September O.Henry 2019 by O.Henry magazine

BHHSYostandLittle.com/927710

BHHSYostandLittle.com/936149

BHHSYostandLittle.com/941355

104 Kemp Road West Greensboro

6348 Poplar Forest Drive Summerfield

3905 Henderson Road Greensboro

MELISSA GREER 336 –337–5233

M I C H E L L E P O RT E R 336 –207– 0515

$1,650,000

BHHSYostandLittle.com/940137

$1,250,000

BHHSYostandLittle.com/935866

$1,195,000

BHHSYostandLittle.com/923231

2706 Lake Forest Drive Greensboro

17 Granville Oaks Court Greensboro

5006 Quincemoor Court Greensboro

M I C H E L L E P O RT E R 336 –207– 0515

K AT H Y H A I N E S 336 –339 –2000

JA R E E TO D D 336 – 601 –4892

$1,080,000

BHHSYostandLittle.com/939838

$799,000

BHHSYostandLittle.com/938585

$769,900

BHHSYostandLittle.com/935945

7020 Toscana Trace Summerfield

104 Fisher Park Circle Greensboro

3545 Old Onslow Drive Greensboro

K AT H Y H A I N E S 336 –339 –2000

ASHLE Y MEREDITH 336 –202–4964

JA R E E TO D D 336 – 601 –4892

$750,000

$695,000

$649,500

Adams Farm 336–854–1333 • Elm Street 336–272–0151 • Friendly Center 336–370–4000 ©2019 BHH Affiliates, LLC. An independently operated subsidiary of HomeServices of America, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate, and a franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc.® Equal Housing Opportunity.

TREAT YOURSELF

Tues.-Fri. 10-6pm Sat. 10-3pm www.StateStJewelers.com

211 A State St. Greensboro, NC (336) 273-5872

Doux Collection

B E S T. D E C I S I O N . E V E R . For projects of any size, perfection often requires making difficult decisions. Allow the experts at prominent brands, all designed to bring your vision to life. Learn more at fergusonshowrooms.com

GREENSBORO F E RGUSON S H OWROOM S .COM

ÂŠ2019 Ferguson Enterprises, LLC 0719 1403711

Ferguson to make things easy by introducing you to an extensive collection of stylish products from

Irving Park At Its Finest! Katie L. Redhead GRI, CRS

Broker/Owner/REALTORÂ® 336.430.0219 mobile 336.274.1717 office

11 Granville Oaks Court

701 Sunset Drive

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

FA L L I N L O V E WITH CHARLOTTE

As the third fastest-growing city in the nation, Charlotte’s energy and optimism attract a diverse community of residents and visitors alike. Whether you’re here to relax or explore, there’s no better place to escape from reality than to the Queen City this fall.

CROWDERS MOUNTAIN

Every free minute in Charlotte is one meant for exploring. Take in the sights and sounds of the city at the 55th annual Festival in the Park—an event that features work from more than 150 artisans at the city’s beloved urban green space, Freedom Park. Next up on your fall bucket list: celebrate the heritage and history of the people who call Charlotte home at the Festival of India or the Hola Charlotte Festival. Just 13 miles outside of Uptown Charlotte, discover the annual Fall Festival at the U.S. National Whitewater Center, an outdoor recreational facility drawing Olympic-caliber athletes from around the world. While you’re there, cheer on participants competing in the obstacle trail race and boat competition, or sit back, relax and watch all the action with a seasonal cider sampling.

FESTIVAL OF INDIA

Adventure awaits in Charlotte. Whether it’s by foot, bike or scooter, explore the Queen City’s 50+ miles of developed greenways, or gear up for a legendary hike up one of Crowders Mountain’s 16 meandering trails. And to top it all off, cool down with a cocktail in hand on one of Charlotte’s many rooftop patios overlooking the skyline. This is a city with sky-high possibilities beckoning you to come play. Each of these fall events and attractions help set the Queen City apart from the rest. Treat yourself to a stay in the heart of Uptown Charlotte at boutique establishments like The Ivey’s Hotel or Kimpton Tryon Park Hotel for the ultimate getaway. And with Charlotte’s easy accessibility from Greensboro just up Interstate 85, a weekend or week-long getaway to the Queen City never sounded so good. No matter the time of year, Charlotte has something for everyone —come find out why.

U.S. NATIONAL WHITEWATER CENTER

charlottesgotalot.com

JOIN UNC GREENSBORO’S ALUMNI & FRIENDS

BOOK CLUB

Our new book club allows you to connect with UNCG alumni and friends—all while enjoying a great read. There is no cost to particpate. You only need a copy of the book to sign up! Join us today at pbc.guru/uncg and learn more about the August - October selection by Tara Westover. Are you interested in joining the University Libraries for a live discussion of this book? Email us at nahoskin@uncg.edu with your ideas! Co-sponsored by Bryan School of Business and Economics

Find your information here.

RESTAURANT WEEK

SEPTEMBER 16-22 | 2019 $10 or $15 Lunch Specials $20 or $30 Dinner Specials $5 Drink Specials dgsorw.com for a complete list of participating restaurants #DGSORW

September 2019 FEATURES 70 Porch Rockin'

57 The Sound of You

By Ross Howell, Jr. The sweet sounds of the Dunleath Porchfest create community

By Ashley Wahl

58 South End Rising

By Quinn Dalton Over the tracks, the far reaches of downtown are fertile ground for new beginnings and a day's perfect ending

74 Benbow's Beauty

By Maria Johnson A storied Fisher Park bungalow awaits its next caretakers

66 Heartstrings

By Grant Britt John Mark Hampton’s Moriah Guitars is an acoustic dream come true

87 Almanac

By Ash Alder

DEPARTMENTS 19 Simple Life

53 Birdwatch

22 Short Stories 25 Instagram Winners 27 Doodad

54 Wandering Billy

By Jim Dodson

By Susan Campbell By Billy Eye

29 Life’s Funny

88 Arts Calendar 104 GreenScene 111 The Accidental Astrologer

31 Omnivorous Reader

112 O.Henry Ending

By Grant Britt

By Maria Johnson By Stephen E. Smith

By Astrid Stellanova By Cynthia Adams

35 Scuppernong Bookshelf 37 Drinking with Writers By Wiley Cash

41 True South By Susan Kelly

43 In The Spirit By Tony Cross 47 Wine Country By Angela Sanchez

49 Sporting Life By Tom Bryant

Cover photograph by Brandi Swarms

8 O.Henry

September 2019

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Fine Eyewear, Artwork and Jewelry 327 South Elm | Greensboro 336.274.1278 | TheViewOnElm.com Becky Causey, Licensed Optician Find us on Facebook

HOP ON DECK! PROUD AFFILIATE OF THE

PITTSBURGH PIRATES

APRIL 2020 SUN

MON

TUE

WED

THU

FRI

MAY 4

SAT

SUN

MON

TUE

WED

THU

JUNE 1

FRI

@CSC

SAT

SUN

@CSC

@DEL

@WVP

LWD AUG AUG AUG

@LWD @HAG @HAG @HAG

GRE

COL

LWD

@LWD @LWD @LWD

GRE

@CSC

ASH

@KAN @DEL

OFF

OFF OFF

HAG HAG HAG

ASH

@GRE @GRE @GRE @KAN @KAN

HIC

HAG HAG HAG HAG

@DEL

DEL

TUE

WED

THU

FRI

HIC

@DEL

OFF

HAG HAG HAG

HIC

JULY TUE

WED

THU

AUGUST 3

FRI

@HAG @HAG @HAG

SAT

SUN

MON

TUE

WED

THU

FRI

SAT

@DEL

LWD

LWD LWD LWD @AUG @AUG @AUG DEL DEL

@HAG

CSC

DEL

OFF

DEL

KAN @HIC

OFF @HAG @HAG @HAG

KAN @HIC

CSC

@DEL

CSC

@DEL

OFF ROM ROM ROM LWD LWD

ALL-STAR BREAK

@DEL

LWD LWD LWD

@DEL

2020 SCHEDULE

LWD @DEL @DEL @DEL @DEL @LWD @LWD

@LWD

KAN

LEX

LEX @LWD @LWD @LWD @LWD WVP WVP

WVP

OFF

HOME

CALL 336.268.2255 FOR SEASON TICKETS AND GROUP EVENTS!

HIC

@KAN @KAN @KAN @WVP @WVP @WVP

DEL

MON

SAT

@GRE

SUN

DEL @ROM @ROM @ROM @GRE @GRE

LWD

MON

All dates and opponents are subject to change.

AWAY

@GSOHoppers

PLAYING IS FOR THE YOUNG AND YOUNG AT HEART. STAY THAT WAY.

Never stop playing.

It’s always play time in Abingdon. visitabingdonvirginia.com • 888.489.4144

M A G A Z I N E

Volume 9, No. 9 “I have a fancy that every city has a voice.”

What matters to you, matters to us

336.617.0090 1848 Banking Street, Greensboro, NC 27408 www.ohenrymag.com PUBLISHER

David Woronoff Jim Dodson, Editor • jim@thepilot.com Andie Stuart Rose, Art Director • andie@thepilot.com Nancy Oakley, Senior Editor • nancy@ohenrymag.com Lauren M. Coffey, Graphic Designer Alyssa Rocherolle, Graphic Designer CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Cynthia Adams, David Claude Bailey, Harry Blair, Maria Johnson CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Mallory Cash, Lynn Donovan, Amy Freeman, Sam Froelich, John Koob Gessner, Bert VanderVeen, Mark Wagoner CONTRIBUTORS

Ash Alder, Jane Borden, Grant Britt, Susan Campbell, Wiley Cash, Tony Cross, Clyde Edgerton, Billy Eye, Ross Howell Jr., Billy Ingram, Susan S. Kelly, Sara King, Brian Lampkin, Meridith Martens, D.G. Martin, Ogi Overman, Angela Sanchez, Stephen E. Smith, Astrid Stellanova (Left to right): Karen Button Fiduciary Advisory Specialist, Parrish Peddrick Senior Wealth Planning Strategist, Fritz Kreimer Senior Investment Strategist, LuAnn Dove-Ramsey Private Banker, Pam Beck Private Banker, Ryan Newkirk Wealth Advisor

Our team of experienced professionals will work to help you reach your unique goals. We offer the dedicated attention of our local team backed by the strength, innovation, and resources of the larger Wells Fargo organization. To learn more about how your local Wells Fargo Private Bank office can help you, contact us: Ryan Newkirk Wealth Advisor NMLSR ID 589706 (336) 378-4108 ryan.newkirk@wellsfargo.com wellsfargoprivatebank.com

ADVERTISING SALES

Ginny Trigg, Advertising Director 910.693.2481, ginny@thepilot.com Hattie Aderholdt, Advertising Manager 336.601.1188, hattie@ohenrymag.com Amy Grove, 336.456.0827 • amy@ohenrymag.com Glenn McVicker, 336.804.0131 • glenn@ohenrymag.com Brad Beard, Graphic Designer Advertising Assistant 336.617.0090, ohenrymag@ohenrymag.com

O.H

Steve Anderson, Finance Director 910.693.2497 Darlene Stark, Circulation Director • 910.693.2488 OWNERS

Wealth Planning Investments Private Banking Trust Services Insurance n

O.H

Wells Fargo Private Bank provides products and services through Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., the banking affiliate of Wells Fargo & Company, and its various affiliates and subsidiaries. Brokerage products and services are offered through Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC, member SIPC, a registered broker-dealer and separate non-bank affiliate of Wells Fargo & Company. Trust services available through banking and trust affiliates in addition to non-affiliated companies of Wells Fargo & Company. Insurance products are available through insurance subsidiaries of Wells Fargo & Company and are underwritten by non-affiliated Insurance Companies. Not available in all states.

Jack Andrews, Frank Daniels Jr., Frank Daniels III, Lee Dirks, David Woronoff ©Copyright 2019. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. O.Henry Magazine is published by The Pilot LLC

12 O.Henry

September 2019

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

CONDITIONS TREATED: Peripheral Neuropathy Back pain • Neck pain Foot pain • Leg pain Arm pain • Knee pain Elbow pain

Help

Rediscover your youth!

It has never been easier to treat your pain. Discover how Cold Laser Therapy is proven to bio-stimulate tissue repair while reducing treatment time and relieving pain Ask us about this new, non-surgical, drug-free treatment option today!

Dr. Aaron Williams D.C.

3831 W. Market St in Greensboro, NC 336-252-3284 www.greensborolaser.com

eastgso.com ABOUT US.

#lnvestEast is an initiative from East Greensboro NOW and the City of Greensboro to help foster investment in the future of East Greensboro. East Greensboro is poised for growth. It has a diverse housing stock, offers more opportunity than any other portion of Greensboro and is alive with quality of life.

HOME.

Housing options include apartments, starter homes, generational homes and dream houses.

OPPORTUNITY.

East Greensboro is home to leading businesses and top-rated universities with major growth plans.

COOL.

The Quality of Life in East Greensboro is second to none, with parks and gardens, the Downtown Greenway and the 2018 HBCU National Champion NC A&T Aggie football team.

#INVESTEAST

SEPTEMBER

EVENTS 9/ 3

Peruvian Cuisine, “Very Chevere!” Cooking class Reto’s Kitchen 6:00 pm

9/ 6

9/ 12

Beyond the Casserole: How to Truly Support Grieving Loved ones Lunch & Learn The Lusk Center 12:00 pm

The Lounge at NAI Piedmont Triad

9/ 12

VIP Lounge for Folk Fest NAI Piedmont Triad starting at 5:00 pm

Family-friendly pig pickin’ Center City Park 5:00 pm

9/ 6

First Friday Dinner Dinner Chez GEnese 5:30 pm

9/ 6

Demarie Truffle Wine Dinner

Wine dinner DiValletta Restaurant at Grandover 6:30 pm

9/ 7

Oregon Pinot Experience Wine tasting 1618 West 5:00 pm

9/ 10

“A Taste of France” Wine Pairing Dinner Wine Dinner Chez Genese 6:00 pm

9/ 11

French: A Very Provencal Night!

Future Fund Pig Pickin’

9/ 12

Macaron Workshop Cooking class Chez Genese 6:00 pm

9/ 12

Operation Xcel 10th Anniversary Celebration Celebration Gala Embassy Suites Greensboro Airport 6:00 pm

9/ 13-22

An O.Henry Celebration: Stories & Songs Plays The Well*Spring Theatre Times vary

9/ 13

MSG presents Factory Seconds Brass Trio

Concert Christ United Methodist Church 7:30

Cooking class Reto’s Kitchen 6:00 pm

9/ 18

West Africa: A Cuisine Akin Cooking class Reto’s Kitchen 6:00 pm

9/ 21

Coast to Curb Seafood Celebration

Seafood dinner Greensboro Farmers Curb Market 4:00 pm

9/ 21

MSG Fall Fundraiser Fundraiser dinner Double Oaks B&B 3:00 pm

9/ 24

Paella and the Cuisine of Valencia! Cooking class Reto’s Kitchen 6:00 pm

9/ 26

Cheese Making Workshop Cooking workshop Chez Genese 6:00 pm

9/ 29

Community Table 2019

Cocktails and dinner Cadillac Service Garage 4:00 pm

9/ 26

Makers Mark Dinner Bourbon dinner 1618 Seafood Grille 6:00 pm

TicketMeTriad.com is powered by

For more events, visit

TicketMeTriad.com

LOCAL TICKETS

ONE PLACE

336.617.0090

We’re brewing GREAT BEER and smokin’ some of the BEST BARBECUE you’ll find anywhere. C O M E S E E U S I N T H E H I S T O R I C S T E A M P L A N T.

Village of Pinehurst, Nor th Carolina • PinehurstBrewing.com

Alysa Liu

2019 U.S. National Champion Featured athletes are not guaranteed to compete.

The U.S. Figure Skating Championships return to the Greensboro Coliseum January 20-26, 2020. See America’s top skaters compete for the title of U.S. champion in ladies, men’s, pairs and ice dance.

INDIVIDUAL EVENT TICKETS

ON SALE SEPT. 20!

NCSKATE2020.com

Simple Life

The World After Rain A good soak is the gift that keeps on giving

By Jim Dodson

Every year about this time, as another

summer’s lease expires, I remark to anyone who will listen (i.e. mostly my dog Mulligan) that we’ve survived the hottest summer ever. Unfortunately, this year I turned out to be right. According to the National Weather Service, the months of June and July logged their hottest temperatures on record, symptomatic of a year forecasters predict will be hottest in history — for the third summer in a row. If misery does indeed love company, at least we weren’t sweating it out alone. In England, suffering through its own record heat wave, jurors weighing evidence in a sensational murder trial in Oxford were dismissed after complaining to the judge of being unable to concentrate due to intense heat. The case involved a church warden and a magician who allegedly conspired to murder a famous Oxford lecturer and his headmistress neighbor in a scheme to steal their pensions and wills, a plot line worthy of Dame Agatha Christie. The judge halted the proceedings and sent everyone home to rest and cool off. At last check, the jury was still out. But stay tuned for the blockbuster movie. Across the Channel in France, meanwhile, where dozens of meteorological

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

records suffered heat stroke due to weeks of three-digit temperatures, maps of the country’s hottest zones at one point eerily resembled a human skull, reminding some of Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream. As you may have guessed by now, I’m no fan of summer. Perhaps this is because I am a child of winter, reportedly born in the midst of a snowstorm. Or possibly it’s because I lived on the coast of Maine for more than two decades and grew accustomed to summers that are short but cool affairs, ruining me for increasingly hot Southern summers. Curiously, when I think back on my boyhood — a kid growing up in three different small towns of the deep South — summer heat never seemed to get under my collar the way it does now. In Mississippi, a beautiful state beach lay just across the highway from our house. There was always an evening breeze off the water, and my mother and I used to go there in late afternoon to wade in the tranquil surf of the Gulf of Mexico to hunt for interesting wash-ups. Someone at the weekly newspaper my father owned told me that the Gulf offered the widest variety of shells in the world, an idea that inspired me to mount dozens of beautiful sea shells — striped turbans, Scotch bonnets, false angel wings — on a pair of lacquered pine boards. The pressman at the newspaper also informed me that we lived in the heart of “Hurricane Alley,” which prompted me to begin watching for signs of gathering thunderstorms that boiled up far out over the Gulf and swept ashore with curtains of wind and rain. Secretly, I confess, I hoped a real hurricane September 2019

O.Henry 19

Simple Life REAL ESTATE IS LOCAL. SO IS PRESTON.

GSO is full of parks & gardens nestled in and around a broad range of neighborhoods! We have a wide variety of architecture too – something to suit everyone and every budget! When it comes to selling your home, no one in the Greensboro area does it better than Preston and the team at TR&M. Local experts, global reach. Call 336.274.1717 or visit trmhomes.com today.

20 O.Henry

September 2019

might blow ashore, having no clue what might have resulted. A few years ago, the town where we lived was almost erased from the map by just such a September storm. The next stop in our family odyssey was a small South Carolina town that could have been the setting for To Kill a Mockingbird. Save for a beautiful African-American lady named Jesse who nursed my mom back to health after a pair of late-term miscarriages and taught me to “feet dance” to the gospel music she played from a transistor radio in the open kitchen window, my long summer days were spent either in a wicker chair on a wide side porch reading my first chapter books or — like smart dogs across the sultry South — burrowing into the cool dirt beneath the house, where I played for hours with my painted Greek and Roman soldiers. The days I liked best were those soothing gray affairs when a soft, steady rain fell all day and into the night, refreshing a parched world with its soothing music. Today, whenever I see the TV spot for the popular Calm app — featuring a full minute of nothing but gentle rain dripping from leaves — I’m reminded of something Miss Jesse liked to say. “Slow rain is a gift, child. This tired old world is like new after a good rain.” In Wilmington, the next stop on our Magical Mystery Tour of Southern newspapers, we joined the Hanover Seaside Club on Wrightsville Beach, where after a long day on the searing beach I liked to sit in a big rocking chair on the club’s open-air porches, slugging down ginger ale as I eavesdropped on grown-up cocktail chatter about politics and weather. On at least two occasions a hurricane was in the vicinity. Small people have big ears, as my mother liked to remind my father at such times. But I remember a few of his corny summer heat jokes to this day. It was so hot today I saw a dog chasing a cat and they both were walking. Did you hear? It was so hot today, why, the chickens were laying omelets and cows were giving powdered milk. These days, of course, owing to global warming, rising seas and other factors, ordinary thunderstorms seem more menacing than ever, and hurricanes have become even more lethel. Last September the citizens of Wilmington were marooned by a lady named Florence that dumped catastrophic amounts of rain on the coastal Carolina region, killing 51 people and doing a record amount of damage to property. A month later, tropical storm Michael turned into the most powerful hurricane ever to hit the Florida panhandle, obliterating Mexico Beach and adjacent communities before churning up through the Carolinas and knocking over record numbers of trees and power lines across the Piedmont. Four The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Simple Life huge oaks went down on our street alone, which left us in the dark for over a week. At least two of our neighbors’ houses were severely damaged, but thankfully nobody was killed or injured. In Michael’s wake, however, tree crews began combing the neighborhood, playing on people’s fears as they went door to door. For the moment at least, we are willing to accept the risk of living in an urban forest beneath stately century-old white oaks, if only for the kindness of shade they offer in summer and cathedrallike beauty they present come fall. Besides, at the start of the summer just ending, I made my wife smile by claiming that I was going to fully embrace the heat of this summer the way I did as a boy — with grace and a true sense of wonder, and absolutely no grumbling about the horrible heat. “Oh, nice. Are you planning to spend the summer in Sweden?” came the cheeky reply I suppose she knows me all too well. For a while, at least, I gamely managed to live up to this impossible goal, as abundant rain in May and half of June made my garden flourish and the staff gardener smile. Then came July and someone thoughtlessly turned off the great spigot in the sky — turning yours truly into Edvard Munch’s Scream. Despite heavy watering by hand — city water is no match for the kind that comes from the clouds — my garden withered during a solid month of relentless 90-plus days of heat and sunshine. Every little pop-up thunderstorm on my weather radar app, alas, seemed to just miss our little patch of earth, a personal affront that soon had me swearing an oath that next summer, “Stockholm here I come!” One afternoon when I least expected it, burrowed away in my air-conditioned tree-house office, my wife phoned to report that a cold front was bringing a series of thunderstorms our way. I told her that I would believe it when I smelled it. Not 10 minutes later, I heard the thunder and stepped outside. Ten minutes after that it was raining gloriously. I actually stepped out into my garden with my arms outstretched, savoring the smell and feel of summer-ending rain like the character Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption who, after he finds his way to freedom by crawling through a prison sewer pipe to a rain-swollen creek, strips off his clothes and stretches out his arms to embrace the water of heaven. I’ve watched that movie half a dozen times and never fail to find that scene deeply moving, a metaphor for the power of love and a tired old world washed clean. OH Contact Editor Jim Dodson at jim@thepilot.com.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

We are excited to announce

Dr. Darryl Locklear II has joined our team

Dr. Locklear II recently graduated from UNC-CH Adams School of Dentistry with a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree. Dr. Locklear was born and raised in Pembroke, NC, and attended Catawba College and UNC Pembroke prior to dental school. Outside of the office, Dr. Locklear enjoys weight training, hunting, fishing, and spending time with his daughter Naomi F Locklear.

