Jan 10-16, 2012

Jan 10-16, 2012 / Vol. 25 / No. 46

Cover Story

Food Issue 2012: CL samples the coolest cupcakes

The love affair that started in elementary school has grown up. Cupcakes are no longer the shy schoolgirls they once were. Some local bakers have put inventive and wildly creative spins on the wardrobe of cupcakes. Of course, Red Velvet is still on the roster, but so are bacon and sweet tea. CupCake Delirium, a…

Tricia Childress

2013 Wolves rocking Snug Harbor tonight (1/17/12)

2013 WOLVES The 850 double-pumper Holley muscle car of local duets, guitarist Neal Harper and drummer Bobby Childers sling hi-speed metal and sludgy Southern riffs in their wake that can call to mind either Ministry or Baroness. Their latest — Red Metal, released in October — included some of the band’s best tracks yet in…

John Schacht

Democratic National Convention 2012 Notebook: Shoring up the base

As the remaining GOP presidential hopefuls blanket South Carolina and clog its airwaves with negative ads in anticipation of that state’s Jan. 21 primary — and the last chance for a non-Mitt Romney to catch fire — N.C. Democrats are generating enthusiasm in their own ways. They certainly have something to rail against, namely the…

Mary C. Curtis

The Explorers Club rocks The Evening Muse tonight (1/14/12)

THE EXPLORERS CLUB A couple of years ago, I bagged some on this Charleston sextet for aping the Beach Boys a little too well. As good as they were, the band’s 2008 debut, Freedom Wind, teetered on the verge of tribute album/covers LP. But the band has recently released a trio of free EPs online…

John Schacht

Shadow of the Destroyer playing tonight (1/14/12)

SHADOW OF THE DESTROYER With its corpsepaint, spiked leather coats and occasionally druidic robes, Shadow of the Destroyer’s black metal hearkens to Norway’s nihilistic early ’90s more than the idealism of the recent Pitchfork-praised resurgence. And as much as I love Wolves in the Throne Room and Liturgy, 2011 was — quite bafflingly so —…

Corbie Hill

The Menzingers rock The Milestone (1/13/12)

THE MENZINGERS Pennsylvania rockers are in tune with established punk stylings, all the while mixing classic U.K. punk with American hardcore bravado. Their sing-alongs and shout-alongs appeal to passive alterna rock listeners as well as hardcore punks. Recently signed to veteran label Epitaph, a new record shortly releasing, the quartet is set to take their…

Samir Shukla

S.C.’s dirty politics and the infamous Lee Atwater

Now that the GOP presidential primary campaign has moved to South Carolina, the mainstream media is full of stories about our ugly-sister state’s history of, shall we say, rough-edged politics. No? OK, how about we say “filthy, no-holds-barred-whatsoever, beyond-mud-slinging, completely amoral, lyin’-ass, cruel” politics? Yeah, that’s more like it.

John Grooms

Sarah Jarosz at Neighborhood Theatre (1/12/12)

SARAH JAROSZ Warmly old-school yet brimming with contemporary youthfulness, Jarosz melds bluegrass and folk, even some world rhythms, into a heady take on American roots music. Adept on acoustic guitar as she is on mandolin and banjo, she honed her chops at Boston’s New England Conservatory, where she studied contemporary improvisation. Add that to her…

Samir Shukla

Louis Logic plays Milestone tonight (1/11/12)

LOUIS LOGIC A solo artist since 2003, the Brooklyn-based MC has collaborations with Jedi Mind Tricks, MF Doom and Malik B of the Roots. Unafraid of shaking things up, his underground buzz has soared with his stances against hip-hop homophobia and his rare skill of rapping behind the piano. The ThoughtCriminals, Tribe One, MC Stealth…

Mike McCray

Fight marriage discrimination amendment at free photo shoot

A variety of groups that want North Carolinians to reject the Marriage Discrimination amendment in the May 2012 election are getting organized. One group, the Vote Against Project, is giving everyone who’s against the amendment a good way to take a public stand. The Vote Against Project makes its way to Charlotte on Feb. 3.…

John Grooms

Whisky River, 1/10/12

School’s back in session. What better way to celebrate the beginning of the semester than killing off some brain cells with alcohol at Whisky River.

Kimberly Lawson

Thom Tillis: How dare the press report what I’m up to!

