Mar 8-14, 2011

Mar 8-14, 2011 / Vol. 25 / No. 2

Live review: Astronautalis

Astronautalis, Sims, Mr. Invisible The Milestone March 8, 2011 The Deal: Since I first discovered Astronautalis a few years back, he has been in regular rotation within my music collection and equally a part of my heart. So, when he comes into town, you better believe that I know as soon as he is booked…

Jenny Lou Bement

Lyra Shines gets new name

The Charlotte band formerly known as Lyra Shines has been reformed and renamed. From the band’s Facebook page: The Local Traumatic is a 4 piece indie alternative rock band, who was formed by the former band Lyra Shines. After years of writing song after song, and a few line up changes, Lyra realized they weren’t…

Jeff Hahne

Concert announcement: Prince

Prince will be performing at Time Warner Cable Arena on March 24. Tickets go on sale on Monday, March 14. The Charlotte date is one of six planned for the Carolinas, with other shows including Greenville, Charleston and Columbia, S.C., as well as Raleigh and Greensboro.

Jeff Hahne

U.S. National Whitewater Center goes green

Come to the U.S. National Whitewater Center this Saturday and you’ll be in for a surprise. No, it’s not having an algae outbreak, but it is turning its river green for Green River Revival – a special celebration in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. The festivities (starting at 11 a.m.) include live music from Mike…

Anita Overcash

Park Road Chainsaw Massacre: Oblivious government momentum at work

With the destruction of the large trees in front of 14 homes on Park Road in Sedgefield, it looks as if we’ve hit the trifecta of harmful crap perpetrated by blind, oblivious government momentum.  We’ve written twice recently about how hard it is to stop big government projects once the plans are in place, no…

John Grooms

Photos: Beer dinner at Vida

Vida Mexican Kitchen y Cantina at the EpiCentre hosted their first beer dinner last night. Together with Crown Imports, they pulled off a delicious dinner of hors d’oeuvres, four courses, and an assortment of beers.

Priscilla Tsai

Coffee prices on the rise thanks to climate change

Welp. I think we’ve all been waiting for something like this to happen, haven’t we? Local gardeners could have told you this problem was on its way last summer, though, when some of their veggies failed to launch. Oh, but hey: Climate change is a hippie myth … From The New York Times: … the…

Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman

New York: The Met and all that jazz

On our first night in New York, we planned to drive into the city from Bloomfield, New Jersey, where we were staying with my newlywed daughter Ilana. We’d find free parking in Long Island City, over in Queens. From there, we catch the 7 train. It’s just one stop from Jackson Avenue to Manhattan, so…

Perry Tannenbaum

D.C. Bank of America branch shut down by protesters

They jump up and down and deny it when it’s pointed out, but the Observer has always sucked up to Bank of America, as well as its predecessors, all the way back to the pre-NCNB days of Commercial National Bank. The latest example was last week’s story that told readers how the new corporate bonuses…

John Grooms

March 15: Beer dinner at Paco’s Tacos and Tequila

Paco’s Tacos in SouthPark will be hosting a three-course Tex-Mex and beer dinner featuring Shiner Beer at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, March 15, 2011. Special guest Jaime Jurado from Spoetzl Brewery will be in attendance. In addition to providing the beers for dinner, the brewery will be raffling off a gift basket with proceeds benefiting…

Priscilla Tsai

Political joke of the year

Here’s a joke making the rounds of the Internet that does a great job of summing up what’s going on today in the U.S. economy and American politics: A corporate CEO, a Tea Party member, and a union worker are all sitting at a table when someone brings them a dozen cookies. Like a flash,…

John Grooms

MUSIC: Robert Glasper

Charlotte’s jazz train keeps on rolling with a visit tonight by the pianist Robert Glasper and his band — the Robert Glasper Experiment. Truly a man of many worlds, Glasper successfully bridges the gap between “straight-ahead” jazz and more … well … “experimental” sounds — flavored by hip-hop, R&B, soul and more. This cat has…

Carlton Hargro

Rango / Gnomeo & Juliet: Tale of two toons

It’s nice to see that, when it comes to producing quality animated features, Hollywood studios have managed to change their, uh, toon. For many years, Pixar was the only outfit consistently releasing choice animated movies, but it finally appears that other studios’ specialized departments are finally getting the hang of it. Disney has recently regained…

