march.10 www.uptownclt.com
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FOR THOSE WHO LOVE THE FINER THINGS…
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AMENITIES • Resort-style saline pool with spa, & lap pool www.uptownclt.com • Pool gazebo featuring an area for grilling • Outdoor living room with fireplace
• Fitness Center • Internet cafe • Sports Lounge with billiards
2/26/2010 10:02:35 AM
now oFFeRing UP To THRee MonTHs FRee FoR a liMiTeD TiMe onlY
Ashton mixes classic design with upbeat modernism. It’s an emerging “it” spot – the ideal locale for the urban sophisticate who thrives on energy and seeks out the unique and intriguing. Here, just south of Uptown Charlotte, South End’s distinguished galleries, shopping, entertainment and dining district is just outside your door.
SOCIAL SPACES
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• Unparalleled views of Uptown Charlotte
• Dramatic living spaces with high ceilings, sleek-lined solar shades and custom-color accent walls
H I GH - R IS E L E A SA B LE L I V I N G
• Pedestrian access to South End’s galleries, boutiques and chic eateries • One block from the East/West Boulevard station with LYNX light rail and trolley service
• Open-concept gourmet kitchens with granite slab countertops, wine racks, custom European-style cabinetry and stainless steel appliances
• The Club with Wi-Fi Internet cafe and HDTV sports lounge with billiards
• Luxurious natural hardwood, travertine and Berber flooring
• Private HDTV screening room with surround-sound and leather club seating
• Spacious bedrooms that accommodate king-sized beds and feature extra-large walk-in closets
• Elevated outdoor terrace with conversational seating
• Upgraded fixtures and ceiling fans with decorative lighting
• Gourmet demonstration kitchen with private dining room • Oversized spa-inspired fitness club • Executive conference room and business center • 11th floor Sky Lounge with resort-style pool, aqua bar, sunning cabanas, firepit and grilling areas • Premier resident services such as valet dry cleaning, package delivery and complimentary fitness classes • Daily coffee and hot tea service
• Luxury bathrooms with custom framed mirrors, marble slab countertops, sumptuous soaking tubs and available frameless shower doors • Full-size washer and dryer in every residence • Oversized terraces, french balconies, street-level entries, studies, dry bars, built-in bookshelves and computer niches are available in select residences
• Multi-level private garage parking with controlled-access entry; storage rooms available • Pet friendly
now leasing // 888.890.3 794 125 W. TremonT Avenue // ChArloTTe, nC 28203 // AshtonsE.com www.uptownclt.com
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Visit our sister project, The Residence at southPark, at TheResidenceliving.com. Mar 10.indd 3
2/26/2010 10:02:36 AM
WAS-CFS Feb 2010
23/2/10
16:19
Page 1
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704.359.0007
LEARJET 31A - S/N 31A - 0160 FOR SALE OR LEASE
2/26/2010 2:16:46 PM
Townhome Living in a Resort-Style Neighborhood Close to Shopping and Dining at South Park Mall
From the $190’s
• 1,747 to 4,500 sq.ft.
Tour 4 Decorated Model Homes, Open Daily! Every aspect of this luxurious community announces you’ve arrived, from the majestic gated entrance and resort-inspired amenities to the perfectly manicured greenscapes and spacious, stunning townhomes. Enjoy a truly exceptional lifestyle less than one mile from the light rail and just minutes from the world-class shopping, dining and recreation of South Park.
• 2 to 4 bedrooms and 2 ½ to 3 ½ baths with owner’s bedroom up or down • 1 or 2-car attached garage • Bonus room, loft & rec rooms available
Phone: (704) 643-7112 Directions: I-77 to Exit 5/Tyvola Rd. Go East 2.6 mi. toward South Park Mall. Right on Park Rd. Go .5 mi. to right on Archdale Dr. Go 0.7 mi. to left into community on Park Royal Avenue. Model homes ahead on right.
Model Hours: Sun–Mon. 12-6, Tues.–Sat. 10-6 Prices and offers subject to change without notice. See a Sales and Marketing Representative for details.
Welcoming Families Home for Over 60 Years
For More Information, Visit RyanHomesUM.com www.uptownclt.com
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www.uptownclt.com
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LUXURIOUS TWO BEDROOM DEN HOME IN SOUGHT AFTER FOURTH WARD ENJOY IMPRESSIVE VIEWS FROM YOUR PRIVATE BALCONY TWO SECURED PARKING SPACES CHAPEL WATCH - 542 N. CHURCH ST.
Visit me at 218 North College Street
Nancie Woods
iselluptown.com 704.608.0964
Breathless cityscape views from one of the few end units in the most intimate building in Fourth Ward. This home sets itself apart with elegant appointments including Galaxy Gold Granite, Volcano Travertine floors and frameless shower enclosure in the luxurious master bath and tremendous walk-in closets. Rich hardwood floors throughout the formal living areas lead you from the extraordinary entry hall to the relaxing den featuring transom doors and surround sound. Enjoy breathtaking views of the Center City skyline and Chapel Watch’s own dancing fountain. Delight in the romantic glow of the gas log fireplace. Cook a gourmet meal in your beautiful kitchen and sit down in your formal dining room or grill on your own built in gas grill on the 183 square foot balcony. After a wonderful evening, retire to your oversize master suite where the evening lights of the city will lull you to sleep.
$549,000
MLS # 915526
www.uptownclt.com
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www.bracesincharlotte.com 8
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www.uptownclt.com
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the seen
pictures: catch light studio george lanis
Tom Selleck would have been proud of the men who participated in the Mustaches for Kids fundraiser. For four weeks the participants dedicated their upper lips to the charity, which raises funds for schools in North Carolina. They overcame ridicule, comparisons to state troopers and many other slanderous comments to raise just over $57,000! To cap off the four-week mustachegrowing marathon, all the participants got together at Madison’s in Uptown on February 12 to raise a cold beer and hold a pageant to determine the best and worst of the ‘stache growers. To take part in the growing festivities next year, check out m4kclt.org.
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www.uptownclt.com
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www.uptownclt.com
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the seen
pictures: catch light studio george lanis
The Black Eyed Peas played Time Warner Arena in front of close to 20,000 people, then kept the night going with their after-party at Butter and played to a lucky few. Joined by Nicky Hilton, Will.I.Am took to the DJ booth and Fergie grabbed the microphone to sing along to their own songs. No one moved toward the door of the club until the lights came on at 2 a.m.
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www.uptownclt.com
2/26/2010 2:17:36 PM
YOU DON'T NEED LUCK
to live in luxury.
• Upscale urban apartments
• Stylish apartment layouts
• Prime location
• 24-hour fitness center
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• Chic decor
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1312 S. College Street Call (704) 333-1530 for specials. themillennium.com www.uptownclt.com
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nothing new by Little Shiva
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www.uptownclt.com
2/26/2010 3:05:09 PM
www.uptownclt.com
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*
uptown
name: Little Shiva species: mutant here for: the smell of ink on paper interests: juxtaposition, transformation, mystery, clarity, the process of becoming, image and design contributions to this issue: table of contents website: littleshiva.com
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Shelly Shepard, an editor/writer, called The Charlotte Observer home for over 10 years, writing headlines and copy editing countless front-page stories. Wanderlust has taken Shelly from teaching English in Prague, to living in a hut in Thailand. If not working, chances are you’ll find her hiking. Professionally, Shelly’s at home with a page of words in front of her, a mouse in hand and a deadline looming.
Deciding to move to Charlotte a few months ago was an easy decision for Jessica Bitner. Tired of the heat and humidity in Orlando, she has now settled comfortably into the charming Plaza Midwood area. Working as an Account Executive for Uptown Magazine, Jessica is quickly learning about all the unique characteristics of the Queen City. During race season, you’ll find her hanging at the local tracks promoting her clothing line for female race fans.
Ryan Sumner is both Creative Director and Owner of Fenix Fotography, a full-service photo studio located in Plaza-Midwood that’s dedicated to creating compelling and artful images for corporate, advertising, fashion, and weddings. The studio also offers onsite studio work for executive headshots. Ryan’s photographs appear in the fashion section of this month’s issue. Click to fenixfoto.com to find out more about Ryan.
Charlotte native Matt Kokenes is no stranger to the media-sales business in the Queen City. He has been selling both print and television for almost seven years. Through perseverance and intestinal fortitude, Matt has shown he has the toughness to succeed in this business.
www.uptownclt.com
2/26/2010 10:03:55 AM
say more
with your smile!
A native Charlottean, Jennifer Misenheimer is a hair stylist and artistic creator with a discerning eye for style. When she’s not doing hair at Escape Hair and Skin Studio, in Dilworth, or styling fashion shoots, Jennifer finds outlet for her creative passion through painting, personal styling, and designing one-of-a-kind custom costumes. This month, Jennifer styled our fashion layout.
Peter Reinhart is the Chef on Assignment at Johnson & Wales University, which means he does whatever they ask him to do and goes wherever they send him. He’s written seven books on bread, pizza, food and culture. In partnership with Pierre Bader, he opened Pie Town, an artisan pizzeria on Trade Street. And AS if he weren’t busy enough, Peter is also Uptown’s Contributing Food Editor.
CHELSEA COOLEY- Miss U.S.A. 2005 Dentistry by Dr. Shapiro “I cannot tell you how very impressed we are with Dr. Shapiro and his entire staff!” - Kate T. “Thank you for all that you do! Your office and staff is the best in the Carolina’s - I always look forward to my visits and you always make me smile!” - Matt K. “I absolutely loved the experience and you made me feel like a family member. I was nervous, but it was over with right away.” - John B.
Edward I. Shapiro, DDS Latta Pavilion, Dilworth
now accepting
cigna, united healthcare, delta premiere, and met life insurance plans general practice | sedation dentistry cosmetic & restorative dentistry | neuromuscular dentistry
704.632.9922 www.ShapiroSmiles.com www.uptownclt.com
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*
uptown
Woody Mitchell has juggled journalism and a music career for over four decades, retiring from newspaper work in 2006 to once again become a full-time music bum. As a bandleader and guitarist, he’s appeared at Neighborhood Theatre numerous times, as well as most of the Piedmont’s other top nightspots. His current band is Woody & the Stragglers, now entering their 10th year. Woody and his wife, RC, live in Mint Hill.
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A man about town with his camera, George Lanis of Catch Light Studio has been photographing people in his native Charlotte for years. From friends’ weddings to parties to family photos for the holidays, his work is creative and diverse, and he’s always looking to show you in the best light. Check out catchlightonline. com for more.
Originally from NY, Alessandra Salvatore has called Uptown Charlotte home for a year now. An avid writer of articles, reviews, and screenplays, Alessandra’s other addictions include interior decorating, red wine, and “swapping”—she recently created SwapSassy.com, a website where fashionistas can swap clothing. When not scoping the Charlotte scene, you can find her at home in the company of her husband, Greg, and her fat cat, Marcus.
Bryan Reed is a man of simple interests— among them, words, records, movies, and adjusting to life as a grownup (whatever that means). Since graduating from UNCChapel Hill’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Bryan’s been living the dream, working as the assistant editor of Charlotte-based music magazine Shuffle, and freelancing for several publications including Tiny Mix Tapes and several weekly newspapers across the Carolinas.
