June Happenings

Music: Jazz Fest, Jazz at the Bechtler, Summer Pops Series, Nnenna Freelon & Branford Marsalis Benefit Concert, Stonecrest Summer Concert Series, Brad Paisley, Earth Wind and Fire, Big Boi, Beach House, Passion Pit, Heart, Grizzly Bear, Lord Huron, David Bryne and St.Vincent, New Kids on the Block, 98 Degrees, Boyz II Men, Fleetwood Mac, Fall out Boy, Aaron Lewis, Gladys Knight and the O’Jays, Josh Ritter and the Royal City Band, Beatles Tribute Night, Chatham County Live, Rick Springfield

Performing Arts: Least Likely Friends, Hair, The Divine Sister, The Color Purple, Proof, Ruined, Dolly Parton’s 9-5: the musical, Catch me if you can, Charlotte Squawks Ninesense, Damn Yankees, The Pajama Game, Assassins, Taming of the Shrew

Art: Connectivity at the McColl Center for Visual Arts, Carolina’s Got Art

Bites and Brews: Taste of Charlotte, 3rd Annual Charlotte Fire Department Auxiliary pancake breakfast, Charlotte Brewers Festival, Pig Pickin’ and Cornhole Tournament , Celebrate Atherton Market’s 3rd anniversary, Fanta Festival, Juneteenth

Movies: Saturday Night Cine Club: All Together, Rem Koolhaus: a different kind of architect, Order in the Court: Seven Classic Courtroom Movies, Summer blockbusters: Man of Steel(June 14), Monsters University(June 21), World War Z(June 21)

Just for Laughs: John Caparulo, Tracy Morgan

Races: Color my Run, Tri Latta Triathlon, King Tiger 5k, Skirt Chaser 5k, Warrior Dash

For the kids: Animal Grossology at Discovery Place, pick your own strawberries, PLCMC summer reading program

Events outside of Charlotte: Salute! The North Carolina Wine Celebration in Winston-Salem, Carolina Beach Music Festival, Blue Ridge Barbecue and Music Festival

Don’t forget Father’s Day is June 16th!

~Jamie Sunnycalb~

May Happenings

 Music: Crosby, Stills & Nash, Tim McGraw, Chris Botti, Carolina Rebellion, Imagine Dragons, Band of Horses, Paramore, Smashing Pumpkins, RiverJam at the US National Whitewater Center, Food Lion Speed Street with Sister Hazel and SWV, Sara Bareilles, Lyle Lovett

Food: Chow Down Uptown with area food trucks, Beer, Bourbon and BBQ Festival , Charlotte Italian Festival, 2nd Annual VegFest

Performing Arts: War Horse, Traces, Avenue Q

Festivals: The Patriot Festival ,  Charlotte Asian Festival and Dragon Boat Festival, Buskapoolza Street Performance Festival, Spring Pottery Festival , Charlotte Shakespeare Festival , Fanta Festival , NC Brewers & Music Festival, BikeFest in Plaza Midwood

Walks/Runs: Memorial Day Trail Race, Krispy Freme Doughnut Dash, Zombie Run, Ramblin’ Rose, The Great Glow Run, AIDS Walk

Other events: Meck Dec Day, New South for the new Southerner series at the Levine Museum of the New South, Coca-Cola 600, Metrolina Expo Marketplace, Charlie Murphy, Kevin James, Drew Carey

For the kids: Bye Bye Birdie, Family Day at the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, Free Comic Book Day, Movies in the Park

For the “furry” kids: Charlotte Pet Expo, Second Annual Cinco de Mayo Chihuahua Races

Don’t forget that Mother’s Day is Sunday May 12th! National Mom’s Nite Out at South Park mall, Mother’s Day at the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden, Purses with a Purpose

Outside of Charlotte: South Carolina Strawberry Festival

~Jamie Sunnycalb~

50 Weird Laws

Did you know it’s illegal to play BINGO in North Carolina for longer than five hours?

Did you know that it’s illegal for dance halls to be within a quarter mile of a church or cemetery in South Carolina?

Check out this video from Mental Floss for more weird laws involving states.

Hungry for more?

We susbcribe to Mental Floss!

~Jamie Sunnycalb~

April Happenings

There are so many fun activities showering upon the month of April!

