Charleston City Paper

Flogging Molly finds hope in the darkest placesnew

Flogging Molly frontman Dave King is an Irish Springsteen. He writes songs that celebrate working-class values and the everyman's indomitable spirit. Not surprisingly, the songs are occasionally dark, especially when King recounts his impoverished Irish upbringing ("Life in a Tenement Square," "Screaming at the Wailing Wall"), but even these tunes are hoisted by the vitality and hope at their center.

Charleston City Paper | Chris Parker | 11-28-2012 | Profiles & Interviews

Tags: Flogging Molly

Killing Them Softly is a hitman allegory about the Great Recessionnew

Killing Them Softly, the new crime caper thriller from writer/director Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford), is set in 2008, during the height of the panic over the U.S. financial collapse and the run-up to Barack Obama's election. I mention this because you might miss that crucial bit of subtext if you're not paying close attention to the excerpts from Obama's election-night speech that are included during the jaggedly edited opening sequence. Or during the centerpiece heist sequence. Or five minutes later when someone has the car radio on. Or pretty much every time anyone in this movie is listening to a radio or watching a television.

Charleston City Paper | Scott Renshaw | 11-28-2012 | Reviews

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Singer/songwriter Julie Slonecki adds new flavors to her soundnew

Julie Slonecki doesn't need a menu to know what she wants to order at Waffle House. Cup of coffee. Grilled cheese. And hash browns, diced and covered.

Charleston City Paper | Susan Cohen | 11-21-2012 | Profiles & Interviews

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Juicy J finds a second life rapping about the herbnew

Some music rains down on us from above in Bieber and Rihanna-sized droplets. Other sounds bubble up from the streets. That's where Three 6 Mafia's Juicy J got his start. Juicy J, a.k.a. Jordan Houston, worked his way up with his buddy DJ Paul (Paul Beauregard) the old-school way, beginning in the early '90s.

Charleston City Paper | Chris Parker | 11-21-2012 | Profiles & Interviews

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Ang Lee's Life of Pi is more of a spectacle than a storynew

The credits introduce us to the title character's lush home, an Indian zoo run by his family. His mother is a spiritualist, while his father preaches the importance of science and tough love.

Charleston City Paper | Jake Mulligan | 11-21-2012 | Reviews

Guy Fieri and the Perils of Middlebrow Foodnew

The bad food diaries.

Charleston City Paper | Robert Moss | 11-20-2012 | Food+Drink

How Would Pot Tourism Impact Charleston?new

The answer: We have no idea.

Charleston City Paper | Susan Cohen | 11-14-2012 | Drugs

Spielberg's Lincoln humanizes the legendary presidentnew

When you hear that Steven Spielberg directed an Abraham Lincoln biopic, you get an image in your head of what it must look like: overtly sentimental, grand in scale, and more about idealized hero worship than anything else. The famed director's historical dramas tend to be maudlin affairs, custom-made for history classrooms, and no doubt Lincoln will be shown to many a middle school over the ensuing decades.

Charleston City Paper | Jake Mulligan | 11-14-2012 | Reviews

Tags: Steven Spielberg

What's with the Cracker Barrel's enduring appeal?new

"You're just plain dumb." This is what it means to leave three golf tees on the triangular pegboard at Cracker Barrel. The peg game is an addictive diversion supplied to every table. Leave two tees and you're "purty smart."

Charleston City Paper | Eric Doksa | 11-07-2012 | Food+Drink