Queen City Nerve - November 1, 2023

VOLUME 5, ISSUE 25; NOVEMBER 1 - NOVEMBER 14; WWW.QCNERVE.COM

NAKED&

UNAFRAID

News:

Food:

By Annie Keough

pg. 4

pg. 16

Charlotte Nude Yoga advocates for naturism in the Queen City

Auditing bike policy Bang Bang Burgers in North Carolina turns 10

Pg. 2 NOVEMBER 1 - NOVEMBER 14, 2023 - QCNERVE.COM

@Q UEEN CI T Y N ERV E W W W.Q CN ERV E.COM PUBLISHER JUSTIN LAFRANCOIS

jla fra n c oi s @ q c n erve.c om

EDITOR - IN - CHIEF RYAN PITKIN

rp i t k i n @ q c n erve.c om

DIGITAL MANAGER RAYNE ANTRIM

ra n t ri m @ q c n erve.c om

STAFF WRITERS PAT MORAN

p m ora n @ q c n erve.c om ANNIE KEOUGH

a k eoug h @ q c n erve.c om ART DIRECTOR AIDEN SIOBHAN

aiden@triad-city-beat.com

AD SALES EXECUTIVE RENN WILSON

rw i ls on @ q c n erve.c om

QUE E N CI T Y NE RV E W E LCOME S SUBMI SSI ONS OF ALL K I NDS. PLE ASE SE ND SUBMI SSI ONS OR STORY PI TCHE S TO I NFO@QCNE RV E .

COM. QUE E N CI T Y NE RV E I S PUBLI SHE D E V E RY O T HE R W E DNE SDAY BY NE RV E ME DIA PRODUCT I ONS LLC. QUE E N CI T Y NE RV E I S LOCAT E D I N H YGGE CO WORK I NG AT 93 3 LOUI SE AV E NUE , CHARLO T T E , NC, 28204 . F I RST I SSUE OF QUE E N CI T Y NE RV E F RE E . E ACH ADDI T I ONAL I SSUE $1.

COVER PHOTO BY: HUCK BROYLES COVER DESIGN BY: AIDEN SIOBHAN

TO PLACE AN ADVERTISEMENT EMAIL INFO@QCNERVE.COM

TABLE OF CONTENTS NEWS & OPINION

4 The Slow Lane by Patrick Maynard

These cycling solutions are cheap and easy to implement, but would take action from NC lawmakers 6 Lifeline: Ten Cool Things To Do in Two Weeks

ARTS

8 Grin and Bare It by Annie Keough

Charlotte Nude Yoga advocates for naturism in the Charlotte area

10 Cultivating a Vision by Ryan Pitkin

Lions Services unveils mural to center local blind population

MUSIC

12 The Beauty of Bonds by Pat Moran

Queens University spotlights forgotten Black composer 14 Soundwave

FOOD & DRINK

16 The Huang Way by Ryan Pitkin

LIFESTYLE

18 Puzzles 20 The Seeker by Katie Grant 21 Horoscope 22 Savage Love Thanks to our contributors: Grant Baldwin, Katie Grant, Patrick Maynard, Rico Marcelo, Huck Broyles, Peter Taylor, Carl van Vechten, and Dan Savage.

Pg. 3 NOVEMBER 1 - NOVEMBER 14, 2023 - QCNERVE.COM

Bang Bang Burgers owner Joe Huang celebrates 10 years in business

NEWS & OPINION FEATURE

THE SLOW LANE

These cycling solutions are cheap and easy to implement, but would take action from NC lawmakers

Pg. 4 NOVEMBER 1 - NOVEMBER 14, 2023 - QCNERVE.COM

BY PATRICK MAYNARD

The parked bicycles outside the front entrance involve little physical infrastructure. We then asked of the main train station in Denmark’s capital are BikeWalkNC to rate which of the five most popular no surprise. Many cities have them — a few rows policies were already implemented on the state of slim, tubular frames before commuters go in the level. door.

The policies examined were as follows: But in this city, they keep going … around the -Explicitly allowing local communities to lower corner and onto a side street, then over a bridge at their speed limits wherever they’d like (not passed, the back of the station, then along the southwest though untrue of many state roads). edge of the station, all the way back to the front -Explicitly removing local communities’ legal entrance. ability to restrict cycling and require bike registration The station is completely surrounded — often by (not passed) three or four rows of parked bicycles. It’s no surprise -A “change lanes to pass” law allowing drivers that Copenhagen was ranked 4th worldwide in a to fully cross the double yellow to pass cyclists or, recent listing of cycling-friendly cities. failing that, a 3- or 4-foot passing law (a “change Even outside of Europe, cycling and transit lanes to pass” rule is state law in North Carolina) infrastructure rankings are becoming a key part -Allowing the Idaho Stop (not passed) of the way employers decide where to locate, -Explicitly using state law to remove regulations says Steven Goodridge, a board member for the on sidewalk riding (not implemented) advocacy group BikeWalkNC, with North Carolina ignoring such rankings at its own peril.

As seen above, only one of the five policies we “Some employers consider factors such as quality looked at had been fully implemented by the state. of life (as perceived by young professionals) and The most popular action in the poll, which would availability of multiple travel modes complementary be virtually free to put into law, was the idea of to individual car use, especially to widen the explicitly setting down in state policy the ability of demographic of potential employees,” Goodridge towns, cities and counties to set speed limits as low wrote in an email to Queen City Nerve. as they’d like on any road or street.

“Pleasant and convenient conditions for bicycling The World Health Organization has stated that can factor substantially into both of these,” he someone who is hit by a vehicle traveling at 50 miles continued. “Many young people today don’t want per hour has a three times higher risk of dying than to live and work in a place where they would need if they had been hit by a vehicle moving at 30 miles to use a car to get everywhere, and many valuable per hour. potential members of the work force don’t have There were 20 pedestrian deaths on Charlotte access to a car. Employers are starting to notice this.” city streets last year, according to data compiled by With that in mind, Queen City Nerve reached out Queen City Nerve. to more than a dozen cyclists and cycling policy While cities are free to set speed limits on their experts, asking them not for their ideal changes own streets, many streets are officially state roads, to a generic state’s cycling policy, but merely for on which cities must get state approval for speed their favorite cheap or free changes — things like limit reductions. instituting the Idaho Stop, which allows cyclists On the other hand, activists were nearly as to conserve momentum by treating stop signs as interested in preventing local control in one area — yields, and changing laws regarding how motorists the question of requirements for bike registrations pass cyclists.

— as they were in wanting to grant it where speed In other words: Seemingly easy wins that would limits were concerned.

CYCLING IS A WAY OF LIFE IN COPENHAGEN (ABOVE), BUT FAR FROM IT IN NC.

While BWNC director Terry Lansdell says there is no statewide ban on local bike registration laws, he also says there are no local bike registration laws in North Carolina, making the issue relatively moot for now.

“Other states and communities have already realized the futility of bicycle registration as a revenue generator,” Lansdell said. “It just is not feasible or financially manageable.”

No Idaho stops

The next item on the list — an Idaho stop law — is viewed by Lansdell as simply “not an option in this legislative climate.”

That’s potentially bad news for cyclists, as recent research has shown that such laws can improve safety for those on bikes.

A state policy overruling local riding-on-sidewalk laws, which have historically been disparately enforced against Black bicyclists, is also not presently in place.

Charlotte, for example, has a law stating that, “It shall be unlawful to operate a bicycle upon the public sidewalks located within the congested business district,” which refers to Uptown, South End and parts of West Tyvola Road in southwest Charlotte that were home to the Charlotte Coliseum at the time congested business districts were created.

PHOTO BY PATRICK MAYNARD

There is an exception for police, who can bike anywhere.

More fortunate in the legislature was a “change lanes to pass” rule, which has been codified into state law. That policy, which requires drivers to switch lanes when passing a cyclist, has been called a lifesaver by cycling advocates.

Policies that were also popular with polled activists, but which did not make the top five, included: A requirement that newly lined streets have staggered stop lines where cycle lanes are present Banning any new on-street perpendicular parking, which often leads to collisions Setting gas taxes as a percentage rather than a fixed price Declaring an intention to put the Dutch reach — a maneuver that can help prevent dangerous “dooring” of cyclists in unprotected bike lanes — into the next edition of driver safety manuals At least two advocates argued via email that it was important to not just reach for cheap solutions, with more expensive changes like protected bike lanes and cycling-only signaling being eventually necessary if the state is going to be serious about bikes. “[The rules Queen City Nerve analyzed] are all good policy changes; however, the most effective changes state or local governments can make to

NEWS & OPINION FEATURE encourage cycling are to build safe and comfortable bike infrastructure (especially protected bike lanes and shared-use paths),” wrote Martina Haggerty, senior director of local innovation at PeopleForBikes.

“Infrastructure is the top barrier to cycling participation,” Haggerty continued. “We recommend that state and local governments prioritize creating local funding mechanisms for bike infrastructure and passing Complete Streets mandates to create bike-friendly places that get more people riding bikes more often. “

A comprehensive plan

Middle of the pack

Back in Europe, the competition to unseat the Danish capital and other top-ranked cycling cities is fierce, with a British outlet openly asking “can we catch Copenhagen?”

Cities are adding not just features like indoor bicycle parking and double-width, sidewalk-level cycle lanes — a given in places among the top five these days — but also more innovative additions like heated cycle paths to melt snow and traffic signals that give cyclists additional priority on rainy days.

Copenhagen’s Nordic frenemy, Oslo, has gone even farther, essentially making its downtown area car-free.

American cities are moving forward with cycling infrastructure plans too, albeit at a more modest pace; Charlotte is somewhat predictably outranked

by Portland, Boston and Seattle in the global top 90, but it’s also beaten by surprise entrants such as the Motor City itself.

Detroit, having made big strides in its push toward more cycling action, is No. 72 in the Luko Global Bicycle Cities Index ranking, which doesn’t even include Charlotte.

PeopleForBikes has a more detailed ranking, which places Charlotte on the less functional end of the mid-tier of American cities.

Charlotte cycling advocate Pamela Murray says that low global rankings shouldn’t mean Charlotte should stop working to boost its bike culture.

“No change alone will move a state in the rankings,” Murray wrote in an email. “The rankings are opaque and not a great indicator of cycling in my opinion. Riding around a city will give you a better idea.”

INFO@QCNERVE.COM

Pg. 5 NOVEMBER 1 - NOVEMBER 14, 2023 - QCNERVE.COM

The Complete Streets movement includes not just cycling improvements, but pushes to boost pedestrian comfort and transit coverage.

A big factor in a city’s cycling ranking is rail transit availability — an area where Charlotte has seen growth in recent decades — which is increasingly becoming something big employers are looking for.

Still, there’s more work to do: A lack of transit was cited by one local developer as a main reason that Amazon shied away from North Carolina when picking a site for its enormous HQ2 office and research facility.

Amazon was vocal about transit in its original request for proposals, stating that it would only move such a large collection of highly paid employees to a place with good rail transportation for workers.

