Nov 22-28, 2011

Nov 22-28, 2011 / Vol. 25 / No. 39

Cover Story

Holiday Chic: 7 stylish gift ideas

Last year for the holidays, I bought gifts for my friends at the All Arts Market at Neighborhood Theatre. I wanted each person to have something handcrafted and individual. Why? Because each person I bother to spend money on — and let’s face it, would I really spend hard-earned money on someone who didn’t matter…

Kimberly Lawson

Hugo: A timely jewel

HUGO ***1/2 DIRECTED BY Martin Scorsese STARS Ben Kingsley, Asa Butterfield Movie mavens startled by the fact that Martin Scorsese has elected to direct a family film when he’s exalted for his string of hardcore crime flicks clearly know little about either the man or his achievements. Scorsese has hopscotched between genres far more often…

Matt Brunson

Pac Div’s hella good West Coast rap – Tonight @ The Fillmore Charlotte

It’s impossible to talk about the West Coast’s hip-hop revival without mentioning this Cali trio. From their early days as Pacific Division, they’ve rocked amazing beats and spit honest lyrics, painting an updated picture of the lifestyle lived, the first generation to come up in the heyday of Cali’s assault on the mainstream. After some…

Mike McCray

Wiggle Wagons’ twangy, rockabilly quaver – Tonight @ Snug Harbor

Ultimately, Wiggle Wagons is about the back-and-forth between vocalist Daniel Grigg’s rockabilly quaver and guitarist Bud Burke’s twang-heavy solos. The quartet rewinds a bit, dialing back from modern Nashville flash to a flannel-and-truckstops ’70s vibe. Yeah, it’s still radio-ready and catchy, but more in that decade’s outlaw mode. Rock and country have always been close…

Corbie Hill

Lay back bluegrass style with Toneblazers – Tonight @ Neighborhood Theatre

Consisting of veteran multi-instrumentalists, Toneblazers pluck warmly knitted roots and acoustic songs touching on bluegrass, swing, folk and blues. This is music that’s at home on a hot front-porch afternoon or a mellow late night in a watering hole. They are performing as part of the Little Kings Records showcase, also featuring EverGreen, Moonshine Racers,…

Samir Shukla

Big ups to the Bass Church massive – Tonight @ The Fillmore Charlotte

It’s quickly grown into one of Charlotte’s biggest electronic dance music events, so what better way to work off all that turkey and mashed potatoes than to dance your ass off? Mindelixir will headline this month’s event, which also features FastNasty, Bookworm, Kris Krause and Segadeath along with the visuals of Geometry Spectrum. $5-$15. The…

Jeff Hahne

Sunny Ledfurd’s NC country goodness – Tonight @ Amos’ Southend

Growing up in the shadow of Charlotte, also known as Cramerton, Ledfurd has flown under many radars since releasing his first album in 2003. Six albums later, he still makes his brand of country music doused with influences you’d expect like Glenn Campbell and The Rolling Stones, and ones you wouldn’t like Snoop Dogg and…

Mike McCray

The Muppets: See this celebrational show tonight

THE MUPPETS ***1/2 DIRECTED BY James Bobin STARS Jason Segel, Amy Adams Yes, it may be true that The Muppets is a film for the whole family, but here’s a cruel suggestion: Hire a babysitter and leave the kids at home. After all, what grownup weaned on a steady diet of Muppet episodes and movies…

Matt Brunson

Warning: Beware of Sharia turkeys!

Chuck Kennedy / Shutterstock I bet you thought the only things that could go wrong at Thanksgiving were eating yourself sick, or having to entertain that weird uncle who always shows up uninvited. Well you thought wrong! Now, you have to worry about Sharia turkeys. That’s the word from the people who are scared shitless…

John Grooms

Thanksgiving parade in the Q.C.

In its 64th year, The 2011 Belk Carolinas’ Carrousel Parade – happening on Thanksgiving Day at 10 a.m. – is a spirited festivity with finely decorated floats and a variety of participants and marching bands strutting their stuff through the streets of Uptown Charlotte. Dress warm to avoid windy chills. Parade begins at Tryon Street…

Anita Overcash

Modern Primitives’ garage rock for charity – Tonight @ Snug Harbor

Heralded in some corners as one of the city’s up-and-coming acts, Modern Primitives’ garage-rock is more White Stripes than Greenhornes, more Black Lips than Ty Segal, and probably more psych-blues rock than garage-rock in the first place. It favors raw over melodic, but still knows where the hooks are — you just have to wait…

John Schacht

Democratic National Convention 2012 Notebook: Charlotte, Tampa get security funds for conventions

www.joespooner.com Charlotte and Tampa: “So happy together…” Finally, something Congress could agree on. No, not abandoned “supercommittee” debt talks. It’s the funding that would allow Charlotte and Tampa, Fla., site of the Republican National Convention, to ramp up security preparations. Last week, both the House and the Senate approved the $50 million grant — that’s…

Mary C. Curtis

Carina Round pulls double duty on Puscifer tour

It sounds like something from The Godfather. “Once you’re in the Puscifer family, you’re in,” Carina Round says by phone from Los Angeles. “As soon as Maynard heard that I was releasing a single, he said, ‘Why don’t you open the shows? It makes sense.'” So it is that Round, who also sings with Puscifer,…

Jeff Hahne

Holiday Chic: Tuned into the holidays

When it comes to ringing in the holidays, you can go the traditional route, the nostalgia route or the modern route. In addition to the locally driven My Favorite Gifts (see review on the next page), here are some suggestions to spice up the mood of the Yule Log this year: Frank Sinatra/Bing Crosby For…

