Greensboro / Winston-Salem / High Point May 10 - 16, 2018 triad-city-beat.com
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RANKED The 2018 Triad College Commencement Speaker Face-Off Page 7
Olympian Joey Cheek addresses the UNCG class of 2018
Primary Election Results
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May 10 - 16, 2018
EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK
New Orleans Bar Stories: Checkpoints and the angry neighbor Checkpoint Charlie’s is an institution: A music club at the very point where the French Quarter meets the Fauborg Marigny by Brian Clarey in downtown New Orleans. Live bands every night; never a cover charge; washers and dryers in the back in case you crap yourself. As the story goes, my former boss Igor Margan — a New Orleans legend in his own right — saw his future wife dancing there in the 1970s and bought the place that week. The place has been raging there ever since, save for a short period in the late 1990s, when a doctor from Up North bought the house across the street. Like most French Quarter homes, it was more than 100 years old, built to withstand floods, invaders and street crime. The new homeowner must have known all this before buying. So it was surprising to all of us down on lower Decatur Street when the police started showing up at Checkpoints, where the last set often began after 2 a.m., to enforce a noise ordinance no one had ever heard of. And of course it was the new guy across the street, who wanted to live in the French Quarter as long as he didn’t have
to hear music all night — one of the things for which the Quarter is known. Igor just paid the fines — he was a great disrespecter of authority — figuring that the guy would get tired of calling the cops, or the cops would get tired of telling a music bar in the French Quarter to stop making music, or that the interloper might just pull up stakes and move back to Metairie. I thought of this doctor when I heard about a movement by a downtown Greensboro resident, James McGinley, insisting that the trains that routinely cross South Elm Street on their way to points north stop blowing their horns as they pass through the intersection. They’re too darn loud, he told Fox 8 News. And you know he’s serious because he started an ipetition.com page. “Are you tired of the train horns blaring at all hours of the day and night in downtown Greensboro, making it impossible to sleep, difficult to conduct business and tough to carry on a conversation with eating outside?” it reads. This is not the French Quarter, but it is the Gate City, so named for the trains that put us on the map, and still, fortunately, still pass through with great frequency. Especially when you’re right next to the Depot.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
We’ll see the numbers, but black women turned out. We carried that water, baby. AfricanAmerican women carry the water and I gotta believe and hope the numbers will bear that out. We carried the water for voting rights, children’s rights, labor, education, women’s rights, everything. We do what we need to do because that’s how we were raised, to hold up our communities.
— DD Adams, in the News, page 9
BUSINESS PUBLISHER/EXECUTIVE EDITOR Brian Clarey brian@triad-city-beat.com
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May 10 - 16, 2018
CITY LIFE May 10 - 16 by Lauren Barber
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
Derek Hess @ Delurk Gallery (W-S), 7 p.m.
Megan Jean & the KFB @ OPOTW Studios DIY Space (GSO), 9 p.m.
Power to Heal explores the historic struggle to gain equitable access to healthcare, particularly the adoption of Medicare. David Smith, author of The Power to Heal: Civil Rights, Medicare, and the Struggle to Transform America’s Health Care System, joins a panel discussion with local healthcare professionals before a book signing. Refreshments provided. Find the event on Facebook.
Artist Derek Hess screens his award-winning documentary Forced Perspective before a question-and-answer session. Hess hangs back to sign his latest book, 31 Days in May: A Visual Journal of Mental Illness and Addiction. Learn more at delurkgallery.squarespace.com.
Folksy-punk four-piece the Wild opens for Americana outlet Megan Jean & the Klay Family Band who will debut new songs. Find the event on Facebook.
Band Together for Housing @ the Public GSO, 6:30 p.m.
Spring rave @ Krave (GSO), 8 p.m.
Puzzles
Shot in the Triad
Commemorate the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Fair Housing Act with the Greensboro Housing Coalition and the Aaron Matson Nonet, a jazz band comprised of dynamic North Carolina musicians. Learn more at greensborohousingcoalition.org
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Inhabit: A Permaculture Perspective @ Parkway UCC (W-S), 7 p.m.
This feature-length documentary focuses on solutions to environmental degradation in rural, suburban and urban regions through permaculture, an ecological design process rooted in our growing understanding of ecosystems. Find the event on Facebook.
SATURDAY
Carolina Brewsfest half marathon & 5k @ Mendenhall Transportation Terminal (HP), 8 a.m.
All is custom and craft at this boozy run: custom finisher medals, custom race shirts and two North Carolina craft brews for those of age. Learn more at carolinabrewsfest. com.
Culture
Opinion
News
Up Front
Power to Heal @ International Civil Rights Center & Museum (GSO), 6 p.m.
Spring Retrospective @ Authoring Action (W-S), 2 p.m. The Krave Rave series moves to the outdoor patio in celebration of warm seasonal shift. That means firespinners return, and hoopers, dancers and flow artists are encouraged to join. Resident DJ FM turns up ’til the late, late-night. Find the event on Facebook.
Young authors present the best of their 2017-2018 pieces on trauma, transformation, race, class and power. Learn more at authoringaction.org and catch the encore at 7 p.m.
May 10 - 16, 2018
Spring for Art @ Milton Rhodes Arts Center (W-S), 6 p.m.
Kaleta & the Super Yamba Band @ Van Dyke Performance Space (GSO), 9 p.m.
Up Front
Lunafest @ Revolution Mill (GSO), 7 p.m.
News
This one-night only art sale benefits educational programming throughout the year and features a silent and live auction, live music dinner, drinks live art demonstrations featuring Owens Daniels, Linda Weaver and Karl Bostwick. Learn more at associatedartists.org/sfa/.
ArtsGreensboro presents Brooklyn-based afro-funksters Kaleta & Super Yamba Band and experimental electric guitarist Mdou Moctar of Niger who celebrates the psychedelic sounds of 1970s dance parties in the coastal town of Cotonou. Find the event on Facebook.
Opinion
Ships in the Night @ Monstercade (W-S), 9 p.m.
Playing May 11-15
Simply Three @ Reynolds Auditorium (W-S), 7:30 p.m.
Winston-Salem’s gothic dream-pop group Vampiros complements Alethea Leventhal’s atmospheric, synth-filled solo project Ships in the Night. Electronic group VIA stops in from Asheville. Find the event on Facebook.
Culture
This year, the traveling film festival screens nine awardwinning short films by, for and about women. Catch live acoustic music from the Alley Rabbits before programming begins. Find the event on Facebook.
Geeksboro’s Saturday Morning Cartooon Cereal Breakfast is back with a new lineup that includes Scooby-Doo, Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers, Sailor Moon, Justice League, and Adventure Time! Cartoons run at 10 a.m. and 12 pm. on Saturdays! Free admission! Bowls of cereal are $2.50 each or $5 for a BOTTOMLESS BOWL OF CEREAL!
Shot in the Triad
SUNDAY
--OTHER EVENTS & SCREENINGS--
Sunday Songwriter Sessions @ Muddy Creek Music Hall (W-S), 2 p.m. Sam Tayloe, Jordyn Pepper, Big Ron Hunter and Abigail Dowd bring all the bluesy, rootsy, folksy goodness anyone can ask for in a Sunday afternoon. Find the event on Facebook.
