CLCLT.COM | FEB. 23 - MARCH 1, 2017 VOL. 31, NO. 1
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Basketball is simply a pretext for CIAA. Turn to page 32 for what it’s really all about.
NEWS&CULTURE
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THE ICE STORM Federal harassment, increase in arrests puts immigrant community on edge BY RYAN PITKIN 9 EDITOR’S NOTE 13 THE BLOTTER 14 NEWS OF THE WEIRD 15 #BLKTECHCLT: SHAUN ANDREWS BY RYAN PITKIN
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FOOD MINORITY RULES Soul Food Sessions showcases Charlotte’s African-American culinary talent BY ARI LEVAUX 18 THREE-COURSE SPIEL: CANDICE CREDLE BY DEBRA RENEE SETH
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ARTS&ENT MODERN HISTORY New Levine exhibit relives police unrest just months after the fact BY RYAN PITKIN 20 TOP 10 THINGS TO D0 25 FILM REVIEWS BY MATT BRUNSON
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MUSIC FREE BIRD Rapper Black Linen don’t pay to play no
more
BY MARK KEMP 29 REFUGEE CHARLOTTE BENEFIT BY MARK KEMP 28 MUSICMAKER: JOHN ELDERKIN BY PAT MORAN 30 SOUNDBOARD
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ODDS&ENDS TURNT: CIAA Party Guide 34 NIGHTLIFE 35 CROSSWORD 36 SAVAGE LOVE 38 HOROSCOPE BY VIVIAN CAROL
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VIEWS
EDITOR’S NOTE
STILL MARCHING Can we stand with immigrants as we do for women? promise, although others across the country had also done so. It was our editorial position descended on Marshall Park last Friday, Feb. that the word had become little more than a 17, and marched into Uptown to express veiled racial epithet. their frustration and fears about being “Many things are illegal — murder, rape, targeted and harassed by the current federal driving while impaired, selling drugs — but administration, it was a little disappointing human beings aren’t,” I wrote in the editor’s to see so few non-brown faces in the crowd. note of July 4, 2012. “Simply living in a After all, just a month earlier, on Jan. 21, the country without proper documentation does 10,000 people who had shown up to stand not make a person any more of an ‘illegal’ alongside their daughters and sisters and than a driver without a license does. People mothers at the Women’s March on Charlotte are not ‘illegals,’ and Creative Loafing Charlotte had transformed Romare Bearden Park into a will not be defining them that way.” In the wake of the current president’s giant Benetton ad. horribly misguided executive order, Two CL reporters — news editor Charlotteans of conscience must Ryan Pitkin and intern Jasmin stand up for the rights of our Herrera — were at the Charlotte immigrant neighbors, and not edition of the A Day Without just our Latino neighbors. Immigrants march, Herrera This city has been blessed with her camera and Pitkin with numerous vibrant with his notepad. We immigrant communities posted a slide show of that have made Charlotte the faces they captured the attractive destination the following day on our it’s become. They’ve added clclt.com blog, and in this new textures and nuance issue, Pitkin delves more to our arts, our music, and deeply into the wave of MARK KEMP most importantly, to the terror that our immigrant city’s very soul. They’ve brought neighbors and their children economic muscle to Charlotte. have experienced in the days They’ve made the city more… well, since the march, as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials continue they’ve made it more American. Immigration to ramp up their raids and arrests in targeted is what makes America great, despite the rantings of the current bully-in-chief. communities. In my report on a refugee benefit concert The fact is, harassment of immigrants, undocumented or not, is hardly a new thing that takes place later this week at the Evening here, according to Jose Hernandez-Paris, Muse, one of the organizers, Lindsay LaPlante executive director of the Latin American of Refugee Charlotte, tells me, “We hope Coalition. “This has been going on for a this show brings a focus on a community number of years,” he tells Pitkin in this issue’s that’s very much a part of who we are as a cover story on page 10. “It has been building city. These people are very much a part of for about 15 to 20 years now. But it’s nothing Charlotte, they’ve brought so much to this city. And we want people to understand that. compared to what’s happening this time.” CL has followed this development from We all should know who our neighbors are.” And we all should be standing with the first day I arrived as editor in June 2005. Coverage of immigration issues and them. Just as we did with our mothers and communities of color was among my stated sisters and daughters. It was very heartening priorities during my first go-round at the to see so many Charlotteans drawing up paper. In my editor’s note of July 6, 2005, I signs, locking arms and singing alongside wrote that Jesse DeConto’s cover story, “New the women of our community the words to Latino South” — which explored the roots Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land” in of North Carolina’s growing Latino culture Romare Bearden Park. But perhaps it’s time — “shows conclusively that Latinos not only we also look to another song by that great have a birthright to broader America, but that American folksinger of the 1930s and ’40s — Hispanic culture hit the South long before “Deportees,” his still-relavant lament about our gringo forefathers dreamed of the sandy the inhumane treatment of our immigrants Outer Banks or the majestic Appalachian neighbors: “Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye Rosalita,” the song goes. “Adios mis amigos, Mountains.” Seven years later, almost to the day, Jesus y Maria / You won’t have a name when we made a promise to stop using the word you ride the big airplane / All they will call “illegal” in describing immigrants. CL was the you will be ‘deportees.’” MKEMP@CLCLT.COM only media outlet in the area to make that
WHEN MORE THAN 7,000 immigrants
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The city estimated between 7,000 and 8,000 people showed up to march through Uptown to denounce recent ICE actions on Feb. 16.
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JASMIN HERRERA
NEWS
FEATURE
THE ICE STORM Federal harassment, increase in arrests puts immigrant community on edge BY RYAN PITKIN
O
N FEB. 7, the arrest of two men in a work van at a QuikTrip gas station in east Charlotte began what would be a week of paralyzing fear for the city’s immigrant community. In the coming days, word spread on social media that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had begun staging raids and even traffic checkpoints in the area. Rumor and fact blended and it became hard to know what was true. Over the next week, however, one thing became clear: ICE was ramping up efforts to detain undocumented immigrants, and were going to new lengths to do so. For the next nine days, children stayed home from school, adults feared walking to the neighborhood supermarket for groceries and local businesses suffered. But on Feb. 16, Charlotte’s immigrants stepped out of the shadows. A Day Without Immigrants wasn’t expected by many to turn out the way it did. Organizers with Comunidad Colectiva caught wind of a nationwide strike — the word spread through a flyer being shared on social media — that gave immigrant business owners a chance to shut down for the day in protest of brazen ICE arrests around the country and show solidarity with one another. A similar action held in conjunction with a nationwide strike on May 1, 2006 didn’t turn out many people to Marshall Park. This time, organizers were on short notice, but hoped social media could help them attract 500, possibly even 1,000 people to the park. In the end, more than 7,000 people came to Marshall Park and marched through the streets of Uptown, shutting down traffic for more than two hours and sending a message to city, state and federal leaders that could not be ignored. “This is amazing. It all began with a flyer. We didn’t know how many people were going to show up,” said Oliver Merino, an organizer with Comundad Colectiva, as he walked at the head of the march, his bright yellow vest letting marchers know to follow him. “People are hurting. People are concerned and fearful but also, they’re ready to fight. We have four years of resistance, and four years to keep our elected officials accountable. What are they doing? I think they have listened and made very timid responses, but as you can see, the people in the city are demanding more.” Throughout the week, ICE officials continued to claim they were simply carrying
out routine enforcement operations, while leaders in the immigrant community said the escalation of arrests has been like nothing they’ve ever seen. “What gets me is that, institutionally, it’s like we’re making this up and we’re the ones creating the issues,” says Jose HernandezParis, executive director of the Latin American Coalition. “This has been going on for a number of years. It has been building for about 15 to 20 years now. But that’s nothing compared to what’s happening this time.”
Carolinas and Georgia in the first week of the new ICE operation, 127 — almost exactly two-thirds — had criminal records. In a statement released on the day of the march, the city of Charlotte went along with the ICE narrative, stating that many reports of enforcement actions in the area had been “exaggerated or entirely inaccurate” and that everyone should just “keep calm.” “[ICE] has repeatedly indicated that it is continuing its policy of focusing on people who have committed crimes
“What gets me is that, institutionally, it’s like we’re making this up and we’re the ones creating the issues. This has been going on for a number of years. It has been building for about 15 to 20 years now. But that’s nothing compared to what’s happening this time.” N AMERICAN COALITION, ON RECENT
JOSE HERNANDEZ-PARIS, DIRECTOR, LATI
RTS
ESCALATION OF ICE ENFORCEMENT EFFO
BETWEEN FEB. 6 and Feb. 10, ICE agents
arrested 84 undocumented immigrants in North Carolina. As of Creative Loafing’s press deadline, numbers for the week of the march had not yet been released, as Monday was a holiday. ICE refers to those being targeted in the operation, which is being headed by the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations office in Atlanta, as “criminal aliens, illegal re-entrants and immigration fugitives.” They point to the arrest of one Mexican national in Charlotte who had previously been convicted of three counts of indecent liberties with a child as an example of the type of people being arrested. Of the 190 people arrested in the
in addition to immigration law violations. Although recent enforcement actions have gotten significant media attention because of the Trump executive order, according to [ICE], those actions are consistent with activity that has taken place for years under the Obama administration and do not represent a major new threat.” However, two weeks in which ICE ensured people that nothing had changed from the routine, targeted operations carried out under the Obama administration, WCCB’s Courtney Francisco reported on Monday that an ICE spokesperson confirmed that things have changed under Trump in a way that does not simply affect undocumented immigrants with criminal records. According to an ICE spokesperson,
Trump’s executive order allows ICE agents to arrest any undocumented people who are with someone being targeted by ICE, which gives the agency a broad new reach in the way they operate. This is something that’s been known for weeks, and forecast for months, by people like Hernandez-Paris and Omar Jorge, partner and general counsel for Compare Foods and a board member at the Latin American Coalition. “You heard the rhetoric during the campaign, and when you talk to people from different parties with different points of view, they say, ‘Oh no, that’s never going to happen, he’s never going to do that, that’s just so he can get elected.’ Well listen, I’m one of the people that believes politicians. People call me naïve because of that. No, I believe that if a politician says he wants to do something, he actually wants to do it,” Jorge says. “So it was not surprising but it was certainly a shock. As it ramped up during the week last week, that’s when I realized we’re in a whole different situation now. Regardless of what ICE is saying — that this is normal, routine activity — this was all programmed to happen.”
DESPITE THE CITY’S assurances, many
in the immigrant community have been fearful of leaving home. Zhenia Martinez, co-owner of Las Delicias Bakery on Central Avenue, said that for the first week of ICE operations the corridor, filled with immigrant-owned businesses, was like a ghost town. “During those first two days, this whole area just seemed really quiet. It resembled days that are really, really cold. No one was out and about,” Martinez says. “As a business owner you can feel that because, even on the days when my business is bad, just being able to see people walk out and about you can get the sense there’s at least life going on. But then all of a sudden you saw this drop in people walking around.” Martinez says her business dropped dramatically as word spread about immigration enforcement. Hernandez-Paris believes that it’s all a part of the plan for Trump’s new executive order. The first arrest made in broad daylight just outside the old Eastland Mall site, in the heart of Charlotte’s immigrant community; the operations near places of worship and schools; targeting people at their work where they know other undocumented people will CLCLT.COM | FEB. 23 - MAR. 1, 2017 | 11
JASMIN HERRERA
Businesses around Charlotte closed while owners and employees attended the march (left). After marching through Uptown, the crowd gathered in front of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center where family members of those in custody addressed them.
NEWS
FEATURE
be present is all part of the fear factor meant to add to the fear factor, he says. “You arrest workers in a van in working hours in public where everyone can see it and photograph it. You arrest someone going to church. You arrest someone in close enough proximity to a school where it creates an issue. You only have to do it in strategic places. People will say, ‘Nationally, it’s only 681 people.’ Right, but no one wants to be the next one, so when you do that, you are choking the community into submission and into fear so that they leave. So for them, it’s exactly what they want. And unfortunately, the media, 99 percent of them play along those lines.” For this reason, folks like HernandezParis and Jorge have been struggling over the last two weeks to inform people in the immigrant community of their rights. The two became concerned after confirming reports of an operation last week in which ICE agents fingerprinted men walking into a landscaping company in apparent attempts to find one man. “The official report from ICE was, ‘Well, we were just looking for one person.’ But they 12 | FEB. 23 - MAR. 1, 2017 | CLCLT.COM
fingerprinted 17 and seven of those were detained. But you’re just looking for the one?” says Jorge. He and Hernandez-Paris have been working to make sure people know that it’s OK to say no and call representation before answering any questions. “You are dealing with immigrants and they’re used to a different legal system. They don’t really understand what their rights are. ICE is allowed to be on a sidewalk and ask every single person that passes by to put their fingers on an iPad. But you don’t have to say yes. Just because somebody’s knocking on the door, doesn’t mean you have to open it and let them in. In our culture, that’s unheard of,” Hernandez-Paris says. “You can take these steps, and it might be perceived as disrespectful, but it is legal and it is your right.”