Although a Hoosier at heart, Jenn Burns is currently loving the blue skies and sun of North Carolina as she attends Davidson College. She is nearing the end of her freshman year and planning to create a major in food. She doesn’t know where she will end up or what she will be doing in the future, but is looking forward to enjoying it and hoping it will include food and travel.
www.uptownclt.com
2/26/2010 1:36:19 PM
we could have called it
uptown downtown center city noda plaza midwood south end dilworth eastover myers park southpark midtown elizabeth M
A
G
A
Z
I
N
E
but you can say uptown in only one breath
covering in-town Charlotte since 2005 704.944.0551 magazine www.uptownclt.com 19 uptown
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Publisher Todd Trimakas Advertising Jessica Bitner Matt Kokenes 704.944.0551
I received a graduate degree from the international business school at the University of South Carolina, which with a quick bit of math reveals that I was in formal education for 18 years. Amazing to me even now. And I can say with all honesty that after the sixth grade I didn’t enjoy a single minute of class. Not one. Unless, of course, we were on a field trip. Between the sixth grade and graduating from USC I can only remember one teacher’s name: Mrs. Fishman, senior English, 1990, at East Meck High School, here in Charlotte. Only one teacher. Don’t get me wrong; I love knowledge, just hate school. I was never one to stay still long enough, focus long enough or stop touching others. At school I was always asked to fit into a mold that I could never quite match up with, and I always felt like a foot or arm was sticking out. After graduating I celebrated like everyone else and praised the lord above that I would never have to
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step foot in a classroom again. How wrong I was. In about a year’s time I will be leading my daughter into the public schools of Charlotte. She’s almost 4 now, and will soon be entering the jungle of kindergarten, which until recently I didn’t realize was an actual grade in school. When I worry about Kate and school I worry about two things: transferring my distaste for formal education to her, and the educational institution stifling her creativity. Thankfully, my wife enjoyed school, so she can work on the learning part and I can focus on recess. But creativity is another matter. How do we protect it? Right now Kate and really all children have a bottomless well of creativity. A pair of shoes will turn her into a princess, two pencils are the start of a sword fight between the three musketeers and their evil nemesis, and a wet washcloth becomes a magic carpet. Creativity is the wellspring of the U.S.; it’s the source of who we are and where we are going. From oatmeal to superconducting nano computers, nothing existed until a creative soul came up with the idea and made it happen. And from my experiences in school and in my years in the corporate world, creativity is the bane of those in charge. It is suppressed so that everyone can meet in the middle, learn what is required, and meander down the path to retirement. It saddens me. I mention this, but I have absolutely no solution. I wouldn’t even know where to begin. I’ll just try to do my part in sustaining creativity by picking up the other pencil on a moment’s notice, scowling like an evil nemesis and starting another sword fight with the blond musketeer. ~Todd Trimakas Publisher / Editor Todd@uptownclt.com
Executive Editor Shelly Shepard Contributing Editors Peter Reinhart (Food) Ryan Sumner (Fashion) Contributors Jenn Burns George Lanis Jennifer Misenheimer Woody Mitchell Alessandra Salvatore Little Shiva Bryan Reed
Photography Ryan Sumner Todd Trimakas George Lanis Cover Art Ryan Sumner Distribution Sean Chesney Office 1600 Fulton Ave., #140 Charlotte, NC 28205 Contact us at info@uptownclt.com Uptown Magazine is a trademark of Uptown Publishing inc., copyright 2009. All rights reserved. Uptown is printed monthly and subscriptions are $25 annually and can be purchased online at uptownclt.com.
www.uptownclt.com
2/26/2010 1:37:17 PM
Priced from
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CONTACT: TERRY CHILDERS First Charlotte Properties 704.299.6925 www.uptownclt.com uptown www. T
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TChilders@1stCharlotte.com
2/26/2010 10:04:02 AM
culture
words: alessandra salvatore
the life
“Can you come over to my cube when you have a second?” Those words, uttered by a co-worker in the break room on a Monday morning, jolted me from my trance and the reality hit me that the weekend was over. “Sure, let me just finish making my coffee.” I hear a guffaw from someone behind me. I spin around. “Yes?” “Oh, nothin,’” says another co-worker, a native Charlottean. “I’ll let you get your ‘CAWfee’ first.” He chuckles, and leaves. It was the first time since moving here that my “accent” was made fun of, and it totally caught me off guard. I stood there for a minute. I then sipped my…caffeinated beverage, and quietly uttered an apology to my father. My dad, born and raised in Italy, came to the U.S. as a teenager. He spoke very little English, if any, when he met my mother, and was pretty much clueless about American culture. Needless to say, there were several opportunities to mock him at the kitchen table while we were growing up. We didn’t mean any harm; we were just having fun. And his accent made it so easy. For instance, often when he speaks, the “h” is dropped where it shouldn’t be (thumbtack becomes tumbtack), and, ironically, an “h” is added before all vowels (his references to Hoprah Winfrey, and the hinternet). And it wasn’t always just the accent that fueled the laughs. Sometimes he just couldn’t get it together grammatically. Most of the time he took our pokes in stride, even chuckled at his own expense. I remember one time my sister was talking to him about how she would arrange furniture in her new room. He didn’t agree with her and wanted to tell her that she had no perception of the space. Instead, out came: “Lisa! You have no…no… self-esteem!” Another time I asked him whether we could eat outside. “Sure!” he said. “Weather promiscuous, of course.” Somewhere across town, my fourth-grade English teacher was cringing. In the midst of us cracking up, he narrowed his eyes at us and said, “Sorry if I wasn’t born-a here, like-a you did.” Indeed he wasn’t, and neither were his brother and sister. To this day, when we get together with my cousins, we compare notes on the funny things our parents say and laugh for hours. Sometimes it’s OK to do it in front of them and they laugh with us. Other times, not so much. When my cousin was small, he was in the backseat of his mother’s car
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with his siblings and he used the “F” word. My aunt yelled at him, but out it slipped again. Furious, she pulled off the road and scolded him: “You tink is-a funny? Say it again, I dare you! Go ahead, spell it now, F-A-K!” Another cousin was in the car with his father, my uncle, and was eating a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich. My uncle looked over, gasped, and said: “Whatta you crazy? Dat’s a triple tret to your hartieries!” My experience in the break room that morning put me on the other side of the laughter for once, and got me thinking of all of the things lost in translation, in my experience, since moving from the North to the South. Below are some key words and phrases I’ve observed and their true meanings: *Y’all – the obvious, of course meaning “you all.” Example: “Y’all coming to the party?” *All y’all – I’ve noticed that you may want to watch out when the “all” is tossed in before the “y’all.” It tends to pack a bit more punch than the plain old “y’all.” Example: “All y’all better figure this shit out ASAP.” *Bless your heart! I’ll never forget the first time I heard this. I thought it was so sweet. Bless my heart! Wow, southerners sure are nice! I am now realizing this is often the grammatical equivalent to the northern “Cry me a river, bitch.” *Can’t - This one baffles me in terms of context. Example: “Why don’t we see if we can’t find a parking space?” Hmm…Why don’t we see if we can? * He looks like something the dog’s been keeping under the porch. That guy is one ugly mo’ fo.’ *Mawma said…This one is pretty obvious in meaning. But I do love it when people say this instead of “My mom said,” and it makes me want to bust out the MJ every time. I hope you find this guide somewhat helpful. My apologies for ripping on you, Dad. And take it easy on us, Charlotteans - remember, we weren’t born-a here, like-a you did. U Reach Alessandra at alicatt29@aim.com For more info go to www.uptownclt.com
www.uptownclt.com
2/26/2010 1:10:32 PM
IT’S HIP. IT’S URBAN. IT’S CLOSE. PLAZA-VU.COM
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2010
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food the life
words: alessandra salvatore
There I was at the elevator, headed to a friend’s house. I was dressed and ready to go out: heels, makeup, and my favorite pair of jeans. I felt the weight of the bakeware dish I carried, packed with layers of mini pizzas, when suddenly something seemed very
familiar. I was transported back to my 8-year-old self, following my mother out of the house to a family birthday party for one of my 42 first cousins. She was dressed to the nines: heels, makeup, hair (sound familiar?). This scene comes into focus even more if I come across a whiff of “Obsession” by Calvin Klein. Somehow, with three trays of cookies, a bottle of wine, two cheesecakes and a tray of pasta in hand, she
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managed to lock the door, walk to the car, and load up five kids and my father. We’d arrive at our destination and, in line like tiny ants, we’d carry everything in and set it upon a table that barely had room to fit it all. “Mom,” we’d say, “do you think maybe we brought too much?” Of course she couldn’t hear us, because she was too busy worrying we hadn’t brought enough. This insanity runs throughout my extended family, as well. Say we made an unannounced stop at my aunt’s house. We’d say hello, then she’d disappear for five minutes and re-emerge from the kitchen with a heaping tray of bruschetta made from fresh tomatoes, topped with the perfect drizzle of olive oil and the most precise shake of seasoning. This would baffle me for years. I would suspiciously eyeball her kitchen cabinets, convinced there was a miniature Italian chef hiding inside, slicing away at tomatoes and stirring up gravy when no one was looking. I could swear I had seen his cousin, the baker, scurry across my mom’s kitchen with a carton of eggs just last week. Being the youngest in my family, I never had believed in Santa Claus or the tooth fairy. But the mini cabinet dwellers simply had to exist. My family didn’t go to restaurants for special occasions. Partly because everyone was big on cooking, but also because most restaurants wouldn’t take a reservation for 64 people celebrating 11 half-birthdays. I literally thought as a child that this was the norm; that every time there were a reason to celebrate, a giant network of extended family would emerge from the trees bearing cookies, pies, fresh mozzarella from Arthur Avenue,
antipasti, eggplant parmesan trays, and all of the aluminum trays and Sterno necessary to keep everything warm for the duration of the event. What, that’s not normal? I remember the first time I went to a friend’s family party as a kid, and none of the above occurred. I waited and waited. I was totally confused. I wanted to blurt out, like my 3-year-old cousin did when her innocent babysitter set a plate in front of her containing a nuked hot dog, “This is garbage! Where’s the pasta?” I remember one night during college I had my friend Ashley with me, and we were coming home from a late night out in the city. It was four in the morning, and we tiptoed past my dad, who was asleep on the couch. We noticed the light on in the kitchen, and before we could sneak past, my mom emerged, cake batter in her hair, with a warm plate of cookies in hand. And then, as if it were three o’clock in the afternoon, she held it out and said: “Oh, hi girls. You want some semolina cookies?” Behind her was tray on top of tray of sweets. It was as if when we left to go out just a few hours earlier the casts of “Cake Boss” and “Ace of Cakes” had come in and had had a bake-off. It wasn’t until I grew up a bit more that I realized somewhere in our bloodline is the impulse to feed absolutely everyone we come across. When I first moved to Charlotte I met my now good friend Jacque. We thought it would be fun to get together one night a week and cook, and we’d take turns hosting. It started with four of us and was a huge success. Shortly after, another group of girls came along with the same idea. We joined forces and now have a “Girls Cook Night” once a week. The set date keeps us all connected and trying new things. It doesn’t matter if we set off the smoke alarm, overcook the pasta, only have an hour to pop in or stay too long and polish off all the wine. What it’s really about is what’s put into the cooking and the times that are had when the food is being shared. Because no matter how much money you make, how nicely you are dressed or how many expensive restaurants you can frequent, you simply can’t put a price on a night in. Keep the tasty new restaurants coming, Charlotte – just know that we won’t be joining you on Wednesdays. U Reach Alessandra at alicatt29@aim.com For more info go to www.uptownclt.com
www.uptownclt.com
2/26/2010 12:54:52 PM
www.uptownclt.com
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work
words: alessandra salvatore
The older I get, the more I realize that I had more figured out about life as a child. Children have a total grasp on their little lives – they know who they are, what they need and exactly how to get it. They are curious and confident. Of course, they don’t have past-due rent or work deadlines to worry about. But there is something in their nature that makes me wish I could “unlearn” all of the things that clutter my mind, cause me to second-guess, and get in the way of what I – and my “inner kid” – really need in life. Two well-known Charlotteans – Gina H. Sheridan, senior director of marketing & visual communications with Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority, and Mary Tribble, president of Tribble Creative Group – share their thoughts on what their inner child told them, whether they listened, and where they are now.
