2017 Issue 40 Creative Loafing Charlotte

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18

Lara Americo opened Comic Girl Coffee to be an inclusive space for comic fans. On “Rainbow Friday,” she’s handing out free comics to all visitors to help counterbalance the capitalistic plague that is Black Friday. Find more cool events this week on page 18.

We put out weekly 10

NEWS&CULTURE GETTING ON TRACK Charlotteans work to address the startling

gap in childhood literacy

BY RYAN PITKIN

8 EDITOR’S NOTE BY MARK KEMP 12 THE BLOTTER BY RYAN PITKIN 12 NEWSBITE: CMPD IMPLEMENTS EXCHANGE ZONES BY RYAN PITKIN 13 NEWS OF THE WEIRD

14

FOOD A BREAK FROM YOUR HOLIDAY BREAK Common Market offers up a haven for the wayward on Thanksgiving

BY RYAN PITKIN

18

15 ALTERNATIVE THANKSGIVING GUIDE

20

MUSIC

TOP 10 THINGS TO DO THIS WEEK

IT’S SHOWTIME AT SNUG HARBOR A mother’s love gently guides R&B singer Dexter Jordan to the next level

BY MARK KEMP

26

22 MUSICMAKER: MIAMI DICE BY MARK KEMP 24 SOUNDBOARD

ARTS&ENT KEEPIN’ IT REAL ABOUT SEX There’s more to this poet’s erotic

burlesque show than meets the eye

BY PAT MORAN 28 FILM REVIEWS BY MATT BRUNSON 29 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

34

ODDS&ENDS 34 NIGHTLIFE BY AERIN SPRUILL 35 CROSSWORD 36 SAVAGE LOVE BY DAN SAVAGE 38 SALOME’S STARS

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NEWS

EDITOR’S NOTE

‘FAMILY’ TRADITIONS Yes, you can be grateful on Thanksgiving 2017 JUST WAIT till you have bills to pay and me during mine. Those old arguments over a family to support!” my dad would shout Thanksgiving dinners about Reaganomics and over his turkey and dressing during the the Iran-Contra affair seem petty today.

My dad and I are fortunate in this regard.

Thanksgiving dinners of my youth.

Dad, a forty-something fiscal conservative, Not all family stories end up like ours. A recent and I, a twenty-something leftist English NPR poll found that 58 percent of Americans major, would spend entire Thanksgiving are dreading Thanksgiving this year. They’re holidays arguing about Reaganomics, the afraid of political discussions. The country is Iran-Contra scandal and welfare. My mom, a more divided now than it has been in decades. traditional Southern Democrat, would wince. Family members on different sides of political The arguments often got heated. “You’re lines are less likely to try and understand each a slave to the corporate ogre,” I’d proclaim, other’s positions. Even the president of the dramatically. “You’re a naïve, idealistic college United States urges us to hate each other.

Sometimes, we have to seek out different student,” he’d retort, dismissively.

Thanksgiving dinners were volatile and families — non-biological family members uncomfortable as my dad and I bloviated, who understand us and are willing to provide staking our painfully obvious positions, and mutual moral and emotional support.

And that’s what this special making potentially precious moments Thanksgiving issue is all about. together miserable for everybody I have friends in my else in our family.

12-step program whose Just over two decades family members refuse to later, my dad and I took a understand their plight. road trip together across Fortunately, there are the South. By then, I was places for them to go in recovery from addiction and people to be with and he had volunteered to on Thanksgiving who do accompany me while I did understand. I have LGBTQ the research and reporting friends whose families have for a book I was writing on shunned them. There are southern music, history and MARK KEMP places where they, too, can go politics. Dad attended 12-step and be with people who care. meetings with me along the way, Some of my friends have great and would read my recovery literature families, but would rather spend their and talk with me about it.

By then, my Republican father and I had Thanksgiving helping folks who live on the come full circle. Politically, we both vigorously street and don’t have families to spend time opposed then-president George W. Bush. with. There are places and organizations that Alarmed by Bush’s saber-rattling and his can use those friends’ help, too.

And then there are those whose circles party’s cruel positions on same-sex marriage and other social issues, Dad was moving to of friends in music and the arts are the best the left. And I had become more willing to families they could ask for.

On page 15, we offer several options listen to his ideas about the economy.

The two of us realized on that trip that for Charlotteans who choose to spend we were never really as ideologically split as Thanksgiving with alternative families. One each of us made out. During those earlier of our favorite alternative families is the one Thanksgivings, he had exaggerated his that gathers at Common Market in Plaza conservatism and I had pumped up my leftist Midwood pretty much every day. This year, views; the more Marxist I became, the more Common Market’s owner, Blake Barnes, is reactionary his retorts, and so on and so forth. reviving an old Turkey Day tradition. On Fast-forward to 2017: We have a lot to Thanksgiving, he and his crew will be serving be thankful for this year. Last month I had up breakfast sandwiches, soup and good vibes the privilege of watching my 84-year-old to a neighborhood known for serving up good dad bravely fight a cancer diagnosis. I had vibes during the other 364 days of the year.

Thanksgiving at Common Market is one the privilege of standing by him every day as he lay in a hospital bed recovering from of Barnes’ favorite days. “I get to see a lot of surgery. I’ve had the privilege of taking him people who used to live here come back in to his doctor appointments, reading about his town,” he says. “It’s become quite a tradition.”

Me? I’ll be with Dad. We won’t be talking condition and talking with him about options.

I’ve had the privilege of spending time politics. We’ll be reminiscing about that trip with my dad during his most vulnerable across the South that helped us appreciate moments, just as he had spent time with each other again after too many years of strife.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF I’MERGE PR

NEWS

FEATURE

Nikki Davis, aka Ya Girl Nikki, reads to children at a local school. Davis is accepting books for her Level Up and Learn book drive at the Power 98 studio, located at 1520 South Blvd.

GETTING ON TRACK Charlotteans work to address the startling gap in childhood literacy RYAN PITKIN

I

T’S A RECENT Friday night in

the Power 98 studios and Nikki Davis, known on the radio as Ya Girl Nikki, is keeping her energy levels high against all odds.

The previous night, Davis had worked her normal shift from 7 p.m. to midnight, and then headed straight to an afterparty for the Jay-Z concert that she had missed because of her job. The party went until 3 a.m., but Davis is back at it on Friday, joking around with DJ Buttafingaz on the air between breaks in his State of Emergency mix, and keeping her thousands of listeners hype throughout the night.

One would think Davis might have relaxed earlier in the day, but that’s not her style.

Despite her late night, Davis had spent the afternoon at McClintock Middle School, where she tutors and mentors one student, and hangs out with as many as she can, 10 | NOV. 23 - NOV. 29, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

whenever she can. She admits she was tired, but it was the birthday of one of the students, so Davis decided to surprise her.

Helping kids is a passion that’s always been important to Davis, one the city can be thankful she spends some of her seemingly endless energy on. When she moved to Charlotte from Fayetteville in March, one of the first things she did was find out the names and locations of 15 of the city’s most troubled schools, and then spent two days driving around to each of them, meeting kids and observing their learning environments.

Now Davis is stepping up her efforts and becoming proactive in the fight to battle illiteracy in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

On November 1, she partnered with the local chapter of the literacy tutoring organization Reading Partners to launch the Level Up and Learn book drive.

By next March, Davis hopes to provide

500 books to the seven Title I schools that Reading Partners works with in Charlotte, and hopefully inspire a new wave of volunteers to help kids who are behind in reading.

“I just really wanted to kind of give back in a way, and I know the kids need this knowledge,” Davis tells me as Buttafingaz spins music in the adjacent studio. “I know they don’t read when they go home. Most of them get home, they get on their phones, and that’s all they do.”

That might be one reason reading proficiency levels are so low all around the country. In Charlotte, just 39 percent of fourth grade children read at grade level, according to the biennial National Assessment of Educational Progress results from 2015.

When you look at African-American male students, the number is nearly cut in half, with just one out of five students reading at grade level.

While the numbers have gone up slightly in the last 12 years — 31 percent were at grade level when the NAEP first came to Charlotte in 2003 — it’s not improving fast enough for Munro Richardson, executive director at Read Charlotte, an initiative that aims to have 80 percent of fourth graders reading at grade level by 2025.

“We’re moving in the right direction, but not fast enough to get thousands more kids reading well,” Richardson says. “The larger conversation about social mobility and economic mobility can’t happen if students are not literate.”

In the two and a half years since Read Charlotte launched, Richardson and his team have been working to make sure kids are more prepared by the time they reach kindergarten, which he says will set them on the right path to stay at the skill level where they need to be.

Richardson says he’s visited schools where

the majority of an incoming kindergarten class cannot name 10 letters, and sometimes are unsure of their own name, let alone how to spell it.

“Letter knowledge is one of the biggest cognitive predictors of how well kids will do at reading in the first few years,” Richardson says. “All students have to run the same race to third-grade proficiency, but some of them are starting 100 yards back. Some kids are coming in, they’ve been read to, they know their alphabet, they know how to write letters, write their name. Some of them are already starting to read. And you’ve got other kids that don’t know how to hold a book.

They’ve never been read to, they don’t know the alphabet, they don’t know how to write their name, and CMS is being asked to teach all of these kids and move them all forward.”

Richardson says he’d like to see more kids involved in CMS’s Pre-Kindergarten program. Of the 12,000 to 15,000 kids that enter the school system every year, only about 3,000 take part in Pre-Kindergarten.

Richardson says he’s optimistic about recent conversations among the school board and at the county level about making PreKindergarten a universal program at CMS. “The reality is, if you are a principal or a teacher in a school where large numbers of kids are coming in not ready to learn to read in kindergarten, then you’re work is a lot harder than if you’re at another school where most of the kids come in and they know their alphabet, they’re familiar with whether a book is upside down or not, and they know that it goes left to right,” he says.

BUT WHAT ABOUT the thousands of kids

who are already past that point? After all, there are plenty of kids who already started what Richardson calls “the race to third-grade proficiency” from 100 yards back.

That’s where people like Davis and organizations like Reading Partners come in.

Since launching in 2016, Reading Partners has sent its volunteers to seven Title I schools in Charlotte, six of which are in CMS, for an hour every week to help kids who have fallen behind in reading proficiency. This school year, Reading Partners plans to help around 300 students ranging from kindergarten to fourth grade, with the help of about 400 volunteers.

The first four years of a students’ schooling are crucial, as third grade is when kids begin to transition from learning to read to reading to learn, as Richardson puts it.

Kids not reading at grade level are four times more likely to drop out of high school later on down the road. Conversely, kids who read well by the end of third grade have a 90 percent chance of finishing high school successfully.

Those who fall behind often become discouraged with reading, and it becomes harder to get them on track. Reading Partners works with kids who are anywhere from one month to two and a half years behind.

During the 2016-17 school year 78 percent of kids that Reading Partners worked with between kindergarten and second grade were able to get to where they should be in reading proficiency by the end of the year.

“These students just need extra support,” says Helen Kimbrough, program manager at Reading Partners. “They just need extra help.

It’s hard to get all of the educational things

that you need in a classroom with 25 kids, especially when you don’t come in on the same footing as other kids. If you start out behind, you will probably end up continuing to be behind just because of the pace of the classroom structure.”

For Kimbrough, the job is personal.

She’s the father of two boys, one of whom is a voracious reader, while the other was reluctant.

“What I try to convey when we are doing volunteer orientations or speaking out to different communities, is that sometimes it could be a five-year process to get your son or daughter on track,” Kimbrough says. “A lot of it is trying to find out what books interest them. My voracious reader was a methodical and statistical learner, but my youngest was more experiential. He was all about taste, touch, see, smell. So if I found a book that was gory in detail on the cover, he would gravitate towards it.”

Finding books kids can relate to is a main goal for Davis’ book drive. In the countless hours she’s spent in some of Charlotte’s more troubled schools over the last eight months, she’s been alarmed at the curriculum she’s seen being taught.

She recalled meeting one little boy who lives with his grandmother because his father is in prison.

