TCB Feb. 3, 2016 — Stories: Winston-Salem's race to the sky

Greensboro / Winston-Salem / High Point triad-city-beat.com February 3 – 9, 2016

Stories Winston-Salem’s race to the sky PAGE 16

Voter ID trial wraps PAGE 8

Racy ladies PAGE 24

Irata’s snowblind PAGE 22

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Feb. 3 — 9, 2016

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Wolfgang Puck’s Newest Concept Chef inspired fare in a family-style format FRIENDLY CENTER / 607 Green Valley Road, Greensboro, NC 27408 / 336-854-0303

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Hot Dog Mike

by Brian Clarey

26 UP FRONT

OPINION

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

14 Editorial: IDs for all!

14 Citizen Green: The chips are down, the spoil is coming in 15 It Just Might Work: Dressing up the cultural center 15 Fresh Eyes: Subverting education for democracy

NEWS 8 Federalism vs. Jim Crow in voter ID trial 10 GSO College backs off 12 HPJ: Another shot at downtown revitalization

COVER 16 Stories: Winston-Salem’s race to the sky

CULTURE 20 Food: Guilt-free chicken 21 Barstool: From pit stops to his

own destination 22 Music: Irata from the storm 24 Stage: Racy ladies

FUN & GAMES 26 Tales from the pit

GAMES 27 Jonesin’ Crossword

SHOT IN THE TRIAD 28 Wake Forest Road, Winston-Salem

ALL SHE WROTE 30 Making a break for it

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

The right to vote is fundamental. The courts have said that’s the right upon which all others rest.

— Judge Thomas Schroeder, who is expected to rule on North Carolina’s voter ID law, page 8

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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CONTRIBUTORS

SENIOR EDITOR Jordan Green

SALES EXECUTIVE Lamar Gibson

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Eric Ginsburg

SALES EXECUTIVE Cheryl Green

NEST EDITOR Alex Klein

SALES EXECUTIVE Jennifer Kelly

EDITORIAL INTERNS Joanna Rutter

SALES EXECUTIVE Korinna Sergent

allen@triad-city-beat.com

brian@triad-city-beat.com

jordan@triad-city-beat.com eric@triad-city-beat.com

alex@triad-city-beat.com intern@triad-city-beat.com

dick@triad-city-beat.com

lamar@triad-city-beat.com

cheryl@triad-city-beat.com

Cover photography by Calob Smallwood

nest@triad-city-beat.com

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EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

CONTENTS

Mike Rothman moves like a karate master behind the grill at Skippy’s Hot Dogs in downtown Winston-Salem. Every movement contributes to the larger task, which is getting lunch out to a couple hundred wiener-lovers every day.

He’s got about seven raw dogs prepping on the back right corner of the griddle. From there they’ll move to the back end of the orderly row next to it and move, one slow rotation at a time, to the finish. By the time Mike pulls them off, each has a perfect bark of char. He uses just one side of the griddle, reserving the other half just in case.

He turns out one order at a time. Each pretzel bun gets a cut down the middle and a few seconds in the microwave, then some time on the griddle. This gives it a chewy skin and a toasty inside, able to withstand just about any sort of topping, even chili, without falling apart.

Each dog gets a cut down the middle, allowing it to cook more evenly, sure, but also to make a bed for the toppings, which can be prodigious at Skippy’s, though even a plain hot dog has something going for it with that pleasant, crispy char.

The tray of fries rests atop the microwave to Mike’s left; they go one batch at a time into the fryer a few steps to his right, always hot, always crispy.

The Chicago Each pretzel bun gets dog gets yellow a cut down the middle mustard in the cut, the pickle spear and a few seconds in the and tomato wedge microwave, then some on opposite sides of the dog. The time on the griddle. green relish, chopped onion and banana peppers go down the middle, in that order. Yep, every time.

The Reuben, too, gets mustard down the middle, but a different kind of mustard than the ChiDog. The Swiss cheese is melted atop the toasty side of the bun. Sauerkraut goes on top, so you don’t get mustard all over your face.

Each table — five 4-tops, a 2-top and a couple round tables at the windows that can seat six people max — gets ketchup, salt, napkins. There’s plenty more if you run out.

It’s like this all day, every day, until 4 p.m. Seven on Fridays.

If you don’t get your hot dog before then, you’re out of luck.

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

jen@triad-city-beat.com

korinna@triad-city-beat.com

TCB IN A FLASH DAILY @ triad-city-beat.com First copy is free, all additional copies are $1.00. ©2015 Beat Media Inc.

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Feb. 3 — 9, 2016

CITY LIFE February 3 – 9 ALL WEEKEND

2016 US Olympic Table Tennis Trials @ the Greensboro Coliseum (GSO), 10 a.m.

Yes, ping-ping is a real sport, and yes, there is fierce competition to make it onto the US team. Find out who will bring us glory in Rio, keeping an eye out for Olympic hopeful Bill Guilfoil, who happens to be 93 years old. Admission is free 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday if you care to watch the warm-ups. More details at greesborocoliseum.com.

by Joanna Rutter

THURSDAY

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution @ Winston-Salem State University, 7 p.m.

From director Stanley Nelson, winner of RiverRun 2015 Master of Cinema Award, comes a film telling the story of the Black Panther Party, its movement and the rise of the revolutionary culture of the 1960s. The preview screening will be followed by a panel conversation featuring former leaders of the Winston-Salem Black Panthers. The screening’s free, but you’ll need to RSVP at riverrunfilm.com ahead of time.

Bombadil and Lowland Hum @ Krankies Coffee (W-S), 9 p.m.

Durham duo Bombadil tours their fifth album Hold On, full of folk-pop adorkable charm, while Greensboro husband-and-wife team Lowland Hum bring their acclaimed sophomore album to life with essential oils and homemade songbooks shared with the audience. More details can be found on Krankies Coffee’s Facebook page.

WEDNESDAY

Democratic Congressional Forum @ Guilford County Democrats HQ (GSO), 7 p.m.

Young Democrats of Guilford County sponsors a forum between the three Democratic candidates for the 6th District who are vying for Rep. Mark Walker’s seat come November: Bruce Davis, Pete Glidewell and Jim Roberts. Topics for discussion include foreign affairs and the economy, obviously.

Visit the Young Democrats Facebook page for more information.

Professor Toon @ the Loud Room (GSO), 8 p.m.

Durham hip-hop producer Professor Toon’s new LP Take Notes displays impressive range and lyrical stylings fitting of his title. He’s performed alongside big names like Meek Mill, but at the Loud Room, he’ll be sharing the stage with more local names like Burlington rapper OC from NC. Go to crankitloud.net for tickets.

Must Be the Holy Ghost @ the Crown (GSO), 9 p.m.

Greensboro’s Lowland Hum and Winston’s Must Be the Holy Ghost might have some sort of Freaky Thursday arrangement as they swap cities. Jared Draughon’s psychedelic-grunge solo project toys with looping layers of sound accompanying haunting vocals; get there in time to catch the opener, Pleasures, which dabbles in the same electronic territory. Visit the carolinatheatre. com to get tickets.

FRIDAY

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Salam Neighbor @ Guilford College (GSO), 6 p.m.

The first filmmakers allowed to set up a tent inside a refugee camp, two Americans plunge into capturing the daily life and struggles in a Jordanian refugee camp in Salam Neighbor. The screening is hosted in part by Every Campus a Refuge, a Guilford College organization which will be hosting a Syrian refugee family on campus this year. Following the film, there will be a Q&A with the filmmakers and a virtual-reality exhibit. Reserve free tickets on guilford.edu.

triad-city-beat.com

First Friday @ Downtown GSO/W-S Now that the holidays and the ugliest part of winter is over, it’s time to do your cultural duty, put on your coat, and march downtown for First Friday. Don’t-miss events in Greensboro include a performance at GreenHill by SUAH African Dance Theatre at 6:30 p.m., the opening of Stewart Knight’s art show Wolves Wishing the Forests Delight at Urban Grinders, chocolate samples from La Palette at Just Be, and new dance works by Fringe Festival artists at 6 p.m. in the Cultural Center. The gallery hop starts in W-S at 7 p.m.; make sure to check out the opening of mixed-media show Rock, Paper Scissors at Piedmont Craftsmen and a staged reading of Bash: Latterday Plays at 8 p.m. at the Theatre Alliance.

SATURDAY

Between the World and Me discussion @ Scuppernong Books (GSO), 2 or 4 p.m.

88.5 WFDD’s Book Club returns for its third meeting to discuss National Book Award winner Between the World and Me by Atlantic regular contributor Ta-Nehisi Coates, a memoir written as a series of letters to his teenage son that sorts through memories of senseless racial injustice in the land of the free. Trust that Toni Morrison isn’t messing around when she calls this book “required reading.” Go to wfdd.org to RSVP. Belt-making workshop @ Centennial Trading Company (W-S), 6 p.m.

Think Build-a-Bear Workshop, but with actual hides instead of velour ones.

Professional makers will guide DIY diehards through the whole process (and make sure nobody gets hurt), from sizing the custom belt, cutting a strap from a full hide, punching holes, and fitting the buckle. And there’ll be beer. Space is limited; grab tickets at centennialtradingco.com

SUNDAY Super Bowl 50: Carolina Panthers vs. Denver Broncos, 6:30 p.m.

The Panthers have pounded their way to the very top; to miss this game would be downright anti-Carolinian. Parties will be happening everywhere imaginable in the Triad, from Stumble Stilskins in Greensbor to Reanimator Records in Winston. If all your other plans fall through, just follow the sound of TCB sportswriter Anthony Harrison’s cries of joy or sorrow, depending on how the big game goes.

Intro to African-American genealogy @ High Point Library, 3 p.m.

African Americans face distinct challenges when trying to uncover the stories of their ancestors. This class, which covers the basic steps for getting started on the journey, will be led by archivist Marcellaus Joiner of the Heritage Research Center. Find out more at highpointpubliclibrary.com.

Comedy at a 4d10 intensity Coming February 11-21, 2016 Written by Qui Nguyen Directed by Jim Wren Visit theatre.uncg.edu for prices and showtimes For information call 336-334-4392 or Triad Stage at 336-272-0160 Showing at Taylor Theatre, 406 Tate St., Greensboro, NC 5

Feb. 3 — 9, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

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Spelling problems Your editorial [“Spellings’ test”; Jan. 27, 2016] indicates that the Boston Consulting Group was contracted by Ms. [Margaret] Spellings as the new UNC System president. However, the Schools Matter website reports that an anonymous donor is paying for the study.

If the study is indeed necessary, then shouldn’t the UNC System go through the legally required Request for Proposals process to select the contractor, and then pay for it themselves either with existing UNC funds or money donated to and deposited by UNC to then be expended on the study?

Had the contract been vetted through the regular process, then BCG may have been disqualified due to being Ms. Spellings’ former employer and, as such, a huge conflict of interest.

This is a matter that the North Carolina legislature needs to look into, as the UNC system is not a private entity like Ms. Spellings’ other previous employer the Bush Foundation.

K. Anderson, via email Same-sex sacraments Great article this week on the Episcopal Church situation [“Citizen Green: The Episcopal Church, from elite to rejected”; by Jordan Green; Jan. 20, 2016], insightful, provocative and appreciated. I’ve shared it with a number of folks.

