NBTF
Greensboro / Winston-Salem / High Point triad-city-beat.com August 5 – 11, 2015
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The National Black Theatre Festival returns
PAGE 16
Meeting minutes recovered PAGE 12
Greensboro MMA PAGE 28
The return of Nicole Crews PAGE 31
August 5 — 11, 2015
FIRST FRIDAY AT CROP SALON!
JOIN CROP SALON FIRST FRIDAY, AUGUST 7 TH FROM 6:00 – 9:30 p m AS WE WELCOME NEW STYLISTS CAITLIN BRENNAN AND ANNA WOOD.
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FEATURING ARTWORK BY AARON SIZEMORE, WITH MUSICAL GUEST JONNY ALRIGHT & THE HOT ROD MAMAS. FOOD AND REFRESHMENTS PROVIDED BY CAFE EUROPA.
Playing August 7 - 13 OPENING FRIDAY:
“Tangerine”
Three friends passionate about exceptional food and entertainment. Check us out on Facebook or give us a call to find out more about us.
Playing daily at 12 pm, 5 pm & 7 pm — $6 tickets!
Charlie Chaplin’s Short Films
Playing daily at 2:30 pm - $4 Tickets! $2 ticktets for kids!
John Carpenter’s “They Live”
Mary Lacklen Allen Broach Bob Weston (336)210–5094 catering@capers.biz
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5000 Heathridge Terrace Greensboro, NC 27410-8419
A tribute to Rowdy Roddy Piper (1954-2015) 10 pm Friday - $7 tickets include FREE BEVERAGE! Lawnchair Drive-In Presents
“Empire Records” (1989)
Directed by Tim Burton! 8:30 pm Saturday - $2 tickets!
TV CLUB: Hannibal
10 pm Saturday! Free Admission with Drink Purchase! Beer! Wine! Amazing Coffee!
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August 5 — 11, 2015
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CONTENTS
Publisher Allen Broach allen@triad-city-beat.com
Editorial
Art
Art Director Jorge Maturino jorge@triad-city-beat.com
Sales
Director of Advertising and Sales Dick Gray dick@triad-city-beat.com Sales Executive Alex Klein alex@triad-city-beat.com Sales Executive Lamar Gibson lamar@triad-city-beat.com Sales Executive Cheryl Green cheryl@triad-city-beat.com
Contributors Carolyn de Berry Nicole Crews Anthony Harrison Matt Jones
28 UP FRONT
MUSIC
4 Editor’s Notebook 5 City Life 6 Commentariat 6 The List 6 Barometer 7 Unsolicited Endorsement 7 Triad power Ranking 8 Heard
24 Coast goes unexplored
NEWS
GAMES
9 Incumbents rejoice! 10 Voting rights trial hits high note 12 HPJ: Missing minutes returned
29 Jonesin’ Crossword
OPINION
30 War Memorial Drive, Greensboro
13 13
Editorial: Vouch this Citizen Green: Disharmony among
the party faithful 14 It Just Might Work: Drinking local 14 Fresh Eyes: Permissible lies
COVER Cover: Courtesy photo
The NBTF brings the best in theater, dance, film, song and spoken word to WinstonSalem this week.
16 The National Black Theatre Festival returns
FOOD 22 Harlem Express 23 Barstool: Big brewer in little High Point
TCB IN A FLASH DAILY @ triad-city-beat.com 4
Dancing in the moonlight
by Brian Clarey
Business
Editor in Chief Brian Clarey brian@triad-city-beat.com Senior Editor Jordan Green jordan@triad-city-beat.com Associate Editor Eric Ginsburg eric@triad-city-beat.com Editorial Interns Chris Nafekh Daniel Wirtheim intern@triad-city-beat.com Investigative Reporting Intern Nicole Zelniker Photography Interns Amanda Salter Caleb Smallwood
EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK
First copy is free, all additional copies are $1.00. ©2015 Beat Media Inc.
ART 26 Shooting with Monkeywhales
GOOD SPORT 28 They call him Wolverine
SHOT IN THE TRIAD ALL HE WROTE 31 Guide to douchebags
The moon made itself known before the sun had even set: a strong orange disc in the southern sky, beckoning over the meager downtown cityscape. I saw it from Battleground Avenue after crashing Ryan Saunders’ party at Greensboro Growlers, where he was drumming up business for his HopFest — which is as much about urban awareness and cultural cachet as it is about beer and music. It’s a buckshot approach to progress in the Triad, with notions like grassroots entrepreneurship and artistic democracy all wound up with dance parties and public transportation. Not everyone is as enamored with Saunders as he is himself — “I’ve been pissing some people off lately,” he told me sheepishly — but hey: It doesn’t really matter what they’re saying about you, as long as they’re talking about you, amirite? Earlier in the evening I sat in the It takes 15 years to back of a space at the Weatherspoon become an overnight Art Museum while sensation, you know. my old friend Harvey Robinson and his partner Carolyn de Berry talked about the creative process. A clip from his documentary about the artist Leonardo Drew, due out later this year, raised the hairs on my arm with its insight and poignancy. Harvey and I were young when we met, young enough that our real lives had not yet begun, and dumb enough to think we were getting old. We were just a couple of waiters on Tate Street, before I had gotten my first newspaper gig in town and Harv went off to film school, with nothing but vague plans and no clue how much work it would take to get there. It takes 15 years to become an overnight sensation, you know. On Battleground Avenue, as that magnificent moon hung like a lantern in the twilight, music writer Ryan Snyder fast-talked me into heading back downtown for Dance From Above, the monthly dance party he throws with a few friends that emanates from the top of the Carolina Theatre. Up in the Crown, before all the women showed up, oldschool funk from the likes of James Brown and Shorty Long played to a roomful of dudes not so patiently waiting for the next thing to happen. I ghosted after the second DJ began painting the bricks with electric noise, early for the young folk but more than enough excitement for me. By the time I got outside, storm clouds had obscured the moonlight and lightning flashed in the night sky.
ALL WEEK National Black Theatre Festival @ various venues (W-S) The NBTF, which began on Monday, is so packed with events, performances, parties and forums that it takes every other year off. For some suggestions about the schedule, see this week’s cover story, beginning on page 16, or visit nbtf.org.
August 5 – 11
SATURDAY
triad-city-beat.com
CITY LIFE
BLT Challenge @ Greensboro Farmers Curb Market (GSO) It starts early with the Triad’s signature sandwich, featuring examples of the form from Burger Warfare, Emma Keys, la Rue, Melt, Undercurrent and the Greensboro Farmers Market team.
WEDNESDAY
Dinner with a Side of Culture @ The Artist Bloc (GSO) The Mac & Cheese Ministry provides the food for this ninth installation of Dinner with a Side of Culture, held tonight at 7 p.m. in the Glenwood neighborhood at the Artist Bloc gallery, hangout and art-supply store. Bonus points if you take the bus.
THURSDAY
First Thursday Field Trip @ UNCG Foundry (W-S/GSO) The First Thursday meetup is a Camel City thing, but tonight they’ll cross the Sandy Ridge Curtain to see the foundry at UNCG. Carpools depart from Chestnut Street between Fifth and Sixth at 6:30 p.m. See the Facebook page for more details.
FRIDAY
First Friday @ downtown shops and streets (GSO/W-S) Greensboro: There’s heavy activity along both ends of Elm Street, including live music with Jonny Alright & the Hot Rod Mamas at Crop Salon, art by Mako Fufu at Chakras and, at the Carolina Theatre, the Best of the Greensboro 48-Hour Film Project at 7 p.m. Winston-Salem: Most of the action centers around Sixth and Trade Streets, where Jeff Beck has his first solo show Always Chasing That… at Unleashed Arts Center and Kim Thoré fuses on the terrible beauty of the pop-culture machine with The Beat Goes On at Inter_Section Gallery. Right there in the middle of it all is a summer tomato tasting at 7 p.m., put on by Warren Buffett. And there’s always something special going on at the Garage afterwards — this week it’s singers/songwriters featuring Tyler Nail.
Daddy Issues @ ??? (GSO) If it wasn’t their last show, we probably wouldn’t even mention it, but Greensboro’s favorite lady surf-punk band Daddy Issues is breaking up and heading their separate ways after tonight’s show at the Hellraiser Haus with Trophy Wives, the Nude Party and Totally Slow in support. It’s an early one, beginning at 5 p.m. SuperSoaker 2015 @ the Garage (W-S) Normally we wouldn’t be double-dipping the G, but tonight’s show, curated by Phuzz Phest’s Philip Pledger, features an opening set by Estrangers followed by Dad & Dad, who haven’t been in WSNC since the Phuzz, and ending with analog electronica from Make Light.
SUNDAY
Second Sundays @ Fourth Street (W-S) The August installation of Second Sundays features a couple of acts with Greensboro ties. Laila Nur, kicking of at 3 p.m., charted her androgyne radical folk movement from the Gate City. Senegalese griot Diali Cissokho counts two Greensboroans among the members of his band Kaira Ba, which came to local prominence after a memorable set at the Mosaic Festival in Festival Park.
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August 5 — 11, 2015
Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Food Music Art Good Sport Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote
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4 local newspaper owners’ political donations by Brian Clarey
Think big, move forward
This is more of what we need in this city [“Kick out the jambs: An urban planner reimagines downtown Greensboro”; by Brian Clarey; July 29, 2015]. It really takes outside muscle (via a big blanket grant like this one) and people in the arts outside of the insulation of city government to begin asking bigger questions of development. I like the way this guy thinks, especially in terms of getting downtown bigger in a sustainable way. (My idea? Big, affordable housing developments, a few more bus lines to where jobs are and an Aldi, for starters.) We’ve seen cool, fancy, urban ideas try to take root in Greensboro to copy bigger cities and their models, much like a little sibling trying to copy its cooler, more successful older brother, but it usually ends up failing. Why? When the point of any new initiative is a fancy idea and not solving an actual issue that was researched and a solution had actual demand here in Greensboro from people of various backgrounds and social classes, those ideas tend to flop. Not that I’m talking about the pointless ghost town that is Co//ab or anything. Not that I’m talking about the plans in the works for a hip co-working space a la HQ Raleigh. (I’m not sure any of us know what businesses are actually asking for a co-working space to begin with. This is the problem.) I’d love to see more of this ethnographic, walking-the-streets type research coming from not only government, but also the large crop of brand new (and sometimes redundant) nonprofit initiatives popping up left and right, and much less of the “if we build it, they will come” mentality with zero demand for such things. I hope Patrick sticks around for a few more years and really gets to know people in this quirky city. I’ll be cheering him on. Joanna Rutter, Greensboro I agree and disagree with [Joanna Rutter]’s comments. Downtown needs people like Patrick and forward progress needs to continue even against the typical pushback of Greensboro. I agree attention must be directed to the current needs of the current community. However, some concepts like co-op spaces and other contemporary ideas (borrowed from our bigger metro areas) need to occur to bring new residents/businesses into our city as well as help keep young professionals. The city cannot stay in a box. Christian Yorkshire, via triad-city-beat.com In praise of the e-reader The problem with the three free weekly papers covering Winston-Salem is that by the time I finally get my hands on one, I learn about all the great events and happenings I just missed. Arrrgh! But moments ago I discovered the TCB E-reader, the solution to my problem! Now all I need to do is remember to open it! I will now attempt a calendar reminder that will automatically send an email every Wednesday morning. (Degree of difficulty: 7.5) Mike J. Baron, Winston-Salem
1. Roy Carroll, the Rhino Times Campaign finance plays an increasing role in our coverage as we move towards election season. We’ll dive in with the local stuff in the weeks to come, but for now let’s take a look at elections past and those who shouldn’t have been funding them. Even before he resuscitated a dead Rhino, Roy Carroll was a big giver, with $2,600 to Thom Tillis for his Senate campaign in 2014, and $1,000 for the woman Tillis defeated, Kay Hagan, in 2012. That same year he donated a whopping $20,000 to the Mitt Romney Victory campaign. He also kicked in $5,300 to Trudy Wade’s last Senate election, according to followthemoney.org. 2. Charles Womack, Yes Weekly Newspaper owners, we hold, should remain neutral in the elections and party politics. Obviously Yes publisher Charles Womack disagrees — or did. His last big recorded donations were a $1,000 contribution to
Gov. Pat McCrory’s campaign and a $250 check for Mitt Romney in 2012. He also gave $500 to the Friends of Christine O’Donnell PAC and $100 to Trudy Wade’s first Senate campaign in 2010. 3. Warren Buffet, Greensboro News & Record and Winston-Salem Journal Warren Buffet is pretty stingy by billionaire standards, with only a few hundred thousand given over to the political class this century. But that total includes an early donation — made in 2014 — to a Hillary Clinton PAC. 4. Brian Clarey, Triad City Beat Here’s some easy math: I never gave nothin’ to nobody. For one, I’ve never been registered to either political party. For another, I don’t have any money. But even if I did, as a newspaper owner — and, more importantly, an editor — I feel that it isn’t my place to get involved in the circus that I’m covering in my pages.
The School Voucher Edition 3. High Point
Vouchers for the 2015-16 school year have come in, 5,078 of them for up to $4,200 each, and students in High Point have claimed 167 of them. High Point Christian Academy owns 57 of these vouchers, the most in the city, with TriCity Christian Academy pulling in 44 and Wesleyan Christian Academy taking in 35.
