Skirt Magazine that is … And you can put on your skirt (or lift it up if you really want to) at Skirt! After Work today, Sept. 30, at The Spa (and pool) at Ballantyne Resort. And it is right after work from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
The Skirt! After Work featured drink is peach-and-cranberry flavored Silk Skirts – and $2 from each purchase will go toward benefiting the charity Circle de Luz.
Summer is falling into fall, so you may want to hit this pool party before the pool gets covered.
Skirt! has its happy hour-slash-charity events sporadically, but they're consistently a good time. I have been to two Skirt! After Work events in the past … one at McCormick and Schmick's in SouthPark Mall for which I ended up getting pink hair extensions in support of Breast Cancer Awareness month. And the other was at The Wine Shop where drinking wine was good for the heart … the American Heart Association.
By the way, The Wine Shop in SouthPark has more than wine for sale … nightlife is also in their inventory.
They offer tastings every Friday from 5 – 7 p.m. and cooking classes one a month … and they serve you wine while you cook (I wish my Home Ec classes in high school were that cool).
... aside from some chewed up chewing gum, napkins and people's cards and numbers we don't want — trash cans at bars are typically only occupied by bottles and cans.
And what happens to those trash cans full of recyclable materials? ... they end up in the trash. Why? For starters, because it's more complicated than just transferring it into a recycling bin and putting it out on the curb to be picked up like we do at our residence. The bar staff is supposed to rifle through our spit, shit and broken glass in trash cans to separate the bottles... and generally at 3 a.m. following an all-day shift. Sucks for them - so why not make it easier on them and, in turn, the environment by putting recycling bins in bars? I don't know about you, but if I saw a big blue bin with a triangle of arrows on it - I would only put my bottles in it. As long as they make it obvious enough for drunk people to figure it out.
Besides, going green is the trend these days. ... and when I say green I am talking about recycling, not money.
What do you think ... should they put recycling bins in bars?
Read more about recycling in bars here
... and they're showing it off at a campus wide talent show this Thursday. Translation: party on campus! - the Cone Center at McKnight Hall to be exact. But don't expect to see frat kids doing keg stands - it's not that kind of college campus party. College kids do have talents other than bonging beer.
The event will feature a variety of acts, special guest judges and DJ Prep. The winner of the talent contest will walk away $150 richer - which is essentially riches to a college kid.
Show runs from 7 - 8 p.m. ... you can hit the keg party on Greek row afterwards if you want.
While Creative Loafing has the Best Of Awards - Chicago's Time Out Magazine has the "Eat Out Awards." The diner Fat City which I went to won this prestigious award in 2008. It just made me giggle... apparently I have a dirty mind. But I'm pretty sure I'm not alone.
While in Chicago, I also went to the Bull&Bear, and since it's a sports bar it stands for the Chicago Bulls and the Chicago Bears... you know, the Bulls and the Bears, the Bull&Bear... as it turns out, it actually stands for the Bull&Bear from the Stock Market, which I learned after being laughed at and made fun of for five minutes.
Anyone that knows me will find it ironic that I am writing about Childress Vineyards... but Richard Childress never did anything to me, other than employ my ex. Besides, he has a nice vineyard right up the road from Charlotte. And by road, I mean I-85.
Well, it's the perfect time to go to the Vineyard, and tonight is the annual Grape Stomp and Harvest Festival.
There is also live music in the Vineyard every weekend until the end of October. Why not take a nightlife field trip to Childress Vineyards?
And you can uncork some more fun on Oct. 3 at the Great Grapes Wine, Arts, and Food Festival.
There are a lot of bars in Charlotte — a lot of genres of bars at that, from neighborhood bars, to sports bars, to sushi bars, to dive bars to lounges, taverns, pubs, and clubs … but leave it to my fat ass to consider a burger bar my favorite of them all … Big Daddy’s Burger Bar in Dilworth to be exact.
It's my all-time favorite spot to go in Charlotte ... to eat and to drink. Because it’s not just about the burgers (and tater tots) ... Big Daddy’s is a good place to chew on some nightlife.
Wednesday is their 3-5-7 Mug Night where you can bring in any vessel that holds a liquid (up to 40 ounces) and pay $3-$7 to fill it up with draught, depending on the beer. The Bubba Keg comes in handy for this special. And on Thursdays they have Bud Light trivia — Bud Light pints are $1.50 and trivia is at 9:30 p.m. I also learned it's a good place to go to watch an away game when you want to be away from all the spectating sideline coaches and watch a game in peace. And ... its 25 percent off pitchers on Sundays.
