Creative Loafing Charlotte by Creative Loafing Charlotte

Clclt.com | April 14 - April 20, 2016 Vol. 30, No. 08

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APRIL 28

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Editorial

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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.

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Rosalia Torres-Weiner’s “The Magic Kite”

cover story The beer guide: What’s Brewing in Charlotte? By anita overcash, ryan pitkin, Laura eason, Madeline lemieux This week’s cover was Designed BY anita overcash and Dana Vindigni.

News&VIEWS Transcending the headlines: New

Transgender support group wants folks to know they’re not alone

By ryan pitkin

a fighting chance: Group works to stop child abuse before it happens

By ryan pitkin

15 news of the weird 16 Editor’s Note 17 Blotter

Flying with Tito: Local artist’s deportation story adapted to stage

By ryan pitkin

30 34

Food 30 Beer guide Extra 31 three-course spiel

Arts&Ent spying on hamlet for laughs: And, then, there’s BOOM By PERRY TANNENBAUM 36 film reviews 38 Spot shots 40 Happenings

Music

Giving Back: Sierra Leone’s Refugee all stars offer hope to the hopeless

By Anita Overcash 48 soundboard

Odds&Ends

32 Top 10 Things To Do 50 Nightlife 51 Crossword 53 Savage Love 54 Horoscope

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Even your grandma gets it.

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News

Feature

Ryan Pitkin

A few of those who attended Transcend Charlotte’s latest meeting, including founders Trey Greene (center in vest) and Che Busiek (center in tie).

Transcending the Headlines New transgender support group wants folks to know they’re not alone By Ryan Pitkin

or many people, North Carolina House Bill 2 is a talking point; something to argue over on social media and disrupt the life of Springsteen fans for a night. But for the people in Wedgewood Baptist Church last Sunday night, HB2 is a threat to their way of life. They were there for Transcend Charlotte, 12 | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | clclt.com

a service and support group for transgender people in the area that has been meeting since summer 2015. Although Sunday’s meeting was focused loosely on HB2-related issues, the group is about much more than that. At its most recent meeting, members spoke about “passing,” being stared at, depression and any other subjects that came up as a result of the HB2 talk.

“We pick a topic and just go with it. It gives people an outlet to say, ‘Here’s a bunch of other people and they’re like me and that’s cool,’” said Che Busiek, co-founder of the nonprofit. “We have about 10 regulars who are the core members, and the rest of the people come to one or two meetings and they’re good. They make friends there and we see these friend groups branch off.

They’re able to sit down in a meeting, talk a little bit, but the main thing is they see other people who are like them, make friends with them, and they’re able to do their own thing. That’s awesome.” A seemingly small moment shared at a single meeting can make all the difference for someone struggling with gender identity or a traumatic past, a common thing in the

transgender community. Research differs, but studies have shown that over half of transgender people have been sexually assaulted, with some studies putting that number as high as 66 percent. According to transgender antiviolence organization Forge-Forward, 41 percent of transgender people have attempted suicide at some point in their lives, and that number increases to 64 percent for transgender people who have been sexually assaulted. With or without a traumatic past, transitioning can be a lonely process. For Busiek, who only realized he was transgender last year at the age of 29, it was a confusing time that led to depression and self doubt. He had grown up in a small West Virginian town and had never heard of a transgender person. He had been an out lesbian since his teenage years, but knew something wasn’t right. “The best way I’ve heard it explained is if you pick up a pen with your non-dominant hand and try to write, you could write but you’re going to know it doesn’t feel right,” Busiek said. He attended counseling, but it only led to more confusion and dismay. “I was almost 30 and still binding my chest,” he said. “That’s something that you feel like, OK, when you’re in the fifth grade and you start going through that, that’s one thing, but once you get to adulthood you’re like, am I going to grow out of this? Is this something that’s going to go away? I talked to my counselor and the counselor didn’t know what to do. This is when I really had a mental breakdown. If the counselor doesn’t know anything about this, maybe there’s nobody like me. I didn’t know what to do.” Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Busiek soon found himself in a bakery — driven by pure instinct — seeking out a trans man he had met once through a friend. He startled the guy by asking him midshift if the two could talk in private. “He’s thinking I’m going to tell him something terrible,” Busiek said. “I said, ‘Dude, I need you to talk to me about trans people. I don’t know anything and I’m really not doing well.’ He was like, ‘Oh! That’s it? I can do that, that’s fine.’ So he broke it down for me and put me in contact with a counselor and that’s really when the journey started taking off for me.” He said he felt like he broke through a wall. Since then, everything has changed for him. “It was because I never had anybody explain it to me and I’d never heard anything about it,” he said. “I’d never had any examples and I didn’t know that that was a real thing. So to have somebody say, ‘This is a journey and you’re going to go on it for the rest of your life and where you are is cool and there’s lots of people like you,’ that to me was a gift.”

Transcend Charlotte Free. April 24, 6 – 7 p.m. Wedgewood Baptist Church, 4800 Wedgewood Drive. www. transcendcharlotte.com.

Busiek’s new friend at the bakery gave him a homework assignment: go meet another transgender person. Busiek was flummoxed. It had taken him 29 years to meet just one trans person. He set up a meeting with Trey Greene, a transgender man that he heard from a friend was interning at local LGBT youth service and support center Time Out Youth. The two met and discussed the difficulty of connecting with others members of the transgender community. Soon thereafter, they began holding an event called GenderFusion at Petra’s Piano Bar in Plaza Midwood. GenderFusion is a variety show originally created to raise funds for Greene’s top surgery — a sex reassignment surgery that often involves a bilateral mastectomy — but would later fund the creation and continuation of Transcend Charlotte. “[Transcend] started out just as a group for trans guys, but we had so many people contacting us from all over just needing help,” Greene said. “People were calling us in the middle of the night and saying, ‘I’m 55 and I’ve never come out to anybody.’ It really just rose out of the need in the community. It wasn’t the plan to do it, it was just a matter of so many people wanting to have that space where they could talk and where everybody is welcome.” As helpful as that is, Busiek and Greene have created more than just a place where people can talk. They’ve also added TransCloset to the services offered by Transcend. TransCloset offers free clothing choices for those going through transition to keep or just express their gender identity at meetings.

Transcend isn’t the first support group for transgender people in Charlotte. A group called Genderlines has been meeting for years and is popular among the older trans population, while Time Out Youth also offers support groups for younger people. Transcend aims to help the demographic in the middle, although people from all over-18 age groups attend meetings and Busiek and Greene work with organizers in each of the previously mentioned organizations. They will refer people to anywhere that can help them. Transcend is an open group that invites anyone to join. Its most recent meeting

“I want you to know that there is a reason to live and that you’re not the only person that’s like you. We want one person at a time to feel like they are wanted and loved and see that there are other people that are like them. That’s it, and if we do that then I did my job.” Che Busiek, co-founder, transcend Charlotte

included an asexual cisgendered person, a partner of a transgender person and the mother of a teenaged transgender person. The group’s openness is one reason it’s grown so quick. Between 25 and 30 people show up to an average meeting, which can sometimes be too many for an effective support group. At Transcend’s next meeting on April 24, the group will branch out, offering a separate group for parents or partners that will run simulatenous to the regular meeting.

“We get a lot of parents that don’t know what to do,” Busiek said. “Because that’s a death, that’s a loss for them. It’s not that they’re child is gone or anything, but it’s a loss of a son or a daughter.” He said his mother is supportive of his transition in theory but still struggles with it. “For my mom, that’s something she cannot deal with,” he said. “She’s trying so hard to be supportive but I understand. That’s hard. You had a daughter and you can have all those memories, but I’m your son now.” Susan Mayo attended the most recent meeting with her 18-year-old transgender son, Ethan. The Queen’s Grant High School senior came out as transgender to her last year. “That was pretty difficult. He came out to me [as a lesbian] a while before that. It didn’t shock me. It didn’t surprise me at all. But this was a lot harder,” Susan said. “I’m going through my own transition too of dealing with the fact that I had a daughter and she doesn’t exist anymore. That’s tough. I haven’t shared a lot of that with him.” As a way to discuss her own personal journey while helping her son through his transition, Susan launched TransMom, a Facebook blog where she writes about her son’s process and broader trans issues. The blog became a point of contention between her and Ethan when she began posting personal things about him. Things came to a head when she posted before and after photos. He confronted her about it and she quickly removed the pictures. Ethan now says the whole process has made them closer. “I say everything that I’m feeling to her,” Ethan said. “There are some things that I obviously can’t talk to my friends about that are really personal to me. If I need to talk about something that’s about me and my body, I have to tell someone, and it has to be my mom. We’ve obviously gotten closer and found mutual respect about what’s OK to talk about and what’s OK to do.” For people who don’t have a mother like Susan to turn to, Transcend can either serve as that family or just a quick respite from a stressful time. Busiek recalled a recent visitor who attended and said she had been so depressed and didn’t think she had anywhere to go. “That to me is why I’m here, because I want you to know that there is a reason to live and that you’re not the only person that’s like you,” Busiek said. “We want one person at a time to feel like they are wanted and loved and see that there are other people that are like them. That’s it, and if we do that then I did my job.” rpitkin@clclt.com

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Newsmaker

A fighting Chance Group works to stop child abuse before it happens By Ryan Pitkin

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Advocacy Center in Charlotte, there were 14,401 child abuse cases reported in Mecklenburg County during the 2013-’14 fiscal year. April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, and for the fourth straight year, members of the Mecklenburg Child Abuse Prevention Team (MCAP) will be campaigning to raise awareness for ways to be proactive about reducing the numbers listed above. MCAP is a network of representatives working with a number of child-serving organizations throughout the county, from agencies like Pat’s Place to bigger and broader organizations like CMS and YMCA. This year, MCAP and other volunteers will be planting blue pinwheel gardens throughout the city, including at 50 schools, to raise awareness for the programs and services that can help prevent child abuse. In the lead-up to a March 31 press conference marking the beginning of the April campaign, Creative Loafing spoke with LuAnn Ritsema, co-chair of MCAP, about how the group has adapted over the last four years. Creative Loafing: How are things changing this year with the MCAP campaign, if at all? LuAnn Ritsema: We’re starting to look at how to expand it a little bit. We start gathering in the fall to see how we can build our efforts around Child Abuse Prevention Month because that’s a great time to do it. This year we added a small website (www. meck4kids.com) and have started social media pages. Part of that hope is to begin having some tools to help us keep the message going longer — past April — and have resources up that will be available any time. How does MCAP’s work differ from the work done year-round by the individual organizations involved? One of the things we want to focus on is how to keep child abuse from even happening; what are the things that we all can do to keep kids safe? That includes things like support for families and parents; training and educating people on what the signs of abuse can be; how to report that; how to talk with children and teenagers; how to help them understand what boundaries are and how they can be agents in their own safety; finding people that they can trust to talk to if they feel uncomfortable in some way; and understanding those rights and responsibilities.

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LuAnn Ritsema, co-chair of the Mecklenburg Child Abuse Prevention Team. What are some key aspects of child abuse prevention education? We sometimes think that abuse is just physical or sexual abuse, it can also be verbal or emotional abuse. So, one of the best things we can do is talk with our children about how to prevent becoming a victim and teach them some basic safety skills. Let them know they can talk with you about anything that bothers them. There are some different things that people use to do that, such as talking about the difference between having a good secret or a bad secret. Another thing is helping kids understand that their bodies belong to them and helping them understand the names of their body parts and things like that. Also, training parents for when a child comes to talk to them; how to talk to them if they suspect something is happening, to remain calm and make sure they’re listening carefully and creating that safe space for children to talk about whatever is bothering them. How does MCAP’s work translate into schools? We have reps from CMS schools on the team with us and they’ve developed curriculum. We’ve expanded it each year so now we have one that goes from kindergarten through 5th grade. They have developed lesson plans that they use in the classrooms, and they’ve also shared them with us so that they are also available on our website in our resources section. We’re also looking at how to develop programs for middle schools and high schools through social media. rpitkin@clclt.com

News

News of the weird

By Chuck Shepherd

Precedent Department of Veterans

Affairs employee Elizabeth Rivera Rivera, 39, was fired after her arrest (followed by a February guilty plea) for armed robbery, but when she was sentenced only to probation, an arbitrator ordered the VA to rehire her — and give her backpay she “earned” while sitting in jail awaiting trial. (She had been the driver for a man arrested for a street robbery in San Juan, Puerto Rico.) Rivera’s union had demanded the reinstatement without salary penalty — for “fairness” — because the same Puerto Rico VA office had earlier hired a convicted sex offender, and the office’s hospital director, recently charged with DUI and drug possession, avoided VA discipline because of technicalities about the traffic stop.

Evolution of Civil Rights Turmoil

in Selma, Alabama, March 1965: The historic “Bloody Sunday” at the Edmund Pettus Bridge ultimately became a turning point in the battle for voting rights. Turmoil in Selma, Alabama, March 2016: The town is riven by demands for stricter enforcement of the ordinance requiring horses on the street to be wearing diapers — a campaign led by Ward 8’s Councilman Michael Johnson: “I’m tired of it because there’s other things I could be doing than dealing with horses.”

Urges Ms. Ashton Barton, 33, charged

with shoplifting a vibrating sex toy from a CVS pharmacy in Largo, Florida, in February, tried for police sympathy by explaining that she was in a troubled marriage. “My husband doesn’t want to touch me anymore,” and “I would rather do this than be unfaithful.”

Government In Action Neighbors of a loudly frisky couple in a Stockholm, Sweden, apartment building were so frustrated by the noise that they reached out to the country’s health minister, Gabriel Wikstrom — who took the side of the randy couple (according to a translation by Stockholm’s The Local): “Sounds nice for them, I think. Good for their wellbeing and thus public health as well.”

grandmother’s handicap-parking badge, explained that she was merely “using it in her honor.” (February)

Feminism

In Insects German researchers, publishing in March, revealed that female burying beetles uniquely discourage their mates from pestering them for sex after birth — thus explaining how the male of this species is observed actually helping with child care. The females apparently release a chemical “anti-aphrodisiac” to the father’s antennae. Said the lead researcher (a woman), “They are a very modern family.” Said another biology professor (also female), “Burying beetles are supercool.”

We’ve Got It Good Science Magazine

has stated that the “butthole” is “one of the finest innovations in the past 540 million years of animal evolution” — in that, until it developed, animals’ only channel of waste removal was through the same opening used for food intake. However, the recent discovery, announced at a March conference by a University of Miami biologist, that gelatinous sea creatures called comb jellies can excrete via other pores, was labeled by the magazine as “stunn(ing).”

The Emerging American In 2000, the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared that measles had been eliminated in the United States, but by 2014 Americans had resurrected it, with 677 reported cases. Researchers from Emory University and Johns Hopkins set out to learn how — and recently found the dominant reason to be the purposeful decision by some Americans to refuse or delay widely available vaccinations (especially for their children). (The researchers found similar, but less-strong conclusions about whooping cough.)

Undignified Deaths (1) An 86-year-old

charged with several instances of indecent exposure to Amish people near New Holland, Pennsylvania, in March told police that he targeted them because he knew they would not use phones to call police.

woman died in February in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, when she tripped and got her medical alert necklace caught on her walker, strangling herself. (2) A 25-year-old off-duty New York City police officer was killed on a highway near Elizabeth, New Jersey, in March. According to the police report, the officer had rear-ended another car and had gotten out to “discuss” the matter, then suddenly pulled his service revolver and threatened the driver using road rage-type language. As the officer backed up while pointing the gun, a passing driver accidentally, fatally struck him.

Trouble With the Law (1) Valerie

Fine Points of the Law Joe Vandusen

Sound Logic Benjamin Grafius, 39,

Godbout, 33, visiting Orlando from Montreal and charged with drug possession after alerting police with erratic driving, told the officer that she was on the wrong side of the road because that’s the way traffic works in Canada. It’s not. (March) (2) Emily Davis, 21, caught by police in Portsmouth, England, displaying her recently deceased

said he has had no contact whatsoever with his estranged wife for “16 or 17 years” and that both moved long ago to other relationships (Joe currently living with a woman, raising both his two children and her two, as well). Nonetheless, Vandusen’s “real” wife recently gave birth, from another father, and, without claiming Vandusen as the father, filed in

February for child support from him. In the Vandusens’ home state of Iowa (like the law in many states), he must pay regardless of any DNA test, unless he gets an expensive court order to “de-establish paternity.

