2017 Issue 33 Creative Loafing Charlotte by Creative Loafing Charlotte

CLCLT.COM | OCT 5 - OCT 11, 2017 VOL. 31, NO. 33

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!!PARTY!!

Levine

Museum

of the new south

TICkets $20 2 | OCT. 5 - OCT. 11, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

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PHOTO BY ELEANOR PETRY.

Scott Yoder has the look. He’s at Snug Harbor on Oct. 10.

We put out weekly

NEWS&CULTURE INEQUITY UNPLUGGED Confronting energy poverty in Charlotte’s low-income communities

BY RYAN PITKIN 10 NEWS OF THE WEIRD

FOOD SYLVESTER’S REVENGE Succotash, suffered gladly BY ARI LEVAUX

TOP 10 THINGS TO DO THIS WEEK

MUSIC A MATH ROCK BROMANCE Cuzco subtracts one from The Business People and adds four to create an exquisite soundtrack

BY MARK KEMP 20 SOUNDBOARD

ARTS&ENT YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION? Paperhouse Theater’s cutting comedy asks, ‘What about the women?’ BY PAT MORAN 25 FILM REVIEWS BY MATT BRUNSON

ODDS&ENDS 26 NIGHTLIFE BY AERIN SPRUILL 27 CROSSWORD 28 SAVAGE LOVE BY DAN SAVAGE 30 SALOME’S STARS

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PHOTO BY SETH WOODALL CLCLT.COM | OCT 5 - OCT 11, 2017 VOL. 31, NO. 33

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NEWS

FEATURE

INEQUITY UNPLUGGED Confronting energy poverty in Charlotte’s low-income communities RYAN PITKIN

NE THING BECOMES clear after spending just a short time in DeAndrea Salvador’s small office, tucked into the back of the Hygge West co-working space on Remount Road: she’s a minimalist. When Creative Loafing stopped by on a recent morning, her desks were cleared, with just a laptop, a bottle of water and a lone KitKat Bar visible at her workstation. What was not so apparent to the untrained eye was the absence of something so abundant in today’s workspaces: outlets crammed with plugged-in tech. There were no phone chargers plugged into the wall, no idle coffeemakers or mobile devices on standby. These are all things Salvador calls “energy vampires,” using power despite not being in use themselves. Salvador, executive director and founder of the Renewable Energy Transition Initiative, is not just a minimalist when it comes to the tangible. While her clean workspace portrays a personality trait, Salvador is foremost an energy conservationist, and is currently fighting on the front lines in Charlotte’s battle against energy poverty, a term that refers to situations in which an individual or family spends 10 percent or more of their income on energy costs. Salvador has been working in and around Charlotte’s low-income neighborhoods to raise awareness about energy poverty and what families can do to fight it. Her plan for RETI is to eventually set up shared solar programs in low-income communities to help fight back against energy poverty on a broader scale, but until that becomes a reality, her organization is holding workshops throughout the city to help inform residents about what they can do in their own homes to lower energy costs. Nakisa Glover, a community organizer who sometimes volunteers with RETI, said that energy poverty has become all the more important as the effects of climate change become more apparent. “As the climate changes, communities who are already overburdened through other issues in the community, they will be the ones who will face the most severe threats of climate change,” Glover said. “We’re having hotter summers, that is a bigger demand on your energy usage, and so we have to understand that this is something that’s important to bring awareness to.” Now, folks already struggling with energy poverty might find themselves in worse 8 | OCT. 5 - OCT. 11, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

DeAndrea Salvador speaks with residents at a recent Energy Hero workshop. shape, as Duke Energy Progress proposed a rate hike in June that, if approved by the N.C. Utilities Commission, would see residential rates rise by 16.7 percent. It would be the largest rate hike from the utility giant since the 1980s. Duke has asked that the ruling be made in time for new rates to go into effect at the start of 2018. “[The rate hike] makes it all the more important. That 16 percent might mean a Chick-fil-A meal for one person in the community, but that may mean medication for someone else,” Glover said. “We’re talking about communities who already are faced with barriers to healthcare access. We’re talking about communities that are aging — a growing senior population on fixed incomes — and when you talk about increasing their energy costs, that’s just one more thing on top of all this mountain of other things that our neighbors are dealing with. We have to see people as people. We have to be aware that people can’t just absorb the hike.”

LAST YEAR, THE American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy released a report that ranked America’s 48 largest cities by the value of their energy burden, meaning what percent of income residents spent on energy. Charlotte was ranked as having the 14th highest energy burden in the country. Unsurprisingly, low-income homes shouldered the highest burden. The median household in cities involved in the study spent 3.5 percent of their income on energy bills, that number more than doubled to 7.2 percent in low-income households.

While energy poverty clearly ties in to economic poverty, it also has to do with housing. Energy bills skyrocket in homes that aren’t built to the same standards as middleclass and high-income homes. Because increased energy spending often cuts into spending on other neccessities like food and healthcare, energy poverty often leads to drastic quality-of-life problems. Residents suffering from high energy burdens are at greater risk for respiratory diseases and increased stress, according to the report. A separate Columbia University study also showed that people struggling with energy poverty are more likely to be food insecure, added Salvador. “They have less of a calorie intake, and there’s a plethora of other potential risks for the entire family ranging from the children and mental health issues to the elderly not being able to pay for medicine,” she said. Though some programs are in place to help these residents, they barely make a dent in what is needed. North Carolina receives about $88 million in federal funds a year from the Low Income Energy Assistance program. Of the 1.5 million North Carolinians who qualified for the program last year, only 6 percent received assistance, and even then only for about a month. On a local level, Salvador is currently working with the city of Charlotte to help them create affordable, energy-efficient “Smart Homes” in the North End district, and she regularly holds workshops in areas that experience high levels of energy poverty to help educate residents about energy efficiency. On Saturday, September 30, Salvador and a group of volunteers held an Energy Hero

RYAN PITKIN

workshop outside of the Arbor Glen Outreach Center. Other local organizations like Sustain Charlotte and Habitat for Humanity were on hand to help residents learn about energy efficiency. “It’s important to know about the problem, because if you don’t know a problem exists it’s very difficult to fix it,” said Salvador. “It’s also important to understand that there is, of course, a limited capacity about what each person can do for any issue. But even small steps help.” Salvador and other RETI volunteers handed out water heater gauge cards, which residents can stick under running water to see if their in-home water heaters are turned up too high. If so, simply going into the garage or attic to turn it down can save them money. They also educated kids about energy vampires like cellphone chargers that continue to use energy even when not plugged into a phone. “I think it’s very easy when we hear about energy efficiency to think, ‘Oh I’m going to have to tear down a wall,’” Salvador said. “There are other things that can be done that can create that first step on the pyramid without feeling overwhelmed, and that’s really what we want to show.” Salvador was recently approached by the city of Charlotte to help with education and engagement around a Smart Homes program in the “North End Smart District,” just north of Uptown, bordered by North Davidson Street, Atando Avenue and interstates 77 and 277. She said she’s excited that city officials have given those who live in the community the power to make decisions about the project, rare in a rapidly growing city.

Thursday Friday Saturday Chris D’elia Salvador in her west Charlotte office. “We are really thrilled because, although the city of Charlotte has garnered the funds, it’s really been led by community leaders,” Salvador said. “Community leaders are making the decisions about what improvements can be made to homes, how to best communicate that to residents and what additional partnerships to pursue.” It sounds like a perfect fit for Salvador, whose original idea for RETI came from the desire to help a neighbor.

SALVADOR GREW UP in the Yorkmount area in southwest Charlotte. Her grandparents lived in the same house their entire lives, and a neighbor across the street would come over regularly, complaining about the fact that she couldn’t get her house to a comfortable temperature. About five years ago, Salvador started looking into ways she could help this woman, who was retired and living on a fixed income. Salvador found some promising resources, but nothing that would stick for the long term. Her original dream was to create a nonprofit that would be “more of a sweat equity, barn-raising, renewables-directly-onhomes type of program,” as she described it. She quickly learned of the barriers facing that sort of program, from legislative limits on North Carolina’s solar programs, to logistical difficulties like home location and an abundance of rental units in low-income neighborhoods. Still, she continued her research, and in 2013, applied for the SEED20 program, which helps coach emerging and existing nonprofits

RYAN PITKIN

through the launch of new programs and sets them up to compete for grant money. Salvador was not awarded any money, but the experience helped her hone a vague idea into a legitimate plan, and she was able to launch RETI with her own money. When she first started contemplating RETI, she had no idea the widespread regional problem energy poverty had become, but she learned quickly. “As I was looking into it I saw more and more that there wasn’t anything sustainable,” she recalled. “When I dived deeper, I saw how big the issue was, how it expanded not just into my grandmother’s community, but all over Charlotte, all over North Carolina and all over the southeast.” Of the cities ranked by the highest energy burdens for low-income households in the ACEEE report, the top four — Memphis, New Orleans, Birmingham and Atlanta — are located in the South. Salvador said that low-income residents in the South are more vulnerable due not only to extreme weather in the summer, but to politics as well. “Despite the southeast having the lowest utility rates, we have the highest cases of energy poverty,” she said. “Why is that? Because when other states like California decades ago really started to look at energy efficiency and some of the building quality standards, it just wasn’t as much of a push here.” The residents of Charlotte’s more marginalized communities can take comfort, however, in knowing that one of their own is now pushing back.

