2018 Issue 31 Creative Loafing Charlotte by Creative Loafing Charlotte

CLCLT.COM | SEPTEMBER 20 - SEPTEMBER 26, 2018 VOL. 32, NO. 31

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Father John Misty will be keeping things fresh to death at his Fillmore show on Sept. 26. Look for more cool shit to do in our Top 10 on page 14.

We put out weekly 8

NEWS&CULTURE A GUIDING HAND Local center provides pathways to stability for homeless youth

BY COURTNEY MIHOCIK 6 EDITOR’S NOTE BY RYAN PITKIN 10 THE BLOTTER BY COURTNEY MIHOCIK 11 NEWS OF THE WEIRD

FOOD&DRINK HURRY, HURRY, CHIMICHURRI The condiment that

thought it could BY ARI LEVAUX

13 THREE-COURSE SPIEL: BEBO’S MAC SHACK BY RYAN PITKIN

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TOP 10 THINGS TO DO THIS WEEK

MUSIC NO PLACE LIKE HOME Deniro Farrar’s not back because he never left

BY RYAN PITKIN 18 MUSICMAKER: JOSHUA COTTERINO BY RYAN PITKIN 20 SOUNDBOARD

ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT DIVERSITY AND DISCOVERY HIT THE BIG SCREEN Charlotte Film Festival features distinct and different voices BY PAT MORAN 23 SIDEBAR: CAROLINA FILM FEST BY PAT MORAN 24 ARTSPEAK: CAROL JOHNCOCK OF GIRLBAGE BY VERONICA COX

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

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NEWS

EDITOR’S NOTE

FLORENCE AND THE MEDIA MACHINE Everyone’s an expert, until they’re not IN A VIDEO posted to Twitter by Fox46’s

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the rushing water took her car, and I can’t help Page Fehling on Monday, residents of the but wonder how many others were saved of a Carmel neighborhood in south Charlotte can similar fate by the nonstop storm coverage of be seen lifting their pets above the waist-high local media teams and meteorologists. At some point, there were barriers put floodwater in order to evacuate their homes. Other posts showed flooding at multiple up by first responders that blocked off the sites along Little Sugar Creek, a water main flooded area of the road, though it’s unclear if break in University City and other effects of a someone moved them before Welch’s mother half-foot of rain — and more in certain parts crossed. She said she saw others crossing and thought it was fine, and that’s a decision that — being dumped on the city. I spent the weekend in my home, catching Lee will have to live with for the rest of her life. Regardless of the details of Welch’s death, up on work and binge-watching TV shows. It wasn’t more than a rainy weekend for me, however, what’s certain is that at some without so much as a rattling of the windows point that night, emergency crews ran out of barricades as countless roads throughout that I was aware of. I like to think the right reaction to this good Union County became impassable. Sitting in luck would be to be thankful. I’m thankful for my home, checking news updates on TV and whatever higher power or stroke of luck meant Twitter, I was well aware of the dangerous I didn’t have to carry my 80-pound beast of situation happening in Union County. How many people who lived there stayed off a water-hating dog through a waistthe roads that night for the same high pool of brown muck and reason? mud in my yard. I’m thankful But the problem is that not to have gone a minute it’s not about public safety without power, unlike more for internet trolls. There’s than 12,000 Mecklenburg some deeper issue there, County residents who and in a world as divided remained without power as the one we currently as the sun shined down live in, people can’t help on Monday morning. but spread vitriol every I was also thankful chance they get. for the different local Take, for instance, the RYAN PITKIN meteorologists that recent Anderson Cooper nonkept Charlotte updated controversy, in which President throughout the week into the Donald Trump’s dim-witted son weekend, letting folks know about Junior tweeted a picture of the CNN road closures and rain totals. But there were some who weren’t so anchor standing in floodwaters deeper than thankful. There were some who just couldn’t his cameraman. In the post, Trump implied help but log in to Twitter and bash local that Cooper had been overly dramatic in his meteorologists for allegedly stirring us all coverage of Florence with the intentions of making his daddy look bad. into frenzy. Cooper called out the idiocy of the meme, A few folks — all men who looked exactly the same, of course, but that’s another issue spread by other Trump supporters and — decided to go after WBTV meteorologist officials on Monday, during his show that Brad Panovich with trolling comments about night. Cooper explained he was reporting on “overhyping the storm” on Twitter, some of how rapidly depth can change in floodwaters them poking out of their troll holes as early as — you know, the type of reporting that saves midday Saturday, before Florence had really lives. That’s not to mention that the picture was taken during Hurricane Ike in Texas — a even reached Charlotte. My assumption is these folks were the ones whole ass decade ago. But, like I said before, this trolling isn’t who went and spent a bunch of money hoarding bottled water — against the suggestions of the about truth, accuracy or ensuring safety, it’s city and local media, who stated that the city’s about continuing a concerted effort to slowly water system would almost certainly not go chip away at the credibility of all media — even down — and then got upset when they realized in a national disaster — until only things said by the man in charge can be accepted as truth. they had no reason to do so. I guess my only question to these folks is And that’s how democracy dies. But I digress. What I really mean to say is, if you see this: What the fuck is your problem, exactly? I read the news of 1-year-old Kaiden your local meteorologist or a water-logged Welch, swept away by storm waters in Union TV news reporter drying out in Charlotte this County on Sunday night after his mother, week, thank them. RPITKIN@CLCLT.COM Dazia Lee, tried to cross a flooded road and

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NEWS

FEATURE

A GUIDING HAND Local center provides pathways to stability for homeless youth BY COURTNEY MIHOCIK

ASON INDENBAUM, a case manager at On Ramp Resource Center, couldn’t wait to share his excitement about the recent success story of a client. After being stranded in Charlotte with no home or support system, the client was at The Relatives, a network of resources in Charlotte designed to connect homeless or unstably housed youth and young adults. He was on Indenbaum’s caseload for less than a year, working to get on his feet for about six months before securing a job with Job Corps and moving to Memphis, Tennessee. Since then, Indenbaum said the client has completed his certification in phlebology and signed on with the military in a medical branch. He recently sent Indenbaum a picture of his newly signed contract. “When Jason showed me the picture the other day, I was so excited,” said Genine Donovan, a resource coordinator with On Ramp. “That’s what we like, those success stories. Those are definitely success stories when they accomplish their goals.” The Relatives operates in three different capacities: a crisis center for youth 7 to 17 years old, a transitional living facility for young men aging out of foster care and On Ramp, which serves the population of 16- to 24-year-olds that find themselves without a home or are in unstable housing. The focus of The Relatives is connecting the clients that walk through its doors to job opportunities, helping them find affordable housing and providing educational pathways. It can be terrifying, and even embarrassing, to ask for help, especially for youth who are not used to being vulnerable, much less with strangers. But it’s Indenbaum’s job to manage client cases and help them to move forward out of housing and financial instability. “Having to be vulnerable and ask for help and figure out how to identify those resources is, I think, a really big challenge,” he said. But Indenbaum is part of the compassionate team that connects clients with services as they need them. This could mean helping them search for a job — or a better-paying job — and hunt for an affordable apartment that suits their needs. Finding that stable and affordable housing can be difficult, but housing 8 | SEPT. 20 - SEPT. 26, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

“THAT’S WHAT WE’RE TRYING TO DO FOR THESE KIDS, IS PROVIDE THEM THAT STABILITY OF A HOME AND THEN THOSE OTHER PIECES WILL COME ALONG.” TRISH HOBSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE RELATIVES

coordinator Tom Montaglione works closely with clients to help them secure the funding they need and look for the right apartment. For clients aged 18 to 24 years old, it’s almost impossible to sustain themselves on minimum wage jobs. Through federal funding and private donors, The Relatives help supplement rent for clients over a 12-month period, slowly tapering it off as the rehoused client pursues education or career goals. The heavily-involved case managers and housing coordinators assist clients in securing units, so through the housing support from On Ramp, most clients are able to get back on their feet and start achieving upward mobility. “Most of them do end up achieving a better life, higher income and can maintain by themselves after the 12 months,” Montaglione said. “The real reason for that is the intensive case management subsidy allows them to take more risk or educational chance than if they were on their own.” Trish Hobson, executive director at The Relatives, elaborated on how the typical life progression of education, then job, then homeownership is not applicable in the cases of the youth and young adults that come to her organization. Because many do not have stable housing or a support system in the beginning of their lives, it’s challenging to pursue an education in order to secure a well-paying job, she said.

“That’s what we’re trying to do for these kids, is provide them that stability of a home and then those other pieces will come along,” she said. “Education is a huge piece. There’s a lot of statistics that say the No. 1 predictor for youth homeless is not having an education.” On Ramp currently hosts a GED tutoring program which is staffed by volunteers and aims to help clients pass the test if they dropped out of high school and want to pursue educational goals. Hobson said she hopes to expand the current education services and build out the program, possibly adding a full-time education specialist on staff. In August, UNC Charlotte’s Urban Institute released the State of Housing report, the result of a partnership with Mecklenburg County. The report delves into the marriage between two prominent and interconnected problems in the community: homelessness and affordable housing. Ashley Clark, director of outreach and strategic partnerships at the Urban Institute, co-authored the comprehensive report. “We can’t just talk about housing instability and homelessness in isolation and not also talk about pathways to stable housing and access to affordable housing at all price points,” Clark said. “The report really tried to look at housing as a continuum and get a better sense of what we are, as a community, doing at different points on the continuum.”

One way that the report references homelessness is with the annual “point-intime snapshot,” which counts the number of sheltered and unsheltered homeless in the county on one particular night. In the 2018 point-in-time count, there were 1,668 people identified as homeless, a 13-percent increase from 2017, but a 16-percent decrease since 2010. This year, there were 77 unaccompanied youth. This may not seem like a large number, but it’s difficult to accurately count the number of homeless youth and young adults versus counting the number of homeless adults over 24 years old. “Youth tend to show up in very different places than adults do,” Clark stated. “Youth might be hanging out at the mall, hanging out at the bus station or hanging out at the Greyhound station, and other places where they’re trying to blend in. So the strategies in finding them have to be different.” Hobson elaborated on this, and stated that youth and young adults couch surf frequently, so while they are not sleeping on the streets or in a shelter, they still don’t have a permanent residence. When this population is using friends’ couches to crash or living in a crisis shelter, the federal funding The Relatives has for rehousing doesn’t apply. In order to qualify for the funding, a client has to be “literally homeless,” or unsheltered

Jason Indenbaum at The Relative’s On Ramp resource center where he works with at-risk and homeless youth and young adults to connect them to services. so that they may be rapidly rehoused. “A person on the street might think that another person is homeless because he doesn’t actually have a place to live,” Hobson explained. “But he’s not staying on the street so the federal government doesn’t classify him as homeless.” She emphasized that The Relatives does not advise clients to not seek shelters or crisis centers in order to be eligible. To supplement federal funding, The Relatives takes donations from public entities like the Joey Logano Foundation.

THE REASONS THAT this population

finds themselves without a home or a safe place to sleep vary. In the State of Housing report, 79 percent of unaccompanied youth were kicked out of their home or forced to leave, while the remaining 21 percent chose to leave. Of the 79 percent that were forced to leave, the top two reasons were due to family conflict or due to gender identity or sexual orientation. Time Out Youth, a resource center that focuses on the at-risk youth of the LGBTQ population, just moved to a larger and more accomodating location. When Creative Loafing profiled the organization in February 2017, staff was in the process of moving from a

PHOTO BY COURTNEY MIHOCIK

3,000 square-foot location in NoDa to a 7,400 square-foot building on Monroe Road. The move has allowed TOY to work closely and coordinate with other LGBTQ organizations in Charlotte. Since then, the organization has rolled out a new online chat platform , and in 2020, the organization plans to open a 10-bed shelter on the new property for LGBTQ youth who have been kicked out of their homes. But for cities that don’t have organizations like TOY or The Relatives immediately available to connect at-risk and homeless youth to the resources, the National Runaway Safeline is a country-wide resource that children can turn to when they are in crisis. The safeline is an anonymous hotline accessible via phone, text, chat service or email, and the staff works with youth to connect them to a shelter or crisis resource center in their area or put them in the Home Free program, which gives them a bus ticket home. For those under 18 years old and legally classified as a “runaway,” reunification with family or trusted friends is the first option that the safeline staff explores with the youth that contact them. Susan Frankel, executive director of the National Runaway Safeline (NRS), said the hotline’s first priority is supporting the youth that call them with the resources and options

The Relatives keeps organized bins of items like school supplies, baby clothes, shoes and housing necessities for clients as needed. they need to be safe without judgment or preaching. “We’re really here to provide services for whatever that youth needs. And while they may have a million different things going on in their lives, if the main issue for them is finding safe housing, that’s where we’re going to work for those resources,” she stated. The

PHOTO BY COURTNEY MIHOCIK

NRS has thousands of resources across the country to connect homeless youth to in an effort to ensure they end up in a safe place to live and sleep. A network is important, not only is having a country, county or a community that interconnects their resources for homeless youth and young adults crucial, but having

CLCLT.COM | SEPT. 20 - SEPT. 26, 2018 | 9

NEWS

COVERSTORY

BLOTTER

BY COURTNEY MIHOCIK

WHOLLY HELL Somebody was presumably

planning a fancy date night when they shoplifted from a Whole Foods store in the Weddington area of south Charlotte. According to the report, police were called when a suspect perused the aisles of the overpriced grocer then absconded with $1,000 worth of meat, beer, wine and cheese. That sounds like an expensive charcuterie board with the finest meats, cheeses and a mature red blend and local craft brew. But knowing the prices at Whole Foods, it was probably just a six pack of Bud Light, one bottle of Yellow Tail, some deli slices and a block of sharp cheddar.

