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NEWS&CULTURE 15,118 DAYS Charlotte native Ronnie Long has spent four decades

behind bars for a rape in Concord he says he didn’t commit. Evidence suggests he’s right. BY ERICA HELLERSTEIN 12 THE BLOTTER BY RYAN PITKIN 13 NEWS OF THE WEIRD

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Ronnie Long has served more than 40 years in Albemarle Correctional Institution following a controversial trial that raises questions about his conviction.

NEWS

PHOTO BY CAITLIN PENNA

FEATURE

15,118 DAYS Charlotte native Ronnie Long has spent four decades behind bars for a rape in Concord he says he didn’t commit. Evidence suggests he’s right. BY ERICA HELLERSTEIN The following is Part 1 of a two-part story. It is the result of a partnership with the Indy Week in Raleigh. Don’t miss the conclusion in next week’s issue.

HE MORNING OF August 18, 2014, greeted Ashleigh Ward with a blast of sticky summer heat. She was excited. She was getting married, and while nobody she knew approved of the wedding, she didn’t care. Now 32 and living in Durham, Ward is petite, with thin, black-rimmed glasses and a quick laugh. The one word that best suits her is intense. Words tumble out of her mouth. When she was 17, she ran away to an Indian reservation on the Iowa-Nebraska border. That morning, Ward slipped into a white 8 | FEB. 22 - FEB. 28, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

sundress with navy stripes — $3.49 from Goodwill — and shiny black peep-toe heels. Her long, bright blonde hair fell around her shoulders. She dabbed her lips with light pink gloss. Then she drove herself to the wedding venue, some 45 minutes from her home outside Chapel Hill. Inside, the man she would marry waited in a cream-colored button-down and freshly pressed khakis. Ward pulled up to her destination, on East McNeill Street in Lillington, and waited under a carport. She tried not to sweat. A

woman came to retrieve her, guiding her into the chapel, where the chaplain and her fiancé awaited. Neither had family members or friends there, but she noticed a few spectators wander over to watch the ceremony, lingering as the two read their vows. Their interest wasn’t totally unfounded. After all, it was an unlikely setting for an unlikely wedding: the 29-year-old Ashleigh Ward married the 59-year-old Ronnie Long, North Carolina Department of Correction inmate 0247905, at the Albemarle Correctional Institution.

Ward stamped 0247905 as close to her heart as she could get — under her left breast. She did it, she says, because she fell in love with Long when he was “just a number to the state.” Above it, scrawled across her chest in cursive, Ward tattooed the three words that changed her life: “Free Ronnie Long.” Her husband is serving two life sentences for a crime he says he didn’t commit, and he has been serving that time for decades. On October 1, 1976, Long was convicted of raping an affluent woman in Concord. At the time, he was 21, black, and the son of a concrete

contractor. The victim, 54, was white and the well-heeled widow of a former executive at Cannon Mills, a major employer in the area. (She has since died.) The trial roiled an already polarized city in a racially tense era. In an affidavit, Long’s former attorney recalled a courtroom split by race, with blacks on one side and whites on the other. When the guilty verdict was read, Long’s mother, Elizabeth, fainted. A riot nearly broke out in the courthouse; police carrying mace and nightsticks cleared the room. “Klan-style justice struck again on the night of October 1,” declared a flyer distributed after the verdict. The prosecution’s case rested primarily on the victim’s eyewitness identification of Long. During the trial, she expressed absolute certainty that he’d assaulted her. “I’ll never forget it as long as I live,” she told the court. But Long has always maintained his innocence, and his supporters say his trial and conviction were a sham. They point to the victim’s first identification of Long. It was highly unusual and didn’t involve a typical lineup. Then, prior to the trial, the Cabarrus County sheriff personally vetted the jury pool, according to court records, striking the names of jurors he believed to be disqualified with a red pen. The resulting jury was all-white. Three of the jurors were employed by Cannon Mills, and a fourth was married to someone who worked there. Decades after the trial, Long’s attorneys learned that physical evidence was withheld from his defense team. That evidence — including a list of items from the crime scene sent to the State Bureau of Investigation for testing, none of which produced a match to Long — is exculpatory, they say, meaning it’s favorable to Long and potentially proves his innocence. In an interview, Long calls the conviction a “modernized lynching, sanctioned by law.” His sister, Lynda, calls it “cold-blooded.” His mother, now 86, says thinking about it drives her crazy. She prays for her son every night and hopes she’ll live long enough to see his release. That could still happen. Throughout the 15,118 days since his conviction (as of this publication), state courts have denied many of Long’s appeals, arguing that the withheld evidence wouldn’t have changed the trial’s outcome. But lately, there’s been movement in his favor. In 2016, Long’s legal team filed a habeas corpus petition with the Middle District Court of North Carolina, asking the court to vacate Long’s conviction or grant him a new trial on the grounds that the state violated Long’s constitutional rights. The court dismissed that petition in 2017, but Long’s attorneys appealed. In October, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal and sent the petition back to the district court. The district court judge, Catherine Eagles, could dismiss the petition again, but she could also vacate the conviction or order a new hearing. The possibility of a new outcome looms over Long’s family. His mother hopes the court will grant him a reprieve this time around. “But you never know,” she says. “He been in there so long. My husband died; he thought he was gonna live to see him get

out. That’s all he wanted. He said every day, ‘I want to live to see Ronnie get out of there.’”

AS TOLD IN police reports and trial

Ronnie Long and wife Ashleigh Long hold hands as they talk during Ronnie’s visitation at the Albemarle Correctional Institute on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018.

PHOTOS BY CAITLIN PENNA

transcripts, the rape took place on Sunday, April 25, 1976, around 9:45 p.m. Earlier, the victim had gone to church and the post office. She spent the evening sewing, making phone calls and getting ready to go to the beach with friends the following day. Around 9:30, she began defrosting some hamburger meat and put broccoli on the stove; when it was ready, she made her way from the kitchen to the den. Then she felt someone grab her from behind. She screamed. “Shut your damn mouth!” the man hissed, and he threw her to the floor. The victim told police the assailant tore off her clothes, pressed a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her. He told her he had only 15 minutes and his friends were waiting for him outside, then he raped her. Whenever she tried to move, he slammed her head on the ground. At trial, she testified that she was panicked during the attack — “so frightened” she “couldn’t stand it.” The phone rang, jolting the attacker. He gathered his things and left through the front door. The victim fled. Her neighbor heard a loud beating on her back door and saw the victim standing there, completely naked. The neighbor’s husband called the police; they arrived at about 10 p.m. According to the initial incident report, the victim said she’d been attacked by a black man wearing a leather jacket, a beanie and possibly gloves. She described him as having slim hips, a slender build and an occasionally soft-spoken voice. She elaborated on her attacker’s appearance during the trial, telling the court he had a complexion that was “yellow-looking” and “just not totally black. Not like, you know, a blue-black, black man.” (Long has a dark complexion.) The victim was rushed to the emergency room of the Cabarrus Memorial Hospital. There, she was examined by a doctor who, according to medical records, followed existing rape protocols and collected biological evidence, including pubic hair and fluids. With the victim in the hospital, police officers investigated the crime scene. Van Isenhour, a detective with the Concord Police Department, arrived at the victim’s home around 10:30, according to his testimony. Isenhour photographed the house and began collecting evidence. He searched for fingerprints and, the following morning, lifted a latent shoeprint from a column near her porch, which the attacker had presumably climbed to break into the house. Isenhour also collected latent fingerprints, carpet samples, suspect hair and paint samples, as well as pieces of the victim’s clothing and partially burned matches. He later brought them to the SBI office in Raleigh for examination. At the hospital, Sgt. David Taylor presented the victim with a photographic lineup of 13 possible suspects; they were all black men, ages 20 to 30. Long was not among them, and the victim couldn’t identify anyone from the photo array. Ten days later, Taylor and Lt. George Vogler stopped by the victim’s house and asked her CLCLT.COM | FEB. 22 - FEB. 28, 2018 | 9

NEWS

COVERSTORY

to come with them to the district court on the morning of May 10. They wanted her to observe everyone in the courtroom in case her assailant was there. (See sidebar, below right.) “She was told that the person who committed the offense could or could not be in court on that day, and that she was not going to court for the specific reason of picking out a person that was in the courtroom,” Taylor testified. They told the victim to wear a disguise. So, five days later — and 15 days after the crime — when the officers picked her up and brought her to court, she had on a blue pantsuit, red wig and glasses. The victim’s neighbor accompanied her. The two sat in the left side of gallery, as the officers surveyed them from the jury box. Long was seated in the middle of the gallery. He was in court to resolve a misdemeanor charge for trespassing in a public park, which he received after a judge suspended him from the area for getting into a scuffle. The victim later recalled about 35 to 50 people in the courtroom, and about a dozen African Americans. She waited there, alert, for more than an hour. Finally, the judge called Long to come forward. The victim alerted her neighbor: “That’s the one,” she whispered. After she identified Long, the officers asked her about her level of confidence. She was certain. “There is no doubt in my mind,” she told them. “Absolutely no doubt.” They brought her to the police station, where they once again showed her a photo lineup of suspects. Long was in this one, and she selected his photo. Asked at the trial if anything distinctive about the suspect’s clothing grabbed her attention, she noted Long’s coat. “It was the jacket,” she said, referring to Long, who was the only person in the lineup wearing a leather coat. “It was the identical, one identical to it. It was a leather jacket.” During the trial, the victim demurred when the judge asked her if it was possible the officers asked her to pick Long. “They could have,” she replied, “but I don’t know, I don’t remember finding out, even finding out that when, what his name was really.” This method of identification is highly concerning to criminal justice and misidentification experts. They point out that the victim, in the courtroom with her possible assailant, was placed in a stressful and potentially retraumatizing environment, and by the time she identified Long, more than two weeks had passed since the attack. Moreover, eyewitness identifications across racial lines — for example, a white woman identifying a black man — are particularly prone to getting it wrong. Jennifer Soble, a senior attorney for Harvard’s Fair Punishment Project, which advocates for criminal justice reform, says the identification was “plainly illegal.” Soble points to the cops’ suggestion that the assailant could be in the courtroom, which could signal the victim that they already 10 | FEB. 22 - FEB. 28, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

Ronnie and Ashleigh visit in a small room surrounded by windows.

PHOTO BY CAITLIN PENNA

WHY RONNIE?

There’s one vexing question that permeates this story: How did the police zero in on Ronnie Long in the first place? After all, they seem to have had someone in mind when they asked the victim to come to the courthouse and see if she spotted her rapist. If that someone was Long — if it wasn’t a coincidence that he happened to be there when the victim was — why did police have their eyes on him? That question goes unanswered in the legal documents. But there is a plausible explanation. It never came up in Long’s trial and only emerged years later as a filing from the DA’s office. In July 1975, Long’s Social Security card was found at the scene of a rape in Washington, D.C. Long says his wallet was stolen several days before the incident. He wasn’t indicted because he wasn’t identified by the victim and two witnesses. The Concord Police Department had records of this incident, because the D.C. police had contacted the local cops for a photo of Long when his Social Security card was retrieved. It’s possible, then, that when detectives were trying to find their rapist, they recalled this incident. Jamie Lau, Long’s attorney with the Duke Wrongful Convictions Clinic, says that Long “likely became a suspect in Concord because of an earlier, unrelated investigation in D.C., where he was ultimately cleared as the perpetrator.”

have a suspect in mind or have insider knowledge about the case. “Identification procedures should never reveal which individual, if anyone, law enforcement already suspects,” she says. “Because when the law enforcement agent suggests that a particular person is a

suspect, that suggestion can subconsciously direct the witness toward that suspect, even if the witness would never have picked that person using a proper identification procedure.” Karen Newirth, a staff attorney at the Innocence Project, agrees

commenting on a post on Facebook. Harlow became one of Long’s strongest advocates. “I am an East Texas conservative, beer drinking, gun-loving banker, rancher, cattleman that is so right-wing I make Ted Cruz look like Bernie Sanders,” Harlow stated in an email. He added in all caps: “If I, with all the built-in biases that I have because of my background, can see his innocence, why can no one else?” Harlow doesn’t hesitate to ascribe racism to Long’s plight. “I’ll put it this way,” he says. “If this would have happened five years earlier, he wouldn’t have had a trial. He would have been hanging from a tree.”

