Cover Story
Are you willing to pay for a healthy arts scene?
Imagine being called to the hospital. Your loved one is in the critical-care unit on life support. The doctor takes you aside and, in a somber voice, tells you your family member is in really bad shape and you’ve got a couple of options. “We could do nothing, and he/she would most likely survive. But…
Best of Charlotte 2014 Readers Ballot
UPDATE: Time is running out to cast your ballots. Reminder that the deadline is Aug. 31, midnight! It’s that time of year again. Creative Loafing returns with its 26th installment of our Best of Charlotte edition. In this, our biggest issue of the year — not to mention the biggest Best of compilation in the…
Today’s Top 5: Wednesday
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today.
Today’s Top 5: Tuesday
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today.
Today’s Top 5: Monday
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today.
Today’s Top 5: Sunday
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today.
Today’s Top 5: Saturday
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today.
Today’s Top 5: Friday
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today.
Today’s Top 5: Thursday
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today.
Today’s Top 5: Wednesday
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today.
Today’s Top 5: Wednesday
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today.
Lake Street Dive returns to Neighborhood Theatre in October
Band’s February performance at the same venue was sold out.
N.C. school board to vote on corporal punishment
Yes, spanking in school is still allowed in some districts (though, fortunately, not Mecklenburg).
Today’s Top 5: Tuesday
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today.
First Drip (8/5/16): Goodwill to build job-readiness facility in Charlotte, more
The news you need to know today.
Theater review: Dream a Little Dream
Charlotte premiere at Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte is enjoyable.
Theater review: T Bone n’ Weasel
The current production at 1212 Studio tells a good tale.
Today’s Top 5: Monday
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today.
Five facts about Guardians of the Galaxy’s post-credits surprise
Spoilers ahead.
Walmart artist Brendan O’Connell visits Charlotte to paint his favorite fruit
When my editor asked if I’d write a story about the artist who paints inside Walmarts, I asked, “Would I actually have to go to Walmart to write the story?” I’m proud that I have only been to a Walmart on two occasions in my life. I loathe the retailer for all the reasons you’d…
First Notes (8/4/2014): Man loses finger at Jay Z-Beyonce concert, more
A weekly update of recent happenings in the world of music.
First Drip (8/4/16): Five Moral Monday cases dismissed, murder suspect in custody, more
The news you need to know today.
Today’s Top 5: Saturday
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today.
Charlotte Oktoberfest vs. Charlotte Beerfest
Tickets are now on sale for these two September beer festivals.
Review: Scott Snyder’s The Wake a game-changer for all its genres
Ambitious miniseries is one of the year’s best efforts.
Cheap list: film, art, boats and more
A list of cheap things to do in the Q.C. this weekend.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Space Oddity
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY *** DIRECTED BY James Gunn STARS Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana The Marvel cinematic universe certainly hasn’t been lacking for humor. With Robert Downey Jr. leading the pack with his interpretation of Tony Stark/Iron Man as the class clown, Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner/Hulk and Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow offering sly asides,…
Boyhood: And a child shall lead them
BOYHOOD **** DIRECTED BY Richard Linklater STARS Ellar Coltrane, Lorelei Linklater If a unique gimmick determined a film’s worth, then 1952’s Bwana Devil would be considered one of the greatest movies ever made. Boasting the tagline “A Lion In Your Lap! A Lover In Your Arms!,” this adventure yarn about British laborers battling lions in…
Get On Up rises on lead performance
GET ON UP **1/2 DIRECTED BY Tate Taylor STARS Chadwick Boseman, Nelsan Ellis Chadwick Boseman, utterly convincing as baseball legend Jackie Robinson in 42, now wallops another home run with his work as music legend James Brown in the biopic Get On Up. In fact, Boseman is so formidable that, were the film itself just…
A Most Wanted Man worth finding
A MOST WANTED MAN *** DIRECTED BY Anton Corbijn STARS Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams While most cinema scribes seem to keep busy adapting YA novels or Nicholas Sparks bestsellers, it’s nice to know that the brainy books by John le Carré never seem to fall out of fashion. A Most Wanted Man may not…
Hercules: A lumbering bore
HERCULES *1/2 DIRECTED BY Brett Ratner STARS Dwayne Johnson, Ian McShane In picture after picture, Dwayne Johnson has proven to not only be a commanding screen presence but also a pretty good actor. It’s unfortunate, therefore, to see him aping Schwarzenegger-as-Conan by starring in Hercules and turning the titular hero into nothing more than a…
And So It Goes: And good riddance
AND SO IT GOES *1/2 DIRECTED BY Rob Reiner STARS Michael Douglas, Diane Keaton Are there any slots left on the CBS prime-time fall schedule? Because here’s a doozy of a concept, just perfect for the boob tube: A cranky senior citizen makes life miserable for those around him until he’s unexpectedly burdened with a…
Question the Queen City: The Battle for Hooch
The argument over who can serve and drink has waged in North Carolina since the 1790s.
Today’s Top 5: Friday
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today.
First Drip (8/1/14): Tougher coal ash regulations fail, cease-fire between Israel and Palestine collapses, more
The news you need to know today.
