Jan 3-9, 2012

Jan 3-9, 2012 / Vol. 25 / No. 45

Cover Story

Film 2011: The Best & Worst

Assessing the crop of motion pictures that had been released over a 12-month period, former Los Angeles Times critic Charles Champlin wrote, “It wasn’t a bad year for movies; it was a terrible year.” He was referring to 1975, a year that produced such works as Jaws, Nashville, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Dog…

Matt Brunson

The Capital Grille introduces new seasonal lunch menu

Folks keeping a 9 to 5 schedule know braking for the midday meal often means employing a “grab and go” method to feeding yourself: grab the best grub you can find, gulp it down, and get back to work. If your daily grind lands you near Uptown, you now have a new option for dining…

Laura Camilo

Instrumentalist group Husky hits Snug Harbor (1/8/2012)

HUSKY Not sure if this local instrumental outfit is still the same trio that’s been around since 2000, releasing 2006’s Circle the Wagons and the epic The Sea King in 2008, but I hope so. The sophomore release especially did a bang-up job of navigating the seas between Kinski’s surging post-rock and the sludgy reverb-riffage…

John Schacht

Appalucia’s front porch style returns to The Milestone (1/7/2012)

APPALUCIA Andy the Doorbum may have left this Appalachian collective, but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. With enough musicianship to cover their bases, the band has moved on with all of the intensity it had before. Corey Zeigler, Wyley Buck Boswell, Geoff White, Ian Morgan Stroupe and Chris Sleezak simply bring it when…

Jeff Hahne

Death is a Dialogue’s post-hardcore invades Snug Harbor (1/7/2012)

DEATH IS A DIALOGUE This Atlanta-based post-punk hardcore outfit patterns their dark but catchy songs around the life and poetry of Edgar Allen Poe and Emily Dickinson. They’ve cut their teeth with shows in just about every corner of the South. The Spiveys, Morrowville and HK47 (formerly of the Flash Alchemy) are also on the…

Mike McCray

A Road Eternal brings metal amalgam to Tremont

A ROAD ETERNAL South Carolina headbangers meld several metal genres into a growling beast, drooling from the canines armed with breakneck drums, bass and guitars. The quintet is gathering fans regionally with steady gigging, recording and, well, rattling eardrums. Also on the bill this evening: With Sentenced to a Bullet, A Death in Dallas and…

Samir Shukla

The Monterreys break surf rock mold

The Monterreys Charlotte quartet The Monterreys’ music may be based in surf rock, but the band breaks out of the garage with its infusion of Latin, sci-fi and lounge. The band might just be hitting its first anniversary in existence, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have the skills to entertain. It’s hard to listen…

Jeff Hahne

Best jazz CDs of 2011

Instead of doing a best in jazz and classical for 2011, I’ve segregated and done two top fives. Considering that the two genres occasionally overlap, it’s not the soundest decision, but this is 2012 and I’m a blogger, for crissake. It’s about time I started flouting logic and reason like cool bloggers s’posed to do.…

Perry Tannenbaum

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: A chilly, brainy drama

TINKER TAYLOR SOLDIER SPY *** DIRECTED BY Tomas Alfredson STARS Gary Oldman, John Hurt Many viewers might find it easier to wade through quicksand while sporting cement blocks on their feet than understanding just what the heck is going on during the opening half-hour of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Author John le Carre’s 1974 novel…

Matt Brunson

The Artist: Silent salute deserves loud cheer

THE ARTIST ***1/2 DIRECTED BY Michael Hazanavicius STARS Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo The definitive look at the transition from silent films to talkies arrived courtesy of the 1952 musical Singin’ in the Rain. The story about a talented nobody becoming an overnight success while an established performer simultaneously suffers a career crash’n’burn has been filmed…

Matt Brunson

Big Something brings roots rock to The Evening Muse (1/6/2012)