2. Winston-Salem
Students in the Camel City unhappy with the public school choices received 190 vouchers, with Salem Baptist Christian School acquiring 52 of them in this way. Other top recipients of funds that heretofore would go to the public school system are Winston-Salem Christian Academy with 34, and Gospel Light Christian School and Woodland Baptist Christian School with 25 each.
1. Greensboro
Greensboro pulled in the most vouchers of any of the Triad’s Big 3, with 217 in total. Most of them went to the Greensboro Islamic Academy with 123, second in the state only to Trinity Christian School in Fayetteville, which took in 129. Third on the statewide list is also a Muslim school, the Al-Iman School in Raleigh, which accepted 101 vouchers. Vandalia Christian School had the second highest total in Greensboro, with 36.
by Brian Clarey
Opinion
rights are infringed upon every day by law enforcement, government, businesses and the media. I’d venture to say that most Americans aren’t even fully aware of the slate of inalienable rights bestowed upon them by virtue of their citizenship. And even if they are, what are they going to do about it? Jails, mental institutions and barrooms are full of those whose feel their rights have been infringed upon but don’t see any means of recourse. Camel City busker Julian Robinson told the Winston-Salem Journal that he was the one who called in the ACLU after the city passed the ordinance in April. “As far as I was concerned it was unconstitutional and the city wasn’t interested in hearing it,” he told the Journal. Whether it is or is not remains to be seen — the city is planning a response, and if history serves as any guide, the ACLU is not likely to just shuffle off.
News
individual rights. But in its nearly 100-year history, the association has defended free speech, held the line between church and state, fought for equal access to the polls and bashed censorship, even when the individual causes weren’t so popular. In its agnosticism, it has stood up for the rights of communists, anti-war protestors, accused terrorists, prisoners, the Klan, Westboro Baptist Church and Jehovah’s Witnesses. A lot of people hate the ACLU. Until they don’t. The ACLU protects against the tyranny of the majority, the will of the authoritarian, the overreach of institutions whose instinct is to oppress. Who else is going to do that for you? Because the truth is that even though our rights are more or less clearly spelled out in our Constitution, those
Up Front
On July 22, Winston-Salem City Attorney Angela Carmon received a letter from the American Civil Liberties Union calling the city’s position on buskers — street musicians who play for tips — unconstitutional. The ACLU makes a good point: Freedom of creative expression is enshrined in the very first amendment to our most important document. And Winston-Salem’s busking ordinance imposes a licensing fee, hourly and neighborhood restrictions and a fine schedule on the practice. But let’s put the busking ordinance aside for a minute — as well as the fact that as it stands it applies to maybe five guys — and talk about the ACLU itself. Founded in 1920 to protect the First Amendment rights of striking workers and Americans of color, the ACLU eventually morphed into a schoolmarmish presence in American culture, wagging fingers and issuing shushes to anyone who dared cross the lines against anyone’s
triad-city-beat.com
The American Civil Liberties Union
Cover Story
A seasoned incumbent with experience
A political newcomer with fresh ideas It depends
Shot in the Triad
61%
25%
14%
All She Wrote
New question: Are you more excited for the National Black Theatre Festival (page 16) in Winston-Salem or the upcoming National Folk Festival in Greensboro? Visit triad-city-beat.com to vote!
Games
Readers: It’s interesting that, even though our readers resoundingly said “It depends” with 61 percent of the vote and 25 percent chose “A political newcomer with fresh ideas,” there are hardly any challengers this year. Not that this is a strong rebuke of current council, but with only 14 percent picking “A seasoned incumbent with experience,” you’d think we’d see a couple more contenders. Where are the wingnuts?
Good Sport
Jordan Green: Considering that I, along with the rest of the editorial staff, will be reporting on this election, allow me to frame my thoughts as “analysis” rather than opinion. The legislative maneuvering and court battles that have preceded this election set the table in an interesting way. The main feature of the odd biracial, cross-ideological coalition of supporters that backed the legislation and opposed the city’s lawsuit against the redistricting is that they are frustrated politicians who have been kicked out of office by voters. That puts challengers in a weird position. They’ll have to answer the question
Eric Ginsburg: It depends on the candidates in each race, of course.
Art
Brian Clarey: Well it depends, of course. A city council, not unlike a boy band, needs a lot of different types on board. It’s useful to have some experienced legislators on hand who know how the system works and keep institutional memory. We need a few business types, particularly those with real estate experience, because land and its use is a big part of what council does. A lawyer often comes in handy. And we need people who can speak for minorities, poor folks, immigrants and other elements of the fringe. New blood is always good, too, because a fresh set of eyes can sometimes see things the veterans cannot. Is that enough of a cop-out for ya?
of whether they’re acting on their own agency or representing the interest of an old guard looking to re-establish influence and clout. City government has been relatively stable over the past four years, compared to the upheaval caused by the witch-hunt against former City Manager Mitchell Johnson and the unsuccessful effort to reopen the White Street Landfill. Mayor Nancy Vaughan appears to be a possible contender for the first long-running mayor Greensboro has had since Keith Holliday served from 1999 to 2007. Winston-Salem has had the same mayor since 2001. Greensboro voters might envy that continuity. Political competition is healthy for democracy, so good luck to the challengers.
Music
Filing for the Greensboro City Council is underway — it ends Friday at noon — and we want to talk about whether people would prefer a seasoned incumbent, a political newcomer with fresh ideas, or whether it depends on the individuals.
Food
Who would you rather vote for?
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August 5 — 11, 2015
Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Food Music Art Good Sport Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote
HEARD “To come down and to be a part of something that is so magnificent and is so grand…. Any time you have thousands of black people coming together, feeling good, looking good… the energy level of it is unmatched anywhere. It’s certainly inspiring at the least and life-changing at the best.” — Levy Lee Simon, on the National Black Theatre Festival, page 20
“We kind of tried to wedge them into the government bureaucracy, which I imagine can be a painful process.”
— Guilford County Clerk to Board Robin Keller, on wrenching changes experienced by the open space committee in 2014, page 12 “You know how many talented African-American artists exist in this world? Some of these wonderful, wonderful, talented people will never see the light of day. Even performers who are extremely established, they don’t have a lot of roles coming to them.” — Vivian Reed, in the Cover, page 17 As I work alongside the Johnsons and fellow survivors with communities around the world, I remember those voices 10 years ago warning that an effort to investigate the events of Nov. 3, 1979 would only harm Greensboro’s image. To the contrary, I am beginning to see that those predictions and the assumptions underlying them — assumptions about the ill intentions of the survivors and other community leaders who initiated the truth and reconciliation process in Greensboro — were all a part of that “range of permissible lies” that we are still working to narrow today. — Jill Williams, in Fresh Eyes, page 14 There’s an old rule in culinary journalism, or at least the School of Clarey in which I was raised; don’t review a restaurant until it’s been open for a month, because they deserve a chance to work out the kinks. But Harlem Express needs no further preparation. — Eric Ginsburg, in Food, page 22 It will be a bitter outcome, with a 51-49 decision. This is not an election like 2008 when an idealistic, Obama-style candidate comes from the outside, transcends old divisions and captures the imagination of the electorate. And the ultimate victor will emerge from the smoke and dust without a mandate and without any crossover appeal because the election will be narrowly won by shrill appeals to the base. — Jordan Green, in Citizen Green, page 13 Not everyone is as enamored with Saunders as he is himself — “I’ve been pissing some people off lately,” he told me sheepishly — but hey: It doesn’t really matter what they’re saying about you, as long as they’re talking about you, amirite? — Brian Clarey, in Editor’s Notebook, page 4
“I would tell jokes and be funny, but it’s so f***ing awkward.” 8
A local baller’s annual pilgrimage
— Andy Gonzalez of Marshmallow Coast, page 24
Kids play at former NBA player and Wake Forest grad Josh Howard’s summer basketball camp in Winston-Salem last week.
ERIC GINSBURG
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NEWS
Few file for Greensboro City Council races by Eric Ginsburg
News Opinion
Councilwoman Nancy Hoffmann (left) has no challenger so far. Mayor Nancy Vaughan (right) has only one.
Music Art Good Sport Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote
There is no true incumbent in District 3; Justin Outling was appointed by council last month to fill out the remainder of Zack Matheny’s council term after the latter resigned to become the CEO of Downtown Greensboro Inc. Outling, a lawyer with Brooks Pierce and the former chair of the city’s minimum housing commission, wants to hold the seat, and will be running his first election this fall. Challenging him is right-leaning Kurt Collins, a city human relations commissioner who said he started paying attention to city politics during the controversial noise ordinance debates. Collins, who serves with Outling on the leadership committee of the SynerG young professionals group, aligned himself with Matheny’s politics and leadership style. There are similarities between the two besides their SynerG work; Collins said both are younger than most on council, chose to make Greensboro home and may have overlapping visions for the city. But he said the two might have different ways of going about it, adding that he may be more conservative. Triad City Beat will provide extensive coverage of this fall’s Greensboro City Council election, with or without a primary. Check back next week for a detailed look at one of the most competitive races this election season.
Food
Washington, who is registered unaffiliated, is challenging conservative Councilman Tony Wilkins in District 5 covering the southwestern and western part of Greensboro, the city’s most Republican-leaning district. A booklife. com profile says Washington is the author of Life on Purpose and identifies her as a business entrepreneurship student at NC A&T University, but the school couldn’t immediately find her among its registered students. The online profile also says Washington is a podcaster and business owner. Neither could be reached for comment. As of press time, Councilwoman Nancy Hoffmann had not attracted a challenger in District 4, making her the only incumbent without an opponent. Sal Leone, a perennial candidate, is the only person running against Mayor Nancy Vaughan, and said before he might run just to give Vaughan a hard time and raise some meaningful issues. Leone is not, by any stretch of the imagination, expected to pose a serious problem for the mayor. But the District 1 and 3 races promise to be interesting. A rematch between former councilwoman Dianne Bellamy-Small and Councilwoman Sharon Hightower, who won last election and unseated Bellamy-Small in District 1 by only 12 votes, is a true toss-up. As of press time, there are no other candidates in the race.
FILE PHOTO
Cover Story
It looks like almost nobody, except the incumbents, wants to serve on Greensboro City Council. There are a few potential factors as to why only seven challengers have filed to run for nine seats on council as of press time Tuesday afternoon, including a confusing sequence of events that would have radically altered this year’s election process and districts as well as a possible satisfaction with current representation. A changed filing time causing a shorter period between filing and the election can’t have helped either. But regardless of the causes, there is a strong chance that when filing ends, there won’t be enough candidates to require a primary. Challengers, most of them first-time candidates, have filed in four of the five districts, two at-large for three existing seats and one to compete for mayor. All the incumbents have already put their name in to run for re-election, and the remaining councilman has said he will before filing ends at noon on Friday. In order for there to be a primary, the number of candidates running for a given seat must exceed double the number of seats available in a given race. So with only two candidates for a seat, the contest would skip the Oct. 6 primary and go straight to the general election on Nov. 3. With three at-large positions, that race would need seven candidates to require a primary; now there are only five. Three candidates in any other race would create a primary, but right now no contests meet that threshold. *** Two newcomers filed to run for city council at-large, joining incumbents Marikay Abuzuaiter, Mike Barber and Mayor Pro Tem Yvonne Johnson in the struggle for one of the three citywide council seats. One of the two first-time candidates
is Marc Ridgill, a retired 29-year veteran of the Greensboro Police Department. Ridgill, a lifelong Guilford County resident who also writes longwinded blog posts about local and national politics at marc.ridgillrant.com, said his training in conflict resolution and peer support would be an asset on council. He describes himself as “one step right of center” but said he has never voted straight-party ticket; he is registered unaffiliated and votes in Republican primaries, according to his public voter history. The only other at-large challenger who had filed by press time was Brian Hoss, a native of the Winston-Salem area who moved to Greensboro a little more than a year ago. Hoss, 31, works at Finnigan’s Wake in downtown Winston-Salem as a server and manager, and wants to see downtown Greensboro flourish as the Camel City has. “For a city as big as Greensboro it’s a very sad reality that there’s nothing going on in downtown Greensboro,” he said. “It’s kind of a shell of what city council wants it to be. That’s the main reason why [I’m running].” He would be the first openly gay Greensboro City Council member if elected, and he wants to use the position to help make the city safer and more welcoming for LGBT residents. Hoss, who described himself as a “regular, working-class person who wants to make a difference,” dropped out of Appalachian State University after three years, he said, but has toyed with the idea of pursuing a real estate license. Little information is publicly available about Thessa Pickett and Maureen Washington, who are challenging incumbents in district races. Pickett, a Democrat who is running against Councilman Jamal Fox in District 2 in east and northeast Greensboro, says on Facebook that she has served on a commission on the status of women subcommittee and a human relations commission committee. She is a case manager with the Housing First Team of Guilford County, according to Facebook.
Up Front
With only a few days remaining to file, there are so few candidates for Greensboro City Council that there is a strong chance there will be no primary election in October. Instead, contenders would move directly to a general election in November.
