2016 Issue 12 Creative Loafing Charlotte

Clclt.com | May 12 - May 18, 2016 Vol. 30, No. 12

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MARIA BAMFORD AND Special Guest Dotan

MAY 22 McGLOHON THEATER

MAY 22 KNIGHT THEATER

AT SPIRIT SQUARE

AT LEVINE CENTER FOR THE ARTS

The Monkees: 50th Anniversary Tour May 24 • Belk Theater

Three Acts, Two Dancers, One Radio Host June 25 • Belk Theater

Charlotte Squawks – 12 Angry Hens June 2-26 • Booth Playhouse

Gregory Alan Isakov and The Ghost Orchestra with Special Guest Jay Clifford (Of Jump, Little Children) June 27 • McGlohon Theater

Chris Cornell – Higher Truth Tour June 20 • Belk Theater

Michael Bolton June 30 • Belk Theater Delta Rae with Special Guest Liz Longley July 2 • McGlohon Theater

The Wizard of Oz July 5-10 • Belk Theater

704.372.1000 • BlumenthalArts.org clclt.com | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | 5

Creative Loafing is Published by Womack Newspapers, Inc. Charlotte, NC 28206.

Office: 704-522-8334 www.clclt.com Facebook: /CLCLT Twitter: @cl_charlotte Instagram: @creativeloafingcharlotte

Staff PUBLISHER • Charles A. Womack III publisher@yesweekly.com EDITOR • Anita Overcash aovercash@clclt.com

Editorial

NEWS EDITOR • Ryan Pitkin rpitkin@clclt.com STAFF WRITER • Madeline Lemieux FILM CRITIC Matt Brunson mattonmovies@gmail.com DINING CRITIC • Tricia Childress tchildress@clclt.com THEATER CRITIC • Perry Tannenbaum perrytannenbaum@gmail.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS • Ailen Arreaza, Erin TracyBlackwood, Vivian Carol, Charles Easley, Page Leggett, Alison Leininger, Kyle Mullin, Dan Savage, Aerin Spruill, Chuck Shepherd, Jeff Hahne

ART/DESIGN

GRAPHIC DESIGNER • Dana Vindigni CONTRIBUTING Artists and PHOTOGRAPHERS • Justin Driscoll, Brian Twitty

ADVERTISING

To place an ad, please call 704-522-8334.

SALES MANAGER Aaron Stamey • astamey@clclt.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Candice Andrews • candrews@clclt.com Sarah Stark • sstark@clclt.com Advertising coordinator Pat Moran • pmoran@clclt.com

Creative Loafing © is published by CL, LLC 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd., Suite C-2, Charlotte, NC 28206.

Periodicals Postage Paid at Charlotte, NC. Creative Loafing welcomes submissions of all kinds.

Efforts will be made to return those with a self-addressed stamped envelope; however Creative Loafing assumes no responsibility for unsolicited submissions. Creative Loafing is published every Wednesday by Womack Newspapers, Inc. No portion may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. First copy is free, all additional copies are $1. Copyright 2015 Womack Newspapers, Inc. Creative Loafing is printed on a 90% recycled stock. It may be recycled furtheR; please do your part.

A MEMBER OF:

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Buckethead performs at Neighborhood Theatre on May 16.

cover story Long live the milestone: Ownership at the most historical music venue in charlotte is in need of help By erin tracy-Blackwood This week’s cover photo was designed by Dana Vindigni.

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News&VIEWS Breaking the bond: West Charlotte families fear delaying a CMS bond will dig hole deeper.

By ryan pitkin 14 blotter 15 news of the weird

16

Food Explore evoke: One of Charlotte’s best culinary experiences is a Second Ward secret.

By Chrissie nelson 19 Three-course Spiel

22

Arts&Ent From bumping off to birthing: Reviews of Heathers: The Musical and Motherhood Out Loud.

By Perry tannenbaum 24 film review 26 Happenings

28

Music Beloved binge of connectivity:

Durham-based band uses music, film and theater as tools for generating happiness.

By Anita Overcash 32 soundboard

20

Odds&Ends

20 Top 10 Things To Do 34 Marketplace 34 Nightlife 35 Crossword 36 Savage Love 38 Horoscope

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Charlotte Divine Luxury Massage Relaxation and Paradise......Renew and Reconnect

Specializing In Deep Tissue and Kundalini Energy Let us help you relax, renew, and revitalize Practioner: Mia

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Available Services Deep Tissue Reflexology Tantra

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News

Feature

Jeff Hahne

Jonathan Hughes at The Milestone.

Long LIve The milestone Ownership at the most historical music venue in Charlotte is in need of help

By Erin Tracy-Blackwood

K

e$ha told me she’d take

her top off if I served her a drink after 2 a.m. and I said ‘Darlin’, I appreciate that and I know you’re not used to hearing this... but no.’ She told me she respected that.”

It’s late on a Thursday night and Jonathan Hughes, co-owner of The Milestone Club, is explaining to a patron that he would never 10 | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | clclt.com

risk his beloved bar by serving drinks after last call. “I don’t care who you are, I love this place too much to fuck it up.”

Hughes isn’t the only person who loves this historic rock club on Tuckaseegee Road in west Charlotte, but he and his wife, coowner Stephanie Hughes, have the most invested in it. Right now, they’re working their hardest to keep it open. If a recently

launched grassroots campaign to fund muchneeded renovations at The Milestone doesn’t work out, it may join a long list of venues that have recently closed their doors.

The Hugheses are hoping a recently launched GoFundMe campaign can help fund the renovations needed for The Milestone to continue hosting great local music.

The historical significance

of The Milestone is well-known among the local punk scene, and music scene in general.

The Ke$ha story is just one of hundreds about celebrities who have visited the club during the 45 years it’s been open. Ask club founder Bill Flowers and he may tell you about drinking beer with Kurt Cobain in the parking lot or about the night he paid R.E.M.

1969

1985

1981

The Milestone opened as an artist hangout in west Charlotte’s Enderly Park neighborhood in a building that’s stood there since 1904. By the mid-’70s, it was a full-stop music venue.

An up-and-coming band out of Athens, Georgia called R.E.M. played a show at The Milestone and slept on the stage when everyone went home. When they realized they were locked in from the outside, they broke out.

1980

$50 to perform and then let them sleep on the stage.

You don’t really even have to ask anyone to get a good idea of what’s taken place there in the past. The walls and ceilings tell stories. Four and a half decades of graffiti from visiting bands and fans greets you before you can even make it through the doorway.

It’s plastered across every surface inside, too — tags, stickers and messages drunkenly scrawled by everyone from punk legends like Bad Brains and GG Allin to defunct local garage bands and maybe your dad who hung out here back in his glory days.

The Milestone is a piece of Charlotte history and a piece of rock-n-roll history. For almost half a century it’s been a reliable tour stop for up-and-coming bands, some of whom went on to become household names. It’s also been the go-to spot for every Charlottean who wants to discover new music to love, and a refuge for every counterculture kid repulsed by the mainstream, homogenous Uptown scene.

“Every city has a honky tonk bar and a dance club, but not every city has somewhere you can go and see a punk rock show,” says Wyley Buck Boswell, head of booking for The Milestone. “People come here because they love music and they want to see something new or something they’re not going to see anywhere else. More often than not, they leave pleasantly surprised.”

Historic punk rock clubs like The Milestone are indeed a rare find in 2016. Even the place

Black Flag has played The Milestone at least twice, with photos from a 1981 performance showing a skinny Henry Rollins with a shaved head contrasting with photos from ‘85 showing a slightly-less-skinny Rollins swinging long locks.

Bad Brains played The Milestone with original singer Human Rights (known as H.R.) before he developed an onagain, off-again relationship with the band through the ‘90s.

it’s compared to most often — New York’s iconic CBGB — was forced to close six years ago after falling victim to skyrocketing rent prices. It left behind nothing but memories and its logo emblazoned on t-shirts worn by people who will never walk through its doors.

Those doors open into a high-end designer fashion boutique these days.

While The Milestone still stands like a lighthouse of defiant authenticity that’s weathered storm surges of urban decay and redevelopment for three generations, it hasn’t done so unscathed — and a tsunami is approaching. The Milestone’s westside neighborhood is the next stop on the Charlotte gentrification route.

Most of us who have lived in the city for a while know how the scenario will likely play out: property values will soar, landowners will cash in and independent businesses will be forced to close. To guard against that eventuality, Hughes’ plan is to obtain an ownership stake in the property.

He’s partnering with Carlos Espin, whose organization, Area 15 is responsible for the development with the same name in NoDa. According to Hughes, the plan is for Area 15, with the help of an investor, to purchase the building and the land it sits on from Milestone founder Bill Flowers. Hughes would become a partial owner of the property and continue to own and manage the business.

There’s only one bump on this rockin’ road, and it’s a pretty big one: the building needs major renovations before a bank or investor

Kurt Cobain is rumored to have signed

his name and possibly written a poem somewhere on the wall during his time with Nirvana playing The Milestone, but you’d be hard-pressed to find it.

1989

1982

The Go-Go’s, the self-proclaimed most successful all-female rock band of all time, were on stage at The Milestone one year before releasing their debut album.

1990

NOFX is known as one of the most successful indie bands of all time, but five years before Punk in Drublic gained them national recognition, NOFX could be found at The Milestone.

will touch it.

Hughes explains, “A bank wouldn’t loan on this property because of the disrepair. A corner this close to Uptown is worth a lot more money than the 100-year-old building that’s sitting on it, so a bank would rather level it. But, there are individuals who see it as an investment opportunity if we can show them we plan to turn it into a better version of itself.”

The building has several major issues: it needs a new roof, the ceiling over the bar bows every time it rains and needs replacing, structural repairs are needed on the ground level before it can hold a new roof and — as anyone who has attended a Milestone show in mid-July will tell you — the HVAC needs replacing.

Hughes and Espin started a campaign on crowdfunding site GoFundMe to raise money for the repairs. The goal is set at $150,000.

According to Hughes, the goal reflects estimates from several contractors of what it would cost to do a complete top-to-bottom renovation. If they fall short of the goal amount, the money raised will go towards the highest priority repairs. At press time, $34,000 had been raised via GoFundMe. It’s an impressive amount, donated by more than 500 people, but it’s nowhere near hitting the mark.

There’s also no guarantee that the deal will go through even if the renovations get fully funded. The investor could back out or change the terms of the agreement.

“I have a responsibility to make the repairs

no matter what,” says Hughes. “Even if the deal doesn’t go through, the money in the GoFundMe account will go towards fixing up The Milestone.”

He says GoFundMe allows him to access the money as it’s raised as opposed to waiting for the campaign to end, and he has plans to start repairs by the end of summer.

“We’ll just make the repairs and keep doing what we’re doing, but that’s not ideal because then I don’t get any help,” he says.

That’s an equally important aspect of The Milestone deal. As much as Hughes wants to buffer The Milestone against oncoming developers, he’s equally into the idea of having some help running the place.

“There’s a limit to what an individual will sacrifice, even for something they love. I need someone as invested in this place as I am — or at least close to it. I need time with my girls.

I need time with my dad, who’s sick and not getting any better,” he says, getting choked up for a split second before continuing.

“At Area 15, they’ve got guys over there who fix things. There are carpenters and plumbers and specialists and we need them, because you don’t get minor things going wrong at The Milestone,” he says. “There are never fender-benders here, it’s always a headon collision. Like, when a toilet breaks here, it literally breaks. It’s not a chain snapped or a pipe clogged, it’s me walking in the bathroom and half the toilet’s in the goddamn floor because somebody kicked it or fell into it or stood on it to put up a sticker. Hopefully, soon, clclt.com | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | 11

Andy the Doorbum, performer and Milestone veteran, in his usual spot, where he once recorded an LP while checking IDs. when that happens I can call the guy on the team who does plumbing, instead of getting out of bed and saying ‘so much for spending time with my family today.’ Everything won’t always fall on my shoulders.”

Hughes is only the fourth owner The Milestone has had in its long history. He purchased the business from Neal Harper in 2010. Harper checks in with him regularly to see how it’s going because he knows how difficult it can be to run the place. The idea to get Espin’s group involved in preserving The Milestone came from Harper, whose wife once had a yoga studio inside Area 15.

Area 15, which calls itself a “small business incubator,” has a 14-year track record of providing space for small local businesses to thrive in a district undergoing redevelopment and rising rent prices. Its 23,000-squarefoot warehouse at the corner of 15th and North Davidson streets is home to about 20 small businesses owned by members of the surrounding community. Espin says his motivation to help ensure The Milestone remains open comes from the same set of values Area 15 is based on: “Creativity, accessibility, DIY mentality...it’s not about making money, it’s about having a place for creative people to express themselves. We’ve lost so many places like this lately and the city needs more of them, not less.”

It does seem that Charlotte’s constant redevelopment and “improvement” is taking an especially harsh toll on the arts scene. The galleries are only just now beginning to return to NoDa after nearly a decade of nothing but bars, condos and apartment buildings going 12 | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | clclt.com

Jeff Hahne

in. And the list of venues shutting down around Charlotte — from Double Door Inn (in the near future) to Crown Station, Tremont Music Hall, Chop Shop and Tommy’s Pub (all of which have already closed shop) — is made up almost entirely of clubs known for booking local, new and independent bands, as Charlotte’s cultural identity slowly transforms into nothing but dance club DJs and cover bands.