Ironic timing, and also appreciated, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in High Point (my church) has a new deacon beginning with us soon, Larry Conrad who was to be ordained last Saturday at Canterbury School (this is to be rescheduled due to snow).

Included in his brief self-introduction in print, via our church newsletter, Larry indicates that he married David in 2013, after 25 years of dating. I look forward to meeting, welcoming Larry to St. Mary’s.

Paul Siceloff, High Point Forget the chicken, try the fried mushrooms TJ’s may be the best deli in town [“Forget Chick-fil-A: Here’s the only chicken sandwich you nee”; by Eric Ginsburg; Feb. 1, 2016], but you missed out by stuffing your belly with the super-size sammich and not making room for what might be the best thing on their menu, the fried mushrooms! These aren’t your family-style restaurant frozen fried mushrooms.

Imagine fresh button mushrooms tossed generously in that same buttermilk batter and deep-fried to GBD (Golden Brown Delicious) perfection. Due to impatience and anticipation, one never fails to singe their tongue on the first mushroom, bitten way too early, when it releases its magma-esque liquid contents into your mouth. And by God, it’s worth it every time! If you’re a shroomophobe, then they also do equally delicious fried vegetables as an appetizer. Next time you’re there, you have to start with that. Skimp on the sandwich if you have to, just for the opportunity!

Mark, via triad-city-beat.com

My 4 favorite Greensboro hiding spots

by Joanna Rutter 1. Sacred Garden Bookstore There’s something very peaceful about finding a corner of this city that it seems few others have discovered. The Sacred Garden Bookstore on Fisher Street is among my favorites. It’s affiliated with Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, which is why it’s delightful to find writings from every faith tradition on their shelves, covering subjects such as Buddhist philosophy and Sufi poetry. I’ve eaten lunch many times in their kitchen/cafe, mystified that I always seem to be the only person around.

2. Jules Antiques On First Fridays, I’m usually only interested in doing one thing: heading to Jules Antiques on South Elm, accepting a free cup of white wine and slipping into their back garden, where ancient farm equipment provides seating in an ivy-walled garden that can’t be bigger than 15 by 20 feet. I’m sure this tiny plot of land is no more than a property zoning oddity, but just let me believe that the brick buildings grew around the garden as a matter of course. Unfortunately, Jules Antiques’ closing is imminent, and I’m praying whoever takes over maintains the charming secret garden and keeps it accessible.

3. The Central Library I like to hide at the Central Library, but any public library will do, really. Mandatory hushed voices and armchairs by big sunny windows make it a comfortable place to escape from the crowd I tend to run with, which favors neighborhood coffee joints. The more time I spend there curled up with a book, the more counterintuitive that seems, since no obligatory latte purchase is necessary for the wi-fi or seating real estate. It’s a secret everybody knows, but not everybody takes advantage of, which makes it a perfect sanctuary.

4. The airport This is the deepest cut of all hiding spots: at the Piedmont Triad International airport, in the parking garage area near the baggage claim, is one of the most enormous fountains I’ve ever seen. It’s a staircase-like installation that cascades down toward the parking lot, creating a rather impressive roar when it’s turned on during the warm months. And there’s a ledge to sit on and watch. This is a guaranteed, fail-proof location to hide under any circumstances, offering a mod-architectural retreat from the rest of the city. If you see a frizzy-headed girl reading there, you’re welcome to join me.

‘The Spoils Before Dying’

by Eric Ginsburg It takes a minute to realize that the frumpy, old bearded man slumped into his chair and swigging wine in the opening sequence is a well-disguised Will Ferrell. But what immediately drew me to “The Spoils Before Dying,” a 2015 TV miniseries now available on Netflix, is the presence of Michael Kenneth Williams — best known for his unforgettable role as Omar in the best television series in history, “The Wire” — as the lead.

Williams appeared in plenty of big hits since his central role as a badass anti-hero in “The Wire,” including “Boardwalk Empire,” Kill the Messenger, The Road, 12 Years a Slave, “Community” and Gone Baby Gone. But here, he takes center stage.

Williams entertains as Rock Banyon, a jazz pianist who’s wanted for several murders that it appears he didn’t commit. It helps that he’s flanked by Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph, along with guest appearances including Jimmy Fallon, Tim Robbins and

Tim Meadows. The comedic series is more silly than it is mystery-thriller, though it’s set up like a spoof on a 50s era whodunit.

“The Spoils Before Dying” could easily be a twohour film, but it’s more digestible as six 20-minute segments, with Ferrell opening and closing each episode as the ridiculous faux author and filmmaker.

In some respects, the series strikes a similar note to the short “A Very Murray Christmas,” also a recent Netflix addition, and not just because Maya Rudolph sings in both. There’s a melancholic yet goofy whimsy to both, a star-studded cast and a somewhat plodding narrative punctuated by what feel like inside jokes between the director and the audience. Viewers with high hopes for either will be disappointed, but the casual couch potato looking for something quick to throw on while chowing down a microwavable dinner or sharing a beer with a friend will appreciate its cleverness and wit.

triad-city-beat.com

Favorite Winston-Salem tower?

Up Front

In anticipation of Brian’s cover story this week (“Stories,” beginning on page 16), we asked our readers and editors about their favorite tower in downtown Winston-Salem. Here’s what they said:

News

Brian Clarey: Tough call — I love the Nissen Building for its early 20th Century charm, and I love the Wells Fargo Center because it’s beautiful, and one of the most important pieces of architecture in the state. But an expatriate New Yorker like me will always be a sucker for the old Reynolds Building, that art deco masterpiece and predecessor to the Empire State Building. We will never see the likes of it again around here, I don’t think.

Opinion

Jordan Green: I really love the Nissen Building not only for its ornate balustrades, but also it’s magisterial story as, briefly, North Carolina’s tallest building from 1927 to 1929, and its rescue by the city of Winston-Salem, the Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership, HUD and a New Orleans developer to become one of the most desirable residences in downtown. As a side note, I also loved learning from Brian Clarey’s cover story that the same architect responsible for the Nissen Building also designed the High Point Hotel, which is now a subsidized senior living center. In any other city, the owner of a property as elegant and centrally located as what’s now called Sheraton Towers would have long since upfitted the units and re-marketed them to the uber-rich.

But rich people in High Point haven’t yet discovered that downtown is back in vogue.

Cover Story Culture

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Eric Ginsburg: You guys are kidding, right?

The Wells Fargo Center by a mile. It’s the most visually distinct building on the skyline, lit up or nah. You know the one: the Phallus Palace, Winston’s Weiner, the Downtown Dick.

50 40 30 20

54%

Reynolds Tower

19%

Winston Tower

12%

Nissan Building

12% Other

3%

Other

All She Wrote

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New question: Which dating sites/apps have you used? Weigh in at triad-city-beat.com!

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Games

Readers: Poor GMAC Building. Nobody voted for it! Instead, the majority favored Reynolds Tower (54 percent) followed by the Winston Tower (19 percent). Clarey came up with this list, since he wrote the cover story on page 16, but he left off the Wells Fargo Center. That made Steve Fowler and our intern Joanna Rutter mad, and likely others who voted for “Other” (12 percent), the same number as chose the Nissen Building.

The BB&T Building did get 3 percent of the vote — better than Jeb Bush’s showing in Iowa!

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Fun & Games

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Feb. 3 — 9, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games

Sides argue federalism and Jim Crow racism at stake in voter ID trial

by Jordan Green

A federal judge hears final arguments in a lawsuit against North Carolina’s voter ID law.

Both sides contend the outcome of the case will have far-reaching consequences.

The resolution of a federal lawsuit on North Carolina’s voter ID law could signal the end of federalism or the return of Jim Crow, depending on one’s perspective.

“This is just a policy dispute,” Thomas Farr, a Raleigh-based lawyer for the state, told Judge Thomas Schroeder during final arguments in a Winston-Salem courtroom on Monday. “The US government and the NAACP don’t like voter ID, and the lawmakers of North Carolina wanted to pass a voter ID law.

If this court throws out this law, then I would say that you have just declared that federalism is a dead letter.”

Outside the federal building after the trial, North Carolina NAACP President William Barber II told reporters: “It was eerie today to hear Tom Farr and all the white men in that group argue in essence that the federal government should not be involved in state issues and to argue, as they did in 1896 in Plessy v. Ferguson: ‘Let’s pass it and see what happens.’ We heard them argue that it affects few people. It was eerie to hear them say, ‘Let the law go into effect, and after the damage is clear we’ll say, ‘Oops, we’re sorry.’

“We’ve been down this road before,” Barber continued. “It was called Jim Crow.”

Lawyers for the North Carolina

All She Wrote

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NAACP and the US Justice Department argued that the state’s voter ID requirement, which goes into effect during the March 15 primary, runs afoul of the 14th Amendment because it disproportionately burdens black and Latino voters, and was enacted by the General Assembly with discriminatory intent. The plaintiffs are asking Judge Schroeder, who was appointed to the federal bench by President George W. Bush, to strike down the law to invoke an obscure provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that would require the state to obtain permission from the courts before making any further changes to its election system.

In June 2015, weeks before the trial over North Carolina’s omnibus 2013 election law was scheduled to begin, the General Assembly amended the voter ID provision with little debate.

The amendment allows those who are unable to obtain photo ID to vote after making a sworn declaration that they face a “reasonable impediment” because of reasons like lack of transportation, work schedules, family responsibilities and not having a birth certificate.

Plaintiffs argue that the provision does not mitigate what they contend are the discriminatory aspects of the photo ID requirement, and that the process is confusing and intimidating.

At the plaintiffs’ request, Judge Schroeder split off hearings on the voter ID provision, while presiding over a trial on other aspects of the law, including the elimination of same-day registration

Mary Perry, Armenta Eaton, the Rev. William Barber II and Rosanell Eaton leave federal court in Winston-Salem on Monday.

and curtailment of early voting, in July 2015. The judge has yet to rule on any of the matters under contention.

“Walking through the process of photo ID, African Americans and Latinos face a double whammy,” said Penda Hair, a lawyer with the Washington-based Advancement Project who is representing the NAACP. “African American and Latinos are less likely to have photo ID, and they are funneled into a dysfunctional DMV system that is difficult to navigate even for highly resourced people.”

Catherine Meza, a lawyer with the

JORDAN GREEN

US Justice Department, made the discriminatory intent argument on behalf of the plaintiffs, noting that the state Senate “dramatically” revised a pending elections bill shortly after the US Supreme Court’s Shelby decision, which nullified Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Under Section 5, several counties in North Carolina and other “covered” jurisdictions had been required to get preclearance from the Justice Department before enacting any electoral changes. Among several other changes, the Senate reduced the number the number of acceptable IDs

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get the testimony of one of the plaintiffs’ expert witnesses who discussed how blacks and Latinos might be discouraged from voting under a cost-benefit analysis that considers the time, expense and competency required to obtain a photo ID from the DMV. “Less wealthy and less educated peo-

ple are less able to navigate the system,” Farr said. “That applies to every law.”

The judge cut him short.

“The right to vote is fundamental,” he said. “The courts have said that’s the right upon which all others rest.”

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All She Wrote

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don’t need to have a birth certificate.”

Schroeder asked Hair to square the plaintiffs’ position with the US Supreme Court’s 2008 decision in Crawford v.

Marion County Election Board, which found that the state of Indiana did not violate the Constitution by imposing a voter ID law.