OFFICERS LEE, Taylor and Ludwig

that Long’s identification was improper. She adds that the leather jacket Long was identified in was significant and could have subconsciously influenced the victim. “What we know about how memory works and how people make identifications is, this isn’t happening on a conscious level,” Newirth says. “It’s happening on an unconscious level. The social-science researchers would say the only procedure that has any forensic value to tell us something about the likelihood that the suspect is in fact the person who committed the crime is the first procedure, and the first procedure should be a nonsuggestive procedure. He was not in the first photo lineup.” However unorthodox the identification procedure was, when Long was in the courthouse, he had no idea he was a suspect in a rape case. After his misdemeanor charge was dismissed, he drove to his home in Concord, where he lived with his parents. A few hours later, Taylor and Officer Marshall Lee came knocking. Long was taken into state custody that evening. He would never go home again.

LONG LINGERS in the visitation center of

the Albemarle Correctional Institution on a cool afternoon in December. He’s in khakis, white sneakers and a beige button-down shirt. His head is shaved smooth, and he wears

glasses. His baritone voice has a gravelly edge. It’s just before Christmas, and the harshly lit visitation center is decorated appropriately. Grim-faced, Long stands under a banner tacked onto the room’s white walls. “Tis the season for joy,” the banner reads, in green block letters. He clasps a manila envelope filled with legal files and asks about the drive to Albemarle, about two hours southwest of Raleigh, where he’s been locked up for the past year. He moves into a boxy interview room nearby, places his folder on the desk, and settles into a chair. Before everything changed four decades ago, Long says, he had a fairly typical life. He was born in Charlotte but grew up in Concord with his seven brothers and sisters. His father was a proud man, a member of the Freemasons, and a concrete contractor. In school, Long followed in his father’s footsteps, taking masonry courses and learning how to set stone. He also played sports — basketball, baseball and football — at Concord City High School. “I was just your average teenager,” he says. Even so, Long knew there were places he couldn’t go. The city was segregated, he says, and there were parts of town in which he wasn’t welcome: “They let you know you can’t come this way. You can’t live up here, you can’t come this far.”

Long, who grew up in a politically minded household, was keenly aware of this reality. His dad, he says, was the vice president of the Southern Conference Educational Fund, a group spawned from the Depression-era labor organization Southern Conference for Human Welfare; by the ’50s and ’60s, the SCEF had turned its attention to civil rights, focusing on racial discrimination in the workplace and working closely with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, known as SNCC (pronounced “Snick”). Long recalls standing in front of mills as a kid, passing out leaflets urging workers to unionize. Occasionally, Long’s political consciousness got the best of him. He describes an encounter with two white police officers when he was about 19 and walking through a predominantly white neighborhood. The cops stopped him and asked why he was out. “Why am I out?” he replied. “Isn’t this America? I don’t have the right to be on this sidewalk?” The officers handcuffed him and hauled him downtown. These racial dynamics form a key part of Long’s conviction, his supporters argue. His case, they say, cannot be understood without staring into the ugliest parts of North Carolina’s past. One of those supporters is Joel Harlow, a self-described Texas conservative who stumbled upon Long’s case one day while

stopped by Long’s home on May 10, 1976, the day the victim identified him. From there, the accounts of Long and the police officers begin to diverge. At trial, Long testified that the officers told him he needed to return to the station to straighten out the trespassing charge. Taylor, meanwhile, testified that Long wasn’t given a reason; instead, they just asked him to “come by” the police department, and Long agreed. While they were talking, Long testified, his father approached the officers, asking if he needed to accompany his son to the station or provide him with an attorney. The officers, according to Long and his father, told him he did not. “They say it’ll only take about 10 or 15 minutes,” his father testified. “He’ll be right back.” Long hadn’t been told that he was suspected of rape. That came soon after, though. He arrived at the police station at about 6:45 p.m., was read his rights and told he was a suspect. Long says he was stunned. Here again, the stories take separate paths. The officers said they asked Long for consent to search his mom’s car, which he drove to the station. They later acknowledged that they did not obtain a search warrant but said they did not need one, as Long agreed to the search. Long, meanwhile, testified that Vogler asked him to empty his pockets on the table, took his car keys without providing an explanation, and then went downstairs. Long said they never asked permission to search the car, nor did he give it. Either way, the cops searched Long’s car. There, they testified, they found a pair of gloves in the sun visor, matchbooks, and a beanie in the front seat. Long admits that the gloves were his, but he’s always said that the beanie wasn’t — and that it wasn’t in the car. At the trial, several witnesses, including Long’s dad, said they’d never seen the hat on Long. After searching the car, the officers took Long to the office of the magistrate, who drew up warrants for his arrest. Even then, Long says, he wasn’t truly aware of how serious things had become. “Ain’t no way in the world they could do this to me,” Long thought. He would soon find out how wrong he was. Read the conclusion of Ronnie Long’s story in next week’s edition of Creative Loafing or at clclt.com. EHELLERSTEIN@INDYWEEK.COM CLCLT.COM | FEB. 22 - FEB. 28, 2018 | 11

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BLOTTER

BY RYAN PITKIN

it, before he was taken into custody.

ROOM SERVICE Police responded to

ABLEIST A 49-year-old disabled man in west Charlotte fell victim to one of the more coldblooded Blotter suspects we’ve seen in some time. The man told officers he was riding his $7,000 electric wheelchair down Old Steele Creek Road when he was approached by a suspect he hadn’t seen before. The suspect demanded that the victim get out of the wheelchair, and then, according to the report, “the victim got up and the suspect took the chair and walked away with it.” You don’t even need the damn chair! What you do need is Jesus.

the Ritz Carlton in Uptown last week after someone at the bar decided to take the party back to their room — the bathroom. An employee at the bar told officers that when his back was turned the suspect reached over the bar and picked up two bottles of Absolut vodka then calmly walked to the bathroom with them to drink the liquor there. The best part about this incident: It took place at 11:55 a.m.

REASONABLE REACTION It takes some

people a while to take down their Christmas decorations — some because they’re lazy and some because they’re waiting until the right fit of anger to make them burn it all down. That was apparently the case for one man in Uptown Charlotte who used his rage to help inspire him to clear out his home of dated decorations. According to the report, officers arrived to the man’s condo on East 7th Street in late January after he “became angry at the outcome of a basketball game and lit his Christmas tree on fire.” The man then picked the burning tree up and threw it out onto the street before any more damage was done.

IT’S RAINING MEN It’s unclear whether a 43-year-old man trying to exit the freeway was the victim or a suspect in an incident that occured near Westinghouse Boulevard last week, but one thing is clear: He got punched square in the nose. The driver called police last week after he pulled up on the I-485 exit ramp at Westinghouse and stopped at a red light before suddenly finding his car under attack (or finding out that he had run someone over due to his own inability to pay attention, but it’s hard to say from the report alone). The man told officers that he “was in the process of starting his right turn when he heard a sound and the suspect was on his hood.” The suspect then allegedly jumped off the hood and yelled at the driver before punching him in the nose and fleeing the scene on foot. SUPERMAN Another man was attacked by someone desperate for money in a trucking company parking lot in north Charlotte last week, but the suspect wasn’t about to flee the scene without going batshit crazy first. Police responded to a lot on North Graham Street after a man allegedly climbed into a semitruck and shook the driver by the coat while demanding money. The victim drove off, but when an officer arrived on the scene and located the suspect, the suspect pushed the officer in the chest then ran through a glass door of the guard shack on the lot, shattering

DEER HUNTER Police got involved after

a man found two deer carcasses in his University City front yard last week and reported them to the North Carolina Wildlife Agency. The man said he heard gunshots overnight between 12:20 and 12:30 a.m., and woke up at 10 a.m. to find that someone had killed two deer right in his yard. Detectives collected a few spent .40-caliber casings from the scene of the slayings, “for possible suspect identification and prosecution,” according to the report, because the deer are out of season and they were killed in city limits. A new great idea to pitch to the folks at A&E would be First 48: The Hunted. Break us off if you make it a success.

DO THEY TRANSFORM? With pills

flooding the streets these day, drug dealers are having to get creative to keep their clientele coming back. Police found a new one in south Charlotte last week during a drug bust in a neighborhood behind Charlotte Catholic High School. Police searched a car during a traffic stop there last week and came out with a 15-gram bag of weed and six pills, all of which were rainbow-colored and “shaped like Transformers,” according to the report.

EATING GOOD An elderly woman in north

Charlotte checked her credit card bill last week only to find that someone had been eating for free on her tab for the entire month. The woman said she found an alarming set of charges on the bill that all took place between January 2 and 30. According to the 91-yearold victim, someone had used her credit card number to order Postmates enough times to rack up $2,300 in food charges. The woman was able to file the fraudulent charges with her credit company and police are looking into the addresses where the food was delivered. All stories are pulled from police reports at CMPD headquarters. Suspects are innocent until proven guilty. BACKTALK@CLCLT.COM

NEWS

NEWS OF THE WEIRD

IRONY A North Little Rock, Arkansas, law firm celebrated Valentine’s Day in an unconventional way: Wilson & Haubert, PLLC hosted a contest to win a free divorce (a $985 value). “Are you ready to call it quits?” the firm’s Facebook post asked. “Do you know someone that is?” Firm co-founder Brandon Haubert told WIS-TV that the firm had received more than 40 entries in the first day it was offered. EWWWWW! About a week after an 11-yearold boy scraped his elbow while playing in a tidal pool on a California beach, pediatricians treating him for the resulting abscess removed a small, hard object and were surprised to discover a live checkered periwinkle marine snail, according to United Press International. Dr. Albert Khait and his colleagues at Loma Linda University wrote in BMJ Case Reports that a snail’s egg had apparently become embedded in the boy’s skin when he scraped it. The mollusk later hatched inside the abscess. Dr. Khait said the boy took the snail home as a pet, but it did not survive living outside its former home. BLIMEY! Michelle Myers of Buckeye, Arizona, suffers from blinding headaches, but it’s what happens afterward that until recently had doctors stumped. Myers, who has never been out of the United States, has awakened from her headaches three times in the last seven years with a different foreign accent. The first time it was Irish; the second was Australian, and both lasted only about a week. But Myers’ most recent event, which was two years ago, left her with a British accent that she still has. Doctors have diagnosed her with Foreign Accent Syndrome, a rare condition that usually accompanies a neurological event such as a stroke. Myers told ABC-15 that the loss of her normal accent makes her sad: “I feel like a different person. Everybody only sees or hears Mary Poppins.”

NEW WORLD ORDER A new golf course

at The Retreat & Links at Silvies Valley Ranch in Seneca, Oregon, will take “the golf experience ... to a new level” in 2018, owner Scott Campbell announced in early February to the website Golf WRX. This summer, golfers will be offered goat caddies to carry clubs, drinks, balls and tees on the resort’s short seven-hole challenge course, McVeigh’s Gauntlet. “We’ve been developing an unprecedented caddie training program with our head caddie, Bruce LeGoat,” Campbell went on, adding that the professionally trained American Range goats will “work for peanuts.” (Rim shot.)

UPDATE News of the Weird reported in September on the giant “fatberg” lodged in the sewer system beneath the streets of London. The huge glob of oil, fat, diapers and baby wipes was finally blasted out after nine weeks of work. On Feb. 8, the Museum of London put on display a shoebox-sized chunk of the fatberg, the consistency of which is described by curator Vyki Sparkes as being something like Parmesan cheese crossed with moon rock. “It’s disgusting and fascinating,” she told the Associated Press. The mini-fatberg is enclosed within three nested transparent boxes to protect visitors from potentially deadly bacteria, the terrible smell and the tiny flies that swarm around it. The museum is also selling fatberg fudge and T-shirts in conjunction with the exhibit, which continues until July 1. MAIL CALL The Federal Agency for

Environmental Protection in Mexico is investigating a Feb. 7 attempt to express-mail a Bengal tiger cub from Jalisco to Queretaro, reported WDBJ-TV. The cub had been sedated and packed into a plastic container; a dog sniffing for contraband detected it. Wildlife agents said the cub was underweight and dehydrated but otherwise healthy, and its papers were in order. However, because mailing it was considered mistreatment, it was relocated to a wildlife protection center.

