2017 Issue 8 Creative Loafing Charlotte by Creative Loafing Charlotte

CLCLT.COM | APRIL 13 - APRIL 19, 2017 VOL. 31, NO. 8

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EDITORIAL

NEWS EDITOR • Ryan Pitkin rpitkin@clclt.com FILM CRITIC • Matt Brunson mattonmovies@gmail.com THEATER CRITIC • Perry Tannenbaum perrytannenbaum@gmail.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS • Jasmin Herrera, Corbie Hill, Erin Tracy-Blackwood, Vivian Carol, Charles Easley, Chrissie Nelson, Page Leggett, Alison Leininger, Sherrell Dorsey, Dan Savage, Aerin Spruill, Chuck Shepherd, Jeff Hahne, Samir Shukla, Courtney Mihocik, Debra Renee Seth, Vanessa Infanzon, Matt Comer

ART/DESIGN

GRAPHIC DESIGNER • Dana Vindigni dvindigni@clclt.com CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS • Justin Driscoll, Brian Twitty, Zach Nesmith

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PHOTO BY ANDY MCMILLAN.

Joshua Cotterino will play at Snug Harbor on April 15.

NEWS&CULTURE ACTIVELY MOURNING Homicide support groups scramble in an already violent year BY RYAN PITKIN 9 EDITOR’S NOTE 14 THE BLOTTER 15 NEWS OF THE WEIRD

FOOD COMMON GROUNDS Enderly Coffee isn’t just roasting beans — it’s empowering a community BY JASMIN HERRERA 19 THREE-COURSE SPIEL: ELENA KACAN BY DEBRA RENEE SETH

MUSIC THE ART OF MEMORY Anglea Saylor brings her experimental music project Minthill back home BY MARK KEMP 20 TOP 10 THINGS TO D0 26 SOUNDBOARD

ARTS&ENT NINE FROM THE ROAD A stand-up comedy lesson from a local pro

BY CARLOS VALENCIA 31 ARTSPEAK: LO’VONIA PARKS BY RYAN PITKIN 32 FILM REVIEWS BY MATT BRUNSON

ODDS&ENDS 34 MARKETPLACE 34 NIGHTLIFE BY AERIN SPRUILL 35 CROSSWORD 36 SAVAGE LOVE 38 HOROSCOPE BY VIVIAN CAROL

Go to clclt.com for videos and more!!

COVER DESIGN BY DANA VINDIGNI CLCLT.COM | APRIL 13 - APRIL 19, 2017 VOL. 31, NO. 8

Website: www.clclt.com Facebook: /clclt Pinterest: @clclt Twitter: @cl_charlotte Instagram: @creativeloafingcharlotte YouTube: /qccreativeloafing 1 | DATE - DATE, 2015 | CLCLT.COM

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VIEWS

EDITOR’S NOTE

BE THERE NOW How to deal with rising murder numbers JUST FIVE DAYS into 2017, the Charlotte

Our hats are off to Williams and all who devote so much of their lives to helping area saw four murders, including the killing of a Kannapolis police officer’s 14-year-old others through the harrowing experience of son as he sat in his aunt’s car. Things looked losing a loved one to violence of any kind. dire, and they haven’t gotten much better. May we all spend more of our own time Just a couple of weeks ago, on April 3, doing similar service. another 14-year-old, Taylor Smith, was shot Not everything is doom and gloom in the down in a Mount Holly park. Police have Queen City, though. charged two other teens with her murder. For this week’s arts feature, we enlisted “It never gets easier, especially when Charlotte funnyman Carlos Valencia to pen it’s the children,” Judy Williams tells CL a little lesson on how to survive a stand-up news editor Ryan Pitkin in this issue’s cover comedy tour that takes you to redneck bars story about the folks who serve as a support system for families of muder victims. in the deepest of the Deep South. (Hint: “We’ve got a new generation that’s Don’t ask old bikers to get up and dance.) starting even younger,” says Williams, a coPrepare to crack a smile or two, and maybe founder of MoMO, which stands for Mothers even LOL a few times. of Murdered Offspring. “And the criminals In the music section, you’ll see that are getting younger and younger.” I caught up with the experimental At press time, the number of electronic musician Angela homicides in Charlotte this year Saylor, who’s revived the had reached 28, according to Minthill project she the Charlotte-Mecklenburg launched more than a Police Department, and if decade ago when she the murder rate continues rising, it could top 100 was living in the Pacific for the first time since the Northwest birthplace of early 1990s, when murder the riot-grrrl movement, rates in cities across the Olympia, Wash., and country were at record feeling oddly nostalgic for highs. the Charlotte area. Why are more people MARK KEMP Saylor reanimated her killing each other again? If Minthill alter ego recently after you’re on the right, you may blame she learned of the tragic death of it on the elusive “other” (which usually her friend and fellow former Olympian Joey just means “people who are not like me”); if you’re on the left, you likely see a growing Casio, the electronic musician who died along culture of hate, anger and frustration with 36 others in the Ghost Ship warehouse coupled with easy access to guns. fire in Oakland, Calif., late last year. But Pitkin’s story doesn’t ask why or In January, she organized a memorial point fingers. It asks what we can do to help. show for the fire victims, and now Saylor, One thing we can do is support the efforts who grew up in Mint Hill, is bringing her of folks like Judy Williams, who for the past Minthill project to two spots in Plaza 24 years has accepted the monumental task Midwood in the next couple of weeks: Snug of being there for the families and friends of Harbor on April 18, and then the BOOM murder victims. Charlotte fringe arts fest on April 29. Williams, Pitkin writes, has been so busy traveling from funeral to funeral recently And speaking of BOOM, CL’s Pat Moran that she’s hardly had time to rest. She and talks to another act appearing at that festival two others — her son David Howard, a later this month: Mall Goth, a band that former Charlotte City Council member, blends music and over-the-top theater as and Dee Sumpter — founded MoMO after seamlessly as the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Sumpter’s daughter was murdered during Or maybe GWAR. Or maybe both. Charlotte’s deadlist year, 1993. Stay tuned to Creative Loafing for more Williams tells Pitkin that she doesn’t on BOOM as we get closer to the weekend want supporting families of murder victims of April 28-30. to get easier for her. “I want it to be as For now, let’s stay in the moment, whether uncomfortable as it can get for me and we’re supporting the grieving families of everybody else I’m around,” she says. “I don’t want people to ease into a state of local murder victims or experiencing the acceptance, to where we just say, ‘Well, that’s beauty and awe of local art. just life.’ No, it’s not.” CLCLT.COM | APR. 13 - APR. 19, 2017 | 9

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COVER STORY

NEWS

Charlotte murder victims in 2017 include [On opposite page, clockwise from top left] Jabari Stewart, 38; Anthony Frazier, 14; Christian Allen, 18; Jennifer Smith, 34; Tyshaud Brown, 18.

ACTIVELY MOURNING Homicide support organizations scramble to keep up in an already violent year BY RYAN PITKIN

UDY WILLIAMS IS literally

tired from all the killing. I could see it in the way she sat, and in the way she sometimes stared off into the distance when we spoke one recent Saturday afternoon. Williams had held a vigil or memorial of some sort to honor a different Charlotte-area homicide victim on each night of the week leading up to that day, and it sometimes seemed during our conversation as if her mind was racing among the multiple things she had to focus on. Williams’ grandkids waited in her minivan while we sat on a bench outside McEwen Funeral Service. Inside, the family and friends of 14-year-old Taylor Smith held a service in her memory. Following the service, Williams would lead a balloon release to honor Smith in the neighboring Sharon Memorial Park. Smith, who lived in Charlotte, was shot and killed at a park in Mount Holly on April 3. Police have charged two Charlotte teens, 17-year-old Eric Combs, Jr. and 18-year-old Darvon Fletcher, with her murder. Fletcher is in custody, and police believe Combs is in Ohio with his mother. “It never gets easier, especially when it’s the children,” Williams said. “The children are the hardest. We’ve got a new generation that’s starting even younger. This one is 14. She was 14. And the criminals are getting younger and younger.” A co-founder of Mothers of Murdered Offspring [MoMO], Williams has been memorializing Charlotte-area murder victims for 24 years along with her fellow cofounders, Dee Sumpter and David Howard, a former Charlotte City Council member and Williams’ son. Williams has been much busier than normal this year. In the first 100 days of 2017, the 31 killings in Charlotte is more than double the amount seen in the city at this point last year. There is some inconsistency between that number and the official number of “homicides” recorded by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, which is 28. By definition, a homicide occurs when one person kills another person, which has occurred purposefully 31 times in Charlotte this year. However, like most police departments nationwide, CMPD follows the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting guidelines, which do not count “justifiable homicides” among the total. The killings of Josue Diaz and Iaroslav Mosiiuk at the hands of CMPD officers were both deemed justifiable homicides by investigators, as was the killing of Phuc Doan in January by the resident of a home

other like we have lately, it makes it even harder for us to get to all of them,” she said the following day. “We don’t have but seven days in the week. This is the reason we’re doing this balloon release today, because we couldn’t fit a candlelight service in. There were no days in the week left. “It’s very overwhelming because you don’t want to miss anybody. You want to take care of every family. And sometimes you do miss them. It’s overwhelming. It’s just overwhelming trying to do this with my life.”

Williams’ reality. Sumpter, a close family friend of Williams and Howard, had just lost her only daughter, Shawna Hawk, in a devastating murder. Hawk had been raped, sodomized and strangled by Henry Wallace, a serial killer who claimed 11 victims before finally being arrested in 1994. As Williams sat with Sumpter, grieving in Williams’ living room, she suggested the trio start a support group for victims going through the emotional trauma Sumpter was experiencing. It was an off-the-cuff idea she thought could help Sumpter refocus her energy during her time of mourning. “We were trying to really just pull her mind off of this horrific crime that had just happened to her only daughter,” Williams says. “I kind of threw that out there, and the next day David said to me, ‘You know what, Mama, that might be the thing that will get her through this and manage for us to get her mind off of all this by focusing it on something else.’” On March 29, just a month and 10 days from Hawk’s killing, Mothers of Murdered Offspring held its first meeting. Now, even during stressful times like those of late, Williams couldn’t imagine life without MoMO. “People have told us it’s because of us they made it,” Williams said. Of course, she would rather be doing something else, but as long as murders are occurring in Charlotte, Williams said she will be there to help support the victims’ families and loved ones. She does not hide from the discomfort and pain her job brings. When asked if it ever gets easier to deal with the devastation left behind by a violent death, Williams spoke with the insight of someone who has been standing face to face with it for more than two decades. “I don’t think it will ever get easier, and I don’t want it to get easier. I want it to get easy because it stops. I don’t want it to get easy while we’re still doing it, because we should never get comfortable with people dying, or people being murdered, lives being taken,” she said. “I don’t ever want to get comfortable with that. I want it to be as uncomfortable as it can get for me and everybody else I’m around. I don’t want people to ease into a state of acceptance, to where we just say, ‘Well, that’s just life.’ No, it’s not. I don’t want it to ever be just life. I want people to know there’s something wrong with this. This is not normal. This is not the way it’s supposed to be.” Martine Highet, a victim support

IT WAS DURING that record violent year in Charlotte, 1993, that this life became

SEE

PHOTO COURTESY OF MOTHERS OF MURDERED OFFSPRING

Mothers of Murdered Offspring founders [from left] Dee Sumpter, Judy Williams and David Howard.