HQ2 eventually went to a transit-heavy suburb of Washington DC, which boasts a comprehensive, regional system for getting around by rail.

One common complaint by would-be cyclists — that the rolling, Piedmont terrain of North Carolina makes cycling less attractive here — is now increasingly mitigated by new technology, Haggerty says.

That makes cyclists a growing constituency statewide.

“The rise of electric assist bicycles (e-bikes) has made previous challenges like hills and longer distances a thing of the past,” Haggerty wrote.

“PeopleForBikes is making riding e-bikes easy and accessible for all by working to pass e-bike incentives in states and local communities nationwide. We’ve also created an e-bike incentive guide to help officials create great e-bike incentive programs.”

State Rep. Becky Carney, who has long been a legislative backer of cycling in the North Carolina General Assembly, says it would be quite feasible for North Carolina lawmakers to form a state bike

caucus, emulating the 1996 creation of a similar group that exists in Congress.

According to Carney, a caucus could be formed via the submission of a letter of intent that would include a brief description of the caucus, a mission statement, objectives, a membership roster, and a listing of the group’s leaders.

“State legislators who are organized in their efforts to move biking forward are always helpful,” Haggerty told Queen City Nerve.

“A simultaneous push at the national, state, and local levels is essential. Having elected officials at all levels who understand the need for bike infrastructure and champion bike-related legislation and funding is the best recipe for forward progress.”

Ongoing Thurs 11/2 11/1 - 11/4 AVANT GOODYEAR: HARRY SMITH

Filmmaker, musicologist, artist, and anthropologist, Harry Smith received a Lifetime Grammy for his seminal “Anthology of American Folk Music,” a three-album compilation created the folk revival of the 1960s and influenced everyone from Bob Dylan to Nick Cave. He’s been described as a “one-man cultural revolution.” Now Goodyear Arts has scored the world theatrical premieres of multiple new restorations of films by the underground legend. The week kicks off with Smith’s “Early Abstractions,” a collection of seven short films that pioneered handpainted animations in the 1940s, followed by Friday and Saturday screenings of Mahagonny, featuring Patti Smith and set in the Chelsea hotel.

More: Free; Nov. 1-4, times vary; Independent Picture House, 4237 Raleigh St.; independentpicturehouse. org

HARRY SMITH Archives

11/1-11/4

FRI

11/3

Pg. 6 NOVEMBER 1 - NOVEMBER 14, 2023 - QCNERVE.COM

AASHER, EASTSIDE BROTHA, BLE DLO, CAPONE

CHARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG HISTORIC LANDMARKS 50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

Nerds know how to party, too. Mecklenburg County’s Historic Landmarks Department (HLD) is calling all history and architecture lovers to attend this half-centennial celebration of the CharlotteMecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission, with a panel discussion moderated by HLD director Stewart Gray and featuring Terri White of Charlotte Museum of History, Tom Mayes of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Renee Pride-Dunlap of the Oaklawn Park Historic District, and community historian Tom Hanchett with a special appearance

by Jack Thomson of Preservation North Carolina.

More: Free, RSVP required; Nov. 2, 6:30 p.m.; Camp North End’s Gama Goat Building, 1801 N. Graham St., Suite 200; tinyurl.com/CMHLTurns50

Ongoing sat 11/4 11/3 - 11/18 ‘THE LEHMAN TRILOGY’

Three Bone Theatre becomes one of the first Citing influences as diverse as Nina Simone, Kendrick companies in the country to run this renowned Lamar and Michael Jackson, Aasher began making play from Stefano Massini since it cleaned up at music as a drummer. On “R.U.N.N.I.N.G A.W.A.Y.,” the 2022 Tony Awards, taking home five of the plangent jazz chords and gospel backing vocals coveted trophies, including for Best Play. Directed by set up Aasher’s husky mea culpa to faults specified David Winitsky, founder and artistic director for the and unspecified that are pulling his life apart; the national Jewish Plays Project, the production follows specifics don’t matter when the emotions run this the lives of three now-infamous immigrant brothers raw. With liquid guitars and doo-wop choruses, from the moment they arrived in America and Eastside Brotha fuses retro elements into afterhours founded an investment firm through to the collapse stream-of-consciousness monologue “Freudian of the company in 2008. Becca Worthington, one of Interlude,” along with BLE Dlo’s melodic vulnerability three actors taking on dozens of roles in the local and Capone’s sharp wit. An all-Charlotte, all-ages run, becomes the first woman to ever act in the piece, globally. bill at The Muse.

More: $12-$15; Nov. 3, 10 p.m.; Evening Muse, More: $10-$30; Nov. 3-18, 6:30 p.m.; Arts Factory, 1545 W. Trade St.; threebonetheatre.com 3227 N. Davidson St.; eveningmuse.com

MARIA NAPIER ART OPENING

Maria Napier is a Colombian-American artist based in Charlotte who uses her degrees in psychology and communication studies from UNC Charlotte to better understand human behavior, then express her observations through art. Her deconstructed style, which takes the shape of mediums ranging from colorful illustrations and mixed media to sculptures and 3D pieces, aims to inspire new perspectives on mental health and social issues. Much of her work utilizes recycled materials. This Artisan’s Palate opening will also feature live music from local singer/songwriter Sky Noblezada and, of course, a full menu of great food and cocktails.

More: Free; Nov. 4, 6:30-9:30 p.m.; The Artisan’s Palate, 1218 E. 36th St.; tinyurl.com/MariaNapier

AASHER Promotional photo

11/3

WED 11/8 SWAE, NOIR NOIR, PET BUG

With plaintive every-guy vocals, guitars that soar from a jangle to a roar and splashy drums, Queen City alt-art rockers Swae get the dance floor moving while captivating listeners’ emotions with a wistful and sincere stance. Noir Noir embodies late-night romantic and rocking nu-soul, collecting raw emotion, liquid keys and chiming guitar in the well of souls. Loopy 1960s Brit-pop strained through a garage-rock filter and seasoned with wayward doo-wop vocals; that’s the best description we can summon for Charlotte’s Pet Bug — except to add that they’re marvelous.

More: $12.30; Nov. 8, 9 p.m.; Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St.; snugrock.com

THUR 11/9

FRI

LILIAC, LIVING IN GOMORRAH

UNWED SAILOR, TONGUES OF FIRE, EGO DEATH MACHINE

A five-piece hard-rock band from L.A., Liliac is also an accomplished family act comprised of siblings. But here the polish is not too slick, sharpening songs like the sensual Siouxsie and the Banshees-meet-AC/ DC old-school grindcore rave-up “Carousel,” and the stentorian Nina Hagen-traipsing-amid-encirclingsquealing-guitars anthem “Rebel Girl.” Under Liliac’s shiny surface lurks even more surface, but the band’s as sassy as the Runaways and as giddily self-serious as The Sisters of Mercy. Stentorian and earnest rockers Living in Gomorrah suggest a mash-up of Muse and Live.

More: $5; Nov. 9, 7 p.m.; Amos’ Southend, 1423 S. Tryon St.; amossouthend.com LILIAC Promotional photo

11/9

SAT 11/11

11/10

Like an unhinged mariner, indie-rock stalwart Unwed Sailor (Jonathon Ford) crafts melodic tunes like lengths of rope riddled with nautical knots — the musical equivalent of the bowline, cleat hitch and half-hitch where he attaches post-rock rhythms, U2-style digitized guitars and sinuous basslines derived from the bittersweet grooves of New Order’s Peter Hook. With frantic booming drums and stinging guitars, Asheville’s Tongues of Fire suggest a far more neurotic and housebound version of The Ramones. Like a heavy-metal version of Residents, Charlotte’s Ego Death Machine conjures hazy unquiet dreams of the apocalypse.

More: $12; Nov. 10, 8 p.m.; Petra’s, 1919 Commonwealth Ave.; petrasbar.com

TONGUES OF FIRE Courtesy of Tongues of Fire

11/10

SAT 11/11

SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE CASE OF MARGARITA & MIMOSA FESTIVAL By mid-November, you’re already starting to see THE MISSING MAESTRO

‘SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE CASE OF THE MISSING MAESTRO Photo courtesy of Charlotte Symphony

11/11

Christmas stuff on full display in retail stores, if not outside of your neighbors’ homes just yet. There are some who remain in denial about the cold season, however, and this event is for them. Billed as part bar hop and part delicious summer cocktail celebration, this crawl includes six bars in the area of East 5th and North Tryon streets: Prohibition, The Local, Connolly’s on 5th, The Daily, Dandelion Market and SIP, all of which will be serving up refreshing specials on margs, mimos, hard seltzers and more.

Get your last taste of summer before it starts to really get cold.

More: $26-$29 (drinks not included); Nov. 11, 2-8 p.m.; North Tryon Street & East 5th Street, Uptown; margaritasfest.eventbrite.com QUEEN CITY HBCU COOKOUT Photo by Boyd Joye Photography

8/5

Pg. 7 NOVEMBER 1 - NOVEMBER 14, 2023 - QCNERVE.COM

From coked-up Nicol Williamson imbibing The Seven-Per-Cent Solution to Benedict Cumberbatch’s high-functioning sociopath in BBC’s Sherlock, we’re onboard for anything featuring 221B Baker Street’s master detective. With this family-friendly caper, Sherlock Holmes is called in by Charlotte Symphony to solve the mystery of the missing maestro. Holmes tracks down the vanished conductor, along the way introducing young listeners to the various instrument groups — brass, woodwinds, strings and percussion. We deduce that this mellifluous puzzle is a clever updating of Benjamin Britten’s “The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.”

More: $10-$24; Nov. 11, 11 a.m.; Knight Theater, 430 S. Tryon St.; blumenthalarts.org

ARTS FEATURE

GRIN AND BARE IT

Charlotte Nude Yoga advocates for naturism in the Charlotte area

Pg. 8 NOVEMBER 1 - NOVEMBER 14, 2023 - QCNERVE.COM

BY ANNIE KEOUGH

Getting naked is the hard part. Everything after After five minutes of sitting on my yoga mat in my that is rather easy. underwear surrounded by my fully nude classmates Leading up to my first Charlotte Nude Yoga class while they hugged, laughed and indulged in a space on Oct. 13, I was so preoccupied with the idea of with no confinements, I understood what he meant. being naked around strangers that I hadn’t actually Eventually I thought, “Fuck it.” Once I stripped considered the challenge that physically taking off myself of inhibitions, there was nothing left to do my clothes would hold. but go all in.

The first decision involved where I would strip down.

The creation of Charlotte Nude Yoga “I usually find myself at the front [of the class],” Carolina Young Naturist Association Social Club Huck Broyles told me. It made sense that Broyles (CYNA), a Charlotte-based naturist (aka nudist) would be front and center, as he is the founder of club based in Charlotte that caters to people aged Charlotte Nude Yoga. I, on the other hand, chose a 18-45, began in 2018 out of a passion and love for corner where I felt comfortable. recreational nude activity.

