Lifeline: 5 Things to Do in Charlotte This Week
April 27-May 3, 2026
Queen City Nerve’s motto has been the same since our start: If you think nothing is happening in Charlotte, you’re not trying. While we’ve always included a Lifeline in our print issue, here’s our online version to help give you weekly reasons to engage.
Kathy Griffin
April 30 • 7 p.m. • Knight Theater, 430 S. Tryon St. • $50-$62
“I’m uncanceled and back!” Kathy Griffin recently proclaimed on The View. It seems like a lifetime ago when the controversial comedian and author posed for a photo holding the fake severed head of Donald Trump. Griffin apologized in the ensuing backlash, which prompted a federal investigation into a supposed conspiracy to assassinate the president. The target of her sharp satire has since cosplayed as Christ and vowed to wipe out a civilization, but apparently conservatives are cool with that.
Mint to Be: The Feminine Body as Costume Art
May 1 • 6 p.m. • Mint Museum Uptown • $55
Perrine DeShield-Jenkins, better known as Professor P, brings her vision of feminine power, softness, fashion and storytelling to Uptown with Mint to Be. Inspired by the Met Gala theme of Costume Art, the immersive exhibit and event celebrates and reimagines the feminine body as a living canvas, where self-adornment becomes storytelling and softness transforms into strength.
Read more: Perrine DeShield-Jenkins Highlights Black Dandyism at the Gantt (2025)
Curated by Professor P, Luvly Moon, Arko, King Carla, Davita Galloway, and Shekinah Williams, the event includes music and beats by Dammit Wesley, a feminine body as costume art runway competition with a $1,000 cash prize and access to the Mint’s exhibitions including the accompanying one, which opens on the day of the event and runs through June 2. A fittingly layered, sculptural and artistic dress code is encouraged.
Second Annual International Workers’ Day March
May 1 • 5 p.m. • Latin American Coalition • Free
As families are being forced to choose between rent and groceries, they’re also being told to fear and blame their neighbors — all while billionaires and corporations keep taking more. Labor unions, immigrant rights organizations and local businesses are coming together to say enough is enough at this May Day march.
Organizers will host cultural programming to highlight Charlotte’s immigrant corridor along Central Avenue, followed by a march from the Latin American Coalition to Manolo’s Bakery.
Painted Film Workshop
May 2 • 7 p.m. • Goodyear Arts • Free (RSVP required)
Cineasts talk about the painterly composition of shots in films by David Lean or Peter Greenaway, but this workshop, hosted by Sean Robinson and experimental multimedia artist Judebird, gives participants hands-on experience painting on celluloid, scratching the emulsion or otherwise fucking with the physical strip of 16mm film — a technique both old and experimental.
In the 1900s, women painstakingly hand-painted film frame by frame to produce vivid color images. In addition to painting or scratching film, non-narrative filmmaker Stan Brakhage taped moth wings and leaves onto clear film for his 1963 collage-film Mothlight. The workshop features a screening of Drew Erin Adam’s The Swannanoa River.
The Nude Party
May 3 • 7 p.m. • Neighborhood Theatre • $39-$51
A lot has happened in the 13 years since The Nude Party earned its sobriquet by playing naked at Boone house parties while members attended Appalachian State University. Forging a Rolling Stones-meets-Velvet Underground, garage-rock vibe, the seven-piece relocated to Upstate New York and released three albums, culminating with their 2023 LP Rides On, which complements the septet’s Stonesy swagger with cosmic country.
Read more: The Nude Party Comes Home to NC for Roaring Riot Kickoff Jam (2024)
Free agents after ditching a predatory record contract, the group tracked its latest album, Look Who’s Back, at Joshua Tree, California. The result retains The Nude Party’s ’70s-rock boogie but dials back the twang to embrace a ballsy take on English pub rock.
