Dharma Lounge opened its doors yesterday to friends and family and will open its doors to extended family and acquaintances (as in the public) this weekend.
Dharma is not your typical lounge with a dance floor (and bamboo lined patio) — it is nightlife enlightened, a place of Zen. The kind of place where you can find inner peace … and get drunk (and with Zen green tea liquor even).
Yesterday, a Buddhist Monk blessed the venue … and the giant Buddhist statue above the bar that is blessing the booze, which is incredibly inexpensive might I add.
Not only can you shake your Buddha on the dance floor, but Dharma will offer free yoga classes at 1 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays , making it the only bar that offers both alcohol and detox. And you can also find peace in the fact that Dharma is non-smoking.
Dharma is located near Apostrophe Lounge — between Pop Life at Apostrophe, Media Night at the Gin Mill, the Common Market always being busy, and Dharma’s opening, South End was more busy and bumping than Uptown.
Next week is Charlotte N.C. Fashion Week at the Mint Museum of Art (the one off Randolph Road, not Uptown). Because having fun never goes out of style.
I'll actually be hosting the Young Designer Showcase on Thursday night. In addition to watching me potentially trip down the runway, there will be performances by Jocelyn Ellis and Alpha Theory.
After party at Decor 1220.
Vogue, vogue, vogue ....
"Mix at Six" at Ballantyne Village begins tomorrow, not at 6 p.m., but at 5 p.m. (So wouldn't that make it Mix at Five?) ... just saying. The weekly Wednesday night events will be held from Sept. 2 through Oct. 28.
Now just about every borough of Charlotte has their own "alive after five"... I'm just waiting for one in Gastonia.
Simplified, the official best band in Charlotte (voted by you), will be playing tomorrow for the first mixer at sixer (or five, rather). Speaking of Simplifed, they just released their video for Sugar Tree.
The Mix at Six band roster ...
Sept. 2 - Simplified (indie rock)
Sept. 9 - Big Sam (pop rock)
Sept. 16 - Josh Z and Company (contemporary, soft rock)
Sept. 23 - Coconut Groove (classic rock)
Sept. 30 - Simplified (indie rock)
Oct. 7 - Flashback-the Party Band (covers from 60's,70's, 80's)
Oct. 14 - First Call Kings (funk, soul)
Oct. 21 - The Remedy (blues, jazz)
Oct. 28 - Simplified (indie rock)
Another Hump Day Happy Hour is at Chima Brazilian Steakhouse - but this one's for the girls (which means guys should go to meet girls) ...
Last night, I did my own little new-bar bar-crawl starting at Enso Asian Bistro and Sushi Bar, then migrated down to Town Tavern then all the way down to Luna Lounge. Might I suggest doing the same this weekend so you can check out all the venues that only have one thing in common: they’re brand spanking new.
Let's start with Enso ... because it's a perfect place to start a night out.
While at Enso's premiere party I kept hearing, “This place is going to give Nikko a run for its money.” But Enso doesn't have Joanna there wearing her cowboy hat, boa and banging on her tambourine singing, “Don’t you wish your girlfriend was raw like sushi?”
However, there was a performance, a little more conducive to the culture …
Enso successfully managed to go out and find some of the most beautiful Asian women I have ever seen, and employed them … all the better for their naked sushi nights.
I wasn’t able to try any of the sushi as I’m deadly allergic to shellfish and I learned my lesson about eating unmarked food at a catered party after I swelled up like Will Smith in Hitch (I was dead sexy) … which you can read about in my blog for Holidate. But I heard it was good, even better than Nikko, some said.
Enso offers vibe dining, which means ambiance and experience comes with your entrée … not to mention 20 different kinds of sake. Of all the décor, I couldn’t help but notice that of the bathroom. The stalls are all private and lined with mirrors – it almost makes you want to have sex in them, and I will bet you money that someone will.
You can vibe dine (or have sex in the bathroom) until 2 a.m.
Enso opens to the public tonight.
ON YOUR DRAUGHT BEER that is (get your mind out of the gutter people, gosh), because the perfect pour has a one-inch head of foam on top of the beer. The science of combining food and beer in the stomach …
Have you ever washed down your dinner with a draught and ended up blowing up like Violet from the Willy Wonka factory? Well that’s because beer has gas in it, and when you put that into your body, well … pop goes the weasel. But there are ways around it other than losing the belt and having Mylantas for dessert.
At Tilt on Tuesday night, my buddy with Budweiser performed a science experiment to show us why it’s good to give head. Head, as in an inch of foam on the top of your beer. Beer is 25 percent foam, and you don’t want to lose it.
