Work It Out -- Mecklenburg County Job Fair Sept. 9

​Whether unemployed or unhappy with the job you currently have, you (or someone you know) are probably looking for work. Well, put your suit in the cleaners, print copies of your resume, and get ready for this upcoming opportunity. Mecklenburg County is hosting a job fair on Tuesday, September 9, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Grady Cole Center (310 N. Kings Dr.).

The county is hiring for several positions, including library aide and assistant, IT programmers, vendor managers, social workers, nurses, maintenance and operations assistants, recreation specialists, and more. Click here for more details on the job fair, and you can find a list of current job openings here, which you can apply for online.

Credit: facebook.com/MecklenburgCounty

Mecklenburg County, which is comprised of Charlotte, Cornelius, Davidson, Huntersville, Matthews, Mint Hill, and Pineville, surpassed one million residents in population last year, with the Queen City accounting for about 80 percent of that.

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Personal Look at the Curry Family in Montessori Video

While most of the world knows Sonya Curry as Stephen and Seth's mom, the lady we enjoyed watching on television in the stands at college basketball games, she has an important day job. Aside from being the matriarch of Charlotte's First Family of sports, which also includes husband Dell and daughter Sydel, Sonya is the founder and head of school of the Christian Montessori School at Lake Norman. Because the school is a member of the American Montessori Society, we're treated to a video the society produced, featuring the Curry family discussing how receiving a Montessori education positively impacted their lives.

Photo of a young Curry family, shown in the Montessori video. 

I first became familiar with Montessori schools several years ago, shortly after moving to Charlotte. I was working on a magazine article that led me to learn that Montessori schools, for the most part, allow students to learn at their own pace and there are usually multiple ages placed in a classroom to foster peer learning. In the video, all five of the Currys talk about what they like about Montessori education. But what I think you'll enjoy most is getting a rare glimpse into the personal lives of a family that has been in the public eye for much of the last 20 years, but does their best to keep a relatively low profile outside of their professions.

In describing each of her kids' personalities, Sonya says Steph is really task oriented, Seth is quiet, shy, and reserved, and Sydel is a social butterfly. If you've ever come across Sydel's Twitter, then you know the Elon University freshman volleyball player is social. And I know that the Sonya Curry stans will be happy to see that the hot mom gets a lot of face time in the video.

I learned of this video from a tweet Steph posted yesterday.

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My First Time: Taco Mac Sports Grill

When there's a new place--especially a restaurant--opening in Charlotte, if it's being raved about, usually it's not long after it opens that I try out. But occasionally, a first visit eludes me for a while. That was the case with Taco Mac Sports Grill.

I was working with a colleague today on an assignment in University City, and there was a Taco Mac nearby. The only Taco Mac location in Charlotte I was aware of until now was the SouthPark one. But tonight I learned there are three around here, with the other being in Huntersville.

If you don't know the Taco Mac story, it originated as a single restaurant in Atlanta nearly 35 years ago, opened by some Buffalo, New York natives who had the goal of serving great Buffalo wings in the ATL. Over the years, the menu and popularity grew, and today there are 24 locations in the Greater Atlanta area. So for decades, they focused on expanding in ATL, and they opened a lone location in Chattanooga, Tennessee several years ago. Those were the only cities you could find them, until they expanded to Charlotte with the opening of the one in SouthPark in September 2010, University in May 2011, and Huntersville in October 2011.

So back to my experience tonight, before walking into Taco Mac, I told my colleague, who's visiting from New York, that I hadn't dined at Taco Mac before but that I'd heard two main things about it: a lot of TVs and a lot of beers. Sho nuff are.

Taco Mac in University has more than 100 beers on draft, 115 in the bottle, and 70-plus TVs (the numbers vary per location; SouthPark has 140 beers on draft). One of the things I really like is that inserted in the massive beer menu is an informative front-and-back one-sheet. One side is labeled "Today's Beer Update" and it features a list of beers that have just arrived, that they're running out of, and beers that are gone, along with the specials of the day. The other side of the sheet defines the "Beer Styles," explaining the characteristics of the different lagers, ales, IPAs, and such, which is extremely helpful for a beer novice like myself.

With so many beers to choose from, I decided to go with one of the local craft beers, The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery Fruh Bock. I'm not really a beer lover, but I thought it was a pretty good lager. And, of course, there's the food. If I'm at Taco Mac, I may as well try the tacos, right? (Don't let the name mislead you, it's not a Mexican restaurant.) I ordered three of the hard-shell Beef Street Tacos. They were good, but not much different or more exceptional than tacos I've eaten before. Next time I visit, and it won't take me as long to go back as it took me to go for the first time, I'm going to try the Buffalo wings, since that's Taco Mac's signature item.

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Read About It: The Growth of Local MMA

The popularity of mixed martial arts, simply known as MMA, has exploded over the years. UFC fights are more anticipated than heavyweight boxing matches these days (who's the current heavyweight boxing champion anyway?). MMA has really taken off in the Charlotte area, and I was surprised to learn of its growth particularly in the Lake Norman area. You can read about it in the story I wrote, "Tough Enough," for the May issue of Lake Norman Magazine.