IN THE MEANTIME, members of the immigrant community will continue their cautious resistance. Martinez shut down her business on Feb. 16th and went to Marshall Park, just as her immigrant parents, the original owners, had
done a decade ago. The next day, she spoke about what the experience meant to her. “It was gorgeous, being able to take North Tryon in the middle of the day,” she says. “I was here for the ’06 rally and there were very few people in Marshall Park. Yesterday, it was uplifting. I think it’s being able to go out there and let our voices be heard that it kind of helped boost us up and let go of some of that fear. Even though the knowledge is still there that things are still happening, I think they feel better.” Martinez said she’s already seen a turnaround in business, as the weekend following the first week of ICE operations was busier for her than usual. She noticed the same thing on the day following the march, as customers told her they wanted to support her for shutting down in support of them. As has been the case since her parents opened the business 20 years ago, Martinez values the community around her as much as it values her. “I think it’s a show of support. Certainly our business wouldn’t exist without immigrants,” Martinez says. “When it first started, it was to feed that niche, immigrants
NEWS
FEATURE
over here that didn’t have bread. Now we do have a varied clientele, but in the very beginning it was them who supported us and we’re thankful for that.” Although she’s seen signs of life pop up once again on the eastern end of the Central Avenue corridor, she remains vigilant. Martinez emphasizes that ICE has not left because of the great turnout at last week’s march, and she hopes the immigrant community — and those non-immigrants who showed up in solidarity on the Day Without Immigrants — will continue to fight against broad operations that have already torn apart the families of her friends and employees. “It’s going to take some time, but I do feel that there’s going to be a ripple effect and I’m hoping that people don’t think that this was a one-time thing that we need to do,” she says. “The way that we came together yesterday, we need to even bring in more people and more immigrants and keep on pushing.” It may be a cliché at this point, but Martinez and thousands of others proved last week that for every action there is a reaction. What remains to be seen is just how they’ll build on that momentum, as the federal administration they showed up to face down will surely not be taking the pressure off any time soon. RPITKIN@CLCLT.COM
NEWS
BLOTTER
BY RYAN PITKIN
FRAT BROS Police responded after two men agreed to fight each other in an apartment complex and — surprise — things got out of hand in University last week. The 20-year-old and 23-year-old “equally agreed” to participate in the fight at an apartment complex near the UNC Charlotte campus, and carried that fight out in order to solve a problem that had been brewing between the two. The real problem occurred when property damage came into play, as the older of the two reported that his vehicle was dented during the fight. He reported $500 in damage to the trunk of his Infiniti, proving that there still comes a cost to boys being boys.
JASMIN HERRERA
Zhenia Martinez (above) in her business, Las Delicias Bakery, which she shut down to join the Day Without Immigrants march (below).
FAMILY MATTERS A 38-year-old woman in northwest Charlotte filed a police report last week after her own daughter kicked her in the spot from which she came. The mother told officers that the 16-year-old girl kicked her in the stomach. In an unrelated incident, an elderly woman got a glimpse of just what her bloodline has become during an incident in east Charlotte. The 78-yearold woman told police that she knew it was her granddaughter who vandalized her vehicles, doing $450 in damage each to two cars, because she was caught on tape doing the crime. The woman added that the suspect could be seen assaulting another woman with a blunt object on the tape as well. GETTING GREEDY A shoplifter made a clean getaway at a Walmart in south Charlotte last week, only to return to the scene of the crime and get arrested the very next day. According to the report, the man entered the store early one morning and walked out with two Bluetooth speakers, a mobile Wi-Fi hot spot, a prepaid cellphone, a wireless mouse, a universal keyboard and — the kicker — two boxes of doughnuts. The suspect got away, but was recognized by security when he came into the store the next day and immediately began trying to conceal more merchandise on his person. STAYING SUBTLE A man found more success in a Walmart in northeast Charlotte when he decided to aim smaller than the above-mentioned shoplifter. The guy reportedly came into the store at 4 p.m. with a doughnut craving similar to that of the thief caught on his return to the store, but this guy made things easier for himself. He concealed two packages of mini doughnuts on his person, as opposed to the large box of Krispy Kremes stolen by his south Charlotte counterpart. This guy also got away with an ice cream bar, a package of chicken wings, a head wrap and a premade sandwich.
SPREADING SHIT One might think that the leading cause of disagreement between neighbors could be any number of issues: loud music, property line disputes, parking spots. But one thing that’s become clear in my many years filing through police reports for this column is that one thing gets Charlotte’s suburbanites fighting more than anything else: dog shit. It was probably one of these classic disputes that led a woman to make a horrible discovery one morning as she tried to make her way to work. The woman told police that she went to get into her car early one morning only to find that someone had spread dog feces inside and around her door handle. It probably took her all day to get that smell off her fingers. SUCK MY CAULK A 50-year-old man filed a police report after his home was damaged by something meant to fix it. The man told police that three suspects with a score to settle — probably related to construction — threw multiple tubes of caulk at the side of his home. A couple of the tubes apparently exploded or at least broke upon impact, staining the side of the home and doing $100 in damage. TRAILER TRAPS A 52-year-old truck driver pulled over in Charlotte for a rest last week, but he didn’t stick to the normal spots where on-the-road types might pull over for some Zs. The man told police that he was asleep in his big rig trailer in the Enderly Park neighborhood at around 4 a.m. when someone suddenly opened the door and pulled him out, slamming him to the ground in a rude awakening. The man said two suspects demanded cash from him, but settled for his cellphone. Safe to say he’ll stick to rest stops from here on out. SHOOT YOUR SHOT Two men working the late shift at a gas station in east Charlotte got the scare of their lives last week when an incompetent robber entered the store and opened fire. The men later told officers that the man was holding two handguns when he walked into the 7-Eleven and immediately fired a couple shots at the cashiers before approaching the register. This is when it appears he got cold feet, however, as the report states that the suspect simply “looked around” the cash register for a few moments before fleeing the scene. THREAT OF THE WEEK A 49-yearold man called police rather than take his chances at bedtime last week after his roommate allegedly told him multiple times that he wants to kill him when he falls asleep. CLCLT.COM | FEB. 23 - MAR. 1, 2017 | 13
NEWS
NEWS OF THE WEIRD
BY CHUCK SHEPHERD
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN MOP San Francisco’s best-paid janitor earned more than a quarter-million dollars cleaning stations for Bay Area Rapid Transit in 2015, according to a recent investigation by Oakland’s KTVU. Liang Zhao Zhang cleared almost $58,000 in base pay and $162,000 in overtime, and other benefits ran his total income to $271,243. He worked at San Francisco’s Powell Street station, a hangout for the homeless, who notoriously sullied the station 24/7 (urine, feces, and needles, especially), necessitating overtime hours that apparently only Zhang was interested in working. In one stretch during July 2015, he pulled 17-hour days for two and a half straight weeks. WRONG PLACE, WRONG TIME An
Abbotsford, British Columbia, burglar was successful in his Feb. 7 break-in at a home, but his getaway was thwarted by a snowfall that blocked him in on a roadway. He eventually decided to ask a passerby for help — and inadvertently picked out the one man of the city’s 140,000 residents whose house he had just broken into, and who recognized him from reviewing his home’s security camera footage. The victim called police, who arrested the man and reported that it was the second residential break-in that night in which the snowfall had foiled a burglar’s getaway.
EVERYDAY HAZARDS In Portland, Oregon, in January, Ashley Glawe, 17, a committed “goth” character with tattoos, piercings and earlobe gauges was, she said, “hanging out” with Bart, her pet python, when he climbed into one of the lobes. She couldn’t get him out, nor could firefighters, but with lubrication, hospital emergency workers did, thus avoiding an inevitable split lobe if Bart had kept squeezing his way through. FREEDOM FIGHTERS Iraqi forces taking
over an ISIS base in Mosul in January reported finding papers from at least 14 Islamic State “fighters” who had tried to claim “health” problems, asking commanders to please excuse them from real combat — and martyrdom. One, a Belgian man, actually brought a note from a doctor back home attesting to his “back pain.” Five of the 14 were initiated by volunteers from France, a country that endures a perhaps-deserved national reputation for battle-avoidance.
GOVERNMENT IN ACTION Legislators
in Iowa and Florida recently advanced bills giving women who receive legal abortions up to 10 years — or longer, in Iowa — to sue the doctor if the abortion winds up causing them “emotional distress.” Doctors in all states are already liable, of course, for actual “negligence” in their practice. In the
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Iowa version — which the Des Moines Register reported would likely face amendments — even a signed consent form by the patient would not immunize the doctor, but might mitigate the amount of damages awarded.
GREAT ART! German art collector Rik
Reinking paid the equivalent of about $138,000 in 2008 for a resplendent, complex drawing by Belgian artist Wim Delvoye, but it was one created in ink on the skin of (the still-alive) tattoo parlor manager Tim Steiner — to be delivered only upon Steiner’s death, when his skin will be displayed in Reinking’s collection. The deal also requires that, in the meantime, Steiner personally showcase his back at galleries three times a year, and BBC News recently caught his latest appearance.
HIGHER MATH The first robots to have survived journeys close to the “core” of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan, which melted down in a 2011 earthquake, returned a reading of 530 “sieverts” per hour. Some scientists label just 4 Sieverts an hour fatal to half the people exposed to it. Since the robots stopped short of the actual nuclear fuel, and since they only visited one of the three cores, the true danger of Fukushima remains unknown. On a more optimistic note, scientists in February said they have developed a computer chip that would survive on the surface of Venus for 21 days, eclipsing the old record of two hours — long enough to send back meaningful data, including the temperature. The current estimated temperature is 878 degrees Fahrenheit. PRIESTS GONE BAD Prominent Tallahassee, Florida, pastor O. Jermaine Simmons, a community leader who ministers to the homeless and downtrodden, was rescued by police on Jan. 17, naked and hiding behind a fence after making a run for it when the husband of his mistress found the two in bed. The husband, screaming, “I’m gonna kill him,” ran for his handgun, and the mistress summoned police, but by Jan. 30, all involved had declined to press charges. Simmons, married with a son, is highly regarded for good deeds such as running a “cold night” shelter. HAIL MARY The decidedly uncelibate Catholic priest Don Andrea Contin, 48, of Padua, Italy, was accused by three women in December of having as many as 30 different lovers over the years, organizing “orgies” on church property, visiting a swingers’ resort in France several times, making pornographic home videos of his trysts, “encouraging” one woman to have sex with a horse and “always” carrying a briefcase full of vibrators, sex toys and bondage equipment. Contin has not yet been charged with a crime but, said a Catholic official, is “finished” as a priest. Bonus: The
boxes for his home videos were labeled by the names of Popes.
WAIT, WHAT? In January, a New York
City judge dismissed the original indictment of John Kennedy O’Hara, 55, who had been convicted in 1996 of the crime of “felony voting” — the only person convicted under that state law since Susan B. Anthony, who cast a ballot in 1872 even though females were barred from the polls. O’Hara was indicted for voting in 1992 and 1993 after registering in Brooklyn elections from a “bogus” address — a basement apartment that was considered uninhabitable. A judge in 2017 determined that the apartment “could” have been habitable. O’Hara paid $15,000 in fines and did 1,500 hours of community service.
LEAST COMPETENT CRIMINALS Once again, in January, curiosity got the better of a perp. Adriana Salas, 26, allegedly stole a truck in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and drove it to Fort Smith, 260 miles away, but then could not resist stopping by the local sheriff’s office to ask whether the truck had been reported stolen. It had; deputies, taking a look outside, read Salas her Miranda rights. THE PASSING PARADE Belgium’s federal
parliament decided to keep supplying free beer and wine during legislative sessions over the objection of its ethics committee because, since drinkers would continue to drink offpremises, anyway, serving the items onpremises would at least improve attendance.
COMPUTER HACKER On Jan. 30, as
police, with a search warrant, approached the front door of child-porn-possessing suspect Brian Ayers, 57, they spotted him inside, hatchet in hand, pounding away at his tablet computer. Ayers, of Florence, New Jersey, was free at the time, pending sentencing in another New Jersey court on earlier counts of distributing child porn.
NOTW CLASSIC (April 2013) A University
of Kansas professor and two co-authors, in (2013) Journal of Finance research, found that children age 10 and under substantially outperformed their parents in earnings from certain stock trading. A likely explanation, researchers said, is that mom and dad were buying and selling in their children’s accounts if they had illegal insider information — because they feared getting caught by regulators if they used it for their personal accounts. The kids’ accounts, including those held by babies, were almost 50 percent more profitable than their parents’. The study, reported by NPR, covered 15 years of trades in Finland, which, unlike the U.S. and most other countries, collects traders’ ages.
It wasn’t until I had my own dealings with it that I [came up with InspireInYou]. After graduate school I worked for a railroad company, it was an extremely stressful environment. I was just struggling getting through the day. I remember coming in one day and there was a noose sitting on my desk. I don’t know how it got there. I’m a happy jovial guy, that’s my nature, but being in that environment I had to switch who I was, and it affected me. I started to be aware of mental health all around me. Even in pop culture. Like for instance, now you look at Kanye West, even with Donald Trump, people are talking about his mental health. It’s everywhere, so I started looking at this and thinking, if this is everywhere why isn’t someone doing something about it? Why isn’t there a tool where you don’t really have to identify yourself? So I had this idea and I put everything behind it and went full speed ahead and that’s where I am now. Has technology and app making always been an interest of yours? RYAN PITKIN
Shaun Andrews.
