Queen City Nerve - June 12, 2024

2024 SUMMER GUIDE

The hot season is upon us

News: ‘Clacking’ the LGBTQ+ vote out pg. 4

Music: A new look for our Music section pg. 18

Durag Fest provides a space for Charlotteans to be unapologetically Black BY DEZANII LEWIS

PUBLISHER

JUSTIN LAFRANCOIS

jlafrancois@qcnerve.com

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

RYAN PITKIN

rpitkin@qcnerve.com

DIGITAL MANAGER

RAYNE ANTRIM rantrim@qcnerve.com

STAFF WRITERS

ANNIE KEOUGH akeough@qcnerve.com

DEZANII

dlewis@qcnerve.com ART

rwilson@qcnerve.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS

NEWS & OPINION

4. Clack for Pride by Annie Keough Clack the Vote movement aims to get LGBTQ+ people to the polls

6. Going North by Davis Cuffe Where Charlotte’s transit plan stands following Norfolk Southern agreement

7. Life On the Rails by Davis Cuffe Etiquette and public safety on Charlotte’s public transit

ARTS

8. Unapologetically Black by Dezanii Lewis Durag Fest is a different kind of Juneteenth celebration 10. From the Top Down by Rayne Antrim How hair styles play a role in confirming one’s identity 12. Summer Guide 2024 Enjoy it while it’s still livable

16. Lifeline: Ten Cool Things To Do in Two Weeks

MUSIC

18. For Your ‘Mental Health’ by Ryan Pitkin Evan Plante returns to music as a True Optimist 18. New Releases

19. Upcoming Releases/Project Spotlight

20. Soundwave

FOOD & DRINK

22. No Need to Be Salty by Timothy DePeugh Maíz Agua Sal in Wesley Heights shows Charlotte why “local” matters

24. Space to Grow by Dezanii Lewis Grow Cafe will be Charlotte’s first coffee shop for parents and children

LIFESTYLE

26. Puzzles

28. Aerin It Out by Aerin Spruill

29. Horoscope

30. Savage Love

Thanks to our contributors:

Aerin Spruill, Davis Cuffe, Timothy DePeugh, Jonathan Golian, Dan Russell-Pinson, Laura Wolff, Joan Marcus, CNCooper, DaRemen J., Kara Perry Storm, Kelsey Mard, Storm Lover, Alvaran Strong, Will Folsom, Evan Zimmerman, Matthew Murphy, and Dan Savage.

CLACK FOR PR I DE

Clack the Vote movement aims to get LGBTQ+ people to the polls

BY ANNIE KEOUGH

To “clack a fan,” the term for snapping a hand fan hard enough to make a clapping (or clacking) sound, can mean many things depending on the intended effect. The action can be one of resistance, joy, or alarm.

It can drown out the hate of bigots at Pride parades or send support to a drag queen during their performance.

“A clack of a fan can be celebratory or it can be part of protest,” explained Cameron Pruette, the Freedom Center for Social Justice’s Director of Intersectional Initiatives.

Now Pruette and his team are asking for supporters, be they LGBTQIA+ community members or their allies, to Clack the Vote.

A collaboration between Carolinas LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce, The Freedom Center for Social Justice and Charlotte Pride, Clack the Vote is an initiative dedicated to mobilizing and educating queer voters in the wake of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and rhetoric.

Organizers like Pruette are partnering with drag performers, the queer ballroom scene and supportive faith organizations to spread awareness and engage new or veteran voters.

The Clack the Vote initiative is nonpartisan, with the only goal to get folks out there and vote, according to Bethany Corrigan, a member of Carolinas LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce.

“We’re nonpartisan, we’re not going to go out there and endorse one candidate over the other,” they said. “But we are endorsing voting … Clack the Vote represents unity and solidarity, not in a partisan way, but in a way that makes people feel safe and affirmed in their decision to vote and participate in the electoral season.”

Pruette said Clack the Vote is meant to get queer people to vote regardless of their affiliation. The initiative was formed to educate voters on candidates and ensure they know their rights at the polls because it does not subscribe to the belief that only a certain side cares about LGBTQ+ rights, Pruette said.

Queer people are everywhere. They are in every workplace, faith community and university. All of these places are queer spaces inherently because queer people exist there, Pruette said.

“Our human rights and queer rights should be nonpartisan,” he said.

Clack the Vote will be present at multiple events throughout Pride Month and in August, when Charlotte Pride holds its local festival and parade, to spread information on candidates, check people’s voter registration and provide resources necessary to queer voters.

There are existing resources and guides for the dos and don’ts once you get to the polls, but that’s the privilege of assuming you fit the standard representation of who those guides were created for, Corrigan said.

Human Rights Campaign North Carolina in collaboration with the Freedom Center created a trans voter guide to help transgender and nonbinary voters who may be going through transition or name changes that do not align with their voter ID confidently navigate the polls.

What they’re fighting for

In November 2023, the Monroe mayoral race winner came down to a coin flip. Former Monroe Mayor Robert Burns and opponent Bob Yanacsek tied with 970 votes and both men waived the chance to recount, as reported by WBTV.

Burns, who won the election on account of that coin flip, has been vocal in his opposition to LGBTQ+ rights. During a protest of the drag performance

“Hello Daddy” outside of Monroe’s Dowd Theatre, Burns told WCNC that conservative values are under attack in America and compared the moral failure of owning a slave to allowing a child to enter the show.

“Just because you can do something, still doesn’t mean that it’s right,” he said.

The fact that Union County came so close to electing someone who supports the queer community was a feat in and of itself, Pruette said,

but it would have taken just one more vote to make it a reality.

“We get so disillusioned because of what’s going on nationally that we forget that your vote has so much power at the local level,” he said. “They’re gonna spend $2 billion dollars telling you who to vote for for president, but we really want to talk to you about these other 20 things that are going to be on your ballot.”

With North Carolina emerging as one of the country’s most critical swing states in the 2024 election, encouraging queer folks to go to the polls and vote could be the determining factor in an election, Corrigan said.

Pruette told Queen City Nerve that the Freedom Center’s national partners have sounded the alarms, saying LGBTQ+ voters may choose not to vote this year despite voting in 2020.

Pruette believes this attitude is caused by burnout in the community. After the 2020 and 2022 elections, there was a sense of relief among queer North Carolinians.

They had a governor who was willing to veto antiLGBTQ+ legislation and believed North Carolina was headed in a good direction.

But after Democratic NC Rep. Tricia Cotham, who ran on a platform that included support for LGBTQ+ rights, announced her switch to the Republican Party, giving conservatives a supermajority in the North Carolina legislature, Republicans overrode governor Roy Cooper’s veto of three anti-LGBTQ+ bills.

SB49, HB808 and HB574 were all passed in the 2023-2024 session, targeting LGBTQ+ youth in schools and health care settings.

A trend Corrigan has seen in the past couple of years is an omnibus tactic; either cramming too much information into one bill making it difficult for people to understand or utilizing the quantity effect of introducing multiple bills in a short period of time.

“If you have 50 darts getting thrown at the wall, even if you’re the worst shot in the world, one of them has got to stick,” they said. “It’s advocacy fatigue, right? How many bills can you fight against at once?”

The American Civil Liberties Union has tracked six anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in the 2024 legislative session so far, including health care age restrictions, school sports bans, forced outings in schools, and religious exemptions for medical practitioners.

Anti-LGBTQ+ legislative attacks are typically not filed from a research or scientific perspective, Corrigan said.

Data is sparse on the necessity of these bills from a health and safety perspective, yet the impact of simply filing them has shown to not only create a spike in workplace discrimination and gender-based violence but also negatively impact the economy, according to Corrigan.

They noted that legislative attacks against the LGBTQ+ community have caused North Carolina nearly $3.3 billion in lost revenue and tourism dollars in the past, particularly after the infamous

COURTESY OF CLCC

CLACK THE VOTE HAND FANS.

NEWS & OPINION FEATURE

House Bill 2 was passed in 2016, a bill targeting transgender bathroom use.

A number of cities and states, including Washington, California, New York City and more, all banned tax-payer-funded travel to North Carolina in protest of the bill. The bill was repealed in 2020.

“I always tell people, even if you don’t care about queer people, you should care about your own finances,” Corrigan said. “Because [equality] impacts everyone regardless of what side of the isle you stand on.”

A rather conservative estimate of how many LGBTQ+ folks live in North Carolina is about 4%. Though an underrepresented and outdated number, it’s the most recent one available, Corrigan said.

That 4% of queer folks represents nearly $19 billion in employee generated revenue.

Carolinas LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce empowers and supports LGBTQ and allied businesses, enterprises and corporation professionals in both Carolinas.

In that way, all spaces must be safe spaces, Corrigan said.

“The intention [of the Chamber] is to shape legislation and policy in such a way that the economic benefits and prosperity are really touching the LGBTQ community and beyond,” they said. “Because in the economy, if one community is suffering, that’s not a healthy economy.”

Finding peace and place

When anti-LGBTQ+ legislation is filed, the detrimental impact on the affected community goes beyond the consequences of the bill.

The mere introduction of anti-trans and queer legislation causes constant social media trauma hitting the community and reminds them that their identity is politicized and used as a bargaining chip in an election, Corrigan said.

“I get frustrated when LGBTQ … identity is featured in the press [and it’s] always the doom and gloom,” they said.

“On one hand, we cannot have issues in the dark, they do need to be highlighted … but what I want to see is joy and celebration.”

The LGBTQ+ Chamber and The Freedom Center will host several events throughout Pride season that will spotlight Clack the Vote.

The Friends in Diversity: Rooftop Soiree on June 25 at the Skyline Terrace will combine a number of businesses and individual professionals for the

opportunity to network and celebrate the culture of diversity in Charlotte’s business community.

The new Rainbow Ball hosted by Resident Culture on July 27 will commemorate the love, joy and authenticity of the queer experience.

Clack the Vote will partner with local drag performers to help folks check if they’re registered to vote and talk about important issues in the community with the slogan “Drag Me to the Polls.”

For those wanting to mix politics and partying, the Chamber is also holding its eighth nonpartisan candidate fair on Aug. 14 at Resident Culture’s South End location.

The fair is held every election year to provide an educational space for LGBTQ+ and allied voters.

“Queer people are not a monolith,” Corrigan said. “We don’t all think the same. We might not even all vote the same. But, at the end of the day, there’s a very powerful … sense of identity that’s sacred that we have between us.”

AKEOUGH@QCNERVE.COM

PHOTO COURTESY OF CLCC

AT THE LAST ROOFTOP SOIREE

GOING NORTH

Where Charlotte’s transit plan stands following Norfolk Southern agreement

BY DAVIS CUFFE

News broke in late May that the city of Charlotte had reached an “understanding” with Norfolk Southern to acquire the rights to its O-Line rails, train tracks that run north from Uptown and have long been a coveted piece of land by city officials eager to move forward with its latest commuter rail project.

The Red Line would establish commuter rail service from Uptown’s Gateway Station north to Mt. Mourne in Mooresville, with eight stops in between including in Derita, Huntersville, Cornelius and Davidson.

The pending agreement was a major milestone in Charlotte’s efforts to expand its transit options outside of the city, though there is still a long way to go, as the city will need to rely on state legislators to allow it to place a proposed sales tax hike on a future ballot in order to fund the project.

The Red Line project was first identified by Charlotte in 1998 and designed in 2008. According to the project’s plan, the stops along the route would also act as mobility hubs with bus services and first/ last mile connections.

The line’s Charlotte stop would be connected to the entertainment district with access to the Gold Line streetcar, Amtrak, and other transportation options.

The plan’s next steps include reassessing the plan for a transformational mobility network, providing a cost estimate and involving the public and stakeholders more in coordination. Opportunities for future public involvement will include public meetings and community engagement.

When the Charlotte MOVES Task Force, headed by former mayor Harvey Gantt, presented its final report in December 2020, the plan centered on the Silver Line, which would run from Uptown to Matthews. In the wake of news about the city’s agreement with Norfolk Southern, however, it appears the Silver Line is taking a back seat to the Red Line.

Charlotte Gateway Station (CGS), the beginning stop in the Red Line plan for those coming from Charlotte, has yet to be built. The station requires more than $87 million in public funding from the city, with a $25 million grant from the NC Department of Transportation partially covering those costs.

Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) interim CEO Brent Cagle said Phase I of construction for the station was “basically complete” in March. That phase included basic infrastructure for the station and raised platforms.

CGS will be a multi-modal transportation center situated at the crossroads of West Trade and North Graham streets, though completion of the station is reportedly years away. The lack of an agreement with Norfolk Southern, which for years refused to negotiate on the O-Line, did play a role in the delay.

The movement toward a deal first began in July 2023, when Norfolk Southern’s Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer Michael R. McClellan sent a letter to Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles and Charlotte City Manager Marcus Jones expressing their considerations for a transaction involving the O-line rails.

“Norfolk Southern is willing to consider engaging with the City of Charlotte and other interested parties in the region regarding a possible transaction of the O Line,” the July letter read.

A final agreement is expected by September. The costs of the deal for the city are still unclear.

With much of the project still to be built and redesigned, the payment method for construction is unclear, but the city of Charlotte is hoping to propose a one-cent sales tax increase on an upcoming ballot.

That proposal would have to be approved by the General Assembly before Charlotte residents would get a chance to vote on it. The construction cost for the Red Line is estimated to exceed $680 million.

Jones said he expects the General Assembly to approve the move based on current proceedings and conversations with them.

“The business community has continued its dialogue with state legislative leaders, and they have indicated they could support enabling sales tax legislation in the current short session,” said Jones.

He said he’s optimistic that a local referendum will take place in 2025, yet past proceedings indicate that passing a sales tax increase may be difficult.

In 2019, a proposed .25-cent sales tax hike that would have funded arts, parks and education in Mecklenburg County failed at the polls. In 2021,

northern Mecklenburg officials opposed passing a 1% sales tax increase. Those officials cited the pandemic’s recency and its effect on the economy as their reasoning for the hesitancy.