Matt Brunson

Comics coming out in the spring

A change of seasons brings a slew of new comic books and graphic novels. Here’s a look at four titles you should try to snag: Dark Horse Presents: Dark Horse Comics’ groundbreaking anthology series (which launched watershed comics like Sin City, among others) is back in a brand-new incarnation. This 21st century version of Dark…

Carlton Hargro

MUSIC: Find Your Muse open mic at The Evening Muse

It’s Find Your Muse open mic night at The Evening Muse this and every Monday. Musicians, grab up your music gear and head over to perform one of your own creations in front of a crowd. No one can guarantee they’ll be liked, but constructive criticism is always helpful! Get there early to snag a…

Anita Overcash

The Adjustment Bureau mixes romance and religion

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 around with notions involving God and chance and destiny and all that other stuff that’s fun to discuss whether under or over the influence, it might turn off those types…

Matt Brunson

Spring Guide: More film events

Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour Featuring select films that celebrate outdoor lifestyle, exotic landscapes and action-packed sports. Wed., March 30, 6:30 p.m. $10 in advance; $15 on the day of the event. US National Whitewater Center, 5000 Whitewater Center Parkway. 704-391-3900. www.usnwc.org. Charlotte Jewish Film Festival: Film screening of Breaking Upwards and Fake Beard…

Anita Overcash

THEATER: Young Frankenstein

Mel Brooks’ Broadway musical Young Frankenstein is no experiment. The acclaimed production draws from the 1974 film based on Mary Shelley’s classic book and is set in a favorite fiend spot — Transylvania. It follows a mans struggle to carry on the laboratory madness of his family or run like the wind from a frightening…

Anita Overcash

Cedar Rapids: Decent place to visit

Cedar Rapids is a low-rent version of the sort of raunchy comedy that’s all the rage these days, but it wears its modesty rather well. In fact, its reliance on vulgar gags is so sparse that it’s somewhat startling when this ends on an outtake of co-star John C. Reilly mixing flatulence and flick-a-BIC. But…

Matt Brunson

Four bad words: teaching to the test

There has been much debate over the past few weeks about Gov. Bev Perdue’s recent decision to support the elimination of four standardized end-of-course tests in North Carolina high schools. Perdue argues that students are tested too much and this change will bring schools into alignment with an educational shift that is happening throughout the…

Nsenga Burton

THEATER: Women of Will

Collaborative Arts returns with a close look at Shakespeare’s heroines as seen through Tina Packer’s Women of Will. Packer — founder of Shakespeare & Company — will perform alongside Nigel Gore in this national production directed by Eric Tucker. From the tragic Juliet (of Romeo & Juliet) to the male-disguised Rosalind (of As You Like…

Anita Overcash

3 questions with Melissa Myer, caterer

Not many people go into work and see Robin Williams talking to their dogs in French and English accents. Williams, Dave Chappelle and Bono are just a few clients Melissa Myer has catered for as cook and co-owner of Food to Die For, a catering company based out of the Verizon Amphitheater. The company caters…

Nicole Pietrantonio

127 Hours, The Last Unicorn among new home entertainment releases

BAMBI (1942). Is it nothing short of monstrous not to consider the beloved Bambi one of the very best of Disney’s 50 (and counting) official animated features? Arriving in the first wave of the studio’s cherished big-screen output, this saga about a young deer’s maturation contains neither the dark complexity of Pinocchio nor the bright…

Matt Brunson

Are home births safe?

My great, great grandmother Sarah Servatius died in childbirth in 1886, leaving six children and their father to fend for themselves. Medicine has advanced dramatically since women regularly gave birth at home. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the mortality rate for babies has declined by 90 percent since 1900 and the maternal mortality…

Spring Guide: Concerts in bloom

The spring season runs until June 20, so many of the concerts coming to town haven’t yet been announced. That doesn’t stop us from trying to tell you about some of the great ones that are coming up in March and April. Rockabilly, blues, Americana, roots, rock, bluegrass — there’s a something for everyone when…

Jeff Hahne

APRIL 30: Usher

Usher is coming to Time Warner Cable Arena and we’ve got a pair of tickets to the show.