Hair cited a Fourth Circuit ruling that the problem of voter fraud has to be more than imaginable to constitute a legitimate state interest. “North Carolina would have to have more than an imaginable reason,” she said, “and the evidence of voter fraud is so thin, and we believe it’s a pretext.”

Under questioning by Schroeder, Meza acknowledged that the Justice Department pre-cleared a voter ID provision in Georgia prior to the Supreme Court’s Shelby decision, but she argued the circumstances were different because Georgia accepts a higher number of IDs than does North Carolina. She rejected a comparison with New Hampshire’s voter ID law.

“The demographics of New Hampshire are radically different,” she said, “and the history of New Hampshire is radically different.”

Schroeder did not spare the state from questioning either. He asked Farr to respond to the concerns raised by the plaintiffs that voters who fill out a “reasonable impediment” declaration might be disenfranchised through a challenge.

The provision allows a challenger to bring evidence to a county board of election that the voter’s statement about the reason they are unable to obtain photo ID — say, because of a lack of transportation — is factually false. As an example, the judge repeated a question raised by the plaintiffs: Could a voter be successfully challenged on the claim of lack of transportation if they have access to a neighbor’s car even if they don’t own one themselves?

“The legislature intended that every inference be interpreted to favor the voter,” Farr responded. “It’s drawn very liberally. I think we need to wait and see what happens when the law is implemented. If there are problems we can go back and fix it.”

Farr argued that standing in line at the DMV to obtain a photo ID is not a burden, as the plaintiffs claim, but instead merely “day-to-day annoyance.”

He professed to Schroeder that he didn’t

triad-city-beat.com

voters could present at polling places, even though they knew that blacks and Latinos were less likely to possess those types of identification.

“They intended to suppress the emerging electoral power of African Americans and Latinos,” Meza said.

“They kept the IDs that they viewed African Americans and Latinos as being less likely to have.”

Addressing the claim in his closing argument, Farr said, “The Senate wanted to have consistency in the number of IDs that would be accepted because it would be better for the voters.”

Farr spent much of his closing argument assailing an expert-witness report prepared on behalf of the plaintiffs that indicated that black and Latino voters are roughly twice as likely to lack photo ID, calling it “flawed” and “completely unreliable.” An expert witness hired by the state rebutted the plaintiff’s expert report, arguing that the numbers were inflated because the author didn’t use additional data or a manual review to eliminate false negatives in a data matching exercise comparing voter rolls to a list of DMV-issued photo IDs. But the state did not challenge the racial disparities revealed in the so-called “nomatch lists.”

In rebuttal, Hair told Judge Schroeder that the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the total number of voters affected by an electoral practice that denies or abridges the rights of people of color to vote doesn’t matter; it’s the disparity between whites and racial minorities that counts.

Hair’s closing argument cited the testimony of Sylvia Kent, a Person County resident who testified that two of her elderly and disabled sisters were unable to obtain photo ID from the DMV, and that of Rosanell Eaton, a 94-year-old Louisburg resident who said she made 10 different trips, shuttling between DMV and Social Security offices over the course of 21 days before she was finally able to match her name on the documents and obtain a photo ID. In one of many questions posed to the lawyers, Schroeder asked how the hurdles faced by Eaton would be different in South Carolina, which also requires voters to present photo ID at polling places.

“South Carolina added a photo to the registration process,” Hair replied. “You

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Feb. 3 — 9, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

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Student: College’s sexual harassment investigation disappoints

by Eric Ginsburg

Four months after Greensboro College opened a sexual-harassment investigation following heckling at a student play, the play’s director is disappointed by how her college handled it.

When Greensboro College launched a Title IX sex-discrimination investigation after complaints of sexual harassment during a student play at the beginning of the school year, playwright and director Michaela Richards hailed her school’s response as “awesome.”

Richards, a senior who wrote and directed the play It Stops Here about sexual violence that incorporated personal stories and aspects of the school’s policy, told Triad City Beat in September that she was “very happy” with how quickly the school had responded. But now, after the investigation concluded, she’s frustrated with how the small, Methodist college handled the follow-up.

Greensboro College promptly started looking into behavior by first-year students who allegedly directed rude, demeaning and abusive comments and gestures towards specific members of the cast, including during a scene about rape.

But towards the end of the semester, Richards and the cast members still hadn’t heard anything about the conclusion of the investigation, she said. Upon meeting with college President Larry Czarda, Richards was dismayed that neither she nor any of the cast members would be informed of the results of the investigation.

Richards and her student cast had spent about three months studying and discussing the school’s policy on sexual harassment and violence as they prepared for the performances, and were interviewed for the investigation, too. But the process still mystified them, she said.

“Imagine someone who has not read our policy or who doesn’t understand the process saying, ‘I was sexually harassed,’ and how they are going to be treated in an investigation,” Richards said. “I was confused and I know so much about it.”

Greensboro College spokesperson Lex Alexander told Triad City Beat when it began the investigation that the results

likely wouldn’t be public. But Richards and her fellow students involved in the play — the ones who the abusive and explicit comments were directed towards — believed that as victims, they would be privy to that information.

The confusion stems from the fact that the college opened the investigation on its own accord and therefore didn’t classify anyone as a victim.

Triad City Beat requested an update on the case on Dec. 27, and the school ultimately released a statement internally on Jan. 14 and made it available to TCB six days later after notifying the school’s board.

“In September, Greensboro College opened a Title IX investigation into reported behavior on the part of some audience members at a student theater production for first-year students — specifically, remarks directed by audience members toward individual cast members — to ascertain whether any of that behavior constituted sexual harassment or sexual intimidation in violation of the college’s Title IX policy,” the statement said. “There was no individual complainant in the case; the college acted institutionally on its own initiative.”

The investigation confirmed, “one or more instances of verbal harassment and/or intimidation had taken place in violation of the policy,” but went on to say that, “because of the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, the college is unable to provide details regarding the imposition of sanctions in this case.”

Initially it seemed that the college’s rapid response proved it took the incident seriously, Richards said, but because actors who were insulted and heckled were not classified as complainants — and were not told that they weren’t counted as victims — poses a problem.

“In some ways it is good that the school did the investigation but the fact that nobody knows the results of the investigation… makes me think the investigation might not have gone as well as I would’ve wanted,” she said.

“I think that there needs to be a more open communication with people doing the investigation and complainants.”

At the very least, she said, people in

Michaela Richards, a senior at Greensboro College, initially applauded the college’s investigation, but has grown frustrated.

a position like her cast, who bore the brunt of the harassment, should be told during the investigatory interviews that they wouldn’t know the results.

Richards said when she inquired about the process in December, she was told that students on the receiving end could open up their own investigation as complainants.

But at that point, her cast was worn down. By the end of the semester, the students wanted to move on.

“You see and hear that a lot from victims, that the schools just put them through so much that they — I don’t want to say ‘give up’ because they did so much, but they’re forced to quit,” Richards said. “It just gives the school the upper hand yet again.”

Alexander said the process took longer than anticipated because there were so many people to interview in relation to the incident, but emphasized that Czarda discussed the matter with students and parents almost immediately and said the incident was discussed at multiple faculty and board meetings as well as open forums and individual meetings.

“The nature of the incident was such

FILE PHOTO

that the college decided it would file an institutional complaint rather than an individual complaint,” he said on Tuesday. “It was not because the college intended to keep anybody in the dark.”

Alexander added that students were told they could file their own complaint, but said he didn’t now when that occurred. But going forward, he said Greensboro College changed its procedure to make sure there is “very specific communication with apparent victims.” This was the school’s first Title IX investigation since implementing a new policy, he said, and “it was definitely a learning experience.”

“We tried to be as transparent as possible with this case within the bounds of the law,” Alexander said.

Richards said she is “definitely disappointed” that Greensboro College didn’t handle the situation better.

“At this point its not about the kids who were the harassers,” she said. “It’s more about the policy. Victims are victims and we need to treat them that way, and work with them and not against them. That’s exactly what the school did not do.”

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HIGH POINT JOURNAL

High Point council members back revitalization partnership

by Jordan Green

The city of High Point moves forward with a plan to reboot downtown revitalization efforts while considering a proposal to expand bus service.

“Success begets success,” Assistant City Manager Randy Hemann told members of High Point City Council during a briefing on Monday afternoon.

Arguing for a public-private partnership funded in part by the city to promote downtown revitalization, Hemann told them that new investment has transpired in cities and towns across North Carolina. It can and eventually will happen in High Point, he said, adding that it’s time to get started.

Hemann has some credibility on the matter, having led successful revitalization efforts in Salisbury. Councilman Jason Ewing, a conservative holdover from the previous council that pressed the pause button on revitalization efforts two years ago, has expressed support for Hemann’s plan. Even Mayor Pro Tem Jim Davis acceded after posing a pointed question.

“To me the most key member of this team is the executive director,” he said.

“How do we ensure that we get the right person?”

“I’ll be very keenly involved in that,” Hemann said. He added, “They answer to us because we’re on the board.”

A key factor in the progression of the initiative will be funding by the city, and the council is still in the preliminary stages of developing its budget for the 2016-2017 fiscal year.

After the briefing, Mayor Bill Bencini expressed measured support for the initiative. He said he’s backing the plan “because our professional staff has recognized we need to implement a structure to move from a big vision to individual project implementation.”

Touting the public-private partnership model during the briefing, Hemann said, “Downtown Durham’s tax base went from $100 million to $800 million.

That’s pretty doggone extreme; I don’t know if we can do that.”

Bencini chimed in hopefully: “There was a time when Durham’s downtown

Assistant City Manager Randy Hemann (left) is drafting a plan to create public-private partnership similar to Downtown Greensboro Inc. and the Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership for the city of High Point.

was worse than ours.”

As council members reasoned that they can always withdraw funding if the partnership doesn’t produce results, City Manager Greg Demko cautioned: “We’ll see results in three years, but they won’t be monumental.”

Hemann reassured skeptical council members: “I can tell you this is the proven model that everybody uses that’s successful.”

Councilwoman Cynthia Davis, one of the board’s two at-large members, sounded the only dissonant note on the plan.

“Constituents are concerned that the person should be employed by the city, so there should be accountability,” she said.

The previous council reassigned Wendy Fuscoe from her role as executive director of City Project, the current downtown revitalization agency, and instructed her to handle a more generalized set of duties as core city administrator. Davis supported that move, which took place before she was elected to council.

Hemann has proposed that the city eliminate Fuscoe’s position, with the new agency hiring an executive director who will answer to a semi-independent board instead of the city manager.

Davis said some constituents are also concerned that the new agency

is “going to do what they did before — abort, jump ship,” adding that City Project didn’t accomplish much beyond adopting a master plan developed by urban planner Andrés Duany.

In fact, the previous council put the brakes on implementing the Duany master plan by removing Fuscoe from City Project and voting down an elementary recommendation to slow vehicular traffic on North Main Street to make it more amenable to pedestrian-scale commerce. The previous council also voted against a recommendation in the master plan to create a public plaza in front of the library, favoring a redesigned parking lot instead. But the new council reversed the decision and approved the plaza concept, with at-large Councilman Latimer Alexander tipping the balance.

In other business, council members heard about a plan to expand bus service through a $265,000 investment. Hi Tran Director Angela Wynes said the investment would allow the system to extend evening service from 6:15 to 9:30 p.m. on select routes, establish a Palladium/Deep River circulator through a partnership with the Piedmont Authority for Regional Transit and extend service one hour earlier and one hour later on Saturdays.