WHY NOT? Terran Woolley of Hutchinson, Kansas, got a bright idea after he read the bylaws and requirements to become the state’s governor. “I was reading some stories about the young teenagers that were entering the governor’s race ... and I thought, ‘I wonder if ... Angus could run,’” Woolley explained to KWCH-TV. Angus is Woolley’s wirehaired vizsla, a four-legged, furry friend of the people who Woolley said would promise soft couches and a “completely anti-squirrel agenda” if elected. Alas, on Feb. 12, the Kansas secretary of state’s office dashed Angus’ dreams when it declared that despite the fact that there are no specific restrictions against a dog being governor, Angus would be unable to carry out the responsibilities of the office. BOGGED DOWN Kenneth R. Shutes Jr. of New Richmond, Wisconsin, bolted from a midnight traffic stop on Feb. 6, but he didn’t make it far before having to call 911 for help. The Twin Cities Pioneer Press reported that Shutes got stuck in a frozen swamp in rural Star Prairie and, after about an hour, became unable to walk as temperatures dipped to minus 8 degrees. Fire and rescue workers removed Shutes from the wooded area, and he

was later charged in St. Croix County Circuit Court for failing to obey an officer, marijuana possession and obstructing an officer. Shutes told a deputy he “needed an incident like this because he was making poor decisions in his life.”

NO ALIBI Marion County (Florida) sheriff’s officials were surprised to get a text from David W. Romig, 52, on Jan. 30 about a murder scene at his home in Dunnellon. The Ocala Star Banner reported that detectives were called to the home after Romig reported an intruder had killed his girlfriend, 64-year-old Sally Kaufmann-Ruff. Some of the evidence they found didn’t match Romig’s story, and their suspicions were confirmed later in the day when Romig texted a detective, saying, “I think they are going to arrest me” — a text he meant to send to his wife. On Feb. 12, Romig admitted he may have killed Kaufmann-Ruff. He was charged with homicide, making a false report and tampering with evidence. FREAK ANIMAL ACCIDENT A helicopter

crew contracted by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources in Wasatch County to track and capture an elk hit a snag of sorts on Feb. 12, according to KUTV. As the crew lowered the aircraft to less than 10 feet above the ground to cast a net over the elk, the animal jumped and hit the tail rotor of the helicopter, causing it to crash. Mike Hadley with DWR said helicopters are used to “capture and collar hundreds of animals every winter and we’ve never had this happen before.” The two crewmen walked away with just scratches and bruises, but the elk was killed.

THE STUFF OF NIGHTMARES Frank Lyko is a biologist at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg with a narrow field of study: the marbled crayfish. But as Dr. Lyko and his colleagues report in a study published Feb. 5, there’s more to the 6-inch crustacean than meets the eye. Until about 25 years ago, this species didn’t exist, The New York Times explains. One single, drastic mutation created a whole new species of crayfish — one that could clone itself. Since then, it has spread across Europe and to other continents and threatened native varieties. The eggs of the crayfish all produce females, which do not need to mate to produce more eggs. Dr. Lyko’s DNA research offers new insights into why most animals have sex, because there are so few examples of sex-free species (they don’t last long). He admits that the marbled crayfish may last only 100,000 years. “That would be a long time for me personally, but in evolution it would just be a blip on the radar,” he said.

your delicious weekly alternative news source

CLCLT.COM | FEB. 22 - FEB. 28, 2018 | 13

FOOD

FEATURE

A SECOND LIFE Twelve years after his release from prison, Skyland owner Jimmy Kakavitsas still holds a grudge BY VANESSA INFANZON

Y INTERVIEW with Skyland Family Restaurant owner Dimitrios Kakavitsas — or Jimmy to friends and customers — took an unexpected turn when he said, “I’ve been in prison,” then broke down in tears. The story of Kakavitsas’ imprisonment has been reported; he even wrote a book about his experience titled In Pursuit of Freedom and Justice after his release. His penchant for breaking down emotionally is also well-recorded, both in that book and in news reports of his trial. But in the moment, it still came as a shock to me. Kakavitsas, 65, cried while he told the story of his son leaving for prison a week before Christmas in 2003. Jimmy would follow in January. Months before, Jimmy and his son, Kostas “Gus” Kakavitsas, 43, both pleaded guilty in federal court to racketeering. The charges stemmed from a high-stakes game of poker authorities alleged the father and son ran out of a spot called “The Basement,” in Jimmy’s “kafenio,” as he calls it (a café). Though both son and father insisted they were being charged for hosting a friendly card game, prosecutors said they were taking in $500,000 in illegal gambling profits annually. They were both sent to a federal correctional institution in Butner, North Carolina. For a year, Jimmy and his son fought the charges, hiring lawyers to do battle with federal investigators and the prosecutor, but his lawyers recommended accepting a plea bargain. “At the end, [the lawyers] called me down, they said, ‘Jimmy, you’ve got two hours to decide — you take this plea or they’re going to lock up all your family in jail. And this is not threat, this is promise,’” Jimmy recalled in his heavy Greek accent. “So I had no choice but to do what they say.” Legal fees were upwards of $180,000; money was running out. They took the deal. Jimmy spent 28-and-a-half months in prison and paid a $350,000 fine. Gus served a few months longer than his father. To this day, Jimmy claims he and his son were innocent of the charges. “People come around me and play cards there [kafenio], for fun,” he said. “I don’t charge nothing.” The games became so popular, they were happening three times a week, he said. Jimmy started writing his book while still 14 | FEB. 22 - FEB. 28, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

A smorgasbord awaits Skyland customers, both on the menu and the walls.

PHOTO BY ALEXANDRIA SANDS

“That’s why I say I have to work until I die. I’ll never catch up again.” JIMMY KAKAVITSAS, OWNER OF SKYLAND FAMILY RESTAURANT

PHOTO BY VANESSA INFANZON

in prison, aiming to highlight the injustices of America’s legal system. Published in 2010, In Pursuit of Freedom and Justice chronicled his life in Greece, his country of origin; his work life in America; time in prison and a few years beyond his release. Still available at Skyland, the book touches on prison overflow, the HIV/AIDS

epidemic, natural disasters and religion. He even dedicated two chapters to his support of artists and professional wrestlers. The book describes how his relationships with local police were misconstrued as dishonest; multiple Mecklenburg County sheriff’s deputies went to prison in part for their role in helping protect “The Basement.”

Jimmy also claimed in his book that other Greeks in the community were jealous of his success and falsely reported the sale of drugs and alcohol and gambling to the police until eventually the FBI was brought in for an undercover operation to investigate rumors of a police-protected gambling ring. “They put me in prison just to take what

An entire portion of a wall in Skyland pays homage to old-school professional wrestlers, a passion of Jimmy’s. little money I had,” Jimmy said. “They sent two Greek FBI from New York here for two years. They become friends with my sons and 20 more. They destroyed 20 families by making them do stuff. They say they have restaurants in New York and they have a lot of money.” According to Jimmy, the undercover officers repeatedly offered money to the people who frequented the cafe. Gus accepted a $50,000 loan and was told to keep 90 percent and only pay back 10 percent of the total, he said. “So at the end, when they [FBI] saw that all these people have nothing to give and they spend a lot of money here for two years,” Jimmy said. “They put me as the leader of all of these kids.”

FROM GREECE TO AMERICA

JIMMY WAS BORN in 1952 in a small

village in Greece. He came from a large family and spent much of his time as the shepherd for his father’s goats. Jimmy’s help was needed on the farm, and often, shepherding was put before school. “As soon as I finished my six years of school, I left,” he said. “I’d never been to school again.” At the age of 15, Jimmy was offered the opportunity to move to Charlotte where his uncle lived. His first job was cutting onions at South 21 on Independence Boulevard. “I worked for Sam Copsis,” Jimmy said. “I went there and begged him to give me a job and he asked me if I could promise him I’m not going to cut my hands on the machines in the kitchen.” It was 1967 and Jimmy earned $16 per week. Over the next twenty years, he moved back and forth from Greece to Charlotte trying to make a living. During his time in Greece, Jimmy was introduced to Venetia, a woman who would become his wife of 44 years and mother of Gus and his brother, Vasilios. In 1986, Jimmy opened Plantation Restaurant at the intersection of Eastway Drive and The Plaza with partners. After it closed, he opened Skyland Family Restaurant in 1993. The restaurant is similar to a diner

PHOTO BY ALEXANDRIA SANDS

with a casual atmosphere, large menu and daily specials. They offer 25 fresh vegetables daily and other menu items such as chicken livers, beef liver, meatloaf, braised beef tips and pot roast. Entrees such as chicken parmigiana; Greek-style baked chicken with oven potatoes; homemade chicken and dumplings; and roast turkey over dressing and gravy are priced between $9 and $11. There are a few exceptions for steak and ribs, but even those are in the $15 range. Skyland serves 500 people a day during the week and more than 1,000 a day on the weekends. His secret to staying open for the past 23 years is about the food and the customers. Jimmy guessed that about 70 percent of his customers are regulars. He makes sure customers get attention and respect because they pay the bills. Jimmy won’t serve food he wouldn’t eat, he said. The menus’ variety requires a lot of preparation each day. Jimmy expressed concern that this style of a restaurant may not survive. “The new generations, they want something easier than this,” he said. “Like my sons say, after me, they don’t know if they can handle it. It’s just too much.” Skyland is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, except when they close on Mondays at 9 p.m. to do a thorough cleaning. They open back up on Tuesdays at 6 a.m. The staff of 25 includes one prep cook who has been with Jimmy from the beginning. The hardest part of owning a restaurant, Jimmy said, is the constant workload. “To be a restaurant owner, you have to work all the time,” he said. “You can’t have vacation. You can’t stay home. You have to work holidays. No breaks.” When Jimmy went to prison, he had to take on a partner for the restaurant and depend on his wife to keep Skyland operating. Despite the overwhelming pressure to keep the restaurant running, she visited him in prison every month. In 2006, the year Jimmy and Gus were released from prison, Skyland began hosting a free Thanksgiving dinner to anyone needing a meal for the holiday. He also flies Santa in on a red helicopter to the restaurant’s parking lot every year.

Chicken and potatoes, with all the fixin’s. It’s clear that Jimmy loves being around his family, friends and customers every day, and perhaps that why his anger at the legal system is still present 12 years later. His life was forever changed by what he calls “the incident.” “That’s why I say I have to work until I die,” Jimmy said. “I’ll never catch up again. I lost a lot of time, a lot of money. What I’m hoping is to stay healthy and enjoy life, and work.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF SKYLAND

SKYLAND FAMILY RESTAURANT Open 24/7. 4544 South Blvd. 704-522-6522. skylandfamilyrestaurant.com

BACKTALK@CLCLT.COM

CLCLT.COM | FEB. 22 - FEB. 28, 2018 | 15

FRIDAY

23 TASTE OF THE NEW SOUTH What: Despite the South’s unfavorable history, some things we definitely got right: the Low country boil, mac and cheese ... anything fried. Levine Museum of the New South highlights this rich history every year with this mouth-watering fundraiser. This year’s theme, “One Charlotte, Many Flavors,” celebrates each CLT neighborhood with food and cocktails that reflect that area’s individuality. For the late-night diners, they’ve added Taste After Dark. When: 7-9 p.m. Where: Levine Museum of the New South, 200 E. 7th St. More: $125 and up. museumofthenewsouth.org

16 | FEB. 22 - FEB. 28, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

FRIDAY

23 BLACK ALLEY What: In today’s nothing-new-underthe-sun world, it’s not easy creating your own genre, but Black Alley was not sweating that. The band’s “Hood Rock” style, as they call it, is a mix of funk, hip-hop, soul and rock. It makes sense, since the D.C. group began as a go-go act but went another direction after a gospel singer and rock guitarist joined the set. Since then, their unique sound has helped them receive endorsements from Common, Big KRIT and more. Look for locals Blame the Youth LeAnna Eden to open. When: 10 p.m. Where: Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St. More: $8-10. snugrock.com

THINGS TO DO

TOP TEN

A Night in Rio SATURDAY

PHOTO COURTESY OF TONY ARREAZA

SATURDAY

A NIGHT IN RIO: CARNAVAL EXPERIENCE What: The folks over at Latin American Coalition spend so much time fighting the good fight for Charlotte’s vulnerable immigrant population, it’s amazing they can find the time to throw one of the city’s best parties in between. Last year, beautiful Brazilian dancers wearing feathers — and not a whole lot else — danced down North Davidson Street as part of the 8th annual Night In Rio, and for the 9th, they plan to do it again between sets hosted inside. When: 7 p.m. Where: Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 36th St. More: $15. riocharlotte.com

SATURDAY

CONDOM COUTURE

EAT YOUR HEART OUT

What: Remember kids, always wear a rubber. No, don’t actually wear a rubber, like, as an outfit. Unless of course you’re showing off one of the amazing creations at this year’s Condom Couture benefit for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic. The “Phophylactic Project Runway” not only raises funds for PPSA, but raises awareness for safe sex, which is good in a county that ranks 35th in the nation for STIs, and a state ranking 4th and 12th in HIV and teen pregnancy, respectively.

