NUVO: Indy's Alternative Voice - April 4, 2018 by NUVO

VOL. 30 ISSUE 2 ISSUE #1453

VOICES / 3 NEWS / 4 THE BIG STORY / 6 ARTS / 13 FOOD / 17 MUSIC / 18 // SOCIAL

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SINCE 1990

RFK’S MESSAGE TO YOUNG AND OLD S BY JOHN KRULL // NEWS@NUVO.NET

ome years ago, when my daughter was little, I was asked to speak at Kennedy King Park, close to the spot where Robert F. Kennedy offered solace to a shattered crowd and nation on April 4, 1968, the night Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered. I was the executive director of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union then. My wife was battling a bug. Our daughter was a toddler and our son an infant. It didn’t seem fair to leave my ailing bride with two small children to care for while I went to talk, so I brought my little girl with me. As we drove down, I told her she had to be very good. I tried to explain that we were going to an important place, a special place where a good man had tried to make sense of something bad that had happened to another good man. And to our country. She listened and then asked me if I knew the men. I told her no, but, in a way, that wasn’t true. Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King had hovered over my childhood from the time I was her age. They both were a summons and a challenge to young Americans of that time. When we got to the park, I stood before a microphone stand and the crowd, my daughter in front of me, my hands on her shoulders to provide reassurance that I was there, that we were together. She stood stockstill as I spoke, never fidgeting or fussing. At one point, she reached up to clasp my hands with her small ones. That talk became one of her earliest memories. She recalls, she says, seeing the faces of the people in the crowd as they listened and the feel of my hands on her shoulders, the sense that she and her father were somewhere important together. What I remember is how good she was— and how remarkable it was that even a child as young as she was could intuit the signifi-

cance of a place and a moment. I don’t remember what I said that day. The only thing I recall is that I wanted to honor what I thought was the subtext of Kennedy’s remarks. We focus now on the placating nature of that speech, the comfort he offered to millions of grieving Americans. Accompanying the balm, though, was a charge, a reminder that, in a free country, we all have a moral responsibility to make this nation what we wish it to be, what it should be, even when things are difficult. And that exercising one’s conscience might be important in easy days, but it is essential when the times are hard and sorrows come often. When RFK said, echoing the Greeks, that we needed to rededicate ourselves to taming the savageness of man and making gentle the life of the world, he wasn’t talking about other people. He was talking about us. He said it was our duty, our responsibility. That message was valid then. It is valid now. And it will be valid a thousand years from now. It has been 50 years since Martin Luther King Jr. died and Robert F. Kennedy delivered the only words appropriate to mark that tragedy. It has been more than 15 years since my daughter and I stood before that microphone and that crowd at Kennedy King Park. My daughter is a college student now. She doesn’t remember what her father said all those years ago. But she knows what Robert Kennedy said and what he meant, what the death of Martin Luther King meant. She knows the duty she owes to herself and her country as a free woman, a free person, in a free nation. She knows she stood and must continue to stand on sacred ground. And that’s what matters. N For more opinion pieces visit nuvo.net/voices

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GOVERNER SIGNS CBD OIL BILL New Law Clarify Regulations BY ABRAHM HURT // NEWS@NUVO.NET

fter living with diabetes for 51 years, Dr. Pamela Reilly has been able to lower her insulin levels by 45 percent. She used CBD oil—also known as cannabidiol—to make that change. Reilly, a naturopathic physician who started the Good Works Wellness Research in Fishers, has seen the impact that CBD oil has had on her own life and her clients’. That is why she supported legislation that legalizes the sale of a low-THC cannabis extract. Last week, Gov. Eric Holcomb signed into law Senate Enrolled Act 52, which allows all Hoosiers to buy and use CBD oil that contains less than 0.3 percent THC, the substance that gives marijuana users a high. “The bill that the Legislature passed is exactly the bill that I asked for at the very outset,” Holcomb said. “I wanted to make sure we knew the levels. I wanted to make sure we had labeling, and that the folks that needed this had access to it, and they do.” Reilly said she is hopeful the new law will eliminate the confusion and misrepresentation of CBD oil. “What I love about Senate Bill 52 is that there’s now no question about whether it’s legal or not,” Reilly said. “And there shouldn’t have been before, but multiple media stations misreported. They didn’t do adequate research, and that created a huge amount of confusion.” Part of the confusion came from Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill. In November, he released an official opinion declaring that under state law, CBD oil was illegal in Indiana. He followed up with a column published Dec. 14. “There is no doubt, as a matter of legal interpretation, that products or substances containing cannabidiol remain unlawful

in Indiana as well as under federal law,” he wrote in the column. Kristen Williams, digital director of communications for Hill, said the attorney general’s position on CBD oil as expressed in his op-ed still stands today. His office declined to provide his response to the new law. Confusion about the legality of CBD oil usage began during the 2017 session after legislators approved limited use of the product by patients with epilepsy. That action led lawmakers to clarify the law during the 2018 session. Sen. Michael Young, R-Indianapolis, said he authored the bill because people have benefitted from using CBD oil to treat a variety of problems such as epilepsy, cancer, and anxiety. “Since we are limiting how much THC can be in the product, there is no risk for people to use this to get high,” he said in a it to a document containing information statement after the bill passed the Senate. on the batch, such as the ingredients and “My hope with this bill is that more Hoothe name of the company that manufacsiers will be able to use this product to treat tured the ingredients. their ailments.” Retailers have until July 1 to make sure Reilly said she has seen her patients all CBD products they’re selling meet the benefit from the use of cannew labeling requirements. nabidiol, and in some cases However, there are still the changes in health are “There’s now no concerns about the oil’s dramatic. legality even with the recent question about “I truly see miracles every legislation’s passage. Sen. single day,” Reilly said. “I have whether it’s legal Aaron Freeman, R-Indiaclients that have been able to napolis, said he opposed the or not.” work with their doctor to get bill because it’s illegal under off medications. I have chil—DR. PAMELA REILLY federal code. dren with ADD and ADHD “I don’t have a concern that are now doing fine in about anything with the school. I can just go on and on and on.” products,” he said. “My concern is that The new law requires manufacturers to the federal government has listed them as have each batch of the product tested in a Schedule 1 narcotic drug. It is illegal to order to ensure it has less than 0.3 percent possess under federal law and pharmacists THC. It also mandates that products sold in cannot dispense it legally.” Indiana have a QR code on the label linking Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, sup-

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ported the bill but said the new requirements over-regulate the substance and even more may be done with the legislation for the third, consecutive legislative session. “I think we’re going to have to come back and fix this next year, but we’ve got to at least get it legal,” he said on the House floor. Reilly said she did not believe the new packaging and labeling requirements would hurt businesses that sell CBD oil because it’s a one-time change. “Once they walk through that process, it will be business as usual. They have enough time to do that, so it’s not cumbersome,” she said. “Is it convenient? No, but I don’t feel like it’s a big deal.” Abrahm Hurt is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students. N

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One Night in April Kennedy King Memorial Initiative and Its Friends Recall the Past and Build Toward the Future BY DAN GROSSMAN // DGROSSMAN@NUVO.NET

ROBERT F. KENNEDY ANNOUNCING MARTIN LUTHER KINGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ASSASSINATION // PHOTO FROM INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER COLLECTION, INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