the life
Gina Sheridan Uptown Magazine: As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? Gina Sheridan: I always wanted to be a television anchor…not so much a reporter on the nightly news, but more entertainment focused like “E!” or “Entertainment Tonight.” I think deep down I really just always wanted to be famous. UM: Is this in line with what you are doing today? If no, then why do you think you dropped the idea? GS: Kind of…in a sense I think I have a much more exciting and meaningful job, promoting the city of Charlotte. After college graduation I moved to Atlanta with dreams of getting a job at CNN. I got my foot in the door for an interview…but lost the desire to chart that path along the way. In my first real job out of college I was blessed with what I consider a true mentor, who is responsible for the path I’m on 26
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today. She put me under her wing, coached me, believed in me, and helped me build my first portfolio. Never underestimate the importance of the impact you can make on someone’s life. I don’t know where she is today, but I’d love to find her and give her a big hug. I wonder if she knows how instrumental she was in my professional development. UM: What was a significant lesson you learned as a child that you carried with you, that was never taught in any class? GS: Leave things better than you found them. UM: Do you feel like you’re all grown up? GS: Hardly. I turn 35 in May and still feel like I’m not old enough to be married or have children. I cringe when people say
“ma’am” to me. UM: If you could go back and tell your child self anything, what would it be? GS: Do everything passionately, surround yourself with good people, and never be afraid to celebrate the “wins” in your life. If the people around you don’t celebrate with you, perhaps you should reconsider having them in your life. Mary Tribble Uptown Magazine: As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? Mary Tribble: In a third-grade essay entitled, “All About Me,” I professed I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher or a flight attendant. I wanted to be neither; I clearly remember making it up. I just couldn’t think of anything else. In the early
’60s, the choices for women were still quite limited. UM: Is this in line with what you are doing today? If no, then why do you think you dropped the idea? MT: While I never could have imagined this would lead to a career, I spent countless hours making up plays and putting them on for the neighbors. I still have a small write-up from a local newspaper highlighting a particular production we put on that included a donation to the nearby children’s hospital. We collected $4.23 in a Dixie cup and presented it to the nurse at the front desk. So, I was planning events, some of them fundraisers, which of course is what I’m still doing today. UM: What was a significant lesson you learned as a child that you carried with you, that was never taught in any class? MT: Life’s setbacks never turn out as bad you might imagine. When I was in fifth grade, I was asked to pet-sit for Michael Dixon’s gerbil. It died on the first day of his vacation, presumably from one too many rides in my younger brother’s mechanical train. My mother and I worried and fretted for days until Michael came home. To our relief, Mrs. Dixon was nonplussed, happy to never have to change the gerbil cage again. Michael didn’t seem to notice. UM: Do you feel like you’re all grown up? MT: When my father died about 18 months ago, I felt like a reluctant adult. I wanted to be a little girl again, safe in my assumption that my parents would never leave me. I wasn’t ready to take on the responsibility of full adult status. Once our parents are gone, who will be the ones to remember the costume I wore that Halloween, or my performance at a particular piano recital? I feel like I have so much to remember before I can say I’ve grown up. UM: If you could go back and tell your child self anything, what would it be? MT: Stop worrying so much about what other people think. Be yourself, even if it’s a little bit goofy. U Reach Alessandra at alicatt29@aim.com For more info go to www.uptownclt.com
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Pizzaiolo – n. Italian for a male artisan pizza chef who specializes in the perfection of the crust, the secret ingredient to an outstanding pizza. This elusive and exclusive group obtains their titles from nearly a lifetime of experience, earning respect from their peers. f. pizzaiola pl. pizzaiolos/pizzaiolas.
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austin in his element at pie town
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the dough preparing to rise
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othing went as planned. Nothing was as expected. Nothing could have been better. I suddenly wanted these people to like me more than I ever did my peers in high school, which is the kingdom of the unknown where the land is ruled by wanting to be liked and the currency is nervousness. I had had the captain of the basketball team wrapped around my finger, but these guys turned me to mush. I felt like a bird without feathers, naked and vulnerable. To top things off, I knew nothing. I didn’t even really care for most pizza. Yet, I was to become a pizzaiola at Pie Town, Charlotte’s first “artisan” pizzeria, and I was terrified. The problems began before I arrived. What does a pizzaiola wear? This was the least of my problems, as I also didn’t know how to make dough or bake a pizza. As much as I would like to say that I prepared extensively by learning everything I could, I didn’t. I was going in blind. I ate pizza for lunch that day, hoping to get in 30
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the mindset. This later proved to be a detriment, as the pizza was soon flowing and I was already nearing my saturation point. This adventure had begun when I had the opportunity to spend an afternoon in the kitchen of Pie Town. Peter Reinhart, renowned baker and pizza expert, had traveled the world in search of the perfect pizza. As a result, Reinhart teamed with primary owner Pierre Bader on Pie Town. Reinhart is the executive pizzaiolo and consulting partner. Pie Town’s professional pizzaiolos would teach me their ways so that I, too, could become a pizzaiola, or at least take one step down the path to perfection. They enticed me with the promise of learning their secrets. Normally, I would tell you that I play hard to get, but let’s be honest, I said yes before all the details were even finalized. The staff’s T-shirts ask, “Could this be the best pizza in the world?” I was ready to find out. I arrived at 3 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon. My only knowledge of restaurant kitchens came from “Kitchen Confidential,” by Anthony Bourdain. He paints a descriptive picture of a kitchen as a brutal environment, filled with ex-cons and chaos – not a place for a young suburban co-ed. After a round of formal introductions, the cooks went about their work of barbecuing chicken and slicing prosciutto, listening to my battery of questions but remaining a little distant. As this was a new
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experience for everyone – my first time in a kitchen and their first time showing the ropes to an outsider – no one knew how to act. We began by making dough. Not just any dough of course, but a dough that is capable of creating “a crust that has balanced but complex flavors and a texture that contains both a crisp and smoky snap and a creamy texture inside the puffy edge,” as the menu touts. I was quickly enrolled in Pizza 101. We went over the precise ratio of water, flour and mixing. My first lecture was a brief history of pizza and the differences among varieties. I don’t know whether I proved myself by being an active listener or if they simply got tired of having a follower, but I was soon given an apron and cap and became part of the in crowd. I was a professional – or at least I looked like one. It was the easiest initiation I had ever been a part of: no embarrassment, no pain. I helped slice pig jowl, a big hunk of creamy fat with some meat hidden inside, and immediately showed my amateur status by holding the meat with elongated fingers. In a tone mixed with urgency, distress (he probably didn’t want any blood squirting into his bacon) and respect for a near-stranger, Austin Krum, the head of the Pie Town kitchen, explained that it would behoove me to hold the pig jowl with curled fingers and rounded knuckles. “You wouldn’t want to lose a fingertip!” I got the point and we made some delicious guanciale, cured bacon, from that jowl (not the belly, the source of regular bacon). We then moved onto the true nuggets of pizza gold, the dough balls. As my compatriots in white churned out ball after ball, I struggled to have any control over my pieces. As dough quickly swam through their hands, it somehow got stuck in mine. Each pizzaiolo offered his special tip. Unfortunately, their three strategies did not meld into one perfect hybrid, but I did at least earn passing marks. With so many hands, this task was quickly over, with all of the dough converted into pizza dough balls. All that was left was to wait with baited breath for the diners to join us and order a pizza pie. Most of the duties had been completed by this point, a classic case of hurry up and wait. Conversation began to flow as we waited for the first customers of the evening. The manager, bartender, wait staff – everyone – came into the kitchen to chat during this downtime. Just like at a dinner party, everyone congregated in the kitchen. Anecdotes were shared as we began to get to know one another. People shared stories about their past lives as culinary students or bulk food distributors. I was even able to add my two cents about my expertise in ice cream (see the September 2009 issue of Uptown for my ice cream initiation). Food’s greatest strength was at work again – bringing people together. These strangers suddenly began to become friends. Like a medieval ball, I had been chained to Austin for the evening. He had been at Pie Town since day one
dough on the way to becoming a pizza
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the final product
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and had an amazing ability to move everyone forward; he was a waves. Mere seconds were the difference between done and team captain, not a dictator. Chris Reinhart, Peter’s nephew, was overdone. the first to offer me a sample slice, so I liked him immediately. I A long-handled wooden board, a pizza peel, was used quickly realized this was no special treatment as I soon had whole to transfer the pizzas from the assembly area to the oven and pizzas coming my way, but he made a good first impression. Gino from the oven to the plate. It took a delicate shimmy of the was the new guy, despite being the oldest, at about 45. He had wrist to smoothly slide the pizza into the oven. At this I proved been in the pizza business since he was 18, but wanted something to be a natural. It may seem like a minor detail of the process, new and extraordinary, so, he headed to Pie Town. Gino took me but without the proper transfer a pizza could be lost. The outer under his wing as we manned the pizzas for the rest of night. I edges of the oven are drastically warmer than the center, so the knew it would be a fun pizzas had to be rotated night when Gino joked, every 30 seconds to cook My eyes burned as I kept a constant watch on the “Now, that is G-I-N…” evenly. This is done with pizzas, but I could not tear them away from the cheese to ensure I spelled his a different peel – one that that boiled like rolling ocean waves. Mere seconds were has a smaller metal disk at name correctly in his Uptown debut. These its head. the difference between done and overdone. men were true pizza At last, mission freaks, eating pizza accomplished: I made a nearly every day of the pizza of customer quality! week, even on their days off. From dough to finishing salt, I had a hand in every step of the At first I practiced with dough left over from the day before, process. More important, I was proud to be a part of the operation. waste dough. I was not yet trusted with the good stuff. I felt Guests at Pie Town are welcomed into the kitchen to see like I was trying to entice a jellyfish to reshape itself. Flour on the process and ask questions. They had no idea it was my first my hands was key, in the right proportion. This wasn’t a case of day, that I was just a visitor like them. By the end of the night, more is better. The dough was in a smooth half-dome about the “Reinhart” (Chris and I were now on an informal footing) was circumference of a CD and a couple of inches thick. I started in the taking pictures of me spinning dough in the air. The rigidity of middle, pressing down the dough with the pads of my fingertips, measurements and protocols had been replaced by laughter and working my way to the edges. The crust was to be as thin as four fun. or five pieces of paper, but strong enough to hold all the goodies. As we were saying our goodbyes, I mentioned that Meanwhile, what a layman (myself mere hours before) would refer this wasn’t at all the experience I had been expecting; it had far to as the crust, the often-rejected bit, could be thicker. In the world exceeded my expectations. First off, I wasn’t planning on staying of artisan pizzas, the crust edge is the cornicione, and is the star of for nearly seven hours. Secondly, I wasn’t expecting their kindness the show. or patience. And finally, I wasn’t expecting the calm and quiet of Just when I thought I was getting a handle on the finger people working hard at what they do best. Austin, the pizza guru, pressing, it was time to move onto the next step. Again, the three responded, “You exceeded our expectations too.” competing styles of each pizzaiolo showed their faces. Austin told As I reflected on these words, I realized that maybe they me to use my middle knuckles while I interpreted Gino’s method weren’t looking forward to my arrival, and I certainly understood of choice as using the flat sides of his fingernails. Gino told me, why I might first be perceived as a burden; they wouldn’t want “Gravity is your friend,” while softly stretching the dough as long someone coming into their space for a night, adding responsibility as the table still supported some of it. At the same time, Austin and work to an already full plate. But they told me that I did what encouraged me to free the dough of any outside support. Chris I was supposed to, without even knowing it, and that I was even had his own tricks. I fused all of the styles to craft a new creature helpful. I saw how this microcosm is representative of life. Is that at least appeared pizza-like in the end. Toppings and sauce it human instinct to have low expectations of the unknown, of were the easy part. A dollop of sauce in the middle was spiraled outsiders? Probably. At the same time, it suggests that we are also out with the bottom of a ladle. Adding cheese, if you want to be willing to be proven wrong. We may put up our guard initially and efficient, is a two-handed endeavor. test newcomers, but relationships can be built quickly in the heat The oven demands your respect. It is the centerpiece of the of fire. Although I technically became a pizzaiola by making a kitchen, taking up most of the room and easily making its presence customer-quality pizza, I think the true test was in being accepted known by its constant heat. The gas-fired brick oven kept a by the community. For one day I was able to become someone constant temperature of about 800 degrees. With only a couple of new, from restaurant guest to restaurant chef, from outsider to feet between the oven and the production space, the back of my insider. I was a pizzaiola. U neck was treading the line between hot and uncomfortable. My Reach Jen at jeburns@davidson.edu eyes burned as I kept a constant watch on the pizzas, but I could For more info go to www.uptownclt.com not tear them away from the cheese that boiled like rolling ocean www.uptownclt.com
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THE NEIGHBORHOOD THEATRE Everybody loves a happy ending, and for Charlotte music lovers, news that the Neighborhood Theatre will continue without missing a beat was welcome indeed.
