2018 Issue 26 Creative Loafing Charlotte

CLCLT.COM | AUG. 16 - 22, 2018 VOL. 32, NO. 26

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A few shots from last year’s Charlotte Pride festivities. Check out our Pride Guide on page 10 for a full schedule of this year’s fun as well as related events around the city.

We put out weekly 8

NEWS&CULTURE THE CHAMPS ARE HERE Charlotte Pride recognizes community advocates among the festivities

BY RYAN PITKIN

10 12 14 18 20

6 THE BLOTTER BY COURTNEY MIHOCIK AND RYAN PITKIN

PRIDE GUIDE EVENTS LISTING Pride-related events

happening around the city

PRIDE GUIDE PERFORMERS The lowdown on all the performers you need to check out at Pride this weekend

FOOD&DRINK OPEN-SOURCE BREWS Local brewer divulges his recipes to the

community

BY COURTNEY MIHOCIK

TOP 10 THINGS TO DO THIS WEEK

MUSIC DOO-WAH-DIDDY Charlotte R&B singer Greg Cox makes his own

band on debut LP

BY MARK KEMP 22 SOUNDBOARD

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ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT SUFFER THE CHILDREN A medieval crusade inspires XOXO’s

new production

BY PAT MORAN

26

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

GO TO CLCLT.COM FOR VIDEOS, PODCASTS AND MORE!

COVER DESIGN

BY DANA VINDIGNI

PHOTO BY JENNIFER L. HOGAN CLCLT.COM | AUG. 16 - 22, 2018 VOL. 32, NO. 26

Website: www.clclt.com Facebook: /clclt Pinterest: @clclt Twitter: @cl_charlotte Instagram: @creativeloafingcharlotte YouTube: /qccreativeloafing

PHOTOS BY JENNIFER L. HOGAN 1 | DATE - DATE, 2015 | CLCLT.COM

CLCLT.COM | AUG. 16 - AUG. 22, 2018 | 5

NEWS

BLOTTER

BY COURTNEY MIHOCIK AND RYAN PITKIN

CLEAN GETAWAY A woman in the University area was alarmed to come home last week and find that she had apparently been hosting an unwanted house guest, but a polite one. The 19-year-old victim told officers she returned to her apartment at the University Village at Charlotte and found a suspect whom she had never seen before inside her home. The woman told officers that by the time she got home at 9 p.m., the stranger had “consumed foodstuffs and cleaned the living area.” The suspect did not break into the apartment, per se, since there were no signs of forced entry, but will still be charged with misdemeanor breaking and entering. At least they’ll keep their cell clean.

IN THE SPIRIT It’s important to get your

holiday shopping done early, but that’s doesn’t apply when it comes to the tree.

Nevertheless, one 37-year-old woman in south Charlotte was swindled out of her holiday decorations and some textbooks when three suspects stole from the back of a moving truck she was using. The woman told officers that the thieves stole $600 worth of textbooks (that’s probably just one college textbook, to be honest), a CD player, $75 worth of office supplies and a Christmas tree from the truck while it was sitting for three hours at the Element South Apartments.

Now they just need tinsel.

ELECTRIC STEAL Common sense will get you far, but an electric bicycle will get you farther. One 26-year-old man in Uptown Charlotte recently did not use his common sense when he lent his $1,500 “Rad-Fat” electric-powered bicycle to another man on Trade Street. The victim claimed he lent the bicycle to the unknown suspect around 9:14 p.m., presumably expecting it to be returned, but the suspect never came back from his joyride. The electric-powered wheels in his head were not turning very fast during this exchange, apparently.

CHAIN GANG A 17-year-old girl fell into a similar predicament in north Charlotte last week when she let a so-called friend wear her chain then never got it back. The girl told police she was at Nevin Community Park when the suspect took the 22-inch, 14-karat, $600 chain off her neck and put it on their own, but just to try it on. However, they must have liked how it looked on them because when she asked for it back, the suspect refused. Now, she says the suspect will not even return her calls.

DOG DAYS It was a ruff day last week when Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers responded to a local animal hospital in response to a suspicious person on the premises. When the officers arrived, they discovered that a FedEx box delivered to the hospital was opened 6 | AUG. 16 - AUG. 22, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

and the contents stolen. It seems far-fetched, but the doggone, presumably barking-mad suspect has quite a nerve, as the package contained biopsy nerve samples of a canine animal. Paws for a moment of silence for the poor dog that has to return to the lab to have another biopsy procedure done.

DIG IN Construction sites are notorious for

trespassers, thieves and vandals entering and doing as they please overnight, but one report last week grabbed our attention due to the sheer audacity of the suspect. A constrution business working in the Wesley Heights neighborhood in west Charlotte reported to police last week that sometime between 5 p.m and 7:40 a.m., an unknown suspect absconded with their CAT mini excavator, worth $70,000. Now, we’re not sure if someone is playing a dirt-poor joke or trying to build their own construction business, but hopefully the police department is digging into this investigation.

STATELY THEFT Charlotte-Mecklenburg

police filed a report for themselves last month when they fell victim to a false pretense/ swindling crime at an occupational medicine outpatient center on Independence Boulevard in Matthews. In conjunction with Homeland Security Investigations, the two operations found themselves $400 short each. Now, the report gives very little detail, but we can only presume that whoever carried out this stately crime might deserve the $800 they were able to finesse from the government.

HIGH STEAKS Police were dispatched for

a meaty shoplifting call last week at a Food Lion in west Charlotte. The suspect was apprehended for attempting to steal fine ground beef and a kielbasa, and according to the report, he stole a whole shitload of it. The officers filing the report listed $4 worth of kielbasa and $13,560 worth of ground beef as stolen. That’s probably a typo, esepcially considering just $13.56 worth of beef was recovered, but we still enjoy the image of a man trying to walk out of Food Lion with that much beef in his cart.

FREE RIDE A 40-year-old Plaza Midwood

woman found out that someone had been getting around the city on her dime for three weeks, and it was no small dime. The woman reported to police last week that someone had used her bank account information to set up an Uber account, then preceded to spend more than $100 a day. The account was opened on April 30, and wasn’t closed until May 21. In that short time, the suspect spent $2,410 on rides. We’re not sure where they were going every day to spend that much money, but we hope they like scooters, because that’s now their only option.

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

CLCLT.COM | AUG. 16 - AUG. 22, 2018 | 7

NEWS

FEATURE

THE CHAMPS ARE HERE

Charlotte Pride recognizes community advocates among the festivities RYAN PITKIN

W

HILE THIS WEEKEND’S

Charlotte Pride festival and parade will be a celebration of the entire LGBTQ+ community and its allies, and most folks will be in the crowd to see a specific musical performance or drag show, the Charlotte Pride board of directors will also be highlighting the community work of six individuals with the sixth annual presentation of the Champion of Pride Awards.

“The Champions of Pride Awards seek to recognize those whose work and dedication exemplify the spirit of Pride,” said Matt Comer, spokesperson for Charlotte Pride.

“Our Champions endeavor to empower and unite LGBTQ and allied people through their leadership, service and support. Champions understand the importance of celebrating our past, present and future while advancing LGBTQ rights and visibility.”

The awards include the Harvey Milk Award, given to someone who exhibits exceptional leadership while championing LGBTQ causes that impact the Charlotte community; the Young Catalyst Award, given to an up-and-coming LGBTQ leader under 30 years old; the Outstanding Ally Award, given to someone who does not identify as LGBTQ but is a stalwart for causes that impact that community; and the Stonewall Award, a special award that’s only given out some years to acknowledge longstanding and dedicated service to Charlotte Pride.

This year, Pride will give the awards to six people, five of whom Creative Loafing spoke to for this story. The sixth, Gerald Gurss, will be honored with a Harvey Milk Award, but recently moved to Minnesota and therefore won’t be at Charlotte Pride to accept the award.

In this story, we’ll tell of the local work being done by each of the remaining winners, as well as their thoughts on being honored at

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this year’s Pride festival.

HARVEY MILK AWARD: DONTÉ PRAYER

DONTÉ PRAYER HAS only lived in Charlotte for two years, and says he still needs a GPS to get to most places he needs to go. And yet still, the impact he’s made on his new community is undeniable.

As a prevention coordinator with The Powerhouse Project, an educational prevention program from the Quality Comprehensive Health Center, Prayer does community outreach and advocacy while also working directly with people living with HIV. This includes linking them with healthcare providers and practicing high-impact interventions to lessen the risk of spreading infections.

Prayer, now 34, can remember wanting to help people since the age of 4, when he first volunteered at the Special Olympics. He went on to study special education and psychology at Elizabeth City State University, and began doing HIV prevention work shortly after graduating. He says that now, at a time when people can live a long, healthy life with HIV, or prevent it more effectively with pre-exposure prophylaxis, known as PrEP, the disease still carries the same stigmas it always has, and even some new ones.

“Even though people should view PrEP as an extra layer of protection when it comes to sexual health, people still give it a stigma of, ‘This is like a pass to be promiscuous and not have condom sex,’ and things of that nature,” Prayer says. “So we have to dismantle all of that on top of the other stigmas that are associated with HIV.” While The Powerhouse Project serves everyone, it specifically aims to be a resource for the black and Latinx male communities, which are disproportionately affected by

Donté Prayer

PHOTOS COURTESY OF CHARLOTTE PRIDE

“We’ve got a lot of very progressive individuals from [nearby] Chapel Hill, and then in Chatham County there’s a lot of good ol’ boys and conservatives who aren’t necessarily bad neighbors to have, but it did make coming out a little more complicated,” Mather says.

He didn’t face too much harassment or bullying from his classmates, as most simply accepted it when he showed up one day and began demanding folks call him by his new name. He has not stopped making demands since.

Now 19 years old, Nikolai Mather is sitting outside of the Student Union at UNC Charlotte, where over the last year he co-founded the UNC Charlotte LGBTQ+ Coalition and began pushing for an LGBTQ Center on campus. After gathering more than 1,600 signatures with the help of his fellow advocates, and a seemingly endless amount of other work, he’s just confirmed the space where the center will be. He hopes to have it up and running by the end of the fall semester.

He recalls what led him to lead the fight for an LGBTQ Center at UNC Charlotte.

“When I came here I was both floored by the amount of enthusiasm and passion within social justice advocates here, and also frankly appalled by the lack of resources for LGBTQ students,” Mather says.

HIV. Prayer, who identifies as same-gender loving, says that’s another reason why he’s so passionate about his work.

“As many people know, black gay and bisexual males are impacted the most by HIV, so that’s another one of my reasons why this platform and my work is so important, because it affects people that look like me,” he says.

Prayer says he’s thankful to Charlotte Pride for the recognition of his work during such a short time in Charlotte, and will use the moment as inspiration to work harder in Nikolai Mather the future.

“I know people that have been doing the work longer than me that haven’t been recognized, so I’m very humbled and grateful,” he says. “It just gives me motivation to continue to do the work and know that it’s not being unnoticed or anything. So I’m very, very humbled that in the short-lived time of living in Charlotte I’m being recognized here.”

YOUNG CATALYST AWARD: NIKOLAI MATHER

CHATHAM COUNTY WAS an “interesting” place for Nikolai Mather to come out as transgender when he was 16 years old, he says.

CHAMPIONS OF PRIDE AWARDS August 15, 5 p.m.; Wells Fargo Stage, Uptown Charlotte; charlottepride.org

A Levine Scholar, Mather must live in Levine Hall for the first two years at the university. He points out that with two trans students living in the dormitory, there were no gender-neutral bathrooms there, and not many on the entire campus.

Mather hooked up with Customer 49, a leftist organization on campus, as well as other supporters and advocates around the university to begin pushing for more genderneutral bathrooms.

