TCB July 27, 2023 — Sift

CITY LIFE

THURSDAY JULY 27

Living in the Ordinary World @ GreenHill Center for NC Art (GSO) 12 p.m. This exhibit featuring photographs by John Rosenthal includes vintage and silver prints of ordinary things like ocean waves crashing on shorelines and French facades.

by MICHAELA RATLIFF

the Mississippi River. For more information, visit stainedglassplayhouse.org/big-river

SATURDAY JULY 29

Edible Playdough @ High Point Museum (HP) 10 a.m.

High Point Museum is hosting an event for youngsters to eat the toy they play with and create edible playdough in the little red schoolhouse. Free.

JULY 27 - 31

SUNDAY JULY 30

Christmas In July Shopping Extravaganza @ Benton Convention Center (W-S) 10 a.m.

Enjoy two days of shopping with 100 vendors, a boba tea bar and more. Visit the event page on Facebook for more information.

DIY Decor & Furniture Painting Class

Pressing Strings @ Stock + Grain Assembly (HP) 7 p.m.

Pressing Strings performs a mélange of indie, funk and soul inspired by greats like Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Led Zeppelin and more. Purchase tickets at stockandgrainhp.com

FRIDAY JULY 28

Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn @ Stained Glass Playhouse (W-S) 8 p.m.

Stained Glass Playhouse invites you to see Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, presented by arrangement with Concord Theatrical. The play follows Huckleberry Finn as he escapes his violent father, who is after his trust fund. Along the way, he meets Jim, a runaway slave looking for his wife and children in the north. Together, the two seek freedom as they ride a raft down

2023 AFA BMX Flatland Contest @ The Ramkat (W-S) 11 a.m.

The top riders from the US and Canada will show off their bikes during a BMX flatland contest at the Ramkat. Grab a bite from Flatland Burgers as you spectate, then head to the Gas Hill Drinking Room to meet the contestants. Visit the event page on Facebook for more information.

@ The Barn on Country Club (W-S) 1 p.m.

Revamp your outdated furniture and decor during this $25 painting class full of step-by-step instructions. Call 336.661.8400 or stop by the store to pay and reserve your spot.

MONDAY JULY 31

Watermelon Social @ Evergreens

Lifestyle Center (GSO) 2 p.m.

A Night of Soul with The SongBird Raven @ Carolina Theatre (GSO) 8 p.m.

The SongBird Raven will fill the Crown at Carolina with original songs inspired by old school soul and R&B. Purchase tickets at carolinatheatre.com

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Evergreens Lifestyle Center is hosting a watermelon social for seniors age 55 and up to enjoy fresh watermelon, trivia and a watermelon art project and to ask questions about the facility’s new fitness center and upcoming Arthritis Foundation class. More information at senior-resources-guilford.org

Find more events and add your own to our calendar at triad-city-beat.com/local-events

TCBTix is the local ticketing platform created exclusively for Triad-area community events. It’s free, easy to use, and fully customizable with all-access ticketing features to meet your event’s unique needs.

For more information, scan the QR code or email chris@triad-city-beat.com.

BUSINESS

PUBLISHER/EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Brian Clarey brian@triad-city-beat.com

PUBLISHER EMERITUS

Allen Broach allen@triad-city-beat.com

OF COUNSEL

Jonathan Jones

EDITORIAL

MANAGING EDITOR

Sayaka Matsuoka sayaka@triad-city-beat.com

CITYBEAT REPORTER

Gale Melcher gale@triad-city-beat.com

On giving thanks and growing up

oday, I went to Donut World and got myself a maple doughnut because it’s my birthday and I can consume sugary, indulgent treats if I want to. (Note: You can actually eat whatever the fuck you want whenever you want because it’s your body, but you get what I mean.)

Today, I turned 31.

And turning 31, as Brian so often likes to say, isn’t the same as turning 30. Because once you hit 31, you’re in it. There’s no pretending you’re in your twenties anymore.

But I’ve come to terms with it.

I wasn’t that stoked about my birthday this year. I mean, who gets excited about turning 31?

But the more I thought about it, it’s actually kind of incredible. Sublime! (Any Barbie-viewers here?)

Because me turning 31 isn’t just about me.

Tways holding me up and holding me down. I couldn’t do it without you.

