Jun 26 – Jul 2, 2013

Jun 26 - Jul 2, 2013 / Vol. 27 / No. 18

Cover Story

Cirque du Soleil’s Quidam is crazy, sexy, cool

Whoa. Is she naked? Oh. My. God. She is! She’s naked. No, wait. That’s a body suit. A nude body suit, so she really looks naked. This is like an aerial version of the Dance of the Seven Veils. How is she contorting her body like that? And so high above the stage. That red…

Page Leggett

The Lone Ranger: Saddle sores

THE LONE RANGER *1/2 DIRECTED BY Gore Verbinski STARS Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer Long before he became known as a right-wing fanatic, radio talk-show host and columnist Michael Medved co-wrote (with his brother Harry) The Golden Turkey Awards, an amusing look at the worst films in Hollywood history. In their absurd selection of Richard Burton…

Matt Brunson

Despicable Me 2: Minion madness

DESPICABLE ME 2 **1/2 DIRECTED BY Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud STARS Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig Before we get completely blinded by the dazzle of its $543 million worldwide gross, let’s recall that 2010’s Despicable Me focused on a supervillain, a man whose nefarious schemes included stealing the moon. But once three little girls entered…

Matt Brunson

The night Dickey Betts broke my guitar

Before I became a humorist, there was a period of time when I was absolutely sure I was a great musician. Of course, this is a bit disturbing because there was also a period when I thought I was the reincarnation of actress Zasu Pitts. However, given time (and enough medication to rid the delusions…

Peter Gerstenzang

CD review: Dustin Hofsess’ Short Stories

Sporting the kind of abstract design that used to grace hard bop jazz LPs of the ’50s, composer and guitar virtuoso Dustin Hofsess’ first solo CD, Short Stories, certainly flirts with bop and abstraction. Yet, its touchstone decade is the ’70s and the fierce, inspired jazz-rock spawned in the decade after the seismic jolt of…

Pat Moran

Urban chicken movement

Lately, I’ve been researching things like “sex links,” “Buff Orpingtons,” “hackles,” “wattles” and “combs.” It’s not as kinky as it sounds, honest. I’m on a poultry quest, people. You know, backyard chickens, free-range eggs — consider me a real-life hipster pioneer. Since moving to North Carolina three years ago, I have taken a deep interest…

Keia Mastrianni

Where to find heritage poultry

It all started with an egg. I bought organic chicken eggs directly from a farmer at a farmers market more than a decade ago, and one deeply golden sunny-side-up egg later, I was hooked. The next step was organic chickens. Then organic turkeys for Thanksgiving from my farmer (I’m part of a CSA group —…

Tricia Childress

Bizarre crimes from Charlotte police files (June 27)

Ain’t from around here: Police responded to a call on North Wendover Road last week in reference to “a bunch of teens hanging around a red truck,” because apparently that is a crime now. Police found some weed in the crotch of the jeans of one of the teens, and some more in another teen’s…

Ryan Pitkin

The Heat: Lukewarm except for McCarthy

THE HEAT **1/2 DIRECTED BY Paul Feig STARS Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy In the annals of buddy-cop flicks, The Heat showcases a pretty good team in Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock. It isn’t just the fact that they’re two women in what’s traditionally a male-oriented sub-genre — although the scarcity of such is partly why…

Matt Brunson

Happy Fourth!: 17 great things about America

Happy Almost Fourth of July! That means it’s nearly time to celebrate with family and/or friends by cooking out, swimming, watching fireworks, enjoying music, or whatever else you want to do — hey, it’s a free country, the NSA be damned. The Fourth can be a time, too, of considering patriotism itself — what it…

John Grooms

Bill wrongly links abortions to premature births

Since Republicans took control of the General Assembly and the governor’s office for the first time in more than 125 years, they seem intent on making up for lost time, particularly when it comes to interfering with a woman’s most private healthcare decisions. They introduced a bill requiring parental consent before a minor could receive…

Melba Newsome

Bobby Michaud keeps time in Wymyns Prysyn

If you’ve spent any time over the past few years digging into Southern punk, the credentials boasted by Bobby Michaud are likely to leave you slack-jawed and salivating. For more than three years, his drums have served as the concussive fuel for Brain F≠’s blistering hardcore dynamo. The band’s ascent to near perfection on 2011’s…

Jordan Lawrence

The dirty girls behind Nashville’s Birdcloud

To say Birdcloud — the Nashville duo of Makenzie Green and Jasmin Kaset — plays crude songs is an understatement. “Saving Myself For Jesus,” their wide-open, scathing mockery of evangelical abstinence culture, was pulled from the seeming free-for-all that is YouTube. Here’s a sample of the lyrics: “You can titty-fuck me/ tie me up, dry…

Corbie Hill

Weekly horoscope (June 27-July 3)

Cancer The Crab (June 20-July 21): Mercury is turning retrograde in your sign and will be more likely to affect your daily affairs than many of the other signs. Don’t even try to finalize anything while a retrograding Mercury is with you. Use the energy to research information and gather resources for good decisions later.…

Vivian Carol

Animal Grossology may cause queasiness

There are times when I really appreciate not having kids, and Discovery Place’s Animal Grossology exhibit is one of them. The exhibit, which features attractively-named highlights such as “Dookie Lovers,” “Slime Makers,” and “Vomit Munchers” is an easy and effective way to get the clearly targeted audience of young children into a learning environment. But…

Bo McMillan

Long live the Thirsty Beaver

It’s a tale old as Charlotte — a small, colorful, local business with dedicated patronage gobbled up by a greedy developer so he can level it, building condos in its place. The Thirsty Beaver is an eclectic, inclusive, modern-in-attitude yet vintage-in-style bar in Plaza Midwood. Its enormous popularity defies its tiny stature. The Beaver has…

Erin Tracy-Blackwood

The Possibility Project culminates season

My journey to self-awareness came somewhere in my mid- to late-20s between hangovers, self-imposed moments of demoralization and late-night shifts at a restaurant. Identifying my feelings was impossibly difficult, as was gathering pointed insight into my true character. You can imagine my surprise, then, when I met a group of teens so incredibly self-aware, thanks…

Keia Mastrianni

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