The best of the new 

There's nothing like a brand-new baby. Even the most hardcore tough guy morphs into a puddle of mush around an incredibly adorable newborn. Unfortunately, Creative Loafing doesn't have what it takes to bring a new baby to every single reader in the city. (That would probably violate a ton of state and federal laws.) We can, however, turn your insides out with our guide to Charlotte's best new restaurants, shops, bands and much more (all founded in the last six months or less). Check out these "newborns" -- you'll go googoo-gaga over them.

– Kimberly Lawson

NIGHTCLUBS

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• Angus Lamond
• URBAN COWGIRL: The mechanical bull in Daisy Dukes

Soho East/Daisy Dukes: Soho East/Daisy Dukes is not only new to the local nightlife scene, it's new in its approach to nightlife. The multi-level nightclub combines two popular, yet polar opposite, bar themes in one location: half club, half honky tonk. Upstairs is Soho East, the best club the University area has to offer, with its swank ambiance and local DJs spinning hip-hop and dance music. Walk downstairs and Akon fades into Kenny Chesney upon entering Daisy Dukes, a wild country bar equipped with a mechanical bull and hot, half-dressed bartenders.

Given the location, approximately two miles from the UNC-Charlotte campus, Soho East/Daisy Duke's naturally caters to the University crowd by geographical default; however, the uniqueness in genres appeals to all demos. Because whether you're in the mood to train for a rodeo or sip martinis, this best new bar serves it all. And their bar and entertainment menus are just as diverse: Tuesday is "Twos-days" with cover and most drinks costing a mere $2; Thursday is College Night; Friday is Greek Night with nightly earnings donated to the fraternity- and sorority-selected charities each week; and Saturday is, well, Saturday. Unders may attempt to get in, but this spot is primed with fake ID nazis, so don't even bother trying.

And if commuting is an issue, the clubs have a party bus that's available for pick-ups.

8927 JM Keynes Drive, 704-510-0595

– Charlotte Cason

Tilt: Picture the art-deco speakeasies of the 1920's -- without the prohibition -- and you'll have an idea of what Tilt has to offer. The newest addition to Charlotte's Uptown scene is the narrow, brightly lit lounge/sports/dance club/bar tucked into a cozy nook on Trade, feet away from the center city square. Tilt's location gives one the feel of a bigger city, but the staff offer the charm of a small town bar. The club boasts a covered back patio with a stage, a colorful front bar with plasma screen TVs, and a modest dance floor perfect for the midnight hour.

The four owners of Tilt have big dreams -- for themselves and for Charlotte. "We want to be the place people coming to the area should come and see ... [we want to] really add something to Charlotte," operating partner Adam Parker says of their endeavor.

The name Tilt came from "a lot of arguing," Parker says, between him and co-owners Lucas Johns, Christopher Peavey and Anthony Kearey. Tilt was the only name they could all agree on. Ironically, the young upstarts discovered that the building floor actually tilted -- a gradual 12 inches up from the front door to the back of the bar.

A splashing starburst of color covers the face of the bar, unusually bright for any establishment that sells alcohol. The ceiling is a pale cream color reflecting the light of the modern multi-crystal chandeliers. Soft earth tones bounce in oval mirrors gracing the merlot colored walls, oddly yet perfectly placed. Amidst this charm, Parker shows off a delightful feature underneath the surface of the bar: "Pocket book holders," he says with a quick wave. Since no Coach purse deserves to be put on the floor -- however finely made that floor may be -- the small courtesy speaks volumes of the level of care Tilt strives to achieve.

"The Cheers effect" Parker calls it, explaining how he encourages patrons to "Come in twice, and we'll know your drink. We want to be the place that fits everyone's lifestyle."

127 W. Trade St., 704-374-4870

– Natalie Howard

SHOPS

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• Courtesy Ty Coe
• HEAD SHOP: The wigs on sale at Glamour Puss

Glamour Puss: If you still can't spell the word "glamorous" even after hearing Fergie's song chronically played out on the radio, you need to go to Glamour Puss. Forget the items for sale for a moment -- the chic, upbeat music, superstar décor, and even the owner all scream high fashion.

Ty Coe, hair stylist, makeup artist and owner of Glamour Puss, had been toying with the idea of opening her own store for a long time. Last September, she made it happen. "Charlotte is moving in the direction of fashion," she says. "I wanted to bring an L.A., West Hollywood feel to the area. I'm seeing a lot more interest in fashion [here]."

Enter the fabulous world of Glamour Puss, once a drab old office space with green walls, and you will find yourself in a deliciously decorated showroom, complete with pink and blue spatters on the floor, stylized text scrawled across a wall and gold and silver stars adorning the windows. After rounding the small shop, oohing and ahhing over the selection of accessories, purses, jewelry and shoes, have a seat in one of the stylishly modern lounge chairs. The concept behind the store is "bling on a budget." While Coe does stock some mainstream lines, she "tries to find underground designers."

