Arts Agenda
Classical Music Dianne Reeves Grammy Award Winner Dianne Reeves will perform songs from her latest album “The Calling: Celebrating Sarah Vaughan.” The concert is a part of “All That’s Jazz” – a series of films, live music performances and jazz-themed programs happening at library branches throughout April. Fri., April 19, 8-10 p.m. $25. Spirit Square,…
Wal-Mart Sells Manure!
Bonita body-slammed my azalea. She couldn’t get the handheld barcode scanner to work, so she flipped the seven-gallon monster on its side, crushing its delicate branches with a sickening crunch and scattering dirt all over the floor. “No!” another woman in the checkout line and I had yelled in unison as she tilted it toward…
More Than Mariachis
The improvement in Mexican cuisine in Charlotte during the last 10 years is striking. Fortunately, the restaurants that have opened during this period offer more than the pools of oozing food we had come to expect at those fancier, pricier, tailored-for-Americans restaurants featuring displays of sombreros and the sounds of mariachi bands. Along with the…
We’re Bad, We’re Nationwide
Don’t let anyone fool you. There’s a lot of national TV production coming out of Charlotte these days that has nothing to do with sports. For years, when you thought of Charlotte TV production outside the realm of local TV news or NASCAR, there wasn’t much going on that was being seen on a national…
Deconstructing Wine Labels
In a perfect world, wines would be labeled “Good, Cheap Red Wine” and “Great, Expensive White Wine.” But we live in America, where marketing reigns and often lures people to the dark side. But with a little label savvy, buying “Great Wine” can be an experience that exercises your brain rather than your wallet. France…
On The Road
The Spring Break road trip I took last week was what I needed to maintain my sanity for the rest of the year. In the tradition of Kerouac, there’s something great about the freedom we have in this country to drive until our butts become permanently carseat-shaped, hop up and down all night to the…
Good Eats
ALL AROUND TOWN ANNTONY’S CARIBBEAN 2001 E. 7th, 704-342-0749; 145 Brevard Court, 704-339-0303; 20910 Torrence Chapel Road, Cornelius, 704-894-0280. A fun, change-of-pace restaurant for a casual lunch or dinner. Limited menu features rotisserie-cooked barbecued meats, what else, Caribbean style. $ BRUEGGER’S BAGEL BAKERY All over town. Chewy bagels, crisp on the outside, and served with…
Why 21 Guns?
There are few events as recognizable, or that elicit more emotion, than a 21-gun salute. But ask the proud American with a tear in his eye how the custom originated, and chances are he has no idea. The practice has been traced back to ancient times when early warriors demonstrated their peaceful intentions by placing…
Talent Scout
“My world is centering around Charlotte. It’s center of the universe. Who knew?” laughs two-time Grammy winner Kathy Mattea, referring to her musical connections to the Queen City. And apparently, these current collaborations could possibly be the first of many. Mattea, who has been named Female Vocalist of the Year twice by the Country Music…
This Headline Sponsored By…
* In order to save money, Mooresville police will soon be driving cars with NASCAR sponsor ads plastered on them. People made fun of this development last week, but we think it’s a great idea. Matter of fact, we’re adopting the same philosophy here at Another Week Already. For instance, this item is being brought…
Tuning Out
Charlotte is perhaps the nation’s largest urban market without a true alternative radio station. The existing college stations in the area have co-opted for smooth jazz, pop classical, news, talk, and generic eclecticism. The only exception to this near homogenous quasi-muzak has been WNCW, whose home base is the tiny burg of Spindale, NC. Their…
Back From The Dead
The Charlotte Marriott City Center is host to some interesting artwork these days, and I’m not talking about the graffiti in the parking deck. I just checked out the new exhibit of the late sometime painter/drug aficionado/Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia, entitled “Jerry Garcia: A Visual Journey.” A hotel conference room isn’t the kind of…
Music Menu
THURSDAY 4.11 Kevn Kinney — Kevn Kinney’s new album, Broken Hearts and Auto Parts, continues to find the songwriter establishing himself as a solo artist through the detailed ruminations and tasteful guitar accompaniment he evidenced on his earlier solo releases, Down and Out Law, McDougal Blues and The Flower and the Knife. This time around,…
The Blotter
* A disgruntled homeowner called police after she noticed severe damage done to her front yard by someone driving through the yard, leaving “gorging tire tracks” in the grass. Police noticed that the tire tracks led across the street into a neighbor’s driveway. After police questioned the neighbor it was discovered that the neighbor’s daughter…
Soundboard
Wednesday, Apr. 10 Arnie’s Tavern, Huntersville Scott Johnson Bayou Kitchen Bill Noonan Big Al’s Pub, Mooresville Robin Brown Boardwalk Billy’s, UNCC Billarabi CPCC Central Campus Green Robin Rogers, Rick Blackwell & Jim Brock Cajun Queen 7th Street Gator Band Cajun Queen, Pineville 7th Street Gator Band II Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro ZOSO Connolly’s Craig & Rich…
News Of The Weird
Jokes Fallen Flat Ted Hudson was arrested in Casper, WY in January for allegedly setting up a secret video camera in his boss’s bathroom and catching the boss’s wife showering (which he tried to tell the boss was just a practical joke). . .Deputy sheriff Gabriel Bruno was arrested in January and charged with placing…