A few longtime patrons of The Milestone have privately expressed concerns about what the renovations will look like.

Will the club become a shiny new modern space reflective of its fancy future neighbors?

Hughes says that’s not the case. “A renovated Milestone will look the same as it does now.

We may have to carefully take down the panels and put them over the top of new ones, but preservation is the goal. More so than renovation, this is about preserving what we have.”

A plethora of artists and bands have booked benefit shows throughout the summer and will donate proceeds to the preservation effort. Limited edition T-shirts have been auctioned off for the cause. Some club regulars have volunteered manual labor.

“I’ve had a lot of humbling moments lately,” says Hughes. “Just the other day I yelled at a guy and called him an asshole because he was being one. The next day he came to the bar and gave me 500 ‘Save The Milestone’ stickers he’d printed for us for free.”

Many people love The Milestone unconditionally, but Hughes says he doesn’t

Ryan Pitkin

Every inch of the wall in The Milestone is covered in (sometimes historic) graffiti and stickers.

want to just depend on them to keep it open.

He believes the renovations will help attract new people who have never been to a show there. “New people are moving to the city all the time. There are punk rock kids who live in Charlotte right now who’ve never even been here. We just had two come in last night and they were blown away.”

Hughes says that he and his wife discovered the club one night in the early 2000s while out looking for a good time. “We weren’t here for a show, we just came in to see what was going on. I don’t know if people still do that any more. They don’t seem as adventurous.”

As he says this, he surveys the bar around him. There’s a young couple dressed in business formal attire who just came from a political fundraiser. There’s a girl knitting.

There’s the big, burly lead singer of the metal band about to play to the crowd in the the next room asking for a ginger ale with “a hint of lime”, and there’s two dudes wearing matching hoodies emblazoned with a rapper’s logo. The diversity of the group at the bar suggests that if the ceiling wasn’t ready to cave in (contractors assure Hughes it will stand for two more years) a sense of adventure may not be required for a visit to The Milestone. A love of music, friendly people, cold beer or local history would be all it takes.

“We’re still bringing the biggest bands that can fit in the room and selling out shows on a monthly basis,” Hughes says. “There are people driving from four to five hours away to be here sometimes. When we brought Agent Orange here last February, the show sold out

Punks on Paper NC Music Flier Archive

A poster from a NOFX show held on August 13, 1989.

Save The Milestone Fundraiser Feat.

The Hooliganz, The CommonWealth, The Genuine OK, Smelly Felly and No Brainer $5. June 2, 8 p.m. The Milestone, 3400 Tuckaseegee Rd. www. themilestoneclub.com.

and there were like 50 people from Asheville here. Then there were like 60 regulars posting on Facebook they couldn’t believe they were missing Agent Orange at The Milestone. Well you didn’t have to, but someone from Asheville got your ticket. Everybody everywhere else is like ‘The Milestone rules!’ And everyone in Charlotte is like ‘Oh yeah, it does rule, but we’ll just go there another time, later on.’”

Later on may never come if Charlotteans don’t act now. Losing The Milestone would not only mean losing an irreplaceable piece of local and rock-n-roll history, it would also mean losing one more music-focused venue in Charlotte. When you enter The Milestone, there are rules posted above the ATM machine.

You really only have to follow the first one: “Don’t fuck up.” Hopefully, the application of this rule stretches outside The Milestone’s doors and they never close for good. backtalk@clclt.com

News

NEWSMAKER

Breaking the bond Some west Charlotte families fear delaying a CMS bond any longer will dig their hole deeper

By Ryan Pitkin Ryan Pitkin

On a recent Thursday night, more

than 100 people gathered in a church off Beatties Ford Road for a presentation on a proposed $805 million bond approved by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Board of Education (BOE) on April 26. City and CMS leaders were in the crowd, but one group was conspicuously missing: those responsible for placing the bond on the ballot.

The Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners is expected to vote in June on whether the bond will go on the ballot in November, but commissioners on both sides of the aisle have taken a strong stance against that. In April, the Charlotte Observer editorial board wrote in favor of putting off the much-needed money, saying distrust with CMS over the ongoing student assignment debate could hurt the chances of a school bond passing in November.

Those in attendance on Thursday, however, said the situation is too dire to wait any longer.

Many of those who attended the meeting live in District 2, where $275 million of the bond money would be allocated if it passed. They say commissioners want to wait until it’s not an election year to make it harder to pass the bond, as such bonds are often tougher to pass on years with lower voter turnout.

On the morning after Thursday night’s presentation, Creative Loafing spoke with Jarrod Jones and Charlene Mack, regional strategy team members with education advocacy group O.N.E. Charlotte, which organized the event, about what this bond means for school assignment and why it can’t be delayed any further.

Creative Loafing: What is O.N.E. Charlotte about and how does it operate compared to traditional organizations like PTA? Charlene Mack: O.N.E. Charlotte is a civic power organization. It’s a group of individuals who are not only frustrated with the status quo, but willing to do something about it through the power of organizing people.

Charlene Mack at a recent meeting discussing the proposed CMS bond in west Charlotte.

Jarrod Jones: What sets it apart is the understanding of power and how power works in society to make things happen. Historically speaking, even with traditional organizations like the PTA or other organizations like that, without the understanding of power people are just operating with a lot of activity but not a lot of action. O.N.E. Charlotte is derived around action and not just information. We take information and organize people to get informed consent in order to take action as an organized group of people in order to enact power for what we want to see changed.

For me, that’s the big driver: understanding power and enacting power to create change.

How crucial is the proposed bond to the other issues O.N.E. Charlotte has focused on, like student assignment for example?

Mack: I’m excited that we can increase the number of available seats [with this bond]. So if folks don’t want to go to a K-8, in order to increase those options, it would be great for the number of seats to increase in capacity through building schools. That’s why we’re excited for the BOE’s proposed bond, which includes new high school construction and two new elementary schools.

I heard reference to “real choice” at the meeting, what do you mean by that?

Jones: People want school choice because they want to either opt out of their failing neighborhood school because it’s a dilapidating building or the schools don’t offer the things that they wish their child could get; certain electives, certain career paths, what have you. If you live in a certain neighborhood, especially on the west side, you’re either going to go to a PreK-8 [grade school] for ten years until high school, or you’re lucky enough to get into a magnet

Jarrod Jones (center) at a O.N.E. Charlotte event last year. school. Without the know-how to navigate to a magnet, you’re pretty much stuck in a neighborhood school that oftentimes gives you limited options and limited exposure.

People in a certain proximity now actually have choices of what you want to specialize in, what kind of kids you want to be around, the teachers you want to be around, what have you. Give everybody a choice in their academic experience versus it being based on where your parents can afford to live, this is all you’re going to get.

Are you concerned about the pushback you’ve been getting on this bond issue?

Jones: My major concern as a District 2 resident and a O.N.E. Charlotte member is that people are playing political games with kids’ futures. There’s a lot of high school bickering going on at the top, elected-official level sometimes, where it affects the people that actually voted to get them in the position they’re in. It goes back to power. You have these people in quote-unquote positions of power who don’t listen to what their constituents want and make the decisions for themselves. It makes no sense that you wouldn’t lend a listening ear to a bond that’s investing heavily into your district, no matter what district you’re in, because you may have some problems with how the school system as a whole is going about their process. At the end of the day, the kids are supposed to be the focus of this conversation, not CMS leadership.

Was it upsetting that no county commissioners wanted to show up to hear you out last night?

Jones: Yes, and it’s upsetting when you

Courtesy of JarroD Jones

see [county commissioner] Bill James’ tweet saying that CMS said there’s not going to be a bond in 2016, when clearly Ann Clark said, ‘We already voted and submitted the bond to you.’ That’s what I was talking about with the high school bickering going back and forth that’s affecting the kids. We are going to continue to rank at the bottom of the social mobility rankings in 20 years, and nothing is going to change.

County commissioners and others have urged you to wait until 2017 to put the bond on the ballot. Is that a viable option for you?

Jones: No. This year is the presidential election. As we all know, Donald Trump is running, so people are going to turn out to vote, especially in District 2. If we wait another year, the election won’t be as big and the turnout won’t be as big, so you have that factor.

Also, look at the time that it takes to actually build a school. There’s a bond that passed three years ago, on that bond was a project to upfit K-8s, with a concentration on the west side. Those K-8s won’t be upfitted until 2020. There’s a lot of kids still passing through those K-8s that really are just elementary schools. If we continue to prolong progress and prolong development, you’re limiting people’s school choice. If we continue to delay it on the ballot, more and more kids will be capped into a K-8 that serves really as an extended elementary school.

It’s crucial for it to be this year, and we can’t wait. It was real organic last night, someone in the crowd kept saying “We can’t wait,” and that turned into #WeCantWait. To me, that resonated well, because it got to the urgency of this matter. rpitkin@clclt.com clclt.com | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | 13

News

Blotter

By Madeline lemieux

Rock and Roll Getting stoned Uptown took on a new meaning for a 37-year old man, who was exiting a 6th Street grocery store when a stranger began pelting him with rocks. The shopper managed to miss most of the unpredictable projectiles, but was struck by one of the flying stones without serious injury. Police responding to the scene were later able to identify the suspect, but he had already fled the scene. In an unrelated incident, a south Charlotte woman called for police back up when her unruly son, hellbent on skipping school, attacked her car with a large rock.

Open Bar An east Charlotte man only

recently learned that ‘put it on my tab’ doesn’t work in the real world. Reports say the suspect casually strolled into a neighbor’s home at around 10 p.m. and helped himself to a beer he found on the kitchen table before turning and walking out. When the homeowner realized that the uninvited guest didn’t intend to pay for the Corona — valued by police at $2 — he phoned officers.

Private Collection A 49-year-old man in southeast Charlotte will have to film his bedroom capers on his smartphone now after a couple thieves stole his camera. The man told officers the dubious duo stole the camera from a tripod it was set up on in his bedroom. He added that the two have access to the home and knew exactly where the camera was, which leads one to wonder if they may have regretfully starred in a film in that bedroom and wanted to make sure it never saw the light of day.

Literal Literacy One CMPD officer

your delicious weekly alternative news source

might be considering a career switch to novelist. While responding to a theft in Hickory Grove, the cop took an opportunity to flex his prose while detailing a child’s stolen bicycle in the police report. The officer described the item in great detail, channeling Langston Hughes when he wrote that the “handle bars were soft from rubber degrading in the sun” and detailing the partially detached center bar and pink tire pegs. We know nobody looks for stolen bikes but we’re glad to see you getting good use of that creative writing class.

Wake Up Call A man in Hidden Valley had a recollection hit him just a moment too late last week. The 23-year-old man told officers that someone stole a black handgun from his car at some point over a three-day span. He then told officers that he “forgot the firearm was in the vehicle until he realized it was missing,” which the officer followed on the report with “No further,” which we take to mean, “’’Nuff said.”

Send Help CMPD was called to complete

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a Welfare Check at a north Charlotte home after some neighbors became concerned about the well-being of the 65-year old man living there. Neighbors became concerned after noticing a piece of paper had been posted inside a bedroom window. Officers found the man in his home, and reported that he did not require medical attention.

No word on what — if anything — the paper in the window said, but we have some ideas.

She made chicken…again? Nothing illegal happening here? Make America Great Again?

Different Kind of Burglary A

south Charlotte man turned matters over to police after receiving several threatening phone calls from an unknown man. In the phone calls, the suspect stated, “I’m going to kill you for messing with my wife.” The victim tells police that he has no idea who the man, or his wife, is… a detail that the suspect seemed to corroborate by stating, “You don’t know me, wife stealer.” Burn.

Shanks

for Nothing Police responded to Westerly Hills Academy in west Charlotte after a kid was found to be treating the playground like the rec yard in a prison. Teachers called police after finding a 10-inch knife lying unattended on the ground where the kids play during recess. Further investigation found that a fifth-grade student had the knife in his backpack and it fell off, probably when he did something awesome.

Huh? Police found one hell of a misunderstanding when they responded to an 18-year-old man calling from an AvidXchange Music Factory-area bar to report an assault with a firearm. The man told police that he had shot someone in self-defense, but couldn’t locate the person he shot. On the scene, police were unable to locate the alleged gunshot victim or any other evidence of a shooting, and determined that no crime had actually occurred at the location.

PROCESS OF ELIMINATION Staff and law enforcement at Turning Point Academy used video footage to identify a suspect responsible for a bathroom arson that caused $1,000 in damages. According to police reports, the investigators were able to deduce who was responsible for the crime after reviewing footage that showed the suspect entering a bathroom in which an item attached to the wall was lit on fire, and then exiting once the deed was done.

COOL STORY, BRO An Ashley Park man

contacted police to report that he had been threatened, but he had a hard time getting his story straight. According to the man, he had received the threat at some point during a span of two weeks, then waited an additional week before contacting police.

Additionally, the man didn’t seem super clear on how he was threatened. First he quoted the suspect as saying, “I’m gonna have someone touch you.” The threat then escalated to, “Yo, somebody give me a gun so I can shoot this motherfucka [sic], I want him dead.”

LESSER OF TWO EVILS CMPD made an early-morning house call when an east Charlotte man awoke at 4 a.m. to discover that someone had snuck onto his driveway and lit his minivan on fire. Police later found that the person removed the license plate from the van before removing it, making the stolen license plate now far more conspicuous when an officer runs it.

