Cover Story
Jessica Moss Makes the Gantt Center a Safe Zone for Local Artists
Jessica Moss walks into the event space at the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture with several large bags tucked under her arms. Under one arm is a sack of candy, and under the other, a bucket filled with red-and-white popcorn cups. The treats will serve as flavorful accents to an unconventional…
Carolina Rebellion 2017: 10 takeaways (and a whole bunch of crowd surfers)
From jawdropping performances to a look at the crowd surfers.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: Family Values
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 *** (out of four) DIRECTED BY James Gunn STARS Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana That scene at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy? That part where Baby Groot dances whenever Drax isn’t looking and freezes whenever the big guy turns around? That moment seemingly adored by everyone ranging from…
The Red Turtle, Saturday Night Fever, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg 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.) THE FORTUNE COOKIE (1966). Over the course of 32 years, Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau made 10 films together (11 if one includes JFK, in which they shared no scenes). The 1968…
Southern Music Trailblazer Col. Bruce Hampton Dies After 70th Birthday Bash
He was a funky pioneer for zany Charlotte avant-rockers from Fetchin Bones to Modern Primitives.
Who’s the Bride to Be? Not Me.
“Let’s take a pic of you holding the bag and send it off,” my mom said as we sat in the ceremony room at Noah’s Event Venue located off of Yorkmont Road. I looked at the swag bag that read: To have and to hold all your wedding inspiration.” *insert actual LOL moment* My mom…
‘The Pride’ Presents Two Takes on Gay Pride, 50 Years Apart
Whether it’s Moises Kaufman’s Gross Indecency, chronicling the downfall of Oscar Wilde, or Martin Sherman’s Bent, depicting gays imprisoned by Nazi Germany at the Dachau death camp, compelling dramas written during the past 25 years have repeatedly reminded us how far gay rights have progressed. Yet progress can be precarious. Within the last year, we’ve…
The Blotter: Fuck Your Flag
Burn Them All A 61-year-old man filed a police report last week after someone damaged his property through an act of arson. The man called police after someone set fire to a Confederate flag outside of his southwest Charlotte home. A lot of these so-called victims end up being attention seekers who damage their own…
Weekly Horoscope (May 4-10)
For All Signs This week the cosmic agenda has calmed, so I have decided to write about the significant activity in this overall month. It will help you plan better than the shorter range week-to-week forecasts. In the next column I will return to the usual format for each sign. A big piece of cosmic…
Local Artists Make Charlotte More Inclusive
In the wee small hours of the morning on Sunday, April 30, I stood on the back patio of Petra’s in Plaza Midwood, surrounded by a throbbing crowd of people half my age. They were dancing furiously to a skittering mix of hip-hop, world music and reggae. Specifically roots reggae. Even more specifically, Bob Marley.…
Charlotte Artist Maf Maddix Continues His Quest for Knowledge
“Suppose a being came from another world, and he played an instrument that we’ve never heard,” Chris McWayne says. “Would we know that it was music?” For McWayne, also known as rapper Maf Maddix and galactic soundscape designer Brother Aten, this otherworldly query is much more than a thought experiment. It’s a jumping-off point for…
Local Organizers Join Nationwide Effort to Post Bail for Black Mothers on Mother’s Day
For countless black mothers in Mecklenburg County, Mother’s Day will be spent away from their families. These mothers are locked up for crimes they may or may not have committed, unable to buy their freedom, stuck until their court date arrives. What these women don’t know is that activists they’ve never met are working from…
Woodlands Offers Indian Vegan and Vegetarian in East Charlotte Strip Mall
It may seem as though you’re driving all the way to Mumbai, but if you’re South Indian and want a little tiffin to make you feel more at home in the Queen City, then Woodlands is worth the trip from Uptown to a tiny strip mall in East Charlotte. Or, if you’re vegetarian or vegan…
David Childers Is Just Another Middle-Age White Guy Making Sublime Art
There are certain singer-songwriters, brilliant ones, who live and work in towns across the United States. White guys, in their 50s and 60s, who’ve benefitted in countless ways from the advantages of their demographic classification, yet remain unsung heroes of music in the Woody Guthrie continuum. These are guys who never achieved the recognition of…
