Winelist
Carolina Wine Club Meeting featuring Chef Charles Semail Provence Travelogue Food and Wine. Maxheim Kitchen Piedmont Natural Gas Building, 4301 Yancy Rd. Tue., June 7, 6:30 p.m. 704-344-8027. Wine Classes The interactive classes will explore the essentials of wine and food pairing, tasting techniques and trends in winemaking. Wed., 7pm. $25. Maggiano’s Little Italy, 4400…
News of the Weird
LEAD STORY: Pastor Joe Van Koevering speaks reverently of the “precious Jewish people,” whom “God loves,” but a principal mission of his Gateway Christian Center in St. Petersburg, Fla., is to speed up the end of the world (and, thus, the deaths of nonbelievers) by financially helping to send as many Jews as possible “back…
Big Boys Don’t Cry
When a few friends and I arrived at Stegall’s Livestock & Arena in Concord for the Sunday night rodeo, I sensed we weren’t among a “weekend cowboy” kind of crowd. You know the type. They sit in cubicles Monday through Friday then don 10-gallon hats on Saturday and hop on a mechanical bull after a…
Good Eats
All Around Town Anntony’s Caribbean, 6434-F West Sugarcreek Rd., 704-598-6863; 2001 E. 7th St., 704-342-0749. 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. (Gastonia), 704-866-7574. A favorite of…
Squirt Perv Won’t Do Time
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I’ll always be labeled as the girl who Dr. Hall put his semen in her mouth.” – former patient of Dr. John Hall of Cornelius. TUESDAY, 5/24 A company ostensibly upgrading a 70s-era sewage station busted a pipe and spilled 500,000 gallons of sewage into a tributary of the Catawba River…
Out with a bang
I personally think 50 is too young to die, but Lucky Yates has it all planned out, sort of. He says he wants to be eaten by a snake in the Amazon or something. He wants to go out with a bang, though I don’t see how being swallowed whole qualifies. “That’s a slow death,…
Banana Split
Music profiles usually serve one of two purposes: to educate the uninitiated listener about a given artist’s sound, look and mission statement (Meet the Do-Nothings! Four young pop-punkers from Stone Mountain, Ga., with a flautist!), or to serve as a way for established fans to learn a few additional nuggets about their conquering heroes. Our…
Delicias Colombian Bakery and Restaurant
Taste of ColombiaDelicious treats in store at charming venueNear the intersection of Highway 51 and South Boulevard (which becomes Polk Street in Pineville) is a small, nondescript shopping strip with a Latino market, a lingerie shop and a charming Colombian bakery and restaurant.After opening Delicias Colombian Bakery and Restaurant in late 2002, owners Elizabeth and…
The Blotter
Pissed at Flip: Apparently someone took offense at Rev. Flip Benham and Operation Save America’s recent protest outside a Charlotte club (as described in last week’s Urban Explorer column), and kicked several of the signs the protestors had erected. The police report indicates the perpetrator broke off a two-inch piece of one of the signs,…
Punk Rock Girl Please Look At Me
Probably my only romantic regret is that I’ve never had a punk-rock girlfriend. Sure, there’ve been dates, flings and affairs, but never a full-on relationship with a punk chick. I’ve gone steady with more girls with Celine Dion than Suicide Machines in their record collection. Perhaps because of this, they’ve all ended in some fiery,…
Breaking News
86-YEAR-OLD JAILED AFTER CALLING 911 20 TIMES IN 38 MINUTES TO GRIPE ABOUT A PIZZA NON-DELIVERY And she wonders why the pizza guys called her a “crazy old coot.” NEW ARKANSAS CREATIONIST MUSEUM SHOWS ADAM & EVE WITH DINOSAURS Great. American science is now as fun as The Flintstones. TODD SAUERBRUN PLEADS GUILTY TO DWI…
Piano Pop In A Hard Place
Back in ´95, when Ben Folds was working on the album that would introduce the Ben Folds Five to the world, he wondered what would constitute success. So he turned to one “successful” bandleader he knew, Archers of Loaf frontman Eric Bachmann, and popped the question. “My measuring stick for success was selling as many…
See & Do
June 01 – Wednesday Unlike the playwright’s cult classics, Vampire Lesbians of Sodom and Psycho Beach Party, Charles Busch’s The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife was conventional enough to become his entrée onto Broadway. Artistically, Busch was spreading his wings, shedding his penchant for starring in his own comedies — in drag. But the two…
Sit & Spin
VARIOUS ARTISTSWorld Psychedelic Classics 3: Love’s a Real ThingLuaka BopThrough most of the ’60s, popular music in urban West Africa was more governed by Western styles and tastes than indigenous sounds. That began to change in the early 1970s, when a legion of maverick artists started actively seeking ways to graft in roots flavors. This…
Stargazer
Gemini The Twins (May 20 – June 21) Your mind is loaded with ideas and you are zooming everywhere to manage them. Your skills and crafts are in demand, especially those that generate beauty. If you are not traveling, then you are probably making plans to do so during this period. For All Signs Those…
Music Menu
WEDNESDAY 6.1 Neo-Funk Open Jam: You’ve heard of neo-folk, neo-psychedelia and neo-soul – get ready for neo-funk. I have no idea what acts are on this bill (if anyone can figure out how to decipher the Room’s user-unfriendly web site, please advise), but since Funkadelic was the band that merged original soul, psychedelia and folk…
Where The Action Was
For some of us in the 1960s, afflicted with the desire to be a reporter, the person we wanted to be was Karl Fleming. We may not actually have known his name, but we understood his motivation and his style – the hard-living cynic with a heart of gold, drawn to the most powerful stories…
Soundboard
