The Inside Scoop
School’s out, the thermometer rises, and lines are longer at area ice cream parlors. Who doesn’t crave the creamy cold sweetness of ice cream on a summer’s day? Exactly where the first ice cream was made is debatable. Some believe a sherbet made from ice, buffalo milk, flour, and camphor was created by Chinese Emperor…
Sugar Buzz
In our award-crazy society, if there’s an award for “best media blitz with a stitch of advertising,” I’ve got the winner for you. “And now to accept the prize for National Explosion, the winner is. . .Krispy Kreme!” Riotous applause. From casual mentions on TV shows ranging from the Today Show and Regis and Kelly…
Baddabing, Baddaboom
Last Sunday was one of those Good News/Bad News kind of days. After 39 weeks of serially re-running the first three seasons of The Sopranos, HBO has brought us completely up to date on the goings on of New Jersey’s favorite crime family. The good news is we can go back to watching The Simpsons…
Dubya Abroad Dubya Abroad
President Bush’s trip to Europe was much in the news last week. He met with various leaders, every single one of whom thought he was a doofus hick who had no business being in charge of a Circle K, much less a whole nation. But seeing as how he’s a really well-armed doofus hick, none…
Diving In Down Under
A long time ago, jolly ‘ole England shipped off their convicted felons to a large South Pacific island called Australia. Left to their own design — and with a little help from the Brits — they began making wine, and got pretty damn good at it. Centuries later, their per capita consumption is double that…
Protected From Who?
Attention terrorists! Want to get a bomb or gun into the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center? Here’s how to do it. Wear a trench coat or jacket of some sort. Hide your bomb or gun in your coat. Then carry a bag with you for the security guard to search. He’ll search your bag, but he won’t…
Eat Here
All Around Town Anntony’s Caribbean, 400 S. Tryon St., 704-339-0303; 2001 E. 7th,, 704-342-0749. All locations have different owners. A hint of the tropics; rotisserie chicken with Jamaican jerk sauce, ribs, Paradise Island fish special, curries, and Caribbean styled greens. $$ Fuel Pizza Cafe, 1501 Central Avenue, 704-376-3835; 319 W. Trade St., 704-344-1767; 404 S.…
Lei Lady Lei
Here’s our special illness-shortened edition of Scene & Herd. Ready? Here we go. Finding myself getting tired of venues where graffiti covers the bathroom walls and where “import beer” equals a case of Amstel Light, I ventured into the heart of the Center City on Saturday to visit a Caribbean-themed party at the restaurant/nightspot LaTorre’s,…
After The Bum’s Rush
Since Neil Young’s so-called re-emergence at the dawn of the ’90s — adding “Crazy Horse-riding grunge godfather” to his long list of honorary doctorates — a rather large number of books about Young have appeared on the market, all with different approaches to their subject. Some angle for a particular niche, such as John Einarson’s…
Robin Hood Reversed
As a high school math student, I recall being forced to learn about things called “imaginary numbers.” I wasn’t very impressed at the time. After all, it seems very convenient for mathematicians to make up numbers just to make their equations logical. If I were to add “imaginary numbers” just to make my math test…
Digital Sessions
Incubus has broken new visual ground as the first musical artist to use the state of the art digital filmmaking that created Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Their just released concert DVD, Morning View Sessions, documents a live studio session from October of last year and utilizes Sony’s CineAlta 24P production system,…
Green Rooms
Great cities have great parks. New York has Central Park, Paris the Jardin des Tuilleries and the small, seductive Place des Vosges among many others. Boston is renowned for its “Emerald Necklace” and the renovated Post Office Park sitting above seven levels of underground parking. Think of London, and some of the most potent images…
Big Band Theory
Mingus Big Band — Tonight at Noon… Three or Four Shades of Love (Dreyfus Jazz) A sure bet for a great night of jazz in New York is the Mingus Big Band, holding forth every week at NYC’s Time Spot Cafe. For a decade now, the MBB has been the city’s best repertoire band, spearheaded…
Drinking and Body Temp
Ever notice how drinking alcoholic beverages in the summer can make you feel hotter, but that drinking in the winter can often make you colder? What gives? According to the folks who study such things, drinking makes you feel warmer no matter what the season, but its net effect is to cool off the body.…
Music Menu
THURSDAY 6.6 Chuck Loeb / Jeff Kashiwa — Contemporary jazz is pleasant enough if it doesn’t get so mired in its own noodling as to become a part of the pretty wallpaper. It’s Loeb’s guitar, plucked with more than a few interesting twists, that will save this evening from becoming a night of smooth jazz…
Attack of the Giant Tumbleweeds
* The Denver Fire Department responded to an emergency call in April from the adjacent city of Montbello when a woman reported being trapped in her home by 3-feet-diameter tumbleweeds that had filled her yard and jammed against her house, to a height of 16 feet. A department lieutenant said there were “thousands” in the…
