Soundboard
Wednesday, Oct. 8 Baoding Robert Fernandez Big Al’s Pub, Cornelius Scott Johnson Acoustic Blue Trio 21 Buckhead Saloon Scott Munns Cajun Queen 7th Street Gator Band Casco Bay Tim Connard & The Rhythm Brothers Charleston Chops, Cornelius Michelle Smith Coley’s Tavern Acoustic Soulution (6pm) Cuvee Wine & Art Gallery Bixx Trio Double Door Inn The…
Joy Lucky Chinese Restaurant
Joy Luck Club Central Avenue’s newest eatery pleases the tastebuds I hear it a lot : folks, especially recently relocated ones, complaining about the lack of “good” ethnic restaurants in Charlotte. I usually ask if they’ve ever visited the 4800-4900 block of Central Avenue. In that one block area they would find my favorite Thai…
“R” They Kidding?
Most moviegoers probably don’t know Jack Valenti from Sacco & Vanzetti, but those of us with more than a fleeting connection to cinema know him all too well. Shave his head, we suspect, and you’ll find “666” branded somewhere on that noggin. Valenti’s early claim to fame was as one of the members of John…
The African Queen
Winner of this year’s Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film, Germany’s Nowhere In Africa is unusual in how it expertly blends two popular types of movies to create one seamless motion picture experience. On one hand, there’s the kind of expansive epic popularized by such open-air extravaganzas as Legends of the Fall, Dances With Wolves…
Home Theater
THE LION KING (1994). Until it recently got capsized by Finding Nemo, this Disney feature had the distinction of being cinema’s top-grossing animated film, accumulating enough of a bounty to place it in the all-time Top 10. Certainly, until the dawning of the Pixar era, it was one of the last of the bumper crop…
Film Clips
NEW RELEASES OUT OF TIME Denzel Washington is the marquee attraction, and Eva Mendes (2 Fast 2 Furious) and Sanaa Lathan (Brown Sugar) are the heavily promoted up-and-comers, but it’s the performance by unknown John Billingsley that will have everyone talking as they exit this otherwise negligible piece of pulp fiction. The film itself is…
Thinking Out of the Gearbox
As a fairly recent convert to the joys of stock car racing, I and a growing national fan base have found that the rewards of the sport are nearly endless. Still, NASCAR’s increasing national appeal won’t guarantee it immunity from the number one problem plaguing every American institution: funding. NASCAR’s lifeblood comes from sponsor funding.…
Your Cheatin’ Heart
When NASCAR driver Tony Stewart’s car was impounded by the stock car racing organization in March — for trying to cheat by tricking up the trunk — some members of the racing world reacted as if they’d never heard of such a thing. Sports columnists were “shocked” that this kind of thing was going on…
Poetic Justice
Kicking off the third annual National Book Festival last week, First Lady Laura Bush revealed that her husband had penned a poem for her while she was on a five-day solo trip to Europe. She read the poem to the crowd as the President watched: Roses are red / Violets are blue / Oh my,…
How Kenseth “Came Out of Nowhere”
Most people couldn’t quantify the exact duration of the moment that forever changed their lives. For NASCAR driver Matt Kenseth, the payoff for half a lifetime spent beneath the hood of a car would be decided in less than a tenth of a second — .092 seconds, to be precise. It could have gone either…
A Little Too Specialized
Clubs are on my mind, and I don’t mean the unmarked, after-hours kind you fall into at around 3am, or the “country” kind you fork over a big wedge of your income to so you can leer down the necklines of other rich men’s wives, but the sort you join because you have something in…
Letters to the Editor
Don’t Like It? Leave Nina Hansen (“Germany, The US and Iraq,” Sept. 24) perhaps forgets when the leaders of her nation filled the death camps. Saddam was, by all accounts, the modern day Hitler, as the mass graves and torture chambers confirm. Old Europe forgets the Nazi terrors and they have become drunk with the…
See & Do
OCTOBER 8 – WEDNESDAY Boldly attempting to do what no other female singer has ever done before in Charlotte, Susan Tedeschi kicks off a two-night stand at the Neighborhood Theatre tonight. Tedeschi is a sassy vocalist and songwriter who’s earned a Grammy nomination. She’s become well known for belting out the blues but more recently…
Why So Many Newscasts?