What: “For the blood is the life ... of the party!” If you thought Goth culture gatherings were just for Halloween, this sensuous and sinister gathering of beautiful creatures of the night should change your mind. Party promoters Mandyland promise dark dance, malevolent mood music and a touch of camp for their LGBTQIA-, kink-, lycan- and vampirefriendly event. Festivities include two DJs named Karma and Jahra, burlesque and BDSM performances, and crimson cocktails to pique your bloodlust.

When: 7 p.m. Where: The Fillmore, 820 Hamilton St. More: $30 and up. condomcoutureclt.com

When: 9 p.m. Where: Rabbit Hole, 1801 Commonwealth Ave. More: $8-10. therabbitspot.com

Diet Cig MONDAY

NEWS ARTS FOOD MUSIC ODDS

Eric Johnson WEDNESDAY PHOTO BY NICK GRENNON

MONDAY

Taste of the New South SATURDAY PHOTO BY JON STRAYHORN

PHOTO BY MAX CRACE

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

DIET CIG

MUSIAROSS

CIAA TOURNEY

ERIC JOHNSON

LOS TIGRES DEL NORTE

What: This pop punk duo — “slop pop” if you asked them — out of New Paltz, New York, could label themselves however they want musically, just never change that band name. Seriously, it’s the best one we’ve ever heard. The pair had to cancel a recent Santa Cruz show after guitarist/vocalist Alex Luciano came down with a fever, but judging by Twitter, Luciano will have long been cleared to rock by the time the band comes to the Neighborhood, and we’ll be waiting.

What: If physicists are correct, we live in a single iteration of the multiverse. For most of us, that’s a hard concept to grasp, but it sounds like Musiaross has been slipping back and forth between those universes with casual and elegant ease. With an addictive mix of sleek dance beats, warm analog-sounding synthesizers and discombobulated yet soothing vocals, these two talented guys make music that zigzags through multiple dimensions like it’s no big deal.

What: Most folks come to town for CIAA weekend not to see the basketball but to party. And even the bigger basketball fans are sure to check out the quarterfinals and beyond at Spectrum Center, not the early-round games being played at The Biscuit on Tuesday and Wednesday. But the true hoop heads — the hipsters of the hardcourt — will be there to scout for Cinderellas and say they saw it coming before you did. Besides, there’s no parties yet. What else you got to do?

When: 7 p.m. Where: Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 36th St. More: $12. neighborhoodtheatre.com

What: Lest we native-born U.S. citizens forget who crossed what borders, Los Tigres del Norte — as well-known to Mexican-Americans as the Beatles are to gringos — return to remind us. The legendary norteño group performs upbeat corridos and cumbias mixed with strong messages. Behind the good-time accordions and harmonies are straight-shooting lyrics like, “Quiero recordarle al gringo: Yo no cruce la frontera, la frontera me cruzo,” or, “I want to remind the gringos: I didn’t cross the border, the border crossed me.”

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

When: Feb. 27-28, times TBD Where: Bojangles’ Coliseum, 2700 E. Independence Blvd. More: $75 and up. ciaatournament.org

What: If you’re a guitarist or lover of the guitar, you know that no one knows tone like Austin, Texas, guitar god Eric Johnson. In 1990, long after instrumentals had become passe on the Billboard charts, Johnson’s sublime “Cliffs of Dover” reached No. 5. It was a head-spinner of a song that found Johnson spinning fluid webs of Echoplex-drenched magic on a Gibson ES-335. You can revisit that song and more from his classic Ah Via Musicom album when Johnson returns with the band that brought that disc to life. When: 7:30 p.m. Where: McGlohon Theatre, 345 N. College St. More: $25-$35. blumenthalarts.org

When: 9 p.m. Where: Midnight Rodeo, 9607 Albemarle Rd. More: $55. myticketvip.com

CLCLT.COM | FEB. 22 - FEB. 28, 2018 | 17

PHOTO BY J.C. PENNEY

MUSIC

FEATURE

INDIE ROCK DEPOSITS Mineral Girls members discuss recent release and how they got their name

So the lyrics are a step away from improvised? Ayers: The vocal melodies were essentially improvised, too. Green: We wrote stuff where we’re just playing it. We took a different approach with it, like, “Let’s write the songs and let’s play guitar, and let’s do all this before I think about the lyrics.” I think a lot of the lyrics ended up being cool because they’re just very last minute stream of consciousness lyrics. The first couple of shows we played after this record came out, I had to look at the lyrics beforehand. I was like, “I don’t know what I’m doing.” I had to listen to the melody and be like, “What was I doing?” because I had just made it up.

BY MARK KEMP AND RYAN PITKIN

INERAL GIRLS DOESN’T

need your comparisons. “I feel like 90 percent of the bands people compare us to, I’ve either never heard of or we don’t like,” said Audrey Ayers, guitarist for the local indie rock band. Ayers’ fellow guitarist and vocalist in the band, Brett Green, said he hears Superchunk most often, a comparison that we agree doesn’t even come close to describing Mineral Girls, scheduled to play at The Milestone on February 28. However, at least Green respects Superchunk, which is more than he can say for Smashing Pumpkins. “I don’t like Smashing Pumpkins and fuck Billy Corgan,” is Green’s quick response to the suggestion that his voice can “hover in Billy Corgan Land” every once in a while. Green’s laughing, though, because after all, he’s not an asshole like … say, Billy Corgan … whom Green met once while working at Lunchbox Records. As Green remembers it, Corgan was checking out with “whoever the token female bassist of Smashing Pumpkins was at the time” when Green mentioned he didn’t know the Pumpkins were in town. “He got fucking furious,” recalled Green. “He was like, ‘See, this is the demographic we’re trying to reach and he doesn’t even know we’re playing in town.’ I was like, ‘Dude, I wouldn’t have come anyway.’ He could have been like ‘Hey, do you want to come for free?’ and I’d have been like, ‘Nah, dude, sorry.’” We met Green and Ayers at La Unica in Charlotte, where each ordered their own personal queso before questioning their own decision making. “We totally could have just shared one,” the two said almost simultaneously as they looked down at their respective bowls of melted cheese. The two joked back and forth with each other about bands they disagree on (Green just laughed when Ayers admits she was a fan of Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream but still hates Corgan). Between jokes, though, we were able to get some info out of them about the band’s release from last October, This Is The Last Time Every Time, and how its hard-hitting lyrics were basically written on the spot.

18 | FEB. 22 - FEB. 28, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

Creative Loafing: TITLTET has a different feel than your past releases. Would you agree? Audrey Ayers: It feels like a rollercoaster. It’s honestly just completely downhill. There’s no dips and dives or time to catch your breath, I think. Brett Green: The process for writing the lyrics was different. With the other records I would write songs beforehand and we would play them together for a long time before we recorded it. For this one we just wrote all the music and I essentially didn’t have any lyrics until three days beforehand. I just unloaded everything I had been thinking about for the last couple months — notes from my phone and stuff I pulled off of my Twitter.

“There’s nothing on that record that’s not autobiographical. With processing anything, sometimes you just need to say it out loud.” BRETT GREEN, SECOND FROM RIGHT

In one song, Brett, you say you’re “in love with everyone and terrified of everything.” Is that true? Green: Yeah, in a way. I’ll think about stuff and everything is scary. Ayers: I feel like that emotion expressed there is the two extremes. Maybe it’s not 100 percent accurate, but how I’ve always interpreted that — and I didn’t write it — but the way I read that is like, expressing those extreme emotions. Almost like you’re feeling manic in a way. Green: I wouldn’t say I’m in love with everyone, but I want everyone to love me so I put in a certain amount of effort. Even if I don’t like people I’m like, “Man I really hope that person likes me.” [laughs] That reminds me of something you said on our ‘Local Vibes’ podcast, Audrey, along the lines that you were afraid to go out sometimes, not so much because of people out there but your own insecurities. Ayers: Right. Another thing I think is, from what I know of [Brett], I think you do genuinely, deep down, wish the best for people as a whole. I think you want humanity to be better than it is. Green: Absolutely. I do find most people annoying [laughs] but I’m exposed to a lot of really annoying people. Literally everything about being a person is scary if you focus on it. Like, if you leave your house you could get hurt in so many ways. Sort of the Buddhist notion of “life is misery.” Green: Yeah, it’s a weird thing to have to deal with. Ayers: I always thought a lot of those lyrics are about co-dependence, and I don’t know if

MINERAL GIRLS W/ RUNAWAY BROTHER, IT LOOKS SAD. AND OL’ SPORT $5-7. February 28, 8 p.m.; The Milestone, 3400 Tuckaseegee Road. themilestone.club

PHOTO BY JOSH DAWSON

Mineral Girls plays a show in Cincinatti [above]. Audrey Ayers tunes up on stage in Philadelphia [below].

But it’s also so catchy… Green: I think that’s the coolest part about that, is it’s like the catchiest melody on the entire record. It sounds so fun. Every time I sing it at a show, I bop a little bit and then I’m like, “Wait a second, this is so heavy.” Ayers: It’s almost sing-songy the way you sing it — especially live because you always switch it up a little bit.

PHOTO BY ASHLEY GELLMAN

that was intentional. Green: Some of it, yeah. On one song in particular, “Let’s Take Medicine,” you go into some really harsh, serious stuff. Does that come out of your experience? Green: There’s nothing on that record that’s not autobiographical. With processing anything, sometimes you just need to say it out loud. It’s definitely something that affected me deeply but not something that ruined me. Ayers: In the first section [of that song], I’ve dealt with a lot of that, and the night before we went to the studio, you sent us a picture of the lyrics you were writing, and when I read that song I cried. I was like “Holy shit, dude.”

The pair of title tracks is great, but on the second one, is that a computerized voice or Audrey’s voice? It sounds like a robot, but it sounds like it has emotion. Green: It’s computerized. I downloaded a text-to-speech app and it had 30 different options for voices and you can slow them down or speed it up. Originally when we did it, I was just going to talk that part, but over the course of us talking about it, we came up with the idea of it becoming a robot. The character is Voice of God. We typed it out, we cut it up to where it was timed right, and then the guy who was engineering the album, our friend Kris Hilbert at Legit Biz [Legitimate Business recording studio] in Greensboro was like, “Wait a minute, I can adjust the pitch on this.” So he made it sing along and it was the craziest thing. I was laughing so hard. The album kicks into a new gear after that. Ayers: And that’s the same voice that starts and ends the record, too. Green: He says “Let’s talk about us,” then he says, “I am cry tears motherfucker.” I can’t even remember what the point of that was. Ayers: That was the whole reason you downloaded the app. I made you upset and then you downloaded it so you could talk to me. And then I was like “I’m sorry” and you said “I’m cry tears motherfucker” and then I was like, “That’s going on the record.”