Beer! Wine! Amazing Coffee! 2134 Lawndale Drive, Greensboro geeksboro.com •
336-355-7180
Puzzles
String trio and YouTube sensation Simply Three joins the Winston-Salem Symphony and Maestro Robert Moody for his farewell Plugged-In Pops concert. Together they’ll perform music by John Williams, Cole Porter, Tchaikovsky and some of Simply Three’s own compositions. Find the event on Facebook.
Board Game Night 7 p.m. Friday, May 11th. More than 100 Games FREE TO PLAY Midnight Radio Karaoke Admission is FREE with a drink purchase! The event starts at around 11:15 p.m. Saturday, May 12th. Totally Rad Trivia 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 15th $3 Buy-In! Up to Six Player Teams! Dragonball FighterZ Tournament League 5 p.m. Sunday, May 13th $5 Venue Fee! $5 Entry Fee!
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May 10 - 16, 2018 Up Front
In the long run, I guess, it doesn’t really matter who spoke at your college graduation. Most students are either completely hungover or are too freaked out about their impending descension to the ranks of the unemployed to really listen, while their families in the stands tend to be overcome with emotion as their offspring matriculate. If the speaker was interesting enough, it might make for an interesting conversational tidbit down the line. Cokie Roberts spoke at my college graduation, in her native city of New Orleans. I have absolutely no recollection of what she talked about. But the schools see it differently. The commencement-speaker game is an opportunity for a school to display its clout, give students and parents a little bit of what they paid for and collect great photos to use for recruiting. The first wave of Triad graduations has already hit, and the rest will wind down over the next couple weeks. It seems only natural to rank them. For TCB, it’s not all about fame — though fame is an important factor in the ranking. We also looked at the speakers’ accomplishments, talents, uniqueness and relationship to the place they speak.
Puzzles
Shot in the Triad
Culture
Opinion
News
Ranked: The 2018 Triad Commencement Speaker Face-Off by Brian Clarey
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1. Joey Cheek Shorthand: Olympic gold-medalist speed-skater Where: UNCG (May 4) Past speakers: Margot Lee Shetterly (author of Hidden Figures, 2017), Gov. Beverly Perdue (2009), Jim Hunt (former NC governor, 2004), Nido Qubein (motivational speaker and eventual president of High Point University, 2003), Erskine Bowles (political figure, 2000), Fred Chappell (former NC poet laureate, 1999), Art BuchWIKIMEDIA wald (newspaper columnist, 1967, 1997), Maya Angelou (poet and COMMONS author, 1986), Lesley Stahl (broadcast journalist, 1986), Charles Kuralt (journalist, 1973), Sen. George McGovern (1969) Bio: Cheek won his Olympic gold in 2006 at Turin in the 500-meter sprint, and a silver that year in the 1000 meters — he took bronze in the 1000 in Salt Lake City in 2002. He then retired from professional sports and founded Team Darfur, a nonprofit focused on humanitarian crises related to the war in Darfur. Before the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the Chinese government revoked Cheek’s visa for his political activity, so he could not attend. Ever heard of him? Almost certainly, if you’re over 25. Appropriateness: Solid; Cheek is a local boy. Before becoming an Olympic athlete, he was born and raised in Greensboro and went to Dudley High School. What he spoke about: Cheek’s speech stressed the importance of excellence and its pursuit. “[T]here’s so much evidence that being the best at something is incredibly awesome,” he said. “It is worth the work you put in.”
safe, something that wouldn’t actually inspire much at all,” he said. “Every day of the first few years of my career, I felt like I was faking it,” he continued. “My confidence was a sham. I was a student and a professional at the same time. On stage, I was crushing it. Off stage, I was a ball of doubt. I’m sure you’ve all felt that during the course of your time here, and you’re sure to feel it when you leave. That is natural, it’s human and it’s okay. Plow through it.” 3. April Ryan Shorthand: The Root calls her “Queen of the White House Press Corps.” Where: Bennett College (May 5) Past Speakers: US Rep. Alma Adams (2017). In recent years, Bennett commencement speakers have generally been past and present university presidents. Bio: She’s served on the White House Press Corps under four WIKIMEDIA different presidents for CNN and the Urban Radio Network, one of COMMONS very few women of color. Under the Trump regime, she’s squabbled with Sean Spicer, who accused her of having an agenda, and Sarah Huckabee Sanders — the day before her speech at Bennett she stormed out of a press briefing after accusing Sanders of threatening her. Ever heard of her? If you’re newsy, or black, almost certainly. Appropriateness: Spot-on for the venerable institution for young, black women. What she spoke about: Strength and beauty, with a little sales pitch for the school thrown in. “Graduates, you’ve got to think about from whence you’ve come,” she told the Class of 2018. “And you’ve got to remember to give back to Bennett College. It’s not about how much you give. While you’re standing, make a pledge to Bennett in your heart today. Graduates, I also want you to remember you’re beautiful, black women, but most of all you’re beautiful.”
2. Josh Groban Shorthand: Grammy-winning, multi-platinum songwriter and recording artist; he also played Andy Bernard’s brother on “The Office.” Where: High Point University Past speakers: Wolf Blitzer (broadcast journalist, 2017, last year’s winner), Condoleezza Rice (former secretary of state, 2016), Tom 4. Paul Tazewell Brokaw (broadcast journalist, 2015), Colin Powell (retired diplomat Shorthand: The guy who designed the costumes for Hamilton. and general, 2014), Steve Wozniak (tech entrepreneur, 2013), Laura Where: UNC School of the Arts (May 5) WIKIMEDIA Past Speakers: David LaChappelle (photgrapher/director, 2015), COMMONS Bush (former first lady, 2012), Lance Armstrong (world-class cyclist, 2011) Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences President Cheryl Isaac Bio: Groban is best known for a string of multi-platinum hits in the late 1990s and early Boone (2015), Angus MacLachlan/Peter Bogdanovich (directors, 2000s — he earned his first Grammy in 2005, Best Male Vocalist for “You Raise Me Up” — 2010), Kristin Chenowith (actor, 2009), Danny Elfman (composer, but his career really began with a small role in “Ally McBeal” in 2001. He’s performed with 2007), Forrest Whitaker (actor, 2004), Mandy Patinkin (actor, 2001), Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand and Michael Ball, among others, and has appeared in “Parks & COURTESY PHOTO Debbie Allen (actor and choreographer, 1992) Rec,” “The Office,” “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” “CSI: NY” along with several British Bio: Tazewell won a Tony for his costume design for Hamilton shows, and the films Crazy, Stupid, Love with Steve Carrell and Muppets Most Wanted. in 2016 and an Emmy for “The Wiz: Live” — in all he’s been nomiEver heard of him? He’s that guy from that thing. nated for six Tonys, the first in 1996 for Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk and subsequent Appropriateness: Meh. Groban’s from California; his only connection to North Carolina nods for The Color Purple (2005), In the Heights (2008), Memphis (2009) and A Streetcar is that he plays Charlotte and Greensboro. Named Desire (2012) What he spoke about: He told HPU’s Class of 2018 to embrace fear and trust their Ever heard of him? It’s safe to say you’re familiar with his work. instincts. “I believe that it would be better to fail at doing something challenging, something Appropriateness: Perfect. Tazewell is a UNCSA graduate, Class of 1986. worthwhile, and something I’m excited to show the world than to succeed doing something What he spoke about: The work-life balance, and the importance of blazing trails. “If I
Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles
7. Karen Korematsu Shorthand: The daughter of the guy who resisted the Japanese internment camps during World War II. Where: Salem College (May 19) Past Speakers: Susan Goldberg (first female editor in chief of National Geographic, 2017), Erika James (dean of Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, 2016), Freda Lewis-Hall (Pfizer CEO, 2015) Bio: As founder of the Korematsu Institute, Karen continues the WIKIMEDIA COMMONS work of her late father, Fred, who challenged President Franklin Roosevelt’s executive order to inter Japanese Americans during the war, in the process becoming a fugitive and civil rights activist. While his conviction was overturned in 1983, the law has never been formally changed. Ever heard of her? You probably haven’t even heard of her father, though the states of California and Virginia celebrate a day named after him every Jan. 30. Appropriateness: Points for gender and the social justice angle. What she’ll talk about: Her father, obviously, and the legacy of the civil rights movement.