Wynes said stretching weekday service to 9:30 p.m. will help some second-shift

JORDAN GREEN

workers employed by senior assisted-living centers, who can at least use the bus to get to their jobs, even if they have to arrange transportation back home with family, friends or coworkers. She added that the extended service could also help service workers who are finishing up restaurants shifts and people who work part-time.

City Budget & Performance Manager Eric Olmedo said the cost of the investment would equate to 0.265 cents per $100 of evaluation, but the city could shift the funds from another area of the budget rather than raising taxes.

City Manager Greg Demko has not proposed a source for the funding, and council has not discussed options yet.

Under the proposal for expanded service, the city would also raise fares from $1.00 to $1.25 to cover the cost of the investment. Wynes cautioned against hiking fares beyond the proposed rate; she said studies have shown that for every 3-percent increase in fares, ridership tends to drop by 1 percent.

The proposal to expand transit service drew no objections from council members.

“Every year it is a constant drumbeat of people that want this,” Alexander said. “Quite frankly, I’m amazed that there are so many people that have only one car per household or who use public transportation.”

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Feb. 3 — 9, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

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OPINION EDITORIAL

IDs for all!

Arguments in the state voter ID trial came to a close on Monday afternoon, with compelling arguments from both sides (see “Sides argue federalism and Jim Crow racism at stake in voter ID trial” on page 8).

It’s true that photo ID is required for many, many transactions in the world we live in: Using a credit card, renting or buying property, flying on an airplane, reserving a hotel room and probably a thousand more.

Proponents of the voter ID law now under litigation will not be swayed by the fact that people do need ID to register to vote, insisting that this is a commonsense measure against voter fraud.

And when you point out to the true believers that there have been just a few dozen suspected cases of voter fraud in the state so far this century, they stick to their guns.

It’s equally true that a goodly percentage of Americans don’t have ID, many who view even a $10 charge and $4 bus ride, let alone the time off work, as a deal-breaker in the procurement of one. And keeping these folks away from the polls gives one party an advantage.

It seems obvious to anyone without an agenda that we need to tailor our laws to the least among us, or at least recognize the very real struggle that’s happening in all our cities and counties.

And in the absence of evidence that there’s any impersonation fraud, there’s simply no reason to make it more difficult for people to vote — it’s anathema to the very idea of representative democracy. This is a transparent effort to deter and discourage voters who don’t tend to vote for Republican candidates. And they are not going to let it go.

There’s an easy solution, though: national ID cards.

We’ve needed them for a long time — our system of identification is cobbled together from federal Social Security numbers, state-issued drivers licenses and photo IDs, tax records, passports and other government documents.

There’s no reason to fear a Big Government national database — one of the arguments against a national ID system — because it’s already here. Between government paper trails, credit reports, cell-phone records and IP addresses, there already is one. The information is just spread over 10 documents instead of one that you keep in your wallet.

Of course, the national ID needs to be free for everyone, any time, on demand. Something this important to our everyday lives — which proponents of this bill have demonstrated — needs to be absolutely free and simple to obtain, like if you can’t get to the facility to have one made, someone should come to your house and make one there.

And even though everyone will have one, we shouldn’t make people show them at the polls. It’s just silly. Everyone knows real election fraud doesn’t happen in the voting booth. Absentee voting is the weak link — but the new law doesn’t require photo ID for that.

CITIZEN GREEN

The chips are down, the spoil is coming in The fight seems in for a spoil, one way or another.

First it was the worry among the Republican establishment that Donald Trump would mount an independent bid if he doesn’t get the party nomination.

by Jordan Green Now, it’s former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg hinting that he may run as an independent if Bernie Sanders gets the Democratic nomination instead of Hillary Clinton.

In either case, the convulsions are the consequence of an undeniable centrifugal force in American politics.

Trump and Sanders are upending assumptions about the inevitability of the presumed standard-bearers of their respective parties and the role of money, experience and endorsements in fixing the eventual winner.

There’s little mystery as to why the center has fallen out of the Republican Party: Working-class whites are tired of waiting for a payoff from their dalliance with the big-business establishment that once controlled the levers of power in the GOP. The resentful white voters who thrilled to George Wallace’s demagoguery found their way into Richard Nixon’s “silent majority” under the Southern strategy and eventually formed the core of the Reagan Democrats.

Tired bromides about unleashing prosperity through low taxes and less regulation laced with coded appeals to social resentment towards gays, immigrants and other outsiders or attacks on urban elites who supposedly want to take away their guns won’t cut it anymore. Decades of wage stagnation have rendered that proposition hollow.

It’s clear that the wink is no longer effective, and people who have been teased and flattered with veiled bigotry will eventually decide they want the real thing. Which is why a billionaire real-estate developer/media celebrity who espouses protectionist economic views and defames Mexican immigrants while mocking political correctness commands support from working-class whites with low levels of education, and similarly attracts support from a sizable number of women even while displaying unfiltered misogyny to Megyn Kelly.

Conventional politics, in which a telegenic candidate was typically packaged into an embodiment of emotive symbolism and intuitive appeals to key identity groups devoid of a coherent program, no longer delivers.

The managers of the Democratic Party apparatus from the national to local level might be tempted to relish the chaos enveloping the GOP. They shouldn’t be so glib.

As Adrian Woolridge recently wrote in the New York Times Book Review: “The forces that are disfiguring the right are likely to spread in future years, consuming the

Democrats in much the same way as they have consumed the Republicans. The stagnation of the living standards of average Americans is creating widespread angst. The culture wars are extending to new areas.

The internet-enabled news-cum-entertainment industry stokes political resentments even as it creates epistemic anarchy. Interest groups are finding ever more ingenious ways to pretzel the political process. Interesting times don’t remain confined to one part of the political spectrum for very long.”

The truth is that the Democratic Party establishment, as embodied by Clinton, has little more ability to deliver on its promises than the Republicans. Clinton’s value proposition can more or less be boiled down to a steady hand in foreign affairs, shoring up progress in LGBT rights and fending off further attacks on reproductive rights, a corporatist outlook modulated by anti-Wall Street rhetoric demanded by the current moment, a politically unviable gun-control agenda and the satisfaction of electing the first woman president — an appeal that has reportedly worn thin even among progressive women in the Boomer generation.

For working-class Democrats who have watched the New Deal social contract erode since the 1970s and endured pragmatic arguments to defer their dreams of economic advancement, Sanders’ call for free college education and universal healthcare is right on time. For Sanders’ supporters under 40, that’s their entire lifetime.

The two parties are starting to look as creaky as the Whigs, which contended with the Democrats in the 1830s and 1840s, before fracturing under the pressure of the slavery question, with part of the base gravitating to the new Republican Party and others joining up with the nativist Know-Nothing Party.

Where does it go? Will there be a new Trump party comprised of working-class whites fed on virulent xenophobia and racial scapegoating, leaving the economic elites of the traditional Republican Party stranded without a political base? Will the urbane, socially liberal elites of the Democratic Party preserve the Obama coalition, or will economic progressives frustrated by the incrementalism of the Affordable Care Act and stagnated wages strike out on their own? Will Trump, having won the Republican nomination, grab enough votes from rank-and-file union members to carry crucial swing states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin in November? Can Sanders woo Trump supporters with his message of economic populism? Does the Black Lives Matter movement matter as an electoral force, or do they split between Clinton and Sanders?

No one knows where this roulette wheel stops, but one thing is sure: If you’re breathing and have enough cognition to formulate a thought, you better toss in your chips.

Overhaul the Greensboro Cultural Center

by Jordan Green

Subverting education for democracy

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

Lewis Pitts lives in Greensboro and is a retired civil rights lawyer. Spoma Jovanovic is a communication studies professor at UNCG.

Opinion

institutional practices and policies that ensure or deny equality and justice for all.

Candid discussions, informed by readings, reflection and experiences in the community, equip students with the tools, skills and capacities to contribute not only to robust classroom discussions, but also to community conversations and action.

Preparation for engaged citizenship requires no less.

Our teachers-in-training must have a commitment to our nation’s egalitarian principles that ask how it is that so many children and their families lack the economic, social, political and cultural capital necessary to achieve the American Dream. Yet there are strong forces, most often tied to big corporate money like the Pope Center and the Koch brothers, that want to deter discussion and dialogue that expose how poorly our nation is doing with regard to these ideals. Instead, they insist having a curriculum based on “American exceptionalism,” as if the United States could do no wrong and those not making it in our society are lazy misfits. They would rather teachers and students ignore the glaring deficits in our nation surrounding healthcare, student debt, gender pay equity, race relations, women’s rights, immigration policies and so many other indices of human rights.

At UNCG, the course Schalin condemns requires students to write a personal/professional commitment to social justice based on the new knowledge generated throughout the semester in discussions and debates with peers. Each student is asked to wrestle with what social justice means to them on a personal level, not as prescribed by a book or even the professor, but as an expression of understanding about education for our diverse society. Bravo to the teachers who take on this daunting task to help students learn about and from others to develop an awareness and sensitivity to the human condition.

What Schalin wants to discredit as “left-wing ideology” is in fact a compassionate, moral commitment to education designed to help teachers-in-training pass on to the next generation the skills of civic engagement to achieve liberty and justice for all.

When folks begin to argue that classroom teaching and discussion about social justice and equality should be banned, we must grasp that our nation’s democratic values are being subverted.

We should all unite to vigorously defend academic freedom and our public university.

News

The latest attack from Jay Schalin of the Pope Center on the UNC system is terrifying in its ramifications.

by Lewis Pitts & Spoma Jovanovic Schalin contends that a UNCG course required for teacher licensure in North Carolina “goes far beyond what is politically acceptable for education at a public university” and is “indoctrination.” He argues we should be outraged about the course, “The Institution of Education,” because it requires students to read about “racial privilege,” a critique of our criminal justice system, “critical pedagogy,” and “gender, including sexism and homophobia.”

At least six UNCG professors are criticized, and Schalin asks, “How do they get away with it?” He says the legislature, UNCG Trustees and UNC Board of Governors “have been looking the other way” and ends with the impassioned plea: “How do we put an end to this?”

We could not disagree more with the Pope Center’s misguided attack. We applaud teachers who uphold our nation’s founding principles of justice, equality and fairness. That, in fact, is the ethical mission of US higher education! We congratulate the professors who inspire students to care about the world enough to question, intervene and work for and on behalf of others to confront the systemic practices that disadvantaged groups face.

Our self-governing constitutional democracy is based on the recognition of the awe-inspiring value inherent in each person. Ours is a government of, by and for the people — all the people, not just the wealthy, powerful or white. Surely, UNC professors have the right, and even duty, to teach their discipline-specific content while also inspiring teachers-to-be to question rather than blindly obey the status quo, and to consider the possibilities of collective action to correct injustices where they persist.

Education has the potential to generate the ground from which students learn to be thoughtful, aware and deliberate in choosing how to engage with others. Education should encourage students to be respectful, trust others, work with integrity, and practice discernment for the goodwill of all. In that pursuit, teachers must provide the context and background for the area of study. They also must introduce the structural conditions that promote or limit access to the promise of democracy. In doing so, teachers need to expose students to the

Up Front

Every newspaper and website needs a design overhaul once in awhile. That’s not an admission of deficiency; it’s just a recognition that we can all get into an aesthetic rut, and it’s healthy to change up habits, try new things and stimulate new interests.

