Feb 6-12, 2013

Feb 6-12, 2013 / Vol. 26 / No. 50

Cover Story

The Militant Dentist: Dr. Reginald Hawkins

A few nights before Thanksgiving, the weather is nasty in Charlotte — the kind of fall storm that’s good for little more than burrowing under blankets and being lulled into a hypnotic dream state. Rain drums the rooftops in McCrorey Heights, one of the city’s oldest black, middle-class neighborhoods, and peals of thunder periodically split…

Emiene Wright

CMS race-bias expert to provide Band-Aid for deep wound?

My son was suspended from school last month for getting into an argument with another child. Not a fight, an argument. I asked his assistant principal why his punishment was so severe. “Well, he just seemed really aggressive,” she said. Secretly I knew that would be her answer. As the mother of a biracial son,…

Erin Tracy-Blackwood

Bizarre crime from Charlotte police files (Feb. 7)

Senior Scammer: An employee at Brighton Gardens assisted-living home found a stranger roaming the halls last week. When the employee asked the man what he was doing, the suspect said he was visiting to reminisce about the time he delivered papers to the building. The man took off running so employees chased after him, but…

Ryan Pitkin

Amour heads straight for the heart

AMOUR *** DIRECTED BY Michael Haneke STARS Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva It won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. It has earned Oscar nominations in five major-league categories, including Best Picture. Its writer-director and lead actress have each won or been nominated for more than a dozen international awards. Clearly, Amour, Michael Haneke…

Matt Brunson

What to get for the beauty who likes augmented reality, hacking electronics, and breaking the internet more than roses.

Desiree Kane

Fee Fi Pho Fun: Doan’s Vietnamese Restaurant quite simply rocks

As a rule, Vietnamese cuisine, with its clean, herbaceous flavors, doesn’t lend itself to palate confusion. Even stir-fries and rice crepes have distinct flavor profiles that rely heavily on the talents of the cook to create a tapestry of textures and a balance of sour, salty, sweet, hot and bitter. But much of the final…

Tricia Childress

Let’s get spanked!

Not all of us have read E.L. James’ erotic romance trilogy Fifty Shades of Grey, but we can all find the humor in it, as learned from last night’s opening of a new musical spoof, Spank! The Fifty Shades Parody, at McGlohon Theater. Of course, the folks who came out to support opening night of…

Anita Overcash

Weekly horoscope (Feb. 7-13)

Aquarius The Waterbearer (Jan. 19-Feb. 18): You are up for whatever is fun this week. Aspects favor romance and play. Meanwhile, there are career demands that threaten to dump water all over your playtime. It is probable that you will find the Golden Mean between work and play. For All Signs: Mercury, ancient messenger god,…

Vivian Carol

Watered down history

It’s ironic that the United States devotes entire months, at least officially, to things like black history, Latin heritage or women’s history. We Americans, after all, aren’t known for giving a rip about our own history. Who hasn’t heard of the surveys showing, for example, that nearly half of American high schoolers think the U.S.…

John Grooms

Keep on Truckin’: Patterson Hood cruises solo

Not many songwriters are as wildly prolific as Patterson Hood. The dominant voice of the Athens, Ga., band Drive-By Truckers, Hood’s airy warble and immersive Southern narratives serve as the focal point for the group’s razor-sharp rock ‘n’ roll. Not only that, but they contrast perfectly with the wry country wisdom of Hood’s longtime DBTs…

Jordan Lawrence

Mice Parade marches to a different beat

Adam Pierce, the leader and anagram behind Mice Parade, titled the band’s latest album Candela after a late-night haunt for flamenco players in Madrid. Caroline Lufkin, who sings on Candela, lives in Tokyo and makes ethereal ambient pop. Larry Moses plays trumpet on the album’s salsa-flavored track “Las Gentes Interesantes.” And joining Pierce in the…

John Schacht

How Oz was unplugged

OK, so we’re off to see the Wizard — but at Belk Theater??!? In an unprecedented collaboration between Charlotte Symphony and MGM, two screenings of the beloved 1939 classic became Oz With Orchestra over the weekend. Spotlighting the music of Harold Arlen and the musical adaptation of Herbert Stothart, Symphony played the complete score of…

Perry Tannenbaum

Church lady pho, pho the win!

It is a Sunday morning and I am standing in the sanctuary, nervously awaiting the arrival of Paul Tran, my new friend and “in” of sorts. A church choir prepares for mass in the adjacent room, harmonizing in a language not my own. Older men huddle in groups, chatting in their Sunday best. Young families…

Keia Mastrianni

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