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.…
Observer Goes Nuts
In the days leading up to the NFC Championship game, the editors at the Charlotte Observer (a subsidiary of the Charlotte Chamber) put on their well-worn cheerleader outfits, fluffed up their pompoms, put their heads together and came up with just the cutest li’l ol’ headlines we’ve evah seen, y’all: Panthermania! (how’s that for clever?)…
Houston, We Have A Problem…
Now referred to as something of a secular American holiday, the Super Bowl and its attendant pageantry — the pre-game show, the national anthem, the halftime show, and those darned commercials — have become something of a parody of themselves (and the society that can dream up such spectacles). This year, we’ll get Willie Nelson,…
Shock of the Old
Stowe Brooks was hit with his first bout of depression about three years ago. He’s not sure if it was the medication or his body’s own self-healing powers, but after two long years he finally pulled out of it, and started feeling like himself again. But then, last April, he was once again overcome with…
Sit & Spin
Califone Heron King Blues Thrill Jockey Tim Rutili’s dreams make beautiful music. “Fill my belly with your whispering,” the Califone leader sings to the spectral title character of the band’s new release: “Carry your bed on wingbone legs…lift the shade and let the night in.” The half-man, half-bird hybrid of Rutili’s subconscious has visited his…
Existential Island
The Public Broadcasting System is facing tough financial times. In these days of state and federal budget problems, PBS must rely more than ever on its subscribers to provide the needed funds for operation. As if there weren’t already endless pledge drives, now there is an additional urgency to their begging for money. One controversial…
Music Menu
WEDNESDAY 1.28 Cary Hudson — Without bemoaning the demise of Blue Mountain, a wonderful “just under the radar” Americana band, Hudson marches on with his mastery over guitars and wordplay. He can wield the beast, acoustic or electric, with ease and brings the weight of southern American music into the greater fold, occasionally with a…
Letters
Dr. Hustler Tara Servatius writes of the medical profession protecting itself from outside scrutiny (“What Malpractice Crisis?,” Jan. 7). This is congruent with the medical profession’s history of working hard to make money, with medicine being only their avenue to attain wealth. In 1965, Carroll Quigley published Tragedy and Hope in which he says “As…
Soundboard
Wednesday, Jan. 28 Baoding Robert Fernandez Big Al’s Pub, Mooresville Scott Johnson Blue Carl DiPonziano Bricktop Lounge Atmospheric Jazz w/ Christian & Brigmunton Cajun Queen 7th Street Gator Band Corkscrew, Huntersville Tom Eure, Jr. Double Door Inn Ginsu Jukebox The Evening Muse Dean Fields, Paul Geremia, Patchouli & Billy Joe Murphy Hickory Tavern Jes &…
How To Cover A Super Bowl
Trying to “cover” the hypefest known as the Super Bowl is tough. Advice for the Charlotte-area media types giving it a go for the first time: wear sneakers, plan on plenty of coffee and humble pie. And please, no “where’s the best chili in Texas” stories. In 1989, I honchoed some Super Bowl coverage for…
SuperSuperSuperSuper
It’s rare that a music venue hosts a guy who doesn’t play any music at all, but rather just. . .well, shows slides. Last Wednesday, New Yawker Andy Friedman “played” The Evening Muse, armed with only a slide projector, the aforementioned screen, a glass of beer, and a jauntily askew trucker cap. The 27-year-old illustrator,…
Dancing In The Sun
The buzz going into the Sundance Film Festival was that this would not be a great year, but never listen to gossip. This was a banner year in many respects — from the quality of the films, the number of distribution deals signed and the increase in entries by filmmakers of color. The most obvious…
A Brave New Super Bowl
After watching George W. Bush deliver his State of the Union speech, I was left with one huge question: what world is this guy living in? And then I realized the President was probably distracted, as is the entire universe, by the upcoming Super Bowl. Since then, we’ve learned that showing off New England QB…
The never-empty nest
We already have one living next door, and I’m afraid another is festering: a kid who grows up but doesn’t leave home. Actually, our whole neighborhood is riddled with households sheltering offspring who’ve technically reached adulthood but still climb the stairs to their childhood bedrooms right before dawn. In our little cul-de-sac alone there are…
Dutch Treat
Glazed in pearly whites and shimmering ambers, Girl With a Pearl Earring does more than speculate on the life of enigmatic painter Johannes Vermeer in 17th-century Delft. Those breathtaking colors also attempt to distill the ambience of Vermeer’s paintings. Director Peter Webber’s film offers a complex, satisfying adaptation of Tracy Chevalier’s best-selling novel of historical…
Message From Uncle Sam:
Architecture. Community development. Land use and comprehensive planning. Urban design. If one were looking for potential terrorists, the students and practitioners in these fields would be unlikely suspects. Nuclear engineers and scientists, immunologists, biologists, chemists and pharmacologists seem much more likely sources of potential trouble with their specialized knowledge about fissionable material, nasty germs and…
Karma Cleanser
Dear Karma Cleanser:While shopping at a large hardware store, my husband and I realized that the cashier had not rung up more than one item of goods, and was ready to charge us $16 for more than $100 in items. My husband was about to swipe his credit card when I decided it would be…
View From The Couch
THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST (1988). Quite simply one of the most emotionally satisfying movies I’ve ever had the pleasure to sit through, this adaptation of Anne Tyler’s bestseller is perfect in every way; like Lost In Translation, The Piano and a few others, it’s the sort of intimate movie that irrevocably touches certain viewers while leaving…
The Blotter
