Contrary to a post that went up on this blog earlier, the Uptown restaurant Cans is not closing — and that's according to representatives of the company in Chicago.
Check this space for more information soon.
Big Lebowski big that is.
As Brittney said in her last blog post, Friday, Aug. 21, is a big night in the Q.C. While Luna Lounge and Town Tavern are having their grand opening parties, Strike City will turn into the Dude’s world ... but don’t worry, it’s safe to step on the rugs.
Since the bowling bar is already known for re-visioning the bowling experience, the parties are bound to be just as revolutionary. Lebowski night will include trivia, a full movie showing at 10:30 p.m., and White Russian drink specials — and bowling only gets better with alcohol … or at least more fun.
Alongside partying like the Dude, Strike City figures you might as well dress like him too. That’s why they’re holding a costume contest. Prizes will include gift certificates to nightlife hotspots (the final choices are still hush-hush though). All I can say is, when you dress up, make sure the judges know which Lebowski you are … you know what happens when the two get confused.
So go check out Lebowski night at Strike City. It’s the perfect location for a summer blowout — or bowl-out, rather.
Two new bars are opening, and with grand celebrations:
1. The Techouse and LocoLuna Grand Opening of Luna Lounge.
Luna Lounge, the cousin to Sunset Club and KISS Lounge, is located in the former residence of Coyote Ugly and Aqua. But the space is now unrecognizable — especially with its addition of the Solarium, a new glassed-in patio. Luna's roster of events include Urban Night on Wednesdays, student night on Thursdays, House music on Fridays and International party night on Saturdays.
2. Town Tavern is having a VIP grand opening on Thursday in addition to their big grand opening on Friday, Aug. 21. And of course I have tickets for you! Tune back in next week for a sneak peak into Uptown's new neighborhood bar ... and to score tickets to the grand opening.
As for this weekend, well there's the Charlotte Irish Festival.
-and-
Amped 4-A-Cure and the School of Rock's 40th Anniversary Tribute to Woodstock Festival on Saturday at Symphony Park starting 1 p.m.
They call Jersey the armpit of America, but now there’s a reason to get excited about Jersey — or at least some of the boys in it ... Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. The Jersey Boys aren’t coming to Charlotte until March 31, 2010, but the Charlotte theater community is already more excited about their arrival than the kids are about Santa’s.
The Blumenthal Performing Arts Center hosted an event to preview the highly requested and praised show, The Jersey Boys — the story about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Some of the members of one of the Boston touring casts came down on their day off to do a Q&A — and in the audience sat the family of Charlottean Jonathan Hadley, who plays Bob Crew. He went from the stage at Myers Park High School to the Broadway stage. He said coming from North Carolina, it was hard for him to get the Jersey accent. I imagine it’s hard to go from elongating every syllable in words to swallowing them. That and dropping F bombs like they’re going to war. Charlotte Squaks' Mike Collins, who played host of the event, said that at the Raleigh show there was signage warning about the “Jersey language.”
Meanwhile, Blumenthal knows how to throw a party; the event was catered with a buffet of hors d'oeuvres — chocolate-covered strawberries and Sherry Baby cocktails made from Stoli-berry flavored vodka.
(And may I just say that hors d'oeuvres might just be the weirdest spelled words, second to rendezvous. I always want to say ren-dez-vous as opposed to ron-day-voo. Let’s just say I never won a spelling bee.)
Anyway ... I have the soundtrack for Jersey Boys and the book of their story up for grabs. Just e-mail me and sing me a Four Seasons song in font. brittney.cason@creativeloafing.com
Other shows coming up at Blumenthal Performing Arts Center …
They say that drinking impairs your motor skills... except when it comes to operating the keypad on a cell phone apparently because impaired fingers are the devil’s text messagers...
With the invention of texting it’s not just drunk dialing you have to worry about anymore... it’s the little typed — and often misspelled messages — you send via text (that can be saved and posted on-line for everyone to read). And cell phones may have a lot of bells and whistles these days, but they don't have a filter to help you think before you text.
So much for my idea of inventing a breathalyzer app for your phone so that restricts you from calling certain numbers if you’ve been drinking... which is pretty much every number other than a cab company. We’ve all been there... when we’re looking at our sent boxes and then we proceed to smack our forehead and then think to ourselves, “wtf?” Yeah, the receiving end of that phone was probably wondering the same thing when they read it.
Well now there’s a national website that posts said texts Text from Last Night — it lets us know that we’re not alone in being trigger happy on text, and provides us with a laugh.
… and I just had to share.
HAlarious.com:
“Apparently I called 911 every time Sean Kingston told me to”
“I want you”
“Stop dating girls with the same name as your mother or strop drinking so much ... I don’t wanna see that”
“Nothing says plantonic group sex like campfires and smores”
Local band Simplified even got mentioned in one:
"i wore my purity necklace wen we fucked. but its ok cuz simplified was blasting in the background"
"hahahaha. im glad listening to simplified justifies breaking ur promise to god"
And then there's the "morning after texts" ...
