Would you like some wine with that cheese?
Hump Day isn’t just for humping anymore — it’s for drinking wine. Apparently Wednesday has been declared wine day, at least in regards to drink specials at wine bars. And in this economy even vino is better on clearance.
The "Wino Wednesday" selection includes ...
The Wine Loft, which recently uncorked in SouthEnd and Moorseville, offers free wine tastings on Wine Down Wednesday.
Corkscrew in Birkdale Village has Wine-O-the-Week Wednesday (and on April 30 they’re having an Ed Hardy Party).
Arooji’s Wine Room has wine tastings at their SouthPark location.
RuSan's and 300 East offer 50 percent off bottles.
The Grape in Northlake Mall and SouthPark hosts Wednesday Grape Crush from 5 p.m.-7 p.m. where they offer complimentary appetizers to compliment your wine.
Vintage Wine Cellar is having their two-year anniversary party next Wednesday.
And this Saturday is Rockhouse Events' Rockin&Ragin Winery Tour to Elkin Creek Vineyard and Round Peak Vineyard.
And Dolce Vita is home to a Habitat Young Professionals Charity tasting next Wednesday.
Meanwhile, last night it was Wine and Wii night at Pop Life at Apostrophe Lounge.
Other good wine bars … Press, Wine Up in NoDa, PJ’s in the EpiCentre, Dolcetta Wine Room, The Wine Vault in University, Dean & Deluca in Phillip’s Place, Ratcliffe on the Green, and Under the Grape in Ballantyne.
But you can make every day wine day; for a full list of Wine Events throughout Charlotte visit CL's Food & Drink event database or click here.
Last night was the last Bobcat’s home game. Thanks to the Jumper Classic, the Bobcats have been evicted from their home court and have to play their way to the playoffs on the road.
The Bobcats are actually good this year ... and like we’ve learned with the Panthers and their Field of Dreams — in Charlotte, if you win they will come. For the final game, the arena was packed, like a concert. And they actually have a chance to go to the play-offs ... if they win the next four consecutive games and Detroit loses three games — miracles do happen.
The Bobcats not only went green from all the ticket sales — but green as in Green Uniforms, which they gave away signed and sweaty after the game during the “shirts and shorts ceremony.” And the GameTime program included recycling tips and Harris Teeter even gave out reusable shopping bags.
The Bobcats biggest fan, LaMichael, announced that he officially named the stuffed-afro-wearing monkey he wears around his neck ... Brittney Cason — he even wrote about it on his blog. That might just be the sweetest thing a guy has ever done for me.
It’s a good thing I wear tips thus physically can’t bite my nails ... cause it was a nail-biter of a game.
But the Bobcats won 101 – 98. And what’s even more exciting is that since the Bobcats broke 100 points we can all get free tacos from Taco Bell with our ticket stubs.
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.
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