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ust north of Downtown Indianapolis, there’s a place of great significance in American political life, a place Indiana State Rep. Greg Porter refers to as “hallowed ground.” Located near the intersection of 17th and Broadway streets, the site is where Robert F. Kennedy spoke to a primarily African American crowd on the night of April 4,1968, in the southeast corner of what is now Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park. That night, Sen. Kennedy had been planning to deliver a prepared speech as a presidential candidate. Instead, he had the duty of announcing King’s assassination in Memphis, Tennessee, earlier that day. During his impromptu speech, Kennedy spoke of the death of his brother, President John F. Kennedy, four and a half years previous, and he urged his supporters to return home peacefully. He is generally credited with preventing unrest in Indianapolis that night when there were riots in many other cities across the country. “I remember Bobby Kennedy coming in, standing on this truck,” said former State Sen. Billie Breaux, a witness to the speech. At the time, she was both a teacher in the Indianapolis Public Schools and a volunteer in the Kennedy campaign. “He asked us to put our campaign signs down. He wanted to talk to us. And that’s when he told us,” she said. Breaux said that, at that moment, a sigh went through the crowd. “And he just proceeded to talk to us as a friend, as a father, as someone who really cared,” she said. “I think it was the first time, I am told, that he ever mentioned his brother being assassinated.” Lorraine Morris, an IPS retired educator, was a high school student at the time. She lived a block and a half away and recalled that after Kennedy made the announcement, there were cries, hollers, and screams in the audience. Afterward, she said, “I can say that I felt that we were very, very close, a close-knit family.” The reverberations from that night and speech continue to be felt in the lives of those who were present, in the lives of

WHAT // Still We Reach: KKMI 50th Commemoration Ceremony WHEN // April 4, 5 p.m. WHERE // Landmark for Peace Memorial, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park TICKETS // FREE, Standing room only

subsequent generations of neighborhood residents, and many others throughout the city. And they continue to be felt in the ranks of the nonprofit organization Kennedy King Memorial Initiative (KKMI), a group determined that the legacies of both MLK and RFK—who was assassinated on June 6, 1968—not be forgotten. KKMI’s mission, however, stretches beyond remembrance of the events of April 4, 1968. KKMI is using their commemoration as a vehicle to improve Martin Luther King Park and the neighborhoods that surround it. Rep. Greg Porter is the KKMI board chair. “I think there are several things we as a board are proud of,” he said, “including the effort to educate the children of Indiana, the nation, on what transpired on April 4, 1968. We’ve had programs with youth. […] We try to embrace our kids to understand about peace and harmony and working together. We’re very proud that we’re able to help bring Indy Parks together along with King Park Development and to help make improvements to the park.” Porter was inspired to get involved with KKMI by state representative and longtime community advocate Bill Crawford, who died in 2015, whom Porter considers his mentor. “I remember 1968,” said Porter. “I remember Robert Kennedy coming to Indianapolis; I didn’t go down there during a rainy day, and my family didn’t go down. But I knew he was coming because he had a campaign headquarters across the street from my house on 34th and Kenwood. [As an adult], I was intrigued with the Kennedy brand, the Kennedy persona. And so, when Bill Crawford said this is important, you’ve got to keep this legacy going, I

participated. I wanted to make sure that young people understood what happened there at 17th and Broadway years ago.”

LOOKING FORWARD AND LOOKING BACK In the lead-up to the 50th anniversary of the event, KKMI partnered with IndyFringe Basile Theatre in March to bring into fruition an original musical, Dear Bobby, written by Angela Jackson-Brown. In addition to being highly entertaining, the production had the effect of increasing awareness of the events of April 4, 1968, in King Park. The musical was directed by Deborah Asante of the Indy-based Asante Children’s Theatre. This production focuses on the relationship of two girls—one Black, one Jewish— who anticipate the arrival of Kennedy on that wet April night half a century ago. The production, which ran from March 22–31, was part of OnyxFest, a celebration of African American playwrights that is in its seventh year running at IndyFringe. At the Q&A after the opening night performance on March 22, young cast members—standing on the stage—talked about how much they learned from being involved with the production. “Starting this, I had read the script and I didn’t know anything about Kennedy at the time,” said 13-year old Amani Muhammad, who played the African American girl Annabelle Strong. “So it gave me a chance to look up someone I never heard of and look up the things that they did for America. And all I knew was JFK. That’s all I ever knew about the Kennedys.” Seventeen-year-old Joshua Johnson, who played the part of Junior—Annabelle Strong’s brother—said that he had no knowledge of Robert Kennedy before getting involved with Dear Bobby. “For me it just showed how much they leave out of school and how much they don’t teach you,” he said. “It’s an important part of history for Black people to know that there was somebody of a different race who actually worked for us, to help our situation.” Another KKMI/IndyFringe partnership—in collaboration with Storytelling Arts of Indiana—featured the reminis-

DR. KING HAS BEEN KILLED ROBERT F. KENNEDY’S SPEECH APRIL 4, 1968

I have bad news for you, for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and killed tonight. Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice for his fellow human beings, and he died because of that effort. In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it is perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. For those of you who are black—considering the evidence there evidently is that there were white people who were responsible—you can be filled with bitterness, with hatred, and a desire for revenge. We can move in that direction as a country, in great polarization— black people amongst black, white people amongst white, filled with hatred toward one another.

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The Big Story Continued...

LORAINE MORRIS // PHOTO BY DAN GROSSMAN

Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love. For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and distrust at the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I can only say that I feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man. But we have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to go beyond these rather difficult times.

// PHOTO BY ABBIE ROWE, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

cences of four witnesses of Kennedy’s speech: Jabberwocky, which took place on March 13. During Jabberwocky, each of these four witnesses came up to the microphone to tell their stories in the IndyFringe Basile Theatre. One of those witnesses, Michael Riley, was serving as the president of the Indiana State Young Democrats and organized RFK’s campaign activities in Indianapolis leading up to the April 4 rally. “When you live as long as I have, you see history being made, and then you think, well, maybe you were a little part of it, and that’s what I thought about Robert Kennedy and his impact,” said Riley, now an attorney based in Rensselaer, Indiana.

GETTING A CALL FROM A KENNEDY “I was a coal miner’s son,” he recalled at the Jabberwocky event. “I went to law school. I was in my office, and I get a phone call. And my secretary said, somebody wants to talk to you and he said his name was Sen. Kennedy. You know I had a lot of friends that were adept at faking voices. And so I said, well, put him through, and it was Ted Kennedy. And he asked me to be his brother’s campaign manager in the state of Indiana. And as he was talking, I’m not saying anything, and finally he said, do you think I’m really Sen. Ted Kennedy? And I said, well, no, but you sure sound like him.”

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Soon after word arrived of King’s assassination, Riley—who was preparing for Robert Kennedy’s rally at the park— had a telephone conversation with Indianapolis Mayor Richard Lugar, who didn’t want Kennedy to go to 17th and Broadway that night. “So I get back, reconnected with the Kennedy aide, and I think his language was, I don’t give a damn what Mayor Lugar says,” said Riley. It was left to Riley to convey back to the mayor that Kennedy was going to go forward with the speech, despite the uncertainty on the part of city government whether or not they would be able to protect the campaign in the event of violence. For Jim Trulock, who worked as a paid staffer for the campaign and who was also employed at the Shadeland Electrical Plant for the Chrysler Corporation, Kennedy’s speech had a profound effect on his future direction in life. “He spoke from his heart about what he was feeling about the outrageous act that had just happened and what we need to do now,” said Trulock. “He looked toward the crowd and sought and gained commonality with it, with all of us. We were all feeling the same thing; it kind of confirmed what I believed my purpose in life was.” But as a Kennedy staffer, Trulock knew Kennedy in a way most in the audience didn’t.