NEWS
#BLKTECHCLT
THE MOTIVATIONAL PLUG Local tech entrepreneur on mental health, #BLKTECHCLT and being black in the app world BY RYAN PITKIN
WHEN SHAUN ANDREWS was working
in the corporate offices of a well-known railroad company seven years ago, he had the stable job and steady paycheck he had always aspired for, but happiness eluded him. Every day, Andrews would wake up and search the web for motivational messages to get him through the day. The process was mentally straining in itself, and the messages eventually became repetitive. This experience eventually inspired him to found InspireInYou, a tech startup that Andrews describes as “Pandora for self-help motivational counseling.” Going into his fourth year, Andrews is still learning new things about the tech world. He discovered #BLKTECHCLT when Sherrell Dorsey hosted the kick-off event last December, and says the experience was refreshing in a world where he rarely sees fellow entrepeneurs that look like him and face similar obstacles. We sat down with Andrews in the lead-up to the next #BLKTECHCLT, scheduled for March 9, to talk about what those obstacles are and how Charlotte’s tech world can become more inclusive by reaching kids early. Creative Loafing: InspireInYou work?
How
does
Shaun Andrews: We have individuals registered with our app, and we kind of assess
where they are mentally and then we assign audio content to them from certified counselors, motivational speakers, clergy, life coaches — it’s specific to the issues they’re dealing with. With other apps you can go in and say, “Ok, I’m stressed today, let me listen to this.” We actually ask you a series of questions that helps guide you to where you need to be. What we found is a lot of people have mental issues like depression, but nobody wants to seek help. Now what our platform is able to do, we’re able to completely remove the negative stigma associated with self-help care, lower the cost and increase the access. What made you interested in this field? I played football in college. On a college campus, the football payers are the most popular guys, so we really never had anything to worry about in regards to popularity and everyone was cool. After college, one of my friends I played football with committed suicide. I had another friend I played football with in high school, he committed suicide, and the more and more we looked at depression, and I was like, “Man this is something that’s really big but it’s not one of those things that’s really out there.” Especially in the black community, we like to cover things up, pray about it, things like that.
It has not. The reason I got into technology is that it was the easiest solution to the problem for me. I created it for everybody but I really created it for myself. How can I use this? What has it been like for you to enter that world? It’s difficult. I have a hurdle of just having no technology experience, so just getting myself up to speed, reading Tech Crunch and all those sorts of things. Just to understand what is it, and then going through partnerships, and it’s just been difficult, but I love every step of the way. It’s the learning curve of not having a tech background and having to dive in while at the same time having a family, so juggling that. Did you feel pressure from a social standpoint? As an African-American guy, once you get a really good job, you’re family looks at you like, “Man, you better keep that.” So whenever you decide to do something that’s totally opposed to that, it’s like, “What are you crazy? What are you doing?” I remember the first time I was sitting at my dining room table and there were a few friends around and I said, “I’ve got this idea,” and I pitched it to them. They were like, “Man, this is the craziest thing we’ve ever heard. Nobody’s going to listen to that.” I kept getting that. What it really caused me to do was to retreat within myself and go into a cocoon and get this cranked out all on my own. I was married when I started, I’m not married now. Whenever you are in the corporate world, people can hang their hat on that. “Well, Shaun does this and he’s at this level,” and they can be proud of that. When it’s something sort of unknown, when you’re self-employed, it’s almost like quicksand. How do you transition that into social status? It was very difficult for some folks around me. As an African-American, we look at jobs more traditionally. You look at banking and certain careers like, “This is good.” But [a tech startup] is almost like a crapshoot. Being educated, having a Masters degree, pursuing a Doctorate for a little while, being in corporate America, it was like, “Man, why are you
throwing that away?” Having that courage was a huge thing, but I did it solo. How did you get introduced to Sherrell Dorsey and #BLKTECHCLT? I went to their first event, I was connected through a friend of mine who told me about it. I went to the event and just the level of expertise that was in the room — I think it was the collective mindset of, “We’re going to help each other,” was something that I didn’t find before. I would go to events and a lot of times it was like being a fly in a bowl of milk. You’re separated. I operate in duality, I don’t care if you’re black or white, but there’s still a comfort there. Because there are certain things that I have to deal with that my counterpart may not have to deal with. I just think Sherrell’s work is amazing; for somebody just to have the mindset to bring folks together. I know when I first started it was difficult to find a home for folks like me. We would see each other scattered across the room like, “Hey man, what’s up.” This is not even being an exclusive thing, but being a place that’s welcoming for anybody to come in. But for people to come in and then understand what we go through and how we can help us, it helps everyone out. What other things could be done to improve diversity in the Charlotte tech world? I think one of the ways that can kind of help African-Americans is to have some type of ecosystem to get them up to speed on what technology is and what the opportunities are. I think people follow trends and opportunities if they know how lucrative they can be. Sometimes we don’t realize that, and we need to start early — I would say in high school or middle school — where we are actively engaging in coding. But even whenever we are teaching kids coding, connect them to folks who are entrepreneurs who are doing well. They follow people who are doing well. They like glitz and glamour. They understand money. There’s a chance of you following this path and ending up the same way, just like with basketball or football players. A lot of times we assume that we’re going to teach kids coding, but if you don’t tell them what the possibilities are, they’re not going to care. “I’m going to make an app to play a game?” No, you’re going to make an app because this is a potential for you to take care of your family for the rest of your life and you don’t have to worry about code switching and all these issues that come around with being in corporate America. I think when you position it that way you will have more people latch on board. I had friends who are highly educated who would come and ask me, “Where do you even start? What is a tech startup?” They understand Wells Fargo. That’s what they understand. You saying you have a startup, they wonder how that is going to feed your family. They have no reference point. So educating the parents and the children I think will be a way where you can bring people out of that and bring more African-Americans in who are comfortable in the space — who are not like me having to come in and the learning curve is so large. They don’t have to worry about knocking down doors; they can just build their own house and open it themselves. CLCLT.COM | FEB. 23 - MAR. 1, 2017 | 15
In the kitchen: Jamie Barnes (from left), Jamie Suddoth, Sam Dotse, Greg Williams and Gregory Collier.
FOOD
PHOTOS BY PETER TAYLOR
FEATURE
MINORITY RULES Soul Food Sessions showcase Charlotte’s African American culinary talent BY ALISON LEININGER
O
N MONDAY February 27, six local chefs and two mixologists will present an upscale, eightcourse dinner in one of the Queen City’s top-tier restaurants. 16 | FEB. 23 - MAR. 1, 2017 | CLCLT.COM
Nothing unusual there. Charlotte hosts dinner events like this almost every week. But there is one key difference in this night of swanky indulgence: the folks behind the elevated cuisine and cocktails are all African-
American. If great food is great food, why does it matter who’s cooking it? According to Chef Gregory Collier, it matters in the kitchen. “When you’re a majority, it’s not really
necessary to find a group of people who look like you, share experiences with you, to do stuff together,” Collier says. “The last, it felt good because I had never been in a space where I cooked with all chefs that looked
like me.” In case you missed it, “the last one” was the inaugural Soul Food Session held in October at Collier’s @Dawn Café — coincidentally, it directly followed the uprising over the shooting of Keith Lamont Scott that brought Charlotte national attention. I say coincidentally because Collier, Mike Bowling of Southminster retirement community and Jamie Barnes of What the Fries? food truck already had plans in motion to bring attention to the small but growing cohort of minority chefs in the city. “Once he started doing What the Fries?, Jamie kind of got the idea, ‘Everybody thinks all we can do is fries,’” says Bowling, who trained at Johnson & Wales University in Charleston, South Carolina, and has cooked at the famed James Beard House in New York City. “We’re classically trained, let’s do something else…to kind of show people that there’s a skill set there that you might not think of.” Two female chefs, Sam Dotse of Passion8 and Jamie Suddoth of Jamie’s Cakes and Classes, rounded out the team for the first Soul Food Session. That dinner tweaked the very notion of soul food, using familiar ingredients and flavor profiles in elevated methods. Sweet potatoes, Bradford watermelons and molasses
“THE QUESTION OF ‘WHY ALL-BLACK CHEFS?’ SHOULD DISAPPEAR BY 2019. THE QUESTION OF ‘WHY’ HAS GOT TO GO OUT THE DOOR SOON.”-MIKE BOWLING
were puréed as an anchor for crispy fried rock fish; the chicken came as a Moroccan-style tagine. For the larger menu to be presented at Elizabeth’s Passion8, the same chefs cast their nets wider across the globe in a celebration of the African Diaspora. The dishes pull in inspiration from multiple regions of Africa — including Dotse’s native Ghana — but also include hits from the Caribbean and South America. That net also hauls in two Uptown mixologists whose concoctions evince as much deliberation as anything on a plate.
JUSTIN HAZELTON OF 5Church and
DiSean Burns of Stoke will present three cocktails before and during the dinner. Still in their planning stages, the pair describe drinks involving Brazilian cachaça, demerara sugar from the Caribbean, bitters from Trinidad and even a simple syrup made from Senegalese acacia-tree gum, spiked with fruits from those same regions. “That’s speaking to the different cultures,” explains Burns. “The many people of color that originated in Africa, that now find themselves in different places.” As he listens to Burns talk about their
SEE
RULES P. 18 u
In action: Mike Bowling, Sam Dotse and Greg Williams prepare delicious sweet potato-watermelon molasses puree and vegetable hash.
CLCLT.COM | FEB. 23 - MAR. 1, 2017 | 17
FOOD
THREE COURSE-SPIEL
JUICE-JOINT JUKIN’ Candice Credle shows her customers she’s got the juice BY DEBRA RENEE SETH
FORMER NEW YORKER Candice Credle has found a sweet way to combine juicing with music at Juice Now, which opened Feb. 11 in south Charlotte. The cool, green-and-orange bar serves fresh, locally sourced juices with flavors and names that will make you want to sing. And you can sing. We sat down with Credle to chat about out how she bounces to the juicy beat of her different drum.
Justin Hazelton mixes it up at Soul Food Sessions RULES FROM P.17 t own creative approach, Collier can’t help but exclaim, “I didn’t even expect the level that they have come to with cocktails! I didn’t expect the same story. . . for them to get there just like we [chefs] got there.” While the team strives to tell a global story through the flavors on plates and in glasses, their overarching focus remains here in Charlotte. First, they hope to foster other African-American professionals in their industry by raising their own visibility. They also are donating proceeds to local charities; the first event’s went to the Community Culinary School of Charlotte, this one to Charlotte’s Sickle Cell Foundation. In the next two years, the chefs plan 18 | FEB. 23 - MAR. 1, 2017 | CLCLT.COM
PHOTO BY ALISON LEININGER
to establish a foundation hosting quarterly events to fund minority scholarships at Charlotte’s various culinary programs, with an eye to spreading the program to other regional cities. “The plan is not for this to be a one- or two-year thing,” Bowling says. “The plan is for this to be a long-term, standing nonprofit that is benefitting the community.” In the meantime, these culinary artists hope to start breaking down preconceptions of what African-Americans are creating in the city’s kitchens. As Collier says, “The question of ‘Why all black chefs?’ should disappear by 2019. The question of ‘why’ has got to go out the door soon.” Find the final Soul Food Sessions full menu and link for tickets on the group’s Facebook page.
Creative Loafing: You’ve come up with some pretty interesting names for your drinks. Can you tell us how those came about? Credle: The drink names are based on some of my favorite songs. For example, if you’re looking for a drink to aid in weight loss you could try our “Shake it Off,” which is a blend of citrus flavors including grapefruit, orange and lemon. If you want a refreshing and energizing drink, you can try our “Breathe Again” hydrator, which is a simple blend of chlorophyl and pure water. If you need a drink to help remove excess fluid, you could try “Just Kick it,” which blends lemon, maple cayenne and water. Whatever drink you choose, you can be sure it’s made only of fresh, local ingredients that have never been oxidized and never contain any preservatives. Ok, so what’s with this whole juicing craze anyway? Are your juices really that much better than the store-bought kind? Be honest. Well the main diffence between the juice we serve and the store-bought kind is the nutritional value and health benefits. Store juices are packed with sweeteners, pretty
JUICE NOW 4128 South Blvd. 704-819-1893. www.juicenow2go.com.
coloring and preservatives designed to make them last longer. The problem with that is after 72 hours the nutritional value of what you’re drinking is diminished so you’re basically just consuming empty calories. Our juices, hydrators and refreshers are always fresh, cold-pressed and never contain any preservatives, which can be unhealthy for the body. When you order our juice you’re not only refreshed but you know you’re getting the maximum nutritional benefits. By your own admission, you’ve been adapting to a healthier lifestyle for a few years. What advice would you give to those who are just getting into the juicing thing? First I would say to start off slowly. You don’t go from guzzling down milkshakes to drinking natural, non-pasteurized juices without noticing. Be prepared for things to taste differently. Start by introducing a few healthier options into your routine to give your palate time to adjust. This way you’re much more likely to stick with the changes. Juicing is a great place to start because you’re taking something familiar and making small adjustments that bring big benefits. At the end of the day any positive steps you take to better health are steps in the right direction.
Good Eats - Great People - Live Music and the
Gi Spot Friday February 24th
Tickets @jazznsouluptown.eventbrite.com
SATURDAY NITE LIVE TOURNAMENT EDITION 2.25.17 | 8p - 2a WILLIE WALKER & THE CONVERSATION PIECE BAND CELEBRITY DJ AKTIVE HOSTED BY
JAYCEE
tickets @saturdaynitelive.eventbrite.com
300 EAST MOREHEAD ST | 704.334.2655 | WWW.MOREHEADTAVERN.COM
Winter is coming!
Be ready to snuggle up in style in one of our beautiful vintage coats.
