2018 issue 19 Creative Loafing Charlotte

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We put out weekly 8

NEWS&CULTURE FOURTH OF JULY ETIQUETTE GUIDE Don’t be a BBQ Becky

BY RYAN PITKIN 7 NEWS OF THE WEIRD 10 CAROLINA CANNABIS NOW BY RHIANNON FIONN| 10 THE BLOTTER BY RYAN PITKIN

12

FOOD&DRINK MAMA KNOWS BEST Frank Scibelli’s first restaurant venture

remains his favorite

BY SOPHIE WHISNANT

14 16

TOP 10 THINGS TO DO THIS WEEK

MUSIC STAY VIGILANT: A July 4 playlist for those who want Trumpland to become the United States again

BY MARK KEMP 18 MUSICMAKER: JAMIE HOOVER OF THE SPONGETONES BY PAT MORAN 20 SOUNDBOARD

22

ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS CPCC’s new whodunit has kept

crowds guessing for 66 years

BY PERRY TANNENBAUM

24 FILM REVIEW: ‘JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM’ BY MATT BRUNSON

26

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

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One of the greatest R&B singers of the 21st century, Jill Scott is among three Ovens Auditorium performances highlighted in this week’s Top 10, found on page 14.

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Even your grandma gets it.

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NEWS

NEWS OF THE WEIRD

WAIT, WHAT? Visitors to Merlion Park in Singapore on June 8 were startled to see Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump enjoying a casual walkabout, hand-in-hand. On closer inspection, however, they would have seen the two men were Howard X, a Kim impersonator, and Dennis Alan, a Trump impersonator, who traveled to Singapore in advance of the June 12 summit meeting between the two real leaders. Janette Warokka of Indonesia was fooled: “It’s so shocking for me. I don’t know why those two famous guys come here,” she told the Associated Press. Airport officials were less amused when Kim’s doppelganger, whose real name is Lee Howard Ho Wun, arrived at Changi Airport. Wun said police officers searched his bags and detained him for two hours before releasing him with stern warnings to stay away from the summit. Singapore’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority said Wun was interviewed for about 45 minutes.

THE LITIGIOUS SOCIETY If you’ve ordered a Quarter Pounder recently and specified “no cheese,” you may be interested in a $5 million class-action lawsuit brought against McDonald’s on May 8 by Cynthia Kissner of Broward County, Florida, and Leonard Werner of Miami-Dade. According to the Miami Herald, the two are angry that they’ve been paying for cheese even though they ordered their sandwiches without it. The lawsuit contends “customers ... continue to be overcharged for these products, by being forced to pay for two slices of cheese, which they do not want, order or receive.” Also, Kissner and Werner “have suffered injury as a result of their purchases because they were overcharged” and “McDonald’s is being unjustly enriched by these practices.” While attorney Andrew Lavin admits the mobile app ordering option does offer a Quarter Pounder without cheese, he notes in-store customers have no such choice.

IRONY Charlotte Fox, 61, an accomplished

mountain climber who summited Mount Everest in 1996, met an unlikely death May 24 when she fell down the hardwood stairs at her home in Telluride, Colorado. Fox was part of the infamous 1996 Mount Everest expedition chronicled in “Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer, when eight climbers died.

Friends called her fall “shocking,” according to The Aspen Times. Climbing partner Andrea Cutter said of the news, “It made me think, ‘Jeez, it’s just so wrong.’” San Miguel County Coroner Emil Sante said officials “have no reason to believe that it was suspicious at all.”

ARMED AND CLUMSY Things got wild on

June 2 at Mile High Spirits and Distillery in Denver when an unnamed off-duty FBI agent accidentally shot patron Tom Reddington, 24, in the lower leg. According to the Denver Post, the agent was dancing and did a backflip, which caused his firearm to come out of its holster and fall to the floor. When he bent to

pick up the gun, it discharged. “I heard a loud bang,” Reddington said, “and I thought some idiot set off a firecracker. All of a sudden, from the knee down became completely red, and that’s when it clicked in my head, ‘Oh, I’ve been shot.’” A man at the bar applied a tourniquet to Reddington’s leg. The FBI agent was taken to Denver police headquarters and released to an FBI supervisor. Mile High Spirits has promised “complimentary drinks forever” to Reddington.

SWEET REVENGE In a bid to unseat his boss, Bon Homme County, South Dakota, Deputy Sheriff Mark Maggs thrashed Sheriff Lenny Gramkow in the June 5 Republican primary by a vote of 878 to 331. So Sheriff Gramkow didn’t waste any time: Less than a minute after the polls closed, he fired Maggs, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reported. “As of this moment you are no longer an employee of Bon Homme County,” Maggs’ termination notice read. Maggs, a 31-year-old father of four, will not become sheriff until January, but he is confident the county commission “will stand with my family ... and insure that my family will not be left hanging without an income or insurance,” Maggs said. “We’re going to be fine.”

JUST SAY NO On June 2, as two Jackson County, Oregon, sheriff’s deputies waited for a tow truck to remove a 2003 Toyota Camry from the side of a road, 23-year-old Anthony J. Clark, of Grants Pass, walked up to the car and told the deputies he was going to steal it.

He then got into the car and drove off, leading officers on a 40-mile chase through Ashland, Talent and Phoenix, Oregon, crashing into fences and driving the wrong way on several roads. When officers finally stopped the car, The Oregonian reported, Clark ran into a mobile home park, where he was arrested trying to steal another car. The deputies reported Clark admitted taking LSD and said he thought he was inside a real-life version of the “Grand Theft Auto” video game. Among other charges, Clark was accused of driving under the influence of intoxicants and second-degree criminal mischief.

LEECH HOTEL In Beihai, South China, an unnamed 51-year-old man had been experiencing nonstop nosebleeds for 10 days when his wife told him she saw something “peek” out of his nose.

In June, Metro News reported, the man went to Beihai People’s Hospital, where Dr. Liu Xiongguang removed a slithery, severalinches-long leech from his nostril as a nurse filmed the procedure. The doctor said the leech might have entered the patient’s nose as he swam in a river.

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july protocol party

fourth of

We’re coming up on yet another Independence Day, a usually chill holiday during which we grill food and spend time outside around family and friends. However, July 4th festivities often find us amongst strangers, as well. From Reedy Creek to Steele Creek, the parks will be packed and, come nightfall, folks will be congregating in neighborhoods around the city to throw caution to the wind and put on their own firework displays, laws be damned. This all sounds good, right? For the most part, yes. But with everything happening in the headlines this year, we see some opportunities for this day to go horribly wrong. That’s why we’re here with an Etiquette Guide for the Fourth of July to help you not be that asshole that ruins it for someone else. Because you do NOT want to be the next Barbecue Becky.

DO NOT CALL THE POLICE ON BLACK PEOPLE SIMPLY FOR EXISTING. It all started with BBQ Becky (ok, it started a long time ago, but we’re referring to when this topic began to trend). BBQ Becky is actually not named Becky at all, but Jennifer Schulte.

Schulte gained notoriety when she called the police on a group of black people barbecuing in an Oakland park. Despite her steel resolve when first confronted on video — and the fact that she dresses like a Navy Seal commando coaching softball — Schulte played the victim when police arrived and broke down in tears. Regardless, the barbecue was allowed to continue.

Since then, a white student called police on a black classmate sleeping in their dorm’s common area. A white neighbor called police on Bob Marley’s granddaughter as she left an Airbnb. Then most recently, we all met BBQ Becky’s counterpart from across the bay, Permit Patty (Google her if you don’t know).

No incidents like this have happened in Charlotte — at least not viral ones — so your goal as a white person this July 4 should be to not bring that shit here.

Black people exist. Call the cops on them and you may be repsonsible for their death. Also, why would any sane person pass up an opportunity to instead join black folks having a barbecue?

NEVER GO FULL MEAT-ARD. Are you manning the grill at this year’s cookout? Our

8 | JUN. 28 - JUL. 4, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

best advice is to switch things up a little bit.

Sure, go for the classics — the hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, what have you — if that’s how you get down. But try to remember the vegans and vegetarians who might be attending.

Want something cheap and easy?

MorningStar sells some amazing Garden Veggie Patties you can find at most grocery stores.

Want to try something a little more inspired on the grill? Visit itdoesnttastelikechicken. com for some great recipes and avoid a blood bath from a nearby PETA activist — or the sad, hungry stares of your vegan friends.

DON’T LEAVE OUT IMMIGRANTS. As we gather to celebrate the “Land of the Free” and all that stuff we’ve been raised to believe through our entire lives, it would be easy to forget what innocent folks seeking asylum on our southern border are currently facing.

While families are being torn apart and/or sent back to homes and countries where they face desperation and, in some cases, certain death, those undocumented who have already made it across the border now live in fear of being sniffed out by overzealous agents of an evermore terroristic ICE agency.

There are far too many people in this country and in this city that get a perverse pleasure out of reading paragraphs like the one above, so what can be done to counteract them?

Befriend an undocumented person. Learn their story. Don’t let them become the “other.” Invite them to a get together, or better yet, attend a function where they feel safe.

It also wouldn’t hurt to donate your time and/or money to a local organization like ourBRIDGE for KIDS, which works with refugee and immigrant children in Charlotte who may be living in a world of fear under the current presidential administration.

DON’T SHOOT OFF FIREWORKS WHEREVER YOU DAMN WELL PLEASE. This one just takes a little bit of empathy (are you seeing a pattern here?).

There are countless dogs in the city of Charlotte, and chances are they’re not fans of fireworks. Many dogs freak the fuck out when they hear fireworks, more so than during thunderstorms or other common loud incidents.

The best way around this is to just talk to your neighbors or the folks who live around the area you plan to light up on Wednesday night or the following weekend. A dog owner’s life can be made remarkably better if you just move it down the street a little bit. Chances are the dog is going to hear fireworks that night regardless, but trying to lower the impact of your actions can make a big difference.

While not as common, some military veterans or other folks suffering from PTSD can be triggered by fireworks, as well. All we ask is that you know your neighbors. That shouldn’t be too hard.

And if you’re still going hard on the fireworks after July 8, then you’re just being a dick.

DON’T FORGET TO KNEEL. While all four of the above suggestions are based on getting to know your fellow Charlotteans a little better, we admit that this one is based on pissing a few of them off just a little bit.

Trump supporters and other folks who prefer to turn a blind eye to injustice in America have focused in on NFL anthem protests as a treasonous insult to the country’s military, despite all pronouncements to the contrary by participating kneelers.

So is the host of your cookout playing the anthem or some other Sousa-esque fuckery?

Take that knee and have that conversation.

We’ll all be better for it one day.

Now that you know how to behave yourself, it’s time

to get out there and party. There’s plenty of stuff going on for the Fourth and during the week or so leading

up to it, but we found 10 that we think will be the coolest.

