Good Eats
All Around Town Anntony’s Caribbean, 400 S. Tryon St., 704-339-0303; 2001 E. 7th, 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. (Gastonia),…
Pills and PR
It’s been a regular celebration around here. Three times in the last month, elected officials have gathered to praise their excellent emergency plans and their readiness in case of terrorist attack. Like most other municipalities in the shadow of nuclear plants, our emergency planners insist there’s no need to change or expand our nuclear evacuation…
Too Much of Nothing
Fans of live music may wince when they hear it, but the most popular musical events in town are often held at places like Liquid Lounge, Mythos, Time Lounge and Aqua. Whether it’s a guest DJ or just a house man, DJs spinning records keep a lot of people coming uptown, spending the evening having…
The Blotter
No Easy Grades: A local middle school teacher might have reason to think twice before giving her students another difficult assignment. It seems that when she instructed one of her students to complete an assignment in class, the student became angry and began to punch his teacher in the face and arm. A simple “no…
Only Human
The usual suspects were on hand in Macon, Georgia, recently when a life-size statue of Otis Redding was unveiled at a local park. The Redding family and a smattering of dignitaries, politicians, news media and fans were present. But one person who didn’t receive an invitation to the ceremony was Scott Freeman, the author of…
News of the Weird
Big money: Among the personal items that former Tyco International chief executive L. Dennis Kozlowski bought and charged to the company (without authorization, the company said in September) were two New York City apartments ($24 million), a Boca Raton, Fla., house ($29 million), furnishings and renovations ($14 million), a travel toiletries box ($17,000), an umbrella…
Music Menu
WEDNESDAY 10.9 Richard Buckner — Buckner’s last record, a straight-on musical interpretation of Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology, was an underrated release, perhaps due to the record’s sequencing. For the uninitiated, Buckner’s strained, bear-like yowl is hard to mistake — like Jay Farrar of Son Volt, it’s as much an instrument as the guitars…
Soundboard
Wednesday, Oct. 9 Bankers Raw Bar 24-Jam-22 Cajun Queen 7th Street Gator Band Cajun Queen, Pineville 7th Street Gator Band II Charleston Chops, Cornelius Kent Steel Comet Grill Scott Dailey Connolly’s On Fifth Backyard Green Dixie’s Tavern Rachel Garcia Trio * Double Door Inn Scott Carpenter & The Real McCoys * The Evening Muse The…
See & Do
OCTOBER 9 – WEDNESDAY The Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte will present Moises Kaufman’s drama, The Laramie Project, based on the experiences of a small town in Colorado after the killing of Matthew Shepard, today through October 27 at Spirit Square. Tonight’s performance will be followed by a wine & cheese reception, and each Thursday show…
Appetite For Destruction
There were plenty of better movies to come out of the 1980s than Manhunter, but that well-crafted 1986 thriller — the first movie to bring Hannibal Lecter and his monstrous appetite to the big screen — does have the distinction of featuring not one but two sequences that still remain branded on my mind after…
What’s the Difference?
It’s very difficult to compare same-sex couples and heterosexual couples, particularly when trying to determine which are better at developing loving, lasting relationships that can lead to successful marriages. As I mentioned in last week’s column, we have no real statistics on how long gay couples stay together compared to their heterosexual counterparts. So how…
Society Celebration
Twenty years ago, Ronald Reagan was still president, Dallas and Dynasty ruled primetime television, and the independent film movement was still a couple of years away from exploding all over the American landscape. But while names like Jim Jarmusch and Spike Lee had yet to find their way into national newspaper reviews and magazine essays,…
Stargazer
For All SignsVenus, goddess of love, turns retrograde October 10 and remains so through November 20. This event occurs approximately every 18 or 19 months. During her ebb periods we reflect on our personal needs with respect to partnerships. Meanwhile, it is common for ongoing relationships to shift toward neutral or even into temporary reversal.…
Film Clips
NEW RELEASES THE FAST RUNNER To state that The Fast Runner (a.k.a. Atanarjuat) is primarily notable as the first major release to be shot in the Inuktitut language is to pay disservice to its staggering visuals, among the most breathtaking to be seen on the big screen in a while. And yet to state that…
Karma Cleanser
Dear Karma Cleanser:I’m going through a rough time: bad blood with family members, rocky dealings with co-workers, a bad divorce still not far enough in the past. On the advice of a friend, I started going to a non-denominational church. I’m not normally much of a religious person, but I do like this laid-back congregation’s…
Be Creative Or Die