Past efforts to increase infrastructure spending in Charlotte have been met with resistance from officials in the NCGA. In 2023, Charlotte proposed a mobility plan that would have cost a little over 13 billion dollars and made improvements to Charlotte’s roads, mass transit, and walkable transit systems. Eighty percent of the $13 billion plan would have gone to rail transit system improvements.

In response to the 2023 proposal, House Speaker Tim Moore told WBTV that “Charlotte keeps spending millions and millions of dollars on plans that didn’t come to fruition.”

In response, Charlotte has been pushing its new mobility plan, which it calls a “roads-first” plan.

During a recent Charlotte City Council meeting, a new mobility plan was approved in a 9-2 vote.

Republican council members Tariq Bokhari and Ed Driggs voted against it.

The new plan would allocate 40% of sales tax funds to road improvements, 40% to train improvements and 20% to buses. It is a significant

step back from the originally proposed 80% allocation to the train system, but is seen by some city leaders as one that may appease the NCGA.

As a result, Charlotte reportedly told Matthews Mayor John Higdon that the expensive and longpromised Silver Line that would have run from Uptown to Matthews would no longer be built.

Higdon criticized the deal and its impact on Matthews in a May 29 Metropolitan Transit Commission (MTC) meeting.

“I think one of the reasons folks in Matthews aren’t dancing in the streets is that we have planned to have a train come to our town,” Higdon said. “We spent thousands of hours planning for a train, and at the last second, we were told, ‘No, sorry, we’ll give you a bus.’ And no one in this room can look me in the face and say the transitoriented development of a bus is equivalent to a train.”

The initial Silver Line proposal would have gone 29 miles, stretching from Matthews to Uptown and then past Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Earlier this year, it was estimated that the completion of the Silver Line would cost around $8 billion.

CATS, which manages Charlotte’s public transportation, operates over 20 light rail vehicles every day. Ridership on CATS’ transit systems is still recovering post-COVID, but 4 million passenger trips were reported between July and September 2023 by CATS. This figure jumps 11% from 2022’s ridership in the same period but continues an upward trend in ridership since taking a 65% dip in 2020.

Something else that may factor into the dip in ridership is the percentage of Mecklenburg workers who work from home. In 2022, a survey found that 30.3% of Mecklenburg County workers who were surveyed said they work from home, almost double the national average of 15.2%.

Future possible upgrades in Charlotte’s transit system may improve these commuter numbers, though if a referendum has the same issues past ballot measures have seen, the upgrades may not have the opportunity to happen in the first place.

NEWS & OPINION FEATURE

LIFE ON THE RA IL S

Etiquette and public safety on Charlotte’s public transit

BY DAVIS CUFFE

With new deals to expand Charlotte’s light rail system in the works, as does the sentiment that etiquette aboard light rail cars needs work locally.

We visited some stops along the existing Blue Line track and asked around on Reddit’s R/Charlotte page to learn more about the reported lack of etiquette on Charlotte’s light rails, learning that the concerns range in seriousness from annoyances to public safety concerns.

“I’ve seen people fighting, security bother people when they don’t need to, people smoking, even some people peeing on the train,” said one anonymous Blue Line commuter.

Other commuters described noise from other passengers as a primary disturbance on Charlotte’s light rails.

“The number one issue is people who are playing music out loud on their phone, talking on speaker on their phone and also just speaking very loudly and saying unsavory language in a carriage which is mostly quiet,” said R/Charlotte Reddit user Shineese.

Another R/Charlotte Redditor, Odd_System_89, shared a similar sentiment in their annoyance with other passengers being loud on Charlotte light rails.

“The only thing people need to work on is turning off the volume on their cell phone; I don’t want to hear your conversation or whatever video you are playing; get a headset or shut up or get off the train,” said Odd_System_89.

Other commuters described minor actions like standing in the way of others as bad etiquette.

“I frequently witness people who post up at the doors and won’t move out of the way for people to enter/exit the train car,” said R/Charlotte Redditor IllSession3648

“A lot of people don’t even consider that someone might be getting off the train and just stand right in front of the door,” said R/Charlotte Redditor HogarthHues.

The conversation around light rail etiquette is not contained to these individuals in the Charlotte community. A May 28 R/Charlotte Reddit post titled “Lightrail Etiquette” had 42 comments as of June 6. An earlier Charlotte NextDoor post in which a woman

shared her unpleasant experience on the light rail had 179 reactions and 10 comments as of June 6.

While this is by no means a large sample size in a city of nearly 900,000 people, some Charlotte commuters feel the city should make more efforts to maintain a proper environment on Charlotte’s light rails.

“They need to be more attentive because right now it doesn’t look like they maintain the environment of the trains that often,” said Michael, a Blue Line commuter.

Solutions offered by light rail commuters varied; one said an increase in security was necessary, while another suggested educational resources to make unwritten etiquette rules written.

As of June 6, Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) security patrols primarily check for tickets and informational printing inside the light rails, the only measures to promote etiquette inside Charlotte trains.

Outside the trains at stations around Charlotte, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) officers regularly patrol along with CATS security.

In March, Brent Cagle, interim CEO of CATS, recently moved to double the company’s security spending. This money partially funded two new contractors, PSS and Strategic Security Solutions, replacing the previous contractor, Allied Universal Security. The contractors staff around 100 unarmed security employees who roam onboard Charlotte’s light rail and a stations.

Redditor Shineese shared their belief that the lack of etiquette could not be helped and reflected a greater problem.

“I don’t think public etiquette can be improved by laws. I think it is a reflection of the lacking respect humans have for each other in today’s society.”

Some commuters shared Shineese’s sentiment. Some even shared that the lack of respect she touched on was an issue that has only grown since the COVID-19 pandemic and with population growth in the Charlotte area.

“I think people moving to our area from other cities that don’t have a robust public transportation means there’s a number of people unfamiliar with

etiquette or unspoken rules when taking the light rail. And truthfully, society as a whole has gone to shit post-COVID — people have lost their everloving minds,” said Redditor IllSession3648.

“Public transit in this country is famously bad for etiquette. This isn’t contained to Charlotte in the slightest,” said another commuter.

One commuter said the lack of robust transit culture was the reason for the etiquette problem.

“Charlotte is not a big transit city, so people who ride it here generally don’t know a thing about transit etiquette,” said R/Charlotte Redditor Automatic-Arm-532.

Charlotte’s light rail system opened in November 2007 and has seen relatively high ridership numbers, though it is still recovering from a dip due to COVID-19. In 2023, CATS reported ridership at 4 million between the months of July to September, 2.34 million less than what CATS saw in 2019 before the pandemic.

One commuter shared that they felt etiquette should not be a priority when they feel unsafe using Charlotte’s light rails.

“What good is train etiquette when you have to fight through a sea of homeless people to even get to the platform?” said R/Charlotte Redditor couchpro34. “Mainly, Woodlawn and South get super sketchy at the stations. We need to work on public safety at these stations before we have any need for discussion about what’s actually happening on the light rail.

“I would love to be able to use the light rail more often, but I just don’t feel comfortable or safe at any stations south of Scalybark,” continued couchpro34.

On May 18, a person was hospitalized after a shooting at Archdale station that occurred around 11 p.m.

And yet the safety concerns can go both ways, as over-policing is a concern for some. In November, CATS came under fire when three security guards were caught on surveillance roughing up a man with a prosthetic leg, dragging him away from a Blue Line station in Uptown before leaving him on the ground.

Security concerns are not isolated to Charlotte’s light rails. CATS buses have seen multiple highprofile incidents of violence,

In February 2022, the murder of CATS bus operator Ethan Rivera in a road rage incident led a group of CATS bus and light rail operators to call on the city to implement better safety protocols.

Another bus operator was struck by a stray bullet while working in December 2023, while in May 2023, a bus operator was fired for shooting a passenger who had pulled a gun on him.

CATS buses were reported to carry 2.13 million passengers in the winter of 2023-24.

With the movement toward an agreement between Norfolk Southern and the city of Charlotte that would give Charlotte the rights to existing rail to build the Red Line with and momentum behind Charlotte’s new mobility plan, Charlotte’s public transportation may soon expand.

However, commuters say public respect and etiquette on Charlotte’s light rails and the system’s overall security remains poor. In order to recover from the COVID dip and, perhaps more importantly, convince voters to support a sales tax hike that will fund a major expansion of the local transit system, the issues around public safety will have to be addressed in the eyes of their commuters.

INFO@QCNERVE.COM

PHOTO BY DAVIS CUFFE

THE NORTHERNMOST STOP ON THE CATS BLUE LINE.

UNAPOLOGETICALLY BL ACK

Durag Fest is a different type of Juneteenth celebration

BY DEZANII LEWIS

Black people often lack spaces created by and for them. When they try to include themselves in existing spaces, society tells them to make their own, and often when they make their own, they’re accused of gatekeeping or exclusivity for not being more welcoming to whites.

It is in this context that Jimi Thompson, better known around Charlotte as the artist Dammit Wesley, has over the years cultivated the Durag Festival into a true Black space for Charlotteans.

The Durag Festival, an annual festival that helps commemorate Juneteenth in a way that not many other observations of the holiday do, will be held June 21-22 at Thompson headquarters in BlkMrktCLT in Camp North End.

It’s a festival where all types of people can attend and rock their respective cultural headwear, but Black people in particular can revel in their culture without judgment. Attendees can expect food, music, wave checks and other challenges adding to the good vibes at Camp North End in late June.

Thompson said he settled on the durag as a representation of Black culture because of its ubiquitousness in Black peoples’ lives. Many, if not all, Black people have owned or come into contact with a durag at some point in their lives.

As he’s been known to do with his art, Thompson aimed to switch the narrative around the stigmatized symbol the durag had become.

“The durag was chosen specifically as one of the relics for this festival because of the negative connotations that it has against it,” he said. “People are free to wear whatever they want, and they’re also heavily encouraged to make something new.”

Attendees are spotted each year wearing a range of headpieces ranging from durags to wave caps to bonnets to head wraps. Not only do they wear these garments, they often take them to the next level.

“Everything from full-body durags, trains, bedazzled bonnets, we have seen LED headwraps in the past few years,” he said. “The tagline is the ‘Met Gala of Durags,’ and some people take that as a personal challenge.”

Headwear is not limited to durags, headwraps, or the like. In the past, there has been other cultural additions, such as South Asian attendees who wore their traditional headwear. They’re all welcome because of what all of these represent from a cultural perspective: protest and preservation.

“We call it a festival, but I view it more as a protest,” Thompson said. “Any opportunity I have to create a space where Black joy can exist in opposition to white supremacy, I’m always here for it.”

What started as a smallish festival (/protest) that hosted around 1,200 people in 2018 has over time blown up into the festival folks know today, with upwards of 20,000 people expected to show up, sometimes traveling long distances to be a part of the experience.

“I just wanted to have a really wild art exhibit based around Black culture,” he said. “That was essentially the first Durag Fest in 2018. It was just an art exhibition that really got out of hand.”

Seeing the growth

Thompson hosted smaller, infrequent Juneteenth celebrations prior to the Durag Festival, but none of them were near the caliber of this event, which has made national headlines and gone countless times, as the creative nature of the custom-made durags lends itself to social media sharing.

The event has appeared in national publications such as Essence, Blavity, and Travel Noire.

Thompson said he often attended Juneteenth celebrations beyond the ones he hosted, but always felt something was missing.

“I was always disappointed when I went to more West African-focused Juneteenth festivals and traditions and celebrations,” he said. “It never really felt like a celebration. It just never felt right to me.”

With his vision to create an experience better aimed at Black American culture, the Durag Festival was born. Thompson said he didn’t plan too intensely for the first event in 2018.

Prior to the festival, he had been doing other art events, but head count for those often topped out at 300 people. He took his experience planning the smaller events and put it toward the Durag Festival, putting everything together within five weeks.

In that short time, the anticipated number of 300 people, considering that was what his events were used to, grew to 1,200 people.

“[That] was a lot for us, considering we didn’t have the infrastructure to host that many people,” he said. “But social media caught wind of it, and it just grew from there into its own thing. I feel like we just realized that there was a necessity for more culturally relevant events like this that actually celebrate you just being Black and free. That’s really what it came down to.”

Thompson has noticed how, over the years, people have begun showing up from different cities

along the East Coast.

“In six years, it’s grown a lot, actually,” he said. “This is still very much a Charlotte event. It still feels very Charlotte. [But we’ve had] people from New Jersey, DC, Florida, Canada. So, slowly but surely, we are reaching a more national audience with the event.”

He also said celebrities like Clay from Netflix’s Love is Blind and nationally renowned comedian Ryan Davis have attended the event in the past.

“It meant a lot for a lot of those types of people to take time out of the day to come be a part of this thing,” he said. “I really hope that continues. I hope this is a festival where celebrities or influencers or people of a particular stature feel comfortable coming and not having to perform. It should always be a day off for Black people, especially our entertainers. I feel like we have to perform enough at work as is. So anytime you can just come out and just be, I’ll support it.”

A new kind of celebration

Juneteenth is a commemoration of when the news of emancipation reached those who were believed to be the last Black people still enslaved. While the Emancipation Proclamation occurred

PHOTO BY CNCOOPER PHOTOGRAPHY

DURAG FEST IS ENTERING ITS SIXTH YEAR.

ARTS FEATURE

on Jan. 1, 1863, news didn’t reach enslaved Black people in Texas until June 19, 1865, over two years later.

Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021 and was the first holiday to obtain federal observance since Martin Luther King Jr. Day obtained it in 1983. The day wasn’t always nationally recognized as a holiday, federally or otherwise. In fact, it was a holiday that was often pretty obscure, which is almost as ironic as it is tragic. Now that it’s a federally recognized holiday, ways to celebrate and brand it differ, but ultimately there’s no nationally recognized way to celebrate the holiday.

Thompson saw this as an opportunity to fill a void. He pointed out that Christmas, Fourth of July, St. Patrick’s Day, and many other American holidays all have a specific theme, with traditions and regalia that allow people to fully take part and invest in celebrating them, but that’s missing from Juneteenth observations.