AMANI MUHAMMAD IN DEAR BOBBY // PHOTO BY ANKH PRODUCTIONS

“I took him around the various plant gates pretty much all over the state,” said Trulock, who in his varied career represented the United Automobile Workers in the state Legislature, managed political campaigns, and founded the homeless services organization Pathways to Recovery. “He instilled in me and confirmed that feeling of communality that we all shared,” he said. A feeling of commonality is something that Teresa Lubbers, commissioner for Indiana’s Commission for Higher Education—who also served in the Indiana State Senate for 17 years—recalled feeling that night. She was a junior in Warren Central High School at the time—a white girl in a primarily African American crowd. “I don’t recall a moment where I felt fearful or anxious about the crowd either before or after the announcement was made,” she said. “[Instead], I learned the power of words to actually move people to do things that might be even bigger than they could do. Because clearly there was despair in that audience that night. And while 75 cities erupted over the next few days, Indianapolis did not. I think that it would be a mistake to say the emotion was any less here. It was because there was a channeling of that emotion through a decision to engage in a more meaningful way in the future.” Unlike Lubbers, who stayed at the back

NUVO.NET/THEBIGSTORY BILLIE BREAUX AND HER DAUGHTER JEAN BREAUX // PHOTO BY HALEY WARD

of the crowd during the speech, Billie Fuller Breaux pushed her way to the front. She was no less assertive in her subsequent career, as the president of the Indianapolis Education Association, as vice president of the Indiana State Teachers Association, and as state senator for 19 years. The events of April 4, 1968, Breaux said, were the impetus for her advocacy role. “It encouraged advocacy on my part in terms of speaking out,” she said. “I wasn’t thinking that I would wind up doing anything politically because that was not on my agenda, but once you get involved, saying what needs to be said, people take notice. And I became president of the teachers’ association and used that as something to fall on. Because when you had to go down to the Legislature to lobby, I realized how important it was that we become truly involved with the system. Everything that we did was passed by the state Legislature; how much money we received, how many hours we taught in the classroom, and all of that.” And there are many accomplishments she can point to in her career. “As part of the Indianapolis education negotiating team,” she said, “we worked to make Martin Luther King a holiday. As far as I could tell, this was the first group to do that. As educators, it was important to us so young people sitting in front of the room would always know about Martin Luther King and what a servant he was. We

My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He wrote: “In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.”

also set up a Martin Luther King dinner to honor people in the community who exemplified the ideals and character of Martin Luther King.” Breaux’s daughter, Jean Breaux, currently serves as a state senator in the Indiana General Assembly, the same position her mom held. For Lubbers, who served contemporaneously with Billie Breaux in the State Senate, the takeaway of April 4, 1968, was the need for compassion and empathy. “Often what I’ve learned from people who had different life journeys than mine is that even when we didn’t agree on all the issues, there was an incredible respect that we had for each life journey,” she said. “There was never any doubt about the principles that we were committed to. I fear that we don’t have as much of that as we need today. And for

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KING MOURNERS HEAR THE NEWS // PHOTO FROM INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER COLLECTION, INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

that I turn to the younger generation to say, I hope we can have more of that in the future.”

What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be black. So I shall ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, that’s true, but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love—a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke.

A VISION FOR THE FUTURE Founding KKMI board member Judge David Dreyer grew up in Indianapolis. He didn’t hear Kennedy speak, but he remembers that night well. It was a sunny day in late March 2018 when Dreyer detailed his memories of 1968 and his longtime involvement in King Park and in the nonprofit that works to improve it. As he spoke, he stood next to King Park’s Landmark for Peace Memorial with the bronze figures of RFK and MLK reaching across to one another. “I was actually born in Ohio, but my dad moved to Greenwood when I was little,” said Dreyer, who went to Cathedral High School and worked as a lawyer in Indy for 30 years, followed by a stint as a judge for the next 21 years. “I was 13 years old and at home in Greenwood,” he recalled. “What I remember about that day is that my dad was a Methodist Republican guy, a good guy. We were doing an errand, and we’d gotten home. We were in the driveway, and we heard on the radio that Martin Luther King had been killed. He was no particular follower of King. I could still remember his head dropping and shaking because he was afraid there was going to be violence.” It was the assassination of Kennedy a

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COMMEMORATIVE BANNERS ON THE SIDE OF KING PARK CENTER BUILDING // PHOTO BY DAN GROSSMAN

few weeks later that had a more direct impact on his own family. “My mom was the opposite of my dad,” said Dreyer. “She was a big Catholic Democrat, and she was a volunteer for the campaign for Kennedy, licking envelopes. So when he died, I could see the effect on her. It was a kind of watershed for me.” Dreyer said that in the years after Martin Luther King’s assassination, local ministers would gather from the neighborhood and beyond in the park to pray every April 4. “It was sacred ground to them,” he said. “So that really indicates the community effect of the speech right off the bat.” Dreyer’s involvement in annual April 4 remembrances in King Park was fairly ad hoc at first, driven by State Rep. Bill Crawford and people from his office. One of the meetings the group had was around a restaurant table. “We were all just sitting around. It might have been 1999. And it started; a motley crew of people would get together to decide what to do on April 4 this year.” The proto-KKMI group was called the April 4 Committee. One of the things they began was a Dream Keepers Camp coinciding with the IPS spring break; the camp serviced 50–75 kids from the greater Indianapolis community and taught the values embodied in the lives and speeches of RFK and MLK. It started in 2008 as a partnership between

KKMI, the NCAA, and Forest Manor Multi Service Center. It eventually became one of KKMI’s signature activities. Although Dream Keepers is currently on hiatus, KKMI is reassessing and hoping to expand the program. Dreyer said that there came a point where the April 4 Committee needed to decide whether they were just going to stay as they were or if they were going to grow. “We decided to go for it and push it along, and eventually the group decided to incorporate.” They brought in nonprofit consultant Amy DiStaulo. They put together a board of directors, worked with an attorney to get articles of incorporation, and became a 501(C) (3) nonprofit in 2015. That same year, DiStaulo became interim executive director.

A TAPESTRY OF PARTNERSHIPS “About that time Lilly Endowment stepped in,” said DiStaulo. “They gave us a planning grant that really enabled us to reach out to the community and decide what the community wants from the park. And the overwhelming response was we want this park to be an amenity.” That is, they wanted the park to not just serve as a vehicle for preserving historical memory but to also serve the community in terms of fulfilling its recreation needs. There are already some well-kept amenities on the north end

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JIM TRULOCK, LORRAINE MORRIS, BILLIE BREAUX, ETHEL KENNEDY AND SON MAX //

of the 14-acre park such as a basketball court funded by the NCAA (which is another KKMI partnership) and a swimming pool. There is also a brand-new playground and a shelter funded by Lilly Endowment through the Parks Foundation. But KKMI is working to make further improvements in tandem with its many partners. Among the partners helping KKMI accomplish its goals are Indy Parks, the King Park Development Corporation, Indiana Historical Society, and Lilly—both the endowment and the foundation. The latter funded the newly completed elliptical sidewalk that surrounds the site of the Kennedy speech at the southern edge of the park. The Kennedy King Park Center building, the former Citizens Neighborhood Resource Center—owned by Indy Parks—serves as offices for KKMI and will serve as a visitor’s center for the site. “Each one is trying to help each other,” said the Department of Public Works’ Don Colvin about this building that is undergoing renovation. “KKMI put the mural on the wall of the outside of the building. We, the city, are doing the doors, changing out the windows,” KKMI also installed, on the outside wall of the King Park Center in time for the April 4 commemoration, two commemorative photo banners that depict Kennedy, King, and the crowd. A large plaque composed of CorTen steel was also installed in

BILL CRAWFORD, AND TERESA LUBBERS IN FRONT OF THE LANDMARK FOR PEACE MEMORIAL IN 2015 //

the park with text from Kennedy’s speech engraved on it. Both were installed with the help of a $110,000 fundraising campaign created in part by the CreatINg Places program, run by the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority. Plans are for KKMI to have a visitor’s center in the first floor of the building run in partnership with the Indiana Historical Society. There are also plans to transform an old sidewalk that runs down the park’s western boundary into a bike boulevard. “The 50th anniversary commemoration is giving us this opportunity to draw attention to the park and our partners like the city of Indianapolis, and the Parks Department and others are really now seeing the value of building up the park,” said DiStaulo.

