Cover Story
Lust List 2012: The Democrats
We the people of Creative Loafing, having considered all nominations for Lust List 2012, cast our ballots and tallied the numbers. We now hereby present to you, the people of Charlotte, CL’s official choices for the hottest, most intriguingly lustful, licentious, and libido-inducing (not to mention smart) Democrats in town. OK, it wasn’t really quite…
They Might Be Giants at McGlohon Theatre tonight (2/14/12)
THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS We do not live in a quirk-friendly era. The hipster code permeates pop culture today to such an extent that irony and its twin sisters Snark and Sarcasm are virtually the only acceptable modes of “fun.” Nowhere is that more true than in popular music — a band like these ’80s/early…
Love and art at the Bechtler
No kidding, I saw a grown man with a mustache openly weep.
Runway for the Ballet: I should have just worn the tights
Runway for the Ballet is an event to look forward to every year.
Film Flashback: Ghost Rider
Reliving the Ghost Rider experience should dissuade anyone from checking out the new sequel.
Democratic National Convention 2012 Notebook: Why Madeleine Albright likes Charlotte
The U.S.’s first female Secretary of State — under President Clinton — visits the Queen City.
LGBT activists confront Charlotte’s first openly gay City Council member
LaWana Mayfield disappoints at Legalize Gay screening.
Coats on sale at Hong Kong Vintage
Winter’s late, but this coat sale is right on time.
Initial Treasure Fest lineup announced
The second annual Treasure Fest will be held in Plaza Midwood on May 18 and 19. The two-day event will feature more than 50 bands in five venues showcasing a variety of music styles. So far, the lineup includes:Algernon CadwalladerLeatherRestorationsThe EmotronBlack WineYoung and In the WayRed CollarMuseum MouthDouble NegativeWorn In Red Naked GodsSundials Wymyns PrysynNo…
Today’s Top 5: Monday
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today.
Robert Cray Band at Neighborhood Theatre tonight (2/12/12)
ROBERT CRAY BAND Critically derided as the Mitt Romney of rockin’ blues — a too perfect automaton with zero soul — Robert Cray has unfairly paid the price for his Grammy-fueled mega success in the ’80s and ’90s. With his radio play days long behind him, Cray should rightly get some love for his lyrical…
Matters of the heart for Buff Faye
Buff Faye’s Drag Brunch: Flava of Love features a drag competition between five straight and single men.
Find your way to Purgatory
Single Cell Productions’ Black Hearts Ball aims to please your fetish fantasies.
Marc Broussard brings blues to Neighborhood Theatre (2/11/12)
MARC BROUSSARD Second generation Louisiana music man Broussard informs his chops with the unmistakable blues that call the bayou home. Gathering the rich musicality of southern Louisiana — Cajun, Crescent City funk and jazz, horns-caressed R&B — Broussard writes and croons radio-friendly rockers, some of which are destined to become classics. This is date-night music…
Where’s Waldo?
You’ll find plenty of look-alikes during the bar crawl at EpiCentre tonight.
Johnson Valentine Bash featuring Hardcore Lounge at Snug Rock tonight (2/11/12)
JOHNSON VALENTINE BASH. This annual event celebrates its 20th anniversary with a show headlined by Charlotte music scene vets, Hardcore Lounge. A fixture in the area since forming in 2001, don’t let the name mislead you — it’s more Studio 54 than CBGB’s but still pretty engaging. The Monterreys and folk/bluegrass act Alex Kastansas are…
Jim Gaffigan goes nuts for Hot Pockets
Gaffigan performs at Ovens Auditorium tonight.
Runway for the Ballet merges dance and fashion
Dancers perform contemporary vignettes between runway shows premiering Neiman Marcus’ spring collection.
Valentease me, please
Valentine’s Day themed burlesque show at Visulite Theatre.
Playing chicken: Two political foes become allies – imagine that!
Chicken industry lobbyist meets top animal advocate
Snug Harbor, 2/9/12
Photos from Shiprocked’s Fuck the Romance party.
Friday Film Reviews: Pariah; Pina; Safe House; Chronicle
Here’s what’s newly covered on the cinema scene.
