Dec 13-19, 2011

Dec 13-19, 2011 / Vol. 25 / No. 42

Cover Story

Plaza Midwood Community Radio makes waves

Rocker Bruce Hazel conjures up Springsteen with an anthem about Detroit. Then Nicole Atkins breezes in, sweetly singing her moody,’50s-infused orchestral pop. Lucky Five shakes things up with its funk-rock mix before Appalucia introduces its edgy, front-porch folk. After Aqualads serve up twangy surf rock, Grids hammer things home with slam-bang hardcore. An eclectic concert…

Jeff Hahne

Double Negative’s rambunctious mosh anthems – Tonight @ Snug Harbor

Double Negative blurs hardcore at the edges, injecting Jesus Lizard-level sinuous noise to rambunctious mosh anthems. These are welcome additions to this 30-plus year-old genre which, lord knows, sounds stale as hell in the wrong hands. Records like the smartass-titled Daydream Nation are quick and wicked, and the live show is just as condensed and…

Corbie Hill

Is there a sex life after a postitive HIV test?

You know your status and you’re HIV positive. Does that mean an active sex life is over for you? Not necessarily. Being honest and following a few rules will allow an HIV-positive person to maintain a sex life. According to Everydayhealth.com, the first step to maintaining a sex life with HIV is being upfront about…

Mustang Sally, Mayor of Bang Town

Tonight: Via Veneto’s Shopping it Forward party

Via Veneto is partnering with Council for Children’s Rights during a shopping party tonight. Bring this coupon in to get 20 percent off of everything in the store, including sale merchandise. (Remember, it’s the time for giving, not receiving — so you can GIVE while you RECEIVE.) At the end of the day, they’ll donate…

Kimberly Lawson

Duende Mountain Duo’s spacey vibes – Tonight (12/15/11) @ Double Door Inn

Adventurous Asheville combo stirs up funky electronica, dub and jazzy electro that beckons immediate head bobbing. Sound manipulation, beats and breaks mark their improvised percussion and keyboards, recently further enhanced via computer-assisted reforming, and driving the spacey vibes to further reaches of disparate musical regions. $8. Double Door Inn.

Samir Shukla

Hallelujah! There’s new Schoolboard leadership

Photo by Jeff Cravotta New Schoolboard chairperson Ericka Ellis-Stewart Shout Hallelujah, y’all. Last night, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board elected new members Ericka Ellis-Stewart as chairperson and Mary McCray as vice chairperson. I say “Hallelujah” because the pair’s election signals the probability of a much-needed, 180-degree turnaround from the data-driven, “corporate model” of former superintendent Pete…

John Grooms

Boots & Beats @ Chima (12/13/11)

Both men and women laced up their kicks for Boots & Beats at Chima Brazilian Steakhouse on Tuesday night. They strutted around in their hot Fall footwear while enjoying food, cocktails, and music mixes by three DJs. A portion of the ticket sale proceeds, as well as all children’s shoe donations, were given to Speedway…

Desiree Kane

Mr. Gnome brings Madness in Miniature – Tonight (12/14/11) @ Snug Harbor

One of the finest duos currently playing, singer/guitarist Nicole Barille and drummer Sam Meister can deliver the textural delights and dynamics of Wye Oak, the epic guitar psych of Viva Voce or the punk-and-blues-based rawk-fuzz of Quasi. Hailing from the rust-belt (Cleveland) adds grit and melancholy to the duo’s attack, but there’s something grand and…

John Schacht

City of God, The Help among new home entertainment titles

ANOTHER EARTH (2011). In one of those cinematic chicken-or-the-egg conundrums, viewers are left to wonder what came first to the folks who wrote Another Earth: a storyline that led to a Twilight Zone-ish ending, or a Twilight Zone-ish ending that led to the story preceding it? After all, the film’s final shot is such a…

Matt Brunson

3 questions with Christina Harbison, food truck owner

When you set out to follow your dreams, there’s no telling where they’ll take you. Chef Christina Harbison may have settled in NoDa (on 35th Street) for now, but the Savannah, Ga., native has traveled the world cultivating her passion. Harbison always knew she wanted to be a chef. She studied business management and accounting…

Laura Camilo

Nightlife profile: Shawn Shrader

Now that winter’s almost here, it’s time to start considering how to avoid being outside as much as possible. Guys, Shawn Shrader has got you covered, offering a haircut plus frosty beverages and the game, all in one spot. His Celtic, Scottish-themed pub, The Kilted Buffalo, is located in the heart of Birkdale Village and…

Jordan Bullington

CD Review: Zoe Vette & the Revolvers’s B.C. Radio

In balance with the plethora of bands trying to mark new twists on music are those that don’t try to re-invent the wheel, but offer a more straightforward approach. Zoe Vette & The Revolvers’ debut album takes elements of rock from the last few decades and sews them together for an album with enough punch…

Jeff Hahne

CD Review: Young and In the Way’s V Eternal Depression

If anything, the redefinition of black metal as pop art (Liturgy played MoMA in July) is about the synthesis of new forms. After all, these bands aren’t burning churches or killing people. Having divorced the style from its historical violence, acts like Wolves in the Throne Room subsume the best elements of post-rock and post-metal,…

