Updates, openings and name changes

Things are changing rapidly in the Charlotte nightlife scene -- here's the latest:


Updates

• The 2009 CIAA Tournament is a little more than a month away. For those of you looking to party that weekend, I'm starting to compile the exhaustive list of hot spots now and hope to have an early version up next week. Have a party you want me to post? E-mail me the details, including date, time, address and ticket price. (Please do not include fliers -- they clog my inbox.)
• Bartender's Ball 2009 is happening Feb. 15. Get your tickets (includes open bar and dinner buffet) now -- none will be sold at the door.

Openings

• Wild Wing Cafe opens at the EpiCentre on Friday, just in time for this weekend's playoff games. They'll have live music from Tokyo Joe after the Panthers beat the Cardinals Saturday night.
• StrikeCity, the new bowling alley and lounge at the EpiCentre, is tentatively set to open Jan. 29.
• Also coming soon to the EpiCentre is Libretto's Pizza. Get a taste of real New York City pizza from this Manhattan parlor.

Name changes

• Driving along East Boulevard the other night, I noticed that the old City Tavern spot, which became Plan B restaurant in May, has been reinvented again. It's now called Rock 'n' Lobster (the sign out front depicts an Elvis-wig-wearing lobster carrying a guitar). Plan B owners decided the menu wasn't up to snuff and decided to give it a makeover. A manager told me Thursday that the new concept opened in November and will hold its grand opening party Jan. 14 with live music from Simplified. "We've turned it into more of a rock club and a venue where you can get really good seafood," she said.
• Crush, the old nightspot next to the Westin on Stonewall Street, is now Club Ice. Haven't checked it out yet, but it apparently hosted a Panthers party last weekend with special guests like Chris Gamble, DeAngelo Williams and Jeff Otah.