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s a musician, music writer and diehard fan, I was as stunned as anybody when the theater’s operator, JEM Entertainment, announced in January that the partnership would likely be folding its tents at the end of March. The theater’s funky charm and broad array of top talent over the past 12 years have made it special among folks
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who take their live music seriously. As it grew, it pumped life into the blossoming North Davidson community – galleries, restaurants, and shops – by attracting people to NoDa who might have never visited otherwise. An outpouring of public sentiment over the theater’s rumored demise, backed up by advance ticket sales and pledges of support, convinced JEM to press on. “(Shutting down) was a planned business decision, based on a thorough evaluation of our situation,” says JEM partner Zach McNabb. “It wasn’t like we were in default of anything. But we could
clearly see things couldn’t continue as they were.” Words to that effect were posted on the Neighborhood Web site. Then the Facebook “Save the Neighborhood Theatre” page erupted with well over 7,000 members as word spread on the grapevine and in the press. Attendance and interest picked up, and public demand brightened the grim picture. “We’ve got a good fresh start,” Zach says, sitting on a March calendar that includes Robert Earl Keen, Ani DiFranco, Cross Canadian Ragweed and another All Arts Market event. Tyler Foster, owner of the theater property since 2007, is glad the hullabaloo’s over without a wrenching transition. The theater was never in danger of closing, he says – he’d been looking over promoters who could pick up the flag if the worst happened – but continuity works for him. “I’m just glad Zach and company will keep trucking along,” Tyler says. So, that’s the news! But, there’s always a story behind the news, and the Neighborhood’s is storied indeed. Termed an “arts district,” NoDa is the closest thing Charlotte’s ever seen to a bohemian community – a vibrant urban environment with overtones of consciousness. But it wasn’t always that way. From the 1900s through the 1950s, North Charlotte grew into a thriving textile-mill village beyond the outskirts of town – but when the mills collapsed like dominoes in the late ’60s and early ’70s, it began a twodecade spiral into degeneration and blight: crime, drugs, dives, streetwalkers, seedy storefronts and empty buildings. By the time Center of the Earth and other galleries and businesses established a beachhead in the mid- to late 1980s, you could buy a four-room
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mill house there for under $20,000. Paul X-rated films until its slow death in the ’70s. McBroom and his partner/wife, Sharon In December 1997, Paul and Sharon Pate, early on saw the potential in reviving struck a deal for the northeast-corner the neighborhood and established a real property, which now includes the theater, estate business, buying, improving and Boudreaux’s restaurant and Wine Up. They selling houses to attract residents who tore into renovation as if sweat equity were would help the community outgrow its gold, intent on building a venue aimed at a reputation as an irredeemable slum. more upscale-alternative audience with an “Some of the people living there now accent on top-shelf roots music. wouldn’t believe what it was like back then,” Sharon says. “Some of the people living there now wouldn’t Among the what it was like back then,” Sharon says. ruins sat the old Astor Theater just off the northeast corner of Davidson and 36th streets – unoccupied for 20 years, grossly Sharon ran the day-to-day operations dilapidated. Built after WWII to serve the and bookings while Paul, still involved in booming mill community, the Astor made a his real estate business, took care of the splash with a classy design (main theater, facility (including the sound system) and big lobby and balcony) and a village to acted as “quasi-bouncer.” support it. But when the mills went bust Paul and Sharon didn’t shy from and the community tanked, the theater, the gamble they were taking in the early then next door to a topless bar, resorted to going. Conventional wisdom said their
strategy was lunacy: Shows starting at 8 p.m.? Cover charges steep enough to cover top talent? In a neighborhood where faint hearts dare not tread? No problem, Paul says. “(During the late ’90s), no concert venue sold beer and wine you could take to your seat. People could see a great show and be on the way home by 11 o’clock. Spirit Square had quit booking music, so there was a vacuum we filled. “We were totally believe focused on music rather than barroom mating … it was well-received, and people came, and came back.” Their first show featured newgrass masters Tony Rice and Peter Rowan, and a nearly sold-out crowd showed up. Back then, the only heat was from a wood stove in the lobby; the tiny restrooms downstairs were allocated to the women, and the men were asked to go upstairs and use the bathtubs (yep, bathtubs) in the www.uptownclt.com
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long-abandoned tenement-style apartments, among the ghosts of post-beatnik winos. Americana singer/ songwriter Michael Reno Harrell opened that show, so it can be rightfully said that he sung the first song in the Neighborhood. His recollection: “At that time, the balcony was closed off from the rest of the theater and was used as the green room, which meant you had to walk down the stairs, through the lobby, down the aisle and climb onto the stage via a piano bench … fun carrying a guitar. “The stage had about a 5 percent slope toward the audience, so the performers felt as if they might tumble headfirst into the front row at any moment. But, all that aside, we had a wonderful show and an enthusiastic audience. And none of us fell off the stage!” Doc Watson, Newgrass Revival, Taj Mahal, Richard Thompson – the roots-music revival was in full flower, and many great acts crossed the Neighborhood stage over those early years. Randy Ivey, an ardent roots-music supporter from Charlotte, says: “There hadn’t been that much Americana and bluegrass around here before that … (after the theater opened), we were seeing Sam Bush, David Thompson, Thinking, well, he’s the real lunatic here, happened, we could throw frozen turkeys Will Kimbrough. but he’s paying the freight. We worked up down an icy runway at bowling pins.” “When people would complain there’s a spirited set as the Good Ol’ Lunatic Boys But the day turned out with blue skies no good music happening around and 70 degrees here, I’d tell them, ‘That’s because – a perfect when it is, you’re not there!’ ” midwinter day. “The stage had about a 5 percent slope toward the Events also popped up Dancing in the audience, so the performers felt as if they might tumble outside the theater. One winter, streets! head-first into the front row at any moment...” Paul got a notion to promote a During street festival, Mardi Grass, in our set, Jorma the middle of February. He asked Kaukonen and if my nutty band Lunatic Fringe Jack Casady could cobble together a bluegrass set for and checked our Arctic gear for leaks. of Hot Tuna passed by the street stage en a change of pace, and I said, “Sure!” … Paul says, “I figured if the worst route to their sound check for that night’s 38
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show at the theater, and they hung around to listen. I had met them briefly in San Francisco during the Jefferson Airplane glory days ... so after our set, they gracefully pretended they remembered me and we shot the breeze awhile about how the universe can sometimes be unpredictable in a good way, and how the gig reminded them of the old days when live music was a community event. Enough people had responded to that community spirit that, by the end of their run, Paul and Sharon had upgraded the infrastructure, installed spacious restrooms and knocked a huge hole in the wall to provide a view of the main stage from the spacious lobby, nearly tripling capacity from 350 to 930. “We were working on a shoestring, but good business allowed us to make improvements,” Sharon says. Late in 2003, the couple made “a considered decision” to lease the theater to JEM, a partnership of younger folks with a slightly different vision. “Our intent was never to stay,” Paul
says. “We wanted to build up the business to improve the neighborhood, then turn it over as part of our retirement plan.” JEM’s plan was to expand beyond roots music. “We wanted to broaden the genre base and do, well … everything!” says partner Gary Leonhard. And from jam bands to George Clinton to notable indies such as Kings of Leon, Metric and Band of Horses, the Neighborhood has delivered on that mission. JEM continued to plow money into improvements over time, upgrading the sound system and stage lights, installing a 16-foot fan in the main theater, creating a dance floor and building a small stage in the lobby area to bring in smaller
acts on nights when the theater might have otherwise been dark. “I like to stand at the back of the room as the show ends and watch the people
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going out – 95 percent of them are smiling,” Gary says. “That’s my reward – a recurring special moment.” Special moments abound for longtime fans – Laurie Koster, who puts out the Charlotte Events Weekly Newsletter (www. carolinamusicconnection.com), has so many it’s hard to pick out even a few. She and her husband, Don, log more shows per year than many do in a lifetime. Standouts for her were Rodney Crowell (2002) and George Clinton (2008). “Wow! I never stopped dancing and could not believe my ears,” Laurie says. “But among the brightest moments Don and I have had were the benefits in which we were involved,” she says – five consecutive years of the Spread Your Wings breast cancer benefits and the 2005 tsunami benefit. Those shows featured big names such as Alejandro Escobedo and the Gourds along with the cream of area talent – David Childers, Malcolm Holcombe and the Avett Brothers in the early days of their roll, among many others.