Like Butter Baby When an unnamed

suspect invited a 31-year old north Charlotte man over for dinner, the tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Unfortunately, the hot-headed host tried to do just that when he allegedly sliced a dinner guest with a large knife. The victim was rushed to the hospital, where he was treated for stab wounds. The suspect must have used some force, because when police arrived to take a report, they identified the weapon as a butter knife.

Keep the Change An unidentified

suspect pulled a dine-and-dash when he visited Midnight Diner near Uptown for an early-morning breakfast recently, but still wanted to leave his server a tip. After pushing away his plate and walking out on the check, the breakfast bandit found his waitress standing outside in the parking lot, and pointed a gun at her before fleeing the scene.

Scattered

Showers A west Charlotte man was arrested after driving his Lexus into a fire hydrant, flipping it over, then crawling out and walking away as the burst hydrant sprayed over his flipped car.

When police found the suspect on the road nearby, they discovered he had been driving while intoxicated and with a revoked license.

Smash and Dash A suspect may have

had clean hands, but a dirty conscience lead him back to the South Boulevard bar where had caused damage earlier that evening. The man had entered the bar’s bathroom and ripped out a sink, then threw it onto the ground before fleeing the scene. A witness later identified the man, who had by then returned to admit that he had indeed thrown the sink. The police reported the damage, but the pub declined to press charges.

Blotter items are chosen from the files of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty. backtalk@clclt.com

News of the weird

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By Chuck Shepherd Jail

Is Hell The eye-catching Vietnamese model and Playboy (Venezuela edition) Playmate Angie Vu complained to the New York Daily News in April that her five-plus months in jail in Brooklyn have been “torture” and “cruel” because of her lack of access to beauty care. Vu is fighting extradition to France for taking her 9-year-old daughter in violation of the father’s custody claim and is locked up until a federal judge rules. Among her complaints: “turning pale” in the “harsh light”; lack of “Guerlain’s moisturizer”; inability to look at herself for months (because glass mirrors are prohibited); and “worrying” about being hit on by “lesbians” (thus causing “wrinkles”).

On the bright side, she told the reporter, she has found God in jail and passes time reading the Bible.

Questionable Judgments (1)

Chef Mahbub Chowdhury pleaded guilty in April to food and hygiene violations in Swindon (England) Magistrates Court after inspectors found “brown fingerprints” in the kitchen at his Yeahya Flavour of Asia carry-out restaurant. Chowdhury was candid about his “cultural” habit of bypassing toilet paper and using his hand to clean himself.

The plastic bottle with the fingerprints, Chowdbury said, contained water that he normally used instead of the toilet paper, and his lawyer argued that since the bottle was never actually lab-tested, the brown spots could have been “spices.” (2) England’s Brighton and Hove City Council, striving to be progressive, issued a directive to parents of new school students (kids as young as age 4) calling on them to mark the gender identity they prefer and notes that any child who identifies as other than male or female should leave the space blank and consult with officials individually. (Critics, according to The Sun, expressed that school should be for “developing” such identities without the necessity of declaring them so early in life.)

But Why? (1) “Zero tolerance” claimed

another victim, in Charlotte, North Carolina, in April, when Jaden Malone, 12, came to his bullied friend’s aid, was knocked down himself and repeatedly punched in the head by the bully, and pushed the boy off of him to avoid further damage — but was himself suspended for three days by his charter school Invest Collegiate. A school official pointed out that the bully got five days, and besides, the policy against “all” physical violence is very clear. (After having Jaden treated for a concussion, his mother promptly withdrew him from the school.) (2) Ms. Madi Barney, 20, publicly and courageously reported her own rape accusation recently in Provo, Utah, and as a result has been disciplined as a student at Brigham Young University for allegedly

violating the school’s “honor code.” (She is barred from withdrawing from courses or reregistering.) Whether the sex was consensual must be investigated by Provo police, but BYU officials said they had heard enough to charge Barney with the no-no of premarital sex. (Critics decried the advantage BYU thus gives rapists of BYU females — since the women face the additional fear of university reprisals irrespective of the criminal case.)

Latest Religious Message (1)

Idaho’s law protecting fundamentalist faith healers regained prominence recently in the case of Mariah Walton, 20, who was born with a routinely repairable heart defect but who received only prayer and herbs because of her parents’ religious rejection of doctors. Walton’s now-irreversible damage leaves her frail and dependent on portable oxygen, and she will likely need lung and heart transplants to survive. Idaho and five other states immunize parents from criminal prosecution if they reject medical care on the ground of religious teachings.

Latest From Evangelicals (1) Christian political activist David Barton told his “WallBuilders” radio audience recently that Disney’s anthropomorphic characters (e.g., Bambi) are simply gateways to kids’ learning Babylonian pagan worship. (2) Brooklyn, New York, “prophet” Yakim Manasseh Jordan told followers recently that he has arranged with God to bring people back from the dead if they “cheerfully” offer a “miracle favor cloud” of gifts as low as $1,000. (3) James David Manning, chief pastor of the Atlah Worldwide Missionary Church in Harlem, in a recent online sermon, stepped up his usual anti-gay rhetoric, warning “sodomites” that God would soon send flames “coming out of your butthole.”

(A gay and transgender support group is fundraising to buy Atlah’s building and set up a shelter.)

Police Report (1) The Tap Inn bar

in Billings, Montana, released April 11 surveillance video of the armed robbery staged by two men and a woman (still on the lam), showing two liplocked customers at the bar, lost in affectionate embrace during the entire crime, seemingly oblivious of danger.

The robbers, perhaps impressed by the couple’s passion, ignored them — even while emptying the cash register just a few feet away. (2) Andru Jolstad, 26, was arrested on April 16 and charged with using a pry bar to break into the cash boxes of four machines at Zap’s Arcade in Mesa, Arizona. Following citizen tips, a cop arrived to find Jolstad on his knees alongside one machine with his arm still inside. His total take from the spree was $18, and he’ll likely be sent back to prison due to an earlier charge.

Yee-Hah! (1) The Transportation Security

Administration announced on April 27 that its screeners had confiscated 73 guns from passengers’ carry-ons — in just the previous seven days. (Sixty-eight were loaded, and 27 had a round in the chamber.) (2) Federal regulators were deliberating in April whether to stop Minnesota’s Ideal Conceal from rolling out its two-shot, .380-caliber handgun disguised as a smartphone. Several police chiefs, and two U.S. senators, have expressed alarm. (3) Jeffrey Grubbs, 45, was charged with two felonies in March following a school’s 4-H Club carpentry project at which he (lacking a hammer) pounded a thumbtack into wood with the butt of his loaded handgun. (He subsequently realized the danger and removed the bullets.)

Perspective California’s forests host major marijuana-growing operations (legal and illegal), and though the product has its virtues, cannabis farming creates massive problems — guzzling water (23 liters per day per plant — state drought or not) and needing the protection of a dangerous rodenticide. A state wildlife official told NBC News in April that the cannabis sites “use massive amounts of fertilizers, divert natural run-off waters, create toxic run-off waste and byproducts, remove large amounts of vegetation and trees, ... create ... unstable soils and kill or displace wildlife.”

Drugs (1) Police in the Augusta, Georgia, suburb of Hephzibah arrested a meth-addled Ray Roye for battery and family violence against his wife in March. Roye was yelling about custody of their child, but his wife informed police they don’t have a child.

(2) Johnnie Hurt, 38, was arrested after reportedly eating mulch from a motel’s landscaping in London, Kentucky, in April while missing a court-ordered drug test.

When police arrived, Hurt was found in his wildly trashed motel room.

NOTW Classic (March 2012) Each year, the town of Chumbivilcas, Peru, celebrates the new year with what to Americans might seem “Festivus”-based (from the Seinfeld TV show), but is actually drawn from Incan tradition. For “Takanakuy,” during background singing and dancing, all townspeople with grudges from the previous 12 months (men, women, children) settle them with often-bloody fistfights so that they start the new year clean. Said one villager to a Reuters reporter in December (2011), “Everything is solved here, and afterward we are all friends.” backtalk@clclt.com

MAY 13

COYOTE JOE’S BIRTHDAY BASH FEATURING

JON LANGSTON TYLER HATLEY& OUT OF THE BLUE CASH GIVEAWAY & PRIZES

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WILD 1-2-3 NIGHTS

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News

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MAY 14, 21& 27

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clclt.com | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | 15

Food

Feature

Pasta at Evoke.

CHRISSIE NELSON

Explore Evoke One of Charlotte’s best culinary experiences is a Second Ward secret by chrissie nelson

CHRISSIE NELSON

The hamachi crudo at Evoke.

L

et’s be honest; Second Ward seems like a culinary desert (to put it kindly). What was once Brooklyn, a thriving African-American community in Charlotte, is now home to the Mecklenburg County Courthouse, City Hall, other government offices, the county jail, Marshall Park, the aquatic center and food wise, a Cluck-n-Cup and Quizno’s, only open on weekdays.

Though I hate to keep sharing all of my best kept Charlotte restaurant secrets, it’s kind of my job, isn’t it? So here goes: Second Ward is not just home to Charlotte’s government district but it’s also home to one 16 | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | clclt.com

of the Queen City’s best culinary experiences, Le Meridien’s Evoke Restaurant.

Walk past the courthouse and Marshall Park, look past the gray exterior of the former Blake Hotel, and step into Le Meridien’s sleek, modern lobby. Le Meridien’s lobby is the kind of place where I feel like I’ve been transported directly out of Charlotte and I am immediately super uncool; it radiates a chic, swanky vibe, tied together with funky splatter paint carpets and pops of yellow.

In the corner of the lobby you’ll find Longitude 80, a sleek, wood bar where bartenders sling creative cocktail creations (each bartender has their own menu

dedicated to the cocktails they’ve created, but they can make each others’ menus).

While cocktails are important, stay focused on your mission and head straight past the bar to the hotel’s restaurant, Evoke.

Evoke is a “new-age steakhouse” whose focus is on steaks, house-made pastas and fresh crudos using seasonal ingredients. As the seasons change, so does Evoke’s menu; featuring bold flavors of apple and butternut squash in the fall, and more delicate sugar snap peas with notes of garlic and lemon in the spring. I highly encourage you to explore Evoke’s menu through a four (or five, with dessert) course meal. Each course

Evoke at Le Meridien 555 South McDowell St. Open seven days a week; breakfast, 6 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.; lunch, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; dinner, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.; bar menu, 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. 980-237-5354. evokerestaurant.com.

FRESH SIMPLE GOOD Mon-Fri 11am-10pm

Take-Outs Welcomed!

Fri & Sat 11am-11pm

Sun 11am-9pm

Half Priced Appetizers Mon-Fri 4-6pm Premium Wings in 4 flavors! Hand Pattied Burgers!

16 oz IPA $2 Miller $3 Goose $3 Island Aluminum .50

High Life

& PBR’s

Bud Light

Sat & Sun Brunch 9am-2pm

Desserts at Evoke are worth the calorie splurge. highlights different flavors and unique culinary techniques.

Start with a crudo, meaning “raw” in Italian; fresh, uncooked fish, thinly sliced and drizzled with olive oil, an acid (for example, lemon) and accented with seasonings (my favorites of Evoke’s options are the ceviche and yellow fin tuna).

Next up, indulge in a pasta course, all handmade in house. The crab gnocchi is out of this world; it’s delicious, tender, and has a little touch of sweetness from the blue crab.

My other half (a man of very few words and not one who is fond of flowery adjectives) particularly enjoys the bucatini (with beef tenderloin, maderia, mushrooms, and a pine nut crust), describing the earthy, robust dish as “phenomenal.” After pasta, spring for a salad or appetizer; the seasonal soup is always a good choice (I’m just drooling at the thought of a succulent Sweet Onion Soup), and you can’t go wrong with a frisee salad with a perfectly poached egg taking the place of salad dressing.

DAILY DRINK SPECIALS

BLOODY MARY BAR

CHRISSIE NELSON

If you’re not full already (if you are, push through it), finish up with a fourth savory course. Since Evoke is a steakhouse, I always spring for a steak and have enjoyed both the 21-day dry aged NY Strip and the ribeye. If you’re not in the mood for red meat, seafood brodetto, scallops, pork tenderloin or chicken are all solid choices.

Your entrée side choices will vary depending on the season, so round out your meal with a few veggies or some truffle pomme frites.

And please don’t forget dessert. You’ll want to peruse the dessert menu for a while but let me save you the time; just order the butterscotch budino. It comes with salted caramel shortbread cookies, that should quickly be dipped in the budino. It’s what dreams are made of.

Chrissie Nelson is a public defender by day and a food blogger by night. Read about her foodventures, restaurant reviews and other Charlotte musings at offtheeatenpathblog.com.

4548 Old Pineville Rd

980-430-5403

clclt.com | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | 17

Food

THREE-COURSE SPIEL

A Guide to The Green Charlotte-based startup YoDish puts vegan options on yo’ fork

By Ryan Pitkin

CHARLOTTE KNIGHTS HOME ALL WEEKEND!