Soundboard
Wednesday, Jun. 5 * Amos’ Southend Bonepony w/ Brown Liquor Pickers Arnie’s Tavern, Huntersville Scott Johnson Bayou Kitchen Bill Noonan Big Al’s Pub, Cornelius Jes & Sherry Cajun Queen 7th Street Gator Band Cajun Queen, Pineville 7th Street Gator Band II Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro Jesus Jones w/ B-Sides Connolly’s Craig & Rich Acoustic Dilworth Coffeehouse…
The Blotter
* Under the Mattress: A young man is missing $5800. He claims it was stolen from a lockbox kept in his house. He believes the woman who was house-sitting for him took it, but she denies any knowledge of it. Now there’s a surprise. Perhaps the man will now be persuaded to make use of…
8 Days A Week
WEDNESDAY 5 CPCC’s Summer Theatre begins their season with Oklahoma! today at Pease Auditorium on the campus of CPCC. The classic musical (how classic? It’s generally recognized as the first truly modern musical) will run through June 15 with showtimes at 8pm, except for June 9 at 2:30pm and June 11 at 7pm. Tickets are…
Kidman And Cruise… Again
Alejandro Amenabar may not exactly be a household name, but this Chilean filmmaker had his hand in two of last year’s best films, both now available on video and DVD. It had been a long time since the film world produced a first-rate haunted house chiller that begged comparison to such long-established classics as The…
Catering An Affair
Show me a college student who didn’t wait tables for a living and I’ll show you a student who either had way too much money or needs to give his diploma back. It’s the hardest job I ever had in my life; I did it for almost six years, and I’ll starve before I ever…
That’s Amore
It’s impossible for citizens of the 21st century not to have an intimate, charged, often emotional relationship with movies. The films we see, especially as children and teenagers, have a real impact on our psyches that few of us ever articulate. Director Martin Scorsese proves wonderfully gifted at identifying and articulating what movies really mean…
Stargazer
For All Signs On June 10 at 7:46pm EDT, we will have an annular eclipse of the sun. This eclipse will be visible in the US, with a narrow ring of the sun circling the dark moon in the middle. Eclipse seasons serve to punctuate the energies already in motion. For many months the Critic…
Film Clips
NEW RELEASES BAD COMPANY Taking an explosive comic actor like Chris Rock and corralling his talents by sticking him in a dull action film would be like buying a ridiculously expensive sports car and solely using it to drive to the grocery store down the block. Yet that’s the story that unfolds with this blob…
Karma Cleanser
Dear Karma Cleanser: I need guidance to help me figure out what to do about a problem. It started when one of my sorority sisters moved into my neighborhood. “Lisa” is my age, very pretty and married to a very successful stock market analyst. She and her husband bought one of the most expensive homes…
Out of the Box
One of the most striking works of art in the city is assembled within a boxed frame topped with a gable roof. Inside the frame sits a small black doll painted black — very black. She has tightly curled hair, red lipstick and wide oversized eyes looking up and away. Her facial features are Betty…
Hot Buttered Culture
Sitting upstairs at Poogan’s Porch Restaurant on Memorial Day and digging into a concoction of grouper, goat cheese, and calamata olives — drizzled with about seven times the butter my doctor would approve of — I couldn’t help thinking. Life is good. Theater, opera, dance, and music are glorious celebrations — and Spoleto Festival is…
One Step At A Time
City and county agencies will likely never admit that large sewage spills from overburdened infrastructure are a real problem in Mecklenburg County. And they’ll probably never publicly admit that the state regulators have allowed the county’s biggest raw sewage polluter, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities (CMU), to repeatedly foul the county’s waters without penalty on their watch. But…
The Pull Of Memory
Oscar Hijuelos once stated that “Latins are predisposed to thinking about the past,” and in his new novel, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Mambo Kings explores this notion of looking back, presenting us with a novel that is in itself a meditation on memory. A Simple Habana Melody poses the question of how it…
Gagged by Google
Media activists have a lot to put up with these days. Not only is there more to complain about than ever when it comes to the timidity and lap-doggishness of most journalists — not to mention the shrinking spectrum of views that get aired — but, in addition, there are the clichés one has to…
Arts Agenda
Classical Music American Guild of Organists Summer Recital Series featuring Stephen & Susan Talley and Laurel Talley on violin. Sun., June 9, 7:30 p.m. Free and open to the public, a free-will offering will be taken to cover the costs of the series. Covenant Presbyterian Church, 1000 E. Morehead St. 704-588-1290. American Guild of Organists…
Letters to the editor
Don’t Use The R Word To The Editors: In response to your May 22 cover story “Hunks On Wheels: How the Most Redneck Sport Became Sexy” (by Misty Herrin): I do not know if the author composed that headline, but I think some people might not find it as “cute” as others do. Most people…
