Rep. George Cleveland proposes banning Spanish voter instructions
There are plenty of retro goobers in and among the ideologues in our exciting, new, 100 mph Republican-run N.C. General Assembly. Sure, there are some principled conservatives among our fresh batch of Fearless Leaders, who mostly focus on fiscal matters. But the Assembly is also home to what a group of us in high school…
Suite, 3/25/11
Standard Friday night partying at Suite, March 25.
A sit-down with Chef Sherri Beauchamp
Our discussion ranged from how she helped prepare special allergy free meals for a young client with autism to how to get the best quality fish at a high-end restaurant.
Try these moves the next time you go to the club
Next time you’re at the club, just dance.
Sunset Club, 3/26/11
Big Pat “The Voice of the Charlotte Bobcats” and DJ Skillz hosted a birthday celebration at Sunset Club on Saturday, March 26.
Lowe’s nears settlement in drywall case
Make a claim at DryWallSettlement.info.
States do a better job regulating chemicals than feds
Not North Carolina, though.
‘Traces’ of radiation in Charlotte
It’s a small world, after all.
The Match.com-making for Brittney continues
The intern signs Brittney up on Match.com. Hilarity ensues.
The Coheed and Cambria contest – win tickets and meet the band!
Win tickets, meet the band and get
Neighborhood Theatre, 3/25/11
Bass Church preformed at Neighborhood Theatre Friday, March 26.
Let it go: The Bag Lady
The Bag Lady has been in Charlotte for 16 years and at the present location at 1710 Kenilworth Ave. for four years.
Today’s Top 5: Monday
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today.
Photos: Killington’s
If the definition of gastro pub is a bar/restaurant that has high-end food and a good selection of beer, then I’d say Killington’s doesn’t quite fit that category.
Today’s Top(less) 5: Monday
Here are the five best events to get you hot and bothered with or without a date.
Spread Your Wings music benefit, Eddie Spaghetti tonight (3/27/11)
Charity event for cancer center at Double Door Inn, Supersuckers singer at Tremont.
Lucky Five tonight (3/26/11)
Eclectic Charlotte quintet at The Saloon.
Festival bound
Come spring and come April, eyes and ears turn to Georgia. Regardless of where the Final Four is staged, the eyes of the sports world will converge on Augusta for the final-round drama of the Masters, while the ears of music fanciers will have their last loving listen the night before at the Savannah Music…
Snug Harbor, 3/24/11
Photos from Snug Harbor last night, March 24.
Clinton Kelly — of TLC’s What Not to Wear — styles the Q.C.
The Macy’s in SouthPark Mall was all abuzz yesterday with women and men who wanted to be told What Not To Wear …
Milestone, 3/24/11
Young and in the Way, The Funeral Pyre, and The Secret performed at the Milestone last night, March 24.
Theater review: The Glass Menagerie
Tennessee Williams never explicitly said that all characters in The Glass Menagerie must be white. Nor did the folks at Dramatists Play Service, responsible for licensing the 1945 play to Theatre Charlotte for their current production. But when Williams named one of his characters Jim O’Connor and told us that he’d sung the role of…
Sen. Jim DeMint, the heartless Tea-hadist
What do you call someone who clings to his ideological purity even if it means others will literally suffer for it? You call that person, let’s see … Osama bin Laden. Or Mao. Or maybe Jim DeMint. That’s it: Jim DeMint, the Tea-hadist. The junior senator from South Carolina, representative from the 1950s, and avid…
Last chance to climb the Totem
Cirque du Soleil’s newest extravaganza finishes its run in Charlotte this weekend.
Breakfast Club, 3/24/11
Prince concert after party at Breakfast Club Thursday night.
Mayor Anthony Foxx says Charlotte Douglas International Airport security isn’t as bad as you think
Foxx doesn’t understand why U.S. Congressman William Keating continues to press for further investigation.
Today’s Top 5: Friday
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today.
Live review: Prince
Charlotte one of six Carolina stops during 2011 Welcome 2 America tour; photos and setlist included.
The Needles, Yes tonight (3/25/11)
Wilmington garage rockers at Tremontt, British proggers at The Fillmore.
