OK, Ladies. Grab firm hold of your skirts with your right hand. Lift your left hand skyward as if you were holding up a pearl. Now show your utmost contempt for the floor! That's the hot Latin attitude you'll need at Booth Playhouse as Noche Flamenca comes to a boil for a four-night stint through Feb. 4. Flamenco is much more than Spaniards in high heels stomping out imaginary cockroaches. It's a rich fusion of song, dance and guitar drawn from Gypsy, Arab and Jewish cultures -- with some really horrid anger management. Catch the bug as this Madrid troupe brings the true duende to town. All performances are at 8pm, with tickets priced at $35 and $40. Call 704-372-1000. (Tannenbaum)
The Oscar nominations were announced yesterday, which means it's time for the critics to begin dissecting the Academy's selections. To that end, WFAE 90.7FM's Charlotte Talks, with Mike Collins will devote today's episode to the Oscars, with Matt Brunson of Creative Loafing, Lawrence Toppman of the Charlotte Observer and Sean O'Connell of Charlotte Weekly on hand to offer analysis. The program will air live at 9am this morning and will be rebroadcast at 7pm tonight.
Friday, February 03The second annual Royal Shakespeare Company residency up at Davidson College is far less splashy than the first, which featured full-blown productions of Julius Caesar and Two Gentlemen of Verona. But the 2006 edition isn't absolutely hush-hush. Under the RSC's expert direction, Davidson College students will present An Evening of Shakespearean Scenes, Sonnets, and Songs. The 7:30pm performances at beautiful Duke Family Performance Hall will only be given on Friday and Saturday, and general admission tickets will only be $5. Call 704-894-2135. (Tannenbaum)
Charlotte Symphony Orchestra rolls out its red carpet for a reigning queen of the classical charts as Hilary Hahn grants us an audience at Belk Theater for the first time. The violin vixen's selections aren't for commoners either, including the rarely heard Spohr Violin Concerto #8 ("Gesangscene") and the long-overdue CSO debut of Vaughan Williams' "The Lark Ascending." Friday and Saturday performances, with maestro Christof Perick at the podium, begin promptly at 8pm. Weber and Schumann will also be served. Tickets are $15 to $74. Call 704-972-2000. (Tannenbaum)
That's Just Wrong!, the latest film by underground moviemaker Joe Christ, will be screened at 7pm, 9pm and 11pm tonight at SK Net Cafe. The movie details the relationship between an Atlanta suburbanite (Little Sebastien) and the stalker (Joe Christ) who moves into her home. Christ will be in attendance and will introduce the movie beforehand. Admission price is $5. For an interview with Christ, see this issue's Film section; for details on the screening, call SK Net Cafe at 704-334-1523. (Brunson)
Saturday, February 04"Get educated, get tested and get involved." That's the goal of National Black AIDS Awareness Day. As a prequel to NBAAD on Feb. 7, the Metrolina AIDS Project hosts the first annual AIDS Awareness Gospel Explosion. St. Paul Baptist Church welcomes choirs from around Charlotte to help spread the prevention message with featured soloist Catrina Pegues of Gimme the Mike Charlotte fame. Join in Sat., Feb. 4, 6pm at 1401 Allen Street. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door. For more info call 704-333-1435. (Calloway)
Sunday, February 05Tommie L. Robinson's expertise is portraiture. The veteran Charlotte artist has been featured in national magazines including Art News and Watercolor. Known for showing "uncommon empathy" in his subjects, the Art of Tommie L. Robinson comes to Gallery L at the Main Library as part of Black History Month. The exhibit will run from Feb. 6 through Mar. 26 at 310 N. Tryon St. For more information call 704-336-2074 or visit www.plcmc.org. (Calloway)
Monday, February 06Why is it that the best stand-up comedians often star in the lousiest movies? Chris Rock is a current example (anybody see Bad Company or Down to Earth?), while Bill Cosby (Leonard Part 6) and the late Richard Pryor (The Toy) are past examples. Happily, the Main Library, as part of its Black History Month celebration, has seen fit to offer a film series titled Cosby and Pryor In the Seventies, which includes some of the more successful motion pictures featuring these legendary performers. The series kicks off tonight with a screening of 1978's Blue Collar, starring Pryor, Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto as disgruntled auto workers. Upcoming titles are 1977's Which Way Is Up? (Feb. 13), with Pryor essaying three roles; 1974's Uptown Saturday Night (Feb. 20), in which Cosby and Sidney Poitier get mixed up with mobsters; and 1975's Let's Do It Again (Feb. 27), which reunites Cosby and Poitier and adds Jimmie Walker to the comic mix. All films begin at 7pm; admission is free. Call 704-336-6217 for more info. (Brunson)
Tuesday, February 07The Mozart birthday celebration goes to church as Chamber Music at St. Pete's dedicates its February first-Tuesday concerts to Wolfie at 12:10pm and 5:30pm. Come on down to 7th and N. Tryon and you'll hear the heavenly Piano and Wind Quintet with Philip Bush at the keyboard. The woods encircling Bush will include Charlotte Symphony stalwarts Frank Portone on horn, Nicholas Swan on oboe, Drucilla DuVan on clarinet and crossover artist Lori Tiberio (she also leads the Providence Chamber Music series) on bassoon. For no discernible reason whatsoever, Leonard Bernstein's "Sonata for Clarinet and Piano" was belatedly added to the program, but we're not complaining. Free parking is available at the Transamerica Building and admission is free. You can even scarf down some free nibbles at the Hodges Taylor Gallery after the 5:30 concert. Call 704-335-0009. (Tannenbaum)
Virtuoso temptress Olga Kern took the gold medal at the 11th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2001, so she's quite a catch for Carolinas Concert Association's season subscribers. The Harmonia Mundi recording artist brings it on with finger-busters by Rachmaninoff, Liszt and Chopin in her solo concert -- after warming up with some Mendelssohn. Lift-off at Belk Theater is at 8pm with single tickets priced at a rather reasonable $15-$45. Call 704-372-1000. (Tannenbaum)