Red, White and Blue Blaze Star Spangled Spectacular The second annual Independence Day celebration at this west CLT brewery, expect music from The Stark Reality acoustic trio between 4-7 p.m., and food from Cousins Maine Lobster and King of Pops for most of the afternoon. Pitchers of any beer under 7 percent alcohol will go for just $10.

When: June 30, Noon-10 p.m.

Where: Blue Blaze Brewing, 528 S. Turner Ave. More: Free; blueblazebrewing.com

Red, White & Brew Fest 2018

Sycamore looks to step things up with a cookout but also plenty of food trucks including Papi Queso Food Truck, Queen City Sliders, JJ’s Red Hots, OooWee BBQ and more.

Look for live music on the main stage from Perpetual Groove and Atlas Road Crew. Hide out from the sun with tents and misting fans before fireworks start at dark.

When: June 30, Noon-11 p.m.

Where: Sycamore Brewing, 2161 Hawkins St. More: $10; sycamorebrew.com

Celebrate America!

For those who consider themselves patriots — and no, not the ones who call themselves “Patriot” on their Twitter bio and spend all day harassing libtards and snowflakes online — there’s no more intense fireworks show than this one, which includes Charlotte Symphony Orchestra renditions of Sousa marches, the Armed Forces medley and more.

When: July 1, 8:15 p.m.

Where: Symphony Park at SouthPark Mall, 4400 Sharon Road Cost: Free for children, $15 for adults; charlottesymphony.org

Bojangles’ Summer Shootout

Nothing says Charlotte quite like celebrating Independence Day with some racing. Following an evening of races in which Legend Cars and Bandoleros will heat up the frontstretch at Charlotte Motor Speedway, attendees can get driver autographs and then stick around for a fireworks show over the midfield.

When: July 3, 5 p.m.

Where: Charlotte Motor Speedway, 5555 Concord Pkwy S., Concord More: Free for children, $8 for adults; charlottemotorspeedway.com

Long live the Queen City. Charlotte is turning 250 years old this year, and city leaders will be on hand to help ring in that milestone at Memorial Stadium on Tuesday night, as CLT250 Chairman Gene Woods joins members of city and county government to help bring us all celebrate a quarter millennia together.

When: July 3, 6:30 p.m.

Where: American Legion Memorial Stadium, 310 N. Kings Drive More: Free; clt250.com

USNWC Fourth of July Celebration

The folks at the Whitewater Center are celebrating a full two days of Independence this year with yoga in the morning, live music in the afternoon and fireworks at night.

Catch Dangermuffin and Marc Broussard on Tuesday, and/or Sam Morrow and Colter Wall on Wednesday. Fireworks start at 9:30 p.m. on each night.

When: July 3-4, 9 a.m.-10 p.m. each day Where: U.S. National Whitewater Center, 5000 Whitewater Center Pkwy.

More: Prices vary; usnwc.org

Naturalization Ceremony

One of the more disgusting things about this country — and the second biggest reason behind racism as to why our immigration situation is such a mess — is the ridiculous wait time that folks who want to become naturalized citizens have to go through. In view of this fact and the recent terror involved with being an undocumented immigrant in the U.S., it’s all the more beautiful to watch folks experience their dreams come true at a naturalization ceremony held at the Charlotte Museum of History. Mix in food, a History Talks lecture, the ringing of the American Freedom bell and firework-themed crafts and you’ve got a party.

When: July 4, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Where: Charlotte Museum of History, 3500 Shamrock Drive More: Free; charlottemuseum.org

things to do supplies last, which promises not to be long. Wooden Robot’s culinary cohorts at Kr8 Gastropub will grill hamburgers, hot dogs and a vegetarian option, so everyone can get a bite to eat, even if you’re not a drinker.

When: July 4, 12-8 p.m.

Where: Wooden Robot Brewery, 1440 S. Tryon St., Suite 110 More: Free; woodenrobotbrewery.com

Skyshow 2018

Ever since the BB&T Ballpark went up, they’ve had the fireworks scene on lock. Forget about the display they host every Friday night when the Knights are in town, the show they put on for July 4 is the biggest one in town. Hell, it’s the biggest one in the South. The Skyshow is preceded by a street party in and around the neighboring Romare Bearden Park throughout the afternoon that includes live music and all types of food.

When: July 4, 2 p.m.-end of the Knights game Where: Romare Bearden Park, 300 S. Church St. More: Free; skyshowcharlotte.com

Plaza Midwood Pig Pickin’

It’s been 18 years and 18 pigs have been sacrificed for the sake of Plaza Midwood residents and friends. The folks from The Diamond will be serving pulled pork plates and sandwiches, hot dogs and cold beer — both canned and draught. While the food and drinks come at a price, the live music and camaraderie are free of charge.

Many area businesses will also be holding sales and other special attractions.

When: July 4, 4-10 p.m.

Where: The Diamond, 1901 Commonwealth Ave. More: Free; tinyurl.com/18LittlePiggies

Cookout at the Bot

Things are getting fruity at the Wooden Robot in South End on July 4, as the staff there will brew up batches of Strawberry Swirl It!, Blueberry Swirl It! and Reserve Blanc and will be pouring up flights of these specialties until

CLCLT.COM | JUN. 28 - JUL. 4, 2018 | 9

NEWS

CAROLINA CANNABIS NOW

NEWS

BLOTTER

INTRO TO CAROLINA CANNABIS 101

BY RYAN PITKIN

It’s time to exit the pot closet

in the bush. But two in the hand helps when security guards push. A man decided to better his odds while trying to steal a chainsaw from a Home Depot on Albemarle Road in east Charlotte last week by grabbing two before heading for the door. The man was confronted by security before he could exit the store, but quickly dropped one of the chainsaws and made his escape with just one, costing the store $350.

BY RHIANNON FIONN

WELCOME TO THE first installment of and more like the spearmint plant, which also Carolina Cannabis Now. The time to exit the has medicinal properties and can be smoked pot closet is upon us, and we have much work or infused into food, drink and a variety of products like gum and toothpaste. to do.

Most Carolinians are already clued in and Freedom is what we’re talking about here, and now is the time to demand the freedom they want cannabis reform. According to Elon to choose cannabis in North Carolina. While University polling data, support for reform the federal government could decriminalize among Democrats’ and Independents’ has marijuana, it’s likely to remain a states’ rights remained steady for years – more than 80 issue. So ready your helmets, folks, because percent, but what’s critical is that Republican we all know dealing with the North Carolina support is on the rise. In 2013, Elon’s survey General Assembly is akin to banging your found that 66 percent of Republicans support head on a concrete wall, especially where legalizing medical marijuana. By 2017, that number was 73 percent. personal freedoms are concerned.

That means it’s high time for the North So, what do we want? Freedom from the Carolina General Assembly to get fear that our Fourth Amendment serious about decriminalizing rights may be violated if we smell cannabis. As we reported like smoke or are caught driving recently, multiple marijuana while young, male and black. reform bills have been filed Freedom to possess a plant, over the years and all have in its various forms, without languished in committee. fear of imprisonment or The most recent is House having the government Bill 994, introduced by seize our children.

N.C. Rep. Kelly Alexander Freedom to practice our of Charlotte, a Democrat First Amendment rights and the guy who usually in support of an issue that RHIANNON files the pot bills. That bill matters to many who rely FIONN is languishing in a committee on cannabis for their health filled with old, white Republican and to those who simply want a men and is unlikely to get any action safe alternative to alcohol and other before the legislature skedaddles – if they drugs that could be addictive and harmful. We also demand the freedom to become cannabis get their way – before Independence Day. Presently, it’s difficult to get a North entrepreneurs in what is a billion-dollar Carolina Republican on record with any industry.

I’ll tell ya, that sense of freedom is a thoughts on cannabis. When I inquired with glorious thing. On the day recreational N.C. Sen. Jeff Tarte’s office about HB 994, cannabis became available for sale in Seattle, his representative, Jan Copeland, responded where I lived at the time, I was in line when via email, writing, “Senator Tarte supports the stores opened. The moment offered a de-criminalizing small amounts.”

When pushed to further explain, glimpse of the “free market” conservatives and libertarians fantasize about, and it was a Copeland clarified what she meant. “Four ounces or less … [Sen. Tarte] supports Rep. relief in so many ways.

We can experience that same freedom and Alexander’s bill as long as it does not legalize relief in North Carolina, but to get there we but decriminalizes four ounces or less.”

Further questions garnered no response. must speak up now: help dispel cannabis Then, I ran into N.C. Rep. Bill Brawley, myths among your circle of influence, call your representatives in the General Assembly to let a Republican representing Mint Hill and them know your views and ask about theirs. Matthews. He told me he has no opinion on If any of them are misinformed, inform them. cannabis at all. I asked why. He explained Now that we’re able to research cannabis that he doesn’t think there is any support in more freely, thanks largely to legalization in the NCGA for marijuana reform of any kind, other states, we’re learning what so many therefore he didn’t need an opinion.

Well, fellas, here’s your warning: Your suspected all along: It’s a helpful, medicinal plant that rarely causes harm and has killed brand of legislative laziness cannot stand.

The people of North Carolina are telling no one, ever, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Our legislators you, via the polls, that they want the freedom need to get a clue – especially amid the to choose cannabis to use in whatever way ongoing heroin epidemic – that marijuana is they see fit. It’s time to take a stand or lose less like heroin, methamphetamine or cocaine your seat.

BACKTALK@CLCLT.COM

10 | JUN. 28 - JUL. 4, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

LEATHERFACE One in the hand beats two

WARP SPEED Not all shoplifters can make off with something as cool as a chainsaw, sometimes you just have to grab what you can and go. That was apparently the case for one thief at a Walmart in the Arboretum last week, as it was reported that the suspect left the building at 4:19 p.m. with an empty binder for DVDs and two Star Wars Millennium Falcon LEGO sets.

WE WILL ROCK YOU A 50-year-old

Waxhaw woman filed a police report last week after she says her car was attacked by a complete stranger while she drove it. The woman told officers that she was driving her Nissan Rogue down Randolph Road when she stopped for a red light. That’s when the suspect drove up next to her and suddenly threw a rock at her driver’s side door and then drove off. The rock luckily missed the window, but did do $500 in damage to the door. The victim told police she had no idea why the suspect would want to harm her or her car.

FAKING AND ENTERING Police responded

to a call of a B&E in northeast Charlotte last week but ended up filing a non-criminal report after a 61-year-old woman realized she has the worst son ever. The report does not give much details as to how the situation unfolded, but simply states that at some time between 12:40 and 2:30 p.m., “the victim’s son played a prank on the victim by staging a break-in” at her home in the Brantley Oaks neighborhood. What sort of inheritance are you waiting on that you want to put your poor mother in an early grave?

WIKILEAKS A 68-year-old Charlotte man filed a police report last week after realizing that someone had broken into an empty property that he owned, and had done so in a way that left the home vulnerable to the elements. The man called police to the Villa Heights home after realizing that at some point between June 14 and June 20, an unknown suspect had removed a smoke alarm and multiple light fixtures from the home. To make matters worse, the suspect had apparently drilled through the roof of the home, allowing rain to get in and do more damage to the house. In the end, $150 worth of property was stolen while $200 in damage was done.

