Getting paid to make comedies and travel with friends to different college campuses is all in a day's work for Broken Lizard. A comedy troupe of five, Broken Lizard is touring the country to promote its new film "Super Troopers," the story of a group of Vermont state troopers and their ongoing feud with the local police force, haphazard abuse of authority and occasional imbibing of drugs and alcohol.
Read More »Super Troopers 2 Stars If "Super Troopers" presents the reality of law enforcement, we should all stay at home, lock our doors and prepare for the worst. "Super Troopers" details a pointless conflict between a band of Vermont highway cops and an uptight group of pushy city cops. The plot centers on the highway cops and their attempts to save their floundering station and essentially worthless jobs.
Read More »It's Wednesday night, and it sounds like there's a storm brewing inside Woollen Gym. Strains of the Alien Ant Farm version of "Smooth Criminal" are barely audible over the thunderous rhythm of tapping heels and toes. With ponytails bouncing, nine women clad in T-shirts and jeans unleash a hailstorm of steps, stomps, shuffles, flaps and chugs. "Five, six, seven, eight." Amber Sherrill, director of Carolina Style's tap company, loudly calls out steps and counts in time with the music, never slowing her feet.
Read More »Concrete Blonde Group Therapy 2 Stars Concrete Blonde's reunion album Group Therapy begs the overwhelming question, "Why?" The band burst from the L.A. scene in the late '80s and oozed an edginess that contrasted with everything else on the radio. But the band's comeback effort, Group Therapy, lacks the rawness and originality that made the band essential. The trio, made up of singer/bassist Johnette Napolitano, guitarist James Mankey and drummer Harry Rushakoff, blended Latin-rock grooves with gothic sensibilities.
Read More »The Billy Dechand Band World Famous in Chapel Hill 3 Stars In the current stagnant waters of mediocre music, it can be said with great relief that there is absolutely nothing mediocre about World Famous in Chapel Hill. More often than not the album is both excellent and original. But on the other hand, several tracks will have even the laziest of people leaping from the couch to skip past them. While The Billy Dechand Band has an extensive discography under its belt, it still seems to be feeling its way around what styles it can and cannot do.
Read More »4 Stars If anything can go wrong, it will. Murphy's Law seems to be the premise behind director Ridley Scott's latest film, "Black Hawk Down." Based on the book by Mark Bowden, this war drama uses vivid images and emotionally charged portrayals to tell the true story of one of America's biggest modern military blunders.
Read More »Grace, balance, interpretation -- dance. Yet try to find it among the arts programs here at UNC-Chapel Hill and you'll discover that sometimes, art can crop up in the strangest of places. Just ask Fred Mueller, chairman of the Department of Exercise and Sports Science, and he'll tell you it's right where it belongs. "We've had dance in this department as long as I can remember," he said.
Read More »2 Stars Greg Taylor's Web site lists his musical heroes as James Taylor, Paul Simon and the Beatles. Such well-known influences leave very large musical shoes to fill, and on a rainy Saturday night at the Open Eye Cafe in Carrboro, singer/songwriter Greg Taylor filled maybe one toe's worth. In an otherwise relaxing set in the cozy warmth of the cafe, Taylor recycled obscure oldies and his own lackluster tunes for a lethargic concert befitting the climate outside.
Read More »Eclectic and varied works dominated the Undergraduate Award Winners reception at the Allcott Gallery in Hanes Art Center on Thursday. The small gallery was filled with spectators, milling about the creatively displayed pieces and congratulating the award-winning student artists. Photographs, ragged-edged mixed media works, drawings and three-dimensional pieces lined the gallery walls. Pedestals throughout the room held photography books and mixed media works, while a multitude of brilliant red sculpted feet lined a short section of floor.
Read More »The new exhibition at the Ackland Art Museum offers a healthy dose of normal mixed with a taste of the weird. "Reason and Fantasy in an Age of Enlightenment" opened on Jan. 20, including etchings and gravings from Francisco Goya, Giovanni Battista Piranesi and William Hogarth. The collection draws attention to the contradictory notions of European culture during the 18th century. Over the years, the Ackland has collected many works dating from the Enlightenment. They are not displayed often -- they make up only a tiny fraction of the Ackland's 15,000-piece collection.