“It’s specific things you say, it’s specific ways you act on these days,” he said. “There are legitimate economies built around all of these holidays. When it came to Juneteenth, all those things were missing. No costume, no specific cultural acts, phrases, things that would be done said there’s no real economy

that benefits African-Americans during their one holiday.”

“I just viewed it as an opportunity to attach some costumes and some practice behaviors for the holiday that hasn’t been observed nationally in this way,” he continued.

He added that there are festivals in places like Galveston, Texas, where Juneteenth celebrations originated, but he wanted to further add to what already exists.

While celebrations of Black people and culture have a long way to go by many peoples’ standards, the Durag Fest is viewed as a step in the right direction by many, but Thompson thinks more is needed to make that happen.

“I think there needs to be more events like Durag Fest that push for us to actually benefit from this holiday,” he said. “But pageantry is needed to make that happen.”

It’s hard to ignore the backlash the holiday tends to get from conservatives, but for Thompson, this just further solidifies the need for such a celebration.

He had always planned it as a protest, after all.

“The idea of a Durag Fest or just a durag in general is essentially like you preserving your hair,” he said. “For us, our hair is our culture. It’s our history, and it’s very important to us. For me, the durag is just like a symbol of preservation. That’s what we’re trying to maintain and keep. Being a Black person

in America, African-American, in general, there’s so many things that we come up with and we create. As soon as we put those ideas out into the world, they’re no longer ours. The durag stands for a lot of things. Reclamation is one of them.

“The Durag is just Black,” he continued. “It’s just the Blackest thing. When you think of Black culture, you think of things that have been stolen, right? Time again, people try to claim that durag and they fail miserably. The durag just feels like the one Black artifact that white people haven’t figured out how to steal or how to properly assimilate into their culture. It’s one of the few things that we still have standing.

Thompson said he hopes that, in addition to a good time and having a space to be unequivocally Black, people leave Durag Fest with some new piece of education.

“I feel that the best learning experience is a lived one,” he said. “We are trying different things with expos, having lineups of speakers come in and talk about the importance of DEI in the workplace and social media, and a plethora of skills and buzzwords that will essentially help you to elevate yourself up in the culture ladder.

“But for me, personally, culturally, I just think it’s important that we see ourselves as valuable, we see ourselves as beautiful, we see ourselves as artists at heart,” Thompson continued. “Being able to put

yourself in a space where there are like-minded people like you, being able to build community and make friends with others and share ideas is what’s most important for me.”

Another important narrative that Thompson wants to push through Durag Fest is that Black people are not a monolith. Black people of all walks of life come to the festival, and Thompson said it would be a great opportunity for people to see how different Black people are. Black people from the elderly to children enjoy a good time at the festival.

“Everything from the video vixen to the allnatural Manuka Honey sister,” he said. “We have seen the cowboys, basketball players, brothers with gold teeth, and our blerds from the Hidden Leaf village who have on their Naruto headbands. It’s all here.”

From goth to gay people, Thompson has seen them all pass through Durag Fest and enjoy themselves, and that’s what it’s all about.

“None of these things matter because we’re all Black and we’re all celebrating each other,” he said. “People’s divisions don’t matter at this festival, okay? We’re all Black. We’re all here to celebrate each other. I think that’s the one thing that people can learn from each other: We’re all different.”

DLEWIS@QCNERVE.COM

PHOTO BY DAREMEN J.

DURAG FEST ATTENDEES AT CAMP NORTH END

PHOTO BY CNCOOPER PHOTOGRAPHY

ENJOYING THE VIBES AT DURAG FEST

FROM THE TOP DOWN

How hair styles play a role in confirming one’s identity

BY RAYNE ANTRIM

Everyone has had a bad hair day.

Maybe it looks too flat, or the side part is strange; it’s been put up and it’s been put down; for some reason, the dry shampoo is making it look greasier; for some other reason, a few strands look like coils in a sea of waves.

Whether it’s realized or not, hair can play a huge role in our self-confidence. On those bad hair days, sometimes we don’t feel like ourselves. We wonder if anyone can notice the differences we see when we look at ourselves in the mirror.

Most of the time, people are too focused on themselves to notice the minute changes we see in ourselves daily. One thing only we can know for sure is what changes internally.

People constantly change, be it due to differences in environment, self-realization, or personal values. When those internal changes happen, sometimes we want external characteristics to reflect that.

A large part of identity hinges on what we decide to display — the clothes we wear, the people we surround ourselves with or what we do in our free time. For those in the queer community who are exploring their identity, gender-affirming haircuts are an important part of that journey.

The Jade Rabbit, owned by Storm Lover, is a cutting parlor in Charlotte that has been providing grooming services for three years. Hannah Baxter joined the business about a month ago, working with Lover to give haircuts, scalp treatments, scalp massages, eyebrow waxing, eyebrow shaping and beard facial care services. They call it wellness barbering.

Lover and Baxter’s main focus has always been providing a safe space for queer folks, seeing that it’s not always the easiest situation for those who are queer to get a haircut that perhaps doesn’t fall in line with the way other people perceive them.

“I’ve had an experience where I explain the kind of haircut I want and show them a picture and they’re like, ‘Well, don’t you want it more feminine? Don’t you want it to be like a pixie cut?’ No, no thank you,” Lover said.

“Getting a haircut can already be a scary experience,” Baxter added. “For people coming into their identity and figuring out who they are, it’s really important to us to create a safe space for them to know that at the end of the experience — they’re going to be more affirmed. We’re going to get them a haircut that they want, and that makes them feel good.”

The two express the importance of language and communication throughout the haircut experience. Language can be tough for someone who’s not wellversed in hair and can sometimes ask for things that aren’t what they mean.

The importance of language and clear communication

For any barber or hair stylist, asking pronouns at the beginning of a service is important in order to know who you’re talking to. It’s also important to ask if someone wants an androgynous, masculine or feminine haircut to set the base for the vibe someone’s going for.

When it comes to language, Storm and Baxter say that using the term “cutting parlor” removes an association with gender.

“We have clients representing the full gender spectrum that come in. Every haircut is a genderaffirming haircut. You’re validating someone for who they are and how they want to be presented to the world,” Baxter said.

Lover insists that a “gender-affirming haircut” is for everyone, not just queer folks. You could be a “cis South End banker bro who goes into the barbershop”

and the haircut that you get would still be a genderaffirming haircut, she explains.

“It’s the hair professional’s job to take the time to understand who’s in their chair and what their lifestyle is — to know what they want, how they want to be perceived, and how they want to feel inside,” Lover said.

Like Jade Rabbit, Bohemian Style House strides to take gender out of the equation when providing services to affirm anyone’s identity.

Bohemian was the first salon in Charlotte to offer hourly pricing rather than pricing for women’s and men’s haircuts. For someone who identifies as nonbinary or trans, seeing a list of services without gender offers security; whatever haircut they’re looking for doesn’t have to be defined.

Candace Stamper, co-owner of Bohemian Style House, has been doing hair for 17 years. Stamper and business partner Mary Scott purchased the salon’s property in 2020 and have since advocated for the queer community through their work.

Stamper is intentional when it comes to creating a safe and inclusive environment for those in the queer community through Bohemian’s business

practices.

“Most of us wear pins on our aprons with our pronouns on them,” Stamper explained. “When you fill out our new client forms, there’s a place to put your pronouns as well.”

Bohemian often does volunteer work with Transcend Charlotte, a nonprofit that supports transgender folks, and is currently working on building an event within the salon to offer free gender-affirming haircuts.

Transcend Charlotte has greatly aided Charlotte’s LGBTQ+ community. Amongst their several programs, one called Xpression Space offered an affirming place for those within the community looking to explore their gender expression.

Xpression Space offered free clothing, makeup, shoes, binders, breast forms as well as free gender-affirming haircuts, though the space’s future is currently in limbo as Transcend deals with divestment issues from a partnering organization.

Bohemian Style House also offers a “pay-whenyou-can” program for those who don’t have as much disposable income.

“We find a lot of teenagers and young queer

PHOTO BY KARA PERRY STORM

REBEKAH LEONARD

people who don’t have as much disposable income to pay $100, $150, $175 for a haircut,” said Stamper. “We let our stylists choose when they want to offer appointments individually, and then we post about it on Instagram.”

Where to go from here

Stamper pointed out that there’s still a strong separation of ethnicities in the salon and beauty spaces of Charlotte, as well as a problem around exploitation of hair stylists.

Stamper has heard stories where clientele don’t want to be touched by a different ethnicity and where a stylist’s coworkers were blatantly discriminatory by referring to the stylist as “it,” (even though their pronouns are they/them.)

“One of my rules is, if you’re being racist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic … you will be asked to leave in the middle of your service. I don’t care — I will ask you to leave because you don’t deserve to occupy the space with other people when you’re speaking hatred,” Stamper says.

She added that she’s noticed many salons will pay lip service to inclusivity, but draw a line at a certain

point in the LGBTQ spectrum. They can accept those who identify as gay or lesbian, but start to get uncomfortable when folks who are non-binary or trans show up.

“For a lot of people, inclusivity does stop at some point. It’s understandable for someone to say, ‘I’m uncomfortable because I’m not familiar with pronouns,’ or, ‘I’m uncomfortable because I don’t want to say the wrong thing,’” she explained. “That’s when you educate yourself and then move on from there.”

Rebekah Leonard, a haircutting specialist and coowner of The Cut in NoDa, believes that Charlotte’s hair and beauty scene needs more consistent effort when it comes to supporting the queer community. For a short amount of time Pride Month, there seems to be support, but that falls off for the rest of the year, Leonard says.

“I think walking the walk and also talking the talk is important. Staying educated and knowledgeable about what being queer-friendly means is part of the walk when providing a queer-friendly space and a safe space for trans people,” Leonard said.

To Leonard, creating a safe space means that the physical environment isn’t heavily gendered. Having gender neutral restrooms is important to help folks feel like they aren’t fighting for who they

are and can be themselves without worrying about someone else judging them.

For Leonard, there’s nothing more fulfilling than making someone feel confident and comfortable in their own skin.

“I had a client come in who’s transitioning right now, and he was looking for a cut that was more masculine,” she explained. “We’ve been slowly transitioning into more and more masculine styles, and he’s really been loving it.”

“It feels good to know I’m able to provide that for someone and see them feeling confident while they’re still in the chair,” she said.

Places like The Jade Rabbit, Bohemian Style House, The Cut, Explicit Salon, Bishops and Mane

Vibe Collective continue to build strong communities that celebrate self-expression, identity and the importance of safe spaces for queer individuals. They break the barriers of what it means to have a gender-affirming haircut by focusing on providing exemplary services through open and clear communication that’s free of judgment and full of support.

A gender-affirming haircut, put simply, is an affirming haircut for anyone. Whether you’re wanting to change your look or looking to explore new parts of your identity, you’ll be leaving the chair knowing a little bit more about who you are.

RANTRIM@QCNERVE.COM

PHOTO BY KELSEY MARD

BOHEMIAN STYLEHOUSE

PHOTO BY STORM LOVER JADE RABBIT

SUMMER GUIDE 2024

Enjoy it while it’s livable

Memorial Day has come and gone, and we are speeding into summer with reckless abandon. Here’s how to make sure the hot season doesn’t pass you by.

Live Music

PNC Music Pavilion

707 Pavilion Blvd.; tinyurl.com/PNCPavilion2023

July 20: Kevin Gates & Friends

July 23: Third Eye Blind w/ Yellowcard

July 24: Creed

July 27: New Kids On The Block w/ Paula Abdul & DJ

Jazzy Jeff

July 30: The Doobie Brothers

August 2: Limp Bizkit w/ BONES, N8NOFACE, Corey

Feldman, Riff Raff

August 3: I Prevail & Halestorm

August 4: Cage The Elephant

August 7: Glass Animals

August 9: Hank Williams Jr.

August 10: Train w/ REO Speedwagon

August 13: Earth, Wind & Fire w/ Chicago

August 16: Dan + Shay

August 17: Junior H

August 20: Thirty Seconds To Mars

August 26: Green Day

August 28: Imagine Dragons

September 1: Avril Lavigne

September 6: Megadeath

September 7: Boyz II Men

September 11: Rob Zombie w/ Alice Cooper

September 13: Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats

w/ My Morning Jacket

September 14: Sebastian Maniscalo

September 15: Meghan Trainor

September 18: Korn

September 19: Hootie & the Blowfish

September 20: Cody Johnson

September 21: Commodores w The Pointer Sisters, El

Debarge

September 22: Staind w/ Breaking Benjamin, Daughtry

Skyla Credit Union Amphitheatre

1000 NC Music Factory Blvd.; tinyurl.com/Skyla2023

June 20: Cody Jinks

June 23: Goose

June 26: T-Pain

June 28: Cole Swindell

July 24: Switchfoot w/ Blue October, Matt Nathanson

August 2: Jamey Johnson

August 7: CAKE

August 11: 311 w/ AWOLNATION, Neon Trees

August 11: Primus w/ Coheed & Cambria

August 26: Bush

September 5: Justin Moore w/ Randy Houser

September 11: Porter Robinson

September 14: Yung Gravy

September 16: NIKI

September 19: Kaleo

September 21: Melissa Etherridge w/ Jewel

The Fillmore

820 Hamilton St.; fillmorenc.com

June 30: Matisse

July 6: Hobo Johnson & The Lovemakers

July 12: Rumours ATL: Fleetwood Mac Tribute

July 14: ShxtgNGigs

July 21: Is For Lovers w/ Hawthorne Heights

July 23: idobi Summer School

July 25: PARTYNEXTDOOR

July 27: Chief Keef

July 28: $NOT

July 29: As I Lay Dying

August 3 & 4: The Band Camino w/ Knox

August 8: Taking Back Sunday

August 10: Lucky Daye

August 25: Snow Tha Product

August 29: Ken Carson

September 6: Manchester Orchestra

September 7: Pigeons Playing Ping Pong w/ Andy Frasco & The UN, Dogs in a Pile

September 9: Powerworld

September 20: Alec Benjamin

The Underground 820 Hamilton St.; fillmorenc.com

June 20: Wilderado

June 21: Yoi Toki

July 5: Felly

July 11: Bktherula

July 12: The Lox

July 13: Northland

July 20: Lil Poppa

July 25: D’Aydrian Harding

July 26: Jake Hill

July 28: Evavn Honer

July 29: mxmtoon

July 31: The New Pornographers

August 2: Caspian

August 10: We the Kings

August 11: Black Pistol Fire

August 24: Crumb

August 25: Libianca

August 27: Crown The Empire

September 4: Lamp

September 6: Leprous

September 10: Wild Rivers

September 14: The Airborne Toxic Event

September 20: Mickey Guyton

September 21: Old 97’s

Ovens Auditorium

2700 E. Independence Blvd.; boplex.com

June 27: That Girl Lay Lay

July 9: Donny Osmond

July 26: Brit Floyd

August 3: Ramón Ayala

September 5: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

Bank of America Stadium

800 S. Mint St.; panthers.com/stadium

July 18-19: Morgan Wallen

The Amp at Ballantyne

11115 Upper Ave., ampballantyne.com

June 29: Trey Songz

July 11: Thurston Howell Band

August 3: Anthony Hamilton

August 8: Cassette Rewind

September 12: B Sharp

PHOTO BY WILL FOLSOM

PHOTO BY ALVARAN STRONG

GREEN DAY PLAYS PNC MUSIC PAVILION ON AUG. 26.