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

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

IronY Ervin Brinker, 68, pleaded guilty to Medicaid fraud as CEO of the Summit Pointe health care provider in Michigan and was sentenced in January to 32 months in prison. He had embezzled $510,000 in “mental health” payments and apparently spent it all on a Florida fortune teller. On The Campaign Trail Two of the three candidates for the Republican nomination for county property appraiser in Erwin, Tennessee, in November died before the election, leaving Rocky McInturff the only survivor. However, he is ineligible for the nomination because he lost badly on election day to one of the two dead candidates. Least

Competent

Criminals

Albuquerque police encountered Leonard Lopez, 26, inside a Chevy Cobalt car (that was not his) just after midnight on March 30 after neighbors reported a man screaming inside, flashing the car’s headlights. A panicked Lopez was upside down, with his feet on the dashboard and his head and shoulders wedged under the steering wheel, hands and arms tucked inside his sweatshirt. He was charged with burglary, and police guessed he was probably going through opiate withdrawal.

No Breathalyzer Needed Maryann Christy, 54, was arrested in Roselle, Illinois, in January when police spotted her driving through town with a 15-foot-tall tree firmly lodged in the grille of her car, sticking straight up. She was apparently too intoxicated to recall where she “acquired” the tree or how many minutes earlier that was. Peak Florida On March 23 on Interstate 95 near Melbourne, Florida, two tractortrailers collided, spilling their contents on the road. One truck was carrying Busch beer and the other various Frito-Lay products.

NOTW Classic (January 2012) For

people who become stressed when asked to prove their identities by biometric scans of fingerprints, hand prints or eyeballs, Japan’s Advanced Institute of Industrial Technology has developed a chair frame that authenticates merely by sitting down: a buttscanner. Professor Shigeomi Koshimizu’s device produces a map of the user’s unique derriere shape, featuring 256 degrees of pressure at 360 different points and could be used not only to protect vehicles from theft, but also, when connected to a computer, to prevent log-ins by those with unauthorized posteriors. backtalk@clclt.com

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Editor’s note

Greetings from a familiar face On new beginnings and brews

OPENING WEEKEND THURSDAY-SUNDAY Charlotte Knights vs. Durham Bulls

THURSDAY APRIL 14TH

THURSDAY Thirsty thursday Charlotte Cheers to Knights Baseball vs. Durham Bulls

GameAPRIL at 7:05PM FRIDAY 15TH

Fireworks after the Game 7:05PM

THURSDAY

SATURDAY APRIL 16TH Thirsty Thursday!

$3DOMESTIC $1SODA DRAFTBEER

Live Music Post Game Cheers withto theBaseball Band RetroActive Game at 12:05PM 7:05PM

SUNDAY APRIL 17TH FRIDAY

Teenage FinalMeet Regular Season Mutant Ninja Turtles Home Game Michelangelo and Fireworks after the Leonardo 7:05PM at 2:05game PM

TO PURCHASE TICKETS OR FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT

charlotteknights.com 16 | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | clclt.com

staffers come and go — most recently editor It’s pretty fitting that my first issue and longtime music guru, Jeff Hahne. as the new editor of Creative Loafing would Luckily, Hahne — who has moved on be a Beer Guide. But this isn’t because I’m to other exciting adventures — will still be a beer aficionado. Thanks to Charlotte area breweries and a slew of locally-organized contributing to Top 10, as well as to our beer-related events, I finally — after years music section and to our Vibes music blog, and years of trying to find beers I liked to no where he’ll write-up concert reviews. avail — know what to order at the bars. On the coming side, there’s news editor A longtime CL staffer, I came here nearly Ryan Pitkin, who joined our staff as a fulla decade ago under Carlton Hargro (editor time employee back in July of 2015. A CL from 2006 to 2011). Hargro introduced me contributor before that, Pitkin has a vicious to the wonderful world of wine, which in appetite for breaking news and finding turn left me unwilling to part with those compelling stories to share with readers. “extra” drink tickets that friends had come His coverage on the abduction of Homer, to expect from me at Loafing functions. the mascot of Charlotte Knights, spiked our But over the past few years, my preference webviews and gave us a much-needed laugh. for alcoholic beverages took a turn in a And then, there’s little ol’ me. Having different direction. Festivals like Charlotte worn a variety of hats during my tenure Oktoberfest, Q.C. Brewers Fest, North with CL — including Listings Editor, Carolina Brewers & Music Festival, Assistant Arts & Entertainment and CL’s own, Moo & Brew: Editor, Web Content Editor, Craft Beer & Burger Festival and Associate Editor — I’m (this Saturday, April 16) as dedicated as ever to gave me the chance to providing the community taste an assortment of with an alt weekly that craft beers from local and serves as Charlotte’s regional breweries. primary source of arts That’s not to say that and entertainment with I didn’t pour out quite alternative food, music and a bit of samples here Anita and there in my quest to news coverage. discover my beer preference. A few things about me that Overcash And, I’m not ashamed to admit you may not know: I’m a redhead. that I’ve learned I’m somewhat of I have a pet gecko and I’m the proud a minority in the beer world. You won’t keeper of the longest living CL office goldfish, usually find me “oohing and ahhing” over Crash (born around 2008). I love to travel most IPAs, other ales and stouts, but you and I’ll travel for music (Big Ears Festival in will find me wetting my whistle on sours of Knoxville, Tennessee being my latest concert any kind. venture). Oh, and I’m one of those rarities who I have D9 Brewing Company to thank was actually born in Charlotte — Presbyterian for introducing me to my first sour, a nowHospital, to be exact. retired brew called Iocaine, and for many As you’ve already learned, I’m also a more brewed up along the way, including supporter of Charlotte’s ever-growing craft Viking Froach. Sours are the first beer scene, as well as our solid arts and thing I look for when I go to any music scenes. I look forward to increasing CL’s brewery and most breweries are buzz with compelling stories on some of you making room for this niche along fine Charlotteans who’ve made this city such a their taps. great place to live and work for all these years. That’s not to forget other nonFeel free to drop me a line or tap me on sour brews like Wooden Robot the shoulder if you see me at a local watering Brewery’s Good Morning Vietnam hole — because I’ll sure as hell need a drink and Legal Remedy Brewing’s World from time to time. Taking on the editorial Court White Chocolate Mocha Stout. helm of an award-winning alt weekly is no These fall into a sweeter class of craft easy task, but it’s worth losing some hairs for. beer and my picky beer tastebuds love them, too. I love how Charlotte continues to thrive with That being said, my beer journey — a growing population that’s bringing arts and sweet and sour — has been much like my entertainment, music, and restaurants to the journey here at CL. Being somewhat of a table for coverage. Cheers to that! Have a story dinosaur here means that I’ve seen a lot of idea? Hit me up at aovercash@clclt.com.

News

Blotter

By Madeline Lemieux

Case in Point A Steele Creek man may

abandoned the scene, and no items were reported stolen.

have sealed his fate with an ex following a messy breakup recently. A judge ordered a temporary domestic violence restraining order to keep the fueding couple apart. This didn’t sit well with the man, who proceeded to violate the order by warning his ex that if she were to make the restraining order permanent, he would sue her. The woman followed suit by notifying police that this threat was a violation of the temporary restraining order already in place.

Spit Decision A 58-year old Belmont man was returning to his apartment after a morning trip to the grocery store, but would soon need to return to the store after some unknown person spoiled them. The victim reported that a stranger approached him, shouting obscenities and spitting on groceries the victim was carrying. The victim told police the suspect then drew a razor blade, but quickly retreated without using the weapon on the victim.

Shady Character Security at a Steele Creek grocery store recently intercepted a thief who was attempting to exit the store with stolen merchandise. The suspect had caught the attention of store employees when he entered the store and quickly filled a shopping cart with groceries, then headed for the store exit. According to police reports, security was able to stop the thief and recover the groceries, but the shoplifter did make off with a pair of sunglasses he had swiped during his spree.

Waterworks A Hickory Grove woman was moving into her new home when she discovered that the house came with a feature that the realtor hadn’t mentioned — an indoor pool. Apparently, prior to the homeowner’s move-in date, someone had broken into the crawlspace below the house and stripped 65 feet of copper pipes. As soon as the woman had the water turned on, her crawlspace and much of her bottom floor flooded.

Standard Procedure When an

Backpay An employee at a University

employee at a Rivergate bar showed up for his opening shift, he discovered the restaurant in a state of disarray: the beer kegs hadn’t been properly shut off, and broken liquor bottles littered the floor, totaling over $1000 in damages. Suspecting that the bar had been broken into, police investigated the scene before concluding that “no criminal activity had occurred.” In other words, someone had one hell of a party.

City pizzeria was arrested after managers observers him removing $90 in cash from a register and handing it to an accomplice, who was also a former employee. Maybe skip the risky take-out and arrange for a delivery next time?

old woman couldn’t get a persistent suitor to leave her alone, she asked her dad for back up. Unfortunately, this just added fuel to the fire and the stalker began targeting the Dilworth dad with harassing phone calls. After receiving a series of violent threats — including the oddly specific “I will go to Concord Mills and fuck your daughter” — Dad turned the matter over to police, who have opened an investigation on the desperate dater.

Amateur Hour After discovering that a suspect had shattered his window and broken into his car while it was parked overnight at an Independence Boulevard motel, a man conducted his own investigation and informed police that it couldn’t possibly have been a break-in, because “the one item of value” in the car hadn’t been stolen. In an unrelated incident, when a citizen set on performing their civic duties spotted a marijuana roach that had been discarded on Remount Road, they picked the item up and transported it to the Westover police. No word on whether CSI has been succesful in testing the mouthpiece for DNA.

Breaking, Not Entering A crook

Hands Off Loss prevention officers at

Father Knows Best When a 20-year

got sent back to the drawing board last week after his planned burglary went bust. The suspect tried to gain entry to a car dealership by breaking in, but quickly realized he was in the used tire shop next door. He then broke down an interior door that he believed would get him to the car dealership, but found that it actually just lead to the tire shop’s office. Still believing he could find a way into the car dealership, the suspect then began to pry panelling off of the office walls. Unfortunately, once he tore down enough of the wall to pass through, he found himself in the tire shop’s bathroom. The suspect finally

a Northlake store caught a man attempting to steal a household appliance described in police reports as a “sick vacuum” (we’re not sure if sick is a typo, or if the vacuum was just really cool and awesome). When security attempted to stop the suspect from leaving the store with the totally rad appliance, the suspect grabbed him in the groin, according to the report. That’s an interesting take on the “five-finger discount.” Blotter items are chosen from the files of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty. backtalk@clclt.com clclt.com | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | 17

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Views

Newsmaker

Flying With Tito Local artist’s deportation story adapted to the stage By Ryan Pitkin

Between playing a large part in the NUEVOlution exhibit at Levine Museum of the New South, working on her second large mural along Central Avenue and beginning work on a culinary project with Heritage owner and chef Paul Verica based on her art, it’s safe to say Rosalia Torres-Weiner has had a lot on her plate recently. Soon, the self-proclaimed “artivist” will celebrate the culmination of years of work around deportations and family separation with the premiere of The Magic Kite, a play based on a set of 22 illustrations TorresWeiner painted on wood panels in 2011 to tell the story of a fictional character named Tito. Renowned playwright Jose Cruz Gonzalez worked with Torres-Weiner to adapt the story for the stage, and the play will premiere at Children’s Theatre of Charlotte on April 22. Creative Loafing visited Torres-Weiner at her west Charlotte studio to discuss how the play came about and why she left her successful career as a commercial artist to focus on activism. Creative Loafing: How was the original idea for The Magic Kite born? Rosalia Torres-Weiner: In 2011, I was a very successful muralist and I hired other artists to work with me. I was making good money and providing jobs to other artists. Then I saw that deportations were happening here in Charlotte and how families were getting separated and I thought, ‘How can I tell this story and at the same time educate our community?’ I went back to my Mexican culture. The kite is a big icon culturally. I started to think of a little boy who has a magic kite and he goes to the sky in search of his dad after he gets deported. On the way he finds coyotes. He flies over the coyotes and he says, “Coyote, please help me find my dad. Have you seen my dad?” Then I said, ‘Who’s going to write about deportations? Nobody is going to publish it, nobody knows me, it’s going to be hard.’ I am a muralist. I cannot paint small. I said, ‘I’m just going to paint on wood and bring it to schools and libraries and educate teachers and kids,’ because I figure that maybe other non-Latino kids would see Latinos with a different set of eyes and think, ‘Maybe he’s a Tito. He’s like him, who lost his dad.’ I brought my illustrations to libraries and schools and said, “Can I tell you a story?” Before it was ever discussed as a

The Magic Kite $12-$20. April 22, 7:30 p.m.; April 23, 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.; April 24, 2 p.m.; April 30, 3 p.m.; May 1, 2 p.m. ImaginOn’s Wells Fargo Playhouse, 300 E. 7th St. ctcharlotte.org.

play, it led to you founding the Papalote Project, in which kids who have lost a parent to deportation build their own magic kites. How did that progress? The purpose of the workshop was to teach kids to tell a story through art just like I do. I remember I said, ‘Where can I find these kids?’ I knew a few from friends, but I wanted to reach out to a lot. Another friend connected me with Our Lady of Guadalupe, one of the biggest Catholic churches in Charlotte. I went there and I found families. I went through three masses, and after the last one people finally came to my table. There was a lot of kids who were angry. They were upset and they didn’t want to talk. Especially one kid named Emmanuel, he was socially withdrawn. He was not drawing, so I pulled him aside and said, “Hey Emmanuel, do you miss your dad?” because his dad was deported and he said, “No.” And I’m like, “How about your mom?” And he said, “My mom cries a lot, because she misses him a lot. She’s in the kitchen cooking or ironing and she’s always crying.” I said, “When I paint, I put those feelings on my painting and then I feel better. Why don’t we draw your mom in the kitchen.” And he did. He was six and this was 2012. And now, still, he is my best friend. He is coming to The Magic Kite premiere. So how did you connect with Children’s Theatre of Charlotte and turn your story into a play? My friend introduced me to Mark Sutton, associate artistic director at Children’s Theatre of Charlotte. He introduced me to Adam Burke, artistic director at Children’s Theatre of Charlotte. Adam was just coming in. My husband heard him on the radio because he was the new director (in March 2013), and my husband called me and said, “Your guy is on the phone!” I listened to the interview and I heard his background and where he has worked and I was thinking, ‘He is my guy. He’s going to listen to me.’ I brought my illustrations and he said, “Tell me your story.” He has the perfect poker

Rosalia Torres-Weiner in her studio with some of the “Magic Kite” panels. face. Just nothing. I’m going, “So there is a boy who has a little kite, his dad taught him how to fly his kite, and the culture, and da da da,” and at the end he is just looking at me and I’m very nervous and he goes, “I love it! We’re going to adapt it as a play. And I am going to commission the best playwright out of Los Angeles, Jose Gonzalez.” I didn’t know him at the time but I’m like, [gasps] “This is real?” What has it been like to transition from a commercial artist to an artist who focuses on activism? The funny thing is that every time I finish a workshop, I always ask the kids, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” All these kids, they say, “I want to become an immigration lawyer, I want to be a judge, I want to change the law.” I don’t think people realize that what they’re doing to these kids; kids don’t forget. These kids are going to grow up, go to school and make a change and be in charge. That’s why I thought, “I need to record this part of American history with my art.” This is why I changed from painting murals. You know how many Tuscany scenes I’ve painted? Wine cellars, kitchens, bathrooms, etc. And I was making a lot of money and doing good. Now, I’m painting that mural on Central Avenue with the skyline of Charlotte. I’m doing that for free. I got a little grant to cover the materials. I’m not getting paid anything for this. But somebody came to me and said, “God bless you for making this area beautiful by telling a story through us,” and that was more for me than any money I could make. That’s what I do my job for. I went from the hotel business to flight attendant to commercial artist to activist — an “artivist” is what I’m calling it

Ryan pitkin

now — and this is it. This is why I wake up every morning and I come to this studio or I go to the street and paint. When people come to my studio and they see the art that I do, one lady said, “I live in a bubble, thank you for educating me.” When it’s her turn to vote, she’s going to think, how is her vote going to make a difference? Have you seen similar effects on families with the recent deportation raids targeting teenage refugees from Central America? It’s the same thing. I’m going to speak about that at an “Education not Deportation” rally in Marshall Park on April 20. These kids that they’re targeting who are going to school, that’s wrong. Who’s thinking to go after students? This could have been a doctor, this could have been a teacher, but no, you stopped them from going to school. I feel for those parents. I know as a mom, you’d rather be deported than your son or daughter. That’s for sure. That’s a double fear with not knowing what is going to happen to your kids. Politics is like a big circus right now and I don’t know where we’re going. Other countries probably are laughing at us. What do you hope people take away when they come to see The Magic Kite? For the non-Latinos, it’s to know what is going on in the Latino community. For the Latinos, which is more important because the play doesn’t have a happy ending, I want them to know that there is hope. Even if they build the highest wall, even if they deport us and separate us, there’s the love that will keep us together forever and we’re going to be OK. rpitkin@clclt.com clclt.com | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | 19

Food

Cover story

What’s Brewing in Charlotte? It’s easy to get drunk on local beers Compiled by anita overcash, ryan pitkin, laura eason, madeline Lemieux

s Charlotte becoming a craft beer hub? That’s a question to ponder as new breweries spread at rampant speed across the Q.C. They cluster in spots like NoDa and South End, where going on a bar hop sounds more dangerous than fun (don’t even try to hit up all of them for a drink on the same night or you’ll end up with a hangover). 20 | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | clclt.com

But neighboring ‘hoods and cities are getting a taste of the growing industry, too. It’s safe to say that every few months, there’s a new announcement — whether it be a new brewery or plans for an expansion (we’ve already seem NoDa and Birdsong, among others, move to bigger and better spaces). That’s why we here at CL have come up with this extensive guide to local breweries. Our

hope is that you use this guide as an anchor for exploring the many craft breweries that are in Charlotte and the surrounding area. There are plenty of watering holes to choose from. Get out and support them so that they can continue to grow and put Charlotte on the map for a craft that’s worth the buzz. For this guide, we asked folks at local breweries some basic and fun questions. You

might be surprised by some of the answers. There are beers with ingredients like ham, grits and catnip, right here in Charlotte? Wow. If that’s not being experimental, then we don’t know what is. Meanwhile, they also gave us the scoop on how the breweries got their names and what to look for on tap — and there’s a lot to choose from. Cheers to that!

