Jun 1-7, 2016

Jun 1-7, 2016 / Vol. 30 / No. 15

Popstar: This Is Spinal Sap

POPSTAR: NEVER STOP NEVER STOPPING ** (out of four) DIRECTED BY Jorma Taccone & Akiva Schaffer STARS Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone When setting one’s sights on a large and easy target that lends itself to ridicule — say, sleazy evangelists or Tea Party nutjobs or flash-in-the-pan boy bands — the satire has to be particularly…

Matt Brunson

The Lobster only half-cooked

THE LOBSTER **1/2 (out of four) DIRECTED BY Yorgos Lanthimos STARS Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz Lately, it seems to always come back to John Malkovich. Art-house entries are expected to frequently provide the sorts of unique themes, uncompromising attitudes and go-for-broke sensibilities not generally found in multiplex fodder. But the commitment is as import as…

Matt Brunson

Bizarre crime from Charlotte police files (June 2)

Laundry Day A 25-year-old woman called police after one of her dirty friends decided to clean up his act one day. The woman told officers that at around 10:45 p.m. a man she knows kicked the door of her laundry room in and began cleaning his dirty clothes. Blade Last week, we wrote about a…

Ryan Pitkin

The Kid

There’s this boy — he’s 29; I’m 46 and female. We met when we were 23 and 41. I was not and am not into little boys. The Kid chased me, and I turned him down for months — until I got drunk one night and caved. It was supposed to be a one-night stand,…

Dan Savage

Weekly horoscope (June 2-8)

For all signs: On June 17, there will be an exact square of Saturn and Neptune. Saturn rules hard core reality, the rules, and limits of our lives. Neptune rules the spiritual, the ethereal, that which is illusive, lacking clear boundaries, and may be addictive and deceptive. A micro view of this aspect’s dilemma is…

Vivian Carol

Author Sandra Beasley’s lines are worthy of scribbling down

A few weeks ago, Amy Bagwell was having lunch with a well-read friend. Bagwell was excited: she had booked Washington, DC poet and writer Sandra Beasley for New Frequencies at McColl Center, of which Bagwell is the literary events curator. Bagwell excitedly pulled up some of Beasley’s work on her phone and handed it across…

Corbie Hill

Arthur Brouthers’ upcoming Chroma exhibit pops

Call Arthur Brouthers an artist, a technician or a little of both. In his laboratory of color, the local artist mixes acrylics — taking notes and logging each and every concoction into a reference notebook that tracks what works and what doesn’t. This tedious tracking and a creative drive that longs for color, texture and…

Anita Overcash

Raising the bar

Charlotte is a city that is constantly expanding and reinventing its culture in regards to restaurants, music, neighborhoods and nightlife. With so many other establishments vying for the attention of an ever-growing population with an ever-shrinking attention span, bars must get creative in order to keep the edge on the competition. That’s where City Lights…

Courtney Mihocik

Three questions for Marc Jacksina, Order/Fire

When chefs yell “Order, fire!” from the pass, they’re telling their crew to cook a full ticket immediately; no appetizers or timed courses. For Chef Marc Jacksina of Earl’s Grocery, the phrase conveys a sense of “no lull in the flow, like shop talk.” Thus he chose it to christen his ongoing film series, a…

Alison Leininger

Honey Dewdrops provide refreshing acoustics

Names are everything — or, they can seem like it anyway. In coming up with a name for their musical union, the husband-and-wife duo known as The Honey Dewdrops looked on the Internet and all around them. Uncle Dave Macon, aka the “Dixie Dewdrop,” was an early star of the Grand Ole Opry. Then, there’s…

Anita Overcash

You’re ok, Speed Street

Do you want to go to Speed Street? I’m faced with this question at least once a year and every once in a blue moon I say, “Sure, why not.” Then — as surely as the reaction to one of the rare moments when I drink a Blue Moon, I regret it almost immediately. It’s…

Ryan Pitkin

The root of the cause

I’ve never been a fan of remakes. I was not impressed with the reboots of popular franchises like Psycho, Poltergeist or The Day the Earth Stood Still. But those were movies, so imagine my surprise when I see the History Channel running trailers for, of all things, a miniseries remake of Roots. How do you…

Charles Easley

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