TCB Jan. 13, 2016 — Closing the loop

Greensboro / Winston-Salem / High Point triad-city-beat.com January 13 – 19, 2016

Closing the loop

The most important construction in Greensboro isn’t a high-rise or a performing arts center. It’s a road that will change everything.

PAGE 16

Jail healthcare suit PAGE 10

The shrinking brewer PAGE 14

Lubinskiania PAGE 24

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January 13 — 19, 2016

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Geography is destiny

by Brian Clarey

20 UP FRONT

OPINION

FUN & GAMES

3 Editor’s Notebook 4 City Life 6 Commentariat 6 The List 7 Barometer 7 Unsolicited Endorsement

14 Editorial: Triad gets cut off 14 Citizen Green: Trouble in the Promised Land 15 It Just Might Work: Boxed out 15 Fresh Eyes: Bowie, my hero

26 If the gods are for us…

NEWS 8 Nonprofit divert waste stream to artists, locals 10 Jail healthcare suit 12 School board race

COVER

GAMES 27 Jonesin’ Crossword

SHOT IN THE TRIAD 28 Yanceyville Street, Greensboro

16 Closing the Loop

ALL SHE WROTE

CULTURE 20 Food: Cookie sammich 21 Barstool: The forgotten Marriott 22 Music: Doug Davie diversifies 24 Art: Lubinski and the persistence of vision

30 Plagiarizing herself

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

I believe this area can hold four hotels.... I said, ‘We need a bank out there. We need some meaningful projects. We have the rooftops. We’re trying to make an entertainment area — you can shop here, you can play here, you can invest here, you can live here.

— Greensboro City Councilman Jamal Fox, in the cover, page 16

1451 S. Elm-Eugene St. Box 24, Greensboro, NC 27406 • Office: 336-256-9320 BUSINESS PUBLISHER Allen Broach

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EDITORIAL EDITOR IN CHIEF Brian Clarey

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ASSOCIATE EDITOR Eric Ginsburg eric@triad-city-beat.com

NEST EDITOR Alex Klein

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EDITORIAL INTERNS Daniel Wirtheim intern@triad-city-beat.com

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CONTRIBUTORS Carolyn de Berry Nicole Crews Anthony Harrison Matt Jones Amanda Salter Caleb Smallwood

Cover photography by Daniel Wirtheim

SALES EXECUTIVE Lamar Gibson lamar@triad-city-beat.com

SALES EXECUTIVE Cheryl Green cheryl@triad-city-beat.com

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EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

CONTENTS

I’ll tell ya, I could have used the urban loop this weekend.

We decided to head out to Raleigh for the afternoon, and had the northern end of the Greensboro loop been completed I could have taken Cone Boulevard all the way east and then hopped on the loop to hit Interstate 40 inside of five minutes, instead of driving three miles south to Wendover, then taking it all the way east to the active portion of 840.

Would have saved me at least 20 minutes.

If you’re anything like my kids, who were in the backseat during all this, then you probably don’t want to hear about the loop, how it — along with the Cone Boulevard Extension and the renovation of Revolution Mills — is going to change our entire neighborhood, will quite literally put it on the map.

You might not even care about the concept of making good time on a drive. I know they don’t.

My kids will all be driving by the time the loop comes through, yet they still don’t see what this has to do with their lives.

I told them about a friend of mine who owns some empty property there at the fringe. Right now, it’s not even connected to the rest of that part of town — no roads, no residences, just some overgrown grass and tall pines on short time.

If you’re anything like When I tried to evangelize my kids, then you probhim on the transformative ably don’t want to hear nature of the Cone Boulevard about the urban loop.

Extension, he was right there with me.

We geeked out there for a bit right there in his office: I pulled up the Department of Transportation map on his desktop computer and we blew it up 150 percent, imagining all the possibilities once Cone pushes through the White Street Landfill and connects with the highway.

There will need to be gas stations at the exit, we agreed, and residences for commuters, who will also require places to shop, drink and exercise. Turning the dead-end into a twoway street makes every piece of property along the route more viable.

My friend has big plans for his lot, I told my kids. It’s just been sitting there for years, like a frog waiting to be kissed, until the road becomes real.

Kids don’t think five and 10 years out — it’s one of the things that makes them kids. To them the construction at the east end of Cone Boulevard looks like a bunch of trucks noisily pushing dirt and scaring off the birds.

But to some of us, that road leads to the future. Everybody else will catch up soon enough.

Read more about the Greensboro Urban Loop in this week’s cover story, starting on page 16.

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January 13 — 19, 2016

CITY LIFE January 13 – 19 WEDNESDAY Raindeer, Cucumbers and Blueberry @ New York Pizza (GSO), 9 p.m.

It sounds like the recipe to a Scandinavian small plate but it actually refers to three bands that make a sweet mixture of dream-pop peppered with a little punk. Baltimore-based band Raindeer is the headliner, doing the whole psychedelic synth-pop thing in a surprisingly fresh and charming way. Find the event page on Facebook for more information.

THURSDAY

Israeli musicians’ recital @ Temple Emanuel (W-S), 7 p.m.

To thank the Winston-Salem Jewish community for their support of his education at UNCSA, Avital Mazur is performing a violin recital along with his friend and pianist Benjamin Goodman. Find more information at templemanuel.com.

Film screenings @ SECCA (W-S), 7:30 p.m.

“A Sense of Place” is the theme for this night of short and feature length films.

Joshua Gibson screens two of his short films, one on cultures of the American South and another on West Africa. And Elizabeth Haviland James screens her feature film In So Many Words, a part-documentary drama using multiple storytelling mediums.

A Q&A with the directors follows. Visit secca.org for more information.

FRIDAY

Exploring the Red Planet @ Greensboro Science Center (GSO), 7:30 p.m.

The Greensboro Astronomy Club explores Mars with Matt Funke, a former educator and solar system ambassador. Funke explains to space-nerds and all those interested what we on Earth can learn through studying the red planet. Visit greensboroastronomyclub.org for more information.

Bent @ Theatre Alliance (W-S), 8 p.m.

After being sent to a concentration camp in Nazi-era Germany, a homosexual German finds a better chance of survival playing Jewish in this dramatic play opening at the Theatre Alliance. Visit wstheatrealliance.org for more information.

Oyster happy hour @ Krankies Coffee (W-S), 4 p.m.

Krankies Coffee, which stepped up their food game in 2015, dishes out oysters until they’re gone.

Cocktails and other drinks are pouring as well. Find the event page on Facebook for more information.

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by Daniel Wirtheim

Taste of Art @ Sawtooth School for Visual Arts (W-S), 6 p.m.

Using clay as the medium, participants in this workshop make their own beer steins. It’s a real chilled-out kind of environment and bottles of wine and snacks are encouraged. Visit sawtooth.org for more information.

Investigative reporting class @ Nussbaum Center (GSO), 1 p.m.

The editors at Triad City Beat demonstrate how to dig up the dirt that matters. Students learn how to track campaign finances, determine if someone voted in previous elections, figure out who owns property among other skills required to hold the powerful institutions responsible. Visit Triad-city-beat.com for more details.

Black Snow Ball II @ Krankies Coffee (W-S), 7 p.m.

Masks are encouraged at this classy get-together. Winston-Salem-based Estrangers headline a set of local musicians as Krankies pours cocktails and serves dinner.

Secretive Winston-Salem Ancient Accepted Order of the Black Lodge offers a prelude and benediction to the night of revelry. Visit krankiescoffee.com for more information.

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SATURDAY

Strutter @ Cone Denim Entertainment Center (GSO), 8 p.m.

The self-proclaimed longest running KISS tribute band plays all the hits with pyrotechnics, smoking guitars and all those KISS-type things. Local zombie-themed AC/DC tribute band AC/Deceased is a special guest. Find more information at cdecgreensboro.com.

Remembering Stolen Lives @ International Civil Rights Museum (GSO), 3 p.m.

Carl Dix, co-founder of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network, offers his words as members of the community reflect on police-related killings that have sparked protests across the nation. Find the Facebook Page for more information.

SUNDAY Rock and Roll Pajama Party @ Kohinoor Hookah Palace (GSO), 8 p.m.

Blanket forts and pillows are the theme of this show at perhaps the most confusingly named venue in the Triad.

The very danceable and twangy New York City-based band the Due Dilligence plays with Greensboro acts Secret Position and Matty Sheets & the Stone Cold Rollers.

Find the Facebook page for more information.

MLK GospelFest @ Wake Forest University (W-S), 3 p.m.

Only 26 years old, Jonathan McReynolds is a young guy on the gospel music scene. But as he demonstrates along with the WFU Gospel Choir, he can create the kind of atmospheric melodies that raise spirits. Other gospel performances are booked as well for this celebration just one day before the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. Search for the event at events.wfu.edu for more information.

Chili Cook-off @ Old Winston Social Club (W-S), 2 p.m.

The Winston-Salem Jaycees host a chili cook-off to raise money to support a cottage for homeless and estranged young girls. The competition is divided into categories and one ticket means access to all competitor’s chili. Visit wsjaycees.org for more information.

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January 13 — 19, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

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5 personal Bowie favorites

by Daniel Wirtheim 1. Performance on “Soul Train” David Bowie’s performance on “Soul Train” might be my favorite six minutes of white-boy soul music ever. I’m thinking specifically of “Golden Years.” He’s not a very good dancer and quite possibly high on cocaine, but he looks great. Somehow the golden-haired, placid pop star — this was during his Thin White Duke stage — is more outlandish in this performance than he is as Alladin Sane or Ziggy Stardust. It’s in the way he prances around, lifting a bored leg with the rhythm while his face, like a thin, white sheet stained by a pair of nasty teeth, cannot help but betray some serious soul power. It’s great.

2. “And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear” I always compared Bowie’s “Space Oddity” to Elton John’s “Rocket Man,” which is kind of a natural comparison given the subject matter. While Elton John was sort of wallowing in the familial tragedy of a space explorer, Bowie was drifting towards the outer rim, looking back at the commercial culture that had worked its way into every facet of life including space exploration. And that’s why I’ve always liked the line about the newspapers wanting to know whose shirts Major Tom is wearing.

3. Being a bastion of androgynous culture Bowie is like a queer person’s Rocky in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Although his punches came from sweet rock and roll, he delivered in the name of sexual experimentation and queer culture with sincerity.

Canned Heat and the Woodstock crowd were all about free love but even they were not quite on par with the androgynous Starman. Bowie filled a void and consistently showed how being androgynous is pretty awesome.

A voice from the past Brian, Jordan and Eric, Great last issue with the 100 events.

Congratulations on your second Anniversary. Quality always triumphs!

Your work is all the more critical during this reign of terror in Raleigh.

Living in this inbred GOP hell, I drive to get TCB. I need my TCB fix to maintain my sanity.

Hope you’re still playing that MC5 disc I dropped off long ago. Loud.

All the best in 2016.

Arthur R. Kainz, Kernersville Green citizen I just wanted to drop you a note of thanks for your recent piece [“Citizen Green: Open space program leaves a lasting legacy”; Jan. 6, 2016]. It was fulfilling for my team and I to read your perspective on the natural resources we work so hard on maintain and preserve so our community can enjoy. On behalf of my team, I really appreciate you elevating the benefits connecting nature can provide, regardless of your activity.

I myself have a 2-year-old daughter and know how much fun you had! If there’s anything more you’d like to know about us or what we do for the community I’m happy to talk with you.

Wade Walcutt, Greensboro

4. His left eye The left is my favorite eye of Bowie’s.

It’s the one with the huge pupil, which gives it a darker color than his right and blue eye, the product of a teenage brawl.