Treat Yourself Our Location 6157 E. Independence Blvd. Charlotte NC 28212 704/567-9531
CLCLT.COM | FEB. 23 - MAR. 1, 2017 | 19
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
23
LESS THAN JAKE What: As ’90s fads go, third-wave ska has proved surprisingly durable. Back in the day, Less Than Jake got less attention than Sublime or the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, but the band has been solid, churning out tunes like “Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts,” and “Jen Doesn’t Like Me Anymore.” On the new EP See the Light, a soulful, energetic horn section remains Less Than Jake’s not-so-secret weapon, even as the band leavens its syncopated pop-punk with serious lyrics about standing up for human rights.
When: 8 p.m. Where: Fillmore, 820 Hamilton St. More: $25. fillmorecharlottenc.com
20 | FEB. 23 - MAR. 1, 2017 | CLCLT.COM
24
THINGS TO DO
TOP TEN
It’s Snakes FRIDAY
RYAN MILLER
FRIDAY
24
FRIDAY
24
SATURDAY
25
IXCANUL
ADRIAN CRUTCHFIELD
MELT FEAT. IT’S SNAKES
MCCOLL STUDIO PARTY
A coming-of-age story from the perspective of a Guatemalan teen who wants to run away to the United States with the boy she likes. The story’s been told a million times, but not in the Mayan dialect of Kaqchikel. With a 100-percent rating from Rotten Tomatoes and big accolades from Huffington Post, which Jayro Bustamante’s Ixcanul (“volcano”) “the best thing in theaters right now,” expect a crowd at this free screening sponsored by Queens University.
What: He’s been called one of his generation’s most prolific professional musicians, and he’s got the receipts. This young saxophone aficianado’s resume includes playing as Prince’s last saxophone player — recording for his three most recent albums — as well as touring with the likes of Cee Lo Green, Lionel Ritchie and Bette Midler. The young neo-soul man will be releasing his new album Leap at this Neighborhood release party.
What: Space will be the place at the McColl Center when alumni artists Sharon Dowell, Felicia van Bork, Chris Watts and many others will show and sell their stunning works. That Guy Smitty will be spinning his signature eclectic set of tunes — if we’re lucky he’ll mix in something from original jazz space cadet Sun Ra — and there will be plenty of space for dancing. Oh, and complimentary cocktails plus beer and wine in the Mothership glow bar. Suit up for a stellar evening.
When: 6:30-9:30 p.m. Where: Ketner Auditorium, Sykes Learning Center, 1928 Selwyn Ave. More: Free. queens.edu.
When: 8 p.m. Where: Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 36th St. More: $10-15. neighborhoodtheatre. com.
What: Described as loop-driven, anxiety-ridden dream folk, the aptly named MELT is a panic attack on a stage. Catch one of the local music scene’s more iconic couples in the opening act, as Hope Nicholls and Aaron Pitkin of Fetchin Bones and Snagglepuss play with their new band, It’s Snakes. The band is fronted by Nicholls, although as a drummer/vocalist one could say she backs the band as well, and her energy hasn’t dropped a bit since her video was playing on MTV in the early ‘90s. When: 9 p.m. Where: Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St. More: $5. snugrock.com.
When: 7-11 p.m. Where: McColl Center, 721 N. Tryon St. More: $25-$75. mccollcenter.org.
Scene from Ixcanul. FRIDAY
Adrian Crutchfield FRIDAY
NEWS ARTS FOOD MUSIC ODDS
Scene from The Hidden. WEDNESDAY PHOTO COURTESY OF KINO LORBER
SUNDAY
26
COURTESY OF CAROLINA FILM COMMUNITY
SUNDAY
26
MONDAY
27
TUESDAY
28
WEDNESDAY
1
JOE BONAMOSSA
FARM-2-TABLE SUPPER
BOOKWOMEN SPEAK
TAKE THE FALL
LONG STORY SHORT
What: Thanks to boundarystretching veterans like Joe Bonamassa, blues-based guitar rock is having something of a resurgence. It’s been 17 years since his solo debut, but Bonamassa still has the fire and fluidity of a young gun, and he tempers his chops with a willingness to step away from the cliché with chords not usually heard in the blues. For his latest album, Blues of Desperation, he teams with crack Nashville songwriters, making the tunes as important as guitar pyrotechnics.
What: Beer and pizza. It’s like peanut butter and jelly, Bey and Jay, McCrory and Pope — hard to think of one without the other. The combo offered up at this farm-totable event will be different from your average suds n’ slice. Chef Austin Crum will serve a fourcourse meal of local goodness, each course complemented with a seasonable beer from the Free Range Brewing Co. Crum and Jason Alexander of FRB partnered on a new beer brewed from locally sourced ingredients.
What: Never judge a book by its cover, and never judge a panel by its title. Sitting around listening to a bunch of folks speak about the Women’s National Book Association’s 100-year birthday may not sound like your cup of tea, but these are some badass women. The panel includes Emoke B’Racz, owner of Malaprop’s Bookstore and Café in Asheville; Ina Stern, recently retired associate publisher at Algonquin Books; and Betsy Teter, executive director at Hub City Press and Hub City Bookshop.
What: The members of femalefronted punk quartet Take the Fall sound like they’ve been wired to an early-2000s radio permanently tuned to Blink 82 and Taking Back Sunday. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as long as the band’s got songs. Luckily, Take the Fall’s tunes are ace — the perfect mix of heart-on-sleeve vulnerability and crunchy kiddiepunk confection. Recent tunes such as snotty kiss-off “Calm Before My Storm” show the band pushing past its emo roots.
What: A night of local film and local art and local music — well, local in the sense that you’ll be singing it. First, enjoy a collection of short films put together by the Carolina Film Community, including The Hidden, winner of Charlotte’s 2016 100 Words Film Festival. There’s also an award-winning short film called Shit being screened, so that can’t be bad. Follow the films up with a game of “Soundtrack Karaoke,” during which it’s safe to say at least three people will sign up to sing “My Heart Will Go On.”
When: 8 p.m. Where: Belk Theater, 130 N. Tryon St. More: $69. blumenthalarts.org
When: 7 p.m. Where: Pure Pizza, 1911 Central Ave. More: $50. purepizzaclt.com, freerangebrewing.com
When: 7-8:30 p.m. Where: Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road. More: Free. parkroadbooks.com.
When: 9 p.m. Where: The Milestone, 3400 Tuckaseegee Rd. More: $5-7. twentyfiveminutestogo.com.
When: 7-9 p.m. Where: 8.2.0, 820 Hamilton St. More: Free. 820clt.com.
CLCLT.COM | FEB. 23 - MAR. 1, 2017 | 21
A man in Ferguson, Missouri, holds a sign depicting what would later become the title of the new Levine Museum of the New South exhibit.
22 | FEB. 23 - MAR. 1, 2017 | CLCLT.COM
ALVIN C. JACOBS
ARTS
FEATURE
MODERN HISTORY New Levine exhibit relives police unrest months after the fact BY RYAN PITKIN
L
OCAL
PHOTOGRAPHER
Alvin C. Jacobs, Jr., flashed a humble-but-knowing grin at staff historian Brenda Tindal of Levine Museum of the New South when she introduced him as “a modern-day Gordon Parks” at a recent preview for the museum’s new K(NO)W Justice K(NO)W Peace exhibit. Jacobs, 42, admitted that when he was in his late teens, he often wondered if he would have it in him to fill the shoes of a civil rights hero like Parks. “I asked myself what type of man would I have been if I were this age in the ‘60s,” Jacobs said. “How responsible would my life be? How impactful would my responsibility be? I started to find out about five years ago.” By chance, Jacobs found himself in Orlando on February 26, 2012, the day Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman. He quickly realized he was at ground zero of the biggest story in the country, but had no way of knowing how things would unfold from there. “I didn’t realize that that was going to be the launch pad for a series of killings, of murders; almost a summer without ending. It’s been that way from that day until now,” Jacobs said. “From that day forward I vowed to myself that I would never be without my camera, and I had an opportunity and a responsibility to document creatively and professionally what was going on in America.” Shortly thereafter, Jacobs hit the road to do just that. He traveled to Chicago; New York City; Charleston, South Carolina; Ferguson, Missouri; and — eventually and unexpectedly — back home to Charlotte to document the unrest fomenting as a result of police brutality and other injustices. The resulting photos make up a portion of the K(NO)W Justice K(NO)W Peace exhibit, which opened on Friday and aims to tell the story of recent local and national police brutality and the resulting protests in a historical context. “The arts provide emotional release around issues like this, history provides the understanding, so we need each other,” said Katherine Hill, Levine Museum’s president. “This is a complicated story and it’s important that we understand the multiple perspectives that exist around it.” According to Hill, the exhibit had been
COURTESY OF LEVINE MUSEUM
A tunnel lined with life-size photos from the Charlotte Uprising also plays audio of the protests from above. on the museum’s schedule to run in 2018, but everything changed after the events of September 2016, when the police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott was followed by intense protests that eventually convinced the city and state to call in the National Guard. Hill says the fact that such unrest was happening here in our city helped persuade organizers to expedite the process of putting together the K(NO)W Justice K(NO)W Peace exhibit. It acts in places like an incubator for dialogue, displaying placards with insight from community members who were both on the front lines of the Charlotte Uprising — from police and other first responders to protesters and independent journalists — and those watching from home. “We hope that our visitors will take the time to consider those multiple perspectives and to imagine how we might engage in productive, constructive dialogue around those differences,” Hill said. “It’s important that we have those conversations now, because the decisions that we’re making now are writing Charlotte’s future.” The exhibit begins with perhaps the most important section, an educational walk through that touches on the history of Charlotte “from Swann to Scott,” as Levine historian Brenda Tindal refers to it. The section informs museumgoers of the relativity of housing, schooling and policing to economic mobility and racial divides on a local and national level. “The idea is that Charlotte is in many ways a microcosm of the nation, and that what’s happening in Charlotte is happening elsewhere,” Tindal said. “We wanted to be able to provide that historical context for our visitors so that they understand that what happened here in Charlotte did not happen in a vacuum.”
An interactive map of Charlotte can be covered with multiple overlays that range from police shootings to school segregation and performance to income inequality, each result more jarring than the last. “[The map is] a way to sort of say that all of these things are in conversation with one another, that none of it is happening in a vacuum and that in order to understand Charlotte — in order to understand what happened here in Charlotte — we need to understand what’s in the ground,” Tindal said. “What are the issues that conspire to make Charlotte both this beautiful place and at times a very challenging place for segments of our community?” The exhibit becomes more visual from there, as patrons either branch off into a tunnel filled with the sights and sounds of the protests — life-size photos of the frontlines line the walls while audio plays of people yelling and tear-gas canisters exploding — or to the community response section. Throughout that section, mementos of modern history are scattered about, including a white dress shirt, recognizable to those who followed the protests as one of those worn by Toussaint Romaine, the sharp dressed public defender who gained national attention as he often stood between protesters and police, helping those in the line of fire find cover from the exploding canisters around him. One of those canisters lies next to his shirt in the display. Another glass case displays two pairs of shoes that each walked countless miles in the days and weeks following the Scott shooting: a pair of boots worn by then-Captain Mike Campagna of the CMPD, known for walking alongside marchers engaging with them throughout the week and a pair of red-andwhite Nike Air Force One sneakers worn
by Braxton Winston, whose live streams were crucial to showing viewers what was happening on the ground beyond what the mainstream media was showing during the protests. Tucked away in the back of the exhibit is a touching project that’s been carried out by Johnson C. Smith University students over the past three years. The display, titled “Beyond the Hashtags,” aims to humanize the victims of police violence that are too often seen simply as statistics or dismissed as thugs. It includes family pictures and explanations of the circumstances that led to the death of each victim. Dr. Tiffany Packer, assistant professor of history at JCSU, was inspired to start the project in September 2013 following the death of Jonathan Ferrell, who was killed by a CMPD officer in northeast Charlotte following a car wreck. She began discussing ideas of how to honor Ferrell and other victims of police violence with her class, and eventually decided to let each student choose someone they wanted to spotlight. Students got in touch with victims’ families and were able to obtain family photos and other details to pay homage to each respective person. “What became obvious is that police shootings started to happen so frequently that they were just becoming numbers, so I said, ‘How do we put identity back to these victims? I want you to put their lives back together,’” Packer said. “What becomes obvious is that these people are human beings just like you and I, and they live and they get up and they work SEE
HISTORY P. 24 u
CLCLT.COM | FEB. 23 - MAR. 1, 2017 | 23
Artwork from the boards that once replaced the windows of the Hyatt House that were smashed during protests.
