View From The Couch
I MARRIED A MONSTER FROM OUTER SPACE (1958). The notion that a person can never truly know his or her spouse is elevated to a disturbing degree in this popular cult film that, like I Walked With a Zombie, has the unfortunate distinction of being a quality picture saddled with a wretched title. Far from…
More Than Bobcats
Take a new NBA basketball team, hire TV staff, and stir. It’s been a quick evolution from a press conference in March to now, as C-SET, the regional “sports and entertainment” cable network built around the Charlotte Bobcats, hits the air mid-October. Naomi Travers, executive vice president of media rights and entertainment for the Bobcats…
Bank On This
Just as the Italian banking family the Medicis were major underwriters of the Renaissance, today Bank of America holds an incredible collection of contemporary art that has expanded as the bank has merged with other banks. In the lobby of Hearst Tower through Saturday, October 30, the Bank of America Gallery is presenting a tremendous…
Film Clips
NEW RELEASES MR. 3000 / WIMBLEDON These comedies may be set in the worlds of, respectively, baseball and tennis, yet they both bring to mind the sport of auto racing in that they’re strictly Formula One. Yet besides showcasing lots of balls (come to think of it, so does A Dirty Shame), these movies are…
Bricks and Mortar
When they finally figure out what’s going on, the folks in the suburbs are going to freak out. I mean, they’re going to just flat-out lose it. But by then, it will be too late. Their kids will be on buses, headed to inner city schools, where they’ll play a part in a large-scale desegregation…
Arts Agenda
Classical Music Alfonso Lopez Violinist Lopez, concertmaster of the Venezuelan Symphony orchestra in Caracas, will perform with Michelle Tabor (piano) in a program of European and Hispanic music. Mon., Sept. 27, 8 p.m. Free, donations accepted. Belmont Abbey Basilica, 100 Belmont-Mount Holly Rd., Belmont. 704-334-3468. Celebration of Sacred Music Featuring eight area choirs, choral and…
Not appearing here anytime soon
“ALIEN,” in Merriam Webster’s dictionary, denotes someone/thing: 1 a : belonging or relating to another person, place, or thing : STRANGE b : relating, belonging, or owing allegiance to another country or government : FOREIGN 2 : differing in nature or character typically to the point of incompatibility. The Department of Homeland Security estimates there…
The Winds of Change
Americans admire Tony Blair. The British Prime Minister is probably more popular in the States than at home, where his policies on Iraq and his detested liaison with George W. Bush have cost him dearly at the polls. Progressive British voters, once the core of Blair’s two landslide victories, have deserted him in droves, shocked…
Can’t Go Home Again
When Asheville native Thomas Wolfe wrote You Can’t Go Home Again, he meant it. In an earlier novel, he had written a thinly veiled and damn-ing depiction of the residents of his hometown. Trashing a place always makes it harder to return. Time also makes it hard to return, and not all returns to the…
Flash: Music and sports mix!
After I wrote a cover story a couple of weeks back in which I attempted to “predict” the 2004-2005 Carolina Panthers season, I got two reactions from people, examples of which follow.”I didn’t know you like sports. Man, what do you think of the Seahawks’ chance to win it all? They have a good “D,”…
Letters
Digging Deep Thank you for your continuing coverage of “Spread Your Wings, the Breast Cancer Benefit (“Being for the Benefit Of,” Scene & Herd, Sept. 15, by Timothy C. Davis). I don’t speak for the event here, and am pleased at their coverage, so I agonized about mentioning this small little issue. I think it…
Humble Pie
Arguably, frozen pizza bears little, if any, resemblance to fresh, hand-stretched pizza that is cooked on stone in a wood burning oven. But there are times we are just lazy and want to ramp up the oven, pop in a frozen pie, and watch a game or a movie. My fearless taste-tester sidekick did not…
Laugh or Cry
“I don’t know whether to laugh or cry” — a saying we’ve all heard a thousand times — has become a kind of personal mantra during this election season. Rather, I should say it’s become more of a personal mantra than usual. Even in less combative times, most political discussions would send me into a…
News of the Weird
Power of a nap: Business prospects are improving for Christopher Lindhoist and Arshad Chowdhury, who recently opened their Metronaps lounge on the 24th floor of New York City’s Empire State Building and whose clients pay $14 to relieve stress by dozing off for 20 minutes in private, specially made, reclining chair-pods with an array of…
Shell Game
Ever wonder why you never see cashews in their shells? You can find just about any other nuts — from almonds to walnuts — in their shells, but not cashews. There’s a good reason for that.First, a bit of cashew background: Cashews are closely related to mangoes and pistachios. India and Brazil account for about…
Word On The Street
Sarah Linstrehm Software Salesperson “Well, I guess there’s always cannibalism. They could do it in kind of a Survivor format and call it Bite Me.” Taylor Scoggins Graduate Student “I heard they’ve already started filming one named Honeymoon Lodge up in the small town of Cousin Hump, West Virginia.” Stan Perrine Building Contractor “Hmm, let’s…
Yankee girl makes mean peach cobbler
I know what you’re thinking: No way a girl from Philadelphia can make a Southern boy get down on his hands and knees, beggin’ for more of her fine peach cobbler. But this recipe is so good I even surprised myself.Infused with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and bourbon, the fruit holds its shape and peachy characteristics.…
The Blotter
DESPERATE MEASURES: Upon seeing a hothead hooligan grab an 18-pack of beer and attempt to leave without paying, a clerk locked his convenience store’s front door. Realizing he was trapped, the lame-brain lout dropped the beer, and proceeded to throw a 12-pack of Coke at the front door, shattering the glass. The police report, unfortunately,…