“It never gets easier, especially when it’s the children. The children are the hardest. We’ve got a new generation that’s starting even younger ... the criminals are getting younger and younger.” -JUDY WILLIAMS, CO-FOUNDER, MOTHER OF MURDERED OFFSPRING

he had allegedly broken into. Even using the CMPD’s number of 28, Charlotte is on pace to see about 102 killings this year, a number that would top 100 for the first time since 1993, when police investigated 123 murders, according to stats from the North Carolina Department of Justice. For someone like Williams, the murders come too fast to keep up with. When I called her on the Friday before we met, she was confused as to which memorial she would be attending on which day for the coming weekend. “When we get them piled on top of each

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NEWS

COVER STORY

MOURN FROM P.12 t specialist with CMPD, shares Williams’ dedication. CMPD’s Victim Assistance Services [VAS], which Highet heads up, was originally named Homicide Support. It was created by then-Chief Rodney Monroe in 2009 and expanded this year by Chief Kerr Putney to include services for family members who have lost loved ones to circumstances other than murder. Highet or one of the 19 volunteers who work with VAS, all of whom have lost loved ones to homicides, visit the scene of each homicide to offer their support to the victim’s family. They then follow through with services for the family, such as offering counseling referrals or helping them apply for the state’s Victim Compensation Services program. The group also meets as a support group on the first Tuesday of every month. For Highet, it doesn’t matter if the number of homicides sits at one or 100, the result is still strikingly sad. “One is too many. When people focus on the numbers, one is too many, one family is too many,” Highet said when I spoke to her in her office at the CMPD headquarters last week. She pointed to a black couch where countless family members have sat in distress over the last eight years. “I hate having families sit here on this couch and us having to talk to them about this tragic event that just happened to them and the aftermath of a homicide. It’s just the most horrific day of their life. I wish we didn’t need to have so many families sit here.” As stressful as it can be, Highet is comforted by the strength she witnesses in families and communities rallying in support of their own. “You can get a really good idea of what kind of person the victim was when you meet their family and you meet their extended family,” she said. “And some times those extended families are just church members and they come out, and there’s beauty in that. You see the beauty in the midst of all these horrific events. You see it when you listen to the families talk about their loved one, what kind of person they were.” Highet also draws encouragement from the overwhelming support she experiences from volunteers and support group members in times like these, when she may be scrambling to keep up with the amount of families in need of help. “It becomes challenging at times. We want to make sure we meet the needs of all the families,” she said. “When we’re stretched thin, that’s when we rally together — the volunteers and even other members of our police department will say, ‘Hey Martine, I know you’ve got a lot going on, if you need help, let me help.’”

BUT WHERE IS the help coming from, otherwise? For all the talk of violent crime waves and policing during the recent election, community members like Williams and Highet are fighting a losing battle with relatively few people on their side. I met Jack Logan in 2014 at a memorial 12 | APR. 13 - APR. 19, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

marking the one-year anniversary of Jonathan Ferrell’s death at the hands of then-CMPD officer Randall Kerrick. Logan founded Put Dow the Guns Now, an organization aimed at educating young people and their parents on gun safety. I gave him a call last week to get his thoughts on the recent situation, as I know he’s familiar with Charlotte and travels here to speak to young people about gun violence on a regular basis. He said his first trip to Charlotte this year came just three days into the year following the murder of Anthony Frazier, a 14-year-old boy shot during an attempted robbery in east Charlotte on January 2.

approach to outreach is effective in that it takes the conversation to the youth in a way that can’t be ignored. “I want to see the people in the city of Charlotte do like we do, on their feet every day,” Logan said. “Social media is fine. There’s a lot of social media use by the activists up there, but those kids are not your crop of teens that you really need to reach. I feel that being on feet, being in those parks, where some teenagers are just standing around, smoking. I want to see people do that, go on foot. We do it daily, and that’s what needs to be done by activists.”

This map shows the location of 31 killings to happen in Charlotte in the first 100 days of 2017, ending April 10. Black tags depict shootings; red, stabbings; and blue, other. Visit clclt.com for an interactive version that will be updated as the year goes on. Despite offering a $15,000 reward for information in the case, investigators have come up empty handed. When I spoke with Logan, he voiced his frustration that Frazier’s killing didn’t elicit the same response as Ferrell’s. “You’ve got a bunch of activists up there in Charlotte who will fight the police all day long, but they don’t show up for anybody else,” Logan said. Some of Logan’s ideas — that if people only respected police they not be mistreated by them, or that more lax gun laws would lead to a drop in crime — haven’t led to much progress in this country in the past, but his

While he recognizes the importance of work beig done by MoMA and VAS, Logan said his efforts are different in that he aims to be proactive rather than reactive. Where Williams aims to comfort families in their darkest moment, Logan hopes to reach a kid before that moment comes. “It’s OK to do the candlelight vigils, but the people who go to the candelights, they’ve lost their loved one, they’re hurt. Basically, they don’t hear a word you’re saying, because at that time they’re grieving about the loss of their loved one. You have to catch them

prior to something like that, and that’s what we do, and that’s what I plan to do more of in Charlotte,” Logan said. “I’m tired of seeing mothers go to the mortuary to look down on their son or daughter, and this other mother going over to the Department of Corrections for the rest of their life. That’s what we’re about, trying to prevent those.” To be clear, MoMA and VAS both take part in preventative programs with other organizations in the city. Like Logan, Williams harbors a skeptical view of social media, but for different reasons. In fact, Williams’ got visibly upset when she shared her views on how technology has cultivated a disconnect in human relations. Her voice rose for the first time since I’d met her as she painted a picture of how apps have acted as an alternative to true parenting and cellphones have taken the place of interaction. “Everybody is so caught up in social media for communication, and I think that’s becoming damaging to our society as far as relationships are concerned,” she said. “People are created to relate. We are supposed to relate. When people get to where they’re not communicating face to face, being touchy touchy, giving hugs, you know, that human touch, I think we lose something. For me, it is asking people to put down those phones a little bit — not just to put down the guns, but put down the phones, too.” That’s when the distant stare came back, and I realized how hard it must be to surround yourself with loss as Williams has done so consistently for so long. When she left Taylor Smith’s service, Williams would begin planning and printing materials for the next night, when she would host a vigil for Ruby and Curtis Atkinson, allegedly murdered by their son, who then kidnapped their granddaughter before fleeing the state. The girl had been living with her grandparents since her father’s murder earlier. The Atkinson’s son was eventually arrested and the girl found safe, though freshly traumatized. Williams’ job would be to comfort what was left of a family ravaged by violence. I asked if she ever felt discouraged in times like these. The question awakened her energy. “What you have to do is just keep on keeping on. I’m going to keep on as long as there’s breath in my body, as long as I’m able to physically, that’s how long I intend to continue doing this,” she said. “I get discouraged, I still cry at the services, but it’s not to the point where I’m going I quit. I’m not going to quit because then, all the years we’ve put into it are in vain.” At that point, Williams continued about her solemn business for the evening. She led yet another grieving family in releasing a bevy of purple and white balloons into the air while they stood and pondered where to go from there. As for Williams, she would humbly continue her role as a guiding light while the sun prepared to set, knowing that tomorrow, her work would continue. RPITKIN@CLCLT.COM

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NEWS

BLOTTER

BY RYAN PITKIN

SPRAYED UP A few employees at an optical media storage company — whatever that is — were probably late into work last week after a workplace beef was taken to the next level in the early morning hours. According to the report, two women in their early 20s were waiting at the bus stop to get to work at 6:15 a.m. one morning when the suspect drove by and sprayed them both with pepper spray. The victims told police that the suspect was their coworker, and that the incident stemmed from something that had occurred at work the previous day. WORKING GIRLS We hope a 57-year-old man in west Charlotte learned his lesson last week, although it’s still unclear exactly what that lesson is. Police responded to a call about an assault and found the man, who they said was already heavily intoxicated. He told police that two ladies had just assaulted him with an unopened can of beer while he sat waiting for a bus. He told police the two women approached him and offered him sex for money, but when he denied them, they smashed him in the face with the beer can, then went through his pockets. The two ladies made off with his cellphone, his food stamps and the cash he had in his pockets. WELP Employees running a north Charlotte

neighborhood recently invested $250 to stop thievery and other criminal activity at the neighborhood clubhouse. It seems the plan didn’t work, however, as someone stole the $250 surveillance camera the homeowner’s association had just put up a week prior.

THE SHINING A 39-year-old man filed a police report after the tenants at a house he was renting out in northwest Charlotte vandalized the property before moving out. The man told police that the tenants pulled what appeared to be some sort of vegan protest when they flooded the downstairs with a mixture of grease and blood. All in all, the tenants-turned-vandals did $1,200 in damage to the carpet and linoleum floors. KIDS Police responded to a call to Statesville

Elementary School last week after a student decided they couldn’t take a minute more of class, let alone another trip through junior high and high school. According to the report, the boy “endangered the lives and property of students and staff by setting a fire in the school classroom. In an unrelated incident, staff at McClintock Middle School got police involved after finding a group of kids deciding to make a three-day weekend where there was none, as all were found consuming alcohol together in class on a Monday afternoon. Keep in mind that middle school students are 11 to 14 years old.

OUT OF BOUNDS When police are forced 14 | APR. 13 - APR. 19, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

to present you with a custom-made map showing you what parts of property you’re actually allowed onto in a certain part of the city, you may as well pick up and move to a new part of town. Police responded to a disturbance on Nations Ford Road last week after a man was banned from the La Casa Inn motel and decided to walk across the street after being escorted off the property. The problem there was that he was then standing on the property of Knights Inn motel, from which he had already been banned at a previous day. According to the report, the suspect was officially banned from both — this time in the presence of a police officer — and given a map of the areas he was banned from.

ROCK STAR Police responded to an InTown

Suites in north Charlotte after management there found that someone had partied too hard during their stay there. Employees told officers the suspect stayed there for a week, and when he left, they found that the wall was damaged where the 43-inch flat screen had been torn off it, lamps were torn off the walls, cigarette burns were on the carpet and nightstand, the refrigerator was dented, the shower rod and curtain were pulled from the wall and the door handle was broken off of the door completely.

YOUR BIGGEST FAN Police responded

to the scene of an affray — cop talk for a big ass fight — in south Charlotte last week, but one guy had already escalated things beyond return by the time they arrived. According to those on the scene, two guys were in a fight when two more guys jumped in to help their buddy. As would be expected, the odd man out started to get beat up pretty bad, suffering injuries to his face. He was able to get away from the other guys and went in his house and grabbed a knife. He came out and waved the knife at the other men in the yard, and when they backed up and gave him room, he picked up a large outdoor fan and threw it through the window of one of the guys’ cars.

SANDWICH ARTISTS Management at a

Subway on Sunset Road in north Charlotte called police last week after a man came into fix some equipment that didn’t need fixing. Employees told police that the mechanic visited the store and intentionally took apart a commercial toaster oven worth $6,000. The kicker? The toaster oven was in full working order, and the man was only supposed to be delivering an invoice to the store that day.

OPENING DAY A bunch of thieves are now

in possession of stolen goods that aren’t good for much unless they’re starting their own little league teams. A man filed a report last week stating that the thieves had broken into a storage shed at some baseball fields in the Newell neighborhood and stolen a riding lawn mower, a weed eater, a leaf blower, eight buckets of baseballs, some batting tees and two football tackling dummies.

NEWS

NEWS OF THE WEIRD

BY CHUCK SHEPHERD

TRY, TRY AGAIN Samuel West announced in April that his Museum of Failure will open in Helsingborg, Sweden, in June, to commemorate innovation missteps that might serve as inspiration for future successes. Among the initial exhibits: coffeeinfused Coca-Cola; the Bic “For Her” pen; the Twitter Peek, a 2009 device that does nothing except send and receive tweets with a screen only 25 characters wide; and HarleyDavidson’s 1990s line of colognes. West’s is only the latest attempt to immortalize failure with a “museum.” Previous attempts, such as those in 2007 and 2014, apparently failed. GOVERNMENT IN ACTION Toronto, Ontario, Superior Court Justice Alex Pazaratz finally ridded his docket of the maddening, freeloading couple that had quibbled incessantly about each other’s “harassments.” Neither Noora Abdulaali, 32, nor her nowex-husband, Kadhim Salih, 43, had worked a day in the five years since they immigrated from Iraq, having almost immediately gone on disability benefits and begun exploiting Legal Aid Toronto in their many attempts to one-up each other with restraining orders. Approving the couple’s settlement in March, Judge Pazaratz added, “The next time anyone at Legal Aid Ontario tells you they’re short of money, don’t believe it. ... Not if they’re funding cases like this.” DEVIL IN THE DETAILS In May, a new

restaurant-disclosure regulation mandated by the Affordable Care Act is scheduled to kick in, requiring eateries — except small chains and independents — to post calorie counts for all menu items including “variations.” One Domino’s Pizza executive said this meant, for his company, posting “34 million” calorie listings. The executive called the regulation “a 20th-century approach to a 21st-century question,” since for many establishments, orders increasingly arrive online or by phone.

