Panic Attack
What would you do if you were the keyboardist for one of the most popular jam bands currently on the music scene and you had a short break from touring? While a lavish vacation may first come to mind for most, John “Jojo” Hermann of the ever-touring outfit known as Widespread Panic takes to the…
Have You Seen Them?
You know those National Geographic guys who’ve been hunting the elusive giant squid at the bottom of the ocean for years, hoping to get a single shot of the creature to prove to the world that it actually exists? Well, I know what they feel like. A reader who lives in the SouthPark area challenged…
CD Disc-overies
After our recent call for local CDs, our mailbox was filled to overflowing with discs of all kinds: CDR’s, professional-grade releases, four-track recordings, and even the odd slab of 7-inch vinyl. Herewith is the first sampling of what we received — look for another local CD review issue down the road. Gigi Dover — Unpicked…
Another Week Already
* The Hornets/arena/NBA saga droned on all week, as it promises to do for the foreseeable future. CL reported it weeks ago, but local mainstream media woke up last week and announced that the city’s strategy is to squeeze out Hornets owners Shinn and Wooldridge by convincing the NBA to deny them permission to move…
Scene & Herd
The Man Show A near capacity crowd, consisting almost entirely of ultra-laidback dudes, filled the Visulite Theatre last Thursday for a show with the acclaimed Steve Kimock Band. Kimock, who Jerry Garcia once tagged as his “favorite unknown guitar player,” is one of those musicians who’s been around forever (he’s performed nationally for over 25…
Homefront Adviser
How did Iran go from ally in the war against terror to member of President Bush’s Axis of Evil? During his State of the Union address, President Bush shocked political observers around the world by declaring that Iran is part of an “axis of evil” along with Iraq and North Korea. No country was more…
Music Menu
THURSDAY 2.14 Renelvis — If you’ve been in Charlotte for a spell, you’ve probably heard of this cat named Renelvis. Rene Escharcha, aka Renelvis, is a typical nice guy who turns into a Vegas showman when a microphone is handed to him. To peg him just as an Elvis impersonator wouldn’t be fair, as Rene…
Letters to the Editors
Standard Conservative Name-Calling To The Editors: Kelly Boatright’s rant against Lucy Perkins in your latest issue (“Angry, Selective Tolerance,” January 30) was a good example of the murky thinking self-proclaimed conservatives generate today. Boatright accused Perkins of Bible-burning, insinuated that Perkins is a sub-par teacher based on writings which have nothing to do with her…
Soundboard
Wednesday, Feb. 13 Arnie’s Tavern, Huntersville Scott & Tim Bayou Kitchen Bill Noonan Big Al’s, Mooresville Robin Brown Cajun Queen 7th Street Gator Band Cajun Queen, Pineville 7th Street Gator Band II Connolly’s Craig & Rich Dilworth Coffeehouse Open Mic w/ Bert Wray *Double Door Inn Jem Crossland & The Hypertonics The Evening Muse Diggy…
The Blotter
* A Charlotte man called police to report that his home had been broken into and a valuable possession stolen. The item, he reported, is a “lacquered box” with a depiction of the USS Constitution painted on it. The box itself holds a small “decorated” oyster shell. The treasure was “hand-designed in Russia using an…
8 Days A Week
WEDNESDAY 13 Diane Ford, one of our favorite comedians (comediennes? Whatever) will be at the Comedy Zone tonight through February 16. She’s highly recommended. Shows are Wednesday and Sunday at 8pm, Friday and Saturday at 8pm and 10:15pm. The show will also feature Mike Collins. For more information, call 704-348-HAHA. The Charlotte 49ers Men’s Basketball…
New World Disorder
Collateral Damage, the latest Arnold Schwarzenegger wham-bam-thank-you-more-bam flick, arrives on the scene wielding enough heavy baggage to drag an ocean liner to the bottom of the deep blue sea. Originally primed for an October 5, 2001, release but yanked from the schedule following 9/11, this new action yarn from The Fugitive director Andrew Davis, in…
Stargazer
For All Signs It is not so fortunate for lovers that this week, which begins with Valentine’s Day, presents us with difficult aspects from Venus, goddess of love. During such challenging aspects, we are inclined to blame rather than forgive, withdraw rather than approach, and perceive our relationships with a harder point of view. We…
Trench Warfare
With corpses strewn on the field before him, with parked artillery surrounding him, and with an international incident developing several hundred yards away, a Serbian soldier on watchdog duty gasps in horror at something he reads in the newspaper. “What’s wrong?” asks his colleague. “What a mess in Rwanda!” he replies. It’s a deadpan moment…
Karma Cleanser
Dear Karma Cleanser: My mother, who turns 60 this fall, has visited palm readers on and off again for quite a few years. Recently she began seeing a new psychic, and after the first visit she raved that this new woman is the best one yet, that she has “a real connection to the spirit…
FilmClips
NEW RELEASES BIRTHDAY GIRL Birthday Girl is one of those movies that starts out so unexpectedly off-kilter, you can’t help but be disappointed once it turns stridently conventional. Ben Chaplin is merely average as John Buckingham, a British milquetoast who sends off for a Russian mail-order bride; he ends up with Nadia (Nicole Kidman), a…
