Oct 24-30, 2012

Oct 24-30, 2012 / Vol. 26 / No. 35

Cover Story

Charlotte’s Halloween-obsessed!

From candy to decorations to costumes, Americans will spend about $8 billion this year on Halloween. That’s $8 billion on sugar, plastic and lights, and an outfit worn for one, maybe two, nights. That’s the amount billionaire businessman George Soros has given away during his life to charities, which promote humanitarian issues. It’s half of…

Ana McKenzie, Kimberly Lawson, Anita Overcash, and Jeff Hahne

CD review: ZZ Ward’s Til the Casket Drops

That humming noise you hear in the background is the buzz that’s surrounding the latest “next big thing,” ZZ Ward. There’s been a helluva lot of hype leading up to her debut album’s release, but what separates Ward from an artist like Lana Del Rey is that Ward backs up the hype with 13 tracks…

Jeff Hahne

CD Review: A.C. Newman’s Shut Down the Streets

In the New Pornographers, the supergroup A.C. Newman helms, his literate pop proves highly addictive because it is book-smart and fun — Village Green-era Kinks run through a modern lens à la the Shins. And on Newman’s 2009 solo disc, Get Guilty, he proved he could deliver an entire LP of literate sing-alongs. But Newman’s…

John Schacht

Bizarre crimes from Charlotte police files (Oct. 25 edition)

Dollars and Nonsense: Police responded to an assault call in west Charlotte to settle a really cheap dispute. A 54-year-old man showed up at his neighbor’s house looking for $3 that he said was owed to him. The neighbor told him he didn’t have that much money and tried to shut the door — but…

Ryan Pitkin

New pledge on frat row: Maverick Rock Taco

Montford Drive, despite its pedigreed name and side-street reality, has been a trendy destination for the past five years or so. The unassuming bar scene has been paired with kitchens offering better-than-average bar food menus. But it remains a neighborhood in flux. In August, a new kid arrived on the block: the 60-seat Maverick Rock…

Tricia Childress

Seasonal beers to fall for

This fall will undoubtedly include days in which craft-beer enthusiasts will take in more calories from beer than from food. It’s inevitable. That’s because folks who love craft beers, myself included, have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of this year’s autumn seasonals, which are only available for a brief period. It’s a great opportunity to…

Mark Iafrate

Cloud Atlas: Time after time

CLOUD ATLAS ***1/2 DIRECTED BY Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski & Lana Wachowski STARS Tom Hanks, Halle Berry Forget, for a moment, the financial crisis of 2008. More than the banks at the center of that calamity, Cloud Atlas is truly something that’s “too big to fail.” Obviously, this isn’t to imply that this adaptation of…

Matt Brunson

On Reflection

Beverly McIver’s solo exhibition at the Mint Museum invites the audience to share visual recollections of her life experiences. Reflections: Portraits by Beverly McIver uses portraits to tell the inspiring story of her life’s most recent decade. McIver, who is famous for her naturalistic self portraits and depictions of loved ones, succeeds in examining the…

Grace Cote

Monster mash: Spend this Halloween with the classics

Despite a serious threat from Britain’s Hammer Films, no studio has ever done as much for the horror genre as Universal Pictures. At a time when Warner Bros. was producing gangster flicks, MGM was staging extravagant musicals, and every studio under the California sun had its fingers in Westerns, Universal primarily invested its stock in…

Matt Brunson

Weekly horoscope (Oct. 25-31)

Scorpio The Phoenix (Oct. 23-Nov 20) This is a positive week and also busy. You are likely to make some good decisions that will help move you forward. There may also be someone who acts as a helper/teacher who can assist you if you need to organize. It is a good time to heal rifts…

Vivian Carol

This week’s concert listings (Oct. 25-Oct. 31)

** Bullet points indicate CL’s critics’ picks** Thursday, Oct. 25 Blues/Roots/International Bayou Butch Lucas (Villa Antonio (Ballantyne)) Latin Thursdays (Dream Nightclub, Matthews) Nita B Trio (Comet Grill) Classical/Jazz/Smooth Beats and Keys (Encore Bistro and Bar) John Alexander (Blue Restaurant & Bar) Country/Folk Open Mic w/ Brett Greer (Tommy’s Pub) Possum Jenkins, The Ragbirds (Visulite Theatre)*…

Oh, Brothers!: Brody & Choch

From the mid-to-late 1990s, brothers Shawn and Marlon Wayans starred in their self-created sitcom The Wayans Brothers. In the show’s opening sequence, the two are costumed in afros and plain sweaters, dancing down the front steps of a brownstone to the tune of a playful ditty meant to poke fun at older “black” sitcoms. The…

Eric Tullis

Christian punks MxPx wrestle with doubt — and greatness

Twenty years ago, MxPx emerged with an infectious attack that helped cement the reputation of a particularly divisive sub-genre — Christian punk. Positive and punchy, the trio of Washington state high schoolers created easily digestible pop-punk earworms that rarely made preaching points of the band’s religious ideals but avoided any language or themes that would…

Jordan Lawrence

Farewell, Friday

William Friday, who died Oct. 12 at age 92, was a quiet and modest man who preferred consensus-building to confrontation. Yet as president of the University of North Carolina system for three decades, he became one of this state’s most influential political leaders. His skill at garnering support was legendary. As former governor Jim Hunt…

Ed Williams

Hip-hop and the Million Man March

On Oct. 16, 1995, black men from across America united at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for the Million Man March, a grassroots campaign spearheaded by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. “No leader could have put out this call and had the same results,” says Rev. Kojo Nantambu, president of the Charlotte branch…

Kendrea Mekkah

Waltzing, grooving: Limitless

With seven new dancers in the ensemble, N.C. Dance Theatre is starting a new season in brash style, programming three choreographies never seen here before and titling the maiden voyage of the revamped troupe Limitless. None of the newbies will be waiting long in the wings at the Knight Theater for his or her NCDT…

Perry Tannenbaum

So long, Chilly Willy

He was ubiquitous — a fixture in neighborhoods from downtown to Dilworth, Plaza Midwood to NoDa. He was as much a part of the fabric of Charlotte as Anthony Foxx, Pat McCrory, Jennifer Roberts, Hugh McColl, Harvey Gantt, Billy Graham, Ric Flair or the Panthers. He was Chilly Willy, and this city had a love-hate…

Mark Kemp

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