Rainer
In November of 1997, in a small Mexican chapel in Tucson, I gathered with friends and family of the great slide guitarist Rainer Ptacek to pay our last respects. He’d succumbed to cancer, leaving behind an incredibly rich musical legacy as a solo artist, as frontman for hi-nrg blues band Das Combo and as a…
Endangered Nation
Chief Gilbert Blue was a hero to his tribe after leading the effort in 1993 to secure a $50 million settlement — the culmination of nearly 20 years of campaigning. Finally the Rock Hill-based Catawba Nation was recognized federally. The illegal treaty of Nation Ford, signed in 1840 with the State of South Carolina, in…
Pat’s Light Rail Chatroom
Boomer With Attitude
Eclectic Avenue
Mouthful 64Corkscrew 66Good Eats 6864
Jorge’s Reign of Terror
Citizen Servatius
Well, Well, Welles
Film Clips 32View From The Couch 34Films In A Flash 3632
Karma Cleanser
Dear Karma Cleanser: You probably don’t get many responses to the answers that you give, but I wanted to update you on a situation that you gave advice on a few weeks ago (“Just Curious,” Aug. 23). My girlfriend had found $100 at the mall, and turned it in to show her sons the right…
Smog, the Enigma
Burn Baby Burn 80Sam Bush 82Buddy Guy 8585
Letters to the Editor
PURPLE HAZE When I saw your Sept. 20th cover, “Rocks Off,” promising the best 200 songs of the ’70s, you earned a big “Hell yeah!” I love lots of ’70s music and figured I could find some “new” old songs from before my time. Then I opened the paper and found a list of the…
Halton, We Have A Problem
Arts Agenda 41Books 44Advice Goddess 4841
Control the Hole
Moodswing
Water Wars
My People 18 Citizen Servatius 23Boomer with Attitude 2423
The Blotter
Jim Carrey Impersonation: A man was installing cable at a woman’s house when he started chatting her up about owning a massage company. Then he began to rub the woman’s back as a demonstration. The first time this happened, she got up and walked into the kitchen hoping the creepy cable guy would get the…
See & Do
Wednesday, October 4 Bill Callahan, singer/songwriter and a catalyst of the indie lo-fi movement, is Smog. His muse can swing from sonic guitar manipulations to “creepy guy in the corner” folk. Callahan’s Leonard Cohen-styled jaunts may seem self-absorbed, but they are more about personal turmoil and reflection. The lyrics can be sardonic yet are interspersed…
Oct. 4 – Oct 10, 2006
LIBRA The Scales: (Sept. 22 — Oct. 22) Energies of the week favor romance, the arts, music, and all the things we use for escape from the humdrum. Give special attention to whomever enters your life between Oct. 3rd and 8th. This person is likely to bring a message of hope and encouragement — maybe…
Race for the Cure/Walk for Autism Research
Gentlemen, start your … walking! October has arrived and that means it’s time for two of Charlotte’s biggest charity walks of the year. Begin your day philanthropy at Gateway Village, Saturday, Oct. 7 at 6:30am to pick up your registration packet to participate in the 10th Annual Race for The Cure in support of breast…
A Language in Crisis
When the last native speaker of the Catawba language Sallie Brown passed away in 1952, the language was on the verge of dying with her. “Once you start losing speakers, it’s very hard to stop the spiral downward and regain them,” says Blair Rudes, a linguist at UNC Charlotte who specializes in reconstructing lost Native…
Splendor in the Grass
All too frequently the terms “legendary” and “influential” are misapplied to en vogue musicians or mediocre acts who’ve managed to stick around long enough that they’ve been called everything else already. However, misnomers are entirely absent when speaking of legendary and influential mandolin ninja Sam Bush, who plays Spirit Square on Saturday, Oct. 7. When…
Fast Times At Midlife High
The Advice Goddess
A Beginner’s Guide to Catawba
Indigenous American languages exhibit such a range of linguistic characteristics that pre-colonial American tongues can be viewed as a microcosm for all the world’s languages. The Inuit and Athabaskan languages, for example, are polysynthetic. Consequently, “Anti-disestablishmentarianism” would be considered an everyday word in this language family, which features complex compounding, says Rudes. Athabaskan languages, such…
What is Ramadan?
Ramadan is the name of the ninth month of the 12-month Muslim calendar. There are several reasons that you’ve probably heard the name Ramadan, but not, say Muharram or Rajab (the first and seventh months respectively). Reason No. 1: Ramadan is the holiest month of the Muslim calendar. Muslims believe that it was during Ramadan…
Something Like a ‘Phenomena’
Book Review
Film Clips
Current Releases ALL THE KING’S MEN Writer-director Steven Zaillian’s adaptation of Robert Penn Warren’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is an unmitigated disaster, choked by miscast actors, suffocated by illogical editing and drowned by a choppy script that offers no real sense of period and no clear delineation of its central themes. Zaillian has stated in interviews…
Harvest Time: Washington State
Corkscrew
View From The Couch
THE BORIS KARLOFF COLLECTION (1937-1952). I can accept the fact this five-film set is being called The Boris Karloff Collection even though the screen legend plays supporting roles in the majority of the featured titles. I can even deal with the reality that the selected pictures hardly showcase the great actor at his most memorable.…
Butter My Biscuit
Mouthful
The Wall
My People
Horny Horns
These tracks will make you blow, man, blow: The Byrds’ new box, There Is A Season (Columbia/Legacy), is not exactly horn-drenched. However, one of the key aspects of the seminal 1960s folk-rock band’s sound is how bandleader Roger McGuinn likened his 12-string Rickenbacker guitar to brass. This Byrds hallmark — alternately termed chiming or plangent…
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…
Out of Sight
At 70 years young, Chicago’s most famous living bluesman has his reputation deeply rooted and not just by his own history. Beyond his history as a Chess Records recording artist, a sessionman for Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and many others, Buddy Guy’s been a guitar hero for Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and the rest of…
Image fiend
If you’re the type who can never get enough eye candy, dig through these hot linx for a different kind of image. Photography is king now, but don’t forget about good old-fashioned hand work. And yeah, digital hand work counts too. Vomitus Maximus Museum www.vomitus.com Illustration Mundo www.illustrationmundo.com Hokusai www.akantiek.nl/shun.htm Poster Show www.postershow.com Collage Museum…
Comedy And Country
How exactly does one become a regular at a bar or club? What are the terms and conditions of obtaining “regular” status? How about three separate visits within two weeks — does that classify as regularity? The Comedy Zone is a venue that brings in big names like Ruminations author Aaron Karo, Jamie Kennedy, and…
Disc-o Fever
See & Do 10Moodswing 1212Urban Explorer
