The Dog who wouldn’t Die
Here’s a heartwarming (albeit heartrending) addition to the Union County Animal Shelter debate: Quentin, aka “Miracle Dog,” is in North Carolina this week in support of eliminating the cruel practice of using gas to euthanize animals. Quentin was dropped off at a Missouri shelter in August 2003 by an owner who no longer wanted him.…
20 From 20
In case anyone out there hasn’t noticed (and how could anyone miss it?), this month marks the 20th anniversary of the Charlotte edition of Creative Loafing. Since its inception, I’ve screened well over 3,000 movies during that period. Winnowing that substantial number down to my 20 favorite films from the past 20 years was a…
Bizarre Story Shift from Police on Officers’ Shooting
I’m wondering if anyone finds story line from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police surrounding the shootings of the two police officers as bizarre as I do. Thanks to a Thursday Charlotte Observer article, we now know that accused killer Demetrius Antonio Montgomery was taken into custody less than 45 minutes after the two officers were shot and…
The Sacred Thread
Name of Kama Sutra Position: The Sacred Thread Getting into the position: The woman straddles her man, placing one foot onto his heart (chest) and the other one onto the bed and proceeds to make love to him in total control. On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate position (1 as…
MUSIC: Fall Out Boy show rescheduled
The first few weeks of the Honda Civic Tour – Fall Out Boy is headlining – have been rescheduled to the end of the tour. The April 18 show in Charlotte will now be on June 13. The dates were rescheduled due to “personal issues beyond the band’s control.” Let’s hope it’s not another pantless…
NEWS: Introducing the iRack
I haven’t followed much sketch comedy in years, except for Chappelle’s Show, but this MadTV skit restores my faith in the medium. Check this YouTube video out: \\\\\\\\\\
SCENE: Full TILT
I recently had the extreme pleasure of attending the grand opening of Tilt, a sports bar/lounge likening itself to Sam Malone’s Cheers “where everybody knows your name.” Well, they definitely got the “everybody” part right. The spot was packed front to back with so many patrons for “Friends and Family Night” that it was no…
Buy it
Moodswing
Trolley torment
News
Kali Ferguson
Profile
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…
Word Box
Scarify: v. 1. To make superficial cuts in; scratch. Example: I hate scary movies; they scarify me. Really. I can’t even bear to watch the commercials for them on TV. That one clip for The Hills Have Eyes 2 really scarified me; it left a mark.
Coco goes nuts
Somebody didn’t shoot me the memo. Last weekend must have been declared the official opening of a citywide non-ASC fund drive. A rash of fund-raising events challenged Charlotte’s battalions of philanthropic arts lovers to be multiple places around town at the same time, emptying their wallets for beauty and truth. First came the invite from…
Coming Soon …
Charlotte is bursting into bloom with the coming of spring, and new businesses are no exception, popping up like daffodils in the warm weather. Here are a few to look forward to in the coming months: The Facial Room Opening March OK, The Facial Room will officially be open by the time you read this,…
Feel the road rage
Citizen Servatius
Cheap Thrills
NODA MICROCINEMA Experimental, World, and Classic cinema. April 7: In the Land of the Deaf (documentary about the deaf community in France); My Own Private Idaho (stars Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix in a retelling of Shakespeare’s Henry V). Every Saturday, 4 & 8 p.m. The Glover Microcinema is located in the Art House on…
The Re-animator
Groundbreakers are rare in any music genre. In the now mature world of hip-hop, groundbreakers seem to be as far and few in between as they have become in the geriatric wards of rock ‘n’ roll. Some may break ground, but then their staying power in the increasingly “one-hit wonder” world of digitized music becomes…
We Heart …
The Junior League Wearhouse. It’s probably the best thrift store in Charlotte for women. Where else can you get barely worn Ann Taylor and Banana Republic for $10? (1412 E 4th St.) — Tara Servatius, staff writer I love that Charlotte has several non-commercial radio stations. As a “circ girl,” I spend a lot of…
CD Review: Bruce Piephoff