WET BANDITS In yet another leaky incident, police responded to a house in the Seven Oaks community of northeast Charlotte after a 52-year-old woman alleged that the suspect did $1,000 in damage to her kitchen ceiling by intentionally flooding the bathroom above it. It’s unclear from the report whether the suspect lived in the house or even knew the victim.

DR. FEEL GOOD A suspect was arrested

at a massage parlor on Arrowhead Road in northeast Charlotte last week, and the list of charges started out mundane but went downhill pretty fast. According to the report, the suspect was arrested for massaging without a license. OK, not so bad, probably only worthy of a citation. But alas, the suspect was also arrested for prostitution. Now things are starting to look dire. But hey, it’s the world’s oldest profession. We’re not here to shame any sex workers. However, to top it off, police charged the suspect with conspiring and engaging in the sale of illegal drugs, namely Xanax. The top Google reviewer for this place was right, it does sound like a good place to relax.

GHOST SNIPER It’s not so out of the

ordinary for folks at the airport to become so enraged or drunk (or both) that they do something drastic, usually ending in damage to property. However, what is out of the ordinary is for a large window to just shatter and nobody to know what happened to it.

That’s what happened at Charlotte Douglas International Airport last week, as police there reported that a window on the sixth floor of the hourly parking deck appeared to have been damaged by a blunt object or a pellet of some sort. Reporting officers watched surveillance footage, which only showed the window break, without anyone standing around it.

GROUP EFFORT A lesson to be learned

from the Ocean’s Eleven heist movies: Only bring along the least amount of people needed to do the job. That helps reduce the risks of a weak link and, more importantly, helps increase the take for each party involved.

This was not the strategy for one group of amateurs, who recently hit up China Buffet in Independence Boulevard, but brought too big of a team. According to the report, it took four suspects to run out of the business with a tip jar, which employees believed to be holding about $230. I’d be damned if I were the one holding the jar and any of my three dumb friends wanted a share of that money.

(I don’t condone stealing, period. I’m just saying.)

All stories are pulled from police reports at CMPD headquarters. Suspects are innocent until proven guilty.

RPITKIN@CLCLT.COM

CLCLT.COM | JUN. 28 - JUL. 4, 2018 | 11

FOOD

FEATURE

MAMA KNOWS BEST Frank Scibelli’s first restaurant venture remains his favorite

BY SOPHIE’S WHISNANT

W

HEN FRANK SCIBELLI was a child, he went with his family to a restaurant that served its food family-style. The concept of big plates designed to be shared around the table struck a chord with the young future entrepreneur.

“I liked the feel of it,” Scibelli says. “Just, how it made me feel inside, so that’s part of why I did it.”

What Scibelli did was open one of Charlotte’s most respected and popular Italian spots, Mama Ricotta’s, a repeat winner for Best Italian in CL’s yearly Best of Charlotte issue. The restaurant, which sits on Kings Drive across from Midtown Park, serves Italian classics family-style, creating gourmet food in an atmosphere comfortable for the whole family.

After graduating from Wake Forest University with an MBA, Scibelli found a job in Charlotte but was quickly put out when that business suddenly closed. He then had to decide what he truly wanted to do with his life.

“Literally, I read all the career books out there, and it said, ‘Do what you love,’” he says.

He followed the advice and entered the restaurant industry by opening Mama Ricotta’s, or Mama’s, as he lovingly calls it, in 1992 when he was 27 years old. He named the new Italian joint after Maria Ricotta, the restaurant’s original chef.

At the time, the restaurant had just 39 seats. From there, Scibelli grew a whole empire by forming a restaurant group that today includes Paco’s Tacos & Tequila, Yafo Kitchen and Midwood Smokehouse. He eventually expanded Mama’s to more than 200 seats.

All of Scibelli’s restaurants serve food that he loves, but Mama’s will always be special to him. “My office is upstairs,” he says. “It’s my baby.”

Even his kids can’t resist the decadent Italian cuisine. With four children to please, picking a restaurant that suits the whole family can be a challenge in Scibelli’s family, but Mama’s is always a contender. And it’s the only one they all can always agree on, he says.

You can’t blame them for not being able to resist the food. Dishes like the penne alla vodka, tossed with sautéed pancetta in a pepper vodka and spicy tomato cream sauce, are popular among diners. The pasta is served 12 | JUN. 28 - JUL. 4, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

One of Mama Ricotta’s most popular dishes, pollo carciofi. perfectly al dente, with a spicy kick that doesn’t overpower the dish, rather keeps it interesting.

“We sell literally hundreds a day,” Scibelli says of the dish. “I could eat (it) every single day of the week and not get sick of it.”

Scibelli and his executive chef, Tom Dyrness, have taken trips together to Italy to learn about the methods of Italian cooking. Dyrness says that keeping Mama’s food authentic is very important, and that emphasis on authenticity is evident in the homemade mozzarella and tomato appetizer.

Large tomato slices are served on a bed of olive oil garnished with olives and basil, but the slabs of fresh mozzarella steal the show.

It’s a simple, but refreshing, representation of authentic Italian cuisine.

Scibelli describes his restaurants as serving up comfort food in a casual way, but with gourmet twists. This is exemplified by Mama’s pollo carciofi. The dish is reminiscent of the ever-popular lemon piccata that your mom might have whipped up in the kitchen when you were a kid. There’s the typical use of capers and lemon juice, but the dish is taken up a notch by the artichoke hearts — a technique Scibelli learned in Italy — and white wine-based sauce.

And almost every item on the Mama’s menu is available family-style, a way of serving that Dyrness especially appreciates.

“It creates interaction,” he says smiling, “at the very least, ‘Can you pass me the chicken parm?’ Instead of, you know, four people sitting there on their phone.”

Mama’s makes its family-style plates double the size, but you pay for a plate and a half, making dining that way an experience and a bargain.

Diners can expect the menu to stay the same for the most part.

“I mean, would you ever dream of changing a dish like this?” Dyrness asks, laughing and pointing towards the penne alla vodka. But, the chef says there are occasionally new items added seasonally.

These days, Scibelli spends less time in the kitchen, saying that he’s “95 percent business.” But every so often he will cook with Dyrness at each other’s homes for fun, and they will have culinary conversations that translate to the menus of Scibelli’s businesses.

“I really trust his palate and he sort of understands what I’m looking for,” Scibelli said of Dyrness, who also serves as executive chef at Paco’s Tacos & Tequila.

Also earning Scibelli’s trust has been Mama’s relatively new general manager Vinny Delillo, who Scibelli says is like a part of the family. Delillo also happens to look just like Tony Soprano, minus the intimidating stare.

Delillo holds down the hospitality fort, and he is in charge of the customer service that Mama’s prides itself on.

The service element of Mama’s is part of why Scibelli says Q.C. diners have consistently turned up at his place over other Italian restaurants in the area. And even though the restaurant is aging, it has continued to thrive and grow each year.

With growth comes crowds. Scibelli says it’s almost always a must that you make a reservation if you plan on dining on the weekends. During the week, it’s easier to walk in and grab a table.

Although it’s a popular spot, Scibelli says management prides itself on hiring experienced hostesses that will do their best

ALL PHOTOS BY SOPHIE WHISNANT

MAMA RICOTTA’S Mon.-Thurs., 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Fri.Sat., 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; 601 S. Kings Drive, Suite AA; mamaricottas.com

to get you in. Growing demand hasn’t been enough to keep away the dedicated regulars.

“We’ve been open 26 years,” Scibelli says. “We get people who, like, they’ve been coming there since they were born.”

Dyrness often sees familiar faces around the dining room at lunch and dinner. He recalls that a particular group of regulars were recently sitting around talking about mozzarella sticks, so Dyrness accepted the challenge and whipped some up using Mama’s homemade mozz. The result was incredible.

“They were freaking dynamite,” Dyrness brags.

With a new outdoor patio that finished up construction last year, there’s plenty of space to relax and eat. The dining room itself isn’t ostentatious, it’s what one would expect from a more casual Italian joint. It’s fairly dark, but strings of lights help illuminate your menu. The restaurant’s playlist ranges from jazzy, Sinatra-like songs to classic Southern rock jams by the Allman Brothers.

Scibelli says you would be “hard pressed to find” the caliber of food Mama’s offers in such a laid back atmosphere anywhere else.

Mozzarella & tomatoes.

The family-style plates create a community at the table, but that sentiment goes beyond Mama’s four walls. The restaurant is very involved around Charlotte, specifically working with children’s charities such as Claire’s Army and Communities in Schools, which benefits from the annual Dine Out For Kids event.

Many of the people who work with Scibelli on his various restaurant projects have families and kids of their own, and he says his team finds the work heartwarming.

“We’re very kid-focused,” Scibelli says.

“We want to make a difference with kids in all areas.”

Family has become a theme of the Mama Ricotta’s experience, which makes sense with such a maternal name. Whether it’s the food or the experience of dining, Mama Ricotta’s has made an impression on the dining scene of Charlotte for over a quarter of a century.

“People have gotten engaged there, then they have their birthdays there,” Scibelli says. “Very important life memories are in the restaurant, and that’s the part that’s really cool.”

BACKTALK@CLCLT.COM

The new screened-in patio finished construction last year.

CLCLT.COM | JUN. 28 - JUL. 4, 2018 | 13

SATURDAY

28

ROD MAN What: From coming up on open mic nights in Atlanta to winning Last Comic Standing in 2014, Rod Man has been on the rise. He’s brought his laid-back Southern charm to appearances on The Bad Boys of Comedy on HBO and Wild ‘N Out on MTV. On the big screen, he worked as an actor and writer on Funny People with Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen. Come catch this up-and-coming comedy star before he’s playing stadiums.

When: 7 p.m.; various times through July 1 Where: Comedy Zone, 900 NC Music Factory Blvd., Suite B3 More: $25-27.50. cltcomedyzone.com

THINGS TO DO

TOP TEN 29 What: Celebrate good music, women and children in one fell swoop at Justin Fedor’s 11th Tribute to Benefit Levine Children’s Hospital. This concert features CLT acts like Monday Night Allstars, Lisa de Novo and Matrimony performing songs from icons like Blondie, Aretha Franklin, Cyndi Lauper and The Cranberries.

Fedor, whose band Ancient Cities will perform, has raised almost $50,000 for the hospital so far.

When: 7 p.m.