Charlotte Knights vs. Durham Bulls

FRIDAY

FIREWORKS AFTER THE GAME GAME AT 7:05 PM

SATURDAY

LIVE MUSIC AFTER THE GAME

FEATURING THE BAND GUMP FICTION GAME AT 6:05 PM

SUNDAY

PRINCESS DAY

APPEARANCES BY THE ENCHANTED PRINCESSES

KIDS RUN THE BASES AFTER THE GAME GAME AT 2:05 PM

TO PURCHASE TICKETS VISIT CHARLOTTEKNIGHTS.COM

Homestand Continues Monday-Wednesday vs. Rochester

charlotteknights.com 18 | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | clclt.com

When Taylor Slaughter first met Justin Cunningham, founder of YoDish, she knew he was on to something good.

Cunningham began developing YoDish, an app and website that helps users quickly find vegan food options in their area, in 2013. He originally experimented with just releasing an app but brought it back to the drawing board after hitting some roadblocks with the original design.

When they met, Slaughter was working with Sprouted Magazine, a vegan magazine she founded and ran until December 2015.

She saw then that Cunningham could use some help bringing the idea to market.

When she shut down Sprouted at the end of last year, she reached out to him with ideas for helping make his start-up more marketable. Cunningham and Slaughter, who both live in the Charlotte area, officially launched YoDish earlier this month in its first three markets: Philadelphia, Baltimore and Charlotte.

In the week leading up to the launch, while Cunningham worked on last-minute updates to each city’s vegan guide, Creative Loafing caught up with Slaughter to speak about how YoDish can help all Charlotteans, not just vegans.

Creative Loafing: How long have you been vegan and what has it meant for your life?

Taylor Slaughter: About 11 years now. It definitely made me a more compassionate person.

I think that the dedication it takes to put your health first and to stay committed to that, it makes you a stronger person. I also have multiple autoimmune diseases that cause me quite a bit of trouble and, with a vegan diet, I’m able to live a normal life. I’m able to help the environment and give myself a better life. It’s been the best decision I’ve ever made.

Is Charlotte have a lot of vegan options and has it been expanding?

I’ve been vegan since before there were any vegan restaurants or vegan options.

That’s part of the reason why I wanted to join this team. After learning about the service and what they were doing, I just knew that I was the perfect person because I know how much we need this service; how difficult it can be. And it’s not just

Taylor Slaughter for vegans. If you want to try “Meatless Mondays” or you’re not vegan but you have a vegan friend coming to town and you need to find somewhere to eat where everybody can eat, that service is so necessary. I think that it’s so important to get that out there so that vegan options don’t sound like such a world away.

I’ve been a Charlottean for about 9 years and I can definitely say that it has greatly improved. Charlotte is gaining vegan options.

As a vegan in Charlotte, I never have a hard time finding food. There’s a large vegan community here and there are so many restaurants that offer vegan options that it’s definitely made it easier. The world and especially this country is going in a healthier direction and Charlotte is certainly an area that is stepping up when it comes to those options.

Do you plan on expanding and/or updating YoDish now that it’s live?

We’re working on a feature where users can add restaurants, so if there’s something we missed, we can add it. The goal is to grow and make it a real user-involved experience.

If there’s something that’s not on there now, it will be.

As far as expansion, the sky’s the limit.

We have partnered with the Humane League. We’re partnering with them to raise awareness that also helps with our distribution. We plan to expand to every city where the Humane League is; so San Francisco, Denver, south Florida, Atlanta… we’ll be in all the metro areas where Humane League is by the end of this summer. rpitkin@clclt.com

me so w/ p U e l g g u Sn tonight!

LOVES CHILDREN

&OTHER PETS...

FOR DINNER

NEED A PET SITTER? ADVERTISE WITH A CREATIVE LOAFING CLASSIFIEDS AD! email pmoran@clclt.com

clclt.com | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | 19

Thursday

12

Silversun Pickups/Foals

FRIDAY

13 Friday the 13th Artshow

What: Either of these bands as a solo headliner would be worthy of attendance on its own, but the combined one-two punch of Silversun Pickups and Foals makes this one a must see.

Silversun Pickups earned plenty of accolades — and comparisons to early Smashing Pumpkins — on their own, but for me Foals is the stronger draw here. The band’s rhythmic and at times chaotic style always keeps a crowds’ attention in focus. Joywave opens.

What: The folks from Philly-based Nightwatch Studios are partnering with YYYY & Two Dimes for this art show that will feature original work from Tallboy & Krusty of NS. To give you a taste, check out the picture above. The works, a bit grungy and sometimes controversial and/or offensive, are worth a look despite whatever way they may rub you. For more on Nightwatch Studios, visit www. nightwatchstudios.com.

When: 8 p.m.

Where: The Fillmore, 1000 N.C. Music Factory Blvd.

More: $30. fillmorecharlottenc.com.

When: 8 p.m.-11 p.m.

Where: Art Hole NoDa, 908 E. 35th St. More: Free admission.

— Jeff Hahne

20 | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | clclt.com

— Anita Overcash

THINGS TO DO

TOP ten

Silversun Pickups Thursday

friday

13

SATURDAY

saturday

South End Hops Festival

Charlotte Dragon Boat & Asian Festival

14

14

The Addams Family Musical What: Get your fingers ready, as this musical will have you snapping along. There’s drama between husband/wife, Morticia and Gomez, and sibling chaos from Pugsley/ Wednesday as well as other lurking family members who make this a blood-line that’s to die for. The folks at Theatre Charlotte have turned the barn into a Gothic mansion for this show.

When: May 13-14, 8 p.m.; May 15, 2:30 p.m.; Through May 29.

Where: Theatre Charlotte, 501 Queens Road.

More: $12-$27. 704-376-3777. theatrecharlotte.org.

— Overcash

What: This festival features craft beer from an assortment of local and regional breweries (including Bhramari Brewhouse, Preyer Brewing Company, Boondocks Brewing, Draft Line Brewing and more), food trucks and live music from The Hashbrown Belly Boys and Rescued. Held outdoors in South End, it’s a good way to spend the day and possibly even take in some art along the way. General admission, VIP and designated driver tickets available.

When: 1 p.m.-6 p.m.

Where: 308 W. Carson Blvd.

More: $35-$50. southendhopsfestival.com.

— Overcash

What: Teams glide across Lake Norman, racing throughout the day for the sought-after champion title. The day is packed with cultural performances — countries like Vietnam, Burma and more are represented — and authentic cuisine. Stick it out for the last race. It’s the regatta you’ve always wanted to attend, but with cooler boats and more culture than you could imagine.

When: 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Where: Ramsey Creek Park, 18441 Nantz Road, Cornelius More: Free admission. charlottedragonboat.com.

— Courtney Mihocik

The Addams Family Musical Friday

News Arts Food Music Odds

Half Run Moon Saturday

Friday the 13th Artshow Friday

SATURDay

MONDAY

14

MONDAy

16

MONDAY

TUESDAY

16

16

17

Reverb Fest

Half Moon Run

Buckethead

Screaming Females

Trump Vs Bernie

What: This biannual festival held at Snug Harbor is one of the best ways to check out bands and musicians that make up the South’s bustling independent music scene.

You’ll find some local favorites like Miami Dice, Modern Primitives, and the new and buzzworthy Latin rock-quartet Patabamba slated to perform. Also on the roster are Alex G, Black Market, Cabron, Fat Geoff, Landless, Modern Moxie, Stereoloud and more.

What: Nearly four years ago, Canadian indie-rock band Half Moon Run shared a bill with Metric and blew me away from the opening notes. The band’s tight, CSN harmonies and Radioheadinspired riffs merged together into a hypnotic fusion that had me hooked from the onset... and I’ve been waiting for the band to make its Charlotte return ever since. Now, with a second album under their belt, the band hits the Q.C. as a headliner.

What: Buckethead is a sort of enigma. He wears a bucket on his head, a white mask on his face, and doesn’t do interviews (we tried).

Although he incorporates theatrical elements into his set, there’s much more to him than meets the eye.

A virtuso guitarist and multiinstrumentalist, this soloist has released more albums than we can count. That being said, don’t miss seeing him on this tour, his first in four years.

What: Buried amidst this New Jersey indie-rock trio’s frantic style is one of the land’s finest guitarists.

If you’ve been paying attention, you’re already aware of Marissa Paternoster’s talents from the band’s first six albums, but if not... we forgive you. Now’s your chance to catch up and get in the know.

There’s punk and bits of Sonic Youth influence here that’s kept things off-kilter enough to remain interesting for more than 10 years.

What: It’s a head-to-head showdown between Republican frontrunner Donald Trump and Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders.

Not the real Trump or Sanders, although that would be quite a spectacle. James Adomian portrays Sanders and Anthony Atamanuik portrays Trump in this mock “Debate Tour.” Here’s to hoping the show, which could have you laughing and/or crying, leaves you feeling “the Bern.”

When: 8 p.m.

Where: Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 36th St. More: $22-$25. 704-942-7997. neighborhoodtheatre.com.

When: 8 p.m.

Where: The Station, 2131 Central Ave. More: $10.

When: 7 p.m.

Where: The Comedy Zone, 900 AvidXchange Music Factory Blvd.

More: $20. 980-321-4702. cltcomedyzone.com.

When: 5 p.m.

Where: Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St. More: $10-$12. 704-561-1781. snugrock.com.

— Overcash

When: 8 p.m.

Where: Visulite Theatre, 1615 Elizabeth Ave. More: $15/$18. visulite.com.

— Hahne

— Overcash

— Hahne

— mihocik

clclt.com | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | 21

Arts

THEATER

George Hendricks

L-R: Ava Smith, Tessa Belongia and Nonye Obichere in QCTC’s Heathers: The Musical.

From bumping off to birthing

Heathers: The Musical

Reviews of Heathers: The Musical and Motherhood Out Loud

By Perry Tannenbaum

W

hen the movie first came out in 1989, Heathers was already raunchy enough for an R rating. But after the musical revels of Bat Boy, Spring Awakening, Reefer Madness, and Evil Dead have already pushed the envelope, raunchy in 2016 is an altogether different proposition. Three of the first six songs in the new Queen City Theatre Company production of Heathers: The Musical take us to places where the movie feared to tread.

“Candy Store” is fairly ballsy as the three Heathers — Heather Chandler, Heather 22 | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | clclt.com

McNamara, and Heather Duke — lay down the rules for admission into their elite clique.

But it’s Veronica’s “Fight for Me” that tells us ballsy is just the beginning. Newcomer J.D. shows her there’s somebody else to be impressed with at Westerburg High School.

Yes, the backup singers are chanting “holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!” Pretty soon, J.D. is encountering Veronica at a 7-Eleven and enticing her with the mind-numbing effects of Slurpees in “Freeze Your Brain,” comparing a deep sip to a hit of cocaine.

But when “Dead Girl Walking” climaxes, it’s a full-blown copulation song of animalistic

force. And unlike the movie, where J.D. is always breaking into Veronica’s bedroom, here it’s Veronica hungering for J.D. and hunting him down. “Shut your mouth,” she commands, “and lose them tighty-whities!”

With Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy combining on the book, music, and lyrics, Heathers is actually the lovechild of the mischief-makers who had separately brought us Bat Boy and Reefer Madness.

Besides Bat Boy, O’Keefe can claim the musicalized Legally Blonde on his résumé, while Murphy was head writer on Desperate Housewives. That should adequately preface

$29-$31. May 12, 7:30 p.m.; May 13, 8 p.m.; May 14, 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. Duke Energy Theater, 345 N. College St. 704-372-1000. blumenthalarts.org.

my declaration that the musical, which rocked the off-Broadway scene in 2014, outclasses the movie in every way.

The music certainly does rock, and with KC Roberge and Matt Carlson as our leads, it’s rocking harder here in the QC than it does on the original cast album. Directing the show, Glenn T. Griffin steers us quickly away from Glee territory, with Carlson’s highly-amped and punkish read on J.D., a brilliant move when the dreamboat turns out to be a raving psychotic.

But while Veronica mulls over the relative merits of staying in the Heathers’ good

graces or killing them off — an ambivalence Roberge sustains earnestly — it isn’t all sex, drugs, and rock. There are three pointed ballads in Act 2, one by a surviving Heather who is contemplating suicide, another by the cruelly shunned Martha Dunnstock (nicknamed Dump Truck) about her halcyon days in kindergarten, and a wistful VeronicaJ.D. duet, “Seventeen,” on the charms of being ordinary humdrum high schoolers.

When they aren’t plotting date rape, footballers Ram and Kurt are the clowns you expect jocks to be, but the unexpected jolt of new comedy happens at their funeral when their dads deliver their eulogies. Time after time, J.D.’s acts of homicidal mayhem result in unlikely epiphanies. The Heathers Band, led at the keyboard by Mike Wilkins, gives rousing support to “My Dead Gay Son” and all the other showstoppers, but it’s Tod Kubo’s choreography that pushes the big ensembles over the top.

The three Heathers retain their iconic croquet mallets from the film, but costume designers Beth Killion and Ramsey Lyric get Griffin’s drift and take their outfits in a more dominatrix direction. Together in various synced poses, they are sensational — all in major roles for the first time.

Tessa Belongia, a senior at Northwest School of the Arts, has the requisite queen bee regality for Heather Chandler, a bitch that O’Keefe and Murphy just couldn’t bear putting to sleep. She appears just once after J.D. offs her with Drano in the film, but here in the musical, she haunts Veronica repeatedly.

