Confessions of a Trucker
Trying to fit in as the newbie in an established band is a weird, awkward, disorienting task — just ask Ron Wood what it was like to join the Rolling Stones or Steve Gaines what being the new kid in Lynyrd Skynyrd felt like (actually, you can’t ask him because he died in that 77…
Beavers invade IMAX Dome Theatre
Beavers is the title and subject of the newest IMAX Dome experience opening Nov. 18 at Discovery Place. It will continue through the spring. The film tells the story of two young beavers that leave the shelter and companionship of their overcrowded colony to find and build a new home. They travel over land and…
CL Recommends
Recent Books 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann (Knopf hardback). Here is that rarest of books: a scholarly look at deep history that reads like a page-turner. Mann, whose accessible, witty style is part of the reason 1491 has become a surprise bestseller, collects the latest research into American…
Sex and death
Hot Linx
Stoned, en Español
An Immigrant’s View
What floats Gigi’s boat
No rank outsider anymore, Gigi’s big love now is dem funky dayz dat are back again. You know what they say — one man’s trash is another man’s checkpoint. But we digress. Remember Gigi’s 2001 solo debut, Unpicked Flowers? Pretty good, right? But have y’all heard the Charlotte singer/songwrer’s self-titled second album, from last year?…
The Blotter
Fizzy Gold: During the night, 60 cases of soda were stolen from a display case outside a closed gas station. Had the robber chosen to purchase rather than pilfer his soda, the 720 cans totaling 67.5 gallons would have cost $568.80 Fizzy Gold 2: A man strolling home from work with a 20-oz cherry soda…
View From The Couch
CHRISTMAS WITH THE KRANKS (2004). Not since Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Jingle All the Way has there been a Yuletide film as fascistic — or as odious — as Christmas with the Kranks. Based on John Grisham’s book Skipping Christmas, this stars Jamie Lee Curtis (who generally deserves better) and Tim Allen (who never does) as a…
Karma Cleanser
Dear Karma Cleanser: I was sitting in a movie theater waiting for my movie to start. The person in the row in front of me leaned over and tapped the person in front of him and asked if they knew each other. They started talking like old friends, shooting some shit before the movie started.…
The Short List
Short List Breaking news STOCK CAR DRIVER KURT BUSCH CANNED FOR SUSPICION OF DRIVING DRUNK ON THE HIGHWAY Hey, he was just emulating NASCAR fans who do the same thing by the thousands after every big race. LAS VEGAS MAYOR SAYS GRAFFITI ARTISTS SHOULD HAVE THEIR THUMBS CUT OFF AND OTHER YOUNG TROUBLEMAKERS SHOULD BE…
Stargazer
Scorpio The Scorpion (Oct. 23 — Nov. 20) Partners and/or significant others may be having a particularly difficult time during this period. You, better than almost anyone, know how that is. You are a truly compassionate soul and will be of substantial support. It’s hard on the “other,” but good for your relationship. For All…
Lynn me a hand
Boomer With Attitude
Rebel Belles
Japan’s TsuShiMaMiRe, a band that works a disarming intersection of J-pop and funk-rock, exploits the feminine mystique to its own ends by toying with Western audiences’ Geisha expectations. The trio of fusioneers’ cutesy Josie & the Pussycats vibe and singer Mari’s girlish vocals are awash in punkette subversion. TsuShiMaMiRe made the Suicide Girls’ Charlotte date…
Just another bus ride?