Where: Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 36th St. More: $10-30. neighborhoodtheatre.com

PHOTO BY DANIEL COSTON

FRIDAY

FRIDAY

TRIBUTE TO WOMEN IN MUSIC

Ancient Cities at Tribute to Women in Music FRIDAY

29

FRIDAY

29

DIPSET

HAYES CARLL

What: “Dip-set! Dip-set! Dip-set!” If you read that in a certain chant-like way that emphasizes the second syllable, then you’re one of many that’s been waiting for the reunion tour of The Diplomats, the crew formed by Cam’ron and Jim Jones in the late ‘90s. The Harlem World hustlers went on to popularize a slow multi-syllabic style of rap that almost sounded like spoken word and made stars of folks like Juelz Santana. Add Killa Cam’s comical quotables and you’ve got the recipe for a style worth re-visiting.

What: Austin, Texas, has blessed us with a surplus of great songwriters, and Hayes Carll’s up there with the best, if only for that one song on his brilliant debut Trouble in Mind. We’re referring, of course to “She Left Me For Jesus,” which boasts the best refrain ever: “She left me for Jesus and that just ain’t fair / She says that he’s perfect, how could I compare? / She says I should find him and I’ll know peace at last / If I ever find Jesus, I’m kickin’ his ass.”

When: 8 p.m.

Where: The Fillmore, 820 Hamilton St. More: $32-48. fillmorenc.com

When: 8 p.m.

Where: Visulite Theatre, 1615 Elizabeth Ave..

More: $20-$25. visulite.com

Check CLCLT.com on June 28 for episode 49 of our podcast, Local Vibes, as the guys from Late Bloomer discuss their latest album, Waiting, and why they’ve kept us doing just that for four years. check out Local Vibes now on spotify!

14 | JUN. 28 - JUL. 4, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

FRIDAY

29 LATE BLOOMER ALBUM RELEASE PARTY What: Maybe it’s just because they’re true to their band name, but it’s been four years since we’ve gotten a full-length release from the guys in Late Bloomer, which may also explain the name of the album: Waiting. Josh, Scott and Neal recorded the album at Sonelab in Massachusetts with renowned engineer/producer/mixer Justin Pizzoferrato, as discussed in this week’s episode of CL’s Local Vibes podcast. Faye and TKO Faith Healer open the party.

When: 10 p.m.

Where: Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St. More: $5. snugrock.com

End the War on Immigrants SATURDAY

NEWS ARTS FOOD MUSIC ODDS

Cam’ron of Dipset FRIDAY

Lea Michele and Darren Criss SUNDAY PHOTO COURTESY OF LMDC TOUR

SATURDAY

30

BLACK-OWNED BAR CRAWL What: This event, described by organizers as “sophisticatedratchet fun,” provides a road map to black-owned bars, lounges and nightclubs across Charlotte while connecting you with black vendors along the way. A general admission ticket comes with a local blackowned business directory, t-shirt, admission to venues and drink specials, but VIP members can enjoy a ride on the party bus and a probably much-needed hangover kit.

When: Noon-9 p.m.

Where: Roc’s Jazz Bar, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd.

More: $20-100. tinyurl.com/BlackOwnedCLT

PHOTO COURTESY OF FUSE BOX RADIO

SATURDAY

30

END THE WAR ON IMMIGRANTS What: The war on immigrants has been happening for many years. President Obama, for one, deported more people than any president before him. Now, Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance policy,” enacted in April, has led to the splitting of families as the administration looks to prosecute as many border crossers as it can.

This vigil, hosted by the Latin American Coalition and others, aims to support those families.

When: 6:30-9:30 p.m.

Where: First Ward Park, 301 E. 7th St. More: Free. tinyurl.com/ImmigrantsCLT

SATURDAY

30

IMPRACTICAL JOKERS What: The Tenderloins comedy group has been around, but the foursome made it big in recent years with Impractical Jokers, in which they stand on the streets and pull pranks on passers by that translate into wins and losses for the longtime best friends. The problem is, as the TruTV show became more popular, those unsuspecting strangers have become more suspecting. So the crew has gone back to their roots, touring this stage show that leans on jokes of a non-practical nature.

When: 7 p.m.; 10 p.m.

Where: Ovens Auditorium, 2700 E. Independence Blvd.

More: $61.50. ovensauditorium.com

PHOTO BY RYAN PITKIN

SUNDAY

1

LEA MICHELE AND DARREN CRISS What: Lea Michele and Darren Criss’ first co-headlining tour is coming to Charlotte. The duo will perform originals, Broadway hits and, yes, songs from Glee.

After six seasons of watching on the television screen, fans can finally ugly cry in front of Rachel Berry herself, or swoon at Blaine Anderson’s dance moves live and in person. Each performer has their own personalized solo sets, then come together to sing duets.

When: 8 p.m.

Where: Ovens Auditorium, 2700 E. Independence Blvd.

More: $29.50 and up. ovensauditorium.com

TUESDAY

3

JILL SCOTT What: “You owe it to yourself to live beautifully,” Jill Scott once said, and she takes her own advice.

One of the pioneers of the neosoul genre, Scott has long surpassed that limiting tag. She’s a poet, an actress and of course, one of the greatest R&B singers to emerge in the 21st century. The three-time Grammy winner is currently on her Live in the Moment tour, still performing material from her 2015 album Woman and from previous albums, including her sublime second release, Beautifully Human.

When: 8 p.m.

Where: Ovens Auditorium, 2700 E Independence Blvd.

More: $81-up. ovensauditorium.com

sten. We joined up with heavy hitters on The Charlotte Podcast, The Comedy Zone Podcast, Cheers Charlotte Radio and The Yelp Charlotte Podcast to show what CLT has to offer in the audio realm. Be sure to check out our new squad at queencitypodcastnetwork.com.

CLCLT.COM | JUN. 28 - JUL. 4, 2018 | 15

Mickey Stephens

PHOTO BY QUENTIN JONES

Yung Citizen ponders the power of the people.

FEATURE

MUSIC

STAY VIGILANT A July 4 playlist for those who want Trumpland to become the United States again

BY MARK KEMP

I

T’S A HARD TIME to be

celebrating America. We’re living under an American president who represents everything America is not supposed to be, particularly in 2018: He’s a racist, a serial liar, a wannabe tyrant, a kidnapper and imprisoner of immigrant children, an enemy of America’s allies and friend of its foes, vehemently against the checks and balances of power that were put in place by America’s founders to avoid the abuse of power by any one branch, and... well, the list goes on and on.

And yet here we are, in 2018, celebrating July 4, Independence Day. What we need this Independence Day is independence from Donald J. Trump. So far, that hasn’t happened. Therefore, for this week’s music feature, we decided to look to our local musicians for their ideas on what America was, is or should be in 2018.

I did a similar version of this kind of listicle during my first year as editor of Creative Loafing back in 2005. The songs I chose then were protest songs by national artists ranging from the late Billie Holiday and Woody Guthrie to more contemporary musicians like Steve Earle, Public Enemy and Rage Against the Machine. George W. Bush was president 16 | JUN. 28 - JUL. 4, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

then and we were involved in an illegal war in Iraq. The idea of my piece at that time was to show not only why protest music is so important and vital to our form of democracy, but also that provocative songs exposing the brutality of things like lynchings (Holiday’s “Strange Fruit”) are easily as patriotic as “God Bless America,” and certainly more honest.

We no longer cover national or international artists, dead or alive, in Creative Loafing — unless those national or international artists now live in Charlotte.

So this year, I put out a call for songs from local artists, asking them to send one of their tracks that best reflects the America they see today. Some of the submissions are directly about America. Some are about injustice.

Some are from the perspectives of characters different from those of the singers. All are deeply felt and perfectly executed.

One of them, called “You’re Welcome,” is by Mickey Stephens, a first-generation immigrant from Ireland who came to America because it was a great country. Stephens had a lot to say when I reached out to him for a song submission.

“This is an interesting time to do a July 4th piece about America,” Stephens said. “The country is so divided and the stuff about [immigrant] children in camps is sickening.”

The song Stephens chose to include in this playlist, “You’re Welcome,” is about America welcoming immigrants.

“We recorded it four years ago, but it seems more relevant now,” Stephens said.

“It expresses my feelings about America as an immigrant. My green card expires next summer and I am thinking of applying for citizenship, although recent events make me ashamed of the current administration and the image of America they represent. The disrespectful way they are treating immigrant people does not fit my vision of America.”

Stephens’ vision of America in 2018 is shared by many of us, whether we are firstgeneration immigrants or the immigrants that we all are, at some point in our lineage, unless we’re native people.

We still need protest songs (one song in this list is even titled “Protest Song”), but what we need more than just protest songs are songs that instill the essence of what America should be, or expose what it shouldn’t be. Because what America should be and what America is today are two very different things.

No matter what the topic of each of the songs I received from these eight local artists is, all of them are relevant to what we all should be thinking about this July 4. And that is: How are we going to change the awful course the

PHOTO BY MARK KEMP

country has found itself on today? What are we going to do to make America a safe place for all people — a place that makes Mickey Stephens’ “You’re Welcome” true again?

It’s difficult for me to end this intro by chirping, “Have a happy Independence Day” this year, because it’s hard to be happy while celebrating the America we currently live in. So I’ll just say this: “Have a vigilant Independence Day.” Because living in America as it is today, we must remain vigilant.

I’ve chosen one line from each song that I call “Thoughtful line.” They’re the lines that popped out for me. I’ve also provided a link to each song. But see the online version of this story for an easy click to the songs, and then listen to all of the lines. Because really, they’re all thoughtful lines.

BREE NEWSOME FT. 7THSOANA

“#Stay Strong: A Love Song for Freedom Fighters” soundcloud.com/breenewsome/ staystrongradioedit%20 Remember when the awesome Bree Newsome made international news by traveling down to Columbia, South Carolina, scaling that flagpole at the state capital like a black superhero and bringing down that ugly-ass Confederate flag to the applause of righteous people the world over? Yeah, well

PHOTO COURTESY OF BLACK LINEN

Bree Newsome (right) with Black Linen

Bree’s more of a superhero than you ever thought. The Charlotte resident is an activist to the bone, born to activists, arrested for a sit-in at Thom Tillis’ office while protesting the chipping away of voter rights. She’s also an accomplished filmmaker who directed that satirical Mitt Romney video, “Shake it Like an Etch-A-Sketch,” that went viral in 2012. She’s also a musician who kills it on this track along with another one of CL’s favorite Charlotte rappers, Black Linen, who goes by 7thSoana on this track.

Thoughtful line: “You want me to respect authority? / It don’t make you right just cause you the majority . . . you ain’t got no jurisdiction with me.”

NIGE HOOD

“Contra Banned Contradictions” youtube.com/watch?v=GQp234RxdiQ The kindness that white immigrant Mickey Stephens was shown when his tire blew out in Memphis may not be shown to American-born rapper Nige Hood — that is, unless Hood was in a black section of town.

America’s greatest songwriters), wrote about Hamilton long before the recent Broadway play. It’s a very moving story about how complicated it can be to be an American.

Thoughtful line: “Inspiration is a curse, doing nothing is much worse.”

