Jan 13-20, 2009

Jan 13-20, 2009 / Vol. 22 / No. 46

Crossroads Charlotte film

On Feb. 3, Crossroads Charlotte presents a free premiere of Crossroads Charlotte: The Movie. The film features four stories about possible futures of the Charlotte community. It aims to get Charlotteans more involved in the community and in shaping it for the better.  The event will go down at Johnson C. Smith (Biddle Hall Auditorium),…

Anita Overcash

College ball or pro money?

I understand wanting to make that money while he can, but since we did not play in the national championship this year — largely due to foolishness — you would think that he would come back and try to win it all before heading to the NFL.

Nsenga Burton

$175 million worth of free cosmetic products

OK, if you’re not going to the Inauguration, don’t fret. At least you can take part in a first-come, first-serve cosmetics giveaway worth $175 million. From Consumerist.com: The giveaway is the culmination of a class action suit that accused Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Bergdorf, Dillard’s, Filene’s, Lord & Taylor, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, and Saks Fifth Avenue, among…

Kimberly Lawson

Sale of the Day: Monday

Shop the sidewalk sale racks at Hong Kong Vintage for winter coats at more than 75 percent off: all priced between $5 and $10. Every winter coat and winter jacket inside will be 25 percent off. Today’s the last day! Hong Kong Vintage 2005 Central Ave. 704-334-0538

Kimberly Lawson

Weekly Roundup

Here are the top blog posts of the week: 1. Can’t afford to buy porn, try online An oldie, but goody. Some advice from Mustang Sally on where to get your fix. 2. Because not every woman is a size 2 Lingerie for full-figured women 3. Eastwood drives sturdy Gran Torino Film critic Matt Brunson…

Web Editor

Today’s Top 5: Friday

Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, Jan. 16, 2009 — as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing. • Chad Mackey Band at Tremont Music Hall • Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me at Carolina Actors Studio Theatre • Charlotte Checkers vs. Mississippi Sea Wolves at Time…

Anita Overcash

Mecklenburg and beyond

Death: People had high hopes for the teenager shot Wednesday in Belmont. Now those hopes are gone, and police have charged a friend in Cedric Jones’ death. Sports: Ouch. The Onion has a funny take on an imaginary Jake Delhomme visit to The Capital Grille. Politics: The New York Times maps out the SCHIP vote.…

Karen Shugart

Fall Out Boy heading to Q.C.?

According to pollstar.com, Fall Out Boy will be performing at Bojangles’ Coliseum on April 24, along with All Time Low, Cobra Starship, Hey Monday and Metro Station. No word on ticket sales, and the date is not listed on the venue Web site. Stay tuned…

Jeff Hahne

Idol thoughts

Ever wonder how they get all those people to sing the same song during the American Idol auditions?

Jeff Hahne

People features homeless soccer

Some Charlotte folks — current and former — are featured an article in the Jan. 12 issue of People magazine, and it’s a feel-good, meaningful piece about how soccer teams have helped get folks off the street. Check it out here.

Karen Shugart

Food news: Thursday, Jan. 15

Amélie’s… a French Bakery, located in NoDa at 2424 North Davidson Street, is now serving customers 24 hours, seven days a week. ARPA, 129 West Trade Street, January cooking classes include “The Spanish Cupboard” on Saturday, January 17 from 10 a.m. until noon. $35. 704.372.7792. Restaurant I, 1524 East Boulevard, is closed for the month…

Carlton Hargro

Nothing to fear but no health care

By AMY GOODMAN Fifty million Americans are without health insurance, and 25 million are “underinsured.” Millions being laid off will soon be added to those rolls. Medical bills cause more than half of personal bankruptcies in the United States. Desperate for care, the under- and uninsured flock to emergency rooms, often dealing with problems that…

Amy Goodman

Recipes that won’t break the bank

Here are a few great recipes that not only please your taste-buds, but also your wallet! These recipes call for ingredients that won’t cost you much. Sweet Potato and Leek Soup – 8 cups (32 ounces) of chicken broth – 2 1/2 pounds of sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped – 3 leeks, cleaned and thinly…

Priscilla Tsai

Idol thoughts

OK, so, maybe it’s just me, but people are raving over Deanna Brown’s audition last night on American Idol. I checked out the video here, and to me, she sounds like a female Elmer Fudd. I’m not into all the vibrato. I think it’s funny that one of the judges says she has an “interesting…

Jeff Hahne

Today’s Top 5: Wednesday

Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, Jan. 14, 2009 — as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing. • The Eagles at Time Warner Cable Arena • David Bromberg at Neighborhood Theatre • Flirt Launch Party at The Forum • Silent film screening of The Freshman…

Anita Overcash

Mecklenburg and beyond

Animals: Some people like their pets better than their people, and their devotion is reflected more and more in their obits. Teens: Birth rates among teenagers are up in 26 states, including North Carolina. War: A roadside bomb killed 24-year-old Jason Parsons in Afghanistan last week. Parsons, a Lenoir native, loved the military and had…

Karen Shugart

The end of Incurious George

In his final press conference as president, Dubya proved he’s still the most un-self-aware person on Earth, oblivious to just how disastrous his reign of error has been.