You wonder which Heather will be top dog after Chandler’s demise, and Nonye Obichere proves to be a worthy successor as Duke, not at all the dimwit of the movie but a lingering villainess until the finale.

Ava Smith, who also auditioned for the Blumey Awards last Saturday, was McNamara, the most sensitive of the Heathers, but she doesn’t give away her softness too soon.

Martha is a conflation of two of Veronica’s classmates in the film, making for a more satisfying stage character than either of her film components, and Allison Andrews capitalizes big-time on her anguished moment in the spotlight, “Kindergarten Boyfriend.” Griffin’s casting, Liam Pearce as linebacker Ram and Kaleb Jenkins as quarterback Kurt, cures the Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum aspect of the film — Pearce is far taller — helping us to feel that Martha is smitten by a real person rather than a generic jock in a school jacket. The horny pals are also a pretty effective comedy team.

Notwithstanding Carlson’s spiked hairdo, there’s a thread of 80’s nostalgia that lingers on. J.D. has this Paleolithic, Oklahoma

City notion of destroying his high school by planting remotely controlled dynamite packs throughout the building and setting them off with a detonator hidden down in the basement. Pretty lame compared with today’s hip style of grenades and assault weapons, right?

Adults are all as clueless as we remember from teen films immemorial, if not a bit eccentric. Here they’re interchangeable enough for three elders to play multiple roles.

Alyson Lowe is funniest as Ms. Fleming, the hippy-dippy teacher who wants the student body to assemble and ventilate after each murder. Steven Martin and Nathan Crabtree split four Dads between them, but their gay moment at the church funeral is unforgettable — and so very 2016.

What a wonderful idea Susan R. Rose and Joan Stein had for a Mother’s Day theatre event: a group of monologues and brief sketches, mostly by women playwrights, called Motherhood Out Loud. Turns out the brilliance of this idea largely belongs to Three Bone Theatre which staged the Charlotte premiere at McBride & Bonnefoux Center for Dance Studio last weekend. Nearly every other production that came up in my Google search, dating back to Fall 2011, opened during some month other than May. The timing helped, for some of the 22 stories were sappy, and the five “fugues” that prefaced the five chapters — “Fast Births,” “First Day,” “Sex Talk,” “Stepping Out,” and “Coming Home” — were unnecessary. The best segments were those that confounded expectations.

Although she perpetrated all those fugues, Michele Lowe also wrote “Queen Esther,” narrated by a Jewish mother whose son refuses dress up as any of the customary male characters for his school’s Purim party.

“If We’re Using a Surrogate...,” by Marco Pennette, was a gay father’s account of arranging — and attending — his daughter’s birth, two very awkward meetings with an obliging lesbian. Theresa Rebeck’s “Baby Bird” brought us the experience of an American mother adopting a Chinese baby, and “Michael’s Date,” by Claire LaZebnik, was a mother’s account of chaperoning her autistic son on his first date.

Perhaps the most unexpected piece was “Elizabeth,” where a divorced man goes home to his elderly mom and finds that he needs to mother her.

A cast of 18, sensitively directed by Kim Parati, helped us over the rough spots. So did that timing when we came to Jessica Goldberg’s “Stars and Stripes,” about a military mother, and Annie Weisman’s concluding “My Baby,” an unabashed description of the joy and pain of childbirth.

No better time for these than Mother’s Day.

clclt.com | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | 23

Arts

FILM

Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. in Captain America: Civil War Marvel & Disney

Behind the shield Suit up for smart superhero saga

By Matt Brunson

I

n the long run, it’s unlikely the notion of Team Cap or Team Iron Man will take root in the cultural lexicon in the same manner as, say, Team Beatles or Team Elvis or even Team Boxers or Team Briefs, but that’s mainly because Team Marvel trumps them both. In an era when 24 | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | clclt.com

superhero flicks hit theaters with the same frequency as bugs hit windshields, Captain America: Civil War (***1/2 out of four) still manages to rise above the fray and declare itself one of the finest pictures yet from Team Stan Lee. Or should this thing have been called Avengers: Civil War? It could certainly go

both ways. With no less than 12 superheroes on display, this clearly isn’t a one-man show; at the same time, it’s apparent that Captain America (as always, played to perfection

by Chris Evans) is the principal character in this chapter of the ongoing saga, more personally tied to the proceedings thanks to the involvement of his childhood friend

Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), now known (and feared) as the Winter Soldier.

Directors Anthony Russo and Joe Russo and scripters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely are able to make Civil War feel like a direct follow-up to both 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier and 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron. Intriguingly, it

Chadwick Boseman as the Black Panther Marvel & Disney

shares narrative material with the lambasted Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, with a discussion of whether superheroes should be allowed to roam — and fight — as they please or whether there should be some sort of governmental oversight when their actions lead to collateral damage.

This issue comes to a head right at the beginning of this picture, as civilian deaths lead both the U.S. government (repped by William Hurt) and the United Nations to propose a resolution wherein the Avengers will only act when given permission by these bodies. And here’s where the movie really starts to flex its intelligence, since it would be logical to assume that the patriotic, by-thebook Cap/Steve Rogers would be the one to agree to this and the arrogant, maverick Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) would be the one to snort and walk away.

But after the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, wherein Steve witnessed corruption at the highest levels of government, he’s no longer the all-trusting innocent, and he balks at this executive order.

Stark, on the other hand, is haunted by a number of deaths — many at the hands of his creation Ultron — and he thinks that maybe the Avengers should be reined in a bit. The line in the sand becomes even more pronounced once Bucky is fingered for a terrorist bombing and Rogers comes to his aid, thereby establishing himself and his allies

as fugitives.

Some, like War Machine/James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) and Vision (Paul Bettany), strongly side with Iron Man. Others, such as the Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Hawkeye/Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), firmly align themselves with Cap. And with heroes to the left of her, heroes to the right, here’s Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), stuck in the middle.

Black Widow (aka Natasha Romanoff) continues to be perhaps the most fascinating and complex character in this Marvel world order: smart, brave, witty, troubled, and able to read people and situations better than most of the others. She’s a dynamic figure — gee, you think somebody would give her a movie of her own.

There’s very little that Captain America: Civil War does wrong. After Avengers: Age of Ultron, which allowed too much bloat to get in the way of some socko individual scenes, this one establishes a beautiful balance between quieter character-driven sequences and splashy action set-pieces (the airport skirmish goes on a tad too long for my liking, but since it’s clearly the movie’s showcase moment, others doubtless won’t complain).

Tom Holland is introduced as the new Spider-Man/Peter Parker, and after the miscasting of Andrew Garfield in those underwhelming Amazing Spider-Hipster flicks, he’s simply divine, the geeky, motormouth teen we all know and love — along with Anthony Mackie’s Falcon/Sam Wilson and Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man/Scott Lang, he provides most of the film’s knowing laughs.

Also new to the roster is T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman, further demonstrating his range following his Jackie Robinson in 42 and his James Brown in Get On Up), African royalty who dons the sleek duds to fight crime as the Black Panther. T’Challa’s involvement in the proceedings ultimately becomes as personal as Steve’s, and he figures in many of the picture’s best moments.

Finally, there’s the villain of the piece: Zemo (Daniel Bruhl, so excellent as Rush’s Niki Lauda), an ordinary man as opposed to the godlike likes of Loki and Ultron.

Never missing a chance to add twisty issues of morality to their saga, Markus and McFeely provide even Zemo with enough backstory to make his reasons for his wrongdoing impossible to dismiss out of hand.

And, yes, there’s the requisite cameo by the one and only Stan Lee. The Marvel maestro has now clocked appearances in over two dozen superhero films, but his brief bit here ranks among the best. So does the movie itself.

clclt.com | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | 25

Arts

Happenings

Comedy Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte OTC presents “The Mother Of All Improv Comedy Shows.” $12-$15. May 14, 8 p.m. Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte, 650 E. Stonewall St. 704-618-4203.

OTCimprov.com.

Bonkerz Comedy Club Darryl Rhoades. May 1314, 8 p.m. 5624 Westpark Drive. 980-288-5653. bonkerzcomedy.com.

The Comedy Zone Charlotte Dave Attell. May 12, 8 p.m.; May 13, 7:30 and 9:45 p.m.; May 14, 7 and 9:30 p.m. $25-$30. Funny on the Fly. May 15, 7 p.m. $15. Comedy Fight Night Competition.

May 17, 7 p.m. $15. 900 N.C. Music Factory Blvd., Suite B3. 980-321-4702. cltcomedyzone.com.

Fitzgerald’s Irish Pub The Uptown Comedy Show. Thursdays, 9:30 p.m. Free admission. 201 E 5th St. 704-370-0687. fitzgeraldscharlotte. com.

Jackalope Jacks Comedy Open Mic. Tuesdays, 10 p.m. 1936 East 7th St. 704-347-1918. jackalopejacks.com.

Wet Willie’s Charlotte Comedy Theater. For more information, visit charlottecomedytheater. com. Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m. $10. 900 AvidXchange Music Factory Blvd., Suite C-1 704-716-5650. wetwillies.com.

Theater/Dance/ Performance Art The Addams Family Musical Musical based off of the popular TV show/movie of the same name. $12-$27. May 13-14, 8 p.m.; May 15, 2:30 p.m.; May 18, 7:30 p.m.; May 19-20, 8 p.m.; May 21, 2:30 and 8 p.m.; May 22, 2:30 p.m.; May 25-26, 7:30 p.m.; May 27-28, 8 p.m.; May 29, 2:30 p.m. Theatre Charlotte, 501 Queens Road.

704-376-3777. theatrecharlotte.org.

The Amazing Tour is Not on Fire Come see Dan and Phil in this theatrical stage show with hilarious anecdotes, sketches and audience interaction. $35-$110. May 17, 7:30 p.m. Belk Theater, 130 N. Tryon St. 704-372-1000. blumenthalarts.org.

Show Stoppers! Songs of Stage and Screen Presented by Carolina Voices’ MainStage Choir. Featuring the best scenes from Kinky Boots, Pippin, Chicago, Motown: The Musical, 26 | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | clclt.com

Once, and more. $21-$29. May 13-14, 7:30 p.m.

McGlohon Theater, 345 N College St. 704-3721000. blumenthalarts.org.

Heathers: The Musical Heathers, the Musical, is a hilarious, heartfelt and homicidal new show based on the greatest teen comedy of all time, based on the classic 1989 film. $29-$31. May 12, 7:30 p.m.; May 13, 8 p.m.; May 14, 3 and 8 p.m.

Duke Energy Theater, 345 N. College St. 704372-1000. blumenthalarts.org.

Gonzo: A Brutal Chrysalis COTU presents an over-the-top evocation of the iconic inventor of gonzo journalism, Hunter S. Thompson — in all his paranoid pill-popping, booze-swilling, gun-toting, phantasmagorical-prose-spewing glory. $10 online. May 16-19, 8 p.m. The Barn, 1911 Central Ave. citizensoftheuniverse.org

Visual Art Bechtler Museum of Modern Art The Art of Print. The exhibition spotlights rare works

by Hansjürg Brunner, Marino Marini, Eduardo Chillida, Bernhard Luginbühl, Cornélia Forster, Georges Rouault, Raoul Ubac, Italo Valenti, Martin Disler, Peter Emch, Camille Graeser, Alfred Hofkunst, H.R. Huber, Jean-Paul Michel, Eduardo Pignon, Anslem Stalder, Charles Walch, and Franz Anatol Wyss. Through June 19. The House That Modernism Built. The exhibit presents Bechtler Museum of Modern Arts’ rich mid-20th century art collection alongside furniture, textile and ceramic holdings on loan from other institutions and private collectors.

The show will emphasize process, examining how designers and artists tackled projects, and how the innovations in other disciplines from the sciences to the humanities influenced their direction. Through Sept. 11. 420 S. Tryon St. 704-353-9200. bechtler.org.

Charlotte Museum of History Enter the Dragon. The exhibition will feature a variety local and Chinese-American artists and rotating showcases and collections. Through May 31. 3500 Shamrock Drive. 704-568-1774. charlottemuseum.org.

CPCC Art Galleries CPCC Visual Arts Club Exhibition. Artists from the CPCC Visual Arts Club exhibit their works in the Balance Art Gallery (4th Floor, Library Resource Center).

Through May 31. 1201 Elizabeth Ave. 704-3306211. arts.cpcc.edu/art-gallery.

Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American

Arts + Culture 1960Now. 1960Now is an evolution of Bright’s “1960Who” series inspired by the Civil rights Movement, a collection of images featuring common grassroots youth activists of the 1960s. Through June 26. Art of a New Deal: African-American Artists in the WPA. This exhibition looks at six artists - Charles Alston, Ernest Crichlow, Allan Crite, Jacob Lawrence, Charles White and Hale Woodruff who were employed by the WPA. Through June 26. Dance Theatre of Harlem: 40 Years of Firsts.

This majestic exhibition of dazzling costumes, set pieces, and video excerpts celebrates an iconic company and its corps who defied prejudice, and gravity itself, in pursuit of their talent. Through June 26. 551 South Tryon St. 704-547-3700. ganttcenter.org.

Jerald Melberg Gallery Works by Thomas McNickle. The exhibit showcases works by Thomas McNickle. Through June 17. 625 S. Sharon Amity Road. 704-365-3000. jeraldmelberg.com.

