See & Do
NOVEMBER 19 – WEDNESDAY The dancehall legend has been doing his thing since the age of five and, at the age of eight, took first prize at the 1981 national Teeny Talent contest in Jamaica. Beenieman eventually hooked up with reggae legends Sly Dunbar (the Upsetters) & Robbie Shakespeare (the Aggrovators), both of whom were…
Soundboard
Wednesday, Nov. 19 Amos’ Southend Beenie Man w/ Tanto Metro & Devonte Baoding Robert Fernandez Blue Carl DiPonziano Cajun Queen 7th Street Gator Band Coley’s Tavern Acoustic Soulution Comet Grill Anamcara Double Door Inn Donna Duncan w Willy Evans Band The Evening Muse Drew Isleib & the Longshadows w/ Reeve Coobs, Moossa Fat City Desert…
Ask the Advice Goddess
Long Day’s Gurney Into Night After eight years of marriage, my wife and I have decided to split up. The deaths of several close relatives changed us both in radically different ways. She grew cautious and careful, and I started living as if there were no tomorrow. A close female friend warned me that I…
Little Big Man
When it comes to movies, there’s simply no truth to the adage about “too much of a good thing.” Take the case of The Station Agent, which merely has the distinction of being one of the year’s best films. The running time is a brief 88 minutes; to place it in sobering context, that’s 10…
Stargazer
For All Signs This week we will experience the second of two eclipses this month. It is a total eclipse of the sun in Sagittarius that is not visible to most of the inhabited world. The eclipse is precisely at 5:59pm EST on Nov. 23. This particular eclipse emphasizes ending outworn things and taking the…
Rabbit-Proof Sense
The term “specialized cinema” has always referred to art-house features — Merchant-Ivory period pieces, for example, or David Cronenberg freak shows — but the live-action/animation hybrid Looney Tunes: Back In Action qualifies for that designation as much as any other movie that comes to mind. With its pleasures aimed at three specific segments of the…
Back From The Edge
In the immortal words of LL Cool J, “Don’t call it a comeback.” Comedian Paula Poundstone has indeed been here for years — since 1979, in fact, when she first began performing at open mic nights in her hometown of Sudbury, Massachusetts. She rose to prominence as one of the smartest, quirkiest and most original…
View From The Couch
THE LAST KISS (2001) A major award winner both at Sundance and in its Italian homeland, The Last Kiss (L’ultimo Bacio) tackles the topic of relationships in such a straightforward, emotionally honest manner that by the end it’s impossible to know whether the film is, at its core, deeply pessimistic or quietly hopeful. It centers…
The Sporting Life
The week before George Plimpton’s death on September 26, the 76-year-old literary lion, in a telephone interview from his New York offices, eagerly recounted his many years as a contributor to Sports Illustrated. Most famous was his April 1, 1985, chronicle of a dazzling, baffling New York Mets pitcher named Sidd Finch. Guarded by canvas…
Film Clips
NEW RELEASES THE HUMAN STAIN Hollywood screwed up its 1972 adaptation of Portnoy’s Complaint so miserably that it’s no wonder most of Philip Roth’s other works haven’t been turned into motion pictures.The Human Stain is the first big-screen adaptation since Portnoy, and it’s been given the grade-A treatment, with Robert Benton (Kramer vs. Kramer) directing,…
Trashing The Temptations
In its current offering at Central Avenue Playhouse, Victory Pictures issues the strangest of invitations. Step aboard the Celebrity Airlines passenger plane, settle into your seat for a transoceanic flight leaving from Gold Coast bound for Savannah, and… fasten your shackles! There’s turbulence and hilarity galore in George C. Wolfe’s The Colored Museum. Like all…
It’ll Only Get Worse
If you think Charlotte’s air quality is bad now, just wait. Changes to the Clean Air Act by the Bush administration, if upheld, will result in an increase in the amount of sulfur dioxide, ozone, and other nasty, lung-grabbing chemicals in the air we breathe. Of course, it’s not just Charlotte’s air that will suffer.…
Flashpoint
Off the hallway leading to the children’s section of the Main Library in downtown Charlotte is Gallery L. The double glass doors are propped open. The sign outside the door warns:IMAGES MAY DISTURB SOME VIEWERS No kidding. This is a recap of those indelible images printed on our brains in the last half of the…
Better But Not Best
In April 2001, after lengthy debates and wrangling over compromises, the NC General Assembly passed the NC Clean Smokestacks Act (CSA). The act mandates a year-round 70 percent emission reduction from the state’s power plants and industries. In addition to putting an overall cap on emission standards and requiring that all plants be brought up…
Arts Agenda
Classical Music Charlotte Youth Symphony Orchestra The Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestras are educational components of the Charlotte Symphony and are for students from grades 8 – 12. Mon., Nov. 24, 7:30 p.m. Tickets $6 adults, $4 students/seniors. Dana Auditorium, Queens University. First Tuesday Concerts Music includes Arcangelo Corelli’s “Christmas Concerto,” “Winter” from Antonio Vivaldi’s “Four…
Nothin’ But Blue Skies
The Bush administration’s rules changes in the Clean Air Act — which were signed by the EPA’s administrator in August and were made final a few weeks ago — affect a law that originated over three decades ago. The federal government first passed the Clean Air Act in 1970, which set new, more stringent emissions…
Talking Turkey
“The older a tom turkey gets, the meaner he gets,” says Diana Holcomb of Painted Oak Farm in Chester, SC. She and her husband John raise turkeys for Circle S Ranch Inc. of Monroe, NC. “Before the turkeys get here, they’ve had their toenails and the top part of their beak lasered off. Otherwise they…
