Uptown bar fights … again: Increase in violence after Charlotte bars close has Uptown police responding to more crimes than usual.

Full story: Charlotte.com

‘Uncontacted tribe’ sighted in Amazon: Half of the more than 100 uncontacted tribes in the world live in the Amazon and now one of them has been photographed.

Full story: CNN.com

Crane collapses in Manhattan’s Upper East Side: AP reports at least one person killed, crane operator injured.

Full story: MSNBC.com

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The local retail shop Pura Vida Worldly Art just shot over this press release about an upcoming art display:

Pura Vida Worldly Art to unveil 20′ pre-Colombian influenced mural by Andean artist Carlos Herrera Burgos.

OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, June 6, 2008. 7:00-10:00 PM, with Latin-American music by Ecuadorean guitarist Jaime Guevara and complimentary Peruvian h’ordeuvres.

MORE INFORMATION: Pura Vida Worldly Art to unveil 20′ pre-Colombian influenced mural by Andean artist Carlos Herrera Burgos.

Through a grant from the Charlotte Arts & Science Council, Carlos Herrera Burgos has created a mobile mural using pre-Colombian imagery to represent
Charlotte’s Latin American culture and to show how the city is transforming into a cultural melting pot.

Born in Arequipa Peru, self-taught artist Carlos has expressed his childhood memories and Andean love through his art. He lived his childhood in the Andes Mountains, at 4600 Meters above sea level. This region is full of people that work in the field daily harvesting potato, corn, lettuce, onions, and flowers. Though there is a lack of technology and very limited means of transportation, these people still are culturally advanced and extremely humble.

“It is for that reason that I base my artwork around these people. I could very easily paint more modern themes yet I refuse to do so; Because, this is my
ancestry, my history, my culture, and unconditional love for my people”.

Carlos has exhibited and won several awards in Chile and Peru.

For more information on Pura Vida Worldly Art’s Events, contact Teresa Hernandez (wk#) 704-335-8587, teresa@puravidaart.com or visit the What’s Happening page of our web site www.puravidaart.com.

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Just saw this press release from PETA about a planned protest this morning:

SEXY ‘MOUSE’ IN BIKINI TO CONFRONT LOWE’S SHAREHOLDERS OVER CRUEL GLUE TRAPS
PETA Rep at Annual Meeting Will Grill Company Execs About Their Refusal to Follow Other Major Retailers and Ban Cruel Devices

Charlotte, N.C. — Wearing a gray bikini, “mouse ears,” and a “tail” while lying in a giant “glue trap,” a PETA member will confront shareholders at home-improvement giant Lowe’s annual meeting in Charlotte on Friday. Other PETA members will hold signs that read, “Lowe’s Tortures Animals.” Inside the meeting, a representative of PETA—which owns 123 shares of Lowe’s stock—will read a statement about the company’s sale of glue traps, which cause a painful and lingering death for any animal who gets caught in them. Many major retailers—including Walgreen’s, CVS, Rite Aid, Albertsons, and Safeway—refuse to sell glue traps.

Date:         Friday, May 30
Time:        9-10 a.m. (the protest starts at 9 a.m. and the meeting starts at 10 a.m.)
Place:        Ballantyne Resort, intersection of Ballantyne Commons and John J. Delaney Drive

Glue traps are pieces of plastic or cardboard coated with an extremely sticky adhesive that are designed to ensnare any small animal who touches the surface of the trap. Trapped animals suffer tremendously for days before dying of starvation or dehydration. Patches of skin, fur, and feathers are ripped off animals’ bodies as they struggle to escape, and many animals even chew off their own legs in an effort to free themselves. Even though Lowe’s officials have been shown graphic evidence of the immense suffering that glue traps cause, Lowe’s continues to sell these cruel devices.

In addition to being cruel, glue traps aren’t effective. The only effective long-term method of controlling small mammal and bird populations is modifying the area so that it becomes unattractive or inaccessible to these animals.

“When it comes to rodent and bird control devices, glue traps are the cruelest,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “If so many of the nation’s leading retailers can ban the sale of glue traps and stop the animal suffering that they cause, so can Lowe’s.”

PETA’s statement is available upon request. For more information, please visit PETA’s Web site HelpingAnimals.com.

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Myrick calls for off-shore drilling: U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick is frustrated with gas prices and her solution is to allow oil and gas drilling in the Atlantic. Drilling areas would include the North Carolina coast.
Full story: Charlotte.com

China seeks earthquake aid from Japan: Tense relations between the two enemies have been improving in the last two years. China is now asking for help with the evacuees of it’s devastated southwestern Sichuan province.
Full story: CNN.com

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An administrator at Central Regional Hospital in Butner spent $250 meant for patients on a portrait of herself, at a time when thousands of mentally ill people languish on waiting lists. The News and Observer

Vet school dogs aren’t in danger of being euthanized after all. The News and Observer

A state House committee approves anti-abortion rights license plate (Associated Press via The Winston-Salem Journal)

Nancy Pelosi says she’ll “step in” if Democratic race doesn’t end by end of next month. (CNN)

New York will recognize gay marriages performed elsewhere. (CNN)

Fort Bragg hospital stops birth announcements, citing abduction fears. The Fayetteville Observer

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Friday, May 30

Film
Sex and the City: Can a popular television show really transfer to box-office gold? We hope so, because there’s not a woman in town who isn’t stoked to see this flick. If you’re a real die-hard fan (and don’t have to be at work too early on Friday morning) you can catch midnight screenings of Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha throughout the Q.C. on Thursday, May 29. Until then, we’ll be flirting our way through cosmos and men, Samantha-style. Local theaters. www.charlotte.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/Film. Find more in Film.

