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Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Arts / News Arts Flash: Elie Bou Zeidan
Posted By Anita Overcash on Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at 3:18 PM
From landscapes to still lifes, the realistic oil paintings by Lebanese-born artist Elie Bou Zeidan are captured on canvas. Zeidan, who lived in Paris, France for 17 years, now resides in Charlotte. His current solo exhibition, A French Perspective: Stills and Figures, is being held in Pease Gallery at Central Piedmont Community College through Oct. 21. The exhibition will have it’s opening reception on Wed., Oct. 7, from 4 p.m.- 6 p.m.
Creative Loafing: You started painting when you were 13 years old. Is that right?
Elie Bou Zeidan: Exactly. I was in Lebanon. I had an exhibition there when I was 15 years old with some painters and some of them were not so happy because I was so young. I continued painting and met some painters in Lebanon. I began painting with Halim Harb and after I met other painters. I was a fan of Habib Khoury and I also learned from Habib.
News / Biz Have a little arsenic with your water
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at 3:03 PM
Lake Wateree, in South Carolina, which is part of the Catawba River system, is being poisoned by a coal ash pond located near the lake's bank.
Streams of a poisonous, potentially cancer-causing substance recently were found draining to the Wateree River from SCE&G's coal-fired power plant in lower Richland County.Consultants discovered elevated levels of arsenic seeping from an earthen wall along the power plant's 80-acre coal ash waste pond, just a few miles upstream from Congaree National Park. The wall is supposed to block pollution from moving out of the pond and into the Wateree River, less than 300 feet away.
One of the consultants, J.C. Hare, said leaks he saw last month in the earthen wall created two streams of arsenic-tainted runoff that in places measured several feet wide.
Their reports, to be discussed this week as part of a court case against the power company, raise new questions about SCE&G's ability to contain pollution on the property - and the state Department of Health and Environmental Control's inability to stop the problem, critics say.
Some area residents fear pollution from the site could one day taint their drinking water, ruin the Wateree River and lower property values.
SCE&G officials declined interview requests by The State newspaper, but said in a statement they "look forward to elaborating further" on the test results in court.
The coal ash pond has leaked toward the river before. But Columbia lawyer and state Rep. James Smith is worried that it has happened again.
Arsenic seeping from the coal ash pond during the past 15 years has contaminated groundwater beneath the property at levels exceeding the federal safe drinking water standard, records show. Seepage also has been found between the pond and the Wateree River, a 2000 SCE&G report shows.
DHEC cited SCE&G in 2001 for violating groundwater standards for coal ash pond leaks, but did not fine the company. Instead, the power company struck a deal with DHEC, pledging to try to reduce the groundwater contamination.
Smith says the groundwater pollution is continuing - and so are surface-water leaks to the river. That should be a concern to everyone, he said.
What if drinking water makes you ill? Here's what's happening in Bangladesh:
Point 8 Blog / News Punditry and the art of creating rifts
Posted By Web Editor on Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at 12:55 PM
As some commentators would have it, the well-meaning public sits on one side of a divide and art, artists and the “creative community” are perched on the other. This perceived “us and them” schism is animating some rather inane political rhetoric and downright uninformed ink. George Will’s recent editorial in The Washington Post (which was re-published under other titles in The Charlotte Observer and many other regional newspapers) was a shot across the bow for everybody who understands the significant role that art plays in our prosperity. All of us at McColl Center for Visual Art bristled at Will’s provocation and suggestion that today’s new political paradigm subsidizes the “untalented.” We fired off an editorial of our own to meet Will head on.
Will’s assertion that artists are “just another servile interest group seeking morsels from the federal banquet” is bunk. Being an artist is hard and often under-appreciated work. Many people do not fully understand the discipline, research, hard work, technical proficiency and significant resources required to pursue art-making at the highest level. Artists, like other professionals, struggle, experiment, fail and develop good and bad ideas, alike. Laying bare this process exposes artists in ways that can cause an agonizing sense of vulnerability among artists. But the rigors endured by accomplished artists have huge benefits for society. Some less-genuine artists enjoy and play upon the misplaced aura of mystical “genius” that many lay people have of artists. That kind of display accelerates the polarity promoted by George Will. In my opinion, focusing too much on stereotypes and too little on authentic unfolding of the creative process does a disservice to us all.
An invitation into a serious artist’s studio is a rare luxury. There is much to learn from such an experience — it enlightens and reveals the mundane and mysterious — demonstrating that the creative process demands hard work and dedication. Coming close to artists and talking with them about their process, intent and struggles makes them more human and their work more accessible, even when the ideas they are addressing are complex.
