TCB Aug. 31, 2016 — Lies at Rolling Hills by Triad City Beat

Greensboro / Winston-Salem / High Point triad-city-beat.com Aug. 31 – Sept. 6, 2016

FREE

‘There’s a lot of

lies being told at Rolling

Hills’

A former employee accuses one of the nation’s leading providers of Section 8 housing is accused of defrauding the government by under-reporting vacant units PAGE 16

Eliminating Aycock PAGES 8 & 10

Tennis time @ W-S Open PAGES 3 & 20

Shots from Narnia PAGE 19

Aug. 31 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Sept. 6, 2016

Inspired by the centennial anniversary of World War I, UNCG and Triad community partners present artists, authors and intellectuals in a year-long series of events, exploring war and peace through the arts and humanities over the past century.

FALL 2016 FEATURED EVENTS: COLLAGE

WARTORN

ARMS AND THE MAN

A TRIBUTE TO JOHN PHILIP SOUSA

3RD ANNUAL GREENSBORO DANCE FILM FESTIVAL

CREATING PEACE: SCULPTING WAR IN MOZAMBIQUE

Sept. 10, 7:30 p.m. UNCG Auditorium

Oct.14 , 6:00 p.m. Claxton Room, Elliott University Center

Opens Sept. 11, 7:30 p.m. The Pyrle Theater, Triad Stage

Oct. 20 & 21, 7:30 p.m. UNCG Auditorium

Sept. 17, 7:00 p.m. Geeksboro

Nov. 15, 6:00 p.m.

Weatherspoon Art Museum

WAR AND PEACE REIMAGINED Sept. 29, 8:00 p.m. UNCG Auditorium

FALL DANCES

Nov. 18 & 19, 8:00 p.m. Dance Theater

CAROLINE, OR CHANGE Opens Sept. 29, 7:30 p.m. Taylor Theatre

LYNN HARRELL

ACHIEVING ACCOUNTABILITY FOR TORTURE Oct. 6, 2:00 p.m. Faculty Center

Dec. 3, 8:00 p.m. Recital Hall

EXPLORE. ENGAGE. ENVISION. for more information about events, visit:

warandpeace.uncg.edu 2

Bob and me at the game

UP FRONT 3 Editor’s Notebook 4 City Life 5 The List 5 Barometer 5 Unsolicited Endorsement

by Brian Clarey

NEWS 6 Ross puts Burr on defensive 8 Renaming Aycock Middle

OPINION 10 Editorial: Aycock, in his own words 10 Citizen Green: A model of judicial restraint 11 It Just Might Work: Public art without the middleman

COVER 12 Lies being told at Rolling Hills

CULTURE 16 Food: Where the workers eat 17 Barstool: Behind the beer wall 18 Music: It’s the Gillian show (with flashes of Dave) 19 Art: Narnia’s lens

FUN & GAMES 20 Made in the shade

CROSSWORD

ALL SHE WROTE

21 Jonesin’ Crossword

23 Hong Kong House — A resurrection in cookbook form

SHOT IN THE TRIAD 22 Brookstown Avenue, Winston-Salem

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Yes, I was fired for helping you guys out. They’re not a good company. Anyways, I expected it but it was very nice meeting you all. – Gene A. Smith, former maintenance supervisor at Rolling Hills apartments, in the Cover, page12

1451 S. Elm-Eugene St. Box 24, Greensboro, NC 27406 • Office: 336-256-9320 BUSINESS PUBLISHER/EXECUTIVE EDITOR Brian Clarey

ART ART DIRECTOR Jorge Maturino

PUBLISHER EMERITUS Allen Broach

SALES DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING Dick Gray

brian@triad-city-beat.com allen@triad-city-beat.com

jorge@triad-city-beat.com

dick@triad-city-beat.com

EDITORIAL MANAGING EDITOR Eric Ginsburg

SALES EXECUTIVE Stephen Cuccio

SENIOR EDITOR Jordan Green

lamar@triad-city-beat.com

eric@triad-city-beat.com

jordan@triad-city-beat.com

EDITORIAL INTERNS Naari Honor Jesse Morales intern@triad-city-beat.com

steve@triad-city-beat.com

CONTRIBUTORS Carolyn de Berry Nicole Crews Stallone Frazier Anthony Harrison Matt Jones Alex Klein Amanda Salter

Cover photography by Jordan Green Gene Smith, the former maintenance supervisor at Rolling Hills Apartments

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

I almost didn’t make it to the game with Bob this time. You know: Work. The weather. My wife was out of town. But Bob — that’s my dad — and I have been going to the game together for more than 40 years: baseball, mostly, but some football, soccer, hockey, basketball, horse racing… whatever. Bob loves to go to the game. And I love going with him. I will never forget — never — the first one, a trip to Yankee Stadium up in the Bronx after it had been renovated in 1975. I remember the green splendor of the diamond as we emerged from the tunnel to our bleacher seats, so like a jewel in the rough and scarred borough. I swear if I close my eyes I can see it now. That, and a guy sitting next to us accidentally burned me with his cigarette, and then poured a little beer on it. At baseball games, if I could just stop asking questions for a minute, he’d keep score in the old-school shorthand, which is why I knew what a 6-4-3 DP was before I could even properly hit a baseball. At hockey games he’ll point out how often the lines change; for basketball he’ll deconstruct the defense. He can even read a bowler’s spin before it strikes the pins. We’ve been to football games so cold I begged to go home the entire time and baseball games that went deep into extra innings. When I was a kid we watched the Army Navy game at West Point. In Raleigh, I snuck him into an early Final Four round posing as my photographer. He almost blew it when he sat down at Press Row with a huge tray of snacks. Our seats at the Winston-Salem Open, he told me when we got there, were on the sunny side. “The guy’ll let you We lasted another 45 sit over on the shady minutes there in the shade, side though,” he said, “until more people long enough to see the get here.” ambidextrous duo fall in a And so we devastating 6-3 second set. watched Roberto Bautista Agut take out Viktor Troicki in the semifinal round largely, Bob pointed out, on unforced errors. Bob likes the doubles, so we stayed to see Mate Pavic and Michael Venus take some heat against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Henri Kontinen in a tough tiebreaker set that did not go their way. “Pavic’s a leftie,” Bob said, and noted their positions on the court. “You’d think they’d play dominant hand to the outside, but they never do. Whenever they can they protect the middle.” We lasted another 45 minutes there in the shade, long enough to see the ambidextrous duo fall in a devastating 6-3 second set, and the evening crowd roll in. Unlike in the Bronx, where we often waited out Yankee Stadium traffic in a nearby bar, the roads were clear all the way home.

triad-city-beat.com

EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

CONTENTS

Aug. 31 — Sept. 6, 2016

CITY LIFE August 31 – September 6 ALL WEEKEND

John Coltrane International Jazz & Blues Festival @ Oak Hollow Festival Park (HP) With several music fests happening in the Triad this weekend, it’s easy to miss High Point’s contribution. While Coltrane’s impact on American jazz history was colossal, the sax man learned his instrument while a high schooler in High Point. Since jazz is all about innovation, skip headliner Kenny G and go straight for nouvelle talent like Esperanza Spalding. Check coltranejazzfest. com for details.

WEDNESDAY

Vodka tasting @ Five Points (W-S), 8:30 p.m. Winston-Salem continues its fine-liquor dominance in the Triad with this curated array of vodkas, from local to international. Featuring Polish (read: potato) vodka by Chopin along with Topo’s organic spirits direct from its Chapel Hill distillery. Discover more about Five Points’ vodka list by visiting their Facebook page.

by Jesse Morales

SATURDAY

Juvenilia: A Happening @ Test Pattern (W-S), 8 p.m. This event could have sprung from the brain of Kurt Cobain’s ghost — mashed up with streaks of Amiri Baraka’s courage and Sylvia Plath-esque confessional tone. Yes, the imagined horror of poetry open-mic nights everywhere has arrived: the chance for anyone to read their bad freshman-year love poetry — and other versified nightmares not usually worth dredging up. Twee or irony? Make the call by searching the Facebook event page. 5th Annual Triad Music Festival @ Winston Square Park Amphitheater (W-S), 11 a.m. Fat Cheek Kat, Carolina Crossing and Camel City Collective rock out at Winston-Salem’s counterpart to the other Triad music festivals. Bands start at 1:30 p.m., while food trucks, demos and a lunch panel roll out earlier. Go to triadmusicfestival.com for complete info.

THURSDAY

Stuart Dischell poetry reading @ UNCG Faculty Center (GSO), 7 p.m. Gruff melody, like a freight engine. That’s what poet and professor Stuart Dischell’s voice sounds like reading his own bold, oft-melancholic verse. Not a poetry nerd or lit buff? The college kids will go for the chance of catered snacks. (No promises, though.) Head to mfagreensboro.org for more on Dischell, and his new chapbook, Standing on Z.

FRIDAY

7-year anniversary celebration @ the Brewer’s Kettle (HP), 11 a.m. Newsflash: Adulting is hard. Like, please-give-me-backthe-days-of-my-Strawberry-Shortcake-birthday-bike hard. But right on cue, the Brewer’s Kettle offers an anniversary drink which they describe as “a special beer infusion of Stone’s RuinTen Triple IPA through sugar charred oak, strawberries and vanilla beans.” Jonesing for some sweet, liquid comfort? Look up the Brewer’s Kettle on Facebook to find it.

Fabric of Freedom First Friday Kickoff @ the International Civil Rights Center & Museum (GSO), 5 p.m. The A&T Four’s historic Woolworth’s counter sit-ins sparked a movement for desegregation and civil rights that spread nationally in the early 1960s. Remember their spirit of freedom and equity with a throwback concert featuring original members of the Mighty Eliminators and Odyssey 5. Learn how the A&T Four’s liberation work continues by visiting the museum beforehand — many docents are current and former civil rights activists. Find the Fabric of Freedom event on Facebook for the full musical rundown.

SUNDAY

Free stretching with Vylet Noble @ Ohana Wellness Center (HP), 1:30 p.m. Lift your weekend mood (or work out hangover-induced muscle cramps) at this no-cost quickie stretching session. Maybe you’ll meet a likeminded creaker who also wants to limber up. Timid? Bring your BFF. Go to Ohana Wellness Center’s Facebook page for more deets.

TUESDAY

Charity pub run for Autism Society of NC @ Brown Truck Brewery (HP), 6 p.m. Remember the guy who died this year in Raleigh after a race-time Krispy Kreme bender? Learn from his mistakes — take it easy with this 3-mile run and save the beer-sippin’ for a post-race treat. Toast “Hell yeah to neuro-diversity” while you’re at it, and search the event on Facebook if you plan to run.