AWAITING TRUMP’S SIGNATURE During this time of great division in the United States, it seems that Congress is also a partner, as it were, in this endeavor. That is to say, on March 22, the U.S. Senate passed the Kennedy-King National Commemorative Site Act—introduced by Congressman André Carson—that would recognize the park as a national commemorative site. The legislation, which also includes the park as part of the African American Civil Rights Network, awaits Donald Trump’s signature. Indiana’s congressional delegation sent a letter on Jan. 23 to Department of Interior Secretary

Ryan Zinke requesting National Historic Landmark designation for the park. If the history of presidential visits to the vicinity are any indication of its importance, President Clinton broke ground for the Landmark for Peace Memorial in 1994. And on April 27, 2008, Barack Obama ate lunch in the popular soul food restaurant Kountry Kitchen a little more than a block from 17th and Broadway streets.

JIM TRULOCK // PHOTO BY HALEY WARD

We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times; we’ve had difficult times in the past; we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; it is not the end of disorder.

THE VALUE OF THE PARK Ultimately, Dreyer would like to see King Park designated as a national memorial, like Lincoln Memorial, with its own National Park Service interpretive ranger. He wants to get to the point “where it’s a mainstream part of Indianapolis like The Children’s Museum and the Speedway.” He wants husbands and wives, in Indy and beyond, to say to their spouses, “‘OK, honey, let’s take the kids down to that King Park again.’ So the people know the history and it’s part of our self-identity,” he said. But it may just be that the value of the park will remain the highest for the people who live closest to it. Greg Porter calls the park “the central spoke in seven neighborhoods.” “I think that it’s not only a park but a park that embraces the diversity of the community,” he said. “And I think that’s very crucial because that’s hallowed ground. It’s a common place.” N

But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings who abide in our land. Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people. —ROBERT F. KENNEDY

NUVO.NET // 04.04.18 - 04.11.18 // THE BIG STORY // 11

THRU APR.

GO SEE THIS

EVENT // The Power of Poison WHERE // Indiana State Museum TICKETS // FREE WITH ADMISSION

THRU MAY

EVENT // The Arts in Miniature WHERE // The Museum of Miniature Houses TICKETS // PRICES VARY

A LANDMARK FOR PEACE A History of Greg Perry’s Civic Sculpture BY DAN GROSSMAN // DGROSSMAN@NUVO.NET

wo massive curves of CorTen steel confront you at the Landmark for Peace Memorial at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park. The outlines of Kennedy and King, respectively, cut through the steel, and face one another. You can see through the steel to the sky. From these rounded curves of steel leap two half figures sculpted in bronze—one of Kennedy, one of King—reaching hands out to one another over a walkway. The monument is a meeting of artistic sensibilities not often found together in sculpture; abstract meets figurative: Richard Serra meets Rodin. But its purpose isn’t solely artistic. “It’s not just a piece of sculpture that happens to be outside in a public space; it’s truly a civic sculpture,” says Steve Mannheimer, art critic for The Indianapolis Star and an organizer of the competition to design the memorial that was installed in 1994. “It truly fulfills a civic mission in the sense of reminding us of values that make us better citizens.” The designer, Greg Perry—who died in 2017—wasn’t a sculptor by training. He was a professional copywriter, advertising writer, and ghostwriter. But he had an inspired idea that he turned into a design. “It was about the spaces ... the void that they’re leaving and the gap between them,” says Judge David Dreyer, a founding board member of Kennedy King Memorial Initiative (KKMI). In 1994, Perry submitted his design for a monument to a national competition organized at the behest of Donnie Walsh, the former CEO of the Indiana Pacers, who had just formed the Pacers Foundation and was looking for worthy initiatives to fund. The competition’s objective was to select a sculpture to commemorate the contributions of both Robert Kennedy—who was assassinated on June 6, 1968—and MLK.

// PHOTO BY LAURA MCPHEE

“It’s not just a piece of sculpture that happens to be outside in a public space; it’s truly a civic sculpture,” —STEVE MANNHEIMER

Walsh instructed Indiana Pacers executive Kathryn Jordan and Mannheimer to organize the competition to design the memorial, and Perry’s design was chosen out of a pool of 50 by a jury that included Indianapolis Museum of Art director Bret Waller. “[Perry] worked very hard for the next two years,” said Mannheimer. “He was involved in every aspect of the project, making sure that it fulfilled the vision that he had, including the landscape design, fabrication, and sculpture, which was done by a guy named Dan Edwards. I think, even though

Greg was not trained as a graphic artist, or a figure sculptor, or an architectural designer ... he realized that this was an image that made perfect sense for the theme of the memorial. Sometimes you get literally a flash of inspiration and you get the courage to pursue it.” Don Colvin, deputy director of Indy Parks, was instrumental in creating the landscaping around the memorial. In 1994, he was working as a parks planner for the city. “I worked with the sculptors and the curvilinear walks there, that was my layout

plan,” he says. “[I chose] the bricks to go with the CorTen steel, the original trees, and the benches, and all that. I was a city employee. I did my work through the city. ... It was one of my first projects when I was a young man. It’s a wonderful feeling to finally see this being celebrated and recognized for what it was at that time and place.” In preparation for the 50th anniversary of events on April 4, new public art was dedicated in the park on March 29. Two commemorative banners were put up on the side of the Kennedy King Park Center building depicting King, Kennedy, and the crowd on the night of April 4, 1968. And then an 8-feet-by-16-feet plaque made from CorTen steel was erected on the southern boundary of the park. The plaque contains text from Kennedy’s April 4 speech. “Greg Perry had originally come up with the thought regarding which pieces of the speech were there,” says Thomas Fansler III of Tiii Environments, who fabricated the plaque. “But for me it was really about what truly memorializes that particular point in time and ‘love, wisdom, and compassion … justice for those that still suffer,’ those were the things that jumped out to all of us.” N

NUVO.NET /04.04.18 - 04.11.18 // VISUAL // 13

POLITICAL, CHALLENGING, AND COLORFUL April First Friday Openings BY JENNIFER DELGADILLO // ARTS@NUVO.NET

uring a talk at the Center for Latin American Studies at UC Berkeley in 2015, Diego Rivera’s daughter Guadalupe revealed that her father didn’t truly start learning about Mexico until he was 35, when he was invited to create artworks depicting Mexican culture for the secretary of public education. The Mexican government paid for Rivera’s train tickets to travel through Mexico to learn. These travels became some of the most influential experiences to shape Rivera’s art. The rest is history. To this day, the politics of much of Rivera’s work remains relevant and nuanced—a place to look back for wisdom in topics such as race, class, violence, imperialism, politics, and history. All of this is to say that I am always excited when I see artists trying to tackle big topics, such as in April’s First Friday with Satch Art Space’s Art Takes Aim, an exhibition exploring gun culture imagery. “Using the harmony and balance of the concentric circles surrounding a target’s bullseye, I want to take what others see as a zone to be shot and torn apart by bullets and create a positive message by use of simple and straightforward words that take possession of the middle of the target,” says Satch. Art Takes Aim will be displayed with other works dealing with the same topics at Satch Art Space inside the Circle City Industrial Complex building. Also opening this First Friday at CCIC is the group show Telephone in the second-floor Schwitzer Gallery, where each piece is inspired by the piece displayed before it, the first referencing a film from Indy Film Fest, which is headquartered at CCIC. Twenty artists

3 1 4

2 5

WORK FROM ART TAKES AIM BY SATCH//

working in many different media will be involved. And Alena Abernathy’s new studio space Full Circle Nine Gallery will be debuted (FC9). Another exhibition taking aim at ongoing debates is Chemistry at Cat Head Press. The exhibition is the senior thesis show of photo students Brooke Taylor and Mackenzie Motsinger from Herron School of Art. The hot button issue tackled in Taylor’s work is the female gaze. There has been an ongoing debate among film theorists such as Laura Mulvey and writers such as Emily Nussbaum about what constitutes “female gaze.” In Chemistry, Taylor uses the female body, domestic plants, and infrared light to create effects that do in fact challenge symbols of sexual binary and the female