October 5-7

Donna Carter

Sunday, October 8

RPITKIN@CLCLT.COM

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NEWS

NEWS OF THE WEIRD

SENIORS GONE WEIRD Guests at

Scotland’s Macdonald Loch Rannoch hotel were terrorized by Robert Fergus, 72, and his wife, Ruth, 69, in February when the Troon couple rampaged through the lobby with scissors and threatened to shoot other guests. The incident apparently began when Mrs. Fergus pounded on a hotel room door at 1:45 a.m., leading the guest within to call front desk staff, who Mrs. Fergus told her husband treated her “with hostility.” That’s when Mr. Fergus “reacted disproportionately” by running naked into the lobby with scissors, cutting communications cables and shouting that he would “slit” and “kill” onlookers. Meanwhile, Mrs. Fergus told staff she was going to “get a gun and shoot you,” according to prosecutor Michael Sweeney. Staff and guests ran out of the hotel, while Mr. and Mrs. Fergus returned to their room to pack and took off in their BMW. They were apprehended when they flagged down a police car to accuse the hotel staff of abusing them, and Mr. Fergus could not pass a breath test. At their sentencing on Sept. 1, their attorneys blamed overconsumption of alcohol for their behavior, noting that Robert Fergus “had previously been of good character.” Nonetheless, they were fined 4,100 pounds and ordered to pay 800 pounds to cover the cost of damage to the hotel.

IRONIES A Turkish homeless man who

was sentenced to house arrest in June has had his sentence altered to better reflect his circumstances. Baris Alkan, 31, had been confined to a specific area, an empty spot enclosed by metal plates, near a bus station after being detained for using and selling drugs. “I don’t have a home address, so I have to stay here,” he said. “Even though I don’t have a house, I’m under house arrest.” The court subsequently lifted the house arrest order and now requires Alkan to sign in at a nearby police station once a month.

PEOPLE DIFFERENT FROM US Emily

Mueller, 33, of Ohio asked a photographer friend, Kendrah Damis, to take pictures of her pregnant with her fourth child — and covered in 20,000 bees. Mueller, who is a beekeeper, checked with her doctor before the photo session and was stung three times during the shoot. She said she associates bees with life and death: “Bees came into my life in a time that we had just suffered a miscarriage,” Mueller said. “That’s where everything fell into place for me — when honeybees entered my life.” She hopes the maternity photos will highlight the importance of bees.

LEAST

COMPETENT

CRIMINALS

Steven Gomez-Maya, 20, handed tellers at the TD Bank North in Seymour, Connecticut, a note on Aug. 19, demanding money. He apparently failed to notice that his note was written on the back of his girlfriend’s pay stub, and when he tried to return to the bank

10 | OCT. 5 - OCT. 11, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

— presumably to retrieve the note — the doors were locked. Seymour police tracked down the owner of the pay stub, and when they arrived at the girlfriend’s home, they caught Gomez-Maya as he was driving away. The hat he wore during the robbery and “a large amount of $10 bills” were found in the car, and he was charged with first-degree robbery.

ANIMALS RUN AMOK A swan on the

grounds of Blarney Castle in Ireland suffered a harrowing experience on Aug. 31 when it landed in a field where cattle were grazing. At first, the cattle just looked the swan over, but when the bird hissed at them, they took off after it. The swan tried to fly away, but the cows butted and stamped on it. Garden manager at the castle Adam Whitbourn was finally able to lean over a fence and drag the swan out of harm’s way. “It was an aggressive attack,” Whitbourn said. “I put (the swan) back in the lake and have checked on him twice. He’s sitting there looking bedraggled so I’m hoping it’s a happy ending.” Rather than a swan song.

BITING THE HAND THE HOUSES YOU

Anthony Wayne Sandusky, 26, of Mascotte, Florida, was welcomed into the home of a Groveland woman on Aug. 22 because he had nowhere else to go. She went to sleep, and when she woke up, her mother said Sandusky had closed all the blinds, locked the doors and was carrying their possessions out the back door. She found two bags of items in a nearby field, including a stamp collection valued at $250,000. When confronted by police, Sandusky said he took the items because the woman was “being mean to him.”

COMPELLING EXPLANATION Andrew

Shaw, 44, of Lancashire, England, appeared before the Blackpool Magistrates Court on Aug. 29, facing three counts of possessing obscene images of children on his computer. Shaw and his wife arrived at the court with their guide dogs, as both are legally blind (Shaw has a small amount of sight in one eye). His attorney explained: “It may be argued that difficulty with his vision makes it difficult to put an age to images he downloads. He may think he is looking at 16-year-olds.” Shaw was granted bail.

OOPS! Most news items about sinkholes

highlight the large size of the hole. But a man in Brooklyn, New York, was trapped by a sinkhole in the middle of the street that was just big enough to swallow his leg. Steven Suarez, 33, was making a delivery with a hand truck on Myrtle Avenue on Aug. 29 when his foot disappeared into the pavement. “I was scared,” Suarez said. “It was my whole entire right leg, up until my tailbone basically.” Suarez was trapped for nearly an hour as bystanders directed traffic around him and rescue worker successfully freed him.

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FOOD

FEATURE

SYLVESTER’S REVENGE Succotash, suffered gladly BY ARI LEVAUX

EING A CHILD of the North, I never ate succotash. My introduction to the word came via the exasperated utterances of Sylvester the Cat, who would sputter “Suffering Succotash!” when things were not going his way. The expression, it turns out, is one of many cooked up by those who would prefer to keep their words pious, and avoid saying, for example, “Suffering Savior,” which would technically amount to swearing. To yell “Suffering Succotash!” is no different than when folks yell “Cheese and Bread!” instead of “Jesus Christ!” At first glance, it would seem that succotash is being cast as interchangeable with Our Lord and Savior, but perhaps it means that eating succotash is interchangeable with the suffering of Jesus. A staple of the South, succotash fed people through hardship and depression, as it did the Native Americans who invented it. The indigenous root of the name succotash relates variously to cracked corn, boiled corn or other preparations of corn. As Native American cultures are known to have understood, when beans are added to corn, complete protein happens. “Seaboard Algonquin,” says food historian Michael Twitty, author of The Cooking Gene, fielding my succotash questions via Twitter. Twitty also admitted to not liking succotash very much, at least the traditional version made with lima beans. I have to admit, I haven’t found a way to really like it myself when it’s made with lima beans, or black beans, or kidney beans, or any number of other shelling beans. Combined with the corn kernels, the dish becomes too seedy, and I much prefer making it with string beans. The protein isn’t as high, but that deficit can be erased with bacon and mayonnaise (one of my favorite healthy cooking tricks). Twitty steered me toward a southern Louisiana version of succotash, macque choux, that does not contain shelled beans. but does allow the likes of tomatoes, green bell peppers, onions, garlic and celery. And bacon, of course. And shrimp, unsurprisingly. It’s a model roughly in keeping with my own protocols, minus the shrimp. Without the shell beans, a pan of succotash becomes like a pan of fried rice, with corn being the medium rather than rice. Along with string beans, and the above ingredients, one can use other veggies like 12 | OCT. 5 - OCT. 11, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

PHOTO BY ARI LEVAUX

Grannie Smith’s Succotash. collard greens, zucchini and hot, sweet and roasted peppers. I was recently succotashing a mess of veggies from the farmers market when a friend from the state of Georgia dropped in. He saw what I had going and drawled nostalgic. “That looks like my grandma’s cooking,” he drooled. “She would send us out to the garden to get what we wanted to eat, and then cook it up.” He did not recall hard beans being a necessity.

Allen Broach, who comes from an old southern family and has fond memories of his grandma’s succotash as well, has given me some of my best recipes. He’s fine with people using string beans in succotash, although the closest they ever came growing up was to use “shellies,” which are the beans inside overgrown string beans. Here is his family recipe, which is lima bean based.. . .

AMONG OTHER PARTS of this recipe,

GRANNIE SMITH’S SUCCOTASH Equal amounts of baby lima beans and corn cut from the cob. You should also “milk” the cob once the corn is cut off by scraping the cob with a knife to get all the juice from it. Use bacon drippings and sauté the limas for a couple of minutes. Season with salt and pepper then add water to cover and cook until they are nearly done. Add a small onion diced and the corn. Cook until the corn is done. Most of the liquid should be cooked out. Just a few minutes. That was it. Broach confessed to having modified grandma’s recipe by adding any number of the following to the average batch of succotash: Ingredients • 4 tablespoons butter • garlic (minced) • 1 cup whole grain hominy • 1 pound cooked beef brisket chopped (Sometimes I use country ham) • 2-oz salt pork in one piece • Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste • 1 boiling potato (about a pound), such as Yukon gold, red or white potatoes, boiled and diced • 1 small turnip, boiled and diced • 1/4 cup or so chopped red or green bell pepper (or use a combination)

I was intrigued by Broach’s country ham idea, so I picked one up at the farmers market, brought it home and diced it up. Into the pan it went, and as the greasy cubes sizzled pleasantly, I proceeded to prep the remainder of the veggies, adding them in layers, in the order of how much cooking they need. After the meat, which sometimes includes deer meat as well as the ham/bacon, I will add the onions, then the beans, then peppers, diced zucchini, butter and olive oil as necessary, and finally the corn on top. I let it cook like this undisturbed for a while, allowing the meat at the bottom to cook in the accumulating juices. When it’s finally time to stir — somewhere between when the veggies give up all of their moisture and when the bottom starts to burn — I add minced or grated garlic, and dried thyme, and stir it up. I’ll stir again once or twice until it’s ready, and serve with cheese, parsley, salsa, roasted peppers, and whatever else. Succotash, like the kitchen sink, can absorb practically anything you can throw at it. But curiously, one ingredient I’ve yet to find in succotash are processed carbohydrates. Devoid of those so-called empty calories, succotash is thus perfectly in keeping with the most stylish of today’s lowcarb diets. Aboriginal recipes do tend toward the paleo, after all. And with summer giving way to fall, now is corn season, an ideal time to nab those ingredients fresh. And for the ambitious food savers, now would be a great time to freeze some corn and whatnot. If you stock up like that, you’ll be able to suffer some local succotash all winter long. It won’t suck. BACKTALK@CLCLT.COM

FOOD

SPONSORED CONTENT

HELLO CHARLOTTE. It’s nice to finally meet you!