13% 13%

MTV Unplugged Yo! MTV Raps

5% Headbangers 5

into live in maybe 15 years. Kudos to MTV for putting this kind of show on the air. (I do wish I’d seen “Yo! MTV Raps” at the time, though.)

Fun & Games

New question: Do you support the city of Winston-Salem’s plans to tear down and reconstruct Cleveland Avenue Homes as mixed-income housing? Vote at triad-city-beat.com.

7by Naari unique and weird eBay finds Honor

4. German marzipan fruit molding machine — $22,950 Did you ever think that these little detailed pieces of edible fruit impersonators were designed by someone sitting for hours to design them by hand? Wrong! And Santa Claus doesn’t exist. 5. Hand-crafted Taoist temple doors — $3,680,817

6. 19th Century camel scrotum gunpowder flask — $200 Eww! Who made this and why? 7. G uided mountain goat hunt in southeast Alaska — $8,000 The 7- to 10-day trophy hunts are said to occur where some of the largest bodied goats in the world are located. The group also offers late-season, longhaired goat hunts at low elevations and river bottoms, and a 14-day brown bear and mountain goat hunts for $16,000.

All She Wrote

3. Zombie Apocalypse 5000w solar hybrid generator system — $3,700 Honestly, they are just solar panels. The brand is not called Zombie Apocalypse and we can safely say the words are used to simply sell an item. It’s a cool heading to come across until you realize that there is no additional discussion of zombies beyond the title. It’s like Sour Patch Kids candy, sweet and sour at the same time.

The seller of these doors describes this rare treasure as having the exact dimensions as the doors that were once on the main entrance of the Beijing Temple of Heaven and were destroyed in a terrible fire. And these particular doors are said to be original and old. But the original to what exactly? And just who made said doors?

Shot in the Triad

2. 1956 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz — $99,990 This 2-door, pearl-white convertible beauty can be

bought using cash in person, a cashier’s check, money order or a loan check from an eBay financing institution. When did those come into existence?

Games

1. ‘Left Toe Nail’ artwork sign & dated by artist — $7,444 I must admit that I have, for the most part, gravitated towards Amazon, Groupon and Etsy when it comes to my commercial online-shopping needs. But I still like to hit up eBay every now and then, because where else can I find a signed left toenail claiming to be a piece of art? The “artist,” Kenny Irwin, has a sculpture entitled “Santa’s Casino Stealth Bull” that earned him a certificate of recognition from US Rep. Raul Ruiz. He has work that has been featured in the Baltimore Modern Art Museum and New York Times. The toenail is infused with layers of paint flecks that dripped on the artist toes during the creation of other works. And for a few thousand it could make an amazeballs gift for you or that special someone in your life.

Culture

Readers: This is probably the first time ever that “Other” won in a Triad City Beat poll. A full 44 percent of respondents picked “Other,” with Michael Sileno and former TCB sports columnist Jeff Laughlin both offering up “120 Minutes.” Sileno and several readers on Facebook, including Ryan White and Cricket Hooks, cited “Remote Control,” while punk musician Scott Hicks declared, “How is Beavis and Butt-Head not even in this poll?! You maniacs!” Of the shows listed, “Real World” came in first with 25 percent, followed by a tie for bronze between “MTV Unplugged” and “Yo! MTV Raps” with 13 percent. Nobody picked “TRL” or “Punk’d,” and just 6 percent voted for “Headbangers Ball.” What else did we miss?

It’s fitting that I tucked my laptop under my arm and headed out the office door to write this piece. I’m now taking up space at the Green Bean, knocking back an iced coffee and letting the words pour forth. It’s so easy to make fun of the coffeeshop writer, furiously pecking away at his computer while sucking back refillable mugs of java, hoping against hope that someone will ask him what he’s working on. But I launched my North Carolina freelance career right here more than 15 years ago, powered by caffeine and optimism, and because it was cheaper than renting office space. I write in coffeeshops all the time, especially when I’m on the road and need to get some work in, or when I’m jammed up on a story and need a change of scenery, or when everybody around me is driving me nuts and I need to disappear for a few. Like now. And I’m not alone. As I sit here now there are no fewer than seven similarly frustrated scribes pecking away at their sentences while drinking refills and surreptitiously glancing around the room. Because writing in a coffeeshop is so much more than a cliché — though it is indeed that. It is also a time-honored tradition — Hemingway wrote in coffeeshops, as did F. Scott Fitzgerald. The efficacy of their work speaks for itself. A tip, though: Bring some headphones. Because I just spent about 40 minutes talking to a friend about nothing that has anything to do with this piece, totally losing my groove on it. Which means I broke the cardinal rule of writing in the coffeeshop; writing and talking are not the same thing. In some ways, they’re complete opposites.

Cover Story

Eric Ginsburg: I’m one of those people who didn’t grow up with cable and whose parents limited them to channels like PBS. While y’all were watching MTV, I came home from school and turned on the cartoon “Jackie Chan Adventures.” I didn’t ever have cable at home until a few months ago, actually, and “Unlocking the Truth” is the first TV show I’ve intentionally tuned

25% Real World

Opinion

Jordan Green: “Yo, MTV Raps” probably. I was confused when Dr. Dre came out in the early ’90s because he shares the same name with co-host Doctor Dré. The show coincided with the Golden Age of rap, when Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions and a Tribe Called Quest hit. That basically reflects the fact that I was watching MTV in my mid-teens, in the late ’80s and early ’90s, and I also loved “120 Minutes.”

Writing in the coffeeshop by Brian Clarey

News

Brian Clarey: I am of the initial MTV generation — I still remember the day in 1982 that the cable guy installed it in our house. My sister and I watched videos for days straight. I loved much of their programming — “Remote Control,” which launched the career of Adam Sandler; “The Real World,” which was at the vanguard of the reality-TV movement; Kurt Loder’s version of “MTV Music News.” But my favorite show, which did not make the list, was probably “The State,” a sketch comedy show featuring Michael Ian Black and Joe Lo Truglio, both now luminaries in the comedy world. It only ran for a couple years, and the thing I remember most about it was the catchphrase: “I’m gonna dip my balls in it.” Most comedy doesn’t age well, but that one has legs.

44% Other

Up Front

In light of last week’s cover story, “Rogue detectives,” about the new MTV show “Unlocking the Truth,” we wanted to talk about everyone’s favorite MTV shows. It turns out that’s a much more complicated undertaking than it sounds.

triad-city-beat.com

Best MTV show?

Aug. 31 — Sept. 6, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

NEWS

Ross puts Burr on defensive in tightening US Senate race by Jordan Green As the North Carolina Senate race tightens, national attention turns to Democrat Deborah Ross’ efforts to unseat incumbent Republican Richard Burr. Deborah Ross, the Democratic candidate for US Senate, joked after a meeting with seniors at a branch library on the south side of Winston-Salem last week that there were more press people than voters in the room. While many North Carolinians haven’t started paying attention to the Senate race, recent polls showing a tightening contest, concerns about the erratic behavior of the GOP presidential nominee and the potential for a string of GOP losses that could swing control of the Senate have squarely focused attention Ross’ attempt to unseat Republican incumbent Richard Burr. Ross’ Aug. 24 visit to the Southside branch library in Winston-Salem, where she spoke to a group of about 20 people, focused on Social Security and Medicare. “I care about making sure that our seniors can retire with dignity,” Ross said. “More and more, particularly [for] women who are retiring, Social Security and Medicare is all they have. They didn’t get equal pay for equal work when they were working. Or they stayed home with their families, which was very important, but didn’t get a pension.” Ross leveled criticism against her opponent for a 2012 plan he co-authored with former Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn that would have privatized Medicare by giving recipients vouchers to shop for healthcare on the open market while raising the age of eligibility to 67. It’s a point that Ross has been hammering Burr on throughout the campaign. Burr responded through a spokesperson by noting that he was awarded AARP’s Champion of the 50 Plus award in August. Burr said the plan he authored with Coburn would have preserved traditional Medicare while protecting seniors from high out-ofpocket costs and providing flexibility. The session at the Southside Library gave Ross the opportunity to hear from voters. One woman suggested that the government stabilize Social Security by increase the cap on taxable earnings for Social Security above its current level

