Feb 5-11, 2014

Feb 5-11, 2014 / Vol. 27 / No. 50

Cover Story

Power struggle: Thom Tillis vs. Mark Harris

Several hundred had gathered in The Westin’s ballroom the night everything changed. President Barack Obama was hours away from being re-elected, but no one here gave a damn. When an exuberant Pat McCrory emerged from backstage, having just been elected governor by a landslide, his walk to the podium that November night in Charlotte signified…

Michael A. Cooper Jr.

Bizarre crime from Charlotte police files (Feb. 6)

Hamburglar: Employees at the YMCA senior center in NoDa were in for quite a lunch last week. A 43-year-old woman called police and told them that a suspect broke a window to gain access to the senior center’s kitchen. While inside, the suspect opened the mini-fridge and took the woman’s lunch she had brought from…

Ryan Pitkin

The Monuments Men: Artful Dodger

THE MONUMENTS MEN **1/2 DIRECTED BY George Clooney STARS George Clooney, Matt Damon It’s a question that’s been posed in one way or another through the ages, but let’s co-opt the variation employed in Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway. Chewing over weighty matters, Sheldon Flender (Rob Reiner) asks fellow playwright David Shayne (John Cusack), “Let’s…

Matt Brunson

3 questions with Tour De Food’s Lisa Schnurr

On a recent Saturday, I joined Tour De Food’s excursion through the small town of Davidson. The one and only drive-through within the city limits is a Wells Fargo ATM — a fact that makes most foodies rejoice. Over the four-hour-long adventure, my group was treated to hearty samplings at six local restaurants in the…

Laura Rathbone

Art in bloom at Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden

Now might not seem like the best time to visit Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden. It’s winter and it’s cold (well, depending on Charlotte’s ever-fluctuating forecast). The garden’s most exuberant outdoor plants are not blooming, the fountain is dry and there’s an overall dormant dullness to the outside scenery. But it’s a different story inside the…

Anita Overcash

Dear Wiggly

Lisa was eight months pregnant and ready to meet her second son. Baby showers had been thrown, rompers had been bought and tiny hats had been knitted. Then one morning she felt a flutter kick that was never repeated. I found out about Lisa’s stillborn son one morning after toddler music class. She was sitting…

Danny Bonvissuto

Where to find it: Bottarga

Bottarga seems to be the ingredient of the moment. A decade ago, it crept into food stories; then onto restaurant plates; now, via televised food shows, into the home kitchen. Bottarga, which is the Italian word and used by Americans, goes by other names: botarga in Spain, botargo in the U.K., poutargue in France, karasumi…

Tricia Childress

Skinny Puppy’s industrial evolution

Industrial rock outfit Skinny Puppy knows its music unnerves people. It’s dissonant, jarring and harshly beautiful. That’s always been the point. But according to cEvin Key, co-founder of the Canadian band along with Nivek Ogre, they’re not too pleased with the U.S. government’s use of Skinny Puppy’s music on Guantanamo Bay prisoners — a sort…

Samir Shukla

GOP myths about the poor hindering U.S. recovery

Aside from the most rabid, lost-in-space tea partiers, Republican lawmakers don’t want to be seen as waging a war against the poor — an increasingly common Democratic complaint about thems — even if they’re doing just that. Rep. Paul Ryan, remember, swears that his proposed gutting of the social safety net is merely intended to…

John Grooms

Weekly horoscope (Feb. 7-13)

For All Signs: Mercury, ancient god of travel, messages and routine business, turns retrograde on Thursday this week. This phenomenon occurs three times per year, lasting approximately 3.5 weeks each. Be prepared for a flurry of phone calls and changes in schedule. If your work is related to publishing, travel or the communications industry, be…

Vivian Carol

Joe Pug’s poetic license

On the title track of his most recent album, singer/songwriter Joe Pug proclaims himself “the great despiser,” a poetic turn of phrase that aptly captures the subtle ambiguities of his well-crafted tunes. There’s obviously a cutting and caustic sense of self-analysis and introspection to it, but also a bold and assertive claim to a kind…

Kyle Petersen

Need help navigating Obamacare? You’re in luck.

After she was laid off from her job at Family Dollar four years ago, Anna Perry found herself without health insurance. Soon thereafter, chest pains sent her to the emergency room, where a one-night stay cost her about $10,000. Perry, 62, paid her bill with help from some local nonprofits and has since relied on…

Ana McKenzie

Drunk in love

Your wedding may be the most significant day of your life, but to everyone else, grandma included, it’s just a big ol’ party with free booze. While you’re saying “I do” and exchanging lifelong vows, guests are wondering when it will be their turn to say yes to another round. If you want to create…

Lauren Blake

Do this, not that

With the popularity of Pinterest and WeddingWire, it can be difficult to see past the millions of existing, and often very good, ideas to formulate an original one. Sure, these sites can be useful for sourcing ideas and items to supplement your own vision, but much of the content is the same, creating the unfortunate…

Megan Henshall

Recent

See all

Gift this article