Wednesday, Jun. 1Breakfast Club Dub Access ReggaeBrickhouse Tavern, Davidson Robin B and Andy Seets The Evening Muse Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players; Tosco House Party Open Mic w/ Lindsay MacThe Gin Mill Wizard’s Road ShowGrady Cole Center Good Charlotte w/ Simple Plan & Resilient KIrish Cue, Cornelius Gabe and FriendsMilestone Psycle w/ OTCProvidence Cafe Celine Berman…
Identity Heft
Ever since Superman pulled his red undies over a blue wrestler’s suit, identity has been a linchpin of American comics. More often than not, the created persona of the superhero far surpasses the worth of the human being in the cape and gloves. After all, millions of kids want to be The Hulk, but who…
Knowing The Score
Imagine, if you will, Adam Sandler in the Burt Reynolds role of the macho outdoorsman in Deliverance. It’s impossible, right? Yet it really isn’t that much easier to accept Sandler in Reynolds’ old role of football-star-turned-convict Paul “Wrecking” Crewe in the remake of The Longest Yard. Reynolds, himself a college gridiron star until an injury…
Arts Agenda
Classical Music Summer Pops at Symphony Park The annual series presented by the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. On the Lawn. www.charlottesymphony.org. June 5, 12, 19, 26 at 7pm. Admission is free. SouthPark Shopping Center, 4400 Sharon Road. 704-972-2000. Comedy Big Chill Queen City Comedy. Hosted by Chris “FunnyMan” Robinson. Wednesdays, 9pm. 911 E. Morehead St. 704-358-9888.…
Double Exposure
Film: AMONG BROTHERS Plot: Based on a true story, the film centers on the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of a student (Lauren Schneider) at a South Carolina university. Guiding Light: John Schwert, who directed and produced the film, and adapted the original story by Tom Morgan (who wrote about the 1994 death of his…
Taste Of Colombia
Near the intersection of Highway 51 and South Boulevard (which becomes Polk Street in Pineville) is a small, nondescript shopping strip with a Latino market, a lingerie shop and a charming Colombian bakery and restaurant. After opening Delicias Colombian Bakery and Restaurant in late 2002, owners Elizabeth and Geraldo Tobar have enjoyed becoming a favorite…
View From The Couch
ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 (2005). A favorite of critics and cultists alike, 1976’s Assault On Precinct 13 was a nifty little “B” flick that John Carpenter helmed before hitting the big time with Halloween. Propelled by an excellent music score (composed by Carpenter) and economical in its use of settings, dialogue and character development, the…
Orient Expressly
One of my favorite excursions while traveling is visiting local food emporiums. There, I’ve learned more about the native culture than from geographical points of interest. Local ethnic markets afford a similar opportunity for cultural appreciation here in Charlotte. Additionally, more and more recipes appear with that asterisk that denotes, “Found at Asian specialty shops.”…
Film Clips
New Releases MAD HOT BALLROOM Mirroring the less skilled dancers who can be found among its subjects, Mad Hot Ballroom may not be the most graceful documentary to make the recent rounds, but damned if it doesn’t burst with pride and passion. In much the same manner as the superior Spellbound, this film centers on…
Rev Those Motors
GRAND OPENING: May 5, 2005. OWNER: John Duncan, owner of Bonterra and Ratcliffe on the Green. EXECUTIVE CHEF: Dan (Boone) Gibson, former sous chef for Bonterra. AMBIENCE: Originally a car wash in the 1950s, the building still maintains a majority of the original structure. The large awning that dominates the parking lot was formerly where…
Road To Nowhere
The hike was billed as a four-mile “walk” through part of the Smoky Mountains. But that estimate came from David Monteith, a commissioner in Swain County, N.C., and, more to the point, an activist whose cause rises to the level of fierce obsession. Likable and loquacious, Monteith shrugs off obstacles in minimalist terms, and describes…
A Peck Of Peppers
If you’re a pepper person, you may find it baffling and annoying that the price of red bell peppers is often almost twice that of green peppers. What’s the deal with that? The brighter colored peppers command a higher cost because they have to be tended for a longer period of time than the green…
Shame Is For Sissies
We’re living through a time when Americans are challenged to comprehend and assimilate things we’ve never encountered before, things with no clear precedent in our public lives. Some of the most bewildering are provided by our elected leaders, at the highest level of power and responsibility. If you saw Gerald Herbert’s AP photo of President…
Zen and the art of making burgers
A good hamburger is hard to find but shouldn’t be. It’s one of the easiest things to make, but most cooks want to make it complicated. They think adding Worcestershire, a beaten egg or the entire condiment shelf will jazzercise the flavor, but really all a burger needs to taste lip-smacking is salt, pepper, olive…
Consider The Alternative
Like many communities, San Antonio, Texas, has a split personality, says Latina student activist DeAnne Cuellar. Although Hispanics account for 70 percent of the population, they show up time and again in local news not for their achievements or leadership but in stories portraying crime, drugs, and violence. “We felt misrepresentation is erasing our history,…
Drink Pink
The world would be a better place if people would get over themselves. We’re so damned concerned about how “uncool” we’re going to look while drinking pink wine that the act of enjoying a refreshing dry rosé becomes secondary. People – the stuff is good. Many in “the industry” love dry rosés. They’re perfect for…
The ´Burbs See Red
Although they live on the other side of the continent, the reporters at the Los Angeles Times have lately developed an obsession with Union County, North Carolina. That’s because in the process of analyzing the 2004 election, they made a shocking discovery: The country hadn’t just divided itself into red and blue states; it was…
