Friday, June 27

Film

WALL-E: To sum it up in one word: Pixar. The animation house consistently offers great flicks (See: Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, Monsters Inc.), and this new Pixar venture should be no exception. But if that’s not enough for you, here’s the rundown: Cute robot WALL-E and fellow mechanical pal Eve are faced with the task of trying to save humanity and the environment. That’s right, the environment. And your butt. Because everyone is going green, even the robots. WALL-E is solar-powered and spends his days picking up your trash on a future earth that resembles a dumpster. Now, don’t you feel bad about not recycling that plastic bottle rolling around the backseat of your car? Yeah, thought so. Local theaters. www.charlotte.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/Film.

Find more in Film.

Music

East Coast Dirt: Asheville-based funk and jam quartet’s self-coined “sneaker boogaloo” is a whirling, twirling weave of free jazz, rock guitar, Latin elements, bopping percussion, drum ’n’ bass sprinkles, and spacey psychedelic detours. That’s an earful, but the veteran musicians ably coax the parts into a whole and an adventurous vibe is born. Paradigm will open. Double Door Inn. www.doubledoorinn.com. Find more in Music.

Arts

Andean Art: Artist Carlos Herrera Burgos moved from Peru to Charlotte in 2006. His 20-foot mural (created after receiving a grant from the Charlotte Arts & Science Council), depicts his own memories of Peru and Andean culture, along with other pieces of his art. Today is the last day it will display at Pura Vida Worldly Art. Colorful, unique and full of surprises — his art is definitely the type that should be stared down. Be sure to check out this exhibit before it’s gone. Pura Vida Worldly Art. www.puravidaart.com. Find more in Arts.

Food

Del Frisco’s: Enjoy straightforward steakhouse fare paired with a glamorous, fine-dining experience. Don’t skip the famous shrimp cocktail and crab cakes. 4725 Piedmont Row Dr. 704-552-5502. Find more in Food.

Saturday, June 28

Film

Opening this week: Before the Rains, Mongol, and Wanted. Visit your favorite theater and be one of the first in Charlotte to catch these flicks. Local theaters. www.charlotte.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/Film. Find more in Film.

Music

Hammerlock: Cali’s redneck punk rockers, led by good ol’ boy and good ol’ gal couple Travis (guitar, vocals) and Liza Kenney (bass, vocals), have been trouncing crowds with their Southern-fried sleaze rock since forming in the unlikely, decidedly un-Southern burb of San Francisco in the mid-’90s. Somewhere in the Bay Area Southern rock had a head on collision with metal and punk to sprout Hammerlock. Also on the bill: The Flat Tires and Deviltones. Milestone. www.themilestoneclub.com. Find more in Music.

Arts

He said, she said: Love is tricky, especially when you’re forced to dress in drag just to be close to the one you love. Shakespeare had quite a mind for irony, didn’t he? Twelfth Night opened this week, and if you haven’t had any exposure to the Bard since high school, skip that showing of You Don’t Mess With The Zohan and improve your cultural worldview. Passion, mistaken identity and cross-dressing star-crossed lovers make for a good night. A good twelfth night, if you will. 8 p.m., $10-$15. Theatre Charlotte. www.theatrecharlotte.com. Find more in Arts.

Food

Thai Orchid: Consistently tasty and offers a wide selection, including many vegetarian options. Don’t miss their signature mussel dish. 4223 Providence Road. 704-364-1134. Find more in Food.

Sunday, June 29

Film

Wild Wild West: The Main Library’s annual Summer Film Series is back, this time riding tall in the saddle. This year’s program is Once Upon a Time in the West: Great Hollywood* Westerns (* and one Italian), offering 11 oaters over the course of nine Sundays. This week’s installment is 1954’s Johnny Guitar, starring Joan Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge. The two leading ladies play rival landowners feuding over a stretch of barren wilderness. Tough-as-nails pioneer women deserve their own Western too, and Johnny Guitar plays like a “fever dream” in tones of fiery red. Free. 2 p.m. ImaginOn, www.plcmc.org. Find more in Film.

Music

Jill Scott: True, Scott’s music does contain lots of “can-do” rhetoric — she can even “stain and polyurethane,” as she sings in “The Fact Is (I Need You)” off of 2004’s Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Volume II — that could be misconstrued, upon first listen, as mere cocksure artifice. However, Scott doesn’t make these proclamations by claiming that she can do any of these things better than you — knuckle-headed separatist boasting being the Achilles heel of most current soul — but that she can, in fact, do them, and furthermore can do anything she damn well wants to — which, it seems, includes releasing beautifully human contemporary soul records that espouse positivity over posturing, sensuality over sexuality, and emotional heft over erotic huff and puff. Ovens Auditorium. www.ovensauditorium.com. Find more in Music.

Arts

Dangerous Journey: Indiana Jones has nothing on 63-year-old Helen Thayer! In her newest book, Walking The Gobi, 63-year-old Helen Thayer (named by National Geographic as “One of the great explorers of the 20th century”) crossed 1,600 miles of Mongolia’s Gobi Desert (with obvious drawbacks: heat, dehydration, sand, scorpions, drug smugglers, etc.). Having lived to tell about the journey, Thayer will be signing copies of her book and answering questions for anyone wanting to hear about her adventure. Free. 1 p.m. Joseph-Beth Booksellers. www.josephbeth.com. Find more in Arts.

Food

Ilios Noche: Small, but exceptional, Greek-Italian contemporary bistro owned by Culinary Institute of America-trained Chefs Stratos Lambos and Angelo Kaltsounis. Fabu appetizers, wood-grilled entrees, pizzas, and house-made pastries. 11508 Providence Road. 704-814-9882. Find more in Food.