Resource coordinator Genine Donovan assists a client in On Ramp’s upstairs resource center. individual support systems isnas well. One goal of The Relatives is to create a network of support for those who have been abandoned by their natural support systems. This could mean pairing them with a mentor for social support or referring them to a therapist or counselor for mental health support. “That’s a big part of what we’re trying to do here, for these folks who have been abandoned by their natural supports, or come in without having those supports. Our primary objective is to connect a support network around each individual,” Indenbaum said. Being a mentor is outside of Indenbaum’s scope of duties, but when The Relatives pair mentors with mentees through the center, the personal relationship that forms can help the youth feel supported emotionally and socially. Furthermore, through education workshops that The Relatives organize, the youth can learn more about financial independence while also getting the community involved. For instance, On Ramp may host someone from Charlotte Metro Credit Union to speak about setting up a checking and savings account to help lead the clients toward financial independence. Then the organization may run mock interviews or host local non-profits like Running Works to guide the clients toward career goals. Volunteers are welcome, too. During a recent CL visit, volunteer Jane Sacks was sitting in a room at On Ramp going over a practice GED test to prepare to tutor anyone who walked in. No one showed at the time, but Sacks wasn’t bothered, she would remain there in case someone did, much like the other volunteers at On Ramp. “It’s always great to be able to have folks come in and share that knowledge with our young adults to help them move toward 10 | SEPT. 20 - SEPT. 26, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

PHOTO BY THE BEAUTIFUL MESS

independence, and have that educational component as well,” Indenbaum stated. The community at large can also play a helpful role in providing the resources that this population of at-risk and homeless youth and young adults need. November is National Runaway Prevention Month and a time to help shine the light on the runaway and homeless youth issues in communities by raising awareness and educating the public on the experience that youth and young adults face when they are without a safe place. But it’s critical for the community to continue the conversation, Frankel said. “I think any time that communities can start to look have conversations about how to provide safe and accessible support for homeless and at-risk youth is really important,” Frankel said about the Shine a Light theme of NRPM. But with organizations that focus on the younger population of homeless persons, Charlotte can start to address these issues and alleviate the challenges that youth and young adults without homes face. “I think that organizations like The Relatives and Time Out Youth might have a good sense of — in addition to housing — what might be other challenges these kids are facing,” Clark said. “[They] certainly play a role if you can’t find affordable housing or have a job that earns enough to be able to support housing at the cost of Charlotte rent.” It’s the success story Donovan shared about a former client that shows it’s important that The Relatives — and the city — continues to grow and connect the youth and young adults to housing stability, financial independence and a better life. We could all use more success stories. CMIHOCIK@CLCLT.COM

UPGRADING APPLIANCES A string of break-ins occurred in the Wesley Chapel neighborhood in east Charlotte left construction workers steaming mad earlier this month. Per the police report, a development subdivision under construction was hit hard when two GE dishwashers were stolen from unfinished properties. Creative Loafing does not condone theft, but we do recognize the audacity and skill it must’ve taken to move two large dishwashers in presumably one night. At least someone’s dishes are being done. In an unrelated police report, a resident in the University area was also hit by someone on a quest to acquire new household appliances. The victim reported their washing machine, dryer and stove were stolen sometime over the Labor Day weekend. We expect the suspects will be back for the kitchen sink. MILLENNIAL MUGGING A 29-year-old man in the south Charlotte area was miffed to learn that he had been robbed recently, and it all happened right under his nose. The man told officers that a suspect asked to borrow the victim’s cellphone in order to “text a cousin.” When the victim complied, the suspect instead accessed the victim’s Venmo account and transferred money to himself and another suspect. By the time he found out about what the suspect had actually done with his phone, the victim was down $1,600 and the suspect was long gone. Another Venmo thief struck in Uptown when a 25-year-old man lent his phone to a suspect who had asked to borrow it. The suspect then went into the victim’s Venmo app and transferred some money. The report doesn’t specify how much money, but Charlotteans apparently need to learn to secure their shit, so here’s this week’s Blotter Pro Tip: You can secure your Venmo account through the app, with a separate password than the one that’s on your phone. We suggest you do so. A TAXING SITUATION In the Eastway area of Charlotte, a 23-year-old woman tried to get a handle on the adult life and get her taxes filed, but only ended up getting taken

advantage of. The victim enlisted the help of someone whom she paid to file the paperwork for her earlier in the year. According to the report, she recently received notification that her refund was finally delivered and processed. When the victim reached out to collect her tax refund, the suspect stopped communicating with her. Maybe the IRS will settle this ... in 10 years.

FORE! A woman was cruisin’ a little too

hard on the Harry James Golf Course in southwest Charlotte last week. According to the police report, the suspect was involved in a single-cart wreck on the course at about 8 a.m. one morning. Whether she hit a divot, bumped into a sand trap, or was just boozin’ a little early and hit a tree is unknown to us, as the police report is vague. But let this be a cautionary tale to all of you heading to the course to get a quick nine holes in and work on your swing; learn to drive a golf cart.

OFF THE RACK Popular high-end chain

retailer Nordstrom was hit by one of their own over the course of a year. The retail store’s SouthPark Mall location hired the suspect, and between November 2017 to last week, she embezzled $1,160 from the store. However, she didn’t just skim from the top of the drawers. According to the police report, the suspect would return merchandise that belonged to the business, then transfer the funds onto gift cards. She would’ve gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for that meddling loss prevention officer.

PANTHER PAYOFF In January 2016, we reported a story about counterfeit Carolina Panthers tickets and how many people were being swindled by criminals trying to make a quick buck or two. In the report, we suggested that Charlotteans get their football tickets from verified resellers such as TicketMaster, StubHub or TicketsNow to avoid the risk of being decieved. One 35-year-old woman in the Uptown area did not heed our warning, as she was tricked out of $1,750 worth of Carolina Panthers tickets. Earlier this summer, she paid the suspect the money, who has still never sent the tickets, which probably never existed in the first place. PARANOIA In one of the most vague

reports we’ve seen, one woman fell right into QAnon-like conspiracy theories after her car caught fire recently. The police report gives no details as to how or why the car caught flame, but only says that “the victim states that she believes that her car caught fire due to someone messing with it.” Little does she know that the fire was actually always burning since the world’s been turning. All stories are pulled from police reports at CMPD headquarters. Suspects are innocent until proven guilty.

NEWS

NEWS OF THE WEIRD

RUDE AWAKENING Former English soccer star Gary Mabbutt, 57, traveled to South Africa in July to visit his daughter, who works at Kruger National Park, but it wasn’t the exotic big game that left the most lasting impression on him. While he was sleeping, he later told the BBC, “... a rat has come into the bedroom, climbed into the bed and has decided to chew on my foot,” which Mabbutt couldn’t feel because he suffers from type 1 diabetes and has little feeling in his foot. The rat “made quite a big hole in my toe, going down to the bone, and ate underneath my foot.” Mabbutt was finally alerted to the rodent’s presence when it bit his thumb and he saw his bloody foot. He flew back to the United Kingdom, where he underwent surgery and spent a week in the hospital. “All the opponents that I’ve played against,” he said, “and I finally get taken out by a rat.” REAL LOVE Along with a nail salon, a

massage parlor and a dry cleaner, a mall in Toronto, Canada, is now the site of North America’s first sex doll brothel. Aura Dolls offers “an exciting new way” for patrons to achieve their desires “without the many restrictions and limitations that a real partner may come with,” says the company’s website. Marketing director Claire Lee told City News on Aug. 27 that customers “come in, they have their own room ... a TV monitor that plays adult entertainment and a doll ... will be ready and waiting for you.” Lee also assures potential customers that the dolls will be cleaned after each customer using a three-step process. The company says it has had requests from women for male dolls and is considering adding them.

BANDWAGON Lifelong New York Knicks fan Evan Perlmutter, 33, finally hit the wall with his team recently. Fed up that the Knicks had been promising a better future for a decade, he told Bleacher Report, Perlmutter posted a listing on eBay to sell his fandom. In the description, he promised to root for the team of the auction winner’s choosing and “burn no less than three articles of Knicks memorabilia.” Sure enough, he got a bite: James Riedel, 23, of Orange County, California, paid $3,500 for Perlmutter’s fandom on Aug. 24, converting Perlmutter into a Los Angeles Lakers fan. Perlmutter plans to attend a few Lakers games with Riedel and record his destruction of his Knicks gear for Riedel’s YouTube channel. WITH ALL MY HEART A first date spent

surfing in Santa Cruz, California, last October ended in an unconventional first kiss when 56-year-old Max Montgomery collapsed from a heart attack on the beach. His date, Andi Traynor, a 45-year-old anesthesiologist, leaped into action, performing CPR until paramedics arrived. Montgomery underwent bypass surgery the next day, and he assured Traynor that she was under no obligation

to keep seeing him. “Who wants to date someone who just had a heart attack? But she told me she was not going anywhere,” he told The Daily Mail on Aug. 29, and in fact, the two are still together, having sealed their relationship with a “real” kiss.

COMPELLING EXPLANATION Colorado Springs resident Klete Keller engaged the services of a female dog-sitter through an app called Wag! for his pet, Jimbo. But Keller’s tail was not wagging when he returned home early the morning of Aug. 27 to find two shirtless men sitting on his couch and “an open bottle of personal lubricant and a camcorder on the end table,” Keller told Fox 21 News, “so it’s pretty self-explanatory what was going on.” When reached for comment, the unnamed dog-sitter said her keys were stuck in her car and she “didn’t have WD-40 ... so I ended up grabbing what I had in my car, for things, that you know, I do on my personal time.” But Keller also noticed what he suspected was “bodily fluids” on the couch and said Jimbo was locked in a bedroom, sitting in his own urine and acting terrified. “It was just, just a total mess and I can only imagine what poor Jimbo saw in there,” Keller said. The sitter did admit that she shouldn’t have invited guests over, but it’s a good bet her former 4.96 out of 5 rating on Wag! is going to take a hit. THE ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT

William Parrish Jr., 32, and McKenzee Dobbs, 20, of Ocala, Florida, were just trying to better accommodate their customers when they turned the kitchen window of their mobile home into a drive-thru for heroin addicts. They also installed helpful directional signs and even had a “Closed, Please Call Again” sign alerting buyers when they’d next be open. Ocala police officers who raided the trailer on Aug. 23 were tipped off by a number of overdoses happening nearby: “We were able to determine that the product was laced with fentanyl,” police Capt. Steven Cuppy told WFTV. Parrish and Dobbs told Ocala police they thought a drivethru would be less noticeable than people regularly going in and out of the home.