How did you two get into music? Green: My dad’s stepdad gave guitar lessons and he always wanted to make me play guitar. He gave me a guitar right before we moved. And I got so bored from not having any friends after I moved here, that I ended up learning how to play guitar. Ayers: I picked up guitar when I was in middle school and I really wanted to learn the riff to “I Caught Fire” by The Used. So I spent like two weeks and I did that. And after that, I started messing around with it and trying to make my own stuff. I started writing songs and then eventually, I really wanted to make music with other people but there wasn’t anyone in my hometown [in upstate New York]. There pretty much wasn’t anyone who played, let alone anyone who played what I played. So I downloaded a program called Guitar Pro and I wrote songs and I wrote every instrument. That’s what I did before I joined this band, pretty much. I wrote drums, I wrote bass, everything. I can’t play them for shit, but I tried. This is the first band I’ve been in. And how did that come about? Green: Audrey joined [Mineral Girls] when we were writing the second record. She was there at a practice once. Our bassist, Dylan, joined the band because I was recording some of his songs at my house and I said, “Hey, we need a bassist,” and he was there that day. The same thing happened with Audrey. We were writing a song and I had been recording her songs at my house and she was playing guitar and I was like, “Alright, I guess you can be in this band.” And was it Mineral Girls from there on out? Green: The name was a result of a wordplay game. It was after I left this one band I was in called It Looks Sad., which was the band I started and then got kicked out of. [laughs] I was playing solo sets and I just started having my friends play with me, and we would be Brett Green and the Whatever — we would just make up the name that night. Brett Green and the Front Flip Buttons was one, I don’t know what that means. And then there was one day when we were writing the very first EP and we had a show to play. We just got really stoned and we were saying words back and forth at each other — words that sounded the same or something — and then Mineral Girls was the one that ended up being the band name. It was Brett Green and the Mineral Girls for like two shows, and then it was just Mineral Girls. Well thank God you didn’t stop at Front Flip Buttons.

BACKTALK@CLCLT.COM

MUSIC

REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT

Regional Spotlight

CALEB CAUDLE (Friday, February 23)

What: It’s well worth the 80-minute road trip to Winston-Salem to catch the official album release party of Caleb Caudle’s latest collection Crushed Coins. Caudle’s mix of handcrafted country and confessional Americana has always kept touch with the singer-songwriter’s rock ‘n’ roll influences, but Crushed Coins is a something of a 90-degree turn for him. While traces of the traditional steel-keys-and strings country of Caudle’s 2016 release Carolina Ghost remain, the new material strikes out in new directions, incorporating soul, blues and the ethereal jazz of Miles Davis’ In a Silent Way. Caudle’s heartfelt message and adventurousyet-familiar music has prompted Rolling Stone to call him “the musical equivalent of of highproof bourbon - rich in flavor with a subtle, satisfying bite.” When: 5 p.m. Where: Crossroads @ SECCA, 750 Marguerite Dr., Winston-Salem More: $15. secca.org

SPONSORED CONTENT CLCLT.COM | FEB. 22 - FEB. 28, 2018 | 19

MUSIC

SOUNDBOARD FEBRUARY 22 BLUES/ROOTS/INTERNATIONAL Traditional Series: Dom Flemons (Davidson College Tyler-Tallman Recital Hall, Davidson)

COUNTRY/FOLK Brandy Clark, Maggie Rose (Neighborhood Theatre)

DJ/ELECTRONIC Sir Abstraxx, Keeyen Martin (Petra’s) Le Bang (Snug Harbor)

POP/ROCK Carmen Tate Solo Acoustic (Eddie’s on Lake Norman, Mooresville) Emancipator Ensemble, Flamingosis (The Underground) Karaoke (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Karaoke Night with Battleship and Wyley B! (Milestone) Kerry Brooks (Comet Grill) Molotov (The Fillmore) Open Mic for Musicians (Crown Station Coffeehouse and Pub) Shana Blake and Friends (Smokey Joe’s Cafe) SOLIS, The Raineers, The Wilt, Fourtune Teller (Visulite Theatre) Steve & Chuck (Tin Roof)

FEBRUARY 23 BLUES/ROOTS/INTERNATIONAL Los Tigres del Norte (Midnite Rodeo)

CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH Dusty Grooves: Shago Elizondo (Heist Brewery)

COUNTRY/FOLK The Lenny Federal Band (Comet Grill)

DJ/ELECTRONIC DJ Overcash (RiRa Irish Pub) Mirror Moves – 80’s Dance Party (Petra’s) Satori Session Two: Oliver Long, Sean McClellan, Mikael Fritts (Crown Station Coffeehouse and Pub)

POP/ROCK Paleo Sun (Slate Billiards) Black Alley, Blame The Youth, LeAnna Eden (Snug Harbor) 20 | FEB. 22 - FEB. 28, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

Interstellar Overdrive-A Saucerful of Pink Floyd (Visulite Theatre) Jaggermouth, North By Northwest, The Business People, AlohaBroha (Milestone) John Nolan, Andy Bilinski (Evening Muse) Kris Hitchcock (Tin Roof) Mako (The Underground) Marty Vanderlip (Shore Club, Tega Cay) Natty Boh (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Profits Off Rage, Walker Black (The Rabbit Hole) Selah Dubb (Smokey Joe’s Cafe) The Steeldrivers, Kieran Kayne and Rayne Gellert (Neighborhood Theatre) Urban Soil (Evening Muse) Who’s Bad: The Ultimate Michael Jackson Tribute Band (The Fillmore)

FEBRUARY 24 BLUES/ROOTS/INTERNATIONAL Blue Blaze Backyard BBQ & Bluegrass: River Ratz (Blue Blaze Brewing) A Night in Rio: 9th Annual Brazilian Carnaval Experience (Neighborhood Theatre)

COUNTRY/FOLK The Jeff Little Trio (Don Gibson Theatre, Shelby)

DJ/ELECTRONIC DJ Method (RiRa Irish Pub) Eat Your Heart Out: DJ Jahra, DJ Karma, Midnight Pleasures, Bonjour Bonjour OMG, Dominus Proctor (The Rabbit Hole) Su CASA: The February Edition! (Petra’s) Telefon Tel Aviv, Brother Aten (Snug Harbor) Tilted DJ Saturday’s (Tilted Kilt Pub & Eatery)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Lyricist’s Lounge (Upscale Lounge & Restaurant)

POP/ROCK Avery Deakins (Tin Roof) Kenny George Band, Sweet Sweet (Evening Muse) Michael Stefano (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Michael Terry Band (Revolutions, Rock Hill) Nita B & Her Swingin’ Soiree (Comet Grill) Simplified, Cap’n Yumyum (Visulite Theatre) Sirsy (Evening Muse) Trash Room, The Boron Heist (Repo Records & Collectibles) Uphonik (Shore Club, Tega Cay)

SOUNDBOARD

FINGER RECORDS PRESENTS: SOLIS wsg. INTERSTELLAR 2/22 FOUR THE RAINEERS, THE WILT & FOURTUNE TELLER 2/23 OVERDRIVE 2/24 SIMPLIFIED & CAP'N YUMYUM A SAUCERFUL OF PINK FLOYD 2/27 VÉRITÉ 2/28BRETT DENNEN 3/4 BAND OF HEATHENS 3/8 DAVID ARCHULETA 3/13 COAST MODERN 4/4 ROGUE WAVE 4/17 WOLF ALICE 4/18 THIRD STORY 4/14 TOUBAB KREWE 4/20 The OLD 97s

FRIDAY, MARCH 2

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

MUSIC

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

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

CODY JOHNSON

TICKETS ON SALE NOW $12

SATURDAY, MARCH 17

Winter Metal Fest: Violent Life Violent Death, Something Clever, Black Ritual, Kairos (The Underground)

FEBRUARY 25 BLUES/ROOTS/INTERNATIONAL Mnozil Brass (Knight Theater)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Bone Snugs-N-Harmony (Snug Harbor)

POP/ROCK Aubrey Logan (Evening Muse) Awolnation, Nothing But Thieves (The Fillmore) Damn the Witch Siren, Bless These Sounds Under the City, MessengerR Down, IIOIOIOII (Milestone) David and Valerie Mayfield (Free Range Brewing Company) Rain: A Tribute to The Beatles (Belk Theater) Omari and The Hellhounds (Comet Grill)

FEBRUARY 26 CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH Faculty & Friends Concert: Jessica Lindsey and Christian Bohnenstengel (Rowe Recital Hall, UNCC, Charlotte) Jazz Mondays (Crown Station Coffeehouse and Pub)

POP/ROCK Diet Cig, Great Grandpa, The Spook School (Neighborhood Theatre) Find Your Muse Open Mic featuring Rush Morgan (Evening Muse) Jamorah (Smokey Joe’s Cafe) Music Bingo (Tin Roof) Music Trivia (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern, Charlotte)

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

FEBRUARY 27 HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Soul Station (Crown Station Coffeehouse and Pub)

DJ/ELECTRONIC Lost Cargo: February Edition (Petra’s, Charlotte)

COUNTRY/FOLK Red Rockin’ Chair (Comet Grill)

POP/ROCK Fossil Youth, Northbound, Bogues, Paperback, Communal Sex Dice (Milestone) Musiaross, Astrea Corp, Dexter Jordan, Layte Nyte (Snug Harbor) Travis Greene (McGlohon Theater) Uptown Unplugged with Mitch Hayes (Tin Roof) Verite, Roses & Revolutions (Visulite Theatre) Open Jam with the Smokin’ Js (Smokey Joe’s Cafe) Open Mic hosted by Jarrid and Allen of Pursey Kerns (The Kilted Buffalo, Huntersville)

FEBRUARY 28 HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Free Hookah Wednesdays Ladies Night (Kabob House, Persian Cuisine)

DJ/ELECTRONIC Ritmo Latino Dance Social: DJ Pete “El Calentador” (Morehead Street Tavern) Karaoke with DJ Alex Smith (Petra’s) Cyclops Bar: Modern Heritage Weekly Mix Tape (Snug Harbor)

COUNTRY/FOLK Open Mic/Open Jam (Comet Grill)

POP/ROCK Ansel Couch (Shore Club, Tega Cay) Brett Dennen, Dean Lewis (Visulite Theatre) Eric Johnson with original band members Tommy Taylor & Kyle Brock, Arielle (McGlohon Theater) February Residency: Mollywops, Deion Reverie, Thousand (Snug Harbor) Nathan Angelo, Sam Burchfield, Chris Ayer (Evening Muse) Open Mic & Songwriter Workshop (Petra’s) Pluto for Planet (RiRa Irish Pub) Runaway Brother, The Mineral Girls, It LooksSad, Ol’ Sport (Milestone) Tales From Down There (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Trivia & Karaoke Wednesdays (Tin Roof)

Jorma Kaukonen (March 6, McGlohon Theater) Missio (March 6, Fillmore) Fleet Foxes (March 7, Fillmore) Hiss Golden Messenger (March 9, Neighborhood Theatre) Dropkick Murphys (March 9, Fillmore) Jeezy-The Cold Summer Tour (March 11, Fillmore) Jessica Lea Mayfield (March 15, Neighborhood Theatre) The English Beat (March 17, Fillmore) K Flay (March 23, Fillmore) Caleborate (March 24, Neighborhood Theatre) Miguel (March 28, Fillmore) Wishbone Ash (April 4, Neighborhood Theatre) The Eagles (April 11, Spectrum Center) Minus The Bear (April 22, Neighborhood Theatre) The Darkness (April 27, The Underground) Blue October (May 3, Fillmore) Carbon Leaf (May 5, Neighborhood Theatre) David Bromberg Quintet (May 16, Neighborhood Theatre) St. Vincent (May 21, Fillmore) Khalid (May 23, Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheare) Bishop Briggs (May 25, Fillmore) Foreigner (July 4, PNC Music Pavilion) Sam Smith (July 6, Spectrum Center) Barenaked Ladies (July 5, Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheare) Weezer, Pixies (July 25, PNC Music Pavilion) Alan Jackson (Sptember 15, Spectrum Center) Maroon 5 (October 4, Spectrum Center)

FRANK FOSTER

WITH SPECIAL GUEST

DENNY STRICKLAND LIMITED ADVANCE $10 ALL OTHERS $12

SATURDAY, MARCH 24

LANCO

WITH SPECIAL GUEST

ADAM SANDERS

LIMITED ADVANCE $15 ALL OTHERS $18

SATURDAY, APRIL 14

THE CASEY DONAHEW BAND LIMITED ADVANCE $12 ALL OTHERS $15

SATURDAY, APRIL 21

THE LACS

LIMITED ADVANCE $12 ALL OTHERS $15

SATURDAY, MAY 12

AARON WATSON LIMITED ADVANCE $17 ALL OTHERS $20

SATURDAY, MAY 19

DYLAN SCOTT

LIMITED ADVANCE $17 ALL OTHERS $20 ON SALE AT COYOTE JOES AND COYOTE-JOES.COM COYOTE JOE’S : 4621 WILKINSON BLVD

COMING SOON  Face 2 Face - Elton John & Billy Joel Tribute (March 2, Fillmore)