“Eventually that morphed into something greater as we started talking to student government and we started figuring out if it was possible to have a whole space for LGBTQ+ folks,” he says.

Mather says he learned a lot about organizing and fighting through bureaucracy alongside his team, the members of which sat at tables for hours on end to collect signatures despite full schedules of classes.

He says he’ll be accepting the Pride award on behalf of the entire coalition.

“Many of the folks who were in the coalition are not able to fully express who they are,” he says. “I would like to say thank you to those who helped out along the way, to those who committed their time and their energy and so much work, they know who they are.”

And as far as what’s next for Mather — a double major in political science and international studies with a minor in Holocaust, genocide and human rights studies who’s considering adding French as a minor this semester?

“That’s actually something that I’m trying to figure out before this school year begins because I’ve been so focused on the center,” Mather says. “I think one of my main goals before graduation would be to establish the center in full, and also to get eight hours of sleep every night for a week.”

OUTSTANDING ALLY AWARD: LIZ FITZGERALD

THE WAY LIZ Fitzgerald explains it, she was “raised by feminists, many of whom were lesbian.”

surprised to hear about the award, but points out that it’s no lifetime achievement, as the work must continue.

“Being an ally is work that I do, it’s not necessarily an identity that I have, and if you stop doing the work then you stop being an ally,” she says. “So I’m personally really grateful, but it makes me really grateful for all of the people that have been a part of this with me and that I get to work alongside with and that have enriched my life for years.”

Liz Fitzgerald When I ask her what she means, she laughs, knowing her statement might sound confusing to a cisgender straight guy like myself. She clarifies that she cut her teeth doing social justice work in Iowa City, Iowa, and the spaces she moved in were made up of many LGBTQ folks, mostly women.

“The ways that they fought for women’s rights, it was only right to give back and make sure that we were paying attention to LGBTQ rights,” Fitzgerald says. “So really, over the last 20 to 25 years, that’s been important to me.”

Since moving to Charlotte in 2003, Fitzgerald has been a staunch ally of the LGBTQ community, helping initiate the Safe Zone Project at UNC Charlotte, where she worked as an academic advisor for 12 years.

The project involved training faculty and staff to be knowledgeable and understanding of LGBTQ issues, and included stickers that they could put on their doors to let LGBTQ students know they could be open and not be judged in those spaces.

For all 15 years of her time in Charlotte, Fitzgerald has been a member of the One Voice Chorus, an LGBTQ and LGBTQaffirming chorus that also does community work related to social justice.

She’s also able to uplift LGBTQ creatives through her day job as program director for grants and services at the Arts & Science Council. Fitzgerald says it’s a priority for her to make sure ASC is inclusive of marginalized communities that go underrepresented in the local arts scene.

As far as being recognized as an ally

by Charlotte Pride, Fitzgerald says she was

STONEWALL AWARDS: CRAIG HOPKINS, RICHARD GRIMSTAD

WHEN RICHARD GRIMSTAD and Craig Hopkins joined Charlotte Pride as board members in 2012, the group was a branch of the LGBT Community Center of Charlotte, an organization that was battling controversy at every turn.

The two began to see the writing on the wall long before the center finally closed at the end of 2014. By that time, they and others had already helped ensure that Charlotte Pride wouldn’t take the fall with the center.

In 2013, Charlotte Pride became a separate, independent organization, thanks in large part to the help of Grimstad and Hopkins. Both men used their experience in corporate America — Grimstad in accounting and Hopkins in community relations — to help ensure that Charlotte Pride could stand on its own two feet. They also helped relaunch the Charlotte Pride parade in 2013, which had not been seen on the streets of Charlotte in nearly 20 years.

“One of the goals that I had for it was really trying to treat the organization as if it were a business, pulling in our experience professionally and the experience of others in the professional world, but also having those folks there that were more on the activist side, the volunteer side, things like that,” says Grimstad.

The two helped save the Reel Out Charlotte film festival, which was originally held by the community center, as well as introduce new programming such as Latin

Richard Grimstad Pride.

Both men left the board last fall and now say they are humbled to be recognized for the important work they did to keep the organization afloat during a tumultuous time. On Sunday, both men will serve as grand marshalls of the Pride parade.

“I’m proud of everything that we did. I never expected to really be recognized for it. I thought that we’d roll off the board and everyone would forget who we were,” says Grimstad, laughing.

Hopkins agrees, and says he’s just happy knowing the organization is healthy and stable enough to make sure the city never goes without Pride again.

“It’s actually humbling, we really didn’t do this for the recognition,” he says. “As we got involved, we saw what the community needed to get this established and ready to move to the next generation that could take it over — to where it was secure enough that it wouldn’t run through the same issues we’d seen in the past.”

RPITKIN@CLCLT.COM

Craig Hopkins

CLCLT.COM | AUG. 16 - AUG. 22, 2018 | 9

EVENTS 2018 CHARLOTTE PRIDE IS NOT JUST ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS ON THE WEEKEND. HERE’S A LIST OF OTHER FUN PRIDE-RELATED THINGS TO DO AROUND THE CITY.

August 16 PRIDE IN THE SKY What: Hosted by HRC Charlotte and Takeover Friday, PRIDE in the Sky will focus on the upcoming midterm elections by bringing in local politicians that attendees can meet face-to-face. While party-goers admire the breathtaking skyline of Charlotte, they will be offered complimentary drinks, hor d’oerves by Greystar and beats by DJ Little Betty.

When: 6-9 p.m.

Where: Ascent Uptown Charlotte, 225 South Poplar St. More: RSVP is full; Email dan@takeoverfriday. com with name, mobile number and a guest’s name to be placed on the waitlist

GAYCHELLA What: You are going to be partying a lot this weekend, so why not get your workout in before hand. Billed as “Beychella meets Pride,” this event promises to be the biggest, most inclusive fitness party in Charlotte. Work up a sweat with The Jam: CLT, a local fitness company that does choreography to hip-hop, Latin, jazz, pop and world music. Follow it up with a beer to raise money for RAIN in the process.

When: 6:30 p.m.

Where: Sugar Creek Brewing, 215 Southside Dr. More: Free; thejamclt.com

August 17 BEAR HAPPY HOUR What: While this is a monthly event held by local group FURnace and made for bears and their admirers, the event that takes place during Pride weekend will be extra special.

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This happy hour features games, music and food. Bring your friends, have some drinks and socialize with new people for an unbearably good time. And no hibernating, this party goes ‘til close.

When: 8 p.m. - 2 a.m.

Where: Crown Station, 3629 N. Davidson St. More: Free; facebook.com/furnaceparty

PAINTING WITH A CHARLOTTE PRIDE NIGHT

August 18 RAINBOWTOPIA What: It’s the ultimate high-energy dance party, featuring top DJs, body painting and tons of giveaways. Throw on your best rainbow and unicorn-themed outfit and join the hundreds of others expected to throw down at Bassment.

When: 9 p.m.-2 a.m.

Where: Bassment Charlotte, 911 E. Morehead St. More: $15 Advanced, $20 at Door ; tinyurl.com/ rainbowtopia

TWIST:

What: Uncork, unwind and release your inner artist with pride. Paint with the colors of the flag for a “Rainbow Starry Night Over Charlotte” creation in this adults-only painting class.

When: 7 p.m.

Where: Painting With a Twist, 4724 Sharon Road, Suite J

Joe Gauthreaux

BIG FREEDIA What: Shake your butt, be loud, be proud and have a good time with bounce rap queen Big Freedia. Originally from New Orleans, the rapper and dancer has been featured all over the TV circuit and applauded in a variety of publications for her music and style.

When: 8 p.m.

Where: The Underground at Fillmore; 820 Hamilton St. More: $32; tinyurl.com/bigfreediaCLT

PHOTO BY WILSON MODELS

Aja

PHOTO COURTESY OF AJA

More: $35; tinyurl.com/PaintingPride

OVER THE RAINBOW DRAG SHOW What: Buff Faye will host this show comprised of Charlotte’s fiercest and most fabulous queens, benefiting Campus Pride. If you want to see glitter, sass and divas slaying on the runway, then don’t miss this event.

When: 8-10 p.m.

Where: Rooftop 210, 210 E. Trade St More: $10; tinyurl.com/rainbowdragshow

CANDYLAND What: Just Twirl is an event planning and promotion services company in Charlotte that is dedicated to the LGTBQ community with the motto, “Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we’re here, we should dance.” They invite you to do just that at this candy-themed party, from which proceeds benefit Charlotte Pride and Twirl to the World Foundation.

When: 10 p.m.

Where: Flight Beer and Music Hall, 314 N. College St. More: $20 Advance, $25 at Door; tinyurl.com/ candylandatflight

PRESENTED BY

marchers, floats and contingents will head down Tryon Street to Independence Square, at the intersection of Trade and Tryon streets.

There they will be met by Pride’s panel of parade emcees and judges.

When: 1 p.m.

Where: Tryon St. More: Free; charlottepride.org/parade/

PRIDE FEST What: The Vanity House and Rooftop 210 are planning an all-night party with Erica Chanel, Jack Dahlia and Pandora Mystére. Gear up for a legendary show featuring Alyssa Edwards all the way from Dallas, Texas.

When: 9 p.m.

Where: Rooftop 210, 210 E. Trade St. More: $35 and up; tinyurl.com/ pridefestrooftop210

PRIDE PARADE VIEWING PARTY AT FIRST UNITED METHODIST What: Bring a chair or a blanket and join a congregation of friends, family and fellow revelers on the church steps for a perfect view of the Charlotte Pride Parade.

When: 1 p.m.

Where: First United Methodist Church, 501 N. Tryon St. More: Free; charlottefirst.org

PRIDE MIMOSA PARTY What: Drink up, people! The 8th Annual Mimosa Party hosted by 5 Points Realty will feature music and boozy, bubbly OJ for the perfect brunch pregame before Pride festivities.

When: 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

Where: 5 Points Realty West Office, 415 Beatties Ford Road.

More: Free; 5pointsrealtync.com

OFFICIAL CHARLOTTE CLOSING PARTY

Big Freedia

PHOTO COURTESY OF BIG FREEDIA

What: Come be proud with your compadres and watch the Pride Parade in all its sass and splendor from the Rock Bottom patio. The brewery is offering specials on pints, shots and mimosas, and proceeds benefit Right Moves for Youth.

When: 11 a.m.

Where: Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery, 410 N. Tryon St. More: Free; tinyurl.com/RockBottomPride

PRIDE

What: One last hurrah to close out Saturday before the big parade on Sunday, featuring Aja and Coco Montrese of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Other performers like Paris Brooks Bonet, Vegas Van Dank and Skylar Michele Monet round out the evening’s entertainment When: 9 p.m.

Where: Chasers, 3217 The Plaza

DRAG ME TO DINNER What: It’s the perfect way to wrap up a weekend full of pride parties — dinner and a drag show! Pandora Mystere hosts Coco Montrese from Ru Paul’s Drag Race, supported by the Vanity House cast: Erica Chanel and CL’s Lust List honoree Jack Dahlia.

When: 7 p.m.

Where: Vida Cantina, 210 E. Trade St.

