I guess hip-hop culture really has gone mainstream. This past weekend I attended the Queen's Cup Steeplechase, an event not as exclusive as one might think. Yes, it has its blue-blood background with the attire guidelines and a hat contest only to be bested by African-American women on Sunday morning. But, as everything else in this life, change was inevitable. People were a lot less strict about dress, and then there was the horse named Hip Hop, who won the fourth race. However, everything wasn't all fun and horsing around. Tragedy struck when a horse broke its leg right in front of our tent in one of the earlier races. One observer spoke of the way it dangled helplessly and was sure the animal would need to be put down. Then, to make matters worse, a horse gone wild began to buck as it neared our tent, breaking part of the wooden fence and destroying another. I know, I know. The common denominator in both these instances was us, the Creative Loafing crew. Maybe, sometimes at least, we need to curb our desire to bring the party wherever we go ...

Naw.

That's right. Mrs. Grant Hill the beautiful paid Charlotte the tremendous honor of a second visit. It was just February, during CIAA week, when the Queen City was first treated to the Canadian songstress' presence. She came back this past Saturday as part of the Pantene Total You Tour (PTYT) at the Charlotte Convention Center. PTYT was still the place to kick it with your girls and get a “good old fashioned house call” from uplifting women like nutritionist and wellness expert Dr. Rovenia Brock and Essence editorial director Susan L. Taylor. Other panelists included former Miss USA Kimberly Cockerham Along with Tamia, silky-voiced Brian McKnight was on hand to make the ladies swoon.

Last Thursday, I attended a meeting set to give Charlotte's Black community a new direction.

Ahmad Daniels (pictured to the left) and his Creative Interchange organization hosted the "Crisis Affecting Young African-American Males" forum, which became even more pertinent after the arrest of 25-year-old Demetrius Montgomery in the murders of Officers Sean Clark and Jeff Shelton. The meeting room was filled with a standing-room only crowd of families and buppies alike intent on finding an answer to the question Marvin Gaye asked years ago, "What's Going On?" And yes, I was thrilled to be in the company of young, successful Black men and can admit to scanning the crowd for date material.

However, that ended the moment a solution to the breakdown of our community became reinstating segregation. "WTF?!" I thought. I did not just hear what I thought I heard. Not in the year 2007. Comments would be greatly appreciated.

As you all should know, last Thursday was Creative Loafing's first official Political Party. And, boy, did we get the ball rolling with people discussing how they feel about the way Charlotte does what it do. WBT's Keith Larson (seen on right in photo) made a comment about the direct relation between the performance of children in school and society and two-parent households. Basically, if you're a product of a single-parent household, which I am, then there's a greater chance you'll end up in the wrong part of the system. Now the real kicker was when he also stated that he has a young son AND is divorced. Way to drive that theory home there, Keith! Our own Tara Servatius did a great job at moderating. She ordered herself a drink from the stage and kept everyone within two minutes, well, everyone except fellow columnist John Grooms. Most impressive was Tone-X, who interjected on how most children in our school system are trained instead of educated. He used the story of a seal with a fish to illustrate his point: the seal who takes the fish is trained; the seal who is taught how to get his own fish is educated. A valid and powerful point. I don't think the forum was meant to just touch on the problems impacting Charlotte's African-American community, but every issue from poor test scores, which, as Nsenga Burton (in middle in photo) said, don't really reflect the intelligence level of the taker, but their test-taking skills (rote memorization, mainly), gun control, and the parental concerns touched home. Overall, though, I think the bar has been set for further discussions amongst the whole Charlotte community. Maybe it'll begin by neighborhood, then who knows? Maybe we could get Pat McCrory to attend and include the government in the dialogue.

Photo by Catalina Kulczar

I recently had the extreme pleasure of attending the grand opening of Tilt, a sports bar/lounge likening itself to Sam Malone's Cheers "where everybody knows your name." Well, they definitely got the "everybody" part right. The spot was packed front to back with so many patrons for "Friends and Family Night" that it was no surprise when martini glasses were used to serve Chardonnay.