Google Maps

1 2 3

Rock Bottom Brewery

Three Spirits Brewery

Birdsong Brewing co.,

Legion Brewing,

NoDa Brewing Company,

Primal Brewery,

401 N. Tryon St., Suite 100.

1016 N. Davidson St.

2921 N. Tryon St.

5046 Old Pineville Road

1906 Commonwealth Ave.

16432 Old Statesville Road, Huntersville

Free Range Brewing,

D9 Brewing Company,

Heist Brewery,

AssClownBrewing Company,

OldeMecklenburg Brewery

Bayne Brewing Company,

Sugar Creek Brewing Co.

LakeNormanBrewing Company,

Triple C Brewing Co.

Sycamore Brewing

2320 N. Davidson St.

2909 N. Davidson St.

4150 Yancey Road.

215 Southside Drive

2900 Griffith St.

2161 Hawkins St.

11138 Cornelius

Treynorth

Drive,

10620 Bailey Road, Cornelius

19507 W. Catawba Ave., Cornelius

159 Barley Park Lane, Mooresville

Cabarrus Brewing Co.,

329 McGill Ave. NW, Concord

High Branch Brewing Co.,

325 McGill Ave. NW, Suite 148, Concord

Lenny Boy Brewing Co.

Rivermen Brewing Company, 22 1500 River Drive, Belmont.

Wooden Robot Brewery,

Full Spectrum Brewing, 23 2168 Carolina Place Drive,

Unknown Brewing Co.

2224 Hawkins St.

1440 S Tryon St., Suite 110.

1327 S. Mint St.

Suite 108, Fort Mill

Legal Remedy Brewing,

129 Oakland Ave., Rock Hill

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Food

Cover story

Heist Brewery

NODA

Birdsong brewing co.

(birdsongbrewing.com) Opened: December 2011 Type of brewery: Microbrewery Beers to go: Sells four-pack cans and growlers Behind the name: “The name Birdsong came from the fact that Conor Robinson, our head brewer, sounds like a bird when he snores. When he and founding partners were doing brewery research they thought there was a bird in their hostel, when in reality it was just Conor snoring.” # of beers on tap: Between 8-12 beers on tap Best seller: Higher Ground IPA Experimental brew: Jalapeño Pale Ale. “It’s a pale ale infused with fresh, locally grown jalapeño peppers with the seeds (removed by hand), so you catch the flavor and aroma of the green peppers without the heat.” Call a cab (beer with highest ABV): Higher Ground IPA (7 percent ABV) Stay Sober (beer with lowest ABV): Free Will Pale, Lazy Bird Brown and Jalapeño Pale Ale are all 5.5 percent ABV and Doin’ Thyme Witbier is 4.3 percent ABV. Bragging rights: Won several awards at the Carolina Championship of Beers from 20122015. In 2015, Lazy Bird Brown Ale won a silver award for “American Brown Ale” in the NC Beer Cup. Fun fact: “All of our beers are named after songs. In the Brewer’s Association 2014

benchmarking survey we were the number one brewery in the country for our size in water efficiency coming in at three barrels of water yielding one barrel of beer brewed. The industry average is eight barrels of water yielding one barrel of beer brewed.”

Free Range Brewing

(freerangebrewing.com) Opened: July 2, 2015 Type of brewery: Nanobrewery Beers to go: Sells crowlers and growlers Behind the name: “Our style of brewing was inspiration for the name.” # of beers on tap: Around 10 beers on tap Experimental brew: Two Wild and Crazy Guys, a coffee wild ale. “We partnered with Pure Intentions Coffee by way of their newest Colombian Tolima Planadas beans”. Call a cab (beer with highest ABV): Abbie, Stuck in the Mud, a rum barrel-aged imperial stout that’s 12 percent ABV Stay Sober (beer with lowest ABV): Susie, I Am Not, a Carolina grisette that’s 3.5 percent ABV Bragging rights: “We’re proud of our support for local farmers, our sustainablybuilt brewery and family-friendliness. We’ve brewed collaboration beers with New Belgium, Fonta Flora, Birdsong, NoDa, Heist, Salud and Pure Intentions Coffee.” Fun fact: “We worked to get open for a long six years.”

(heistbrewery.com) Opened: August 2012 Type of brewery: Brewpub Beers to go: Crowlers and growlers Behind the name: “When owner Kurt Hogan moved here from Connecticut he noticed that this is a banking town. True story: on his mother’s grandmother’s side — three branches out on his family tree — he’s related to Babyface Nelson. When he told his mom he was thinking of naming the joint Heist, she said that’s it. That’s the name.” # of beers on tap: Between 8 and 15 Best seller: Grand Optimist Experimental brew: We did one that was a blackberry cherry saison that was super dark purple because it was for the Lupus Foundation. It’s blood purple. It clogged the tap line. Call a cab (beer with highest ABV): Grand Optimist, it stays around 12 percent Stay sober (beer with lowest ABV): Pater Tots and Secession are usually around low 4 to a high 3 percent Fun fact: The one beautiful part about this place is that we all do everything ourselves. If you look at the chandelier, that’s all the copper piping from the old kettles that we got from Germany. They took them out to a field, hit them with a shotgun and built a chandelier.

NoDa Brewing Company

(nodabrewing.com) Opened: October 2011 Type of brewery: Production/microbrewery Beers to go: Sells four-pack cans and growlers Behind the name: “Our first taproom is part of Charlotte’s eclectic, arts district called NoDa. We feel brewing is an art form and what better neighborhood to be part of.” # of beers on tap: 13-14 beers on tap Best seller: Hop Drop ‘n Roll Experimental brew: “Our weekly NoDable Series has lots of experimental, crazy beers. On the production system, probably the most creative was our ProAm winner from a couple years ago called Hot Pistol. It’s a raspberry, habanero, chocolate stout.” Call a cab (beer with highest ABV): Hop Drop ‘n Roll, 7.2 percent ABV Stay sober (beer with lowest ABV): Par 4 IPA, 4 percent ABV Bragging rights: A gold award winner for Hop Drop ‘n Roll (in the American IPA category) in 2014’s World Beer Cup and a silver medal winner for Coco Loco (in the robust porter category) at 2012’s Great American Beer Festival. Fun fact: “Our founders are a husband and wife team. In their past lives, Suzie worked in banking and Todd was a commercial pilot. CAVU, our blonde ale, is a flight term abbreviation for Ceiling And Visibility

Unlimited, which means clear skies or ideal conditions.”

Plaza Midwood

Legion Brewing

(legionbrewing.com ) Opened: Dec. 17, 2015 Type of brewery: Microbrewery Beers to go: Sells growlers Behind the name: “Legion Brewing Company was born from the ethos that sharing good beer with friends is one of life’s great pleasures. That spirit of culture is alive in our neighborhood home here in Plaza Midwood.” # of beers on tap: Around 14 beers on tap Best seller: Juicy Jay, an American IPA, 7 percent ABV Experimental brew: “We always have something ‘fun’ on draft. We have used all sorts of local fruits, spices, and sugars. However, we are most proud of our fledgling and quickly growing sour beer inventory. We are constantly adding to our current inventory of 24 bourbon, rum, and mescal barrels with various flavors of sour beer.” Call a cab (beer with the highest ABV): Winnie the Brew, a honey imperial IPA, 10.2 percent ABV Stay sober (beer with the lowest ABV): Carolina Sparkle Party, a Berliner weisse that’s 4 percent ABV Fun fact: Legion Brewing is the first and only brewery in Plaza Midwood.

South End

Lenny Boy Brewing Co.

(discoverlennyboy.com) Opened: Started selling kombucha in 2011. Became certified organic in January of 2013 and a microbrewery on September 20, 2013. Type of brewery: Microbrewery producing kombucha, wild ale, and traditional beers. Beers to go: Sells bottles (kombucha) and growlers. Behind the name: It was named after the owner’s dog, Lennox. # of beers on tap: 7 beers, 7 kombuchas and 2 wild ales Best seller: Life in the South Lager and Burn Down For What Brown Ale Experimental brew: Burn Down for What, a sour brown ale fermented with an in-house wild yeast culture. Call a cab (beer with the highest ABV): Breakfast in Heaven, a bourbon barrel-aged stout at 10 percent ABV. Stay sober (beer with the lowest ABV): Life in the South, a Southern Lager at 4.5 percent ABV. It’s brewed with grits. Bragging rights: Burn Down for What won a bronze medal at Best of Craft Beer Awards and gold medal at the National Organic Beer Competition. clclt.com | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | 23

Food

Cover story

Fun fact: “We are NC’s only certified organic micro brewery.”

Ain’t No Hop Steppin’ IPA, 6.5 percent ABV or Honey Porter, 6 percent ABV Stay sober (beer with the lowest ABV): Red Moon Rising, an amber lager at 4.5 percent ABV Bragging rights: “We’re still a new brewery, but working on expanding. There will be a bottle release for the King Rassafassa ale (belgian saison) coming in April for beer month. It’ll be sold in amber champagne bottles (not on tap).” Fun fact: “We have our Curmudgeon corners in the brewery for social introverts who want to grab a beer without talking to everybody. We have corners set up in the brewery with lounge chairs and nightstands with a little wall in between them so if you’re working and just wanna be by yourself to read a book and grab a beer, you can without someone striking up a conversation with you.”

Olde Mecklenburg Brewery

(oldemeckbrew.com) Opened: March of 2009 Type of brewery: American Brewery, German-inspired Beers to go: Sells 6 and 12 pack bottles, growlers and kegs. Behind the name: “Charlotte is often referred to as the ‘Q.C.’ because it’s named after Queen Charlotte (1744-1818), the wife of King George III of England. Queen Charlotte was not British, but German and from the German state of MecklenburgStrelitz. Mecklenburg County is named after this German state. Since we mainly produce German-style beers and reside in Mecklenburg County in Charlotte, it’s the perfect name.” # of beers on tap: Varies, but includes 4 year-round beers and usually one seasonal or limited release. Best seller: Copper (Altbier) and Mecktoberfest, the brewery’s award-winning beer. Experimental brew: Hornet’s Nest, an April release. “Every sip has a subtle sweetness and a slight hint of banana and bubble gum,” says OMB brewer Chase Petrovic. Call a cab (beer with the highest ABV): Fat Boy Baltic Porter, 8 percent ABV Stay sober (beer with the lowest ABV): Copper Amber Ale, 4.8 percent ABV Bragging rights: Mecktoberfest won silver at Great American Beer Festival and gold at the international competition, European Beer Star. OMB picked up a spot as “Best Brewery Tour in America,” according to the readers of USA Today and “Entertainment Venue of the Year” from the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority. Fun fact: “OMB hosts several events throughout the year, including Mecktoberfest in September, Weihnachtsmarkt Christmas Market in December and Louisiana Spring Fest in April. There’s also OMB Yoga on Tap every Tuesday night.”

Sugar Creek Brewing Co.

(sugarcreekbrewing.com) Opened: Oct. 10, 2014 Type of brewery: Microbrewery Beers to go: Sells bottles and growlers Behind the name: “Our name was inspired by Charlotte’s magnificently successful restoration effort of Little Sugar Creek. This stream and its surrounding greenway has been reclaimed as a natural treasure and runs through the heart of Charlotte and some of its oldest neighborhoods.” # of beers on tap: Varies, between 6-12 Best seller: Sugar Creek Pale Ale or Sugar Creek White Ale, a traditional Belgian witbier. Experimental brew: “We are one of the 24 | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | clclt.com

Triple C Brewing Co.

few breweries in the country to recreate a traditional French-style Amber Biere de Garde. This beer just won a gold medal in the Best of Craft Beer Awards and is available in the specialty craft section of local Harris Teeter stores, as well as local bottle shops.” Call a cab (beer with the highest ABV): Atmosphera Tripel, a classic Belgian Tripel at around 10 percent ABV. We have a limited release Belgian Quad that will be available again later in 2016 that is the maximum ABV allowed by law at 15 percent ABV. Stay sober (beer with the lowest ABV): Raspberry White Ale, 4.4 percent ABV Bragging rights: Picked up a silver medal for their Dubbel in the 2015 U.S. Open Beer Championships. Their Pale Ale placed first and received a gold medal in the NC Brewers Cup. More recently, their Biere de Garde and Tripel received gold and silver medals in the Best of Craft Beer Awards. Fun fact: “Over half of our production employees are Veterans with a special distinction going to our co-founder, Eric Flanigan who was a Marine with combat experience in Afghanistan and Iraq. Additionally, I believe we are the only brewery in North Carolina, and possibly the country to employee three former nuclear engineers in the brewhouse. Todd Franklin our brewmaster is formerly employed by Newport News Shipbuilding, Justin Dovenmuehle formerly of Duke Power, and Joe Vogelbacher formerly of Newport News Shipbuilding.”

Sycamore Brewing

(sycamorebrew.com) Opened: Nov. 1, 2014 Beers to go: Sells cans, bottles and growlers # of beers on tap: Around 16 different beers on tap Best seller: Countryside IPA, Southern Girl Blonde, and Peak Farm Double Pale Ale Experimental brew: Salty Coconut Red Ale. Also brews barrel-aged beers in mezcal, rum and bourbon barrels. Bragging Rights: Picked up a bronze medal for Southern Girl Light Lager at Great American Beer Festival. Also, winner of Charlotte Business Journal’s “Carolinas Beer Madness” for their Countryside IPA. Fun Fact: “We brewed 102 different beers in one year of being open.”

Three Spirits Brewery

(threespiritsbrewery.com) Opened: November of 2015 Type of brewery: Traditional Beers to go: Sells growlers and sixtel kegs Behind the name: “Before founding Three Spirits, brewer Tabu Terrell worked as a medical doctor who brewed beer as a hobby. A fan of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, he began to relate with the character Scrooge, whose preoccupation with work came at the expense of time with family. The brewery is named after the three spirits in the story.” # of beers on tap: 7 Best seller: RSouthern Bliss Experimental brew: “We brew for drinkability, so nothing too strange or farfetched.” Call a cab (beer with the highest ABV):

(triplecbrewing.com) Opened: August 2012. Type of brewery: Production brewery Beers to go: Sells cans, bottles, and growlers. Behind the name: “The name comes from the three original investors whose first names — Chris, Chris, and Christina — start with the letter “C.” Scott Kimble was brought on as head brewmaster and part investor when he came to the brewery from Colorado. # of beers on tap: 15 beers on tap. Best seller: 3C IPA and Golden Boy Blonde Ale Experimental brew: Dude and Vibes, a rum barrel-aged coffee milk stout. Based on the concept of “Dude” in The Big Lebowski, a film in which “Dude” drinks white-Russian cocktails. Call a cab (beer with the highest ABV): Up All Night, a coffee porter at 10 percent ABV. Stay sober (beer with the lowest ABV): Golden Boy, a blonde ale at 4.5 percent ABV. Bragging rights: Picked up at bronze award for 3C IPA at Great American Beer Fest.

Unknown Brewing Co.