10. The Rev. Tim Moore Shorthand: Evangelical minister and political consultant Where: Greensboro College (May 11) Past Speakers: Joey Cheek (Olympic speed-skater, 2012), Navy Cmdr. Porter Halyburton (former POW, 2011), Elizabeth Dole (former senator, 2007) Bio: Moore serves as Senior Pastor at the Walk Worthy Baptist Church in Austin, Texas, and president and CEO of Walk Worthy COURTESY PHOTO Medical Ministries, which ships medical equipment to disaster-relief sites and poverty-stricken areas around the globe. Ever heard of him? No. Appropriateness: He’s an alum, Class of 1996 What he’ll talk about: Pretty sure Jesus will come up.
News
6. Byron Pitts Shorthand: Emmy Award-winning black journalist Where: Winston-Salem State University (May 18) Past Speakers: Melissa Harris-Perry (journalist, 2016), Common (rapper, 2015), Michael Eric Dyson (author and educator, 2012), Stephen A. Smith (sports journalist, 2011) Bio: Pitts has worked for “60 Minutes,” “The CBS Evening News” and ABC News, and his career has spanned the wars in Iraq, 9/11 and WIKIMEDIA Katrina. Ever heard of him? Maybe? COMMONS Appropriateness: Though he was born in Baltimore and educated in the Midwest, Pitts spent his childhood summers in Apex, which is good enough for us. What he’ll talk about: Pitts overcame much in his career, including racism and the challenges of being raised in a single-parent home. He also had a stutter and was considered functionally illiterate by his teachers until he was 12 years old.
9. NC Sen. Joel Ford Shorthand: State senator from Mecklenburg County Where: NC A&T University (May 12) Past Speakers: Laila Ali (Muhammad Ali’s daughter, 2017), First Lady Michelle Obama (2012), US Rep. John Lewis (2015), Donna Brazile (author and political analyst, 2014) Bio: A North Carolina native, Ford won his Senate seat in 2012 and has served three terms. He ran for Charlotte mayor in 2017 but lost in COURTESY PHOTO the primary and now seeks re-election in the Senate. Ever heard of him? No. Appropriateness: Solid — Ford’s an alum, Class of 1994. What he’ll talk about: When a politician gets his hands on a microphone during election season, it’s a pretty sure bet he’ll make a stump speech. Ford is in a pretty tight primary fight due to criticism that he’s too cozy with the Republican majority
Up Front
5. Carla Harris Shorthand: A unicorn — educated, black, female, rich, powerful. Where: Wake Forest University (May 21) Past Speakers: Stephen Colbert (TV host, 2015), Jill Abramson (former executive editor of the New York Times, 2014), Insar K. Nooye (PepsiCo CEO, 2011), Kenneth Chenault (American Express CEO, 2010), Vice President Joe Biden (2009), Arnold Palmer (professional golfer, 2005), Colin Powell (2004), Michael Bloomberg (businessman and former mayor of New York City, 2003), Sen. COURTESY PHOTO John McCain (2002), Barbara Bush (former first lady, 2001), Tom Clancy (author, 1992), Garry Trudeau (creator of Doonesbury, 1996), Maya Angelou (1985), Bill Moyers (journalist, 1984, 1970), Rep. Gerald Ford (1972), Walter Lippman (newspaper columnist, 1926) Bio: Harris is currently managing director and senior client advisor at Morgan Stanley and board chair of the Morgan Stanley Foundation, as well as chair of the Food Bank for New York City and treasurer for the Apollo Theatre. Ever heard of her? Probably not, but that won’t stop you from asking her for a job. Appropriateness: Harris is a Wall Street banker who lives in New Jersey, so it works pretty well for Wake Forest. What she’ll talk about: If her website, carlaspearls.com, gives any clue, her comments might include some insight on being a powerful, black woman or perhaps her philosophy of giving back, a key theme in her life. And maybe she’ll sing — she was in the Radcliffe Choral Society while an undergrad at Harvard University, has released several albums of gospel music and has performed three sold-out shows at Carnegie Hall.
8. Dennis Quaintance Shorthand: The guy who started Lucky 32 Where: Guilford College (May 5) Past Speakers: Patricia Timmons-Goodson (first African-American female justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, 2017), Rev. William J. Barber II (activist, 2016), Jeff Thigpen (Guilford County Register of Deeds, 2013) Bio: Quaintance worked his way up from a housekeeper’s assistant COURTESY PHOTO in Missoula, Mont. to founding partner of Quaintance-Weaver, the restaurant and hotel group that owns Lucky 32, the Green Valley Grill, Print Works Bistro as well as the Proximity Hotel and the O. Henry Hotel, all in Greensboro. Ever heard of him? Yes, if you’re local. Appropriateness: Hyperlocal What he spoke about: Quaintance discussed the importance of bringing values into day-to-day life in a humble, affable way. “My mind and my body are just my instruments — I am my intentions.” he said. “The idea of operationalizing values in general can only work if we really get good at distilling our values into something accessible, in that brief moment between stimulation and response.”
May 10 - 16, 2018
can pass on only one piece of wisdom, everyone deserves and should create a fulfilling life outside of work,” Tazewell said. “I learned this the hard way… slept in way too many hotels, took countless red-eye flights and I have probably reached my lifetime maximum consumption of coffee.... What I couldn’t see was that I was already successful.”