“He’s in class reading Tom Sawyer books, and he’s not engaged,” she says. “That’s not going to help him. How is Tom Sawyer going to help this kid whose dad is in prison, and mom is not in the picture, and he lives with his grandmother who probably has no idea about the younger generation, but she’s trying her best? So I really want books that are suitable for these kids.”

Davis, who got into reading through her childhood obsession with Archie comics, wants to see kids reading things they can relate to.

“I want reading and learning to be fun. I’m going to be honest, when I sit in these classes, I’m bored sometimes. It’s just the teacher talking and ‘Do this, do that,’ and it’s no fun in these classes anymore,” Davis says. “Maybe if I can get people to donate some good books, some fun books, I can get the kids back into reading and really wanting to learn again.”

It’s not only relatable content that’s key, but relatable role models. Kimbrough has been pushing to recruit more men, and black men in particular, to become volunteers.

Kimbrough’s sons sometimes visit Reading Partners centers, the spaces the organization is given in each of its partnering schools, and she says she can see a noticeable difference when a man is there reading with the kids. “I’m a mom, so they’re like, ‘OK, she talks like a mom. She’s just mom,’” Kimbrough says. “But guys come in and they’re like, ‘Who is your favorite team?’ I’m not talking about stuff like that. The kids really like it.”

Davis, 33, has made it her goal to recruit more folks her age or younger to become Reading Partners volunteers. As she pointed out, 500 books would be great, but they won’t mean much if nobody’s there to get kids excited to read them.

She says she plans to bring members of her Power 98 family, as well as members of her real family, to the reading centers to get them involved, too.

“It’s more about spending time with the kids. They seek attention. They need it. A lot

PHOTO COURTESY OF READ CHARLOTTE

Munro Richardson, executive director at Read Charlotte, wants to make sure kids have a stronger foundation to learn about reading by the time they enter kindergarten. of kids don’t get enough attention at home because they have so many brothers and sisters and stuff,” Davis says.

She quickly throws on her head phones and raises her voice more than a few octaves to speak to her listeners live about an upcoming turkey drive and tell DJ Buttafingaz that he was on fire the night before. When she takes off the headphones after about a minute of yelling excitedly into the mic, she doesn’t miss a beat on our conversation.

“Kids really like when you read to them and you act out what’s happening,” Davis continues. “I want to involve high schoolers.

I think it would be good for kids to see other kids, maybe even involve fifth and six graders to come in, because the young kids look up to them.”

Another struggle has been finding more Spanish-speaking volunteers to help the ever-growing Latinx population in the schools Reading Partners serves. This year the organization brought on two Spanishspeakers to work at centers where the most students learn English as a Second Language.

This is an issue Davis noticed when she visited Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School, where she was told the Latinx population had surpassed 50 percent.

“Some of the kids don’t understand what the teacher is even talking about,” she says. “So if you don’t have the books for these students to read, they’re like, ‘I don’t know what they’re talking about. I don’t understand this.’”

As complex and overwhelming as the reading problem may seem, Richardson is confident that by strengthening CMS’s Pre-K program and working with groups such as Reading Partners, Read Charlotte can realistically meet its goal of reaching 80 percent proficiency among fourth grade students by 2025.

“The good news is that there’s nothing I’ve described to you that is rocket science,” he tells me. “But it’s going to take a community solution to turn this around. CMS can’t do it by itself.”

Sometimes all you need is a partner.

RPITKIN@CLCLT.COM CLCLT.COM | NOV. 23 - NOV. 29, 2017 | 11

NEWS

BLOTTER

BY RYAN PITKIN

FILL HER UP A 47-year-old woman fell

victim to a patient car thief last week in northwest Charlotte after pumping her gas.

The woman told police that she had just finished filling her car up with gas at a Shell gas station on Brookshire Boulevard when a man ran up and hopped into the front seat and drove away. What might be even worse than losing her Nissan Maxima was not knowing what might have been, as she reported a just-purchased, unscratched lottery ticket among the things that were in her car at the time it was stolen, along with her wallet, two laptops, a $100 personal check, her cellphone, a backpack and three folding chairs.

GRAPES OF WRATH A 35-year-old man

called police after coming home to find that someone had broken into his home in west Charlotte’s Ashley Park neighborhood. The thief made off with a pretty hefty take, which included three televisions, 240 varying heart medication pills, a bottle of vodka and, just for good measure, a single bag of grapes.

WORKING THINGS OUT A 38-year-old

man was admitted to the hospital last week after receiving a terrifying near-knockout hit in the Mint Hill area. The man told police that the suspect assaulted him by “smashing him in the left side of the face with a dumb bell,” causing a laceration above his eye. There’s no joke to be made here, just … holy shit. He was treated and released, and listed as having “severe lacerations,” categorized on the report as a “minor injury,” which seems like a bit of an oxymoron.

TAKE THIS JOB AND SHOVE IT A

37-year-old woman working at a CATS office in the South End area decided to take extreme measures against the theft happening in her workplace last week. The woman called police and advised officers that someone had stolen the headphones from her desk, and suggested that they obtain surveillance video from inside the building to find out who the culprit was.

JACKED Someone hanging out at Snug

Harbor in the Plaza Midwood area last week must have been awful tired, and then went above and beyond the necessary steps to wake himself up. According to a report, the suspect forced open a drink cooler at the bar, doing $200 in damage, then took 15 Red Bull energy drinks and tried to get the hell out of Dodge. He didn’t make it far, however, and was quickly arrested.

TOW CREEPS It’s not just in Hollywood or the political halls of the country where sexism, misogyny and harassment run 12 | NOV. 23 - NOV. 29, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

NEWS

rampant, those are just the places where it’s been making headlines, lately. One east Charlotte woman’s experience proved that the above listed problems are just a part of day-to-day life for women, as she wasn’t even able to get her car out of a tow company’s lot without facing disgusting harassment. The woman reported to police that she called the suspect to get her car back and was quoted a price she thought was high. When she remarked on how high the price was, the man “made an improper offer to discount the price,” according to the report.

ANTISOCIAL MEDIA Police responded to

a west Charlotte home after social media posts came back to bite (or strike) a couple young girls last week. The girls’ 36-year-old mother told police that the suspect came to her house to confront her 15- and 11-yearold daughters about posts they had made on social media. The suspect then punched the older daughter in the head before trying to run over the younger daughter, who was standing at the bus stop at the time, on her way out. The suspect also threatened the mother, but never did decide to pick on someone her own size.

IRONY Police had to deal with a student at

JJ Gunn Elementary School last week after he snuck an airsoft replica of a Smith & Wesson M&P .40-caliber gun to school last week.

That’s it. That’s the joke.

NOT FOR TEACHER A 66-year-old teacher filed a police report last week after one of her more ballsy students stole from her when she stepped out of the room for a few minutes.

The victim, a teacher at Randolph Middle School, told officers that she went into another classroom to assist a fellow teacher with a conflict and that’s when one of her sneaky students decided to take advantage of the distraction. The kid went into the teacher’s purse and took out three credit cards and $36 in cash.

WE’RE

TWINS A 54-year-old man went to police for help after having a misunderstanding with a fellow rider on a church bus recently over who owned a phone he believed was his. The man told officers he forgot his phone on the bus when he got off at one point, and when he got back on it was no longer where he left it. No worries, though, his fellow churchgoer was holding his exact phone. When he asked for it back, the other passenger insisted that it was their phone and they had it all along. The victim said this was impossible, as the phone not only looked like his, but was cracked in the exact same way across the screen. When the finder refused to unlock the phone so the losing party could investigate further, the latter called police.

RPITKIN@CLCLT.COM

NEWSBITE

CMPD IMPLEMENTS EXCHANGE ZONES FOR ONLINE SALES Zachary Finch murder inspires safer meet-up spots

BY RYAN PITKIN

CMPD OFFICIALLY implemented 14 “exchange zones” at local QuikTrip gas stations on Friday, November 17, hoping to provide safe spots for people meeting up to carry out online transactions made on websites and apps like Letgo.

Zachary Finch, 21, was murdered in broad daylight on June 18 while trying to sell a cellphone using the Letgo app, which connects sellers with buyers, leaving them to work out a meeting spot. Two 15-year-old boys have been charged with the killing. Finch was killed in front of an apartment complex on Farmer Street in west Charlotte. Another murder would occur on the same block during a drug deal gone wrong in October.

According to a CMPD release, two parking spots will be painted red to designate the exchange zones at the 14 locations (listed below), and those spots will be monitored

PHOTO COURTESY OF CMPD.

Zachary Finch was killed while carrying out an online transaction in June.

by video 24 hours a day. CMPD officers will also do periodic zone checks of each location, although they will not oversee or broker transactions.

“The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department partnered with Quick Trip and coordinated exchange zones to offer community members a safer alternative while conducting online transactions,” the release read. “It’s critical for community members to understand that there is always a potential threat to safety whenever unknown parties meet to conduct financial transactions, regardless of the location.”

CMPD officials will meet routinely with QuikTrip representatives to evaluate the effectiveness of the exchange zones, and hope to expand the program by partnering with other private companies around the city in the future, according to the release.

Look for the red-painted parking spots at any of the following QuikTrip locations to meet for potentially safer online transactions: -127 E. Woodlawn Road, Charlotte, NC 28217 -6721 Albemarle Road, Charlotte, NC 28212 -7205 The Plaza, Charlotte, NC 28216 -2326 Sandy Porter Road, Charlotte, NC 28273 -11230 N. Tryon St., Charlotte, NC 28262 -7115 S. Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28273 -3025 Wilkinson Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28208 -116 Clanton Road, Charlotte, NC 28217

-3206 Eastway Drive, Charlotte, NC 28205 -5209 Central Ave., Charlotte, NC 28212 -4937 Sunset Road, Charlotte, NC 28269 -4200 Brookshire Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28216 -5708 N. Tryon St., Charlotte, NC 28213 -10910 Golf Links Drive, Charlotte, NC 28213

NEWS

NEWS OF THE WEIRD

TRADITIONS The 72nd annual Yellville (Arkansas) Turkey Trot, which took place on Oct. 14, is famous for its Turkey Drop, in which live turkeys are dropped from a low-flying airplane and then chased by festivalgoers. This year, KY3.com reports, several turkeys were dropped during the afternoon despite animal-rights activists having filed a formal complaint with the sheriff’s office, saying the pilot “terrorized” the birds. But pharmacist and past pilot Dana Woods told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: “We treat the turkeys right. That may sound ironic, but we don’t abuse those turkeys. We coddle and pet those turkeys. We’re good to them.” Wild turkeys can fly, but in 2016, about a dozen turkeys were dropped and not all survived the fall. According to The Washington Post, over the past several years, local sponsors and the chamber of commerce have distanced themselves from the Turkey Drop, now more than five decades old. The Federal Aviation Administration is checking to see if any laws or regulations were broken, but said it has not intervened in past years because the turkeys are not considered to be projectiles.

‘TIS THE SEASON Could turkeys be sensing

the peril of the season? Police in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, tweeted a warning to the town’s residents on Oct. 15 about aggressive wild turkeys, WBZ-TV reported. As proof, an accompanying video showed four turkeys chasing a Bridgewater police cruiser, but police were not as amused as their Twitter followers. “Aggressive turkeys are a problem in town,” the department tweeted. “State law doesn’t allow the police or (animal control) to remove them.”

UPDATE In 1990, Marlene Warren, 40, answered her door in Wellington, Florida, and was shot in the face by a clown bearing balloons (one of which read “You’re the greatest!”) and flowers. On Sept. 26, 2017, Palm Beach County Sgt. Richard McAfee announced that Warren’s widower’s current wife, Sheila Keen Warren, 54, had been arrested for the murder, 27 years after the fact, and taken into custody in Abingdon, Virginia. Sheila Keen married Michael Warren in 2002, NBC News reported. (Michael was went to prison in 1994 for odometer tampering, grand theft and racketeering in connection with his car rental agency.) Sheila had worked for him, repossessing cars, and they were reportedly having an affair when the murder took place. While Sheila had always been a suspect, new technology finally allowed prosecutors to retest DNA evidence and build a case against her.