John Grooms

Gotta eat

Save money on food by using coupons. Here is a list of online coupons to help pare down that grocery bill.

Priscilla Tsai

A review of Nights With Scheherazade

What little buzz I heard last Friday night up in the Grand Tier after the Nights With Scheherazade concert affirmed two things. Christopher Warren-Green, the seventh of eight contenders for Charlotte Symphony Orchestra’s musical directorship, has prodigious conductor’s hair. For all his hyphenated British suavity, however, W-G’s musicianship didn’t evoke nearly the same awe. The…

Perry Tannenbaum

Capsule reviews of films playing the week of Jan. 14

Current Releases AUSTRALIA Director Baz Luhrmann’s frenzied approach, which worked just fine for Moulin Rouge! and Romeo & Juliet, ends up hurting this roller coaster of a romantic epic. As Lady Sarah Ashley, who journeys to Australia and ends up trying to protect her late husband’s cattle ranch from being taken over by rival King…

Matt Brunson

Nothing to fear but no health care

Fifty million Americans are without health insurance, and 25 million are “underinsured.” Millions being laid off will soon be added to those rolls. Medical bills cause more than half of personal bankruptcies in the United States. Desperate for care, the under- and uninsured flock to emergency rooms, often dealing with problems that could have been…

Amy Goodman

ART: The Light Factory’s China I-Sights exhibition

Not everyone gets to experience another culture head-on while gaining cultural awareness, meeting friends and building up photography portfolios, but Charlotte-area students involved in The Light Factory’s youth exchange program I-Sights are doing it all. The series started with a correspondence via postcards — crafted to depict each student’s own photographic images to represent issues…

Anita Overcash

Eastwood drives sturdy Gran Torino

Clint Eastwood has stated that Gran Torino might mark his final appearance as an actor (he plans to keep directing), and if he sticks to his guns, it’s an appropriate way to end a magnificent career. In that respect, it brings to mind John Wayne’s swan song, the elegiac Western The Shootist (directed, incidentally, by…

Matt Brunson

THEATER: Driving Miss Daisy

Alfred Uhry’s famous play Driving Miss Daisy (winner of the 1988 Pulitzer Prize and Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Play) has captured crowds for its astonishing dynamic character interactions between Miss Daisy Werthan, a cold, white Southern lady with a bulk of attitude and Hoke Colburn, a humble black man who becomes Daisy’s…

Anita Overcash

Detached Defiance focuses on WWII exploits

The landmark 1970s TV miniseries Holocaust and the 2002 theatrical release The Grey Zone both touched upon the topic, but Edward Zwick’s Defiance might be the first celluloid outing to focus exclusively on the efforts of Jews to violently oppose their Nazi oppressors during World War II. Certainly, it’s an overdue entry in the long…

Matt Brunson

MUSIC: Daniel Bernard Roumain

Haitian-American musician Daniel Bernard Roumain uses his knowledge of classical music to whip up a concoction of sounds with rock, soul, electronica and other genres. His long hair just doesn’t seem to get in the way of his playing the violin. Check out this composer when he visits McGlohon Theatre to perform selected solo and…

Anita Overcash

Pass up date with Last Chance Harvey

Last Chance Harvey is the sort of insipid romantic comedy that, had it starred a pair of 20-somethings or 30-somethings, would be instantly dismissed by one and all. But because it stars two seasoned performers — Oscar winners, both — it will be championed in some quarters as a sweet look at how older folks…

Matt Brunson

SPECIAL EVENT: Pre-Inauguration Ball

“Yes we can” and do have cause to celebrate as Jan. 20 approaches. Damn right. The inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama is what we’ve all been waiting for (minus all you John McCain voters), so festivities are in order. Simmons Media Group and The Sol Kitchen have planned the Pre-Inauguration Ball at Blue Restaurant &…