I’ve often wondered if his ingenuity came from having a wonky eye or if those things just gravitate towards a guy like Bowie.

Walcutt is director of parks and recreation for the city of Greensboro.

You are a gifted writer and communicator. I thank you for writing the lovely article about your “walk in the woods” with your little girl. You conveyed in a special way why we need to keep working toward preservation of some natural areas — and that we need to take the time to enjoy and learn and value more the strengths which come from “resting a bit” in a natural setting away from too much hustle and bustle. Your articles about the “preserves and parks” have been enlightening to many. Good luck as you continue writing!

Dot Kearns, High Point Kearns is chair of the Rich Fork Preserve Committee.

Triad-wide Thank you again for thinking of me for the “Citizen of the Triad” honor [Jan. 6, 2016]. The outpouring of love and kudos from people all over the Triad has been amazing. Just on Facebook are 268 likes and 67 comments.

I am back in Greensboro now, and everywhere I go in town I get congratulated!

Happy New Year!

Gail Bretan, Greensboro

Eric Ginsburg: It’d be kind of hard not to, considering how close I sit to Brian in our office.

Readers: A full 46 percent of you said, “Wait, what the hell? No.” The remaining votes split evenly between “Yes of course, I read TCB regularly” and “I don’t even want to think about it” (27 percent each). It’s a little concerning how few people seem aware of it considering the scope and length of the project, but maybe there are too many people who aren’t Citizens of the Triad voting. Christian Yorkshire explained: “I do read [Triad City Beat] regularly but have to admit [I] tend not to focus on the W-S traffic flow much.”

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50

30

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Wait, what the hell? No.

27%

Yes of course, I read TCB regularly.

27%

I don’t even want to think about it.

All She Wrote

46%

Shot in the Triad

20

Games

40

Fun & Games

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Culture

80

Every time I pitch it to friends or coworkers, it sounds more ridiculous. But I’ll try again here; Hamilton is a three-hour Broadway hip-hop musical about the founding fathers. Most of the actors are people of color. At one point Thomas Jefferson spits, “When Britain taxed our tea we got frisky/ Imagine what gon’ happen when you try to tax our whiskey.” Also, Billboard named the soundtrack as the 2015 rap album of the year.

Still sounding ridiculous? I’d better relay how I got sucked down the Hamilton spiral. Since I can’t afford the $700 tickets — it’s sold out until August anyway — the bandwagon process my friends prescribed was very internet-culture-du-jour.

Last month I was ushered down a black hole of listening to the soundtrack on loop via Spotify, digging through fan blogs and interviews with cast members, watching choppy clips of numbers anywhere I could find them.… Somehow around 1 a.m. that first day, I had inexplicably ended up knee-deep in Library of Congress archives of Alexander Hamilton’s letters. I had 20 unread Wikipedia tabs open. There was no going back.

It’s hard to quantify why this musical is so magnetic. It’s certainly carried by its talent: writer and star Lin-Manuel Miranda’s energy as the lead is undeniable, though rapper Daveed Diggs as a cocky Thomas Jefferson upstages him in every cabinet rap battle. But their performances aren’t the heart of what makes the musical great.

About 100 listens in, I can confidently say my love for Hamilton is rooted in how perfect it feels to revisit the rebels’ fight for independence through polysyllabic hip-hop lines. The diverse cast makes this old story of a young country in a way that’s accessible to America as it’s comprised today. Lyrical case-in-point after the battle of Yorktown: “Immigrants: we get the job done.”

I suppose at a time where a multi-billionaire is a contender for the presidency, it’s encouraging to remember my country’s unique and humble beginnings and celebrate being a part of that story in a fresh way.

And I doubt quoting genius lines like, “We hold these truths to be self-evident/ that all men are created equal/ And when I meet Thomas Jefferson/ I’mma compel him to include women in the sequel!” will get old anytime soon either.

Cover Story

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by Joanna Rutter

Opinion

New question: Best hand-held burrito in Greensboro?

Vote at triad-city-beat.com.

Hamilton, the musical

News

Brian Clarey: Of course I knew Business 40 was closing through downtown Winston-Salem. I remember when the polling was going on back in the mid-2000s, giving residents a choice of completely closing for two years or to spread the work over six years and keep one lane open. I remember approving of the decisions of the residents. But I am still astonished by the amount of people who still don’t know about it — people who really ought to know about it but won’t until it happens. Information is power, friends. Never forget.

Jordan Green: Yes, I think I might have heard something about that.

Up Front

This week, with a cover story about a major road project in Greensboro, we wanted to ask readers about a massive highway change in the Winston-Salem area. That’s right: Business 40 is closing for significant renovations and changes later in 2016. Did you know? (Unofficial follow-up question: Now that we’ve told you, are you banging your head against your desk at work?)

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Did you know Business 40 is closing?

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January 13 — 19, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

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NEWS

Nonprofit would divert waste stream to artists, locals

by Eric Ginsburg

Plans for a creative reuse center that keeps unwanted industrial material out of the city’s waste stream — similar to the popular Scrap Exchange in Durham — are underway in Greensboro, led by a local artist who has been studying the subject.

how to launch a similar reuse center, including budgetary information, an understanding of the board’s structure and other core components of the operation.

Repurposing unwanted materials into And at the beginning art isn’t a new concept for Paige Cox; of 2016, Cox anshe’s been doing since her childhood, nounced her intentions when her dad — who worked in metal with a name and Facefabrication — would bring home small book page for Greensmedia that she’d play with and turn into boro’s counterpart to necklaces, among other things. the Scrap Exchange: Cox, who studied fiber arts at SavanReconsidered Goods. nah College of Art & Design, continued With the help of her the practice in her art over the years. It’s husband Timothy Cox, partially pragmatic — the cost of art a co-owner of Stir supplies adds up quickly — as well as Creative Group, the philosophically sound, diverting things nascent organization that would otherwise end up in the already has slick prorecycling or a landfill. motional materials and Last year she reached out to Triad City a website.

Beat for old newspapers on their way to Reconsidered Goods ERIC GINSBURG Greensboro artist Paige Cox envisions a space in Greensboro that functions similarly a recycling bin, transforming them into is still a little ways off, sculptures for an Earth Day window disas Paige Cox looks for to the Scrap Exchange in Durham. play at the Greensboro Anthropologie a space large enough fabric swatches, leftovers from furniture clude an art gallery like one at the Scrap store, where she now works as the visual to contain it, writes grant applications making, select medical supplies, manExchange, she said. manager. and builds interest. But she’s ready to ufacturing test pieces, or fake flowers Sometimes it’s hard for people to Originally, Cox wondered if the start accepting donated items, and is bought for one-time use at High Point’s grasp the concept for the store unless Scrap Exchange, a creative reuse planning a Kickstarter and steering furniture market, Cox said. Items that they’ve witnessed the one in Durham or arts center in Durham, would open a committee. companies often pay someone to take one of the many counterparts across the Greensboro facility.

“I will go as fast or away, or that raise the city’s cost of nation, Cox said. She’ll often compare it The organization, as slow as I need to, transporting its solid waste, would find a to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore as which seeks to to make it happen,” Want to help make new home at Reconsidered Goods. a point of reference, though it would be promote “creativity, Cox said. “I think Ultimately the donations to Recona unique value proposition.

Reconsidered Goods a environmental awarebecause I have an sidered Goods will be tax deductible, On her last trip to the Durham facilireality? Contact paige@ artistic background I ness and community further incentivizing local businesses to ty, Cox bought a $20 bag of tennis balls through reuse,” has reconsideredgoods.org can see the potential participate, but first Cox will need some that wouldn’t make the grade for playbeen collecting, orgafor things other peohelp applying for non-profit status.

Acing, unless you’re the family dog Pete, in or ask your company to ple might not see.” nizing and reselling tually she’ll need a small team of people which case they’re perfect and a more unwanted material Off the top of her consider participating. to help her bring the concept to fruition. affordable alternative to buying new. since 1991. But head, Cox said she “I’m more of a doer,” Cox said. “I Some items at Reconsidered Goods will Visit reconsideredrather than expandcan think of about can get it going but I need a lot of peobe ready to use in a different way than goods.org or the organi- 200 locals who would ple to get involved.” ing to the Triad, the originally intended, she said, while othexecutive director inzation’s Facebook page be energized by the The organization will follow a triple ers will require a little more creativity. vited Cox to come to idea, many of them bottom-line philosophy, Cox said — Ideally, she’d like to have a 15-30,000 for more information. a training and learn artists who already profit, planet and people. Reconsidered square-foot space up and running by how to open her own. utilize reused materiGoods would help companies be more Earth Day in April, but it all depends on Alongside a woman from Ohio and a als but also teachers, parents and many sustainable and prioritize educational how excited other Greensboro residents couple from Washington, DC, Cox went others. outreach such as environmental awareare about the idea and how many local through the Scrap Exchange’s boot The organization will rely on excess ness, support Guilford County Schools companies buy into the waste-diversion camp in November. She walked away from industrial businesses in the area when it can, provide cost-effective initiative. with a binder and head full of details on rather than personal donations. Think material to the public and possibly in-

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January 13 — 19, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

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Family pursuing suit against healthcare company at Forsyth jail

by Jordan Green

A legal team in Winston-Salem is pursuing a lawsuit against Correct Care Solutions in connection with the death of Jennifer McCormack, who died shortly after a stay in the Forsyth County jail. On a separate front, state Sen. Joyce Krawiec is planning to file legislation to provide uniformity across the state to ensure that inmates have access to prescribed medication.

pendent women can result in preterm labor or miscarriage.

The legal team was assembled after Grainger learned of McCormack’s death through the Triad City Beat series.

“The investigation will focus on the medical treatment of the deceased, policies of the medical provider Correct Care Solutions, everything that hapA legal team in Winston-Salem plans pened to her in those 14 days, and to bring a lawsuit against the private decisions made by medical personnel,” company that provides contracted Vermitsky said. “We believe the evihealthcare services to the Forsyth Coundence will support that the medical care ty jail on behalf of Jennifer McCorprovided by Correct Care Solutions was mack, who died in 2014 after experiinsufficient and caused her death.” encing a heart attack in the jail while Correct Care Solutions declined to awaiting trial for fraudulently obtaining comment through a representative. prescription drugs.

Vermitsky said the investigation could The lawyers are pursuing a lawsuit take several months. To date, Correct against Correct Care Solutions on beCare Solutions is the main focus, he half of McCormack’s family. said, but that could change if additional “We are in the process of investiinformation comes to light implicating gating any and all claims arising from other parties. this tragedy,” said John Vermitsky with “The reason that we want to take our Morrow Porter Vermitsky & Taylor time to get it right is the issues are larger law firm. “As of now, the than one woman’s life main focus is the medical and one jail,” Vermitsky care provided by Correct said.

Care Solutions.” John “The hope with any ‘The issues are N. Taylor Jr., also with lawsuit would be to conlarger than one Morrow Porter, and Stevince the jail and anyone ven Grainger, a lawyer, in woman’s life and providing medical serprivate practice, are also vices to inmates to value one jail.’ working on the pending inmate safety over things – John Vermitsky lawsuit. like expenses, costs and Triad City Beat reported profits,” he added. in a two-part investigaThe NC Department tive series last year that McCormack, of Health and Human Services, or who was pregnant and in recovery from DHHS, inspected the jail in early Octoopioid dependence, was found unreber to determine whether it was in comsponsive in her cell after experiencing pliance with state administrative code. multiple episodes of incontinence and The investigation was prompted befalling. McCormack, who was 31 at the cause of an inquiry into McCormack’s time, died at Baptist Hospital five days death, according to a letter to Sheriff later from causes related to dehydration.