704-399-4946

CLCLT.COM | FEB. 22 - FEB. 28, 2018 | 21

ARTS

FEATURE

BACK WHERE IT STARTED FROM Art With Heart returns to its roots BY RYAN PITKIN

RT WITH HEART, the yearly winter fundraiser held by local domestic violence and sexual assault service nonprofit Safe Alliance, has made a real impact over the last 17 years. In that time, the event has surpassed $1 million raised through art auctions. As time went on, though, the event also went through a change, leaving its original home in NoDa for the more posh setting of Founders Hall in Uptown Charlotte. Organizers noticed that Art With Heart had become less crafty and more cosmopolitan, so this year they decided to switch things up and get back to the basics. On February 24, for the 18th annual Art With Heart auction, the event is “going back to its roots,” as multiple organizers have put it. That starts with a new home in its original neighborhood: CenterStage @ NoDa. But that’s not all. “Everything is different. Literally everything: the caterer, the venue, the lighting, the entertainment, the auctioneer,” says Carol Shinn, director of community engagement at Safe Alliance. “It started back in NoDa years ago and had progressed to the point where it was a corporate gala style, and now we’re returning back to the roots and having it more accurately reflect the people that we serve, which is everybody.” Organizers wanted to make the event more inviting to everyone, so they’re including a more diverse group of artists at the auction, Shinn says. While continuing work with the galleries they’ve worked with from the beginning, organizers also brought in Alexys Taylor, collections and exhibitions manager at Harvey B. Gantt Center, Art With Heart’s museum partner, to diversify the featured artist list. “We are cross-marketing in order to fully include all sectors of Charlotte-Mecklenburg in our mission,” Shinn says. “Alexys has been instrumental in helping us secure new artists this year, which we hope will propel Art With Heart all the way to our 20th year in 2020.” For first-time committee chairperson Amanda Cannavo, the focus on diversity is important if organizers want the event to be more than just a chic, black-tie affair, but to truly honor the mission of Safe Alliance and the people they work with. “I think it supports the message of Safe Alliance; sexual assault and domestic violence does not discriminate,” Cannavo says. “It doesn’t matter if you’re male, female, 22 | FEB. 22 - FEB. 28, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

Martha and Ray Rountree, “Five Dragonflies”

Above: Jonas Gerard, “Crossroads #7”; Below: Javier Barbosa, “Discovering”

if you’re black or white, if you practice a particular religion. When you look at a piece of art, you don’t know just from the piece of art whether or not [the artist is] black, white, Hispanic, whatever, and that mirrors the message about how sexual assault and domestic violence are diverse issues.” The reflection of the Safe Alliance mission in art is something Sonya Pfeiffer, owner and creative director at Elder Gallery of Contemporary Art, took into consideration when selecting what pieces her gallery would donate to the auction. The first piece Pfeiffer selected is from Javier López Barbosa, a popular abstract expressionist from New Mexico. Pfeiffer says she chose Barbosa because she knew he would sell, but there was also something that jumped out at her from his painting, “Discovering.” In the painting, a blotch of red stands out in the right center of the canvas, swimming in a sea of blues and greens. To Pfeiffer, the red shape represents a heart. The second piece Pfeiffer selected is Marlene Rose’s “Copper Blue Butterfly.” Rose is a glass artist from Clearwater, Florida. Pfeiffer says she chose Rose’s piece not only to represent a new priority of the gallery — she’s showcased fine glass art since taking Elder Gallery over from Larry Elder last year — but because of what the butterfly stands for. “That imagery of something that represents transformation I felt like was an appropriate donation,” Pfeiffer says. “It is a beautiful piece that also has a masculine appeal and a feminine appeal. When we talk about issues of domestic violence and sexual assault, generally speaking we are talking about male/female interactions. And so I also like that it has that quality to it — a sort of recognition that we are talking about relationships and hopefully we’re talking about transformation.” Not all of the pieces featured in Saturday’s event will have a connection — subtle or otherwise — to domestic violence or sexual assault.

Above: Marlene Rose, “Copper Blue Butterfly”; Below: Sevin Nakima, “Learning Expands Great Souls”

Above: Josh Brown, “The Gang”; Below: Sally Higgins, “Marching Forward”

Ann Rufty, “Pink Gown”

ART WITH HEART 2018 $85. February 24, 7-10 p.m.; CenterStage @ NoDa, 2315 N. Davidson St. safealliance.org/ artwithheart

About 100 artists have donated approximately 175 pieces of art to be sold at both a live and silent auction on Saturday. The topics in the art range from the Women’s March to the recent solar eclipse. Railroad ties taken from the scene of a train accident that occurred years ago frame one piece. Sybil Godwin, owner of Shain Gallery, is donating six pieces to Saturday’s auction. Working with Safe Alliance is all the more meaningful to Godwin as the owner of a gallery founded by a woman, which employs exclusively women. Godwin says the use of art to raise funds for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault is something special, and a reason Shain Gallery has been a part of the event since its founding. “I think art anywhere is a mood changer. It’s very uplifting,” Godwin says. “And that’s what I think is so neat about the combination of this art event and Safe Alliance: that you’re celebrating art that makes you happy. That’s what Safe Alliance is trying to do, they’re trying to uplift women.” The money raised on Saturday will go toward Safe Alliance’s general operating expenses, namely toward the Clyde and Ethel Dickson Domestic Violence Shelter, the Sexual Trauma Resource Center and

the organization’s Victim Services/Legal Representation Program, which helps victims of domestic violence obtain protective orders. However, as first-time Art With Heart committee members Ally Frazier points out, art has a connection with this issue that goes beyond fundraising. Some of the artists who donate to the auction have gone through domestic violence, others have watched their loved ones go through it, she points out. “People that have experienced domestic violence, or people that have seen it secondhand, this can be a way that they express themselves,” Frazier says. “I think it’s important for the community to support the community, regardless of what it is, but in this specific instance it’s kind of unique in that it can be used as a form of not just therapy but expression that is proven to help people work through things and get through their emotions.

“Especially in light of the recent movement, things are much more vocal now, and people are becoming more confident in speaking for themselves,” Frazier continues. “But art’s been around forever, so a lot of times you might see something expressed in artwork that an artist may not feel comfortable verbalizing, but instead they paint it or they draw it.” Many of the featured artists will be on hand for an hour-long reception at the beginning of Saturday’s event, which will allow them to discuss their pieces with those in attendance. However, Pfeiffer hopes that people attending the event on Saturday will be able to make their own connections while perusing the gallery, without having to know what emotions or experiences went into them. “There’s a special thing about art,” Pfeiffer says. “It’s not words. I think when you take away words — whether they’re

written or spoken — you allow for so much personal interpretation. Everyone looks at an art piece and has a different takeaway and a different experience and an emotional reaction or response. I think that’s the larger importance of art and something like the Art With Heart auction: lifting art to this higher level of not just something that can make money but something that represents a larger importance.” Cody Hughes is a local photographer who is donating to Art With Heart for the first time this year. Hughes’ sister has struggled with Type 1 diabetes since the time she was 2 years old, and he’s grown up heavily involved with charities — mainly the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. When Hughes moved to Charlotte two years ago, he didn’t know anyone. He started taking photos with the hopes he could one day use the art to help in his charity work. After selling some photos and donating the proceeds to SHARE Charlotte during Giving Tuesday, he became more interested in art’s relation as charity. When he heard about Art With Heart just a few months ago, the idea was a perfect fit. “I think it’s good for everyone in Charlotte to see things like that happen,” Hughes says. “It helps the whole arts scene, which can help Charlotte grow culturally. People always say they want to see Charlotte develop a better arts scene, so to have an arts scene and a charity scene working together, that definitely can’t hurt.” RPITKIN@CLCLT.COM

CLCLT.COM | FEB. 22 - FEB. 28, 2018 | 23

ARTS

Hamid has been one of many outspoken attendees of “Let’s Talk Dammit,” local artist Dammit Wesley’s discussion series at Camp North End where creators get together to talk about the challenges artists — especially artists of color — face in Charlotte. Luckily, I got to him at the right time. The day after we talked, he announced on Twitter that he was taking a vow of silence over the weekend, only speaking to customers and his wife. “I’m noticing that even though I have a lot of meaningful conversations, they are usually at the wrong time or when I should be doing something else,” he stated in a tweet before announcing his weekend-long vow of silence. So if you missed out on a good talk with Hamid on a recent weekend, we’ve got you covered.

ARTSPEAK

IT’S A FAMILY THING Samir Hamid is doing it 4 creators BY ALEXANDRIA SANDS

SAMIR HAMID wants to build a “creative

skyscraper.” Possibly somewhere between the Duke Energy Center and Hearst Tower, he envisions rooms on rooms on rooms, all dedicated to creativity. “A whole building just for dope shit,” he said. The vision lines up with Hamid’s other aspirations, considering he uses his career to create platforms for artist. Even the side of his F4mily Matters clothing store on The Plaza is a platform, as it features an eye-catching wall mural painted by local artist group The Southern Tiger Collective. The painting resembles an old-school Super Mario Bros. Nintendo game, but with a Charlotte twist. The city’s sport teams pose as players and the city’s skyline is the game’s course. Hamid has also helped put on local

PHOTO BY ALEXANDIRA SANDS

events such as hip-hop shows and the AMCD Bodega that ran for six years and showcased art, music, clothing and sneakers. He created the streetwear brand F4mily Matters in 2011, with the help of two friends. They sell it all: T-shirts, hats, jackets, tracksuits, jerseys, you name it. Eight months into the business, he took it to the next level when he bought out the printing company that had been making his company’s clothes. “That helped my skill and the brand really get way better,” he said. I sat down with Hamid at his store to learn more about the brand and get his thoughts on the city’s creative community.

Creative Loafing: How would you describe what you do? Samir Hamid: I don’t know. I have this conversation every day. I don’t even like the word entrepreneur. Business owner, creator, I create things; a builder. I’d label myself as a Charlotte creative. When I saw the “Let’s Talk Dammit” [ad], it said Charlotte creatives and I fell under that. What was the inspiration behind F4mily Matters? Me and another one of my friends were working at Social Status, the clothing store, and we just had this story to tell. The way we treated each other and our surroundings and our own homies was like a family. We had a sense of pride about each other that we began to promote on clothes and people started to rock with it, promoting what matters. Some of it was centered around money but at the end of the day, the name of the company was “Family Matters.” So we started making dope clothing. What is your process when you’re making a piece? The process is more so about telling a story or making a point. It does start with the story. Every time we’re dropping a collection, it does come from a feeling. Whatever that feeling may be that inspires it, I want to translate that feeling onto the clothing. So it really does start there, like “What’s my tone of the collection?” mixed with the timing and the season. I’m consistently inspired not only by what’s around me now, [but] what I’ve been through, what I plan on going through, what people around me have been through. I really use the clothing as a canvas for our reality. Do you have a favorite piece? I always love the newest stuff cause it’s the stuff that we’ve been best at and worked hardest at. That’s our newest shirt with the Hornets. We call it the “Home Team” T-shirt. That’s definitely one of my favorites right now. Those tracksuits from the “We All We Got” collection, that was promoting unity and kind of highlighting the unity in community and how we are all we have and putting that feeling out there. What does the four in F4mily stand for? My quick catchphrase for it is ‘the F is for family, the four is forever.’ It really started as, the four is the dollar sign on the keyboard, so

