VOLUME 1 - ISSUE 11 - APRIL 24, - MAY 7, 2019 - QCNERVE.COM
b it
REW
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OURSELF
Homebrewers cultivate their craft in thbyecokuritnecy mihhoencik
NEWS:
Planned parenthood addresses STI crisis pg.6
ARTS: BOOM ISPGBA.1CK0
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Charlotte’s Cultural Pulse
NEWS & CULTURE STAFF
PUBLISHER • Justin LaFrancois jlafrancois@qcnerve.com EDITOR-IN-CHIEF • Ryan Pitkin rpitkin@qcnerve.com
EDITORIAL
ASSOCIATE EDITOR • Courtney Mihocik cmihocik@qcnerve.com STAFF WRITER • Pat Moran pmoran@qcnerve.com
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MARKETING MANAGER • Jayme Johnson jjohnson@qcnerve.com Queen City Nerve welcomes submissions of all kinds. Please send submissions or story pitches to rpitkin@qcnerve.com. Queen City Nerve is published every other Wednesday by Nerve Media Productions LLC. No portion may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. Queen City Nerve is located in Advent Coworking at 933 Louise Ave., Charlotte, NC, 28204. First Issue of Queen CIty Nerve free. Each additional issue $5.
6 Transmit the Truth Planned Parenthood pushes educative efforts to stem rising STI rates By Ryan Pitkin 8 Keep It 100 by Shameika Rhymes 9 The Scanner by Ryan Pitkin
ARTS
10 Builder of the Art Bombs Manoj Kesavan sets off BOOM’s arts explosion By Pat Moran 12 Five BOOM Acts to Watch by Pat Moran & Ryan Pitkin
LIFELINE
14 How not to kill your social life
MUSIC
16 Watch the Tables Turn Charlotte DJs are coming up if you know where to look By Rebecca Hourselt 18 Soundwave
FOOD & DRINK
Cover Design and Illustration by Dana Vindigni
20 Brew It Yourself Homebrewers cultivate their craft in the kitchen By Courtney Mihocik 23 Side Dish: Daniel Anthony Hartis by Ryan Pitkin 24 The Buzz
NIGHTLIFE
26 Aerin It Out by Aerin Spruill 26 Sudoku 27 Crossword 28 Horoscope 30 Savage Love
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YOURSELF
Homebrewers cultivate kitchen their craft in the by courney mihocik
NEWS:
Planned parenthood addresses STI crisis pg.6
BACK ARTS: BOOM ISPG.10
EDITOR’S NOTE DANQUIRS FRANKLIN DESERVES JUSTICE Another year, another tramautic video
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BY RYAN PITKIN
ON TUESDAY, April 16, I got a Twitter message from a friend I had met covering activism in Charlotte a few years ago. She has since moved to Atlanta, so she reached out with just six words, but they were enough to send chills down my back. “Why isn’t the city on fire?” the message read. And I didn’t really have an answer. She sent the message 24 hours after the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department released body camera footage of the shooting of Danquirs Franklin by CMPD officer Wende Kerl that happened outside of a Burger King on March 25. Officers were responding to multiple calls about a man in the Burger King with a gun, aiming it at people and starting fights, when they came across Franklin in the parking lot. At the time of their arrival, things seemed to have de-escalated a bit, as Franklin was calmly kneeling at the side of a vehicle, talking to the store’s general manager. Upon the officers’ arrival, they begin shouting at Franklin to drop his gun, which was not in his hand. After about 20 seconds of shouting, Franklin reaches into his pocket for the gun, and as soon as he brings it out, Kerl shoots him twice. Franklin does not aim the weapon at anyone, nobody seems to be in direct danger. He appears to be trying to comply with the demands, lowering the gun so as to drop it. What sticks with me is not the words that Danquirs Franklin utters after he’s shot, it’s the face he makes as he looks back at the officer who just put two bullets into his body, eventually killing him. You can hear him say, “You told me to,” but he doesn’t need to say it. His face screams it. Monday’s release of the body cam footage was harder to watch than anything I’ve seen in quite some time, and I’ve watched plenty of those videos, unfortunately. It seems clear to me that, though he took some time to do so, Franklin was doing as he was told. After it happened, he looked dumbfounded, staring back at the officer who just effectively ended his life as if it to say, “What on Earth made you do that?” Racial fear? A slip of the trigger finger? A true belief that her life or the life of someone else was in danger? We’ll never 100% know the answer,
though it would be hard to justify the latter now that we’ve seen the video. We’ll also never really know the answer to my friend’s question about the lack of community response — namely in the form of protest. On the evening of the video release, about 50 people gathered at Marshall Park to pay their respects to Franklin and speak about community issues around police violence. Much of the talk was about self-sufficiency within the black community and not waiting around for local government to fix the problems they see. I’ve covered activism in this city for many years now. In recent years, these incidents have become all too common, yet the community reaction hasn’t. I was there in 2015 when protesters showed up in droves to march peacefully through the streets of Uptown in response to the mistrial of former CMPD officer Randall Kerrick, who shot and killed an unarmed Jonathan Ferrell in 2013. I was there in 2016, when the reaction to the killing of Keith Lamont Scott was more swift and destructive, beginning on the night of the actual shooting and turning into the Charlotte Uprising. And I was there in 2019, when Franklin’s shooting was met with a somber vigil and calls for nonviolent community organizing. I don’t feel it’s my place to analyze the reactions of a community to the repeated traumatic experience of watching another member of that community die on camera. Some people march. Some people call for justice through the courts. Some people call for that same justice system to be abolished. I can’t in good conscious say I wish the city were burning, but I do wish I had an answer to why it’s not. It’s a question of human nature, which isn’t predictable and doesn’t always make sense. What we will get an answer to in a couple months’ time is whether Kerl will face charges for the shooting. After watching the video, I believe she probably will, but I wouldn’t be surprised at the decision going either way. Whatever decision comes down, it won’t change that face looking back at her. And I wonder if that expression has stuck with her the way it’s stuck with me. RPITKIN@QCNERVE.COM
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Liz Schob
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Youth who experience comprehensive, non-abstinence-only sex education are more likely to remain abstinent until high school graduation or practice safe sex if they choose not to.
TRANSMIT THE TRUTH
Planned Parenthood pushes educative efforts to stem rising STI rates
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BY RYAN PITKIN
REPORT RELEASED in April that analyzed national stats on sexually transmitted infections compiled by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention brought the typical wisecracks on social media from North Carolinians who couldn’t help but sneer at their counterparts to the south, as South Carolina was found to have one of the highest and fastest-spreading STI rates in the country. A look at the stats for Mecklenburg County, however, shows it to be on the track. There’s been an alarming increase in reported gonorrhea and chlamydia cases in Mecklenburg County during the last three years, a trend that has put the county well over the national average in both categories. According to the North Carolina Department of Health & Human Services, Mecklenburg County saw 9,287 new cases of chlamydia in 2018, meaning that on average more than 25 new cases were
reported every day. That’s the most of any year on record with the NCDHHS, and only the second time the number has surpassed 9,000. The first was 2017. There were also 3,244 new cases of gonorrhea reported in 2018, which was a slight improvement from the 3,355 reported the previous year. Still, as with chlamydia, the last two years have seen the highest amount of new gonorrhea cases in the county since at least 2002, which is as far back as the county’s health department website goes. This year, things don’t seem to be slowing down. Though the 2,171 new cases of chlamydia reported in Mecklenburg County in 2019 through March put the county on pace to see a slight decrease from last year, that won’t hold up if the pattern continues as it’s gone thus far. Each month has seen at least 150 more cases than the last, with the 910 reported cases in March representing a 30% increase in the
March average over the last three years. There perhaps could be no better time for the local Planned Parenthood office to launch a Get Yourself Tested campaign in observation of STI Awareness Month. Planned Parenthood’s Charlotte Health Center on Albemarle Road has been offering free STI testing through April, or until funds run out. According to Liz Schob, community health educator for Charlotte-Mecklenburg County with Planned Parenthood South Atlantic (PPSA), as access to birth control has gone up, STI rates have increased. That’s because some people believe that birth control protects from STIs, while others simply haven’t been taught proper sex education. “As far as the adolescents that I work with, the teen pregnancy rate is going down because of greater access to comprehensive education and greater access to birth control options, however, the STI rate is going up,” Schob said. “A lot of those
PHOTO BY RYAN PITKIN
reasons have to do with the fact that if people even have access to condoms, are they using them consistently and correctly every time? No, they’re not.” That’s where Schob comes in. As a community health educator, Schob is in charge of Planned Parenthood’s Teen Connections program, which provides comprehensive, evidencebased sex education to teens and their parents through youth programming — including inschool, after-school and out-of-school programs — and parent workshops. She also runs the Teen Connections Leadership Council (TCLC), a group of students that Schob retains from the aforementioned programs and trains as peer health educators. When Schob took over the TCLC, many students had recently graduated and aged out. Starting with just a couple students, she has built the council up to consist of more than 70 teens. In her first eight months since transferring to the Charlotte Health Center from Fayetteville, Schob has brought on more than 10 community partners and her programming has reached more than 1,100 students. When addressing the ongoing rise in STI cases, Schob knows that efforts must start with the youth. People between the ages of 15 and 24 make up 50% of newly reported STI cases, despite making up just 25% of the sexually active population. With all the stigma surrounding STIs, education begins with getting comfortable having a simple conversation, Schob said. “We have to have an honest conversation, because what we know statistically, is that when teens actually receive comprehensive sex education that is not abstinence-only, they’re more likely to do one of two things: one, delay onset of sexual activity until at least high school graduation, or two, if they are sexually active, to use birth control and/or use condoms consistently and correctly.” Condom use is especially important because, as
“THE TRUTH ABOUT WHAT WE DO AND WHO WE ARE DOES NOT ALWAYS FIT SOMEONE’S POLITICAL NARRATIVE.” Liz Schlob, community health educator, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic
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Planned Parenthood’s Charlotte Health Center provided 5,805 STI tests during the fiscal year 2018.
high as the rates of reported STI cases have gotten, there are countless people who are infected and don’t even know it. For example, between 70 to 95% of women and 90% of men with chlamydia show no symptoms. Schob recommends that, ideally, a person gets tested between each different sex partner, though she recognizes that is sometimes unrealistic. Sexually active people should get tested at least every six months, she said, even if they’re in a monogamous relationship. Once Schob is able to reach people, whether it be teens or their parents, most are open to learning about the dangers of STIs and what they can do to prevent them. It’s reaching them that’s the hard part. Though she’s proud of the amount of people she’s already been able to reach, she’s constantly working on how she can do more. “I’m only one person. I’ve reached over 1,000 people but Charlotte is massive. It really is a drop in the bucket,” she said. “That’s why it’s so important from a public health perspective to have so many different community partners doing this work, which can be a challenge, especially in the political climate that we’re in, because policy does affect the work that we do, and when policy is not open to comprehensive sex education, this is the result.”
It is a significant situation that Schob finds herself in as an employee of Planned Parenthood, an organization that inspires the ire of rightwing groups across the country because of its involvement with abortion, despite that making up only about 3% of the services it provides. During the fiscal year 2018, which ended last June, staff at Planned Parenthood’s Charlotte Health Center carried out 5,805 STI tests, 319 cervical cancer screenings and 339 breast exams. They also provided 2,468 cycles of oral contraception, 393 cycles of Nuvaring and 423 long-acting reversible contraceptive devices. Entire political movements have been launched with the goal to end Planned Parenthood as an organization. That sort of controversy can make things difficult for Schob to do her job, but once she’s able to connect with people, most of them see that she’s only there to help them stay safe, she said. “It can be tricky to navigate. However, having those one-on-one conversations with people … to talk about real life and things that are quoteunquote fake news, because the truth about what we do and who we are does not always fit someone’s political narrative,” she said. “So talking about the actual work that we do, a lot of people
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are blown away and they’re like, ‘Yeah, that’s awesome,’ because we’re having a one-on-one conversation with an actual person and not looking at something from a source that would be biased against us.” According to PPSA spokesperson Sarah Riddle, the opposition to Planned Parenthood comes mainly from a small-but-loud political contingent. “People love Planned Parenthood, overall. We poll better than so many other institutions,” Riddle said. “One in five women will come to Planned Parenthood at one time in their life for healthcare. So the majority of the time when we’re out in the community doing this work, we’re met with a very warm reception and people are thankful that we’re there providing education and services. This stigma that exists is really political and it’s really pushed by an extreme minority.” There are times, however, when that minority is able to affect policy. Sex education has seen opposition both locally and nationally in recent years. In April 2018, the NC Family Values Coalition encouraged parents to keep their kids out of school for a day in support of a national “Sex Ed Sit Out” campaign, which was created in protest of inclusive and science-based sexual education being taught in schools.