Bill Schatzman from Chris Wood, a McCormack’s mother told Triad City state jail inspector in the construction Beat that her daughter was not allowed section of the division of health service to take the prescribed anti-anxiety regulation at DHHS. Wood reported medication Xanax into the jail. It also that he found no deficiencies in the jail. remains unclear whether McCormack’s Correct Care Solutions currently facopioid medication, which was underway es a separate lawsuit filed by the family at the time of her incarceration was of Dino Vann Nixon, who died in the continued. Correct Care Solutions has Forsyth County jail in 2013 while awaitdeclined to comment on the matter. ing trial for heroin trafficking. Sheriff Medical experts agree that abrupt Schatzman and Forsyth County are also discontinuation of opioids in opioid-dedefendants in the lawsuit.

The family of Jennifer McCormack is pursuing a lawsuit against Correct Care Solutions, which provides inmate healthcare at Forsyth County jail.

The State Bureau of Investigation has completed an investigation into the death of 43-year-old Scott Shane Aaron, an inmate who was found unresponsive in his cell at the jail on Dec. 29.

Spokesman Shannon O’Toole said the district attorney will likely wait for the completion of an autopsy and toxicology reports before making any determination. Like Nixon, Aaron was awaiting trial for heroin trafficking at the time of his death.

While McCormack’s legal team is addressing whether she received sufficient medical care in the jail, a state lawmaker plans to introduce legislation to requiring medical staff at local jails across the state to provide legally prescribed medication to inmates with substance abuse and other health challenges.

“I think we definitely need to consider some statewide guidelines for the Department of Public Safety to lay out the rules where everybody knows the rules and has to follow them,” said Sen. Joyce Krawiec, a Republican who

COURTESY PHOTO

represents Forsyth County. Lawmakers do not have the opportunity to introduce new legislation in the short session this year, but Krawiec said she’s looking for an opportunity to insert a provision ensuring inmates receive prescribed medication into a preexisting bill, with the sponsor’s consent. The legislative maneuver is routinely used to advance legislation deemed too urgent to wait for the long session in the following year.

“We could certainly have a statewide statute that drugs that are prescribed by a physician are to be administered in the jails,” Krawiec said. “If it’s a state law, it would have to be followed. If a prisoner is prescribed a drug, they should continue to get their medication.”

Krawiec began researching the matter after learning of McCormack’s death through Triad City Beat’s reporting.

The medical plan for the Forsyth County jail does not address whether buprenorphine, an opioid medication, should continue to be administered to inmates such as McCormack, who

Feb. 5.

“It appears that [McCormack] had a prescription that wasn’t for the drug she was [abusing], but was actually an anxiety medication they wouldn’t let her take into the jail,” the lawmaker said.

“To me, that’s just negligence to not administer the drugs that were given to them and prescribed by a doctor. If you were a diabetic, do they not let you take that in, too? What about heart medication? Do they let some in, but not others? That needs to be a physician’s decision.”

Up Front

dependency such as buprenorphine or methadone will continue to receive the medications, but states that “specific guidelines are provided for withdrawal from alcohol, opioids, benzodiazepine and sedative hypnotics.”

Sen. Krawiec said that at a recent meeting of the Child Fatality Task Force she asked legislative staff for data on which counties administer medication to opioid-dependent inmates, and was told that policies vary from county to county.

The staff is putting together a report, which Krawiec expects to receive on

triad-city-beat.com

have a prescription for the medication.

The medical plan goes on to say that “inmates on methadone or similar substances receive appropriate treatment for methadone withdrawal syndrome.

Pregnant inmates entering the facility on methadone treatment are continued on the treatment, when possible.”

Correct Care Solutions also contracts with Guilford County. The company’s May 2014 proposal to provide health services to county detention facilities does not specify whether inmates with prescribed opioid medication to treat

News Opinion

Investigative Journalism 101 class Saturday, Jan. 16 at 1 p.m.

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$15 donation.

TCB sustainers and students get in free.

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January 13 — 19, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

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HIGH POINT JOURNAL Redistricting opens competition for school board seat to two cities

by Jordan Green

The Democratic primary for the newly drawn District 1 on Guilford County School Board pits Keith McCullough, a graduate of Andrews High School, against Dianne Bellamy-Small, a former member of Greensboro City Council.

High Point traditionally had two districts on the Guilford County School Board, but starting with this year’s election one of them will also include parts of Jamestown and Greensboro.

The reconfiguration resulted from legislation passed by the Republican-controlled General Assembly and filed by Sen. Trudy Wade in 2013 that reduces the number of seats on the school board from 11 to 9, eliminating one at-large seat and one district seat, and changing the election from nonpartisan to partisan. The new lines mirror a redistricting plan imposed on the county commission in 2011 that succeeded in its mission to give Republicans an electoral advantage.

The Democratic primary on March 15, which will determine the representation of District 1, pits incumbent Keith McCullough, a High Point resident, against Dianne Bellamy-Small, a former member of Greensboro City Council.

McCullough, a program specialist in the Office of Sponsored Programs at Winston-Salem State University, was appointed to the board six months ago at the culmination of a mishap-laden process involving the appointment of two candidates who turned out to live outside the district. The train of errors was set in motion by former member Carlvena Foster’s election to Guilford County Commission, creating a vacancy in District 1. Christopher Gillespie, the first appointee, resigned in March 2015 after learning that his home address was not in the boundaries of the district.

He publicly apologized, saying that he assumed that because he lived in the Andrews High School attendance area, he also lived in District 1. The school board next appointed Edward Squires to fill the vacancy, but he withdrew his name from consideration after residency documents revealed that he also lived

Dianne Bellamy-Small

Keith McCullough

outside of the district.

District 1 includes Andrews High School and Penn-Griffin School for the Arts in High Point, and Ragsdale High School in Jamestown. The majority of the district’s elementary schools — Montlieu, Parkview, Fairview, Triangle Lake Montessori and Union Hill — are in High Point, while two — Frazier and Sedgefield — are in southwest Greensboro. The three middle schools in the district are spread across the three municipalities: Welborn in High Point, Allen in Greensboro and Jamestown Middle School.

“I want to continue to advocate for our youth and make sure there’s a voice in High Point that represents High Point,” McCullough said. “I’m a product of what at that time was High Point City Schools. I know there’s an opportunity for our schools to do well. I want to make sure those opportunities are presented in a fair and equitable way.”

McCullough emphasized the needs of Andrews High School, where he graduated, and Welborn Middle School during an interview.

“I want to lift up that under the School Choice plan, students of any background who would usually go to Andrews and Welborn are not able to go because those schools are tainted

with the unfair reputation of not being good schools, and that’s not the case at all,” he said. “The student population is going to other schools. Historically, students in District 1 have gone to Andrews and Welborn. There’s also the issue of lack of resources that’s causing a big issue in terms of student retention and being able to offer students the support they need. We’re fighting a battle that’s difficult to win without proper resources.”

McCullough said he’s the best candidate because he knows the community in High Point, and people there know him, adding that he has volunteered extensively through professional networks and his church.

Bellamy-Small and McCullough agreed that it’s not ideal for the new district to straddle the two cities, but Bellamy-Small insisted that if elected she would capably represent all the children in the district.

“I spent seven years working in the old High Point school system,” she said. “I was a home-school coordinator.

For 30 years I have maintained good relationships with people in High Point.

Good representation is good representation. I can provide that for High Point, Greensboro and Guilford County.

I want people in High Point to under-

stand that I’ve been in most of their schools. I’ve subbed in their schools. I’m going to bring that to the table. I think I can bring High Point certainly a voice.

Wherever I am, I’m going to try to bring information, empowerment and engagement.”

Bellamy-Small served on Greensboro City Council from 2003 to 2013, but lost in an upset to Sharon Hightower.

She ran unsuccessfully against Foster in the Democratic primary for the District 1 seat on the county commission in 2014, and then went down in defeat in a rematch with Hightower for the District 1 seat on Greensboro City Council just two months ago.

Bellamy-Small notes in her campaign literature that she opposed a downtown teen curfew passed by Greensboro City Council in 2013, arguing that it was unfair to punish all teenagers for the actions of some.

“It was significant that you were going to ban all kids between 12 and 17 for one incident,” Bellamy-Small said. “I had to insist on community meetings to figure out what do the kids want. I’m really pleased with the Saturday Night Lights program that came out of my advocacy.”

In addition to going to bat for young people as a member of city council, Bellamy-Small said she has a wide range of experience in the educational arena, from parenting a child in the school system to training teachers, teaching GED classes and working for an agency that promoted parent advocacy.

“Do we question when someone has been a classroom teacher and they go back to school to be a principal?” Bellamy-Small asked. “Do we say that person should stick to being a teacher? Maybe that person has decided that ‘now that I know how to be a classroom teacher, maybe I can move to another level.’ I want to be of service, and to me that’s not about going to chicken dinners.

Why can’t people just trust that that’s my motivation?’”

Both McCullough and Bellamy-Small emphasized closing the achievement gap as a priority.

many advanced-placement courses on average as their predominantly nonwhite counterparts.

“My feeling is that system-wide that all high schools should be offering the same courses and then when you say that Dudley [High School]’s students aren’t ready to take the courses, let’s

address that. The statistic that I heard that was the most disturbing is that minority kids graduate four grades behind white kids. If you say those kids aren’t as intelligent, then why are you letting them graduate with an eight grade level of education and they can’t get into college?”

Up Front

uation rate, as they say, the devil’s in the details. A lot of those students are graduating with a 2.0, but a lot of colleges won’t even look at you unless you have a 2.5,” Bellamy-Small said. “But you’re allowed to play athletics with a 2.0.

You’ve got an African-American male whooping it up on the basketball court, but they’re not prepared for college.

That’s not fair to that kid.”

Bellamy-Small said a recent study showed that predominantly white schools in the district offer three times as

triad-city-beat.com

“It’s important that we keep an eye on the disparity that we have,” McCullough said. “There are numerous reports that show that our black kids are being left behind simply because of the way things are being presented currently. The way things are being done, black kids are missing the mark. Making sure all students excel is the ultimate goal.”

Bellamy-Small sounded a similar theme.

“Even though Guilford County Schools has improved their overall grad-

News

Recycle this paper.

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January 13 — 19, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

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OPINION EDITORIAL

Triad gets cut off Among the many reasons the state of North Carolina should get out of the booze business is that the state increasingly sucks at it.

It is the state cartel, and not the free market, that decides what kind of liquor can be purchased at their stores — and served at our bars, though in defiance of the laws of supply-side economics a single-bottle purchase comes at a better rate than alcohol bought by the case. The state dictates both the hours of operation and the clientele, through the membership law, of straight-up liquor bars. And in its wisdom, it has determined just how much beer is enough for the state’s small brewers to make.

Olde Mecklenberg Brewery’s 2015 output — approximately 20,000 barrels — was enough to keep it under the state’s threshold of 25,000, after which breweries must cede distribution of their product to one of the third-party beer-shipping companies that long ago divided up the territories.

Olde Meck has their own trucks and drivers, and their own supply chain that included a 5,000-square-foot hub in Greensboro, where beers like the Gold Medal-winning Mecktoberfest awaited delivery to Triad bars.