LEANNA EDEN

“Protest Song” youtube.com/watch?v=BqK_p9OD94o LeAnna Eden wrote “Protest Song” about the spate of killings of black people by police all across America, and I’ve written about the song endlesssly. But I love it, so here we go again: Eden wrote “Protest Song” before the

MICKEY STEPHENS AND POOR BLUE

“When I came here [from Ireland] on a student visa, I felt I had escaped a world of prejudice and bigotry,” Stephens told me, explaining the genesis of this song. “People in America didn’t care about Protestants and Catholics. They were welcoming and kind.

One time I drove from California to Ohio.

My tire was losing air in Memphis late on a Friday night. Everything was closed and I had no spare. I was driving around lost and I wound up in a back alley. A mechanic was locking the door to his shop. I told him my problem and he opened his shop back up and fixed my tire. We hardly spoke, he just did what needed to be done. Then he refused to take any money. That kindness to a total

David Childers

Hood’s song submission, “Contra Banned Contradictions,” he said, “is about the contradictory standards in America — how oftentimes, depending on the perspective or sides of fortune, you can get the short end of the stick all along. Still, it also discusses how many of us say we want freedom, but do not embrace the opportunities that we are afforded in America. It is about counting your blessings, and becoming stronger as well.”

Thoughtful line: “America is contrary to liberty.”

“Alexander Hamilton” youtube.com/watch?v=-8POVkgOCbs

PHOTO BY CAREY J. KING

stranger is something I have not forgotten.”

However, Stephens is acutely aware of that his personal experience may not be shared by all.

“I know being a white, English-speaking guy has given me a different experience from other immigrants, but I have friends from China, Guatemala, Russia and Palestine who feel the same about America as I do,” he said. “My Jewish friend from the Soviet Union came here to escape anti-Semitism and I came to escape the [Northern Ireland] troubles. For both of us, America was a place of hope and sanctuary.”

Thoughtful line: “You’re welcome, you’re welcome — come on in.”

“Guns Up” was the first single from Charlotte rapper Phaze Gawd’s 2016 EP Definitive Theosis, a terrific collaboration with the late producer Deflon (DFLN).

“The song,” Phaze Gawd explained, “is a manifestation of the mind state of today’s African American males, as well as a call to action to ‘Put your guns up’ and stand against those who’ve been gunning down our people and oppressing many others.

The song spans different topics, from police brutality, to relationships, to politics, to even the newfound acceptance of nerd culture in the black community, giving an in-depth look into how the world looks to the average American black man now.”

Thoughtful line: “Guns up cause our people be gunned down.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVID CHILDERS

DAVID CHILDERS

Nige Hood

PHOTO BY DREA ATKINS

Amigo

“You’re Welcome” youtube.com/watch?v=G89jNXxM3uY

Speaking of immigrants, one of America’s founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton, was an immigrant born out of wedlock in a small Caribbean Island nation. That’s two strikes against him to your average “America-loving” Trump supporters who often talk about the “Founding Fathers” as if they know what the hell they’re talking about. This bastard immigrant from the Caribbean ended up writing most of the Federalist papers defending the Constitution that most “America-loving” Trump supporters say they love, as if they know what the hell they’re talking about.

The other thing about Hamilton — he was shot and killed in a duel by former friend and then rival Aaron Burr, who at the time was Vice President under Thomas Jefferson. (You think politics is vicious now!) Hamilton had sought Burr’s defeat as governor of New York, and that pissed Burr off enough to challenge Hamilton to a duel.

Interestingly, after the shooting, Burr fled to South Carolina, but eventually returned to Washington to complete his term as Vice President. He avoided New York (and also New Jersey, where the shooting took place) for a while, during which all charges against him were eventually dropped.

David Childers, one of the Charlotte area’s greatest songwriters (hell, one of

LeAnna Eden

PHOTO BY MALIKAH FRENCH

Keith Lamont Scott shooting in Charlotte, but it took on added relevance after that incident. Not only that, but the song is important beyond its topic of the killings of black people. It’s important because its most thoughtful line could be applied to almost everything that’s happened since Trump decided he was not just the president, but America’s new dictator.

Thoughtful line: “Don’t give up, so many reasons to cry / Yeah, we all know, we all know, we all know, it’s time to stand up and fight.”

PHAZE GAWD

“Guns Up” soundcloud.com/phazegawd/guns-up-prodby-deflon

Phaze Gawd

PHOTO BY MARK KEMP

AMIGO

“Old Testaments and Nail Bombs” youtube.com/watch?v=P0uhAcgZgIs&featur e=youtu.be Though Amigo’s singer and songwriter Slade Baird doesn’t like to talk about his lyrics (he’d prefer listeners glean whatever they choose to glean from his works), he did allow that “this song is from the point of view of a character (a real person) who unfortunately is as American as apple pie.”

That character is the kind of Christian who, like extremists of any religion, thinks his religious beliefs justify his harming of other people.

Thoughtful line: “Old testaments and nail bombs ensure they kill no babies.”

YUNG CITIZEN

“Power People” soundcloud.com/yungcitizen/power-people How could you call yourself Yung Citizen and not have a song about being a young American citizen? In Charlotte rapper Yung Citizen’s case, you can’t. With its gospel choir vibe, “Power People” is among the more uplifting songs (along with Mickey Stephens’ “You’re Welcome”) in this list of mostly dark reflections on the state of our country today; hence, the reason I’ve saved it for last. We desperately need an uplifting, gospel choir vibe in order to survive this thing called Trump with some semblance of sanity.

Thoughtful line: “Take it to the podium . . . This is to the power of the people, need to start fighting for your freedom.”

CLCLT.COM | JUN. 28 - JUL. 4, 2018 | 17

MUSIC

MUSICMAKER

INVASION OF THE SPONGETONES Sponge-worthy rockers pay tribute to 1960s sounds

BY PAT MORAN

“WE WERE STARS,” Jamie Hoover says.

“I’d go to a shopping center and people would come up and follow me around. I had girls driving around my house gawking. It was like we were the Monkees.”

Hoover, guitarist for the Spongetones, is remembering the heyday of the veteran Charlotte power pop group. Soon after Hoover joined guitarist Pat Walters, bassist Steve Stoeckel and drummer Rob Thorne in late 1979, the Spongetones took off. Beginning as a cover band of 1960s tunes, the group soon began penning original tunes in the mold of their musical heroes. Evoking the heady rush of British Invasion bands like the Beatles, the Kinks and the Rolling Stones while adding their own all-American perspective, The Spongetones clicked with audiences in Charlotte and beyond. Critics for Rolling Stone raved about their 1982 debut Beat Music and its 1984 follow-up EP Torn Apart — for which R.E.M. provided handclaps.

The band played high-profile gigs, including a spot opening for their heroes the Kinks. That may have been the commercial high water mark for the Spongetone’s wave of popularity, but Charlotte’s beloved power poppers never went away. In 2009, they played to big crowds in Tokyo, and in 2014 Thorne vacated the drum stool, making way for current drummer Chris Garges. After a recent hiatus, the band is back playing a July 1 gig at the Evening Muse. The show will be a tribute to the British Invasion bands that inspired the Spongetones’ musical journey, though Creative Loafing took this opportunity to request a few of the group’s effervescent originals, like Stoeckel’s composition “(My Girl) Maryanne” and “She Goes Out with Everybody,” penned by Hoover. (Both are on the Rhino Records box set Children of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the Second Psychedelic Era, 1976–1995.) We caught up with Hoover recently to discuss all things jangly and all tones spongy.

Creative Loafing: Local legend has it that you were at an early Spongetones gig at the Double Door Inn — and you wound up joining the group that night. True?

Jamie Hoover: I was a huge fan of not only the guys in the band and their abilities, but that era of music — The Beatles, The Kinks, The Stones, Dave Clark Five — all the stuff they were playing. I was a big fan of Pat Walters and his bands like The Paragons and The Good, the Bad & the Ugly. My friend Alan Crawford and I were doing a recording session at Bob Davis Studios and he said one of the guys in the Spongetones was leaving, and I would be a good fit with the band. I said I’d love to do it. I couldn’t figure any other band 18 | JUN. 28 - JUL. 4, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

I’d rather be in. So we went to the Double Door after that session, and on a break I went up to Pat and he said, “Hey Jamie. I hear that you’d like to be in the band. You’re in!” It was just like that. It was life-changing for me.

That’s how I got into the best band that I’ve ever been in and ever will be in.

You guys started doing original material early on that has the feel of the Beatles, Kinks and Stones, but it’s not an imitation. What sparked you to start writing original material?

We were playing covers and it was fun, but I had already recorded some things that were in the style of the Beatles. One song, “Tell Me Too!” ended up on the first Spongetones record. I had already recorded things like that. I said, “Why don’t we record a single or something in that style, but make it be a new and original song?” This was before The Ruttles came out and before Utopia did their Deface the Music album. We were a little ahead of those guys in that. Most of the press in Charlotte did not know what to think of that.

They thought we were an embarrassment.

“What are these guys doing? They’re trying to sound old!”

What was the most memorable gig you played with the Spongetones?

God, we had a bunch of great ones. The Spring Fest shows that we did at Freedom Park were amazing. For a couple, we had over 30,000 people out there. We would also book shows on our own. We would decide to do a concert on Mother’s Day or Father’s Day, and then we would enlist a radio station to help promote it. The radio station would cop the glory for it, but we actually thought it up. A WBCY-FM show with [Rolling Stones session player and keyboardist] Nicky Hopkins — that was one of those. We did a big thing at Clemson one time. There was rumored to be 70,000 people there. The gig at [New York City punk mecca] CBGB was also really cool. It was awesome to be able to play there.

One of my favorite gigs was at a place called the Mad Monk in Wilmington. That was when [writer] Parke Puterbaugh from Rolling Stone came to watch us play, and he decided to review our first record in Rolling Stone. Actually, he tried to give it a four star review. They made him bump it down to three and a half because we were unknown and didn’t have a major label deal. That was an incredible gig. People were literally hanging from the ceiling.

You’ve released at least five solo albums, and you’ve toured with Graham Parker and Don Dixon. If you had to pick a

PHOTO BY LAURA TINNEL The Spongetones: L-R Jamie Hoover, Pat Walters, Chris Garges, Steve Stoeckel highlight, what would it be?