of $118,500. Ross responded Carolina, as part of a United enthusiastically. Against Hate campaign to block “Well, that is one of Trump’s path to the White my proposals,” she said. House, and has endorsed Ross as “There’re two ways to get part of an effort to give Demomore money into Social Secrats control of the Senate. But curity. One way is to have the Ross and other Democrats are cutoff at a much higher level. bracing themselves for national The other thing is that there Republican groups to respond have been studies that show to the challenge. In a fundraisthat people at higher incomes ing email sent out to supporters live longer, so they end up on Aug. 27, the Ross campaign drawing from Social Security. warned that the Koch brothers’ So there’s a certain fairness in “mammoth field operation is having them pay more in.” already in North Carolina knockA former state lawmaking on doors and passing out US Senate candidate Deborah Ross speaks to a JORDAN GREEN flyers thanking Governor [Pat] er with a crisp and upbeat multigenerational group in Winston-Salem. manner, Ross represented an McCrory for opposing Medicaid urban Wake County district expansion. It’s only a matter of heritage. But Burr has also said that he in the state House from 2003 to 2013. time before they try to swoop in and supports Trump, and appeared at a rally She has been a visible presence on the save Burr by burying us with ads.” with him in Winston-Salem in July while campaign trail, with focused events like While Trump has built his campaign offering only the faintest praise. the one with seniors in Winston-Salem, around resentments and fears surroundThe potential liability of the candiwhile also meeting with college students ing immigration, trade and terrorism, dates at the top of the ticket could go to discuss controlling student debt. Her Burr’s public appearances have generboth ways. Speaking to reporters after opponent had no scheduled campaign ally highlighted the role of corporations her Aug. 23 meeting with seniors in appearances last week and declined an in providing jobs while appearing with Winston-Salem, Ross criticized Clinton interview request. workers to project a common touch — a over the evolving scandal surrounding The candidate who has won the Sencampaign tack that wouldn’t have been her practice of transferring official ate seat currently occupied by Burr has out of place for centrist Democrats in emails to a private server as secretary of consistently shared the same party as the North Carolina only five years ago. state. presidential candidate who carried the “The economy is the No. 1 issue this “I would tell Hillary Clinton to her state, going back to 1980 when Repubyear, and it continues to be the most face that she handled the emails the lican John East rode Ronald Reagan’s sluggish recovery since the second wrong way,” Ross said. “It was wrong. coattails to squeak past his opponent, World War, and it’s companies like VolShe said it was wrong. The mess needs 50 percent to 49.4 percent. The seat has vo Mack that are going to really lead us to be cleaned up.” been swapped between the two parties out of this downturn,” Burr told WXII The contrast between the Ross and a couple times, with Democrats Terry during a stop at the company’s GreensBurr campaigns mirrors the presidential Sanford and John Edwards winning it boro facility on Aug. 8. campaigns’ presence in North Carolina, in 1986 and 1998 respectively. Burr won The visit initiated a spree of business a state where polls have given Clinton the seat in 2004, with 51.6 percent of and industry related appearances that a slight or better advantage since early the vote, when George W. Bush carried culminated with Burr’s appearance August. The Clinton campaign has North Carolina and won a second term at the Southeast Regional Aerospace unspooled a stream of announcements as president. Burr improved his margin Supplier and Advanced Manufacturing about surrogates talking up Clinton’s to 54.8 percent during his 2010 reSummit at the Benton Convention Ceneconomic plans, a roundtable with Latielection, a mid-term when Republican ter in Winston-Salem on Aug. 17. no and women small-business owners candidates were buoyed by the tea party These events have fallen within the in Raleigh on Aug. 25, and US Rep. wave. purview of Burr’s official duties as a GK Butterfield and Greenville Mayor This is a different election, with a sitting senator, but even as stealth camAllen Thomas promoting the plan’s polarizing Republican presidential paigning they haven’t necessarily been the impact on rural North Carolina on nominee who some worry may be welcomed by voters, as a slew of unkind Aug. 26, to name a few. Meanwhile, the too brash for North Carolina’s more comments on the senator’s Facebook Trump campaign has primarily relied genteel brand of conservatism. Burr page attest. on appearances by running-mate Mike has expressed misgivings about Trump “Oh really… you can tell it’s elecPence in battleground states like North on numerous occasions, including his tion time,” one woman commented Carolina — he spoke in Winston-Salem antagonism towards the family of fallen in response to a post about a visit to on Tuesday — to drum up support. US Army Capt. Humayun Khan and Industries for the Blind in Greensboro Last week, the Democratic-aligned his suggestion that a judge hearing a that highlighted the outfit’s role making group MoveOn.org announced plans to case involving Trump University should equipment for the military. hire dozens of organizers in eight key recuse himself because of his Mexican battleground states, including North

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Fun & Games

Games

Shot in the Triad

All She Wrote

SEPTEMBER 3 THE TRUTONES AND LUXURIANT SEDANS (BLUES N ROCK)

Aug. 31 — Sept. 6, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

Troubled by history, school board votes to rename Aycock Middle by Eric Ginsburg The Guilford County School Board votes 9-2 to rename Aycock Middle School citing the explicit white supremacy of former North Carolina Gov. Charles B. Aycock as an unacceptable representation of the school system while questioning what effect the change will have. Nobody on the Guilford County School Board spoke strongly in defense of keeping the name of Aycock Middle School at the board’s regular meeting on Aug. 25. A couple of speakers during the public comment section at the beginning of the meeting criticized the discussion, decrying “so-called political correctness” and saying a name change wouldn’t do much besides increase division. School board member Deena HayesGreene, one of the majority in the 9-2 vote to rename the school beginning with the 2017-18 academic year, also mused that it might not do much, but concluded that the school board needed to go farther in uprooting systemic racism. “I don’t know if changing the name or not changing the name is going to compel us to examine what all of that means in the way that kids experience schools and the way we make decisions about that,” Hayes-Greene said, adding that it’s not just a name that needs changing but aspects of education, healthcare, the economy, food access, housing and more. Rebecca Buffington and Linda Welborn, two white Republicans, cast the lone votes against the name change. Buffington remained silent during the board’s discussion on Aug. 25, while Welborn said she wanted to be responsive to the immediate community and had reservations about moving forward unless there was strong support for the change among the Aycock Middle community. The board’s facilities-naming nomination committee conducted a nonscientific online survey on the change prior to the meeting and received 522 responses, with 320 opposing a change and 176 supporting it (while 22 said “indifferent” and no response was recorded for 4, according to a staff presentation at a July 26 community meeting on the subject. Board member Amos Quick, who heads the naming committee, mentioned that another nonscientific poll by Triad City Beat — with significantly fewer respondents — found in contrast that 80 percent supported the proposed change.

ERIC GINSBURG Guilford County School Board members and new Superintendent Sharon Contreras (second from left) listen to public speakers opposing the renaming of Aycock Middle School. Amos Quick (right) made a successful motion to change the name.

Introducing the subject, Quick explained that East Carolina University, Duke University and UNCG had recently undertaken analyses of their own and ultimately decided to remove Ayock’s name from buildings on their respective campuses. Aycock, who served as governor from 1901 to 1905, was originally honored because of his reputation as a public education advocate, a narrative that Quick argued whitewashes and censors history. “The truth is the life and the legacy of Gov. Aycock cannot be summed up with one sentence, whether that sentence is, ‘He was a good education governor’ or if that sentence is, ‘He was a racist and race agitator,’” Quick said. “Like all of us, Gov. Aycock’s life and legacy is more than two sentences. The truth of the matter is that this is also not entirely a debate about the life of Gov. Aycock. His life ended in 1912, and not one thing that we say or do here tonight or in the days that follow will change anything that he did or did not do.” Aycock Middle stands in Greensboro’s historic Aycock neighborhood, also named for the former governor. The neighborhood association has attempted to distance itself from the man due to his white supremacist legacy, dropping “Charles B.” from material. A street west of UNCG’s campus also bears the name. Board member Sandra Alexander, who serves at large, argued forcefully

for the change at the meeting last week, citing Aycock’s role in the 1898 race riot and coup in Wilmington and saying that the change “would help us root out and expose the falseness of white supremacy wherever it rears its ugly head. “We should not continue to dignify the name of those who are so guilty of forcing others to suffer indignities,” Alexander said, adding that the school board is morally compelled to act. She called it a teachable moment, saying it would be a chance to show that it isn’t right to justify the promotion of fear, hatred and anger in order to gain power and keep it. That’s what Aycock clearly did, Alexander said, and we’ve seen the same tactic repeated throughout history, she said, drawing a thinly veiled parallel to the approach of current state and presidential candidates. The motion put forward by Quick and approved by the school board will use the time between now and the start of next school year to archive any relevant history of the school to be preserved and to find and decide on a new name. Board member Darlene Garrett, speaking via phone at the meeting, said that she would like to include students at the school in the renaming process to come up with something they could be proud of and suggesting it would be a good educational exercise. Though board Chair Alan Duncan said he partly wanted to allow more community input before a vote, he didn’t make a

motion to table the vote for later even when specifically asked if that was what he intended. The entire school board is up for re-election this year, and after a redistricting and shuffling process imposed by the state, there will be significant alterations to the board. In addition to dropping down from 11 members to nine, new district lines and moving from two at-large seats to one, the board will be losing at least five current members. Quick is running unopposed for NC House District 58 and will not return to the school board. Nancy Routh, Ed Price and Sandra Alexander who all voted in support of the change will not appear on the ballot in November, nor will Keith McCullough who lost to former Greensboro City Council member Dianne Bellamy-Small in the primary. Rebecca Buffington, who voted against the name change, also will not be on the ballot. At a minimum, newcomers will fill four of the nine seats on the school board, representing Districts 1, 3, 6 and 7. Only Linda Welborn — who voted against the change — and Deena Hayes-Greene — who supported it — are running uncontested, while Democrats Darlene Garrett, Alan Duncan and Jeff Belton face Republican challengers. With no timeline in place, it is possible the newly elected school board will be responsible for approving the new name for the middle school.

triad-city-beat.com Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture

Father and Daughter Show

Fun & Games Games

With every purchase of art, Ion will be giving a special gift.

Show will run through Wednesday, September 21st.

2105-A W. Cornwallis Drive • Greensboro irvingparkartandframe.com (336) 274-6717

Mon.–Fri. 9:30am–5:30pm & Sat. 10am–4pm

All She Wrote

Opening Reception Friday, September 9th from 5:30 – 8:30PM

Shot in the Triad

Featuring the exquisitely detailed Watercolor paintings by Ion Carchelan and his daughter Julia.

Aug. 31 — Sept. 6, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

OPINION EDITORIAL

CITIZEN GREEN

Schroeder is a model of restraint Aycock, in his own words Judge Thomas As usual, Gov. Pat McCrothat single-occupancy bathrooms are generally unThe Guilford County school named for former North Carolina Gov. Charles B. Aycock —an ardent segregationist who spoke often about what he termed “the negro problem” — is 67 percent black. Though in other aspects of civil rights, the old cracker was not quite so generous, he might have appreciated that demographic measure, as one of the concessions he allowed African Americans during his reign over Jim Crow North Carolina was “an opportunity for education.” Just not in the same building as white kids. He used this phrase in his 1903 speech to the North Carolina Society, called “The Negro Problem,” which began with the claim that, under his tenure, the state had “solved the negro problem.” “I am inclined to give to you our solution of this problem,” he said to the room. “It is, first, as far as possible under the Fifteenth Amendment to disfranchise him.” There’s quite a bit more: “Let the negro learn once [and] for all that there is unending separation of the races, that the two peoples may develop side by side to the fullest but that they cannot intermingle; let the white man determine that no man shall by act or thought or speech cross this line, and the race problem will be at an end.” Aycock was, among other things, an active and admitted oppressor of every single black person living in his state during his tenure — 1901-05, which means, yes, he was a sitting governor when he made these remarks. They came just five years after the Wilmington Race Riot, in which armed white insurgents — from Aycock’s political party — overthrew the city’s duly elected government just a single generation removed from the Civil War. Racial relations in NC took a precipitous decline with the advent of Jim Crow and the abrupt termination of the fusionist experiment in multiracial democracy in 1898. Aycock and his cohort were directly responsible for just about all of it. The Guilford County School Board’s decision last week to rename Aycock Middle School — commendable and, with a 9-2 vote, decisive — acknowledges the taint to the Aycock name. And more than that, it takes a stand against those who would whitewash the man’s legacy. Aycock was more than just a peripheral player in the white supremacy movement of the 1900s; he was a leader, an integral part of the culture that established the framework for Jim Crow. His influence visited agony among a full third of his state — the black population of NC at the time. He was a villain who managed to get himself elected to office, more fittingly despised than celebrated. And when they rename the school for an African American — for it would be a huge missed opportunity not to — it won’t end institutional racism, not even at the school itself. But at least two-thirds of the students won’t have to go to a school named for a person who didn’t think they should be there.