24 | FEB. 22 - FEB. 28, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

it kind of started there. The friends that I was talking about, they used to use that dollar sign all the time so it kind of started from there. In the early stages of the brand, it was what kept the money concept. We used to do a ton of stuff around money. Kind of inspired by that. It also represents Charlotte. It’s 704. It’s for the city. We utilize that four a lot. It represents the city. It helps us represent Charlotte without being limited to Charlotte. It’s in there. People outside of Charlotte don’t necessarily know why, but people that are inside of Charlotte correlate it to four, like the 704. It’s a brand that’s to represent Charlotte but not be limited to Charlotte. Our perspective of storytelling comes from Charlotte, it comes from this community and this environment that has inspired the clothing. At “Let’s Talk Dammit,” the organizers asked people to bring a demand for the city to deliver to creators. Did you have one? I do a lot of music events but I would do a lot more if the venue owners weren’t ... um ... racist. I would demand that the city enforces some inclusion for different genres into these venues. It doesn’t matter where the venue is. They get to pick and choose and of course, they’re not labeling it as race. Some have, explicitly to me, labeled it as race but they would never publicly label it as race. You can’t book a hip-hop show at any local venue in Charlotte. I could put together the sickest hip-hop show. I could have a great turnout, no issues, but just because black people come to the show, these venues have an issue with us doing shows. It’s more than a known fact. It’s an underlying issue in Charlotte for sure. That’s my demand: that we demand they have more inclusion. Would that be your only demand? How about we don’t have to motherfucking demand something? How about we get it to a situation where we don’t have to demand shit, where we can fucking talk? By the time I’m demanding it, I’m pissed. We gotta get past that. We gotta open up the conversation. It’s not necessarily the hiphop community, the creative community, it’s young people in general. We’ve got this big middle finger sitting at every major door. It’s like, “First things first, fuck y’all and it’s what we want.” That kind of attitude pisses me off. It pisses everybody off. It makes us not want to fuck with the older people. It makes us lose faith in these organizations, lose faith in the government and I think it’s happening on a global scale more than just even in Charlotte, North Carolina. But in Charlotte, North Carolina, specifically, the conversation gets down to demands and I’m tired of that shit. We should be at the table anyways. Young people, the creative community, in these other cities, they get promoted. They understand that they’re the DNA of the city and they’re older, more mature cities that have kind of gone through their shit, but Charlotte just doesn’t appreciate that creative community to the extent where we’ve always gotta get pissed off enough to start making demands. I’m tired of spending my energy in that direction. BACKTALK@CLCLT.COM

ARTS

FILM

SPRINGING INTO ACTION Superhero saga is the cat’s meow BY MATT BRUNSON

LIKE BROWN GRAVY on white rice, the

sins of the father are served up by the ladleful in Black Panther (***1/2 out of four), one of the best of the solo Marvel adventures to date. Pop-cultural appropriation is nothing new in comic-book sagas, and here’s one that turns out to be a heady mix of William Shakespeare and Walt Disney — and with a few James Bond gadgets added to sweeten the deal. One quick word to get the nonsensical controversy out of the way. Before the film even opened, armies of Trump supporters, white supremacists, MRAs, and mouthbreathing simpletons — or am I being ridiculously redundant and repetitive here by actually separating the four factions? — have taken to the Internet to whine about having to live in a universe (Marvel Cinematic or otherwise) in which a superhero movie is not only largely populated by black actors but also features a sizable number of meaty roles for women (they lodged identical complaints against the new Star Wars flicks). I’m sure somewhere there’s a petition circulating to have Rob Schneider or Scott Baio replace Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa in the sequel, but that’s fortunately not the way the world works. Certainly, there’s a level on which Black Panther goes beyond functioning as a mere superhero yarn — it has emerged as a representation, a rallying point, a reckoning. And that is indeed something to be cherished and celebrated. The haters don’t need this movie and this movie doesn’t need the haters, and as the box office grosses balloon and the critical raves expand, they’re invited to stay home and drown in a tub of their own salty tears. Yet one must really be blinded by ample prejudice and minimal self-worth to want to skip Black Panther. Forget the real-world sociopolitical scuffle: This is a welcome addition to the Marvel playbook, an exciting and pensive drama in which actions don’t always speak louder than words. To be sure, there are several invigorating set-pieces spread throughout the film, but there are also numerous dialogue-heavy encounters that take this beyond wham-bamthank-you-Stan territory. First introduced in Captain America: Civil War, T’Challa/Black Panther (Boseman) here settles into his own storyline, one which finds him assuming and accepting his new responsibilities as king of the advanced nation of Wakanda. Yet he’s barely had time to claim the mantle before he’s challenged by Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), an American intruder who shares more of a history with the African country than anyone realizes. The arcs of T’Challa and Killmonger are

exceedingly knotty, with both men having to contend with the mistakes that their respective fathers committed in the distant path. Obviously, T’Challa is the hero and Killmonger the villain, yet writer-director Ryan Coogler and co-scripter Joe Robert Cole are careful not to turn the latter into a onedimensional adversary. Without engaging in any spoilers, let’s just say that T’Challa can learn a lesson or two from Killmonger’s global perspective — and does. Current Oscar nominee Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out), cast as a Wakandan whose loyalties are torn between his king and this usurper, is also on hand, as is Martin Freeman in a reprisal of his Captain America: Civil War role as CIA operative Everett K. Ross. Yet it’s safe to say that the ladies own this particular outing. Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave) adds warmth and depth as Nakia, the Wakandan spy who’s also T’Challa’s true love; The Walking Dead’s Danai Gurira glowers beautifully as Okoye, a formidable warrior and personal bodyguard to the king; and Letitia Wright is a scene-stealing delight as Shuri, T’Challa’s little sister and Wakanda’s resident genius. It’s Shuri who comes up with the various inventions seen throughout the film, making her in effect the MCU’s version of Q in the 007 franchise. A Bond comparison can also be made with the heady segment featuring a battle royale in a casino royale. Indeed, it’s bravura sequences like this one that guarantee Black Panther will leave most viewers shaken and stirred.

ONE GOOD ACTING TURN deserves another, and that’s what viewers receive with Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool (*** out of four), a compact drama that allows Annette Bening to portray fellow thespian Gloria Grahame. And if Bening never quite convinces us that she is Grahame, that’s hardly her fault — Grahame was a singularly unique individual, and it would be hard for anyone to completely pull off the illusion. An Academy Award winner for her supporting turn in 1952’s The Bad and the Beautiful, Grahame also appeared in such gems as It’s a Wonderful Life, The Big Heat (where Lee Marvin scalds her character’s face with lava-like coffee), Oklahoma! and, best of all, In a Lonely Place, where she found a worthy screen partner in Humphrey Bogart. Grahame’s career at the top was relatively short, eventually damaged by professional conflicts and personal scandals. After a terrifying bout with breast cancer later in her life, the actress retreated to England, where

Annette Bening and Jamie Bell in ‘Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool.’

SONY PICTURES CLASSIC

she enjoyed a romance with a much younger man named Peter Turner. Turner’s memoir of the same name serves as the basis for Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, with the story focused exclusively on Grahame’s relationship with the young lad (played by Jamie Bell). It’s all here, from the first dates (including a trip to the local theater to catch a new horror flick called Alien) to the final clinches, shortly before Grahame succumbs to the cancer that she had earlier eluded. The movie charts their courtships, their quarrels (she bristles whenever he jokes about her age), and the calamities that initially separate and ultimately reunite them. It’s a love story that’s told with respect and restraint, and when footage of the real Grahame collecting her Oscar is shown, her four-word acceptance speech might as well be directed at Liverpool director Paul McGuigan and scripter Matt Greenhalgh: “Thank you very much.” BACKTALK@CLCLT.COM

Chadwick Boseman in ‘Black Panther.’

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DROPPIN’ SCIENCE The only way to do Discovery Place is the ‘adults only’ way

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next to her while someone slowly placed a A LONG WEEKEND in the Queen City condom on a banana… usually implies a long weekend of drinking. I fought through the after-work urge to That’s right, your girl had Monday off in take a nap and met up with my boo. The event observance of President’s Day. When I wasn’t always runs from 5 to 9 p.m., so I thought it spending time with friends, I was enjoying would be a good idea to head over around 7:30 sleep competitions with my sweetheart. — not too early, not too late. And even though Even though I hadn’t gotten much this approach has worked in the past, showing sleep on Thursday night, my boo thang had up later this time wasn’t the best idea. suggested we attend Science on the Rocks We purchased tickets at the door (yes, on Friday. I was exhausted, but he’d never that’s a thing) and perused the map of events. been before and my adventures with him I hadn’t always participated in the activities are always worth the trip – even when they before, but this time the list seemed pretty are absent of food, sleep and water. Not to mention, after our first Valentine’s Day interesting: Sex and Aphrodisiacs, Candy together — I finally got to try Customshop Chemistry, The Dating Game, Fruit Relay and Handcrafted Food, eek – I wanted to keep Kinky Kitchen Trivia. Unfortunately, every the celebrations going. time we went by a room designated for an If you’ve been living under a rock, activity, the class was full. Interested or you’re new to Charlotte, or just parties had to have tickets to enter a creature of habit, you may not and others had to wait for the know exactly what Science next time slot and hope they on the Rocks (#sotr) is. could get in. Bummer. Let me break it down for Nevertheless, the first you. It’s an adults-only item I wanted to check off event that takes place of my to-do list was grab at the Discovery Place, a a drink. “Victoria’s Other two-story family-friendly Secret,” a pre-mixed vodka (usually) science museum and lemonade number located Uptown at the was being served at the corner of North Tryon and two makeshift bars upstairs. AERIN SPRUILL 6th streets. Even though the price tag was A gander at Discovery Place’s $9+, I thought I’d give it a chance. official website describes the event Surprisingly, two tiny drinks later, I with the statement, “Science is shaken, was feeling the buzz. not stirred, every third Friday of the month We accepted the fact that we weren’t going at Science on the Rocks.” When I first heard to get into any of the activities and decided about the after-hours event back in 2014, I to just browse the other exhibits that are couldn’t resist a visit. The only thing missing featured on a daily basis. Frogs, jellyfish and from the usual daytime drip to Discovery the like. By the time we finished that – and I Place is a cocktail, after all. laughed at my boo for accidentally splashing That following March, I was sipping on the water in the huge, open fish tank – we’d a “vaportini” at the event all by myself. put the last hour of SOTR behind us. Since then, I’ve been back for at least four Before you plan your visit to SOTR, or five more such events, including the there are a few pro-tips to keep in mind: Wizarding World of Harry Potter (a theme Buy your tickets online and early ($10). that has occurred twice and sold out almost There’s no guarantee that the event won’t immediately each time). sell out and they end online sales early on I read the description for this past week’s the day of the event.You can buy tickets at theme: “Is the way to your lover’s heart really the door, however, the price goes up to $12. through the stomach? Can certain foods And again, there’s no guarantee they’ll be actually increase your sex drive? There’s available. Show up as early as you can. That no denying it — food, love and sex share a way, you’ll be able to catch as many events special link that all comes down to science. as possible. You’d be surprised how quickly Romance is in the air and there’s more to 9 p.m. will roll around. If you bring cash, explore than just chemistry at Science on the you’ll be able to cut down your wait time Rocks: Flirting with Food.” in line at the bar. But make sure you bring Anyone who knows me knows that I a decent amount…the drinks aren’t cheap. am obsessed with food, so it seemed like a Don’t forget, you can purchase tickets to an great idea. Plus, the description reminded IMAX show at 7:30 p.m. for an additional $5. me of the time I took my mom to a SOTR Not too shabby for a quick movie experience! experience that was all about the “birds and the bees,” where I watched in silent torture

26 | FEB. 22 - FEB. 28, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

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FeeLing Lonely?