I noticed the barn was warm but not oppressively Raised in a conservative household in Charlotte, so; the large fan to my right provided calming white Broyles had always been afraid of being seen naked. noise along with cool air. Red and yellow curtains “From a young age, we’re pretty much all kind covered the windows of Big Love Yoga Barn’s garage of indoctrinated into this sense that our private door to my left and a dark partition stood in front of parts have to be hidden at all times and that there’s the door next to it. something bad about them inherently,” he said. “Our The dimmed lights accentuated the swirl of neon culture then teaches children, who become adults, covering all four walls, the “You are love, share love” to shame naked bodies.” sign on the front wall offset by the intricate circle When Broyles had the opportunity to visit nude focal point. beaches during a study abroad trip to Barcelona, his Broyles said he tries to get to classes early to set views changed. up and strip nude for incoming participants. He’s “I had an amazing experience out there that found that doing such eases the awkwardness and opened my eyes to naturism,” he said. encourages newcomers to reach the comfort level to Broyles still remembers the connection he made undress. with a woman on the beach. A small translation “Honestly, when I’m in a setting like that and I’m mishap led to an hours-long conversation, one he the only clothed person, I feel more awkward,” he intended to continue a few weeks later when he told me before the class. took a few friends to the restaurant she worked at.

While everyone is required to participate in the On the beach, Broyles had been vaguely aware nude aspect of class as a security measure — “If of her tattoos and piercings, but in a clothed you’re gonna be clothed in a nude yoga class, why environment, her black t-shirt, cargo pants and are you in a nude yoga class?” Broyles asked — combat boots formed a separate judgment. Broyles women are allowed to wear bottoms at all times, a felt himself immediately placing her in a box — technicality I thought I would take full advantage of. forming a wholly different idea of her than he had

PARTICIPANTS AT A CHARLOTTE NUDE YOGA CLASS.

PHOTO BY HUCK BROYLES

formed during hours of conversation on the beach.

Recently, Broyles decided to maintain CNY as “[The experience] brought to my attention an independent affiliate of CYNA while the larger how much clothes change our perception of other organization goes through the nonprofit submittal people,” he said. “Clothing, in our society, is used to process. delineate people.”

CNY found a home at the Big Love Yoga Barn, a After returning to the States, Broyles found the space behind Pure Pizza on Central Avenue in Plaza naturist scene he came to love in Spain was nearly Midwood, though it took some convincing to let nonexistent in Charlotte. The resorts he did find hosted them host their events there. an older demographic and were a far drive from the city.

“Some of the board members of the [Big Love Finally, in 2018, Broyles found a naturist Meetup Yoga Barn] nonprofit are a bit conservative,” said group for young people. The problem with the group Jason Kierce, who founded the community center. “I at that point, however, was that they never met up. had [Broyles] write up … a letter as to why he feels After several months of waiting, Broyles contacted good with the naturist lifestyle, and how it would fit the owner of the group to discuss more regular in with the Big Love Yoga Barn’s philosophy of love programming and activities. and expansion and consciousness and connecting From that discussion, Broyles eventually joined community.” the Meetup organizer, Brian Garcia, and another In the letter, Broyles detailed his encounter man named Jonathan Organ to form the Charlotte with the woman on the beach in Barcelona and his Young Naturists Association. The group has since authentic devotion to nudism. He was able to sway rebranded from its original Charlotte branding to the members of the board who had held out. the Carolina Young Naturist Association Social Club “Naturism strips away the superficial indicators (CYNA) to include members across both states. we as people use to form our concept of others and “Our goal is to promote body positivity, self- who they are,” Broyles wrote. “In my experiences, acceptance, acceptance of your body and others naturism has always yielded a profoundly more and de-sexualizing nudity and helping to break the expeditious and genuine bonding experience stigma that society and media have placed around between myself and others.” our naked bodies,” Broyles said.

I had the privilege of experiencing one of those His vision for the group began with one regularly connections. In my group was Nora, a woman from scheduled event that members could count on: Hungary who had landed in Charlotte just the day Charlotte Nude Yoga (CNY). before the event.

“I knew that if I didn’t organize [the events], I’d We didn’t speak to each other during the class, but never have the opportunity to participate in them,” after the session, as with every class, all members Broyles said. were invited for a beer at Legion Brewing. Broyles

ARTS FEATURE introduced us and within a few minutes we were discussing our insecurities living in our bodies and the anxiety of being bare in front of others.

Birthing three children had taken a toll on Nora’s body, she said, and she wasn’t ready to face the reality of what it had become. She explained that her country’s culture is very traditional and, rather than developing a body-shaming complex, she developed a self-shaming one.

Having events like CNY in Hungary could have helped her accept her body as it is now, she said.

“We are what we are,” she said to me after class, sounding as if she were making a realization as she said it.

A safe space

While CNY is a sex-positive organization and discussions surrounding sex are welcome, Broyles emphasizes that it is far from the focal point of the social club.

“There is an assumption with most people that are unfamiliar with naturism that these events are somehow, in some way, sexual,” Broyles said. “That couldn’t be any further from the truth.”

Making sexual advances or commenting on someone’s physical appearance will result in immediate removal from a class.

Dani Bernall, a CNY instructor and registered yoga teacher at Charlotte Yoga with 200 hours of training, started with CNY in early 2022 after Broyles reached out to her yoga studio about potential instructors.

Although Bernall had never participated in any

acceptance and camaraderie breaks down the walls sharing spaces with men and the trauma attached of ignorance, and the mindset of the community to it. “If it was just for women and queer people, I and space they propagate incentivises attendees to would do it,” they would say. behave accordingly.

“In all the yoga classes that I’ve done, I’ve never once felt uncomfortable by the guys,” they said.

“They’ve all been very respectful … and are there Spreading the word As with mostly any small business these days, for their enjoyment of being nude.”

But the mother of invention is necessity, Culler Broyles has taken to social media to market CNY said, and there was a need to create a space where in an effort to attract new members. Instagram, women and queer folks felt safe. however, is creating barriers to its growth.

Culler went to Broyles asking if he’d be okay with Citing nudity, the platform will not show CNY’s content to people who don’t follow its account and them starting a byproduct of Nude Yoga. Broyles told her to go for it. restricts its profile to people 18+.

Broyles didn’t see it as a shunning of his original Broyles agrees with the latter restriction — people under the age of 18 aren’t allowed in CNY event series but an expansion.

“Ultimately, that’s why I want to do these things, classes anyway — though he’s been disappointed to bring more nude events to Charlotte and continue at the platform censoring his posts, which do not to grow this space,” he explained. show full-frontal nudity.

As a genderfluid nonbinary person, Culler didn’t “The issue I have is that the additional protection want to restrict their class to only women, saying it depicted is in addition to the censorship tactics it already employs to hide, restrict and remove content would perpetuate the feeling of not fitting in with a from the platform,” he wrote in an Instagram post specific community.

Culler’s first women and queer nude yoga class about the shadow ban. “By implementing both at Big Love Yoga Barn in October allowed 10 trans, measures, Instagram essentially eradicates your non-binary and women participants to experience presence on their platform.”

Instagram also made Broyles remove several of nude yoga in a space without cisgender, straight CNY’s AI-generated posts of semi-nude bodies. He men, giving them the extra safety they needed.

Culler’s women and queer nude yoga classes will said he’s appealed the decision multiple times and fall on the second Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. the platform has continuously upheld its decision to “My instructor team has been instrumental in remove the posts.

Broyles is baffled by the lack of consistency in the success of CNY+, its longevity, and the sense of how Instagram applies its guidelines. An account safety and security that our attendees consistently that promotes thefudeexperience, a national food- report feeling after they’ve attended,” Broyles said.

The experience didn’t completely reshape the based naturalist event company, posts similar photos to CNY, blurring or otherwise covering way I see and feel about my body. Honestly, the people’s privates, but Broyles believes the account novelty of being nude wore off within 10 minutes, doesn’t seem to have the same difficulties as CNY. as I was left to deal with the yoga part of nude yoga.

And yet during the hour I spent amid others’ pure He attributes the inconsistencies to Instagram’s and passionate love for naturism and the exploration favor over large accounts, which disadvantages of a self unhindered by clothes, I felt a type of silent smaller ones like his.

“Other than Instagram, I don’t really know where liberation and acceptance I’d been a stranger to in to reach new potential clients except for a ground clothed environments. And that is a feeling I would recommend to anyone willing to experience it. campaign with flyers,” Broyles said.

“At the root of it all, we are all the same,” Broyles Despite the advertising challenges, Broyles remains optimistic in his goal to spread awareness said. “We all have the same parts, are all made up of the same things. around naturism. The word has been spreading.

“I think seeing that helps reinforce the fact that nudity does not equal sex,” he continued. “I have Something for everyone While I never felt unsafe during the co-ed CNY nothing to be ashamed of about my body. People class, it’s understandable that some women and accept me and love me for who I am, regardless of queer folks may feel especially uncomfortable being what I look like.”

naked around strangers.

After asking their friends to attend one of her PHOTO BY HUCK BROYLES classes, Culler learned about their hesitation in

AKEOUGH@QCNERVE.COM

Pg. 9 NOVEMBER 1 - NOVEMBER 14, 2023 - QCNERVE.COM

CLASSES TAKE PLACE AT THE BIG LOVE YOGA BARN.

type of nudistry, she was open to the idea — as long as she could stay clothed.

Rey Culler, another 200-hour certified instructor for CNY, expressed a similar apprehension before teaching their first class.

“As an instructor, realizing you have 30 people staring at you, it’s a little different than being just a participant,” she said.

As Bernall got to know the community and became more familiar with Broyles’ passion for holding space for naturists, she found clothes were not a boundary she needed to put up for herself. “[I realized] it was okay to just be,” she said.

“Something about being in a room with people that are okay being in [a nude] environment and just being themselves makes you feel comfortable enough to open up to the full idea.”

“Nude Yoga is so in line with what yoga is at its core,” added Culler. “Yoga is about bearing yourself, and what better way to bear yourself than to bear your body? There’s nothing left to fix or adjust and you just show up exactly as you are and learn to accept yourself exactly as you are.”

Broyles said participant safety is a top concern of his during CNY meet-ups, one that he was incredibly paranoid about in the beginning. Since the start, however, there has never been an issue with misconduct.

I expressed my surprise at that fact to Broyles, but he insisted, attributing the lack of misconduct to the personality types of those drawn to naturism.

“I feel like some of those behaviors and comments come from insecurity … and never having been exposed to [naturism] before,” he said.

Broyles believes that entering into a space of

ARTS FEATURE

CULTIVATING A VISION Lions Services unveils mural to center local blind population

Pg. 10 NOVEMBER 1 - NOVEMBER 14, 2023 - QCNERVE.COM

BY RYAN PITKIN

A team of artists joined staff with local nonprofit Lions Services at the organization’s North Tryon Street facility on Oct. 26 morning to unveil a new mural that aims to highlight the work being done

by Lions, centering the nearly 100 visually impaired employees who work there.

Located on the newly renovated accessible patio for blind employees, the mural is the result of an outreach process in which local artist Sydney Duarte and her Duarte Designs team consulted with a focus group of Lions Services employees who provided input.