ry and his extremist Republiavailable at UNC, with the two students indicating they can allies in the General Aswere not aware of any single-occupancy facilities in the sembly are inflicting far more buildings in which their classes are held. The order states pain on themselves than their that the bathroom provision of HB 2 “therefore interferes adversaries ever could. with these individuals’ ability to participate in their work The order handed down by and educational activities. As a result, some of these US District Judge Thomas plaintiffs limit their fluid intake and resist the urge to use by Jordan Green Schroeder on Aug. 26 barring a bathroom whenever possible. Such behavior can lead the UNC system from to serious medical consequences, such as urinary tract enforcing the bathroom provision of HB 2 quotes Butch infections, constipation and kidney disease. This concern Bowers, the governor’s lawyer. is not merely speculative; there is evidence that one of “The record reflects what counsel for Governor the individual transgender plaintiffs has already begun to McCrory candidly speculated was the status quo ante suffer medical consequences from behavioral changes in North Carolina in recent years: Some transgender prompted by” the law. individuals have been quietly using bathrooms and other For a judge to grant a preliminary injunction the law facilities that match their gender identity, without public also requires that plaintiffs show that they’re likely to awareness or incident,” Schroeder writes. The judge consucceed on the merits of their case. The plaintiffs argue tinues by quoting Bowers as speculating further that even that HB 2 violates Title IX of the Civil Rights Act, which if the law remains in force, “Some transgender individuals holds that “no person… shall, on the basis of sex, be will continue to use the bathroom that they always used excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, and nobody will know.” or be subjected to discrimination under any educational In the next passage, Schroeder program or activity receiving federal effectively demolishes the state’s financial assistance.” For purposes ‘For obvious reasons, argument that HB 2 is necessary to of bathroom usage by transgender protect privacy and public safety, transgender individuals people, the definition of sex discrimeven if unintentionally: “This appears ination, the US Department “began generally seek to avoid to have occurred in part because taking the position that covered of two factors. First, the record institutions must treat transgender having their nude or suggests that, for obvious reasons, individuals consistent with their genpartially nude bodies transgender individuals generally der identity,” as Schroeder notes. seek to avoid having their nude or Gov. McCrory, Senate President exposed in bathrooms....’ partially nude bodies exposed in Pro Tem Phil Berger, House Speaker bathrooms, showers and other similar – Judge Thomas Tim Moore and their social-conseractivities. Second, North Carolina’s vative backers may not like it, but Schroeder decades-old laws against indecent they can’t accuse Judge Schroeder exposure, peeping and trespass of “legislating from the bench”: protected the legitimate and significant state interests of The Bush appointee notes that in April the Fourth privacy and safety.” Circuit Court of Appeals concluded in its ruling on GG It’s refreshing to see a conservative federal judge v. Gloucester County that the courts must defer to the — Schroeder was appointed by President George W. Obama administration’s position on bathroom usage. Bush — actually make a conservative ruling instead of No Chapel Hill liberal, Judge Schroeder notably ruled enabling the radical agenda of McCrory and the Rein favor of McCrory and the Republican leadership on publican leadership in the General Assembly. Schroeder the matter of the state’s restrictive election law, but the notes that there was an arrangement in place before Fourth Circuit overruled him and overturned the law, the Republican lawmakers called a special session in finding that the provisions “target African-American March, and it seemed to be working well, with exactly voters with almost surgical precision.” zero reports of discomfort, awkwardness or social harm Maybe that experience has chastened him. caused by transgender people using the bathroom that “While district courts are often said to be the ‘front-line accords with their gender identity. In light of those facts, experimenters in the laboratories of difficult legal quesa conservative judge would have no choice but to grant a tions,’” Schroeder wrote, “they are bound to follow circuit preliminary injunction to prevent plaintiffs from sufferprecedent. To accept defendants’ argument — which is ing irreparable harm before the case is decided in trial. more an attack on GG’s reasoning than a legal distinction Schroeder rules that UNCG student Payton Grey Mc— would violate that obligation. Therefore, at this early Garry, UNC School of the Arts student Hunter Schafer stage on a motion for preliminary relief pending trial, it and UNC-Chapel Hill employee Joaquin Carcaño “have is enough to say that GG requires Title IX institutions clearly shown they will suffer irreparable harm in the in this circuit to generally treat transgender students absence of preliminary relief.” consistent with their gender identity, including in showers Schroeder notes that all three submitted declarations and changing rooms.”

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IT JUST MIGHT WORK

Public art without the middleman

Up Front

One sweltering night this August, I swiped my lips with black mood lipstick and slipped out my door. I slid up to the bar at Westerwood Tavern and grabbed my poison. Talked up an artist regular. Pumped back a neon Jell-O shot. By the time I sauntered home, I’d heard an idea and sketched out its story: an artist-to-business direct model for public art — no city brokerage, no committees, no concessions to bureaucracy. It’s an idea born out of by Jesse Morales experience. Beka Butts lives in Greensboro and works around the Triad as a professional artist. A Savannah College of Art and Design grad, her current gigs — at High Point’s 512 Collective and her own illustration work — involve heavily promoting local art and artists. Cue the hassle. When it comes to public art, Butts said, “Asking the city to sanction a project ‘A lot of hands in the can bring negotiations to a grinding halt.” Besides the scarcity of funding for artists to create pot means people preliminary sketches, there’s also a tangle of without art or design dollars at play — grants and private funds, not to mention government say-so. in their background Butts described city- or county-involved decide what works.’ deliberations over public art in which competing interests led to the art’s quality becoming — Beka Butts compromised. “A lot of hands in the pot means people without art or design in their background decide what works,” she said. “An engineering project wouldn’t be treated that way.” Instead, Butts advocates for a 21st Century paradigm of the artist — both highly skilled in their discipline and business savvy. While Triad business owners cooperate for a healthy economic environment in the area, Butts said., “Local artists are [also] galvanizing.” For example, Butts and Westerwood Tavern proprietor Mike Bosco have a mural in the works that will cover one of the bar’s lengthy outdoor walls. While the mural doesn’t require public assets or space, it is public in the sense that the design — which Butts imagines will present colorful patterns and read “Grow” — will be visible to all. The mural, which cuts straight to the heart of artist-business cooperation, is what Butts called “a beacon of what I’d like to see for the Triad, that we stand together and function as a bigger metropolis.” And that’s what big-picture art on a small scale looks like.

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Aug. 31 — Sept. 6, 2016

‘There’s a lot of

lies told Hills’ being

Cover Story

at Rolling

One of the nation’s leading providers of Section 8 low-income housing is accused of defrauding the government by under-reporting vacant units by Jordan Green

For months, the residents at the Rolling Hills Apartment complex in Winston-Salem have been complaining about desperate conditions: mold festering under carpets, stovetop burners that catch fire, black mold and mildew fed by leaking windows, sewage backups, holes in walls and broken air-conditioning units.

nition that his days at Rolling Hills were numbered. “What position did they hire you for?” Smith recalls his predecessor asking. “Maintenance supervisor,” Smith had replied. “That’s my position,” Rick said. Smith said Rick advised him to quit, but he stayed on, nurturing the hope that he could make a difference. “When he left the bottom fell out,” Smith said. “Sewage started coming out. Raw sewage.” Since June 1, the city of Winston-Salem has documentThe conditions at Rolling Hills, ed 645 housing code violations in 94 a private complex owned by New out of the 110 units in the apartment Jersey-based Aspen Companies ‘And thanks for the uplift, complex — in some cases, as many where 100 percent of the units are bro. Good thing there’s as 20 violations per unit. That means subsidized by the federal governonly 16 of the units have had no more to life than you and ment, drew the attention of US Rep. reported violations. your scams, Mr. Avraham.’ Alma Adams, who visited in late “The mold is living in the attic of July and passed residents’ com— former maintenance many of the units,” said Gene A. plaints on to the US Department of Smith, who served as maintenance supervisor Gene Smith Housing & Urban Development, or supervisor for the apartments from HUD. Three HUD representatives, late May until Aug. 17. “It’s molded including Eileen R. Wooten, a senior so much it’s gray hairs. The mold on the lower part is from account executive from the HUD field office in Greenssewage. boro, visited the apartment complex on Aug. 12, Smith “There’s old wiring in the buildings,” he continued. “We said. While Wooten came with a handwritten list of 10 had a couple units that caught fire. The wiring is not up to units that needed repairs, Smith said the primary reason code. If they had a professional come in and inspect it, it for the visit was a litany of complaints by tenants about would be condemned.” power outages, caused by a utility company turning off The former maintenance supervisor, a man named Rick, the power while the Aspen Companies installed security was still working at Rolling Hills when Smith was hired. cameras to deter drug dealing, littering and fighting. Rick, whose last name Smith never learned, had a premo-

Community volunteers passed out free food to children at Rolling

During the visit Wooten raised another issue, Smith said, inquiring as to how many of the units were vacant. The question is critical, considering that the Aspen Companies receives a monthly payment from HUD to subsidize rent — the difference between fair market value and 30 percent of adjusted household income. In Winston-Salem, fair market value for a one-bedroom apartment is $569 per month and $974 for a three-bedroom, according to the Housing Authority of Winston-Salem. Any false statement or misrepresentation to HUD regarding a housing-assistance payment contract constitutes a default by the owner, according to federal guidelines. In the event of default, HUD may reduce, suspend or terminate payments, or take steps to recover overpayments. “I didn’t want to get caught in a lie and get in trouble with the government,” Smith recalled during an interview

triad-city-beat.com

g Hills Apartments in July.

with Triad City Beat. Tursha Ellis, who had been hired as the property manager less than a month earlier, was not as reticent, and Smith said she told the HUD representatives that there were only two vacant units. Smith said he didn’t say anything to contradict Ellis at the time, but he knew immediately that the number she had cited was a significant undercount. It had to be at least 10, he thought, although he didn’t know the specifics. Ellis disappeared into the management office, according to Smith, leaving him to give the HUD representatives a tour of the complex. “I told the lady: ‘I could get fired for this,’” Smith recalled. “She said, ‘I wouldn’t worry about it.’ I said, ‘You wouldn’t worry about it because it’s not you, but I have to worry about it.”

