Cover Story
Final Hurrah 2017
Every year around this time, we rush to figure out what we want to do for New Year’s Eve. Usually the choice is between living large out on the town or staying indoors — preferably at a house party. No matter what you choose to do, remember to drink responsibly (if you drink at all).…
News of the Weird: Tesla Family Troubles
Compelling Explanations A Tesla showroom in South Salt Lake, Utah, was the nexus of four different arrests on Nov. 24, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, in which at least two of the suspects claimed to be part of the Tesla “family.” (The car company is named after inventor Nikola Tesla, not a family owner.)…
The Greatest Showman: American Idle
THE GREATEST SHOWMAN ** (out of four) DIRECTED BY Michael Gracey STARS Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron Circus entrepreneur P.T. Barnum may have led a fascinating life, but you wouldn’t know it from The Greatest Showman, a broad and broad-minded musical that’s closer to High School Musical than Freaks on the pop-culture scale. Some engaging if…
Gary Oldman brightens Darkest Hour
DARKEST HOUR *** (out of four) DIRECTED BY Joe Wright STARS Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas Casting famous actors as famous historical figures often puts the performer at an extreme disadvantage, since it means they have to work twice as hard to put over the same feat of duplicity as less recognizable thespians tackling similarly…
All the Money in the World: Plum role for Plummer
ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD **1/2 (out of four) DIRECTED BY Ridley Scott STARS Michelle Williams, Christopher Plummer It didn’t exactly require all the money in the world, but Sony nevertheless had to cough up a sizable chunk of change to reshoot certain scenes in All the Money in the World. Even with the…
Listen Up: Rock Power Couple Drea Atkins and Johnny Moss on ‘Local Vibes’
In a Local Vibes first, we brought on a CLT rock power couple in Dréa Atkins, frontwoman of Farewell Albatross and general manager at School of Rock, along with her boyfriend Johnny Moss of Dirty South Revolutionaries. The duo riffs about the many styles of DSR, the importance of The Milestone to Charlotte’s music scene…
The Blotter: Cheap Date
Cheap Date Employees at a Ruby Tuesday in southwest Charlotte called police recently after a deadbeat Romeo left them high and dry after a date. The reporting staff member told officers that a man and his date came to eat a meal and were there for about two and a half hours, building up a…
Food to Watch 2018: What’s on the Menu?
Lots of new bars and restaurants will be opening up across the Queen City in 2018. Here are three we’re looking forward to. Legion Brewing Capital Towers, 4350 Congress St. There’s a new brewery coming to SouthPark in 2018. No, that’s not a typo. We didn’t mean to say South End. SouthPark is finally getting…
Charlotte Renewed For 2018
One of the more exciting moments for me, as a Charlottean in 2017, came on the night of November 7, when Creative Loafing news editor Ryan Pitkin reported live via Twitter from VBGB that Braxton Winston and several other young candidates had been elected to the Charlotte City Council along with new mayor Vi Lyles,…
Uptown Cabaret is a Must for Fantasy and Football
If you’ve followed my column since the beginning, it’s no news to you that I’m not afraid of strip clubs when it comes to having a good time. At one point, I was heading to Cameo, formerly known as Daisy Dukes, after work every single day as if it was my after-school program. Like clockwork,…
News to Watch 2018: The Feds Land in Charlotte
On December 15, Attorney General Jeff Sessions stood in the offices of Andrew Murray, former Mecklenburg County District Attorney and President Trump’s new U.S. attorney for Western North Carolina, and announced that Charlotte would be one of the first American cities where he will implement one of his new federal violent crime task forces. Sessions…
Arts to Watch 2018: Manoj Kesavan Goes BOOM
“Think of Wikipedia, which started 16 years ago,” Manoj Kesavan says. “If someone told you then that hundreds of thousands of people were going to spend millions of hours sharing knowledge, and in the process create the largest ever free encyclopedia, it would have seemed crazy.” Kesavan, the director of the experimental grassroots arts festival…
Arts to Watch 2018: Julio Gonzalez Confronts Death
When multi-disciplinary artist Julio Gonzalez first launched his best-known project, Dia de Los Casi Muertos, or Day of the Almost Dead, he was overwhelmed with submissions. Coming up on its fourth year, Dia de Los Casi Muertos began after Gonzalez saw a red flag — the specter of cultural appropriation marring one of his favorite…
Salome’s Stars
ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Shutting people out to avoid distractions, even under a deadline, can cause hurt feelings. Instead, return calls and emails, and explain why you need a zone of privacy for now. TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Although your keen Bull’s eyes usually can discern what’s fact from what’s faux,…
Arts to Watch 2018: CarlosAlexis Cruz Shatters the Fourth Wall
Circus arts director and performer CarlosAlexis Cruz is balancing two projects: One is a previous performance piece that will undergo changes, and the other is an entirely new presentation. Last July, Cruz, a theater professor at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and his Cirque du Soleil-style acrobatic troupe Nouveau Sud (“New South”) presented…
News To Watch 2018: Profound Gentlemen Takes Next Step
When we first met Jason Terrell in October 2015, he and Mario Javon Shaw, the co-founders of educational nonprofit Profound Gentlemen, had recently quit their jobs as teachers to work full time on the passion project they had launched in 2014. The organization, which aims to recruit, develop and retain black male teachers —who are…
News to Watch 2018: Right on Track
The day we thought would never come is almost upon us. The Blue Line Extension that will allow passengers to ride from Historic South End through Uptown and now into NoDa and the University area in north Charlotte is set to open on time — and might even open before that, believe it or not.…
Music to Watch 2018: New Local Vibes
THE YEAR 2017 has been nothing short of spectacular for Charlotte’s various music scenes. From intimate, eclectic showcases of area rock, hip-hop and singer-songwriter fare at Petra’s, to Snug Harbor’s monthly local-music residencies, to the free-jazz and poetry of Brent and Amy Bagwell’s “Antidote” series, to all-day festivals such as the Bla/Alt Black Alternative Music…