I just want to know who manufactures the “Big Daddy sauce” ...
I am back in my second city... Chicago. Actually, I impulsively made the purchase of the All-You-Can-Jet pass from Jet Blue - so I will be gone for a while. I'm also going to NYC, la la land, Houston to see my sister, Baltimore to see my other ... and home for my 10-year high school reunion (yes, I am that old).
Unfortunately however, I am going to miss out on a lot in Charlotte while I am jetting my ass all over the US ... such as the Dirty.com party at Cans tomorrow (yes, Cans is still open) and the last Alive After Five on Sept. 24.
While the show Holidate sent me to Chicago to swap cities for a love life, now I am swapping cities for a nightlife. I am going to explore Chicago's nightlife compared to that of Charlotte’s … let’s see who wins.
As a resource I grabbed the Chicago Reader - Creative Loafing's step-cousin newspaper, which is where I found ads for some events that I have yet to see in Charlotte.
* The Beer, Bikes, and Big Wheels - a bike race slash scavenger hunt
* Pabst Blue Ribbon Brawl - a wrestling match involving PBR with some sort of "Six Pack on a Pole Match"
* The Booty Crawl, which celebrates International Talk Like a Pirate Day
*Messing with a Friend at Annoyance Theatre staring Susan Messing.
... And while out in Wrigleyville following a Cubs game, Praire Organic Vodka made from corn.
But a lot of the event ads in The Reader looked familiar to those in The Loaf... wine and cultural festivals, concert series, after five mixers, live music , bars owned by BMG. Sure, Chicago has advantages - such as geographical and economical ones like Lake Michigan, the (Whatcha talking 'bout) Willis Tower, Major League Baseball and the bid for 2016 Olympics. And sure, Chicago has more venues, events and a comedy scene. But Charlotte is warmer ... and we have just as much fun as the big (ger) city.
I woke up Friday morning to the sound of a ferris wheel and a petting zoo being built right outside of my apartment. I walked out onto my balcony and to my left were live pigs in a cage, and to my right were pork smokers. Essentially – there was a full out county fair in the middle of Uptown Charlotte … the Blues, Brews, and BBQ Festival.
I’m just not comprehending the concept of having live pigs in the same vicinity as their pits of death like those little piggies were on death row. I personally don’t want to see Wilbur before I eat him. But considering how many people were in my front yard pigging out on pig, I am thinking that’s just me.
Tryon Street was like Taste of Charlotte – but all there was to taste was championship BBQ. With a hint of the Greek Festival that was on East Blvd.
The “city fair” was the Olympics of BBQ’ing, the pig chefs were wearing numbers like they were in a marathon. And they camped out (in the parking lot right across from my balcony) like at a NASCAR race.
And at the end of the night I watched all the policemen crowded around their trucks scarfing down BBQ – I suppose it was a nice change from donuts. And when the festival came to a close on Saturday night, the septic tank came and pumped out all the port-a-pottys (again, right in front of my balcony).
So, now my condo reeks of not only cooking pigs … but shit. (It kinda reminded me of my hometown in Virginia actually, which has a lingering aroma of chicken feed and manure). But those in my house thought it a good idea to place a wager on the game of Connect Four we were playing – loser has to go down and use the porta-potty. I lost. But then we decided we were all losers because we were playing Connect Four on a Saturday night.
When I went to bed the parking lot had emptied out and the streets re-opened… and then I woke up to a Panther’s Tailgate, which said parking lot magically transformed into overnight. There is always some sort of festival going on in Charlotte (usually right under my balcony apparently) … but up next is Festival in the Park, in Freedom Park starting Sept. 24
"When did that get there?"... That's what I was wondering when I turned the corner of Trade and Tryon and saw a restauraunt and lounge tucked in the corner behind the waterfall. For a second there, I thought it has always been there and I hadn't noticed, kind of like Champions and Cutters. But apparently Room 112 Modern Asian Cuisine and Sushi lounge opened quietly July 1.
Restaurant week (Sept. 18 – 27) might be a good time to check them out.
Remember Reading Rainbow, where LeVar Burton made reading look cool? Well, reading is cool again ... so cool, in fact, it gets its own festival. The Charlotte Literary Festival (and Carnival)
I have three pairs of tickets to give away for the Festival-slash-Carnival in NoDa this weekend. Just e-mail me at brittney.cason@creativeloafing.com and tell me your favorite Reading Rainbow book.
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