A C C E P T I N G N E W P AT I E N T S Call today to schedule an appointment (336) 282-2868

2511 Oakcrest Ave, Greensboro, NC 27408 www.gsodentist.com

Like us on Facebook

September 2019

O.Henry 21

Sh rt

Stories

Jack and Tollers

Shell Game

Don’t let those ragged claws go to waste(land) scuttling across the floors of silent seas; scuttle ’em onto you plate along with shrimp, crabs, hush puppies and oysters at the first-ever Coast to Curb Seafood Celebration, courtesy of Greensboro Farmers Curb Market (501 Yanceyville Street). Kicking off at 4 p.m. on Saturday, September 21, the “Shellebration,” as it’s billed, is a fundraiser supporting the Market’s sustainable food programs. Using seafood from George Smith’s NC Fresh Seafood and Smith Century Farm, Chef Mary Lacklen will spin her culinary magic, starting with “snacktails” (hushpuppies made from Old Mill Guilford ingredients, and Brightleaf hot dogs from Smithfield), and a main course consisting of heaping portions of shrimp, crab, roasted oysters, potatoes, corn and slaw. Fill up, sidle up to the cash bar for a tipple, then sit back and enjoy some Cajun, zydeco and blues tunes from singer/songwriter/guitarist Andy Squint and be thankful the world is your oyster: ticketmetriad.com.

Sauce of the Month

O.Henry Comes Home

For 30-odd years, “5 By O.Henry” playwright Joe Hoesl’s dramatic adaptations of five O.Henry short stories found a venue in the Greensboro History Museum. But change is in the air, with a new performance space: the stunning Well-Spring Theatre (4100 Well Spring Drive as well as a new format. Under the banner An O.Henry Celebration of Stories and Songs, the program expands the musical portion of the show, and allows flexibility in the number of OH stories that will be staged. This season will stick with five, the standout being O.Henry’s most beloved oeuvre, “The Gift of the Magi.” Performances run at various times September 13–15, and September 19–22. Tickets: ticketmetriad.com.

The beet goes on, especially when pickled in the simple goodness of sugar, water, vinegar and salt. Not content to rest on its laurels with its “Famous” and “Mild” chow chow (featured among this magazine’s pages), or squash relish, McLeansville’s Gann Farm has introduced its latest, Ms. Mary’s Beet Salsa. A balance of sweet and sour, the sauce complements a hot dog, a cracker . . . or a plain old spoon dipped straight into the jar and is, ahh, hard to beet. Pick up one at Fresh Market or online at msmarys.com.

Keys to the Past

Enjoy the Italianate elegance of Blandwood Mansion (447 Washington Street) gratis, thanks to 2019 Museum Day — Live! Hosted by Smithsonian magazine, the annual event takes place on September 21 across the country at participating museums and offers free — yes, you read correctly, free — admission tickets. Under this year’s theme, “The Year of Music,” Preservation Greensboro and Blandwood are in on the action, showcasing the musical history of Gov. John Motley Morehead’s family, employing musical items from their collection, including a restored pianoforte, circa 1827. To download tickets go to smithsonianmag.com/museumday. For more information about Blandwood: preservationgreensboro.org/events.

5 BY O.HENRY PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY LYNN DONOVAN VIA WELL-SPRING

Meaning, literary giants C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Exploring the friendship between the authors and pioneers of the fantasy fiction genre, David Payne’s two-act play, Lewis & Tolkien: Of Wardrobes and Rings, referring, of course, to Lewis’ The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe from his Chronicles of Narnia and Tolkien’s epic The Lord of the Rings. The play brings the two Oxford dons together for one last meeting in Oxford’s The Eagle and Child Pub. The friends, played by Payne (Lewis, aka “Jack”) and Gordon Tett (Tolkien, aka “Tollers”), discuss, philosophize, disagree, exchange witticisms and ultimately illustrate the meaning of friendship in a work hailed as “intelligent, thought-provoking, resonant, absorbing . . . [and] funny.” See for yourself September 26–29 at Greensboro Coliseum’s Odeon Theatre (1921 West Gate City Boulevard). Tickets: (800) 745-3000 or ticketmaster.com.

Heroes and Villains

Shazam! Is that Spidey strolling alongside Batman? Or the Hulk enjoying a cuppa joe with Captain America? Don’t be surprised to see superheroes — and their evil counterparts — taking over the Gate City on September 15, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Join the fun as Greensboro Comicon returns to the Marriott Downtown (304 N. Greene Street), drawing legions of comics enthusiasts, not to mention artists and writers Chris Giarrusso, Rob Potchak, Chris Sims and Bridgit Connell. And don’t forget your cape, boots and any accessories essential to dressing as your favorite character in a cosplay (costume play) contest. Tickets: greensborocomicon.com.

Worth the Drive to Winston-Salem

Long before Norman Rockwell became synonymous with The Saturday Evening Post, one of his chief influences, illustrator J.C. Leyendecker, was shaping the popular magazine’s design signature. Illustrating some 300 covers for the publication along with advertisements, including the famous “Arrow Collar Man,” Leyendecker created a visual documentation of the Jazz Age. See his idealized images of American youth, aka, “the Leyendecker Look,” among other works at Leyendecker and the Golden Age of American Illustration, which just opened at Reynolda House Museum of American Art (2250 Reynolda Road, Winston-Salem), and remains on view through December 31. Info and tickets: (888) 663-1149 or reynoldahouse.org.

Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

Or as we say in these parts: “a little night, music, y’all.” Grab a lawn chair or blanket for some bluegrass under the stars at Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden’s Concert on the Lawn (215 South Main Street, Kernersville). Starting at 6:30 p.m. on September 19, the concert features the sounds of Hank, Pattie and The Current, Triangle mainstays of acoustic music who’ve blended traditional bluegrass with a little jazz, a little Latin and who-knows-what-else. And while the music will feed your soul, there will be food trucks and beverage stands offering literal sustenance. Gates open at 5 p.m. rain or shine. Tickets: cienerbotanicalgarden.org.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Ogi Sez Ogi Overman

September has become my favorite musical month of the year. Strangely, though, it has little to do with our three biggest venues (Greensboro Coliseum, Carolina Theatre, High Point Theatre), which aren’t chock full of performances month. We have enough nearby rooms so that no one will be deprived of top- or near-top-touring acts. Actually, part of the reason there’s a hole in the schedule may be that they’ve left space for our first entry here. Read on, fellow music lovers

• September 6–8, Downtown Greensboro: My whole world comes to a halt for these three days. The NC Folk Fest is the best thing that’s happened to this town since Elvis left the building. The lineup is way too lengthy and esoteric to list, so simply go to any of the info booths, grab a pocket schedule, and start circling your faves and connecting the dots. But the beauty is that you’ll fall in love with some act you’ve never heard of. I’m swooning just thinking about it. • September 10, Durham Performing Arts Center: I hate to send folks out of the Triad (so hurry up, Tanger), but fact is, living legend Buddy Guy is well worth the trip. His chops are still remarkably crisp and inventive, to the point of spellbinding. As guitar heroes go, he’s very near the top of the list. • September 13, White Oak Amphitheatre: Thirty years after “Red, Red Wine” made UB40 a household name, leaders Ali Campbell and Astro called it quits. But after label and internal squabbles were settled, the lure of performance drew them back. And we lovers of their unique brand of Brit reggae pop are the beneficiaries. • September 20, Blind Tiger: When Bill Kennedy and I formed ESP Magazine in 1988, the very first story I wrote was on the Connells. They were huge at the time, especially among Gen X-ers and, to a slightly lesser degree, Boomers. But now the millennials have caught Connell fever, and they’re riding a wave again. Megatalents and super nice guys, to boot. • September 28, Ramkat: Having been bought up on soul music, I’ve been a William Bell fan since “Private Number” and “Tryin’ to Love Two.” A couple of years ago I caught him at the CAMMYS and was stunned at how smooth and soulful his voice still is. And he puts on one heckuva show. September 2019

O.Henry 23

We do it all, so you can love it all. We design beautiful, functional spaces—and provide the quality products to finish the look. Best of all, our licensed, insured, locally owned and operated Re-Bath teams complete projects in days, not weeks. Schedule your free in-home consultation today.

Proudly serving Proudly servingthe theTriad. Triad. NC 27408. Visit our our showroom showroomatat2701 2701 Branchwood BranchwoodDr., Dr.,Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27408.

336-525-9583

REBATH.COM NC GC License No. 59212

Complete Bathroom Remodeling Tub & Shower Updates Aging & Accessibility Solutions

Providing the most up-to-date women’s heathcare in a relaxed, comfortable environment. Services • • • •

Richard J. Taavon, MD, FACOG Sheronette A. Cousins, MD, FACOG Kelly A. Fogleman, MD, FACOG Vaishali R. Mody, MD, FACOG Susan Almquist, MD, FACOG

1908 Lendew Street Greensboro, NC 27408 24 O.Henry

September 2019

Tanya Bailey, CNM, MSN, FACNM Daniela Paul, CNM, MSN Meredith Sigmon, CNM, MSN Beth C. Lane, WHNP-BC Julie Fisher, WHNP-BC

Obstetrical Care Gynecological Care Infertility Pre-Conceptual Counseling • Menopausal Care • Preventive Care • daVinci Robotic Assisted Surgery

• • • • •

Incontinence Midwifery Water Births 3D Ultrasound 2D & 3D Mammography • In-Office Procedures

Make Your Appointment Today

336-273-2835

wendoverobgyn.com The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Instagram Winners Congratulations to our September Instagram winners!

Theme:

My favorite summer read #oheycontest

Next monthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s theme:

Music

Submit your photo on Instagram at @oheygreensboro

using the hashtag #oheycontest

(Submissions needed by Monday, September 16th) The Art & Soul of Greensboro

September 2019

O.Henry 25

“Welcome Home!”

By truly partnering with our clients for over 19 years, we’ve set a high standard for quality in everything we do. You can expect consistent, continuous, honest communications, and together, we’ll create a stunning and exceptionally sound home. With Building Dimensions, you’re always part of the team.

336-644-0028 BuildingDimensionsNC.com

Doodad

The Greatest Show on Turf

NC Folk Fest promises another stellar lineup

he Greatest Show on Earth won’t be coming to town anymore. No more plodding pachyderms leading a ponderous parade through the streets, no more highflying, glittery dare-demons sailing overhead in deathdefying arcs. But every fall in Greensboro there’s still a bigfoot stomp making the pavement tremble when the North Carolina Folk Festival takes over downtown for a three-day residency (this year, September 6–8). Some glittery high-flyin’ as well as a plethora of musical acts from around the globe fill the airspace with a deluge of notes from on high. This year’s lineup once again draws from a catalog of artists and genres that you’d have to be a professional schmoozer with deep pockets to be able to capture in your personal space. Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys are one of the best Cajun outfits performing today. Here’s a group that bridges the gap between old and new, respecting their traditional roots, while writing new original songs that take that sound out of a stuffy museum, and into the streets and clubs. Riley leaves the Playboys back home in Mamou, fronting Racines, a Cajun supergroup. Fiddler Kevin Wimmer (Red Stick Ramblers) had done some recent gigs with the Playboys but with the addition of Chris Stafford on lap steel and electric guitar and BeauSoleil’s Mitchell Reed on bass and fiddle, the band’s sound is like a flip book of Louisiana music and culture with a blast of rockin’ Zydeco mixed in. Mwenso and the Shakes are a cultural mashup representing Sierra Leone, London, South Africa, Madagascar, France, Jamaica and Hawaii, interpreting blues and soul through a global filter. Mwenso also channels James Brown with choreography as arresting as any footwork dreamed up by the original Godfather of soul. The Allen Boys bring sacred steel down from Mount Airy, taking their organ replacement steel and electric guitars across the aisle into secular music, churchily channeling the music of Michael Jackson and Al Green along with traditional hymns. And if you need a classic soul injection, Booker T. Jones is your doctor. With his band the M.G.s, shorthand for the Memphis Group, Jones and guitarist Steve Cropper, bassist Duck Dunn and drummer Al Jackson Jr. were the heartbeat of soul back in the day, backing Otis Redding, and Sam and Dave in the studio and on tour, recording with Wilson Pickett the Staple Singers and Rufus Thomas, while racking up a No. 1 hit of their own with Jones’ 1962 instrumental “Green Onions.” It ain’t Ringling Bros., but the NC Folk Fest can circus with the best of ’em. OH — Grant Britt Info: ncfolkfestival.com The Art & Soul of Greensboro

W R I G H T S V I L L E

B E A C H

GOOD TIMES ON THE WATER

Stay in oceanfront luxury, learn to sail from our ASA instructors or simply relax aboard an evening sail. Photography by Joshua McClure

Named Best Beach for Families & Kids by TODAY Show 855.416.9086

blockade-runner.com September 2019

O.Henry 27

Greensboroâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s NEWEST Senior Living Community Located in the British Woods Neighborhood

nt Living

Independe

Assisted Living

Sales Office: 3316 Battleground Ave Community Address: 3420 Whitehurst Rd

336.355.7733

Greensboro | HarmonyAtGreensboro.com 28 O.Henry

September 2019

Secured A

ssisted Liv

ing

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Life’s Funny

Nailing It

How one student builds on kindness and encouragement By Maria Johnson

When shoppers inspect the wooden

outdoor furniture at a special sale this month at Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore on Gate City Boulevard, they’ll see the obvious traits: sturdy, attractive, handmade, affordable.

They won’t see the most impressive part: the builder, 19-year-old Bianca Briscoe of Greensboro. Her kissed-by-fate story stretches from childhood summers spent with her grandparents to a mild spring morning this past May. That’s when Bianca’s mother, Gretta Frierson, the director of clinical support services at Cone Hospital, was driving down Bessemer Avenue and saw two cars wreck in front of her. Gretta, a registered nurse who once worked on Cone’s orthopedic floor, jumped out to see if anyone was hurt. The people in one car were fine. In the other car, the man in the passenger seat was dazed by the airbags but OK. His wife, the driver, was frozen behind the wheel. The seat belt had dug into her side, and one hand was hurt, but she seemed to have no major injuries. Gretta noticed the woman was wearing a Habitat for Humanity T-shirt with the name tag: Ruthie Richardson-Robinson. “Ruthie, look at me,” Gretta said. “You’re OK. I’m right here. I’m with you.” “What’s your name?” Ruthie asked. “Gretta.” “You’re my angel,” said Ruthie. Gretta stayed until the ambulance arrived. Then she went to pick up some supplies for work and drove to the hospital. Entering through the emergency department, which she almost never does, she noticed Richardson-Robinson and her husband in the waiting room. Another man had joined them. Gretta went over to check on Ruthie. During the conversation, she referred to Ruthie’s T-shirt, saying that she and her daughter planned to volunteer with Habitat this summer. Her daughter, Bianca, an architecture major at Howard University, was interested in affordable housing. Ruthie gestured to the man who sat beside her and her husband: “I guess you don’t know who he is.” He was David Kolosieke, the new president and CEO of Habitat for Humanity in Greensboro. Ruthie, it turned out, was the organization’s director of homeowner services and neighborhood outreach. Kolosieke made an offer on the spot: He wanted to give Gretta’s daughter a summer internship with Habitat. A couple of weeks later, Bianca was back home, explaining to Kolosieke why she was the right woman for the job. She’d finished third in her class at the Early College at Dudley High School, where she’d studied on the engineering track. Howard University, in Washington, D.C., lured her with a hefty scholarship to enroll in a fiveyear program that would graduate her with a master’s degree in architecture. The Art & Soul of Greensboro

The Howard marching band offered financial help, too, if she would play the French horn for them. It was a tough sell for Gretta, who had played flute for the marching Aggies of N.C. A&T State University. She had assumed that Bianca would suit up for the Blue and Gold Marching Machine, but Bianca had other ideas. “Help me understand,” she said to her mom one day. “Why it was OK for you leave home for college, but it’s not OK for me?” She had a point. Coming to A&T from Richland County, South Carolina, had forced Gretta to grow up. She had put down roots in Greensboro, but her parents, Gretchel and Lucious, visited Greensboro often, and Bianca spent summers with them in South Carolina. Bianca was her grandfather’s shadow. When Lucious cut the grass, Bianca cut the grass. When he repaired things around the house, Bianca repaired things around the house. When she was 7, and he put her new ready-toassemble twin bed together, she was standing at the ready with a screwdriver. “He didn’t have any grandsons, so he had to teach me. He kept encouraging me,” said Bianca, who also excelled at puzzle-making as a child and, later, at the construction-oriented video game Minecraft. She wrote about her grandfather in her application to Howard. Unwittingly, he had prepared her for the Habitat internship, too. Kolosieke needed someone to build outdoor furniture with wood from donated shipping pallets. He took Bianca to the ReStore workshop and asked her to make potting benches, garden benches, end tables and shelves. There were no plans or drawings. She would have to wing it. “OK, I can do this,’” said Bianca. Kolosieke, the father of daughters, was elated. “She had a fearless willingness to try it,” he says. “There was a brightness in her eyes.” Over the summer, Bianca and her volunteer helpers made nearly 20 pieces of outdoor furniture — some painted and stained, all sealed with polyurethane. About once a week, Bianca worked on a Habitat construction site. When she’s a practicing architect, she wants to focus on low-cost construction and renovation that will slow gentrification, the upscaling of housing in older neighborhoods that drives prices beyond the reach of longtime residents. “They were there first,” Bianca says. “They should be able to live there.” She reflects on the ripple of kindness that opened a door for her this summer. “It’s kinda mind-blowing,” she says. “One person did something good, then someone else did something good, and it worked out.” She believes her grandfather, who died in March, a couple of months before the wreck, would not be surprised at how she spent her summer. “He’s the one who talked me through building furniture. I feel like he’d be really proud,” she says. “He’s probably up there like, ‘Ha! Look at you!’” OH Habitat for Humanity Greensboro ReStore,3826 West Gate City Boulevard. For info on its sale in early September, please call (336) 851-2939. Maria Johnson is a contributing editor of O.Henry. She can be reached at ohenrymaria@gmail.com. September 2019

O.Henry 29

ness without the fuss. fit

Is a 5-day-a-week visit to the gym just not in the cards for you? If so, consider CoolTone™, a brand new technology for body sculpting without the hard work. You get a toned body and fit muscles without the heavy workout routines that normally go with weightlifting and regular training. Restoration MedSpa is one of the first medical spas in the Triad to provide this revolutionary treatment option.

336.999.8295 RestorationMedSpa.com Schedule an appointment today for your confidential consultation!

Greensboro | Winston-Salem

Beauty, redefined.

Maintenance-Free, Lock-and-Go Lifestyle

USEanSd O H ys N OPdEays, Saturmda12 to 4

Lake Jeanette Luxury Patio Homes For more information call 336-339-2000

Fri days fro Sun

PHASE TWO COMING SOON

4200 LAWNDALE DR , GREENSBORO 27455

• 1.860-2,583 Square Feet • 2-3 Bedrooms on Main Level

• Optional Sunroom & Screen Porch

• Walk-In Attic Storage • 2 Car Garage

www.DevonshireGSO.com

Kathy Haines Realtor/Broker

SPS, SRES, SFR, e-Pro, ABR

30 O.Henry

September 2019

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

The Omnivorous Reader

A Haunting Tune A country music star’s harrowing memoir

By Stephen E. Smith

If a memoirist’s job is to make

sense of the raw, shifting facts of the past in order to instruct the future, country music singer-songwriter Allison Moorer, best known for having composed and performed the Academy Award-nominated “A Soft Place To Fall,” has a new calling. Her first literary publication, Blood, has the potential to change lives for the better. This sometimes poetic but more often bitter memoir is no sob story about the hardships of being a celebrity. It’s about the brutal, cold facts of real life. On an August morning in 1986, Moorer, who was 14 at the time, had her world upended when her abusive alcoholic father murdered her mother and then committed suicide in the front yard of their home in Mobile, Alabama. The expected response to such an intensely traumatic experience might be to distance oneself from these horrifying memories, and Moorer’s older sister, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Shelby Lynne, has downplayed this life-altering event by fending off interviewers’ constant questions, claiming to have come to terms with the family ghosts. Moorer has chosen to directly confront the past, and she begins her memoir with a detailed recounting of the murder-suicide. Although her recollection is sometimes sketchy and often confused by

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

the fact that she was awakened by the gunshots that took her parents’ lives, she relentlessly investigates, ruminating on forensic reports, death records, and by interviewing relatives and friends. Much of what she writes is suggested by personal items and family mementos — photographs, random notes penned by her father, his song lyrics, a coffee cup and keepsakes such as her mother’s ring, which she wears always, and her father’s Gibson guitar, which she continues to play in recording sessions. These items are talismans which Moorer employs to reveal, bit by bit, the terrible events of her childhood, and to demystify the details of the murder/suicide in order to assuage the grief and guilt surrounding her mother’s final moments. “I hope she didn’t hear me call for her,” she writes. “If I were shot in the chest and in the process of bleeding out in my front yard and heard my child call for me from the side door of the house, I can’t imagine I would die peacefully. The idea that Mama might’ve known I was looking for her haunts me. The idea that she might’ve died hearing me call for her, that my voice might’ve been the last thing she heard and that might’ve served as a terrible torment for her last conscious seconds, brings me indescribable sadness.” Old photographs foreshadow the tragedy. A 1975 snapshot taken in a chicken coop outside the family home suggests that her mother’s despondency was present early in her marriage. Her posture seems to indicate that clinical depression had “grabbed her around the throat and started slowly choking the life out of her . . . She just looks sad. Resigned. Older than thirty-one.” In a photo taken in Nashville 10 years later, Moorer detects the same forlorn look as her mother stands beside a display case filled with antique rifles: “. . . the look of ‘I wish I could disappear’” is even more obvious. September 2019

O.Henry 31

Omnivorous Reader

Together, we will discover what it means to capture the moments that really matter.

At Hospice and Palliative Care of Greensboro, our focus is on living. Our care enables those living with a serious illness to enjoy full, comfortable and dignified lives. Is your loved one coping with a serious illness? The earlier you reach out, the more we can help. 336.621.2500

www.hospicegso.org

2500 Summit Avenue | Greensboro, NC 27405

32 O.Henry

September 2019

Moorer doesn’t employ the customary chronological structure for her storytelling. Chapters jump from one disconnected episode to another, and short lyrical passages are interspersed with the narrative, mimicking the pattern of obsession the author experiences. “There are things that require no recalling,” Moorer writes. “They are here in the morning, they are here in the evening, they are here in my chest. They are knocked loose and into my mind by a stack of magazines on the floor beside my reading spot, the crossword puzzle in the newspaper, the color of an eggplant, the smell of morning on a work coat . . . ” Still, the narrative progresses in a timely and engrossing fashion, and the final effect is to bring the depth and detail of the story into full, horrifying focus. Blood is a memoir of despair, the story of a family tiptoeing around unpredictable behavior, drunken abuse and needless cruelty, all of which might have been avoided if Moorer’s father had received treatment for alcohol abuse and depression. She acknowledges his alcoholism but doesn’t offer it as an excuse for his behavior. And she can only wonder about his mental state: “Was he bipolar? I know he was depressed. He was unpredictable. He did dangerous things. I’m pretty certain he didn’t care if he lived or died.” She speculates that he may have been schizophrenic or suffered a personality disorder, but her judgment is necessarily simplistic and straightforward. Her father was “mad about what he didn’t do with his life” — which is, of course, a common affliction in a society that touts unobtainable goals. Alcohol abuse and mental illness remain constants in American life; the CDC reported more than 47,000 suicides in 2017. The value of Moorer’s memoir is twofold. First, it is an unburdening, a release for the writer. Committing her past to paper has no doubt forced Moorer to confront her demons and relegated them to a permanent and peaceful place in her life. More important, her storytelling may act as a wake-up call for those who live with physical and emotional abuse, a signal for victims to get out of dangerous relationships — and perhaps the memoir will serve as an eye-opener for those caught in the grip of alcoholism and mental illness, encouraging them to seek treatment, which would be no small accomplishment in a culture plagued by despair, anger and violence. OH Stephen E. Smith is a retired professor and the author of seven books of poetry and prose. He’s the recipient of the Poetry Northwest Young Poet’s Prize, the Zoe Kincaid Brockman Prize for poetry and four North Carolina Press awards.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

UNC Greensboro

SPEECH AND HEARING CENTER

Enjoy the abundance that autumn brings. UNCG Speech and Hearing Center is here to help those with speech, language, and hearing difficulties. OPEN TO THE PUBLIC-CONTACT US TODAY! FREE AND CONVENIENT PARKING 300 Ferguson Building, 524 Highland Avenue 336.334.5939 | http://csd.uncg.edu/shc/

SEPTEMBER HAPPENINGS

the Largest Lager Only Craft Brewery in America

Sunday, September 8 and 29 Yoga 2:00 September 25 - October 6

Looking for something different? Red Oak has paired two truly unique entities, America’s Largest Lager Only Craft Brewery, the home of Unfiltered, Unpasteurized, Preservative Free, Fresh Real Beer and their charming Lager Haus with its oldworld ambience. Relax among the plants and trees in the Biergarten, enjoy the stream, admire the sculpture… Great place to unwind after a long day.

