Queen City Nerve - March 23, 2022

VOLUME 4, ISSUE 9; MARCH 23 - APRIL 5, 2022; WWW.QCNERVE.COM

Arts: Catawba Indian pottery provides a throughline over mill enNia

pg. 10

NEWS: Meet the Charlotte City Council candidates

pg. 6

Workers speak out about toxic atmosphere in one of Charlotte’s most popular eateries

BY DION BEARY

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TABLE OF CONTENTS NEWS & OPINION 4 Trouble in Paradise by Dion Beary Employees speak out about toxic atmosphere in one of Charlotte’s most popular eateries 6 On the Ballot Introducing the candidates for Charlotte City Council’s 2022 election

ARTS & CULTURE 10 Of the Land by Pat Moran Exhibit spotlights Catawba Indian Nation’s enduring clay pottery practices 12 Lifeline: 10 Cool Things To Do in Two Weeks 13 Soundwave

MUSIC 14 Free the Mind by Ryan Pitkin Midas Black escapes a personal hell with debut album

FOOD & DRINK

LIFESTYLE 19 Puzzles 20 The Seeker by Katie Grant 21 Horoscope 22 Savage Love

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16 What Is Authenticity? by Timothy DePeugh Ho Ho Cherry House, Lam’s Kitchen and the myth of authentic Chinese food

NEWS & OPINION FEATURE

TROUBLE IN PARADISE

Workers speak out about toxic atmosphere in one of Charlotte’s most popular eateries

BY DION BEARY

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In the decade since its 2012 opening, 5Church — recently renamed Church & Union — has consistently been one of the most popular restaurants in Charlotte. Owners Patrick Whalen and Alejandro Torio have received praise for their flagship establishment, as well as other restaurants under the 5th Street Group (5SG) umbrella, which includes La Belle Helene and Sophia’s Lounge in Charlotte, and Church & Union locations in Charleston and Nashville.

But now a series of allegations has surfaced accusing Whalen and Torio of fostering a work culture of intimidation, bullying and problematic behavior.

The allegations first surfaced on Dec. 23, 2021, on the anonymous Instagram account Overheard in Charlotte. Queen City Nerve tracked down the sources of the submissions and independently verified their employment at 5th Street Group as well as reviewed multiple emails and direct messages related to their stories.

For this report, Queen City Nerve interviewed three former staff members, two former managers, and an 18-year-old woman who said she interviewed for a job at Sophia’s Lounge.

Most have chosen to remain anonymous due to fear of retaliation by Whalen.

“So many employees have been witness to the awful work environment, but everyone is scared to come out,” the manager said.

“Pat is the type of individual that is prone to retaliate if someone disagrees with them,” another former manager added.

Pandemic problems

On May 18, 2020, 5Church began plans to reopen its Uptown restaurant as the COVID-19 pandemic raged on.

In an email reviewed by Queen City Nerve, 5Church general manager Brad Grubb promised employees $600 per week to come back for “lots of projects” prior to the restaurant’s reopening.

5CHURCH OPENED IN UPTOWN CHARLOTTE IN 2012 AND WAS RECENTLY RENAMED TO CHURCH & UNION. Staff was told in the email that if they did not want to return at that rate of pay to do the projects, they would be terminated. Grubb did not respond to an email requesting a comment for this story.

“If you choose not to come back to work this week and stay on unemployment, you will not be able to return to 5Church at a later date,” said the email. “It’s not fair for some to kick back and collect unemployment, while the rest of the team is here getting things done to prepare for the reopening.”

Three weeks later, on June 9, Grubb announced pay would be cut from $600 per week to $300 per week. This was three weeks prior to the planned reopening. 5Church promised to make up the difference upon reopening.

“You will all be compensated for the difference over the first two weeks we are open, so this money will be paid back to everyone as soon as we start bringing in some guests,” read an email to employees that was shared with Queen City Nerve.

Employees said they were never compensated for the difference as promised.

According to publicly available data, 5Church was approved for $349,000 in Paycheck Protection Program funds two months prior to that email being sent.

A group of employees, frustrated with the cut in pay, drafted a letter to owner Patrick Whalen. They sent it via an anonymous email account because none of them felt “particularly comfortable” speaking to Whalen directly.

Whalen reportedly responded that he would not have any communication with the anonymous account.

The employees then attempted to take their concerns to Grubb. When Whalen caught wind, he sent a message to Grubb and instructed Grubb to screenshot the message and send it to the employees.

“Going to any manager with this subject is not appropriate, as Brad is not in a position to address your concerns,” said Whalen’s message, which has been shared with Queen City Nerve.

During a private manager’s meeting, the employees’ frustration was once again raised.

Multiple people familiar with the meeting told us Whalen stated, “They’re fucking lucky to have jobs at all.” Whalen declined to comment on that conversation for this article.

When 5Church re-opened in late June 2020, server Olivia Fernandez was asked to work at both the Charleston and Charlotte locations. Fernandez told us that, due to South Carolina’s more lax COVID

PHOTO BY GRANT BALDWIN

policies, the Charleston location was crowded and many patrons didn’t wear masks.

Because of the workload and packed restaurants, Fernandez took regular COVID tests, worried she’d contract the virus at work. When she did test positive, she says she immediately informed management.

Fernandez was then terminated while in quarantine for COVID. Another server was terminated as well. Management had housed the two together when they traveled to Charleston to work at that location.

“It was made clear to me that the ownership ultimately made the decision,” Fernandez said. “My manager Brad [Grubb] was the one forced to call us on a conference call as we were still in quarantine and he told us that, against his own wishes, he had to terminate us.”

In an email with Whalen following her termination, which Fernandez shared with Queen City Nerve, Fernandez said, “I hope you take the time to look at what an amazing staff you have and appreciate them going forward, instead of targeting them and blaming them for something completely out of their control.”

She also expressed frustration at finding herself jobless during a pandemic.

NEWS & OPINION FEATURE Whalen responded, “You don’t get points for being ‘honest’ with management, that’s your responsibility,” and accused Fernandez of knowingly spreading COVID. We spoke with several former servers and managers who echoed Fernandez’s version of events.

Whalen declined to comment on Fernandez’s termination for this story, saying he did not want to “get into a he said/she said with alleged disgruntled former staff.”

5Church re-opens and cleans house

so he took her there.

She said Torio continued to pressure her to stay out with him.

“I kept trying to tell him I was going to my friend’s and he kept trying to convince me to stay,” she said.

“As soon as I knew [a friend of mine] was walking to Sophia’s, I ran out and met up with [my friend].”

She was never contacted again about a job at 5Church Charlotte, but said Torio sent her a message on Snapchat a few weeks later.

“He Snapchatted me and asked if I went Black Friday shopping. I said no and he asked why. I was like ‘Oh, I need to pay rent,’ and he said if I wanted to ‘have some fun’ with him, we could work something out financially,” she said.

“I’m pretty certain he was offering to pay me to have sex with him,” she said. “I think that’s also why he kept asking about my finances at the bar.”

She told us she never communicated with Torio again after that message.

Four former staff members told Queen City Nerve that Torio was known to invite women who were under 21 years old to 5Church and pressure staff members into serving them alcohol.

“Alejandro waved girls through security. They wouldn’t even have their IDs checked,” said one former manager.

“He would consistently have underaged women in both 5Church and Sophia’s,” said a former server. “If we refused [to serve them], a manager would be forced to come out and get drinks for the chicks who were too young. We were supposed to just look the other way.”

“Alejandro repeatedly brought in underage women to the establishments and told management/staff to leave it alone,” another former manager confirmed.

Torio did not respond to emails asking him to confirm or deny these accusations. In an email to Queen City Nerve for this story, Patrick Whalen denied the claims on behalf of Torio.

recall the exact application process, but said “roughly 80-90%” of the Paycheck Protection Program money went to payroll. He described the reported number of retained employees to be “in the ballpark.”

Whalen’s Small Business Association loans have been forgiven, and he and Torio recently announced plans to open two new restaurants.

Whalen has been a media darling since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The Washington Post covered Whalen’s “Tip the Kitchen” initiative.

Charlotte Magazine named Whalen, Torio and 5SG co-owner Jamie Lynch as Charlotteans of the Year.

In an op-ed for Charlotte Observer, Whalen railed against those who dared to criticize restaurants during the pandemic, stating, “Supporting local means shutting your mouth for a while about your mediocre experience … Otherwise, there’s a table ready for you shortly at Applebee’s.”

In a December tweet to his 1,415 followers, Whalen wrote, “I’m not closing my restaurants again because people refuse to get a life-saving free vaccination. There’s literally nothing anyone can say to me to change my mind.”

But for all the acclaim, some of Whalen’s former staffers characterize 5Church Charlotte’s pandemic response as reckless and toxic.

When one manager put in their resignation notice, citing extreme hours, being talked down to

by Whalen, and “very little incentive to put ourselves through it, except that we are lucky to be part of the ‘family’ and we are replaceable,” Whalen set up a three-way call with them and another manager., during which he allegedly called the resigning manager a “piece of shit” and forced them to vacate the premises immediately, telling them they were banned.

Again, Whalen declined to respond to most of Queen City Nerve’s inquiries for this story, but in an email to Queen City Nerve, he defended his actions and those of his co-owners.

“While we have some regrets that only retrospect will reveal re: covid and 2020, none of 5th Street Group’s COVID response those regrets amount to anything to be ashamed of,” Between April 20, 2020, and Jan. 28, 2021, Whalen said.

“There’s very little we would re-do if 5th Street Group restaurants received at least $3,137,586 in Paycheck Protection Program funds. we had to go back and do it again.”

The Paycheck Protection Program (or PPP) is a loan During reporting on this story, counsel for 5th designed to provide a direct incentive for small Street Group sent a cease and desist letter and businesses to keep their workers on payroll.

According to public records, Patrick Whalen threats of a defamation lawsuit to the author that reported to the PPP program that he’d used the copied Queen City Nerve and Overheard Charlotte funds to retain 95 employees at 5Church Charlotte, as recipients. They have already taken legal action against the author of this story and multiple former despite “cleaning house” upon reopening.

In an email for this story, Whalen responded to employees in response to posts on social media. these possible discrepancies by stating he did not

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In late July 2020, 5Church closed again, this time for several months. In January 2021, the restaurant announced plans to re-open and hire all new staff.

Former servers say they discovered the restaurant was reopening via a social media post from Axios Charlotte.

“None of us had heard anything from management about returning,” a former server said.

Some former servers began calling out 5Church on social media, frustrated that they accepted $600 a week for cleaning projects, then $300 a week — never compensated for the difference as promised — only to be seemingly terminated. Some also criticized the owners for capacity issues during the pandemic on social media.

“The rest of the staff and I were put into an untenable position, forced to serve in an overcapacity bar with maskless guests and a raging owner … or lose our jobs,” said one commenter who identified himself as a former bartender at 5Church.