But 2016 projections showed them breaching the 25,000-barrel limit, meaning they’d have to hand off their beer at the source in Charlotte and pay to have it shipped up here, or they’d have to cap production to maintain their in-house distribution.

In the end, it must have been cheaper to contract, because Olde Meck announced the closing of its Triad distro facility on which they’d already invested $130,000 just last year.

“In order not to underserve Charlotte — our home market — we are preemptively pulling out of the Triad,” founder John Marrino said in a press release.

It’s similar to a play made in 2013, when the General Assembly attempted to pass a law requiring all cars sold in the state to be run through third-party auto dealers, a law designed specifically to keep Tesla from selling cars in our markets.

That one never made it to the governor’s desk, but North Carolina’s liquor laws have been on the books for decades.

Like Tesla, the supercharged, fully electric car, Olde Meck is a business for a new century. But unlike Tesla automobiles, which are made in California, our craft beer movement is homegrown. There are about 150 breweries in North Carolina — more open just about every month.

It’s one of the things, apparently, we do best.

We need laws that recognize the beer industry as one of the few in our state that’s actually growing. Instead, we have ones that seem designed to tie the hands of a blossoming industry.

CITIZEN GREEN

Trouble in the Promised Land

Stopped in Charlotte and bypassed Rock Hill/ And we never was a minute late/ We was ninety miles outside of Atlanta by sundown/ Rollin’ ’cross the Georgia state We had motor trouble it turned into a struggle/ Half

by Jordan Green way ’cross Alabam’/ And that ’hound broke down and left us all stranded/ In downtown Birmingham — “Promised Land” by Chuck Berry A rock-and-roll travelogue penned by Chuck Berry and released in 1965, “Promised Land” exudes a boundless optimism that is quintessentially American.

Given the era when the song was released, I always wondered if there wasn’t a sly allusion to the 1961 Freedom Rides, when Ku Klux Klan mobs with police collusion firebombed a Greyhound bus full of racially integrated passengers in Alabama. Or maybe, the “trouble” is only mechanical, and the song is celebrating the freedom of unhindered travel in the year after the passage of the Civil Rights Act. Either way, there is trouble in the Promised Land 50 years on, and it didn’t bypass Rock Hill. On Jan. 8, a 56-year-old flight attendant from Charlotte named Rose Hamid sat quietly in the audience at a Donald Trump rally in Rock Hill. As Trump began questioning the motives of Syrian refugees, saying “they are probably ISIS,” Hamid rose and stood silently, wearing a hijab and a T-shirt reading, “Salam, I come in peace,” according to a report by CNN. Soon after, supporters of the Republican candidate around her began chanting, “Trump! Trump!

Trump!” and security escorted Hamid from the building.

The mood on the campaign trail is darkening as it inexorably winds toward the North Carolina primary on March 15. Marco Rubio, who is considered the GOP establishment candidate, stumped in Raleigh on Sunday at the NC State Fairgrounds before an estimated 900 people — considerably fewer than the 8,000 who crowded Trump’s appearance at Dorton Arena in the same city last month.

Then, on Monday, Rubio pivoted from his message of aspiration and optimism to the bleak pessimism of his rival Trump in an appearance in Sarasota, Fla. Rubio cited unnamed public opinion polls that say millennials believe the American Dream no longer applies to them, the New York Times reported.

“Here in America, anyone who works hard can leave their children better off then themselves,” Rubio said.

“That is the real American Dream. But today, it is dying.

It’s not dying because our people have changed. They haven’t. It’s dying because both parties in Washington,

quite frankly, both parties have let us down.”

But while Trump gives his supporters the electrifying validation of their hatred towards refugees, Mexican immigrants and other scapegoats, Rubio has nothing to offer but the same tired litany about small government and deregulation they’ve been hearing since the Reagan administration. Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, has completely abandoned his brief flirtation with immigration reform, toeing the hardline of the party’s conservative base.

Beneath the patina of optimism, Rubio’s core economic message can only be heard as a crushing rebuff towards young people on the margins looking for a fair shake.

Consider his scolding lecture on the notion of raising the minimum wage during the Fox Business Republican debate in early November.

“In the 21st Century it’s a disaster,” Rubio said. “If you raise the minimum wage you’re going to make people more expensive than a machine. And that means all this automation that’s replacing jobs is only going to be accelerated. Here’s the best way to raise wages: Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand a business.”

He’s the young face of the GOP with values that mesh perfectly with the aging, white core of the party. While the 44-year-old senator scorns “outdated” ideas and derides Hillary Clinton as a “leader from yesterday,” Rubio opposes same-sex marriage and marijuana legalization, while championing NSA surveillance. He’s a young man who has been working hard to be old since he was in his early twenties.

In the meantime, the rhetoric on the Democratic side sounds good, but will voters believe it? Having failed to achieve single-payer healthcare, Obama’s legacy healthcare law remains piecemeal and inadequate for many Americans. And while giving lip service to immigration reform, Obama has earned the unsentimental nickname “deporter in chief,” with ICE scooping up Central American refugees in the middle of the night and sending them back, in many cases, to certain deaths in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

Bernie Sanders has called on Obama to extend temporary protected status to refugees; Clinton has not.

“Will you deport children,” Univision reporter Jorge Ramos asked Clinton during the Iowa Black & Brown Forum on Monday.

Her answer at least betrayed a measure of empathy, but came nowhere near complete assurance.

“I would give every person, but particularly children, due process to have their story told,” Clinton said. “And a lot of children will, of course, have very legitimate stories under our law to be able to stay.”

Medallion system for newspaper boxes

by Jordan Green

Bowie: My hero, forever and ever

Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

Anthony Harrison is Triad City Beat’s sports writer.

This piece also appears on Bust magazine’s website.

Opinion

It’s easiest to point that out with regards to his persona and performance aesthetics. Of course, you can hear it in his music, too.

But David Bowie’s voice could change even quicker than his wardrobe.

The man held multitudes in his vocal cords: A deep, rich baritone to a screeching, scratching tenor and everything in between, with different colors and tessituras for any of his cast of tonal characters.

As much as Bowie had going for him, he worked with brilliant collaborators, too.

He worked with one of his heroes, Lou Reed, to produce Reed’s mainstream breakout, Transformer — at least, as much as Reed really “broke into” the mainstream. “Fame,” Bowie’s first big hit in the United States, arose from a studio jam with John Lennon. The Berlin Trilogy, composed of Low, Heroes and Lodger, featured Brian Eno as synth/keyboard player, with luminaries like Robert Fripp and Iggy Pop appearing on different tracks. “Under Pressure,” one of the greatest collaborations in rock history, came about during a debauched late-night session between Bowie and Queen front-god Freddie Mercury. Trent Reznor composed a popular remix of “I’m Afraid of Americans” off Bowie’s late-’90s industrial outing, Earthling, which wound up being more successful than the original. Bowie and Mick Jagger boned that one time.

When you’re immensely famous in the music world, I guess you can play with anyone you want to. Bowie, in a way, seemed to be paying tribute in his collaborations.

He worked with artists who directly influenced him, or ones he seemed to directly influence, or both. That’s why his collaborations seem so vital and natural: Instead of grasping for relevance, he’s simply going with the flow while still staying true to his art.

That may be Bowie’s most impactful effect on me as a musician or a creative person in general: He played what he wanted to play. He looked how he wanted to look. He sang how he wanted to sing. And it didn’t matter if it was within one song or one album or one decade; the man just did what he could with everything he had absorbed.

Moreover, he was never afraid of being the weird kid at the party; he embraced his oddity, and people loved and respected him for it. And he never stopped figuring out new ways to work it.

No matter how much his art transmogrified over the decades, David Bowie was always David Bowie.

I’m shaken in realizing there’s nothing next, only days after he released a new album. On his 69th birthday, no less.

He wasn’t done yet. He could’ve kept going.

Forever and ever.

News

If they’re worth a s***, artists and their art change over time.

In that, David Bowie wasn’t unique.

Other artists in the relatively new art form of rock music undertook enormous,

by Anthony Harrison paradigmatic shifts with regards to their music and style in the ’60s: the Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Velvet Underground, the Beach Boys — I could continue. Everyone with ears knows the ’60s were a tumultuous time artistically.

What made —still makes — David Bowie unique is his consistent, constant transition.

David Bowie didn’t just change style every few years, every few albums: Within a single album, Bowie’s sound bounced from one genre to another. If you listen to any example from his classic period — from Hunky Dory to Lodger; the whole of the ’70s, for chrissake — you’re listening to transmissions of genius from a truly kaleidoscopic mind. Bowie was some musical sponge, soaking in everything he’d ever heard in his life and spewing out another godsend whenever he squeezed his brain to produce another record. Hell, you look at Ziggy Stardust, and you’ve got everything from proto-punk and arena rock to balladry and show tunes.

Again, here, he’s not unique. The Beatles did it. The Velvets did it, too.

But there’s just something about how Bowie did it.

There just is an intangible power to how he approached his material. Something undeniably theatrical and literary, but without pretention or phoniness.

You could cherry-pick influences or label a song as krautrock or blue-eyed funk or industrial jazz or whatever.

But then, there are the Bowie songs.

Like, what the f*** even is “Starman”?

If you’re lazy, call it glam rock. But Gary Glitter is glam rock. Gary Glitter can’t lick Bowie’s boot.

“Starman” in itself shows more stylistic turns than some musicians achieve in the course of their careers.

Acoustic strumming of folk rock (but in unsettling major-sevenths, with the seventh as the root note!), funky drums and bass line skipping to the tense staccato piano/wah-wah guitar break, the baroque swell of strings — all of these elements meld together, pieced together into a cosmic aural mansion from rickety foundations to flourishing ornamentation. It all culminates beneath one of the most transcendently beautiful guitar hooks of all time, with the addition of an understated, yet rough’round-the-edges Les Paul chugging along on rhythm.

That’s a lot going on in one song, let alone one chorus.

And his voice…

Everyone calls Bowie the chameleon of rock and roll.

Up Front

Prior to regulation, the taxicab market in large cities like New York and Chicago had a “Wild West” quality: an oversupply of vehicles, often poorly maintained, with operators recklessly plying the streets to edge each other out and get the attention of passengers. To address the problem, most cities have adopted a medallion system to limit supply.

Newspaper boxes in Triad cities are a lot like the taxicabs of the early 20th Century in New York and Chicago: They proliferate on streetcorners and clog public space in a kind of arms race to command the attention of passersby with offers of automotive ad sheets, real estate guides and, lastly, journalistic publications of varying quality. When the demand for the product in the boxes diminishes, there’s no economic incentive to take them out of commission. Consequently, many boxes sit empty, deteriorating and causing visual blight. When new players come on the scene, it’s almost impossible for them to compete in the crowded, visually cluttered marketplace (yes, I’m a little bitter).

I propose that each of the three largest Triad cities establish street media circulation commissions to regulate newspaper boxes. In each city, each publication could be issued 10 medallions per box (or whatever amount the cities and industry representatives agreed upon). Each medallion would be issued for a nominal fee, say $5 per year, to cover the cost of administering the program.

Anyone with any experience in Triad print-media distribution knows that 10 downtown boxes is more than enough to meet readership demand for any publication.

Every box holds 100 papers, but few publications need to stock more than 50 papers per box. And putting aside the derelict boxes, I would wager that the vast majority of the boxes receive no more than 20 papers with 75 percent returns at the end of the weekly cycle.

Everyone in the newspaper business would certainly like to see more robust readership numbers, and it makes sense for the number of street boxes to grow with market demand. Any publisher who feels that their quota of 10 boxes is insufficient to meet demand for their product should be allowed to bid for additional boxes in an open auction held once a year. Let’s say each city should have 20 boxes set aside for the annual auction.