Free Cone Day at Ben&Jerry’s on April 9th

Alive After 5 returns to several locations across Charlotte

Celebrate Earth Day at Earth Day Play Date

For the music lover: Eric Clapton with the Wallflowers, All Time Low, Barstool Blackout Tour, Diana Krall, EmmyLou Harris, Romeo.Juliet, Miss Witherspoon, Rory Scovel, The Good Lovelies, Cedric Burnside Project, Lake Street Dive, Andrew McMahon, Breaking Laces, Kim Richey, Lavell Crawford, Spin & Record Store Day

For the fashionista: Girls’ Night Out to support the Ronald McDonald House, Passport for Fashion

For the foodie: Taste of the New South, Taste of the Nation, Wanted Dead or Alive: a Murder Mystery Dinner, SteaksBeer & Shakespeare

For the fun of it: Sinbad, Caroline Rhea, Crazy Late with Johnny Millwater, Jeanne Robertson, David Sedaris

For the art lover: Sensoria Arts Festival , Art on the Green, Kings Art Drive Walk

For social justice: Sexual Assault Awareness Walk

For the cinephile: Architecture + Film, Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie, Saturday Night Cine Club: Even the Rain, Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy, Nicky’s Family

For the runner: Charlotte Race Fest, Joanna’s Barefoot 30, Race to the Top, CPCC Charlotte Skyline Run, Electric Run

For the kids: Sesame Street Live: Elmo Makes Music, Pinkalicious: the Musical, Treasure Island, NC Science Festival with Alton Brown: the Science of Cooking

For the furry kids: Pet Palooza, Bark in the Park

Sporting events: Wells Fargo Championship, Queen’s Cup Steeplechase, Rural Hill Scottish Festival and Loch Norman Highland Games

Other events: Opera Open House, World Parade and Festival, Charlotte Auto Fair, 9th Annual Hope Floats Duck Race, Paddle Fest, International Pillow Fight Day,“Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth”, Thank you for calling customer service! the stage play, Celtic Woman

Events outside of Charlotte: Winston Salem River Run Film Festival, MerleFest in Wilkesboro, NC

February Happenings

Keep those New Year’s resolutions on track with Cupid’s Cup, 49ers Gold Rush, Charlotte 10 Miler , Frigid 5K Run and Plunge (or forget them altogether with Free Pancakes at IHOP for National Pancake Day!)

Events at the Blumenthal: Charlotte Symphony Pops: Oz with Orchestra, Laugh for the Cure, Jesse Cook, Meow Meow, SPANK! the Fifty Shades parody, Charlotte Symphony:  Tchaikovsky No.5, Fire and Ice, Les Miserables, Patterson Hood, KnightSounds: ‘Pop up’ Opera, Dance Charlotte!, Straight No Chaser, The Swing Jazz Series: Tia Fuller with John Brown Big Band, Dr.Sanjay Gupta, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Shawn Colvin, Charlotte Symphony Pops: Tiempo Libre, FELA!, Next to Normal, and The Foreigner (Go here for a great deal from Big Ben) How we got on

Soul Asylum, Travis Tritt, Gaelic Storm, Sixpence None the Richer, moe, Flogging Molly, Carrie Rodriguez, Zappa plays Zappa, Lindi Ortega, Kopecky Family Band, Soulful Sistas Tour, Fishbone, David Childers and the Overmountain Men, Pentatonix, performing at Coyote Joe’s: Justin Moore, Lee Brice, Jerrod Neimann

At the Levine Museum of the New South Bus Tour: Charlotte in Black and White, Civic by Design, The Fire of Freedom with author David Cecelski

CIAA Basketball  Tournament , Super Bowl

Don’t forget February 14th is Valentine’s Day! Treat your sweetheart to A Date with Art at the Mint Museum, Sweetheart Tours at Latta Plantation, Love Jones Open Mic Night, Music and Museum: Annual Chamber of Love Concert

Party time: Go bananas at Charlotte’s 1st Annual Banana Crawl, Queen City Brewers Festival , Laissez les bon temps rouler at the Charlotte Mardi Gras Parade of Beads at the Epicentre. (Order your king cakes here), A Night in Rio: the Brazilian Carnival Experience, Bartender’s Ball

Freebies: Free spaghetti and meatballs from the Diamond at Snug Harbor’s viewing of “Django”, Free guided walking tour of South End,  free history program, free admisssion to both Mint Museums every Tuesday after 5 pm

