Cover Story
Local Brewers Defy the Lily-White Craft Beer Scene
On May 12, a diverse crowd of around 100 people gather in Goodyear Arts for an exhibit called Mood: BLACK featuring visual art, live music and free drinks. In a back corner, folks gather around a table to try cups of Dat Dere or the Stokely Stout, two beers from Black Star Line Brewing, a…
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales: Cinematic Shipwreck
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES *1/2 (out of four) DIRECTED BY Espen Sandberg & Joachim Ronning STARS Johnny Depp, Javier Bardem The least sea-worthy – make that see-worthy – film in the deathless franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is the sort of big-budget extravaganza that’s exhausting…
Baywatch barely earns its place in the sun
BAYWATCH **1/2 (out of four) DIRECTED BY Seth Gordon STARS Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron The big-screen version of the imbecilic TV series that ruled ‘90s television, Baywatch is pretty much indefensible. Nevertheless, like my cousin Vinny bucking the odds in the courtroom, allow me to defend at least parts of it. Those would be the…
The Lovers marred by flaccid ending
THE LOVERS **1/2 (out of four) DIRECTED BY Azazel Jacobs STARS Debra Winger, Tracy Letts An art-house experience for older viewers not particularly interested in typical summer shenanigans, The Lovers stars Debra Winger and Tracy Letts as Mary and Michael, an unhappily married couple both enjoying affairs with other people. Mary is seeing a writer…
Get Out, The Great Wall, Logan 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.) DHEEPAN (2015). Writer-director Jacques Audiard’s Dheepan earned the Palme d’Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival (beating out, among others, Sicario, Son of Saul, The Lobster and deserved winner Carol), but, as…
The Blotter: Beer By Any Means
If At First You Fail A man was motivated to get out of a South End CVS with a free can of beer last week, and he didn’t care what strategy he had to implement to get it. First, employees noticed the man stuffing a can of beer down his pants in an attempt to…
Pakistani-Dominican Family Brings Halal Cart to the Center of Charlotte
In Manhattan, halal carts have become an institution — staples for late-night carousers. But many Charlotteans don’t even know what a halal cart is. The mobile food stands, modeled after those that traditionally sold hot dogs or tacos, serve up a combination of tasty dishes from the Muslim world, but with a New York sensibility:…
Cultivating Black Brew Culture Through Hip-Hop
To enter a room filled with people that, upon first glance, look as though they have nothing in common with you is not something you ever get used to. No matter how well a person from a minority group learns to assimilate and code switch to better relate with and maneuver within the majority group’s…
Councilwoman Dimple Ajmera Discusses Her New Life in Politics
As an immigrant who moved to Los Angeles from India in her teen years without speaking much English, and shortly thereafter made another big move across country to Durham, Dimple Ajmera is no to stranger to adversity. But when she lost her father to a sudden heart attack four years ago, the experience shook her…
Weekly Horoscope (May 25-31)
For All Signs The static and interference among the planets returns this week in the form of an opposition between Mars and Saturn. Mars represents the warrior within us and Saturn symbolizes the Inner Teacher. A common association is that Mars, as accelerator, is being held by the brake of Saturn. It is a time…
TRAP Karaoke Is a Thing, and I’m Here For It
This past Sunday at 3 p.m., for the second time in the past two months I might add, I was standing in a cellphone repair shop hoping to fix my phone screen. *Sighs.* I don’t know about you, but I’m no habitual cellphone breaker, so you can imagine my disgust at having to pay upwards…
Shiprocked!, The Greatest Show in Charlotte, Bids Farewell
I met her at Shiprocked! She took me home. I didn’t leave for three years. It was Nov. 27, 2008, and I’d gone to the Thanksgiving edition of the greatest show on earth — or at least, the greatest show in Plaza Midwood — to fill the hole left by my still-fresh divorce. On the…
Mason Parker Departs Charlotte for L.A., Prepares to Drop New Album
There was a moment in time when Mason Parker actually considered giving it up. On August 27, 2010, Parker lost his mother on the same day he was fired from his job as an Allstate Insurance agent. He would inherit his mother’s home, along with the responsibility of paying it off. Since Parker began banging…
Server Joncarlo Palermo Dishes on Que Onda Tacos + Tequila
Maybe it’s his perfect hair. Or maybe it’s his crazy long arm span, or his magical ability to effortlessly balance heavy platters of hot, delicious food without dropping anything. We’re not sure exactly what it is, but Joncarlo Palermo makes it all look easy. [Image-1] Palermo works as a waiter at one of Charlotte’s busiest…
We’re Not Just ‘Loafing’ Anymore
You may have noticed over the past three issues that Creative Loafing has a new logo. Gone is the teeny-tiny word creative above a huge, cursive Loafing. The two parts of our name share equal billing again, as they did in the beginning. Size matters. Creative Loafing has a long, storied history in Charlotte, and…
Mary Deissler Brings a Little Hendrix and Radiohead to the Symphony
Changing the tone of Charlotte’s venerable orchestra.
Suicide: The Worst Possible Option
By now you’ve heard, rocker Chris Cornell hung himself. If you’re a gen-x’er, like I am, you’re probably stilling wondering what led him to suicide. You know, what was the final straw? Or, maybe you’re someone living with depression, also like me, and you have a pretty good idea of what was going on in…