The front part had a typical sports bar feel with a small section to the side designated as a dance floor used that night as the buffet area. That's right, free food, beer and wine were served all night. Now do you understand why "everybody" was there?

Although, the music left a lot to be desired as the DJ played a lot of oldies and didn't take any requests. That did not, however, keep several people off the dance floor, myself included (... had some tension to relieve).

All in all, the evening I think was a success. Folks were there enjoying a new after-work possibility, and the free beer and wine made everyone think they knew everybody's name.

If you've just moved to Charlotte, you know how earnest developers are about putting up new condos for people just like you. What you may not know is how to decorate that condo in a way it reflects you, is effective use of the space, and doesn't cost as much as you're paying in rent. So with this in mind, I headed to Condo Mojo. Five designers were summoned to 1315 East in Dilworth and given free reign within a budget to create aesthetic masterpieces. The event started at Super Suppers, where guests gorged themselves on Amy Conder's VERY good food, including the best meatballs I've ever had. After mingling with a group from Ameritrade who were really impressed with the journalistic lifestyle, especially after they found out I'd written Lust List 2007, we were herded into small groups and set to tour the condos. The most conventional designs were not always presented, like filling the bathroom sink with those decorator rocks and a tealight, but each was amazing in its own right — from the quirky ways to make flat screen TVs into actual furniture pieces to tied-dyed bedroom art with the message "Relax." Grand total for a typical budget - $15,000.

Less typical and more Unpredictable was Friday night's visit with Jamie Foxx at Charlotte Bobcats Arena. All I can say is, thank God my tickets were comp. True, I missed opening act Fantasia, but how sorry was I when the highlight of the evening was Jamie saying "Good night." Don't get me wrong — the man is a very talented singer. But, I expected a little more in stage presence from an Academy Award winner. He fumbled the title of his own album, but maybe that was supposed to be part of the comic routine he performed between songs. But, some people did seem to enjoy themselves. A group of ladies sitting behind us apparently were on an outing for one of their birthdays. One of them made a comment of what Foxx could do for her after her performed a "trick" with his tongue, then said how sorry she was she couldn't throw her friend (the one whose birthday it was) on stage to get it firsthand. My friend said it felt "over-rehearsed" and "wack." I wonder if that had anything to do with being serenaded with "Charlotte, you're the best crowd" over and over?

Prologue: On the agenda for Friday night was Nego Gato, a performance of music, dance and capoeira, a Brazilian martial art nicknamed the "dance of war." However, how the night transgressed can be jokingly referred to as the "dance of options."

Act One: I was running late to attend NG, so I was still in my casual Friday clothes. During the performance, a woman danced on stage with an outfit much too big. In anticipation of a Janet Jackson Superbowl moment, a kind man said he thought I'd need to cover my eyes. He'd misidentified me as a young man and profusely apologized after seeing what "a beautiful young woman" I was after the performance ended.

Act Two: I wasn't in the mood to change afterwards, so we attempted to see how far we could go in the city's nightlife scene. Well, let's just say we had to leave Center City, and even the taverns were full because of March Madness. We finally settled on Starbucks on East Boulevard, even though my companion had his reservations because he doesn't drink coffee. Unfortunately, every other beatnik in town beat us to the punch and in the end, we had to call it an early night.

Epilogue: The moral of this tale is clothes do not make the man, or in this case the woman, but they sure do give people the right idea and open up a wealth of entertainment options in the fair city of Charlotte.

So ... in this blog, my job is to tell you a little about what's going on in Charlotte. A little known event that few people really appreciate is people-watching at Northlake Mall. But, to sit still and watch people who assume it's cool to just hang around the mall is kind of sad. I mean, the teens were there Saturday in full force. I can understand their plight, since they have very little options, even with a car. However, I'm talking about the 30-and-up crowd who must have been reliving their adolescence. One set of friends (female) actually giggled and talked at way-too-loud a level as they toted huge bags from store to store, shouting the names and pointing to their favorites.

I was just going to pick up a new pair of jeans. Instead, I found an adventure.

Wow. It's funny how as the world gets more technologically advanced, we seem to gravitate more to things that don't require any computer-literacy at all.