Jul 17-23, 2013

Jul 17-23, 2013 / Vol. 27 / No. 21

Cover Story

Charlotte after 2 a.m.

A few years ago, Creative Loafing sent out a reporter to investigate if there was life in Charlotte after 2 a.m., when most bars and clubs close. During her night out on the town, said writer hit up the 5th Street nightclub HOM (now closed), Waffle House and Walgreens. Needless to say, in 2008, the…

Megan Henshall and Emmins Blythe

CD review: J. Cole’s Born Sinner

How do you follow a Grammy-nominated debut which managed to capture the ears and attention of a brand new audience, but alienated so much of your long-time fan base? Cut the bullshit. J. Cole was undoubtedly one of hip-hop’s most talented MCs, yet coupling his ability and exposure to create pop candy had been a…

Mike McCray

What’s your beercabulary?

It’s no secret that beer is taking off in the Queen City. Breweries are popping up all over the place, draft selections are increasing at local bars, and bearded brew dudes are touting their fermented concoctions everywhere from National Public Radio to the Charlotte Observer. What, five years ago, was a city without a single…

Cam Heiliger

Bizarre crimes from Charlotte police files (July 18)

Fool Me Once: After her car had been stolen multiple time, a 61-year-old woman finally decided to go to police. Perhaps she waited to contact the authorities because the car was never permanently gone; on three separate occasions, an unknown suspect stole her vehicle and then returned it. The woman only decided to go to…

Ryan Pitkin

The Way, Way Back: A summer treat

THE WAY, WAY BACK *** DIRECTED BY Nat Faxon & Jim Rash STARS Steve Carell, Toni Collette While it’s been a dismal summer for movies made for teenage boys (Pacific Rim, The Lone Ranger, Man of Steel), it’s been an exemplary one for films made about teenage boys. On the heels of The Kings of…

Matt Brunson

Mel’s message at McColl

“They have a new family in contemporary art,” Mel Chin explained on a guided tour through his new exhibition at McColl Center for Visual Art. Though he was talking about “Unauthorized Collaborations,” the altered paintings he completed while in residency at McColl, the phrase actually works for all of his art pieces on display, which…

Grace Cote

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Welcome to the first installment of CL’s new women’s column Vodka Yonic. To read past editions, visit our sister paper Nashville Scene. After I made sure the fireball that smashed into my shoulder hadn’t set my long, loose hair on fire, I asked my friend why he decided to chase me with a Roman candle…

Ashley Spurgeon

Modern Man goes west

It’s nearly midnight on a Wednesday, and the members of South Carolina psych-pop powerhouse Modern Man have just gotten to their Charleston practice space. The band, which formed in Greenville, has only been in the city since fall 2012, but will be leaving for the West Coast in August — with some members couch-surfing through…

Corbie Hill

Weekly horoscope (July 18-July 23)

Cancer The Crab (June 20-July 21): Day-to-day life is favorable at present. There are no big conflicts between you and anyone of importance. Social life is favored with partners, friends and neighbors. Short trips to interesting, nearby places could prove refreshing and educational. For All Signs: This will be a period in which many things…

Vivian Carol

Hoping to strike Gold

Ever since City Manager Ron Carlee figured out how the city could pay for the streetcar extension without a property tax increase, we’re all just hanging out, hoping to hear whether the federal government — specifically the Transportation Department, now being run by former Mayor Anthony Foxx — will pony up half of the project’s…

John Grooms

America is not No. 1

There’s a scene in the HBO series The Newsroom in which the main character, Will McAvoy, played by Jeff Daniels, is asked why America is the greatest country in the world. His answer shocks the auditorium. “There’s absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we’re the greatest country in the world,” he says. “We’re…

Ailen Arreaza

The rest is silence: R.I.P. Alan Poindexter

We weren’t at all alike. We came from different regions and different generations. Yet somehow, Alan Poindexter (1965-2013) and I arrived on the Charlotte theater scene at almost the exact same moment. Alan’s emergence was inevitable. He was brilliant, original, daring, funny and iconoclastic — with an onstage presence and charisma that I’d never seen,…

Perry Tannenbaum

American history X

“Any Person May Kill and Destroy Said Slaves,” reads an arrest proclamation from 1798. Issued for “Jem” and “Mat” by Warren County, N.C., it may as well have been a death sentence. Even if Jem and Mat, two escaped slaves, were able to get to the North to a state that had abolished slavery, they…

Mary C. Curtis

Recent

See all

Gift this article