QUESTIONABLE JUDGMENT Toms River, New Jersey, police are hoping the public can lend them a hand in finding a lost item. Ronald Vanarsdale, 36, of Toms River was drag racing on his motorcycle just after midnight on Aug. 30 when he crashed, sending the bike more than 760 feet from the crash site and hurling Vanarsdale 300 feet through the air, severing his right arm just below the bicep. NJ.com reported police Sgt. Ed Mooney applied a tourniquet to Vanarsdale’s arm at the scene, and he later underwent surgery at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune. Toms River police, though, could not locate the severed limb and asked the public’s help in locating it. COPYRIGHT 2018 ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION CLCLT.COM | SEPT. 20 - SEPT. 26, 2018 | 11

FOOD

FEATURE

HURRY, HURRY, CHIMICHURRI The condiment that thought it could BY ARI LEVAUX

N THE PHONE with a farmer friend the other day, I asked what he was making for dinner. I t ’s a question I often pose to farmer friends when I want to be inspired, because these folks are often the supreme authority on how best to use their product. Each meal is an opportunity to celebrate the harvest, as well as get rid of surplus produce. That evening’s meal would employ cucumbers, parsley, tomatoes, kale, garlic and peppers, rounded out by some animal products for which veggies were bartered with livestock farmers. The menu would include massaged kale salad, bacon, cucumber feta salad and roasted potatoes with chimichurri. It was a meal that fed 10 family and crew members, and cost little more than the the price of oil, vinegar and salt. He was particularly eager to gush about a trick he’d learned from a fellow farmer: soak the potatoes before roasting them. But I was more interested in the chimichurri part. This Argentine condiment/marinade is based on parsley, olive oil, garlic, salt, vinegar and other herbs like oregano. These rather pedestrian ingredients team up to cover all of the flavor bases (except sweetness): salt, bitter, sour, umami, fat and heat. If you’re looking for something easy or smooth, look elsewhere. Chimichurri is for those who like it a tad rough and challenging, and don’t mind an occasional burst of adrenaline at the table. Like some other notable condiments, chimichurri comes in shades of both red and green. Red — or rojo chimichurri — contains ripe tomatoes and peppers, while green — or verde — does not. My farmer friend made a green, with added cilantro, and said it turned out fantastic. I, however, was intrigued by the idea of red on potatoes. The tomatoes are an approximation of ketchup, while chile pepper of any color is always welcome. And with tomato season upon us, all the more reason to savor the red side of chimichurri while it’s at its best. The debate between red and green recalls that between other great condiments, like the New Mexican red versus green chile debate. But the obvious historical parallel to chimichurri are the Italian red and white clam sauces, so beloved by pasta enthusiasts. Both are parsley-based, with nearly identical ingredient lists. This is no coincidence, because the Italian population in Argentina 12 | SEPT. 20 - SEPT. 26, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

FARMER’S TABLE CHIMICHURRIED POTATOES

CUT POTATOES TO inch-chunks or thereabouts, and soak in cold water for an hour. For a recent batch (pictured left), I soaked thickly-sliced purple carrots as well, which are more earthy and bitter than sweet carrots and great for cooking. While the roots soak, hurry hurry. Make some chimichurri. Here is a recipe from my Argentine friend, Diego Grant, owner of Gauchito Catering in Albuquerque and the city’s best Argentine grill food truck. He brought this chimichurri to my birthday party eight years ago and my wife still hasn’t gotten over it.

is large and its influence strong — the name chimichurri is based on the Basque words for “a mixture of several things in no particular order.” Argentine chimichurri, thus, is a New World evolution of a Mediterranean invention. Today, an Italian verde may have capers, anchovies or clams. When served hot, as with pasta, it will have butter instead of — or in addition to — olive oil. When you have chimichurri, you find yourself looking for things to put it on, or in. Marinate meat in it, stir it into beaten eggs before scrambling, toss it into salad. Better yet, put it on the following recipe.

Gauchito chimichurri 1 bush flat-leaf parsley 1 head of garlic 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon pepper “All together, chop. Then...” 1 cup olive oil 1/2 cup red wine vinegar “After that, let rest all together for 15 minutes. When you have the flavors out, add...” 1/2 cup oregano 1/2 cup red chile flakes You have now made chimichurri verde. Set roughly half aside, add chopped tomato to the remaining verde. Diego doesn’t do this, but I do, and I’m hardly alone. Meanwhile, many have observed that combining mayonnaise with chimichurri further improves the potatoes, and I would never try to block that kind of a good time.

Indeed, I applaud it. What’s not to love about two of the greatest condiments in the world combining to make something greater than the sum of their parts? I’m on Team Chimichurraise. When the roots are done soaking, set the oven to 415. Drain the potatoes, add them to a baking pan, and toss with olive oil, salt, garlic powder and a little black pepper. It doesn’t matter that the potatoes are wet at first; they will dry off. The soaking trick makes the potatoes cook like tater tots, with crispy golden skins and puffy insides. The carrots behave similarly. The next day, your chimichurri will be even better with age, and the world will be yours to explore through the lens of chimichurri. You will enjoy a lot of flavors. You will eat a lot of parsley. BACKTALK@CLCLT.COM

Bebo’s Mac Shack food truck

COURTESY OF BEBO’S MAC SHACK

Pork-laden Bebo’s Top Seller with bacon and signature sauce

FOOD

COURTESY OF BEBO’S MAC SHACK

THREE-COURSE SPIEL

RETURN OF THE MAC Former tailgate legend has found a new calling with his food truck BY RYAN PITKIN

DENNIS PLESS HAS been cooking since

he was 6 years old, it just took him a while to decide he should do it for a living. In 2015, at 61 years old, Pless could be found outside Bank of America Stadium before every Panthers home game. He was running one of the most popular tailgates in town on Cedar Street, where he’d set up his tables, tents and a television before feeding more than 100 people each week on average, he says. “I just got to a point where I said to my wife, ‘Instead of doing this for free, I’m going to get paid for it,’” Pless says. He spent about a year researching food trucks before buying out Bebo’s American Bistro truck, which had been operating in the Cornelius area for just a few months in 2016. Recognizing the popularity of the bistro’s mac ‘n’ cheese, Pless decided to make that the exclusive dish, and eventually began entering the truck in rallies and competitions from Rock Hill to Greensboro. In the lead-up to the Cotswold Food Truck Rally on Friday, Sept. 21, at Trinity Presbyterian Church, we talk to the Concord native about his tailgating roots and which of his macs get the most love. Creative Loafing: What did the prep for this mega-tailgate you used to host look like? Dennis Pless: What I would do is shop all day on Saturday, and then Saturday evening I would load my truck down with the tables, the tents, the tablecloths, the flat-screen TV and the whole nine yards, pack all the food in coolers, go to the stadium around 7:30,

8 o’clock on Sunday morning, set up the tents, the tables, tablecloths, the screen, and sometimes we would have a live band. And we would cook everything from scratch right there in the tailgate of my truck. What we would do is, when we’d get ready to play a team, I would research the city where they were from to find out what food they were famous for. Usually when you play a team like Atlanta you do the “dirty birds,” so we’d always do chickens. When they played the Redskins it was usually seafood; soft-shell crab, shrimp, fried fish. [When] we played Philadelphia it was Philadelphia cheesesteaks. And so on. How’d you land on mac ‘n’ cheese as a specialty for the food truck? I am known for doing pork, barbecue chicken, ribs and beef brisket. So when I got ready to do the truck, I had a bright idea, I was going to go down and have one custom-built with a full kitchen in it, so I could literally cook anything. The more research I did and the more information I found out, that’s not what you want to do. You need to have a truck that is branded and known for something. If you’re going to go to Burger King you wouldn’t order a steak. When you go into Burger King you’re going to eat Burger King food. If you’re going to go to Del Frisco’s, you eat Del Frisco steak and seafood. So everybody kept saying, “That’s never going to work. You’re going to have way more equipment than what you need. You can’t change the menu every day. People don’t get used to it to generate a following.” And so that was my first idea of building a

Dennis Pless

COURTESY OF BEBO’S MAC SHACK

Brisket Mac with signature sauce

complete mobile kitchen, and then the more research and work that I did, I found out that’s not what I wanted to do. So I had looked at a couple trucks I had on a watch list, and this one came up, and it actually started out as a bistro truck and then from the bistro truck they served side dishes of macaroni and cheese. Well, they could only sell the macaroni and cheese, they couldn’t sell anything else on the truck because it was so good. After about three months of having the truck up and running, we took their eight original recipes and canned five of ’em. So that only left three of the original recipes and now there are a total of 18 different mac ‘n’ cheese recipes that we rotate based on the time of the year. So we don’t have more than seven or eight dishes on the actual menu at any given time.

COURTESY OF BEBO’S MAC SHACK

COTSWOLD FOOD TRUCK RALLY Free; Sept. 21, 5:30-9:30 p.m.; Trinity Presbyterian Church, 3115 Providence Road; trinitypreschurch.org/event/ food-truck-fridays

What’s a best seller for the upcoming fall season? One of the big things that we like in the fall is we do a homemade chili. So we buy sirloin and we have it coarsely ground, so instead of being a real fine hamburger meat, it’s more coarse. And then we make all of that in-house. That does really good. Another thing that’s really good is our pulled pork mac ‘n’ cheese. That is our bestseller — probably 75 percent of our sales. And then we also do a brisket mac, which is quickly catching up with the pork barbecue. RPITKIN@CLCLT.COM

CLCLT.COM | SEPT. 20 - SEPT. 26, 2018 | 13

THURSDAY

OPEN HOUSE AT MCCOLL What: It’s the start of a new residency season at McColl Center, but Thursday night’s exhibit will be more of a homecoming. New Works/Alumni One is the first in a series of programs highlighting the most memorable alumni of the McColl’s residency program, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary in Charlotte. Artists include Michaela Pilar Brown (2011), Erika Diamond (2006, 2011) and Jonathan Prichard (2014) exploring the secular, sacred and symbolic grounds of the Carolinas. When: 6-9 p.m. Where: McColl Center for Art + Innovation, 721 N. Tryon St. More: Free. mccollcenter.org

14 | SEPT. 20 - SEPT. 26, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

THURSDAY

CANDIDATES FORUM: A WOMAN’S PERSPECTIVE What: In 2016, political action committee Emily’s List, which supports women running for office, reported that 920 women were interested in running for the first time. Since Trump was elected that year, the organization reports that 40,000 women have reached out with interest. It’s clear that women’s issues will be a big part of the November election, and this forum gives all candidates a chance to express their views on those issues. When: 6-8 p.m. Where: First United Methodist Church, 501 N. Tryon St. More: Free. tinyurl.com/WomenVoteCLT

THINGS TO DO

TOP TEN

Beers & Burpees SATURDAY

PHOTO COURTESY OF BEERS & BURPEES

THURSDAY

CARL BROEMEL

JUMP, LITTLE CHILDREN

CIRQUE ITALIA

What: On the heels of his latest solo album release, Wished Out, Carl Broemel of My Morning Jacket explores the passing of time, love and science. Since his time with the Grammy-nominated band, he’s carved out his own mellow rock melodies and vocals on tracks like “Wished Out” and upbeat riffs on “Dark Matter.” His music will drive with a fast rhythm on one track but chill out and groove on the next. His musicianship is evident in his mastery over guitar, saxophone, vocals and lyrics.

What: The pop landscape is littered with reunion shows that nobody wanted. Were people clamoring to see a reconstituted Creed, or New Kids on the Block? Jump, Little Children’s reunion should be the antithesis of those fiascos. For one thing, fans still love JLC’s melodic blend of acoustic folk and pop. For another, the quintet took hiatus on a high note, after the release of their transcendent 2004 album Between the Dim and the Dark. Their latest, Sparrow, dropped on September 14.

What: This traveling circus boasts acrobats, aerialists, death-defying stunts and more, all under a customized tent. What differentiates Cirque Italia from Cirque du Soleil is water — 35,000 gallons of it. Contortionists, clowns, jugglers — even roller skaters — perform on a one-of-a-kind water stage. Don’t let the elephant puppets fool you, this is animal-free entertainment. Think of it as traditional circus arts meets The Shape of Water — minus the sexy fish man.

When: 7 p.m. Where: Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 36th St. More: $30-32. neighborhoodtheatre.com

When: 7:30 p.m., runs through Sept. 23 Where: Northlake Mall, 6801 Northlake Mall Dr. More: $10-50. cirqueitalia.com

When: 7 p.m. Where: Visulite Theatre, 1615 Elizabeth Ave. More: $20. visulite.com

Open House at McColl THURSDAY

Jump, Little Children THURSDAY

NEWS ARTS FOOD MUSIC ODDS

Cirque Italia SATURDAY COURTESY OF CIRQUE ITALIA

SATURDAY

BEERS & BURPEES

CHARLOTTE IRISH FEST

What: You ever want to kick your own ass for a good cause? Here’s your chance. The 8th annual Beer & Burpees event is a competitive, bootcamp-style workout, 100 percent of the proceeds of which benefit local nonprofit Dream on 3, which helps make sports dreams come true for special needs children. The event includes free “field-day” events, a beer garden, food trucks, a kids division, teen division, expanded adaptive athlete division, kids activities, music and more.

