- Arts & Culture
The Long Room Approaches Artistic Diversity With a Purpose
The Long Room opened in the fall of 2023 with lots of fanfare and a slate of performances from established names in Charlotte’s underground scene; early shows included work by modern dance troupe Baran Dance, freak folk royalty Andy the Doorbum, and local musical theatre juggernaut QC Concerts. Located at…
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ESSAY: Processing the Life, Loss and Legacy of HNin Nie
HNin Nie has died. What an awful sentence that was to write. And worse still to read. But it’s true. It is real. I’ve been around the block a few times now with regards to loss, and in my experience it is the horrible reality of the situation that is…
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‘A Realm of Existence’ Gives Deepest Look Yet at Cerrudo’s Style
There were four excellent works of what I suppose we would call contemporary ballet featured in Charlotte Ballet’s A Realm of Existence, which ran last weekend at Knight Theater. Three of these were choreographed by Charlotte Ballet’s artistic director, Alejandro Cerrudo, including his first new, original work created for Charlotte…
Read More » - News & Opinion
ESSAY: Bread and Puppet Theater and the Dystopian Dilemma
Watching Bread and Puppet Theater’s performances of Gray Lady Cantata #9 (Vigil for Gaza) and Possibilitarian Imperative Everything Show at Goodyear Arts in November, a cynical part of me felt like I was at a museum exhibition of radical art from another age. The puppet troupe and their work is…
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Jeff Jackson’s Wavelengths Defies Assumptions About Local Film
“I can’t tell you how many curators I’ve talked to who try to protect their patrons from art that they think they won’t understand. Their curatorial method is protecting people from their own enthusiasm.” And so Jeff Jackson — experimental musician, novelist, playwright and all-around wizard of avant-garde production in…
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Troubadour Booksellers Set to Open in Southeast Charlotte
Scott Miller’s new bookshop isn’t even open yet and he’s already taking my money. Stopping by Troubadour Booksellers on a recent afternoon to interview Miller, I couldn’t bring myself to leave without buying a few things that he’d stocked in preparation for the store’s grand opening on Sardis Road North…
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Resilient Book Buyers Team Marks 25 Years in East Charlotte
Richard Rathers has been many things: a rehab counselor, a coal miner, a teacher here in the United States and abroad. But for most Charlotteans, at least those with a literary bent, he is known as the owner and operator of Book Buyers, which is among the last of the…
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Phillip Larrimore Explores Grief in Nine Eighteen Nine Exhibit
T.S. Eliot wrote, “The masters of the subtle schools are controversial, polymath.” While I’ve always hoped that this could apply to me, it certainly applies to Phillip Larrimore, the Wizard of Wingate. Larrimore is a poet, a critic, a visual artist working in several mediums, a landscape designer, and possibly…
Read More » - Music
The Long Room Launches Monthly Concert Series, ‘TLR Presents’
At the corner of Hawthorne and Central avenues, new(ish) performance and event venue The Long Room is launching a curated monthly music series, TLR Presents, opening the space up to artists who might not otherwise be able to afford to present their work there. Since opening in fall 2023 The…
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KC Marie Serves as Local Link Between DIY Music and Punk Art
Cut-and-paste, psychedelia, pop art pastiche. The rock ‘n’ roll show poster is a curious category of cultural artifact, dispatched from a thousand different scenes and subcultures of the underground. The artists who create them are the propagandists-in-chief for the movements represented by the bands, the fans, the hairstyles and clothes.…
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Ladyfest Returns to Goodyear Arts After Two-Year Hiatus
Ladyfest unofficially reigns as the coolest dance event in the region. In fact, Queen City Nerve readers voted it the “Best Local Show Of The Past 12 Months” during the 2020 Best in the Nest reader’s choice awards. For those that don’t know, Ladyfest is an evening of dance and…
Read More » - Center Stage
Megan Payne Shines Light on the Darkness and the Dirt with PLOW
We wait for the sun to set so that Goodyear Arts, with its high windows, will be dark enough for the event about to unfold. Said event being PLOW, a contemporary dance work that Megan Payne developed over the past year with dancer Joy Davis and composer Dylan Gilbert and…
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Open Door Studios Makes a New Charlotte Home Inside Eastway Crossing
Upon moving to Charlotte in 1997, Jacqueline White arrived at NC Dance Theatre excited by the prospect of a growing city with a vibrant dance community. What she found left a lot to be desired. NC Dance Theatre, later christened Charlotte Ballet, put on plenty of dance performances, but White…
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Ladyfest Shines in its Fifth Year
In its fifth year, RepCLT’s Ladyfest is the big event in Charlotte’s independent dance world. An evening length microfestival of contemporary dance and movement based performance created by women and curated by RepCLT’s directors, Sarah Ingel and Megan Payne, Ladyfest has grown into a safe bet if you’re looking for…
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