The Gentlemen’s Game
The distribution and sale of beer in North Carolina is a briskly competitive business, but the sale and distribution of wine has always been known as a “Gentlemen’s Game”: deals done with a handshake, boundaries respected. In Charlotte, most wine has been sold in small, locally owned wine shops and in grocery stores. Within the…
The Government Took My Station Wagon
It was big and bright yellow, and it was all mine — unless my mother needed it. Sure, I didn’t like being seen in it, especially in the parking lot of the private high school I attended, where most kids pulled up in cars nicer than the one I drive now. But I didn’t care.…
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. Upcoming: March 5 Burgundy, Chablis, Cote d’Or Beaune; March 12 Burgundy Blanc, A Comparison; March 26 Red Wines of the Cote de Beaune. March classes will be taught by guest…
The Quest for News Gold
We watched Apolo and Michelle and even those Do-the-Dew halfpipe skiers. But what we didn’t get to see was perhaps the most taxing sport of all: Olympic newsgathering, thanks to the large contingent from Charlotte’s NBC Newschannel. The NBC Newschannel, for the uninitiated, is that building surrounded by big satellite dishes next to WCNC-TV on…
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…
Homefront Adviser
The New York Times reported last week that the Pentagon’s new Office of Strategic Influence was preparing to mount an international public relations campaign aimed at promoting pro-American public opinion and government policies. That’s not a bad idea. Years of inflicting ‘N Sync, David Hasselhoff and cruise missiles on the rest of the world have…
Americana Band Stand
There’s a familiar saying having to do with how everything in life comes full circle. On Tuesday, March 5, the long-standing Americana Night Showcase at the Double Door Inn will be doing just that. The night will not only serve as a celebration for the showcase’s fifth anniversary, which will feature four of its founding…
One Man’s Trash
The Weird: People are odd. For proof, you need look no further than this column every week. I understand fetishes, I think, when they’re connected to sexuality or religion. But what possible need can one have for a video showing a woman getting her hair shampooed and her ponytail cut off? Andy Warhol, he of…
“Knucklehead From The Midwest”
“Thank God the Tiki Bar is open/Thank God the tiki torch still shines…” And thank God John Hiatt is still rocking. Thursday night, the wry, talented singer-songwriter plays the Neighborhood Theatre for a sold-out show and, judging from last Friday’s performance at Asheville’s Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, the Charlotte crowd is in for a powerful good…
Letters to the editor
NBA and Corporate Welfare To The Editors: The “NBA Needs Attitude Adjustment” column by Tara Servatius (CL, February 20), pointing out the fading of the NBA, brings up a point that conservatives often miss: corporate welfare weakens its recipients. Taxpayer aid has shielded professional basketball from the marketplace consequences of such inefficiencies as bloated player…
Music Menu
WEDNESDAY 2.27 Alison Brown — She’s a Harvard educated investment banker turned bluegrass innovator — how cool is that? Brown is a Grammy-winning banjo player who’s moving back toward traditional bluegrass after some eclectic stints on Vanguard Records. She’s now the co-founder of the solid indie label Compass Records, and pumping her own agenda on…
The Blotter
* A house which was for sale was broken into when someone ripped a lock box off the house, and stole the house key inside. The thief took great care in choosing what he wanted to take, being careful to leave the rest of the home and its contents untouched. The suspect left with $2,450…
Soundboard
Wednesday, Feb. 27 Barnes Recital Hall, Winthrop U Alison Brown Quartet w/ The Green Grass Boys 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 Cheryl Wheeler Comet Grill The Relics Dilworth Coffeehouse Open Mic w/ Bert Wray*…
Scene & Herd
Last week at the Visulite, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what was lying ahead. The show was the Smiling Assassin Tour and featured John “Jojo” Hermann of Widespread Panic along with members of the North Mississippi Allstars and Bloodkin. With the Widespread connection, I figured the show would be wall-to-wall hippies,…
We Were Soldiers: Casualties Of War
Despite its relative lack of Oscar cred, the war flick Black Hawk Down can at least take consolation in its financial status, as it stands to ultimately gross upward of $100 million at the US box office. That’s all well and good for producer Jerry Bruckheimer and crew, but where does that leave We Were…
8 Days A Week