Showstoppers: Charlotte Motorcycle Show, North Carolina RV & Camping Show, Southern Spring Home & Garden Show, Charlotte Beauty Tradeshow

For the kids: The Magic Story, The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs, the circus, Fossil Fair at the Schiele Museum, Yo Gabba Gabba! Live: Get the Sillies Out, Sunday Fun Day: Chihuly and More-Art Beyond the Sea

Other events to check out: The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Diety, NASCAR acceleration weekend, Music and Museum: Horn of Plenty, Jim Florentine and Don Jamieson

~Jamie Sunnycalb~

January Happenings

Happy New Year from the Charlotte School of Law Library! Start 2013 off with a bang with any one of these fun activities:

Winter Jam
Ringling Bros. & Barnum & Bailey Circus

Jeff Dunham

Repticon

Umphrey’s McGee, Bloc Party,The Marshall Tucker Band, Justin Beiber

Restaurant Week

Sister Act, The Magic Flute, Shen Yun, Bryan Adams, Next to Normal, Pat Benatar and Neil Geraldo
Jay Philips, Hannibal Buress, Rob Schneider, Don DC Curry, Jeff Dye

The Bridal Showcase

Monster Jam

China National Symphony Orchestra

The Foreigner

MiniCon
4th Annual Where’s Waldo? Bar Crawl

Trail Race, CRC Winter Classic

For the kids: The Secret Garden, Justin Roberts and the Not Ready for Naptime Players, Brother Rabbit Spinning Free,

Introduction to Geocaching, Rookie Science: the science of snow, Strange Matter, Innovative Works, Tiny Tots Storytime, Nature Story Corner , Jack and the beanstalk, Tosco Music Party, Young Explorers: Winter Creatures, Paws to Read, Coca-Cola Ice Rink, Teen Poetry Slam, American Girl Book Club

MLK Holiday Parade

~Jamie Sunnycalb~

December Happenings

December is just around the corner and we’ve got quite an extensive list for getting into the holiday spirit.

Now showing at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center: The UNC Clef Hangers in Concert, Richard Marx, Keb Mo, Rockin’ in a winter wonderland, The Birth, Charlotte Symphony: Messiah, This is the 60′s, Cirque Dreams Holidaze, The Temptations and the Four Tops, NC Dance: The Nutcracker

Reduced Shakespeare Company: the Ultimate Christmas Show

Step back in time with Christmas in Mecklenburg County with the Polks

Speedway Christmas

Fourth Ward Holiday Home Tour

WBT Holiday on Ice

Christmas at the Billy Graham Library

Theatre Charlotte presents A Christmas Carol

Singing Christmas Tree

Black Nativity: A Gospel Song Play

McAdenville

Holiday Tea at Ritz-Carlton’s Urban Sip, Nutcracker Tea the Omni Hotel, Holiday Tea at the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden, Tea and shopping at the Duke Mansion

A Modern Christmas Carol

Gingerbread Lane at the Ballantyne, 8 foot chocolate tree display at Ritz-Carlton

Ugly Sweater Christmas Party, SantaCon

Pops: Magic of Christmas

University Chorale and Chamber Orchestra, Wingate University Wind Ensemble Instrumental Concert

Queen City Ringers

Music and Museum: Christmas in Venice

Jazz at the Bechtler: Holiday Jazz, Richard Elliot and Nick Colionne, Nnenna Freelon with John Brown Big Band

Christmas at St.Mary’s, The Choir School at St.Peter’s Christmas Concert

Winter Wonderettes

Clara’s Trip: A Nutcracker Story

A Patchwork Christmas

Classic International Black Cinema Series: A Warm December

An Evening with Nicholas Kristof

Party for a cause at  Jingle Bell Bash, 24th Annual Second String Santa Holiday Party

For the kids: Join the Elf Academy at Carolina Place Mall, Saturday Art Sessions: Mexican Tin Art Ornaments, Singing Christmas Tree for Kids, Cross Cross Mangosauce: Bilingual Storytime, Icelebra! A Bilingual Holiday concert for children, Free family Christmas movies at the Neighborhood Theatre, Children’s Theatre of Charlotte’s Santa’s Bag, Build a gingerbread house at Lowes, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, The Littlest Angel, Jami Masters School of Dance Enchantment Camp, “The Polar Express” at Discovery Place’s IMAX, Photos with Santa,The Leonard Bearstein Symphony, First Night Charlotte, Breakfast with Santa (and Ace&TJ) at the Palm, Breakfast with Santa at Bravo

Kwanzaa Programs at the public library

Hanukkah Celebrations at South Park Mall

Movies opening Christmas Day: Les Miserables, Django Unchained, Parental Guidance

All movies at Cinebarre (where you can dine while watching a great flick) are $5 every Tuesday.