JORDAN GREEN

After the HUD representatives left, Smith said he took it upon himself to conduct a manual count of the vacant units. Not including two unoccupied demonstration apartments that are used by residents who need to take showers or get water while their own units are under repair, Smith said he counted 13 vacant units. Adding the two figures together, the total number of vacant units accounts for all but one of the remaining apartments once the 94 units in violation reported since June 1 are subtracted. Smith said he warned Ellis: “Tursha, when they find out you’re lying, you could get in trouble.” He estimated that during the period he worked at Rolling Hills, the company was routinely underreporting seven to 10 vacancies. The average subsidy for the Housing Choice Voucher Program in July — an equiva-

lent program administered by the Housing Authority of Winston-Salem — was $496 per unit. Based on that figure, the Aspen Companies could potentially be pulling in $3,500 to $5,000 in illegitimate subsidies from the federal government every month. The Aspen Companies said through a spokesperson on Monday that Smith’s claim is “categorically false.” In spite of Smith’s apprehensions during the HUD visit, Avraham Derhy, the regional manager responsible for Rolling Hills, was apparently pleased by what Ellis conveyed to him about his interactions with Wooten and her colleagues — at least initially. Early the next week Derhy texted Smith on his cell phone: “Tursha said you did a good job with them on Friday. Thanks. Is 750-11 vacant?” The meeting is confirmed in an Aug. 15 email from Wooten to Smith that was reviewed by TCB.

Aug. 31 — Sept. 6, 2016

it’s not going to go well. Just giving you a heads up.” At 9:22 the next morning, Derhy replied, declining to respond to Smith’s slight against his personal integrity or to defend the company’s reputation. He merely wrote: “I will speak to Tursha to make sure she puts in for mileage you are owed. I will definitely speak to Antonio as well.” The Aspen Companies said Smith’s claims, including that he “was terminated without cause, and for reasons other than insubordination,” are “categorically false,” but did not elaborate.

Cover Story

A chart prepared as part of a prospectus for an initial public offering on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange shows Rolling Hills’ place in the Aspen Companies’ extensive portfolio of HUD properties.

“Thanks for meeting with us on such short notice Fribrother. She still gets a ride to work from the community day,” Wooten wrote. “Per our conversation can you please volunteer.” provide the work orders for the units we provided?” The Aspen Companies suggested in an Aug. 9 The email restated the list of 10 units, adding detail statement to TCB that Ellis’ hiring was part of a proactive about the deficiencies that needed to be corrected. “Can response to Rolling Hills’ troubles. you provide as soon as possible today?” Wooten asked. In addition to clearing dozens of housing-code viola“Headquarters requested status of the units.” tions, a spokesperson for the company said, “We have Smith responded two days later: “Yes, I was fired for taken significant measures to immediately improve the helping you guys out. They’re not a good company. Anyonsite management of Rolling Hills. We have hired a new ways, I expected it but it was very nice meeting you all.” property manager (as of mid-July), who has been working The official reason given for his termination was insubclosely with both residents and with the city, and has met ordination. Councilman [Derwin] Montgomery and his community “I came in Wednesday morning, and she said today was liaison to ensure their satisfaction with the work that is gonna be my last day,” Smith recalled. “I said, ‘What?’ She being done.” said, ‘Every time I tell you to do something, you have a On Aug. 24, a week after he was fired, Smith sent a problem with it.’” series of texts to Derhy, the Aspen Companies’ regional Smith said he believes the Aspen Companies is manipmanager. ulating Ellis, suggesting that the company will likely let her “OK, now I got your things back to you,” he wrote at take the fall for any improprieties that come to light. 8:26 p.m. “I will send you and Tursha [Ellis] my last three “She’s playing the nice person and covering up at the days of time worked. I guess I’ll have to forget about gas same time,” Smith said. “She’s in a and petty cash payment.” position where she doesn’t have a Then, alluding to the fraud he is lot of money. They’re basically using alleging to TCB, Smith added for ‘When I walked through her, and they’ll probably fire her good measure: “And thanks for the with the architect and the once she’s served their purpose.” uplift, bro. Good thing there’s more contractors, none of them to life than you and your scams, Mr. Ellis declined to comment for this story. were talking about remov- Avraham.” Smith said Ellis came to North At 9:22 p.m., he followed up with ing the mold. I said, ‘This Carolina from New Jersey to take another text, using capital letters to the job of property manager at emphasize the intensity of his feelis like a scam on top of a Rolling Hills. Based on what she told ings: “DO THE RIGHT THING scam.’ him, Smith said Ellis had expected and we’re good.” — Gene Smith the company to put her up at a Three hours later, Smith was still hotel while she got established vexed over the way his employment in Winston-Salem, but once she with the Aspen Companies had arrived Derhy told her that wasn’t their responsibility. come to an end, and his mind turned to an unresolved “She didn’t have no money; she didn’t have no car,” tension with one of the maintenance workers, a man Smith said. “Her mother lives in Charlotte, and she drove named Antonio, over an uncollected debt. At 12:35 a.m., her up here. She had to stay with the lady at the commuSmith sent his third and final text to Derhy: “Antonio owes nity center who comes to feed. Now, she’s staying with her me money. If he threatens my family again or where I live

The Aspen Companies was founded in 2009 as a subsidiary of Treetop Development by Azi Mandel and Adam Mermelstein, combining their experience in real-estate development, investor relations and managing HUD properties. The company went on a buying spree in 2013, building a portfolio of 1,067 units in Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina, according to a timeline posted on the company website. Mandel and Mermelstein’s company snapped up Rolling Hills in February 2014 from a California investor named Gregory Perlman. The apartment complex had once been owned by the Housing Authority of Winston-Salem. Then, as now, it was plagued with code violations, along with drug dealing, and the housing authority’s efforts to unload the property in 2010 unsettled residents. When the housing authority eventually closed a deal with Perlman in December 2011, the apartment complex’s Section 8 voucher stayed with the buildings. The Aspen Companies website boasts of upholding “a standard of excellence,” while highlighting its purported practice of “acquiring mismanaged apartment communities and upgrading them” through renovations, new amenities and social service programs. By its own estimate, the company doubled its portfolio to 10,000 units spread across 15 states from 2014 to 2016. Based on an early 2015 prospectus for an initial public offering on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and recent press accounts, a conservative estimate puts the number of total HUD properties owned by the company at about 36. A chart created to illustrate the Aspen Companies’ holdings indicates that Rolling Hills is part of a portfolio, one of four such funds based on HUD properties that the company was offering as an opportunity to Israeli investors. Speaking to the company’s growing status as a Section 8 provider, Mermelstein described one acquisition move to AL.com in July 2015 as “playing an important role as we solidify our position as one of the most active HUD property owners nationwide.” The Aspen Companies said “each of the claims” made by Gene Smith is “categorically false,” without specifically addressing why Derhy didn’t respond to Smith’s slight against his personal integrity, or the allegation made to TCB that the company is manipulating the current property owner and left her in the lurch when she moved to Winston-Salem. The Aspen Companies has publicly highlighted its rela-

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tionship with HUD, boasting on its website of possessing up on Tuesday afternoon with a pledge that the federal “a strong working relationship” while being “held in high agency will a new inspection of Rolling Hills Apartments in regard by HUD national and field offices throughout the late September. country.” In the same statement, which also touted the hiring of After informing Eileen R. Wooten, the senior account Tursha Ellis as being part of a turnaround strategy, the executive at HUD’s Greensboro field office, that he had Aspen Companies also told TCB that “the property’s been fired, Gene Smith followed up with a brief email on onsite maintenance staff has been increased from two to Aug. 17, stating, “There’s a lot of lies being told at Rolling seven professionals.” Hills by management.” Not true, according to Gene Smith. He said he has received no response from Wooten. “It’s a lie,” he said. “They didn’t hire seven maintenance Reached by TCB last week, Wooten said she is not workers. They hired two extra. It was only me, Terry, allowed to speak to the media, while promising to forward George and Antonio. The rest were contractors. Some of a request for comment to a public affairs person at the the people they hired off the street were druggies. They agency’s Atlanta regional office. buy drugs at Rolling Hills. One of the tenants told me: ‘I Smith said that while Wooten never responded to his don’t want him in my house. I just saw him out there doing disclosure that he had been fired and his allegation of drugs.’” deception by the Aspen Companies management, he Aspen Companies did not specifically address the received a phone call from Wooten’s supervisor over the allegation, but asserted that each of Smith’s claims to TCB following weekend. The supervisor, who identified herself was “categorically false.” only as “Dottie,” asked Smith “not to mention her name,” Smith said he took the job with the Aspen Companies he said. A personnel list for the Greensboro field office in the hopes that he could earn quick money to buy an lists Dottie Troxler as a senior investment property. While he account executive and senior was employed as maintenance advisor to the AE Division. supervisor at Rolling Hills, he Gene Smith estimated that Troxler could not be reached was also working side jobs in during the period he worked at for comment for this story. the evenings to earn additional Joseph J. Phillips, a money. Getting fired by the Rolling Hills, the company was spokesperson with the Atlanta Aspen Companies won’t ruin routinely underreporting seven regional office, said in an email him financially, he said: He on Tuesday that “HUD contincontracts jobs installing and to 10 vacancies. The average ues to closely monitor Rolling repairing skylights, and putting subsidy for the Housing Choice Hills Apartments.” Phillips in ADA-compliant bathrooms, Voucher Program in July — an went on to say that the federal and “if I keep myself busy” he agency “takes allegations of said he can earn as much as equivalent program adminisfraud seriously,” adding that $40,000 in six months. tered by the Housing Authority of Smith could contact the HUD All the same, he feels a Office of the Inspector Gentwinge of regret about the way Winston-Salem — was $496 per eral to report his concerns. things turned out at Rolling unit. Based on that figure, the AsIn statements to TCB, the Hills. pen Companies could potentially Aspen Companies said Rolling “I really wanted to show Hills received a passing score them what I could do,” Smith be pulling in $3,500 to $5,000 in of 80 from HUD, with 100 said. “I wanted them to spend illegitimate subsidies from the being the highest possible the money and get the matescore. The reported score is federal government every month. rials.” perplexing, considering that Residents interviewed by the city of Winston-Salem has TCB in early August comdocumented nearly 650 violations in 94 out of 110 units at plained that the Aspen Companies’ efforts to address Rolling Hills since early June. HUD did not respond to a the extensive violations have only superficially addressed question about how the site could have passed the most problems, and that the city’s code inspector signed off on recent inspection considering the extensive violations that repairs that were inadequate. have been reported. “They did a Band-Aid fix,” resident Veronica Campbell Rep. Alma Adams, whose district currently includes part told TCB. “The city inspector came in and signed off on of Winston-Salem, said her office continues to monitor it. I said, ‘Why would you sign off?’ The most serious viothe situation at Rolling Hills. She said in a prepared statelation they didn’t do anything about — the mold coming ment on Tuesday that on Aug. 16 she requested a timeline up from underneath my carpet.” from HUD “for a second inspection of the property given Smith confirmed the residents’ concerns. the deplorable conditions still present at the Rolling Hills “When I walked through with the architect and the Apartment complex.” She added that she planned to contractors, none of them were talking about removing speak with department representatives by phone in the the mold,” he said. “I said, ‘This is like a scam on top of a coming days. Phillips, the HUD spokesperson, followed scam.’ There was one lady who was sick. I went in myself