Spring Guide: Dance, drama & more

Dance — North Carolina Dance Theatre officially celebrates its 40th anniversary this week with Director’s Choice at Knight Theater (March 10-12), but you also want to stick around for the big finish of NCDT’s season, Spotlight: An Evening of Women Choreographers (April 28-30). In between, don’t sleep on another great American company at the Knight,…

Perry Tannenbaum

CL previews upcoming concerts (March 9-15)

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9 ZACH MYERS Most people know Myers from the band Shinedown, the rock outfit that sold more than 8 million albums worldwide. As the rhythm and lead guitarist, he helped maintain the hard rock edge their fans enjoyed but now Myers is stripping this down for an acoustic tour that will allow him…

More Spring Events

Festivals/Events 15th Annual Charlotte Goes Green Festival Celebrates St. Patrick’s day with live Irish music, Irish dancers, Irish/Celtic vendors, a large Celtic kid’s zone, food and beverages. Sat., March 19, 10 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Free admission. Held uptown on S. Tryon Street (between 3rd Street & 1st Street). www.charlottestpatsday.com. 15th Annual Charlotte St. Patrick’s Day Parade…

Anita Overcash

CD REVIEW: Side By Side EP

THE DEAL: Charlotte trio — Joelle Kittrell, Michael Pepe, Joseph Pepe — releases debut, five-song EP. THE GOOD: Side By Side’s starts off with the soaring pop-rock song, “My Heart.” Kittrell’s rhythmic vocals are clearly the focus, with a tone similar to Natalie Merchant. “Smile” has a harder edge to the music, though more of…

Jeff Hahne

Spring Guide: Chess will make its move locally

Glenn T. Griffin has done it all before. He has repeatedly spotlighted strong, strange women in musicals produced by Queen City Theatre Company — directing Grey Gardens, Side Show and Evita. Stretching back to his days as artistic director at Off-Tryon Theatre Company, Griffin has indulged in a personal chessboard obsession in his 2001 staging…

Perry Tannenbaum

CD REVIEW: Jessica Lea Mayfield’s Tell Me

THE DEAL: Jessica Lea Mayfield releases her sophomore album, once again with production by The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach. THE GOOD: There’s nothing wrong with getting help from your friends and family when that includes the addition of Auerbach on a few tracks, and the guitar work of her brother, David Mayfield, as well. Mayfield…

Jeff Hahne

EXHIBIT: Systems and Organisms

This exhibit features paintings (in watercolor and acrylic) by Pittsburgh-based artist Richard Babusci. Drawing inspiration from living organisms, he hopes to “expand upon the idea that the paintings are newly created ‘things'” rather than just representations of existing forms. Through March 27. Free admission. Gallery hours: Tuesday-Friday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. (open until 9 p.m. during…

Anita Overcash

Stop the public employee bashing

  People, we have to straighten out our conflicting attitudes toward public employees. Are teachers, police officers, firefighters, et al. dedicated, underpaid public heroes — as we’ve been repeatedly told most of our lives? Or are they greedy, overpaid leeches, as the conservative media’s message machine is busily telling its followers in the wake of…

EXHIBIT: Fire, Water, Earth, Air

Mosaics are Ciel Gallery’s specialty. In this new exhibit, a variety of artists (including Kathy Manzella of Huntersville — see her pictured work, titled “Evening Swim”) have submitted a selection of mosaic art that celebrates the four elements. Receptions will be held on April 1 and May 6, from 6 p.m.-9 p.m. Through May 20.…

Anita Overcash

The battle of the budgets: New fronts in the Afghan and Iraq wars

Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Idaho … these are the latest fronts in the battle of budgets, with the larger fight over a potential shutdown of the U.S. government looming. These fights, radiating out from the occupation of the Wisconsin Capitol building, are occurring against the backdrop of the two wars waged by the U.S. in Iraq…

Amy Goodman

Bizarre crimes from Charlotte police files

Peek a Boom: Police responded to a “peeping Tom” call last week after a 57-year-old woman caught a man pleasuring himself in her backyard. She told officers she was cleaning her house when she noticed a man looking into her bedroom window with his penis exposed in his hands. The woman then walked out back…

Ryan Pitkin

Spring Guide: Dance, drama & more

Dance — North Carolina Dance Theatre officially celebrates its 40th anniversary this week with Director’s Choice at Knight Theater (March 10-12), but you also want to stick around for the big finish of NCDT’s season, Spotlight: An Evening of Women Choreographers (April 28-30). In between, don’t sleep on another great American company at the Knight,…

Perry Tannenbaum

Has Viagra helped endangered species by reducing demand for rhino horn, etc?