LaCa Projects Collective II: Latin American Perspectives. The exhibit celebrates LaCa’s third anniversary and showcases work

by Latin American contemporary artists, including Carlos Estévez (Cuba), Juan Dolhare (Argentina), Vicente Hernández (Cuba), Ricardo “Chino” Morales (Costa Rica), Alicia de la Campa (Cuba), Otto Apuy (Costa Rica), Cristina Toro (Puerto Rico), Juan Carlos Verdial (Cuba) and Leandro Manzo (Argentina). Work by studio artists Luis Ardila (Colombia) and Rosalia Torres-Weiner (Mexico) is also featured.

Through June 4. 1429 Bryant St. 704-837-1688. lacaprojects.com.

Mint Museum Randolph American Ceramics, 1825-1875. The mid-nineteenth was a time for evolution, expansion and innovation for American ceramics. On view in this exhibit are works of art from the museum’s permanent collection, selected to illustrate the variety of American wares produced in the second and third quarters of the nineteenth century.

The objects range from the unadorned to the ornamented and include examples from prominent manufacturers and craftsmen active during this time period. Arts of Africa. A collection of art forms showcasing the vast cultural, physical, historical and religious diversity that can be found across the African continent. Classically Inspired: European Ceramics Circa 1800. The exhibit features examples of European ceramics and other works from the museum’s permanent

collection, which were inspired by classical antiquities. North Carolina Pottery, Then and Now. Selections from the museum’s recent exhibition, A Thriving Tradition: 75 Years of Collecting North Carolina Pottery, are supplemented by more highlights from the museum’s permanent collection. Threads of Identity: Contemporary Maya Textiles. This exhibition features Maya traditional clothing, including fashions of the Kaqchikel, Ixil, K’iche’, Mam, Tz’utujil, Chuj, Awakatek, Jakaltek and Poqomchi’ from Guatemala, and Tzotzil and Tzeltal from Chiapas, Mexico. Through Dec. 31.

European Art. The exhibit features a selection of fine and decorative European arts from the museum’s permanent collection. Ongoing.

Heritage Gallery. A themed, illustrated exhibit about the the inaugural installation of the Heritage Gallery at Mint Museum Randolph.

Ongoing. The Transformed Self: Performance Masks of Mexico. Featuring works from mask-producing regions of Mexico where dance performances commonly accompany religious rituals and civic events. Ongoing.

Ramesses the Great: Building Community. The exhibit spotlights a past exhibit, Ramesses The Great: The Pharaoh and His Time, which was the largest exhibition ever mounted by Mint Museum when it opened on October 1, 1988. Ongoing. Contemporary British Studio Ceramics: The Grainer Collection. This installation is a comprehensive survey of Contemporary British Studio Ceramics in the U.S. It comprises functional and sculptural objects made between the 1980s and now.

Ongoing. American Quilt Classics: The Bresler Collection. Featuring Fleur and Charles Bresler’s collection of American quilts. The quilts showcase a variety of visual impact, historical value, pictorial imagery and historical fabrics.

Ongoing. 2730 Randolph Road. 704-337-2000. mintmuseum.org.

Mint Museum Uptown Romare Bearden Gallery. A permanent gallery devoted to the work of Romare Bearden (1911-1988), who was born in Charlotte. Bearden is best known for his groundbreaking use of collage and vibrant portrayals of American life, depicting subjects that range from contemporary urban scenes to nostalgic recollections of the rural South. The Art & Craft of Shoemaking. The exhibit features an array of diverse and unique shoes, from past to present eras of the Mint’s permanent collection. The show explores both the cultural history and the meticulous craft of shoemaking. Through July 31. Here & Now:

80 Years of Photography at the Mint. The first survey exhibition of photography drawn solely from the Mint’s permanent collection. It’s comprised of approximately 100 of the Mint’s most stunning and provocative photographs.

Through Sept. 18. Kristina Rogers: Into the Labyrinth. Rogers combines aspects of art history, religion, and mythology with her own biography and private mementos to create intricately constructed images. Ongoing. 500 S. Tryon St. 704-337-2000. mintmuseum.org.

Soco Gallery Just Down the Road. Featuring works by Damian Stamer. Opening reception on May 18, 6 p.m.-8 p.m. May 18-June 30. 421 Providence Road. 980-498-2881. soco-gallery. com.

More Events Carolina Roots MusicFest Featuring performances by local and regional musical acts including nationally known bands. Also featuring a variety of food trucks. $25-$60. May 13, 3-10:30 p.m. and May 14, 9 a.m.-10:30 p.m. carolinarootsmusicfest.com.

6-8 p.m. Red@28th, 2424 N. Davidson St., Suite 112A. punanylove.com.

Workshop with Eliana Arenas This workshop, led by 2011 alumna McColl artist-in-residence Eliana Arenas, will focus on creating unique jewelry by incorporating recycled materials such as paper, soda cans, plastic containers and more. Each participant will bring their own recycled materials, ranging in color, size, or texture, to create a wearable work of art. $30. May 12, 6-8 p.m. McColl Center for Art + Innovation, 721 N. Tryon St. 704-332-5535. mccollcenter.org.

SandyFeet 5K Trail Run Each registration will include two “SandyFeet Select” beer tickets (if over 21) that can be used during packet pick up or during the day of the race at the Carolina Beer Temple and a T-shirt. All proceeds benefit Greater Matthews Habitat for Humanity’s mission $30-$40. May 14, 8 a.m. Colonel Francis Beatty Park, 4330 Weddington Road sandyfeet. com

Deep In Tha Jungle, Boiler Room Party An underground jungle themed BYOB party, presented by Sound Therapy. $10. May 13, 10 p.m.-2 a.m. Dupp&Swat, 2424 N. Davidson St., Suite 112B.

The Secret Gardens of Fourth Ward Hosted

by Friends of Fourth Ward who have gotten select homeowners to open their rarely-seen private gardens to the public. In addition to the gardens, the tour will highlight public art, historic homes and special points of interest along the route. This walkable, self-guided tour includes admission to a variety of private gardens, as well as docent-led tours of Fourth Ward Park. Additional tour attractions include free beer and craft cocktail tastings, horsedrawn carriage rides, complimentary “touronly” appetizers at nearby restaurants and more. May 14-15, 12 p.m.-4 p.m. $20, tickets are good for either day, and may be purchased online at fofw.org, or at Alexander Michael’s Restaurant & Tavern and Park Road Books or at the ticket booth on the day of the event. During tour hours, ticket-holders must redeem their tickets for tour guidebooks at the tour ticket booth at the corner of 9th & Poplar Streets in Fourth Ward.

Food Truck Friday Plaza Midwood Featuring more than 14 trucks, both new and old, local and visiting. Behind The Light Factory.

Admission free. Fridays, 5-9 p.m. Continues through Oct. 28 foodtruckfridaycharlotte.com.

Silent Disco Rooftop 210 hosts this EDM party with three DJs playing music (heard through headphones only (throughout the night). Free.

May 13, 8 p.m.-2 a.m. Rooftop 210, 210 E. Trade St., Suite 230B.

The Punany Poets The Head Doctor Show Jessica Holter’s The Head Doctor Show is an interactive, poetry based, erotic cabaret show rwith music, dance and comedy. $30. May 14,

Songs of Romance and Poetry for Solo Piano and Voice Pianist Matthew Manwarren and Tenor Jeffrey Price will perform Schumann’s ‘Dichterliebe, Op.48’, a masterful song cycle

Charlotte Symphony: Carmina Burana Charlotte Symphony presents this concert. $24.50-$94.50. May 12, 7:30 p.m.; May 13-14, 8 p.m. Belk Theater, 130 N. Tryon St. 704-3721000. blumenthalarts.org.

Charlotte Pet Expo Check out tons of petfriendly exhibitors and rescue groups, see live demonstrations in obedience training, pet care & activism, giveaways and prizes, costume contests, and more. Free admission. May 14, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and May 15, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Metrolina Tradeshow Expo, 7100 Statesville Road charlottepetexpo.com.

based on the poetry of Heinrich Heine. Free.

May 13, 7-8:30 p.m. Myers Park Baptist Chruch, 1900 Queens Road.

Vintage VW Bus Gathering (1953-1979) Featuring VW buses and transporters, from 1953-1979. Tie dye and love beads optional, but encouraged. Free. May 14, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Thomas T Sandifer House, 12601 Moores Chapel Road.

Lost Hollow Music Fest Spring 2016 Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden’s spring 2016 music festival will include live performances, food trucks, and fun for the family. Featuring music from Brown Eyes Music, Steady Rollin Bob Margolin, The Nighthawks, Mud Morganfield, Abe Reid, Mel Melton & Wicked Mojo and Jamie McLean. $12.95 for adults, $11.95 for seniors 60 and up, and $6.95 for children. May 14, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and May 15, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden, 6500 S. New Hope Road dsbg.org.

Carolina Clay Matters Spring Sale This free outdoor festival, held on the grounds of an old dairy farm and small orchard, hosts more than 60 local North and South Carolina potters, who will be selling different types of pottery. May 14, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. McAlpine Business Park, 8300 Monroe Road. carolinaclaymatters.org Learning Simple Illustration: From Drawing to Comics This class will be taught step-by-step, starting with simple line drawings and moving to drawing figures, subjects, and comics.

Everyone will be able to share their artwork to get feedback and connect. Materials provided.

Registration required. Led by artist Ráed AlRawi, a painting and illustration instructor at CPCC. May 14, 10-11 a.m. Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library (Plaza Midwood Branch), 1623 Central Ave. cmlibrary.org/calendar For Sister’s Only 2016 This empowerment event for African-American women features live music from national talent, fashion shows and tons of exhibitors from Charlotte and the surrounding region. May 14, 10 a.m.-7 p.m.

Charlotte Convention Center, 501 S. College St. Harrisburg Saturday Night Food Truck Rally Some of Charlotte’s favorite food trucks head out to the suburbs. In front of Harrisburg’s Town Hall. Free admission. Starts May 14.

Second Saturday of every month, 5-9 p.m.

Continues through Oct. 8 Harrisburg Town Center, 1400 Main Street & Roberta Road. eatfromatruck.com.

Yoga on the Roof Every Monday a yoga instructor will be leading folks on the path to balance body, mind and spirit. All levels are welcome. Bring your own mat. Held on Mondays; Continues through Aug. 29 Rooftop 210, 210 E. Trade St., Suite 230B. Shake.Stir.Sip.Socialize: Craft Cocktail Class Learn how to craft better cocktails in an interactive and fun environment. This cocktail class will focus on Gin and you will learn how to mix three different Gin based cocktails inspired

by Spring. $55. May 18, 6-9 p.m. and May 19, 6-9 p.m. The Gallery, 1320 South Church St. liberateyourpalateclt.com/special-events/.

An Evening of Poetry & Music (Una Noche de Poesía y Música) An evening of poetry and music with performances by local Latin American poets and musicians. This is a bilingual program. The program begins at 7 p.m. and is preceded by a reception in the Heritage Gallery at 6:30 p.m. Appetizers and beverages catered

by Gelitas Charlotte. May 18, 7 p.m.-8:30 p.m.

Mint Museum Randolph, 2730 Randolph Road.

704-337-2000. mintmuseum.org.

Which Way Home: Refugees in Charlotte Learn about the refugees and hear stories from individuals who have fled from different countries and are building a life in Charlotte. The event also explores what local organizations are doing to help. Free. May 15, 2 p.m.-4:30 p.m.

Levine Museum of the New South, 200 E. 7th St. museumofthenewsouth.org.

8th Annual Cuban Festival Featuring live music performances, fun kids’ activities, arts and crafts and delicious Cuban cuisine, the 8th Annual Charlotte Cuban Festival showcases some of Cuba’s rich culture and traditions. May 14, 3 p.m.-1 a.m. A Piece of Havana, 11126 S Tryon St. Back Alley Film Series Screening High-Rise.

May 18, 7:30 p.m. Charlotte Film Society members $5, Non-members $10 Carolina Cinemas Crownpoint, 9630 Monroe Road.

Queen City Dead Artists Society This program’s purpose is to keep art alive. Celebrating all manners of late artists, both visual & literary of all styles, this program is geared towards creating and cultivating artistic inspiration in all mediums. Meetings will be held the second Saturday of every month. Registration required.

May 14, 12 p.m.-1 p.m.Charlotte Mecklenburg Library (Plaza Midwood Branch), 1623 Central Ave. clclt.com | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | 27

Music

Feature

Beloved Binge performs at Double Door Inn on May 18.

Beloved Binge of connectivity Durham-based band uses music, film and theater as tools for happiness

By Anita Overcash

T

o say that Eleni Vlachos and Rob Gilbride, a husbandand-wife duo out of Durham, North Carolina, are thick-skinned isn’t all that far-fetched. For one, their DIY-approach to music and self-proclaimed “misfit pop” warrants the mindset, but their latest side project, #Comments, a film where the couple acts out some of the online 28 | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | clclt.com

comments written about their band, seals the deal.

The couple — Vlachos who plays drums, bouzouki, guitar and keyboards, and Gilbride who plays guitar and drums in addition to providing vocals — is currently touring as a band with a stop at Double Door Inn on May 18. They plan to launch a separate tour exclusively for the film in the near future.