Thank you to my adopted family who gives me unconditional, empathetic love that is so blinding at times that I don’t know what I did to deserve it.

Thank you to my sister who always lends a listening ear and will eat 20 plates of sushi with me at the drop of a hat.

Thank you to my best friends who are always down to hang, who listen to my stupid stories, who call me out on my bullshit and who will still do sleepovers even though we’re grown.

Thank you to Brian, without whom I wouldn’t have grown so much in this crazy business. And of course, everyone who contributes to TCB. I’m honored to work amongst you.

1451 S. Elm-Eugene St. Box 24, Greensboro, NC 27406 Office: 336.681.0704

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Chris Rudd chris@triad-city-beat.com

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Noah Kirby noah@triad-city-beat.com

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Carolyn de Berry, John Cole, Owens Daniels, James Douglas, Michelle Everette, Luis H. Garay, Destiniee Jaram, Kaitlynn

Havens, Jordan Howse, Matt

Jones, Autumn Karen, Michaela Ratliff, Jen Sorensen, Todd Turner

TCB IN A FLASH @ triad-city-beat.com

First copy is free, all additional copies are $1. ©2022 Beat Media Inc.

WEBMASTER

Sam LeBlanc

ART

ART DIRECTOR

Aiden Siobhan aiden@triad-city-beat.com

COVER:

Poster design for Sift’s last concert. [courtesy image]

Design by Aiden Siobhan

It’s about the many people who have helped me along the way to get to 31 trips around the sun.

I’ll start with the obvious.

Thank you to my parents who continue to support me, even when I’m being a brat and don’t always realize the rays of their never wavering sunlight. Being your daughter is my pride and joy.

Thank you to Sam, my husband, my partner, my best friend, for al-

And thank you to all of you who read this column and our stories every week. Sometimes, it feels like I’m still writing in a journal that gets tucked away on a shelf, never to be read until I unearth it and cringe at my writing decades later. But from the multiple emails and messages I’ve gotten in the last week, I know that you’re there. (Special thanks to the man outside of Chicken Salad Chick who asked me how I was doing earlier this week. You’re awesome.)

And lastly, I’m gonna thank myself because I’m still here, and that’s enough of a reason to celebrate.

Now for the all-you-can-eat sushi!

Me turning 31 isn’t just about me.

by Sayaka Matsuoka

OF THE WEEK

He never rested.... Any moment that he wasn’t at his job he was writing music, he was playing guitar.

Rebecca Tognacci, pg. 9

“ “

City of W-S requests walkability audits for Reynoldstown and Slater Park

by Gale Melcher

On a baking July afternoon, Maurice Sherard sits outside his home in the 90-degree weather, watching as cars and passersby float down the street. Sherard lives in the Winston-Salem neighborhood known as Reynoldstown.

Houses sit close together and have limited parking space. The slim roads leave little room for street parking, so cars are often parked over the curb and onto the sidewalks in order to leave room for drivers. Many of the sidewalks are narrow, uneven and overgrown with weeds. Not much space is left for garbage bins, which also sometimes obstruct the paths. Some sidewalks are less shaded than others; crosswalks are a rare sight in the area.

For the retired and elderly population like Sherard, it’s not so easy to get around.

That’s why the East Ward’s council member Annette Scippio has requested staff assistance in conducting walking audits within the Reynoldstown and Slater Park neighborhoods to increase pedestrian access in the areas. The information item was on the consent agenda during a June 13 meeting of the Public Works Committee.

Scippio has targeted the month of October for the two proposed walking audits.

At the end of the audit, each neighborhood will have a report that lists deficiencies that need to be addressed in order to improve walkability. The reports will be used by staff to address maintenance and repair needs. According to city documents, it’s likely that the amount of the city’s Department of Transportation staff time needed would only be 2-3 hours per neighborhood.

What is a walkability audit?

The American Association for Retired Persons, or AARP, offers a toolkit that the city would use to evaluate the walkability of its neighborhoods. During an audit, walkability is evaluated by how safely pedestrians can travel along a street, navigate an intersection, get from one place to another and more. The toolkit allows volunteers from the neighborhoods to provide a block-by-block audit of issues that contribute to the walkability of the area.