Today’s Top(less) 5: Friday
Here are the five best events to get you hot and bothered with or without a date.
Opening Friday
What’s new in theaters this weekend.
Weekender, March 25-27
Check out these events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area this weekend.
Alive After 5 returns April 7
The biggest after-work/happy hour/kickoff to the weekend party on Thursdays is coming back in April.
Sexy book review: Sex 365: Dare You To…
Try this at home.
Buy this locally designed T-shirt, help out Japan tsunami victims
100 percent of the proceeds from Word Apparel’s Help Japan shirt will go to Red Cross.
Taste Test: The Capital Grille’s Artist Series Cabernet Sauvignon
The Charlotte restaurant only carries 16 cases of the Artist Series Cabernet Sauvignon, so get there fast.
Theater review: Young Frankenstein
Silly, vulgar, and gross are the prize tools in Mel Brooks’s comedy toolbox.
Are you kiddin’ me? Seven electronic billboards PER MILE?!
For sheer, brazen corporate butt-kissing at the expense of the public interest, it’s gonna be awfully hard to beat the “Selective Vegetation Removal” bill.
Jenny Craig’s boyfriend
How to tell your girlfriend she’s getting fat.
This weekend’s events (3/24-3/26)
It’s the first weekend of spring! Get out and have a good time at one of these nightlife events, going on Thursday through Saturday. Thursday, March 24 • Spring Fling Patio Party at Prohibition • Underground Events presents: Underground comedy, art, music at Tremont Music Hall • Prince concert after party at Breakfast Club •…
Just what the state’s environment doesn’t need — an even weaker Department of Environment and Natural Resources
GOP wants to cut employees in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
USDA funds healthier food for school children
Local food, right USDA? And you’ll compost the scraps, too, right?
Enough with the Bigfoot sightings already
Just stop it.
Red, White and Bloomin’ menu is back at Outback
You will be helping Outback donate $1 million to the fund by ordering off the special menu.
Hoops We Did It Again
Charlotte-based improv comedy troupe The Chuckleheads to perform at The Palace.
The Funeral Pyre, The Dirty Guv’nahs tonight (3/24/11)
Black/death metal at The Milestone, soulful blues and rock at Visulite.
Today’s Top 5: Thursday
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today.
Today’s Top(less) 5: Thursday
Here are the five best events to get you hot and bothered with or without a date.
Franklin Graham: Muslim Brotherhood advises Obama
It seems that Graham has been feeding at Sue Myrick’s paranoia trough.
Last chance to enter The Darkroom
Twenty-Two showcases local photographers against newly blackened walls
Grateful Dead Movie hits Charlotte on 4/20
The Grateful Dead Movie will return to the big screen on April 20, 2011, at 7:30 p.m. at 540 movie theaters nationwide, including two in the Charlotte area. The film was shot during the band’s concerts at Winterland Arena in San Francisco in October 1974, prior to the Grateful Dead taking a two-year sabbatical. This…
Norma Jean tonight (3/23/11)
Metalcore crew at Tremont Music Hall.
Brainiac Rush Limbaugh calls Obama & advisers ‘sissies’
Now and then, the fire breathers on the right let something slip out that reveals just how infantile much of the far right’s mindset really is. With the Fox/Beck/Malkin/Coulter/Rush crowd,everything is in black and white, their own government is the universal boogeyman, and fighting foreigners on their own soil is a must for proving what…
Theater review: Women of Will
Tina Packer’s study of the feminine in Shakespearian works.
Celebrate Lux’s grand opening with hip-hop artist Trina
Celebrate Lux’s grand opening this weekend.
Gay Charlotte Film Fest photo gallery
Check out images of all films from the festival, running March 25-April 1.
Swap Handbags, Monarch host designer bag sale
A liquidation sale that will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.
Hide your horse, hide your goat: S.C.’s Rodell Vereen, charged with raping a horse, released from prison
Man videoed having sex with a horse has been out of jail since Mar. 1.
Judge dashes Google’s digital library dreams
As a writer and a reader, I’m torn.
Got seeds?
Get ready to plant, Charlotte!
Don’t forget to wipe your cell phone
‘Half of used cellphones still hold personal data’
What TMJ really stands for
TMJ = Too Much Jizz?
