Nov 20-26, 2013

Nov 20-26, 2013 / Vol. 27 / No. 39

Cover Stories

Extra helpings: What inspired you to pursue your artistic craft?

Forget turkey, dressing and grandma’s pecan pie. This is not a piece on the gluttony of Thanksgiving, nor is it a reminder of what you, personally, have to be grateful for. Instead, we asked various creative folks around Charlotte: What inspired you to pursue your artistic craft? Their answers were funny, personal and poignant. We…

Anita Overcash

Brit wit John Oliver offers satiric spin on U.S. politics

Now that North Carolinians have the legal right to pack heat in bars — the one venue where rational discourse always prevails, right? — it’s a good time to revisit the role satire plays in American life. Few issues stir the hornet’s nest at satirical TV news shows such as The Daily Show with Jon…

John Schacht

Bizarre crimes from Charlotte police files (Nov. 21)

Romantic Walk: A 21-year-old man was brought to the hospital after a walk with his girlfriend turned ugly. The man and woman told police they were walking down South Boulevard when they passed a bus stop. A man waiting on the bench suddenly yelled, “Why you walking up on me?” and stabbed the male victim.…

Ryan Pitkin

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Trailblazer

THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE ***1/2 DIRECTED BY Francis Lawrence STARS Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson Is it November 2014 yet? Because that’s when the third movie in the franchise based on Suzanne Collins’ best-selling novels is due for release — an impossibly long wait for those of us ready to keep watching as The Hunger…

Matt Brunson

Dallas Buyers Club: Worth the admission fee

DALLAS BUYERS CLUB ***1/2 DIRECTED BY Jean-Marc Vallée STARS Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner “I ain’t no faggot!” bellows Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey) to the doctor (Denis O’Hare) who has just informed him that he tested positive for the HIV virus that leads to AIDS. Ron’s statement has already been corroborated by the opening sequence, which…

Matt Brunson

Delivery Man: A flaccid endeavor

DELIVERY MAN *1/2 DIRECTED BY Ken Scott STARS Vince Vaughn, Chris Pratt Flaccid as a comedy and even more limp as a heart-warmer, Delivery Man stars Vince Vaughn as David, an irresponsible guy who’s a disappointment to both his father (Andrzej Blumenfeld) and his pregnant girlfriend (Cobie Smulders). Working as the delivery truck driver for…

Matt Brunson

Kill Your Darlings: Not offBeat enough

KILL YOUR DARLINGS **1/2 DIRECTED BY John Krokidas STARS Daniel Radcliffe, Dane DeHaan The Beat goes on with Kill Your Darlings, which finds former Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe gripping a different sort of wand as he essays the role of American poet Allen Ginsberg. The latest in the recent string of films (following Howl,…

Matt Brunson

Unstandardized testing

“I’m just trying to figure out what tests my insurance covers,” I plead quietly. I’m sitting in the waiting room at the OB/GYN, and I’m on the phone with my health insurance company. I’ve already been transferred multiple times, and my patience is wearing thin. “What kind of tests?” the woman on the other end…

Abby White

3 questions with Fourth Ward Bread Co.’s Ken Schneider

At Fourth Ward Bread Company, you can expect to find all the breakfast staples: fresh coffee; bagels; sausage, egg and cheese croissants; bread pudding; and French toast. You’d also find on its growing menu barbecue sandwiches and meatball subs. Thanks to the Schneider family and their staff’s efforts, the newest addition to North Graham Street…

Laura Rathbone

CD review: People Person’s Dumb Supper

It’s hard to complain when a debut so thoroughly grasps its essential strengths. Dumb Supper, the first proper platter from Columbia’s People Person, sends punchy melodies slicing through grungy distortion. The tones draw from obvious slacker touchstones — Sebadoh, Pavement — but they’re pricked by girl-group sweetness; think Superchunk if their spark came from ’60s…

Jordan Lawrence

CD review: Bo White’s Adornment

In a recent feature, a Bo White music colleague paid him respect by suggesting he could make a record in any style and own it: “He doesn’t callously borrow from source material, but internalizes it, reflects it, and makes it into something new and personal.” As if to prove the point, White’s new 7-track mini-LP,…

John Schacht

Achieving intimacy

It’s everything you could want in a show. Julius Bissier: Selected Works 1956 to 1963 is an exhibit of 11 works from late in the German artist’s career. The Bechtler is paying deserved homage to Bissier by showing these works, all of which capture his investigation into abstraction. Achieving intimacy in ways other shows in…

Grace Cote

Book review: The King of Sports: Football’s Impact on America

The King of Sports: Football’s Impact on America by Gregg Easterbrook (Thomas Dunne Books, 354 pages, $25.99). Football worship long ago spiraled out of control, fueled by taxpayer subsidies on stadiums and renovations, taxpayer-backed broadcast licenses used to make billions more for leagues and networks, and so forth. Gregg Easterbrook, a contributing editor at The…

Erik Spanberg

Weekly horoscope (Nov. 21-27)

For All Signs: Mercury, ancient messenger god, is unusually busy this week. This suggests that most of us will be preoccupied with communication of one form or another. There may be many phone calls, messages, letters, conversations, decisions and/or papers to write. The period is favorable for probing into causes and finding the bottom line…

Vivian Carol

Sweet dreams at Baku

Baku eats dreams. Mainly bad ones, sometimes good ones. In Japanese folklore, children can summon Baku, a tapir-like chimera (a fictional animal comprised of parts from different animals), to devour their nightmares. But if the Baku stays too long, he may also devour life ambitions and hopeful wishes as well. Baku appears in Pokemon, anime,…

Tricia Childress

Paint Fumes return to the road

The last time I spoke with Elijah Von Cramon, he was stuck at home, having just hoisted himself out of bed and into his wheelchair. His first words were exhausted and agitated, though his demeanor soon softened. It was May, and the Paint Fumes singer was still recovering. In February, he was struck by a…

Jordan Lawrence

On Facebook, we are all just faking it

I was at a party the other night when a Facebook friend asked me about my children. “Oh, they’re with their baby sitter,” I answered. “My kids don’t do well in big crowds.” Facebook friend looked surprised. “Really?” she said. “That’s not what it seems like from the pictures you post.” Apparently, my Facebook photos…

Ailen Arreaza

Obamacare reality check

The botched start-up of the Affordable Care Act is an embarrassingly stupid mistake, and it’s President Obama’s fault for not doing a better job of overseeing the launch of his signature legislative achievement. With that said, the aftermath of the roll-out snafu has been even more ridiculous than the screwy website itself — ridiculous enough…

John Grooms

JFK, my father and high school football

Editor’s note: On Nov. 22, 1963, at approximately 12:30 p.m., Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed President John Fitzgerald Kennedy while he and first lady Jacqueline toured Dallas, Texas. That day, longtime CL columnist John Grooms, a freshman at the time, joined the rest of his hometown of Gaffney, S.C., to cheer on the local…

John Grooms

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