What: We all know that come St. Patrick’s Day, all you’ll find is a bunch of drunk-ass banker bros drinking Bud Light with green dye in it and swearing up and down that they’re Irish. The Charlotte Irish Fest, however, is a way to truly support the local Irish community, as proceeds will go toward efforts to build the first Irish Cultural Center in the city. Queen Charlotte would be spinning in her grave. Expect Irish music, dancing, food and fun.

When: Sept. 22, 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Where: Crossfit Charlotte, 9535 Monroe Road More: $120 per team of two. beersandburpees.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF JUMP, LITTLE CHILDREN

PHOTO BY MICHAELA PILAR BROWN

When: Sept. 22, 1-11 p.m. Where: Tyber Creek Pub, 1933 South Blvd. More: Free. charlotteirish.org

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

WEDNESDAY

CRAYZEE CREATIVE: THE ARTISTS’ SHOWCASE

JASON ISBELL AND THE 400 UNIT

What: For the last two years, the Breakin’ Convention has served as a showcase for A.J. Glasco and his Charlotte-based dance troupe, Crayzee Collective. This year, the convention isn’t stopping in the Q.C., so Glasco took it upon himself to host The Crayzee Collective’s first showcase. He’s bringing some friends from the area, including LeDarius Parker, Beth and EC Fajardo, Kelsey Edwards and Davon Bush. Stick around for a Q&A with Glasco and other choreographers.

What: Jason Isbell has flourished as a solo musician, but with the 400 Unit paired with him on tour, his Southern rock has taken a new road. Isbell’s second album with 400 Unit, The Nashville Sound, follows up on his Southern roots growing up in Alabama, and “Cumberland Gap” echoes the economic downturn that southeastern towns have seen in the last few years. Let yourself get swallowed whole in the sound of this musical duo.

What: Only a year after his anythingbut-funny 2017 studio album, Pure Comedy, Father John Misty released the critically acclaimed God’s Favorite Customer, in which he brings out a genuine and sincere side of his musical ability and lyricism. His evangelical Christian upbringing is evident throughout his music — and also in his name — but without being overwhelmingly preach-y. Just think of him as the provider of perfect introspective and thought-provoking rainy day tracks.

When: 7 p.m. Where: CMCU, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd. More: $32.50 and up. charlottemetrocreditunionamp.com

When: 8 p.m. Where: The Fillmore, 820 Hamilton St. More: $32.50. fillmorenc.com

When: 7 p.m. Where: Stage Door Theater, 155 N. College St. More: $10. blumenthalarts.org

FATHER JOHN MISTY

CLCLT.COM | SEPT. 20 - SEPT. 26, 2018 | 15

MUSIC

FEATURE

NO PLACE LIKE HOME Deniro Farrar’s not back because he never left BY RYAN PITKIN

HEN DENIRO FARRAR,

local rapper and founder of the Cult Rap movement, walked into Common Market in Plaza Midwood on a recent Wednesday afternoon, there was something different about him that I couldn’t place at first. I had just seen him two weeks before at a Player Made party at Snug Harbor down the street, but something had changed in that short time. It only took a matter of seconds to realize what it was, but it’s surprising that it even took me that long. Farrar’s most recognizable feature, his shoulder-length dreadlocks, were chopped down to a few inches each. When I asked him about it, he laughed and said he had been growing his dreads for four years. “Throughout that four-year journey, for real, I’ve been through so much shit, dog, so many ups and downs, you know what I’m saying, and I feel like hair really do carry energy,” he said. “I was like, ‘Man, you know what, I’mma cut it.’ I just did it one night.” It was important for Farrar to keep the “stumps,” the foundation of each dreadlock like a tree that will grow back, he said. And considering his earlier statement about the energy that’s been stored in those iconic ’locks over the last four years, he’s right to want to keep that foundation, because it’s been a hell of a ride for the Charlotte native. In that time, Deniro — whose real name is Dante Qushawn Farrar — has seen his name continue to blow up internationally. He’s played huge venues across the country and toured the world, stopping in Dubai and China, all while continuing to put out high-quality music partnered with equally exceptional visuals. On Sept. 22, Farrar will appear at The Black Mecca festival at Camp North End before catching a flight and embarking on another cross-country tour, hitting Las Vegas, Boston and other spots in between. But Farrar’s journey didn’t begin when he started growing his dreads. In fact, it began on an unsuspecting night at the club. According to Farrar, now 31 years old, he wasn’t even rapping regularly when a man heard him spitting a freestyle in front of a Charlotte nightclub on 2010. That man, David Luddy, was the owner of the locally owned Black Flag Records. Luddy offered his card and suggested Farrar call him if wanted to record in a studio. Up to that time, Farrar had never written 16 | SEPT. 20 - SEPT. 26, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

PHOTO COURTESY OF DENIRO FARRAR

a rap before, so he had no interest in studio time. Then in his early 20s, Farrar was selling weed and had already caught two felonies, which made it hard for him to get a job. He eventually began working with his uncle on a street-sweeper truck, but quit before the year was up. A 9-to-5 wasn’t for him, so Farrar decided to quit the job that same year and give Luddy a call, just “on some bored shit,” he said. “[Luddy] had a studio, he tried to put me in the booth to rap and I was like, ‘I ain’t a rapper. You just heard me kinda rapping, just saying some shit, but I ain’t a rapper. I ain’t got nothin’ to say,’” Farrar said. But Luddy told him to go home and write a rap, then bring it back and they could give it one more try. Farrar did just that, and came back with a verse. The recording became “In the Ghetto,” one of 31 tracks on Farrar’s debut mixtape, Feel This, which dropped in November 2010. It turned out he had plenty to say. “I was just goin’, I was a workhorse already, you know. And [Luddy] was a workhorse, so he was just basically exercising that workhorse in me and showing me I already have the ability to grind and grind and grind, and he just wanted me to put my creativity out in its totality,” he said. “Like, ‘Yo, we ain’t cutting shit. We’re putting everything out because everything is experimental, you don’t know what’s going to stick.’” And it stuck. Farrar’s raspy voice and head-bobbing flow was the prime delivery vehicle for his raps, which struck a back-andforth balance between criminal and conscious.

Farrar credits astrology with the personality traits that have bled into his music. He said it’s just his Gemini ways. It’s also a callback to his favorite rapper, Tupac. “That’s what made me unique. That’s what gave me my lane and style, just merging those two, because I am conscious, but I do have a lot of street ways,” Farrar said. “Merging those two was a perfect match for me. It’s like Sour Patch Kids, sweet and sour, but it’s the combination of the two, the salted caramel brownie, they just work well together.”

FARRAR KEPT UP the workhorse mentality,

following Feel This with three releases in 2012. But it wasn’t just the mixtapes that were helping Farrar build his name. Luddy and Farrar’s manager, Konstantin, had Farrar in front of huge crowds from the get-go. He was touring with Wiz Khalifa already when Feel This dropped, and would open for acts like Nas and Damien Marley, Mike Posner, Wale and Public Enemy during his first two years. As the hype around Farrar built, he tried to keep his head down and keep working, but that’s always going to be hard for someone thrown into such a situation so quickly. In a 2012 profile of Farrar in Creative Loafing, Farrar admitted to becoming arrogrant, pointing to a tweet from May 2011 in which Farrar let it fly: “Listen up you fuckers, that’s not rain that’s me pissing from my private jet in the sky.” It would be in 2013 that Farrar would truly grow up, thanks to two events that would shape his life forever. First, Farrar’s younger brother, Anthonio “Tune” Farrar, was arrested for the murder

of 19-year-old Benjamin McDaniel. Two years later, he’d be convicted and sentenced to 1823 years in prison, only to win his appeal and be released in 2017. “There was nothing I could do,” Deniro said. “I didn’t have the financial stability to be able to fight the case the way that I know it deserved to be fought. But then the Most High always got the last say so.” Another factor in Farrar’s maturing that year was the birth of his first children, two sons born four months apart. “It was so wild, because it was like I was so irresponsible, and then I had to become responsible like, boom,” Farrar said, his gravelly voice raising as he becomes more passionate. “Because I was always fending for myself. I was always doing whatever I wanted to, coming and going, spending money how I wanted. Everything was at my leisure and discretion. Now I have babies, I have to be responsible for them, I have to be responsible for their livelihood.” Eventually, fatherhood wasn’t the only pressure that Farrar felt. Farrar founded Cult Rap, a label and movement he named after his long-time interest in cult leaders like Charles Manson and Jim Jones and the sway they had over people. As his star grew, more folks began to take notice, both at home and away. Over the last four years, as Farrar has been touring the world, the hip-hop scene in Charlotte has been growing like his dreadlocks. While he opened up locally for many LiveNation acts, he admitted that he “kind of skipped over that,” when I asked him about playing local shows during his come-up.

Deniro Farrar before (left) and after he cut his dreadlocks. He said he was too busy on his grind to even be aware of any scene in the city. “I really felt like I was the only rapper rapping at the time, which wasn’t the truth, but I could only see what I was doing because I was so focused on what I had going on,” Farrar said. “I couldn’t see what was happening around me. I was not in tune with the heartbeat of the music, the pulse of the music, my ear wasn’t to the street. Some people wouldn’t necessarily classify that as a good thing, but I didn’t think it was a negative. I was just immersed in what I was doing. I didn’t have time to pay attention to what anybody else was doing.” However, as a current Charlotte resident who splits his non-touring time between his hometown and New York City, he’s proud of what’s been happening in the scene lately. “There was not a lot of things taking place [in 2011] that I’m starting to see unfold now,” Farrar said. “As my career began to flourish I started to see the city of Charlotte become more open to hip-hop and doors start to open. I won’t say it was all because of me, but I know I played a part in that, opening up a lot of those doors. It was a blessing just to see.” In August 2017, Farrar held a Tribe concert at The Rabbit Hole in Plaza Midwood. He told organizers that he wanted to put together the line-up, then recruited some of Charlotte’s best black talent: Nige Hood, Yung Citizen, Dexter Jordan, Blu House and more. The show was a shoo-in for Best Local Concert Critic’s Pick in CL’s 2017 Best of Charlotte issue.

PHOTO BY RYAN PITKIN

THE BLACK MECCA $15-75; Sept. 22, 2-10 p.m.; Camp North End, 1824 Statesville Ave.; theblackmecca.com

Farrar said the Tribe show was something he’d like to do more of moving forward, as well as philanthropic efforts for Queen City youth. He said he once felt he was the only rapper folks in Charlotte were talking about, but that’s now changed, and he’s all the better for it. “I was the talk of Charlotte and I hated that in a sense. I enjoyed it because of the hard work that I put in, but I hated it because I’m like, ‘Man there’s so much other talent here in the city. I’m not the only one,’” Farrar said. “And now I’m really not the only one, because you got Da Baby, you got Lute, you got Elevator [Jay], you have Nige Hood. I mean, man, there’s so many people to name, and it’s dope because the culture is growing. “I feel like I’m one of those OG faces at this point now,” he continued, laughing. “I’m just like that dude that come in the party and people are like, ‘Oh shit, Deniro, what’s good?’ I just fall back on some, ‘Yeah,’ shit.” Although having seen Farrar on stage many times, odds are that we’ll all see more than just some “Yeah” shit at The Black Mecca. RPITKIN@CLCLT.COM

CLCLT.COM | SEPT. 20 - SEPT. 26, 2018 | 17

MUSIC

MUSICMAKER

GIVE HIM YOUR EAR Joshua Cotterino wants to play his music for anybody who will listen BY RYAN PITKIN

JOSHUA COTTERINO LOVES a good rabbit hole. As soon as we finished our recent interview at Common Market, he turned the tables on me, asking what my favorite bands are. It was the same back-and-forth I had with Mark Hepp and Charles Ovett of Joules, another experimental act in Charlotte, following our interview two weeks ago. New bands are like food for acts like Cotterino and Joules; they want to know about all the bands, and the bands that inspired those bands, because they’d hate to miss out on that one sound that belongs in one of their own songs. Cotterino moved to Charlotte from his hometown of Westminster, Maryland, at 18 years old, right around the time he started to take his music more seriously. He once played regularly with local experimental rock group

What’s your songwriting process? Is it improvisational, or more structured? I like trying to surprise myself while I’m recording, especially if it’s something where I know the song really well. I’ll record a demo or a voice memo or something, and then purposefully try to keep it a little vague. It’s hard sometimes, I feel like, “Ehhh, that one was just too rigid, too planned out, that one kind of rambles on.” But I do a ton of takes. Most stuff I start on my computer and then I mix in tape a lot, or other stuff, afterwards. Sometimes I’ll start on tape, and that’s really fun, too, because you kind of have to keep the mistakes. I usually just end up doing stuff over and over again, and then try to capture a moment.