Fight pasty white legs with 50% off deal at Vanity Hair & Tan
A great deal from SuddenBlitz for those of you wanting to get some color in your legs before you pull out the miniskirts.
New stores coming to Southpark
Check out this press release to see what new stores are coming to Southpark this spring
Tonight’s Top 5, 03/23/11
The top five nightlife-related events going down tonight, March 23, as chosen from the folks at Creative Loafing.
Today’s Top 5: Wednesday
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today.
Today’s Top(less) 5: Wednesday
Here are the five best events to get you hot and bothered with or without a date.
April 15: The Big Brew Ha
The Big Brew Ha celebrating all things brewed, including coffee, tea, and beer, will be held from 7:30 pm to 10:30 pm on Friday, April 15, 2011 at the Mint Museum Uptown.
Live review: Moss and Liz’s Wedding at the Milestone
Eight bands lead up to wedding ceremony.
Stylin’ sneak peak at The ArtHouse
Fashion in the City Mini-Show offers a preview of Step ‘n’ Style “Fashion in the City”.
Race to the Top
Event has competitors climbing Duke Energy Center’s 1,194 steps to the 49th floor.
Best bets in Charlotte comedy, March 22-26
Here are a few of the best places to find comedy events in Charlotte this week.
Libya: We just GOT to meddle, don’t we?
When I read this morning that a U.S. fighter jet had crashed in Libya, my first thought was, “Here we go again, goddamit — more young Americans being thrown into another hell hole for no good reason.” Or as Jon Stewart put it last night, “Don’t we already have two wars?” and “How can we…
Coming soon: An all-new Halo (again)
First it was the Garden & Gun Club, then it transformed into Halo, and now an “all new” Halo is coming?
Tonight’s Top 5, 03/22/11
The top five nightlife-related events going down tonight, March 22, as chosen from the folks at Creative Loafing.
Public Radio’s ‘Forgot Love’ video
Video uses Apple’s FaceTime technology.
Meeting your Match
The intern signs Brittney up for Match.com. She awaits to see if she still has a job.
Here comes the (high-speed) train
Choo choo.
Dumpster dive to avoid wasting food
In 2009, The Economist reported Americans waste 40 percent of their food.
This week’s new releases (3/22/2011)
A quick rundown of what’s new in stores this week.
Hey, Mister DJ … play me a record, a real one.
Hipsters love vinyl.
Concert announcement: 311/Sublime with Rome
Unity Tour comes to Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre this summer.
Local shops have your eyes covered
We scoured some local shops to find the funkiest and freshest selection of sunglasses.
Today’s Top 5: Tuesday
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today.
Today’s Top(less) 5: Tuesday
Here are the five best events to get you hot and bothered with or without a date.
EXHIBIT: Everyday Extraordinary
This new exhibit at Providence Gallery captures outdoorsy scenes on canvas. Three artists — Ann Watcher, Lita Gatlin and Isabel Forbes — propagated their own mementos of traditional and urban landscapes through meticulous brushstrokes. Forbes’ painting of the Dairy Queen on Wilkinson Boulevard (right), is one example of the work on display. Continues through March…
Charlotte airport security is still insecure
Charlotte Douglas International Airport should be on the top 10 list of any self-respecting terrorist looking to wreak mayhem. A simple Google search shows our airport was ranked the 24th busiest in the world and the 10th busiest in the nation by passenger traffic according to Airports Council International. Why mess with the added security…
Bizarre crimes from Charlotte police files
Biting The Hand: A woman called police after her boyfriend beat her up in her own vehicle. She told officers that she was driving down Brookshire Freeway when the man began striking her in the face with a closed fist. This resulted in the woman crashing her car into the guardrail. I say, punching people…
Doom, gloom and ‘value-added’ ratings at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools recently released a new ratings system that evaluates teacher effectiveness. According to Ann Doss Helms of The Charlotte Observer, “About 40 percent of CMS instructors — those who teach classes with state exams — have been rated using a new ‘value-added’ formula. It’s designed to tease out the part of each child’s academic…
Weekly horoscope (March 23-29)
Aries The Ram (March 20-April 19) 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 out of the duel, and avoid a frank battle of wills.…
A warning to the world