According to the toolkit, audit activities can include counting cars that pass the location, counting pedestrians who walk along or cross the street, noting demographic characteristics of the pedestrians such as age and physical

ability, timing how long the traffic light stops vehicles so pedestrians can cross, or assessing why people are walking in the location — if they’re exercising, commuting, shopping, etc. Details to focus on include crossing signals, overhead traffic lights, turning lanes, curb cuts, crosswalks and vehicle stop lines, sidewalks and lighting. Residents like Sherard are also concerned about safety when walking at night.

“I wouldn’t be a woman and walking by myself, I’ll put it like that,” Sherard said, adding that he doesn’t feel comfortable walking at night either.

Sherard also notices the parking situation.

“Yeah, sometimes they do, sometimes they park like that.”

But Sherard doesn’t drive at all, he says.

“All these cars you see around here,” Sherard said, chuckling, “they don’t belong to me.”

The neighborhood is also bordered by New Walkertown Road, a thoroughfare with several lanes that has cars zipping left and right, flanked by thin sidewalks. Around the neighborhood, a convenience store sits at the corner of 12th Street and North Cameron Avenue. From there, it’s a half mile walk to a Food Lion and other resources such as a bank, pharmacy and more. It’s just a matter of getting there.

Between Gray Avenue and the intersection of North Cameron Avenue and 8th Street, overgrown weeds currently obstruct the sidewalk running along Mount Zion Place. There are also places where the sidewalk is bumpy — for example, on North Jackson Avenue. Heading east on 11th Street toward North Cameron Avenue, there’s a steep incline. For a pedestrian with a walker or a cane, these obstacles can pose a challenge. According to WalkScore. com, Winston-Salem’s average walkability score is 22, while Greensboro’s is 29. The neighborhood of Reynoldstown has a walkability score of 56 while downtown has a walkability score of 79 and sits approximately a mile and a half away.

Overgrown weeds and trash bins often obstruct sidewalks in East Ward neighborhoods. A walkability study could change that.

PHOTO BY GALE MELCHER

This piece is part of our CityBeat that covers Greensboro and Winston-Salem city council business, made possible by a grant from the NC Local News Lab Fund, available to republish for free by any news outlet who cares to use it. To learn how, visit triad-city-beat.com/republish.

A CityBeat story

Greensboro’s ‘Hopper’ transports riders back in time

by Gale Melcher

Hopping on the deep green and fiery burnt-orange rubber-tire trolleys, riders are transported to a different time, in addition to their destinations. Cheerful drivers wearing emerald vests welcome riders aboard the trolleys, the interior of which are decorated with old maps and pictures of the city’s downtown courtesy of the Greensboro History Museum. They’re equipped with handrails for balance and emerald plastic seats. Old-timey renderings instruct riders to be courteous to others by not smoking, not playing loud music, and not eating or drinking. It’s even got a vintage metallic smell.

Trolleys are now roaming the streets of downtown Greensboro, Thursdays through Saturdays from noon to midnight and Sundays from noon to 10 p.m.

During the kickoff celebration on July 20 outside the Tanger Center, city leaders applauded the newest addition to the Greensboro Transit Agency’s roster.

The free trolley service, named the “Hopper,” serves areas along Elm Street, from Union Square all the way up to Fisher Avenue and LoFi park area. Riders can hop on or hop off at 14 unique locations along the route, which winds past Broach Theater, the Civil Rights Museum, the Tanger Center, Center City Park and more. Trolleys arrive at stops every seven minutes.

Service animals are welcome aboard according to an event flyer.

City leaders and GTA staff posed in front of the trolleys and dedicated them by exploding confetti from fondly labeled “Hopper poppers.”

Mayor Nancy Vaughan told the crowd that she’s looking forward to seeing how the trolleys will be used and how many people will “learn things about

downtown that they didn’t know before.”

“I think it’ll be a good opportunity for us to market downtown and surrounding neighborhoods,” Vaughan said.

Council member Sharon Hightower shared some history on the streetcars that once roved city streets during the 19th and 20th centuries.

“The streetcars fueled the growth of the city beyond these original 90 blocks of what is now downtown,” she said. “Wherever the streetcar went, new development sprouted up.”

Now people can explore downtown in a similar fashion.

At-large council member Marikay Abuzuaiter is also looking forward to the potential that the trolley suggests.

