Kerry Appearance Raises Questions
It was a once-a-decade treat for local Democrats, and they clearly bent over backwards to make Presidential contender John Kerry’s visit to Charlotte last Friday a perfect one. The local party must have spent hours on the phones organizing the event. Nearly every Democratic candidate who has ever run for anything in this county and…
Arts Agenda
Classical Music First Tuesday Concerts Monthly performances of Chamber Music. www.chambermusicatstpeters.org. At St. Peter’s (12:10pm); After work concert and reception at Hodges Taylor Gallery (5:30pm). Free. St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 115 West 7th St. 704-332-7746. Stars and Stripes Forever A patriotic celebration featuring Buddy Watcher. Belk Theater. www.charlottephilharmonic.org. Sat., Sept. 4, 8 p.m. $17.50-$35. 704-846-2788.…
Dragged Downtown
All hell finally broke loose last week at the Education Center. In the middle of the ruckus was West Mecklenburg High School teacher Carl Hamm, who was dragged downtown for interrogation by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools administrators. His crime? Talking to me about a student violent sex offender who is roaming the halls of West Mecklenburg, a…
Roll Out The Barolo
Is success only counted with a gold medal? Does it matter that in a field of 100 Olympic contestants, only three will take the stand and only one will hear his national anthem? Restaurants, too, spend a great deal of time and money trying to get all the ingredients to come into play. Sometimes this…
Gold Medal Wackos
I’ve got a cool new book idea for you. The working title is Crazy-Ass White Guys and the Women They Kill. Despite fierce fighting in Najaf, a presidential campaign and hurricanes, if you landed here from Mars, you’d think that Mark Hacking and Scott Peterson were the center of American life. Enough already. Granted, America…
The ABCs of AOC
In a perfect world, wines would be labeled “Good, Cheap Red Wine” and “Great, Expensive White Wine.” But we live in a capitalist world, where marketing lures people to the dark side with pretty pictures. Experienced drinkers already know the byzantine insider lingo — from DRC (Domaine Romanee Conti from Burgundy) to Groovy (Gruner Veltliner…
Meeting Mr. Long
Tucked away in the Tuscan hills of central Italy is the little town of Lucignano (pronounced loose-in-YAN-oh). It’s off the beaten track, south of Arezzo, the largest city in that part of the beautiful wine country. The town doesn’t appear in many guidebooks: it merits only a few lines in Frommer’s Tuscany guide. Apart from…
Good Eats
All Around Town Anntony’s Caribbean, 2001 E. 7th St., 704-342-0749. A hint of the tropics; rotisserie chicken with Jamaican jerk sauce, ribs, Paradise Island fish special, curries, and Caribbean styled greens. $$ Azteca, 116 Woodlawn Rd., 704-525-5110; 9709 Independence Blvd., 704-814-9877; 1863 W. Franklin Blvd. (Gastonia), 704-866-7574. A favorite of many, Azteca offers a lengthy…
Letters
Wake Up, Gene! Gene Lazo, your ignorance is physically painful to be subjected to. I’m as liberal as the next guy, but damn, do a bit more research before you write an article. Please don’t suggest that one can’t connect dots simply because said dot-connecting may put a Middle Eastern non-citizen in the public eye…
In the Gourds’ Patch
Combine songs about food (“Who Ate My Haggis?”), religion (“Up on High”) and drinking (“I Like to Drink”), add a peculiar dose of punk attitude, front porch jam and hillbilly stomp, and you’ll have a feel for the Gourds. Adding a few more descriptions like loud acoustic, swamp rock, outlaw country and booze-addled jug band…
News of the Weird
But we like him!: CEO Andrew Wiederhorn began his 18-month federal prison sentence in August, but unlike other convicted CEOs, he’ll continue to draw his $1.6 million a year salary while doing hard time. He pleaded guilty to two felonies (including filing a false tax return) while previously the CEO of Wilshire Financial Services Group…
A Rosey Blueprint
This is the Rosebuds’ third visit to Charlotte in the last six months, and the second time we’ve written about them in that time — What’s up with you freaks, you’re no doubt asking, not enough local stuff to write about? Well, as it happens, that’s precisely the point of this tale… But let’s get…
Watch Who You Praise
The Iraqi soccer team advanced to the semifinals for the first time in Olympic history on Saturday when it defeated Australia. Much has been made of the sadistic treatment Iraqi athletes received under their country’s former Olympic committee head Uday Hussein who tortured athletes as both a motivational tool and recreational hobby. Uday was killed…
Sit & Spin
Les Dirt Clods Earth Rooster Rainydaylewis@juno.com A few years back, Randolph Lewis was one half of the songwriting duo behind Come On Thunderchild, one of the more popular (and talented) local Charlotte bands of the last 10 or so years. Along with John Morris (now leading his own straight-ahead rock outfit, Tyre Fyre), Lewis appeared…
Husban Harem
News that HBO is coming out with a series called Big Love, featuring a polygamous family, has me wondering: has there ever been a set-up with multiple husbands instead of wives, and what woman on earth would choose it? If there’s a wife out there who’d voluntarily have more than one husband I’d like to…
Music Menu
Timothy C Davis|John Schacht|Samir Shukla & Co.