A reporter, describing the devastation of one city in Japan, wrote: “It looks as if a monster steamroller had passed over it and squashed it out of existence. I write these facts … as a warning to the world.” The reporter was Wilfred Burchett, writing from Hiroshima, Japan, on Sept. 5, 1945. Burchett was the…
Capsule reviews of films playing the week of March 23
THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU One person’s religious beliefs is often another person’s existentialist theories, and The Adjustment Bureau offers plenty of theological fodder to go around. Because it tinkers with notions involving God and chance and destiny and all that other stuff that’s fun to discuss, it might turn off those types of folks who misunderstood…
Paul: Close encounters of the absurd kind
Mel Brooks once proudly declared that his movies “rise below vulgarity,” and it’s a reasonable bet that any film prominently featuring Seth Rogen will exercise its own right to wallow in raunch. So while Rogen may be providing the voice for the title alien in the new comedy Paul, don’t expect a cuddly E.T. on…
SPECIAL EVENT: Underground Events’ A Night of Underground Comedy, Art and Music
The cool kids know that the underground represents the counter-culture, the fight against the commercial mainstream. And because you want to be cool too, you should check out Underground Events’ A Night of Underground Comedy, Art and Music at Tremont Music Hall. The showcase offers the talents of local artists, comedy acts and live music…
Limitless constrained by lack of imagination
For a film about a drug able to turn its user into a genius, Limitless isn’t exactly the brightest bulb in the box — or the smartest movie in the multiplex, as it were. Working from a novel by Alan Glynn, director Neil Burger and scripter Leslie Dixon have fashioned a picture that offers its…
COMEDY: Doug Benson
Comedian Doug Benson sits on a throne (well, for his Comedy Central series The Benson Interruption, that is) puffing out heckles at comics just as fast as you can say Super High Me. After gaining some attention as a contestant on the fifth season of Last Comic Standing, Benson starred in the documentary (playing on…
Where to find it: Locally Made Lebanese-Styled Armenian Meats
After the genocide of 1915, many of the surviving Armenians relocated throughout the Middle East, many to Lebanon. Among the things they took with them was their love of spicy meats, specifically basturma and sujuk. In the newly opened Mediterranean Gourmet Market in the pocket strip center near the intersection of Highway 51 and Monroe…
THEATER: The Glass Menagerie
Just one teeny tiny decision or dinner gone wrong can affect a whole family. That’s what we learn from playwright Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie anyway. In the drama, a fella named Tom brings a friend (and presumably suitable partner for his sister) over to his house to chow down on some grub with the…
Grand Asia Market houses large Chinese bakery
Murmurs turned into noisy excitement as a baker brought out a tray lined with individual egg custard tarts snuggled in their shiny aluminum beds. Patrons lifted them with plastic tongs and headed for the checkout. One universal food pleasure is the taste of a warm flaky-crusted Chinese egg tart — the classic Chinese bakery treat.…
BENEFIT: Spread Your Wings
Angels may be hard to find (and Hank Williams Jr. isn’t the only one who thinks so), but human nature’s willingness to do good deeds isn’t nearly as challenging. During the upcoming Spread Your Wings event — a music benefit to raise money for Wind River Cancer Wellness Retreats & Programs — it’s made easy.…
3 questions with Colin Jones, Enso’s general manager
At just 30 years old, Colin Jones has made quite an impact on Charlotte’s high-end restaurant scene. Originally from Rhode Island, he went to college in southwestern Virginia, where the admittedly “spoiled child” had to grow up fast once his father lost his job: “I always had my bills magically taken care of, and suddenly,…
FILM: Cult Movie Monday
Tonight’s Cult Movie Monday — presented by The Light Factory and Theatre 650 — will be screening the 1989 comedy, Weekend at Bernie’s. Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman star as two goofball insurance salesmen who find their big bad boss dead. In fears a hit man is on the way to knock them off, they…
The Fleshtones’ 35-year effort to make some money
Since 1976, Queens, N.Y.’s The Fleshtones has been applying an eclectic mix of genres on a musical canvas to create a unique vivisection of covers along with originals that influenced a generation of garage rockers. The principle was simple. Pare the music down to its basic elements, then put everything you had into delivering it.…