Events outside Charlotte

A Huntersville Christmas

Christmas in Davidson

Arts at the Abbey: Annual Holiday Concert Belmont Abbey, NC

Holiday Lights at Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden

Christmasville in Rock Hill

Christmas in Cramerton

Kannapolis Christmas

Waxhaw Christmas Parade

Fort Mill Christmas Parade

Polar Express Bryson City, NC

Christmas at Biltmore Asheville, NC

National Gingerbread House Competition and Display Grove Park Inn, Asheville, NC

Lights Before Christmas at Riverbanks Zoo and Garden, Columbia, SC

Cookies and Cocoa with Santa Spencer, NC

Santa on the Chimney Chimney Rock, NC

Salem Christmas Winston-Salem, NC

Tanglewood Festival of Lights Clemmons, NC

Scandinavian Christmas Fair Raleigh, NC

More December fun:

Carolina Chocolate Drops, Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, I Fight Dragons, David and Jessica Lea Mayfield, Steep Canyon Rangers, Dan Bern, Wanda Jackson,Acoustic Syndicate, Rebirth Brass Band,Keller Williams/That 1 Guy, Drivin’ n’ Cryin’/The Blue Dogs , Willie Nelson, Maybach Music Group, Sum 41, Metalocalypse, Trey Songz, 2 Chainz, 95.1 Kissmas with PSY

Palate to Palette

The Cake Boss

Belk Bowl, 2012 Dr.Pepper ACC Football Championship (ACC Fan Fest: Lee Brice and Little Big Town)

Bob Saget, Jimmie “J.J.” Walker

Twilight

Glogg and meatballs buffet at IKEA

Death Tax and 33 Variations at Carolina Actors Studio Theatre

The Charlotte School of Law Library wishes you and yours a happy and safe holiday season!

~Jamie Sunnycalb~

GMOs: Uninvited dinner guests

What if you’re on a diet and counting calories? Would you go to the grocery store and load up your cart without looking to see the calories listed on the back of the package? What if you had a food allergy? Would you put something in your cart without first looking to see the listed ingredients on the back of the package? Similarly, consumers are left without any labels to guide them in making decisions about GMOs (genetically modified organisms). The Scitech lawyer’s contributor Debra M.Strauss in her article, “Liability for Genetically Modified Food: Are GMOS a tort waiting to happen?”, further defines GMOs as “plants [that] are engineered by inserting the DNA of an unrelated species into the target plant at the cellular level, generating the desired trait throughout the plant and its crop for consumption”. Doesn’t sound so bad, right? One day you could potentially grow tomatoes in winter if you took the DNA from salmon and put it into a tomato. Besides defying Nature, GM plants are engineered to produce pesticides in its own tissue. Are we cluelessly eating pesticides? If given the choice between GM corn and GM-free corn, pigs will eat the GM-free corn every single time.

Do we have a right to choose too? The state of California seems to think so. Proposition 37 will be voted on next month as to whether companies should be required to label their food as containing GMOs. Opponents of the propositon are companies that complain of incurring costs to relabeling products. In reality, companies change their labels all the time.

GMOs are a hot debate recently. Just last month Dr.Oz devoted an entire episode to the topic. It seems as if experts are divided on the issue. Some argue that GMOs are healthy and unharmful and not enough studies have been done to indicate otherwise, while others argue that GMOs are very dangerous and cause allergies, organ toxicity and a host of other health problems. Many countries in Europe and Asia fall into the latter camp and have banned GMOs and regulate international trade from less regulated US agricultural goods.

Aside from moving out of the country, what can you do to keep you and your family safe at mealtime? As with everything, education is vital. Buy organic when you can, especially in regard to the dirty dozen. Buy organic soy, corn, canola, papaya and sugar beets. Look for the NO GMO label:

If your grocery store doesn’t stock GMO free products, request them. Most grocery stores will accomodate such requests. When dining out, ask your server if their menu items are made with GMO free products.

We have a right to know what we’re eating.