REDNECK CHRONICLES (1) Dennis

Smith, 65, was arrested in Senoia, Georgia, and charged with stealing dirt from the elderly widow of the man Smith said had given him permission to take it. Smith, a “dirt broker,” had taken more than 180 dumptruck loads. (2) New for Valentine’s Day from the SayItWithBeef.com company: a bouquet of beef jerky slices, formed to resemble a dozen full-petaled roses ($59). Also available: daisies. Chief selling point: Flowers die quickly, but jerky is forever.

NEW WORLD ORDER In March, Harvard Medical School technicians announced a smartphone app to give fertility-conscious men an accurate semen analysis, including sperm concentration, motility and total count — costing probably less than $10. Included is a magnification attachment and

a “microfluidic” chip. The insertable app magnifies and photographs the “loaded” chip, instantly reporting the results. To answer the most frequent question: No, semen never touches your phone. The device still needs Food and Drug Administration approval.

HIPSTERS ON THE RISE (1) The Columbia Room bar in Washington, D.C., recently introduced the “In Search of Time Past” cocktail — splashed with a tincture of old, musty books. Management vacuumsealed pages with grapeseed oil, then “fatwashed” them with a “neutral high-proof” spirit, and added a vintage sherry, mushroom cordial and eucalyptus. (2) The California reggae rock band Slightly Stoopid recently produced a vinyl record that was “smokable,” according to Billboard magazine — using a “super resinous variety of hashish” mastered at the Los Angeles studio Capsule Labs. The first two versions’ sound quality disappointed and were apparently quickly smoked, but a third is in production. PRIORITIES The telephone “area” code

in the tony English city of Bath (01225) is different than that of adjacent Radstock (01761) and probably better explained by landline telephone infrastructure than a legal boundary. However, a Bath councilwoman said in April that she is dealing with complaints by 10 new residents who paid high-end prices for their homes only to find that they came with the 01761 code. Admitted one Bath resident, “I do consider my phone number to be part of my identity.”

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149C Rolling Hill Rd Mooresville, NC 28117 (828) 461-1534

MAGNIFICENT EVOLVERS (1) Human

populations in Chile’s Atacama desert have apparently developed a tolerance for arsenic 100 times as powerful as the World Health Organization’s maximum safe level, according to recent research by University of Chile scientists. (2) While 80 percent of Americans age 45 or older have calcium-cluttered blood veins (atherosclerosis), about 80 percent of Bolivian Tsimane hunter-gatherers in the Amazon have clean veins, according to an April report in The Lancet. Keys for having “the healthiest hearts in the world”: walk a lot and eat monkey, wild pig and piranha.

WILD LIFE (1) University of Basel biologists

writing in the journal Science of Nature in March calculated that the global population of spiders consumes at least 400 million tons of prey yearly — about as much, by weight, as the total of meat and fish consumed by all humans. (2) University of Utah researchers trained surveillance cameras on dead animals in a local desert to study scavenger behavior and were apparently astonished to witness the disappearances of two bait cows. Over five days, according to the biologists’ recent journal article, two different badgers, working around the clock for days, had dug adjacent holes and completely buried the cows. CLCLT.COM | APR. 13 - APR. 19, 2017 | 15

Tony Santoro (left) and Marquell Pettiford hold cups of brewed Enderly Coffee.

FOOD

ALL PHOTOS BY UNCLE JUT

FEATURE

COMMON GROUNDS Enderly Coffee isn’t just roasting beans — it’s empowering a community BY JASMIN HERRERA

F YOU’RE wondering why the

name Enderly Coffee sounds familiar, it’s because you’ve probably seen a sack of its beans around town — at the Healthy Home Market, Tip Top Daily Market, Juice Bar or Hazelnuts Crêperie. And if you’re wondering where Enderly Coffee’s shop is, you’re not going to find it — not until this summer, that is. Enderly plans to open its first actual coffee shop close to its namesake neighborhood — Enderly Park. Owner Tony Santoro says he’s moving the roasting company from its current locatiuon in Echo 16 | APR. 13 - APR. 19, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

Hills to a spot on Tuckaseegee Road not far from the Milestone Club. And it’s there that he also will add the coffee shop. Santoro says he’s aware that Tuckaseegee is not exactly the first location your average coffee shop proprietor would choose for a new business. But he’s not your average coffee shop proprietor. Santoro is committed to social justice issues, using coffee he buys straight from farmers in other countries and employing kids from underserved neighborhoods. “Part of me gets very excited to pull people from different parts of the city into a neighborhood that’s very different from theirs and allows them to just rub shoulders

with people who are different than them,” Santoro says. The new shop, he adds, will include wi-fi, food options and other beverages including teas and frappuccinos. He hopes Enderly Coffee will be a space where the community can come together, whether it be for neighborhood association meetings or poetry slams.

SANTORO’S OBSESSION with coffee came long before he dreamed of opening his own roasting business. The 33-year-old says coffee has been a central part of his and his wife Becky’s relationship since they began dating at Michigan State University when

she was a barista. “We’d find ourselves a lot of late nights doing homework together at the coffee shop,” he remembers. “When she was working I’d always come in the morning and get my coffee. So that was always like a sentimental spot for us.” Before they opened the roasting business, the Santoros, who were school teachers at the time, would always make it a priority to try out local coffee shops’ brews when traveling, and after fancy dinners they would order coffee instead of wine. “Not that we were snobs by any means,” he says. “We just enjoyed it for what it was.”

“PART OF ME GETS VERY EXCITED TO PULL PEOPLE FROM DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE CITY INTO A NEIGHBORHOOD THAT’S VERY DIFFERENT FROM THEIRS.” -TONY SANTORO

The couple named their roasting business for the neighborhood they moved to when they first arrived in Charlotte. After looking at homes in up-and-coming areas of town, the Santoros decided on Enderly Park in order to stick with their Detroit dream of moving to a neighborhood where they could make a difference. “We wanted to do something intentional [in terms of] how and where we lived,” Santoro says. “We wanted to build a community and be in a place that’s not the trendy, gentrified place, so to speak.” Another big deciding factor for the couple came when viewing a home in Enderly Park; future neighbors came over and were “super gracious,” Santoro says. “The feeling between the house and between the people we met just felt right.” After the recession of 2008, the Santoros’ teacher salaries were affected by pay freezes, and the job Santoro loved began to become a financial burden. “I was in my seventh year thinking, ‘OK, well, teaching’s not my future. I need something, so what is it going to be?’ At that time I was applying everywhere: I was looking at the banks — this, that and the other.” At home, he was roasting coffee as a hobby. “I found out that you could do it

at home in a popcorn popper,” he says. “I YouTubed it, and then I tried it, and I could do it. I was like, ‘This is cool.’ So I started doing that more and more at home, and then I started selling some to our friends and family, and our church, Watershed, started buying it.” A friend encouraged him to pursue coffee roasting professionally, offering Santoro a job that would allow him to get the business up and going. Santoro began buying his beans from big coffee importers, but as a smallbusiness owner, he saw a need to support farmers directly rather than using corporate middlemen who hiked up prices and didn’t pay farmers what Santoro thought they deserved. For the same reason he prefers local shops to Walmart, Santoro started buying more directly from farmers abroad. “For example, the Peruvian coffee I get, it’s bought through this direct-trade company called Farm to Roast,” Santoro says. “He’s a guy up in Pennsylvania and he has a connection with a guy in Peru, and together they have imported a bunch of small-farm coffee. By buying it though their company instead of through a big importer, he verifies that the farmer is getting a dollar more per pound than fair-market value. So the farmer’s getting more, there’s less middlemen involved, I’m getting a fair price on it.” He gets his Rwandan and Guatemalan coffees through

Pettiford hand-stamps individual Enderly Coffee bags. similar relationships. For his Costa Rican coffee, Santoro partners with the Balzac Brothers from Charleston, S.C. “Cool story actually,” he says. “The Brazil that I just bought from the Balzac Brothers – his grandpa used to buy from [that same farm] back in the early 1900s. They’re actually bringing coffee from the same farm that his grandpa did 100 years ago!”

SANTORO WORKS toward a socially conscious business model in other ways, too. When his roasting company first began making money, he started supporting a neighborhood organization called QC Family Tree. “I wanted to start the company in a way where I could use it to do some good things in the neighborhood,” he says. One tangible way has been to create jobs for local kids who have grown up in the neighborhood, like Marquell Pettiford, now 20, who says working for the roasting business has caused a life-changing shift in his attitude. “Since I’ve been working here I’ve been more focused,” Pettiford says. “I feel like I’m important to something. Before, I wasn’t as dedicated to things as I should be. Not just

work, but school. I’m more passionate about things now. I’m looking more in depth about everything.” Santoro’s business practices have made an impact on Pettiford, who grew up in west Charlotte. “If I was spending money before, I was just going to spend it,” Pettiford adds. “Now I’m really thinking about how it can affect people like me.” Pettiford went to Harding University High School but did not complete his diploma. Since beginning work at Enderly, he has completed his GED at Central Piedmont Community College, and is now pursuing a degree in engineering and has bought his first car. Santoro hopes Pettiford will be able to gain skills he needs to be successful and go off to create his own life. When he opens the coffee shop, Santoro plans to employ more kids like Pettiford so the business can continue creating opportunities. He says he wants to “use the shop to make sure my money is staying in this cycle of improving people.” All his life, Santoro says, “I didn’t just want a job, I wanted to be a part of something.” Now he’s created something for others to be a part of. CLCLT.COM | APR. 13 - APR. 19, 2017 | 17

FOOD

THREE-COURSE SPIEL

IN THE MARKET Three questions for Elena Kacan of Fidelli’s Italian BY DEBRA RENEE SETH

WITH SO MUCH growth and competition in Charlotte, restaurants and other businesses are relying more than ever on the power of marketing to elevate their brands. Enter marketing pro Elena Kacan, who is gaining respect in the city’s culinary world even though she rarely picks up a knife. Kacan represents the next generation of culinary professionals in Charlotte: the 24-year-old Concord native and Appalachian State University grad is the in-house director of communications for Fidelli’s Italian Restaurant, a new eatery gaining attention in the heart of South End. As communications director, Kacan’s job is way more than just buying ads, planning events or sending out fliers. She is a key influencer in the Fidelli’s dining experience and spends her time talking to patrons, researching the competition, tracking trends and tasting food — all to find new and creative ways to convey the vision of the owner while appealing to the senses of South End’s ever-changing demographics. A tough job? We caught up with her at her usual spot by the back bar to find out.

DISHING FRESH FOOD AND BEVERAGE NEWS WEEKLY.

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Creative Loafing: You look pretty young to have aready landed a top job at one of the hottest new restaurants. How did you do it? Kacan: (Laughs) Well I graduated from App State back in 2014. I was studying to be a broadcaster but realized I had a knack for sales. After college I started selling media and although I worked for a really good company, I didn’t really like what I was selling. It felt like work. During that time I’d moved Uptown and totally fell in love with living in the city. I decided I didn’t want to sell media anymore but I was willing to do whatever it took to keep living Uptown. I ended up taking a waitress job at another restaraunt, and even though the pay was less I really enjoyed the environment and the interactions with my guests. A chance meeting led to me being introduced to [Fidelli’s] owner Scott Richardson, who liked my energy and fresh perspective. He’s a Harvard Business grad who ran several other successful businesses before opening Fidelli’s. Because of that he was really open to take a chance and committed to bringing a fresh millenial perspective to this new business. I was just smart enough to follow up.

What are some of the innovations at Fidelli’s that you may not find other places? Since we are so new and in such a vivid and exciting area of the city we wanted a really cool architectural design and visual aesthetic. When you walk in it’s a really clean and open space but it’s also very warm and nurturing. People can come here in yoga pants or on date night and still feel just fine. These were concepts the owner envisioned but I help bring to life. From our digital menu boards to a credit card-operated, self-serve wine bar, we’re pretty cutting edge but we’re not stuffy. Just imagine if Chipotle and Panera had an Italian baby with lots of wine. That’s us. Some may argue that marketing and culinary arts are in two totally different lanes. Your thoughts? They can believe that if they want to, but this is 2017. Technology is booming and competion is everywhere. If you don’t have a strong brand image and customers who are loyal, you will not survive. But those relationships are easily built through effective marketing, and this is true not only in culinary arts but in all business. Great marketing and real engagement bridges gaps, gets you real feedback and opens the door for growth. I focus on that growth of our business everyday, from menu selection to wine pricing. I am a hands-on part of our daily operations, so it seems safe to say the lanes have merged. At Fidelli’s we don’t fight progress or change. We are committed to maximizing engagement with our customers because we know the strongest relationships are built through two-way communication, brand positioning and familiarity. So yeah, I guess you can say myself and others like me are redefining the term “culinary pro.”