The Aspen Companies owns dozens of HUD properties across the United States.

and ripped the mold out of her closet. You’re not really supposed to do that if you’re not certified. I know the mold was making her sick.” Smith charges that the city code inspector assigned to the Rolling Hills case has been signing off on repairs that are not adequate. As an example, Smith said the inspector didn’t make any effort to confirm that mold-damaged drywall and insulation were removed. “If it’s a crack and water leak, they’ll let them plaster it with mold inside and say it’s okay,” Smith said. Smith provided a list of four units where he said the inspector signed off without requiring the Aspen Companies to make adequate repairs. Ritchie Brooks, the city’s director of housing and community development, said to his knowledge the inspections are being handled appropriately. “This is the first time I’m hearing of an inspector signing off on work that’s not been done,” he said. Smith provided four cases where he said the inspector signed off on inadequate work. In one, at Building 720 Apt. 2, the city cited the unit with 17 violations, and eventually signed off on 12 repairs, including repairing defective light fixtures, cleaning carpet, clearing a kitchen sink drain and replacing smoke detectors. But five other violations remained unresolved, including two coded as “unfit” — defective locks on the front door and defective electrical outlets. Two other violations on the list also remained unresolved because some of the violations have not been corrected, while Brooks said he could not find any paperwork for the fourth case alleged by Smith. Aspen Companies said in a prepared statement on Monday: “We are fully committed to ensuring quality conditions at Rolling Hills by taking all necessary measures to immediately address residents’ concerns. Over the past several months, we have taken significant steps to improve the onsite management and maintenance of the property, and we’ll continue to do so.” Smith said the city inspector eventually said he couldn’t “let it slide anymore with the Band-Aid fixes” because Rolling Hills’ troubles were “in the news.” “When you got a contractor coming to you,” Smith said, “and saying, ‘Are we really fixing it or putting a BandAid on it?’ it’s like, Wow.”

Aug. 31 — Sept. 6, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

CULTURE Where elections staff, jurists and the fuzz come to eat by Eric Ginsburg

nly a few minutes had ticked by since midday, and already the line at Courtside Café stretched out the door, a sheriff’s deputy holding it open with one hand as another uniformed department employee with a shaved head joined him in the queue. “Holy mackerel, it’s busy, isn’t it?” one customer said to another. Patrons occupied nearly every table at the downtown Winston-Salem restaurant — a group of vested construction workers in the middle of the café by the register, a cluster of strangers wearing “jury” tags making small talk in a corner. The line moved quickly — a school cafeteria-style setup made ordering faster than a Chipotle. But slower options including sandwich, burger and even pitas including chicken souvlaki and a gyro still appealed to some customers. Tim Tsujii knows this place well. As the new elections director for Forsyth County, Tsujii quickly became familiar with the dining options nearby, stopping at Courtside Café for breakfast on his way to work a few minutes east on foot. But he’d never been in for lunch, usually stopping in somewhere on Fourth Street instead, until I asked him to come along. Tsujii and I got to know each other during his tenure in the Guilford County elections office, connecting over food. His parents own Akashi Japanese near the Greensboro Coliseum, and Tsujii and I made a periodic habit of stopping at places like Van Loi II to eat together. That’s where he told me he’d be taking the position in Forsyth, and moving his family. But almost six months pased before we found time to eat together ERIC GINSBURG The pan-fried pork tenderloin is one of the regular features on the cafeteria line at Courtside in Winston-Salem. Café in downtown Winston-Salem. I’d long been curious about Courtside Café, passing it on late afternoons as I drifted towards Business Restaurants abound less than two blocks north, with no well-intentioned attempts at fusion. It’s just meant 40, and I took Tsujii’s regular breakfast excursions as all sorts of quality food and offering a wide array of to fit a definition of comfort food, the kind you might enough of an endorsement. Even out of convenience, experiences, from a casual burger joint to memorafind at home or out in the country more often than in I knew he wouldn’t eat somewhere regularly unless ble Mediterranean. And Xia, an Asian fusion place, the heart of the city. it passed muster — he talks about the hashbrowns in couldn’t hold on in the nearest restaurant space on The name says just as much about who’s there, from particular — and so we went for lunch a few days ago. North Liberty Street. folks working in the federal courthouse across the Ordering the entrée with two sides in the cafeteria It’s also the variety, from a chicken Philly to a gyro street to people fulfilling their civic duty to probably line is the most convenient and affordable way to fill to pancakes to low-carb and vegetarian options. It’s a couple of those appearing before a judge, or at least up on the homestyle cooking, running under $6. The speed. And it’s also a low-key spot to sit and catch up their family. I didn’t see any suits during the lunch rush day we arrived, we chose between meatloaf, pan-fried with someone you haven’t seen in six months, where — maybe they’re going somewhere with a higher price pork tenderloin, country-style steak and grilled chicken everything feels easy and there’s nothing to interfere point, or lawyers are avoiding clients, or maybe it was breast for the meat, both adding cornbread, cheese with good conversation. just an off day. and broccoli casserole and banana pudding to our My breaded, grilled then baked orders. I picked some fried squash steak arrived slathered in brown bites, too, while Tsujii rounded his gravy, tasting dramatically better meal out with rice and gravy. Visit Courtside Café at 102 than it initially looked. I took to Had we shown up a day earlier he Pick of the Week W. Third St. #180 (W-S), dipping the slightly dry cornbread still could’ve gotten the tenderloin, End of summer berry bash @ Hoots Roller Bar and fried squash bits into the but I would’ve had to swap chickdoor on Liberty Street, or and Beer Co. (W-S), Wednesday, 6 p.m. extra gravy, a move I recommend, en and dumplings or hamburger at coursidews.com. As autumn beers begin to spice up beer menus between bites of steak. After trying steak with sautéed onions for my across the Triad, Hoots pulls together its last Tsujii’s pork tenderloin, I could see steak. Apparently the tenderloin summery draughts for this weekday party. If the why it’s a cafeteria-line mainstay, is popular — we could’ve chosen it berry flavors seem too sweet on their own, match but I wished one of us had ordered the meatloaf. As the next day too, or the hamburger steak or breaded samples and pints with tapas-style small plates for I ate the banana pudding, I wished I was eating my chicken tenders. balance. Peppery pumpkin porter sound better? friend Lamar’s instead. Courtside Café is the sort of place that the K&W Wait for the next seasonal soiree. For this week’s There’s a reason Courtside Café can sustain a line or Cagney’s Kitchen crowd would feel welcome — no party info, find Hoots on Facebook. out the door, and it isn’t just price or proximity. words you can’t pronounce, no chef trying to show off,

Behind the Bestway beer wall

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

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At the Vineyard you can come as you are and be yourself.

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

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336.323.1288 204 S. Westgate Dr., Greensboro

ERIC GINSBURG

Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

gives people her honest opinions of a beer whenever Imagine keeping track of possible. something like 1,400 differWeigland comes to Bestway with considerable beer ent beers as just a part of knowledge gleaned from years of homebrewing. It your first beer-industry job. gives her a greater understanding of taste profiles, Ordering new stock, keeping various hops and the science behind it all, and her track of it, deciphering cusmemory is a force to be reckoned with. It’s aided by the tomers’ muddled requests fact that she uses beer app Untappd almost like Spotifor help finding a brew they fy, looking for recommendations and reviews for what only vaguely remember. by Eric Ginsburg to try out next and figuring out what beers fall close Less than a year into her together. And she’ll try anything, though Weigland gig at Bestway, the Lindley Park neighborhood grocery is currently digging krieks, gueuzes and Flemish red store with a legendary craft selection, it’s practically ales. (Natty Greene’s may be the only local brewery to second nature to Kate Weigland. She’s one of the beer experiment with either of the first two lambic styles.) buyers at the Greensboro store, ordering from various Some are more familiar with Weidistributors and handling imported gland as the bassist and one of the beers, but she’s also on the floor for local act LeBaron, a answering calls and questions. Visit Bestway grocery store vocalists band that describes itself as “rock/ Questions like: “I remember reat 2113 Walker Ave. (GSO) shoe gaze/cowboy-boot gaze.” ally liking this beer, I think it was a or find it on Facebook. When Weigland thinks about the gose, and there was a flower on the near-term future, it involves both bottle. Do you have that?” the band and beer — a new album Drinking Almanac’s Saison Docoming soon hopefully, and continued experience in lores across the street at Sticks & Stones’ bar, Weithe beer industry. After seeing her perform in a Smashgland said she will study up online, question distribuing Pumpkins cover set with a bandmate and members tors, listen to customers and try beers herself to stay of the Bronzed Chorus a few years back and after on top of how different beers compare and be able to listening to her casual-yet-encyclopedic knowledge of knowledgably answer questions. She wants everyone beer, the future looks promising on both fronts. to be comfortable coming in and asking questions, regardless of their knowledge level about beer, and

Culture

Kate Weigland is one of the people responsible for the massive collection of beer at Bestway in Greensboro’s Lindley Park neighborhood.