Whalen then sent some former staffers a group message, which has been shared with Queen City Nerve. In the message, he claimed that, while “close to” the entire kitchen staff had been retained, it was his intention to replace most of the front-of-house staff.

“We want a fresh start with people who have a positive attitude. I do want to clean house to a degree.”

He ended one message by saying, “And next time, please don’t bash me publicly.”

One such potential new staff member included an 18-year-old woman who told Queen City Nerve she interviewed for a job at 5th Street Group in November 2020.

She described her interactions with owner Alejandro Torio as a “really upsetting experience.”

In an interview, she told us she met Torio at Sophia’s Lounge, where she told him she was 18.

Despite this, she said she was served alcohol.

“They [Torio and a manager] kept bringing us free drinks,” she said. “We were all really drunk.”

The woman, who has chosen to remain anonymous, told Torio she was looking for a job. She said Torio then exchanged contact info with her via Snapchat, saying he wanted to set up an interview for a job at Sophia’s Lounge.

Although she said the interview was originally scheduled to take place at Sophia’s Lounge, Torio ran 25 minutes behind, then changed the location to a popular NoDa restaurant with live music.

“I thought that was a weird place for an interview, but I really needed a job,” she said.

When Torio arrived for the interview, she said he immediately ordered her alcohol.

“The first thing he did was order tequila shots,” said the woman, who was still 18 at the time. “He started asking a lot of questions about my financial situation … I kept avoiding the questions and finally got him to switch the [conversation] to the job at Sophia’s.”

“During all that, he had ordered us drinks and a couple more rounds of shots,” she said. “I felt really weird about it, but I kept drinking or pouring shots into a bush when he wasn’t looking.”

She said she felt pressured to continue drinking despite the fact that she found it weird.

Torio then reportedly told her that, while Sophia’s Lounge wasn’t currently hiring, 5Church Charlotte would be looking for “all new staff” when the location’s renovations were completed, echoing sentiments of Whalen’s desire to “clean house.”

She soon became “really confused” as to how long the interview was taking, especially since Sophia’s wasn’t hiring. Torio continued to order shots and asked her questions about her financial situation and drug use.

“When he ordered me another drink, I asked how long I should plan on being there because I had plans with my friend after. He seemed upset and said, ‘Oh, you made plans? I made all this time for you. I thought we could keep hanging out,’” she told Queen City Nerve.

Torio then allegedly told her that they should go to Sophia’s Lounge, mentioning that Justin Bieber was staying at The Ivey’s Hotel. She agreed to go.

“He ordered an Uber there. When we were in the car, he asked if we could stop by his new apartment,” she said.

She said Torio offered her a beer upon arrival at his apartment, which she accepted. Shortly thereafter she asked him to take her to Sophia’s Lounge, where the interview was originally supposed to take place,

It’s been a long time, but it appears we’re finally going to be able to vote in municipal elections this year. Thanks to a delay in receiving 2020 Census data followed by a court challenge to new North Carolina congressional maps, we’ve seen election deadlines and voting dates pushed back multiple times.

Now that candidacy filing has closed and new dates are set, we’re looking at one of the most jam-packed local election years in recent memory, with city elections starting in spring followed by county, state and national elections in the fall (pending any further court appeals to the Feb. 23 court decision approving congressional maps).

That’s a lot to take in, so we’ve put together a guide to help make it all make sense. Below you can find all the resources you need to know regarding where and when to vote, deadlines and dates for both the spring and fall elections, and a listing of all candidates who have filed to run in our coverage area this year.

CHARLOTTE MAYOR INCUMBENT

D VI LYLES

D

Political experience: Charlotte Mayor, 2017-present; Charlotte City Council at-large rep, 2013-2017; assistant city manager Related experience: Consulting director, Lee Institute and Flynn Health Holt Leadership; Charlotte Housing Authority Moving Forward initiative; Committee of 21 transportation initiative; Charlotte-Mecklenburg African American Agenda; Achieve Together community-based advocacy education initiative Platform: Affordable housing, economic development, community safety

Political experience: None Related experience: Founder, Take Back Our Hoods Platform: Community safety, police reform, gun violence

R SARACHAGA-BILBAO

Political experience: None Related experience: Background in media and finance, married to CMPD officer Platform: Public safety

R

Political Experience: None Related Experience: Owner, Universal Cab; sued the city in 2015 over alleged corruption in “pay-to-play” deal for taxis at the airport Platform: Unavailable

STEPHANIE DE

MOHAMED MOUSTAFA

CHARLOTTE CITY COUNCIL AT-LARGE (2 years - vote for 4) INCUMBENT

LUCILLE PUCKETT

D Political experience: None Related experience: Creator, EVOLVE Media Platform: Affordable housing, governmental transparency, environmental sustainability

D

Political experience: Charlotte City Council at-large rep, 2017-present; chair, Environment, Engagement and Equity Committee; vice-chair, Budget and Governance; former Charlotte Housing Authority board member Related experience: Certified Public Accountant, TIAA and Deloitte; Leadership Fellowship with the Institute of Political Leadership Platform: Affordable housing, public safety, sustainability

DIMPLE AJMERA

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INCUMBENT

TIGRESS MCDANIEL

D

TALATHIA MCKENZIE

Political experience: None Related experience: Founder, Tae’s Beauty; accessibility advocate Platform: Unavailable

D BRAXTON WINSTON

Political experience: Charlotte City Council at-large rep, 2017-present; cochair, Intergovernmental Relations Committee Related experience: Stagehand, member of International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) union; board member with: My Brother’s Keeper Charlotte-Mecklenburg, the Board of Trustees of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, Smart Start of Mecklenburg County, Habitat for Humanity’s Charlotte Neighborhood Revitalization Committee Platform: Equity, access, interconnection

AT-LARGE CONT.

D LARKEN EGLESTON

D LAWANA MAYFIELD

D

PATRICK CANNON

Political experience: Charlotte City Council District 1 rep, 2017-present; chair, Safe Communities Committee; former president, Young Democrats of Mecklenburg County; former board member, Plaza Midwood Neighborhood Association Related experience: Volunteer firefighter, Long Creek Volunteer Fire Department; former vice-chair, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission; former chair, Charlotte International Cabinet Platform: Housing, transportation, preservation Political experience: Charlotte City Council District 3 rep, 2011-2019; former member, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee; former president, Centralina Economic Development Committee Related experience: Member, International Minority Coalition; board member, LGBTQ Democrats of Mecklenburg County; former member, Immigrant Solidarity Committee; former member, Charlotte Community Justice Coalition; former executive board member, Human Rights Campaign; former board member, Charlotte Lesbian and Gay Fund Platform: Property values, economic growth, community safety

Political experience: Charlotte City Council District 3 rep, 19932001; Charlotte City Council at-large rep, 2001-2013; Charlotte Mayor, 2013-14 (deposed after arrest on fraud charges) Related experience: Founder, E-Z Parking Platform: Inclusivity, intentionality, involvement

R

CARRIE OLINSKI

R

Political experience: Unavailable Related experience: Unavailable Platform: Public safety

Political experience: None Related experience: Founder & CEO, BrewPublik Platform: Public safety, small business

CHARLES MULLIGAN

R

DAVID RICE

Political experience: None Related experience: Founder, Access 21 TV ministry Lord God Ricetown XV Platform: Unavailable

CHARLOTTE CITY COUNCIL DISTRICTS DISTRICT 1

Political experience: Charlotte City Council at-large rep, 1999-2021 Related experience: President and co-owner, RJ Leeper Construction, January 2021-July 2021 Platform: Unavailable

D

D

JAMES MITCHELL

DANTE ANDERSON

Political Experience: None Related Experience: National sales director, Inhabit; Eagle Scout and assistant scoutmaster, Boy Scouts of America Platform: Public safety, lower taxes

R

BILLY MADDALON Political experience: Chair, Mecklenburg Democrats Precinct 82; member, Community Relations Committee 2021-present; member, P​ ark & Recreation Commission and Advisory Board Related experience: Vice president, Safeguard Atone Validate Educate Platform: Affordable housing, infrastructure, public safety

D CHARLENE HENDERSON

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Political experience: Treasurer, Mecklenburg County Young Republicans; president, Log Cabin Republicans of North Carolina Related experience: Corporate finance attorney, U.S. Bank and McGuireWoods; vice chair, The Plus Collective (formerly the Charlotte Lesbian and Gay Fund) Platform: Property tax freeze, transportation, small business

KYLE LUEBKE

Political experience: Charlotte City Council District 1 rep, July 2013-December 2013 Related experience: Director, Alexander Youth Network; board member, Time Out Youth; president, NC State Alumni Association Platform: Affordable housing, transportation, public safety

D

DAVID MERRILL

R

Political experience: None Related experience: Business executive, Cisco and Walmart; management consulting, Anderson Consulting; board of directors, Walton Arts Center; advisory board member, Center for Women’s Business Research; international committee member, American Heart Association Platform: Livable wage, affordable housing, community safety

CHARLOTTE CITY COUNCIL DISTRICTS DISTRICT 2

CHARLOTTE CITY COUNCIL DISTRICTS DISTRICT 4

INCUMBENT

D MALCOLM GRAHAM

Political experience: Charlotte City Council District 2 rep, 1999-2005 and 2019-present; chair, Great Neighborhood and Economic Development committees; N.C. senator 2005-2015 Related experience: Executive director, Beds for Kids; former special assistant to the president for government and community affairs, Johnson C. Smith University; formerly Bank of America and Time Warner Cable Platform: Police reform, community-first development, racial justice

Political experience: Presidential fellow, Democratic National Committee; formerly Rock the Vote; campaign manager, Committee to Elect Monty Witherspoon to CMS Board of Education Related experience: Youth engagement fellow, United Nations Association of the USA; community organizer, QC Family Tree Platform: Housing, reducing juvenile delinquency, creating a cultural economy

D

INCUMBENT Political experience: Charlotte City Council District 4 rep, 2019-present Related experience: Executive director, Triumph Services; former board chair, Montessori Renaissance Community School; former board member: Rahab’s Hideaway, United Faith of America and Make It Happen foundations Platform: Affordable housing, homelessness, job creation

D RENEE JOHNSON

Political experience: None Related experience: Chair, SHARE Charlotte and Envision Charlotte; former executive director, University City Partners; former vice president of neighborhood development and sustainability, Charlotte Center City Partners Platform: Affordable housing, public safety, sustainability

D DARLENE HEATER

KENDRICK CUNNINGHAM JR.

