11/29/11

Weekend Top Picks for Dec 2-4: Holiday Home Tour, The Magic of Christmas, and More

It's beginning to look a lot like ... oh, you know.

Celebrate (or escape) the season at one of our best bets for the first official weekend of the busiest season of the year.

Celebrate. The Friends of Fourth Ward Holiday Home Tour celebrates its 34th year with a three-day event showcasing the elegant Victorians, urban condos, cultural institutions, and historic places for which Fourth Ward is known. All will be decked out in holiday finery. Tour (on foot ... it's easily walkable!) one of Charlotte's most eclectic neighborhoods on Friday, Dec 2 and Saturday, Dec 3 from 5 until 9 pm and Sunday, Dec 4 from noon until 4 p.m. Tickets are $20 and... Read more »

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11/28/11

Making the Magic Happen

For more years than I care to count, the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra's Magic of Christmas has been an essential part of the season for me.

One year, Peter McCoppin, CSO's dashing, young conductor back in the 1980s, read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas from a big, easy chair on stage. "Come to mama," I muttered under my breath, over and over again. He didn't hear me -- or pretended not to. It's a family show, after all.

Beth Chorneau's jazz ensemble played a couple of years, which made the Blumenthal feel -- just for a time --... Read more »

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11/22/11

Weekend Top Picks for Nov 25-27: Million Dollar Quartet and More

Families. We love and give thanks for them. But, we can also have too much of a good thing. Overdosing on family is always a possibility during a holiday weekend. If you're looking for something of a cultural bent to do with the fam -- or if you need a solo escape -- here are a few ideas.

Million Dollar Quartet. They were together just once. But, what a recording session it must have been when Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins came together in Dec 1956 in Memphis. The musical, the latest in the Broadway Lights series, reimagines that legendary meeting and includes “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Fever,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “I Walk the Line,”... Read more »

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11/22/11

CAST revisits Tuna, Texas

I never had Dr. Charles LaBorde as a teacher at West Charlotte, but back in the day (the early 1980s) he was the legendary drama teacher at what was then a legendary high school. Dr. LaBorde has gone on to be one of Charlotte's theater stalwarts as both an actor and director. Last month, he directed One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest for Theatre Charlotte. Proving he has extraordinary range, he's back this month with a play that couldn't be more different from his last project.

In A Tuna Christmas, radio station OKKK on-air personalities Thurston Wheelis and Arles Struvie report on the Yuletide activities in the tiny town of Tuna, Texas. The annual lawn display contest is what passes for big... Read more »

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11/21/11

Theater For A Good Cause

Theater can be emotional, educational, transformative.

The organizers of The Voices Project are hoping a special show held on World AIDS Day at Actor's Theatre on Dec 1 is all of the above. The event includes personal stories from people living with HIV/AIDS, and the stories are shared by local artists and celebrities. Storytellers include Morgan Fogarty, Fox News Charlotte anchor; Matt Harris of the Matt & Ramona Show on 107.9 The Link; Bishop Tonyia Rawls of Unity Fellowship Church of Charlotte and artist Scott Weaver. 

Rev. Debbie Warren, president and CEO of RAIN (Regional AIDS Interfaith Network) chatted with us about the upcoming event.

Charlotte... Read more »

11/21/11

The Worst Movie Ever Made!

Why would you want to see the worst movie ever made?

To laugh at how unintentionally hilarious it is, of course.

You'll get that chance on Nov 28 when The Light Factory screens Plan 9 from Outer Space as part of the Cult Movie Monday series.

It's got a legitimate cast (Bela Lugosi, for instance), and the theme is tried-and-true: zombies are out to take over Planet Earth. But, the overacting is what really endears the film to its fans who love it (or love to hate it). Well OK, it's not just the bad acting. It's also the cheap scenery,  improbable dialogue, homemade... Read more »

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11/15/11

Weekend Top Picks for Nov 18-20: Beethoven's Fifth, Joan Baez, and More

You know you'll need a break from planning your Thanksgiving menu and making last-minute travel plans. Here are a few excellent diversions.

It's a piece of music so famous that most of us have sung/spoken the four opening notes as a prelude to delivering some big news. Da-da, da-daaaaaa. They may be the four most recognizable notes in music, this side of the theme from Jaws. The Symphony performs Beethoven's Fifth on Friday and Saturday nights with Christopher Warren-Green conducting. The music soars. To think that Beethoven composed it as he was going deaf is astonishing. Read more »

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11/12/11

Love and Danger

Collaborative Arts brings Charlotte the regional premiere of Time Stands Still, a Tony-nominated new play by Pulitzer Prize winner Donald Margulies. The mood veers between comic and tragic as we follow Sarah, a photojournalist just back from Iraq, and James, a foreign correspondent, struggling to sustain their relationship and find a sense of normalcy. Eric Tucker plays James, and Collaborative Arts co-founder Elise Wilkinson portrays Sarah. Here's how they see their roles and the play.