ESCHUTES BREWERY

couldn’t wait to meet Charlotte. After 29 years, and a Bend Pub, a Portland Pub, a Bend Brewery, a Roanoke Tasting Room, and soon…a Brewery in Roanoke, VA, our beer (draft and six-packs) is finally available in the great state of North Carolina! It seems like a match made in a craft beer lover’s heaven. A thriving craft beer scene, savvy beer drinkers, and a gazillion occasions for us to gather and raise a glass together. Deschutes Brewery specializes in creating an extraordinary experience in a glass for every moment savored. A Fresh Squeezed IPA to quench the thirst for every dusty trail hiked. Juicy notes of citrus, grapefruit, and hints of tropical fruit dare you to have just one. This beer delivers on every beer dream you dare to imagine when you raise it to your mouth. A Pacific Wonderland Lager for every excitable dog walked. A light bodied lager with a hint of citrus…as crushable, yet fullflavored as it gets. All year round. A Hopzeit Autumn IPA. A beer for all seasons…particularly fall. For every wannabe-lazy fall day spent raking the leaves. For those days when you can’t decide between what you want to do, and what you have to do. Hopzeit doesn’t care. It makes either choice easier. Smooth, malty, spicy, fruity, zesty. And you can clear your conscience knowing no pumpkins were harmed in the making of this beer.

won environmental impact awards from the state and federal government for decades. Every year we make sure 1 billion gallons of water (that’s right…a billion) remains in our namesake river, the Deschutes River. This is just the tip of the beer iceberg. We give…in time, money, labor, beer. We donate $1 to non-profits across our territory for every beer barrel sold. That means this year we will donate $374,000 across our 29 state footprint, including North Carolina. It’s how we started in North Carolina. We partnered with a local non-profit for every launch event across the state. Helped to raised money. And volunteered time. This is the way we roll. It’s all about beer and people. Hey Charlotte, thanks for having us!

A Black Butte Porter for every scrumptious chocolate birthday cake devoured. Luscious, creamy, smooth, coffee, chocolate. The perfect partner for chocolate cake. Or BBQ. Or cherries. Or spicy food. Or…. Deschutes Brewery wakes up every day with the intention of making some of the finest beers in the world. With a staff of over twenty brewers with over 200 years of professional brewing experience among them, and a Quality Department of ten people with their expensive, yet super-fun, scientific gadgets, Deschutes Brewery beer is some of the finest crafted liquid in the world. But it’s not just about the beer. We’ve CLCLT.COM | OCT. 5 - OCT. 11, 2017 | 13

THURDAY

MAYORAL AND CITY COUNCIL DEBATES What: The primary dust has settled, and it’s time for things to really get dirty. Democrat Vi Lyles will be debating her Republican counterpart Kenny Smith, both of whom are city council veterans who will be made to answer for last year’s dabbing photo. At-large and district city council candidates will also be on hand at this event, hosted by the local Black Political Caucus, so don’t think you’re in the wrong place if you see a bunch of young people. When: 6 p.m. Where: Reeder Memorial Baptist Church, 3725 Beatties Ford Road More: Free. bit.ly/2yMoMdu

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THURSDAY

THINGS TO DO

TOP TEN

Hola Charlotte Festival SATURDAY

PHOTO COURTESY OF HCF

THURDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SONGS ON CENTRAL

ZAC BROWN BAND

NIGHT OF GRATITUDE

HOLA CHARLOTTE FESTIVAL

What: Acoustic pickers and electric thrashers alike have embraced Midwood Guitar Studios as the go-to for quality instruments, but the Plaza Midwood boutique has also established cred as an intimate music venue with its Songs on Central series. This edition boasts the studios’ strongest lineup to date: Time Sawyer frontman Sam Tayloe, acoustic soul powerhouse Arsena Schroeder, folk artist Katie Oates and strummer/songwriter Gabrielle Sophia.

What: There aren’t many chances left this year to get stuck in the traffic that follows a PNC Pavilion concert, but this is your chance to get a big name show in before the winter months come and you’re forced to support local again (yay!). The multitalented Zac Brown Band is not the stereotypical cowboy boots, southern twang, redneck country music group. With a little country, a little rock, a little pop, a little beach music, ZBB is for everyone.

What: Maybe you’re a white appropriater who’s had enough of the Chinese Lantern Festival and ready for a new culture to steal. Maybe you’re a Latinx person watching other cultural events wondering when it’s your turn. Either way, the next stop is the Hola Charlotte Festival, which celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month. Uptown Charlotte will be taken over by colorful booths, mouth-watering aromas, hipshaking music, soccer and more.

When: 7 p.m. Where: Midwood Guitar Studio, 1517 Central Ave. More: $22.09. midwoodguitarstudio.com

When: 7 p.m. Where: PNC Music Pavilion, 707 Pavilion Blvd. More: $34.50 and up. charlottemusicpavilion.com

What: With all the bullshit, bipartisanship and brow beating going on in today’s political landscape, it’s good to take a night to recognize folks doing great things in our community. Teens from Playing for Others will create original songs, spoken word poems and dance pieces inspired by the work of the night’s honorees, including WSOC anchor Erica Bryant, immigration organizer Oliver Merino and CL contributor (she does all the things, we just like to brag) Lara Americo. When: 8 p.m. Where: Booth Playhouse, 130 N. Tryon St. More: $12-22. blumenthalarts.org

When: 12-7 p.m. Where: Intersection of N. Tryon and E. Trade streets More: Free. holacharlottefestival. com

Seratones SUNDAY

Zac Brown Band THURSDAY

NEWS ARTS FOOD MUSIC ODDS

Sam Tayloe THURSDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

THE ROBERT GLASPER EXPERIMENT

THE GET WELL BRUNCH EXPERIENCE

What: Jazz got a facelift when the Grammy-winning Robert Glasper’s electronic-jazz band The Robert Glasper Experiment was formed. The man of many talents explored the ins and outs of soul jazz and came out with ArtScience, an album which members wrote and produced themselves. RGE will be joined by Dynamo, with nine members who create an infectious energy on stage performing their hybrid of jazz, funk, R&B and rock. When: 8 p.m. Where: Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 36th St. More: $45-50. neighborhoodtheatre.com

PHOTO BY CHAD KAMENSHINE

PHOTO BY DAVID LAMARAND

PHOTO BY KENDALL ATWATER

SUNDAY

TUESDAY

SERATONES

SCOTT YODER

What: Everybody’s listening to podcasts these days (even we have one), but if you’re not listening to Tinesha Matthews’ and Kelley Carboni-Woods’ Get Well Podcast, you’re just not taking care of yourself. These two ladies are bringing their POC-focused, spiritual, mental and physical self-care podcast a step farther for this brunch experience, which will feature catered food and mimosas with live music and an intimate setting for a live podcast recording.

What: Straight outta Shreveport, Louisiana, each of the natives of that little-known corner of the Pelican State make up an intriguing part of the four-piece Seratones, but singer A.J. Haynes’ voice will grab you and not let go on this night at the Visulite. Haynes began honing her voice at the Brownsville Baptist Church in Shereveport at 6 years old, and it rings through every track of the band’s debut album, Get Gone. LeAnna Eden and the Garden Of will open, and you won’t want to get gone from there.

What: David Bowie, patron saint of reinvention, proved that pop music should gleefully embrace the makeover. Scott Yoder has taken this lesson to heart. Initially sporting trashy thrift store threads, Yoder fronted Seattle psych-punk band The Pharmacy. Growing a bushy beard, he then went solo with confessional alternative folk tunes. Now the beard is shorn, and replaced with lipstick and eyeliner for Yoder’s latest persona as a theatrical glam rocker. Oh, the chch-ch-changes.

When: 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Where: McColl Center for Art + Innovation, 721 N. Tryon St. More: $45-125. mccollcenter.org

When: 7 p.m. Where: Visulite Theatre, 1615 Elizabeth Ave. More: $12-16. visulite.com

When: 10 p.m. Where: Snug Harbor, 228 Gordon St More: $5. snugrock.com

WEDNESDAY

‘THE LAST CASTLE’ DISCUSSION What: The Biltmore Estate is not just the largest home in America, but a 175,000 square-foot castle with a bold legacy that Denise Kiernan reveals in her new book, The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home. Kiernan will take readers back to the Gilded Age to experience life at the western North Carolina estate with cameos from the likes of Teddy Roosevelt and North Carolina author Thomas Wolfe. When: 7 p.m. Where: Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road More: Free. parkroadbooks.com

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A MATH ROCK BROMANCE Cuzco subtracts one from Business People and adds four to create an exqusite soundtrack BY MARK KEMP

