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STOP, LOOK, LISTEN Alysia Osborne walks a tightrope between neighborhood revitalization and community-driven solutions BY KIA O. MOORE 9 EDITOR’S NOTE 12 NEWS OF THE WEIRD 14 NEWSMAKER: ALICIA BELL AND FIONA MORGAN BY RYAN PITKIN 15 THE BLOTTER
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FOOD SOUTHEASTBOUND AND DOWN Chef Donnie Simmons looks to create a culinary scene from scratch in Monroe
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BY RYAN PITKIN
BLOOD GREEN Overwintered spinach is the fleshy
meat of vegetables BY ARI LEVAUX
20 SPOTSHOTS: CHARLOTTE FOOD FIGHT
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MUSIC THE BUSINESS PEOPLE GO TO WORK To stand on the edge of a rebirth
BY MARK KEMP 20 TOP 10 THINGS TO D0 26 MUSICMAKER: DJ SPK BY KIA O. MOORE 28 SOUNDBOARD
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ARTS&ENT A NEW LOOK AT ‘MEMPHIS’ Corey Mitchell fine-
tunes a kook’s Southern drawl BY PERRY TANNENBAUM
32 FILM REVIEW BY MATT BRUNSON 33 ARTSPEAK: WILL FISHER AND BLAKE PHILLIPS BY PAT MORAN
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ODDS&ENDS 34 STARGAZER BY VIVIAN CAROL 34 NIGHTLIFE BY AERIN SPRUILL 35 CROSSWORD 36 SAVAGE LOVE 38 MODERN EROTIC BY ALLISON BRADEN
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VIEWS
EDITOR’S NOTE
LET’S TALK We’re leaner and meaner — but not too mean ONE THING I have gained personally from
but no obvious cover. Designer Dana Vindigni having a smaller staff at Creative Loafing spoke up: “We haven’t done a food cover in a these days is that it has forced me out of my long time.” She was right. In fact, we haven’t done comfort zone. I can’t just sit around the office and act a food cover since I arrived back at CL like an editor, delegating the reporting and earlier this year, and the timing couldn’t writing duties to a staff of journalists. At have been more perfect for this week’s look CL today, we have exactly one staff news at Simmons, a former chef at Zada Janes reporter, a feature writer who serves double in Plaza Midwood who’s opening four new restaurants in Monroe. News editor Ryan duty coordinating ads, and a designer. Where I would once assign stories, edit Pitkin volunteered to go talk to him and he them, write the occasional feature and pen brings Simmons’ character to life on page 16. Also in this issue, we continue Kia O. an editor’s note, I now have to get out and report many of the stories myself, just like I Moore’s series on five women who are did when I was a rookie cop reporter years ago shaking things up in Charlotte’s arts and culture institutions. Last issue, Kia wrote in Burlington. about the things Jessica Moss is doing And that’s a beautiful thing. It’s over at the Harvey B. Gantt Center given me the opportunity to have for African-American Arts + more face time with you, the Culture. readers, as well as with the This week, Kia sits down artists and other people we with Asysia Osborne, the profile in our pages. director of the Historic I get to meet and talk West End Initiative at with the restaurateurs Charlotte Center City whose food I’ve written Partners. Osborne’s about. And while I’m no essential role at Center food critic, I’ve enjoyed City Partners is to be the expanding, as a writer, human face of the Uptown into areas I’ve never written MARK KEMP boosters, interacting with about before. West Charlotte community I also get to do more writing members who live in the Biddleville in an area that I know and love very area, less than a mile from Uptown. much: music. I’ve gotten out and talked Those community members are concerned to younger musicians making new music at venues in Charlotte that didn’t exist when I about what development of the area will first came to CL a little more than a decade mean for their area’s future. Will it mean displacement? Will it mean the area will lose ago. In this issue, I got the chance to meet the history that makes it unique? Will those with the members of The Business People, residents have a say? “At the end of every policy, every law, a Charlotte indie-rock band whose music I discovered while editing a story a few issues and every decision in our community, there ago on Charlotte actor and filmmaker Carolyn are people,” Osborne tells Kia in “Stop, Look, Laws. The Business People had contributed a Listen,” on page 10. “This work impacts real song to Laws’ short film Damiane and Her people every day. So, if you lead with that Demons. I liked the song and searched out the thinking — that whatever I do, whatever I band’s 2016 EP Dirty Feelings on Bandcamp. say, or however I move is going to impact When I heard the Business People were someone else’s life — then you are less likely playing at Hattie’s last weekend and at Snug to have a much larger negative impact on Harbor this week, I decided it was time to go people’s lives.” Another thing I’ve learned with our leaner check them out. You can read my story on staff at CL is that it’s important not to have page 24. But no matter how much more I get out of an intentionally negative impact on peoples’ the office to report stories, there’s no way we lives. As snarky as we can be towards Charlotte’s could do what we do without our staffers and freelancers. The mix of different voices and leaders, the ultimate goal at CL is to help perspectives is what gives Creative Loafing its make lives better, not worse. And that’s a personality and scope. Take this week’s cover lesson you can’t get if you’re not out talking story on chef Donnie Simmons. It came at to people. MKEMP@CLCLT.COM the last minute during our weekly planning meeting. We had plenty of material to run,
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NEWS
FEATURE
STOP, LOOK, LISTEN Alysia Osborne walks a tightrope between neighborhood revitalization and community-driven solutions BY KIA O. MOORE This story is the second of a five-part series on women making a difference at Charlotte arts and cultural institutions.
T
HE RAPID CHANGE of Charlotte neighborhoods and the bustling development projects around center city has made cranes in the sky and bulldozers on the ground a normal fixture in the Queen City. Moving trucks are becoming a fixture too. The influx of breweries, coffee shops, dog parks and apartment complexes into historic and artfully eclectic neighborhoods around Uptown are sending longtime residents packing. The unspoken “G” word — gentrification — finds itself floating around conversations about the ever-growing and ever-changing Charlotte. Alysia Osborne, director of the Historic West End Initiative for Charlotte Center City Partners, has taken on the role of West Charlotte community builder for Uptown’s non-profit organization that forges public and private partnerships to help promote the city’s economic, cultural and residential development. She is the first point of contact at Center City Partners to see, hear, feel and address West Charlotte community members living in the Biddleville area, located less than a mile from Uptown. Osborne walks the tightrope between neighborhood revitalization and community-driven solutions that address the needs and desires of longtime West Charlotte residents. “I always say this type of work ain’t for suckers,” Osbourne says. “And I mean that. You can’t be soft. You have to have thick skin.” Osborne’s thick Mississippi accent brings a strong emphasis to the word suckers. Osborne leans in a bit to explain why suckers need not apply when it comes to community building and neighborhood revitalization work. “At the end of every policy, every law, and every decision in our community, there are people,” she continues. “This work impacts real people every day. So, if you lead with that thinking — that whatever I do, 10 | MAY. 11 - MAY. 17, 2016 | CLCLT.COM
GARRICK OSBORNE
Alysia Osborne. whatever I say, or however I move is going to impact someone else’s life — then you are less likely to have a much larger negative impact on people’s lives.”
With the area of West Charlotte now becoming a place of interest for reinvestment and revitalization, many eyes are now fixed on how this part of the city will change.
A major concern community members have expressed is the potential erasure of West Charlotte’s rich history, the stripping away of its uniqueness and the displacement of
NEWS
FEATURE
longtime residents.
OSBORNE HAS BEEN listening to and studying those concerns in Charlotte since September 2015, when she joined Center City Partners. But she has been studying the intersection of policy, law and community since her days as a political science and prelaw undergrad at the University of Mississippi. “I did not plan to become a planner,” she says. “My plan was to become a criminal attorney, but I discovered that was not my passion.” She found her passion for urban planning at a random trade show booth at a job fair. “The Jackson State University Urban and Regional Planning Program had a booth,” she remembers. “They talked about what urban planning was and how it impacted our communities. For me, I saw the intersection of policy, law and community. Those were things I was passionate about. That’s how I ended up in the community-building profession.” The first steps for Osborne’s people-first outlook that she brings to her Charlotte community-building work started with consolidating several different visions for Historic West End into one actionable plan that adhered to some of the recurring themes the community valued. “Although there were at least 13 different documents, there were some common themes about what this community really values and what they see their future as being,” Osborne says. “So we took those documents and those values and some of the policies and said, ‘Let’s create a tactical plan that specifies 1) what we are trying to achieve, 2) who’s going to take the lead on achieving those goals, and 3) what’s the time frame of when this will happen and what resources are available.” The time frame is linked to the LYNX Gold Line Street Car development. That, combined with working alongside other community partners, adds a level of accountability for all parties involved in the redevelopment and reinvestment process. Osborne’s group, the Historic West End Initiative, announced a three-part plan that spelled out “what we are going to do in the next three years and who is going to take the lead,” she says. “Then the community is holding each other and us accountable for those things. Because we have been talking for a long time. It’s time to actually do some things.” One of those things was the development of the temporary Five Points Plaza. Charlotte Center City Partners conducted a study that looked at under-utilized public spaces throughout Charlotte. The historic intersection of Five Points, where Beatties Ford Road, West Trade Street, Rozelles Ferry Road and West 5th Street converge, was deemed as one of the least walkable public spaces in the entire city. Charlotte Center City Partners, along with the Knight Foundation, the Ghel Institute, the City of Charlotte and the Department of Transportation, conducted a preliminary study to figure out the current state of Five Points and how they could make it more
walkable. A key finding from the study was to create a plaza. According to Osborne, the goal of the Five Points Plaza would be to create a safe gathering space for the community. But construction of
day in and day out if they choose to. So, in my opinion, they should be the ones deciding what it should be.” The Historic West End Initiative reached out to the Historic West End Partners, the
“I SAW THE INTERSECTION OF POLICY, LAW AND COMMUNITY. THOSE WERE THINGS I WAS PASSIONATE ABOUT. THAT’S HOW I ENDED UP IN THE COMMUNITYBUILDING PROFESSION.” -ALYSIA OSBORNE
the Gold Line Streetcar extension put the Five Point Plaza project on hold. “In the meantime, the need was still there to create a walkable space and gathering space for the community,” Osborne says. “You have to engage the people that you are asking to experience this space and who, quite frankly, own the space because it is in their neighborhood. Whether it is legally their ownership or not, it is their open space. It is the place where they can experience the plaza
business associate for the corridor, about receiving a grant. Osborne describes how that eventually blossomed into a vibrant, walkable space: “The Historic West End Partners took on the grant and started leading the design, working closely with the City of Charlotte on rules and regulations, and working with the property owner to get the rights. They took the lead and designed an amazing space that is now being used by everyone in the community.”
One element of the space came from a partnership with the LATIBAH Collard Green Museum. “They now have an outdoor exhibit, with a sound stage and all this art that they created,” Osborne says, beaming. “Painting the benches, a colorful wayfinding sign that has all the Historic West End neighborhoods on it. The space is so bright and colorful.” The temporary Five Points Plaza has hosted Savory Saturdays, the city’s first breakfast food truck rally. There have been movie nights and an African Culture celebration with vendors, dancers and visual art demonstrations. “When they have something in that space it creates a sense of place,” Osborne says. “A sense of unity. A sense of ‘I care. I live here. This is our space. Come enjoy it with me.’ It’s just such an inviting space.”
THE TEMPORARY Five Point Plaza is just
one of many examples of how Osborne is using a community-first approach when it comes to West Charlotte community-focused redevelopment process. There are a lot of big ideas floating around, but the ones Osborne hears the most concern about remain those fears about losing the uniqueness of West Charlotte and worries of displacement. “We are working on some specific strategies about how do we balance reinvestment, bringing in the new, while keeping what is important and unique about the area,” she says. “And giving people who have been here throughout the years the opportunity to experience that new investment.” For example, Osborne says, “If you live in your house and you haven’t had the opportunity to rehab your house, what are the barriers you are dealing with? Do you need rehab dollars? Do you just need some tools? Maybe we create a community tool bank.” Osborne’s work also focuses on reducing displacement of small businesses. “We know that small businesses are the bread and butter of any community,” she says. “It’s not the big boxes, it’s not the big corporations, it’s the local community that builds local wealth.” Osborne’s community building work requires a lot of minds and hands on deck, she says. “It has to be a multilayered approach with multiple partners working toward the same goal. Through each development cycle we get smarter. We as a community learn from our recent actions. We learn as we go. And I think that is pretty smart, because we cannot use a cookie-cutter approach to community building. That doesn’t work. We see this within our own city and across the country. We see that it has to be a tailored approach.” She’s also seen that it requires input from the communites being developed. “To get it right, it starts with the people that live in West Charlotte,” Osborne says. “It is not a top down approach where you tell the people what’s best for them. It’s asking them what they want and then we decide together how to best make that work for everyone.” BACKTALK@CLCLT.COM
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NEWS
NEWS OF THE WEIRD
BY CHUCK SHEPHERD
MOTHER OF INVENTION Robotic models of living organisms are useful to scientists, who can study the effects of stimuli without risk to actual people. Northwestern University researchers announced in March that its laboratory model of the “female reproductive system” has reached a milestone: its first menstrual period. The “ovary,” using mouse tissue, had produced hormones that stimulated the system (uterus, cervix, vagina, fallopian tubes, liver) for 28 days, reaching the predictable result. Chief researcher Teresa Woodruff said she imagines eventually growing a model from tissue provided by the patient undergoing treatment. CHUTZPAH! Henry Wachtel, 24, continues in legal limbo after being found “not criminally responsible” for the death of his mother in 2014, despite having beaten her in the head and elsewhere up to 100 times — because he was having an epileptic seizure at that moment and has no memory of the attack. A judge must still decide the terms of Wachtel’s psychiatric hospitalization, but Wachtel’s mind is clear enough now that, in March, he demanded, as sole heir, payoff on his mother’s life insurance policy. EPIC SMUGGLERS In February, federal
customs agents seized 22 pounds of illegal animal meat — in a wide array — at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Among the tasty items were raw chicken, pig and cow meat, brains, hearts, heads, tongues and feet — in addition to (wrote a reporter) “other body parts.” In a typical day nationwide, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seizes about 4,600 smuggled plant or animal products.