Pariah: A new talent’s coming-out film
PARIAH ***1/2 DIRECTED BY Dee Rees STARS Adepero Oduye, Kim Wayans Buoyed by the buzz it generated at the Sundance Film Festival when it premiered there in January of 2011, Focus Features held Pariah from even a limited release until the very end of the calendar year (Dec. 28, to be exact), all the better…
Pina: Dance fever
PINA ***1/2 DIRECTED BY Wim Wenders STARS Pina Bausch, Azusa Seyama An Academy Award nominee this year for Best Documentary Feature, Pina involves perhaps the most unique style of 3-D I’ve yet seen in a film. It’s so subtle, unobtrusive and low-key that at times I felt like I was watching the movie through a…
Safe House: In need of renovation
SAFE HOUSE ** DIRECTED BY Daniel Espinosa STARS Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds Actors often like to brag about how they performed their own dangerous stunts on a particular picture, but how many A-listers can actually claim to have been waterboarded as part of the deal? Yet here’s Denzel Washington and his co-workers on Safe House,…
Chronicle: Clark Kent goes Columbine
CHRONICLE **1/2 DIRECTED BY Josh Trank STARS Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell The exclusive property of the horror genre, the “found footage” style of filmmaking that’s been employed in such movies as The Blair Witch Project and Apollo 18 (to name but two of many) has now been co-opted by Chronicle, a picture that’s half science…
Carolina Rebellion lineup announced
Korn and Shinedown to headline Rockingham, N.C., festival.
Today’s Top 5: Friday
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today.
Weekender, Feb. 10-12
Check out these events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area this weekend.
Lucky Five to rock Tremont Music Hall (2/10/12)
LUCKY FIVE This five-piece looks more like a boy band than a rock band, but a unique blend of bluesy beats, classic guitar riffs and jazz make them stand out like no other. Singer Marques Nash brings the soulful sound together with a voice like that of Jimi Hendrix while heavy bass lines provide a…
Sunshone Still at Evening Muse tonight (2/10/12)
SUNSHONE STILL From great tragedy comes great art, the old saw goes. But as good as Columbia native Chris Smith’s new record — TheWayTheWorldDies — is, rest assured he’d take back its inspiration in a heartbeat: in 2010, Smith’s brother killed himself, and these 10 poignant songs deal with the grief, anger and incomprehension that…
A John Williams Spectacular at the Belk Theater tonight (2/10/12)
CHARLOTTE SYMPHONY: A JOHN WILLIAMS SPECTACULAR When you think Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars, Jaws or Jurassic Park, likely one of the first things to come to mind is some defining orchestral theme: something so perfectly matched with each film as to be culturally inseparable. And that’s John Williams’ gift. As much a…
Sol Driven Train brings soul-inspired rock to the Double Door Inn (2/10/12)
On the road in support of their latest EP, Watermelon, Charleston, S.C., quintet Sol Driven Train finds that fine line between a variety of genres. Steadily building a fan base since 2005, the band combines elements of soul, funk, blues and rock into a jam-infused stew of their own. With Dangermuffin. $8-$12. Double Door Inn.
Simple but impressive Valentine’s Day Meals: Part II
A step-by-step lovers meal for you meat lovers out there.
Charlotte premieres Legalize Gay documentary
Special screenings and panel discussions at Petra’s Piano Bar and the LGBT Community Center.
The Queen of Irony City
The irony circus began when we sardonically decided to enter a BAR named Prohibition.
Now open: Queen City Q
Award-winning restaurateur creates another great BBQ joint in Charlotte.
Calling all artists
Design Center of the Carolinas seeks entries for its Highest Design Contest.
Opening Friday
What’s new in theaters this weekend.
Today’s Top 5: Thursday
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today.
Live review: Augustana
Band returns to touring with brighter outlook
Samantha Crain returns to Evening Muse (2/8/12)
Ramseur Records artist Samantha Crain is on tour in support of her latest release, A Simple Jungle. The Oklahoma resident of Choctaw heritage has the right combination of soulful vocals and sometimes-energetic, sometimes-somber songwriting to fit well within the label’s stable of artists. With American Aquarium. 8 p.m. $8 advance. The Evening Muse.
Today’s Top 5: Wednesday
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today.
Komen’s anti-Planned Parenthood VP gets canned
Karen Handel is shown the (door) knob.
Lady and the Tramp, A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas, The Piano among new home entertainment titles
DREAM HOUSE (2011). Between the tell-all trailer and the tell-all poster both employed for its brief theatrical run, there’s not much to tell about Dream House except that it’s a crushing disappointment considering all the Herculean talent on display. A bastard child of a movie that got caught in one of those ugly divorces between…
LOL: Comedy in the Q.C.
CL’s top picks for comedy shows in Charlotte this week.
Local musician Eric Krauss has died
Charlotte music community loses another talent.
This week’s new releases (2/7/2012)
A quick look at what’s new in stores this week.
Today’s Top 5: Tuesday
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today.
