This Just In!
CHARLOTTE — Alcoholics Anonymous* meetings will temporarily shut down Wednesday when Creative Loafing, the city’s premier (and only) alternative weekly welcomes new writer Cheris Hodges to the fold. The newspaper will welcome Hodges 6 p.m. at Prevue, the NoDa bar that has quickly gained attention for debauchery since editor Carlton Hargro began hosting the weekly…
Were You Scene at The Forum?
On Oct. 27, The Forum hosted a Heroes & Vixens Super Sexy Masquerade. Creative Loafing was there. Were you there? (Photos by Ashley Goodwin)
Were You Scene at CANS?
Saturday was CANS’ second annual Halloween event: The Monster Mash. Presented by Guys With Ties, the proceeds from this event benefited Room at the Inn. (Photos by Ashley Goodwin)
Were You Scene at the N.C. Art Factory?
The art exhibit Diverse Works ’07 opened last Thursday at the N.C. Art Factory and will run through Nov. 21. The exhibit is open Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. 820 Hamilton St. George Leventis inspects son Andrew’s work. Doloris Pearson Scuplter Terry Shipley and Vellma Langford David Deal and Helen Penter talk with painter Rober Langford…
Live Review: Toots & The Maytals
Toots and the Maytals Oct. 24, 2007 Neighborhood Theatre By Grant Britt If you think reggae is dead, you need help. As a capacity crowd at Neighborhood Theatre last week can attest, Toots Hibbert has what you need to fix what ails you. You can’t go and just watch. Toots won’t allow it. You’re part…
No Fall In Sight
— Cartoon by Jim Hunt
Live Review: MuteMath
MuteMath w/ Eisley Oct. 26, 2007 Amos’ Southend The Deal: MuteMath puts instruments, bodies on the line for live show. The Good: Eisley may have offered some good vocal harmony, but the night clearly belonged to MuteMath. From start to finish, the band put everything they had into the hour-and-a-half long show. From the opening…
When They Attack, You’ll Gawk At My Foresight
By Ann Coulter I’m not sure the bong-toting, hair-dying, bi-curious liberal losers down at Gawker.com’s Washington gossip blog, Wonkette, took a moment between mentally masturbating one another to consider how their attack of the CIA’s totally awesome “Terrorist Buster” logo might promote further acts of terrorism. The truth is that terrorism is really any act…
The Willow (Oral Pleasures)- Part 1
This position begins with the man seated on the edge of the bed or a chair and the woman saddled over top his lap. Gently lean her back until she has both hands on the floor and is balanced. The man then pulls her torso towards him, while she walks back using her hands. Clenching…
Live Review: Squirrel Nut Zippers
Squirrel Nut Zippers w/ Firecracker Jazz Band, The Old Ceremony Neighborhood Theatre Oct. 25, 2007 The Deal: A fine mix of old and new as Squirrel Nut Zippers continue reunion tour. The Good: Firecracker Jazz Band kicked off the night with a fantastic set of music from the ’20s and ’30s. While SNZ trumpeter Je…
Stevie Wonder coming to town!
Just announced: Stevie Wonder will perform at Charlotte Bobcats Arena on Nov. 28. Tickets go on sale on Friday, Nov. 2, through Ticketmaster. No word on prices.
Vampires, Zombies, Monsters, oh My!
28 Minutes Later This infected participant is coming after you. The first annual Charlotte Zombie Walk took place in Uptown this past Sunday. Hom At Last Gia Atkinson, Kelley Palmer and Elise Cook put their feet up like they’re at home in Uptown’s newest club Liv At Hom, which opened Oct. 20. Freak in the…
The Shade of Poison Trees
The Deal: (Really good) emo rockers attempt evolution. The Good: After four albums building a following that could be deemed a teeny-bopper crowd, Dashboard Confessional’s fifth release, The Shade of Poison Trees, is a surprising step in a mature direction – and it’s hard to quite figure out why. If you like churning, classic power-pop,…
Boning Up
Books
Hang With CL After Work
The Plug
Thursdays Become Creative
It’s 5 p.m., you just clocked out and aren’t ready to go home. What do you do? You hang with the Loaf. Creative Loafing is kicking off an even bigger be-there-or-be-square event than Pop Life. Presenting Creative Lounging, an after work lounge experience. Come for the drink specials; stay for the music. Hosted by our…
Imagine Peace
Breaking the Sound Barrier
Night at the museum
QC After Dark QC After Dark
Watch That Rat
If you’ve ever had a problem with rodent control, this may NOT be the play for you. In Lane Riosley’s clever retelling of Robert Browning’s famed poem about the Pied Piper of Hamelin (not to be confused with R. Kelly, the so-called “Pied Piper of R&B”), the story gets both a happy ending and a…
Karma Cleanser
Dear Karma Cleanser: I am in an unusual situation. I’m a 32-year-old woman in the health-care professional industry. I have been divorced for several years and have not put myself into the dating pool for some time. I have recently begun seeing a man who is several years younger than me. He is 23 and…
Resurrecting the Renaissance
Betta Listen
New World Disorder
In case you haven’t noticed, the Patchwerk Playhaus has been screening some cool stuff (go to http://patchwerkplayhaus.blogspot.com for their upcoming schedule), and viewers in the mood for something truly different should check out New Maps of the New World, a collection of eight shorts by Roger Beebe. Beebe, a professor of Film and Media Studies…
The Checklist
Moodswing
Charlotte-based movie gives indie exposure
La Vida Local
Mashing Monsters
In his now infamous one-hit wonder, Bobby “Boris” Pickett proclaim this of his rhythmically-inclined monster: “He did the mash/He did the monster mash/The monster mash/It was a graveyard smash.” Sorry, no creatures allowed in this Monster Mash. Guys with Ties Charlotte has gotten together to sponsor this Halloween event meant to get young professionals out,…
Lynching: A Big Deal
The N Word
Music Menu