RIVER RIGHTS Over the years, News of the Weird has covered the long-standing campaign by animal-rights activists to bestow “human” rights upon animals, begun, of course, with intelligent orangutans and gorillas. In March, the New Zealand parliament gave human rights to a river — the Whanganui, long revered by the country’s indigenous Maori. One Maori and one civil servant were appointed as the river’s representatives. Within a week, activists in India, scouring court rulings, found two of that country’s waterways deserved similar status — the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, which were then so designated by judges in Uttarakhand state. The Ganges’ “rights” seem hollow since an estimated one billion gallons of waste still enters it every day despite its being a holy bathing spot for Hindus. BIG BROTHER Yet another intimate accessory with weak security drew attention when hackers broke down a $249 Svakom 12 | MAY. 11 - MAY. 17, 2016 | CLCLT.COM
Siime Eye personal vibrator in April, revealing a lazily created default password (“88888888”) and Wi-Fi network name (“Siime Eye”). Since the Eye’s camera and internet access facilitate livestream video of a user’s most personal body parts, anyone within Wi-Fi range can break in and be entertained by just driving around a city looking for the Siime Eye network.
EWWWW! Luu Cong Huyen, 58, in Yen
Giao, Vietnam, is the most recent to attract reporters’ attention with disturbingly long fingernails. A March OddityCentral.com report, with cringe-inducing photos, failed to disclose their precise length, but Huyen said he has not clipped them since a 2013 report on VietnamNet revealed that each measured up to 19.7 inches. Huyen explained (inadequately) that his nail obsession started merely as a hobby and that he is not yet over it. The Guinness Book record is not exactly within fingertip reach: 73.5 inches per nail, by Shridhar Chillal of India.
AND A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE
In February, a pet welfare organization complained of a raid on a home near Lockhart, Texas, that housed more than 400 animals, and, of course, reeked of urine. The inventory: 86 snakes, 56 guinea pigs, 28 dogs, 26 rabbits, 15 goats, 9 doves, 8 skinks, 7 pigs, 6 pigeons, 4 gerbils, 3 bearded dragons, 2 ducks and 1 tarantula — plus about 150 rats and mice to feed the menagerie and 20 other animals whose numbers did not fit the above lyric pattern.
UPDATE For more than a decade, an “editor” has been roaming the streets at night in Bristol, England, “correcting” violations of standard grammar, lately being described as “The Apostrophiser” since much of his work involves adjusting — or often obliterating — that punctuation mark. On April 3, the BBC at last portrayed the vigilante in action, in a “ride-along” documentary that featured him using the special marking and climbing tools that facilitate his work. His first mission, in 2003, involved a government sign “Monday’s to Friday’s” (“ridiculous,” he said), and he recalled an even more cloying store sign — “Amys Nail’s” — as “so loud and in your face.” UNCLEAR
ON
THE
CONCEPT
Rhinoceros herds are dwindling in South Africa despite an international ban on selling rhino horns, whose ivory brings astonishingly high prices, especially in Asian markets, where buyers believe ivory powder miraculously cures illnesses and assures prosperity. In April, South Africa’s highest court ruled that the existing ban on domestic sales of rhino horns is unconstitutional — on petition from local ranchers who had complained that they need to sell horn to protect the animal from illegal rhino poachers, since their expenses for security
— such as armed patrols, even by helicopter — have risen dramatically.
MOUTHING OFF New York City health
officials have convinced most ultraOrthodox Jewish “mohels” to perform their ritual circumcisions with sterile tools and gauze, but still, according to a March New York Post report, a few holdouts insist on the old-fashioned way of removing the blood from an incision — by sucking it up with their mouths (and thus potentially passing along herpes).
BEYOND REPAIR A “locked” cellphone,
tied to a particular carrier, though a nuisance to purchasers, is only a severalhundred-dollar nuisance. A more serious crisis arises, as News of the Weird noted in 2015, when farmers buy $500,000 combines that they believe they “own,” but then find that the John Deere company has “locked” the machines’ sophisticated software, preventing even small repairs or upgrades until a Deere service rep shows up to enter the secret password (and, of course, leaves a bill). Deere’s business model has driven some farmers recently to a black market of fearless Ukrainian hackers — some of the same risky dark-net outlaws believed to pose online dangers — who help put the farmers back on track. Eight state legislatures are presently considering overriding Deere’s contract to create a “right to repair.”
WHITEY Paul Cobb — also known as Craig Cobb — continues to look for a tiny North Dakota town in which he (and, potentially, fellow white supremacists) can buy enough land to establish a Caucasian enclave. News of the Weird first noticed his work in 2013 when he was eyeing (unsuccessfully, it turned out) Leith (pop. 16) and Antler (pop. 28), but recently he purchased an old church in bustling Nome (pop. 61), likely renewing his quest. His Leith plans ended badly after locals convinced him to prove his whiteness with a DNA test, which revealed him to be 14 percent “sub-Saharan African.” NO LONGER WEIRD For the 31st
consecutive Easter in the Philippines, Ruben Enaje, 57, was among the throngs of devout Christians who slashed their own torsos bloody, then flogged themselves repeatedly as they marched through the streets to demonstrate homage to God, and dozens of men in San Pedro Cutud, Santa Lucia and other villages replicated the crucifixion of Jesus by having sterilized 4-inch nails driven into their own arms and legs. When News of the Weird first encountered the Philippine phenomenon in 1989, the crucifixions had built a 40-year history and still listed, as an official sponsor, the Philippines Department of Tourism (but no longer). The Catholic Church, as usual, “banned” the extreme acts, to little effect.
CLCLT.COM | MAY. 11 - MAY. 17, 2017 | 13
NEWS
Morgan: I was in a Durham newsroom for 15 years, and it’s always been strange to me how disconnected the Triangle is from Charlotte. They are the two biggest metro areas in the state and yet they really lack awareness of what’s going on with one another. I think Charlotte is a place where, particularly, our media partners who are trying to do statewide work are really interested in trying to make inroads there. So part of our goal for this project is to facilitate a lot of those connections so that journalism can get done and people all over the state get included in the conversation.
NEWSMAKER
BUILDING BRIDGES New project aims to connect journalists with the communities they report on RYAN PITKIN
A
T A SMALL get together at Hygge Coworking West on Remount Road in April, a diverse group of journalists and community organizers milled about, socializing while they took trips to the kitchen to partake in the great unifier that’s always a sure way to lock-in attendance from both groups: free food. The gathering was a launch party for News Voices North Carolina, a new project from Free Press, a national, nonpartisan organization that works on issues regarding technology and communication in media. The News Voices project, which existed in New Jersey for two years before launching last month in Charlotte and Durham, aims to connect journalists with residents of Charlotte’s more marginalized communities and populations and help them build more in-depth relationships with the people they report on. For Fiona Morgan, News Voices North Carolina director, the event was a perfect start for the type of relationship building she hopes to cultivate in Charlotte and throughout the state. “One thing that’s surprised me is seeing a lot of community folks, people involved in issues of inequality, and journalists who are sharing their voices,” Morgan said. “It’s that mix right there — when they start talking to each other — that’s really fun. What I heard at both events [including the Durham launch party] is, ‘Yeah, it was great. I knew some people and I met some people I didn’t know and I had really great conversations with both.’ That’s what we’re going for.” Following the party, Creative Loafing spoke with Morgan and Alicia Bell, News Voices North Carolina organizer, about why the new project is necessary, among other things. Creative Loafing: How did the idea for News Voices come about? Fiona Morgan: Free Press fights for people’s rights to connect and communicate. It got started working on a lot of media consolidation issues, and has also worked on net neutrality, broadband access, privacy, so those are the kinds of issues we work on. We continue to work on media consolidation, but I think more and more over the years we’ve started to look more at how you make local media better. And it 14 | MAY. 11 - MAY. 17, 2017 | CLCLT.COM
“If only journalists care about the future of journalism, we’re in really big trouble.” -FIONA MORGAN, [RIGHT, WITH ALICIA BELL] JOURNALISM PROGRAM DIRECTOR, FREE PRESS
was out of that effort that News Voices got started, which is to work at the local and state levels to think about how do we lift up the voices of people who often aren’t heard in the media, and how can we make good local journalism more sustainable? Why launch in North Carolina? Morgan: I’ve been doing research for several years about the media ecosystem in North Carolina. We know that North Carolina is uniquely underserved, and also has uniquely strong infrastructure of people doing exciting work here. Free Press has 17,000 members in North Carolina, including members in all 100 counties. Our members are people who, they do all types of action, signing petitions, visit their Congressman’s office, make phone calls. So we know that there’s a lot of interest there. We have a tradition of strong journalism in this state, but we also have institutions that are really struggling. There’s so much opportunity to connect with the great reporters out there, some of whom aren’t working as reporters anymore but are still active in the community. And Charlotte will be a sort of hub? Alicia Bell: Once we decided to launch this project in North Carolina, some of the things we thought about when we were thinking
about where to launch in different cities, and where to work, was to think of what partnerships are there already. What are some of the resources and allies in thinking about community and thinking about media? Charlotte is one of the places that has strong media interest and support in the community and in uplifting the voices of community. Also, Charlotte is rooted and grounded in a lot of various kinds of activism and community building. We launched Charlotte and Durham simultaneously; part of the reason is because of their geopolitical locations as hubs in the state. We know that a lot of people move through Charlotte and are connected to Charlotte in the same way that a lot of people move through Durham and are connected to Durham. We know that a lot of folks come into Charlotte from outside of Charlotte directly, so we wanted to uplift that as a sort of intersectional thing, and how it’s a transient place in that way. These metropolitan areas are where we launched but we do plan to expand to other places in the future. These are the places we’re working now, but one of the longterm goals is to connect these cities that people look to as hubs to other people where people maybe aren’t getting the same kind of visibility.
So the launch party went well, but what now? How does this look in action? Bell: In August ,we’re planning to host a forum in Charlotte and the forum will be a space where there are folks from all across the community; that’s journalists, media makers, editors, funders, activists, folks who clean the sidewalks in your neighborhood, mamas, all of those folks. We’re looking to have that forum be really rooted and grounded in a conversation around economic stability and mobility. What we know is the folks who have been most impacted by economic inequity and the lack of opportunity have known for quite a while that there hasn’t been equity or opportunity, so it feels really important that we’re connecting folks to have those conversations in hopes there can be relationships that can come out of those forums and then stories and reporting and connections that are long lasting. So that’s one of the concrete ways that we plan to do that. Morgan: When we do the forum, we don’t do panel discussions. That’s a standard easy way to do it, but what we do is we use dialogue, small group conversations, and we have reporters literally sitting at the table with this diverse group. We take people through what I think of as a crosscultural communications project, where we get people who are journalists and people who are not to talk together and learn about stories that need to get told. We go from really broad topics to really concrete, reportable stories, so reporters leave with stuff they can immediately go and do, and they have the contacts and they have the sources to pull that off. It’s my understanding that a focal point of your work in New Jersey was around the immigrant community. Will that be the focus for this project? Morgan: Anywhere we go our goal is to try to lift up the voices of people whose voices are typically not heard in the media. Maybe they’re not in the reporters’ contact lists or there is any long, historical set of reasons why they’re not represented. When we held a forum in New Brunswick, [N.J.,] where Rutgers University is, our goal is always when we hold a public forum we always want the room to be representative of the community. Half of the people who work in New Brunswick are Latinos, a lot of them are undocumented workers. It wasn’t half of the room, but we really made an effort to get them in the room, and it sparked a lot of reporting and a lot of interest in how do we report in this community, when there’s not that many Spanish speakers that work in the newsrooms and all these things. Then in Asbury Park, [N.J.,] it’s been
NEWS
BLOTTER
BY RYAN PITKIN
HOT MERCHANDISE Police responded to
MARY ALICE CRIM
Fiona Morgan [second from right] at a News Voices launch party in Durham in April. more about education. Whatever those communities feel like, “Hey, we want to get this on the news agenda,” then we try to help make that happen. Bell: Part of it is rooted contextually in the fact that Free Press is an organization that has a strong commitment to racial justice and racial equity. We’ve talked extensively about how racial justice is an intersectional thing, so in order to have racial justice you also have to have gender justice, you also have to have justice for immigrants and migrant folks, because all of those people are included when we talk about racial justice. So with an approach like that, that absolutely impacts any local work we’re doing whether it be in New Jersey or Durham or Charlotte. Why is News Voices necessary at this point in time? Bell: The piece that became kind of key early on in these conversations, a lot of the times that relationship [between journalists and community members] wasn’t cultivated because there was no reason in a lot of instances for the community to trust journalists. Occasionally, there were journalists and media makers coming out of some of our most marginalized communities, and occasionally folks were forging relationships against the odds and pushing for that connection and relationship to happen, but we know that historically and still today the voices of immigrant communities, the voices of black and brown people, the voices of queer and trans folks, those are not the voices that are uplifted most in the media. What have you learned from the launch parties? Bell: We asked questions about where people get their information and where people get their news, and a lot of that is happening on a one-on-one basis. That’s something that we knew anecdotally, so to add depth and conversation around that, around what it means to be getting your news from the people that you know, and who are the folks in the
community who are the vectors, the initial folks who are receiving that information, and how is that information being disseminated and where was something that came up a lot. A majority of folks are getting a lot of their news from social media, email, word of mouth, those kinds of things. So we’re really thinking about how that connects back to this relationship theme we talk about so much. When news and information sharing is based on relationships and is based on a one-on-one relationship sometimes and we know that there isn’t always relationships and one-on-one interaction between journalists, news rooms, editors, those types of folks, with other community members, then what does that mean for what type of information is being shared and what type of news is being shared on both sides? Are you optimistic that this will result in a lasting change in how journalism is done here? Bell: I think that one of the things that has come out of all this is that folks are really aware and knowledgeable of the fact that we have to do something different in order to build more responsive communities. I think that people are excited and able to put energy behind things that seems like maybe we haven’t tried this before. I think that ranges from organizers bailing out black mamas from jail, which is something different that people haven’t tried before, to us bringing together journalists and community members in a room and talking about some of these issues that we’ve known forever have been affecting our communities. Morgan: If only journalists care about the future of journalism, we’re in really big trouble. And I think journalists know that and people who care about having a factbased conversation about what’s happening in the world, they get that too. So I’ve really been surprised by the openness of journalists who are saying, “Ok, I’m not sure what this is but I’ll try it.” RPITKIN@CLCLT.COM
a discount mart in west Charlotte last week after someone ransacked the store only days after it had been heavily damaged by fire. The suspect took advantage of the building’s weakened infrastructure to knock through a wall and found that the business’ owners didn’t even bother clearing the store out. The suspect made off with $1,000 worth of cigarettes, a safe containing $7,000 in cash and an unknown amount of lottery tickets (they track those, people). Adding insult to injury, the thief did $250 in damage to the already-damaged wall and tried to break into the ATM, doing an extra $500 in damage.