More: chaserscharlotte.club

August 19 PRIDE PARADE What: The culmination of all these festivities comes on Sunday morning with the sixth annual Charlotte Pride Parade. Thousands of

PRIDE PARADE PARTY AT ROCK BOTTOM

Alyssa Edwards

PHOTO BY DVS ROSS

More: Free; thevanityhouseinc.com/events

PRESENTED BY

CLCLT.COM | AUG. 16 - AUG. 22, 2018 | 11

PERFORMERS 2018 A RUNDOWN OF THE SATURDAY AND SUNDAY PERFORMERS ON THE WELLS FARGO STAGE AT PRIDE THIS WEEKEND. CupcakKe

PHOTO COURTESY OF CUPCAKKE

PRESENTED BY of different genres — is just one part of his presence in the scene, as he’s continued his work as an activist wherever he goes, from his work in Charlotte as cofounder of DIY art group Queens Collective to participating in protests against Betsy Devos at Harvard University. He graduated from Harvard in May, and in a recent Facebook post, Quisol announced he’ll soon be moving to Oakland to be closer to his father’s side of the family, while assuring friends and fans that “Charlotte will always be home.” He’s also dropping a new album on March 22, 2019, and we’re hoping for a tease of it on Saturday, and maybe a collaborative performance with friend Dexter Jordan, whom we hear will be featured on the new project. Quisol will perform at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.

DJ SPK

CUPCAKKE

It’s surprising that CupcakKe hasn’t reached the same fame and notoriety that other female rappers have. This Chicago-based rapper is unapologetic, in your face and her music is riddled with quick-witted oneliners, making her a rapper worthy of being a household name. Her most recent studio album, Ephorize (2018), shifted away from the raunchy lines of previous albums such as Queen Elizabitch (2017) and Audacious (2016) and tackled heavier subject matter like body image and LGBTQ issues. However, she still dishes out tracks that include the wellknown hypersexual lines that made her an underground favorite. Writing and releasing a pro-LGBTQ anthem in the rap community is almost unheard of, but she accomplished that with “Crayons,” which demands her a spot in any parade concert line up. CupcakKe will shut down the festival on Saturday at 9 p.m.

DEXTER JORDAN

One of just a couple Charlotte performers to hit the Wells Fargo stage on Saturday, Dexter Jordan is a definite reason to show up early

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in the afternoon and get the party started with some smooth, soulful R&B. Jordan was devestated in 2016 when he lost his mother to cancer, but was eventually persuaded to return to the craft by his friend, local rapper/ producer Yung Citizen, who wanted Jordan to contribute to his collaborative Alive Sessions EP. He later released a beautiful video for his song, “Hello, New Me,” which can be found on YouTube. The feedback he received on both projects, including from singer Yebba, inspired Jordan to begin work on a new album that he plans to drop this fall. That news is music to our ears, but while we wait, we’re happy to settle for live teases like this upcoming performance. Catch Jordan at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.

QUISOL

“Just being a brown person and a queer person, and being visible in this context, is political ... Existing as me is political,” Joseph Quisol told CL in the lead-up to the February release of his debut EP, The World Keeps Turning. Quisol’s Latinx Futurism — a mix of indie rock, Latin jazz and a number

There is no better way to kick off the final day of Pride than with the sounds of DJ SPK, who will be spinning at 1:30 p.m. to start Parade Day. A long-time friend of CL, SPK has appeared on our ‘Local Vibes’ podcast, where she discussed the differences in the ATL and CLT scenes, which she’s bounced between throughout her career. We’re glad the Sour Patch Kid — named such because of her binal moods and not an affection for the candy — calls Charlotte home now, however, and is representing at Pride. If you want a taste of SPK’s work before Sunday, check out Quisol

PHOTO COURTESY OF QUISOL

J Sutta

PHOTO COURTESY OF J SUTTA

both of her recent remixes — the SPK SOVR remix and the SPK P^TCH remix — of The Carters’ “Apes**t.” DJ SPK will start spinning at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.

SUPERFRUIT

Originally a part of the a capella group Pentatonix, Superfruit members Mitch Grassi and Scott Hoying teamed up to begin a YouTube channel in August 2013. Over five years, the openly-gay (but not dating) duo has released a myriad of vlogs on their SUP3RFRUIT channel that feature silly games and competitions along with weekly song suggestions. The two diverged from their a capella style and started creating high-energy electro-pop music in 2016.

Their first and only full-length studio album, Future Friends, released in 2017, features bangers such as “GUY.EXE” and “KEEP ME COMING.” In a recent interview with Paper Magazine, Hoying noted the importance of pride to them and to their fans, stating, “It’s so important to our fans because we are our pride and visible within the gay and queer community. It’s been really amazing to see our fans inspired by that.” Superfruit will perform at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday.

LESLIE GRACE

Florida-raised with Dominican roots, Leslie Grace has swept fans with her bilingual lyrics and beautiful mix of music genres. Her talent was not easily cultivated, however.

Grace’s vocal talents were nurtured and supported by her family from a very young age, which gave her the confidence to pursue

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE 3:30 Quisol SATURDAY, AUG. 18 4:00 Chasers Drag Review featuring SUNDAY, AUG. 26 Coco Montrese of RuPaul’s Drag Race Time Event 12:30 Anthem 1:00 1:30 2:30 3:00 3:20

Opening Ceremony and National Youth Entertainment Miss & Mr. Prides of Charlotte Dexter Jordan Basic Instinct Vanity House

a music career. Varying from ballad-like love songs written with Carole King to clubworthy sultry tunes, Grace interweaves her Dominican culture in pop and techno-style songs that never fail to get a crowd dancing.

She recently released a single, “Duro y Suave” with Puerto Rican rapper and singer/ songwriter, Noriel, which signals a shift away from her love ballads into pop/techno music.

Grace will be on stage at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday.

J SUTTA

Pussycat Dolls member Jessica Sutta broke away from the band in 2010 and has since paved her own way as a solo singer/songwriter. Now an American pop star in her own right, Sutta released her first mixtape, Feline Resurrection, in 2016, followed a year later by a full-length album, I Say Yes, in 2017. The former features hits such as “When a Girl Loves a Boy,” and “Feel Like Making Love,” which allows J Sutta to explore her own feelings in music and pop. The no-fear meaning behind her lyrics show her own maturity and personal growth in a solo career. If you were a fan of The Pussycats Dolls, then there’s no reason to miss this icon in the making. J Sutta goes on at 4 p.m. on Sunday.

ULTRA NATÉ

Regarded as an icon of the dance and LGBTQ communites around the world, Ultra Naté’s “Free,” is on every sensible LGBTQ anthem playlist out there. As a singer, songwriter, DJ, performer, producer and promoter for over two decades, her profilic career has

5:00 Champions of Pride Awards & Scholarship Recipients 5:30 Special Guest: Mayor Annise Parker 6:00 Malachi and DJ Bryson 7:00 Aja of RuPaul’s Drag Race 7:45 In Real Life 8:00 Ultra Naté 8:30 Superfruit 9:00 Cupcakke

produced eight full-length studio albums and a myriad of collaborations with names just a big as hers. Her songs have influences around the world and it’s no wonder, as her mix of popular genres makes it easy to get moving to her songs. Naté’s upbeat, electrotechno and disco-esque songs will grace this year’s Pride celebration, and it’s nothing less than deserved. Get ready to strut to a true dance queen. Ultra Naté is slated for 8 p.m. on Saturday.

CHASERS DRAG REVIEW

As in years past, Chasers has partnered with Pride Charlotte for this year’s event, and you can catch their afterparty in our Pride Guide listings. For the parade, they’re putting Leslie Grace

Time Event 1:30 2:30 3:30 4:00 4:30 5:00

DJ SPK DJ Ian Benjamin Laith Ashley J Sutta Leslie Grace Parade Awards

on a show with drag queens Stacy Layne Matthews, Aja and Coco Montrese, all of whom hail from RuPaul’s Drag Race. Who needs three kings when you’ve got three queens on stage at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

Stacy Layne Matthews: A RuPaul’s Drag Race season 3 contender and North Carolina native, Stacy Layne Matthews is known for her poise, grace and endearing demeanor.

Her rural N.C. roots lend a hand to her lovability and country attitude, but her deep background in theater and acting give her a huge boost in drag queen performances.

Aja: A drag-queen-turned-queer-artist of Moroccan, Liberian and Egyptian descent, PHOTO COURTESY OF LESLIE GRACE

Ultra Naté

PHOTO COURTESY OF ULTRA NATÉ

Aja also acts, raps and has had two stints on RuPaul’s Drag Race, both in a regular season and the All-Star rendition. They also appeared in a pro-LGBTQ campaign, Pride OUT Loud for H&M, and hosts a talk show called Ayo Sis. Their EP, In My Feelings, was released earlier this year, for which Aja worked alongside Mitch Ferrino, Wnnr, DJ Accident Report and AVG JO to put together a high-energy rap collection.

CoCo Montrese: Hailing from Miami, Florida, and also a returning RuPaul’s Drag Race contender (she placed top 5 in season 5), CoCo Montrese is also a performer and entertainer. Most notably, Montrese held the title of Miss Gay America in 2010 and now resides in Las Vegas, but is joining Aja and Stacy Layne Matthews for a performance that one could only expect to be nothing less than fabulous.

LAITH ASHLEY

After transitioning from female to male at age 24, Laith Ashley became the first transgender model to appear in a national campaign after being photographed by Bruce Weber for a Barneys campaign. He completed another breakthrough when he walked the stage for Gypsy Sport at New York Fashion Week. Earlier this summer, Ashley continued his firsts when he became the first transgender Pit Crew member on Ru Paul’s Drag Race. But Ashley isn’t just about strutting his stuff on the catwalk or in bigtime photo campaigns, he’ll also be sharing his singing talents with the Pride crowd this go ‘round. Catch him at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday.

PRESENTED BY

CLCLT.COM | AUG. 16 - AUG. 22, 2018 | 13

FOOD

FEATURE

OPEN-SOURCE BREWS Local brewer divulges recipes to the community

B

COURTNEY MIHOCIK

RAD LEDBETTER IS a homebrewer — and a programmer — at heart. Anyone visiting his brewery will see both passions at play.

After moving from Salt Lake City, Utah, where the laws surrounding alcohol are a little more strict, back to North Carolina, he opened Thirsty Nomad Brewing about two years ago.

You may not have seen Thirsty Nomad, as it’s a hidden gem tucked away on Stuart Andrew Boulevard in the Yorkmont neighborhood of southwest Charlotte.

But don’t count it out.

One of the most notable things that sets owner Ledbetter and his brewery apart is that his background in software and programming lends itself to his approach in brewing new beers and sharing it with the community.

“Analyze, design, development, implement and evaluate,” Ledbetter said of his recipe-creating and brewing processes.

After analyzing the style, flavors, percentage, color and mouthfeel of the beer he’s interested in creating, he delves into research and designs and develops a recipe over a few weeks.

He’ll create the recipe, let it sit for a few days, then revisit it, carefully crafting it into something that he and his team are ready to brew.

Once he implements the recipe and brews the beer, he evaluates its success.

How are the patrons enjoying it? How does he himself enjoy it? Is it what the people wanted or did it go completely off the rails?

Ledbetter said it’s usually somewhere in between.

Once a beer is brewed, Ledbetter shares the recipe in a master Google Drive folder available for anyone to peruse and try. The recipes date back as far as 2011, when he was still a homebrewer brewing beer for fun — or sometimes for competitions, a couple of which he won.

He doesn’t sit on the recipes, either. You can usually find what’s on tap right now in the Google Drive, allowing any brewer to try to recreate different batches and versions of brews like Oaty McOatFace, a hazy session IPA; Companion, a blonde ale; and Thai Breaker, an American wheat ale.

As a former software programmer, he believes in open source, a common philosophy among programmers that code should be freely available for others to use, modify and redistribute without copyright 14 | AUG. 16 - AUG. 22, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

“I PUT THESE RECIPES OUT THERE, THEN IF SOMEBODY GETS SOME BENEFIT FROM IT, GREAT.” BRAD LEDBETTER, OWNER OF THIRSTY NOMAD BREWING TNB features nine brews on tap, eight of which are crafted in-house, and one is a guest cider from GoodRoad Ciderworks. restrictions.

With this method of making recipes easily available, he hopes to cultivate benefits for both his learning and for whomever decides to try his brews at home, much like the mindset behind open-sourcing code.