CLCLT.COM | APR. 13 - APR. 19, 2017 | 19

THURSDAY

OFFICER INVOLVED What: This month’s Screen @ Levine feature is an expository documentary that tells the story of officer-involved shootings from the viewpoint of the police officers who were involved, while dissecting the course of events of each shooting and its aftermath. Attendees will view Levine’s “K(NO)W Justice K(NO)W Peace” gallery during a reception before heading next door to the Wells Fargo Playhouse for the screening.

When: 5:30 p.m. Where: Levine Museum of the New South, 200 E. 7th St. More: $5-10. museumofthenewsouth.org.

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THURSDAY

THINGS TO DO

TOP TEN

Dustin Farnsworth sculpture FRIDAY

COURTESY OF THE MCCOLL CENTER

FRIDAY

REVEREND HYLTON

VIBRATIONS

TELL ME MORE

What: Homespun guitar strumming collides with hair-raising and harrowing storytelling on Reverend Hylton’s latest album Stubborn Nail. Time was, Hylton was that stubborn nail, reveling in the myth of the rambling music man — hitting the road, imbibing/abusing substances with reckless abandon, and resistant to changing his ways. He’s cleaned up his act, but his rough hewn Americana retains its grit and gravitas, delivered in a drawling rasp that suggests a punked-out Leon Russell.

What: Guerilla Poets and the Charlotte Art League’s new monthly “Vibrations” event is all about young, at-risk Charlotte artists interacting through poetry, music and other forms of expression. The theme of this month’s event is “Reflections” and will feature reflective works from the kids of Time Out Youth. One visitor on Facebook recently praised the Charlotte Art League as “a wonderful venue with multiple local artists showcasing their talents . . . It made my day!”

What: The McColl Center’s new exhibit highlights nontraditional approaches to figuration in pieces exploring the communities surrounding us. You’ll see works by past and current McColl artistsin-residence Dustin Farnsworth, whose sculptures and drawings are anthropological studies of the energy, agricultural and automotive industries; Joyce J. Scott, whose beadworks are commentaries on race and gender; and Mary Tuma, whose fabric works she calls “emotional landscapes.”

When: 9 p.m. Where: The Milestone, 3400 Tuckaseegee Rd. More: $5-$7. themilestoneclub.com.

When: 7-9 p.m. Where: Charlotte Art League, 1517 Camden Road. More: Free. charlotteartleague.org.

When: 6-9 p.m. Where: McColl Center for Art + Innovation, 721 N. Tryon St. More: Free. mccollcenter.org.

SATURDAY

WAIST DEEP: THE OPERA CUT What: Hip Hop Orchestrated has teamed with the Gantt Center and Opera Carolina to create a mashup event focused on the 1996 flick Waist Deep and Girl of the West, an opera written in 1910. Organizers will discuss the parallels between the two and explore the representation of black fatherhood in American society in connection with the Gantt Center’s Zun Lee: Father Figure exhibit.

When: 1-3 p.m. Where: Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, 551 S. Tryon St. More: $15. hiphoporchestrated.com.

NEWS ARTS FOOD MUSIC ODDS

Robyn Springer MONDAY

Bombadil SATURDAY

Reverend Hylton THURSDAY COURTESY OF EASTCOAST ENTERTAINMENT

SATURDAY

SINNERS & SAINTS/ BOMBADIL

SATURDAY

COURTESY OF BOMBADIL

COURTESY OF REVEREND HYLTON

MONDAY

TUESDAY

ART SCAVENGER HUNT

LUNCH HOUR JAZZ

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS

JOSHUA COTTERINO

What: After losing two longstanding members in 2014 and 2015, it looked as if Bombadil was set to call it quits. Instead, the Durham folk-pop trio regrouped and hit the reset button. Their latest release, Fences, features a stripped-down, guitar-driven sound on Bombadil’s catchiest songs to date. Headliners Sinners & Saints are Charlotte favorites — this show is the album release party for the duo’s new LP On the Other Side.

What: This time of year might make you nostalgic for Easter egg hunts, but common sense should keep you from running into a field with a bunch of children collecting all their potential eggs. The arts scavenger hunt is a good adult alternative, as this event will send you into the city looking for murals and other metaphorical Easter eggs. Even better, the event will raise funds for Guerilla Poets, which provides arts programs to the city’s most vulnerable populations.

What: Kick off Charlotte Jazz Festival Week with the first of five days of lunch hour jazz in Uptown. Performers will be playing outdoor jazz on the Pavilion Stage at Levine Center for the Arts each day around noon, beginning with a two-hour Monday show from Robyn Springer & Co. What better way to chase away those Monday blues than with a little light jazz? No ticket, no reservation, no planning necessary.

What: They just won’t go away, will they? Donald Trump’s the president and the Chili Peppers endure, having outlasted R.E.M., the Pixies, Rage Against the Machine, even Pearl Jam (for all intents and purposes), and why? What’s wrong with this world? Ah, well, c’est la vie. If you’re into those slapped basslines and the Tarzan-beating-on-his-chest shtick, then by all means, go get your “Californication” on. Us, we’ll be heading over to the dentist’s office to enjoy the sound of the drill.

What: On his Facebook page Joshua Cotterino lists several influences. Some, like Madonna and Prince, are fairly mainstream. Others — Cabaret Voltaire, Nina Hagen — are glorious loose cannons. It’s those latter, unjustly obscure artists that hint at Cotterino’s sound. Jump down his sonic rabbit hole and you’ll hear wonderfully cheesy synths, fuzzy vocals and sound effects ranging from flying saucer bleeps to squealing devil babies. All in the service of candy-coated pop songs.

When: 9 p.m. Where: Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E 36th St. More: $10. neighborhoodtheatre.com.

When: 2-7 p.m. Where: Charlotte Art League, 1517 Camden Road. More: $7. charlotteartleague.org.

When: 8 p.m. Where: Spectrum Center, 333 E. Trade St. More: $51 - $101 ticketmaster.com.

When: 9 p.m. Where: Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St. More: $5. snugrock.com.

When: Mon-Fri; 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Where: Levine Center for the Arts, 550 S. Tryon St. More: Free. blumenthalarts.org.

CLCLT.COM | APR. 13 - APR. 19, 2017 | 21

MUSIC

FEATURE

THE ART OF MEMORY Angela Saylor brings her experimental music project Minthill back home BY MARK KEMP

HEN ANGELA SAYLOR

found out the electronic musician Joey Casio was among the 36 people who died in the tragic Ghost Ship warehouse fire in Oakland, Calif., late last year, it rocked her world. The blaze had swept though a building where numerous artists lived and worked. Casio, who released music on the famed Olympia, Wash., indie label K Records, had been Saylor’s friend in another lifetime. Casio was just 36 at the time of his death. Saylor, also an electronic artist who records and performs as Minthill, is 36, too. “I hadn’t talked to him or seen him in years,” Saylor says of her old running buddy. “But I just felt like I wanted to do something, and I thought, ‘Why not here? Why not Charlotte?” In January, Saylor organized Keepsake: A Musical Memorial Benefit, at Snug Harbor. The proceeds went to the Oakland Fire Relief Fund. “Charlotte may be far away from Oakland, and maybe it’s a little removed from that [West Coast scene],” she continues, “but I tried to keep it mostly electronic artists. I really wanted to have a night where we only focused on that.” Saylor is perched on a stool by the front window at Growlers Pourhouse in NoDa, in a black lace swing dress, the sun casting a shadow over half her face in a way that gives her a pensive, moody look — not unlike the sound of her minimalist songs. When she’s not working her corporate job in tech support, Saylor has begun to get out and peform again as Minthill. She brings her musical nom de plume back to Snug Harbor on Tuesday, April 18, along with three other Charlotte-area musicians, Joshua Cotterino, Banny Grove and Dan Rico. And then, at 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 29, Minthill will perform a free show on the Intersection Stage at the BOOM Charlotte fringe music and arts festival in Plaza Midwood. That’s a lot of performing for an artist who’s been relatively quiet for about six years. Part of what inspired Saylor to reactivate Minthill was the death of Casio. “He was a big influence on my music; he would give me tips, and we would do shows together all the time,” she remembers. “He was just another cool weirdo electronic musician who did a lot of really interesting things that I’d never seen before. I had a lot of respect for him.” PHOTOS OF ANGELA SAYLOR BY MARK KEMP

22 | APR. 13 - APR. 19, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

FOR A FEW YEARS in the early 2000s and then again in the early 2010s, Saylor was a cool weirdo electronic musician who did a

lot of really interesting things, too. Born in Salisbury and raised in a rural area outside Mint Hill, the small suburban community just southeast of Charlotte, she eventually left to attend Evergreen State College in Olympia. It was a different world from the rural South of her childhood. Saylor, who as a high school teen would drive to Eastland Mall where she worked at Waves Records, always felt a little different from her peers in Mint Hill. She liked Britpop and gravitated to the experimental shoegaze sounds of ’80s and ’90s acts like the Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine. When her mother would get angry at her, she would steal away to her bedroom and play melodies on her Yamaha keyboard. By graduation, Saylor had grown so weary of what she considered the “bigotry, hypocrisy and fake Southern hospitality” of North Carolina that she wanted to get as far away as possible. She landed in Olympia just after the 1990s feminist riot grrrl movement — the musical scene launched by fiery, estrogenpowered punk bands like Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Heavens to Betsy, and later Sleater-Kinney, the band cofounded by Portlandia’s Carrie Brownstein. But by the time Saylor arrived in the small college town an hour southwest of Seattle, many of the riot grrrls had traded their electric guitars for electronics. Even Bikini Kill frontwoman Kathleen Hanna had formed the electroclash trio Le Tigre. So Saylor formed her own allfemale electronic group, Muneca Chueca. “The riot grrrl thing was pretty much over by the time I got out there,” Saylor remembers, “but there were still all these women who were making music and who were empowered and were just doing weird music and playing in bands — like Tracy + the Plastics and Kanako [Pooknyw] from Broken Water.” It was an eye-opener for Saylor, who’d felt constrained in Charlotte’s music scene. “Out there I just realized I could do anything — I could make any kind of music I wanted,” she says. “I didn’t have to play guitar or be in a conventional band.” Muneca Chueca recorded a pair of selfreleased albums (sadly, no longer available), and the group toured up and down the West Coast, getting write-ups in alternative media outlets like L.A. Weekly. One of their songs, “Julia’s Diary: Stay Out,” was a little miniopera (think “A Quick One While He’s Away,” by the Who, but much more avant-garde) that combined operatic vocals and spokenword with classical-like melodies, videogame sounds, and deep, throbbing basslines.

