Music Menu
THURSDAY 1.22 Copeland / The Working Title — Copeland won the attention of Central Florida’s fertile music scene with their ambient indie-rock anthems, and are touring on the back of their ’03 release, Beneath the Medicine Tree. Their website suggests that fans of Coldplay, Jimmy Eat World, and Toad the Wet Sprocket should dig their…
I Left My Beer In Philadelphia
Hot damn and hallelujah! Although Panthers’ fans made up a relatively small percentage of the crowd at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field last Sunday, they roared so mightily that folks back home in Charlotte must have heard. So here we are, believe it or not — after nine up and down seasons (mostly down), the Carolina…
Soundboard
Wednesday, Jan. 21 Big Al’s Pub, Mooresville Jes & Sherry Blue Carl DiPonziano Cajun Queen 7th Street Gator Band Cuvee Wine & Art Gallery Hipshack Double Door Inn Simplified The Evening Muse Rick Spreitzer w/ Andy Friedman & Sam Shaber The Galway Hooker, Cornelius Scott Johnson & Russ Brinnier The Gin Mill Cherry Bomb Horse…
Karma Cleanser
Dear Karma Cleanser:I’m not very superstitious at all, and I do not waste a lot of time reading into things that are probably just coincidental. But I have noticed a trend that is starting to really freak me out. The horoscopes that run in your newspaper lately have been scarily accurate about my life. First…
All The Right Movies
Including preseason and the playoffs, the NFL offers gridiron action for 25 consecutive weeks, taking off one weekend before wrapping up with the two final games of the season (the Super Bowl and the Pro Bowl). And wouldn’t you know, that football-free weekend is now staring us right in the face.But fret not, football fans:…
See & Do
JANUARY 21 – WEDNESDAY A one-man jam-band of sorts, Keller Williams is a solo guitarist known for his blazing fret work and irreverent songs. He’s touring behind his eighth studio recording, Home, which for the first time features Williams playing all the instruments. With song titles like “Love Handles” and “Butt Ass Nipple” the Fredricksburg,…
View From The Couch
BUFFALO SOLDIERS (2003). The network TV movie The Reagans wasn’t the only recent Hollywood project to largely vanish from plain sight (i.e., ending up on pay cable) because of fears it would anger our Republican friends in charge. Improbably, Miramax Films, once the most cutting-edge of all studios, cowardly gave the boot to Buffalo Soldiers…
Ask the Advice Goddess
Transformerly Yours My boyfriend of four years attended a life-changing seminar where he befriended a woman who happens to be a lesbian. Upon returning, he told me he’d fallen in love with her. They talk on the phone daily. He insists their connection is totally Platonic, and claims being in love isn’t limited to one-on-one.…
Film Clips
NEW RELEASES ALONG CAME POLLY It’s not hard to figure out why Universal got nervous about Polly’s prospects and elected to bury it in the graveyard movie month of January. The two stars have no chemistry (Jennifer Aniston’s channeling Diane Keaton in Annie Hall, Ben Stiller’s channeling Ben Stiller in just about everything). Writer-director John…
Stargazer
For All Signs Do you recall the restlessness of last spring and summer? Uranus gave us a preview of its presence in Pisces. Now it has returned to the sign of the Fish and will remain for seven years. When Uranus changes signs we experience a restlessness in some area of life, a need to…
The Other White Flight
Carlton Sparks is the reason the GOP has a stranglehold on the South. With his wife Cindi and their 17-year-old son Andrew, he lives in a tan, one-story home off a country road surrounded by mountains. His kitchen walls are wood-paneled, covered with Cracker Barrel-style knickknacks and a pair of decorative, cloth bouquet hangings. Sparks,…
Quill And Bayonet
Three years ago, my brother-in-law’s parents, Robert and Betty Lou, were sitting outside a sidewalk cafe in a small Belgian villa enjoying lunch. A bent over old man hugging a bag of groceries stopped on the sidewalk in front of their table and stared at Robert. Robert stared back. “You are man.” His English was…
My Confession
A few years ago I received a letter of encouragement from Sister Evelyn Mattern, whom I had never met. There was something I’d written that she endorsed, I can’t recall the subject. I’d always been an outspoken admirer of the tiny, fearless regiment of Catholic activists, some of the last true friends of the poor…
Up To Bat
Stupidity, prejudice, and religious fervor are all running amok in Hope Falls, West Virginia, where even a brief sojourn will convince you of the horrors of inbreeding. You’d think the local yokels would feel a kinship toward a naked mutant child with pointy ears and oversized incisors found in a nearby cave. Townspeople even reject…
Air quality and light rail