In the back of the store hide two treasures for anyone trying to glam it up -- a room set aside for makeup application and waxing and a room full of heads. Heads topped with wigs, that is. Ranging from $19 to $2,000, a person can go long, short, blonde, brunette, or what have you. "For someone sick of looking the way they used to, this is the place to come," says Coe. "Even if [they want a change] just for the night."

1800 Camden Road, Suite 101, 704-334-2426

– Kimberly Lawson

Jeffre Scott Apothecary: Whether you have a Ph.D. in product or could use a crash course in beauty basics, Jeffre Scott Apothecary, the Providence Road boutique Scott opened last October with co-owner Charlton Alicea, has clients covered from the tip of their heads to the soles of their feet. Focusing on customer education, Scott has created an oasis of unique, all-natural wares, and the kind of attention to detail that harkens back to the genteel era when customer service was an elegant art. The pristine ambiance belies a broad array of merchandise for every member of the family -- including Fido (check out K #9 Eau de Pawfume and the Isle of Dogs Canine Grooming System).

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• Angus Lamond
• BOUTIQUE-LICIOUS: Jeffre Scott Apothecary

At the personal fragrance station (Scott was responsible for creating the signature ribbon box testers that allow customers to sample scents on cloth, rather than directly on the skin), alluring creations of Paris perfumer Mona DiOrio -- as in Dior -- share shelf space with Hilda Soliani's enchanting bouquets from Parma, and organic aromas from Patyka and Earthworks. Also offered are JIMMYJANE's layerable essential oils: Charm, Wit and Kink. With notes of tobacco and whiskey, "Kink is a one-night stand in a bottle," Alicea quips.

Men's selections include the Destination Nation line and shaving products from True Gentlemen and John Allan's. Women will swoon over makeup from Skin Alison Raffaele™, Susan Posnick and Wallett. April 19 from 4 to 6 p.m., gals are invited to "Toast Your Pout" with lip makeovers from Wallett's Victoria Lubvich. (Purchase two Wallett items, and get a free champagne lip gloss, plus a glass of bubbly to toast your new look.)

Other fab finds: Shane Talbott organic tea, XELA essential oil reed diffusers and soy candles; 100 percent organic bath, body and hair care lines, such as fair trade pioneer Inara®, Zona, Uvavita (made with antioxidant grape seeds courtesy of the Coppola family vineyards); Australia's No. 1 skincare line, Dr. Lewinn's; Philip B. hair care products; and JIMMYJANE massage candles (choose from Habañero + Grapefruit, Ginger + Date and Lychee + Lapsang). Light. Melt. Extinguish. Drip. Rub ... Mmm.

607 Providence Road (next to the Manor Theatre), 704-339-0010

– Judy Cole

RESTAURANTS

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• Chris Radok
• SO FRESH AND SO CLEAN: Customshop

Customshop: The 66-seat Customshop has opened in developer Clay Grub's deja new Elizabeth. At the helm of this restaurant is David Pasternack, the winner of the 2004 James Beard Award for best chef in New York and a partner with Mario Batali in Esca, a southern Italian seafood trattoria in Manhattan (Esca means bait in Italian). He's joined by Charlotte-based restaurant consultant John Sergi; chef and Johnson & Wales graduate (Charleston 1996) Trey Wilson, who was the Executive Chef at Dean and Deluca Philips Place for six years; and former wine distributor J.J. Levine. Pasternack also helped open David Bouley's TriBeCa and was Terrance Brennan's chef de cuisine at Picholine. Wilson describes the menu as Lupa (another Manhattan Batali restaurant -- this one is a Roman-style trattoria) with a twist, but prefers that the food (described as French Italian) not be labeled. The space is small, but the bar is set for additional service. This is Pasternack's first restaurant outside of Manhattan and is a result of his friendship with Sergi. Entrees at Customshop are priced $20 or less and Wilson plans to use local growers. Front of the house manager is Lindsey Cook. Hours are Monday through Wednesday 5:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m., Thursday through Saturday 5:30 p.m. until midnight. The restaurant is currently closed on Sunday but lunch and Sunday brunch will follow.

