Karma Cleanser
Dear Karma Cleanser: A few years ago, I realized that a girl I considered one of my best friends since I was 14 was really the shittiest friend in the history of friendship. I began ritualistically stealing things that I liked from her as retribution for her poor friend skills. Before I disassociated from her,…
Bound and Determined
It was 9:30pm on a Saturday night, and I was attempting the impossible task of trying to drive without my glasses. I squinted at the road signs while clutching the directions to where I was supposed to be in one hand and gripping the steering wheel with the other. The rain was blinding me, causing…
From Bauhaus To Bakelite
It’s a quirk of history that modernism flourished in America because of Adolf Hitler. When the Bauhaus was forced to leave Nazi Germany, many of the school’s designers fled to America, where new schools using Bauhaus principles were developed. This began in the 1930s. The current exhibition on view at the Mint Museum of Craft…
EPA Checking Into Sewage Spills
Local and state officials may not yet be willing to acknowledge that accountability for raw sewage spills is a problem in Mecklenburg County, but the EPA and two state legislators are looking for some answers. Creative Loafing published an April 10 article that documented how large raw sewage spills by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities (CMU) had run…
Charity Case
With a lineup of Neil Simon, Bob Fosse, Cy Coleman, and Dorothy Fields behind the scenes, and with Gwen Verdon onstage front-and-center in the title role, no musical could possibly seem more bankable than Sweet Charity in 1966. Fresh off his first huge success with The Odd Couple less than a year earlier, Neil Simon…
Where Has the Muckraker Gone?
Gregory Palast may be “the best investigative journalist you’ve never heard of,” as his book jacket trumpets. He’s also someone who’s getting good at tooting his own horn. Either way, Palast is an American citizen who writes about corporate America — from Britain. He says that he left the States because he couldn’t get the…
Resurrection In Seven Syllables
In this, his third book of poetry, South Carolina writer Ron Rash simultaneously celebrates, borrows from, and repays the past. By focusing on what has been lost — the valley community of Jocassee and the poet’s cousin — this collection accomplishes what its title implies. Raising the Dead consists of 55 poems, divided equally among…
Top 12 New Orleans Top 10’s
b>”We will be the pride of the NBA next year. We will be playing to big crowds. New Orleans will be in the Top 10 of everything.” The above was said last week by Hornets co-owner Ray “Trailerboy” Wooldridge, after the NBA’s Relocation Committee gave a preliminary OK to the team’s move to the Crescent…
Arts Agenda
Classical Music Chamber Music Concert the noted Ensemble Vermillian will perform a recital of Baroque chamber music at the Lingle Chapel of Davidson College Presbyterian Church. The trio will perform works by Bach, Corelli, Leclair and others. Thu., May 9, 7:30 p.m. The concert is free of charge. Davidson College, Davidson. 704-895-9931.Charlotte Flute Choir The…
It’s The Street, Stupid!
That was good work in your studio. Conservative, but well-crafted and thorough.” These words gave me pause: it’s not often I’m labeled as conservative. This judgment was passed by one of my colleagues at the College of Architecture after the end-of-semester review of the student design work in my third-year undergraduate studio. I welcomed the…
Club Med
Only a few restaurants in town offer a secluded, down-the-piazza type entrance. Always a bonus in Europe, seclusion in Charlotte is something a restaurateur must overcome. “Where is your restaurant again? I didn’t see the sign from the road.” Owner Rick Gur wanted to open a restaurant in Charlotte with that old world feel when…
Letters to the editor
Rep Disses Locals To The Editors: Perry Tannenbaum’s review of Charlotte Rep’s production of Proof (CL, May 1) strongly suggests that Steve Umberger’s departure from the organization was involuntary. This has been rumored within the theater community for quite awhile, so that came as no surprise. What did surprise me was an examination of the…
Pool Talk
As a bead of sweat runs down my cleavage, I reach for the best thirst-quenching tool at the pool: a cool, dewy plastic glass of white or ros? wine. There’s nothing like it to satisfy quivering, lusty lips longing for the refreshing taste of crisp, clean wine. As I guzzle the wine, an errant stream…
Helms Steps In It With Confederate Resolution
As of this writing, no one knows why County Commissioner Parks Helms, a moderate Democrat, wanted to declare May Confederate History Month and May 10 a Confederate Memorial Day to honor dead soldiers who fought for the South. And no one is quite sure why he yanked two items that would have done just that…
Donuts: It’s The Law
Donuts: It’s The LawBy Gene Lazo I had to mail a package the other day so I went to the post office substation in Overstreet Mall. While waiting in line, I read some of the signs of welcome they had plastered all over the place: “No credit OR debit cards accepted,” “Wait HERE until called,”…
What’s been happening in Afghanistan lately?
