Jimmy Buffett to return to Charlotte

Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre will once again transform into Margaritaville this spring.

Live Nation announced this afternoon that Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band will perform at the Charlotte venue at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 21, as part of the singer's "Welcome to Fin Land" Tour.

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 22, at Ticketmaster.com, all Ticketmaster outlets, and charge-by-phone at 800-745-3000.

Nature Museum plans to do chicken right

Feel like chicken this weekend?

The Charlotte Nature Museum will highlight the diversity and popularity of this feathered friend during its montly "Creature Feature" event, set for 10 a.m.-1 p.m. on Saturday.

Scheduled highlights include: live chickens on display, from the Rhode Island red (America's best-known breed, which lays brown eggs), araucana (which lays blue eggs and has feather tufts near their eyes), and dominique (popular for both their eggs and their meat); museum birds Nellie, a barred owl, and recently born button quails; and presentations from naturalists who will teach guests about habitats, behaviors of local birdlife, and raising chickens in your own backyard. There will also be a "story time" session and a puppet show for kids.

"Creature Feature" activities are free with museum admission ($6 for ages two and older, free for anyone younger and museum members).

Charlotte Nature Museum is at 1658 Sterling Road, adjacent to Freedom Park in the Dilworth/Myers Park area. Click here for the website.

9 short films, all made in Charlotte

Movies aren't often made in Charlotte, but nine short films were shot here recently using local talent, and they're now available to view online.

Each is less than 10 minutes in length, and each will be vying for 11 awards -- including Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Picture -- at an event set for 7 p.m. Monday at the Whisky River nightclub in uptown.

At least 75 percent of each film had to be shot within 60 miles of Charlotte, and all had to incorporate a queen of spades playing card in a key way. Eight judges voted on the "Made in Charlotte" awards, including Matt Harris and Ramona Holloway of 107.9 The Link.

Admission to the "Made in Charlotte" event is $10 in the door, and light hors d'oeuvres will be served. The EpiCentre (where Whisky River is located) is at 210 E. Trade St., near Time Warner Cable Arena.

The event -- presented by the non-profit Charlotte Film Community -- was originally scheduled for this past Monday, but was postponed due to the winter storm.

For details on the "Made in Charlotte" project and to check out the films, click here.

Hey, ladies: Wanna play some roller derby?

Race City Roller Derby (RCRD), a Charlotte-based women’s flat track roller derby organization founded last summer, has launched a player-recruiting drive.

To be eligible to participate, interested women must be at least 19, have health insurance, and be in "reasonable" physical condition. Skating experience is "helpful," but not necessary.

The organization currently fields the Charlotte Speed Demons, which will be competing on the national level; it will launch a second team late this year that will compete regionally. The Speed Demons kick off its 2011 season on Feb. 26, when it takes on the Columbia, S.C.-based Bad Co. at First Ward Recreation Center (610 E. 7th St.). Tickets are $10 in advance here, or $14 at the door.

To express your interest in participating, e-mail your name and phone number to info@racecityrollerderby.com. Details: Click here.

More than 40,000 women currently are competing in roller derby in the U.S., according to RCRD.

Can you sing like Justin Bieber?

Yo, Justin Bieber fans: Stop singing the pop star's hits while staring at yourself in the mirror -- or posting videos of yourself singing them on YouTube -- and make plans to be at Northlake Mall this Saturday afternoon.

That's when a competition takes place among teens ages 13-17, who'll sing versions of "Baby," "U Smile" or "Never Say Never" for a chance to fly to Los Angeles to attend the premiere of Bieber's new movie. ("Justin Bieber: Never Say Never" opens in theaters Feb. 21.)

Registration begins at 1 p.m. in the Grand Court on Northlake's lower level; the contest starts at 2. Contestants may pre-register by e-mailing their legal name and age to BieberCharlotte@gmail.com.

One of the contestants will wind up going to L.A. -- this isn't some regional qualifier where the winner moves on to another round. No, the Charlotte winner gets a trip for FOUR to the premiere on Feb. 9, including airfare and a two-night hotel stay. One national grand-prize winner also will win a brief meet-and-greet with Bieber at the premiere.

For contest details, click here.

The wait for Lauryn Hill is over. Or is it?

Lauryn Hill, who made one of the greatest albums of the ’90s, is scheduled to take the stage at Amos’ Southend on Saturday night.

Doors open at 9. The hip-hop diva actually will go on at … 9:30? 10? 11? Midnight?

If it’s 1 a.m. by the time she breaks into her first song, don’t be surprised. At a recent comeback concert in New York, she kept fans (including soul superstar Prince) waiting for almost four hours. When she finally took the stage, she responded to some boos by saying, “Don’t do that. That’s disrespectful. I spent my entire 20s sacrificing my life to give you love. … I personally know I’m worth the wait.”

The 35-year-old Hill has long been an enigma.

A member of the acclaimed rap group the Fugees from 1992-97, the New Jersey native released a debut solo album in 1998 titled “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” that yielded the No. 1 smash “Doo Wop (That Thing)” and garnered 10 Grammy nominations. It went on to win Album of the Year, beating Madonna’s “Ray of Light.”

And then … she went off the grid, so to speak.

She dabbled in several other art forms, got pregnant, fired her management team, absorbed herself in Bible study, took on a spiritual advisor, and stopped listening to music. She resurfaced briefly for a 2001 MTV Unplugged concert, and then again in the mid-2000s as the Fugees got together for a short-lived reunion.

Which brings us to Saturday night’s concert.

Tickets are $67.76 each including fees, which makes it the most expensive Amos’ show in recent memory. (Average price to see the other upcoming acts on the venue’s schedule: $16.22.)

Will Hill be worth it? Depends, I guess, on just how long we have to wait.

New Kids, Backstreet Boys plan NC show

New Kids on the Block and the Backstreet Boys -- which collaborated on a show-stealing performance for "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest" last weekend -- won't make a visit to Charlotte in 2011.

But the two iconic groups will perform just up I-85 at Greensboro Coliseum on Saturday, July 23, one of 16 new dates added to their "NKOTBSB Tour."

Tickets go on sale Saturday, Jan. 15 at LiveNation.com, the Greensboro Coliseum box office, Ticketmaster or charge-by-phone at 800-745-3000.