“The Neighborhood Theater has always been stellar in helping to organize, promote and bring these shows together,” Laurie says. Zach is quick to plug the folks who keep things running smoothly: “Our staff is our most important asset,” he says. In testimony: Christ Central Church, sponsor of NoDa School of the Arts, meets in the theater basement every Sunday. After Saturday night shows, Neighborhood employees work late to make sure churchgoers don’t walk into a place that reeks of beer. And the beat goes on. The theater continues, and the clouds have broken now. But in the feast-and-famine of show biz, particularly in the current economy, it’s shrewd to balance risks against benefits, Zach says: “One big show doesn’t make your year, and one disaster can cancel out months of profit.” So my fervent hope is that the recent outpouring of support for the theater is not just a flash in the pan, but a wake-up call
and consciousness-raising to generate longterm support for performers, promoters and venues across the board in Charlotte. Live music is a treasure, the most fleeting of the arts, one moment that can change your soul forever. For a working musician, the grail is connecting with the audience members and making them part of the show. For an audience, the grail is connecting with a performance that brings them in. And that bond extends beyond the big-name acts: Local bands are always stoked over the opportunity to open for big names, and the times my bands have opened at the Neighborhood, our reception was always warm and appreciative – even if everybody in the room was chafing for the headliner. That’s musical community, sustainable only by the continued involvement of those who’ll back up their good wishes at the ticket booth. U
Reach Woody at woody@carolina.rr.com For more info go to www.uptownclt.com www.uptownclt.com
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the frye gym
ith my hands on my knees and sweat dripping off my face onto the worn Astroturf, I glance at my heart-rate monitor connected to my watch. It’s 176. For some reason I always run the numbers in my head. My heart is beating almost three times a second. I’m breathing as hard and as deeply as I can, I can’t talk and the only thing I am truly aware of is my blood screaming through my veins. I know this because I can hear it in my ears. I stay this way for not nearly long enough to catch my breath, and Matt Kokenes returns with the Prowler, a personal-sized sled typically loaded with 90 pounds or more of black steel. Matt’s return is my signal to start pushing again. I don’t want to, and I procrastinate long enough to hear Chris Frye let me know that I can rest when we’re done, but NOW is time to push, so get going. Because I’ve been programmed by 1,000 coaches before, I say nothing, reach out with my pulsing arms, latch onto the Prowler and start pushing again. www.uptownclt.com
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he first time Matt Kokenes and I go to the Frye Gym, we spend 15 minutes driving around looking for the entrance. We know it’s in a converted warehouse on Tremont between South and Tryon, but there are a lot of brick warehouses on Tremont in that area, so which one? We are looking for a sign that we come to find out doesn’t exist. The gym turns out to be one of those places that you don’t know is there unless you know it’s there. We finally see something of a sign on a door next to a loading dock, figure out that, yes, this is Frye’s Gym. It’s like no other gym I’ve seen before. Where we entered is a poorly painted garage door that upon opening announces to all that you’ve arrived. The walls inside are bare gray concrete block, and there is a full-size Mixed Martial Arts cage in the near corner with a group of men wrestling and taking turns sparring. Plenty of weights with handles on them fill the area, but there’s not a machine to be had and just one treadmill that’s not plugged in. Colorful artistic graffiti covers the outside of the changing area, and there is a 20-foot wide strip of green Astroturf that runs the length of one side of the gym. We have no idea where to begin, but we do realize who Frye is because he is “encouraging” one of his clients in a loud and demanding voice. Frye is your typical 6-foot-plus, 245-pound, shaved-head, single-digit body fat, tattooed fitness motivator. Whether you consciously decide to or not, you end up listening to him and his instructions because they’re hard to ignore when coming from that figure. Frye is a local, grew up here in Charlotte, played football at South Meck and was good enough to go on to play football at the Citadel. From grunt to upperclassman he completed his four years in Charleston and came back home to start a cabinet business and a family, and try to stay in physical shape around those things in life that typically get in the way. He added two of his own boys to the mix and took on coaching high school football. His own fitness suffered mightily, complicated by his love of food, and Frye ballooned to 330 pounds. But as part of his football coaching duties, Frye trained 44
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his players and took a more thoughtful approach to their training. Neuromuscular is the word, but what it works out to is an athletic way to train. None of those machines with pulleys, cables, a lap belt and concise instructions on what specific muscles are trained, but instead active training on all the muscles of the body. The Prowler today is a go between for me. Between warm-ups and what comes next, a five-step exercise of Olympic lifts. I have just enough time to go from my high heart rate of 176 to a more manageable rate in the 140s. But even in the 140s I imagine I can feel myself moving mentally backward toward the medulla or the reptilian part of my brain, the part of the brain that we started with, and the more “civilized” part of the brain grew around it as we evolved. I naturally stop talking, get slightly angry at the process, don’t really look at anyone and reach a point where I can work through physical levels that I didn’t think I could before I started coming to this gym. Halfway through the lifts that I’ve now memorized, RDL to bent-over row to clean and then press, squat and good morning, I’m ready to go home, but can’t yet because our workout isn’t over. I just wish it was. Chris took his exercise strategy from the football field and athletes to everyday folks in the gyms in and around uptown. He worked as a trainer at most all of them, big and small, national chains and not, and left or was kicked out of all of them. His views didn’t mesh with the typical trainer who worked at these gyms, and so out of this conflict the Frye Gym was born. Chris’ gym was constructed with a specific purpose, and that is to sweat. There are no mirrors to watch yourself, no place to sit to check e-mail or listen to a voice mail. I haven’t seen anyone try, and I haven’t even thought about bringing my phone into a workout session. I imagine it would be greeted with loud disapproval. But with his bare bones approach to the gym and to the hypoxia-inducing workouts, a bond is created among all the folks who work out at the gym, a friendship that is formed out of mutual survival of these calorie-destroying workouts. And these bonds cross any and all boundaries: a UPS driver trades good-natured jabs with venture capitalists and stay-at-home moms challenge Matt and me to races the length of the gym with 25-pound heavy balls lifted over our heads. And with my two young daughters at home I can’t help but stop mid-workout and smile as three very determined pre-teen girls strap on their pink boxing gloves and commence to learning the sweet science from Daniel, one of Frye’s instructors. Two to three days a week they get dropped off by their dads and enter what I imagine to be a pretty intimidating environment. Ignoring the loud music pumping from the speakers, and Dingo the shirtless MMA fighter walking around between rounds, they focus on footwork, form and defense with a concentration unmatched in the gym. Can’t help but think what my girls will be doing at their age. With each overhead press of 100 pounds, I can feel my heart rate rocket upward, hitting that number again: 176. Followed by rest, walking the gym for as long as it takes Matt to go through his sets, maybe a minute or two, giving my heart time to slow back to the 140s, then it’s my turn again – back to RDL, and clean and press, and 176. I start to think maybe that’s as high as my heart rate monitor goes, maybe I should hold my breath just to see if it’ll hit 180. Nah, might
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chris frye
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left: the prowler // the flipping tire. below: dingo
not be a good idea, passing out with 100 pounds of steel overhead will not have a good outcome. Our sets of Olympic lifts are over and according to the digital clock on the wall we have five minutes left in the workout. Thank God. Maybe Chris will have mercy on our quads and let us go early, but with that thought comes a response from Frye. “Almost done, come on over to the tire. Eight times up and eight times back, five sets and you’re done!” It seems like this happens almost every time; I’m nearing the point where I don’t think I can go on, I definitely don’t want to go on, and I’m being asked to move this massive 500-pound tire end over end 40 times. My first reaction is anger. I’m not talking to anyone, I’m not looking at anyone, and I scowl. I can’t believe I’m being asked to do this. My whole body is already vibrating, and I’m soaked to the core in my own sweat and now I have to do this. I really can’t believe it. But I grab some more water, move toward the tire and start lifting. The first lift is the hardest, but once again I turn my civilized mind off, reptilian on and push forward. One set of eight flips down, four more to go. I have a minute for Matt to do his thing and then I step back in, eight flips down, three more sets to go. I glance down at my heart rate, in the 140s, which at the beginning of our workout felt like breathlessness but is where I now catch my breath and recover. Amazing how the body works. Matt’s done and I get eight more groaning flips in and have two more sets to go; I can see the end. I’m not aware of who is in the gym, or what music is pumping through the speakers, I’m just sitting, listening to my breathing, feeling my heart pump and watching the sweat pour off my face. Nothing else matters at this moment. Matt’s turn is done, and so is my down time. Chris says something motivating, 46
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top: graffitti art at the gym // dan. bottom: tools of the trade
I take the cue and step up and flip, eight times and I just have one set left. What started as a monumental task has been reduced to just one set of eight flips of this nasty ass tire and that’s it. Matt finishes, it’s my turn and I squat, lift and push, squat, lift and push. I’m done. I lie down on the turf, spent. More spent than I ever have been in my life, more spent than any time playing any sport, ever, including my time in Division I tennis. That was nothing compared to this, and now I just want to lie here and catch my breath. Let my blood make a lap through my body at a slightly slower pace. Then while I’m lying on the ground, Chris comes over, gives me a congratulatory high five, says nothing and moves on to the next client, his job done here. Eventually, I pick myself up off the ground, mix up a concoction to help my muscles recover, slip back to the changing area, jump into the nicest gym shower in town, and slowly recover from the mental and physical trauma of the workout. By the time I exit the shower, I’m back to the civilized world and ready to continue my day. But I now have a deeper understanding of my mental and physical limits and a confidence that comes from pushing myself far beyond anything I thought I could do before. As I walk out of the gym a smile comes to my lips: The Prowler is moving, gliding along the Astroturf – and I’m not the one pushing it. U Reach Todd at Todd@uptownclt.com For more info go to www.uptownclt.com www.uptownclt.com
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inyl
its back
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www.uptownclt.com words: bryan reed uptown pictures: fenix fotography
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P
erched behind his old Apple laptop and a glass counter filled with stickers and buttons emblazoned with the names of punk bands, Scott Wishart is an anomaly. Lunchbox Records, the Central Avenue storefront he owns, is one of an ever-slimming number of truly independent record stores. As the posters for local shows and indie-label releases plastered on the windows of the shop can attest, Lunchbox isn’t the place to go to pick up the latest T-Pain or Taylor Swift CDs. But that’s precisely what drives Wishart’s business.
