Oct 11-17, 2017
BLA/ALT Music Festival
Cover Story
Black Alternative Musicians Do It Themselves at Bla/Alt Festival
Nicholas Robinson is tired of being seen as a token black dude. “For most of our career, we’ve been told our diversity was marketable — that if you were black in an alternative band, you were viewed as a part of the marketing,” Robinson says. The 25-year-old singer, guitarist and founding member of the Charlotte…
The Foreigner: Jackie, Oh!
THE FOREIGNER **1/2 (out of four) DIRECTED BY Martin Campbell STARS Jackie Chan, Pierce Brosnan The primary poster for The Foreigner shows Jackie Chan standing alone in a scene of carnage, with the tagline intoning that one should “Never Push A Good Man Too Far.” Such a promotional angle suggests that Chan will employ his…
Happy Death Day offers some happy returns
HAPPY DEATH DAY **1/2 (out of four) DIRECTED BY Christopher Landon STARS Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard Groundhog Day gets run through the grinder in Happy Death Day, a horror yarn that derives a fair amount of mileage out of its canny premise. Set on a college campus, Happy Death Day centers on Tree (Jessica Rothe),…
Dreamgirls, Kill, Baby … Kill!, Superman among new home entertainment titles
(View From The Couch is a weekly column that reviews what’s new on Blu-ray, DVD and Streaming. Ratings are on a four-star scale.) DREAMGIRLS (2006). The Cinderella story of 2006 belonged to Jennifer Hudson, who went from American Idol loser to Academy Award winner thanks to her knockout performance in the box office hit Dreamgirls.…
Listen Up: Anthony Hamilton Talks About What He’s Feelin’ on ‘Local Vibes’
For lucky episode 13, Charlotte legend Anthony Hamilton came by the Hygge West studio to reminisce about the come up, from chorus competitions at South Mecklenburg High School to being inducted into the N.C. Music Hall of Fame and having the mayor pronounce October 19 Anthony Hamilton Day in Charlotte. As always, check out our…
The Blotter: Trip Sitter
Stop Snitching Police responded to a home in the Fairways at Piper Glen neighborhood in south Charlotte after a man was cleaning his son’s room and found something that scared him, then decided to narc on the poor kid. According to the report, the man found 19 hits of acid in his spaced-out son’s bedroom…
Bla/Alt Music Festival Schedule
Bands at the Bla/Alt black alternative music festival — which is a free event — begin promptly at 12 noon, so get to the site early so you don’t miss anything. 12 noon – 12:30 p.m. Blu House — Blues-based alt rock from Charlotte. 12:30 – 12:50 p.m. Capoeira — A demonstration of the Brazilian…
Here’s to Dominica
* An earlier version of this story confused the countries of Dominica and the Dominican Republic. We have deleted a sidebar listing Dominican restaurants in Charlotte, as those were from the Dominican Republic and not the separate country of Dominica. We regret the negligent editing, which should not be a reflection on the writer’s original…
Pam Taylor Sings the Body Electric on ‘Steal Your Heart’
When I reach Pam Taylor by phone, she’s en route from Amsterdam to Israel, preparing for the September 23 release party for her new solo album Steal Your Heart at a Tel Aviv joint called, of all things, Mike’s Place. “I’ve never been this far away from home for so long,” Taylor, who grew up…
Alvin Jacobs, Jr., Documents the Problems and the Progress
Sitting with Alvin C. Jacobs, Jr., outside of Smelly Cat Coffeehouse in NoDa on a warm October morning, it’s easy to see how just a handful of years ago his focus was on fashion. He’s dressed head to toe in denim, and is one of the few guys who can pull that look off while…
The Experiment Continues
Have you ever been to an after-work function when you weren’t able to drink? Talk about a doozy. Last week, if you recall, I wrote about how I’d decided to take a break from drinking. I guess I should’ve taken a look at my calendar of upcoming events so I wouldn’t have to experience FOMO…
Support Your Local Black Alternatve Music Fest
When LeAnna Eden sat down with me at the sprawling Camp North End complex on Statesville Avenue to talk about Bla/Alt, the black alternative music festival featured in this week’s cover story, we were joined at one point by Camp North End’s community manager, Varian Shrum. One thing I noticed when I directed some of…
Explore Your Musical Tribe at Bla/Alt
Minor-key melodies, all-black everything and a love of the macabre. The little goth within me awakened in 1991, thanks to the dark humor of the Addams Family movie. My fascination with Halloween and dark imagery would’ve been socially acceptable — if I were an Addams. The teenage me wouldn’t have felt a need to conform…
