Avett Brothers Get Their Day
A local promoter whining about a lack of coverage recently asked us — rhetorically, we presume — “who the f— are the Avett Brothers” after Creative Loafing had the temerity to preview their punk-grass show a couple of weeks ago at the Neighborhood Theatre. (The Brothers, by the way, sold out the venue — a…
Tinsel Town
Ah, Christmas. Time for things like tinsel and lights, baked ham, and roasting chestnuts on an open fire. And cheap, whimsical drink specials at local bars. It’s in that spirit that the “eggnog shooter” was no doubt created. Last Friday, Charlotte music scene alum Tara Busch returned from Wales to play a show at The…
Sit & Spin
The Rapture echoes DFA Records Coming on like the big-eared, drooling lovechild of some unholy union between New Order and Gang of Four circa 1982, the Rapture may be the cure to indie rock’s current malaise. The New York City quartet was just another struggling art-punk group before The DFA production crew descended upon them…
Surreal Security, Part Two
As I was passing through airport-world recently dealing with its shoe fetish and other invasive absurdities committed in the name of national “security,” (see “The Airport Gulag,” Dec. 3) I thought about how great it would be to finally reach my alma mater where, when I was a student, very few restrictions of the outside…
Music Menu
THURSDAY 12.18 Larry Keel Experience — Count Keel among the acoustic guitarists who can play the six-stringer as effortlessly as clapping hands. It’s bluegrass, Appalachian folk music and a touch of blues delivered with homegrown mountain vocals. Keel is a Telluride Flat-Picking Champion and watching him play guitar is proof it was no fluke. Also…
Karma Cleanser
Dear Karma Cleanser: Is there a time of the year when karma becomes more prevalent in our lives? It always seems that during December something strange happens, and all my past hopes and dreams and disappointments of the year come back into my life. At the beginning of the month, I ran into someone I…
Soundboard
Wednesday, Dec. 17 Baoding Robert Fernandez Blue Carl DiPonziano Cajun Queen 7th Street Gator Band Comet Grill Anamcara The Evening Muse Lunatic Fringe w/ Dawn Kinnard The Gin Mill Kenny Floyd Horse Shoe, Clover Tommy Hudson & Marty Cofield The Meeting House John Alexander Trio w/ Ron Brendle & Chris Garges Pewter Rose Tom Billotto,…
See & Do
DECEMBER 17 – WEDNESDAY The Charlotte Symphony’s annual performance of Handel’s Messiah will be performed at First United Methodist Church at 501 N. Tryon even if you missed the Charlotte Civic Orchestra’s performance at the same address this past Sunday. David Tang leads the CSO and his Oratorio Singers of Charlotte with added vocal artillery…
Santa’s Got A Brand New Bag, Part 1
Twas the fortnight before Christmas, And all through the city, Not a movie house was empty, Not even those deemed sh– Whoops. Excuse the Bad Santa lingo, but the fact remains that despite maxing out those credit cards on extravagant Christmas gifts, people always seem to have enough money left over to give generously at…
Ask the Advice Goddess
“Star 69”-Crossed Lovers For three months, I dated a girl who was perfect for me. I got scared, and acted like a total jerk, pushing her away without really explaining myself. I think I hurt her. It’s been a year, but I’ve been thinking about her nonstop. I actually called her cell phone last week.…
View From The Couch
FREAKY FRIDAY A pleasant out-of-left-field surprise, this hit remake of Disney’s 1977 family favorite (with Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster) is a treat for both kids and adults, updating the basic premise (first seen in Mary Rodgers’ book of the same name) while avoiding the common pitfall of tailoring the material to appeal only to…
Stargazer
For All Signs On Dec. 17 Mercury shifted to retrograde motion in Sagittarius and will remain so beyond the end of the year, making a pitstop in Capricorn. It is interesting to note that at the beginning of 2003 it was also retrograding in Capricorn. This suggests we will see some type of recapitulation of…
Film Clips
CURRENT RELEASES BAD SANTA Bad Santa may be rude, disgusting and offensive, but I laughed plenty of times, which is something I can’t say I did during those sucky Santa Clause flicks. A perfectly cast Billy Bob Thornton stars as a lifelong loser who dons the red suit annually to play a department store Santa,…
Taming The Beast
Jill Enfield’s hand-tinted photographs are the cream of the crop in a world saturated with the tinted image. Calendars pose puppies with paper white smiles and Paul Newman eyes, posters boast blue mountains rising across a liquid vermilion sky, and magazines color blushing cheeks in colors brazen enough to make Andy Warhol’s dead heart glow.…
This Charmed Day
This story is one of our favorite pieces of Southern non-fiction. It was written by the late Tim McLaurin, an award-winning author and teacher who died of cancer in 2001 at age 48. This is an excerpt from his extraordinary memoir, Keeper of the Moon. It is currently published as a separate story in Algonquin…
Honesty and Imagination
