CLT Blog

Author and pastor Jay Bakker attended a cookout against the North Carolina Constitutional Amendment Friday afternoon at Area Fifteen. Bakker grew up in the Charlotte area and is now pastor at Revolution Church in New York City. Dozens turned out for hot dogs, hamburgers, and conversation. Many who had taken advantage of early voting wore “I Voted” stickers.

“People need to see that we support each other, and not just church people, but that we support each other as human beings,” said Bakker. “I really hope that fellow believers would get out there and love their neighbor as themselves and go vote.”

Bakker is the son of televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker whose PTL media empire and Heritage USA theme park were lost due to scandal. The effect the scandal and his return to faith are documented in Bakker’s autobiography Son of a Preacher Man and in the Sundance channel documentary One Punk Under God.

The constitutional amendment on the May 8th primary ballot would make heterosexual marriage the “only domestic legal union” valid in the state. North Carolina law already define marriage as being between one man and one woman, and a vote for or a vote against the proposed amendment would have no effect on that.

However, as opponents and legal experts point out, the wording of the proposed amendment could possibly cause children to lose health care coverage and remove protections for unmarried victims of domestic violence. “Amendments should never be about taking rights away. They should always be about adding rights,” said Bakker.

Local author James Langteaux, whose new book is titled, Gay Conversations with God, was on hand signing copies and talking to cookout attendees. Langteaux is a former senior producer for a Christian television network.

The event was organized by Steve Knight, a former Billy Graham staffer who is now a consultant for religious organizations. Also in attendance was Marc Gustafson, at large candidate for Mecklenburg County Commission. Bakker also spoke at an anti-amendment rally in Durham this weekend.

Charlotte area band Harvest released their first album April of last year. In the months following the completion of the album, the band has played local shows as band leader Garrett Glaus worked on writing new material.

Now Harvest faces big changes as longtime members Gabriella and Julia Hunt are amicably leaving the band to pursue other interests. At the same time, Harvest – now effectively just Glaus – is preparing to record a new album and tour the southeast then west coast.

Glaus has always been the outspoken leader of Harvest, but he has also worked to surround himself with talented musicians whose own contributions add layers of sound and depth. As Glaus embarks on tour he will have a full band backing him thanks to The Business People.

The Hunt sisters will perform one final show with Harvest on Saturday, February 18th at the Wavehouse – a relatively new indie music venue located at Area Fifteen. Glaus, who helps run the Wavehouse, says, “We’ve focused a lot of our attention on the atmosphere, the lighting, just making sure that every band that plays there would have a very personalized crowd experience. I’m really excited. It’s our second time playing there and it’s going to be a full band and everything.”

Boone area band Troubel will also be performing with harvest at the Wavehouse on the 18th. Both Harvest and Troubel have played at Area Fifteen before, which has hosted music events ranging from Listener to the bilingual Convert 4 Diversity.

Harvest’s new album will be recorded by David Wimbish, a Greensboro based producer and musician who plays with The Collection and ElisaRay. “We’re going to be recording in a church that was built in the 20′s and 30′s,” explains Wimbish. “It’s a really old church with a ton of sweet rooms like a huge sanctuary with thirty foot ceilings. We have a lot of chances to experiment with sound and get a really cool album with a lot of textures and sweet sounds. I think there’s going to be the element of a lot of different people playing on it and contributing things and I think that will make it really diverse and sweet.” Glaus adds, “I’m not sure when we’ll release it yet, but we’ll probably release a single sometime in April.”.

Musicians join together in collaboration and musicians part ways and, if we’re lucky, bring us along on their journey in search of that perfect blend of sounds, lyrics, and most of all, the sharing of heartfelt emotion. No doubt we’ll find that when Harvest and Troubel perform together at the Wavehouse on February 18th.

Friends, family, and loyal customers gathered Friday night to celebrate the one year anniversary of Charlotte’s Not Just Coffee. Originally located at Area Fifteen near NoDa, Not Just Coffee relocated Uptown when the Seventh Street Market opened in November.

Opening Not Just Coffee was originally a part time endeavor for James Yoder, who continued working his day job at a local hotel until he could run the shop full time when it moved to Seventh Street Station. Not Just Coffee’s original home, Area Fifteen, serves as an incubator for artists, nonprofits, and small business startups, as well as a community center for the neighborhood.

Yoder trained at the Counter Culture Coffee facility located at Area Fifteen. His shop uses the pour over method of preparing coffee and buys their organic, fair trade beans from Counter Culture. This has helped the shop build a loyal fan base: Not Just Coffee is the highest rated coffee shop in Charlotte according to Yelp.

Not Just Coffee hosts a city-wide latte art competition, Queen City TNT, on March 13th at 7:00 PM.

Read our article on the opening of Not Just Coffee.

NoDa is getting a new bar and concert venue as The Chop Shop holds its official opening celebration this weekend. The Chop Shop is being brought to life by an experience group in the local music and arts scene.

Jay Tilyard, Bob Davis, Tracie Nasta, and Matt and Doug Gerin have worked the past year converting 17,000 square feet of warehouse space into a music hall complete with bar, pool tables, and (eventually) two separate stage areas and an outdoor “playground.”

“NoDa is the arts; freaky and free-spirited,” says Tilyard. He sees The Chop Shop as a local hangout and creative space, and wants artists to display and sell their work without having to pay a commission. Not only does Tilyard want to host concerts, but also art nights, parties, video shoots, and other creative events. “We want to bring back the old NoDa,” says Tilyard.

The Chop Shop will open Friday and Saturday, May 13th and 14th, at 8PM, and will feature Tara Riley on aerial silks, a jazz trio, Kristine Navarro with Dan Wall, live art with Tim Schaeffer, and more.

