Jul 24-30, 2013

Jul 24-30, 2013 / Vol. 27 / No. 22

Cover Story

Urban Explorer Handbook 2013

In the seven years that I’ve lived in Charlotte, I’ve watched it explode with development — I can only imagine how you native Charlotteans feel. And the city just keeps on growing: The light rail will extend up to UNCC within the next five years; Publix is opening a second Charlotte location in South End…

Kimberly Lawson

Theater review: Narrow Daylight

Let other judges who served on the panel at Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte speak for themselves. When I narrowly named Sevan Kaloustian Greene’s Narrow Daylight as the best play in last year’s inaugural nuVoices Play Festival, half of my decision rested on what was already before my eyes in a reading stage production – a…

Perry Tannenbaum

The Wolverine: Claws and effect

THE WOLVERINE **1/2 DIRECTED BY James Mangold STARS Hugh Jackman, Tao Okamoto (To check out the article Look! Up on the Screen! The Best & Worst Superhero Films of All Time, go here.) The less charitable among us would say that Hugh Jackman has his meal ticket and won’t let go of it for anything.…

Matt Brunson

The Conjuring offers modest thrills

THE CONJURING **1/2 DIRECTED BY James Wan STARS Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson Every couple of years, the American moviegoing public is greeted with a film that instantly earns the enviable tag of “One of the Scariest Movies Ever Made!” This designation used to be reserved for only the most special of terror tales — Psycho,…

Matt Brunson

R.I.P.D.: What’s that rotting smell?

R.I.P.D. * DIRECTED BY Robert Schwentke STARS Jeff Bridges, Ryan Reynolds Based on the Dark Horse comic book, R.I.P.D. is one of those movies that’s more fun to discuss than to watch. Look, it’s Rooster Cogburn and Green Lantern, together at last! Check out The Dude slumming with Van Wilder! Wait, when did Jeff Bridges…

Matt Brunson

Red 2: A colorful sequel

RED 2 *** DIRECTED BY Dean Parisot STARS Bruce Willis, John Malkovich The 2010 box office hit Red was directed by Robert Schwentke, who finds himself spending this summer enduring awful feedback for his latest effort, R.I.P.D. Instead, it’s Dean Parisot who handles helming duties for Red 2 — it’s a smooth changing of the…

Matt Brunson

B-girl fresh

As I yanked on spandex shorts, I questioned what I was getting myself into. The next two hours would either be a blast or a complete catastrophe. It had been years since I’d really tried dancing. Sure, I was a cheerleader in high school and had been known to get down at a frat party…

Olivia Farley

A Pilgrim’s Progress

My husband Hal was freaking out. We had been walking the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage across Spain for almost six weeks and had only one day to go to reach the sea. But the next two kilometers suddenly loomed larger than the 870 kilometers —approximately 540 miles — behind us. Ostensibly, the problem was one…

Kim Green

JCSU’s global outreach

Elver Barrios wanted to go to college in Chapel Hill. The Guatemalan-born student had the ambition and grades to get accepted. What he didn’t have was the money. As an undocumented student, he would have to pay out-of-state tuition, despite his family having lived and worked in Charlotte for almost a decade, and was ineligible…

Emiene Wright

Weekly horoscope (July 25-31)

Leo The Lion (July 22-Aug. 22): This is a good week to bring to fruition a home improvement project that was conceived in the fall of 2012. 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…

Vivian Carol

“Just like college” … but with money

To the untrained eye, the North End neighborhood is unassuming. Head out of the city on North Graham Street, skyline at your back, and follow it to the fork at Statesville and Dalton. Driving past old buildings, neighborhoods and industrial vestiges along Statesville Avenue, it is easy to miss the rich history there. To the…

Keia Mastrianni

Charlotte’s quirky heart

Blake Barnes founded the Common Market in Plaza Midwood 10-and-a-half years ago and in that time has rightfully become a ‘hood ambassador. Here’s why: What started as a small neighborhood convenience store selling beer, wine and cigarettes has become an even bigger small neighborhood convenience store selling more types of wine, beer and cigarettes, adding…

Ana McKenzie

Southbound & Down

Everyone we’ve talked to agrees: The light rail coming to South End was the best damn thing to happen to this neighborhood. But you know what else is pretty cool about this area? The selection of retail: From consignment to exclusive sneakers, women’s fashion to furniture, a shopaholic can go buckwild. We talked to the…

Kimberly Lawson

Movin’ on Up … town

If we mention Uptown, what comes to mind? Busy bankers? Frat-boy-esque EpiCentre advocates? A honk-and-holler metropolis similar to New York City? Try, instead, to imagine tree-lined sidewalks where you can stop by an art gallery on your way to eat before heading to a concert, play or sporting event. NoDa and Plaza Midwood aren’t the…

Jeff Hahne

What is the future of Charlotte?

For a glimpse of what Charlotte could look like in the future, pay a visit to 4405 Central Ave. The address belongs to Las Delicias bakery. When it opened 17 years ago, Las Delicias was Charlotte’s first Latin bakery. Now it’s one of many. Manuel “Manolo” Betancur and his wife Zhenia Martinez bought Las Delicias…

Ana McKenzie

Coloring the community

Depending on whom you talk to, the Eastway area is generally known for being one of two things: A) the safest bet on where to find the best tacos, pupusas and pho in town, or B) “the ghetto.” The latter opinion seems to be at the nadir of its popularity, and those in love with…

Laura Camilo

Where health and hops coexist

Every Wednesday, hundreds of people dressed in athletic apparel crowd the tap room at NoDa Brewing Company. And while wearing bottoms with an elastic waist band makes a certain amount of sense if one plans to spend an evening drinking beer, the anticipation of an expanded midsection isn’t exactly the reason for their attire. Wednesday…

Ailen Arreaza

The best of both worlds

LaCa Projects, a recently opened arts center dedicated to the promotion of Latin culture, sits on a warehouse-studded side street by the intersection of Freedom and Morehead, not far from the arterial traffic of I-77. A few hundred feet from LaCa’s doors are buildings of chipped brick and exposed plaster — some abandoned, some reclaimed…

Bo McMillan

Shake your Booty

Beneath an awning of oaks, maples and poplars, through a curving crash course in bungalow, colonial and Tudor revival-style homes, from sunrise to sundown, they ride. Planned as a streetcar suburb in the early 20th century, Myers Park is home not only to some of the city’s more elegant environs, but to one of its…

Laura Camilo

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