Christmas All Over Town
* The folks from The Evening Muse have put together a Christmas CD featuring local and regional acts performing a mix of traditional holiday classics and original tunes. The project began with “Christmas in July,” a two-day recording session held at the Muse this past summer. The disc, titled A Christmas Evening at the Muse,…
Citizen Servatius: Going the Extra Mile
The healing potential of crack cocaine has been vastly underestimated by medical science, my friend insists. “It should be studied,” he says. “If I had AIDS or something terminal, I’d smoke it, you can count on that.” Take this one crack addict my friend knows, for instance. He says the guy has terrible gangrene and…
Music Menu
Good Charlotte Sort of like a more thoughtful Blink-182, they say. And Teen People and YM like them, so you know they’re cute. And they get played on the radio, and have Charlotte in their name. Yes, they sport a smattering of tattoos, and even a band logo based on tattoo flash. Someone at Epic…
Lucy Perkins
I first read J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of Rings when I was still in junior high school. (Hey, you’ve got to start young if you want to reach the heights of nerd-dom I’ve attained.) Even though I was a voracious reader from the minute I learned how, The Lord of the Rings trilogy changed my…
Soundboard
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12 BAYOU KITCHEN Bill Noonan BIG AL’S, MOORESVILLE Robin Brown CAJUN QUEEN 7th Street Gator Band CAJUN QUEEN, PINEVILLE 7th Street Gator Band II CAT’S CRADLE, CARRBORO Julie Brown & Damon Ray CHARLIE BROWN’S, CHARLOTTE Rob & Rob COMEDY ZONE Phil Hogan & Dickie Palmer CONNOLLY’S Craig & Rich DILWORTH COFFEE HOUSE Open…
SCENE & HERD
Skids Row: Folks were dressed up in all their hillbilly finery Friday night, as Southern Culture on the Skids played to a raucous audience at Tremont Music Hall. Granted, they were preaching to the convicted, but no matter — all the better for a corn liquor-fed hoedown, right? Well, not exactly. Singer/ guitarist Rick Miller…
Rat Pack Mentality
A remake of Casablanca? What’s the point? A new version of Citizen Kane? Sounds suicidal. A re-imagining of Psycho? Completely imbecilic (oh wait, they did try that one. . .the fools). But a remake of Ocean’s Eleven, the 1960 caper yarn that starred Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and the rest of the Rat Pack? Now…
Letters to the Editors
Bye Bye, Shinn Laden To The Editors: In Susan Shackelford’s series of proposals to keep the Hornets and Sting in town (“Keeping The Hive Alive,” November 28), she first suggests that Osama Shinn Laden make a convincing public commitment to keeping the teams in town. Is she suggesting that such a commitment didn’t exist before…
Hot To Trot
An American classic, two foreign Oscar nominees, and a movie about movies — these are the choices during the Charlotte Film Society’s “Second Week” series beginning this Friday at the Manor Theatre. And if you miss them there, you can catch them the following week during the Society’s “Second Chance” series, which extends the run…
The Blotter
* Some of the more interesting thefts of the week: A 30-day license tag off a 73-year-old’s Oldsmobile; 10 shrubs from someone’s front lawn; $4.49 worth of baby nipples (and she was caught); and a set of keys that were in the ignition of the running car, which was left to warm up in the…
Christmas With Dylan
A little more to the left.” “No. It’s fuller around to the right.” “You’re crazy.” “Just try it my way and you’ll see.” “Now the stand’s leaking.” “Somebody’s liable to get electrocuted.” “I swear you’ve got the best side to the wall.” “I thought we’d be through by now.” “You’re right it was better…
FilmClips
CURRENT RELEASES AMELIE After making his mark with the delightfully deranged films Delicatessen and City of Lost Children, French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet made the ill-fated mistake of going Hollywood by overseeing the hapless Alien: Resurrection. Amelie finds Jeunet back in his element: as the creator of enchanting, quirky comedies that, like their central characters, march…
Change of Heart
When the 90-seat Bistro East opened last summer on East Boulevard in Dilworth, the buzz around town was what a great job the architect and owners had done. The new mixed brick facade oozed with charm. The patio beckoned passersby to drop by and have a beer. This welcome change was not surprising since the…
8 Days A Week
WEDNESDAY 12 The Charlotte Rep production of The Last Night of Ballyhoo will continue (through Sunday) in Booth Playhouse of the Performing Arts Center. Showtimes are Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday nights at 7:30pm, Friday and Saturday night at 8pm, and Sunday matinees at 2pm. Tickets range from $19-$26.50. For more information, call 704-372-1000 or visit…
Struggling In A Wealthy Town
She still remembers her daddy’s last words. “Don’t let the streets take you over,” he pleaded. Temika Black was 22 and pregnant with her second child when her father was shot. She held him in her arms and as she watched him die, he begged her to do one more thing. “Baby, I want you…
Stargazer
For All Signs We are entering what is called an “eclipse season.” Eclipses almost always arrive in pairs, one with the new moon and another with the full moon. On December 14 at 3:47pm EST an annular eclipse of the sun in Sagittarius will be visible in the US and other parts of the world.…
Palisades Saga Continues
The Palisades ranks right up there with Charlotte’s most controversial developments. Sprawl, water and air quality, big business vs. homeowners — all issues that have been on the table plenty of times before. But the latest debate over Crescent Resources’ sprawling Lake Wylie proposal appears to be a watershed event, the final results of which…