I talked to trainers and fighters at The Rock MMA & Fitness Center in Huntersville, the Gracie Jiu Jitsu LKN Academy in Mooresville, and Crossface MMA in Cornelius. And, as you might know, Team R.O.C. in Harrisburg, just north of UNC Charlotte's campus, has produced two UFC fighters, Rodney "Sho Nuff" Wallace and Jordan Rinaldi. But the growth of MMA locally is being spurred largely by people who want to learn the techniques to stay physically fit; not to get kicked and punched in the face.

Rock at the Dock 5
You can watch MMA fighters up close at Rock at the Dock 5, taking place Saturday, May 12 at Queens Landing (1459 River Hwy., Mooresville). It's the fifth installment of the popular fight series put on by Matt Sredzinski, owner of The Rock MMA. About 2,000 fans are expected, and in addition to live cage fights, there'll be music by bands and DJs, food and cash bars, strong man demonstrations, babes in bikinis, and more. Visit www.therockatthedock.com for details.

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Read About It: Huntersville Home (Ball So Hard) Renovation Story

In the March issue of Lake Norman Magazine, you'll find a home renovation story I wrote, titled "Sophisticated Sanctuary." The work was done by Starr Miller Interior Design, and in early January, Starr took me on a tour of the house. You can read the story and see the photos and understand how posh the place is--and this just focuses on about a fourth of the house without even detailing the immaculately landscaped yard and an outdoor living space that Hugh Hefner would approve of.

But there's one thing in particular I'd like to point out in this picture below from inside the house. The flatscreen TV is behind/inside the wall mirror, and the speakers are hidden in the wall as well. It all comes to life with a remote control that looks like a mini-keyboard. Ball so hard.

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Charlotte Restaurant Week Summer 2011 Is Underway

It's that time of year again when you can eat out at a great restaurant without hurting your pockets. The summer installment of Charlotte Restaurant Week began yesterday and runs through next Sunday (July 15-24). Also known as Queen's Feast, and held for ten days twice a year--once in the winter and once in the summer--Charlotte Restaurant Week is as popular as ever. You can tell that by the huge banner hanging in Uptown and by the fact that there are 92 restaurants participating this time, which I think is a record number. When CRW started a few years ago, there would be around 70 restaurants involved.

It's the same deal that people have come to love: a prix fixe, three-course dinner for $30 per person (not including tax and gratuity) at each of the participating restaurants. Plus, several of the restaurants either throw in a fourth course or a glass of wine. Eighteen restaurants in Uptown are participating, which is the most for any section of town. Followed by sixteen in the SouthPark/Park Road/Foxcroft area. There are several participating in Dilworth, south Charlotte, Lake Norman, and a few in Elizabeth, South End, Plaza Midwood, and other neighborhoods around Charlotte.

While there are a lot of top-notch, typically expensive restaurants on the list--Del Frisco's, Upstream, BLT Steak, etc.--I'm more inclined to try some of the places I've heard a lot about but have yet to visit, like Fran's Filling Station, Table 274, 15 North Roadside Kitchen, and Pisces Sushi Bar & Lounge.

Go to www.charlotterestaurantweek.com for all the details, which includes a page for each restaurant and the menu it's offering for the special. You can also become a fan on Facebook (www.facebook.com/CharlotteRestaurantWeek), where you can see people post comments about their experiences.

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Black History Tribute: Queen City Tours

Each day this week, I'm spotlighting a Charlotte-area person or organization that is making black history.

When you think of touring a city, you might view this as something for out-of-towners. But for cities like Charlotte in which there are so many transplants, many of us could benefit from a guided tour of this city we call home. Since 1993, Queen City Tours has been leading groups on journeys through Charlotte's rich history. The company offers a variety of tours ranging from its traditional daily city tour, a NASCAR tour, and ghost tour to its cutting-edge Segway tour, where you cruise the city on the two-wheeled vehicles. And one of the most popular among the tours offered is the Charlotte Black/African-American Heritage Tour.

A group reads an historical marker during one of the Pilgrimage tour stops.

On the African-American Heritage Tour, guests are taken on a two-hour-plus tour that includes more than 75 sites that are significant to black history. Those include touring three historic black neighborhoods (Washington Heights, McCrorey Heights, and Biddleville), Johnson C. Smith University, the old Good Samaritan Hospital, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. statue, The Excelsior Club, and more. This tour is offered daily.

And each February, Queen City Tours presents its annual Pilgrimage, which it's been holding for the last 13 years. Each Saturday during Black History Month, the company leads groups on a special tour through Charlotte and Huntersville, highlighted by visits to former slave churches and cemeteries. The final edition for this year's Pilgrimage is this Saturday, February 26, offered at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

For more details on these great tour opportunities, visit queencitytours.com.

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Picking from CL's 'Massive' List of Halloween Parties in Charlotte -- And a Few They Missed

Say what you want about Charlotte's nightlife scene, but when it comes to Halloween weekend, the city knows how to party. There are so many parties and events that go on here for the ghostly holiday, and to help make it easier for you to decide where you want to go, I was planning to compile a list of about ten of my top recommendations, complete with descriptions and background info. But I've been a little busy this week and haven't had time to comb through all of the emails and Facebook invites I've received.