Current law mandates that schools teach medically accurate, age-appropriate sex education that includes information on abstinence, STI prevention, contraceptive methods and sexual assault/abuse risk reduction in grades 7-9. The law was passed in 2009 and amended in 2013 to require more information on preterm birth, then again in 2015 to add information on human trafficking. Parents have the option to opt out of sex ed for their children. A bill filed in February by conservative legislators would make it harder for children to access sex ed by forcing parents to opt in rather than out, meaning a student would need to bring a permission slip home to get signed before they could participate in sex ed classes. Schob said Teen Connections was not asked back into Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) for this school year, despite her predecessor working closely with the school system. Requests for comment from CMS for this story were still unanswered at Queen City Nerve’s press deadline. As an educator with Planned Parenthood’s service-providing 501(c)3 nonprofit, Schob doesn’t get involved with discussions around policy. All she can do is continue the work that’s in front of her, reaching as many teens and parents as she can and hoping those people, in turn, spread the true, safe information. “As Planned Parenthood, we stand for certain things: access to knowledge, access to birth control and access to condoms. Access is important; that’s non-negotiable,” Schob said. “It’s a necessary thing and it shouldn’t be political, people make it political. So that’s where I come from, because my feeling is always from a perspective of safety.” And from her experience in the community, it’s not that the young people most affected by the recent STD crisis don’t want help, it’s that they don’t know where to get it. That’s a divide that starts at home. “A lot of parents are afraid for their teens to receive this knowledge, and a lot of teens are desperate for it,” Schob said. “Don’t be scared of comprehensive sex education. Having an open dialogue is important because keeping your kids away from this information doesn’t mean they’re not going to get it, it just means that there’s going to be a delay, and more opportunities for them to make unsafe choices up until they get that information.” Ignorance may be bliss, but knowledge is power. Get yourself tested. RPITKIN@QCNERVE.COM
KEEP IT 100
KEEP IT TO YOURSELF
When oversharing is too damn much BY SHAMEIKA RHYMES
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Dear Shameika, I love the idea of love. I even love folks that are in love, but sometimes, too much is too much. Here’s the deal: I have a 45-year-old girlfriend who, after quite some time, is back in a relationship. Of course, I am super happy for her and love hearing about the relationship’s progression, but she overshares — like, a lot. It’s gotten to the point where I cringe when I see her name pop up on my phone because I already know it’s about to be some out-oforder mess. Once, she sent me a shadowy pic of herself cuddled in bed with her boo. Another time, she sent a pic of him sleeping (the blankets fully covered him) with a caption that read, “Ain’t my baby cute when he sleeps?” And finally, she’s
shared and keeps sharing screenshots of some of their very explicit “sext” conversations. The nail in the coffin was the most recent message from her: She got a “certificate” from a “BJ” workshop and she showed me his reaction to her being such an ummm, “star student.” Do you see what I’m dealing with? Either I never reply to her messages or I reply with a very dry “Nice.” Again, I’m happy things are going well for her but how do I let her know that some things need to be kept between just you and your man? TIRED OF THE T.M.I.
Dear Tired of the T.M.I., There’s a thin line between oversharing and being authentic, and I personally blame the emergence of
social media. Decades ago, personal information was, well, personal. Now it has become a potential cry for attention and validation. It’s also now more socially acceptable to share on social media sites, and I’m not sure if your friend is doing that, but if she is sharing all her personal business with the folks in her phone, her old-enough-to-know-better ass is probably sharing it online. It’s fine to be honest and share your happiness with those closest to you, but a simple, “I love this man because he returns texts and cuddles well,” will suffice. But oversharing stems from a person’s intentions. Let me keep it 100 and get into why this heffa could be crossing the obvious line. At some point, your friend probably watched Sex and the City marathon and noticed how oversharing about sex brought the girls closer together. That being said, she obviously trusts you, so she may not realize she is crossing any lines at all. She may be thinking she is being vulnerable and deepening your friendship, or perhaps she’s testing the waters to see if you want to join them in the BJ certification sessions. She could also just be genuinely trying to share the fact that she is happy after being out of a relationship for so long. There’s also the slim chance she could just be wanting to brag about the notch in her bedpost. You have to nip this in the bud or the next thing you know, you will be getting nekkid pics and
videos that you didn’t bargain for. Call her up, plan a brunch, lunch or meet up for drinks. You already know she’s going to bring up her bae and probably their latest humping session, so what you have to do is interrupt her gently and say, “Sis, I don’t need the details.” Explain to her that you are happy she is happy, but be firm and tell her to think about her man. Ask her why she feels the need to overshare with you and whomever else and explain it’s not okay. Another way to approach this is every time you get a message from her with a photo or text, just remind her that you are uncomfortable and that you don’t need the details. Explain to her that you are always there as a friend if she needs support with other things. If none of that works, well, it’s time to work out that block button! At this point, if she feels she just has to share her joy with someone, tell her to do like everybody else and use her social media as a diary. Someone will delight in learning all about her business. But as for you. T.M.I., just continue being happy for your friend and as her relationship continues to progress, hopefully the need for oversharing will cease. If you have a dilemma you need help solving, drop me a line: shameika@themofochronicles.com
SCANNER BY RYAN PITKIN
UNDERCOVER BOSS Police responded to Arcadia Student Living, an apartment complex near UNC Charlotte’s campus, in response to a person pulling a power move after being banned from the property. According to the report, the property manager banned the suspect from the complex at around 10 a.m., though it does not state the reason why. Just minutes later, the suspect returned, and when he was asked to leave, he insisted that he was actually the owner of the entire complex and therefore could not be banned. A quick Google search shows that the complex is actually owned by a real estate firm called Landmark Properties and not, in fact, a kid who’s already busy getting banned from an apartment complex before most college kids are even awake.
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INSECURITY A 69-year-old woman filed a police report after a thief recently stole a package from her front porch before she could bring it inside. The woman told officers that Amazon delivered
under attack by a reckless driver in South End on a recent night. The victim told police he saw the man driving recklessly on East Bland Street, and when the driver parked, the victim went to look at his license plate. This put the suspect in a rage, and he got out of his car, yelling that he would kick the victim’s ass. The only problem was, he didn’t put the car in park. Unfortunately, the report only states that the suspect didn’t put the car in park but does not say how that ended up for him.
the package to her door at around 4 p.m., and by the time she went to retrieve it at 7 p.m., it was gone. She later found the empty package in her carport. She didn’t have a description of the suspect because she didn’t have one of those doorbell cameras installed. So what did the thief make off with? According to the report, a doorbell camera. TAKING ITS TOLL A 62-year-old man in south Charlotte filed a report stating that a stranger TWISTED METAL The roads have been raging became upset with him over who had the rightin Charlotte lately. A few unrelated incidents of-way (spelled in the police report as “right that caught our eye in the last couple weeks are away”) while he was stopped on Runnymede as follows: A 57-year-old woman filed a report Lane near Barclay Downs Drive, so the suspect after someone threw a bottle at her Honda CRV attacked the man’s Lexus with a large stick, doing while she drove down West Mallard Creek Church $600 in damage. Police withheld the name of the Road in north Charlotte. She said that no damage victim from the report, although he later identified was done, but she wanted to report the incident himself on the radio; he was none other than former because “noise from the impact of the bottle governor and current radio blowhard Pat McCrory. startled the victim.” A 36-year-old woman called He told the story on his WBT morning show the next police for a hit-and-run after she tried to pass day, stating that the suspect was carrying a large someone driving a dirtbike down South Mint Street tree across the street and when McCrory stopped only to have said man break the side mirror on her to let him continue on, the suspect recognized him Mercedes. A 56-year-old man told police he came and went on the attack.
NO GOOD DEED A 50-year-old woman was on the receiving end of both a favor and a grotesque assault in south Charlotte recently, and the two didn’t exactly even out. The victim told police that she was walking toward the lobby of the Woodlawn House Apartments where she lives when she dropped a napkin. Then, according to the report, “the suspect bent down and picked up the napkin, gave it to the victim and spit in her eye.” The victim did not seek medical attention. After all, she only needed the napkin. THE REVENANT A 30-year-old south Charlotte woman and her kids were attacked in the parking lot of the Marvin Villas apartment complex in the Grier Heights neighborhood of southeast Charlotte, but luckily escaped unharmed, as the suspect used a weapon meant for an entirely different species. The woman told police that she was in a car with her three children — ages 11, 9 and 3 — and another person when the suspect approached and sprayed the whole group with aerosol bear deterrent. Seeing as how they were all human and not the damn Berenstain Bears, all five only suffered minor injuries and did not need treatment from the Medic. All reports come from CMPD files. Suspects are innocent until proven guilty.
BUILDER OF THE ART BOMB
Manoj Kesavan sets off BOOM’s arts explosion
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M
BY PAT MORAN
ANOJ KESAVAN and a dedicated band of artists and volunteers got the BOOM ball rolling three years ago. Where it stops, nobody knows. When BOOM, an annual three-day festival of avant-garde and grassroots performances, first detonated in Plaza Midwood in 2016, its eclectic mix of dance, music and theater succeeded beyond anyone’s dreams. Like a chain reaction, BOOM came back each year, getting bigger, better and weirder. Last year, the mother of all art bombs featured over 100 performances spread throughout the artsy neighborhood. This year, BOOM returns to Plaza Midwood from April 26 to 28 with even more firepower. Over 120 performances will go up at indoor venues including Petra’s, Snug Harbor, Open Door Studios, Rabbit Hole and Coaltrane’s, and on a free outdoor stage dubbed “The Intersection.” As with previous years, BOOM’s core will consist of staged fringe shows and ticketed events at indoor venues that charge a $10 admission. The streets and The Intersection will be wide open and free with a mélange of performances, art installations and interactive fun and games. What’s different this year is that BOOM will partner with Open Streets 704, the Queen City’s annual celebration of the outdoors, neighborhoods and car-less community. On its final day, the festival becomes part of Open Streets’ four-mile route. This means that BOOM will likely experience an unprecedented attendance explosion. BOOM remains a labor of love, Kesavan says, the realization of a dream to bring a first class fringe festival to Charlotte. Queen City Nerve spoke with Kesavan about exploding past that goal and becoming Charlotte’s largest, wildest and most diverse arts festival.