Charlotte Symphony charlottesymphony.org

June 21: Freedom Drive Festival - Ophelia GarmonBrown Community Center

June 23: Music From the Movies - Symphony Park

June 30: CSO Summer Pops Celebrates AmericaSymphony Park

U.S. National Whitewater Center

5000 Whitewater Center Pkwy.; whitewater.org

The U.S. Whitewater Center’s River Jam features live music on an outdoor stage every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night at 7 p.m. from May through September. Genres span roots rock, Americana, bluegrass, folk and funk. Other activities include yoga, open-water swims and, of course, whitewater rafting. Admission is free aside from parking.

MoRa Fridays Live

Edge City Brewery, 6209 Old Post Road; moraclt.org

Since May, Edge City Brewery has hosted the Fridays Live concert series every third Friday, and will continue to do so through November. MoRA began this FREE community concert series seven years ago at the Embrace Sculpture, and this year, Edge City is cooking up a concert series with all the right ingredients: great bands, food trucks, craft beer and local vendors. Summer’s scheduled performers include Well Drinkers, Something Like That and Faultline Bluegrass. Be there at 6 p.m.

August 17: West End Mambo at Eastway Regional Recreation Center

August 24: TBD at Pearl Street Park

Jazz at the Garden

A special evening of jazz under the stars, featuring five performances by some of the finest talent from the Carolinas: Reggie Graves & Jazz Theory, Holly Hopkins Jazz Trio, 5th & York Band, JaVonne Jones, and Scott Marvill.

More: $59, July 9, 5-10 p.m.; Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden, 6500 S. New Hope Road; dsbg.org

Arts & Culture

Theatre Charlotte

501 Queens Road; theatrecharlotte.org

June 28-July 7: Alice by Heart

July 19-20: Dear Edwina Jr.

Three Bone Theatre

The Arts Factory at West End Studios, 1545 W. Trade St.; threebonetheatre.com

August 9-24: Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles

Matthews Playhouse

Mecklenburg County’s Sundown Sounds

Locations vary, 7-9 p.m.; tinyurl.com/SundownSounds24

June 22: Adrian Crutchfield at Pearl Street Park

July 7: Of Good Nature at Ramsey Creek Beach

July 14: The Steepwater Band at Park Road Park

July 20: Eli Yacinthe Band at Romare Bearden Park

July 27: Blue Monday at Pearl Street Park

August 4: Blackwater Band at Ramsey Creek Beach

August 11: The Eric Brice Group at Park Road Park

Fullwood Theatre, 100 E. McDowell St., Matthews

September 20-29: One Year to Die

Belk Theater

130 N. Tryon St., blumenthalarts.org

June 18-23: Mamma Mia!

July 9-21: Back to the Future: The Musical

Aug. 8-Sept. 8: Disney’s The Lion King

Booth Playhouse

130 N. Tryon St., blumenthalarts.org

Through June 29: Charlotte Squawks 19: Go pluck

Yourself

July 5: Omari Dillard

July 9: D. Savage

July 13: Merrily We Roll Along

July 27: Black Couples Therapy

Aug. 23-24: Herlin Riley

August 31: The 8th Annual Carolina Music Video Awards

September 20: Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter

Knight Theater

430 S. Tryon St.; blumenthalarts.org

June 20: Ryan Adams

June 21: Justin Willman

June 22: Cedric Bowler

June 23: Lalah Hathaway

June 26: Mike Birbiglia

July 11: An Evening with Nikole Hannah-Jones

July 19: Najee

August 17: Jeff Ross

August 24: Dusty Slay

August 29: PJ Morton

September 7: Joe Pera

Stage Door Theater

155 N. College St.; blumenthal.org

July 6: Black Boys Cry

July 26-27: Joey Alexander

July 28: The One With All the Laughs

August 1: Queen City Lip Sync

September 12: Now Are the Foxes & Friends

September 19-21: Tablao Flamenco

Ovens Auditorium

2700 E. Independence Blvd.; boplex.com

July 13: Nikki Glaser

August 8: Ellen DeGeneres

August 31: RePaul’s Drag Race Live

September 6: Giggly Squad Live

September 14: Chelsea Handler

Bojangles Coliseum

2700 E. Independence Blvd.; boplex.com

Aug. 1-4: Cirque du Soleil: Corteo

PHOTO BY MATTHEW MURPHY, EVAN ZIMMERMAN

BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE MUSICAL

PHOTO BY JOAN MARCUS

MAMMA MIA!

PHOTO COURTESY OF BLUMENTHAL ARTS

DISNEY’S THE LION KING

Crossroads Cinema

Camp North End, 300 Camp Road, 8:30 pm.; camp.nc

Every Thursday this summer, catch iconic flicks from the ‘80s, ‘90s and 2000s on a jumbo screen with surround sound against the backdrop of the historic Ford building.

June 20: Dreamgirls

June 27: Charlie’s Angels

July 4: Miss Congeniality

July 11: Gladiator

July 18: Hitch

July 25: Shrek

August 1: Mission Impossible II

August 8: Princess Diaries

August 15: Napoleon Dynamite

August 22: Legally Blonde

Wednesday Night Live

Presented by Bank of America, Wednesday Night Live includes free admission to the Mint Museum, Bechtler Museum and Gantt Center every Wednesday as well as live entertainment or programming at one of the four Levine Center for the Arts institutions each week. Special programming ranges from dance performances to spoken-word artists to film screenings.

More: Free; Wednesdays, 5-9 p.m.; locations vary; mintmuseum.org

Sports

Charlotte Knights

Truist Field, 324 S. Mint St.; milb.com/charlotte-knights

June 18-23 vs. Gwinnett

July 4-6 vs. Jacksonville

July 9-14 vs. Durham

July 30-August 4 vs. Norfolk

August 13-18 vs. Toledo

August 27-Sept. 1 vs. Nashville

September 10-15 vs. Jacksonville

Carolina Panthers

Bank of America Stadium, 800 S. Mint St.; panthers.com

Preseason

August 17 vs. New York Jets

Regular season

September 15 vs. San Diego Chargers

Charlotte FC

Bank of America Stadium, 800 S. Mint St.; charlottefootballclub.com

July 3 vs. Inter Miami

August 24 vs. New York Red Bulls

August 31 vs. Atlanta United FC

Charlotte Independence

American Legion Memorial Stadium, 310 N. Kings Drive; charlotteindependence.com

July 9 vs. Lexington SC

July 20 vs. South Georgia Tormenta FC

August 3 vs. Lexington SC

August 10 vs. Greenville Triumph SC

August 24 vs. Central Valley Fuego FC

September 14 vs. Richmond Kickers

Charlotte Motor Speedway

5555 Concord Pkwy. S; charlottemotorspeedway.com

August 17: Monster Truck Bash

September 7: SuperMotocross World Championship Playoffs

September 20-22: NHRA Carolina Nationals

PHOTO BY LAURA WOLFF

HOMER’S CASTLE IS TRUIST FIELD

Juneteenth Celebrations

The best way to kick off your summer early is with any of these Juneteenth celebrations spread throughout the greater Charlotte area.

House of Africa’s Annual Juneteenth Festival

Launched in 1998, House of Africa owner Pape Ndiaye is heading into his 27th year hosting his annual Juneteenth celebration in Plaza Midwood, making it one of the longest running observations of the holiday not only in Charlotte but all of North Carolina. Events planned this year include a drum circle, youth culture camp, a unity march and more, with plenty of vendors onsite selling food, beverages, arts, crafts and other goods. “Juneteenth is not just an African American holiday; it is a significant piece of American history,” wrote the Juneteenth Planning Committee on the festival’s website. “We are calling for unity and togetherness.”

More: Free; June 13-16, times vary; House of Africa, 1215 Thomas Avenue; juneteenthofthecarolinas.com

Indian Trail Juneteenth Celebration

Celebrate Juneteenth as a day of recognition, reflection and celebration with spoken word, dancing and more.

More: Free; June 14, 6-9 pm; Crossing Paths Park, 120 Blythe Drive; tinyurl.com/IndianTrailJuneteenth24

Queen City

Juneteenth Parade and Cultural Celebration

Enjoy vibrant floats, music, vendors and dance performances that honor African American heritage and freedom.

More: June 15, 9 a.m.-noon; CPCC - Cato Campus, 8120 Grier Road; tinyurl.com/JuneteenthCPCC24

2024 North Carolina

Juneteenth Festival

Support over 100 Black-owned companies and enjoy crafts, culture, performances, art, kids games, free giveaways and more.

More: June 15, 1-5 p.m.; Cabarrus Arena & Events Center, 4751 State Highway 49 N., Concord; tinyurl. com/JuneteenthFestConcord

Gastonia EbonyFest Juneteenth Festival

Celebrate freedom, culture, and community with live music, traditional soul food, crafts, art, merchandise, games, face painting and more.

More: Free-$150; June 15-16; Rotary Centennial Pavilion. 107 N. South St., Gastonia; tinyurl.com/ EbonyFestGastonia

Pre-Juneteenth Y2K-Themed Pop-Up Market

Celebrate the Juneteenth holiday while embracing African American culture with nostalgia, music, food, and shopping for vintage pieces from local Charlotte vendors.

Dress up in your favorite low-rise jeans, pink Juicy Jay tracksuit, silver tops, and bandanas to support Black business owners and build community.

More: Free admission; June 15; 1-4 p.m.; 102 Berkeley Place Drive; tinyurl.com/pre-juneteenth-pop-up

Belmont Juneteenth Celebration

Hosted by Elements of Empowerment, Inc., this is a free cultural festival of arts, crafts, music, food and more.

More: Free; June 15, 2-9:30 p.m.; Stowe Park, 24 S. Main St., Belmont; tinyurl.com/BelmontJuneteenth24

Ada Jenkins Juneteenth Celebration

The fourth annual Ada Jenkins Juneteenth celebration will include music, dancing, spoken-word performances, nonprofit vendors, food trucks, a kids’ zone and a free meal for the first 400 people in attendance.

More: Free; June 15, 4-7 p.m., Ada Jenkins Center, 212 Gamble St.; adajenkins.org

Charlotte Symphony: A Juneteenth Celebration

Celebrate Juneteenth with Charlotte Symphony as they honor African American musical heritage and unite in the spirit of freedom with works by Scott Joplin, Louis Armstrong and more.

More: $15; June 16, 8:30 p.m.; Symphony Park, 4400 Sharon Road; charlottesymphony.org

University City Juneteenth Art Fest 2024

Celebrate creativity, culture, and community at the Shoppes at University Place, with artists showcasing their work, live music performances, dancers, games and giveaways, vendors, and free interactive painting activities for all ages.

More: Free; June 19, 4-8 pm; The Shoppes at University Place, 8931 JM Keynes Drive; tinyurl.com/ UCityJuneteenth24

Evening of Homecoming

Event host April C. Turner of Life As Art Productions, a folklorist and community educator, will perform her popular interactive presentation, Dancing Stories, followed by performances from the Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist Church Praise Team, neo-soul vocalist

Makeda Iroquois, cultural historian Makheru Bradley, and the Charlotte African Drum & Dance Collective.

More: Free; June 19, 6 pm; Matthews Community Center, 100 E. McDowell St.; tinyurl.com/MatthewsJuneteenth24

Historic Rosedale Juneteenth Celebration

As part of its African American Legacy programming, Historic Rosedale follows through on its mission to honor those who once forcibly labored on the property. This Juneteenth celebration will include demonstrations, prayer, a panel discussion, a musical performance by Kimberly Baker and more.

More: Free; June 22, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Historic Rosedale, 3427 N. Tryon St., tinyurl.com/RosedaleJuneteenth24

For the Struggle Juneteenth Celebration

Local community activist organization For the Struggle hosts its fifth annual Juneteenth celebrations featuring giveaways, African dancers and drummers, musical performances, storytellers, voter registration and education, a VIP senior citizen section, a Kid’s Freedom Corner with bouncy houses and a game truck, and more.

More: Free; June 22, 2-6 p.m.; Senior Drive, Historic West End; ftsinc.org

COURTESY OF FOR THE STRUGGLE

HISTORIC WEST END JUNETEENTH CELEBRATION

COURTESY OF ELEMENTS OF EMPOWERMENT

BELMONT JUNETEENTH CELEBRATION

6/14

AERIAL PRIDE PARTY AT HI-WIRE BREWING

Following up on Hi-Wire Brewing’s Geeks and Gaymers aerial show, the South End brewery will celebrate Pride Month with the newest installment of its Cirque du Biere event series. The first act of the local aerialist troupe’s performance will be choreographed to a queer song of the performer’s choice while the second will be performed improvisationally to a song chosen by the audience. A part of the proceeds from the event will be donated to Time Out Youth, an organization that aids LGBTQ+ youth.

