NC Music Factory

DNC will kick off at the NC Music Factory with massive media event on Saturday, September 1

Ken — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:04:26 +0000

Plethora of parties to kick off DNC

Sept. 1-2 events will ‘tell many stories’ of Charlotte.

By Jim Morrill
jmorrill@charlotteobserver.com

Posted: Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012

MORE INFORMATION

Democratic convention festivities will kick off Sept. 1 with a party for 15,000 media members at the N.C. Music Factory, with receptions a day later for 6,000 delegates at a dozen venues around the city.

Organizers plan to announce those venues this morning.

“Hosting our guests at these distinct venues truly puts our best foot forward,” said Dan Murrey, executive director of the convention host committee. “Showcasing these unique venues allows us to tell the many stories about why this is a great place to live and visit.”

The receptions will serve as the official welcome to many of the 35,000 expected visitors, and kick off more than 1,000 convention-related events. The events will add a Charlotte flavor to a convention that already will have a different touch.

The convention itself will shrink from four days to three. Instead of starting on Labor Day (Sept. 3) as once planned, organizers will host an event for 75,000 people at Charlotte Motor Speedway on that day. The actual convention begins the next day, Sept. 4. Then on Sept. 6, President Barack Obama will give his acceptance speech at Bank of America Stadium.

Though organizers won’t identify the venues of the Sept. 2 delegate parties until today, they’ll announce them at the Charlotte Museum of History, which, like other museums, is expected to be a site.

Mary Tribble, chief of event planning for the host committee, said the 12 venues will host groups of between 300 and 1,600. The sites are designed to showcase the region’s historical, cultural and entertainment offerings.

“I really want the delegate events to tell some version of the Charlotte story,” she said. “… They won’t be passive events, they’ll be interactive.”

Each reception will have its own event planner. On Thursday, would-be bidders will get details on submitting proposals. Organizers say multiple planners will give more local businesses a piece of the action.

“These are really great examples of the positive economic impact this event will have on Charlotte,” said Tribble.

The parties will feature food, open bars and, in some cases, entertainment. Tribble declined to say how much they’ll cost, or how much is budgeted.

Host committee spokeswoman Suzi Emmerling said the money will come from the host committee’s “hospitality budget.”

In raising nearly $37 million for the convention itself, the host committee is barred by self-imposed rules from taking corporate donations, money from lobbyists or individual contributions over $100,000. Those rules don’t apply to the hospitality budget. Belk Stores and Wells Fargo already have said they plan to contribute.

Noah Lazes, president of the Ark Group which developed the Music Factory, declined to say how much the convention is paying to rent the entire 37-acre site.

“They’re not getting it for free, but you can believe they’re getting a great deal,” he said.

The Music Factory encompasses more than a dozen tenants, including The Fillmore music hall, nightspots, restaurants and a comedy club. Journalists will have the run of the site, sampling local and regional entertainers on more than a half-dozen stages as well as food and beverages.

When Charlotte hosted the NCAA men’s basketball Final Four in 1994, Lazes ran a makeshift bar on South Tryon Street, a faux “entertainment district” built solely for the event’s fans.

“It’s amazing to see how far we’ve come since the days of the Final Four,” he said. “We’re going to surprise a lot of people who think (Charlotte) is a sleepy banking town with nothing going on after 5.”

Morrill: 704-358-5059

Franc & Woody LIVE at The Saloon every Friday and Saturday night!

Ken — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:50:18 +0000

The Saloon at the NC Music Factory welcomes Charlotte’s original party band “Franc and Woody” every Friday and Saturday Night! You partied with them for years at Buckhead and now The Saloon is the new home for Charlotte’s biggest weekend party with “Franc and Woody”! The Saloon IS your new weekend party bar! THE place to be before and after concerts and comedy shows! FREE Parking!

Experience Osso. Now open at NC Music Factory

Ken — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 05:00:46 +0000

www.ossocharlotte.com

Celebrate New Year’s Eve at Osso. A limited number of reservations available now. Email osso@ossocharlotte for information and to book your reservation.

Ken — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 06:00:08 +0000

Click HERE to visit the Osso website:

Osso Restaurant and Lounge Now Open at NC Music Factory

Ken — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:40:36 +0000

Special “sneak peek” this Thursday and Friday. Click on the image below to visit Osso website for more information and reservations.

The Saloon and 106.5 The End present Charlotte’s Wildest New Years Eve Bash! Buy now and save with the ‘Early Bird Special’! Click here for more info and to purchase tickets!

Ken — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:21:58 +0000

The wildest New Years Eve party in town is coming to The Saloon at the NC Music Factory! The New Years Eve Throw Down hosted by me DZL is the official 106.5 The End New Years Bash and it’s gonna be INSANE! ALL INCLUSIVE Package includes Buffet, Party Favors, Wine, Balloon drop with $1065.00 in cash and prizes, champagne toast, live music from Charlotte’s original party band, “Franc and Woody” plus DJ J. Good and more! The first 100 tickets are just 50 bucks so buy now and save! The Saloon is located at the NC Music Factory Uptown at 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd and parking is FREE! Come ‘throw down’ uptown with 106.5 The End this New Years Eve at The Saloon!