14 // VISUAL // 04.04.18 - 04.11.18 // 100% SUSTAINABLE / RECYCLED PAPER // NUVO.NET

9 10 8 6

1// Harrison Center for the Arts 1505 N. Delaware St. 2//Circle City Industrial Complex 1125 Brookside Ave. 3//Indiana Landmarks 1201 Central Ave. 4//10th West Gallery (at the Stutz) 212 W. 10th St. 5//Cat Head Press 2834 E. Washington St. 6//Garfield Park Arts Center 2432 Conservatory Drive 7//Tube Factory artSpace 1125 Cruft St. 8//Listen Hear 2620 Shelby St. 9//Irish Hill Studio 250 S. State Ave. 10//Future Friends Holographic Magic Club at Murphy Art Center 1043 Virginia Ave.

form. I am really looking forward to seeing how the whole body of work interacts with Motsinger’s work. The exhibition will only run April 6–April 15. Elsewhere in the city, there are a couple more photo shows taking place. At Gar-

field Park Arts Center, the group show Blink of an Eye will feature photo work by members of the Indiana Photographic Society. And at Indiana Landmarks, the group show A Day in the Life// Glass * Sticks will focus on diverse interpretations of

NUVO.NET/VISUAL WORK BY ALENA ABERNATHY -ALLEY CAT//

“CRY BABY” BY JONATHAN MCAFEE//

WORK BY ANDREW PERRY DAVIS//

everyday life. The exhibition will showcase work ranging from visual journalism to surrealism. At Big Car’s Listen Hear, Danielle Joy Graves will challenge viewers with her Pure and Sexless solo exhibition. This new body of work by Graves comes with a parental advisory and also includes the unveiling of a commission from Graves in which she transformed Listen Hear’s bathroom into an interactive installation.

“DRIFTER” BY JONATHAN MCAFEE//

Tube Factory artspace is also featuring thesis work by Herron School of Art senior students. The exhibition Have Your Cake and Eat It Too (congratulations), with work by Chase Palmer, Tillman Reyes, Genevieve St. Arnaud, Lydia Crouse, and Tom Day, promises an eclectic look at different themes exploring technology and social issues, like cultural gaps and consumerism, through paintings, installations, and sculptures.

Art lovers who’ve been doing First Friday since before this new generation of graduating art students was born are in for a special treat with two one-night-only shows with work by painter Jonathan McAfee. Coming from the tail end of a solo exhibition at the Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science in Evansville, Indiana, McAfee will display remaining unsold artwork before heading back to his new home in Colorado. McAfee—who also went to Herron School of Art—is exhibiting a total of 23 different paintings in two venues in Indianapolis. Six of the paintings will be on display at the Harrison Center for the Arts and the remaining 17 will be on display at Irish Hill Studio located at 250 S. State Ave. “It’s my goal to have as many people, familiar and new, to see the exhibits and hopefully purchase an original painting so I have less to bring home to Colorado,” he says. Someone who’s probably not afraid to bring a little too many things back home is Andrew Perry Davis. In his upcoming exhibition at Gallery 924, Time of the Mouse, Perry Davis looks for the absurd in the everyday. The show is inspired by his experiences from his first job working in a flea market. His favorite flea market finds were ones that defied quick or easy interpreta-

tion, and these artifacts or antique toys are what inspired the clay sculptures he will have on display. Another art show exploring visually amusing themes is Confections by Theoni at Future Friends. With Confections, artist Theoni will explore the sugary qualities of weaving by weaving cotton candy, tulle, taffy, and velour with sugar and glitter. If you are the type of art lover who is on the lookout for works exploring color and scale, Scale: Redux at 10th West Gallery will be exploring some of these themes. Portraits in Color at Kime Contemporary across the street from Pogue’s Run Grocer on East 10th Street will also explore these themes with mixed media works by Bloomington artist Brick Kyle. Last month Kime Contemporary, Galley 924, and 10th West Gallery all had their Collectors’ Nights openings on the First Thursday in addition to their regular First Friday openings. This First Thursday will be no different, as these galleries are making an effort to appeal to the serious art buyer (and/or casual patrons who just want to avoid the mad First Friday rush). This First Friday there is something for everyone. With a good strategy, you just might be able to see everything in one night. N NUVO.NET // 04.04.18 - 04.11.18 // VISUAL // 15

THRU MAY

GO SEE THIS

EVENT // Looking Over the President’s Shoulder WHERE // Indiana Repertory Theatre TICKETS // PRICES VARY

THRU APR.

EVENT // The Matchmakers WHERE // Buck Creek Players TICKETS // PRICES VARY

BRINGING BHANGRA TO INDY

Competition Will Feature Eight Dance Troupes from Around North America BY REBECCA BERFANGER // ARTS@NUVO.NET

ayne State University senior Harjot Gill has performed with the dance team Anakh Sherniyan Di for several years, including last year’s Circle City Bhangra. The 12-woman team that Gill is part of will be performing at Circle City Bhangra on April 7, which almost sold out last year. If you saw that event, you can expect the same upbeat energy, new faces, new song-and-dance routines, as well as a larger venue. Even though it’s like having a part-time job as far as the time commitment, she performs because it keeps her connected to her Indian cultural roots and upbringing. “It’s an energetic dance form that has such a rich history connected to it, and by being a first-generation immigrant, I can keep my culture alive halfway across the world.” Bhangra is a music-and-dance performance based on a traditional folk dance originally performed in the Punjab region of India. Participants in Bhangra competitions stick to the traditional form and choreography but also infuse elements of hip-hop, house, and reggae music, said Amrit Singh, the event’s co-director along with Neal Patel. “Basically, the core of the whole routine and audio mix will be Bhangra, or Punjabi, music, but when they remix the songs, they might add a hip-hop background or one line or one lyric [from another style of music],” Singh added. While similar to the dance numbers in Bollywood films, it’s slightly different said board member Mandeep Singh. While many Bollywood dance numbers are based on Bhangra, Bollywood dance typically has different hand and leg movements. Out of the almost 50 teams that submitted audition videos, as of press time eight teams will be traveling from around North

ANAKH SHERNIYAN DI FROM 2017//

“I can keep my culture alive halfway across the world.” —HARJOT GILL

America to compete for up to $1,000 in prize money: Anakh Sherniyan Di of Detroit; Boiler Bhangra of West Lafayette, Indiana; FAUJ of Boston; GT Bhangra of Atlanta; Michigan Bhangra Team of Ann Arbor, Michigan; Ministry of Bhangra of Chicago; Nachdi Jawani Joshiley of Toronto; and Sherniyan Di Sarkari of Columbus, Ohio. The judges, who also applied to participate in the event, will be traveling to Indianapolis from Virginia, Michigan, and Ohio.