Patois Counselors, but has since branched out on his own, mixing pop melodies with the reverbed, synthy sounds of new wave. Cotterino’s newest project is Death Cell, which he plans to release by the end of the year. In the two Death Cell songs currently streaming on Bandcamp, Cotterino balances between catchy refrains and washed out effects. Before I gave him my inspirations, we talk about his, as well as the local scene and why sometimes you just have to make folks listen. Creative Loafing: What brought you to Charlotte? Joshua Cotterino: I had a couple friends down here, and I went to this ministry school in Fort Mill — Morningstar University. It’s more on the mystical side of, like, charismatic Christianity, so it’s pretty weird, but I’m definitely grateful for it. They had some cool music stuff there, so I was taking music theory classes and stuff, aside from the weird spiritual stuff. Were you into experimental music early? I don’t think so. I grew up listening to a lot of metalcore and black metal and stuff like that, which, to me, I really don’t consider it experimental, but I guess it’s just like, “Oh my interests aren’t what everyone likes.” I had a lot of friends who were into the same stuff. I never really tried to make explicitly experimental stuff, but I did find experimental music inspiring, for sure. Probably the first stuff I listened to that stuck was Depeche Mode, they were one of my favorite bands for a long time. I still love

ACNE, JOSHUA COTTERINO, DEATH FOR HOURS, T.O.N.G.U.E. Free; Sept. 20, 8 p.m.-Midnight; The Milestone Club, 3400 Tuckaseegee Road; themilestone.club

them. And The Cure, for sure. Your music now still has an ’80s new wave sound. I’ve never really tried to make ’80s music, but I do purposefully try to keep a new wave element to it. I like a lot of effects and reverb and delay and stuff. And I do love that there’s that period in the ’80s, between like ’82 and ’84, where they just went really crazy. Even Prince had flangers on everything and delay. And actually using those things as part of the music. Some of the first post-punk stuff, early Joy Division or Wire, they’re consciously using those effects as part of the song, and not just like, “Oh, we’ll put this one there.” Some of those musicians you just named are household names, but you’ve also named certain obscure acts as inspiration, acts like Cabaret Voltaire and Nina Hagen. I grew up listening to a lot of fad, Christian punk or metal stuff, so probably it wasn’t until I was 18 or 19 that I started getting into Depeche Mode, The Cure, and then, so, who were Depeche Mode influenced by? Oh, they were really into this band Portion Control. Sick. So that’s how you would find new music? Yeah, I love finding out what other people listen to. I feel like that was one of the best ways to find music. Now it’s great how it’s actually easier now with YouTube, you can just play one of your favorite songs and then something else related comes on. If you ask someone from a couple decades before then, they’ll be like, “You can just go on the internet.” I’m definitely thankful to have grown up and had access to so much music, especially underground stuff, too. I used to search the blogs for music. SoundCloud now is really great for that.

You’ve got The Milestone show coming up, and I know that’s one of your favorite venues, but what are some others you enjoy playing around Charlotte? Snug [Harbor], of course. I like playing at Thomas Street [Tavern] a lot because you get to play for a lot of people who probably have no idea why you’re even there. You just get a lot of strangers like, “Oh, this is really cool.” People you wouldn’t expect. I love that kind of stuff. One of these days I want to just set up Uptown. I can probably just get an amp or something. I feel like we need more stuff like that around here. One of my favorite artists, The Space Lady, she played on the streets in San Francisco in the ’80s and ’90s, just with a Casio, and it’s some of the most pure music you will ever hear. I always thought it would be cool to do that. It seems a lot more punk rock to play for, like, business people. I’m sure a lot of them would like it, too. As artists, we can tend to be a little bit like, you expect people to come, but the chances of — however many people live in Charlotte — the chances that they stumble into one of these venues like The Milestone or Tommy’s Pub, you’ve got to find them. Who are some of the local bands you enjoy most? Minthill, Human Pippy Armstrong, Koosh, Zodiac Lovers, Emotron, Dallas Thrasher. There are so many great solo performers — to me, pop performers, but I guess it’s experimental pop, really. My friend Hugo Presser, he’s one of my biggest inspirations. He lives in Australia. We met on a John Maus forum and we’ve just been sending music back and forth for, like, four years now. That was key, finding someone who made similar stuff. I think that helped me a lot. Because originally I didn’t realize there were people here who were doing stuff like I do. So that was a huge lifesaver, artistically. It sounds like you’re more into finding inspiration from folks you can actually connect with, rather than famous acts. Totally. I think it’s just hard, at least for me, if you feel like you’re the only one doing something, especially if people don’t get it at first. Not that I had that, I feel really fortunate that I got, pretty early on, so much support, whether it was friends who were really encouraging, then just meeting a lot of like-minded artists that really encouraged me and supported me to keep going. BACKTALK@CLCLT.COM

18 | SEPT. 20 - SEPT. 26, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

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MUSIC

SOUNDBOARD SEPTEMBER 20 COUNTRY/FOLK Jamie Hofmeister-Cline (Summit Coffee Co., Davidson)

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

POP/ROCK Act 2 (RiRa Irish Pub) Borns, Twin Shadow (The Fillmore) Carl Broemel of My Morning Jacket with Steelism (Visulite Theatre) Free Bar Room Show: Acne & Joshua Cotterino, Death For Hours & Terror Oscillation Unit (Milestone) Future Generations, Zuli (The Evening Muse) Jump Little Children, SonderBlue (Neighborhood Theatre) Mike Strauss Trio (Comet Grill) The National Reserve (U.S. National Whitewater Center) Shana Blake and Friends (Smokey Joe’s Cafe) Toad the Wet Sprocket (McGlohon Theater) U- Phonik (Tin Roof) William Hinson, The Remarks, Chris Larkin (Petra’s)

SEPTEMBER 21 BLUES/ROOTS/INTERNATIONAL Brother Dege & The Brethren, Ever More Nest (Evening Muse) Rebirth Brass Band, Aztec Sun (Neighborhood Theatre)

CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH Charlotte Symphony Gala Opening Night: Joshua Bell plays Brahms (Belk Theater) Opera at the Market (7th Street Public Market) Stephane Wrembel (Evening Muse)

COUNTRY/FOLK The Lenny Federal Band (Comet Grill) Sunday Union (Summit Coffee Co., Davidson)

DJ/ELECTRONIC DJ Overcash (RiRa Irish Pub) DJ T-Nice (Tin Roof)

POP/ROCK 20 | SEPT. 20 - SEPT. 26, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

Amos Lee (Knight Theater) Atlas Road Crew, Daddy’s Beemer (Visulite Theatre) Bombadil with Kate Rhudy (Petra’s) DogEar, WaterWorks, King Thing (The Rabbit Hole) Glow Co. (Tin Roof) The Hawthornes, Funk Rush (Sylvia Theatre, York) John Cathal O’Brian (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Kaleo (The Fillmore) Kevin Gordon (U.S. National Whitewater Center) RJ Acoustic (RiRa Irish Pub) Shannon Lee & The Grab Bag (Smokey Joe’s Cafe) VOLK, The Business People, The Phantom Friends, Cheveron (Snug Harbor)

SEPTEMBER 22 CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH 2018 Concerto Competition (Davidson College Tyler-Tallman Recital Hall, Davidson) From the British Isles - Charlotte Master Chorale Chamber Singers (Westminster Presbyterian Church)

COUNTRY/FOLK David Olney, Daniel Seymour (Evening Muse)

DJ/ELECTRONIC DJ FWB (Tin Roof) DJ Method (RiRa Irish Pub) SHIPROCKED Does Willy Wonka! (Snug Harbor)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Arsena Schroeder Sleep Talking Album Release Concert (Rock University, Concord)

POP/ROCK Ariel Posen (Midwood Guitar Studio) Carolina Gator Gumbo (Comet Grill) Christian Music Day: Skillet, Elevation Worship, Crowder, Social Misfits, Ledger, also Micah Tyler and comedian Heath Arthur. varied. (Carowinds Paladium) Clint Roberts (Primal Brewery, Huntersville) David Britt, Laine Mansfield (Visulite Theatre) Delbert McClinton, Moses Jones (Neighborhood Theatre) D.R.I, Kaustik, Drunk in a Dumpster, No Anger Control (The Rabbit Hole) Matt Bennett Band (Tin Roof) Matt Stratford (RiRa Irish Pub)

SOUNDBOARD

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MUSIC

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

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SAT, OCTOBER 6

JOBETICKETS FORTNER $10 FRI, OCTOBER 12

New Local (Tin Roof) Old 97’s (The Underground) Poor Blue (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Rick Spreitzer and the Antique Babies (Summit Coffee Co., Davidson) Willie Douglas (Smokey Joe’s Cafe)

SEPTEMBER 23 BLUES/ROOTS/INTERNATIONAL Clanndarragh (RiRa Irish Pub) Colorado Bluegrass & Gumbo Night: Julie & John Pennell, Martin Gilmore, Joe Arden (Sylvia Theatre, York)

CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH An Afternoon of Trumpet, Piano and Horn with Bill Lawing, Cynthia Lawing and Eric Keith (Davidson College Tyler-Tallman Recital Hall, Davidson)

DJ/ELECTRONIC DJ Soden (Tin Roof) Bone Snugs-N-Harmony (Snug Harbor)

POP/ROCK Daddy’s Beemer, She Returns From War, Grace Joyner, Dear Blanca (Petra’s) Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, American Aquarium (Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre) Jon Stickley Trio (Visulite Theatre) Leo Kottke (McGlohon Theater) Omari and The Hellhounds (Comet Grill) Sunday Music Bingo (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern)

SEPTEMBER 24 CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH

Leith K. Ali (Milestone)

SEPTEMBER 25 CLASSICAL/JAZZ/SMOOTH Stanley Clarke Band (McGlohon Theater)

COUNTRY/FOLK Red Rockin’ Chair (Comet Grill)

DJ/ELECTRONIC DJ Steel Wheel (Snug Harbor) GLBL: DJ AHuf (Snug Harbor) Lost Cargo: September Edition (Petra’s)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Eclectic Soul Tuesdays - RnB & Poetry (Apostrophe Lounge) Soulful Tuesdays: DJ ChopstickZ, DJ JTate Beats (Crown Station Coffeehouse and Pub)

POP/ROCK Open Jam with the Smokin’ Js (Smokey Joe’s Cafe) All Time Low, Gnash (The Fillmore) Ian Moore (Evening Muse) The Mystery Plan, The Veldt, Leisure McCorkle (Snug Harbor) Uptown Unplugged with Natty Boh (Tin Roof) Vicious Rumors & Rhythm of Fear w/ Old Scratch, Knightmare & NeverFall (Milestone)

SEPTEMBER 26 COUNTRY/FOLK Clay Parker And Jodi James, Jake Scott (Evening Muse) Open Mic (Comet Grill)

Jazz Jam (Crown Station Coffeehouse and Pub)

DJ/ELECTRONIC

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B

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

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

COUNTRY/FOLK Dale Watson (The Tipsy Burro Saloon & Cantina)

POP/ROCK Cheer Up, Wild Trees, Rowdy Leaf (Lunchbox Records) Find Your Muse Open Mic with our good friend Ross Adams (Evening Muse) Jamorah (Smokey Joe’s Cafe) Runaway Brother w/ Pale Lungs, Heckdang &

HUDSON MOORE TICKETS $8

POP/ROCK All That Remains, Toothgrinder, Escape The Paradigm, Gears (Neighborhood Theatre) Damien Escobar (McGlohon Theater) Daughtry (Ovens Auditorium) Dreamers, Weathers & Morgxn (The Underground) Father John Misty, King Tuff (The Fillmore) Quincey Blues (Smokey Joe’s Cafe) September Residency: Grown Up Avenger Stuff, Mammoth Indigo (Snug Harbor)

9/19 NOAH GUNDERSEN 9/21ATLAS ROAD CREW BROEMEL 9/22 'SINGIN'DAVIDFORBRITT A REASON' 9/20 ofCARL My Morning Jacket 9/28 CAAMP 9/30 CASEY JAMES 9/23 JON STICKLEY TRIO 10/9WELSHLY ARMS 10/2 MT. JOY 10/10 BASS PHYSICS x ELIOT LIPP MAMA'S BIG 10/11 FATYOBOOTY BAND 10/18 BLACK JOE LEWIS ! 11/7 WILL HOGE 11/10 THE NIGHT GAME 12/12BAYSIDE NEED DIRECTIONS? Check out our website at clclt.