It’s the same with any great arts facility, and that brings me to the Greensboro Cultural Center. Like its Winston-Salem counterpart, the Milton Rhodes Arts Center, the Greensboro Cultural Center is a people’s arts facility, accessible to citizens of all ages and abilities who want to engage their creativity. It’s a democratic, small-A counterpoint to the elite, big-A arts framework that will guide the coming Steven Tanger Center for Performing Arts, which will provide a forum for ticketed events with symphonies, Broadway shows and national acts like Morrissey or Gillian Welch.

As a stalwart public arts workhorse, the Greensboro Cultural Center is at risk of being further marginalized by the dazzle and hype surrounding the new performing arts center and LeBauer City Park.

All three facilities are part of the emerging Cultural District, with the new park being adjacent to the cultural center. Part of the cultural center’s challenge is its name, which is a) generic, and b) easily confused with the new Tanger Center. It needs a new name, although I’m at a loss for ideas, and more generally a marketing plan.

The cultural center needs some new spark.

Longtime residents and savvy newcomers know that the cultural center offers a fantastic complement of amenities from the GreenHill Center for NC Art’s spacious gallery to spaces for community theater, African drumming and martial arts. ArtQuest, under GreenHill’s umbrella brings in a steady stream of children and families.

The other three galleries — African American Atelier, the Guilford Native American Gallery and the Center for Visual Artists, with a slightly edgier aesthetic than the more eminent GreenHill — are all solid, too. I’m sure everyone has their own favorites, but the live music at GreenHill every First Friday is a highlight for me.

Based on the strength of its programming the cultural center deserves a far higher profile. Unfortunately, while most of its constituent organizations are thriving, the cultural center itself lacks cohesion. A legitimate website with a unique domain name that showcases new exhibits and upcoming performances would be a start. The cultural center probably needs a part-time marketing director to cross-promote programming. I don’t know if each of the constituent organizations would chip in some of their budget to support such a position or City Arts (a division of the Greensboro Parks & Recreation Department) should outsource the position to someone at ArtsGreensboro with the requisite background.

The building could also use some renovation. A small auditorium equipped to screen films and a nice space to rent out for receptions would be worthwhile enhancements. The cultural center’s location adjacent to a bar, Café Europa, is an incredible asset. But the building needs to be redesigned to create a more open path to the bar so that foot traffic can more freely between the two. Maybe a mini coffee bar could be added to the cultural center? The specifics don’t really matter, as long as the principals come together and do something to add some spark to the cultural center.

FRESH EYES

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IT JUST MIGHT WORK

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Feb. 3 — 9, 2016

Stories Winston-Salem’s race to the sky

Cover Story

by Brian Clarey

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The lights are on again at Reynolds Tower, strong spots marking the outlines and crenellations that bring to life what had been the blackened tooth of the nighttime skyline. It’s good to have her back. It means something to the city, something spiritual, and it’s a living reminder of how the whole thing got started.

Sometimes locals call Winston-Salem a “small town with skyscrapers.” There’s something to it.

From the rarified air of the Piedmont Club, on the 19th floor of the glossy BB&T Building in downtown Winston-Salem, the whole city looks like a brief interruption from the trees.

On the north and west sides the canopy begins at the end of the concrete border just a few blocks away and extends to the horizon, where a suggestion of mountains breaks the plane.

From up here the city is all rooftops and parking lots, with clipped glimpses of street life in between. The only things that make sense are the other tall buildings that share this heightened existence. Like giraffes among zebras, they alone regard each other at eye level.

Just to the northeast, the old Reynolds Building hides her faded beauty behind her taller and shinier offspring, the Winston Tower, which came along 40 years after the grande dame was built, the front edge of an age of glass and steel. Together they comprise almost half of Winston-Salem’s distinct skyline, anchoring the balance between the old and the new.

Everybody knows the story of the old Reynolds Build-

ing, which when it came up in 1929 was the tallest building south of Baltimore: 21 stories of marble and granite, built largely on proceeds from Camel cigarettes, put out by Reynolds in 1913, which were by ’29 the most popular brand in the country.

For a sweet moment in the early part of the last century, tobacco had made Winston-Salem the economic capitol of the South, made manifest in a building boom through the ’10s and ’20s that resembled, at times, an arms race.

This aerial battle would come to define the skyline as we know it today.

Architects Shreve & Lamb built the Reynolds Building as a prototype of the Empire State Building in New York City, which would go up just a few years later — for decades its staff would send Father’s Day cards down from Manhattan every year. But the building emptied out in 2010 when the last Reynolds American employees moved into the Plaza Building next door and it went on the market.

It’s currently being renovated into hotel, office, residence and restaurant space. The Kimpton Cardinal Hotel and the restaurant, the Katherine, should be open by spring. The exterior lights came on just in time for the holidays.

But before the Reynolds Building went into hibernation, and certainly after, it was literally overshadowed by the Winston Tower, which locals of a certain age refer to as the box the Reynolds Tower came in. Through the northeast windows of the Piedmont Club, the monolithic

The road outside the old Nissen Wagonworks is still made of cobblestone.

Winston Tower dominates the view.

The Winston Tower: 301 N. Main St. Built in 1966 29 floors Tallest building in the state until 1971 An entire block of low downtown buildings came down to make way for what is now the Winston Tower, which began construction in 1963, financed not by the gains of industry but by financiers themselves. This one was a Wachovia production.

The first Wachovia Bank was actually the First National Bank of Salem, begun in 1866 in the neighboring community by Israel Lash, a prominent businessman who that same year had been elected to Congress. The Civil War had just ended, though the issues were far from resolved, and Lash, a former slave owner, sat in sessions that presided over the purchase of Alaska, and the impeachment and subsequent acquittal of President Andrew Johnson.

To start his bank, Lash relied on the National Bank Act, which in 1863 and 1864 established a national currency and built the framework for the country’s banking system.

He remained its president until his death in 1878.

When the old man was gone, his cashier, William Lemly, moved the safe and desks to Winston, christened the place

CALEB SMALLWOOD

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Wachovia in honor of the Moravian ethos of his former boss and set up shop with $100,000 in cash.

By 1888, the bank’s fortunes had risen enough to erect a high-rise — seven stories! — the first “skyscraper” in Winston. As the role of tobacco became more prominent in the city’s economy, the bank’s coffers swelled with deposits from both the Reynolds corporation and its workers. When the O’Hanlon Building, Winston’s second skyscraper, came in on West Fourth Street at eight stories, an additional floor was added to the bank building by 1918 just to keep up.

In 1966, the first wave of the downtown arms race was long over — the last tower built in what was now downtown Winston-Salem had been the Reynolds Building in ’29. But Wachovia had grown in wealth and stature, enough to necessitate a much bigger space.

The next Wachovia tower, benefiting from the technology of steel-beam construction, would rise 30 stories into the sky, dwarfing everything that came before it. Its architecture, heavy on function and less so on form, gives the impression of a staid rectangle overlaid by a sensible grid, a modern, conservative counterpoint to the art-deco masterpiece beside it.

It was the biggest building in the South for a historical minute, and the tallest in North Carolina until 1971, when it was surpassed by Charlotte’s 32-floor Jefferson First Union Tower — now a Wells Fargo joint. It was the tallest building in Winston-Salem until 1995, when it was surpassed by another Wachovia effort.

The second Wachovia Building became known as the Winston Tower in 1995, after a renovation brought tinted windows to the façade. Now it looks like it’s wearing sunglasses.

The Nissen Building: 310 W. Fourth St. Built in 1927 18 floors (19th floor built in 1969) Tallest building in the state for two years There’s a lull, up in the Piedmont Club, between the power-lunch crowd and afternoon bar traffic, when the staff reconfigures the spaces for the evening, filling balloons, setting places, moving chairs. They’re putting out nametags and gift bags on long tables in the Cardinal Room while outside the windows a lowering winter sun lends drama to the hard angles of the cityscape.

To the northeast, looking like it came straight out of Gotham City, the Nissen Building holds its modest and

Before it became the Winston Tower, this building was the second Wachovia Tower .

CALEB SMALLWOOD

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Feb. 3 — 9, 2016 Cover Story

18

dignified countenance.

Understand that the Nissen Building, resplendent with neoclassical touches like balustrades and marble urns on its cap, was born of a moment of serendipity that ultimately expressed itself in this monumental civic gesture.

And it probably wouldn’t have happened without the fire.

William Madison Nissen was born to greatness: a third-generation wagonmaker with roots in Old Salem, and the second to preside over Nissen Wagon Works, a concern his father established in 1834 that had thrived through westward expansion and the Civil War. By 1919, he had moved the company from Waughtown Street to a factory in the southeast corner of downtown Winston, near the train tracks. The wheelworks was capable of producing 15,000 wagons a year, 50 a day.

But by 1919, mass production of the Model T brought automobiles to every city street in the country, including Winston-Salem, where the police had been driving a fleet of cars since 1915. Covered wagons were… covered wagons. And in the midst of this seismic economic shift, the plant caught fire on at 2 a.m. on Aug. 19, 1919.

According to the Western Sentinel, “Only the brick walls of the main building and the original building of the company, surrounding smoking and blazing lumber and red hot iron and steel machinery, and the tall chimney of the factory remained standing this morning….”

Undaunted, Nissen had his wagonworks up and running again before the end of the year. But by the mid 1920s, decades of running the company had taken its toll on his health. In 1925 the wagon baron sold his company to FH Reamy for $1 million — which in 1925 was still a lot of money — and endeavored to play out his years as a prominent citizen.

Reamy kept the wagon business going until 1940.

The building is still there, just across Third Street from Krankies.

And Nissen sunk his fortune into the tallest building in the South.

New York architect William L. Stoddart had been designing neoclassical hotels and apartment buildings for decades — he designed the old O Henry Hotel in Greensboro and the nine-story High Point Hotel, now a senior-living center — before Nissen came calling. He wanted something that would live on long after he had passed: limestone, granite, brick. A recess separates the upper floors, the topmost of which wear a loggia of classical architectural flourishes. When it opened in 1927, retail shops filled the first floor and there was a miniature golf course in the basement.

He and his wife Ida moved into a luxurious spread on the 18th floor, with office space in the western tower, and that’s where he lived until he died in 1934. Ida lived there until 1954. Renovations in the 1960s added a 19th floor with a rooftop pool, but other than that the building that now houses Camino Bakery and Local 27101 looks much the same as it did the year it went up.

The GMAC Tower: 500 W. Fifth St. Built in 1980 30 floors BB&T Building: 200 W. Second St. Built in 1987 20 floors In 1980, the country was still reeling from an energy

crisis, something foremost in the minds of the architects of the GMAC Tower in the northwest of downtown. A singular, boxy structure belies the pinnacle of the day’s eco-design. The north side of the building, which stays in shadow most of the day, has a glass façade set in angles.

Windows on the flat southern side tilt downwards to reduce glare and heat radiation. On the short eastern and western sides of the building, exposed to harsh sun all day, windows are small and sparse. Due to the asymmetric structure, the building looks entirely different from every angle.

The GMAC Tower was the building of the future in 1980, with an in-house computer system and fiber-active LED lighting along the top that can change colors.

