Aug 22-28, 2018
Rosa Parks Farmers Market, Sustainability Village, The Bulb; Cory M. Wells; ‘Eclipsed’; Gavin Edwards; Frye Gaillard; Yung Blaza
A Second Chance at Childhood
Certain spaces and moments can trigger your nostalgia. For example, this weekend I took a trip to Folly Beach, just south of Charleston, as many of you know, for a 30th birthday party that came with its own hashtag: #thirtyflirtyanddying. We rented a three-story Airbnb that lent itself to a college-style house party, naturally. By…
The Happytime Murders: Felt Up
THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS **1/2 (out of four) DIRECTED BY Brian Henson STARS Melissa McCarthy, Bill Barretta A clever concept gets off to a roaring start before eventually losing its way in The Happytime Murders, a puppet pageantry that is most decidedly not one for the whole family to enjoy. Brian Henson, son of the late…
Deep Rising, Never So Few, The Tingler 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.) DEEP RISING (1998). A major box office bomb that has since developed a small if devoted following, Deep Rising is yet another Alien-style horror yarn that offers little in the way of…
Listen Up: Josh Higgins Hits Refresh on ‘Local Vibes’
It’s been a week of birthdays for Josh Higgins, founder of Refresh Records. Fresh off celebrating his own 34th birthday, he’s now heading into a weekend of shows to celebrate Refresh’s third anniversary at Snug Harbor on Friday and Visulite Theatre on Saturday. Ryan and Josh (left and right, respectively, in the above picture) had…
A Second Chance at Childhood
Certain spaces and moments can trigger your nostalgia. For example, this weekend I took a trip to Folly Beach, just south of Charleston, as many of you know, for a 30th birthday party that came with its own hashtag: #thirtyflirtyanddying. We rented a three-story Airbnb that lent itself to a college-style house party, naturally. By…
Frye Gaillard’s Epic History of the ’60s Offers a Peek at the Present
in April 13, 1963 — both Friday the 13th and Good Friday — Frye Gaillard was 16 years old and part of a high school field trip from Mobile to Birmingham, Alabama. A descendant of wealthy former slave owners, and the son of a circuit court judge, Gaillard’s world was shaken then as he watched…
Gavin Edwards’ New Interactive Book of Art Pairs Readers with Artists of All Stripes
Gavin Edwards was never what you would call a typical writer. As a writer and editor with Details magazine in the ’90s, and later with Rolling Stone, he was always going after the untold story. He’s traveled from New Zealand to Bahrain to do so, and found new angles to cover media-saturated events back home,…
Brand New Sheriff Mixes Broadway, Black Panther and Black Diamond
Few writers who have brought a script to the Broadway stage have also had a major acting role in a blockbuster Hollywood film. Mae West, Orson Welles, Sam Shepard, Mel Brooks, Maya Angelou and Woody Allen have legitimate claims. Perhaps the stealthiest addition to this very short list happened this summer when Danai Gurira emerged…
Yung Blaza Has Fans Looking for a ‘Miracle’
Yung Blaza, a fiery, lyrically-minded rapper, arrived on the Charlotte scene by way of Bank of America and the mortgage industry. Not the typical route for a hip-hop artist. After crunching mortgage rates for BofA among the other Uptown suits, Blaza decided to leave behind his life at a proper desk job when he noticed…
Efforts to Tackle Food Insecurity in Charlotte Are Finally Gaining Ground
On a recent Saturday morning, during the first farmer’s market hosted solely by Johnson C. Smith University’s Sustainability Village program, chef Njathi Kabui went to work on a breakfast dish as he explained his cooking process to anyone who wanted to listen. He began with an eggplant that he brought from his own garden. He…
With a Final Show, Cory M. Wells Bids Farewell to Charlotte
What’s in a name? Plenty, says Cory M. Wells. “One thing I learned about the music business is that it’s impossible to market a name that is already famous,” the singer-songwriter says. When Wells was still in his mother’s womb 32 years ago, he acquired his already famous name – along with a music business…