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A
s a specialty shop, Lunchbox has been largely unaffected by the record industry’s catastrophic fall from grace that began around the turn of the millennium when a kid named Shawn Fanning developed a little computer program he called Napster. Internet filesharing boomed, then gave way to digital music sales through services such as iTunes. All the while, CD sales busted with little help from the antagonizing efforts of the Recording Industry Association of America. Big box stores like Best Buy and Wal-Mart continually downsize the floor space devoted to music. At large, the future of recorded music looks dismal. But at Lunchbox, business is just fine, thanks in no small part to the store’s
the stacks at lunchbox
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unique and eclectic offerings—and helped along by a surprising resurgence in the popularity of the most outmoded of recording formats, vinyl records. Wishart, who has been in the music retail business since 1997, says, “I’ve always bought records, but when I first started, records were on the way out. Labels, especially big ones, weren’t even releasing them and it kind of continued that way until a few years ago.” Today, I’m talking to Wishart with an armload of new (at least, new to me) records stretching the flimsy handles of the plastic bag in which they’re ensconced. He’s blasting “Old Wounds,” the latest CD from the Louisville, Ky.-based punk band Young Widows, through the store’s speakers as customers comb through shelves for hidden treasures. In the course of our conversation, Wishart sells three copies of the Charlotte-based band Yardwork’s self-titled EP to three customers. He sells an armload of obscure metal LPs to
“Then people talk about, ‘Oh, I like the pops and clicks of vinyl.’ If you have pops and clicks in your vinyl you have scratched-up records and you’re not taking care of them. That’s not what records are about. Good records sound good.” a couple who sheepishly admit that they didn’t intend to spend so much money. They couldn’t help it. “People like to own things,” Wishart says. “Even though you can go and download anything in the world, if you want to look at the art or something physical, it’s a nicer, more tangible product.” “Me buying 1,000 records is just like some guy that has 200 pairs of shoes in his closet,” he adds. “It’s just different consumer addictions.” And he’s happy to be the well-stocked dealer of choice for the Queen City’s discerning music junkies. As record stores close nationwide, Lunchbox keeps its doors open. As the record industry as we know it spirals downward, Lunchbox’s CD sales stay constant, and even rise some months. And with vinyl’s new vogue status, Lunchbox reaps the benefits of being one of only a small number of retail outlets in town carrying the hip toy. Says Wishart, “Most stores it’s like less than 10 percent of their sales, and for me it’s like around 40 percent from [vinyl] records.” Success stories like Lunchbox are beginning to perk journalists’ ears nationwide, too. News stories in big-time publications like Time, “The Chicago Tribune,” and Wired Magazine and on NPR all point to www.uptownclt.com
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inside lunchbox records
a dramatic resurgence in vinyl’s viability as a recording format. Industry statistics showed a 15.4 percent increase in vinyl sales from 2006 to 2007 – from 858,000 records to 990,000, overall. But that doesn’t include small stores like Lunchbox. More telling are the record-pressing plants that can’t keep up with demand, the small record labels offering vinyl editions of albums also available on CD or digital formats, or the mere fact that retail giants such as Best Buy and Amazon.com have begun making room for vinyl records. 52
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What, then, would bring a younger generation of music fans back to the format their parents discarded years ago? Well, price could be a factor. Used records often sell for much less than a new – or even a used – CD. While visiting Lunchbox, I bought used vinyl copies of Willie Nelson’s classic “Red Headed Stranger” and Marvin Gaye’s essential “Let’s Get It On” for a paltry $6 each. There’s the collectible nature of records, as well. The cover art is much bigger, making them seem more like a keepsake than CDs for many consumers. Records also tend to be more limited in quantity than their 5-inch counterparts. Most records are limited to only a few thousand – even for bigger releases. Boutique records are often made into limited-edition items with mere hundreds of copies in existence. Plus, say some consumers, a record just sounds better. Or does it? “If you have good equipment, yes it does sound better,” says Wishart. “But, I mean, most people have crappy record players. If you get one of those crappy USB Ion turntables, and you play it on that, versus a CD player through a real stereo, the CD player’s gonna sound way better.” He adds, “Then people talk about, ‘Oh, I like the pops and clicks of vinyl.’ If you have pops and clicks in your vinyl you have scratched-up records and you’re not taking care of them. That’s not what records are about. Good records sound good. If you have pops and clicks then you’re doing something wrong. That’s like saying, ‘I
When was the last time you got a massage at the dentist?
got a hamburger and there’s pieces of bone in it, but I like that because it makes it more homey.’” So without audiophile equipment or misguided notions of aural “authenticity,” it would seem consumers are left with little incentive to purchase a record over a CD. Free Massage Chairs, Wi-Fi, Internet Bar, And that’s why Juice Bar, Art Gallery & Patient TVs. many records offer a little something extra. On their Top 100-charting album “The Second Gleam,” Concord’s favorite Bradford L. Picot, DDS PA sons The Avett 1520 South Blvd., Suite 110 Brothers offer two (704) 335.8266 • southendsmiles.com extra songs exclusive to the LP version. IT’S THE EXPERIENCE Many record labels also have begun to include coupons for free says Wishart. Despite the Chicken Little MP3 downloads with LPs, giving customers claims of music-industry reports, it seems the improved sound quality and novelty of unlikely the CD will ever disappear entirely. owning vinyl and the convenience of the “They’re too cheap to make,” Wishart digital format. opines, suggesting the 5-inch plastic But even at a vinyl-centric store like discs might eventually assume an entirely Lunchbox, CDs are still the most prevalent promotional role, or become the province of format. “There’s only been a couple months small, local bands eager to get their music where I’ve sold more records than CDs,” out quickly and cheaply.
inside lunchbox records
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This, of course, leaves a wide opportunity for vinyl to reassume its position as the dominant physical format for audio – especially in the realm of independent music. “Some genres never stopped making records,” Wishart says. “All the indie rock stuff always came on records…if you go down to Reggae Central they still sell 45s that they get from Jamaica because they never stopped making them.” And as more and more independent – and even local – bands begin to release records, it certainly
seems to be possible. The Raleigh-based punk band Double Negative released its debut, “The Wonderful And Frightening World of Double Negative,” exclusively on vinyl in 2007. It sold out its initial pressing in a matter of days. Wishart runs a boutique label that has released 7-inch EPs from local bands Obstruction and Calabi Yau. And the sale of turntables has increased, as has their availability in mainstream outlets like Urban Outfitters and Target. Already, vinyl records have moved beyond
the scope of obsessive collectors and teenagers unearthing their parents’ dusty collections in the attic. The once-obsolete format, it seems, is regaining its footing in a very real way. Just spend some time in Lunchbox Records watching the customers entering in waves as they file through the store’s inventory for a dusty classic or a shrink-wrapped new release. U You can reach Bryan at: bryan.c.reed@gmail.com For more info go to: www.uptownclt.com
Alkaline Trio – This Addiction (Heart and Skull/Epitaph) The stalwart pop-punks return to an indie label after the Epic-released Agony and Irony, and make up for lost time with a new collection that recalls their old ones by capturing the Trio’s trademark: witty wordplay in manic, punchy cuts. The Go Find – Everybody Knows It’s Gonna Happen Only Not Tonight (Morr Music) On their latest, The Go Find keeps the rhythmic bounce and keyboard shimmer one might expect from the Morr Music label – known for Postal Service/Owl City-type electronic pop. But here there’s a strong current of Countrypolitan shuffle that gives the record just the songwriter bent it needs to illuminate the craftsmanship in these songs.
Shellshag – Rumors In Disguise (Don Giovanni) This duo blasts shaggy garage rock as catchy as a cold. Their slacker nonchalance is perfected in these 15 shuffling cuts. The songs are short, but once these earworms dig into your brain, they’re far from short-lived.
2010’s early crop of indie-shop pop
Shearwater – The Golden Archipelago (Matador) Shearwater is, and this is important to note, a rock band. They don’t shy away from dissonance or abrasive, bombastic bursts. But Shearwater’s music will always be pretty. And that’s all thanks to frontman Jonathan Meiburg and his Swarovski crystalline vocals. And his songs go much farther than the novelty of a classically-trained singer 54 fronting uptown an indiewww.uptownclt.com rock band.
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Carolina Chocolate Drops – Genuine Negro Jig (Nonesuch) The old-time revivalists have been picking up buzz from the NPR crowd lately, and it’s easy to see why. The trio’s back-porch string band aesthetic gets a contemporary list on this sophomore effort from covers of Blu Cantrell’s hit “Hit ‘Em Up Style” and Tom Waits’ “Trampled Rose.”
Hot Chip – One Life Stand (Astralwerks) Unlike too many of their synth-pop peers, London’s Hot Chip actually knows how to write a song. The band had a hipster break out with the 2006 single “And I Was A Boy From School.” One Life Stand, the band’s fifth proper LP, is jam-packed with stellar “Boy From School”-worthy singles, not least of which is the gold-medal pop song that gives the album its title.
Minor Stars – The Death of The Sun in The SIlver Sea (Summer Secret) Minor Stars is a start-up rock band from Chapel Hill with an ambitious and promising debut that draws psychedelic sprawl, power-pop hooks, heavy metal trudge and shograze ambience into a concoction as sweet as it is brawny.
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jet set
pictures: fenix fotography | fenixfoto.com styling: jennifer misenheimer hair: jennifer misenheimer - escape | welcome2escape.com makeup: scott “scooter� arnold featured boutiques: pure - southpark | pureretailgroup.com revolution 56 | revolutionshop.net uptown www.uptownclt.com models: directions usa | directionsusa.com jet: corporate fleet services | cfsjets.com
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tank: salvage weekend tote : puma sunglasses : chanel leggings : factory girl
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fatigue shirt : bertigo belt : j. lindenberg fedora : goorin bros. dysfunction jean: rock & republic
embellished tank dress : juliene chambon burnout layering tank: pure sunglasses : guess www.uptownclt.com 57 uptown roller carry-on : j. lindenberg white hot micro mini: true religion
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dint brocade dress shirt: ted baker heather tee penguin www.uptownclt.com 58 : original uptown distressed boot-cut denim : mek fedora : goorin bros.
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www.uptownclt.com dolman-sleeve blouse : maj uptown
59 motorcycle straight-leg denim : robin’s jean
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60 uptown www.uptownclt.com leather bomber : dcma collective denim : true religion
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www.uptownclt.com shirt : bertigo uptown
61 billy storm rider denim : true religion cuff watch : diesel
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floral embellished halter : sky www.uptownclt.com 62 uptown tribal-print chain halter : sky
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Dining and Nightlife Guide AMERICAN Alexander Michael’s – $ 401 W. 9th St. 704.332.6789 BlackFinn – $$ 210 E. Trade St. 704.971.4440 Camilles – $ 1518 E. 3rd St. 704.342.4606 Cedar Street Tavern – $ 120 N. Cedar St. 704.333.3448 Champions – $ 100 W. Trade St. - Marriott Hotel 704.333.9000 Comet Grill – $ 2224 Park Rd. 704.371.4300 Cosmos Cafe – $ 300 N. College St. 704.372.3553 Dogwood Cafe – $ 138 Brevard Court 704.376.8353 East Boulevard Grill – $ 1601 East Blvd. 704.332.2414 Ember Grille – $$$ 601 S. College St. WestinHotel 704.335.2064 Fenwick’s – $ 511 Providence Rd. 704.333.2750 Fox and Hound – $ 330 N. Tryon St. 704.333.4113 French Quarter – $ 321 S. Church St. 704.377.7415 John’s Country Kitchen – $ 1524 East Blvd. 704.370.1177 Lebowski’s Grill & Pub - $ 1518 Central Ave. 704.333.9551 Nix – $ 201 N. Tryon St. 704.347.2739 Pike’s Soda Shop – $ 1930 Camden Rd. 704.372.0097 Presto Bar and Grill – $ 445 W. Trade St. 704.334.7088 Providence Café – $ $ 829 Providence R d. 704.376.2008 Providence Road Sundries – $ 1522 Providence Rd. 704.366.4467 Rock Bottom – $ 401 N. Tryon St. 704.334.2739 Selwyn Pub – $ 2801 Selwyn Ave. 704.333.3443 Simmons Fourth Ward Restaurant – $ 516 N. Graham St. 704.334.6640 Something Classic Café – $ 715 Providence Rd. 704.347.3666 South 21 – $ 3101 E. Independence Blvd. 704.377.4509 Stool Pigeons – $ 214 N. Church St. 704.358.3788 The Gin Mill South End – $ 1411 S. Tryon St. 704.373.0782 The Graduate – $ 123 W. Trade St. 704.358.3024 The Penguin – $ 1921 Commonwealth Ave. 704.375.6959 The Philosopher’s Stone – $ 1958 E. Seventh St. 704.350.1331 The Pub – $ 710 West Trade St. 704.333.9818 Thomas Street Tavern – $ 1218 Thomas Ave. 704.376.1622 Tic Toc Coffeeshop – $ 512 N. Tryon St. 704.375.5750 Union Grille – $ 222 E 3rd St. – Hilton Towers 704.331.4360 Vinnie’s Sardine – $ 1714 South Blvd. 704-332-0006 Wild Wings - $ 210 E. Trade St. 704.716.9464 Zack’s Hamburgers – $ 4009 South Blvd. 704.525.1720
AMERICAN MODERN 131 Main – $$ 1315 East Blvd. 300 East – $$ 300 East Blvd.