Corbie Hill

Capsule reviews of films playing the week of Dec. 14

ABDUCTION Sure, it’s easy to pick on the Twilight guy. Because who’s gonna rush to his defense other than smitten Team Jacob fans? Make no mistake about it: Abduction, in which Taylor Lautner is handed his first starring role in a motion picture, will never, ever, ever be mistaken for a good movie. But the…

Matt Brunson

Theater reviews: Women and Wallace, The Velveteen Rabbit

At the latest Chaos Ensemble production at Duke Energy Theatre, the company lived up to its motto “Theatre for Youth by Youth” more than ever before. For Jonathan Marc Sherman’s autobiographical drama, Women and Wallace, was written when the playwright was a mere 18. Twenty-three years after it was first produced, Wallace stands as a…

Perry Tannenbaum

Item of the Week: Ella B Pure Soy Candles

With the gift-giving season upon us, I know there’s one Charlotte lover on your list that you’re struggling to find something for. May I suggest an Ella B Pure Soy Candle? Made by Julie Tassy, these candles are poured locally and made out of pure soy. Aside from the cool benefits of burning a soy…

Kimberly Lawson

A wilder style of vintage in Kathy Wilder’s 1920 home

As style rules go, the old saying is true: What goes around comes around. Those bell-bottoms your mom wore in college will someday be the height of future Paris fashion. The same goes for interior design: The faded and chipped table your grandmother used to store her phone books is now the perfect piece of…

Natalie Howard

Bizarre crimes from Charlotte police files

Cold Feet: A 38-year-old man filed a police report last week after he realized his wedding ring was stolen at work. He told police that he took the ring off to wash his hands and left it on the sink. When he returned, the ring was gone. The wedding band was engraved with, “5-29-11 I…

Ryan Pitkin

Kyle Murray

Recently spotted at a local fashion event a few weeks ago, Kyle Murray, a 23-year-old Kentucky native, says he loves everything under the arts umbrella. “I sing, dance, step, paint, draw and have a strong love for photography,” Murray says. He has also grown into the role of a wardrobe stylist, fashion show producer and…

T. Strong

Weekly horoscope (Dec. 14-20)

Sagittarius The Archer (Nov. 22-Dec. 20) Mercury has been traveling in your sign since early November. It has caused you to reflect deeply on your next direction. Now that the planet is turning direct, you feel more capable of making decisions and moving forward. You’ll be cautious at first, but your moves will pick up…

Vivian Carol

New Year’s Eve: Dropping the ball

NEW YEAR’S EVE *1/2 DIRECTED BY Garry Marshall STARS Robert De Niro, Halle Berry Forget counting down from 10 as the ball drops in Times Square; here instead is a countdown of the 10 key points in New Year’s Eve, which proves to be even tougher to take than director Garry Marshall’s previous all-star holiday…

Matt Brunson

Film screening: Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

While Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale may be a Yuletide film, don’t expect to see stockings hung by the chimney with care or visions of sugarplums dancing in anyone’s head. Instead, this Finnish import approaches the holiday with macabre glee, positing that Santa Claus and his elves are rather fearsome fellows. Rare Exports is being…

Matt Brunson

One columnist’s local Christmas list

Ah, December. The most hopeful month of the year, and the most commercially depraved. No wonder this is America’s favorite time of year. Love it, hate it, or do both at the same time, ’tis nevertheless the season to make wish lists. With those ambiguous feelings in mind, here is my annual wish list for…

John Grooms

Listen to the people, not the polluters

DURBAN, South Africa — High above the pavement, overlooking Durban’s famous South Beach and the pounding surf of the Indian Ocean, and just blocks from the United Nations Climate Change Conference, where up to 20,000 people gathered, seven activists fought against the wind to unfurl a banner that read “Listen to the People, Not the…

Amy Goodman

Is the local Democratic Party imploding?

Tension rippled through the Mecklenburg County Government Center on Dec. 6 as the commissioners filed into their meeting room. At the top of the agenda was the election of the governing body’s chairperson, a position usually reserved for the top at-large vote-getter. Even before the meeting, it was clear that at-large commissioner Harold Cogdell Jr.…

Cheris Hodges

Occupy the First Amendment

Around the nation, we’ve seen tension between the First Amendment rights of Occupy protesters and the public concerns of city officials. In exercising their freedoms of speech and assembly, Occupiers have maintained a consistent presence on public property throughout the United States. Cities have complained about sanitation issues arising from Occupy camps, destruction of property…

The gift horse: Troy’s Mediterranean Grill

I was too late. I have written in this space before about the importance of visiting an ethnic eatery when it first opens. Why? In the first few weeks, most ethnic restaurateurs offer the foods of the original plan. If that owner is Turkish and the place is fast casual, the quintessential Turkish sandwich, the…

Tricia Childress

Is Bank of America joining Lowe’s in bowing to anti-Muslim bigotry?

The Florida Family Association (FFA), a far-rightwing, self-anointed Christian group, claims that its griping has led a number of large companies, including Charlotte-based Lowe’s and Bank of America, to pull their advertising from All-American Muslim, a TLC reality show about Lebanese families in Dearborn, MI. Lowe’s has confirmed that it pulled its ads from the…

John Grooms

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