I AIN’T YOUR BABY’S DADDY: A woman dropped her three children off in a relative’s front yard on her way to work recently. Unfortunately, the relative refused to allow the kids inside his house, and they stood outside in the cold for three hours. THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY: Store employees called police to report…
See & Do
JANUARY 29 – THURSDAY Tribute bands are a dime a dozen, but Dark Star Orchestra is a “head” above the rest. Known for performing replicas of live Dead shows, each band member takes on the persona of his or her Grateful Dead counterpart. From the set list to the amps and the placement of the…
Film Clips: Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Triplets of Belleville, more
NEW RELEASES GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING The plot can be dismissed by crotchety viewers as borderline soap opera — in more modern times, its character dynamics could easily play out on the Ewing ranch in Dallas — but this adaptation of Tracy Chevalier’s bestseller soars primarily because of its visuals, an appropriate strength for…
News of the Weird
Happy new year: Once again, authorities in the Hillbrow district of Johannesburg, South Africa, were unable to stop the traditional midnight celebrations in which residents of high-rises toss refrigerators, ovens, beds, trash cans and other furniture off their balconies, while police, wearing crash helmets, try to dodge the fusillade. And People for the Ethical Treatment…
Ask the Advice Goddess
The Tart Of Compromise My husband planned a weekend vacation for the two of us. He bought me an outfit for the occasion — a black leather miniskirt, knee-high boots, and fishnet stockings. This is not my style, so I returned it and bought something more conservative. My husband is very hurt. Why would he…
A Rugged Road
The New England Patriots are familiar with this scenario: a team of mostly unknown players, led by a nearly anonymous quarterback, headed into the biggest game of their lives as underdogs without any chance to win. This time, however, the Patriots are the heavy favorites, and the upstart Carolina Panthers are the Little Team That…
Stargazer
For All Signs An individual’s horoscope is a circular diagram of our sun with its rotating planets, drawn for the time and date of birth. It is reproduced from the point of view of the birthplace. The positions of the sun, moon and each planet are mathematically calculated and placed around the wheel according to…
Super Bowl Parties A-Go-Go
Getting to the Super Bowl is all about the football — about teamwork and sweat and blood and broken bones, running, passing, and so forth and so on. But once you make it to the Super Bowl, it’s all about the party. Maybe not for the guys out on the field who are still playing…
Rex Rules
You could almost call it an underground movement. Down in the catacombs of the Black Box studio at Children’s Theatre, director Alan Poindexter has been polishing his approach to classical Greek theatre for the past five years. Poindexter has directed the company’s Teen Ensemble in a series of tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides –…
Warning, America: Here Comes Rev. Rob
CBS will be raking in $2.3 million for 30 seconds of commercial air time during the Super Bowl; with an audience of 800 million, you can do that. But in a little-publicized PR move, this year the Super Bowl is allowing each of the competing cities (in this year’s case, Charlotte and Boston) to broadcast…
Windbags of War
For the better part of the Cold War and beyond, John le Carre created thrilling, thoughtful novels emphasizing the treachery and relentless moral ambiguity inherent in the spy trade. Think George Smiley and countless other creations, dispirited men in search of absolute answers while sentenced to lives of infinite vague validations. In Absolute Friends, the…
If You’re Going To Houston
OK, so you’re one of the lucky ones who’ll be traveling to Houston (aka world’s most polluted parking lot) for the Super Bowl. So whaddaya do before the big game? You’re in luck. You don’t have to rely on dorky information from the mainstream press — here’s the real lowdown. Houston’s alternative newsweekly, the Houston…
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. First Tuesday Concerts Chamber Music at St. Peter’s will honor the life of American composer Lou Harrison with this concert. Two works by Harrison will be performed.…
What’s In Store
This is no doubt the golden age of sports merchandising; let’s face it, when you can walk into a Charlotte store and find a variety of caps for the LA Lakers, a team that’s 3,000 miles away, something’s going on. Pro football teams are no exception. Both the Carolina Panthers and the New England Patriots…
Hungry for the Super Bowl
Since 1992, the Taste of the NFL has held “the party with a purpose” on the Saturday night before the Super Bowl in the host city. This year chefs from the 32 NFL cities and a chef from Hawaii representing the NFL Pro Bowl will come together on Saturday, January 31, in Houston’s Reliant Arena…
Mind and Body Connected
Academically speaking, the Panthers and Patriots will conduct an exercise in post-modern contingency theory when they meet in Super Bowl XXXVIII. Because he’s got a Ph.D. in art history, Davidson College professor Shaw Smith can’t help looking at the game that way. Here’s how he explains it: “In modernist theory, the wide-out would go down…
Italian Big’uns
My dad uses the word “big’un” to describe anything large. To this day, his Southern accent resonates every time I try a big, in-your-face wine. Italy corners the market on big’uns, producing many highly tannic, earthy wines from big’un grapes like nebbiolo, barbera and sangiovese grosso, fruit that does well only in its native land.…
Cats Are My Life
Big screen TVs, two bars, surround sound stereo system, and a plethora of neon beer signs and Panthers memorabilia covering nearly every square inch. Sound like a pretty decent Charlotte sports bar? Not quite. Until recently, it was just an average garage. But then last May — during the off-season, of course — Bill and…