This will be their second film endeavor; the first was a documentary about the benefits of living a vegan lifestyle, called Seeing Through the Fence. It screened at around 100 schools, colleges and universities, as the pair toured across the U.S. in a Volkswagon Westfalia camper, playing shows as Beloved Binge on the side at other venues along the way.

In #Comments, a 35-minute-long flick,

the couple plays the parts of aggressive commenters over the course of three acts.

When they tour with that film, they plan to cushion the flick between two other bands’ sets.

“Through humor and laughing at ourselves, we can improve and change conversations so that we’re not so mean to each other. Online people can leave really

Beloved Binge $8-$10. May 18, 9 p.m. Double Door Inn, 1218 Charlottetowne Ave. 704376-1446. doubledoorinn.com.

rude comments and it can be disheartening to see that,” says Vlachos. That’s what inspired me to do this project. I thought if we actually talked to each other like that and show how silly it is, wouldn’t that be funny?”

She also plans to let audience members read the comments from these real-life characters aloud at future shows.

Vlachos believes that this interactive component, like other interactive components that the band uses, adds a stronger element of connectivity between performer and audience.

“We do try to create a connection to the audience instead of ignoring them,” says Vlachos. “They become a part of the show rather than just observers.”

Having toured both in the states and across the pond, Vlachos has seen how connections are made through these types of interactions. On the duo’s last tour of Europe, she asked folks from audiences to draw and write about certain subjects — usually connected with goals and happiness. Then later, she collected the drawings and shared them on stage. In Brno, Czech Republic, she remembers meeting some of the friendliest people, but she also remembers collecting a piece of paper from a member of the crowd that read: “Please don’t bomb us, U.S.A.” “I was hurt by that so I had somebody translate a message that we’re here to connect with you, we represent that part of the U.S. and people loved it,” says Vlachos.

“The people were inviting us to become citizens of there country. They said we need your music because it cheers us up, so it was really nice and heartening to still connect with people even though we had a language barrier.”

During the band’s latest European tour, they spent extra time in Athens, Greece, where Binge, a Greek-American whose family came to the U.S. back in the 1960s, has family. While there, they recorded their fifth album, Never, The End, which incorporated Greek instruments like the bouzouki on select songs. When the band performs in Charlotte —along with Washington DCbased composer/guitarist Jon Camp and local act Avian Law — they will play songs from the album, set for an exclusive digital release on May 26 at Pinhook in Durham.

At the Durham show, the band will be handing out 35 vintage Garfield bookmarks

Kim Gray Photography

with download codes for the album written on the back. The bookmarks, part of Vlachos’ childhood collection, are just one of many items that the couple is shedding in preparation for a move to New York City.

“That sort of goes along with the theme of the album and the nature of the passage of time and structuring your life in a way that takes advantage of what you have,” says Vlachos.

Since they’re no strangers to packing light — they backpacked across Europe for their last tour — and have done extensive cross-country travel in a small van over the years, downsizing shouldn’t be a problem.

But the couple’s upcoming move to NYC, a city where Vlachos says they’ve played some of their worst shows to date, does require a good purge of material belongings.

For her, part of that process has come through reusing items — specifically, those

she connects to as an individual — as a way to connect with her current artistic output.

“It’s almost more beautiful to share them [the bookmarks] with people because it’s like instead of kind of hoarding something you’ve created a joy for other people,” says Vlachos. “It multiplies the effect that you would get by keeping them to yourself. I think that’s true of anything when you talk about connecting the community and being able to share your music.”

“My husband was joking because we couldn’t sell our vacuum so he was like, ‘We should just put download codes on our vacuum,’ but we didn’t,” she chuckles.

Never, The End is a follow-up to the band’s 2012 release, Pockets, which was largely inspired by the death of Vlachos’ father and filled with reflections on the feelings of grief and loss that come with loosing a parent. But the band’s upcoming release, Never, The End,

is another story. It revolves around living life to the fullest.

“I like to ask people questions: ‘What are your essential ingredients for a happy life? and ‘Are you doing those things?,” says Vlachos who was interested in pursuing creative endeavors at a young age — she loved using her tape recorder and constructing guitar-like devices with Kleenex boxes and rubber bands.

For Vlachos, an artistic pathway, specifically via music, film and outreach (side note: she was recognized as “Humane Hero of the Year” by The Humane Society of Charlotte during its gala back in January), was fitting.

“With this one [the album, Never, The End], it’s sort of a reminder that you are in control of your life to a large extent and you can choose how you’re going to live in it. aovercash@clclt.com

clclt.com | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | 29

30 | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | clclt.com

clclt.com | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | 31

Music

Soundboard

MAY 12 Classical/Jazz/Smooth Charlotte Symphony: Carmina Burana (Belk Theater)

Country/Folk *Em Young, The Whiskey Predicament, One Fine Damn Band & Bill Stroupe (Milestone) Kyle Forman (RiRa Irish Pub)

Hip-Hop/Soul/R&B R&B Live (Studio Movie Grille)

Pop/Rock

FRI 5/13

SAT 5/14 Sun 5/15

CHICK SINGER NIGHT MON 5/16

Alive After Five w/ 20 Ride (Zac Brown Tribute) (Rooftop 210 at EpICentre) Alive After Five w/ Who Rescued Who (EpiCentre) Animal Years (Evening Muse) Big Mean Sound Machine w/ Fat Cheek Kat (The Rabbit Hole) Kyle Forman (RiRa Irish Pub) River Jam w/ Brass-a-holics (U.S. National Whitewater Center) Shiprocked (Snug Harbor) *Silversun Pickups w/ Foals & Joywave (The Fillmore Charlotte) Sunset at Metropolitan w/ Dead 27’s (The Metropolitan) Thursdays on Main Evening Series w/ Gary Louder & Smoking Hot (Village Park, Kannapolis) Thursdays on Main Lunch Series w/ Connor Christian (Village Park, Kannapolis) The Traffic Jam All Star Band feat. Harvey Dalton Arnold (Double Door Inn)

May 13 Classical/Jazz/Smooth Charlotte Symphony: Carmina Burana (Belk Theater)

Country/Folk

FRI 5/20

HIPPO CAMPUS MON 6/13

Jeremy McComb + Rick (Puckett’s Farm Equipment, Charlotte) *Coyote Joe’s Birthday Party feat. Jon Langston, Tyler Hatley, & Out of the Blue (Coyote Joe’s)

Pop/Rock Bad Karol, Heart of A Ghost & Hashbrown Belly Boys (The Rabbit Hole) Chase Rice, Seth Ennis (The Fillmore) Chris Trapper (Evening Muse) *An Evening with Rachelle Ferrell (Knight 32 | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | clclt.com

Theater) *Faye EP Release Party Feat. Blanket Fort and Tape Daze (Snug Harbor) Lenny Federal Band (Comet Grill) The Mantras w/ Electric Soul Pandemic (Visulite Theatre) Music Box Lunch w/ Colby Dobbs (Romare Bearden Park) Summer Concert Series w/Chris Sanchez (Blakeney Shopping Center) Brad Bailey Jazz Trio (The Metropolitan) Woodie & the String Pullers (Stonecrest Shopping Center) Phantom Pop, Funk Rush (Evening Muse) Scott Miller (Double Door Inn)

May 14 Classical/Jazz/Smooth Charlotte Symphony: Carmina Burana (Belk Theater)

Blues/Roots/International Scythian (Neighborhood Theatre)

Country/Folk An Evening with Clay Cook (Evening Muse) Jem Crossland (Puckett’s Farm Equipment, Charlotte) Johnny Counterfeit (Don Gibson Theatre, Shelby)

Pop/Rock Back South w/ Headfun (Double Door Inn) Mary Fagan (Comet Grill) Heroes at Last (The Metropolitan) Paleface (The Rabbit Hole) Reverbfest (Snug Harbor) *River Jam w/ Forlorn Strangers (U.S. National Whitewater Center) Sebastian Bach (Amos’ Southend) Sun Dried Vibes w/ The Bleeps, Yuki X McSwavy (Visulite Theatre) Wicked Powers (RiRa Irish Pub) Summer Concert Series w/ Chris Sanchez (Blakeney Shopping Center) Woodie & the String Pullers (Stonecrest Shopping Center) Young and in the Way, Scowl Brow, Andy The Doorbum, Funeral Chic & Extermination Rite (Milestone)

MAY 15 Classical/Jazz/Smooth Concerts on the Green w/ Sidecar Social Club (Davidson Village Green, Davidson)

View from the couch For reviews on the latest in home entertainment, visit

clclt.com/charlotte/view-from-the-couch/

DJ/Electronic

Pop/Rock

STRFKR w/ Com Truise & Fake Drugs (Neighborhood Theatre)

*Beloved Binge w/ Avian Law (Double Door Inn) Bubonik Funk w/ Sinners + Saints, No Mi Toques & Koosh (Snug Harbor) Party in the Park w/ North Tower Band (Romare Bearden Park) Modern Heritage Weekly Mix Tape (Snug Harbor)

Pop/Rock Andy Frasco & The U.N. (The Rabbit Hole) *Chick Singer Night (Visulite Theatre) The Devil Makes Three w/ Trampled by Turtles (The Fillmore Charlotte) Mobile Deathcamp, Dirty South Revolutionaries & Kairos (Milestone) Omari and the Hellraisers (Comet Grill) Sense of Purpose f. Paul Agee, Chris Allen, Joe Lindsay, Jody Gholson (Tyber Creek Pub)

COMING Soon

*Apocalyptica w/ 10 Years, Failure Anthem (Amos’ Southend) Del Rio w/ Future Punx, Wieuca & Big Morgan (Snug Harbor) Music Box Lunch w/ Dave Haywood (Romare Bearden Park) Fairplay & Special Guests (Lucky Lou’s Tavern)

Chris Stapleton (May 19; CMCU Amphitheatre) The Neighbourhood (May 23; The Fillmore) Brandi Carlile (May 27; The Fillmore) Susto (May 27; Visulite Theatre) Lincoln Durham (May 28; Evening Muse) Selena Gomez (June 7; Time Warner Cable Arena) Ellie Goulding (June 9; CMCU Amphitheatre) R. Kelly (June 9; Time Warner Cable Arena) Dead & Co. (June 10; PNC Music Pavilion) Weezer, Panic at the Disco (June 10; PNC Music Pavilion) Kurt Vile (June 11; Amos’ Southend) Miranda Lambert (June 11; PNC Music Pavilion) Lucius (June 13; Visulite Theatre) Death Cab for Cutie, Chvrches (June 16; CMCU Amphitheatre) Lake Street Dive (June 17; The Fillmore) Chris Cornell (June 20; Belk Theater) Weezer, Panic at the Disco (June 20; PNC Music Pavilion) The Cure (June 23; PNC Music Pavilion) Aesop Rock (July 1; Visulite Theatre) Vans Warped Tour (July 5; PNC Music Pavilion) Garbage (July 23; The Fillmore) Gwen Stefani (July 23; PNC Music Pavilion) Peter Frampton, Gregg Allman (July 26; CMCU Amphitheatre) Counting Crows and Rob Thomas (July 27; Time Warner Cable Arena) Slipknot, Marilyn Manson, Of Mice & Men (Aug. 2; PNC Music Pavilion) Motion City Soundtrack (Aug. 10; The Fillmore) Maroon 5 (Sept. 11; Time Warner Cable Arena) Brian Wilson (Sept. 19; Belk Theater) * - CL Recommends

MAY 18

Need directions? Check out our website at clclt.

MAY 16 Blues/Roots/International Manu Chao Tribute (The Rabbit Hole)

DJ/Electronic Knocturnal (Snug Harbor) #MFGD Open Mic (Apostrophe Lounge)

Pop/Rock All Sounds Fair Benefit w/ Lara Americo, Hectorina (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Bloc Party w/ The Vaccines *Buckethead (Neighborhood Theatre) The Monday Night All Stars (Double Door Inn) Wicked Powers (Comet Grill)

MAY 17 Classical/Jazz/Smooth Bill Hanna Jazz Jam (Double Door Inn)

Country/Folk Red Rockin’ Chair (Comet Grill) Tuesday Night Jam w/ The Smokin’ Js (Smokey Joe’s Cafe)

Pop/Rock

Country/Folk Gareth Asher & The Earthlings w/ Benny Basset (Evening Muse) Open Mic (Comet Grill)

com. CL online provides addresses, maps and directions from your location. Send us your concert listings: E-mail me at Aovercash@ clclt.com or fax it to 704-522-8088. We need the date, venue, band name and contact name and number. The deadline is each Wednesday, one week before publication. clclt.com | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | 33

Ends

Marketplace

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34 | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | clclt.com

Nightlife

The Dirty Dozen visits the Queen City Planning a family-friendly night out

Recycle me, please

PHOTOGRAPHY

Ends

Friday each month and we’re planning for Believe it or not, I kept it low-key the second. And another sigh. this past weekend. The work week consisted After realizing we were eating dinner in of a schedule adjustment consisting of the area, I thought I would try searching for, early mornings and late nights in order “jazz in Ballantyne.” I came across an event to accommodate my boyfriend who needed in Ballantyne Village at D’vine Wine Café to borrow my car. That meant only a few and again my hopes were lifted. Nope, that after work excursions — obviously — which event was over a year ago and they’re closed included a couple margaritas on Cinco de now apparently. I decided to check out event Mayo and book club, my newest “adult” calendars on Charlotte Culture Guide and activity.