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August 5 — 11, 2015 Up Front
News Opinion Cover Story Food Music Art Good Sport Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote
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Trial likely to pivot on whether NC election law is discriminatory by Jonathan Michels Just days before the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, the federal trial in Winston-Salem examining North Carolina’s controversial voting rights law came to a close after three weeks of debate.
The arguments over North Carolina’s omnibus voting law boiled down to two opposing arguments familiar in the South: the state’s authority over election law versus the ability of minorities to exercise the right to vote. Defense attorneys for the state government claimed that the voting law was a product of majority rule. Republican legislators were sent to Raleigh instill confidence in the electoral system and challenging authority constitutes an infringement on state’s rights. “What’s at stake is the authority of the state under the [constitutional] election clause,” claimed Thomas Farr, while defending North Carolina’s voting restrictions. On the other side, lawyers representing several groups, including the North Carolina branch of the NAACP and the League of Women Voters argued passionately that the most important function of government was to ensure the right of every citizen to access the franchise. “When [African Americans] are on the verge of having a real influence on politics in North Carolina, the legislature stepped in and changed the rules,” countered Bert Russ, who alleged that the voting law violates the Voting Rights Act and is unconstitutional. Just as the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was the cornerstone of a successful strategy designed to ensure African-American access to the ballot box, opponents say NC House Bill 589 is the foundation of a plan by conservative legislators to limit African-American electoral participation. And both parties in the suit agree that the outcome of the trial in Winston-Salem could have far-reaching effects throughout the
country. Judge Thomas Schroeder, appointed by President George W. Bush, asked numerous, pointed questions to both parties, but made it clear to plaintiffs that the challenge would be explaining how HB 589 specifically violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. That section prohibits voting practices or procedures that discriminate against people on the basis of race, color or language, resulting in diminished opportunity to participate in the political process and to elect candidates of their choice. Experts for the plaintiffs put North Carolina’s racial history on trial, JORDAN GREEN Activists evoked the historic Selma march in Winston-Salem at the outset of beginning with slavery the trial. and continuing years after Russ addressed the judge’s desire to plaintiffs had successfully proven the Civil War with white see data from the 2014 election sans that the voting changes mandated by riots, the bloody overthrow of the HB 589 by lightly stepping around HB 589 placed a burden on African state legislature and later, Jim Crow it. Americans. After all, turnout insegregation. “You don’t have to measure what creased among all groups, including Judge Schroeder wasn’t buying it. the turnout in 2014 would have African Americans, in the 2014 elec“I’m sure that other states have been,” Russ said, “only to show the tion despite the restrictions imposed histories of discrimination,” Schrodisparate effect of the law on Afriby HB 589. eder said on the final day of the can Americans.” “Nobody’s told me what [turnout] trial. “How will I know?” Schroeder should have been without HB 589,” “But not on the scale of North responded. Schroeder said. “The test is to look Carolina,” countered Daniel DonVoting measures like same-day at a snapshot of the world without ovan, an attorney representing the registration and longer early-voting HB 589 under Section 2 and to see plaintiffs. “It’s history, but it’s releperiods helped African Americans if there is an equal opportunity for vant because it happened here.” overcome the burdens of racial inAfrican Americans to vote.” More importantly, Donovan equality, Russ answered. They came This was a common concern for argued, North Carolina’s legacy of to rely on those measures and they Schroeder, who doggedly asked for racial discrimination continues to were taken away by the state. a measuring stick to determine how disadvantage African Americans in “We won’t find a nirvana of courts in the future would know almost all areas of daily life, includAfrican-American participation, but when African Americans finally have ing education, income, health and that’s not the goal,” Russ said. “Your “parity” — an equal opportunity transportation. goal is to look at the violations put to participate in an election — unSchroeder agreed that minorities before you, not determining when der Section 2 of the federal Voting in North Carolina are challenged by we have a perfect system.” Rights Act. racial disparities. But despite eviRather than search for an empiriSchroeder’s interaction with Bert dence showing that African Americal formula to answer the equation, Russ, an attorney representing the cans disproportionately used many Schroeder needed to examine the US Justice Department, struck at of the targeted voting practices, “totality of the circumstances” the heart of the plaintiffs’ argument. Schroeder questioned whether the
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under Section 2, the plaintiffs urged, which includes the history of North Carolina’s racial discrimination and its effects on political participation. The plaintiffs are seeking to return North Carolina’s voting laws to what they were before the passage of HB 589, and for Schroeder to mandate that future changes be approved by the federal government before they are implemented. Compared to the plaintiffs’ closing arguments, defenders of the state’s restrictive voting law kept their comments brief and to the point. The defense attorneys argued that the debate was really about policy and the power of the state to change election laws under the Constitution. “The practices passed in HB 589 represent majority rule,” Farr summarized. He pointed out that many states have never offered some of the measures that were cut under HB 589. The state of New York, for instance, doesn’t offer early voting, Farr said. He agreed with Schroeder that a baseline was necessary to determine whether African Americans have been burdened by the law. Witnesses for the plaintiffs offered passionate testimony, but it’s not enough to simply show the existence of racial disparities, Farr claimed. “I had great parents,” Farr said. “I got to go to law school and I’m grateful for that. But election laws can’t take into account every [one of society’s] socioeconomic ills.” Schroeder didn’t automatically accept Farr’s argument. “Maybe not,” he replied, “but the court should take into account historical disadvantages that African Americans have had over time. Shouldn’t I take that into account in looking at the burden that HB 589 puts on African Americans?” “Unless they lead to injury, those factors shouldn’t come into play,” said Farr. Later, Schroeder himself questioned the intentions of Republican lawmakers, who passed the voting law quickly and with little public debate in 2013. He was adamant that government should make it easier for people to vote. Republican legislators weren’t responding to public pressure, Schroeder said, because some of voting measures that legislators removed with the bill, like the number of early-voting days, had strong public support across the board. Opponents of the law say it was also a political move because African Americans traditionally vote for Democratic candidates. In his final remarks, Farr alluded that the intentions of HB 589’s critics were political as well. “This case is unprecedented,” Farr said. “[The plaintiffs] want the practices that their ‘get out the vote’ groups prefer. They want you to decide on how much influence minorities should have on the political process.” It could be months before Schroeder makes that decision, but regardless of what he hands down, the ruling is likely to be appealed.
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HIGH POINT JOURNAL
Missing open space committee minutes found by Jordan Green
Minutes covering 13 years of meetings by the Guilford County Open Space Committee have been recovered, but the strange final months of the committee’s existence before it was unceremoniously disbanded are not yet part of the official record. Members of the Guilford County Open Space Committee learned that their group had been disbanded through a Dec. 1, 2014 letter from Bill Bencini on behalf of the county commission. It was a final act of sorts for Bencini as chairman of the county legislative body. The very day the letter was received, Bencini retired from the county commission, and a week later he took the oath as mayor of High Point. As if their unceremonious dismissal wasn’t bad enough, learning that the official minutes recording open space’s 15year history were missing only rubbed salt in the wounds of the stunned volunteer committee members. The matter came to light in the spring when two members of the defunct committee, along with a delegation of citizens from High Point interested in stewardship of the Rich Fork Preserve, met with Guilford County Clerk to Board Robin Keller and three county commissioners. “I think my chin literally hit the table,” Marie Poteat, a former member of the open space committee, recalled upon learning that the minutes were missing. A resident of Jamestown, Poteat served after retiring from a career in the chemical industry. A bound volume of official minutes for the committee, complete but for the committee’s final seven turbulent months in 2014, has recently surfaced. Triad City Beat has had a public records request on file with the county since June 12. After a series of follow-up attempts with Keller, a round of phone calls to county commissioners quickly resulted in an invitation to review the minutes. Keller said staff located the bound volume of minutes in a box, adding that it apparently got lost following the departure of two staff members as the county underwent an organizational overhaul that ultimately resulted in the creation of the new facilities, parks &
properties department. Anne Hice, a retired teacher from Pleasant Garden who was elected chair of the open space committee in early 2014, said the recovery of the official minutes helps reinforce the group’s legitimacy. Given that the committee was responsible for selecting properties for the county to acquire through a $10 million bond approved by voters, the minutes provide an important historical record, Poteat said. “What we were doing is spending the public money,” she said. “In those records it documents how we operated…. All of that will tell you what properties we were looking at. We were spending $10 million. I thought it was one of the most important committees I served on. For the record of the amount of money we were charged to spend for the citizens of Guilford County, I think those minutes were very important.” The bound volume of official minutes provides a nearly comprehensive record of the committee’s meetings from Feb. 27, 2001, when the bylaws were adopted, through Oct. 22, 2013. Along with the bound volume of minutes, staff also recovered several sets of minutes from former Open Space Coordinator Alex Ashton’s hard drive, although most are duplicates. Of the 25 sets of minutes that were stored on Ashton’s hard drive, only four are distinct from those collected in the bound volume. Two of those meetings — in February and March 2014 — immediately precede Ashton’s departure. Keller said the county commission has authorized her to purchase new information-management software that will help avoid similar challenges in the future. She said her staff will conduct annual trainings for the 56 boards and commissions with roughly 2,000 citizen volunteers so they can upload their minutes directly to the web. “So hopefully we’ll have more transparency,” Keller said. “When someone leaves or moves away, their work will not be lost. So right now we’re trying to reach back and pull it back in.” The bruised feelings and confusion
leading up to the committee’s dismissal help explain why retention of the minutes has become such a vexed matter. And the gap in the official record after Ashton’s departure is a matter of continuing concern. Poteat said minutes from the last six Guilford County Clerk to Board Robin JORDAN GREEN Keller holds up an official, bound set of minutes for the months of open space’s open space committee. existence will provide a record of how committee pointed the official chair of the open members attempted to make decisions space committee. To satisfy Keller’s reand figure out how to operate even as quirements, Vaughan called the meeting they perceived that county officials were to order and then turned it over to Hice not happy with them. to run. Eventually, Hice said she became “I think the mystery goes on,” she uncomfortable with the arrangement said. “I’m not sure we’ll get everything and stopped running the meetings. answered.” Vaughan, a realtor in Greensboro, Poteat and Hice recall Keller as a said in an email that as a member of the disruptive as the committee navigated a parks and recreation commission and changing political landscape. “She came the open space committee’s liaison to in and turned our committee upside the commission, “by default” he became down,” Poteat said, “and said, ‘This is the new chairman of the committee. the way it’s got to be done.’” “Is that confusing enough for you?” For her part, Keller said last week he asked. “It was for me; and it certainly that the open space committee was was for the open space members.” not a properly constituted committee Meanwhile, Hice said, Keller susconsidering that its members were not pended the committee’s bylaws, which appointed by the county commission. In resulted in the committee losing its staff fact, the parks and recreation commisliaison. Poteat recalled that Thomas sion approved members of the open Marshburn, the county’s new parks and space committee based on internal recreation director, stopped attending recommendations. Keller said that all the meetings because he said he didn’t along open space should have been opwant to be there on his personal time. erating as a subcommittee of the parks Vaughan said he was never asked to and recreation commission. Under that submit open space minutes to the parks structure, at least two members of the and recreation commission and doubts parks and recreation commission would anyone else did, either. But Vaughan has serve on the open space committee, one retained unofficial and unsigned minof whom would act as chair. As a subutes for the last four meetings, with one committee of parks and rec, Keller said, exception: No minutes were taken at the additional members could be brought September meeting because not enough on as “subject matter experts.” She people showed up to make a quorum. added that open space’s minutes should “We just sat around trying to figure have been submitted to the parks and out what was going on behind the recreation commission for approval. scenes with the new Guilford County “We kind of tried to wedge them into staff and administration, and what the government bureaucracy,” Keller our roles really were going to be in the said, “which I imagine can be a painful future,” Vaughan recalled. process.” That became evident two months Based on Keller’s advice, Hice said, later, when all the members received Gil Vaughan, a member of the parks letters at their home addresses notifying and recreation commission, was apthem that they had been terminated.
EDITORIAL
Open the floodgates
Disharmony among the party faithful on the hustings
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also showing dangerous signs of fraying. There’s only one candidate in the Democratic primary who has remained unsoiled by the torrent of corporate money sloshing into the political process and who can speak credibly about addressing the rapidly expanding wealth gap in the United States. And despite Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ recent incorporation of the Black Lives Matter message into his stump speech, his obtuse insistence on pivoting back to economic matters during his disastrous appearance at the Netroots Nation conference two weeks ago in Arizona might have permanently alienated black voters. Martin O’Malley, who has staked his campaign on the issue of poverty, likewise fumbled during the conference, minimizing the distinct ways in which black lives are devalued by saying, “Every life matters and that is why this issue is important. Black lives matter, white lives matter, all lives matter.” The one person in the party who speaks credibly to the Black Lives Matter movement at the moment, ironically, is Barack Obama, who spent the first six years of his presidency running away from the issue of race. Obama’s forthright deconstruction of mass incarceration at the national NAACP conference in Philadelphia, his decision to commute the sentences of dozens of people incarcerated for low-level drug offenses and his order to federal prosecutors to place less emphasis on mandatory minimums indicates that he fundamentally understands the dysfunction of the criminal justice system. With the vacuum of credible leadership among the candidates in the Democratic primary, some of the Black Lives Matter movement’s support is defaulting to Hillary Clinton, who stumbled herself on the phrase “all lives matter” during a speech in Florissant, Mo. in June. As the Democrats’ “inevitable” nominee, Clinton embodies the artifice of national politics in which carefully rehearsed showbiz personalities are constructed in the breach between real lives where people scrape by with difficult, low-paying jobs, poor schools and inadequate healthcare; and the crude realities of how power is transacted in Washington. Clinton’s subterfuge in shifting her State Department emails to a private server for eventual disposal, while protesting that the controversy was contrived, and her icy disdain for the press reveal someone who scorns the people she hopes to serve. Her presence on the Washington scene during her husband’s administration when mass incarceration ramped up, welfare ended and banking regulations were relaxed make her recent expressions of concern about racial justice and income inequality seem hollow. No wonder the Democrats are still looking for a candidate they can believe in.
