Cheap Thrills
CAROLINA RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL Though the original Renaissance took place over 500 years ago, the Carolina version celebrates its thirteenth anniversary. In keeping with the spirit of its European origins, our festival features a medieval amusement park, a 9-stage theater, a 20-acre circus, an arts and crafts fair, a jousting tournament and a feast. The grounds…
Who is James Baker and why should you care?
Not to be confused with televangelist Jim Bakker (ex-husband of Tammy Faye), James A. Baker III has been America’s most powerful right-hand man for the past three decades. If America is Montgomery Burns, James Baker is our less-gay Smithers. Baker got the gig as America’s most powerful right-hand man nearly four decades ago, when he…
NASCAR Caskets & Hubby Rings
Book ReviewS
Hot Times
I was lamenting the fact recently that there seemed to be no Rock & Roll Heroes ready to ascend the throne of pre-grunge-fun-time-beer-drinking-teased-hair-chick-banging-extended-adolescence rock. You know, the type of cotton candy odes to long legs and beautiful girls that were a staple of the Diamond Dave days of Van Halen, and taken up in the…
I Love Trash
Yummy yummy trash trash … nah, screw the tabloids, here’s some really good stuff. A little street, a little world, a little smut, a little art … yeah! Traffic Cone Preservation Society http://animation.filmtv.ucla.edu/students/awinfrey/coneindex.htm Harajuku Lovers www.harajukulovers.com Tampix www.tampix.org Trashy Trashy Whores www.trashytrashywhores.com Movie Trailer Trash www.movietrailertrash.com
Electric Blues
“North Mississippi Allstars make no claim to being a blues band. Something happens when white boys play the blues. Rock and Roll. Whether it’s Elvis or the Beastie Boys, this music has come to symbolize freedom the world over and to illustrate the inter-racial brotherhood of man.” — Jim Dickinson, producer-father. Surely you’ve heard by…
Film Clips
New Releases CATCH A FIRE The title’s a bit misleading, insofar as this well-meaning movie never really catches fire. Based on a true story that unfolded in the early 1980s, it centers on Patrick Chamusso (Derek Luke), a South African oil refinery foreman whose apolitical attitude allows him to largely fly under the radar when…
Do It Yourself Campaign Ads
Boomer With Attitude
View From The Couch
HOLLYWOOD LEGENDS OF HORROR COLLECTION (1932-1939). Just in time for Halloween comes this three-disc, six-title set showcasing a wide variety of 1930s horror flicks from the Warner and MGM catalogues. The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932) finds author Sax Rohmer’s famed character on a quest to conquer the globe by obtaining the sword and mask…
Christians, You’ve Been Punked!!
Brother with a Pen
War And Piece (Of Cake)
Flags of Our Fathers, Clint Eastwood’s sober tribute to our fighting forces during World War II, manages the tricky feat of honoring the past while also subtly deflating the attendant mythology that over time attaches itself like a barnacle to a ship side. It’s this strength of conviction that allows the film to toss aside…
Razor Girl
Citizen Servatius
Sweeten Your Halloween
Corkscrew
Finding Limits
See & Do 10Moodswing 1212
Back in Black
Janis Ian has been pushing people’s buttons since she began her career in 1966, at the age of 15. Her first single “Society’s Child (Baby I’ve Been Thinking)” was both musically and lyrically daring. The song’s ode to interracial love was backed by a then mildly madcap mix of pop, folk and minstrel sounds. Although…
A Tale of Two Nationals
Books 48Arts Agenda 42Savage Love 5242
CarnEvil’s Show Will Go On
Here’s what organizers of Charlotte’s annual Halloween blow-out, CarnEvil, recently learned: If donning costume and giving voice to your inner Id is a hoot, dealing with county government officials is pretty much your polar-opposite experience. In its 13th year, Charlotte’s fastest-growing costume party — which takes place Friday, Oct. 28 from 8 p.m.- 2 a.m.…
The Ghost Hunt
“Come out, come out, wherever you are Henry. Oh Henry!” I’m saying this in my head, but really, I don’t want to find Henry in this dark, abandoned basement of an old asbestos factory. You see, Henry’s been dead for many years and, for whatever reason, he’s decided to hang around the N.C. Music Factory…
The Blotter
Back And To The Left: An employee of the Gaston County Health Department was walking with coworkers near work when a vehicle sped up and a passenger in the car fired an object at her. A water balloon struck the woman in the neck, causing a scratch and bruising. The report did not indicate how…
Shortbus: Come Together
It was approximately 15 years ago when noted film director Philip Kaufman stated that in American cinema, it was OK to chop off a female breast but not acceptable to caress one. Of course, that quote still applies today, and if anything, American cinema has become more timid — not in matters of violence or…
Karma Cleanser
Dear Karma Cleanser: A few years ago, my husband and I were friends with a couple, “Bobby” and “Betty.” They had been together for about a year when I met them. We could tell that they were having problems. We both liked Bobby better than Betty. We played the unofficial role of his relationship therapist…
Food Fright
Kitchen Witch 70Corkscrew 72Good Eats 7470
Letters to the Editor
Proud to be a Charlottean Wow, maybe you guys should change your name to Creative Loathing. Whoever wrote the article, “99 Things to do to Call Yourself a True Charlottean” (Oct. 11) must really hate Charlotte. I think you should refer to your own No. 98: “Complain that Charlotte is lame and do nothing to…
Bad news calls for good apples
Kitchen Witch
The Migration
MoodSwing
Millennial Man
Album Leaf 88Supagroup 88North Mississippi Allstars 90Janis Ian 9088
Oct. 25 — Oct. 31, 2006
SCORPIO The Phoenix: (Oct. 23 — Nov. 20) Wow! This is truly your time of year. You are ready to make changes on every front. Romance may be a bit rocky and complicated now, but by the end of the week you will feel much better. You can turn bad news related to career into…
Dollar Drama
Brother With A Pen 18 Citizen Servatius 23Boomer with Attitude 2423
Charlotte’s Most Haunted Places
Charlotte is more haunted than people think, says Stephanie Burt Williams, a fourth-generation Charlottean and author of Ghost Stories of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. “People are shocked to learn there are ghosts in Charlotte.” Williams took a more journalistic approach to the telling of ghost stories, including histories of haunted properties. She gathered the 19…
Single, Horny and Confused
For the average single and successful female, finding balance is hard: you log in 50-plus hours at work and get the promotion, but there’s no one at home to share in your celebration OR you have the man of your dreams as a husband, 2.5 kids, the house with the white picket fence and “Desperate…
Album Leaf Lives the Dream
You know those dreams you have after, say, too much pasta or too many hallucinogens, when you find yourself falling from some great height only to discover at the last moment that you can fucking fly, and the horizon reappears as earth and sea unfurl below like a tapestry of iridescent greens and blues? If…
See & Do Picks
Wednesday, October 25 Jonathan Taplin’s first credit as a film producer was for Martin Scorsese’s breakthrough feature Mean Streets, and that would provide any individual enough bragging rights to last a lifetime. Yet Taplin’s credentials run far and wide and deep. Before entering the world of film, he served as road manager for Bob Dylan…
