Wachovia President and CEO Bob Steel spoke publicly for the first time Thursday morning regarding his company’s merger with Wells Fargo. Steel addressed around 800 attendees of the Power Breakfast 2 at the Charlotte Convention Center, an event sponsored by the Charlotte Business Journal. Before today, Steel has only spoken about the merger with Wachovia employees.

When asked about NC State Treasurer Richard Moore’s statement on the Wells deal amounting to “highway robbery,” Steel responded “The Wells deal is the right deal for Wachovia.” Steel went on to say that ”A hundred and three combinations and mergers is what built Wachovia… and this is just the latest one.”

When asked about the uncertainty of the stock market, Steel said “confidence and capital are key” to leveling the market. Also, the sooner President-elect Barack Obama announces his economic team, the better.

The Power Breakfast 2 concluded with a recorded video message from Wells Fargo President and CEO John Stumpf. In the brief message Stumpf said Wells Fargo will have a strong commitment to its “customers, team members, shareholders, and the community.”

More pictures:

“Groups and individuals alike will gather in 39 cities across the U.S. on Saturday, November 22, 2008 to protest at all branches of the Federal Reserve Bank. Participating groups are calling for an end to the Federal Reserve banking system by returning to sound money and competing currencies. The better part of the protest and rally will last from noon to 4 p.m.

Read more at the CLog, or visit the protest organization website: endthefed.us.

date: Thursday, November 20th
doors open: 8:30 pm
where: Amos’ Southend
price: $7 for 21+

UNC Charlotte’s favorite rock band BKTF (Brandon Kirkley and the Firecrackers) will be at Amos’ Southend this Thursday to premire their first EP “What We Thought We Knew”. BKTF will headline the show with The Chase, and Stegosaurus will be opening. The show is $7 for 21 and up; under 21 is $10. They’ll have t-shirts and of course the CD for sale the night of the release. Definately something you dont want to miss if you’re a fan of good local music.

If you are curious what they sound like you can check out their MySpace.

GIVE AWAY

Brandon from BKTF also hooked me up with a autographed shirt and a copy of the cd. On top of all that you will have the chance to hang out with the band after the show. I know pretty awesome right? All you have to do is comment here and by noon Thursday and we will randomly pick one person to receive the awesome prize. Good Luck!

Sunday, November 16th, the Carolina Panthers defeated the Detroit Lions 31-22. This win improved the Panthers record to 8-2, their best start since the team went to the Superbowl in 2003. Thousands of fans arrived early to tailgate, eat, and get pumped up for the game. This pregame parties included drinks, cornhole, live deejays, grilling, and even a wedding.

watch this video on YouTube

How could the board vote no to football after this commercial?

Today marked an historic moment for the city of Charlotte and its public research university: college football is officially on the way. At the November 13th meeting of the UNC Charlotte Board of Trustees, the years of waiting and relentless work from 49er football advocates finally paid off in the form of a unanimous approval to kickoff in 2013.

photo credit: Justin Ritchie

The main concern for football supporters heading into the meeting centered around how the trustees would react to the changes in the global economic climate after UNC Charlotte Chancellor Phil Dubois presented his pro-football recommendation in late September. More sobering was Dubois’ report to the board at the start of the meeting where he stated that the institution was preparing for a likely 6% budget cut.

But the tone quickly changed when Dr. Dubois took to the podium to begin the football discussion later in the meeting. The trustees said in September that they would approach the decision with much hesitation if less than 1,000 seat licenses had been sold by November. The most recent numbers indicated that 4,169 Football Seat Licenses or FSLs had been pledged by 1629 people, an average of about 4 being sold per person. Seventy percent of those FSLs came from non-Athletic Foundation members, meaning that people who don’t usually support the university financially were those that had bought the seat licenses. Most astoundingly was that the university has not marketed the FSLs in the least, all of them were pledged by people who sought the FSLs out.

Next the Charlotte 49er football marketing campaign was revealed by Steve Luquire, the director of LGA.

Luquire spoke about the goals of the upcoming marketing plan: generating awareness, building an emotional connection between the city and UNC Charlotte football, informing the city about the process of adding football, building the brand of 49er football. One idea proposed to build the brand of the future team was through sonic marketing. Sonic marketing, as explained by Mr. Luquire, builds instant recall of a  idea through a distinct and recognizable tones.

But most impressive was the commercial that LGA, “threw together in a week”, shown at the top of this post. You can also view it on YouTube.

Board chair, Ruth Shaw, then took the podium and asked for questions. Trustee Jim Babb asked how the timeline would be altered if the fundraising results failed to meet the timeline required for kickoff in 2013. The general consensus was that this was a decision to do football no matter what. Dubois stated, “we will not bankrupt this university”, explaining that if the money wasn’t there, they would push the kickoff date back or reduce the scale of the vision at that time.

With an assurance of proper financial priorities provided to the board, the call for the historic vote returned a unanimous yes for the start of a team.

The cry of the football advocates had long been “The Time is Now” throughout the fight for a team which began with a student government vote over two years ago. And now, the time for Charlotte 49er football truly is now.

credit: James Willamor; view these photos on Flickr

Hundreds turned out Saturday afternoon in uptown Charlotte to rally for gay rights. Similar rallies and marches, promoted by Join the Impact, took place simultaneously across the nation. The rallies were prompted by the passage of Proposition 8, a California ballot measure than put an end to same-sex marriage. Similar anti-gay ballot measures were also passed in Florida, Arizona, and Arkansas.

The peaceful yet energetic rally, filled with banners and rainbow flags, included choral singing and several speakers. The rally took place in a public area outside the Government Center on 4th Street.

date: Saturday, Novenmber 15
time: 5-10 pm
where: Ink Floyd @ 1030 Louise Avenue, Charlotte, NC

“Various Artists” is a live screenprinting event brought to you by Kitschworth & Ink Floyd. It will showcase the designs of 6 artists that are based in North Carolina. Their original artwork will be screenprinted live on t-shirts and high-quality paper only available to guests attending this event.

photo credits: Marcus Hesse

11:05am- Right now the UNC Charlotte Board of Trustees are reviewing the marketing plan for the football program at UNCC. This is the final vote to bring football to the university and if the Board of Trustees give it a go, football is officially alive at UNC Charlotte. This is a pretty exciting day for the university and is the sumation of years of work by organizations like the Charlotter 49er Football Initiative.

Justin Ritchie is there at the scene now taking pitures and notes of the meeting. You can watch his flickr for pictures or his twitter for breaking news.

**UPDATE**

11:34pm-UNC Charlotte Board of Trustees vote unanimously in favor of football. UNC Charlotte now officially has football!

Full recap and pictures to come in a few.

“Charlotte has publicly reprimanded coach Bobby Lutz for going through Pfeiffer’s huddle and yelling at coach Dave Davis during an exhibition game Thursday.”

Read more more at SportsIllustrated.com

Looking across Lake Tillery to the Uwharrie National Forest

Morrow Mountain State Park is free to visit, and is open 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM daily. The park features numerous hiking trails, public facilities, picnic shelters, camping, an overlook, and access to Lake Tillery, part of the Yadkin/Pee-Dee River system.  You’ll also find a recreation of the homestead of Dr. Francis Kron, local physician and horticulturist who emigrated from Prussia in 1823.

View from the Morrow Mountain State Park overlook

Across the Yadkin/Pee-Dee River stretches the Uwharrie National Forest, one of four such forests in North Carolina.  Here you will find trails for hiking, horseback riding, off-road vehicles, and mountain bikes, along with hunting, fishing, camping, and access to local lakes and rivers.

Looking at Morrow Mountain State Park across Lake Tillery