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Music
True Optimist Creates a Musical Getaway with ‘Parlor Palms’
The opening of True Optimist’s new single “Make Money All Day” suggests a soca madrigal entwining with a 1980s new-wave dancefloor hit. Shaking percussion rains down on ricocheting high-life guitars and a plangent, bittersweet bassline. Then a braided stream of swarming voices transforms the tune into a whirlpool of shifting…
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Music
PREMIERE: G. Love Joins Of Good Nature in ‘Hold Me’ Video
Of Good Nature frontman Cam Brown kicks off the Charlotte-based band’s new single “Hold Me” by tapping out the tune’s title on an old-school typewriter while bandmate David Hamilton Jr., aka Smoov Alien, provides the rat-a-tat percussion of the machine’s clacking keys off camera. Brown then steps out onto the…
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News & Opinion
The Weird and Wild Story of Morris Costumes Founder Philip Morris
Bigfoot stalks the Pacific Northwest. A rampaging gorilla climbs a billboard in Uptown Charlotte. A beautiful woman transforms into a rotted zombie. A mad doctor takes over late-night TV. Ghost hunters track a showbiz spirit to its lair. All these mystifying moments have one thing in common: They all involve…
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News & Opinion
‘No Kings’: Thousands Pack Uptown to Push Back Against Trump
A crowd of more than 5,000 people packed First Ward Park in Uptown on Saturday to protest what organizers called authoritarian, corrupt and militaristic practices by the Trump administration. Noting that Trump, his cabinet members and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have defied US courts, deported Americans, kidnapped people off…
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Music
How DOMii Is Transforming Charlotte’s House Music Scene
An Instagram video clip from late April captures DJ, musician and event promoter Ariel Dominguez doing what she does best: creating music to captivate a crowd and set bodies in motion. Manning the decks at Novelty House in Uptown, Dominguez, who deejays and composes as DOMii, lays down a steady…
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News & Opinion
Badin Lake’s Forgotten History Includes a Missing WWII Bomber
On June 8, 1944, Mary Elizabeth McDaniel rushed out of her home in Palmerville, near Badin Lake’s southern shore, and searched the sky. It was two days after the historic D-Day invasion of Normandy and Mary Elizabeth was looking for her husband, Second Lt. Charles McDaniel, US Marine Corps, whom…
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News & Opinion
The Franks House Takes Its Place in Charlotte History
History persists on the edge of Uptown. Mere blocks from the roaring traffic of John Belk Freeway, the single-story frame bungalow at 350 W. Dunbar St. is a testament to a vanished world. The Franks House, located behind the United House of Prayer along the upper edge of South End,…
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Arts & Culture
Low Groves Doc Kicks Off ‘Wish You Were Here’ Event Series
An impressive crowd packed into the Evening Muse on a rainy Sunday evening for the start of something special. They broke into applause following a screening of Nick Will’s new music documentary, The 10,000 Hours of Low Groves, before the subject of the film, local alt-folk singer/songwriter Adam Naliwajko, who…
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Music
PREMIERE: New Doc Showcases Secret Formula Band on Its Biggest Stage Yet
Charlotte rock group Secret Formula Band is a ferocious musical force. With bandmates drawn from across the South, the combo summons swampy Louisiana funk, soulful Memphis blues, rustic Alabama rock and evocative Carolinas storytelling to conjure gospel-charged tunes that can amble like a rolling river or rumble like a runaway…
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Music
Catt Daddy Transitions from Hip-Hop to Southern Soul
When Maurel Nichols enters the Embassy Suites hotel in downtown Raleigh, he steps into the spotlight — metaphorically speaking, anyway. His entrance marks the opening shot of the video that accompanies “Love My Southern Soul,” the February 21 release by Nichols, the singer-songwriter who performs as Catt Daddy. Catt is…
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Music
Shelby Punks Y’ALL’RE Do It for the Love of Music
Riding a roaring Ramones-fueled guitar-and-bass riff and splashy, zipper-tight drums, Shelby foursome Y’ALL’RE kicks off its 2024 debut EP First Edition with Galaxy Lineberger’s high-spirited, smart-ass vocals. “I’m tired of playing with the newbs/ Their games are dumber than gelatinous cubes/ We best the big, bad evil guy/ Because our…
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News & Opinion
City Council Hears from Candidates for Empty District 6 Seat
Members of Charlotte City Council held a special meeting Thursday afternoon to hear from candidates vying for former council member Tariq Bokhari’s vacated seat. The replacement for Bokhari, a Republican who represented District 6, must be a registered Republican who lives in D6 and is over 21 years old. The…
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Music
Carolina Beer Choir Lights Up the Room with Convivial Concerts
On March 15, the Saturday before St. Patrick’s Day, an affable group of people gathered at Divine Barrel Brewing in NoDa. Some were clad in the green T-shirts associated with America’s unofficial drinking holiday and a few ordered beers in the sunlit taproom. When two men sat down, one behind…
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Food & Drink
Danny McBride’s Don Gato Tequila Hits Charlotte with Hometown Connection
In a video dropped on social media on May 5, actor, comedian and writer Danny McBride (The Righteous Gemstones) hammers away at a manual typewriter in a vast sun-dappled agave field. “Let’s be honest,” McBride intones in voiceover. “Cinco de Mayo is not about waiting two hours in line at…
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Food & Drink
Tracing History from Charlotte’s First Brewer to Olde Mecklenburg Brewery
To paraphrase humorist and legendary lager imbiber Mark Twain, rumors of the Charlotte craft beer scene’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. This is not to say that the industry hasn’t been weathering the winds of change. In recent years, Charlotte’s craft beer boom, which saw nearly 20 independent breweries open…
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News & Opinion
Forward Together Rally Brings Huntersville Crowd Out Against Trump
More than 1,200 people gathered on Sam Furr Road at Holly Point Drive Saturday afternoon to protest multiple actions by the Trump administration, including dismantling America’s education and health care systems, selling public lands to billionaires, ignoring due process and defying the courts. The Day of Action/Forward Together demonstration, organized…
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