Once fully finished, the mural will incorporate tactile and audio features, including a variety of inspirational messages written in braille.

“There are people with disabilities in your community, who have a visual impairment,” said Duarte, describing the intended message of the project. “They’re living their lives, too, just like you.

An independent life is possible for people who are blind or visually impaired, and this is a way to celebrate it, by sharing visually impaired experiences through art.”

The idea for the mural was born from the Art Is for Everyone descriptive walking tour, launched in April 2022 in a partnership between ArtWalks Charlotte, Disability Rights & Resources and Metrolina Association for the Blind.

Duarte served as the artist lead on the initial Art Is for Everyone tour, in which audio descriptions were written, recorded and paired with nine works of art around the city so as to be enjoyed by low- to no-sight participants.

Feedback from some of the first participants, including several Lions Services staff members who joined that day, showed that blind and visually impaired folks wished that more art that represented people like them existed in the city.

engage with blind people, and so what we want to do is be a focal point for Charlotte to say, ‘Blindness is just a thing like having blonde hair.’

“It’s just a characteristic and it doesn’t mean that you’re less of a person and it doesn’t mean that you can do anything less,” he continued. “What it does mean is we just need maybe an elbow to get us around. That’s what this mural represents.”

According to the American Foundation for the Blind, more than 32 million American adults have reported experiencing vision loss, meaning blindness or difficulty seeing even with glasses or contact lenses.

Queen City Nerve toured The Bob Elliot Center for the Blind on Thursday, where approximately 200 people, about half of whom are blind, work at different manufacturing jobs, many of which involve textiles for military products such as camouflage pants for the Army.

The warehouse is fitted throughout with subtle but important upgrades for blind employees, from raised lines that mark the paths between tables to customized sewing machines that allow the user to rely more heavily on their feet.

Several Lions employees with vision disabilities

participated in the new mural’s creation during a recent Community Art day, during which each participant had the chance to add a flower to the wall. “‘Challenge’ is just a word,” said Joey Esquivel, an employee at Lions who added that he was thrilled to learn of the new artwork and the spirit behind it.

“It’s just a category. It’s just a box that you check on your health form every year when you go in for your physical. It doesn’t define us.

“And not only does it not define us, but at times it can enrich our lives, because there might be certain things about our senses that are failing, but there are other senses that may be heightened to feel and experience the world more vividly, kind of like having a superpower.”

The Lions Services mural project was funded by a Charlotte Urban Design Center Placemaking Grant and helped along by a number of sponsors who joined together to renovate the patio, providing or helping to fund the new tables, umbrellas, and fence that mark off the area.

Philip Murph, president and CEO of Lions Services, who is legally blind himself, had a vision for a blindinspired mural to be painted on the building in front of the new accessible patio at The Bob Elliot Center for the Blind, where his organization is headquartered on North Tryon Street.

In bringing together the focus group of Lions employees, Duarte said she wanted to listen to be sure to include anything that might otherwise go overlooked. One statement from the discussions that she said stuck with her was, “Just because someone doesn’t have glasses or a cane doesn’t mean they are not visually impaired.”

Following the unveiling, Murph told Queen City Nerve the mural is one more way of hammering away at the stigma that comes with visual impairment and getting the message across that blind folks like himself are like any other people.

“Today is all about bringing vision of blindness into the community,” he said. “Right now the community doesn’t know anything about being blind or how to A PART OF THE NEW MURAL AT THE BOB ELLIOT CENTER FOR THE BLIND ON NORTH TRYON STREET.

RPITKIN@QCNERVE.COM

PHOTO BY RYAN PITKIN

Pg. 11 NOVEMBER 1 - NOVEMBER 14, 2023 - QCNERVE.COM

MUSIC FEATURE

THE BEAUTY OF BONDS

Queens University spotlights forgotten Black composer

Pg. 12 NOVEMBER 1 - NOVEMBER 14, 2023 - QCNERVE.COM

BY PAT MORAN

By the late 1960s, Margaret Bonds should have been riding high.

Through her tireless, highly productive career, the 54-year-old composer and performer had become the first African American to perform as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at age 20.

After earning bachelor’s and master’s degree at Northwestern University in the mid-1930s, she performed regularly on radio; wrote popular music pieces for artists including the Glenn Miller Orchestra; and founded the Allied Arts Academy, a school devoted to teaching Chicago’s gifted Black children.

Moving to New York, Bonds continued to perform and tour while producing a wide range of music, including classical compositions, theatrical scores and arrangements for traditional Black spirituals.

Bonds also set several poems, including “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by Langston Hughes, to music.

“Credo,” a seven-movement cantata scored for chorus, soprano and baritone soloists with piano, is Bond’s magnum opus. With subtle rhythmic and melodic shifts, plus an organic fusion of classical music, jazz and Black liturgical songs, the piece creates a layered engaging soundscape for the title prose poem by pioneering Black civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois.

Written in 1967, “Credo” cradled, enfolded and elevated Du Bois’ prose, a manifesto proclaiming that Black lives matter: “Especially do I believe in the Negro Race; in the beauty of its genius, the sweetness of its soul, and its strength in that meekness which shall yet inherit this turbulent earth...”

In 1967 it seemed there was nothing that Bonds couldn’t do, no scene that the visionary educator, groundbreaking composer and accomplished pianist couldn’t break through — except America’s color and gender barriers. The fate of “Credo” illustrates this sad state of affairs. Although it was performed a handful of times, it lay unpublished until 2020.

“[Bonds] sets this text to music and submits it to her publisher,” Justin Smith says. “Her publisher says, ‘I’ll publish it but on one condition; you have to take out the word ‘Negro.’ It’s too confrontational. Replace it with the word ‘human’ ... ‘Especially do I believe in the human race.’”

Smith, assistant professor of music, director of the music program, and director of choral activities at Queens University of Charlotte, points out the disturbing parallels between this proposed “compromise” in 1967 and those the arguments countering “Black lives matter” with “All lives matter” today.

“It [blunts] the point of ‘Credo’ and dilutes the whole idea of Du Bois’ text,” Smith says. “So, Bonds says, ‘No, I won’t do it.’ She stands by her artistic principles and the work is never published. It completely vanishes until … 50 years after her death.”

In a sense, Bonds also vanished, disappearing for decades from mainstream classical curricula and concerts. This is why Smith is collaborating with fellow Queens faculty member Jennifer Piazza-Pick and UNC Charlotte assistant professor of classical and contemporary voice Sequina DuBose on a symposium devoted to Margaret Bonds and her music.

The free three-night event takes place on the Queens University campus. It kicks off Friday, Nov. 3 with “Margaret Bonds: A Life in Music,” a lecture by John Michael Cooper, Ph.D., a professor of music and holder of the Margarett Root Brown chair in fine arts at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas.

Cooper, who will publish the first book-length biography of Margaret Bonds in 2024, will discuss Bonds’ life and musical contributions. “[Cooper] has some primary source materials from Margaret Bonds that have never been heard before by anyone,” says Smith. “Some cutting-edge research and scholarship [will be] unveiled.”

MARGARET BONDS

PHOTO BY CARL VAN VECHTEN/COURTESY OF LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

the poetry accompanied by Bond’s musical settings.

A symposium for a neglected genius Also, university students in Melisa Gamez’s Digital Typography class are creating graphic designs to go The bulk of the symposium, beyond Friday night’s along with some of the pieces to be performed. discussion, will be devoted to music, specifically For her part, Piazza-Pick is singing two art songs, Bonds’ two major contributions to posterity: her Bonds’ poetry settings for “Sunset” by Paul Laurence choral music and her art songs.

Dunbar and “The Sea Ghost.”

The symposium’s second night, Saturday, Nov. “It’s poetry by Frank Dempster Sherman,” Piazza4, offers “Margaret Bonds: The Songs,” an intimate Pick says. “Bonds’ setting is quite haunting.” performance in the style of a modern salon concert.

Like Piazza-Pick, DuBose has an extensive career Here, Piazza-Pick, DuBose and others will perform a as a singer, making her role debut as Donna Elvira selection of Bond’s songs. in Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” with Opera Carolina in Piazza-Pick, assistant professor of music/voice 2022. She worked as a performing artist in New York at Queens, says the program will primarily be City for 10 years before joining the faculty at UNC comprised of Bonds’ art songs, compositions written Charlotte in 2019. for one voice with piano accompaniment. Bonds’ For the Nov. 4 concert, DuBose is singing to Bonds’ settings for poetry readings are included in this setting for the spiritual “You Can Tell the World category. Some of her spiritual arrangements will about This.” also be performed.

She’ll also do a song called “Sonnet: I Know My Prior to performances on Saturday and Sunday, Mind,” which sets the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Cooper will provide short lectures to provide context Millay to music. to the music.

“The marriage of Bonds’ personality with St. Along with DuBose and Piazza-Pick, the artVincent Millay’s [proto]-feminism is really powerful,” song concert will include Harrison Bumgardner, an Smith says. adjunct voice instructor at Queens.

Other performances on Nov. 4 include Bonds’ In addition to students and alumni coming in poetry settings for “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy to sing, English professor Julie Funderburk and Evening” by Robert Frost, “Sunset” by Paul Laurence percussion major Christian Dodd will read some of

Dunbar, “To a Brown Girl Dead” by Countee Cullen, and “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by Langston Hughes.

DuBose will also sing on “Margaret Bonds: The Choral Music,” on Sunday, Nov. 6. The final event of the symposium will feature Bonds’ choral works, including the southeastern premiere of her masterpiece, “Credo,” conducted by Smith.

A credo for the ages

“Moving through the melody … allows me to live in a place where I shine as a soprano,” she says. “[Bonds] has these high A’s that just happen over and over again on this beautiful lyrical melody. I approach it the way I approach learning opera arias, because it’s technically demanding.”

In a way, DuBose’s approach is a merging of the spiritual and technical, a mixture of training and life experiences, she offers. In effect, it mirrors what Bonds accomplishes through her compositions.

“Some of the ways that I interpret the melody … come naturally because of my gospel background and my church music background,” DuBose says.

“The second movement is very gospel-influenced, even though it’s a classical setting.”

Therein lies a key to Bonds’ musical and social significance.

“The thing that makes her music special is also historically significant,” DuBose says. “[It’s] in her ability to fuse classical musical forms and the rudiments of classical music with elements from spirituals and gospel music, and bring her own lived experiences to the music.”

Along with Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic “I have a dream” speech, W.E.B. Du Bois’ “Credo” is one of the world’s primary civil rights texts, Smith says.

“I would put this piece up as one of the great American choral works of the last century,” Smith says. “[Our] hope is that through performing it, it can get the recognition it deserves and … start to go out to more choirs.”

Indeed, in 2019 Smith launched Royal Voices of Charlotte, a choral group that tours and competes.

The day after “Credo” is performed at the symposium, Royal Voices will start rehearsals to take the piece to the National Collegiate Choral Organization at Morehouse College in Atlanta.

To prepare for performing Bonds’ and Du Bois’ Bonds never really went away DuBose’s background in the Black church may manifesto, DuBose dug into the text of “Credo.”