“This is something that is going to bring attention to Greensboro, to downtown. It is going to make us special,” Abuzuaiter said, adding, “You can park down on one end of Greensboro, and if you want to go to dinner or you’re going to a show or something, then you can hop on the trolley and get there in just a few minutes and not have to worry about looking for parking places.”

The pilot program is being funded by $1 million in American Rescue Plan dollars allocated by city council as well as $90,000 from the 2019 participatory budgeting process — receiving $18,000 from each of the five districts. Members of the community voted on how a portion of the city’s budget would be spent and the trolley project received the highest number of votes during the process.

In previous council meetings Vaughan expressed concern about the cost of the trolleys and where the city will get the money to fund the service’s

A trolley bus driver poses for a photo on launch day.

PHOTO BY GALE MELCHER

This piece is part of our CityBeat that covers Greensboro and Winston-Salem city council business, made possible by a grant from the NC Local News Lab Fund, available to republish for free by any news outlet who cares to use it. To learn how, visit triad-city-beat.com/republish.

“I am concerned about the cost, I’m pleased that they’re willing to adjust the schedules to bring the cost down. I think a lot of that will depend on what the ridership looks like,” adding that while the project is a pilot program, she believes they’ll continue it beyond the end of the year.

“I think we’ll have to decide the future of this program based on the ridership because we don’t want a bunch of empty trolleys going around downtown.”

Things may change as time goes on, the city’s Senior Communications Specialist Amanda Lehmert said. Lehmert added that as they start tallying what stops people are going to and where they’re getting on and off, then they’ll be able to “adapt the route to add in things that are more useful” as they move forward.

The Hopper can help people who work downtown like Kenneth Crawford get to their workplace with ease.

“Instead of me having to walk to work, I actually can be put off in front of it,” Crawford noted delightedly.

FROM TO ALTERNATIVE ALTERNATE

EDITORIAL Twitter sucks now

Over the weekend, self-proclaimed genius Elon Musk dealt what might be the killing blow to Twitter, the useful, popular and effective platform he begrudgingly bought in October 2022 for $44 billion.

Since then he’s done his level best to run the thing into the ground: firing most of the staff, destroying the verification process, tweaking the algorithm to favor people who pay him $8 a month as opposed to actual entities and creators, force-feeding right-wing content — much of it extreme — to people he thinks need to see it, alienating high-dollar advertisers and squandering the institutional knowledge and cachet built up since Twitter launched in 2006.

These acts and others were anathema to anyone who knows anything about business, coding, human psychology and the internet itself. This week, he made it even worse.

On Sunday, he announced he would be changing Twitter’s name to X. Yes, X, the same name as his rocket-ship company, SpaceX. It’s also what PayPal was called when he was CEO there, which may have been the cause of his hasty exit in 2000

And while he’s burning Twitter —

sorry, X — to the ground, he’s also planning on embiggening the thing, but not in a way that anyone can explain.

From X’s CEO Linda Yaccarino, who has been on the job approximately seven weeks: “X is the future state of unlimited interactivity — centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking — creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities. Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine.”

If you’re having trouble figuring out what exactly that bit of word salad means, you’re not alone. It’s gibberish. Kendall Roy made almost the same pitch on the final season of “Succession,” except it was written as a joke.

It’s a real shame.

Over nearly two decades, Twitter established itself as the go-to place for breaking news, for networking with people in your profession, for unfiltered commentary from notaries in every field from music to politics to journalism.

Unlike Musk himself, Twitter — sorry, X — is not totally useless right now. But it’s headed that way fast as the people who made it interesting are headed to other spaces and the riff-raff take over.

Courtesy of NC Policy Watch

It’s a real shame.

Sift: 30 years of music, metal and remembrance

by Autumn Karen

Though everyone thought he had a year, it was only three weeks.

“He never told me why he wanted to call it Denouement,” Curt Meinhold says. “I never knew if it was because he knew he was dying.”

Meinhold is speaking of Justin Burmeister, the passionate lead guitarist and a core songwriter for the band Sift, who passed away suddenly from esophageal cancer in 2020. Brandeis-educated and constantly absorbed in his craft, he helped Sift form into a hard-charging underground East Coast band that transcended rock boundaries. Burmeister and Meinhold were bandmates in Sift for almost three decades.