CROSSWORD

SECRET SCOUTING MISSIONS ACROSS

1 -- -Mart (retail giant) 4 Hushed “Hey!” 8 Part of PETA 15 Some snakes 19 Extra refrigerator convenience 21 Pre-euro Greek coin 22 Scrutinize, with “over” 23 Extremely bad weather, e.g. 25 Deep purple 26 Skating great Yamaguchi 27 Canton-born architect I.M. 28 Big cracker brand 30 Drink name suffix 31 Offering at a memorial service 37 Org. for Michelle Wie 40 ‘60s psychedelic 41 Nero’s 1,006 42 Apply an oily liquid to 43 Folding art 46 It glances off the bat and counts as a strike 49 A while ago 50 Prevention of a blaze from spreading 53 Madden 54 “Dracula” director Browning 55 “-- doin’!” (“Forget it!”) 56 Melt 58 Dunne of movies 60 Slow, tempo-wise 64 Not less than 69 To be, at the Louvre 70 Longtime tech ad slogan (and a hint to this puzzle’s theme) 73 Essence 74 Actress Dawson 76 Hip-hop record label 77 “-- suggest that ...?” 78 About 80 African land 83 Some vinyl records 84 Philately item 88 Clash between social groups 93 Beseech 94 Husky-toned 95 Ominous 96 “All of Me” director Carl

98 Little hotel 99 Notable time stretch 101 One writing briefs: Abbr. 102 Efforts to protect ecosystems, say 108 Simile middle 109 -- avis 110 Existential declaration 111 How very close games are won 115 Mixed breed 117 Calamitous effects 122 Love god 123 Deep green 124 Repeal 125 Desiccated 126 Late-night flights 127 Draws on 128 Here-there linkup

DOWN

1 Laundry detergent brand 2 Aspire PC maker 3 -- Strauss jeans 4 Trilogy start 5 Yarn bundle 6 Minute div. 7 Recurring themes 8 Murphy of “48 Hrs.” 9 Prefix with glyceride 10 Toque, e.g. 11 Here, in Arles 12 C minor, say 13 Prenatal test, briefly 14 Track racer’s windup 15 iPhone extra 16 Comforting in sorrow 17 Discretion 18 College term 20 Text or email 24 Dweeby sort 29 Buddhism school 32 Film director Eastwood 33 “Hurry up!” 34 Half of a zygote 35 Cairo’s river 36 When morning ends 37 More exalted 38 In advance of 39 Bridge parts 44 Skin ailment 45 Dairy sound 46 Conclusion 47 Blowup stuff 48 “-- to Be You”

51 “Imagine --!” 52 Helped 53 Saddlery tool 57 Supped 59 School lobby gp. 61 Many a PC image file 62 Bite, break or bruise 63 “August: -- County” 65 Mileage rating gp. 66 Send in via helicopter, maybe 67 Diamond-shaping method 68 Abounding in prickly plants 70 Grafton’s “-- for Innocent” 71 Saw edge 72 Apple desktop 75 Hip-hop music 77 Stupid 79 “-- Day Will Come” 81 Jack Sprat’s dietary rule 82 Genetic cell stuff 84 Family appellations 85 Value highly 86 Rabble-rouser 87 Diner list 89 Beef cut 90 Sunbathes 91 -- Reader 92 Tilting 94 One walking 97 Flub up 99 Gabor and Mendes 100 French composer Jean-Philippe -103 Felon’s deed 104 Competed in a regatta 105 Fruit coats 106 “-- hope so!” 107 Butter substitutes 112 Thom -113 “Mr. Nobody” star Jared 114 River of Flanders 116 Mao -- -tung 118 In advance of 119 Low coral reef 120 Bullring shout 121 Victims of NFL sacks

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SAVAGE LOVE

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BI & BIPHOBIA Maybe it’s just phobia, period. BY DAN SAVAGE I’m an 18-year-old female. I’m cisgender and bisexual. I’ve been in a monogamous relationship with my cisgender bisexual boyfriend for about a year. I’m currently struggling with a lot of internalized biphobia and other hang-ups about my boyfriend’s sexuality. I don’t know if I’m projecting my own issues onto him or if I’m just being bigoted towards bi men, but either way, I feel truly awful about it. But when I think about the fact that he’s bi and is attracted to men, I become jealous and fearful that he will leave me for a man or that he would rather be with a man. (I’ve been with men and women in the past; he’s never been with a man.) I know it is unfair of me to feel this way and he’s never given me any real reason to fear this. We have a very engaged, kinky, and rewarding sex life! But I worry I’m not what he really wants. This situation is complicated by the near certainty that my boyfriend has some sort of hormonal disorder. He has a very young face for an 18 year old, a feminine figure, and not a lot of body hair. He orgasms but he does not ejaculate; and although he has a sizable penis, his testicles are more like the size of grapes than eggs. He struggles a lot with feeling abnormal and un-masculine. I try to be as supportive as possible and tell him how attracted to him I am and how he’ll get through whatever this is. But he can tell his bi-ness makes me nervous and uncomfortable. I think that because he appears more feminine than most men and is more often hit on by men than women, I worry that he would feel more comfortable or “normal” with a man. I don’t want to contribute to him feeling abnormal or bad about himself. How do I stop worrying that he’s gay or would be happier with a man? I feel horrible about myself for these anxieties considering that I’m bi too, and should know better. ANONYMOUS NERVOUS GIRLFRIEND SEEKS TRANQUILITY

“Many people who encounter us Bi+ folk in the wild just project their insecurities onto us with impunity and then blame us for it,” said RJ Aguiar, a bisexual activist and content creator whose work has been featured on Buzzfeed, HuffPo, Queerty and other sites. “As someone who’s bi herself, I’m sure ANGST knows this all too well.” So if you’ve been on the receiving end of biphobia — as almost all bisexual people have — why are you doing it to your bisexual boyfriend? 28 | FEB. 22 - FEB. 28, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

“This hypothetical so-and-so-is-going-towith. Stop worrying about the next six or leave-me-for-someone-hotter scenario could seven decades of your life — stop worrying happen to anyone of any orientation,” said about forever — and enjoy this time and Aguiar. “But maybe because the potential this boy and this relationship for however ‘pool of applicants’ is over twice as big for us long it lasts. Bi+ folk, we get stuck with twice as much of Finally, ANGST, on the off chance your this irrational fear? I don’t know. But here’s boyfriend hasn’t spoken to a doctor about what I do know: most Biphobia (and jealousy his symptoms — because he’s an uninsured/ for that matter) is projected insecurity. underinsured/unlucky American or because Built into the fear that someone will leave he’s been too embarrassed to bring up the you because they ‘like x or y better’ is the size of his balls and quality of ejaculations assumption that you yourself aren’t good with his parents and/or doctor — I shared enough.” your letter with Dr. John Amory, Professor And while feelings of insecurity and of Medicine at the University of Washington. jealousy can undermine a relationship, “An 18-year-old male with testicles ANGST, they don’t have to. It all depends on the ‘size of grapes’ indicates an issue how you address them when they arise. with testicular development,” said Dr. “We all have our moments!” said Amory. “The reduced testicular volume, in Aguiar. “But we can turn these moments combination with the other features such into opportunities for open communication as his feminine face and sparse body hair, and intimacy rather than moments also suggest an issue with testicular of isolation and shame. That function.” way they end up bringing It could simply be delayed you closer, rather than puberty — some people drive this invisible wedge suddenly grow six inches between you. The key when they get to college — or is to understand that it could be something called feelings aren’t always Klinefelter syndrome. rational. But if we can “Klinefelter syndrome share those feelings occurs in one out of every with the person we love 500 males and is associated without fear of judgment with small testicular volume or reprisal, it can help DAN SAVAGE and decreased testosterone,” create a space of comfort said Dr. Amory. “This diagnosis and intimacy that no piece of is frequently missed because the ass will ever be able to compete penis is normal in size and the men are with — no matter how hot they are normal in most other ways, although about or what they may or may not have between half of men with Klinefelter syndrome (KS) their legs.” can have breast enlargement (gynecomastia) As for the reasons you’re feeling insecure that can be seen as feminizing. Bottom line: — your boyfriend might be gay and/or Small testes at age 18 means it’s time for a happier with a man — I’m not going to lie doctor’s visit — probably an endocrinologist to you, ANGST. Your boyfriend could be gay or urologist — to take a family history, do (some people who aren’t bisexual identify an examination, and consider measurement as bi before coming out as gay or lesbian), of testosterone and some other hormones. and/or he could one day realize that he’d be This should help him understand if he ‘just happier with a man (just as you could one day needs to wait’ or if he has a diagnosis that realize that you’d be happier with a woman). could be treated. There is a real possibility But your wonderful sex life — your engaging, that he has KS, which is usually treated with kinky, rewarding sex life — is pretty good testosterone to improve muscle mass, bone evidence that your boyfriend isn’t gay. (I density and sexual function.” was one of those guys who identified as bi Follow RJ Aguiar on Twitter @rj4gui4r. before coming out as gay, ANGST, and I had girlfriends and the sex we had was far from wonderful.) I’m a 27-year-old woman whose And now I’m going tell you something you boyfriend recently broke up with her. no doubt already know: Very few people wind Along with the usual feelings of grief up spending their lives with the person they and heartbreak, I’m feeling a lot of were dating at 18. You and your boyfriend guilt about how I handled our sex life, are both in the process of figuring out who which was one of the main issues in you are and what you want. It’s possible he’ll our breakup. My now ex-boyfriend was realize you’re not the person he wants to interested in BDSM and a kink-oriented be with, ANGST, but it’s also possible you’ll lifestyle, and I experimented with that realize he’s not the person you want to be

for him. I attended several play parties, went to a five-day-long kink camp with him, and tried out many of his BDSM fantasies. The problem became that, hard as I tried, I just wasn’t very interested in that lifestyle and parts of it made me very uncomfortable. I was game to do the lighter stuff (spanking, bondage), but just couldn’t get behind the more extreme things. I disappointed him because I “went along with it” only to decide I wasn’t into it and that I unfairly represented my interest in his lifestyle. Did I do something wrong? What should I have done? BASICALLY A LITTLE KINKY

All you’re guilty of doing, BALK, is exactly what kinksters everywhere hope their vanilla partners will do. You gave it a try — you were good, giving, and game enough to explore BDSM with and for him — and sometimes that works, e.g. someone who always thought of themselves as vanilla goes to a play party or a five-day-long kink camp and suddenly realizes, hey, I’m pretty kinky, too! But it doesn’t always work. Since the alternative to “went along with it” was “never gave it a chance,” BALK, your ex-boyfriend should be giving you credit for trying, not grief for supposedly misleading him. On the Lovecast, Dan chats with rival advice columnist Roxane Gay: savagelovecast.com; follow @fakedansavage on Twitter; mail@ savagelove.net; go to ITMFA.org.

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SOLUTION TO THIS WEEK'S PUZZLE

WHERE WE ALL REFUSE TO WEAR SOCKS.

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Your softhearted self is drawn to a tempting offer. But your hardheaded half isn’t so sure. Best advice: Do it only after every detail is checked out to your liking.

LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) A new sense of enthusiasm helps get you out of on-the-job doldrums and back into a productive phase. Family matters also benefit from your more positive attitude. SCORPIO (October 23

to November 21) A bit of nostalgia is fine. But don’t stay back in the past too long or you might miss seeing the signpost up ahead pointing the way to a new opportunity.

TAURUS

(April 20 to May 20) Your inventive mind should help you find a way to get around an apparently impassable barrier and make yourself heard. Your efforts get you noticed by the right people.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) You’re enjoying this creative period. But by midweek, you’ll need to emphasize your more pragmatic talents as you consider a risky but potentially lucrative move. CANCER (June 21 to

July 22) An unexpected rejection could turn into something positive if you pocket your pride and ask for advice on how you can make changes that will make the difference.

LEO (July 23 to August 22)

Your Lion’s heart gives you the courage to push for answers to a jobrelated situation. Stay with it. You’ll soon find more believers coming out the ranks of the doubters.

VIRGO (August 23 to

September 22) Your curiosity pays off this week as you push past the gossip to find the facts. What you ultimately discover could lead you to make some changes in your plans.

SAGITTARIUS

(November 22 to December 21) If you feel you need to take more time to study a situation before making a decision, do so. Don’t let anyone push you into acting until you’re ready.

CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) As the Great Advice Giver, the Goat really shines this week as family and friends seek your wisdom. Someone especially close to you might make a surprising request.

AQUARIUS

(January 20 to February 18) Spiritual concerns dominate part of the week before more worldly matters demand your attention. An old promise resurfaces with some surprises attached.

PISCES (February 19 to March 20) You’re in a highly productive period and are eager to finish all the projects you’ve taken on. But don’t let yourself get swamped. Take a breather now and again.

BORN THIS WEEK You have a gift for learning new things quickly and applying your knowledge to best advantage where needed. 30 | FEB. 22 - FEB. 28, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

CLCLT.COM | FEB. 22 - FEB. 28, 2018 | 31

32 | FEB. 22 - FEB. 28, 2018 | CLCLT.COM