~Jamie Sunnycalb~

November Happenings

Didn’t get enough frights on Halloween? Extend the ghoulish fun with Queen City Ghost Tours

Or are you ready for the most wonderful time of the year? Check out Southern Christmas Show, The Nutcracker, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Mannheim Steamroller

A lot of big names are taking the stage this month. Check them out!

Carrie Underwood, Madonna, Eric Church, Brandi Carlile, Yellowcard, Citizen Cope, Silversun Pickups, Jay and Silent Bob get Old, The Chris Robsinson Brotherhood, Tinsley Ellis, Motion City Soundtrack, Sugar Glyder, The Whigs, Wolf Gang, Social Distortion, Loudon Wainwright III, Marc Cohn, Bruce Hornsby, Tom Russell, American Aquarium and Sons of Bill, Justin Townes Earle with Tift Merritt, Pretty Lights

Need a laugh? Tim Meadows, Kevin Hart

Interested in a night at the theatre? Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, In the heat of the night, The Seagull, Bent, Twilight, Just us Jesus Gospel show, Drumline Live, Jekyll and Hyde the musical

Step back in time at Renaissance Festival

Turkey Trot, The Color Run, Thunder Road Marathon combine great exercise with great causes!

Something for the kids Fall Harvest Festival, Fall Fun Fest, The Commedia Pinocchio, Charlotte Symphony Lollipops

~Jamie Sunnycalb~

October Happenings

The month of October proves to be one spooktacular showcase!

Treats at Taste of FreeMore with music and food in the Burger Company’s parking lot Saturday Oct 6 from 4-8 pm

It’s bon appetit at Food tour of NoDa, Dinner in the Dirt, Chili Cook Off

Join  Commonwealth Animal Hospital’s 20th Anniversary Bash for a howlin’ good time!

Tickle your funny bone with: Tom Green, Shaquille O’Neal presents All-Star Comedy Jam, Rachel Feinstein, Happy Birthday Chuckleheads

Do the monster mash at Kiss 95.1′s Grave Digger’s Ball featuring B.O.B.,Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Bonnie Raitt, Erykah Badu and Rickey Smiley, Zac Brown Band, Rush, Trisan Prettyman, Kathleen Edwards, Andrew Bird, Jackie Green, Matt & Kim, James McMurtry, Christ Knight, Alejandro Escovedo, John Michael Montgomery

Get bewitched at God of Carnage, Godspell, Sylvia, In the Heat of the Night

Fire up the cauldron at Great Grapes! Wine, Arts and Food Festival, Oktoberfest, Mecktoberfest

Cast a love spell at Charlotte Wedding Connection

Let the spirit move you with  Theresa Caputo- the Long Island Medium (Save $5 online by using promotion code “LONG”).

Be enchanted by Celtic Thunder: Voyage, Eric Johnson Electric Band, Chicago, Charlotte Symphony: Firebird!, Tim Lemmond Legacy Concert, Nick Lowe, The Macabre Masque, Tosca, The Swing Jazz series, Janis Ian and Tom Paxton, Sphinx Virtuosi, Menopause the Musical, Indigo Girls, NC Dance: Limitless, Charlotte Symphony Pops: America , Mandy Patinkin

Celebrate Halloween at these frightful venues…if you dare:  Scarowinds, Spirits Rise: a Ghost Film Series, Beyond the Grave Haunted History Tour, Horror Fest, Shake your Ghoul Thing, Night of the Living Dead Geek Gala, Halloween ComicFest at Spandex City, Elizabeth Neighborhood Pumpkin Wall, The Haunted Mill, Hoot and Howl at Carolina Raptor Center, NoDaWeen, Campground Massacre, Scarrigan’s Farm, Halloween Howler Costume Contest Bar Crawl

Run for your life at the Zombie Run Challenge

For the little goblins in your life: Rural Hill Amazing Maize Maze, Bootanical, Disney on Ice, Pumpkin Patch

Other fun events: Kellogg’s Tour of Gymnastics Champions, WWE RAW, Junior League’s Lights!Camera!Fashion!, Ultimate Fall Fashion Event, The Fresh Expo, Latin American Festival , Ciao, Italia Festival, Women of Faith , Bank of America 500

Fundraising Opportunities: Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, Over the Edge Charlotte, Hero Rush, Ties and Tails Gala benefitting the Humane Society, Trails for Tails, Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer Classic Women’s Golf and Tennis Tournament

~Jamie Sunnycalb~