HE SCENE is straight out of a nonexistent film we’ll call Indie Bromance. The venue is the Fillmore Charlotte; the date, Aug. 6, 2010: Will Schoonmaker and Nic Robinson, high school music nerds, are in different spots in the audience at a Silversun Pickups show, each singing his heart out amid colored lights and the lurching guitars and melodic verses of the Los Angeles band’s pop-rock gem, “Well Thought Out Twinkles.” Will and Nic make eye contact and smile at each other, knowingly. Ever so slowly, as the song progresses, the two come together and lock arms. The scene moves into slow motion as the teens thrash about together, arm-in-arm, veins popping in their necks as they yell out the words to the refrain, “Come join in the last hurrah, with open sores and open jaw.” “That was the moment that solidified it for us,” Schoonmaker remembers today. “It was like, ‘We’re gonna be best friends forever.’ And then the next day, in psychology class, we found out there was going to be this battle of the bands and we were like, ‘Let’s do it!’” Cue up the Queen song “You’re My Best Friend.” It was The Business People, Schoonmaker and Robinson’s band that went on to record the 5-song EP Dirty Feelings, which includes at least one bona-fide indie-pop classic, “From NC with Love.” The band toured together and got another song, “Cocaine Girls,” onto the soundtrack of an award-winning short indie film, Damiane and Her Demons. But then, six years and numerous indie-bro experiences later, Will Schoonmaker told Nic Robinson that he would be moving on. Cue up Jimmy Ruffin’s “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted?” Let’s let Schoonmaker pick up the story from here: “Dude, that was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life,” he says. The 25-year-old is sitting on the side porch of a brick home in Plaza Midwood, having beers with his current fellow band members in Cuzco, a math-rock band consisting of guitarists Schoonmaker and Arman Serdarević, 23; drummer Dylan Robbins, 24; bassist Matt McConomy, 28, and saxophonist Kevin Washburn, 24. Earlier this year, the quintet released its own 5-song 16 | OCT. 5 - OCT. 11, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

Cuzco [from left]: Dylan Robbins, Kevin Washburn, Will Schoonmaker, Matt McConomy and Arman Serdarevic. EP, A Medicine for Melancholy, and will be unveiling a terrific new video for one of its songs, “Those Are Z’s,” on Friday, Oct. 6, at the Visulite Theatre. “Nic and I had played together for six years,” Schoonmaker continues. “We started that band to do a battle of the bands at our high school, and then we grew out of that and joined the whole Plaza scene and the Charlotte music scene. We basically grew up together as musicians.” The breakup was amicable, and The Business People are still going strong. But it was still difficult for Schoonmaker to tell his BFF that their musical tastes had diverged. “I’d always had a knack for music that wasn’t pop-rock,” Schoonmaker says. He likes complex instrumental guitars played to music with odd time signatures — math rock. “I listened to a lot of [the British math-rock band] This Town Needs Guns, which really inspired what we’re doing in Cuzco,” the guitarist says. “I just love their guitar work and what the guitarist, Tim Collis, does. He just shreds.” So does Cuzco. At a recent show at the Visulite, the band — drenched in soft lighting, flowers placed strategically about the stage, and Dylan Robbins’ drum kit set up sideways and more front and center than most drummers — played an impeccable set of instrumental music to a crowd of fans enraptured by the guitar interplay. Cuzco’s style of math rock is in the vein of jazz-fusion, but without the cheesy electronics or extended instrumental solos. At the Visulite show, Cuzco’s songs were comparatively short, and exceedingly precise. And as complex as the guitar interplay and rhythms were, the overall sound and feel of the show was inviting. Schoonmaker and Robbins initially formed the group as a side project. Robbins had reached out to Schoonmaker because the

two shared an interest in the experimental Charlotte band HRVRD. “I was still in the Business People when this was happening, and actually, Nic came up with the name Cuzco,” Schoonmaker says. “Nic and I lived together, and would often just spout off potential band names, and one that Nic came up with was Cuzco. So when Dylan and I were thinking of names for this band, I asked Nic, ‘So dude, can I use Cuzco?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, dude.’” Cuzco continued rehearsing together, adding Serdarević on second guitar and auditioning numerous bass players, eventually locking in on McConomy. When the band went in to record its EP, Schoonmaker wanted a saxophone and brought in his old friend Washburn, who had cut his teeth on John Coltrane and other 20th century jazz greats. After a record-release show, the band members immediately knew they wanted Washburn to be an official full-time member. By 2016, Schoonmaker was spending much more time with Cuzco than with the Business People, and he needed to break the news to Robinson and the others. “When Will first left, we went into practice and said, ‘Well, crap! What are we going to do now?,” Business People drummer Anthony Pugliese told me in May. But he added, “Will seems much happier. It was a very amicable split.”

WHEN YOU SEE Cuzco play, you will

be convinced the members all attended a prestigious conservatory such as the Berklee College of Music. But that’s not the case. Each member is self-taught. Serdarević, born in Germany and raised in Utica, New York, got his first guitar lesson from his classic-rock-loving mom, who taught him how to play “Stairway to Heaven” on a little Spencer acoustic. Serdarević then gravitated to metal and jazz. “I pretty much learned to play the way I play now from listening to a lot

PHOTO BY SAVANNAH WOOD

of Joe Pass, Wes Montgomery, Django, stuff like that. I just try to keep the spectrum of music I listen to really broad so I can pick up little nuances that I can incorporate into my playing.” Robbins, born in raised in Shelby, also came from metal — by way of the Beatles. “My dad, who’s also a drummer, had this old 1982 Tama Swingstar kit and a copy of the Beatles ‘Please Please Me,’ and he said, ‘Learn how to play with this.’ So I learned how to play with that record, but then I immediately went to heavier music, like Underoath, and was stuck on that kind of music for a long time.” After years of playing in hardcore and metal bands, Robbins realized it wasn’t the music that called out to him anymore. “Like Will, I had started listening to a lot of different genres and realized that I liked them more than what I was playing,” Robbins says. “So by the time I reached out to him and we started jamming together, it just clicked. I was like, ‘You see eye to eye with me on where I’m trying to go.’” A ménage à trois-mance had formed. And others piled on. For Washburn, joining Cuzco was completely unexpected. His early love of jazz had branched into an appreciation of world music and Latin rhythms, but he had never played in a rock band before Cuzco. “I had no idea what to expect. I didn’t know how my voice as a saxophonist was going to fit into this band at all,” he says. “But it’s been a fairly easy and smooth process. I try not to overthink it. I just do it.” He does it exquisitely. In fact, the entire band plays together as though their hearts and minds are one. “We have a set list of songs from the record and songs we haven’t released yet, and then we add these interludes — little soundscapes, like waves or sounds of owls or crickets, or SEE

MATH P. 18 u

CLCLT.COM | OCT. 5 - OCT. 11, 2017 | 17

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FEATURE

MATH FROM P.

sounds you might hear if you’re out in a field and it’s raining or something,” Schoonmaker says. It’s not just for aesthetics. “The reason we do the interludes is because we use a lot of alternate tunings. We went a long time without having second guitars, so to make it interesting and keep things flowing, we would do these interludes while we tuned,” Schoonmaker says. “Now, we have second guitars, but the interludes have become part of the performance.” Also part of the performance are the flowers and warm lighting. Because Cuzco is an instrumental band, Schoonmaker and Robbins wanted the band’s performances to be full of visual and sonic experiences. The sideways drum setup was an idea Robbins got from another Charlotte band. “I totally took that from [HRVRD drummer] Tim Cossor,” Robbins says. “He did it, and I always liked the way it looked, so when they stopped playing, I just kind of — it was an afterthought — but I just selfishly decided to start doing it myself. I thought since we play instrumental music, I wanted us to look as interesting as possible onstage. And people really notice it and comment on how cool they think it is.” The idea for flowers came from Asheville band Midnight Snack, but the warm stage lighting was totally Cuzco’s idea. “The music

Tickets: www.blumenthalarts.org or call CarolinaTix 704-372-1000

18 | OCT. 5 - OCT. 11, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

Cuzco enjoys the porch life. we make can be pretty intense and all over the place, so this is how I see it: If I was in the audience and watching us play this stuff, I would just be staring at the hands,” Schoonmaker says. “So when it comes to the part where a song is over and the interlude begins, I want the audience to see it all as one thing. The interludes are the part where you start noticing the aesthetics of what’s happening on stage, as opposed to what each of us is doing individually. So having soft lighting and flowers helps create a vibe.” Sometimes, he has a hard time explaining it to the clubs Cuzco plays. “I tell them, ‘Think about when you’re sitting in a room alone with one lamp, and you’re drinking coffee and reading a book.’ That’s what I want it to look like.”

MATH ROCK is such a wide-open genre that it’s often hard for the members of Cuzco to define. It could be the harshness of Steve Albini’s Shellac. Or, it could be the sound of older music that was never called math rock — the progressive sounds of a Boomer-era guitarist like Robert Fripp of King Crimson. Sometimes, the members of Cuzco don’t even try to explain it. “When people ask me what kind of music my band plays, I say, ‘Just come see us, because if I try to explain to you what kind of music we play, you’re probably not going to get it,’” Robbins says. Worse, a definition of the music might make it seem boring, something Cuzco most definitely is not. “A lot of people who have no idea of the genre we play will come see us and go, ‘Wow, this is really different and cool,’” Robbins continues. “So I feel like not only do we gain different fans from different musical backgrounds, but we’re also educating people, in a sense, on other styles of music.” Even the producer of Cuzco’s album, Cade Ratcliff of Moonmouth and Knowne Ghost, initially didn’t know what the hell the band was playing. “After the third or fourth show we’d ever played, he says to us, ‘That’s the best post-rock attempt I’ve ever seen,’” Schoonmaker remembers. “And I’m like, ‘Thanks, but what the fuck does that mean?’” The guys explode into laughter. “And every time after that, when someone would

