Professor

Charlotte was on its way to becoming the country music capital in the 30s. The Carter family (June married Johnny Cash) had a country music station in Charlotte. Those in charge of the city and the big business folk decided that the "Country Music Capital" was not a good image for Charlotte and did what they could to divert the title to Nashville. Probably the same stupid mistake our federal government made in the 60s when they thought that the U.S. was too sophisticated for the textile industry and moved it to Asia. That sure kicked our asses in parts of the southeast.

Thank you for the explanation. That was certainly a cool experience.

O.K. Are you going to tell us what that is hanging from the limb?

Can and will you please tell me specifically what, in regards to early or absentee voting, is illegal as you mentioned. Secondly, you stated that there was no indoor plumbing or potable water due to the racist state 1901 written constitution" to malign its black citizens. What specifically are you talking about (Section, Article, etc.)

I just left Casablanca, Rabat, and Tangier. There were no social areas for alcohol (and usually no alcohol). It was still beautiful, fun, and the women were exceedingly lovely without drinking. But yea, social areas are still better. The opposite sex always looks better after a few drinks. In some cases, the same sex ((just not my thing). Last thought, if everyone just takes their drinks and goes outside and walks wherever they desire, there could be thousands of us, and we can overpower law enforcement. Is anyone game for this endeavor? I thought not.

Maybe it has carried that bogus label as "Bible Belt city", but it has always been the "Wide open sex" city as well. It was one of the nation's well known gay cities in the 50s and since then has had strip bars, nude bars, houses of prostitution, porno shops and other sex related businesses. Just proves that religious people like sex too. The Bible Belt label has historically been a dig at the south. There has been just as many people that go to mass in the northeast as there are people that go to church in the south. It's just that at mass, you go in, do a prayer, pay the priest and voilà, you are out of there. It is all BS.

I believe that Panama City, Panama has a monopoly on Latin American money. Have you been there lately? Banking there is incredibly huge.

I've not seen a Safeway outside of California.

Kroger bought out Harris Teeter several years ago. Since Harris Teeter is a better store, Harris Teeter is considered their "A" store. Kroger was O.K. but Harris Teeter disappointed many when they became part of Kroger.

For many decades, Charlotte was looked down upon, not because it was "not" a progressive city, but because it was a southern city and was suppose to maintain it's stereotypical image of supposedly, ignorant, lazy, and slow. This has been proven to be a myth, Charlotte has always had strong, business minded local dynamos that brought us Duke Energy, Lowe's, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Lance, banking leadership, and much more. That put us on the map. The old saying "The South will Rise" actually became a reality that is often still denied and unappreciated by many raised to believe the old stereotypes. We got where we are in less than a 100 years. Most big cities to the north took decades longer to reach a level equivalent to ours. I agree that we have lost some of our luster because we have lost much of our pride and identity with the influx of people moving here from around the world. The influx is making us even a better city for which we locals were the roots of greatness. I am thankful that after many, many years of hearing of how they did it up north, most northerners are realizing that their way may not have been the best way and realizes nobody is flocking up there for a better lifestyle or jobs.

Why all the interest in Austin? Isn't this about Charlotte? Just confused.

Starting to look like 1980s Atlanta.

It is impossible to make a judgement. I travel all over the country and believe that drivers everywhere stink. In Charlotte, we have a population that is 20 percent foreign and another 60 percent from another place. I was taught to give a turn signal and use the passing lane for passing. Obviously, people that violate these rules are either not smart or from another place.