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Bentley’s on 27 – $$$ 201 S. College St. Fl. 27 704.343.9201 (Charlotte Plaza Building) BLT Steak – $$$ 201 E. Trade St. 704.547.2244 Bonterra Restaurant – $$$ 1829 Cleveland Ave. 704.333.9463 Carpe Diem – $$$ 1535 Elizabeth Ave. 704.377.7976 Coastal Kitchen & Bar – $$$ 222 E. 3rd St. 704.331.4360 Custom Shop – $$$ 1601 Elizabeth Ave. 704.333.3396 Fig Tree – $$$ 1601 E. Seventh St. 704.332.3322 Lulu – $$ 1911 Central Ave. 704.376.2242 McNinch House – $$$ 511 N. Church St. 704.332.6159 Mimosa Grill – $$ 301 S. Tryon St. 704.343.0700 Monticello – $$ 235 N. Tryon St. – Dunhill Hotel 704.342.1193 Pewter Rose Bistro – $$ 1820 South Blvd. 704.332.8149 Ratcliffe on the Green – $$ 435 S. Tryon St. 704.358.9898 Zink – $$ 201 N. Tryon St. 704.444.9001
ASIAN 88 China Bistro – $ 1620 E. 4th St. 704.335.0288 Basil Thai – $ 210 N. Church St. 704.332.7212 China King – $ 128 Brevard Ct. 704.334-7770 China Queen Buffet – $ 127 N. Tryon St. Ste 3 704.377.1928 China Saute – $ 2214 Park Rd 704.333.1116 Creation – $ 1221-A The Plaza 704.372.2561 Cuisine Malaya – $ 1411 Elizabeth Ave. 704.372.0766 Dim Sum – $ 2920 Central Ave. 704.569.1128 Eggroll King – $ 8907 Steelechase Dr. 704.372.6401 Emperor Chinese – $ 337 S. Kings Dr. 704.333.2688 Fortune Cookie – $ 208 East Independence Blvd. 704.377.1388 Fujiyama – $ 320 S. Tryon St. 704.334.5158 Fuse Box – $ 227 W. Trade St. 704.376.8885 Ginbu 401 – $ 401 Providence Rd. 704.372.2288 Great Wok – $ 718 W Trade St. Ste M 704.333.0080 Hong Kong – $ 1713 Central Ave. 704.376.6818 Indochine Asian Tapas Lounge - $ 210 E. Trade St. 704.688.0078 Koko – $ 6609 Elfreda Rd. 704.338.6869 Monsoon Thai Cuisine – $ 2801 South Blvd. 704.523.6778 Orient Express – $ 3200 N Graham St. 704.332.6255 Pho An Hoa – $ 4832 Central Ave. 704.537.2595 Pho Hoa – $ 3000 Central Ave. 704.536.7110 SOHO Bistro – $ 214 N Tryon St. 704.333.5189 Thai Taste – $ 324 East Blvd. 704.332.0001 Taipei Express – $ 731 Providence Rd. 704.334.2288 Tin Tin Box & Noodles – $ 101 N. Tryon St. 704.377.3223
Zen Asian Fusion – $ 1716 Kenilworth Ave.
704.358.9688
BAKERY Cloud 9 Confections – $ 201 S. College St. Suite 270 Great Harvest Bread – $ 901 S. Kings Dr. Amelie’s Bakery – $ 2424 N. Davidson St. Nova’s Bakery – $ 1511 Central Ave. Panera Bread – $ 601 Providence Rd.
704.334.7554 704.333.0431 704.376-1781 704.333.5566 704.374.0581
BARBEQUE Art’s Barbecue – $ 900 E. Morehead St. 704.334.9424 Jolina Tex Mex & BBQ – $ 500 S. College St. 704.375.0994 Mac’s Speed Shop – $ 2511 South Blvd. 704.522.6227 Rib Palace – $ 1300 Central Ave. 704.333.8841
BREAKFAST Art’s Barbecue – $ 900 E. Morehead St. 704.334.9424 Coffee Cup – $ 914 S. Clarkson St. 704.375.8855 Einstein Brothers – $ 201 S. Tryon St. 704.332.4015 Einstein Brothers – $ 1501 South Blvd. 704.333.4370 IHOP – $ 2715 E. Independence Blvd. 704.334.9502 Monticello – $$ 235 N. Tryon St. – Dunhill Hotel 704.342.1193 Owen’s Bagel & Deli – $ 2041 South Blvd. 704.333.5385 Tic Toc Coffeeshop – $ 512 N. Tryon St. 704.375.5750
BRITISH Big Ben’s Pub – $ 801 Providence R d.
704.334.6338
CAJUN & CREOLE Boudreaux’s Louisiana Kitchen – $ 501 E. 36th St. 704.331.9898 Cajun Queen – $$ 1800 E 7th St. 704.377.9017
C A R I B B E A N Anntony’s Caribbean Cafe – $ 2001 E. 7th St. 704.342.0749 Austin’s Caribbean Cuisine – $ 345 S. Kings Dr. 704.331.8778
CHINESE 88 China Bistro – $ 1620 E. 4th St. 704.335.0288 Vanloi Chinese Barbecue – $ 3101 Central Ave. 704.566.8808 Wok Express – $ 601 S. Kings Dr. 704.375.1122
COFFEE SHOPS
Einstein Brothers – $ $ - 201 S. Tryon St. 704.332.4015 Einstein Brothers – $ 1501 South Blvd. 704.333.4370 Java Passage – $ 101 W. Worthington 704.277.6558 Jump N Joe’s Java Joint – $ 105 E. Morehead St. 704.372.3217 La Tea Da’s – $ 1942 E. 7th St. 704.372.9599 Nova’s Bakery – $ 1511 Central Ave. 704.333.5566 PJ’s Coffee & Lounge - $ 210 E. Trade St. (Epicentre) 704.688.0366 Port City Java – $ 214 N. Tryon St. (Hearst) 704.335.3335 SK Netcafe – $ 1425 Elizabeth Ave. 704.334.1523 Starbucks – $ 545 Providence Rd. 704.372.1591 Starbucks – $ 101 S. Tryon St. 704.374.9519 Tic Toc Coffee shop – $ 512 N. Tryon St. 704.375.5750
DELI Adams 7th Street Market – $ 401 Hawthorne Ln. 704.334.0001 Art’s Barbecue – $ 900 E. Morehead St. 704.334.9424 Blynk – $ 200 S. Tryon 704.522.3750 Common Market – $ 2007 Commonwealth Ave. 704.334-6209 Dikadee’s Deli – $ 1419 East Blvd. 704.333.3354 Dogwood Cafe – $ 138 Brevard Court 704.376.8353 Fresco Cafe & Deli – $ 3642 Moultrie St. 704.376.5777 Grand Central Deli – $ 101 N. Tryon St. 704.348.7032 Great Harvest Bread Co. – $ 901 S. Kings Dr. 704.333.0431 Groucho’s Deli – $ 201 N. Tryon St. 704.342.0030 Halfpenny’s – $ 30 Two First Union Ctr. 704.342.9697 Jason’s Deli – $ 210 E. Trade (Epicentre) 704.688.1004 Jersey Mike’s Subs – $ 128 S. Tryon St. 704.343.0006 Jersey Mikes Subs – $ 2001 E. 7th St. 704.375.1985 Jump N Joe’s Java Joint – $ 105 E. Morehead St. 704.372.3217 Laurel Market South – $ 1515 South Blvd. 704.334.2185 Leo’s Delicatessen – $ 1421 Elizabeth Ave. 704.375.2400 Li’l Dino – $ 401 S. Tryon St. 704.342.0560 Matt’s Chicago Dog – $ 425 S. Tryon St. 704.333.3650 Owen’s Bagel & Deli – $ 2041 South Blvd. 704.333.5385 Philadelphia Deli – $ 1025 S. Kings Dr. 704.333.4489 Phil’s Tavern – $ 105 E. Fifth St. 704.347.0035 Rainbow Café – $ 400 South Tryon 704.332.8918 Reid’s – $ 225 E. 7th St. 704.377.1312 Ri-Ra Irish Pub – $ 208 N. Tryon St 704.333.5554 Salvador Deli – $ N. Davidson St. 704.334.2344 Sammy’s Deli – $ 1113 Pecan Ave. 704.376.1956
Caribou Coffee – $ 100 N. Tryon St. 704.372.5507 Dilworth Coffee – $ 1235 East Blvd # B, 704.358.8003 330 S Tryon St, 704.334.4575 Dilworth Playhouse Cafe – $ 1427 South Blvd. 704.632.0336 www.uptownclt.com
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Dining and Nightlife Guide
Crave the Dessert Bar – $ 501 W. 5th St. 704.277.9993 Dairy Queen – $ 1431 Central Ave. 704.377.4294 Dolce Ristorante – $$ 1710 Kenilworth Ave. 704.332.7525 Luce Ristorante – $$ 214 N. Tryon St. – Hearst Plaza 704.344.9222 Monticello – $$ 235 N. Tryon St.– Dunhill Hotel 704.342.1193
Open Kitchen – $ 1318 W. Morehead St. 704.375.7449 Pasta & Provisions – $ 1528 Providence Rd. 704.364.2622 Portofino’s Italian – $$ 3124 Eastway Dr. 704.568.7933 Primo Ristorante – $$ 116 Middleton Dr. 704.334.3346 Cafe Siena – $$ 230 N. College St. 704.602.2750 Salute Ristorante – $$ 613 Providence Rd 704.342.9767 Terra – $$ 545-B Providence Rd. 704.332.1886 Villa Francesca 321 Caldwell St. 704.333.7447 Volare – $$ 1523 Elizabeth Ave. 704.370.0208 Zio Authentic Italian – $$ 116 Middleton Dr. 704.344.0100
ECLECTIC
L AT I N
The Melting Pot – $$$ 901 S. Kings Dr. Stuite 140-B 704.334.4400 Therapy Cafe – $ 401 N. Tryon St. 704.333.1353 The Fig Tree – $$ 1601 E. 7th St. 704.332.3322
Havana – $ 145 Brevard Ct.
Sandwich Club – $ 525 N. Tryon St. Sandwich Club – $ 435 S. Tryon St. Substation II - $ 1601 South Blvd 1941 E. 7th St.
704.334.0133 704.344.1975 704-332-3100 704-358-8100
DESSERT
FRENCH Terra – $$ 545-B Providence Rd.
704.332.1886
GREEK Greek Isles – $$ 200 E. Bland St. Little Village Grill – $ 710-G W. Trade St. Showmars – $ 214 N. Tryon St.
704.347.2184 704.333.5833
704.333.0063 704.370.2824
Cabo Fish Taco – $ 3201 N. Davidson St. Johnny Burrito – $ 301 S. Tryon St. La Paz – $$ 1910 South Blvd. Phat Burrito – $ 1537 Camden Rd. Salsarita’s – $ 101 S. Tryon St. Taqueria La Unica – $ 2801 Central Ave.
