Jun 27 – Jul 3, 2012

Jun 27 - Jul 3, 2012 / Vol. 26 / No. 18

Cover Story

Fight for your right to fight

Hot dogs, cold beer and fireworks feel American, but what is it to really be American? Two hundred thirty six years ago, it was a few men pulling our country from the clutches of a tyrannical government. But we’ve changed since the Revolutionary War. Now, being an American is being the first in your family to…

Ana McKenzie

Meatballs, God Bless America among new home entertainment titles

(View From The Couch is a weekly column that reviews what’s new on Blu-ray and DVD.) GOD BLESS AMERICA (2012). Oliver Stone’s 1994 Natural Born Killers was a blistering indictment of how the media turns mass murderers into celebrities. God Bless America, the latest film from writer-director Bobcat Goldthwait, somewhat turns that premise on its…

Matt Brunson

CD Review: Neneh Cherry & The Thing’s The Cherry Thing

In 2001, Swedish out-music trio The Thing — led by sax giant Mats Gustafsson and named after a song by the late cornetist Don Cherry — released a self-titled debut of white-heat explorations launched from Cherry’s free-jazz themes. So, the notion of The Thing backing Cherry’s stepdaughter Neneh — the former Rip Rig + Panic…

John Schacht

CD Review: Chicha Libre’s Canibalismo

Chicha music is like the beverage it was named for — the fermented drink of choice in Bolivia and Peru, made from corn and saliva (yes, you read that correctly) for extra kick, though modern times require a more sanitary process. Chicha music (musica chicha) is the sound created by indigenous Peruvian mountain inhabitants who…

Lew Herman

Sister act

Sundance Award-winning filmmaker Lynn Shelton’s new film, Your Sister’s Sister, explores the complexities of interpersonal relationships with genuine humor, sensitivity and intimacy. Mark Duplass stars as Jack, who, emotionally struggling a year after his brother’s death, takes up an offer from his friend Iris (Emily Blunt) to stay at her father’s isolated cabin to seek…

Adam Frazier

No Waffling at Cast Iron

Little attention is given to Belgian cuisine. Americans call fries French, but in truth, they are Belgian. In fact, friteries — restaurants that sell fries, or frites, with a wide selection of sauces — are among the most popular fast-food depots in Belgium. The Swiss are given credit for chocolate, yet the chocolatiers in Belgium…

Tricia Childress

3 questions with Greg Zanitsch, chef at The Fig Tree

Tucked behind three fig trees in Charlotte’s scenic Elizabeth neighborhood sits a bungalow with a story. In 1913, it was the home of the Charlotte Evening Chronicle managing editor, John Paul Lucas; in the ’70s it became an antique shop and today it’s been transformed into a restaurant, The Fig Tree (www.charlottefigtree.com), which specializes in…

Mary Stevens

Capsule reviews of films playing the week of June 29

THE AVENGERS The Avengers is, quite simply, a brainy and brawny blast. It’s a culmination of numerous super-sagas that have been building toward this moment, and it manages to trump every last one of them. In this instance at least, too many cooks have not spoiled the broth, as writer-director Joss Whedon and co-writer Zak…

Matt Brunson

Bizarre crimes from Charlotte police files (June 28 edition)

Blow Me: A 56-year-old man filed a police report after his property was stolen from his east Charlotte yard last week. He told police the suspect picked a leaf blower up off of his lawn and ran off with it while he was doing something in the garage. The victim walked around the neighborhood and…

Ryan Pitkin

The Amazing Spider-Man: Tangled web

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN **1/2 DIRECTED BY Marc Webb STARS Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone Perhaps it’s best to think of Sam Raimi’s 2002 Spider-Man and Marc Webb’s 2012 The Amazing Spider-Man as the cinematic equivalents of Coke Classic and New Coke. Despite some alterations to the source material (hey, where’s Gwen Stacy?), the Raimi take earned…

Matt Brunson

Ted: Bear hugs for all

TED ***1/2 DIRECTED BY Seth MacFarlane STARS Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis Rude, raunchy and decidedly non-PC, Ted is the sort of movie for which trailers serve no purpose, since they can’t convey the R-rated content in PG-approved snippets. In fact, even the adults-only “red band” trailer plays it relatively safe — actually a good thing,…

Matt Brunson

People Like Us, only not quite as interesting

PEOPLE LIKE US **1/2 DIRECTED BY Alex Kurtzman STARS Chris Pine, Elizabeth Banks Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are best known as action-script specialists, whipping out screenplays both good (the Star Trek reboot, TV’s Alias) and bad (Transformers, Cowboys and Aliens), so it’s a modest surprise to see their names attached to the family drama…

Matt Brunson

Your Sister’s Sister worth knowing

YOUR SISTER’S SISTER *** DIRECTED BY Lynn Shelton STARS Emily Blunt, Rosemarie DeWitt The dialogue in Your Sister’s Sister is so natural, flowing and unforced that it’s a wonder audience members don’t frequently call out the makers of other movies for penning lines that sound as if they could only have come from a screenwriter’s…

Matt Brunson

Moonrise Kingdom takes the crown

MOONRISE KINGDOM ***1/2 DIRECTED BY Wes Anderson STARS Bruce Willis, Edward Norton Equal measures sweet and bittersweet, Moonrise Kingdom is nothing less than Wes Anderson’s best film to date. Them’s fighting words, for sure — proponents of Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums and Fantastic Mr. Fox are already rushing the stage — but whereas the idiosyncratic…

Matt Brunson

Weekly horoscope (June 28-July 4)

Cancer The Crab (June 20-July 21) Your plans and ideas may be challenged by another at this time. In order to hold your own in this situation, you must have clarity about who you have become. Do your best to generate a win-win situation from the duel and avoid a frank battle of wills. For…

Vivian Carol

Latest album by Lost in the Trees defined by tragic event

Live, Lost in the Trees’ name is easy to rationalize. The deliberate and dramatic Chapel Hill sextet creates a dizzying tangle of guitars, strings and horns, swirling and refracting like the light that filters through a stand of Carolina pines. It’s dense and beautiful, a sound you can easily get lost in. Luckily for the…

Jordan Lawrence

Rielle, the streetcar and yard signs

Welcome to the new, minty-fresh edition of Ask Boomer With Attitude, live from Charlotte, where people have actually said that having three sports radio stations makes us “world class.” Two of the following questions were sent in by readers, and two came from deep inside my noggin. Dear BWA: So is Rielle Hunter a sleazebag…

John Grooms

The second wave of summer theater season makes a splash

We've had some damn good summer seasons in the past, but I can't remember any that started out with so much quality at so many places. The first wave included Charlotte Shakespeare's The Tempest, Actor's Theatre's The Marvelous Wonderettes, a funkalicious Rhyme Deferred from On Q, a vicious 8 Misbehavin' from the Charlotte Squawkers, and…

Perry Tannenbaum

Creative Loafing gets a new look

For Creative Loafing Charlotte’s 25th anniversary issue last week, we unveiled a brand-new look — a sleek and curvy new logo, updated typefaces and section openers in the print edition that allow for more of the news, reviews, profiles, art and photography that you’ve come to expect. Our creative director, Melissa Oyler, worked long and…

Mark Kemp

What’s best for our kids and our country

Last week, as I nursed Pau with one hand and messed with my phone with the other, I was delighted to see my Facebook stream blowing up with President Obama’s announcement that his administration will stop deporting young undocumented immigrants. As an immigrant who was brought to the U.S. by my parents when I was…

Ailen Arreaza

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