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Puzzles
Shot in the Triad
Culture
Opinion
News
Up Front
May 10 - 16, 2018
NEWS
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th Manning storms Democratic primary for 13 Congressional District by Jordan Green Kathy Manning, a Greensboro philanthropist, lawyer and political newcomer, swept through the Democratic primary with a commanding 2-1 vote advantage over opponent Adam Coker, setting the stage for a well-funded and energetic challenge to Republican incumbent Ted Budd in November. Manning celebrated her primary win with a throng of supporters, campaign staff and volunteers at Horigan’s House of Taps in downtown Greensboro on Tuesday night. “I got into this race almost exactly five months ago because I was so sick of the chaos and dysfunction that we see in Washington DC,” Manning told her cheering supporters. “Frankly, I got tired of waking up and turning on the TV, watching the news and just getting infuriated. And so I decided that I had to step up and try to make change.” The Manning campaign spent about a fifth of the $1.3 million raised since the candidate entered the race in December, leaving $1.0 million to fuel a drive to dislodge Budd, a gun-range owner who won his seat in the new 13th District two years ago thanks in part to a financial boost from the conservative Club for Growth PAC. In comparison to his Democratic challenger, Budd has only raised $877,473 in this campaign cycle and holds $534,611 to wage a general election campaign. Manning said during her election watch party that she wants to go to Washington to “fight the big drug companies and bring down the high cost of prescription drugs” and to “fight for more affordable, accessible healthcare coverage.” The campaign complemented an advertising effort through television, digital placements and mailers with a robust organizing ground game, fielding volunteers to knock on doors and make phone calls as the candidate maintained a grueling schedule of appearances throughout the five counties in the district, which stretches west from Greensboro to Iredell County. “We spent lots and lots of time getting out to meet people everywhere — all pockets of our community,” Manning said. “I got to know them, and I let them get to know me. We share the same values. It doesn’t matter what the economic status, when you show that you care about people I think it comes across.
People have been warm and receptive, and they’re ready for a change.” Manning’s primary win comes only three days after local Democratic Party officers in the 13thCongressional District issued a stinging rebuke to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the House Democrats’ fundraising arm, in response to its involvement in the primary. The committee, known by its acronym DCCC, backed Manning through its “Red to Blue” program. (Dan McCready, a Democrat in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District covering the Charlotte suburbs, also won his primary on Tuesday.) The 13th Congressional District Democrats passed a resolution on May 5 asking the DCCC to stay out of the primary election, while calling its preferential treatment of favored candidates “a disruptive and undemocratic force.” Even before the primary results came in on Tuesday, Democrats appeared to be mending bruised feelings over the DCCC’s involvement and the local committee’s rebuke. Melanie Rodenbough, a volunteer for the Coker campaign, said on Tuesday that the campaign manager Ken Stutts had already reached out to the chair of the 13th Congressional District Democrats about a plan to support the Democratic nominee, whomever it turned out to be. Meanwhile, Manning’s victory signaled a coalescence with the grassroots Swing Left campaign, which up to the primary outcome had maintained neutrality in the contest between the two Democratic candidates. Since April 2017, Swing Left NC-13 has knocked on doors to register voters and talk to them about their concerns. Abby Karp, an organizer with Swing Left NC-13, said the organization has built an email list of 100 volunteers, with 20 to 30 people showing up on any given weekend to canvas. Swing Left’s national organization has also raised $51,702 to turn over to the Manning campaign. Karp said she’s had a “preliminary” conversation with the Manning campaign, and looks forward to the Swing Left volunteers sitting down with the candidate. But she said she expects Swing Left to maintain at least a degree of autonomy from the campaign. “One model is possibly we continue to canvas in a certain number of precincts,” Karp said. “Maybe we become
the canvassing arm in certain areas. We’ve become close; we’ve become a coherent unit that works well together. Or we could merge into Kathy’s campaign. But then, we’re not going to stop after November.” Karp said whatever individual volunteers’ feelings about the priJORDAN GREEN mary candidates, Kathy Manning celebrates her win with staffers and volunteers. she believes that Democrats will had only one countywide primary — the unify behind Manning. sheriff’s race. Along with open congres“I think Democrats and progressive sional primaries, Democratic voters voters are so conscious of the danger of were also drawn to the polls to decide a allowing the Republicans to continue district attorney’s race with no Republiwhat they’re doing they will unite,” Karp can candidates, a contest for sheriff and said. “A lot of people learned the lesson primary for the sole at-large seat on the from, ‘If my guy doesn’t win I’m going Guilford County School Board. to sit this one out.’ For the volunteers in Democratic voters selected Avery Swing Left, the principles of compassion Crump, a former district court judge, for those who have the least overrides over Assistant District Attorney Stephamany things. I think we’re all in. I’m all nie Reese as the county’s next district in.” attorney. With no Republican opponent, In the Democratic primary for the Crump will take office next year follow6th Congressional District, business ing the retirement of Doug Henderson consultant Ryan Watts surged past barring a successful write-in opponent. opponent Gerald Wong, like Coker a Democratic voters also overwhelmlong-haul truck driver, winning 77.1 ingly favored Danny Rogers, a former percent to 22.8 percent. Watts will face deputy, in the sheriff’s race. Rogers took Republican incumbent Mark Walker in 52.0 percent of the vote, compared to the general election. 36.3 percent by TJ Phipps, a retired Turnout in Guilford County, Greensboro police captain, and 11.7 perwhich is split between the 6th and cent by James Zimmerman Sr., a former 13th congressional districts, landed at deputy. 11.3 percent. The last midterm election, Rogers, who celebrated his win at which took place in 2014, saw 15.1 Havana Phil’s Cigar Co. in Greensboro, percent of registered voters in Guilford characterized his candidacy as a chalCounty go to the polls, with an open lenge to the status quo. Republican primary for US Senate “I look forward to working together driving turnout. This year is the first with the community to solve the probeven-year election in North Carolina lems facing the people of this great since 2006 when there hasn’t been a county, and ensuring a positive change marquee statewide race at the top of the for all citizens of Guilford County,” Rogballot such as president, governor or US ers said. senator. Rogers faces Republican BJ Barnes in While overall turnout was down this the November general election. Barnes, year, the proportion of voters in Guilford who has held the office of sheriff for alCounty choosing the Democratic ballot most 24 years, overwhelmingly defeated in early and mail-in voting compared challenger Steve Parr, a former deputy, to Republican voters increased to 76.8 in the Republican primary, commanding percent, from 62.5 percent in 2014. 87.6 percent of the vote. Republican voters in Guilford County Incumbents from both parties easily
DD Adams wins Democratic primary in 5th, faces GOP’s Foxx by Lauren Barber and Jordan Green
Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles
I guess it’s because of the voter turnout,” she said. “I think people are more engaged than they have been in the primaries in the recent past, so that’s good to see.” In the Republican primary for the county commission’s one at-large seat, Buddy Collins easily defeated Jimmie Boyd. Collins, a former Winston-Salem/ Forsyth County School Board member who went on to serve on the NC Board of Education, won exactly two thirds of the vote against Boyd, a far-right militia activist who spent much of the runup to the primary organizing a national militia gathering near Pilot Mountain. Collins will face Democratic incumbent Ted Kaplan in the November general election. In the Democratic primary for Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School Board District 1, Barbara Hanes Burke and Malishai Woodbury won the two open seats in the district. A change in leadership was guaranteed, with incumbents Victor Johnson Jr. and Deanna Taylor announcing they would not seek re-election. Burke, an assistant principal at Carver High School, and Woodbury, an equity trainer for neighboring Guilford County Schools, respectively garnered 33.0 percent and 24.3 percent of the vote. Three other candidates — Alex Bohannon, Chenita Barber Johnson and Eunice Campbell — fell short. As with the District A race for county commission, the Democratic primary in District 1 is final considering no Republicans filed. In the suburban-rural school board District 2, five candidates vied for four seats in the Republican primary. Incumbents Lori Goins Clark, Lida Calvert Hayes and Dana Caudill Jones took the top three positions in that order. Challenger Leah Crowley narrowly edged out incumbent David Singletary by 51 votes. The four Republican nominees will vie for the four seats with two Democratic candidates — Rebecca Nussbaum and Marilyn Baker — in the general election. In the Republican primary for sheriff, Bill Schatzman, who has held the office since 2002, walloped challenger Ernie Leyba by a vote count of roughly 4 to 1. Schatzman will face Democrat Bobby Kimbrough in the general election. A retired DEA agent, Kimbrough won his race by a commanding majority, with 69.6 percent against opponents Tim Wooten and Clif Kilby.