More: $10-$20; June 14, 7 p.m.- 9:30 p.m.; HiWire Brewing, 340 West Tremont Ave., Suite 140; hiwirebrewing.com

SILOAM SCHOOL REOPENING

The Siloam School was built more than 100 years ago by members of the Mallard Creek area’s Black community for local Black children to have a place to learn amid a movement to educate freed Blacks that began in the 1890s and continued into the 20th century. In September 2023, following six years of planning and fundraising for the Save Siloam School project, the Charlotte Museum of History moved the decrepit old schoolhouse from its original lot to the museum property, where it’s been renovated and will now serve as a center for history education, hosting exhibits about the 20th-century Black experience and serving as a space to learn about the region’s history of racial discrimination and injustice.

More: Free; June 15, noon; Charlotte Museum of History, 3500 Shamrock Drive; charlottemuseum.org

GO SKATE DAY WARM UP PARTY AND RAFFLE

National Go Skating Day occurs on June 21, but the folks at Charlotte Skate Foundation (CSF) are getting ahead of it with a raffle to help fund maintenance and insurance at the Kilborne DIY Skatepark. Super Abari Game Bar is partnering with Black Sheep Skate Shop and CSF to throw a raffle that offers up prizes ranging from an XBox Series S and Black Sheep kicks to mini-fridges, camp chairs and band merch. The raffle will conclude with a pre-party featuring performances by Mindvac and Gluetrap, food from King Of Fire Pizza, drink specials and a celebration of Charlotte’s skate culture.

More: Donations suggested; June 16, 3 p.m.; Super Abari Game Bar; 1015 Seigle Ave.; givebutter.com/abariskate24

PERCUSSION DISCUSSION AFRIKA

Legendary Ugandan percussionist Herman Ssewanyana founded the Percussion Discussion Afrika in 1997 as he noticed that much of Uganda’s music had been highly influenced by Congolese soukous, leaving the culture around folk music to fade into the past. With a vision of introducing a new identity and sound on the Ugandan music scene, the group quickly gained popularity and took over the local airwaves. Percussion Discussion Afrika’s music is driven by the melodic sound of traditional Buganda drums, accompanied by the adungu (a traditional harp from northern Uganda) and a fusion of other instruments.

More: $20; June 19, 7:30 p.m.; Evening Muse, 3227 N. Davidson St.; eveningmuse.com

ALL MY FRIENDS ARE FLY - THE PARTY

Whether you’re a social butterfly looking to dance the night away to the hottest beats from DJ See Bird Go or want to dress in your best just to post up and chill with cool people, you’ll want to stop by MacFly Fresh Printing Co. for this party. This screen-printing business was launched with the goal to address issues around economic mobility in Charlotte and diversity in the creative professions. Through this artistic medium, founder Eric Ndelo has not only kept folks looking fresh but elevated social justice movements like Black Lives Matter, empowered countless young artists and taught entrepreneurship to Congo youth.

More: $15; June 19, 7-10 p.m.; MacFly Fresh Printing Co., 301 Camp Road; tinyurl.com/MacFlyFresh

LIMINAL DIVINE EXHIBIT OPENING

Curated by local artist Elizabeth Palmisano, this exhibit is the result of the Spring 2024 McColl Exhibition Fellowship, a four-week collaborative fellowship in which seven local artists came together to explore the hallowed moments found in the mundane — in connection, in nature, in the everyday magic around us. Participating artists include Palmisano, Krystle Baller, Alicia Bell, day hixson, Amtah Naazim, Marcell Vielot and Gloria Zavaleta. The group created works in mediums including documentary photography, videography, sound, live plants, silversmithing and metal working, sculpture and fabrication, broommaking, sigil creation, and fiber art.

More: $10 suggested donation; June 20, 6-9 p.m.; McColl Center, 721 N. Tryon St. mccollcenter.org

JAZZ AND THE SAXOPHONE WITH ERICK “ZOOT” PAYNE

Learn about the rich history of jazz and see a live demonstration of saxophone improvisation with musician Erick “Zoot” Payne, also known as Smaqdiggle. The workshop is open to all ages and any necessary supplies will be provided. As a saxophone player, producer, amateur photographer, traveler and independent musician, Payne has traveled the world sharing his talents with folks from all over, and he’ll take what he’s learned to lead this Goodyear workshop on improvisational sax.

More: Free; June 22, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.; Goodyear Arts, 301 Camp Road; tinyurl.com/erickpayne

MON

LALAH HATHAWAY

6/24

MICHAEL CERA PALIN W/ KEROSENE HEIGHTS, BETWEEN TWO TREES, BIG BACKYARD

Atlanta-based emo/indie punk band Michael Cera Palin redefines the genre of party-punk music with its driving rhythm and passionate sound. “Portrait of a Woman on a Couch With Cats” sets the tone for a forceful, heartfelt sophomore EP. Asheville band Kerosene Heights is cementing itself into the emo scene with songs like “Perfect Timing” and “Kathryn.” Between Two Trees and Big Backyard are two more Charlotte emo acts with names that could be referring to the same scene but sound quite different.

More: $12-$15; June 24; 8 p.m.; The Milestone; 3400 Tuckaseegee Road; themilestone.club

TUES SUN

6/23

Lalah Hathaway has been topping R&B charts since her debut release in 1990, working with musicians such as Mary J. Blige, Marcus Miller, Take 6, and The Winans when she’s not recording as a solo artist. Daughter of the iconic Donny Hathaway, Lalah has created plenty of space fr herself in the music industry, with an multiphonic overtone style of singing that allows her to sing several notes at the same time. She’s known to extend her songs out well over 5 minutes during live performances, so you’ll likely get plenty of chances to see her put this talent on display.

More: $44.50 and up; June 23, 7 p.m.; Knight Theater, 430 S. Tryon St.; blumenthalarts.org

6/25 6/22

FRIENDS IN DIVERSITY: ROOFTOP SOIREE

Wrap up Pride Month in Historic West End with Carolinas LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce’s eighth annual Rooftop Soiree presented. Current LGBTQ+ Chamber members get in free and nonmembers’ tickets are $20. All ticket purchases include complimentary cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and parking as well as live entertainment and diverse and intentional networking opportunities with a number of established businesses and individual entrepreneurs. Attendees will get a chance to network with members of other chambers including the Charlotte Mecklenburg Black Chamber, Carolinas Asian-American Chamber, Black Business Owners of Charlotte, Latin American Chamber of Commerce of Charlotte, Charlotte Regional Business Alliance, and Women’s Business Center of Charlotte More: Free- $20; June 25, 6:30-9 p.m.; Skyline Terrace, 1601 W Trade St;

LALAH HATHAWAY

Courtesy of Blumenthal Arts 6/23

ELIZABETH PALMISANO, CURATOR OF LIMINAL DIVINE Photo courtesy of McColl Center

FOR YOUR ‘MENTAL HEALTH’

Evan Plante returns to music as a True Optimist

BY RYAN PITKIN

Longtime lovers of the Charlotte music scene know the name Evan Plante from his time playing with a number of punk bands locally and elsewhere — Quad, Pleather, Light the Fuse and Run, Escapists, and others.

Some years ago, he found himself detaching from the music scene, worn out by a lifetime of gigging and indifferent about creating new music. He threw himself into his day job as founder of Dockland Designs, work that scratched his creative itch while also paying the bills.

He thought he had left music, or at least the creation of it, in the past. He found over time, however, that it wasn’t that easy. Music was a release for Plante, a form of therapy that played an

important role in his everyday psyche, a role that couldn’t be replaced.

Now, after a years-long hiatus, Plante has begun making music again, recording at home with his wife Susan Plante (of indie-rock trio Faye) under the name True Optimist. Their new single “Mental Health” is set to release on June 25, with an album of the same name scheduled to drop on Aug. 2.

The title comes from Evan’s realization that making music was his way of leveling off his anxiety about what was happening in the world around him.

“I tried to quit music and eventually realized music was needed in my life for my mental health,” he told Queen City Nerve.

Those familiar with Plante’s former ventures in

REWIND: CLT’S NEW MUSIC RELEASES

ALBUM

THE WHISKEY PREDICAMENT, ‘THE HOLD IT TOGETHER’

Nate Fey breathes an air of tales told around a campfire with his folk lyrics. Stream on Spotify

SINGLE

CAMISOLE., “FREEZE FRAME”

Rich, punchy guitar solos stretch for minutes, representing a memory of someone who was in love and is holding on to the lingering feelings. Stream on Spotify

EP

J ANDREW, SELF-TITLED

SINGLE

MODERN MOXIE, “DON’T LOOK AT ME”

An indie-rock anthem with a driving rhythmic guitar melody and springy vocals that confront what it means to be beautiful, authentic, and creative in a world that tells people not to be. Stream on Spotify

SINGLE

WILLINGDON, “BRUISER”

A look into ruminating over past mistakes all while trying to remind yourself that you’re more than the “things” that define you. Stream on Spotify

Straying away from the grunge of Late Bloomer, J Andrew creates comfort in his easy-going melodies that feel distantly familiar like the sound of a guitar someone decides to play on a cool evening at a summer party. Stream: tinyurl.com/j-andrew

music will be surprised by Mental Health, which sounds like nothing he has ever been a part of. It defies genres, gamboling between Latin jazz, post-disco and any number of other sounds and inspirations. Evan is also singing on the project — another first for him.

In the lead-up to the release of True Optimist’s first single, we talked to Plante about what got him back into making music and the processes behind Mental Health.

Queen City Nerve: What made you decide to start making music again?

Evan Plante: I got pretty bored with rock bands after a lifetime of playing in them, and I always liked to put on jazz and bossa nova in the background while I work, so I tried to learn how to think about music in a new and freer way. I also decided that I would spend two months listening to music chronologically. I would put on music from, say, 1961 all day and work, and never skip a song. 1962 the next day.

Even if I didn’t love every song, I tried to listen for something that made that song special; a hit song. I’d get intrigued by a new rhythm, or a new language of music, or a nostalgic sound from a time past. I discovered that my favorite years for music (currently) are 1980-1983. It was the birth of synthesizers in pop music, and punk and disco were both entering their “post” phase. All of this added up to a new spark of creativity.

What’s the process like working solely with Susan on this project? Do you find it easier, harder, etc.?

Music never feels hard to me. I’m a creative

person, and writing music is just something that I have always done. But I was not impressed with my music anymore until I opened my mind up a bit more. Susan studied music theory and classical piano in college, so we’d just play around on drums and piano and explore new paths together. It’s actually very easy for us to play music because we are a good team at most things, we come from the same music scene, we understand each other’s tendencies. What we’re doing right now is really effortless to me. It just happens, and it’s very fresh feeling.

This is a departure from the sounds in any of your earlier outfits. What inspired that and how do you feel about the finished product? I wanted to reinvent myself musically. I can change, and I should change as I get older. I should get better, in all things. True Optimist is not meant to be a band or to play gigs. It’s really a solitary expression and experimentation in rhythm and style. I don’t really know how it’s happening, because every song I finish, I shake my head in disbelief that I created it.

I don’t know how it happens, and it’s not influenced by anything other than me and what I want music to be. The Mental Health album is full of genres of music and ideas that I have never attempted to write or play before, and I still just can’t believe that I made this record.

Visit qcnerve.com for the full interview. True Optimist singles are scheduled for release on June 25 and July 9, with the full Mental Health album set to drop on Aug. 2.

RPITKIN@QCNERVE.COM

EVAN PLANTE GRACES THE COVER OF ‘MENTAL HEALTH’ COVER

& EVAN PLANTE

at The Milestone, 6/7/24

5/11/24

at Snug Harbor, 5/30/24

FASTFORWARD: UPCOMING PROJECTS

SUBVERTIGO/BLUEGILL, ‘CPR-085’

Charlotte four-piece Subvertigo can turn on a dime from moody shoegaze to heavy metal. They’ll join Greenville’s Bluegill on this fourtrack EP with two songs from each band featured on cassette tape only.

Premiering June 14

SINGLE

TE’JANI, “LET ME BUM A CIGARETTE”

Singer-songwriter, producer, engineer and multi-instrumentalist

Te’Jani Inuwa follows up on 2023’s On Prozac with his first solo work since producing Dollar Signs’ latest effort.

Premiering June 23

SINGLE

CLARITY, “MIRAGE OF FATE”

Through Clarity’s hauntingly beautiful voice and a cloudy textured bass, “Mirage of Fate” depicts the journey of healing when swimming through a sea of layered pain. “This song was crafted amid a flare up with my neurological disorders,” Clarity says. “Reflecting the personified essence of the trials entwined with chronic pain, the devil represents the archetype of that pain. Despite the challenges, I’ve unearthed solace in movement.”

Premiering June 28

SINGLE

ALEXA JENSON, “JUST YOU WAIT”

Singer/songwriter Alexa Jenson launched her career at age 16 as a solo performer, though she recently added drummer Matt Conte and bassist/synth player Josh Rosales to give her music more of a rock feel. Her fun and energetic single “Just You Wait” will be her first new music release in six years. “It’s one we’ve been playing for several years as a band,” she told Queen City Nerve. “It’s my teenage late ’90s/early 2000s indie-pop band dream. It’s my favorite.”

Premiering at qcnerve.com on June 28

SINGLE

BOULEVARDS, ‘CAROLINA FUNK: BARN BURNER ON TOBACCO ROAD’

Taking cues from pioneers such as Prince, Rick James, and Earth Wind & Fire, Jamil Rashad’s charisma oozes throughout his performance as the Raleigh-based Boulevards and expertly executes an original sound described as “Southern fried funk.” On “Do It Like a Maniac,” he seamlessly translates the pulsating energy of a live Boulevards performance into an immersive auditory experience that can easily be enjoyed on-the-go.