Luckily, Creative Loafing has compiled a "Massive list of Halloween events in Charlotte." But because it's such a massive list (more than 75 events listed for Friday through Sunday), you probably still need that help narrowing down. So I'm linking you to CL's list, where you can get all of the descriptions, prices, times, locations, etc., and I'm picking a few from that list that I recommend. And there are a few I'm listing here that are not on CL's list.

Friday, October 29

• Civil War Ghost Walk, 7 p.m. at Latta Plantation.
• 5th Annual Halloween Howler Bar Crawl, 7 p.m.
• Wicked Women of Wax, 10 p.m. at Halo.

Saturday, October 30

• Rich and Bennett’s 10th Halloween Pub Crawl, 1 p.m.
• GraveDiggers Ball featuring Ke$ha and Kevin Rudolf, 6 p.m. at Dixie’s Tavern.
• Insurrection: An Unholy Union (not on CL's list), presented by Inner Circle Events and Blue Goose, 10 p.m. at three venues: Sunset Club, Deja Vu, and Pewter Rose (all in the same complex), www.bluegoosenc.com.
• Disturbia II (not on CL's list), presented by Six Figure Entertainment, 10 p.m. at LAVA Bistro and Bar, www.sixfigureentertainment.com.
• Hollywood Halloween (not on CL's list), presented by MAZ Entertainment, 10:30 p.m. at Maggiano's Italian Restaurant, www.mazentertainment.net.

Sunday, October 31

• Dia De Los Muertos: Day of the Dead, presented by Latin American Coalition, 12 p.m., free, at Levine Museum of the New South.
• The Halloween Edition, presented by The Sol Kitchen, 9:30 p.m., free, at Marigny (a new venue in South End).

Also note, the organizers for the HAUTE! party at Grand Central sent out an email this morning saying that it had been cancelled. As of the time I'm typing this, CL hadn't made that update to its list.

Visit Creative Loafing's complete list at http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/theclog/2010/10/29/halloween-events-in-charlotte/.

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New York Times Article Puts Local Face on Obama's Tax Cut Crisis

There's a great article published in today's New York Times (posted online last night) that proves that many people aren't very knowledgeable of the issues they're concerned about during these tough economic times and especially during this heated political season. "From Obama, the Tax Cut Nobody Heard Of," by reporter Michael Cooper, chronicles a tax cut the Obama administration implemented several months ago that reduced taxes by a total of $116 billion for the majority of Americans. But when polled, people are more likely to either not know their taxes had been cut or think that their taxes had been raised. But the people weren't just polled by the large New York Times/CBS News poll, for this story the Times reporter also visited some good old town's people in Huntersville.

Scene from Huntersville gathering. Photo by Travis Dove for The New York Times.

The setting for the article takes place at Pig Pickin’ and Politickin’, a barbecue-fed rally held in Huntersville last week by a Republican women’s club. Despite the partisan nature of the group, they represent typical Americans. And I feel the article was balanced while also maintaining its purpose of informing readers of what's been happening with their taxes.

Because of so much clutter and nonsense that's being projected in campaign ads, bias media reports, and rallies from disingenuous "grass-roots organizations," an alarming number of people have become overly worked up over topics that they haven't taken the time to become fully educated on. Far too common these days, people are becoming anti-something or denouncing something that in actuality benefits them. Regardless of whether you're a Democrat or Republican (or Tea Partier), you should be aware of the fact that the Obama administration cut your taxes or that about one-third of the much-hated and debated $787 billion stimulus bill was in the form of tax cuts. I learned this months ago and, lately, Bill Maher and Jon Stewart, among others, have been shouting it from the rooftops (sometimes it takes a little humor to get to the truth).

As I've done the past two years, for the 2008 and 2009 elections, I'll soon be posting links to a few local resources that aim to inform the public on policies and candidates they'll be voting on this November. I think it's a responsibility for those of us who disseminate information regularly into the blogosphere. Too many people go into the ballot boxes blindly, or support or oppose something they don't know much about. That's really inexcusable in this Internet age we live in. Some of you spend more time researching players for your fantasy football teams than you do the candidates whose policies can greatly affect you and your family's lives.

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Video from Flash Mob in Huntersville

There was a flash mob held at Birkdale Village in Huntersville on Saturday. It was organized by Terry Vaughan of High Intensity Teambuilding, and choreographer Ian Burke. An estimated 2,000 people showed up to dance to the Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling." Vaughan had posted a video of the dance routine on YouTube a few weeks prior, so most of the crowd knew the moves. It was sort of cool. They mobbed, but didn't really flash--they didn't disperse right after.

See the video below of Saturday's flash mob.



UNC Charlotte students held a cool flash rave last December to celebrate the end of final exams. It was less organized and more chaotic, but that's what made it so entertaining. Click here for "UNCC Students 'Rave' Over End of Finals."

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