You can experience such a process unfold at www.creatingathread.blogspot.com – our resident artist Daniel McCormick is working with Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation, The Charlotte Nature Museum, Catawba Lands Conservancy and students from Queens University of Charlotte to create an environmental art installation that restores an eroded creek bed at Freedom Park.
It is our core belief that art and artists are catalysts for positive social change. Artists help us all discover our own creative voices and our community, region and nation are better for it, in spite of divisive voices that insist otherwise.
President, McColl Center for Visual Art
(Guest Contributor)
Boomer with Attitude / News Perdue won't sign pro-health reform letter
Posted By John Grooms on Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at 12:25 PM
The Democratic Governors Association asked all 28 Democratic governors to sign a letter to Congress supporting some sort of health care reform this year. Pretty simple, normal kind of political move, right? Out of those 28 governors, though, only 22 signed the letter. One of the six governors who chose not to sign is N.C. Gov. Beverly Perdue.
The letter is hardly a controversial one; it doesn’t mention a public option, and in fact offers no specifics, just a wish that Congress act by the end of the year, arguing that states "will only achieve the health care security and stability they need if we succeed in working together with the Congress and the President to achieve health care reform." The letter didn’t suit Gov. Perdue, however, who has expressed doubts about how much of a burden state governments will bear after a reform bill is passed. Her spokesperson says the governor fears that a Congressional expansion of Medicaid would not be funded by the federal government and would become the responsibility of the states. Which is fine and understandable, but it’s also a completely separate issue from a simple declaration of political support for health care reform in general, such as the letter in question.
Perdue’s refusal to join in even this mild expression of support for reform doubtless has more to do with covering her own political rear in North Carolina (this is also known as kowtowing to conservatives) than a statement about budget worries. The whole episode illustrates why one old political expression just won’t go away: “I’m not a member of an organized political party – I’m a Democrat.”
Film / Film News / News This Week's DVD Releases
Posted By Matt Brunson on Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at 12:00 PM
Following is a list of some major DVD releases debuting today. For a complete list, go to www.amazon.com.
Film / Film News / News Chris Rock faces lawsuit over Good Hair
Posted By Cheris Hodges on Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at 11:05 AM
Comedian Chris Rock said his daughter inspired him to film the documentary Good Hair, which looks at black women and their hair. But yesterday filmmaker Regina Kimbell filed a $5 million copyright infringement lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles against Chris Rock and HBO, the domestic and foreign distributor theatrical distributors for the soon-to-be-released documentary, according to a press release from virginMOONentertainment, Inc.
The complaint alleges Kimbell’s movie, “My Nappy ROOTS: A Journey Through Black Hair-” was copied by Chris Rock after he and his production team viewed the film in June 2007. After hearing the buzz about the film, Rock requested a private screening at Paramount Studios. Unaware that Rock had a deal to produce a black hair documentary for HBO, Kimbell agreed to let him see the film.When Kimbell saw the trailer for “Good Hair,” she immediately saw the similarities and was stunned.
“This was an important story for me to tell, which is why I poured over five years of my life researching, traveling, and, shooting this film,” explains Kimbell.
“I had a feeling of disbelief and disappointment, so overwhelming that all I thought was I am seeing my film with a different title."
Kimbell’s idea for the movie began in 2002 when her daughter then 16-year-old daughter, Brighton, faced her own hair angst. As a result, Lynscot wrote an essay, which served as the starting point conceptually of a five-minute film, mentored by her mother.The five-minute piece went on to win a NAACP ACT-SO gold medal locally and nationally was recognized with fourth place honors, which had never been done before.
Premiering as a feature-length film in 2007 at the Pan African Film Festival and winning Festival Choice Award for Best Documentary, “My Nappy ROOTS: A Journey Through Black Hair-” has evolved from an essay, to a short film, and now a feature-length film. As a short, it won several awards including first place at the Hollywood Black Film Festival and Best of the Best at FESPACO, the largest and most prestigious international film festival held in Africa.
This definitive, feature-length documentary film examines the legacy of black hair care through cultural, societal, and political issues in the African American community over time.
The film reveals the significance and pride of African hairstyles prior to the first arrival of enslaved Africans to where the broader struggle of black people began, to the modern establishment of black hair as an economic mainstay in This struggle translates into a billion dollar industry – black hair care – that exists today.
View the complaint here.
News Back in my day, pranks involved toilets and seeds
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at 11:02 AM
Some punk-ass from Charlotte Catholic School sent out a mass e-mail saying he planned to bring an AK-47 to school so he could shoot his peers. Oh, but he was just joking.
Yeah, dude, that's not funny.
The shit we did when I was in school was funny. Spelling out taunts in fast-growing grass seed on our main rival's football field? Now, that's funny.
Filling someone's locker with -- well, anything that would make a mess when it was opened: Funny, in a harmless way.