Read More »UNC's gamelan is a musical beast difficult to contain, but it has found a home after all. Needing to relocate after 13 months in the Chapel Hill Museum, the gamelan -- an enormous ensemble of 68 instruments that takes up 460 square feet while in use -- found a new home in Person Hall. The move meets the deadline set by the museum: the UNC-based Gamelan Nyai Saraswati group's performance at 8 p.m. today in the Hill Hall Auditorium.
Read More »Cabarrus Street All-Stars The Cave Sunday, Jan. 13 4 Stars Music enthusiasts often say the best live music is underground. At The Cave on Sunday night, located a level below Franklin Street -- they were right. The Cabarrus Street All-Stars are part of a new, young music movement that's a little bit rock, a little bit blues and a lot of fun. With the energy and sound of young bluesmen Kenny Wayne Shepard and Jonny Lang, the seven-piece, Raleigh-based band put on a terrific live show.
Read More »Elesha Barnette sat alone Tuesday night, joined only by broken dialogue trickling from small speakers and digitized images of those who sat in a similar chair 10 years ago. Barnette is editing a special reunion episode of "General College," a collegiate soap opera produced by Student Television. With roughly half of the two-part episode complete, Barnette has several long nights ahead of her to ready the reunion episode for its Feb. 24 premiere at 8:30 p.m.
Read More »No Doubt Rock Steady 4 Stars It's unexpected that a band previously known for ska-punk music can make such a successful dance record. But No Doubt has pulled it off and reinvented itself with Rock Steady. Sure, the group recalls trusted reggae and dub elements, but the album is also notable for its marching beats, club-ready grooves and keyboard effects reminiscent of '80s dance-pop.
Read More »Wu-Tang Clan Iron Flag 4 Stars Although it feels like a lifetime ago, the Wu-Tang Clan first burst upon the scene with Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) just nine years ago. With its brash disregard for bouncy West Coast style and an imaginative reconstruction of New York City streets as the Shaolin they learned from old kung fu flicks, the Wu-Tang sound came to be, and hip hop was forever changed.
Read More »After 14 years of tenancy at Carrboro's ArtsCenter, the Carrboro Senior Program has found a new home -- and a new name. A Nov. 28 press release announced the program's move from West End Theater located at 300 E. Main St. on Dec. 31, 2001. Jerry Passmore, director of the Orange County Department of Aging, said the program has now relocated to the Century Center of Carrboro. Its full name has been changed to Carrboro Recreation and Parks Senior Leisure Program at Century Center.
Read More »Eighteen UNC studio art majors will be honored tonight at the opening reception of the Undergraduate Award Winners exhibit at Hanes Art Center. The reception will be held in the Allcott Gallery in Hanes Art Center, where the exhibit is located. Featured in the gallery is the work of undergraduate artists who have received one or more of five possible prizes from the Department of Art. The reception will begin at 6 p.m. and will give student artists an opportunity to connect with community members and showcase their works.
Read More »"The Royal Tenenbaums" 3 Stars The photographic rule of thirds states that a picture should be divided into three both horizontally and vertically, and the subject of the picture should lie along one of the dividing lines to create visual interest. In simpler terms, a serious photographer would never take a shot of someone smack dab in the middle of the frame. Yet almost every single shot in "The Royal Tenenbaums" does just that, violating one of the great tenets of the visual arts in order to showcase its complicated characters in a portrait-like format.
Read More »Robert Cray Band Cat's Cradle Sunday, Jan. 13 4 Stars Robert Cray didn't simply walk onto the stage Sunday night -- he sauntered. In front of a packed house, Cray and his band proceeded to wow the audience with dazzling guitar and organ work coupled with a vivacious presence. Cray is a five-time Grammy winner with one double platinum album, two gold albums and guitar that has been a driving force in the R&B world since the '80s. At Cat's Cradle he offered up a mixed bag of rich, soulful blues and driving funk from the small, intimate stage.
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