MARK KEMP

come up and tell us, ‘Hey, that was really good,’ we couldn’t hear it because of what Cade said,” Serdarević adds. “We never let it go,” Robbins says. “Yeah, when he was recording our record,” Schoonmaker continues, “every five seconds, we’d say, ‘How’s that sound, Cade? Post-rock enough for you?’” “To be fair,” Robbins clarifies, “when he said that to us, our sound hadn’t really become very mathy yet.” Another instance that gets the band’s goat was when CLTure ran a review of Cuzco’s EP that said the band was “keeping math rock alive in Charlotte.” Schoonmaker laughs. “I’m like, has it ever been alive in Charlotte? I don’t know of any other math rock bands here,” he says. “I mean, HRVRD would have been the closest thing Charlotte’s had to math rock — they did some odd time signatures — but they weren’t really math rock.” Which begs the questions: What, really, is math rock? And does it matter? The answer to the first question is that it’s highly technical and precise music with odd time signatures — a definition that could describe music as far-flung as King Crimson, jazz fusion and post-rock bands like San Diego’s Drive Like Jehu. It’s often instrumental, but not always. One of the mathiest math rock bands is This Town Needs Guns, whose music is filled with lyrics. The answer to the second question is, no. All you need to know about Cuzco — which will be returning to the studio to record a fulllength follow-up after a short tour — is that they are incredibly talented Charlotte players whose music and shows will move you. “We’ve progressed really quickly,” Robbins says. “From the first set that we ever played up to the time we did the record, we really skyrocketed in terms of our capabilities.” The comment is a fact, not a boast. Robbins is humble about the progress Cuzco has made. “I go back and listen to it now and I’m like, ‘How did we ever write that?’ I don’t even remember how we did it. It’s kind of amazing. None of us really knew how to do this stuff. And now we’re doing it. I’m constantly surprised at what we’ve done.” MKEMP@CLCLT.COM

CLCLT.COM | OCT. 5 - OCT. 11, 2017 | 19

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SOUNDBOARD

OCTOBER 5

POP/ROCK

Open Mic with Lisa De Novo (Temple Mojo Growler Shop, Matthews) Zac Brown Band, Darrell Scott (PNC Music Pavilion)

Jess Novak (Galway Hooker, Cornelius) Wolves and Wolves and Wolves and Wolves, Counterpunch, Karbomb, Shehehe, Minimums, Weary Legs (Milestone) Cafe Tacuba (The Fillmore) Cuzco, Dempsey, Blame the Youth (Snug Harbor) Heavy Water (RiRa Irish Pub) Marvelous Funkshun (The Rabbit Hole) Oh Wonder, Jaymes Young (Neighborhood Theatre)

DJ/ELECTRONIC

OCTOBER 7

CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH John Alexander Jazz Trio (Blue Restaurant & Bar)

COUNTRY/FOLK Cale Tyson (The Evening Muse)

Le Bang: Chiffon, Lon Lon, Longchild, DJ Scott Weaver (Snug Harbor)

POP/ROCK Open Mic Night, hosted by Analog Crash (Blue Blaze Brewing) Clean Bandit (The Fillmore) Hillbilly Hobos (Comet Grill) Jon Linker Band (RiRa Irish Pub) The Russ Liquid Test, Recess (Visulite Theatre) Songs on Central: Sam Tayloe, Arsena Schroeder, Katie Oates, Gabrielle Sophia (Midwood Guitar Studio) Throwback Thursdays: 80s and 90s Music (Morehead Street Tavernß) Tyler Brown, Bryce Hall, Jackson Krecioch, Mikey Barone, Justin Blake (Neighborhood Theatre)

OCTOBER 6 CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH The Antidote Jazz & Poetry: Ghost Trees, Justin Evans, Jacob Wick, Nathaniel Mackey, Ballister (Petra’s) Charlotte Symphony: Rodrigo Guitar Concerto (Knight Theater) Jazzy Fridays (Freshwaters Restaurant) Vance Gilbert, Searra Jade (The Evening Muse)

BLUES/ROOTS/INTERNATIONAL The Kevin Reid Band, WaterWorks, Raincoats (The Station) Steven Engler Band (Blue Restaurant & Bar)

COUNTRY/FOLK Caleb Caudle Full Band Show, Oh Jeremiah (The Evening Muse) The Lenny Federal Band (Comet Grill) Morgan Wallen (Coyote Joe’s)

DJ/ELECTRONIC Social Study presents In Plain Sight (Serj)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Antoine Dunn - Acoustic Soul Tour (Sylvia Theatre, York) Electric Relaxation f. DJ Skillz (‘Stache House Bar & Lounge) 20 | OCT. 5 - OCT. 11, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

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CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH Charlotte Symphony: Rodrigo Guitar Concerto (Knight Theater) Ran Blake & Claire Ritter (Queen’s University’s Dana Auditorium)

DJ/ELECTRONIC DJ Method (RiRa Irish Pub)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Chantae Cann, Zoocru, Al Strong Quartet (The Evening Muse)

COUNTRY/FOLK Bellamy Brothers (Don Gibson Theatre, Shelby)

BLUES/ROOTS/INTERNATIONAL Latin Night In Plaza Midwood presents Brazilian Day Party: Caique Vidal & Batuque, Batala Durham (Snug Harbor)

POP/ROCK Jess Novak (Galway Hooker, Cornelius) Jess Novak (Old Town Public House, Cornelius) Atlas Road Crew (The Underground) Big Mamma’s House of Burlesque Presents: Dead Sexy (Visulite Theatre) Cayetana, Hemming, Alright (The Evening Muse, Charlotte) PVRIS, Lights, Party Nails (The Fillmore) The Relics (Comet Grill) Roberts Glasper, Dynamo, Kenneth Whalum (Neighborhood Theatre) Rocket 77, South Side Punx, The Commonwealth, Blame it on Bart (Milestone, Charlotte) The Steppin Stones (The Evening Muse) The Stone Foxes (The Rabbit Hole) Thirsty Horses (RiRa Irish Pub,)

OCTOBER 8 CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH Charlotte Concert Band-Many Rivers: The Roots of Jazz (Queen’s University’s Dana Auditorium) Jazz Brunch (RiRa Irish Pub)

DJ/ELECTRONIC

SOUNDBOARD

MUSIC

Bone Snugs-N-Harmony (Snug Harbor)

The Clarence Palmer Trio (Morehead Tavern)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B

DJ/ELECTRONIC

Westside Gunn, The Lox (Underground)

Karaoke with DJ Pucci Mane (Petra’s) Cyclops Bar: Modern Heritage Weekly Mix Tape (Snug Harbor)

POP/ROCK Clever Con: Something Clever, Violent Life Violent Death, Falling Through April, Reason Define (The Fillmore) Have Mercy, Boston Manor, Can’t Swim, A Will Away (Neighborhood Theatre) Hectagons, ThoughtCriminals, Placeholder (Snug Harbor) Omari and The Hellhounds (Comet Grill) Seratones (Visulite Theatre)

OCTOBER 9 HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Knocturnal (Snug Harbor) Hollywood Undead, Butcher Babies (Underground) Stone Soul Mic Love (Freedom Factory @ Seeds) #MFGD Open Mic (Apostrophe Lounge)

POP/ROCK Find Your Muse Open Mic with special guest Neil McLaren (The Evening Muse) Locals Live: The Best in Local Live Music & Local Craft Beers (Tin Roof) The Monday Night Allstars (Visulite Theatre) Open Mic with Jade Moore (Primal Brewery, Huntersville) Open Mic with Lisa De Novo (Legion Brewing)

OCTOBER 10 CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH Bill Hanna Jazz Jam (Morehead Tavern)

COUNTRY/FOLK Red Rockin’ Chair (Comet Grill) Open Mic hosted by Jarrid and Allen of Pursey Kerns (The Kilted Buffalo, Huntersville) Cris Jacobs’ Southern Swing Tour (The Evening Muse)

COUNTRY/FOLK Open mic w/ Jared Allen (Jack Beagles) Open Mic/Open Jam (Comet Grill)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Banditos, Amigo (Neighborhood Theatre)

POP/ROCK The Devil Wears Prada (Underground) Holly Bowling (The Evening Muse) Neil McLaren, Felly Castelow, Tommy Trull (Milestone) October Residency: Paperback, Jistu, Propersleep, Birds With Teeth (Snug Harbor) Open Mic & Songwriter Workshop (Petra’s) Pluto For Planet (RiRa Irish Pub)

COMING SOON  Mandolin Orange (October 12, Neighborhood Theatre) Sun Seeker, The Speedbumps (October 13, Evening Muse) Antiseen, Joecephus and the George Jonestown Massacre, The Beatdowns (Milestone, October 13) Conor Oberst (October 15, Neighborhood Theatre) Los Lobos (October 19, Neighborhood Theatre) The Fest & The Furious: Slingshot Dakota, Dollar Signs, City Mouse, Alright, Fk Mt., Weary Legs, Corporate Fandango, Wolves and Wolves and Wolves and Wolves, The Mineral Girls, Pink Pots (Milestone, October 20) Cusp Vol. 3: Josh Cotterino, Deion Reverie, Knives of Spain, Minthill, Rumur (October 20, Snug Harbor) Spoon (October 22, The Fillmore)

Tuesday Night Jam w/ The Smokin’ Js (Smokey Joe’s Cafe)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B JoynerLucas: The 508 Tour(Neighborhood Theatre)

POP/ROCK Scott Yoder, Hound, Dead Year (Snug Harbor) An Evening With The Jerry Douglas Band (McGlohon Theater, Charlotte)

OCTOBER 11 CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH Charlotte Symphony Orchestra performs Mill Village (Gettys Art Center)