SEX THERAPY Zookeepers believe China’s

4-year-old giant panda Meng Meng, currently on loan to the Berlin Zoo, displays her

displeasure with her surroundings, food or caretakers by walking backward. “Meng Meng is in puberty,” zoo director Andreas Knieriem explained to the Berliner Zeitung newspaper on Oct. 22. “The reverse walk is a protest.”

To address the situation, zookeepers will introduce Meng Meng to Jiao Qing, a male giant panda three years older, who presumably will ease her frustration by engaging in sexual activity with her.

LUCKY! Kenyans Gilbert Kipleting Chumba and David Kiprono Metto were among the favorites to win the Venice Marathon on Oct. 22. Instead, Eyob Ghebrehiwet Faniel, 25, a local running in only his second marathon, took the prize after the lead runners were led several hundred meters off-course by an errant guide motorcycle. Faniel is the first Italian man to win the Venice Marathon in 22 years. “Today’s race shows that the work is paying off,” Faniel said following his victory.

Uh, sure.

SOLO MISSION In Lissone, Italy, 40-year-

old fitness instructor Laura Mesi made news when she married herself in late September. “I told my relatives and friends that if I had not found my soul mate, I would marry myself by my 40th birthday,” Mesi said, according to The Independent. She spent more than 10,000 euros ($11,700) for the occasion, which included a white wedding dress, a three-tiered cake, bridesmaids and 70 guests.

Mesi is part of a self-marrying movement dubbed “sologamy” that has followers all over the world. Her marriage holds no legal significance. “If tomorrow I find a man to build a future with, I will be happy, but my happiness will not depend on him,” Mesi declared.

ROACH An anonymous collector from Palm

Beach, Florida, was the winning bidder in an Oct. 11 online auction for a half-smoked cigar that British Prime Minister Winston Churchill enjoyed during a 1947 trip to Paris.

AP reports the 4-inch cigar remnant brought just over $12,000 in the auction managed by Boston-based RR Auction. The company says Churchill smoked the cigar on May 11, 1947, at Le Bourget Airport. A British airman, Cpl. William Alan Turner, kept the cigar after he and his crew flew Churchill and his wife between Paris and London. The label on the Cuban stogie includes Churchill’s name.

MOST CONSIDERATE CRIMINAL Nelly’s Taqueria in Hicksville, New York, suffered a break-in on Oct. 3, but the burglar redefined the term “clean getaway.” Surveillance video showed a man donning food-service gloves and starting a pot of water to boil before hammering open the cash register. He secured $100 in his pockets, leaving a dollar in the tip jar, then started “cooking up a storm,” owner

Will Colon told Newsday. Cameras recorded as the thief cooked beans, sauteed shrimp and chicken, and helped himself to a cold soda before enjoying his meal standing up.

“The way he handled that pan, man, the dude had some skills,” Colon said. Afterward, he carefully stored the leftovers in the refrigerator, cleaned his pans and wiped down all the surfaces he had used. Then he took off through the back window, the same way he had come in.

LEAST

COMPETENT

CRIMINAL

Greensburg, Pennsylvania, police made a traffic stop on Oct. 19 and found drug paraphernalia in plain sight on the car’s front seat. When police asked where the occupants had obtained the heroin found in the center console, they said they had bought it from someone named Cody in the maternity ward at the Excela Health Westmoreland hospital in Greensburg. Officers arrested Cody R. Hulse, 25, at the hospital after he admitted to possessing and selling heroin just feet away from his newborn daughter. The TribuneReview reported that police found 34 stamp bags of heroin, four empty bags and multiple hypodermic needles in Hulse’s possession. “I have an issue myself with drugs ... heroin,” Hulse told them. “I really didn’t want to bring it in.” Hulse’s girlfriend, the mother of the newborn, said she did not know he was selling drugs from the room.

CRIME REPORT Coroner’s pathologist

Elmo A. Griggs, 75, was arrested Sept. 12 in Morgan County, Indiana, for drunken driving, but it was what was rolling around in the back of his pickup truck that caught officers’ attention. Along with a half-empty vodka bottle, Griggs was transporting several labeled totes, according to the Indianapolis Star, containing organic material. Marshal Bradley K. Shaw of the Brooklyn Police Department said early investigations showed the totes contained brain and liver samples.

Griggs’ wife posted on Facebook that he “had a bad day and had a couple of drinks before driving home,” but court documents revealed he failed all field sobriety tests.

IT’S GOOD TO HAVE GOALS Alysha Orrok of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, will head to Las Vegas in February to compete for the $10,000 prize in the National Grocers Association 2018 Best Bagger contest, reports The New York Times. Orrok, who recently won the New Hampshire competition, is a teacher who moonlights at a Hannaford Supermarket.

Competitors are judged on multiple skills, including speed, weight distribution, appearance and technique.

your delicious weekly alternative news source

CLCLT.COM | NOV. 23 - NOV. 29, 2017 | 13

FOOD

FEATURE

A BREAK FROM YOUR HOLIDAY BREAK Common Market offers up a haven for the wayward on Thanksgiving

BY RYAN PITKIN

W

HEN

BLAKE

BARNES

opened Common Market on December 8, 2002, he didn’t expect it to eventually become the go-to Thanksgiving hangout spot for folks with no family plans. But he couldn’t afford for it not to be.

Barnes never closes up his little beer shop and deli on Commonwealth Avenue in Plaza Midwood, and that stems from his own hunger as a new small business owner 15 years ago.

“Originally, it was because we couldn’t afford to not make any money every day; we just started doing it because it was like literally we had to,” he says of his 365-day-ayear schedule. “If I could find me $100, that was enough to keep me going for the day.

By November 2013, Barnes was still grinding away on a daily basis, so he brought his family to the store.

“The first few years, my wife would bring the kids up and we would have Thanksgiving here,” he says. “So that’s kind of where the whole thing started.”

During one of the early years, Barnes brought a TV with a built-in VCR (yes, VCR) and played Finding Nemo for his kids before dinner. By the end, a group of adults had gathered around the set as well.

By the third year, Barnes says word had gotten out that his place served as a sanctuary for the wayward on Thanksgiving — where punk kids estranged from their families rubbed shoulders with police forced to work a lazy, uneventful holiday.

At the time, Harris Teeter was closed on Thanksgiving, so Barnes would bring in last-minute necessities for those in a pinch.

He still stocks his shelves with eggs, butter, cream cheese and other recipe items that may help folks in a bind.

This year, he’s adding something new to the mix, keeping the deli open through the morning to serve freshly made breakfast sandwiches and grits bowls. He’ll keep soups on and have pre-packaged sandwiches for sale through the afternoon, and he expects — as with all the previous years — that turkey will be the best seller.

“You know, it’s actually one of my favorite days,” says Barnes, who plans to 14 | NOV. 23 - NOV. 29, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

“I like it just because it’s almost like where we first started. The more smaller crowd, you know, time to actually talk to people, it’s become quite a tradition.”

-BLAKE BARNES, OWNER, COMMON MARKET

work as the “third man” in the deli, which he says his employees hate but he enjoys.

“I get to see a lot of people who used to live here come back in town. And then also everybody is in a good mood; chill but in no big hurry, buying a lot of beer and wine, a lot of vices,” he says, and laughs. “I like it just because it’s almost like where we first started.

The more smaller crowd, you know, time to actually talk to people. It’s become quite a tradition.”

As the day progresses, Barnes expects the crowd not to remain so small. If the weather’s nice, families like to come through the market as they’re out enjoying a post-meal walk. Stool pigeons tend to hang around drinking specialty beers until the nearby bars open.

“They like to pregame with me and then they go to the bars,” he says.

Barnes also gets more people coming in

each year from the nearby Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center — tired eyes who may have worked all night and are looking for that breakfast sandwich to kick off their Thanksgiving.

“There’s a lot of new people at the hospitals,” he says. “You know, this city has gotten big. It’s 24/7, and sometimes they don’t have any families, so they come hang out here.”

As for the tired eyes behind the counter at the deli, Barnes will be taking care of them, too. He hasn’t opened the deli on Thanksgiving in a few years, but that doesn’t mean his employees forgot their value on that day.

“I did it the year before last, and the deli workers were like, ‘Well, you offered those guys double time.’ I was like, ‘Alright. you win,’” he says, laughing. “But it’s just that

A THANKSGIVING FOR COMMONERS Thursday, November 23, 6:30 a.m.-Midnight. Breakfast, 6:30 a.m.-Noon. Common Market.

2007 Commonwealth Ave. commonmarketisgood.com

short little window they have to work, then they make a ton of to-go sandwiches and salads and all that grab-and-go stuff.”

Then, hopefully, they join the party crowd, and everybody wins.

RPITKIN@CLCLT.COM

THANKSGIVING WITHOUT THE DYSFUNCTION 5 T-Day options that don’t involve your racist uncle BY ‘CL’ STAFF

YOU REALLY DO want to give thanks, but you don’t want to give it along with that racist, homophobic uncle who will surely find a way to thank Trump along with God when saying grace.

Don’t worry: Creative Loafing has your back.

There are plenty of places to go and things to do on Thanksgiving for those who choose not to spend it with the biological family. Some involve dropping lots of dollars at any number of local restaurants promoting Thanksgiving events. We’re not including those on our list.

We’re including things to do that won’t break your bank.

One of the more gratifying things we all could do more of is donate our time to those who are less fortunate, and we have a category for that. But not all of us are so altruistic, and no one should be guilted into selflessness. So we also have categories for spending Thanksgiving with your nonbiological families — yoga buddies, party friends, social and political allies.

Whatever you do, be safe. And be thankful you didn’t spend Thanksgiving with your racist uncle.

A MINDFUL THANKSGIVING Yoga’s spiritual side – in addition to it’s grunting, groaning and twisting side – is also given a forum with Thankful for Friends Yoga at I Am Yoga’s studio at a private home in north Charlotte. Owner and instructor Kiesha Battles was planning on closing for the holiday when a friend contacted her on Facebook.

“One of my friends posted: ‘Is anyone offering a yoga class on Thanksgiving?’”

Battles says. “I meditated on it for a day and decided it was me who would be teaching.”

Battles who calls Thanksgiving her favorite holiday has invited her tribe of yoga students to her home to “stretch, breath, meditate, and be grateful for friendships and family.”

Thankfulness is all about balance, right?

So before the holiday feasting and conviviality begins, why not stretch, sweat and try to hold that tree pose? At least that seems to be the rationale for Yoga One’s “Pluck Yeah Live: A Thanksgiving Celebration Class.” Basically it’s a holiday edition of the studio’s popular power flow class with instructor Shannon Wiseman at its Plaza Midwood location.

Although a similar class is scheduled at Yoga One’s Dillworth studio, the Central Avenue session is special because it’s streaming live on Facebook, so you can get your sweat on at home or anywhere else you happen to be. (There’s no mention if there will be a live announcer’s play-by-play for the class, but wouldn’t it be awesome to hear some guy shouting “Namaste!” at the top of his lungs?) Yoga One’s manifesto is to empower and inspire people to take concrete action to improve their lives. What better time to do that than on our communal day of thanks?

Both Pluck Yeah Live and Thankful for Friends Yoga are scheduled in the morning, so you can do downward facing dog and still have plenty of time to get the dinner in the oven or set out for your holiday destination.

Cruelty-free Tofurkry is optional.

More: Pluck Yeah Live Yoga One 1318 Central Ave. Thursday, November 23 at 10 a.m. y1now.com Thankful for Friends Yoga I Am Yoga 2216 Southwind Drive Thursday, November 23 at 9 a.m. facebook.com/IAMYOGACLT

THANKSGIVING’S OVER

-TIME TO PARTY Everyone’s cleared out of the dining room to watch football, there’s nothing on the table but the dregs of sweet potato pie, and that Trump-loving uncle is passed out in the corner.