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Aug. 31 — Sept. 6, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games Games Shot in the Triad All She Wrote

CULTURE It’s the Gillian show (with flashes of Dave’s guitar wizardry) by Jordan Green

“

This has been a long time coming,” Andy Tenille said, gazing happily at the stage as Gillian Welch and David Rawlings returned for an encore at the outside pavilion in front of SECCA. “I’ve been trying to get them here for five years.”Then he excused himself to go retrieve a camera so he could memorialize the accomplishment. The Aug. 25 concert at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, which sold 900 tickets, was No. 16 in the Crossroads concert series curated by Tenille, but the first to be held outside. (A memorable concert by legendary avant-garde jazz artist Sun Ra took place on the lawn outside SECCA well before the inception of Crossroads in 2011.) Welch and her longtime collaborator, Rawlings, were simply too big of a draw to fit in the auditorium, which holds 300 people and has accommodated previous Crossroads concerts. The outdoor setting, with concertgoers lounging on blankets and pool chairs on a grassy hillside whose curve mimics the contours of an amphitheater, created a festival-like feel. The portable toilets lining the driveway, food trucks assembled on a makeshift fairway and shuttle bus depositing people from an off-site parking lot added to the ambience. As dusk descended, some of the late summer heat lifted, but the humidity lay thick, enhancing the tender tribute “Elvis Presley Blues,” inspired by the man who died for America’s sins of excess on Aug. 16, 1977. As the song — part of Welch’s 2001 masterpiece Time (The Revelator) — recounts, the singer was thinking about the day Elvis died, and how when he was much younger he put on a shirt that his mother made for a radio broadcast, “and he shook it like a chorus girl/ And he shook it like a Harlem queen/ He shook it like the midnight rambler, baby/ Like you never seen.” The two musicians were having some difficulties fingering the strings on their instruments — Welch on her flat-top acoustic guitar, and Rawlings on his trademark 1935 Epiphone Olympic — not that anyone in the audience likely noticed. “I now suspect it wasn’t the bug repellant,” Welch said after they finished the song. “It’s just the air. Everything’s really slick up here — except the performers.” She explained that the frequent tune-ups were necessitated by the drastic change in temperature from the air-conditioned chill inside to the warm bath onstage. The concert offered few surprises from an artist who has methodically built an impressive body of original songs over the past two decades that distill the haunting quality of folk, blues and old country music from the Great Depression. If the songs sounded familiar, that’s because nearly all were drawn from her five albums, spanning from Revival in 1996 to The Harrow & the Harvest in 2011. And because they might be mistaken for a lost outtake recorded in the Southern Appalachians 80 years ago. Rawlings, who also co-wrote many of the songs on those albums, played his usual role as indispensable partner, dispatching lightning-fast solos on his little Epiphone guitar that reached a culmination with him

David Rawlings and Gillian Welch play a show at SECCA. Welch’s music could be mistaken for a lost outtake recorded 80 years ago in southern Appalachia.

working the instrument like someone trying to shake out a bag of cornmeal. Notwithstanding Rawlings essential contributions, the albums all bear Welch’s name, along with the concert billing. Aside from the brutal attack of his soloing — a level of intensity approaching metal — Rawlings left the spotlight to Welch. And even his guitar accompaniment was more a foil than showpiece, with Welch’s soaring vocals breaking in with new verses amid the dissipating flurry of her partner’s solos. Only near the end of the concert during a cover of the Guy Clark song “Dublin Blues” did Rawlings take a vocal lead on one of the verses, and then again during an enthusiastically received cover of the Johnny Cash and June Carter chestnut “Jackson” during the foursong encore, which displayed his distinctive yelp. It’s not as though Rawlings doesn’t have his own music: His second album under the name Dave Rawlings Machine, Nashville Obsolete, came out last year — making it four years more recent than his Welch’s latest output. Nonetheless, the two stuck to the official Gillian Welch repertoire, with Rawlings deflecting requests for his own material. Near the end of the first set, Rawlings kidded, “Someone was asking for a date song….” The setup prompted the hapless audience member to clarify: “No, Dave song!” “Oh, I thought you said ‘date song,’” Rawlings continued. “I’ve been thinking about that for the last four songs. I was going to say, ‘You’re at the wrong concert.’ I guess we’ll do the date song then. Whatever this next one is.” And with that, they launched into Welch’s “Tennessee,” a downtempo number with spare instrumental architecture from The Harrow & the Harvest that wryly

JORDAN GREEN

recounts the plight of a girl cast out of the circle of virtue because of an older man’s transgression, while nonetheless confessing that the encounter “left a twinkle in my eye.” Introducing the next song as a “toe-tapper,” Welch led the duo into “Red Clay Halo” from Time (The Revelator). With lively instrumentation that approximates the gait of a T-Model Ford, the song tells of a farm girl who’s overlooked by the “city boys” at the dance because of the dirt under her nails and her collar. “And when I pass through the pearly gate/ Will my gown be gold instead?” Welch sang in the rollicking chorus. “Or just a red clay robe with red clay wings/ And a red clay halo for my head?” Maybe that’s what makes Welch’s music sound like an artifact of a time of hardship and privation that preceded the sexual revolution — never does it sound wilder and more free than when contemplating the hereafter.

Pick of the Week Chad Eby Quintet: Miles and Coltrane at 90 @ the Crown at Carolina Theatre (GSO), Friday, 7:30 p.m. Round out the weekend’s jazz celebrations with this fusion tribute to two of the genre’s musical masters, both with North Carolina ties. While John Coltrane is a well-known NC native, Miles Davis’ trumpet adorns the UNCG music building — home of the jazz program where saxophonist Chad Eby and his band have their roots. Interested in the state’s jazz legacy? Search the event on Facebook.

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CULTURE Capturing High Point through Narnia’s lens by Naari Honor

Up Front

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Photographers surround model Shāna Renée Gordon-Cole in hopes of capturing that perfect shot.

All She Wrote

Traditions of Protest in North Carolina opening @ PB & Java (GSO), Friday, 11 a.m. This multimedia exhibit, affiliated with Greensboro’s 17 Days Festival, features the debut of photographer Rob Amberg’s social documentary photos regarding the Julian T. Pierce case and more. (Pierce, a Lumbee judge and civil rights campaigner, was killed in 1988.) The display seeks to illustrate how “traditions of resistance and protest are a foundational part of the state’s character,” according to the Facebook page. Head there for the full description.

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Though rusted, the shades of deterioration seem to blend with the color scheme rather than take away from it. “Time to head back,” Goette yells. “We’re starting to lose light!” No one seems to be in a rush to pack up and leave. “Look what I can do!” Gordon-Cole’s daughter shouts to several camera-wielding novices as she storms up the side of a random pile of gravel, the rocks scrabbling underneath her feet. The cameras click away.

Fun & Games

angles in hopes of capturing her in the optimal light. Many of those in attendance are joining the group for the first time or consider themselves amateur photographers, yet they handle the models and navigate their surroundings as if photography is second nature to them. Miles Sherrill, a professional photographer from commercial giant Kreber studios in High Point and a continuing education photography teacher at GTCC, argues the courage one can obtain from wielding a camera. “I can be two and a half feet away from a subject and get a shot,” Sherrill said. “And it’s kind of an intimate thing we have. Normally I am very shy. But because of this,” Sherrill points his camera towards the sky, “it brings me out of my shyness.” Cindy Walker, a former employee of high school photography company Lifetouch and a student of Sherrill’s, found her courage through a huge win. “A picture I took in his class I entered in the Central Carolina Fair amateur photography contest,” Walker beams from ear to ear. “In the ‘people’ category it came in third place. My first competition ever!” A shutterbug focuses his attention on a piece of a carnival ride that looks to have possibly been an iron boat. On the sides is a lively Chinese dragon spouting orange and red flames on a powder blue background.

NAARI HONOR

Culture

he Narnia House, with its original stained glass windows, prime lighting conditions, secret garden and hand-painted walls is sort of like a hidden treasure. The 1897 Victorian house in High Point currently doubles as the personal residence and public photography studio for Christopher Goette, master instructor of the North Carolina Photography Group. In the foyer of the studio, the scent of locally handmade soaps tickles the nose hairs, drawing attention to other handmade crafts that share the same space on a wrought-iron stand against the wall leading into the living room. In the living space, Goette sits comfortably on a well used couch talking to a room full of individuals strapped with camera equipment and paying close attention to his every word. “I like to teach,” Goette says. “It helps to keep me from getting burnt out.” Having been a photographer for more than 25 years, Goette has held the title of Martha Stewart Wedding Bride Choice Winner in 2011, and is the regional photographer for Estée Lauder in addition to being an instructor with Professional Photographers of America. He has owned several photography studios. Around 7 p.m. on August 24, 13 photographers of the NCPG, a meetup Goette started in 2008, head out of the doors of Narnia House to embark on a downtown photo walk after enjoying an open house at Narnia. Models Sarah Gilchrist and Shāna Renée Gordon-Cole file out with them, and Goette heads straight for his vehicle to start the tour. From the start Goette coaches the group on proper photo taking techniques for the time of day. “Your aperture should be on the lowest setting,” Goette yells. “Your cameras should be on manual.” After a quarter mile walk that included a trek across a busy downtown street, Goette leads the group to a photographer’s dream backdrop. The property of the Golden Oldies Inspiration Warehouse, sits in a neighborhood void of human life. The yard, overflowing with rusted fair remnants and a few too many pieces of garden furniture, is a scene that any vintage picker would appreciate. The grounds of the showroom are descended upon by the photographers’ who head in the direction of leaning tacks of terracotta pots, stationary racking and motley colored carnival rides. In the middle of the mounds of what could be called junk rest hundreds of primary-color iron chairs, half that amount in mini toy motorcycles, several wrought iron greenhouse frames filled with a myriad of metal structures, the distressed frame of an airplane ride large enough to fit at least two adults and a respectable selection of train cars. Gilchrist contorts her body through a missing front window to fit inside one of the train cars. Armed with cameras, fanny packs, backpacks and lenses, snappers come at her from all angles with hopes of capturing the perfect shot. Not far from Gilchrist, Gordon-Cole is posed on a set of leaning motorcycles surrounded by four photographers pointing their cameras at her from opposites

Aug. 31 — Sept. 6, 2016 Up Front News Opinion Cover Story Culture Fun & Games

All She Wrote

was very popular with the ladies during the Winston-Salem Open finals. Maybe a half-dozen women approached me unbidden, all wearing smiles and asking the same question: “Is anyone sitting with you?” I’d say no, and they’d sit beside me. Every 30 minutes, it seemed — same

by Anthony Harrison

question, same smile. They’d park next me not because I am devastatingly handsome. It’s because I had the best seat in the house. Or out of the house. Tennis pros duked out the finals on the grounds of the Wake Forest Tennis Center — specifically on the Harold and Mildred Southern Stadium Court — and hardcore fans watched from the stands. I call them hardcore because you’d have to be serious about some tennis to brave the elements. “Anybody want a water before they go in?” a shaded man in a blue polo barked just inside the gate along the path leading up to the courts. “I’ve got ’em on ice!” It was a good selling point. Even $4 for a 16-ounce bottle of water made sense at that point, because Aug. 27 was a hot one. The heat would have proved unbearable if it hadn’t been for a healthy, steady breeze. That, and the shade. The tennis complex sprawls at the foot of BB&T Field, home of the Wake Forest University Demon Deacons football team. The concrete leviathan dwarfs the tennis facilities around it, and its exterior provided a natural concourse for the open with the added benefit of its overhanging stadium seating casting a broad shadow. Food trucks and concessions stands along the concourse peddled cool goodies like lemonade, iced coffee, smoothies, ice cream and, from the Grinder, cheesecake on a freakin’ stick — their emphasis, not mine. Other vendors sold booze and clothes. A peculiar tent just outside the shady lane silently auctioned sundry items like a signed Luke Kuechly Panthers jersey and plaques commemorating Wake Forest alumni and NBA stars Tim Duncan and Chris Paul, New York Yankees greats Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, NC State University

