Bang Town

It’s the first Friday of the month and you and your mate need to take it outside.

Hit the south side’s gallery crawl this week. The South End Gallery Crawl is a bit different from NoDa’s because there’s a lot more real estate to cover and there’s the Light Rail to ride if you have too much free wine.

The best place to start your date is the Charlotte Art League. The warehouse styled gallery is filled with the work of local artists and during gallery crawl, you can meet the artists. Also, many of the retail shops and restaurants in South End are open. A great place to share a cheap meal with your date on your evening out is Phat Burrito.

You can split a meaty (or bean filled) burrito or share a couple of tacos. The restaurant has outdoor seating, which will give you and your mate a chance to sit and watch people and the sites of South End.

After eating at PB, you’re going to need to walk. And the best Doma art gallery on South Tryon. The fine art is great to look at and the current exhibit includes nudes, albeit abstract ones. But it’s still nudes!

Tuesday night at Revolution Pizza and Ale House in NoDa is “date night.” Two people can eat a three-course meal for $20.

It’s a great deal and the food is good, but it’s not the greatest date place.

For one thing, it’s too bright inside the restaurant and outside on the patio. Then there’s the music. Occasionally, a slow, romantic song came through the system, but for the most part — the music was loud and thumping. Not something that you want to hear when you’re trying to have a romantic evening.

Though the atmosphere isn’t the best for setting the mood for a romantic date, sharing the small dessert at the end of the pizza meal, is sure to get something started.

There’s nothing sweeter than a Gelato kiss as you tell your date good night or head to bed with him or her.

Here’s a tip, get the appetizer instead of the house salad if you plan to do a lot of kissing on your date — the salad is good and fresh, but those onions are a killer on your breath. And having the appetizer will give you a reason to ease closer to your date anyway.

And if you are sensitive to cigarette smoke, stay inside. Just about everyone sitting outside last night was smoking.

A date doesn’t get cheaper than free. And that’s just how much it costs to get into the Charlotte Sunset Jazz Festival.

This Saturday, you and your mate can pull out a cute plaid blanket and head to Symphony Park at South Park from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. Some of the performers include:  Marion Meadows, Matt Marshak, Bryan Anderson, 5th and York, Innertwyned, Unique Blend, and The Queen’s Collective.

The smooth sound of jazz is a great way to get some snuggle and kissing time going on. Also, you can dance under the stars and see how much rhythm your mate is working with. And even though this is a cheap date, it’s also a good place to take someone on a first date. And if you’re trying to get some nookie, remember that saxophone rhymes with sexophone.

If you’ve never paid full price for anything in your life and don’t plan on it, then you’re in luck. You aren’t alone and cheap people of Charlotte meet up and exchange things.

Like coupons. What did you think I was talking about?

Charlotte On The Cheap, a website that shows you how to enjoy the Queen City without breaking the bank.

This Thursday at 11 a.m. you can meet other deal seekers like yourself at The North County Library. While this isn’t a dating event, who knows how you will meet? And if you find yourself falling for a fellow coupon clipper, at least you know you won’t get an ugly look when you pull out that two for one dinner coupon on your first date.

Okay, so summer is over and the weather will soon start to cool making those free park dates impossible.
But, you can still save on a meal in Charlotte and try something new. At least until September 13.
The Common House, located at 1101 Central Ave., is offering diners a free appetizer with the purchase of an entree.

The most expensive entree at the restaurant is $13. That’s not bad, especially when the coupon says you only have to purchase one entree. You and your date could share and feed each other in a sickening public display of affection that will hide you cheapness.

Sure it’s the middle of the week, hump day if you will.

And yes, you have to go to work in the morning, but does that mean you shouldn’t go out on a date tonight?

Hell no. Take your mate to Trivia Night at Revolution Pizza & Ale in NoDa tonight. From 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. you can play games and share a pizza for under $20.

To make the night interesting, make sure the loser pays for dinner and has to immediately strip when you two arrive at home.

It’s Friday night and you want to get out with your sweetie.

While you do want to have a good time with the person you plan to sleep with tonight, your pockets are on the thin side.

Luckily for you, there’s a place where you can go and have a good time. The best part about it is that you don’t have to pay a thing.

According to the website, Charlotte On The Cheap, The Neighborhood Theater is having free music night.

Bands are Eyes of the Elders and Vonnegut. Music starts at 9PM.

Dates get no cheaper than free. Even if you don’t enjoy the music, NoDa offers an array of other treats that will make your Friday night date fun. There are restaurants and art galleries.

If you’re looking for something else free to do, check out the used book store, Real Eyes Books. Inside the store in the back is the erotica section. Share some steamy passages with your lover and you might not make it home fast enough.

If you’ve been with your partner for a while, you’ve done it all and seen enough. But you still have to have do the date night thing. Otherwise you might not get that other thing you want.

So, what can you do that shows thought, creativity and romance — without having to shell out tons of cash?

Log on to this website first. 4yourdate.com has pretty good ideas about out of the ordinary dates for you and your mate.

My favorite has to be the starry night date.

On a cool evening, take your love outside and spread a blanket out on the ground where you can see the stars. Lay in each other’s arms and have a very romantic and cheap creative date idea.

Just imagine what you can talk about while looking up at the stars, maybe sipping on some wine or whatever your favorite drink is. If you decide to have this date in your yard and you have a privacy fence, just think how much fun it will be to make love underneath the stars.

Another interesting date idea on the site is movie night in the dark.

Movie Night in the Dark: Rent a movie that you and your date have been wanting to see and sit in the dark with candles all around to watch by. This is a cheap and romantic way to spend the evening, and sitting on the floor wrapped up in blankets is a great way to watch a movie.

It’s Friday and you have no interest in seeing the new G.I. Joe movie. (Me either!)

But sitting in the house is not an option either because the weather is going to be so nice, no storms (don’t quote me — I am not Larry Sprinkle) are brewing on the horizon. You need something to do and you don’t want to spend a lot of money on it.

I feel your pain. But a nice date doesn’t have to be expensive. It can even be free — so to speak. The venue is free but you have to spring for dinner.

Head to Freedom Park tonight with your love (date, booty call or whatever) and a picnic basket filled with treats that you both like. If your plan is to get some sweet lip while you’re at the park, leave the onions and the pickles at home.

Pack some water or something sparkling and take a walk around the park while feeding each other. The park closes at dusk, so if you time things right, you’ll be burning more calories in bed before midnight.

You don’t need someone else to put together words to turn your lover on and you don’t have to be an author to write something hot and steamy to get the drawers dropping and the sex popping.

Here are some tips that I learned from a book titled “How To Write A Dirty Story,” by Susie Bright. The book is for writers, of course but it can help you spice up your prose that you plan to share with one person as well.

Bright says in the book, “Writing about sex for yourself, or to share with a lover or dear friend is the quintessential reason to write erotica at all.”

So, write about the last time your lover gave you multiple orgasms and tell him or her in vivid detail how you felt, how hard or how wet you got days later and what you did to yourself.

Bright says that she has her students write about sexual experiences and:

The concentration it took to write it was like “reliving it all over again.” They felt the heat, the anticipation, the ambivalence — of it all.

For you, your writing [unless you decide to get it published or post it on your Facebook page] isn’t going to be graded or read by the masses. But it should make you hot and bothered. I’m sure Bright doesn’t want her students to come to class and do this, but when you’re ready to read your little dirty masterpiece to your lover, strip down to nothing. Or put on something tight and black [leather is optional].

Need some background music for your story? Put on John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme and put it on repeat or your favorite kind of music.

It’s going to be a hot time in your house that night.