Noah, Nymphomaniac, Picnic at Hanging Rock among new home entertainment titles
(View From The Couch is a weekly column that reviews what’s new on Blu-ray and DVD.) BORN YESTERDAY (1950). The movie year of 1950 gave birth to two of the greatest performances ever seen in the annals of film history: Gloria Swanson as faded movie star Norma Desmond in Billy Wilder’s magnificent Sunset Boulevard and…
A Dutch treat
This week’s dating tale is a good look at how NOT to bring up the “going dutch” idea.
Today’s Top 5: Thursday
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today.
Grab a hearty breakfast at the farmers market
Options have graduated from sugary muffins and dessert treats to savory quiches, crepes and more.
Jason Watson’s narrative potential
I’m told to enter through the green door at the Hart Witzen studios. Transplanted Charlotte artist Jason Watson offers me a cup of Bengal Spice tea and we move through his small but mighty space, pausing before the wizened drawn heads that line the walls like sentinels to pay our respects. Our journey leads us…
First Drip (7/31/14): Charlotte missionary fighting Ebola, Senate to vote on budget, more
The news you need to know today.
Weekly horoscope (July 31-Aug. 6)
For All Signs: We have a “kite formation” in the zodiac, created by an equilateral triangle among the water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces). The spine of the kite has a tail from the Moon in earthy Virgo, pointing toward the sign of Pisces. This is the tail, rudder, or guiding principle. So the message is…
Period of Adjustment
As my husband and I prepared to breed, I discovered fascinating things about the female anatomy. To start, in order to get pregnant, you must first be fertile. And in order to be fertile, you must first have regular cycles. I, on the other hand, was apparently irregular. After ceremoniously tossing out my trusty birth…
Bizarre crimes from Charlotte police files (July 31)
Extinguished: A man lost his temper at the EpiCentre last week, and it took a large group of bouncers to put out his fire. Something set the man off and before long he was beating a 30-year-old man about the face and head with a fire extinguisher. The victim refused transport by medics, but the…
Happy National Cheesecake Day!
The Cheesecake Factory is offering a great way to celebrate National Cheesecake Day: half off all cheesecakes.
Live photos: Warped Tour, PNC Music Pavilion (7/28/2014)
The best, the worst and the can-do-withouts of the 2014 Charlotte tour stop.
Charlotte Uber rider complains of … spider bites?
It’s the first official complaint against the company in North Carolina.
Adoptive parents of missing Erica Parsons arrested on fraud charges
Sandy alone faces up to 183 years in prison.
The Pull List (7/30/14): Bodies hit the shelves
Unique murder-mystery comic debuts this week.
WTF Wednesday (7/30/2014): DMX goes for a ride
Video shows the rapper’s experience on a “Sling Shot.”
First Drip (7/30/14): Two men charged with attempted murder of CMPD officer, Dems raise $1 million over impeachment talk, more
The news you need to know today.
CD review: Reigning Sound’s Shattered
In 2011, happenstance threw Greg Cartwright together with the Brooklyn soul group The Jay Vons for the Scion-promo EP, Abdication… for Your Love. Recorded on the fly in Nashville, the two-day, eight-song session was a stunner, and seemed to re-charge the batteries of the Oblivians/Compulsive Gamblers/Reigning Sound underground rock icon. But would Abdication be a…
Three questions with Lindsey Pitman of The Daily Press
It seems an unlikely place to open a coffee shop, inside a concert venue. But the talented barista and crafty hand-lettering goddess turned lady boss Lindsey Pitman says it was serendipity that brought her vision to fruition. The Daily Press opened inside the Evening Muse in June, becoming the third coffee spot to grace the…
Hot spots for hops
Some spend the Fourth of July around a grill or out by the pool. Others light fireworks, celebrating the independence of their nation by blowing up a small part of it. I spent the afternoon on an impromptu Tour de Brewery, hitting up the taprooms of NoDa, Triple C and Olde Mecklenburg. My first two…
WTF is happening in Durham?
I initially intended to write about statewide police abuse. I was angry when a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer pled guilty to photographing underage girls’ in their underwear without their knowledge. Girls who were taking part in the Explorers program. Disgusting. But as I researched other instances of police abuse throughout North Carolina, one city popped up…
Joedance Film Festival honors a life cut short
If there’s one movie in this year’s Joedance Film Festival that sums up the brief life of the young man who inspired the festival, it might be Joshua Yates’ The Horse You Rode In On. The short (just 2 minutes and 40 seconds) music video explores death, life and rebirth. Or it could be Joshua…
The Deslondes brand of big easy blues
Rockin’ New Orleans country-soul band The Deslondes starts out their live show by humming and stomping their feet in rhythm while percussionist Cameron Snyder bangs a hammer in time. They break into guitarist/singer Sam Doores’ song, “I Got Found,” like a prison chain gang on the side of a Southern highway, with call-response verses laced…
It Looks Sad looks promising
On a sweaty Sunday evening at the Common Market in Plaza Midwood, Jimmy Turner looks down at a small tape recorder and frowns. He and his It Looks Sad bandmates — Justin Brown, Alex Ruiz and Josh Wilson — have gone off on a tangent, steering an interview question toward the relative merits of horror…
Jana Mashonee is no one’s Pocahontas
Jana Mashonee is fine with all of those “first” tags that others usually put after her name. She’s credited as the first self-identifying Native American woman to graduate from Davidson College; top the Billboard dance charts; have a CD sold in Walmart. But she’d rather be recognized for her musical talents than any labels. In…