OktoberFest

Live Music, German Games, Great Beer, Costume Contest Wednesday Nights Music Bingo at 7:00pm German Inspired Music Bingo September 25 Thursday Nights Wine Specials Fridays Brewery Tour at 4:30pm Wednesday - Sunday Food Trucks On Site Rent the 1516 Tap Room for your next event.

Conveniently located on I 40/85 Exit 138 a few miles east of Greensboro. 6905 Konica Dr., Whitsett, NC • RedOakBrewery.com

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Lager Haus Hours Wed. - Fri. 4 - 10pm Saturday 1 - 10pm Sunday 1 - 7pm

September 2019

O.Henry 33

34 O.Henry

September 2019

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Scuppernong Bookshelf

Tonight’s Homework: Graphic Novels

September sees several releases of the genre that has morphed from lowly to literary

Compiled by Brian Lampkin

The new school year brings

a sweet reminiscence of comic books hidden inside text books as I pretend to pay attention to the weighty historical matter at hand. With apologies to “Old Sink or Swim” and “Wobbly Warren,” I was much more taken with Aquaman and the Silver Surfer.

In 2019, there’s no need to hide your comic art books. Graphic novels and histories have become respectable course work. Art Spiegelman’s Maus (1986) changed the way we think about the genre. Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home (2006) was recently named by The New York Times as one of the 10 best memoirs of any kind, and recent graphic interpretations of The Handmaid’s Tale, To Kill A Mockingbird and Kindred should be prominent parts of a literary education. September offers a handful of new works sure to enhance our understanding of art, history and literature, but isn’t it more fun to read them illicitly? September 3: Animal Farm: The Graphic Novel, by George Orwell. Illustrated by Odyr (Houghton-Mifflin, $22). In 1945, George Orwell, called by some “the conscience of his generation,” created an enduring, devastating story of new tyranny replacing old, with power corrupting even the noblest of causes. Today it is all too clear that Orwell’s masterpiece is still fiercely relevant wherever cults of personality thrive, truths are twisted by those in power and freedom is under attack. Now, in this fully authorized edition, the artist Odyr translates the world and message of Animal Farm into a gorgeously imagined graphic novel. September 3: Fever Year: The Killer Flu of 1918, by Don Brown (HoughtonMifflin. $18.99). What made the influenza of 1918 so exceptionally deadly —and what can modern science help us understand about this tragic episode in history? With a journalist’s discerning eye for facts and an artist’s instinct for true emotion, ALA Sibert Award nominee Don Brown sets out to answer these questions and more in Fever Year. September 10: Atar Gull, by Fabien Nury. Illustrated by Bruno. (Titan Comics, $24.99). Nury is an award-winning French comics writer, with early The Art & Soul of Greensboro

successes such as Once Upon a Time in France, for which he received the 2011 prize for best series at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. He is most recently known for the original graphic novels The Death of Stalin (which was the source material for the 2017 dark farce film of the same name) and Death to the Tsar. September 10: Punks Not Dead, Vol. 2: London Calling, by David Barnett. Illustrated by Martin Simmonds (Black Crown, $17.99). In the 1980s and ’90s, graphic novels lived in the underground music and political activist scenes. Tripwire magazine says, “[The] brilliantly realistic art of Martin Simmonds . . . is dripping in punk rock attitude . . . that pushes everything in London Calling up to eleven.” Graphic novels not dead. September 24: The River at Night, by Kevin Huizenga (Drawn & Quarterly, $34.95). Huizenga uses the cartoon medium like a symphony, establishing rhythms and introducing themes that he returns to, adding and subtracting events and thoughts, stretching and compressing time. A walk to the library becomes a meditation on how we understand time, as Huizenga shows the breadth of of the medium of comics in surprising ways. The River at Night is a modern formalist masterpiece as empathetic, inventive and funny as anything ever written. September 24: Excuse Me: Cartoons, Complaints, and Notes to Self, by Liana Finck (Random House, $20). Excuse Me assembles more than 500 of her best-loved cartoons from Instagram and The New Yorker over the past few years, in such distinctive chapters as: “Love & Dating”; “Gender & Other Politics”; “Animals”; “Art & Myth-Making”; “Humanity”; “Time, Space, and How to Navigate Them”; “Strangeness, Shyness, Sadness”; and “Notes to Self.” Melancholy and hilarious, relatable and surreal, intensely personal, yet surprisingly universal, Excuse Me brings together the best work so far by one of the most talented young comics artists working today. October 1: The Best American Comics 2019, Edited by Jillian Tamaki (Houghton-Mifflin, $25). The Best American Comics 2019 showcases the work of established and up-and-coming artists, collecting work found in the pages of graphic novels, comic books, periodicals, zines, online, in galleries and more, highlighting the kaleidoscopic diversity of the comics form today. OH Brian Lampkin is an owner of Scuppernong Books and the author of The Tarboro Three: Rape, Race, and Secrecy. September 2019

O.Henry 35

Every home has a story. Let’s find yours. Getting the most out of your investment is crucial, but so is what home means to you. That’s why real estate should be equal parts expertise, strategy — and heart.

Chairman’s Circle Diamond Award 2014, 2017, 2018 Chairman’s Circle Platinum Award 2013, 2015 and 2016 Chairman’s Circle Gold Award 2010, 2011 and 2012

336. 337 . 5233 MELISSA@MELISSAGREER.COM

MELIS S A

GREER

REALTOR tm / BROKER, GRI, CRS

OH-half-brand.indd 1

8/1/19 9:41 AM

Navigation by Salemtowne enhances the way you live today and offers the security of a well-planned tomorrow. For those active seniors who don’t see a retirement community in their future, Navigation by Salemtowne has a comprehensive alternative to give you the safety net you need all without moving from the place you love—your home. Navigation gives you the freedom to live the life you want while providing the security you need.

Have the Best of Both Worlds 336.714.6848 · navigationbysalemtowne.org

36 O.Henry

September 2019

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Drinking with Writers

Coffee with Conscience Best-selling novelist Amy Reed on Asheville writers, young adult books and the challenge of living one’s values

By Wiley Cash • Photographs by Mallory Cash

There are countless humili-

ations specifically reserved for writers, from online reviews — Book arrived late. One-star — to empty chairs in the audience at a reading to sitting beside someone on an airplane who, after asking you what you do for a living, tells you he or she has never heard of you or your books.

One rarely discussed humiliation is the signing line. Signing lines can be lonely places for authors, especially during literary festivals when a much better known and beloved writer is signing hundreds of books at the table beside yours. Once, at a book festival in Nashville, Tennessee, I signed — which is to say I did not sign — books beside Bill Bryson. I also did not sign books beside Sue Monk Kidd at a literary festival in Florida. Last year, at the Doris Betts Spring Literary Festival in Statesville, North Carolina, I did not sign books beside novelist Amy Reed. In early August, Amy and I sat down over coffee at Odd’s Café on Haywood Road in West Asheville, North Carolina, and I reminded her of our time together signing (and not signing) books at the festival in Statesville. Amy moved to Asheville from Seattle years ago, and she regularly writes at Odd’s Café, which, like most things in West Asheville, is odd. A few years The Art & Soul of Greensboro

back, the slogan “Keep Asheville Weird” appeared, and while Asheville as a whole has gotten less weird over the ensuing decade, West Asheville has maintained the city’s weirdness, its penchant for the arts, and an open invitation to artists of all kinds. A stroll down Haywood Road in the heart of West Asheville reveals gorgeous murals painted on the sides of independent bookstores, coffee shops and hipster consignment stores. I feel more at home in West Asheville than I do in just about any other place in the country, and Amy Reed might just agree. Our conversation quickly turns to the city’s writing community. “There are so many amazing writers here, especially young adult writers,” she says. She takes a sip of her coffee and gazes out at Haywood Road, where people pass in cars and on foot. The names of the local writers she rattles off next are a virtual Who’s Who of national and international bestsellers: “Alan Gratz, Alexandra Duncan, Stephanie Perkins, Beth Revis, and Jaye Robin Brown are just a few. Asheville’s writing community is so welcoming. Writing is a solitary profession, so it’s great when you’re able to connect with another writer.” It is not just her colleagues in the local YA community that Amy has connected with. I remind her of the string of young people who waited in line to have their books signed at the literary festival in Statesville. Most of them were clutching a copy of her novel The Girls of Nowhere, which tells the story of three high school girls in Oregon who band together to fight back against misogyny and abuse at their high school, an act that transforms not only the students and their teachers, but their entire town. I ask her why she thinks The Girls of Nowhere resonates with so many September 2019

O.Henry 37

Drinking with Writers

Jackets, sweaters, wraps, ponchos and scarves from Johnstons of Elgin, Kinross and Alashan are in store now.

The Carolinas’ finest and most reputable furrier for more than 90 years. 502 E. Cornwallis Drive | 336-272-1322 | kriegsman.com

38 O.Henry

September 2019

young people. “There’s just something universal about the teen experience,” she says. “When we’re teens we’re the most vulnerable and raw, and the stakes are so high. Teens want to read about themselves and their problems, and sometimes adults want to remember the teenagers they were.” I agree. There is value in finding yourself on the page, and you can always return to the books you loved as a teen and find yourself there, which may explain adults’ sustained love for books like The Outsiders, Catcher in the Rye, and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. I ask Amy what kind of reader she was as a teenager growing up in Seattle. She laughs and rolls her eyes. “I loved Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath,” she says. “It was Seattle in the ’90s. Grunge was everywhere, but I was into female singer/songwriters. I was emo before emo was a thing. I was that girl.” My two daughters, ages 4 and 3, are sitting at a table beside us, playing quietly. I confide to Amy that I consider my own books as time capsules that my daughters can read to discover who I was and what was important to me. I ask her if she thinks of her own books that way, as breadcrumbs she is leaving behind for her 6-year-old daughter so that she can know what her mother believed to be important and true. “I do,” she says. “I try to live in a way that mirrors my values, especially now that I have a daughter. She was raised understanding that women and girls are strong and independent. I think she will find that in my books.” Amy’s new novel, The Boy and Girl Who Broke the World, tells the emotional and humorous story of two young outcasts — an optimistic boy named Billy and a cynical girl named Lydia — whose bond may just save the world just as the world seems to be ending. Despite its surreal plotline, which involves a narcissistic rock star and a war between unicorns and dragons, the book is a lesson in honesty and vulnerability. Apparently, writing about the apocalypse interested Amy enough to imagine a dystopian America in her next novel, which she describes as a near future gender-swapped, feminist retelling of The Great Gatsby set on an island off the coast of Seattle. “It’s very weird and dark and twisty,” she says. “In the novel, the world is falling apart, but the girl at the center of the book is able to find her own power.” I’ll read it, and, once they are old enough, I’ll want my daughters to read it, too. OH Wiley Cash lives in Wilmington with his wife and their two daughters. His latest novel, The Last Ballad, is available wherever books are sold.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

FORSYTH PLASTIC S U R G E RY www.forsythplasticsurgery.com 336-765-8620 The Art & Soul of Greensboro

WHAT IF FIVE BOARD-CERTIFIED PLASTIC SURGEONS GOT TOGETHER AND BUILT A STATE-OF-THE ART CENTER FOR BEAUTY? Well, that’s exactly what happened. It’s called The VISTA and it’s our brand new, state-of-the art aesthetic center for women and men opening this month in Winston-Salem. We hope you’ll join us for the Grand Opening on September 18 from 2:00-7:00 pm, and every month afterwards!

Skin Rejuvenation CoolSculpting CoolTone (New!) Dermal Infusion (New!) Laser Treatments Injectables Medical-grade Skincare PRP for Hair Loss Custom Facials & Peels

September 2019

O.Henry 39

Congratulations to the Class of 2019! Awarded Over 7 Million Dollars in Academic Scholarships!

Voted Best Retirement Community in Alamance County!

Open House October 3rd 9 am presentation followed by school tours

See Yourself! for

Take another look at The Village at Brookwood, where you can enjoy a robust lifestyle in a down-to-earth (and pet friendly) retirement community. We invite you to…

✓ visit our newly refreshed, interactive website at VillageAtBrookwood.org

✓ meet lively people when you join us for an event – learn more on Facebook or our website

✓ come for a campus tour and complimentary lunch (overnight on-campus accommodations

336-564-1010 • www.bhms.us

Call for your private tour 1725 NC Highway 66 South Kernersville, NC 27284

• CRS Platinum Global Service Award • Personal college counseling • Only school in the Triad to receive Honor Roll Distinction for Superior AP Program

Y O U

• Outstanding athletics and fine arts • All faiths welcome and financial assistance available • Located Minutes from Greensboro

D E S E R V E

TheBest

Experts in the Triad market to help you buy or sell your home.

may be available!)

1860 Brookwood Ave. | Burlington Proud to be a part of

Managed by

Call us today at 800-282-2053 or visit VillageAtBrookwood.org 40 O.Henry

September 2019

JOHNNYE LETTERMAN

336-601-6012

JACOB LETTERMAN

336-338-0136

©2017 BHH Affiliates, LLC. An independently operated subsidiary of HomeServices of America, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate, and a franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc.® Equal Housing Opportunity.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

True South

Vacay Days Haze How to refine relaxing

By Susan S. Kelly

But deep down, though, aren’t

you glad it’s over? Not summer, no — the temps, the tomatoes, the twilights. The rum drinks and rose slushes. I’m talking about The Vacation, that week or two at the beach or lake or mountains or wherever. The one you made a list of what to take to wear, what to take to read, what meals to cook, what food to take from home, what food to buy once you got there, which bedroom for which child/baby/sister-in-law, so that you were exhausted before you even packed the car? The empty bedroom I have to dedicate to vacation staging requires more space than Christmas staging.

C’mon. Aren’t you secretly happy to be back to your old selfish self? Because, fact: Vacations are all about compromise. I’d use the term go-withthe-flow, but it’s something beyond that. Routines are compromised, sleep is compromised. Understand that there will be blood. And if not blood, then certainly there will be meltdowns. Over getting stuck with the Old Maid or the queen of spades or the last spoon during games. That the air conditioning is too cold/not cold enough. You just have to yield to the inevitable, and accept the fact that you will, inevitably, walk in on someone in the bathroom. That the rental house does not have a Cuisinart and so, yes, you’re going to have to chop all that cabbage by hand. That it does not have a (zester/garlic press/whisk/celery seed, or even a particularly sharp knife. That someone doesn’t like coleslaw/store-bought barbecue sauce/prefers Neese’s to Jimmy Dean’s sausage, and will be vocal about it. That there will be a grit-embedded soap bar or Suave gel in the outdoor shower instead of your elegant (stolen) hotel products at home. Like death, taxes and colonoscopies, just accept. Accept that you will not get the book(s) you’ve brought read. That you will not be first at the crossword puzzle because there’s only one newspaper and 13 people. Accept the mirror that makes you look fat. Curse yourself for not having brought bathroom deodorizer, your own pillow, a sleep machine, and a sleep mask to block the sunlight coming in from the permanently bent mini-blinds every morning at 5 a.m. How nice, now that it’s over, to reflect fondly on vacay’s memory-making moments, which (almost) blot out the memory of my father’s knuckles whitening around his glass of Scotch during his sacrosanct daily cocktail hour, coincidentally during my children’s dinnertime arsenic hour. (“Do you like seafood?” Open mouth and let whatever’s in it fall out and gleefully proclaim, “See food!”) Or, at the other end of the clock spectrum, driving around nowhere at 6 a.m. with a baby in the car seat so as not to wake the rest of the house. Reflect upon the not-so-well-known adage that it’s better to know someone who owns a boat or a tent than to own one yourself. And isn’t it grand that you have 12 months before you have to go through the vacation

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

food dregs again, that morning of rent-house departure? The mustard jar with an inch in it, the hummus barely dipped into, the half-sleeve of saltines, the two lemons, three hot dogs, four club sodas, and five eggs? Before guilt again requires you to bring home the tired food and unpack it from a cooler with a grainy layer of sand, from grocery bags used and reused and crinkled with recycled protest. With a year to plan, make a few resolutions. First up, rethink the rest period dictate. You know, the required downtime after lunch. Why did I think that idea would ever work when I hated it as a child — watching the clock, not tired of anything except reading The Bobbsey Twins and scratching chigger bites till they bled? Child-wise, the only thing worse than a rest period is waiting to go in swimming after lunch because you’ll get a cramp and drown. (Is that even still a thing? Or just another empty childhood threat like watching out for rusty nails and barbed wire because you’ll get lockjaw? We used to run around with our teeth clamped together to see what that graphic euphemism for tetanus felt like.) Instead of a mandated rest period, just claim an hour alone in your bedroom and not give a damn what the children are doing as long as they don’t do it to you. Mine once managed to find fly swatters in a broom closet, and while they had zero idea what a fly swatter actually was intended for, they entertained themselves for a good hour running around and slapping each other. On a related topic, resolve to just hand the kid a Popsicle or a doughnut and keep going. Just close the door to the bunk room where wet bathing suits and towels, 14 changes of clothes, and other detritus (sticky Popsicle sticks, see above) so clutter the floor that you can’t even see the floor. Next year, resolve to go ahead and pay the exorbitant entrance fee to Jungle Rapids, get your hand indelibly stamped, claim your concrete patch, and become a redneck for the day. It’s absolutely thrillingly liberating. One: You will not see anyone you know, so you can revel in anonymity, act like an idiot, and look even worse. Two: You can finally, finally, over and over, slide down all those blue chutes that look so enticing from the road (refer to “act like an idiot,” above). Three: Because there’s nothing remotely healthy on offer at the food counter, you have permission to stuff yourself with deliciously vile, greasy, sugary and salty stuff like French fries that, as my daughter noted when she was about 4, “don’t have any potato left in them,” because they’ve been fried so hard and so long. Go ahead and laugh, but I’ve done this with my sister and our children, and after finally coming home to our gated, manicured, perfectand-pristine beach community for supper, we looked at each other, guessed what the other was thinking, and said, “Let’s go back.” What the heck? Our hand stamps were good until 10 p.m. Resolve, next year, to just sleep on top of the beds you’ve already made up the night before check-out, so you don’t have to do any laundry or make any beds on departure day. Yes, I have done this. Finally, rethink the return to reality. Next year, go to a different grocery store for that first run. That way, you won’t run into anyone you know who has been doing their daily things — wedding, exercising, etc. — that make you feel guilty, or puzzle or enrage you. Remember, you’ve been out of orbit, and reentry to the atmosphere of home is deadly if it happens too fast. NASA makes sure the astronauts have a re-entry heat shield on their space capsule. Put on yours and avoid frying: zzziiipppp! OH Susan S. Kelly is a blithe spirit, author of several novels, and a proud grandmother. September 2019

O.Henry 41

THE heart OF A HOME.

C O M E H O M E TO A N OT E Y H O M E , B U I LT J U ST F O R

constr uction

C U STO M H O ME BU I L DE R A r c hi t e c t ura l D es i g n • Q ua l i t y Craf ts mans hi p Ke v i n O t ey • 3 3 6 . 6 6 9. 3 6 9 1 OT E YC O N S T R U C T I O N . C O M

3 3 6.379.0699 | P RIN T WO RKSBIST RO . C O M

you.

KA REN OTEY 336 .4 30.6 552 Karen.O tey@trmhome s.com TRMREA LES TATE. COM

3 3 6 . 8 5 4 . 2 0 1 5 | G R E E NVA L L E Y G R I L L . C O M

3 3 6 . 3 70.0707| LUCKY32.CO M

SEPT./OCT. HAPPENINGS

Here are our top to do’s! Join us! • O.Henry Jazz & Package: Every Thursday from 6-9 PM and Saturday’s from 7-10 PM. See the schedule and book your overnight package at OHenryHotel.com. • Happy Birthday L32—30 Years: Please stop by for a visit! We’ve made a few changes and you’ll continue to see us add finishing touches along the way. Reservations: Lucky32.com • PWB Pop-Up Dance Club: Sept. 6, Oct. 4 PrintWorksBistro.com • Hotel Offers & Packages: Book your romantic fall weekend getaway at OHenryHotel.com or ProximityHotel.com • Dine Al Fresco! Enjoy cooler evenings and weekends. Dine in our lush gardens at Lucky’s, GVG and PWB. • Songs from a Southern Kitchen: See the schedule at Lucky32.com. •

Early Fall Menus: Favorite local ingredients; okra, peaches,

zucchini and more...

336.379.8200 | P RO X IMIT Y H O T E L . C O M

42 O.Henry

September 2019

3 3 6 . 8 5 4 . 2 0 0 0 | O H E NR Y H O T E L . C O M

Unwind and Dine Giveaway! Get the details and enter at PrintWorksBistro.com/giveaway

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

In The Spirit

Good Ol’ Rittenhouse Rye whiskey that was love at first sip

By Tony Cross

PHOTOGRAPH BY TONY CROSS

Anyone in the bar business is well aware of Rittenhouse Rye. It is, without a doubt, the best bang for your buck mixing rye whiskey on the market. Rittenhouse’s popularity comes with a price (and not attached to a dollar sign); it’s hard to find. Granted, it’s currently sitting on the shelf of the closest ABC to me. The question is: For how long? If you’re a fan of anything from old-fashioneds to Sazeracs, drop what you’re doing and call your local ABC right away and have them hold a bottle for you. Chances are, they’re already sold out. I became familiar with Rittenhouse almost a decade ago when I first dived into the world of making drinks. A couple of recipes from wellknown bartenders called for Rittenhouse when a rye was needed. Our ABC wasn’t carrying it at the time, and never had. The only way for me to get my hands on it was by ordering a case. I was managing a restaurant at the time, and had just become the main bartender. A case of rye that I nev-

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

er had before was a little risky, especially with a $360 price tag. Luckily for me, it was love at first sip, and before I knew it, that first case was almost gone! It was a few cases later when my local ABC hub informed me that they were going to stock the rye. The combination of my case orders and myriad customers (that frequented my bar) requesting the whiskey seemed to get the ball rolling. Not that I’m responsible for Rittenhouse having a (semi) permanent spot on my local store’s shelf . . . I’m just saying. Rittenhouse Rye was founded in 1934 in Philadelphia, and was started after Prohibition ended in December 1933. It was named after the American astronomer, mathematician, inventor (and on, and on), David Rittenhouse. Originally titled “Rittenhouse Square Rye,” it was named after one of William Penn’s squares in Philly that was originally called “Southwest Square” but later renamed “Rittenhouse Square” as a tribute to David. It is currently produced in Kentucky by Heaven Hill Distillery. Rittenhouse is a bonded rye; you’ll see “Bottled in Bond” on the label. At the end of the 19th century, there were a lot of distillers popping up everywhere that were selling, well, crap hooch. Bankers and other higherups with money started lobbying Congress; they wanted a law that guaranteed that their spirit was of high quality. Thus, the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897 was born. Whiskey from there on out was to come from one distillery during one distilling season, and had to be aged in a federally bonded warehouse for at least four years, and bottled at 100 proof. I’m sure that September 2019

O.Henry 43

In The Spirit Be the wellspring of

living life... & loving it

Catch a show at our theatre

We offer a wide variety of amenities and opportunities for assisted living or independent living with the safety and peace of mind you desire. Make the move and see for yourself!

most politicians sent this bill through quickly for personal reasons as well. Not complaining. The tradition continues, as every bottle of Rittenhouse is bottled in bond. Today, we are lucky to have a huge selection of rye whiskeys to choose from. Even if our local ABC store doesn’t have a great offering, you can always explore other state’s liquor stores, and/or shop online. With that being said, you can never go wrong with Rittenhouse. It’s great neat, on the rocks, or in classic cocktails. Personally, I’ve always gravitated toward rye whiskies when it came time to make most whiskey forward cocktails. The first proper cocktail I ever made was a Manhattan. When I was behind the stick, no matter what time of year, I always had a Manhattan on my menu. And it was made with Rittenhouse. It’s spicy, but not over-the-top. It’s got a touch of sweetness, but nothing compared to a bourbon. It’s the best. There are other ryes that I love, but Rittenhouse will always be a staple in my bar. When I was sitting on my first case of Rittenhouse, I had at least three or four cocktails on my menu with rye. I was trying to get our guests to give classic cocktails with whiskey a shot. This was at a time when neon-colored drinks were popular and every other menu had “tini” printed on it with vodka as the spirit. I wanted people to understand why classics are just that. Rittenhouse helped, from our Sazeracs to our sours. “I never liked whiskey drinks, but this one is delicious!” was starting to become common buzz. If memory serves, we added a New York Sour to the menu the first fall that I was behind the bar. Off the bat, it was aesthetically appealing, which usually got a group of our guests talking when someone from the table ordered it. After sharing a few sips, more orders would follow suit.