Thanksgiving is done — so stick a fork in it, exchange your fat pants for a pair of dancing shoes and head out for some fun!

Allow us to present this trio of events, promising drunkenness and debauchery to balance out all that wholesome family fun.

Creative Loafing’s AvidXchange Music Factory neighbor Club One is hosting an event it is billing as the Biggest Thanksgiving Party Bash Of the Year. We don’t know about that, but the hot spot, founded by The Real Housewives of Atlanta ex-husband Peter Thomas, knows how to throw a swanky soiree. The club’s FB page instructs revelers to arrive early and “Come grown & sexy ready to party.”

Team Bobby Productions presents Turkey Thursday at Fusion Lounge in East Charlotte.

It offers drink specials, a full kitchen open all night if you’re still hungry, and best of all — no cover.

At the Thirsty Beaver, aka That Plucky Little Dive Bar Amid A Box Canyon of Condos, The Loose Lugnuts will hit the stage with their rough-edged rambunctious country.

They’re the perfect fit for a Thanksgiviung night of drinkin’, dancin’ and honky tonkin’.

More: Thanksgiving Bash ClubOne 950 NC Music Factory Blvd.

Thursday, November 23 at 10 p.m. facebook.com/pages/ClubONE Turkey Thursday Fusion Lounge 6432 East Independence Blvd.

Thursday, November 23 at 10 p.m. facebook.com/fusionloungenc The Loose Lugnuts Thirsty Beaver Saloon 1225 Central Avenue Thursday, November 23 at 7 p.m. f a c e b o o k . c o m / T h e -T h i r s t y Beaver-Saloon

CLCLT.COM | NOV. 23 - NOV. 29, 2017 | 15

FOOD

A spread from last year’s Trapsgiving.

FEATURE

THANKSGIVING WITH FRIENDS For those of you with a family that’s close both in proximity and friendship, it’s easy to take for granted that you can spend holidays with those you love the most. But Charlotte is a transplant city after all, and not everybody wants to go through the stress of holiday travel. Also, not everybody really likes their family, or has a family that likes them, for that matter. For these folks, we’ve rounded up a few options for you to go spend Thanksgiving with your better family, the one at the neighborhood bar.

At our favorite neighborhood bar, Hattie’s Tap and Tavern on The Plaza, owner Jackie Deloach will be serving up that familial feel without having to worry about your

Trump-supporting uncle spouting off about “ungrateful” NFL players. What says family on a fall afternoon more than board games and cider? Deloach will also be bringing in her very own piece of multi-generational nostalgia: a stereo that plays vinyl, cassettes and CDs, so whether you’re collection is from the ‘90s, ‘the ‘80s or before, you’ll be able to play it there on Thursday.

Trapsgiving The Trap 1923 Westinghouse Blvd.

Thursday, November 23, 1 p.m.-2 a.m.

(Dinner at 6 p.m.) facebook.com/TheTrapCharlotte

16 | NOV. 23 - NOV. 29, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

Biological families can be hell for people whose gender identities or sexual preferences aren’t acceptable to Uncle Bob, the homophobe, or for folks who suffer from a disease that Aunt Mae, the judgemental one, refuses to understood. Oh, those microaggressions — they just don’t go down well with the turkey dresssing. That’s why many of us feel more comfortable with our nonbiological families — those who support and truly understand us. When it comes right down to it, our real families oftentimes are not necessarily our biological families.

Hattie’s Tap & Tavern 2918 The Plaza Thursday, November 23, 4 p.m.-2 a.m. hattiescharlotte.com

Just south of the airport, where thousands of folks will be quietly resenting their far-off families for making them travel to or from Charlotte to see them, the fam at The Trap on Westinghouse Boulevard will be sharing food and knocking back a few cold ones. Owner Tad McGrath has been holding “Trapsgiving” for the last five years as a way to give back to the community, he says, and usually sees a big turnout of folks who may not be looking to spend Thanksgiving at a stuffy dinner having to answer questions from mom about why they’re not married yet (that part he didn’t say outright, but we added it on). The bar will provide two turkeys and mac-and-cheese, and it’s up to everyone else to bring their favorite Turkey Day side dishes and dessert treats.

NONBIOLOGICAL FAMILY THANKSGIVING

For those wanting to spend the day in the Uptown area, the folks at Belfast Mill Irish Pub will be celebrating America’s most food-driven holiday the right way. At their Orphan Thanksgiving, Belfast Mill-ers will be offering up a full Thanksgiving spread free of charge. And if that’s not enough to send you into a coma, the $5 “Crown and Down” cocktails will help send you blissfully to bed (or chair). But you should stay up, because the games will be on with the volume up. Nothing makes you feel fatter after a big meal than watching guys in peak physical condition slam each other senseless, but hey, it’s the reason for the season.

Orphan Thanksgiving Belfast Mill Irish Pub 144 Brevard Court, Suite A Thursday, November 23 4 p.m.-12:30 a.m. belfastmillclt.com

For those whose lives are made better by our support groups, Thanksgiving dinner at Chasers or with our AA or NA friends can be a godsend. There are tons of support groups in the Charlotte area offering Thanksgiving dinners for their members, and we’ve offered just a very few here. If your group isn’t listed, it’s a safe bet you can call a hotline or check online for details on where to go and what to bring.

Chasers has a long history of offering Thanksgiving to LGBTQ folks and anyone else who wants to come along, including friends and allies. “Each year we have this dinner and also we do a canned food drive for the Metropolitan Community Church food pantry,” the folks at Chasers tell us.

“This will be our third year of doing the food drive. The food pantry is open to anyone, and last year we raised enough food to stock the pantry for six months.”

So, not only do you help yourself by spending Thanksgiving with your nonbiological family — you help others, too.

with your drinking or drugging bio-family members over a giant spliff, glass of wine or bottle of craft beer. You can find out about any of them by contacting the specific program’s website or hotline — Alcoholic Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, etc. — but here’s a cool option in Belmont. It happens at a cozy Boy Scout hut — with meetings every two hours, from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m., and dinner at 4:30 p.m. — and you can bet you’ll feel welcome, whether here or at any other 12-step Thanksgiving event.

Just bring a covered dish.

Thanksgiving at Chasers Chasers 3217 The Plaza Thursday, November 23, 9 p.m.-2 a.m. chaserscharlotte.club

Thanksgiving Alcothon Belmont Scout Hut 302 Brook St. Thursday, November 23, 6 a.m.-8 p.m. charlotteaa.org crna.org

GIVING BACK ON THANKSGIVING Final Harvest Thanksgiving Dinner.

Earler on Thanksgiving Day, out on South Boulevard, eat up at Sidelines Sports Bar and Billiards before heading over to Chasers. Sidelines will be opening their doors to anybody who wants to join the family for their annual pot luck dinner.

“You don’t have to be LGBT to join us,” the Sidelines folks say. The bar will provide the turkey, ham, dressing, gravy, cranberries and mashed potatoes. All you have to do is bring a side dish, dessert or your lovely self.

Sidelines Annual Thanksgiving Pot Luck Dinner Sidelines Sports Bar and Billiards 4544 South Blvd.

Thursday, November 23, 4 p.m.-7 p.m. thesidelinesbar.com

It’s great to spend time with family and close friends on Thanksgiving, but not everybody has that option. Our homeless neighbors in the Charlotte area either spend most of their time on the streets or, if they’re lucky, in one of the area shelters. Many organizations and houses of worship in the Charlotte area offer hot meals for those folks, but it takes a village to prepare and serve them. You can donate your time or resources to the organizations listed below.

And if you’re homeless yourself, drop in and know you are loved.

Charlotte Rescue Mission is another local organization known for feeding the homeless on Thanksgiving, and they always need help. Find out how you can contribute by going to the website for their Rebound and Dove’s Nest operations.

Charlotte Rescue Mission charlotterescuemission.org

Final Harvest feeds the homeless year in and year out, and their Thanksgiving dinner is one of the organization’s most popular events.

If your family is a support group for addicts or alcoholics, most of the Anonymous programs in the Charlotte area offer all-day alternatives to saying cheers

Thanksgiving Dinner with Final Harvest 1200 Alleghany St. Thursday, November 23, Noon-6 p.m. finalharvestminitries.org Charlotte Rescue Mission.

CLCLT.COM | NOV. 23 - NOV. 29, 2017 | 17

FRIDAY

24 RAINBOW FRIDAY What: CL contributor and multitasker Lara Americo has her hands in a lot of happenings, but her newest project, Comic Girl Coffee, is one of the coolest things to happen in the Queen City this year. And it must be a successful venture thus far, because on Rainbow Friday (“because AntiCapitalism Friday is too long,” says Americo), there will be free comic books available to all visitors. It’s the perfect reason to go check out CLT’s new, inclusive coffee shop for comic fans.

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

Where: Comic Girl Coffee, 516 E. 15th St. More: Free. comicgirlcoffee.com

FRIDAY

24

THINGS TO DO

TOP TEN

Dead & Co. TUESDAY PHOTO COURTESY OF DEAD & CO.

FRIDAY

24

25

BLACK FOOD TRUCK FRIDAY

KEYSHIA COLE

SOUND JOURNEY

What: In October, nearly 2,500 people showed up to the first Black Food Truck Friday in search of food with seasoning on it. But good eats from Charlotte best black-owned food trucks aren’t all you’ll find at this Black Business Owners of Charlotte event. There will be plenty of local vendors on hand, too, giving a new meaning to the term Black Friday. And don’t forget, Tabu Terrell will be serving up pints from the only black-owned brewery in the city.

What: If the only song she ever recorded was “Incapable,” we’d be headed out to see Keyshia Cole, whose soap-opera, reality-TV life often overshadows her music.

The recent single not only has all the hallmarks of Cole’s catalog of songs about jilted love, it has everything that makes a great soul song timeless: heartache, emotional volatility, a killer melody and a passionate vocal performance. It’s been three years since her last album, but Keyshia hasn’t lost her musical lustre.

What: Surround yourself with the secret, soothing, sacred sounds of stress reduction. Brandi Leigh and Austin Shook of Focused Alignment lead you into the perfect meditative environment, transcending your physical, mental and emotional environments using crystal bowls, drums, flute and vocals. It’s the perfect place to find yourself after two days of arguing with family members and crushing fellow shoppers under your boots while stampeding for a kids’ toy.

When: 4-10 p.m.

Where: Three Spirits Brewery, 5046 Old Pineville Road More: Free. threespiritsbrewery. com

When: 8 p.m.

Where: Fillmore, 820 Hamilton St. More: $52.50-$60; www.fillmorenc. com

There's still time to be a part of 18 | NOV. 23 - NOV. 29, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

SATURDAY

When: 5:30-7 p.m.

Where: Sancutary Imports, 822 Lamar Ave. More: $25-30. facebook.com/ sanctuaryimports/

SUNDAY

27 HOT STUFF MARKET: THE HOLIDAY EDITION What: At this point, a holiday sweater and mittens for mom are just embarrassing. You can do better, and Hot Stuff Market has you covered. A quick look at some of the creative local venders — Simply Handmade Soap, Bajari Jewelry, Jessica’s Jacket (actually, they’re spaghetti scarves), Purple Girl Designs, Pet Wants Charlotte: The Urban Feed Store, Bryan Olson’s amazing collage art, Lil Rebel Bakery, and the list goes on and on.

When: 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Where: Petra’s, 1919 Commonwealth Ave. More: free; petrasbar.com

Mayhem TUESDAY

NEWS ARTS FOOD MUSIC ODDS

The North Pole TUESDAY

Sound Journey SATURDAY PHOTO COURTESY OF MAYHEM

MONDAY

MONDAY

27

27 CHARLOTTE CONVERSATION WITH MICHAEL TWITTY

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE NORTH POLE

PHOTO COURTESY OF FOCUSED ALIGNMENT

MEGA RAN

What: As a black, queer, Jewish man living in Washington, D.C., Michael Twitty is familiar with adversity. The culinary historian claims his ancestral roots through food while addressing race, class and Southern culture in his writing.