STORY F ROM t or they go to school, and they have wives and they have husbands, they have children who love them just like we do. They are people, and that’s what I want people to walk away knowing and understanding, that we are not talking about numbers, we are talking about real people in real time.” The exhibit wraps with a room full of Jacobs’ work, which depicts large protests in Brooklyn, a small action at a private event in Charleston and everything in between. The work includes portraits of folks Jacobs has come across during his work, including Blake Brockington, a Charlotte activist and trans teen who has since taken his own life; Darren Seals, a leader of the Ferguson protests who was found murdered there last September; and Sabahh Folayn, a protester who would throw up her first in a dramatic pose each time she ran into Jacobs. Folayn’s Ferguson-inspired documentary Whose Streets? premiered at Sundance Film Festival last month. Jacobs stays connected to his work, separated from it only by a relatively short 35- or 50-millimeter lens. He scoffs at the 24 | FEB. 23 - MAR. 1, 2017 | CLCLT.COM
COURTESY OF LEVINE MUSEUM
idea that a false sense of objectivity would somehow help his photojournalism along. “Most of my images, you’ll see I get real close because I only have a short lens. I have to get in the photo, I have to get in the shot, in the moment.” Jacobs said. “I was asked how do I remain neutral. I’m a black man in America, I have to have an opinion. I can’t remain neutral. I am in it.” Jacobs remains aware of his inability to disconnect from his subject matter as a black man in America, and it helps him keep his focus. Looking at a photo of Eric Garner’s mother, whose son was killed in 2014 by NYPD officers who placed him in a chokehold after confronting him about selling cigarettes on a street corner, Jacobs marveled at the resiliency he was able to in her smiling face. “To me my job was to begin documenting what a lot of our mothers are going through — a lot of our brothers and sisters and cousins and uncles and families and friends and people that we never even met before are going through,” he said. “I’m not the best writer, I’m not the best speaker, but I can take a decent photograph, and I think that’s becoming an increasing responsibility in 2016 and 2017 and beyond.” RPITKIN@CLCLT.COM
UNIVERSAL
Matt Damon in The Great Wall.
ARTS
Charlie Day and Ice Cube in Fist Fight.
WARNER
FILM
THICK AS A BRICK New films prove to be aggressively stupid BY MATT BRUNSON
P
ERHAPS NOT SINCE Roman centurion John Wayne ambled up to Jesus on the cross in The Greatest Story Ever Told has an American actor looked so uncomfortably out of place as Matt Damon in The Great Wall (*1/2 out of four). Set in 11th century China, the film posits that an army of warriors has been tasked with protecting the nation — indeed, the world — against the monsters that periodically rise up and destroy everything in their path. As in Little Shop of Horrors, these so-called Taoties are mean green mothers from outer space, and as in Jeepers Creepers, they only awaken from their slumber at set intervals to wreak havoc. The Chinese forces are comprised of nothing but brave warriors and smart generals, but even they’re helpless against these marauding monsters. But wait! Just when everything seems hopeless, along comes Matt Damon to save the day! Hold on, you interject. An American in the 11th century? But of course, my sluggish friend! After all, The Great Wall is a coproduction between the U.S. and China, and while it’s all well and good that it’s based
on Chinese history and on Chinese legend (e.g. the Taoties), that just ain’t gonna sell in Butte, Montana, Biloxi, Mississippi or Bumfuck, Maryland. So enter a Yankee doodle dandy in the form of Matt Damon, cast as a mercenary who ends up helping the Chinese help themselves. Now, I imagine Damon isn’t supposed to be playing an American, but with that pronounced Boston accent, it’s impossible to accept him as anything but. Damon is one of those actors too stubbornly modern to convince in any period before the 20th century, and in The Great Wall, he seems as organic to the era as would a MacBook Pro. Beyond the grotesque miscasting of Damon, The Great Wall proves to be a spectacularly stupid movie, and it’s a shame to see the great Yimou Zhang attached to such shameless hucksterism. After all, the director’s 1991 Raise the Red Lantern remains one of the great foreign-language imports of the past few decades, and other stellar credits include Ju Dou, Hero and To Live. This new feature might as well be called To Sell Out: It boasts little of the lyricism of his past efforts, and the visual effects employed to bring the
creatures to life are embarrassingly gaudy and unconvincing. The movie may already be a box office hit overseas, but all in all, it’s just another brick in the wall of cinematic stinkers. The appointment of the monstrous Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education is the worst thing that could possibly have happened to the U.S. school system, but placing a very distant second would probably be the release of Fist Fight (* out of four). Aggressive in its insistence on being as awful as possible, this flagrantly unfunny film centers on the conflict brewing between two teachers at a high school where the students spend more time masturbating in the bathroom stalls and drawing penises on the blackboards than in cracking open textbooks. Mr. Strickland (Ice Cube) is the scariest teacher on the premises, while Andy Campbell (Charlie Day) is the wimpiest. After Andy snitches on Strickland in regards to an altercation with a student (an ax was involved), the latter educator finds himself without a job. Angered, he challenges Andy
to fisticuffs immediately after the school day ends. The remainder of Fist Fight involves Andy doing everything in his power to get out of the fight, including bribing a student to lie about the ax blow incident and planting drugs in Strickland’s satchel. Along the way, he receives poor advice from a fellow teacher (tedious Jillian Bell) who’s obsessed with sleeping with students and the coach (Tracy Morgan) who’s obsessed with sleeping with the students’ moms. Compounding Andy’s stress is the fact that his wife (JoAnna Garcia Swisher) is set to give birth at any moment and his daughter (Alexa Nisenson) has a musical competition that he simply cannot miss. Ice Cube is a reliable screen presence, but he can do nothing with a film as utterly devoid of entertainment value as this one. Day, generally an acquired taste anyway, is insufferable as the whining teacher, and it’s hard not to root for Strickland to beat the living hell out of Andy. And when he’s through, maybe he can go after this rancid film’s creators as well.
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MUSIC
MUSIC FEATURE
FREE BIRD Rapper Black Linen don’t pay to play no more BY MARK KEMP
S
OLOMON
TETTEH and
his buddy Oba Amitabha are walking along a narrow path in a small wooded area, pausing briefly to marvel at an already-blooming purple magnolia and other exotic flora — a coral bark Japanese maple, Portugal laurel rose, a Korean dwarf boxwood shrub. Near a bench at the side of the trail, Amitabha suddenly stops and points to a spot in the brush. “What kind of bird is that?” he asks. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen one like that.” The bird is dark with a an orange breast, but it isn’t a robin. It flutters to the branch of a nearby tree. “Me neither,” Tetteh says. “I’m not sure.” It’s not a rhetorical question for Tetteh. The dreadlocked, 33-year-old rapper, whose rap name is Black Linen, majored in environmental science at North Carolina Central University in Durham. And this narrow path that winds it way through the UNCC Botanical Gardens, ending up in the tranquility of a traditional wooden gazebo built into a hill overlooking a small pond, is where he comes to find peace and solitude. “I love to come here and just breathe the air,” Tetteh had told me the day before, as we sat in the gazebo and talked for nearly two hours about his life and music. “My mom had a garden when I was a kid, and I spent a lot of time with her working in it.” He laughed. “It probably had something to do with me wanting to study environmental science and save the rainforest.” Instead, Tetteh got sidetracked by music. Black Linen II, his second album under his new moniker and ninth overall since 2009, may be his most ambitious project yet. In addition to his own rhymes, it features a wide-ranging cast of young Charlotte-based artists including the experimental neosoul and R&B singers Bri Blvck and Jessika Shaunnelle, folk-punk singer-songwriter Le Anna Eden, and fellow rappers Nige Hood and Tetteh’s younger brother Goldie. Kicking off pensively with Shaunnelle’s soaring vocals on “TTWLG: An Ode to Janet Jackson” (on which the singer also adds a hard-hitting spoken-word part), the record ricochets from the guitar-spangled “HITS” to Blvck and Nige’s sparkling “Love Saves” to Goldie’s haunting closing track “Fade to Black.” From start to finish, Black Linen II is a simmering indictment of the mainstream star-making machine, snaked through with lines like, “I’m on a slave ship with a master plan” and “Everything they say don’t touch my soul / And I just want to kill my radio.” “We wrote this music to give assurance that timeless songs that inspire still exist,”
Black Linen says, “that we all have the ability, with no outside help, to mold ourselves into pristine artists more powerful than our commercial counterparts.” One of Black Linen’s goals, he says, is to inspire not just other artists, but regular people of all kinds who struggle to find their voices amid the daily grind of life in America, circa 2017. The songs come directly from each artist’s personal struggles, he says, but they “cover a range of common issues, from let-downs to uprisings.”
sayin’? And he was hot at the time, and I’m such a Southern rap fan — I’m thinking, I know Southern rap better than anybody — so I’m thinking, man, this is gonna happen, I can already see the CD cover!” When he awoke the next morning, Tetteh had an epiphany. “I was like, ‘I don’t think it works this way. I don’t think this is how it happens.’” He decided that from that day forward, he and all of his past and future rap alter egos would trust Solomon Tetteh. “I said, I think I’m going to do it another way. I think I’m going to do things my way.” In 2008, he released a set of instrumental tracks, Cafe’ Carolina, then launched a series called Fuck Money, Get Free. Between 2009 and 2015, Tetteh released five volumes of FMGF under the names Swag.A.Persona and 7th Soana. “When I came up with Fuck Money, Get Free, it freed me up to do what I wanted to do. I started doing music with no expectations. And I didn’t feel bad when nobody listened,” he says. “It’s a hard road to travel to learn that,” he goes on. “But I’m so grateful that nothing took place before I reached that pinnacle in my artistic development. There’s no telling what people might have persuaded me to do,
“TO BE ABLE TO REACH A YOUNG CHILD AND AN OLD ADULT . . . THERE’S NOT MANY THINGS OUT THERE NOW THAT CAN BRIDGE THAT GAP.” TETTEH’S FRUSTRATION with the
fatuousness of celebrity culture comes from an honest place. Like so many independent rappers and other musicians, he spent too much time lost in the pay-to-play hustle, where clubs and promoters “offer” artists a “chance” to showcase their music for a fee. Sometimes it’s $50, sometimes more. And it almost always involves the artists having to sell a certain number of tickets. It’s a way for clubs and promoters to provide music entertainment to paying audiences without the club or promoter having to actually pay for it. In fact, they get paid for it. And it’s marketed to budding artists as being good for their careers. Tetteh was running fast on that track when, in the late 2000s, he and Goldie found themselves at yet another pay-to-play event with the promise that a big star — in this case, Big Duke of Atlanta’s Boyz n da Hood — would see them and perhaps offer them the opportunity of a lifetime. “We went hard that night,” Tetteh says. “I’m taking my shirt off, I’m jumping in the crowd, I’m doing this and that. And I did get to talk to [Big Duke], you know what I’m
because people will take you down a long road where you get to a place where you’re saying, ‘How I get back from here?’ Some people don’t get back.”
THE ROAD FOR Solomon Lamptey Tetteh
began in Walterboro, S.C., but his dad, a Ghanian immigrant, soon moved the family to Decatur, Ga. At 10, he joined his elementary school band — as a trombonist. “All the other kids wanted to play everything else but the trombone, so I picked the trombone,” he says. “And I got good at it.” By the time he reached high school, his family was living in Charlotte, where Tetteh’s band teacher urged him to study music theory. He got good at that, too. But it was the late ’90s. The South had a hot hip-hop scene based in Atlanta, with Goodie Mob and OutKast ruling the roost. And Solomon Tetteh got hooked. “When [OutKast’s 1998 album] Aquemini came out, that was it for me. I knew I wanted to do this,” Tetteh says. “So by the time I got to about 11th or 12th grade, I had to figure out how I’m gonna do it. I was still thinking about it from my marching band background. I hadn’t really figured out how hip-hop was actually made.”
Digitally sequencing beats and melodies required a different language from traditional music theory. Tetteh knew about computers. His dad was a computer analyst, and even as far back as the mid-‘90s young Solomon had owned one of the earliest iterations of a laptop. But he didn’t know how to make music on them. Then, in 2000, his mom got him a Casio for Christmas. “It was some kind of workstation keyboard, and I just started banging away on the thing. I figured out how to sequence stuff, but it was a different world,” he says. “It had all these sounds on it, and I was like, ‘I think I’ve heard these sounds on this or that album, but I never heard them in the band room.’” A couple of guys he knew at school — guys who were not part of the marching band world — started using an unfamiliar term. “They were talking about ‘FruityLoops this and FruityLoops that,’” he says, “and I wanted to know what FruityLoops was.” Now known as FL Studio, FruityLoops was a popular digital audio workstation — one of several DAWS on the market, including Logic, Cubase, Reason and Pro Tools — used by music producers. “So I went out and found FruityLoops, and that kind of jump-started the whole thing,” he says. It took a while for the young trombonistturned-rap-freak to decode the language, translating his knowledge of music theory to a new platform. In the mean time, he formed a group, wrote some rhymes, played some football and rapped under a few different names. By the time he got to North Carolina Central University in Durham, he’d put music on the backburner. At 18, Tetteh was ready to save the planet. “Growing up, my two loves had been art and science, so when I got to college . . . well, bottom line, the plan was, I was gonna save the rainforest.” Tetteh slaps a hand down on his turquoise-blue hipster pants and lets out a big belly laugh. “But then you get a little farther into your studies, and you’re like, ‘I don’t think this is what they’re trying to teach me to do,’” he says. “I started to feel like — I don’t want to say that it didn’t feel real, but it felt as if the route I was taking wasn’t really what I was wanting to do.” Around that time, he had a daughter and decided to drop out of college and get a fulltime job. And he slowly began to take music more seriously again. Almost every weekend, he would take the train from Durham to Charlotte, lugging along his massive tower computer, mic stand and a bunch of other equipment. “My dad would trip out. He’d be like, ‘What are you doing?’ I would set up in my brother’s room and we would record. I did my first recording at my dad’s crib. I was so proud of that track” — he laughs — “and it sounded like shit.” By 2006, he was working with a mentor, Dewitt Alston (Orion Ra), who also produced some of Tetteh’s music. “We would have these learning sessions at his crib,” he remembers. Tetteh’s beatmaking really took off. “I think my musical background started making a difference by then,” he says. “I didn’t look at it that way at the time, but I can see now how that affected my ability to craft good beats. And I think it’s that way with any art — if you can get to the point where you find the SEE
BIRD P. 30 u
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MUSIC
MUSICMAKER
STARMAN SEQUEL John Elderkin picks up David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust 45 years on BY PAT MORAN
THE COSMOS HAS contacted John
BIRD FROM P.29 t
“WE WROTE THIS MUSIC TO GIVE ASSURANCE THAT TIMELESS SONGS THAT INSPIRE STILL EXIST.” translations and see the connections, you make better art. There’s even a connection between visual art and music.”
