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Monday, February 21, 2011
Arts / Debbie Millwater / News Best bets in Charlotte comedy, Feb. 21-27
Posted By Anita Overcash on Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 2:42 PM
As the headline suggests, here are a few of the best places to find comedy events in Charlotte — from stand-up to improv to sketch comedy and more. For a complete listing of all comedy visit www.CharlotteComedyLIVE.com.
Monday, Feb. 21
Hideaway Stand-up Showcase at 8 p.m.
Hosted by Eddie Conz. Featuring Bruce Bellile, D. Moore, Mike Buczek, Lenore Black, Wileek Divine, Danny Swiftt and Chesney Goodson.
Hideaway Bar & Grille ~ 516 River Highway, Mooresville ~ $5 cash at door
Tuesday, Feb. 22
Gorilla Preschool Improv Comedy at 9 p.m.
Shows similar to Whose Line Is It Anyway. The entire direction of the show is dictated by the audience and their suggestions, making it a very funny show.
Petras Piano Bar ~ 1919 Commonwealth Ave., Charlotte ~ $5
Wednesday, Feb. 23
Open Mic at 10 p.m.
Do you have some new material to work out? Sign up at 9:30 p.m.
Jackalope Jacks ~ 1936 E. 7th St., Charlotte ~ Free
Thursday, Feb. 24
The Post President's Day Improv Show by Funny Bone Improv at 8 p.m.
In honor of Presidents' Day, please join Funny Bone Improv for a historical show about life as a politician, life in the revered White House, and life as a womanizer.
The Comedy Zone Fort Mill ~ 900 Crossroads Plaza, Fort Mill ~ Two-for-$10
Friday, Feb. 25 & Saturday, Feb. 26
Tony Tone at The Comedy Zone Fort Mill at 8 p.m. & 10:15 p.m.
With Tony on stage, you never know who might show up: Chris Rock, Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan, Bill Clinton, even Homer and Marge Simpson as you have never heard them before. He has appeared on television shows life: NBC's Later, HBO's Def Comedy Jam, and BET's Comicview.
The Comedy Zone Fort Mill~ 900 Crossroads Plaza, Fort Mill, SC 29708 ~ $10
Saturday, Feb. 26
Improv Comedy by The Chuckleheads at 8 p.m.
The Chuckleheads' In Like a Lion Out Like a Lamb Comedy Improv Variety Extravaganza. So take off your toboggan hat, scarf, ear muffs, parka, gloves, long underwear, and bask in the warmth and sunshine of the Chuckleheads' and their latest comedy improv variety extravaganza.
NoDa at 28th Street ~ 2424 North Davidson St., Suite 110, Charlotte ~ $5 in advance; $10 at the door
Sunday, Feb. 27
Rory Scovel with Steve Forrest at 7 p.m.
Rory Scovel has appeared on Comedy Central's Live at Gotham and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Featuring Steve Forrest, Derek Blackmon and Scott Moran.
Wok Bar ~ 127 N. Tryon St., Charlotte ~ $5 in advance; $10 at the door
Film / Film News / News Charlotte Talks ... about the Oscars
Posted By Web Editor on Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 1:33 PM
Local film critics Matt Brunson, Sean O'Connell and Ann Marie Oliva will discuss the 83rd Annual Academy Awards on Charlotte Talks, with Mike Collins, airing at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 22, on WFAE. Among the movies up for major awards this year are The King's Speech, The Social Network, Black Swan and The Fighter.
The Oscars will be held the evening of Sunday, Feb. 27.
Arts / Today's Top Five / News Today's Top 5: Monday
Posted By Anita Overcash on Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 9:58 AM
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, Feb. 21, 2011 — as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
• JP INC. at Snug Harbor
• Monday Night Allstars at Double Door Inn
• Chubby's Karaoke at Dixie's Tavern
• Monday Night Pint Night at Dandelion Market
• Find Your Muse open mic at The Evening Muse
Friday, February 18, 2011
Film / Film Reviews / News Barney's Version worth hearing
Posted By Matt Brunson on Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 2:56 PM
By Matt Brunson
BARNEY'S VERSION
DIRECTED BY Richard J. Lewis
STARS Paul Giamatti, Dustin Hoffman
Paul Giamatti's excellent performance in Barney's Version recently earned him the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, and he certainly deserved the honor over embarrassingly weak competition. What isn't so clear, however, is why this film was thrust into the Comedy category in the first place.
Film / Film Reviews / News Unknown: Neeson Maxima
Rating: ***
Posted By Matt Brunson on Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 2:56 PM
UNKNOWN
***
DIRECTED BY Jaume Collet-Serra
STARS Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger
I don't mind that Unknown, which builds on Liam Neeson's newly minted status as a tortured action hero, is utterly ridiculous. Why? Because within the constraints of its absurdity, it always manages to play fair with the audience.
This is a radical departure from many contemporary thrillers in which the filmmakers are so focused on the twist ending that they barrel toward that destination with little rhyme or reason. The result is invariably a storyline riddled with plotholes and saddled with, let's face it, a twist that was pretty easy to spot in the first place. But Unknown isn't like that.