16 // STAGE // 04.04.18 - 04.11.18 // 100% SUSTAINABLE / RECYCLED PAPER // NUVO.NET

WHAT // Circle City Bhangra WHEN // Saturday, April 7, doors at 5 p.m. WHERE // Franklin Central High School TICKETS // $20 in advance; $25 at the door circlecitybhangra.com

// Organizers say they are also hoping to attract new audience members, including anyone who has never seen the energetic, colorful, and modern version of Bhangra at a live event. While this year’s event has a mix of troupes that are all-men, all-women, and co-ed, Bhangra was originally just available for men. “Being on an all-girls team can be a struggle, with some people thinking that

we shouldn’t do it since the dance wasn’t originally meant for us,” Gill said. “But we have also been met with so much support for being just as good of dancers as the boys. Being on the [Anakh Sherniyan Di] dancing team has given me a sisterhood, and that’s what keeps me coming back to compete.” As for all of the troupes’ costumes, said Mandeep Singh, “It’s more or less the traditional outfit someone in Punjab would have worn. It [has] a large effect in the show or performance.” He added that the teams tend to have their own unique styles of costuming, such as specific embroidery patterns or color schemes, which make each team recognizable when they compete. Other performers will be on hand, including the emcee, Punjabi-Canadian entertainer Rupan Bal. Bal has more than 80,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel and has performed in YouTube videos with fellow Punjabi-Canadian comic Jus Reign, who has almost 900,000 subscribers. Bal’s comedic skits and music videos often poke fun at stereotypes and sometimes include Bhangra-inspired dance moves. He is also involved in the Punjabi film and music industry. Amrit Singh added there will be food at the event starting when doors open at 5 p.m., as well as an after-party at Old National Centre starting at 11 p.m. At the end of the day, the show is all about bringing on the Bhangra. “I am proud to say that I am a part of the North American Bhangra circuit and to have so many other dedicated individuals around me who love to show the world what Bhangra is and how beautiful the dance form is,” Gill said. “Having competitions like Circle City gives all of us dance lovers a great platform to showcase what we do, and for that we are all appreciative beyond measure.” N

NOW GO HERE

RESTAURANT // Taichi Asian Grill House WHAT // Asian grill near IUPUI COST // $$

APRIL

EVENT // Sour, Wild, and Funk Fest WHAT // A day filled with the funkiest beers around WHERE // Mavris Arts & Events Center

“W

// PHOTO BY BRIAN WEISS

FOOD IS A BRIDGE Kountry Kitchen Brings People Together with Soul Food in Kennedy King BY CAVAN McGINSIE // CMCGINSIE@NUVO.NET

e will have difficult times. Cynthia says that Kountry Kitchen was We’ve had difficult times in “predominantly an African American the past. We will have difficult restaurant” for a long time. Then she says, times in the future. It is not “We have a very diverse crowd of people the end of violence. It is not the end of who come in now.” And the diversity excites lawlessness. It is not the end of disorder.” her. “We’ve welcomed it,” she says. “I’ve had Robert F. Kennedy spoke these words to a Caucasian people say they didn’t think they crowd of mostly African American Hoosiers could come in here. But once they come in at the corner of 17th and Broadway on and see that no matter what, whether you’re April 4, 1968, after announcing the terrible Hispanic, Caucasian, a man, a woman, news that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had gay, or straight, you’re going to be treated been assassinated that day. the same. They realize it’s almost like being Those words are important to rememat Mom’s house every Sunday and sitting ber because we are undoubtedly having around the table with family.” difficult times right now across our counAnd that’s exactly what the food is like at try. It seems the world grows more hateful Kountry Kitchen—especially if your mom, every day, from vitriolic arguments about or grandma for that matter, came from the political leanings, to heated race relations South. The menu is made up of soul food due to police shootings and growing hatestaples, which is simply comforting Southfilled voices behind the ern food. Some popular opwhite supremacist movetions are the fried catfish, the ment, to seemingly weekly “Food is a roast beef with homemade school shootings. gravy, Cynthia’s homemade bridge. … When And while these are diffimeatloaf, and maybe the cult times, another part of you walk through best fried chicken in town. Kennedy’s speech is more who loves Souththe door, you’re ernAnyone reflective of the world we food knows that the live in. “But the vast mafamily no matter sides are just as important jority of white people and as the mains, so there’s plenwho you are.” the vast majority of Black ty of cornbread, mashed people in this country want —CYNTHIA WILSON potatoes, yams, mac and to live together, want to cheese, okra, and, my perimprove the quality of our life, and want sonal favorite, collard greens. justice for all human beings who abide in While Kountry Kitchen’s goal is simply to our land.” serve up tasty, comforting meals to anyone It is with this thought in our minds and and everyone who wants them, being in our hearts that we have to look to common the Kennedy King neighborhood and being ground, places where we can meet and have run by people from that community have quality conversations and understand and helped make sure that a meal here is a learn to love one another. One place that special affair. has pushed and continues to push this posiIn difficult and divisive times like now, it tive agenda in Indy is Kountry Kitchen. is most important to enjoy a meal at places “Food is a bridge,” says Cynthia Wilson, such as Kountry Kitchen because we have to who owns Kountry Kitchen with her huscome together. As Cynthia says, “There’s alband, Isaac. “When you walk through the ways going to be differences. There’s always door, you’re family no matter who you are.” going to be divisiveness. But all it takes is Kountry Kitchen has stood at the corner conversation and an open mind. … Let’s be of 18th and College—just blocks away reasonable; we’re all human beings. We have from where Kennedy delivered his famous to love one another. Not to be a kumbaya speech—for nearly 30 years. Isaac was person, but we have to.” even at Kennedy’s speech and has brought If we get to eat some delicious food while Kennedy and King’s sentiments into his learning to love one another, well, all the business for decades. better. N NUVO.NET // 04.04.18 - 04.11.18 // FOOD+DRINK // 17

SEPT.

COMING UP

EVENT // Counting Crows WHERE // Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center ON SALE // Friday, April 6, 10 a.m.

LIONEL LOUEKE IS A MASTER OF JAZZ GUITAR // PHOTO BY MATHIEU BITTON

A WORLD OF INFLUENCE Lionel Loueke’s Concerts Are a Masterclass in Jazz Guitar BY KYLE LONG // MUSIC@NUVO.NET

enin’s Lionel Loueke has blazed a unique trail on two musical fronts. Loueke is one of the most revolutionary guitarists to emerge from West Africa in modern history while also holding rank as an iconoclastic master of contemporary jazz guitar. Loueke’s playing merges these two worlds in an unprecedented fashion, and his sound has been embraced by American jazz legends, including Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock. Indianapolis fans of jazz and African music will have a chance to experience Loueke’s music at The Jazz Kitchen on April 11.

NUVO: West Africa is a region that is rich with extraordinary guitar players. Was there a particular guitarist you heard back home that first hooked you on the sound of the instrument? LOUEKE: Yes, there was a very great guitar player back in Benin named Papillon. He played with the group T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou. I was also checking out Ali Farka Touré, and Congolese players like Tabu Ley, Franco, and Diblo Dibala. NUVO: I’m speaking to you from Indianapolis, and I understand our hometown hero Wes Montgomery played a large role in your musical evolution.

18 // MUSIC // 04.04.18 - 04.11.18 // 100% SUSTAINABLE / RECYCLED PAPER // NUVO.NET

WHAT // Lionel Loueke WHEN // April 11, 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. WHERE // The Jazz Kitchen PRICE // $20–$30

LOUEKE: The first jazz guitarist I listened to was George Benson, and I wanted to go back and learn where he was coming from musically. That’s how I discovered Wes Montgomery. For me, Wes is still the best of all time. He’s my favorite guitar player ever. Though I don’t sound anything like him because I can’t. Wes is not like one of those musicians who went to music school. I’ve been to many music schools, but I think the best way to learn is by ear. Of course, you need some advanced harmony concepts, but I don’t think it’s completely necessary to go to school to play this music. Jazz is music that really connects with the heart. School is great, but you have to keep the heart first. That’s what I hear from Wes; his music is all from the heart. NUVO: You often accompany your work on guitar with a unique style of vocalization that sounds very reminiscent of South African music. Tell me how you developed this sound.

AUG.

EVENT // Cake and Ben Folds WHERE // The Lawn at WRSP ON SALE // Friday, April 6, 10 a.m.

