The Blotter
MORNING MELEE: A young man was picking up his friend on the way to school when he crossed paths with his mother’s ex-boyfriend, who lives on the same street. Apparently there’s bad blood between the two men, because the ex-boyfriend stopped his car, retrieved some kind of tool from the trunk, and threatened to shoot…
Across the Pond With Calexico
Anyone with eyes and ears who’s seen Calexico on stage already knows few bands can match the mix of energy and mystery conjured up live by this international collective of musicians. Based in Tuscon, AZ, but including players from across the US, Mexico and Europe, Calexico’s musical hybrid includes country, psychedelic, punk, cabaret, and classical…
Word On The Street
Geoff Clary Auto Salesman “Being fundamentalist Christians, Jane and I want to celebrate in holy ways that offer us some protection from our decadent, pagan culture. So we’ve been saving up for a Hummer.” Cecelia Guidron Interior Designer “Godamighty, don’t remind me. I’m still paying off summer vacation, and now with Christmas bills, I better…
Gator Gumbo Seeks Source
The Immersion Technique — it’s a staple of linguistics, and since music’s just another language, there’s no better way to hone your chops than to study with a master or two on their home turf. That’s what the local Cajun quintet Carolina Gator Gumbo had in mind when, with help from an Arts & Science…
See & Do
NOVEMBER 25 – THURSDAY It’s Thanksgiving Day which means many things. One, the holiday season is officially upon us. Two, it’s time to pig out and collapse on the couch in front of the tube. And three, it’s time for the annual Carolinas’ Carrousel Thanksgiving Parade. The parade, which begins at 1pm, is almost always…
Music Menu
WEDNESDAY 11.24 Black Lagoon/Hungry Ghost/Solid Gold Wreckers — The ‘Goon have recently surfaced with a few new players (Dean Lovette, Rob Tavaglione) and a satchel of new songs to boot. The ‘Ghost are relatively new to the scene, but their Chomsky-meets-Black Flag take on dirty punk is already well known in the underground, and about…
Ask the Advice Goddess
Reality Czech I dated this guy for 10 months, and spent the entire time battling his “I’m not good with commitment” stance. Although I was tortured that he would never commit or tell me he loved me, I stayed because I felt so deeply for him. The month after we quit speaking, I discovered he’d…
Soundboard
Wednesday, Nov. 24 Amos’ Southend Kyle Cook w/ Bain Mattox Breakfast Club DJ Boney B Bricktop Lounge DJs Christian and Brigmunton Double Door Inn Ronnie Baker Brooks The Gin Mill Wizard’s Road Show Harry and Jean’s, Rock Hill Gary Marcus, Christian Tamburr, Ryan Weaver, David Binkley and Jeff Holland JB’Z Mollygrace Jillian’s, Southend Jif and…
Stargazer
For All Signs During this Thanksgiving weekend we may encounter multiple shifts in previously made plans. Mercury will be turning retrograde on the 30th and we are well within range of its effects. Delays and revisions of schedule are likely. The solution for most of the issues encountered will be time and maintaining a sense…
Extras! Extras! Read All About Them!
The advent of DVD hasn’t changed the way we watch movies at home as much as it’s changed what we expect when we watch movies at home. In the old days of yore, back when the videocassette was king, the most one could expect after popping the tape into the VCR was the feature attraction…
The Art of Giving
Finding gifts for kids is easy. They know what they want, you know what they need. Finding gifts for grown-ups is difficult. They don’t know what they want, and won’t ask for what they need. They want a car or new shoes and need a girlfriend, but you can’t afford the car, won’t shop for…
History In The Breaking
As someone who holds Troy in high esteem, I was in good spirits after watching the similar period epic Alexander: All those critics who undervalued that Brad Pitt vehicle will now have no choice but to upgrade their original estimations. Heck, compared to Alexander, even Caligula is starting to look good. Alexander isn’t just one…
Joseph-A-Go-Go
Looking at last week’s touring production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, you would hardly have imagined that this hammed-up hodgepodge had begun as a 15-minute cantata, commissioned by a London schoolmaster in 1968. By the time Andrew Lloyd Webber’s opus reached the West End back in 1973 — nine years before it was…
View From The Couch
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN (2004). Nobody could ever accuse director Chris Columbus of making art; most of the time, nobody could even accuse him of making good movies. But Columbus kept up his end when helping to bring the first two movies in the Harry Potter series to the screen. In helming…
Ham For The Holidays
While it’s true that I’m making a list and checking it twice, don’t get the idea that I’m gung ho-ho-ho about Christmas. Nurtured in the cozier confines of Chanukah, I have nonetheless absorbed a distillate of the Yuletide spirit as ordained by American commerce. Yes, as a performing arts junkie — and a wide-eyed materialist…
Film Clips
NEW RELEASES BEING JULIA It’s not entirely accurate to state that Annette Bening is the show, the whole show, and nothing but the show in Being Julia, but let’s just say that without her presence, the curtain would fall a lot faster on this adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham’s novel Theatre. Bening is awfully fun…
Gift Books for the Literate
Bookstores are overflowing with “gift books” this time of year, most of them filled with beautiful and expensive fluff: the joy of Labrador retrievers, scenes of Provence, luxurious home interiors, the magic of tattoos, whatever. But, as we’ve noted here before, publishers also produce gift books “for people who actually read.” Here are some recommendations…
The Totally Non-Denominational Winter Holiday Spectacular
You think your family’s tough to shop for? Let me tell you about the Mixon-Matches. Die-hard Republican Rick Mixon and his progressive ex-attorney wife, Mary Match, preside over a dauntingly eclectic brood that includes Rick’s aging-hippie mother, Sylvia; teenage son Chris, an iPod-addicted technophile; daughter Lily, whose crunchy quotient is off the charts now that…
I am a Christian, too
