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Monday, February 11, 2008
News The stimulus plan
Posted By Kimberly Lawson on Mon, Feb 11, 2008 at 12:08 PM
– Cartoon by Jim Hunt
Music Oh, just shut up, Sarah
Posted By John Grooms on Mon, Feb 11, 2008 at 12:01 PM
I've written and edited hundreds of stories about popular music, and taught popular music history, for three decades, and have helped launch and organize musical events. So
Hancock upset favorites Amy Winehouse and Kanye West with his River: The Joni Letters album. Here is what Aarthun — she of four photos in the first four pages of last week's E&T — said about Hancock's award: "Has anyone heard the album? It's not even original material! He ripped off Joni Mitchell."
"Has anyone heard the album?"!? Umm, yes, Miz Sarah, in fact lots of people have heard it — maybe because the music press has written it up repeatedly since it was released in September. "Ripped off Joni Mitchell"? That's hard to do when Joni Mitchell actually sings on the album — and was reportedly thrilled with the Hancock project.
Now, I was hoping Amy Winehouse would win album of the year, and, along with many other music fanatics, didn't think Hancock's River album deserved it. But not even to have heard of one of the most talked-about albums of the year (at least in the real music press, not in the gossip columns that are Aarthun's specialty) and to flaunt that ignorance, not just publicly but in a smug way, is more than this one music fan can tolerate. But that's what the daily paper gets for sending a mannequin to do a real writer's job.
News CMS in the Toronto Star
Posted By Karen Shugart on Mon, Feb 11, 2008 at 10:32 AM
The resegregation of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools was the subject of a story Sunday in the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. It doesn't say much that locals wouldn't already know (or at least have guessed), but it's always interesting to see how folks elsewhere see Charlotte:
Manners and civility are prized; accents are thick as buttermilk.
Heh.
News If I were a Democrat in Mecklenburg County, I'd be embarassed
Posted By Cheris Hodges on Mon, Feb 11, 2008 at 10:02 AM
With the fallout over the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's race causing the resignation of the head of the county's head donkey, it makes you wonder how many other elections have been jacked up by the party.
I'm glad I never registered as a Democrat. When I first registered to vote in North Carolina, it was right around the time that you were able to sign up as unaffiliated. Some people, including my Republican friend Lauren, thought it was a bad idea. Granted, I vote for more Democrats than Republicans, but at least I don't have to worry about getting laughed at when I head to the polls in May for the primaries.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Arts Fools in love: The crowded Valentine's weekend schedule
Posted By Perry Tannenbaum on Fri, Feb 8, 2008 at 5:07 PM
If you don't know the difference between Alvin Ailey and Edward Albee or alban elved, the glut of performing arts scheduling in the Metrolina area next weekend is merely confusing. To those of us with an active interest in all three, it's a dense jungle of cultural delights, too lush to be completely enjoyed. The latest delectation to be piled onto the super-heavy menu, never mind that Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is doing two different programs on the same dates, is the North Carolina Dance Festival at UNC-Charlotte, February 15-16.
They're doing two different programs, too, showcasing 13 dance organizations from Wilmington to Asheville. alban elved, an audience favorite since the ancient days of Moving Poets Theatre of Dance, will represent Wilmington on Friday at Anne Belk Theatre at Robinson Hall. On the bill that night are visitors from Asheville (Nelson Reyes), Winston-Salem (Christina Tsoules Soriano), and Raleigh (Talani Torres) -- and three Charlotte contingents (E.E. Balcos/EEMotion, Sybil Huskey, and the N.C .Dance Theatre Repertory Ensemble). Saturday night's lineup includes emissaries from Greensboro (Heidi Godfrey), Winston-Salem (Cara Hagen), and Durham (Niki Juralewicz), with Charlotte's Caroline Calouche, Alice Howes, and Martha Connerton/Kinetic Works.
Pricing puts you there both nights for less than a prime Ailey seat: $12 for general public on each of the two nights, $10 for faculty/staff, and $5 for seniors/students.
So host UNC-Charlotte and their N.C. Dance Festival managers, Greensboro-based N.C. Dance Project, get an A for Economics.
On quality, I'm just too booked at the Royal Shakespeare Residency at Davidson (where Albee keynotes Saturday morning) and the PAC's Belk (where Ailey's on tap) to even peep in on those performances. F for planning!
