Apr 6-12, 2010

Apr 6-12, 2010 / Vol. 24 / No. 6

‘King Harry’ slams library board

In another indication that the rancor and dust have not settled between county budget cutters and their cuttees, County Manager Harry “Bonus Baby” Jones used the venue of a Ballantyne Breakfast Club community meeting Saturday to slam the library board. Jones told the Ballantyne group that the library board should never have proposed closing half…

John Grooms

Plenty of choices on Saturday night (04/10/2010)

Lizz Wright In the old days, pre-Auto-tune era, a singer like Lizz Wright wouldn’t have to be categorized as a jazz-slash-gospel-R&B singer. She’d just be called a singer, same as Aretha or Patti LaBelle or Nina Simone. Already a force on the jazz charts only seven years removed from her debut offering (Salt), Wright’s latest,…

Contributing Intern

USNWC announces River Jam bands

I’ve gotta give credit to the U.S. National Whitewater Center for keeping things original when it comes to the band lineup for the River Jam. May 6 — The Victor James Band May 13 — Heywire May 20 — The Masonboro Boys May 27 — Lefty Williams Band June 3 — Toneblazers June 10 — Ten Toes Up…

Jeff Hahne

Art openings this weekend

As the headline suggests, here are a few picks of art exhibition openings  to check out this weekend in Charlotte — as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing. • Harvey B. Gantt Center For African-American Arts + Culture Spirits and Spaces: The Prints of Michael B. Platt. Platt’s works combine images and poetry through…

Anita Overcash

Big Boi finally gets a release date

Big Boi from Outkast finally announced a release date for his long awaited solo album, Sir Lucious Left Foot: The son of Chico Dusty. Fans can get the album that’s been nearly a decade in the making in stores on July 6, Big Boi announced via Twitter late Thursday afternoon. FINALLY!

Mike McCray

Three Days Grace concert moves locations

This Sunday’s Three Days Grace concert with Chevelle and Adelita’s Way has been moved to the Uptown Amphitheatre from Bojangles Coliseum. Tickets are still available for $39, plus fees. All previously purchased tickets will be honored.

Jeff Hahne

Today’s Top 5: Friday

Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, April 9, 2010 — as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing. • Lewis Black at Ovens Auditorium • End Days at Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte • JJ Grey & Mofro at Visulite Theatre • Epic Sketch at Duke Energy…

Anita Overcash

Mint Museum receives $90,000 grant

This just in from The Mint Museum: Hearst Foundation Supports Mint Education Programs Grant will help fund Museum’s school programs and community outreach The Mint Museum has received a $90,000 grant from The Hearst Foundation, Inc. to support educational programming for children and youth, as well as the teachers who instruct them in art. This…

Anita Overcash

Celebrate the WPA — better yet, bring it back

Have you ever enjoyed riding on the Blue Ridge Parkway? Lingered in front of a particular painting in the Mint Museum? Or attended a play at Charleston’s historic Dock Street Theatre? If so, you have the WPA to thank for your experience. That’s the Works Progress Administration, the largest New Deal agency, started by Franklin…

John Grooms

Study suggests smog may lead to strokes

We have a problem, Charlotte. We have a smog problem. It’s only the first week of April and already, according to the North Carolina Division of Air Quality, we’ve experienced our first “code orange” day of the year. Smog isn’t only a health concern, though that’s reason enough to clean up our act. Because we…

Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman

Research: wind can replace fossil-fuel power plants

Researchers at the University of Delaware say they’ve found a solution to one of the main problems with wind power as a long-term solution to the energy crisis. Wind is variable, even in normally windy areas, so when things are dead calm at a particular wind farm, no power is being generated at that site.…

John Grooms

Davenport to twist through Charlotte

Though the Q.C. and surrounding area recently had an encounter with some tornado activity, local NC author Randi Davenport’s new book, The Boy Who Loved Tornadoes, isn’t about the weather, but rather it funnels into the territory of mental illness. The book, a memoir based on Davenport’s own experiences with her mentally ill son, is…

Anita Overcash

Your money props up coal business slimeballs

Massey Energy owns the subsidiary company that runs the Upper Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia. That’s where an underground methane explosion yesterday created the worst U.S. mining disaster since 1984, killing 25 miners. If the name Massey Energy sounds familiar, you may have read or heard something about the company’s horrendous mountaintop removal…

John Grooms

Wavy Space on Jerry Springer Show

Local Charlotte band Wavy Space was on the Jerry Springer Show yesterday to perform their song about the television show and late-night TV. You can see the video on Facebook and on the Jerry Springer Web site.

