THE WINE LIST
CAROLINA WINE CLUB CLASSES Morning classes run from 10-11:30am. Evening classes run from 6:30-8pm. All classes are held at the Mint Museum of Craft + Design. Sessions include: Wine and Cheese Pairings for Everyday and Special Occasions, French vs. American Wines: A Comparison, Exploring Dessert Wines and Ports, The Three Faces of Pinot; Noir, Gris…
Media: Holiday Specials That Didn’t Make the Cut
Back by popular demand (or at least by one reader in Mint Hill), I bring you this breaking-news-this-just-in-sneak-peek at the holiday specials that the morons (read: TV programming execs) put into development, but shelved before they got to our humble television sets. Some are too bad to be true, while others are just too close…
GoodEats
ALL AROUND TOWN ANNTONY’S CARIBBEAN 2001 E. 7th, 704-342-0749; 145 Brevard Court, 704-339-0303; 20910 Torrence Chapel Road, Cornelius, 704-894-0280. A fun, change-of-pace restaurant for a casual lunch or dinner. Limited menu features rotisserie-cooked barbecued meats, what else, Caribbean style. $ BRUEGGER’S BAGEL BAKERY All over town. Chewy bagels, crisp on the outside, and served with…
Homefront Adviser
How did that guy get on a plane with bombs in his shoes? I thought we had new airport security measures in place. We do have new security measures, but Richard C. Reid (aka Abdel Rahim, aka Scary Freaky-looking dude) boarded his flight in France. France has its own aviation security procedures. I don’t mean…
Best of Jazz 2001
In the jazz world, 2001 began amid the flurry and excitement of Ken Burns’ Jazz series on PBS. The series increased awareness of the genre, and spurned a score of “Ken Burns Jazz” compilations by many of jazz’s biggest names (Ellington, Armstrong, etc.). Jazz is healthy and the music’s thriving, even if jazz sales are…
Reclaiming Utopia
We often fear the future rather than embrace it. The future, though, is the everyday workplace of architects and planners, who create buildings where none exist and change the shape of cities. Some envision whole new places, working for safe and sane societies where people live in harmony with each other and with the land.…
Exit Stage Left
For some reason, I’ve always grouped jazz musicians and boxers together in my head. There’s just something analogous between the “sweet science” and jazz music. Both are predicated on flurries of notes (or punches) that bend and shape the listener before finally climaxing in a crescendo of action. Both rely on strategy and improvisation, on…
Letters
Despicable Adviser To The Editors: What precisely is the point of the “Homefront Adviser”? I noticed that this column appeared after September 11 and I understand that the supposed function of this space-waster is to “inform” individuals about current issues as they relate to the war against terrorism and its impact on life here in…
Music Menu
Elvis Tribute It’s the King’s birthday on Tuesday (and also the birthday of one David Bowie, not to mention my brother). As such, Fat City presents what will likely be a zany Elvis Tribute Night, featuring Jake Berger, Mookie Brill, Derek Young, Byron McDonald and more. Why Renelvis isn’t playing is a mystery, though folks…
The Blotter
* A car was stolen from a luxury car lot. It was some car, as it was valued at $44,000, while just the keys to the car were valued at $500. * A man stole 36 beers from a gas station, walking straight out the door, as he has done on “numerous occasions” according to…
Soundboard
Wednesday, Jan. 2 Bayou Kitchen Bill Noonan Cajun Queen 7th Street Gator Band Cajun Queen, Pineville 7th Street Gator Band II Dilworth Coffeehouse Open Mic w/ Bert Wray * The Evening Muse World Class Fad & 4th Ward Fat City Shred of Hope & Even If It Kills You Graduate, Lake Norman Andy Seets Irish…
Movie Music
Sex, drugs and rock & roll all manage to make appearances in either one or both of this month’s two best bets. As for the other new releases. . .well, not even the promise of sex, drugs or rock & roll can make these turkeys any more appetizing. It’s been noted that familiarity breeds contempt,…
SEFCA Remembers Memento
The Southeastern Film Critics Association (SEFCA), comprised of 46 critics living in nine states (including North Carolina), last week named the twisty neo-noir Memento as the Best Picture of 2001. In their 10th annual balloting, group members also handed the film its award for Best Original Screenplay. The other big winner was the epic fantasy…
FilmClips
NEW RELEASES THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS One of the most unusual productions of 2001, this new piece from the makers of Rushmore writer-director Wes Anderson and co-scripter Owen Wilson doesn’t offer the sort of instant guffaw gratification we generally get from American comedies; instead, its laughs are like stealth bombers, sneaking up on us…
8 Days A Week
