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Inmates and Loved Ones Affected After Mecklenburg County Ends In-Person Visitation
On September 23, 2016, hundreds of protesters marching through the streets of Uptown Charlotte stopped outside of the Mecklenburg County Jail on East 4th Street to show solidarity. As some inmates inside flicked their lights on and off in recognition, the protesters chanted, “We see you, we hear you, we love you.” Less than a…
Slideshow: Hundreds Rally at Marshall Park Against White Supremacy
More than 600 people showed up to Marshall Park on Saturday, August 19, to pay respects to Heather Heyer and other victims of an attack at the hands of a white supremacist in Charlottesville the previous week. Activists with Charlotte Uprising organized the event as a call to action against white supremacy, and speakers took…
Scowl Brow Singer Robby Hale Burns Cross, Posts Pic to Facebook
UPDATE: Robby Hale, the Scowl Brow singer shown in the photo in this story, has since contacted CL, saying the image was taken out of context. See his quotes at bottom. A disturbing photo posted by Robby Hale, the singer of a Charlotte punk band that has sparked controversy in the past with its misogynistic…
Logan Lucky stays the course
LOGAN LUCKY **1/2 (out of four) DIRECTED BY Steven Soderbergh STARS Channing Tatum, Adam Driver A particularly priceless moment in cinema can be found in 1982’s 48 Hrs., when the street-smart crook played by Eddie Murphy (in his film debut, no less) saunters into a bar filled with racist rednecks and barks, “I’ve never seen…
The Hitman’s Bodyguard: A hit-and-miss affair
THE HITMAN’S BODYGUARD **1/2 (out of four) DIRECTED BY Patrick Hughes STARS Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson One’s tolerance of The Hitman’s Bodyguard largely depends on one’s acceptance of the “buddy action-comedy” rising from the grave like one of the zombies in a George Romero (RIP) horror flick. Indeed, the script for this rather generic…
Alien: Covenant, Duel in the Sun among new home entertainment titles
(View From The Couch is a weekly column that reviews what’s new on Blu-ray, DVD and Streaming. Ratings are on a four-star scale.) ALIEN: COVENANT (2017). Mindful of the criticism directed at 2012’s heady Prometheus yet not completely willing to dumb down the Alien franchise, Ridley Scott returned with Alien: Covenant, a movie that adds…
The Blotter: Don’t Cry
Spilt Milk A 22-year-old woman in northeast Charlotte was tested on the old expression about crying over spilled milk last week when someone vandalized her car. The woman told police that a known suspect broke the door handle off of her Chevrolet Suburban then spilled milk all over the car’s interior. No word in the…
Weekly Horoscope (Aug. 17-23)
For All Signs August is an eclipse season this year. The full moon of the 7th and the new moon of August 21 are both eclipsed. In ancient times eclipses were believed frightening, heralding negative omens, especially in regions of their visibility. Contemporary astrologers now perceive these seasons as periods that relieve critical mass, with…
Learning to Let Go of a Toxic Feeling
Lately I’ve been thinking about how to describe jealousy, especially when it comes to sex and love. It’s a hot, visceral feeling, exacerbated by the Southern summer heat. Your heart is wrenched, like a rag full of water, and you feel your pulse pushing blood through your body. Crimes of passion often seem outrageous. How…
Get Your Fantasy on at Royal Peasantry
Druid Chic. Kick that description around in your head a moment. Does it evoke images of a hipster hobbit? Maybe you imagine a Natalie Dormer-type, half-elf supermodel gving you the cold stare as she steps out of a predawn dungeon to sneak a cigarette with her gorgeous and sullen squad. Just because you move in…
It’s Time for Charlotte to Wipe Away Confederate Stains
On Aug. 11, the cities of Charlotte and Charlottesville were very different places, although that was unclear Saturday morning, when people from other parts of the country were using the hashtags #Charlotte and #Charlottesville interchangeably on social media. Those hashtags were, of course, in reference to the deadly white supremacist rally held in Charlottesville, Virginia,…
Osiris Rain Battles Heatstroke and a Broken Ankle to Complete NoDa Mural
Shortly after Charlotte artist Osiris Rain was tapped by the international brewing company Stella Artois to paint a promotional mural on the side of a building at 35th Street and North Davidson, the 31-year-old decided to unwind one afternoon with a little skateboarding. “I figured I’m going to go out and enjoy myself before I…
When DJ Kato Frees His Mind, Your Ass Will Follow
“Get free!” is the phrase of choice for event planners Ifeanyi Ibeto, Eric Ndelo and April Hood. The trio of nightlife denizens brings local AfroPop! events to venues around Charlotte every month. On Friday, April 18, they will scale up from the modest club events they’ve done in the past to a full-fledged block party…
Bedroom Musician Deion Funderburk Finds Reverie on ‘justbehappy’
We can thank Abel Tesfaye for tearing down the walls that isolate bedroom musicians such as Deion Funderburk, the Charlotte-area artist who records and performs as Deion Reverie. Earlier this decade, Tesfaye kickstarted his own bedroom project, The Weeknd, when he uploaded a series of mysterious lo-fi videos to YouTube. Within a handful of years,…
Jesse Leadbetter Grows a Local Urban Food Business From Scratch
We are living in a food paradox. Our current culinary trends emphasize ultra-fresh, clean, local food, preferably directly from the farmer. But whether you’re a hard-partying hipster, or an overscheduled parent, who has the time to spend on Saturday mornings trawling the farmers market for kale and kohlrabi? Outside of Charlotte’s thriving farmers markets, there…