New York Sour Enjoy exceptional dining

Assisted Living & Independent Living 336.545.5400 • Well-Spring.org

Engage in various activities

44 O.Henry

September 2019

2 ounces Rittenhouse Rye 3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice 1/2 ounce simple syrup (2:1) 1 egg white (optional) 1/2 ounce red wine (I used malbec) Lemon peel to garnish Combine rye, lemon juice, simple syrup (and egg white if you choose) into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake hard for 10 seconds (longer with egg whites) and strain into a rocks glass with ice. Using the back of a bar spoon, slowly float the red wine atop the cocktail. Garnish with a swath of lemon peel. OH Tony Cross is a bartender who runs cocktail catering company Reverie Cocktails in Southern Pines.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

THE SECOND

Calling all born storytellers, shaggy dog fans and fearless yarn-spinners!

Thursday, September 12 7 to 9PM at Red Oak Brewery in Whitsett Join us for the second O.Henry Magazine Story Slam, an evening of competitive improv storytelling, homegrown humor, and fabulous Red Oak beer in an authentic Munich Bierhaus!

Next Revolution STARTING AT $350 INCLUDING ANY FRAME IN THE STORE

Offer up a memorable 6-minute story about this month’s theme — “High School Confidential: Tales of Near-Expulsion” — and you could win one of three prize packs featuring Red Oak swag!

For information and tickets visit

www.ticketmetriad.com The Art & Soul of Greensboro

IN PROGRESSIVE LENSES 226 S. ELM STREET, GREENSBORO, NC 336 333 2993 OscarOglethorpe.com September 2019

O.Henry 45

Start planning your holiday party experience at:

Proud ly managed and served by

PepperMoonCatering.com | 336.218.8858

Your Guildford County Connection

Walt Maynard 336.215.9767

Steve Scott 336.772.7430

Scott Aldridge 252.531.7456

Kelli Young 336.337.4850

Bobbie Maynard, Broker, Realtor, CRS, GRI, CSP, Green Phone: 336.215.8017/ bobbie.maynard@allentate.com

46 O.Henry

September 2019

Bobbie Maynard

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Vine Wisdom

Cape of Good Wines A feast of South Africa’s finest

By Angela Sanchez

South Africa is

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN KOOB GESSNER

one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited, full of dichotomies, and singular in the world of wine. Whenever I mention its wines to people I get two types of responses — either they are excited to talk about South Africa and already love the wines; or they look confused and have no point of reference for either. But South Africa is near to my heart, and the wines are a great way to talk about the place, its people, its beauty and its history.

The Dutch brought vines to the Cape of South Africa in 1655, making it the oldest New World wine-growing region (North America, South America, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa making up the New World). It’s a long history but not always a great one. During apartheid, the country was shut off from exchanging ideas, vines and modern innovations with other wine-producing countries. During that time, not only did South African vintners and growers miss out on a time of intense modernization and progress in the industry, many of their vines were diseased. Unable to bring in new, healthy vines to graft from or plant they often produced wines from diseased vines, resulting in inferior quality and taste. Once apartheid ended, producers were able to travel, host and network with other vintners and producers around the world to replant their vines and modernize their facilities and winemaking techniques. It brought them not only into the modern age but also, in many ways, into a leadership role in the industry. Today South African growers and vintners partner with the government to ensure that not only are the wines and vineyards managed properly, fitting designated quality standards, they ensure that workers in the vineyards and wineries are treated fairly, with equal pay and protection. It’s a higher ethical standard than any other wine-producing country. People are often shocked to find out that the Cape growing region has almost 550 active wineries. Of those, about 200 are registered to produce estate bottled wines, meaning the winery will be producing wines that come solely from their own vineyards — nothing will be purchased from other producers for those bottlings marked “estate.” A much smaller percentage, closer to about 50 wineries, actually produce wine that is truly estate bottled. This is not to say that only a handful of wineries are producing good, or even

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

great, bottles of wine. Many wineries and co-ops in the Cape are today producing some of the best values in the wine world. Chenin blanc, or “steen” in the Cape, is the most widely planted white grape varietal, and cabernet sauvignon is the most highly planted red. If you’re looking for fresh, easy-drinking styles that retail under $15-20 a bottle, seek these out. For something truly unique, try a bottle of pinotage. It is a hybrid cross of pinot noir and cinsault created in South Africa, and can be a wonderful representation of place — earthy, smoky and jammy. Spice route pinotage is a generous style of this varietal. Dry farmed (without irrigation) in an arid and tough terrain from old vines, it produces a wine with briar fruit and dusty, peppery notes. Each Cape growing region, or ward, is vastly different, one to the other. Drastic changes in elevation and topography make the wines and their characteristics as diverse as the regions themselves. One of the largest and best-known growing regions is Stellenbosch. The wines of this “district” are marked by the wide diversity of styles, driven by the different of types of soil, ranging from sandstone to granite. Two of my favorite producers for quality and value in the region are Neil Ellis and Man Vintners. Neil Ellis Stellenbosch Cabernet and Man Coastal Chenin Blanc are two great examples of amazing wines, showing distinct characteristics true to Stellenbosch while balancing a world-class line of quality between old and new world. Another one of my favorite growing areas is Walker Bay, located in the Cape Overbay Region. Running along the “whale coast,” where the Southern right whale comes to mate, it’s a breathtakingly beautiful region. With a higher elevation and cooler climate than Stellenbosch, Walker Bay produces world-class chardonnay and pinot noir, especially from the area of Hemel-en-Aarde, meaning Heaven and Earth in Afrikaans. There are a few small estate producers in this highly distinctive region that are unlike any others in the Cape or the world. Cool Atlantic breezes and a fog that lingers over the vineyards keep the heat away, and the moisture around the vines helps produce the beautiful grapes that become such remarkable wines like those of Hamilton Russell Vineyards. There are more growing regions in the Cape than I can possibly mention here. It’s home to species of flora and fauna that are not found anywhere else in the world, some of the oldest soils on the planet, and people determined to treat their land and people with respect, making it a dynamic place for growing grapes and producing wines — truly the best (blend) of Old and New World styles. Welcome South African wines into your life and enjoy the diversity. OH Angela Sanchez owns Southern Whey, a cheese-centric specialty food store in Southern Pines, with her husband, Chris Abbey. She was in the wine industry for 20 years and lucky enough to travel the world drinking wine and eating cheese.

September 2019

O.Henry 47

GREENSBORO:

WINSTON-SALEM:

1602 Landmark Center Dr. 336.855.3393

700 Hanes Mall Blvd. 336.765.3336

LaZboy.com

ST E PS TO FRIE NDLY CENTER - 4BR - 3.2 BA

CITY RETREAT 1209 Hobbs Road, Greensboro 27410

Nancy Radtke REALTORÂ® 336-202-6181

48 O.Henry

September 2019

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Sporting Life

Remembering a Hero A cabin, a pack of Red Man and a distant war

By Tom Bryant

Sometimes fall has a way of sneaking up

right in the middle of summer, or maybe it just seems like it. That’s the way it was just prior to dove season: scorching hot days, long soft humid nights and then bam, a cool day that guarantees that summer has had its time and here we go with the next part of the year. That’s one reason I love North Carolina with its defined seasons.

Summer might bleed into fall; but when the sun rises lower on the horizon and shadows lengthen and cicadas sing in earnest, a smart man will check his woodpile, hoist out the winter clothing, and make sure his hunting coat and boots are ready. Deck shoes, shorts and knit shirts are to be put away. That’s exactly what I was doing when the call came from Bubba. I had hunting gear piled high in the roost, our little garage apartment where I write, mess with outdoor gear and, in general, just hang out. I was making sure everything was ready for the upcoming cold months when Linda, my bride, came to the door and shouted up the stairs. “Tom, Bubba has been trying to call you. Where is your phone?” “Oh, man. I forgot. It’s in the truck. I’ll get it and call him back.” She laughed and said, “I don’t know why you have a phone. You never have it with you.” I hustled down to the Bronco, found the phone under the front seat and saw where I had missed four calls from Bubba. I punched a button and returned his call. “Coot.” Bubba had installed the nickname Cooter years before and it took. “That woman you married is too good for you. I don’t believe you would ever get a phone call if it wasn’t for her.” I laughed and said, “You’re right, Bubba. I know it more and more every day. She does have a tendency to look out for me. What’s up? I thought you were heading to Costa Rica fishing.” “Naw, decided to stay home and do a little dove shooting. That’s the reason I’m calling. Several of the old-timers are gonna meet at Slim’s store Saturday and The Art & Soul of Greensboro

talk about likely spots to hunt. Come on up and join us. We sure don’t want to leave you out. Ritter’s gonna be here with some of his apple brandy, and even Johnson is joining us. There’ll be a good crew.” Slim’s store was a tradition in that part of the country, catering to hunters, fishermen and as Slim loved to put it, reprobates of all kinds. After Slim passed away, Bubba bought the place, kept Slim’s cousin, Leroy, to run the business on a daily basis so, as Bubba put it, “I’ll have a place to go. Plus I like the coffee.” “I’ll be there, Bubba. I’m just in the process of checking out some gear. It sure feels like fall, doesn’t it?” “Yep, and I’m sure ready. See you Saturday.” I decided to drive the old Bronco up to Slim’s place to check her out. I recently had a lot of work done on the old vehicle and wanted to see how she would ride. I thought as long as I kept to the back roads, everything should be OK. She was slow, but she usually got me there. The old crew was kicked back in rockers on the side porch when I pulled into the gravel parking lot. At one time Slim had tried selling gas, but that didn’t work. So he had the pumps removed to make room for a spot to play horseshoes. He always said he hated those gas pumps, a lot of trouble for nothing. It was good to see the old group, and after a reasonable amount of good-natured insults, we all relaxed and enjoyed each other’s company. Old Man Time was beginning to trim the ranks of the aging crew. In the couple of years since my last visit, several had gone on to their rewards. Somehow, I’ve always had a feeling that everything would remain the same, but lately, age and time have proven me wrong. Most of the crowd broke up early, having to get home for one reason or another, and as the sun set and the moon began to rise over the tree line where Johnson’s pasture used to be, only Bubba, Johnson, Ritter and I were left to hold forth. “It seems funny not to see cows over there in that pasture, Johnson,” Bubba said. “I know, but the developer had more money than them cows. I did get him to promise to keep that space green, though.” Johnson had sold out his farm several years ago to a major developer who’d split it up into 10-acre mini-farms. “I hope you did more than get a promise,” Bubba replied. “I did. It’s in the contract that he has to keep that buffer like it is.” Leroy came out, careful not to let the screen door slam. “Bubba, I’m heading home. Lock up before you leave. Good to see you guys.” September 2019

O.Henry 49

The Sporting Life WE’VE GOT YOUR ORTHOPEDIC NEEDS COVERED WITH SAME DAY APPOINTMENTS.

WE HAVE BEEN PROUDLY CARING FOR OUR COMMUNITY FOR 65+ YEARS. Adam S. Kendall, MD Frank V. Aluisio, MD Steven R. Norris, MD Jeﬀrey C. Beane, MD Matthew D. Olin, MD Dahari D. Brooks, MD Fred W. Ortmann, IV, MD R. Andrew Collins, MD Richard D. Ramos, MD Ronald A. Gioﬀre, MD Jason P. Rogers, MD William M. Gramig, III, MD Kevin M. Supple, MD John D. Hewitt, MD Brian J. Swinteck, MD

336-545-5000

www.EmergeOrtho.com

3200 Northline Ave., Suites 160 & 200 Greensboro, NC 27408

Emerge Stonger. Healthier. Better.

“OK, Leroy. Coot’s gonna stay overnight. We’ll be back in the cabin.” Bubba had built a small log cabin behind the store on a little pond that Slim had put in years before. He used it every now and then when he partook a little too much of Ritter’s apple brandy. We watched Leroy’s pickup drive up the road. “That’s a good man you got there running the store, Bubba.” Johnson said. “Yep, I’m lucky to have him. I think Slim would approve.” Ritter reached in a pocket of the coat he had hung over the porch banister and pulled out a pouch of Red Man chewing tobacco. He answered the inquisitive looks. “I know, I started chewing again last week. I haven’t had a good chew since I was in Vietnam.” We watched as the moon slowly rose over the pines. Bubba had gone in and turned off the outdoor lights, and when he sat back in his rocker he said, “If your brandy won’t kill you, that tobacco surely will.” “Yep.” Ritter was quiet for a time. “You know I feel I’ve been living on borrowed time ever since that stupid war.” He had served in the Marines, and his platoon was one of the first to suffer casualties. “I had a dream the other night about one of the boys who didn’t make it home. His name was Bud, a nickname really, picked up in boot camp. He was big, stood about 6 feet 4 inches and weighed around 250. And could he eat! Always borrowing C-rations when we were in the field. The drill instructors gave him the name Bud by calling him Big, Ugly and Dumb, shortened to Bud. “We were still using M1 rifles then, M1As came later and then M14s, but we mostly liked the M1. Bud was so big he carried a .30-caliber machine gun. He toted that heavy thing like it was a tobacco stick.” We sat silently watching across the old pasture. The moon was fully up now, and as a group we were surprised to hear Ritter talk about his war experience. In the past he would respond to any question about his service with only a perfunctory answer. “Bud was a real hero,” he continued. “He’s the reason four of us in the unit came home from that stinking war.” I don’t know if Ritter’s melancholy eloquence came from his own brandy or old age or maybe the dream he had about his friend, but in the moonlight I thought I could see a tear on his cheek. “Are you all right?” I asked. “Yep, Coot,” he replied as he wiped his cheek. “I learned a long time ago in that war that you don’t cry for heroes, because there were so dang many. Bud was one of the best.” No one broke the spell by speaking. We just sat silently, lost in our thoughts. OH Tom Bryant, a Southern Pines resident, is a lifelong outdoorsman and PineStraw’s Sporting Life columnist.

50 O.Henry

September 2019

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

2019

MON, OCT. 21

10th Anniversary Celebration Luncheon

Joseph S. Koury Convention Center, Greensboro, NC Registration: 11:30AM | Luncheon: Noon - 1:30PM

WOMEN TO WOMEN AN INITIATIVE OF

THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER GREENSBORO

POWER OF THE PURSE

Purpose. Promise. Progress.

New Garden Landscaping & Nursery has been the Triad’s trusted partner in creating beautiful, livable landscapes since 1977.

Special Guest: Barbara Pierce Bush HUMANITARIAN | LEADER

Teamwork, outstanding service and quality workmanship are the cornerstones of our many long-term relationships.

PRESENTING SPONSORS

Triad Financial Advisors

(336) 665-0291 newgarden.com

See what New Garden can do for you.

Sponsorships and hosted tables (preferred seating), as well as inidivdual tickets are now available for purchase. You can purchase tickets online at https://cfgg.org/women-to-women-welcome

COOK’S KITCHEN 3200 ROUND HILL ROAD 4 Bedrooms/3.5 Baths 3293 Square Feet/0.42 Acres Huge Family Room $450,000.

Waban Carter REALTOR, Broker, GRI,,ABR

336-601-6363

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

September 2019

O.Henry 51

We believe in families. Children’s Home Society of NC (CHS) has been serving North Carolina children and families for over 100 Years. We provide families with the support and resources they need to be a forever family, whether by offering family-centered services that equip families to safely care for their children, or by creating new families through foster care and adoption. CHS believes in the power of family to transform lives and communities. To find out how you can make a difference in the lives of families across NC

Have you really not signed up yet?

Visit Us Today: CHSNC.ORG | 800.632.1400

This weekly newsletter is brilliant. Keep doin’ what you’re doin’! I love it.

Who is the copy writer for this newsletter? Holy hell!! You are awesome, and I must know!

BE IN THE KNOW, SIGN UP @

OHEYGREENSBORO.COM 52 O.Henry

September 2019

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Birdwatch

Blue Streak

Listen for the sound of the blue grosbeak’s loud “chip” call this time of year

By Susan Campbell

’Tis the season for the annual

appearance of blue grosbeaks! Begin spotting this handsome, medium-sized songbird any day now along fencerows and on electric wires in rural areas throughout the Piedmont. Returning to the United States in April after long winter stays in Central America and the Caribbean, blue grosbeaks breed across much of America, from central California throughout the Plains states and up into Virginia. And now, ahead of migration southward to tropical wintering grounds, these chunky songbirds seek out easy seed sources in order to bulk up before the long journey south. Although this bird is common throughout the Piedmont during the breeding season, it is often missed by casual observers. It is a bird of both pine and mixed forest, often encountered along edges associated with farming. Blue grosbeaks’ large silvery bill is what really makes this bird distinctive. The sexes are quite different, with males a dark blue. Also look for a small black mask around the bill and eyes, as well as chestnut wing bars. Females are more of a cinnamon hue than blue, with rusty wing bars and a bit of blue on the rump extending into the tail. Immature females have plumage very much like their mothers’. Plumage counts. Some males in their first spring will not breed successfully

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

because they do not have the extensive blue of fully mature males and are not able to attract mates in order to start a family. However, after a full year of singing, fighting and extensive experience foraging, they will become excellent prospects come their second spring as long as they survive the winter. The blue grosbeak’s song is a rich warble, and their call a loud, metallic “chip.” Hearing these vocalizations is the best way to find them, given their propensity for spending a lot of time in thick vegetation. They prefer shrubbery for breeding, look for nests low in thick vegetation and viny tangles. The nest is a compact cup-shaped affair comprised of twigs, grasses, leaves and rootlets, often studded with paper, string or other litter. Blue grosbeaks are one of only a few migrant species that raise not just one, but two broods of between three and five young in a season. Unfortunately blue grosbeaks all too often end up unwittingly raising the young of parasitic brown-headed cowbirds. Cowbird females are experts at laying eggs in the nests of other species found in open or semi-open habitat. The eggs, which are larger, generally hatch ahead of the hosts’ brood. They produce young that then grow larger and faster, oftentimes outcompeting the nestling grosbeaks. Like most of our songbirds, this species feeds heavily on insects in the summer months. Caterpillars make up a significant portion of the diet. But blue grosbeaks also will hunt for food at or near ground level, collecting adult grasshoppers and crickets as well as other large insects. Their outsized bills are effective at breaking up prey items as well as large seed, such as sunflower kernels. Expect individual blue grosbeaks to show up at feeding stations soon — but they do not congregate the way other finches do. So keep an eye out if you live on the edge of town or in a more rural location. Spotting one of these distinctive birds is quite a treat! OH Susan would love to receive your wildlife sightings and photos. She can be contacted by email at susan@ncaves.com or by phone at (910-695-0651). September 2019

O.Henry 53

Wandering Billy

Jack Murphy’s Law Breaking the rules is the former radio personality’s rule of success

By Billy Eye

“Radio is theater of the mind; television is theater of the mindless.” — Steve Allen

I recently relished an

opportunity to catch up with Jack Murphy, whose highly rated radio program Murphy in the Morning aired over 107.5 WKZL for two decades.

Before landing in Greensboro in 1992, Murphy had been bouncing around the dial with gigs on Q106 in San Diego, Y94 in Dallas, and Z100 in New York. All larger markets than ours but, “I had children and decided I wanted to settle down somewhere,” Murphy tells me. “When you’re going into a new market and you’re dead last or in the bottom tier of the radio stations, which I often was, I was considered a turnaround specialist until I got to Greensboro.” Early on at WKZL, Murphy hired a tall, skinny kid named Chris Kelly who was attending Appalachian State. “I always tried to surround myself with the most talented people I could find,” Murphy says. “I talked to him for just a few minutes and realized very quickly he was a lot smarter and brighter than I was. More creative.” He also promoted a young lady named Terri Knight who was an underused newsreader. “The three of us made pretty good team. I think we went to No. 1 the very first [ratings] book we had.” Murphy faced some stiff competition from broadcasters he admired. “He was kind of on the tail end of his career but Jack Armstrong was one of the greatest Top 40 jocks that ever lived,” he says. “Big Paul and Aunt Eloise were, I thought, a monster show; we battled them all the time for ratings.” There’s a huge difference between being a deejay and a morning personality as Murphy explains: “I always felt like the more personal life you can share, the more you revealed, the more successful you could be as long as it was interesting or funny. A lot of people are very reluctant to do that.” Most radio personalities abide by the rule never to talk about your competition on the air. “I always did the opposite,” Murphy says. “I would find

54 O.Henry

September 2019

out everything I could about my competition, particularly things they didn’t want you to know, and talk about that on the air. Really try to get inside their head and get them off their game. That worked on some people, some people it didn’t.” Radio was a cutthroat business, maybe still is. “We approached radio and ratings almost like war,” Murphy notes. “The higher the ratings were, the more you got paid. We were really ruthless about it. We would do anything to destroy another station or another show, a lot of that I’m not particularly proud of but a lot of it worked,” he confesses. “If you could make the competition look bad and gain an advantage for your station, we certainly were not above doing it.” Murphy recalls a prank that was pulled on his operation. “Somebody somehow got into our phone system and changed the outgoing message to a different set of call letters, saying nasty things about our on air personalities.” I was associated with the show for a few years as Murphy in the Morning’s webmaster beginning in 1995; that’s when Murphy became the second radio personality to hear his voice over the internet. A Chicago morning guy beat us to it by a week. Keep in mind this was before Google, YouTube, Facebook, or even Myspace. One thing that impressed me about Jack Murphy was his eye for talent and his ability to recognize future trends. “At first we had a fax machine as a way for listeners to communicate with us,” Murphy recalls. “Looking back it’s hard to believe we did that. We were real early with an email address as well.” Murphy’s influence over Greensboro’s rise and shine continues to this day. Chris Kelly left his program in 1999 to team with Chris Demm for Rock 92’s 2 Guys Named Chris show. Murphy is an admirer. “Chris Demm and Chris Kelly have an awesome show that’s consistently funny.” Jared Pike and Katie O’Brien Tesh currently host WKZL’s Jared and Katie in the Morning. Both got their start working alongside Jack Murphy. In 2005, “Katie was working in the promotions department setting up tents for remotes, basically. I brought her onto the morning show.” A couple of years later, Jared joined the team. “I think Jared was trying to sell condominiums for Portrait Homes and was working over at GTCC on the radio station there.” Does he miss those days? “At first I really did,” Murphy admits. “Now I can honestly say no. In all those years, I don’t think I ever slept more that five hours The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Wandering Billy a night. It didn’t take long to get used to sleeping eight or nine hours a night and not getting up at 3:30 in the morning.” There is one aspect of the job he misses, the philanthropic side. Through his Murphy’s Kids charity, “We were able to raise a lot of money,” Murphy points out. “I think we raised well over a million dollars.” Cash is used for college scholarships, providing Christmas for disadvantaged families and dispatching sick children to Disney World. Murphy left Triad radio behind in 2012 and, after brief stints in Roanoke and San Diego, walked away from broadcast radio altogether. “I miss the people of Greensboro, friends I used to play golf with,” Murphy says. “I go back and visit people. Chris Kelly came to my daughter’s wedding; we keep in touch.” Today he resides outside Charlotte to be near his son and daughter and their families. In a prescient move, Murphy started a voiceover business about 20 years ago, “It did really well and it’s how I make my living now.” His baritone vocals can be heard on station IDs and voice breaks over dozens of radio and TV stations around the country in addition to being the voice of Optima Tax Relief nationwide and Ralph Lauren Polo Blue worldwide. “I thoroughly enjoy what I do. I get to work from home; my dogs are laying here in the studio with me right now. All those people that depended on your ratings every book, I didn’t realize how much stress that put on me. Now, if I want to take a day off, I take a day off. ” There’s a story about my time with Murphy’s program that I love to tell. At an event in 1998, WKZL’s station manager approached me to say, “Billy, we’ve been talking to our marketing people in Raleigh and they told us the internet is not going to happen. It’s just a passing fad.” I promised myself to remind him of that one day. Maybe I just did.

