Nov 15-21, 2017
Hannah Barnhardt, “The Melt”
Cover Stories
Sketches of Charlotte
Look closely on any given night at any given Charlotte hotspot, and you’ll likley see an unassuming woman off in a corner, her sketchbooks and drawing instruments in hand. It’s artist Hannah Barnhardt, also known as “The Real Charlotte Observer.” Barnhardt draws us as we rap, sing, play guitar or spin records; as we talk…
Hannah Barnhardt Discusses ‘The Melt’ and More
Born in Statesville, Hannah Barnhardt grew up in an evangelical Christian family with four sisters who all worked at their parents’ 24-hour towing business and attended a tiny private Christian school. “The learning environment was similar to a religious homeschool, in that it was a very small group and we spent more time studying the…
Hannah Barnhardt is Charlotte’s Real Observer
By August of this year, even though I had been back in Charlotte for about nine months and reconnected with a lot of old friends, I still had not been able to get out and visit all of the new people and places that had sprung up since I’d left the city for three years…
Justice League: Membership Dive
JUSTICE LEAGUE ** (out of four) DIRECTED BY Zack Snyder STARS Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill (For a look at The 10 Best (And 10 Worst) Superhero Movies NOT From Marvel Or DC, go here.) Look! Up on the screen! It’s a mirage! It’s an apparition! It’s Wonder Woman! Certainly, after the three-and-out represented by Man…
Lady Bird flies high
LADY BIRD ***1/2 (out of four) DIRECTED BY Greta Gerwig STARS Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf Coming-of-age movies can often feel as ubiquitous as superhero films, yet Lady Bird turns out to be one of those special efforts that manages to leapfrog over the competition with a single bound. Although known primarily as an actress, Greta…
CMPD Launches Exchange Zones for Online Sales
CMPD officially implemented 14 “exchange zones” at local QuikTrip gas stations today, hoping to provide safe spots for people meeting up to carry out online transactions made on websites and apps like Letgo. Zachary Finch, 21, was murdered this summer in broad daylight while trying to sell a cellphone using the Letgo app, which connects…
News of the Weird: Drunken Aliens
Alien Invasion Bryant Johnson of Casper, Wyoming, was on a mission on Oct. 2 when police responded to a call about a man warning citizens of an alien invasion coming next year. KTWO Radio in Casper reported that Johnson told police he had traveled back in time from 2048, explaining that the aliens filled his…
Atomic Blonde, Nightkill, Wind River 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.) ATOMIC BLONDE (2017). An action romp further defined by its cool-as-ice characters and its awesome mix tape of classic tunes readily available for iTunes download, Atomic Blonde stars Charlize Theron as Lorraine…
Listen Up: Pickin’ and Chattin’ with Sinners and Saints on ‘Local Vibes’
For the first time since LeAnna Eden in episode 4, we enjoyed some live music in the Hygge West podcast studio with Charlotte-based Americana duo Sinners & Saints. Mark Baran and Perry Fowler talked to us about life on the road, showing up for the Charlotte scene and who in the band is the diva…
The Blotter: Black Market
Let’s Get Stoned There are plenty of dark corners in the black market, but possibly none so seedy as the stolen rock market. One local freight and shipping company fell victim to the vile schemes of the underground rock scene (see what I did there?) when an employee went rogue on them and stole hundreds…
Area Music Shops Do More Than Just Sell Instruments
Glen Alexander remembers the night Kyle Petty came out to play. It was three years ago, and Alexander, an award-winning fiddler, music teacher, and leader of the swing combo Little Big String Band, was hosting a gallery crawl at the Violin Shoppe, the cozy music store he co-owns and operates in Elizabeth. “I was teaching…
NEW VIDEO: Ron Lui, “Just Like I Said”
Charlotte rapper Ron Lui released a video today for his new single, “Just Like I Said.” In the video, he and Brio, who produced the song, ride around the city on bikes, sometimes not so successfully. There’s also time for some blunt smoking — which would fit well with Brio’s trippy, Tetris-like beat — and…
Umbrellamindz Music Collective Has Big Plans at Camp North End
The room is dimly lit. A laptop sits on a table, hooked into a smorgasbord of DIY audio wiring and speakers. A downtempo hip-hop loop mingles with the scent of burning sage. Simon Yemane listens intently as Ricky Rogers, resident DJ and up-and-coming producer with Yemane’s music-and-arts collective Umbrellamindz, demos a new beat for some…
Jonathan Cooper Launches Feast Your Eyes Culinary Art Series
Artist Georgie “Sevin” Nakima knows that inspiration can take a winding path. After all, she studied chemistry and biology at Winston-Salem State University before becoming a muralist whose collages spiral with geometric and natural patterns that are easy to get lost in. Her work in turn has sparked others to create music, stories, and now…
Better Block Event Will Paint a Picture of What’s to Come in 5 Points
The intersection of West Trade Street, State Street, West Fifth Street, Rozelles Ferry Road and Beatties Ford Road — known as 5 Points — is already a bustling center of the Biddleville neighborhood in west Charlotte. Students from Johnson C. Smith University go in and out of the campus gate on their way to Mosaic…
A Secret Show Turns Into a Nice Night Up North
Have you ever paid for a ticket to show without knowing who the performer(s) were going to be? I’m not referring to the last-minute tickets you purchased because your friends were going to see someone whose music you had never listened to — such as my recent situation with Bon Iver, if you recall from…