D

AMAR JOHNSON

Political experience: President, Seversville Neighborhood Association Related experience: Unavailable Platform: Unavailable

R

MARY BARNETT

Political experience: None Related experience: Unavailable Platform: Unavailable

CHARLOTTE CITY COUNCIL DISTRICTS

D

Political experience: None Related experience: President, Safeguard Atone Validate Educate; executive director, NAACP Prison Branch 5135 Platform: Supporting police, affordable housing, lower taxes

CEDRIC DEAN CHARLOTTE CITY COUNCIL DISTRICTS DISTRICT 5

DISTRICT 3 INCUMBENT

D

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VICTORIA WATLINGTON

D R

TIAWANA BROWN

JAMES H. BOWERS

Political experience: Charlotte City Council District 3 rep, 2019-present; former vice chair, Civil Service Board; former member, Business Advisory Committee Related experience: Engineering, initiative management and operations management in the consumer product goods industry; Land Use Committee chair, West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition; United Way Central Carolinas Young Leaders Council Platform: Workforce development, strong neighborhoods, strategic mobility network Political experience: None Related experience: Founder, Beauty After the Bars; board member, National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls; board member, Concerned Citizens for Communities in Action; director, Center for Employment Opportunities Charlotte Platform: Unavailable Political experience: None Related experience: Unavailable Platform: Unavailable

Political experience: Former secretary, NC 12th Congressional District Democrats; former treasurer and 3rd vice chair, Mecklenburg Senior Democrats; former treasurer and secretary, Progressive Democrats of Mecklenburg County Related experience: Realtor and broker; co-chair, Oakhurst Community Neighborhood Association; board member, The Gold District and CharlotteEAST’s Economic Development Committee Platform: Affordable housing, transportation, supporting small business

D LIZ MILLSAPS HAIGLER

Political experience: None Related experience: Owner, Mama’s Caribbean Grill & Bar; received the Charlotte International Committee International Entrepreneur Award; general contractor Platform: Unknown

D VINROY REID

DISTRICT 5 CONT.

Political experience: None Related experience: Community activist; owner, World Class Property Maintenance Platform: Transportation, affordable housing, increasing the minimum wage

D

D STEPHANIE HAND

CURTIS HAYES JR.

D

MARK VINCENT III

Political experience: None Related experience: Electrical and IT support technician Platform: Unionizing city employees, minimum wage increase, low-income housing Political experience: Charlotte Equitable Development Commission; community organizer, Hillary for America Related experience: Former board member, YMCA of Greater Charlotte Diversity, Inclusion, and Global Committee; former member, Mecklenburg County Women’s Advisory Board; former Charlotte Sister Cities Scholar Platform: Transportation, housing, infrastructure

D

Political experience: None Related experience: Deacon, Western North Carolina Conference United Methodist Church; former community outreach manager, Charlotte Family Housing; former executive operations manager, Marriott International Platform: Infrastructure, economic development, community safety

MARJORIE MOLINA

Political experience: NC delegate for President Obama at 2012 Democratic National Convention; area coordinator, Obama for America in 2008; former commissioner, Centralina Economic Development Commission Related experience: Finance executive in investment banking; former board member, Community Culinary School of Charlotte; formerly on the planning committees for Charlotte’s Taste of the Nation and Charlotte Literary Festival Platform: Growth, transportation, public safety

D ROBERT HILLMAN

CHARLOTTE CITY COUNCIL DISTRICTS DISTRICT 7 INCUMBENT

CHARLOTTE CITY COUNCIL DISTRICTS

Political experience: Charlotte City Council District 7 rep 2013-present; current vice chair, Economic Development and Budget committees Related experience: Financial advisor; former board member, Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont, Communities in Schools, and Blumenthal Performing Arts Platform: Small government, job creation, transparency

R

DISTRICT 6

INCUMBENT Political experience: Charlotte City Council District 6 rep 2017-present Related experience: Co-founder and executive director, Carolina Fintech Hub; formerly GE Capital, Wells Fargo and Wachovia Platform: Economic development, transportation, public safety

R

EDMUND DRIGGS

TARIQ BOKHARI

D NANCY WIGGINS

FOR THE ONLINE VERSION OF THIS BALLOT LISTING AND OTHER ELECTION 2022 RESOURCES, VISIT OUR WEBSITE BY SCANNING THE CODE OR GOING TO QCNERVE.COM

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Political experience: Planning commission, 1994-1999 and 2014-2020; former vice chair, Zoning Committee; former chair, Transportation Committee; former member, county Solid Waste Management Board Related experience: Commercial real estate broker; adjunct professor at UNC Charlotte, Johnson C. Smith, Queens, Winthrop, and Wingate universities; inducted to the Mecklenburg County Order of the Hornet in 2020 Platform: Crime, pedestrian safety, housing

ARTS FEATURE

OF THE LAND

Exhibit spotlights Catawba Indian Nation’s enduring clay pottery practices

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BY PAT MORAN

The Charlotte region’s oldest cultural tradition predates practically everything we’ve learned about our city’s heritage. Thomas Spratt settling near what is now Elizabeth, the fabled (and likely fabulist) Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, and British General Cornwallis calling The Queen City “a hornets’ nest” of rebellion as he fled the area — all are just recent blips on the radar screen, pebbles crushed by the rolling wheel of time compared to this curio of Charlotte’s real heritage.

The irony is that all who live in the Carolinas today can appreciate this millennia-old tradition because it has been maintained under adversity by a people who have been oppressed, dismissed and ignored for centuries. Perhaps this historic treasure trove has also been overlooked because it began with utilitarian intent; it is distinctive blue-graycolored pottery, including jars and jugs, used to gather water from the Catawba River by members of the Catawba Indian Nation for thousands of years.

“This is our oldest unbroken tradition,” says DeLesslin “Roo” George-Warren, an artist, educator and member of the Catawba Indian Nation, one of the indigenous Indian tribes that settled the Carolina Piedmont over 10,000 years ago. “We’ve never stopped making pottery. We never stopped teaching the next generation how to make pottery, even when it was literally just a handful of people still doing it.”

Though the Catawba Nation’s lands are today centered near Rock Hill, their people once spread across the region, says Angel Johnston, adult education specialist at Charlotte Museum of History.

“Thousands of years ago, the Catawba Nation settled here and chose to make this the center of their trade,” she adds. “It’s not a piece of history that is in the far-off past. It’s something that affects our lives here today.”

Johnston helped organize the museum’s current traveling exhibit, The Language of Clay: Catawba Indian Pottery & Oral Traditions, on loan from the USC Lancaster Native American Studies Center (NASC).

The exhibit features 41 clay pottery pieces from the 19th century to the present that boast Catawba Pottery’s distinctive blue-gray color, which comes

from clay dug from the flood plains of the Catawba River, thereby connecting the Catawba people to the land they have inhabited for thousands of years.

On March 26, museum visitors can take a deeper dive into Catawba pottery when the history museum offers free guided tours of the exhibit led by Stephen Criswell, director of the NASC. The two tours will bookend a live-streamed program about the art and history of Catawba pottery, hosted by George-Warren.

Now 30, George-Warren was born in Atlanta, where his mother attended law school. When he was 3, his family moved back to their hometown of Rock Hill, where George-Warren grew up right outside the reservation. His grandfather, Buck George, was assistant chief for 30 years. His aunt, Dr. Wenonah Haire, has been running the Catawba Cultural Center, located on the Catawba Nation reservation near Rock Hill, for more than three decades.

In 2017, George-Warren received a small grant from the organization Running Strong for American Indian Youth to begin working on the Catawba Nation’s language project. He worked at the Cultural Center before becoming an independent consultant for the tribe, a position he still holds today.

George-Warren says he expects most attendees of the virtual presentation will be non-native Carolinians, eager to learn more about the Nation and its most famous craft.

“My goal … when talking to non-native folks is almost always to try and unsettle them,” GeorgeWarren says. “One of the greatest struggles we have as a tribal nation is that people don’t know anything about us, because it’s not taught in schools in anything approaching an adequate way.”

He feels his mission when hosting talks and presentations is to foster understanding that the Catawba have a complicated history that is interconnected with the United States’ history. “[If you are] living in Rock Hill, Fort Mill, Charlotte [or in] the Piedmont in North Carolina and South Carolina — you are living on treaty land. You are in a legal obligation with the Catawba nation,” he offers.

That said, the presentation won’t be heavyhanded. George-Warren, a performance artist who studied music at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, will teach participants Catawba songs and share traditional and historical stories about his people.

The good earth

Methods for making pottery have remained consistent for the Catawba for thousands of years.

In fact, production methods have changed little since the Woodland (1000 B.C.E.–600 C.E.) and Mississippian (600–1600 C.E.) periods. First, raw

PIECES FROM THE LANGUAGE OF CLAY EXHIBIT AT CHARLOTTE MUSEUM OF HISTORY. PHOTO COURTESY OF CMOH

materials are “harvested” from clay pits that can stay in the possession of families for generations.

The location of each clay pit, and how the pit connects the families back to the land, is an important component for understanding Catawba pottery, Johnston says. It would be a mistake, however, to simplify that bond as “sacred” from a spiritual sense, says George-Warren, though the people who mine it do want to protect it. He notes that his family, which has been making pottery for generations, guards the location of their clay pit closely.

“The clay hole that I’m thinking of is one that my aunt made me dig mud out of,” George-Warren says. “It’s been used for 500 years and the vein has not gone dry. That would not be the case if we told everybody where the clay hole was.”

The pit needed to be kept secret from people who didn’t know proper practices — like how much clay to take out of the hole at any given time.

“There are ways of doing it so you’re not screwing over all the other potters that need clay,” GeorgeWarren maintains. In effect, sacredness is a way of designating that something is important and shouldn’t be treated as just a resource.

Once impurities are removed from the clay, Catawba pottery is made by hand with traditional coiling techniques. Handles and legs are pushed

through a hole punched into the pottery, rather than by applying them directly to the surface of the vessel. This means features like handles do not break off easily. Once the pot is air-dried, its surface is scraped even with a piece of bone or antler. Next it is rubbed with a smooth river stone to burnish the pot. Designs are then cut into the surface.

There is an array of design motifs. The figure of a turtle is a recurring motif. It ties in with the Catawba’s creation story, Johnston says, where the world rests on the turtle’s back.

“You’ll see turtles in the pottery in the exhibit — and in general,” she says. Recurring designs are not just a way to connect back to the land, they also create a kind of place marker that ties into the Catawba people’s culture, folklore and oral histories.

“I think of [motifs] as a little bit like the icons in the Eastern Orthodox church,” George-Warren says.

“They’re there to teach and [to help us] remember stories.” Images of snakes, often the black snake or the king snake, proliferate on the pottery. They symbolize protection, George-Warren says, and not just spiritual protection. Snakes are also ecological protectors for the Catawba people, keeping mice away from grain or seed jars adorned with images of the animal.

Humans are rarely depicted. When they are,

ARTS FEATURE the design has been mistakenly designated as an “indian head.” In fact, it is the image of one person, Chief Hagler, also called Nopkehee, who is depicted on the pots. To understand the importance of Nopkehee, who was chief from 1754 to 1763, it’s necessary to recap Catawba history.