Citizen Servatius
CP Reaches New Heights at Halton
Performing Arts
Letters to the Editor
Suck on This How can all the self-proclaimed “boomers” and wannabe boomers remember those songs (“Sucking in the Sixties,” by John Grooms, Nov. 2)? The other thing they are nostalgic about, other than Rock & Roll, is Sex and Drugs, and if they were participating, how can they remember anything? Me, I was just 22…
Organizing mix tape
Here’s a protest primer: “1913 Massacre,” Woody Guthrie “A Change Is Gonna Come,” Sam Cooke “Masters of War,” Bob Dylan “Ringing of Revolution,” Phil Ochs “Mississippi Goddam,” Nina Simone “Ballad of Sacco & Vanzetti,” Joan Baez “Man in Black,” Johnny Cash “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” Gil Scott-Heron “What’s Going On?” Marvin Gaye “Sunday…
The rupture
Moodswing
Ready for action?
Below are a handful of activist groups that are either focused on youth or are involved in youth-related projects: The National Conference for Community and Justice 740 West 5th St., Suite 210 Charlotte, NC 28202 704-334-0053 www.nccj.org Executive director: Nyala Hunt This local branch of the national organization has social justice-oriented youth projects. 21st Century…
Madness at the mills
See & Do 10Moodswing 1212Urban Explorer
Quiet Riot
Performing Arts 46Books 48Arts Agenda 5151
15 minutes with Wal-Mart
Donna Lisenby is smack in the middle of her 15 minutes of fame. ABC’s Nightline is on route to her South Charlotte office, local TV and print journalists are scrambling for interviews, and Lisenby’s voice is already hoarse from re-telling her struggle with Wal-Mart, featured in Robert Greenwald’s new documentary, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of…
Thanksgiving vino
Corkscrew
Mop top scholarship
The Beatles: The Biography By Bob Spitz (Adult Books, 856 pages, $29.95) Despite their iconic status and the billions of words written and spoken about them, the Beatles have received relatively little systematic, documented, biographical treatment. Hunter Davies’ 1967 book, The Beatles: the Authorized Biography, still remains the best insider’s rendering of their career to…
Orient express
Sometimes real estate spins malevolence upon all occupants. You’ve seen those locations that spell certain doom for any restaurant, even the ones that would be successful elsewhere. Other challenging spots are those where the former occupants had reputations for either grand or ghastly food. Lucky is the entrepreneur who follows a great restaurant; hapless are…
What really happened on Election Day?
It was like the game of Telephone. Exactly when rumor and innuendo became truth is hard to pinpoint, but sometime before midnight on election day, shocked politicians started talking about how voters in both suburban and urban areas had rejected the school bonds. The story went this way: Frustrated white suburban voters resoundingly rejected the…
Making concessions
Table Dancing
Bang for the buck
Film Clips 39View From The Couch 41Films In A Flash 4239
The Wine List
The Wine List Chianti/Sangiovese Wine Tasting Featuring five wines, appetizers, and live music. Wed., Nov. 16, 6 p.m. $20. Villa Antonio, 4707 South Blvd. 704-523-1594. Wine Classes Fall classes presented by the Carolina Wine Club. www.carolinawineclub.com. Nov. 29: Spanish Wine Bullfight — East Vs West, 6:15-8pm. $35. Westye Group Southeast Showroom, 127 West Worthington Ave.…
The selling of the revolution
Well you can bump and grind And it’s good for your mindWell you can twist and shoutLet it all hang out. . .But you won’t fool the children of the revolution.– T. Rex, “Children of the Revolution” (1972) Shana Thompson arrived on the campus of UNC Charlotte in 2004 with a lot of questions –…
Rhymes for Reason
Charlotte’s slam poetry scene is giving the city’s growing cultural landscape a much-needed dose of edginess. Slam is the competitive art of performance poetry, with an emphasis on the spoken word and its delivery. It’s an underground movement that has moved from the margins to the center of performance art. Led by coach and slammaster…
See & Do
Thursday, November 17 The Charlotte Symphony’s Neighborhood Concert 2 launches a four-night sweep that reaches from Davidson to Matthews. Tonight, the music is at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, 3301 Beatties Ford Road. On tap is the world premiere of Daniel Thomas Davis’s Yet They Abide, commissioned specially for the Symphony. Nothing humdrum about the rest…