I did a record called Jamie Hoo-Ever, which was the name I was credited on for a John P. THE SPONGETONES Kee gospel record. John P. Kee is a big gospel Celebrating the British Invasion guy based around Charlotte and this was a No. 1 Billboard record, and I engineered part Sunday, July 1, 7 p.m. of it at Reflection Studios. Instead of putting Evening Muse, 3227 N Davidson St. Jamie Hoover on the credits, they put down $20. eveningmuse.com Jamie Hoo-ever, and I thought that is just too good. I have to use that. It was just a typo, or somebody didn’t know how to spell Hoover, which is odd, because it’s not an uncommon name. So it’s on the record and in Southport a couple of weeks ago and we it’s so funny. did two shows in February. What prompted I had done lots of compilation records these latest shows was this: We still played where people would say they were doing a really great and everybody realized they still Bobby Fuller Four tribute album, or a Klaatu enjoy this. And I realized that at some point [tribute] or a Todd Rundgren [tribute] or it will be over. One of us will die, or a serious whatever. So I had lots of solo things on those. illness will set in and somebody won’t be Then I finally said, why don’t I pull all of these able to do it. I think it’s important to keep together and just call it Jamie Hoo-Ever? doing this. I’m kind of like the black knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail that’s The Spongetones have gone on hiatus hopping up and down on one leg after all his now and again. What prompted the other limbs have been hacked off. “It’s just latest get-together and the upcoming a flesh wound.” I know I’ll really regret it if show at the Evening Muse?

I didn’t play with those guys when I could.

We’ve been together 39 years. We didn’t have Most musicians would pay to be in a band an intentional hiatus. The most pressing like the Spongetones. Just because we do thing was that we had a couple surgeries in solo things doesn’t mean we don’t love each the band that we had to get over and give other. We really love each other. people time to recuperate. We played gigs PMORAN@CLCLT.COM

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MUSIC

SOUNDBOARD JUNE 28 COUNTRY/FOLK Aaron Burdett (U.S. National Whitewater Center) Robby Hecht, Caroline Spence (Evening Muse)

DJ/ELECTRONIC DJ Matt B (Tin Roof) Le Bang (Snug Harbor)

POP/ROCK Maxi Priest (Neighborhood Theatre) Carmen Tate Solo Acoustic (Eddie’s on Lake Norman, Mooresville) Open Mic for Musicians (Crown Station Coffeehouse and Pub) Night Years (Rooftop 210) Friendship Commanders, Sunday Boxing, Kyle Perkins Band, And The Luckier (Milestonee) Karaoke (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern, Charlotte) Kerry Brooks (Comet Grill) Jettison 5 (JackBeagle’s) Mike Alicke (Summit Coffee Co., Davidson) Musicomedy2 (Petra’s) No Anger Control, Nerve Endings, Grandeur (Skylark Social Club) Shana Blake and Friends (Smokey Joe’s Cafe,)

JUNE 29 BLUES/ROOTS/INTERNATIONAL An Archaic Agenda (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern)

CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH Jazzy Fridays (Freshwaters Restaurant)

COUNTRY/FOLK Hayes Carll, Pierce Edens (Visulite Theatre) The Lenny Federal Band (Comet Grill) Luke Bryan, Jon Pardi, Morgan Wallen (PNC Music Pavilion) Ryan Hutchens (Cabarrus Brewing Company, Concord)

DJ/ELECTRONIC Dada Life (World) Mirror Moves - 80’s Dance Party- June Edition (Petra’s)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Dipset, Byrdgang (The Fillmore) Outkast on a Quest: Carolina DJ, DJ Boney B, Bluz, Quentin Talley & The Soul Providers (Crown Station Coffeehouse and Pub) 20 | JUN. 28 - JUL. 4, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

POP/ROCK Summer Concert Series (Blakeney Shopping Center) Brave, Curt Keyz (Evening Muse) Comfortably Nutz (JackBeagle’s) Late Bloomer, TKO Faith Healer, Faye (Snug Harbor) Never Home, R-Dent, Fozmo, Rothschild (Milestone) School of Rock Presents: Circ-Day Sorock (The Shed, Charlotte) Selah Dubb (Smokey Joe’s Cafe) Seth Glier (Evening Muse) Steven Metz (Tin Roof) Tribute to Women of Music: The Monday Night Allstars, Tyler Ramsey, Matrimony, Ancient Cities, Reeve Coobs, Elonzo Wesley, Bassh, Evergone, It’s Snakes, Māya Beth Atkins, Lisa De Novo (Neighborhood Theatre)

JUNE 30 CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH Ellis Dyson and the Shambles (Evening Muse) Jon Batiste (Booth Playhouse)

COUNTRY/FOLK Carly Burruss Band (The Music Yard)

DJ/ELECTRONIC Tilted DJ Saturdays (Tilted Kilt Pub & Eatery)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Pre 4th of July All White & Black Party: TJ Swann Live, Church Boy, QCB, DJ CK. (Grady Cole Center) Blac Youngsta (The Fillmore, Charlotte)

POP/ROCK Summer Concert Series (Blakeney Shopping Center) The Breakfast Club (Visulite Theatre) Caroline Keller Band (Summit Coffee Co., Davidson) David Childers, Drunken Prayer, The Pintos, Smoking D (Snug Harbor) DTA & The Echoes, Twisted River Junction, Andrew X (Petra’s) Fundraiser Jam for Tom: Lenny Federal, Poor Blue, Silver Wings (Comet Grill) Girls Rock Charlotte Kids Camp Concert (McGlohon Theater) Hunters Travesty (JackBeagle’s) The Jump Cut (Tin Roof)

MUSIC

SOUNDBOARD Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hank Williams Jr., 38 Special, CJ Solar (PNC Music Pavilion) October, Asbestos Boys, TWiNVASiON, Trash Room (Milestone) Perpetual Groove, Atlas Road Crew (Sycamore Brewing) Queen City Metalfest: Blackwater Drowning, Annabel Lee, Black Ritual, Violent Life Violent Death (The Underground) Red Sammy (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Shiloh Hill (Cabarrus Brewing Company, Concord) Sons of Bill, Molly Parden (Neighborhood Theatre) Sun Parade (U.S. National Whitewater Center)

Craft Beers (Tin Roof) Meadow Mountain (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Morganton, Symptoms, Hale Bopp Astronauts, Middleasia (Milestone) Stray Fossa, Cameron Gene, Communal Sex Dice (Tommy’s Pub) Music Trivia (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Open Mic with Lisa De Novo (Legion Brewing)

Vince McKinley (Smokey Joe’s Cafe)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B

JULY 1 BLUES/ROOTS/INTERNATIONAL Irish Ceili Brunch: Irish band and Irish dancers from Walsh Kelley School of Dance (RiRa Irish Pub, Charlotte)

DJ/ELECTRONIC Hazy Sunday (Petra’s, Charlotte) Bone Snugs-N-Harmony (Snug Harbor) More Fyah - Grown & Sexy Vibes (Crown Station Coffeehouse and Pub)

COUNTRY/FOLK Redleg Husky (Free Range Brewing Company)

POP/ROCK Amigo, Reese McHenry (Thirsty Beaver) Lea Michele & Darren Criss (Ovens Auditorium) Metal Church Sunday Service (Milestone) Omari and The Hellhounds (Comet Grill) The Spongetones (Evening Muse) Sunday Music Bingo (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern)

JULY 2 CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH Jazz Jam (Crown Station Coffeehouse and Pub)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B #MFGD Open Mic (Apostrophe Lounge) Knocturnal (Snug Harbor)

POP/ROCK Find Your Muse Open Mic featuring Guys On a Bus (Evening Muse) Locals Live: The Best in Local Live Music & Local

JULY 3 BLUES/ROOTS/INTERNATIONAL Poetry on the Patio & Reggae/Dancehall after party (Petra’s) Pouya, Wifisfuneral, Shakewell (The Fillmore)

Eclectic Soul Tuesdays - RnB & Poetry (Apostrophe Lounge) Quantrelle, Cheeno Ghee, J Alta, Skyy (Evening Muse) Soul Station (Crown Station Coffeehouse and Pub)

DJ/ELECTRONIC DJ Steel Wheel (Snug Harbor) ORBIT : That Guy Smitty w/ Steel Wheel, Maf Maddix, Oba, Longchild (Snug Harbor)

COUNTRY/FOLK Red Rockin’ Chair (Comet Grill)

POP/ROCK The Goddamn Gallows, Gallows Bound (Neighborhood Theatre) Independence Rocks: Restless Carolina, Sticks ‘N Stones (Tin Roof) Jill Scott (Ovens Auditorium) Marc Broussard, Dangermuffin (U.S. National Whitewater Center) Open Jam with the Smokin’ Js (Smokey Joe’s Cafe) Uptown Unplugged (Tin Roof)

JULY 4 BLUES/ROOTS/INTERNATIONAL Bugalú - July (Petra’s)

DJ/ELECTRONIC Cyclops Bar: Modern Heritage Weekly Mix Tape (Snug Harbor)

POP/ROCK

18th Annual 4th of July Plaza Midwood Pig Pickin’ (Diamond Restaurant) Foreigner, Whitesnake, Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening (PNC Music Pavilion) July Residency: Blame the Youth, Futurists (Snug Harbor) Open Mic (JackBeagle’s) Trivia & Karaoke Wednesdays (Tin Roof)

COMING SOON Sam Smith (July 6, Spectrum Center) Barenaked Ladies (July 5, Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheare) Erasure (July 11, Fillmore) Indigo Girls (July 13, Fillmore) Digital Noir: Michael Price and DJ Spider (July 14, Milestone) Coheed and Cambria (July 14, Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheare) The Mood Kings (July 15, Evening Muse)

6/29 HAYES CARLL 6/30 BREAKFAST CLUB! 80sSUPREME TRIBUTE 7/19 ROOSEVELTS 7/20 JGBCB 7/21 JUPITER COYOTE 7/23FANTASTIC NEGRITO 7/25 THE SHEEPDOGS 7/27 PORCH 40 7/28 COSMIC CHARLIE - JERRY GARCIA BIRTHDAY BASH! 8/10Abacab A Tribute to GENESIS 8/5 LYDIA 8/11NATALIE PRASS 8/17 RED BARCHETTA A Tribute to RUSH 8/24 TREEHOUSE 9/11 JOSEPH 9/19 NOAH GUNDERSEN 9/28 CAAMP 10/2 MT. JOY 10/9 WELSHLY ARMS 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.

CLCLT.COM | JUN. 28 - JUL. 4, 2018 | 21

ARTS

FEATURE

LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS CPCC’s new whodunit has kept crowds guessing for 66 years

BY PERRY TANNENBAUM

B

ETWEEN THE TIME that

Queen Elizabeth II began her reign and the official date of her coronation in 1953, another queen began her ascent to a regal London throne. Late in November 1952, Agatha Christie brought her murder mystery drama The Mousetrap to the Ambassadors Theatre.

By the time the show transferred to the larger St. Martin’s Theatre in 1974, Dame Agatha had long since worn the crown for the longest running show in London’s fabled West End — for both plays and musicals.

It’s been there ever since, making St. Martin’s a London landmark.

This week, The Mousetrap returns to CPCC Summer Theatre after a hiatus of 37 years. Paula Baldwin, who directs the whodunit, says she saw a production a few years ago in Mint Hill.

Scarcely as popular in Metrolina as it is in the U.K., productions have only appeared on the outskirts of Charlotte since the turn of the millennium, popping up in Davidson during the summer of 2004 and again at Fort Mill in 2008.

