Charlotte Real Estate Agent Brian Belcher

The Charlotte Bobcats, the professional basketball team in Charlotte built a new stadium in 2005 when they started their first season.

The scoreboard in the arena was, at the time, the most advanced scoreboard technologically in use at a baskeball stadium.

The thing weighs 80,000 pounds. All those flat screen high definition monitors probably weigh less than what a cathode ray tube equivalent would weigh, but still weigh a lot.

It has a larger video screen and more advanced electronics in it than anyone else. The video screens are higher resolution than any arena in the country.

When you think about it, it should, because it's a new arena.
The screens let the event organizers work with all kinds of images to help the audience enjoy the event they are watching. The screens aren't fixed and can display any type of information or vieo. Soy, when a musical act comes to town, their image can be transmitted to the big screen overhead and everyone can have the front row seat view.

There are tons of events besides basketball games that come through the arena in uptown Charlotte. It's one of many reasons to consider making Charlotte NC your home soon.

Unfortunately, one of the Panther's best players and someone who has been the face of the team for seven years looks like he is finally on his way out.

Julius Peppers has made everyone aware that he doesn't want to stay in Charlotte anymore. The sports columnist at the Charlotte Observer, one of the newspapers in Charlotte that he might just be wanting to take a risk.

I have blogged about Julius a few times since he announced he wanted to leave. He is from eastern North Carolina and went to Chapel Hill. Maybe he just realized that he is a big-time player that can go wherever he wants and wants to see the world a little bit. There's nothing wrong with that. It's unfortunate for Charlotte and the Panthers though because he is a force on defence.

But, if you're thinking about turning over a new leaf and moving to a new city, why don't you check out some of Charlotte's real estate. It's still an up and coming city and still growing in Atlanta's footsteps as a new southern city. But it has a charm and class that you won't find anywhere else. It is worth a look if you are looking.

The guy who playe Frank Sinatra is back on tour with a new show called Red, Hot and Swing that is due to end tomorrow at the Blumenthal Performing arts center.

He's coming to Charlotte to do his show at the uptown performing arts venue in the heart of Charlotte's business and cultural district.

The show will be at the Booth Playhouse, which is a small and intimate venue that can change shapes and sizes.

It's like the movie Transformers. It has a stage that can acta as a normal stage, but the stage can be modified to accomodate a theater in the round show. It covers up some seats. You've all heard about getting a seat behind the pole at the baseball stadium right? Well getting a seat under the stage is jus about as bad.

I kid, they don't actually sell the seats under the stage. It's a small theater that only seats 430, but that makes it fun when you get to be rith on top of the performer. You can see so much that a talented performer does in a small theater setting. However, it would not be fun to see a hack performer in a small theater, because then you would see all of his mistakes.

Les will probably put on a good show as he sings a bunch of jazz classics by many different performers.

The McColl center for visual art was named after the former CEO of Bank of America. He retired a few years ago. Actually he retired in 2001, so he probably wasn't involved too much in this current banking mess.

The location of the McColl center was bought by Bank of America after sitting empty for ten years after a fire destroyed most of the building. It used to be a church downtown. The bank bought it with the intention of creating an urban artist's community, according to the center's website.

The community says that it is committed to being a stand out program where artists can come to be artists and create stuff for the community. The center owns condos across the street from the center that they offer to artists who they want to be artists in residence. To me, that sounds like a pretty sweet deal. They also have two cars that the artists can use when they please.

They have an open door policy, where the public can come by to see the exhibitions free of charge. They also encourage the artists to keep their studios open. They even go so far as to ask the artists to open their studios for several saturdays during their residency for an event where the artist answers questions of the public.

This make it a really neat part of Charlotte's art scene.

I blogged earlier about the Charlotte Blues Festival, that's still happening this weekend. I wanted use this space to call out a joint that has been hosting blues acts since 1973.

It's located in the Elizabeth neighborhood in Charlotte NC, and was established when the neighborhood and Charlotte looked a lot different.

The place started out as a pub - a risky business in Charlotte in 1973. It later hosted local musical acts and then moved on to hosting national acts. The first big show they had was the Dixie Dregs.

Musicians such as Stevie Ray Vaughn have played at the Double Door. Their website includes a story about how Eric Clapton came to the bar after his huge show at the Charlotte Coluseum and sat in with one of the bands there.

The Double Door doesn't feature strictly blues anymore. Although most of their acts are bluesy, many cross genres. The sign on their door says blues, rock and zydeco. For those who don't know, zydeco is a folk music from Louisiana. The bar also features alt-country, soul and funk acts. I guess it just doesn't make it these days to have a blues only bar. Maybe it just gets too sad.