(unknownbrewing.com) Opened: Feb. 14, 2014 Type of brewery: Microbrewery Beers to go: Sells cans, bottles and growlers Behind the name: “We were at a Waffle House one night and we were talking about going whitewater rafting the next day and then we realized we all had things to do. And we’re like, ‘Fuck this 9 to 5 life.’ You’ve got to stand up to more than that, try new things, question everything and step into the unknown. Our name is about trying something new because you only have one life to live. It’s about doing something outside of your comfort zone.” # of beers on tap: 12 beers on tap Best seller: Ginger wheat

Experimental brew: La Jordana del Escorpion en Fuego Hacia la Casa del Chupacabra Muerto, a 10.1 percent ABV Mexican imperial lager with agave, serrano peppers and tequila barrel-aged with 99 scorpions. For Kitten Snuggles (coming soon), we’re putting in apricots, milk, sugar and catnip. Call a cab (beer with the highest ABV): Raisin’ the Roof, a Belgium quad that’s 9 percent ABV. We’re making a beer for July that’s called Barley Legal and it’s 14.9 percent ABV. Stay sober (beer with the lowest ABV): Pre-Game session ale and Scratch N’ Sniff, a session IPA. Both are 4-5 percent ABV. Fun fact: “We’re still one of the smallest breweries in Charlotte.”

Wooden Robot Brewery

(woodenrobotbrewery.com) Opened: In 2015 Type of brwery: Production brewery, that’s taproom focused. Beers to go: Growlers. They will be bottling a limited release beer before summer begins. Behind the name: “Wooden is for the wooden Belgium farmhouse and robot is for the innovative American brewing.” # of beers on tap: Currently 13, but always in the 12 to 15 range Best seller: Good Morning Vietnam, a coffee, vanilla blonde ale Experimental brew: Thick as Thieves, a blackberry sour beer. It’s all local malt and there’s one and a half pounds per gallon of blackberries. Call a cab (beer with the highest ABV): Godless Killing Machine Imperial, 8.1 percent ABV Stay sober (beer with the lowest ABV): Universal Atomiton Sour Farmhouse, 4.8 percent ABV. Bragging rights: Picked up “Best of Show” at Queen City Brewers Festival. Also, named one of the best new breweries of 2015 by Beer Advocate Magazine. Fun fact: “There is an actual wooden robot in the tap room named Albert Beerstein.”

Uptown

Rock Bottom Brewery

(rockbottom.com) Opened: In 1997 Type of brewery: Brewpub Beers to go: Sells growlers Behind the name: “Based on the company being at the bottom of a bank building that had the word “rock” in the name. Hence ‘Rock Bottom.’” # of beers on tap: 14 of their own are on tap Best seller: Kolsch the IPA. Experimental brew: Funk’ed Up, a barrelaged sour ale.

Call a cab (beer with the highest ABV): Icebox, 12 percent ABV. Stay sober (beer with the lowest ABV): Kolsch, 4.9 percent ABV. Fun fact: They have a courtyard in the back of the restaurant that opens in the summer.

Mint Hill

Barking Duck Brewing Co.

(new location coming soon, barkingduckbrew. com) Opened: September 2014 (reopening in a new location at the end of April) Beers to go: Sells growlers. Behind the name: “As Jake and I began the journey of brewing beer together, we would always be at my house. I had two yellow labs who would always bark and get in our way. This is where we got the ‘Barking’ part from. As for the ‘Duck,’ our favorite watering hole was Duckworth’s. This place allowed us to discover different craft beers and the idea that we could start our own brewery. So, we combined the two things that we did together to come up with Barking Duck.” # beers on tap: 9-12 beers on tap Best seller: Banamber, a Belgian style amber that has a banana aroma and taste. Experimental brew: Sririacha Pale Ale. “We use real sriricaha sauce in the brew. It’s an easy drinking pale ale with a little kick.” Call a cab (beer with the highest ABV): Chocolate Pecan Pie Porter, 10.2 percent ABV. Stay sober (beer with the lowest ABV): Break Time Session IPA, 4.5 percent ABV.

DISHING FRESH FOOD AND BEVERAGE NEWS WEEKLY.

Concord/Kannapolis

Cabarrus Brewing Co.

(cabarrusbrewing.com) Opened: March 18, 2016 Type of brewery: Microbrewery. Beers to go: Sells growlers. Behind the name: “Our philosophy is that the area and community and history and character of this area is as important a part of what the brewery is, as the beer itself.” # of beers on tap: 8 beers on tap Call a cab (beer with the highest ABV): Rocky River IPA, 6.5 percent ABV Stay sober (beer with the lowest ABV): Cabarrus Cotton Blonde, 4.8 percent ABV Fun fact: “We’re located in an old textile. We did everything we could to maintain that old industrial textile feel. We repurposed as much of the original building materials from the original mill as possible.”

High Branch Brewing Co.

(highbranchbrewing.com) Opened: November of 2015 Type of brewery: Microbrewery Beers to go: Sells growlers Behind the name: “My husband and I were clclt.com | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | 25

steers the

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saturday

april 16th 2016 GENERAL ADMISSION

TICKETS

$45

IN ADVANCE

VIP

sold out

eer & Burger Festival B t f a r C MooandBrewFest.com

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26 | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | clclt.com

Food

Cover story

going back and forth on names and decided on Habitat Brewery. The day he went to register the name, we found out that someone took it two hours before in Asheville, so we had to start at square one. There are woods in our backyard and he was sitting in the living room racking his brain and looking at the woods and he saw this one tree with a lone branch at the top, so he thought ‘high branch, that sounds catchy.’ And it goes with our philosophy that we’re always striving to produce the best product for our customers and always reaching for higher standards for our beer.” # of beers on tap: Varies, 5-7 on tap Best seller: Big Sis, a double IPA Experimental brew: “The strangest we’ve made is called Yucatan Stout. My husband took the base recipe for an imperial stout and added jalapeños to it. We are starting to do more sours, too.” Call a cab (beer with the highest ABV): Big Sis, around 8.5 percent ABV Stay sober (beer with the lowest ABV): Raspberry Sour, 5.3 percent ABV Fun fact: “A lot of our furniture is made out of recycled palettes. We have a built-in bench along one of our walls, a lounge-y area that has some chairs and a couch built out of palette wood, one wood covered in palettes. We try to make use of old material and re-use.”

Behind the name: They wanted a name that would stick out and be easily remembered. # of beers on tap: 31 beers on tap Best seller: Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Stout Experimental brew: Smoked Ham and Corn Stout. Yes, it has ham in it. Call a cab (beer with the highest ABV): Barleywine, 12 percent ABV Stay sober (beer with the lowest ABV): One Eyed Gose, a gose with fresh lemon and lime, at 4.8 percent ABV Bragging rights: “We are the second oldest brewery in Mecklenburg County.” Fun facts: Huge tap rotation and live music on Saturday nights.

Bayne Brewing Company

Lake Norman

(baynebrewingcompany.com) Opened: December 2014 Type of brewery: Nanobrewery Behind the name: That’s our family’s last name #of beers on tap: 8 beers on tap Best seller: Irish Red Experimental brew: Coconut Brown Ale Call a cab (beer with the highest ABV): Double IPA, 7.8 percent ABV Stay sober (beer with the lowest ABV): Kolsch, 4 percent ABV Fun fact: “We do family-friendly events with things for the kids, including face painters and bounce-houses. We also offer free dinner on Sunday afternoons.”

Ass Clown Brewing Company

D9 Brewing Company

(assclownbrewing.com) Opened: April 28, 2011 Type of brewery: Production Beers to go: Sells bottles and growlers.

(d9brewing.com) Opened: October 2013 Type of brewery: Production Beers to go: Sells bottles, crowlers, growlers

Behind the name: It stands for the congressional district 9. The three founders have lived in district 9, in Mecklenburg County, for more than 10 years. It’s their salute to where they live. # of beers on tap: 12 taps with their own beer Best seller: Hakuna Matata Tropical IPA and our sours. Viking Fraoch is a top seller and so is Ezekiel. Also, a new series of sours called Systema. The first version was an apricot and devilwood limited edition. The second (coming soon) will have some sort of local grape and lily. Experimental brew: Witless. “It’s a play on a Belgian style triple or quad, but there’s no wheat in it. They use champagne yeast that’s double fermented. It’s very experimental and people who like wine really like this beer.” Call a cab (beer with the highest ABV): Witless, 13 or 14 percent ABV Stay sober (beer with the lowest ABV): Most sours are 5 percent ABV and the new Tangerine Session IPA is 5.1 percent ABV. Bragging rights: Won a couple awards for Viking Fraoch and Ezekiel. Fun fact: “We’re kid and dog friendly and we have live music on Fridays.”

Primal Brewery

(primalbrewery.com) We were unable to reach the folks at Primal Brewery.

Lake Norman Brewing Company

(lakenormanbrewingcompany.com) Opened: 2013 Type of brewery: Microbrewery Beers to go: Sells growlers Behind the name: Named after Lake Norman # of beers on tap: 10 Best seller: Imperial amber Experimental brew: Cherry blonde Call a cab (beer with the highest ABV): Imperial amber, 9.1 percent ABV Stay sober (beer with the lowest ABV): Duckside blonde, 4.3 percent ABV Fun fact: Veteran owned and operated

Fort Mill/Rock Hill

Legal Remedy Brewing

(legalremedybrewing.com) Opened: August 29, 2015. Type of brewery: Brewery/brewpub. Beers to go: Offers growlers Behind the name: Owner/founder Chad McGowan is a lawyer by day. # of beers on tap: 22 are of their own brews on tap Best seller: “Our most widely distributed beer is Alibi Ale and a new comer the World Court White Chocolate Mocha Stout, but our Double Indemnity Double IPA and Sequestered Blueberry Saison are huge favorites in the

Coming soon to Charlotte and the surrounding area New Sarum (opening April 16 in Salisbury) Thirsty Nomad Brewing (opening this spring in Charlotte) Blue Blaze Brewing (opening this spring in Charlotte) Twenty-Six Acres (opening this summer in Concord) Ghostface (opening in April in Mooresville) Dreamchasers Brewery (opening in May in Waxhaw) Ole Dallas Brewery (opening this summer in Dallas)

Not that far Benford Brewing Co. (2271 Boxcar Road, Lancaster. benfordbrewing.com) New Grass Brewing Co. (213 S. Lafayette St., Shelby. newgrassbrewing.com) Four Saints Brewing Company (218 S. Fayetteville St., Asheboro. foursaintsbrewing. com)

Cideries Redclay Ciderworks (245 Clanton Road. redclayhardcider.com) Windy Hill Orchard (1860 Black Highway, York. windyhillorchard.com)

taproom.” Experimental brew: World Court White Chocolate Mocha Stout, chocolate aroma and rich flavor from a blonde stout. Call a cab (beer with the highest ABV): Belgian Bailiff Quad, 14.1 percent ABV. Stay sober (beer with the lowest ABV): All Rise Ale, a session pale ale that comes in at around 4.2-4.5 percent ABV. Bragging rights: “We won the home brewing competition at Beertopia in 2012, which really sort of launched us into believing we could create more out of this hobby.” Fun fact: “Our brewpub utilizes solar power (you can see the solar arrays on the beer patio). They supply 30 kilowatts of power to the brewery reducing our energy bills significantly. We’ve been told we ‘turn sunshine into beer.’ We have a local farmer who uses our spent grain to feed his cattle and a local feed store that recycles our grain bags for their chicken feed bags. We also have one of the few brewery labs in our state.”

Full Spectrum Brewing (fullspectrumbrewingco.com) Opened: August 2015

clclt.com | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | 27

Food

Cover story

Your delicious alternative news source Website: www.clclt.com

Type of brewery: Nanobrewery Drink it at home: Sells growlers Behind the name: It was named after the color spectrum. # of beers on tap: 8 Best seller: Infrared IPA Experimental brew: Reaper Roast Amber, brewed with locally roasted coffee and spiced with the locally grown Carolina Reaper pepper. Call a cab (beer with the highest ABV): Reaper Roast, 7.4 percent ABV. Stay sober (beer with the lowest ABV): Red Sky IPA, 4.8 percent ABV. Fun fact: “At one point the brewery shared space with our CrossFit gym (the gym has since grown and moved, but when we expand the brewery, they’ll be side by side again).”

Belmont

Rivermen Brewing Company

(rivermenbrewingcompany.com) Opened: May 2015 Type of brewery: Brewpub/Production brewery Beers to go: Sells growlers Behind the name: “The name was inspired by a passion for whitewater kayaking.” Best seller: Triple Drop IPA Experimental brew: Foundation Black IPA Call a cab (beer with the highest ABV): Foundation Black IPA, 7.3 percent ABV Stay sober (beer with the lowest ABV): Shuttle Bunny Honey Blonde, 5 percent ABV Bragging rights: Belmont’s first brewery Fun fact: “We are integrating a farm-totable menu and we’ll be hosting beer dinners featuring all local beers and ingredients.” 28 | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | clclt.com

Now hiring interns. The brighter, the better. Email backtalk@clclt.com

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Voted#1 Cupcakes in all of North Carolina Nationwide by Scoutology! Sascupcakes-Blakeney/Ballantyne-9941 Rea Road 704-295-1777 Sascupcakes-RiverGate/Steele Creek- 14130 RiverGate Parkway- 704-504-2253 clclt.com | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | 29

Food

Beer Guide Extra

The Third Tier Two former brewery reps are looking to change the way breweries and retailers connect By Ryan Pitkin

It’s undeniable that more craft beer

is showing up on the shelves of local retail stores. It’s one thing to visit Salud Beer Shop in NoDa and see the massive selection of craft beer lining the walls, but Charlotte is slowly reaching that point at which any beer snob can stop at a Harris Teeter or local corner store and find something to address his thirst (or in some cases, impress his pretention). So that begs the question, how does that happen? Sure, the local breweries popping up on every corner (and their sales reps) play a big part, but there’s a logistical link that often goes unnoticed, a vein from which craft beers from all over the country (and world) find their way to Charlotte: distribution companies. Now, two local beer connoisseurs are looking to do distribution a little differently. In June 2015, Taylor McDermott and Sara Godsey opened Artisan Beverage Group, after working for years in all aspects of the local beer scene. Their hope was to change the distribution game, shifting its focus from being a delivery service that brings beer from place to place for hundreds of clients around the country to being a company built on client and customer relationships that goes out and finds the highest quality craft beer in the world and brings it to the Charlotte market to the meet the mouths of those waiting for the next big thing. “We are more than a logistical arm, we’re not FedEx or UPS,” McDermott says. “What we try to do with distribution is we try to match the innovation. Because breweries, if you think about it, all these crazy new beers, all these crazy new products are coming out, but distribution has always just been, ‘Well, we’ll get it from A to B.’ But we know how to talk to our suppliers — most of which are breweries, we are a craft distributor for beer — so we understand their challenges and what they may want or what they think they may want. Or if they’re kind of green we can help guide them through the process and be more than just A to B for them.” McDermott and Godsey, who are engaged, both played positions on different sides of the ball before opening Artisan. 30 | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | clclt.com

Taylor McDermott and Sara Godsey in front of a 2,500-square-foot refrigerator at Artisan Beverage’s west Charlotte warehouse. Godsey started her foray into the beer culture as a bartender serving craft beers at Revolution Ale House in NoDa, and later worked as a beer rep in the local market for suppliers like like Starr Hill Brewery. McDermott worked as a rep for Greensboro-based Natty Greene’s Brewing Company, but perhaps more importantly for his future, he also worked with a large distribution company, where he launched a craft beer department and helped bring craft beers like Lonerider, Big Boss and Full Sail brewing companies to Charlotte. Artisan was spawned in part because of that experience, but also from the couple’s feeling that something was lacking in their experience with distribution companies as suppliers. Godsey said she often felt she was competing for a distributor’s attention among its hundreds of other suppliers. “One thing that Taylor and I both experienced on the supply side is that we both worked with distributors that had huge portfolios,” Godsey says. “From the supply side, this is something that I had to learn

and a lot of suppliers have to learn, is that not only was there competition at retail — once your products are on the shelf — but you have that in-house competition within the distributor.” McDermott said that he and Godsey use the memories of that frustration to influence every conversation they have with both suppliers and retail customers now. “The biggest thing is communication and expectations. You go into any sort of relationship and partnership and you have to know each other’s expectations,” he says. “What are you looking to put into this and get out of it? Communication is more than sending emails and talking on the phone, you have to speak their language. If the brewery is talking to the distributor but they’re not understanding each other, things aren’t going to happen.” That mindset has helped Artisan deliver 13 new beverage suppliers’ products to Charlotte in its first year, including Holy City Brewing from Charleston and Sixpoint Brewery from Brooklyn. They’ve even recently begun working with Yo-Ho Brewing

Ryan Pitkin

Company in Japan. They don’t stop with the beer and cider, however, as their suppliers also include MATI Healthy Energy and Cannonborough Beverage Co. craft sodas. Ultimately, McDermott says, it’s about expanding the options for suppliers and, in turn, expanding the options for Charlotteans. “We saw there was an opportunity to help bring some change to distribution, really to enhance the experience for suppliers, but also use those brands to help the retailer as well,” he says. “To be able to offer some really cool and interesting brands for people like us that are always seeking something new and different and wondering what’s the latest and what’s the wackiest shit that’s out there, because it’s out there.” He continued, “Our overall goal is to offer the best quality liquid that we can to the Charlotte area as we grow our footprint slowly and methodically to other parts of the state. We don’t always look at what’s local as that’s all we’re going to carry. It’s all about the quality.”