That would be pretty cool, if someone were there to do it — the GMAC building has been vacant since 2013, when the behemoth insurance company sent the bulk of its workforce to Cleveland and moved the rest of its Winston-Salem operation out of the building with its name on the side of it. In advance of this, an Illinois-based owner walked on the mortgage. In 2014, a holding company picked it up for $9.5 million, and in December a Charlotte developer floated plans to turn the compound into apartments and office space, a scheme that depends on a nearby parking deck which another developer seems intent on buying. The subject is currently under discussion by city council.

The other building that grew in downtown Winston-Salem in the 1980s, the metallic blue BB&T Building that counts among its tenants the Piedmont Club on the 19th floor fared better than its generational counterpart.

A glass elevator runs along the south side, giving a graduated view of the lawns and fountain of Corpening Plaza below, fast enough to make your ears pop.

The Wells Fargo Center began life as the third Wachovia Building in downtown Winston-Salem. It’s the tallest building in the Triad, and one of the most architecturally significant.

CALEB SMALLWOOD

The Wells Fargo Center: 100 N. Main St. Built in 1995 34 floors Tallest building in the Triad The boom years of the 1990s enabled homegrown Wachovia Bank to strengthen its position in an industry marked by consolidation and buyout.

By now, William Lemly’s efforts had grown into a mighty economic force. In the 1980s Wachovia bought the oldest bank in Atlanta, followed by the oldest bank in South Carolina in 1991. By then, they were the fourth largest bank in the world, and ready to make a statement.

Architect César Pelli, would go on to design the Petrona Twin Towers in Malaysia, the tallest twin towers in the world, and, a little closer to home, the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte. But in 1995 he called the building he designed for Wachovia his best work.

It was the tallest tower built in the United States that year, a perfect, multifaceted dome based on the Moravian star, constructed of white granite mined from a single quarry in Sardinia, Italy. From these headquarters in the Super Block, Wachovia gathered smaller banks under its weight like a fat raindrop rolling down the car windshield.

It picked up banks in Virginia and Florida, and by 2001 had become a tasty-looking morsel for even bigger fish.

First Union announced a merger that year, naming itself the dominant party in a merger of equals for a $13 billion buyout. In the frenzy of the deal SunTrust attempted a hostile takeover, offering $14.7 billion in stock for Wacho-

The arms race that is the downtown Winston-Salem cityscape is a history lesson writ large in the sky.

via’s holdings — 650 branches in five states.

After a bidding war, a court battle and a shareholder vote, First Union got the prize. The Wachovia name and stock symbol survived, but its presence in Winston-Salem did not. Main operations moved to Wachovia Buildings in Charlotte and the company kept the white-granite rosebud as an asset.

For six more years Wachovia would do what it did best: Incorporate. It absorbed a credit-card division, a brokerage firm, large networks of branches. It sold off the building in 2004 and kept space for its wealth management division.

Then came the great banking disaster of 2007, putting the entire banking system at risk. Wells Fargo swallowed Wachovia whole a year later. Its lease for more than half of the office space in the Winston-Salem skyscraper is good through 2025.

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It was designed as One Triad Park, Cadillac office space for Piedmont Airlines, among other proposed tenants, a $24 million complex conceived as far back as 1977 by the man they named the plaza for.

Wayne Corpening was elected mayor of Winston-Salem in 1977 — the same year, incidentally, that a young Vivian Burke won her first Northeast Ward seat — on a platform of integrity and honesty, and served until 1989.

Known for holding council meetings late into the night, he also championed the Super Block proposal to turn this corner of the city into a professional district of corporate and governmental buildings.

The postmodern spaceship of green glass and steel was a result of that plan, the giant waterfall at Corpening Plaza a gift from the building’s original tenant, Piedmont Airlines, a rising star in the aviation industry.

Piedmont merged with US Air in 1989, and the new entity pulled out of Winston-Salem, a contributing factor to One Piedmont Plaza’s slide into foreclosure, where it was picked up in 1991 by the Aetna insurance company for less than $10 million, after which the economy took another wild turn.

Fortune favored Southern National Bank, which was looking to expand its footprint in its home state by the early 1990s.

The Southern National Bank came to be in 1959, emerging from the Bank of Lumberton that dated back to 1897, and through acquisitions and mergers had amassed assets upwards of $5 billion by 1993, when it bought the First Federal Savings Bank in Winston-Salem and moved into town. A year later they entered a slow merger with BB&T, which now fills most of the building. It last sold in 2014 for $60 million.

The Piedmont Club has been here the whole time.

The barroom of the Piedmont Club at dusk bears witness to the lights that illuminate every one of the dome’s facets daily at dusk. At the right time it would be possible to watch a banker at his desk from a club chair by the window.

The old Reynolds Building, visible from the Cardinal Room, has its lights going again in preparation for its rebirth as a hotel and retail destination, the Winston Tower a sturdy piece on continuity.

There’s not much else to see at eye level from the 19th floor. And from this lofty purchase, it doesn’t seem like anything else exists.

CALEB SMALLWOOD

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Feb. 3 — 9, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

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CULTURE A chicken (and ham) sandwich fit for a hero

by Eric Ginsburg

t’s quite possible that no human has ever held a hambone quite as triumphantly as the mascot for TJ’s Deli, a flying rooster resplendent in a cape, Superman-esque underoos, matching gloves, bulging and muscular arms, a ham raised high overhead and a slight, knowing smirk.

The front page of the deli’s menu trumpets the Super Cham more explicitly than its own name, making no mention of any food items — those are inside — save for the signature dish.

The business knows what it’s doing though; it’s been operating longer than I’ve been alive, and runs two locations in Winston-Salem. The regulars at this institution all have their favorites, no doubt, but I’m willing to wager that most first-timers go for some version of the Cham.

The classic Cham (which is apparently trademarked, according to the menu) consists of a tender chicken breast, buttermilk battered and deep-fried, with ham, provolone, lettuce, tomato and mayo on a burger bun. The sandwich comes wrapped in wax paper, like a steaming gift with chicken poking out from between the buns.

There are four versions of the Cham — get it, “chicken” and “ham” put together? — the classic, the Super Cham with an extra large chicken portion and a buffalo variety of each where the chicken is dipped in wing sauce and bleu cheese is subbed for the mayo.

Which of the four to pick is a matter of personal preference; when I showed up with three other first-timers, one friend ordered the classic and another the buffalo Cham while I went for the Super. Another ERIC GINSBURG Joanna Rutter and Lamar Gibson, two TCB team members, will back me up in singing the fellow newcomer opted for the smoked turkey, one of praises of TJ’s Deli. many other options, and a return customer who recommended for sure, but I’d rather indulge in mix greens, Swiss cheese and thousand-island dressing we come — and who specifically the best of both worlds and add is likely the most solid choice. But those who like the Visit TJ’s Deli at 5017 endorsed the Cham as the reason some homemade ice cream — the sound of cheesy chicken hoagie, “Big Ole Pastrami,” Country Club Road (W-S) to show up — branched out to the country peach or citrus vanilla, Quarterback Club with roast beef, turkey and bacon or or 1211 Silas Creek Park“Bacocheese” burger, to which maybe — to the mix. a hot Sicilian sandwich will feel more at home. she added bleu cheese. way. See tjsdeligrill.com Joanna, our intern, noted that Those are the sorts of things that make TJ’s Deli a The Super Cham looks like it her turkey sandwich arrived so tall Winston-Salem hallmark. And the Cham. Mostly that for more information. is on steroids, a gigantic portion that it would prove difficult to fit in glorious Cham (TM). of chicken that swelled up like a her mouth, a good sign for a sandpuffer fish wearing a piece of ham wich, we agreed. Everyone liked the as a hat. The succulent sandwich crunchy fries and house chips, and Pick of the Week is a mouthful for sure, and it’s Lamar and Bethany both endorsed Five Course Wine Dinner @ Scrambled Southern easy to see why TJ’s parades it so their Cham varietals.

Diner (GSO), Friday, 6:45 p.m. prominently.

TJ’s Deli and Grill may stake its If you’re still mourning the departure of JoseBut next time I’m switching brand on the Cham, but there are phine’s Bistro on Spring Garden Street, which teams to the buffalo variety and dozens of other options including closed its brick-and-mortar location last year and dropping down to the normal a few vegetarian choices such as was replaced by Scrambled Southern Diner, take size. Why? Because TJ’s also offers a veggie wrap, veggie sandwich, heart: Josephine’s catering crew takes over its old house chips that are a perfect bala grilled cheese, a salad bar and digs to host a lavish dinner, where each course will ance between crispy and soft, and possibly soup. The veggie wrap with be paired with a wine selected by booze professionthere’s a small ice-cream shop tomato, broccoli, green pepper, al Meris Nye of Mutual Distributing. Email ryan@ attached at the front right of the mushrooms, onions, banana scrambledgreensboro.com to reserve a seat. restaurant. The super size is tasty, peppers, shredded carrots, spring

I

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People easily wrote off Chris Megginson’s vision for a wine bar, a place that would also serve beer, meat and cheese, all exclusively sourced from North Carolina. And they were probably right to do so.

After all, when Megginson started laying the groundwork for such a

by Eric Ginsburg place, he’d never run a business like it. As a social worker based in Winston-Salem, Megginson covered several surrounding counties for Stop Child Abuse Now, a non-profit agency. He’d duck into places as he traveled, noticing vineyards and breweries popping up.

But this happened before North Carolina’s craft-beer boom, ERIC GINSBURG Chris Megginson ended up in this business when vineyards were replacing tobacco operations but still thanks to serendipity and hustle. suffered from a strong stigma as an inferior — and usually by the glass on site, and a few will snag bottles. This trio too overly sweet — product compared to the rest of the market. is a North Carolina product, sourcing grapes from the YadSome people in the industry thought he must be out of touch. kin Valley, Megginson said. And it’s only available here or at Nobody in the state was running an operation like the one the Steven’s Center, where Carolina’s Vineyards & Hops has Megginson envisioned, according to his research. And that already expanded. was just another barrier to overcome. Megginson, who is Megginson knows chef Lori Russell, who assembled the black, was also stepping into industries with a startling lack of menu that includes a signature panini and smoked-salmon racial diversity. bites, from their social-work days together. Along with help But Megginson isn’t the kind of person who shies away from business partner Michael Robinson and a strong team, from a challenge; he actually seems to thrive on it, and prides Megginson and Russell have turned the wine and beer bar into himself on the quiet, long-term hustle that’s brought him to a destination. where he is. Now, in 2016, his dream of a standout venue is a When I first strolled into Carolina’s Vineyards & Hops, withfour-year-old reality. out identifying myself as press, one of the servers welcomed Several breweries and vineyards broke into the Winston-Same warmly at the bar. Without asking, she pulled me into a lem or Triad market by way of Carolina’s Vineyards & Hops, small wine tasting she’d set up for the two women sitting near Megginson’s labor of love near Old Salem south of downtown me, letting us try several of the house wines and explaining and between UNC School of the Arts and Salem College. them as she went. It’s a brand of proactive hospitality this Megginson successfully established his beachhead and from area frequently lacks, and instantly made me feel like a longthere, carved out a corner of the market that allowed others time regular. to do the same.