In his sparkling 1985 novel, Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez describes the unforgettable scent of bitter almonds in a room, the result of a depressed chess player’s suicide by aromatic fumes of cyanide. The heart of the novel, though, centers on an irredeemable romantic named Florentino Ariza. He falls hopelessly in…
Tried and True
How would Eric Clapton, Tom Jones, Hootie and his Blowfish or members of AC/DC choose to spend an evening in Charlotte? Probably the same way residents have for years — listening to the likes of Koko Taylor, Buddy Guy, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Willie Dixon, the Fabulous Thunderbirds and innumerable other notables at blues sanctuary The…
Arts Agenda
Comedy Bayou Kitchen Extreme Improv. Chicago style long form show Friday nights at 8pm ($5) and joined by Psychotic Pooch for twisted comedy at 10pm ($10). www.extremeimprov.com. Saturday nights short form show with audience suggestions, 8pm ($10). 1958 E 7th St. 1-866-467-7681. The Comedy Zone Peter Hefty. Ventriloquist with guests Paul Hooper and D. Cameron.…
Letters
Repression in Miami Thank you for printing the article on police repression at the FTAA protests in Miami (“Police State” by Steve Fennessy, Dec. 3). As activists who were in Miami, we can personally attest to the incredible police violence and trampling of fundamental constitutional rights. We strongly encourage everyone outraged by this article to…
Last Minute Party
After much, perhaps too much, family time during the holidays, New Year’s Eve is the time to relax and celebrate with friends. Even at this late date there’s still time to put together a successful New Year’s Eve bash. Forget snail mail invitations at this point. Your best bet is to call or email. Make…
Gimme That Old School Animation
You can try to shove Tim Allen down my throat as Santa, or have Tori Spelling as some mutant form of Ebenezer Scrooge on a new Hallmark holiday special, but give me that old time, old school animation anytime. Especially if it’s A Charlie Brown Christmas. Hang with me here. (Imagine that “da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dum. . .da-da-da-dum”…
The Gift of Grub
There’s a common truism among restaurant critics that only gets mentioned aloud when we talk among ourselves at conferences and such: When reviewing restaurants, we prefer to bring along interesting folks who want to talk about something other than the food we’re eating. Why? Because talking about food alone is boring. Certainly, a beautifully prepared…
Bullies In, Victims Out
Two weeks ago, law enforcement officers with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools showed up at Colleen Ross’ front door to advise her that it wouldn’t be a good idea to send her son, a sophomore at Olympic High, to school the next day. A group of students were threatening to slit his throat or shoot him, she says.…
Bubble-ology
Bubbly wine gives me the chills. Not bad chills, but the excited kind of ohmigawd-I’m-so-freakin’-excited chills. Anticipating the heady cork pop, I know I’m in for at least some tongue-zinging fun, and the follow-up fizz has a childish snap and crackle reminiscent of earlier years. These might be the reasons sparkling wines — the generic…
Power Play
The US President talked about the “special relationship,” meaning that Britain’s role was to do as the White House ordered. However, to everyone’s surprise, the British Prime Minister told the American leader to stuff his special relationship, that Britain may be a small nation, but it’s a great one, and it demands equality in negotiations.…
Good Eats
All Around Town Anntony’s Caribbean, 400 S. Tryon St., 704-339-0303; 2001 E. 7th St., 704-342-0749. All locations have different owners. 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.…
Enter the Consigliere
Even before Saddam was found in his hidey-hole, the White House put in the call for the Tejas Silvio Dante last week, summoning James Baker to help the administration clean up its increasingly complex Brave New Mess. Baker is the Bush family consigliere, a former Secretary of State and Treasury, and an experienced Middle East…
Mr. Webster’s Musical Dictionary
Charlotte’s Andrew Webster drinks a lot of coffee. Works at a coffee shop, in fact. Which figures. A guy would have to be pretty amped up on joe to have two local radio shows (one on Gaston College’s 91.7 FM and another on WBZK 980 AM), a planned local music TV show, and time to…
The Blotter
THE GRINCH IS BACK: A distraught woman called police to report that someone had stolen an eight-foot-tall inflatable Santa Claus from her yard. She said that she’d just bought the decoration for her children. Two days later, a man also called police to report that his inflatable Santa had been stolen. BIRTHDAY BLUES: It wasn’t…
iTunes Turning Into indieTunes?
The website-only music available at Apple’s iTunes — i.e., the probable future of the music business — is helping the company in its recruitment of indie artists. In October, indie stalwart labels Matador, SpinART and Kill Rock Stars agreed to make large chunks of their catalogues available through the Internet outlet. Now comes news that…