PULL OVER NEXT TIME Police responded to a street in northwest Charlotte last week after a driver there lost control of their car. A quick investigation found that the suspect behind the wheel had just smoked crack on top of their antidepressants and had a bad reaction, causing them to lose control and crash the car. Our only question is, do people ever have good reactions to smoking crack? GET A JOB A 51-year-old woman working
at a temp agency in southwest Charlotte called police last week after a man became upset at his lack of job opportunities and threw a fit, making his odds of finding work even slimmer. The woman told police that the man became irate after being told there were no jobs for him and he immediately tried to spit on her. The woman was able to dodge the phlegm, so he then went after her computer, picking it up and slamming it onto the counter, doing $800 in damage.
TARGETED Never go to the grocery store
when you’re hungry and never go to Target when you’re drunk and angry. Police who were sitting outside of a Target on Albemarle Road last week saw a man who began causing trouble before he even knew they were there. The report doesn’t give much detail as to what he was doing, other than to state that he “was arrested for being intoxicated and disruptive while being intoxicated and cursing” at people walking into the store. What’s so disruptive about that?
YOU’RE TOO CLOSE, MAN A security guard at Carolinas Medical Center in Dilworth nearly got the shock of his life last week after he apparently made a patient uncomfortable. The guard told police he was simply standing next to a man who was getting his medication when the man became aggravated, then grabbed his Taser gun from his belt, turned it on and pointed it at the security guard. Staff was able to calm the man down before he pulled the trigger, but safe to say that security guard will keep a closer watch on his weapon from here on out.
RANSOM A man living in east Charlotte
was happy to hear back from a stranger after posting “Lost Dog” posters around his neighborhood when his Yorkie puppy when missing last week, but alas, this was no friendly hero. The man told police that he received a text with a picture of his dog from an unknown number after he posted the posters, but when he thanked the stranger and asked if they could meet up, the unknown person on the other end said they had no intention of returning the dog to its rightful owner.
WHAT’S A LETTER? According to a police
report that was actually filed, a woman in southeast Charlotte called 911 and wanted an officer sent to her home. The report states that no criminal incident happened, but that the woman had received a letter in her mailbox and “wanted to speak with officers about it.” Ma’am, it’s like an email that you can touch. That’s the best way we can explain it.
PLEASANT SMELLING SUSPECT A
25-year-old woman woke up one morning last week to find that her car had been broken into in northwest Charlotte, and it was easy because she told police that she leaves her car unlocked every night. The suspect made off with an iPod, which apparently still exist in some corners of the world, and also shattered a bottle of perfume while they rummaged through the center of console.
GIVE HIM THE FINGER A 69-year-old
woman living in an assisted living facility in east Charlotte filed a police report last week after catching someone in the act trying to steal from her. The woman claimed that she woke up in the middle of the night when she felt something pulling on her finger. She told officers she found someone trying to take a gold ring worth $150 off her finger. Despite the fact that she woke up, the thief allegedly still walked off with the ring and it hasn’t been seen since.
HEALTHY OPTIONS Police responded to a traffic accident at the intersection of Fairview and Colony roads last week after a suspect slammed into someone else and was found to be intoxicated. Among the suspect’s stash in the car was found some cocaine, a Xanax bar, a marijuana pipe and multi vitamins. Something doesn’t fit here.
FAST AND FURIOUS A rightfully
concerned mother in south Charlotte called police last week after someone attempted to run her children over in front of their home. The woman told officers that an unknown driver drove up onto the sidewalk in an attempt to strike her 12-year-old son but he was able to jump out of the way just in time. CLCLT.COM | MAY. 11 - MAY. 17, 2017 | 15
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Donnie SImmons works on his grandmother’s biscuit recipe at Crust and Jam on a recent morning.
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SOUTHEASTBOUND AND DOWN Chef Donnie Simmons looks to create a culinary scene from scratch in Monroe RYAN PITKIN
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N THE RESTAURANT
industry, a good social media presence can be the difference between life and death. As chef Donnie Simmons learned recently, however, social media can be the difference between actual life and death in certain situations. Simmons says he was sitting alone in his new pizza-and-biscuit shop on Main Street in Monroe a couple weeks before it opened, working on the menu at about 7 a.m. when a man he had never seen before walked in. In an emotional spiel, the man told him he 16 | MAY. 11 - MAY. 17, 2017 | CLCLT.COM
was a fellow recovering addict, and that he followed Simmons on Facebook. The man had been near relapsing, but saw a recent post in which Simmons touted another month of sobriety, as he does every month, and rethought things. “The man started crying and he shook my hand and he said, ‘Man, please post every month, because it saved my life,’” Simmons says. “Then he turned around and walked out and never told me his name or nothing. I thought, damn, I’m really touching people. I’m touching people in every aspect, there it is.”
The sort of love Simmons experienced from that stranger one day in April is indicative of why the former Charlotte chef is bringing his talents back to Monroe after two years as executive chef at Zada Jane’s Corner Café — where both years he won Best Chef in Creative Loafing’s Best of Charlotte — to implement one of the more bold restaurant initiatives one can attempt: build a culinary scene from scratch. After Crust & Jam, which opens on Friday, May 12, Simmons plans to open three more restaurants along Main Street
in the Union County seat, home to about 35,000 people just southeast of Charlotte on U.S. 74. He’ll follow up on Crust & Jam with the opening of Franklin & Main, a fine dining restaurant with a menu inspired by Depression-era foods; Monroe’s first tapas and wine bar; then finish with the opening of a Southern-style buffet in a large, abandoned yellow house on the corner of Main Street and Morrow Avenue.
MONROE HAS HELD a special place in
Simmons’ heart since he worked at a farm-to-
fork restaurant — a trending culinary term that he hates — and had to leave when the owner shut down shop to focus more on the farm aspect. When the opportunity arose to join on with a pair of investors looking to start a restaurant group in Monroe, he knew it was his chance to return to where he felt most at home. “I went back to Charlotte and I did my thing, but I said, ‘You know what, dude? Monroe just has the love for me.’ They just have the love,” he says. He talked his way from an executive chef offer to becoming an equal third partner with the Ralph Lawrence Group, and now he’s in charge of opening up four restaurants in about a year’s time. “My focus now is about giving back to the community, because I don’t know if it’s a community that’s ever been really tapped into or touched from a food aspect. Everybody that I’ve talked to personally says, ‘We’ve been waiting on something. We’ve been waiting on it.’ When I said I’m back in Monroe, everybody said, ‘Why did it take so long?” he says. “So when I came here my mission statement was to look at the farmers, let’s look at the community, and I want to give back 100 percent. I think that’s what we’ve stuck to. I’m telling you, I’m giving. I tell you 100 percent, I’m giving.” In the weeks leading up to the official Crust and Jam opening, he’s been taking that mission statement literally. Simmons and the staff there have been handing out pizzas and biscuit sandwiches to whomever happens to walk through the door as they stroll through downtown Monroe. When Creative Loafing stopped by the new location and prepared to tour the spots where his next ventures will open later this year, nobody in the shop was disappointed, as folks raved about the pizza. Simmons has also been building up his social media presence with contests and free offers on the Crust and Jam Facebook page, where Monroe residents have shared their excitement about the low-key pizza and biscuit joint. As Simmons walks down a Main Street that will soon be dotted with his own businesses, the Mint Hill native looks more Midwood than Monroe. He’s heavily tattoed and his ever-present dark shades and low-sitting hat block his face. His gauged earlobes flap in the breeze. And yet, older shop owners and young folks alike stop him in the street to discuss the pizza they tried earlier in the day or the tomato jam he’s been handing out to social media winners. It’s clear he’s already ingratiated himself with the folks strolling through town on a lazy Friday afternoon. “Me being down here initially, I think it was a shock for them,” Simmons says. “Now that I’ve come back, I’m easily recognizable. I don’t look like the stereotypical Union County person, if there’s such a thing. Now when I walk up and down the street, people are like, ‘Oh, hey!’ With the tattoos, I would think it might be different, but I share my story about being sober and I share my story about people that work in my kitchen being recovering addicts. I open my kitchen up to give people second chances, so I think people have accepted me more. They know what I’m about.”
Simmons’ second location, Franklin & Main, named for the intersection it sits on in downtown Monroe.
RYAN PITKIN
“My focus now is about giving back to the community, because I don’t know if it’s a community that’s ever been really tapped into or touched from a food aspect.” -DONNIE SIMMONS, EXECUTIVE CHEF AND PARTNER, RALPH LAWRENCE GROUP
Simmons is referring to his “Clean Kitchen” policy, one that he implemented at Zada Jane’s and will keep going at all four of his new restaurants. As a recovering addict who dropped his heroin addiction more than seven years ago, he has a zero-tolerance policy for drug use or drinking in the kitchens he runs. He wants to make sure folks like himself who may be struggling with addiction always feel comfortable there. “It was always around. It was everywhere in that industry. Some people want to agree or disagree, but it’s the industry,” he says, talking of the rampant drug use he witnessed while coming up in the culinary industry. “I talk to a lot of people doing what I do and they say, ‘You know what, I got out of it because of the overwhelming drug abuse, seeing that shit all day.’” He says he eventually got clean because he was tired, although a long pause before he tells the story makes it clear that there was more going on at that time seven years ago when he began to turn his life around. “There was an experience, and the experience was I better not ever do it again,” Simmons said with a smile. “I woke up one day tired. I was physically tired. It’s work to get high. Heroin, opiates, drinking. I think it started with being in the restaurant business.
One of the main things was, ‘Hey, we get a shift drink.’ You get that and it never stopped. It went from shift drinks to, ‘Where are we going afterwards?’ and after that, just downhill, because I wasn’t one who could control it. A lot of people can, and I don’t knock it, but a lot of people can’t.” Around 2015, deaths from heroin overdoses in Mecklenburg County were skyrocketing, including multiple deaths and overdoses among folks were known to frequent the Plaza Midwood area, where Simmons had taken over the Zada Jane’s kitchen. That and learning the story of a friend who couldn’t find work after being caught selling marijuana inspired Simmons to try to help, and he decided to implement the Clean Kitchen, hiring ex convicts and recovering addicts who he felt deserved a second chance. “It can mean a clean kitchen physically, or it can mean a clean kitchen where I don’t want people to come in and do drugs,” Simmons explains. “Growing up in this industry, everybody comes in fucked up. They come in, they’re drinking on the job, they’re drinking while they’re working, they’re smoking, they’re doing whatever. I said, ‘You know what, I want to create an environment for people to come in and enjoy the craft
and enjoy it without having all the bullshit around.’”
