Eclipse At Sunset
The centerpiece of Charlotte’s best loved circus — the third Friday gallery crawl in Noda — is pulling up stakes before the bulldozers roll in. This little stretch of suds and self expression — Pat’s Time for One More Pub, 23 Studio and Wrightnow Gallery — has fallen victim to the success they courted for…
Free At Last, Free At Last
Charlotteans by the thousands poured into the streets on Friday when the NBA announced that league owners had liberated our city from association with notorious sleazebags Lemonhead Shinn and Trailerboy Wooldridge. Crowds of revelers gathered on the Square, blocking the streets and diverting traffic, but no one seemed to mind. Many motorists, in fact, blew…
Good Eats
zas has become a standard. Not complicated, but consistently good. Open late. $$ Comet Grill, 2224 Park Rd, 704-371-4300. Dependable bar food in a friendly neighborhood joint. Big burgers, great fries, a spicy shrimp app and some vegetarian alternatives, too. $ Mangione’s Ristorante, 1524 E. Blvd., 704-334-4417. Opened in 1977. If you can’t decide between…
Feeling Good on Black Friday
It was Black Friday — the day Charlotte lost the Hornets. And vice versa. Downtown, where somebody was supposed to build an arena to help a pair of needy millionaires, gloom and doom weren’t consuming patrons at the Performing Arts Center. Contentment reigned as the North Carolina Dance Theatre premiered their new version of Carmina…
Letters to the editor
To the Editors: Regarding Simon Donoghue’s letter “Rep Disses Locals” (CL, May 8), I wish to correct a few of the author’s misunderstandings and misrepresentations. I’m pleased that the writer enjoyed Proof, directed by Steve Umberger. Steve’s production constituted a cast of two great local actors and two great actors from New York City (including…
8 Days A Week
WEDNESDAY 15 Talky Texas musician Jerry Jeff Walker is getting a bit long in the tooth for his former “outlaw” description, but he’s still cranking out countryish tales and putting on good shows. Walker appears tonight at 8pm at the Neighborhood Theatre with his band, The Gonzo Compadres. Tickets to see Mr. Bojangles are $40,…
Arts Agenda
Classical Music Charlotte Flute Choir The program of light classical music will include both original and transcribed works written specifically for the medium of flute choir. Sun., May 19, 7:30 p.m. Admission is free. Sharon United Methodist Church, 4411 Sharon Road. 704-552-7128. Charlotte Symphony Season Finale featuring conductor Joann Falletta and pianist Jon Nakamatsu. The…
Don’t Let The Screen Door Hit You. .
All this bellyaching over the loss of the Hornets makes me want to throw up. Can no one see that the team we won in the late 1980s isn’t the same team we just lost? There was a time when the National Basketball Association was a viable business that could still survive on only minimal…
Stargazer
For All Signs Mercury turned retrograde on May 15 and will remain so until June 8. This suggests a time for reflection, a cool-down from anger, and a period to reconsider decisions of recent weeks. During Mercury retrograde intervals, it is best to gather information and study possible alternatives, envisioning one scenario and then another.…
Go Fish
If you moved to landlocked Charlotte from a coastal community, chances are you miss going down to the wharf to get just caught seafood. Seattle has Pike Place Market; Manhattan has Fulton Fish Market. Even inland cities with ocean accessibility via rivers have fish wharves. Washington DC’s wharf specializes in mid-Atlantic seafood from Chincoteague and…
Paying Respects
You know what it’s like when family and friends are called in when a loved one is clinging to life. You want to pay your respects, remember the good times, even vent a little anger. That was the feeling when the Charlotte Hornets returned to town last Thursday in their second-round playoff series against the…
Karma Cleanser
Dear Karma Cleanser: My girlfriend thinks I spark up the wacky weed too much, so I’ve been hiding my habit in order to escape criticism and overall negativity. I don’t use any other drugs, I just have more of a Rasta view of life than she does. I work hard and am extremely responsible but…
Cooking With Wine
My refrigerator is plastered with magnets featuring wine platitudes. One of my favorites reads: “I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.” I love to cook, and a good bottle is almost always part of the process. Wine possesses an amazing convivial characteristic, unknown to other alcoholic beverages. Sharing…