Exhibit A:
On my left we have a beer poured without head, and on the right we have a beer with head.
Exhibit B:
This is what happens when you insert food into the equation (as in in your stomachs).
... you see why it's good to give head!
In order to avoid being bloated and bubbly, just stop trying so hard … you know, pouring with precision, all slow trying to flat line the top of your beer … just pick up your beer, and pour it down the middle of the glass at a normal speed. And make sure that when you go out your server serves you head (yes, we’re still talking about foam). A good play by play for a bartender is grabbing the tap from the handle base and straightening the glass while pouring.
As in Skyy Vodka’s release of their new flavor — pineapple. And new cocktail concoctions: Skyy pineapple, Midori, sour and pineapple juice with shaved ice. It’s like a diet tropical frozen cocktail. A drink made for the boat... and a bikini. An alcoholic sno-cone if you will.
It may not be in the EpiCentre, but Tilt is still one of the best bars in Uptown, especially on Tuesday when you can “Tilt your Tuesday” with their weekly beer pong tournaments from 8 – 11 p.m. This entails free Hooters and drafts... and, the winner gets $100. Beer and breasts anyone? Breasts of chickens, not chicks.
At Tilt's luau, the dance floor was a scene from You Got Served, while the bar was a science experiment with Bill Ny the Budweiser guy that showed us what happens in your stomach when you mix beer and food (and gas) tune in tomorrow to find out...
Hartigan's is tucked away behind Bank of America stadium — but it’s not just a tailgating bar. If we have to classify it as a genre it’s an Irish pub and restaurant by signage, and a local lesbian bar by word of mouth. But regardless, it’s a cool bar …
I went to Hartigan's for the first time yesterday for a disco-themed production party. The Charlotte production community was celebrating our beloved wardrobe queen’s 50th birthday … not to mention the tax incentive approval which will help to generate more production to the Carolinas. We were all taking advantage of the massive dance floor — especially the birthday girl, who was dancing in the cage, showing us that the fountain of youth is forever being youthful. That, and being a good people person. In lieu of gifts she had people a silent auction to benefit Bliss Animal Haven.
Hartigan's recently had a management makeover recently as it’s advertised as having a new staff, a new attitude, new flat screens, and a new calendar of events. Including Team Trivia Wednesdays, karaoke Thursdays, drag shows, and a can’t miss … Pudding Wrestling coming up on Friday, Aug. 28
So yeah it’s a gay bar … gay as in happy. Although I did find it rather comical when I had to ask a staff member (a hot guy might I add) which bathroom to use : Crazy Bitch and Bad Ass Bitch … apparently I’m a bad ass bitch.
That’s the name of the bar I was hanging out at last night, and will continue to hang out all weekend. It’s the bar at the National Tailgating League (NTL) in Bristol, Tenn. … and Virginia. The NTL is presented by Budweiser, but created by Todd Hirschfeld with HMS Worldwide. Now that tailgating has its own league, it is officially a sport — and the NTL is the Olympics of Cornhole.
There is Miss Sprint in NASCAR, and there’s Miss NTL... and I am proud to say that I am currently wearing the Cornhole crown. Hence the reason I am in Bristol. I’ll be introducing Craig Morgan on the Earnhart Campgrounds stage on Saturday before the race. In honor of his most popular song, I am going to introduce myself as an officer in the Redneck Yacht Club on Lake Norman.
Apparently, golf carts are a traffic violation in Bristol because I got pulled over in one. The cop did not pull us over in a car… nor did he track us down on a motorcycle, horse or segway… we got pulled over by a cop on foot. And although there was no alcohol involved, I was able to answer the question I posed in a previous article about golf tournaments… can you get a DUI on a golf cart. Yes, you can. Meanwhile, I got invited to the traditional NASCAR Hauler parade and I told them “I ain’t no holla back girl.”
Bristol was so crowded it was like playing a carnival game trying to get through all those people without running them over. So I invented a horn for a golf cart - and it's more polite than the standard meep-meep horn. I just screamed "EXCUSE MEEP!" And it was effective, not only did people get the hell out of the way, but they smiled while doing so.
I always said NASCAR races are like Woodstock for rednecks… well apparently the cultures are colliding because there was a guy at the Port-A-Party rocking a mullet and jamming out on a guitar like a homeless hippie in San Francisco. I haven't yet decided if the main entertainment at a NASCAR race is the actual race, or the fans.
The NTL Port-A-Party will be at the Budweiser tailgating tent at the Panthers game.
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 …
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.
Mobile