Premiering June 28

If you’re interested in being included in an upcoming issue, send any new releases to Rayne Antrim at rantrim@qcnerve.com.

Missing at The Milestone, 5/11/24

5/11/24

PAUSE: Project spotlight

‘HOW TO SAVE A MILESTONE’

When Queen City Nerve first reported on Liz McLaughlin and Jason Arthurs’ efforts to make a documentary about west Charlotte’s legendary music venue The Milestone, there was no guarantee the building would still be standing by the time they finished.

In fact, it felt highly likely that it wouldn’t be.

Fast forward five years, and we’re happy to report that the film is finally in the can and, better yet, The Milestone was able to host its first screening back in March.

What McLaughlin and Arthurs caught in the end was a tale of a venue scraping to stay alive in the face of a pandemic, under new ownership, in a city where raising rents meant many of The Milestone’s contemporaries were already razed.

“The film captures how the forced shutdown left so much in flux for the venue, bands, and fans alike,” says McLaughlin now.

“It’s hard to ignore the value of the visceral experience of live music when it’s taken away. That time was a wakeup call that we must support the Milestone if we don’t want to lose it.”

The film is set for its world premiere at Independent Picture House on Aug. 30, with other community screenings to follow. Stay tuned for more on the story of a business back from the near-dead.

RPITKIN@QCNERVE.COM

Subvertigo

Photo by @danrussellpinson

Girl Brutal at The Milestone,

Photo by @channel_20xx

SWAE

Photo by @danrussellpinson

Hey RICHARD at The Milestone,

Photo by @channel_20xx

Marisa

Photo by @channel_20xx

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Faye Webster (The Fillmore)

Wastoid w/ Sex Mex, Tongues of Fire, Momophobia (The Milestone)

Useless Info w/ Fried Reality, Corrupt Faith, Zig Zag (Snug Harbor)

JAZZ/BLUES

Jazz Nights at Canteen (Camp North End)

Carolyn Wonderland (Middle C Jazz)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Savannah Harmon Duo (Goldie’s)

SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC

Melissa Ferrick w/ Kristen Ford (Evening Muse) OPEN MIC

Singer/Songwriter Open Mic (The Rooster) Variety Open Mic (Starlight on 22nd)

THURSDAY, JUNE 13

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Cigarettes @ Sunset w/ Hourglass Kids, Kai & The Gooniez, Groove Skeletons (Amos’ Southend)

Nekromantix (Neighborhood Theatre)

The Minks w/ Comino, Ali Forrest (Petra’s)

Grindhouse w/ Caged Affair (The Rooster)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

The Jacob Jolliff Band (Evening Muse)

Brent Cates Duo w/ Anna J (Goldie’s)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ

Neil Frances (The Underground)

Lynsea w/ Mariah Van Kleef, Mimah (Snug Harbor) SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC

Josh Daniel (Comet Grill) FUNK/JAM BANDS

Sol Fusion (The Amp Ballantyne) COVER BANDS

Brandon Stevens sings Michael McDonald & Maxwell (Middle C Jazz)

FRIDAY, JUNE 14

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Violent Vira w/ Alexis Munroe, Max Diaz (Amos’ Southend)

Drive By Truckers (The Fillmore)

Dollhaver w/ Emily Grimm, Lindera, Syndrome (The Milestone)

Archspire (Neighborhood Theatre)

Slow Funeral w/ Kitty Coen, Jay Hoff (Petra’s)

Crenshaw Pentecostal w/ HolyRoller, Vera Soul (Snug Harbor)

Leisure McCorkle w/ Fancy Gap, Wilde Green (Visulite Theatre)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ

The Wonderlands w/ Elora Dash (Camp North End) CLASSICAL/INSTRUMENTAL

Charlotte Symphony: Jaws in Concert (Belk Theater) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Simple Sole w/ Bourbon Sons Duo (Goldie’s)

Hardy (PNC Music Pavilion)

JAZZ/BLUES

Steve Cole (Middle C Jazz)

FUNK/JAM BANDS

Secret Formula Band (Smokey Joe’s Cafe & Bar)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B

Bossman Dlow (The Underground)

CHRISTIAN/GOSPEL/RELIGIOUS

Aarik Duncan w/ Nia Zhané (Evening Muse) COVER BANDS

Grateful Dudes (The Rooster)

SATURDAY, JUNE 15

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Almost A.M. (Heist Brewery)

Racoon Tour w/ North Bloom, Windley, Nervous Surface, With Haste! (The Milestone)

Cravin’ Melon w/ Chad Meers (Neighborhood Theatre)

Tiny City w/ Neon Deaths, Stink Buggg (Petra’s)

Christy Snow Band w/ Siena Christie (The Rooster)

Oh! You Pretty Things w/ Physical/Digital, Momophobia, Pink Skull Garden (Snug Harbor)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ

Rabbit in the Moon (Blackbox Theater)

JUNE! w/ money for water, Pei Wesley, KUNA (Evening Muse)

All the Feels (The Fillmore)

Adult ‘80s Prom w/ DJ Festivus (Primal Brewery)

Sua Casa Afterparty (Starlight on 22nd)

JAZZ/BLUES

David Benoit (Middle C Jazz)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Hunter’s Travesty (Comet Grill)

Kim Richey (Evening Muse)

Holler Choir w/ Rose Hotel, Spencer Thomas (Visulite Theatre)

CLASSICAL/INSTRUMENTAL

Charlotte Symphony: Jaws in Concert (Belk Theater)

FUNK/JAM BANDS

U-Phonik w/ Bald Brothers (Goldies’) COVER BANDS

Red Hot Chili Dogs (Amos’ Southend)

SUNDAY, JUNE 16

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ

Hazy Sunday (Petra’s)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B

Will Downing (Knight Theater)

Soul Sundays feat. Guy Nowchild (Starlight on 22nd)

JAZZ/BLUES

Omari & the Hellhounds (Comet Grill)

Gina Rosaria (Middle C Jazz)

SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC

David Childers (Free Range Brewing)

Russell ‘n’ Woods (Goldie’s) LATIN/WORLD/REGGAE

Sean Paul (The Fillmore)

MONDAY, JUNE 17

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Adjy w/ Blake Anthony & the Campfire, Sunset Electric, Outward Conversation, Whoami? (The Milestone)

JAZZ/BLUES

The Bill Hanna Legacy Jazz Session (Petra’s) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Charlotte Bluegrass Allstars (Smokey Joe’s Cafe & Bar)

OPEN MIC

Find Your Muse Open Mic (Evening Muse)

TUESDAY, JUNE 18

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Red Rocking Chair (Comet Grill)

Ocean Alley (The Fillmore)

Razorblade w/ Trainwrecked, Screwed Ends, Longsuffering, Echos of Humanity (The Milestone)

B.O.R.N. w/ Cartridge, Forced Humility (Snug Harbor)

OPEN MIC

Open Mic Night feat. The Smokin J’s (Smokey Joe’s Cafe & Bar)

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Silversun Pickups (The Fillmore)

The Menzingers (The Underground) King’s X w/ Sound & Shape (Neighborhood Theatre)

Isaac Rother & the Phantoms w/ Bath Party, Warp Street, DJ Wylie Kill (Snug Harbor)

SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC

Delta Fire Duo (Goldie’s)

Josh Daniel w/ Jim Brock, Kerry Brooks (Smokey Joe’s Cafe & Bar)

JAZZ/BLUES

Jazz Nights at Canteen (Camp North End) POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ

Beats @ Birdsong (Birdsong Brewing)

LATIN/WORLD/REGGAE

Percussion Discussion Afrika (Evening Muse) COVER BANDS

Summer of Funk (Middle C Jazz)

OPEN MIC

Singer/Songwriter Open Mic (The Rooster)

Variety Open Mic (Starlight on 22nd)

THURSDAY, JUNE 20

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Ryan Adams (Knight Theater)

Once Below Joy w/ The Yllat, Cigarettes at Sunset, Benz.Birdz. (The Milestone)

Love Bug Junkie (The Rooster)

JAZZ/BLUES

Woody Allen (Comet Grill)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B

Caleborate w/ Mir Fontane, Joey Zen, Justomobbin (Neighborhood Theatre) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Wilderado (The Underground)

Cuchulain w/ Jon Charles Dwyer, Aaron Chance Wilson (Petra’s)

LATIN/WORLD/REGGAE

Josh Daniel Band w/ Mike Ramsey (Goldie’s) FUNK/JAM BANDS

Shana Blake’s Musical Menagerie (Smokey Joe’s Cafe & Bar)

EXPERIMENTAL/MIXED-GENRE/FESTIVAL

Snug Harbor Music Awards (Snug Harbor) COVER BANDS

Just Fine (Mary J Blige tribute) (Middle C Jazz)

FRIDAY, JUNE 21

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

The Lenny Federal Band (Comet Grill)

Current Blue w/ Britton Rauscher (Evening Muse)

Magnitude w/ Combust, Balmora, Fake Eyes, Divine Right (The Milestone)

Planet Sized Planet w/ Saluda, Wine Mom, This Island Earth (The Rooster) JAZZ/BLUES

Christian Sands Trio (Middle C Jazz)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ

Yoi Toki (The Underground)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Adam Church w/ The Jeffers N’ Kelly Band, Chandler & The Reckless Souls (Amos’ Southend)

Virginia Man w/ Liam Pendergrass (Camp North End) Jayson Arendt Band w/ Randy Paul Duo (Goldie’s) FUNK/JAM BANDS

The Bloodworth Project (Smokey Joe’s Cafe & Bar) LATIN/WORLD/REGGAE

Jay Wheeler (Ovens Auditorium)

Kaleta & Super Yamba Band (Snug Harbor) HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B

JMSN w/ 2007 (Neighborhood Theatre)

MC Challenge (Starlight on 22nd)

Josh & Joe Play the Dead (Visulite Theatre)

SATURDAY, JUNE 22

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Josh Joplin Group w/ Mike Miz (Evening Muse)

Late Night Special w/ Sam & Illia (Goldie’s)

Kurt Vile & the Violators (Neighborhood Theatre)

Deaf Andrews (Primal Brewery)

Modern Alibi w/ Kaska Sun (Visulite Theatre)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Wim Tapley & The Cannons w/ Hollifield (Evening Muse)

Outlaw Fest (PNC Music Pavilion)

JAZZ/BLUES

Eric ‘Zoot’ Payne (Goodyear Arts)

Ragan Whiteside (Middle C Jazz)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ

GLOW: Just Twirl Pride Month Party (Blackbox Theater)

Digital Noir w/ DJ Spider, DJ Dave Industrie (The Milestone)

Frequency360 Family Reunion (Starlight on 22nd)

SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC

Brandon Tenney w/ Maddrey, Jackson Harden (Petra’s)

FUNK/JAM BANDS

Eddie Schenck Band (The Rooster)

The Goodnight Brothers Band (Smokey Joe’s Cafe & Bar)

LATIN/WORLD/REGGAE

Os Mutantes w/ Curiosidades de Bombrile (Snug Harbor)

COVER BANDS

Undertow (Tool tribute) w/ Sugar (System of a Down tribute) (Amos’ Southend)

Cedric Bowler performs as Luther Vandross (Knight Theater)

BlackwaterREVIVAL (Comet Grill)

SUNDAY, JUNE 23

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Mike Strauss Band (Free Range Brewing)

Secret Gardens w/ Sincerely, Cloutchaser, Condado (The Milestone)

Sneakers w/ The Eyebrows (Neighborhood Theatre)

Manic Society w/ Kallisto, Ratking (The Rooster)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B

Lalah Hathaway (Knight Theater)

Soul Sundays feat. Guy Nowchild (Starlight on 22nd)

JAZZ/BLUES

Omari & the Hellhounds (Comet Grill)

Jazmine Ghent (Middle C Jazz)

SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC

falllift w/ Courtney Lynn & Quinn (Evening Muse) Square Roots (Goldie’s)

MONDAY, JUNE 24

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Michael Cera Palin w/ Kerosene Heights, Between Two Trees, Big Backyard (The Milestone) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Charlotte Bluegrass Allstars (Smokey Joe’s Cafe & Bar)

JAZZ/BLUES

The Bill Hanna Legacy Jazz Session (Petra’s) OPEN MIC

Find Your Muse Open MIC featuring Conrad Moore

TUESDAY, JUNE 25

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Red Rocking Chair (Comet Grill)

SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC

Kristi Ormond & Friends (VisArt Video) OPEN MIC

Open Mic Night feat. The Smokin J’s (Smokey Joe’s Cafe & Bar)

VISIT QCNERVE.COM FOR THE FULL SOUNDWAVE LISTING, INCLUDING MAY 25-28.

FOOD & DRINK FEATURE

NO NEED TO BE SA LTY

Maíz Agua Sal in Wesley Heights shows Charlotte why ‘local’ matters

BY TIMOTHY DEPEUGH

There are four reasons why Maíz Agua Sal in Wesley Heights is the hero that Charlotte’s food scene both needs and deserves.

First, just look at the place.

It’s not often that we encounter a restaurant whose aesthetics evoke something more than an architect’s take on adjectives. Maíz Agua Sal (or MAS for short) is “light” and “airy,” yes, but it is also the wistful dream of a traveler so inspired and intoxicated by the sights and sounds around her that she just had to bring it home to show everyone.

But not in that appropriated way often attributed to otherwise clueless influencers with toothy smiles. No, Alyson Davis, who co-owns MAS with her husband Dan and who is responsible for the restaurant’s design, is far too much of a romantic for that.

Her dream is one of walking through a neighborhood in Mexico City, full of bright colors and natural light.

On my first visit, impressed as I was by much of what I saw, from the outdoor mural to how the lighting choices inside put focus on the kitchen while brightening and dimming throughout the day so that even indoor diners can experience the movement of the sun, it struck me just how much the restaurant’s design allows for outdoor and indoor spaces to be distinct and yet with no obvious transition between the two. Even the tree next to the hostess stand just feels like it belongs there.