“I love the script!” says Baldwin. “The characters are well developed and they all have a secret. In many murder mysteries, the audience knows who the killer is and watches for the climactic moment, but in The Mousetrap, the audience makes discoveries as the characters do, and all of the characters appear to be guilty at one point or another.”

That includes Giles and Mollie Ralston (Andrew Tarek and Lisa Hatt), our hosts at Monkswell Manor. On a snowy night, after listening to radio reports of a murder and a police manhunt, the Ralstons welcome four anticipated boarders to their isolated guesthouse — plus two people they hadn’t bargained for. Mr. Paravicini (Charles Laborde) seeks shelter from the storm after his car has overturned in a snowdrift. That’s his story, anyway. After that, Detective Sergeant Trotter (Cole Pedigo) arrives to investigate, believing that the murderer is somewhere in the house.

Don’t bet against it. Nor should we assume that all the killing is over, especially since — hey, we’re back in the ‘50s, and it’s been snowing! — the lights and the phone might go out.

So is it murder and suspense that account for the uncanny success of The Mousetrap?

Probably not. Nor is it the notorious pact 22 | JUN. 28 - JUL. 4, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

PHOTO BY DARNELL VENNIE/CPCC

Lisa Hatt as Mollie Ralston (left) and Cole Pedigo as Detective Sergeant Trotter.

“He seems to have perverse fun with the subject of murder.”

CHARLES LABORDE, ON HIS CHARACTER MR. PARAVICINI IN MOUSETRAP

with the audience not to reveal the final plot twists unique to this mystery thriller.

Ticket sales aren’t completely on autopilot midway into the show’s 67th year. Marketing continues long after some might see its necessity. “The mystery lives on!” proclaims the current poster, evidence that somebody might be up late at night worrying about the future.

Truth be told, reputation and tradition are likely more pertinent to the endless run than mundane marketing. Next to Shakespeare and the authors of the Bible, Christie has

sold more books than anyone one else in the history of the planet, the best-selling novelist of all time.

We can safely declare that Dame Agatha benefits from a build-up of goodwill and adoration. Nor was the Queen of Crime a one-hit wonder on the stage. Productions of Witness for the Prosecution and Ten Little Indians are still done.

If there’s a secret ingredient to the success of The Mousetrap, it’s Christie’s charm.

“Agatha Christie had a lot of fun with this particular play and really pokes fun at

murder mysteries with some of the dialogue and actions within the play,” says Baldwin when asked to detect its secret sauce. “I do think that seeing the show in London has become a tradition for tourists, very much like American tourists flock to see shows like Phantom of the Opera or Wicked when they go to New York. Londoners go to see the show when the cast changes or to take their children and later their grandchildren.”

Of course, 37 years after the last CPCC Summer Mousetrap, people who saw the 1981 production might just come back to refresh

PHOTO BY OXFORDIAN KISSUTH

St. Martin’s Theatre (pictured in 2014) has been hosting ‘The Mousetrap’ since 1974. their memories — with or without kids and grandkids. Baldwin has no intentions of layering on any updates or retrospective condescension, planning to preserve the suspense built into the script and present the snowbound mystery as a period piece.

The new CPCC production will sport a not-so-secret sauce of its own, the 15th collaboration between Baldwin and LaBorde since the two met up at Carolina Actors Studio Theatre in 2008 in the CAST production of Foxfire. It was Baldwin’s Charlotte debut and LaBorde’s first acting gig after retiring from his position as principal of Northwest School of the Arts.

“I feel we clicked immediately,” LaBorde recalls. “We each liked the other’s professionalism and commitment to hard work on the process. She is quite firm but nice. She’s often been a strong positive character in shows we have done together – Foxfire, Metamorphoses, Death of a Salesman, To Kill a Mockingbird.”

Ah yes, but then there are all of Baldwin’s mean and nasty roles in Streetcar Named Desire, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Actress. Maybe meanest of all was

‘THE MOUSETRAP’ June 29-July 1, July 5-8; Pease Auditorium, 1201 Elizabeth Avenue; tix.cpcc.edu

August: Osage County, where she usurped the leadership of the Weston family and yelled out at the end of Act 2, “I’m running things now!”

LaBorde has directed Baldwin eight times, if we count Angels in America twice for parts 1 and 2. Mousetrap really will be the first time in their professional relationship that Baldwin is turning the tables and running things.

“It has been an easy transition to acting for her and being bossed around by her,” LaBorde tells us, diplomatically. “I’ve had the good sense to learn my lines, do the blocking she gives me, and keep my mouth shut at other times.”

After getting cast by LaBorde as Blanche

DuBois in Streetcar and Martha in Virginia Woolf, Baldwin couldn’t be blamed if she retaliated by casting LaBorde as Christie’s killer. But did she? Baldwin won’t say.

“Everybody is a suspect!” she exclaims.

We can’t get a full confession from LaBorde, either.

“Paravicini is a mysterious character to be sure,” he evades. “He drops in out of the storm unannounced, he speaks with a French accent — peppering his speech with oui’s, charmante’s, and even soupçon. But he has an Italian name, which he appears to make up on the spot. He is clearly worried about the arrival of the police, but his more obnoxious self gets the better of him and sets him in a battle of wits with the detective.”

Cross-examination proves to be fruitless.

Even when we ask a trick question, how many people did Paravicini murder, LaBorde answers ambiguously. Asked whether there’s anything we will like about Paravicini, the wily LaBorde finally divulges a hint of a tease.

“He seems to have perverse fun with the subject of murder,” he says wickedly, “always a crowd-pleaser in an Agatha Christie play.”

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PHOTO BY DARNELL VENNIE/CPCC

CLCLT.COM | JUN. 28 - JUL. 4, 2018 | 23

‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’

ARTS

UNIVERSAL

FILM

DINO-SORE Jurassic sequel operates in fits and starts

BY MATT BRUNSON

GIVEN THE general slipshod quality of the

franchise since the excellent original, stating that Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (**1/2 out of four) is the best of the sequels is a largely empty declaration, equivalent to opining that a Hostess Twinkie is the best of the largely inedible sugary snacks flooding the marketplace. Perhaps it’s true, but does it really matter?

Steven Spielberg’s 1993 smash Jurassic Park was pure dino-mite, but the same can’t be said about the dismal twofer of 1997’s The Lost World: Jurassic Park and 2001’s Jurassic Park III. The 2015 reboot Jurassic World fared better, but its commitment to rousing set-pieces and potent CGI couldn’t quite withstand its daft scripting and flippant cruel streak.

This latest entry is a sliver better than its immediate predecessor, but only because it offers an innovative setting and a welcome moral dilemma — and because it lacks the presence of two of the most annoying kids in recent cinema.

Dinosaurs became extinct once before — should we allow them to do so again, or should we strive to save them? It’s an interesting question that’s posed from the very start of the film, as Isla Nublar, the island that 24 | JUN. 28 - JUL. 4, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

houses the dinosaurs (as well as the nowabandoned Jurassic theme park), is about to be demolished by an erupting volcano. Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jurassic Park’s Jeff Goldblum, with disappointingly limited screen time) believes the dinosaurs should go down with the island, but Claire Dearing (returning Bryce Dallas Howard) wants the animals rescued and is thrilled when wealthy industrialist Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell) contacts her with an offer to save them by transporting them off the island to a secluded new home.

Lockwood has his reasons and means well, but the same can’t be said of his underlings, who instead have decided to make money off the creatures. For her part, Dearing recruits former flame Owen Grady (returning Chris Pratt) to aid in the rescue operation, but with double-crosses the order of the day, nothing goes as planned, and the dinosaurs end up imprisoned in an underground complex located beneath Lockwood’s mansion.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a picture that operates in fits and starts, with draggy interludes repeatedly and reluctantly giving way to more energized sequences. Certainly, the opening half-hour is one of the most lumbering stretches, with so much time spent on overstuffed exposition that one

briefly suspects the filmmakers had a fourpart miniseries in mind when putting this together. The movie roars to life once the duplicity of the villains overtakes the nobility of the heroes, and the sequences involving the overflowing volcano are expertly staged by director J.A. Bayona and his go-to cinematographer, Oscar Faura.

Bayona made his startling debut with the exquisite Spanish horror yarn The Orphanage, but he then went Hollywood with diminishing returns, with neither The Impossible nor A Monster Calls able to duplicate his original breakout success. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom obviously falls short as well, but at least on this feature, he’s able to conjure

some of the ambience he generated for The Orphanage. Given its setting, the second half of this new picture resembles nothing so much as a haunted house opus, with dinosaurs instead of ghosts primed to leap out from the dark shadows.

The final act also brings the moral question — dinosaurs: should they stay or should they go? — back to the forefront in a way that sets the stage for the next installment that’s scheduled for release on June 11, 2021.

There’s no reason to expect the upcoming film to be any better than the middling-to-poor sequels that have preceded it, but I suppose it’s always best to keep hope alive.

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confidence told me, “Eh, why not?”

PICTURE IT. It’s 2:45 a.m. on South The next thing I knew, I was experiencing Tryon Street in front of Ruth’s Chris Steak turbulence and needed to abort the mission.

House. A girl — who could be mistaken for I called out that I would be hopping off to dead if she wasn’t cry-laughing hysterically jog until the scooter came to a stop, so as — is laying next to a neon-colored scooter not to look like I fell on accident. However, on the ground next to her. One thing slowly as I made my move I didn’t realize I was still becomes obvious, she fell off the machine. pressing down on the throttle. Suddenly, I’m If you haven’t already guessed, the girl running for what felt like five minutes trying was me. to catch my fall before taking a “Charlotte As you’ve surely seen by now, you can tumble” (Google Charlotte takes a tumble) now rent electric scooters for joyriding of epic proportions. throughout the Queen City just as with I finally succumbed to my doom and other dockless bike shares about town. That’s rolled onto the ground. Surprisingly, the right, LimeBike and Bird drop a handful only thing that hurt was my pride as I heard of scooters on corners throughout Uptown the boo come to a quick stop then rush over and other neighborhoods every day. All to my aide. you have to do is download one of Needless to say, I was lucky the apps, agree to a disclaimer enough to end my night about safety and wearing a on a decent note after a helmet (I could’ve used my wipeout. However, as own advice there), upload nightlife excursions your credit card (unless start to incorporate the you get the free first#scootlife, I want to time user credit) and caution you all, because unlock your scooter. you can eat it and hurt Since their official yourself whether or not release, Charlotteans have you’re under the influence. been zipping everywhere (And DUIs are still a looming AERIN SPRUILL around the city. But I’m threat.) here to tell you: approach That being said, there are a with caution. The first time my few things I will share for those that boo and other friends forced — yes, are scooter virgins: forced — me to ride one, I was beyond Scooters are supposed to be ridden nervous. I haven’t ridden a scooter since I in bike lanes on the street. So beware of was a kid, and that was just a non-motorized pedestrians on the sidewalks Uptown.