“WHEN I LEFT THE SOUTH I HATED IT. BUT BEING AWAY FROM IT AND NOT SURROUNDED BY IT ANYMORE, I SORT OF CREATED AN IDEA OF WHAT [IT] COULD BE, OF WHAT [IT] WAS TO ME.” -ANGELA SAYLOR

“We all played keyboards and drum machines, and dressed in different outfits for each show, so they were sort of themed shows each time we played,” Saylor remembers. The group didn’t last long, but the experience empowered Saylor. When her bandmates graduated and left Olympia, she began recording her own music alone in her bedroom in the attic of a house on Plum Street. Her first Minthill release was an EP called Mintville, which she recorded on a 4-track using a Casio keyboard, Korg ElecTribe S and R series sampler and drum machine, and a couple of effects boxes. The Ohio vanity label Tolmie Terrapin Press put it out as a limited-edition, cassette-only release in March 2003, but it’s now available on Bandcamp. The sound is minimalist, inspired by such early experimental and avant-garde forms as musique concrète and electroacoustic music, and influenced by artists ranging from composer Philip Glass to many of the artists on the British indie label Factor Records. “Mintville was the first set of songs I wrote,” Saylor says, “and the track ‘Four Eighty Five’ was one of the first songs that I remember being really, really proud of.” Gliding ruefully on a simple melody and beat, “Four Eighty Five” is a spare electronic painting daubed with impressionist lyrics in which Saylor expresses a longing for home:

“It’s a lasting impression the way the curtains frame your face,” she sings, and then later, “I’ve been away for so long in my room with the door closed. / Four eighty five is pointless . . . All across the country I hear you saying it’s internal.” Saylor was 3,000 miles away from the 485 beltway that passes through Mint Hill. And in the songs on Mintville, she was attempting to reconcile her childhood memories of growing up in the small community, listening to the Judds and Heart albums her mother liked, with her own young adulthood in one of the most progressive college towns in the U.S. “At that point I’d been living in Olympia for three years, and I was having a difficult time,” Saylor remembers. “I really loved it — I loved my freedom — but there was a part of me that felt like I had betrayed who I was, because I had gotten out and all my friends were all back here doing what they did. I was out there playing in bands and going on tour and going to college. It was such a different place. The Pacific Northwest is rainy and grey; I didn’t have Bojangles, I didn’t have sweet tea, I didn’t have the idea of Southern hospitality.” She started missing all of that, idealizing it, but she didn’t know exactly where those feelings were coming from. “It made absolutely no sense, because when I left the South, I

hated it,” Saylor says. “But being away from it and not surrounded by it anymore, I sort of created an idea of what Mint Hill could be, of what Mint Hill was to me. And that was when I started writing those songs. I guess I was trying to create another reality. Maybe I was trying to come to terms with it so I could feel OK about being from there.” From beginning to end, the Mintville EP is spectacular. “Four Eighty Five” is followed by the instrumental “Kindly Keep Track of Our Isolation,” a tenser, more jittery and nervous track — eight minutes of hissing and sparkling, tempo and volume changes, buzzing and thundering sounds, with brush stokes of conventional keyboard playing. Unlike the other tracks, you could, in theory, dance to this one. And then there’s “Windmills & a Single Blister,” a carnivalesque melody with spoken parts amid bell-like sounds and deep percussion, and the repeated words, “We haven’t come here searching you out.” The EP closes with “Finch Farm,” which like the first track is a more conventional song — this one, a riot grrrl-inspired track with a basic melody and more impressionistic lyrics: “There she was by that grave, oh no / She thought it was a grove / Whispering secrets to rocks and tree trunks — hollow, hollow, hollow, hollow, hollow. / You can’t stop the

future and I can’t change the past / So while you’re fighting for that next breath, I sit here waiting for my last. / So while I’m fighting for that next breath, you sit here waiting for your last.” “I was bringing all the memories from my past and putting it with elements of what I was going through at the time,” Saylor says. “They were really strong emotions and feelings; it was like going through another adolescence. Here I was, in my early 20s, trying to make sense of like, ‘I’m a completely different person now. I’m not that little girl from Mint Hill anymore. And what does that mean? And how can I reconcile that? I mean, I still had family here.’”

CREATIVITY HAS BEEN sporadic for

Saylor. Although she continued writing and recording and sometimes releasing her music, she moved on. In the early 2010s Saylor was living in Seoul, South Korea, where she taught English as a second language. She loved the culture and environment, yet felt very, very alone. And so she wrote about it, and recorded more music. One song, “Lucy Love,” was inspired by a student who suddenly left the school

SEE

ART P. 24 u

CLCLT.COM | APR. 13 - APR. 19, 2017 | 23

MUSIC

PHOTO BY KEISHA LUZZI-PAUL

FEATURE

From a video featuring Saylor and her former partner in the Olympia band Muneca Chueca, Julia Vering. ARTS

FROM P. 23

MINTHILL (W/ JOSHUA COTTERINO, DAN RICO, BANNY GROVE) $5. April 18, 10 p.m.; Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St. 704-561-1781. snugrock.com.

where Saylor taught. It’s also available on Bandcamp and was to be part of an album called Meadowhollow. The album was never completed, but the song, over pounding percussion, clanging bell sounds, hissing, and a vaguely Asian-like melody, includes the lyrics, “Lucy Love, Lucy Love, why did you go away?” “When she moved away, it broke my heart,” Saylor remembers. “Lucy Love” is the last recording Saylor did as Minthill that’s still available on Bandcamp. She eventually came back to Charlotte, did social work for nonprofits, taught, and landed her current job in tech support at AvidXchange. In her photo on the company’s

website, Saylor looks like any other corporate employee, not an artist who makes very avant-garde music. Whatever that looks like. But when that fire ripped through the Oakland warehouse late last year, killing her friend, it reenergized Saylor. And her recent performances in Charlotte have inspired her to begin writing and recording new material. “People here know that I make music and they know that I have music out there, but not many people here have ever seen me play,” Saylor says. “So when that happened and I played out, people were like, ‘Wow!’” She pauses, lets out a muted laugh, and continues: “And I mean, it wasn’t really a wow, but I did start getting asked to do these different shows. So I thought, ‘Well, maybe it’s time to come out and do this again.’” An early, rough take of a new track, “Nightflight” (not yet available), finds Saylor still working in a minimalist, Philip Glasslike vein — repeated, mesmerizing melody on keyboards. And she plans to re-issue her earlier works as a physical compilation along with visual artwork and video. “I’ve never stopped doing music,” Saylor says. “I’ve always done stuff for myself, and there’s always been time in between things I’ve done. That’s just how I work. And I’ve never really had a huge fan base or anything, so there’s not big demand. But there are certain people who listen to my music and respect me as a musician. And that means a lot to me. I’m trying to have a little more selfesteem about it now.” She should. Because Minthill’s music is worth hearing. And perhaps if Saylor continues to make sound paintings that evoke places and times and feelings that we all can idenify with in some way, then those certain people who respect her music will grow into a substantial fan base. “Back then, you know, I didn’t really know what exactly I was doing,” Saylor says. “But now, it’s a different time. I think there’s more people making music kind of like this. So now, maybe, it can be more accepted.” MKEMP@CLCLT.COM

TOM WALSH

T-BONES ON THE LAKE

TUES april 18TH 6PM-10PM Featuring your favorite cover songs and songs from his new album

Surreal Sensations Lake wylie, sc

24 | APR. 13 - APR. 19, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

Breathnach Music

Mall Goth: Mike Gentry, Louis Matthews, Mat Duncan, Sean Robinson, Josiah Blevins

MUSIC

MUSICMAKER

MALL GOTH VS. MIDDLE AMERICA Part rock show, part theatrical performance and all goth BY PAT MORAN

LIKE A MAGIC TRICK, Mat Duncan pulled Mall Goth out of a hat. The name of Duncan’s goth band is also the name of a character the singer and songwriter plays in darkly comic sets that have become full-blown fringe theater. It’s like a pocket Rocky Horror Picture Show with more monsters. Fittingly, the band was born like Frankenstein’s monster, says Duncan, stitched together from random elements to form a powerful whole. “I took part in this ‘band from a hat’ thing at the Courtroom, a music venue in Rock Hill. A bunch of musicians put their names in a hat, which were drawn out at random.” Thrown together with strangers, and with a month to transition into a working band, the collective needed a concept. “I said, ‘I want to make goth music, so let’s make this a goth band,’” Duncan says. “So we started writing goth songs, and we decided to call the band Mall Goth.” As the band’s catalog grew, new members joined. The current line-up includes drummer Louis Matthews, bassist Mike Gentry, guitarist Josiah Blevins and performance artist Sean “Chippy Bat” Robinson, who also contributes sax and samples. Creative Loafing talked with Duncan about the project. Creative Loafing: How did you start adding theatrical elements to your set.

Duncan: We added characters that come onstage and speak during the music or in between songs. We wrote back stories for all the characters. It grew into this whole mythos that surrounded these characters, and we wrote successive acts inside of this universe.

Each set we play is an act that has a story arc and a plot. In each one, Mall Goth goes on a journey of self-discovery or he has to defend himself against some antagonist that represents everything he’s against. Mall Goth’s antagonists are banal, happy-go-lucky types who are the incarnation of Middle America — the kind of people that a lot of us are. They start off meaning well, but at some point they cross this line where they want Mall Goth to become like them. They want to impose their values on Mall Goth, and that’s something he can never accept. You’re performing at BOOM, Charlotte’s fringe arts fest. What can we expect? For BOOM we’re doing a new version of the first Mall Goth story we ever wrote. It’s the stepdad story where Goth Dad, Mall Goth’s beloved father, dies. Goth Mom starts dating this new guy, Chet, who becomes Mall Goth’s stepdad. Stepdad and Mall Goth don’t get along. Mall Goth is really an antisocial misanthrope. He’s kind of dark and brooding. Stepdad is a happy-go-lucky parrothead, a big Jimmy Buffett fan. He loves smooth jazz, boating and fly-fishing. There’s nothing wrong with stepdad. He’s just not someone Mall Goth can relate to. They come into conflict because Stepdad insists that they get along well. He just keeps escalating the situation, insisting that Mall Goth become just like him. Chippy Bat plays some smooth jazz at a climactic moment of our Boom Festival set. He has his big Kenny G moment that’s kind of dark smooth jazz. It’s a moment where Stepdad Chet goes from being innocuous to really menacing. Your debut album arrives this summer on vinyl. What story will the LP tell? It’s called Mall Goth I. This is the origin story. In addition to the core members, we’ve added auxiliary percussion, euphonium, piano, flute, trombone and trumpet. There are 10 songs and recorded theatrical scenes with sound effects. You hear people walking around, opening doors, or the ocean nearby. You hear a sound collage when there’s a storm. It has the kind of atmosphere created by a radio play of the 1930s. You can get a bit of a sneak preview at the BOOM show. For more info: mall666goth.bandcamp.com.

CLCLT.COM | APR. 13 - APR. 19, 2017 | 25

MUSIC

SOUNDBOARD

APRIL 13 CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH John Alexander Jazz Trio (Blue Restaurant & Bar)

POP/ROCK The Business People, Jitsu, Paperback (Visulite Theatre) Consider The Source, Litz (The Rabbit Hole) Crystal Fountains (Comet Grill) Karaoke with DJ ShayNanigans (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Lisa DeNovo (RiRa Irish Pub) NüSound Showcase: Den of Wolves, Jade Moore, Pam Taylor, Jordan Middleton, The Social Contract, Butterfly Corpse, Ritchie Rust (The Evening Muse) Reik (The Fillmore) Rescue Me (Tin Roof) Reverend Hylton, XOXOK, Dane Page, Ennie Arden (Milestone) Shiprocked (Snug Harbor) Songwriter Open Mic @ Petra’s (Petra’s) Stop Light Observations, Little Stranger (Neighborhood Theatre) Worship Night in America: Featuring Chris Tomlin, Big Daddy Weave, Phil Wickham, Zach Williams, Mosaic MSC, Jason Barton, (Spectrum Center)

APRIL 14 CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH Jazzy Fridays (Freshwaters Restaurant) The Mayhue Bostic Group (Morehead Tavern) Sasha Masakowski sings Antônio Carlos Jobim (Stage Door Theater)

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

COUNTRY/FOLK The Lenny Federal Band (Comet Grill) Matt Tucker (Neighborhood Theatre)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Big Sean, Madeintyo (The Fillmore Charlotte) Player Made: Rapper Shane, Elevator Jay, DJ STRTR and A-Huf (Snug Harbor)

POP/ROCK Armory (Tin Roof) Callaghan, Jesse Terry (The Evening Muse) Futurists, Must Be The Holy Ghost, Tongues of Fire (Milestone) IV the Record (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Jon Linker (Tin Roof) Leisure McCorkle Album Release Party (Petra’s) 26 | APR. 13 - APR. 19, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

Mike Posner (The Underground) Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Treehouse (Visulite Theatre) Vices & Vessels, As Temples Collide, End The Empire, Persistent Shadow (The Rabbit Hole) Ziggy Pockets (RiRa Irish Pub)

APRIL 15 CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH Sasha Masakowski sings Antônio Carlos Jobim (Stage Door Theater)