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 24 Toots & the Maytals Like many, my first exposure to the music of Toots Hibbert came courtesy of the Clash’s incendiary covers of “54-46 Was My Number” and “Pressure Drop.” Delving into the originals, however, was a revelation. Here was “Funky Kingston” made palpable, Hibbert’s burning bush vocals – part Ska-shaman, gospel…
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
In an effort to make local history tangible, the Charlotte Museum of History presents its second installment of Charlotte Neighborhoods. In the exhibit, Brooklyn and Biddleville, two of Charlotte’s earliest African-American neighborhoods, are explored through culture, architecture, and historical relevance. Brooklyn was part of Charlotte’s first urban renewal projects and lost much of its rich…
Hardin Minor
Profile
Righting the wrong impression
TURN ON, TUNE IN
Mind Bending
Neil Goldberg and Cirque Productions are at it again. That’s right, they’ve created another awe-inspiring, acrobatically inclined take on the circus. In Cirque Dreams: Jungle Fantasy, an array of soaring acrobats, daring contortionists, and hilarious characters swing amidst a multimillion dollar stage set. Viewers will have a swinging good time even though their feet are…
A Gangster Goes Down
Citizen Servatius
Coming Attractions
THURSDAY, NOV. 1 The championship event to end all championship events is what awaits you tonight. Never before have the superstars of dirt racing been seen on the same track. The culmination of both the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars and the World of Outlaws Late Models is the World of Outlaws World Finals. A…
“Let’s Do the Time Warp Again”
“It’s just a jump to the left/And then a step to the right/With your hands on your hips/You bring your knees in tight.” Anyone who’s ever watched The Rocky Horror Picture Show knows this song, dance and its lyrics by heart. The people at the Parks and Recreation Department have decided to bring a little…
Stargazer
Scorpio The Phoenix (Oct. 23 – Nov. 20): The sun returns “home” to your sign this week. You likely will find it to be energizing. Now is the time to focus on new plans for this next year of your life. Take a fresh look at where you want to direct your energy. For All Signs: When…
Fang-tastic Voyage
Books 44Arts Agenda 4848
Film Clips
Current Releases ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE Sequels to movies like Saw and Daddy Day Care are givens, but a follow-up to an art-house endeavor set in a century far, far away? Indeed, that’s the case with this sequel to the 1998 Elizabeth. But E:TGA proves to be markedly inferior to its predecessor, which was more…
Needed: A Transit Tax ‘Surge’
Boomer With Attitude
View From the Couch
THE JAZZ SINGER (1927). In the annals of film history, perhaps no line proved to be more prophetic than Al Jolson exclaiming “You ain’t heard nothing yet!” in The Jazz Singer. A landmark motion picture that revolutionized the industry, this introduced the concept of sound through its handful of musical numbers, even if the rest…
Happiness Is A Warm Gun
The Beatles gave us a motion picture masterpiece in A Hard Day’s Night, yet they also gave us (through no fault of their own) a motion picture disaster in Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, that ’70s debacle with Peter Frampton and The Bee Gees proving to be poor substitutes for The Fab Four. So…
Run for the border
Table Dancing
Rags Amid Riches
By 11 a.m., dozens of folks have gathered outside the Urban Ministry Center, just a block or so from the downtown loop. They’re here to get a meal, maybe see a nurse or wrangle a bus pass. Mostly male, mostly black and largely living on the street – or in a shelter like the one…
The Blotter
FROM MY GUN TO YOUR HEART WITH LOVE: A middle-aged woman said she was attending a high school football game with her 16-year-old son when an altercation between her and another parent began. The parent began making threats and said, “I have a gun with seven bullets with Anthony’s name and your name on them.”…
Food to Die For
Table Dancing 64Good Eats 6764
Tim & Neil Griffin’s Top Five
This dynamic duo is responsible for bringing the art crawl to the Plaza Midwood area and out of the shadows of NoDa; the couple took it upon themselves to organize an art fest/street fair to highlight the artistic neighborhood they love. Keep an eye on future CL issues for info on the next Plaza-Central Crawl.…
Calculated Approach
If anyone knows a thing or two about necessity being the mother of invention, it’s MuteMath. Not to take anything away from their talent as musicians and songwriters, but there’s a certain undeniable charm to a band that uses a keytar, creates its own instrument called “The Atari” and has a drummer that tapes his…
Letters to the Editor
Call of the Wild Regarding the “culture” of Gastonia (“Signs of Life in Gastonia” by Judy Cole, Oct. 3), perhaps we don’t have some of the amenities our larger neighbors enjoy. But the fact that Gaston County has not grown as fast as is its greatest asset, something our civic leaders are quickly to realizing.…
The Bluegrass Sessions
The Deal: Merle Haggard reinvents bluegrass. The Good: He’s calling it bluegrass, but having Merle Haggard fronting the project overshadows anything else going on around him. On this outing that takes some doing, with heavy hitters like Marty Stewart on mandolin and eight-time IBMA dobro player of the year Rob Ickes from Blue Highway backing…
Breast Cancer Awareness
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and according to the National Cancer Institute, breast cancer is the second most common cancer afflicting women in America (besides skin cancer). • The National Cancer Institute estimates on Breast Cancer in the United States in 2007: New cases: 178,480 (female); 2,030 (male) Deaths: 40,460 (female); 450 (male) •…
Magic
The Deal: New Jersey’s greatest export releases first album with E Street Band in five years. The Good: The opening track, “Radio Nowhere,” lets the listener know that nothing’s changed with Bruce and the band over the years. It’s blue-collar rock – the same kind Bruce is known for, with plenty of radio-friendly hits. I…