It starts with Dr. Martin Harris (Neeson) and his wife (January Jones) arriving in Berlin to attend a conference. A subsequent accident while riding in a taxi cab leaves him with a moderate case of amnesia, able to recall his identity but not the details surrounding the accident — and utterly unable to explain why his wife insists that another man (Aidan Quinn) is the real Martin Harris. Alone in a foreign land, Martin tries to piece the mystery together with the help of the cab driver (Diane Kruger), whose illegal-immigrant status makes her reluctant to get involved, and an elderly private detective (cinema treasure Bruno Ganz), who's hoping to recapture a smidgen of the excitement he enjoyed during his time as a member of the Stasi.
Neeson is as compelling here as he was in his previous Euro-action yarn Taken, and the picture even makes some modest political jabs by presenting Kruger's illegal immigrant as a heroine who's smart, resourceful and tough, an asset to the population of any country. Mostly, though, the film keeps its focus on its central mystery, and when everything is finally explained, we can quietly smile at its outlandishness while simultaneously applauding it for not insulting our intelligence.
Boomer with Attitude / News N.C. study: "homegrown terrorism" threat exaggerated
Posted By John Grooms on Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 2:30 PM
If you have mice in your house, you want to get rid of them, since, otherwise, they’ll get in your food supply, shred things to use in making nests, and crap all over the place. They are a potentially destructive nuisance, and it’s a good idea to do something about them: call an exterminator, put out traps, whatever. What you don’t need to do in this situation is to suddenly think that you are being systematically persecuted by organized hordes of aggressive wharf rats.
That’s the comparison that comes to mind these days when I hear discussions (if you can call them that) about “the terrorist threat to America.” Note that the nearly always-terrified right wing in this country is currently going wild over a scattering of discovered terrorist plans and the occasional, usually failed, attempt at blowing up something. If you want to see how deep the irrationality over this issue can get, check out the comments about an earlier blog post regarding Sue Myrick’s chief of staff leaving to work for an “anti-terror” group that we described as Islamophobic.
Here’s the good news: A new study conclusively shows that the “homegrown terrorism” threat is way overrated. Now the bad news: Hardly anyone is paying attention to the study.
The study, “Muslim American Terrorism Since 9/11: An Accounting,” was put together by the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security (TCTHS), a think tank of experts from Duke, UNC Chapel Hill and RTI International, a research and development arm of Research Triangle Park. You can read the entire report here. The short version is that the number of Muslim-Americans who perpetrated or were arrested for terrorist acts declined sharply in the past year.
Listening to Myrick and her over-caffeinated followers, you’d think that hundreds of American Muslims are being radicalized and taught to engage in violent acts against the U.S. In actuality, 20 Muslim-Americans committed or were arrested for terrorist crimes in 2010, down from 2009’s 47. The study is full of facts and figures that paint a different picture than the one drawn by various anti-Muslim groups, lawmakers and pundits, whose approach to the problem seems to be “Jump up and down — the world is on fire!,” rather than simply taking a look at the actual numbers. One very interesting fact you won’t see mentioned by the “Islam is the boogeyman” crowd is that, since 9/11, tips from the Muslim American community provided information that led to a terrorist plot being thwarted in 48 of 120 cases.
In the study, David Schanzer, the Director of TCTHS, says, “Is this a problem that deserves the attention of law enforcement and the Muslim American community? Absolutely. But Americans should take note that these crimes are being perpetrated by a handful of people who actions are denounced and rejected by virtually all the Muslims living in the United States.” In other words, we have some mice, not an army of organized wharf rats.
As writer Yonat Shimron of Raleigh’s News & Observer noted, the study’s conclusions are similar to reports issued by the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Washington, D.C., which draws on reports from the Congressional Research Service and the conservative Heritage Foundation. Shimron interviewed Alejandro Beutel, a government and policy analyst with the council, who succinctly concluded, "Overall, there is a challenge out there, but it's not a pandemic."
As we’ve written on several occasions, it’s time to cut out the melodrama. The whole point of terrorism is to have a country’s population walking around scared out of their wits. It has become obvious that, in that regard, the Myricks and anti-Muslim groups of this nation — the ones who are currently pitching a fit — have already surrendered. What’s even worse is that at this point, their constant paranoid drumbeat is actually helping terrorists meet their goal of scaring the hell out of Americans.
Arts / News Theater review: Sweeney Todd
Posted By Perry Tannenbaum on Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 11:03 AM
Oklahoma City isn’t quite as pretty as it was when it provided a rhyme for Nat “King” Cole in his recording of “Route ’66” back in the ‘40s. Even since 1979, when Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street captured the Tony Award on Broadway for Best Musical – or since 1989, when CPCC Summer Theatre last brought Sweeney to Charlotte – Oklahoma City has lost most of its poetic cache. By the same measure, thanks to the murderous acts of Timothy McVeigh, Osama Bin Laden, and their demented, vengeful ilk, Sweeney Todd doesn’t seem so odd.