I remember liking several, but the house sangria served He jokes that while it’s been four years since Carolina’s with melon stood out effortlessly. I figured I’d come back with Vineyards & Hops opened its doors, his time could more my girlfriend on a Saturday, when the server said the venue accurately be represented in dog years. That’s what it feels like features live jazz each week, and knock a couple back, but for when you’re building a business from nothing, he said, but all the time being, I immersed myself in the MexiCali stout from these 28 dog years later, there’s still nothing Megginson would Birdsong Brewing in Charlotte. rather be doing.

Carolina’s Vineyards & Hops ofAnd he would know. Megginson’s fers four beers (right now including tried his hand at an assortment of the same stout and the Annabel things, from the family business Visit Carolina’s Vineyards & Hops at black saison from Mystery Brewing) running Crown Trophy to racing 1111 S. Marshall St., Suite 184 (W-S) or and eight wines on self-serve taps, cars, and he’s lived in Long Island at carolinasvineyardsandhops.com. with more of course available at the and Atlanta, too. But sitting on the bar by the glass, pint or bottle. The couch at Carolina Vineyards & Hops blends and medium-bodied wines with him, it’s clear that he’s fiercely are most popular here, Megginson said, while the beers sort of proud of this place, and loyal to it as well. run the gamut with IPAs as king.

If anything, he’ll add to what he’s built here. The business Megginson’s dream doesn’t seem so absurd now. It’s not has released some wines of its own — a highly unusual and just that it appears he’s pulled it off, but that others are tapbold move — and plans to release two more this month, bringping into what he’s fostered. And that’s just fine with him — ing the total to five.

Megginson welcomes it actually, saying competition will only Customers can already buy the Nouveau Rouge red blend, keep him on his game. Plus, he likes a challenge. pinot grigio or Two Triangles effervescent, “all-occasion wine”

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Feb. 3 — 9, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

22

CULTURE Irata’s long, cold road to Sweet Loris

by Jordan Green

Teeth of the Arctic Storm,” the song that ends Irata’s new album Sweet Loris, is an apt metaphor for the Greensboro band’s grueling but awe-inspiring journey into a harsh yet exhilarating sonic frontier, if for no other reason than its title.

The seven songs that make up the album, most of which clock in around five or six minutes, bring to mind an expeditionary team trudging across a bleak and frigid landscape, moving forward despite periodic episodes of dementia and frostbite, making do with unevenly matched temperaments and personality quirks, and even sustaining occasional casualties but regrouping and returning to the task.

The crew that now stands poised to conquer came about through a painstaking evolution after the departure of the trio’s first guitarist, with bassist Jon Case and drummer Jason Ward deciding they wanted to add vocals to what was initially an instrumental outfit.

The addition of guitarist Cheryl Manner strengthened and reinvigorated Irata as a tested and durable outfit.

After the trio returned from touring behind their 2012 EP Vultures — comprised of material written prior to Manner’s enlistment — they slowly began assembling material for Sweet Loris. In what should have been a triumphal moment, the band had to cancel several tour dates in October at the time of the album release when Ward was hospitalized with an infection stemming from a broken collarbone. And in January, the band’s Greensboro album release party had to be postponed by a week due to a snowstorm.

After the departure of their first guitarist, Ward and Case were determined to add vocals and make their sound edgier. They went through a number of guitarists before they found Manner.

“We were pretty lost,” Ward admitted after the band’s rescheduled album release party in Greensboro.

Neither of the two original members were particularly enamored with their vocals, but they taught themselves to sing. In some cases, the vocals evolved from just humming over instrumental riffs until actual lyrics took form.

“We just toughed it out over a whole summer,” Ward recalled.

Meanwhile, Manner had been looking for a band without much success. She had placed an ad on Craigslist, and Case responded.

“She didn’t think we were going to be compatible musically,” Case said. “She was a little more metal than us. I said, ‘Come out anyway.’”

Manner didn’t think the audition went particularly well because she felt nervous. Case and Ward told her she would need a bigger amp.

“I’d been looking for a band to play with,” she said.

“People would say, ‘We really like your playing, but we don’t want a girl in the band.’”

Case interrupted her: “We thought it was cool to have a girl in the band.”

“

Injuries, weather and lineup changes have cast stones in Irata’s path.

“They were really nice,” Manner continued. “They weren’t as weird as they are now.”

Case’s vocals, a guttural instrument that modulates from a stoic growl to a hair-raising scream, was a selling point for Manner.

“I heard his voice with the music,” she recalled, “and I said to myself: ‘I can understand what they’re doing.’”

Irata’s songs typically build from Case’s bass riffs.

Case’s playing provides a disciplinary counterpoint to Ward’s full-body assault on the drums, which oscillates between no-holds-barred pounding and machine-gun fills.

Manner’s fluid guitar playing harnesses the ferocity of classic Zeppelin and Sabbath-era metal, occasionally adding ambient flourishes and trilling lines of melody.

Aided by overdrive and wah-wah, some of her solos suggest a hornet pumped on steroids going in for a kill.

Irata’s new album was released on Retro Futurist Records, the label of the Savannah, Ga. indie-stoner-sludge band Kylesa. Phillip Cope of Kylesa produced Sweet Loris at the Jam Room Recording Studio in Columbia, SC, and Irata was touring with Kylesa when they were forced to cancel because of Ward’s health troubles. Irata is scheduled to tour with at least two other Retro Futurist acts, Caustic Casanova and Niche, later this year.

It’s easy to mislabel the music Irata, Kylesa and their fellow travelers make as metal, although there are elements of that genre, along with hard rock, punk, psychedelia and shoegaze. Whatever the characteristics of their respective sounds, neither band would take kindly to any expectation of stylistic orthodoxy.

For their rescheduled Greensboro release party on Jan. 30, Irata headlined a stellar bill that included

JORDAN GREEN

avant-shamanistic guitar-and-drums duo the Bronzed Chorus, veteran punkers Totally Slow and the ambient-math outfit Black Squares/White Islands. Suffused with an atmosphere of bonhomie and mutual support, the show took place at a commercial establishment whose identity the proprietor asked to remain undisclosed because it’s possible the show might have run afoul of city ordinance.

From the beginning of Irata’s set, Manner displayed a stage presence that was nothing short of charismatic, whipping her cascading curls as she bore down her solos and mouthing the lyrics of the songs as the stock-still Case growled them into his mic and Ward drove himself to exhaustion on the drums.

Ward expressed pride that each band on the bill was “from right here in Greensboro.” When Irata concluded its ecstatically received encore and every ounce of energy seemed wrung out of the audience, it was the band that was giving thanks.

“Let’s give it up for all the bands tonight,” Ward said, as he and Manner clapped.

Pick of the Week Yolanda Rabun and Trio @ High Point Theatre, Saturday, 8 p.m.

From her sultry music videos with gratuitous saxophone solos and and moody beats, you’d never guess that jazz-soul artist Rabun is also a corporate attorney in the Triangle. Her renaissance-woman charm pairs well with her lilting vocalizations and spunk on stage. Go to highpointtheatre.com for tickets.

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24

CULTURE Gender-bending NASCAR tale takes a sharp left turn from normal

by Joanna Rutter You’re the man.”

“No. Trust me. You are the man.”

So goes Vrooommm!: A NASComedy, the new gender-bending offering from Triad Stage directed by David Karl Lee, which opened Jan. 30 to a sold-out crowd. It will close out the company’s Winston-Salem season with a bang (well, several bangs and other assorted loud noises) this week at the Hanesbrands Theatre.

This goofy high-speed story of a “suspiciously” successful female NASCAR driver and her resentful fellow drivers — played by other women — is a bizarre foray into gender binaries in Southern culture, as wacky as a Saturday morning cartoon injected with feminist steroids.

Triad Stage lives up to its reputation with this production, which is written by Janet Allard, a UNCG playwriting professor, and stacked with UNC School of the Arts and UNCG alumni. And it’s fitting that this play, commissioned in New York and developed in Palo Alto and Minneapolis, finds a home in bona-fide NASCAR country.

For Vrooommm!, Triad Stage enlisted female actors to play male NASCAR drivers, to great effect. BERT VANDERVEEN Vrooommm! is, according to Triad Stage’s Tiffany Albright, a “big artistic reunion” between Preston Lane that she’s cheating, but it doesn’t end up mattering as other. and Richard Whittington, Triad Stage co-founders, and the story spirals deeper into its own ridiculousness.

UNCSA senior Kikue’s performance, pesky mousdirector David Karl Lee, who were all MFA buddies at The show zooms past the wackiness point-of-no-retache notwithstanding, was a highlight throughout Yale School of Drama. The play seems to have benefitturn in a locker room brawl between Chip and somethe play. She displayed remarkable emotional versaed from other partnerships as well: using only six cast one in a chicken suit, complete with well-timed flashes tility, exuding pure darkness as a tortured goth teen members, it’s baffling how the storyline manages to of light to punctuate Looney Tunes-esque punches, one minute and drawling easy confidence as a driver in contain 20 or so characters while never feeling cumthough the scene that earned the most audience the next. Kikue will be performing in UNCSA’s Pericles bersome. This is clearly thanks to a nifty set-on-wheels laughs was a brilliantly blocked “crash” played out in in April and one can only hope she’ll continue to act

by Bert Scott, clever sound design by Cory Raynor, strobe light slow-motion. The play culminates in a locally after graduating. and inventive costuming from Andja Budincich, which game of musical chairs organized by a racing god of Equally notable was Courtney Moors in her Triad smoothly unifies what could have been a very kitschy yore. All of this is irrelevant and provides zero closure, Stage debut. She brought such masculine energy to her production in a believable setting — no small feat conbut again, to seek that would be missing the point.

Kenny “Hotshot” Kane that it’s not a surprise to see sidering the racecars are represented by neon rolling If the rules of playwriting and directing — and Shakespearean gender-flipping plays like Twelfth Night office chairs. gender itself — were ever in discussion while working in her repertoire. Moors’ fiery swagger is so believable Not everything went smoothly during the openon Vrooommm!, it’s a sure thing that whoever was in that when she abruptly switches roles to a gushing ing performance, however: Emma Kikue, aka Randy that room quoted Hotshot’s locker-room toast: “The super-fan later in the show, it’s almost impossible to “Stonewall” Jackson, had trouble with her adhesive rulebook’s like the Bible. Open to interpretation!” recognize her. moustache at the halfway point of the show. While The clearly-studied assumed heatedly debating with her fellow gender of all six actors is what makes announcer, her facial hair flew off; Pick of the Week this show worth seeing, especially after spluttering for a second, she Catch the women of Salam Neighbor @ Guilford College (GSO), Friday, with traditionally masculine NAsaid perfectly in character, “I’m so the NASCAR boy’s club 6 p.m.