Sift’s final album, Denouement, is set for release this fall. A documentary about the band of the same title by local filmmaker Tumaini Johnson is set for its first public exhibition in Greensboro on Aug. 19 at The Rockhouse.

Johnson came to the project after Curt responded to a Craigslist ad for his video services. At the time, pandemic and budget restrictions meant this couldn’t be a traditional documentary. A graduate of UNCG and owner of Ephex Media, Johnson took on the project to expand and grow as a filmmaker as well as to support Justin’s legacy as a fellow artist.

“We can do this,” he says of his first discussions with Meinhold. “We can rise to the challenge and tell this story in a unique way.”

Across a thousand miles, former band members like drummer Todd Berozsky, guitarist Kimon Greenland, and singers Deep Chinappa and Rebecca Tognacci gave Zoom interviews and proffered long buried footage of live performances and music videos. Meinhold and his wife Serena both appear, as well as several longtime friends of Burmeister and fans of Sift.

‘So creative’

The group evolved from its original iteration in the early ’90s as the four-member Speeny Bowl Wagon through various members and a change to the name Sift. Burmeister came in after Greenland left the band.

“Justin [Burmeister] was definitely the one,” says Beorzky in the documentary when speaking about Justin’s initial audition for the band. His addition would go on to shape both the way the band created and the way they performed.

“So creative,” shares Chinappa. “He was a terrific guitar player and he had this amazing ear.”

Over the course of the late 90’s and through the turn of the millennium, lead singers like Chinappa and gospel-grounded Godjivah added their distinct flavor to the group and brought in new audiences. Through highs and lows and across varied styles, Burmeister, Meinhold and Beorzky held tight to their vision of uncompromising creativity.

“He was incredibly hard working,” lead singer Tognacci remembers of Burmeister. “He never rested.... Any moment that he wasn’t at his job he was writing music, he was playing guitar.”

With Burmeister’s musicality and songwriting skills at the core of the group, the band recorded albums including Yellow, If There Was A God, The Desperate Hope and others through the mid-2000s. They played all over the Southeast and throughout New England, back to Burmeister’s native Ohio, and including the legendary CBGB in New York City. Though they continued

Justin Burmeister, who passed away from cancer in 2020, was known amongst his friends as a workaholic who was always creating music.

COURTESY PHOTO

to pursue their music, life pulled everyone apart; Burmeister landed in Jamestown with his wife Judy. After many years of making music from afar, Meinhold eventually moved to Greensboro, and Sift continued to evolve. Playing locally and recording, they were as committed to the music as ever.

Sift whittled down to the eventual duo of Burmeister and bassist Meinhold. Straddling Boston and Greensboro, the group’s focus on the music made them emphasize joy and self expression rather than the business side.

“If we do good work and it creates good art, that’s the best way to grow an audience,” Meinhold says. Without a clear business sense, the band struggled to vault to the next level of success, but they kept pushing anyway.

Their last live show was Leap Day in 2020 in the Old Mill Building at 503 Washington St. in Greensboro, a building that Meinhold and Burmeister had hoped to transform into an event space. The pandemic had other plans.

Once everything went indoors in March, the two took the solitude as an opportunity to keep writing. Each of them had the habit of working on music in a dark house, allowing them to focus on the sound. Throughout the next few months, they sent tracks back and forth as they wrote and edited pieces.

Burmeister had a full studio in his house. He spent hours perfecting each piece.

“You’d hear the same three seconds over and over,” Judy McCourt says with a laugh during a phone interview.

The new album is darker than their previous work, but Meinhold says it’s also deeper. Relying on metal and doom-metal influences, it includes a seven-minute piece inspired by an exorcism as well as lighter songs like the earnest “Heartstrings.” The partially sampled, experimental title track is a striking study of mortality that’s imbued with hauntingly beautiful echoes of voices mixed with long guitar riffs.

A devastating blow

In August of 2020, while COVID-19 raged across the world, Burmeister came to McCourt and complained of stomach pain. Never one to go to the doctor unless it was emergent, plus given the strictures of going out at that point during the pandemic, Burmeister told her that it was probably something that he ate and kept on going. A week after the pain started, he finally went to the doctor.

