theCLog

Shannon Ward knows that what she buys for her family effects other people.
That’s why she and her three kids are participating Reverse Trick or Treating this Halloween.

Seven year old Glynis, 11-year-old Nathan and 13-year-old Thomas will be handing out cards attached to a fair trade piece of chocolate to people in Ward’s father’s Huntersville neighborhood.

“I noticed that with Sameritain’s Purse, the group that sends the shoe boxes, a lot of them go to countries where a lot of chocolate and coffee comes from and I wondered how many of those families are farmers who are getting taken advantage of?” Ward said.

Global Exchange, a global human rights protection agency based out of San Francisco created this program. The organization has been around for over 20 years. 2009 marks the 3rd year of the Reverse Trick-or-Treating program.

This is the first year that the Ward family has had a chance to participate.

“Fair trade is really important to my family and we only buy fair trade chocolate and coffee. There is such an enormous amount of chocolate consumed around this time of year and Valentine’s Day that I just wanted to let people know about it. I think if more people knew about what fair trade is and what it means when they don’t buy fair trade that it would sway them to make different decisions or at least think about the decisions that they’re making.”

So, what is fair trade?

It is a social movement to get higher payment to the farmers in developing countries that produce things like coffee, chocolate and sugar to name a few items.

Ward said that she and her family try to expose as many people to fair trade items. Whenever there is a chance to share things at her kids’ school, The Community School of Davidson, she makes a handcrafted hot chocolate made with fair trade ingredients to get the conversation rolling.

Where does Ward find fair trade coffee and chocolate. The coffee, she said, is easy.

“You can find fair trade coffee any where. Even Wal-Mart and Food Lion sell it now,” she said.

But the chocolate, you have to search for. Here’s a hint — it ain’t Hershey’s. Ward said stores like Earth Fare and Healthy Home Market have fair trade chocolate.

She also said she buys some fair trade chocolate online at Sweet Earth Organic Chocolate.

Ward said she hopes that more people will start paying attention to fair trade and think about the choices they make.

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Remember the long lines for early voting last year?
Well, you won’t find any of those this year.

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The legal drama behind the Chris Rock documentary about African American hair continues.

Good Hair opened in limited release Friday and has made $1 million dollars so far, but filmmaker Regina Kimball says don’t believe the hype. The movie is her idea and Rock stole it.

According to a release from Kimball, the suit continues:

On Thursday, Federal District Court Judge Dale S. Fischer ordered a hearing on whether defendants should be blocked from releasing Chris Rock’s “Good Hair,” which is slated for nationwide release on Oct. 23. The judge set the hearing date for Oct. 19.

The plaintiff in the case, Regina Kimbell, producer of the film “My Nappy Roots,” alleges that Rock did not tell her that he had a deal with HBO to produce a film about Black hair when he asked to see her film. In court papers, her claim is supported by her co-producer who was present at the screening where Rock has admitted he saw her film.

In court documents submitted under oath last week, Rock claimed that he could not recall whether he told Kimbell before or after the screening about his deal with HBO. However, in an interview with www.ifc.com on Friday, he changed his tune and now claims that he told Kimbell of his HBO deal before the screening.

According to Kimbell’s attorney Reginald K. Brown, “This just doesn’t make sense.
Why would Mrs. Kimbell knowingly screen her unreleased film for another filmmaker with distribution for a similar film?”

Though Kimbell’s reps are saying the suit continues, other media outlets are reporting that the suit was tossed on Friday.

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A few brave souls opened up to a man on the street question about getting it on in Charlotte … and when I say a few, I mean two.
I’m not counting the “you offering?” ones.

Read more here.

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Tomorrow night it’s going to be an Animal House at The Visulite — when Big Mamma D brings back her award-winning House of Burlesque. This edition carries a toga-party-oriented theme (ala the Animal House reference). We caught up with the woman behind the tease and got the lowdown about her upcoming event.

Creative Loafing: How did you come up with the idea for a toga party?
Big Mamma D: Ideas kind of just come to me. I got a phone call in August from a lady who was a professor at UNC and she’s doing a whole series on the history of human sexuality. She wanted me to come and teach for a day in my full get up, the whole deal. Burlesque lady walking around campus and teaching classes and I couldn’t pass it up.