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

SAT, OCTOBER 20

CODY JOHNSON LIMITED ADVANCE $15 ALL OTHERS $18

SAT, NOVEMBER 3

CORY SMITH LIMITED ADVANCE $20 ALL OTHERS $25

SAT, NOVEMBER 10

MUSCADINE BLOODLINE WITH SPECIAL GUEST

KOE WETZEL LIMITED ADVANCE $13 ALL OTHERS $16

SAT, NOVEMBER 17

MORGAN WALLEN LIMITED ADVANCE $15 ALL OTHERS $18

FRI, NOVEMBER 23

JON LANGSTON

LIMITED ADVANCE $12 ALL OTHERS $15

SAT, DECEMBER 8

RILEY GREEN

LIMITED ADVANCE $12 ALL OTHERS $15

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

704-399-4946

CLCLT.COM | SEPT. 20 - SEPT. 26, 2018 | 21

‘In the Pursuit of Justice’

COURTESY OF THE CHARLOTTE FILM FESTIVAL

‘Theo’s Trade’

FEATURE

ARTS

DIVERSITY AND DISCOVERY HIT THE BIG SCREEN Charlotte Film Festival features distinct and different voices BY PAT MORAN

COURTESY OF THE CHARLOTTE FILM FESTIVAL

E LIKE TO call ourselves an

umbrella festival,” Charlotte Film Festival programming director Jay Morong says. “If it’s a quality project that registers with our submissions team, then we’ll play it. We welcome everything.” “Everything” in this case encompasses over 85 films, including features, shorts, documentaries and narrative cinema, culled from submissions from over 35 countries. The festival’s wide array of cinematic viewpoints and voices will be on display Sept. 26–30, with film screenings at Ayrsley Grand Cinemas; and seminars, workshops and panel discussions at Wheelhouse Media, a production facility and agency in Uptown Charlotte. It’s a veritable feast of films, so Morong urges festivalgoers to come for the kind of film they know they like, then stick around for a screening of something outside of their comfort zone. There will be plenty to choose from, because attendees of this year’s festival will be exposed to filmmakers of multiple gender identities, sexualities and racial dynamics. “In the last three years, as we’ve seen the culture shift and the film landscape change, that’s where [the festival] has focused,” he continues. That’s because the festival’s tagline, “discover different,” has been undergoing a philosophical expansion, according to Morong. Since the festival’s inception in 2006, its 22 | SEPT. 20 - SEPT. 26, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

mission has been to showcase alternative narratives to standard multiplex fare, but now that focus is sharpening. Whereas “discover different” was interpreted in years past as the justification to screen a quirky comedy or an indie drama you’d never find on Netflix, the concept now includes films that examine social justice and stories that feature the voices of women filmmakers and filmmakers of color. One of those voices belongs to Albert Lawrence, who wrote, acted in, co-produced and co-directed the drama Theo’s Trade, the story of an African-American TV newsman who struggles with the tone and tenor of media coverage of racially charged events. Lawrence draws on his experience as an on-air correspondent with KABC-TV is Los Angeles to tell his tale. “I’ve wrestled with discerning the difference between exposing injustices that plague communities versus exploiting their pain,” Lawrence says. Social justice comes to the fore in WinstonSalem-based filmmaker Gregg Jamback’s documentary In Pursuit of Justice. The film documents the case of Greg Taylor, a North Carolinian who was wrongly imprisoned for a brutal slaying. Taylor’s 17-year struggle to prove his innocence led to the formation of North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission, a state agency that examines post-conviction claims of innocence. Despite Taylor’s harrowing ordeal, Jamback feels the documentary’s message is

a positive one. “If criminal justice reform is possible in North Carolina, for crying out loud, it’s possible everywhere.” Jamback says. Catherine Dudley-Rose is a returning filmmaker to the festival, choosing to tell a more intimate story with her drama, Parallel Chords. Dudley-Rose’s feature depicts a young violinist struggling to break free of her pianist father and find her own voice. “I did a short version of the film that played here in Charlotte in 2015,” DudleyRose reveals. “So it’s a thrill to be able to return with the feature.” A socially conscious outlook infuses Gus Krieger’s My Name is Myeisha, a hip-hop musical inspired by the 1988 police shooting of a California teenager. Krieger says he was drawn to adapt his film from an existing stage play because he found the story compelling, vital and universal. “It’s the story of a young woman, the life she led, her dreams and flaws and aspirations,” Krieger concludes. Producer Benjamin Wiessner brings his South by Southwest award-winning film Thunder Road to the festival. As a police officer comes to grips with death of his mother, the film spins a heart-breaking comedic tale of loss, legacies and parenting. “As a group of Southern filmmakers, we made a very Southern movie” Wiessner says. “It’s an honor to have it championed on the world stage.” Continuing in a comic vein is FP2: Beats

CHARLOTTE FILM FESTIVAL September 26 – 30 Ayrsley Grand Cinemas 14 charlottefilmfestival.org

SEMINARS, PANELS & WORKSHOPS Wheelhouse Media Thursday, September 27, 12-3 p.m. Panel: Modern Media Creation Thursday, September 29, 12:30-1:30 p.m. Workshop: Film Composing and Perception 2-3 p.m. Panel: Being a Filmmaker and Female

of Rage, a sarcastic parody of 1980s and 1990s action films. It’s about white trash anime characters competing to the death for a post-apocalypse cache of booze, says director and star Jason Trost. “[Despite its humor], the film is at its core, it’s a real movie, with real stakes and no winking at the camera,” Trost says. Multiply these six films by a factor of fourteen, and you can begin to get an idea of the festival’s range and scope, Morong points out. In addition, the festival insists on a degree of exclusivity, Morong says, so each feature will be receiving its Charlotte or regional premiere at the festival, and none of the films have yet been commercially released. Movie fans and film professionals alike can also attend the festival’s slate of seminars, panels and workshops at Wheelhouse Media, Morong says. On Sept. 27, a panel about modern media creation will be hosted by former

A FESTIVAL FOR THE CAROLINAS The region’s newest film showcase features short subjects BY PAT MORAN

‘Parallel Chords’

COURTESY OF THE CHARLOTTE FILM FESTIVAL

“IN THE LAST THREE YEARS, AS WE’VE SEEN THE CULTURE SHIFT AND THE FILM LANDSCAPE CHANGE, THAT’S WHERE (THE FESTIVAL) HAS FOCUSED.” JAY MORONG, CHARLOTTE FILM FEST

NBC Charlotte anchor and former Fox News Rising host Beth Troutman. “It’s a panel discussion on ways to tell stories using animation, virtual reality and social media,” Morong explains. On Sept. 29, composer Cristina “Trinity” Vélez-Justo, who also runs the Charlottebased business ReelScoring, will conduct the workshop, “Film Composing and Perception.” Vélez-Justo will focus on what she refers to as “the golden age of film music,” the 1930s through the 1970s. Later that afternoon Vélez-Justo will join Dudley-Rose and producer/assistant director Charlotte Stein for a panel discussion, moderated by Juli Emmons, founder and president of the Carolina Film Community. “They will be talking about being female filmmakers in the industry,” Morong says. The festival’s slate of films and workshops may be ambitious, but Morong feels Charlotte deserves and can accommodate such a wide variety of programs. He cites the festival’s long-standing support from Charlotte institutions such as The Arts & Science Council and The Charlotte Film Society. The audience for the festival has been growing steadily year afer year, he notes. “I think Charlotte audiences are cinemaliterate and open to different voices,” Morang says. He credits that literacy to increased access to movies due to a home video boom in the 1990s and the current popularity of streaming services. But he cautions that this

all-important access is constricting. “At one point in this town, we had 14 art house screens, with Park Terrace, Ballantyne and the Manor, but now we’re down to seven,” Morong says. Making matters worse, the bigger-name art house titles rule the distribution roost, so those seven screens are only showing four different movies, he adds. “Black Klansman is a great movie, but it’s playing on a lot of screens, whereas the maker of Thunder Road, one of the grand prize winning films at South by Southwest, is self-distributing.” In an industry climate like this, the festival audience becomes even more important to indie filmmakers, Trost says. “It’s disheartening that most of the big festivals have turned into publicity runs for movies that already have distribution, as opposed to festivals like Charlotte that are more about finding undiscovered talent.” Trost maintains. “To me that’s more interesting and important.” Thunder Road producer Wiessner also weighs in on the importance of festival audiences. “For an independent film, those audiences become your evangelists,” Wiessner says. “Word of mouth is really what grows a small film.” “We’re bringing Charlotte some unique and interesting voices,” Morong concludes. “We’re giving people an opportunity to experience these voices in a theater, and slowly but surely, those voices are reaching audiences.” PMORAN@CLCLT.COM

BY DAY, OLIVER J. Crooms IV works for corporate America, but his true passion is film. “I’m a film buff and I wanted to leave a positive mark in the city I come from,” Crooms says. “I wanted to put together something that can highlight our community, something that can continue to build.” To that end, Crooms is launching the inaugural Carolina Film Festival on Oct. 13 at Johnson & Wales University’s Hance Auditorium from 2:45 to 6 p.m. The oneday event is free to the public and includes screenings of nominated films in six categories. It also features a panel Q&A session including director and owner of Domino Effect Productions, Marcus Small; producer and co-owner of 1555Filmworks, Eric Small; and Atlanta actress Joslyn Hall. On-air television personality for WCCB News Rising Tonya Rivens will also be present to receive a humanitarian award. The Charlotte-based film festival landscape is a crowded field — Charlotte Film Festival programming director Jay Morong reckons that the city currently hosts over 15 festivals devoted to movies and moviemakers, but Crooms is determined to separate his newcomer festival clear of the pack. Creative Loafing: Where are the films coming from for this inaugural festival? Oliver Crooms: We’re partnered with FilmFreeway, which is a third-party company where people submit their films. We received films from all over the world — films from India, China and Canada. What cuts this festival from the pack? What makes us different from other festivals is that we’re really invested in the Carolinas. The Carolinas will always be the place that will be home for us. This festival may not always be in Charlotte but it will remain in the Carolinas. That means a lot to me because I’m from Charlotte. We’re also excited to be bringing in filmmakers from all over the world and presenting panels with distinguished guests who are spearheading and trailblazing in the industry. There will be Q&A panels and speeches to motivate and encourage people. How many films will be screened at the festival? We have six different categories and each category has five or six different films in it. We have Best Short, Best Trailer, Best Music Video, Best Drone Short, Most Creative and Best Director. We have only 18 nominees but we received tons and tons of submissions. We narrowed it down to the nominees that are going to be screening. Our first year is all

Carolina Film Festival President Oliver J. Crooms IV

PHOTO BY MARISSA CARTER

shorts. Everything that is going to be viewed at the festival is no longer than 25 minutes. How did you come up with categories like Best Trailer and Best Drone Short? I’m a filmmaker myself, and I love the process. There are certain things that I believe do not get as much love and attention as they should, like trailers, for instance. Making a trailer is an art. In two or two-anda-half minutes you have to give somebody a feeling of what the story is without saying too much. You have to give viewers a taste of the project and leave them wanting more. The trailer for Avengers: Infinity War was one of the most epic trailers of the year. It gave you a good idea of who the villain was, and what the villain’s motivation was, without showing too much. It also built up anticipation for the film. Those were our standards for judging trailers. Similarly operating a drone to make a film is a complex craft and art. A qualification to submit your film for Best Drone is that a certain percent of the shots have to be done with a drone. If you do it the right way, you can make a cool and innovative narrative story following somebody with a drone. That is another reason we are different from other festivals, not just in the Carolinas but in the country, I don’t see a lot of festivals with the drone category. I think that’s something that is going to create sparks and we’ll see a lot more of that [category] after us, because it’s a neat category. What would you like people who attend to take away from this festival? I want people to enjoy themselves and feel like this is a professional and prestigious event. I want people to feel like they had fun, that they networked and learned a lot from the panel. I hope they will want to come again next year, and that they will recommend other people to come to the festival. PMORAN@CLCLT.COM CLCLT.COM | SEPT. 20 - SEPT. 26, 2018 | 23

ARTS

ARTSPEAK

FESTIVAL IN THE PARK Free; Sept. 21, 4-9:30 p.m.; Sept. 22, 10 a.m.-9:30 p.m.; Sept. 23, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; Freedom Park, 1900 East Blvd.; festivalinthepark.org

GARBAGE WOMEN

The bonus to the stuff we do ship is if it gets broken during shipping, you can just glue it back on. But people really react differently when they see our stuff in person at shows. We do shows that are all handmade items, and some shows are better than others. We probably do our biggest show in Michigan where we’re originally from, but we’ve been really happy with these shows in Charlotte because they market them as an art sale. The really great thing [about the shows here] is that you can buy [pieces that are] upscale or fun, simple and totally affordable.