A disappearing act

Resurgence

There was still another massive setback for the Catawba Nation to come. However, this hardship fueled a revival of the pottery tradition. In the early 20th century, the U.S. government, which had legally recognized the Catawba as an indigenous tribe, suddenly snatched that recognition away.

“At that point, the Catawba Nation is very small,” Johnston says. “They have to fight, starting in the 1950s, to get that recognition back.” That battle led to a revival of the cultural traditions that were

being lost. The Catawba received recognition from South Carolina in 1973, but the federal government lagged behind.

George-Warren says that, in addition to being an economic driver and a vessel for keeping the tribe’s cultural identity alive, Catawba pottery took on a new role as legal evidence.

“In the recognition process, you have to demonstrate that you are an indigenous community with indigenous traditions and kinship,” he says. “Pottery, as our only unbroken tradition, was evidence of those things. It literally became legal evidence that we are a tribe.”

Starting in the 1970s, the Catawba Nation saw a huge refocus and marketing initiative on the storytelling and continuity attached to pottery. The master potters, a generation of Catawba potters who kept the tradition alive during that period, were identified as the tribe’s indigenous ANGEL JOHNSTON AT CHARLOTTE MUSEUM OF HISTORY. elders, the ones who taught the PHOTO COURTESY OF CHARLOTTE MUSEUM OF HISTORY younger Catawba their culture.

After a protracted legal battle, the and the surrounding lands, he maintains.

U.S. finally restored tribal recognition to the Catawba “I hope that [the exhibit] helps people step Nation in 1993. into a curiosity about the land that we all share, Johnston points to pictures in The Language about our shared histories, and learning what those of Clay exhibit depicting elder women in the histories are,” he says. community. They are teaching pottery classes, “We want people to value the artisans and the and thereby preserving and fostering the Catawba cultural tradition that has been in our community for people’s longest running tradition. a very long time,” Johnston adds. “We want people to “I want to emphasize that this is a continual recognize that the tradition exists and that it is strong, tradition,” Johnston says. “In the exhibit, there are and will remain strong within the cultural zeitgeist if pieces from the 19th century, and also there are we as citizens decide that we want it to be.” pieces that were made 10 years ago.”

“History is never lost,” she says. “It’s [sometimes] She says the exhibit is a lot bigger than most not paid attention to by the folks who write history people expect, and it’s organized in a way that tells textbooks, but it is never lost.” the story of how the Catawba and their pottery have evolved. It also shares the stories the pottery has to Admission at Charlotte Museum of History is tell about the history of the Catawba Nation. free on March 26, but space for the Language of George-Warren hopes The Language of Clay Clay guided tours is limited, and pre-registration is fosters a love and respect for the Catawba Nation’s required. For information on how to buy Catawba pottery tradition. pottery, visit the Catawba Cultural Center’s website: “It’s so hard to fathom the scale of it, but the United catawbaindiancrafts.com.

States is maybe 250 years old, while the Catawba have PMORAN@QCNERVE.COM been here for 6,000 years,” he says. Rather than the Eurocentric history taught in U.S. schools, it is the Catawba tradition that is the true story of Charlotte

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George-Warren says archeology places the Catawba people in the Piedmont as early as 6,000 years ago.

From the 1500s to the early 1700s, the Catawba society was a confederacy of several villages connected through similar languages, cultural traditions, diplomacy, trade and family, George-Warren notes.

“One explorer in the early 1700s remarked that in one village there were at least 12 different languages being spoken. It was an interesting cosmopolitan, yet small village vibe,” he says.

The early 1700s also saw European settlers increasingly encroaching on Catawba land, as Catawba people continued to die from recurring smallpox epidemics.

An early count of the Catawba population by Spanish explorers in the 1600s was 15,000 to 25,000, Johnston says. Just 100 years later, that figure had dropped to 1,000. By the early 1800s, the once large tribe comprised fewer than 100 souls. Before that low ebb, Chief Hagler stepped upon history’s stage, as the Catawba confederacy transitioned to a nation.

European settlers referred to him as King Hagler or George, as an equivalent to Britain’s King George III, but today we would describe Hagler as more of a diplomat than a king. Used to a top-down power structure, European settlers found the Catawba’s hierarchy, or lack thereof, difficult to understand.

“For Catawba [people], sovereignty is inherent in every person. So when people come together to live together, sovereignty is created for that community,” George-Warren says. Among his accomplishments, Chief Hagler encouraged the Catawba people to abstain from alcohol, and he worked to negotiate fair treaties and land use agreements for the Catawba people.

Today, the Catawba honor him with their pottery.

Catawba pottery was used to maintain traditions, as well as a means of creating and adapting to new traditions, George-Warren says.

“When you look at Catawba pieces nowadays, they’re incredibly beautiful but not very utilitarian,” he says. One of the reasons Catawba turned to the land in the first place was to craft much-needed dishes, bowls and containers. In the 1700s, as ceramic and

metal containers became cheaper and easier to get, Catawba people started adapting the pottery.

“So, you see things like wall hangings, beautiful display pieces, things like that,” George-Warren says.

As pottery became increasingly produced for trade, the Catawba women who crafted the pottery were able to acquire economic power. They turned more and more to decorative styles of pottery as they became collectors’ items. This change of style is reflected in the new exhibit, says Johnston.

“You see the Catawba creating pottery to market to Europeans and imitating European styles,” she says.

Wedding jugs displayed in the exhibit mimic a European shape. The pieces cinch in the middle like a woman’s waist, but their distinctive blue-gray color remains, and nature motifs of snakes, turtles and leaves remain.

At the end of the 18th century, the Catawba had 20,000 acres of land, all technically owned by a woman named Sally New River. Despite increasing pottery trade and leadership like Chief Hagler’s, the Catawba Nation’s population continued to dwindle.

Then, from 1830 to 1850, the Andrew Jackson administration implemented the forced displacement of approximately 60,000 Native Americans. The Trail of Tears had begun, but the U.S. government didn’t bother with forcing the Catawba to leave. There were so few of them left, the administrators who guided the genocidal practice left the tribe alone. They figured the Catawba would die off on their own.

Instead, the Catawba prevailed and began a resurgence. In 1840, the tribe handed over their land to the state of South Carolina in exchange for new land for a reservation. Eventually the tribe moved onto a 630-acre tract on the bank of the Catawba River, in today’s York County, just outside Rock Hill.

Currently, there are 3,300 enrolled members of the Catawba tribal, not all whom live on the tribal lands.

The Catawba Cultural Center is currently housed in a historic school building located on the reservation. The center provides cultural immersion classes for Catawba children and adults, while also promoting the potters’ art.

COINED IN THE SOUTH 2022

BOB DYLAN Photo by William Claxton

Credit the Mint with making a money pun with Coined in the South; it’s the Mint, and the art and artists have been coined. Get it? Dad jokes aside, this second installment of the juried biennial exhibition was created in collaboration with the Young Affiliates of the Mint (YAMs). The show spotlights thought-provoking works by artists residing in the southeastern U.S. — in this case, 41 artists selected from 375 artist submissions. The artists range in age from 20 to 70 and come from a diverse array of backgrounds with riveting stories to tell.

More: $15; March 26–July 3; Mint Museum Uptown, 500 S. Tryon St.; mintmuseum.org

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RASMUS LEON, CINDERS, JPH

MSSV, SECRET GUEST, THOUSAND DOLLAR MOVIE

Rasmus Leon is William Stephen Davis, purveyor of evocative, lush and labyrinthine melodies as deep and dark as a mountain holler. But as much as Davis’ songcraft reflects the rolling, ever-changing Appalachian foothills where he grew up, his cinematic songs point to an internal landscape as well, where memory, reverie, regret and acceptance collide. An accomplished music video producer, Davis partnered with producer/drummer/mixer Stephen Warwick (Ancient Cities) to record his debut EP and the Foothills as he dismantled his dilapidated childhood home. Davis and his band will preview new tunes from a forthcoming LP that’s in the works.

More: $7; March 24, 8 p.m.; Petra’s, 1919 Commonwealth Ave.; petrasbar.com

mssv may be the greatest post-punk experimental super group since Dim Stars, a 1990s consortium that pooled members of noise rock godfathers Sonic Youth and punk pioneer Richard Hell. mssv’s punk era veteran and underground hero is bassist Mike Watt, founder of influential trio Minutemen. Watt is joined by Mike Baggetta, a fretboard master who is alternately gnarled and mellifluous; and drummer Stephen Hodges, who has gigged with Mavis Staples, Tom Waits, and David Lynch. Charlotte’s Thousand Dollar Movie crafts tunes in which Fugazistyle noise and snarling Sonic Youth guitars collide.

More: $12; March 29, 8 p.m.; Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St.; snugrock.com

VEGFEST JR.

BOB DYLAN

Launched 10 years ago as a small gathering in the Common Market Plaza Midwood parking lot, Vegfest is a boon to those who remember when there was nothing veggie to eat at local restaurants other than a head of iceberg lettuce. The culinary landscape has shifted since then, with Charlotte boasting vegan Chinese restaurant Ma Ma Wok and vegan drive-thru Romeo’s, among other eateries. A smaller version of September’s big Vegfest, Vegfest Jr. features a DJ, eight non-food vendors, a raffle, and 20 food vendors including Chef Joya, Chef Akil and Chef Julia Simon.

More: Free; March 24, 6:30 p.m.; Ford Building, Camp North End, 300 Camp Road; camp.nc/events/vegfest-jr

It’s impossible to imagine popular music without Bob Dylan. He pioneered genres ranging from confessional singer-songwriter to hard-hitting folk rock. He’s mystified generations with knotty lyrics that can be direct and spare on one level, while plumbing winding hallucinatory depths on another. As a vocalist, he proved you didn’t have to sound pretty to be enthralling. Fans once looked to Dylan for answers, but he was the first to say he is a conflicted seeker, too. It’s fitting that his latest album, Rough and Rowdy Ways, contains a song entitled “I Contain Multitudes.”

More: $62.50 and up; March 30, 8 p.m.; Ovens Auditorium, 2700 E. Independence Blvd.; boplex.com

ARTPOP STREET GALLERY

The Charlotte SHOUT! festival, which kicks off April 1, encompasses a variety of installations and activities including walking tours of mostly-vanished Black neighborhood Brooklyn, sidewalk illustrations by CLT Chalk Art, and the luminous and sounding seesaws of Impulse. For our money, the heart of the festival is the ArtPop Gallery at the SHOUT! Lounge, which will host art activations including immersive projected billboards, pop-up art studios with artists doing demos and talking about their work and upcycled fashion pieces made from vinyl billboards. Featured artists include Von Jeter, Chris Georgalas, Melissa Stutts, Mary Kamerer, Andrea Downs and more.