I’d also like to think that when I looked up from my seat out on the front patio and saw through my sunglasses what looked like a rainbow dancing along the patio’s transparent roof, that even that was deliberate — that Alyson realized dreams are the colors we see when our eyes are closed and thought of a clever way to evoke that feeling for her guests when their eyes are wide open.

She wouldn’t own up to it, of course, when I

asked. Nor, as I’ve come to learn, is that her style. Through her other successful projects in Charlotte — including Lincoln Street Kitchen and the Green Room — Alyson has always been perfectly content with staying in the background and letting the places, and the talent who bring those concepts to life, speak for themselves.

Second, Amanda Britton is there. I wonder if I even need to go on. Her name sort of speaks for itself in this town, and her appearance at MAS should come as no surprise, given her roles at Lincoln Street and Green Room.

Her knowledge of agave spirits is as breathtaking as the collection she has built for MAS. The cocktails are as good as you’ll find anywhere in town, and her trademark wit is sprinkled throughout. The Pliti Patillo, for example, seems especially popular, though I find it particularly off-putting only because it 100% achieves its objectives of being a drink inspired by an ashtray.

I feel like I am not masculine enough for that drink, not that there’s anything wrong with that.

My visits instead are spent getting drunk on bougie frozen margaritas — bougie because you can actually select your tequila (or mezcal, no one is judging) from Amanda’s library. More often than not, I’ll go for the Código Resposado, which if you’re not careful to count, will be a surprise later on when presented with the bill.

It’s nice to have that variety to choose from, though, and it’s especially nice to see agave spirits finally being given the chance to shine somewhere more upscale than a frat house.

The chef at the helm

Third, and this is the lede I’ve buried — intentionally, in fact, because I want its dramatic reveal to sear his name in your mind — MAS succeeds most of all thanks to a young local chef

named Jonathan Olvera.

A lesser talent might have dialed it all in, but Olvera, who has honed his skills in such Charlotte restaurants as Bardo and Leah & Louise, takes nothing for granted, instead taking to this platform with all the hunger and grit of an underdog prize fighter.

You’ve heard of Rocky Balboa? Think of Olvera as the star of a Rocky spin-off, set in the kitchen, where he fights to make a name for himself.

Full disclosure from me, I have written about chef Olvera previously for another publication in the days leading up to MAS’s opening, but our conversation was focused on his backstory, and this was before I had even tasted his food.

Now, as then, Olvera openly struggles as a first generation Mexican-American born and raised here in North Carolina with the labels that people often expect him to wear; he will never be “authentic,” but he does strive for honesty.

Several visits (and several tacos) later, I finally get what he means.

At some point on one’s taco journey through Charlotte one will encounter unspeakable things that are fried, seasoned, pickled and piled high onto tortillas that never stood a chance in an

Instagram age where college kids with smartphones consider themselves “tastemakers.” “STOP SOCIAL NETWORKING THE TACO,” you might want to scream. Just go to MAS instead.

Olvera’s tacos are indeed honest, laid bare on metal trays such that they come to the table almost vulnerable in their modesty. At first glance, you can’t imagine that they would amount to anything, and perhaps that’s Olvera’s point. A protein, some diced onions, a tortilla — a taco doesn’t need to be anything more than what’s on that metal tray, so respect it for what it is instead of what Instagram tells you it ought to be.

The lingua taco in particular is unmissable. For any of you who have sidestepped that protein in favor of something more akin to chicken, to do so at MAS would be a mistake. Olvera somehow cooks the beef tongue into a texture that mimics crisp, rendered pork belly. I’ve never had lingua so crispy and satisfying, nor have I ever walked away from a lingua taco still drooling, thinking I had been so well-fed.

That also has much to do with the tortillas themselves. The dramatic centerpiece of the restaurant is a giant tortilla machine sent straight from Mexico, looking like an Airstream that can

PHOTO COURTESY OF ARDR HOSPITALITY GROUP

CHEF JONATHAN OLVERA

FOOD & DRINK FEATURE

churn out hundreds of tortillas fresh daily.

Chef Olvera has even chosen a special type of heirloom masa for the tortillas, which gives them a more robust masa taste. Though immediately apparent to Spanish speakers from the restaurant’s name alone, the fact that tortillas — simply made from Corn, Water and Salt for the English speakers — are treated with such reverence should not come as a surprise, especially after one tastes them.

When used in the chillaquiles, breakfast turns into a spiritual experience. I can’t even express how thankful I felt after that first bite. For all I knew, those tortillas could have been cuts of the finest quality steak: they fed me, they healed me. I tore into the rest of the dish — topped with cheese and jiggly egg — as though I had never eaten food before. And maybe from chef Olvera’s perspective, I hadn’t.

There’s not a whole lot of honesty involved with sucking the helium out of an apple-flavored balloon, or from licking curry off a plate for $500. Even the green chili sauce was honest; climate change had pushed peak jalapeño season up a few weeks so that the chili sauce was so ferocious as to be unexpected by all there that day, not just me, the one whose trachea was convulsing.

On my final visit before committing to writing this review, however, “honesty” took on a different layer of meaning. Chef Olvera wants his food to be honest and loved, but if he is honest with himself, he also wants to be a name people recognize. To that end, he cooked up an honest-to-god showstopper of a destination dish.

You all know what I mean by that, right? The kind of dish that puts a restaurant and its chef on the map. The kind of dish that you will gladly drive hours just to try. The kind of dish that makes you love that you’re alive to taste it.

At MAS, that dish is duck, cactus and blue tortillas, along with a mole madre made from 20 ingredients. It presents like modern art with a message, with duck breast rendered and sliced on one side, charred and pickled cactus on the other — the mole madre, made from chef’s mother’s recipe, spread into a pool underneath.

It’s the best possible dichotomy: the restaurant design standing in for the neighborhood that inspired it, and this singular blockbuster dish standing in for the people of that neighborhood and everything they dream to achieve. That 90% of the ingredients are not something well-heeled global travelers would ever see on a tasting menu was just

the sucker punch this Rocky was waiting to deliver. It gave me goosebumps.

That it also tasted of something I’ve never experienced before — the pickled cactus bursting with liquid that added yet another layer to that mole, transforming it into something formidable enough to make that duck go quack again — was just a nice bonus.

Let’s be honest

And that leads me to my fourth reason.

Maíz Agua Sal is perfectly primed to make us all better, and the Charlotte food scene as a result, because it shows why “local” really does matter.

We are in a slump in this town. Sure, there are new restaurant and bar openings here and there, but can you even remember them once the influencers’ Reels expire? Something has stalled Charlotte’s ascendancy to the upper echelons of US food destinations, and that something is us.

Our hearts are all in the right place, but why aren’t our palates? Charlotte is never going to get better with paid influencers commanding the conversation and the rest of us biting our tongues when a server comes up to ask us how we are enjoying the food. You are allowed to say you don’t like it. You are allowed to say why. Influencers are allowed to be

paid to say a restaurant’s melted cheese is the best they’ve had, sure, but when you know better (and I know you know better), speak up.

When we Charlotteans lose our collective shit going after a writer instead of the flop he called out, you know what we look like? I guarantee you we don’t look like the local, small business champions we think we look like. If we are going to band together to defend “local,” then let us also be more discerning.

I’m not saying we must favor fine dining over something simpler, or that fine dining is even the way for Charlotte to advance. There is space here for both — after all, even Noma has a spin-off that sells burgers. That’s not the point.

The point is, just like that island in the Indian Ocean where the indigenous population remains willingly and deliberately in the Stone Age, we Charlotteans are doomed to remain in the age of chain restaurants and flop if we continue to let our convictions and not our palates do the talking.

MAS is the perfect restaurant to get us all talking about what we all mean when we say “local.”

Is “local” a free pass from criticism? Is “local” code for outside opinions not welcome? I certainly don’t think so, and I don’t think you do, either. This entire restaurant is from a local point of view,

locally conceived and locally staffed. Chef Olvera’s food might not be the “authentic” Mexican food you think you want, but for crying out loud, he’s from Salsibury, and food is his local take.

The real genius behind his food, however, is that it’s familiar enough to all of us so that we have a common frame of reference from which to start that conversation that needs to be had, but that it’s so impeccably well made (and honest!) that it’s the perfect way to get less vocal diners to finally be moved into saying something simple as, “This was delicious because.”

As for me, my “because” is all the words that led you here to the end.

INFO@QCNERVE.COM

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FOOD & DRINK

SPACE TO GROW

Grow Cafe will be Charlotte’s first coffee shop for parents and children

BY DEZANII LEWIS

A new “play cafe” that will cater to parents of young children is set to open next month in the Highland Creek area of northeast Charlotte.

Grow Cafe, a Black- and family-owned play cafe that caters to parents and children aged 0 to 6, will open in mid-July at 5324 Docia Crossing Road, Suite B, in a shopping center anchored by Cinergy Dine-In Cinemas.

Stacy and Michael Baker, a married couple with children who live in the Highland Creek area, will own Grow Cafe, partnering with Enderly Coffee to supply beverages and baked goods.

The business is the brainchild of Stacy, who has spent over a decade working with youth nonprofits and advocacy groups. She holds a Master of Public Administration from Clemson University and ruminated over the idea for years before finally striking out to open Grow Cafe.

“This is something that I’ve been trying to figure out and find out what the vision was,” she told Queen City Nerve. “I had this vision the first time

in 2017 and I didn’t know exactly what it was, but I knew it was a space that families and children could thrive.”

Grow Cafe will offer traditional coffee items such as espressos, lattes and baked goods in an environment geared toward children, with an innovative play space that includes both fun and educational equipment. The site will also offer various activities in an effort to allow parents to better engage and interact with their children.

The activities, which Baker said they hope to host at least four times a week, will range from Mommy and Me Yoga, arts and crafts classes, music workshops, and reading sessions featuring local children’s authors.

“Grow Café would help to fill the void for a muchneeded family-friendly space for minority families. Parents and caregivers will be able to observe their young children have fun learning, while also being able to fulfill their own mental and emotional needs,” said Renee Johnson, District 4 Charlotte

City Council rep, in a release announcing the upcoming opening. “Through connecting families, the Grow Cafe can also help foster valuable and hopefully lifelong relationships across neighbors in our communities. Stacy has also committed to utilize Grow Cafe as a space to provide community outreach through workshops, resource drives and informational conversations.”

Stacy’s original business idea looked more like a traditional daycare, but she soon realized that route didn’t suit her vision. Baker put the idea on hold while she got married and had children, but just as she was ready to revisit her dream of opening a new business in 2020, COVID-19 forced another pause.

Despite the unfortunate turn of events, gaining more experience as a parent eventually helped Stacy solidify her plan for a play cafe rather than your runof-the-mill daycare.

Painfully aware of the lack of options in Charlotte, Stacy was inspired by play cafes in surrounding areas such as Pineville (Unwind Indoor Play Cafe), Monroe (Playland Indoor Playground + Café), and Concord (The Playroom Social). Having regularly traversed more than 45 minutes to reach such a venue, the Bakers wanted something local.

“We made preparations, packed a bag, took our girls out there, and sometimes they’re like, ‘Oh, we don’t have any reservations available right now,’” she said.

The isolating effect of the pandemic on both parents and children was another motivator for the Bakers, whose 4-year-old daughter is what many would consider a “pandemic baby.” The couple faced

many challenges trying to socialize their daughter when the time came.

“When it got time to socialize her, it was a struggle,” she said. “She was only comfortable with us, the people she was in the house with for the last few years. Our children are lacking socialization skills. Parenthood has become such an isolating thing, and that’s something that I really struggled with after having both my girls.

“I didn’t want to be a burden,” she continued. “I didn’t want to be a burden if friends invited me to coffee. So what could I do as a mom? And so my friendships really became more telephone[-based], and it wasn’t in person. I was in a space of isolation, and I wanted to really see how I could help resolve that.”

Ultimately, Baker said she wanted to assuage the concerns of anxious parents and provide them a safe space to just be a parent.

Grow Cafe will be open to the public, though timed “play sessions” will have a cost. A VIP Membership program will offer perks such as free play sessions on weekdays, discounts on weekends, and 15% off private party bookings.

Families with one child over six months can purchase a membership for $80, while membership for families with two or more children will cost $150.

The Bakers have launched a crowdfunding campaign in hopes of raising $30,000 to help grow the cafe.

For more information, visit growcafeclt.com. DLEWIS@QCNERVE.COM

PHOTO BY MORGAN ROBINSON

STACY AND MICHAEL BAKER

PHOTO BY MORGAN ROBINSON

GROW CAFE WILL OPEN IN THE HIGHLAND CREEK AREA

LIFESTYLE PUZZLES

SUDOKU

BY LINDA THISTLE

TRIVIA TEST

BY FIFI RODRIGUEZ

1. HISTORY: Who was the first female chancellor of Germany?

2. GEOGRAPHY: Which European capital used to be called Christiania?

3. MOVIES: What are the names of the elderly couple in the animated movie “Up”?

4. ANATOMY: How much blood is in the average human body?

5. SCIENCE: What do ohms measure?

6. TELEVISION: Al Borland is a sidekick in which 1990s TV sitcom?

7. GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: What does an hCG test determine?

8. U.S. STATES: Which state is named after a French king?

9. LITERATURE: Who are Nancy Drew’s best friends in the children’s mystery novel series?

10. FOOD & DRINK: What fruit is used to make Worcestershire sauce?

CROSSWORD

PLACE A NUMBER IN THE EMPTY BOXES IN SUCH A WAY THAT EACH ROW ACROSS, EACH COLUMN DOWN AND EACH SMALL 9-BOX SQUARE CONTAINS ALL OF THE NUMBERS ONE TO NINE.

©2024 King Feautres Syndicate, Inc. All rights reserved.

©2024 King Feautres Syndicate, Inc. All rights reserved.

AERIN’ IT OUT MANEKI FOR ME

A chat with chef Kenny Do about his pop-up-turned-brick-and-mortar

BY AERIN SPRUILL

Kushiyaki (noun) ku·shi·ya·ki: grilled and skewered meat or vegetables in Japanese cuisine; typically seasoned with soy sauce, salt, or other flavorings and cooked over an open flame or grill.

