Oct 23-29, 2013

Oct 23-29, 2013 / Vol. 27 / No. 35

Cover Story

Neither Patrick Cannon nor Edwin Peacock suit us

With two or three exceptions, Charlotte mayoral races are rarely exciting. Or, let’s face it, particularly interesting. This discouraging state of affairs stems from the fact that anyone wanting consideration as a “serious” mayoral candidate here must toe the city power structure’s banking/corporate line. Which is how we too often end up with mayoral candidates…

John Grooms

Bobcats week in review

“I would even sacrifice the cat that keeps coming onto my porch to please Basketball enough to make Zeller a rookie of the year candidate.”

Jeff Laughlin

Fantastic flicks for Halloween

Say it’s Christmas, and you want to watch a Yuletide flick to get into the swing of things. A half-dozen worthy titles spring to mind. For Easter, there are a handful of noteworthy films about Christ. And for Thanksgiving… uh, good luck. But movies to prepare for Halloween? The world — or, more specifically, the…

Matt Brunson

Today’s Top 5: Monday

Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, Oct. 28, 2013 as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing. * Halloween at Ayrsley Grand Cinemas 14 Credit: Allstar/Cinetext/MGM * Almost Famous Comedy Show at The Comedy Zone * Kurt Vile & The Violators at Chop Shop * Find…

Anita Overcash

Bizarre crimes from Charlotte police files (Oct. 24)

Dark Deed: A 26-year-old woman filed a police report against her neighbor last week after being assaulted as she was leaving her home. She told officers she was walking out of her apartment when she heard someone screaming and walking toward her. The woman couldn’t see who it was because it was dark out, but…

Ryan Pitkin

The Counselor: Split verdict

THE COUNSELOR **1/2 DIRECTED BY Ridley Scott STARS Michael Fassbender, Javier Bardem It’s unlikely that 2013 will see the release of a movie that’s more nihilistic than The Counselor, an overheated curio in which bad things happen to bad people, worse things happen to good people, good things happen to the worst people, and Cameron…

Matt Brunson

A peek into the Great American Beer Festival

There is a giant statue of a blue bear that stands about two and a half stories high outside the convention center in downtown Denver. It seems to peer into the large glass front of the building, perhaps longing for entrance, or maybe just casually admiring the activities within. That statue became kind of a…

Cam Heiliger

CD Review: Band of Heathens’ Sunday Morning Record

The Band of Heathens have always balanced the urge to rock out with a wide introspective streak. Yet even for this contemplative crew, new LP Sunday Morning Record is particularly pensive. Change prompted BOH’s current concerns. In 2011, co-founder Colin Brooks and the band’s rhythm section flew the coop, leaving songwriters Ed Jurdi and Gordy…

Pat Moran

CD Review: Woody Guthrie: American Radical Patriot

When most people think of Woody Guthrie — if they think of him at all — one of two descriptions comes to mind: 1) the songwriter who penned the patriotic anthem most of us sang in grade school, “This Land is Your Land,” or 2) the subversive, socialist-sympathizing, hobo folksinger who produced some of America’s…

Mark Kemp

What girls like

I love pop culture. All of it. Television, both HBO-fancy and TLC-trashy. Hit songs of the pop, hip-hop and dance persuasions. Blockbuster summer movies. Celebrity gossip. Fashion news. Awards shows. All of the above makes me so happy. I could read, listen, watch and talk about any of it for hours on end, and I…

Ashley Spurgeon

Book review: Linda Ronstadt’s Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir

Linda Ronstadt, the Queen of ’70s Rock, whether she likes the title or not (she doesn’t), has written one of the best rock star memoirs yet, one that’s as good for what it leaves out as for what it tells. Lovers of celebrity gossip and dirt-dishing, be forewarned: Ronstadt meant it when she subtitled Simple…

John Grooms

The man, the myth, the shameless promotion

His powers were an amalgamation of every hero and villain you’ve ever loved. His costume called upon the legends of the Marvel Universe. And most importantly, he was based off a snack food. He was Combo Man, and he seemed like a good idea at the time. In this piece, we’ll take a look at…

Andy Smith

Terror on the tube

There’s no shortage of horror movies on the tube in the days leading up to Halloween — at least if you’re tuned to Turner Classic Movies. For while other stations basically ignore the holiday in favor of the usual mix of stomach-turning reality shows and inane sit-coms — and others present their monster movies in…

Matt Brunson

Weekly horoscope (Oct. 24-30)

Scorpio The Phoenix (Oct. 23-Nov. 20): Your overall attitude is serious at this time. Even so, there is likely to be improvement in romance or in relation to your children. One part of your mind will be considering your spiritual direction and how you can direct your energies to fulfill it. For All Signs: This…

Vivian Carol

Food Fright

A Peruvian woman tended a small charcoal grill on the ground near the curb. As I passed by, she waved the small, crispy, skewered rodent she was grilling as a way to entice me. I did not buy that day. Earlier that week during my visit to the countryside outside of Cusco, Peru, when I…

Tricia Childress

October country 1963, pt. 1

The late author Ray Bradbury spoke of October as a separate country, an unsettling place where more than the seasons change, where the world tips off-kilter, the winds pick up, and sounds seem sharper. A country of kids’ imaginations, dark carnivals, disquieting surprises, a place where the oddness of ordinary things becomes clearer. This is…

John Grooms

Kurt Vile cuts through the smoke and daze

As album titles go, Wakin on a Pretty Daze does a bang-up job of describing the music within. The fifth LP from Philadelphia guitarist and songwriter Kurt Vile delights in delicate fingerpicking and distortion that glides but never grinds. The singer’s steady style, patiently refined during six years of solo work, perfectly conjures that fuzzy…

Jordan Lawrence

The World is a Beautiful Place leads emo revival

Connecticut octet The World is a Beautiful Place and I Am Not Afraid to Die was in a house in Texas — it looked like the Alamo, jokes drummer Steven Buttery — at the end of June when its members found out their debut full-length, the effervescent Whenever, If Ever, released by tiny Boston-based indie…

Patrick Wall

Refugees still reeling from government shutdown

A petite woman walks carefully around a cracked sidewalk, leaning against the weight of a toddler tied to her back with a single, thin cloth. It’s a damp, gray 55 degrees outside, but mother and child are barefoot. A steady morning rain soaks their out-of-season clothes. This isn’t a scene from a developing country or…

Sara Patterson

The case for voting

Less than 7 percent of registered voters in Charlotte turned out for the primary in September, and that was actually a slight improvement over recent municipal elections. With a critical general election just days away, it’s worth asking: What is it going to take to get Charlotteans to give a damn about local politics? To…

Michael A. Cooper Jr.

Dream candidates for Charlotte mayor

Here are three people we’d love to see on the ballot for mayor one day. Who do you think would be a good candidate? Let us know. We’ll publish the results at a later date. Jennifer Roberts A progressive who strays from dogmatic rhetoric, a strong female leader who spent eight years as Mecklenburg County…

Ana McKenzie

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