The Deal: Greensboro singer-songwriter Bruce Piephoff sings of simple pleasures, and down-to-earth folks. The Good: Bruce Piephoff speaks in tongues. This time around it’s in Italian. Sogni d’Oro translates as golden dreams, a get-well message a friend sent to him while he was in the hospital a few years back. But that’s just one tune.…
Hoax & Jokes
There’s a fleet-footed exuberance to The Hoax that suits the film just perfectly. Although based on a true story, the picture displays a freewheeling style that’s more attuned to the rhythms of Richard Gere’s central performance than any sort of somber, historical veracity. Gere stars as Clifford Irving, the author who in the early 1970s…
Letters to the Editor
Do Not Leave it to Beaver Your suggestion to “crash” an AA meeting (“Cheap Thrills” by Karen Shugart, Feb. 28) is one of the most insensitive entertainment ideas I have ever heard of. It’s unimaginable that one could propose such a hideous and rude outlet for social entertainment. There is nothing “thrilling” about being an…
CD Review: Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby
The Deal: Pianist /folksy songwriter Bruce Hornsby hooks up with mandolinist/bluegrass icon Ricky Skaggs The Good: Although it’s ostensibly a Hornsby/Skaggs collaboration, it’s a Skaggs record. On “Gulf of Mexico Fishing Boat Blues,” Hornsby’s folky vocals take the focus off bluegrass momentarily, but with Skaggs’ formidable presence and his top-notch band, you can’t escape the…
Flash in the pan
After a long winter, a little global warming sounds like just the ticket. The smell of warming earth, sunshine on your pasty skin, mud in your toes. And soon enough: tank tops, flip-flops and the garden! But gardening in times of unpredictable climate change is tricky business. The seed packet might say, “Sow as soon…
Stargazer
Aries The Ram: (March 20 — April 19) Over the next six weeks life will work more smoothly if you let yourself be led by the “signs,” circumstances and people around you. It is not a time to attack in anger or promote new ideas, but to respond to what comes your way. For All…
Campaigning in the Club
Recently, people were partying and politicing at The Forum for a John Edwards 2008 campaign trail stop. Just as a disclaimer, I am a product of nightlife, not a cheerleader for politicians — the only politicking I was doing was in the form of socializing. I may not belong to a political party, but I’m…
Rehab is for Quitters
They tried to make her go to rehab, she tells us in her hit YouTube clip “Rehab,” but she said no, no, no. It’s not Ronnie Spector on a downward spiral in a last ditch effort at regaining stardom, although there’s a heavy handed helping of both her and ex hubby Phil in the mix.…
The pint of no return
Advice Goddess
Joel Zandrowicz’s Top 10
Joel Zandrowicz is better known to his colleagues as Mr. Network. As co-CEO of Nu Vizion Entertainment, an independent promotional/production company based out of Charlotte — “a small record label,” says Zandrowicz — he handles promotions and marketing. The first album to come out of Nu Vizion was DRU’s Testament, which tops Zandrowicz’s playlist. •…
QB’S FINEST IN THE QC
From Ill, groundbreaking rap icon to Hype-d up co-star, Nasir “Nas” Jones has always kept “a finger on the forward-looking pulse of hip-hop.” Now, he’s a the forefront again by announcing the demise of the genre that brought him fame. Nas’ Hip Hop is Dead is here to show his mastership of the craft and…
Karma Cleanser
Dear Karma Cleanser: I’ve been working at this bar for three years. I haven’t ever fully liked it, but in the past month or so it’s really been taking its toll. I work with really nice people, and the customers are (usually) sweet, especially the regulars. But I’m not a people person. I feel bad…
Film Clips
New Releases THE LOOKOUT Hollywood is never at a loss for rising stars, but far too many prove to be the products of media saturation or studio backing rather than any discernible talent (James Franco, for starters). But Joseph Gordon-Levitt is shaping up to be the real deal. Television viewers might remember him as the…
Heat-wave
Watch as the Charlotte Bobcats feel the Heat when former Hornet Alonzo Mourning, D-Wade and Shaquille O’Neal fly in from balmy Miami for a showdown. The temperature rises tonight at 7 p.m. Tickets start as low as $10. Bobcats Arena is located at 333 East Trade St. Call 704-Bobcats or visit www.bobcatsbasketball.com.
