Clemson Tiger Fan's Bedroom Gets a South Carolina Gamecock Makeover (Video)

I came across the link to this YouTube video just now on Twitter, and as a proud University of South Carolina alum and Gamecock fan I think this is awesome.

While not as extreme, I can relate to the decor. The walls in my home office are painted garnet and are adorned with Gamecock memorabilia. Go Cocks!

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Get Ready for 2013 Charlotte Sunset Jazz Festival - September 13 and 14

The annual Charlotte Sunset Jazz Festival takes place this weekend, offering you two days of fun and great music. Friday, September 13 features an indoor concert by Roy Ayers at Knight Theater in Uptown, for which there's an admission cost. And Saturday features the all-day, outdoor free concert at Symphony Park in SouthPark. The Charlotte Sunset Jazz Festival, now in its 22nd year and put on by Pride Magazine, is one of the signature events in the Queen City that help mark the unofficial beginning of fall.

Ayers is a soul and jazz legend from Los Angeles, who's considered by many to be the godfather of neo-soul. His more than 40 years as a musician, composer, and producer has influenced many contemporary artists in jazz, R&B, and hip hop. You can see him live this Friday, 8 p.m. at Knight Theater (430 S. Tryon St.). Tickets are $30-$59.50, available at carolinatix.org.

Roy Ayers. Credit: Facebook

Saturday's festival features fun for the whole family, and with it being free to attend makes it a true community event. You'll want to bring folding chairs and blankets (picnic baskets are allowed too) and grab a good spot on the lawn at Symphony Park (4400 Sharon Road)  for what should be great weather on Saturday. The concert lineup includes: saxophonist Dante Lewis (headliner), jazz bands Groove 8, Bam-Jazz, and Los Trabucos (Afro-Cuban), and vocalist Robyn Springer. The event begins at 2 p.m.

The outdoor concert at Symphony Park. Credit: facebook.com/sunsetjazzcharlotte

The festivities on Saturday also include a "Best Dressed At The Fest Contest," vendors, and prize giveaways. For more details, visit charlottesunsetjazzfestival.com.

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My First Time: Lazy 5 Ranch In Mooresville

I've been hearing about Lazy 5 Ranch for several years now and finally made the 40-minute drive to the animal farm in Mooresville yesterday. Andrea and I went, and even though I knew enough about it to know what to expect, there's nothing like experiencing it for yourself. With this being the end of summer and fall soon upon us, now is as good a time (and weather) as any for you to visit.

Lazy 5 Ranch is a privately owned and operated attraction in Mooresville that's open daily to the public. It features more than 750 animals from six continents, and you get to see them while riding along a three-and-a-half-mile safari trail. You can choose to drive the trail in your own car, or ride one of the wagons, which depart at scheduled times. We drove, which I think enhances the fun because you can go at your own pace (assuming there's not a lot of cars on the trail).

You have the option of feeding the animals (all except for the "cows with the long horns, buffalo, or the zebra" as the instructions state--I assume they're the really mean ones). You do that after purchasing a bucket of feed. While driving along the trail, you're not allowed to get out of the car (you don't really want to), but it truly is like a safari ride. You'll pass many exotic animals. And not just pass them--they'll come up to your car windows. These animals know that the sight of cars means that chances are a bucket of food will soon be dangling out of the window. The alpaca seem to be the greediest--it's funny how intuitive they are to the sound of windows rolling down. And it can be a little frightening to see some of the large animals approach your car, but that adds to the fun.

The safari trail is undoubtedly the most popular attraction, but Lazy 5 is also home to petting areas (where you can walk around and get close to animals), a playground, picnic area, gift shop, and a few snack options like an ice cream stand. It's fun for the whole family, and is also a great date option. I'll let these photos I took with my Windows Phone tell the rest of the story.

The sight of one of the animals inspired this tweet from me yesterday (ode to the Geico "Hump Day" commercial):

Uh oh, guess what day it is. Guess what day IT IS. At Lazy 5 Ranch in #Mooresville. pic.twitter.com/mbufhBphcF
— Jarvis Holliday (@HollidayInk) September 8, 2013

Lazy 5 Ranch is open year-round. Hours: Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m. until 1 hour before sunset; Sunday 1 p.m. until 1 hour before sunset. General admission: adults, $9.50; children (ages 2-11) and seniors, $6.50; feed available for $3 per bucket. Admission with wagon ride (includes feed): adults, $14.50; children and seniors, $9.50. Only cash is accepted, no debit or credit cards.

Lazy 5 Ranch, 15100 Mooresville Rd., Mooresville, 704-663-5100, lazy5ranch.com, Facebook.

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Jay Z's 'Magna Carter World Tour' Coming to Charlotte and Greensboro In January; Tickets On Sale Soon

Jay Z announced the North American leg of his Magna Carter World Tour today, a schedule of 34 dates in 33 cities (he's performing in his native Brooklyn twice). This Stateside tour--plus two Canadian dates--comes after his international run; it kicks off November 30 in St. Paul, Minnesota, and runs for two full months before wrapping up January 31 in State College, Pennsylvania. Close to home, this tour is doing something I don't recall a major hip hop concert arena tour ever doing: it's coming to both Charlotte and Greensboro.