Click here to read the entire interview and find out show times.

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Here’s something that all you drinkers need to know, especially if you plan on going to that liquor fest know as Oktoberfest. Why risk a DUI when you can call DADD to get you and your car home safely?

Here’s a release from your new designated driver. 

Most of us have been there before. It’s Friday night, and you’re out with a few friends, winding down from a long week of work. After a meal and some laughs, you realize you’ve had one or two drinks too many.

Or you’re at Oktoberfest and have had just a little too much of a good time.

Driving yourself isn’t the safest idea. And calling a cab means the hassle of getting your car home the next day.

No problem, says Ben Lee. Just call DADD.

DADD – short for Dial-a-Designated Driver – is a new Charlotte-area service, designed to get drivers and their cars home safely. The idea is simple and easy to use, says Lee, DADD’s president.

Dial 1-888-422-DADD (3233), and two drivers are dispatched to your location, usually in less than half an hour. One takes you home in the comfort of your own car. The other, called a chaser, follows behind and then picks up the driver once you are home safe.

This year DADD is the official designated driver service for the 11th Annual Charlotte Oktoberfest (www.charlotteoktoberfest.com), held at Metrolina Expo.

“We’re primarily a safety business,” said Lee, company founder. “It seems like every day you hear in the news that someone who had been drinking and driving has crashed and killed someone. That doesn’t have to happen. ”

Lee hopes DADD can make it easier for people to have a good time and still be safe.

Rides can be set up ahead of time, or as needed. There’s a membership which offers special rates on rides, as well as discounts at Charlotte area restaurants, such as South End’s Tavern on the Tracks, Rock-n-Lobster and area Donato’s pizza shops.

The service already has been a hit with customers, such as Debbie H. from Charlotte.

“Obviously drinking and driving is always a ‘no-no,’” she said. “DADD has been a savior when it comes to getting me and my car home safely. They are always a call away and are reliable.”

The cost for a DADD ride starts at around $25 – less than a typical cab fare and tip.  And the service offers a convenience a cab ride doesn’t – it gets your car home as well, said Lee, avoiding the hassle of having to go back out and pick it up in the morning.

Lee got the idea for DADD from experience. He’d go out for an evening, and once in a while one of his friends would have one drink too many. But it was a hassle at times to do the right thing – not drive home – because of the headache of picking up the left-behind car the next day.

DADD can help eliminate that headache, and prevent the heartaches that drunk driving can cause. At this year’s Oktoberfest, the company is also raising funds for Mothers against Drunk Driving (MADD).

“We’ve heard all the countless excuses of why people drink and drive, and they just aren’t worth it,” Lee says. “Together, we can eliminate the needless effects caused by it.

All DADD drivers are insured and undergo a rigorous background check. The company offers flat rates from $24.95 to $69.95. Rides can be reserved ahead of time online at www.calldaddnow.com.

Lee believes DADD will help make this Oktoberfest an enjoyable and safe event.

“You can still have a good time,” he said. “All you’ve got to do is call DADD.”

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Oct. 11 is National Coming Out Day — a day when people reveal their sexuality to friends and family. It’s not an easy thing to do, but you can read how some people in Charlotte did it.

Click here to read Matt Comer’s story.

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The filmmaker suing Chris Rock over the film Good Hair wants a judge to stop the movie’s release, according to a press release from virginMOONentertainment, Inc.

Filmmaker Regina Kimbell continued her quest for justice filing a request for injunction in federal court in downtown Los Angeles against Chris Rock’s “Good Hair,” scheduled for limited theatrical release on Friday, Oct. 9.
Yesterday, the evidence submitted included an email from Kimbell to Doug Miller, then Rock’s assistant and now Good Hair associate producer.
In the email, Kimbell lets Miller know that she suspected they were making a copy of the film without her permission.The court filing against Chris Rock, HBO, and the domestic and foreign theatrical distributors is requesting a halt in releasing the film this week and future release until a verdict is reached by jury trial.