One person’s trash is another one’s artwork BY VERONICA COX

CAROL JOHNCOCK and Mary Clark

have always been recycle-savvy sisters, but it wasn’t until they were making crafts at a retreat a few years ago and came across an owl made of buttons, scrap paper and other random materials that they realized the value of what some people call trash. “We saw this little owl that had been made out of trinkets, and everyone loved it,” Carol remembers. When the sisters saw how everyone else in the room reacted to the owl, they wised up and decided to make their own. And just like that, Girlbage was born. Johncock, who lives in Hickory, and Clark, who lives in Charlotte, team up to make unique and custom pieces for their clients using recycled materials found, well, anywhere. They’ve reimagined broken plates, metal parts and anything else they can find to make into impressive pieces of art. “We love a challenge, and we love that we can take something broken and make it beautiful again,” says Johncock. The sisters will be peddling their pieces at Festival in the Park at Freedom Park over the weekend of Sept. 21, but first, Creative Loafing spoke with Johncock about their work, and being known amongst friends as the girls who want the garbage. Creative Loafing: The other half of Girlbage is your sister, Mary, who lives here in Charlotte. How do you make that work, and does it affect your projects? Carol Johncock: We do a lot of texting: “Hey, what do you think about this?” We toss ideas back and forth and we do things individually. We have the same vibe, so you can’t really tell who made what or the other. We don’t get to work together very often, so we enjoy working together at art shows. At least one of us is working as we’re showing, so it’s easier [having two of us] because one can speak to the customers while the other works on the pieces. Do you both find your materials locally? Pretty much. Our friends know what we do, so if they break a plate they save it for us. It’s not uncommon for me to find a box of materials on my porch. People will usually bring us stuff at our shows too. I noticed Girlbage has an Etsy account. Do you do pretty well with just selling on Etsy alone, or are shows like Festival in the Park substantial to your business? We actually don’t sell a lot through Etsy. It’s hard to look online and see what you’re getting. People need to see our stuff in person. We have our smaller pieces listed on Etsy, but the bigger stuff is expensive to ship. 24 | SEPT. 20 - SEPT. 26, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

The Girlbage duo [above]: Carol Johncock [left] and Mary Clark and some of their work [below].

PHOTOS COURTESY OF GIRLBAGE

How did you hear about Festival in the Park? We started out doing Kings Drive Art Walk. Then once we did that we decided to try Festival in the Park. This will be our second year, so we feel like we’re kind of just getting into the scene. What’s the market like in Charlotte for your pieces? We’ve only done a couple of shows in Charlotte, so we’ve only sold what we’ve had at Kings Drive and Festival in the Park, but so far we’ve had good experiences with both. People will see pieces that we’ve already done and ask if we can make another. But it’s never going to be the exact same thing, which makes each piece unique. What’s the most popular item at your shows? We carry a lot of letter boards, broken pottery, flowers, button magnets and ornaments. We just actually started the magnets last week. They’re great [for shows] because if people can’t buy something big, they can still leave with something. The most popular things are the word boards. It used to be the picture boards, but people are all about words these days, and it speaks to a lot of people. We do custom word boards right there. It takes awhile for the glue to dry, but most people don’t mind. A lot of times too we’ll have a stack of pottery and they’ll ask if we can make flowers, etc. What other pieces will you have available for Festival in the Park? We have these little people made out of nails and other little things that people really like. We’ll also have our magnets, and our custom pieces that we do while we’re there. Do you plan on participating in more Charlotte shows? We need to do some more research, and really see what the market is for us outside of Kings Drive and Festival in the Park. There are some close shows around Charlotte [that we could try]. We definitely don’t feel like we’ve done all that we can do yet. BACKTALK@CLCLT.COM

‘The Predator’

ARTS

FOX

FILM

A CRYING SHANE Black is back with a disappointing sequel BY MATT BRUNSON

FAR BE IT for me to engage in spoilers right off the bat, so let’s keep this vague and just state that a particular character in The Predator (** out of four), the latest in the stop-start series that began back in 1987, dies. Obviously, a lot of people bite the bullet in a movie such as this, but this is a major character — among the five or six topbilled performers — and this particular death should be a major event. Yet the sequence in which he/she meets his/her demise is so badly edited and ridiculously rushed that I didn’t realize until much later that this person actually kicked the bucket. And neither did my buddy who accompanied me to the screening. And neither did the other two media friends seated next to me in the critics’ row. And neither did the other reviewer who caught up with me after the screening and asked (paraphrasing Fred Willard in A Mighty Wind), “Hey, wha’ happened?” Clearly, clarity (or the lack thereof) is an issue in The Predator, the latest attempt to again jump-start a franchise that has basically been on life support since the engaging original. That nifty action flick found Arnold Schwarzenegger squaring off against an imposing extra-terrestrial hunter who, thanks to Oscar-nominated visual effects, was able to shimmer in and out of sight at will. Since then, there have only been a smattering of Predator pictures, and this latest entry more or less falls into line as yet another series entry that blows its potential. Shane Black is primarily known in some circles for appearing in a supporting role in the original Predator, better known in other circles for penning such action romps as Lethal Weapon and Last Action Hero, and mainly known in my circle for writing and directing the underrated gems Kiss Kiss Bang

Bang and The Nice Guys. He takes on scripting and helming duties here as well, but the result is ultimately a disappointment. Black is known for his he-man casts and quip-heavy dialogue, and both are on full display in this new film, which finds Army Ranger sniper Quinn McKenna (Boyd Holbrook) squaring off against more than one predator with the help of his autistic young son (Room’s Jacob Tremblay), a courageous scientist (Olivia Munn) who got the call to study these predators because (I’m sure I heard this right) she once wrote the US president when she was a little girl and told him she wanted to meet aliens(!!), and a group of ex-army inmates who seem to have escaped from a dinner theater production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. There’s the Jesus freak (Augusto Aguilera); the mutually combative BFFs (Keegan-Michael Key and Thomas Jane), one of whom highlariously suffers from Tourette’s; the suicidal sort (Moonlight’s Trevante Rhodes); and one nondescript guy played by a British actor named Alfie Allen (making me want to ask — with apologies to Michael Caine — “What’s it all about, Alfie?”). This motley crew of PTSD soldiers is meant to represent the heart of the picture, but, frankly, their juvenile antics and moldy humor (lots of “your momma” jokes) quickly wore me out. Far more engaging is Sterling K. Brown, who’s cast as the primary (human) villain and seems to relish playing such a transparently odious character. From a narrative standpoint, the script by Black and Fred Dekker (they made the dopey kid flick The Monster Squad together back in the ‘80s) might be the worst in the entire franchise — did I mention there are Predator dogs, one which becomes man’s best friend after someone throws it a ball to fetch? — but

a talented cast and some exciting interludes during the first half compensate for the rampant idiocy. Still, enough is enough. Alas, the ending hints at a sequel, but unless they come up with a new angle, what’s the point? FAR FROM A cookie-cutter comedy that rolled straight off the Hollywood assembly line, A Simple Favor (*** out of four) is basically Gone Girl if it had been played for laughs instead of thrills. Yet even that description doesn’t hint at the dark depths occasionally found in an invigorating effort that doesn’t quite maintain its high-wire act yet deftly avoids a fall and a splat. Anna Kendrick stars as Stephanie Smothers, a widowed single mom who operates a cooking vlog. Her online videos already maintain a solid following, but they become even more popular once she uses it to relate the sordid tale of how her newly acquired best friend, the confidant and no-nonsense Emily Nelson (Blake Lively), suddenly goes missing. Emily’s husband Sean (Henry Golding, currently enjoying great

success as Nick Young in Crazy Rich Asians) claims not to know the whereabouts of his wife, a stance also taken by her boss, fashion designer Dennis Nylon (a funny Rupert Friend). Concerned about Emily, Stephanie opts to do a little sleuthing on her own — an unwise decision since it brings such unpleasantries as incest, adultery and murder floating to the surface. Directed by hitmaker Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, Spy) and written by Jessica Sharzer (working from Darcey Bell’s novel), A Simple Favor is outstanding for about an hour, thanks to its unexpectedly dark themes, its mordant humor, and a knockout performance by Lively. But if the first half is mostly about the characters, the second part is chiefly about the mystery, and the movie isn’t quite as compelling as it works through its convoluted plot (some of which relies on happenstance) and employs dramatic devices that were already growing hoary back in the 1940s. Still, as a robust way for viewers to welcome the fall film season, A Simple Favor easily gets the job done. BACKTALK@CLCLT.COM CLCLT.COM | SEPT. 20 - SEPT. 26, 2018 | 25

ENDS

NIGHTLIFE

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I’ve been twice). Not to mention, they’ve THIS PAST WEEK, an old friend came managed to create some version of a into town for a quick visit. In her usual unique menu every single week since they flair, she returned to the Q.C. with a bang. opened. Say what?! The peas and carrots Day two, she was sighing aloud about how were phenomenal. Pro tip: You’ll need a disinterested she was in traditional dating reservation, so get on that. Also, they don’t now that she’s relocated to Nashville. You stay open super late, so keep that in mind. know the deal: having dinner and going Soul Gastrolounge: If you’ve lived in through the motions of getting to know a Charlotte for any decent amount of time, complete stranger over the course of a single you better know about Soul. You certainly meal. need a reservation for this Queen City staple “I just wanna eat. That’s all I wanna do. (I’ve happily waited more than two hours I don’t want to get to know you. What am I for a table before). But they’ve managed gonna ask or talk about if I don’t wanna do to thrive and create a real footprint in the my usual of telling you my entire life story? Charlotte area, so if you haven’t been, you ‘What’s your favorite color?’” better effing go. They do quite a few specials, These are a few of her least favorite however, their regular menu alone is things. phenomenal. Go to their website A hearty laugh from both and plan your night out (or a the male and female audience bite-‘n’-go escape) in Plaza followed. I can’t blame her. Midwood. If love fails me again in Bardo: Located in this life, and my boo and South End’s Gold District, I don’t work out, the Bardo definitely has a last thing I’m going to littleSpoon Eatery vibe, want to do is pretend to based on the type of enjoy getting deep with music that plays inside. anyone ever again. Call Enjoy Biggie, Tupac and me bitter or pessimistic, beyond while you’re delving but when you’ve watched AERIN SPRUILL into carefully crafted small a movie over and over again, plates that are great tasting until you never expect the ending to the last bite. Be smart and get a change. *steps off soapbox* reservation beforehand, just in case. Maybe All jokes aside, my friend’s perspective you’ll at least enjoy a few tunes before you had me taking a new look at the Queen head out early “due to an emergency.” City’s recent small plate craze. Personally, Kindred: You’re going to have to travel a I’m obsessed with the whole tapas concept. hop, skip and a jump to get to Davidson, so if What are tapas, you ask? It translates from you ride with your date, a quick escape won’t Spanish as any sort of small portion of necessarily mean a fast end to the night, food. That being said, I thought about what but all the more reason to take your own my friend said, and thought, “Actually, car. As far as Kindred goes, believe the hype. small plates are a great compromise for an They’re worth the trip — especially if your awkward date scenario.” meal is free. Boo Boo and I had an absolutely Picture it. Tinder date, 2018. You order delicious experience that you can also read two small plates, and if you’re not enjoying the conversation, you’re free to enjoy the about in a recent column of mine. glass of wine or cocktail in front of you and Dandelion Market: I’ve also already then dip. It’s the perfect speed date for any written about good ol’ Dando. I experienced guy or girl, if you ask me. No qualms, no their market dinner (which is everything drama, no having to sit through a appetizer on the menu for $295) for my birthday or large meal. And no having a friend call you party and it was epic. They have plenty of 15 minutes in so you can potentially fake small plates for you to choose from. Not to an emergency. Either it’s working out or it’s mention, if you schedule your date for late not. And if not, each of you can go on about enough, you can hope for a successful dinner your night. and a long night upstairs on the weekends, So, I started thinking about the handful as they stop serving food and the second of restaurants in Charlotte that I’ve actually floor turns into a dance party. been to that serve small plates, and here’s Those are my top five for now, but I’ve my list thus far: been to plenty more. Tell me, where would The Stanley: I’ve already written about you go to drool over a small plate or two, this Elizabeth gem. Long story short, every whether or not you’re avoiding a “horrible small dish, no matter how obscure for my date situation.” Share it with me. inexperienced palate, was amazing (and BACLTALK@CLCLT.COM

ENDS

FeeLing Lonely?