His doctor told him to take some Miralax and go home. After another week with no reprieve, he went back for more care. Burmeister had missed his annual physical because of pandemic closures, so the doctors he saw put off further tests until routine bloodwork was completed. In the meantime, he was given a round of antibiotics.

“One of the frustrations is the healthcare system in NC,” McCourt says. “It’s horrible.”

After another week lost, he was finally given further tests, and the doctors immediately admitted him for a biopsy. On the day he received his diagnosis, McCourt had to sit in the car because of COVID protocols, so her husband

spoke to the oncologist alone. He had stage-4 esophageal cancer. The doctors gave him one year, maybe two with aggressive treatment. For a healthy man in his forties who seemingly had decades ahead of him, the blow was devastating.

His wife calls it the absolute worst-case scenario. She immediately set about finding other options.

After chasing potential doctors at the Mayo Clinic and Massachusetts General in Boston, Burmeister was admitted to the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. Interestingly enough, it was in his and McCourt’s hometown where they finally said goodbye.

The cancer progressed much faster than anyone could have imagined.

A month after that original stomachache, Burmeister’s doctors in Cleveland were adjusting high levels of pain medication to make him more comfortable as they worked on a plan. The medication caused increasingly frequent episodes of delirium, some of which McCourt recounts with laughter, but his lucid periods dwindled. McCourt, the only family member allowed to see him due to COVID protocols, finally had no choice but to give in to the doctor’s counsel and move him to comfort care as his health deteriorated significantly.

They planned to take Burmeister to their home back in NC, which was being outfitted with hospital equipment so that he could spend what time he had left near his studio and with his friends able to visit.

McCourt and her parents got in the car in October and headed home. When they hit West Virginia, she got a call from the hospital that he wasn’t stable enough to move any longer and that she needed to hurry back.

After sitting at his bedside for 27 hours, giving him the chance to talk on the phone and Facetime friends, family and former bandmates, Judy ran home to take a quick shower. In the few minutes she was gone, Burmeister passed, leaving behind a legacy of music and love.

Of her journey through loss and the music that her husband loved so dearly, McCourt is still raw and emotional. She calls his last album the best he ever recorded.

“I’m really bummed he up and left before they could release it,” she says. But it’s also what he would have wanted, she says.

“Curt [Meinhold] would always joke around, but it’s true,” McCourt says. “Justin’s priorities were music, then work and then everything else.”

The documentary screens on Aug. 19 at the Idiot Box at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $8. Find more info at siftmusic.com. To contribute to the documentary fund, visit siftmusic.com/kickstarter

A photo of the band from 1998. From left to right: Todd Berozky, Curt Meinhold, Justin Burmeister, Deep Chinappa

COURTESY PHOTO

In a High Point strip mall, Demhaj Poetry Lounge centers selfexploration through community

by Luis H. Garay

elcome!”

CULTURE “W

Bridgette Williams greets each customer as they walk into her shop. Her giant smile and warm personality liven up the already cozy space inside Demhaj Poetry Lounge, which is kicking off their first Triad Poetry Slam.

Twinkling string lights and coffee-themed art pieces decorate the interior as visitors walk into the space. The lounge is named after Williams’ son, Jahmed, which spelled backwards is Demhaj.

“The lounge has always been a dream of my mother’s,” Jahmed explains.

Though he’s originally from Charlotte, it was his mother’s native roots in High Point that brought her back to open up Demhaj Poetry Lounge in June of last year. Acknowledging how the city was growing and the Williams’ family history with High Point, it was “a strong bond” to the area that made the dream a reality.

As a rising senior at Georgia State University in Atlanta majoring in entrepreneurship, Jahmed started going to poetry lounges in Atlanta and began thinking about what he could bring back to High Point.

At a spoken word and poetry event in Atlanta called “Poetry on Peter,” Jahmed learned from observing curator Miyana Sarver.

“She taught me a lot just by watching her,” he says. “I aim to take a lot of her qualities while running [Demhaj]. She runs her business like a family. She treats everyone with the same kind of respect, love and encouragement.

“Every time I would go out I would think, Wow, I wish I could have this in North Carolina,” Jahmed continues. “I’m going to transfer this there and have a similar vibe.”

Located off of North Main Street, the Poetry Lounge sits one block south of the High Point Public Library and less than a five-minute drive from High Point University. Nestled within a blue-colored outdoor strip mall, Demhaj exists between a Mediterranean restaurant and a staffing office.