Bizarre crimes from Charlotte police files (Feb. 8)
Yay, Charlotte!: A man flying into Charlotte-Douglas Airport last week was apparently very excited to be in town. Police arrested the man and charged him with two counts of assault after he reportedly got out of his seat and pushed passengers to the floor while they were trying to deplane. Maybe he got his dates…
Exhibit: New Works by Angie Renfro and Julie Covington
Angie Renfro displays her new collection of nature-inspired oil paintings. Potter Julie Covington of Asheville (see some of her works, pictured) uses earth materials to handcraft intricately designed cups, plates and other utensils that are fully functional, although they look way too nice to actually use. Exhibit continues through March 31. Lark & Key Gallery,…
Exhibit: The Calm Before the Storm
Artists Camille Seaman, Eric Tomberlin, Kathleen Robbins (whose piece “Bill Brown” is pictured) and Pipo Nguyen-duy have come together for this special exhibit (subtitled Human Interaction with the Natural Landscape) that focuses on the relationship between man and the environment. Works were inspired by the romanticized views of landscapes in a 1975 exhibit, New Topographics:…
Come together: McColl Center for Visual Art’s Converge
Converge purports to be a two-artist show, but it’s really two engaging solo exhibitions that share some thematic and visual concerns. If you’re puzzled about the relationship between the works of Sonya Clark and Quisqueya Henriquez, here it is in a nutshell. Both artists deal with history — Henriquez with the history of art and…
Weekly horoscope (Feb. 8-14)
Aquarius The Waterbearer (Jan. 19-Feb. 18) As Neptune transits your second house of income, your accustomed means of making a living will likely change. During this 14-year period, money and resources will flow in and then out again, mimicking the ocean waves. You become a conduit. Learn to allow yourself to float with it as…
Capsule reviews of films playing the week of Feb. 8
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN Finally, here’s one seven-year itch that can be scratched. When 2004’s The Polar Express made film history as the first animated movie to be created wholly by employing the motion-capture process, we instantly recognized that we were in the presence of something ghastly. Awkward and unsightly, the ersatz innovation rendered all…
Spice, spice, baby: Savory Spice Shop
A time traveler from the 1400s would be astonished to find free packets of salt casually tossed into a take-out order. To him, this would be today’s equivalent of throwing away ounces of gold, since in his time salt and spices were such valuable commodities that wars were fought over them. Fortunes were made and…
Where to find it: Korean Red Pepper Powder and Red Pepper Paste
Recently, I had written the name of the ingredients I was looking for and handed the list to the cashier at PePeRo (10920 Monroe Road, Matthews), the best of the area’s Korean grocery stores with the bonus of a small eat-in area. The cashier led me to the back corner of the store. There, a…
Steve Aoki is in the house
When I try calling Steve Aoki on a Monday evening, I get a recorded message: “Please text me ’cause I don’t really check my voice mail. Thanks.” His publicist and manager admit they don’t know where he is. The next day, it takes his publicist nearly 10 minutes to track him down for our rescheduled…
Nightlife profile: Michael Ford, singer for Boudreaux’s Roux!
On the surface, Michael Ford is an extraordinarily ordinary gentleman. By day, the mild-mannered restaurateur manages NoDa’s Roux! At Boudreaux’s (3306-A N. Davidson St.). However, Roux’s Thursday night karaoke event initiates a change in Ford. Like a Bruce Banner of barkeeps, Ford casts aside a humble alter-ego to reveal his true form as a soulful…
Susan G. Komen’s Komeuppance
Big Pink finally got too big for its britches. When the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation decided last week to end its breast-screening grants to Planned Parenthood, it unleashed a fierce firestorm of criticism aimed at an organization that has long basked in public praise. After three days of being slapped around by…
Can anyone beat Pat McCrory?
On Jan. 26, Congressman Brad Miller and North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue both announced they would not be running for re-election in 2012. In the ensuing chaos, state progressives have been praying to the political gods that the liberal Miller will replace Perdue. The N.C. Democratic Party establishment, on the other hand, has focused on…
A Valentine’s Day gift and date guide for your man of the hour
For those among us with significant others of the masculine variety, Valentine’s Day provides the opportunity to wiggle a bit of style on our man-toy’s bod. Stylish dude duds are often neglected in sartorial spreads, so we’re here to spice things up. Some lads and ladies skip gift-giving for a date and dinner. Insert yawn…
Visiting Sandy Bowers’ Davidson home is like a day at the beach
It might be an unusual assignment to give a photographer while conducting an interview, but I had to do it. While chatting with Sandy Bowers, owner of the women’s boutique Monkee’s of Lake Norman, in her six-bedroom home in Davidson, I asked my photographer to count all the places to sit in the house. His…
Mitt Romney’s 2 percent nation under God
Although Mitt Romney has yet to win a majority in a Republican primary, he won big in Florida. After he and the pro-Romney super PACs flooded the airwaves with millions of dollars’ worth of ads in a state where nearly half the homeowners are under water, he talked about who he wants to represent. “We…
The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told: Ab Fab, darlings
Opening night at Spirit Square last Thursday truly was a night of firsts. Finding the very last parking spot in the handy College Street lot for the Charlotte premiere of Paul Rudnick’s The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, we cruised past a dignified candlelight prayer vigil protesting the production. The sore point, affirmed by numerous…
A look at Bass Church 20
Mindelixir, Chrissy Murderbot, Dex and Sir Charles hit the Fillmore on Jan. 27, 2012.
