Pass The Pate, Love
Only at this time of year do I get inspired to use lots of eggs, cream and butter. What the hell, I say, it’s only once a year that I indulge in artery heavy hitters such as eggnog, chocolate truffles and chicken liver pate. Not only are these heady treats great fun to nibble on…
Splitting the Difference
Now that the 2004 election is over and we’ve had a chance to rinse that awful taste out of our mouth as best we can, reality is setting in. We find an America who’s being forced to deal with the dirty little secret that’s been festering for 50 years; there are two Americas and they’ve…
Christmas, Football, and Antiques
Having lived in some pretty small apartments over the years, I’ve never quite felt the time was right to buy a Christmas tree of my own. When in doubt, I’d just go to my parents’ house, as they still buy me the lion’s share of schwag I receive anyway. I’ve decided this year will be…
Eat, Drink, Get Rudolph-Faced
Raise your hand if you’re tired of the holidays already. The rude traffic, the tackle-football shopping and the inescapable holiday jingles make me want to curl up with a bottle and emerge when it’s over. Perhaps I have a case of seasonal dysfunction, but since I can’t afford to check into Betty Ford, I can…
Above the Fold
There are a few things most people don’t know about County Commissioner Bill James. Take a good look at the group photo of the commissioners on the county website sometime. Note the yellow cast of his skin. There’s a reason James has become increasingly shrill on the issues he cares most about — namely anything…
The Blotter
POINTLESS PUNCH: A man reported that he was walking down the street minding his own business when an unknown suspect approached him and punched him in the left eye for no reason. HIDDEN CRACK: In responding to a call about a suspicious person, police came across a man who was a suspect in a recent…
Good Eats
All Around Town Anntony’s Caribbean, 6434-F West Sugarcreek Rd., 704-598-6863; 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…
Roads Not Traveled
As Robert Frost suggests, everyone has a road not traveled. Either by fate, circumstance or conscious decision, at sometime in our lives we turned away from one path and focused on our present course. I was vividly reminded of my life not lived at Amos’ in South End where my wife and I, with many…
How To Avoid Your Relatives During Holiday Gatherings
1. Always be the one who volunteers to go to the store for one or two items. Be sure to always “forget” one of the items so you have to go back. Then “get lost” on the way home. 2. Tell your in-laws they did something wonderful when they created your spouse, then ask, “You…
Have Yourself a Scary Little miX-Mas
Your selection of Christmas music is tired. Don’t worry. Most everyone else’s is, too. But technology has made it oh so easy to remedy that situation — your personal ultimate holiday mix is just some Internet research and a CD burner away. What follows is a frighteningly screwed-up hypothetical anthology; it’s not meant to embody…
Letters
Calling All Liberal Christians I was encouraged to read John Sugg’s “I Am A Christian Too” (Nov. 24). As a nonbeliever I stand in stunned incredulity at the sheer number of fundamentalists and the power they’ve gained over public policy in this country. It does no good at all for atheists to speak out against…
Holiday Events
Be a Santa to a Senior A program dedicated to the joy of holiday giving specifically for elderly citizens by fulfilling their wish list of an item desired for the holidays. There will also be a citywide gift-wrapping day for all the gifts collected. Dec. 3-17. 704-344-0801. Candlelight Carols Presented by Nova Voce, the concert…
To Hell, With Bluegrass
If you want to go to Hell, mixing whiskey, bluegrass and AC/DC – authors of the hard rock classic, Highway to Hell – should give you a good head start. And that’s exactly what has put Hayseed Dixie on the music map as the self-proclaimed torchbearers for the darker side of hillbilly music. “For some…
News of the Weird
Lead story: Eccentric British rock musician Genesis P-Orridge (born Neil Megson) and his wife and partner, Lady Jaye Breyer, are gradually transforming themselves surgically into gender-neutral human beings (“pandrogynous”) resembling each other, so that eventually they will be indistinguishable, to demonstrate how overrated gender is as a point of reference. (For example, he wore a…
See & Do
DECEMBER 08 – WEDNESDAY Christmas gets curiouser and curiouser as the members of Moving Poets Theater of Dance train their satirical eye – and assorted multimedia lenses – on the Yuletide season with Holiday 6/15. The Poets are never more pleasing than when they open up their Theatre 36 stage to the screwiest 15-minute pronouncements…
Sit & Spin
U2 How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb Interscope Thanks to the fact that some major labels send us their “big” albums on the national release date instead of providing the “advanced servicing” given to Spin and the New York Times, I’ve had the chance to see U2’s new How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb reviewed…
Taste of Havana Cuban Restaurant
Major Mojo Revision A Cuban revolution for the taste buds Castro’s rise to power caused a wave of Cuban immigration into south Florida, forever changing the culinary traditions of that state. Stone crabs met the ubiquitous mojo, a tart, garlicky sauce made with sour orange juice and olive oil, as common to Cuban tables as…
Ask the Advice Goddess
In Thickness and in Health? Last year, I married my girlfriend of many years. She’s my soul mate, but she gained a lot of weight this year. I’m extremely active, and believe it’s essential to stay healthy. I always thought my wife believed that too, yet she now eats terribly and doesn’t exercise. I’ve tried…
Music Menu
WEDNESDAY 12.8 Jake Armerding — Jake’s currently garnering loads of favorable press for his Boston-meets-bluegrass take on traditional coffeehouse folk. The sound recalls Del McCoury and Ricky Skaggs as much as it does, say, Richard Shindell, but Armerding’s smooth-as-latte voice still places it firmly in the percolated vein of the Massachusetts strum-and-sing set. To continue…