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From this distant vantage point, it appears that when all the stupendous sums of money have been spent on the 2016 presidential contest and the empty theater has played out, the Democratic nominee will squeak through the contest. by Jordan Green The math is simple: Since the “compassionate conservatism” of President George W. Bush floundered roughly 10 years ago, the Republican Party has been unable to get past a politics of subtraction. Vicious attacks against President Obama sabotage any ability they might have to gain traction with black voters. Stoking anger at undocumented immigrants and stonewalling reform alienates Latinos, and opposition to gay marriage stymies their efforts to engage young voters. Constant efforts to curtail access to abortion can only hurt their chances to appeal to women While African Americans and young people may be inconsistent voters, the one time they reliably turn out is a presidential election year. The incessant scapegoating and demonization practiced by the Republican base might actually be the best thing that has happened to the Democrats; it makes a party without a coherent ideology that has been cobbled together from varied constituencies actually feel like a political home for the majority of the electorate. It will be a bitter outcome, with a 51-49 decision. This is not an election like 2008 when an idealistic, Obama-style candidate comes from the outside, transcends old divisions and captures the imagination of the electorate. And the ultimate victor will emerge from the smoke and dust without a mandate and without any crossover appeal because the election will be narrowly won by shrill appeals to the base. The scorched-earth politics of the tea party beginning in 2009 have pretty much wiped any common ground off the political map. And while the left is energized by recent victories on LGBT rights, on many other fronts — income inequality, racial justice and climate change among them — the progressive agenda has stalled out, in part because of the leadership’s efforts to placate the right and in part because they don’t really seem to know what they believe in. The unavoidable math of the general election — there will be no synthesis of vision or effort to co-opt the other side, only a brutal, all-out war to the finish — makes the primary all the more discordant. There is rising discontent on both the left and the right. While Donald Trump’s ratings with likely Republican voters rise with each incendiary outburst against Mexican immigrants and John McCain, and his more experienced opponents are reduced to performing cheap stunts in a desperate bid for media exposure, the Democratic base is
Up Front
The North Carolina Supreme Court’s decision to allow the dispensation of public money for private schools is the latest blow in an ongoing assault against our public education system. The decision came down last month, reversing a 2014 decision that found the voucher plan violates the promise of a “sound basic education” for all NC students as articulated by the Supremes in 2004. Now the higher court is not convinced that the voucher program will affect that promise. Any they’re probably right — in the short term. About $10 million was earmarked for the voucher program in the 2014-15 school year from the public school budget of just over $8 billion, offering up to $4,200 per qualifying child. About 5,500 people applied for 2,400 spots in the program’s first year, and the state will increase the total allotment as demand rises. Consider, too, that $4,200 is enough to cover perhaps 25 percent of the annual tuition at Greensboro Day School and Forsyth Country Day School, which are on the higher end of the spectrum but indicative of what a private education can cost around here. As the voucher program takes hold, no doubt we will see new private schools set a price point pegged to the $4,200, after which the designers of this program can claim victory and justify their increase. What it looks like from the outside is a big grab at one of the last big pots of money in state government. Consider again that $8 billion education budget, sacrosanct for generations before the Republicans came to town but now clearly in play. How much can be removed from this budget before a “sound basic education” can no longer be provided for our children? To be sure, the voucher program does help a small percentage of students — most of them outside our cities, which benefit from large and adaptive school systems — who are unable to learn in the public-school environment. But it also funds churches and other religious enterprises by slicing off chunks of the school budget for Christian, Jewish and Muslim schools, which make up about 90 percent of the approved list. Greensboro Day and Forsyth Country Day are absent from the list of approved schools. But the voucher program helps less expensive private schools — sure to become a booming industry in our state in the months and years to come — far more than it helps students. And the price — a gradual dissolving of the public education system we’ve built — goes way beyond a few thousand dollars per student.
CITIZEN GREEN
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IT JUST MIGHT WORK
Local beer, local arena
The craft beer industry has been a game-changer for the Piedmont Triad in the last couple years, with almost a dozen new ventures either up and running or in the by Brian Clarey pipeline. Everybody’s getting in on it: Bottle and growler shops are opening; restaurateurs are pairing and preparing dishes with local brews; bars devote more and more tap space to our area breweries; artists and T-shirt companies are throwing their designs into the mix. But the local-beer craze has yet to permeate the Greensboro Coliseum, one of the largest beer purveyors in the Triad. They’ve been selling Natty Greene’s brews for years at the coliseum, but still the lion’s share of their commerce leans towards mainstream yellow suds sold at roughly 10 times the going rate at a gas station. But as craft beer further penetrates the beer-drinking market, supply at the coliseum has not kept up with demand. The microbrewery environment is completely different than when Chris Lester and Kayne Fisher took a gamble on a property in Hamburger Square in the city’s downtown. Now there are four breweries and a fifth planned in Greensboro alone, three rolling in Winston-Salem with another on the way and, within a year or so, three in High Point. That’s enough range to stock a dedicated beer concession inside Greensboro’s city-owned facility with all local beer, giving the folks from around here — and the ones who aren’t — a homegrown choice. It would strengthen the local economy by keeping dollars in our own communities, but there’s more to it than that. Beer has become a signature commodity for the Piedmont Triad, with one of the fastest-growing scenes in the state. It’s one of the things we do very well. And the coliseum — which with the possible exception of the furniture market draws more people to the area than anything else in our cities — is perfectly poised to champion it. I picture something at one of the corners of the concession ring, a wall of taps restricted to local beers that would quickly draw one of the longest lines on concert nights, and maybe even during the monster trucks. And with our city property, we’d be giving a leg up to a local industry instead of pandering to the lowest common denominator.
FRESH EYES
The range of permissible lies The best outcome of a truth and reconciliation commission, according to Canadian academic and politician Michael Ignatieff, is the narrowing of “the range of permissible lies” we tell about ourselves as a society. by Jill Williams The historical marker recently placed to commemorate the Greensboro Massacre represents just that. It doesn’t tell the whole story, or even all of the important parts, of what happened on Nov. 3, 1979, but the sign includes far fewer of the lies that have dominated the narrative all these years. No longer, for example, will local media outlets in good faith be able to refer to the events that day as a “shootout” without acknowledging that the state of North Carolina, with the blessings of the Greensboro City Council, named it a “massacre.” That shift, in and of itself, is meaningful to survivors of the Greensboro Massacre and countless others locally, but its impact extends far beyond Greensboro. Since the release of the Greensboro Truth & Reconciliation Commission’s report 10 years ago, I have had the privilege of working with people all over the country and world who have been inspired by the truth process here. Yes, the South African Truth & Reconciliation Commission was a powerful model for the process in Greensboro. But what happened here — a process generated not by a government, but by the people in the community including the survivors — is inspirational to others who have experienced injustice around the world. It’s been meaningful to Native American groups in Maine who, along with the state, established their own TRC to examine the impact of child welfare policies on native children. And to groups in Detroit trying to address a wide range of institutional and structural barriers for people of color — including recent massive water shut-offs for poor residents. More recently, it has been inspirational to activists in Ferguson, Baltimore, New Orleans, New York City and beyond who are trying to remind us all that black lives matter. And it’s been encouraging in places like Scotland, Western Sahara, Colombia, Papua New Guinea and Palestine where survivors of other patterns of abuse are looking for ways to get their plights acknowledged and to reform those institutions responsible for those injustices. That a grassroots process in Greensboro took place and continues to see slow but steady change in “narrowing the range of permissible lies” and reforming public institutions provides a source of hope for people in other places struggling to do the same. The “truth and transformation” initiative growing out of Ferguson, for example, will look different than Greensboro’s Truth & Community Reconciliation Project, but the lessons learned in Greensboro — and the inspiration offered by the fact that it happened at all —
have been invaluable. As I’ve learned about and worked with each of these communities, I’ve come to appreciate that one of Greensboro’s greatest strengths is the leadership of the Greensboro Massacre survivors, and particularly the Rev. Nelson and Joyce Johnson. As the executive director of the Greensboro TRC, I did not have the chance to work closely with or get to know the survivors until well after the commission’s work was completed. But since the Greensboro TRC finished its job, I have worked closely with them to support efforts in these other communities and I’ve been consistently amazed by the gracious, humble, loving and strategic guidance they have offered. People all over the country and world hold the Johnsons and the other survivors in high esteem and seek their counsel often. As I work alongside the Johnsons and fellow survivors with communities around the world, I remember those voices 10 years ago warning that an effort to investigate the events of Nov. 3, 1979 would only harm Greensboro’s image. To the contrary, I am beginning to see that those predictions and the assumptions underlying them — assumptions about the ill intentions of the survivors and other community leaders who initiated the truth and reconciliation process in Greensboro — were all a part of that “range of permissible lies” that we are still working to narrow today. The corresponding truth, which mainstream Greensboro would be well served to acknowledge and continue building upon, is that the city’s creative democratic spirit — embodied by the Greensboro Massacre survivors, their allies and countless others — are among Greensboro’s greatest assets. Jill Williams was the executive director of the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission and has since served as a consultant and researcher in the area of community based truth-seeking initiatives. She currently lives with her family in Pulaski, Va., where she is the director of the Accountability in Student Learning Program at New River Community College.