“The objective of Demhaj really is starting a place where we can really have basically a solid [foundation] for creatives,” explains Jahmed, who is 21-years-old and a co-owner of the shop.

In addition to nurturing a creative space in the city, being a Black-owned coffee shop in High Point is a point of pride for the young man.

“It means something for our young kids,” he says. “It also shows other people in the city they can chase their own dreams.”

Williams hopes Demhaj Poetry Lounge can be a “beacon to the Black community.”

“Just The Two Of Us” by Grover Washington, Jr. plays through the speakers as patrons walk in and make their way to the counter to order drinks. Others look for a table to settle into. The window blinds at the entrance have been pulled down and the lounge’s coffee-colored walls transform the daytime coffee shop into a lounge — the mood has been set.

Williams steps out from behind the bar as she welcomes the audience to the event. She plays the role of super host, barista, emcee, performer and facilitator for the night.

“I wanted the community to come in tonight and express themselves,” she says as she passes around a sign-up sheet.

“Snap or clap?” she asks.

Each performer gets to decide how they want to receive their praise.

As the event gets going, the vibes of the poems recited range from hopeful

Jahmed Williams and his mother, Bridgette, opened Demhaj Poetry Lounge in High Point in 2022.

COURTESY PHOTO

to those that touch on grief and loss.

Aniya Blackwood, 18, is one of about a dozen performers. From a high seat in front of the corner stage, she takes a breath before beginning her piece.

“I know growth comes from discomfort,” she recites.

The lines express her process of growth and putting herself out there. It’s a large part of why she attended the event in the first place, she says.

“I want us to be able to utilize outlets where we can get our feelings out on the table and touch beyond the surface,” she says

As co-emcee, Williams asks the performers about their pieces, inviting them to share more about their creative process.

“How long have you been writing for?” she asks.

Some, like Blackwood, have been writing since they were young, others since they were teenagers. One performer shares how poetry helped them better understand their learning disability.

After the last performance, Jahmed takes the high-top seat in front of the stage and asks if anyone else wants to perform. Members of the audience respond and some begin to share why they came tonight. The space transforms from a poetry lounge to community processing space. Where before the audience turned to look at the stage, now they turned to look at each other.

“What is it that blocks us from expressing ourselves?” Blackwood asks. At Demhaj, the exploration of that very question is the whole point.

DOWNTOWN SUMMER

DOWNTOWN JAZZ

JULY 28 BLAKE AARON AND WILL DONATO CORPENING PLAZA PRODUCED

MUSIC SERIES

SHOT IN THE TRIAD

BY CAROLYN DE BERRY

Smith Street, Greensboro

Summer morning on the Downtown Greenway.

CROSSWORD SUDOKU

by Matt Jones

Across

1. Garden crawlers

6. Slangy pet name

9. Big girder

14. Eyelashes, scientifically

15. “Blue Rondo ___ Turk” (Dave Brubeck song)

16. Auli’i Cravalho role of 2016

17. Time away from work, for short

18. She inspired a boycott

20. “SNL” alum who starred in the recently canceled “American Auto”

22. Muscle below a delt

23. Madrid money, before the euro

24. Presley’s middle name

26. Copier powder

29. Go too far with

33. Pro at CPR

36. Board

38. Barnyard noises

39. Her Modernist sculptures include “Contrapuntal Forms” and “Rock Form (Porthcurno)”

43. Cheese with Buffalo wings

44. Comedian Silverman

45. One in favor

46. Vacillate

49. Behavioral boo-boos

51. Eagerly repetitive greeting

53. Give

57. Word after meal or sewing

60. Big name in 1990s tennis

63. Tag on some holiday presents--or where the beginnings of each theme entry derive?

65. Lucky Charms charm

66. Chick who was once keyboardist for Miles Davis

67. Thoughtful ability?

68. Online mag, outdatedly

69. Stifled laugh

70. Hearty bread

71. Heavy, like bread

Down

1. Old metal

2. Former “Weekend Edition” host Hansen

3. Bones in forearms

4. Sally Field TV title character

5. Upstate N.Y. battle site of 1777

6. S.F. area transit system

7. Plant for balms

8. Breezy class

9. Acting on the spot

10. Fabulous neckwear

11. Sandwich rank

12. Lyricist for Sinatra’s “My Way”

13. Schooner part

19. Prefix with dynamic

21. Comparatively sound

25. Verne’s captain

27. Delayed flight stats

28. Kingdom in Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings”

30. Actor Kinnear

31. Lavish attention (on)

32. Labor Dept. div.

33. Points of decline

34. “The ___ gaze” (early card in the

Cards Against Humanity starter pack)

