Results: Contempt for School
I teach at one of the “successful” high schools in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, the ones in the suburbs with high(er) standardized test scores. With the astronomical growth of high-stakes testing since the mid 1990s, many parents, education officials, and even teachers equate higher than average standardized test scores with success. In public high schools, high scores…
Bad to the Bone
Poor Joey Perrone. She realizes just seconds after her husband grabs her ankles and heaves her over the side of the cruise ship Sun Duchess that her suspicions have been correct and she made a big mistake. That mistake was marrying Dr. Charles Regis “Chaz” Perrone, the world’s worst biologist. We soon learn the handsome…
Changes Coming At News 14
That big, whooshing sigh of relief you heard on Morehead Street last Friday came from News 14 Carolina employees who found out that their jobs are safe. At least for now. Their sister news operations in San Antonio and Houston were not so lucky. Jointly owned by Time Warner and the Belo Corporation (owner of…
Arts Agenda
Classical Music Matthew Noonan A program tracing the history of organ music from 16th century Amsterdam to present-day Charlotte, presented by The Charlotte chapter of the American Guild of Organists. First Presbyterian Church, 200 West Trade St. Sun., Aug. 1, 7:30 p.m. 704-332-5123. Comedy Bayou Kitchen Comedy. Extreme Improv: Fridays 8pm – Chicago Style long…
Holy Convergence, Batman!
Every so often convergence happens and things begin to make sense, even if only in some bizarre blur that lasts for a fleeting moment before the universe returns to its normal state of entropy. By my reckoning, we’re currently in a state of this sort of Brave New Convergence. Let me explain. Last week’s column…
Indian Spice Trail
For the past 50 years, India’s primary cultural export had been spiritualism and yoga, both of which have recently enjoyed a resurgence in popularity. But in the last five of those 50 years, Asian Indian culture has become the super nova streaking across the western sky. This may be due, in part, to the increasing…
Letters
Revenue Is The Goal Tara’s article on the speed camera scam (“Speed Camera Sham,” by Tara Servatius, July 14) was right on! Once again the city of Charlotte has found another way to freeload off the growth areas of their annexed suburban jurisdictions for their benefit. The city of Raleigh tried a similar camera program…
A Rosé By Any Other Name
Newsflash: not all pinks stink. Without a doubt, White Zinfandel, with its strawberry syrup flavor, has sentenced the entire class of roses to a crude and classless reputation, leaving the dry rose wines of the world to rot in trailer park hell. But fear not the rosy. The new, snazzed-up pink wine is fragrant with…
News of the Weird
Speak the same language: Walt and Kathy Viggiano of Wichita, Kan., convinced Judge James Burgess to return their four children from foster care in 1999, following their removal because of excessive unsanitariness of the family’s mobile home. Unlike in many such cases, Burgess realized the Viggianos loved their kids, had not abused them and had…
Good Eats
All Around Town Anntony’s Caribbean, 400 S. Tryon St., 704-339-0303; 2001 E. 7th St., 704-342-0749. All locations have different owners. 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.…
Hold The Pimp Juice
The band Mastodon played Tremont Music Hall last Wednesday. Never has a band had a name more descriptive of its music. The Georgia-based group is almost prehistorically heavy, featuring two lead guitarists — both trade rhythm duties when called for — a machine-gun drummer, and a bass player with more bottom end than Kirstie Alley.…
All Together Now
Usually, the super-group ensemble thing goes something like this: At the end of some self-congratulatory televised event, all the usual inductees/nominees crowd the stage for an overblown send-off cover — more often than not some three-chord warhorse only the truly drunk musician couldn’t follow. The entertainment quotient is pretty meager: a couple of chuckles and…
The Vacation Sweepstakes
I was participating in a conference call, one of those invisible meetings where there’s six or seven people on the line holding their breath in unison, waiting to see if somebody else is going to talk first. Whenever you do speak up, it’s a weird sensation, like you’re yelling down a well with only your…
Redneck Reveille
Telling someone that you’re from the South used to instantly cause some people to view you with red(neck)-tinted glasses. These days, it’s a foot in the door, a book deal, a record contract, a cooking show. As far as I can tell, this languid love affair is a matter of “authenticity,” a tenuous concept people…
The Blotter
ALCOHOL+STUPIDITY = FIGHT: A couple of weekend revelers were involved in a bout of parking lot fisticuffs at a local bar which resulted in one of the partygoers breaking his wrist. The reason for the brawl? A disagreement over which drunkard was going to drive. Thankfully, it ended up being the cops. A FAX FOR…