Jeff Hahne

Is Lady Gaga worth the $?

Lady Gaga tickets for her Sept. 18 performance at Time Warner Cable Arena go on sale on Friday, April 9, at 10 a.m. If the prices for her tickets in Detroit are any indication, it’s not going to be a cheap date. Tickets for her concert there are $178, $88 and $52.50 reserved, and $88…

Jeff Hahne

Cleaning up after dirty coal

In 2002, the state passed a law meant to curb acid rain. The new law meant coal plants had to figure out how to trap sulfur in their smoke stacks, preventing it from entering the air. Eight years later, Charlotte’s Shaw Power Group and Alstom Environmental Control Systems, of Tennessee, are working to help Duke…

Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman

Sculptor James Clark in it for the long haul

This past Friday night, Center of the Earth gallery combined a birthday party and some front-porch-style shooting the breeze with a body of work inspired by the sweep of art history, random news snippets and chance encounters. This was opening night for A Sculptor’s Life, a 40+ year retrospective of work by 87-year-old artist —…

Barbara Schreiber

DANCE: Dancing Through Latin America

Fiestas are in order as The Carolinas Latin Dance Company host its annual Dancing Through Latin America event. The festivity offers a cultural experience with beautiful costumes, Latin dances and music, representing 16 different countries. For more information, visit www.thecarolinaslatindancecompany.org. $15 for adults; $10 for children ages 5-12 years old; group discounts available. 7 p.m.…

Anita Overcash

New album focuses on new phase of Rachael Sage’s life

While recording her upcoming ninth album, singer/songwriter Rachael Sage was going through the process of moving — not just to a new location, but into the next phase of her life. As we all do when moving, she was organizing, weeding through old things and attempting to collect and clean out all that she could.…

Jeff Hahne

LITERATURE: Author Randi Davenport

Though the Q.C. and surrounding area recently had an encounter with some tornado activity, local N.C. author Randi Davenport’s new book, The Boy Who Loved Tornadoes, isn’t about the weather, but rather it funnels into the territory of mental illness. The book, a memoir based on Davenport’s own experiences with her mentally ill son, is…

Anita Overcash

Pit bulls in Charlotte — status symbol or menace?

Is it just me or are there more pit bulls in Charlotte these days? I’ve seen the controversial breed of dog at parks, residential areas and being walked in Uptown by men and women. I’m not a pit bull hater; I just understand quite clearly that pits are powerful dogs that are extremely protective. What…

Nsenga Burton

Theater review: The Jersey Boys

You can fairly say that I’ve never been a Frankie Valli fan. The sound of Valli’s growling falsetto singing “Big Girls Don’t Cry” has always had the power to bring my fist crashing down on the buttons of my car radio — as forcefully as if I’d seen an ant or a roach crawling out…

Perry Tannenbaum

DISCUSSION: Love & Hope and Sex & Dreams

Dating issues? Yeah, it’s tough and confusing in the sea of what singles are told is filled with “plenty of fish.” But The Better Class of Charlotte has a solution. Its latest is a discussion and debate, called Love & Hope and Sex & Dreams: The New Rules for Dating and Relating in the New…

Anita Overcash

3 questions with Emily Peterson, wine marketer

Emily Peterson promotes a product that enriches with age — wine, of course. She graduated from Davidson College with a degree in biology. Melding her passion for science and design, Peterson became the marketing director of Eric Solomon Selections/European Cellars (located in Charlotte), which imports wine from France and Spain. Her position allows her to…

