Big Brother is Watching You
The federal government is building a domestic spy network unlike any the world has ever seen. When it’s complete, every keystroke you make on a computer and every automated transaction that has ever involved you will be captured, correlated and relentlessly mined by dozens of federal agencies day in and day out. While privacy advocates…
Doing the Terrorism Strut
Boomer With Attitude
Punt, Pass, Kick … Like a Girl
One of the best things to do on a lazy summer afternoon is to play a game of football in your grandmother’s backyard. You and your cousins and some kids from down the street line up on an imaginary line of scrimmage by Grandma’s pecan tree and the only focus of the day is to…
Cheap Thrills
CHARLOTTE SKATEBOARDING & MUSIC FESTIVAL Bring back those long-lost days when the skating was that hip, rebel thing to do, complete with its own soundtrack. This first annual free family-focused event highlights healthy choices through athleticism, safety and life choices. Skaters need to be at the Methodist Home Recreation Center, 3200 Shamrock Drive, at 9:30am…
See & Do
Thursday, August 17 Bobby Bare Jr. combines wry humor and dry vocals, along with a somber psychedelic undertow, to build a novel outlook on life. He is touring in advance of the upcoming recording The Longest Meow, to be released on stalwart indie Bloodshot Records in late September. Like his dad, the country mainstay Bobby…
Do the Right Thing
Citizen Servatius
Are the Combatants in the War between Israel and Hezbollah Targeting Civilians?
Yes. Between July 12, when the current war started, and Aug. 11, Hezbollah fired approximately 3,500 rockets at Israel. Hezbollah’s rocket arsenal is overwhelmingly composed of unguided Katyusha rockets. Katyushas are point-and-shoot weapons with no on-board guidance system. They are essentially self-propelled artillery shells. The reason they have a Russian name is that they’re based…
Karma Cleanser
Dear Karma Cleanser: When I was 17, my parents had gone out of town and I drove my father’s truck (with a camper top) without permission. I sideswiped a pole backing into a parking space, breaking the camper’s window and damaging the right-hand mirror. I said nothing. When my mom discovered the damage, she blamed…
Three Gems
Book Reviews
Lost in the Fold
Moodswing
The Future is Now
Some people predict the future, and some people are the future. What does it take? Innovation. When does it happen? Now — or then and now again. $teven Ra$pa www.stevenraspa.com St. Eom www.pasaquan.com Futurism www.unknown.nu/futurism Neo-Futurism www.neofuturists.org The DaVinci Institute www.davinciinstitute.com
The Blotter
FAN-ATICAL FOOL: A very selfish worker had three fans blowing cool air in his/her cubicle. A male co-worker, who had been working with the cold air hoarder for a year, took one of the fans away. A very intense conversation ensued, which led to the fan hoarder picking up a frying pan and hitting the…
Music to your Mouth
Corkscrew
Anti-Foodie
Table Dancing
The Doctors Are In
Listen up, babies: Albert Bouchard of the Brain Surgeons puts on his pants the same as you guys, one leg at a time. Except, once his pants are on, he makes gold records — gold records featuring, you guessed it, that subject of Hot Topic T-shirts everywhere: the cowbell. Bouchard, who wrote, arranged and played…
Blarney Rubble
Little Miss Sunshine 32Film Clips 34Films In A Flash 3632
Hail, Hail Rock & Roll
A round-up of recent rock DVDs: Chuck Berry is the King of rock & roll. Fighting words down here in Elvislandia, to be sure. But don’t dig me, listen to the Killer himself: “He’s the King of rock & roll. My Mama even said that …” says Jerry Lee Lewis early in Taylor Hackford’s 1987…
Climb every mountain
Table dancing 56Corkscrew 5858
Hip-Hop Marks The Spot
A few weeks ago, I told you about the Goblin in all it’s goth and glory. Well, it is now called The Spot. The interior décor changed from gothic to graffiti and the crowd from the Room went to The Spot. But is The Spot, “the spot?” It hosts events like Big Mama’s House of…
Jump blues revisited
Burn Baby Burn 72Brain Surgeons 74Britney’s Bazaar 74Bobby Bare Jr. 7777
Harper’s Bizarre
If you had the balls five years ago to say that Britney Spears was never really that hot to begin with, then — kudos. By now it’s obvious her looks and talent are, and always have been, just north of average. Besides, we know that she has the same embarrassing life as anyone else, just…
Frequent Transmission
Don’t Panic 17Citizen Servatius 23Boomer with Attitude 2417
Bare TRACKs
Bobby Bare Jr. makes his home in Nashville, but his I’m-about-to break-into-a-yodel-or-bust-out-crying vocals distance him from anything else that ever came out of that city. “Gear is cheap, recording time too,” Bare cites as the reasons he stays in Music City. “It’s not like I have Winona on speed dial or hang out with Shania.”…
Memories of a Local Hero
My People
Stargazer
LEO The Lion (July 22 — Aug. 22) The sun, and therefore your strength, has returned to your sign. You also have the planets Venus, Mercury and Saturn at your side. This is a major turning point period for you. Although there are those in your world who disagree, you are probably on your true…
Not Quite Almost Famous
See & Do 10Moodswing 1210Urban Explorer
Film Clips
Current Releases THE ANT BULLY It used to be Oscar-bait productions that had no trouble snagging the A-listers. Now it’s the kiddie flicks that have them lining up to sign on the dotted line. But the problem with the high-powered lineup on view here — Julia Roberts, Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep and Paul Giamatti –…
Are the H-Men Da Bomb?
Books 41Arts Agenda 3838
It’s All Relative
In the rocker “We’re a Happy Family,” The Ramones present a dysfunctional family in which “Daddy’s telling lies, Baby’s eating flies, Mommy’s on pills, Baby’s got the chills.” The clan at the center of the Sundance hit Little Miss Sunshine isn’t much better off. Richard Hoover (Greg Kinnear) has developed a motivational program (“Refuse To…