Any of these numbers could be adjusted, with input from representatives of the publications. And in fact, a city employee heading each of the street-media circulation commissions should convene an annual meeting of the publishers prior to the auction to set quotas. The publishers know the market, but the city employee, as a neutral arbiter would have the final say. The system would incentivize newspapers to take boxes off the street where demand has fallen off, preserve breathing room for newspapers that have real appeal, and create a more aesthetically pleasing environment for everyone in our cities.

FRESH EYES

triad-city-beat.com

IT JUST MIGHT WORK

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January 13 — 19, 2016

Closing the loop

The most important construction in Greensboro isn’t a high-rise or a performing arts center. It’s a road that will change everything.

Cover Story

by Brian Clarey

“The big key is the loop” says Greensboro City Councilman Jamal Fox, “The loop and Phase II.” Fox represents District 2, where what he claims is the most crucial section of the Greensboro Urban Loop is in the early stages of construction.

“You tell me another project in the entire city that’s going to bring people in and out of the city every day.”

Maps of his district fill the wall space in his modest office in Melvin Municipal Office Building, most of them concerning the outlying area on the northeast fringe of Greensboro. He’s got digitized maps tilted against the walls, stacked atop satellite-image maps and digitally designed concept maps. More maps, run off a computer printer, hang at eye level on the shelf above his desk. A gold ceremonial shovel crusted with dirt leans into the corner.

Phase II, also known as the Cone Boulevard Extension, will connect vast, isolated tracts in his district to the rest of the city and the state, bringing opportunities for development to a part of the city that hasn’t seen much attention since talk of reopening the White Street Landfill died down.

It should all be done by 2022, and though most of the loop itself is already functioning, the last few miles — the most important ones, according to Fox — require a lot of heavy lifting before completion.

on each side.

It curves past Buffalo Lake on its way through town, giving access to communities old and new on either side: Kirkwood, Irving Park, O Henry Oaks, the Mill District, Rankin Farm. It unloads at the juncture of Highway 29 and the old Carolina Circle Mall, now a mega-strip mall anchored, also fittingly, by a Walmart.

Cone Boulevard itself is part of a loop, joining at Battleground with Benjamin Parkway and then Wendover Avenue to encircle three-quarters of the city’s core, catching downtown in a pincer movement, sort of a Pac-man bite. The Wendover artery connects the interior with points east, through Burlington, and west, through northern High Point. Benjamin spins off into Bryan Boulevard, an expressway opening up the northwest part of the city running directly to the airport.

But Cone, after connecting with Highway 29, continues on for a promising mile and then, just after 16th Street, unceremoniously stops at a stand of temporary orange hazard markers holding back the wilds of the northeast fringe of the city.

Now Cone Boulevard is awakening, greeting the scant vehicular traffic with groans of trucks and glimpses of freshly turned earth. When it finally fulfills its destiny in 2022, it will connect with Interstate 840, which is the official name of the Greensboro Urban Loop.

Closing the loo Closing the loop 16

The boulevard named for the Cone family who brought large-scale industrialization to Greensboro begins, fittingly enough, at a McDonald’s on Battleground Avenue.

From there it quickly moves eastward, over Lawndale Drive and into the fringe of New Irving Park, where a median splits the road into two ample lanes

The urban loop is a tweak to the Interstate Highway System, which itself is perhaps the most important component of the nation’s infrastructure, envisioned as far back as 1916 and finally built by President Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s. Interstate 85 claimed its original route along the southeast edge of Greensboro in 1960, with Interstate 40’s southern parabola coming on around the same time.

By then the project’s first urban loop — the 695 Beltway around Baltimore — was already open to traffic.

The urban loop is both a concession to the reality of urban traffic and a solution to it. The freeways allow vehicles — trucks, mostly — to pass by without getting caught in high-density traffic. At the same time, a loop pulls traffic from its interior, easing congestion on a city’s arterial flow.

And with the cars come economic activity. A loop

By 2022, Cone Boulevard will extend three miles through the woods at the fri

triad-city-beat.com

inge of the city to connect with the urban loop. Services like sewer and water will need to be extended to this rural area as well.

DANIEL WIRTHEIM

17

January 13 — 19, 2016 Cover Story Most of Greensboro’s urban loop is already completed. When it’s done, residents on the north side of town will have faster access to the highway and the airport.

18

creates points of ingress to the city, with exits populated by gas stations and convenience stores, strip malls, hotels and motels. Residences go up, first townhomes and condos, and then full-fledged commuter neighborhoods strengthened by proximity to the highway.

A complaint with urban loops is that they encourage sprawl and car travel, dilute municipal services and create further insularity among communities. But in Greensboro, where all of those things already exist, the loop may have the effect of reining in the city.

From the bird’s eye, the map of Greensboro looks like a turtle that’s been squashed under the wheels of a tractor-trailer on the highway. A barrier of lakes to the north screens the city from Summerfield and Browns Summit.

Piedmont Triad International Airport defines the west end while growth to the south and southwest is blocked

by Pleasant Garden, Jamestown and High Point. Only the northeast corner of the city has enough undeveloped and unincorporated land for growth. There are more creeks than roads out this way, in the acute angle formed

by Highway 29 and Wendover Avenue, and the Cone Boulevard extension will run right through the heart of it on its way to the loop.

Greensboro’s partially constructed loop already shaves 20 minutes or so off the drive from the airport to the southern reaches of the city. Truckers taking Interstate 85 can now route around the city instead of driving through it. When complete, it will create a route through the north

COURTESY IMAGE

from the airport with spokes at Battleground, Lawndale and Elm leading to downtown, and give residents of those longstanding neighborhoods easy access to the highway.

Closing Most of it is already done.

About 25 miles of the 40-mile lasso that will encircle Greensboro has already been constructed, reclaimed or re-routed since City Manager James Townsend hired a street engineer named Willard Babcock to deal with the huge influx of cars on city streets in 1953.

Babcock’s plan, adopted by city council in 1954, overlaid a set of concentric circles — loops — around the city that included the one now formed by Cone and Benjamin.

on the table for decades, its halting progress spurred, Councilman Jamal Fox says, by demographic shifts and changing traffic patterns.

“Everybody started using 29 to get to DC and Virginia,” he says. “And we got folks stuck in commutes out there that have to go through town to get anywhere in our city.”

He moves around the maps that line his downtown office, repeating the mantra — SIF — that guides his efforts.

“SIF,” he says. “Strategic, intentional and focused. What I would hate is if [the loop] were to come through and we weren’t prepared for it.”

By the time the loop is finished in 2022, it will affect thousands of acres along the north side of town, particularly pockets of undeveloped land at the Battleground interchange and the raw terrain that will eventually be traversed by Cone Boulevard.

Fox’s vision includes a central park off Cone with athletic fields and trails that build on the existing Keeley Park, new residences and commercial properties.

“I believe this area can hold four hotels,” Fox says, angling a map of a planned infill development so it catches the light. It’s slated to be built in the wedge formed by Cone and 29: a couple hotels, a retail strip mall, a movie theater, a bowling alley.

“I said, ‘We need a bank out here,’” Fox says. “We need some meaningful projects. We have the rooftops. We’re trying to make it an entertainment area — you can shop here, you can play here, you can invest here, you can live here.

“You show me another geographic location in Greensboro that has this great of an opportunity,” he continues.

Investors have been online for years now, waiting for the roads, he says.

Near the eastern leg of the loop, in the crook where Business 85 meets 840 and Interstate 40, the McConnell

Center, a 140-acre industrial park, broke ground in 2008.

Its only current tenant is an O’Reilly Auto Parts distribution center. Developer Roy Carroll built Innisbrook Village Apartments just across the street, and Marty Kotis has a 28-acre parcel near where the loop runs into Wendover — by 2022 it will be a $25 million shopping center.

Greensboro holding company AnnaCor Properties has 42 undeveloped acres nearby.

The city owns property out there too: the Sportsplex, the wastewater treatment plant and the White Street Landfill. The Cone extension will run right through another parcel that, right now, is nothing but trees.

Closing t In all, the Greensboro Urban Loop should soak up about $1 billion — more if implementation doesn’t keep up with inflation. The leg running along the northeast corner from Wendover to Highway 29 comes with a price tag of $112 million, paid for with state DOT funds. But the Cone Boulevard Extension, with a relatively low cost of $11 million, remains unfunded. It’s the final hurdle in the rejuvenation of this corner of Fox’s district.

“When you talk about transportation funds,” the councilman lets loose a long exhale. “That’s a tough one. It’s a city project, but at the same time it’s a state road.”

The Cone interchange isn’t scheduled until after that section of the loop is completed in 2018, and will perhaps be active by 2022, 70 years after the Babcock Plan was crafted to bring Greensboro into the modern world of automotive transportation.

The original architects of the plan knew they likely wouldn’t be around to see the fruits of their handiwork, but the young councilman, who turns 28 this month, thinks he might see the results of his labor.

“I plan to still be here in 50 years,” he says.

Closing the loop This sort of development in the northeast has been

triad-city-beat.com

The Babcock plan gave us Wendover Avenue and elevated Holden Road from a country lane into a main artery on the west side and anticipated the urban loop, which came to be known as Painter Boulevard, decades before it seemed necessary. The plan also laid out a blueprint for the city’s development that would serve the next 50 years.

The state got serious about the urban loop for its third largest city around 1989, finally approving a plan in 1995 and finishing construction on the first segment, a two-mile stretch connecting Wendover with 40/85 in the west, by 2002.

Today the the loop begins — or ends — at Bryan Boulevard at the northern end of the airport, with a southerly stretch that includes a rare highway stop sign before entrance to Interstate 73, one of the newer roads in the system that will eventually run from Myrtle Beach through West Virginia but which for now is confined to a stretch from Greensboro to Randleman.

Here, 73 crosses the westernmost edges of Friendly Avenue and Market Street and then cuts across Interstate 40 through the Adams Farm area. This piece of 40 along the south side of the city was briefly renamed Business 40 and the interstate rerouted. But after complaints about confusion from drivers, the state got permission from the feds to change it back.

Now 73 merges with Interstate 85 where the loop continues its counterclockwise roll, along the southern border of Greensboro and deep into the rural space of Pleasant Garden before turning north through McLeansville. Here, after 24 miles of loop, proper signage for Interstate 840 marks the last few miles, which dump off into a very easterly part of Wendover Avenue, just a quarter turn from the planned Cone Boulevard interchange.

Gov. Bev Perdue gave the final go-ahead for Greensboro’s urban loop in 2011, releasing the state highway funds necessary to complete the northern stretch. The four segments begin at the airport, then cut across Battleground, Lawndale, North Elm Street and Yanceyville, connecting with Highway 29 and that final northeastern stretch.

You can see the T-shaped risers coming up on the North Battleground and Lawndale in the northwest.

In the relatively uncharted territory of the northeast, the westbound lanes already announce themselves above the tree line out by Rankin Mill Road and Hines Chapel Road, two of the three that define the wide open space that includes the White Street Landfill where, on a clear day, you can see the cranes off in the distance from the top of the tallest mound.

The roads don’t always connect out here; some of it is the city and some isn’t. Wide patches of clear-cut rubble stand among trailer parks and small urban farming operations. One fenced-in yard holds about a dozen sheep.

Campgrounds of concrete and rebar and fresh-turned dirt bloom in the spaces between cable cuts and homesteads while, just a couple of miles and what seems like a world away, the city sleeps.