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challengers Dillon Gentry and Cortland J. Meader Jr. Robin Leonard, a 60-year-old Republican voter at the Griffith Firehouse polling place, was typical of Foxx’s loyal base. “She’s really been there for me, right on it every few weeks letting me know what’s going on,” said Leonard, who credits Foxx for her support of people with disabilities. “She was real caring about the situation. People who work in her office kept sending me stuff letting me know what’s been going on, and I’m sure she checks on it, and she was absolutely great.” In state Senate District 31, Joyce Krawiec prevailed over Dan Barrett in the Republican primary. The race uniquely pitted two incumbents, who were drawn into the same district, against each other. The two candidates carried their respective home counties by roughly the same proportions, with Krawiec taking 66.9 percent of the vote in Forsyth and Barrett earning 71.9 percent in Davie. But the larger electorate in Forsyth worked in Krawiec’s favor, giving her 48.6 percent of the vote, to 46.9 by Barrett. A third candidate, Peter Antinozzi, took the remaining 4.5 percent. Krawiec will face Democratic challenger John Motsinger Jr. in the November general election. The Democratic primary in Forsyth County Commission District A, a two-seat district covering the majority of Winston-Salem, saw the ouster of incumbent Everette Witherspoon. Tonya McDaniel, a former campaign manager for the late political powerhouse Earline Parmon, was the top vote-getter with 3,328 votes in the four-way contest for the two seats. Fleming El-Amin, who was appointed last year to fill the unexpired term of the late Walter Marshall, secured the second seat, with 3,057 votes. With 2,906 votes, Witherspoon fell 151 votes short of the number needed to hold onto his seat. With only 11.5 percent of registered voters in Forsyth going to the polls, the narrow margin was reversal of the 2010 election, when Witherspoon won his seat by defeating a previous incumbent by only 113 votes. A fourth candidate, Tony L. Burton III, took 2,801 votes. Greeting voters at the Brown Douglas Recreation Center polling place in Winston-Salem, McDaniel sensed victory. “I feel so very confident today and
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DD Adams, a member of Winston-Salem City Council, nailed down a decisive win in a tough contest against teacher Jenny Marshall to earn the Democratic nomination in the 5th Congressional District, while Everette Witherspoon lost his seat on the Forsyth County Commission in a close Democratic primary. Adams faces an uphill battle in her bid to defeat Republican incumbent Virginia Foxx, a 7-term incumbent who has previously served in the Republican leadership in the US House. Foxx has raised $1.5 million in this election cycle, with $3.0 million in hand going into the general election. In contrast, Adams raised $136,075 and spent $131,495 to win her primary, leaving only $4,580 for her impending fight with Foxx. “I understand the dynamics of the real world,” Adams said while celebrating her primary victory at Vintage Sofa Bar in Winston-Salem. “I understand I live in a Trump state and a Trump district, but I believe and… it’s going to take all of us believing. At first, when I would tell people I was gonna run, they said, ‘You can’t win.’ But where would we be as a country, as a world if there were not some of us that believed and hoped and dreamed?” Adams carried 54.4 percent of the vote, compared to 45.6 percent by Marshall. Although both Democratic candidates live in Winston-Salem, the primary results revealed an urban-rural split. Adams carried Democratic-leaning and urban Forsyth County with 63.4 percent of the vote. But Marshall carried all 10 remaining rural counties, and by wide margins, ranging from 5.6 points in Watauga, home to Appalachian State University, to 46.1 percent in Surry County. “We’ll see the numbers, but black women turned out,” Adams said. “We carried that water, baby. African-American women carry the water and I gotta believe and hope the numbers will bear that out. We carried the water for voting rights, children’s rights, labor, education, women’s rights, everything. We do what we need to do because that’s how we were raised, to hold up our communities.” Foxx overwhelmed both of her Republican challengers, who ran somewhat to the left of her. She took 80.8 percent of the vote, with the rest split between
May 10 - 16, 2018
won primaries in two state House races in Guilford County. Jon Hardister, who serves as majority whip, won the Republican primary in House District 59 with 68.9 percent of the vote. Mark McDaniel, a former state senator who ran a pointed campaign attacking Hardister over expansion of the state sales tax, garnered only 25.9 percent of the vote. A third candidate, Karen C. Albright, polled at 5.3 percent. Hardister faces Democratic challenger Steven Buccini in the November general election. In neighboring House District 58, Amos Quick, who serves as the Democratic freshman vice-chair, won his primary with 80.2 percent of the vote against challenger Kate Flippen. Quick faces Republican challenger Peter Boykin, founder of Gays for Trump, in the general election. Incumbents also prevailed in Guilford County Commission races. Alan Perdue, who represents District 2 in High Point and southern Guilford County, defeated challenger Ashley Tillery 67.9 percent to 32.1 percent in a Republican primary. Skip Alston, the longest serving member of the Guilford County Commission, won the Democratic primary for District 8 against challenger Fahiym Hanna, 70.4 percent to 29.6 percent. Alston said he wants to build a safety net at the county level to offset the loss of support from the federal government under President Trump. In the Guilford County School Board at-large race, incumbent Alan Duncan won 49.6 percent of the vote against challengers Tijuana Hayes, with 35.6 percent of the vote, and Keith McInnis Sr., with 14.8 percent. Duncan has served on the school board since 2000 and has chaired the board since 2002. Incumbents Deena Hayes, a Democrat, and Linda Welborn, a Republican, also won their respective primaries. Hayes, who serves as vice-chair on the board and has held her seat since 2002, won 70.0 percent of the vote in the District 8 Democratic primary, with challengers BJ Levette and Laverne Carter splitting the remainder. Welborn defeated challenger Will Marsh, 62.8 percent to 37.2 percent, in the District 4 Republican primary. District 4 also hosted a Democratic primary, with Adrienne Spinner going down in defeat to Desirée Best, who will face Welborn in the general election. In the District 6 Democratic primary, Khem Irby defeated Chris Hocker and will face Republican incumbent Wes Cashwell in the general election.