Food

three course-spiel

Doug McKinney

Anita Overcash

Trial by fire Doug McKinney of Legal Remedy Brewing gives full disclosure By Anita Overcash

Objections are overruled

when it comes to Legal Remedy Brewing. The Rock Hill, South Carolina, brewpub — remodeled from a former auto dealership — is well worth a commute for two good reasons: beer and food. Though most breweries offer food trucks these days, this venture shows how promising a full onsite kitchen can be. The menu — a collaborative effort between LRB’s Jim Ogburn, Wes Adams and Doug McKinney — offers what’s dubbed as “pub grub,” but that’s an understatement. That’s because the food, like the brews, takes flavors up a notch. The menu is meat-centric with a smoker that houses bacon, pork, wings, brisket and turkey. If you can save room for dessert, try the Fried Moon Pie. McKinney, who has been in the food industry for 30 years, moved to Rock Hill from Park City, Utah after being swayed by Chad McGowan, a longtime brewer and lawyer by day; hence, the legal lingo. Creative Loafing: What are some of the most popular items on the menu that you would recommend folks try if they’re visiting for the first time? Doug McKinney: The Pork Schnitzel Holstein is fantastic. We’ve had people from Germany actually come in and say it’s the best schnitzel they’ve ever had. The Smokehouse Meatloaf is a combination of scraps from our smoked meats that are mixed with ground beef and ground potato

chips. Then, we put a Worcester ketchup glaze on it and we top it with smoked tomato gravy. It’s delicious, too. What’s the most rewarding thing about working at Legal Remedy? We’re the first brewpub and brewery combination in York County. The first and only one right now, if I’m not mistaken. People tell us everyday that this is what Rock Hill has been waiting for and I agree. I can tell based on the reception that we’ve gotten. Our customer base is fantastic. People like the beers, people like the food and people like the atmosphere. It’s a good time and that’s what I’m in the business for. You’ve recently hosted some beer dinners in Florence and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Are you planning to have any here in the future? Also, are you working on any new recipes? We just started doing that and at some point we’re going to start doing beer dinners here, too. We just got zoned and we can seat 48 people in the brewery. So, we’ll be able to do that and other things like wedding rehearsal dinners and what not. I’m actually working on a recipe that I’m probably going to throw on the menu. It’s a ricotta cheesecake and instead of using cream cheese I use ricotta, so it’s lighter and custard like. Then, I glaze the top like crème brulee. clclt.com | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | 31

Thursday

Mumford & Sons What: To many, at least in the Charlotte area, this British quartet rode to stardom on the folk-driven coattails of The Avett Brothers. Fast forward a few years, and Mumford & Sons have put down the acoustic guitars in favor for a plugged-in vibe, that’s a little more akin to Coldplay. It’ll be interesting to hear how it all plays out on stage when they perform at the spacious Time Warner Cable Arena.

When: 7:30 p.m. Where: Time Warner Cable Arena, 333 E. Trade St. More: $59.50. timewarnercablearena.com. — Jeff Hahne

32 | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | clclt.com

thursday

THINGS TO DO

TOP ten

Orgone Tuesday

Thursday

friday

saturday

Charlotte knights

Fly By Night

Kacey Musgraves

What: The Charlotte Knights have kicked off the season with away games in Durham and Norfolk, Virginia. This will be the team’s first game back home and they’ll be going up against the Durham Bulls again. Come show your support or just partake in the large craft beer selection. Oh, and while you’re there, be sure to give Homer some love. You never know when the mascot — who made headlines last fall when he was abducted for a night — could go missing again.

What: Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte presents this rock musical, written by Will Connolly, Michael Mitnick and Kim Rosenstock. It follows a sandwich maker whose dreams of being a musician are dampened by bread, condiments and humdrum realities. Luckily, he meets two entrancing sisters during a blackout that seems to lighten his world. Kudos to the narrator for adding the extra philosophical touches.

What: In a music landscape saturated by pop-country, Kacey Musgraves is the much-needed breath of fresh air. She not only puts her own stamp on the classic country sound, but does so with lyrics that flip seamlessly between humor and honesty. She can joke about the troubles of living in a trailer park in one song, and give inspiration in the next. She’s in town for two nights — catch at least one of them. `

When: 7:05 p.m. Where: BB&T Ballpark, 324 S. Mint St. More: charlotteknights.com. — Anita Overcash

When: April 14, 7:30 p.m.; April 1516, 8 p.m.; Through May 7. Where: Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte, 650 E. Stonewall St. More: $17.50-$35. 704-342-2251. actorstheatrecharlotte.org. — Overcash

When: April 15 & 16, 7:30 p.m. Where: Amos’ Southend, 1423 S. Tryon St. More: $28-$35. 704-377-6874. amossouthend.com. — Hahne

2nd Annual Craft Beer and Burger Festival What: Call this shameless selfpromotion, but we’d be doing you a dishonor if we didn’t recommend this fest (hosted by Creative Loafing). It features craft beer from 30 breweries. Local burger joints are also competing for the title of “CL’s Best Burger.” Live music from Ancient Cities, Bubonik Funk, Truckstop Preachers and DJ Overcash. When: April 16, 12:30 p.m.(VIP) or 2 p.m. (GA)-6 p.m. Where: N.C. Music Factory, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd. More: $45-$65. mooandbrewfest.com. — Overcash

Kevin Smith Monday

Mumford & Sons Thursday

News Arts Food Music Odds

2nd Annual Craft Beer and Burger Festival Saturday

saturday

monday

record store day What: For record store junkies, this is the most special time of year. Local shops offer new releases and rare finds, from CDs to vinyl. It’s a good time to find B-sides and other gems. There are also musical guests who perform in house and other special pop-ups. This is also a good time to check out Lunchbox Records’ new home (formerly a funeral home) in Plaza Midwood.

When: April 16. Where: Lunchbox Records, 1419 Central Ave.; Repo Record, 3325 Commonwealth Ave.; Manifest Discs, 6239 South Blvd. More: Free admission. — Overcash

tuesday

Charlotte Taste of the Nation

Wednesday

Kevin Smith

ORGONE

koji

What: Moving from its usual spot at Wells Fargo Atrium, this event is worth the steep ticket fee. That’s because Charlotte restaurants like Fahrenheit, Upsteam, Evoke and others will be there serving bites. Mixologists will be on hand, too. The evening’s goal is to raise money for No Kid Hungry, an organization that focuses on ending childhood hunger, so you’re overindulging for good reason.

What: The comedian and filmmaker who played Silent Bob in his own movies spent last year touring colleges to promote his book, Tough Shit: Life Advice from a Fat Lazy Slob Who Did Good. But indecision seemed to have gotten the best of him when it was made public that he decided to push back the making of Clerks III for Mallrats II. A half-baked idea? This year, he filmed a comedy series called Hollyweed.

What: Percussion, guitar, horns, soulful vocals — it all adds up to one sensual and funky stew. Singer Adryon de León has the pipes to bring forth sass and soul in the right increments to push the songs forward. There’s plenty of ‘60s and ‘70s inspiration here — especially through covers and funky originals — to keep the audience focused for the long haul. The band is tight while the musical vibes stay laid back.

When: 6 p.m.-9:30 p.m. Where: The Fillmore, 820 Hamilton St. More: $85-$120. 704-549-5555. http://ce.strength.org/charlotte.

When: 8 p.m. Where: The Comedy Zone, 900 N.C. Music Factory Blvd., Suite B3. More: $30. 980-321-4702. cltcomedyzone.com.

When: 8 p.m. Where: Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 36th St. More: $15-$17. 704-942-7997. neighborhoodtheatre.com.

What: Whether he’s playing a hardcore set or doing acoustic numbers in some small, beat up venue, the mood is always changing with Koji. That may be partially because the singer/ songwriter is also an activist who supports a variety of causes and multidisciplinary art forms. He founded ColorMake, an organization that hosts different events. In Charlotte, he’ll be performing in the cozy, living room-style studio setting of The Odd Room.

— Overcash

— Hahne

When: April 20. Where: The Odd Room, 1515 Matheson Ave. More: theoddboycollective.com — overcash

clclt.com | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | 33

Arts

performing Arts

Chris record

Tyson Hamilton, Larry Wu and Kyle Willson in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead.

Spying on Hamlet for Laughs And then, there’s BOOM Perry tannenbaum

If you’re playing

Rosencrantz or Guildenstern in Hamlet, you’re not exactly one of the Danish Prince’s most formidable adversaries. On the contrary, you’ve been specially chosen by King Claudius to spy on your old friend Hamlet, who sees through your treachery rather quickly. You’re not 34 | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | clclt.com

exactly peripheral, either: you come on early in Act 2, lurk fairly often onstage until late in Act 4, and the pair of you have nearly five percent of the tragedy’s lines. But the most telling comical point that Tom Stoppard makes about you in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, the playwright’s 1966 riff on Shakespeare’s text, is that neither of you has enough

personality to distinguish yourself from the other. Winner of the 1968 Tony Award, the play is a centerpiece of the current Sensoria celebration of the arts at Central Piedmont Community College, a natural in the month and year marking the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death. With a title that telegraphs the fate of its protagonists, there are easier scripts to

produce. Other than the UNC Charlotte staging in 1992 directed by Bill Morrison (ranked as 12 on my list of best shows for that year), I can’t recall a single local production that truly satisfied. On the contrary, each of the three revivals I’ve seen in the past eleven years, including this one at Pease Auditorium piloted by Tom Hollis, has come freighted with enough confusion

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead $10-$18. April 14, 7:-30 p.m.; April 1516, 8 p.m.; April 17, 2:30 p.m.. CPCC’s Pease Auditorium, 1200 Elizabeth Ave. 704-330-6534. tix.cpcc.edu/.

and incoherence to make most audience members wonder: why? To be fair, Hollis is working with the most inexperienced CPCC Theatre cast that I can recall. Yet at the same time, he and scenic designer James Duke try to keep things simple. There’s usually an upstairsdownstairs distinction between the royals who dominate Shakespeare’s stage and Stoppard’s flunky protagonists. Costumes by Jamey Varnadore aren’t lavish — downmarket Elizabethan for the royals and courtiers, and a touch of commedia for The Player and his acting troupe. Fifty years ago, it was only a slight exaggeration to declare that the pervasive influence of Hamlet in modern literature and culture was overbearing. Responding to all that was obviously a part of Stoppard’s agenda in his offstage retelling. But 50 years ago, Stoppard could be fairly sure that nearly everyone in the audience — on both sides of the pond — was in on the joke. In Stoppard’s native England, that’s probably still true. In 2016 Charlotte, after overhearing someone in the lobby confess that she’d never read Hamlet, I’d have to concur that it would have been helpful. Quick quiz: what was The Murder of Gonzago? You might want to brush up on that stuff before you spend two hours and 40 minutes with Rosie, Guildy, and the gang. Of course, it helps to have Shakespearean actors playing those portions that Stoppard swipes from the Elizabethan master. Yet what I saw from Jacob D. Page as Hamlet, Cara Cameron as Ophelia, Nick Southwick as Horatio and Polonius, Dwayne Helms as King Claudius, and Kristina Blake as Queen Gertrude didn’t convince me that any of them could give a credible full-length performance of any of those roles. I did detect some promise in this group of nobles and even more in the actors that Hollis found for his leads, particularly Tyson Hamilton as Guildenstern, usually the straight man in the comedy. If Kyle Willson had delivered more broadly and confidently as the simple-minded Rosencrantz, the chemistry might have worked better. Similarly, I saw plenty to praise in Larry Wu’s animation as The Player, but his scenes with

the title characters lost traction as inevitably as the duo’s dialogues. A familiarity with the absurdist chitchat between Vladimir and Estragon in Beckett’s Waiting for Godot is also recommended for all who plan to see or perform in R&G. Curiously, it was when the chitchat paused and Page appeared on the scene as the troubled Prince that my interest perked up. These are islands of realism in Stoppard’s world, for our bumbling antiheroes actually behave differently when confronted with their betters.

In the bustle of Friday evening in Plaza-Midwood, I wasn’t sure how many of the people crowding the nightspots were even aware of the new BOOM festival in their midst, and its special vibe. My wife Sue and I took in two events that night, On Q’s Mo’ Betta and Taproot’s DinnerBell: Field Guide to Impolite Southern Conversation, and two more the following afternoon, Sinergismo’s Not a Cult: the True, Unbiased, Authentic History of Sinergismo and Sarah Emery’s Threads of Color. It was far easier to find parking on Saturday afternoon. Yet the shows we saw were just as well-attended. All the fare I sampled was delightful. My favorite was the spoofery of Not a Cult at Petra’s Piano Bar & Cabaret. Mat Duncan was the Sinergismo Scholar, Dr. Reginald Haephestus Winterbottom, our guide to the sacred birth, copulation, sickness, celebration, and funeral rites of the ancient Gismo society, performed by reenactors from Charlotte, their only known descendants. Duncan likely concocted and directed all this fakery, including the first pair audience questions after the Winterbottom lecture. But who fleshed out the archeological spoof with the re-enactors’ costumes, choreography, and ceremonial masks is open to conjecture. The artisan who sculpted the sacred mound from whence all Gismo life issued and to whence it returned is also shrouded in mystery. Likewise the bogus, cheesy props, including a dispenser for the healing mound squeezings, a mound flower, and a severed head. Probably the best aspect of Duncan’s performance was its lack of polish. Challenged by the planted audience member on why the mating ritual had omitted the jingling turtles, Winterbottom responded with the bluster of a true mountebank. Mo’ Betta was an old-timey mix of jazz, stand-up comedy, and improv poetry hosted by Quentin Talley. Jazz vocalist Kenya Templeton, backed by pianist Tim Scott Jr. and his trio, was the standout. Freed of the scripted constraints of last January’s The Children of Children Keep Coming

Chris record

Tyson Hamilton as Guildenstern and Kyle Willson as Rosencrantz in CPCC’s Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead.

retrospective, where Marian Anderson and Ella Fitzgerald were her primary inspirations, Templeton floated beyond strict 4/4 time, sounding more like Betty Carter in an exemplary rendition of “Afro-Blue.” DinnerBell may add an “e” to its mealtime compound before long, since it was a compendium of feminine grace, hospitality, beauty pageantry, and genial racism that comprise the heritage of Southern belles. Brianna Susan Smith was the singer/narrator steering this “Field Guide to Impolite Southern Conversation” on its chameleon path — sometimes campy, sometimes satirical, and sometimes bluntly direct. There were biscuits, deviled eggs, collard greens, and bread pudding served up by the same ensemble that vied in the Ms. Georgia Cow beauty contest. The Q&A at the end of that contest was the best part. For her suite of seven dance pieces, Emery took her inspiration from the paintings of local ArtPop Street Gallery artists, each of them projected on a huge wall at Open Door Studios as the dancers performed. With Emery taking a solo in “Sixth Season” and former Charlotte Ballet standout Emily Ramirez included in three other pieces — and taking a cameo in yet another — the ensembles and soloists were consistently proficient. Wrapped into the community feel that Emery orchestrated in her show was a dazzling array of costume designers who diverted my eyes as excitingly as the dancers and the projected paintings. A great start for BOOM and a great boost for Plaza-Midwood, where Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte plans to land early in 2017. For more information and to help in making that happen, go to atcharlotte.org.