“We had to use the stains on Phil's shirt to try to piece together what happened last night”
“I went to Arby’s at 2:30 a.m. and banged on the window for them to make me a Beefy”
Some of my girls and I discovered Texts from Last Night while on a road trip to the beach. We entertained ourselves for hours reading them, so that night my friend sent her boyfriend one she found on there.
“This is a mass text. Where am I” Her boyfriend replied concerned, so she dropped him another one ...
“Hold on, I have to call you back, there’s a cheeseburger in my pocket.”
Meanwhile I’m in the corner have my own unscripted texts throughout the night ...
You can do more than dine at the Indochine Grill in the EpiCentre... you can bang there too — after dark, that is. Because Indochine Grill (Asian Tapas and Lounge) is opening up the Bang Bang Lounge. At night, the restaurant transforms into a lounge — and pretty much like a transformer, considering the furniture even adjusts to the different atmospheres.
The Bang Bang Lounge will be a progressive chill lounge with bottle service, hookahs ... and "naked tapas." And that is like naked sushi ... nothing to do with banging. They’ll also be setting up a patio to utilize their coveted second-floor-of-EpiCentre space.
Monday is their SIN night and Thursdays are Zin nights for ladies to feel zen with goodies from the Red Door and then there's "Electro Soy Sauce" Fridays and you can "Nail it" on Saturday at the Bang Bang Lounge.
Since Blackfinn opened, it has become the most consistently crowded spot in the EpiCentre for its ability to transition back and forth from sports bar to dance bar. It’s become a battleground for ACC teams — and where I as a Hokie spent my game days. And considering I saw some of their bartenders at Target buying what looks like nurse shoes as part of their uniform, it’s not sex they’re selling … it’s the atmosphere (and lots of beer).
Well this Friday they are turning 1 and we’re all invited to their big birthday party. And one lucky reader is invited to utilize my personal invite to Blackfinn’s Anniversary invite-only party from 5 p.m.–7 p.m. with complimentary cocktails and hors d’oeuvrves. Did I mention free drinks?
But you have to be on the list ....
Just e-mail me at brittney.cason@creativeloafing.com with the subject line “GO HOKIES!” and you’re in like Flynn.
After 10 years of living away from England, a girl can get a little homesick. Since I’m in a financial flump (aren’t we all), I can’t hop the pond this summer. But if you’re like me and need a wee break, you can skip over to Scotland ... and you don’t even have to leave the state. All you have to do is head over to the Tilted Kilt on Carowinds Boulevard.
The Tilted Kilt makes you feel like you’ve just taken a nine hour flight and landed in the land of Haggis — but luckily without the jet lag. Food includes Danny Boy’s Shepherd Pie, sausage sandwiches, and a Fat Bastard meatloaf sandwich. And to put a new crunch on an appetizer favorite, you can order the Irish nachos ... on crisps (aka. potato chips). But as well as bringing Scottish cuisine to America, the Tilted Kilt has mixed a little east with a little west. And by that I mean American girls in skimpy Scottish kilts — what an edge on tradition ... well, a shorter edge at least.
Essentially, the Tilted Kilt is like a Scottish tilt on Hooters and Bikinis. While the orange shorts and bikini tops are traditions in themselves, the outfits look like naughty schoolgirl uniforms. And ladies, even the men wear kilts, which will make any girl ponder that age old question — do men wear anything under their kilts?
Creative Loafing's Best Of Charlotte issue comes out today, and tomorrow we honor those who won ... with an invitation-only reception at the Levine Museum of the New South from 6 p.m.- 9 p.m. and the Readers' Picks' after-party at Madison's starting at 9 p.m. that is open to the public.
The party at the Levine is invite-only, but I have an invite for you ...
I am giving away two tickets to the VIP reception so that you may sample some of the best restaurants in Charlotte, listen to the best DJs and mingle with the best of the best. The party is benefiting Hands On Charlotte as the invite requires a donation of a school supply. I went on a shopping spree for school supplies so I'll even cover your cover. Although school supplies are so cheap, you can fill an entire backpack for $20 ... just saying.
The first person to e-mail me at brittney.cason@creativeloafing.com and tell me who you voted for as the best bar in Charlotte wins.
The Graduate has graduated to The Nook. It’s now more of a dining dive than a dive bar as The Nook has upgraded the menu and ambiance — but don’t get me wrong, the eats and drinks are still dirt cheap.
They serve brunch on Saturday and Sunday, have movie nights on Sunday with free popcorn and have an all hip-hop open Microphone Mondays (tonight featuring Notik1 & Selector E.), a daily $7 wing buffet from noon til 2 p.m. and Thursday is draft night where all drafts are $3. But more importantly (to me at least) are the Friday and Saturday comedy nights featuring Charlotte Comedy Theater and Robot Johnson.
Conveniently, the bathrooms are located next to the theater in the back nook of The Nook because they’ll make you laugh so hard you might pee a little.
Meanwhile, there’s an entire pool and game room with a mini-arcade with both old school video games and a Wii. The Nook is the epitome of a neighborhood bar — in one of the best neighborhoods in Charlotte, and with a line-up of entertainment so diverse you'll only find it in PM. Since it really is in the nook, here's a picture of it so that you can actually find it ...
1308 The Plaza
704.332.8566
Mobile
