Apr 24-30, 2013

Apr 24-30, 2013 / Vol. 27 / No. 9

Cover Story

Old, corny and hairy: Dave Attell on classic porn

Is 11 a.m. too early to talk about porn? That’s my first question for comedian Dave Attell when we chatted recently. Even before hosting the Showtime television series Dave’s Old Porn, Attell was comfortable with poking fun at the movie genre in his stand-up act. He’s so relaxed discussing adult cinema’s storylines and stars (and…

Jeff Hahne

Art raises Multiple Sclerosis awareness

As someone who watched a loved one suffer – to the point of losing the ability to walk and experiencing chronic aches and pains – with multiple sclerosis, the disease registers with me on a personal level. But that’s just one of the reasons why “Artists to Beat MS” caught my attention. The other reason…

Anita Overcash

The Iceman leaves viewers cold

THE ICEMAN ** DIRECTED BY Ariel Vromen STARS Michael Shannon, Winona Ryder Nobody would think to call The Iceman a romanticized version of anything, but when compared to the real-life story of Richard Kuklinski, this excessively brutal film comes off almost as gentle and dreamy-eyed as a Nicholas Sparks adaptation. Kicking off in the mid-1960s,…

Matt Brunson

Review: Dawes’ Stories Don’t End

If someone played Stories Don’t End for you, not knowing who it was, you’d probably assume it came from Laurel Canyon — the area which spawned the sound of Crosby, Stills and Nash, the Eagles, Jackson Browne and others. It’s in the tones and rhythms, the vocal stylings and hints of harmonies. It’s not new…

Jeff Hahne

Review: Alkaline Trio’s My Shame is True

Few things in life are certain beyond death, taxes and Alkaline Trio singer/guitarist Matt Skiba’s fixation with the macabre. He’s been mixing skeletons, hell fire and blasphemy into his pop-punk for years and on My Shame is True, Alkaline Trio’s ninth album, he doesn’t disappoint with titles like “Kiss You to Death,” “Torture Doctor” and…

Ashton Lewis

Where to find Moroccan merguez sausage

Several readers have asked about Moroccan foods in Charlotte. Most have inquired about merguez, a fresh, spicy Moroccan sausage. This popular North African sausage is made with a mixture of finely ground lamb, sometimes with beef, and harissa (a chili spice blend), cumin and garlic. In Morocco, merguez flavors tagines and is often sided with…

Tricia Childress

Forget celeb diets, celeb dishes crowd Charlotte eateries

Fame, fortune and … food? The perks of carrying a famous moniker often mean free swag and screaming fans. For some local celebs, it also means their name in lights on a menu board. Dishes named after Charlotte personalities mean you can have a taste (or lick, whatever your preference) of your favorite Queen City…

Natalie Howard

Black Man-O-Logues come to Q.C. for a day

Having debuted at the Atlanta PlayFest in 2006, DreamCatcher Productions’ Black Man-O-Logues have since been restaged and expanded on in Atlanta, where writer/director/producer/actor Jacquay Waller resides. Based around black male perspectives on love and often touching on sensitive issues like sexuality, infidelity and domestic abuse, the show aims to answer the question: “How does a…

Anita Overcash

A beertastic book signing

Now that he’s penned The Audacity of Hops: The History of America’s Craft Beer Revolution, author Tom Acitelli is hopping on tour to promote the new book and give cheers to craft brews. He comes to Charlotte for a signing that’s appropriately being held at Olde Mecklenburg Brewery. A former senior editor for The New…

Anita Overcash

Latin dance show represents many cultures

Folks who’ve attended Dancing Through Latin America, put on by the Carolinas Latin Dance Company, can vouch for the diversity of dances, which range from fast to slow and beginner level to advanced in difficulty. Comprised of dancers ages 6-30, CLDC presents the annual performance to showcase the group’s footwork, paired with rich costumes and…

Anita Overcash

Bizarre crimes from Charlotte police files (April 25)

iSad: Two men got away with a daring heist at Northlake Mall last week, although they were probably a little let down when they looked at their stolen goods. Employees at the mall’s Apple Store told officers that two men broke into a display case in the store and made off with the iPad that…

Ryan Pitkin

NC Dance Theatre mixes things up in Contemporary Fusion

Choreographers from three continents are mixed into a Contemporary Fusion for North Carolina Dance Theatre’s season finale at Knight Theater. Headlining the program is the world premiere of “L’Heure bleue” by Czech twin brothers Jiri and Otto Bubenicek. Choreographed by Jiri especially for NCDT, with set design by Otto, the Bubeniceks’ new ballet is a…