Nicole Pietrantonio

Collateral murder in Iraq

A United States military video was released this week showing the indiscriminate targeting and killing of civilians in Baghdad. The nonprofit news organization WikiLeaks obtained the video and made it available on the Internet. The video was made July 12, 2007, by a U.S. military Apache helicopter gunship, and includes audio of military radio transmissions.…

Amy Goodman

ART: Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School

Haven’t heard about Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School at Story Slam yet? Well, here’s the deal: This three-hour figure drawing session puts a serious spin on figure-drawing class with its one-of-a-kind models (sexy springs to mind) and themes. In addition, contests follow. Folks should bring their own art supplies. $10. 7 p.m. Story Slam, 1401 Central…

Anita Overcash

Bar Madness continues

Being a Virginia Tech alum, when the Hokies got stuck and sucked into the NIT (“Not Invited (to real) Tournament”), the NCAA became about as interesting to me as the NBA playoffs will be if the Bobcats aren’t involved. So, rather than wallowing in “March Sadness,” I opted to save my $5 and not fill…

BENEFIT: Taste of the Nation

Charlotte’s finest restaurants and culinary schools come together for Taste of the Nation, an annual shindig (in its 15th year) that raises money to support Share Our Strength, an organization devoted to ending childhood hunger in Charlotte. The event features lots of food from more than 20 eateries, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, special demonstrations on…

Anita Overcash

Cash Bash enters 7th year

It’s once again time for two handfuls of bands to celebrate the music of Johnny Cash. The 7th annual Cash Bash will be held at Puckett’s Farm Equipment on April 9 and 10. As is the custom, each band will play a brief set highlighted by performing two Cash covers mixed in — everything from…

Jeff Hahne

Comic review: Justice League of America No. 43

Justice League of America No. 43 Published by DC Comics. Written by James Robinson. Pencils by Mark Bagley. Inks by Rob Hunter and Norm Rapmund. The Deal: The creative team of writer James Robinson and artist Mark Bagley continue their recently launched run on DC’s main team book. The Bad: It’s amazing to think that…

Carlton Hargro

Is Gov. Perdue ‘Sleazley’?

Lloyd “Mickey” Meekins Jr. is no stranger to politics. He’s personally credited with corrupting the results of not one but two elections through a vote-buying scheme in South Carolina in the 1980s, Raleigh’s News & Observer reported last week. Meekins, who was 28 at the time, racked up several felony charges from that escapade, including…

City meets country in Embraceable Me

Allison is gregarious, flirty, a dish … but she’s also a gifted writer who yearns to fulfill her creative potential. Edward, a classmate headed for a career in editing, sees Allison’s talent clearly, encourages it, and nurtures it along, shyly hoping that she will shed her many admirers and reward his deeper love. But the…

Perry Tannenbaum

CL previews upcoming concerts (April 7-13)

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7 The Ragbirds Michigan’s The Ragbirds make their musical nest out of the brightest of bits: There’s some Gypsy here, and Middle-Eastern drone, a dash of raga, a little Latin lilt and even a Celtic fiddle turn from time to time. In addition to traditional instrumentation, the band also carts along any number…

The sounds of the Savannah Music Festival

By Perry Tannenbaum Across the Savannah River, the azaleas come in earlier, so it’s easier to surrender to spring fever even a couple of days before the equinox. This year’s Savannah Music Festival (March 18-April 3) beckoned to me from the Georgia coast, more inviting than ever. Rob Gibson, the artistic director at SMF, helped…

CD Review: Jimi Hendrix’s Valleys of Neptune

The Deal: Another posthumous release from the guitar legend includes 12 previously unreleased tracks recorded in 1969 with the original Hendrix Experience lineup – Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell. The Good: While you may think, judging by the song titles, you’ve heard most of these songs before, that’s simply not the case. The album kicks…

Jeff Hahne

Bizarre crimes from Charlotte police files

Baby-sitting: A man was arrested at the Mi Cabana bar on Eastway Drive for abandonment. The man had been in the bar all night drinking, and at some point it was found that he had left his 1-year-old daughter in the car the entire time. You should make it up to her by doing something…

Ryan Pitkin

CD Review: Jason Collett’s Rat a Tat Tat

The Deal: Fourth solo release from Canadian country rock veteran. The Good: An alumnus of the fertile Broken Social Scene universe, Collett picked up some of that band’s penchant for thrumming pulse-lines, sinewy guitar lines and off-kilter time signatures. He’s also got a thing for classic ’70s rock, and his best songs here blend those…

John Schacht

Do U.S. leaders perform satanic rituals at Bohemian Grove?