Queen City Nerve: Why has BOOM grown? Manoj Kesavan: The reason why BOOM has become so big so fast is because it’s an open, collaborative platform which gives people ownership of things. For example, when someone like [spoken word artist] Bluz comes in to perform, they feel like it’s their space. They are creating their spoken word community there. Every year we take a big leap because BOOM is participatory. It’s only slightly curated. We don’t check the content of any of the shows. We know enough so that no two shows are exactly alike, and there is as much diversity as possible. The other thing is we allow and encourage people to take risks. Part of the issue with Charlotte and the arts is that the city is so risk-averse. They try being creative without pushing the envelope. One of the reasons BOOM has become so popular in the arts community is that we create the space to take risks. How would you describe BOOM to someone who has never experienced it? It’s a huge arts festival. There is a visual art component but it’s primarily performing arts. There are two major components to BOOM. One is what we call the BOOM fringe. These are the full-length shows that happen at the indoor venues which are Petra’s Bar, Snug Harbor, Open Door Studios, Rabbit Hole and upstairs at Coaltrane’s. Tickets for shows are $10. Then we have the BOOM intersection which is our community hub. We take over the gravel lot across from Common Market and set up a big stage. There will be multiple things going on all the time there throughout the weekend. That’s the most visible and the major part of BOOM. Two-thirds of the festival happens outside and it’s totally free. Last year we also started something we call BOOM Streets. Saturday we’ll be at the main street
Manoj Kesavan
corners in that area in front of Soul [Gastrolounge], Pizza Peel and Rabbit Hole. The idea is to take art out of specialized spaces like museums or galleries, and bring it to other parts of the city and make it a part of day-to-day life. We’re lowering or erasing the barriers against entry. The street gives us more access and makes art more visible. Last year we had pop-up dance performances, live painting and fashion shows. This year we are excited to be including the podcast community. There is this new thing, a mobile podcast studio owned by Lisa Heffler. They will be parked [in Plaza Midwood] Saturday, and we’re also partnering with the Queen City Podcast Network’s Brian Baltosiewich. A series of podcasts will be recorded during BOOM right there on the street corner. What else is new this year? Charlotte Pride will host their annual [Reel Out] Charlotte LGBTQ film festival almost exactly when BOOM ends. They are going to show a small portion of the festival, a teaser, at BOOM. Opera Carolina will stage a full recycled fashion show on the street Sunday with opera singing. One Voice Chorus — the Gay, Lesbian and Gay-Affirmative Chorus of Charlotte — is coming. Elizabeth Kowalski who created the New Music Festival has a group that will be performing. Is BOOM at risk of outgrowing Plaza Midwood? One thing we struggle with is that we have over 100 programs this year and we feel like we’re bursting at the seams. There’s only so much you can do in the area in one weekend. That’s one of the big things we need to grapple with as we continue to
PHOTO BY JEFF CRAVOTTA
grow and evolve, whether we have a cutoff at a certain size or whether we can afford to also have venues outside the area. Right now we are keeping it [in Plaza Midwood] because we are still a tiny organization dependent on volunteers. Largeness is hard for us to manage particularly beyond [the neighborhood’s] radius. Also I think it helps that people can move freely between venues because they are so close by. The artists that come from out of town comment on that. Most other festivals you have to drive to the next venue. The closeness adds to the feel of the festival. Last year we crossed 100 performances. This year there are close to 50 fringe performances. Total planned performances are close to 120 right now. It’s perhaps the largest festival of its kind in Charlotte. Why does Charlotte need BOOM? The city has grown so much, and so much talent has moved here. I think BOOM became big simply because we created the platform. This proves that you can help create a community and that audiences are looking for something different. I think our popularity and the public’s response justifies our need to be here. In a sense, you built it and they came. Right, although we’re aware that we are creating it with the artists. We’re trying to erase the line between us and them. It’s a collaborative creation. Without this group of artists and their resources we couldn’t have built this by ourselves. PMORAN@QCNERVE.COM
MAY 22 McGLOHON THEATER AT SPIRIT SQUARE
704.372.1000 BlumenthalArts.org PHOTO BY LISA BERG
Group Sales: 704.348.5752
Summer Camp Info:
Half-Day and Full Day Summer Theatre Arts Camps for Children (Pre-k thru grade 12)
Musical Theater Intensive Acting Intensive Improv AND Many More!
June 7 - June 23
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HERE COMES THE BOOM
MARCUS AMAKER, YUHAS & DANCERS: PHYSICAL POETRY
Five artists to look for at BOOM Fest BY PAT MORAN AND RYAN PITKIN
NOW THAT YOU’VE heard from Manoj Kesavan, take a look at these five first-time BOOM performers for a tiny taste of what you’ll find at the festival this year.
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THE PROFESSOR: LIFE OF AN ARTIST
Where: Snug Harbor When: April 26, 8 p.m.; April 27, 6:30 p.m.; April 28, 2 p.m. Admission: $10 The Professor is a pompous arts expert who delights in towering over his audiences. We mean that literally. Nathan Matthews, Oscar Soto and Michael Gentry’s Life of an Artist presents a lecture by the eight-and-a-half-foot-tall academic, portrayed by Matthews wearing an elongated paper-mache mask. The Professor is a satire of the practices and ideals that high art and higher education scramble into the brains of young adults, Matthews says. With equal doses of obvious irony and veiled affection, Life of an Artist celebrates humans’ crazy quest to bare their souls and express their creativity. Matthews, who participated in the previous two BOOM fests as the drummer for musical/theatrical band Mall Goth, is pulling a double shift this year. In addition to the Professor, the percussionist is presenting at To be Sure at Rabbit Hole. In this participatory musical performance, audiences will contribute sounds, textures and energy to adaptations of classic deep-listening pieces by John Cage, Pauline Oliveros and others, Matthews explains. Though To be Sure’s approach is radically different from the Professor’s, both performances celebrate the dissolution of the barriers between performer and audience that animates BOOM. “A masked, unblinking, manifestation of everything wrong with creative society might as well be screaming at us our whole lives,” Matthews says of the pedantic Professor. “I’m sorry I can only give you 50 minutes.”
Yuhas & Dancers KIMMOTHY COLE & PAUL W. KRUSE: THE SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION
Where: The Underground Truffle When: April 27, 7 p.m.-10 p.m.April 28, 10:30 a.m. Admission: $10 Even by BOOM’s iconoclastic standards, The Sacrament of Reconciliation is an outlier. Utilizing live-action role play (LARP) and ritual as art forms, co-creators Cole and Kruse craft a participatory piece based on the Catholic Sacrament of Reconciliation, better known as Confession. But while confessing your sins to a priest merely reinforces guilt and fosters violence, hierarchy and control over justice, Cole says, their interactive Sacrament approaches accountability as a path to reconciliation. That’s a tall order in a society where apologies, especially those from the powerful, have become meaningless. Cole and Kruse allow six to eight participants to drive the piece. After sitting together at a table where they read a text prepared by Cole and Kruse, the participants then make a loaf of bread, answer questions, meditate, hold hands, eat and drink, Cole explains. Due to seating restrictions, people are urged to purchase tickets in advance. “[They] move through a process that asks them to be present in the ways in which they need forgiveness and the places where they need to offer forgiveness,” Cole continues. The Sacrament is a twoto three-hour transformative ritual, an invitation to experience vulnerability and joy within an intimate group. Cole hopes the piece will encourage people to replicate this emotional experience in their
PHOTO COURTESY OF BOOM FESTIVAL
homes with the simple ingredients of flour, salt, water, yeast and honey. Cole and Kruse believe an experience not accessible to everyone is neither radical nor revolutionary. JASON JET: ELECTRO SOUL MUSIC
Where: The Intersection When: Sunday, 2:45-3:10 p.m. Admission: Free Music runs in Jason Jet’s family. His father is a jazz and gospel artist and growing up Jet fell in love with neo soul from artists like Musiq Soulchild and ’80s pop and rock including Sting, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel and Maxwell. The Iceland native and Charlotte resident has spun his passion into sensuous and quicksilver performances. Alongside his band The Kru, Jet has shared stages with Anthony Hamilton, 9th Wonder and the likes. Long an advocate for bringing creative people together to collaborate, Jet sees BOOM as a crucial piece of the process of bringing Charlotte’s fragmented pockets of artistic activity together. “Programming like [BOOM] has to happen to take our city to get to the next level,” he says. “Some real game changers are making our city pop, [and] I think in the next two to three years Charlotte is going to be the next city to break amazing talent.” At a Jason Jet performance, the audience becomes part of the show, he continues. At previous gigs he’s been known to hand out CDs, invite the audience to engage in sing-alongs and even toss model jet airplanes out into the crowd.
Where: Open Door Studios When: April 26, 9 p.m.; April 27, 10 p.m.; April 28, 6:30 p.m. Admission: $10 In a world where Donald Trump’s presidency has emboldened bigots and brought a rise in hate crimes across the country, this collaboration between a poet and a dance company from South Carolina proposes humility as the answer. Marcus Amaker, the poet laureate of Charleston, collaborates with Columbia-based dance company Yuhas & the Dancers (Y&D) for this 45-minute performance that expresses yearning for a safe space to live freely around a multiplicity of labels: black, gay, female and more. The performance was awarded Most Inspiring Act at the 2019 Asheville Fringe Arts Festival. Led by Meredith Yuhas, Y&D is a collective made up of 14 women of all shapes, sizes and colors. It’s not all about dance for Y&D, but advocating for body confidence, starting honest conversations and confronting inequality, specifically in regards to the socio-cultural norms of the South. The group continues this work beyond the stage, hosting community workshops in kinesthetic empathy and embodied activism. RHYTHMIC SOUL DANCE COMPANY: RHYTHMIC SOUL
Where: The Intersection When: April 27, 1 p.m. Admission: Free Rhythmic Soul Dance Company is a Charlotte-based group that specializes in jazz, funk, hip-hop, creative dance, international dance, musical theater, HBCUstyle majorette dance and even has a youth step team that ensures the young’uns will be ready to carry the torch for the future. The team is led by master instructor Siobhan Washington. Washington also works as a step instructor with Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc., and held leadership positions with the Livingstone College Marching Band and Norfolk State University’s award-winning Xclusive Dance Competition Team. Like Y&D, Washington makes sure RSCD has an impact on communities that goes beyond dance and education. She provides the members of RSDC with a path to positive thinking through girl-talk sessions and social skill building. “It’s about life experience and self-love,” Washington says. Visit boomcharlotte.org for a full schedule of performers.
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WEDNESDAY, APR. 24TH
MEDIUM EXPLORATION WITH ELSIE MUFUKA
What: Demystify performance art with Elsie Mufuka, founder and director of Mufuka Works Dance Company. She’ll perform work based on the Afro Russe style that she developed, then discuss the importance of the oftmisunderstood medium of performance art. More: Free; 6-7:30 p.m.; Elder Gallery of Contemporary Art, 1520 S. Tryon St.; tinyurl.com/MufukaDanceWorks
THURSDAY, APR. 25TH TUCK FEST
What: Tuck Fest is USNWC’s celebration of the outdoor lifestyle and one of the biggest outdoor events of the spring. They have yoga, climbing, races and more to get you moving and music to get you grooving. More: Race registration $45, entry free; 3:30 p.m., event runs through April 29; U.S. National Whitewater Center, 5000 Whitewater Center Pkwy; usnwc.org
FRIDAY, APR. 26TH
LIFELINE
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APR. 24TH - APR. 30TH
BIG BOUNCE AMERICA 2019
What: This event features the world’s largest bounce house, an inflatable Ninja Warrior-style obstacle course called The Giant and an interactive, intergalactic attraction called AirSPACE. What more could you people want? More: $16-28; Noon, runs through April 28; Concord Speedway, 7940 U.S. Hwy. 601 S., Concord; tinyurl.com/BigBounceCLT
SATURDAY, APR. 27TH
THE VODKA MASTERS
What: Who makes the best vodka cocktail in the city? Time to find out. Some of Charlotte’s best restaurants and bars will concoct cocktails to get your votes for best of the Queen City. The ticket includes all samples and gets you a vote for the ultimate Vodka Master. More: $20-40; 12-6 p.m.; Rooftop 210, 210 E. Trade St.; tinyurl.com/VodkaMasters2019
SUNDAY, APR. 28TH
JOHNNY MARR
What: The divine misery of Morrissey was always better with guitarist Johnny Marr than without him. Try to imagine The Smiths classics like “How Soon is Now” without Marr’s soured air raid siren textures or “Bigmouth Strikes Again” without his cascading riffs that spread like ripples in a pond. More: $30-35; 7 p.m.; Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E 36th St.; neighborhoodtheatre.com
MONDAY, APR. 29TH MODERN MOXIE
What: Modern Moxie’s single “Til I’m a Ghost” is a power pop Trojan horse. Hidden in its appealing song craft is playful weirdness like Phil Pucci’s ringing lead guitar that corkscrews around Madison Lucas’ throaty, slightly warbling vocals. Their debut album Claw Your Way Out drops in June. More: $8; 8 p.m.; The Milestone, 3400 Tuckaseegee Rd.; themilestone.club
TUESDAY, APR. 30TH DECODING CHARLOTTE’S MURALS
What: Southern Tiger Collective cohort, Queens University art professor and Talking Walls Mural Fest co-founder will be on hand to talk all things murals in Charlotte. More: $15 for non-members; 6-8 p.m.; Levine Museum of the New South, 200 E. 7th St.; museumofthenewsouth.org
Social Calendar a little light? Check out
QCNERVE’S LIFELINE
for cool events happening in the queen city!