SCAR culture serving as its backdrop. excited, my moustache is coming in Vrooommm! at the (Mercifully, for the most part, the Two American dudes plunge into life in the Za’atoff!” script avoids low-hanging redneck ari refugee camp in Jordan, just seven miles from It was an unplanned moment of Hanesbrands Theatre jokes.) And not only are women levity in a comedy where the laughs the Syrian border. Thank goodness they brought in Winston-Salem from actors pretending to be men, but are orchestrated with a somewhat their cameras and made a movie about it. In a curWednesday through at different points, there’s a womheavy hand. Amy Hamel as unsucrent climate where reactions to the international Feb. 7. an pretending to be a man who is cessful playboy Chip Chowalsky refugee crisis span the full range of self-sacrificial actually a woman, and a woman who had the bad luck of carrying the generosity to Islamophobic rage, this film couldn’t cross-dresses as a man. more clichéd one-liners in the script come to the Triad at a better time, rewriting the Underneath its cartoon veneer, Vrooommm! via (“Business up front, party in the back”). narrative of hate by simply sharing refugees’ stoits leading lady — played to sassy perfection by Eliza The play is at its funniest in more boldly left-of-cenries. PS, this movie is great friendship prep-work to Huberth — does attempt some halfhearted feminism ter moments, during encounters with a threatening get ready for your 1,000 refugee neighbors expectthat is ultimately left unresolved. Such answers, were fast-food mascot sporting a Jersey crime-lord accent ed to arrive in Guilford County in 2016. Reserve free they given, would be far too serious anyway. The plot — don’t ask, it never makes sense — or the karaoke tickets on guilford.edu. centers somewhat around the male drivers’ suspicion numbers where drivers drunkenly sling insults at each

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Feb. 3 — 9, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

26

FUN & GAMES Gasoline fumes smelled sharp. Twoand four-stroke engines blatted deafeningly despite their small size.

Racers crossed themselves and batted both sides of their helmets, knocking out their

by Anthony Harrison nerves. Clouds of exhaust condensed and dispersed immediately as the dirt bikes zoomed off the starting line. Clods of brown dirt — not earth, but dirt — flew in every direction.

Card girls strutting in front of the rows of riders at the ready had waved placards demanding the crowd to “GET LOUD.” But there was no need.

On Jan. 30, the screaming audience couldn’t compete with the howling bikes in the Greensboro Coliseum for this AmSoil Arenacross event.

At least, not from my vantage point on the track, down in the pit.

I don’t know what it was like in the stands of Greensboro Coliseum, but it was damn loud at the starting line. I might as well stand on Piedmont Triad International Airport’s runways if I ever wish to replicate the aural experience.

But unless you treasure your hearing more than I do, this was not a negative point of watching motocross — it only added to the visceral intensity.

The cacophony from the caterwauling engines, buzzing like swarms of yellowjackets as they wound around the tight track, not only overloaded my eardrums. It rumbled and reverberated in my chest cavity; it tickled my toes.

It was as cold as it was loud in the pit. Immense industrial fans blew endlessly for a few reasons. The hazy light pall of dust created by the fans added a certain aesthetic pleasure to the event, whether intentional or not.

But the main reason was to prevent a mass episode of carbon monoxide poisoning. All the exhaust burped out from the dozens of dirt bikes during races and Caterpillar earthmoving equipment mending the berms and ramps during breaks risked causing everyone to succumb to a case of the vapors, even in the cavernous coliseum.

Though I wore a bulky vest, jeans and heavy socks inside my boots, in the path of the fans, I froze down in the pit.

I felt much worse for the card girls.

These poor women — officially, the Monster Energy Girls — were dressed in tight, black pleather corset tops and butt-length skirts, emblazoned with the ragged green Monster ‘M’ on the hips. Light, black down jackets draped over their shoulders staved off hypothermia during the races. No matter what, goosebumps stood out on their tanned skin as they shivered on the sidelines.

“I have thermal socks on, so my feet are the only

W

Tales from the pit warm part of me right now,” Monster Girl Mandy Moore — no relation — told me with a strained smile as she foxtrotted in place to keep her blood flowing. “If I get a cold after this, I’ll know why.”

Maybe the bikers kept warmer in their jumpsuits and other protective gear.

It also helped that they were racing. After all, maintaining control on such a light bike while sliding into turns, vaulting over jumps and bounding across bumps demands peak physical fitness. All the racers looked to me like jockeys — rail-thin, compact; I guessed no rider was much taller than about 5-foot-8.

Most of them were just kids, too. But that didn’t detract from their abilities.

In only his second career start, 17-year-old Missouri native Austin Forkner swept the field with victories in the second heat and both main events.

From my angle at the starting gate, I couldn’t see exactly when Forkner claimed the top spot in his initial win, but I caught one magic moment of this kid’s talent.

After a series of small ramps, a hairpin left turn opened up into the short, flat straightaway. Every go at it, Forkner cut this turn as shallowly as possible.

Once, as he vied to keep second place, the rear wheel of his bright green Kawasaki dug into a little divot and halted bike and rider for a moment. But then, with a tiny spurring kick, his bike spat a backfire like a single pistol report and Forkner shot down the straightaway and into first.

In his second victory, Forkner established what seemed like an eternal lead on everyone else in the race. As he flew over the finish line, the teenager dabbed in mid-air, relishing his first big-time showing

with a flourish.

Before he was the night’s champ, I saw Forkner standing alone in a safe zone on the track, watching two-bike trials as though meditating. I patted him on the shoulder, and this fresh-faced, blond-haired kid turned, surprised.

“How’d you get into this?” I shouted over the roar of the bikes.

“What?” he shouted back.

“How’d you start?” All verbal communication required clipped sentences at high volume.

“My dad raced,” he yelled back in a twangy tenor. “I followed him. Bought a bike. Started racing.”

“No way! My dad did, too. In the ’70s. European bikes. Maicos, CZs. But I never saw a race.”

Forkner grinned ear to ear.

“It’s fun, man,” he yelped.

I wished him good luck, shaking his hand before I returned to the pit.

Pick of the Week Famouser even than Captain Kangaroo US Olympic Table Tennis Trials @ Greensboro Coliseum (GSO), Thursday This week, the national table tennis team holds qualifying trials for the Olympics. Competitors from age 11 to 93 vie for a trip to Rio de Janeiro for this year’s Summer Olympics, including 2012 team members Timothy Wang and Lily Zhang as well as Bill Guilfoil, who will be the oldest Olympiad in history if he makes the cut. Trials run through Saturday. For more information, visit greensborocoliseum.com.

Austin Forkner makes his move into the straightaway during the AmSoil Arenacross main event.

ANTHONY HARRISON

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GAMES

A Light Dusting”--unlike in some areas.

by Matt Jones Across

Down

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Opinion Culture

1 Speak with a grating voice 2 How some like their coffee 3 Five, to Francois 4 Without a match 5 Lego person or character, slangily 6 This or that, e.g.

7 “Yeah, that’s what they all say. They all say ___”: Chief Wiggum 8 Garden of ___ (Biblical site) 9 Last name in 2015’s “Creed” 10 “Achtung Baby” co-producer Brian 11 “Dirty Jobs” host Mike 12 “Dame” Everage 13 Blood work, e.g.

18 Billionaire corporate investor Carl 19 Gave in 24 Award for a Brit. officer

25 Do a Google search on yourself, e.g.

27 Component of wpm 28 With 14-Across, vitamin B9 29 Hardly eager 30 Intro for sound or violet 31 Portland Timbers org.

32 “And ___ grow on” 33 Lehar operetta “The Merry ___” 34 Astounds 39 “That’s amazing!” to a texter 42 Designer monogram 43 Edible mushroom of Japan 44 Completely cover 45 Astounded 46 “Antiques Roadshow” airer 48 Birds with curved bills 49 “An Inconvenient Truth” presenter 52 Hardly close 53 Peel, as an apple 54 Bone near the biceps 56 Closings 58 Marshy ground 59 Milo’s pug pal, in a 1986 film 60 Stimulate, as an appetite 62 Ball cap 63 “Elementary” star Lucy 64 Fly catcher

News

55 Actor/writer Barinholtz of “The Mindy Project” 57 Pai ___ (Chinese casino game) 58 Do a lawn chore 61 Goes cuckoo for 65 Nickname for the new host of “Celebrity Apprentice” 66 Extremely urgent 67 First Great Lake, alphabetically 68 Picks up a book 69 Litigation instigator 70 Outsmart

Up Front

1 1990 Gerardo hit “___ Suave” 5 Depeche ___ 9 Guardian Angels hat 14 See 28-Down 15 Apple MP3 player 16 Battery terminal 17 Sondheim song that starts “Isn’t it rich?”

20 “Right now” 21 102, to Caesar 22 Apprehend 23 Have a meal 24 “Platoon” star Willem 26 Altared statement?

28 Park where Citi Field is located 35 Chinese tea variety 36 Tiresome, like a joke 37 In a ___ (teed off) 38 Back muscle, for short 39 “Inglourious Basterds” org.

40 .com kin 41 Grammy-nominated Macy Gray song of 2000 43 Australian coat of arms bird 44 Sir Thomas the tea merchant 47 Capricious activity, in a colorful metaphor 50 Corp. takeover strategy 51 “My Dog Has ___” 52 “The Simpsons” storekeeper

Fun & Games

Answers from previous publication.

Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

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ALL SHE WROTE Fat February

Playing February 6 – 8

e (to the barista): Is it wrong that I just went to the wine store and now I’m getting coffee before a detox wrap?

Barista: Please tell me you blazed right before this, too.

Me: Hey, I wonder if you can smoke while getting a detox wrap.

by Nicole Crews Barista: They should open a Vape Spa. Me: They probably have those in Colorado already. I’ll bet you can get a Rocky Mountain High Colonic.

Barista (snorting): Dude, this one is on the house.

Bartender: Speaking of, what are you doing for Valentine’s Day? Me: Leaving the country.

The B Word The Super Bowl, Mardi Gras and Valentine’s Day are upon us and now that most of those pesky New Year’s resolutions have fallen by the waistline it’s time strap on the February food bag. If you’ve been January Jones’n for something finger-licking good, it’s time to get knuckle deep in Denver dip, claw into some Emmanuel Sanders fried chicken and brandish some Marshall-Mellows over the fire.

Come Sunday we’ll be barbecuing bronco and making an Osweiler omelet out of Denver with a side of Peyton Mancakes.

DeMarcus be Ware.

But enough about football. Let’s talk about Cam Newton’s ass. Talk about putting the pant in Panthers. I don’t care if he’s strapped in jeans that look like a bad ’80s gay man’s shirt exploded all over him. That boy is fo-ine.

Me: You skipped Mardi Gras.

Bartender: No I didn’t. I think I’m just blocking it out. Worst amateur night ever after New Year’s and St. Paddy’s Day. Me: You forgot Cinco de Mayo.

Bartender: Look at you, speaking Spanish.

Me: Sadly, I have a degree in Spanish and now about all I speak is restaurant. I should have ordered the bilingual.

M

Me: Cam is so cute.

Bartender: My roommate calls him Baby Orca because of the way he smiles.

Me: Great. Now I’m going to hear killer whale sounds every time I look at him.

Bartender: That’s better than the damn Nationwide jingle and Peyton Manning.

Me: True. That commercial is annoying. Though did you see that Bojangles is sending a truck of iced tea cross country. No wonder people think we all eat dirt and marry our cousins.

The F Word It’s true. While the rest of you poor sod-eaters are beaming in Super Bowl victory or, God forbid (you know God’s a Panthers’ fan because he painted the sky Carolina blue) wallowing in defeat, I’ll be snorkeling my face in a margarita south of the border. Fat Tuesday to y’all, it’ll be Martes Gordo for me in Mexico. I’ll be getting my Brazilian wet while you get your gumbo on. I’ll be hollering, “Olé!” while you eat your etouffee.

Les bon temp rouler!

The V Word And by the time the second Sunday lovefest comes around and you’re scrambling in the snow to get to a dinner reservation, trifling with truffles and wrapping yourselves in red ribbons, I’ll be kicking it poolside and the most romantic thing about it will be the name of the place itself — Playa del Carmen.

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