If everything goes as planned, the county will see a slight net improvement in overall air quality if it completes the South Corridor light rail project. However, traffic, congestion and air pollution from auto emissions will increase around the transit station areas. The findings are part of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) case study that…
Religion On The Road
The title of this new anthology, Killing the Buddha, derives from a famous Zen story. A Zen master named Lin Chi is approached by one of his students, who is ecstatically proclaiming that he has achieved enlightenment. The master then replies to the shocked student, “You meet the Buddha on the road — kill him!”…
Gimme Chips With That
Have you been “chipped” yet? A company called Applied Digital Solutions wants you to undergo a surgical procedure to implant a tiny RFID microchip in your arm. Why would you want to do this? Because “Radio Frequency ID” chips will eliminate the heavy burden of having to carry credit cards and remember your ATM numbers.…
Arts Agenda
Classical Music Charlotte Civic Orchestra Third concert of the season featuring performances of various composers. Sun., Feb. 1, 3 p.m. $8 adults, $6 seniors/students. Dana Auditorium, Queens University. Charlotte Symphony The Charlotte Symphony, led by guest conductor Peter Oundjian, will perform Smetana’s The Moldau, Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with pianist Markus Groh, and Sibelius’…
God Save The King
Monday marked the official observance of Martin Luther King Day, making this an ideal time to compare the President’s Brave New words with those of the eloquent Dr. King: The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies…
A New Breed of Restaurants
Move over cup holder cuisine. The hottest buzzwords in the food service industry are fast casual. This concept is sprouting up throughout Charlotte, primarily in newly constructed shopping centers, almost faster than I can keep track. The fast casual eatery is designed to combine speed and quality. These aren’t restaurants per se, since food is…
The Epidemic That Wasn’t
By the time the media was done mangling the story, hundreds of thousands of panicked parents and elderly had spent hours in line at health clinics here and across the country. In North Carolina, they jammed doctors’ offices at 10 times the normal flu season rate, dragging sniffling children behind them, terrified that the colds…
Tongue ‘n’ Chic
It’s awfully frou-frou to drink out of expensive stemware. Like donning designer clothes, there’s something higher-than-thou, yet fun, about using them. But are these novelties all “brand” and no brains? Companies like Riedel and Spiegelau swear their ultra-thin, specially designed crystal glasses make the wine taste better, but they have to justify the $8-$20 per…
Bloody Royals
Every columnist likes to get letters in the paper, so I was pleased to read Bill Robbins’ letter last week, seeking to correct my British history. He sounded so sure I’d mixed up two of the many women involved in the struggles surrounding the succession of King Henry VIII that I plunged back into my…
Good Eats
All Around Town Anntony’s Caribbean, 400 S. Tryon St., 704-339-0303; 2001 E. 7th St., 704-342-0749. All locations have different owners. A hint of the tropics; rotisserie chicken with Jamaican jerk sauce, ribs, Paradise Island fish special, curries, and Caribbean styled greens. $$ Azteca, 116 Woodlawn Rd., 704-525-5110; 9709 Independence Blvd., 704-814-9877; 1863 W. Franklin Blvd.…
The Blotter
WELCOME TO CHARLOTTE!: Someone from the Charlotte Bobcats’ office called police to report that an unknown person stole approximately $1100 from their petty cash box. The key to the valuable box was kept in a desk drawer. YOGI’S WIFE GETS PHYSICAL: A fight broke out between two people recently that ended with a tactical move…
More Smiles & Money
Alejandro Escovedo…a name spoken in reverential tones by any number of your favorite singer-songwriters. The folk-glam-punk-country pioneer wears his heart so far down his sleeve there’s room for little else, and that honesty is held in such respect — by critics and fellow musicians alike — that Escovedo was named “Artist of the Decade” by…
What are you listening to?
Hi there, Shawn Lynch here from TyreClodsHoustonPopBrothersDirtRocketFyre. CL asked me what I’ve been listening to recently, so here goes. Matthew Sweet — Kimi Ga Suki Originally available in Japan only (an aural love letter to fans there), this record was written and recorded in a little over a week. I can’t stop listening to it!…
Sit & Spin
Oneida Secret Wars Jagjaguwar All drone and repetition and tricky time changes, Oneida go by the names Kid Millions, (Fat) Bobby Matador, and Hanoi (Baby) Jane. They are three guys, pretty normal looking, no spiked hair or jean jackets or trucker caps. They say the pseudonyms help them to rock out better, and to get…
