Mallard Creek QB Marquise Williams Is a Beast

Mallard Creek High School quarterback Marquise Williams is putting up the kind of numbers this season that makes you wish there was a fantasy football league for Charlotte high schools. Last night, he led his team to a 76-30 victory over West Charlotte, while completing 11 of 15 passes for 326 yards and six touchdowns and rushing 12 times for 129 yards and one touchdown.

Marquise is certainly an exciting player to watch and read about, and you can do the latter in the November issue of Charlotte magazine, on newsstands now. I interviewed Marquise as part of the magazine's cover story, "Friday Night Lights". It's a feature package comprised of several stories that illustrate the culture of the city's most popular sport, depicting a high school football program (South Point High), a coach (from Charlotte Catholic), a cheerleader (from Charlotte Christian), a player (Marquise, from Mallard Creek), a marching band (Harding University High), and a rivalry (Independence vs. Butler).

In the web version of my story on Marquise, you get to read a Q&A that's not in the printed version of the magazine. And while this might be the first time he's appeared on a magazine cover, I doubt it will be his last.

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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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City of Charlotte Launches Phone App

According to a press release sent out yesterday, the City of Charlotte has launched “My-Charlotte,” a mobile application for wireless smart phones that allows users to access municipal services on the go. I applaud the city for embracing the digital and mobile age we're living in, but I'm not sure spending $120,000 developing this application is the best use of funds right now. Especially since the app doesn't appear to have many beneficial uses yet. Searching traffic accident locations from CMPD or reporting potholes to 311 are not strong selling points to me. This app sounds like an idea a city IT guy made seem cool to his bosses.

I'm sure there are more features to come, but the city's web services are probably not advanced enough or compatible to make the application worth having. The one customer review posted so far on the iTunes page where the app is sold, points out that "it's less an app and more just a collection of web pages. Most are not even formatted to be used easily on an iPhone." Currently the application is available only on the iPhone, but the city said it plans to expand into other mobile platforms such as the Motorola DROID and BlackBerry early next year.

I'm not the type who bashes government spending simply for the sake of doing it, and maybe the potential dollars the city believes it could save by people using their mobile app rather than calling 311 will help the investment pay for itself. Hopefully within a few months the city will update us on the success of this venture. And I'm sure users will post their reviews.

Do you plan to buy the app? Do you think it's useful?

Click here to read the full press release from the city.

Click here to purchase the My-Charlotte app from iTunes.

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Denny Hamlin: 'All He Do Is Win'

I guess this personalized license plate is true.

Yesterday, Denny Hamlin won his seventh NASCAR Sprint Cup series race of the season and second during the Chase. He's now just six points behind leader and four-time champion Jimmie Johnson with only four races remaining. If Denny was to win the championship, you can expect a ridiculous party next month at Butter NC, the popular nightclub he co-owns.

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Charlotte Bobcats Hold Open Practice Today

The Charlotte Bobcats are holding an open practice this evening. The event is free, but you'll need to go online to get your free tickets. The open practice will be held at Time Warner Cable Arena, with doors opening at 6 p.m. and the event beginning at 6:30.

The Lady Cats and team mascot Rufus will make appearances, and then join players for autographs and photos at the conclusion of practice. This will be the Bobcats' final practice before they head to Dallas tomorrow to prepare to play the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday for the regular season opener. The Bobcats' home opener is Friday against the Indiana Pacers.

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