10/5 RUSS LIQUID TEST 10/7 BIG MAMMAS HOUSE OF BURLESQUE 10/8 SERATONES 10/14 SUSTO & ESME PATTERSON 10/19Hamilton Leithauser 10/12 Vita and the Woolf 10/25NOAH GUNDERSEN10/26 BIG SOMETHING & DREW COPELAND 10/28 KEN BLOCK 11/5 SHADOWBOXERS (of SISTER HAZEL) 11/9 HUMMING HOUSE 11/17 HAYDEN JAMES 11/18 HOT BUTTERED RUM 2/11 THE WHITE BUFFALO

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ARTS

COVERSTORY

YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION? PaperHouse Theater’s cutting comedy asks, ‘What about the women?’ BY PAT MORAN

HILE THE KIDS are upstairs

watching TV, the adults are in the basement plotting revolution. It’s a Thursday night at the south Charlotte home of Nicia Carla, artistic director at PaperHouse Theater. One of the kids is her daughter. Two others belong to actress Shawnna Pledger, who is conspiring with Carla and cast members Caroline Bower, Lydia Williamson and Sarah Woldum to launch PaperHouse’s latest project, the Charlotte premiere of playwright Lauren Gunderson’s ferocious political comedy The Revolutionists. The production, which runs from October 5-22, will also be the first play staged at Goodyear Arts’ new home at Camp North End. With wicked wit and compassion, The Revolutionists examines the roles four women played in the French Revolution. “Three of the four characters are actual historic figures,” says Carla, who also directs the show. She catalogs deposed queen Marie Antoinette, playwright and proto-feminist Olympe De Gouges, and Charlotte Corday, the virginal assassin of firebrand radical Jean Paul Marat. The other character, Marianne Angelle, is an invention of the playwright, Carla adds, a composite of several Haitian freedom fighters who tried to persuade the enlightened French revolutionaries that their lofty ideals of Liberté, égalité, fraternité (liberty, equality, fraternity) should apply to their slave colony as well as their motherland. “The fun of this play is that, while it takes place in the French Revolution, it’s so right now,” Carla says. “The language is modern, and the way the women interact with each other is modern.” Charlotteans may be familiar with the work of Atlanta-based playwright Gunderson through Donna Scott Productions’ Charlotte premiere of her crackling satire of American political gridlock, The Taming, in the spring of 2016. That show tackled how the Constitutional Convention of 1787 embraced dubious compromises that baked slavery and racism into our fledgling republic. The Revolutionists sets it sights on a target just as big: The corrosive effect extremism can have 22 | OCT. 5 - OCT. 11, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

A revolutionary quartet [from top left]: Marie Antoinette (Caroline Bower), Marianne Angelle (Lydia Williamson), Olympe De PHOTO BY SETH WOODAL Gouges (Shawnna Pledger) and Charlotte Corday (Sarah Woldum) on the survival of democracy. national debt caused by endless wars, into as liberal reform curdled into autocratic The French Revolution covered a ostentatious and clueless leaders making oppression. “Spoiler alert: Heads roll,” Carla says. De tumultuous decade at the close of the 18th decisions for oppressed citizens, and century, and was marked by divisiveness, a demeaning war on women,” Gunderson Gouges, Corday and Marie Antoinette all kept their appointments with the guillotine, but violence and political paralysis. If this sounds asserts. similar to contemporary America, it’s because “This play is about then and now,” she graphic executions will not be portrayed in it is, Carla says. continues, “but it focuses on the true stories the production. “We’re not actually going to have the “[The play] is relevant,” she says, “because of brave, strange, hilarious and totally human guillotine, even though it looms over the at its heart, it’s about how extremism is women who are trying to change the world.” dangerous. The French revolution started The actresses tasked with portraying proceedings,” Carla continues. Instead, with beautiful ideals. You can understand that these remarkable women are seated on the show will suggest “the moment of the people were struggling and hurting, and they folding chairs in Carla’s basement sipping guillotine,” she adds. Similarly, the assassination of Marat will wanted something different, but when you wine from paper cups, while our host offers get to extremism no one is listening anymore. me a macaroon. This is a rehearsal room and be heavily stylized, says Sarah Woldum, who It’s just an angry mob.” part of it is taped-off, marking the dimensions plays Charlotte Corday. The only characters There are chillingly similar circumstances of the show’s set. An antique writing desk onstage will be the four women, she adds, and linking 1790s France to 2017 America, sits center stage. It’s an incongruously cozy Marat will not even be seen. Corday was a most unlikely assassin, Gunderson says. setting to be discussing the infamous reign of “There was massive financial inequality, terror, the spiral of madness France descended Woldum adds.

PHOTO BY SETH WOODALL Pour the wine: Olympe De Gouges (Shawnna Pledger), Marianne Angelle (Lydia Williamson), Director Nicia Carla, Marie Antoinette (Caroline Bower), Charlotte Corday (Sarah Woldum) theater at Providence Day School. “So I love this piece because it humanizes Marie. She’s just a woman, and she’s funny as hell.” PAPERHOUSE THEATRE “She’s extremely sweet and caring, and PRESENTS THE CHARLOTTE slightly out of touch,” Bower continues. She PREMIERE OF adds that Marie Antoinette never says, “Let The Revolutionists by Lauren them eat cake,” in Gunderson’s play, but that Gunderson she speaks about it. “All the other women [in the play] are October 5-22, 8 p.m. ragging on her for a while because she’s [an Goodyear Arts @ Camp North End, aloof] aristocrat. She says, ‘Give me a break. 1776 Statesville Ave. $20 I didn’t ask for this. I was forced to marry into this. All of this amazing stuff was given to me for free. What would you do? You’d take it, right?’” “She’s this innocent and demure “Marie is exactly what you expect her to young girl, and then she murders be, and not at all,” Carla interjects. “She’s someone horrifically, which seems a little like all of us. There is the face we wear that incongruous.” [Marat was soaking in a people expect to see.” bathtub when Corday rammed a kitchen “[Marie Antoinette] can turn on with knife into his chest.] this extremely feminist royal lady power,” “I really liked that — this feminine ideal Bower concludes. “I love to imagine that of purity meets murder.” this [portrayal] is closer to who she was as Execution didn’t dim Corday’s sense of a person.” propriety, Carla adds. The Revolutionists’ depiction of Olympe “She curled her hair before she went De Gouges may stray farthest from the to the guillotine. According to one account historical record. In many ways, the I read, she made sure her bonnet was playwright De Gouges acts as a stand-in for pinned on before the guillotine because she the playwright Gunderson. Carla cites one didn’t want her bonnet to fall off when her criticism of the play that takes issue with its [severed] head dropped.” depiction of De Gouges’ uncertainty. Like the rest of the cast, Woldum “[The Revolutionists] depicts De Gouge discovered The Revolutionists when she in a moment of indecision.” She wonders accepted an invitation to do a reading of the what she should do while revolution rages all play at Carla’s house. around, Carla says, and if what she is writing “The script struck me,” Woldum says. is important in such an unsettled time. “It’s just hilarious.” “One reviewer thought [this portrayal] “A lot of comedy comes after you’ve weakened her, but I disagree,” says Carla. been playing with the words, and [it’s driven “Seeing her struggle with what to do doesn’t by] certain choices the actors make,” she take away from her strength.” continues, “but with this play it was all there Shawnna Pledger, who plays De Gouges, on the page.” agrees. Though Woldum loves her part, and “[The historic] De Gouges was full-on, in appreciates that The Revolutionists is a your face,” Pledger says, “but I didn’t have a show written by a strong woman for strong problem with the way Gunderson wrote the women, she admits that Marie Antoinette character at all.” has some of the best lines. “This is all about the pieces of De Caroline Bower, who plays the deposed Gouges,” Pledger continues, adding there and imprisoned queen, will not dispute that, is room in De Gouges’ character for doubt, but she has other reasons for connecting reflections and forcefulness. “All of these with Marie Antoinette. things are going on in her mind so she can “Generally I like to find the good in then go out into the world and be a badass.” people,” says the actress who also teaches

“The tagline of this show is ‘Four bad-ass women,’” Pledger says. “That sold me on it right away.” “In addition to being funny, it’s a really powerful piece. [The play] has a strong message about creating your own reality, creating your own life, and what you want that life to look like. Because of all of those things I connect with it.” “The play is informative and true to the history,” Pledger adds. “The pieces of history are in there, even though the actual meeting of these four characters is not true.” Another thing that is not entirely true is one of the play’s most intriguing characters, the Haitian revolutionary Marianne Angelle. In the text of the play, Gunderson touts the script’s historical accuracy, says Carla, but it also admits to some minor revisionism.