THURSDAY, MAY 1ST
MUSIC IN THE GARDENS: FLORALIA
What: If you can get away from the office for just an hour, you might as well escape the city within the city’s botanical gardens. Bring a packed lunch and enjoy the Floralia music performance, a nod to the Roman god of flowers, vegetation and fertility. More: Free; 12-1 p.m.; UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens, 9090 Craver Rd.; gardens.uncc.edu
FRIDAY, MAY 2ND WYNTON MARSALIS
What: Marsalis’ Future of Jazz Orchestra showcases rising young musicians, and that’s great. The problem is Marsalis keeps pumping out pastiches of jazz past. It sounds good, but it’s experimentation trapped in amber. Jazz shorn of risk has little to do with the future. More: $25 and up; 7:30 p.m.; Knight Theater, 430 S Tryon St.; blumenthalarts.org
SATURDAY, MAY 3RD
LIFELINE
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MAY 1ST- MAY 7TH
PRIDE REEL OUT RECEPTION
What: Charlotte Black Pride and Charlotte Pride team up for this reception at Reel Out Charlotte, the local LGBTQ film festival, and screening of Rafiki. In the film, two Kenyan women strive for more than the “good girls become good wives” mantra , and when they fall in love, they’re foced to choose between happiness and safety. More: $5; 5:30-9 p.m.; Camp North End, 1824 Statesville Ave.; charlottepride.org/reelout/
SUNDAY, MAY 4TH UNTAPPD BEER FESTIVAL
What: Charlotte’s a pretty lucky city to host the first-ever Untappd Beer Festival. The social-media-but-for-beer company is swooping in and bringing a plethora of local, regional and national breweries and cidermakers to quench your thirst for an ultimate brewery-hopping experience. More: $50-200; 3-8 p.m.; Bank of America Stadium, 800 S. Mint St.; untappd.com/festival
MONDAY, MAY 5TH ILIZA SHLESINGER
What: Since winning NBC’s Last Comic Standing in 2008, Iliza Shlesinger released her party goblin and went on to perform four comedy specials with side-splitting impressions of drunk women, jacked men and what it’s like to date with technology. More: $35 and up; 7 p.m.; Knight Theater, 430 S. Tryon St.; blumenthalarts.org
TUESDAY, MAY 6TH ECSTATIC VISION
What: Can a band be psychedelic and metal at the same time, especially with a flute trill introducing its latest album? Ecstatic Vision from Philly answers that question. Funky guitar riffs mixed in with raw, gruffy vocals lay over their May 2018 release, Under the Influence. More: $8; 8 p.m.; The Milestone; 3400 Tuckaseegee Rd.; themilestone.club
WEDNESDAY, MAY 7TH COMBO CHIMBITA AND CHÓCALA
What: Looping basslines, clanking cowbells and psychedelic cumbias are the order of the day for New Yorkers from Colombia, Combo Chimbita. Fiery frontwoman Carolina Oliveros finds her perfect counterpoint in Lisa Ortiz, singer/keyboardist for Chócala, who are no strangers to tropicalia, psychedelia and passion. More: $10; 8 p.m.; Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St.; snugrock.com
Social Calendar a little light? Check out
QCNERVE’S LIFELINE
for cool events happening in the queen city!
AFROPOP! NATION BOOM FEST AFTERPARTY April 26, 9 p.m.-2 a.m.; $10; Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St.; afropopnation.com CLT DJ BATTLE 2019 May 11, 5 p.m.; Free; Center City, intersection of Trade and Tryon streets; cltdjbattle.com
ADOBE STOCK PHOTO
WATCH THE TABLES TURN
Charlotte DJs are coming up if you know where to look
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F
BY REBECCA HOURSELT
OR BETTER OR WORSE, Charlotte is nationally known for a few things — craft beer, corporate banking and hopeful professional sports teams come to mind right off the bat. Unfortunately, a thriving nightclub scene isn’t quite one of those things. In fact, the pulsating sounds of a nightclub DJ reverberating throughout the city is typically reserved for the Epicentre on Saturday nights. Sure, we have our share of clubs — World, Suite, Roxbury, etc. — but even a Google search of “Charlotte nightclubs” leads you to either The Men’s Club or, inexplicably, The White House. This doesn’t mean, however, that Charlotte isn’t home to some of the dopest DJs on the East Coast, it just means you have to look in the right places to find them.
The Queen City’s party scene is most notably being defended by modern-day samurai DJ Shogun. Perhaps no one in the city controls a crowd better than Shogun, and while being a big party fish in a small pond scene may seem like a blast, it’s a huge undertaking. Shogun has entertained for celebrity parties hosted by the likes of Michael Jordan, spun at MTV Video Music Awards afterparties and even appeared on VH1, while companies like Microsoft and Beats by Dre producer Monster Cable have publicly endorsed Shogun. It’s not all glitz and glamour for the local DJ, though. You can find Shogun spinning for more lowkey gigs at Sydney’s Martini and Wine Bar or Q.C. Social Lounge next month. Whether at a celebrity-hosted party full of big spenders or keeping a martini bar crowd
entertained, the goal is the same for Shogun. After all, it’s all about the music. “Music makes the world move, literally, while uniting people from all cultures, faiths and backgrounds,” he says. “I look forward to seeing music continue to be the binding force and catalyst to unite us all.” While Shogun is part of a DJ scene that has stayed mostly underground, as other cultural movements begin to flourish around the city, the disc jockeys have begun to take advantage of that rising tide. “The scene is somewhat untapped, has a plethora of talent amongst all genres of music and the arts,” he laments. “I’ve seen the arts and music scene flourish with such festivals and events as Barnstock, Breakin’ Convention,
How Can I Be Down, AfroPop! and the various annual music-driven events that continue to grow. There’s still room to evolve even further as Charlotte continues to physically and spiritually grow.” As if to prove that point, there is plenty happening in May for any DJs looking to break into the scene. On May 11, for example, the 2019 CLT DJ Battle will take place in the center of Uptown on the corner of Trade and Tryon streets. Registration ended April 22, but the event will be a great way to check out local talent — participants must live within a 150mile radius of Charlotte — and network with other folks in the scene. The official website touts the event as a competition that invites all styles of DJing. “From Hip-Hop to EDM, turntablist to finger drumming, whatever your vibe, if you can rock the crowd, you could be crowned 2019’s CLT DJ Battle champion,” the website states. DJs from all over the region sent in submissions, and on April 24, organizers announced the four finalists that will compete at Center City for $1,000 in cash and prizes, not to mention coveted bragging rights. As you may have noticed with the fingerdrumming reference in the event’s promotional material, CLT DJ Battle caters to all styles and audiences, which according to DJ Dames, is something Charlotte does best. “I would say that Charlotte’s got something for everyone — from the college scene to people who love older funk and soul. While there’s not huge clubs like NYC or Los Angeles, it’s got a cool, organic type of vibe,” Dames explains. “The only difference is, the Charlotte scene could do a better job of promoting events.” You may have seen DJ Dames spinning for a big party during NBA All-Star Weekend or alongside Shogun on a Friday night at Sydney’s.
“A TRUE DJ IS LIKE AN ORCHESTRA CONDUCTOR USING THE SAME TWO HANDS, BUT INSTEAD ON THE TURNTABLES TO CONDUCT THE CROWD AND THEIR MOVEMENTS AND EMOTIONS.”
VOICE OVER CASTING MIX SOUND DESIGN MUSIC WHISKEY
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DJ Dames
Dames remains hopeful for the future of the Charlotte nightlife scene. After all, with all those people moving into Charlotte every day, they’re going to need somewhere to blow off steam. “As the city continues to grow, the nightlife will probably become more spread out and regional,” Dames says. “Hopefully, for DJs, the city growing will create more opportunities for more good DJs to serve as the centerpiece for the nightlife entertainment.” Just like Shogun, there is a deeper reason Dames gets behind his turntables that goes past the hype and the parties. “As a DJ, I love to see people having a good time, listening to songs that evoke memories and excitement from their youth,” he says. “I also love watching the younger crowd go apeshit over a bass drop. It’s infectious. “It’s truly an art form, and not everyone with a laptop is a DJ,” Dames continues. “It takes years of practice, thousands of dollars in expensive equipment and technical skills that go beyond pressing a button. A true DJ is like an orchestra conductor using the same two hands, but instead it’s on the turntables to conduct the crowd and their movements and emotions.” It’s not always laptops and buttons, either. AfroPop! Nation, which travels nationally but calls Charlotte home, features DJs combining a unique blend of rhythms inspired by the African Diaspora — Afrobeats, Afro-Latino, tribal house, soca, dancehall and Western pop music — paired with live African drummers.
For anyone into nightlife culture, AfroPop! is a must. Catch the third annual AfroPop! Nation BOOM festival after-party at Snug Harbor on April 26, or sweat it out at the (also third annual) AfroPop! Nation Block Party at Camp North End on June 9. Looking for heat on a more regular basis? Petra’s and Snug are both home to plenty of great DJ events like Hazy Sunday and Le Bang, respectively. Su Casa, billed as “a monthly oasis for the culturally starved,” features a variety of local DJs spinning soul, house, Afrobeat and funk. That party takes place at Petra’s on the last Saturday of the month. Petra’s is also a regular host to one of Charlotte’s best-kept secrets behind the ones and twos: DJ Justice. Last April, Justice spun alongside Bobbito Garcia at Snug, and can usually be found at Su Casa or Off the Wall, another one of the monthly parties at Petra’s. Justice is social media-free, so you’ve got to come out from behind your screen to see him at work. Whether you’re looking for hip-hop, Latin, house or electronic, there’s no lack of ways to connect with culture from the other side of a turntable and dance your ass off in Charlotte. As with most of the city’s underground scenes, it’s just about knowing where to look. INFO@QCNERVE.COM
GROUNDCREWSTUDIOS.COM
SOUNDWAVE APRIL 24
ROCK/PUNK/METAL
Falconheart (Mac’s Speed Shop, South End)
Hail The Sun (Amos’ Southend) Pleather, Broke Jokes, Asbestos Boys (Snug Harbor) Josh Daniels, Jeremy Shaw (Smokey Joe’s) RAP/HIP-HOP/SOUL/FUNK/R&B
Quentin Talley & the Soul Providers, Natural Born Leaders (Evening Muse)
APRIL 25
COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA
shop small shop local for all of your needs
VINYL
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LOTS OF CDS, TAPES, & TURNTABLES TOO tons of new & used vinyl needles, sleeves, frames, boxes, cleaners, all of your record needs shop local!
