay in this space ship looking contraption and sweat out all the toxins in your body while rehydrating and moisturizing your skin. Oh, but it gets better ... you burn 300 to 500 calories while doing so. It’s like a steam room on steroids; a detox spa.
I appreciate my readers so much that I wish I could handwrite each of you a personalized “Thank You” card. But I can do you one better — I am going to write you a prescription for a hangover cure — I have 30 free passes to Planet Beach so you can try recuperation at the Hydration Station, and it includes three sessions so you can also try their Lumiere Facial Rejuvination.
All you have to do is join my blog group then e-mail me an address (brittney.cason@creativeloafing.com) so I can mail you your certificate — well, at least the first 30 people to e-mail me.
P.S. HOM’s re-opening has moved to next Friday, April 3. Oh darn, guess that mean’s we’ll have to miss the Hootie and the Blowfish ballet ... wtf?
In high school, I went to Young Life just about every week. One week, I found myself part of an operation that involved scraping road kill up to win a scavenger hunt. But one of the guys on the opposing team ate a live goldfish and it trumped our dead opossum in the point system... Yes, this really happened – do you think I could make this shit up? What can I say? I’m from a small town, we had to entertain ourselves somehow.
But Charlotte’s not a small town — it’s a big town, small city with a much more eventful form of “Young-Adult Life”: Charlotte One
Charlotte One is held every Tuesday at 7 p.m. until April 28 at the First United Methodist Church in Uptown. (People typically park in the Rustic Martini parking lot).
600 people gather to party with praise. They have a rocking band and a DJ in front of the church. They even serve refreshments. They rotate speakers, but last night (and next week) was (and is) Jarrett and Jeanne Stevens. They were like Christian comedians.
“Facebook seems to determine our relationships, they even have “it’s complicated” as an option – but breaking up using your facebook status is just dirty, ” Jarrett said. Apparently, the last guy I dated didn’t frequent Charlotte One.
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