***

I had an exceedingly brief career as a radio jock in 1987 on WBIG, a country music station. Believe it or not, the station manager who came up with those call letters had no idea there had been a WBIG previously in Greensboro from 1926–1986. Aside from a great morning guy the station was a mess, we weren’t allowed to play the No. 1 song at the time because their research indicated it was a turn-off. “BIG 102” went off the air in 1988 with ratings less than a third of competitor WTQR; that’s when WBIG’s call letters were changed to WJMH, better known as “102 Jamz.” OH Billy Eye is O.G. — Original Greensboro. The Art & Soul of Greensboro

DID YOU GET TOO MUCH SUN THIS SUMMER? DO YOU WANT TO FADE DARK SPOTS ON YOUR FACE? Book an appointment for a Vitalize Peel! On September 25th only, Vitalize peels will be discounted to $100 AND this $100 will also apply to your Skin Medica purchases of $300 or greater. Call today to make your appointment for September 25th. Spots are limited.

Autumn Hunt licensed esthetician

During September only: Purchase a TNS Essential Serum and receive a FREE HA 5 1oz (Savings $120)

2704 SAINT JUDE STREET GREENSBORO, NC 27405 336.954.7546

Specialist in Senior Care & Alzheimer’s Care WE OFFER • Customized, flexible care using certified nurse aides • Assistance with daily activity • Medication assistance • Light Housekeeping • Transportation • Meal Preperation • State licenced care

O.Henry 55

LIOR PARIS

GIFTS ACCESSORIES HOME DECOR

BEDSTU

State Street

THINK! GABOR

JUDY P MILLA

Unique Shoes! Beautiful Clothes!! Artisan Jewelry!!! Shoes Sizes 6 - 11 • Clothes Sizes S - XXL

507 State Street, Greensboro NC 27405 336-275-7645 • Mon - Sat 11am - 6pm www.LilloBella.com

404 State Street, Greensboro, NC 27405 | 336-944-6580

NCShenanigans

Shenanigans_llc

Visit

➛

online @ www.ohenrymag.com

501 State Street Greensboro, NC 27205 | 336.274.4533 | YamamoriLtd.com 10:00-5:30 Monday-Friday | Saturday 10:00 - 3:00 and by Appointment

56 O.Henry

September 2019

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

September 2019 The Sound of You This morning I wake to music, the sound of the cat lapping water from the glass on my nightstand, and wish I could capture the softness with words. The 1-2-3 rhythm sends me waltzing with you in the garden, in the kitchen, kissing in the rain on the sidewalk, and I wonder why Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve only written love poems for the ones who broke my heart. The cat is still drinking, and as you sleep, I wish I could capture your softness. Then it hits me. Those love poems were never for them. I wrote them as if the words might fill the cracks, as if my own love might mend my brokenness, as if, some day, I might learn to waltz. The coffee is steeping, and as you stir from sleep, love spills from me freely, not to fill some void, but because there is so much here. Drink from this sacred fountain. Dance beneath it. Like every love poem you have ever written, this is and has always been yours.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Ashley Wahl

September 2019

O.Henry 57

South End

Rising

Over the tracks, the far reaches of downtown are fertile ground for new beginnings and a day's perfect ending By Quinn Dalton • Photographs by Brandi Swarms

unrise on the South End district lights the sky over Bennett College and spreads gold across Martin Luther King Boulevard, Arlington Street and South Elm, lengthening down Lewis Street. It’s late summer, the air already warming, and these few blocks, home to some of the city’s most diverse and unique shops, restaurants, galleries, workplaces and homes, are coming alive in ways few here could have imagined possible only a handful of years ago. On the corner of South Elm and Bain streets, an armload of freshly baked French bread arrives at Chez Genèse. Storefronts open up, and chalked or printed sandwich signs appear outside to promote the day’s offerings. Elsewhere, the experimental museum where nothing is for sale but anything is possible, will soon open its entire storefront, where board-seat swings hang from the ceiling and beckon kids of all ages. A couple blocks over, the line’s out the door at Dame’s Chicken & Waffles, an anchor of Southside, just up the hill from South End.

58 O.Henry

September 2019

South End? Southside?

Yes, there’s a difference, though they sit side by side. South End is Greensboro’s first and oldest downtown neighborhood, in recent years steadily renewed through the determined efforts of community organizers, developers, investors and entrepreneurs. Bound to the west and north by the Southern Railway tracks as they curve toward the Depot, South End’s eastern border is Arlington Street. And the southern border of South End is pushing farther south all the time, past Gate City Boulevard and beyond. Southside, right next door, is the new made to appear old — a visionary revitalization project funded by the City of Greensboro and born of extensive community involvement in the planning process. Bound on the north by Southern Railway tracks, on the west by Arlington Street, on the east by Bennett Street, and on the south by Gate City Boulevard, Southside occupies what has been traditionally known as Ol’ Asheboro, Arlington Park, the Asheboro Street

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

neighborhood, and, most plainly, the South Greensboro neighborhood. Taking cues from its older, funkier South End cousin, Southside’s mixeduse housing features retail or office space on the ground level and residential space above, as well as apartments, townhomes and single-family homes. There’s a mix of architectural influences from the urban south, including New Orleans–style, iron-laced balconies, Charleston-inspired two-level front porches, and historic ambience from warm-lit iron lampposts, smaller lots and sidewalks everywhere. City funding also fueled renovations of historic homes that had previously suffered neglect. The resulting rebirth of Martin Luther King Boulevard now more properly honors its namesake. Formerly known as Asheboro Road, MLK Boulevard was mansion row in the late 1800s, with Queen Anne and Victorian confections rising to shelter the city’s professional elite — lawyers, bankers, etcetera — who could walk a pleasant few blocks to work in the growing number of tall buildings downtown. Several of these beauties still stand and are on the National Register of Historic Places. Together Southside and South End comprise what was, and is, Greensboro’s first and only downtown neighborhood. And here’s the best part. You can feel all this time and transition surrounding you, not a line but a layering, like peering through a folded scarf — everything you see is tinged with the past. And there’s so much to see. So put your walking shoes on, people. Early bird gets to learn.

Southern, Charmed

In just a two-block stretch of South Elm, some half a dozen businesses are

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

dedicated to helping you start your day feeling your best. One of the newest editions, Sonder Mind and Body, opened just over a year ago. Owners Jessika and Veronica Olsen have popularized sensory deprivation tanks in Greensboro and brought together a collection of healing and health practitioners. Services include massage, acupuncture, Rolfing, hypnosis and more. The concept behind Sonder, it turns out, is “the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.” This sounds like the motto for South End. If it’s time to clean up your locks, On Point Barbershop delivers a precision fade. One waiting customer says of Willie Dowd, owner, “He’s the best. I go wherever he goes.” A few doors away, Rocks Hair Shop, promises “classic cuts, close shaves and craft beer. But if you come in either place on a Friday or a weekend, be prepared to wait. Same is true for Boho Salon, which emphasizes natural products and processes. Or you can learn how to be on the other end of the scissors at Dudley Cosmetology University, which relocated to South End in 2013. Then visit Vintage to Vogue Boutique, where a carefully curated collection of designer clothing and shoe brands await. Just few feet away you’ll find in Antlers and Astronauts’ handpicked treasures to adorn you and your home. Founder Alexa Terry Wilde Reidsville native, wanted the store to be more than a place where people bought things. “The way we’ve set it up was very intentional,” she says. “We want people to come in and shop, but we also want them to feel like they can just stop in for a visit.” The couch, coffee table and upholstered chairs in the center of the space provide that very invitation, and, in fact, the entire store feels like a home, with its midcentury and ’70s influences. September 2019

O.Henry 59

There are also events such as live music and classes featuring local artists. And the inspiration for the name? “It’s a reflection of my husband’s and my different sensibilities, combined,” Wilde says. “I’m all about nature, the outdoors, so I’m the antlers. And he’s a science guy — the astronaut.” As she’s gotten to know her customers, Wilde often sources with them in mind, just like the hand-selling you can expect in the world’s best bookstore, Scuppernong, by people who know books and know you (even if it isn’t on South Elm; it is in spirit). Social Status has to be the most honestly named store ever. Devoted to all things sneaker, this South End store will hook you up with the latest in street fashion for your feet. Across the street is Hudson’s Hill, which bills itself as an American general store dedicated to making and selling goods with purpose and meaning. And like everything else in South End, the new draws on the old. The two founders celebrate Made-in-America ethos with their carefully curated collection, focusing in particular on Greensboro’s denimed past. The name comes from Hudson Bros. Grocery, owned in the late 19th century by John Hudson, and the slight rise of land where the store was situated — hence, Hudson’s Hill.

Treasure Tracking

If the railroad tracks that mark the beginning of South End were once the line some really picky folks wouldn’t cross, let that metal border now be the sign that you’ve arrived where most of what you find can’t be found anywhere else. Like Elsewhere, of the indoor swings, where you can also step inside a roselit teepee and inspect rows and rows of artifacts offering a new way of seeing and imagining. Saturday tours will start you on your journey. Or Terra Blue, which will celebrate 20 years in South End this fall, and will double in size with the acquisition of the other half of the building, adding class space for crafts like candle making, a salon and café space for people to gather. And of course, the artists are here. They’ve been here, waiting for you. For

60 O.Henry

September 2019

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

September 2019

O.Henry 61

15 years Artmongerz has provided co-op space for artists to display their work. You’ll find all media, from paintings to photography, even room-sized sculpture. Photographer and co-owner Earl Austin says, “Even only a few years ago, when I told people where we are, their eyebrows would go up. Now we have more foot traffic than I’ve ever seen.” A few doors away, Ambleside Gallery is also celebrating 15 years with a focus on paintings, drawings and sculpture. Owner Jackson Mayshark has been representing both established and emerging artists from throughout the world for nearly 40 years. Examples of local artists include Alexis Lavine and the late Leigh Rodenbough, who was an attorney for 51 years before turning his attention to painting in oil an pastel; water scenes — beaches, harbors — that make you squint in their sunlight. But Mayshark is also global, and his gallery displays works by British artists Nigel Price, Vicky Cox and Peter Archer, Chinese artist Guan Weixing, considered one of the world’s greatest living watercolorists. Ambleside Gallery is one of only a few venues nationally that hosts the traveling exhibition of The American Watercolor Society. But the gallery also houses the ceramic works of Brown Summit–based brothers Bryan and Brad Caviness. Each piece, which looks from the outside like a piece of pottery with a crack or hole broken into it, hosts within a meticulously detailed miniature world — a Pueblo Indian settlement, a Moroccan town, a French streetscape. When asked what these treasures are called, Mayshark shrugs and smiles. “There isn’t a name for them. There isn’t anything else like them.” Well, how about that. And if you want to make your own treasure, then you need to come to Forge Greensboro Makerspace. Just go to the end of Lewis Street, hang a left, and look for the double doors with the sledgehammer handles. Whether you want to work in metal, clay or fabric, the tools and machinery you need are there. Even more important, there are people and classes to guide you in your creative journey. “We see ourselves as a gym for people who like to make things,” says

62 O.Henry

September 2019

executive director Joe Rotondi. “It’s not just the work but the creative collision that happens when you bring people together.” Tours are offered daily.

In the Spirit

Tired yet? If you’re ready to cool your heels and your throat, the options in South End keep growing — and just like their neighbor shops, boutiques, galleries and creative spaces, South End’s restaurants and bars each have their own distinctive feel. Mellow Mushroom came to South End a decade ago — and yes it’s a chain, but its success, and the reason it’s a perfect fit in South End, is because each ’Shroom is locally owned with a ton of creative control over the space. This is a cathedral theme, with arched, mushroom-themed stained-glass windows by Winston-Salem artists Veronica and David Bennett. Across the street is a newer kid on the block, Chez Genèse. Open for breakfast and lunch, Chez Genèse serves up a warm blend of French-inspired comfort food and inclusivity — adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities comprise much of the staff and are paid a fair wage and benefits. For dessert, why not be a kid yourself — in a candy store, naturally. Gate City Candy Company will take you back to the time when happiness was sugar on your tongue. Try a fresh daily selection of gourmet chocolates, fudges and peanut brittle (well, peanut brittle only if a certain writer doesn’t get there before you). For the grownups, there’s The Bearded Goat, Horigan’s House of Taps, the Greensboro Distilling Company (the first legal distillery in Guilford County since Prohibition) which makes the wildly popular Fainting Goat Spirits, and next door, the SouthEnd Brewing Co. Across Lewis Street, Boxcar Bar + Arcade is family-friendly and very fun. And then there’s The Hemp Source, which sells CBD products developed in a family business based in Wendell, N.C. Though they won’t get you high, different concentrations of the hemp-based product, in oral and topical forms, can provide pain relief and relaxation. The Art & Soul of Greensboro

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

September 2019

O.Henry 63

64 O.Henry

September 2019

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

The Yellow Brick Road Leads to South End

The Community Theatre of Greensboro finally found its forever home in South End in 2012, when the Broach Theatre, named for one-time South End supporter and City Beat founder Allen Broach, became available. CTG is entering its 70th season and will mount its 25th production of The Wizard of Oz in November. Though Oz, its main fundraiser, is performed at Carolina Theatre to provide enough seats for the beloved annual production, the soul of CTG can be found through the red doors on South Elm. CTG is proof of the power of story brought alive on stage to thousands of actors and audiences of all ages, year after year. The Wizard of Oz involves a cast more than 100-strong. Multiply that by all of the families of those actors, and the volunteers, the staff and the audiences, and you can begin to imagine how big a heart CTG has to give to all of us. Just like its South End home.

The Believers

It takes faith to believe in something you can’t see. Maybe it takes even more faith to believe in something you do see, but no one else does. A self-described Jersey street kid, Andy Zimmerman came to Greensboro in 1978 when his father moved the family furniture business to High Point. The move cut short his rabble rousing and introduced him to a new love — mountain climbing and kayaking North Carolina’s mountains and rivers. He soon found his own path to entrepreneurship with two kayak manufacturing companies, the latter of which he sold to his employees, who later relocated it to Arden, N.C. In 2010, a friend asked him to look at a building downtown, which is now the home of. Greensboro Distillery and South End Brewery. Back then, it was a hulking shell. His friend asked him what he thought it would take to restore and upfit the building. “A million,” Zimmerman ventured. “I’m out,” his friend said.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

But Zimmerman needed to take on something new. The street-punk-turnedwhitewater-thrillseeker was ready for his next challenge. He asked if his friend minded if he bid. Within the day the building was his, the first puzzle piece in what has become his life’s passion — the revitalization of South End. That was the start of Zimmerman’s new company, AZ Development. His office is in the Lewis Street building that houses HQ Greensboro, a shared workspace with 24/7 access for members. It also features resources available to the public, including conference rooms with flexible layouts and state-ofthe art technology, multipurpose rooms, and the ability to network and learn from other people who are starting something new. In just four years, HQ has come to house or support 80 companies and 130 tenants, who avail themselves of 25 private office suites and a well-stocked coffee bar. In time they’ll have company, as Zimmerman’s next project gathers steam: The renovated Gateway Center on the corner of South Elm and Gate City Boulevard, will welcome an estimated 230 employees in the coming months. The scale may be different, but the passion is the same. “I see myself as a place maker, not just a developer,” Zimmerman says. Bearing out his statement is a big deck in back of HQ, overlooking a beautiful secret garden laced with bloom-dotted narrow stone paths. Executive director Kaitlin Smith says it’s become a thriving neighborhood space. “The folks at Elsewhere, our next-door neighbor, keep a vegetable garden here as well,” she says. And that’s South End in a nutshell — a progressive workspace cultivating new companies right next to an experimental, nationally known museum born in a thrift shop — its products not things, but human imagination unleashed. OH Quinn Dalton is the author of two story collections and two novels, most recently Midnight Bowling. She also co-authored The Infinity Of You And Me under the pen name JQ Coyle with fellow UNCG MFA grad Julianna Baggott.

September 2019

O.Henry 65

John Mark Hampton’s Moriah Guitars is an acoustic dream come true By Grant Britt • Photographs by John Koob Gessner

66 O.Henry

September 2019

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

et me find somewhere to sit down and kinda blow off the dust,” Moriah Guitars’ proprietor John Mark Hampton says by way of greeting when you enter his space. Hampton has a sawdust nimbus hovering over his head, surrounding him with a slightly fuzzy aura that marks him as a luthier, a hands-on creator of one-of-a-kind stringed instruments. Hampton creates his magic in a warren of rooms tucked away behind a tax and accounting service in a business park near Guilford College. Enter through the tax office lobby and wander through a labyrinth of expanding spaces littered with dismembered guitar body parts and tools like Paul Bunyan’s dentist might use to extract teeth. Lurking in the back of the warehouse-sized space are hulking machines the size of printing presses, resembling cast-iron behemoths lying in wait for prey to devour. The process here seems to be a marriage of the old and new. “My philosophy is find the best way to do it, and don’t be anti-new,” Hampton says. “There’s lots of great stuff coming out with technology, but there’s also the old way where you have to take a tree and turn it into something, you know? It’s just a lot of processes.” The Greensboro native kicked off his luthier career while attending Wilmington College in Ohio, taking an independent study at the Guitar Research and Design Center in Vermont in 1979. Returning to Greensboro from summer vacation with some of the guitars he built while in the program, Hampton approached Keith Roscoe, owner of the Guitar Shop, a guitarbuilding business on Tate Street. Roscoe gave the newly minted luthier an opportunity to build something for him that summer. “He just said, ‘Here — The Art & Soul of Greensboro

why don’t you just go in yonder and make me some guitars?’” Hampton recalls. “And I went to the drawing board and designed ’em from scratch. I made three electrics and one bass.” He had been playing guitar since he was 13 and loved the sound and capabilities of the instrument. He also had a knack for woodworking. “When I got up to college, I had the opportunity to do anything I wanted, and I just shot for the moon, and said ‘What can I make?’ Just started like that, kind of like a dream to do it.” Hampton was working for Roscoe, designing and building guitars when Ken Hoover started working there as well. Within a year, the two had left to start their own company, Zion Guitars, in 1980. “Ken and I just loved working together, and the chemistry was just really there,” Hampton says. “Bear in mind, I’m 62 now, and I was only 22, and Ken looked over at me one day and said, ‘How would you like to start a business?’ And I looked and him and said, ‘Uhhh . . . what do you mean?’ We just started off really from scratch, flying by the seat of our pants,” Hampton says, describing their shoestring operating budget as “nothing,” or next to it. “It was a real miracle,” he says now. “Ken believed in me and we just tried to do the best we could.” Gradually, service jobs and repair work for Triad area clients started to trickle in, and Zion Guitars started to gain a reputation by word of mouth. The business took a flying leap forward the following year when Hoover and Hampton befriended Seymour Duncan, one of the first custom guitar pickup makers. Duncan invited Zion Guitars to a National Association of Music Merchants show in Atlanta, so the duo packed up one of their early prototypes they called a Tele-Zion Powerglide, a tribute to the Telecaster, and September 2019

O.Henry 67

Duncan let them display it in his booth. The NAMM is the big dog of trade shows, attracting artists and dealers from all over the globe. Hampton was strolling around the showroom floor taking in the sights when he bumped into Kansas founder/guitarist/songwriter Kerry Livgren. “He was just looking around and I said, ‘Hey, are you Kerry Livgren?’ He said ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘You might want to come see what we’re up to,’ and he graciously came over to the booth, saw the guitar we made, and ordered one on the spot,” Hampton remembers. That national artist link was a turning point for the young company. “[It] just of sort of grew little by little,” Hampton says. “We just knew some people, and they knew some people.” Another giant step for the company occurred when Guitar Player magazine commissioned a guitar to put on the cover. GP editor Tom Wheeler was aware of the work of another Greensboro artist, Wayne Jarrett, who has enjoyed a career custom-painting guitars for the likes of Prince, Alabama, and .38 Special, as well as motorcycles. Wheeler asked him if he could do a custom paint job on a guitar to be featured on the cover of the magazine. “And Wayne, bless his heart, he said, ‘Tom, why don’t you get these local guys here in Greensboro to build the guitar, and I’ll paint it,’ and that’s how it all started,” Hampton recalls. Seymour Duncan provided the pickups, and bridge makers Floyd Rose had a new tunable locking tremolo that graced Zion-manufactured Silverbird for the cover. But just when the business was going great guns, Hampton decided to take a leave of absence. He says his heart’s desire “had always been to build acoustic guitars. I was feeling that we got things going pretty good with Zion and Ken was really wanting to take it into the electric zone. I felt like it was time to move on.” So in ’84, Hampton left — to go to Scotland for what he described as “a worship and mission ministry” to do whatever the church over there needed. “I was going over to be a servant,” he says humbly of his service for New Life Christian Fellowship in Hawick [pronounced “hoyk”], Scotland. “They had a youth group I was helping pastor, leading the worship.” He met his wife, Eileen during his stay from 1985–1990, and when he returned, resumed his friendship with Hoover, who passed away last year from complications due to MS. During their renewed time together, Hampton designed and built the Zion Primera guitar, which attracted the attention of Christian guitarist Phil Keaggy, who signed some early models. Hampton started his own business, Moriah guitars in 2008. “I had been a builder from 1990 up till 2008,” he reveals during a tour of