Twitty has traced his roots to slaves in 1674 North Carolina, and he returns for a conversation before joining The Asbury for a Collaborative Series Dinner on Nov. 28.

What: You’ll enter the Upside Down when Philadelphia native Raheem Jarbo geeks out as Mega Ran (formerly Random) at this week’s Knocturnal, combining his love of gaming with his past life as a middle school teacher to create some of the more eclectic nerdcore since Kool Keith morphed into Elvis and got lost in space. If any of those references rocketed past you, come anyway. You’ll be signing up with Team Mega in a Philly phlash.

For extra credit, download Ran’s latest LP, Extra Credit.

When: 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Where: Parish Hall, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 115 W. 7th St. More: Free. st-peters.org

When: 10 p.m.

Where: Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St. More: $2; snugrock.com

TUESDAY

28 ‘THE NORTH POLE’ SCREENING What: The North Pole is a political comedy web series about three friends from Oakland, California, struggling to stay rooted as their neighborhood becomes hostile thanks to gentrification and global warming. The pals face evil landlords, crazy geoengineering plots and each other through seven episodes that mirror issues being faced on the west side of Charlotte, from 5 Points to LaSalle Street. Join the discussion about local solutions at this free screening.

When: 5:30-8 p.m.

Where: Northwest School of the Arts, 1415 Beatties Ford Road More: Free. thenorthpoleshow.com

TUESDAY

TUESDAY

28

28 DEAD & COMPANY

MAYHEM

What: It’s the 50th anniversary year of the mythic Summer of Love, and Bobby, Mickey and Bill are returning to pull out all the old improvs. John Mayer fills Jerry Garcia’s shoes (ahem); Oteil Burbridge phills Phil’s (and while Oteil is no zany avant-gardist, he’s still a hell of a bassist). Let’s not kid ourselves, though: Dead & Co. is a nostalgia act. If you’re a Deadhead, this is the best thing happening this week. Otherwise, if you want live Dead, listen to Live Dead.

What: If this gig had fallen on the previous night, no one would have shown up for Common Market’s “Metal Mondays.” They would have been here (as they will be on Tuesday), with Norwegian black metal band Mayhem, whose early history of murder and suicide only added to the intrigue. The group has since undergone more lineup changes than Lynyrd Skynyrd, save for the rhythm section (if that’s what you’d call it) of bassist Necrobutcher and drummer Hellhammer.

When: 7 p.m.

Where: Spectrum Center, 333 E. Trade St. More: $75-up; timewarnercablearena.com

When: 8 p.m.

Where: Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 36th St. More: $25-$30; neighborhoodtheatre.com

Contact our sales team today!

CLCLT.COM | NOV. 23 - NOV. 29, 2017 | 19

JORDAN IS one of a growing pool of

FEATURE

MUSIC

IT’S SHOWTIME AT SNUG HARBOR A mother’s love gently guides R&B singer Dexter Jordan to the next level

BY MARK KEMP

T

HE 13-YEAR-OLD singer had

heard all of the mythic stories.

Of Mahalia Jackson. Of Michael Jackson. And now it was his turn — Dexter Jordan’s — to hit the storied stage at the Apollo Theater, the legendary music hall at 125th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Frederick Douglass Boulevard in New York’s Harlem.

“I was so nervous, because people were saying things like, ‘Yeah, Michael Jackson auditioned here,’” Jordan remembers. “I was like, ‘Oh my god’ — it was just too much.” He pauses, a look of exasperation on his bright, animated face. “You know how it is when you find yourself in a situation, and you don’t really understand what it’s going to be like until you’re there, and then there you are — you’re in the moment. It was like, ‘This is really happening!’”

It was happening, all right. And as always, Jordan’s mom LaFondra was right there, standing in the wings, proudly watching her young son as he put his whole body and soul into the gospel song “For Your Glory.”

Jordan, now 24, sits at a table outside Smelly Cat Coffee in NoDa on a brisk fall afternoon, wearing a grey cardigan over a green turtleneck. He’s describing the first time he remembers knowing, for sure, that he wanted to be a singer. He’d sung plenty of times before in the choir at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Greensboro, and he was already well aware that his tenor voice had the power to heal, the power to turn sadness into light. But it was onstage at the Apollo in upper Manhattan that Jordan realized that, yes, he really did want to be a singer. He wanted it badly. This was his calling.

“And my mom,” he begins, then pauses, his eyes welling up with tears. Jordan’s mother died last year of breast cancer, and he hasn’t even begun to completely process the loss. He begins again: “I’ll never, ever forget that moment. And when I won, like, first place, my mom was jumping up and down at the side of the stage. No one could see her from the audience, but I could see her there on the side, jumping up and down, and I wanted to laugh but I didn’t. I couldn’t.” He wipes away the tears. “It was just such a great moment,” he continues. “I will remember that day for the rest of my life.”

20 | NOV. 23 - NOV. 29, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

Dexter Jordan

Jordan at Smelly Cat

PHOTO BY FRANK BAUKNIGHT

PHOTO BY MARK KEMP

talented young R&B and hip-hop artists that’s popped up in Charlotte over the past couple of years — a pool that seems to be expanding by the day. Earlier this month, he released his debut video, for his song “Hello, New Me,” which he dedicated to his mother.

The lyrics are empowering. Over a mesh of shuffling guitar, bubbling bass, an electronic horn line and a sweetly syncopated rhythm track, Jordan sings, “Chocolate skin I’m in, from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet/ Writing my heart with a pen, a spirit led to lay it on a beat.”

In the video, he stands amid red and sky-blue backdrops, the blonde highlights in his hair making it look as though he’s been dipped headfirst into a bowl of sweet cream.

Throughout the clip, Jordan changes into different outfits, leaving him shirtless at times, free to explore his body, which drives home the song’s refrain: “Took a long time just to get it right, but I finally love me.”

On Saturday, November 25, Jordan will perform “Hello, New Me” and several other songs at Snug Harbor when he opens for Charlotte experimental Italo disco revivalists Miami Dice. The singer landed the spot after meeting Miami Dice mastermind Shaun Olson and talking with him before an earlier gig at the Plaza Midwood venue. “We had talked and I told him I was opening up,” Jordan says. “And then after he heard me, he said he wanted me to do this upcoming show. It was just because of him hearing me that night that I got this, so I was very happy and thankful about that. Hopefully, we may collaborate on a song later on.”

The Miami Dice frontman says he was pleasantly surprised by Jordan’s performance that night. “I didn’t know what to expect when he showed up with a band,” Olson says. “The vibes were tight; reminded me of Erykah Badu’s first record. [Jordan’s band] also did a rad cover of my favorite OutKast song, ‘Prototype.’ I was sold after that. As far as asking him to play the show and collaborating, I knew right then and there when I saw him perform — it had to happen.”

This past July, Creative Loafing’s editors were equally impressed when we heard the songs on Jordan’s Soundcloud page, which range from well-produced tracks such as his lush rendition of Nirvana’s “Dumb” to raw demos including a piano-based take on Badu’s “20 Feet Tall.” In our annual music issue that month, we named the singer one of 10 up-and-coming Charlotte artists to follow in the coming year. For his Snug performance, Jordan says he plans to mix a few of those covers into a set of originals.

“I’ll be performing about six or seven songs, some originals and maybe one or two covers,” he says.

Jordan couldn’t have imagined doing any of this a year ago. It took months for him to even think about performing again, let alone write new material, after his mother died on March 18, 2016. He fell into a deep depression that completely sapped him of all of his creative energy.

“The idea of creating something new that my mom won’t hear has just been really hard for me to comprehend,” Jordan says.

TO SAY THAT Jordan and his mom were close would be more than an understatement.

Jordan with his biggest fan, his late mother LaFondra, at 5 on Easter Sunday 1998 (left) and as a teen in 2012 (right).

PHOTOS COURTESY OF DEXTER JORDAN

“Heaven’s Door,” the singer knew what he needed to do. “Every artist talked about what was important to them at the time of the recording and writing session for ‘Heaven’s Door,’” Jordan says. Naturally, his mother was on his mind, and so Jordan’s verse deals head-on with his feelings about her death. “It was my first time being up front about my mother’s passing in a song,” he says.

As was often the case when Yung Citizen heard Jordan sing, the producer was blown away. “His voice is so strong, but yet warm at the same time,” Yung says. “You could have a terrible day and then listen to Dexter and there’s always a message somewhere hidden for you to hear, and it makes you smile and forget about the bad day you originally had.”

Jordan began to slowly dip his toes back into music, performing some local gigs. And then in August of this year, he hooked up with a few artists he’d collaborated with when he first moved to Charlotte in 2012 to attend Queens University and UNC Charlotte. Back then Jordan had been involved in a music collective called Stereo Academym, and when he reunited with a few of them to record “Hello, New Me,” he knew it was time for him to begin thinking about a full album.

“For a while, I just felt really weird about creating new music,” he says. “Every song and everything I’ve ever done was with my mom. She’s heard all of my stuff, so I had to come to terms with the fact that my mom won’t be hearing this. There’s a void now.”

Jordan’s pensive face suddenly brightens, and his 6-foot-4 frame straightens up. He’s

MIAMI DICE W/SMOOTA, DEXTER JORDAN, DEION REVERIE 10 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 25. $7. Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St.; snugrock. com

thinking about how his mother would react if she heard him feeling sorry for himself.

“My mom would slap me if she thought I had stopped singing,” he says, and giggles.

Then he gets serious again. “It’s just all so new to do this without her,” he says. “But I have to understand that this is the new normal, and I feel like now I’m finally ready to create an album for myself. That’s why I decided to do [‘Hello, New Me”], and then do the video — to just throw it out there and see what happens.”

It’s impossible to know what will happen when Jordan tries out his new music for Miami Dice’s audience this week, but with members of Blame the Youth and other local acts serving as his band, and a line of locally designed T-shirts with his image on the front on the merch table, we can guess the response will be one of healing.

After all, it wasn’t just his mother who loved the young Dexter Jordan when he sang onstage at the Apollo. It was also the Apollo audience, known for being notoriously harsh.

If Jordan could win them over, he can win over any crowd on the planet.

MKEMP@CLCLT.COM

“MY MOM WAS JUMPING UP AND DOWN AT THE SIDE OF THE STAGE. IT WAS SUCH A GREAT MOMENT. I WILL REMEMBER THAT DAY FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE.” — DEXTER JORDAN From the moment Dexter was born in Meridian, Mississippi, on October 29, 1993, LaFondra Jordan played a huge role in everything her son did that involved music. Everything, that is, except his penchant for staying up late, at 5 years old, to watch Showtime at the Apollo on TV. She wasn’t aware he was doing that back when the family was still living in the tiny Alabama town of Millry, just a few minutes east of the Mississippi border.

But LaFondra Jordan did know that Dexter loved the gospel music she would listen to on Sundays. And after the family moved to Greensboro when he was 8, his mother supported him as he joined the church choir and eventually enrolled into Greensboro’s high school for the arts, Weaver Academy. And of course, she was right there beside him the day he belted out “For Your Glory” onstage at the Apollo.

“My mother loved gospel,” Jordan says.

“I mean, she liked some of the old jams, like Encore or Rick James, but what she really loved was anything gospel. She would listen

to the Clark Sisters or Israel Houghton, and I’m grateful for that, because it helped me understand harmonies and things like that.”

By November of 2016, Jordan was still paralyzed by the pain of his loss when Charlotte producer Yung Citizen approached him about a project he was doing, Alive Sessions, which would feature several area rappers and singers performing together on a collaborative EP. Jordan wasn’t sure he could do it.

“Yung Citizen had reached out to me when my mom passed, and he still checks on me to this day,” Jordan says. “He’s like a brother to me, so it just felt natural for me to collaborate on this.” He remembers finally feeling inspired when he arrived at the first meeting. “I went to the studio with all the others — Mori Bea, Modest Jon and everybody else that was on the record. Yung’s vision for doing this was just so beautiful.”