More: Free; April 1-16; SHOUT! Lounge, 401 S. Tryon St.; charlotteshout.com

THE GREATER CHARLOTTE BOOK CRAWL

The inaugural Greater Charlotte Book Crawl encourages local readers to support small businesses through the month of April. Reading enthusiasts can follow their downloadable passports to visit 11 independent book stores including I Read it in Books, The Book Rack, Park Road Books, The Urban Reader and more, in locations spread between Mecklenburg and Cabarrus counties. Several stores will collect donations for Promising Pages, a Charlotte nonprofit that provides books for under-resourced children, while others, like Shelves Bookstore, will donate books to Promising Pages from their wish list.

More: Free; April 1-30; store locations vary; greatercharlottebookcrawl.com

SHAKE THE DUST, ROMAN CANDLES

Charlotte-based Shake the Dust is comprised of guitarist and songwriter Phil Lomac, guitarist Craig Hanks, drummer Bob Simyon and bass player Chris Liberti. The band’s music nods to the FM countryrock sound of the 1970s, but its pensive, handcrafted modern guitar pop plays like a post-punk update of Bare Trees-era Fleetwood Mac while displaying little regard for the self-imposed barriers of genre. In fact, willful eclecticism, instilled in a teenaged Lomac when he watched the Berlin Wall came tumbling down, may be the closest Shake the Dust gets to a foundation.

More: $10; April 2. 8 p.m.; Starlight on 22nd, 422 E. 22nd St.; starlighton22nd.com

PHIL LOMAC Photo by Shane Combs

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FAMILY FIRST: MUSICAL POETRY WITH CURTIS LAVON

In honor of National Poetry Month, Family First participants will write poems with a rhythmic undertone. Writers will explore how to recognize poetic elements in the music they listen to, and what distinguishes musical poetry from literary poetry. Facilitator Curtis Lavon embarked on his journey as a poet in 2011 after suffering a series of heart attacks. “While I was in the hospital, I heard music, yet the room was either quiet or full of visitor chatter,” Lavon says. “And it was like I knew what I needed to do.”

More: $10; April 2, 12 p.m.; Gantt Center, 551 S. Tryon St.; ganttcenter.org

ANDY THE DOORBUM, PATOIS COUNSELORS, LOFIDELS, BOG LOAF

Singing in a gruff baritone pitched midway between hardscrabble folk and Gregorian chant, Andy Fenstermaker, better known as singer/songwriter and performance artist Andy the Doorbum, spins modern-day myths into tunes that sound as ancient and mysterious as Merlin’s incantations.

His performance art incorporates costumes and personae both strange and surreal — a hooded magician on a darkened stage, singing a nicotineravaged folk song; or a towering creature of the forest, bedecked in a horned headdress, which casts a shadow like an ancient glowering god.

More: $10; April 2, 9 p.m.; The Milestone, 400 Tuckaseegee Road; themilestone.club

LATIN/WORLD

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23

Marisela (Ovens Auditorium) Les Filles de Illighidad w/ Bravo Pueblo (Snug Harbor)

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Underoath Voyeurist (The Fillmore) Wishbone Ash (Neighborhood Theatre) Dipstick w/ Wes & the Railroaders, Family Friend (Snug Harbor)

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL Troy Conn plays Jeff Beck (Middle C Jazz)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA Tin Roof Echo w/ Douglass Thompson, Paul Lover (Evening Muse)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ Elderbrook (The Underground)

THURSDAY, MARCH 24 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Mom Rock (Evening Muse) Yatra w/ Nest, Kamikaze Zombie, Spite House (The Milestone) Rasmus Leon w/ Cinders, JPH (Petra’s)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ/EXPERIMENTAL TAYLOR ALXNDR w/ Quisol, KHX05 (Snug Harbor)

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL Norman Brown (Middle C Jazz)

GOSPEL/CHRISTIAN/RELIGIOUS Charlotte for Ukraine feat. John Mark McMillan (Visulite Theatre)

OPEN MIC

DOAP Hip-Hop Open Mic (Crown Station) Open Mic Night w/ Chase & Aleeia “Sug” Bolton Brown (Tommy’s Pub)

FRIDAY, MARCH 25 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Kendall Street Company w/ Underground Springhouse, Lua Flora (Amos’ Southend) Hey RICHARD w/ Empty Atlas, The Dirty Low Down, Monachopsis (The Milestone) The Bleeps w/ Mercury Dimes, Evergone (Tommy’s Pub)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B/BLUES Carson James w/ Mon Montage (World Nightclub)

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL

Charlotte Symphony: Barber Violin Concerto (Knight Theater) Nicolas Bearde (Middle C Jazz)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA Frank Foster w/ Crawford & Power (Coyote Joe’s)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ/EXPERIMENTAL

Human Resources w/ Daddy’s Beemer (Evening Muse) Lane 8 (The Fillmore) Revival Equinox Party feat. Andy Kastansas, That Guy Smitty, Scott Weaver, Probably Will, Dr. Mike P (Petra’s) Le Youth (SERJ)

FUNK/JAM BANDS GOSPEL/CHRISTIAN/RELIGIOUS

TOBYMAC (Bojangles Coliseum) Zachary Williams w/ Early James (Evening Muse)

SATURDAY, MARCH 26 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

The Walbournes w/ The Eccentrics (Evening Muse) Safari Room w/ Kaska Sun, The Mongos (Evening Muse) Dreamboat w/ Ogres, It’s Snakes, Tyler Baum (Petra’s)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B/BLUES

Mr. Cheeks (Crown Station) Epik High (The Fillmore) KYLE (The Underground) Flobots (Neighborhood Theatre)

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL

Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestra Spring Concert 2022 (Knight Theater) Charlotte Symphony: Barber Violin Concerto (Knight Theater) Nicolas Bearde (Middle C Jazz)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ/EXPERIMENTAL Digital Noir w/ DJ Spider (The Milestone) Krafty Kuts w/ Colombo (SERJ) Deep Fried Disco (Snug Harbor)

SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC Jay Hoff (Primal Brewery)

FUNK/JAM BANDS The Bloodworth Project (Smokey Joe’s Cafe & Bar)

LATIN/WORLD

Bad Bunny (Spectrum Center) Nattalie Rize w/ Tali Roots (Visulite Theatre)

SUNDAY, MARCH 27 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

The Maine w/ The Happy Fits, Charlotte Sands (Amos’Southend)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B/BLUES

Jhariah (Evening Muse) Omari & the Hellhounds (Comet Grill)

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/INSTRUMENTAL Chris Botti (Knight Theater)

SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC

Bob Fleming & the Cambria Iron Co. w/ Xtone G, Ryan Lockhart, Chris Gervais (The Milestone)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA Will Hoge w/ Liz Longley (Neighborhood Theatre)

GOSPEL/CHRISTIAN/RELIGIOUS Willis Hickerson Jr. w/ The El Lambert Band (Middle C Jazz)

MONDAY, MARCH 28

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/INSTRUMENTAL

The Conn/Davis Jazz Duo (Crown Station) The Bill Hanna Legacy Jazz Session (Petra’s)

OPEN MIC Find Your Muse Open Mic feat. Te’jani (Evening Muse)

TUESDAY, MARCH 29 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Haymaker w/ Dead Reckoning, Detest the Throne, Collective Insanity (The Milestone) mssv w/ Secret Guest, Thousand Dollar Movie (Snug Harbor)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ/EXPERIMENTAL Cosmic Jam (Crown Station)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA The Mastersons w/ The Whitmore Sisters (Neighborhood Theatre)

OPEN MIC Bold Music Open Mic (Evening Muse)

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Bob Dylan (Ovens Auditorium) Indighost w/ The Local Odyssey, Metaltape, Jackson Fig (The Milestone) Dipstick w/ Dreamboat, Family Video (Snug Harbor)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B/BLUES The Smoker’s Club (The Underground)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ/EXPERIMENTAL Remember Jones (Neighborhood Theatre)

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL The Marc Hoffman Quartet plays Tony Bennett (Middle C Jazz)

THURSDAY, MARCH 31 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

The Coursing w/ Mantra of Morta, Reign of Z, Bleedseason (Neighborhood Theatre)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Matt Heckler (Amos’ Southend) John Craigie w/ The Lowest Pair (Evening Muse)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B/BLUES Lil Tecca (The Underground)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ/EXPERIMENTAL Choir Boy w/ Riki, Secret Shame (Snug Harbor)

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL Queen’s Courts Legendary Musical Review (Middle C Jazz)

OPEN MIC

DOAP Hip-Hop Open Mic (Crown Station) Open Mic Night w/ Chase & Aleeia “Sug” Bolton Brown (Tommy’s Pub)

FRIDAY, APRIL 1 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

The Airborne Toxic Event (The Underground) Latepost w/ Oh! You Pretty Things, Dovecage, The Violet Exploit (The Milestone) Henry Rollins (Neighborhood Theatre) Telepathetics, Invader Houses, NA$A (Petra’s) Piece of Time (Iron Maiden tribute) (Amos’ Southend)

FUNK/JAM BANDS Coconut Groove performs Crosby, Stills & Nash (Middle C Jazz)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Lucy Kaplansky (Stage Door Theater) Michael Ray w/ Lewis Brice (Coyote Joe’s) Sandra McCracken (Evening Mue) Strung Like a Horse w/ Khaliko (Evening Muse)

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/INSTRUMENTAL

Charlotte Symphony Orchestra: Beethoven Meets ’90s Vibes (Knight Theater)

SATURDAY, APRIL 2 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

KIX w/ Testarossa (Amos’ Southend) Kaleo (The Fillmore) Keep Flying w/ Flight Club, The Word Around Town, Seneca Burns (Skylark Social Club) Violent Life Violent Death w/ HolyRoller, Good Good Grief (Snug Harbor) The Dirty Doors (The Doors tribute) (Visulite Theatre)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Matthew Perryman Jones w/ Brian Dunne (Evening Muse) Ian Noe (Neighborhood Theatre)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ/EXPERIMENTAL Andy the Doorbum w/ Patois Counselors, Lofidels, Bog Loaf (The Milestone) Alan Charmer w/ AXNT, Boy A/C (Petra’s) Au5 w/ Chime (SERJ) Borgore (World Nightclub)

SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC Tosco Music Party (Knight Theater)

FUNK/JAM BANDS

Toubab Krewe (Heist Brewey & Barrel Arts) Coconut Groove performs Crosby, Stills & Nash (Middle C Jazz)

LATIN/WORLD Skip Marley (The Underground)

SUNDAY, APRIL 3 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Reckoning Force w/ Caustic Agent, Mutant Strain, Headkicker, Militar (The Milestone)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B/BLUES New Edition (Spectrum Center)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Kayla Ray w/ Josh Morningstar (Evening Muse) Iron & Wine (Neighborhood Theatre)

MONDAY, APRIL 4 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Motrik w/ Pleasure House, Pheny (Snug Harbor)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA Laid Back Country Picker w/ Honey (Neighborhood Theatre)

OPEN MIC Find Your Muse Open Mic feat. Julie Haberstick (Evening Muse)

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/INSTRUMENTAL The Conn/Davis Jazz Duo (Crown Station)

TUESDAY, APRIL 5

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B/BLUES Key Glock (The Underground)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ/EXPERIMENTAL Cosmic Jam (Crown Station)

SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC Autumn Nicholas w/ Madeline Finn (Evening Muse) VISIT QCNERVE.COM FOR THE FULL SOUNDWAVE LISTING.