Perry Tannenbaum

Pain & Gain: Penal dysfunction

PAIN & GAIN ** DIRECTED BY Michael Bay STARS Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson It appears that whenever Mark Wahlberg brings his world of hurt to movie marquees, audience members are the ones who will be left aching. Wahlberg’s Max Payne remains one of the worst movies ever based on a video game — yes, let’s…

Matt Brunson

The Company You Keep: Worth a short visit

THE COMPANY YOU KEEP **1/2 DIRECTED BY Robert Redford STARS Robert Redford, Shia LaBeouf There’s a musty smell surrounding The Company You Keep, director-star Robert Redford’s drama about a small-time lawyer who’s forced to go on the lam after he’s outed as a murderous 1970s radical. Redford, an admirable progressive in real life, used to…

Matt Brunson

Mud a sparkling drama

MUD *** DIRECTED BY Jeff Nichols STARS Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon Writer-director Jeff Nichols, a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, made his debut with the well-received Shotgun Stories and then followed that with the intriguing Take Shelter, starring Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain. With Mud, he demonstrates…

Matt Brunson

To the Wonder: Dream a little dream

TO THE WONDER **1/2 DIRECTED BY Terrence Malick STARS Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem Look, let’s just get straight to the point: Chances are that you find the movies of Terrence Malick to be either transcendent cinematic experiences or the most insufferable and pretentious twaddle to ever hit the silver screen. If you’re in the latter…

Matt Brunson

George Jones: No one’s gonna fill his shoes

Superlatives are almost always exaggerations, but in George Jones’ case, they’re understatements. That’s because Jones was America’s quintessential country singer — he was the greatest country singer who ever lived and the greatest we’ll ever see. Jones died today at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. He was 81. According to his publicist, the singer…

Mark Kemp

Review: Grown Up Avenger Stuff’s Sparkleton

Charlotte rock quartet Grown Up Avenger Stuff has defined itself as a live band thanks to countless shows in and out of town. The glowing stage presence and vocal range of singer Deirdre Kroener is backed by the driving guitar work of John Thomsen and his sons — the flailing, hammering, thunderous drumming of Tyler…

Jeff Hahne

Bob Dylan is a poet, even in the john

I once talked to Bob Dylan. Sure, lots of you could probably say the same thing. But in your case, it was probably from the eighth row, screaming, ‘What the hell are you’re playin’?’ Or, wired to the tits on purple owsley, staring at the cover of Blonde On Blonde, maybe wondering aloud what Bob’s…

Peter Gerstenzang

Brit rockers Foals get some grit under their belt

For a British buzz band, 2008 was a weird time to leap across the pond. The early part of the decade had been dominated to a large degree by UK imports praised to no end by America’s often criminally hyperbolized music press. From the steely anthemics of Interpol to the jagged, jaunty art-rock of Franz…

Jordan Lawrence

Shakespeare’s medieval she-wolf

How does a chaste medieval damsel become such a bloodthirsty terror that the Duke of York, claimant to the English throne, calls her the “She-wolf of France” — with a “tiger’s heart wrapped in a woman’s hide” — moments before he succumbs to her blade? Queen Margaret, the new Shakespearean concoction at Spirit Square, holds…

Perry Tannenbaum

Weekly horoscope (April 25 – May 1)

For All Signs: On Thursday the 26th, we will experience a full moon eclipse in Scorpio, followed by an eclipsed new moon in Taurus on the 9th of May. For many of us, this month will see an experience of manifestation or enlightenment about situations that have been long in the making. See both your…

Vivian Carol

GOP turns N.C. government into a whorehouse

The ongoing revolutionary circus continues unabated in Raleigh, as the General Assembly keeps piling up a record of screwing ordinary North Carolinians while handing over the state to big business interests. And they’re doing it with such class, too. The classiest touch so far came from Tommy Tucker, a state senator from Waxhaw. Tucker told…

John Grooms

Raid of the Rainbow Lounge screens at GayCharlotte Film Festival

On June 28, 1969, New York City police stormed into a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn. The raid resulted in arrests, injuries and riots — and the beginning of the modern gay rights movement. Exactly 40 years later, police and Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) agents entered a gay bar called the Rainbow Lounge…

Page Leggett

Theater review: Pinkalicious the Musical

Her dress, her room, her dreams, and her very soul are all pink. And after one too many pink cupcakes – or maybe five – and an attack of that rare disease, pinkititus, she’s altogether pink from hair to toe. But in Pinkalicious the Musical, now at ImaginOn through May 5, our hearty heroine regards…

Perry Tannenbaum

Garinger High revives soccer program to motivate ESL students

Jenry was working agriculture jobs in his native country of Honduras by the time he was 6. At 11, his mother kicked him out, Jenry says, because she couldn’t bear to continue to raise him in poverty. Homeless, penniless but ambitious, he decided to head north. By 14 he had run — literally — through…

Ana McKenzie

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