“I started thinking about the historical context [of have given her a head start over her collaborators in the cantata] but also how apropos it is even now — interpreting and performing Bonds’ music. this idea that social justice and human rights are not Though the seed for the symposium first something that should be considered a luxury item, germinated when Smith interviewed Piazza-Pick for but something that is ordained by God,” DuBose says. a position at Queens, where the two discovered their Once she has imprinted the piece’s transcendental mutual love of Bonds’ work, Smith confesses that through all his schooling, he never heard of Bonds. message, DuBose turns to technique.

PHOTO BY ISAAC MUNG

“I remember when [Black opera singer] Jessye Norman sang ‘You Can Tell the World About This.’ That arrangement is the one I will be singing on November 4. It’s cool to come full circle with that music.”

The revived interest in Bonds in a classical music scene traditionally dominated by dead white guys is a hopeful sign that the genre is changing for the better, Smith says.

“Mozart and Bach … all of that is exceptionally meaningful and beautiful to me,” Smith says. “That hasn’t been diminished, but I think because of Me Too and Black Lives Matter we’re starting to realize we ought to maybe extend the canon a bit.”

“Right now the classical music industry is definitely … learning to make space for everyone,” Piazza-Pick adds. “I don’t know where evolution will take us, but I think it’s exciting that we are evolving as musicians. I’m excited to see where our younger colleagues will take us.”

“The way we define what is valid as a classical work has changed, expanded and broadened,” DuBose says. “In terms of opportunity, classical music [needs] to become more accessible to young people and people of all levels of class and cultural backgrounds.”

DuBose believes there are now more opportunities for composers and performers of diverse backgrounds in the field, but musicians and educators still have some way to go in expanding audiences, and bringing the music to communities that have had little to no exposure to classical music.

“That’s where we have to roll up our sleeves at this point to remove some of the classism that is associated with classical music,” DuBose says.

To that end, the symposium is doing its part to bring attention to a previously silenced voice, a once-neglected composer who died in Los Angeles in 1972.

Smith believes there are many composers whose voices have been silenced, as well, either because of their race or gender or both. He says they are worth being rediscovered and celebrated.

“Bonds’ ‘Credo’ in particular is an unbelievably effective plea for a better world, one that is free of racial injustice, misogyny and discrimination,” Smith says. He hopes audiences can walk away from the Queens symposium with hope for the future.

“In the church we say, ‘The goal is that you leave different than you came,’” DuBose says. “Ideally when people come and hear Bonds’ music and experience it, it will open up their minds to the possibilities for themselves, for the arts community, for our world and for the next generation.”

PMORAN@QCNERVE.COM

Pg. 13 NOVEMBER 1 - NOVEMBER 14, 2023 - QCNERVE.COM

JUSTIN SMITH (FAR LEFT) LEADS A REHEARSAL FOR THE UPCOMING SYMPOSIUM.

“[This led to] … a fascination with … how wonderful the music was, and how little exposure I’d had to it — but also a real sense of giving voice to someone who had been silenced,” Smith says. “We’ve seen our students react to this music exceptionally well, especially our students of color.”

Likewise, Piazza-Pick discovered Bonds on her own while researching women composers, including Bonds’ mentor Florence Price.

“I was digging into Margaret Bonds for my dissertation … and she’s just fantastic,” PiazzaPick says. “Then as a choral musician, in the last few years, [I’ve seen] her ‘Credo’ finally starting to come into the mainstream. People are listening to it and performing it.”

In contrast, DuBose says that while Bonds may have dropped off mainstream classical music’s radar for decades, in the Black church’s choral tradition she never really went away.

Inspired by her mother, who pursued a career as a gospel recording artist, DuBose sang in church and school choirs. There she heard Bonds’ choral music and spiritual arrangements, which she says remained popular in the Black choral tradition.

“There’s a rich choral tradition in the African American community, especially with HBCUs,” says the alumnus from Morgan State University, an HBCU in Baltimore, Maryland.

“I don’t think Bonds ever really went away for the Black community, and I think that the wider classical music community is just starting to get around to realizing what we all have always known,” DuBose says.

Pg. 14 NOVEMBER 1 - NOVEMBER 14, 2023 - QCNERVE.COM

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1

ROCK/PUNK/METAL Dirty Honey (The Underground) HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Grace Weber w/ Autumn Rainwater, Emily Sage (Snug Harbor) SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC FUNK/JAM BANDS Mike Ramsey (Goldie’s) Legacy (Smokey Joe’s Cafe & Bar) OPEN MIC HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Singer/Songwriter Open Mic (The Rooster) Aasher w/ Eastside Brotha, BLE Dlo, Capone (Evening Muse) THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2 Coco Jones (The Underground) ROCK/PUNK/METAL FLLS w/ MOLD!, Nia Zhané (Petra’s) Cinema Stare w/ This Can’t Be Real, POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ Momophobia, Showalter (The Milestone) Cosmic Guest w/ Hiroshi Jaguar, Solus (Starlight Drawn & Quartered w/ FULCI, Molder (Snug on 22nd) Harbor) LATIN/WORLD/REGGAE COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA The Elovaters w/ Shwayze, Surfer Girl NC Bluegrass Jam Night (Birdsong Brewing) (Neighborhood Theatre) Kenny George Band w/ Kevin Daniel & The COVER BANDS Bottom Line (Evening Muse) A Jazz Celebration of Stevie Wonder (Middle C Brent Cobb w/ Kristina Murray (Neighborhood Jazz) Theatre) Mocktallica w/ Queen City Siren (The Rooster) HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Lil Skies (The Underground) SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4 JAZZ/BLUES ROCK/PUNK/METAL Special EFX feat. Maria Howell (Middle C Jazz) The Phantom Friends w/ Noir Noir, Council Ring FUNK/JAM BANDS (The Rooster) Shana Blake’s Musical Menagerie (Smokey Joe’s Mood Fauna w/ Housewife, The Consequences Cafe & Bar) of Our Own Actions, Fox Season (Skylark Social SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC Club) Tyler Millard w/ Jason Scavone (Amos’ COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA Southend) Niko Moon (Coyote Joe’s) Paul Lover’s Influences & Originals (Comet Grill) Kayla Ray w/ Ray Sisk (Evening Muse) Ryan & Woody (Goldie’s) Tyler Halverson (Evening Muse) Storytellers Sessions feat. Aaron Lawrence, Jessie Murph (The Fillmore) David Gillespie (The Rooster) SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC CHRISTIAN/GOSPEL/RELIGIOUS David Childers (Comet Grill) MercyMe w/ TobyMac, Zach Williams (Spectrum Bill Porter w/ Scoot Pittman (Goldie’s) Center) FUNK/JAM BANDS The Angie Rikard Band (Smokey Joe’s Cafe & FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3 Bar) ROCK/PUNK/METAL POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ Kansas (Ovens Auditorium) Crunk Witch w/ Mikal Khill, Tribe One, The Lenny Federal Band (Comet Grill) B-Villainous, IIOIOIOII (The Milestone) Kid Pastel w/ Caroline Romano (Evening Muse) Kenzie Katlyn w/ Good Deal, Zachary King Rex Tycoon w/ Beauty, Rothschild, Benz.Birdz (Petra’s) (The Milestone) 2 Slices w/ DRMOFO, Invisible Low End Power Zorn w/ Mutant Strain, Overgrown Throne (Snug Harbor) (Snug Harbor) Joji (Spectrum Center) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA The Gift & Under The Influence (Starlight on 22nd) Chad Andrew Harris & the Allstars w/ Eternally Rocky Horror Music Show w/ The Hapschatt Grateful (Camp North End) Wedding Band (Visulite Theatre) Bourbon Sons w/ Zac Robins (Goldie’s) LATIN/WORLD/REGGAE Vince Herman (Heist Brewery) Sin Bandera (Ovens Auditorium) AP Rodgers w/ Cat Glenn, Laurel Hells Ramblers Yahritza Y Su Esencia (The Underground) (Tommy’s Pub) Gaelic Storm (Neighborhood Theatre)

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8

COVER BANDS Blue Monday w/ DialUp Radio (Amos’ Southend) A Jazz Celebration of Stevie Wonder (Middle C Jazz)

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5

ROCK/PUNK/METAL John Waite (The Fillmore) Shakey Graves (Neighborhood Theatre) JAZZ/BLUES Omari & the Hellhounds (Comet Grill) Brubeck Brothers Quartet (Middle C Jazz) SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC Square Roots w/ Jonathan Birchfield (Goldie’s) POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ Hazy Sunday (Petra’s) FUNK/JAM BANDS Pleasantly Wild (The Rooster) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA John R Miller w/ FERD (Visulite Theatre)

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 6

JAZZ/BLUES The Bill Hanna Legacy Jazz Session (Petra’s) POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ A R I Z O N A (The Underground) OPEN MIC Find Your Muse Open Mic feat. C. Shreve (Evening Muse)

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7

ROCK/PUNK/METAL John Mark McMillan w/ John Lucas (Neighborhood Theatre) SWAE w/ Noir Noir, Pet Bug (Snug Harbor) JAZZ/BLUES Albert Castiglia (Middle C Jazz) SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC Thirsty Horses (Goldie’s) HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B GZA w/ Fishbone (The Underground) Flo Milli (The Fillmore) POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ Shindig! A Night Of ’50s & ’60s Music w/ DJ Bonzai & DJ Host Modern (Tommy’s Pub) OPEN MIC Singer/Songwriter Open Mic (The Rooster) COVER BANDS Celebrating Billy Joel: America’s Piano Man (Amos’ Southend) Mania: The Abba Tribute (Ovens Auditorium)

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9

ROCK/PUNK/METAL Liliac w/ Living in Gomorrah (Amos’ Southend) Dope Lemon (The Underground) Clockwork Knotwork w/ Lilith Rising (The Rooster) lespecial w/ Tand (Visulite Theatre) JAZZ/BLUES Brandon Stevens (Middle C Jazz) FUNK/JAM BANDS Shana Blake’s Musical Menagerie (Smokey Joe’s Cafe & Bar) POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ Solemn Shapes w/ Ships In the Night, Buck Gooter, DJ Deathflower (Snug Harbor) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA Wyatt Flores (Neighborhood Theatre) SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC Ben Mignogna (Comet Grill) Josh Daniel Band w/ Rod Fiske (Goldie’s) Alexa Jenson w/ Leon Rosen, Cigarettes At Sunset (Petra’s) LATIN/WORLD/REGGAE OV7 (Ovens Auditorium) Iration (The Fillmore)

ROCK/PUNK/METAL Red Rocking Chair (Comet Grill) Eagles (Spectrum Center) HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Lil Yachty (The Fillmore) SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC Kat Finnigan & Guests (3102 VisArt) POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ The Brakence (The Underground) Bit Brigade w/ MC Lars (Neighborhood Theatre) OPEN MIC FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10 Tosco Music Open Mic (Evening Muse) ROCK/PUNK/METAL Open Mic Night feat. The Smokin J’s (Smokey The Lenny Federal Band (Comet Grill) Joe’s Cafe & Bar) Cosmic Twynk w/ Encre Noire, Sweet Spine, Jiu-Jitsu (The Milestone) COVER BANDS Rubblebucket (Neighborhood Theatre) Brit Floyd: 50 Years of Dark Side (Ovens Unwed Sailor w/ Tongues Of Fire, Ego Death Auditorium) Machine (Petra’s) Woody w/ The Coyotes, Hiram (Snug Harbor)