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Lettuce (Neighborhood Theatre)

Strike the Tower w/ Eavesdropper, My Blue Hope, Jackson Fig (Skylark Social Club) Dog Bite w/ Negulators,Longshot Odds,The Fill Inns (Tommy’s Pub)

MUSIC FEATURE

FREE YOUR MIND

Midas Black escapes his own personal hell with debut album

BY RYAN PITKIN

Usually when an artist drops an album, especially a debut, they want to spend some time pushing it out to the public — performing the songs and building a following around what they hope to become a defining piece of art.

For local singer, rapper and producer Midas Black, his debut album Free Midas, which dropped in December 2021, is already just a reminder of the past.

“A lot of people are telling me, ‘You should keep performing the songs, keep pushing the album,’” he told Queen City Nerve. “The only reason I don’t want to do that is, it’s really dark. I’m not in that place anymore, I’m really not.”

The Monroe native recorded Free Midas when he was struggling. Relationship trouble, financial issues and an over-reliance on self-medication had Midas, whose real name is Daniel Thomas, feeling trapped in a cycle of depression and negativity that he could only escape through self-expression and music.

What came out was an impressive, if downbeat, collection of 11 songs that are rooted in hip-hop but mix in aspects of R&B, mumble rap and emo alternative. He’s proud of the work, and rightfully so, but listening back to it brings up mixed emotions.

However, the feedback he’s received after dropping the album has helped him boost his self confidence, and learning how to love himself has helped him build stronger relationships with his family, his friends, and God, he said.

But before he could get there, he had to free Midas.

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The making of Midas Black

Like so many other musicians, Thomas’ interest in music started in church, watching his mother and grandmother sing as he grew up in Monroe. It remained only a minor interest, however, up until middle school, when at age 12 he received a laptop from his school in the hopes it would help him do his homework.

He was pleasantly surprised to find Audacity, an open-source digital audio editing app, downloaded on the computer.

MIDAS BLACK “Instead of doing schoolwork I would record songs on Audacity — record beats then record me rapping over that,” he said.

He took inspiration from his three favorite rappers at the time: T.I., Lil’ Wayne and Kanye West, with sprinklings of Gucci Mane, Ying Yang Twins and other Southern rappers. He got put onto Outkast thanks to his three older brothers.

After having fiddled around on Audacity, he grew an ear for production, specifically citing Drake’s Thank Me Later — which features beats from a list of iconic producers that includes Timbaland, Swizz Beatz and Kanye — as an album where he truly awoke to the possibilities of production.

Though he trailed off from the production side of things during his high school years, he never stopped writing songs.

Growing up in Monroe, a suburb located about 20 miles southeast of Charlotte, Thomas didn’t have trouble finding kids who shared his interest in hiphop, but he felt as though many weren’t sure how to pursue their passion.

“A lot of kids were actually really gifted, but I feel like coming from that area they were afraid to pursue that because we all run into the idea of ‘What

PHOTO BY JIG PRODUCTIONS

if.’ Like, ‘What if it doesn’t happen,’ or ‘What if people don’t like it?’ They start selling themselves short of their own expectations, and I started falling into that as well.”

It wasn’t until he moved to the Queen City that he began to truly pursue music as more than a hobby. When Thomas moved from Monroe to Charlotte to attend UNC Charlotte in 2018, he built a studio in his bedroom, which didn’t leave a lot of room for a bed. He put in a futon and slept on that.

He would wake up every morning in the studio and go to sleep in his studio.

He was listening to a lot of alt emo rapper XXXTentacion at the time, specifically the 2018 album ?, which inspired much of the sound he would curate on Free Midas.

“I was listening to X’s album and realized you can still create art that you love and still be versatile,” Thomas told Queen City Nerve. “You don’t have to be versatile within a box. I feel like that’s what’s happening a lot; people want to curate versatility within these restrictions. I feel like it’s being broken slightly, but whenever it gets broken it gets labeled too much as straight pop. It gets watered down. I just don’t like that. Just call it what it is; call it art.

Call it something you wasn’t expecting.”

It’s hard to know what to expect when listening to Free Midas, and that’s just how he wants it. The tracklist keeps a throughline but jumps around in genres and vibes.

“King Freestyle” is a melodic bop with soul.

“Yerp” is an auto-tuned joyride, the lightest track on the album, while “Lord Farquaad” is a repetitive banger over a Latin-style acoustic guitar riff. The song ends with a ferocious verse that Thomas describes as channeling his “raw aggression” at the time.

“Pony Boy” takes listeners into a psychedelic space, while “Normal” is a straightforward twominute track that follows Thomas through all the anxieties of a day in his shoes at the time.

The album peaks as it ends, with the final track pairing Midas with one of his closest friends, Charlotte-based R&B singer Trent Dominic.

“This World” isn’t just the only track on the album with a feature, it’s also the only one on which Thomas plays the guitar.

He describes his own playing as intermediate, but he knew he wanted to play on one of his own songs, so he woke up and set a goal to finish a whole

MUSIC FEATURE track by the end of the day.

“I was trying to push myself: ‘OK, sit with your guitar, come up with something, after you come up with something, take a little break if you need to, come back to it and start writing lyrics. Don’t just be like, “OK, I made this little guitar riff, made this guitar melody, that’s cool.” Naw, you need to come back and actually make something from it.’”

The process resulted in the most emotional track on the album, in which Midas most directly confronts his own demons over the acoustic track before going into the refrain, “Of course I’m afraid of this world/ Too much hate in this world/ Can’t stay in this world/ Ain’t made for this world/ Ain’t safe in this world/ Man I hate this world/ You can take this world…”

Midas gets free

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Though he was feeling more driven around his music, Thomas began to lose focus on other aspects of his life while recording Free Midas. He was working a full-time but low-paying job while also attending UNC Charlotte. He eventually began to burn out.

“While I was creating the album I was in a really dark place,” Thomas told Queen City Nerve.

“It was relationships, the lack of financial stability, and man, I was getting cross-faded, drinking and smoking every day not trying to feel the pain and emotions I was feeling.”

He dropped out of UNC Charlotte in 2020 and continued to work on music with his friends, collaborating with folks like Trent Dominic, Neb Hagos and Damani. Though it took him to some dark places, once he finally finished Free Midas and released it on Dec. 15, 2021, things finally began to turn around.

“It really helped me out of that dark place. I wanted to be out. That’s why it’s called Free Midas; I wanted to be free from the depression and the negativity, everything that I was dealing with mentally, emotionally and spiritually.”

The album release was a wake-up call, with so much support coming from each corner of Thomas’ life that he was able to shake himself out of the cycle he had felt he was stuck in.

“I never received that kind of support,” he said.

“That’s been driving me to want to keep creating and keep making songs — the stuff that I love, the stuff that I love making and really pushing the pen in that aspect.”

Thomas decided to go back to school, starting at Fayetteville State University early in February. He studies English, which he hopes to help him with songwriting. He feeds off the inspiration he gains from life at a small HBCU campus, where he said he doesn’t feel like just a number.

Musically, he wants to continue to work on his sound, both behind the boards and behind ‘FREE MIDAS’ DROPPED IN DECEMBER 2021. the mic, while working to collaborate with and inspire others who came up in the same DIY way that he did – kids from Monroe or any other town who don’t think they have any options where they live.

“What I really want to do is try to be somebody that the next generation can look at and understand that it doesn’t matter exactly where you came from.

You don’t have to come from the slums, you don’t have to come from Atlanta, you don’t have to move to L.A.,” he said. “You can do whatever you need to do and make the music you want to create however you want to create it no matter what you look like, WED, MAR 23 no matter what your name is, no matter where you came from. As long as you put your heart into it, TIN ROOF ECHO, there’s always going to be people that fuck with it.”

DOUGLASS THOMPSON, But before he can act as the driver, he has to keep PAUL LOVER the drive. He’s been putting together new tracks, THUR, MAR 24 venturing further into different genres inspired by bands like Tame Impala and Alabama Shakes.

“I definitely want to still have elements of it that are hip-hop and R&B — those are my roots — but I still FRI, MAR 25 want some pop elements and alternative elements,” he said of the new work he’s experimenting with.

One thing that will certianly change in Midas EARLY JAMES Black’s music is the tone of the lyrics. He’s in a whole HUMAN RESOURCES new mind state, after all, with a new outlook on DADDY’S BEEMER what artistry can look like.

“After coming out of that place, and seeing the love S A T, M A R 2 6 that [my friends and family] had for me for showing that vulnerability, I was like ‘Man, I can still be vulnerable, W/ THE ECCENTRICS but it doesn’t have to be me being vulnerable and sad.

I can be vulnerable with the amount of love that I have SAFARI ROOM, KASKA SUN for people. The amount of love that I have for myself.’

THE MONGOS And now [the music] is definitely brighter.”

So no, you can’t take this world. Not yet.

FOOD & DRINK FEATURE WHAT IS AUTHENTICITY?

Ho Ho Cherry House, Lam’s Kitchen and the myth of authentic Chinese food

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BY TIMOTHY DEPEUGH

If there is one guaranteed way to shake up standard dinner repartee with otherwise politically and culturally savvy friends, then it’s to ask whether the Chinese food you all are eating is authentic.

Half of the table will turn to you, eyes akimbo in disgust, aghast that you would even think to use that word in a conversation about food here in 2022. The other half, pausing to wipe the bits of cream cheese from the corners of their mouths, will look at you sympathetically, as though maybe you fell and hit your head on the way to the table, and ask, “Surely you’re not implying that crab Rangoon is authentic?”

It is. But more on that in a bit.

Despite our purest intentions, the word “authentic” in food discourse has worn out its welcome. Yes, the majority of us might use the word to describe the foods we hold near and dear – like grandma’s chicken and dumplings or Bubbe’s rugelach – but have you seen how the word has been used lately?

Take tacos, for instance. More often than not, when a food influencer asks her followers where she can get “authentic” tacos, what she’s really asking for are tacos at a certain price-point, most likely served from a truck, preferably parked in a back alley.

And why should that be? “Authentic” has come to be a synonym for “cheap,” or “food from some place with questionable sanitation,” or worse yet, as a guiltfree way to eat other food from an unfamiliar culture.

So much so that, as it applies to that dinner you’re having with your friends, you might actually be better off saying, “There is no such thing as authentic Chinese food.”