Anita Overcash

Tune out Bedtime Stories

A winning formula for a successful family film gets reconfigured employing the lowest common denominator, and the result is a dismal effort that will fail with all but the most undemanding of children. As for their parents, it’s hard to imagine any of them warming up to a picture in which Adam Sandler, as lowly…

Matt Brunson

HOLIDAY: Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr., one of the most influencial leaders in civil rights, this day is meant to be spent embracing the memory, progress and dreams of a man whose legacy lives on and continues to impact, even today. Head to Davidson for a Martin Luther King Celebration at Davidson College for…

Anita Overcash

CL previews upcoming concerts: Jan. 14-18

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 14 David Bromberg Bromberg’s American songbook style of pickin’ – bluegrass, blues, country/western, folk, jazz and rock all get chapters – got an early boost from none other than Piedmont blues artist (and North Carolinian) Rev. Gary Davis during the mid-’60s, when the latter was giving lessons. Since that time, Bromberg, despite having…

ART: Artist Tonya Gregg

Tonya Gregg’s new exhibit at The Creative Art Exchange in Cornelius is definitely something to put on the to-do list. Just take one look at her art and you’ll see she paints with a fresh, vibrant, colorful, festive-like style. But, that’s not all. Her artwork, which focuses on gender roles and identity within African-American culture,…

Anita Overcash

THEATER: The Comedy of Errors at Johnson C. Smith University

The American Shakespeare Center Touring Company will visit Johnson C. Smith University for a performance of Shakespeare’s early work The Comedy of Errors. For those of you unfamiliar with this work, let me explain. The comical production focuses on confusion and mishaps, resulting when two twins (separated at birth) stumble into the same city. They…

Anita Overcash

Comic book reviews for the week of Jan. 14

Well, 2009 is in full swing — so what’s lookin’ good on comic shop shelves thus far? Here’s what I’m digging: Punisher No. 1: I groaned when I heard that Marvel Comics was launching yet another comic book starring the Punisher. I mean, how can one serial killer be that interesting? The last Punisher series…

Carlton Hargro

A year of listening dangerously locally

Another year in the books, and certainly a memorable one for local music. Aught-eight saw The Avett Brothers continue the band’s steady ascent, signing to Rick Rubin’s American label and packing houses from Seattle (3,200) to Cary (7,000). Benji Hughes’ classic songwriting finally got the national attention it’s long deserved, and his double-disc debut on…

El Diablo

Banish Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones

Adam Jones is a moron. Yes, I said it and I mean it. As a die-hard Dallas Cowboys fan, I was mortified when we acquired Adam “Pacman” Jones — even more so than when T.O. became a part of the team. I could not fathom how anyone could be more toxic to a team in…

Nsenga Burton

Bizarre crimes from Charlotte Police files

Fear the Beer: A young man told police that he was assaulted while parked in a Plaza Midwood shopping center. The victim reported that an obviously intoxicated, unknown suspect approached and began cursing at him. The suspect then punched the man in the face with a closed fist, and when the victim rolled up his…

Ryan Pitkin

Government wants inside your car

Government is trying to get inside our cars. In each case, the reasons sound good: to save the environment, to replenish diminishing transportation budgets, to combat congestion, even to save our lives. Now that tracking equipment exists that can transmit information about our travels from our cars back to a centralized location, governments everywhere suddenly…

Horoscope for Jan. 14-20, 2009

Capricorn The Goat: (Dec. 21-Jan. 19) You are beginning a long period of total transformation. This means how you see and present yourself, your overall attitude and possibly your health. Issues of power are upfront and center. A situation is presently right in front of your face that shows you the next path to take,…

Vivian Carol

Sampling the local vineyard

As a locavore, I’m tempted to drink more North Carolina wine to keep the eco flame burning. But with this lofty goal, I wondered if flavor would be sacrificed in the name of green? I combed North Carolina’s Yadkin Valley to see if decent juice could be uncovered. What I found surprised me. Every wine…

Taylor Eason

A review of Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me

As America’s war on terror, with the absurdities of Iraq and Guantanamo, drags on into its eighth year, we’ve probably lost some of our keen interest in the psychological effects of prolonged captivity. When Frank McGuinness’ Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me was first staged in England and America in 1992, citizens of the United States…

Perry Tannenbaum

A review of Bat Boy: The Musical

Bat Boy: The Musical is back at Actor’s Theatre with many of the same faces that launched the company’s Stonewall Street facility five years ago — and Billy Ensley is once again in the director’s chair. He attacks the storyline, inspired by the sensationalist wags at Weekly World News, with fresh gusto, leaning a little…

Perry Tannenbaum

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