Seemed as though most of Charlotte was still nursing their St. Paddy's day hangover this weekend or couldn't tear themselves away from the upsets of the first round of March Madness (how about that UConn game? or Western Kentucky? Amazing).
My excuse? Mom was in town for Easter so I kept it low key with the Stars show at Neighborhood Theatre on Friday (loved Stars, loved Neighborhood Theatre even more -- I think I've found my new favorite live-music venue) and the Sirens and Shields Red Cross fundraiser Saturday night at Buckhead Saloon.
Sirens and Shields was the first time the Greater Carolinas Red Cross (with help from Wells Fargo) tried a bachelor/bachelorette auction of first-responders, gearing it toward young professionals.
The bids started off low: $25 for some people, $80 for others and then picked up (perhaps as the alcohol set in), with a whopping $400 for one very popular arson detective.
An organizer said the night had some kinks and the group was making notes about how to make it even better next year.
I had a fun time, but I think they needed more publicity in advance (turnout was moderate) and they definitely need to get restaurants to donate the dates, otherwise the Red Cross will never make any money.
I'll post pics (including shirtless firefighters) from the auction on Thursday.
Now, back to the Neighborhood Theatre. I heard from several people that the venue recently did some rearranging and removed a lot of the seating that was in front of the stage. The consensus was that it was a vast improvement. What do you guys think?
8 comments:
Glad you're finally realizing there's more to Charlotte night life than Cans, or the Forum.
Hey anon - Why the random false assumption? A quick check of this blog shows 48 posts, and just four about Cans and two about Forum - and all six about events there (Wii bowling twice, Sean Kingston, stop on a bar crawl, CIAA party, Michael Imperioli appearance). On the nightlife beat, special events are the news, and I don't think Sarah can control where they're held.
Yes, she mentioned in her initial post that she likes to go to those places, but she never said those are the only places she goes.
Also, it seems absurd to expect her to post equally about each bar or neighborhood, as opposed to proportional to the number of happenings.
I'm sure I'll get creamed for defending the Observer (horrors!), which certainly has its share of incompetency, but I'm just tired of the viciousness on these blogs.
I have been to Neighborhood Theater many times and I must agree with other patrons that the removal of the chairs is great; more room and it smells better! Definitely one of my favorite places to see live music in Charlotte. The people who work there are nice, accommodating and helpful. OH! And the bathrooms are clean; doubly awesome.
Neighborhood Theatre is a great venue that gets good acts. I think the Visulite SLIGHTLY edges the NT though as a live music venue (though it is a bit smaller.)I love the way the bar sets up to the stage as well as the pit in front of it. Another clean, nice place to hang out. The neighborhood around the Vis. is also a big step up from the NT. I'd love to see both places getting more support from folks that go out. Even beyond the music, the Visulite is a killer bar.
Evening Muse is a dump.
I attended the Stars show, and it was fantastic, the band as well as the venue. Neighborhood is a unique venue, and I can imagine that plenty of mid-level (indie) bands would love to play there. Its a shame that Charlote doesn't attract great bands like the Stars, especially because there seems to be an audience for indie rock. Hopefully Neighborhood takes the hint and begins booking bands like this in the future. But I'm happy to see that you are covering an off-beat event like this!
Neighborhood needs to get off their horse and lower the covers
and don't blame it all on promoters or guarantees either, NT jacks it up (probably to keep out the riff-raff like me)
Well, if the NT is your idea of a great live music venue, you obviously haven't been to very many. That dump has all the amenities of a treehouse, and the tickets are waay overpriced.
If anything, blame it on the fact that (at least to my eye) they have made some really extensive upgrades with their sound system recently, which helps to bring in good acts, and more importantly, insures that everyone in the audience gets the best possible sound for the dollars they spend. I believe they have a really nice line array in there these days. Bottom line, production is expensive. And what other amenities do you need? They have a bar, they have seats, they have a dance floor. It's not a "club". It's a nice live music venue. Check out the other similar venues around NC like Cat's Cradle or Ziggy's. It's head and shoulders above.
If you want to pay less (and get less in return) go to the Double Door, Snug Harbor, or Evening Muse.
It's a heck of a lot cheaper than going to Verizon and basically listening to the radio...
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