Jun 6-12, 2012

Jun 6-12, 2012 / Vol. 26 / No. 15

Cover Story

Home sweet bar

On Friday nights, Chip Zayak is not among the thousands who flock to bars and nightclubs in the Charlotte area. No, he stays home. So does Carlton Thornbury. And so do Josh and Rhonda Patt. That’s because Zayak need only saunter across the backyard to his barn. Thornbury and the Patts don’t even have to…

Tonya Jameson

Exhibit: Storytellers

For artist Tracey Broome, memories flow from her fingertips to the clay she uses to recreate experiences. Broome’s work is part of Lark & Key Gallery’s new exhibit that celebrates memories and nostalgia through art. Broome uses forgotten, discarded objects like vintage doll parts and other random materials. Art by Elizabeth Foster and Vicki Sawyer…

Mary Stevens

Pack your basket and surrey down to a stoned soul picnic

Hollywood’s always known a good picnic when it’s seen it. No matter how old you are, what your gender is or where you come from, you probably have plenty of romantic movie-montage moments in your head already. But maybe you’re too uncoordinated to ride a tandem bicycle, or too concerned with your hair to frolic…

Laura Camilo

Where to find Greek fare

Greeks are particular about feta, phyllo and olives. Sure, these items are available at most Charlotte grocery stores, but often the highest quality or variety is not. A few months ago, the Agora Greek Market relocated from a small building behind Liberty East Restaurant to the real estate fronting Independence Boulevard. Some think this is…

Tricia Childress

Joseph Arthur at The Evening Muse tonight (6/9/2012)

JOSEPH ARTHUR In the course of his 12-year career, Joseph Arthur’s had a modest hit or two, popping up on The O.C.’s soundtrack once and being covered by Coldplay. But the real gems of Arthur’s oeuvre reveal themselves to those who know his catalog well. Hidden among the layers of electronically looped guitar, synth, and…

Rachel Bailey

CD Review: Nate Hall’s A Great River

This solo outing from Nate Hall, founding member of Western North Carolina’s heavy-psych sextet US Christmas, is spare, haunting and lonely. That’s a big contrast to his band’s music, which thunders along, propelled by two drumsets. The Neurot-signed US Christmas delivers longform hard blues with smoked-out patience; the sheer electrical drain of the band’s gear…

Corbie Hill

CD Review: Natalie Royal’s Savor

When I first heard Natalie Royal in August 2008, the Charlotte native was a 17-year-old high-school student who was shining brightly at an Evening Muse performance. Her voice had control and range, and her lyrics showed maturity not often found in teenagers. Fast-forward four years and Royal is releasing her second album, Savor, which proves…

Jeff Hahne

Bizarre crimes from Charlotte police file (June 7 edition)

Rave against the machine: Police responded to an illegal, after-hours party at a warehouse on North Davidson Street last week and then called in Alcohol Law Enforcement and Alcoholic Beverage Control officers to search the place. When officers entered, they saw two DJs playing music and reportedly smelled a strong odor of “burnt marijuana” (as…

Ryan Pitkin

Exhibit: Collage: An Invitational Exhibition

Jerald Melberg Gallery is spotlighting the process of collage making in its latest showcase, opening on June 9. Exhibiting artists, both old and new to the craft, include Romare Bearden, Felicia van Bork, Stanley Boxer, Mary Giehl, Robert Motherwell, Ramon Urban and Esteban Vicente. Exhibit continues through Aug. 25. Jerald Melberg Gallery, 625 S. Sharon…

Anita Overcash

Capsule reviews of films playing the week of June 8

AMERICAN REUNION Where all the sequels to 1999’s American Pie — 2001’s American Pie 2, 2003’s American Wedding and now American Reunion — go wrong is that none manage the balancing act between sweetness and seediness as well as the original film, instead tipping the scale toward the bawdy end to an unnecessary degree. And…

Matt Brunson

Beer nerds unite for NoDa’s craft Beer bar crawl

NoDa may be the city’s designated arts district, but revelers of a late-night variety know it better as Charlotte’s arguably most bar hop-able neighborhood. The area’s bevy of bars and the craft breweries that have made it their home make it an idyllic scene for the alcoholically inclined (no judgement, for I live among you.)…

Laura Camilo

The Intouchables: Odd couple at work

THE INTOUCHABLES **1/2 DIRECTED BY Olivier Nakache & Eric Toledano STARS Francois Cluset, Omar Sy In these United States of America, it may be all about The Avengers and Avatar and Armageddon, but in the rest of the world, where subtitles aren’t viewed as a national threat but as a fact of life, there’s also…

Matt Brunson

Prometheus: Alienation for some, ecstasy for others

PROMETHEUS *** DIRECTED BY Ridley Scott STARS Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender Certain to reign as the best disappointment of 2012, Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, the heavily hyped prequel-of-sorts to his 1979 classic Alien, is a work whose visual splendor can’t be denied but whose narrative content will divide audiences as swiftly and completely as the executioner’s…