704.332.8868 704.371.4448 704.372.4168 704.332.7428 704.342.0950 704.347.5115
MIDDLE EASTERN
Carrabba’s Italian Grill – $$ 1520 South Blvd. 704.377.2458 Coco Osteria – $$ 214 N. Tryon St.–Hearst Plaza 704.344.8878 Dolce Ristorante – $$ 1710 Kenilworth Ave. 704.332.7525 Fig Tree – $$$ 1601 E. 7th St. 704.332.3322 Hawthorne’s NY Pizza – $ 1701 E. 7th St. 704.358.9339 Intermezzo Pizzeria & Café – $ 1427 E. 10th St. 704.347.2626 Luce Ristorante & Bar – $$$ 214 N. Tryon St. – Hearst Plaza 704.344.9222 Mama Ricotta’s – $$ 601 S. Kings Dr. 704.343.0148
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Dish – $ 1220 Thomas Ave. 704.344.0343 Mert’s Heart & Soul – $ 214 N. College St. 704.342.4222 Blue – $$$ 214 N. Tryon St. 704.927.2583 Intermezzo Pizzeria & Café – $ 1427 E. 10th Street 704.347.2626
MEXICAN
I TA L I A N
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M E AT & T H R E E
704.444.9000
INDIAN Copper – $$ 311 East Blvd. Maharani – $ 901 S. Kings Dr.
704.342.4700
uptown
Kabob Grill – $ 1235-B East Blvd.
704.371.8984
OUTDOOR DINING Big Ben’s Pub – $$ 801 Providence Rd. 704.334.6338 Cans Bar – $ 500 W. 5th St. 704.940.0200 East Boulevard Grill – $ 1601 East Blvd. 704.332.2414 Ember Grille – $$$ 601 S. College St. - Westin Hotel 704.335.2064 Ri-Ra Irish Pub – $ 208 N. Tryon St 704.333.5554
Sullivan’s – $$$ 1928 South Blvd. The Corner Pub – $ 335 N. Graham St.
704.335.8228 704.376.2720
PIZZA Brixx – $ 225 East 6th St. 704.347.2749 Donato’s Pizza - $ 718-A West Trade St 704.714.4743 Domino’s Pizza – $ 343 S. Kings Dr. 704.331.9847 Fuel Pizza – $ 214 N. Tryon St. 704.350.1680 Fuel Pizza – $ 1501 Central Ave. 704.376.3835 Hawthorne’s NY 1701 E. 7th St. 704.358.9339 Latta Pizza – $ 320 S. Tryon St. 704.333.4015 Papa John’s Pizza – $ 1620 E. 4th St. 704.375.7272 Picasso’s – $ 214 N. Church St. 704.331.0133 Pie Town – $$ 710 W. Trade St. 704.379.7555 Pizza Hut – $ 901 S. Kings Dr. 704.377.7006 Rudino’s Pizza & Grinders – $ 2000 South Blvd. - Atherton Mill 704.333.3124 UNO Chicago Grill – $ 401 S. Tryon St. 704.373.0085 Villa Francesca 321 Caldwell St. 704.333.7447 Zio Authentic Italian – $ 116 Middleton Dr. 704.344.0100
Quiznos Sub – $ 127 N. Tryon St. 704.374.9921 Quizno’s – $ 320 S. Tryon St. – Latta Arcade 704.372.8922 Roly Poly Sandwiches – $ 317 S. Church St. 704.332.6375 Sbarro – $ 101 S. Tryon St. 704.332.5005 Simply Subs – $ 212 S. Tryon St. 704.333.0503 Smoothie King – $ Epicentre - 210 Trade St. 704.979.6911 Smoothie King – $ One Wachovia Center 704.374.0200 Spoons – $ 415 Hawthorne Ln. 704.376.0874 Woody’s Chicago Style – $ 320 S. Tryon St. - Latta Arcade 704.334.0010 Zack’s Hamburgers – $ 4009 South Blvd. 704.525.1720
S E A F O O D Aquavina – $$$ 435 S. Tryon St. 704.377.9911 Cabo Fish Taco – $ 3201 N. Davidson St. 704.332.8868 Capital Grille – $$$ 201 N. Tryon St. 704.348.1400 Fig Tree –$$$ 1601 E. Seventh St. 704.332.3322 LaVecchia’s – $$$ 225 E. 6th St. 704.370.6776 McCormick & Schmick’s – $$$ 200 South Tryon St. 704.377.0201 Outback Steakhouse – $$ 1412 East Blvd. 704.333.0505
QUICK BITES
SOUTHERN & SOUL
Bojangles’ – $ 310 E Trade St. 704.335.1804 Boston Market – $ 829 Providence Rd. 704.344.0016 Burger King – $ 310 E. Trade St. 704.334.3312 Chick-fil-A – $ 101 S. Tryon St. 704.344.0222 Chicks Restaurant – $ 320 S. Tryon St. – Latta Arcade 704.358.8212 Church’s – $ 1735 W. Trade St. 704.332.2438 Dairy Queen – $ 1431 Central Ave. 704.377.4294 Domino’s Pizza – $ 343 S. Kings Dr. 704.331.9847 Fuel Pizza – $ 214 N. Tryon St. 704.350.1680 Fuel Pizza – $ 1501 Central Ave. 704.376.3835 Green’s Lunch – $ 309 W. 4th St. 704.332.1786 Mr. K’s – $ 2107 South Blvd. 704.375.4318 Papa John’s Pizza – $ 1620 E. 4th St 704.375.7272 Pasta & Provisions – $ 1528 Providence Rd. 704.364.2622 Pita Pit – $ 214 N. Tryon St. 704.333.5856
Lupie’s Cafe – $ 2718 Monroe Rd. 704.374.1232 Mert’s Heart and Soul – $ 214 N. College St 704.342.4222 Price’s Chicken Coop – $ 1614 Camden Rd. 704.333.9866 Savannah Red – $$ 100 W. Trade St. 704.333.9000 Marriott City Center
S P A N I S H Sole Spanish Grille – $$$ 1608 East blvd.. 704.343.9890
S T E A K H O U S E Beef & Bottle – $$$ 4538 South Blvd. 704.523.9977 Capital Grille – $$$ 201 N. Tryon St. 704.348.1400 Chima – $$$ 139 S. Tryon St. 980.225.5000 Flemings - $$$ 210 E. Trade St. 704.333.4266 LaVecchia’s – $$$ 225 E. 6th St. 704.370.6776 Longhorn Steakhouse – $$ 700 E. Morehead St. 704.332.2300
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Dining and Nightlife Guide Morton’s – $$$ 227 W.Trade St.- Carillon bldg. 704.333.2602 Outback Steakhouse – $$ 1412 East Blvd. 704.333.2602 Ruth’s Chris – $$$ 222 S. Tryon St. 704.338.9444 Sullivan’s – $$$ 1928 South Blvd. 704.335.8228
S U S H I Cosmos Cafe – $$ 300 N. College St. Enso – $$ 210 E. Trade St. Fujo Uptown Bistro – $$ 301 S. College St KO Sushi – $$ 230 S. Tryon St. Nikko – $$ 1300-F South Blvd. Room 112 – $$ 112 S. Tryon St. Ru-San’s Sushi – $$ 2440 Park Rd.
704.372.3553 704.716.3676 704.954.0087 704.372.7757 704.370.0100 704.335.7112 704.374.0008
T A P A S Arpa Tapas – $$$ 121 W. Trade St. Cosmos Cafe – $$ 300 N. College St.
704.372.7792 704.372.3553
V E G E T A R I A N Blynk – $ 200 S. Tryon 704.522.3750 Dish – $ 1220 Thomas Ave. 704.344.0343 Something Classic Café – $ 715 Providence Rd. 704.347.3666
V I E T N A M E S E Pho An Hoa – $ 4832 Central Ave.
704.537.2595
B A R S Amos SouthEnd – $ 1423 S. Tryon St. 704.377.6874 Apostrophe Lounge – $$ 1400 S. Tryon St. 704.371.7079 BAR Charlotte – $ 300 N. College St. 704.342.2557 Big Ben’s Pub – $$ 801 Providence Rd. 704.334.6338 Buckhead Saloon – $ 201 E. 5th St. 704.370.0687 Cans Bar – $ 500 W. 5th St. 704.940.0200 Cedar Street Tavern – $ 120 N. Cedar St. 704.333.3448 Connolly’s on 5th – $ 115 E. 5th St. 704.358.9070 Cosmos – $$ 300 N. College St. 704.375.8765 Coyote Ugly – $ 521 N. College St. 704.347.6869 Crave the Dessert Bar – $ 501 W. 5th St. 704.277.9993 Dilworth Bar & Grille 911 E. Morehead St. 704.377.3808
Dilworth Billiards 300 E. Tremont Ave. 704.333.3021 Dixie’s Tavern 301 E. 7th St. 704.374.1700 DoubleDoor Inn 218 E. Independence Blvd. 704.376.1446 Ed’s Tavern 2200 Park Rd. 704.335.0033 Evening Muse 3227 N. Davidson St. 704.376.3737 Fox and Hound – $ 330 N. Tryon St. 704.333.4113 Hartigans Pub – $ 601 S. Ceder St. 704.347.1841 Hawthorne’s NY Pizza – $ 1701 E. 7th St. 704.358.9339 Howl at the Moon – $ 210 E. Trade St. 704.936.4695 Jillian’s SouthEnd – $ 300 E. Bland Street 704.376.4386 Loft 1523 – $$ 1523 Elizabeth Ave. 704.333.5898 Madison’s – $$ 115 Fifth St. 704.299.0580 Morehead Tavern – $ 300 East Morehead St. 704.334.2655 Mortimers -$ 210 E. Trade St. 704.334.2655 Phil’s Tavern – $ 105 E. Fifth St. 704.347.0035 Picasso’s – $ 214 N. Church St. 704.331.0133 Pravda – $$ 300 N. College St. 704.375.8765 Presto Bar and Grill – $ 445 W. Trade St. 704.334.7088 Ri-Ra Irish Pub – $ 208 N. Tryon St 704.333.5554 Selwyn Pub – $ 2801 Selwyn Ave. 704.333.3443 Stool Pigeons – $ 214 N. Church St. 704.358.3788 Suite – $ 210 E. Trade St. 704.999.7934 The Attic – $ 200 N. Tryon St. 704.358.4244 The Corner Pub – $ 335 N. Graham St. 704.376.2720 The Forum – $$ 704.375.8765 300 N. College St. The Gin Mill – $ 1411 S. Tryon St. 704.373.0782 The Penguin – $ 1921 Commonwealth Ave. 704.375.6959 The Pub – $ 710 West Trade St. 704.333.9818 Thomas Street Tavern – $ 1218 Thomas St. 704.376.1622 Tilt – $$ 127 W. Trade St. 704.347.4870 Town Tavern – $ 200 N. Tryon Tremont Music Hall – $ 400 W Tremont Ave. 704.343.9494 Tutto Mondo – $ 1820 South Blvd. 704.332.8149 Tyber Creek Pub – $ 1933 South Blvd. 704.343.2727 Vinnie’s Sardine – $ 1714 South Blvd. 704.332.0006 Whiskey River – $ 210 E. Trade St. 704.749.1097 Wild Wings - $ 210 E. Trade St. 704.716.9464
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