WHEN WE STOPPED by on that recent
Friday afternoon, a camera crew was set up outside of Crust and Jam as they shot a short documentary about one of Simmons’ employees. It wasn’t one of his second chances, however, it was more like a first chance. Zach Plue is a 30-year-old autistic man who says his job as dishwasher, food packer and helper with anything that needs doing around the shop is the first job he’s ever had where he’s allowed to work alone and treated like an adult by his boss. He spoke with CL after wrapping his day of filming with the crew, which is shooting a documentary highlighting three North Carolinians who will benefit from the recently passed NC Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act, which allows people with disabilities to save and invest money without jeopardizing Medicaid and other programs and supports. He said he appreciates working with Simmons because he doesn’t handle him with kid gloves, like all of his former bosses. SEE
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FEATURE
BLOOD GREEN Overwintered spinach is the fleshy meat of vegetables BY ARI LEVAUX
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PINACH, THE meatiest of vegetables, is finally in season. The fleshy leaves of spring spinach are juicy with a potent green serum that’s high in iron and exceptionally rich in chlorophyll, which is a close chemical relative to hemoglobin, the red stuff in blood. This time of year, spinach is so abundant one can cook with it by the handful. Spring spinach comes in waves, the first of which was planted last summer as a fall crop, and coaxed through the winter under a blanket of snow. In spring, the overwintered spinach rages to life, with juicy leaves that are as sweet as they are lusty. These leaves grew from roots that were well-established last fall, as opposed to the second wave of spinach, planted months ago in greenhouses. It’s about the same size as the overwintered spinach, but lacks the experience and terroir of the elder plants, which have had more time to accumulate nutrients. Young spinach, including the so-called baby spinach that’s all the rage, is very convenient. It barely needs washing or any form of prep, and is as tender as veal. It may not have the sweetness of an overwintered spinach, but neither does it have the bitterness. In terms of nutrition, baby greens are “basically water,” explained a farmer friend of mine, who prefers to be nameless due to the fact that his farm supplies like half the salad mix in town. “They aren’t as good for you as a plant that’s lived through the winter.” He let me raid his field of overwintered spinach. The leaves were like plump, strong teenagers, in the prime of youth and vitality. Many of the stems were a vibrant shade of pinkish red, betraying their relatedness to chard, not to mention sugar beets. This is the stuff. Green gold. The final wave of springtime spinach hits right before solstice, when the field spinach gets big and leafy. It won’t be as sweet as overwintered spinach, but it will be just as meaty. In August it will be time again to plant for fall and, hopefully, a spring crop. My friend’s spinach, which overwintered so beautifully, was Tyee variety. ASSUMING YOU have the good stuff, then, what to do? If you can get it, the overwintered green 18 | MAY. 11 - MAY. 17, 2017 | CLCLT.COM
PHOTOS BY ARI LEVAUX
crème, then I’d recommend a very simple pesto with nothing more than spinach, olive oil and salt. This is a spectacular way to enjoy the subtle complexity of an overwintered spinach. Like a vegetal blood transfusion in your mouth. The leaves of springtime spinach clean easily. A blemish or two on a leaf can be tolerated in pesto, the sausage of plant foods. If your spinach is good but not quite top level, a more typical pesto with nuts, cheese, garlic and zest will be a very satisfying way to
enjoy the season. I’ve also had great results by simply combining fresh spinach pesto au natural with year-old basil pesto from the freezer. The next recipe comes by way of friends in Bhutan, a little Buddhist country in the Himalaya where chile is king and cheese is queen, and all other foods are cooked in a combination thereof. Those big bags of dried Mexican chiles that can be purchased in many box stores have become a lifeline to the Bhutanese
diaspora. And to a lesser extent so have the bags of pre-grated “Mexican cheese blend.” I went to my local store and got little ouncesized bags of dried Anaheim, New Mexico and Ancho chiles. The store also had organic Mexican cheese blend. The iron in spinach, while abundant, isn’t always accessible to the consumer. Cooking spinach with foods that are high in vitamin C help make that iron more accessible. And chile pepper, it turns out, is high in vitamin C.
BHUTANESE-STYLE SPINACH WITH CHILE AND CHEESE 1-3 ounce dried red chile four handfuls of spinach 1/2 to 1 cup Mexican cheese blend (or 1/4 - 1/2 cup feta)
salt (unless using feta) water or stock cooking oil
FIVE GREAT SPINACH DISHES IN CHARLOTTE If you’re too impatiant or lazy to cook up your own spinach dishes, here are five excellent options at Charlotte restaurants. There are plenty more, but we’ve tasted these (well, most of them) and find them pretty extraordinary.
Tropical Delights Jamaican Restaurant Spinach patties Made with onions, garlic, eggs, matza meal, salt, pepper, nutmeg and lemon juice, the spinach patties at this Jamaican restaurant in the University area are simple but absolutely delicious. Where: 9211 N. Tryon St. Hours: Mon. (closed); Tues.-Thurs. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.; 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. Friday; 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. Saturday; 8:30 a.m. - 10 p.m. Sunday
Brixx Spinach artichoke dip You’ll find spinach artichoke dip at serveral area eateries, but the dip at Brixx, in various locations around the city, is magical. We’re partial to the Dilworth spot.
FIRST, GET the chile soaking. Rip out the stem ends of the pods, tearing off the good bits of flesh and discarding the stems, inner seed heads, and as many seeds as you wish for the desired heat level. Tear up the leathery walls of the chile pods or leave them intact, depending on how avoidable you want the pepper pieces to be. Cover with water and soak. Meanwhile, mince a medium-sized onion and sauté it in olive oil and maybe a little butter. Add the half-soaked chile and allow to cook, covered, with the onions. After about five minutes on medium heat, add two or three handfuls of spinach-as many as you can fit in the pan-in whole leaf form. If things are on the dry side, add water or stock, a half-cup at a time, until the pan bubbles with deliciousness. Cover.
After about five minutes, the spinach will have cooked down. Add more spinach if you can push it in, ideally another handful or two, and then add the cheese--1/2 to 1 cup of Mexican blend, depending on how big your cheese tooth is. Some Bhutanese expats will occasionally use feta-if so, mind the salt. Cover again for about five minutes, then stir until all the cheese has melted into the sauce. Add more water or stock as necessary so it doesn’t dry out. If the cheese burns it will be a chewy, lumpy mess; but if the pan is properly hydrated, the cheese will dissolve into a luxurious cheesy gravy. Add salt to taste and serve with jasmine or basmati rice--or better yet, Bhutanese red rice.
Where: 1801 Scott Ave. Hours: Mon.-Sat. 11 a.m. - 1 a.m.; Sunday 11 a.m. - 11 p.m.
Amélie’s French Bakery Spinach asparagus leek soup With potatoes, onions, rice, heavy cream (sorry, vegans), chicken stock (sorry, vegetarians), and the titular spinach, asparagus, and leeks, this is a dish that gives you one of those OMG-this-is-so-awesome experiences the moment you put spoon to mouth. Where: 2424 N Davidson St. Hours: Mon.-Sun. 24/7
Einstein Bros. Spinach Florentine bagel Purists will tell you that, in the beginning, God created only two kinds of bagels: plain and egg. And they’re right. You don’t really get bagels at chains like Einstein Bros., even if they did name the place after the second-most-famous Jew behind Jesus. You get doughnut-shaped, bagel-like bread. That said, we can’t resist the spinach Florentine doughnut-shaped bread (a veritable amalgam of cultural appropriation!) at Einstein’s. Where: 1501 South Blvd. (and other locations) Hours: Mon.-Thursday 5:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Sat.-Sun. 6 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Ilios Noche Spinach pie OK, full disclosure: We haven’t actually tried this one yet. We just heard that the spinich pie at this Quail Corner restaurant is to die for. And we got it on good authority: Mom. So we’re gonna take our own recommendation here and go try it one of these days. Moms don’t lie. Well, actually, they do, but not about things like this. Where: 11508 Providence Rd. and 8426 Park Rd. Hours: Mon.-Wed. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.; Thurs. 11 a.m. - 11 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m. - midnight; Sun. 10 a.m. - 9 p.m.
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“I like it if somebody comes up to me if you have a problem with me, tell me to my face, I might get mad a little bit, but I like to know,” Plue says. “A lot of times people get upset with me and go back and tell my brother and my sister-in-law. I don’t understand that, you’ve got to tell me. Tell me first the problem you have. I don’t like people going behind my back.” Plue said he’s been anxiously watching the buzz build on Facebook for the official Crust and Jam opening while trying to do his part on his own page to let people know that they should stop by, although he’s not concerned about turnout on Friday. “I’ve already seen it on Facebook,” he says of the rave reviews following the Crust and Jam giveaways. “The line is going to wrap around this building, I’m telling you.” Simmons was once where Plue is now, as he worked his way up through the restaurant industry the hard way, from dishwasher to executive chef and now partner. He said the experience has helped him work with those in the kitchen below him. Anyone with money can go get a degree from Johnston & Wales University and say they’re ready to open a restaurant, but Simmons says he knows what it means to do the grunt work. “I went from dishwasher to prep cook to fry cook to the grill to sautéing, and worked myself all the way up. I didn’t want to be the bitch, so I had to work my way up,” Simmons says. “I think that it showed me every aspect of it. Instead of just pointing at somebody and going, ‘Hey man, do this, do that,’ I know their pain. I had to wash dishes. I had to cook French fries for 8 hours. I had to burn 50 pounds of bacon. I’ve got scars all over me. They’re tattoos now, but hell, under those are scars. I had to burn myself every fucking day to understand that, and my experience is from doing it.” But before he got burned, he had to learn the basics, and that started at a young age with his grandmother, Betty Ruth Simmons. Betty had a strict rule in her Mint Hill kitchen: you either help or you get out of the way, so Donnie helped. Now, all these years later, his newest venture will be an ode to Betty, now 85. Many of the recipes at Crust and Jam aren’t just inspired by his grandmother, they’re her recipes; her biscuits and her jam on those biscuits. The Brown Betty Butter isn’t her only jam there, she shared with Donnie her way of making fig jam, Chow Chow, even pickled corn. In his next restaurant, Franklin & Main, the recipes are inspired by Southern cooking of the 1920s and 1930s. That includes authentic recipes like fried green tomatoes breaded with ground corn flakes, ox tail served in tin foil — the way Southerners used to cook it in the ground — and hot milk cake. “I really want people to understand where 20 | MAY. 11 - MAY. 17, 2017 | CLCLT.COM
FOOD
CRUST AND JAM GRAND OPENING Opens May 12, 12 p.m.; 109 S. Main St. 704-282-1234. crustandjam.com.
food comes from. One thing that I’ve learned is that so many chefs — including myself — have taken so much food and overcomplicated it just to be different,” Simmons says. “On that [Franklin & Main] menu, you can relate to everything on it. There’s nothing that you don’t know in terms of food: corn flakes, tomatoes, ox tails, pork chops, liver, everything on there, you understand what it is. And you can say, ‘Oh man, my grandmother made this,’ or, ‘I ate this at my aunt’s house, we had this after church,’ and you can relate to it and understand it. “When I personally go places I say I don’t know what that is and I’ve been cooking for 25 years. I don’t want that. I want it to be a story and be able to be easily recognized.” It’s when Simmons gets to talking about food that he becomes the most energized, his raspy voice quickening when he talks about his old-school cooking styles that have just recently become trendy. “My grandmother raised me, I started watching her over the years and learning and doing whatever she did,” he says. “It was then that I started learning them old school recipes, that was grandma, and that’s again, the old school Southern food. People now are going, ‘Hey man, we’re cooking with cast iron skillets.’ I don’t know what the fuck anything else is but a cast-iron skillet. Let’s keep it 100. You got a new cast iron skillet? My shit is from 1978, literally.” Despite the tattoos, the cockiness of a man who knows he came up in the game the right way and the explicit language of the slickest of city slickers, Simmons feels right at home in this new tired town — a town he hopes to wake up. For now, Simmons says he focused strictly on successfully launching these four restaurants and bringing jobs to town, but down the road a bit, he hopes to make Monroe a destination city for foodies. From behind the blacked out glasses, Simmons is always looking at the bigger picture. “I think the way that we did it is smart, because if we would have come in and done one little restaurant, I don’t know that it would have been successful,” he says. “But Monroe is a cool little town, just look around. I would love to put it on the map. These small towns nowadays are the ones getting recognized. These towns have to start somewhere, and I think it’s time now that Monroe gets that.” From looking at him, he’s the last one you’d expect to bring them there, but maybe that’s the type of person this Main Street, Monroe has been waiting for all along. RPITKIN@CLCLT.COM
SPOTSHOTS
on hand and contributors were rs fe af st g in af Lo e tiv Crea Fight h annual Charlotte Food 5t e th at es dg ju as es to serv 6. We’d ews on Saturday, May th at M in rk Pa n ow pt at Stum e, which ions out to Cafe Ganach lat tu ra ng co g bi a nd se like to earned ling iced coffee drink that bb bu a d an s ut on cr up served story, but perfect score in CFF hi st fir e th ly on t no ck the tru d a few e final round. We snappe th in e or sc ct rfe pe at a repe r face. es we were stuffing ou tim e th n ee tw be in pictures chef che co-owner and pastry na Ga fe Ca , low be ed ur Pict utor his creation to CL contrib es rib sc de h lla du Ab n di Sadrud Seth. and judge Debra Renee
Charlotte Food Fight 2017
will go toward Funds raised on Saturday [pictured below helping kids like Cam ight] who have with his mom Sarah Ha e get 3D printed amniotic band syndrom their daily lives. hands to help them in
CLCLT.COM | MAY. 11 - MAY. 17, 2017 | 21
FRIDAY
12 MEET THE PATELS What: With this film fest, non-profit media mavens Define American leverage the power of cinematic storytelling to shift conversations about immigration and identity to our common humanity. A hilarious conflation of documentary and rom-com, Meet the Patels follows an unmarried Indian-American man as he attempts to find a mate the traditional way — submitting himself to massive interference from his extended family. Taz Ahmed will discuss issues the film raises in a panel discussion. When: 8 p.m. Where: Harvey B. Gantt Center, 551 S Tryon St. More: $5-10. defineamerican.com.
22 | MAY. 11 - MAY. 17, 2017 | CLCLT.COM
FRIDAY
12 106.5 BIRTHDAY BASH What: Geekcore gods Weezer, who headline 106.5 the END’s Birthday Bash, almost imploded soon after they started. At the time of its 1996 release, their messy masterpiece Pinkerton was considered a commercial letdown. While Rivers Cuomo and crew licked their wounds, nascent emo kids discovered the quartet’s power pop meets metal crunch tunes, catapulting Weezer to their current alt rock elder status.
When: 7 p.m. Where: Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd. More: $29.50-59.50. livenation.com.
THINGS TO DO
TOP TEN
The Weeknd WEDNESDAY KAYLA JOHNSON
SATURDAY
13
CHARLOTTE HOUNDS VS. CHESAPEAKE BAYHAWKS
SATURDAY
13
SATURDAY
13
SARAH SHOOK
CHRIS STAPLETON
What: The Hounds — Charlotte’s Major League Lacrosse team for those not into the local fringe sports scene — had a heartbreaking start to the season at home, dropping their first two games there by a total of just four goals. They’ll return to Memorial Stadium on Saturday after a short road trip to Denver and New York. The city is reportedly still in talks for an MLS team, which would mean bulldozing the 81-year-old stadium, so enjoy it while it lasts.