68 O.Henry

September 2019

his shop. “Building houses, and what we would do here, I would acquire tools along the way, kind of like gathering moss along the way, and here are the machines that sort grew little by little.” Then by 2008–’09 he felt like he needed to get back into building guitars again. “And my children were bugging me, they were telling me ‘Daddy, why aren’t you doing that?’ So that’s what started this. We built the shop and I’ve probably moved four or five times in the last 10 years. We’ve been here about four years.” In one of the back rooms of his cavernous headquarters, Hampton is showing off some of his exotic woods. He pulls out a slab of beautifully grained quilted maple that looks like designs have been etched into the wood, but it’s just the natural grain. Acquiring the materials is a treasure hunt for the luthier. “You’re always looking out for something really beautiful. Sometimes we’ll find a board somewhere, or somebody will find something,” he explains. Like his friend who went on a surf trip down to Costa Rica brought back a board of rain tree wood. “I’ve made a few guitars off that,” Hampton says. “And sometimes we buy wood off suppliers who do make the wood prepared for guitar-building.” Ironically, you’ll see no completed instruments at Moriah. “We’ve got a few bodies, just got ’em to this stage,” Hampton says of the stack of raw forms on a shelf. “We don’t have a contract on anything, so we leave it at a certain spot and people can come in and put whatever they want on it.” Most of his builds are custom orders, which is great for business, but leaves no showroom models. “I’m thinking of building a bunch of them just to have for people to look at. A lot of times people come here, and all the guitars I’ve built are already gone,” he says. And even though Hampton says he doesn’t have any nationally known people among his clientele, he is building instruments for local friends and people who have known him for years. The commissions keep him busy. He says he’s got about 16 acoustic guitars in process — none of them finished. “But we’re working really hard to get ’em done.” And Hampton has capitulated to some electric projects. But only a bit. “There’s always been a designing thing going toward the electrics,” he concedes, “but I’ve always wanted it to go to the acoustic. That’s been my dream. That’s what we’ve finally been able to do . . . that’s what Moriah’s about.” OH Grant Britt peruses his own collection of trashcan-rescued guitars displayed haphazardly against the walls of his tchotchke museum across form the graveyard. The Art & Soul of Greensboro

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

September 2019

O.Henry 69

Mark Dillon, Sammy Cowell, Devin Feeny

70 O.Henry

September 2019

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

– The Neighborhood Where You Live –

Porch Rockin’ The sweet sounds of the

Dunleath Porchfest create community By Ross Howell Jr. • Photographs by Lynn Donovan

or an early June afternoon it’s hot and the air is heavy. Though thick clouds are helping keep the temperature down, their dark, ragged patches threaten a storm. Despite the heat and humidity, lots of people have come out for the 2019 Dunleath Porchfest. Passerbys smile and nod as my wife, Mary Leigh, and I walk along Percy Street northeast of downtown along Summit Avenue We overhear the murmur of friends talking, their conversations punctuated with laughter. We stop in front of a porch to enjoy the sweet harmonies of a traditional music group called Turpentine Shine. There are festival T-shirts for sale under a canvas tent. A couple of enterprising elementary schoolers have a lemonade stand set up close by. Mary Leigh and I saunter on, glancing at the darkening clouds, then turn and start down Fifth Avenue. Just across from Sternberger Park we join a group gathered on the sidewalk in front of a house overlooking the street. Some people have opened their umbrellas for shade. I speak to a pleasant-looking lady wearing a straw sunbonnet and learn that we’re standing in front of her house. She’s Andi Christensen, who in 2016 moved all the way from Los Angeles, to make her home here. In L.A. she ran a successful dry-cleaning business for 50 years, living in an older neighborhood near Santa Monica Airport that had sprung up with the growth of Hughes Aircraft Company during World War II. “I’m a native Angeleno, so I love L.A.,” Christensen says. “It’s such an interesting city. But it had become so congested, it was a hard place to live.” When a niece who lives in Greensboro suggested she relocate here, Christensen decided to have a look. On a quick trip East she found the house on Fifth Avenue, and decided it was the one for her. “With a porch view of the park, the house was so pleasant. I just loved it,” she says. The year she moved in, a neighbor across the street hosted one of the annual performances that serve as the centerpiece of the neighborhood’s porch festivals. Christensen was interested in participating, so she asked her neighbors how to become involved. The neighbors put her in touch with the organizers. So here we are. We look up the steps to a porch where a blonde-haired lady sits on a stool with her guitar. She’s musician Denise Ball, who’s traveled from Charlotte to perform. She’s just been introduced to the audience by Greensboro’s mayor, Nancy Vaughan. Ball bends over the guitar body and picks a few notes, listening. Then she smiles. To tell the truth, she’s manicured and dressed like she just had lunch at the Greensboro Country Club. But when she starts to sing, it ain’t about chicken salad and sparkling water, Baby. This lady’s singing the blues. The Art & Soul of Greensboro

September 2019

O.Henry 71

Denise Ball

The Blokes: David Horth & Scott Manring

72 O.Henry

September 2019

Two girls stop arranging their miniature tea set in the front yard to look up and listen. So does the dachshund at the end of his leash snuffling in the flowerbed that borders the sidewalk. Some background: After public hearings, Greensboro City Council voted unanimously in 2017 to change the name of the Charles B. Aycock Historic District to the Dunleath Historic District. Months earlier the name of the neighborhood middle school had been changed from Aycock to Melvin C. Swann Jr. Middle School, honoring “Mel” Swann, who worked for 36 years in the Greensboro City and Guilford County school districts. The name change process sometimes provoked discord. The school and historic neighborhood had been named in honor of Charles B. Aycock (1859–1912) of eastern North Carolina. The problem was this: While serving as governor 1901–1905, Aycock had proved to be a strong friend to education, but as a candidate, he had supported a proposed Jim Crow amendment to the state constitution that stripped African Americans of the right to vote. Many residents were troubled by the racist legacy his name connoted. But UNCG professor and neighborhood resident David Wharton, along with others, had a ready alternative at hand. In 1857 prominent Greensboro native Robert P. Dick (1823–1898) and his wife, Mary Eloise, decided to build a mansion on their property, which at the time comprised nearly all the boundaries of the area now recognized as the neighborhood historic district. Dick was opposed to Southern secession, even though he was a slave owner. After the Civil War he donated farmland to former slaves and supported passage of the 15th Amendment to the U.S. constitution that guaranteed the right of former slaves to vote. Robert and Mary Eloise Dick’s mansion was named “Dunleath,” and it stood facing Church Street until its demolition in the 1960s. With the vote by city council, the matter of the name change was settled. But many residents were concerned that the bonds of the tight-knit community had been damaged. What could be done to strengthen newly named Dunleath? Resident, archaeologist and musician Shawn Patch had a suggestion. A friend had told him enthusiastically about a porch festival in the Oakhurst neighborhood of Decatur, Georgia. To Patch that sounded like just the tonic Dunleath needed. For the first porch festival he envisioned a small event with five or six performance locations, perhaps where only neighbors turned out to listen. “I would consider that a success, just because we want to get people out of their houses and walking around the neighborhood and circulating,” Patch told The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Casey Noel

the Greensboro News & Record three years ago. “Anything above and beyond that is going to be wildly successful, in my opinion.” Patch’s group, The Radials, was the final act in Sternberger Park that first porch festival. Fast forward to 2019. In the course of this afternoon, on the hour from noon till 4 p.m., some 44 individual musicians and bands are performing from 40 porches in 45-minute sessions throughout the Dunleath neighborhood. There are performers like The Can’t Hardly Playboys, Mistura, Farewell Friend, The Smiling Bees, Momma Molasses, HighStrung Bluegrass Band, Grand Ole Uproar, Headless Chickens, Disaster Recovery Band, The Imperfectionists, Hokum Pokum, Minor Swing Band, Walker Street Fiddlers, and more. Genres include millennial blues, English and American folk, bluegrass, Irish and Celtic, old-time, honky-tonk, jazz, rhythm and blues, Bossa Nova and classic rock. Also included on the program are a slew of Triad singer/songwriters — among them, Doug Baker, Bigdumbhick (a.k.a. Jeff Wall), Nick Boulet, Dean Driver, Beau James, Tony Low, Bobbie Needham and Casey Noel. There’s even a “Kids Track” — venues where young musicians Colton Lindfors, 9; Finn Phoenix, 8; and Maggie Yarborough, 16; play 15-minute sessions alongside more seasoned performers. All the events are free. Stations are available for people to donate canned goods for Triad Health Project’s food pantry. And in the high noon slot, Shawn Patch plays and sings with the Mason Jar Confessions from the front porch of his and his wife Paula’s big, old house on Cypress Street. Sometimes it’s necessary to open our umbrella against fat raindrops as the hours pass, but the showers don’t last. Around 4 o’clock everyone gathers at Sternberger Park for the finale, a performance by The Zinc Kings, who play oldtime, bluegrass, folk and traditional music. Some families have brought picnic spreads. For those of us who are unprepared, there are food vendors. The shadows grow longer across the park, and at woods’ edge, we see a firefly or two. From discord, sweet harmonies. Surely, somebody’s said that. Anyway, it fits Dunleath neighborhood well. OH

The Menders

Ross Howell Jr. lives with his wife Mary Leigh and rescue dogs Sam and Lucy in Fisher Park, just across the railroad bridge from Dunleath.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

September 2019

O.Henry 73

74 O.Henry

September 2019

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Benbow’s

Beauty A storied Fisher Park bungalow awaits its next caretakers

By Maria Johnson • Photographs by Amy Freeman

hey’re caretakers, one pair in a series. That’s the way Beth Nilsson and her husband, Carl, look at their 6-year ownership of the C.D. Benbow Jr. House, a broadshouldered bungalow that perches on a rise overlooking historic Fisher Park. “We have the best view in the park,” Beth says unequivocally. “You don’t know how many weddings and family pictures we see.” The couple bought the stone-and-shake home in 2013, a hundred years after it was built, and moved in with their blended family of five children — “the Nilsson Olson Brady Bunch” as Beth calls them. Now that the leading edge of their brood is maturing into adulthood — the kids are 21, 20, 19, 18 and 12 — the Nilssons have decided to sell the 3,400-square-foot Craftsman showplace and downsize to a smaller home. They’re not sure where they’ll end up, but they plan to stick with the eclectic neighborhood on the northern skirt of downtown Greensboro.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

September 2019

O.Henry 75

76 O.Henry

September 2019

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

“Cookie cutter house? Forget it. We would never leave Fisher Park,” says Beth, who serves on both the neighborhood association board and on the committee that governs the leafy park. The neighborhood, which took root at the turn of the 20th century, is a platter of architectural styles and contains a National Historic District. Clashes — such as the fray about whether the owners of Hillside, the recently renovated Julian Price House, should be able to operate a bed-and-breakfast with event space — are not surprising, Beth says. “People are passionate about living here.” Like many homes in the area, the Nilssons’ place comes with a built-in backstory, one reason it landed on Preservation Greensboro’s Tour of Historic Homes & Gardens in 2017. Beth flips the pages of a scrapbook. A snapshot shows a line of people standing from threshold-to-curb to get a peek inside. As with many old houses, there’s a pool of local people with connections to the house. Beth has hosted nostalgic visits from a past owner and the granddaughter of another former owner. A herd of Greensboro folk have been friends and schoolmates of the children who’ve lived there over the years. “Fairly frequently, someone will say, ‘Oh, I know so-and-so who used to play there,’ “Beth says. The home was first populated by C.D. Benbow Jr. and Marjorie Long Benbow, who moved in soon after marrying. The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Benbow was a grandson of De Witt Clinton Benbow, a major mover and shaker in Greensboro in the late 1800s. Born a Quaker near the community of Oak Ridge, D.W.C. Benbow was a dentist by training, but he left the toothpulling profession for real estate development and civic activism. He was instrumental in establishing the forerunners of UNCG and N.C. A&T State University, and he saved the precursor of Greensboro College from financial ruin. He attended the birth of the New Garden Friends Meeting, a Quaker congregation, and the incorporation of the Guilford Battleground Company, which preserved the Revolutionary War battle site, now a national military park. He also built Benbow House, a four-story hotel at the corner of South Elm Street and what is now February One Place, the site of the International Civil Rights Museum. When it opened 1871, Benbow House, with its tall, thin French-inspired windows, was lauded as a premium hotel. It hosted a band of northern newspaper editors on a tour of the “upper South” after the Civil War. The first person to sign the guest register was former governor Zebulon Vance. The hotel burned in 1899. New owners replaced it with The Guilford Benbow Hotel, which was run by Benbow’s son, C.D. A generation later, C.D.’s son, C.D. Jr., shunned the hotel business — he sold real estate and cars — but knew what fine accommodations looked like. He September 2019

O.Henry 77

78 O.Henry

September 2019

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

September 2019

O.Henry 79

incorporated a taste for solid construction into his new Fisher Park home. Famed local stonemason Andrew Leopold Schlosser almost certainly crafted the home’s battered-granite foundation and tapered piers, which are cemented together by Schlosser’s trademark grapevine mortar. Schlosser’s handiwork distinguishes several Fisher Park homes, as well as the hardscape inside the park. Just across the street from the Nilssons’ home lies the so-called King’s Chair, a fanciful stone throne that was built in the 1930s and relocated to the park in 2014. Schlosser also wrought several of the stone bridges that span a creek in the park. The Nilssons have spent many hours on their deep front porch gazing into the park and entertaining friends. When they married at Holy Trinity Church, wedding guests had only to walk a couple of blocks to a reception at their home. When the couple celebrated Carl’s 50th birthday with a James Bond–

80 O.Henry

September 2019

themed bash, the front porch was given over to casino-style gaming tables. Day-to-day, the family literally chills on the cool, concrete-floored porch, eating meals there and swinging in a wooden swing that they speculate was original to the house. Inside, the home is expansive as well, with a wide central hallway flanked by living room, dining room, kitchen, and — a rarity for a Craftsman bungalow of that era — a first-floor master bedroom. The Nilssons have renovated sparingly to preserve the home’s character. “You couldn’t build a home like this today,” says Beth. “The amount of labor involved — it’s just not done.” The Nilssons have left untouched coffered ceilings and pocket doors on the first floor, as well as the hand-sawn balusters that march up the stairs. They didn’t dare touch the mural on the landing. The Art & Soul of Greensboro

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

September 2019

O.Henry 81

82 O.Henry

September 2019

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Depicting a seaside villa — perhaps on the Mediterranean — the undated mural is painted directly onto the plaster and framed with molding. “Isn’t it fantastic?” says Beth. “I hope no one ever gets rid of that.” The couple also kept original tile work where they found it. Brilliant blue geometrics splash across two bathroom floors. To spotlight more original features, the Nilssons pulled up flooring that concealed hardwoods. In the kitchen, they patched and darkened the boards to conceal an incision across several planks. Beth shrugs when asked the reason for the line. She doesn’t know or care. “No one lives in a house like this unless they can stand a little quirkiness,” she says. In the dining room, the Nilssons converted built-in bookshelves under a triple window to a marble-topped buffet with glass-front doors and glass shelves. Lights inside the cabinet show off a collection of Swiss glass and German porcelain. Other upgrades include new kitchen cabinets, countertops and appliances, including two dishwashers; a glass-walled shower and fresh cabinetry in the master bath; and a powder room in what was previously a laundry room. Geared for many inhabitants, the home has three-and-a-half bathrooms and up to seven bedrooms. Many people would count four bedrooms, but Beth counts up to seven The Art & Soul of Greensboro

because the upstairs sleeping porch could be used as a bedroom and two of the upstairs bedrooms have walk-in closets big enough to turn into bedrooms, as the family has done. “It’s really quite an interchangeable house,” she says. The yard is flexible, too. The Nilssons refreshed the sloping front yard, leveling and planting a second terrace between porch and street. The downing of three oaks in the side and backyard in recent years has left room for whatever landscaping the next owners envision. Ditto for the one-car garage and storage room — formerly a servants’ quarters — accessible by a drive-through port cochère on the right side of the home. The tall steps leading from side porch to the port cochère speak of another time, when carriages might have wheeled up beside the house and needed a step that was level with a carriage. Beth took a tumble off that step a few years ago, breaking her back — an injury that required rods and pins to fix — but even that did not dampen her love of the Benbow bungalow. “I still love this house,” she says. “It brings a strong bond." OH Maria Johnson is a contributing editor of O.Henry. She can be reached at ohenrymaria@gmail.com. September 2019

O.Henry 83

Be your own kind of beautiful ...

FA L L 2 0 1 9

Irving Park

Clothing, Accessories

Gifts & More!

1804 Pembroke Rd. • Greensboro, NC 27408 (Behind Irving Park Plaza) • 336.763.7908 Mon. - Fri. 11:00am - 5:30pm • Sat. 11:00am - 4:00pm www.serendipitybyceleste.com

LADIES CLOTHING, GIFTS, BABY, JEWELRY, GIFTS FOR THE HOME, TABLEWARE, DELICIOUS FOOD

1738 Battleground Ave • Irving Park Plaza Shopping Center • Greensboro, NC • (336) 273-3566

84 O.Henry

September 2019

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

WE ARE relocating To Lawndale Shopping Center Irving Park

2136 LAWNDALE DRIVE • GREENSBORO, NC 27408 Habitat • Alembika • Cut Loose • Prairie Cotton • Iguana Parsley and Sage • Luukaa • Grizas • Kleen Comfy USA • Chalet • Cheyenne • Oh My Gauze! Heartstring • Et’ Lois • T By Transparente • Lola Jeans Sizes: 1X, 2X, & 3X

336-545-3003

Hours: M-F 11-6, Sat 11-5 2136 Lawndale Drive | Greensboro, NC

www.linneasboutique.com

Vera’s Threads Sizes: S,M, L & XL

336-288-8772

WE AGREE! Your care is managed by RNs and delivered by our dedicated and skilled caregivers.

Life & Home

THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME….

Kathy Nevil, RN • Janet McGoldrick, RN (Owner) Angelia Cox, RN (Owner) • Cathy Propst, RN

PIPTRIAD.COM BURLINGTON

825 South Main Street Burlington, NC 27215 336-222-0717

GREENSBORO

1840 Pembroke Road, Suite 1 Greensboro, NC 27408 336-315-2331

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

1515 W Cornwallis Drive, Suite 100 Greensboro, NC 27408

Phone: 336.285.9107 Fax: 336.285.9109

email: info@1stChoiceHomeCareInc.com

September 2019

O.Henry 85

Life & Home

I Buy, Renovate and Sell ReSIdentIal Real eState!

Porcelain & Ceramic Tile Brick & Stone Marble & Granite Cork • Hardwood Carpet Luxury Vinyl Tile

M A R ION

Bathroom Remodeling Kitchen Floors & Backsplashes

CERAMIC TILE • MARBLE • VINYL • CARPET • HARDWOOD

Complete Installation Service by Qualified Craftsmen

Tile & Flooring

Monday - Friday • 9am-5pm

Call Me IF you’d lIKe to Sell youR HoMe!

Roddy aKBaRI 336.337.2402

infinv@gmail.com

www.infiniteinv.com

4719 Pleasant Garden Road, Pleasant Garden | 336-674-8839 | www.mariontile.com

save 15 $

on your 1st 60 or 90 Minute Custom Massage w/any therapist New Clients only. Not valid with any other specials or discounts

336.334.0044

523 State St, Greensboro, NC

www.AtoZenMassage.com Massage services provided by NC Licensed Massage and Bodywork Therapists.

86 O.Henry

September 2019

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

A L M A N A C

September: it was the most beautiful of words, he’d always felt, evoking orange-flowers, swallows, and regret. — Alexander Theroux

September n

By Ash Alder

As the last swallowtail glides above the golden landscape, disappearing beyond the sunflower graveyard like a dream, the babes of summer lament. Gallon-bags of blackberries packed in the freezer, and yet we cannot hold this glorious season, cannot ask the crickets to extend their song. A dwindling procession of bees draw their final sips from the flowering crape myrtle, and as the leaves begin their epic descent, the days grow shorter. There is nothing to chase, nothing to grasp, nothing to do but watch the light fade. A song of heartbreak from my college years compared the end of summer — the end of a romance — to the end of a carnival. “We watched the season pull up its own stakes . . . ” it began. My heart has since learned the dance of deep surrender, yet the line continues to haunt me, a reminder of nature’s constant transience — and our own. We all know what it’s like to witness the unraveling of sometime magnificent. But how often do we notice that it takes an unraveling to see clearly the beauty of what was right in front of us? In the words of T.S. Eliot, “the end is where we start from.” Leave it to a poet born in September to pen such a line. And as summer disappears with the last of the fireflies, consider its truth. We are starting anew. Autumn is the grand exhale. An unraveling that, if you’re open to it, just might be the very magic you thought you were missing.

What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from. — T.S. Eliot

Stay Golden

Flowering goldenrod paints our late summer landscape dreamy, and yet it may hear its name and cringe. Well-known for its healing properties, goldenrod is a wild edible whose thick clusters of flowers are not, contrary to the popular misbelief, causing your seasonal allergies to flare up. Only windpollinated plants can do that. (We’re on to you, ragweed.) Now that we’ve got that out of the way . . . tea? The Nerdy Farm Wife suggests using two tablespoons of fresh goldenrod flowers (or one tablespoon of dried flowers) per one cup of water. Cover and steep for 15–20 minutes, then strain. If you’ve got it, raw honey will sweeten the pot.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Space and Thyme

The Autumnal Equinox arrives on Monday, Sept. 23. Until then, it seems we’re floating between worlds, watching the age-old dance of blossom and decay. Years ago, my brother suggested I read Thomas the Rhymer, a fantasy novel by Ellen Kushner based on a ballad by the same name. In the book, a traveling minstrel is seduced by a fairy queen and taken to Elfland for seven years. Kushner describes an orchard “carpeted in soft grass,” with trees adorned with “their pink and white blossoms — no, they were fresh green leaves — were summer-rich boughs of peaches and apricots — were the ripe tang of autumn fruit . . . ” Thomas narrates: “Every time I looked I saw and breathed a different season. It dizzied my senses.” I think I know exactly what he means. And as all seasons seem to exist simultaneously, it’s time to bring our herbs inside, place them beside the sunny window, acknowledge the inevitable arrival of frost like a distant song growing strong and clear. Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme . . . Speaking of thyme, among its many medicinal uses, which include bone health and blood pressure control, the favorite herb is said to cure acne, prevent hair loss and remedy the common cold. Many ancient cultures also share the belief that carrying a sprig of thyme would protect one from negativity. If only Thomas the Rhymer had tucked some up his sleeve . . .

In the Garden

September harvest is kaleidoscopic. Deep purple eggplant, red and yellow peppers, salad greens and early winter squash. The fun is just beginning. Now’s time to plant mustard, onion, radish and turnip, crimson clover and hairy vetch. Just don’t forget the peonies. OH September 2019

O.Henry 87

September 2019

Performance by Aaron Lewis

September 1–15 PROFS’ PIECES. The works of local art professors are on view at 2019 UNCG Faculty Biennial. Weatherspoon Art Museum, 500 Tate St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 3345770 weatherspoon.uncg.edu.

September 1–29 FAB FABRIC. Catch Interwoven: Natural and Illusory Textiles. Weatherspoon Art Museum, 500 Tate St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 334-5770 weatherspoon.uncg.edu.

September 1– October 20

The Iron Duke

14&18

comfort food fills the bill at a cooking class, Peruvian Cuisine — “Very Chévere!” Reto’s Kitchen, 600 S. Elam Ave., Greensboro. Tickets: ticketmetriad.com

September 6 IT WAS A GIANT CLAM! 7 p.m. Everybody’s rockin’ round the rock lobster, and getting’ some sugar at the Love Shack. The B-52s, along with opening acts OMD and Berlin, bring the MTV Era to town. White Oak Amphitheatre, Coliseum Complex, 1921 W. Gate City Blvd., Greensboro. Tickets: (800) 745-3000 or livenation.com.