Charlotte’s Got A Lot, clicking the “Kids and By the time Friday arrived, I really didn’t Families” tabs, which felt so strange. feel like socializing at all. And even though In any other situation, I would have I got off work early, the commute home let my parents fend for themselves while I via light rail and a lost Uber landed me on partied it up at Silent Disco’s ‘Rave the Roof’ the couch a full two hours after leaving party at Rooftop 210 at EpiCentre for my my office. No nap after a long week equals friend’s birthday. But this time, I have an antisocial Friday night vegging in my whole family’s entertainment front of the TV. Not to mention, to worry about. My goal was the next morning I was leaving to find a lounge-like place the Q.C. to visit my mom for with live music and drinks Mother’s Day. that was large enough to I woke up the next accommodate them all. morning, hopped in my But most of the venues car and headed North on I’ve been to like this, are I-85 towards the family small and intimate. home, an hour or so away.

My last ditch effort Shortly after arriving, my was going to be Blue mom asked, “Have you Restaurant & Bar located found a place the family Aerin Spruill in Hearst Tower in Uptown. can go after graduation?” I While I was weary about the fact let out a huge sigh. that it was a restaurant, I decided to My cousin is graduating from check out its website. Anxious to find out Winston Salem State University this whether this was going to be the winner, I coming weekend and the entire family is headed straight to the “Events” tab. coming to Charlotte afterwards to celebrate.

The first thing I saw was, “Join us Things to note: Yes, Charlotte is a celebration for Live Jazz on Fridays with Buff Dillard destination when you’re from the country. (every other week) at 9 p.m.! No cover Secondly, when I say the entire family, I’m referring to more than 12 people — we charge necessary, first come first serve. Free even get called the “Dirty Dozen” when we parking for Blue customers validated in the travel for vacation. Since my mom tasked me Hearst Tower or complimentary valet.” I with finding a place for everyone to enjoy scrolled down to view the dates, and what nightlife in the city, I was — for the first do I see? May 13th! As excitement started time, in a very long time — in uncharted to build, I clicked “Contact” and saw the territory. venue had won a “Best Place to Hear Jazz” Where could 12-15 people go for after award. Yes! dinner for drinks and entertainment in a I called the Blue to see if I needed family-friendly setting? I was perplexed reservations for my large party. And guess since I’m the only heavy partier in the who scored an 8:45 p.m. reservation for the fam. So, I decided to do what any rational bar-lounge area featuring couches and chairs Charlottean would do during this dilemma, that supposedly can accommodate up to 15 online research. My aunt had mentioned people? That’s right, yours truly. And the wine and jazz so I started my search with best daughter of the year award for planning “live jazz in Charlotte, North Carolina.” The an epic family night out goes to ...

Bechtler Museum of Modern Art came up What’s even better? I still may make it to fairly quickly and I thought, ‘This is it!’ But Silent Disco after all. Tell me, where have you after clicking the link, not only did I find taken your large family in the city? I’d love to that live jazz shows require tickets (at $14 a know for the next time around. pop), but the events only occur on the first backtalk@clclt.com

Ends

Crossword

SELF-CONTAINED SYNONYMS ACROSS

1 Do another shoot of 7 “2001” co-star Keir 13 Deli hangers 20 Person de-wrinkling 21 Narcissist 22 Sea dog 23 It aptly contains the letters R-A-I-N ...

25 Dustin Hoffman film 26 Lab aide with a hump 27 ... O-P-E-N 29 ... M-U-T-E 37 “Failure is - option” 38 Apiary units 39 Understand, in London 41 “No need to wake me!”

45 Think up 47 - -Soviet relations 48 Slate wipers 51 ... T-A-I-N-T 55 ... U-G-L-Y 57 Like a sheep 58 Bring up, as a subject 59 AOL delivery 64 Deer cousin 65 ... F-I-C-T-I-O-N 70 Martial arts teacher 72 “... - horse to water ...”

74 Tristan’s companion 75 ... E-A-R-L-Y 78 NYC airport 81 Posting with a hashtag 82 Satire 83 Watchable Web journals 85 ... M-A-L-E 89 ... R-U-I-N 95 Relevant 96 Israel’s Abba 98 Actress Rebecca De 99 Puritanical 100 Lost control in a skid 103 “... or - story goes” 104 Furious with 108 ... R-A-U-C-O-U-S 111 ... N-O-B-L-E 115 Russian city on the Oka 116 Hotel bonus 117 What the 11 answers in this puzzle are called 126 Tough rivals 127 French card game

128 Sun-circling ring 129 Ones sawing wood 130 Despise 131 Like Kia cars

DOWN

1 Tear 2 Slip or trip 3 Hostile force 4 Magazine for an exec 5 Necklace of flowers 6 “- Passes By” (A.A. Milne play) 7 Alternate route 8 Lorre’s role in “Casablanca” 9 Auction set 10 Cicero’s card count?

11 “- Beso (That Kiss!)”

12 With 90-Down, free 13 - voce (under one’s breath) 14 “It’s - cause” 15 Drug used to treat Parkinson’s 16 Flabbergast 17 Face hider 18 “Why would -?”

19 Bygone British gun 24 “Can - now?”

28 French “a” 29 In vogue 30 Resort island near Venice 31 Cake baker 32 Sofa or pew 33 This, to Juan 34 Swiftness 35 Wiesel who wrote “Night” 36 Clangor 40 Lip-puckering jawbreakers 42 Fulfilled 43 Hi-tech bookmark 44 -Ops 46 Post-punk genre 48 Morales of the screen 49 “Pan Am” star Christina 50 Terrified 52 “- seen worse” 53 None at all 54 Like kiddie-pool water, often 56 Partner of neither

58 Misbehaving 59 Seer’s power 60 Body of eau 61 Meth- ending 62 Method ending 63 Arise quickly 65 Wray of film 66 AAA service 67 Land in l’Atlantique 68 Bardic work 69 After-tax 71 Novelist Calvino 73 See 77-Down 76 Writer Leon 77 With 73-Down, early portrayer of Tarzan 79 Procured 80 Farming-related: Abbr.

83 Poison from a snake 84 Addition total 85 Plan (out) 86 Tax Day mo.

87 - Lanka 88 Plebeian 89 Actress Delany 90 See 12-Down 91 Sci-fi empath Deanna 92 Engrossed by 93 Home to Honolulu 94 Science guy Bill’s family 97 Prickly husk 100 Cardinal’s cap abbr.

101 WWII ship sinkers 102 Revolving gun holder 105 Emerge 106 Library gizmo 107 Huge gulf 109 Modern: Prefix 110 Ticking thing 111 Brinker of kid-lit 112 Harbinger 113 Pixar title fish 114 Barely made, with “out” 118 Flying expert 119 Rebel Turner 120 College sr.’s test 121 Try to win 122 NHL great Bobby 123 Sushi eggs 124 Genetic stuff 125 - Antonio

Solution found on p. 38.

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Is sex wearing your wife out, HUH, or is raising three kids wearing your wife out? I suspect it’s the latter.

Dan Savage Therapy couldn’t hurt…

But in answer to your unless you get a terrible question: Infrequent and therapist… in which case it underwhelming sex, sometimes could. Start your therapist hunt with an obligatory vibe, is not only the at the American Association of Sexuality sex life a 48-year-old married father of three Educators, Counselors, and Therapists can expect, it’s the sex life he signed up for. (aasect.org), and you’re likelier to find a There’s nothing selfish about wanting more good/sex-positive one. sex or wanting it to be more like it was. Kids, As for why your “weird and awkward” however, are a logistical impediment—but first impression seemed to be less of an a temporarily one, provided you don’t go impediment when you were sleeping with nuclear. men: Men aren’t subjected to male sexual A couple’s sex life can come roaring back violence at the same rates that women are. so long as they don’t succumb to bitterness, Women have a lot more to fear than men recrimination, and sexlessness. To avoid all do, UPITT, and a weird-and-awkward first three, HUH, it might help to ask yourself impression is far likelier to turn off a woman which is the likelier scenario: for years into dudes than it is to turn off a man into your wife faked an interest in dirty talk, dudes. The man you flirt with at a party foursomes, toys, porn, etc., in order to trap might think, “Dude’s weird and awkward but you, or your wife is currently too exhausted he’s hot,” and jump into bed with you. But to take an interest in dirty talk, foursomes, the woman you flirt with at a party is likely toys, porn, etc. Again, I suspect it’s the latter. to think, “Dude’s weird and awkward and My advice: masturbate more, masturbate he’s hot, but he’s just too weird to risk it.” together more, lower your expectations Something else that couldn’t hurt: getting so you’ll be pleasantly surprised when a on a site like OkCupid and approaching joint masturbation session blows up into bisexual women there. You may have better something bigger and better, carve out luck with women if your initial interactions enough time for quality sex (weekends are over e-mail. away, if possible, with pot and wine and And finally, UPITT, there are gay and Viagra), discuss other accommodations/ bi men out there who desire stability, too contingencies as needed, and take turns — and stability and “promiscuity” aren’t reminding each other that small kids aren’t mutually exclusive. small forever.

clclt.com | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | 37

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For All Signs: The message in the

zodiac calls us to break from living out the tired old dramas. If we are to save our world we need to change paradigms. Taking revenge for past wrongs is not a cool thing to do.

Neither is acting out the same old creaking stories between men and women, or letting warriors rule the planet just because they are louder than peacemakers. Any thinking person would have to agree that continuing our warring history in the same way will not accomplish anything better than what we’ve got: a circus of a world that is trapped in constant replay. Each of us can choose a better option for whatever is happening personally. We do not have to be in replay mode forever. If you can think of nothing new or better to do about an issue refuse to take the same old stance. Then hold the question in mind before you go to sleep. A fresh and improved version of dealing will be “there” for evaluation in the morning or within the next 48 hours. That pressures the mind to come up with a better solution. It’s miraculous.

Aries: Your planetary ruler, Mars, is

retrograde throughout this month. This planet represents your aggressive and selfprotective side. It is best used on behalf of someone less well off than yourself. You are drifting through a prolonged stasis period (April 17-June 27) in which it is a challenge to make forward motion. Accept this as a time of natural rest and let go of fighting the river.

Taurus: You may change your mind about

a previously made decision this week. You have the opportunity during this period to expand your social territory. You may also be experiencing gifts and benefits offered to you from others. This generosity in turn, is absorbed into your psyche and you want to share with those in your life who have been important.

Virgo: Love and social life are high on

your priority list now. You may not have the time to attend to all your invitations!

Short distance trips, errands, and education, whether it involves teaching or learning, are all on the A-rated list. You have a need to communicate the ideas that rush through your mind.

Libra: At long last! Money or resources that have been owed to you are beginning to return. That will relieve your mind. A tax return may be in order now. Romance and creativity continue to be on your plate in a positive way. During this period you can readily make a necessary or decorative item out of nothing of value.

Scorpio: The next couple of weeks are

especially good for discussing important subjects with partners. You each are in a cooperative frame of mind and communications flow well. You can give and receive mutual help at this time and improve the overall energy in the relationship.

Sagittarius: Your physical and libidinal

energy are in a dip for a few weeks. You may be surprised to find that you have changed your mind about circumstances and people in your life. Do not worry. You haven’t lost your mind. You are needing a rest and will return refreshed if you relax now. Let things be as they are for the moment.

Capricorn: Your creative energy bulges

with the arts. Artistic pursuits, love and romance, along with relationship(s) to children are open for your enjoyment.

Someone from the past may cross your path. If it is to be, then the connection will be repeated near May 30th with greater intentionality.

Gemini: It may be necessary to review

Aquarius: You continue to be in a holding

financial business this week, but it will pay off around May 30th with positive results.

Give consideration to your blessings and for the people around you that you love.

You have an eye for that which is beautiful, shapely, and of fine design.

pattern while you wait for the debris to clear out of your way. The thing for which you wait requires time. It is a lesson in patience.

Don’t turn it into negative self-talk. Hang in there while mentally visualizing your desired outcome.

Cancer: During this week you will enjoy

Pisces: This week is about finding healing

Leo: You may be tending to your own or another’s healing on either the physical or emotional level. The emotional wound is old and is tied to a previous sense of abandonment that once occurred in your life. Somehow that old ache is being soothed

Are you interested in a personal horoscope? Vivian Carol may be reached at 704-366-3777 for private psychotherapy or astrology appointments. (There is a fee.) www.horoscopesbyvivian.com.

home, hearth, and family. That also includes those whom you think of as an extended family, such as coworkers or maybe a special circle of friends. The arts and all things of beauty are of a special pleasure to you now.

38 | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | clclt.com

at this time and you feel less isolated in the world.

on either the physical or emotional levels.

You may be the healer or the healee. It is possible that alternative medicine may play a role. If a friendship or a more significant relationship needs mending, now is the time to do so. You are willing to open your heart and mind to give and receive at this time.

clclt.com | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | 39

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Join us on June 25 as Charlotte’s finest bartenders battle it out to concoct the best margarita in the city - and YOU get to be the judge. Sample over a dozen margaritas as we kick off summer 2016 the right way. The drinks will be cool and the music will be hot!

Tickets on Sale Now! margaritawars.eventbrite.com 40 | maY. 12 - maY. 18, 2016 | clclt.com