WEDNESDAY 2 The Charlotte Checkers take on the Augusta Lynx in their first ice battle of the new year at 7pm tonight at Cricket Arena. Tickets range from $6-$19, and are available by calling 704-522-6500. THURSDAY 3 The Charlotte Hornets play the Golden State Warriors at 7pm tonight at the Coliseum. Tickets range from…
Film Listings
(NOTE: Because of holiday deadlines, listings are not complete. Check with the theater for up-to-date titles and times. For reviews, go online to reeltime.cln.com.) OPENS FRIDAY: The Royal Tenenbaums (Gene Hackman, Gwyneth Paltrow). AMC CAROLINA PAVILION 22 9541 South Blvd, at I-485 & Hwy 521 North. (704-643-4262) Thru Thurs: Ali. How High. Jimmy Neutron. Joe…
Stargazer
For All Signs The economic downturn of the past year was predictable. It is simply in the natural order of cycles to flatten the economic spiral. Saturn and Pluto began their approach to an opposition in the sky last May. This is a long transit which continues through the second quarter of this year. Even…
The Best of Jim Hunt 2001
We expected big things from the past year, seeing how it was the actual, for-real first year of the new millennium and everything. But we didn’t expect that big a year. Nationally, of course, the horrific September 11 terrorist attacks and the US response dominated the news. But locally, Charlotte had its own homegrown horrors:…
Art Wishes 2002
My art statement for the year: A world-class city promotes art. It’s that simple. My first wish, therefore, is that Charlotte’s mayor grows to be truly supportive of the proposed one percent for visual art endowment in new public construction budgets. Our current incumbent, Pat McCrory, is a waffler about this straightforward proposition and holds…
Music Industry Down The Toilet?
The cover of critically acclaimed rocker Ryan Adams’ latest release, Gold, features the young, scruffy singer in front of an upside-down American flag. The artwork’s meant to be Adams’ way of sending out a distress signal on behalf of today’s rock & roll. But the truth is, while the music business stumbled to the year’s…
A Vulnerable Deity
Faith is an odd bird. It makes people do things they didn’t imagine they had the strength for. It pulls them through tough times. It’s the glue that holds us together, when everything else is falling apart. It makes people achieve greatness. It makes people fly planes into skyscrapers. It’s the only feeling we have…
Hail George, Conqueror of Evildoers!
Dear George W. Bush: Hats off to you, sir, for a job well done! The Soviets tried for 10 years to do what it took you only two months to accomplish in Afghanistan. How did you do that? It’s funny how a couple months ago there were all these Taliban, and now there aren’t…
Arts Agenda
Classical Music Charlotte Symphony Performance with guest conductor Junichi Hirokami and guest pianist Anton Kuerti at the Belk Theater. Pre-concert talks begin at 7pm. Jan. 11, 8 p.m.; Jan. 12, 8 p.m. $12-$55. Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, 130 N. Tryon St. 704-348-5800. George Winston Grammy Award Winner will tickle the ivories at the McGlohon Theatre.…
The Cold Side of “DWorkfare”
Think Rudy Giuliani deserves the big award just given him by Time magazine? Well, meet James Howard of Brooklyn, New York: 42, diabetic, blind in one eye, takes care of his disabled wife and their kids, a 10th-grade dropout, relegated to poverty jobs, but a hard worker. Mr. Howard has been an exemplar of the…
Of Comfort Food, Cheese and Chefs
The events of September 11, 2001 had a profound effect on the food and wine industry. Local restaurants experienced an unprecedented, unexpected slowdown in the immediate weeks following the attacks, while grocery stores, prepared-food outlets, and take-out restaurants experienced a surge. But despite September 11 some cuisine trends in Charlotte have become evident. The biggest…
Citizen Servatius: The More Things Change. . .
Margo’s dying, and she’s the only one who doesn’t know it. “It won’t be long now,” my neighbor Jim tells me. Over the past few months, the contours of Margo’s face have rapidly been replaced by a bloated yellow-gray pallor that looks almost alien in Jim’s living room. “It means her liver is failing,” Jim…
Wine, Sweet Wine
Americans love their sugar. The home of Dolly Madison, Coca-Cola, and blush wine peddles tons of tooth decaying junk, but for some unknown reason, the masses have not welcomed sweet dessert wines into their lives. Wine snobs have loved them for years and they’ve been around since Roman times. So, we who love the sweet…
Lucy Perkins
A lot of people say that we now live in a different world than the one we lived in on September 10, but I don’t buy that. The world is the same, it’s only our perception of it that’s different. In fact, it’s our collective belief that “the world changed” on September 11, 2001 that…