He only asks that whoever brews one of his recipes bring him some to try.

“I put these recipes out there, then if somebody gets some benefit from it, great. If somebody says ‘Hey, I tried this and I think it works better this way,’ I’m happy to take that feedback,” he said.

Ledbetter is not afraid of his brew recipes being lifted and used by other breweries in town. As brewers and brewmasters are generally proud of what they themselves make, they tend to follow the beat of their own drum, so he’s not too concerned that it will happen anyway.

“Brewers are generally not going to [use the recipes]. If they do, they will not reproduce what we make here,” he stated.

“They may not make it as well, they may make it better. If they make it better, then great. The world’s a better place for having better beer.”

Ledbetter also used his programming skills to create a digital taplist on display in the Thirsty Nomad taproom. He also created a massive library of complicated spreadsheets that the brewery uses to generate its recipes.

He doesn’t let trends dictate what he wants to brew and put on draft. Thirsty

Nomad is only two years old, and he feels that its the “homebrewers brewery.” He and his team try to keep the most popular beers on his taplist, but in the end, he brews whatever he feels like brewing, much like anyone crafting a new brew in their kitchen would decide.

“Brad does lots of small batches, which is one of my favorite parts about the brewery: the constant change,” said Lisa Adkins, bar manager at Thirsty Nomad.

Generally, Ledbetter likes to brew simple beers that don’t take much work. He keeps a rotation of “most-of-the-time beers,” as he refers to them, including an Extra Special Bitter called LMB. It’s a style of beer that is not commonly found on taps in Charlotte, according to Ledbetter.

Coming soon on tap, Ledbetter said one should expect to see a saison-style beer from a barrel in which he has carefully kept a “biome” of different cultures over a year and a half.

These cultures then add desired flavors to styles such as goses, saisons, sours and Belgium-style beers.

In Ledbetter’s case, he added a salty-butnot-overpowering orange juice that balances out the pineapple and other fruit flavors in the brew sitting in his barrel. He said it’ll be on tap once he has room in his serving tank.

In conjuction with an event at the end of September, you can also expect to see a vanilla coffee bourbon stout brewed with

coffee from a coffee shop in Concord.

But for now, one of the brewery’s most unique beers on tap is the Thai Breaker, an American wheat ale brewed with citrus-y hops, lemongrass, ginger and Thai basil.

So it’s safe to say that Thirsty Nomad strives to create a diverse set of brews in their repretoire. Vienna lagers, Belgian beers, English-style brews and sours fill out some of the other recipes in Thirsty Nomad’s history.

Looking forward, Ledbetter predicts that brewers will be trending toward “super sessions” and juicier, West Coast-style India Pale Ales in the near future. He explained why when we stopped by on a recent afternoon.

“This is totally out on a branch,” Ledbetter stated. “But you might see some super session styles, people going to 2 to 3 percent [ABV] beer — really flavorful beers with a light mouthfeel.”

Session-style IPAs are golden in color and generally have a 3.8 to 4.9 percent ABV, crafted for longer “sessions” of drinking so that imbibers are not intoxicated after a six pack. They are still brewed with hop-forward flavors, but have less of a “bite” when it comes to the hoppiness.

In a city where breweries are by no means few and far between, it can be hard to vie for the attention of a population that wants to go to a brewery that’s conveniently located, Ledbetter observed.

Although the brewery is on par with the rest of the competition in Charlotte, its

Owner Brad Ledbetter proudly stands next to the nine drafts he has on tap at Thirsty Nomad Brewing.

THIRSTY NOMAD ART SHOW

Thirsty Nomad keeps four barrels from Doc Porter’s distillery; two containing different batches of bourbon, and two containing different batches of rye whiskey.

August 26, 3-6 p.m.; Thirsty Nomad Brewing, 4402 Stuart Andrew Blvd.; thirstynomadbrewing.com

HOME ALL WEEKEND! Charlotte Knights vs. Louisville Bats THURSDAY

THIRSTY THURSDAY $3 DOMESTIC DRAFT BEER

$5 SELECT CRAFT DRAFT

$1 SODA

VS. LOUISVILLE GAME AT 7:04 PM

FRIDAY

PHOTOS BY COURTNEY MIHOCIK

Off of the main taproom is a parlor room for guests to hang out, play games and socialize. biggest hinderance in reaching its potential in popularity is its location.

“We have learned that people in Charlotte don’t like to go anywhere in general,” he said.

“They like to bike or walk to places.”

It’s an issue that Adkins is well aware of.

“Even though we’re on social media and we’re very active in that way, but again, [because of] our location, we’re a destination,” she said. “We’re not somewhere you come across. You’re coming here to come here.”

Since coming on in May, Adkins has been working to make sure Thirsty Nomad stays visible in the community. The establishment not only throws weekly events such as “Geek Trivia,” and monthly events like art shows and pet adoptions, but it also gives back to the community every month, according to Adkins.

For example, Thirsty Nomad will donate portions of proceeds from trivia ticket sales to Discovery Place this month, and plans to donate 10 percent of the sales during an upcoming art show on Aug. 26 to the Charlotte-based ArtPop Street Gallery. There will be local artists from Charlotte, a food truck and a two-piece band at the brewery to

draw in guests for the event.

Adkins works closely with Ledbetter to create an atmosphere at the brewery that’s inviting and comfortable. Not only is the taproom filled with different board and card games for patrons to play, there’s also a parlor off of the main taproom with cozy couches and chairs for more seating.

There’s no expectations for the patrons to know the subtle nuances of brewing and certain styles, and Adkins stated that there’s certainly no niche that Thirsty Nomad fits in that could deter visitors from staying.

With the right staff and the right atmosphere, she believes the brewery’s eclectic style and ambiance make it easy for a Charlottean beer nomad looking for a brewery to call their taproom home.

“At times there’s breweries that you walk into and just feel like you don’t fit in,” Adkins said. “We’re the brewery that if you don’t fit in there, you’ll probably fit in here.”

ENJOY AFTERNOON BASEBALL UPTOWN VS. LOUISVILLE GAME AT 12:05 PM

SATURDAY

POST-GAME FIREWORKS A FAN COULD WIN $50,000 DURING THE GAME, FANS CAN REGISTER TO BE SELECTED TO PARTICIPATE IN A SPECIAL DICE GAME PROMOTION THAT COULD WIN THEM $50,000!

VS. LOUISVILLE GAME AT 7:04 PM

SUNDAY KIDS RUN THE BASES VS. LOUISVILLE GAME AT 5:05 PM

TO PURCHASE TICKETS VISIT:

charlotteknights.com CLCLT.COM | AUG. 16 - AUG. 22, 2018 | 15

16 | AUG. 16 - AUG. 22, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

CLCLT.COM | AUG. 16 - AUG. 22, 2018 | 17

THURSDAY

16

BOOZE & PANCAKES ART SHOW What: You want local art? You want pancakes? Then head to the Booze & Pancakes Art Show, making its way to Charlotte, among 35 other stops internationally. The pop-up group advertises itself as a “not your run-of-the-mill art show” that brings local artists, musicians, jewelry makers and other artisans together to showcase their work in an effort to help them gain recognition in the art world. You can stuff your face with free pancakes while you peruse the artwork of over 150 local artists.

When: 7-11 p.m.

Where: The Underground, 820 Hamilton Street More: $10. pancakesandbooze.com

18 | AUG. 16 - AUG. 22, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

THURSDAY

16

THINGS TO DO

TOP TEN

Comicon Charlotte SATURDAY

PHOTO BY SHIFTING ART PHOTOGRAPHY

FRIDAY

17

FRIDAY

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SATURDAY

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LORI MCKENNA

BOB SAGET

DOLPHINS AT PANTHERS

CHARLOTTE COMICON

What: Sure, Jason Aldean is in town this week, but we’ve got a better reccomendation if you’re into country. Lori McKenna built up her portfolio for three decades to be one of the most prolific singersongwriters in the game. While most folks would’ve passed their prime in a career that long, the Americana songstress recently snagged three Grammys for her 2016 release, The Bird and the Rifle. Her newest, The Tree, looks back on the experiences that have taken her this far.

What: “I didn’t hear this joke until late in life. It was after my fifth stroke. I had part of my intestines removed. I licked them off and put them back in my body.” With those immortal words, Bob Saget stepped away from his wholesome Full House persona. The 2005 documentary The Aristocrats gave Saget’s career a shot of adrenaline.

Nowadays he’s everywhere — TV, movies, Broadway and even writing books like the appropriately titled Dirty Daddy.

When: 7:30 p.m.

Where: Stage Door Theater, 155 N. College St. More: $25 and up. blumenthalarts.org

What: Preseason football is kind of like kissing your sister — and yes, that’s a legitimate sports expression no matter what some people in this office might think — but hey, football is football. The Miami Dolphins are coming to town as football returns to Bank of America Stadium for the first time, unless you count Fan Fest as football, but that’s more of a glorified practice. This is sort of like Fan Fest if the teams wore different jerseys and kept score. Just pray Cam doesn’t get hurt for the two minutes he’s in.

What: Some people associate Comic-Con events with sweaty nerds in Batman shirts fawning over hot babes in Chun-Li costumes, but Charlotte Comicon has a promising line up of cool events that make the trip to Concord worthwhile.

Cosplay-building workshops, a Q&A with two comic book legends, discussion panels and, of course, a costume contest fill the itinerary.

It’s fun for the whole family, so grab your foam swords, your autograph books and your best Overwatch costume and fly that geek flag.

When: 7:30 p.m.; Aug. 18, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

Where: Comedy Zone, 900 Music factory Blvd.

More: $30-35. cltcomedyzone.com

When: 7:30 p.m.

Where: Bank of America Stadium, 800 S. Mint St. More: $27 and up. panthers.com

When: 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Where: Concord Convention Center, 5400 John Q. Hammons Dr. NW More: $5. charlottecomicon.info

For the Love of She MONDAY

NEWS ARTS FOOD MUSIC ODDS

The Booze & Pancakes Art Show THURSDAY

The Lion King Musical WEDNESDAY

PHOTO COURTESY OF BOOZE & PANCAKES

SATURDAY

18

PHOTO BY MATTHEW MURRAY

PHOTO BY AUTUMN RAINWATER PHOTOGRAPHY

SATURDAY

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SATURDAY

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TUESDAY

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WEDNESDAY

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YEAH FEST

JERRY SEINFELD

STRIKING MATCHES

FOR THE LOVE OF SHE

‘THE LION KING MUSICAL’

What: Yeah Fest is an all ages concert boasting a diverse bill, including Cuzco, Blanket Fort, Ghost Trees, Hectorina, Julian Calendar and more – but not the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, because this is an all-local show.

The gig benefits OurBridge, which empowers immigrant and refugee students with a host of programs.

Is it a worthwhile organization? Hell Yeah! Should you go to Petra’s to catch this show? Yeah, definitely!

Have we overused the word “yeah” in this listing? Yeah, probably.

What: What is the deal with these ticket prices? Ok, so ticket sales for this show started at a relatively respectable $50, but since they went on sale, shit has gone off the rails. As we’re typing this well over a week before the show, the cheapest ticket to be found on Ticketmaster is $268. In other words, chances are that if you’re a CL reader, “No show for you!” But if you’ve got the plug, there are much worse ways to spend a Saturday than to watch one of the best who ever did it.

