Queen City Nerve Issue 7_2019

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Music

Leone funks it up P.16

food Manolo’s Bakery stands strong P.22

history is now

FEBRUARY 27 - MARCH 12, 2019 - QCNERVE.COM

Segregation and inequity still pervade at CMS

By Brenna Swanston

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6 A District Divided Segregation and inequity pervade at CMS

By Brenna Swanston 8 Keep It 100 by Shameika Rhymes 9 The Scanner by Ryan Pitkin

ARTS

10 A Familial Face Stephen Wilson enlists Children’s Home Society for new exhibit

By Emily Pietras

LIFELINE

12 How not to kill your social life

MUSIC

14 Beyond All That Jazz Ghost Trees Petra’s residency embraces music in the moment

By Pat Moran 16 Mic Check: Leone by Ryan Pitkin 17 High Cube and Skewed live-score Maya Deren by Veronica Cox 18 Soundwave

FOOD & DRINK

22 Postre Con Patriot East Charlotte bakery owner defines the American Dream

By Courtney Mihocik 24 The Buzz

NIGHTLIFE

26 Aerin It Out by Aerin Spruill 26 Sudoku 27 Crossword 28 Horoscope 30 Savage Love

Cover Design and Illustration

by Dana Vindigni Music

Leone funks it up P.16

food Manolo’s Bakery stands strong P.22

history is now

Segregation and inequity still pervade at CMS

By Brenna Swanston

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Gerrymandering has had different effects on Harding University High School (left) and South Mecklenburg High School.

PHOTOS BY RYAN PITKIN

A DISTRICT DIVIDED

Segregation and inequity pervade at CMS

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C

BY BRENNA SWANSTON

HARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG Schools has been failing its students for decades.

That’s the premise behind the district’s recent discussions about equity: CMS has tolerated high concentrations of poverty in its schools for too long, creating social and disciplinary challenges for its students and erecting barriers to their academic success.

As the CMS Board of Education’s policy committee drafts an equity policy to measure and address these issues, the same question keeps cropping up: Should the policy focus on historically underserved students or the student body as a whole?

At a Feb. 14 meeting, policy committee members likened their debate to a larger, national discord between the Black Lives Matter movement and the “all lives matter” pushback.

“I think the policy needs to be very clear to the community that this board is not looking to do business as usual,” committee member Ericka Ellis-Stewart said at the meeting. “I am very much a believer that a rising tide lifts all boats, and so I think that in focusing on that subset of kids, it’s not saying we’re not going to do anything for anybody else — it’s saying that we recognize that we have

not done enough.”

Ellis-Stewart added that any policy would have to focus on long-neglected populations of students in order to properly address the “pockets of hypersegregation” at CMS. “There is a bridge between the ‘Black Lives Matter’ and the ‘all lives matter,’” Ellis-Stewart said.

“But I think you have to be able to focus to figure out how do you help the least of these, so that we can all have a bigger, brighter tomorrow?”

These pockets of hypersegregation, as EllisStewart called them, are prevalent at CMS. According to CMS, in the 2017-18 school year, for example, students of a lower socioeconomic status composed at least 90 percent of the student bodies at 25 of the district’s 176 schools. Few schools in CMS boast racially balanced student populations, and those on the wrong side of the district’s segregation issue receive fewer and lower-quality resources.

But the culture and effects of segregation at CMS extend far beyond the reach of any five-page equity policy. They dig and tangle into the United States’ history with segregation, integration and resegregation at public schools — in which CMS has played a long and involved role.

PAST TO PRESENT

First, let’s take a trip through time for a quick history lesson. On 1957, Dorothy Counts made the historic walk down Irwin Avenue to Harding High School as one of four black students in Charlotte to integrate all-white schools that day. She was surrounded by white students and parents, spit on and harassed all the way to school.

Counts’ effort was a heroic one — she rightfully remains an icon of the desegregation movement in Charlotte, the South and throughout the country — but not long-lived. She would leave Harding High School later that year, unable to learn in an environment where she faced verbal assault and the threat of physical assault daily. Her experience would be a symbolic precursor of the CMS struggle with segregation, taking one step forward and two steps back.

Nearly 15 years after Counts’ courageous walk — and nearly two decades after Brown v.

Board of Education declared racial segregation unconstitutional — school systems across the country had failed to integrate.

CMS, like many districts at the time, relied on

busing patterns that perpetuated segregation, which is why in 1971, Vera and Darius Swann couldn’t send their 6-year-old son to Seversville Elementary School, the school closest to their home.

The NAACP sued CMS on behalf of the Swanns, and on April 20, 1971, the Supreme Court upheld that CMS had a constitutional obligation to eliminate its racially identifiable schools in Swann v.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education.

That case led the country’s public schools in a fresh wave of integration efforts. CMS implemented new pupil assignment and transportation systems, busing students between schools in predominantly white and black neighborhoods to achieve racial balance. The system proved effective, and districts across the country adopted similar integration methods.

The busing plan garnered some criticism for imposing long commutes on school-aged children, but overall, Charlotte’s schools benefited.

Justin Perry, co-chair of grassroots organization OneMECK, advocates for integration in Charlotte’s residential areas and school system. Perry grew up a black student in CMS during the district’s integration heyday, attending Irwin Avenue

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CMS students in 1973.

Elementary, Piedmont Middle and West Charlotte High schools.

Perry told Queen City Nerve that at an integrated West Charlotte, he accessed varied class offerings, experienced teachers and — most importantly — the opportunity to learn alongside students from different backgrounds.