The Magna Carter World Tour will stop into Time Warner Cable Arena in Uptown Charlotte on Saturday, January 4 (we get a weekend date!) and travels up to Greensboro Coliseum the next night. Despite Charlotte being the larger city and more of an attractive destination, Greensboro has a richer history of hip hop concert tour promoters choosing it over Charlotte. Most large hip hop arena tours--those going to 15,000-seat arenas or larger--usually only make one stop in North Carolina, and in fact tend to have one stop total between the two Carolinas. The notion is that people from around North Carolina will make the drive to the select city, as well as people from parts of South Carolina (South Carolinians also often go to the Atlanta tour stops).

That one North Carolina city has long been Greensboro. My hypothesis has always been that in the past tour promoters found Greensboro to be a stronger selling point for hip hop concerts, thanks largely to numerous colleges being located in the area. And for whatever reasons, in the past hip hop fans in Charlotte didn't tend to buy concert tickets in advance at the large numbers promoters wanna see.

I've seen Jay Z in concert twice in recent years, and both times I had to drive to Greensboro: his 2008 tour with Mary J. Blige, and his 2011 tour with Kanye West (not to mention, last weekend I went to Philadelphia for the music festival Jay Z curates). Speaking of Kanye, he announced his own tour yesterday, The Yeezus Tour. Kendrick Lamar will be his opening act. That tour isn't coming to either of the Carolinas though. The closest stop to Charlotte is Atlanta. The last time Kanye came to Charlotte was to Time Warner Cable Arena in 2008.

I'm happy that I'll be able to see Jay Z in Charlotte this time. And I'm extremely surprised that he's coming here in addition to playing in Greensboro. The two cities are about an hour and 45 minutes apart, which looks to be the shortest distance between any of the cities he's taking the tour to, except for, maybe, cities in California--he's playing five cities in that state on consecutive nights. But come on, that's Cali. It has a population the size of many countries.

Credit: Instagram.com/kodaklens

I'm curious to see whether the two North Carolina shows sell out. One thing is for sure, if you plan to go, you need to be aggressive next week when tickets go on sale. When tickets for popular concerts go on sale online, people often complain that they can't find any available tickets on the official seller's website within minutes of the sale start time. In addition to ticket brokers snatching up a lot of them to later resell at higher prices on sites like StubHub and Craigslist, I learned from a 60 Minutes segment (and this NPR story) that there usually aren't nearly as many tickets on sale to the public on the start date as you might think. Oftentimes, only about 20 percent of the tickets are available because the majority have already been sold days before through presale via the ticket site, artist fan clubs, and credit card promotions.

Live Nation is producing the Magna Carter World Tour, and tickets for all dates will go on sale Thursday, September 12 at 10 a.m. (EST) at LiveNation.com and Ticketmaster.com. But pay attention to the presale info. You can sign up now for early access to presale tickets that will be available on Wednesday, September 11; there's also a presale offer available that day through Facebook. And if you're a Citi card member, you can buy presale tickets beginning Monday, September 9 at 10 a.m. through Citi’s Private Pass Program. If you haven't learned from past experiences, those presale options are where a lot of the tickets, particularly the best seats, are snatched up.

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Ed D. Kane and Anthony Hamilton Offer Gritty Look at 'Da Streets'

Many of you know Anthony Hamilton for his love songs, ballads, and soul-stirring music. But if you've followed his career since the early days, you'll recall that in addition to being nominated for Grammys, going platinum, and selling out concerts, he's always been a sought-after hook singer. And by that, I mean singing the choruses on rap songs. In fact, his first hit song was the 2002 collaboration with Nappy Roots on the rap song "Po' Folks." Two years later, he assisted Jadakiss on one of the biggest songs of The LOX member's career, "Why."

The rap collaborations have continued over the years, with A-Ham singing hooks for everyone from Common to Nas to Twista to Young Jeezy. For his latest collaboration, he brings it home to his native Charlotte, with Ed D. Kane, an artist on Anthony's own label, Mister's Music. The song is titled "Da Streets" and the video was released a few days ago.

Charlotteans Ed D. Kane and Anthony Hamilton.

The video was shot in "da streets" of Charlotte, literally, featuring gritty scenes paired with news footage of controversial national stories and civil rights issues. The visuals are to match the song's message, and you could say that it follows in the vein of the aforementioned "Po' Folks" and "Why." Unfortunately, "Da Streets" falls short in its efforts. Ed D. Kane's lyrics aren't strong enough in this song, and his profanity is a distraction. I applaud when rappers add substance to their music, but this song isn't quite "conscious" music because his attempt to bring attention to issues like drugs and violence could be confused with glorifying them. However, I do like when Ed D. Kane says, "You know you know better. Done been selling crack out your mama's house."

Anthony nails the hook, as usual. And it's good to see him continuing to rep his old hood--Beatties Ford Road, West Charlotte. I'm sure the locals surrounding him in the video appreciate the love.

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