Sit & Spin
Adem Homesongs Domino If ever a record were true to its title, Homesongs is it. The 10 entries on this remarkable debut from ex-Fridge member Adem Ilhan were not only recorded at home, they exude the warmth and comfort of a lair well loved and, in this record’s darker moments, one much-needed. Homesongs is an…
Word On The Street
Brad Surratt Nightwatchman “I supported Vinroot and hate to see him lose, but there’s nothing dishonorable about coming in second. Just ask President Bush.” Janice Porter Securities Broker “Oh, you know . . . grace under pressure, fine gesture, writing on the wall, putting the party first, blah blah, all that shit. Coupla political chumps…
Music Menu
WEDNESDAY 7.28 Ten Missing Days — A Charlotte five-piece in the manner of the Deftones or Foo Fighters, only with a bit more emo vibe than Dave Grohl humor. It’s loud, it’s fast, it’s earnest, it’s got three guitars. The band gets tagged with the scream-o label, but there’s more melody and pop elements here…
See & Do
JULY 28 – WEDNESDAY The Charlotte Knights play out the rest of their four-game series against Columbus tonight and tomorrow night at 7:15pm, and Friday at 6:15pm. On Saturday, the Knights continue at home against Durham at 7:15pm, with an afternoon game against the Bulls on Sunday at 2:15pm. It’s promotions galore this weekend at…
Soundboard
Wednesday, Jul. 28 Big Al’s Pub, Cornelius Open Mic w/ Gabe B Blue Melinda Hansen, Royce Guin, Korey Dudley & Rob Knox Breakfast Club DJ Boney B Bricktop Lounge DJs Christian & Brigmunton Charleston Chops, Cornelius Michelle Smith, Bill & Ray Comet Grill Open Mic w/ Bill McDonald Double Door Inn The Painkillers The Evening…
Ask the Advice Goddess
Slack To The Future I read your column regularly, and agree, in principle, with your contention that living together can ruin a relationship. I’m 35, and my boyfriend of three years and I are in no rush to get married or move in together. Although I’m very happy day-to-day, part of me worries I’ll feel…
Alias Run Amok
Strictly a meat-and-potatoes kind of filmgoer — thumbs up to John Wayne and Burt Reynolds, thumbs down to fantasy yarns and art-house flicks — my father would have made an interesting film critic if he could have gotten away with writing reviews no longer than 10 or 12 words. Even when we disagreed on films,…
Stargazer
For All Signs On the 31st we will experience what is known as a “blue moon.” The blue moon occurs approximately every 2.5 years, when a second full moon shines within a single month. The expression “once in a blue moon” is used colloquially to mean not very often or rarely. The moon does not…
View From The Couch
NED KELLY (2004). A handsome production that never really catches fire, Ned Kelly relates the true story of the late-19th-century outlaw-hero whose popularity has endured for well over a century in Australia. A member of an Irish immigrant family that can’t catch a break, Ned (Heath Ledger) is constantly harassed by the local police force…
The Art Of Subversion
So I’m reading Cordelia Williams’ artist statement (an explanation of intent, in the artist’s own words, that accompanies an exhibit) and the phrase “the subversive act of using traditions for my own purposes” stops me cold. Wow! Of course art is a subversive act! Many would disagree that every act of creativity, be it humor,…
Film Clips
NEW RELEASES THE DOOR IN THE FLOOR Based on a sizable chunk of John Irving’s A Widow for One Year, this outwardly melancholy but inwardly hopeful movie reunites Nadine stars Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger as Ted and Marion Cole, silently suffering parents who, years later, are still unable to cope with the deaths of…
The Wretched Get Angry
If you think a drama called Mud might be a little messy, your theater radar is working well. The little we’ve seen before of Maria Irene Fornes’ work here in Charlotte hardly begins to hint at the brutal power the Cuban-born playwright is capable of unleashing. Fefu and Her Friends, presented three years ago in…
Odd Jobs
If you’ve paid a visit to Bobbie Pallante at Serenity Health Care, chances are you two have a very intimate relationship. In fact she’s probably seen a side of you not even your closest friends have seen. Pallante is a colonic therapist — one of just a handful in Charlotte — and her job calls…
Namaste India Bar & Restaurant
Indian Spice Trail Currying favor on Independence Boulevard For the past 50 years, India’s primary cultural export had been spiritualism and yoga, both of which have recently enjoyed a resurgence in popularity. But in the last five of those 50 years, Asian Indian culture has become the super nova streaking across the western sky. This…
The W Beatitudes
“Blasted are they who mourn, especially if they live in some Third World country whose oil the self-anointed covet, for they shall have more to mourn about.” — The Bible, King George II Standard Neoconservative Version Mel Gibson should really make a prequel to The Passion, the heavenly film that elevated pornographic violence to theology.…