WEDNESDAY 27 The Royal Shakespeare Company — yes the Royal Shakespeare Company — continues its Davidson College presentation of The Merchant of Venice. Performances are scheduled for 7:30pm the evenings of February 27-28 and March 1. A matinee show will be offered at 2pm on March 2. Tickets are $60. For more information, call 704-894-2135.…
Movie Missives
* The Charlotte Film Society recently announced its spring line-up, with 12 titles being screened March through May. Among the more unusual offerings are The Devil’s Backbone, a Spanish thriller from Mimic director Guillermo del Toro that focuses on an orphanage haunted by the spirit of a murdered boy; Following, a twisty mystery that marked…
Karma Cleanser
Dear Karma Cleanser: One of my girlfriend’s friends is having an affair with a married man. The girl is 19 and the guy is in his early 30s. We, my girlfriend and I, are friends with both of them. I have talked to them both about the affair and they see no problem with what…
Film Clips
NEW RELEASES DARK BLUE WORLD It’s a simple equation, really: Pearl Harbor minus dopey dialogue plus interesting characters divided by a fraction of a gargantuan budget equals Dark Blue World, the latest feature from Czech director Jan Sverak (the Oscar-winning Kolya). Like that bloated Hollywood epic, this one also focuses on a love triangle set…
Stargazer
For All Signs On February 28, Mercury returns to the position in the zodiac where the recent retrograde began (January 18). This suggests that projects, ideas, or plans, which began in January will now be concluded with greater ease. Things which are just too problematic to pursue can be dropped. Although Mercury is technically retrograde…
Blueprints For A Better City
A visiting expert on urban affairs told me a joke recently. Over a bottle of wine we were talking about trends in American cities, cataloging the list of problems that face us at every turn. “What’s the difference between an optimist and a pessimist?” he asked. I confessed I didn’t know the answer. “The pessimist…
Industrial Might & Magic
The Mint Museum’s The Gilded Age: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum is an absolutely stunning exhibit that features 60 masterpieces of American art. The names of the sculptors and painters are familiar, as are many of the artworks. It’s easy to be seduced by the incredible beauty and amazing technical finesse of these…
Charlotteans Roughed Up In Tianenmen Square
Six North Carolinians, including two people from Charlotte, were arrested, beaten, searched, robbed and interrogated during a recent trip to Beijing. They were there to peacefully protest the Chinese government’s persecution of some 100,000 members of Falun Gong, a meditation and spiritual movement that has come under increasing fire from the government. The incident has…
Blonde on Bland
Small, monochromatic plays can work at big Belk Theater. I had no qualms about the all-white Art two years ago or the lightweight Male Intellect that rolled into the Performing Arts Center last winter. But from the instant we saw Mae West’s severely cropped face blown-up and centered in Douglas Stein’s pink-paneled set, Claudia Shear’s…
News, Rumor and Innuendo
The word on the street is that Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory’s third term will be his last. That’s coming not from McCrory, but from those who, at least for now, aim to replace him with one of their own. Tapped to replace him is First Union executive Mac Everett. Since the merger of First Union…
Getting Mighty Crowded
Welcome to John Dufresne’s Louisiana backwater, Shiver-de-Freeze, population 375, where folks sport handles like Jinx, Comfort, and Ferlin, declare their amorous intentions on the local water tower, say things like yonder, fetched, and you might could have, and refer to their kin as being high tempered, weak in the intellectuals, or economical with the truth.…
Another Week Already
The Good: Pundits were all aflutter when the Pentagon announced that it planned to plant phony stories in other countries’ media. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld denied that lies are a part of the Pentagon’s tactics but, in view of past experience, most people knew he was lying. The Bad: The real surprise is that someone…
Arts Agenda
Classical Music Bach’s B Minor Mass performance will celebrate the 50th anniversary of David Tang and the Oratorio Singers of Charlotte – and will feature the Charlotte Symphony. Feb. 28, 8 p.m.; March 1, 8 p.m.; March 2, 8 p.m. $12-$55. Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, 130 N. Tryon St. 704-972-2000. Chamber Music at St. Peter’s…
Too Good To Be True. . .
I’m not above a little temptation and, like most people, I often find myself tempted by do-nothing-get-results schemes. One just can’t escape the appeal of doing nothing and getting something. One of the most popular types of something-for-nothing ploys is the get-rich-quick scheme. These are aimed at dumb people who want to make a lot…