CORPOREAL. Gin a body meet a body runnin’ thro’ Here We Are: Painting and Sculpting the Human Form. Weatherspoon Art Museum, 500 Tate St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 334-5770 or weatherspoon.uncg.edu.

AUTHOR, AUTHOR. 7 p.m. Meet Ana Paula Höfling, author of Staging Brazil: Choreographies of Capoeira. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com.

September 3

AARON GUITAR. 8 p.m. Country cool opens a new music venue with a performance by Aaron Lewis. White Oak Event Space, 2411 Gate City Blvd., Greensboro.

MA-CHEW PI-CHEW. 6 p.m. Complex

88 O.Henry

September 2019

Table Talk

Tickets: (336) 745-3000 or ticketmaster.com. DANCE, FOOLS, DANCE! 10 p.m. To DJ Jessica Mashburn’s spins at Pop-Up Dance Club. Print Works Bistro, 702 Green Valley Road, Greensboro. (336)3790699 or printworksbistro.com.

September 6–8 FOLK-A-RAMA. Woodenheads unite! The North Carolina Folk Festival is back! (See page 27). Downtown Greensboro. Info: ncfolkfestival.com.

September 6–15 FAIR PLAY. It’s back: Central Carolina Fair offers up some thrill rides, games, indulgent treats and entertainment. Times vary. Greensboro Coliseum Complex, 1921 W. Gate City Blvd. For admission info: greensborocoliseum.com.

September 7 HUSKER, DO! 10 a.m. Make a corn husk doll, just as The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Arts Calendar Native Americans and early Quaker settlers used to do. High Point Museum, 1859 E. Lexington Ave., High Point. Info: (336) 885-1859 or highpointmuseum.org. OREGON TRAIL. 5 p.m. Wine trail, that is. Sip and sup while Suncierge talks travel at Oregon Pinot Experience. 1618 Seafood Grille, 1618 W. Friendly Ave., Greensboro. Tickets: ticketmetriad.com. HOT SPIT. 3:30 p.m. Saliva, Trapt & Tantric rock the Central Carolina Fair. White Oak Amphitheatre, Coliseum Complex, 1921 W. Gate City Blvd., Greensboro. Tickets: (800) 745-3000 or ticketmaster.com.

September 7 & 8 HIDE AWAY, FOLK FAMILY. Noon. At the Folkfest Family Area, replete with games and crafts, in Richardson Historic Park. Greensboro History Museum, 130 Summit Ave., Greensboro. Info: (336) 373-2043 or greensborohistory.org.

September 8–29 WOOLF AT THE DOOR. Stage door, that is. See Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Performance times vary. Triad Stage, 232 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 272-0160 or triadstage.org.

September 10 AUTHOR, AUTHOR. 7 p.m. Meet poets Cheryl Whitehead and Anna Woodford. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com. LADY LAURA. 7:30 p.m. As in, First Lady Laura W. Bush, who kicks off this season’s Guilford College Bryan Series. Greensboro Coliseum, 1921 W. Gate City Blvd., Greensboro. Tickets: guilford.edu.

September 11 MENU DE MIDI. 6 p.m. Leg of lamb and tian (a layered, eggplant-zucchini-tomato casserole) are the starts of French– A Very Provençal Night! Reto’s Kitchen, 600 S. Elam Ave., Greensboro. Tickets: ticketmetriad.com.

September 12 KICKIN’ IT TOADSTOOL. Noon. Learn all about fungi from a fun guy— and gal — Ernie and Cathy Wheeler, who will lead the lunch and learn, “Gardening with Mushrooms.” Paul J.Ciener Botanical Garden, 215 S. Main St., Kernersville. To register: cienerbotanicalgarden.org. TLC. Noon. Learn the art and practice of compassion at a free lecture, “Beyond the Casserole: How to Truly Support Grieving Loved Ones.” Lusk Center, 2501 Summit Ave., Greensboro. To register: ticketmetriad.com. PORSCENE. 5 p.m. Munch on outside meat, food truck fare, and guzzle some beer and wine at Pig Pickin’ in the Park, supporting Greater Greensboro Foundation’s Future Fund. City Center Park, 200 N. Elm St., Greensboro. Tickets: ticketmetriad.com. The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Think of them as houseguests with hammers.

David and Leslie Millsaps have been invited into hundreds of Triad homes over the last 25 years for remodeling projects of all sizes.

“Trustworthy...We were on vacation when they started the project!” –Grier Hock

“David does what he says. This porch is solid.” Like this porch addition for Chad –Chad Hock Design | Remodel | Transform and Grier Hock that brings the (336) 275-9457 • DLMBuilders.com outdoors in. September 2019

O.Henry 89

Arts Calendar

PARA WHAT? 6 p.m. Meet artist Amy Gordon, who plays with language to capture an experience with her latest works, Parinadinis. O’Brien Gallery, 307 State St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 379-1124 or kathylovesart@aol.com. JOY JUICE. 6:30 p.m. As autumn leaves drift by, pick vegetables, herbs and fruit from the Edible Schoolyard for an autumn cocktail. Dan Lis from GIA shows you how to shake and stir. Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. To register: (336) 5742829 or gcmuseum.com. AUTHOR, AUTHOR. 7 p.m. Meet Martin Tucker, author of Vietnam Photographs from NC Veterans: The Memories They Brought Home. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com.

September 13 RED, RED WINE. 6:30 p.m. And for once we’re not referring to the beverage, but the hit by reggae sensation UB40, celebrating 40 years with its Real Labor of Love Tour. White Oak Amphitheatre, Coliseum Complex, 1921 W. Gate City Blvd., Greensboro. Tickets: (800) 745-3000 or livenation.com. TOOTING THEIR OWN HORNS. 7:30 p.m. That would be Brass Factory Trio, performing at Music for a Great Space. Christ United Methodist Church, 410 N. Holden Road, Greensboro. Tickets: ticketmetriad.com.

September 13 & 14 WHAT’S OPERA, DOC? 7:30 p.m. Find out as The North Carolina Brass Band plays opera favorites at its opening concerts. (9/13): UNCG Auditorium, 408 Tate Street, Greensboro. (9/14): Brendle Recital Hall, Scales Fine Arts Center, Wake Forest University, WinstonSalem. Tickets: (336) 340-6764 or ncbrassband.org.

September 13–15; 19–22 PORTER HOUSE MUSIC. Meaning, William Sydney Porter, focus of An O.Henry Celebration: Stories & Songs. Performance times vary. Well-Spring Theatre, 4100 Wellspring Drive, Greensboro. Tickets: ticketmetriad.com.

AUTHOR, AUTHOR. Noon. Meet Heather Cumiskey, author of I Love You Like That. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com.

September 14 & 18 THE IRON DUKE. 10 a.m. He never stops testing his metal. See the Blacksmith in action. Historical Park, High Point Museum, 1859 E. Lexington Ave., High Point. Info: (336) 885-1859 or highpointmuseum.org. COUNTERING CRUELTY. 6:30 p.m. Learn how to put the kibosh on bullying at Proactive Parenting. Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. To register: (336) 574-2829 or gcmuseum.com.

September 14

September 15

TIME TRAVEL. 8 a.m. Historian Glenn Chavis leads a guided tour of historic Washington, a thriving black business and entertainment district during segregation. Changing Tides Cultural Center, 613 Washington St., High Point. Info: (336) 885-1859.

FLYBOY. 2:30 p.m. Catch a documentary about WWII flying ace and Greensboro native George Preddy. Greensboro History Museum, 130 Summit Ave., Greensboro. Info: (336) 373-2043 or greensborohistory.org.

SAYONARA TO THE SEASON. 10 a.m. Bid summer farewell with a final harvest from the Edible Schoolyard at Family Cooking: So Long, Summer (ages 3 +). Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. To register: (336) 574-2829 or gcmuseum.com.

September 17

TRUNK SHOW THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 26TH 10 AM - 6 PM Barb Henry, Account Executive, will be on hand with fit and style advice.

CON LAW 101. Noon. Learn all about our founding document at a Constitution Day lunch-and-learn. Greensboro History Museum, 130 Summit Ave., Greensboro. Info: (336) 373-2043 or greensborohistory.org.

Treat

Yourself FALL STYLES ARRIVING DAILY Schedule an appointment to enjoy personal one on one styling to put together your fall wardrobe

Simply Meg’s SAVVY STYLE. PURELY PERSONAL. 1616-H Battleground Ave Dover Square 336.272.2555

DOVER SQUARE | 1616 BATTLEGROUND AVE, GREENSBORO 336.851.5025 | MAINANDTAYLORSHOES.COM

90 O.Henry

September 2019

10am-5:30pm-Mon.-Sat. www.simplymegsboutique.com

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

September 18 MAMA AFRICA. 6 p.m. Specifically West Africa, whose culinary influence bears out in Southern cooking. Find out for yourself at West Africa — Akin. Reto’s Kitchen, 600 S. Elam Ave., Greensboro. Tickets: ticketmetriad.com.

September 19 GRASSROOTS MUSIC. 6:30 p.m. Literally! Garden on the Lawn features the sounds of Hank, Pattie and The Current. Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden, 215 S. Main St., Kernersville. Tickets: cienerbotanicalgarden.org. AUTHOR, AUTHOR. 7 p.m. Meet poet Marly Youmans, author of The Book of the Red King. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com. UM DEE DUM. 7 p.m. Indiana rockers Umphrey’s McGee bring down the house with their eclectic sounds. White Oak Event Space, 2411 Gate City Blvd., Greensboro. Tickets: (800) 745-3000 or ticketmaster.com.

September 19 & 21

September 20–22; 26–29; October 3-6

HELLO DAHL-Y! As in, children’s author Roald Dahl, author of Matilda: The Musical. Catch Little Theatre of Winston-Salem’s show about a book-smart gal who charts her own destiny. Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts, 251 N. Spruce St., Winston-Salem. Tickets: LTofWS.org.

September 21

HOUSE MUSIC. 11 a.m.–4 p.m. Learn about the music history of Gov. John Motley Morehead at Museum Day Live, a partnership between Smithsonian magazine and participating museums that offers free admission. Blandwood Mansion, 447 W. Washington St., Greensboro. Tickets: smithsonianmag.com/museumday. Info: (336) 272-5003 or preservationgreensboro.org. KEYED UP. 1 p.m. Be part of an elite – or pica — squad at the Great Greensboro Type-in, coinciding with the end of the exhibit, Type-WRITE. Greensboro History Museum, 130 Summit Ave., Greensboro. Info: (336) 373-2043 or greensborohistory.org. FISHY. 4 p.m. Celebrate N.C.’s coastal bounty at Coast to Curb: Seafood Shellebration. Greensboro Farmers Curb Market, 501 Yanceyville St., Greensboro. Tickets: ticketmetriad.com.

KEEP MUSIC GREAT! 3 p.m. Or more specifically, Music for a Great Space, by attending its annual fundraiser. Double Oaks Bed & Breakfast, 204 N. Mendenhall St., Greensboro. Tickets: ticketmetriad.com. HIGH WATTAGE. 8 p.m. Hear the electric sounds of metal band Tesla. White Oak Event Space, 2411 W. Gate City Blvd., Greensboro. Tickets: (800) 745-3000.

September 24 RICE IS NICE. 6 p.m. What’s your favorite food? Rice! Especially when it’s mixed with seafood and vegetables. Learn how to make it at Paella and the Cuisine of Valencia! Reto’s Kitchen, 600 S. Elam Ave., Greensboro. Tickets: ticketmetriad.com.

September 25 STAGE ANT-ICS. 8 p.m. He’s no Goody Two-Shoes, but he’ll stand and deliver: Listen to the peppy tunes of ’80s New Wave icon Adam Ant. Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greenboro. Tickets: (336) 333-2605 or carolinatheatre.com.

September 26 AUTHOR, AUTHOR. 7 p.m. Meet Joe Pan, author of Operating Systems. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com.

Photo: Daniel Stoner

BOW GESTES. 8 p.m. It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that string. See “Violin Virtuosos,” a program featuring Mayuko Kamio, Risa Hokamura, Majorie Bagley, Conductor/Violinist Dmitry Sitkovetsky with Greensboro Symphony. Dana Auditorium, 5800 W.

Friendly Ave., Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 335-5456, ext. 224 or greensborosymphony.org.

Arts Calendar

Floral Design Delivery Service Home Décor & Gifts Weddings & Special Events Come visit our retail shop! 1616-G Battleground Ave | Dover Square 336.617.7941 10am-5:30pm Mon.-Sat. www.bibsandkidsboutique.com

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

1616 Battleground Avenue, Suite D-1 Greensboro, NC 27408

336.691.0051

shop@randymcmanusdesigns.com w w w. r a n d y m c m a n u s d e s i g n s . c o m September 2019

O.Henry 91

Arts Calendar

SIC TRANSIT GLORIA. 8 p.m. That would be Trevi, not mundi. The Latin music diva brings some irrepressible beats to the stage. Greensboro Coliseum, 1921 W. Gate City Blvd., Greensboro. Tickets: (800) 745-3000 or livenation.com.

September 26–29 THE FANTASTICKS. No, not the musical but fantasy fiction titans J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, whose friendship is dramatized in Lewis & Tolkien, Of Wardrobes & Rings. Performance times vary. Odeon Theatre, Greensboro Coliseum Complex, 1921 W. Gate City Blvd., Greensboro. Tickets: ticketmaster.com.

September 27 COLOR FOOD GROUPS. 5 p.m. Rainbow pasta takes center stage at Kids Cooking (ages 8–11). Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. To register: (336) 574-2829 or gcmuseum.com. HOPHEADS. 5:30 p.m. Learn about Greensboro’s and N.C.’s brewing history, play beer trivia and, of course, sample some local beer at After Hours: Brewseum. Greensboro History Museum, 130 Summit Ave., Greensboro. Info: Info: (336) 373-2043 or greensborohistory.org. SHAINDIG. 8 p.m. Blues musician Jon Shain, featured in the May issue of O.Henry, takes the stage. The Crown, Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 333-2605 or carolinatheatre.com.

September 28 TELL TALE. 2 p.m. Tellers of tales tell it like it is. Fellow short story writers meet and critique one another’s work. Deep Roots Market, 600 N. Eugene St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 887-8001. AUTHOR, AUTHOR. 7 p.m. Meet Jacob Paul, author of Last Tower to Heaven. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com.

September 28 PRETTY IN PINK. 11 a.m. Help those suffering from breast cancer by picking up a raffle ticket for various prizes donated by local businesses and restaurants, the proceeds from which will benefit Triad Pink Heals. Threads Boutique, 809 Green Valley Road, Greensboro. Info: (336) 944-5335.

September 28 & 29 DOGGED PURSUIT. 10 a.m. & noon. Heroic action, plus musical production plus technological bells and whistles — dog whistles — equals PAW Patrol Live! “Race to the Rescue.” Greensboro Coliseum, 1921 W. Gate City Blvd., Greensboro.Tickets: (800) 745-3000 or ticketmaster.com.

September 29 WRIT LARGE. 3 p.m. Join a writing workshop with

Steve Mitchell and Donna Sayed. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. To register (required): (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com. TABLE TALK. 4 p.m. Feast on modern Southern fare from GIA, Fainting Goat and Little Brother Brewing at Community Table, the annual fundraiser for Triad Local First. Cadillac Service Garage, 304 E. Market St., Greensboro. Tickets: ticketmetriad.com.

September 30 BARREL OF LAUGHS. 6 p.m. As in, bourbon barrel. Maker’s Mark Dinner. Need we say more? 1618 Seafood Grille, 1618 W. Friendly Ave., Greensboro. Tickets: ticketmetriad.com.

WEEKLY HAPPENINGS Mondays BUZZING. 10 a.m. Your busy little bees engage in a Busy Bees preschool program focusing on music, movement, garden exploration and fun in the kitchen (members only). Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. PreTo register: (336) 5742898 or gcmuseum.com. CHAT-EAU. Noon. French leave? Au contraire! Join French Table, a conversation group. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com.

“I couldn’t be happier with my renters, or my rental income” Brantley White

Burkely Rental Homes client

There are times when it’s smarter to lease than to sell your home. Call me when you think you’re there! I’ll be pleased to discuss how Burkely Rental Homes can help you.

92 O.Henry

September 2019

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Arts Calendar Tuesdays GROWING GROWERS. 3 p.m. Instead of singing “Farmer in the Dell,” kiddos age 3–5 can be farmers at Little Sprouts, a six-week program (9/10 through 10/15) exploring the Edible Schoolyard. Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. To register: (336) 574-2829 or gcmuseum.com. ROBO KIDS. 3:45 p.m. Kids ages 6–8 learn to make robots with LEGO WeDo 2.0 at the first Techie Kids series (9/10 through 10/15). Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. To register: (336) 574-2829 or gcmuseum.com. READ ALL ABOUT IT. Treat your little ones to story times: BookWorms (ages 12–24 months) meets at 10 a.m.; Time for Twos meets at 11 a.m. Storyroom; Family Storytime for all ages meets at 6:30 p.m. High Point Public Library, 901 N. Main St., High Point. Info: (336) 883-3666 or highpointpubliclibrary.com. PICKIN’ AND GRINNIN’ 6 until 9 p.m. Y’all come for Songs from a Southern Kitchen, curated by O.Henry’s own Ogi Overman and featuring live performances of roots and Americana music by Elliott Humphries and Freddie Alderman (9/3), Abigail Dowd and Jason Duff (9/10), Sam Frazier and Eddie Walker (9/17), and Doug Baker and Leah Kaufman (9/24). Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen, 1421 W. Westover Terrace, Greensboro. Info: (336) 370-0707 or lucky32.com/fried_chicken.htm.

Wednesdays TO MARKET, TO MARKET. 8 a.m. until noon. The produce is fresh and the cut fleurs belles. Greensboro Farmers Curb Market, 501 Yanceyville St., Greensboro. Info: gsofarmersmarket.org. MUSSELS, WINE & MUSIC. 7 until 10 p.m. Mussels with house-cut fries for $15, wines from $10–15 a bottle and live music by AM rOdeO — at Print Works Bistro, 702 Green Valley Road, Greensboro. Info: (336) 3790699 or printworksbistro.com/live_music.htm.

Thursdays LOCAVORES. 3:45 p.m. Local Chefs teaches children ages 6–8 about local food systems, planting, harvesting and cooking ingredients from the Edible Schoolyard (9/19 through 10/24). Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. To register: (336) 5742829 or gcmuseum.com.

FLY FREE TO EUROPE Create Memories and Experience Europe’s River Cities France Germany Netherlands Austria

AD SPACE #1 IN EUOPEAN RIVER CRUISES

336.882.8200

sashworth@dreamvacations.com www.dreamvacations.com/sashworth All-Inclusive Resorts | Ocean & River Cruises Disney | Worldwide Land

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

ALL THAT JAZZ. 6 p.m. Hear live, local jazz with the O.Henry Trio and selected guests Clinton Horton (9/5), Nishah DiMeo (9/12), Tanya Ross (9/19), and Diana Tuffin (9/26). All performances are at the O.Henry Hotel Social Lobby Bar. No cover. 624 Green Valley Road, Greensboro. Info: (336) 854-2000 or www.ohenryhotel.com/jazz.htm. JAZZ NIGHT. 7 p.m. Fresh-ground, fresh-brewed coffee is served with a side of jazz at Tate Street Coffee House, 334 Tate St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 275-2754 or www.tatestreetcoffeehouse.com. OPEN MIC COMEDY. 8–9:35 p.m. Local pros and amateurs take the mic at the Idiot Box, 2134 Lawndale Drive, Greensboro. Info: (336) 274-2699 or idiotboxers.com.

Fridays THE HALF OF IT. 5 p.m. Enjoy the hands-on exhibits and activities for half the cost of admission at $5 Fun Fridays ($3 on First Fridays). Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 574-2898 or gcmuseum.com.

Fridays & Saturdays NIGHTMARES ON ELM STREET. 8 p.m. A 90-minute, historical, candlelit ghost walking tour of Downtown Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 905-4060 or carolinahistoryandhaunts.com/information.

Saturdays TO MARKET, TO MARKET. 7 a.m. until noon. The produce is still fresh and the cut fleurs still belles. Greensboro Farmers Curb Market, 501 Yanceyville St., Greensboro. Info: gsofarmersmarket.org. MORE MARKET MANIA. 8:30 a.m. See what’s on tap at the High Point Farmers Market, with programs, “Pepper Blast — Chili Cook-off” (9/7); “Garden Day — Winding Down for Winter” (9/14); “Discover Your Library” (9/21) and “Featured Farmer” (9/28). High Point Public Library, 901 N. Main St., High Point. Info: (336) 883-3011 or highpointnc.gov. THRICE UPON A TIME. 11 a.m. Hear a good yarn at Children’s Storytime. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com.

Exclusive Dream Vacations SEPTEMBER

BOOKING

INCENTIVE

UP TO $300 Restrictions Apply Select Itineraries Book By 9/30/2019

GENIUS AND JAVA. 11:15 a.m. With a cup of Joe as inspiration, create that masterpiece at Coffee and Canvas, which pairs painting and sipping. Cost is $5 and includes art supplies and bean. Griffin Recreation Center, 5301 Hilltop Road, Greensboro. Info: (336) 373-2928 or email Latrisha. Carmon@greensboro-nc.gov.

who discuss their literary projects. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com. JAZZ ENCORE. 7 p.m. Hear contemporary jazz cats The Penn Family (9/7), Eric Chilton & his band (9/14), Bronwen Bradshaw (9/21), and Benjamin Strickland & the Gate City Ramblers (9/28), while noshing on seasonal tapas at O.Henry Jazz series for Select Saturdays. O.Henry Hotel, 624 Green Valley Road, Greensboro. Info: (336) 854-2000 or ohenryhotel.com. IMPROV COMEDY. 10 p.m. on Saturday, plus an 8 p.m. show appropriate for the whole family. The Idiot Boxers create scenes on the spot and build upon the ideas of others, creating shows that are one-of-a-kind — at the Idiot Box, 503 N. Greene St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 274-2699 or idiotboxers.com.

Saturdays & Sundays KIDS’ CRAFTS. Idle hands are the devil’s workshop — unless you enroll Junior in one of three structured activities at Greensboro Children’s Museum: Art Studio encourages making art in all kinds of media; at Music Makers kids can shake, rattle and roll with percussion instruments; while Get Moving! inspires physical activities. Times and dates vary. Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 574-2898 or send an email mailto: marketing@gcmuseum.com.

Sundays GROOVE AND GRUB. 11 a.m. Chow down on mouth-watering Southern brunch fare (biscuits, anyone?), courtesy of Chef Irvin J. Williams, while students from the Miles Davis Jazz Program serenade you with smooth jazz. The Historic Magnolia House, 442 Gorrell St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 617-3382 or thehistoricmagnoliahouse.com. HALF FOR HALF-PINTS. 1 p.m. And grown-ups, too. A $5 admission, as opposed to the usual $10, will allow you entry to exhibits and more. Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 574-2898 or gcmuseum.com. MISSING YOUR GRANDMA? 3 p.m. until it’s gone: Tuck into the quintessential comfort food: skillet-fried chicken, and mop that cornbread in, your choice, giblet gravy or potlikker. Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen, 1421 W. Westover Terrace, Greensboro. Info: (336) 370-0707 or lucky32.com/fried_chicken.htm.

To add an event, email us at

ohenrymagcalendar@gmail.com

by the first of the month

ONE MONTH PRIOR TO THE EVENT.