What: Scrappy, swaggering, PBRand Jack Daniels-slugging singersongwriter Sarah Shook brings her band the Disarmers to the Evening Muse, continuing Sarah Week in NoDa (or Sara Week, in the case of Sara Watkins, who plays the Neighborhood Theater the night before this show). Last year Rolling Stone named Shook, who’s been shaking it up in her home town of Chapel Hill for some time now, one of the 10 new country artists you need to know. Her latest album on Bloodshot is Sidelong.
What: Despite the confusion in the CL offices, Chris Stapleton is not just another corny-ass mainstream country dude braying about pickup trucks and white girls in bikinis on the Myrtle Beach strip. “Tennessee Whiskey,” from Stapleton’s 2015 album Traveller, is more Muscle Shoals soul than Kenny Chesney. Stapleton’s latest, From a Room: Volume I, is packed with more of the sweet country soul he’s known for. A perfect night at the Pavilion.
When: 7:30 p.m. Where: Memorial Stadium, 310 N. Kings Drive. More: $9-18. charlottehounds.com.
When: 8 p.m. Where: The Evening Muse, 3227 N. Davidson St. More: $10-$12. eveningmuse.com.
When: 7 p.m. Where: PNC Music Pavilion, 707 Pavilion Blvd. More: $72-up. pncmusicpavilioncharlotte.com.
Sarah Shook SATURDAY
NEWS ARTS FOOD MUSIC ODDS
Charlotte Hounds SATURDAY
Finders Keepers Market SUNDAY BANDCAMP
SUNDAY
14
FINDERS KEEPERS MARKET What: The spring 2017 season of this classy-but-afforable pop-up market series Finders Keepers will land on Mothers’ Day this year, and is being held at NoDa Brewery, which makes for a perfect opportunity for those sons who would usually have no interest in following Ma around a market filled with haberdashery, jewelry, artisanal candles and the like. Feel free to drop back and sip a Hop Drop while Mom shops. Mother’s Day plans solved. When: 1-6 p.m. Where: NoDa Brewery, 2921 N. Tryon St. More: Free. facebook.com/ finderskeepersmarket/.
COURTESY OF FKM.
SUNDAY
SUNDAY
14
14
PAUL BOSKOVICH
WEDNESDAY
17
WEDNESDAY
17
GOAT YOGA
FUTURE
F*CK UP NIGHT
THE WEEKND
What: There’s nothing like a goat nose to interrupt your yoga pose. Hit your downward dog next to a frolicking goat in the pasture at Wish We Had Acres. Gypsy and Willow, born April 11, will have just celebrated their one-month birthday on Mother’s Day, when friends of the farm are welcome to come partipate in Yin Yoga, with poses held for three minutes, and restorative poses that are held for 10. Be sure to say hello to Miss Sadie, the sow who lives for belly rubs.
What: With the chart-topping one-two punch of Future and HNDRXX - both released this year – Future makes a credible claim to rap royalty. He still clings to the ominous, heavy hi-hat trap sound that launched his career in 2010, but he leavens it with layered production that adds cocktail piano and eerie flute to the mix. Lyrically Future relies on a reliable mix of sex, drugs and crime, but its followup HNDRXX is a pensive glimpse of the vulnerability underlying the extroverted trap star flow.
What: Advent Coworking’s “F*ck Up Night” aims to inspire aspiring-butdiscouraged entrepeneurs by letting successful folks reminisce about their worst entrepreneurial fuck-ups and how they fought through them. Wednesday’s event will feature Chris Elmore of AvidXchange; Alli Washburn of The Margarita Confessionals podcast and NC Yoga Bar; and Dan Roselli of Packard Place. These folks will describe how they dropped their white privilege at one point or another and failed despite it. Also, free beer.
What: The mystifying misspelling of “weekend” that begs to be autocorrected is not the only thing that bugs us about The Weeknd, Abel Tesfaye’s stage persona, but there’s more to love than hate. Tesfaye’s early releases were brilliant combinations of his eclectic musical influences, ranging from Morrissey to Michael Jackson. He made the leap to pop stardom on 2015’s Beauty Behind the Madness, but he’s treading water on Starboy. Which is not to say we don’t recommend this show. We do.
When: 5 p.m. Where: Wish We Had Acres, 10715 Shopton Road West. More: $10. wishwehadacres.com.
When: 7 p.m. Where: PNC Pavilion, 707 Pavilion Blvd. More: $39-69.50. livenation.com.
When: 6:30 p.m. Where: Advent Coworking, 933 Louise Ave. #101 More: Free. adventcoworking.com.
When: 7:30 p.m. Where: Spectrum Center, 333 East Trade St. More: $59-up. spectrumcenterarena. com.
CLCLT.COM | MAY. 11 - MAY. 17, 2017 | 23
The Business People front man Nicholas Robinson wails away.
PHOTO BY BRIAN TWITTY
FEATURE
MUSIC
THE BUSINESS PEOPLE GO TO WORK To stand on the verge of a rebirth BY MARK KEMP
N
ICHOLAS
ROBINSON
doesn’t mind admitting that he “kinda stalked” the Southern California indie-rock band Delta Spirit. Robinson, guitarist and front man for the Charlotte indie band The Business People, pushes up the sleeve of his shirt to reveal a rather large Delta Spirit tattoo. It’s just after midnight on a Saturday, and Robinson, 25, is standing on the front porch at Hattie’s Tap and Tavern, a little drunk, a little chatty, telling me the saga of how he found himself onstage with Delta Spirit at a majestic synagogue in Washington, D.C. He’d met the band in Asheville and eventually struck up a friendship with 24 | MAY. 11 - MAY. 17, 2017 | CLCLT.COM
them. When he texted Delta Spirit bassist Johnathan Jameson, in late 2015, to find out when the band would be performing next on the East Coast, Robinson got a surprising text back. “He said, ‘I got your ticket, and oh, by the way, you’re going to be singing with us,’” Robinson says, and feigns a look of horror. “I was like, ‘Um… I don’t think that’s a good idea.’” Actually, it was a terrific idea. In the YouTube video of the August 6 performance, Robinson not only nails his part on Delta Spirit’s cover of the Beatles’ “Don’t Let Me Down,” but he performs a pitch-perfect solo acoustic version of The Business People’s
best song, “From NC with Love.” About an hour after our talk, The Business People are onstage at Hattie’s and invite a local harmonica player up to perform on “From NC with Love.” The band, recently stripped down to a three-piece after the departure of lead guitarist and co-founder Will Schoonmaker, has a little space to fill in its sound. But harmonica? That wouldn’t be an odd choice for a blues-based band slogging it out onstage at the late Double Door Inn, but The Business People are more Strokes than Black Keys. And yet, when Robinson begins plucking the fuzzy opening note to the head-spinning power-pop anthem, the harmonica fills the space once occupied by a
second guitar with just the right measure of bluesy swagger. The Business People may be in a period of transition, but they’re in a great place to make it happen smoothly. They’ve recorded three sets of music since Robinson, Schoonmaker and drummer Anthony Pugliese, all still in their teens, formed the band in 2010. Their most recent set, the fivesong EP Dirty Feelings, released last year, is by far the band’s strongest to date, its songs more melodic and the guitar textures more in lockstep with those melodies. What’s more, Pugliese, 25, and bassist Hyatt Morrill, 27, make up one of the Charlotte music scene’s tighter rhythm
PHOTO BY MARK KEMP
The Business People last week at Hattie’s: Hyatt Morrill (from left), Anthony Pugliese and Robinson.
“WHEN WILL FIRST LEFT, WE WENT INTO PRACTICE AND SAID, ‘WELL, CRAP! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO NOW?’” -ANTHONY PUGLIESE, ON THE DEPARTURE OF GUITARIST WILL SCHOONMAKER sections. In September of 2016, budding Charlotte actor and filmmaker Carolyn Laws — who attended North Mecklenburg High School with the members of The Business People — approached Pugliese about using one of the band’s songs, “Cocaine Girls,” in her award-winning short indie film Damiane and Her Demons. The song plays over the film’s opening time-lapse sequence shot from the perspective of a car driving through Uptown Charlotte. On Thursday, May 16, The Business People will be headlining a show at Snug Harbor, sharing the bill with Camp Howard, from Richmond, Va., and the Cornelius band Knowne Ghost. “We’re pretty excited about the next few months,” drummer Anthony Pugliese tells me the next day over coffee at Amelie’s in NoDa. “We’re moving forward with a stripped-down aesthetic, focusing more on Nic’s songwriting, the arrangements, and the sound that is – and isn’t – there.” He explains what that means: “As opposed to filling the space left behind by Will’s departure with as much sound as we possibly can, we’re asking, ‘When does it make sense to let the space in between produce an emotional response in the listener?’” That makes sense in the context of The Business People’s sound, which depends on
a tight, spare rhythm section and coloring from Robinson’s guitar. In “From NC with Love,” for example, his fuzzy, staccato guitar line introduces the song and provides little moments of punctuation in between the lyrics. It’s a very nuanced sound that only bands with a sharp sense of pop arrangements and dynamics can achieve, but it separates the pros from bands that just plow through songs, making as much noise as possible. “For the longest time, we were just straight indie rock,” Pugliese says, “but now we’ve been breaking into little blues-tinged things. In a couple of our songs you can hear a little country influence, and we’ve even got a little doo-wop going in some songs.” To be sure, those influences are only suggested. The overall sound is still firmly in the experimental indie-rock vein, but The Business People have definitely expanded their palette of musical colors, and the fact that a harmonica player felt at home during the band’s set at Hattie’s only shows how versatile The Business People are.
EVEN AS TEENS at North Meck, Robinson
and Pugliese had eclectic tastes. Both performed in the marching band – Pugliese as a percussionist and Robinson on saxophone – and say they appreciate jazz as much as they
do the rock they grew up loving. “I played the tenor sax for eight years, from sixth grade until I graduated from high school,” Robinson says. “I was working to become a multiinstrumentalist, so I also did percussion, taught myself to play the French horn, and can play clarinet and of course, every other kind of saxophone.” Robinson and Schoonmaker were 14 when they formed their first band, which Robinson describes as a “really bad metal band.” They covered Metallica and Coheed & Cambria songs, but eventually went their separate ways for a few years. They reconnected three years later at a Silversun Pickups show. “We were like, ‘Maybe we should try to play music together again.’ We were seniors in high school by that time and we thought, ‘Why not give it a chance?’ And it just happened to work for a very long time.” Robinson was sad to see Schoonmaker leave the band, but he understands why the guitarist chose to do so. Schoonmaker wasn’t happy with the direction The Business People were going in, musically, and left to form the math rock band Cuzco, which plays more pattern-based music than pop melody-based. By all accounts, the guitarist is more content now. “Will seems much happier,” Pugliese says. “It was a very amicable split. We just had
creative differences.” It may have been amicable, but that doesn’t mean it was easy. “When Will first left, we went into practice and said, ‘Well, crap! What are we going to do now? What songs can we still play and what songs can we not play?” Pugliese continues. “So we just went through our repertoire and found that a lot of the songs, like ‘From NC with Love’ and a few others, held up. All we had to do was change a few parts here and there, maybe rearrange them a little. But what we really realized is that the songwriting is what defines this band. People want to hear good songs, and that’s what we can do. We still have little guitar solos here and there, but now that we have a more stripped-down aesthetic, it puts more of a focus on the songs and Nic’s lyrics.” Moving forward, Nic Robinson probably won’t be stalking any other bands. By fall, other music fans will more likely be stalking The Business People, who will be releasing allnew music and also have other plans they’re not quite ready to unveil. “All I’ll say is that it’s going to be an exciting few months,” Pugliese shares. We’ll be waiting patiently, biding our time at the tattoo parlor.
CLCLT.COM | MAY. 11 - MAY. 17, 2017 | 25
MUSIC
MUSICMAKER
BALANCING ACT DJ SPK mixes it up and pulls it all together BY KIA O. MOORE
NOT ONLY is Apollonia Khan — known
behind the decks as DJ SPK — a regular on the Charlotte and Atlanta music scenes, but she’s also a promotions assistant and DJ at 92.7, a podcaster at StereoTypez Radio, and the 30-year-old mother of an eight-year-old child named Marley. CL sat down with this ubiquitous music maker around town to find out how she made her way to the turntables. Creative Loafing: How did you choose your DJ name? Apollonia Khan: SPK stands for Sour Patch Kid because of my personality. I am kind of an asshole, and it’s really funny to me, but I am actually a really sweet person when you get to know me. More than one person has told me, while I was in my 20s, that I was a Sour Patch Kid. When I decided to become a DJ, Apollonia was already taken as a stage name. I decided to go with SPK because it embodies who I am.
even your grandma gets it. 26 | MAY. 11 - MAY. 17, 2017 | CLCLT.COM
When did you fall in love with music? My dad was into hip hop, so when I was around him I would hear Public Enemy, Ice Cube, Funkadelic, stuff like that. But I was raised by my mom and she mainly just listened to Mary J. Blige all the time. A lot of Biggie, Nas and other ’90s East Coast hiphop. So music was there, but it was not at the forefront. But thanks to some older cousins playing a cassette tape, I really fell in love with music when I heard the Nas song “The World is Yours” when I was like seven years old. When I heard that song, that was the first time music clicked for me and became a part of me. From there, I always knew I would do something with music, I just did not know what it was. When was your transition from listening to music to actively making music on the turntables? After my intern days [working with Janelle Monáe] I wound up getting married and getting pregnant with my daughter. I was just stuck at the house with the baby and I did not have anything to do [and] I started to collect music. Then my mind naturally wanted to stream it together and play it for people how I heard it in my head. So my husband at the time bought me my first little compact DJ controller turntable so I could just play around with it. I fell in love with it from there. I found the way I wanted to express myself through music. How do you express yourself through your mixes?
PHOTO CHRISTOPER DOBBINS JR.