That vision was to forge a true collaboration among a diverse group of Charlotte artists. When it came time for Jordan to write a verse for a track called

Dexter Jordan merch

T-SHIRTS DESIGNED BY QUINCY WOODARD

CLCLT.COM | NOV. 23 - NOV. 29, 2017 | 21

The Bee Gees? No, it’s Miami Dice’s Scott Weaver, aka Chaka Wolf Fever (from left); Josh Faggart, aka Le Joshua; and Shaun Olson, aka Dr. Dice.

MUSIC

PHOTO BY KEVIN CONDON

MUSICMAKER

THROWBACK. GLAMOROUS. COCKTAILS. HEDONISM. What’s up with Miami Dice?

BY MARK KEMP

NOW HIRING INTERNS. THE BRIGHTER, THE BETTER. EMAIL BACKTALK@CLCLT.COM

22 | NOV. 23 - NOV. 29, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

WHEN SINGERS Dexter Jordan and Deion Reverie open this week for Charlotte’s Miami Dice and Boston’s Smoota — the Harvardeducated trombonist and groove merchant who’s been likened to Serge Gainsbourg, Barry White, Bryan Ferry, Peaches and Beck — you can expect a Love Boat-load of sexy and sensual R&B, self-consciously playful disco, and lots of sparkly, ‘70s-style duds.

Smoota may be donning the white, Don Johnson leisure suits (at least that’s what he does in his publicity photos), but Miami Dice will be steering this yacht. That’s the trio helmed by singer, bassist and keyboardist Shaun Olson (aka Dr. Dice), and fleshed out by his two crewmen, drummer and synth plyer Josh Faggart (Le Joshua) and trumpeter, backup singer and stylist Scott Weaver (Chaka Wolf Fever).

The trio’s debut album from 2015, Premium Cut, was a velvety wash of R&B, funk

and Italo disco, and its followup mixtape, Venus In Retrograde, added lots of familiar samples for more playful fun.

With all the perfect hair, neatly trimed beards and silky-smooth suits, it might seem as though you’ll be rubbing shoulders with Sonny Crocket and Ricardo Tubbs on a set designed by the Interview magazine-era Andy Warhol when you step into Snug Harbor this week, but don’t fret. This crew will have you back out the doors and safely on the streets of Plaza Midwood by the wee hours.

Creative Loafing has wanted to check in with Miami Dice for a while now, and this week’s gig provided the perfect opportunity.

So we contacted Olson — who also played with Dice man Faggart in the Charlotte dreampop band Cement Stars — to get the lowdown on what’s cooking with the trio right now, and what they have in store for the near future.

Creative Loafing: What was your original concept for Miami Dice when you first put the trio together?

Shaun Olson: Miami Dice started as a solo side project to my former band Cement Stars.

It was mostly instrumental electronic stuff that’s not too different from the music we make now. I did that for about four years until the band was formed.

Your trumpet guy, Scott Weaver, may be Charlotte’s most ubiquitous scenester.

How did you lasso him into the project?

Scott was the last to join. He’s pretty much responsible for the overall look and style of the band. We didn’t have much of a visual presence before he joined. [laughs] We’ve always been good friends and one night he told me, yelling over a packed crowd at Snug, that he wanted to play trumpet with us. The rest is history.

1980s-period Genesis? No, it’s Miami Dice’s Le Joshua, Chaka Wolf Fever and Dr. Dice.

Cement Stars was more of a dreampoptype outfit. What made you want to revisit Italo disco?

I’ve always been a huge fan of the Italo disco aesthetic. My idea was to take that and mix it with a more R&B-type vibe, with fragments of deep house sprinkled in. Somehow it all works out be something that people dig.

Who were some of your influences in this regard?

Pharrell Williams has been a big influence for a long time. I would say that’s pretty apparent with this band; his melodies and rhythms hold a special place in my heart. I also love Johnny Jewel — he’s a great producer and performer. His works on the new Twin Peaks soundtrack are wonderful.

On Venus, I hear lots of samples of familiar songs, and you’ve distingushed between that set being a mixtape and the first one being an album. Hell, I still get confused as to what the difference between a mixtape and an album is half the time. Does it just mean you used more samples?

Yes, Venus in Retrograde was titled a mixtape because of our heavy use of samples. We came into it with the idea that we would put together a cassette tape that used a lot of samples and had more instrumentals and interludes than full songs. Not really an album or an EP, but a tape with a mix of Dice vibes. We also worked with Justin Aswell on it; he pretty much became the fourth member of Dice. We plan to work with him again for this next record.

PHOTO BY JIM MCGUIRE

So you’re working on new material?

Yes, we are currently writing songs for our next record titled DICELAND. That’s about all the info I can give you right now. (laughs) You did a really cool video for your song “I Just Want to Know” — it looked to me like a mashup of a Warhol film (if he’d made it during his Interview mag era) and an episode of Miami Vice. Can you tell me what you guys discussed when you were planning the concept for that clip?

For the video, it was Scott and Enid Valu who came up with the concept. Here’s a quote from Scott: [Olson proceeds to quote, verbatim, stuff he and Weaver already told another local media outlet, so for fun we’ll just drop in a few choice words from those quotes: “throwback,” “glamorous,” “cocktails,” “hedonism.”]

What other projects are you involved in?

You do some DJing, don’t you?

I occasionally DJ under the name DR DICE, and have some recording projects that I’m working on with Shadowgraphs [the local band that features Olson’s brother, Bryan] and Lil Skritt. We are collaborating with several special guests for our next record, as well.

What new can we expect from the upcoming show at Snug Harbor?

New songs. New colors. New fashion.

MKEMP@CLCLT.COM

Celebrate the holidays at Levine Museum of the New South!

Sip while shopping local at the Museum on Nov. 30, 6-8 p.m.

Sip & Shop includes a chocolate and wine tasting by Dennis Vineyards and Carolina Chocolate Company Share Charlotte's history and culture with your out-of-town guests during the holiday season!

50% every Sunday! Tour Cotton Fields to Skyscrapers, K(NO)W Justice K(NO)W Peace (extended through 2018!) and Camp Greene.

200 E. 7th Street

museumofthenewsouth.org.

CLCLT.COM | NOV. 23 - NOV. 29, 2017 | 23

MUSIC

SOUNDBOARD

NOVEMBER 23 CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH John Alexander Jazz Trio (Blue Restaurant & Bar)

COUNTRY/FOLK The Loose Lugnuts (Thirsty Beaver)

DJ/ELECTRONIC Le Bangsgiving (Snug Harbor)

POP/ROCK Open Mic at Studio 13 (Studio 13, Cornelius) Open Mic for Musicians (Crown Station Coffeehouse and Pub) Ziggy Pockets (RiRa Irish Pub)

NOVEMBER 24 CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH Jazzy Fridays (Freshwaters Restaurant) Ronnie Laws, Walter Beasley (McGlohon Theater at Spirit Square)

BLUES/ROOTS/INTERNATIONAL Steven Engler Band (Blue Restaurant & Bar)

COUNTRY/FOLK BJ Barham (The Evening Muse) Ellis Paul (Evening Muse) Jon Langston (Coyote Joe’s) The Lenny Federal Band (Comet Grill)

DJ/ELECTRONIC DJ Method (RiRa Irish Pub) Jade Cicada, Esseks (Neighborhood Theatre)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Lyricist’s Lounge (Upscale Lounge & Restaurant) Miami Dice, Smoota, Dexter Jordan (Snug Harbor)

COUNTRY/FOLK Anthony Orio (Tin Roof)

POP/ROCK Carmen Tate Band (Beantown Tavern, Matthews) MoFunGo (Crown Station Coffeehouse and Pub) Alright, Group Text, Bince live matinee (Petra’s) Cullen Wade & The Waters, Featherpocket (The Evening Muse) Digital Noir featuring DJ Spider & Michael Price (Milestone) The Mantras, Porch 40 (Neighborhood Theatre) Mike Ramsey, Gabrielle Sophia (The Evening Muse) The New Familiars Presents: The 6th Annual Tribute to Levon Helm (Visulite Theatre) Move (Crown Station Coffeehouse and Pub) Pluto for Planet (RiRa Irish Pub) Seether (The Fillmore)

NOVEMBER 26 CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH Jazz Brunch (RiRa Irish Pub)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie (The Fillmore)

DJ/ELECTRONIC

Keyshia Cole (The Fillmore)

DJ Phalse ID (RiRa Irish Pub) Bone Snugs-N-Harmony (Snug Harbor)

POP/ROCK

POP/ROCK

Black Ritual, Morganton, Ozai, Felly Castelow (Milestone) Mollywops (Crown Station) Cody Hare, Jason Herring (Petra’s) The Houston Brothers Aqualads (Snug Harbor) The New Familiars Presents: The 6th Annual Tribute to Levon Helm (Visulite Theatre) Wicked Powers (RiRa Irish Pub)

NOVEMBER 25 BLUES/ROOTS/INTERNATIONAL Su CASA: The November Edition! (Petra’s)

DJ/ELECTRONIC Bear Grillz: American Freakshow Tour (The Underground) Move: Local & Visiting DJ’s (Crown Station Coffeehouse and Pub) 24 | NOV. 23 - NOV. 29, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

SEND US

Omari and The Hellhounds (Comet Grill)

NOVEMBER 27 HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Hip Hop Night Charlotte: Black Linen, PrInce Solomon, Richie Rust, Indigo JO, Railz The Principle, Th3 Higher (Petra’s) Knocturnal (Snug Harbor) Stone Soul Mic Love (Freedom Factory @ Seeds) #MFGD Open Mic (Apostrophe Lounge)

POP/ROCK Find Your Muse Open Mic welcomes Curtis Stith (The Evening Muse) Music Trivia (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Open Mic with Jade Moore (Primal Brewery, Huntersville)

SOUNDBOARD

MUSIC

Open Mic with Lisa De Novo (Legion Brewing) Locals Live: The Best in Local Live Music & Local Craft Beers (Tin Roof) The Monday Night Allstars (Visulite Theatre)

Cornelius)

NOVEMBER 28

November Residency: Jaggermouth, The

BLUES/ROOTS/INTERNATIONAL

Jettison Five (RiRa Irish Pub) WEND Not So Acoustic Xmas: X Ambassadors,

Business People, IAMDYNAMITE, High Reaper (Snug Harbor)

CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH

COMING SOON

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

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Koo Koo Kanga Roo, MC Lars (The Evening Muse)

POP/ROCK Cosmic Charlie: Dead and Co After Party (Visulite Theatre) Dead and Company (Spectrum Center) Dead And Company After Party: Coddle Creek and Psylo Joe (The Rabbit Hole) Hodera, Small Talks, Ol’ Sport, Paperback (Snug Harbor) Mayhem - ‘de Mysteriis Dom Sathanas’ Tour Immolation, Black Anvil (Neighborhood Theatre) WEND Not So Acoustic Xmas: Bleachers, J Roddy Walson, The Business (The Fillmore)

NOVEMBER 29 CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH The Clarence Palmer Trio (Morehead Tavern)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Free Hookah Wednesdays Ladies Night (Kabob House, Persian Cuisine)

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

COUNTRY/FOLK Malcolm Holcombe, Chuck Johnson “The CharlyHorse” (The Evening Muse) Open mic w/ Jared Allen (Jack Beagles) Open Mic/Open Jam (Comet Grill)

Open Mic & Songwriter Workshop (Petra’s)

Demon Eye, Space Wizard (December 1, Snug Harbor) Stitchy C, J Rosevelt, Marshall Alexander, Illpo, KY:AM (December 1, Milestone)

❈ ❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈ ❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈

FROM COYOTE

JOE’S

❈ ❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈ ❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈

The Aces (The Fillmore)

Tonya Wood (Crown Station Coffeehouse and Pub)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

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YOUR LISTINGS!

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Tune in 11/22 for CL’s newest podcast featuring:

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CLCLT.COM | NOV. 23 - NOV. 29, 2017 | 25

ARTS

FEATURE

SENSUAL EROTIC XXXPRESSION “THE S.E.X. SHOW” November 25 December 2, 9th, 16th, 23rd, 31st All shows start at 8 p.m.