Use The Force, George
There are big things going on in the Queen City these days. Our school board members are accusing each other of racism during “secret” meetings that are so top secret, the goings-on make headlines in the Observer. Meanwhile, the superintendent apparently expects severance pay for finding a new job. And the Hornets are leaving in…
Sex, Lies, and the Men That Tell Them
couples first meet, have sex, exchange phone numbers and last names (typically in that order), on occasion the man realizes he’s found a new and improved version of his virtual Barbie, someone he’d rather share his bed with then his most current squeeze. This often creates a unique form of evil, especially if the current…
Good Eats
All Around Town Anntony’s Caribbean, 145 Brevard Court, 704-339-0303; 2001 E. 7th,, 704-342-0749; 20910 Torrence Chapel Rd., 704-894-0280. 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…
Two Bands And Free Food
Friday night, Lynn Farris and I headed to Matthews judge the finals of a “Battle of the Bands” contest at a nice new place called Five Steps II. Used as bait to get us there was the offer of free grub and a drink or two — smart, as I would judge a greased-pig contest…
A River Runs Through Me
In my case, the cockiness had set in long before we passed the first of a half-dozen outfitters on the winding two-lane road that cuts through steep kudzu-carpeted hills on the way to Nantahala Outdoor Center outside Bryson City. Given my comfortable relationship with water over the years, I assumed learning kayaking would be a…
DeLonge And Winding Road
It’s not like talking to Bob Dylan, exactly, talking to Tom DeLonge of Blink-182. After all, he’s a singer/guitarist in a trio that has brought you mega-platinum albums like Enema Of The State and Take Off Your Pants And Jacket (just say it aloud, as I did while interviewing DeLonge, whereupon we both chuckled heartily).…
The Blotter
* Nothing to lose: A jail inmate was charged with vandalism after he deliberately knocked a 19-inch color TV from its stand while he was in the common area of the Mecklenburg County Jail. * That’s just not right: A man called police after he discovered someone had broken into his house and stolen several…
Le Cine d’Ete
Considering that Charlotte has never been known as a bastion of cinema culture, it’s encouraging to note that those seeking alternative movie fare will have plenty of options in the upcoming summer months. Sure, we won’t be able to head down to the local repertory theater to catch an all-day film festival dedicated to Nicholas…
Alone At Last
P.J. Brunson has completed her first solo recording, titled Come Hell or High Water. The album features 12 original tracks written by Brunson and her songwriting partner, Jim “Cotton” Brindle. Guest musicians on the album include Glen Alexander, Jack Lawrence, Robert McClure, Danny Guyton, David Childers, Tom Kuhn, Donny Fletcher, Pamela Dale and Hunter Kome.…
News of The Weird
Fitness In A Pill Researchers from Duke’s medical school and the University of Texas’ Southwestern Medical Center announced in April that they have identified an enzyme that can be stimulated to mimic the effects of exercise on muscles (albeit in mice, not humans). Team leader R. Sanders Williams said it is quite possible that eventually…
Oh, What A Beautiful Summer
We generally cross the bridge to summer by marching down to Charleston for Spoleto Festival USA, fiercely dedicated to missing both Indy and the Co-Cola 600 during Memorial Day weekend. But we promise to return from the culture front in time for the unofficial kickoff to the Queen City’s summer season on June 5. That…
Music Menu
WEDNESDAY 5.15 Dixie Witch — The kind of band those guys on stonerrock.com get their bongs in a wad over, Dixie Witch is a Texas-based power trio. And I do mean power trio: double bass drums, triple-pickup Les Pauls, and sac-rattling bass. Drummer/vocalist Trinidad Leal controls the show from behind the kit — no mean…
Summer Sounds
There are always a couple of things you can count on when it comes to summertime in the South. For one, it’s going to be unbearably hot and humid. It’s also the time when our shed opens its gates and usually plays host to numerous big names and popular acts from the worlds of pop,…
Soundboard