All history can be seen as revisionist, suggests Lydia Williamson who plays Marianne Angelle. It all depends on who controls the narrative. “There a beautiful line in the play where [Marianne Angelle] says, ‘Don’t burn your plays because no one writes about me,” Carla interjects. “Of course there were [Haitian freedom fighters] like her, but we don’t have records of people like Marianne.” “[This is] a play about feminism and revolution,” Williamson says. “The story is about women taking control again. I say that because women are a big part of history, but they’re just written out of it.” “That’s what grabbed me,” she continues. “It was women not only going through these SEE

REVO P. 24 u

CLCLT.COM | OCT. 5 - OCT. 11, 2017 | 23

Revolutionaries Rehearse: Sarah Woldum (Charlotte Corday), Caroline Bower (Marie Antoinette), Shawnna Pledger (Olympe De Gouges), Lydia Williamson (Marianne Angelle)

PHOTO BY NICIA CARLA

REVO FROM P.23 t struggles, but loving, living life and being women at the same time.” Not only is [Marianne Angelle] a badass, but she’s also a mother who’s bad ass,” Williamson says. “Marianne is so interesting because she can handle both roles. It’s a fine balance. She’s very human and very feminine.” Angelle’s race also factors in setting the historical record straight, Carla maintains. “We have this lily-white image of history, which is not accurate,” she says. “ Our world has always been much more layered and multi-cultural than we imagine it to be.” To bring this tribute to humanity, femininity and revolution to the stage, PaperHouse had to bid adieu to the Frock Shop, where they’ve staged their last three productions, and move to a bigger venue at Goodyear Arts at Camp North End. For that, the troupe had to raise $4,000 through Kickstarter. “We were so pleased that we made our goal with Kickstarter,” Carla says. “It’s awesome, because I hate asking for something. But it takes a lot to put a show together.” “The past few years, being at the Frock Shop we haven’t had to build a set because the house was the set,” she continues. In contrast, Goodyear Arts’ new locale is a great space, but PaperHouse has to bring everything in. “For this show, there were some specific needs to get it done right. Marie Antoinette has to have a wig and a fabulous gown. She just has to.” PaperHouse has brought in Barbie Van Schaick to design period costumes, and they’re also building a set. Jordan Ellis, who designed sets for PaperHouse’s production of The K of D, an Urban Legend three years ago, returns to transport Camp North End to 18th century France. “[Ellis] is great at being creative with a space, and with embracing its rough edges.” To that end, Marie Antoinette’s gown will be juxtaposed with the industrial vibe of Goodyear’s converted warehouse digs. 24 | OCT. 5 - OCT. 11, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

“Jordan’s digging into that instead of trying to pretend we’re somewhere else,” Carla says. “We’re using the architecture of the space. The walls of the space are the walls of our set.” Carla also plans to use the lobby area for the production as a sort of information depot. She’s reached out to Jennifer Quigley, who runs the website Help Out Charlotte (helpoutclt.com). “She tracks issues that I might not be aware of,” Carla says. Quigley will organize information for call-to-action issues throughout Charlotte, so audience members can sign up for causes that speak to them. PaperHouse also hopes to accommodate organizations that are looking for volunteers. This call to action dovetails neatly with The Revolutionists message, Carla maintains. At a time when many in power seem intent on silencing women’s voices, that message seems particularly pointed. “This play tells you you’re not alone,” she says. “[So] get involved, and take a stand.” Bower adds that The Revolutionists urges women to be advocates for other women. “If you feel that something isn’t right, don’t just sit in a room and talk about it,” Bower says. “Get up and do something about it.” “I hope people see the show and think, ‘This applies to me right now,’” Woldum says. “Take this show and apply it to life,” Williamson urges, “because it’s about what’s going on now.” “I want people to take away possibilities,” Pledger says, “possibilities about advocacy, possibilities of changing their futures, possibilities to step up and change the world.” Cloaked in quicksilver comedy and wit as sharp as the guillotine, The Revolutionists reminds us that women are powerful beyond measure, Williamson says. “Yes,” says Carla smiling. “The girls are definitely in the room.” PMORAN@CLCLT.COM

Emma Stone and Steve Carell in Battle of the Sexes (Photo: Fox Searchlight)

ARTS

FILM

THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME Two period films prove to be sadly topical BY MATT BRUNSON

N 1973, tennis stars Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs squared off in a televised match that was known as the “Battle of the Sexes.” That historic event — and the hoopla and hysteria that surrounded it — forms the basis for the same-named Battle of the Sexes (*** out of four), a highly engaging film that frequently keeps a light touch even as it tackles weighty subjects. At the time, Billie Jean King (played by Emma Stone) was 29 and doing everything in her power to push for women’s rights, particularly when it came to the acceptance of female tennis players. Naturally, the MRAs of the day fought against this, and they found a figure head of sorts in 55-year-old Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell), who claimed that he could beat any female player in the world. Realizing it was just a publicity stunt, King declined to participate, but once Riggs made short work of top-ranked Margaret Court (Jessica McNamee), King had no choice but to accept the challenge. The most surprising aspect regarding Battle of the Sexes is the relative sympathy it displays toward Riggs. As King herself notes, he’s just a clown (indeed, the two later became good friends), and his actions are depicted not so much as the result of some deep-seated chauvinism but rather because he realizes that, as an aged and over-thehill player, this is his best opportunity to get back into the spotlight. Carell does a fine job of conveying both Riggs’ outward

obnoxiousness and inner angst, while directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris and Oscar-winning scripter Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire) are content to allow Bill Pullman to provide the villainy as sexist tennis head Jack Kramer. As Billie Jean King, Stone delivers a remarkable performance, an amazing aboutface from her Oscar-winning turn in last year’s La La Land. She nails all aspects of the role, from her professional rivalry with Riggs to her personal relationships with husband Larry King (Austin Stowell) and Marilyn Barnett (Andrea Riseborough), the latter responsible for allowing King to finally acknowledge — and act upon — her longdormant lesbianism. It’s fitting that one of King’s sponsors was Virginia Slims, known for the slogan, “You’ve come a long way, baby.” The veracity of that statement is up for debate in 2017, when reptilian Republican politicians continue to clamp down on women’s rights and a repellent chauvinist pig (and, lest we forget, accused rapist) occupies the White House. Fortunately, movies like Battle of the Sexes exist to continue to show the way toward a better tomorrow.

WHEW, that was close. Just when it seemed as if we had lost Tom Cruise to the ranks of paycheck-cashing automatons no longer interested in applying themselves on screen (see: Anthony Hopkins, Nicolas Cage), along comes American Made (*** out of four)

to show there’s still some life left in the maverick actor. After the ego-boosting but audience-snoozing duo of The Mummy and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, there were certainly no guarantees. A caffeinated Cruise storms his way through this fact-based yarn focusing on Barry Seal, a TWA pilot who’s recruited by the CIA (repped by Domhnall Gleeson as cheerful agent Monty Schafer) to partake in reconnaissance runs over Central American rebel camps. This leads to Barry also working with Panamanian General Manuel Noriega, the Medellin drug cartel in Colombia, and, finally, the unlawful and hypocritical Reagan White House (there’s newsreel footage of Ronnie predictably ignoring Iran-Contra questions to gurgle over his Thanksgiving turkey). Over the course of his escapades, Barry remains committed to his wife Lucy (Sarah Wright), contends with her reckless brother JB (Caleb Landry Jones), and makes so much money that he has to eventually start burying some of it in the backyard of his home in Mena, Arkansas. Director Doug Liman (who previously worked with Cruise on the excellent Edge of Tomorrow) and scripter Gary Spinelli clearly have plenty of affection — perhaps too much — for Barry Seal, who’s presented as a likable guy who never really hurt anybody. Considering he routinely flew cocaine into the U.S. makes that a highly dubious outlook, but regardless, Cruise plays him as such an eager-to-please opportunist that we enjoy watching him even if we never really care about his fate. At any rate, he’s definitely preferable to monsters like Pablo Escobar

Tom Cruise in American Made (Photo: Universal) and Oliver North, and the picture does a nice job of illustrating that he’s really just a pawn in the games played by amoralists with only their own self-interests at heart. Ultimately, American Made examines where capitalism and corruption intersect, and, in that respect, the movie is aptly named. CLCLT.COM | OCT. 5 - OCT. 11, 2017 | 25

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Nearly three years ago, my first editor at didn’t rhyme?) Creative Loafing, Kim Lawson, forwarded me Don’t get me wrong peeps, who would I be an email from an avid follower. He wanted if I didn’t still turn up for the Q.C.?! But this to wish her farewell as she was leaving the month I’m going to turn up without having to publication, but he also wanted to chat with turn up anything. her about me. The idea came to me last week when I He pretty much asked her if she thought decided to buy a last minute ticket to see that I, a promising writer in his eyes, would RENT at the Blumenthal Performing Arts have the courage to write a column on Center. Even though I was exhausted after socializing in Charlotte without drinking. a long night, I refused to let the money go Would I consider doing an AA (Alcoholics to waste. I managed to make it through the work Anonymous) Crawl and talk about my day and walked to the venue. experiences in an article? I watched as everyone else made their My editor never forwarded anything that she didn’t feel was at least interesting enough way down the staircase to the bar for a glass for me to mull over, but this one I couldn’t of wine or a lackluster cocktail. I thought for sure I wouldn’t be able to resist the even fathom. Outside of the fact that I was having temptation but before I had time to convince myself that my stomach or my wallet a hard time trying to figure out how I needed one, they were opening could enter the world of AA the theater doors. without compromising the very I took my seat and anonymity the group was built waited for the show to on, two other thoughts came start. to mind. After being One, “I’m not an reprimanded for alcoholic!” *Insert scoff* taking a picture of the Two, how in the world “trademarked” set — could I go out, have a good it was a great pic by time and not drink? the way, so sue me — I Little did I know that thought back to the first that reader, while he didn’t AERIN SPRUILL time I’d seen the movie. I know very much about me, wasn’t a fan of musicals and was introducing a conversation thought there was no way I’d I’d be having with myself a couple be able to endure over two hours of years later. The past few months haven’t been the singing. The next thing I knew, I was screaming easiest in my personal life and instead of living in the moment of reality, I’ve often “525,600 minutes” with the rest of the been wandering aimlessly through the night, Broadway lovers. Over a decade later and I was planning for the show a full year in especially on the weekends. Call it coping, call it developing poor advance. The show started and I realized that drinking habits, I’ve been trying to do what a lot of millennials are trying to do — find despite being tired, I was sitting on the edge of my seat as if I’d never seen the show myself. Nevertheless, that journey has involved before. I was captivated with how bright the quite a bit of alcohol. And a couple weeks lights were, how colorful the outfits were, ago, that reader came to my mind, like an how I felt like I could feel the energy of the annoying parent reminding me, “I told you characters — even when they were hitting the wrong notes — and it all felt so real. so.” Snapping back into reality the day after Was I actually enjoying a nightlife experience a night of drinking can be excruciating. without drinking? My content bladder certainly thought No, I’m not just talking about the physical consequences of a hangover, but the so when a large majority of the auditorium emotional rollercoaster — the deep regret, spilled out of their seats at intermission for the negative self-reflection and the feeling of refills and a trip to the bathroom. A girl could get used to this. hopelessness. So, whether in recovery or just apt to take Lately, that rollercoaster has felt like an Uber I take every weekend. So I decided that breaks, let me know your favorite hangouts I was finally going to take heed to the advice and events to frequent in the Q.C. on a sober of that reader and start my own challenge, evening. BACKTALK@CLCLT.COM “Sober October.” (Would it be a real thing if it