For years, Charlotte’s leaders have wanted to attract certain kinds of people to the Queen City: successful married couples in their 30s and 40s, people with children, stable jobs and middle-to-upper level incomes. Fifteen to 20 years ago, that was fine. But not anymore, says Richard Florida, professor of regional economic development at Carnegie Mellon…
Plumbing The Depths
If you went to a women’s college or ever lived in a girls’ dorm, you know part of this story. But not the best part. The best part is author Lee Smith herself, and her new book is her most delicious novel yet. In The Last Girls, Smith is even more daring than usual, more…
Room for Improvement
Here are your options: An eclectic city with a dynamic music and arts scene, an energized nightlife and quaint historic districts, or a buttoned-down city dotted with big-box retailers, strip malls and monolithic, stand-alone stadiums. If you’re looking for a place to live, which one do you choose? Or, to look at it another way,…
Land Left Behind
Ron Rash writes like a landscape painter and it is the land that is the heart of this haunting tale of love, murder and loss. The characters in his story are motivated by a yearning to leave some part of themselves in this world after they are gone, something connected to the valleys and mountains…
Drug War Goes Prime Time
Sergeant Joe Friday would probably flip in his fictional grave at the sight of HBO’s new cop show, which just concluded its first season last month. The Wire looks at the war on drugs as it is waged in the inner cities of Baltimore by an inter-agency team of federal agents and local police officers.…
Balls And Chain
There are two basic strains of wildness: natural, savage wildness and twisted, demented wildness. Plenty of both kinds are on the loose up in NoDa in strikingly different productions by BareBones Theatre Group and the brash new innerVoices Theatre Company. So there is consolation for the end of Charlotte Shout in our city’s Bohemia. But…
Lazes Touts Elmwood Area
City government is adamant about building a new arena downtown. Among the supposed benefits would be a substantial addition to Charlotte’s existing, downtown entertainment district, complete with thriving new businesses like restaurants, retail and nightclubs. But according to entertainment entrepreneur Noah Lazes of Ark Management, that might not be the outcome, due to the high…
Flesh for fantasy
Seeing Willem de Kooning’s work up close and personal is primarily a visceral experience. The difference between scanning reduced reproductions and seeing his drawings live is the difference between another’s description of eating raw oysters and eating one yourself. Textbook dollops of his paintings will rouse interest for anyone with eyes in his head, but…
Sights Seeing
Last Wednesday night, I decided to head down to the venerable old Fat City Deli to see the sights. Actually, to be truthful, I went to see a band called Asteroid No. 4 along with The Sights, a Detroit band that deserves a much bigger audience for their Stooges meets Stones swagger than the one…
Arts Agenda
Classical Music Charlotte Symphony Performs Mahler’s Third Symphony Featuring contralto, Renee Morloc, women of the Oratorio Singers of Charlotte and members of the Charlotte Children’s Choir. Oct. 11-12, 8 p.m. $12-60. Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, 130 N. Tryon St. 704-972-2000. Davidson College Concert Choir and Chamber Singers An annual choral concert of music from the…
Letters To The Editor
Be Civil! I am compelled to respond to Elizabeth Chapel’s column, “Wedding Bell Blues” (Talk of the Town, September 25). I am one of those she referred to as a “Stepford Wife” who “got married young, and turned stupid.” I have a college degree, read at least a book a week and the daily newspaper.…
Outside The Box
Traveling east on Independence Boulevard through Matthews you pass the successful new and already crowded Sycamore Commons Shopping Center on the left. Up a bit on the right, just before the I-485 exchange, is an older shopping center with a forlorn vacant big box backsplash still fronted by a number of hopeful out-parcel businesses. One…
Run For Their Lives
On an overcast afternoon, nine elementary school girls are sitting cross-legged in a circle on the bright blue track at Hawthorne Middle School. Topic of the day: Spirituality. “How is it like electricity?” asks Girls on the Run (GOTR) instructor Dana Baker. “You can’t see it,” pipes up one girl. “It gives you energy,” offers…
Cheesy Side of Wine
Pretty often, I hanker for a hunk a cheese. Something about that creamy, protein-enriched mouthfeel converts me over to cheese worship. So it’s perfect that my two favorite flavors are a match made in heaven: wine and cheese. Although stringent food and wine pairings are not my bag, it is what readers ask about with…
Trainspotting
Transit is back in the news. Everybody wants trains. The chorus of Charlotte’s conservative naysayers has been drowned out by the public’s clamor for light rail to come to a stop near them. Or at least, nearly drowned out. Only The Rhinoceros Times has been carrying the flickering torch of the transit-bashers, providing space for…
