Wine Resolutions
Repeat after me: “I do solemnly swear to try new wines this year, expand my wine horizons and get myself out of the rut of only drinking wine for special occasions. I will kick myself in the ass if I find myself not accomplishing the above tasks.” We’re a rut kind of society — look…
Stranger In A Strange Land
Everybody likes to be liked. But 2005 dawns on a world unfriendly to America, with this nation and its people viewed primarily with distaste, distrust and dismay by the international community.In four short years, the Bush administration has turned a century of history on its head, transforming Uncle Sam from the open-hearted savior of democracy…
Exhilarating elixir-ing
The dawn of a new year is an invitation for purging, letting go, detoxifying on all levels. If you’re like me, you’ve probably had your holiday landfill of butter, cream, animal fat, alcohol and other things that have contributed to dull taste buds and big bulges in all the wrong places. Top this human sundae…
News of the Weird
Cutting-edge action on prostate cancer: Doctors at the Ballarat-Austin Radiation Oncology Centre in Australia have begun inserting three rice-sized grains of 24-karat gold against patients’ prostates. The pellets (cost: about $300 each) graft permanently onto the gland and help doctors aim the radiation with more precision. And in December, in Vancouver, British Columbia, local TV…
Good Eats
All Around Town Anntony’s Caribbean, 6434-F West Sugarcreek Rd., 704-598-6863; 2001 E. 7th St., 704-342-0749. 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. (Gastonia), 704-866-7574. A favorite of…
Letters
Walters The Socialist It’s ironic that you print David Walters’ column of fiction (“The Greedy Grinch,” December 22) on the back of Tara Servatius’ column of truth (“Season’s Bafflers”). Sen. Patrick Moynihan declared that everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own set of facts. Walters needs to own up to the…
Gospel Paradise
“I didn’t come here looking for Jesus,” Blind Boys of Alabama front man Clarence Fountain tells audiences at the beginning of every show. “I brought him with me.” Fountain has been bringing his savior along on road trips since 1944 when he left the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind with a group of other…
Jazz Giant, Hip-Hop Under Microscope
By most accounts, jazz giant Wayne Shorter is as enigmatic a man as one of his extraordinary tenor sax solos or complex compositions. His musical talents have kept him at the center of the jazz universe for most his four decade-old career; it seemed only his personal idiosyncrasies kept him from the public acknowledgement his…
New Year Neighborhood Crawl
I decided on a smorgasbord approach for New Year’s Eve this year, first heading downtown to check out the scene at Trade and Tryon.Problem is, I arrived waaaay too early. I still had to drive home, so I couldn’t really put back any beverages. It was still hours before the “fireworks spectacular” (their words) was…
Sit & Spin
Marianne Faithfull Before the Poison Anti Continuing their run as one of the most dependable labels we have, Anti now brings us Before The Poison, the excellent new album from Marianne Faithfull. And Nick Cave. And PJ Harvey. And Damon Albarn. And Jon Brion. But more on that in a minute. In addition to gravel-gargling…
Alexander the Republican
As far as sex goes, we could not live in stranger times. Although Republicans used the gay marriage issue to whip their evangelical base into voting hysteria, it now turns out that Ken Mehlman, the chair of George Bush’s re-election team and the new head of the Republican National Committee, is gay, according to activist…
Music Menu
WEDNESDAY 1.5 Genghis Tron — New York’s Genghis Tron purvey a Mike Patton-esque brand of paint-peeling hardcore, Massive Attack-like beats, acoustic guitar flourishes, and more time changes than an around-the-world flight. Did I mention that all of the above usually present themselves in the course of the same song? If — and this is a…
The Blotter
HELLUVA GOOD DOUGHNUT: After a mother and daughter became involved in a fight over a doughnut, the daughter stabbed her mother in the face with a metal fork. The police report indicates the daughter refused to talk to authorities, and the mother refused medical treatment, although she indicated she plans to take out a warrant…
Soundboard
Wednesday, Jan. 5 Breakfast Club DJ Boney B Double Door Inn The Grip with Young & Gray The Evening Muse Jason Isbell; Tosco House Party Graduate, Pineville Simplified; Jared Allan & Co. JB’Z N-Vain Midtown 51 Blind View Midtown, Mountain Island Mike and Rusty Milestone The Fugue w/ Genghis Tron and Cripes Almighty Neighborhood Theatre…
SEE & DO
JANUARY 05 WEDNESDAY The Gaston County Public Library is host to Frederick Douglass From Slavery to Freedom: The Journey to New York City, a national touring exhibition depicting Douglass’ escape from slavery and campaign for emancipation. The exhibition will be at the Library through January 31. The library is open seven days a week. Call…
New Year, New Movies