Stargazer
For All Signs The strength of the Venus/Mars conjunction continues to be the central cosmic news. We need to join loved ones in finding ways to resolve old difficulties and jointly let go of unpleasant history. If you cannot do this together, adopt an attitude of forgiveness in your heart. Persons in relationships that are…
Soundboard
Wednesday, Dec. 8 Amos’ Southend Gavin Degrow Breakfast Club DJ Boney B Bricktop Lounge DJ Christian and DJ Brigmunton Comet Grill Open Mic w/ Bill McDonald Double Door Inn Country & Western Bill The Evening Muse Jake Armerding The Gin Mill Wizard’s Road Show Harry and Jean’s, Rock Hill Gary Marcus, Christian Tamburr, Ryan Weaver,…
Prelude to the Prairie
You may have heard that before the intrepid Ingalls family moved out under the endless blue skies of the prairie, grasshoppers ate their farm in Minnesota. What’s probably big news to Little House fans, however, is the fact that this incurably lovable family spent a hard-working winter down in Iowa before journeying westward. Naturally, there’s…
MIA DVDS 2
It was this time last year — the December 10, 2003, issue, to be exact — that CL took a look at approximately 50 top titles that still weren’t available on DVD. As we noted then, “With the explosive advent of the DVD home entertainment format… it’s not unreasonable to assume that most of cinema’s…
Umberger Opts Out of Rep Reunion
Just when you thought there might be a healing of the rift between Charlotte Repertory Theatre and its founder, Steve Umberger, there’s a hitch. In a letter addressed last week to company managing director Debbie Fitts and the new chairman of the board, Bill Parmelee, Umberger has withdrawn from Rep’s upcoming production of The Exonerated.…
Intimate Strangers
How much one enjoys Closer depends on how charitable one feels toward the four characters at the center of Mike Nichols’ lacerating new film. These men and women, originally created by scripter Patrick Marber for his stage play of the same name, are alternately petty, vicious, narcissistic, perverse, illogical and ill-tempered. Viewers not interested in…
The New Superman
Michael Chabon may be a literary swan, affixed with the tag of Pulitzer Prize-winning author as well as an enviable hipness quotient, but he’s never forgotten the ugly duckling years of adolescence. At 41, he acknowledges hanging on to those uncomfortable years as a constant motivation to spur creativity and discipline. Rather than lapse into…
View From The Couch
THE BOURNE SUPREMACY (2004). Even more than 2002’s The Bourne Identity, this second installment (based on the Robert Ludlum bestseller) slips into a worn groove as familiar as the repetitive template for, say, the Friday the 13th series (slice, dice, wince, repeat). So by the umpteenth time I watched Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) evade his…
Arts Agenda
Classical Music Electronic Music Concert Students studying electronic music will present their original compositions in this concert. Wed., Dec. 8, 10 p.m. Free. Sloan Music Center, Davidson College, Davidson. 704-894-2357. Rockapella Comfort & Joy A blend of seasonal tunes as well as other favorites, without instruments. Dec. 15; Dec. 16, 8 p.m. $12.50-$25. Spirit Square,…
Film Clips
NEW RELEASES BLADE: TRINITY Blade II was that rare sequel that managed to trump the original, but the franchise ascension ends there. Blade: Trinity is easily the least of three, an overlong action yarn with nothing fresh to say on the subject of vampires nor on the curious holding pattern of Wesley Snipes’ career. Snipes…
Major Mojo Revision
Castro’s rise to power caused a wave of Cuban immigration into south Florida, forever changing the culinary traditions of that state. Stone crabs met the ubiquitous mojo, a tart, garlicky sauce made with sour orange juice and olive oil, as common to Cuban tables as ketchup is to American ones. Although during the 1980s and…
Have An Antidepressant Day
Angela Bolin was lying on her bathroom floor in a T-shirt and panties when she woke up in a pool of blood. Paramedics hovered over her. Her mother, father and sister stood there, sobbing. She didn’t know what was happening, but when she looked down at her inner thighs, she saw they were covered in…
Hello, Deli
Anyone who has moved here from the northeast longs for the Italian deli serving a Vito-styled sandwich with homemade mozzarella, salami and ham, and spritzed with oil, vinegar and Italian herbs. Or a Sloppy Joe sandwich with ham, Swiss and cole slaw, and oozing with Russian dressing on rye. So what’s popular here? Chicken sandwiches,…
Pill Happy
I listen to Del Shannon’s Greatest Hits from time to time. He was a rock singer out of Michigan with a falsetto voice whose 1961 hit “Runaway” is an early rock classic. He also was the first artist in America to make the charts with a Beatles song, “From Me to You,” released before the…
Eye On The Prize
Bruce Moffett is right where he wants to be. And if that isn’t success, then who knows what’s the true definition? Moffett is now the Executive Chef and owner of Barrington’s Restaurant, but his longtime goal of one day owning a restaurant kept him going when the times got tough. Originally from Barrington, RI, Moffett…
Into The Wild Blue Yonder
I had been reading I arranged to take a flying lesson through Be A Pilot, a non-profit foundation that was started in 1997 to help bolster the number of licensed pilots. Thousands of flight schools across the US participate in the Be A Pilot program, including Long Aviation at the Goose Creek Airport near Monroe,…
Visions Of What?
It’s hard to have a vision of something if you don’t know what it is. That’s why that “visions of sugarplums” line always baffled me. What exactly is a sugarplum? As a typical 6-year-old budding ballerina, I was in my ballet school’s version of The Nutcracker Suite, but the “Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy” didn’t…
The Nielsens for Christmas
The holiday season doesn’t always start off so jolly for local TV stations. That’s when the final November Nielsens hit their desks and they see either a gift to ease them into better ad sales for 2005, or a lump of coal and a retooling for the next ratings period. If that’s not enough holiday…