Diamonds of Charlotte 124 Atando Avenue $10 sexylifestylespecialist.com

KEEPIN’ IT REAL ABOUT SEX There’s more to poet’s erotic burlesque show than meets the eye

BY PAT MORAN

W

HAT I’VE LEARNED is, sex sells,” Courtney Longmire says.

The 27-year-old Charlotte writer, who performs as Iz-Real the Poet, may be making an understatement. Hot on the heels of his sold out, standing-room-only erotic burlesque show in Baltimore, the self-styled Sexy Life Style Specialist is promoting a series of Queen City performances he calls Sensual Erotic XXXpression, or The S.E.X. Show, starting November 25. Each performance, hosted by Longmire as Iz-Real, is an ever-changing combination of erotic poetry, comedy, exotic dancers, body arts and BDSM. That last item, a compendium of erotic practices involving bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, embodies the most potent ingredient in Longmire’s erotic exhibition — education.

“In our show, we use the erotic to raise awareness,” he says. In an entertaining and tasteful way — there is no nudity allowed in the performances — the S.E.X. variety shows feature experts on topics like how to perform oral sex properly and the science and psychology of bondage and submission.

“A lot of people run from BDSM,” Longmire says. “We run to it.”

“I got into [BDSM], and it changed my life,” he continues. “It taught me how to follow instructions, how to pay attention to the details.”

Longmire is convinced that teaching the practices aligned with BDSM can help dismantle rape culture and womanizing culture because it’s predicated on consent and it teaches respect. People can use the lessons learned in the subculture and apply them to their day-to-day lives, he maintains.

“It can educate people how not to cat call, or abuse women’s — or anyone’s — rights,” he adds, “it can have a snowball effect.”

Longmire stresses that performances of The S.E.X. Show, which run through December, are good, if not quite squeaky clean, fun.

“It’s a variety show, so [audiences] will experience all arts forms. We have comedians, exotic dancers, ballet dancers, poets, sex educators and body art. Audience members can consent to be painted. We have sing-alongs where our DJ plays 1990s R&B. It’s all very interactive.”

26 | NOV. 23 - NOV. 29, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

Iz-Real the Poet versifying in style

PHOTO BY CRYS FARRAR

“A LOT OF PEOPLE RUN FROM BDSM. WE RUN TO IT.” -CORTNEY LONGMIRE (IZ-REAL THE POET) To help foster the communal sexy vibe, Longmire tells the audience that they are in a judgment-free zone where everyone is welcome.

“Our show is a safe space for adults to express their sexuality in an artistic manner,” he says, adding that the audience demographic is about a 50-50 split between African-Americans and non AfricanAmericans — 50 percent African-American, 40 percent Caucasian, and 10 percent other or mixed. “[The audience] mingle and talk to each other and hang out. At a certain point you forget how divided Charlotte can be because everyone is enjoying the show together. It’s

just a melting pot.”

So how did a nice boy from Charlotte become a sexual master of ceremonies?

“I’ve always been a writer.’” Longmire says. “Any time people asked for it, I’d give them a story.”

After graduating from Jay M. Robinson High School in Concord, Longmire attended Central Piedmont Community College.

There he started dating a young poet and decided to accompany her to a poetry slam to show support. At his very first slam, he was hooked, Longmire remembers.

He started participating in youth slams.

From there, it was a short but challenging step to poetry night at the now shuttered

Wine Up in NoDa. Longmire met the host, JC the Poet, who Longmire calls the godfather of poetry in Charlotte.

“JC threw me up there onstage into the deep end,” Longmire says. “I messed up, forgot my poem, [and] just started free styling. I got offstage. He said, ‘Yo, you have potential. You are going to be a beast. Come back every Thursday.’”

At this point, Longmire was dabbling in political poetry. He was not yet the erotic MC he is today. One of his mentors, the poet CP Maze, put him on the path. “[Maze] said that every poet has his learning curve where they find their voice,” Longmire remembers, “and when you find your voice that’s when you become who you are meant to be.”

Longmire spent two years performing poetry around Charlotte, building his fan base and establishing his brand. In 2013, he moved to New York City.

“Living in New York, I experienced culture shock. So when I met someone I would get them to [tell me] their story, and I would put it into poetry.”

Longmire’s strategy for adjusting to his urban environment resulted in The Real One, his first published book of poetry. That 2015 collection contained political poems and love poems, as well as the stories that Longmire collected and turned into poems. He was still finding his voice. Then he published his second book, When Moons Cry, a spiritual journey that championed women’s rights.

“The metaphor for When Moons Cry is when women get so fed up with this negative reality, they begin to wail and cry,” Longmire explains. “Those tears can heal humanity.”

Longmire’s latest book came out last year. The One Who Brought Forth Day is a collection of inspirational poems designed to uplift people and help them overcome their trials and tribulations, Longmire says.

The title is based on scripture: “Joy cometh in the morning.”

Based on this volume Longmire has been nominated Author of the Year for the 2017 Queen City Awards. He’s also a nominee this year for the Poetry in Motion Award, an honor he won last year. The award ceremony will be held at Oasis Shriners Auditorium at 604 Doug Mayes Place in Charlotte.

For Longmire, spirituality and reverence for women is but a short step from his chosen sexy lifestyle. While he was publishing books, he was also putting out spoken word CDs, including his call to wage war for love, Fist and Roses Loves Revolution; Queendom, a celebration of the divine feminine energy in everything; and Chocolate Covered Orgasms, which he calls his full blown introduction to the erotic. That 2012 release launched Longmire’s career in the erotic genre, he says.

Iz-Real the Poet and Makayla Freeman work the crowd His latest project debuted last Valentine’s Day. His S.E.X. Tape Soulful Erotic Xpression, covers some of Longmire’s favorite 1990s R&B songs. Longmire lays down his smooth and sultry erotic poetry on top of classic tracks by artists like Anita Baker.

Having found his voice and his métier, Longmire moved back to Charlotte last March and launched the S.E.X. show, and his vocation as Sexy Lifestyle Brand Ambassador.

“When I was in New York, I just got into style. I’m addicted to dressing up. The perfect example is how they dress in the movie Kingsman. That’s me 24-7.”

Style is essential to the lifestyle he

PHOTO BY TYRONE COMBS

promotes, Longmire says, which is an integration of politics, art, professionalism and the erotic. His motto and mission statement is: “We’re living on purpose, with purpose, for a purpose.”

“What that means is that under my brand I have culinary items, chefs, fitness experts, life coaches, poets and painters,” Longmire says, all of which contributes to living consciously with a personal style and a sense of responsibility.

“A lot of people see the erotic shows, but they don’t understand the intent behind them,” Longmire says, adding that he is actively promoting causes that help people.

Iz-Real the Poet and Teisha Fox collaborate on erotic art “We promoted breast cancer awareness throughout October. We sponsored pap smears.”

AIDS awareness is frequently promoted, with free onsite testing available at some of the shows, Longmire says.

“To gain attention [for these causes], we use the vehicle of the erotic.”

With all this on his plate, as well as Floetry, the erotic open mic he hosts at Flo

PHOTO BY TYRONE COMBS

Bar and Lounge in north Charlotte, Longmire contends that the main focus in his life will always be connecting with his audiences.

“Being around them brings me fulfillment,” he says. “I’m never going to be one of those artists that stays backstage the whole time until I go onstage. Instead, I’m seating people, ushering them to their seats, and taking photos. We’re like a family.”

PMORAN@CLCLT.COM

CLCLT.COM | NOV. 23 - NOV. 29, 2017 | 27

ARTS

FILM

THE WAULS OF JUSTICE Superhero saga is a crying shame

BY MATT BRUNSON

For more videos & interviews check out

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28 | NOV. 23 - NOV. 29, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

Look! Up on the screen! It’s a mirage! It’s an apparition! It’s Wonder Woman!

Certainly, after the three-and-out represented by Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Suicide Squad, the arrival of this past summer’s Wonder Woman was nothing short of a miracle. The solo starring vehicle for the Amazonian warrior princess clicked on all cylinders, and it appeared that DC had finally turned the corner and would begin producing superhero sagas as acclaimed and as beloved as those emanating from the Marvel warehouse.

But if Justice League (** out of four) makes anything clear, it’s that Wonder Woman was an illusion, a cinematic sleight of hand, and the celluloid equivalent of a stopped clock being right twice a day. Justice League defaults to the problems that have plagued the DCEU films pre-WW, and while it offers more pleasures than its detractors would ever admit, it still qualifies as yet another big-screen disappointment from The House That Clark Built.

A constant problem in all the DCEU titles (even Wonder Woman) has been the lack of a truly great villain, and that debit continues with this picture. Steppenwolf (voiced by Ciaran Hinds) is the latest baddie du jour, a towering CGI entity plotting to conquer Earth with the aid of demonic insects. Naturally, such a threat couldn’t be handled by just one hero, so Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ben Affleck) and Diane Price/Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) assemble a crime-fighting outfit whose members also include Barry Allen/The Flash (Ezra Miller), Arthur Curry/Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and Victor Stone/Cyborg (Ray Fisher). As expected, Superman (Henry Cavill) returns from the dead, although he’s inexplicably something of a combative tool when initially revived. But after Batman whispers “Martha” to him, he’s just fine. (OK, the scene actually plays out with Superman smacking around the other heroes, but this alternate approach would have made just as much sense and saved the producers several million bucks in the process.)

As with Suicide Squad, the high volume of colorfully costumed characters provides variety but not depth. The broad strokes applied by scripters Chris Terrio and Josh Whedon work in spurts, often dependent on the performance of the actor in question. Of the newbies, Miller comes off best, offering the only humor in the film that doesn’t come off as hopelessly forced. Momoa’s Aquaman

Saoirse Ronan in ‘Lady Bird.’ functions better as eye candy than as an interesting personality, while Fisher’s Cyborg makes even less of an impression. Cavill is typically dull as Superman, and while Affleck is again fine as Bruce Wayne, his bulky Batman outfit is distracting, making him look less like the Dark Knight and more like somebody’s drunk uncle who reluctantly dressed up to amuse the neighborhood kids at Halloween. Thus, Gadot again ends up as a saving grace, and she also figures at the center of one of the few action sequences (a bank robbery) that’s exciting rather than cumbersome.

Indeed, much of the film feels heavy and unwieldy, from the FX set-pieces to the cluttered storyline to the overall aesthetic design of the picture. Gadot, Miller, and some of the character interactions in the early going provide enormous lift, but as it stands, Justice League ultimately registers as an alsoran in the ongoing superhero sweepstakes.

COMING-OF-AGE MOVIES can often feel as ubiquitous as superhero films, yet Lady Bird (***1/2 out of four) turns out to be one of those special efforts that manages to leapfrog over the competition with a single bound.

Although known primarily as an actress, Greta Gerwig has worked before as a writer and director, and here she devotes all her attention to those duties. This is the first time she doesn’t star in her own story — instead, the lead is Saoirse Ronan, delivering a performance that compares favorably to her smashing turn in 2015’s Oscar-nominated Brooklyn.

Set in Sacramento in 2002, the film orbits around Christine McPherson (Ronan), a high school student who prefers to go by the nickname “Lady Bird.” Like any normal teenager, Christine wants to be accepted by the popular kids and hopes to find love in the arms of a desirable classmate.

These are Herculean challenges for almost any adolescent, but they’re even more difficult for someone as individualistic and uncompromising as Christine. Also adding to her woes is the testy relationship she shares with her mother Marion (Laurie Metcalf), whose tough-love approach is often misinterpreted by Christine as outright disdain and disgust.

There isn’t much in Lady Bird that doesn’t feel recognizable from past films of this nature, but it’s Gerwig’s ability to make her protagonist’s struggles feel raw and real that allows this affecting film to soar.