In the broadcasting business, they call them “street Nielsens.” They’re the comments you hear from the neighbor, the friend, or the relative who tells you what they watch on TV and how they watch it. Despite the fact that I toiled for over 22 years in TV news, what you thought about what you accomplished…
Arts Agenda
Classical Music Choral Concert The Chamber Singers and Davidson College Concert Choir will present works by Dawson, Dello Joio, Ferko, Kirbye, and others. Davidson College Presbyterian Church. Wed., Oct. 8, 8 p.m. Free. 704-894-2357. Evelyn Glennie Percussionist brings to life Joseph Schwantner’s Concerto for Percussion. Music Director of the London Chamber Orchestra, Christopher Warren-Green, guest…
No-way on No-call
Suppose Congress asked all Americans to register some of their most personal information with the federal government for it to use however and whenever it wanted. Suppose that information included your name, address, phone numbers, the billing information and history for each phone line you have, your email address, street address, the computer domain and…
Joy Luck Club
I hear it a lot: folks, especially recently relocated ones, complaining about the lack of “good” ethnic restaurants in Charlotte. I usually ask if they’ve ever visited the 4800-4900 block of Central Avenue. In that one block area they would find my favorite Thai restaurant, a large Asian grocery store and fresh market, a Chinese…
The Blotter
IN HOT WATER: Two roommates had an argument recently over who’d get to use the shower first. The loser of the argument left the apartment, but not before stealing money from his bathing roommate. The winner responded by eventually finding the thief, running him over with a car, and beating him with a baseball bat.…
Grape Destination: California
Grapes are a finicky bunch. Unlike tomatoes, which seem happy just to be rooted in the ground, grapes demand meticulous care and constant upkeep. Continuing the series that began last week, this column explores specific California appellations, a fancy term that tells you where grapes grow. Appellations, or a more specific government designation called “American…
News of the Weird
Thinning the herd: A 20-year-old man was killed in Denver during afternoon rush hour on Sept. 1 when he jumped from a car going about 40 mph. According to friends, he had been planning a nonfatal jump for a while because he wanted to endure some trauma in order to muster the courage to get…
Good Eats
All Around Town Anntony’s Caribbean, 400 S. Tryon St., 704-339-0303; 2001 E. 7th St., 704-342-0749. All locations have different owners. A hint of the tropics; rotisserie chicken with Jamaican jerk sauce, ribs, Paradise Island fish special, curries, and Caribbean styled greens. $$ Azteca, 116 Woodlawn Rd., 704-525-5110; 9709 Independence Blvd., 704-814-9877; 1863 W. Franklin Blvd.…
Stargazer
For All Signs This is a stressful month for many, globally as well as individually. It could very well represent the fulcrum of whether or not we choose to care for this planet as our collective home. Saturn, representing material reality of resources is on one side of the earth. It is opposite Chiron, which…
It’s Only Rock & Roll…
There are those things that we all love about music — a wistful melody, a great beat, a toe-tapping rhythm. Perhaps we’re particularly fond of Jeff Buckley’s soaring vocals, or the way Stevie Ray Vaughan’s fingers could make a simple bent note sound like a desperate cry for help. But what about all the other…
Ask the Advice Goddess
Grill Seeker Have you ever heard of a guy taking a woman on a trip, saying he loved her, and not wanting to be intimate? I’m at least vaguely hot, but the (hot) 30-year-old Ph.D. science professor I was dating lost interest in sex for six weeks. He swore it wasn’t me; he just inexplicably…
Travelin’ Band
The Avett Brothers have a ton of cool things going on these days. Just recently, while touring New York City, John Popper of Blues Traveler joined the band on stage. Popper played harmonica with them for a couple of songs. Earlier this month the Avetts traveled to Louisville, KY, to perform at the International Bluegrass…
One For The Dogs
We couldn’t park in the Theatre Charlotte driveway when Nanci Hightower’s new play, Heartworm, opened last week for a four-day engagement. Directed by Maggie Maes of the New York-based ActorsLoftTheatreCompany, the production has an off-Broadway rendezvous scheduled for 2004. Besides the marketing savvy behind the scenes that filled those parking spaces, there are proven commercial…
Music Menu
WEDNESDAY 10.8 Sea of Cortez / The Eastern Seaboard — Nice pairing here of Charlotte’s own atmospheric Sea of Cortez, whose kickass indie take on alt.country might be best described as spaghetti-O western, and the New York City-headquartered free-music band The Eastern Seaboard. Local avant-garde fans and free-jazzbos will really want to check out the…
Hoping Against Hope
Author Lee Smith is quoted on the cover of Tony Abbott’s new novel, Leaving Maggie Hope, saying the book is “the most moving coming-of-age story I have read in many years.” Smith is right on target. Abbott based the story on his own life, and the strength of his memories breathes real life into the…