CROSSWORD

ALIVE PARTNER ACROSS ACROSS

1 Elite names in show biz 6 Food-cooling chest 12 Impetus 20 Make allusion (to) 21 Long rant 22 Evenly paired 23 French cabaret figure 25 IRS probe 26 Acey- -27 All right 28 Three-time Frazier foe 29 Airport area 30 Using a blast furnace for 32 Mia Hamm, for one 37 “-- Rose” (“The Music Man” song) 38 Old brand of hair remover 40 Calhoun of old Westerns 41 Get sour 42 Bronco 45 Singer Zadora 46 Wear for nighty-night 49 Movie units 50 Suffix with trick 51 Rant, maybe 52 “That feels ni-i-ice!” 53 Duncan toy 55 Unborn child 60 In the capacity of 63 “Jay -- Garage” (CNBC series) 66 Seasonal tunes 67 Hawaiian goose 68 Boxers and briefs, briefly 70 Something associated with eight answers in this puzzle 72 Squirrels’ cheekfuls 74 Vast time stretch 75 Dashing actor Flynn 76 Proclaims, in the Bible 78 Australian Open unit 79 Fifth-degree black belt, say 83 “The Daily Show” host Trevor 85 Ending for Peking 86 Graph line 87 Island with Pearl Harbor 90 Sporty 1980s Pontiac 94 Rouge color 95 Barber’s job

96 It’s just been fired 100 Yuletide tree 101 Richard of “Chicago” 102 Victim of Cain 103 -- Ana County, New Mexico 104 One giving up gambling, maybe 109 With all in agreement 111 “Jenny” actor Alda 112 See 96-Down 113 She clucks 115 Associated with bribery 116 Rolling Stone interviewee 119 Laced holiday quaff 123 String in a sneaker 124 Family divisions, in taxonomy 125 French for “queen” 126 Donations 127 Attached with rope, e.g. 128 X-ray, e.g.

DOWN

1 Pigskin path 2 Source of element #82 3 In case it’s necessary 4 In a way not related to religion 5 Piece of land 6 “-- be my honor” 7 What a U.S. spy may be 8 “Cubesmith” Rubik 9 Spine sites 10 Lyric work 11 Kid of a boomer 12 Of varied character 13 TV studio alert 14 Oaxaca loc. 15 Plato’s “H” 16 Nutty treat 17 The present time 18 Put together 19 Taxi fixture 24 TLC series about a tattoo studio 28 Land division 30 Bit of slander 31 Liam of films 33 Bobby of ice hockey 34 Bus. entities 35 Go to press 36 Reluctant 39 Over -- top 43 “-- Mio” (Italian tune)

44 Ball in space 45 Bic buys 46 Superheroes have them 47 Actress Dru 48 Most mousy 51 Russian river 54 “Of course” 56 Low joint 57 Young guy, in hip-hop 58 Cravings 59 Composer Brian 60 Giant in oats 61 Disquiet 62 Truly loved 64 Sticky pods 65 Dated letter opener 69 Win -- walk 71 Military bed 72 From -- Z 73 Irritate 75 Let out 77 Hardens (to) 80 Left unsaid 81 Wealthy outlying area 82 Mythical flier 84 Secret treasure 88 “I get it now!” 89 Very hot pepper 91 Self-esteem to a fault 92 Skedaddle 93 Put -- act 96 With 112-Across, blind alley 97 Irritate 98 Get the point 99 Mitten’s kin 100 Snitched 101 Sci-fi and mystery, e.g. 104 Strident 105 Lanai “Hi!” 106 Brunch meat 107 Jerk the knee, e.g. 108 Ruhr’s outlet 110 Pola of silent films 114 Barely made, with “out” 117 -- -pitch softball 118 Plato’s “T” 119 SFPD rank 120 Architect I.M. -121 Fouts of football 122 “Hot diggity!”

graB Your copy today

SOLUTION FOUND ON P. 30.

CLCLT.COM | SEPT. 20 - SEPT. 26, 2018 | 27

ENDS

SAVAGE LOVE

FRESH STARTS New beginnings in the bedroom BY DAN SAVAGE I am newly divorced and have started a relationship with a man I’ve known and deeply cared about for decades. The sex is amazing — from start to finish, I feel better than I ever did even in the best moments with my ex. And in the most intense moments? He makes me see stars. He is a very generous lover — he turns me on like crazy and I regularly come while sexting with him. But I have yet to have an orgasm with him. In the past, I have had an orgasm with a partner only from oral or very occasionally from digital clit stim. My ex-husband was not skilled at oral, so I always had to fantasize pretty hard to get there (and regularly chose not to bother). My new partner has amazing moves and amazing oral skills. And he is willing to keep at it for as long as it takes. But regardless of how amazing I feel when he’s going down on me, every single time I eventually hit a wall where I am just done. I haven’t had a single session with him where I’m left feeling unfulfilled, despite the lack of orgasm. In contrast, any sex with my ex that didn’t end in an orgasm left me feeling frustrated or, worse yet, bored. (There were also times when I’d ask my ex to leave the room so I could masturbate after sex.) Do you have any ideas as to why I can’t get over that hump? I wonder if I just need him to be more boring and repetitive so that I can focus. But if that’s the case, is it even worth it? Why would I want to make the sex worse to make it “better?” Or should I just be satisfied with the mind-blowing sex I am having, even if it means I don’t have an orgasm? Is it OK to give myself permission to give up on partner-based climaxing? NO ORGASM POSSIBLY EVER

Beware of those self-fulfilling prophecies! If you sit there — or lie there — telling yourself that being with Mr. AmazingMoves means giving up on “partner-based climaxing,” NOPE, you’re increasing the odds that you’ll never have an orgasm with this guy or any other guy ever again. Here’s what I think the problem is: You had tons of shitty sex with your ex, but you could climax so long as you focused, i.e., so long as you were able to “fantasize pretty hard.” Your ex provided you with some halfassed oral and/or uninspiring digital clit stim that didn’t interfere with your ability to focus/ fantasize. In other words, NOPE, with your ex you were able to — you had no other choice 28 | SEPT. 20 - SEPT. 26, 2018 | CLCLT.COM

there, so you’re always aware of his presence. but to — retreat into your own head and rely A couple of dozen self-administered orgasms on your own erotic imagination to get you with both of you in the room — in the room there. You may have been physically present emotionally, erotically, and physically — will during sex, but you were not emotionally or speed that new-groove-carving process along. erotically present. Because Mr. AmazingMoves’ moves are I’m a straight man and I recently got so amazing — because he turns you on like out of a relationship with a woman crazy, because whatever he’s doing feels great, who would monitor my internet use to because sometimes you see stars — you aren’t make sure I wasn’t “masturbating to the able to retreat into your own head. For years, wrong things.” (My kinks are nothing you had to figuratively leave the room so you too outrageous: feet and mild FemDom.) could focus/concentrate on whatever it was I’ve been dating a new woman for three you needed to focus/concentrate on in order months, and it’s time to lay my kink cards to come; sometimes you even asked your ex to on the table. But I’m really afraid to open literally leave the room. You created a powerful up, thanks to my kink-shaming ex. My association between going to a private, new girlfriend and I read your safe, sexy place — pulling away column together — so if you from your partner emotionally, publish my letter, I’ll be able erotically, and sometimes even to gauge her likely response physically — and climaxing. if I decide to disclose. You aren’t able to pull HELP A GUY OUT? away from your current partner in the same way. My pleasure, HAGO, but Nor do you want to. And, be careful: Sometimes hey, wanna know why you people react negatively to come when you sext with any mention of a kink, not him? Because sexting is because they’re necessarily assisted fantasizing. You’re DAN SAVAGE turned off or grossed out alone when you’re swapping but because they assume their those dirty messages with Mr. partner is. So don’t panic if your AmazingMoves, NOPE, kind of like new girlfriend’s first reaction is negative you were alone when you were having sex because it may not represent her true feelings with your ex. and/or openness to your kinks. To learn how It’s going to take some time to carve a new groove, i.e., you’re going to have to create a new association, one that allows you to be fully present (emotionally, erotically, physically) during partner-based sex and able to climax during it. The trick is not to rush it and, again, not to box yourself into negative self-fulfilling prophecies like the one you ended your letter with. So instead of telling yourself you’re never going to come again during partnered sex, tell yourself that your orgasms will come again. It may take some time, sure, but trust that your body and your brain are already hard at work carving that new groove. One practical suggestion: The next time you have sex with Mr. AmazingMoves — the next 10 times you have sex with him — tell him in advance that you’re going to ask him to stop eating you out long before you hit that wall. Then stimulate yourself, either digitally or with a vibrator, while he holds you. If you need to lean back and close your eyes, lean back and close your eyes — but do not retreat into your own head. Maintain physical contact and ask him to say dirty/sexy things to you while you get yourself the rest of the way

she really feels, you’re probably going to have to make the disclosure you’re trying to sidestep. I’m a 24-year-old woman, and three weeks ago I got out of a long-term relationship with a guy in his mid-30s. Over the last few months of the relationship, I started falling for someone else and began dating the new guy pretty much immediately after the breakup. When should I tell my old boyfriend? We agreed to stay friends, and we still talk and see each other at least once a week. I want him to hear it from me, but I’m not sure how much time is appropriate/respectful. DON’T WANNA BE AN ASSHOLE

Meeting up too soon after a breakup has a way of keeping emotional wounds open and fresh, DWBAA, particularly for the person who was dumped (I’m assuming you did the dumping here). And once-a-week meetings definitely qualifies as too much, too soon. That said, if you think your ex-boyfriend is likely to hear about your new boyfriend from mutual friends, telling him yourself (and soon) is obviously the right (and difficult) thing to do. But if your ex is going to find out about your new boyfriend from, say, your Instagram account, encouraging him to unfollow you and letting some time pass — enough so you can fudge the start date of your new relationship — would be the right (and ego-sparing) thing to do.

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SOLUTION TO THIS WEEK'S PUZZLE

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ARIES (March 21 to April 19) You might need to get more facts to help you work out those problems with your new project. As always, a friendly approach shows the charming Arian at his or her persuasive best. TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Information is what energizes ambition, and this is a good time for the ambitious Bovine to expand his or her range of knowledge and to be ready for the challenges that lie ahead.

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GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) This is a good time to consider making some long-overdue decorating changes at home or in your workplace. A splash of color can help raise spirits, even on the grayest day. CANCER (June 21 to

July 22) Learn more. Earn more. That’s the formula for Moon Children looking to expand their career horizons. Investigate the best places to get those training courses you’ll need.

Playmates and soul mates

LEO (July 23 to August 22) Your creative side helps gain attention for many of your ideas. But don’t neglect the practical aspects involved in implementing their move from paper to production. Good luck. VIRGO (August 23 to

September 22) A health problem should not be ignored. The sooner you check it out, the sooner you can deal with it and then move on. Some job advice comes from an unlikely source.

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LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) A relationship takes an unexpected shift that could leave you puzzled and hurt. Asking for an explanation could help uncover the reason for this sudden turn of events. SCORPIO (October 23 to

November 21) Your busy schedule has drawn down much of your energy levels. Restore them by spending a wellearned time out enjoying the arts -perhaps with that special someone.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) Make that presentation with confidence. Remember: When you show you believe in yourself, it helps persuade others that you truly know what you’re doing.

CAPRICORN (December

22 to January 19) Although you usually prefer doing things on your own, a group effort might be advisable at this time. Try to keep an open mind about suggestions from colleagues.

AQUARIUS

(January 20 to February 18) This could be a good time to reassess some of your recent decisions and see if any adjustments should be made based on facts that you might have just uncovered.

PISCES (February

19 to March 20) An emotionally charged situation creates uncertainty about the future of your relationship. Best advice: Talk things out while there’s still time to reach a new understanding.

BORN THIS WEEK: You tend to act on matters of principle despite what others might advise.

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