Click HERE to buy your tickets for just $50 for a limited time!

Casting Call for Osso Restaurant & Lounge this Tuesday and Wednesday!

Ken — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 19:18:19 +0000

Tuesday, November 29 and Wednesday, November 30th at
Osso Restaurant & Lounge, NC Music Factory from 2-5pm
(next to Butter)
A brand new experience is coming to Charlotte December 2011.
**NOW HIRING: BARTENDERS, SERVERS, SERVER ATTENDANTS, HOSTESS**
SEE, FEEL, TASTE and HEAR Osso Restaurant & Lounge. Like no other venue Charlotte has ever seen.
Coming soon! Would you like to be a part of our team?
See the cutting edge design
Feel the hip vibe that sets the mood of this warm yet modern restaurant as your senses are called into action.
Taste the authentic flavors of Italy
Hear the DJ driven backdrop
A great dining experience and party destination, from restaurant to lounge, Osso is here.

Osso Restaurant & Lounge

A brand new experience is coming to Charlotte December 2011.

SEE, FEEL, HEAR and TASTE Osso Restaurant & Lounge.

Like no other venue Charlotte has ever seen.

See the cutting edge design by world-renowned designer François Fossard. François is best known for his award winning creations Mansion, SET, The Forge, PRIVE and Opium in Miami Beach, PRIVE in Las Vegas; Mansion and Butter in New York City and Charlotte. Current projects are in the works including a new restaurant for Chef Todd English at Icon, in Miami.

Feel the hip vibe that sets the mood of this warm yet modern restaurant as your senses are called into action.

Taste the authentic flavors of Italy prepared by one of Charlotte’s most followed and recognized chefs, Gene Briggs of the famed Blue Restaurant & Bar. Executive Chef Briggs will explore Italian classical cuisine and introduce modern Italy to Charlotte.

Hear the DJ driven backdrop as down tempo music accompanies you through your meal. As the evening matures, music will once again guide you into a transition from relaxation to exhilaration.

A great dining experience and party destination, from restaurant to lounge, Osso is here.

Check out Charlotte Observer food writer Helen Schwab’s review of VBGB Beer Hall and Garden:

Ken — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 20:15:52 +0000

Sample and sip at beer garden

By Helen Schwab
The Charlotte Observer

920 Hamilton St.; 704-333-4111; vbgbuptown.com.

HITS: Zweigles brats, unusual sides, marvelous beer cheese.

MISSES: Overly oiled pretzel.

PRICES: About $5-$12.

HOURS: 4 p.m.-midnight Tuesday (kitchen closes about 2 hours earlier nightly), to 2 a.m. Wednesday-Friday; noon-2 a.m. Saturday; noon-midnight Sunday.

“What can I get you to drink?” she asks. She’s behind the extensive bar, in a black T-shirt with “BEER” sprawled in red capitals across the front.

He peruses the blackboards tiled onto one wall, chockablock with handwritten brew names and alcohol contents and provenance.

“I’m not sure. I …”

“What do you like?”

“Bass ale? Killian’s?” he says.

She brings him three plastic cups with a few liquid ounces in each – gold, reddish-brown, caramel-colored. He tries each, picks the second. She nods. “Southern Tier Harvest Ale.”

VBGB makes picking a drink fun, and as Charlotte embraces craft beers, the N.C. Music Factory-area spot is a casual, accessible place to experiment.

It’s designed as an indoor/outdoor beer garden, which means a couple of things to adjust to: The communal experience is emphasized (kids are welcome), and you don’t get traditional host and waitstaff.

So rather than being led to a table and handed a menu, you walk in and are greeted by staff, behind the bar or at the food window to your immediate right. Pull up a seat and open a bar tab, then head back to that food window to order.

The décor is Early Picnic Table, plus bar-height tables, patio umbrellas, and red stools pulled up on both sides of a U-shaped bar. This sports a comparatively high-tech “frost rail”: a several-inch-wide strip, covered thickly in frost, running the whole length of the bar. You can set your glass there to keep your brew cool, or you can – and more do than you might expect – doodle on it. You can see the outside patio (part of which is tented and heated) from inside, and yes, that’s the historic JFG Coffee sign out there.

Owners Tom and Kara Taddeo moved from New York City to raise their kids. They had frequented beer gardens there, and when they Googled “beer gardens” in Charlotte, they found: zip. So they decided to try introducing the concept here. “It’s a restaurant/family/hanging-out kind of place,” says Kara. The patio is dog-friendly, and family-day events (indoor/outdoor trick-or-treating, Santa visits) are regularly scheduled.

VBGB – for Very Big German Beer – has a 30-tap beer menu (shifting daily and including area breweries). You can order nearly all of them in four sizes: klein (“small,” at 12 ounces), mittel (about 18), grosse (34) or pitchers. Eventually, there’ll be a 10-tap house list, and 20 will continue to rotate on the two-keg-and-out timing used now.