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May 10 - 16, 2018
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EDITORIAL
The myth and reality of political participation Here in the newsroom, we talk about elections all
year long. We started handicapping this week’s primary election months ago, before filing had even begun: picking out contested races, identifying likely candidates, sorting through the redistricting mess. We know it’s not like that out in the world. Politics has its seasons for the regular folk — truthfully, the ones for whom we do all this preparation and research — and we understand that primaries will never get the attention that a general election will muster, no matter how much we stress their importance. In this week’s election, Guilford County chose a new district attorney, Avery Crump, a former judge who bested her fellow Democrat Stephanie Reese by about 7 points, or 2,000 votes. And while it’s remarkable that Guilford County has a black, female district attorney taking office in January — a pretty big deal — we can still be outraged that fewer than 18,000 people in a county of half When it came time a million chose the top for action, almost 90 prosecutor. percent of the people The DA election who have signed was settled on Tuesday up to participate in because no Republican these things decided filed to run. Democrats in Forsyth County Comto stay home. mission District A turned out Everette Witherspoon on a margin of only 131 votes. And while it was already a given that the school board will have two new members from District 1, Democratic voters selected them in this primary. Even more races that won’t matter in the fall because of our gerrymandered districts. Our electoral system in North Carolina is not quite a farce, but it’s pretty close. Just 11.3 percent of the electorate voted in Guilford County, 41,244 ballots cast out of 365,351 registered voters. Forsyth, with 11.5 percent of the electorate participating this week, didn’t fare much better. Both counties dragged down statewide participation in the primary, clocked at 14.25 percent. We need to do better. Reminder: This is a midterm election, the one chance that regular folks have to check in with the wheels of government and voice their approval or support. Never has our country been so politically polarized, seen such passion on either side of the aisle. It’s all anybody talks about these days. But when it came time for action, almost 90 percent of the people who have signed up to participate in these things decided to stay home. We’ll get one more chance in November to keep up our end of the deal — at least, in those races that have not already been determined.
CITIZEN GREEN
‘No teacher is walking out on your children’
I had already penciled in next Wednesday for childcare. And Monday a press release confirmed that Guilford County Schools — joining Wake, CharlotteMecklenburg, Durham and Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools — will close schools systemwide on May 16 in by Jordan Green response to almost 2,000 out of 4,800 teachers planning to take a personal day to lobby the General Assembly in Raleigh. It’s okay. I have a flexible job that allows me to offset lost worktime during business hours by playing catch-up on the evenings and weekends, and if need be I can bring my 4-year-old into the office. It wasn’t always that way. When we started Triad City Beat four years ago and I was putting in 60-hour weeks to help get the paper off the ground, a snow day would throw me into turmoil. Thankfully, my workload has lightened considerably since then. At risk of sounding like a public-education partisan, it doesn’t seem like that much of a sacrifice. A candidate for state House in Forsyth County said something six years ago that has stuck with me: If you’re sitting in the drive-in at McDonald’s, you should want the person preparing your Big Mac to be having a good day. If that’s how much you care about your fast-food meal, then you really should be concerned about whether the person teaching your child has what they need to do their job. Britney Dennis, a third-grade teacher at Irving Park Elementary, acknowledged the inconvenience of the teachers’ action during a press conference in front of Smith High School on Monday. “No teacher is walking out on your children,” she said. “We are rallying for your children, and demanding accountability from state leaders. As a mother, I get that there are probably moments you disagree with us teachers. Please understand that on the worst of days, we have the best intentions when it comes to the students. “My experience teaching around this county has revealed disparities that are [preventing] kids from being successful: the crumbling buildings, the lack of emotional and physical support for staff, students and parents is becoming unbearable,” Dennis continued. “Parents: We cannot do this alone. And most of you are aware because you are helping fund our classrooms. You are buying pencil sharpeners, glue sticks, color copy paper, Clorox wipes, and the list could go on as long as this sidewalk. Stand with us and stop allowing state lawmakers to cut funding for nurses, and fund nurses in every building every day. Stop forcing teachers to fund medicine three days a week while nurses serve four schools at a time. Stand with us and stop supporting lawmakers that say mental illness is a school safety concern, but cut funding for counselors.” Guilford County teachers, joined by NC Association of Educators President Mark Jewell, outlined five objectives to be delivered when thousands of North Carolina teachers address lawmakers on the first day of the session on May 16: additional investment in per-pupil spending; a multiyear compensation plan for educators, support profession-
Bridgett Wiley speaks at a press conference on Monday.
JORDAN GREEN
als and administrators, with an emphasis on maintaining competitive pay for senior employees and those with advanced degrees; increased funding for nurses, counselors and social workers coupled with Medicaid expansion; a statewide school construction bond; and halting corporate tax cuts. North Carolina ranks 39th in teacher pay and 41st in perpupil spending, according to latest analysis by the National Education Association in April. “As a teacher I work a full-time summer job just to make ends meet,” said Bridgett Wiley, a social studies teacher at Smith High School. “I hold a master’s degree, and most of my friends say, ‘Why do you still teach?’ If not me, then who? I don’t mind coming to work, but I would like to at the end of the month pay my bills, and in the summertime get more professional development to be a first-rate teacher.” When North Carolina’s poor teacher-pay ranking is raised, conservative lawmakers, pundits and policy analysts typically respond that payroll income goes further here considering the state’s low cost of living, but Wiley told me that five of her fellow teachers have relocated to other states, including two who are now teaching in Houston. Even with a significantly higher cost of living, Wiley said her friends are finding that it’s easier to make ends meet. To say that teachers have felt disrespected since Republicans took control of the General Assembly in 2010 would be an understatement. “This is a textbook abusive relationship,” Guilford County Association of Educators President Todd Warren said. “In order to get something that we need — public education that is a human right — we’re forced to accept things that are bad for us: crumbling infrastructure, lack of supplies, teachers having to buy supplies out of their own pocket. But despite this, we make it happen every day.” Thanks to the example of their colleagues in West Virginia, Kentucky, Arizona and Oklahoma, North Carolina teachers are feeling a new sense of power. “Before we’re done, they’re gonna wish they had never messed with public education,” Warren warned. “You’re going to see people in positions of power scrambling to stand on the side of public education because it’s what’s right.”
CULTURE Camaraderie at the Cobblestone Farmer’s Market
May 10 - 16, 2018
by Spencer KM Brown
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Up Front
hey come in caravans like a carnival along the old brick and cobblestoned roads in the cool mist of a May morning. Bearing their best variety of vegetables plucked from the earth and cuts of poultry, beef and pork who shared the same earth. Tents pop into shape and signs swing in the breeze. The crowds come early, walking among the vendors’ tables, getting a first look at what the spring brought forth. Lines form in front of tables colored in leafy greens, wild mushrooms and fresh flowers. Across the rows of tents, applause and cheering breaks as the clock bell tolls 9 a.m. and the market begins.