JAZZ/BLUES Charlotte Symphony presents The Hot Sardines (Knight Theater) Jonathan Butler (Middle C Jazz) Liam and the Nerdy Blues w/ The Delirium Trio (Smokey Joe’s Cafe & Bar) HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Jack Kays (Evening Muse) Phillip Johnson Richardson w/ Demeanor, Luci, Little Town (Evening Muse) Doobie (The Underground) POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ Dark Adaptation w/ Sashimi, Bassarid, Hexxus (Tommy’s Pub) CLASSICAL/INSTRUMENTAL Jonathan Birchfield (Goldie’s) FUNK/JAM BANDS Florencia & the Feeling w/ Barcerado (Camp North End) LATIN/WORLD/REGGAE Gipsy Kings feat. Tonino Baliardo (Ovens Auditorium) COVER BANDS Killed By Death (Motorhead tribute) w/ ZZ Top Notch (The Rooster) Badmotorfinger (Soundgarden tribute) (Visulite Theatre)

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 12

ROCK/PUNK/METAL True Lilith w/ Slow Funeral, Bongfoot, Regence (The Milestone) The VKC Band (The Rooster) SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC Zac Robins (Goldie’s) EXPERIMENTAL/MIXED-GENRE Kids in America w/ The AV Trio, VaNova Duo (Neighborhood Theatre) JAZZ/BLUES Omari & the Hellhounds (Comet Grill) Dave Brubeck feat. Noel Friedline (Middle C Jazz) POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ P!nk (Spectrum Center) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA Adeem the Artist w/ The Sea The Sea (Evening Muse) OPEN MIC Super Sunday Open Mic (Starlight on 22nd) COVER BANDS Rumours of Fleetwood Mac (Knight Theater)

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 13

ROCK/PUNK/METAL Troubled Minds w/ Blood Root, Blankstate., Nervous Surface (The Milestone) JAZZ/BLUES The Bill Hanna Legacy Jazz Session (Petra’s) HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B Sexy Redd (The Fillmore) OPEN MIC Find Your Muse Open Mic feat. Chip McGee (Evening Muse)

Pg. 15 NOVEMBER 1 - NOVEMBER 14, 2023 - QCNERVE.COM

ROCK/PUNK/METAL Randy Franklin (Comet Grill) Bay Street w/ Bozo (The Milestone) FUNK/JAM BANDS The Time Machine Band (Smokey Joe’s Cafe & Bar) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA The Trouble Notes (Evening Muse) Larry Keel Experience w/ Steve ‘Big Daddy’ TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14 McMurry (Visulite Theatre) ROCK/PUNK/METAL JAZZ/BLUES Red Rocking Chair (Comet Grill) Charlotte Symphony presents The Hot Sardines Nightly w/ Knox, Abby Holiday (The (Knight Theater) Underground) Brian Simpson (Middle C Jazz) Worlds Worst w/ Bedridden, Late Bloomer, Walter Trout (Neighborhood Theatre) Shrine (The Milestone) POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC Wild Love w/ Swansgate (Evening Muse) Greg Lilley (3102 VisArt) G Jones (The Fillmore) OPEN MIC Distracted Eyes w/ Wine Pride, Rose Haze (Snug Open Mic Night feat. The Smokin J’s (Smokey Harbor) Joe’s Cafe & Bar) benz.birdz. (Starlight on 22nd) CLASSICAL/INSTRUMENTAL Charlotte Symphony presents Sherlock Holmes VISIT QCNERVE.COM FOR THE FULL & the Case of the Missing Maestro (Knight SOUNDWAVE LISTING. Theater) COVER BANDS Off the Record (Goldie’s) Make Yourself: A Tribute to Incubus (The Rooster)

FOOD & DRINK FEATURE

THE HUANG WAY

Bang Bang Burgers owner Joe Huang celebrates a decade in business

Pg. 16 NOVEMBER 1 - NOVEMBER 14, 2023 - QCNERVE.COM

BY RYAN PITKIN

There’s not usually much to be gleaned about a person’s adulthood from their fourth grade yearbook. Yet a quick glance at Joseph Huang’s entry from his elementary school in New York gives one meaningful clue.

Jammed below his birthday (11/29/74) and his country of origin (Huang was born in Taiwan) and above his favorite group (Miami Sound Machine, misspelled in the yearbook) and a signature from a classmate named Inae telling Joe he “looked cute in the tux” reads two words that would serve as prophecy for Huang: “Restaurant Owner.”

“They asked me, ‘What do you want to do?’ I wanted to be a restaurant owner,” Huang told Queen City Nerve. “So it was always in the back of my mind for many, many years. It’s almost like a lifestyle.”

On Nov. 4, Huang will celebrate his 10th year in business as owner of Bang Bang Burgers, one of Charlotte’s most popular burger joints, recognized repeatedly as such with local awards and trophies from food competitions like the Moo & Brew Fest.

The road to success has not been an easy one for Huang, however, as he has worked his way up through the restaurant industry, seen plans to own his own restaurant fall through multiple times and worked himself to near burnout once he got Bang Bang Burgers up and running.

Now as he approaches his 49th birthday and a decade in business, Huang is preparing for an extensive renovation of his original Elizabeth location, followed by about 10 more years of ownership before he starts to look at retirement options.

Having opened a second location in South End in 2018, Huang has kept the door open to potentially opening one more, but that would be it, he insisted.

As someone who got into the restaurant business for the passion of it, just wanting to make enough to pay his bills and make people happy, he stands by that original dream.

“What I realized is that I just want things to run smoothly … and just live a comfortable life,” he

said. “I can really go hard and try to make tons of money and keep opening up one [location] after another, but I’ve realized I’m going to give up something for that, and it could even be my health … so then what will happen is, I do that, make lots of money, and when I’m 65, as soon as I retire, I die a year later. What’s the point then?”

Meyer’s way and coming to Charlotte

Having graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in upstate New York in 2020, Huang started his career with a number of low-wage jobs in New York City, including as a line cook under famed New York restaurateur Danny Meyer.

Meyer is perhaps best known outside of NYC for founding Shake Shack, but he has also overseen a number of more high-end restaurants in the city, including Blue Smoke, where Huang worked as a line cook and learned under Meyer.

His takeaway from the experience was one of hospitality in the true meaning of the word, as Meyer worked to cultivate a workplace experience that went against the stereotypical New York City kitchen — one where arguing and bickering were not tolerated — which translates to a better experience for customers, he explained.

Huang recalls one specific experience when a large group of people he had known since childhood came into the high-end barbecue spot for lunch.

Most of them had been settling into their highsalary jobs in finance or other fields by then, while Huang had recently earned a pay raise from $10 per hour to $10.50.

Meyer recognized what was happening and told Huang to go change into a cleaner jacket, which confused Huang. Then he began sending comped plates out to Huang’s friends table, eventually telling Huang to go join them and hang out a bit.

Huang walked into the dining room, where he was greeted as the chef by not only his friends but unknowing patrons.

“They gave me something to be proud of. It was

JOE HUANG OUTSIDE OF HIS ORIGINAL ELIZABETH LOCATION.

such a nice thing, and I didn’t really understand what was going on,” he said, laughing. “I felt really good. Of course, this many years later, I’m realizing it’s like, that sort of niceness, the hospitality, being nice to people. And it’s so powerful … It was just the way that he did things.”

In 2009, Huang moved to Charlotte to meet up with an old friend who wanted his help in opening a Korean restaurant here. Having lived most of his life in and around New York City, arriving in the New South was a culture shock.

“I came out here, I was like, ‘Man, this is really nice,’”he recalled.“You drove through neighborhoods and people were, like, waving at you. It’s like, I have New York license plates. Why are you waving at me?

I don’t know you.”

Beyond the overall mood of neighborliness, Huang quickly made another observation that concerned him.

“He wanted to open up a Korean restaurant until I realized there were no Korean people here. It’s not the same as New York. A Korean restaurant to cater to who, to American people?” Huang asked. “I realized, okay, so this is not going to work because we’re not jiving here. I don’t think you’re seeing what I’m seeing.”

Rather than move back to New York, where he

PHOTO BY RYAN PITKIN

thought he would feel like a failure, Huang decided he liked Charlotte enough to stay. He took an apartment in Uptown and got a job as a chef with HMS Host, which manages most of the food and beverage locations inside the Charlotte Douglas International Airport.

In 2012, he linked up with two business partners to open an eatery in the Pecan Point shopping center in east Charlotte’s Elizabeth neighborhood. Huang was meant to be an operating partner with a 20% share of the business, hoping the other two partners would use their experience in running restaurants to lead the way in the business.

Over the course of the next year, however, he realized he had been taken advantage of. His partners had taken the tens of thousands of dollars he had put into the venture and invested it elsewhere while leaving the Elizabeth space to languish.

Eventually the landlord called Huang, whose name was on the lease, and told him that his partners hadn’t paid rent in three months. Rather than evict all three, the landlord asked Huang, who had by that point taken the hit and moved on, if he wanted to come back and take control of the space.

Huang canceled his flight to Texas, where he was scheduled to undergo training to become a manager at a since-closed Charlotte restaurant, and took the space in Elizabeth.

FOOD & DRINK FEATURE Before their split, the original trio had agreed to open a burger joint, and that’s about all Huang knew when he walked into his new restaurant, where his former partners had left food rotting in refrigerators and no sign that they had ever made a serious attempt to open up shop.

With some help from a friend who had invested in the original venture but believed in Huang enough to back his newly revived effort, Huang turned it around and opened on Nov. 4 2013.

“I didn’t know the business stuff,” Huang said, still seemingly in disbelief a decade later that he pulled it off. “I had to figure out, what’s a federal tax ID? I don’t know. What’s the difference between a business account and a personal account? I don’t know. What’s workmen’s comp? I don’t know. What’s insurance? I don’t know. So on top of all of that stuff, I had to figure out how to hire people, train people, open up without doing any marketing. And it was nuts.”

What Huang did know, however, was food.

“I knew from culinary school, generally, what a good product is, right? So if it’s hot, if it’s a little bit crispy, not too much salt, the base foundation of what we do over here, I felt like, well, this is going to be my strategy,” he explained. “As long as the food comes out good every time, then eventually we will get busier. And that was it.”

The growth of Bang Bang Burgers

“During that time of the first few years, I realized if I screw myself up, then I am going to be screwed up,” he said. “So it was like going home, not drinking too much, sleeping, really just trying to take it easy — almost like this mentality of being in a marathon and being mentally prepared just to take it easy.”

Of course, beyond the employee training and marketing, Huang had to think about the food.