While it’s frequently been stated that all men are created equal, that dictum clearly doesn’t apply to motion pictures. In the upcoming weeks, local audiences will be able to enjoy the wide openings of Oscar-bait titles that debuted in limited release during the waning weeks of 2004, movies that have already made their marks on…
Ask The Advice Goddess
Swami Dearest I started dating this great girl three weeks ago, but ever since she went to a palm reader, she’s been acting really weird. She explained that her feelings for me haven’t changed, but the palm reader lady brought up something she thought was under control (related to her “regression”), and said we need…
Sideways Glance
The Southeastern Film Critics Association (SEFCA) recently named Sideways the Best Picture of 2004 in its 13th annual voting. Runners-up for the top prize were Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby and Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Sideways set a SEFCA record by winning a total of five awards, also picking up citations…
Shorty Out West
Elmore Leonard has a well-known disdain for what John Steinbeck once termed “hooptedoodle” — flowery words and phrases and other superfluous material — so it comes as little surprise that his interviews are terse affairs.Leonard, 79, was born in New Orleans and bounced around through Oklahoma, Texas and Tennessee before settling at age 9 in…
View from the Couch
HAROLD AND KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE (2004). Harold and Maude Go to White Castle might have been a better bet, but this is nevertheless a gross-out comedy with a difference — it tosses some sharp social satire into the usual mix of horny guys, amiable dopeheads, repulsive rednecks and homosexual bit players. And instead…
arts agenda
Comedy Charlotte Comedy Theater Extreme Improv Comedy. Featuring high energy, fully improvised, audience interactive antics of Extreme Improv!. www.extremeimprov.com. Jan. 7 – CCT introduces their all female, long form comedy ensemble, Helen Baak. 8pm, $10 admission. Fri. and Sat., 8pm & 10pm. 1111 – D Hawthorne Ln. 866-467-7681. The Comedy Zone New Year’s Eve. Scotty…
Film Clips
CURRENT RELEASES THE AVIATOR This sprawling biopic about Howard Hughes (played by Leonardo DiCaprio), the notorious billionaire-industrialist-producer-flyboy, employs all the cinematic razzle-dazzle we’ve come to expect from Martin Scorsese, yet there’s an added layer of excitement as the eternal cineast finally gets to step back in time via his meticulous recreations of the sights and…
Starting From Scratch
Equipping your kitchen can be a daunting and expensive task when you’re starting over or just starting out. However, purchasing the best quality you can afford will pay you back with a lifetime of use and professional performance. For an investment of about $500, you’ll be off to a good start. First, buy a well-rounded…
Soldier’s Heart
The first time Kristin Peterson’s husband hit her, she was asleep in their bed. She awoke that night a split second after Joshua’s fist smashed into her face and ran, terrified and crying, to the bathroom to wipe the blood spurting from her nose. When she stuck her head back into the bedroom, there he…
Trend Setter
In a distinctive 100-year-old church turned restaurant, Executive Chef Blake Hartwick of Bonterra has spent the last five years transforming his love for food into classic cuisine.Brought up in a family that owned a catering business, Hartwick’s interest in food began at an early age. Inspired by his father’s passion, Hartwick continued on the same…
2004: The Year Of Perversion
What a shame, a sham. When sex morphs into America’s daily news staple, is part of our political barometer, and is, according to the right, our only moral compass, you know you survived an election year. As President Bush’s Revival sends shudders throughout the world — certainly over poor women stripped of reproductive health services…
Spilling The Beans
Many common phrases contain “food words,” and I decided to look into the origin of some of them. Lots of the information out there is anecdotal at best, but here are some interesting tidbits — for those of you who enjoy useless trivia. With a grain of salt: To take something “with a grain of…
Devotion, Not Promotion
In an NFL Network interview broadcast just four days before his death, football great Reggie White said he felt he had been used and “prostituted” by people in the evangelical movement who had urged him to capitalize on his football fame to promote Christianity. The legendary football star for the Philadelphia Eagles, Green Bay Packers…
Cheap Eats
In January, credit card bills start to fill the mailbox, reminders of holiday extravagance. If your wallet is looking for some relief, here are a few places around town that won’t melt your plastic.Mondays are good days at Lupie’s Cafe (Elizabeth location). The price of $5.35 buys a hearty plate filled with meatloaf and mashed…
The Next Columbine
It’s a law Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold would have loved. The same year the two were planning the Columbine High School massacre that would result in the deaths of 15 people, advocates for students with disabilities were lobbying for changes in federal law that would have a devastating effect on safety in our public…
