Cover Story
Books Are Making a Comeback in the Queen City
For brick-and-mortar bookstores, the writing was on the wall. It was November 19, 2007, and Amazon had just released the Kindle. The world’s first e-reader sold out in five-and-a-half hours, and shell-shocked industry watchers and members of the reading population predicted that physical books — those archaic construct of bindings, glue and printed pages —…
Bill Murray, Jan Vogler and Friends entertain with wit, classic arts
Performance offers clever appreciation of music and literature.
Night School: Faking the Grade
NIGHT SCHOOL ** (out of four) DIRECTED BY Malcolm D. Lee STARS Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish Tiffany Haddish broke out last year with her terrific turn in the box office hit Girls Trip, while Kevin Hart has proven himself to be a comic force in such endeavors as Central Intelligence and Jumanji: Welcome to the…
American Animals, The Day of the Jackal, Exorcist II: The Heretic among new home entertainment titles
(View From The Couch is a weekly column that reviews what’s new on Blu-ray and DVD. Ratings are on a four-star scale.) AMERICAN ANIMALS (2018). There are many reasons why Clint Eastwood’s The 15:17 to Paris remains one of the worst films to be released thus far this year, but chief among them is that…
The Blotter: Misplaced Intentions
Guessing Game Two men got into an altercation at a gas station in east Charlotte last week after a would-be thief claimed to be confused about where he was supposed to be pumping. According to the report, a 34-year-old man had already paid for his gas at a BP on Cambridge Commons Parkway and as…
Local Brewery Teams Up With Opera Carolina to Brew Bold Beer
On the heels of ushering in new executive director Beth Hansen, Opera Carolina has decided to celebrate its “She Season” of female-character-driven operas with a partnership with Bold Missy Brewery, a female-owned brewery in NoDa. Opera Carolina is a regional opera company that was founded by the Charlotte Music Club in 1948. Over the past…
Listen Up: SideNote Becomes Available on ‘Local Vibes’
Fresh on the heels of releasing her new single, “Unavailable,” Charlotte rapper and singer SideNote [pictured right] gets in the booth with Ryan and Mariah to talk about her upcoming projects, including a new mixtape dropping later this year and a full-length dance album coming in 2019. We also discuss her mom’s chops on the…
News of the Weird: This Is Fine
Do Not Disturb A naked man opened the door to firefighters responding to a house fire in Niceville, Florida, on Aug. 27 and said “I’m sorry” before closing the door in their faces. James Cunningham, 53, later admitted to police he’d had two liters of vodka and had smoked marijuana before trying to bake cookies…
Keeping N.C. Politicians Honest
After Hurricane Florence devastated the eastern part of North Carolina, some of the state’s politicians took to social media and politicized the storm. Some comments focused on hurricane relief funding for the state, or the lack of. Others mentioned laws they believe made North Carolina more vulnerable during a large storm. How valid are their…
Cool Activities to Follow a Hot Summer
After buying way too many groceries in preparation for Hurricane Florence, I’m thankful for a slight breeze during the day and cooler nights. And naturally, on Sept. 22, everyone and their mamas were posting pictures, etc. celebrating the coming of fall. You know, memes like, “Gotta love fall. You can go from wearing the same…
Fran Scibelli Adheres to Her Own Palate
Fran Scibelli constantly thinks about food. And as the owner of Fran’s Filling Station, that’s a good thing. She was once a white collar criminal defense attorney in Washington, D.C., but thought, mid-divorce, that she should do the thing she thought she would love the most. Her brother was already in the restaurant industry in…
Pullover Plans To Revisit Rom-Coms of Years Past With New Album
The band formerly known as Melt was once a side project that bloomed from the mind of Phil Pucci, but after the lineup changed and new members joined in 2017, it was a side project no more. It was time to rebrand. The band is now Pullover, an indie rock outfit comprised of Pucci on…
Salome’s Stars
Aries (March 21 to April 19) Your Aries charm helps persuade others to listen to your proposal. But it’s still a long way from acceptance, unless you can stand up to the tough questions that are set to follow. Taurus (April 20 to May 20) Plan to share a weekend getaway from all the pressures…
Brad Panovich Talks Florence, Trolls and Global Warming
Brad Panovich is a sucker for severe weather. As a 6-year-old child in Ohio, it was the Blizzard of ’78 that inspired him to work in weather. He moved to Charlotte from New Orleans to work as a meteorologist at local NBC affiliate WCNC in December 2002 in the midst of a harsh ice storm…