Shana Blake & Friends (Smokey Joe’s) Chris Rodrigues & Abby The Spoon Lady (Petra’s) Jason Moss & the Hosses (Comet Grill) ROCK/PUNK/METAL
Brit Floyd (Ovens Auditorium) Fozmo EP Release, Amity Pointe, The Felons, Archie Whitesides (Skylark Social Club) Crashbox (Mac’s Speed Shop, Steele Creek) Soil & Flaw (Amos’ Southend) The Regulars (Tin Roof) Tuck Fest: Fantastic Negrito, The Suitcase Junket (U.S. National Whitewater Center)
lunchboxrecords.com 825 CENTRAL AVE. CHARLOTTE, NC 704-331-0788
COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA
Lenny Federal Band (Comet Grill) Granger Smith, Earl Dibbles Jr., Waterloo Revival (Coyote Joe’s) Haley Mae Campbell (Thomas Street Tavern) Caleb Caudle with Ross Adams (Free Range Brewing) Tuck Fest: J. Roddy Walston & the Business, The Marcus King Band, Sarah Shook & the Disarmers (U.S. National Whitewater Center) RAP/HIP-HOP/SOUL/FUNK/R&B
Lil Mosey (Underground) ROOTS/BLUES/INTERNATIONAL
Javed Ali (Ovens Auditorium)
DJ/ELECTRONIC
Le Bang (Snug Harbor) JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL
Corey Wilkes plays Miles Davis (Stage Door Theater)
APRIL 26
ROCK/PUNK/METAL
voted creating loafing “best RECORD STORE” 2012-2018
The 502s (Evening Muse) Sons of Paradise, Evan Button (Skylark Social Club) Orphan Riot, Vortex Of Old Men, The Flight Risks, Swamp78 (Tommy’s Pub) North by North, Sparkman, Farewell Albatross (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) The Jump Cut (Tin Roof)
To Be Sure (Rabbit Hole) Stardust to Ashes (Fillmore) Stella Rising (Mac’s Speed Shop, South End) Daniel Donato, Blue Cactus (Evening Muse) SRO (Smokey Joe’s) Over The Rhine (Visulite) Kix (Amos’ Southend) Kamber, IIOIOIOII, The Silent U, My Blue Hope (The Milestone)
APRIL 27
ROCK/PUNK/METAL
Downhaul, Jail Socks, Ol’ Sport, Group Chat (The Milestone) Graham Parker, Adam Ezra (Neighborhood Theatre) Bob Fleming & The Cambria Iron Co., JD Power & Associates, Jacob Moore (Tommy’s Pub) Lord Huron (Fillmore) Josh Daniels (Smokey Joe’s) Beta Radio (Evening Muse) Seaway (Amos’ Southend) Purple Masquerade: A Celebration of Prince (Evening Muse) Bill Noonan Band (Comet Grill) Surf Cavalier (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Killin Time (Mac’s Speed Shop, South End)
Josh Daniels (Thomas Street Tavern) Reliably Bad Band (VBGB) Eva Button (Primal Brewery) Heroes at Last (RiRa) Cardfall (Tin Roof) DJ/ELECTRONIC
DJ Teddy, Mike Boyer (The Milestone) Asset Control (Crown Station) Heart Attack Man, Young Culture (Skylark Social Club) The Dynamic DJ Kato & Elvado ParadiceEnt Laing (Crown Station) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA
Drew Parker (Tin Roof) Tuck Fest: Tyler Childers, Caamp, The Commonheart, Mo Lowda & The Humble, Sean McConnell (U.S. National Whitewater Center)
APRIL 28
ROCK/PUNK/METAL
Empty, Wiltwither, Sideline, Come Clean, Swamp78 (The Milestone) Johnny Marr (Neighborhood Theatre) Whitesnake (Ovens Auditorium) Monks of Doom with Victor Krummenacher (Evening Muse) An Archaic Agenda, DB Rouse, Smelly Felly (Petra’s) Omari & the Hellhounds (Comet Grill) ROOTS/BLUES/INTERNATIONAL
Greg M Clarke & Friends (Tommy’s Pub) DJ/ELECTRONIC
The Dynamic DJ Kato (Crown Station) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA
Tuck Fest: The Milk Carton Kids, Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors, Liz Cooper & The Stampede (U.S. National Whitewater Center)
SOUNDWAVE APRIL 29
ROCK/PUNK/METAL
Cito Jamorah & Friends (Smokey Joe’s) These Fine Moments (Evening Muse) Falling In Reverse, Ice Nine Kills, From Ashes To New, New Years Day (Fillmore)
APRIL 30
ROCK/PUNK/METAL
Sundressed, Hearts Like Lions (Neighborhood Theatre) Smokin’ Js Open Jam (Smokey Joe’s) Camp Cope, Thin Lips, Oceanator (Snug Harbor) Hed PE, Andrew Boss, September Mourning, Chaos Ensuses & REdEFIND (Amos’ Southend) Uptown Unplugged: Act 2 (Tin Roof)
MAY 1
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ROCK/PUNK/METAL
Kings Kaleidoscope, Wordsplayed (Neighborhood Theatre) Tosco Music Open Mic (Evening Muse) The Holdouts (Mac’s Speed Shop, Southend) May Residency: The Business People, Modern Primitives, The Walbournes, Champagne Hercules (Snug Harbor) Aloha Broha, Dial Drive, Couch Surfer (Tommy’s Pub) Josh Daniels, Jeremy Shaw (Smokey Joe’s) Tiny Tree, Forever May Fall, Joules, Middleasia (The Milestone) DJ/ELECTRONIC
Bugalú : Edición de Mayo (Petra’s) RAP/HIP HOP/SOUL/FUNK/R&B
Gunna, Shy Glizzy, Lil Keed (Fillmore)
MAY 2
ROCK/PUNK/METAL
Steve Gunn, Gun Outfit (Neighborhood Theatre)
Wilderado, Duncan Fellows (Visulite) The Jayhawks, Django Haskins (McGlohon Theater) Shana Blake and Friends (Smokey Joe’s Café) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA
Clint Black, Trace Adkins (Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre) Mariah van Kleef, John Westmoreland, Sam Tayloe (Petra’s) Shaun Abbott Band (Tin Roof)
MAY 3
ROCK/PUNK/METAL
Jahlistic, Zach Fowler (Visulite) Missio (Underground) Jet Black Alley Cat, Hardcastle (Evening Muse) Annihilation, East Viridian, Withdraw, Curiosity Kills, Winter’s Gate, Fault Union (Amos’ Southend) Dylan Gilbert, Streak Of Tigers, Blakeney Bullock, Nite Gallery (The Milestone) Little Stranger (Neighborhood Theatre) Black Belt Eagle Scout, LeAnna Eden (Snug Harbor) Future Friend Pop Show: invent, The Great Far (Crown Station) The Prescriptions, Rowdy Leaf, Lonely Jones, Bergenline (Skylark Social Club) Chócala, Identikit, GASP (Petra’s) Glow Co. (Tin Roof) Nate Smith & Kinfolk, Bencoolen (Heist Brewery) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA
Lenny Federal Band (Comet Grill) Jimmie Allen (Coyote Joe’s) Jon Stickley Trio and Front Country (Free Range Brewing) Kayla Vega (Primal Brewery) Tin 4 (RiRa) ROOTS/BLUES/INTERNATIONAL
2 Dr Chicken Coupe, Dixie Dave Allen, Graham Hellderman (Tommy’s Pub)
MAY 4
ROCK/PUNK/METAL
The Poontanglers, Lil Skritt, Trout Mouth, Tucker Riggleman, Nefarious, Ophelia Pop Tart (The Milestone) Run River North (Neighborhood Theatre) Lucy Dacus, Mothers (Visulite) Lisa De Novo (Wine Vault) Danny Worsnop of Asking Alexandria (Amos’ Southend) The Feeds, Fireball XL5 (Tommy’s Pub) April B & The Cool (Mac’s Speed Shop, South End) Bryan Adams (Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre) Blue Monday (Tin Roof) Scott Moss Band (Primal Brewery) Matt Stratford (RiRa)
ROOTS/BLUES/INTERNATIONAL
Diego Avilez Latin Trio (Primal Brewery) JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL
Davina & the Vagabonds (Romare Bearden Park)
MAY 6
ROCK/PUNK/METAL
Applaud the Impaler, The Machinist, Katabasis (Skylark Social Club) Cito Jamorah and Friends (Smokey Joe’s) Danny Feedback, Asbestos Boys, Death Comet (Tommy’s Pub) Ecstatic Vision, Heavy Temple, Cheesus Crust, Whispering Man (The Milestone) RAP/HIP-HOP/SOUL/FUNK/R&B
Smino (Underground)
COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA
Tyler Ramsey (Evening Muse) Dirk Quinn Band (VBGB) The Way Down Wanderers (Free Range Brewing) RAP/HIP-HOP/SOUL/FUNK/R&B
Eazy Mac, Stichy C, StuICIDE, Dead Sea $crilla, Ed Lewis, B-Villainous, Marshall Alexander, Kyng Rash (Skylark Social Club) ROOTS/BLUES/INTERNATIONAL
Mdou Moctar, The Medium (Snug Harbor)
MAY 5
ROCK/PUNK/METAL
Ether, Witch Motel (The Milestone) Secret Monkey Weekend, Lemon Sparks (Evening Muse) Boy Named Banjo, Luke Preston (Visulite) Below the Belt (Mac’s Speed Shop, South End) Peter Mulvey, John Smith (Evening Muse) Omari & the Hellhounds (Comet Grill) Crashbox (Mac’s Speed Shop, Steele Creek)
MAY 7
ROCK/PUNK/METAL
Marianas Trench (Underground) Smokin’ Js Open Jam (Smokey Joe’s) Uptown Unplugged with Dan Smith (Tin Roof) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA
Red Rockin’ Chair (Comet Grill) RAP/HIP-HOP/SOUL/FUNK/R&B
Soulful Tuesdays (Crown Station) The Skinny Bully Slam (Evening Muse) GospelSHOUT (United House of Prayer for All People) DJ/ELECTRONIC
Poetry on the Patio & Reggae/Dancehall After Party (Petra’s) GLBL (Snug Harbor) JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL
Raul Midón (Romare Bearden Park)
BREW IT YOURSELF
Homebrewers cultivate their craft in the kitchen
W
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BY COURTNEY MIHOCIK
ATER, HOPS, MALT AND YEAST.
It’s a simple enough recipe when viewed from a broad lens: Boil some water and malt, add some hops at the end and mix in some yeast. Let it sit for a couple weeks and then bam, you’ve got beer. In reality, it’s a little more complicated than that, as any homebrewer will tell you. Homebrewers are the folks for whom drinking craft beer isn’t enough; they want to create it. For decades, that was the only option, and these DIY brewers have been sweating it out in their kitchens, garages or wherever they make space to perfect their crafts, serving as the foundation for the city’s now-thriving brewery industry. On a recent spring afternoon, Jake Beck stood over a 5-gallon kettle in his Waxhaw garage. Inside swirled a murky mix of malt grain that bubbled as he welcomed me into the room. The brew Beck was working on at the time was his recipe for an ale that he dubbed Mary No. 2. It’s the second attempt at a poem Beck constructed for his girlfriend, Mary, in the form of a beer. He had been fine-tuning the recipe throughout the week, changing the type of hops and the amount he would throw into the beer. “It’s a honey blonde ale,” Beck explained to me as he stood in his garage, which housed his homebrewing equipment and freezer-turnedkeezer that holds the kegs once they’re filled. “I just altered it. The last one was just a basic two-hop addition and that’s where I felt like it needed more or just some different hops.” Hops, which I like to describe as the lawabiding cousin of marijuana, are the flowers
of the hemp plant Humulus lupulus and are often processed into compacted pellets. In the brewing process, hops are usually thrown in during the last 10-or-so minutes of the boil to add aroma, citrus flavors and bitterness to the brew. There’s tens of hundreds of types of hops, each contributing a different characteristic to the overall flavor profile and aroma of a beer. When we talked, Beck had an India Pale Ale (IPA), a chocolate brown ale and Mary No. 1 on tap in the keezer at the back of his garage. When it comes to brewing, IPAs are his favorite to make, but English porters — the darker stuff with a maltier flavor — are his favorite to drink. He likes the range that porters offer, as brewers can add fun flavors like chocolate, peanut butter, pecans and other nuts to alter the taste. “I like brewing IPAs because it keeps you busy during the boil with throwing all the hops in at the right time,” Beck said. “Drink-wise, I always liked more English porters, I actually made one of those last week … I kind of like sticking more to the English style beer just ‘cause it’s been around for centuries and I think it’s good.” And he’s right. While IPAs are a relatively new style of beer, humans have been brewing beer in general for thousands of years. Jen Blair, the president of The Carolina BrewMasters, a homebrewing club formed in Charlotte in 1983, explained that humans have been making beer for so long because back in the day (and I mean way back), it was safer to drink than water. But now that we have giant beer manufacturers and more than enough local
BrewMasters members get together for a brew session.
breweries to quench our thirst, why brew at home? It’s a passion project for some, but the cost plays a big role, too, she said. “For a lot of people, if there’s a particular style that you like to drink, at some point it becomes more cost-effective to learn how to brew five gallons of it yourself at a time,” Blair elaborated. That sentiment rings true for Beck. “I have not bought beer from a grocery store in a while,” he said. “It’s more rewarding when you make it yourself, I think. And it’s a whole lot cheaper.”