Long And Winding
Audacious, infuriating, and the sort of movie we’ve come to expect from one of America’s most idiosyncratic filmmakers, David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive (*** out of four) actually began life as a TV series pilot that was quickly shelved. Seeking to then release it theatrically, Lynch secured backing from French financiers, shot additional scenes, and emerged…
8 Days a Week
WEDNESDAY 10The Threepenny Opera, one of Bertolt Brecht’s best-loved and most-performed plays, will be presented by UNC-Charlotte’s Department of Dance and Theatre starting tonight at 8pm in the university’s Rowe Theatre. The play will continue at 8pm April 11-13 and 17-20 and at 2pm on April 14. Tickets are $10 for the general public. For…
Film Clips
NEW RELEASES CHARLOTTE FILM SOCIETY Movies begin this Friday at the Manor and continue the following Friday at Movies at Birkdale. Call 414-2355 for details. * LITTLE OTIK Every movie season needs at least one totally gonzo picture to shake up even the jaded cinephiles, and this outrageous effort from Czech writer-director Jan Svankmajer nicely…
Stargazer
For All Signs We are experiencing a major opposition of two planets, Saturn and Pluto. This aspect represents the economic recession. This trend began in April 2001 and will continue for another year, through the second quarter of 2003. Deflation is painful, but it is necessary and built into the human psyche. Otherwise we would…
It’s A Crapshoot — What You Haven’t Been Told About Charlotte’s Sewage Spills
Over the last three years, millions of gallons of raw, untreated human sewage have been spilled into the waters of Mecklenburg County. Hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions of gallons of untreated human waste leaked into creeks and streams that often ran through residential neighborhoods, and ultimately through people’s backyards. Yet county, regional and state…
Karma Cleanser
Dear Karma Cleanser: My roommate’s toothbrush is way too big for the toothbrush holder, and he just props it up precariously in the little holder hole. The problem is, I always knock his toothbrush over — onto the floor, into the toilet, into my makeup — trying to get mine out of the holder. So…
Long Creek Pumping Station: A textbook case
If there’s a single piece of evidence that documents the environmental enforcement bureaucracy’s laissez-faire approach to sewage spills in Mecklenburg County, it’s the nonchalant response to the 14 spills totaling 1.1 million gallons of sewage from and around the Long Creek pumping station between 1997 and 1999. As the number of spills grew, CMU’s official…
Flower Child
Flowers. Pretty flowers. Could there be anything less consequential? In the Alexander Gallery, the last gallery on your serpentine walk through the Mint Museum, are late 18th century paintings of botanical specimens by a Frenchman named Pierre-Joseph Redoute (ray-DU-tay). Flowers, pretty flowers. For the first five minutes, I reflexively looked over my shoulder to see…
The Price of Care
Polly Medlicott is an extraordinary example of how North Carolina’s Community Alternative Program (CAP), a federally matched Medicaid system, can work. She is a single parent with a daughter in college and a 17-year-old son, Christian, who is one of 6,000 people served through CAP in the state of North Carolina. Christian has cerebral palsy…
Viva, Vivica!
Even a fairly amateurish production of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville can deliver abundant delights. The libretto springs from a comedy classic by Beaumarchais. Rossini’s score is bursting with some of the most familiar arias in the operatic repertoire, virtuoso displays for tenor, soprano, baritone and bass — plus numerous delicious duets. It’s doing the…
Letters to the editor
Personal Knowledge To The Editors: Re: Letters to the Editor, “SouthPark I” and “SouthPark II” (CL, March 27): Obviously, Ken Davies is not solely concerned in preserving the neighborhoods surrounding SouthPark, or he would not be starting his own tanning business, LuxTan, Inc., in SouthPark. If Davies is so supportive of the Center City Plan…
Season of Renewal
Down through the years, Dance Central, based at Central Piedmont Community College, has staged consistently good programs, becoming over time one of the city’s underappreciated treasures. If you’ve missed them, their season finale, Contemporary Rites, gives dance lovers one more chance to check them out. One of the strengths of Dance Central is the lifetime…
Homefront Adviser
Not only do religious suicide bombers believe that a heaven exists, but they also believe that dying while carrying out a suicide attack will get them there. Perhaps anticipating this column, many Palestinian suicide bombers have been gracious enough to videotape informative messages shortly before their deaths. In addition to offering shout-outs to their homies,…
The Man In Black and White
With his ominous black preacher’s coat, a God-given bullhorn for a voice, and a face as lined and weathered as the rural America he often sings about, Johnny Cash has cut a near-mythical swath through the American cultural landscape for almost half a century. The numbers don’t lie — Cash has recorded over 500 albums…
New Blood
Spring marks the season of faculty hiring. Anxious new faces appear at UNC Charlotte’s College of Architecture — my home turf — to be put through a grinding interview process in a ritual that’s repeated from coast to coast this time of year. And not just in architecture. Disciplines of all descriptions are filling vacancies.…