THE ONE THING Tetteh never felt he’d
mastered was songwriting. He could write rhymes, but writing songs was different. That’s where meeting artists around Charlotte who worked in different genres — like Le Anna Eden — came to play. But when Tetteh was ready to make the transition from Swag.A.Persona — the kid who kickstarted the Fuck Money, Get Free series — through 7th Soana and finally Black Linen, he had to reach way back to another influence. “I always liked John Lennon, mostly his political ideology — love, peace, anti-war,” Tetteh says. “And sometimes people forget that he was murdered. He had these ideas and 28 | FEB. 23 - MAR. 1, 2017 | CLCLT.COM
FUNK-SHUN DIFFERENT FEST (FT. BLACK LINEN, ART, DANCE, MORE) $10-$15. 2 p.m.-2 a.m. Feb. 25. Hatties, 2918 The Plaza., funkshundifferent2017.eventbrite. com
beliefs and he was murdered because of them. And as a child, I would always hear ‘Imagine,’ and that’s a song that just does something to you. So I started thinking back on ‘Imagine,’ and that’s when I started thinking about songwriting, about my lyrics. “I started getting into the actual art of songwriting — making these incredible songs that could represent what I’m about and what I’m thinking, but also can still reach the masses — like ‘Imagine,’” he says. “To be able to reach a young child and an old adult and still get across the same concept — there’s not many things out there now that can bridge that gap.” He named the project Black Linen as a subtle nod to Lennon’s name, but also for the texture of the late Beatle’s voice. “I didn’t really want to take his name. I wanted something that was different and broader; something that would still give out that same vibratory idea,” he says. “Linen is a word that represents a smooth texture. And John Lennon was also smooth and cool, so I just blended those ideas into one name.” Lennon’s smooth and cool voice could also rage. And Black Linen’s smooth and cool project, which blends soul, lounge music, poetry and rhymes, a little reggae and hiphop and jazz, and features a smorgasbord of Charlotte artists — well, it rages, too, under a warm blanket designed to protect.
Elderkin with an urgent dispatch from David Bowie’s alien alter ego Ziggy Stardust. It’s a message so earth-shattering that Elderkin is compelled to share it. Once he broadcasts it via giant megaphone from the surface of the moon, an age of universal understanding will ensue. Or something like that. Elderkin chuckles with delight whenever he shares the premise of his new album, The Fall and Rise of John Elderkin and ¡Moonbeams No Mas! Recorded at Charlotte’s Old House Studio with local producer Chris Garges and a host of Queen City musicians including Jay Garrigan, Dan Hood and Troy Conn, the project is a sort of homecoming for Elderkin. Growing up near Cotswold in Charlotte, Elderkin attended West Charlotte High School, where he started playing in bands. He’s gigged and bounced around ever since, playing with Chapel Hill jangle rockers the Popes and D.C. alternative band the Public Good. Three years ago he moved back to North Carolina and reconnected with Garges to bring the world the sequel to Ziggy Stardust it didn’t know it needed. With The Fall and Rise of John Elderkin slated for a listening party at Evening Muse on Sunday, Feb. 19, Creative Loafing talked with Elderkin about rock operas, the universe and how not to sound like David Bowie. Creative Loafing: Why a Ziggy sequel? Elderkin: Eight or 10 years ago when the [music] industry started to collapse, I began to wonder about the rationale for putting out an album. Why put out 10 or 12 songs when people are moving to playlists and downloads? So I started focusing on doing a narrative arc, with the idea of songs being like chapters in a book. The reason I went for a Bowie sequel is that every time that crosses my path, it makes me laugh. I’m delighted by it. Ziggy Stardust is such a happy experience for people who know it. So I thought, “I want to do that!” There are nods all the way through the album to David Bowie, but I didn’t want anything more than a nod. How interesting would it be if it was just some dude trying to sound like David Bowie? Chris Garges of Oldhouse Studios was an equal partner on this project. The only thing we ever talked about in terms of sound is that sometimes something would sound a little too Bowie-esque, and we would cut that. I thought I picked up on some late-’70s inspirations. Is it just me? It’s funny that you say that because I think that’s exactly what Chris was going for with
John Elderkin
COURTESY OF SHAUN MCCARTHY
the drum sound. If you listen to “Song For David Bowie,” it’s got a real 1970s thing going. I had never relied on acoustic guitar as much as I did on this project. I had always played loud rhythm electric guitars. All that acoustic guitar playing drove the album, and I think that gives it that late 1970s vibe. How did you hook up with Chris? We have worked together before. My band in D.C., the Public Good, lost its drummer and he filled in. Originally, my idea for this record was that I would record one or two songs in different studios with old friends. I started with Chris, and I immediately picked up on the fact that he totally got it, and he was the guy. So I changed that plan. Chris didn’t just help define the musical sound — he’s a phenomenal editor, and this is the first time I’ve ever had anybody sign on and say, “You’re going to have to justify every line of lyrics in this thing.” He was the story editor in a way that matters to me. He’s remarkable. There are several Charlotte musicians on this album. Can you talk about them? I met Dan Hood and Troy Conn through Chris. I’m a big fan of Dan and Troy’s guitar playing. Troy also played Theremin. It was so amazing to watch that. Jay Garrigan came in and he was so much fun. He sang and he brought his Jay Garrigan vibe, which kept things lively. I’m a huge fan of Jay and his band the Temperance League. I think they’re this area’s greatest rock ’n’ roll band. This is a rock opera in three acts. Can you outline the story? I start out with myself as a kid in the 1970s thinking that the world was going to end because David Bowie said it would. But the world doesn’t end, so years later I’m in a dive bar band, and we get a message from the cosmos that we feel we have to share with the world. The band hits the road, and, as happens with bands, things don’t go as planned. Everything falls apart. Finally, Levon the roadie and I take matters into our own hands. We build a rocket ship to take a megaphone up to the moon and call back down to earth. It’s funny. I’m not a big sci-fi guy, but I had a lot of fun with that part of it.
MUSIC
MUSIC NEWS
ALL TOGETHER NOW Refugee Charlotte hosts benefit featuring Radio Lola, Modern Primitives BY MARK KEMP
W
HEN
DONALD
TRUMP
signed his infamous antiimmigration executive order on Jan. 27, which initially blocked refugees and all visitors from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the United States, it not only threw airports around the world into a state of chaos, it put refugee organizations into a state of confusion. Reporters and officials in cities across the U.S. were speed-dialing random refugee organizations in their areas that worked in several different spheres of refugee relief. Spokespeople for those organizations didn’t always know exactly how to handle the calls — particularly when some of the questions often needed to be passed along to another refugee organization. In Charlotte, the confusion led to miscommunication. Most importantly, it took refugee workers’ attention away from the urgent needs of many of the estimated 700 new refugees who arrive in the Queen City each year from various spots around the world — during a particularly crucial time in their lives. That’s where Refugee Charlotte comes in. Founded about three weeks ago, in the midst of the confusion, it is an umbrella organization made up of various refugee services organizations in Charlotte to help those organizations communicate and collaborate together more efficiently. “The spotlight had never really been on us so heavily until then,” said Lindsay LaPlante, who has worked for various refugee services organizations over the past decade. “This came about out of a need for us to collaborate across agencies.” But Refugee Charlotte needs funding and support to keep doing what it does. And that’s where Rock for Refugees: A Benefit for Refugee Charlotte comes in. The concert features a wide range of Charlotte bands — veteran garage-rockers Modern Primitives, soulful rockers Radio Lola, gritty folk-rockers the Menders, the punk band Aloha Broha and even 16-year-old singersongwriter Māya Beth Atkins. It takes place Saturday, Feb. 25, at the Evening Muse in NoDa. LaPlante tapped area music-scene
photographer Alex Cason and rapper Red Jesse to help reach out to the local musicians, who were more than happy to lend their voices to support an effort to stand by a group of Charlotteans who are in more desperate need of support and a welcoming hand than ever. “We’re doing the show because it’s our responsibility to be part of the resounding voice that cries, ‘This is not OK and we stand with you,’” said Radio Lola frontwoman Dani Engle. Tim Nhu, the bassist for Modern
The concert, LaPlante said, is the second event Refugee Charlotte has sponsored in the past week. The first was a town hall meeting that drew 150 to a panel discussion designed to answer three key questions: 1) What’s going on with the executive order right now?; 2) What does it mean for refugees living here in Charlotte?; and 3) What can Charlotte citizens do to help? “The panelists talked about what people can do locally, and the event allowed them to find people who work in specific areas that they might be interested in getting involved
Mecklenburg Police Department, Davidson Refugee Support, Galilee Ministries of East Charlotte, the International House and experts in cross-cultural counseling. “When the executive order came down, it pushed things so quickly — there was a desperate need for uniform information,” LaPlante said. “We all had to scramble to make sure that everybody was on the same page and that no one was speaking for anybody else, or that organizations weren’t contradicting each other.” Refugee Charlotte, which was in the works
“It’s our responsibility to be part of the resounding voice that cries, ‘This is not okay and we stand with you.’” DANI ENGLES, SINGER FOR RADIO LOLA
Primitives, echoed Engle’s sentiment. “We are all in this together and everyone deserves an opportunity to lead a better life,” Nhu said. “We’re happy we can contribute to it through our music.” “We hope this show brings a focus on a [refugee] community that’s very much a part of who we are as a city,” LaPlante said. “These people are very much a part of Charlotte, they’ve brought so much to this city. And we want people to understand that. We all should know who our neighbors are.”