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26 BEGINNING TO END ACROSS

1 Nest item 4 Funny Mort 8 Casual top 14 Cape, e.g. 19 British lav 20 Jai -21 Its capital is Roma 22 Berry of “The Call” 23 * Group for motorists 25 * Turn a profit, say 27 Jogging pace 28 Scheming 29 Drench 30 On the other side of 31 * “La Vie en Rose” singer 34 * Amass wealth 38 Aug. hours 39 Bonn “one” 40 Nail file materials 42 As dry as -47 -- -Man defense 48 “Rugrats” father 49 Baddie’s look 51 Son of Eve 52 * 2009 R. Kelly song 56 * Stay calm 58 10,000,000 ergs 59 Lend support 60 Tip sheet statistics 63 Compares 64 Askew 65 Guevara the guerrilla 66 Greek diner menu item 67 Lushes 68 * Fulfill, as a promise 71 * What you don’t need a return ticket for 76 Only 77 Skew 79 Cat paw part 80 Speed test 81 Crucial arteries 84 -- noire 85 D.C. VIP 86 Like tapestries 87 * “No noise allowed” Amtrak area 89 * Kids’ chemistry set, e.g. 92 Fed. of Brezhnev 93 Deliver an address 96 Walk- -- (small parts) 97 Chemical ending 98 Nuclear trial, for short 100 Run-of-the-mill 102 “Inc.” relative 103 Start for marital

106 * 13th-century pope 108 * General Mills cereal 111 Cascade Range peak 115 -- kwon do 117 Squirmy fish 118 With 104-Down, cure concocted by Mom 119 * The mineral citrine, e.g. 123 What the first and last letters of 13 answers in this puzzle proceed through 125 Lowest point 126 Lift 127 Printer’s unit 128 Chemical ending 129 Gives applause 130 Capital of 95-Down 131 Harper of Hollywood 132 Seaport of Scotland

DOWN

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57 Feel for 58 Clog 61 Let go of 62 Put on 65 Big name in old video game consoles 66 Itty-bitty biter 67 Football Hall of Famer Lynn 69 Butting beast 70 Be in debt to 72 Foil relatives 73 Shankar with a sitar 74 “Law & Order: SVU” actor 75 Ballpoint, e.g. 78 In medias -81 Blue-green 82 Force to go 83 Go skyward 84 “Well done, diva!” 85 Raw power 86 George of “Cheers” 88 Saudi, e.g. 90 Turning tooth 91 Bean trees of India 94 Fifth of fifty 95 African country 99 Teaches one-on-one 101 2009 James Cameron film 102 Sobieski of Hollywood 103 Great fear 104 See 118-Across 105 New Hampshire prep school 107 Unedited 109 Bodily pump 110 “-- -ching!” 111 Align, briefly 112 Get well 113 Alan of TV and film 114 Tiny mistake 116 Poet Pound 120 Sine -- non 121 Increases 122 Ulna’s place 124 Royal Navy inits.

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you, TNAFT. You and your girlfriend are both violating this poor woman’s privacy, dating a 23-year-old woman. This is potentially her health (unless your girlfriend by far the most sexual relationship is sterilizing her roommate’s vibrator after I’ve been in, which is great, except using it), and — perhaps most importantly one part is freaking me out: I recently — her trust. Honoring each other’s privacy “caught” my girlfriend masturbating and showing mutual respect for each other’s with her roommate’s panties. (She belongings are the social norms that make it knew I was coming over and wanted possible for unrelated/unfucking adults to me to catch her.) It turns out she has share a living space. We trust our roommates a habit of sneaking her roommate’s not to steal money out of our purses, eat our worn underwear, masturbating while peanut butter, use our toothbrushes, etc. smelling them (or putting them in her And even if your roommate never catches mouth), and then sneaking them back you, it’s still not OK to use their fucking into her roommate’s laundry basket. toothbrush. It should go without saying that She has also used her roommate’s we trust our roommates not to shove our vibrator and dry-humped her pillow to dirty panties into their mouths, use our sex orgasm. I got turned on hearing toys, hump our pillows, etc. We can’t about all this, and she jerked control who fantasizes about us me off with her roommate’s — people can fantasize about panties. My girlfriend says whomever they care to — but she gets turned on being we have an absolute right “naughty” and most of to control who handles her fantasies involve our dirty underpants. being her roommate’s (My God, think of all the sex slave, me fucking times you’ve run out of the roommate while my clean underwear and GF is tied up, etc. Our fished a dirty pair out of sex life now revolves the laundry and worn them DAN SAVAGE around the roommate a second time!) — my GF has stolen a few Your girlfriend should more pairs of panties and make an honest, respectful, even worn them while I fucked naughty pass at her roommate. And her, and her dirty talk is now almost who knows? Maybe her roommate is just as entirely about her roommate. This turns pervy as you two are and would jump at the me on, so I don’t really want it to stop, chance to have a sex slave and full use of her but my questions are: 1. Is this bad? 2. roommate/sex slave’s boyfriend in exchange Is this normal? We’re conditioned to for a few dirty panties. Or maybe she’d like believe women are less kinky and less to move. sexual than men, and I don’t want to buy into that. My girlfriend says she I’m a six-months-pregnant woman in a isn’t “that weird.” I don’t know what wonderful relationship. My sex drive has to think. skyrocketed, and I get uncomfortably THERE’S NO ACRONYM FOR THIS horny at random times. I work at a preschool and have gone into the one1. It’s bad. 2. When it comes to human person locked bathroom during my sexuality, TNAFT, variance is the norm. break for a quick rubout. Is this wrong? Which means freakiness/naughtiness/ It takes me one minute to come and I’m kinkiness is normal — science backs me up totally silent. But I’m at a preschool and on this — and, yes, lots of women have high there are little kids on the other side of libidos and lots are kinky. that door. Thoughts? Your e-mail came sandwiched between a KNOCKED UP AND HORNY question from a woman who needs sex daily (and foolishly married a man with a very low You’re doing nothing wrong — and pretty libido*) and a question from a woman who is soon you’ll be having sex in your home while into BDSM (and wisely held out for a GGG your kid sleeps or plays on the other side of guy who’s getting better at bondage but can’t your bedroom door, KUAH, so you might as bring himself to inflict the erotic/consensual well get some practice in. And if you don’t pain she craves**). want a kid walking in on you at home, either But “variance is the norm” doesn’t (and you definitely don’t), put a lock on your bedroom door. get your girlfriend off the hook — or

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LILLY SPA

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SOLUTION TO THIS WEEK'S PUZZLE

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Adult Electric Toy Machine. Uses Vac-U-Lock. Paid $360.00, Will take $250.00. Shelby area. Serious only. Call between 1 p.m. - 4 p.m.

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ARIES (March 21 to April 19) You might feel compelled to get involved on the “right side” of a seemingly unfair fight. B ut appearances can be deceptive. Get the facts before going forth into the fray. TAURUS (April 20

to May 20) Bullying others into agreeing with your position could cause resentment. Instead, persuade them to join you by making your case on a logical point-by-point basis.

GEMINI (May 21 to

June 20) Resist pushing for a workplace decision you might feel is long overdue. Your impatience could backfire. Meanwhile, focus on that still-unsettled personal situation.

CANCER (June 21 to July

22) Your aspects favor doing something different. You might decide to redecorate your home, or take a trip somewhere you’ve never been, or even change your hairstyle.

LEO (July 23 to August 22) You might want to take a break from your busy schedule to restore your energy levels. Use this less-hectic time to also reassess your plans and make needed changes. VIRGO (August 23 to

September 22) What you like to think of as determination might be seen by others as nothing more than stubbornness. Try to be more flexible if you hope to get things resolved.

LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) Watch that you don’t unwittingly reveal work-related information to the wrong person. Best to say nothing until you get official clearance to open up. 30 | OCT. 5 - OCT. 11, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) With things settling down at work or at home, you can now take on a new challenge without fear of distraction. Be open to helpful suggestions from colleagues. SAGITTARIUS

(November 22 to December 21) Your creativity can help resolve an emotional situation that might otherwise get out of hand. Continue to be your usual caring, sensitive self.

CAPRICORN

(December 22 to January 19) You could impress a lot of influential people with the way you untangle a few knotty problems. Meanwhile, a colleague is set to share some welcome news.

AQUARIUS (January

20 to February 18) Aspects favor recharging your social life and meeting new people. It’s also a good time to renew friendships that might be stagnating due to neglect on both sides.

PISCES (February

19 to March 20) Congratulations. Your talent for working out a highly technical problem earns you welldeserved praise. The weekend could bring news about a friend or relative.

BORN THIS WEEK Your sense of justice makes you a strong advocate for the rights of people and animals alike.

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