LOUEKE: When I was younger, around the same time I discovered Wes, I was listening a lot to Miriam Makeba from South Africa. She was from the Xhosa culture, and in that language they speak with a click sound. I don’t speak Xhosa, but I was inspired by the sound, and I used to imitate her. Later on when I got more into jazz, I totally forgot about it. But one day I was at a gig with my trio, and after the gig they asked me, “Man, what was that thing you did tonight?” I didn’t realize it, but I was singing with the click in unison with some of the guitar lines I played. From that point, I started developing that sound, and now it’s really part of what I do. I use the click as a rhythmic approach to what I’m doing. It has nothing to do with the Xhosa language because I don’t speak it. (laughs) NUVO: I partially bring that question up to reference your 2008 recording of the classic standard “Skylark.” That song was written by the beloved Indiana composer Hoagy Carmichael. Your version of “Skylark” is one of the most unique interpretations I’ve ever heard, and to my ears, it incorporates a strong South African feeling. I’m curious how you approached arranging “Skylark” for your group. LOUEKE: I like to experiment and play standards in a nonstandard way. In other words, I like to put my stamp on a song. That’s what I did with “Skylark.” It was a double challenge because I think we played it in 7/4 time and the original is 4/4. In Africa, there’s a few places where you can hear 7/4 time, but not too many places. Most music on the African continent is 4/4 with all the variations on 4 like 12/8 or 6/8. But I like odd meters. I listen to a lot of music from Eastern Europe where they have a lot of different meters that I like. I think I was just messing around with my guitar, and the melody just fit naturally with 7/4 time. The guitar on the intro and coda is typical of West Africa and the guitar heroes I had growing up with like Franco. So that part is definitely more Congolese. It’s a combination of a few things. NUVO: So your “Skylark” represents South Africa, West Africa, Eastern Europe, and Indiana? LOUEKE: Exactly! (laughs) N

NUVO.NET/MUSIC

FINDING YOUR OWN SOUND How The Slackers Have Defied Genre Conventions for Decades BY JONATHAN SANDERS // MUSIC@NUVO.NET

hen you’ve been a songwriter as long as Vic Ruggerio of The Slackers has, you often find yourself looking back at the writers who inspired you, even as you explore genre conventions you’ve spent a career trying to shatter. “Every once in a while I’ll have a Bob Marley moment where I go back and I listen to his tunes in a different way,” he explains during a recent interview. “They just made up this new language for what was going to become reggae because everything that had preceded it wasn’t so specific. They made up a vernacular that was really specific to what was going on at that moment. And I’d say that’s really what any good artist does. You make up a language that’s your own to talk through.” For Ruggerio and The Slackers, who have been recording and touring steadily for nearly 30 years, their particular vernacular has been tough for fans to pin down on occasion. Their ska-reggae hybrid doesn’t conform to genre-centric expectations, with Ruggerio’s songwriting doing what The Beatles did with Southern blues decades ago: twisting it to meet his needs and forming something uniquely theirs. “I guess the thing is that if you’re stuck in a genre, you can do something really revolutionary within that little world, and it doesn’t have to be really revolutionary outside that world,” he says, laughing. “I don’t know if The Slackers are really captured by genre boundaries, but we talk to a lot of people who are. A lot of people find out about us through Rancid and Hellcat and punk bands. That’s how I came to reggae and ska was through punk.” Ruggerio takes music seriously. It is, as he’ll tell you, as integrated into his daily routine as eating or breathing. “Playing with The Slackers, playing these songs, it’s really just moment to moment

whatever life dictates,” he says. “I think it comes down to being sincere no matter what. If you’re gonna do it, be sincere about it. Don’t make it a put-on. I never wanna be one of those guys who gets up and you feel like this is the same script the guy reads every night. I want it to always be a unique and sincere moment for everybody, you know? And that includes me because I would feel like crap if I wasn’t sincere.” Ruggerio has played several solo shows over the last several years in Indianapolis but will return to the city on April 11 to play the Melody Inn with The Slackers in tow for what is already a sold-out show online, though a few tickets remain for those who arrive early the night of. “I started coming through Indianapolis on my own over the past couple years because I felt like The Slackers always ended up playing a few different towns in Indiana that would be too close,” he says. “But it’s

been nice to come back and get reacquainted with the city because it’s a crazy little city. The Midwest is the bread and butter. You’ve really gotta bounce around.” Ruggerio says great art doesn’t always hit you over the head; sometimes you have to work to find it. “With art or writing or anything, you don’t necessarily like it—or a great record, for that matter. You don’t necessarily put the record on and go like ‘Oh! This is it!’” he says. “Once in a while it happens, but sometimes you hear something and it’s more ‘I don’t get this, but it’s intriguing! There’s something in there but I don’t get it!’ And I guess I feel that way with modern music. I keep my ears open.” Even after decades as a touring musician, he says there are times when he has to just stop and take a step out of it all to re-evaluate his life experiences. “It’s like meditation,” he explains. “A lot of

these things boil down to the simplicity of it. When I’m going from gig to gig, keeping myself busy, sometimes I’ll have this existential crisis while I’m on a subway in a town across the world, sitting on the London Underground or the Paris Metro lugging my bag around and my guitar. And I’m thinking ‘What the hell am I doing with my life? What is this?’ And it’s one of those moments, like, when you’re running and you just know ‘That’s right, I just have to take the next step. And the next step will deliver me another step closer to where I ought to be.’” N

WHAT // The Slackers WHEN // April 11, 8 p.m. WHERE // The Melody Inn PRICE // $12 (at door only)

NUVO.NET // 04.04.18 - 04.11.18 // MUSIC // 19

WEDNESDAY // 4.4 Cut Copy The Vogue, 21+ The Steel Wheels, Chris Wilson The Hi-Fi, 21+ Oh, Rose, Wes Pioneer, 21+ The Funk Quarter The Jazz Kitchen, 21+ Folkfaces, John Barney, The Passengers The Melody Inn, 21+ Have Mercy, Household Hoosier Dome, all-ages

HEY HOOSIERS! $5 TENDERLOINS RETURN APRIL 23

THURSDAY // 4.5 The Breakes, The Hollow Roots, Jeremy Radway The Melody Inn, 21+ Coast Modern, Bad Bad Hats, Tri Patterns The Hi-Fi, 21+ Home Free Old National Centre, all-ages Altered Thurzdaze: Sunsquabi, Exmag The Mousetrap, 21+ Brandon Tinkler EP Release Square Cat Vinyl, all-ages Landon Caldwell, Drekka, Timbler Rattle State Street Pub, 21+ Nap Eyes, She-Devils The Bishop (Bloomington), 18+

FRIDAY // 4.6

Barbecue and Bourbon on Main Bearcats Restaurant & Bar Big Lug Canteen Billy O’Neal’s Pub & Eatery Bookers Bar & Grill Broad Ripple Brewpub Cafe at the Prop Clustertruck Dooley O’Tooles Ember Urban Eatery

Grindstone Charley’s Harvey’s Tavern Hoosier Brewhouse Hops & Fire Craft Tap House Hopcat La Mulita Oasis Diner Redemption Alewerks Red Lion Grog House Sahm’s Place

Sahm’s Tavern Sahm’s Ale House Village of West Clay Shoefly Public House Stacked Pickle Ram Restaurant & Brewery (FISHERS LOCATION ONLY) Tried & True Alehouse Whiskey Business Whit’s Inn

Awake the Wilde, Cyrus Youngman & The Kingfishers, Papa Warfleigh’s Funk Revival, Christian Taylor The Melody Inn, 21+

BARFLY

AJR Old National Centre, all-ages The Contortionist, Silent Planet, Strawberry Girls, Skyharbor Old National Centre, all-ages Rhett Miller, BEA The Hi-Fi, 21+ Locash 8 Seconds Saloon, 21+ In Tall Buildings, Saint Aubin Pioneer, 21+ Manners, Please, Chemical Envy, Black Cat Rebellion Black Circle Brewing, 21+ Steven Dunn Album Release Square Cat Vinyl, all-ages Count Bop, The Headliners The Vogue, 21+ Album Cover Throwdown: Green Day vs. Queens of the Stone Age Radio Radio, 21+ Sean Haefeli The Jazz Kitchen, 21+