Razor scooter. And still, I have the scars on Don’t leave your scooter unlocked. my ankles to remind me of that era in my Scooter snipers will take it and ride the hell life. out of it. I know this because friends laugh Needless to say, my anxiety had me about doing it. sweating from head to toe. Days before, I had Don’t take the scooters into your laughed from a distance while me and one apartment. Scooter officials will come to of the besties looked at a rider and claimed, your apartment and confiscate it from you.

“Scooter gang, scooter gang, scooter gang.”

Yes, this happened.

Now I’d have to join the gang, for real.

Don’t attempt the “double scoot.” Two On the day of reckoning, my love and I people on one scooter is not the best move, were contemplating whether to grab an Uber nor is one person on two scooters, for that before heading home at 2:30 a.m. That’s matter. when I noticed two scooters resting beside Don’t expect that you’re going to get the bar. So what did we think the smart a scooter at all times of the day. Bird, for thing to do was? Surely, it will just take a bit example, cuts off their scooters at a certain of practice before I felt comfortable enough point in the night. You can walk by one and to brave the Queen City streets. think you’re going to get one and find out I was right, or so I thought. I made it really quick that it ain’t gonna happen. all the way to his complex with very few Don’t think people won’t take one right issues, but that’s when someone like myself from under your nose. Again, I know from becomes overly confident. When he decided experience, people will run to grab the to take one more ride around the block, I scooter you’ve been trying to find for 45 thought, “Eh, why not?” As I approached minutes. And then they’ll smile at you like, the final curb right in front of his place, “Yeah, you effed up. I beat ya.”

I knew I shouldn’t get near the edge but, Better you than the scooter. again, the combination of liquid courage and BACKTALK@CLCLT.COM

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LESSON IN TOLERANCE ACROSS

1 Putting game 5 Graham of football 9 Train lines, e.g.: Abbr.

13 Minnesota’s capital 19 Hollywood’s Sharif 20 Apparel 21 “Got it,” facetiously 22 -- del Fuego (island group) 23 Occur 25 Grizzly catcher’s activity 27 Solidarity 28 Stock value 29 Florida resort 30 Moist 31 First part of an act 34 Lacking any amenities 38 Repulsive 43 Product’s ultimate application 44 Pub mug 45 Nanny, e.g.

46 Captivate 48 Scholastic stat 49 Up vote 50 Digit with a relatively large nail 52 Fourth scale steps 53 Bubbling, as hot water 55 “I read you” 57 Not reveal one’s pain 61 Athletic shoe brand 63 Outward flow 64 Swenson of the screen 65 Sacred sites 67 Adam’s mate 68 Minor deities 72 Other, to Jose 73 Tennis’ Graf 75 Fed head Janet 76 Play fair 81 Towel off again 82 Sophia of the silver screen 83 Heckler’s cry 84 Facial hair 86 In thing, temporarily 87 “Is” pluralized 88 Bewilder 91 Movie genre 92 Totally fulfill 93 Tiny nation in Europe 96 Be a sentinel for 99 Oppressive 101 Like pre-1991 Russia 102 Funny Philips

103 Code name 105 Ring count 106 Current flow measures 110 “It’s Just a Matter of Time” singer of 1959 114 What the first words of 23-, 25-, 38-, 57-, 76-, 96- and 110-Across can all mean 116 Bodega site 117 Major- -- (steward) 118 Author Oz 119 “Boy!” or “girl!” leadin 120 Selected 121 Utah city 122 Thanksgiving side dish 123 “Sure thing”

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13 Tough one 14 Metal cake container 15 Besieger’s bomb 16 Jackie’s “O” 17 Sizable vase 18 Not keep up 24 Gp. against bullfighting 26 Includes 28 Diem lead-in 31 Many busts 32 Sever 33 Stymied 35 Yank at 36 Savory jelly 37 Tennis’ Fraser 38 Glassy looks 39 Camry, e.g.

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Bus” 50 Composer Benjamin 51 Devitalized 53 Casbah city 54 Small hound 56 Cipher 58 Young moray, say 59 Lamentable 60 Part of IMO 62 Rein in 66 Perhaps 68 Becomes extinct 69 Long-loved item 70 Lower the value of 71 Gary of beat poetry 73 Yells 74 Projecting flat collar 76 Thrifty rival 77 Element #5 78 Actress Jacob 79 Male turkeys 80 LaBeouf of “I, Robot” 85 Botch it up 88 Straight whiskey type 89 Island that’s Principe’s partner 90 Poison 92 By one means or another 94 Knights’ suits 95 Oreo, e.g.

97 Loud noise 98 “Chocolat” actor Johnny 100 Compass pt.

104 Within: Prefix 106 Molecule unit 107 Tousle 108 Blues singer -- James 109 Pahlavi, e.g.

110 Telly channel 111 Cheer word 112 Gold, to Jose 113 Blue Jays, on scoreboards 114 Cough up 115 Actress Thurman

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ENDS

SAVAGE LOVE

THE SEX SUX? ‘You’re free to go”

BY DAN SAVAGE

When I started dating my husband, he told me he had a low libido. I said I could deal with that. We waited several months before having sex, and then after we started, it was infrequent and impersonal.

There was some slow improvement over the three years we dated. Then we got married, and suddenly he had no libido at all. He blamed health problems and assured me he was trying to address them.

Despite being diagnosed and successfully treated for multiple physical and mental health issues over time, things only got worse. After four years of marriage, the relationship has become strictly platonic.

I can’t even start a conversation about intimacy without him getting irritated.

After we married, he also decided he no longer wanted children, and I eventually convinced myself it was probably for the best, given his health. We built our dream home, adopted a pet, and built an outwardly successful life together. I was, if not happy, at least complacent. Until I ran into an ex-boyfriend at a party. We split many years ago on good terms. We ended up talking about how important it is to him to have a biological child — something we talked about a lot when we were dating — and we got physically close, and that got me thinking about how much I missed sex with him. Ever since, I’ve been thinking about him. I think he was hinting that he wants me back, and right now that sounds like the answer to all my problems. But if not, I don’t want to leave my hubby and lose the decent life

we built together. Plus, my leaving would hurt my husband’s feelings, his health, and his finances. I also worry that people would blame me because it will look like I left because things were tough. Can I follow up and clarify with my ex before I break it off with my husband, or is that too much like cheating? Is it selfish of me to even consider leaving at this point? I’m a 30-year-old woman, so I don’t have a lot of time left to decide about children.

his good-faith efforts to resolve his health issues didn’t help (at least where sex is concerned) and he changed his mind about being a dad (perhaps because he doesn’t feel healthy enough to do the work of parenting).

Either way, you’re free to go. Even if the sex was good and your husband wanted 30 kids, you’d still be free to go.

Whether or not you stay, IMDONE, you should explore your options before making up your mind. So go ahead and call your ex INDECISIVELY MARRIED DAME ON NEARING EXIT and ask him if he’d like to get coffee with you — in a public place and shortly Here’s something I’ve never seen in before an appointment you can’t my inbox: a letter from someone cancel. Your ex may have been explaining how sex with their hinting about wanting to partner was infrequent, get back together, or he impersonal, uninspired, may not want to get back unimaginative, etc. at first together and was engaged but—holy moly—the sex in what he thought was a got a fuck of a lot better after little harmless/nostalgic the wedding! Now, maybe flirtation — harmless that happens — maybe because he knows you’re that happened for you, dear married and presumably DAN SAVAGE reader (if so, please write in) unavailable. There’s only — but I can’t imagine it happens one way to find out what your often. So, boys and girls and enbies, ex wants or doesn’t want, and if the sex isn’t good at or very near that’s by asking your ex. So ask. the beginning, the passage of time and/or And while that convo could be regarded muttering of vows isn’t going to fix it. If sex is as pre-cheating or cheating-prep or even important to you—if you wouldn’t be content cheating-adjacent, it isn’t cheating. You in a companionate marriage and/or don’t want married someone who unilaterally changed to wind up in divorce court one day — hold out the terms and conditions of your marriage— for someone with whom you click sexually. no sex, no kids — and you have an absolute OK, IMDONE, either your husband right to think through your options. And a married you under false pretenses—putting husband who won’t even discuss intimacy out/in just enough to convince you to marry with you can’t ask you to refrain from him and only pretending to want kids — or contemplating or even discussing intimacy

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28 | JUN. 28 - JUL. 4, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

with one of those options.

Whether you have that convo with your ex or not, IMDONE, you need to ask yourself if you want to stay in this marriage. You’re only 30 and you wanted and still want kids.

Ex-boyfriend or no ex-boyfriend, you can leave your husband — and you can leave him without abandoning him. You can still be there for him emotionally, you can offer what help you can financially, and you can help him secure health insurance.

Contact Dan at mail@savagelove.net; go to @ fakedansavage on Twitter; ITMFA.org

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SOLUTION TO THIS WEEK'S PUZZLE

WHERE WE ALL REFUSE TO WEAR SOCKS.

LIBRA (September 23 ARIES

(March 21 to April 19) Don’t be Sheepish about asking questions and demanding answers. You not only gain needed information, but also respect for your steadfast search for the truth.

to October 22) Your loving attention comforts a family member who is feeling a bit out of sorts. But be careful to prioritize your time so you don’t neglect your work duties.

SCORPIO (October 23

to November 21) Your curiosity might be resented by some. But those who know you will support your penchant for never settling for less than the truth. So stay with it.

TAURUS (April 20

to May 20) A money problem that shows up early in the week is expeditiously resolved by savvy Bovines who know how to turn a momentary financial lapse into a monetary gain.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) It’s a good time to shed negative energy-draining forces and develop a positive approach to handling current, as well as upcoming, personal and/or professional situations.

CANCER (June 21 to

July 22) Your urge to do your best on a current task is commendable.

But don’t let it become all-consuming. Spend some spiritually restorative time with those who love you.

LEO (July 23 to August 22) This could be a good time for all you Leos and Leonas to take your bows for your recent achievements and then go off to enjoy some fun times with your prides and joys.

VIRGO

(August 23 to September 22) A negative response to a well-intentioned suggestion could communicate a sense of distrust you might later find hard to refute.

Think carefully before reacting.

SAGITTARIUS

(November 22 to December 21) A pesky situation from the past recurs, albeit in an altered form. Deal with it promptly before it can go from merely irksome to decidedly troublesome.

CAPRICORN (December

22 to January 19) Don’t wait too long to submit your proposals after giving them a last lookover. If necessary, you should be able to defend any portion called into question.

AQUARIUS

(January 20 to February 18) A bid to use your workplace d i s p u t e settling skills in another situation is tempting. But be careful: You might not have all the facts you’ll need if you agree to do it.

PISCES (February

19 to March 20) That sense of self-doubt is so untypical of you, you should have no qualms in shaking it off. Remind yourself of all you’ve done and can do, and then do it again.

BORN THIS WEEK Your ability to charm others without sacrificing sincerity is what makes people want to follow your leadership.

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