I live in the Atlanta area where a lot of folks are riled up about evolution and creationism. There’s a bit of schoolin’ that God-fearing folks in Cobb County, GA, and the rest of the nation should pay heed to as they cheer the creationist team in a federal lawsuit heard last week. The legal…
Arts Agenda
Classical Music A John Williams Spectacular Celebrating the most popular film composer of modern time, the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra will play scores from Star Wars, E.T., Jurassic Park, and many more. Nov. 26, 8 p.m.; Nov. 27, 8 p.m. $15-$64. Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, 130 N. Tryon St. 704-372-1000. A Morning at the Movies: The…
Here We Come A-Thrifting
Is it better to give, or to receive? Ask some people their opinion of thrift stores, and they’ll tell you they took a bag to one just the other day. “How nice it is to help out those less fortunate,” they’ll say, “clean a closet, and get a nice little tax write-off besides!” Ask others,…
Time To Build A News Department
First, a morning anchor goes on the lam after a messy domestic dispute and is let go, and now, the station “franchise” is fired after a second visit to rehab. It’s time for WCCB-TV to ramp up their news and relinquish the grasp on “goofy, — which is not the same as “hip,” something important…
Seasonings’ Greetings
Why not add some spice to your holiday list? Nothing pleases a gourmet more than avoiding the McSpice found in the grocery stores and instead using an exotic spice or herb. One of my favorite places in Seattle is World Spice by Pike Place Market. Spices are sold by weight and packed in bags (glass…
We mix you a merry Christmas
John Waters is not only a fantastically twisted filmmaker, giving us gross-out gems like Pink Flamingos as well as the gleefully quirky charmer Hairspray. He’s the thin-mustached dude behind our favorite new holiday album, A John Waters Christmas. This oddball collection skips the predictable stuff and instead offers some rare archival recordings that are guaranteed…
Under the Radar
Next fall, when the school buses roll, they may be hauling up to 7,400 additional kids from urban elementary and middle schools with empty seats to suburban ones that are already crammed to the gills. If the school system manages to ram through a measure up for a vote Tuesday night, one that as of…
Shop (And Eat) Till You Drop
Shopping: Either you love it or hate it. In fact, these extreme responses are probably hardwired in our hunting or gathering DNA, and our preference is probably annually exacerbated by the approaching holiday deadline. The best way to survive your excursion — or ordeal — is to choose some fun spots to refuel along the…
Joysticks to the World
Video games went primetime Nov. 9 with the release of Halo 2 for the X-Box. The game, a sequel to the best-selling X-Box title of all time, arrived with the marketing blitz of a major Hollywood film and a staggering 1.5 million pre-orders. With demand high, 7,000 electronics stores around the nation opened for a…
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
People sometimes ask me why I give developers such a hard time. The answer is: they usually deserve it. Much of what they build is poorly planned and badly designed. Although there are several thoughtful, conscientious and careful developers in our region who build good projects that will stand the test of time, they’re outnumbered…
Gobbling It Up
Each year, you swear you won’t overdo it. You won’t eat 14 helpings of everything on the Thanksgiving table, from the marshmallow/sweet potato casserole to the oyster stuffing to the apple pie. But you do it anyway, don’t you? You’ve probably exacerbated the problem by accompanying your meal with a cocktail or a glass of…
Holiday Events
Be a Santa to a Senior This is a program dedicated to the joy of holiday giving specifically for elderly citizens by fullfilling their wish list of an item desired for the holidays. There will also be a citywide gift-wrapping day for all the gifts collected. Nov. 18-Dec. 17. 704-344-0801. Birkdale Village Treelighting Gather in…
News of the Weird
Lead story: New Scientist magazine reported in October that psychologists seem to be reclassifying people who are permanently uninterested in sex, from the old notion that such behavior was a disorder to the emerging position that it is merely a sexual preference of “none of the above.” (Asexuals profess no sexual attraction at all, encompassing…
Keeping The Customer Satisfied
Gene Briggs is the Executive Chef at the restaurant Blue and has been ever since the restaurant opened over a year ago. Originally from upstate New York, Briggs began working in his cousin’s deli; he’s been in the kitchen ever since, including stints at Sonoma and Bistro 100. CL: Considering that you were self-taught, how…
Volunteer For the Community
Tis the season for giving! If you’re looking for alternative forms of giving, you’re in luck. Over the past decade, more and more people who have grown tired of the commercial hustle-bustle of the holidays are forgoing the search for that perfect gift for the once-a-year cousin and the last-minute panicked shopping reflexes, and are…
A Bird in the Hand
There are certain advantages to working for a weekly alternative paper. A writer can luxuriate in a story, spend a few days on it, and deliver it in a descriptive, lively brand of language that the daily papers might not be able to use, thanks to cultural timidity and a phalanx of editors larger than…
Good Eats
All Around Town Anntony’s Caribbean, 6434-F West Sugarcreek Rd., 704-598-6863; 2001 E. 7th St., 704-342-0749. 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. (Gastonia), 704-866-7574. A favorite of…
Losing My Religion
It was an elderly Jewish lady who first told me that, technically, I was nothing. “Your father is Jewish,” she said. “And your mother is a Catholic.” She wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t know — you end up learning those kinda demarcations early on. You know it when your ma keeps quiet during Passover,…
The Joy of Box Sets
Nothing says “I love you” –or “please put your headphones on and leave me alone” — to a music fan like a comprehensive box set from a favorite musician or band. Multitudes of shiny platters offering up rare b-sides, out-of-print classics, alternate takes, live cuts, demo versions and more, along with copious photos and liner…