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August 5 — 11, 2015
NBTF The National Black Theatre Festival returns
SCHEDULE
It’s a Hard Knock Life: A Dance Adaptation of Annie, from Greensboro troupe the Pointe! and the Elise Jonell Performance Ensemble, debuts at the NBTF
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WEDNESDAY 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. The Journals of Osborne P. Anderson Lange Productions (Torrance, Calif.) Hanesbrands Theatre — Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South Project& (Chicago) Mountcastle Forum Black Box — Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts
The Eve of Jackie: A Tribute to Jackie Wilson Chess, Not Checkers, Inc. (New York, NY) Arts Council Theatre The Brothers Size Norfolk State University (Norfolk, Va.) WSSU Dillard Auditorium, Anderson Center The Magnificent Dunbar Hotel The Robey Theatre Company (Los
Angeles) Wake Forest #1 — The Mainstage Theatre Accept “Except” LGBT NY New Federal Theatre (New York) Wake Forest #2 — The Ring Theatre Fetch Clay, Make Man RH Orman Productions (Edgewater, NJ) UNCSA #1 — Gerald Freedman Theatre
The Dealership & The Homegoing Kosmond Russell Productions (Los Angeles) UNCSA #2 — The Catawba Arena Theatre Gogo And Big Sister Spirit Sister Productions (Cape Town, South Africa) Salem College — Shirley Recital Hall It’s a Hard Knock Life: A Dance Adaptation of Annie
The Pointe! Studio of Dance & Elise Jonell Performance Ensemble (Greensboro) RJ Reynolds Memorial Auditorium Letters From Zora: In Her Own Words OPAS (Los Angeles) SECCA — McChesney Scott Dunn Auditorium Adam: The Story of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. National Black Touring Circuit (New
CO
by Brian Clarey
OURTESY PHOTO
The National Black Theatre Festival devotes much of its schedule to up-and-coming theater and film crews and avant-garde pieces that wouldn’t find a home anywhere else. To balance the schedule, staples like gospel acts, Broadway revues and classic performances run every night. Vivian Reed manages to cram all of these mainstream categories into just one act. Elements of her entire career make it into the show: years of classical voice training at Julliard with equal time spent onstage at the Apollo Theatre; another decade of dance; her Broadway debut in COURTESY PHOTO Vivian Reed, star of stage and screen both big and small, brings classical voice Bubbling Brown Sugar, for which a role was created training to her nightcliub act, along with jazz, gospel and stories of a life in the biz. just for her; her Josephine Baker years in France, spent interpreting American classics for European would soon go on to stardom in Ain’t Misbehavin’ and ater owner Bobby Schiffman became her manager, audiences and, eventually, on screen portraying the a starring role in TV’s “Gimme a Break.” Carter died booking her on nights and weekends while she was jazz singer in 1987’s La Rumba. in 2003. studying voice by day. “My act is very eclectic,” she says. “In ‘Strange “She did something I should have done,” Reed says That, she says, is how she met Bill Cosby, who Fruit,’ we do a classical composition. Everyone has now, from her home in New York City. “Universal made his Apollo debut at the time. to be trained classically. Nothing is done like you’ve offered me a [television] contract and I turned them “He was just a gentleman,” she says of the now heard it. ‘Fever’ has a different bassline. Funky. ‘Come down. I turned down a lot of TV — back then if you beleaguered actor, who has been accused by several Rain or Come Shine’ is funky, as opposed to a jazz did too much TV you couldn’t get into the movies. dozen women of sexual assault. “I can only speak standard. But [Carter] actually took the deal, and the rest is on the time I worked with him. I can only speak for “I talk about it in my show,” she history.” myself, and I can’t say that he ever continues. “The joy in any performer The business of show has changed significantly in treated me like anything other than comes from taking the time to look An Evening with Vivian other ways since she began in the 1970s, as has the a young lady. And I was young, honat a piece of music, see how you can artist herself. But she still sees a dearth of opportunity Reed runs Wednesday ey. I was one hot little something.” make it your own without disturbing for performers of color, and a strong need for the Her first Tony nomination came through Saturday at the the integrity of the piece.” National Black Theatre Festival. from her debut in Bubbling Brown Gaines Ballroom at the A consummate performer, Reed’s “You know how many talented African-American Sugar, largely on the strength of Embassy Suites. Buy career itself provides much of the artists exist in this world?” she asks. “Some of these her song-and-dance treatment for material for her stage show. tickets at nbtf.org. wonderful, wonderful, talented people will never see “Sweet Georgia Brown” and a big “I speak off the cuff,” she says. “I the light of day. Even performers who are extremely tap number towards the end of the basically talk about my beginnings. established, they don’t have a lot of roles coming to show. I don’t do these long-ass monologues — I don’t do them. A recording contract brought her through Nashnone of that. Not every song has a setup. But it’s “That’s why I love the festival,” she continues. “It’s a ville; movies and television called her to Los Angeles; very… when I say personal, it’s like if you would gather great outlet for a lot of people who would otherwise a stint teaching at the Berklee College of Music gave a bunch of your friends and say, ‘Sing a few songs go unsung. It’s an opportunity for playwrights, for her a Boston residency. for us.’ That’s what it’s like. It’s like sitting in my living composers and actors to do what they do, and for Over the years she’s crossed paths with Patti room.” people to put their shows together and show their LaBelle, Elaine Stritch, Catherine Deneuve, Quincy After her voice — discovered in a church choir in talent. Jones and Sammy Davis Jr. When she scored a part Pittsburgh — brought her to Julliard in New York “We need it, honey. And I hope it never goes in the New York production of Don’t Bother Me, I City, she fell in with the crowd at the Apollo. Theaway.” Can’t Cope, she befriended a young Nell Carter, who
York) & Barbara Jordan: A Rendezvous With Destiny Kansas City Theater Foundation (Kansas City, Mo.) Reynolda House Museum of American Art Fried Chicken and Latkes Dr. Barbara Ann Teer’s National Black Theatre (New York) Reese Theatre in the Pavilion — Embassy Suites
Excelsior North Carolina Black Repertory Company MC Benton Convention Center — North Main Hall 10:30 p.m. An Evening With Vivian Reed Kedron Productions, Inc. (New York) Gaines Ballroom — Lower Level — Embassy Suites midnight Midnight Poetry Jam
MC Benton Convention Center — North Main Hall THURSDAY 10 a.m. Storytelling Festival North Carolina Association of Black Storytellers Gaines Ballroom — Lower Level — Embassy Suites Noon National Youth Talent Showcase MC Benton Convention Center —
North Main Hall 3 p.m. The Journals of Osborne P. Anderson Lange Productions (Torrance, Calif.) Hanesbrands Theatre — Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts
It’s a Hard Knock Life: A Dance Adaptation of Annie The Pointe! Studio of Dance & Elise Jonell Performance Ensemble (Greensboro) RJ Reynolds Memorial Auditorium
The Dealership & The Homegoing Kosmond Russell Productions (Los Angeles) UNCSA #2 — The Catawba Arena Theatre
The Monkey On My Back! An Intimate Evening with Debbi Morgan Dam Entertainment (Bowie, Md.) Reynolda House Museum of American Art
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Vivian Reed holds the line
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August 5 — 11, 2015
Cover Story
Playwright embodies Truth by Daniel Wirtheim
While Sandra Jones was working at a local mechanism and to accompany her in song. One of those songs, “Pleading for My People,” was written television station in 1987, she needed to come up by Sojourner Truth. with something for Black History Month. What “We were not ‘slaves,” said Jones. “We were transpired was a 20-minute segment in which Jones ‘enslaved.’ And even when [Truth] was freed, she dressed up as the African-American abolitionist had obstacles.” Sojourner Truth and performed her most famous Through her research, Jones came to know her speech, “Ain’t I a Woman?” It was such a hit that subject as “Mother Truth,” a woman with an incrediJones started getting calls to perform at churches, ble capacity for hope in the face of adversity. birthday parties and family reunions. “When you first start reading, you’re going to Following the success of the performance, Jones see her as an orator,” said Jones. “But during my started researching the life of Truth and wrote a research I got a close-up picture of what it was like play to be performed by one actor. to be enslaved, a mother Jones’ play, Sojourner and a woman in love with a Truth, A Legacy, tells the stoman from another farm.” ry of a Dutch-speaking slave Truth’s lover died when his born in the late 18th Century Sojurner Truth runs at the Milton master beat him to death for New York, and whose legacy Rhodes Center for the Arts on pursuing the illicit romance. includes fighting for AfriFriday and Saturday at 3 p.m. and Within two years of being can-American and women’s 8 p.m. freed, Truth went to court to suffrage rights in Washingfree her son who had been ton, DC. illegally sold to an Alabama Mabel Robinson, the artisslaveholder. She became the first black woman to tic director of NC Black Repertory Company based win such a court case against a white man, Jones in Winston-Salem, directs Sojourner Truth, A Legasaid. cy. Lael Jones, a violinist and Greg Ince, a djembe Jones believes that Truth’s story has the potential drummer, will accompany Jones’ performance. to inspire a younger generation. The play tells Truth’s story through multiple “I woke up one morning out of a dream and I characters, all performed by Jones. There’s an was dreaming about how important this is to young auctioneer, a slaveholder, Truth’s mother and Truth children,” said Jones. “Young people now, we’ve got herself as a young and old woman. Jones said she to do better. It’s sad to say that not a lot of things researches the intonations and speech patterns have changed.” of each character, and uses live music as a timing Fried Chicken and Latkes Dr. Barbara Ann Teer’s National Black Theatre (New York) Reese Theatre in the Pavilion – Embassy Suites Dutchman & The Last Revolutionary Jazz Lion Productions (North Hollywood, Calif.) Kilpatrick/Cambridge Theatre Company (Los Angeles) Gaines Ballroom — Lower Level — Embassy Suites The Amazing Adventures of Grace May B. Brown Souloworks, Andrea E. Woods & Dancers (Durham) MC Benton Convention Center – North Main Hall
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8 p.m. The Glory of Gospel NC Black Repertory Company (Winston-Salem)
UNC School of the Arts Stevens Center Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South Project& (Chicago) Mountcastle Forum Black Box — Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts The Eve of Jackie: A Tribute to Jackie Wilson Chess, Not Checkers, Inc. (New York) Arts Council Theatre At Last: A Tribute To Etta James Black Ensemble Theater (Chicago) KR Williams Auditorium — WSSU The Bluest Eye NCCU (Durham) WSSU Dillard Auditorium, Anderson Center Repairing A Nation Crossroads Theatre Company (New Brunswick, NJ)
Wake Forest #1 — Mainstage Theatre Accept “Except” LGBT NY New Federal Theatre (New York) Wake Forest #2 — The Ring Theatre Gogo And Big Sister Spirit Sister Productions (Cape Town, South Africa) Salem College — Shirley Recital Hall Sassy Mamas Sparkling City Entertainment (Los Angeles) UNCSA #1 — Gerald Freedman Theatre Universes Live! From The Edge Cultural Odyssey (San Francisco) Salem College — The Drama Workshop Theatre
The real Sojourner Truth, upon whom the play is based.
Mr. Joy Daniel Beaty Productions (New York) SECCA — McChesney Scott Dunn Auditorium Maid’s Door Billie Holiday Theatre (Brooklyn, NY) Summit School — Loma Hopkins Theatre The Monkey On My Back! An Intimate Evening with Debbi Morgan Dam Entertainment (Bowie, Md.) Reynolda House Museum of American Art 10:30 p.m. An Evening with Vivian Reed Kedron Productions, Inc. (New York) Gaines Ballroom — Lower Level — Embassy Suites
COURTESY IMAGE
midnight Midnight Poetry Jam MC Benton Convention Center — North Main Hall FRIDAY Noon National Youth Talent Showcase MC Benton Convention Center — North Main Hall 3 p.m. Kings of Harlem The Layon Gray American Theatre Company (New York) Hanesbrands Theatre — Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts Sojourner Truth, A Legacy & WEB du Bois: A Man For All Times NC Black Repertory Company (Winston-Salem) Pulse Ensemble Theatre (New York) Mountcastle Forum Black Box —
by Chris Nafekh
Moriah Williams as Pecola Breedlove
COURTESY PHOTO
To address the hardships of self-acceptance that young women everywhere struggle to overcome, particularly black girls, NC Central University is bringing The Bluest Eye to Winston-Salem’s National Black Theatre Festival. The festival will be the third time NCCU’s drama department has run Lydia Diamond’s adaptation of Toni Morrison’s seminal book The Bluest Eye. The production premiered in April 2014 and was
Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts Soul Crooners 2 Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe (Sarasota, Fla.) Arts Council Theatre Body of a Woman as Battlefield Teatro Vila Velha (Salvador, Brazil) Wake Forest #2 — The Ring Theatre The Old Settler The Ensemble Theatre (Houston) UNCSA #2 — Catawba Arena Theatre The Movement Diversity Youth Theatre (Orange, NJ) Salem College — Shirley Recital Hall The Clothesline Muse Aion Productions (Durham) RJ Reynolds Memorial Auditorium
performed at the American College Theatre Festival this past February. The plot is heartbreaking; The Bluest Eye evokes a sorrow that does not fade easily. The play begins with Pecola Breedlove, played by recent graduate Moriah Williams, arriving at temporary foster care after her unstable alcoholic father burns down their home. In foster care she meets Claudia and Frieda, played by seniors Deja Middleton and Kayln Smith,
Hands Up Dr. Barbara Ann Teer’s National Black Theatre (New York) Reese Theatre in the Pavilion — Embassy Suites Dutchman & The Last Revolutionary Jazz Lion Productions (North Hollywood) Kilpatrick/Cambridge Theatre Company (Los Angeles) Gaines Ballroom — Lower Level — Embassy Suites The Amazing Adventures of Grace May B. Brown Souloworks, Andrea E. Woods & Dancers (Durham) MC Benton Convention Center – North Main Hall 8 p.m. The Glory of Gospel NC Black Repertory Company (Winston-Salem)