What: Kai Anerahs’ quirky and cosmic psychedelic soul; Mara Robbin’s low slow and sensuous vocals riding atop chiming guitar; Autumn Rainwater’s dense tapestry of experimental R&B and low fi indie pop; Tange Lomax’s anthemic and hypnotic hip-hop. This showcase of up-and-coming black female artists should reconnect fans with a prodigious array of talent. For newcomers, there are treasures waiting to be discovered and savored. Sidenote and Sativa Slcts round out this not-to-be-missed bill

What: We all know the unforgettable phrase by our favorite meerkat-warthog duo, “Hakuna Matata.” In case you’ve forgotten, it means “no worries.” Now, you can experience Hakuna Matata on stage with The Lion King Musical, the perfect outing for families, friends and dates. Whether you can’t wait to be king or you’re feeling the love tonight, prepare for a fantastic performance from Tony Awardwinning director Julie Taymor.

When: 3 p.m.

Where: Petra’s, 1919 Commonwealth Ave. More: $10-$12. facebook.com/petrasbar/

When: 7 p.m.

Where: Ovens Auditorium, 2900 E. Independence Blvd.

More: $50-160. ovensauditorium.com

What: The first time Sarah Zimmerman and Justin Davis played together, they had just met and paired up in guitar class. It turned out to be a hell of a pairing. After getting their big break on TV’s Nashville in 2012, the duo eventually released their debut album, Nothing but the Silence, in 2015. Produced

by T-Bone Burnett, the album showcased the pair’s perfect mixing of blues, rock and country. They’re reportedly calling their new album more of a “blues pop” sound, but we say, “If it ain’t broke...”

When: 7 p.m.

Where: The Evening Muse, 3227 N. Davidson St. More: $15-17. eveningmuse.com

When: 9 p.m.

Where: Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St. More: $5. facebook.com/petrasbar/

Where: Belk Theater, 130 N. Tryon Street When: 7:30 p.m., runs through September 9 More: $30 and up. blumentharlarts.org

CLCLT.COM | AUG. 16 - AUG. 22, 2018 | 19

PHOTO BY MARK KEMP

MUSIC

FEATURE

DO-WAH-DIDDY Charlotte R&B singer Greg Cox makes his own band on debut LP

BY MARK KEMP

T

HE

WORLD

WAS

watching when Greg Cox’s fingers stumbled over the ivories like a drunken Babe Ruth doing a field sobriety test.

Cox was just 19, fresh out of eastern North Carolina. The young keyboard player had passed the initial rounds of untelevised auditions for MTV’s Making His Band. The next stop: Los Angeles, where Cox and his fellow finalists would hobnob in Stevie Wonder’s mansion and face Sean “Diddy” Combs and musical director Rob Lewis for a series of more demanding auditions.

Now, Cox was up to bat, standing at the keyboard in faded black jeans and a teagreen hoodie over a white T-shirt, ready to hit the big one out of the park.

Lewis threw a curve, instructing Cox to perform a particularly demanding Hanon exercise.

“Aye … aye,” Cox exclaimed as he awkwardly ran his fingers over the keys.

“All right,” Lewis said. “Next?”

And just like that, it was over.

“I did terribly,” Cox remembers with a wince. “And it was on national TV. My friends were watching. My family. Everybody.”

Nearly a decade later, Cox has had plenty of time to process his public error. He looks back on it philosophically. “At the end of the day, I made it to that level and it was a great opportunity. I was exposed to a certain weakness I had,” he says. “You have to screw up in order to learn.” He pauses and laughs.

“I didn’t see it that way at the time. I was just embarrassed.”

Cox, now 28, has no reason to be embarrassed today. Last week, he released his first full-length album, Etc., an extraordinary set of 10 songs all connected by the scratchy sounds of a needle on vinyl. The music is oldschool soul and R&B — shades of Marvin Gaye and Barry White — with brush strokes of trap mixed with Cox’s big, warm, brassy melodies, gruff vocals and lyrics that reveal a raw vulnerability and nuanced sense of self-awareness.

Over the swell of strings and church organ in the New Orleans-style “Bigger Dreams,” Cox sings in a gritty, self-deprecating lilt, “Every day’s a day to be alive / Sun shining or not / I gotta be with you..” He cuts off the word “you” abruptly in an idiosyncratic vocal tick reminiscent of the great ’70s singersongwriter Randy Newman, before later launching into the song’s rousing refrain.

When Cox hears the Newman reference, his jaw drops — literally. “I can’t believe you 20 | AUG. 16 - AUG. 22, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

PHOTO COURTESY OF GREG COX

Greg Cox with his son, Lincoln.

“I just had a lot of anger to get out of me and I got it out. And now I’m not angry anymore.” just mentioned Randy Newman! I want to hug you right now,” he exclaims. “I love Randy Newman. You have no idea how that makes me feel.”

It’s early on a Saturday, and Cox is sitting at a table inside Amelie’s French Bakery in NoDa, in red training pants and a black tee emblazoned with the words “New Phone Who Dis?” — the title of a song by his friend, Charlotte R&B singer Cyanca. “Randy’s last album Dark Matter — I studied that,” he continues of his Newman obsession. “And his album before that, Harps and Angels — it’s amazing.

It all started when Cox was a kid and saw Toy Story, one of the many children’s movies Newman has scored. “I remember feeling warm as a kid watching that movie, how the music made me feel,” he says. “Remember the part where Buzz thinks he can fly and he tries to prove it, but then he falls? The way Randy scores that…” Cox begins singing, “‘Like a bird in the sky, I believe I can fly. Why, I’d flyyyyyyy.’ And then it goes into these dark chords. I learned that song verbatim.”

COX BELIEVED HE could fly from an early age, but like Buzz in Toy Story, he sometimes stumbled. He was born in Wilson and was just 4 years old when his mother and father divorced. He spent his early childhood with his mom, always on the move.

“She just wanted a better life for us, and she didn’t wait long if it wasn’t happening,” Cox remembers. “If it wasn’t happening in this neighborhood, she’d move somewhere else. We lived in Wilson and Bailey, we lived in Columbus, Georgia — a lot of different places. And through that, I was immersed in lots of very different environments.”

By middle school Cox decided he wanted to live with his father, the illustrious Southern gospel singer, songwriter and producer Johnavan ‘Bo Peep’ Sauls. “I told my mother I was interested in music and wanted to be with my dad,” Cox says. She agreed to let him move on. “My dad had that old quartet sound — that driving R&B-soul sound,” Cox says, “and I kind of gravitated to that.”

One thing Cox didn’t gravitate to was the hip-hop that many of his peers loved.

“That never came naturally to me,” he says.

“I studied Marvin Gaye and Barry White — Barry White is a huge influence on what I do.”

Cox learned his keyboard chops hanging out with his dad and would rehearse with a group of musician friends that called themselves The Jungle. “My father was traveling the country, and I got involved with his music and his church and would go on the road with him sometimes,” Cox remembers. “I was learning how to play and developing as a musician with this group of guys. We were like a fraternity.”

In 2008 he heard MTV was holding auditions for its Making the Band spinoff series Making His Band, in which the winners would back Diddy on a forthcoming album and tour. “I wasn’t really expecting to make it that far,” Cox says. “But I made it through the first round and then the next round and the next round.”

It was all very intimidating for a North Carolina kid in his late teens — flying out to L.A., spending time in Stevie Wonder’s mansion. But once auditions started, things got real.

“We’re hanging out and they come in and tell us the next challenge will be something different — and it was classical,” Cox remembers. “They give us like 30 different

Hanon exercises, in every key, which is 30 times 12. You do the math.”

Hanon exercises are sets of scales and arpeggios that 19th-century French composer Charles-Louis Hanon designed to drill pianists in precision, agility, speed, strength and flexibility. The contestants on Making His Band were expected to perform whatever Hanon exercise Lewis called out to them. Cox was thrown off by the call he got.

“It was a scale that I didn’t really know,” he says, “and I was eliminated.”

He returned home, broken but not defeated.

“So I’m back in Wilson, trying to figure things out,” Cox remembers. He reconnected with an old girlfriend, Jasmine, and eventually moved to Raleigh, where he met his current best friend and musical soul mate, K.J. Scriven.

“I was playing at a church in Raleigh, and we met, and that was like a turning point in my life,” Cox says. “He’s an amazing writer and producer, and I have computer skills, so we just kind of meshed together.”

In 2012, Cox released his first EP, The Last Start, but the sound is very different from his new LP. The songs are good, but not great.

“I don’t really like to talk about that album,” Cox says, and laughs. “I was really angry and confused at the time, and not knowing what my next steps would be. I just had a lot of anger to get out of me and I got it out.” He smiles. “And now I’m not angry anymore.”

Scriven eventually decided to relocate to Charlotte. “He said, ‘Hey, I’m thinking of moving,’ and I was like, ‘OK, either this is about to be a divorce or I’m moving to Charlotte, too,’” Cox says. He convinced Jasmine to come along with him by proposing to her.

“To be honest, I gave her an ultimatum,” he says, furrowing his brow and glancing down at his hands. “That was awful. I shouldn’t have done that. I basically said to her, ‘Either you’re coming to Charlotte with me, or...’” He shakes his head. “It was just extremely mean.”

His face lights up again: “Maybe this is my opportunity to make a public apology to her.”

Despite the awkward way he chose to lure Jasmine to the Queen City, she said yes, Cox says, “because she loves me. So, we got married and started a family.” The couple’s daughter Marley was born in 2014; son Lincoln came two years later.

In Charlotte, Cox began to search for his authentic musical voice. It didn’t come

Greg Cox strikes a pose.

PHOTO COURTESY OF GREG COX

fast, but by 2016 Cox had found his flow as a singer and songwriter; the following year, his musical style gelled. “What happened is, I got plugged into a community of thinkers and philosophers here,” Cox says. “I wanted to figure out how to make my music say something and actually mean something.

Part of my writer’s block, I think, had been that I just wasn’t ready to be honest about what was going on with me. Once I got honest, it all came together.”

‘ETC.’ IS NOT a concept album, per se, but

each song relates to the next in a way that documents Cox’s journey to something that looks … well, a little bit like enlightenment.

The idea for “Bigger Dreams,” which features Charlotte singer Blanche J. on guest vocals, came from something Cox’s pastor said.

“He said, ‘If your dreams only include you, then you need bigger dreams,’ and I loved that,” Cox says. “In other words, if your dreams only involve you in the driver’s seat of a two-seater coupe, and you got the big house and you got plenty of money in the bank and you got all this stuff — if that’s what your dream is, then your dream is way too small.” He shakes his head. “I was like, ‘Oh my god, that’s me.’ I had always thought, ‘Just give me a few million dollars and a nice big house and a red Ferrari, and I’m good.’”

He laughs. “I got two kids and a wife — what is a red Ferrari going to do for me?

Why is that my dream? Why is that in my head? Who sold that idea to me? So, I said to myself, ‘I need to go back to sleep and have bigger dreams.’ And that’s why I say in the song, ‘This red two-seater can’t fit us all.’”

From “Bigger Dreams,” Etc. segues into the more chaotic-sounding “Everythang,” a mix of old-school soul and modern production techniques like Auto-Tune that finds Cox singing of breaking through layers of artifice to reach a new level of authenticity. “If I know me and you know you, then there’s nothing in the world that we can’t do,” he sings. “And if you know you and I know me, then there’s nothing in the world that we can’t be.”

“Before this album,” Cox says, “I was afraid to be honest, so in that song I just decided I’m going give you everything I got.

Because honesty begets honesty — if you’re honest and you’re vulnerable, then other people are going to be honest and vulnerable, too. Or at least you hope so.”

Cox’s vocals don’t appear at all in “I Am,” a track in which a female voice intones a list of affirmations reminiscent of Radiohead’s “Fitter, Happier,” from its classic album OK Computer. The difference is that the affirmations on Etc. are spoken by a human voice, not a computer.