BRING THIS COUPON TO DEFY GRAVITY TO GET $4 OFF YOUR FLIGHT TIME! *COUPON VALID EVERY DAY 10AM-9PM *EXCLUDES CLUB -LITE OR CLUB GRAVITY *EXPIRES MAY 31, 2016

clclt.com | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | 35

Arts

Film

Universal

Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Bell in The Boss

Help needed New films fail to live up to expectations By Matt Brunson

hey say that love is blind, but when it comes to starring in a movie co-written and directed by your spouse, it can also prove to be deaf and dumb. As in tonedeaf and very, very dumb. Melissa McCarthy has exploded as a screen comedienne thanks to her projects with filmmaker Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, The Heat and Spy), and she ably demonstrated her dramatic chops when writer-director Theodore Melfi smartly utilized her in St. 36 | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | clclt.com

Vincent. But in the two films she’s made in tandem with husband Ben Falcone, Tammy and now The Boss (*1/2 out of four), she’s been provided with material far beneath her abilities — a surprise, since she herself co-wrote both films with her hubby. The Boss is marginally better than Tammy, but that’s only because it doesn’t grow hopelessly maudlin, electing instead to remain a comedy right to the end. Of course, like practically all comedies centering on a boorish and unlikable individual, this wraps up with a few insincere moments of character maturity and

empathy, but here such bits are no harder to take than the desperate gags flailing and falling flat at a rapid clip. As Michelle Darnell, a millionaire and self-help guru who loses everything after she’s arrested for insider trading, McCarthy has a few funny lines that she delivers with her usual aplomb. Mostly, though, the film puts her in situations which are humiliating rather than hysterical, and, worse, everyone around her (with the exception of the typically dull Kristen Bell) has been ordered to go over the top with their grotesque

characterizations. Among those suffering a direct hit is Peter Dinklage, who managed to mine some laughs in last year’s equally dismal Pixels but here can’t inspire even an upturned lip corner. At one point, his character gets to wield a Samurai blade, and it’s an apt visual: Here’s a movie that needs to fall on its own sword and put everyone out of their misery. It was amusing to read the Hardcore Henry (*1/2 out of four) reviews by several online critics, the sort who believe cinema

Jake Gyllenhaal and Judah Lewis in Demolition didn’t exist before the release of Pulp Fiction in 1994 (the really smart ones think it didn’t exist before the release of The Godfather in 1972). In their gushing reviews, they breathlessly praised it for being the first first-person movie ever made, as the entire picture is shot as though everything was being seen through the eyes of the protagonist. Well, no. Back in 1947, actor Robert Montgomery directed an adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s Lady in the Lake, and in essaying the role of detective Philip Marlowe, he had the whole picture shot through his character’s POV. Making a movie like this back in 1947 was innovative and daring; making a movie like this today just seems like the latest concession to the gamers. To his credit, Hardcore Henry director Ilya Naishuller at least knows he wasn’t the first to employ this method, as the end credits give thanks for the use of a Lady in the Lake poster in one scene (I must have blinked — or dozed off — during its appearance). And initially, Naishuller’s adoption of this concept looks like it will pay off, with the film getting off to a fast and furious start as Henry wakes up with no memories of his past — he immediately has to defend himself against a cackling villain (Danila Kozlovsky) with telekinetic powers and a Kurt Cobain makeover while also receiving aid from a mysterious guy named Jimmy (District 9’s Sharlto Copley). But after an opening stretch in which the POV is used imaginatively, the novelty of the gimmick wears off, more so since Naishuller then just relies on jumbled action scenes and a succession of violent deaths to carry his picture. In fact, strip away the POV angle, and what’s left is basically Hitman: Agent 47, which was second only to Fifty Shades of Grey as last year’s worst film. Hardcore Henry doesn’t quite plumb those

Fox Searchlight

murky depths, but it’s nevertheless an allhype-no-hope endeavor that grows ever more flaccid by the minute. With Demolition (**1/2 out of four), audiences are once again expected to feel sorry for a pampered, well-to-do white guy who can’t feel anything for anyone else. Here, it’s Davis Mitchell (Jake Gyllenhaal), who works for the father (Chris Cooper) of his wife (Heather Lind) and who ends up in a dazed and confused state after said spouse is killed in a car accident. Davis isn’t sure what he feels, but he does come to realize that he didn’t love his wife. He begins sending a flurry of letters to an unlikely recipient — it’s a narrative device that was also seen in About Schmidt, only here the sender actually gets to meet the person receiving his missives. That would be Karen Moreno (Naomi Watts), a single mom dealing with a troubled, foulmouthed son (Judah Lewis) and maintaining a dreary relationship of convenience with a drab co-worker (C.J. Wilson). Director Jean-Marc Vallée, whose last two films (Wild and Dallas Buyers Club) both made my 10 Best lists in their respective years, finds himself working from a shakier script this time around, with writer Bryan Sipe cramming his pages with all manner of daft incidents that might best be described as precious. But wipe away all the clichéd clutter and there’s actually a worthy story here, an affecting tale of a man who has to deconstruct his life in order to put it back together in a way that makes sense. Gyllenhaal adds to his gallery of enigmatic and emotionally repressed characters with another dazzling performance — he’s never less than terrific, even in those moments when the movie surrounding him threatens to completely collapse. clclt.com | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | 37

etc.

spot shots

Photos from last year’s Moo & Brew Fest. There was plenty of beer to go around and Bang Bang Burgers took home the bragging rights for “Best Burger.” The fest also featured live music from Langhorne Slim and Ancient Cities. This year’s Craft Beer & Burger Festival will go down on Saturday, April 16 at AvidXchange Music Factory.

38 | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | clclt.com

etc.

spot shots

Spot Shots shares photos of a recent event or happening around town â&#x20AC;&#x201D; in case you were there or missed it. If you know of something going on around town that offers some cool views and visuals, let us know at backtalk@clclt.com.

clclt.com | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | 39

Arts

Happenings

Comedy The Comedy Zone Charlotte Skylar Bros.. April 14, 8 p.m.; April 15, 7:30 and 9:45 p.m.; April 16, 7 and 9:30 p.m. $20-$25. 180 Seconds Comedy Show. April 17, 7 p.m. $15. An Evening with Kevin Smith. April 18, 8 p.m. $30. Joe Zimmerman. April 19, 8 p.m. $15. 900 AvidXchange Music Factory Blvd., Suite B3. 980-321-4702. cltcomedyzone.com. Dilworth Neighborhood Grille The Chuckleheads. Improv troupe presents the “52 Candles Comedy Improv Musical Variety Extravaganza.” April 16, 8-10 p.m. $10-$15. 911 E. Morehead St. 704- 377-3808. neighborhoodgrille.com. Petra’s Petra’s Comedy Showcase: What’s The Big Idea? April 16, 8 p.m. $8. 1919 Commonwealth Ave. 704-332-6608. petrasbar. com. Wet Willie’s Charlotte Comedy Theater. Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m. $10. 900 N.C. Music Factory Blvd., Suite C-1. 704-716-5650. charlottecomedytheater.com. UpStage Improv Vikings. $10. April 15, 9:30 p.m. 3306 N. Davidson St., Suite C

Film Back Alley Film Series Back Alley Film Series screens The Invitation. $5-$10. April 20, 7:30 p.m. Carolina Cinemas Crownpoint Stadium 12, 9630 Monroe Road. Modernism + Film Screening Design & Thinking. April 14, 6 p.m. Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, 420 S. Tryon St. 704-353-9200. bechtler.org. Saturday Night Cine Club Screening Orson Welles’ Chimes at Midnight. April 16, 7:30 p.m. Theatre Charlotte, 501 Queens Road. 704-3763777. theatrecharlotte.org.

Theater/Dance/ Performance Art Age of Disruption Tour: Disrupt Dementia, and Aging: Life’s Most Dangerous Game A tour that brings a radical approach to growth and aging. Dr. Bill Thomas and musician Nate Silas Richardson come together to bring audiences a new glance at the aging process. $15. April 20, 40 | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | clclt.com

2:30 and 7 p.m. Booth Playhouse, 130 N. Tryon St. 704-372-1000. blumenthalarts.org. Alton Brown Live: Eat Your Science Tour A perfect mix of science, music, and food in a two hour performance. $20. April 17, 7 p.m. Belk Theater, 130 N. Tryon St. 704-372-1000. blumenthalarts.org. Beautiful: The Carole King Musical A story of Carole King’s rise to stardom and the soundtrack of a generation. April 19-21, 7:30 p.m.; April 22, 8 p.m.; April 23, 2 and 8 p.m.; April 24, 1:30 and 7 p.m. Belk Theater, 130 N. Tryon St. 704-372-1000. blumenthalarts.org. Cirque Mechanics Pedal Punk Enter into the world of bike shop mechanics, cyclists, and bikes with a creative performance that inspires us all to become pedal punks and discover the cyclist within. $20. April 17, 7 p.m. Knight Theater, 430 S. Tryon St. 704-372-1000. blumenthalarts.org. Dancing with the Stars of Charlotte Pink House Charlotte’s own rendtion of the hit TV show, Dancing with the Stars. The charity event will feature an evening of tempting tangos, sizzling salsas and jumping jives. $50. April 16, 8 p.m. Booth Playhouse, 130 N. Tryon St. 704-3721000. blumenthalarts.org. Fly By Night A musical featuring a sandwich maker and two sisters during the 1965 northeast blackout. April 14, 7:30 p.m.; April 15-16, 8 p.m.; April 20-21, 7:30 p.m.; April 22-23, 8 p.m.; April 24, 2:30 p.m.; April 27-28, 7:30 p.m.; April 29-30, 8 p.m.; May 1, 2:30 p.m.; May 4-5, 7:30 p.m.; May 6-7, 8 p.m. Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte, 650 E. Stonewall St. 704-342-2251. actorstheatrecharlotte.org. Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse Based on the book by Kevin Henkes. April 15, 7 p.m.; April 16, 1 and 4 p.m.; April 17, 1 and 4 p.m.; April 22, 7 p.m.; April 23, 1 and 4 p.m.; April 24, 1 and 4 p.m. Armour Street Theatre, 307 Armour St., Davidson. 704-892-7953. davidsoncommunityplayers.org. Omimeo Black Light Magic Charlotte’s Omimeo theatre brings you crazy characters, illusions, and special effects in this unique black light performance. April 15, 7:30 p.m.; April 16, 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.; April 17, 2 and 4 p.m. ImaginOn’s Wells Fargo Playhouse, 300 E. 7th St.

Pirates of Penzance A play about an orphan who has been mistakenly apprenticed to a group of pirates. $10. April 15, 7:30 p.m.; April 16, 2 p.m. Matthews Playhouse, 100 McDowell St. 704-846-8343. matthewsplayhouse.com. Spring Dance Concert The Department of Dance presents students in a Spring Concert. $8-$18. April 14-16, 7:30 p.m.; April 17, 2 p.m. UNCC’S Robinson Hall, 9201 University City Blvd. The Tempest Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place through illusion and manipulation. $10. April 16, 7:30 p.m.; April 17, 2 p.m. Matthews Playhouse, 100 McDowell St. 704-846-8343. matthewsplayhouse.com. Pagliacci with Aleko Opera Carolina presents the premiere of Rachmaninoff’s Aleko. $19-$150. April 14, 7:30 p.m.; April 16, 8 p.m. Belk Theater, 130 N. Tryon St. 704-372-1000. blumenthalarts.org. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead CPCC Theatre presents this show, which commemorates the 400th anniversary (2016) of William Shakespeare’s passing. Part of CPCC’s Sensoria. For more information, visit http://sensoria.cpcc.edu. April 14-17. CPCC’s Pease Auditorium, 1200 Elizabeth Ave. 704330-6534. tix.cpcc.edu. Schoolhouse Rock Live A musical adaptation of the classic TV show that uses clever songs to aid children in learning. April 15, 7:30 p.m.; April 16, 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.;April 17, 2 p.m.; April 23, 11 a.m., 3 and 7:30 p.m.; April 24, 2 p.m. ImaginOn’s McColl Family Theatre, 300 East 7th St. 704-973-2828. ctcharlotte.org The Taming Lauren Gunderson’s political satire takes on America’s overheated political rhetoric with some surprising truths about our founding fathers, and the passions of three slightly insane women who just might be revolutionary geniuses. $22. April 14-16, 8 p.m. Charlotte Art League, 1517 Camden Road. donnascottproductions.com.

More Events 15th Annual Walk to End Lupus Now: Charlotte Funds raised support national research and local support services to help the estimated 10,000 people in the Charlotte area who are living with lupus. April 16, 3-8 p.m. Central Piedmont Community College (King’s Green),

1210 Elizabeth Ave. 2nd Annual Craft Beer and Burger Festival Creative Loafing will host its second annual Craft Beer and Burger Festival offering samplings from 30 breweries, as well as tastes from local restaurants vying for the title of “Creative Loafing’s Best Burger.” There will be a VIP session (12:30 p.m.-2 p.m.) that will feature special releases and beers from each brewery, with a general admission open tasting session to follow (2 p.m.-6 p.m.). The event will benefit the 2nd Harvest Food Bank of the Carolinas. April 16. AvidXchange Music Factory, 1000 AvidXchange Music Factory Blvd. 5th Annual Sweet Escapes A chocolate affair benefiting Community Links, which is celebrating its 85th year of enabling individuals and families to obtain and sustain safe, decent and affordable housing. Five hundred pounds of chocolate delights and creations will be there for chocolate aficionados. $75 per person. April 16, 7:15-10 p.m. sweet-escapes.org. ‘80s Night Featuring prizes, drink specials, and all the 80’s music you can dance to. Rock a rad ‘80s outfit for free admission. April 15, 5 p.m.-2 a.m. Howl At The Moon, 210 E. Trade St. howlatthemoon.com. Amelia Morris Morris, author of Bon Appetempt: A Coming-of-Age Story (with Recipes!), discusses her road from blog to book. April 14, 9:30 a.m.-10:45 a.m. CPCC’s Tate Hall, 1206 Elizabeth Ave. sensoria.cpcc.edu Art on the Green A two-day fine arts festival featuring the work of some of the region’s top local and regional artists. There will also be live music, children’s art projects and more. Free admission.April 16, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; April 17, noon-4 p.m. Davidson Village Green, Concord and Main St., Davidson. Art Walk at the Arboretum Clara Curtis, director for design, exhibits and education at the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville will speak about the botanical and cultural resource. Coffee is served at 10 a.m. and the program begins at 10:30. April 15, 10 a.m.12 p.m. Free with museum admission. Mint Museum Randolph, 2730 Randolph Road mintmuseum.org Bayne Brewing Craft Beer Olympics The event will be held in the taproom and the outdoor area surrounding the brewery. Teams of two will compete in various events to

determine who will take home the gold. Free pizza will be served and prizes will be award to our winners. Events will include Giant Jenga, cornhole, LadderBall and more. April 16, 3 p.m. Bayne Brewing Company, 19507 W Catawba Ave., Cornelius. 704-897-6426. baynebrewingcompany.com. Body Worlds & The Cycle of Life The latest exhibition from physician and anatomist Dr. Gunther von Hagens showcases the body throughout the human life cycle and across the arc of aging. Through May 1. Discovery Place, 301 N. Tryon St. 704-372-6261. discoveryplace. org. Ceramic Workshop and Lecture with Ken Sedburry North Carolina Studio Artist Ken Sedberry demonstrates and discusses wheel thrown pieces, animal sculptures, and decorative glazing techniques in a day long workshop. April 14, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Center for Art & Technology (CAT), 010, corner of Kings Drive and 7th Street. sensoria.cpcc.edu. Charlotte Taste of the Nation Every year, chefs, sommeliers and mixologists join forces to raise funds for No Kid Hungry. For more information, visit http://ce.strength.org/ charlotte. April 18, 6-9:30 p.m. The Fillmore, 1000 AvidXchange Music Factory Blvd. Charles Williams: Artist Lecture and Opening Reception Sensoria featured visual artist and South Carolina native, Charles Williams, discusses and confronts his own near-death experiences with the sea, the associated psychological barriers and stereotypes of black youth, and the nature of fear through a series of landscape paintings titled Continuum. Artist lecture: (Tate Hall) 6 p.m.-7:15 p.m. Opening reception: (Ross Gallery) 7:30 p.m.-9 p.m. CPCC’s Tate Hall, 1206 Elizabeth Ave. sensoria. cpcc.edu. Cocktail Class at Heirloom Restaurant Learn three cocktails for the Spring season, featuring Fair Game Beverage Company. Small bites provided by Chef Clark Barlowe. $50/ person; $90/couple. April 16, 1-4 p.m. Heirloom Restaurant, 8470 Bellhaven Blvd. 704-595-7710. heirloomrestaurantnc.com. Comics Are For Real: A Heroes Panel English faculty Colin Hickey moderates a panel with successful local comic artists Rico Renzi and Dustin Harbin, who are also current and former creative directors at local comic shop extraordinaire Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find. April