Music
Jose Conde y Ola Fresca: Straight outta Brooklyn’s Latin alleys, Conde and his crew roam the streets from Cuba to Puerto Rico to Haiti and back up to N.Y.C. with a sinewy mix of Afro-Latin rhythms and roots grooves. Their sultry dance beats will get a party kicking faster than a shot of rum, with percussive interplay thick with tropical heat. The band is on the road pumping their freshly released disc called Revolucion. Neighborhood Theatre. www.neighborhoodtheatre.com. Find more in Music.

Arts
Get your geek on: Dust off your Darth Vader mask and join your fellow sci-fi lovers at ConCarolinas this weekend. The event features science-fiction writers Mike Resnick, Faith Hunter, and David B. Coe. Boogie Knights will play music in their Middle Age attire. More highlights of the convention will be appearances by Suzie Plakson who starred as Klingon K’Ehleyr in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gary Jones who co-starred as Chief Master Sergeant Walter Harriman on Stargate SG-1, as well as a number of other sci-fi productions. As Ben Kenobi would say, “May the force be with you.” $10-$35. Marriott Executive Park. www.concarolinas.org. Find more in Arts.

Food
Upstream: Streams have always been an important component of Charlotte’s geography and this stylish interior reminds one of a mountain stream. The dishes are delightfully harmonious and visually pleasing. 6902 Phillips Place. www.upstreamit.com. Find more in Food.

(more…)

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By George Bush

Oh, Scotty McClellan, we hardly knew ye. I mean that literally. I hardly knew you. I think my nickname for you was “Roundhead,” or maybe “Bubbles.” I knew you were the guy who had to go out in front of the press when I screwed things up, but there’s a point at which the farmer has to forget the name of the fatted calf, if you know what I mean.

So I’m cool with your book, I guess. Karl’s another matter entirely. To say that he was mad is an understatement. He said that he’s going to rape you.

(Photo credit: Associated Press)

News Groper features more than 50 parody blogs by politicians, celebrities, business tycoons, and foreign despots.

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Do Dunkin Donuts and Rachael Ray support terrorism? Yes, that’s an amazingly stupid question, but it was asked over and over again in the past few days by conservative bloggers. Inspired by rightwing nut commentator Michelle Malkin, conservatives had a collective fit over a scarf Ray wore in a commercial for the donut company. Malkin & Co. said Ray’s scarf — which was black-and-white with a paisley design — looked too much like a keffiyah, or, as Malkin described it, “the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad” — or, as you and I may know it, “that thing Yassir Arafat always wore.”
So, in case you thought conservatives’ paranoid outlook and tone-deafness toward other cultures were getting better, think again. The result of the conservatives’ campaign?  Dunkin Donuts gave in to the bloggers’ lunacy and pulled the commercial.
Malkin praised DD for caving in to her and her Brownshirts’ demands, writing, “When [fashion statements] lead to the mainstreaming of violence, they matter . . . In post-9/11 America, vigilance must never go out of style.”  A million jokes can be made out of this kind of madness, but the bottom line is that Malkin and her horde of ignoroid supporters are cultural fascists, pure and simple. Which brings up one of my favorite quotations: “Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservative.” - John Stuart Mill, British political philosopher, 1806-1873

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I was saddened to hear of the passing of Sydney Pollack, who died Monday of cancer at the age of 73. Pollack was often dismissed as an impersonal, middlebrow filmmaker, but his credits speak otherwise. More often than not, the man’s nose for sniffing out quality projects was on-target.

As a director, Pollack helmed 20 pictures, and while a few were duds (such as Havana and Random Hearts), his hit-to-miss ratio was phenomenal. Three Days of the Condor (1975), starring his frequent leading man Robert Redford, ranks as one of the best thrillers of the 1970s, Tootsie (1982) is an acknowledged comedy classic, and Out of Africa (1985) remains a lush, intelligent romance that earned Pollack Oscars for Best Director and (as producer) Best Picture. Other gems include They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969), Absence of Malice (1981) and The Firm (1993), the last-named easily the best screen adaptation of a John Grisham novel.

As producer or executive producer, his credits include Presumed Innocent (1990), Sense and Sensibility (1995) and The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999).

And as a character actor, he was superb, ably playing both comedy and drama. He was amusing as Dustin Hoffman’s agent in Tootsie, outright hilarious as a doctor in Death Becomes Her (1992), deserving of an Oscar nomination as a real SOB opposite Judy Davis (who did earn a nod) in Woody Allen’s Husbands and Wives (1992), and solidly somber opposite Tom Cruise in Eyes Wide Shut (1999; pictured) and George Clooney in last year’s Michael Clayton. Sadly, his final screen appearance was in a subpar film – as Patrick Dempsey’s dad in the current Made of Honor – though as was often the case, he again stole the show.

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Charlotte’s most eclectic nightlife event — Pop Life — is back for yet another evening of cool vibes and good music. Tonight, sounds are provided by DJ “That Guy Smitty” — and live rhythms by percussionist Robert Beasley. Plus live art from a member of the God City crew. And tonight we’re hosting our monthly media mixer, so you can rub elbows with Charlotte’s top media brass. And, as always, it’s free! Bring your bootay!

When: Tonight, 6 p.m.-9 p.m.

Where: Loft 1523, 1523 Elizabeth Ave.

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