in,” Laplante said. “People asked lots of good questions, and they got good answers.” Panelists included representatives from four participating organizations as well as two actual refugees. Numerous other area organizations showed up to talk with attendees about some of the specific things they do — including representatives from the Catholic Charities Resettlement Office, Carolina Refugee Resettlement Agency, Refugee Support Services, OurBridge, Central Piedmont Community College, the Charlotte
even before the executive order came down, aims to allow communication among the organizations to flow more easily. “There’s info that needs to get out, especially now,” LaPlante said, “but also there’s a need to work together and collaborate more across organizations.” MKEMP@CLCLT.COM
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MUSIC
SOUNDBOARD
FEB. 22 BLUES/ROOTS/INTERNATIONAL Alash (The Evening Muse)
COUNTRY/FOLK Open Mic (Comet Grill)
HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B DJ Skillz (Bubble) Louis the Child, Manila Killa, Imad Royal (The Underground)
POP/ROCK Black Fleet (Snug Harbor) Jettison Five (RiRa Irish Pub) Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster (JPKS!) of Water Liars (Evening Muse) Karaoke with DJ Pucci Mane (Petra’s) Modern Heritage Weekly Mix Tape (Snug Harbor) Open Mic Night (Comet Grill) Open mic w/ Jared Allen (Jack Beagles) The Piano Guys (Ovens Auditorium)
HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Adrian Crutchfield, The Queen’s Guard feat. Blanche J (Neighborhood Theatre) DJ Weatherman & Izzy The DJ (Studio Movie Grill) Christian Lounge Experience: Grandmaster D from Whodini, DJ E-Class along with local Christian Hip Hop Artists! (Doghouse Bar and Grill) The Day Party of All Day Parties: Special Ed, DJ Ed Lover, DJ Kaos, DJ Hollywood (Vapiano) FridayNight Live 7: DJ Kaos, DJ Lonnie B of 92.1 (BlackFinn Restaurant & Saloon) The Legendary Rakim & Brand Nubian (BluNotes, Charlotte) Nu Soul Revival Tour (Ovens Auditorium, Charlotte)
POP/ROCK
DJ Lonnie B, DJ Biggs, DJ Paradime, DJ Dirty DI (Vapiano) Method Man, Redman, Keith Murray (Amos’ Southend)
Leslie and Friends Trio (Mickey & Mooch) AJR (Evening Muse) Cherub & The Floozies, Freddy Todd (The Fillmore) Daya (The Underground) Hey Monea, Paul Pfau (Evening Muse) Jay Mathey (RiRa Irish Pub) Jordan Middleton (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Leisure McCorkle (Visulite Theatre) Melt w/ It’s Snakes, Ouroboros Boys, The Eyebrows (Snug Harbor) Tommy Emmanuel (McGlohon Theater) Zestrah, The Grave Rollers, The Sticky Bandits (Milestone)
POP/ROCK
FEB. 25
FEB. 23 BLUES/ROOTS/INTERNATIONAL The Gibson Brothers (Stage Door Theater)
DJ/ELECTRONIC CIAA Tournament Kick-Off Party (The Underground)
HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B
Karaoke with DJ ShayNanigans (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Kerry Brooks (Comet Grill) Less Than Jake, Pepper (The Fillmore) Rebecca Loebe, Reeve (Evening Muse) Shiprocked (Snug Harbor) Songwriter Open Mic @ Petra’s (Petra’s)
FEB. 24 CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH Jazzy Fridays (Freshwaters Restaurant)
COUNTRY/FOLK Mitch Hayes (Puckett’s Farm Equipment) The Lenny Federal Band (Comet Grill)
DJ/ELECTRONIC 12th Planet, Stylust Beats, Crowell (Amos’ 30 | FEB. 23 - MAR. 1, 2017 | CLCLT.COM
Southend) Ciroq, Bad Boy, DJ SNS (Label) Gucci Mane (Label, Charlotte)
CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH Charlotte Concert Band “Celebrations” (Queen’s University’s Dana Auditorium)
HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B 24 Karats hosted By Laz Alonson: DJ Kaos & Tab D’Biassi (Vapiano) Afffluence hosted By Tyler Lepley: DJ Kaos (Vapiano) Allure-CI finale: DJ Crush Groovey (All American Pub) The Art of Noise hosted By Ed Lover (Lucky’s Bar & Arcade) Charlotte Takeover with Team Familiar (Amos’ Southend) EPMD & Keith Murray (BluNotes) Juicy J, Belly (The Fillmore) Lyricist’s Lounge (Upscale Lounge &
COUNTRY/FOLK Troublemaker (Puckett’s Farm Equipment)
DJ/ELECTRONIC The DMV-Charlotte Welcome Day Party w/ Squad Suttle Go-Go Band & Charlotte’s Uptown Swagga Band! (BluNotes) Fabolous, Kenny Burns (Label) Deekline w/ PhatRabbit, Datboy Fletch, Skinner (L4 Lounge)
POP/ROCK Bad Incorporated (Sylvia Theatre, York) Rock for Refugees (The Evening Muse) Brave The Bullets (The Carriage Room, Salisbury) Mic Larry (Tin Roof) The Mystics’ Ball featuring Saturos, Mandy & the Bastard Band, Samantha Alexandria (Visulite Theatre) Space Wizard w/ The Business People, Tetragrammaton, Broke Jokes (Snug Harbor) Tab Benoit (Neighborhood Theatre) Appalatin (The Evening Muse) Leslie & Karenski Duo (Aria Tuscan Grill)
FEB. 26 POP/ROCK Frontier Ruckus, Pete RG (The Evening Muse) Joe Bonamassa (Belk Theater) Omari and The Hellrasiers (Comet Grill) Raviner, Cherbough Way, Danger Scene, Minnesota License Plate (Milestone)
Muse) Sticks & Stones (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Locals Live: The Best in Local Live Music & Local Craft Beers (Tin Roof)
FEB. 28 COUNTRY/FOLK Red Rockin’ Chair (Comet Grill) Tuesday Night Jam w/ The Smokin’ Js (Smokey Joe’s Cafe)
POP/ROCK Awake At Last, Take the Fall, Old Sport, Paperback (Milestone) Fat Face Band, El Malpais (Snug Harbor) Open Mic with Jeff Claud (Puckett’s Farm Equipment) Red Rockin’ Chair (Comet Grill)
COMING SOON Southside Johhny & the Asbury Jukes (March 2, McGlohon Theater) Sleigh Bells (March 2, The Underground) Tall Tall Trees (March 2, Evening Muse) Landlady (March 4, Evening Muse) Chocola (March 4, Snug Harbor) Cold War Kids w/ Special Guest Middle Kids (March 5, The Fillmore) The Dig (March 8, Evening Muse) Ian Sweet (March 10, Snug Harbor) St. Paul & The Broken Bones (March 11, The Fillmore) Landless (March 18, Snug Harbor)
CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH Gaudium Musicae, Big on Bach: Gate City Camerata (St. Ann Catholic Church)
HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Garage House Music Day Party: DJ E.B.O.N.Y. (Extravaganza Depot)
DJ/ELECTRONIC F4mily Matters Presents: Culture Connect (The Underground)
FEB. 27 HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Knocturnal (Snug Harbor) #MFGD Open Mic (Apostrophe Lounge)
POP/ROCK Bardus, Suit City, GRIZZLOR, Power-Take-Off (Milestone) Find Your Own Muse Open Mic (The Evening
2/25 3/1 3/3 3/9 3/4 3/11 THE CLARKS 3/12 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 aovercash@clclt. com or fax it to 704-522-8088. We need the date, venue, band name and contact name and number. The deadline is each Wednesday, one week before publication.
THIS FRIDAY
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THIS SATURDAY
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MUSIC BY
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CLCLT.COM | FEB. 23 - MAR. 1, 2017 | 31
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23 Old School Day Party The weekend starts at EpiCentre with DJ Stacey Blackman and DJ 360 spinning at Bubble on the second floor. Where: Bubble; 210 E. Trade St. When: 1-7 p.m. More: $0-750. oldschool1053dayparty3.eventbrite.com. Welcome to the QC Vol. 3 Kick off CIAA weekend with DJ Tron on the bottom floor of the Epicentre. Where: Mortimer’s Cafe & Pub When: 10 p.m. More: $10-15. welcome2theqcvol3.eventbrite.com.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24 Chicken-n-Beer Day Party 2017 Konfuzion Hoops hosts this party with music from DJ Superstar Jay and DJ Wizard. Where: Buffalo Wild Wings; 400 E. MLK Jr., Blvd. When: 1-7 p.m. More: $0-140. tournamentweekenddayparties2017.evenbrite. com. The Day Party of All Day Parties Vol. 1 Special Ed hosts with celebrity guest DJ Ed Lover. The title of the party is pretty self-explanatory. Where: Vapiano Charlotte; 201 S. Tryon St. When: 1-8 p.m. More: $15-1,200. thedaypartyofalldayparties.eventbrite. com. Rock the Rooftop We can’t tell if the official name of this party is Watch the Throne or Rock the Rooftop, but we know that it is the official CIAA day party and looks fun. Darren Brand of Wild’n Out hosts with a special celebrity performance from Chubb Rock. Where: Spectrum Center; 333 E. Trade St. When: 2-7 p.m. More: $15. ciaatournament.org Step Show Throwdown: Greeks vs. Greeks Power 98 hosts a step team showdown that includes Phi Beta Sigma of Livingstone College, Alpha Kappa Alpha of Chowan University, Delta Sigma Theta of UNC Chapel Hill, Zeta Phi Beta of Z-List, Sigma Gamma Rho of North Carolina Central University, Alpha Phi Alpha of Johnson C. Smith University, Omega Psi Phi of WinstonSalem State University and Iota Phi Theta of Shaw University. Where: Charlotte Convention Center; 501 S. College St. When: 6 p.m. More: $15-30. ciaatournament.org. SOMA Two-Year Anniversary This show is a little more electronic than most CIAA events, but if you’re looking for some bass, look no further. Headliner is 12th Planet with special guests Stylust Beats and Crowell. Where: Amos’ Southend; 1423 S. Tryon St. When: 7:45 p.m. 32 | FEB. 23 - MAR. 1, 2017 | CLCLT.COM
More: $20-40. amossouthend.com. Nu Soul Revival Tour Before turning up on Saturday, spend your Friday night hitting a chill vibe with Musiq Soulchild, Lyfe Jennings and Kindred the Family Soul. Where: Ovens Auditorium; 2700 E. Independence Blvd. When: 8 p.m. More: $56-103. ovensauditorium.com. Real Hip Hop Returns CIAA is your perfect chance to catch some bucket list MCs that aren’t touring anymore. This is one of two chances to catch The God, Rakim, over the weekend, and this time he’ll be performing live with Brand Nubian in north Charlotte. Where: BluNotes; 3425 David Cox Road. When: 9 p.m. More: $25-650. blunotes.com. Pandemonium This official CIAA event is billed as a “celebrity concert and afterparty,” but it’s hosted by DJ Loui Vee with a “celebrity performance” from BJ the Chicago Kid. So apparently we’re just calling everyone a celebrity at this point. Where: Charlotte Convention Center; 501 S. College St. When: 9 p.m. - 2 p.m. More: $25-50. ciaatournament.org.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25 The Day Party of All Day Parties Vol. 2 Above we mentioned the first volume of this party on Friday. This is the second volume of that party. That’s pretty much all you need to know. Where: Roxbury Nightclub; 116 W. 5th St. When: 12-7 p.m. More: $15-250. thedaypartyofalldayparties.eventbrite.com. The Yard Day Party Voted best day party two years running on CLTparty.com (that’s what they say, we haven’t fact checked this stuff). Audio from DJ Biggs from D.C., DJ Phife from Dallas and DJ Tayrok from Atlanta. Where: Sports One Bar and Lounge; 521 N. College St. When: 12-7 p.m. More: $0-800. theyardatsportsone.com. LaDiDaDi Day Party 6 One of the better line-ups of the weekend, EPMD headlines, but Rakim probably should. Also, there’s DJ Kool, Brand Nubian and others. Where: Oak Room; 200 E. Bland St. When: 12 p.m. More: $40-900. ladidadievents.com. Skyhigh Day Party This Epicentre day party is free if you get an advance ticket online and arrive before 3 p.m. DJ Invasion will be spinning. Where: Howl at the Moon; 210 E. Trade St. (third floor of EpiCentre) When: 1 p.m. More: Free. skyhighdayparty2017.eventbrite.com. Merry Jane Presents Juicy J - The Rubba Band Business Tour Everybody’s favorite Triple 6 member planned the Charlotte stop on his solo tour for just the right weekend. Where: The Fillmore; 820 Hamilton St. When: 8 p.m. More: $48. fillmorecharlottenc.com. Rakim Rakim is pulling out all the stops this weekend, so odds are if you’re out and about party hopping you’ll see him somewhere. Where: Lucky’s Bar; 300 College Ave. When: 9:30 p.m. More: $20-250. luckycharlotte.com. Festival of Laughs Mike Epps, Bruce Bruce and Tony Rock offer up a change of pace from a weekend of endless rappers from each and every generation playing throughout the city. Where: Ovens Auditorium, 2700 E. Independence Blvd. When: 7 p.m. More: $56-103. ovensauditorium.com.
OLD SCHOOL
Method Man, Redman, Keith Murray Old-school rap fans will be happy to know that what they constantly refer to as “real hip-hop” will be in full supply at CIAA, as it always is. Rakim’ll be in town, as will DJ Red Alert, Brand Nubian, EPMD, etc., etc., and so forth and so on. This show, one of the last ones at the soon-to-close Amos’ Southend, should actually include performances and not just appearances by said rappers. It happens. When: 9 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23 Where: Amos Southend, 1423 S. Tryon St. Price: $50-$25.
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Gucci Mane Radric Delantic Davis is well-established as a rap vet, although it took a second Trap House — and one “Freaky Gurl” — to get Gucci Mane heard outside of his small circle of Southern friends. That’s when he started earning all his mainstream hip-hop bona fides — another Trap House for good measure (check), a Black Eyed Peas collaboration (check), feuds with fellow rappers (check), nasty tweets (check), stints behind bars (check). He may even get in the “Spotlight” for his Gen X fans, but we seriously doubt it. When: 10 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24 Where: Label, 900 NC Music Factory Blvd. Price: $40.
NEW SCHOOL
Migos, Friday, Oasis, 501 N. College Ave. Atlanta’s Migos are back with a super-popular new proper album, Culture, after a string of mixtapes and other releases that followed the Atlanta trio’s 2015 debut, Yung Rich Nation. And they’ll be present and accounted for at this year’s CIAA. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a token “T-Shirt.” If you’re not, you’ll get one of Buzzfeed’s Top 22 “rain drop, drop top” memes piped into your home for 24-7 throughout the April rainy season. When: 9:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24 Where: Oasis, 501 N. College Ave. Price: Unknown
Tournament Finale Power 98 wraps things up with Jeezy in the building. Where: The V Charlotte; 500 W. 5th St. When: 9 p.m. More: $60-2,500. vcharlotte.com. Anthony Hamilton Charlotte’s own returns home for a post-CIAA show. Where: WhiteHouse Nightclub; 4809 Wilkinson Blvd. When: 10 p.m. More: $30-2,000. anthonyhamiltonlive.eventbrite.com.
CLCLT.COM | FEB. 23 - MAR. 1, 2017 | 33
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JOBS | POSTINGS | LISTINGS | RENTALS
MUSIC BINGO HOSTS NEEDED! The most fun job you can have for 2 hours of work! Must be charismatic, dependable, and not be afraid to talk in front of a lot of people. $50/Show with opportunity to work 3-4 shows a week. Shows are typically during the week & go from 7-9 or 8-10. Call or text to 704-437-7159.
