Cover Story
Can New C3 Lab Expansion Save the Scene in South End?
It’s been a rough couple of years for cool kids in South End. Sure, “cool” is subjective, but it would be hard to argue that the once-hip neighborhood hasn’t lost a ton of its culture over the last year and a half, mostly to make room for condos, townhomes and office buildings. Most Charlotteans are…
That’s Life … unfortunately
LIFE ** (out of four) DIRECTED BY Daniel Espinosa STARS Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson As a title, Life is a pretty lousy choice. It relates absolutely nothing about the movie at hand — at best, it sounds like some inspirational Hallmark Channel production, and, at worst, it recalls that cloying “Life: What a Beautiful Choice”…
Wilson should be cast away
WILSON ** (out of four) DIRECTED BY Craig Johnson STARS Woody Harrelson, Laura Dern The title character in the seriocomedy Wilson comes from the graphic novel by Daniel Clowes, but, truth be told, he might as well have come from the Dennis the Menace comic strip created by Hank Ketcham. Like Mr. Wilson, Dennis’s next-door…
TIMELINE: Wishing a Not-So-Happy Birthday To That Hellish House Bill #2
So today, we decided to give our intern Jasmine a crash course education on that plague that is House Bill 2 by asking her to construct a quick timeline of all the reactions and effects of the law on our state — its people and its economy — since its passing one year ago today.…
Cinema Paradiso, Drive-In Massacre, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth among new home entertainment titles
(View From The Couch is a weekly column that reviews what’s new on Blu-ray, DVD and Streaming. Ratings are on a four-star scale.) BEING THERE (1979). Peter Sellers is nothing short of brilliant in director Hal Ashby’s alternately lovely and lacerating satire. Adapting his own novel, Jerzy Kosinski has penned a delightful comedy about Chance…
Get Your Scorn Out of My Abortion Decision
Earlier this month I insisted Creative Loafing give me access to its Facebook account for a day. For weeks, a friend updated me on a six-day-per-week protest in Charlotte and I wanted CL’s audience to see first hand what was going on by way of Facebook Live. What I didn’t tell them, or anyone else,…
Dollar Signs Brings Us Into the Dog Days of Spring
For a group that calls itself an “angsty, anxious punk band” that “rebels against themselves,” the guys from Dollar Signs are a chill, well-adjusted bunch. We sat down with three of the four guys — horn player Luke Gunn lives in Los Angeles and flies in to tour with the band — to chat over…
The Blotter: Consumer’s Always Right
Modern Art Security guards at a Walmart in north Charlotte got quite a show last week as they watched a suspect who had been shoplifting, but then took things to the next level. At first, security noticed the suspect concealing items in their clothing. They first took some clothing, then a candle, then some bananas.…
Ain’t Neva Sprung
Sunday morning I was packing a bag to stay at the boyfriend’s for the week. You gotta love the commuter/honeymoon phase. If only he understood what it meant to bring a “U-Haul to the second date.” Nevertheless, packing for multiple days almost always means I have to check the weather, especially with the way things…
Weekly Horoscope (March 23-30)
For All Signs The planets Mars and Saturn are in a tense relationship this week, precisely so on Monday. Mars represents the energetic and assertive warrior side of each of us while Saturn symbolizes caution, conservatism and maintenance of the status quo. When these planets are in adverse aspect it becomes difficult for a short…
Charlotte Recommits to Creativity
The singer and songwriter Darian La Sparrow was sitting across from me at an outside table at Smelly Cat Coffee House in NoDa earlier this week, telling me why she chooses to make videos of her songs before putting them together on an album, as musicians have traditionally done. La Sparrow doesn’t just hear her…
Darian La Sparrow Takes an Unconventional Route to the Soul
In the video for her song “Aphrodite’s Love Child,” Darian La Sparrow wears a sleek black dress against a sky-blue backdrop. She’s clutching dried brown roses and singing, Minnie Ripperton-style, over a simple beat, synthesized strings, vibes and ghost-like background vocals. It could be classic 1972 soul. Or 1982 R&B. But it’s neither of those.…
‘Miles & Coltrane’ Springs Back to Life
Genius deserves an unconventional approach, says Quentin Talley. How unconventional? Well, for one thing, you won’t see the actors who portray Miles Davis and John Coltrane — the trumpeter and saxophonist who revolutionized jazz — play a single note in On Q Performing Arts’ production of Miles & Coltrane: Blue (.). Talley, the founder of…
Actor and DIY Filmmaker Carolyn Laws Talks About Her Passion
Watch Laws’ debut short film ‘Damiane and Her Demons’
Meet Your Local Farmers
As spring makes its final entrance across our region, a sunny morning at a local farmers market presents an appealing prospect. The image of tables piled high with brightly colored carrots and lettuce draws people from their beds all across the Charlotte area. But those crops don’t pile themselves. Nor do they harvest, clean or…
