Charlotte Squawks X: Ten Carolina Commandments bills itself as Saturday Night Live meets Broadway. Since it invites the comparison, I feel free to make it. Saturday Night Live, after being embroiled in controversy over its lack of black female cast members unless you counted Kenan Thompson in a dress, at last added Sasheer Zamata. However, […]
Charlotte Squawks really does meet SNL – just look at the cast Read More »
Despite conventional wisdom, Madam C.J. Walker did not invent the straightening comb. The woman who started life as Sarah Breedlove of Louisiana — the first child in her family born into freedom, in 1867 — earned fame and fortune through ingenuity, innovation and hard work. Despite hard times and loss, Walker is regarded as America’s
If you had any doubts about the durability of the Motown songbook, stop worrying. Hours of auditions for the Broadway hit Motown the Musical and its upcoming national tour meant “Dancing in the Street” got a workout. And even after dozens of renditions – in various keys and at different tempos by singers not named
Broadway comes to Charlotte, courtesy of an almost native son Read More »
Americans spend more time watching televised cooking shows than actually cooking. “We’ve managed to turn cooking into a spectator sport,” said best-selling author Michael Pollan. Plus, wouldn’t you know, “the less we cook, the fatter we are.” While Pollan’s visit to Queens University Thursday night was thoroughly entertaining, such depressing truths sprinkled throughout made the
Michael Pollan name-checks North Carolina amid warnings about a ‘cooking paradox’ Read More »
“Any Person May Kill and Destroy Said Slaves,” reads an arrest proclamation from 1798. Issued for “Jem” and “Mat” by Warren County, N.C., it may as well have been a death sentence. Even if Jem and Mat, two escaped slaves, were able to get to the North to a state that had abolished slavery, they
American history X: How Kinsey exhibit at Gantt Center fights the ‘myth of absence’ Read More »
It was almost but not quite like being in the middle of the action on Inauguration Day. If you opened the door of the restaurant on the Senate side of the U.S. Capitol, you could practically hear echoes of President Obama’s speech and Beyonce’s rendition of the National Anthem, real or lip-synched. But it was
Will the Democratic South rise again? Read More »
Meet the new South, which has some of the same problems as the old South. It’s undeniable that a black mayor welcoming a black president into a city can tout skyscrapers, sports and a thriving arts scene. But despite those signs of growth, in the region that has gained political prominence — both parties chose
DNC 2012 Notebook: Southern-fried pessimism intrudes on the party Read More »
