Jul 11-17, 2012

Jul 11-17, 2012 / Vol. 26 / No. 20

Cover Story

Not just Black History: America I Am

Footsteps echo on replicated stone as you enter a close, dim tunnel. Ahead, a wanly lit vestibule beckons, but this is where most visitors stop cold, trapped between rough planks festooned with heavy iron locks and blackened by the centuries. The Doors of No Return. Visitors must make a conscious decision to pass through and…

Emiene Wright

CD Review: Jon Lindsay’s Summer Wilderness Program

“Effortless” is a funny term. Taken at a literal level, it’s a synonym for lazy, lacking in effort and failing because of it. But most often it is used to describe talent that just seems natural, like a pop singer who makes great, catchy songs because he’s simply that good. A bit of both definitions…

Jordan Lawrence

3 questions with Jeanette Payne, pastry chef at Bar Cocoa

Off the bustling streets of downtown Charlotte and through the revolving door of the Ritz-Carlton is a wonderland known as Bar Cocoa (www.barcocoacharlotte.com). With rows of colorful macaroons, rich chocolate truffles and tarts, Bar Cocoa is the hotel’s corner confectionery. Pastry chef Jeanette Payne, who graduated from Johnson and Wales University in 2007, has been…

Mary Stevens

Summertime sippin’

One summer accessory that never goes out of style is the bright red Solo cup. Whether at the pool or beach, on a rooftop or patio, the Solo cup is a staple. Problem is, it usually contains a beverage you wouldn’t give to a thirsty stray dog. It’s time to forget your college days of…

Christina Buttafuoco

Bizarre crimes from Charlotte police files (July 12 edition)

Twisted Sisters: Police responded to a domestic disturbance after two women — sisters — went at each other while apparently cooking dinner. Of course both claimed to be victims in the fight. The younger sibling told officers that her older sister had threatened her with a knife. The older sister told police that she only…

Ryan Pitkin

Troubled tenants look for light at the end of the tunnel

Tenants of the troubled Sandlewood apartment complex, now named Heritage Park, met with management to discuss their problems again on Thursday night. The meeting was a follow-up to a meeting that took place on May 30, during which a list of demands were presented to the ownership group. On Thursday, representatives of Heritage Park’s development…

Ryan Pitkin

Weekly horoscope (July 12-18)

Cancer The Crab (June 20-July 21)This is a good week to bring fruition to a home improvement project that was conceived in the fall of 2011. Saturn always gives us what we deserve. So, if you have put work and time into your effort, you will be rewarded. If not, you may be hit with…

Vivian Carol

Letters and online comments from the readers (July 12 edition)

Language debate I want to thank you for your cover story “Drop the I Word” (July 5) this past week. Joining the campaign clearly states that you take your power of words seriously and consciously. As a media outlet, it was great to see you give the two viewpoints on the issue because your readers…

‘Bye, Andy

I was busy writing a column about politics when I heard that Andy Griffith had died. I never expected his death to feel like a big cultural shock, but it does, and I’m sure I’m only one of millions who feel that way. The Mount Airy-born entertainer became an icon of sorts to many Americans,…

John Grooms

Blowfly swears to tell the truth

Miami is known for sun, sand and the uncanny ability to produce smut kings, but if you think it started with 2 Live Crew’s Luther Campbell, you’d be mistaken. Blowfly, the original dirty OG, started in 1965 with “Rap Dirty,” and is still touring and defending his title as the nastiest nother mucker on the…

Emiene Wright

Independent’s day: Mindy Smith is on her own

Mindy Smith sounds a bit overwhelmed. She’s rambling as she talks and is worried her thoughts aren’t coming across clearly. One moment she’s sitting in the blue-walled living room of her Nashville, Tenn., home and the next she’s standing on her front porch watching a school bus drive by. Considering the singer-songwriter’s first independent album…

Jeff Hahne

Hammer No More the Fingers’ long history and recent lessons

Pink Worm, Hammer no More the Fingers’ new EP, would have been right at home on ’90s alt-rock radio. It has the energy and punch that was in demand in the post-grunge years, while maintaining the same lightweight, often goofy, sincerity which made Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo a post-angst top-40 star. Duncan Webster, Hammer No More…

Corbie Hill

Tricks of the transit trade

It makes a great story. Big banks have bilked the city of Charlotte and its mass transit system out of almost $20 million a year in a complex financing setup that could and should be used to fund the Lynx Blue Line. Except the story, in a study sent to newspapers across the country and…

J. Lee Howard

Two polar opposite stories by one writer

What would you get if you took a masked Mexican wrestler and put him in the ring with multi-colored funk godfather George Clinton, X-rated Miami rap legend Luther Campbell, intergalactic jazz man Sun Ra and outer-space dub-meister Lee “Scratch” Perry? For one thing, you’d get a psychedelic mess of modern R&B-based bodily fluids all over…

Mark Kemp

Baby blue: Meet Cleveland County delegate Nick Carpenter

If Nick Carpenter was a gambler in Vegas, his poker face would beat the best of them. If only he was old enough to gamble. The 19-year-old, dressed in a pressed white shirt and khakis, doesn’t smile wide enough to reveal his teeth when we meet. But bring up his friend and senior prom date…

Joanne Spataro

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