“I am successful, I am happy, I am healthy, I am ambitious, I am driven, I am blessed,” Camille Wilder says, very calmly, over scratchy-vinyl effects that give way to warm piano and organ. Cox had found Wilder through her Facebook Live sessions. “Camille had done these things where she would just come on and say these affirmations in a sort of meditative way, and I listened to her a couple of times, and it shifted my whole day,” Cox says. “I contacted her and said, ‘Hey, could you record yourself doing that for me? Because I would love for everybody to experience what I just experienced.’”

The track offers only momentary levity, as it is followed by “Play Outside,” which includes a sample from Jesse Williams’ 2016 BET speech in which the actor said, “Yesterday would have been young Tamir Rice’s 14th birthday. So, I don’t want to hear any more about how far we’ve come when paid public servants can pull a drive-by on a 12-year-old playing alone in a park in broad daylight, killing him on television and then going home to make a sandwich.” The sample is followed by Cox’s gruff, slightly distorted voice singing, “Baby it ain’t safe to play outside, baby it ain’t safe to play outside.”

“Do you remember how it felt in 2016 when all these videos were coming out and Black Live Matters was happening?” Cox asks.

“The one incident that stood out for me among all the others was Tamir Rice. He was just a kid playing outside. I have kids. I can’t imagine that happening to one of my kids. I remember thinking, ‘Are we at a point in America where we can’t even let our kids play outside anymore?’ So, for that song, I’m sort of taking from Randy Newman again, overexaggerating the words and repeating them.”

With its mix of songs that are both intensely political and deeply personal, Cox has attempted to recreate the heart and soul of past classics ranging from Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On? to Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions, but for the current millennium.

Other tracks include “Three Words,” about the necessity of saying the words “I love you” out loud in a relationship; “Momma’s House,” a look back at the strength of a relationship that begins in the safety of a mother’s home; and closing track “Stay,” a gentle, nostalgic, almost country-ish song, with crisp acoustic guitar and effects that almost mimic the sound of a pedal steel.

“Your best days were in high school. / You were homecoming queen,” Cox sings in “Stay,” over effects that recreate the wooziness of late-night, stream-of-consciousness thoughts.

“Now it’s 2 o’clock in the morning and I’m laying in the shadows of your phone.”

The track is about a rough patch in Cox’s marriage that he says foreshadows the topic of his next album. “You know those times in a

Cox in mid-howl. relationship when you’re not communicating?” he asks. “My wife and I had some of those. We would be in bed and she would be on her cell phone and the only thing you could see was the reflection of the light coming from her phone.”

As with the aforementioned Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder albums, Cox’s mix of the personal with the political on Etc. also incorporates the spiritual. Cox is deeply spiritual. But this son of a famous gospel singer has his own set of beliefs, and his songs are hardly the kind that bang you over the head with references to Scripture.

“I’d always been agnostic, so stepping into the faith is very new for me,” Cox says. “For

PHOTO BY JOSHAUN ANDERSON

me, it’s more of a lifestyle; it’s not a musical style.

“I do R&B and soul music,” he continues, “and in the Christian church, that sort of thing is still sometimes kind of a rub. It’s always been like, ‘You’ve got to choose — are you gonna do gospel or are you gonna do R&B? It was the same thing for Sam Cooke and Aretha and Al Green, and it still happens.

But I think that mindset is dissolving. I think it’s going away.”

Even his pastor loves Cox’s music. “He’s amazing. He’s extremely supportive,” Cox says, and laughs. “He even retweets it.”

BACKTALK@CLCLT.COM

CLCLT.COM | AUG. 16 - AUG. 22, 2018 | 21

MUSIC

SOUNDBOARD AUGUST 16 BLUES/ROOTS/INTERNATIONAL Selwyn Birchwood (U.S. National Whitewater Center)

DJ/ELECTRONIC Dende (Salud Cerveceria) Le Bang (Snug Harbor)

COUNTRY/FOLK Lori McKenna (Stage Door Theater)

POP/ROCK The Bleeps, Skum City, Queen City Rejects, South Side Punx, The Hooliganz (Milestone) Communal Sex Dice, Macseal, No Better (Petra’s) If Birds Could Fly (Tin Roof) Michael Tracy Band, Revelry Soul (Evening Muse) Never Home, Emby Alexander, Delirium Trio (Petra’s) Shana Blake and Friends (Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Charlotte) Todd Nance & Friends, Sean Mills (of Machine Funk) (The Rabbit Hole)

AUGUST 17

AUGUST 18 CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH Bryan Anderson (Marvin A.M.E. Zion Church, Waxhaw) The Jazz Room: Brice Winston plays Dexter Gordon (Stage Door Theater)

COUNTRY/FOLK Chris Knight Band, Mic Harrison & the High Score (Neighborhood Theatre) The Gamblers Band (Puckett’s Farm Equipment) Grievous Angels (Summit Coffee Co., Davidson) Ricky Traywick (Chez François Music Hall, Concord)

CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B

Glenn Miller Orchestra (Belk Theater) The Jazz Room: Brice Winston plays Dexter Gordon (Stage Door Theater)

Cosculluela (World)

COUNTRY/FOLK Chelsea Locklear, Shannon O’Hara (Neighborhood Theatre) The Gamblers Band (Concord Art Walk, Concord) Jason Aldean, Luke Combs, Lauren Alaina (PNC Music Pavilion) Jeff Whittington Bluegrass Band (Cabarrus Arts Council, Concord)

POP/ROCK Best of Open Mic Celebration (McGlohon Theater) Amigo (U.S. National Whitewater Center, Charlotte) C2, The Brothers Reed, Kendall Street Co., Dane Page (The Rabbit Hole) The Fill Ins, The Ray Gradys, Aloha Broha, Fat Heaven (Milestone) 22 | AUG. 16 - AUG. 22, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

Game Face (Smokey Joe’s Cafe) Gov’t Mule, The Magpie Salute (Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre) The Jump Cut (Tin Roof) Kids In America (The Underground) Lily Rose (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Matt Stratford (RiRa Irish Pub) MoFunGo, The Mobros, Mystery Plan (Petra’s) Red Barchetta - A Tribute to Rush (Visulite Theatre) Surfer Blood (Snug Harbor)

POP/ROCK 9daytrip (Smokey Joe’s Cafe) Abbey Road Live! (Visulite Theatre) Black Alley, LeAnna Eden, Natural Born Leaders (Snug Harbor) Indigo, Mutt!, The Dirty Lowdown (Skylark Social Club) Iron Blooded Promotion presents Infinity Fortress, Edenskiss, Death Of August, Raimee (Milestone) Kyle Cook (U.S. National Whitewater Center) Mike Strauss Band (Comet Grill) Nate Randall (Heist Brewery) Roots of a Rebellion, Aaron Kamm and the One Drops, PMA (The Rabbit Hole) Striking Matches, Megan Davies (Evening Muse) Warboys U.S., Trash Room, Southern Punk Syndicate (Tommy’s Pub) Yeah Fest: Hectorina, Patois Counselors, Cuzco, Pullover, Blanet Fort, Apricot Blush, Placeholder, Wild Trees, Ghost Trees,

MUSIC

We proudly

SOUNDBOARD

support charlotte’s

lbgtqia Gardeners, Taxing, Julien Calendar, Futurists,

community

Death for Hours (Petra’s)

AUGUST 19 BLUES/ROOTS/INTERNATIONAL Clanndarragh (RiRa Irish Pub)

DJ/ELECTRONIC Bone Snugs-N-Harmony: Bryan Pierce (Snug Harbor) DJ Mizzo (Tin Roof)

POP/ROCK Dylan Gardner, The Georgia Flood (Evening Muse) Infinity Spree, Messenger Down, Never Home (Milestone) Jeff Beck, Paul Rodgers, Ann Wilson, Deborah Bonham (PNC Music Pavilion) Vomit Stain, Blood Ritual, Pathogenesis (Skylark Social Club) Omari and The Hellhounds (Comet Grill)

AUGUST 20 CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH Jazz Jam (Crown Station Coffeehouse and Pub)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B

8/17 RED BARCHETTA A Tribute to RUSH 8/18 ABBEY ROAD LIVE! S CURSE REFRESH RECORDS BIRTHDAY SHOWCASE 8/23 ANNABELLE' + VIRGINIA GROUND 8/25 featuring JUNIOR ASTRONOMERS& CUZCO 8/24 TREEHOUSE 9/6 FAMILY AND FRIENDS 9/11 JOSEPH 9/19 NOAH GUNDERSEN 9/20CARL BROEMEL of My Morning Jacket 9/23 JON STICKLEY TRIO 9/28 CAAMP 9/30 CASEY JAMES 10/2 MT. JOY10/9WELSHLY ARMS 10/31BUMPIN UGLIES + TROPIDELIC 11/7 WILL HOGE 11/10THE NIGHT GAME 12/15 RUNAWAY GIN For the Love of She: Autumn Rainwater, Kai Anerahs, Sativa Slcts, Tange Lomax, Sidenote, Mara Robbin (Snug Harbor) Needtobreathe, Johnnyswim,Billy Raffoul (Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre) Open Jam with the Smokin’ Js (Smokey Joe’s Cafe) Rookie Of The Year, The Business People, Paperback, The Victory Drive (Milestone) Uptown Unplugged with Briana Atwell (Tin Roof)

#MFGD Open Mic (Apostrophe Lounge) Knocturnal (Snug Harbor)

AUGUST 22

POP/ROCK

Joe Louis Walker (Neighborhood Theatre)

Find Your Muse Open Mic with none other than Jason Allen King (Evening Muse) Open Mic with Lisa De Novo (Legion Brewing)

AUGUST 21

BLUES/ROOTS/INTERNATIONAL COUNTRY/FOLK Open Mic (Comet Grill)

DJ/ELECTRONIC

Red Rockin’ Chair (Comet Grill)

BYOV: Bring Your Own Vinyl (Petra’s) Cyclops Bar: Modern Heritage Weekly Mix Tape (Snug Harbor)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B

POP/ROCK

COUNTRY/FOLK

Eclectic Soul Tuesdays - RnB & Poetry (Apostrophe Lounge) Jesse Lamar Williams & The Menastree Jazz Jam (Evening Muse) Soulful Tuesdays: DJ ChopstickZ, DJ JTate Beats (Crown Station Coffeehouse and Pub)

DJ/ELECTRONIC DJ Steel Wheel (Snug Harbor)

POP/ROCK

August Residency: CheesusCrust, Human Pippi (Snug Harbor) Besides Daniel, Orion Freeman (Evening Muse) Late Bloomer, awakebutstillinbed, Stress Fractures, Jail Socks (Milestone) Like Mike, House&Home, FOZMO, Amity Pointe (Skylark Social Club) Open House & Karaoke (Sylvia Theatre, York) Open Mic & Songwriter Workshop (Petra’s, Charlotte)

1919 Commonwealth Ave petrasbar.com 704.332.6608

After a couple weeks off, CL’s Local Vibes podcast is back for season 2, beginning with Dexter Jordan as he prepares to perform at Charlotte Pride this weekend. Catch the episode at clclt.com or on Spotify and iTunes on Thursday, August 16.

CLCLT.COM | AUG. 16 - AUG. 22, 2018 | 23

ARTS

FEATURE

‘All Our Little Innocence (The Children’s Crusade)’ rehearsal. Will Rudolph lends a hand while Jon Prichard bows to Kadey Ballard

during Feedback Saturday, August 25 at 7 p.m.

Goodyear Arts 1720 Statesville Ave. xoxoperformance.org

SUFFER THE CHILDREN A medieval crusade inspires XOXO’s new production

BY PAT MORAN

M

ATT COSPER IS about to get medieval on all our asses.

“I’m fascinated with the Middle Ages,” the 37-year-old director of local experimental theater troupe XOXO says. “I harbor this romantic notion of traveling players and pageant wagons, Robin Hood and the plague.”

