Consumer Culture Reader picks
Best New Store (Opened in the Last 12 Months): The Habitat ReStore3326 Wilkinson Blvd704-395-9456 Best Clothing Store: Old Navy Best Hair Salon: Carmen! Carmen! Best Tattoo/Piercing Parlor: Ace Custom Tattoo1312 Thomas Ave704-342-3661 Best Health Club: YMCA Best Audio/Video Store: Best Buy Best Computer Store: Best Buy Best Play to Buy CDs: Best Buy Best Place…
Best Club/Party DJ
Herring is a big fan of local venues the Loft and Eden, where he spins on any given night. However, he still seems unaffected by the Charlotte scene citing not enough diversity while still managing to keep his ear to the underground talent pool personally and through his company Ten Millimeter Omega. As the fiery…
The Death of the Seguro Verde
My People
Food & Drink Critics’ picks
Best New Restaurant (Opened in Last 12 Months): Nolen Kitchen and Crescent Bar and Lounge2839 Selwyn Ave704-372-1424 A first for Creative Loafing: Chef-owners (and graduates of the Culinary Institute of America) Stratos Lambos and Angelo Kaltsounis have done it again. Like winning a second Oscar a la Sally Field, this team has opened Nolen Kitchen…
What’s happening in Somalia these days?
Don’t Panic: Your War Questions Answered
The Blotter
Step One, Organize: A PowerPoint projector was stolen out of a CPCC classroom. The vandals now have the power to teach other vandals pilfering strategies with the help of neat bulleting and snazzy, attention-grabbing graphics. Car Games: On the corner of Eastway Drive and Shamrock Road, a lady tried to park. That’s where the trouble…
Food & Drink Reader picks
Best New Restaurant (Opened in Last 12 Months): Lulu1911 Central Ave704-376-2242 Best Special Occasion Restaurant: The Melting Pot230 E. W.T. Harris Blvd.704-548-2432http://www.meltingpotcharlotte.com Best Late Night Restaurant: The Penguin1921 Commonwealth Ave.704-375-6959 Best Restaurant Wine List: Bonterra Restaurant & Wine Room1829 Cleveland Avenue704-333-9463 Best Southern country/Soul Food Restaurant: Mert’s Heart and Soul214 N. College St.704-342-4222http://www.mertsuptown.com Best Gourmet/Specialty…
Pop Politik
Oh, it’s all so serious. Well, if you need a break, try these hot linx. My fave is ScrapHouse, from the green sector. Hey, recycling is politics too. And how ’bout them commie Smurfs? Anarchy Machine http://anarchy-machine.funnypart.com The Smurf Files www.illuminatirex.com/comics/album/6 Iranian Cartoons www.irancartoon.com Psychedelic Republicans www.cafepress.com/thewhitehouse/388639 ScrapHouse www.scraphouse.org
Ergonomic Toilets for some
Citizen Servatius
Media Critics’ picks
Best Radio Station: WKBC 97.3 This hot AC station from Wilkesboro gets the props for mixing it up. Take the Cure, Jack Johnson, O.M.D., Green Day, Aerosmith and Eagle Eye Cherry. Now play them in the same hour. That’s a decent mix, and no Charlotte Top 40 station mixes it up that much. You can…
Hooray for Bollywood!