Nearly everything in the venue has been repurposed and recycled. The mens bathroom counter is a former truck tool box, with lighting provided by the front end of an old Dodge Challenger. Elsewhere, Harley-Davidson exhaust pipes hold lights and an old warehouse breaker box shelves liquor bottles.

The Chop Shop is part of what is being labeled the “NoDa within Noda.” It is a phrase used by Tilyard and repeated by Max Wallace, one of the founders of Hackerspace Charlotte.

Hackerspace Charlotte, along with The Chop Shop and Ultimate Gym, share a home in the former Newco Fibre warehouse complex located across train tracks and behind North Davidson businesses. In addition to a used tire business and appliance shop, the warehouse also provides practice space for the Charlotte Rollergirls and, for a time, was home to the Dugg Dugg art gallery.

Hackerspace Charlotte, founded in September, offers space for members to work on projects in addition to hosting meetings almost every night of the week. Topics range from lock picking and hardware hacking to programming and dry ice Jenga.

Ultimate Gym is another major tenant in the Newco warehouse. They gym, which moved from its Tryon Street location five years ago, occupies 25,000 square feet and has several boxing and sparing rings. Training is available in twelve different martial arts as well as aerial silks, Pilates and more.

As the area changes with old shops closing and new bars opening, the old Newco warehouse continues to mature into its new role as the NoDa within NoDa — recapturing the creativity and free-spiritedness that made the neighborhood what it is today.

Read more about The Chop Shop in the NoDa Neighborhood Association.

Photos from Barcamp Charlotte V held on April 16th at Area Fifteen in Charlotte.

Roof structure missing. Windows not maintained. Insufficient exits. Inadequate lighting.

The ordinance violations read like an autopsy. A roof? Roofless – the monicker bestowed upon 1209 Parkwood Avenue — didn’t feel the need to be so constrained. Art shows, concerts and charity fundraisers felt a home under the stars.

Born seventy years ago, the slab and block building originally served as a cleaners. Some say one of the first, if not the very first, cleaners in the city. In its final years, Roofless ceased commercial use and transformed. Roofless not only hosted art and music events but inspired art and became art itself.

In the shadows of Uptown’s towers and multi-million dollar corporate art projects, Roofless provided art and culture to a neighborhood too often overlooked. All were welcomed and many joined in the fellowship and sharing. Roofless represented what it means to bring grassroots art to the underserved.

Fire dancers danced, drummers drummed, bands jammed. Neighborhood residents and artists alike mingled and chatted over covered dish dinners. What would appear as an uninhabited structure one day would be transformed into an art gallery the next. In fact, it was known as a “gallery for [con]temporary art.”

Two of the biggest supporters of Roofless were Bryan and Jennifer Shields. The Shields teach design at UNC Charlotte, and their independent study students used roofless as the basis of various architecture projects. Boom mounted lights and retractable canvas awnings – designed by students – breathed new life into the venerable structure.

“These reclaimed post-industrial sites can not only provide a space for community interaction and cultural exchange, but serve a didactic purpose, becoming a physical timeline illustrating the past and present of a site and culture,” states Bryan Shields on his website.

The Shields had also worked with urban planners and community members to design a green, sustainable, small business incubator using the existing structure of Roofless. The design for Parkwood Green incorporated shipping containers, canvas roofs, water collection and solar power. Unfortunately the design did not have time to materialize.

Roofless was razed by the city in early January; victim of a new city ordinance. According to WFAE, “The ordinance took effect last April giving the city authority to inspect privately-owned business buildings and demand improvements for safety and appearance.”

Shortly after the loss of Roofless, WFAE reported on the impending demise of other historic structures in Charlotte such as the Davis General Store; all victims of the same ordinance.

Debating the merits of the controversial ordinance is perhaps best left to bureaucrats and politicians. Dreamers and designers like the Shields have moved on to yet another rehabilitation project.

In February, the Shields and UNC Charlotte student Cherish Rosas stepped over gravel and broken bricks as they toured their new project. From a fire escape they took notes and made observations, re-imagining the post-industrial plot as a shared neighborhood cultural space. They will return after spring classes to continue their vision.

Like flowers sprouting though pavement cracks, artists and designers are continuing to bring new life to overlooked industrial spaces in the forgotten shadows of Uptown.

Charlotte Twestival raised over $2,000 for A Child’s Place this past Thursday at a red carpet reception hosted by Butter. CLTwestival provided a way for local Twitter users to use social media to raise funds and awareness for a local non-profit.

According to the organizers:

Twestival is Charlotte’s part of the world-wide Twestival fundraising event. On March 24th, Charlotte joined over 200 other cities across the globe in raising funds for local non-profits. In Charlotte, CLTwestival raised funds for A Child’s Place. With over 4,400 homeless children in Charlotte Mecklenberg schools, A Child’s Place is a local non-profit that fights to erase the impact of homelessness on children and their education.

Street art found in the Derita neighborhood of Charlotte.

A gallery of photographs taken this weekend from the 51st floor of The Vue.

This weekend Charlotte hosted the  Street Soccer USA Charlotte Invitational at the Southend Fieldhouse. The tournament featured homeless and recently homeless athletes from across the nation, including Minneapolis, New York, Washington DC, and others. Street Soccer USA helps “players improve social skills, self esteem, physical/mental health, and eliminate barriers to employment, making them more likely to achieve housing/job placement than their peers.”

Check out WFAE’s Charlotte Talks program on homelessness and Charlotte’s Street Soccer team.

Read the Charlotte Observer article and photos of the tournament.

Watch a video clip from Friday’s action, including Charlotte’s first goal via penalty kick.

Follow Charlotte 945 and Street Soccer USA on Twitter and Street Soccer USA on Facebook.