Cover Story
Charlotte’s Juneteenth Celebration Is About More Than Ending Slavery
Every day Plaza Midwood’s walkable business district attracts Charlotteans from across the city to explore Central, Commonwealth and Pecan avenues. The local shops along the main strips include a tattoo parlor, guitar store, boutique clothing stores, a coffee shop, multiple pizza joints and various restaurants ranging from Caribbean to pub-style menus. In recent years, foot…
MUSIC PREMIERE: Listen to Th3 Higher’s Brand New ‘Seed of Life’ EP
As promised in our story last week on Charlotte rappers Th3 Higher, CL premieres the group’s brand new EP, Seed of Life. “We fully believe that once the truth meets hip-hop, the world will change,” says Th3 Higher’s Tizzy. “We decided to encapsulate all of our lessons into seven songs and present to you, our…
Rough Night: Never a Bridesmaids
ROUGH NIGHT ** (out of four) DIRECTED BY Lucia Aniello STARS Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon Never a Bridesmaids but always a Bridesmaids wannabe, Rough Night stars Scarlett Johansson as Jess, whose political campaign gets put on hold for one weekend as she heads to Miami for her bachelorette party. Set to marry sweet Peter (Paul…
Cars 3: Some tread remains on series
CARS 3 **1/2 (out of four) DIRECTED BY Brian Fee STARS Owen Wilson, Cristela Alonzo The latest installment in Pixar’s NASCAR-approved franchise, Cars 3 owes almost as much to Rocky III as it does to the previous two entries in this lucrative series. In fact, Rocky III’s Oscar-nominated theme song, Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger,”…
The Blotter: Oh Brother
Sibling Rivalry A 28-year-old man called police to his home in east Charlotte last week after a knock-down, drag-out fight with his brother. The man said he was arguing with his brother when things got physical, and then quickly elevated well past the rough and tumble days of their childhood. The victim told police that…
Weekly Horoscope (June 15-21)
For All Signs Both the Sun and Mercury are opposed to Saturn across the signs of Gemini and Sagittarius. Oppositions often imply confrontations. At worst, critiquing and finger pointing will be the predominant mood of the world. At best, many will be tested literally, via school or job applications. Usually the applicant will get what…
Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie, The Lego Batman Movie, A United Kingdom among new home entertainment titles
(View From The Couch is a weekly column that reviews what’s new on Blu-ray, DVD and Streaming. Ratings are on a four-star scale.) THE ASSIGNMENT (2017). Walter Hill, who’s been largely MIA since the 20th century (he’s directed only four films post-1999), returned to helm a wince-inducing dud that barely received a theatrical release. The…
Leandrea Hill Depicts the Beautiful Secrets of Big, Black Women
After Leandrea Hill told me about her most recent art project, I couldn’t get that Drake lyric out of my head — you know, the one that goes, “I like my girls BBW.” Hill’s latest project focuses specifically on just that: BBWs, or big black women. Hill’s preference has always been to paint plus-sized black…
Th3 Higher Are Fomenting a Spiritual/Intellectual Renaissance in Charlotte Hip-Hop
Xavier Walker and DaQuan Bolton, better known by their hip-hop names Tizzy and Kizzy, are pretty much joined at the hips. The two members of Th3 Higher, one of Charlotte’s more promising rap duos, do everything together. Right now, they’re sitting together in a small room in a small house just off Eastway Drive that…
Dr. Cirkustien Rocks the Creepy Sideshow Vibe
Before the sadistic clown became a mainstay of our collective nightmares, there was the creepy carnival. Where do you think those evil bastards came from anyway? Sure, your average circus is wholesome, even corny, fun in the midday sun, but switch off the lights and the fairground turns eerie with the rising of the moon,…
Let’s Hear It For the ‘Toast’ of the Rental Units
Avocado toast is having quite the moment. Toast, in general, is figuratively on fire, the carb darling du jour at coffee shops everywhere. And avocado is in the midst of a boom all its own. Worldwide, we are eating more avocados than ever. Avocados have lots of fat and hardly any carbs, making them a…
Republicans Move to Legalize Concealed Carry Without Permit
Imagine for a moment that you’re at a concert in Charlotte at one of any number of small-to-midsize venues that don’t explicitly prohibit guns inside by posting a sign at the door. Shots ring out at the other side of the venue, some disagreement near the bar that escalated far too quickly. You instinctively move…
Partying With the Parents
“Aerin, we’re trying something new!” My mom had a huge grin on her face while she played shuffleboard at The Gin Mill in South End. I couldn’t believe my P.I.C.’s parents convinced her to play. But there she and my pops were, having the time of their lives (I left out the fact that the…
Do You Still Got the Jive to Handle Three Days of HeroesCon Comic Book Bliss?
HeroesCon is practically a religion for Suzie Mason. She’s been attending the annual Charlotte comic convention faithfully since 2006, most of them with her little girl Madeleine, who’s attended every year of her life. “She’s never missed a year and she’s 7 now,” Mason says. “I used to carry her in a sling.” Mason’s enthusiasm…
An Open Letter to Black Computer Scientists
This is the story of a girl who got stuck in an HTML course her freshman year of high school unwittingly. My mom signed me up for an afterschool program at an obscure storefront office space with other brown kids from Seattle’s “inner city” ready to learn the early starts of technology and software development.…