District 2 Councilman Jamal Fox has been looking for opportunities in this part of his district.

Maps of the area line his downtown office.

BRIAN CLAREY

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January 13 — 19, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

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CULTURE A new coffeeshop and a divine stuffed cookie

by Eric Ginsburg

man two generations my senior quietly paced, marveling at the grand room around him with each careful move. He looked as if he could be retracing his steps, as if this extravagant coffeeshop had once been his childhood home, but his eyes betrayed a sense of wonder that is more aligned with discovery.

It’s because — he told me as I watched in the front room of Camel City Coffee — he and his wife once owned a place like this. He pointed to the modified Ionic columns inside by the staircase, mentioned the fireplace in the adjoining den, and reached out to touch the molding of a doorframe. He described his former home like he inhabited it a lifetime ago, suggesting that someone probably built this reconfigured home just outside of downtown Winston-Salem around 1890 as well. (According to property records, his estimate was about 20 years early.)

But knowledge of architectural style and memories wrapped up in a building like the stately structure that houses the new Camel City Coffee and Tart Sweets aren’t necessary to be taken by it. The front steps up to the porch and columns are imposing enough, but the Oh you heavenly beast. We are not worthy. real magic is inside, where an eggshell-blue front room with high ceilings, upscale matching furniture and elegant chandeliers greet visitors. nearby table, taking his leave.

The counter, covered in treats such as apple cake I reveled in those few minutes before a trio of teens visible in a display case, is through an open doorway burst in. straight ahead, and to the right, a room with additionIn a space this unparalleled in Winston-Salem, or al seating. Out back, a brick patio encircled by greenery the Triad, I wanted to soak up its grandiosity without awaits. distraction.

In the main room, a woman accompanied by three My first time in, I could barely do anything besides young kids talked on the phone, sharing that she’d observe the meticulous Christmas decorations, the returned to the coffeeshop where she’d come with the impressive fireplace, the towering columns. I ordered a person on the other end of the line, joking that their hot cider, sat in wonder, and slipped out. great experience felt a little different with the children When I returned, I managed to take in the assortin her counterpart’s stead. ment of goodies supplied

by Tart Sweets — it helped By the window behind her, along a side wall, two that the woman and three indecisive kids were ahead millennials — probably college students at UNC School of me in line, and I encouraged them to take their time of the Arts — appeared to be trying to figure out if this so I could take stock of my options. coffee meet-up qualified as a date, Southern pound cake, four kinds both hoping that it did. of macaroons, cinnamon crumb Visit Camel City Coffee Before long, two women joined muffins, chocolate croissants, and & Tart Sweets at 848 the marveling man (presumably an enticing espresso brownie. But I his wife and granddaughter) from W. Fifth St. #110 (W-S), settled on the chocolate chip cookie another room, taking in the space camelcitycoffee.com or dough cheesecake bar — the name is together. His wide-eyed progeny said reason enough — and Tali’s masala tartsweets.com. she’d love to live in a home like this chai tea. Both good choices, but as one day, and the man offered that soon as the cashier rang me up, I they would’ve sold her theirs if they spotted the stuffed cookies in a different container by could. the register.

A moment later, they left, and before long the I knew immediately that I’d need to try one. house-turned-café had reverted to me, the lone guest.

In college, when I used to drive back from GreensI soaked it up for those couple dozen seconds before boro to Massachusetts, I’d reward myself on the trek a man in a security guard uniform who appeared to be with a Chipwich, which cost too much to justify unless unwinding after a shift walked in for a latte. I waited under such special circumstances. I later found an him out, and after a while he surrendered his post at a

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ERIC GINSBURG

M&M knockoff for $1 at Bestway Grocery, but it didn’t exert the same power.

Now, these stuffed cookies are around the original Chipwich price, and aren’t quite the same — rather than ice cream in the center, the chewy chocolate chip cookies sandwich a sort of soft, handmade marshmallow that will smush out the sides if squeezed. They aren’t frozen either, which has its perks, including the chance to save it for later during my drive down Business 40.

And more importantly, the taste of this Tart Sweets treat can accurately be described as divine. Seriously.

Suddenly, though no longer there, my view of the Camel City Coffee shop had been inverted, no longer ranking the ambiance, structure and décor as the primary reason for showing up. No, no. Now it’s that soft, overwhelmingly – sinfully – delicious fist-sized digestif.

Pick of the Week Fresh foods and the ancient order Black Snow Ball II @ Krankies (W-S), 7 p.m. Saturday A dinner party with a touch of elitist sensibility and a dinner by Krankies, which has been on top of their culinary game since 2015, makes Black Snow Ball II the place to be. To give it an extra edge the Ancient Accepted Order of the Black Lodge is offering a prelude and benediction. The Black Lodge is a mysterious speakeasy type joint lurking in the WinstonSalem shadows. This is one stimulating dinner party.

Visit krankiescoffee.com for more information.

triad-city-beat.com

by Eric Ginsburg

Up Front News Opinion Cover Story

The bar at the Greensboro Marriott Downtown defies expectations created by the building’s forlorn exterior.

Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

loper, but after more than an hour we watched the man — who had hardly looked up at the noise erupting around him as Alabama and Clemson each scored early touchdowns — pick up his coat and head for the elevator.

I heard a server tell a guest that the bar would be open until 1 a.m., much later than other proximate venues on a Monday evening, but as 10 p.m. came and went, it looked like the crowd would linger long enough to justify it.

Erin and I eagerly agreed that we felt disoriented. There are no windows in the bar, the elegant white lobby mostly obscured from view and itself not a visual reference point for passersby.

The exterior camouflages the hotel, and us in turn, allowing us to forget our geography.

That’s no easy feat in a city you’ve called home for almost a decade, especially if you live half a mile a way, in a city where you can’t get lost downtown.

Fun & Games

out of their rooms upstairs and into far as a Rebel IPA, as one businessman the common area, where they wagered had, or Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat, about each team’s chances and ordered though the wine list proves to be beers with their meals. But guests often more extensive and the food selection hang out at the tables, bar and lounge includes snacks that can be out in five area, our bartender said. minutes or appetizers in 10.

The staff hadn’t anticipated a turnout A hiply dressed man, maybe 35, imquite this strong, in part because the mediately caught our attention. Sitting expected 23-percent alone with a glass of red occupancy had leapt to wine in front of him, a figure in the 60s. With his brow permanently Visit the bar at the the holidays squarefurrowed as he stared Greensboro Marriott into his phone, captivatly behind them, the Downtown at 304 N. ed yet clearly scrolling business travelers had returned. casually, he stood out Greene St. (GSO).

The cocktail menu is instantly. He was, it what you’d predict from turned out, the only a mid-range hotel such as this, with a person drinking alone, probably the Tommy’s Bombay Collins that tastes youngest person in the bar besides us, dangerously like lemonade and hides and — in addition to appearing a little the gin well, a stiff Grand Old Fashioned distraught — out of place. with Maker’s Mark and Grand Marnier This is not the image of the lonely and the newly debuted Moscow mule man at the lonely hotel bar I’d conjured with a welcomed ginger kick. An advenin my mind before stepping inside. We turous beer drinker could only reach as wondered if he, like us, was an inter-

ERIC GINSBURG

Culture

Greensboro is not, by any stretch of the imagination, the type of city where you could get lost downtown. Certainly not if you’d lived there for the better part of a decade.

The downtown of North Carolina’s third largest city is developing rapidly, locals will tell you, but it still lacks the depths of center cities in places like Asheville, Durham and even nearby Winston-Salem. The action is concentrated on the main drag, so much so that when I asked my friend Erin to meet at the downtown Marriott’s bar for a drink, she struggled to find it, despite the hotel being one of the larger structures hulking on the city’s skyline.

The downtown Greensboro Marriott is, for most residents, an eyesore, its dirtied exterior a reminder of the not so distant doldrums of the city’s recent past that it is in a hurry to forget.

There’s talk of new hotels downtown, more than a couple actually, something that excites people who seem almost embarrassed by the forlorn Marriott.

After some navigational help, Erin pulled into one of the many empty street parking spots in front of the Marriott on Monday night, with a lone limousine as the only thing stopping her from stopping directly in front of the door. At just a little after 8 p.m., two members of the janitorial staff at an office building across Greene Street — who were emptying the trash together — were the only movement on the block, the one sign of life.

Few seem to ever concern themselves with wondering what might take place inside, the existence of a bar perhaps not occurring to them. Or if it did, they might picture a dimly lit room where Sinatra plays to a couple lonely businessmen drinking alone, and where a slight but discernible musty scent rises from the carpeting.

But it isn’t that there is nothing to speak of, or muse about inside. It’s just that nobody invited the locals to the party.

As soon as we stepped inside the Greene Street entrance to the downtown Marriott we could hear the sounds of a full house. The national college football championship on televisions had, most likely, drawn a few parties

The forgotten Marriott

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January 13 — 19, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

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CULTURE Doug Davis completes three quarters of a cycle in recording project

by Jordan Green

oug Davis considers himself a musical jack-ofall-trades.

“I’m not a great guitar player, I’m not a great singer,” he said as he sat in the coach-house studio behind his home in Winston-Salem’s West Highlands neighborhood. “If anything, I focus on my songwriting. That’s probably why I diversified. I’m a great fan of music. Being diversified allows me to do everything.”

He’s selling himself way short, although as an industry pro, he typically brings what the gig requires rather than imposing his vision on the project at hand. As the guitar player with Mediocre Bad Guys, a band comprised of friends in Winston-Salem and Mount Airy, Davis plays shredding guitar — melismatic, grandiose and full of emotional charge. His singing voice possesses a dusky soulfulness, not unlike the British rock guys in the early ’70s who were trying to emulate Otis Redding, particularly his work with cover bands and the occasional song with the Bad Guys.

His modesty and ability to pull back from his own ego is part of what makes him an in-demand producer —he’s worked with everyone from local indie-folkers Vel Indica to “American Idol” contestant Chris Daughtry. Producing music, along with recording for television shows like “The View” and “Saturday Night Live” and performing in cover bands, has provided a living.

Yet the truest document of Davis’ creativity as a musician is his output with his band the Solid Citizens, JORDAN GREEN Doug Davis has pursued an avocation as a songwriter and recording artist while making a living which includes Susan and Lee Terry, respectively on vioas a producer and cover-music performer. la and electric guitar, bassist Ken Mohan and drummer Dan DesNoyers. On the band’s 2008 debut album Penmore material than I’ll use. The EPs allow me to hedge When the final EP is released, Doug Davis & the Solid ny Brown Penny and even more so on the thematically on that.”

Citizens will have two hours of recorded music. Initiallinked series of three EPs released from 2013 through The EPs are built around seasonal themes, beginning ly, he had planned to distill the complete output into 2015, Davis’ singing is more restrained, showing traces with the autumnal A Pageant of Gold released in Janua single album, but he said at this point he’s not sure of the ’70s folk-pop of artists like Jackson Brown or ary 2013 and continuing through winter-based The Rivhe’ll follow through.

Tom Petty, with a melancholy ache betrayed by the er Running Slow and the spring-themed When the Lilies One unanticipated downside of incrementally recatch in his vocals. The broken-in sound of the band is Bloom, which came out in November 2015. Each of the leasing the music is that the format doesn’t really lend Americana tinged with soul and classic-rock influencEP titles is taken from the lyrics of “June Parade,” the es. Davis’ songwriting is literary without being pretenlead track from A Pageant of Gold. A forthcoming sumPick of the Week tious. mer-themed EP will complete the cycle.