POP/ROCK AfroPop: SOCA, AfroBeats, Fashion, Vendors, Live Art (Morehead Tavern) Avalon Steel, Dogbane, Venus Invictus, Written in Gray (Milestone) Bogtrotter, Digital Rust, Push/Pull (The Rabbit Hole) Courtney Craven & Friends, Pocket Vinyl, Crystal Fountains (Petra’s) Dark Star Orchestra (The Fillmore Charlotte) Glow Co. (Tin Roof) Jouwala Collective (Thomas Street Tavern) A Lee Edwards and the Blind Staggers, Bart Lattimore (The Evening Muse) Mike Strauss Band (Comet Grill) Pluto For Planet (RiRa Irish Pub) Rocktopia (Ovens Auditorium) Shadow w/ B-Villainous, Fat Geoff (Snug Harbor) Sinners & Saints, Bombadil, Cicada Rhythm (Neighborhood Theatre) Sly Sparrow (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Todd Murray (Tin Roof)

APRIL 16 HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Soul Sunday w/ Jah Freedom, EL ON & Sir Chocolate Milk (Snug Harbor)

POP/ROCK Omari and The Hellrasiers (Comet Grill) Testament, Sepultura, Prong (The Fillmore Charlotte)

APRIL 17 HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Knocturnal (Snug Harbor) Motown on Mondays (Morehead Street Tavern) #MFGD Open Mic (Apostrophe Lounge)

COUNTRY/FOLK Home Free (Knight Theater)

PHOTO BY DANIEL COSTON

POP/ROCK The Bald Brotherhood (Tin Roof) Carolina Shout with Ethan Uslan (Petra’s) Red Hot Chili Peppers (Spectrum Center) Find Your Muse Open Mic: Ordinary Elephant (Evening Muse) The Monday Night Allstars (Visulite Theatre)

APRIL 18 CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH Robyn Springer & Co. (Jazz Pavilion at Levine Center for the Arts) Bill Hanna Jazz Jam (Morehead Tavern)

COUNTRY/FOLK Red Rockin’ Chair (Comet Grill) Tuesday Night Jam w/ The Smokin’ Js (Smokey Joe’s Cafe)

POP/ROCK Ethan Hanson (Tin Roof) Jesse Jazz Band Jam (The Evening Muse) Joshua Cotterino w/ Dan Rico, Banny Grove, Minthill (Snug Harbor) Red Rockin’ Chair (Comet Grill) Samantha Fish (Neighborhood Theatre) Sue Foley (The Rabbit Hole)

APRIL 19 CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH Bunky Moon (Jazz Pavilion at Levine Center for the Arts) Clarence Palmer and Friends (Morehead Tavern) John Shaugnessy Band (Nile Theater)

COUNTRY/FOLK Edwin McCain (Sylvia Theater, York)

POP/ROCK Green Fiend w/ Toke, Space Wizard, Greevace (Snug Harbor) Jaron Strom, Charlotte Berg, Katie Oates (The Evening Muse) Jettison Five (RiRa Irish Pub) Jonny Lang, Quinn Sullivan (Neighborhood Theatre) Karaoke with DJ Pucci Mane (Petra’s) Matt Walsh (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Modern Heritage Weekly Mix Tape (Snug Harbor, Charlotte) Open mic w/ Jared Allen (Jack Beagles) Open Mic/Open Jam (Comet Grill, Charlotte) Trivia & Karaoke Wednesdays (Tin Roof, Charlotte)

COMING SOON  Periphery (April 20, The Underground) The Weeks (April 20, Visulite) Diet Cig (April 22, Snug Harbor) Architect (April 27, Milestone) Lauryn Hill (April 28, CMCU Amphitheater) Neil Diamond (April 28, Spectrum Center) Dawes (May 3, The Fillmore) Sean Rowe (May 4, The Evening Muse) Carolina Rebellion (May 5-7, Charlotte Motor Speedway) Bastille (May 6, CMCU Amphitheater) X (May 8, Neighborhood Theatre) San Fermin (May 9, Visulite) Sara Watkins (May 12, Neighborhood Theatre) Brandy (May 19, The Fillmore)

4/13 THE BUSINESS PEOPLE JISTU & PAPERBACK 4/14 PIGEONS PLAYING PING PONG + TREEHOUSE! 4/20 THE WEEKS 5/21 DEAD MAN WINTER 5/24 6/11 JOSEPH 6/16 ALL THEM WITCHES 6/22 OLD 97's 7/20 JOHN MORELAND NEED DIRECTIONS? Check out our website at clclt.

com. CL online provides addresses, maps and directions from your location. Send us your concert listings: E-mail us at mkemp@clclt. com or fax it to 704-522-8088. We need the date, venue, band name and contact name and number. The deadline is each Wednesday, one week before publication.

APRIL 28

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Sinners & Saints: Perry Fowler, Mark Baran

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JON LANGSTON ALL TICKETS $12 MAY 6

AARON WATSON ALL TICKETS $12 MAY 20

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LIMITED ADVANCE $10 ALL OTHERS $12

WILD 1-2-3 NIGHTS APRIL 15, 21, 29, MAY 5,13,19 & 27

ON SALE AT COYOTE JOES AND COYOTE-JOES.COM COYOTE JOE’S : 4621 WILKINSON BLVD

704-399-4946

CLCLT.COM | APR. 13 - APR. 19, 2017 | 27

Carlos Valencia today

28 | APR. 13 - APR. 19, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

PHOTO BY ROB SLAVEN

ARTS

PERFORMANCE

NINE MORE FROM THE ROAD A stand-up comedy lesson from a local pro BY CARLOS VALENCIA Editor’s note: When we found out Charlotte stand-up comic Carlos Valencia was recording another comedy album here in the Queen City, two thoughts came to mind: We can write a story about it (boring) or we could just let him write something himself (funny). It was a no-brainer. Valencia will be recording the album during his performance on the “All Organic Comedy Show hosted by Jake Manning” at the Evening Muse on Wed, April 19. Show starts at 10:30 p.m. and costs a measly $3. How can you resist that? And how can you resist reading this piece by the man himself?

F YOU ARE anything like me,

you often wonder if crickets find any kind of noise annoying. Also, you’re not a big fan of stand-up comedy classes. When I first heard of them I thought stand-up comedy classes must be an advanced course at clown school. Turns out they’re actually a profitable business many comedy clubs engage in to provide prospective comics with an introduction to doing stand-up comedy. I’ve never actually signed up for one of these classes, but much like Michael Bay movies, I’ve had some terrible friends persuade me to sit through several of them. I won’t go as far as saying all comedy classes are absolutely horrible, but much like that infamous 2001 tragedy we will never forget, a lot of people are going to die, and the ones who survive are going to be scarred forever. That 2001 tragedy being, of course, the Michael Bay film Pearl Harbor. That’s why I’m here to help. I started doing stand-up comedy in Charlotte over a decade ago and have since lived in Atlanta, New York City, and the back seat of a Toyota Yaris. I’ve done comedy across the country from Seattle to Miami and everywhere in between — except for Utah. I’m saving Utah for when I’m ready to settle down, have a few kids, and marry the seven women of my dreams. My point is, the only real way to learn comedy is by doing comedy. There are a lot of lessons you learn from traveling the country doing stand-up that you would never learn from taking a comedy class, and I would like to share a few I’ve learned along the way: Lesson #1: There are a lot of lessons you learn from traveling the country doing stand-up that you would never learn from taking a comedy class. Did I mention this already? Soon after I started doing comedy in Charlotte one of my main goals was to get the hell out of Charlotte. It’s not that I hated the town, but at the time I started doing stand-up we only had one comedy open-mic at a now-defunct coffee shop on Elizabeth Avenue called SK Netcafe. The entire comedy scene consisted of about a dozen wannabe comics who would meet up once a week to tell terrible jokes at anybody unfortunate enough to stop by for coffee after their

Wednesday night classes at CPCC. It didn’t take long to grow tired of doing the same show, at the same place, for the same people week after week, so whenever the opportunity arose to perform anywhere outside of Charlotte I immediately embraced it. Even if it meant doing a show at a biker bar in rural Arkansas. Which leads me to. . . Lesson #2: If you’re doing a show at a biker bar in rural Arkansas, you may be in for a shitshow. If you’re doing a show at a biker bar in rural Arkansas where half the audience is already drunk before you step up to the mic, you’re probably in for a shitshow. If you’re doing a show at a biker bar in rural Arkansas where half the audience is already drunk before the show, and when you meet the bar owner you realize he’s even drunker than most of the patrons, you’re most definitely in for a shitshow. Which leads me to. . . Lesson #3: If, after you miraculously survive performing the shitshow, the noweven-more-hammered bar owner tells you the show ran short and insists you must do an encore, you are guaranteed a shitshow on top of a shitshow — a shit sandwich, if you will, where two comics play the part of the (dead) meat. With all the tact of a man on his ninth shot of moonshine, the owner of said bar at said shitshow informed me and the headliner that our booking agent had promised him a two-hour show. And since I had only done 30 minutes and the headliner 50, that still left us with 40 minutes to fill. Once I got over the shock that a man in his state (of inebriation) could do math, I came to the realization that I was royally fucked. I had already blown my proverbial comedy wad during my opening set and had no more material to fall back on. The only option I had for the first encore of my career was to talk to the audience, or do “crowd work,” as they call it in the business. Which leads me to. . . Lesson #4: When you’re new to standup, your crowd work is going to suck and suck HARD. I would make an analogy as to how hard it sucks, but I can’t think of anything that doesn’t involve crack whores

Valencia with fellow funnyman Joe Zimmerman in 2006 or lewd sex acts, and I’m trying to keep this motherfucker clean. I always hated crowd work, and had little to no experience doing it, so given my lack of expertise, I resorted to falling back on one of the most tried and hackneyed forms of crowd work ever invented: commenting on the audience’s clothes. “Hey, where did you get that shirt? The shirt store for people who buy shirts that aren’t as nice as other shirts?” I didn’t really say that, but I might as well have. It’s as good a line as probably anything I had that night. Which leads me to. . . Lesson #5: It’s particularly hard to deconstruct an audience’s wardrobe when practically every person in attendance is wearing a seemingly indistinguishable combination of boots, jeans, T-shirt, leather jacket, and bandana with an interchangeable combination of American/Rebel/Snake flag and bald eagle emblems. Luckily, at one point during my poor

PHOTO COURTESY OF CARLOS VALENCIA

man’s Tim Gunn attempt at fashion critique, I shielded my eyes from the stage lights and managed to notice an older fellow a few tables back from the front who stood out by way of having one of his pant legs rolled up to his knee. Having run out of hilarious quips about bald eagle hair loss, and not wanting to tread on material about Gadsden flags, I locked in on the man and asked him why he had rolled up his pants. The people sitting at his table immediately laughed out loud and started egging him on to dance. This seemed like an odd reaction to a question about rolled-up pants, but it was probably the biggest laugh I had gotten all night, so I decided to roll with it and encouraged the old man to cut a rug myself. I was fresh out of material and if this guy was willing to fill time by doing the soft-shoe, I was more than willing to indulge. It took about two and a half seconds for me to convince him. That’s when he rolled SEE

ROAD P. 30 u

CLCLT.COM | APR. 13 - APR. 19, 2017 | 29

PHOTO COURTESY OF CARLOS VALENCIA

Velencia has done his share of open-mic performances. This one is from SK Netcafe, in 2006.

ALL ORGANIC COMEDY SHOW $3. April 19, 8 p.m.; The Evening Muse, 3227 N Davidson St.; 704-3763737; eveningmuse.com.

ROAD

FROM P.29

up his pants another four inches, straightened out his leg, wrapped both hands around his exposed calf, and then pulled his leg RIGHT THE FUCK OFF. Turns out rolling up his pant leg wasn’t so much a fashion choice, but a choice of convenience. The man was wearing a prosthetic leg below the knee that he apparently wasn’t shy of drunkenly showing off, or taking off all together. Needless to say, he wasn’t exactly a worldclass dancer, but I’d be surprised if Baryshnikov himself ever elicited a more enthusiastic ovation as old Stumpy McPogostick did with his immaculate display of one-legged hopping grace. Which leads me to. . . 30 | APR. 13 - APR. 19, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

Lesson #6: When a drunken senior citizen missing half a leg starts hopping around, dancing in front of a crowd of 80 shitfaced bikers, laughing and hollering like they’re trying to recreate a scene from Roadhouse, that is the end of your set. Do not try to top it. You never will. Which leads me to. . . Lesson #7: When you’re writing an article about stand-up comedy lessons, you should probably end it with the half-legged dancing man lesson. As much as you might want to add more lessons, you mustn’t try to top the half-legged dancing man. Which leads me to. . .