It seems like recent years have brought forth a bumper crop of Broadway musicals ripe for critical scorn. Just this past season, there was Lennon, Souvenir, Lestat and Tarzan. Yet even among such palpitating targets, none has been riper than Bombay Dreams, the Andrew Lloyd Webber concoction that came fully-assembled with “bomb” embedded in its…
Cheap Thrills
WOW JAM FESTIVAL This family-oriented event was spearheaded by Stephen Tavani and his wife Linda, a former “Peaches” of Peaches and Herb fame. Communities in need are provided with different services including free haircuts, bicycle repair, groceries, career and health counseling. Volunteers are especially needed in this effort to give back. Aug. 2-5, 4pm at…
Media Reader picks
Best Radio Station: WFAE Best Radio Personalities: Ace & TJ, WNKS Best Drive-Time Radio Show: Matt & Ramona, WLNK Best Local TV Newcast: WSOC Best Local TV Anchor: Paul Cameron, WBTV Best Local Meteorologist: Larry Sprinkle, WCNC Best Local TV Sports Anchor: Harold Johnson, WSOC Best Local TV News Reporter: Brigida Mack, WSOC Best Local…
Film Clips
Current Releases CLERKS II The sequel to the 1994 film that placed Smith on the indie map in the first place, this Jersey hurl is pretty much what you’d expect from this often crude, often insightful filmmaker, only with too much of the former and not enough of the latter. Twelve years down the road,…
Think Pink
CORKSCREW
A Miracle Preserved
Performing Arts 88Arts Agenda 90Savage Love 9490
Five Continents
Mouthful
Best of Charlotte 2006
Welcome to Charlotte, Creative Loafing style. With the issue of immigration frequently dominating the national news, and with the Queen City’s own reputation as a destination for all manner of outsiders, we decided the time was right for Best of Charlotte: International Edition. Or if you prefer, CL’s Immigration Nation. Believing in the guiding principle…
country got soul agin
Satan is real, rebels take a stand, sin overdoses abound, and hopes of transcendental love evaporate with the bubbles in your beer: hank III aka Shelton, spawn of Bocephus and grandson of country & western’s greatest martyr, Hank Williams, has finally released his f-you to labelhead Mike Curb and all who would limit his aesthetic…
Vice, Vice, Baby
One of the damnedest movies I’ve seen this summer, Miami Vice (**1/2 out of four) is successful only part of the time and confounding all the way through. Since his days as a guiding light for the trendsetting TV series from the 1980s, Michael Mann has established himself as an accomplished movie maker with such…
Tits with Grits Redux
Last week, I boldly went where many men have gone before: the Uptown Cabaret. It all started innocently enough when I sat down to dine at the Uptown Cabaret. I wanted to find out if the Cabaret did in fact have one of the best brunch buffets in town, which is the word on the…
Deep Knish
Mouthful 114Corkscrew 118114
Late bloomer
The youngest member of 1960s family band the Cowsills has grown up. Susan Cowsill’s cherubic ragamuffin charm and the Rhode Island family’s freak factor made Hollywood pay attention. They were the inspiration for the hit television series The Partridge Family. Some 40 years later, the innocent days of sunshiny pop tunes the six youngsters and…
Arts & Entertainment Critics’ picks
Best Art Gallery: McColl Center for Visual Art721 N. Tryon St.704-332-5535http://www.mccollcenter.org Or, more precisely, the three floors of the McColl Center for Visual Art. Never a dull moment at this place: AfroCubans, environmentalists, zombies, messengers from the Apocalypse, pantheists, abstractionists and a mess of damn good painters. This is the one place sporting the visual…
Finger-Lickin’ Good
See & Do 10Moodswing 1210
chappelle’s show: lost episodes
Why would anyone turn down $55 million dollars? Well, when you’re regarded as the funniest man in America, you can always make more money, but you can’t make more freedom. Dave Chappelle could have wound up as the comic Jimi Hendrix, or the black Lenny Bruce. Instead, he packed it in after 2.3 seasons of…
Arts & EntertainmentReader picks
Best Art Gallery: The Mint Museum of Art2730 Randolph Road.704-337-2000http://www.mintmuseum.org Best Art Exhibit: Dead Sea Scrolls at Discovery Place Best Local Artist: Phil Moody Best Theatre Company: Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte650 E. Stonewall St.704-342-2251 Best Local Actor: George Gray Best Local Actress: Christy K. Basa Best Performing Arts Group: Moving Poets Theater of Dance Best…
Three 6 Mafia Up
Most readers know Memphis hip-hop group Three 6 Mafia from this past March when it surprisingly — and quite deservedly — took home the Academy Award for Best Original Song with “Hard Out Here for a Pimp.” Its members’ acceptance speech was perhaps the liveliest moment of the predictably ill-paced awards ceremony, matched only by…
Stargazer