that shares a common, somber theme with respectively. The Bluest Eye. Throughout the play, she is constantly “The Bluest Eye,” Howard said, “is basireminded that she is “ugly.” With her cally the story of a person who was called self-confidence battered at every turn, names and couldn’t get over it, that took young, black Pecola wishes to be white in all the negative and, in a metaphorwith blue eyes, what society has taught ical way, wasn’t able to spit it back out. her is beautiful. It’s probably the “[The Bluest saddest play I’ve Eye] looks at the ever directed. With prominent chalThe Bluest Eye will be performed The Color Purple, lenges of society on Thursday and Friday night, you do leave with on a women’s self-esteem in the and in the afternoon and evening a sense of empowerment for Celie. making of who she on Saturday. All showings will There is no sense is,” said the direcbe held at Winston-Salem State of empowerment tor, NCCU theater University’s Dillard Auditorium in for Pecola. professor Stephathe Anderson Center. For more “As society memnie Asabi Howard. bers, we’re forced “It focuses on information, visit nbtf.org to look at Pecola’s women in general, mental and spiritual the idea of beauty, demise because she was not able to take particularly what society presents to us pride in who she was,” Howard continued. and how we compare ourselves to that. “I guess in that way, it is a way to look Then of course, looking at it a little deeper at the lack of empowerment that would as an African-American woman and the make us responsible for who we are and different challenges that society may for children born in society who we could place in her life.” have a negative effect on, particularly Howard has made a few forays into Affor minorities. I try to figure out what is rican-American literature and history. She the hope you leave with this play. To the wrote and directed God Spoke My Name: younger people, they leave thinking ‘I Maya Angelou as an original biographical don’t have to succumb to society to feel play about the renowned poet. Howard good about myself.’” has also directed The Color Purple, a play
UNC School of the Arts Stevens Center Kings of Harlem The Layon Gray American Theatre Company (New York) Hanesbrands Theatre — Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts Sojourner Truth, A Legacy & WEB du Bois: A Man For All Times NC Black Repertory Company (Winston-Salem) Pulse Ensemble Theatre (New York) Mountcastle Forum Black Box — Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts Soul Crooners 2 Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe (Sarasota, Fla.) Arts Council Theatre Body of a Woman as Battlefield Teatro Vila Velha (Salvador, Brazil) Wake Forest #2 — The Ring
Theatre
Theatre
At Last: A Tribute To Etta James Black Ensemble Theater (Chicago) KR Williams Auditorium — WSSU
The Old Settler The Ensemble Theatre (Houston) UNCSA #2 — The Catawba Arena Theatre
The Bluest Eye NCCU (Durham) WSSU Dillard Auditorium, Anderson Center Repairing A Nation Crossroads Theatre Company (New Brunswick, NJ) Wake Forest #1 — Mainstage Theatre Accept “Except” LGBT NY New Federal Theatre (New York) Wake Forest #2 — The Ring Theatre Sassy Mamas Sparkling City Entertainment (Los Angeles) UNCSA #1 — Gerald Freedman
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The Bluest Eye delivers literary tragedy
The Movement Diversity Youth Theatre (Orange, NJ) Salem College — Shirley Recital Hall Universes Live! From The Edge Cultural Odyssey (San Francisco) Salem College — The Drama Workshop Theatre The Clothesline Muse Aion Productions (Durham) RJ Reynolds Memorial Auditorium Mr. Joy Daniel Beaty Productions (New York, NY) SECCA — McChesney Scott Dunn
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August 5 — 11, 2015
Cover Story
Inertia in Levy Lee Simon’s blood by Eric Ginsburg
Like a train moving at high speed, Levy ing with the festival family, but he’ll hardly Lee Simon likely couldn’t slow down if he have much downtime. His play The Last wanted to. He’s a major component of Revolutionary will make its premiere this three plays coming to this year’s festival week. After the one-hour play, there will — as an actor, producer, playwright and be an intermission and the audience will director. Inertia, it appears, is in his blood. return to witness Dutchman, directed by “I surely have not come down wearing Simon and written by the legendary Amiri all those hats in one year, no no,” Simon Baraka. said from Los Angeles last week. “I don’t And earlier in the week on Tuesday and think anyone has. It’s an honor, of course, Wednesday, the Robey Theatre Compaand it’s a challenge.” ny from LA is scheduled to present The But for someone who holds the NationMagnificent Dunbar Hotel, which Simon al Black Theatre Festival “in the highest wrote. It recently sold out performances regard,” and who has in 29 states as part made the trek from of a nationwide tour, Catch The Magnificent Dunbar New York or LA he said. to Winston-Salem And the day after Hotel on Wednesday and The numerous times, the he returns home Last Revolutionary along with three plays he’ll be from the NationDutchman Thursday through a part of aren’t necal Black Theatre Saturday. See nbtf.org for essarily the highlight Festival, he’ll hold details. of his week. auditions for a new It’s the festival production. itself. Simon received “To come down and to be a part of acclaim for his trilogy on the Haitian something that is so magnificent and is revolution called For the Love of Freedom. so grand,” he said, trailing off and then Given that much of his writing deals with adding: “Any time you have thousands political issues and the black experience, of black people coming together, feeling it isn’t surprising he considers himself a good, looking good… the energy level of sociopolitical artist. The Last Revolutionary it is unmatched anywhere. It’s certainly is no different. inspiring at the least and life-changing at Growing up in Harlem, Simon witthe best.” nessed some of the black power moveSimon is looking forward to reconnectment first hand, and he knows several Auditorium Maid’s Door Billie Holiday Theatre (Brooklyn, NY) Summit School — Loma Hopkins Theatre The Monkey On My Back! An Intimate Evening with Debbi Morgan Dam Entertainment (Bowie, Md.) Reynolda House Museum of American Art Hands Up Dr. Barbara Ann Teer’s National Black Theatre (New York) Reese Theatre in the Pavilion — Embassy Suites
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10:30pm An Evening with Vivian Reed Kedron Productions, Inc. (New York)
Gaines Ballroom — Lower Level — Embassy Suites midnight Midnight Poetry Jam MC Benton Convention Center — North Main Hall SATURDAY 3 p.m. The Glory of Gospel NC Black Repertory Company (Winston-Salem) UNC School of the Arts Stevens Center Kings of Harlem The Layon Gray American Theatre Company (New York) Hanesbrands Theatre — Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts Sojourner Truth, A Legacy & WEB du Bois: A Man For All Times NC Black Repertory Company
Levy Lee Simon
(Winston-Salem) Pulse Ensemble Theatre (New York) Mountcastle Forum Black Box — Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts Soul Crooners 2 Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe (Sarasota, Fla.) Arts Council Theatre At Last: A Tribute To Etta James Black Ensemble Theater (Chicago) KR Williams Auditorium — WSSU The Bluest Eye NCCU (Durham) WSSU Dillard Auditorium, Anderson Center Repairing A Nation Crossroads Theatre Company (New Brunswick, NJ) Wake Forest #1 — Mainstage Theatre
COURTESY PHOTO
Body of a Woman as Battlefield Teatro Vila Velha (Salvador, Brazil) Wake Forest #2 — The Ring Theatre Sassy Mamas Sparkling City Entertainment (Los Angeles) UNCSA #1 — Gerald Freedman Theatre The Old Settler The Ensemble Theatre (Houston) UNCSA #2 — The Catawba Arena Theatre The Movement Diversity Youth Theatre (Orange, NJ) Salem College — Shirley Recital Hall The Clothesline Muse Aion Productions (Durham) RJ Reynolds Memorial Auditorium
Mr. Joy Daniel Beaty Productions (New York, NY) SECCA — McChesney Scott Dunn Auditorium Maid’s Door Billie Holiday Theatre (Brooklyn, NY) Summit School — Loma Hopkins Theatre The Monkey On My Back! An Intimate Evening with Debbi Morgan Dam Entertainment (Bowie, Md.) Reynolda House Museum of American Art Hands Up Dr. Barbara Ann Teer’s National Black Theatre (New York) Reese Theatre in the Pavilion — Embassy Suites
tion with a friend who participated in the historic liberation struggle turns serious, but the play maintains a sense of humor, Simon said. “In the end it becomes very, very real, and it’s brought up to date,” he said. “Obviously we’re in this new hotbed in political times here. Is [Perkins’] stance archaic or is it not? That becomes the major question that the play raises.”
Episodes
by Chris Nafekh
Did you get that on camera? The Best of the Greensboro 48HFP @ Carolina Theatre (GSO), Friday After a full 48 hours of competitive filming, local and regional filmmakers presented their quick-draw movies to a panel of professional judges. The results are in, and the judges have picked their 11 favorites, and so has the audience. The winning team will win a bid in Filmapalooza, and possibly be featured at Cannes Film Festival 2016. To find out more, visit 48hourfilm.com. In the wrong place for the wrong reason Notorious @ Carolina Theatre (GSO), Aug. 10 Alfred Hitchcock, master of suspense, made a Nazi thriller. Ingrid Bergman plays an American daughter of a convicted Nazi who is sent into the depth of Brazil to play double-agent on her father’s former allies. The Nazis are in Brazil, and only Hitchcock knows why. Like most Hitchcock classics, the leading lady falls in love with Cary Grant, that dastardly handsome actor whose name nobody remembers. For more information, visit carolinatheatre.com. Stewart/Colbert 2016 Jon Stewart’s Final Episode of ‘The Daily Show’ @ Geeksboro (GSO), Thursday For 16 years, Stewart’s show has been the most popular satirical newscast on television. His amenable humor, fierce realism and unforgiving wit will be missed by millions of viewers. As a fond farewell, the coffeehouse is holding a live showing of his final episode, preluded by a marathon of recent episodes.
A still from the LA production of The Magnificent Dunbar Hotel
Dutchman & The Last Revolutionary Jazz Lion Productions (North Hollywood) Kilpatrick/Cambridge Theatre Company (Los Angeles) Gaines Ballroom — Lower Level — Embassy Suites The Amazing Adventures of Grace May B. Brown Souloworks, Andrea E. Woods & Dancers (Durham) MC Benton Convention Center – North Main Hall 8 p.m. The Glory of Gospel NC Black Repertory Company (Winston-Salem) UNC School of the Arts Stevens Center Kings of Harlem The Layon Gray American Theatre
COURTESY PHOTO
Company (New York, NY) Hanesbrands Theatre — Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts Sojourner Truth, A Legacy & WEB du Bois: A Man For All Times NC Black Repertory Company (Winston-Salem) Pulse Ensemble Theatre (New York) Mountcastle Forum Black Box — Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts Soul Crooners 2 Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe (Sarasota, Fla.) Arts Council Theatre At Last: A Tribute To Etta James Black Ensemble Theater (Chicago) KR Williams Auditorium — WSSU The Bluest Eye NCCU (Durham) WSSU Dillard Auditorium, Ander-
son Center Repairing A Nation Crossroads Theatre Company (New Brunswick, NJ) Wake Forest #1 — Mainstage Theatre Body of a Woman as Battlefield Teatro Vila Velha (Salvador, Brazil) Wake Forest #2 — The Ring Theatre Sassy Mamas Sparkling City Entertainment (Los Angeles) UNCSA #1 — Gerald Freedman Theatre The Old Settler The Ensemble Theatre (Houston) UNCSA #2 — The Catawba Arena Theatre The Movement
Now Playing
by Chris Nafekh
Theaterfest 2015 National Black Theatre Festival @ multiple locations (W-S), beginning Wednesday One of Winston-Salem’s most prized cultural celebration is happening across the city through Saturday. The featured productions focus on African-American history and historical figures, such as WEB Du Bois, A Man for All Time. Others focus on literature, such as NC Central’s production of The Bluest Eyes. More than 30 plays are showing weeklong, so there’s plenty of opportunity to see several. For info, visit ncblackrep.org.
triad-city-beat.com
people who were involved in the black liberation movement, in the 1970s as well. “I’ll never forget the energy of that time, and the images of that time, you know the Afros and the dashikis and the threat of a revolution,” Simon said. “So I created a character who was kind of stuck in those days, even though we’re well past 2000.” Mac Perkins, the lead character, is still waiting for that revolution, and sees a need to protect Obama. A confronta-
Multiples of absurdity The Servant of Two Masters @ Children’s Museum of Winston Salem (W-S), Friday The North Carolina state standards on mathematics education is the subject of indirect ridicule in this slapstick children’s comedy. The original play by Carlo Goldoni which was written in 1746 has been adapted to jab the state’s education system. For more information, visit peppercorntheatre.org. Sensory experience Making Sense of It: A Poetic Play on Words @ PB & Java (GSO) Saturday Touched by the words of softly heard poetry, this original theater brings taste to the forefront of the stage. Literally, taste sensation is a character, and so is touch, smelling, seeing and hearing. The production is bound to be experimental, creative and original. For more information, visit sharedradiance.weebly.com Got a show coming up? Send your theater info to brian@triad-city-beat.com.
Diversity Youth Theatre (Orange, NJ) Salem College — Shirley Recital Hall Universes Live! From The Edge Cultural Odyssey (San Francisco) Salem College — The Drama Workshop Theatre The Clothesline Muse Aion Productions (Durham) RJ Reynolds Memorial Auditorium Mr. Joy Daniel Beaty Productions (New York) SECCA — McChesney Scott Dunn Auditorium Maid’s Door Billie Holiday Theatre (Brooklyn, NY) Summit School — Loma Hopkins Theatre
Hands Up Dr. Barbara Ann Teer’s National Black Theatre (New York) Reese Theatre in the Pavilion — Embassy Suites Dutchman & The Last Revolutionary Jazz Lion Productions (North Hollywood, Calif.) Kilpatrick/Cambridge Theatre Company (Los Angeles) Gaines Ballroom — Lower Level — Embassy Suites 10:30 p.m. An Evening with Vivian Reed Kedron Productions, Inc. (New York) Gaines Ballroom — Lower Level — Embassy Suites
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August 5 — 11, 2015 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story
Food Music Art Good Sport Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote
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Banquet
FOOD
by Chris Nafekh
You say tomato, I say tomato Slice of Summer Tomato Tasting @ 6th and Trade streets (W-S), Friday A belly full of tomatoes makes anyone happy. With a number of tomato varieties to sample, Twin City foodies can finally decide on their favorite. Side note: Why doesn’t anyone eat tomatoes like apples? Sure, it can be messy, but that’s part of the fun. Tomatoes are convenient, delicious and no dishes need be done. But I digress. This event is in conjunction with DADA (Downtown District Art Association) and its first Friday gallery hop. For more information, visit Slice of Summer Tomato Tasting on Facebook. A taste of the good stuff BLT Challenge and Tomato Tasting Day @ Greensboro Farmers Curb Market (GSO), Saturday No sandwich made by man can beat the perfect BLT. Greasy fried bacon crunched on a bold cut of lettuce, freshly sliced tomatoes on toasty bread, spread sparingly with mayo... the mere thought results in a ravaging hunger, tempting the hands to buy a markets-worth of prime-cut bacon. Competitors in this competition include the burger masters at Emma Keys and Burger Warfare, as well as a team of Farmer’s Market professionals. Tomatoes, the sweetest and most refreshing vegetable on the block, are the stars of this event. Patrons will have the chance to sample a collection of handpicked local varieties. For more information, visit gsofarmersmarket.org. O Oysters you’ve had a pleasant run! 8th Annual Meridian Seafood Festival @ Meridian Restaurant (W-S), Saturday There’s something so satisfying about fresh cooked salmon, or shrimp drenched in hot butter, dripping on the plate. The crack of fresh lobster or the sizzle of lightly sautéed scallops. With a nice cool brew and live music, this could be a night to remember. For more information, visit meridianws.com
“I like that you can really taste the butter in it,” she said after trying the macaroni and cheese. “That’s the way my family makes it.”
