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News & Opinion
Claims Over Conflicts of Interest Latest Point of Contention in D5 Race
A town hall debate between Charlotte City Council District 5 candidates Marjorie Molina and Juan Diego “JD” Mazuera Arias on Aug. 7 saw the opposing candidates expressing their differences on stage for over an hour without much contention. The final question of the debate asked each candidate to name what…
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Music
Petra’s Marks 18 years as Community Hub in a Changing Neighborhood
It’s a Thursday night in August at Petra’s, and the room is on fire. Two disparate acts are on the bill. One, folk-inflected singer songwriter Emily June, crafts delicate, dusky tunes as mysterious as a faded photo found in an abandoned building. The other, melodic hard-edged alternative rockers Dog Days,…
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Music
Quentin Talley Benefit Marks Return of a Cultural Beacon
Boris “Bluz” Rogers is a three-time national poetry slam champion, a multiple Emmy Award winner and former director of creative engagement for Blumenthal Performing Arts, but when he got a phone call on Feb. 19 he had just one role — a deeply concerned friend. The caller bore the frightening…
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Music
Multifaceted Musician Te’Jani Becomes the ‘Life of the Party’
Te’Jani pulls you into his latest single “This is Why I’m Hot,” with skittering, syncopated hip-hop beats, hypnotic rap-meets-alt rock vocals and alternately grimy and ringing guitars. “Hot take: I don’t need protection/ Don’t color me too reckless/ Don’t know it’s too excessive/ When it comes to self love or…
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Pride Guide
Pride Guide 2025: Charlotte Pride Performers
This content is free for everyone in an effort toward community engagement and inclusivity. While Pride Month has come and gone for much of the country, in Charlotte, festivities are still to come. Charlotte Pride 2025 will take place on Aug. 16-17 in a new location as it celebrates its…
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Arts & Culture
Black as the Cosmos Explores Culture Through Crystal Art, Music, Sex and Magic
Brianna Daniels is an unclassifiable creative. Like the light-refracting crystals she uses to fashion wearable art, there are many facets to her personality and passions. As B/rianna or Brianna Daniels, she’s a theater technician and actor, a yoga guide, a crystal Reiki practitioner, an artist who crafts crystal “cosmosis stones,”…
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Music
CeeLo Green Discusses His Journey and Legacy Before Carolina Theatre Show
When jazz, pop and R&B fans catch saxophone virtuoso Adrian Crutchfield’s high-energy hometown gig at Uptown’s Carolina Theatre on Aug. 8, they will also witness a force of nature. Crutchfield, an accomplished solo artist and key collaborator with Prince, will be joined onstage by his friend and colleague CeeLo Green,…
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Music
Adrian Crutchfield Is Bringing Sax Back with Latest Album, ‘Slick’
When Adrian Crutchfield was 4 years old, his parents took him to a Kenny G concert. The smooth jazz saxophonist saw the child sitting on his father’s shoulders and invited him up onstage. After chatting with the preschooler, Kenny G gifted Crutchfield a small Casio synthesizer saxophone. Crutchfield never forgot…
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Music
PREMIERE: Featherpocket’s Mini-Western ‘Cowboy Hat’ Lays a Liar to Rest
Jason Cline’s country-adjacent alt-rock band Featherpocket delivers a delightful four-minute pocket Western in the jaunty new single “Cowboy Hat,” which premiered today and can be found below. Drawing on Cline’s chiming, coiling guitar; producer Justin Aswell’s cantering percussion; and Jason Atkins’ tinkling honky-tonk piano and swirling zydeco accordion, the catchy…
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News & Opinion
PREMIERE: Julian Calendar Play ‘Dumb but Smart’ Punk in Explosive ‘Black Moon’ Video
Jeremy Fisher’s rubbery, sinister bass kicks off the break-neck video for Julian Calendar’s latest single “Black Moon,” which premieres below. Soon that snaking bass runs straight into a razor wire barricade of clangorous funk-punk guitars, while the video dives into a morass of black and white archival film footage, as…
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Music
Rapper and Singer Belis Returns Home and Rediscovers Her Voice
Bryce Gotta opens the video for her latest single “Gucci” in an abandoned industrial park at night. Illuminated by a pulsing searchlight, Gotta, who raps, sings and crafts sensual, relatable and mysterious songs as Belis, glances over her shoulder. Her expression is inscrutable, like Mona Lisa without the smile. Is…
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News & Opinion
New Report Reveals Discrimination in NC’s Voucher-Funded Private Schools
A new report released by Public Schools First NC (PSFNC) this week reveals the extent to which North Carolina’s publicly funded voucher programs are supporting private schools that often exclude students through discriminatory policies. The nonprofit public school advocacy organization examined hundreds of private schools that received Opportunity Scholarship voucher…
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Music
PREMIERE: Jon Lindsay and Chris Walldorf Hit the Mark With ‘Dear Assassin’ Video
Jon Lindsay’s “Dear Assassin” video starts like a power-pop gem accompanying a head-over-heels love story. As Lindsay basks in the sunshine, chunky guitars gambol under his crystal-clear reverb-laden vocal. “I’m beggin’ won’t you please bring a steady hand/ If your aim is true, I don’t stand a chance…” Coiling snakelike…
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Music
Vocal Powerhouse Adina Rey Unleashes Stunning, Moving Debut
Thick piano chords, plangent guitars and cantering percussion set the stage on “Hi & Lo,” one of six subtly challenging pop tunes on Adina Rey’s self-titled debut EP, which dropped Wednesday. It is the previously unknown singer-songwriter’s powerful, supple and emotionally rangy vocals, however, that grab the spotlight. Rey’s voice,…
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Film
The True Charlotte Crime Story Behind Channing Tatum’s New ‘Roofman’ Movie
Paramount and Miramax on Wednesday released a trailer for Channing Tatum’s latest movie, Roofman, which was shot in Charlotte last fall and is based on the true local exploits of an infamous but benevolent burglar who operated in the area after escaping from prison in 2004. It was filmed on…
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News & Opinion
Baymont Hotel Displacement Crisis Reaches City Council
Surrounded by a small group of supporters and a few families who had recently been pushed out of their precarious living situation, local organizer Apryl Lewis called on local leaders to support hundreds of displaced people during a press conference outside of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center on Monday night before…
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