35. Sloth’s hangout

37. Late pianist Peter

40. #43

41. Tibetan mammal

42. Rushed (by)

47. Sets as a goal

48. “Hold on there!” (this is the correct spelling, and I will be taking no further questions)

50. Hay fever symptom

52. Sanctum or circle preceder

54. Four-time Formula One champ

___ Prost

55. Beach birds

56. Lauder with an empire

57. Some red-and-white fast food outlets

58. Multivitamin additive

59. Symbol in el zodiaco

61. “The ___ Bitsy Spider”

62. Superhero accessory

64. “La ___” (Debussy opus)

LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS:

‘Must Be’ — I know it’s early.

© 2023 Matt Jones

© 2022 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com)

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Gate City Photo

Tired of dealing with migraines, headaches, or TMJ? Are you fed up with taking Advil on a daily basis?

Gate City Physio specializes in helping those with chronic headaches, neck or jaw pain achieve more pain-free days!  Dr. Corey Hillman uses a specialized physical therapy approach combining manual therapy, lifestyle counseling and customized exercise to reduce your chronic pain, putting you back onto the path to a healthy and active life. Reach out today to schedule a complimentary headache/TMJ phone consultation with Dr. Corey Hillman!

515 South Elm Street Suite E. GSO 336.904.3619 | gborophysio.com

Triad Eco Adventures

Our healthy and sustainable offerings highlight areas throughout downtown Winston-Salem as well as the Greenways of High Point and Greensboro. We’re  always  available for private and Group excursions almost  anytime, anywhere,  any day  (with advanced notice). We LOVE this stuff! Our team of service-minded and planet-supportive adventurers includes natives and locals with over 100 years of combined community service, entrepreneurial integrity and Triad education. We also have a Spanish-speaking Guide available!  Daily departures with  advance  reservations, plenty of FREE parking. Book your ECO tour adventures online today!

• Narrated SEGWAY Tours & Lessons

• PEDEGO electric-BIKE Rentals, Tours, & Sales

• PaddleFit Stand-Up Paddleboard (SUP) Lessons, Rentals, & Sales

• Various Group and ticketed TROLLEY Tours, Events, & Transportation

176 YWCA Way, W-S, 2772 NC 68 #105, HP 336.722.7777 | triadecoadventures.com

RhinoLeap Productions

Bright Star — A Broadway Concert

Beloved comedian Steve Martin’s bluegrass musical. One night only.

Aug. 12 at 7:30pm

Sunset Theatre, Asheboro

Tickets at  rhinoleap.com/live

RHINOLEAP PRODUCTIONS presents this uplifting musical journey that is refreshingly genuine and daringly hopeful.

Inspired by a true story and featuring the Tony-nominated score by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, Broadway’s BRIGHT STAR tells a sweeping tale of love and redemption set against the rich backdrop of North Carolina in the 1920s and ’40s. When literary editor Alice Murphy meets a young soldier just home from World War II, he awakens her longing for the child she once lost.

221 S. Fayetteville St., Asheboro 336.963.3535 | rhinoleap.com

Vivid Interiors

Life is too short to be ho hum. Live Vivid!

Vivid Interiors offers full-service residential and commercial design, where we help our clients realize their home or business’ potential through their own, lens but filtered through our Vivid vision.

In addition to our design services, we offer furniture, lighting, local artwork, vintage and one-of-a-kind pieces, accessories and small gifts from all over the world. We also carry myriad lines of wall coverings and textiles and much more than our 1,200 square-foot space can accommodate.

Whether you’re shopping for gifts for someone special or shopping for yourself or your home, we have a wide assortment of gifts and accessories for all budgets and tastes.

Vivid Interiors is open Monday-Friday from 10 am-5pm, with special extended Holiday hours on Saturdays.

613 S. Elm St. GSO | 336.265.8628 | vivid-interiors.com