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Friday, May 4, 2012
Film / Film Reviews Weekend Film Reviews: The Avengers; Damsels in Distress
Posted By Matt Brunson on Fri, May 4, 2012 at 3:28 PM
- Marvel & Disney
- The Avengers
Click on the title to be taken directly to the review.
Arts Passion takes over Duke Energy Theater
Posted By Anita Overcash on Fri, May 4, 2012 at 10:30 AM
Queen City Theatre Company is no stranger to dramatic stagings, so Stephen Sondheim's Passion doesn't fall out of bounds. The Tony Award-winning Broadway classic comes as yet another surprise to a season that's already included the zippy Xanadu The Musical.
In the erotic Passion, directed by Glenn T. Griffin, managing director Kristian Wedolowski the role of an army captain - such a serious character compared to his last giddy role, in Most Fabulous Story Ever Told - is stuck in a remote Italy-based military zone in 1863. There, he's forced to re-evaluate his love affair with a married woman after his colonel's homely cousin begs for his desire. $24-$28. May 4-5, 8 p.m.; May 9-12, 8 p.m.; May 13, 3 p.m.; May 16-19, 8 p.m. Duke Energy Theater, 345 N. College St. 704-372-1000. www.blumenthalarts.org.
Arts Plaza Midwood goes into maynia
Posted By Anita Overcash on Fri, May 4, 2012 at 10:00 AM
It's no surprise that Plaza Midwood is one of the hippest hoods in Charlotte. Many of up frequent the shops, eateries and bars there on a regular basis. What we don't always get a chance to see are the living spaces of the folks who call Plaza Midwood home.
That's where Midwood Maynia Festival and Home & Garden Tour - dubbed as Cinco de Maynia this year - comes in. The two-day fest, not only does it give Charlotteans a chance to mingle in the artsy community with live music (Jon Lindsay Band headlines) and activities (5K, pet parade and more), but also to admire the insides of some residents' pads. A church and one of Charlotte's oldest country clubs are part of the home tour, too. Proceeds benefit the Plaza Midwood Neighborhood Association and its initiatives. For more information, visit www.plazamidwood.org.
Arts / Today's Top Five Today's Top 5: Friday
Posted By Anita Overcash on Fri, May 4, 2012 at 9:00 AM
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, May 4, 2012 as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
* Julie Roberts at Neighborhood Theatre
* Friday Live at the Factory with Grown Up Avenger Stuff, Holy Ghost Tent Revival and Benji Hughes at N.C. Music Factory
* Cinco de Maynia in Plaza Midwood
* Behemoth at Amos' Southend
Thursday, May 3, 2012
News / Opinion All was calm inside the Duke Energy shareholder meeting
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn on Thu, May 3, 2012 at 5:18 PM
Things were polite inside of Duke Energy's shareholder meeting Thursday, though not all of the participants were.
- Duke Energy
- Duke CEO Jim Rogers
Shareholders, or their proxies, had about an hour and a half to address the company's Chairman, President and CEO, Jim Rogers, and the city made a large showing with two or more police officers posted on every street corner and several more looping the block on bikes or inside the building. The fire department was there, too, with a truck parked on First Street and firefighters milling around it. A large ambulance was backed up to the building and a stretcher loaded with supplies was rolled in before the meeting began.
But despite all of the hoopla, it turns out the Duke Energy shareholder meeting was just another meeting where nothing much gets done, not really. Some already-decided upon decisions were announced, some people spoke their peace and Rogers promised to meet with them again to hear them out at length.
And that's about it.
News Greenpeace activists arrested for stopping Duke Energy train
Posted By Ryan Pitkin on Thu, May 3, 2012 at 4:37 PM
As Duke Energy shareholders met on Thursday in uptown for their annual meeting, seven Greenpeace activists were arrested for stopping a company train filled with coal from entering the Marshall Steam Station in Catawba County.
Greenpeace spokeswoman Keiller McDuff didn't know precisely how activists stopped the train but suggested that someone from the organization alerted Norfolk Southern of an "obstruction" on the track. The obstruction was a Greenpeace member waving a stop sign, McDuff said.
Other groups represented at the event included Mountainkeeper, Katuah Earth, First Radical Action for Mountain People's Survival and others, she said.