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marketplace 34 | NOV. 23 - NOV. 29, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

NIGHTLIFE

ME, MOM AND FANTASIA A little pre-Thanksgiving family turn-up time show later on that night. I shared in my last DID YOU KNOW Fantasia Barrino, the column that Sofar has introduced the city to winner American Idol season 3, lives in the an entirely unique live music experience. One Queen City? that is intimate and mysterious. We showed Well, anyone who kept up with her or up at the venue, this time it was at Yoga who’s a Charlottean probably does, and that includes my mom. A few weeks ago, she Warrior Studio located off Morehead Street. sent me a link to an event and asked me We couldn’t quite tell where we needed to if I wanted to go. I took a gander at the go in when a guy walks up and instructs us luncheon put on by Café Mocha Radio called to ring the doorbell. I thought, “Okay, Sofar the ‘Salute Her’: Beauty of Diversity Awards. a doorbell? You’re taking it too far.” “What Why was my mom interested in going to is it you’re here for anyway,” he asked with that? “Because ‘Tasia’s’ gonna be there,” she genuine curiosity. I told him that we were said. I relented, she never asks for much. there to see a show to which he responded, Friday I introduced her to the beauty of “Oh you must be here for the video.”

Stoke Charlotte — the décor, the ambiance, It could’ve totally been possible for the pork shank and the pretzel brioche. To the creators of Sofar to allow one of their my surprise, her sometimes finicky palate performers to make a video. But was impressed by the subtle flavors thankfully, that motherly and textures I introduced her to. instinct kicked in as we By the time we finished eating rounded the corner of the and watching Thor: Ragnarok office building and saw a at Studio Move Grill, we were room filled fluorescent both pooped. purple lighting. “What Saturday morning, kind of video?” All of a I didn’t think I’d be able sudden we all realized convince my body that it that we were in the was time to get up until my wrong place. mom gently tapped me and I don’t know what reminded me it was almost AERIN SPRUILL I’d done if these guys had time for the luncheon to start. convinced my mom to be a I threw on a simple black dress and called an Uber. video hoe.

Once there, we eventually reached a We laughed and walked around point where both of us were asking, “Will we the other side of the building and found starve before the luncheon starts?” But just the entrance to one of the most beautiful as our impatience was taking over, Fantasia yoga studios that I’ve seen in Charlotte. walked by. I thought my mom was going Before even laying our eyes on the intimacy to pass out. We watched as she greeted of the smaller event space/stage, we were everyone while photographers snapped captivated by a yogi performing some form away. of aerial acrobatics. I knew then that mom’s I tried to help my mom gather herself first Sofar experience was going to be epic. as we sat down at our assigned table and The show unfolded nicely before us while prepared to eat while our host, Loni Love we listened to the unique sounds of Hedera, from The Real, entertained us. Speech Dust & Ashes and Sidney Murray. If you after speech, I felt more privileged and haven’t checked any of them out yet, you appreciative of sharing a moment I would’ve better! never even considered if it hadn’t been for I finished up the third PBR tall boy I’d my mom — or maybe it was the glass of red BYOBed after the show concluded and waited wine and three-course meal? Nevertheless, for my mom to agree to drive us to The as the luncheon was wrapping up, Fantasia Corner Pub for late night family time. Again, walks by and my mom grabs her arm, tells she’d had a full day but she tried to play it her we’re from her hometown and gives her cool as all my regular favorites introduced a kiss on her cheek. Fantasia smiled, thanked themselves. By the end of the night, when her and told her she loved her hair. Again, I she hopped in the car to head back to my thought she would pass out. But that’s the house, I knew she’d had enough. But the beauty of Charlotte, you never know who’s fullness of our Queen City adventures was going to be around every corner. one of the best pre-Thanksgiving turn ups As if she hadn’t had enough excitement for the day, let alone the entire weekend, I’d we could’ve asked for. convinced her to go to the Sofar Charlotte BACKTALK@CLCLT.COM

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FeeLing Lonely?

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BOXING CLASSES ACROSS

1 Racket string material 7 Mornings, in brief 10 Tip politely, as a cap 14 Foe 19 Goddess of the arts 20 Single guy 22 Cartoon art of Japan 23 Flip one’s lid 25 Certain opening for a bolt 26 Proportional relationship 27 Millennium ends?

28 Bottle plugs 30 Welsh pooch 33 Brit’s baby buggy 35 “I think,” to a texter 37 Former miler Sebastian 38 Rainbow part 39 Drake’s genre 41 Small, aggressive fowl 47 24-hr. sources of bills 49 Sorority letter 51 Bluto pursued her 52 Having ill will 53 Free-swimming, stalkless echinoderm 56 In addition 58 Big blender brand 59 “-- Was a Lady” (Ethel Merman song) 60 Crystal ball user 61 Spring or fall 63 Discontinue 64 Martyr who’s the patron of sailors 66 Made red-faced 68 24 hours -69 Rouse to action 74 Close kin, for short 77 Final deed 78 Walks pompously 82 Capote, to pals 83 Distill brine from 84 Put in a juicer 88 Fertiliser compound 89 “Crimewave” director Sam 91 “... bug -- feature?”

92 Wallow, as a pig in mud 94 Erase from memory 96 Crude 98 Kansas city 99 In -- (testy) 100 Language of Chaucer

103 Gershwin’s “Concerto --” 105 Prefix with propyl 106 Suffix with urban 107 Wormfish lookalike 108 Focal points 110 Aspiring attys.’ exams 112 Make dingier 116 -- roll (hot) 118 Mizrahi of fashion 120 See 97-Down 121 Genre for a headbanger 127 Carried 128 Motorcycle attachments 129 Dwell too much (on) 130 Hog havens 131 Smell 132 Vote against 133 Word that can follow seven key words in this puzzle

DOWN

1 Half- -- (latte order) 2 Ocean east of Ga. 3 Your, old-style 4 Knighted maestro Solti 5 One-sided 6 1909-13 president 7 Detest 8 Risque West 9 Proposed arrangement 10 Mass per unit volume 11 Trite 12 City near Sacramento 13 Worry 14 Pest control option 15 Examines 16 Loathsome 17 Love god 18 “I’m game!”

21 Easter roast 24 Server rewarders 29 Dos + seis 30 Vexes 31 Gulp down more than 32 Renovated 34 Die away 36 Toy dog 40 1861-65 prez 42 Neither fish -- fowl 43 Elected 44 Falsified, as a check 45 Kagan on the bench 46 Dweebish 48 Makes quiet

graB Your copy today

50 Mao -- -tung 54 Hot-rod engine 55 PLO leader 57 Island with Interstate H1 61 Philosopher Jean-Paul 62 Chances 65 Eye rudely 67 Pen brand 68 Exuberant cry in Mexico 70 Downs a brew, say 71 Ruler of yore 72 Like escapees 73 Sicilian lava spewer 74 Play, as a guitar 75 Shiraz native 76 Put together 79 Edenic place 80 Most factual 81 Fights 83 Sounds after hang-ups 85 Nobelist Root 86 -- -Z (total) 87 Singer Etheridge 90 Doctor’s field 92 1914-18 conflict: Abbr.

93 Galloped 95 Stagger 97 With 120-Across, from square one 101 Sea nymph 102 Tribal illness curer 104 In a sauce of blazing liquor 109 Itsy- -111 Italian for “pardon me” 112 Smidgens 113 Gershwin’s “-Rhythm” 114 Goa garb 115 Really, really 117 JFK’s home 119 “That’s -- blow” 122 Ruckus 123 History topic 124 Subdivision: Abbr.

125 “Kinda” suffix 126 Texas hrs.

SOLUTION FOUND ON P. 38.

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I’m a twentysomething straight woman. do horrible things to these imaginary people About a month ago, I had a really vivid to entertain us, MEAN, it’s OK for you and dream in which I was at a party and your boyfriend (if he’s game) to do much less engaging with a guy I had just met. We horrible things to an imaginary third person were seriously flirting. Then my fiancé to entertain yourselves. showed up — my real, flesh-and-blood, But why limit this to fantasy? Why not sleeping-next-to-me fiancé — who we’ll fuck your fiancé’s brains out after flirting call G. In the dream, I proceeded to with and subsequently humiliating a living, shower G with attention and PDA; I was breathing, willing third? all over him in a way we typically aren’t But first, MEAN, give some thought to in public. I was clearly doing it to get a what exactly turns you on about this and then reaction from the guy I’d just spent the discuss it with your fiancé. It turns you on to last dream-hour seducing. It was as if it see your partner through another’s eyes for had been my plan all along. Last night, I obvious reasons — when someone else wants had a similar dream. This time, the guy to fuck him, you see him with fresh eyes and was an old high-school boyfriend, want to fuck him that much more. but otherwise it was the same: As for the power-play aspects of flirty baiting, followed by your fantasy, does your turnthe use of G to reject and on evaporate if your victim is a willing participant? humiliate the other guy.

And how do you feel I was really turned on about threesomes? by these dreams. In real Threesomes don’t have life, whenever another to involve intercourse woman has flirted or outercourse or any with G, I get aroused other sort of ’course, of — conscious of some course. Bringing someone feelings of jealousy but DAN SAVAGE else in — someone who drawing pleasure from gets off on the idea of being them. And when other men humiliated — counts as a have flirted with me, I get threesome, even if all your third similarly aroused for G. There is “gets” to do is be ditched in a bar. You definitely a component in that arousal that wants to tease and mock these could even work up to letting your willing other men with what they can’t have, third watch and/or listen while your fiancé even though the teasing is just in my gets to do what he will never get to do — head. I would NEVER use another person fuck your amazing brains out — which would like I do in these dreams/fantasies, allow for the humiliation games to continue because it’s cruel. But could this become all night long. a healthy role-playing outlet for me and G? Are there ethical implications to hurting strangers (albeit imaginary ones) for sexual pleasure? From what little I know of degradation/humiliation kinks, it’s important that the person being degraded is experiencing pleasure and satisfaction. Is it healthy to make someone’s (again, an imaginary someone’s) unwilling pain a part of our pleasure? If G is into it, this would be our first foray into fantasy/roleplaying/whatever. But I worry that I might be poisoning the well by pursuing something so mean-spirited.

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SOLUTION TO THIS WEEK'S PUZZLE

WHERE WE ALL REFUSE TO WEAR SOCKS.

(March 21 to April 19) You’ve let yourself be distracted from what’s really important. But love finally gets your attention this week. However, it comes with a challenge that could create a problem.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Be careful not to bully others into following your lead. Best advice: Persuade, don’t push, and you’ll get the cooperation you need to move forward with your plans.

GEMINI (May 21 to

June 20) Resist the urge to gloat now that you’ve proved your detractors wrong. Instead, charm them back into your circle. Remember: A former foe can become your best ally.

CANCER (June 21 to

July 22) You might want to claim all the credit for making this holiday season special. But is it worth producing a lot of hurt feelings by rejecting offers of help? Think about it.

LEO (July 23 to August 22) Ignore a co-worker’s questionable behavior.

Instead, put your energy into making your own project special. Then sit back and purr over your well-deserved applause.

VIRGO (August 23 to

September 22) You might not want to accept those suggested changes in your workplace. But don’t chuck them out before you check them out. You could be happily surprised.

LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) Your holiday planning might have to take a back seat for a bit so that you can handle a problem with a friend or family member. Your schedule resumes by the 9th.

SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) Relationships in general benefit during the early part of the week, including in the workplace. Also expect some overdue changes in a personal situation.

SAG I T TA R I U S

(November 22 to December 21) “Prudence” should be your watchword this week. Best not to be too open about some of the things that are currently happening in your life.

CAPRICORN

(December 22 to January 19) Money is on your mind, so you’d best mind how you’re spending it.

Take another look at that holiday budget and see where you can make adjustments.

AQUARIUS (January

20 to February 18) Resolving to revive an old friendship could open some old wounds. Are you sure you want to risk that?

Think this through before making a commitment.

PISCES

(February 19 to March 20) Your need to know more about a new friend could lead to some startling revelations.

Best advice: Keep an open mind about what all the facts are in.

you learn until

BORN THIS WEEK Your loyalty to friends makes you a very special person to those whose lives you’ve touched.

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