LEO The Lion (July 22 — Aug. 22) It is time to redefine yourself. You must now look at yourself more deeply. What are the potentials not yet developed? What is the best way to contribute your gifts to a greater whole? Focus your attention on personal identity and tighten up all life agendas to…
After Dark Critics’ Picks
Best Concert Venue: Dale F. Halton Theater, CPCC1206 Elizabeth Ave704-330-6534 The grand, oversized beams holding up the roof may seem a tad hokey in the Queen City. But ya know, so what? It’s what’s inside the venue that matters. Halton Theater on the Central campus of CPCC is a perfect midsize venue. It’s a tad…
Decisions, Decisions
Unless their constituents figure out the truth, it will go down as one of the great Kumbayah moments of all time in Mecklenburg County. Last week, politicians took turns at the podium, celebrating the new $123 million school construction package that Democrats and Republicans lovingly agreed on. For a group of people who agree on…
Letters
A Fond Farewell Just a note to say thanks for Ann Wicker’s recent article on the late Stuart Grasberg (“Remembering Stuart,” July 26). I worked with him from time to time, more in recent years, and I’m proud to say that he is my friend. Stuart did so much to promote the arts in Charlotte.…
After Dark Reader picks
Best Concert Venue: Verizon707 Pavilion Blvd.704-549-5555 Best Concert of Past 12 Months: Tom Petty @ Verizon Best Club for Music: Milestone3400 Tuckaseegee Rd.704-398-4072 Best Club for Dancing: Breakfast Club225 N. Caldwell St.704-374-1982http://www.that80sclub.com Best Place for a First Date: Comedy Zone516 N. College St.704-348-4242 Bar With Hottest Members of the Opposite/Same Sex: BAR Charlotte300 N. College…
See & Do
Wednesday, August 2 The Boy Wizard again casts his spell on the Queen City. Except this time the place to be isn’t first in line at a bookstore, but outside the Discovery Place for a grand movie watching experience. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire comes to the IMAX Dome Theatre, a giant planetarium-like…
warping the vans
Joan Jett is old enough to be the grandmother of some of her current VANS Warped Tour mates. But she’s not mellowed with age. At 46, her sound remains as hard-edged and unforgiving as it was during her stint as a 16-year-old Runaway. “Joan has always been rejected by the mainstream, even the mainstream radio,”…
City Life Critics’ picks
Local Hero: Harry Taylor “In my lifetime, I have never felt more ashamed of [the] leadership in Washington. And I would hope from time to time that you have the humility and grace to be ashamed of yourself.” Those are classic words from Harry Taylor, a Charlotte commercial real estate broker who in a rare…
Running for Viagra
On Aug. 3, mature athletes from all over converge on the Irwin Belk Track and Field Center/Transamerica Field for the 2006 USA Masters Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Think you’ll be watching a bunch of over-the-hill runners, sprinters and jumpers compete for a considerably longer period of time than their younger counterparts? Witness Houston’s Bill…
Weston Had It Coming
Boomer With Attitude
City Life Reader picks
Local Hero: Jake Delhomme Local Zero: Ric Flair Best Activist (Individual or Group): Habitat for Humanity Best Local Charity: Habitat for Humanity Best New Slogan for Charlotte: “It’s not as bad as you think.” (Runners-up: “Come and relax! But watch your ass.” and “We’re open past 5 now.”) Best Member of Local Government: Pat McCrory…
Best Movie Theater (Quality of Films)
The Manor has struggled ever since parent company Eastern Federal was bought out by the Regal outfit, so the emergence of Charlotte’s “other” art-house theater is definitely a case of “right place, right time.” Management has had to book some dubious titles as the venue attempted to make its presence known (The Sentinel, a big-budget…
Karma Cleanser
Dear Karma Cleanser: I rescued a kitten from the engine block of a car. He was hissing mad, skinny, and filthy with his whiskers burnt off when I plucked him out. The lady at the nearby drug store said he came from a feral litter lingering by their dumpster. Not wanting to return him to…
Consumer Culture Critics’ picks
Best New Store (Opened in the Last 12 Months): NoFo on Liz1609 Elizabeth Ave.704-444-9003 Finally! For years, we’ve had to get our NoFo “fix” at Raleigh’s NoFo at the Pig. Featuring a café, food market and gift shop, NoFo on Liz is the kind of place where you can (and should) linger for hours ……
Best Movie Theater (Quality of Presentation)
Many will cite the expansive lobby. Some will focus on the auditorium’s leather seats. Yet others will appreciate the food and drink items for sale (sushi, gourmet desserts, coffee). And everyone will be thankful for the comfortable viewing experience. As for us? We dig the bar. Who knew that popcorn and red wine would go…
Woman Seeking Something
Moodswing