Afghanistan? What’s that? Oh yeah, that place. We seem to have forgotten about Afghanistan, haven’t we? The media doesn’t cover it as much. The president is busy elsewhere, trying to get Palestinians and Israelis to stop killing each other long enough for us to kill Saddam Hussein. Me, I’ve been catching up on my reading…
Good Eats
ALL AROUND TOWN ANNTONY’S CARIBBEAN 2001 E. 7th, 704-342-0749; 145 Brevard Court, 704-339-0303; 20910 Torrence Chapel Road, Cornelius, 704-894-0280. A fun, change-of-pace restaurant for a casual lunch or dinner. Limited menu features rotisserie-cooked barbecued meats, what else, Caribbean style. $ BRUEGGER’S BAGEL BAKERY All over town. Chewy bagels, crisp on the outside, and served with…
Raino de Mayo
Saturday saw the Fiesta Del Pinguino Cinco De Mayo celebration at the venerable Penguin Drive-In, as well as the usual accompanying rain showers; seems like every event the Penguin holds is marred by some sort of bad weather. After a two-hour rain delay, I got there at 6pm, nattily attired in corduroy pants, a sweater,…
That’s Our Busch
Charlotte’s Tara Busch has come a long way since leaving the popular torch-rock act Sheva a few years back. Or rather, she’s gone a long way. Busch, Creative Loafing’s female vocalist of the year in both 1998 and 1999, now lives just down the road from John Bonham’s old house in Cardiff, Wales, and sings…
Paying By The Page
Why are book prices so high? Not just new hardcovers, which are mostly hovering — for another five minutes or so — just below $30. But have you noticed that even paperbacks, the thing that revolutionized the book business once-upon-a-time by virtue of being affordable, are now just as overpriced as everything else? And prices…
Play Dirty
New Orleans: a city of life, a leading city for death, the birthplace of jazz, a bastion of voodoo and a celebrator of the Savior. The Crescent City spins on a loose wheel of possibilities. Fortunately for the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, the wheel has maintained its integrity. But that doesn’t mean they’re not ripe…
Death To Wal-Mart
As I wrote a few weeks ago, a checkout clerk body-slammed my azalea in the checkout line at Wal-Mart. Now I think I’m beginning to understand why. Something awful is going on deep inside this company, something far worse than the abysmal state of the customer service you’ll find in its checkout lines, the abandoned…
Music Menu
FRIDAY 5.10 Bellglide / Evoka Project — A seasoned crew of musicians, borrowed from the defunct Laburnum, form the slo-mo, Brit pop influenced sounds of Bellglide. Female vocals add understated layers and a moody vibe to the cascading guitar work. The resonance is inviting and the live shows help the sound bloom as eclectic interplay…
News of the Weird
Mess Appeal “Splosher” parties are growing in popularity in San Francisco, attended by quasi-sexual fetishists who joyously wallow on floors and furniture, semi-nude, in gobs of mud, cream, and a wide variety of foods such as soups, salads, syrups, ketchup, cakes and pies. According to a March report in SF Weekly, playfulness and lack of…
Soundboard
Wednesday, May 8 Arnie’s Tavern, Huntersville Scott Johnson Bayou Kitchen Bill Noonan Big Al’s Pub, Mooresville Jeffrey Lynn Reid Cajun Queen 7th Street Gator Band Cajun Queen, Pineville 7th Street Gator Band II Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro Pedro The Lion Charlie Brown’s, Charlotte Cherry Bomb Acoustic Dilworth Coffeehouse Open Mic w/ Bert Wray Double Door Inn…
Mystery Traffic Jams
You’re heading down I-77 or I-85 when suddenly you find yourself in bumper-to-bumper traffic. For the next 20 minutes you creep along at a maddening stop-and-go pace, craning your neck to get a look at the accident or construction that must surely be causing the congestion. Then, as suddenly as it started, the traffic jam…
8 Days A Week
WEDNESDAY 8 The Charlotte Knights, boasting the muscles of homerun king Jose Canseco, take on the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons tonight through Friday at 7:15pm. Tickets are $6-9, available by calling 704-36-HOMER. THURSDAY 9 The American Institute of Architects Convention will take place in Charlotte today through Saturday at the Charlotte Convention Center. As part of…
World Wide Web
Cut through the webbing of hype surrounding the release of Spider-Man and you really will find a movie buried somewhere in there. That almost comes as a surprise, given that the level of marketing accompanying Hollywood’s latest blockbuster wanna-be has been (as usual) so cacophonous, it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture. There…
The Blotter
* The Pits: After deciding to put her pit-bull puppy up for sale, a Charlotte woman expected to get a couple of callers expressing interest. She got that and more when one pit-bull fanatic called the woman and threatened to blow her house up if she didn’t sell him the puppy. Blowing off the call…
Ask The Advice Goddess
Light Greener Pastures My boyfriend and I were friends for a year before we got involved. Now we’re very much in love. Lately, he’s been hinting about marriage and ring-shopping. I just have one small worry: Every day, when we tell each other about what happened at work, he mentions this very attractive female coworker…
Make Mine Marvel
Cut through the webbing of hype surrounding the release of Spider-Man and you really will find a movie buried somewhere in there. That almost comes as a surprise, given that the level of marketing accompanying Hollywood’s latest blockbuster wanna-be has been (as usual) so cacophonous, it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture. There…
The Power Of The Word
The Power Of The Word I will be the first to admit that I have a dirty mouth. At home, curse words escape my lips with more frequency than I’d like to admit. My filthy mouth was probably inevitable considering that I was raised by two parents with zero tolerance for cursing. My mom, for…
Stargazer
For All Signs The theme of this period could be entitled, “dealing with challenges in our relationships.” Even solid relationships must undergo examination and practical adjustments sometimes. There is so much stress coming from every direction right now, that we may be less accommodating to those we truly love. Relationships without a solid core of…
Film Clips
NEW RELEASES CHARLOTTE FILM SOCIETY Movies begin this Friday at the Manor and continue the following Friday at Movies at Birkdale. Call 414-2355 for details. * TOGETHER (TILLSAMMANS) Last year, the CFS graciously unearthed a little-known gem from 1998 called Show Me Love. That film’s writer-director, Lukas Moodysson, gained slightly more exposure (in bigger cities,…