Wednesday, May 15 Arnie’s Tavern, Huntersville Scott Johnson Bayou Kitchen Bill Noonan Cajun Queen 7th Street Gator Band Cajun Queen, Pineville 7th Street Gator Band II Charlie Brown’s, Charlotte Rachel Garcia Band Connolly’s Craig & Rich Dilworth Coffeehouse Open Mic w/ Bert Wray * Double Door Inn CD Release Party: The Noise w/ Men of…
130 N. Tryon Street, 704-372-1000 May 24-25 Pink Martini w/ Charlotte Symphony Pops
MEMORIAL DAY May 24-27BLUMENTHAL PERFORMING ARTS CENTER130 N. Tryon Street, 704-372-1000 May 24-25 Pink Martini w/ Charlotte Symphony Pops CAROWINDS PALADIUM 704-588-2600, 803-548-5300, 1-800-888-4FUN, www.carowinds.com May 25 Joyfest: Kirk Franklin & more CRICKET ARENA2700 E. Independence Boulevard, 704-372-3600, 704-522-6500, www.charlottecoliseum.com May 25, 7:30pm Champions on Ice 2002 Olympic Tour features Olympic ice skaters from various…
Reclaiming His Empire
Ever since the release of the original Star Wars back in 1977, creator George Lucas has repeatedly acknowledged that the primary inspiration for his space odyssey was Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress. At the same time, fans have also noted the similarities to Flash Gordon serials, epochal Westerns and any number of swashbuckling yarns. But…
Summer Reading: In Search of Cool
Everyone has his or her own definition of summer reading. For kids, the term usually refers to semi-required classics they have to choke down with the season’s Kool-Aid. For some people, summer reading means taking the time to catch up with the past year’s bestsellers, or to re-read some old favorites. For many, summer reading…
Allen Off Screen
Woody Allen has become an American icon — an unchanging cultural commodity with instant brand recognition like Hugh Hefner or Colonel Sanders. So the experience of interviewing Allen face to face is distinctly surreal. Like the characters in his 1985 The Purple Rose of Cairo, it feels as though one is interacting with the movie…
License To Drink
Question: Why do the English like warm beer? Answer: Because they all have Lucas refrigerators! Ha! Besides providing a look at Brit humor in a nutshell, that joke illustrates one fact: not all folks like their brew at the same temperature. A lot of folks overseas, for instance, like their brew a little on the…
Film Clips
b>NEW RELEASES HOLLYWOOD ENDING It used to be that the annual arrival of the latest Woody Allen movie was like receiving an additional Christmas present; these days, it feels more like being asked to stay after school for detention. At its core, Hollywood Ending features an ingenious comic hook, the best one Allen’s come up…
Cool Off at the Lakes
Everybody likes swimming, boating, skiing, and what have you at the lakes. Trouble is, unless you live there or know someone who lives there, it can be hard to gain access to these great recreation areas. Public access to the three lakes near Charlotte can sometimes be hard to find. Several of the counties administer…
Summer Guide 2002
It’s no secret: Summer in Charlotte is as hot and humid as a sweaty armpit. The number one goal in this city is to find ways to cool off, whether it’s slurping down a cool one on a restaurant patio or getting wet at a lake, pool or waterpark. Well, you’re in luck: we’re always…
From Hell
From big-time CEOs and politicians to educators, writers, radio and TV personalities, just about everyone has had at least one summer job from hell. Mine was loading and unloading freight at a trucking company. It was hot, dirty, backbreaking work, but as a poor college student, $9 an hour was big bucks. We asked a…
Arts Un-bundled
Last June, they swore they’d all go down together — baseball, the arena, the arts. When voters went to the polls to vote in a referendum on a new arena for the Charlotte Hornets, a hastily assembled list of $100 million in arts and cultural projects stood in the way of a “no” vote. But…
Fast Times
It’s 6:30am on a Sunday, and I’m heading to Talladega, AL. Intentionally. I never, ever would have believed it. But the fact is, in spite of many years of hard work running from my redneck Mississippi roots, I have recently become a rabid NASCAR fan. I know, I know. It’s a bunch of cars going…
“I’m not going down that road”
Had he been in the shoes of Danny Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter recently kidnapped and murdered by Islamic extremists, foreign correspondent and Charlotte native Dan Fesperman would have pursued that same fateful (and as it turned out, fatal) interview Pearl had sought. “He (Pearl) was on the trail of a shady character who…