That last item is a tip-off to our contemporary fascination with the Middle Ages, an appeal that fuels the popularity of TV shows like Game of Thrones and Vikings, Cosper believes. The dark ages were a dark time, the era of the Black Death, which wiped out close to 60 percent of Europe’s population — and that was just the most obvious disaster in an age of calamity that’s much like our own.

In the same way that contemporary artists and audiences are enthralled by the apocalypse or the end times, Cosper continues, the medieval period is interesting because it was a post-apocalyptic time. In the wake of the collapse of the Roman Empire — and the collapse of the culture and progress it had brought to Europe — the people of the Dark Ages believed they had seen the end of the world. They were picking up the pieces in an era stripped bare of civilization.

“In the way that history is fractal, we’re living through a medieval moment now,” Cosper says. “We’re in a dark age, and our president is a feudal baron.”

While the Middle Ages gave us noble knights, chivalry and poetry about courtly love, it also brought famine, class oppression and a protracted series of holy wars called the Crusades. One of those clashes has inspired XOXO’s latest project, All Our Little Innocence (The Children’s Crusade), which the troupe will preview as part of Feedback, an evening of poetry, theater, music and dance works in progress at Goodyear Arts in Camp North End on August 25.

Cosper’s focus on the crusade is a confluence of influences, he explains. He’s interested in how childhood experiences shape the adults we become. He also cites his love of lost causes as part of the allure of The Children’s Crusade.

As misbegotten pilgrimages go, The Children’s Crusade is particularly poignant or pointless, depending on your point of view. In 1212, in Germany and in France, two shepherd boys had concurrent visions of Christ, Cosper explains. Jesus told the boys 24 | AUG. 16 - AUG. 22, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

‘ALL OUR LITTLE INNOCENCE (THE CHILDREN’S CRUSADE)’

PHOTO COURTESY OF XOXO

“IN THE WAY THAT HISTORY IS FRACTAL, WE’RE LIVING THROUGH A MEDIEVAL MOMENT NOW. WE’RE IN A DARK AGE, AND OUR PRESIDENT IS A FEUDAL BARON.” MATT COSPER to gather followers and to march to Marseille.

Once they arrived at the seaside port, God would part the waters, the shepherds believed, whereupon the children gathered from across Europe would walk across the dry seabed to Palestine and deliver the holy city of Jerusalem from its Muslim masters. The children would convert the infidels not with the sword but with their love of Christ. At least, that was the plan. Some sources say that 30,000 people converged on Marseille, Cosper says. Needless to say, the Mediterranean Sea did not part, and Marseilles’ officials were in a quandary about how to feed, clothe and shelter all these people.

“The city leaders rounded up some ships, put the children on them, and sent them

off,” he says. From there, the crusade went from bad to worse. At least half the ships foundered in storms, and all on board were lost at sea. Unscrupulous men captained the remaining ships. They delivered their cargo of devout children not to the holy land, but to the slave markets of Egypt. Clearly, this crusade would be a damning indictment of all crusades, a tragic episode of innocence betrayed — if it ever happened at all.

“It’s all legend,” Cosper says. “No one knows how much of this actually happened. I just love the fairy tale aspect of the story, with its echoes of the Pied Piper.” Cosper stresses that the legend of the Children’s Crusade is merely a jumping off point for XOXO’s work-in-progress. It’s a shared imaginative

world that will guide its creators toward an unknown destination. Like past XOXO productions, including the psychedelic acid western All the Dogs and Horses, the corporate dystopia of #CAKE (Year Zero) and Bohemian Grove’s immersive journey to the afterlife, Cosper believes that All Our Little Innocence (The Children’s Crusade) will go through considerable changes over the course of a year or more of development. The end result may have little to do with the events and legends of the 13th century.

XOXO is also using the Children’s Crusade as a jumping off point to describe a new way of working, Cosper reveals. The crusade is not just the topic of the troupe’s work, he says, it’s a metaphor for the strategy the company is using to move into the future.

“It’s sort of a naïve and faithful exploration,” he explains, “a willingness to get lost in our show.” Cosper sees ensemble theater as the same kind of utopian project as a faith-based crusade. The Children’s Crusade is not just a new show for Cosper and his company, it’s XOXO’s exploration of a whole new way of working.

Certainly the company has gone through changes since it’s production last summer of #CAKE (Year Zero). Former managing director Karina Caporino has moved on the new projects, and the troupe has stripped down to four members including Cosper, past cast members Jon Prichard and Kadey Ballard, plus newest member Will Rudolph, who Cosper started working with at his day job as theater teacher at Charlotte Latin School.

“There has been a shift as to who is in the room,” Cosper says about the troupe’s personnel changes, “but there has also been a shift in how we create the work.” Ever since XOXO emerged from Cosper’s previous company Machine Theater in 2012, shows have been created through collaboration.

That is still true of the new streamlined XOXO, Cosper says, but nowadays there is less talk and more action.

“In the past we talked ourselves in circles,” he says. “Now we still have conversations, but then we shut up and get down to it.” The troupe is doing much more physical work, and they’re generating material by letting the actors create in a workshop setting.

With XOXO’s current project, action is not dictated by a written text. Rather, it’s the other way round. The first half of a typical XOXO rehearsal/workshop is comprised of physical training, Cosper explains. The troupe is experimenting with exercises that strengthen the body, the breath and the imagination “It’s a game of follow the leader on

PHOTO COURTESY OF XOXO

XOXO rehearses ‘All Our Little Innocence (The Children’s Crusade).’ Kadey Ballard, Jon Prichard, Will Rudolph PHOTO COURTESY OF XOXO

piece.” XOXO is piecing together moments that have come out of the performers’ subconscious through improvisations, and then finding meaning in the pieces. “Because humans are meaning-making machines, right?” Cosper says.

Despite the unusual methods and circumstances surrounding the show’s creation, Cosper stresses that All Our Little Innocence (The Children’s Crusade) will resemble a more-or-less conventional stage presentation. Down the road, XOXO’s version of the Children’s Crusade may become an immersive journey, a literal pilgrimage on foot for the audience, but

Dance moves by Will Rudolph, Kadey Ballard, Jon Prichard steroids,” he says laughing. As the actors run in a circle, group leadership is passed around like a baton. Each successive leader calls out a series of moves — exercises that combine endurance training with the principals of balance, imbalance, target and intention. The training also involves sticks — lots of sticks.

“We toss these sticks to each other as we run through the room,” Cosper says.

“And then we add more sticks.” The goal is coordination, communication and endurance.

The second half of each rehearsal is devoted to long-form improvisations. This is where the raw material for All Our Little Innocence (The Children’s Crusade) has been created.

No one is sitting down and writing a plot beforehand, Cosper says. Instead prompts are thrown to the performers to generate improv sessions.

Some of the prompts are literal, Cosper explains, like “the plague.” Others are more general, like the word “thicket.” The object is to reinforce a shared creative world for the performers to inhabit, a Middle Ages of the imagination.

Cosper credits the proximity of dancers and choreographers at Goodyear Arts

Jon Prichard and Will Rudolph contemplate a bolt of tulle. for now the show is an abstract play sans embellishments.

“This is our chance to try out the material in a room with an audience,” Cosper says. XOXO’s recent work and new direction is all about honing and simplifying presentation, he continues.

“We’re stripping down the artifice and getting back to the essentials of performance,” he says, “which is the human body onstage observed by other humans.”

PMORAN@CLCLT.COM

PHOTO COURTESY OF XOXO

with aiding the development of the show.

Ballard, who leads the training/workshops, has adapted improvisation exercises used by XOXO’s dancer neighbors for use by the troupe. First XOXO records their improvisations. Later, they sift through the recordings and pick out the good parts.

“We’re building the material out of these improvisations,” Cosper says. “It’s a fairly regular practice in the dance world, but it’s new to us.”

A song that Ballard discovered, called “Mirie it is while Sumer Ilast,” aids this process of creation through improvisation. Dating from the early 13th century, it is the oldest song in the English language, specifically the Middle English later used by 14th century poet Geoffrey Chaucer. The lyrics celebrate summer, but not in the way modern songs go on about fun in the sun. Instead, the tune praises the mild weather because people are less likely to starve than in winter.

“We’re doing these improvs, and then we’re overlaying medieval songs and some text I’ve been writing based on the Children’s Crusade,” Cosper says. “Collage is the best way to describe how we’re constructing the CLCLT.COM | AUG. 16 - AUG. 22, 2018 | 25

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my mind. And despite my background and AS SOMEONE WHO majored in Women’s experience, and even though I know there Studies in college, I was mind effed when it comes to LGBT life. I came from a space and is true value in separation of space, I find town where being black was hard enough. myself asking the question, “Why can’t we However, I was also what I’d call the all just get along?” black sheep of the family who could always So what do we do? We’re in an era think outside of the box. That’s why I wasn’t in which I’d argue respect of sexuality is confused or appalled the first time I met winning when compared to views on race. someone who identified as a lesbian.

But that’s also why I’d argue that space has In fact, I was intrigued. Then came the power to be a true changemaker with college and a separation from family regards to race. thought. It was easy for me to appreciate And at the same time, it’s a sacred space and love difference, but the type of that respects race and experience in an difference was so different that I may have been a bit overwhelmed. innovative way.

So it’s normal to be married to a But also, the same issues — maybe woman as a man and go through a even barriers — seem to exist sex change and still want to be when it comes to marketing with that woman? That’s cool the “other” of “other” in with me. And still, the ways Charlotte. Some people that I defined “normal” — haven’t “heard” about a word that I loathe — in Black Pride or Latin terms of sexuality were Pride, but everyone strecthing. knows that the Pride Women’s studies parade and festival are also taught me about the importance of separation going to happen in Uptown of spaces when it comes to Charlotte toward the end of AERIN SPRUILL the women’s movement as August. well as the LGBTQ+ movement.

So why should I care about The reality is the first wave of each separatism or inclusivity when other respective movement didn’t serve the cultures, races or experiences are being larger purpose. appreciated for what and who they are?

White women and gay men weren’t I think back to my most recent Pride necessarily concerned with the experience experience with my parents. They are one of those of different races, cultures, etc. of the only reasons I bring up my hometown And that makes complete sense. They experience. I can separate those who are wouldn’t know how to fight the battles of, say, black men or black gay men. I might what I define as ignorant. even ask why they would be expected to And yet, they were traipsing around fight someone else’s fight when they had to Uptown with me last year during Pride. fight their own?

While it was “different” than what they Nevertheless, I found myself almost 10 were used to, they were able to exist in that years later in Charlotte asking myself the space and have a good time. Is there a world question: Why do we have Latino Pride, where that type of coexistence can be the Black Pride and the separate, very white norm?

Charlotte Pride?

So, given the fact that it’s Pride Week, I’m friends with folks who have lived at least in our city, I felt the need to posit here for years and are utterly baffled when I these thoughts and questions to the people mention any other version of Pride outside of the “regular one.” of Charlotte.

Just last week, in my piece about I pose the question to my readers, what AfroPop! Charlotte, I mentioned that “other” are your thoughts on separation of spaces? spaces aren’t paramount from a marketing Is it a good or bad thing that we separate standpoint in Charlotte. So I shouldn’t be ourselves when it comes to something surprised that Charlotteans, who can’t even like Pride? Do you think that we’d better appreciate the difference that is sexuality, off coming together on everything that is can’t imagine that other versions of Pride socialization? exist.

Share your thoughts with me at But then I also think about the fact backtalk@clclt.com. Oh, and by the way, love that post-Charlotte Uprising, inclusivity is always going to be love. and togetherness are at the forefront of

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SEEING THINGS ACROSS

FeeLing Lonely?

CROSSWORD

1 Small packages 8 Barely gets, with “out” 12 Lyric penner Gershwin 15 Bamboozle 19 Sea-related 20 Bit of 19-Across flora 21 Brew barrel 22 Sampras of tennis 23 Bird-loving “Hud” Oscar winner?