Davis is a prolific songwriter by habit. He and a The format is a partial cheat on one of Davis’ most All snuggled up handful of musician friends have dearly held principles.

Rock and Roll Pajama Party @ Kohinoor Hookah something they call the “Mon“I have bands come into the Palace (GSO), 8 p.m. day Morning 3 a.m. Club,” a kind To check out Doug Davis studio, and say, ‘I’ve got 10 This is a BYOB event, meaning bring your own of loose agreement to write a songs. Let’s make an album,’” he blanket. Maybe bring some pajamas, as well, but & the Solid Citizens’ music, song every week. said. “I always tell them: ‘I want don’t get too comfy. New York-based band and visit reverbnation.com/ His work as a producer has you to answer the question headliner the Due Diligence balances the exciting dougdavisandthesolidcitizens. informed the curation of songs yourself: How many of these edge of garage rock with the lyrical edifice of a on the three EPs, although the songs are really good?’ For the Brooklyn acoustic act. They offer plenty of exciting experience has imparted new listener, we’re all inundated with musical turns and call-and-response moments to insights and he might do things differently if he were so much music. It’s so hard to find gatekeepers. When bring you out of the blanket fort. The Due Diligence to do it again.

I was growing up the album was sacred. You waited is joined by the noisy Greensboro act Secret Posi“As a producer, one of the first things I work on is I for it because it was a real statement. With the EPs, I’d tion and local true-blue songwriter Matty Sheets & want to see a lot of material,” Davis said. “Every artist like to think this is a good way to let people in on the the Stone Cold Rollers. Find the Facebook page for should go through a culling process. I like to write a lot process.” more information.

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Opinion

appeal of the two acts are so widely divergent.

He betrays no sense of bitterness about the comparative challenges of playing original music, but rather seems to accept that each pursuit yields different rewards.

“With the cover stuff it’s a guarantee that there’s gonna be hundreds of people,” he said. “There’s a craft to it, no doubt. I don’t look down on it. But the songs have already been written. The work is basically done. I live for getting into the trenches and playing original music.”

When Davis and his bandmates put out the first EP, they talked a lot about the sanctity of the album.

“The album is an aesthetic package that makes sense, like a movie,” he said.

“It’s still important to tell a story over an album length, and a lot of people have lost that over streaming and shuffling. What we’ve been doing with the Solid Citizens takes a wide-screen sensibility. You’re not gonna confuse it with the hot, new single. We want people to listen to it and experience it, and realize there’s a story that needs a little bit longer to tell.”

triad-city-beat.com

itself to a concerted touring effort and marketing push. The band celebrated the release of When Lilies Bloom at the Garage in Winston-Salem in November and has performed in Chapel Hill, but otherwise the band members’ various schedules have prevented them from playing out much. Davis said booking concerts is the aspect of the music business that he enjoys the least.

“It’s very important to me that we live in the songs,” he said. “I’m a producer — that’s my day job — and I’m a firm believer that songs need to breathe so that when you turn on the mic it acts as a document of what the live band is doing. I would love to be playing this stuff out more.”

The care and effort that Davis puts into his work with the Solid Citizens is almost inversely proportionate to his expectations of commercial success from it. On New Year’s Eve, he played with a cover band for a about a thousand people at Ziggy’s, but he would feel fortunate to draw 45 people to a Solid Citizens show. The cover band shows are handled by a booking agent, but Davis dismissed the notion that the agent would be interested in booking the Solid Citizens because the popular

Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

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January 13 — 19, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

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CULTURE Christopher Lubinski and the persistence of vision

by Daniel Wirtheim

series of black and white photographic prints capturing moments of Greensboro’s music scene spread across the table, each bearing a serial number next to the subject’s name like the cataloged moment of a bygone era. Each one, attributed with neat graphite print to the name C. Lubinski, offered itself to the attendants as a token to the photographer’s legacy.

On a Saturday night at the Elm Street coffeeshop Urban Grinders, a group of musicians and friends frequently caught in the crosshairs of Christopher Lubinski’s camera remembered the photographer and artist who died of cancer on Dec. 13 at the age of 64.

Lubinski’s prints, glasswork and photography spread along the venue’s walls like ivy. A series of lively, celestial circles within a collection of prints bearing titles like “Helios II” and “Age of Copper IV” hangs next to linocut prints, a series of framed photographs, and a spine-like glass sculpture.

A projector cast a series of images that Lubinski had taken of the Bronzed Chorus, the F- Art Ensemble and other local performers onto a screen while musicians took turns at a microphone planted near the front of DANIEL WIRTHEIM Christopher Lubinski, who passed away last month at the age of 64, spent the last the crowded coffeeshop eight years of his life as an unsolicited documentarian of Greensboro musicians.

Lubinski, an artist of many mediums, had left USSR-controlled Poland for the United States as a eye. him little monetary compensation. For as long as he young man. He settled in Connecticut as an educator “I’m kind of taking his role,” Singer said. “He was can remember his father was “simply taking pictures in glass art, photographing life on the side before realprobably taking most of the pictures around.” non-stop,” George said in an email. izing that Greensboro would be a more affordable and According to Singer, Lubinski thrived when it came “He was an old man and the people [in Greensboro] comfortable place to live. And Lubinski continued to to movement, choosing to aim for camera blur rather made him feel young,” George wrote. “My father lived photograph, spending the last eight years of his life as than portrait-styled photographs. Taylor Bays, fronta very difficult life and the trials of day-to-day life were an unsolicited documentarian of events for musicians man of Taylor Bays & the Laser Rays, said Lubinski had always a source of difficulty for him, but something who were often half his age — not unlike one happena way of capturing reality in a way that most photograabout the music and people made him feel a great ing around the table of photographic prints. phers never do. amount of joy.”

Local musician Anna Luisa Daigneault, better known Bays said Lubinski would sometime irk a subject The table with photographs was growing bare by on the scene as Quilla, became who had no idea they were being the end of Lubinski’s Life Celebration. Those printed closer to Lubinski in the last six photographed. Lubinski aimed for images of spectators and musicians, frozen moments months of his life than she ever candid shots and disliked when of elation and determination, left with the living.

Christopher Lubinski’s art had, driving the artist to and from Bays would make faces and put on will be on display at Urmedical appointments and caring a show for the camera.

Pick of the Week ban Grinders in Greensboro for his cat. Along with Greens“It makes sense that he would The big screen boro-based musician Ben Singer, throughout January. The get on me for hamming around,” Film Screenings @ SECCA (W-S), 7:30 p.m.

Daigneault organized and perBays said. “His photography was Piedmont Print Co-op will Born into a powerful newspaper-magnate family, formed at the event: Chris Lubinsa testament to his appreciation host a series of Lubinski’s Lucy Daniels refers to the moment when she was ki: Art Show and Life Celebration. for real people, real life and real work in the spring.

4-years-old whenher sister told her a family secret Daigneault pointed to a blackmoments.” as the single most important factor that steered and-white print hanging in one Perhaps Lubinski’s appreciation her life, which ended up being pretty sweet when corner of the room and said that for the arts is best stated in his she won the Guggenheim Award in Literature it reminded her of her first day in Greensboro. Lubinski own words, on a website that he created, lazycatarts. before she turned 22.

It’s the story filmmaker Elistook it at her Greensboro debut at CFBG in 2012. After com. abeth Haviland James follows in her documentary the show Daigneault met Lubinski for the first time “I believe that medium is secondary to the idea of In So Many Words. James uses multiple storytelling and they debated over a sub movement in the history art and changing it from time to time keeps the mind mediums to get the story across, and she’s available of photography. He loved to discuss art, Daigneault fresh allowing the artist to find new ways of expressing after the screening to take questions. Filmmaker said. an idea,” Lubinski wrote. “For me art is like ‘candy for Joshua Gibson screens two short documentaries on During the event, Greensboro musician Singer the mind’ and it is very important part of my life.” the cultures of the American South and West Afriweaved in and out of the chairs, aiming a camera at Lubinski’s son, George Lubinski, said that his father’s ca, as well. Visit secca.org for more information. the stage and attendees, shooting whatever caught his unrivaled passion in life was art, even when it brought

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Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

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January 13 — 19, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

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FUN & GAMES

If the gods are for us…

ollege basketball, for favor. And the Quakers, no matter what, could not me and many other make a shot fall. Their shot selection, for all intents North Carolinians, and purposes, couldn’t have been better, but that ball represents serious business. just would not drop into the net, taking bad bounces We all have our loyalties — and rolls off the rim. mine largely reserved for the Meanwhile, EMU couldn’t miss.

Tar Heels. I frame many clearThe Royals seized the momentum with that first cut, dualistic conflicts by this steal and hit two clutch three-pointers to open the

by Anthony Harrison frame of reference: Carolina game with eight unanswered points. is to light and good as Duke And they kept hitting threes. And hitting them. And University is to darkness and evil. hitting them.

But I didn’t attend UNC-Chapel Hill. I graduated The Quakers seemed stunned by the onslaught. from Guilford College.

On an EMU inbounds play late in the first quarter, Thankfully, they possess solid basketball programs senior forward Jess Rheinheimer nailed an uncontested for both men and women, and on Jan. 9, I went to Jack shot. Then, their freshman guard Zaria Credle stole Jensen Court to watch the Lady Quakers host the EastGuilford’s own inbounding play for another quick ern Mennonite University Royals. score.

Both teams were well matched, At that point, the Royals led as far as their win-loss records the Quakers 21-8. showed; Guilford had won 10 Flamini called time out.

My mind couldn’t help but with one loss, and EMU had won “Where was [Credle]?” Flamini frame this contest in a nine and lost two games. I figured asked her seated team rhetoricalcomparison between good ly. “You’ve got to talk! You can’t it would be a nice matchup. and evil, light and dark, Surprises abounded. just sit there.”

Spoiler alert: EMU routed GuilAfter that fiery rebuke, the Carolina versus Duke. ford. More on that soon.

Quakers picked up any and all Secondly, I really got into the slack. contest on an atavistic, tribal level.

They dominated the second quarter with a hustling Boss man Brian Clarey always told me when I started press and clever passing. Quick twos and that witherwriting this column, “No rooting from the press box,” ing defense stemmed the hemorrhaging; they pulled but this was a different kind of experience. I really within four, 32-28, at the half. wanted my alma mater to tally another tick in that left “We’ve got to pick it up on defense,” Flamini told me column. as her team returned from the locker room to warm But finally — and this is where dualism and regionback up. “That’s why we’re back in the game. And shot alist fidelity enter the picture — my mind couldn’t help selection. We’ve missed some layups like we’re not in but frame this contest in a comparison between good it. And rebounding — we’re getting outrebounded right and evil, light and dark, Carolina versus Duke. now.”

For one thing, Guilford head coach Stephanie FlamiSure enough, Guilford maintained their defensive ni steered her team towards trying to play the way energy and started producing second-chance shots Carolina head coach Roy Williams instructs his team on offensive rebounding, thanks to strong efforts in to perform: Smart two-point shots, hitting the boards boxing out from their forwards and sophomore center hard, oppressive defense, hustling for the fast break.

Jordyn Brown.

Good old-fashioned basketball.

But you can’t take the lead if those shots won’t fall.

Meanwhile, the Royals played like Duke: Try to shock the opponent with a blitzkrieg of threes. Grind down their confidence. Demoralize them.

Unfortunately for the Quakers, it worked.

While Guilford junior forward Anais Weatherly tipped the jump ball Guilford’s way to start the game, EMU quickly took possession of the game with senior guard Alicia Ygarza immediately stripping the ball from Guilford junior guard Amy Steller. Fast break, layup, Royals on the scoreboard with two points.