PHOTO BY TOM HENDERSON
As cheap as it can be for the homebrewer in the long run, the initial investment can be quite steep, especially for those interested in purchasing the high-tech equipment right off the bat. After a year or two, however, the equipment pays for itself — at least in the case of a regular craft beer drinker. Mike Melnick, an employee at Alternative Beverage, a brewing and winemaking supply store with three locations in Charlotte, likens the hobby to audio enthusiasts. “It’s almost like the people that are really into audio. They have to have the newest
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Pellet hops to be added at the end of the Old Flat Tire Ale boil.
speakers or the newest mixing board,” Melnick explained. “That’s kind of like homebrewing. There’s always something new coming out that you’re going to want to buy.” I met Melnick at Alternative Beverage’s South Boulevard location when I was sent to pick up some equipment and ingredients for brewing my own beer with a friend. Not only did he help me identify the items written on the ridiculously vague list of needs I had brought, he also picked out a yeast strain that would complement the Old Flat Tire ingredient kit that I had chose to make a Belgian ale. Helping homebrew novices like me and shooting the shit with experts are Melnick’s favorite aspects of his job. “I get to talk about beer all day long, that’s the best part of my job. I get to talk about beer and help people create beer,” Melnick said. “We get to do a lot of tasting and creating different flavors out of ingredients you wouldn’t think that you could.” Melnick handed me a dry English yeast, for the Old Flat Tire-style of beer that I’m brewing, which I have officially named Production Day Ale — an ode to every other Monday that the Queen City Nerve staff puts together the paper for the next two weeks. Yeast is a bacteria strain added to the mixture after the boil and after cooling that eats the sugar in the liquid and converts it to
PHOTO BY COURTNEY MIHOCIK
alcohol. This is the stuff that gives you the buzz — the more sugar, the higher alcohol content and vice versa. During the fermentation process, it’s imperative that the mixture stays between 60 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. If it’s too cold, the yeast won’t ferment; too warm, and the yeast ferments wildly, shooting off flavors that drastically change the outcome’s flavor profile. “Start reading about what happens when yeast starts getting up into the mid- to high70s and the off flavors that it kicks off into the beers,” Beck said. “You do the same beer with a free rise, no temperature control and then the same one with it controlled at 65, 68 degrees, you’d notice a huge difference in the beers. The taste would be completely different.” This isn’t a problem for commercial brewers because the industrial equipment they use includes intense temperature control, usually on the dot for the target temperature or at least within 1 degree Fahrenheit. One thing commercial brewers are less apt to do, due to the large-scale nature of their production process, is try new things. That’s a problem that homebrewers don’t have. The experimentation that takes place in a homebrewer’s garage is the thing of nightmares for the production team at a bigname brewery. There’s less risk when you’re making 5-gallon batches. If it doesn’t come
After malt has steeped in a bag in hot water, the mixture is strained and transferred to a larger kettle.
out right, dump the five gallons and try again. For breweries, however, that could mean 500 gallons or more. That’s a huge loss — especially in a market as saturated as Charlotte’s. “With homebrewers, they’re usually at the forefront of trying new styles, more so than commercial brewers are because, of course, there’s less risk,” Blair stated. “If you’re trying out a new style at a brewery and it doesn’t go well or the market is not ready for it, then you just lost money, whereas with homebrewers, that risk is minimized with that 5- or 10-gallon batch.” In addition to being the president of The Carolina BrewMasters, Blair is also the executive director of Craft Maltsters Guild, an international association that promotes craft malt. Understandably, most homebrewers prefer to use the freshest specialty malts available, so Alternative Beverage has a program in which brewers can purchase a 55-pound bag at bulk price upfront, then retrieve malt from their “bank” as needed. This is to prevent malt from going stale in whatever home storage setup brewers have built, and ensure fresh malt for their next brew. Even though Beck doesn’t use the malt bank program, he said he usually ends up walking out of Alternative Beverage with a bag or two of specialty malts because he “might use that next week.” Although beer can be brewed with wheat, barley, rice and other grains, malt
PHOTO BY COURTNEY MIHOCIK
is the preferred grain for brewing beer. For beginners, ingredient kits come with a small bag of roasted malt with a 6-pound bag of malt extract, which looks a lot like sugar. First, the roasted malts are steeped like tea in a bag in water, then transferred to a larger kettle where water is added. Next, the extract is slowly stirred in over five to 10 minutes. More advanced — and patient — homebrewers may opt to spend hours upon hours steeping pounds of all-grain malt to avoid using the sugary extract. This process is where the beer gets its coloring and additional flavor. Lightly roasted malts yield a paler color while heavily roasted malts result in darker colors, such as in porters, stouts and dark lagers. As president of The Carolina BrewMasters, executive director of Craft Maltsters Guild and an employee of Pilot Brewing in Plaza Midwood, Blair is deeply rooted in the local craft brewing community, especially in the homebrewing subculture. It’s an easy place to make friends, she said. “You know how it’s like when you’re a kid and it’s like, ‘You like coloring, I like coloring, we’re best friends now?’ That’s how homebrewing can be, because you’re meeting somebody who is so like-minded,” Blair stated. “And now beer culture isn’t about sustenance and survival, it’s about community and friendship. And that’s something that’s welcoming, like, ‘Come on in,
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Carolina BrewMasters members brewing together.
you’re amongst friends.’” Many times, homebrewing is about sharing a new brew with friends. Other times, it’s bringing a couple bottles to a Carolina BrewMasters meeting — which are held at GoodRoad Ciderworks on the first Tuesday of each month — to get feedback and talk about new recipe ideas. At these meetings, Blair hosts an educational portion about homebrewing to spread more information about the science behind the beer. “I’ve been the president for two years now and I’m very passionate about beer in all aspects of my life,” Blair said. “Beer education is very important to me so that’s something that we stress within the club and continue moving forward is providing a beer education piece.” April’s meeting included a segment on temperature control during boil and fermentation by Steve Turner, head brewer at Blue Blaze Brewing and former fermentation science and technology instructor at Colorado State University. Like many professional brewers in Charlotte, Turner is also a home brewer. “The BrewMasters take a lot of pride in knowing that first waves and the second wave in Charlotte were BrewMasters and a lot of the knowledge and the information that they have when they open the brewery came from being a member of The BrewMasters,” Blair said. “If
PHOTO BY TOM HENDERSON
you wanted to open a brewery and you wanted to do it yourself, you learned by going to brew clubs.” While business is always at the front of their mind, these homebrewer/professionals revel in the creativity and experimentation that comes with being able to brew what they want to drink and have it on hand at home. For those who stick to the DIY approach, however, the year-round lineup of flagships that breweries offer may not tickle a homebrewer’s fancy. Other than being drawn by the prospect of saving money by brewing your favorite style rather than buying it at the store, homebrewers fall into a couple of distinct categories: engineers and cook-from-scratchers. “I see a few different types of homebrewers, there are the types like me who enjoy cooking and enjoy [asking], ‘Why would I buy that much?’ It’s just a process I enjoy,” Blair explained. “We see a lot of engineers get involved in homebrewing — tinkerers — because you can build your own equipment, and [they have] sort of that same spirit of figuring out how to make something — they’re just more mechanically minded.” So if you can’t find it on tap in town or bottled in a six-pack at the grocery store, there’s always that option for the more proactive pint drinkers: brew it yourself. CMIHOCIK@QCNERVE.COM
SIDE DISH
THE BREWTOWN BOOM
Local beer writer looks back on a decade that changed Charlotte BY RYAN PITKIN
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DANIEL ANTHONY HARTIS literally wrote the book on Charlotte beer. He even called it that in case you had any doubts. When Hartis, author of Charlotte Beer: A History of Brewing in the Queen City, began writing about beer for The Blue Banner, the student-run newspaper at his alma mater University of North Carolina Asheville, he wouldn’t have guessed that he’d return to his hometown to watch the local beer scene explode into one of the country’s best. He’s been documenting the growth ever since. Now, six years after the book’s publication, a lot has changed in Charlotte’s beer scene, not to mention beer publishing. Hartis launched the now-inactive CharlotteBeer.com, then became editor of All About Beer Magazine, which shut down in 2018. In 2014, he published a guide to North Carolina breweries, brewpubs and beer bars. Today, he does freelance beer writing for Charlotte Observer and Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine. We caught up with Hartis recently to talk Charlotte beer history — from Pop the Cap to Craft Freedom and everything in between — and more importantly, what comes next. Queen City Nerve: This issue’s cover story goes into the local homebrewing community. How do they play in Charlotte’s beer history? Daniel Anthony Hartis: Homebrewers are largely responsible for the growth of Charlotte’s beer scene — certainly the origin of what you would call the second wave of craft breweries, with the first being in the ’90s. You look at the brewers and often the owners behind NoDa [Brewing Company], Triple C [Brewing Co.], Birdsong [Brewing Company], a lot of them were in the local Carolina BrewMasters homebrew club. Even before the breweries were here they were responsible for organizing meet-ups at craft bars like Flying Saucer. So they were a part of the culture before the breweries were here. They were involved with festival and events, they were involved with Pop the Cap movement, raising the
ABV from 5% to 15% back in 2005. They were those diehard craft beer geeks before we even had breweries to foster that sort of drinker. When you were working on your first book, could you see the explosion of growth coming on the horizon or did it still look like a phase or a niche community? I could see it coming a little bit, but not to this degree. I got in at a good time. In early 2011, I had only been doing [CharlotteBeer.com] a couple months before Tom and Suzie Ford from NoDa reached out about opening their brewery. So I got a scoop there, and then Birdsong comes along and I get a scoop there. And because no media was really covering it, or at least not as eagerly as I was, I was able to get those early opening pieces, where now it’s like everybody’s fighting for that and everybody’s following zoning to get everything they can. So that was fun, that was thrilling, and I could see there was sort of that snowball movement in 2011 and 2012. I didn’t think we’d grow this much. I don’t think I would say that. What are your thoughts on the community losing so many niche beer publications like All ABout Beer? I think it’s unfortunate for a few reasons; one is because these magazines were such a treasure trove of information going back decades in some situations. Another is the magazines cover things a lot differently than an average local site or sometimes even in a local newspaper like I’m currently writing for. They covered it with more of an eye for this is what the diehard beer drinkers would want to know; deep dives, longform. So I think we’ll continue to have it, I think it will just move online.
Daniel Anthony Hartis
Asheville as far as quality of beers and diversity of beers. That would be part of it: the national promise of our scene... and also the fact that, I don’t think I would have foreseen the diversity as far as beer styles — that we would have such a broad range of everything from hazy IPAs to sours to German to Belgian to everything. Where would you rank us nationally as a beer city? That is a tough one to say. You’ve always got San Diego and Portland and several in Colorado. I think Top 10 would be safe, without going line by line and trying to figure out who I’d put above us. I’d say somewhere between Top 5 and Top 10.