Lesson #8: Comics are awful at following their own advice. And, finally. . . Lesson #9: Sometimes doing shows in your hometown isn’t such a bad idea. I’ve lived in Atlanta and I’ve lived in New York, but I’m back in Charlotte now and a lot has changed since I first started here. For one thing, I’m better at doing crowd work (I still won’t fuck with anybody who rolls up their pant leg, though), and for another, the local scene has grown tremendously in the past 10 years. There’s now several open-mics around town, several days a week, in places like Eagle Speak, Peculiar Rabbit, Pint Central, Luna

Lounge and the Evening Muse. There’s still room for growth and improvement, but I’m glad the scene has grown as much as it has. It’s the reason I’m currently able to record a comedy album, 11 years later, in the town where I started my career. I wouldn’t be able to tell you how many local comics there are in Charlotte now, but I’m pretty sure it’s more than a dozen — a lot more than a dozen, actually. So many, come to think of it, I might be able to make a good chunk of change teaching a comedy course. Did I mention how much I love comedy classes? BACKTALK@CLCLT.COM

Lo’Vonia Parks (above) turns the tables on the interviewer (right) while discussing her art. PHOTOS BY RYAN PITKIN

ARTS

ARTSPEAK

THE CARTOON MIRROR Local caricaturist Lo’Vonia Parks on speed drawing and making people cry RYAN PITKIN

AS A FRIEND of Lo’Vonia Parks, I immediately knew what was happening when, just a couple minutes into our interview last week, her hand began to reach for her bag. I was about to be drawn. Some people whistle when they get nervous, some people bite their nails, Lo’Vonia draws, so when she reached for one of her pads while answering one of my first questions I wasn’t surprised. In fact, I was excited to finally get my first official caricature done on the big pad after nearly a half-year of friendship. Lo’Vonia (pronounced Low-VAWN-ah] is a local artist who draws caricatures, among other things. I’ve attended multiple music shows around town with her, and she always keeps her sketchbook at her side, ready to begin snapshotting a performance with sketches at a moment’s notice. After spending months watching Parks in action doing caricatures on commission at local pop-ups, sketching entire bands in minutes at music venues and putting her more thought-out figure drawings up for sale at TUFT, I sat down with her at Amelie’s one recent morning to discuss all things caricature, from humor to haters. Creative Loafing: When did you start drawing? Lo’Vonia Parks: When I was a kid. I didn’t really realize that it was a thing. I can’t even remember, but my mom has the proof. I started on the walls, then quickly learned that is not the canvas for me to use, and then my mom got me colored pencils, crayons,

proper paper, all that. As a kid, I preferred drawing. I would be alone and draw and have fun. I had friends, but for me, it was just more fun to draw and make up my own little stories versus going outside. That was fun, that was my activity, that was all I wanted to do — in class and in school, too. How did you get involved with caricatures? That was a class that I had at Savannah College of Art and Design, it was The Art of Caricature, and then there was Humorous Illustration that you could take. I just fell in love with humorous styles. I still do illustration work, but most of my work is more humor-based. Once I did the class on the Art of Caricature, I fell in love with the line, in trying to express someone in lines, and trying to get that down. To me, that was a challenge, and it just was something I resonated with and gravitated towards. I took an internship with Six Flags in Georgia. Oooohhh, yeah, being out there in the hot sun, that was some type of creative hell there.

Do you remember your first time making someone cry? I was working a trade show in Orlando. A girl just came up to the booth, she said, “Oh, what is this?” Her cousin had already sat for me and she was so excited, so she sent this cousin over and said she wants one too. I explained to her in detail that it’s like a cartoon version of yourself. She said, “Alright, so you’re going to draw me.” I said, “Yes, but it’s going to be a cartoon version of yourself.” That’s how I break it down for kids. She was like, “Ok, cool, yeah, yeah.” She sat down, I drew her, I showed her the image. There’s no reaction, she just takes a look at it, and nothing. Face just blank. I can see her eyes welling up and she has nothing but tears at this point just falling, falling like a waterfall, face still straight as can be. Her cousin is like, “Well, what do you think? Do you like it? What’s going on?” She just goes [tearing motion] and tears it up right in front of me. One tear, two tear, three, four. Her cousin goes off, “What are you doing?” But to me, I didn’t care. This is a part of it. People are not going to like it. That was the first true rejection to my face of, “No, I do not like it.” Sometimes you can tell, people are like [fake smiles], “Oh that’s cute, thanks. Oh wow,” but that was my first honest rejection. Do you ever get judged by folks in the visual arts community that maybe think you’re not a real artist? Yes, of course. You’re going to run into that, because it’s an art that’s based around whimsy

and being playful and people associate that with children. Children are immature, not fully grown, so people relate those same sentiments to your art that you produce. I can see that, I understand it, but for me, it is simple and complex at the same time, the way caricatures are. The art of it is that you have to learn how to push and pull and exaggerate a face, but you need to understand and try to get somebody’s personality, all within five minutes. So it’s a lot of pressure, but the end result is something that looks like a simple cartoon, exaggerated features. It’s alright if you feel that way. I’m still going to do what do what I want to do, because it’s my passion. I have to live this. I have to work this. This is who I am. So I get it, and it’s just one of those things that happens along the way. It’s just another form of that rejection. You’re always sketching when we’re at shows together. Why is that? It’s always there. I love to draw the bands. I credit that to learning caricatures and learning speed. I’m trying to get them down in the first song. Songs are usually 2 minutes and 30 seconds, and I’m trying to capture them. It’s gesture drawing, which is a form of sketching that you’re taught where you’re quickly trying to read what you see right in front of you and put it to the paper. You’re catching a moment almost the way a camera would; it’s a still of that particular moment. That’s what I’m trying to do when I draw out bands while they’re playing music. Parks will be set up outside Pizza Peel at Midwood Market on April 15 and 22.

Was it that education that got you into drawing with speed, or was that already a talent? We were trained that way. With caricatures, or retail caricatures, you are trained five minutes or less per face — the faster, the better, basically. So we had to be trained how to do that in five minutes, because you’re out there from the morning until the park closes, and speed is everything. Everybody there is like, “Oh, I want to get this done, but I want to ride this ride, I want to do all this other stuff.” So you have to get it under five minutes or less, and I had a timer. It doesn’t matter, you can have a party of five, you still need to crank that out. Retail caricature is effectively a commissioned art piece, and it’s depicting the customer. I know how picky people can get about how they’re portrayed in my medium. Do your depictions ever piss people off? The golden rule is this: You know you’re a good caricaturist if you can make somebody cry. It seems really mean, but I guess there’s beauty in the faults. CLCLT.COM | APR. 13 - APR. 19, 2017 | 31

SONY CLASSICS

Oskar Bökelmann and Louis Hofmann in Land of Mine.

FILM

ARTS

EXPLOSIVE WATCH WWII drama mines tragedy for tension BY MATT BRUNSON

ACADEMY

AWARD

nominee this year for Best Foreign Language Film, the Danish import Land of Mine (***1/2 out of four) is a movie that affects the stomach even more than the heart or the head. Set in the immediate aftermath of World War II, it centers on a group of German soldiers tasked with removing all 45,000 mines that were buried along a Danish coastline in anticipation of an allied invasion that ended up not occurring there. Since the Germans were the ones who placed the bombs there in the first place, it stands to reason that they should be the ones risking their lives to remove it (“Better them than us,” notes one Danish officer nodding in the direction of the lads). In a just world, it would be members of the German high command who would have to manually defuse and dispose of all the mines — of course, this isn’t such a world, so those assigned the unenviable 32 | APR. 13 - APR. 19, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

task are teenage boys who had nothing to do with the sickening strategy and who only want to return home to their moms. Indeed, that’s the deal given to these POWs (who number less than a dozen): Rid the beach of all 45,000 mines — a task that will take about three months — and they’re free to return to Germany. Land of Mine targets the head with its messy morality. Certainly, someone has to clean the beaches, and if not these Germans, then who? The heart, meanwhile, is targeted through the various characters — specifically, Carl Rasmussen (Roland Møller), the Danish sergeant in charge of supervising the prisoners, and Sebastian Schumann (Louis Hofmann), the natural leader among the kids. The hard-as-nails Rasmussen starts out not caring whether these prisoners live or die, but over time, he starts to view them as frightened, vulnerable children rather than merely the enemy. Sebastian, meanwhile, is the smartest and most sensitive of the

boys, and he’s the one most responsible for Rasmussen’s eventual thaw. As for the stomach, it’s affected for practically all of the film’s 100 minutes. The gut knots up every time one of these kids puts his hands on one of the land mines, since the nature of the story — confirmed by the historical tidbit at the end (half of the 2,000 German teens ultimately used to remove two million mines were killed or injured) — guarantees that not all of these baby-faced boys will emerge unscathed. Director Martin Zandvliet doesn’t shy away from showing the gruesome results of an activated bomb, and this makes for a particularly intense and unsettling watch. As for the ending, some will find it fitting while others will think it false — either way, it serves as a relief and a release for the audience, finally putting it out of its collective misery. The 1979 sleeper hit Going in Style pooled the talents of two Oscar winners,

George Burns and Art Carney, and one Oscar nominee, Lee Strasberg. The new version of Going in Style (**1/2 out of four) ups the ante — and simplifies the poster credits — by casting all three central roles with Academy Award winners. As before, the plot concerns three elderly men (Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin) who decide to rob a bank in order to improve their collective lot in life. The social outrage has understandably been amplified in this new version — the ’79 crew just wanted to live a little, while the ’17 outfit is hoping to avoid eviction that’s the direct result of job outsourcing and banks too big to fail. Yet the trade-off is that the delicate balance between humor and pathos that informed the original has been replaced with broader gags and more blatantly manufactured sentiment. Still, there are worse ways to spend time than in the company of three consummate pros known for being all style and all substance.

Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin in Going in Style.

WARNER

CLCLT.COM | APR. 13 - APR. 19, 2017 | 33

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able to easily find a cool place to grab a bite. Nope. Everything is closed on Sundays In fact, I was barely hungover. A normal in downtown Concord, including the hot dog feat for many, I’m sure. However, I took a spot that had its neon “Open” sign turned trip back to Durham for my five-year college on. I’d already parked my car, though, so I reunion at Duke University. just started walking, hoping to stumble upon Still doesn’t put anything into perspective something. That’s when I looked across the for you? I’ve known this 10-plus group of street and noticed a storefront with “beer,” people for almost 10 years. It was with “music” and “food.” I didn’t even care what them that I learned how to rage. With them kind of food they served, at least it was open. I learned the art of “puke and rally.” With When I walked in, I was captivated by the them I learned what it meant to drunk-cry. homey vibe and eclectic nature of a spot that You thought my coworkers in Charlotte I’d simply happened upon. were some characters? This crew gets lit and Lil’ Robert’s Place is a bar, bottle shop then heads back to their respective states and live-music venue on Union Street in where they’ve passed the bar, napped while Concord, just a hop, skip and jump from working at Google, dominated Wall Street, Uptown. The décor reminded me of the clued us in on the best deals at Amazon oddities you find at Common Market, but and perfected the brightest smile in dental the atmosphere was anything but your local school. Yeah, you could say we’re a different grocery market hangout. breed. A cardboard Snoop Dogg drinking That said, I was nervous my a Blast (brought to you by Colt excitement would take me back 45) stood in the corner in to the “good ol’ days.” Which the front room surrounded is why I was shocked that by yellow velvet couches. I managed to make it the A Midway arcade game whole weekend with console was to the left. A little-to-no hangover. deer, dressed in random As a matter of fact, my clothes, welcomed me friend sent me a meme on into the larger sitting area Sunday that was a picture decorated with a drum of an annoyingly chipper set, string lights, more of SpongeBob throwing Grandma’s comfy couches, AERIN SPRUILL flowers in Squidward’s face; and more art and signage it said, “That friend who never than a person with ADHD could has a hangover and is ready to handle. There was also a Concordopoly go out again even though last night board game with a Sun Drop logo. (Who you two almost died.” I chuckled to myself knew Concord had its own Monopoly game?) while reflecting on the weekend, thinking After passing through the main sitting about how many parties I snuck into without area, I grabbed a stool and sat at the bar. I’m paying and tasting the remnants of how not going to lie, I was initially nervous that much alcohol we drank. I’d run upon a motorcycle gang rest stop Even though I was about to head down instead of a hipster haven. But the bartender to my car and could easily stop by a fast-food welcomed me with open arms, and even joint before driving back to Charlotte on though he was a man of few words at first, Sunday, I ordered room service. A shrimp when I started asking questions he had lots Caesar salad, scrambled eggs with cheese and of great things to say about this spot that’s a Pepsi. Fifty bucks later, I can’t say I regretted been open for seven years. my decision; however, my eyes were definitely I ordered four hotdogs and two sodas. bigger than my stomach as I looked at half of While waiting, I asked if they had any sour everything still plopped on my plate. beers. They did. Oh well. “Guess who’s drinking a beer already?” I After the two-hour trip back to the Q.C., texted my reunion squad group as I grabbed the boyfriend asked if I wanted to stop a pint. by Carolina Courts for an AAU game in What else do you need to know about Lil’ downtown Concord. I was tired, but I’d also Robert’s Place? Back patio, check. Bottled missed the boy toy, who couldn’t go to wine and beer for you to take on the road, my reunion, so I thought, “Why not?” The check. Open mic nights on Wednesdays. only problem? We were both hungry and Live music on Fridays. And unlike the two or the concession stand was virtually empty. three breweries in the area, this place is open I started searching for Concord restaurant seven days a week. options on Google. I thought surely we’d be