Didn't mention Actor's Theatre's Gem of the Ocean or CPCC's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, did I? I'll catch them sometime during their multiweek runs. But the Invasion of the 24-Hour Theatre Project at Theatre Charlotte? Not a chance. Same goes for Dances of India at JCSU, and Opera Carolina's Love Notes.
There's just so much love an arts lover can take in over Valentine's Day weekend.
Random Dumb Sh*t But what if I want to be fat AND lazy?
Posted By Natalie Howard on Fri, Feb 8, 2008 at 4:52 PM
Forget using modern science towards medicine. No, what we really need is a more efficient way to be carnivorous and caffeinated. Introducing the next best reason since cellphones for your car insurance rates to go up — the combo chicken nuggets and Coke cup, The Col-Pop. Yeah. Dead McBirds and corn syrup combined in one handy-dandy container.
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News News Roundup, 2/8/08
Posted By Contributing Intern on Fri, Feb 8, 2008 at 3:35 PM
Six dead as gunman 'goes to war' with Missouri city
In Kirkwood, Mo. on the night of Feb. 6, lone gunman Charles Lee Thornton killed two police officers, a councilwoman and a public works director. He critically wound Mayor Mike Swoboda. The gunman's brother Gerald Thornton told CNN, "The only way that I can put it in a context that you might understand is that my brother went to war tonight with the people that were of the government that was putting torment and strife into his life."
Congress sends stimulus bill to Bush
The economic stimulus package was approved by the Senate and on Feb. 6 the House passed it also. The bill is now sitting on the president's desk waiting for his signature. The package is a rebate check for people who have an income between $3,000 and $75,000 in the amounts of $300 to $600 , plus $300 per child. Couples earning up to $150,000 would get $1,200. Other groups to recive rebate checks are 20 million Social Security beneficiaries and 250,000 handicapped veterans and their widows.
N.C. High School Dropout Rate Increases In 2006-07; CMS Dropout Rate Up
The North Carolina dropout rate of 5.24 percent in 2006-2007 was the highest in five years. The number of dropouts during the 2006-2007 school year was the highest in seven years among N.C. high school students. The numbers indicate that Charlotte-Mecklenburg School dropouts are growing. They also show that most dropouts are African-American. Superintendent Peter Gorman said the district must do a better job of reaching out to at-risk children.
— Kia Moore
News So, what's a foreskin among family?
Posted By John Grooms on Fri, Feb 8, 2008 at 3:19 PM
[SATIRE ALERT!]
Why can't the government butt out of people's private business?
OK, so maybe Moore lorded his power over his women a little too enthusiastically. I'm sure Mike Huckabee and his local fundamentalist fans understand. Moore's example harkens back to the good old days: when a neighbor came over to see what's going on, you shot him. All Moore did was threaten his neighbors — if you ask me, they're lucky they're not laid out on a slab in the morgue. You just don't fool around with a rugged guy who represents all that's good about our patriarchal heritage.
News Local author and radio host Cooper Lawrence discusses her latest book
Posted By Maria Fisichello on Fri, Feb 8, 2008 at 12:03 PM
As a radio host, author, relationship and psychology expert, Cooper Lawrence is always on the go. She is a regular guest and expert on CNN Headline News’s Showbiz Tonight
Lawrence says the inspiration for her new book, Cult of Perfection: Making Peace With Your Inner Overachiever, was a combination of her Ph.D studies on developmental psychology and her female listeners. “The idea grew from my radio show which led to my research,” Lawrence explains. “My listeners don’t realize how unique they are. They think they are just doing what must be done in everyday life; they don’t realize how extraordinary they are to be mothers and career women and good role models.”
News Who says don't judge a book by its cover?
Posted By Maria Fisichello on Fri, Feb 8, 2008 at 11:47 AM
Creative Loafing is proud to announce that Just Can't Get Enough, a novel by our very own Cheris Hodges has been nominated for cover of the year! The Emma Awards, the premier awards event for writers and readers of black romance, will be handed out at this year's Romance Slam Jam in Chicago beginning April 30. Hopefully, Cheris will bring an Emma home!
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Atlantic City's boardwalk suffers fate similar to Charlotte's 2
A storm destroyed the Queen City's own boardwalk almost 80 years ago
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Now taking submissions for the third annual FILTERED photo contest
DEADLINE EXTENDED UNTIL SUNDAY!
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Flintlocks firing and autopsies: A Q&A with Manifest Destiny artist Matthew Roberts
On the look of the book, creating the monsters and more.