ERIC GINSBURG
Harlem Express opens, impresses by Eric Ginsburg
happened as if I had planned it. Almost three years after her last visit, my sister flew to town from Boston, and as soon as she landed I drove her to downtown Greensboro just before 10:30 p.m. on a Thursday night. She was hungry but La Rue’s late-night noodle menu hadn’t quite begun yet, so we circled the central 300 block of South Elm Street. My sister has been to Greensboro before, several times, but in the three years since she last visited, much has changed downtown. As we walked, I was pointing out new venues and describing planned projects when we accidentally happened upon the soft opening of Harlem Express. A roped-off sidewalk-dining area in front of the restaurant and bar overflowed with people, and a sandwich board proclaimed the new establishment’s soft opening. The black-owned business — one of only a few in downtown Greensboro — perfectly illustrated my point about the rapid growth the city is experiencing. After pointing out
It
in which I was raised; don’t review a the new 1618 Downtown restaurant restaurant until it’s been open for a directly next door we gawked at the month, because they deserve a chance expanded Cheesecakes by Alex across to work out the kinks. But Harlem Exthe street — which held a ribbon-cutting the same week as Harlem Express’ press needs no further preparation. A limited list of entrees — shrimp, soft opening. I noted the relatively new Short Shanks bar on McGee Street and catfish, chicken breast, salmon and wings, as well as shrimp & grit and Beer Co. as we kept walking to a late shrimp étouffée specials — is butdinner at the city’s new French (and sometimes Vietnamese) restaurant. tressed nicely by appealing appetizers including crab cake bites, calamari and A week after the soft launch, my girlfriend Kacie and I circled back to glazed pork-belly tacos. Vegetarians: don’t bother. Beer Harlem Express, and the décor and level of connoisseurs neither; wine and 13 cocktails cohesiveness struck Harlem Express, at 310 comprise the entire us immediately. Kacie South Elm St. (GSO), is accurately compared drink menu. now open to the public. We regarded the the champagne-colored seats, open rear shrimp étouffée — a shrimp and rice dish dining area and use of white to the style at Print Works Bistro. that might benefit from more seasoning — as the low point of the meal, but only I repeatedly remarked that this couldn’t in comparison to fantastic pork-belly be someone’s first restaurant considering the lack of hiccups in service, taste tacos, memorable fried chicken wings and classic mac and cheese. and style. There’s an old rule in culinary jourThe tacos, utilizing corn tortillas and nalism, or at least the School of Clarey small chunks of watermelon, combined
or close friend. The exposed brick on the side walls echoes 1618 next door, as does the open front window with casual seating that connects diners to the city around them. If anyone remembers Harlem Bistro up the street, this is run by the same guy, our server explained. And his dad owns the popular Boston’s House of Jazz near NC A&T University. The short-lived bistro didn’t receive much hype, at least not in the circles either of us run in, but the new itera-
tion deserves significant praise. Harlem Express receives high marks for food, presentation, atmosphere and service, not to mention location. But even though the kitchen is ready for a rush, the small dining area down a hallway remained mostly empty a week in, while some people enjoyed the private yet scenic patio out back, patrons lined the bar in front and several tables conversed on the front sidewalk. Don’t expect the lull to last.
Up Front
How fitting, considering that this space used to house the almost legendary Minj Grill. The mac and cheese side pairs well with the wings, with heaps of cheese and butter that qualify it as comfort food. “I like that you can really taste the butter in it,” Kacie said as we ate. “That’s the way my family makes it.” High seats line the left wall of the rear portion of Harlem Bistro, a setup designed for grabbing drinks with a date
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unconventional partners for a satisfying appetizer, a nice counterpart to the two watermelon-influenced cocktails we ordered (try the watermelon lemonade). We wondered as we left if we should’ve ordered the catfish — it’s certainly more unique than chicken wings — but we couldn’t help ourselves. Take it from two experienced wing eaters; the balance of sauce and breading at Harlem Express, particularly with the spicy and somewhat sweet house Phoenix sauce, is among the best around.
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Mark Sammartino, the technical director of the Master Brewers Association of the Americas, looks at spent grain inside a mash tun at Liberty Steakhouse and Brewing.
farmer will come by and pick up the two loads, feeding the spent grains to his cattle. Isbell offers his excess for free; at Sammartino’s old gig, the remnants were sold, he says. As the two men discuss additives, equipment, temperatures and other minutia of the trade, the differences between mega breweries and their micro counterparts such as Liberty become increasingly clear. But there’s no judgment or jealousy in their voices, just genuine curiosity about a parallel universe.
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up against a wall of Isbell’s brewing space, then standing and walking a couple paces to look inside the mash tun. There’s a thin layer of “top dough,” about two inches, covering the spent grain Isbell was using to make the brewery’s two wheat beers. Reaching his arm into the open tub-like container, Sammartino sticks his finger into the grain and tastes it. The mixture looks like oatmeal that is somewhat disintegrated and compacted, and the taste isn’t too far off either. After Sammartino steps back, Isbell shovels the grain out into a plastic blue barrel, standing above the open mash tun with a shovel that could be used to clean snow from a driveway. A local
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North Carolina coast, spent more than 30 years with Anheuser-Busch, including 28 years as a brewmaster. He is now a brewing consultant and more recently became the technical director of the Master Brewers Association of the Americas. After reconnecting with Isbell, who bounced around before settling at Liberty, Sammartino wanted to come to the brewery to check out the process and conduct an experiment — the contents of which are proprietary. On a recent Thursday, just after wrapping up and shortly before noon, he doesn’t want to even hint at the specifics. Instead he sits on top of a stack of Briess malt and ingredients bags pushed
ERIC GINSBURG
Good Sport
Without a background in brewing, it’s difficult to understand everything Mark Sammartino and Todd Isbell are talking about. And some of the finer points still appear to be lost on one of Isbell’s students from the brewing program at Rockingham Community College, who is listening intently but with his face slightly screwed up over the details. Occasionally Isbell, the head brewer at Liberty Steakhouse & Brewing in High Point, will stop what he’s doing and ask a technical question, which his student answers correctly about half the time. But almost all the questions come from Sammartino, as Isbell verbalizes the steps to a manual mash out. He wants to know how what exactly Isbell is adding and at what time in the process, and they compare notes on what happens to the spent grains after it’s all over. The two men met years ago, during Isbell’s early days in the beer world back in New York, and when they crossed paths recently at Mystery Brewing in Hillsborough, neither recognized the other. As they compared notes on how each entered the industry, Isbell realized they probably knew someone in common. “Do you know Mark Sammartino?” he asked. “I am Mark Sammartino,” Isbell’s old acquaintance replied. Sammartino, who now lives on the
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Setlist
MUSIC
by Jordan Green
Running with the metal gods Torch Runner @ Greene Street Club (GSO), Wednesday Grindcore and black metal in all their various permutations, which basically means loud and brutal, plays out at promoter Mitchell Avent’s confab at Greene Street, including Greensboro’s own Torch Runner and Bobby Orr, Bleed the Pigs from Nashville, Chapel Hellions, Lesser Life and the nascent Dirac. Elbows out — the mosh pit could get rough. Show starts at 8 p.m. Jeanne on the fringe Jeanne Jolly @ the Crown (GSO), Friday Raleigh-based Jeanne Jolly, a songwriter, singer and guitarist, brings a gutsy, emotional truth to her music, a brand of Americana that floats somewhere between Bonnie Raitt and Trisha Yearwood. She’s in Greensboro as part of the Eastern Music Festival’s Fringe Series, billed as a crossroads between Americana and classical. Show starts at 8 p.m. Singer-songwriter standoff Sanders Davis @ Common Ground (GSO), Friday Greensboro’s Sanders Davis, aka the Grand Ole Uproar, tends towards the Americana side of Jerry Garcia, Neil Young and other ’60s era psychedelic adventurers. He shares the stage with Asheville singer-songwriter Michael Hefner at Common Ground, an intimate room in Lindley Park. Show starts at 7:30 p.m. Ambient pop exchange Estrangers, Dad & Dad and Make Light @ the Garage (W-S), Saturday Surf’s up — at least in a relatively-wet-summer-tubing-on-the-Yadkin-River sense of the word. Estrangers, a magical local ensemble of all-around good dudes, showcase their amalgam of psych-surf-pop at the Garage with friends, including the lethargic, multi-instrumental outfit Dad & Dad from Carrboro and Make Light, a new electronic music contender from Winston-Salem comprised of Rachel Endsley, Ezra Noble and Zac Trainor. Show starts at 9 p.m. Carolina griot Diali Cissokho & Kaira Ba @ Second Sundays on Fourth (W-S), Aug. 9 Senegalese kora player Diali Cissokho and his band Kaira Ba rarely fail to provide an electrifying experience of communal uplift. Two members of the band, djembe player Will Ridenour and bassist Jonathan Henderson, are veterans of Greensboro’s anarchist scene. Their interest in grassroots social change and music places them in the same orbit as Laila Nur, who opens the monthly West Fourth Street fair in downtown Winston-Salem. Show starts at 3 p.m.
Andy Gonzalez of Marshmallow Coast shuffles boxes of merchandise after a show at Reanimator Records.
CHRIS NAFEKH
Marshmallow Coast remains undiscovered in W-S by Chris Nafekh
small crowd sitting by the curb of Reanimator Records smoked idly; anyone approaching the store couldn’t have stumbled upon it, but must have tracked the odor of sweat and cigarettes. In the small shop at the edge of downtown, surrounded by electric keys, guitars and piles of vinyl, the band Judy Barnes — hometown heroes of the music scene — immersed themselves in a throng of fans who crammed in the small store and overflowed onto the sidewalk. Jodi Burns, the lead singer, sang high-climbing ballads in rockopera style with a voice that wavered like a singing saw. She studied classical voice at UNC School of the Arts and has been in Winston-Salem for years. But when Judy Barnes finished, most of the crowd left the shop, leaving just a handful of people for the headlining band. Andy Gonzalez, the brains behind touring act Marshmallow Coast, grew
A
up in Denver, Colo. where he became good friends with Julian Koster, bassist for Neutral Milk Hotel. Gonzalez meshed into the Elephant 6 Collective, a recording studio founded by underground musicians such as Neutral Milk’s songwriter Jeff Mangum. In the early 2000s, Koster offered Gonzalez a part in his side project titled the Music Tapes — which played around the corner at Krankies Coffee about two years ago — and together they relocated to Athens, Ga. In his early days with the Music Tapes at a festival in Florida, Gonzalez met Kevin Barns, the sensual lead singer and creative genius behind the band Of Montreal. He later became a member of Barns’ psych-pop show. Earlier this year, Gonzalez released a brief, 24-minute album “Vangelis Rides Again” on Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records. It’s an alluring album, too long for an EP but too short to be satisfying. Gonzalez hasn’t released a full album since his 2009 piece Phreak Phantasy.
The new cut is layered with dreampop sounds. Romantic teenagers could slow-dance to this music on a dull weekend; the monotonous melodies and layered synth belong in an indie love story. Overall, the album is creative and amusing. The first song “Hash Out Cash Out” beckons a second play. Some tunes like “The Hills Are Alive” are artistically and lyrically clever; the song starts and ends by claiming “the hills are alive and I find that frightening.” Soft psychedelic sounds drift through others like “Mystical S***,” and “Foreign Denial” is just catchy. Gonzalez plays guitar riffs with a cool ’60s rock vibe that helps fill the gaps. His wife Sara Kirkpatrick and Emily Growden synthesize soft tech sounds on the keyboards while providing backup vocals. Walking onto Reanimator’s small stage, Gonzalez donned a black-andgold wizard robe. The band initially played for two or three spectators,
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make Vangelis unique were lost in the mix, maybe due to a lack of practice, maybe because Reanimator doesn’t have auditorium-quality acoustics. That Marshmallow Coast wasn’t afforded the opportunity to do a soundcheck might have also hurt them. “When we don’t do the preparation,” Gonzalez said, “it’s kind of hit or miss.” He described the show as only “okay,” and he was stressed and slightly disappointed. Outside after the show, Gonzalez shuffled boxes of CDs, cassettes and vinyl underneath a small merch table. An audience that doesn’t listen isn’t an audience at all, and the folks at Reanimator on Aug. 1 were almost solely devoted to Judy Barnes’ overly climactic show while Marshmallow Coast — a band with a rich history and eclectic, original sound — remained invisible. The perk of a tight-knit music scene is the ability of talented artists like those in Judy Barnes to consistently draw a devoted audience, but sometimes that doesn’t carry over to a headlining visitor, which was sort of the whole point.