14, 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m. CPCC’s Levine Campus Auditorium. 2800 Campus Ridge Road, Matthews. sensoria.cpcc.edu. Dracula Lives! A session with Dacre Stoker Dacre Stoker is the great grand-nephew of Bram Stoker and the best-selling co-author of Dracula the Un-Dead (Dutton, 2009), the official Stoker family-endorsed sequel to Dracula. April 14, 12:30 p.m.-1:45 p.m. CPCC’s Tate Hall, 1206 Elizabeth Ave. sensoria.cpcc.edu. Dreaming the American Dream Visual artist and activist Rosalia Torres-Weiner discusses the meaning of art and its social contexts. April 14, 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m. CPCC’s Tate Hall, 1206 Elizabeth Ave. sensoria.cpcc.edu. Dine & Draw CLT You don’t have to be an artist to join in on this fun drawing and socializing experience. April 17, 1 p.m. Free Range Brewing Company, 2320 N. Davidson St. 704-898-4247. freerangebrewing.com. Film People Meet the Artist Michaela Pilar Brown Through a series of workshops with CPCC Digital Film students, South Carolina visual artist, activist and filmmaker Michaela Pilar Brown explores current events in the New South including race, gender and the human body. Student films are premiered in a mini-film festival and portfolio show. April 15, 7 p.m.-9 p.m. CPCC’s Tate Hall, 1206 Elizabeth Ave. sensoria.cpcc.edu. Foam Glow 5K Foam Glow 5K offers a running experience with glow in the dark fun. For more information, visit foamglow.com. April 16, 7 p.m. Charlotte Motor Speedway, 5555 Concord Pkwy S., Concord. Food Truck Saturday - Prosperity Village Prosperity Village Area Association hosts this food truck event. For more information, visit eatfromatruck.com. April 16, 4-9 p.m. Baxter Village, 951 Market St., Fort Mill. Graffiti with DeNeer Davis Visual artist DeNeer Davis lectures on the origins, ethics and artistry of graffiti art and profiles her pioneering work on both 2D (walls) and 3D (sneakers) formats. April 14, 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. CPCC’s Overcash lawn, 1201 Elizabeth Ave. sensoria.cpcc.edu. Harrisburg ARTwalk Community event that displays more than 100 artists from all over North Carolina & beyond. Featuring handcrafted paintings, illustrations, glass, metal, wood, crafts and more. Held at 4100

Main Street in Harrisburg. April 16, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Library Book Sale The Library Book Sale supports four $500 scholarships to CPCC students annually through the Theresa Thompson Library Scholarship. Part of CPCC’s Sensoria. For more information, visit http:// sensoria.cpcc.edu/event/533/. Through April 15. CPCC Central Campus, 1201 Elizabeth Ave. Loch Norman Highland Games A two-day celebration of all things Scotland. Featuring live music, Scottish athletics, crafts, North Carolina beer and wine, highland dancing, children’s activities, Scottish clans, bagpipe bands, historic encampments, Scotch whisky tastings, Scottish country dancing, Scottish food, merchandise and more. For more information, visit lochnorman.com. April 16; Sun., April 17. Historic Rural Hill Farm, 4431 Neck Road, Huntersville. 704-875-3113. ruralhill.net. Spring Open Farm Days Wish We Had Acres opens its farm to the public. There will be baby goats. Free admission. April 16, 3-6 p.m. Wish We Had Acres, 10715 Shopton Road West. wishwehadacres.com. Mint to Move Cultural Dance Night Enjoy AfroCuban and Latin-American dance rhythms with a DJ, live musicians and free dance lessons. $8.50-$12. April 15, 8-11:30 p.m. Mint Museum Uptown, 500 S. Tryon St. 704-337-2000. mintmuseum.org. Pleasure & Pain Mandyland presents this event of bands, booze, and bondage. Featuring live music by Dr.Cirkustien, The Waves, The Hot House Hefftones. and Shots Fired. Performance art by Saturos, Shagidelicus, DarLingAllure, Lyttle Phoenix, Bri AlphaWolf, & Satarah. $10. April 16, 8 p.m. The Rabbit Hole, 1801 Commonwealth Ave. Science on the Rocks: Geek Out, Freak Out This Science on the Rocks celebrates comics, robotics, virtual reality and more. It’s adults-only night and spandex super suit are encouraged. There will be prizes for best superhero costumes. $8-$10; extra for IMAX and special exhibits. April 15, 5-9 p.m. Discovery Place, 301 N. Tryon St. 704-372-6261. discoveryplace.org. South End Bazaar The South End Bazaar celebrates small business and entrepreneurship in Charlotte and will incorporate fashion, arts and food vendors. Artisans will showcase

their hand-crafted goods and original artwork by local merchants will be for sale. Local brews, pastries and other food options will be available. This free family-friendly event is a collaboration between C3Lab and CLTure. April 16, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. C3 Lab, 2525 Distribution St. Spring Arts Fete This show will feature several local artists, drink, appetizers and more. April 16, 6-10 p.m. Advent Coworking, 933 Louise Ave. adventcoworking.com. Studio Party 16 For the arts gala every floor and artist studio comes alive with contemporary art, installations, pop-up performances, music and dancing, gourmet hors d’oeuvres, and complimentary cocktails to celebrate and benefit McColl Center for Art + Innovation. $125-$150. April 16, 7-10 p.m. McColl Center for Art + Innovation, 721 N. Tryon St. 704-332-5535. mccollcenter.org. Talon to Table This celebration of locally sourced food, drinks and the environment will include dinner, drinks, music, speaker and auction. $150. April 16, 7-10 p.m. Carolina Raptor Center, 6000 Sample Road, Huntersville. 704-875-6521. carolinaraptorcenter.org. Taste of the Mint An evening filled with art and culinary delights, including small plates and beverages at two of Charlotte restaurants (Halcyon, Flavors from the Earth and Mimosa Grill). There’s also a guided tour of the special exhibition exhibition, Here & Now: 80 Years of Photography at The Mint. $37.50-$50. April 20, 4-7 p.m. Mint Museum Uptown, 500 S. Tryon St. 704-337-2000. mintmuseum.org. Taste of the New South Levine Museum’s annual themed food fest takes on Latin American cuisine. Starting at $125. April 14, 6 p.m. Levine Museum of the New South, 200 E. 7th St. 704-333-1887. museumofthenewsouth. org. Uptown Raptors: The Wildlife Around Us The Carolina Room and the Raptor Center present an evening of raptors, including info about their aerial skills. The center will also bring three raptors, including a peregrine falcon, a red shouldered hawk and a barred owl. Free. April 20, 6:30-7:45 p.m. Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library, 310 North Tryon St. cmstory.org/ content/carolina-room-programs. clclt.com | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | 41

Music

Feature

Kisha bari

Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars perform at Neighborhood Theatre on April 14.

Giving back Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars offer hope to the hopeless By Anita Overcash

ne could only imagine that being hopeful

in a war-torn country isn’t easy. But if there’s one thing that Reuben Koroma, frontman of Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, possessed during his time in refugee camps — he lived in several in Guinea from 1997-2005 — it was the feeling that something good would come out of the dreadful situation. Hailing 42 | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | clclt.com

from Free Town, Sierra Leone, a country plagued by an 11-year Civil War (19912002), Koroma found his hope through music. In Guinea refugee camps, he met others who shared his love for music. Though they didn’t have access to conventional instruments, they made use of everyday items, like containers, which they played and used to construct songs that were as

therapeutic as they were entertaining for themselves and for onlookers. They also made use of the best instrument they had at that time, their voices. After a Canadian relief agency donated the group some instruments, Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars were born. Though they now have conventional Western instruments, the group also uses more traditional African instruments to showcase their culture’s rich

soundscapes. The group caught the attention of American filmmakers Zach Niles and Banker White, who produced the gripping 2005 documentary, The Refugee All Stars. The documentary, which has won more than 10 awards — including the Grand Jury Prize for “Best Documentary” at the AFI Film Festival in 2005 — helped the group to gain international acclaim. It also led to

Jay dickman

Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars $15-$18. April 14, 8 p.m. Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 36th St. 704-942-7997. neighborhoodtheatre. com.

the band’s 2006 debut album, Living Like A Refugee, along with three more to follow, including the band’s latest, 2014’s Libation. With four albums under their belt, SLRAS are also some of the most well traveled musicians out of West Africa. In the past 10 years, they’ve done extensive world-wide touring and they’ll perform in Charlotte at Neighborhood Theatre on April 14. Koroma is still surprised by the documentary’s success, which in turn led to SLRAS spotlights from celebrities like Sir Paul McCartney and Angelina Jolie and appearances on TV, including a stint on The Oprah Winfrey Show. “We just did that [star in the documentary] to just exhibit our talent,” says Koroma. “I was not thinking that this would all happen. I was just thinking to share my music. I didn’t think it would come to me becoming an international musician.” The band, which has returned to Sierra Leone on and off since 2005, recently wrote a song called “World Peace” British Red Cross’ The Long Road, an EP released in February to raise money for British Red Cross refugee services in the United Kingdom. The album, which features global artists, including the renowned Robert Plant, features tracks that were all inspired by the plight of refugees. Though the violence in his West African coastal home has since ceased, Koroma still considers himself a refugee because of another plague. “I consider myself a refugee right now

because of Ebola. I couldn’t go back,” says Koroma, who currently resides in Providence, Rhode Island. His wife and four children are back in Sierra Leone, which has since improved but still struggles conditions related to the epidemic. Keeping his homeland in his thoughts, Koroma seeks to give back rather than ride out on his success. Visits to Europe, where bicycles are a major form of transportation, inspired him to launch Bicycles for Clean Air, a solo project that’s aimed at collecting bikes that he plans to ship back to Sierra Leone, where they aren’t readily available. “In Europe, people ride bikes a lot and I tried to ask them why and the reasons they gave me, to keep the environment healthy, was a very good reason,” says Koroma, who is 52-years-old. “I bought a bike in Europe and I started riding the bike there and I saw that I picked it up in a week and I saw that I was dropping pounds. I thought that it could be helpful to fight obesity, too.” Currently on tour with SLRAS, Koroma rides his bike when he has the chance. But, more importantly, he strives to get the wheels of hope moving in listeners’ — especially those who are refugees — heads. “When we talk to them, we always tell them they should have hope. And then, our story gives hope because we set a good example. We hope to inspire them to work hard,” says Koroma, who goes on to place extra emphasis on hard work and abiding by laws. “When you go to Rome, you have to do as the Romans do. If you are fortunate to be in any country that is hosting you as a refugee, that’s the first thing that you should do, you should abide by the laws of that country,” he says. “You have to stay focused and you have to be doing something. Being a refugee doesn’t mean that you should not try to change your life and you have to work hard to change your life.” aovercash@clclt.com

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AND

say Thank You!!! to our 2016

Sponso r s , V e n d o rrs,& s,& Pa r tn er s! Competing Burgers

eer & Burger Festival Craft B

MooandBrewFest.com benefitting

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Music

Soundboard

FRI 4/15

SAT 4/16

MON 4/18

SAT 4/23

April 14

Silver Wings (Comet Grill)

Blues/Roots/International

Classical/Jazz/Smooth

Sierra Leone’s Refugee Allstars (Neighborhood Theatre) Vinyl Alley (Jack Beagles)

Classical/Jazz/Smooth Nawlins Jazz Thursdays (BluNotes)

SUN 4/24

Pagliacci w/ Aleko (Belk Theater) Universal Sigh, Groove 8 (Double Door Inn)

Country/Folk Donnie Dover (Comet Grill)

WED 5/4

Kiefer Sutherland MON 5/16

Eliza Gilkyson (Evening Muse)

Hip-Hop/Soul/R&B

Cedric Gervais (Label) Drop It f. Seven Lions (The Fillmore) Blues, Funk & Motown Saturdays (BluNotes)

Pop/Rock

The Convalescence, So This Is Suffering, Haymaker, Duran Duran, Chic f. Nile Rodgers (PNC Music

April 15

An evening with David Britt & Friends f.

Blues/Roots/International

(Neighborhood Theatre)

Pavilion)

Dave Desmelik, Jason Scavone, Reeve Coobs

The Big Takeover (Evening Muse)

North Mississippi Allstars, Eric McFadden (Visulite

Stewart Mauldin and All Dat Jive (Double Door Inn)

Theatre)

Classical/Jazz/Smooth

Charlotte Symphony KnightSounds: The Jazz Room

Straight-Ahead Jazz Fridays (BluNotes)

Kacey Musgraves, C&W Rhinestone Revue (Amos’

Southend)

Pop/Rock

The Business People, Youth Model, Millenial, Beach Tiger (Snug Harbor) The Fill Ins, The Commonwealth of American Natives, Poison Anthem, Van Huskins (Milestone) Lenny Federal Band (Comet Grill, Charlotte) Love Canon (Visulite Theatre, Charlotte) Messenger Down, Dear Desolate, Headfirst For Halos

(The Rabbit Hole)

April 17 Classical/Jazz/Smooth Celtic Woman: The Destiny Tour (Ovens

Auditorium)

Country/Folk Al Petteway & Amy White (Saint Patrick’s

Episcopal Church, Mooresville) Charlie Hunter, Scott Amendola (Evening Muse) Jesse Cook (McGlohon Theater)

Pop/Rock

The Luciferian Agenda, Mike Martin, Edwards Brothers, Travis & Travis (Snug Harbor) Omari and the Hellraisers (Comet Grill) Rothschild, The Foxery, Anchor Detail, Glimpses

(Milestone)

Sense of Purpose f. Paul Agee, Chris Allen, Joe Lindsay, Jody Gholson (Tyber Creek Pub)

The Riflery, Dean Fields (Evening Muse)

April 18

April 16

Classical/Jazz/Smooth

Blues/Roots/International Jarekus Singleton (Double Door Inn) 48 | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | clclt.com

Southend) Tosco Music Party (Knight Theater)

Barred In, One Final Hope (Milestone)

Jay Aymar (Puckett’s Farm Equipment)

YouTube: /qccreativeloafing

Kacey Musgraves, C&W Rhinestone Revue (Amos’

Shiprocked (Snug Harbor)

Country/Folk

Instagram: @creativeloafingcharlotte

Shine (Snug Harbor)

Mumford & Sons (Time Warner Cable Arena)

Jazzy Fridays (Freshwaters Restaurant)

Twitter: @cl_charlotte

Muse) Corb Lund (Puckett’s Farm Equipment) Dust & Ashes, Little War Twins, Knowne Ghost, Cave

Hip-Hop/Soul/R&B

at the Symphony (Knight Theater)

Pinterest: @clclt

Annabelle’s Curse, Mike Ramsey & Band (Evening

R&B Live (Studio Movie Grille)

(Milestone)

Facebook: /clclt

AJ Croce (Don Gibson Theatre, Shelby)

DJ/Electronic

Clover, Black Fleet, Earworms, Old Scratch

Website: www.clclt.com

Country/Folk

The MollyWops, ELIAH, Mare’s Leg, Molding Willard, Comfortably Nuts, ForgiveMeNot, Q Baby featuring Den of Wolves (Amos’ Southend) The Filthy Six (Evening Muse)

Pop/Rock

It’s OK to stalk us. We don’t mind.