A friend recently told me about something called the Bohemian Grove where supposedly the leaders of our country meet annually to hold bizarre satanic rituals including burning things in front of a 40-foot statue of an owl. As proof she had me examine a dollar bill where in the corner there appears to be a…

Cecil Adams

What kind of city is Charlotte anyway?

“What kind of city is Charlotte?” friends and acquaintances from out of town sometimes ask. In the past, I’ve usually said something like, “A bit too tightly wound for my taste, but there’s a strong sense of community involvement and concern that’s rare these days in cities this size.” If one of them asked me…

Weekly horoscope for April 7-13, 2010

Aries The Ram (March 20-April 19): This was a period of apprenticeship. Between fall 2007 and fall 2009, it was time to perfect your broad index of experiences. If there are any of your accumulated bits of wisdom you forgot to process, the next few months will bring them to your attention For All Signs:…

Vivian Carol

Getting Around: The Transportation Issue

You’d think the fine art of transportation would be a simple thing; believe it or not, it’s anything but. Not only is the act of getting from “Point A” to “Point B” complicated because of the various modes we use to travel — cars, buses, trains, bikes, feet, etc. — but it’s also complex due…

Capsule reviews of films playing the week of April 7

ALICE IN WONDERLAND Here’s the problem with the vast majority of movies based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass: They’re too tame, too hesitant and too conventional to really tap into the more unsettling aspects of an immortal fantasy that provides as much satisfaction for adults as for…

Matt Brunson

Clash of the Titans: Gods and monsters

3-D or not 3-D — that’s not even a question as far as Clash of the Titans is concerned. In the wake of Avatar’s phenomenal success, studios are shamelessly slapping the 3-D format onto whatever pictures are in the can, failing to take into account that Avatar’s visuals were so stunning because the picture was…

Matt Brunson

The Last Song: Silence, please

Steve McQueen, Sally Field and George Clooney are among the many actors who successfully transitioned from the small screen to the large one (and don’t forget that fellow named Clint), but Miley Cyrus seems more likely to join the ranks of Kirk Cameron, Tony Danza and the Olsen twins, thespians who attempted to make the…

Matt Brunson

Theater: Embraceable Me

In Off-Broadway’s Embraceable Me — showing now at Blumanthal PAC’s Stage Door Theater — a friendship is on the rocks between a gal named Allison and a guy named Edward (and no, he’s not a vampire). But, luckily, cuteness looks like it will prevail in this romantic comedy. $24.50 and up. April 8, 7:30 p.m.;…

Anita Overcash

Stocking up at Pasta & Provisions

The man beside me in line at Pasta & Provisions was waiting to get some basket cheese, which he needed for Easter Pie. A soft cow cheese which got its name from the container, basket cheese looks like ricotta but tastes more like mozzarella. This is a spring cheese made with the first milk after…

Tricia Childress

COMEDY: Epic Sketch

From the same funny folks — Sketch Theatre Acting Company (produced by Shon Wilson) — who presented Summer Sketch comes a new show for the season, titled Epic Sketch. Featuring sketch comedy (duh!), the show makes reference to news that’s constantly dished in our faces, from pop icons, films and literature, to scandalous political figures…

Anita Overcash

Searching for tacos in San Antonio

Puffy tacos. Breakfast tacos. Fish tacos. This threesome comprises only a small part of San Antonio’s gastronomy. In a city where Tex-Mex and regional Mexican restaurants are as plentiful as churches in Charlotte, how does one choose? Having had my share of bad food at home has made me think twice before I open just…

Tricia Childress

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