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Beyond the food, there is a certain communal consciousness and camaraderie. Customers and vendors alike take part in true stewardship of the land, dedicated to clean, responsible practices and humane animal care.
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From the first breath of April to the end of November, the gardens at the corner of West and Salt streets at historic Old Salem fill with customers from across the Triad. And although dozens of supermarkets are scattered across the city, it is clear that the Cobblestone Market offers something of greater value. As shoppers taste, smell and select the items that catch their eye, farmers stand across the tables, closing the gap between buyer and grower. Any and all questions of where fruits and vegetables and meats came from, how they were grown and even the farmers’ techniques
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SPENCER KM BROWN
for cooking and growing, can be answered on the spot. and chicken of the woods, the mushrooms are foraged and Since launching in 2011, the Cobblestone Market has exbrought immediately to market. panded its access beyond the task of bringing the freshest orOn the carnivorous side, Meadows Family Farm — located ganic and responsibly grown produce and meats to the public. on a self-sustaining farm that stretches between Guilford and Cobblestone sustains an ever-increasing ease for customers, Moore counties — offers free-range, grass-fed beef and cageaccepting payment through government assistance programs free pork and chicken. like SNAP in order to help improve food access across the Before even an hour into the market, hundreds of shoppers community. They offer recipes and weekly menus for customroam from tent to tent, and lines formed 10, 20 people deep ers, informing them how to cook with to purchase limited quantities of prothe seasons in order to make use of duce or meats before they’re gone. what is currently growing. Over 50 Cobblestone Market sits in the Visit cobblestonefarmersmarket. vendors and farms, from the heart same location as the gardens Moracom to find more information on of the Triad to southern Virginia, vians planted more than 250 years producers and upcoming dates. now participate in the market each ago. It is the same fertile ground that weekend. fed generations of families, ground Beyond the food, there is a certain where a community continues to find communal consciousness and camasustenance. raderie. Customers and vendors alike take part in true stewIn less than three hours, the length the market runs on Satardship of the land, dedicated to creating clean, responsible urdays, dozens of growers are sold out of their produce. Shoppractices in the growing process, as well as ensuring humane pers walked back to their cars with arms loaded down with care and raising of animals. bags of vegetables. And as the last items were sold, tents were Cobblestone brings access to producers who grow and broken down and folded up as growers loaded up what might sell items that can rarely be found in supermarkets. Among be left over, and returned back to their farms and greenhouses these producers are Borrowed Land Farms and Fungus Lab, to continue their sowing. a family-operated mushroom farm located on the foothills of Pilot Mountain. From oyster, lion’s mane, pioppino and chestnut mushrooms to wild grown shiitake, hen of the woods
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Leafy greens and root vegetables abound.
SPENCER KM BROWN
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CULTURE David Brewer stretches the Possum Jenkins musical family
by Jordan Green
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he early Wednesday evening show at Southside, a beer garden in Winston-Salem’s Washington Park neighborhood, started as a residency for David Brewer, ringmaster of the western North Carolina roots music scene by virtue of his role as participant in numerous acts, festival director, booking agent and sometime bartender. While Brewer has carte blanche to do whatever he wants with the first Wednesday of every month at the Southside Beer Garden & Bottle Shop, on this particular Wednesday in May the show defaults to a concert by Possum Jenkins, Brewer’s flagship project and the anchor for an extended musical family that includes Wurlitzer Prize and Greensboro singer-songwriter Molly McGinn. Breaking with usual practice, they’re foregoing a setlist. If the show has the feel of an informal jam session, that’s partially by design: Brewer has the notion that they’ll try out some new material and break out solo sets with the band’s three songwriters as a kind of rehearsal for an upcoming date in Elkin that will be billed as the “Carolina Ramble Revue.” With full sunlight shining through a raised garage door and a view of tidy, lower-middle class bungalows lining South Broad Street behind them, the band works through a handful of tunes. Their originals, like the rollicking boogie “Magdeline” from the 2012 album Carolinacana, are good enough and their covers are performed with such a distinctive style that they feel like they’re cut from the same fabric. Dave Willis’ laconic and loose reading of the blues standard “Sitting on Top of the World” suggests Merle Haggard, while Brewer transforms the 1980 Nashville hit “Lesson in Leavin’” into an alt-country burner with dirt under its fingernails. After about 30 minutes, Brewer tells his bandmates: “Y’all take five,” and straps on an acoustic guitar. As Brewer shifts into a more introspective and soul-baring mode, his four bandmates step outside and light up smokes, sharing the bar’s front yard with a patron pitching cornhole. When Brewer strikes up a familiar tune, Brent Buckner takes notice and leans through the open window to blow some harp as accompaniment. When the full band regroups around 8 p.m. and dusk descends, the bartender activates a disco ball. For a brief stretch,
the floor fills with dancers — a couple expertly executing spins, a young boy jubilantly bouncing in tow with his mama and a host of others flinging their arms out in declarations of joy. The three songwriters each bring a different sensibility to band’s signature backwoods stew of country boogie, blues and gospel, with Brewer playing the genial convener and soul channeler, Willis as the laconic blues interpreter and Nathan Turner JORDAN GREEN David Brewer, ringmaster of the western North Carolina roots-music scene, comes down as the plainsong from the mountain to play Southside in Winston-Salem. belter. All three are able guitarTonight at the Southside in Winston-Salem, or really any ists, and they all rotate through drum duties. Bass player Jared night that Brewer and his cohorts are playing live music for an Church, who contributes an unshakable low end, and Brent audience, it doesn’t matter that much whether they’re perBuckner, whose raw sheets of harmonica carry the high regisforming one of their fine originals, like Willis’ “Kitchen Table,” ter, provide the alloy that prevents the band from being just a or a cover song like Whiskeytown’s 1995 alt-country staple “If collection of solo acts. He Can’t Have You.” The informal family-style spirit carries through the evening, The songs burrow into a collective muscle memory through with Buckner periodically stepping out of lineup mid-song to repetition. embrace old friends in the audience. “We could easily play whole shows of only original mateBrewer’s between-song patter pings between showbiz rial; certainly we do at times like to put greater emphasis on formalities — introducing Turner: our own songs,” Brewer says in an “Please give him a round of applause, interview. “But when you are a bar ladies and gentlemen. Make him feel band you have to fill the hours, and Possum Jenkins performs at Craft good” — and idle chatter — he asks sometimes you have to play stuff City Sip-In, located at 2130 New audience members if they remember people know. But we fail terribly at a particularly inspired and loud Alvin Garden Road in Greensboro, on that because most of the covers we “Youngblood” Hart show at the nowplay are not well known. It’s not that Friday at 7:30 p.m. defunct Rubber Soul; they do. At one Alejandro Escovedo and Taj Mahal are point Brewer calls out from behind not well known; they have not had the drum set to venue owner Josh smash hits. We just love the tunes. Ball, who’s seated at the end of the bar: “I need to talk to you You get together with your pals and play the tunes that you about Jerry Garcia’s birthday in July.” love. A livelihood as a musician for Brewer means playing in “That’s the concept of folk music,” Brewer adds. “That’s about 10 bands. In addition to Possum, they include Dave how music passed from group to band, and generation to genBrewer’s Foscoe Four, the Worthless Son-in-Laws, Soul Beneeration. I’m sure there have been many proud musicians, but factor, the King Bees, the Junaluska Gospel Choir and Telco, music wouldn’t get passed along if they refused to play other along with a Grateful Dead project called Dead of Winter people’s stuff.” and backing an artist named Earline. He books music for the At the Southside on Wednesday night, 10 o’clock is quitting Blowing Rock Draught House & Brewery in Hickory and the time for the band. Boone Saloon, as well as tending bar three nights a week at “Here’s one to send you into the second half of the week the latter establishment. Brewer serves as director for the anwith a smile on your face and a song in your heart,” Brewer nual Carolina Ramble and Reunion outside of Boone. And he says. runs a nonprofit called the Boone Amen Corner that provides He pauses, and one of his bandmates cracks, “What song is assistance to musicians in need. that?”