Channeling Karl Rove
Memo from: Karl Rove To: POTUS, The White House Brain Trust, the RNC cc: Sean Hannity Re: Convention update Well, folks, let’s be honest. I won’t try to spin you here: The Democrats pulled it off in Boston. Their convention worked like a charm: They moved to the center; they quieted the lunatic left; they…
Soundboard
Wednesday, Aug. 25 Big Al’s Pub, Cornelius Open Mic w/ Gabe B Blue Melinda Hansen, Royce Guin, Korey Dudley & Rob Knox The Boardroom Bar & Bistro David Harper Breakfast Club DJ Boney B Bricktop Lounge DJ Brigmunton and Christian Comet Grill Open Mic w/ Bill McDonald Double Door Inn Josh Lederman y Los Diablos…
Word On The Street
Bobbi Horne Human Resources Manager “Obtuse and perverse? Well, I have to bow to Mr. James’ expertise in those areas.” J. Lawrence Kelly Investment Counselor “You have to assume he hasn’t dated many Republican sorority members.” Marjorie Bascom Librarian “My Leonard was a Democrat and there wasn’t one single thing perverted about him. Hell, that’s…
Ticket To Ride
The Charlotte Film Society isn’t exactly a yearling on the local film scene — the organization has been bringing foreign and independent fare to the Queen City since 1982 — but its Second Week series is another matter. Premiering as the Second Week/ Second Chance series back in September 2000, the program adopted a different…
The Blotter
BUMPER CARS OF LOVE: In separate incidents on the same day, two rebuked loverboys figured the best way to win back their sweeties’ affection was by committing aggravated assault and hit and run. In one incident, a jilted paramour rammed his girl’s car from behind while she was driving down 1-277. He then followed her…
After The Smoke Clears
It’s hard to shed a tear for the cigarette-manufacturing conglomerates that are affected by attempts to downsize this nation’s fondness for smoking. At the same time, it’s easy to sympathize with the farmers who depend on growing this crop in order to pay the bills, provide for their families, and maintain an adequate standard of…
See & Do
AUGUST 25 – WEDNESDAY Singer/songwriter John Mayer may be a bit breathy, but his ease on the acoustic and electric guitars and songwriting prowess deserve credit. Mayer layers his sometimes raspy and often whispered singing over folk-rock and blues numbers that usually evolve into sing-alongs (he has a gift for connecting with an audience). His…
Heart And Hearth
By the time Bobby (Colin Farrell) is a teenager, his entire family is dead, and he spends the rest of his life trying to rebuild his broken home in the film A Home at the End of the World. As a pot-smoking teenager, Bobby finds temporary emotional rescue with his best friend Jonathan’s straight-laced family.…
Ask the Advice Goddess
Nurse Case Scenario Last year, my fiancee broke up with me. We had already started planning a family, and I had just bought us a house when she told me it was over. She is now with someone else, but she’s constantly calling me, telling me she’s unhappy and that I took better care of…
View From The Couch
DOGVILLE (2004). The latest snatch of controversy from writer-director Lars von Trier is this rabble-rousing piece that has fiercely divided critics and audiences ever since it premiered at Cannes over a year ago. Nicole Kidman (in a strong performance that goes with the flow) plays Grace, a Depression-era fugitive who shows up in a small…
Stargazer
For All Signs On Aug. 29 we will experience the Full Moon in Pisces. It imparts the message of the Pisces/Virgo axis of the zodiac: Have we sown enough of the right seeds, watered at the right time, and cleared enough weeds from our gardens (lives) to produce a good crop for the “winter”? Will…
Film Clips
NEW RELEASES HERO A 2002 Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, this Chinese epic, finally earning a stateside release, should satisfy anyone who couldn’t get enough of the visual splendors exhibited in Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Zhang Yimou, the world-renowned director of Raise the Red Lantern and Ju Dou, has assembled an…
Forward Meets Reverse
Walking out of Pease Auditorium last Thursday after the fine new production of Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years, I heard the wonderful sounds of frustration and bewilderment. CPCC Summer Theatre, local masters of the homegrown musical, have an entrenched audience that makes peering over their heads before the lights go down look like…
Deadly Dependence
On a summer day three years ago, Elijah Robinson was digging in the yard of his brand-new patio home in Columbia, S.C., when an unexpected sensation washed over him. Even though he was covered in protective clothing, including gloves and boots, the 58-year-old retired maintenance man felt as if his body had just been hurled…
Floating Spies
Alan Furst, now in his 60s, has finally become a popular writer. In 1988, Furst published Night Soldiers, the first of eight (and counting) novels dedicated to the noir-ish world of spies, soldiers and fearful citizens inhabiting the countries of crumbling Europe during the 1930s and 1940s. It fared well with critics in Britain and…