Sometimes, physics don’t fall in your

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If you ask me, I’d rather see a missed two than a missed three. Mid-range jumpers typically can be recovered via offensive rebounding; again, it’s all in the physics. Bricked threes just go wild.

Guilford started getting desperate and throwing up three-point attempts. And they were missing.

Still, they weren’t dumb shots. They just… weren’t going through the hoop.

Meanwhile, EMU was getting the royal treatment from the basketball gods as well as the officiating staff.

At one point, Rheinheimer went to the ground and lost possession of the ball — I saw it nearly out of her grasp. But the ref called it a jump-ball situation, granting possession back to the Royals.

This bad call drew intense scrutiny from the home bleachers.

“She didn’t have the ball!” a handful of Quaker fans screamed.

Flamini, meanwhile, paced the sideline with an angry strut, eyes rolling, biting her lip and shaking her head.

Officiating couldn’t halt the inevitable, though.

The Royals coasted away with the road win, 66-51.

I found myself deflated. Before, I’d exhaust myself emotionally only after Carolina games ended this way.

But my loyalty to my alma mater ran deeper than I expected.

And sometimes, the hoop gods and physics just aren’t on your side.

Pick of the Week MLK b-ball MLK Day NC Scholastic Classic @ Greensboro Coliseum (GSO), Jan. 18 If you’re looking to get out and about on your day off — you lucky duck, you — and you want to see some great basketball, head over to the coliseum.

Some of the best high-school basketball players in the state will be playing in the 14th Annual MLK Day Scholastic Classic. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for children 12 and under; the games start at 12:30 p.m, with Dudley High School facing off against Trinity Christian at 3:30 p.m.

Fresh food & natural ingredients from Margarita’s garden Breakfast Lunch • Dessert • Juice bar

Wine Packaged goods • Catering services

•

•

•

•

Patio area available for gatherings & meetings

mannysuniversalcafe.com

321 Martin Luther King Jr Dr. • Greensboro

(336) 638-7788

‘Worst of Pop Culture, 2015’ a year to remember.

by Matt Jones Across

Culture

Some CDs Nissan hybrid Cones of non-silence?

Cattle site Gives a leg up to Sacrificial figure Part of Roy G. Biv Visionary Market research panel

Cover Story

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Opinion

Down

10 Love, in Xochimilco 11 Massive quantity 13 “Yeah, about ___ ...”

14 Prefix meaning “one-tenth” 20 It’s designed to stay up all night 21 “Punky Brewster” star Soleil Moon ___ 23 Trinket in “The Hunger Games” 24 Totally destroy 27 “___ a stinker?” (Bugs Bunny catchphrase) 28 Back twinge 30 Hedgehog of Sega fame 31 “M*A*S*H” character 34 Nutsoid 35 Like craft shows 36 High degree 42 “Messiah” composer 43 In the future 45 Go nuts with a whole season, e.g.

46 “Fantastic” character in a Roald Dahl novel 47 1/16 of a cup, briefly 48 Et ___ (and others) 49 Baby boomer followers 52 Get from ___ (make progress) 53 Doofus 54 Glasses, in comic book ads 56 Hosp. locations 58 Cries of surprise

News

44 Little ___ (“Languages for Kids” learning series) 45 Short-lived Rainn Wilson cop show, listed on Yahoo’s Worst TV Shows of 2015 47 Change places with one’s wrestling teammate 50 ___ of Sauron 51 Seafood selections 55 Power shake need 57 Rooster’s morning perch 59 Choir 60 Mix it up (var.)

61 2015 Adam Sandler movie that got an epic ten-minute review/rant from “MovieBob Reviews” on YouTube 62 Much-maligned 2015 reality show which put contestant couples in the titular enclosure (later to be interviewed by therapists)

Up Front

1 Muppet with an orange nose 5 Certain physical measurement, for short 8 “___ first you don’t succeed ...”

12 Short, shrill sound 13 ___ fro 15 “___ arigato, Mr. Roboto” 16 Poultry herb 17 Nomadic mob 18 Class with graphs, for short 19 2015 superhero film reboot with a 9% score on Rotten Tomatoes 22 Iggy Azalea/Britney Spears collaboration, listed on Entertainment Weekly’s Worst Singles of 2015 23 “Mission: Impossible” character Hunt 25 “Full,” at a theater 26 Hatha and bikram, for two 29 Weather map lines 31 Get hold of again 32 Feline tooth 33 President who’s thanked a lot?

37 College in New Rochelle, New York 38 “Oh, yeah!”

39 Santa-tracking defense gp.

40 Paper wounds 41 Canadian vocal tics that aren’t as commonplace as Americans think 42 Doesn’t say outright

triad-city-beat.com

GAMES

Fun & Games

Answers from previous publication.

Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

©2016 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com)

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28 All She Wrote

Shot in the Triad Games

Fun & Games

Culture

Cover Story

Opinion

News

Up Front

January 13 — 19, 2016

SHOT IN THE TRIAD

Yanceyville Street, Greensboro

A room with a view.

PHOTO BY CAROLYN DE BERRY

triad-city-beat.com Up Front

News

Opinion

Cover Story Culture

Fun & Games

Games

Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

29

e (at 13): Mother I need an evening gown.Mother: What for?Me: I’ve been invited to a dance at Woodberry.

Mother: Jesus Christ Nicole, you’re not Bianca Jagger going to Studio 54 — you’re going to a prep school dance.

Me: What’s the difference?

Mother: About 20 years and sequins.

M

by Nicole Crews

When I was cleaning out my mother’s house I came across a stack of neatly sorted, handsome stationary secured with an orange ribbon. Within its folds I discovered the “he said” to my “she said” — the answer letters of my first epistolary romance.

They were from my bad-boy boyfriend who, much to my parents’ delight, was tidily tucked away in Orange, Va. — some four hours away.

Not so tidily tucked was my friend “M,” who, much to my parents’ chagrin, was back in town, freshly bounced from boarding school du jour.

M and I would leaf delicately through our own perfume-scented stationary and write virtual tomes to our beloveds. Hers at Episcopal — mine at Woodberry.

Mother: If you girls spent as much time studying as you do writing those letters you’d be in graduate school by now.

Me: I’m learning how to write. Doesn’t that count for something.Mother: Just do your homework Barbara Cartland.

Me: Ugh. Barbara Cartland is not a writer. She’s a pornographer in period clothing. We’re going to M’s.

Modern love

M: Well at least you can wear pierced earrings.

Me: That should go over well with mother.

M: Just wear earmuffs.

Me: Until I’m 18?

M: At least.

From shoplifting dares to Cosmo sex-quiz prank calls to smuggling joints in our knee socks to second-story midnight leaps — we were well on our way to ruin. We were also damn lucky we didn’t get caught. My prep-school bad boy didn’t fare so well. His career at Woodberry morphed into a stint at rehab — and this was when rehab was more of a dirty word than celebrity rite of passage.

He’s since gone on to be a successful artist and functioning adult. In fact, I ran into his brother just the other day.

Me: Hey, you won’t believe what I found cleaning out mother’s house — a stack of love letters from your little bro.

Brother: That’s hilarious. Those were the days, eh? Back when you had to stand in line for the pay phone at the end of the hall to call your girlfriend.

Me: Yeah, no kidding. Not like today where the kids just send pics of their body parts.

Brother: That’s really sweet that you saved them — the letters.

Me: Well, it was a sweet time. Jane Austen vs. the era of the Kardashian sex tape. Plus it was early training for becoming a writer. I’m still working on it — but I have your family to thank.

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My friend M smoked in her room, ashed on the shag carpet, wore Lacoste tennis dresses with combat boots and chased stolen bourbon with mouthwash. She had a bound and engraved scrapbook given to her by her mainline Philadelphia grandmother which she used to display her impressive array of detention slips and letters of expulsion. She made Lolita look like a lightweight and would have eaten Courtney Love for lunch. She could also work a clutch, and in junior high school that was a highly marketable skill. In short, she was the coolest thing to hit our town since over-the-counter diet pills.

M: We should take my dad’s Jag and go see the boys.

Me: Um, crossing state lines in a stolen vehicle without a driver’s license might not be the best course of action. I think I can wait for the dance.

M: You’re no fun. Let me pierce your ears then.

Me: Ah, the art of the compromise.

M: Speaking of — did you get a dress for the dance?

Me: Yeah. It’s white eyelet and it has ruffles.

It’s practically a christening gown.

Photography by Sara Lyn

January 13 — 19, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

30

ALL SHE WROTE

The Merit Pit Bull Foundation strives for a compassionate world where pit bull type dogs live in responsible homes and where owner education, training and anti-cruelty legislation support all pet owners regardless of breed. www.themeritpitbullfoundation.com

(336)618-PITS

(336)310-6920

deoducedesign.com

triad-city-beat.com

Investigative Journalism 101 class Saturday, Jan. 16 at 1 p.m. $15 donation.

TCB sustainers and students get in free.

Email jordan@triad-city-beat.com for more info or to reserve your spot.

Gate City Vineyard is a modern, Christian church that exists to serve the community around us. Our desire is to help people of all ages and backgrounds grow in their understanding of God. At the Vineyard you can come as you are and be yourself.

Whatever your thoughts about church, whatever your beliefs about God … you are welcome here.

gatecityvineyard.com

336.323.1288 204 S. Westgate Dr., Greensboro

Gra ha m H o lt ATTORNEY

C r i mi n a l • Tra ffi c • DW I

336. 5 01. 2 0 01 P.O. Box 10602 Greensboro, NC 27404

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Three friends passionate about exceptional food and entertainment.

Mary Lacklen • Allen Broach • Bob Weston

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31

HIGH POINT UNIVERSITY

Monday, Jan. 18 at 7 p.m.

FOX8 WGHP Don’t miss this inspiring and informative conversation with one of the nation’s revered leaders.

High Point University’s Access to Innovators Series

Colin Powell

Having held senior military and diplomatic positions across four presidential administrations, General Colin L. Powell’s deep commitment to democratic values and freedom has been felt throughout the world. In a wide-ranging conversation exploring USA (Ret.), Former U.S. Secretary of State

Powell’s upbringing, education, philosophies and achievements, High Point University President

ENJOY THE CONVERSATIONS THAT INSPIRED THE HIGH POINT UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY.

Nido Qubein helps us see the essence of a man who has left an indelible mark on America. Originally aired on PBS, General Powell’s encore appearance runs exclusively on FOX8 WGHP as part of HPU’s ongoing commitment to community service. Don’t miss it!

STEVE WOZNIAK

Monday, January 25

SETH GODIN

Monday, February 1

MALCOLM GLADWELL

Monday, February 8

MONDAYS AT 7 P.M. JANUARY 18 MARCH 7 FOX8 WGHP TOM BROKAW

Monday, February 29

WES MOORE

Monday, March 7

JOHN MAXWELL

Monday, February 15

KEN DYCHTWALD

Monday, February 22

OTHERS IN THE SERIES

CONDOLEEZZA RICE

BONNIE MCELVEEN-HUNTER

Share the conversation. Email communication@highpoint.edu to request a complimentary DVD of the Access to Innovators Series.

AT H I G H P O I N T U N I V E R S I T Y, E V E R Y S T U D E N T R E C E I V E S A N E X T R A O R D I N A R Y E D U C AT I O N I N A N I N S P I R I N G E N V I R O N M E N T W I T H C A R I N G P E O P L E . highpoint.edu