CULTURE Sin, death and madness in Hawboro
May 10 - 16, 2018
by Lauren Barber
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Opinion
(From left) Stanton Nash, Madeline Fox and Patrick Ball (l-r) star in Preston Lane’s latest play, a salacious thriller set in the fictional North Carolina town of Hawboro.
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from the stage displayed on the screens is often overlaid Hawboro as Everytown, USA, particularly given her memory of with either consistent imagery — such as a photograph of the times past. At present, her once idyllic (or presently romantiKings’ humble home and, later, disturbing black-and-white cized) hometown is dank with the putrid stench of hopelessmontages featuring cast members’ menacing faces and storm ness, a testament to the toxicity of stagnancy and an example imagery. Guerilla-style shooting cues associations with “trash” of how people’s idleness can combust into rage. television reality shows a la “Cops.” “There is something so important about telling the stories In the midst of symbols and of our region,” Lane, also the motifs layered thicker than raw founding artistic director of honey, Lane leaves ample room Triad Stage, says. The Passion of Teresa Rae King runs for the audience to project onto Lane is of “old Appalachian through May 20. Learn more at the characters in his salacious stock,” as he puts it, and grew thriller, particularly in the case up in the mountains near triadstage.org of Teresa Rae King, who remains Boone. utterly silent throughout the “Hawboro’s not Greensfirst third of the performance, boro, but it’s like towns shuffling about her mother-in-law’s hair salon or making lemaround here,” he said. “It’s the stories of who we are and some onade from fresh lemons. She’s a vision of the all-American of those are very political, some not. [In these plays,] there’s girl next door: blonde, thin, but with a dark twist. Her first constant reference to the history of Hawboro and a building utterance is a declaration of her willingness to kill another up of the families in it so that we recognize that world in ways person if necessary, in response to Levon Lankford, a buff that we can then use the theater to think about our own lives ex-con who just got back to town. He serves as a stark foil to and our own communities in new ways.” Teresa Rae’s husband, Carter King, a man grossly stunted in That is what is powerful about Teresa Rae. It’s not about perpetual boyhood. He’s wholly dependent upon his wife and moralizing or substance abuse, religion or politics — it’s about mother, Mamie, whose down-home Southern turns of phrase us, and our animal natures lurking just below the surface. are more responsible for the play’s strong sense of place than any scenery. Perhaps more than any other character, she relays
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Patrick Ball, Stanton Nash & Madeline Fox
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or six days, they made forbidden love in cut-rate hotels, a Gideon bible in each bedside drawer, but on the seventh they went down to the river and there consummated their rapid descent into madness. Such is the fate of the titular character and her clandestine amour in The Passion of Teresa Rae King, which debuted at Triad Stage last weekend and runs through May 20. Local playwright and director Preston Lane debuted his latest work in a long-running, non-linear series set in Hawboro, a fictional small town in North Carolina where a prison provides jobs now that industry skipped town and misogyny hangs heavy in the air like humidity before a frightful summer rainstorm. Fourth wall-breaking narration from detective Suzanne Oliver, played by Sarah Hankins, provides new audiences with the ins-and-outs of Hawboro’s geography and pieces together a murder mystery all too close to home. From the jump, an onstage production crew donning khaki, dark polos and baseball caps and equipped with giant studio-grade cameras circle around Oliver. Teresa Rae wouldn’t be the uniquely engaging experience it is without inventive and daring production aspects. The Triad Stage crew built a pool simulating a riverbed into the stage’s skeleton and blunt shifts in lighting cultivate a curious fusion of high art and pulp fiction. Three massive screens revealing different angles of action loom above the stage in a U-shape so that all audience members experience technically unique perspectives. Live-action footage
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60 “Sopranos” actress ___ de Matteo 61 Samurai without a master 62 “Monster” that’s really a lizard 63 Fish sometimes eaten by raccoons 64 Special vocabulary 65 Fix, at the vet’s office 66 Turns into compost
Answers from previous publication.
50 “What hump?” speaker of film 51 Designer Vera 52 They’re often sold in sixes or twelves 53 Be klutzy 54 Greeting in Guatemala 55 Cookie that rolled out a Kettle Corn flavor (up for voting) in 2018 56 Hanukkah candy 57 Talk back to 58 Constellation called “the Altar”
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Down 1 Commedia dell’___ 2 Boots’s cartoon friend 3 Active person 4 Coif expert 5 Uses a mister 6 Dog park noise 7 Jackie, on “Roseanne” 8 Cheese in a wheel 9 Recoil in distaste ©2018 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com) 10 Psilocybin, slangily 11 Semistable subatomic particle 30 Govt. investment 12 Part of A.D. 31 Giraffe’s relative 13 “Duck Hunt” platform 32 #37 21 Fashion designer Saint-Laurent 33 “On a scale of ___ ten ...” 22 Amy Winehouse song 38 Inexperienced with 25 Garment fold 41 Sign for October 23-November 21 26 Obstacle 43 Parliamentary votes 27 Get ___ start 44 Meager 28 City northwest of Orlando 46 Familiarize with new surroundings 29 Completely messed up, in military slang 47 Flexibility
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Across 1 Puts two and two together 5 Clean the deck 9 Filibuster-airing channel 14 Cheer 15 Serve tea 16 River past Liechtenstein 17 “South Park” co-creator Parker 18 Rice-A-___ 19 Oscar winner Jeremy 20 Subsequent to a sin? 23 Dartmouth or Brown, e.g. 24 “I” focus? 25 Kissing disease’s progression? 34 Lively tunes 35 Where the mojito supposedly originated 36 Pudding layer 37 In-flight announcement, for short 38 Powerful person 39 Fireman’s tool 40 Doesn’t just sit there 42 Zest 43 In ___ (stuck) 45 Scaredy-typesetting machine? 48 Singer Rita born in what’s now Kosovo 49 Wide shoe size 50 British romance novelist’s boast? 58 Awestruck 59 Intensify
May 10 - 16, 2018
CROSSWORD “Flip the On Switch”--turn on, tune in.
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Answers from previous publication.
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