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Monday, November 26, 2012
News / Opinion Secede and see what happens
Posted By Ailen Arreaza on Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 10:04 AM
Every time I hear about the more than 30 states that have filed petitions asking to secede from the Union, I picture a teenager telling her parents, "I'm running away from home, and you can't stop me!" I tried to do that once, when I was about 14. You know what my mom did? She packed my bags and pretended to call a taxi. It worked like a charm.
This emphasis on theatrics - this obsession with making symbolic points instead of actual ones - is what lost the Republicans the election. On almost every issue, the right focused on figurative solutions instead of common sense ones.
Arts / Today's Top Five Today's Top 5: Monday
Posted By Anita Overcash on Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 9:00 AM
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, Nov. 26, 2012 as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
* Grease at Actor's Theatre of Charlotte
* Monday Night Allstars at Double Door Inn
* Egyptian Yoga at Healthy Home Market
* Karaoke at Dixie's Tavern
* Manic Monday Industry Night at FABO Cafe
Friday, November 23, 2012
Arts 33 Variations at CAST
Posted By Anita Overcash on Fri, Nov 23, 2012 at 12:00 PM
We've got to hand it to Carolina Actors Studio Theatre for scrapping what was beginning to look like annual holiday stagings of A Tuna Christmas. The popular holiday production is finally being bumped this year for Moises Kaufman's 33 Variations, which runs Nov. 23 through Dec. 23. But there's nothing fishy about the works of Kaufman - a playwright, director and founder of Tectonic Theater Project in NYC - whose more serious productions include Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde and The Laramie Project, a play about the late Matthew Shepard (an openly gay student at University of Wyoming who was brutally murdered in 1998).
33 Variations tells the story of how Beethoven found inspiration for his Diabelli Variations by shifting between the past and the present, where a musicologist is researching the famous score that was based on a simple theme by an unknown music publisher. The plot thickens with debilitating conditions: Beethoven's growing deafness and the musicologist's ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). $18-$28. Nov. 23-24, 8 p.m.; Nov. 29-30, 8 p.m.; Dec. 1, 8 p.m.; Dec. 6-8, 8 p.m.; Dec. 9, 2:30 p.m.; Dec. 13-15, 8 p.m.; Dec. 16, 2:30 p.m.; Dec. 20-22, 8 p.m.; Dec. 23, 2:30 p.m. Carolina Actor's Studio Theatre, 2424 N. Davidson St. 704-455-8542. www.nccast.com.
Arts USA-inspired installations at McColl
Posted By Anita Overcash on Fri, Nov 23, 2012 at 10:30 AM
Artist Randy Shull is focusing on the United States for his latest exhibit, Channeling the USA, debuting at McColl Center for Visual Art. Influenced by continuing chatter over the States' role in global affairs, Shull - a mixed media artist who dabbles with paint, sculpture and installations - incorporates outlines of the nation's shape in his works. While his works are not intended to be political, they do "resonate in the arenas of power, history, geography, economics and politics," says Shull, in a description of the exhibit.
The artist, who resides in Asheville, has a simpler explanation of his purpose: He just wants to explore what he calls "home." Through his creative journey, viewers will see cutouts, some splattered in paint that expands to the surrounding walls.
Free admission. Exhibit continues through Jan. 12, 2013. McColl Center for Visual Art, 721 N. Tryon St. 704-332-5535. www.mccollcenter.org.
News / Opinion Question the Queen City: The history of NASCAR in Charlotte
Posted By David Aaron Moore on Fri, Nov 23, 2012 at 10:00 AM
Editor's note: In this series, local author David Aaron Moore answers reader-submitted questions about historic places in Charlotte. Submit inquires about unusual, noteworthy or historic people, places and things to davidaaronmoore@post.com.
There's an old roadside placard on Little Rock Road near the airport that says there was once a NASACR racetrack nearby. Do you know anything about its history or Charlotte's connection to NASCAR? - Mark Newsome, Charlotte
We've had a long-term love affair with the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing that began smack-dab in the middle of the 20th century. That's when the first-ever NASCAR race was held at the then-newly installed Charlotte Speedway.
Off Wilkinson Boulevard and Little Rock Road on the city's far west end, the dirt track was a long way from Charlotte's center city. In fact, fifty years ago all you would have encountered on the drive out, on Highyway 74/Wilkinson, would have been a few lone farmhouses and a single gas station. There were a couple of restaurants that continued to be popular until just a few years ago, like The Ranch House and The Copal Grill, which are now gone.
Arts Reduced Shakespeare does the holidays
Posted By Anita Overcash on Fri, Nov 23, 2012 at 10:00 AM
You can't blame Reduced Shakespeare Company - a three-man comedy troupe - for targeting the holidays. Its latest, The Ultimate Christmas Show (Abridged), opens on Black Friday, though you're less likely to encounter trampling or angry outbursts in the confines of Booth Playhouse, where the show is being held through Nov. 25, than at your local big box store.
The production pokes at Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Saturnalia (think: the Romans) with scenes that evoke "cringing at the origins of the term 'nutcracker' and gasping at the shocking history of our best-loved Christmas traditions," according to the troupe. Reduced Shakespeare is known for shaking up its performances, all of which are abridged. Past shows have included hilarious bits on the Bible, American history, sports and obviously, the works of William Shakespeare.
$29.50 and up. Nov. 23, 8 p.m.; Nov. 24, 2 p.m. & 8 p.m.; Nov. 25, 1 p.m. & 6 p.m. Booth Playhouse, 130 N. Tryon St. 704-372-1000. www.blumenthalarts.org.
Arts James Gregory is thankful
Posted By Anita Overcash on Fri, Nov 23, 2012 at 9:15 AM
James Gregory has a way of making people feel a little bit better about their own relatives - or not. The Southern-bred comedian has been known to joke about his family functions (full of belching and uh ... gas). But it's his vivid storytelling, and the sound effects, that give his shows an intimate feel, even in the not-so-small confines of The Comedy Zone.
$18-$20. Nov. 23, 7 p.m. & 9:30 p.m.; Nov. 24, 7 p.m. & 9:30 p.m. The Comedy Zone at N.C. Music Factory, 900 N.C. Music Factory Blvd., Suite B3. 980-321-4702. www.cltcomedyzone.com.
Arts / Today's Top Five Today's Top 5: Friday
Posted By Anita Overcash on Fri, Nov 23, 2012 at 9:00 AM
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, Nov. 21, 2012 as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
* Twilight, Los Angeles, 1992 at Duke Energy Theater
* Ghost Trees at Snug Harbor
* Give Thanks Festival at Chop Shop
* James Gregory at The Comedy Zone
* Thought Criminals at Milestone
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Film / Film Reviews Holiday Weekend Film Reviews: Life of Pi; Silver Linings Playbook and more
Posted By Matt Brunson on Thu, Nov 22, 2012 at 2:00 PM
Click on the title to be taken directly to the review.
- Fox
- Life of Pi
And here are some other major films still playing.
- MGM & Columbia
- Skyfall
News Pantherfanz tailgate in style in their souped-up school bus
Posted By Steve Jones on Thu, Nov 22, 2012 at 12:00 PM
Dozens of folks gather around a smoking grill and open-air bar. A sound system pulses beats in the distance. Grown men in football jerseys and painted faces pontificate on the attributes and deficiencies of a team, their team. Women lead young girls in cheers as their pom-poms furiously shake. Food and drink are aplenty.
Three hours before kickoff, the largest Carolina Panther tailgate is underway.