MUSIC: All Time Low at The Fillmore Charlotte
There’s a ton of pop-punk and emo pop bands out there, so they’ve gotta have something extra to rouse this scribe. All Time Low straddles the middle line. They’ve got a slew of hum-along numbers to be sure, but there’s not much new ground covered, either. The Baltimore combo does have just enough oomph for…
The Wizard of Green: Jim Rogers’ and Duke Energy’s nuke-heavy agenda
If last week’s N.C. Utilities Commission hearing proved anything, it’s that Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers really needs to stop with the green energy shtick. Since becoming Duke’s CEO five years ago, Rogers has gone around the country, building an image of himself as America’s “green energy executive,” and hyping Duke as a green-friendly utility.…
FILM: Banff Mountain Film Festival
Action and picturesque landscapes made up of waterfalls, mountains and wildlife are key to Banff Mountain Film Festival’s hype. This year the shortest production on the roster, The Longest Way, weighs in at only five minutes. The quickie speeds through one man’s yearlong walking journey — all the while tracking the steady growth of his…
Nightlife profile: Scottie Crowe
Deep in the dimly lit Moroccan lounge, VIP server Scottie Crowe waits to cater to the needs of Kazba’s VIP patrons. Because of the congested crowd, Crowe has acquired stealthy maneuvering skills around gyrating dancers and hordes of mingling patrons — which she learned the hard way, after being stepped on and knocked over countless…
Book review: Molly Ivins: A Rebel Life
Molly Ivins: A Rebel Life by Bill Minutaglio & W. Michael Smith (Public Affairs, 336 pages, $15.95 paperback). I really miss Molly Ivins. I don’t think I’ve ever said that about a journalist, but Molly Ivins was more than someone who showed up in the paper now and then as a syndicated columnist. For white…
CL previews upcoming concerts (March 23-29)
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23 NORMA JEAN Ozzfest and Warped Tour vets, the metalcore crew from Douglasville, Ga., have a Grammy nomination under their belt since forming in 1997. Only two of the band’s original members are still with the group from the Luti-Kriss era, but the the current lineup has been together for a little over…
Don’t miss out on Jennifer Blood, Mighty Samson, more
In the weekly rush to snag new comics, it’s easy to miss tons of books. So, this issue, I’m offering some quick reviews of stuff that hit stands a few weeks ago. And most of these titles should still be available at your local comic book shop. Jennifer Blood No. 1: The concept behind the…
CD REVIEW: The New Familiars’ Between the Moon and Morning Light
THE DEAL: Nearly two years in the making, Charlotte quartet releases latest album, first full-length CD, produced by Joe Kuhlmann. THE GOOD: The New Familiars has gone through a few lineup changes in recent years, but the band has settled into a comfortable spot — one that shines through in each of the 11 tunes…
A grungy royal wedding: The Princess Bride
Since its humble beginnings in a backroom at The Graduate with Gonzo: A Brutal Chrysalis just over two years ago, James Cartee’s Citizens of the Universe has prowled around the Plaza Midwood area, spreading the company’s deliciously conflicted dogma. They’ve presented quixotically ambitious projects in the grungiest locales — Reservoir Dogs in a Bohemian studio…
CD REVIEW: Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys’ Grand Isle
THE DEAL: After years of performing — together since 1988 — the MP’s have a novel new recording. After some 10 previous albums — some perfunctory — the group hits its stride with a combo of new and old, originals and covers. This time there’s social commentary as hometown Mamou, La., sits in the heart…
EXHIBIT: Voice of Beauty
Through images and words, the local non-profit organization Silent Images (www.silentimages.org) hopes to put a face to those suffering from poverty, oppression and persecution. Its latest book, Voice of Beauty, celebrates the strengths of African women struggling for survival on a daily basis. An exhibit bearing the same content and title as the book is…
Why the state GOP’s voter ID bill is a costly and unnecessary misstep
Republicans introduced a voter ID bill last week in the state House of Representatives, with Rep. Ric Killian of Charlotte as a primary sponsor. The bill requires poll workers to ask voters for a photo ID. Those without a photo ID would have to cast a provisional ballot and sign an affidavit affirming their…
