Lit up
Like the tall, wild grass it’s named for, the band Vetiver and its Virginia-born, North Carolina-schooled leader Andy Cabic may not be native to California, but like so many transplants, both are flourishing in the Golden State. Here in San Francisco, the piercingly blue-eyed, long brown-haired singer-songwriter-guitarist sits, folded into an arm chair in the…
Escape from Alt-Country
The ironic thing about labeling bands is how little the labels tell you about their music. “Alt-country,” for instance, is a catch-all phrase created by marketers in the mid-1990s and latched onto by lazy music writers like a compound-modifying life vest. No one can tell you what it constitutes, but leaf through any weekly or…
Black Crow, Crazy Horse
My dear mother, the Honorable Anne Marie Forrester, Ph.D., a scintillating and adventurous Brass Ankle descended from Virginia’s Powhatan Confederacy, went to Glory last weekend. As Africa and its people were her abiding, lifelong love, I rather suspect ma-the-dark-feather is partying — drinking palm wine and swaying with the drums in the underworld of Amenta…
Pre-emptive Strike
Julia Garnett lives in perpetual fear. Every time she leaves her home, she puts her life at risk due to her allergy to smoke. She’s been rushed out of grocery stores and airports that claimed to be smoke-free. There aren’t many safe places in Charlotte. She likes to grab a drink from time to time,…
The Spy Who Didn’t Fool Us
Boomer With Attitude
Curses! Spoiled Again
There are a few things you’ll notice fairly easily when you watch Sam Shepard’s sibling civil war True West. You’ll see the colossal accumulation of junk you’d expect from the ritual reunion of two slovenly brothers — coupled with some major typewriter damage. Amid the hostilities and the flying scenery, you may also notice that,…
Getting the lead out
In 2004, more than 1,500 children had high levels of lead in their blood, putting them at risk for learning disabilities, behavioral problems and devastating diseases. Local and state members of the advocacy group ACORN, or Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, believe the industry responsible for selling paint containing the lead should be…
Crossbones And Crosswords
The fan frenzy surrounding Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (**1/2 out of four) has reached such a fever pitch that had producer Jerry Bruckheimer merely shot two hours of Johnny Depp filling out his tax returns and released it under the Pirates moniker, it still would have scored a $75 million opening weekend…
How many continents are there?
My People
See&Do
Wednesday, july 05 With the advent of Halton Theater, the era of time-sharing is over at CPCC Summer Theatre. CP’s annual kiddie show, The Jungle Book, moves into Summer Theatre’s traditional home at panoramic Pease Auditorium — presumably with improved set design since they don’t have to tear down Mowgli’s jungle for CP’s comedy at…
Urban Removal
A century ago, a thriving black neighborhood called Brooklyn stood where uptown’s Second Ward stands today. It was a model of commercial success and had two movie theaters, over 20 restaurants, two newspapers, a pharmacy, doctors, dentists and dozens of other businesses. Even back then, the land it stood on was valuable, and for decades,…
What do foreigners think of America these days?
The Pew Global Attitudes Project is an ongoing series of worldwide public opinion surveys designed to help Americans understand what the rest of the world is thinking about important issues. The project is funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, founded in 1948 either by Pepé Le Pew or the family of the late Sunoco oil…
Cheap Thrills
4th SATURDAYS UPTOWN Billed as “A Cultural Exchange & Global Marketplace,” this free event boasts something for everyone. Shopping for the shopaholics, entertainment for the perpetually bored, food for everybody and peace for the single moms in the form of a children’s village (hallelujah!). It’s ongoing, on the fourth Saturday of every month from 10am-5pm…
¡Viva La Computación!
Book Review
The Blotter
Too Much Information: A 21-year-old female reported that her 1993 black Lincoln town car had been stolen by a friend of a friend. She told police that the incident happened when she was at a party getting high. The Scent of Crime: At a local discount store, a cashier called police to report the theft…
Fluff and Substance
The big patriotic holiday always makes me cynical, so here’s a little collection of fluff and substance to go with your post-4th hangover, psychic or otherwise. Native Languages Of The Americas www.native-languages.org Dr. Megavolt www.drmegavolt.com Miss Superbuff www.superbuff.com The Naked Cowboy www.nakedcowboy.com Earth From Space http://earth.jsc.nasa.gov/sseop/efs
Karma Cleanser
Dear Karma Cleanser: I broke up with a long-term girlfriend (an artist) because she did not want to get married or even live together. I began dating a new lady, also an artist. My relationship with the new lady did not work out, and after a few months, I broke up with her. Now it…
Clothes Encounters
Consider this an equal opportunity review. Meryl Streep will continue to receive so many laudatory notices for her performance in The Devil Wears Prada that it would be a shame if her talented co-stars got completely lost during the Meryl-deification. Certainly, the film legend deserves all the accolades she can stomach for her poison-dipped performance…
It doesn’t hurt
Moodswing
Al’s World
As the presidential seal filled the screen on a recent episode of Saturday Night Live, viewers might have expected to see one of the show’s regular impersonators-in-chief. But the fake president who opened the show turned out to be an erstwhile contender: former Vice President Al Gore. Dryly jabbing the Bush administration (and mildly mocking…
July 6 — July 12, 2006
CANCER The Crab (June 21 — July 21) This is a wonderful time for a vacation. You feel free and open to experience new things. Plans are subject to change in a favorable way on Monday or Tuesday of this week. Any activities involving the law, publishing, education or travel are especially positive. For All…
Heritage Lesson
Pinky aloft, lips pursed and eyes aflame, a pretentious gentleman proudly announces, “I do love a meritaahge.” After processing the pronunciation faux pas, I quell the subliminal urge to punch him in the face, and then, with as much obnoxious affect as I can muster, I correct him, “Meritage rhymes with heritage.” The impulse to…
Dating On Speed
Urban Explorer
More Markets
Mouthful
Film Clips
Current Releases THE BREAK-UP There’s a fine movie trapped inside The Break-Up, and it’s a shame that it couldn’t break free. As it stands, this picture about a rocky relationship is never able to compensate for the staggering miscalculation that cripples it. From the start, Gary (Vince Vaughn) is painted as a self-centered, insensitive man-child,…
Someone’s in the Kitchen
All of these strategies have merit, yet the third option is made more difficult if the original concept has an ethnically oriented cuisine since patrons tend to categorize. Would readers accept Stephen King writing in Tolkien’s genre? Could Krall sing rap? Unlike writers, chefs cannot assume a nom de plume if they want to venture…
View from the Couch
COLUMBO: THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON (1975-1976). Peter Falk earned his third Emmy Award in five seasons for playing the brilliant Lieutenant Columbo, and the actor has long been so identified with the role that it’s impossible to imagine anyone else in the part. Yet Falk wasn’t the producers’ first choice: That honor fell to Bing…
To the Max
When I was too young to remember, my older sister would hijack my mom’s Caddy and drive it over the mountain to see the Dave Matthews Band play in some hole in the wall bar in Virginia. Too bad you can’t see Dave in an intimate setting like that now, but the mega-concert is still…
Still Truckin’
So how have the Drive-By Truckers gone from playing in front of 15 people at the Double Door Inn’s Americana Night just a few short years ago to playing the much larger Visulite Theatre to (who’da thought it?) the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre twice in the last year, first with the Dave Matthews Band and now…