Rock hasn’t spoken out on the legal issues surrounding the release of the movie. But Rock made it on Oprah to promote the move last week.

See the injunction request here.

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Comedian Chris Rock said his daughter inspired him to film the documentary Good Hair, which looks at black women and their hair. But yesterday filmmaker Regina Kimbell filed a $5 million copyright infringement lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles against Chris Rock and HBO, the domestic and foreign distributor theatrical distributors for the soon-to-be-released documentary, according to a press release from virginMOONentertainment, Inc.

The complaint alleges Kimbell’s movie, “My Nappy ROOTS: A Journey Through Black Hair-” was copied by Chris Rock after he and his production team viewed the film in June 2007. After hearing the buzz about the film, Rock requested a private screening at Paramount Studios. Unaware that Rock had a deal to produce a black hair documentary for HBO, Kimbell agreed to let him see the film.
When Kimbell saw the trailer for “Good Hair,” she immediately saw the similarities and was stunned.
“This was an important story for me to tell, which is why I poured over five years of my life researching, traveling, and, shooting this film,” explains Kimbell.
“I had a feeling of disbelief and disappointment, so overwhelming that all I thought was I am seeing my film with a different title.”
Kimbell’s idea for the movie began in 2002 when her daughter then 16-year-old daughter, Brighton, faced her own hair angst. As a result, Lynscot wrote an essay, which served as the starting point conceptually of a five-minute film, mentored by her mother.The five-minute piece went on to win a NAACP ACT-SO gold medal locally and nationally was recognized with fourth place honors, which had never been done before.

Premiering as a feature-length film in 2007 at the Pan African Film Festival and winning Festival Choice Award for Best Documentary, “My Nappy ROOTS: A Journey Through Black Hair-” has evolved from an essay, to a short film, and now a feature-length film. As a short, it won several awards including first place at the Hollywood Black Film Festival and Best of the Best at FESPACO, the largest and most prestigious international film festival held in Africa.
This definitive, feature-length documentary film examines the legacy of black hair care through cultural, societal, and political issues in the African American community over time.
The film reveals the significance and pride of African hairstyles prior to the first arrival of enslaved Africans to where the broader struggle of black people began, to the modern establishment of black hair as an economic mainstay in This struggle translates into a billion dollar industry – black hair care – that exists today.

View the complaint here.

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New York Times best selling author Omar Tyree makes his foray into erotic fiction this fall with the release of Dirty Old Men and other stories.

But don’t expect Tyree to become a full-time erotic author, he just wanted to write about older men and younger women since he’s 40 now.

“I’m not in the erotica thing; I just had one subject I wanted to deal with. If you look at the Steve ‘Air’ McNair thing, dying at the hands of a 20-year-old [in July] that’s always going to be an issue. I’m not going to be making up erotica books for entertainment. This was something I needed to say,” Tyree told Creative Loafing in a phone interview about the book.

Dirty Old Men and Other Stories is scheduled for release next month and is presented by Zane, who can seriously be called the “Queen of Erotica.” Tyree knew this and that’s why he linked up with the publishing maven to release his book.

“I’m not an erotica writer, that’s not my style. I had small pieces that I wanted to get out and Zane is an erotica writer, that’s what she does and that why I put it out with her imprint because she has that audience for it.”

So, how will the Zane-faithful take to Tyree’s flirtation with erotica?

The stories are sexy, but if you’re looking strictly for sex on top of sex, you got the wrong book. Dirty actually takes readers into to the minds of older men and why they’re drawn to young women.

And, Tyree said, that’s really the point of the book.

“I know it’s a lot of different reasons why men get involved with women who are considerably younger than them. You have guys all over the world getting involved with young women,” he said.

Initially, Tyree wanted to write magazine articles about men, but he couldn’t find anywhere to place them. “Nobody does short stories in magazines like they used to. So, I needed a vehicle to put out masculine short stories,” he said. To make these stories marketable, Tyree said he had to turn up the sex.

“My experience in the publishing world has been if you’re writing about men, you’d better make it sexual or nobody cares,” he said.

With 14 stories exploring what makes old men dirty, Tyree might not make you care, but this collection is sure to start tongues wagging.

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