25 Bird-loving former Argentine first lady?

27 Hip-hop’s Snoop -28 Speed skater Eric 30 Saffron, e.g.

31 Bird-loving “Show Boat” composer?

34 With 111-Down, put in reserve 36 Fit to be ingested 39 Invoice fig.

40 Ending for Saturn 41 More ghostly 44 Hershiser of the mound 45 Butte relative 47 Circle’s lack 49 Bird loving co-star of “The Parent Trap”?

52 Seize with a certain tool 54 URL-starting letters 56 Old Russian despots 57 Bird-loving Rolling Stones frontman?

61 Hones 62 Certain PC readout 65 Diarist Nin 66 Iris feature 69 In name only 71 Twirled 72 Bird-loving host of “The Tonight Show”?

75 O’Hara plantation 76 “Madame” of wax 78 Insightful 79 Popular dorm dish 80 Beatified Mlle.

81 Free of dirt 83 Bird-loving “Private Benjamin” star?

86 Fleece 87 Violinist Hilary 89 Humorist Bombeck 90 Bird-loving “Lethal Weapon” co-star?

94 Truck type 96 Final Four gp.

100 Basso’s solo, say 101 Is grinning 103 State treasury 105 Even a bit of 106 Cinnamon gum brand 109 Snow-capped peak 110 Bird-loving “Santa Baby” singer?

113 Like pixies 115 City on the Rio Grande 117 “That’s not for -say” 118 Bird-loving “Que Sera, Sera” singer?

121 Bird-loving “White Christmas” songwriter?

125 Boastful 126 Lyrical poem 127 Call for 128 Ceramic casserole dish 129 Pull along 130 Lie-down 131 “Jane --” 132 Tainted

DOWN

1 Soda 2 Campus life 3 Witty replies 4 Payload 5 Mind-boggler 6 Required driving doc.

7 Philos., e.g.

8 Cafe patron 9 “Eine -- Nachtmusik” 10 “Goodness!”

11 Carrier of a demo case 12 U.S. prez with Mamie 13 Charges (up) 14 Showing awe 15 Superficially plausible 16 Brain parts 17 -- -Z 18 Most priests 24 In the lead 26 Concealed 29 No, to Hans 31 Road tie-up 32 Kagan of justice 33 Hint of color 35 Grade for sophomores 37 Maui wreath 38 First in line?

42 Summer hrs. in PA 43 Take on, as the challenge

46 Name in low-carb dieting 48 “War is hell” general 50 Glossy fabric 51 P-U linkup 53 A.M. drinks 55 They beat deuces 57 Ship poles 58 Data for processing 59 Result in 60 Shapely leg, slangily 61 Old TV’s John-Boy and Erin 62 Alpaca kin 63 Rod of baseball 64 Quaffed 67 O’er and o’er 68 Chuckle 70 Person from Provo 72 Minty quaff 73 Lofty goals 74 Toon frame 77 Like sore muscles 79 Dreamy sleep phase 82 Luring smell 84 Resign, as a position 85 Like Joyce and Yeats 86 Mimicking a mad dog 87 Phone service providing aid 88 “How -- you?”

90 Pat 91 Radio host Shapiro 92 Nation of West Africa 93 Repulsive 95 Actor Zac 97 Actress FitzGerald or Stasey 98 Basketballer Walker or painter Watteau 99 Positive vote 102 Pitcher Tom 104 Shutterbug’s equipment 107 Flunking grades 108 Medium-hot mustard 111 See 34-Across 112 Gymnast Strug 114 Zilch, to Juan 116 Mice, to owls 118 Netflix item 119 Dinghy thing 120 “Indeedy” 122 Some sporty autos 123 Gathered together 124 Flanders of Springfield

graB Your copy today

SOLUTION FOUND ON P. 30

CLCLT.COM | AUG. 16 - AUG. 22, 2018 | 27

ENDS

SAVAGE LOVE

SECRET PERVING You don’t always have to come out with your kinks

BY DAN SAVAGE

I’ve been enjoying consensual nonmonogamy for the past two years, in part thanks to your column and podcast.

I have a delightful young lover, and our connection has evolved into a kind of master/slave relationship. I “allow” her to fuck other men and women, and she delights in asking my permission and recounting the details of her other trysts to me. We are curious how much of this she needs to disclose to her other lovers.

They know she isn’t monogamous and they are aware of her relationship with me, but so far she has chosen not to tell them the extent to which I “own” her and have jurisdiction over her body and actions. Of course, it’s just an elaborate role-playing game, but is it wrong to be using these people as pawns in our game without their knowledge and consent?

If so, when should she tell them? Before she sleeps with them even once? Or after she’s developed a more intimate rapport with them? There’s a perverse thrill in her other lovers being totally oblivious to it, but we want to be ethical in our polyamorous ways.

MASOCHISTS AND SADISTS TACKLING ETHICAL RELATIONS

This falls under the header of permissible secret perving (PSP), MASTER, and I will allow it — with one caveat.

My go-to example of PSP is the foot fetishist who works in a shoe store. So long as he’s good at his job and his secret perving is undetectable — no bulges, no heavy breathing, no creepy comments — no harm done. And if he goes home and jacks off about all the sexy, sexy feet he saw and, yes, handled during his shift, he’s not hurting anyone or doing anything unethical.

It’s important, however, to note that the foot fetishist salesclerk’s perceptions aren’t the ones that matter. If he thinks he’s playing it cool — he thinks his perving is secret — but his customers or coworkers are creeped out by his behavior, demeanor, heavy breathing, etc., then his perving isn’t secret and is therefore impermissible.

The secret perving you’re doing — the girlfriend has to beg for your permission to fuck other people and report back to you afterward — is small and it’s a bank shot. The other people she’s fucking provide mental fodder for your d/s role-playing games, MASTER, you aren’t directly involving them.

Your role-playing games take place before she fucks someone else (when she asks your 28 | AUG. 16 - AUG. 22, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

permission) and after she fucks someone tried calmly discussing this with him, else (when she recounts her experience). And I’ve tried crying, I’ve tried screaming my what turns you on about your girlfriend head off — nothing works.

PERSONAL INSULT CAUSING STRESS sleeping with other people — and how you and your girlfriend talk to each other about There’s definitely something your boyfriend it — is no one’s business but yours. should delete, PICS, but it’s not old photos Now for the caveat: If one of your of his ex. girlfriend’s lovers strongly objects to dom/ sub sex, relationships, or role-playing The man I’m going to marry has a huge games, and your girlfriend is aware they boot fetish. He has about 200 pairs of object, and you two want to be exquisitely boots in his size. His size also happens to ethical, MASTER, then either your girlfriend be my size — and I’m half convinced he shouldn’t fuck that person or she should wouldn’t have proposed if we didn’t have disclose your master/slave dynamics to that the same size feet and I couldn’t wear his person and allow them to decide whether boots. I want to surprise him with a very they want to fuck her anyway. special bachelor party (that we’ll both Zooming out for a second: Some people in attend): It would be all guys with the open relationships don’t want to know what same size feet as us, and everyone will their partners get up to, and these couples be wearing different pairs of boots from usually have “don’t ask, don’t tell” agreements his collection. I’m picturing a big group about sex outside the relationship. But many of guys doing for him what I do more people in open relationships do for him: stand on him, let want to hear about their partners’ him lick my (actually, his) adventures because it turns boots, make him crawl them on. Someone who doesn’t and grovel. His feet want to risk being fodder for aren’t an uncommon a couple’s dirty talk or even size (11.5), and I’m their d/s role-playing games guessing enough of shouldn’t be sleeping with our mutual friends people who are partnered would fit into his and in open relationships. boots that I could There are things we have a actually make this right to ask the people with DAN SAVAGE happen.

He’s the whom we have casual sex — like only fetishist I’ve ever whether they’re practicing ethical been with — all my other nonmonogamy, if they have an boyfriends were vanilla — and STI, what kind of birth control they’re I’m wondering how he would react using, whether they’re on PrEP, etc. — but a if he walked into a room and found a casual fuck isn’t entitled to details about your bunch of his friends wearing his boots relationship. and then I ordered him to start licking. I think it would be way better than going My boyfriend of one year has refused to to a strip club or a drag show. delete photos from his Instagram account P.S. He’s not really “out” about his kink. that show him with his ex-girlfriend.

BOYFRIEND OBSESSES OVER TALL SHOES They were together for three years and briefly engaged, and they broke up two years before we met. They aren’t in Wow, BOOTS, you saved the most salient contact in any way, so I don’t have any detail for that postscript: Your boyfriend worries there, but I think making photos isn’t out to his friends about his kink. So of him with someone else available to unless you’re talking about a small subset his friends and family — and now my of his friends — only old friends that once friends, too, as many are now following had benefits — do not out your boyfriend him — is incredibly disrespectful. We’ve as a boot fetishist to all his friends with size had numerous arguments about this, and 11.5 feet. If your fiancé has fantasized about his “solution” is for me to “stop thinking some sort of group boot-worshipping session, about it.” He also insists that no one is and he’s shared that fantasy with you, and looking at five-year-old pictures on his you want to help him realize it, that’s great.

Instagram account. If that’s true, why But he needs to be involved in determining not delete them? He refuses to discuss where, when, how and with whom he’d like to this issue, even as I lose sleep over it. I’ve

make this fantasy a reality.

My bi girlfriend and I are getting married in a month. We’re in a cuckold relationship — she sleeps with other men and women, while I am completely monogamous to her — and “my” best man is one of her regular male sex partners and her maid of honor is one her girlfriends-with-benefits. No one else at our big traditional church wedding (that her mother is paying for) will know. But I wanted to let you know, Dan, since reading your column is what inspired me to be open about my kinks, and our relationship — the best I’ve ever been in — wouldn’t exist without you.

THE HAPPY COUPLE

Permissible secret perving at its finest/ hottest, THC. Thanks for sharing, and be sure to send me a photo of the wedding party for my records.

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

CLCLT.COM | AUG. 16 - AUG. 22, 2018 | 29

LILLY SPA

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LIBRA ARIES (March 21

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CANCER

(June 21 to July 22) A trusted colleague sheds light on a recent spate of puzzling workplace situations.

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GEMINI (May 21

LEO (July 23 to August

22) A shift in workplace management could be helpful for talented Leos and Leonas who have been waiting to have their accomplishments rewarded by receptive leadership.

VIRGO

(August 23 to September 22) A misunderstanding between you and someone you care for should be corrected immediately. This relationship is too important to lose over a bruised ego.

(September 23 to October 22) A welcome piece of good news helps clear the air in a family situation. A job-related incident also eases as more information provides a clearer focus on the problem.

SCORPIO (October 23

to November 21) Quick action to heal bruised feelings pays off in a big way. Now you’ll be able to move forward with your plans without that problem holding you back.

SAGITTARIUS

(November 22 to December 21) Your creativity combined with a positive attitude should give you a considerable edge in finding a way to get around the negativity you’ve run into.

CAPRICORN (December 22

to January 19) That sudden streak of stubbornness could cause some problems. Try to be more open to helpful suggestions and more flexible in making needed changes.

AQUARIUS

(January 20 to February 18) Now that that special relationship appears to be well and truly restored, you can spend more time dealing with those long-needed workplace changes.

PISCES (February

19 to March 20) A new opportunity sounds promising.

But watch out for any conditions that might be attached. Before making a decision, ask that each one be explained in detail.

BORN THIS WEEK: You can be distracted by promises of good times, yet you ultimately reach the goals you set for yourself.

CLCLT.COM | AUG. 16 - AUG. 22, 2018 | 31

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LiVe E r O d A h LuC !

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