In my head I will hear a song and that song will remind me of another song. Even before I knew how to DJ, my mind was blending songs together or triggering things that was related to a song that I thought would sound good with it. My brain just naturally thought of the blend. I do a lot of blending and beatmatching. It is just naturally how my brain is wired. When I hear something, it is kind of like a word association, but I call it a sound association. What are some of your biggest challenges working in the Charlotte nightlife market? I noticed that the Charlotte mainstream urban market is less experimental. Crowds are less likely to want to hear alternative versions of songs. If you do something different, a couple of people will come up to you and say they like it. But the majority of the crowd will just sit and stare at you. They just want hit after hit after hit, just the way they have heard it before. I have found a pocket of people, like in Plaza Midwood, artists who make an effort to be creative, but the mass society here is very much still conservative, even in their party style. As a DJ, I read the crowd and please the client and play accordingly, but I find solace in the artsy crowd to release and express myself and be creative. Places like LeAnna Eden Sessions, Funk-Shun, or Su Casa, opportunities like that give me the chance to show myself as a true DJ. What are some of your biggest challenges as a female DJ? I will start with the advantages first. People will hire you because you are a female DJ. Sometimes ego will come in and you say to yourself, ‘I don’t want to be hired just because of that.’ However, it is a gig. If they hire you because you are a chick, cool. The disadvantage is that you have to perform way better than the guys to get respect. People are still shocked to see a woman that can actually DJ. So we kind of have to break that stigma. Like any job we have to do better than our male counterparts to get respect. Oftentimes, my brothers in art will get all the credit for the show or a mix, even if I was a major part of the planning or the leader of the planning process. It is very frustrating. BACKTALK@CLCLT.COM
CLCLT.COM | MAY. 11 - MAY. 17, 2017 | 27
MUSIC
SOUNDBOARD
MAY 11 CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH John Alexander Jazz Trio (Blue Restaurant & Bar)
HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Robert Randolph and the Family Band (Neighborhood Theatre)
COUNTRY/FOLK BJ Barham, Charley Crockett (Visulite Theatre)
POP/ROCK Attalaya, Bad Year, Birds With Teeth (Milestone) Bent Water (Comet Grill) Grace Pettis, Rebekah Todd (The Evening Muse) Karaoke with DJ ShayNanigans (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Natty Boh (RiRa Irish Pub) Shiprocked (Snug Harbor) Songwriter Open Mic @ Petra’s (Petra’s) Southern Experience (Tin Roof) Throw Back Thursday Party Band (Vinyl Pi, Huntersville)
MAY 12 CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH Charlotte Symphony: Mahler Symphony No. 2 (Belk Theater) Jazzy Fridays (Freshwaters Restaurant)
BLUES/ROOTS/INTERNATIONAL Steven Engler Band (Blue Restaurant & Bar)
COUNTRY/FOLK The Lenny Federal Band (Comet Grill) Sara Watkins (Neighborhood Theatre)
HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Player Made : An Ode To Southern Rap of All Eras (Snug Harbor)
POP/ROCK 1065 The End Birthday Bash featuring Weezer, Catfish and the Bottlemen and Dreamers (Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre) Brandon Ray (Tin Roof) Fireside Collective (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Greg Humphreys Electric Trio, Leisure McCorkle, Mike Mitschele (The Rabbit Hole) The Hot at Nights (Snug Harbor) Jerry Jacobs (Tin Roof) Josh Daniel (Noda Brewery) Lewis Del Mar, Anna Wise (Visulite Theatre) Nate Randall (Birdsong Brewery) 28 | MAY. 11 - MAY. 17, 2017 | CLCLT.COM
The New Up, MYFEVER (The Evening Muse) Peter Ciluzzi with guitarist Spencer Elliott (The Evening Muse) Radiator King, Fortune Teller, MoFunGo (Petra’s) Smash City (RiRa Irish Pub)
MAY 13 BLUES/ROOTS/INTERNATIONAL Joe and The KGB (Vinyl Pi, Huntersville)
CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH Charlotte Symphony: Mahler Symphony No. 2 (Belk Theater)
COUNTRY/FOLK Jason Petty (Sylvia Theatre, York)
DJ/ELECTRONIC Bad Bunny, DJ Bulla (Label)
POP/ROCK Arborlea, The Death in Me, Favela, Withdraw, Dad Fight (Milestone) The Ballantyne Chorale (The Fillmore Charlotte) Thirsty Horses (RiRa Irish Pub) Big Mamma’s House of Burlesque (Petra’s, Charlotte) Blossoms, Swarming Branch, The Dinner Rabbits, Vanity Plates (Snug Harbor) Carbon Leaf , Me And My Brother (Neighborhood Theatre) Chris Stapleton, Brothers Osborne & Lucie Silvas (PNC Music Pavilion) The Loudermilks, Marie Calbro Trio (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) The Main Squeeze (The Rabbit Hole) Natty Boh Duo (Birdsong Brewery) Ransom Pier, Robbing Johnny, The Big Fandamily Band (Visulite Theatre) Relics (Comet Grill) Sarah Shook & the Disarmers (The Evening Muse) Thirsty Horses (Tin Roof) We Are the Arts: An Afternoon of Rock & Blues (McGlohon Theater)
MAY 14 COUNTRY/FOLK Joe Purdy (Neighborhood Theatre)
HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Future, Migos, Tory Lanez, Kodak Black, Zoey Dollaz (PNC Music Pavilion) A Mother’s Day Celebration w/ Charlie Wilson,
Johnny Gill, Demetria McKinney (Bojangles’ Coliseum) Future (Label)
POP/ROCK Bone Snugs-N-Harmony Karaoke Party (Snug Harbor) Avalon Steel, Knightmare, Vanlade, Seax (Milestone) Future, Migos, Tory Lanez & Kodak Black (PNC Music Pavilion) Shwizz, Litz (The Rabbit Hole) Sylvan Esso, Lucy Dacus (The Fillmore Charlotte) Omari & the Hellhounds (Comet Grill)
MAY 15 HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Knocturnal (Snug Harbor) Motown on Mondays (Morehead Street Tavern) #MFGD Open Mic (Apostrophe Lounge)
POP/ROCK Carolina Shout with Ethan Uslan (Petra’s) Find Your Muse Open Mic welcomes Gus Moon! (The Evening Muse) Locals Live: The Best in Local Live Music & Local Craft Beers (Tin Roof) The Monday Night Allstars (Visulite Theatre) Shannon Lee and Thomas Stainkamp Dueling Piano’s Night (Vinyl Pi, Huntersville) Victor Wooten (Neighborhood Theatre)
MAY 16 CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH Bill Hanna Jazz Jam (Morehead Tavern)
COUNTRY/FOLK Haas, Kowert, Tice (The Evening Muse) Red Rockin’ Chair (Comet Grill) Tuesday Night Jam w/ The Smokin’ Js (Smokey Joe’s Cafe)
POP/ROCK Open Mic hosted by Jarrid and Allen of Pursey Kerns (The Kilted Buffalo) The Business People, Camp Howard, Knowne Ghost (Snug Harbor) Reckless Kelly, Blue Water Highway (Neighborhood Theatre) Red Rockin’ Chair (Comet Grill) Sam Foster (Vinyl Pi, Huntersville) Sheer Mag, Menthol (The Rabbit Hole) Spencer Rush (Tin Roof)
MAY 17 CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH The Clarence Palmer Trio (Morehead Tavern)
DJ/ELECTRONIC Karaoke with DJ Pucci Mane (Petra’s) Cyclops Bar: Modern Heritage Weekly Mix Tape (Snug Harbor)
HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B The Weeknd (Spectrum Center)
POP/ROCK Hectagons w/ Dollar Signs, Kilberth, Chócola (Snug Harbor) Jettison Five (RiRa Irish Pub) Kim Richey (The Evening Muse) LANY, Goody Grace (Neighborhood Theatre) Modern Heritage Weekly Mix Tape (Snug Harbor) Open mic w/ Jared Allen (Jack Beagles) Open Mic/Open Jam (Comet Grill) Parodi Kings (Diamond Restaurant) Tony Passavanti (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Trivia & Karaoke Wednesdays (Tin Roof)
COMING SOON Deerhunter (May 18, Neighborhood Theatre) Rufus Du Sol (May 18, The Underground) Brandy (May 19, The Fillmore) The Sonics (May 19, Neighborhood Theatre) Black Ritual (May 20, Milestone) Hector Acosta (May 20, Label) Dylan Scott (May 20, Coyote Joe’s) Ninja Sex Party (May 21, The Fillmore Charlotte) Franz Ferdinand (May 23, The Underground) Bela Fleck, Chris Thile (May 24, Knight Theater) Beach House (May 24, Neighborhood Theatre) Lincoln Durham (May 25, The Evening Muse) Richard Lloyd (May 30, Snug Harbor) Mind Maze (June 2, Milestone) Tegan and Sara (June 8, The Fillmore Charlotte) Iron Maiden (June 9, PNC Music Pavilion) Banks (June 9, The Fillmore Charlotte) Skillet (June 10, Carowinds Paladium) Jarabe De Palo (June 13, Neighborhood Theatre) Bleachers (June 14, The Underground) Muse, 30 Seconds to Mars (June 15, PNC Music Pavilion) Elvis Costello and the Imposters (June 21, CMCU Amphitheater) The Toasters (June 28, Milestone) Sturgill Simpson (July 7, CMCU Amphitheater)
MAY 20
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DYLAN SCOTT W/SPECIAL GUEST
JACKSON MICHAELSON ASLO STARRING OUT OF THE BLUE LIMITED ADVANCE $10 ALL OTHERS $12
WILD 1-2-3 NIGHTS
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MAY13,19 & 27
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ON SALE AT COYOTE JOES AND COYOTE-JOES.COM COYOTE JOE’S : 4621 WILKINSON BLVD
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SAN FERMIN
5/11 BJ BARHAM
LP
6/18JAMES McMURTY 6/21THE DISTRICTS
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 mkemp@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.
RECYCLE ME, PLEASE (Only after you’re done reading me)
CLCLT.COM | MAY. 11 - MAY. 17, 2017 | 29
In Corey Mitchell’s production of Memphis the Musical, Joe McCourt plays Huey Calhoun and Dani Burke Huey’s love interest Felicia Farrell.
ARTS
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THEATRE CHARLOTTE
FEATURE MEMPHIS THE MUSICAL $27; May 12-28; The Eloise MacDonald Playhouse, 501 Queens Rd. 704-376-3777. theatrecharlotte. org.