The Journalist and the G-men
Charlie, we hardly knew ye. In a long-forgotten chapter of his career, a young Charles Kuralt unexpectedly became CBS’s one-man news bureau in Latin America, a post he would hold for two years at the height of the Cold War. Newly released FBI documents show what a tough beat it was, and offer reminders that…
Turkey Day Wine
Although family warm-fuzzies are the best part of Thanksgiving Day, there’s no reason why wine shouldn’t grow into the family festivities. With many hours to while away, try serving a smorgasbord of wines to whet your appetite, then wash down your hunk of pumpkin pie with another sweetie. It’s so good, you might welcome another…
The Impossible Stream
The next time you are stuck watching 15 minutes of junk before your DVD even hits the menu screen, complain to the librarian. What, you didn’t know that the Library of Congress decides what you can see on your TV? What are you, some kind of video pirate scum? Well then, welcome aboard a very…
Good Eats
All Around Town Anntony’s Caribbean, 400 S. Tryon St., 704-339-0303; 2001 E. 7th St., 704-342-0749. All locations have different owners. A hint of the tropics; rotisserie chicken with Jamaican jerk sauce, ribs, Paradise Island fish special, curries, and Caribbean styled greens. $$ Azteca, 116 Woodlawn Rd., 704-525-5110; 9709 Independence Blvd., 704-814-9877; 1863 W. Franklin Blvd.…
Art From The Ashes
When I moved back to this area in 1992, I used to drive around the John Belk Freeway and always say the same thing: “What are they going to do with that burned-out church?” The shell of the building had been there since it burned in 1984. Fifteen years later, there was a rebirth and…
Brotherly Love
Some bands, after playing out for a while, begin to get something of a buzz going. “No kidding,” you’re probably saying. “I was just out at a show last night, and every one of them boys was putting back the brew!” No, we’re talking about the kind of buzz you can’t buy in six-pack cans.…
Letters
We Need More Than Light Rail I enjoy David Walters’ columns for their depth and passionate arguments, and I have very often agreed with him on various issues. I have to say, though, that the recent column on the transit system (“Truths About Transit,” Nov. 12) was disappointing. I essentially agree that Charlotte needs a…
Sit & Spin
Paul Burch Fool For Love Bloodshot He may not be the first name in Americana, but Paul Burch has established himself as one of the more solid reinterpreters of original roots music. The Nashville native’s latest is another tasty sampler of several old school styles — a little honky tonk, some R&B-inflected gospel, some boogie-woogie,…
New World, Old Assumptions
If you’re new to the area or prone to rational thought, our ongoing racial pissing contest over education probably doesn’t make a lot of sense to you. You’re probably wondering why it would make African-American leaders angry if the school board builds new schools in overcrowded white suburban areas when brand spanking new schools in…
Effigy, Newspaper, Whatever…
Burned in effigy. These were the words I heard not long after visiting The Room last Wednesday night to catch the Anticon Records showcase featuring Alias, Sole, Odd Nosdam, and Telephone Jim Jesus. It seems one local musician, unhappy with my work in the music section of this paper, torched a copy of The Loaf…
On-line Music Sites To Behold
Like it or not, the future of music is on the internet. The question of exactly what kind of future should resolve itself once the major labels finish stupiding themselves to death. In the meantime, The Music Box will periodically feature noteworthy sites likely to be household names soon. CDBaby.com: Don’t let the simplistic graphics…
The Blotter
ONE-TWO PUNCH: A woman received three phone calls from a friend. While the first two calls were somewhat civil, the third went something like this: I’m going to find you and beat you up! Understand? My little sister will beat you as well and we will kill you. SAFE CRACKER: No stethoscope was needed to…
George In A Box
President George III is visiting England this week where he will likely be greeted with open arms. The centerpiece of his reception is a planned demonstration by upwards of 100,000 on November 19, organized by the Stop the War Coalition. They intend to march through the British capital to Trafalgar Square where they hope to…
Chart Talk
Charlotte’s own The Talk are charting on the FMQB SubModern Specialty Chart. Their single, “Valentine’s Day,” is currently #14 (tied with Belle & Sebastian and Death Cab for Cutie) and their album, No, You Shut Up! (MoRisen Records) is on the album chart at #15 (tied with Foo Fighters). FMQB (FMQB.com) is a national radio…
News of the Weird
Long shot: In July, a judge relented and allowed Richard Quinton Gunn to act as his own attorney in his aggravated-murder appeal, following his conviction earlier in the year in Ogden, Utah, by a jury that deliberated just two hours. Gunn had confessed, saying he killed his tenant using a crowbar, a butcher knife, a…
Oh No, Here She Comes
Here’s the rule about the least favorite people in your life: you will run into them, more often than people you feel OK about, and a whole lot more than the ones you’d love to bump into because, Jesus, you only see them maybe every five years if you’re lucky. It’s just one of those…
Music Menu
WEDNESDAY 11.19 Beenie Man — Dancehall reggae requires a unique vocal delivery wrapped in a smorgasbord of beats and bass, as well as a mystique, usually bravado about having success with the ladies. Beenie Man is a top practitioner of that style and is currently sitting atop the upper rungs of the temperamental genre. Expect…