Where do you see the local beer scene going from here? It’s so hard to predict. I think you’ll see more niche offerings in general, like you’ll see more all-sour breweries — breweries that focus on just one thing and do it well — because I think that’s what you’re going to have to do to really stand out. I think you’ll see people putting more effort into the tap room experience, being able to distinguish themselves there, not only that this is a great location. The new one, Traust [Brewing Company], and the headline was “Brewery with Nordic Flare,” and you’re going to have to have a hook like that to If you were to do a follow-up to your book on set yourself apart. Charlotte beer history, what would be the angle? I see talk on social media about whether The big storyline is how so many of our breweries there’s a brewery bubble that will burst, attract national attention. Asheville is obviously especially when one closes like Three Spirits a big market, and I think Charlotte hangs with
PHOTO BY ERIC GADDY
Brewery did recently, but it seems to me that we’re at a point where that’s like asking when the restaurant bubble will burst; they will always be around. Some will close and some will open. Am I wrong in that? I’m with you on that. I do think we’ll see more breweries closing than we have before, but it’s more a result of a very competitive market. I don’t think there’s a bubble, I don’t think there’s a saturation point. But I think you’ll see new breweries taking greater care to really set themselves apart through tap rooms, beer selections, anything they can to give you a reason to come in. I think breweries will continue to open but I think it will slow. Anything else you’re keeping your eye on for the future? I’m interested to see how these new breweries work out. I think we’re already seeing the new breweries that have opened — and when I say “new,” I mean a year or less, Pilot and Town — their beer is way better than breweries used to open with. It used to be that you could get by opening up anywhere in Charlotte and start serving any kind of beer, and you’d be OK at least for a while, and that time is gone. Personally, as just a beer drinker, I’m curious to see where things go after the hazy IPA. I don’t want to say it’s a fad, I don’t think they’re going anywhere, but it’s really hard to guess what’s the next thing, because nobody six years ago would have probably foreseen hazy IPAs being as large as they are. So I’m just curious as to what’s coming.
RPITKIN@QCNERVE.COM
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BAKERSFIELD
Monday: $4 Crown & Down Tuesday: $4 drafts, $12 pitchers, $5 flights of North Carolina drafts Wednesday: 1/2 off wine bottles and martinis Thursday: $12 domestic buckets, $18 import buckets Friday: $3 craft drafts, $5 flavored vodka Saturday: $5 mason jar cocktails Sunday: $4 bloody marys
Monday: $3 Jack Daniels Tuesday: $3 Tres Generaciones, Wednesday: $3 Bulleit Bourbon Thursday: $3 Espolon Friday: $3 George Dickel No. 8 Saturday: $3 Lunazul Sunday: $3 Larceny Bourbon 300EAST
Monday: 1/2 off wines by the glass Tuesday: 1/2 off beer cans and glasses of Italian reds Thursday: $3.50 local drafts, $8.50 Matilda Wong cocktails Sunday: 1/2 off wine bottles, $5 mimosas & bloody marys, $6 Bellinis BAD DADDY’S BURGER BAR
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Monday: 20-oz. draft for 16-oz. price Tuesday: $5 specialty cocktails Wednesday: $3.50 local drafts Saturday-Sunday: $5 bloody marys and mimosas
SUMMIT ROOM
Tuesday: $4 drafts Wednesday: 1/2 off glasses of wine Thursday: $7 Summit cocktails
SOUTH END COMMON MARKET SOUTH END
Monday: 1/2 off select pints Tuesday: Free beer tasting 5-7 p.m. Wednesday: $2 off select pints, wine tasting 5-7 p.m.
BIG BEN PUB
Monday: $5.50 20-oz. NoDa craft beer Wednesday: $5.25 20-oz. Spaten, 1/2 price wine bottles Friday: $5.50 20-oz. Crispin and Guinness, $5 Dale’s Fireball shot Saturday: $5.50 20-oz. seasonal beers, $5 mimosas and bloody marys Sunday: $5.25 20-oz. Boddington, $5 mimosas and bloody marys MAC’S SPEED SHOP
Monday: $3 pints, $5 Titos Tuesday: 1/2 price wine, $3 mystery draft Wednesday: $4 tall boys, $5 Lunazul Blanco Thursday: $3 mystery cans and bottles Friday: $1 off Founders; Sweetwater in May, Saturday: $1 off North Carolina pints, $6.50 vodka Red Bull Sunday: $4 bloody marys and mimosas GIN MILL
Monday: $5 Titos and New Amsterdam, Tuesday: 1/2 price wine Wednesday: $4 draft beer Thursday: $2.50 PBR, $5 Jack Daniels and Titos
UPTOWN THE LOCAL
Monday: $7 Casamigos, $2 Natty Boh and Miller High Life, $5 Jager Tuesday: $3 Modelo, $5 house margaritas, $5 Don Julio Wednesday: $5 Crown & Down, $3 Southern Tier Thursday: $5 Captain Morgan, $7 craft mules, $16 Bud Light buckets Friday: $3 Jell-O shots, $4 drafts, $5 wells Saturday: $3 PBR, $5 Jager Sunday: $7 loaded mimosa, $7 Grey Goose bloody mary, $16 Bud Light buckets THE DAILY TAVERN
Wednesday: $5 whiskey Thursday: $4 pint night Sunday: $4 Miller Lite, $6 bloody marys DANDELION MARKET
Monday: $3 select drafts Tuesday: $15 select bottles of wines Saturday-Sunday: bloody mary bar
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silver tequila Wednesday: $7 Absolut Lime Moscow mule Monday: $2 off North Carolina drafts and spirits Thursday: $1 off neighborhood beers on draft Tuesday: 25 percent off bottles and cans, $5 Friday-Saturday: $8 margarita special mules Sunday: $5 mimosas, $6 Absolut Peppar bloody Wednesday: 1/2-priced wine, wheats and mary, $7 Absolut Lime Moscow mule sangrias Thursday: $4 old school, $4 well, $4 signature JACKBEAGLE’S shots Monday: $5 Cuervo margaritas Friday-Saturday: $3 shot of the week Tuesday: $3 drafts, $5 vodka Red Bull Sunday: $2 mimosas, $3 bloody mary and Wednesday: $1 off whiskey beermosas Thursday: $6 Deep Eddy’s vodka Red Bull WORLD OF BEER
PROHIBITION
Tuesday: 1/2 off everything Wednesday: $3 drafts Thursday: $2 PBR, $4.50 wells, $6 vodka Red Bull Friday-Saturday: $4 call-its
Friday: $5 Fun-Dip shots, $5 Crown Black Saturday: $5 Gummy Bear shots, $5 big mimosa, $6.50 double bloody mary Sunday: $5 big mimosa, $6.50 double bloody mary
NODA 101
Monday: $4 Ketel One Lemon Drop, $4 well liquor, $5 Camerena Tuesday: $6 seasonal cocktails, $6 Jameson, $4 Grape Gatorade Wednesday: $5 Green Tea Shot, $6 Blue Balls Thursday: $5 Jagermeister, $6 vodka Redbull, $6 Oxley Gin Cocktail Friday: $5 Fireball, $6 vodka Red Bull, $6 Jameson Saturday: $5 Fireball, $6 vodka Red Bull Sunday: $5 Deep Eddy Flavors, $1 off tequila, $5 White Gummy Bear shots
PLAZA MIDWOOD HATTIE’S TAP & TAVERN
Monday: $6 Pabst & Paddy’s Tuesday: $5 Fireball Wednesday: $3 mystery craft beers Thursday: $6 margaritas Friday-Saturday: $5 well drinks Sunday: $10 domestic buckets THE WORKMAN’S FRIEND
Thursday: $5 drafts, $4 Irish whiskey INTERMEZZO
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Monday: $4 Makers Mark, $2 domestic bottles Tuesday: $4 margaritas, $7 Titos mules, $3 BILLY JACK’S SHACK Blanche de Bruxelles, $3 OMB Copper Monday: $1 off moonshine and moonshine Wednesday: 1/2 price wine bottles, $2 off cocktails, $3 domestics bourbon of the week SANCTUARY PUB Tuesday: $1 off all drafts, $7 Jameson Thursday: $6.50 Ketel One Botanical Series, $4 Monday: $7 Bulleit and Bulleit Rye, $3 Wednesday: $1 off bottles and cans Stoli Yuengling and PBR APA Thursday: $4.50 wells NODA Tuesday: $6 Tuaca, $6 Tullamore Dew Friday: $5 Fireball, $1 off local bottles and cans Friday: $4 20-oz. Birdsong LazyBird Brown Ale and Birdsong Jalapeño Ale Wednesday: $3 Birdsong beers, $5 Sauza, $6 Saturday: $4 mimosas $5 Brunch Punch, CABO FISH TACO Saturday: 1/2 price martinis Espolon Sunday: $4 mimosas, $5 Brunch Punch, $5 Monday: $5 El Cheapo margarita Sunday: $3 drafts Tuesday: $3.50 Tecate and Tecate Light, $5 Altos Thursday: $2 Bartender Bottles, $6 Crown Royal Fireball, $10 champagne bottles Sunday: $3 Birdsong, $3 Tall or Call
SOUTH END WITH REGRET
Large crowds, long lines, low patience
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BY AERIN SPRUILL
AFTER YEARS OF scrapping it out followed by rapid expansion, the craft beer scene has taken over the Queen City. That’s right, Charlotteans have officially grown accustomed to bloated bellies, indigestion, heartburn or a combination of all three. So what’s a gal do? Drink along, I guess. However, in honor of Queen City Nerve’s Beer Issue, I thought it was only appropriate that I offer a counternarrative to the brewery-bursting neighborhood of South End. A couple weeks ago, my friend invited me to Sycamore Brewing. While she knows that I’m no fan of South End, she made sure to mention that her father would be there because he wanted to listen to the bluegrass band that would be performing that day. Smart move. I hadn’t seen her father in quite some time, so of course I couldn’t say no. Little did I know he’d be gone by the time I get there. Those who have been reading me for a while know that large crowds are the bane of my existence. My anxiety soars through the roof — and my attitude goes with it. When faced with such a situation, I feel forced to drink my way through it. That’s why for me, Sycamore is what nightmares are made of. After dragging my feet while getting ready, I hopped in an Uber and headed to South End. As soon as the driver dropped me off, I realized I’d made a mistake. My prior experiences at Sycamore had all taken place years prior and hadn’t prepared me for this. A packed indoor/outdoor house doesn’t even begin to describe it. I felt like I was trapped in the first episode of Spongebob Squarepants, “Help Wanted,” when the Krusty Krab was overtaken by a hoard of anchovies. It was packed more like sardines as I walked
through the patio attempting to call my friend and her boyfriend. With each failed attempt at connecting with them, panic began to spread. If a zombie apocalypse were to hit at that very moment, you might as well have shot me because I was a sitting duck! The mass of people seemed to be never-ending. I told myself that if I didn’t run into them in the next two minutes, I’m getting right back into an Uber and heading to Corner Pub — my safe place. But just as I was about to make a run for it, I recognized a few familiar faces standing in a circle in front of a collection of food trucks. I said hi to everyone and quickly made a decision: BBQ, not beer, would get me through this particular day. Another hungry friend grabbed a chopped BBQ sandwich with me and we grubbed while everyone else judged us for abstaining from the ales and lagers. I didn’t mind, I was judging between mouthfuls of pork, too. After stuffing my face, I ventured inside to see if quenching my thirst would even be possible. If the lines filled with the walking dead and high-probability spillers at Sycamore don’t deter people from wanting to enjoy their beer there, the bathroom lines should. We managed to snag a table inside with the perfect view of the bathroom lines. Whoever said, “Let’s increase the amount of paved surface and tables outside but don’t worry about increasing the number of interior bathroom stalls,” is a sadist. “They’re good. We’ll just add 15 portable toilets instead!” *evil laugh ensues* The line was so bad, I witnessed a tipsy dad asked his son wiggling in place trying to hold his pee, ”Do you really, really have to go?” Of course, he knew the answer before he asked, but the grimacing child nodded anyway. The father looked up at the line, then back at his son and said, ”Well hey, just skip the line. Who’s going to say no to a kid? I’ll be here when you get back,” and proceeded to continue to drink from his pint glass. Golf claps were ringing so loud in my ears, I couldn’t help but smile. What a power move by dad. Needless to say, I chose people watching and harmless judgment over drinking beer and inviting a forced trip to the bathroom. I can’t say I was sad to leave when our group finally decided to make a move. But it’d be remiss of me if I didn’t say I was going to miss the entertainment of observation. To each his own, but the experience only reinforced my belief that high-traffic breweries like Sycamore and Wooden Robot aren’t my cup of tea — err, pint of beer? INFO@QCNERVE.COM
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ACROSS
1 Firing sound 6 Frog sound 11 Kerfuffles 15 Soldiers of Seoul 19 Old Aegean region 20 Singer with the 2013 #1 hit “Royals” 21 Typesetter’s option 22 Saber’s kin 23 Film that’s both funny and gloomy 25 Thin material used in painting and baking 27 Bulls scores 28 Putt-putt 30 Yard sale proviso 32 With 40-Across, classic grape drink 33 Step inside 34 “Mirage” actor Edward James -38 Boolean logic operator 40 See 32-Across 42 Opening bets 45 Overhead air circulator 48 Films, TV, hit songs, etc. 51 Fancy snack 52 -- McAn 54 See 50-Down 55 Chilly powder 56 “The Simpsons” shopkeeper 57 Clock setting in NYC 59 “... man -- mouse?” 61 Sketched 63 Priest follower? 64 Homeland 69 “-- Brockovich” 71 Cynic’s look 72 Sheep group 73 -- vu 75 Metal debris 79 Pianist Hines 81 Alternative medical practices 84 Rubble maker 87 TVs “Better Call --” 89 “-- -hoo!” (“Hello!”)