BIG SOMETHING This sextet can be loosely tagged as a jam band, but then there’s sinewy saxophone, reggae flourishes, Southern rock, blues and twangy roots mussin’ things up a bit. Spacey tracks like “Sunday” make for intriguing forays outside the jam-rock realm. The band is doing some winter touring while prepping the release of their…

Samir Shukla

Union Pulse at The Milestone tonight (1/6/2012)

UNION PULSE This Wisconsin act — in essence James Redding and, at last count, more than 60 different musicians since the mid-oughties — bills itself as an “idiosyncratic icon at the intersection of Americana, roots rock and alt-country.” Not sure what, if any, differences there at his “icon” cross-roads beyond nomenclature, but Redding’s got a…

John Schacht

Bigots, not immigrants, should be made to feel unwelcome in Charlotte

Jess George Charlotte, like many other cities that have not historically dealt so much with large mixes of racial, ethnic and cultural differences (other than black and white), is riddled with bigotry these days. It plays out in the comments section of Creative Loafing, and it plays out in the comments section of The Charlotte…

Mark Kemp

Museum Mouth brings post-punk to Milestone tonight (1/5/2012)

MUSEUM MOUTH “When all you do is write songs/ you’ll never have a social life,” Museum Mouth’s Karl Kuehn sings in “Buzzbrain,” and the lyric may synopsize the new LP, Sexy But Not Happy. Kuehn — who still lives in the small town he grew up in — crafts an ingenious mix of juvenile and…

Corbie Hill

N.C. GOP: It should be easier for state to kill black men

In November, the New Bosses in the N.C. General Assembly voted to repeal the 2009 Racial Justice Act, which allows judges in death penalty cases to consider statistical evidence of historic racial bias. Gov. Bev Perdue vetoed the repeal, and that’s where the issue stands as of today, when the GOP bosses get their troops…

John Grooms

New reason to nix fracking — it may cause earthquakes

In June, CL wrote about fracking and urged state government to continue the ban on the practice in North Carolina. We had good reasons then, but now Ohio has provided what has to be the best reason yet: it apparently can cause earthquakes. “Fracking” is short for hydro-fracking, the controversial method of extracting natural gas…

John Grooms

Perry’s top classical CDs of 2011

I receive more than a few classical CDs every year — more than I could ever hope to adequately praise or pan — so an end-of-the-year listing is a great way for me to play catch-up. And for all loyal Loaf readers, particularly those of you engaged in the religious ceremony of exchanging holiday gifts,…

Perry Tannenbaum

Rhonda Hodges’ full Moondoonie

Search the keyword “Moondoonie” on the Web, and the first response you’ll get is one of uncertainty. “Did you mean: moondoggie?” Google asks. (What the heck is a moondoggie anyway?) No, I meant Moondoonie. Specifically, Moondoonie Designs, a line of handcrafted jewelry, painted furniture, art and all things creative, courtesy of Rhonda Hodges, 41. “The…

Kimberly Lawson

Capsule reviews of films playing the week of Jan. 4

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

Interview: Jennifer Keen of 72 Shoe Boutique

Whether you chalk it up to self-expression, or take it all the way back to our fairy tale roots with Cinderella, there is no denying the woman’s love affair with shoes. With a boutique tucked away inside the Blakeney Shopping Center, Jennifer Keen answers the call of all of us Queen City women who can’t…

Jordan Bullington

Memphis rolls in the new year right

Musicals based on the birth of rock ‘n’ roll have been bankable commodities in recent years. Start with Hairspray, the 2003 Tony Award winner that ran over six seasons on Broadway, the story of plump and plucky Tracy Turnblad and the integration of local teenybopper dance TV in Baltimore. Finish with another legend of the…

Perry Tannenbaum

Exhibit: What Memory Believes

“I’m interested in memory and how we use it to create the stories of ourselves — our personal myths,” shares artist Johan Hagaman. In his current exhibit at Hidell Brooks Gallery — opening with a reception on Jan. 6, from 6 p.m.-8 p.m. — mixed media works (like the pictured piece, titled “Believes”) line the…

