Jan 13-19, 2016

Jan 13-19, 2016 / Vol. 29 / No. 47

Cover Story

The Oscar Noms: All Sound and Fury

(For sidebars on the year’s best movies as chosen by Academy members, film critics and moviegoers, head to the bottom of the page.) When the nominations for the 88th Academy Awards were announced, it was easy to imagine those snagging nods to quote Mad Max: Fury Road by declaring, “Oh, what a day. What a…

Matt Brunson

Ride Along 2: Hart Attack

RIDE ALONG 2 ** (out of four) DIRECTED BY Tim Story STARS Ice Cube, Kevin Hart Gloria Estefan’s “Conga” and KRS-ONE’s “Sound of Da Police” are two of the more prominent tunes heard over the course of Ride Along 2, but if the picture had a theme song, then Simon and Garfunkel’s “Keep the Customer…

Matt Brunson

The lullaby off Broadway

We’re hoping you caught the reviews of shows on Broadway here. And now, let’s continue off Broadway… Hir (***3/4) – Taylor Mac and I have a history. When I first saw him at Spoleto Festival USA in 2008, the highlight of his one-man Be(a)st of Taylor Mac came when he donned a ginormous set of…

Perry Tannenbaum

Bizarre crime from Charlotte police files (Jan. 14)

Make It Rain Why play the Powerball when you can just wait around in an Uptown parking lot for your windfall? A 44-year-old woman filed a police report after letting nearly a whole G fly into traffic last week. The woman told officers she placed $920 in cash on the trunk of her car while…

Ryan Pitkin

Weekly horoscope (Jan. 14-20)

For All Signs: Mercury has been retrograde since Jan. 5. Astute observers may have recognized its signs as early as Dec. 17, as it was slowing to make the turn. While Mercury is retrograde it is a challenge to make final decisions and communications of all types can become confused. Meanwhile this week there are…

Vivian Carol

The lullaby of Broadway

While Charlotte theatre companies generally go into hibernation during the last two weekends of the year, finishing off extended Yuletide runs rather than opening anything new, Broadway is invariably having their top two box office weeks. Families enjoying their winter vacations swell Times Square and the surrounding theatre district to such a degree that they’ve…

Perry Tannenbaum

From Bhutan to Charlotte with the King of Spicy

In Charlotte’s supercharged culinary outposts of chicken tikka masala and dosas, is there room for a humble entertainment spot offering Nepalese and Indian dishes, live music or DJs, and a flank of billiard tables? That is the question posed by King of Spicy which recently opened in East Charlotte. Entrepreneur Durga Dhimal, from the tiny…

Tricia Childress

Three questions for Raul Ortegon, chef at Mestizo

Downtown Davidson has always been quaint with a charm that comes from being a small college town with vibrant shops and a bustling Saturday farmers market. Restaurants like Toast, Kindred and the longtime Soda Shop have a local following along the Main Street strip. But, there’s always room for more, as spaces continue to come…

Anita Overcash

Local teen battles apathy and misperceptions to get peers to the polls

At 17 years old, in the midst of their junior year, most high school students’ main concerns revolve around grades and love interests. Even the more proactive students are often more concerned with their post-graduation plans than becoming politically active. Rarely does one find a student like Chris Deitch, a 17-year-old junior at Providence High…

Ryan Pitkin

Three former soldiers use words as weapons

Benghazi. The word itself has become an enigma, fueling rabid and never-ending arguments between conservatives, Hillary Clinton backers and conspiracy theorists while inspiring odd and sometimes senseless acrostic memes on Twitter. I can be sure that just writing this article will bring folks out of the woodwork and into our comments section to debate the…

Ryan Pitkin

CD review: Cage the Elephant’s Tell Me I’m Pretty

On first listen to the fourth studio album from Kentucky alt-rockers Cage the Elephant, something sounds a bit different. There are retro undertones, simplified rhythms and a bit of fuzz overlying the mix. So, I can’t say I was surprised one bit to read that The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach was the producer — his…

Jeff Hahne

CD review: David Bowie’s Blackstar

It’s inevitable that David Bowie’s untimely death has colored critical reception of Blackstar. Certainly, on the swirling obsidian gem “Lazarus”; he addresses mortality with lines like “I’ll be free just like a bluebird.” Set to Donny McCaslin’s jazzy, seesawing saxophone and Ben Monder’s noirish, Joy Division-styled guitar, the tune is laced with uncertainty, but it…

Pat Moran

Mothers’ steady growth and re-invention

Stereogum, Papermag, Spotify and a number of music blogs have all turned the spotlight toward Athens emotive indie-rock outfit Mothers for 2016. There’s a lot of interest swirling around the band ahead of its debut album release in late February. Frankly, for singer/guitarist/founding member Kristine Leschper, it’s all a bit odd. “It’s great and it’s…

Jeff Hahne

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