Unmined Territory
Two photographers, now showing at the Light Factory through January 17, artists ask you to look hard at their images. Appreciation for either man’s art doesn’t come without a little work. Both artists use the medium of photography to deliver a message that has little to do with sharing information, and much to do with…
National Spotlight On The Way
It’s hard to believe, but a major national media event may unfold in Charlotte in 2002, and it won’t involve sports or a homicide. It just so happens that the hottest US Senate race in the country could be centered right here if Republican Elizabeth Dole and Democrat Erskine Bowles make it out of their…
Brainy WASPs Failing at Love
Once or twice before the current version of Love Letters opened up in NoDa, I had seen A.R. Gurney’s pocket tragicomedy in concert reading versions. Each time, I was hesitant to watch Gurney’s decorous Brahmin couple frittering away their lives without fulfilling their mutual adoration. And on each occasion, I’ve returned homewards surprised by how…
Campaign sign laws are ineffective
Sign, sign, everywhere a sign, blocking up the scenery. . . The song could describe the mess left behind by city council candidates who littered the landscape with their signs before the November election and haven’t bothered to take them down. According to city code, campaign signs are supposed to be removed within seven days…
Up A Crazy River
“Once the canyon walls closed around them, Powell and his men would be as bound by their decision as sky divers falling through the air. All they could do would be to struggle on, knowing that each mile would carry them deeper into the earth, farther into the unknown, and farther from the possibility of…
Kaplan’s Freewheeling Style Will Be Missed
Stan Kaplan will never hire another “oddball” again. The 76-year-old owner of The Leader newspaper died last Monday of a heart attack. As one of the “oddballs” Kaplan employed during his long media career as a Charlotte radio and newspaper owner, I’m uniquely qualified to add my piece to Kaplan’s final hurrah. Although I wish…
Arts Agenda
Holiday Classical Music Christmas at the Abbey The Festival Singers of Charlotte host their holiday concert, “Wolcum, Yole!”. Sat., Dec. 15, 8 p.m. Free and open to public. Belmont Abbey College, 100 Belmont-Mount Holly Rd., Belmont. 704-334-3468. Festival Singers Short-form classical seasonal music, sacred and secular, both a cappella and accompanied. Tue., Dec. 18, 8…
A Dog Eat Dog World
Dawn Echols got a nasty surprise recently when she and her son were feeding the family dog a can of chunky beef and chicken Pedigree dog food. “Mixed in with a spoonful of the food was what appeared to be a dog claw,” Echols said. “It really makes you wonder what you’re feeding your pet.”…
Change of Heart
When the 90-seat Bistro East opened last summer on East Boulevard in Dilworth, the buzz around town was what a great job the architect and owners had done. The new mixed brick facade oozed with charm. The patio beckoned passersby to drop by and have a beer. This welcome change was not surprising since the…
Daniels Seeks Reinstatement
Ahmad Daniels stated last week, during a speech at UNC-Charlotte, that he is seeking “justice” after being forced to resign from his position as Mecklenburg County minority affairs director. What that justice consists of — financial restitution, being reinstated, or a lawsuit — remains unclear. Daniels says he was forced to resign from his position…
Good Eats
ALL AROUND TOWN ANNTONY’S CARIBBEAN 2001 E. 7th, 704-342-0749; 145 Brevard Court, 704-339-0303; 20910 Torrence Chapel Road, Cornelius, 704-894-0280. A fun, change-of-pace restaurant for a casual lunch or dinner. Limited menu features rotisserie-cooked barbecued meats, what else, Caribbean style. $ BRUEGGER’S BAGEL BAKERY All over town. Chewy bagels, crisp on the outside, and served with…
The Grace of Small Gifts
It was the smallest gift that started all the trouble. Each student received a sheet of paper, an envelope, a sticker. Now the paper was rather lovely with pale watermarks of leaves and flowers, and the envelopes matched spiffily, but the stickers were just an afterthought, nickel-sized and silver-colored, paper-backed, one-dimensional ornaments. Of course all…
Where That Long, Strange Trip Started
When lead guitarist Jerry Garcia died in 1995, the Grateful Dead were one of rock’s most successful acts. Their legendary tours were the focal point of an entire subculture dubbed “Deadheads,” a complex, frequently misunderstood group studied by sociologists. Consummate musicians, the Dead lived to play concerts, often performing between 200-300 a year, an enduring…
Sports: Intensity Therapy
If you could harness the energy of UNC-Charlotte’s new women’s basketball coach, you could power the McAdenville holiday lights. Katie Meier patrols the sideline during games, waving her arms and shouting defensive schemes or simply yelling, “C’mon, C’mon.” At timeouts, she claps and sometimes barks, “Get over here!” then intently maps plays in the huddle.…
Ben Folds One
To Ben Folds, rocking the suburbs isn’t anything to scoff at. The Winston-Salem native, best known as the leader of the now-defunct power pop trio Ben Folds Five, recently struck out on his own as a solo artist with the album Rockin’ the Suburbs, recorded mostly in his new adopted home of Adelaide, Australia. A…
Breaking Through The Information Blockade
Who knew Seattle would begin a media revolution? When the World Trade Organization met in the espresso capital of the US in November 1999, hundreds of journalists and thousands of protesters converged on the city. The journalists represented, by and large, a handful of corporate media organizations, while the protesters represented a diverse group of…