Best Wines of 2004
With election season upon us, it’s time to get serious about voting. But forget the races for Senate, Congress and President; I’m picking winners in the world of wine. I’ve offered up several deserving of high office, hoping you consider them for your votes. If you have a write-in candidate that you prefer, let me…
See & Do
SEPTEMBER 22 – WEDNESDAY The good folks behind Folkin’ Vote! bill tonight’s event as one of “music, politics and voter registration.” But where many voter registration drives toe the politically correct “let’s avoid mention of who you’re actually voting for” line, this event wants the performers to wear their politics on their sleeves, T-shirts, songs,…
Good Eats
All Around Town Anntony’s Caribbean, 6434-F West Sugarcreek Rd., 704-598-6863; 2001 E. 7th St., 704-342-0749. 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), 704-866-7574. A favorite of…
Ask the Advice Goddess
He Shrinks the World of You I agree with your advice to the woman with an extremely jealous fiance — that he could get dangerous, and she should get out immediately — but I’m wondering what to think about subtler stuff. My boyfriend of two months and I have been fighting about issues I’ve never…
Americanarama
Dave Alvin shuns labels, lives for live gigs By John Schacht Dave Alvin really doesn’t give a damn what they call his music. The way he sees it, he’s just been upholding a long-standing tradition, first as a member of the punkabilly happy Blasters, and then as a solo artist over the two decades since…
Stargazer
For All Signs It is striking that two planets, Mars and Jupiter, will be entering the sign of Libra this week. Mars, the original god of war, moves into Libra on the 26th. Jupiter, planet of generosity and expansion will move into Libra on the 24th. The pair in the sign of Libra represents considerable…
King of Contradictions
Satisfaction, that’s the thing — isn’t it? Yet, however close we seem, satiation seems still farther away. Try as we might to please those around us — or perhaps because we try? — we often fail to please ourselves. Is it a quirk of our consumerist culture or does this pathology reside deep within us?…
Three Striking Acts
For a Tony Award drama that’s provoking more than its share of righteous Bible Belt babble, Richard Greenberg’s Take Me Out is a disarmingly reverent experience. Taking its cue from PBS’s stately Baseball miniseries directed by Ken Burns, Greenberg takes our national pastime and shows it to us as emblematic of the glories, failures and…
Sit & Spin
Interpol Antics Matador Thank God for darkness in rock & roll. Thank God for Jimmy Page and his stupid Alistair Crowley fixation and hammer-of-the-gods riffing. Thank God for every bluesman who ever sang with a “crawling king-snake moan.” Thank God for Joy Division, whose music ably coupled the two words in their name with astonishing…
Request Denied
Phillip Boulding isn’t a hothead. In fact, Boulding was raised by two pacifists, university professors who were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. In a way, he resembles Kris Kristofferson and has an extremely patient, ultimately sympathetic manner of speech. At 51, Boulding spends his days in Olalla, WA, with his wife and musical partner…
Music Menu
WEDNESDAY 9.22 Folkin’ Vote! — This voter registration event features a host of local musicians (David Childers, Jeff Williams, John Morris, Michael Reno Harrell and many more) putting their politics where their mouths and music are. Apparently, they call it Democracy. For more information, go to our See & Do section this week. The Evening…
World Stage Without the World
Have you been jonesing for Cubanismo, the Afro-Cuban All Stars, Los Van Van, Chucho Valdes, Ibrahim Ferrer, or Omara Portuondo? Don’t bother checking your concert calendar. They won’t be here. Phrases like “virtual impossibility,” “near impossibility” and “Kafkaesque” come up when you ask presenters and booking agents about bringing Cuban artists into the United States…
Soundboard
Wednesday, Sep. 22 Amos’ Southend Aither and Parallel Blue Melinda Hansen, Royce Guin, Korey Dudley & Rob Knox The Boardroom Bar & Bistro David Harper Breakfast Club DJ Boney B Bricktop Lounge DJ Christian and Brigmunton City Tavern, Lake Norman Scott McCloud Group Comet Grill Open Mic w/ Bill McDonald Double Door Inn The Painkillers…
Another Anchor Flies Channel 3 Coop
WBTV is losing another weekday anchor to a bigger market, following Jan Jeffcoat later this month. Shannon Bream is now permanently off the 5pm anchor desk until she leaves the station October 19 for a new job at WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. “I’ll miss WBTV, my co-workers and buddies here,” she told me, “but (WRC)…
Baltimore Ravin’
Beer commercials and Lara Croft video game simulations to the contrary, there’s no getting around the fact that the United States is a country that’s puritanical to the core. When the general populace can become outraged over the brief glimpse of a nipple on Super Bowl Sunday, or would consider a blowjob in the Oral…
Night of the Living Hugo
Fifteen years ago, on the afternoon of September 21, 1989, a Charlotte radio announcer warned that “tomorrow morning will be wet, wild and windy” — Hurricane Hugo was due to hit Charleston that night and then lose strength dramatically as it moved inland. Instead, after devastating Charleston, Hugo headed up I-77 and raked Charlotte with…
Food For Thought
In the foreign release Kitchen Stories, a team of Swedes in the early 1950s, pulling identical campers behind their sedans, depart en masse for the hinterlands of Landstad, Norway. Their mission: unraveling the profound mysteries of Norwegian kitchen routines. The Home Research Institute is a kind of Swedish answer to Betty Crocker, studying the kitchen…
On the road
The South is… Stone Mountain, Georgia, a shrine to the Confederacy. It’s Auburn Avenue in Atlanta and Selma, Alabama, hallowed ground for the Civil Rights movement. And, it’s Freedom Tower on Miami’s Biscayne Boulevard, the symbol of Cubans’ flight from Fidel Castro’s tyranny. The South is … crawfish etoufee and beignets in New Orleans, black…