Charlotte Magazine: What attracted you to this play and to the role you're playing?

Eric Tucker: I liked all of the stuff hiding just beneath the surface in... Read more »

Posted at 08:14 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

11/08/11

Weekend Top Picks for Nov 11-13: Brandi Carlile, Mummies, and More

Oh, yes. It's almost time for the BFD of the month ... and it may just be the cultural highlight of my year. If you don't have a ticket yet for the nearly sold-out show, check out Brandi Carlile on iTunes or Youtube. And, then vow to see her the next time she comes to town. Her solo, acoustic show is Friday at Knight Theater.

Zombies (the undead) get all the press, but mummies (the actual dead) may be even more interesting. They invade... Read more »

Posted at 10:36 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

11/08/11

Food as Art

I may never make it to Spain's El Bulli, considered by many authorities to be the best restaurant in the world.  But, you can bet I'll make it to the documentary about it.

El Bulli: Cooking in Progress examines the inner workings of a kitchen that takes food so seriously that the chef and his staff close for six months every year to investigate, experiment with ingredients, and revamp the menu.

Read more »

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11/07/11

More Fish in the Sea

A host of sea creatures is swimming into the Booth Playhouse this week for John Tartaglia’s ImaginOcean. One of them is played -- or, "puppeted," to be more precise -- by Charlotte native Haley Jenkins, who popped up from her underwater world to flap her gills with us. The show runs Nov 11-13 and is fun for kids of all ages. Details, showtimes.

Jenkins, who plays Bubbles, is part of ImaginOcean's first national tour. She’s most recently been seen puppeteering on stage in The Pee-wee Herman Show on Broadway and on TV for Saturday Night Live and The... Read more »

11/06/11

A New "Pulp Fiction"?

When it comes to movies, I generally listen to Roger Ebert. I recall Siskel and Ebert as the rock stars of film critics (if there can be such a thing) and, as a teen -- always tuned into their show -- even before I was old enough to see the R-rated movies they often reviewed.

Roger Ebert loves the next movie the Back Alley Film Series is screening. As always, the group is bringing to town a first-run film Charlotte would never otherwise get. And, they show it just once. This film and the one-time opportunity to see it are so exciting that we named it one of our Top Picks for November.

Bellflower will not... Read more »

Posted at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0

11/04/11

It's That Time Again

After a successful summertime run of King Lear, Collaborative Arts Theatre is preparing for its next production. The playwright (Donald Marguiles) of the company's upcoming play may not be as famous as Shakespeare, but he has won a Pulitzer (Dinner with Friends).

Collaborative Arts is presenting the Mid-Atlantic regional premiere of Margulies’ Time Stands Still.

Alternating between comedy and drama, Time Stands Still follows photojournalist Sarah and war correspondent James, who are struggling to find happiness in a “normal” world.... Read more »

Posted at 07:15 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0

11/02/11

Weekend Top Picks for Nov 4-6: West Side Story, Sherlock Holmes, and More

The countdown to the Brandi Carlile concert is on. But, her solo, acoustic show at The Knight Theater is next Friday night. There's still plenty to do, Charlotteans, as we await what could be our city's best concert of the year. (I can't help but gush. If you've ever heard the Seattle native belt out one of her ballads, you likely share my excitement.) 

I could just as easily gush about the major fox who's playing Riff in West Side Story. The classic tale of... Read more »

Posted at 09:18 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0

11/01/11

Siren Song

If there's such a thing as a benevolent diva, Ruth Ava Lyons is it. She's the artist and visionary, who, along with her husband, sculptor Paul Sires, created NoDa more than twenty years ago. The two artists invested in a sketchy part of town and almost single-handedly (or, I suppose, double-handedly) built what became known as Charlotte's arts district.

They decided to close their wonderfully cool and aptly named Center of the Earth gallery last year, but the two are still active in the arts scene. Lyons is now represented by SouthEnd's Hidell Brooks Gallery, where she'll soon have a new show on view. Having recently returned from a residency at the Everglades National Park, the artist... Read more »

Posted at 05:57 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0

10/30/11

BFD of the Month: Brandi Carlile

Everyone's short on cash and time these days. If you have just one cultural outing this month, let it be our BFD.

I remember when Brandi Carlile opened for pianist Vienna Teng at The Neighborhood Theatre and blew the place away. I've never seen so high a percentage of an audience bolt for the merch table during intermission to buy the opener's CD. I had just witnessed an early performance of someone who was going to be big.

Carlile is my favorite thing to come out of Seattle since the northwest capital gave us good coffee. Rolling Stone named her one of “Ten Artists to Watch” in 2005, and her popularity has grown steadily... Read more »

Posted at 06:06 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0