“Sometimes you gotta pop up and sh(o)nigiris,” I jokingly said to the boo (sorry, not sorry, Kendrick Lamar’s “They Not Like Us” is on repeat), reminiscing on our third rendezvous at Maneki, a Japaneseinspired kushiyaki pop-up on its omakase flex.

And guess what Queen City? This pop-up is getting ready to become a permanent late-night hotspot in Uptown.

“Oh my God,” I said as I bit into the third course of the night, an elote corn twist on onigiri, a traditional Japanese food consisting of a triangle of cooked rice, often wrapped in nori (seaweed) and typically filled.

And in Kendrick fashion, this onigiri “wasn’t like any other” onigiri anyone’s ever tasted in all the best ways.

Picture an inside-out sushi roll sammie filled with sweet corn niblets and drizzled with burnt scallion kewpie, citrusy togarashi, and salty cotija.

Make it make sense! How can someone so effortlessly fuse Mexican street corn and traditional Japanese flavors in a single bite?! Executive Chef Kenny Do didn’t just do it again, he did it thrice!

Despite my drinking habits and short-term memory, I distinctly remember the first night I met Kenny. The boo and I had the munchies and were throwing up Hail Marys that Carlos Dogs would be serving up late-night eats outside Snug Harbor.

“That’s Kenny, he’s from Bardo,” boo whispered as I was eye-grilling the only person getting in the way of my sustenance, unaware that’s who he was referring to. However, my impatience quickly turned to compassion as Kenny’s freshly prepped food slipped from his hands to the ground. He stared in dismay for a second, then turned with a smile, shrugging it off as if to say, “It’s all good.”

A hungry lady in waiting, I’m sure my reaction to his calm, cool and collected demeanor read both

horror and delight. All that to say, with Kenny at the helm, you can trust he won’t fumble the bag with Maneki.

But I digress.

“You licked your fingers?!” I whisper-screamed at my non-phalange-licking boyfriend in a total state of judgment as I begrudgingly wiped away the remnants of the onigiri kewpie from my fingertips.

Me: What’s the personal significance of the name Maneki? (Followed by boo’s edit: “Why lucky cat?”)

Kenny: Maneki cats are utilized in different Asian cultures and depending on the color of the cat and which paw it’s waving can represent many things. Left paw waving beckons in more guests while the right paw raised/waving means bringing in more income to the establishment.

As I rolled my eyes in jealousy at my boo’s break from decorum, my gaze met that of the one musclebound lucky cat waving his caricature of a huge left arm in my direction. It was at that moment I realized I was already getting full and this MF was taunting me.

But the jacked lucky cat wasn’t going to break my spirit. “Left side, strong side,” I thought to myself, taking a page from the Remember the Titans playbook as I dipped my baby spoon into the silky surface of the fourth course, a velvety trumpet mushroom chawanmushi.

Unlike some Queen City chefs, before hopping in pockets and putting food to plate at the permanent location, Kenny embarked on a month-long externship to Japan where he became intimately engaged with the art of kushiyaki, Japanese culture, and cuisine. Read: There’s no way I’m not eating the next eight courses.

Of course, with kushiyaki, the charcoal-grilled meat and veggie skewers are the main event. Cubes of chicken thigh grilled to juicy perfection, nestled between chunky scallion and topped with fresh lemon zest. Your go-to skewer spot could never.

“Do you have another Tums?” I asked bae after

having just said I couldn’t eat another bite. Little did I know, that wouldn’t be the last lie of the meal. The final course was a non-dessert eater’s wet dream of nori and sesame-encrusted ice cream sandwiched between crusty, buttery shortbread cookies. Salty and sweet?! Kenny was killing my stomach softly with his food song, and I was an addict.

What to expect? A game-changer for late-night food ops.

Maneki will offer a limited-seating omakase experience (we paid sub $100 for around 10 courses each visit, which is insane!) and skewers-to-go under one roof. When and where? Your new favorite Japanese food stall is taking over the old Fujiyama in Latta Arcade (on brand, I’ll never call it “The Alley”) and it’s slated to open in the coming weeks!

INFO@QCNERVE.COM

PHOTO BY AERIN SPRUILL

NEGIMA YAKITORI

PHOTO BY AERIN SPRUILL

ONIGIRI FROM MANEKI

HOROSCOPE

JUNE 12 - 18

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Home conditions still demand attention. Also, keep an open mind about a sudden question of trust involving a close friend. All the facts are not yet in.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Travel begins to dominate your sign as spring gives way to summer. Make plans carefully to avoid potential problems during the first half of June.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) A romantic Libra sets a challenge that your “sensible” side might question, but your idealistic self finds the prospect too intriguing to resist. The choice is yours.

CANCER (June 21 to July 22) Those tense times in your personal life are just about over. Concentrate on reaffirming relationships. Your love for travel opens up a surprising new opportunity.

LEO (July 23 to August 22) The Big Cat usually loves to be in the center of things. But this week, it might be wiser to watch and learn from the sidelines. A Pisces wants to make you purr.

VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) “New” is your watchword this week. Be open to new ideas, both on the job and in your personal life. A romantic Aries or Sagittarian beckons.

LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) Some difficult family decisions have to be faced, but be sure to get more facts before you act. Also, be careful not to neglect your health during this trying time.

SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) You still need to support a loved one through a difficult time. Meanwhile, things continue to work out to your benefit in the workplace.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) Aspects continue to favor expanding social opportunities. A Gemini reaches out to offer a chance for reestablishing a once-close relationship.

CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) There’s a potential for misunderstandings in both your job and your personal life. A full explanation of your intentions helps smooth things over.

AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) You might be feeling restless on the job, but delay making any major moves until all the facts are in. Meanwhile, a Scorpio has a surprising revelation.

PISCES (February 19 to March 20) Your business sense works to your advantage as you sort through the possibilities that are opening up. A Libra is Cupid’s best bet for your romantic prospects.

BORN THIS WEEK: You have a gift for being open-minded about people. This helps you make friends easily. You do very well in public service.

JUNE 19 - 25

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Be careful about doing someone a favor when you don’t know the full story behind the request. Don’t rely on someone’s unsubstantiated assurances. Insist on all the facts before you act.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) That workplace problem still needs your attention before you can finally close the book on it. Meanwhile, a long-anticipated reunion gets closer to becoming a happy reality.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) You might be demanding more from others than they can give. Best advice: Have a long and frank talk to determine what the facts are. Tensions should abate as the week winds down.

CANCER (June 21 to July 22) Aspects are favorable throughout this week for making contacts that could be important to your career plans. Meanwhile, an old friend offers the advice you’re seeking.

LEO (July 23 to August 22) It’s time to stop licking your wounds from past mistakes. Get up and get going toward your future. Loyal friends will be there to help the Lion get back into rip-roaring shape.

VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) Take time out to go over what’s expected of you before you begin your new project. Otherwise, you run the risk of pushing yourself harder than you need to.

LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) An unusual request could put you in an awkward position. Best advice: Deal with it immediately. The longer you delay, the more difficult it will be to get out of it.

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

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) A prospect might be less than it appears to be. Like the Archer in your sign, you always aim for the truth. And this is no time to settle for less than full disclosure.

CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) Start doing some serious thinking about a career move that could entail more than just changing job sites. Some lifestyle changes might also be involved.

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

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

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

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UPCOMING SPECIAL ISSUES

JULY 10 | CLT MUSIC ISSUE

AUGUST 7 | PRIDE GUIDE

SEPTEMBER 4 | FALL ARTS GUIDE OCTOBER 16 | HALLOWEEN GUIDE

Trivia Answers

1. Angela Merkel. 2. Oslo, Norway. 3. Carl and Ellie Fredricksen.

1.2 to 1.5 gallons.

Electrical resistance.

“Home Improvement.”

Pregnancy.

Louisiana (Louis).

Bess and George.

Tamarind.

SAVAGE LOVE QUICKIES

The evolution of pegging

BY DAN SAVAGE

Is pegging only for butts or can vaginas get pegged too?

I’m not a pegging purist. When the term originated in my column — when my readers selected “pegging” as the name for a woman fucking a man in the ass with a strap-on dildo — it was gendered; pegging was something a woman did to a man. But now people use “pegging” in reference to someone of any gender fucking someone of any gender in the ass with a strap-on dildo, an evolution of use and meaning that I fully support. But I think it’s good we have a term that refers to a particular and very popular kind of ass-fucking. But meaning follows use, of course, and I am not the boss of the English language, and if people start using pegging to refer to any kind of penetrative sex that involves a dildo and a dildo harness, I won’t be mounting any legal challenges.

2. Best sex position for celebrating the NY verdict?

Not sure, but it should be something you can get away with doing 34 times.

3. I’m a unicorn to a hot married couple that lives a few hours away. I came up for her birthday and a fun party. For the first time the sex was off. The wife and I had our usual hot time, but the husband seemed to be ignoring me and focusing only on his wife. I left feeling rejected. I called and said it’s OK if he wants to fuck his wife, but why was I there then? He apologized and assured me he’s still attracted to me and wants me to come back. Should I go back?

Maybe the husband felt his wife should be the center of attention on her birthday … or maybe you were the center of attention the last 10 times and his wife asked to be the center of attention on her birthday. Either way, if the husband had a plan to focus things on the wife for a change, he should’ve shared that plan with you in advance. But if the

sex was good every other time, I think you should give it (and them) another go. If you expect to be the center of attention during every threesome, you should share that expectation with them — but I don’t think that’s a realistic expectation. A one-off threesome with a couple? You’re the very special guest star and you should be the center of attention. A relationship with a couple that involves lots of threesomes? Everyone should get to be the center of attention once in a while.

4. After four years together, I found out that my boyfriend cheated on me. I became suspicious because he didn’t want to have sex anymore and he spent most of his time on his phone. At first, I learned he kissed a coworker after I found the shadow of a hickey on his neck. He uses a car-sharing service to get home and I asked to see where he got the car, and it was the street where this woman lives. He insisted it only happened twice. Now I know it has happened 15 times in nine months. I love him dearly and I can’t live without him. What am I supposed to do? How can I believe it was just two kisses? Can I ever trust him again?

If you can’t live without him, you’ll have to put up with this shit. If you can’t put up with this shit, you’ll have to learn to live without him.

5. Married 24 years, haven’t had a BJ in 15 years.

That sucks.

P.S. Since I’m an advice columnist and you’re a straight married man — men couldn’t marry other men 24 years ago — I’m supposed to ask if you’re doing your fair share of the housework, if you have good personal hygiene practices, and if you’re making sure your wife comes when you have sex. The implication: You must not be doing these things — or eating her pussy — because otherwise you would be getting regular blowjobs. But there are men out there who do everything right — their

fair share of the housework, they shower and brush their teeth, they get their wives off — and they never get blowjobs. They may have married women who never liked sucking cock or they may have married women who loved sucking cock at first but something about the act doesn’t work for them in the context of an established relationship.

P.P.S. If you want a BJ, ask the wife for one. If she won’t give you a BJ, ask the wife for permission to get a BJ elsewhere. If she won’t give you a BJ or let you get a BJ elsewhere, do what you need to do to stay married and stay sane.

P.P.P.S. Not calling it a “BJ” might help.

6. Best soap for cleaning smelly cock?

Any soap will do — seriously, cocks don’t smell bad because men are using the wrong soap.

7. My boyfriend said he wants to ask his therapist “for their approval” before we can have a threesome. Is it a no-go?

Does your boyfriend have a long history of compulsive sexual behavior? Did he need years of therapy before one-on-one sex with someone he actually cared about was a possibility for him? Did your boyfriend’s ex-husband leave him for someone they had a threesome with? And did the fallout from the breakup require years of therapy to clear away? Did your boyfriend walk in on his mom getting double penetrated by his dad and his dad’s best friend when he was ten? And has your boyfriend only recently managed — with the help of his therapist — to block the mental images that were ruining sex for him and him for sex? If any of the above or something close is true, your boyfriend might have a good reason to check-in with his therapist before having his first threesome with his new boyfriend. But he could’ve and should’ve checked-in without telling you about it.

8. Sex has become boring and routine. Best advice for spicing it up?

Location, location, location — meaning, if you’re having sex with the same person in the same place over and over again, you might wanna fuck that person somewhere you’ve never fucked that person before, e.g., at the office, on the roof, in the darkroom of a sex club with other couples having sex all around you. If you’re having sex lots of different people in lots of different places and you’re bored, you may need to take a break.

9. I can take really big sex toys, but men’s dicks are painful. Why?

Men come attached to dicks — typically — which can make dicks somewhat unpredictable. Toys, by way of contrast, are very predictable; toys stay where you put them, toys don’t make any sudden moves, toys don’t have their own ideas about the depth, angle or pace of penetration. If you’re someone who experiences even mild anxiety around penetration, playing with the typical dick — the kind that comes attached to man — may be causing you to tense up and tension is the enemy of painless penetration.

10. Cis female here who has sex with trans women with [eggplant emoji] who also sleep with people with [eggplant emoji, eggplant emoji, eggplant emoji]. Should I be on PrEP? Yes.

11. What’s the most erotic thing you’ve watched IRL in a room? Pass.

12. How legit are all the ads telling me I have low T? I’m a 45-year-old male. Do all men my age have low testosterone levels? Those ads are designed to make all men feel like they’re suffering from low testosterone, which not all men do. Luckily for men, getting your testosterone levels checked is a pretty simple procedure.

13. My partner and I enthusiastically adopted your #fuckfirst philosophy and doing so has improved our lives immeasurably! But I have noticed that on the social occasions when it’s not an option, I often find myself feeling disconnected and prone to being testy with my partner. Is this a problem? Is our relationship too dependent on sex? Would we be together if it weren’t for our incredible sex life?

I couldn’t tell you — but if you stay together long enough, i.e., if you’re together into advanced old age, you’ll find out.

14. Will casual gay sex between consenting adult males ever be normalized?

God, I hope not — because it feels like discomfort with gay sex is the only thing keeping bachelorette parties out of bathhouses.

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