Pagliacci w/ Aleko (Belk Theater)

Lunch Hour Jazz (Levine Center for the Arts)

Country/Folk

We all refuse to wear socks. clclt.com Matthew Frantz (Evening Muse) Open Mic w/ Al & Jeff (Puckett’s Farm

Equipment)

Hip-Hop/Soul/R&B Knocturnal $2. (Snug Harbor) #MFGD Open Mic (Apostrophe Lounge)

Pop/Rock American Authors, Ryan Star (Visulite Theatre) The Monday Night All Stars (Double Door Inn) Particle (The Rabbit Hole) Wicked Powers (Comet Grill)

April 19 Blues/Roots/International Raw Talent Tuesdays (BluNotes)

Classical/Jazz/Smooth Bill Hanna Jazz Jam (Double Door Inn) Lunch Hour Jazz (Levine Center for the Arts)

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

Joe’s Cafe)

Hip-Hop/Soul/R&B Ciara (The Fillmore) Orgone (Neighborhood Theatre)

Player Made Tuesday (Snug Harbor)

Pop/Rock

APR19 Big D & The Kids Table, Counterpunch, Dollar Signs, Aloha Broha (The Rabbit Hole) Fairplay & Special Guests (Lucky Lou’s Tavern)

Wednesday, April 20 Blues/Roots/International Blues & Funk Wednesdays (BluNotes)

Country/Folk Open Mic (Comet Grill) The Speedbumps, Michaela Anne (Evening Muse)

Pop/Rock Amon Amarth, Entombed AD, Exmortus (The

Fillmore) Big Something, Time Sawyer (The Rabbit Hole) Kiddead, iAlive, The Emotron, Red Jesse, Axnt

(Milestone) Modern Heritage Weekly Mix Tape (Snug Harbor) Parodi Kings (Diamond Restaurant) Triptych Collective (Snug Harbor)

COMING Soon

Alabama Shakes (April 22; Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre) Atlas Genius (April 23; Visulite Theatre) Santigold (April 23; The Fillmore) Parker Gispert (April 24; The Whigs) Lukas Graham (April 25; Visulite Theatre) Father John Misty (April 27; The Fillmore) Smashing Pumpkins, Liz Phair (April 27; Ovens Auditorium) Citizen Cope (April 28; Neighborhood Theatre) Tribute to Motorhead (April 30; Snug Harbor) Peelander-Z (May 3; Snug Harbor) Silversun Pickups, Foals (May 12; The Fillmore) Reverb Fest (May 14; Snug Harbor) Carolina Rebellion f. The Scorpions, Five Finger Death Punch, Disturbed, Rob Zombie and more (May 6-8; Charlotte Motor Speedway)Half Moon Run (May 16; Visulite Theatre) Half Moon Run (May 16; Visulite Theatre) Chris Stapleton (May 19; CMCU Amphitheatre) The Neighbourhood (May 23; The Fillmore) The Monkees (May 24; Belk Theater) Brandi Carlile (May 27; The Fillmore) Susto (May 27; Visulite Theatre) Lincoln Durham (May 28; Evening Muse) Ellie Goulding (June 9; CMCU Amphitheatre) 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) Twenty One Pilots (June 28; Uptown Amphitheatre) Aesop Rock (July 1; Visulite Theatre) Vans Warped Tour (July 5; PNC Music Pavilion) Ray LaMontagne (July 16; CMCU Amphitheatre) Tedeschi Trucks Band (July 24; CMCU Amphitheatre)

Need directions? Check out our website at clclt.

com. CL online provides addresses, maps and directions from your location. Send us your concert listings: E-mail us at jhahne@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 | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | 49

Ends

Marketplace

Ends

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Nightlife

Desperate for a drink? Remembering that all free drinks comes with a price “Have you ever bought a drink for a girl as I reached for another $5 bill and ordered knowing she was uninterested in anything a Bud Light. other than getting a free drink?” I tipsily As I was finishing my beer, the P.I.C. asked my boyfriend while waiting for the showed up and we ordered a beer together — light rail. “That’s a good question,” a passerby my last drink purchase. We were reminiscing said as he chuckled at my conversation. I about the good ol’ days when a gentleman guess I’m not the only one who grapples butted into on our conversation. Unlike my with this dilemma. To get a free drink, or P.I.C., I tend to have resting bitch face during not to get a free drink, that is the question. these unwelcoming interactions so I tried Now let me explain to you why the question, my best to not judge his intentions before “Can I buy you a drink?” was on my mind hearing him out. But it wasn’t long before he that night. *Cues background music, T-Pain’s popped the question, “Would you ladies like “Buy U A Drank.”* If you were Uptown after work last to grab a drink with me at the bar?” Thursday then you probably noticed the I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. “We swarms of nine-to-fivers piling into the were about to head somewhere else and find EpiCentre after work for the kickoff of specials,” I responded curtly. But that wasn’t Alive After Five. The event was originally stopping him. He insisted that “we” scheduled to start on March 31st have a drink in eight minutes and but was postponed due to informed us that he would be rain. With the boyfriend right back. As soon as he left occupied at one of his many we started talking about extracurricular activities, I the awkward interaction. was able to take advantage I turned to her and of some girl time with my partner in crime, a good said, “Should we ditch female friend. We’d been him? Just make a run for planning a get together it? I hate when someone and thought that going buys me drinks and I feel to AA5 would be perfect like I owe them.” Aerin Spruill since we’d made so many “Well, the drinks are free,” memories from going weekly a she laughed. couple years ago. But just as we were about to say It was windy outside, but the rain forget it, the ninth minute approached, and forecast had subsided, so it almost made the gentleman returned. After awkwardly for a perfect kick-off. After getting my nails waiting with him behind the bar, he passed done and a productive work day, I was so excited that I could barely sit still while us drinks — the wrong drinks, might I may waiting for the clock hit 5 p.m. The P.I.C. had add — and we walked to a less crowded area. an after work meeting and parenting duties His co-workers joined our circle and soon — that is, taking her dog out for a walk — after that I was regretting not forcing my so I began wandering the office looking for P.I.C. to keep it moving. anyone who might be heading that way. I got At first I thought he may have been lucky as I ran into a few co-workers packing recruiting for a new career venture they’d up for the walk to Epicentre. recently started Uptown. But then I caught I had never been to AA5 immediately the group of friends awkwardly glancing and after work, so it was nice to be able to walk nodding at one another, as if they were being right up to the bar without having to fight coached through a pick-up tactic. And that’s my way through a crowd of drunken people who tend to hover even after they’ve gotten when I looked at my P.I.C. and said, “I’m their drinks. I glanced at the drink menu and going to the bathroom, do you want to go?” was reminded of how drink specials really Even she seemed to breathe a sigh of relief aren’t a thing at AA5. And after my friend as we basically ran to the bathroom in the paid $9 for a Red Bull and Vodka, I thought I back corner of the area. And just like that, should limit myself to the $15 in cash I had my “nothing is free” policy was reaffirmed. brought in my pocket before forcing myself Talk about awkward. What are your to leave. thoughts on getting free drinks from I checked out the menu once more and strangers? I’d love to hear your thoughts, noticed what I thought was a “signature” escape techniques, great conversations or drink for $5. Nope, it was a shot, and it was horror stories. gross. But I thought, ‘Oh well, here goes $10,’

Ends

Crossword

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT? ACROSS

1 Gallery events for buying works 9 Acting in a Broadway show, e.g. 16 “High Voltage” rock band 20 Most calm 21 Exposed to danger 22 Shift course 23 112-Across, #1 25 German river 26 Toothed tonsorial tool 27 Punker/folkie DiFranco 28 French for “summer” 29 Trample (on) 30 112-Across, #2 37 Sidekick 39 Olds of old 40 Uplifting poems 41 “Go, toreador!” 42 Ultimatum concluder 44 Inedible orange type 46 Son of Adam 48 Timber tree 51 112-Across, #3 55 Ruhr industrial city 56 Pro Bowl org. 57 Former GI 58 Spay, say 59 Bring to court 60 Lorain’s lake 63 Paige of the stage 64 112-Across, #4 71 2006-12 Mexican President Calderón 72 Like seams 73 - room (Ping-Pong place) 74 Make right 75 Nothing 77 Skull section 78 Milk: Prefix 83 112-Across, #5 89 UV blockage stat 90 All 52 cards 91 Alarm 92 Turn around 93 Lemon 94 Be alarmed by 95 Tippler’s hwy. offense 96 - Paulo 97 112-Across, #6 105 Tiny skin openings

106 Place to buy tkts. 107 “Total Recall” director Wiseman 108 “It happens to the best-” 111 Be a drifter 112 This puzzle’s theme 118 Price to play 119 1970s cop show 120 Mechanic’s crowbar 121 Not brush off 122 Nothing-but-net sounds 123 Least lenient

DOWN

1 “Hold on -!” 2 Nevada city 3 Ones quivering 4 - -Croatian 5 With 6-Down, Best Director of 2012 6 See 5-Down 7 Misisipi or Nueva York, por ejemplo 8 Wasp wound 9 N-R linkup 10 Modern, in Germany 11 Married Mex. woman 12 Bathroom floor installers, often 13 Supreme Court justice Samuel 14 “- while they’re hot!” 15 Joseph who co-founded an ice cream company 16 Indisposed 17 Tabloid topic 18 Prohibit 19 Set of beliefs 24 Espionage org. 29 Fish story 31 Firing crime? 32 Bog plant 33 Kvetch 34 Chisel part 35 Tolls, e.g. 36 Garden implements 37 With 78-Down, seventhcentury pontiff 38 Eros’ father 43 Commit perjury 44 Bid 45 Pine- -

46 Log splitter 47 Comic shtick 48 Ludicrous 49 Script unit 50 Present 52 “Move - a Little Higher” 53 Nights of anticipation 54 Verve 59 “Isn’t - Lovely” 60 Relative of “-speak” 61 Sudoku part 62 Place to stay the night 63 And other things: Abbr. 64 All upset 65 “Half - is better thannone” 66 Skating area 67 Velocity increases 68 Kauai, e.g. 69 Obliterate 70 Lizardlike amphibian 71 Web pages for newbies 75 “Siberia” network 76 Really pester 77 Shake up 78 See 37-Down 79 Singer Garfunkel 80 Truce 81 “So long!” 82 Spread in the dairy section 84 Start over on 85 Totally lost 86 Chrysler line of the 1980s 87 Do field work 88 Santa 93 Viewed to be 94 Blaze features 95 “Shoot!” 97 Winfrey of “Beloved” 98 Not a soul 99 Packing box 100 “Hogwash!” 101 Fetal homes 102 1970s foe of Frazier 103 Chaps 104 “Baywatch” actress Gena Lee 109 Aliens’ craft 110 Shipped off 112 About half of a fluid oz. 113 Numerical suffix 114 Noshed

Solution found on p. 38.

clclt.com | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | 51

Ends

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I’m a 49-year-old gay man. I’ve become friends with a 21-year-old straight guy. He’s really hot. He’s had to drop out of college and return home. I know he needs money, as he hasn’t found a job yet and has resorted to selling off old music equipment. I would love to have some sweaty clothes of his, namely his underwear, but I’d settle for a sweaty tank top. Is it legal to buy someone’s underwear? He’s a sweet guy, and I don’t want to freak him out by asking something so personal. How do I broach the subject? Lustfully Obsessed Stink Seeker It’s perfectly legal to buy and sell used underwear, LOSS, so there’s no legal risk. But you risk losing this guy as a friend if you broach the subject. You can approach it indirectly by saying something like “So sorry to hear you’re selling off your music equipment. You’re young and hot—you could probably make more money selling used underwear or sweaty tanks.” Then follow his lead: If he’s disgusted by the suggestion, drop it. If he’s into the idea, offer to be his first customer.

would be hurtful. I don’t want to lie, but telling the truth would be damaging to my friend. Paddling And Riding Terminates Your friend is going to waste a lot of time wondering what she did wrong, PART, if you don’t tell her the real reason you can’t hang out with her anymore. And guess what? This not knowing will cause her more hurt than the truth could. So tell your friend the real reason she’s out of your life: You’re terminating your friendship because your wife is an insecure bag of slop who regards her as a threat. Your friend has a right to know she’s as blameless as you are spineless. Forgive me for being harsh, PART, but I think standing up to your wife, not dropping your friend, is the best approach to this situation.

Before I got married, I asked husband repeatedly about fantasies and kinks, so that we had full disclosure going in. It led to some fun stuff in the bedroom, but we’re both pretty low-grade kinksters. Now I realize that I do something that I have never told him about: It’s the way that I I’m a 52-yearmasturbate. I started old straight guy when I was 5 or 6, because from Australia, 29 it felt good. Got chided by years married. About Dan Savage parents and teachers for eight years ago, I met doing it in public and learned a lady through work and to keep it hidden. And so ever we became friends, with since, it’s been my secret thing. I our friendship continuing after she moved on to a different job. We think it has helped me orgasm in that I meet up for coffee occasionally, and we knew how early on, but it has also made share a love of cycling and kayaking, it more difficult to come in positions which we also do together on occasion. that don’t mimic the masturbating Both of us are in long-term, committed position. Husband likes the idea of me monogamous relationships. Our coming in different positions, and I’ve friendship is strictly platonic, sharing managed now and again, but he doesn’t our love of riding and paddling. Neither know why I’m set in my ways. We’ve been of our partners shares our interest in together for 10 years, but I have never these outdoor pursuits. My friend does shared this. Should I tell him? Part of me not feel safe doing these activities alone, is afraid that he will think I’m weird. But so often depends on my company for more than likely, he’ll just want to watch safety as well. The problem is that my me do it. Still, it’s kind of nice having wife gets jealous of the time we spend this one thing that belongs only to me. Secret Masturbator Obligated Over together and wants me to cut off contact with my friend. My wife does not trust Spanking Hotness? my friend not to “take advantage” of You could hold this back, SMOOSH, and our friendship. My relationship with my wife is the most important one in my keep it all for yourself. But I don’t see why you life, so I am prepared to say good-bye would want to. As sexy secrets go, “There’s to my friend. How do I say good-bye in one particular position I like to masturbate a respectful, caring, and loving way? in” is pretty boring. Unless you need to be If she asks why we cannot be friends, I positioned on top of a cadaver or under your don’t want to tell her, “Because my wife dad or beside a life-size Ted Cruz sex doll to doesn’t trust you not to try to get inside get off when you masturbate, there’s really no my pants (or cycling shorts),” as that reason to keep this secret.

clclt.com | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | 53

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For All Signs: Mars, known to the ancients as the god of war, goes retrograde on April 17 and remains so until June 29. Historically, those who draw a sword or attempt to expand power during these periods eventually find it turned against themselves. In our personal lives we are well advised to avoid extending our boundaries or initiating “war” on any front. The defendant, not the aggressor, will win in any conflict as long as the god of war moves backward and it doesn’t matter how big or right the initiator may be. When Mars is retrograde we are well advised against filing suit, hunting for game or opting for elective surgery (a different type of sword.) See below for the effects on your sun and ascending signs. Aries: Give particular attention to the lead

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paragraph because Mars is your avatar in the zodiac. You likely will experience delays in activities concerning the law, education and travel. This is not time to file suit or make legal threats. If traveling, you may be going back to some place where you have previously been.

Taurus: Activities concerning taxes,

insurance payoffs, government funding and loans will likely be delayed, and maybe even denied. This is a good time to talk with your partner about issues concerning joint resources. It is not a good time to attack, but to discuss and look for jointly favorable solutions. Seeking a loan is not a good idea now. The cost is too high.

Gemini: Mars, the god of war, is in

your partnership territory. Therefore it is particularly important not to attack another, verbally or physically. If you have enemies, let them make the first move and you will be assured of ultimate victory over the issue. Old issues in your primary relationships may be surfacing. If so, consider it an opportunity to handle it with greater maturity this time.

Cancer: The warrior energy is now in

your 6th house of work and health. Since early March you have been moving as quickly as you can to cover all the bases and still maintain your health routines. While Mars is retrograde it is common to plateau on physical goals, such as weight loss, but that is temporary. Don’t let this plateau discourage you from what works long-term.

Leo: Mars is retrograding in the house

concerning romance, children, gambling, and playful activities. While retrograding you may be strongly inclined to “go back” to a former condition in one or more of these areas. Newer romantic relationships may be put on hold for a few weeks.

Virgo: Mars is retrograding in your

territory of home and property. Because Mars rules machinery and tools of all kinds,

54 | apr. 14 - apr. 20, 2016 | clclt.com

there may be breakdowns of household gadgetry or vehicles that require repair. It is best to avoid buying new mechanical items while Mars is retrograding. Therefore it is generally better to repair or rent items until Mars is direct.

Libra: Mars is retrograding in the horoscope sector that relates to vehicles, tools and communication. Mars in this territory may represent the need to make repairs on various objects. It is possible that you are irritated with siblings, roommates, or neighbors. It is OK to respond to them, but do not initiate battle. Scorpio: Mars is in the sector related to income. You may feel absolutely compelled to purchase something expensive and impractical. It is more favorable to wait out the transit and see how you feel about it in late June or early July. Meanwhile there may be more outgo than income, so use careful judgment about expenditures.

Sagittarius: Mars retrograde in your

sign leaves a big “stop!” message that continues through June. Now is the time to chill. Recognize that the real you is so much bigger and stronger than the ego, which simply has a loud voice. This is a time to back off, rethink everything, and reevaluate as the dust settles in July. Search for the truth, not just the answers that satisfy your ego.

Capricorn: You may have an experience

in which you feel a figurative sniper at your back. Defend yourself if you absolutely must, but life will be easier if you ignore it. Your sniper will not recognize or admit it even if you point it out, and the confrontation may become embarrassing.

Aquarius: You may be recognizing the

need to back off or back out of some of your friendships and community associations during this period. At minimum you will be reassessing why you are involved and whether you wish to continue. If your motive for pursuing these activities is merely habit, maybe you need a break. Friends and associates from the past may resurface.

Pisces: Issues of career and future

direction are highlighted during this Mars retrograde. You may have thought you were headed in one direction, and now suddenly you are shifting into neutral or reverse. If so, this period offers a message that you should think this one over for a while. You probably need a better foundation or a stronger sense of drive.

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

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