A NEW LOOK AT ‘MEMPHIS’ Corey Mitchell fine-tunes a kook’s Southern drawl BY PERRY TANNENBAUM
Y
OU CAN SEE Huey Calhoun
as a scavenger, a conman, and an illiterate hick. Or you can see him as a rock ‘n’ roll visionary, a natural salesman, and a quirky promotional genius. However you see Huey, in Memphis the Musical at Theatre Charlotte starting this Friday, you will not find him dull. Based loosely on the career of Memphis radio jock Dewey Phillips, the story by Joe DiPetro may remind you of 30 | MAY. 11 - MAY. 17, 2017 | CLCLT.COM
Hairspray, another musical that took us back to the early days of rock and tensions between the races. Taking us to the innards of radio as well as TV, Memphis gets us closer to the true heart of rock. South of the Mason-Dixon line, there’s more bigotry from whites — and more wariness from blacks — when Huey not only promotes African American music on the middle of the AM dial, but also romances a black singer. Without the comical cross-dressing,
cartoonish bigots, and outrageous promotional stunts incorporated into Hairspray, the terrain of Memphis will be more difficult to navigate. So it’s exciting to learn that Tony Award winner Corey Mitchell will be directing, Joe McCourt will be starring as Huey, and Dani Burke will be sparking Huey’s passions as femme fatale Felicia Farrell. Burke has been sensational in her two previous mainstage appearances at the Queens Road barn, first with her lead vocal on “Aquarius” in the 2014 production of Hair
and again last year singing “Disco Inferno” in Saturday Night Fever. Since his Theatre Charlotte debut as the star of Godspell in 2008, McCourt has shown us astonishing range, from Roger Davis of Rent to the pornaddicted Trekkie Monster of Avenue Q to low-self-esteem finalist Leaf Coneybear in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. After singing telegrams on land and entertaining on cruise ships at sea, Mitchell came to Charlotte in 2001 by way of Wilmington — and its Opera House Theatre
“I WANT TO STRIKE A BALANCE WITH [HUEY] TO BE SOUTHERN WITHOUT BEING A CARICATURE.” -COREY MITCHELL
Company — to make his sensational local debut as Hysterium in the Theatre Charlotte production of A Funny Thing Happened to Me on the Way to the Forum. Since then, Mitchell has directed or acted in productions at Theatre Charlotte, Davidson Community Players, CPCC, and Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte. What makes Mitchell such a key part of the Charlotte scene is his teaching and directing in the theatre program at Northwest School of the Arts. And don’t think his special Tony Award for Theatre Education was a bolt out of the blue. Aside from a CL Theatre Award, Mitchell has snagged honors from the Metrolina Theatre Association, the North Carolina Theatre Conference, the Educational Theatre Association, the International Thespian Festival, and National Youth Theatre. Productions directed by Mitchell have garnered at least a dozen Blumey Awards — with seven more nominations still in play for the 2017 ceremonies at Belk Theater on May 21. You could say he’s connected in the community. It would have been hard for anybody who has performed extensively in Charlotte to catch Mitchell off-guard at auditions when he cast Memphis. He has worked with Burke before in Davidson and is quite familiar McCourt’s work. Tyler Smith, who plays Felicia’s protective brother Delray, is coming off a powerful performance as Coalhouse Walker, fueling CP’s production of
Ragtime. “The three of them bring so much presence and power to the stage,” Mitchell says. “Joe’s work is incredible. The biggest challenge has been just the herculean task Joe has to take on each evening. Huey is in every single scene in this show.” Surprisingly, Mitchell doesn’t take the view that Memphis is about race, mixed couples, or even the title city. “I decided to treat the relationship between Huey and Felicia on the micro level of how this man loves this woman,” Mitchell explains. “While Huey has an absolute obsession with black music, he certainly doesn’t fetishize black women in general. He is specifically in love with this woman — and despite her best efforts not to be, Felicia is love with this man. She is, however, a realist.” Huey was an eccentric goofball when Chad Kimball played him in the original Broadway production, slinking back and forth across the stage, seemingly unable to take two consecutive steps in the same direction. He wasn’t Gomer Pyle, but Huey was very Southern, perhaps in a way that New Yorkers could look down on from afar. “Trying to portray his unique persona was challenging,” McCourt admits. “We decided to tame the over-exaggerated drawl of Chad Kimball’s original Broadway take so that he doesn’t appear too cartoonish but still hold on to his kooky side. It has been hard finding a balance between too much and not enough
[drawl] while trying hard not to insult the Southern accent itself!” A new worry materializes when you make the illiterate Huey smarter and more cunning in Charlotte than he was on Broadway. Hopefully, the micro lens that Mitchell wants to apply to Huey and Felicia is helping McCourt to skirt the impression that he is slyly exploiting her commercial potential. “Huey is a born salesman and smart for being uneducated,” says McCourt. “I don’t see him as a con artist nor cunning. He’s naive to a fault, a free spirit that knows what he wants. Music moved him; so it was no surprise that he fell for Felicia, who not only inspired him musically but also opened his heart to new possibilities. He simply lacked the emotional intelligence and social skills to handle those feelings. I’m walking a fine line trying to make sure he doesn’t come across the wrong way.” And Mitchell, for all his accolades, is giving McCourt free rein. They’re definitely on the same page when it comes to portraying Southerners. “I want to strike a balance with him — and the rest of the cast, for that matter — to be Southern without being a caricature,” Mitchell says. “Too often, I see Southern people portrayed onstage as rubes. Joe is an impeccable actor and a professional in the best sense of the word. I try to give him room to play and explore and then nuance in those areas that seem to need a little tweaking.” Ultimately, the issue that drives a wedge
between Huey and Felicia isn’t race or prejudice. It’s an issue that our most gifted theatre artists constantly wrestle with: should I build on what I’ve done here in my hometown, or should I set out for a bigger market in the hopes of greater opportunities and nationwide renown? McCourt senses that Memphis brings Huey a feeling of comfort and security, that he also fears the unknown. He can identify with the dilemma. “For me personally,” he says, “I took that leap and moved from a small town south of Buffalo and headed to NYC many years ago for the possibility of making it ‘big.’ Although young and bold, looking back, I was also afraid of failure, which held me back from pursuing many things there. I’m at a different stage in my life now. So building upon what I’ve done here in Charlotte has been very fulfilling. A realtor by day, a performer by night, and a father and husband in between!” Mitchell is far from cooped-up in Charlotte since his Tony triumph. He has delivered keynote addresses at theatre conferences across the Southeast and traveled to Dubai as a Varkey Teacher Ambassador. Purple Dreams, a documentary about Mitchell’s 2013 production of The Color Purple at Northwest, was released on April 7 to considerable publicity and acclaim. So it’s likely we’ll be seeing more from both Mitchell and McCourt in Charlotte for years to come. Their best work may still lie ahead. CLCLT.COM | MAY. 11 - MAY. 17, 2017 | 31
MARVEL
Dave Bautista and Zoe Saldana in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
ARTS
FILM
FAMILY VALUES Guardians 2 is one galactic group hug BY MATT BRUNSON
T
HAT SCENE AT the end of
Guardians of the Galaxy? That part where Baby Groot dances whenever Drax isn’t looking and freezes whenever the big guy turns around? That moment seemingly adored by everyone ranging from Vladimir Putin to Pope Francis? Yeah, no. Call me a Scrooge of the 32 | MAY. 11 - MAY. 17, 2017 | CLCLT.COM
cinematic set, but this whole bit was a tad too precious for my liking – it had a whiff of the Ewok about it. Fears that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (*** out of four) would be nothing but two hours of Baby Groot gurgling and gyrating kept me awake for nights on end and had me frequently reaching for the bottle, so imagine my relief (and sobriety) to discover
that this sequel to the 2014 smash not only keeps Baby Groot fairly in line but also employs him in clever and amusing ways. It’s part and parcel of the entire project, which suffers from occasional overkill yet mostly refrains from allowing excessive bloat to cripple its potential. As expected, the entire gang is back, with Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe
Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) and Baby Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) enjoying their newfound status as celestial celebrities. But after ticking off the members of a powerful race, the heroes-for-hire find themselves on the run, with Gamora’s sister Nebula (Karen Gillan) and Quill’s mentor Yondu (Michael Rooker) forced to join the motley crew
The 48 Hour Film Project
PHOTO BY ERNEST EICH
ARTS
ARTSPEAK
CAN 48 HOUR FILMS PUT CHARLOTTE ON THE MAP? MARVEL
Chris Pratt and Kurt Russell in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. along the way. Half of the gang end up on a planet alongside Peter’s long-lost father Ego (Kurt Russell) and his servant Mantis (Pom Klementieff); the others find themselves held prisoner after a mutiny by Yondu’s Ravagers. The jokey demeanor that informed the first picture remains, even if writer-director James Gunn forces too many gags. And as is the case with many superhero sagas, this one doesn’t know when to quit, with a generous 136-minute running time mostly felt during the CGI-choked finale. But the freshness of the characters remains intact, and the actors continue to interact in an effortless manner that supports the story’s narrative spine involving the notion that family — no matter how one defines it — always comes first (in this respect, the series has much in
Festival producers set their sights high BY PAT MORAN
common with Diesel’s other, similarly fast and furious franchise). Interestingly, this thematic strand isn’t at its strongest in the showcase relationship between Ego and Peter (though Russell and Pratt are certainly convincing as père et fils). Instead, the touching moments come from the bonds between sisters Gamora and Nebula and especially between adoptive father Yondu and Peter. Gunn’s scripting and Gillan’s performance bring unexpected poignancy to the part of Nebula, while Rooker’s excellent turn allows Yondu to emerge as the most unexpectedly complex character in the story. True, Yondu may not be as cute or as cuddly as Baby Groot, but he’s ultimately the one whose arc takes root in our collective consciousness.
Have to sell something? Do you have an event? or annoucement? Advertise with us! Contact: Pat Moran • pmoran@clclt.com
marketplace
WILL FISHER AND BLAKE PHILLIPS want to jumpstart Charlotte’s creative economy at 30 frames per second. As Collaboration Films, Fisher, a self-described “business development guy,” and filmmaker/graphic designer Phillips produce the city’s edition of the 48 Hour Film Project, which challenges local filmmakers to conceive and complete a movie in exactly two days. We spoke with the duo about what they’re doing in May to help make this years festival in August the most productive 48 Hours yet. You want to use the Festival as a springboard to nurture the filmmaking community and get them together with the city’s economic sector. What’s the plan there? Fisher: For our 2017 festival, even if we don’t publicize it, we’ll sell out the theater. Given that, what is the right thing to do with this festival? How can we add value for the people in our city who are making films? Being in business, I know that relationships and friendships drive sales, so we decided to use this international competition as a platform to attract people who buy filmmaking services as a part of their profession. If you want to connect with an audience, the best way to do that is through art – to create a story around your message. Most business people can’t really tell a story. It takes an artist who knows how to connect with the human experience. We needed to get these marketing people in the room to meet these filmmakers who know how to tell a story. This could be the beginning of kick starting a creative economy in Charlotte. Phillips: There’s been a lot of talk in Charlotte about the lack of upward mobility. As an artist, someone who is creative, I can tell you that being creative is a hard way to move up. You have to know people. Creative people tend to not to be outgoing, as they should be. They
just need a better path to move up through the ranks, so they can continue to do what they love. The 48 Hour Project is an easy way to get yourself in front of an entire city. How do local businessmen come into the picture? Fisher: We have two major events that are open to the greater community. On May 23, the top twelve (48 Hour films) from around the world will screen at the Cannes Film Festival. On that night, Blake and I will screen the same twelve films at the Knight Gallery in Spirit Square. We’ve put together an expert panel of local filmmakers who will watch the films one by one and critique them. Phillips: The discussions can get very raw. Everyone truly has their own often strong opinion about these films. Fisher: This event also introduces the marketing world to the filmmaking world. Our goal is to create an experience in Uptown around the Cannes screening. So we partnered with 204 North and Malabar, two restaurants near Spirit Square that have created special menus that will be served that night. We call it Dinner and the Movies. This is a package where marketing executives, creative directors and ad agencies are invited to have dinner in Uptown, and then come and meet the filmmakers, watch the Cannes collection. Then we have an after party, where guests can have more opportunities to get to know each other. That’s the channel that we are using to bring the marketing people into the filmmakers’ world, offering them a memorable experience. Then on August 26, we will sell out the McGlohon Theater. There will be 700 people in the room, and we’ll be watching the 14 top films from Charlotte. We’ll have an awards ceremony, and we will walk away from that evening knowing which filmmakers will represent Charlotte on the world stage. CLCLT.COM | MAY. 11 - MAY. 17, 2017 | 33
ENDS
STARGAZER
BY VIVIAN CAROL
FOR ALL SIGNS:
Remain aware of the favorable Saturn/Uranus aspect that becomes exact next week. It is working even as you read this. The general conditions are especially favorable for integrating new systems with whatever has been traditional in your path. Gradual integration of new and old are supported now. Other than that, we have Mars in a tense arrangement with Neptune on May 11, 2017. For the few days around that date, general information may be blurry or unclear. Avoid pointing fingers at yourself or anyone else. World news may be thoroughly confusing and some of it will be flatly in error. Chemical or radioactive explosions are possible. Be extremely careful if you must deal with such substances.
ARIES: This is a week in which your physical cycle is “off”. Don’t press your body beyond what it wants to do, just because it could do the same thing last week. Pay special attention to your temporary boundaries right now and by next week things will return to your personal normal. TAURUS THE BULL: (Apr 20—May 20) A wound, whether emotional or physical, is due for healing now. Be alert for spiritual messages that may come through any source. Give attention to dreams, or unusual messages from strangers or others in your life. Journaling could be helpful. Therapy may bring healing insight. GEMINI: Information about your career or life direction may seem blurry or confusing. Don’t respond negatively to that yet. Wait for verification. What you hear may never happen. See the lead paragraph because it is especially prominent for you this week. You likely will find the key to mix new technology or ideas with the norm in your life. CANCER: You have probably been dealing
with a decision concerning property or family issues. You have spent a few weeks in this process and now you have arrived at a conclusion. If it is a purchase or a sale, you have the cosmic green light. Whatever the decision, you have made a good choice for everyone concerned.
LEO: You are in a reasonably good place with yourself at this time. Your heart and mind are flowing together. You have no conflict between your feelings and your thoughts about those feelings. This is a time for reflection on important subjects. You can make good decisions now. 34 | MAY. 11 - MAY. 17, 2017 | CLCLT.COM
ENDS
VIRGO: Finally! The details fall into place that allow you to integrate old traditions with new technology or ideas. There is even agreement with family members to try the fresh slant to long standing habits. Maybe there will be a shift in plans for the traditional family reunion this summer. LIBRA: Activities involving the law,
the internet, contracts, people from a distance, and travel are favored. You have the opportunity to act as the conduit to help others find their paths now. Use your intuition and spiritual values for best results.
SCORPIO: A lover’s words or behavior may
be confusing. Ask questions before you leap to conclusions. Keep track of valuables. A theft is possible. If you are in need of assistance, it would be wise to ask the right person for help. Even if no one is available, you have an open path to your sense of the spirit. Call upon it with positive results.
SAGITTARIUS: You may be seeing the daylight of success in a long-term project of self-definition. Details and information fall together to show you the truth of your path. This is a time in which many things go your way. Relationships of all types are favored. If high-tech solutions can help you, go for it! CAPRICORN: You are likely to happen into a solution soon that will fill in the puzzle and offer you a solution to nagging problems. Although you have been somewhat isolated, events of the next couple of weeks will help you understand the purpose for it. You have been waiting for a “right” time and situation to develop. AQUARIUS: This is an excellent time to pursue any activity that requires your mental concentration. Contracts and written communications, along with short distance travel, have go signals. There may be a new vehicle in your future, particularly if you have been watching for the right one. PISCES: This is a powerful time to consider
your spiritual purposes. It is all too easy for the maya, the things of the world, to overwhelm every waking minute, leaving no time for the higher goals. If you notice fatigue, disappointment, or depression at this time, stop. Any of these represent a message to be still and listen for the Voice deep within your soul. Interested in a personal horoscope? Vivian Carol may be reached at (704) 366-3777.