1601 Elizabeth Ave., 704-333-3396.

– Tricia Childress

Sticky Fingers: The line was not only out the door, but traffic was jammed on Johnston Road at I-485 to herald the opening of 172-seat Sticky Fingers on Thursday, March 8. Sticky Fingers is a legendary barbecue restaurant headquartered in Charleston and is known for its Memphis-styled barbecue ribs. Since Charleston and its surrounding beach areas are summer destinations for a large number of Charlotteans, the arrival of Sticky Fingers was happily anticipated. Folks were lined up out the door and into the parking lot by 4:30 p.m. the first Saturday they were open. A second location will open next month near the Concord Mills Mall. Barbecue pork ribs can be ordered with a Memphis-style dry rub or the following sauces: Memphis Style Wet, Carolina Sweet (a classic South Carolina mustard-based sauce), Tennessee Whiskey, or Habañero Hot. The sauces have been available at area grocery stores for some time. New to the menu is a beef brisket and gone from the menu is the Key Lime and Oreo pies. Cree Parker is the operating partner of the Charlotte shop. Hours are Sunday through Thursday 11 a.m. until 10 p.m. and 11 a.m. until 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

12410 Johnston Road at Ballantyne, 704-926-3441

– Childress

THE ARTS

Michelle Busiek: After lurking in the wings at Queens University -- and backstage among the power tools as a Theatre Charlotte intern -- Michelle Busiek had her mainstage coming out back in January ... spectacularly miscast in Brighton Beach Memoirs.

No doubt about it, Busiek's vivacity lit up the Queens Road stage. But was she really the ideal choice for inspiring a Jewish cousin's lewd thoughts and nocturnal emissions?

Only if you associate Spam and mayonnaise with Brooklyn. For this reviewer, Busiek's wholesome ebullience conjured up "a cheerleader shiksa goddess." Turns out I may have been guilty of understatement.

"My dad is a Baptist minister in West Virginia," she freely admits. "To me, Charlotte was the city that I could get to the fastest without my parents freaking out!"

A couple of people from her church had attended Queens, and the Theater Department -- particularly Jane and Charles Hadley -- welcomed her warmly. Aside from an excursion into a 24-Hour Play Project with BareBones Theatre Group, all her theater activity was confined to campus while she attended QU.

That wasn't as long as you might think.

"I fly through everything, so I graduated college in three years," Busiek explains. "I did like 28, 30 hours at Queens a semester, and then I would do my plays at night, and then on the weekends, I would waitress at Brixx."

What little buzz I've heard about Busiek from theater insiders confirms that she is as hard-working as she is talented. Yet she isn't driven by the fame game. Not anymore. Acting is her passion, and teaching drama is how she'd like to give something back.

The Baptist minister's daughter brought a whole new dimension to Puritanism as she portrayed Mercy in Theatre Charlotte's recent production of The Crucible. Bit part, but you tend to get noticed when you're licking the villain's face. Especially when she's the same gender.

"I can't even believe that you picked up on that!" she exclaims.

Busiek has already landed another small role in Collaborative Arts' second annual Shakespeare on The Green production, As You Lick It. Sorry, I meant As You LIKE It. Lost my concentration -- a hazard where Busiek is concerned.

– Perry Tannenbaum

Gallery with no name: The newest gallery in town is at Charlotte ground zero: Trade and Tryon, at the Bank of America Corporate Center. The 12-foot-by-16-foot gallery used to be the niche housing lobby security in BoA's grandest lobby. Now it's a divot in the wall housing a gallery with no name.

The "Formerly Known As Security Niche Gallery" is currently showing seven paintings by Norman Rockwell, America's most beloved painter. These seven paintings are vintage Rockwell, painted somewhere around 1930, each piece an original for the cover of Saturday Evening Post or an advertisement for tires or Christmas, or a way of life cherished by memories way longer than mine.

In the best painting here -- the sentinel cop calls this painting "Going Fishing" -- a boy stares dolefully out a window at his dog. The dog scratches the window pane and sits on a wooden crate next to a can of worms and a willow pole with fish line and bobber. The boy's eyes droop pine, his dog's ears perk hopefully. The boy slouches in front of a book in white shirt and suspenders. The extraordinary realness of the picture -- the brick, window pane, the shadows and gloom across the boy's shirt and face -- is palpable.

Other paintings show people in poses of communicable emotion -- a boy peering up the chimney on Christmas Eve, a gleeful elderly golfer on hole 18 writing down his score, a boy on his bike heading to the fishing hole.

Why are these paintings at all appealing? Each work describes a common, shared emotion. Even if you don't buy into the sentiment expressed, even if the emotion is not yours -- never was, nor will be -- Rockwell makes the emotions sane, believable, even enviable. He suckers us in with his talent for texturally revealing the small remembered detail -- the paint peeling from the window sash -- and ropes us into the false memory of that dog, that fishing pole, the look on that boys face and the feeling behind it.

Come visit Charlotte's smallest gallery and share a phantom sentiment. 100 N. Tryon St.