Anita Overcash

Exhibit: Gestural Landscape

The works of Charlotte artist Tim McMahon showcase at RedSky Gallery through the end of the month. McMahon uses oil to create colorful outdoorsy paintings — like the pictured piece, titled “Colorado Aspens.” A press release from RedSky Gallery describes his art as being a “fusion of the gestural brushwork of the abstract expressionists and…

Anita Overcash

Bizarre crimes from Charlotte police files (Jan. 4)

Look! Me too!: Police arrested a woman in East Charlotte last week after she repeatedly interfered with a drug possession investigation. While officers dealt with their suspect, the woman kept approaching them. The offers told her four times to leave them alone; when she approached them a fifth time, the officers took her into custody…

Ryan Pitkin

Stargazer’s Annual Horoscope 2012, Part II

Aries: Mars, your ruling planet, is preparing to go through a retrograde cycle as the year begins. On this visit, the review is in your house of work and health. You may find it a challenge to move forward with your goals in either of these areas until the end of April. Do not give…

Vivian Carol

Where to find it: Moroccan Tagine

A reader, wistfully looking for the smells and tastes of the souk, asks where she can find tagines. Traditionally, tagines are less-expensive cuts of meat — such as lamb neck or shoulder — slow-cooked with fruits and spices. The word tagine is the Berber word for the heavy earthenware circular base with conical cover cooking…

Tricia Childress

The buffet buffoons

The other week I went to a restaurant that had a buffet. Although I did not partake in this fine American tradition, I did notice how poor the manners were of those scrunched over the sneeze glass. I’m not judging buffets in general. I’ve been to tons of weddings that had a buffet that I…

Richie Frieman

Getting down to business with Small Talk Industries

Getting all of the members of a band together in one location on a weekday afternoon usually requires a juggling act of schedules. With Peter Gray, Grey Brewster, Stacey Leazer and Jonathan Erickson, the process was a bit easier. Day times are usually more laid-back as each member has a career fueled by music –…

Jeff Hahne

CD Review: The Catch Fire’s Rumormill

While there have been rumors of breakups and in-fighting, the appropriately named debut from The Catch Fire, Rumormill, is a testament that powerful pop-rock can be created without delving into the cheesy and overproduced corners of the music universe. Opening with the catchy title track, singer/guitarist Mike Mitschele (Jolene, Alternative Champs) gets backing vocal help…

Jeff Hahne

CD Review: The Drift’s Blue Hour

When a musician leaves a band, it recalibrates and fills the void; when a musician dies, that’s an absence with long-lasting presence. For this S.F.-based instrumental act, the passing of trumpeter Jeff Jacobs irretrievably altered the band’s dynamic. The Drift found its voice on 2005’s sophomore release Noumena, and honed it to a fine point…

John Schacht

If you can’t beat them, enjoin them (from voting)

All eyes are on Iowa this week, as the hodgepodge field of Republican contenders gallivants across that farm state seeking a win, or at least “momentum,” in the campaign for the party’s presidential nomination. But behind the scenes, a battle is being waged by Republicans — not against each other, but against American voters. Across…

Amy Goodman

Top local news of 2011, Part 2

Last week, our review of 2011 recapped the actions of two twisted outfits that inflicted the most damage on Charlotteans over the past 12 months: banking and state lawmakers. We follow up this week with a review of other important local stories from the year that not too many of us are sorry to see…

John Grooms

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library kindles e-book collection

Samantha Smith was thrilled to find a new Kindle Fire when she unwrapped her gifts on Christmas Day. The 36-year-old makeup artist was even happier when she realized she could check out e-book titles from the library for free. Now, Smith not only looks forward to downloading her favorite books from online stores, but also…

Rhiannon Fionn

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