The food lineup is roughly one-third German, one-third healthy and one-third bar favorites. Hence the Zweigles brats, imported from Rochester, N.Y., on regular or pretzel-style rolls (get the second, and get kraut to do the marvelously juicy brat justice). The chicken/spinach/feta brat is nicely done, too (peppers and onions do best with this), and there’s a Zweigles hot dog as well. Potato latkes are a mite oily, as are sweet potato fries and Black and Tan-battered onion rings, though these have notable flavor. The jumbo pretzel was indeed enormous, but nearly too greased-up to hold its accompanying (terrific) beer cheese dip.

Wings sport a rub and your choice of sauce, including the pleasantly zippy Wango Tango. Chicken kabobs are moist (there’s a beef version as well), and burgers of both beef and black bean keep company with sides such as quinoa salad, German potato salad and edamame.

Staff are quick to help, and the place ratchets up its friendliness with nightly specials like the shifting 4-3-2-1: A recent example was $4 NoDa Rye Z’d Double Rye IPA, $3 wings, $2 Natty Greene’s Buckshot Amber and $1 quinoa salad.

I ended up with a Southern Tier Iniquity Imperial Black Ale, an IPA black as pitch and positively addictive, and which Southern Tier describes as “the antithesis of unearthly.” Do I understand that? Sort of. Did my server survey my preferences, then recommend it with enthusiasm? Yep. And that’s more important.

Second String Santa Holiday Party is coming to NC Music Factory on Thursday, December 8! Book your dinner reservations now at Bask, The Saloon, VBGB or Wet Willies!

Ken — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:26:07 +0000

Save the date! The Second String Santa Holiday Party will be held at NC Music Factory on Thursday, December 8 from 5:00 pm – 2:00 am. Make your dinner reservations now at Bask, Saloon, VBGB and Wet Willies! The “Main Event” will be at The Fillmore Charlotte from 7:00 – 11:00 p.m. and then the after parties kick in at all NC Music Factory Venues!

Dinner reservations available now at Bask, The Saloon, VBGB and Wet Willies.

Honey Island Swamp Band from New Orleans LIVE at The Saloon this Thursday night!

Ken — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 03:55:30 +0000

Great music begins with great songs, and great songs are what the Honey Island Swamp Band is all about. The band came together after Aaron Wilkinson (acoustic guitar, mandolin, vocals) and Chris Mule’ (electric guitar, vocals) were marooned in San Francisco after the levee breaches following Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, and had a chance encounter with fellow New Orleans evacuees Sam Price (bass, vocals) and Garland Paul (drums, vocals) at the John Lee Hooker’s Boom Boom Room on Fillmore Street. They knew each other from having all played together in some form or another in various New Orleans bands, and with the great unknown regarding their return to their underwater hometown looming in the distance, they decided to put together a band and get some gigs going. Fortunately, the Boom Boom Room’s owner Alex Andreas offered the band a weekly gig on the spot.

Sunday nights at the Boom Boom Room soon became a favorite of Bay Area roots music lovers, who have a long-standing affinity for New Orleans music and musicians. Two months into the residency, sound engineer Robert Gatley approached the band with a rare opportunity — he wanted to record a Honey Island Swamp Band album at the legendary Record Plant studios in Sausalito, where he worked. The recording came together beautifully, with Wilkinson and Mulé both contributing favorite originals, and was received so well that they all decided to continue the band upon moving back to New Orleans in early 2007.

Honey Island Swamp Band‘s sound has been described as “Americana on the Bayou”, with timeless songs from Wilkinson & Mulé, highlighted by Mulé’s searing guitar, Wilkinson’s sure-handed mandolin, and 4-part vocal harmonies, all anchored by the powerful groove of Price & Paul’s Louisiana stomp rhythm section. Their music draws from a variety of influences in the world of roots music, including artists such as Lowell George & Little Feat, Jimmy Reed, Taj Mahal, Jerry Garcia, Gram Parsons, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, and New Orleans’ own “Night Tripper”, the legendary Dr. John.

In April 2009, HISB released its first full-length album – Wishing Well – produced by Tom Drummond of Better Than Ezra. Throughout the rest of 2009, the band toured relentlessly in support of Wishing Well, on the strength of such songs as “Natural Born Fool”, “Till the Money’s Gone”, and the album’s title track. In January 2010, Wishing Well was named 2009′s “Best Blues Album” at OffBeat Magazine’s BEST OF THE BEAT Awards, where the band was also honored as “Best Emerging Artist”.

The newest offering from HISB – Good To You – was released in April 2010, and has quickly become a staple of most DJs on the Crescent City’s legendary radio station WWOZ, as well as on Sirius/XM satellite radio’s Bluesville and traditional stations from coast-to-coast. OffBeat Magazine nominated Good To You as 2010’s “Best Roots Rock Album” at this year’s BEST OF THE BEAT Awards, in addition to the band winning the prize as 2010’s “Best Roots Rock Artist”. Featuring the southern strut of songs such as “Be Good”, “300 Pounds” and the album’s first single “Chocolate Cake”, Good To You illuminates the mix of country-inflected rock and New Orleans funky blues that makes Honey Island Swamp Band‘s music so familiar and unique at the same time.