– Scott Lucas

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• Courtesy Jerald Melburg Gallery
• MEMORY LANE: A sample of art from Christoper Clamp

Christopher Clamp: Christopher Clamp is Charlotte's newest secret revealed. Clamp paints quiet, moving tributes to remembered times and places and people. His vehicle for memory transport is a single object finely rendered in oil paint. Some of these objects hug the edges of my longest memories: fly paper peppered with dead flies, a toy tippy dipping bird from the 1950s, a honey jar with comb inside. Some of the objects could be found today -- milk in a soda shop glass, a Morton's salt box shaker, soap in a fluted dish. Each object sits on table edge and fronts a furtive and lush ground. The object is not the whole painting, but is what you see first.

The whole painting is an invitation into a shared or unshared memory. You can see the sticky flypaper, the color and consistency of motor oil, and remember your grandmothers kitchen, that dive restaurant at Nags Head, or the mechanics grubby office behind his garage.

Or perhaps you remember none of these things.

Like Rockwell, Clamp has the ability to evoke memories which were never there. Unlike Rockwell, Clamp has a talent, simultaneously comforting and disconcerting, for letting us own the memory by letting us construct the memory ourselves. Rockwell spells it out -- each frown and grimace and grin -- and we feel it vicarously; Clamp delivers us our own visited place through object and minimal tableau and open ground. His paintings allow enough room to let us in, to visit our own felt memories, either reconstructed or spun out of whole cloth.

Clamp's paintings are fine enough to convice us to stay a while, hold us there long enough to sell us our own sentiments.

Also unlike Rockwell, Clamp's paintings are actually available, through Jerald Melberg Gallery.

625 S. Sharon Amity Road, 704-365-3000

– Lucas

MUSIC

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• HAIR CLUB: Rekless Youth

Rekless Youth: Ah, those flighty high school days. It's the age of endless possibilities. It's the age of awkward romances and trends that change daily. It's when freckle-faced youngsters start bands after getting their hands on electric guitars and drum kits. It's the timeless ritual of boys dreaming of becoming guitar gods, music lessons be damned. All that's needed are amps and plenty of attitude to play quintessential three-chord punk rock. Scads of feisty musical innocence can't hurt, either. The Charlotte-area punk trio Rekless Youth is one such set of blokes. The boys formed the band in September 2006 and won their high school talent show in November 2006. They have since hit the studio and recorded the short and sweet EP EZ Street with the production help of regional music catalyst Eric Lovell. The trio won third place in the Charlotte Battle of the Bands held in March. EZ Street is a recording of eight songs that's lathered with ethos and lyrics of musically enthused youngsters. So what if the lyrics are in the developmental stage and the playing raw and untempered. Isn't that what it's all about in high school? Forget high school, even the geriatric geezers Iggy and the Stooges are still as raw as they ever were. Some boys, thankfully, never grow up.

Rekless Youth consists of Madison on guitar, TJ on drums, and Morgan on the bass and vocals. Among the highlights of their new recording are the tracks "I Hate Heroin" and "Money Makes."

Who knows, maybe they'll persevere and continue to develop and make some funky racket. Or they may break up tomorrow. It goes with the territory. Stay true, young ones. No word on any local dates, but hop on over to this generation's attention deficit disorder gathering place MySpace for details.

www.myspace.com/reklessyouthrocks

– Samir Shukla

Dylan Gilbert: The former lead singer for Charlotte punk band Something Jed (the group disbanded in early 2005), Dylan Gilbert still manages to fold in plenty of that can-do, in-the-moment attitude into his solo stuff. Which is admirable, of course -- it's part of who he is, after all, and at the end of the day, it's his name at the top of the bill (the record, the flyer, the MySpace page).

Boasting influences rooted in guitar-centered indie rock and fraught with freak/folk and the effects-laden experimental rock of someone like a Grizzly Bear, Gilbert's frequent live shows range from solo affairs laden with all manner of effects and loops to lively, kitchen-sink full band blowouts.

Gilbert released his first EP, Oh No Oh Now I Know in November of '05. He then released his debut full-length, The Artist and the Scientist, in September of '06. Marrying the catchy with the cacophonous, Gilbert, like the Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne (well, not just like Wayne Coyne, but you get the picture) takes the whole "the recording studio is my instrument" ideal to heart, laying down some mean glockenspiel and piano/synthwork along with a healthy roil of guitar/bass/drum bottom end. Frankly, given a blind listen (a weird concept, mind you) it sounds like the work of someone at least 10 years older. (Gilbert's in his early to mid 20s. If I'm not mistaken -- homey ain't on Wikipedia yet.)

Some folk, that nugget in mind, have compared young Gilbert to Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes. I'm not ready to anoint him the New Dylan just yet (a ridiculous reference given Oberst that the songwriter ably tackles on his new EP Four Winds), but rest assured that this Dylan's the real deal nonetheless. What's in a name? A lot, it seems.

– Timothy C. Davis