Apr 29 – May 5, 2015

Apr 29 - May 5, 2015 / Vol. 29 / No. 10

Cover Story

Charlotte Storytellers is all about that Wordplay

I’m growling. No, screeching. Actually, I’m not sure what I’m doing. Strange sounds are definitely coming out of me, and my arms and legs are moving to imitate someone’s impression of a monster. I add my own twist and give someone else the opportunity to jump into the center of this strange, tribal-like circle of…

Anita Overcash

Convoy, GoodFellas, Selma among new home entertainment titles

(View From The Couch is a weekly column that reviews what’s new on Blu-ray and DVD. Ratings are on a four-star scale.) APRIL LOVE (1957). It’s a shame the Golden Raspberry Awards (aka the Razzies) have become the final word in bad cinema, since that group’s mostly made up of fanboys who always go for…

Matt Brunson

Serena: N.C. state of never mind

SERENA*1/2DIRECTED BY Susanne BierSTARS Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence Regardless of its shortcomings — and, lo, they are abundant — Serena is a movie that absolutely deserved to be seen and screened in North Carolina. Not only is it set in the state (albeit filmed in the Czech Republic), it’s based on the bestselling novel by…

Matt Brunson

Avengers: Age of Ultron: Sloppy second

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON **1/2 (out of four) DIRECTED BY Joss Whedon STARS Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth The marvel that was 2012’s The Avengers receives a letdown of a sequel in Avengers: Age of Ultron, the sort of hype-driven CGI extravaganza that will leave impressionable fanboy types feeling like they have just stared into…

Matt Brunson

Bizarre crime from Charlotte police files (April 30)

Sounds Like A Movie Plot: A 41-year-old woman enters a north Charlotte Walmart and places her iPhone 4s in the cart as she goes shopping. On her way out of the store, she’s stopped by a greeter who checks her receipt. By the time she reaches her car, she notices her cellphone missing — and…

Jeff Hahne

Weekly horoscope (April 30-May 6)

For All Signs: Saturn and Uranus are in a moderately tense aspect. This is like two tectonic plates that need the same space. Each is struggling with a pull between the need for change, making the break for freedom, and a desire to maintain security. The ideal solution is one that generates a creative alteration…

Vivian Carol

Gone Fishin’

I’ve an ongoing love/terror relationship with the ocean. As much as I love and need semi-regular visits to the sea, due to my debilitating fear of sharks (thanks, Mom and Dad, for taking me to see Jaws in 1975 when I was 10 years old), before last summer, I thought they were the only fish…

Renea Dearing Dijab

CD review: Zac Brown Band’s Jekyll + Hyde

Zac Brown Band’s fourth major-label studio effort starts innocently enough with “Beautiful Drug” ­— acoustic plucking and strumming, Brown’s vocals coming in smoothly … and then it gets a bit electronic. A thumping bass in the background, perhaps some electronic whirls and twirls and, is that autotune? Is this really Zac Brown? The next track,…

Jeff Hahne

CD review: Organik Musik group’s Genesis

Charlotte-based hip-hop duo Organik Musik Group got its start at UNC Pembroke. After finishing college and getting into a 9-to-5 groove, Lenny Classix and Terrence Williams decided it was time to give it another go — the result of which is Genesis. The band says they call it “Organik” because it has no fillers and…

Jeff Hahne

Politics as usual

I don’t blame Jon Stewart for leaving The Daily Show. His reason? The monotony of covering yet another presidential election. “I’d covered an election four times, and it didn’t appear that there was going to be anything wildly different about this one,” he says in an interview with The Guardian. Yes, it’s politics as usual.…

Jeff Hahne

Two couples tell one cohesive story in Detroit

Lisa D’Amour’s newest play, Airline Highway, opened last Thursday on Broadway after being one of the most heatedly discussed contenders in voting for the Steinberg Award, which recognized the best American play that didn’t open on Broadway in 2014. Critics across the country were kinder to six other scripts that made the cut to become…

Perry Tannenbaum

No wait-lists at PCG’s Back Porch Brunch

Weekend brunch is an event you must plan for with some skill. At some of Charlotte’s favorite restaurants, if you don’t time your arrival just right, you’ll be waiting a good 30 or 40 minutes to be seated. But we do it. We wait, however hungry or hungover we may be, for a coveted table.…

Kimberly Lawson

Three questions for Michael Shortino, chef at Futo Buta

As a third-generation chef from New York, olive oil pumps through the veins of chef Michael Shortino. When he agreed to meet in mid-March, his new restaurant Futo Buta, or “fat pig” in Japanese, was nowhere ready for its debut in May. Still, Shortino greeted me with a large smile, thick-rimmed glasses and an Easter-colored…

Kaila Burtch

Center City Partners honors developer David Furman

More than 10 years ago, David Furman built Uptown’s first high-rise condo building. Could he have known then that Charlotte would eventually become the second-fastest growing big city in the U.S.? For a few evening hours on April 23rd, the pulsing business community converged in the Charlotte Convention Center for an evening of free booze…

Sara Workman

Six must-see sets at Carolina Rebellion

Two days. Four stages. A whole lot of bands. From the main card to the secondary stages, fans of hard rock and heavy metal will have plenty of music to soak in during the 5th annual Carolina Rebellion music festival. Folks planning to attend undoubtedly have their favorites or list of artists they’ll skip, but…

Jeff Hahne

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