News Unitarian Church holds services to oppose Amendment One
Posted By Ana McKenzie on Thu, May 3, 2012 at 2:24 PM
The Unitarian Universalist Church of Charlotte will devote two services on Sunday, at 9:15 a.m. and 11:15 a.m., to opposing Amendment One. Both services are free and open to the public.
And on Monday, the congregation will host a Community Rally and Celebration in Opposition to Amendment One. It will feature music from Sotto Voce, the ensemble chorale of Charlotte's One Voice Chorus, the Dixieland Ensemble of the Charlotte Pride Band and musicians from the church. It will be led by Rev. Jay Leach from the congregation and Rev. Robin Tanner, minister of the Piedmont Unitarian Universalist Church in Charlotte. Sunday's service will feature a message from Leach, who will be joined by Seventh Son, an ensemble from the Gay Men's Chorus of Charlotte, as guest musicians. Leach will speak on "such Kind of Partiality," a focus on the U.S.'s extensive history of discrimination. The title is drawn from Benjamin Franklin's diatribe against German immigrants.
Arts Theater review: Come Fly Away
Posted By Perry Tannenbaum on Thu, May 3, 2012 at 10:10 AM
If your comfort zone lies securely within the confines of traditional Broadway book musicals, or if your standards of choreographic plenitude are shaped by the programs and exploits of North Carolina Dance Theatre, three words of advice about Come Fly Away, currently at Belk Theater: Do stay away. On the other hand, if you're absolutely besotted by Dancing With the Stars - or mildly curious about what all this Broadway hoo-ha is all about - Come Fly Away might be the perfect vehicle for incrementally moving up to better things.
Just one further caveat, and it's a huge one. Between the fixing and the cutting, the touring version is hardly the same as the production that ran on Broadway for just over five months in 2010. No fewer than 11 of the dance numbers have been deleted from the original songlist of 34, trimming the running time by a third to a scant 69 minutes. Compounding the makeover, director/choreographer Twyla Tharp has eliminated the live female vocalist who occasionally sang along with the pre-recorded Frank Sinatra soundtrack - while adding five new numbers!
As a result, the show is about something else. Five of the first six Broadway tracks have been axed. Most significantly, the first establishing ensemble, where we discover the full cast on an art deco nightclub set in front of a 19-piece big band, has been changed from "Come Fly With Me" (the source of the show's title, for Frank's sake!) to "Luck Be a Lady." In other words, the mood has been changed from escape, sung by a man and a woman, to getting lucky, exclusively espoused by Ol' Blue Eyes.
Film / Film News Opening Friday
Posted By Matt Brunson on Thu, May 3, 2012 at 10:00 AM
- Marvel & Disney
- The Avengers
The Avengers - Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans
Damsels in Distress - Greta Gerwig, Adam Brody
Arts Arts Flash: Q&A with Scott Queen
Posted By Anita Overcash on Thu, May 3, 2012 at 9:20 AM
With NoDa's studio crawl approaching on May 4th, it's only fitting that recent UNC-Wilmington graduate and artist Scott Queen participate. He's only been living in Charlotte for a few months, but his art studio is in the heart of the neighborhood. Inside you'll find contemporary paintings, as well as sculptures that've been constructed by found objects. Home to a modest collection of records, the studio also shelters a friendly, inquisitive dog. Extras during this stop on the tour include wine and a spoken word performance by Stephen Mikko. Creative Loafing talked with Queen about the works displayed in his studio.
Creative Loafing: You use a lot of intertwining shapes and surreal, ghoulish images. What do these images represent to you?
Scott Queen: I wouldn't say my art is ghoulish. It does tend to illustrate the darker side of things though. This particular project was a three-piece ("Hero," "Damsel," and "Villan"), but the third piece has actually been sold. It was based on this idea of a relationship, between a girl and a man. They're happy together and then they're really sad. That's the one I call "Hero." It shows a sort of pristine kind of person with ice-blue eyes. He's really strong, knows who he is, and that's how the two people first meet. You kind of see a person and when you meet them you see this polished kind of thing.
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Oh, to be a derby girl 15
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Labor Day is about workers' rights, not beer and bikinis 1
Enjoy the long weekend, but remember: this holiday began because labor activists in the 1800s were brave enough to fight for the rights of all American workers
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Now taking submissions for the third annual FILTERED photo contest
DEADLINE EXTENDED UNTIL SUNDAY!