90 Equal: Prefix 91 Subpar mark 92 High cards 94 FBI agent 96 Bulky brass 98 Michigan county or its seat 101 Important biblical meal 104 Clownish type 106 Really bug 107 Give and take 109 -- chi 110 Sales talk 111 Of Tehran 114 Fish story 116 Pulitzer winner William 118 Dictionary, e.g. 122 Film theaters 127 Ethiopia, formerly 128 Playing card apt to this puzzle’s theme (hint: see the ends of the longest answers) 130 “That’s -- bad idea” 131 One fibbing 132 Barbecue 133 Ruhr Valley’s chief city 134 Tie feature 135 Many August babies 136 Determined to carry out 137 Sown things
37 Suffix with boff 39 Rally cry 41 Imitated 43 Winged god 44 Makes a dress, e.g. 46 At no time, to poets 47 12 p.m. 49 Quaker products 50 With 54-Across, service charges 53 “D.C. Cab” actor 58 Slobby sort 60 Difficult and tiring 62 Far-reaching 65 “-- -haw!” 66 Epochs 67 Java holder 68 “-- out!” (ump’s call) 70 Gun rights org. 74 Relative of handball 76 Nickname for Yale 77 “Remington --” 78 Singer Crow 80 Sauce brand 82 Kiddie 83 Halo-worthy 84 Fish story
DOWN
1 Lettuce variety 2 Dancer Falana 3 Santa -- (some winds) 4 Ill 5 Test the tea, say 6 Shutting 7 CD- -8 City NNW of Provo 9 Also include 10 Economist John Maynard -11 Scared by 12 “Get busy!” 13 Well-timed 14 Rigid 15 Mixtures for chemical analysis 16 Well-timed 17 Boat’s spine 18 Feudal peon 24 Dollar or euro divs. 26 Blossom bit 29 Breakfast chain, briefly 31 Unstiffened shoe part 34 -- razor (“keep it simple” principle) 35 Tackle 36 Part of rpm
SOLUTION ON PAGE 30
85 Univ. sports org. 86 Serve as evidence of 88 Racing units 93 Eyes 95 They begin on January 1 97 Iota 99 Failures to attend 100 Domino dot 102 Big names 103 Broccoli -- (salad green) 105 “Honest Abe” 108 Fork parts 112 Sam of “Backtrack” 113 Many a navel 115 Bete -- (pet peeve) 117 Certain PC pic file 118 Echelon 119 Very dark, to poets 120 “Gotta run!” 121 Make a sweater, e.g. 123 Additionally 124 Think deeply and at length 125 Under the covers 126 IDs for the IRS 129 “Xanadu” rock gp.
APRIL 24 - APRIL 30 ARIES (March 21 to April 19) You’re doing better on the flexibility issue, but you still need to loosen up a bit to show you can be less judgmental and more understanding about certain sensitive matters. TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Your personal aspect continues to dominate this week. But try to make time to deal with important career-linked matters as well. A change of plans might occur by the weekend. GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Excuses are not really needed for much of the confusion occurring this week. However, explanations from all parties could help in working things out to everyone’s satisfaction.
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CANCER (June 21 to July 22) That surprising (but pleasant) recent turn of events continues to develop positive aspects. But be prepared for a bit of a jolt on another issue that needs attention. LEO (July 23 to August 22) Creating a fuss might bring you that attention you want. But are you prepared for all the explaining you’d have to do? Better to use more subtle ways to make your bid. VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) With education continuing to be a strong factor this week, this could be the time to start learning some new skills that can later be applied to a bid for a potential career move. LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) You might do well to reconsider some of your current time priorities before you get so deeply involved in one
MAY 1 - MAY 7 project that you neglect meeting a deadline on ARIES (March 21 to April 19) You might need to do another. a bit more investigating before making a careerSCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) With an changing move. You do best when you come armed important decision looming, you need to be careful with the facts. A personal matter still needs tending about the information you’re getting. Half-truths to, so chop chop. are essentially useless. Get the full story before you TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Your creativity in act. addition to your good business sense once more SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) Find combine to give you an important advantage in a out what everyone’s role is expected to be before difficult workplace situation. An ally proves his or accepting that workplace proposal. Getting all the her loyalty to you. facts now could prevent serious problems later on. GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Avoid rushing into CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) A flexible something just because it offers a break from your position on a workplace matter could be the best usual routine. Take things a step at a time to be sure course to follow during the next several days. A you’re moving in the right direction, lest you be set personal issue also benefits from an open-minded back in your goals. approach. CANCER (June 21 to July 22) Bouncing back from AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) Involving a disappointing incident isn’t easy, but you should too many people in your workplace problem can find a welcome turn of events emerging. Spend the backfire. Remember: Allegiances can shift. Ask weekend with someone special. trusted colleagues for advice, but don’t ask them to LEO (July 23 to August 22) An incomplete project take sides. needs your attention before someone else takes it PISCES (February 19 to March 20) Before submitting over and uses it to his or her advantage. There’ll be your suggestions, take more time to sharpen lots of time for fun and games once you get it done. the points you want to make. The clearer the presentation, the more chance it has to get through VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) Doubts involving a potential career change need to be when submitted. resolved quickly so they don’t get in the way when BORN THIS WEEK: Your clear sense of who you are you feel you’re finally ready to make the big move. gives you confidence when you need to tackle Ensure your friends are looking out for your best interests when they give advice. difficult situations.
LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) Looking to blame someone for a workplace problem could backfire if it turns out you’ve got the wrong “culprit.” Best to get more facts before acting on your assumptions. SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) Patience might still be called for until you’re sure you finally have the full story that eluded you up till now. A trusted associate could offer valuable guidance. SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) Look into your recent behavior to see if you could have caused the coolness you might now be sensing from a loved one. If so, apologize and set things straight. CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) Easing up on your social activities allows you to focus more of your energies on a long-neglected personal matter. You can get back into party mode by the weekend. AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) A dispute with a colleague can be resolved peacefully once you both agree to be more flexible about the positions you’ve taken and allow for more openminded discussions. PISCES (February 19 to March 20) Volunteering to take on added responsibilities could be a risky way to impress the powers-that-be. Do it only if you’re sure you won’t be swept away by the extra workload. BORN THIS WEEK: Your sense of self-awareness allows you to make bold moves with confidence. Take action now, while the stars have aligned in your favor.
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READ BETWEEN THE LIKES
When Instagram goes wrong
Pg. 30 Apr. 24 - May . 7, 2019 - QCNERVE.COM
BY DAN SAVAGE
My best friend’s father is an avid user of social media. He’s retired and spends most of his day posting memes on Facebook and Instagram. Recently, I realized he might not know how Instagram works. I noticed over the past week or so that he has been following, liking and commenting on a lot of Instagram pictures of young gay men. I don’t think he realizes that anyone who follows him can see that activity. At first I was worried, not because he might be gay or bisexual, but because he may still be “in the closet.” He’s married, with a son (my friend), and to my knowledge, if he is bisexual or gay, nobody knows. I thought about warning him that his activity is public, but then I saw more. Not only has he been liking pictures of younger looking men, he’s also been liking and following accounts of very young boy models. Underage boys. I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but the evidence is there. So now I’ve gone from wanting to warn this guy that he may be accidentally outing himself by not knowing how apps work to feeling morally obligated to tell my friend that his dad is into dudes and might be a pedophile. I can only imagine the ramifications this news would have on him and his family. BEST FRIEND’S DAD
“I’m sympathetic to BFD’s concerns,” said Dr. Michael Seto, director of forensic rehabilitation research at the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group and an expert on pedophilia and sexual offending. “I know many people wonder what to do if they suspect someone is sexually attracted to children. And I understand how
much of a burden it can feel like to keep a big secret, especially from a best friend.” Dr. Seto emphasizes that sexual attraction does not equal sexual behavior. “The Instagram follows and likes may indeed suggest an attraction to underage boys,” said Dr. Seto. “And it may even be pedophilia if the models are that young. But that doesn’t mean his friend’s father is going to do anything beyond following or liking.” Understanding what separates pedophiles who’ve offended against children from pedophiles who’ve never inappropriately touched a child is an important focus of Dr. Seto’s research, BFD, and his insights could inform your course of action. “One thing we know is that people who are low in self-control are more likely to act on sexual as well as nonsexual impulses,” said Dr. Seto. “That low self-control shows up in other ways, including addictions, problems holding down a job, problems in adult relationships, unreliability and criminal behavior. My hypothesis is that someone who doesn’t show these signs is unlikely to offend against a child. They might look at child pornography, though, which is illegal and problematic, or they might look at legal images of children — like on social media — as a sexual outlet.” Viewing child pornography is hugely problematic because it creates demand for more child pornography. But even if no new child porn were ever created, sharing images of the rape of a child is itself a violation of that child. And while it may not be pleasant to contemplate what might be going through a pedophile’s mind when they look at innocent images of children, it’s not against the law for someone with a sexual interest in children
to dink around on Instagram. “Returning to BFD’s question about whether to disclose, I don’t think it’s an easy yes-or-no answer,” said Dr. Seto. “It depends on what else BFD knows about the father. I’m required by law and professional ethics to report [someone] if I believe an identifiable child is at imminent risk. This mandatory reporting requirement is NOT triggered simply by knowing whether someone is sexually attracted to children. Instead, I have to consider information like whether the person has ever expressed fantasies or urges about a specific child, whether they work with children regularly, whether they live with children who are in their attraction category, or whether they have ever engaged in suspicious behavior like direct messaging with a child.” Does your friend’s dad work with underage boys? Does he sometimes look after underage boys — say, grandsons? Do they have sleepovers with friends at grandpa’s house? Has he ever behaved in an inappropriate manner around underage boys?
“In the absence of these kinds of red flags, what we have here is someone who might be sexually attracted to underage boys but who might not pose a serious risk to children,” explained Dr. Seto. “So while not disclosing might mean some risk of a child being harmed, disclosing could definitely cause harm to the best friend, to the father and to their relationship.” Personally, BFD, in your shoes, I would err on the side of protecting even a hypothetical child. I would say something to the dad, perhaps via direct message (you could create a throwaway account and reach out anonymously), and I would also say something to my friend. But I would emphasize what the best available research tells us about pedophilia: It’s not something a person chooses, and most pedophiles never sexually abuse children. Listen to the Savage Lovecast every week at savagelovecast.com; mail@savagelove.net; @ fakedansavage on Twitter; ITMFA.org
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