Going places
Hot Linx
Via galactica
Bob Dylan is a Cylon. Or so the creators of Sci-Fi network’s Battlestar Galactica would have us loyal viewers believe — that the show’s cyborgs formerly enslaved by humans are part of a Dylan cult. On the recent season finale, the radio static that had shadowed the previous couple of episodes abruptly changed from amorphous…
First Knight
Those nasty little green monsters, commonly referred to as canker worms, are back. Know what that means, right? It’s spring, signifying the start of baseball season. The Charlotte Knights, the local farming team for the Chicago White Sox, will host the Pawtucket Red Sox tonight in their home opener. Even more incentive to attend, besides…
American kangaroo court claims its first victim
Breaking the Sound Barrier
View From The Couch
CAPTAIN HORATIO HORNBLOWER (1951) / BILLY BUDD (1962). Fans of nautical adventures will find much to appreciate in these two solid works — even if they don’t star Johnny Depp or Orlando Bloom. Captain Horatio Hornblower was the second of Gregory Peck’s 1951 blockbusters (the first was David and Bathsheba), and it finds the stalwart…
Bullsh*t walks
ATTENTION GAMERS — Opportunity has presented itself to bring your game off the couch and put in on display. 2K Sports pulls into the University of North Carolina-Charlotte with its second annual Hit-n-Run Tour. Described as “a cross county/cross campus roving video game tournament,” H-n-R promotes Major League Baseball 2K7 for Xbox 360 and Playstation…
War zombies walk among us!
Boomer With Attitude
Drink what you like
Corkscrew
Soul pioneer
Crooner Percy Sledge will forever be pegged to the classic ballad “When a Man Loves a Woman,” released over 40 years ago. But Sledge’s pipes have serenaded countless with songs ranging from country-soul to the blues and rock. Sledge is touring in support of Shining Through the Rain, his first studio recording in over a…
Albert Collins
The Deal: Ground-breaking bluesman’s time capsule, forever frozen in 1985. The Good: Albert Collins was the Master of the Telecaster. His finger picked, crisp attack gave him another nickname, the Iceman. Using minor open chord tunings and a capo, Collins got a frosty stinging sound, one that he started to capitalize on with his 1978…
Tartare, sauced
Table Dancing
Aces wild
The four-day tennis tournament sponsored by the 100 Black Men of Charlotte ends today. The Men are in their fifteenth year hosting the 100 Spring Tennis Classic XIV (150 PT). Due to take over 13 of Renaissance Parks’ Jeff Adams Tennis Center, this United States Tennis Association (U.S.T.A.)-sanctioned event will feature some of the top…
Bob Tully’s Top Five
Culture Surfing
The Blotter
finders keepers: Someone broke into a home recently and stole a man’s copper tubing valued at $200. If that wasn’t bad enough, the suspect also stole the poor man’s crack pipe. CLEANED UP: Want to get banned from Family Dollar? Steal cleaning supplies. That’s what one person did. The alleged theft of two Lysol products…
Got sweets?
Discovery Place will hit your sweet spot with CANDY UNWRAPPED Presented by Jelly Belly®. Kids can enjoy jumping on a massive tongue while learning about taste buds or rock climb a giant sugar crystal to investigating the mysterious stages of crystal growth. The whole family can choose from tasty chocolate covered termites, fried flying ants…
Single-somethings
U.S. Census Bureau data not only plays a role in congressional redistricting and whatnot, but it also provides the average citizen with a handy way to measure oneself against the masses. Last week, the chronicling agency of American habits released its annual roundup of America’s living arrangements. Here’s a selection, but if you go to…
Death of an entrepreneur
Books