SATURDAY // 4.7 Punk Rock Night: Bizarre Noir, Dangerbird, Trashcan, Duderus The Melody Inn, 21+ Lucy Dacus, The Kids, Adult Mom The Hi-Fi, 21+ Esseks, Kromuh, Frozen Turtle The Mousetrap, 21+ Faith Healer, Elle Barbara’s Black Space Pioneer, 21+ Full Moon Dogs State Street Pub, 21+ Premium Blend The Chatterbox, 21+

Fame & Fiction Square Cat Vinyl, all-ages Steve Allee Big Band The Jazz Kitchen, 21+ American Bombshell, Jon Strahl Band Slippery Noodle Inn, 21+ Jennie Devoe The Rathskeller, 21+ Kolo Bell Union Brewing Company, 21+

SUNDAY // 4.8 Crimson Calamity, Nate Raab Band, The Failers, Native Harrow The Melody Inn, 21+ Knuckle Puck, Boston Manor, Free Throw, Hot Mulligan, Jetty Bones Old National Centre, all-ages Alfredo Rodriquez The Jazz Kitchen, 21+ Cloakroom, Sweet Cobra, Jaye Jayle Pioneer, 21+ Our Vices, Sleep Walker, Glass Hands, Still Bloom, Olam Hoosier Dome, all-ages Among The Trees The Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts, (Carmel), all-ages

MONDAY // 4.9 You vs. Yesterday, Colourshow, The Stars Revolt, Emily Morrone Irving Theater, all-ages Reverend Robert, Washboard Shorty Slippery Noodle Inn, 21+

BY WAYNE BERTSCH

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ARIES (March 21-April 19): Eighty-three-yearold author Harlan Ellison has had a long and successful career. In the course of publishing hundreds of literary works in seven different genres, he has won numerous awards. But when he was in his thirties, there was an interruption in the upward arc of his career. The film production company Walt Disney Studios hired him as a writer. During his first day on the job, Roy Disney overheard Ellison joking with a co-worker about using Disney characters in an animated pornographic movie. Ellison was fired on the spot. I am by no means predicting a comparable event in your life, Aries. On the contrary. By giving you this heads-up, I’m hoping you’ll be scrupulous and adroit in how you act in the early stages of a new project -- so scrupulous and adroit that you will sail on to the next stages. TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Are you an evolving Taurus or an unevolving Taurus? Are you an aspiring master of gradual, incremental progress or a complacent excuse-maker who secretly welcomes inertia? Will the theme of your next social media post be “The Smart Art of Compromise” or “The Stingy Glory of Stubbornness”? I’m hoping you will opt for the former rather than the latter in each of the three choices I just offered. Your behavior in the coming weeks will be pivotal in your long-term ability to animate your highest self and avoid lapsing into your mediocre self. GEMINI (May 21-June 20): If you fly in a passenger jet from New York to London, the trip usually takes more than six hours. But on January 8, 2015, a powerful jet stream surging across the North Atlantic reduced that time significantly. With the wind’s extra push, several flights completed the trip in five hours and 20 minutes. I suspect you’ll have comparable assistance in the course of your upcoming journeys and projects, Gemini. You’ll feel like the wind is at your back. CANCER (June 21-July 22): Actor Keanu Reeves’ career ascended to a higher level when he appeared as a lead character in the film Speed. It was the first time he had been a headliner in a bigbudget production. But he turned down an offer to reprise his starring role in the sequel, Speed 2. Instead he toured with his grunge band Dogstar and played the role of Hamlet in a production staged by a local theater company in Winnipeg, Manitoba. I admire him for being motivated more by love and passion than by fame and fortune. In my estimation, Cancerian, you face a choice that in some ways resembles Keanu’s, but in other ways doesn’t. You shouldn’t automatically assume that what your ego craves is opposed to what your heart yearns for and your soul needs. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): A Leo sculptor I know is working on a forty- foot-long statue of a lion. Another Leo friend borrowed $30,000 to build a recording studio in her garage so she can pursue her quixotic dream of a music career. Of my other Leo acquaintances, one is writing a memoir of her time as a black-market orchid smuggler, another just did four sky dives in three days, and another embarked on a long-postponed pilgrimage to Slovenia, land of her ancestors. What about you? Are there any breathtaking challenges or smart gambles you’re considering? I trust you can surf the same astrological wave. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): How sexy is it possible for you to be? I’m referring to authentic soul-stirring sexiness, not the contrived, glitzy, counterfeit version. I’m alluding to the irresistible magnetism that wells up in you when you tap in to your core self and summon a reverent devotion to your life’s mission. However sexy it is possible for you to be, Virgo, I suggest you unleash that magic in the coming weeks. It’s the most reliable strategy for attracting the spiritual experiences and material resources and psychological support you need.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): According to my analysis of the cosmic omens, your impact is rising. You’re gaining influence. More people are tuning in to what you have to offer. And yet your stress levels also seem to be increasing. Why is that? Do you assume that having more power requires you to endure higher tension? Do you unconsciously believe that being more worried is the price of being more responsible? If so, banish that nonsense. The truth is this: The best way to manage your growing clout is to relax into it. The best way to express your growing clout is to relax into it. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): The immediate future will challenge you to revisit several fundamental Scorpio struggles. For best results, welcome these seeming intrusions as blessings and opportunities, and follow these guidelines: 1. Your control over external circumstances will increase in direct proportion to your control over your inner demons. 2. Your ability to do what you want will thrive to the degree that you stop focusing on what you don’t want. 3. Your skill at regulating and triumphing over chaos will be invincible if you’re not engrossed in blaming others. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): I’m about to say things that sound extraordinary. And it’s possible that they are in fact a bit overblown. But even if that’s the case, I trust that there is a core of truth in them. So rejoice in their oracular radiance. First, if you have been hoping for a miracle cure, the next four weeks will be a time when you’re more likely than usual to find it or generate it. Second, if you have fantasized about getting help to address a seemingly irremediable problem, asking aggressively for that help now will lead to at least a partial fix. Third, if you have wondered whether you could ever retrieve a lost or missing part of your soul, the odds are more in your favor than they’ve been in a long time. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The French government defines books as an “essential good,” along with water, bread, and electricity. Would you add anything to that list of life’s basics? Companionship? Stories? Deep sleep? Pleasurable exercise and movement? Once you identify your “essential goods,” I invite you to raise the level of reverence and care you give them. Take an oath to treat them as holy treasures. Boost your determination and ability to get all you need of their blessings. The coming weeks will be a favorable time to enhance your appreciation of the fundamentals you sometimes take for granted. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Buckingham Palace is the home and office of the Queen of England. It has been the main royal residence since Queen Victoria took the throne in 1837. But in earlier times, the site served other purposes. The 17th-century English lawyer Clement Walker described the building occupying that land as a brothel, a hotbed of “debauchery.” Before that the space was a mulberry garden where silkworms tuned mulberry leaves into raw material for silk fabrics. I see the potential for an almost equally dramatic transformation of a certain place in your life, Aquarius. Start dreaming and scheming about the possibilities. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Poet Carolyn Forché is a role model for how to leave one’s comfort zone. In her early career, she earned writing degrees at placid universities near her childhood home in the American Midwest. Her first book mined material about her family; its first poem is addressed to her grandmother. But then she relocated to El Salvador, where she served as a human rights advocate during that country’s civil war. Later she lived and wrote in Lebanon at the height of its political strife. Her drive to expand her range of experience invigorated her poetry and widened her audience. Would you consider drawing inspiration from Forché in the coming weeks and months, Pisces? I don’t necessarily recommend quite so dramatic a departure for you, but even a mild version will be well rewarded.

HOMEWORK: Buy or make yourself a present that encourages you to be more generous.

Report results at Freewillastrology.com.

NUVO.NET // 04.04.18 - 04.11.18 // ASTROLOGY // 23

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