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while the rest remained outside. One man entered Reanimator, ordered a beer and watched the band as a sideshow. By the end of the set, Marshmallow Coast had drawn about 10 witnesses to its performance. As the band finished, Gonzalez donned a Nintendo power glove and raised his beer as tribute to those in attendance, but the band seemed unfulfilled. “I would tell jokes and be funny,” Gonzalez said, “but it’s so f***ing awkward.” Marshmallow Coast hasn’t received the same attention as other Elephant 6 artists. That night, they didn’t even receive the same attention as their opening act. The digital version of Vangelis is worth a listen. Listening to Marshmallow Coast live changes the experience of their music. On Aug. 1, their music was a shadow of Gonzalez’s creativity. The tech sounds of keyboards, meant to be background layers, emerged as a wall of sound, drowning out vocals so much that Gonzalez’s muffled lyrics were unintelligible. The subtleties that
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ART
by Chris Nafekh
Sit, stay, play Picasso Dog Days of Summer Art Show 2 @ Reanimator Records (W-S), Friday Casual art retains a unique authenticity. It’s bold, beautiful and uninhibited like nothing found in a museum. The kind of art on coffeeshop walls or record store windows has an appeal that tempts amateur art enthusiasts. Art, with a sloppy hot-dog and cold beer, is bound to stir some kind of conversation. For more information, visit Dog Days of Summer Art Show 2 on Facebook. Paint happy trees Studio Art Oil Painting @ Young Women’s Christian Association (HP), Aug. 11 Oil painting is the most prestigious visual art to practice with a brush. It’s not easy; Van Gogh didn’t chop off an ear for nothing. It was for love, for passion, for the art! Just kidding, he had a mental breakdown. Nonetheless, this event is an opportunity to brush up on the technical stuff. Get it? For more information, visit ywcahp.com. Naturalism or urban design? Art in the Park @ Center City Park (GSO), Aug. 11 Although the adverts emit a calming, natural vibe to this event, it takes place in the heart of Greensboro’s downtown area. A true artist could use the atmosphere to her advantage, staking artistic claim to the city like someone lying naked on a sofa, or a bowl of glass fruit. Participants should bring their own materials, no matter the craft. For more information, visit centercitypark.org.
As with their newborn child, de Berry and Robinson influence one another most in the editing process.
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A photographic life with Monkeywhales by Daniel Wirtheim
Robinson and Carolyn de Berry share more than a Harvey 2-month old baby; they share a creative life. They’re partners in Monkeywhale Productions and a Greensboro couple since 2003. Last week they were invited to discuss their process in a series, Conversations on Creativity, at the Weatherspoon Art Museum. The series was inspired by Tom Burckhardt’s installation Full Stop, a full-sized painting studio sculpted from cardboard and centered on a blank canvas set in the middle of the room. Jumpstarting the creative process was the theme of the evening.
As a child, Robinson was a professional actor in England and did some touring in France. It was his early passion for theater that paved the road for Robinson’s directing career. “At some point, some friends of mine got together and we started this improv group; we did it for five years,” Robinson said. “I was always the funny sidekick or the priest.” Robinson received a film degree from the UNC School of the Arts and started making films with his friends under the collective name of Monkeywhale Productions, inspired by their own invented creature. Monkeywhale Productions makes
documentaries, commercial films and music videos. Robinson works as director and director of cinematography. Robinson chooses subjects that he has an emotional attachment to, subjects whose work has inspired him. A drunken performance by the band Langhorne Slim inspired one documentary. Leonardo Drew, a prodigal sculpture and artist who Robinson met while working at the Weatherspoon inspired another. “Cry No More,” a somber music video completed over a three-day period with Rhiannon Giddens of Carolina Chocolate Drops, was a reaction to the Charleston Massacre. De Berry’s still photography is used to
for me, was the piece of confidence that I needed to start new projects.” De Berry has been documenting the demolition of buildings in Greensboro, buildings that she felt an emotional attachment to. As a self-proclaimed “newspaper dork,” de Berry felt the right kind of balance between social outreach and creative storytelling at an altweekly . The move was partly inspired by Silvia Plachy, who contributed a photo a week to the Village Voice, an altweekly in New York City. Together, Robinson and de Berry have
contributed to the 48 Hour Film Project — de Berry shooting B-roll and Robinson directing. But Robinson doesn’t watch his own work, he can’t stand to see his own mistakes. He leaves the critiquing to de Berry. “I think we influence one another in the edit,” said Robinson. “When Carolyn is selecting photographs, I will say, ‘I don’t think this one works in context.’” “Or we just do the really fast version,” said de Berry. “I’ll show you five photographs and you go, ‘No, no, no, yeah’ — that’s the fun part.”
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a dark time creatively, later — was that he talked about his father, who was a serious hobbyist and was really a beautiful photographer,” de Berry said. “Sam would go out and shoot things from life with him and so Sam talks a lot about making a ‘photographic life,’ and it’s the act of looking. It’s the act of bringing your camera on your shoulder every day and exploring and being curious, and that’s what makes you a photographer, not how much money you make, who your clients are, where you’ve been published, if you’ve had a gallery show. That
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document productions. She produces, shoots B-roll and helps on set. Besides being partnering in Monkeywhale Productions, de Berry contributes a piece of photojournalism to Triad City Beat’s Shot in the Triad section. In her photographs, de Berry looks for narrative. She cites a class that she took from Sam Abell, a photographer who worked for National Geographic for many years, as helping her shape her artistic vision. “One of the things that really resonated with me — and kept me going in
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Recycled mascots Winston-Salem Dash vs. Salem Red Sox @ BB&T Park (W-S), Friday The Dash is up for a weekend of competition against the Red Sox. After a few losses against the Hillcats last weekend, Winston’s minor-league team needs a comeback against Salem, which just lost 5-0 to the Potomac Nationals. A couple of underdog teams could make for a very interesting or insipid match. For more information, visit wsdash.com You yoga, I yogi Final Kirtan Celebration @ the Breathing Room (W-S), Saturday Most people are familiar with yoga, the physical meditative exercise with poses like cow-face and upwards facing dog. It’s a relaxing experience when no muscles are pulled or backs thrown out. There will be soothing live music to accompany spiritual awakenings. For more information, visit thebreathingroomws.org Femme force five Ladies Arm Wrestling League Interest Meeting @ Geeksboro (GSO), Aug. 9 The sport was invented in northern California by a young journalist, so they say. Since then, it’s traveled to saloons across the world for drunk men to prove their worth to other drunk men. This rough-and-tough pastime is changing from a competition to a cause, as women’s arm wrestling leagues are beginning to spring up across the east coast to support women’s charity. For more information, visit GSO Ladies Arm Wrestling League Interest Meeting on Facebook.
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GOOD SPORT Greensboro MMA at the boxing gym Mixed martial-arts fighter Me’shack Adams wraps his hands in black cloth. After pulling himself into by Chris Nafekh the full-sized boxing ring, he stretches, bending low and touching his toes, then again with his legs crossed. Spreading his feet, he drops into a full split, then leans forward to stretch his core. His trainer, Robert Chapman, enters the ring after him, wearing mitts on his hands for Adams to target. Just off Spring Garden Street in Greensboro next to Lindley Community Rec Center sits the Al Lowe Boxing Center, where amateur boxers and MMA fighters alike develop speed, strength and vigor. Adams is preparing zealously for an upcoming gig, a fight at Mirage, a Greensboro strip club, on Sept. 19. On his official record, Adams has fought one professional cage match, which he won against Reginald Barnett Jr. The fight on Sept. 19 is a professional match, and if he succeeds he’ll have two wins under his belt. The bill presents 13 fights between seasoned martial artists such as Shelton Shales and Quitin Thomas. Female competitors like Nicole Ertzberger and Hannah Cifers compete in a separate bracket. Adams will be pitted against Trey Singleton, who has won a single professional match. Both fighters have two losses and a majority of wins on their amateur records. Adams’ original opponent James Quiggs, weighing in at 135 pounds, recently backed out of the fight. “Fighters back out for a few reasons,” says Anthony Omisore, a tall, lanky middleweight with pink hand-wrapping standing nearby. “They either get injured, they say they get injured, or they get into trouble.” Ten people inside are sweating profusely; an old man panting on a treadmill, musclemen bench-pressing plates, boxers pounding-ducking-dodging and
a young boy hitting a speed bag hard, working off his baby fat. Omisore shadowboxes his reflection on a wall of mirrors as the radio plays monotonous adverts that reverberate off the brick and concrete walls. The smell of rich steel and sweat rises off the heavy equipment. A full-sized boxing ring fills the left side of the room. A stray boxer walks across the base of the ring, stops and holds his foot for a moment, then straightens up. “You look like you’re hurtin’,” Adams’ trainer says. “Naw,” the man replies, “just tying my shoe.” He walks away with a slight limp. Now Me’shack Adams stands at the corner of the ring, strapping his fists into large blue gloves to signal his readiness. Chapman raises his mitts and Adams attacks instinctively. The two dance in the ring for a solid half hour; the buzzer fills the room with a loud beep every couple of minutes. Chapman raises his hands, backing up, and Adams pushes forwards with two-, three-, four-punch combos. The back of his neck glistens. Defending his face with his fists, Adams lifts his leg for a double kick, then uppercuts, a side jab, back to defense, headshots and a knee jump to Chapman’s low-hanging mitts. Duck, punch, kick; he lets out a hard “hah” in exertion. He hits the mitts — one, two, three, duck. One, two, three,
duck. Rhythmic punches echo through the concrete chamber, then a rest, then beating and a rest. One, two, three, duck. Sweat dripped from his curly black beard onto the floor of the ring. Mitt training is only one segment of the mixed marshal-artists’ daily routine. Early in the morning Adams rises and jogs six miles, then moves onto circuit training. With Chapman across the ring, Adams blows through eight rounds of mitt training. Each round is about three minutes, which adds up to 24 minutes of high-stress cardio aerobics. Next he jumps rope for 12 rounds, then shadowboxes. Wind sprints follow, then Adams finishes with a three-mile jog. “He’s dedicated to his job,” Chapman says. “He comes in and he do what he gotta do. Work out two to three hours a day when he come in here, nonstop.” “I’m a peaceful guy outside of the cage,” Adams says. “But as soon as the cage doors lock man, it’s a battle. He wants to hurt me, I want to hurt him. We’re not friends anymore, we might as well have been enemies from day one. And when the cage doors open, we shake hands. It’s a sport, you gotta go in there with a kill switch. I’m not going in there to make cupcakes for the guy, I’m going in there to beat him or he’ll beat me.”
Me’shack Adams (left) hitting mitts with his trainer Robert Chapman (right).
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ALL SHE WROTE A Summer’s Eve guide to douchebags and other seasonal critters to look at — but make no mistake, they are bloodsuckers who will take it all and disappear without a sound.
The Alligator — This guy may seem clean cut and preppy but he’s cold blooded as they come. He gives a good hand bag though.
The Tick — Disease-ridden and nasty to the core, these guys will sneak up on you in the woods and get under your skin faster than you can say “thorough body check.” So be a happy camper and
The Grand Daddy Long Legs — He’s ancient and harmless but a little handsy. These harvestmen are not venomous and prefer decomposing creatures. Cougars beware!
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The Shark — The share of bites, burns North Carolina coast has and near misses. seen more of these bad boys this summer than The Copperhead — He anyone can remember. Alpha males for may seem kinda sexy on the surface but sure, these guys just want a little rethis guy is pure poison. He will slither spect — and elbow room — and by that into your life and dazzle you rock star I mean the ocean. These cold-blooded style, but he’s just waiting to strike. Plus creatures come in 500-plus species, but he likes to tan naked. Ew. the rule of thumb is, if you see a fin, bring it in. The Black Ant — One of the peskiest critters of the season. The Black Ant The Mosquito Ghoster — These fly-bytends to gather in your kitchen, touch night boys are long of limb and lanky all of your food and, like a Kardashian,
The Jelly Fish — Clingy at best these creepers are known to sting. The worst part is you have to pee on yourself to get the sting out.
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The Catfish — Deceptive and murky in nature, these bottom feeders will stalk and creep your social media until their real identity is revealed. Perv alert!
The Yellow Jacket — Dandy dressers for sure, you’re likely to run into these peacocks on the festival circuit but they are city slickers as well. If they are chubby and fuzzy they are probably peace loving and grounded. But avoid the sleek and shiny ones — especially on their turf. They love any excuse to defend their nest.
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The Chigger — This guy may seem all cute and cuddly but beware! He will burrow into your skin and never want to leave. Like Caitlyn Jenner, you have to use Paradise — and the nail polish to get him to boys of summer — come out.
The Killer Bee — Usually accompanied by a posse — or swarm — these guys are part of a scientific experiment gone wrong. Extremely aggressive and unopposed to guerilla tactics, these fellas are dangerous. If they are after you, keep running and don’t swat. It just makes them angrier.
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The June Bug — If you’re a shady lady this annoying critter is for you. The June Bug likes it dark and dank and will die if exposed to light for too long. Naturally nocturnal, you will find them in numbers and usually in dive bars.
avoid them.
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The Cicada — The drummers of the insect world, their human counterparts will flex their tymbals for your attention so loudly you will pray for the apocalypse. Don’t give in! These creatures are hollow inside. Thank god they only come around every seven years.
when you get one, you get the whole family.
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We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun. But as we all know, paradise — and the boys of summer — come with a by Nicole Crews fair share of bites, burns and near misses. So ladies, as the long, hot summer nears to a close, I offer you a reflective take on some of the more dangerous varmints of the season.
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