Sex, God, And All The Rest
Richard Ford’s fiction is rooted in the idea that life is very fragile in the way we experience it; altering one small part changes everything. In his latest collection, the best stories reflect this notion that in the randomness of life “we are all implicated in the lives of others whether we precisely know how…
CL’s 15th Annual Charlotte Theatre Awards
So this is the new millennium. We began 2001 with a President who couldn’t win the popular vote and a partisan Supreme Court that was incapable of defining justice. Seems like a century ago, doesn’t it? Now if you believe the pollsters, we’re governed by the most popular President in our history, and bi-partisanship is…
The Chosen One
It’s impossible to say exactly when the visionary painter, the late Reverend McKendree Robbins Long of Statesville, NC, received his calling; the lines of communication are smudged. But when the Lord made his message clear, McKendree Long, a Davidson College graduate, answered with a passionate, almost manic intensity. It took Long a while, as a…
9/11 Raises Nuke Plant Safety Stakes
Charlotte is ground zero for what some are saying could be the most dangerous and potentially catastrophic development of the nuclear age. That’s the picture that developed during The Nuclear Insecurity Conference, held over the weekend at the Great Aunt Stella Center. A group of experts representing dozens of nuclear and environmental safety organizations gathered…
Misery, My Foot!
Zillions of Stephen King fans are gluttons for the suspense monarch’s endless smorgasbord of horrors and frights. Thanks to the fecundity of the novelist’s twisted imagination, relatively few of his devotees feel a letdown when the latest King concoction rolls off the press. But if you thought the best-selling author might grow complacent amid the…
Then and Now
If you’re like the rest of the city, you’re probably confused. Last year, city leaders said they wouldn’t use property taxes to build a new uptown arena. They’d let the voters decide whether to build a new arena. Then, after the voter referendum failed in June and election season began they said the people…
Arts Agenda
Classical Music The Beat Goes On The Charlotte Symphony Lollipops along with comedian Heidi Joyce, will educate the audience about the instruments of the orchestra through humor and music in a concert designed for children ages 4-9, their parents and grandparents. Sat., Feb. 16, 10 a.m. $6-$16. Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, 130 N. Tryon St.…
Who Knew?
While tanning has fallen out of favor with some people because of silly little things like skin cancer, every summer you can still find plenty of folks armed with lotion, towel and shades trying to get that perfect tan. For all you sun worshipers, ever wonder why there is often a delayed reaction to sunburn?…
Purple Haze
With one swig of Frugos’ Peruvian Purple Corn Drink and its vaguely starchy cinnamon taste, I knew the rest of the meal would have an unexpected flavor. The 65-seat El Loco Pollo Peruvian Restaurant, which opened last November, claims to be the only Peruvian restaurant in Charlotte, which technically is true, although some Peruvian dishes…
One Man’s Trash
The Weird: Smokers have to be forgiven for a lot of things. They’re grumpy, they stink, and their cars have less resale value. What smokers do have going for them is their striving to enhance the smoking experience, which has led to those neato lighters you can buy where a woman’s bikini fades away when…
Seven Deadly Zins
Everyday, true Zinfandel lovers unwittingly commit the seven deadly sins. They gulp gluttonously, envy Zin zealots’ collections, lust for the next smooth Zin, and covet their latest cheap Zin treasure. The other three — sloth, anger and pride — don’t fit nicely into the theme, but certainly American pride does. Zinfandel is the only real…
The Issue That Wouldn’t Die
Thank goodness city leaders have decided to bring the whole uptown arena issue up for debate again. I, for one, didn’t feel we really had the chance to thoroughly explore every possible nook and cranny of this complex city issue, which of course we heard about nonstop for the first half of 2001. For example,…
THE WINE LIST
CAROLINA WINE CLUB Morning classes run from 10-11:30am. Evening classes run from 6:30-8pm. All classes are held at the Mint Museum of Craft + Design. Sessions include: Feb 19, Wine & Food Pairings; Feb 26, Ordering Wine in A Restaurant & Purchasing Wine in a Grocery Store. Cost is $100 for any four sessions or…
Livin’ Large
The media makes us fat. And they make us worry about it. And they make us buy stuff to relieve our fears. As a faithful YMCA-goer, the first couple months of a new year are irritating, due to the overcrowded conditions brought on by the Resolution Crowd. These are the folks starting a new year…
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…
Friends and Enemies
“This will sound to some people like an anti-American column. It is not meant to be. As the writer, I assert that it is not. I’m the one who knows. . . That my disclaimer is necessary, however, is a commentary on (America’s) diminished state of consultative democracy. . . .A loyalty test –are you…