If we’ve learned anything since last week’s Midnight Madness session of the General Assembly — which we termed a classic example of no-holds-barred, late-night, fuck-you politics — it’s that our Cornelius pal, House Speaker Thom Tillis, does not take well to criticism. As NC Policy Watch points out, Tillis must be having trouble these days…

John Grooms

Wear blue for National Human Trafficking Awareness Day

Some things are just synonymous with North Carolina: barbecue, college basketball, human trafficking — wait a minute. Sadly, the latter is not a typing error on my part. It turns out that the major highways that crisscross North Carolina, as well as the state’s relatively high level of agricultural activity, make this area attractive to…

Laura Camilo

McKay Cameron

McKay Cameron, 23, proudly hails from the charming town of Mount Airy, N.C., better known as Mayberry, hometown of Andy Griffith. But you wouldn’t know that from seeing her walking the streets of Uptown. In fact, you’d think she stumbled right off the set of Sex and the City. A far cry from NYC, Cameron…

Lauren Blake

CD Review: Live from the Old Town School of Folk Music

One-hundred-and-twenty-seven cuts here — a live digital box set — featuring the greatest names in folk music is served up as a fundraiser for Chicago’s renowned Old Town School of Folk Music. Everyone’s here, from Pete Seeger to Jean Ritchie. Songwise this is a huge sourcebook from “Stewball” to the “Frog’s Wedding,” from “Methodist Pie”…

Lew Herman

Republicans divided, citizens united

The Republican caucuses in Iowa, with its cliffhanger ending, confirmed two key political points and left a third virtually ignored. First, the Republicans are not enthusiastic about any of their candidates. Second, we have entered a new era in political campaigning in the United States post-Citizens United, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that unleashed a…

Amy Goodman

Bizarre crimes from Charlotte police files (Jan. 11)

Blue Balls: Police responded to a drive-by shooting and found a man whose night had gone from good to bad in a very short period. The woman at the house said that she had just laid down in bed next to the 32-year-old victim when they were startled by multiple gunshots. The victim then began…

Ryan Pitkin

Making sense of a year marked by murder

Some years just leave you reeling. Sometimes it’s the news and current events of a particular year that upend the way we see things — I think, for example, of the world-shaking uproar and clamor of 1968, or the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington in 2001. Those years were deep shocks for nearly…

John Grooms

‘Dreams’ deferred: Hearing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Went up on the mountain / To see what I could see.” — The Allman Brothers, “Dreams” When I was a kid growing up in Asheboro, about an hour and a half northeast of Charlotte, I fell deeply and passionately in love with the Allman Brothers Band. In my book, Dixie Lullaby: A Story of…

Mark Kemp

Rare restoration: A tailormade Merry (Oaks) home

A typical day in the life of creative power couple Chris Best and Sandi Fix may involve getting President Obama camera-ready, or teaching Michael Madsen how to hold a very large gun on the set of a little 2010 movie called The Killing Jar — and that’s on a slow day. Best, an accomplished art…

Sumanah Khan

Exhibit: Frugal & Fabulous

Those of you who always thought you couldn’t afford to buy something as meticulous as a mosaic can think again. The current exhibit at Ciel Gallery + Mosaic Studio is designed to feature an array of works (like Gila Rayberg’s funky mosaic “Yelp,” pictured) that won’t break the bank account (we hope, anyway). Then again,…

Anita Overcash

Item of the Week: Tia T. jewelry

Next time you drive by a scrap metal yard, don’t be so quick to avert your eyes because, turns out, these little beauties make killer accessories. Tina Nardoci, co-owner of Green With Envy on Central Avenue, took repurposing to the next level when she created Tia T., a line of jewelry made from metals found…

Kadee Blakely

Exhibit: New Works by Linda Dahlin

Linda Dahlin, the featured artist of the month at Slate Interiors, uses oil paint to forge canvassed works described as having an emphasis on luminosity. Dahlin worked as a web designer and actress in New York and London before taking to brush strokes. The gallery will feature several of her paintings (including the piece pictured…

Anita Overcash

Capsule reviews of films playing the week of Jan. 11

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…

Matt Brunson

Weekly horoscope (Jan. 11-17)

Capricorn The Goat (Dec. 21-Jan. 19) Mercury travels rapidly through your sign until Jan 27. During this period, there likely will be greater emphasis on communications, errands and other short distance travels. Your mind will be quick and your attitude persuasive. Your mind is loaded to the brim with intensity of purpose. For All Signs:…

Vivian Carol

Recent

See all

Gift this article