ENDS

CROSSWORD

TEN-CHARACTER MIX ACROSS

1 See 19-Across 6 Bird refuge 10 Girl, to Scots 14 Tree thicket 19 With 1-Across, spring prank victims 20 Difficult duty 21 Jai -22 Not inclined 23 Papal topper 24 Long hike 25 Crooner Crosby 26 Tomb artifact, e.g. 27 Failure to keep developing a villain’s character? 31 Summer zodiac sign 32 On an ad -- basis 33 “Sprechen -Deutsch?” 34 Decade count 35 “I -- care” 37 Person forging duel weapons for a big film studio? 43 Trailer-park parkers, for short 44 “-- deal?” (“Are we on?”) 45 Nun’s string of beads 46 Lederer who was better known as Ann Landers 49 Poke (out) 51 Nomadic sort 54 Head demons licensed to market products? 62 Article south of the border 63 It increases on a birthday 64 Single-file 65 Somewhat, informally 67 Alternative to a Cert or a Tic Tac 70 Hamburger unit 71 More gutsy? 72 “-- is human” 73 Estevez of the screen 75 Letter #26 77 Gobble down 78 Newly coined synonyms for depression? 83 -- buddy (close friend) 84 Dad’s mate 85 Anxious 86 Volcanic peak in N. Oregon

90 Limerick’s rhyme pattern 94 Cedar’s kin 95 Providing refuge for people who use bleach? 102 Granola bit 103 Adore, cutesily 104 Hosp. test 105 Exist 106 Go quickly 108 Babies seen moving wavily in prenatal scans? 114 Shaw of jazz 115 Rear, as legs 116 Film director Ephron 117 Puts freight on 118 Very best performance 119 Met melody 120 A part of 121 Action scene 122 Fight off 123 Nastassja Kinski film 124 Camp sight 125 Cheeky

DOWN

1 Lethal 2 Shared views 3 Speaking pro 4 Old Italian coin 5 Mill refuse 6 Later 7 Tenor Caruso 8 Files a case against 9 Gives a double cluck of reproach 10 Diagnostic procedure 11 Et -12 Wooed with a melody 13 Contract inker, e.g. 14 Rudely terse 15 New York tribe 16 Lummox 17 Device used in Twister 18 End-of-list abbr. 28 Units of resistance 29 “Oh yes, Juan!” 30 Russia’s Gromyko 36 Go for it 38 “-- go bragh!” 39 With, to Yves 40 Act of liturgy 41 Battle shout 42 To a greater extent 46 Key above D 47 Literary intro 48 Pale shade

49 Sprightly dance 50 Consume 52 “Looky here!” 53 Ex-combat GIs’ gp. 55 Possessed 56 Watch faces 57 “Nay” voters 58 Betray by blabbing 59 And not 60 Most arid 61 Cooks, as some clams 66 Dilettantish 68 Gold, to Juan 69 1950 Asimov classic 70 “Simple Simon met a -- ...” 71 Prefix with caching 73 Frozen water, to Wilhelm 74 L followers 75 Beastly site? 76 Elegant tree 79 First Ford car 80 Online ‘zine 81 Increase 82 Apropos of 86 Eds.’ piles 87 See 94-Down 88 Lift in the back of a shoe 89 Quaint 91 Task lists 92 Ran in the wash 93 Baseballer Randy Johnson’s nickname, with “the” 94 With 87-Down, get a strong desire 96 Charge to attack 97 Cote d’-98 Strong-force particle 99 AWOL pupil 100 Greek island 101 Vampy types 107 Elia offering 109 Angling need 110 Etats- -111 Nil 112 “Ah, so sad” 113 O’Hara home 114 Swiss river

SOLUTION FOUND ON P. 38.

CLCLT.COM | APR. 13 - APR. 19, 2017 | 35

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When I noticed my boyfriend wanted his ass played with and liked being submissive, I couldn’t help but wonder if something more was going on. I snooped through his browser history (not my proudest moment) and found he was looking at pictures of naked men. Then I saw he posted an ad on Craigslist under “men seeking men.” He responded to one person, saying he wasn’t sure if he was straight or bi, but he had a car and could drive over! The guy responded saying how about tonight, and my BF never responded to him. I confronted him. He explained it was just a fantasy he had, he’s totally straight, and he was never planning on going through with it. After the dust settled, he told me he never wanted to lose me. We then went to a sex shop and bought a strap-on dildo for me to use on him, which we both really enjoy. He bought me a diamond bracelet as an apology and promised never to fuck up again. A couple months have passed, and things are great, but I still feel bothered. He loves my SHE HATES OPTIONS TOTALLY, tits, ass, and pussy. He DESIRES ONE WAY NOW eats me out and initiates DAN SAVAGE sex as often as I do. Just Considering the age difference cuddling with me gets him here, and considering that this is hard. Which is why I’m even a post-divorce rebound relationship more perplexed. He doesn’t like to for you both, the odds are stacked against talk about the Craigslist incident and anything long term. I don’t mean this gets upset when I bring it up. Should I relationship is doomed to fail. What I mean leave it alone? Is my boyfriend secretly is this: You’ll probably be together for gay? another year or two before parting ways. CONFUSED AND CURIOUS While most people would define that as a “failed relationship,” anyone who’s been Let’s review: Your boyfriend digs your tits, reading my column for as long as he’s been cuddling you makes him hard, and he loves interested in sex can tell you that I don’t eating your pussy. You also discovered an ad define failure that way. If two people are your boyfriend posted to Craigslist where he together for a time, if they enjoy each other’s said he wasn’t sure if he was bi or straight, company (and genitals), if they part amicably a discovery that created a crisis in your and always remember each other fondly and/ relationship, a crisis that was resolved with a or remain friends, their relationship can be strap-on dildo and diamond bracelet. counted as a success — even if both parties Your boyfriend isn’t “secretly gay,” CAC, get out of it alive and go on to form new he’s “actually bisexual.” You know, like he relationships. said he was — or said he might be (but In the meantime, SHOTDOWN, enjoy totally is) — in that e-mail exchange. Even the amazing vanilla sex for as long as it lasts if your boyfriend never has sex with a man, — which could be forever. Anyone who’s CAC, even if it takes him years to drop the been reading my column for as long as he’s “totally straight” line, you should accept that been interested in sex knows that I’m not he is bisexual. Pretend to be shocked when always right. he finally comes out to you — there might be a necklace in it — and then get busy setting up your first MMF threesome. My BF and I have been dating for two years. He’s 21; I’m 20 (and female). I’ve read your column for as long as I had access to the internet and was interested in sex, so here goes: I’m a 27-year-old male with a 42-year-old girlfriend. We met at work; we were both going through divorce. At the beginning, holy moly! My dream girl in the bedroom. We’ve been together for a year, and the sex is still the best I’ve ever had — she says she feels the same — but it’s vanilla. I am assertive and in control in the bedroom, which works for both of us, as she prefers to be passive and wants me to make moves or switch it up. I want to do other things, but she doesn’t want to do anything anymore other than missionary-position sex. Anal, oral, watching porn together, bondage, voyeurism — she’s not up for any of it. There’s always an excuse: “I’m not young like you,” “I’m not flexible like you,” “I have done that before and don’t like it, no, no, no.” Do I just suck it up and be grateful for what I have or what?

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FOR ALL SIGNS The Passover and Easter have variations in their historical details, but they share similarities in spiritual meaning. Each celebrates a homecoming to the Spirit. The Passover remembers the rebirth of the Jewish community after 400 years of slavery. Easter recalls the ever present opportunity for an individual to be reborn, or reconnected to an awareness of the Spirit, even after periods of apparent isolation. The theme of “rebirth” has been celebrated in every civilization and known by many names through millenniums of religions. The Passover began an eight day celebration yesterday, April 11. Easter is to be celebrated on Sunday, April 16, this year. The date chosen for Easter Sunday each year has its moorings in cosmic motion. ARIES THE RAM (Mar 20—Apr 19th) A

project begun in January is showing signs of growth and development. Although it needs more work, at this point it appears to be manifesting. You may be in the midst of persuading others to your point of view. (3rd house) They are listening, so carry it further. Your mind is both steady and imaginative now.

TAURUS A lightbulb may turn on for you this week. It is possible that the way to solve a creative dilemma drops into your head. It may have to do with color and design. At minimum, the path becomes easier to access. Romantic and creative life are turning in the right direction. Gemini Listen carefully this week for intuitive guidance. Your unconscious is “in touch” with your lifepath and it will guide you. Clear out the mind/ego chatter as well as you can, and accept that which does not flatter the ego. There you will find real wisdom that makes sense.

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CANCER You are in a reasonably good place with yourself at this time. Your heart and mind are flowing together. You have no conflict between your feelings and your thoughts about those feelings. This is a time for reflection on important subjects. You can make good decisions now. LEO You have the opportunity to speak out on behalf of the group at this time. You come across as one who has a vision of the future and others will listen to you because your commentary is persuasive. Your mind is both steady and imaginative now. VIRGO Day to day life is favorable at

present. There are no big conflicts between you and anyone of importance. Social life is favored with partner, friends, and neighbors. Short trips to interesting nearby places could prove refreshing and educational.

LIBRA You have been hesitating to commit 38 | APR. 13 - APR. 19, 2017 | CLCLT.COM

yourself for several weeks. This might be over a relationship or an important purchase. Venus, your ruling planet, turns direct this week and gives you a nudge forward. It will soon be time to commit or bring this longstanding issue to a close.

SCORPIO This is a fine time for you and a partner to discuss any issues between you. It is a good period for coming to agreement on circumstances that have been issues in the past. You may be especially enjoying music or the arts together. Intimacy brings you closer together now. SAGITTARIUS At this time a project begun

in November is showing signs of growth and development. Now it points toward manifestation, although it needs more work. This is part of the greater need to reinvent yourself which began in 2015.

CAPRICORN

Activities related to home, hearth, and family are supportive to your sense of stability now. Anything that suggests remodeling or updating is refreshing to you. It could be property or your personal office. It might involve “updating” your knowledge of the technology necessary to accomplish a goal.

AQUARIUS Listen closely to your inner

self. If you have tolerated a rule well beyond its time, you may rebel and demand to do something different now. Plan a few hours of refreshing change. Try something new.

PISCES The goddess of love, Venus, is

turning direct in your zodiac sign this week. This suggests that you now feel able to move forward in matters of love and romance. She also represents expenditures which are luxurious. Venus also favors the arts. You may feel free to treat yourself after a long, dry period. Are you interested in a personal horoscope? Vivian Carol may be reached at 704-3663777 for private psychotherapy or astrology appointments. You may also visit her at www. horoscopesbyvivian.com.

CLCLT.COM | APR. 13 - APR. 19, 2017 | 39

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