And I would suggest that Todd’s recent counterparts, while robbing Sweeney of his oddness and his melodramatic Victorian patina, have only made the Demon Barber more realistic and frightening. Thankfully, many musicals in the past three decades have re-used the envelope that Sondheim stretched so brilliantly when he introduced the anti-hero to the American scene. So while Sweeney seems more contemporary and relevant in 2011, he has become considerably less shocking.
Directing the current CPCC Theatre production, Tom Hollis doesn’t strain to update the setting or the Dickensian costumes. No, the Halton Theater allows him to present the two-storey partnership between Sweeney and meatpie matron Mrs. Lovett with more chilling realism than panoramic Pease Auditorium could allow as the barber carves up his victims and sends them down the chute to Lovett’s meat grinder. The sheer size of the place obliges Hollis to stage the street scenes with an ensemble of two dozen or more for music director Drina Keen to lead in song and Ron Chisholm to marshal in dance.
Arts / Today's Top Five / News Today's Top 5: Friday
Posted By Anita Overcash on Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 10:04 AM
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, Feb. 18, 2011 — as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
• Closing reception for Showdown exhibit at Hart-Witzen Gallery
• The Jungle Book at Matthews Community Center
• Jill Andrews at The Evening Muse
• Riedel Wine Glass Tasting at Charlotte Mariott City Center
• Comedian Shaun Jones at The Comedy Zone Fort Mill
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Arts / See & Do: The Weekender / News Weekender, Feb. 18-20
Posted By Anita Overcash on Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 4:05 PM
Check out these events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area this weekend— as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
Friday, Feb. 18
Belk Theater
It’s time to hippety-hop around the melting pot block as In The Heights springs its New York-flavored love on the Q.C. The latest in Blumenthal’s Broadway Light Series, this Tony award-winning musical tells the emotionally inspiring tale of families — residents of Manhattan’s ethnic Washington Heights community — struggling, but damned and determined to fulfill their ideals of the American dream.
• Comedy Shaun Jones — performing at The Comedy Zone Fort Mill tonight — can’t keep his mouth shut. But, do we really mind? What comes out it is funny, however offensive it may be. In addition to his stand-up, Jones has starred in feature films like Ace Ventura II: When Nature Calls and Shade. more...
• Visual Arts Hidell Brooks Gallery will celebrate the opening of two new exhibits tonight. This includes My Third Grader Could Do That and Clarksdale Place: Dallas, TX. more...
Saturday, Feb. 19
Neighborhood Theatre
Escape the usual Charlotte routine by adding The Latin American Coalition’s A Night In Rio: The Brazilian Carnival Experience to your agenda. The culturally diverse Brazilian blowout — and, no, nothing’s toxic about this — debuted at Neighborhood Theatre last year. This year, it’s slated to feature traditional dancing, live music (including Brazilian, Samba, Bossa nova), demonstrations of capoeira, authentic foods, arts & crafts and more.
• Film That James Franco fellow sure seems to be everywhere these days. His Oscar-nominated drama 127 Hours is still playing in theaters. He’s set to co-host the Academy Awards ceremony with Anne Hathaway. And Charlotteans now have a chance to further catch him in action as the Charlotte Film Society brings Howl to Theatre Charlotte. This drama casts Franco as Beat poet Allen Ginsberg and jumps back and forth through time to look at his early years as well as the obscenity trial that centered around the publication of his controversial poem “Howl.” more...
• Music Gamer alert! Video Games Live, a Charlotte Symphony concert featuring scores from popular video games, is your solution to a little too much time in front of the TV. The concert event includes exclusive video footage set to music arrangements, synchronized lighting and more. If that’s too inactive for your taste, join in for the interactive segments and be sure to attend the pre- and post- show festival with game demos, a costume contest, game competitions, prizes and a special meet-and-greet with game composers and designers. more...
Sunday, Feb. 20
The Blake Hotel
For those of you who are thirsty for the joys of inebriation comes the Charlotte Bartenders Ball. In its 10th year, the annual alcohol-friendly event includes an open bar with top-shelf liquors, a full line of beers, a dinner buffet (provided by The Men’s Club) and entertainment. Just remember to be safe and don’t drive. Proceeds raised will benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
Film / Film News / Film Reviews / News Poitier film series heats up
Posted By Matt Brunson on Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 3:51 PM
By Matt Brunson
IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (1967)
***1/2
DIRECTED BY Norman Jewison
STARS Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger
That 1967 marked a turning point in motion picture history can be evidenced by merely glancing at the five films nominated that year for the Best Picture Oscar. On one hand, there was The Graduate and Bonnie and Clyde, two electrifying motion pictures that signaled a bold new direction in American cinema; on the other, there was Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and Doctor Dolittle, two badly dated embarrassments that tried (and failed) to retain Old Hollywood charm in a changing world. In hindsight, it's not surprising that the winner turned out to be In the Heat of the Night, which expertly straddled the line by relating an old-fashioned murder-mystery in a jazzy new style.
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