Without much space in the location — Huang will finally install his first walk-in coolers during the upcoming renovation — he knew he didn’t want to try to spread the menu out. Burgers and fries would be his specialty, and he would do those right.

In the months leading up to the opening, he visited burger joints around the city to critique and analyze the options.

“A lot of places put tons of stuff on a burger — these really fancy cheeses, all these sauces, lots of bacon, whatever.”

He recalled one trip to Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar where he saw a triple-bacon burger.

“I don’t think that I’ve ever ate a burger and said to myself, ‘What this needs is more bacon. And then on top of that, even more bacon after that.’ Why would you need triple bacon? It doesn’t make any sense.

And I realized it’s because people are just throwing stuff on there but not really thinking it through.

Bang Bang sauce is always served on the side with his best-selling Bang Bang Burger so that each customer can administer said sauce to each bite as they wish rather than spread it around the bun and overwhelm the dish.

It’s a process he said is inspired by his upbringing eating traditional Taiwanese meals that consisted of different bowls holding different ingredients so that each bite was different.

It’s a way of eating that Huang used to proselytize to customers about in the dining room during the restaurant’s early years, though he’s since learned to stand back and let folks enjoy the burgers as they wish.

He has not, however, lost his passion for the way that each order is made fresh upon the customer’s request, a major reason behind Huang’s refusal to overextend himself by opening new locations or expanding his existing ones, even if the demand is there.

He compares his vision for Bang Bang to that of the tiny eateries he sees in Japan while scrolling YouTube food videos.

“They have these Japanese small spaces, a husband and wife making food, and maybe they need money, maybe they don’t, but they’ve been doing that same thing the same way for 20, 30, 40 years,” he said. “They only make one or two things, but whatever they make is really, really good, and they’re making it themselves.”

Huang has considered the money-making opportunities of expansion, but at what other cost, he wonders.

“I think chain restaurants, when they make decisions about how they want to do things, it’s always for the purposes of making more money, which is, okay, I’m not knocking that, but then when you start making those decisions, the people that you’re hurting are your own employees or you’re hurting the quality of the food.

“I realized I want to make something that actually is more meaningful than that,” he continued. “I want to be happy and proud of what I do.”

RPITKIN@QCNERVE.COM

PHOTO BY PETER TAYLOR

Pg. 17 NOVEMBER 1 - NOVEMBER 14, 2023 - QCNERVE.COM

When Huang opened Bang Bang, he had no marketing budget. There wasn’t a ton of foot traffic around Pecan Point, but there was a lot of other traffic.

He spent every morning from 7-8:30 a.m. standing on Pecan Avenue, where traffic regularly backed up for two to three light cycles, handing out menus to drivers.

Having watched many of his colleagues in New York City fall into cycles of burnout and self-medication, Huang was purposeful about getting his rest, working more than 12 hours a day but splitting them up with a few hours of self-care daily between A SELECTION OF FOOD FROM THE BANG BANG BURGERS MENU. the lunch and dinner shifts.

“I think that a really good burger is one where you just have the beef and the bun and almost nothing else. And that tastes good, right? If that tastes good, then you add a sauce, then you add bacon, then you add other stuff.”

Huang modeled his burger after Toast Uptown, a restaurant and bar where he grew up near Columbia University in New York City, using the same beef as Toast, sourced from Creekstone Farms in Arkansas.

He spent time researching different buns as well, eventually landing with the Charlotte-based Dukes Bread after owner Adam Duke came into the restaurant.

Huang had worked in chain establishments with HMS Host where fake butter was used on each bun, something he felt adamant about refusing to do.

“With Adam’s bread, the bun already has butter in it; it has milk, butter and eggs,” he said. “It’s almost like moving towards that cake battery type of direction in a bread. So it already has a butteriness.

It already has a yumminess to it by itself, a little sweetness to it, and so I don’t have to put any other extra stuff. It’s that whole idea of making it really simple, but having those simple things be really good.”

Huang’s team also cuts the fries in the shop each day by hand and dunks them to order. His signature

Pg. 18 NOVEMBER 1 - NOVEMBER 14, 2023 - QCNERVE.COM

LIFESTYLE PUZZLES

TRIVIA TEST

BY FIFI RODRIGUEZ

1. SCIENCE: What was Joseph Lister’s main contribution to science?

SUDOKU

BY LINDA THISTLE 2. HISTORY: Which pro football team won the very first Super Bowl?

3. MUSIC: What is the title of the Rolling Stones’ 2023 album?

4. MOVIES: Who played the monster in Mel Brooks’“Young Frankenstein”?

5. U.S. PRESIDENTS: How much of the popular vote did Abraham Lincoln receive when he was elected president in 1860?

6. GEOGRAPHY: In which country is the ancient city of Petra located?

7. AD SLOGANS: What product was advertised by a man who kept saying, “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing”?

8. FOOD & DRINK: What is often called the national dish of Canada?

9. LANGUAGE: What does an oologist study?

10. TELEVISION: What does SVU stand PLACE A NUMBER IN THE EMPTY BOXES IN SUCH A WAY THAT EACH ROW for in “Law & Order: SVU”?

ACROSS, EACH COLUMN DOWN AND EACH SMALL 9-BOX SQUARE CONTAINS ALL OF THE NUMBERS ONE TO NINE.

CROSSWORD

©2023 King Feautres Syndicate, Inc. All rights reserved.

Pg. 19 NOVEMBER 1 - NOVEMBER 14, 2023 - QCNERVE.COM

MM, GOOD!

©2023 King Feautres Syndicate, Inc. All rights reserved.

LIFESTYLE COLUMN

and holistic. She helps her clients set “strategic, actionable goals through the power of Astrology, Ayurveda, and Human Design.” This multi-faceted approach considers not only the external factors influencing our lives — like the changing of the seasons — but also our internal energies and tendencies.

For our first virtual session, I arrived prepared with my birth chart (I use the paid feature from the Moonly app and Co-Star, but others are available).

Because each of our birth charts are unique, like fingerprints, Meagan helps clients harness their respective traits to enhance their natural abilities.

In astrological terms, she walked me through identifying my Second House, which is related to Astrology, intuition and the Teal Turnip personal finances, material possessions and the

BY KATIE GRANT concept of value. Next, we located Mars, which represents the things that get you motivated and how you take action.

What I came for was learning about my work ethic As the penultimate month of the year, November collectively resolute in accomplishing certain things and how I set long-term goals. This is represented by unfolds as the perfect blend of autumn and winter, — whether tangible like a degree or something Saturn, which, for me, is in Libra. Supposedly, this wrapped up in a blanket of shorter days and chilly more conceptual like a word or feeling. means I am diplomatic and work well with others.

As an illustration, my chosen “Word of the Year” Libra represents a balanced scale, which aligns nights. It marks a transition from the vibrant colors for 2023 was “peace.” However, it’s darkly humorous with my overarching goal of achieving peace. One of fall to the stillness of winter.

These changes don’t necessarily prescribe to to notice that almost everything I’ve encountered in of my health goals this year has been to drink less specific calendar dates, however. It’s the subtle the past 11 months seemed the opposite. alcohol, particularly during the week.

This year has been marred by significant changes in the atmosphere that affect our energies Yes, part of my reasoning was to consume fewer that may not always be at the forefront of our adversities, including my mother’s passing, the calories, but also for mental health. I am one of painful separation of our closest friends, and the those people who suffer from anxiety after drinking thoughts.

According to Ayurveda, this time of year is known far-reaching consequences that accompanied each alcohol, which I simply do not have time for in the as Kapha season, a period characterized by specific life even — think resurfacing familial tensions to office. qualities in the air, such as increased moisture the sound of our close-knit friend group splintering.

Yet as much as I would love to have participated This is why, as November arrives, I pause, reflect, in Sober October as an end-of-year reset, it’s simply and cooler temperatures. These changes have a profound impact on our energy, making it the ideal and re-align my goals with my workflow, lifestyle, not feasible due to my husband’s birthday. Our lives values and vision. time for reflection and intentional goal-setting. revolve around the three F’s: friends, family, and In the quest for intentional goal-setting, I found food.

In the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, it’s easy to let our goals slip from the forefront of our myself exploring the concept with Meagan Dunham, And what compliments seasonal food? Wine, a local intuitive coach who specializes in aligning beer, and cocktails, oh my! thoughts.

This is a call for reflection; take a moment to individuals with their unique “energetic signature.”

In a city of ever-expanding gastronomical Meagan’s approach to goal-setting is individual choices, it can feel overwhelming when choosing recall the beginning of the year when we were

THE SEEKER

Pg. 20 NOVEMBER 1 - NOVEMBER 14, 2023 - QCNERVE.COM

WRITTEN IN THE STARS

a restaurant for a large group birthday celebration.

But once we learned about The Teal Turnip — a female-owned restaurant in southeast Charlotte’s Oakhurst neighborhood — it was an easy choice.

What drew us there is partly due to their mission: minimizing food waste, encouraging composting and recycling, seasonal and local farming, and feeding homeless neighbors. Another fun fact: They are a child-free establishment!

Our nine-course dinner included house-ground brisket meatballs, which the chef took the time to educate us on their process. Instead of making a fatty meatball or tossing the trimmed fat, they freeze it. From there, they transform it into soap, gifting unexpecting guests a take-home item for later use.

I’m sure the process is much more complicated, so I am simplifying for readability.

We learned they focus on sustainability in other ways, too, such as composting all food scraps, including guest waste, and recycling as much packaging as Mecklenburg County will take.

The restaurant also partners with Block Love CLT to feed the homeless with catering leftovers — actions aligning with the mission.

In conclusion, November serves not just as a bridge between fall and winter but also as a time for reflection and connection. As we set year-end career goals, we must identify what matters to us individually because it’s not one-size-fits-all.

Pinpoint the long-term vision, identify quantifiable goals to help you get there, and surround yourself with people who share the same values along your journey — even if it sometimes means losing contact with some along the way.

It’s as simple as that; growth can sometimes look like letting go.

INFO@QCNERVE.COM

LIFESTYLE

HOROSCOPE

NOV. 1 - 7

2023 KING FEATURES SYND., INC.

PUZZLE ANSWERS

NOV. 8 - 14

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) You might be growing impatient with a situation that seems to resist the efforts made to resolve it. But staying with it raises the odds that you’ll find a way to a successful resolution eventually.

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) The pitter-patter of all those Sheep feet means that you’re out and about, rushing to get more accomplished. That’s fine, but slow down by the weekend so that you can heed some important advice.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Travel and kinship are strong in the Bovine’s aspect this week. This would be a good time to combine the two and take a trip to see family members for a pre-holiday get-together.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) You’re in charge of your own destiny these days, and no doubt, you’ll have that Bull’seye of yours right on target. But don’t forget to make time for family events.

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CANCER (June 21 to July 22) The Moon Child’s ability to CANCER (June 21 to July 22) Congratulations! You’re NEWSLETTER adapt to life’s ebbs and flows helps you deal with changes about to claim your hard-earned reward for your patience GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Be prepared for a power struggle that you wish you could avoid. Look to those helpful folks around you for advice on how to avoid it without losing the important gains you’ve made.

VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) A possible workplace change seems promising. If you decide to look into it, try not to form an opinion based on a small part of the picture. Wait for the full image to develop.

VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) A problem with a coworker could prove to be a blessing in disguise when a superior steps in to investigate and discovers a situation that could prove helpful to you.

LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) A newcomer helps keep things moving. There might be some bumpy moments along the way, but at least you’re headed in the right direction. You win praise for your choices.

LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) This is a favorable time to move ahead with your plans. Some setbacks are expected, but they’re only temporary. Pick up the pace again and stick with it.

SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) You could be pleasantly surprised by how a decision about something opens up an unexpected new option. Also, assistance on a project could come from a surprising source.

SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) Your creativity is recognized and rewarded. So, go ahead and claim what you’ve earned. Meanwhile, that irksome mysterious situation will soon be resolved.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) With more information to work with, you might now be able to start the process that could lead to a major change. Reserve the weekend for family and friends.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) A new associate brings ideas that the wise Sagittarian quickly realizes will benefit them both. Meanwhile, someone from your workplace makes an emotional request.

CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) This could be a good time to gather information that will help you turn a long-held idea into something substantive. Meanwhile, a personal matter might need attention.

CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) It might be a good idea to ease up on that hectic pace and spend more time studying the things you’ll need to know when more opportunities come later in November.

AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) A new challenge might carry some surprises, but you should be able to handle them using what you already know. That new supporter should be there to lend assistance.

AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) A relatively quiet time is now giving way to a period of high activity. Face it with the anticipation that it will bring you some welldeserved boons and benefits.

PISCES (February 19 to March 20) Someone might try to disguise their true motives. But the perceptive and perspicacious Pisces should have little to no problem finding the truth in all that foggy rhetoric.

PISCES (February 19 to March 20) Go with the flow or make waves? It’s up to you. Either way, you’ll get noticed.

However, try to make up your own mind. Don’t let anyone tell you what choices to make.

BORN THIS WEEK: You can always rely on your elusive BORN THIS WEEK: You like to examine everything before skills to help you find solutions to problems that others you agree to accept what you’re told. Your need for truth often give up on. keeps everyone around you honest.

Get our community reporting delivered straight to your inbox every Mon., Wed. & Fri. BIT.LY/NERVENEWSLETTER

UPCOMING SPECIAL ISSUES NOVEMBER 29 | BEST IN THE NEST DECEMBER 27 | NEW YEAR’S EVE GUIDE

Trivia Answers

LEO (July 23 to August 22) The Big Cat might find it difficult to shake off that listless feeling, but be patient.

By the weekend, your spirits will perk up, and you’ll be your perfectly purring self again.

Pg. 21 NOVEMBER 1 - NOVEMBER 14, 2023 - QCNERVE.COM

LEO (July 23 to August 22) It’s a good week for Leos and Leonas to get some long-outstanding business matters resolved. Then go ahead and plan a fun-filled family getaway weekend with your mate and the cubs.

6. Jordan.

7. Alka-Seltzer.

8. Poutine: potato fries, cheese curds and gravy.

9. Eggs.

10. Special Victims Unit.

that you might confront at work or at home — or both. and persistence. Now, go out and enjoy some fun and Things settle down by the weekend. games with friends and family!

1. Antiseptic surgery.

2. Green Bay Packers.

3. “Hackney Diamonds.”

4. Peter Boyle.

5. Less than 40%.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) A colleague could make a request you’re uncomfortable with. If this is the case, say so. Better to disappoint someone by sticking to your principles than disappointing yourself if you don’t.

LIFESTYLE COLUMN

SAVAGE LOVE

NOT GLUE A case of deflection

Pg. 22 NOVEMBER 1 - NOVEMBER 14, 2023 - QCNERVE.COM

BY DAN SAVAGE

I wanted to record this for your podcast but I’m literally too ashamed to say it out loud. I was in a relationship for more than 20 years with a guy who abused me sexually, emotionally, physically, psychologically and financially. I grew up in a pretty unstable (read: abusive and neglectful) household and I’m proud that I finally managed to leave this man. I get that there’s this thing where people with life experiences like mine tend to blame ourselves and think everything is our own fault. But there’s this one thing that really makes me think I’m terrible.

This one time, when we were in bed and had both been drinking, I kept trying to kiss him. He would often ignore me and refuse to let me touch him for days and I would wind up making every effort to please him. This particular night I kissed him and then started to give him a blowjob and we ended up having sex. He later called this rape. He didn’t call it rape when he pinned me down and told me to stay still, which was how we “had sex” most often toward the end, and sex only happened when he wanted it. I was never able to initiate, not even a kiss.

I’m worried that I’m just as bad as him. Before I was with him, I was hot on consent in all things, especially as I enjoy some light BDSM. I think communicating about sex is sexy. I’ve had good open and honest and raw communication with every one of my partners after him, Dan, but I feel like I’m lying to my new partners about being a decent person. Can you please let me know what you think?

FEELING REMORSE ABOUT UPSETTING DENUNCIATION

have for this person to understand whether what happened would indeed qualify as ‘rape’ in a legal sense,” said Rena Martine, a women’s intimacy coach who happens to be a former sex crimes prosecutor.

“But I’m not sure that’s what FRAUD is asking. Ultimately, ‘rape’ is a term her former partner used to describe a single instance where they were both drunk and where FRAUD initiated sex. He didn’t use the term ‘rape’ to describe the decades of abuse he subjected FRAUD to, abuse that involved forceful sex. In that sense, his definition of ‘rape’ isn’t a reliable benchmark.”

My feelings exactly.

If everything went down as you described — the “if” lurks at the heart of every question that appears in an advice column (we only get one person’s version of events) — then you didn’t rape your shitty ex. You initiated sex with a long-term partner in an extremely dysfunctional relationship. While it wouldn’t be okay to climb on top of a stranger on a subway and start kissing him or blowing him, most of us don’t require our long-term partners to secure our verbal consent before they attempt to initiate sex. What we want from our partners — what have a right to expect from our partners — is the emotional intelligence to kindasorta know when we might be in the mood or close enough that a kiss might get us there. And if it turns out we’re not in the mood and that kiss isn’t going to get us there, a good partner executes a quick, non-grudging, nonwhiny pivot to something else we enjoy as a couple, e.g., cuddling, ice cream, shit-talking our friends, Zelda, or all of the above.

If you had fucked someone for the first time or the 50th time, FRAUD, and you weren’t sure whether he wanted to have sex and you didn’t care whether he wanted to have sex and you behaved in such a way that he was afraid to say no … then his silent acquiConsider the source — that was my first reaction escence would not constitute meaningful consent to your question, FRAUD, but I wanted to get a quick and you should feel bad. But what happened on the gut-check from someone with relevant expertise. night you described existed in a context of an estab“There are so many additional questions I’d lished relationship — a relationship that included a

lot of shitty “sex” initiated by your ex without regard for your boundaries or your pleasure — and your ex had no reason to fear you and could’ve said no at any time. Instead, your emotionally abusive ex decided to weaponize some shitty, drunken, non-rapey sex to make you feel like you treated him just as badly as he treated you; he was projecting and suggesting a false equivalency.

Again, if everything went down the way you described it, you didn’t rape your ex … but it sure sounds like he raped you. And since he’s not rubber, FRAUD, and you’re not glue, nothing that bounces off him has to stick to you. But if you don’t wanna worry about ambiguity with future partners, FRAUD, tell them that before light physical intimacy (kissing, cuddling, shit-talking friends) progresses to actual sexual intercourse (sucking, eating, fucking), one of you needs to say, “Hey, wanna fuck?” and the other has to say “Fuck yes!”

Final word goes to Martine: “A cornerstone of shame is a feeling of otherness — this terrible thing happened to me, and no one else can possibly understand what this feels like — but the sad reality is that intimate-partner sexual violence is a common occurrence. Almost half of female (46.7%) and male (44.9%) victims of rape in the United States were raped by an acquaintance. Of these, 45.4% of female rape victims and 29% of male rape victims were raped by an intimate partner.”

Rena Matine is on Instagram @_rena.martine_ and online at renamartine.com.

Young, gay, gym member. A few years ago, I was alone in the sauna when this older guy asked if he could massage my feet. I’m pretty vanilla but he didn’t seem like a menacing pervert. So, I took your advice (been a reader forever) and used my words: I told him he could massage my feet on the condition that he didn’t do anything else. He respected my boundary, so I let him do it again and it turned into a regular thing. We would nod to each other in the weight room and follow me into the sauna when I was done working out. We started to make stupid small talk to relieve the tension (sexual for him, regular for me) and it turned out he worked in the field I wanted to go into. (I can’t be more specific than that, sorry.) He offered to look at my resume and then wrote me a letter of recommendation that led to a job offer.

Here our story takes a sad turn: This old man died and I’m not sure of how to process what I’m feeling. We emailed a little, but we never met outside of the gym. Am I allowed

to feel grief? And should I go to his funeral?

It’s not a private ceremony but how would I explain my presence to his family? I didn’t know this man socially and I feel like saying, “I knew your husband and father from the gym,” might raise questions or suspicions. He was bisexual but not out and I don’t want to cause his family any additional pain.

GETTING YOUR MEANING I’m guessing you haven’t buried anyone — maybe a grandparent or two, but not a parent or a partner. So, here’s how condolences work at funerals: if someone wants to express their condolences to the immediate family of the deceased, that person approaches the family before or after the service. If that person is unknown to the family, that person can mention (but isn’t obligated to mention) how they knew the deceased before expressing their sympathy (“I’m so sorry for your loss”).

It’s meant to be a brief interaction — you want to acknowledge their grief, not burden them with your own — and it’s an entirely optional one. If you don’t want to say something to the family, or don’t know what to say, you don’t have to approach the family.

There were a lot of people at my mother’s funeral that I didn’t know, GYM, and some of those strangers — strangers to me, not my mother — approached me and my siblings and stepfather and my mother’s siblings to express their condolences and some did not. But we were grateful to each and every person who came to my mom’s funeral, whether they approached us or not, and we didn’t run around asking strangers how they knew my mother. (For all I know, GYM, there a dozen people at my mother’s funeral whose feet she rubbed in the sauna at the gym we didn’t know she belonged to.)

So, go to the funeral, dress appropriately, sit at the back, don’t be surprised if you recognize a few other faces from the gym (I’m guessing the deceased didn’t have a monogamous relationship with your feet), and don’t feel obligated to approach the family. If someone sitting in your pew asks how you knew the deceased, feel free to tell (part of) the truth: “We went to the same gym, he gave me some professional advice, and I really appreciated his friendship.”

And… I’m sorry for your loss, GYM. Your share of the grief is tiny compared to that of this man’s wife and kids, but he touched your life — not just your feet — and your grief is real, meaningful and touching.

Send your question to mailbox@savage.love; podcasts, columns and more at Savage.Love

Pg. 23 NOVEMBER 1 - NOVEMBER 14, 2023 - QCNERVE.COM