Then both halves of the table can be upset.

There is some truth to that statement, though, and for us here in Charlotte, the discussion is as active and delicious as ever. Lam’s Kitchen in Matthews and Ho Ho Cherry House in Elizabeth are both excellent restaurants, in fact, to frame that discussion, each one schooling diners on the meaning of “authenticity” as it is applied to the food of the vibrant, sprawling Chinese diaspora.

HONG KONG CRAB FROM LAM’S KITCHEN. Ho Ho Cherry House and the History of Crab Rangoon

The crab Rangoon at Ho Ho Cherry House, by the way, are as close to being textbook ideals of that Tiki-cum-American-Chinese food staple as I’ve ever seen.

Tiki? Oh, yes.

By some accounts, crab Rangoon was born of a post-WWII obsession with all things Tiki. The nascent Tiki food culture of the time borrowed heavily from a new and popular cuisine popping up on the West Coast in restaurants owned by Chinese immigrants.

It was then zhuzhed up with sugar, pineapple and paper umbrellas.

This coincided with the rise of cream cheese as a staple ingredient in American homes, and it’s as if the kitchens in Tiki restaurants at the time thought, “Why not? Let’s see what happens when we fry it.”

Rangoon – now Yangon in Myanmar, some 1,800+ miles away from Beijing and therefore far enough away from the U.S. to make people go “Ooohh” – was just the right bit of exotic branding to apply to something that couldn’t be more American, for what is crab Rangoon other than fried dough

PHOTO BY KENTY CHUNG filled with sweet cream cheese?

Diners at the time couldn’t get enough of this new snack, and Chinese immigrants borrowed back.

Crab Rangoon thus came to be because our great-grandparents willed it into existence, and those new American-Chinese restaurants were astute enough to keep frying them up in batches.

And at Ho Ho Cherry House, they are a fried wonder, crisp and airy, as delicate as a hummingbird egg, and stuffed generously with cream that you think tastes of crab only because “crab” is in the name.

They eat well by themselves, and you’ll want to eat them quickly, the better to marvel at how fresh from the fryer they are. But they are even better doused in a red sauce so coy and fluorescent that it would surprise no one if it turned out to be liquid, savory Jolly Ranchers.

And therein lies the appeal.

Sweet, salty and fried; is there a more profanely delicious combination? So much of the food at Ho Ho Cherry House, in fact, is acknowledgment of this truth – directly descended, as it were, from the great evolution of the Chinese immigrant experience as it

branched off into something new and distinctly American, their cuisine constantly evolving to accommodate the tastes of their new neighbors and customers.

I’ve come to be obsessed with their crispy scallion chicken for this very reason.

The kitchen here knows that fried chicken is in our blood and therefore seems to spend their time coming up with ways to make a perfect thing even more so. How to improve upon fat chunks of chicken, superbly fried and impossibly juicy? Slather it in a brown sauce that’s mischievous and spicy, with flecks of chili sparkling through like glitter.

Each bite is carnal pleasure, and the crisp batons of scallions are so pungent that taking in their aroma is not so far removed from huffing.

Ho Ho Cherry House has been in its current Elizabeth location for over 10 years, and when the pandemic hit, the restaurant pivoted to takeoutonly. Business hasn’t missed a beat. Is this because of teriyaki beef on a stick, sweet and tender like a lullaby? Or because of creamy, cold sesame noodles, perfect for mornings hungover after a night of drinking cheap beer?

FOOD & DRINK FEATURE It’s all part of the same thing, I would argue; authentic examples of a Chinese cuisine evolved to adapt to its surroundings, and food so delicious that it’s pandemic-proof.

Lam’s Kitchen and the formidable Hong Kong Lobster

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong lobster at Lam’s Kitchen already has a cult following.

It comes out on a plate, deep-fried, flayed, and posed in a way that makes it look like it put up a good fight. It is buried under a mountain of crisp ginger, scallions, and garlic, which work well as leftovers with rice the next day.

The lobster meat itself, once you finally get to it, is unimaginably sweet. The whole dish is the seafood equivalent of a statement piece. And if lobster isn’t available, a crab version is dressed equally to impress.

At Lam’s, this lobster represents a different branch of the evolutionary tree – food that is more in the style of what one might be tempted to call “authentic Chinese,” but food that I would argue is no more or no less authentic than its distant American cousin at Ho Ho Cherry House.

INFO@QCNERVE.COM HONG KONG LOBSTER AT LAM’S KITCHEN.

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The same immigrant experience that led to the evolution of a cuisine meant to appeal more to the local palate, here evolves into something more deferential and referential to the source. The results, which pay homage to both classic Cantonese and Szechuan styles, are universally thrilling.

You’ll be hard pressed to find more tender beef brisket anywhere, and at Lam’s it comes floating in a hotpot with a vibrant and glossy mala broth. The broth – oh, that heat is nearly effervescent as it numbs the tongue and clears the sinuses.

Take a bite of the daikon radish, which soaks up that broth like a sponge, then ask for extra napkins to wipe the sweat from your brow.

Just as outstanding here are any number of the noodle dishes. My favorite has been seafood chow fun with egg gravy.

Squid, shrimp and sweet, fat scallops are tossed together with vegetables and stir-fried in a sleek brown sauce. The chow fun noodles, thick like a lazy tongue, inhale the “wok hei,” and their smoky flavor is exhilarating.

Lam’s Kitchen, located in a strip mall in Matthews, is a place to bring friends. Every time I’ve been, the tables and booths have been filled with groups and laughter. The sparse, dark interior doesn’t allow for distractions from the food, except for the fish tanks.

On my last visit – in between bites of salt and pepper pork chops, which some in my group thought were the greatest things in the world – my friends and I were captivated by the giant Dungeness crab.

Conversation shifted immediately from “authentic Chinese food” to that crab, as we speculated, eyes akimbo in wonder and envy, who might eventually walk in to order that feast.

With the site of that gargantuan crab in front of us, authenticity momentarily gave way to comedy.

In fact, the only way the meal could have ended with more flourish would have been to crack open a fortune cookie to find a slip of paper that said, “There’s no such thing as authentic Chinese food.” At least then, everyone would have been in on the joke.

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LIFESTYLE COLUMN

THE SEEKER NURTURED BY NATURE Proud to plant myself on the couch

BY KATIE GRANT

It was a damp, bleak Saturday morning — a disappointing introduction to the weekend in which I was looking forward to bringing myself and the dogs to meet friends at the U.S. National Whitewater Center (USNWC).

I was mentally prepared to kick off spring festivities with the Green River Revival, watching as USNWC’s resident leprechaun transformed the river green for St Patrick’s Day while imbibing, socializing outdoors and listening to live music. Instead, I opted to stay indoors, cozy on the couch as a late-winter storm was forecasted to dump snow and other precipitation from Tennessee to Maine.

The fur babies were by my side, sleeping softly. I wasn’t experiencing FOMO or disappointed with this last-minute change of plans at all. After two years of the pandemic, I consider myself lucky in many ways — one of them being able to fully embrace my inner introvert.

After all, being alone doesn’t necessarily lead to feelings of loneliness.

Like so many others during the pandemic, I have proudly evolved into a plant parent. Flash-in-the-pan trend or not, I plan to continue nurturing my green thumb. Last weekend, during a break between spring grad courses, I attended a plant workshop at PlantHouse on Park Road. If you haven’t been, please put it on your to-do list. You can enjoy an alcoholic drink from their bar, stroll through their plant jungle, pick out the perfect house plant/pot combination, build a terrarium, or sign up for a workshop.

I attended the Kokedama plant workshop, the Japanese word for moss ball. Yes, I paid to make a moss ball. And yes, even introverts need social stimulation from time to time. But the zen experience was also paired perfectly with a girl-gang hang-out session and red wine from the PlantHouse bar. The event, followed by sushi and more wine, met my socialization quota for the month.

Hence, I do not feel the weight of missing out on Green River Revival festivities.

Instead, I was able to hang out with my dogs, wear fuzzy socks, drink coffee and gaze at my neatly crafted

: Y C S E A I G R

moss ball nestled on its window ledge. One week later, I can confirm it is still alive. Another green thumb success in the books!

The past two pandemic years have also rekindled my love for the great outdoors. When not toiling in my greenhouse trying not to kill my plant babies, my husband and I have been keen to explore areas of North Carolina that have typically been on our peripheral.

Last weekend, we made our best effort to trek Daffodil Flats in Linville Gorge, a popular but challenging 5.30-mile out-and-back hike. Yes, introverts enjoy time spent outdoors, and hiking is a glorious excuse to be alone with your thoughts!

After driving two hours out from Charlotte, the last stretch of road (about six miles) was a gravel road.

Once parked, we walked about a mile with the pups in unseasonably warm weather but decided to turn around.

Because the weather was too balmy for the baby beasts, we could only envision carrying them on the return route, which would have been straight up the side of a mountain.

We tucked tail and hit the road towards Catawba Brewing in Morganton, where the popular White Zombie brewer opened their original location and still has its production facility. While the trail may not have been dog-friendly, the brewery certainly was! Daffodil Flats bloom annually only for a few weeks in March, so instead of feeling totally bummed out, we plan to return next weekend for a second attempt.

The key takeaways from the misadventure were the

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need to invest in an all-wheel-drive vehicle and not hike with our four-legged friends when we genuinely want to feel nurtured by nature.

Being at home has also allowed the time for selfnurturing I did not know I needed. Have you ever taken the Myers-Briggs personality assessment? I am an Advocate, which means I have dominant Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Judging (INFJ) personality traits.

Advocates are the rarest personality types, which means everyone in my circle should feel blessed to have me in their lives (just kidding).

But seriously, when I learned I am an INFJ, I understood much more about myself! This type of personality combination can be perplexing; I can speak up for others but am soft-spoken otherwise. The transition from party girl (my college identity) to introvert (my adult, professional identity) has been wonderful, surprising, and completely unexpected.

The past few years have led me to turn over a new leaf and embrace my strong but silent personality type.

This leads me to a whole new set of worries: Will my career stagnate if I choose not to network? Will my longtime friends relinquish our relationships?

While I don’t know the outcome of such worries, I will continue nurturing my introverted personality through passion projects such as writing and gardening. And after 38 years on this planet, giving less fucks about what anyone else thinks about it may give me the freedom for growth I’ve been looking for.