As an upright environmentalist kind of guy, I was wondering if the rising popularity of erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra, Cialis, Levitra, etc, has caused a corresponding subsidence in the demand for powdered rhinoceros horn and other aphrodisiacs made from the body parts of endangered animals. — Ned Carnes, Austin, Texas You wish. To be…

Cecil Adams

More Spring Events

Festivals/Events 15th Annual Charlotte Goes Green Festival Celebrates St. Patrick’s day with live Irish music, Irish dancers, Irish/Celtic vendors, a large Celtic kid’s zone, food and beverages. Sat., March 19, 10 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Free admission. Held uptown on S. Tryon Street (between 3rd Street & 1st Street). www.charlottestpatsday.com. 15th Annual Charlotte St. Patrick’s Day Parade…

Anita Overcash

Weekly horoscope (March 9-15)

Pisces The Fish (Feb. 18-March 19) Income fluctuates with Uranus in Aries or it begins to come from more than one source. Those with this position are more willing to take financial risks in order to gain increased rewards — and sometimes it works! It is not uncommon for this position to bring windfalls, but…

Vivian Carol

Spring Guide: Chess will make its move locally

Glenn T. Griffin has done it all before. He has repeatedly spotlighted strong, strange women in musicals produced by Queen City Theatre Company — directing Grey Gardens, Side Show and Evita. Stretching back to his days as artistic director at Off-Tryon Theatre Company, Griffin has indulged in a personal chessboard obsession in his 2001 staging…

Perry Tannenbaum

COMEDY: Laugh For the Cure

It’s time to get those pink ribbons fastened. Laugh For the Cure — presented by Susan G. Komen, Charlotte Affiliate — will return for its 10th anniversary. Raising awareness for breast health programs in the community, the evening will include hors d’oeuvres, silent and live auctions and a comedy show featuring headliner Greg Hahn. Known…

Capsule reviews of films playing the week of March 9

BARNEY’S VERSION Paul Giamatti’s excellent performance earned him the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, and he certainly deserved the honor over his embarrassingly weak competition. What isn’t so clear, however, is why this film was thrust into the Comedy category in the first place. Certainly, this adaptation of Mordecai Richler’s…

Matt Brunson

Spring Guide: Get set for the spring cinema season

It’s that cinematic wasteland between winter’s Oscar contenders and summer’s box office champions. Yes, it’s the spring movie season, but it isn’t all gloom and doom. As always, there are enough titles being released that a few gems are certain to be found amidst the rubble. Approximately three dozen films are scheduled to open locally…

Matt Brunson

ART: Shift: New Works by Sharon Dowell

Artist Sharon Dowell — who currently resides in Charlotte — has traveled as far as Iceland to work in residence and gain international applaud. Her latest exhibit, Shift: New Works by Sharon Dowell, is more easily accessible at Dialect Design here in the Q.C. Featuring a series of paintings and installations, the exhibit reflects on…

Anita Overcash

Spring Guide: Get set for the spring cinema season

It’s that cinematic wasteland between winter’s Oscar contenders and summer’s box office champions. Yes, it’s the spring movie season, but it isn’t all gloom and doom. As always, there are enough titles being released that a few gems are certain to be found amidst the rubble. Approximately three dozen films are scheduled to open locally…

Matt Brunson

Spring Guide: 5 steps to a backyard vegetable garden

For the past decade, the trend to consume locally grown produce has increased exponentially. But what is more local, or tastes better, than a tomato that’s grown a few feet from your kitchen door? Gardening, the world’s most popular hobby, is rewarding. Mecklenburg County is fortunate to have a long growing season. According to the…

Tricia Childress

DANCE: Kinetic Works’ Look Back…Look In

Local choreographer and founder of Kinetic Works (a Charlotte-based contemporary dance company), Martha Connerton is stepping out with a new introspective work, titled Look Back…Look In. Described as creating “portraits of women, relationships and life lessons learned,” the show includes solo and duet pieces. In addition, Open Door Youth Ensemble will be presenting its own…

Anita Overcash

Spring Guide: More film events

Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour Featuring select films that celebrate outdoor lifestyle, exotic landscapes and action-packed sports. Wed., March 30, 6:30 p.m. $10 in advance; $15 on the day of the event. US National Whitewater Center, 5000 Whitewater Center Parkway. 704-391-3900. www.usnwc.org. Charlotte Jewish Film Festival: Film screening of Breaking Upwards and Fake Beard…

Anita Overcash

Spring Guide: Concerts in bloom

The spring season runs until June 20, so many of the concerts coming to town haven’t yet been announced. That doesn’t stop us from trying to tell you about some of the great ones that are coming up in March and April. Rockabilly, blues, Americana, roots, rock, bluegrass — there’s a something for everyone when…

Jeff Hahne

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