NIGHTLIFE
EXCITEMENT BUILDS FOR A FAMILIAR TOURNAMENT CIAA 2017 is officially upon the Queen City THE ENTIRETY OF last week was spent
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made an appearance at Cameo a couple years ago. Sighs, if only I could’ve touched one of preparing for the weekend and Monday. his dreads. Why, you may ask. Waking up every morning Five years later, despite social tensions with, “Do I really need a job?” on my mind and allegations of local companies and still going to work every day would instituting versions of a “black tax,” it never drive anyone mad. But every so often, the ceases to amaze me how excited I get when good little worker receives his or her just CIAA comes to town. A short week with a reward, and it comes in the form of national holidays. If you didn’t have President’s Day weekend full of entertainment makes for off, I’m so sorry. I did absolutely nothing a smiling face in the office. This year, my but tend to myself and I don’t regret a single plan is to check out a day party at a venue second. I slept in, watched “Chef’s Table” I haven’t visited before [check CL’s guide on Netflix, got inspired, wrote and slept my on page ???] and hit up Su Casa at Petra’s. ass off. I’ve done the whole “stay out until 4 a.m. Just when I was starting to get #fomo thing” during CIAA and as my mom always (fear of missing out) thinking about the said, “Nothing good happens after 2 a.m.” long weekend coming to an end and not I’d rather capitalize on the day and filling that time with fun activities, pass out early or find something I realized we have another big laidback to get into late-night. weekend coming up in the (Not to mention, I’ll Queen City. Yes, I mean probably be steeped in Dave “we” and not just “me.” If Matthews on a party bus you’ve been in Charlotte on Saturday. You know for any amount of time my coworkers, always you know that one of finding a way to celebrate the most anticipated anything in the biggest weekends each year way. This time, we’re falls around the end of celebrating a father-to-be.) February and it goes by the No matter what you’re AERIN SPRUILL name of CIAA. doing for CIAA, here’s a Every year, the Central few things to keep in mind if Intercollegiate Athletic you’re planning on joining in on the Association holds an annual basketball festivities this weekend: tournament featuring the historically black 1. Pick your entertainment. If you’re institutions of NCAA’s Division II. Although interested in twerkin’ to your favorite new the attendance at the actual basketball artist like Migos, Young Thug or Meek Mill, games has declined significantly, the amount find out exactly where they’re going to be of revenue the tournament brings to the city and if they’re going to be performing or just is undeniable. Did I mention the parties are doing a walk through. epic? 2. Dress to impress. Everyone during Picture being surrounded by your best CIAA is “fresh to death.” There’s some friends, popping a bottle of champagne in truth behind the rumor you’ve heard about the middle of a Vegas-style strip club only putting that tax refund check to good use. to look up and see Champagne Papi himself Just kidding, sort of. partying next to you. That’s just a normal 3. Research the venue. Parking night during CIAA in Charlotte. Some of the available? Too far for you to Uber? Find out world’s most famous artists flock to our city, as much as you can about the venue ahead of taking the experience to a whole new level. time. Especially considering a lot of venues When I first moved to Charlotte, I was pop up just for the weekend. captivated by the urban nightlife scene. After 4. Expect every spot to be busy. all, you don’t get to experience much real If you’re one of those Charlotteans who’s nightlife in Trinity, NC or as an underage scared to attend a CIAA event, I would college student. One of my roommates suggest you stay in all weekend or find a hole at that time worked for one of the most in the wall, because every venue that’s open popular promoters in the city and you know will probably be packed. what that meant – free entry into some Where do you plan on spending your of the hottest parties all year long. That CIAA weekend? Fill me in at backtalk@clclt. connection really came in handy when Lil com. Wayne – my favorite rapper of all time –
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CROSSWORD
INTERNAL CAPITAL ACROSS
1 Seer’s “gift,” for short 4 Pig noise 9 Tosses out 14 Some choir women 19 With 74-Down, “Such gall!” 20 Tree-toppling ax wielder 21 Expiate, with “for” 22 Statue of Liberty feature 23 African beast submerged? 26 Ranch rope 27 Unit of Time 28 Park or Fifth: Abbr. 29 Like partially spoiled oil? 31 Five-alarm, for one? 35 Mao -- -tung 36 British isle 37 Slyly derisive 38 Mocked by imitating 41 Humdrum 44 Amor or Eros 47 Magic lamp owner’s language? 51 Purpose 52 Property unit 54 Hereditary unit 55 Daphnis’ lover 56 Tan-colored door security feature? 62 Banknotes 64 Wichita-to-Akron dir. 65 Fueled (up) 66 Tennille or Braxton 67 “Misty” crooner Johnny 69 Hero of Sophocles’ “Electra” 71 It’s hidden in this puzzle’s 10 longest answers 73 Native of Cuba’s capital 77 Fail to do as promised 79 Watson of “The Bling Ring” 81 Texas border city 82 “The Simpsons” clerk 85 Q-V link 86 Snap-on parts of a tot’s tote? 88 Friend of the Lone Ranger 90 Tenderfoot 92 Do injury to 93 Jockey (for) 94 “Farewell, Ms. Clooney!”? 98 Wading birds 102 Raccoon relative 103 Israel’s Eban
104 Texas city near Dallas 105 Dick -- Dyke 106 Washroom, informally 109 Thoroughly clean some sour fruit? 114 Tune about Houdini? 119 Several eras 120 Flat piece of microfilm 121 Flat, as pop 122 Cause Reagan to digress? 126 By itself 127 Without -- (worry-free) 128 Sandbank 129 Thigh’s place 130 Fiery feeling 131 Faked out, in ice hockey 132 Utilized a keypad 133 “What -- the odds?”
DOWN
1 Set of values 2 -- kebab 3 Giant in soda 4 Providing with footwear 5 Modern, in Muenster 6 Rent-to- -7 Adjust on a timeline 8 -- Fountain (Rome landmark) 9 Skull bone 10 Great Salt Lake’s state 11 -- moment too soon 12 Honored a king, maybe 13 Bondmen 14 Razor name 15 Pork cut 16 Like phone calls and outlines 17 1 followed by 27 zeros 18 Like arbors 24 Living proof? 25 Relating to the kidneys 30 McEntire of country 32 -- Grande 33 Confound 34 Scholastic meas. 39 Sword part 40 Pres. before JFK 42 Of a large store of data 43 Opposite of “yep” 44 “Hasta --!” (Spanish “Later!”) 45 Often-quoted Wilde 46 Sonnet, e.g. 47 In one’s own house 48 Peruvian of yore
49 Below, in a 46-Down 50 “Meh” mark 53 Decide 57 Pre-’91 empire 58 Fade away 59 Xanadus 60 Lover of Lennon 61 Top part of some forms 63 Intend to 67 “Well, I declare!” 68 Actress Mia 70 Brawl 72 Diplomat’s bldg. 74 See 19-Across 75 Allow to enter 76 Snoots 78 Fellas 80 Toothpaste box org. 82 -- loss for words 83 Many a Net radio host 84 Teamster ID 86 Utterly fail 87 Toothbrush brand 89 Pekoe, e.g. 91 Irish actor Stephen 95 Annoy 96 Crunches crunch them 97 Slot car, say 99 Kilmer of “Top Gun” 100 Not divided into parts 101 “-- Thro’ the Rye” 104 Forceful 105 Line of motor scooters 107 President of Syria 108 Verbalize 110 Be sweltering 111 City NNE of Tampa 112 N.J. Devil, e.g. 113 Swamp plant 115 As well 116 Look keenly 117 Neighbor of Mont. 118 Actor Richard 123 TV’s Turner 124 Keystone policeman 125 Carly -- Jepsen
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I am a straight married man. My wife and stores everywhere are filled with couples I have a 4-year-old and a 3-month-old. who used to be on opposite teams—one We’ve just started having intercourse from Team Fantasize, the other from Team again. For Valentine’s Day, we spent Realize—but they’re both on Team Realize the night in a B&B while grandma now. And what got them on the same team? watched the kids. We had edibles, drank Continuing to discuss and share fantasies, sparkling wine, and then fucked. It was even at the risk of frustrating the Team amazing. After we came and while we Realize spouse. were still stoned and drunk, my wife mentioned she was open to inviting I wanted to tell you about something others into our sex life. I asked about that happened to my friend. (Really!) getting a professional sex worker. She She was going to bang this dude from said no. But maybe if we were in a bar OkCupid but wasn’t getting a great (we’re never in bars) and met someone feeling, so she went to bed and let him (a unicorn), she might be into it. Anal crash on the couch. She woke up the came up. She’s always said she’s up for next day to find her underwear drawer trying anything once. I have a desire empty on the floor and all of her to experiment with anal. (Not underwear wrapped around this just me entering her, but dude’s feet. She stealthily her pegging me as well.) I removed all the panties asked if she would use the from his perv hooves vibrator we brought on and put her shit away. me, just to experiment. When the morning She said she was too actualized itself, they high to do anything. I parted amicably with felt let down. I feel she no mention of the unknowingly teased underwear slippers. me with fantasies I Men In Alaska have, not knowing I DAN SAVAGE actually have them. We Ask yourself which is the have a good sex life, and I’m willing to write off the likelier scenario, MIA. Scenario fantasies we discussed while high 1: This guy stumbled around your and drunk. It’s the teasing that drove friend’s dark apartment in the middle of me crazy. the night, managed to find her underwear Having And Realizing Desires drawer, pulled it out and set it on the floor, made himself a pair of pantie-booties, had Some people think about, talk about, and himself a wank, and fell back to sleep. All masturbate about certain fantasies without without waking your friend. Then your ever wanting to realize them. Let’s call them friend got up in the morning, saw her panties Team Fantasize. Some people think about, wrapped around his hooves, peeled them off etc., certain fantasies and would very much one by one, and returned her panties to their like to realize them. Let’s call them Team drawer. All without waking Perv Hooves up. Realize. There’s nothing wrong with either Scenario 2: Your friend got pervy with this team. But when someone on Team Fantasize guy, wanted to tell you about this guy’s kink, is married to someone on Team Realize, well, but was too embarrassed to admit that she that can be a problem. Knowing your spouse played along and possibly got into it. My is turned on by fantasies you share but money is on Scenario 2, MIA, because I’ve rules out realizing them—or sets impossible heard this song before: “I met this pervert conditions for realizing them—can be who did these perverted things in front of extremely frustrating. And sometimes a me while I was asleep, and I wasn’t in any frustrated Team Realize spouse will say way involved and I wasn’t harmed. Isn’t that something like this to their Team Fantasize pervert crazy?” Yeah, no. In most cases, the mate: “Talking about these fantasies person relaying the story played an active together—this kind of dirty talk—it gets my roll in the evening’s perversions but edited hopes up about actually doing it. If it’s never the story to make themselves look like a going to happen, we have to stop talking passive bystander, not a willing participant. about it, because it’s frustrating.” The problem with that approach? Swingers On the Lovecast, a pro dom on being a sex clubs, BDSM parties, and the strap-on-dildo worker and a single mom: savagelovecast.com. sections of your finer sex-positive sex-toy
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STARGAZER
FOR ALL SIGNS This week we encounter the second eclipse in a series of two. The New Moon in Pisces is eclipsed on Monday, Feb. 26. New Moon eclipses occur at the time of the month in which we can’t see the Moon. The meaning is related to a new seed being planted, probably under the soil, or in the unconscious. The new seed must be protected for a while, until it develops strength enough to stand on its own and eventually grow into a blossom. We often don’t know this is happening until the plant breaks through the earth to search for the sun. This particular eclipse is in Pisces, which is the sign of the unconscious, so it lends double meaning to something that will grow in the dark, gaining strength over time. Pisces is the sign of the humanity that we all share. It gives special nurture to those of the “we” mentality, rather than the “I Am”.
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ARIES There will be an explosion in the sign of Aries. You may set a bonfire, have an accident, or join activist movements. Motion and action are prominent. There is potential for your explosion to bring some kind of consequences having to do with career. Maybe this has happened just recently. TAURUS On March 4 your ruling planet will be turning retrograde for a few weeks. It is possible you are already leaning into withdrawal from one or more relationships while you evaluate their impact on your life. This is not necessarily a permanent change. It is designed to help you decide if the relationship(s) are for you. GEMINI 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. The New Moon Eclipse plants a new seed in the house that describes life direction. You may not see it quite yet, but soon. CANCER Follow your instincts about where you need to be, particularly if that includes a new social situation. Then give attention to whomever or whatever new enters your life. It will serve as a helpful teacher and guide you in the next direction.
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LEO You or someone else may want you to feel guilty because you are unable to make things better. Recognize that you are not the magician you would like to be and let go of the guilt. Whatever happens now, you are highly prone to think dark thoughts about yourself. This is passing. Let it go. VIRGO Your ability to concentrate upon projects that require management of details is strong. Organizing files, closets and cabinets will clear the clutter from your mind. The new wrinkle in your life occurs through your partnership(s). That may be
business or personal.
LIBRA Venus, the ancient goddess of love and financial resources, will turn retrograde in your partnership house. You and your partner have need of increased space between you. It does not matter who initiates the idea for a breathing space. It comes from a joint need. This does not mean anything about love, so don’t misinterpret and create trouble where there is not. SCORPIO You and Aries have things in common this week. An emotional explosion or accident may suddenly alter the picture. There may be consequences on your health, at your workplace, or in rental property that you own. Drive and handle tools very carefully. SAGITTARIUS Organize files and details early in the week in preparation for an event near Feb. 27 that will elicit a passionate response. You’ll want to come from an informed and organized place in your head before that occurs. CAPRICORN There are developing problems in and around your home that may suddenly become visible. If not property, then the restlessness and potentially surprising events may become apparent in your family life. Usually there are clues ahead of time about the nature of the disorder. AQUARIUS If you focus your mind on a mentally challenging project that can have an identifiable outcome, things will move smoothly through the early part of the week. The New Moon Eclipse occurs in your territory of personal resources. That can be money, time, and/or energy. See the lead paragraph. PISCES THE FISH (Feb. 18 -- Mar 19) Please read the lead paragraph carefully. This eclipse in your sign signifies that something new, but very small, will be entering your consciousness soon. It will involve reshaping your sense of identity to include another factor. Your sense of compassion will increase, slowly at first. If, instead, you are being used by a vampire, you will realize this soon. Are you interested in a personal horoscope? Vivian Carol may be reached at (704) 3663777 for private psychotherapy or astrology appointments . Website: http//www. horoscopesbyvivian.com. BACKTALK@CLCLT.COM
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