Matt Brunson

Screaming Females at the Haunted Mill tonight (6/8/2012)

SCREAMING FEMALES It’s not that we music writers aren’t allowed to mention Hendrix, it’s just that we rarely bother. Right now, for instance, I want to say Screaming Females guitarist Marissa Paternoster’s playing kinda-sorta reminds me of his. But I’m a bit nervous to do so, I’m scared the Creative Loafing site will be inundated…

Corbie Hill

Cermony at the Haunted Mill tonight (6/8/2012)

CEREMONY This is so Charlotte – weeks with little out-of-town music to get excited about, and then two quality punk shows on the same night … thank you, Jesus. Anyway, the hardcore kids dispute whether Ceremony fits that genre at all, and a 30-second-spin of this California band’s recent songs – especially those off its…

Caroline Pate

Dan Sartain at The Milestone tonight (6/8/2012)

DAN SARTAIN To the nouveau garagistes and punk-friendly, Sartain is a prolific gift from above – or the past. His latest, Too Tough To Live (cover painting by local stud-ette artiste Kelly Keith, by the way), delivers 13 tracks in just under 19 minutes and is a label-described tribute to the era when “punk was…

John Schacht

Weekly horoscope (The June 7 edition)

Gemini The Twins (May 20-June 21)Your personal decisions may serve as a catalyst for others in your life to open up, or make what appears to be sudden changes. Issues of finances and legacies are prominent. Though it may be demanded, try not to make decisions in haste. For All Signs: It is time to…

Vivian Carol

Ghost Wolves at the Evening Muse tonight (6/7/2012)

GHOST WOLVES This is an instance of a new band transcending both its influences and the inherent gimmick of a purposefully anachronistic style. Blanco, Texas, guitar-and-drums duo Ghost Wolves plays visceral, pounding blues-rock. Yeah, I know, The White Stripes and The Black Keys got there first. But Ghost Wolves, refreshingly rowdy and reckless, avoids those…

Corbie Hill

Blind Pilot at the Neighborhood Theatre tonight (6/7/2012)

BLIND PILOT Now a robust sextet consisting of a wide range of instruments from trumpet to banjo, Portland’s Blind Pilot radiates sweet warmth with their indie-folk-pop songs. The band is most famous for completing a West Coast tour on bicycle, and its live shows are certainly worth the effort. Blind Pilot maintains an intimate connection…

Caroline Pate

Doing the ballpark shuffle in Uptown Charlotte

Last week, Councilwoman Claire Fallon had had enough of Center City Partners’ ever-changing Uptown baseball park numbers. “It’s a charade, the numbers don’t even do what they say they do,” the first-term at-large councilwoman told me. Fallon was reacting to the latest Partners/city staff number-shuffling show, in which the Uptown business boosters tried once more…

John Grooms

Canadian Dan Mangan’s music takes an award-winning shift

Dan Mangan needs to clear the air: Winning a pair of 2012 Juno awards, Canada’s equivalent of the Grammy, has not gone to his head. He says there’s zero truth to the rumors Mangan now requires friends and family to refer to him as “Two-Juno Dan.” “Yeah, I’ve taken to getting introductions every time I…

John Schacht

Of Montreal’s performance art

On Oct. 30, 2011, the stage of the 40 Watt in Athens, Ga., is aglow — not with the usual rock-star lighting, but with the flickering orange of 10 pumpkins, each carved with a single letter. Together, they spell the name of tonight’s headliner, Of Montreal. As members of the band file onto the stage,…

Rachel Bailey

Shakespearean sea-change: The Tempest

Retirement is on the minds of Charlotte Shakespeare producers these days. Embarking on its seventh annual Festival on the Green Uptown, Charlotte Shakespeare has elected to stop using its other company moniker, Collaborative Arts Theatre. It’s also presenting what is often thought to be Shakespeare’s valedictory comedy, The Tempest. When the aging Prospero, preparing to…

Perry Tannenbaum

Help the Homeless Party announced for June 6 at the Chop Shop

For the price of a bar of soap, you could party for a good cause. Derek Buchanan (aka DeeJay Linoge) has organized a charity event for the homeless at the Chop Shop on June 6. Cover charge is one donated useful item like soap, toothpaste or canned food. DeeJay Linoge will be spinning as well…

Caroline Pate

The Wearn House could serve as a west side museum …

There’s a massive antebellum house that sits atop a slight incline, just before a sharp curve on Tuckaseegee Road in west Charlotte. It’s been there since 1844, making it one of the city’s oldest homes. It’s also one of the few links that still exists to the west side’s history. Generations of notable Charlotteans, including…

David Aaron Moore

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