NIGHTLIFE
WHEN IN CRYSTAL An excursions ends at a hidden Plaza gem FT we’ll call her, and politely said, “Listen THIS PAST WEEK has been a complete babe, I don’t think you’re going to want to blur. I’ve been in such a funk that I decided to go here.” After all, she had been drinking cope by going out every day after work last damn near all day and the clock was just week. No, I wasn’t super hungover or spewing striking 2 a.m. She saw right through me, anywhere, but still, I was doing the most. and before I could voice my true concerns, When Friday rolled around, a co-worker she interjected. “Listen girl, I went to a had already made plans for the night and the predominantly black high school and I was following day. Naturally, I followed along as the only white cheerleader, I got this.” Can’t I made my way from BlackFinn to Corner get anything past her. Pub to Rí Rá. When the Red Bull took over, I When we arrived, there were cops decided I should even continue to twerk my standing around outside of the entrance. way all the way to Blue Olive Lounge. Some were going in and the bouncers weren’t The next morning I decided to be moving the line. I turned to one of the cops productive, clean up around the house and and asked if the spot was getting shut down, run some errands. It wasn’t long, however, to which she said, “I don’t think so, there’s before I was being summoned to Sycamore just always illegal activity going on in here.” Brewing for a couple beers. When the rain That’s when the bouncer turned to our forced everyone inside, we were more than group and informed us that the cover charge ready to make the next move. It gets would be $20 a piece! Say what?! ridiculously packed there when Fortunately, my childhood friend’s everyone’s forced inside. acquaintance had the cash and After Sycamore, we offered to pay for our fivestopped in at The Corner person group. Once inside, Pub to regroup and figure I couldn’t believe my eyes, out where we wanted to go the space was jam-packed. for the next couple hours. What’s crazier? It was filled Some friends of ours were with hundreds of people going to see Bastille, so and they couldn’t even we thought heading over serve alcohol anymore! to VBGB would be the best We stumbled upon move, that way our friends the patio to the right of the AERIN SPRUILL could pregame with us. But entrance and found a space you know how day drinking to call our own. I took one look goes. We may have been there for around at the crowd and thought, 15 minutes before I started hearing “So this is what unfiltered, untamed culture rumblings about everyone wanting to go looks like,” and immediately started dancing home and either crash on the couch or take the night away. I even met the owner — Miss a nap. Mary they called her. She found her way Anyone who knows me knows that I into her dance circle — a petite, gray-haired will not take a nap after day drinking in the lady with a short haircut. And she wasn’t hopes of waking back up to rally again. Nope, skipping a beat, she laughed and moved her not going to happen. I got dropped off and hips just as quickly as we were. Yas honey! decided to head back out on my own. When When patrons started to get protective over I started getting bored, I thought, maybe it’s her, I knew that she had to be the woman just time to call it a night altogether. It was in charge. I got her number and left her to close to 9 p.m. after all. enjoy her night. Just when I’d let go of the idea of partying, Little did I know, she wouldn’t be going one of my closest friends from back home hit home. An hour or so later, when the clock me up. We eventually met some other friends struck 4:00 a.m., there came Miss Mary still at Thomas Street Tavern in Plaza Midwood. moving her hips. We laughed a tired laugh, Very quickly, however, we realized just and decided it was time to go. My only how late to the party we were. Drinks were regret? I never went to the food window being spilled, screams were being directed at where patrons were getting to-go plates. I random jerks and all I wanted to do was get don’t know what all they had on the menu, the hell out of dodge. That’s when I overheard but I know I spotted some mac and cheese someone who I thought knew one of my somewhere. On the way home, I turned to colleagues talking about Crystal On the Plaza. my petite, blonde-haired, blue-eyed friend, “I I’d heard rumors that Crystal was a local can’t believe you stayed out that whole time.” favorite for reggae and thought this was the She laughed and responded, “You know what perfect time to check it out. As we prepared they say, when in Rome … well now it’s when in Crystal!” to leave, I turned to the last friend standing,
ENDS
CROSSWORD
PREFIXES SUFFIXED ACROSS
1 Thick-skinned river critters 7 Women’s soft hats of old 14 Crouches, as a catcher 20 Dream up 21 Turkey’s landmass 22 Career-track type 23 British hero sandwich? 25 Cut in half 26 Aunts, e.g. 27 Maglie of the old Giants 28 Be sickly 29 Give off 31 Certain tennis edge 33 “America” contraction 35 Person born to be an apartment manager? 42 Car made in an Alabama port? 45 Schoolyard rejoinder 46 Gap 47 Small brawl 48 “Drop -- line” 49 Place for petri dishes 51 Hold tightly 54 Syringe causing a bad skin reaction? 58 Gmail rival 59 World finance org. 62 Holiday quaff 63 Thin, white mushroom 64 CBS drama 65 Advil rival 67 “Yipes!” 69 Printer resolution stat 70 Kids’ author Silverstein 71 Very busy checkout area? 75 “-- to You” (2009 Lady Antebellum hit) 77 Lamprey lookalike 78 Pepsi or RC 79 Easily duped sort 82 Body filled with eau 83 Old TV’s Desi 85 The, to Jules 86 Pitchfork-shaped letter 87 Trim grass 88 Put-down during a visit with the doc? 92 John of plows 94 Takes as one’s own 95 Tar’s “Help!”
96 Doofus 99 Any of three English rivers 100 Pets that purr 102 Gregarious protester? 106 Beloved big rig? 110 Pal, to Jules 111 Big name in faucets 112 Process part 113 “As I see it,” online 115 Ending for percent 117 Harass 118 Like rabbis and shuls 122 PC shortcut used by inflation calculators? 127 Broad road 128 Celestial body circlers 129 Let the wind freshen 130 Not as bold 131 Deluge 132 Vagabonds
DOWN
1 “October Sky” memoirist Homer 2 Eager volunteer’s repetitive response 3 Ballpoint tip 4 Butter unit 5 Big name in elevators 6 State political bodies 7 GQ target 8 Take -- loan 9 Brief mental glitch 10 Arum lily 11 Equine beast 12 More, to a maestro 13 Duel tools 14 1976 Sally Field title role 15 Packs it in 16 FedEx rival 17 Kong, e.g. 18 Small jerk 19 TV unit 24 Koteas of “Crash” 30 China’s -- Zedong 32 Future lice 34 1973 novel by Toni Morrison 36 Theater level 37 Data plan datum 38 “Whoops!” 39 Multicolored 40 Tick by 41 Bring past a simmer again 43 Ida of old films 44 Early online protocol
48 Units of a million watts per ampere 49 Skimpy swimsuits 50 Here, to Jules 51 Gun, in slang 52 Senator Blunt 53 Very versatile 55 Rationale 56 Inner: Prefix 57 Like bit-free orange juice 60 Folks not living in the past 61 Spoken with ease 66 Suffix with northeast 68 Struck out in editing 70 Realize 72 Quahog or geoduck 73 Spot for slots 74 Big small-screen star 75 Sgt. Friday catchphrase 76 Get from a pitcher anew 80 --’easter 81 She-sheep 83 British islet 84 Gives relish 89 Big oil gp. 90 Muzzle part 91 “The Bicycle Thief” director Vittorio De -93 Dutch cheese 97 Act like 98 Denounces 100 Stage signal 101 Angle 102 Playwright de Beauvoir 103 PFC, e.g. 104 Rip to shreds 105 Bullion bars 107 Time release 108 Alternate 109 Underage 114 Arab country 116 Arab bigwig 118 Gridlock 119 Day before 120 Really little 121 Sign 123 Cote sound 124 Rink great Bobby 125 Banjo finale? 126 Coaching great Parseghian
SOLUTION FOUND ON P. 38.
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My husband is nearly 20 years older permission to have a threesome “one time” than me, which was never an issue was a test (one he didn’t know he was taking) early in our relationship. However, for and a trap (one he couldn’t escape from). I urged my friend to take her boyfriend back approximately the last eight years, we — if he would have her — but he’d touched have not been able to have fulfilling another woman with the tip of his penis (two sex because my husband can’t keep an women, actually), which meant he didn’t love erection for more than a few thrusts. I her the way she thought he did, the way she love my husband and I am committed to deserved to be loved, etc., and consequently our family, but I miss full PIV sex. I’m he couldn’t be allowed to touch her with the still fairly young and I enjoy sex, but I tip of his penis ever again. feel like I am mourning the death of my Back to you, NOTHARD: My first reaction sex life. I miss the intimate connection to your letter was “You’ve got your husband’s and powerful feeling of sex with a man. okay to fuck some other dude — go for it.” My husband tries to please me, but Then I reread your letter and thought, “Wait, oral sex is just okay and toys don’t this could be a test and a trap.” You say you’ve have the same effect. We have tried brushed off the issue to spare your husband’s Viagra a few times, but it gave him feelings, but he may sense it’s an issue and, a terrible headache. I try to brush it consciously or subconsciously, this is his way off because I don’t want to embarrass of finding out. If you take him up on his him. I am curious about casual offer “one time,” and you make the relationships, but I fear they mistake of being honest with wouldn’t stay casual. Also, him about it, he may be just as I would feel guilty being devastated as my friend was. with another man even So don’t take your though my husband husband up on his offer said I could do it one — not yet. Have a few time. On one hand, I more conversations about feel like I should be your sex life instead and able to have a fulfilling address nonmonogamy/ sex life. But on the openness generally, not other hand, I don’t want DAN SAVAGE nonmonogamy/openness to be a cheater. as a work-around for his Now On To Having dick. There may be some solo Awkwardly Realistic adventures he’d like to have, there Discussions may be invigorating new sexual adventures you could enjoy as a couple (maybe he’d love It’s not cheating if you have your husband’s to go down on two women at once?), or he permission, NOTHARD, but fucking another may rescind or restate his offer to let you man could still blow up your marriage — even fuck some other dude one time. Get clarity if you manage to keep it casual. — crystal clarity — before proceeding. Story time: I knew this straight couple. They were good together, they loved My partner and I adopted a 2.5-yeareach other, and they had a strong sexual old mutt a month ago. We are also connection. (Spoiler alert: my use of the past trying to get pregnant and are having tense.) The woman was all about monogamy, sex every day for 15-day stretches a but her boyfriend had always wanted to have month. The dog does NOT like being a threesome. She didn’t want to be the reason shut out, and we love the dog but do not he never got to do something he’d been love the idea of him being in the room. fantasizing about since age 13, so she told Should we get over it? Should the dog her boyfriend that if the opportunity ever get over it? What is dog/human sexual presented itself, he could go for it. So long as privacy etiquette? the sex was safe and he was honest with her, Don’t Oversee Getting It On he could have a threesome one time. The opportunity presented itself, the sex I’m not into pups, human or otherwise, was safe, he was honest — and my friend but I live with two actual dogs and, man, spent a week ricocheting between devastated if those dogs could talk. Some dogs loudly and furious before finally dumping her object to their owners fucking, others don’t. devastated and flummoxed boyfriend. During If your dog barks when you’re fucking, I can a drunken postmortem, my friend told me see why you’d want to keep him out of the she wanted her boyfriend to be able to do room. But if he just wants to curl up in a it but didn’t want him to actually do it. She corner and lick his ass for a minute before didn’t want to be the reason he couldn’t; she dozing off, what’s the big deal? wanted to be the reason he didn’t. So her
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CHARLOTTEANS SHED THEIR INHIBITIONS (AND CLOTHES) Charlotte Area Power Exchange wants us all to live our sexiest lives The social that follows is not of the A FEW IMPORTANT questions inevitably arise in the course of a relationship: tea and crumpets variety. Instead, it’s an What are your career aspirations? Do you opportunity to try new things, practice kink want kids? Where do you stand on the technique, ask questions, and learn from pineapple-on-pizza debate? What do you like other CAPEX contributors. I’m tempted to in bed? That last one makes me nervous. It’s call what they do “some Fifty Shades shit,” often asked late at night, in the dark, tangled but that would be an unwelcome comparison. It’s hard to talk about BDSM these days up in blankets and vulnerability. What will he think about what I want? I worry about without mentioning Fifty Shades of Grey. The being judged when I wear anything edgier book and ensuing movie introduced one kind than clothes from the Gap. Letting someone of kink lifestyle to a wide audience, but its into my darkest fantasies is an experience portrayal of BDSM annoyed many in the kink fraught with fear. I mean, what if he thinks community. The sex depicted didn’t always reflect the consent and communication I’m weird? If he does — and it turns him off — that standards that organizations like CAPEX would be sad. But a bigger tragedy would be adhere to. CAPEX contributor and former board letting the fear of judgment keep me from member Winterwolf — who requested living my sexiest life. Luckily, there’s an to be identified by his scene name organization in Charlotte dedicated — emphasizes that CAPEX to helping kinky Charlotteans upholds the “safe, sane, shed their inhibitions (and and consensual” creed. clothes) and live those But he adds that another sexiest lives, safely and free acronym might better of judgment. reflect the group’s credo: The Charlotte Area R.A.C.K., which stands Power Exchange (CAPEX) for risk-aware, consensual is a nonprofit BDSM and kinky. Why is that education organization. acronym better? Because, BDSM is an acronym that he freely admits, “Some of ALLISON covers a lot of ground. A the stuff we do is insane.” quick Google search shows BRADEN So maybe you’re curious that nobody really agrees on about kink. Going to a CAPEX what BDSM stands for specifically, event for the first time is an but it’s always some mix of the words bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, intimidating step, but the process is designed sadism and masochism. BDSM enthusiasts to be comfortable. According to the website, can be everyone from those who enjoy the capex.info, “Everyone in CAPEX welcomes occasional spanking and hair pulling to those new contributors with an open mind and who get off on being gagged, restrained and heart. We hope to see you in our extended flogged — to those who desire to be a full- family. But it’s all about how you treat other time sex slave. CAPEX caters to everyone on people,” he continues. CAPEX events are designed to be positive, that spectrum of kinky proclivities. The organization is pansexual, meaning safe environments where your kinkiest desires all sexualities are welcome. Founded in 2000, can blossom from fantasy to fully realized. it’s the longest running pansexual BDSM “We’re not going to judge you based on what organization in Charlotte that puts education you like or what you’re into. It’s safe to explore first. So, what does this “education” look like? that very intimate, personal sexuality that you Every month, the group hosts a private may have,” Winterwolf says. More than anything, he wants everyone event featuring an educational talk or demonstration followed by a social for to feel comfortable with their own desire. “It’s ok to be kinky,” he says. “It’s ok to its members, which CAPEX refers to as contributors. Speakers demonstrate skills be you.” But, I press, what if your partner isn’t like flogging or role play, or they address other issues germane to the kink lifestyle: into it? What if he thinks I’m weird? Winterwolf has advice for that too: relationships, safe words, first aid, or legal “Check, please.” considerations, for example.
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