Made in the shade head basketball coach Jim Valvano and the Beatles. One of these things is not like the other. Wrought-iron patio tables peppered the concourse, providing a spot for the heated tennis fans to scarf down nachos. Or to watch the matches. Yes, while the aforementioned hardcore attendees toughed it out in the blue plastic seats of Southern Stadium Court, many an open-goer opted instead to watch from the comfort of the shade, thanks to a Jumbotron hanging on the blue-mesh outer wall of the court. The picture wasn’t perfect, of course. The occasional lag obscured some aces and final volleys. But at least you weren’t swimming in yourself. I made myself comfortable at the front-most table closest to the screen as the doubles finals began. No one was sitting there; it was the only seat still exposed to torment from the pernicious heat. But I figured as the sun steadily fell on its trip to California, my lonely table would soon be within BB&T Field’s dark embrace. And I was right. The finals featured one of the greatest doubles specialists of all time: 42-year-old Leander Paes of India, a bronze medalist in singles tennis for his country at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, winner of 55 doubles titles and 40 runners-up on the Association of Tennis Players World Tour. Legends and tall tales about him, some true and some false, floated around the concourse — that he’d played in seven Olympics, that his godmother was Mother Teresa. What could be proven immediately was his talent. Paes played with a veteran’s accurate finesse, chipping shallow, lateral volleys across the net. “Hoo! He’s got the touch!” one fan behind me shouted during one such close save. But he also attacked the net and returned pointblank volleys at the speed of a firing nerve. His younger partner, Germany’s Andre Begemann, provided intimidating serves and a wicked backhand. Their combination of power and prestige made them a fearsome duo. Each point they won brought roars of approval from the crowds both inside and outside the court. They won many.

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Begemann and Paes ended the first set 6-4 and kept rolling their opponents, Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Finland’s Henri Kontinen, well into the second set. The match looked to be solidly in their racket sleeves. Yet Garcia-Lopez and Kontinen never let the steamroller get the best of them. BB&T Field’s shadow grew larger and the breeze blew stronger as Garcia-Lopez and Kontinen kept chipping away at their formidable foes, first tying up at 4-4, then breaking it before the set devolved into a riveting tiebreaker. Begemann and Paes took the first three points without answer, but Garcia-Lopez and Kontinen repeated their strategy from before, slowly wearing away resolve. Paes tired at the net, and Begemann tripped and missed the final volley of the tiebreaker. “The momentum has shifted,” Captain Obvious droned somewhere behind me. Garcia-Lopez and Kontinen launched into the match tiebreaker, delivering aces and ferocious slams to their tired opponents. Somehow, Begemann and Paes summoned the energy for a rally, largely off the German’s vicious serves, bringing the tiebreaker to 9-8. But, a return right up the gut between the fan favorites broke the back of the rally. “I cannot believe [Paes] lost that,” Denise Moose, a longtime open attendee sitting with me, intoned after the match as she cooled herself in the shade with a plastic fan from Wake Forest Baptist Health. “It breaks my heart.”

Pick of the Week Demon Deacons kick off Tulane University Green Wave @ Wake Forest University Demon Deacons (W-S), Thursday, 7 p.m. It may be the Deacs’ year. Some ESPN sportswriters predict the Triad’s ACC football squad will make a bowl game at season’s end. They’ll show us their gridiron grit in this cupcake opener against Tulane University, TCB Publisher Brian Clarey’s college nemesis. For more info, visit wakeforestsports.com.

‘Ageless’ and hopefully timeless, too. by Matt Jones Across

Kristine Jackson

Monday, September 4 @ 6pm

Mystery Movie Monday

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602 S Elam Ave • Greensboro

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Playing Aug. 31 – Sept. 8

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1 “___ and Circumstance” 2 Spy agency on “Archer” 3 LeBaron and Pacifica, for two 4 Rower’s blade 5 Concurs (with) 6 City with a contaminated drinking supply 7 Count in French? 8 Chef on cans 9 Actor Peter and TV producer Chuck, for two 10 Ready to drink 11 Pebbles Flintstone’s mom 12 Oozing 15 K-O combination? 17 Carried a balance 21 Trips for Uranus, e.g. 23 Narc’s weight

Saturday, September 3 @ 8pm

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25 Mach 2 fliers, once 26 “Fancy meeting you here!” 28 Somewhat, in suffixes 30 “The Final Countdown” band 31 British version of Inc. 32 Olympic team game with a goalkeeper 33 Granular pasta 34 “Voice of Israel” author Abba 36 Sounding like a ceiling fan 37 ___ in “Oscar” 38 Buckle under pressure 42 Look through a window, maybe 43 “Kick-Ass” star Chloe Grace ___ 44 Kitchen unit 45 Fits of pique 46 Quarterback known for his active knee 47 “___ wouldn’t do that!” 49 “Masters ___” (Showtime drama since 2013) 50 Verse-writing 52 Reusable grocery purchase 54 Visit 55 Infinitesimal bit 58 Awesome

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1 ___ de gallo (salsa variety) 5 Home of the Bills and Chargers, for short 8 Extinguishes birthday candles 13 Federal org. that inspects workplaces 14 Day-___ colors 15 Canadian dollar coin nickname 16 Identical online message, but sent backwards? 18 Fragrant evergreen with starlike flowers 19 “Gangnam Style” performer 20 Did some tricks at a skate park? 22 Biter on the bayou 24 Get out of debt 25 Three-dimensional figures 27 Competes on eBay 29 “A Boy Named Sue” songwriter Silverstein 30 “Für ___” (Beethoven dedication) 32 Misfortune 35 Do some drastic wardrobe reduction? 39 She’s your sibling 40 Die-___ (people who won’t quit) 41 Chichen ___ (Mayan site) 42 ___ mojado (Spanish side of a “wet floor” sign) 43 Drop it already 45 Be in the driver’s seat 48 Hollow-centered muffin

51 With 57-Across, what was always covered with a sock until just now? 53 Org. with lots of clubs 56 Portugal’s part of it 57 See 51-Across 59 Firming, as muscles 60 Suffix for the extreme 61 Choral voice range 62 Benny Goodman’s genre 63 “Dude ... your fly” 64 Bust’s counterpart

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Screening will include special MARGARITAS! 8:30 p.m. Saturday, September 3. $6 ticket includes FREE BEVERAGE!

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“Troll 2” The ‘Best Worst Movie’ of ALL TIME!

Answers from previous publication.

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The Idiot Box presents Stand-Up Comedy

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Star Trek Countdown Featuring the TOP 50 EPISODES of Star Trek. 7 p.m. Wednesday, August 31. FREE ADMISSION Idiot Box: Open Mic Night 8 p.m. Thursday, September 8. $5 tickets!

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8:30 p.m. & 10 p.m. on Friday, September 2. Tickets $9 each!

TV Club Presents Fear The Walking Dead New episode. 9 p.m. Sunday, September 4. Free Admission With Drink Purchase!

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ALL SHE WROTE

Hong Kong House – A resurrection in cookbook form

After a long wait, the local cookbook is finally available.

Cover Story

came to life this week. Amelia says that a book launch is tentatively planned for Oct. 23 at Tate Street’s Boba House. “It’s really just food and music and a party for friends and family,” says Amelia. Aptly put, because wasn’t that what Hong Kong House was all about?

Opinion

Greensboro institution that thrived for close to three decades. When the restaurant closed in 1999, a pall fell over the Gate City’s old-school hipster elite. Enter Karen McClamroch, who for the past decade and a half has been pestering the Leungs for recipes and stockpiling photos and stories. “I knew there was a cookbook there,” says the unreconstructed hippie who still claims Amelia’s hot and sour soup to be the finest in the land and the best hangover cure on earth. “But I have to tell you that Amelia did not have one single recipe written down when we started this process. Of course, there were many life events that got in the way but we literally started from scratch.” With the help of Scott Sawyer who gathered many photos, Bobby Kelly and Keith Roscoe who lived to tell the tales, Manlin Chee who commissioned artist Maggie Fickett for the cover art years ago, Sara Jane Mann for editing and art direction and David Dulaney for editing photos, the Hong Kong House Cookbook

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Chinese restaurant sandwiched in the middle and, for a while, a vegetarian restaurant called Aliza’s Café owned by Larry Jacobs and Aliza Gotlieb, who eventually opened the revered Sunset Café. When Jacobs and Gotlieb left to open Sunset, the basement became the legendary Nightshade Café. “I think [the late] Billy ‘Ransom’ Hobbs was the first person to play there,” says Amelia, “I know we fed them all.” Tornado, Eugene Chadbourne, the Alkaphonics, the Other Mothers, the Swinging Lobsters and countless others would book the joint pop-up style and word would spread via fliers, land lines and record-store gossip. Musicians like Bob Margolin, Mark Wenner and the Nighthawks, Glen Phillips of the Hampton Grease Band and the Indigo Girls would crank up in the low-ceilinged dive where draft beer flowed like the Mekong River. But at the literal and figurative center of it all was Hong Kong House — a

Up Front

hen Hong Kongbred and London-trained nurse Amelia Leung and her husband by Nicole Crews Robert opened Hong Kong House restaurant on Greensboro’s Tate Street in 1972, little did they know that they would be raising a family there. The family consisted of not only the Leung’s bevy of offspring but the hippies, the music students, the writers and other liberal artisans of UNCG and Greensboro College, the engineers and agri-geeks from NC A&T and, later, the punks, the goths, the grunge brigade and every other subcultural entity that once made up that swatch of land in the College Hill neighborhood. Formerly the Apple Cellar, Hong Kong House was comprised of three levels: a guitar shop atop, the macrobiotic

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