WRITE IS MIGHT. 3 p.m. Avoid writer’s block by joining a block of writers at Come Write In, a confab of scribes September 2019

O.Henry 93

Do you run a local business? So do we. Your Auto-Owners Insurance policy comes with a local agent– someone who understands you and the protection you need.

BREAT CANCER CHARITY EVENT SEPTEMBER 28 • 11-3 STOREWIDE SALE Raffles for Fall “Threads” and prizes donated by local businesses and restaurants. Profits from the raffle will be donated to Triad Pink Heals.

809 GR EEN VAL L E Y R OA D S UI TE 1 0 1

| 3 3 6 -94 4 - 5 3 3 5

TUES-FRI • 1 1 -5:30 | SAT • 1 1 -3

94 O.Henry

September 2019

We specialize in unique, native, and specimen plants. 701 Milner Dr. Greensboro 336-299-1535 guilfordgardencenter.com The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Carriage House Antiques & Home Decor 336.373.6200

2214 Golden Gate Drive Greensboro, NC Monday-Friday 10-5:30 • Saturday • 10-5 Sunday 1-5

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

September 2019

O.Henry 95

THINK OUTSIDE THE BANK

APPLY ONLINE

Love

Home is

ESIGN LOW COSTS

LOW RATES

WAYNE HARDISTER 336.404.4282

RON ROBERTSON 336.707.5699

GRADY PATTON 336.312.5300

NMLS#103613

NMLS#106285

NMLS#110216

95% CASH OUT TO $484,350 CONVENTIONAL LOAN UP TO 40 YEAR TERMS/NO MORTGAGE INSURANCE 100% VA & USDA LOANS 75% INVESTMENT - NO INCOME NO W2S OR TAX RETURNS

DAYS, NIGHTS & WEEKENDS! WAYNE HARDISTER 336.404.4282

RON ROBERTSON 336.707.5699

GRADY PATTON 336.312.5300

First Carolina MORTGAGE

Thankful and Grateful FOR YOUR PATRONAGE

G ibsonville A &C ntiques

olleCtibles

Call Angie to address your Real Estate Dreams ANGIE WILKIE | Broker/Realtor® (336) 451-9519 angie.wilkie@allentate.com

Bargello and Needlepoint

Classes

Full of History, Antiques & Charm

taught by Jean Farish

106 E. Railroad Ave, Gibsonville, NC • (336) 446-0234

STARTING SEPTEMBER 21, 2019

Downtown Gibsonville behind the Red Caboose

GibsonvilleAntiques.com • Mon-Sat 10-6 & Sun 1-5

An Unparalleled Holiday River Cruise Experiemce Europe’s Danube and Rhine rivers give way to timeless Christamas Markets in such fairytale cities as Vienna, Nuremberg, and Strasbourg. With exhilerating excursions and an exquisite holiday feast, AmaWaterways ensures your cruise becomes a magical memory.

NEW HOLIDAY TRIPLE SAVINGS

336.882.8200

sashworth@dreamvacations.com www.dreamvacations.com/sashworth All-Inclusive Resorts | Ocean & River Cruises Disney | Worldwide Land

96 O.Henry

September 2019

#1 IN EUOPEAN RIVER CRUISES

1614-C WEST FRIENDLY AVENUE GREENSBORO, NC 27403 336-272-2032 stitchpoint@att.net MONDAY-FRIDAY: 10:00-6:00 SATURDAY: 10:00-4:00

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Loads and Loads of Quality

SHOP LOCAL FOR BEST PRICES We Service What We Sell & Offer Personal Attention

2201 Patterson Street, Greensboro, NC (2 Blocks from the Coliseum) Mon. - Fri.: 9:30am - 5:30 pm Sat. 10 am - 2 pm • Closed Sunday

336-854-9222 • www.HartApplianceCenter.com

ALL L.A.M.B & GX BY GWEN STEFANI

TED BAKER FRAMES

BOGO BUY ONE, GET ONE HALF

SAVINGS OF OVER $100! B O G O O N LY O N S E L E C T F R A M E S . C A N N OT B E CO M B I N E D W I T H OT H E R O F F E R S O R I N S U R A N C E .

2222 PATTERSON ST, SUITE A, GREENSBORO, NC

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

September 2019

O.Henry 97

Paul J. Ciener

Botanical Garden

HANK, PATTIE AND THE CURRENT

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2019 â&#x20AC;˘ 6:30 PM Gates open at 5:00 pm

Two of North Carolinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s veteran bluegrass musicians join forces with some of the Triangle areaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most versatile musicians to create modern, American, acoustic music featuring the full range of their talents as composers and arrangers. The band is on tour regionally and nationally in support of their new album, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hold Your Head Up Highâ&#x20AC;? on Robust Records.

Tickets - $15 in advance ($18 day of the Concert) at www.cienerbotanicalgarden.org or call 336-996-7888 Proceeds benefit the further development of Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden. Concert is rain or shine with limited tent coverage - bring a chair or blanket. Food trucks, local beer and wine on site for purchase. Please, no coolers, pets or smoking.

Presented as part of the John and Bobbie Wolfe Concert Series in partnership with

Paul J. Ciener BotaniCal Garden

Ted Keaton Established 1979

FURNITURE REFINISHING REPAIRS | PAINTING | CANING | ANTIQUE RESTORATION | LEATHER TOPS

215 S. Main Street, Kernersville 336-996-7888 | www.cienerbotanicalgarden.org

Practicing Commercial Real Estate by the Golden Rule Bill Strickland, CCIM Commercial Real Estate Broker/REALTOR 336.369.5974 | bstrickland@bipinc.com

www.bipinc.com

Â Â? Â?Â?

Â? Â?Â Â? Â?Â Â?Â? Â&#x20AC;Â&#x201A; Â&#x192;Â&#x20AC; Â?Â&#x201A; Â&#x201E; Â&#x20AC;Â&#x2C6;Â&#x201A; Â&#x192;Â&#x20AC;

98 O.Henry

Â&#x2026;Â&#x2020; Â&#x20AC; Â&#x2020; Â?Â? Â&#x2020;Â&#x2021;

September 2019

Â&#x20AC;Â&#x201A; Â&#x192;Â&#x20AC; The Art & Soul of Greensboro

NOV 15 & NOV 17 UNCG AUDITORIUM | 408 TATE STREET | FREE PARKING

GREENSBOROOPERA.ORG | 336.272.0160 | TICKETS ON SALE NOW

KEVIN RUTAN’S FE FI FAUX INC. Nationally known decorative painting company, with 40 years in painting and faux finishing.

TROMPE L’OIL DOOR Knight/Carr design

WALL STENCIL

Susan Wilson design

STILL GOING STRONG! The Art & Soul of Greensboro

VENETIAN PLASTER

Sydney Murphy design

C AL L : 336.272.3289 | T E X T: 3 3 6 . 3 1 2 . 0 0 9 9 EM AI L : K R U TAN @ T RI A D. RR.CO M

September 2019

O.Henry 99

A new home. A new chapter.

September 13-15 & 19-22 Enjoy the beloved series of theatrical vignettes, including “The Gift of the Magi,” based on the works by Greensboro’s own William Sydney Porter (better known as the writer O.Henry). Formerly known as “5 By O.Henry” and produced at the Greensboro History Museum, this 30-year tradition has a new home at The Well•Spring Theatre. Tickets may be purchased at TicketMeTriad.com or call 336.907.2113 Photography by Lynn Highfill Donovan

MODERN VISIONS MODERN ART Modern Visions Modern Art The Cone Sisters in North Carolina August 3 - November 30, 2019

BlowingRockMuseum.org | (828) 295-9099 159 Ginny Stevens Lane | Blowing Rock, NC Presented to the community by Wells Fargo

Image credit: Bernice Oehler (American, 1881-1955). Ruth St. Denis, c. 1925. Red conte on laid paper. 10.125 x 8.875 inches. Weatherspoon Art Museum, UNC Greensboro. Bequest of Etta and Claribel Cone, 1949.

100 O.Henry

September 2019

O-HenryMag_1�4pagead_villon.indd 1

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

7/9/19 10:37 AM

Silent Art Auction Saturday October 5th • 6:00-9:00pm at Revolution Mill in Greensboro, NC Advance Tickets Available Online www.HirschWellnessNetwork.org Advance tickets $30 single • $50 pair • At Event $35 each

“Hirsch provides a safe haven in the storm of cancer.” ~ A Cancer Survivor and Hirsch Participant

Art Lives Here is a night to celebrate life and support our friends and families facing the challenges of cancer. Join the dozens of local artists donating works of art to raise funds for The Hirsch Center’s healing arts and wellness programs. The Piedmont’s Cancer Support Community HirschWellnessNetwork.org • 336-549-8367

Tickets starting at $15!

Come to the party, but don’t play the drinking games

SEPTEMBER 8-29, 2019 Buy your tickets today! The Art & Soul of Greensboro

THE PYRLE | 232 SOUTH ELM STREET | DOWNTOWN GREENSBORO | TRIADSTAGE.ORG | 336.272.0160 September 2019

O.Henry 101

AMY GORDON art

PA R I N A D I N I S TO TRANSFORM OR TRANSCEND FEATURING A NEW BODY OF WORK BY AMY GORDON. RECEPTION: SEPTEMBER 12 • 6-8PM

307 State Street, Greensboro (336) 279-1124 • www.tylerwhitegallery.com

MERIDITHMARTENS

state of the ART • north carolina

C.P. LOGAN “TWO FOR FISHING” • 48”X 48” ORIGINAL OIL

New exhibit for CP Logan and Students at Abbotswood

Custom Dog Faces in oil •5” x 5” • $150

OPENING SEPTEMBER 12TH • 4-6PM

www.meridithmartens.com • MeridithMartens.Artist • 910.692.9448

CONNIE P. LOGAN - ARTIST/TEACHER

www. CPLogan.com 102 O.Henry

September 2019

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

September 2019

O.Henry 103

GreenScene

Emma & Lane Lambert, Karen Shaw, Jennifer Lambert

Manning Franks, Eric Chilton, Kim Ballard, Larry Audas

Inclusive Playground Ribbon Cutting Ricky Proehl P.O.W.E.R. of Play Foundation Wednesday, July 17, 2019 Photographs by Lynn Donovan

Natalie & Stephen Lukachyk Julie Belnap, Kelly Proehl, Sandy Sikes

Carter Oosterhouse, Zachary Kroger, Dylan Redmon, Ricky Proehl

Joe, Charleston & Josie Trippodo Leigh Bryson, Carol Andrews

Kennedy, Sandra & Landon Taylor, Mary Alexander

Cory Phillips, Lee Kirkman, Darrin Edwards Aidan Smith, Alexa Clark

Sterlena Bland, Jayden Brown, Kendall Wallace-Brown

104 O.Henry

September 2019

Zachary Kroger, Mike Kennedy

Kamly Williams, Bailey Harrelson

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

GreenScene

Lillian Capwell, Naomi Kollman

Allen Xu, Vibhas Nair

UNCG Summer Music Camp Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Photographs by Lynn Donovan Athina Wintrowski, Lily Edwards

Jiyu Hong, Karissa Sitepu

Theresa Dill, Adrianna Mims

Allie Liu, Kavya Vadla, Maansi Pasupala

Ellen Whittington, Alisha Cardwell

Natasha King, Liann Lessard

Harrison Wan, Fauna Mitchell

Darshan Raj, McKenzie Walker

Julia Kane, Asha A

Sarah Stanley, Maansi Pasupala

Ragan Clamme, Sofia Hinchliff

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

September 2019

O.Henry 105

GreenScene

Courtney LeBauer, Cathy Levinson, Rani Marks

Gene & Gail LeBauer

Eastern Music Festival “Wine Away" Friday, July 19, 2019

Photographs by Lynn Donovan Joan Griffing, Barb Freedy

Notable Draiblate, José-Luis Novo

Janie Silvers, Deborah Kintzing

John Fadial, Beth Vanderborgh Judith Saxon, Diane Phoenix-Neal

Michael & Kathy Norins

Jackie Humphrey, Lennie Finkelshteyn Ariadna Ilika, Sochi

Gerard & Jody Evan Olson & Jessica Mashburn Schwartz

106 O.Henry

September 2019

Ann Choomack, Joy Branagan

Jeff Multer, Eric Casaccio Jessica & Susan Lambert

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Private Guest Cottage Opens New Possibilities 1816 SAINT ANDREWS ROAD, GREENSBORO, NC 27408 A rare Old Irving Park luxury home with a separate guest cottage creates unique living and entertaining opportunities. The Guest Cottage has everything for independent living just steps away from the gracious main house built by Wolfe Homes. Open floor plan includes main-level master suite, large open kitchen, library, old-world courtyard and patio with outdoor fireplace. Architectural details are everywhere to be enjoyed.

Beautiful! - $1,195,000

Chesnutt - Tisdale Team

Xan Tisdale 336-601-2337

Kay Chesnutt 336-202-9687

Xan.Tisdale@bhhsyostandlittle.com Kay.Chesnutt@bhhsyostandlittle.com Lea.Beuchler@bhhsyostandlittle.com

Lea Beuchler 336-207-4859

www.kaychesnutt.bhhscarolinas.com

©2019 BHH Affiliates, LLC. An independently operated subsidiary of HomeServices of America, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate, and a franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc.® Equal Housing Opportunity.

ANTI-AGING SYSTEM CE FERULIC: VISIBLY IMPROVES SKIN FIRMNESS Incorporating Southern Heritage through Natural Stone Veneers Now Available at

Back In Stock! $345 MSRP VALUE $481

Love Your Skin! www.MarshallStone.com 8605 Triad Drive Colfax, NC 27235 (336) 996-4918

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

10730 Virgil H. Goode HWY Rocky Mount, VA 24151 (504) 483-2737

Located at Friendly Center next door to Barnes and Noble Mon-Fri 10-8 | Sat 10-6 | Sun 1-6 • 336-294-3223 Visit our new website… shereesinatural.com for special discounts on SkinCeuticals and brow waxing.

September 2019

O.Henry 107

GreenScene

Toshiyuki Soen, Nozomu Nakajima

June Dare, Zakiya Brown

Wyndham Championship Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Photographs by Lynn Donovan Rebekka Willis, Candler Matthews, Jonathan Bass, Henry Vick, Bocephus Riley

Bob & Sue Doran Stephen Hamblin, Mark Brazil, Kevin Rinker

Katrina Artis, Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Shay Eagleton

Cole Price, David Rosenstein

Gary Hull, Kaitlyn Walker, Bibi Yang, Matthew Avondet, Chelsea Wilson, Colin Frederes, Kristina Nickodemus Richard & Trenna Bowling

108 O.Henry

September 2019

Brittany Hardaker, Max Plackburn, Daniel Haga

Jim Melvin, Kevin Green

Brendan, Lindsay, Quinn & Landon Dearie Hugh Holston, Phillip LeGrand

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

WE OFFER: DOG DAYCARE • SLEEPOVERS • GROOMING • WEBCAMS

VIVID i n t e r i o r s

Interior Design • Furnishings • Accessories • Gifts • Art

705 Battleground Ave.

www.DogDaysGreensboro.com

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

513 South Elm Street , Greensboro, NC 27406 336.265.8628 www.vivid-interiors .com

September 2019

Downtown Greensboro

Specializing in doggie happiness

O.Henry 109

Downtown Greensboro

modern furniture made locally

511 S Elm St. | Greensboro NC 27406 | 336.370.1050 areamod.com

Come. Sit. Heal. We strive to provide complete care for our patients. Preventive & Wellness Care • Hospitalization Medicine / Surgery • Dentistry • And more ...

Dr. John Wehe 120 W. Smith Street • Greensboro NC | 336.338.1840

w w w .do w n t o w n gre e n sbo ro an imalhospital. com

110 O.Henry

September 2019

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

The Accidental Astrologer

Guts, Game and the Good Life Virgos have it all

By Astrid Stellanova

By September, ole summertime holds on like the last drop of sweat.

September-born Virgo children have guts and game — and a taste for the good life, especially if you can plate it or pour it in a fancy glass. A few: Queen Elizabeth I, Prince Harry, Greta Garbo and Lauren Bacall, and the first woman to run for President, Victoria Woodhull. To that add a short list of a long list of actors: Charlie Sheen, Danielle Brooks, Lily Tomlin, Michael Keaton and Salma Hayek. Plum crazy, right? Virgo birthday celebrations sizzle like frog legs (or fried chicken) in a cast-iron pan. The Colonel himself, Harlan Sanders, was a finger-lickin’ Virgo. Let’s talk food and drink, Star Children. Virgo (August 23–September 22) That famous old curmudgeon Hemingway said he drank to make other people interesting. What makes you break out the bubbly? If nothing else, celebrate a year of wild-child creativity at the cusp. This may just be your best year ever, Sugar Foot. So hit the dance floor, do the worm, get down tonight, and savor that muscadine slurpee. Libra (September. 23–October 22) The slump you’ve been in is going to come to an end. Best of all, you will have a breakthrough versus a breakdown. Somebody close to you is biting their tongue and you owe them. Treat ’em right; your tastes in spirits are downright amazing, and you owe more than one round. Scorpio (October 23–November 21) When you did one of those drink-and-paint the ducky nights, turns out you sure do have a gift — for drinking. Don’t sulk, because your ducky was the most original. Originality is one of your trademarks, but so is radio silence, Honey. Open up and call a friend. Sagittarius (November 22–December 21) You got catfished. Conned. But it wasn’t all a failure, Sugar. The catfish in life keep the rest of us on our tippy toes. You won’t be caught again. And, it keeps you intrigued. Plus, catfish themselves are pretty damn tasty dipped in corn meal and fried up. Capricorn (December 22–January 19) Your mouth may be saying cheese, chocolate and a malted, but your jeans are saying, for goddsakes, order soup and salad. The bingeing was fun, Honey Bun, but now it’s done and get your sweet self back in training for that killer fall wardrobe you wanna rock. Aquarius (January 20–February 18) You get emotional just doing the Happy Baby pose in yoga. And you have been known to express your feelings in the most unusual ways, Sugar. Whatever has made you so vulnerable is intensifying but will release by the month’s end so you find a way to chill without a smoothie or a milkshake.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Pisces (February 19–March 20) Innocent soybeans died for your veggie burger, Sugar. You have imposed a lot of strict ideas on yourself and others, but remember you can’t survive without making a lot of choices. And some are going to be far harder than skipping a mouth-watering bacon cheeseburger. Aries (March 21–April 19) Well, a good friend just pickled your okra, didn’t they? Now you have to put up or shut up, which is a Devil’s bargain. There’s no shame in just holding back one more hot minute before you unload your bucket. Patience is going to be your best ally. Taurus (April 20–May 20) Sure, you can make wine disappear, but, Honey, that is not some kind of a super power. Not exactly. But, in one way, the best thing you can do is keep your mouth full, because not everybody is buying what you have been selling lately. Gemini (May 21–June 20) You are at a crossroads, Sweet Pea. Can you be honest all of the time? Because you have hurt some people who care about you and left them wondering if you care for them. Do not feel compelled to tell Aunt Ida her cooking stinks. She’s too old and too tired from a lifetime at the hot stove. Cancer (June 21–July 22) You towed your bass boat to the wrong lake. You backed into the wrong situation. Maybe you put in, maybe you fished, but you are in the wrong place, Honey. If you can find a graceful exit, go home and grill the catch of the day before you get hooked. Leo (July 23–August 22) Were you slurring or trying to talk in cursive, Sugar? Seriously, you were way more entertaining than you even remember. Now you have to get some steel in your back and face up to a situation that will require you to be sober and serious — if only about what you will cook for dinner. OH For years, Astrid Stellanova owned and operated Curl Up and Dye Beauty Salon in the boondocks of North Carolina until arthritic fingers and her popular astrological readings provoked a new career path. September 2019

O.Henry 111

O.Henry Ending

Jonni and Giorgio

By Cynthia Adams

She may be

a Southern Belle, but cotton prints and housedresses were never her thing. Jonni “Jets” has a wardrobe suggesting a film star not a shut-in. (She won the “Jets” moniker from her grandchildren, given her love of travel, especially when involving nice hotels and shopping.)

Gold, lamé and sparkles are her basics. Now topping the scales at 82 pounds, our little mama’s glitzy wardrobe is too large — even the extra smalls. Last week, I opened the closet jammed with cruise-worthy finery, murmuring, “I have to help you clear this out.” Then I paused: Where was the Giorgio Beverly Hills’ dress? When my mother went through a rough patch some years ago, I suggested a trip, trying to incentivize her medical recovery. Living up to her moniker, she suggested Vegas. Not London, not New York. Jets wanted to do Vegas and got her wish. On another occasion, after I was repaid an old debt, I was feeling flush and proposed another trip. Jets’ answer? L.A. She turned her sites upon a city befitting a glamazonian, one who has spent more time in a hairdresser’s chair than Norma Desmond. I booked us into a classy B & B in Beverly Hills. Her head was entirely in the stars. Upon arrival we learned actor Mickey Rourke demolished his room the prior night. My mom hissed, “Mickey who? Mickey Rooney?” Her head swiveled around the lobby. That afternoon I took her to the breathtaking Getty Museum. A spectacular flop for Jets, who slumped outside looking dejected, till I remembered whose

112 O.Henry

September 2019

trip this was. I booked the Grave Line Tour (now the Dearly Departed Tours) featuring the last stops or “deathstyles” of the rich and famous. Mom sprang to life. We walked Rodeo Drive. Mom gasped standing beneath the yellow-striped awnings of Giorgio Beverly Hills where Liz Taylor and Natalie Wood had shopped. Hooray for Hollywood! With misgivings (all mine), we entered. Mom gasped with delight, her hand reaching for a bottle of Giorgio’s namesake fragrance. The staff sprang to action, spritzing her. She beamed. The Giorgio’s people knew exactly what they were dealing with: two Southern ding-dongs unaccustomed to sipping bubbly when shopping. To our utter delight, there was a major sale. Her red-carpet radar on full alert, Mom found a dress fit for the Oscars, replete with feathered boa. (They ship free! she breathed.) I bought nice towels. With several flutes down the gullet, we shopped as if an entourage and a limousine awaited. Inhibitions waaay down, I charged a leather skirt, jacket and a peculiar green hat that made me look like a dominatrix kitted out for St. Patrick’s Day. Mom bought things ill-suited to her life back in N.C., but that was beside the point. Pretty Woman’s version of shopping was wrong: Beverly Hills, like anywhere, rewards kindness. Nor did it hurt that my mother lavished praise. The Giorgio dress was worth each luminous sequin and fluttery feather, although Mom never found a suitable occasion to wear it in Norwood. She resumed her life there, but breathlessly recounted the details of Valentino’s mausoleum, (maudlin), Lucille Ball’s home (modest), even Hitchcock’s iron gates with ravens (macabre.) What did not disappoint were the beautiful people at Giorgio’s, and the dress. And so, it remains in the closet, this thing of beauty. A joy forever. An utterly unnecessary essential. OH Cynthia Adams is a contributing editor for O.Henry magazine. The Art & Soul of Greensboro

ILLUSTRATION BY HARRY BLAIR

How Norwood brought out the best in Hollywood

THE ORIGINAL GAME OF THRONES

COMES TO NORTH CAROLINA FOR ITS PROFESSIONAL DEBUT

Piedmont Opera presents Donizettiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Mary, Queen of Scots October 18, 20 & 22, 2019

Luxury coach transportation is available from Greensboro for the 10/20 performance. The Stevens Center of the UNCSA, Winston-Salem, NC Tickets at 336.725.7101 or PiedmontOpera.org

GREENSBORO Friendly Center • 336-294-4885 WINSTON-SALEM Stratford Village, 137 South Stratford Road • 336-725-1911 www.schiffmans.com