In my parents' day, they cemented a toilet onto the front steps of their main rival's school. Pretty rough, but still funny.
After getting tired of little kids begging for candy on the bus, a good friend of mine would lick a handful of M&Ms before giving them away. Gross, but funny to this day.
Warning everyone that you're going to kill them? Nope. Not funny.
Playing such a dumb-ass prank at the ripe old age of 18, when you're considered a legal adult? Well, that is only one more symptom of an extreme case of ass hattery.
Enjoy jail.
Lally has been charged with communicating threats.School officials say they found out about this after a parent heard about the threat and called the school.
Principal Jerry Healy sent a letter home to parents Monday that read in part, “While I regret the fear and concern that this incident might create, I am grateful to the parents and staff members who took immediate steps to address the potential danger inherent in the threatening e-mail.
The police have indicated that the student involved in this matter thought he was playing a prank. As parents we all have experience with children doing regrettable things. It is part of growing up. But there are limits to what anyone can say. I have spent time today talking with CCHS students about using unacceptable language and threats when they communicate with their fellow students. Hopefully we will all learn something from this incident."
Arts / Today's Top Five / News Today's Top 5: Tuesday
Posted By Anita Overcash on Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at 9:56 AM
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, Oct. 6, 2009 — as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
• Late Nite Catechism at Booth Playhouse
• Blink 182 at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
• Craig Shoemaker at Lake Norman Comedy Zone
• Chrisette Michele at Time Warner Cable Arena
• Dr. Andrew Weil at Queens University
News More 'No' votes from Burr, Myrick
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at 9:01 AM
Do you think these two pay any attention to what they're voting on, or just act like peer-pressured robots who can only do what the rest of their party is doing?
According to these votes, North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr doesn't want to fund the government and Rep. Sue Myrick doesn't want to fund the Department of Energy or the Army Corp of Engineers. (Fortunately, these bills passed without their help.)
You know what this type of behavior makes me think of? A science fiction book from the '40s called The Earth Abides. In it, a plague kills most of the Earth's population and nature takes over since money no longer matters and there aren't enough humans to maintain everything civilization constructed. Eventually, society completely breaks down and returns to the tribal life.
Except, here, the "Party of No" acts as the plague and, well, we're not dead yet, though the case could be made that we've already gone tribal.
If Burr and Myrick -- and the rest of their obstructionist cohorts -- have their way, government and humanity will rot away. Not because that's what's best for our country, but because they hope if they make things supremely craptastic for us during the next couple of years we'll hit the refresh button on Congress, vote out all of the Democrats and replace them with Republicans.
In other words, they are (as usual) looking out for their own best interests, not those of their constituents (that'd be us).
Here's hoping their plan backfires and two strong, 2010 opponents remind Burr and Myrick of all of these nonsensical votes, because the only two Congresspersons -- that this area of Charlotte can vote on -- I'm anxious to vote out of Washington are them.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Arts / News Book review: Gordon Highland's Major Inversions
Posted By Chris Deal on Mon, Oct 5, 2009 at 5:23 PM
Drew Ballard is perhaps the least likely protagonist ever. For one, he’s not all that likable, being a drug-dealing and abusing rent-a-cop with musical talent - he plays in a hair metal tribute act, The Down Boys, a jazz fusion act called, Feu Jeune, and works as the jingle writer of choice for the Wilmington area. He’s also a slacker despite his workload, with no real goals beside the next gig. The only thing he wants to do with women is of the carnal desire. He really shouldn’t be the center of such an engaging and intriguing novel.
Consider the opening line: “My earliest memory is shitting in the bathtub.” Such an inauspicious line births the main theme of the novel, that of creation. The music, such as the wonderful chorus of jingle’s sprinkled through the novel (Grooves in the sand, innocence lost / A period in waiting, anxiety the cost), is the most obvious creation Drew gives us access to. The whole of the novel, too, is Drew’s creation, his own story and how he wants to tell it. He talks to the reader, admitting things are omitted or simply not as they really happened, though there is one reader in particular he is addressing.
The metafictional aspects of the novel are engaging, giving readers a layer to come back too once finishing. It brings more and more to the forefront that you didn’t quite get through the initial reading. With the format of a thriller, Highland undermines expectations, - pulling out the rug on subplots - but each thread he weaves is all in service to a great story. This is one of those novels that will completely exceed your initial impressions, throwing you for a loop as the twists start. Though he subtly foreshadows the ending near the beginning, you won’t see it coming. Everything is important in this novel, as pointless as it may seem. From his dealing and security guard day job to the music he creates and the people he meets - everything is working to the ultimate payoff. To tell you too much would ruin a surprising read, and I want nothing to do with such sins.
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