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LIFESTYLE

HOROSCOPE MARCH 23 - MARCH 29

MARCH 30 - APRIL 5

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Put your restlessness LIBRA

(September 23 to October 22) Most ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Be careful about LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) An unusual to good use by indulging the Arian love of exploring problems surrounding that recent personal situation doing someone a favor when you don’t know the full request could put you in an awkward position. Best new places and seeking new challenges. There also have been resolved, and that means you should story behind the request. Don’t rely on someone’s advice: Deal with it immediately. The longer you could be a new romance waiting to be “discovered.” move on to other things that are important to you. unsubstantiated assurances. Insist on all the facts delay, the more difficult it will be to get out of it. before you act.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) A surprise message SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) Spend

from someone in your past could lead to a long- this weekend recharging your physical and spiritual TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) That workplace awaited reunion with a once-close friend. Also, look energies. When you return to your workaday world, problem still needs your attention before you for a workplace problem to be resolved in your favor. you’ll be ready to take on that new project. finally can close the book on it. Meanwhile, a longanticipated reunion gets closer to becoming a happy GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Your self-confidence SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) reality. is rising, and that should be a significant factor in Be careful how you advise a troubled friend. Even helping you adjust to a new social situation, as well your wise counsel could be misunderstood. Better to GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) You might be as adjusting to a series of changes in the workplace. suggest that he or she seek professional help. demanding more from others than they can give.

Best advice: Have a long and frank talk to determine CANCER (June 21 to July 22) Turnabout could be CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) Family what the facts are. Tensions should abate as the lots of fun when someone who previously accepted problems once again dominate and, once again, week winds down. your tender, loving care without question now everyone seeks your guidance in these matters. suggests that he or she wants to start taking care Later, you can indulge in some much-needed CANCER (June 21 to July 22) Aspects are favorable of you. throughout this week for making contacts that relaxation. could be important to your career plans. Meanwhile, LEO (July 23 to August 22) Put the lessons you AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) Some an old friend offers the advice you’re seeking. learned from past disappointments to work in mixed signals create confusion in the workplace. planning your future. The way ahead opens to Best advice: Ask for explanations before you attempt LEO (July 23 to August 22) It’s time to stop licking opportunities “purrfectly” suited to the adventurous to deal with any of these matters on your own. your wounds from past mistakes. Get up and get Lion. going toward your future. Loyal friends will be there PISCES (February 19 to March 20) A patch of to help the Lion get back into rip-roaring shape.

VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) This is a good roiling water in the workplace could be threatening, time to renew contacts with family members and/or but stay the course and you’ll soon be clear of it. VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) Take time out old friends who somehow slipped off your personal Then go out and have a great time with loved ones. to go over what’s expected of you before you begin viewing screen in recent years. Travel also is favored. your new project. Otherwise, you run the risk of pushing yourself harder than you need to.

(October 23 to November 21) You should feel recharged and ready for whatever your workaday world holds for you. The same positive energy spills over into your personal relationships.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21)

A prospect might be less than it appears to be.

Like the Archer in your sign, you always aim for the truth. And this is no time to settle for less than full disclosure.

CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) Start

doing some serious thinking about a career move that could entail more than just changing job sites.

Some lifestyle changes also might be involved.

AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) With tensions easing at the workplace, a more positive environment once again encourages the free flow of ideas so typical of the always-innovative Aquarian.

PISCES (February 19 to March 20) Show some of that usually hidden steel-strong Piscean backbone, and stand up for yourself if you hope to make a case for that promotion you know you deserve.

BORN THIS WEEK: You

Your extraordinary leadership qualities mark you as someone people can turn to for guidance in difficult situations.

enjoy doing new things and staying ahead of the crowd. You would make a fine sports coach or military leader.

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SCORPIO

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PG.19 PUZZLE ANSWERS

SAVAGE LOVE QUICKIES

A lack of action

BY DAN SAVAGE

My boyfriend and I have not had sex for more than two years. When I first asked him about it, he hemmed and hawed. When I pressed him, he said he doesn’t have any interest. I felt like he was not telling me the whole truth. When I suggested he tell his doctor, my boyfriend said he could not do that because his doctor is an old family friend. He won’t go to another doctor. I don’t know what to do. Staying in a long-term relationship without sex does not appeal to me. But I love him, so leaving him is not an option. On all other levels we have a great relationship. But I miss his cock and I miss intimacy. I have tried many things, but I am sick and tired of being refused. He will remove my hand from his cock if I touch it, and he does not seem to ever get hard anymore. I used to think that it was my fault but no longer accept the blame. What can I do?

UNHAPPY NOT HAVING ANY PENETRATION PLAY IN LITERALLY YEARS

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If you’re going to rule out leaving, UNHAPPILY, your options are staying and enduring a sexless existence or staying and having sex with other people. If you don’t wanna be accused of cheating, you’ll have to ask your boyfriend’s permission to seek sex elsewhere. If you don’t wanna ask his permission or you ask and don’t get it, well, then you’ll either have to endure a sexless existence or discreetly fuck other people when you have the chance.

(I hesitate to describe that as cheating in a case like yours, UNHAPPILY, since you wouldn’t be cheating your boyfriend out of anything he seems to want.)

I’m a 65-year-old gay man and over the past few years, I’ve completely lost interest in having sex with other men. Coincidentally, pleasure from the prostate has gone to a whole new level. I am now having the most intense and powerful prostateinduced orgasms one could ask for — like joining the universe intense. Do I need to see a therapist?

MY ORGASMS ARE NOW SENSATIONAL

Only if you’re unhappy, MOANS, and you don’t sound unhappy to me. (And if you were, you might be better off seeing a sex worker.)

I broke up with my boyfriend about one month ago after almost a year together. I’m 22 and he’s 20, and we met at work. A month after we

started dating, his mom died. He is a jealous and controlling person, whereas I’m a very friendly and outgoing person, and he didn’t like it that I had friends. He was constantly worried I was cheating on him, and I would reassure him as best I could. I tried to be understanding because, again, his mom had just died. But nothing helped.

A month ago, he starts yelling that he now knows for sure I had cheated on him at least three times, even if he doesn’t have any proof. (I never cheated on him.) So, I broke it off. But he continues to send me dozens of abusive text messages every day. At the same time, he makes excuses to see me. Two weeks ago, he came over to get his phone charger, which was not here. Today, he came demanding a sweatshirt, which I do not have. Between these surprise visits he sends text messages saying he would be happy if something terrible happened to me. What should I do? Blocking him isn’t an option, as we continue to work together, and must communicate for work-related reasons.

PUSHY EX ABUSING CONFUSED EX

Get him fired, PEACE. Show his text messages to your boss or to HR, and demand they do something about the hostile work environment he’s created for you, i.e., tell your bosses you expect them to fire him. If your employer won’t fire your ex, PEACE, talk to a lawyer about suing your employer and, if you must, seek employment elsewhere. I’m sorry this is being done to you, PEACE, and in the future … a controlling, possessive piece of shit who “constantly worries” you’re cheating on him needs to be dumped immediately. Because those sorts of “worries” always — always — become angry and sometimes violent accusations in the end.

Why do adult men want to look like prepubescent boys by cutting away their pubic hair?

Hair is masculine and should be allowed to thrive in its natural habitat.

BUSH LOVER IN MARYLAND

Are you suggesting you can’t tell the difference between a 30-year-old man who shaved his pubes and a prepubescent 11-year-old boy who doesn’t have any pubes to shave? Because if you can’t, BLIM, you shouldn’t be having sex with anyone.

Okay, wherever you are right now, BLIM, I’m sure you’re saying, “Of course I can tell the difference!”To which I would respond, if it’s unfair for me to suggest you can’t tell the difference between a 30-year-old man and an 11-year-old boy unless there are pubes present, it’s unfair for you to suggest that adult men who shave their pubes

are trying to pass themselves off as prepubescent boys.

(And why would they do that? To attract pedophiles who can’t tell the difference?) You can make your preference for hairy adult crotches clear to potential sex partners without impugning the motives or tastes of people who prefer to keep their adult crotches shaved or trimmed.

P.S. I get a lotta unsolicited dick pics in my line of work — not complaining, just saying — and half the dicks I see in any given week have pubes. So, there are plenty of naturally hairy guys out there for you to choose from, BLIM. I’ve been hooking up with someone for a while. It’s been okay, but not great, and I don’t want to do it anymore. She’s perfectly good people, very friendly, but we’re only fuck buddies and I’m not enjoying fucking that much. How can I end this nicely? A person can say, “Hey, it’s not you, it’s me,” when breaking up with a romantic partner. Somehow saying, “Hey, I don’t want to do this anymore,” to someone you’re just boning seems almost cruel, like I’m saying, “Hey, you suck in bed.” Do I need to make up a white lie? I’m in an ENM marriage, so I could say, “My partner wants to close things up for now,” but I kind of hate lying.

I’m a 29-year-old queer boy with a language question for you. I LOVE seeing other people piss.

Pissing at a urinal, pissing their pants, pissing in the tub, pissing on me. However, when I say to people, “I have a pee fetish,” invariably the response I get is, “I don’t want you to pee on me.”

I don’t want to pee on them! That literally does nothing for me! I’m only interested in other people pissing on or near me! No judgment on people who vibe with that, as my fetish relies on those wonderful people. But I’m just not turned on by my own piss. So, my question is, can you think of separate words or labels to better distinguish between people who like to pee on, people who like to be peed on, and people who like both?

PEE IS SUPER SEXY

Top/bottom/vers works for anal, it works for fisting, it works for BDSM, and it works for piss, too. And if telling someone you’re exclusively a piss bottom doesn’t do the trick, hand them a laminated printout of your question and my response. And if a guy still doesn’t get it after reading this, PISS, he’s probably not smart enough to find his dick and point it at you.

THIS IS THE END

Trust your instinct and lie — and that’s what, “It’s not you, it’s me,” is, right? It’s a lie, TITE, and everyone knows it’s a lie; the person who says it during a breakup knows it’s a lie, the person who hears it during a breakup knows it’s a lie. But it’s a lie most of us are comfortable being told.

Because when someone says, “It’s not you, it’s me,” what they’re saying to us is, “Look, I know this sucks and it hurts and I’m sorry and I don’t want to hurt you anymore than I have to and if it takes even a little bit of the hurt away for me to blame myself when we both know I don’t blame myself and that I want out of this relationship because you’re not who or what I want … I’m willing to do that.”

So, while you can’t avail yourself of the face-saving, ego-sparing, off-the-shelf “It’s not you, it’s me” lie, you can and should avail yourself of the lie you were workshopping there at the end of your question: “My partner wants to close things up for now.”

When the Bible says “come” it means cum. That seems rather important for deciphering its hidden meaning. It’s all about the importance of sperm retention. Dry ejaculation is the desert, Israelites are sperm cells, Jacob’s Ladder is fighting the urge to ejaculate, ejaculation is Christ rising to Heaven to meet God, Aaron’s rod is his penis, Moses’s staff is his penis, and so on.

INTENSE BIBLICAL STUDIES

I don’t argue with crazy people on subways, in restaurants, on airplanes, or at family gatherings. So, whatever you say, IBS, whatever you say.

Send questions to questions@savagelove.net; listen to Dan on the Savage Lovecast; follow Dan on Twitter @ FakeDanSavage; find columns, podcasts, books, merch and more at www.savage.love.

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