Jeff Hahne

Nightlife profile: Hamdy Kishk

Hamdy Kishk, a former lawyer in his native country of Egypt and a father of four, truly knows what it means to be a “people person.” When he decided to open a hookah bar called King Tut in the University area (9620 University City Blvd.) last June, he knew that he wanted to learn from…

Kadee Blakely

CD Review: Ramseur Records’ My Favorite Gifts

Avett Brothers bassist Bob Crawford and Dolph Ramseur of Ramseur Records have teamed up to put together a holiday album as a fundraiser for the Vickie S. Honeycutt Foundation. The 10-song disc starts with Overmountain Men’s “Rambling Door to Door,” led by the weathered and heart-warming vocals of David Childers. The David Wax Museum offers…

Jeff Hahne

The Descendants: Clooney’s Hawaiian punch

THE DESCENDANTS **** DIRECTED BY Alexander Payne STARS George Clooney, Shailene Woodley The must-see George Clooney vehicle of 2011 — The Ides of March sure wasn’t it — The Descendants might be set in Hawaii, but it’s hardly a film defined by its postcard prettiness. Right at the start, director and co-writer Alexander Payne (adapting…

Matt Brunson

CD Review: John Howie Jr. and the Rosewood Bluff’s Leavin’ Yesterday

Hands Up; Release date: June 16, 2011 John Howie Jr., former punk drummer turned honky-tonk frontman for Chapel Hill’s now defunct Two Dollar Pistols, has recently risen from the ashes to lead his new band, the Rosewood Bluff. Husky baritone and country twang still intact, Howie’s latest, Leavin’ Yesterday, shows how it should be done,…

Grant Britt

Arthur Christmas brings the cheer

ARTHUR CHRISTMAS *** DIRECTED BY Sarah Smith STARS James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie Folks who worship at the altar of Aardman Animations as much as they do at the temple of Pixar (raising my hand here) will quickly realize — say, 20 minutes into the movie — that Arthur Christmas won’t come close to matching the…

Matt Brunson

Checking out the newest Charlotte City Council members

The Charlotte City Council will look very different in December when four new members take their seats on the dais. On Nov. 8, Charlotte residents — at least 16 percent of them — elected two new at-large Council members, Democrats Beth Pickering and Claire Fallon, unseating Republican incumbent Edwin Peacock in the process. Voters also…

Cheris Hodges

Days of guns and roses: Time Stands Still

Dramas are those beastly creatures with protagonists and antagonists. Sides clearly drawn. So you don’t often see the leading man or woman on both sides of a clearly defined issue. Yet that’s exactly what happens in the meatiest scenes of Time Stands Still, now at Duke Energy Theatre in a fine Collaborative Arts Production through…

Perry Tannenbaum

Bizarre crimes from Charlotte police files (Nov. 23 edition)

Going Green: Two car owners in the same apartment complex reported last week that someone had damaged their vehicles in an odd way — by pouring ranch dressing into the gas tanks. We’re pretty sure this is not the healthy fuel alternative environmentalists are recommending. Fat-free ranch? That might have a future. sloe sprite: Police…

Ryan Pitkin

Weekly horoscope (Nov. 23-29)

Sagittarius The Archer (Nov. 22-Dec. 20) This is a month filled with changes in direction. You may no sooner decide on one thing than you switch to another. Be aware you are trying on answers, just as one tries on clothes. Under these cosmic circumstances, it is perfectly normal to argue with yourself. For All…

Vivian Carol

Capsule reviews of films playing the week of Nov. 23

ABDUCTION Sure, it’s easy to pick on the Twilight guy. Because who’s gonna rush to his defense other than smitten Team Jacob fans? Make no mistake about it: Abduction, in which Taylor Lautner is handed his first starring role in a motion picture, will never, ever, ever be mistaken for a good movie. But the…

Matt Brunson

Evil Dead II, West Side Story among new home entertainment titles

BEGINNERS (2011). Having missed this one during its low-key theatrical run, I’m happy to discover it on Blu-ray, where it will hopefully enjoy a healthy shelf life as a sleeper gem. In only his second feature-film assignment (following 2005’s Thumbsucker), writer-director Mike Mills has fashioned a disarming, deeply felt and somewhat autobiographical piece in which…

Matt Brunson

Holiday Chic: A stylish gift for film lovers

Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961). If you’re searching for a cinematic gift that comes with a sizable helping of style, look no further than this Audrey Hepburn hit, available on both DVD and Blu-ray. Hepburn stars in one of her most iconic roles as Holly Golightly, the sensual sophisticate described by one character as “a phony…

Matt Brunson

N.C.’s income inequality

You may think North Carolina’s 10.5 percent jobless rate is awful, and of course you’d be right. But that figure doesn’t tell the whole story. Heck, it’s not even the real jobless rate. As economists remind us, to understand the true scope of unemployment’s effects, you have to take into account the number of people…

John Grooms

The brave new world of Occupy Wall Street

We got word just after 1 a.m. Tuesday that New York City Police were raiding the Occupy Wall Street encampment. I raced down with the “Democracy Now!” news team to Zuccotti Park, renamed Liberty Square. Hundreds of riot police had already surrounded the area. As they ripped down the tents, city sanitation workers were throwing…

Amy Goodman

The soy next door: Hasaki Grill & Sushi

Hasaki Grill & Sushi 440 S. Church St., Suite 104. 980-819-9580. Hours: Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. www.hasakigrill.com. Entrepreneur Chang Ha shrewdly timed his opening of Hasaki Grill & Sushi in the burgeoning Arts/Energy “district” (which in truth is a three-block area) at the end of August, preceding a phalanx of neighboring…

Tricia Childress

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