“We were all driven to succeed, but our understanding was if your peers weren’t succeeding as well, then we’re not succeeding,” Perry said of his high school experience. “You’re not going to get a diverse perspective from a couple of trainings, or one summer abroad. You have to be in the midst with different people on a regular basis.”

But shortly after Perry’s 1999 high school graduation, things changed.

That year, white CMS parent William Capacchione joined six other white families to challenge the district’s use of race in pupil assignment, claiming it unconstitutional. Despite efforts from the NAACP and CMS school board members, presiding Judge Robert Potter deemed CMS “unitary” and lifted desegregation orders from the Swann case.

In 2002, CMS implemented a new, raceneutral pupil assignment plan, which designated students to schools based on proximity. In 2006, CMS revised its vision statement to exclude the word “integrated.” In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court barred school districts from voluntarily using race in student assignment plans. By 2010, CMS was nearly as segregated as it was when the 1971 Swann case first arose.

Now, schools like Garinger and West Charlotte — only two decades removed from the wellrounded, integrated environment Perry knew as a high-school student — represent some of

PHOTO COURTESY OF LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

South Mecklenburg was integrated in 1972.

Charlotte’s highest-poverty schools, falling victim assignments.

She added that while she’s never heard a parent to cyclical segregation and a resulting lack of explicitly mention socioeconomic or racial factors resources. when lobbying for school boundary assignments, THE STATE OF SEGREGATION she’s also never heard one advocate for their child to attend a lower-wealth school, or a school with more Perry described two relevant forms of segregation: students of color — even if it’s closer to their home. racial and socioeconomic.

“If they’re assigned to a school that’s really close, “The racial segregation absolutely matters,” he but it’s high-poverty, they’ll make the argument said. “The economic segregation is crippling. And that, ‘Oh, you have to cross a busy street,’ or, ‘It then when you deal with them both on top of each doesn’t keep our whole neighborhood together,’” other, it’s just a setup. It’s almost a caste system in Sawyer said. “No one ever says, ‘I don’t want to go a way. And unfortunately, kids are often getting a to that school because it’s got poor kids in it.” kind of second-class experience.”

A GERRYMANDERED DISTRICT And that’s exactly what’s happening at CMS. The district’s “neighborhood-based” student assignment plan doesn’t always make sense, The result: gerrymandering, and perpetuated and according to CMS Board of Education District segregation. CMS’s school assignment boundaries 4 representative Carol Sawyer, families from might theoretically depend on proximity, but the affluent areas tend to pressure the school board maps and numbers tell a different story. to keep their neighborhoods together during pupil Take CMS’s high school assignment reassignment. boundaries, for example: Harding University High “Neighborhoods tend to be racially and School’s assignment area sits just north of South economically isolated,” Sawyer told Queen City Mecklenburg High School’s, with the exception of Nerve. “So if you insist that your entire neighborhood an odd hook cutting into South Mecklenburg High attend one school, that prevents integration, or School’s territory. That hook traces South Boulevard makes it harder.” to where it meets East Hebron Street, assigning the Still, affluent families hold a lot of power over area northeast of the intersection to Harding. the school board, Sawyer said. And when the board High school students living in the South reviews and revises its student assignment plan — Boulevard-East Hebron hook might travel more every six years, and most recently for the 2017-18 than 11 miles by car to Harding, their assigned school year — those families leverage that power. school — though they may live less than three “They appear in matching T-shirts, well- miles by car from South Meck. The area within that organized, and they lobby,” Sawyer said, recounting hook sits in the 28273 zip code, where the average that parents often threaten to pull their kids out home value is $210,700, according to Zillow. But of the district and place them in charter or private cross South Boulevard into South Meck territory, schools if they don’t receive their desired school and you enter the 28210 zip code — where the

PHOTO BY DON STURKEY/UNC LIBRARY

average home value jumps to $340,500.

Now look at the socioeconomic makeup of Harding versus South Meck. Harding represents one of CMS’s most socioeconomically imbalanced schools, with some of the district’s lowest performance scores.

In the 2017-18 school year, CMS’s overall student population distributed quite evenly among socioeconomic status categories, with 35.35 percent of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, 35.25 percent in the middle and 29.15 percent at high socioeconomic status. At Harding, however, that distribution sat at 93.38 percent, 6.02 percent and 0.54 percent, respectively.

By contrast, the students at South Meck — which boasts above-average performance levels, compared to both the district and the state — represent a much more even socioeconomic distribution: 35.15 percent, 36.48 percent and 28.37 percent, respectively.

From a numbers perspective, this particular school boundary at the South Boulevard-East Hebron hook seems to divide by wealth rather than proximity to either Harding or South Meck — and it’s not the only such boundary in CMS. And according to Sawyer, these gerrymandered pupil assignment patterns won’t change anytime soon.

“If we could convince these people that instead of just sending charity to the schools, they would send their children, and they would advocate for integrated schools, we would have a stronger school district,” Sawyer said.

But when asked if that goal was possible, she answered: “It hasn’t shown to be. Our history says that this only happens under court order.”

This is the first of a two-part story. Visit www. qcnerve.com in March for the follow-up.

KEEP IT 100 KEEP IT 100: WEDDING ETIQUETTE

Oh brother-in-law, where art thou?

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BY SHAMEIKA RHYMES

Dear Auntie Shameika (Can I call you that?), I recently got married in January 2019, but we sent out invitations in July 2018. Everyone followed directions with the RSVP except for my husband Jerry’s brother Carl. I reached out to ask Carl if he was coming and he responded with, “It depends on the weather.”

Let me give you a bit of background, Auntie. They live near the Canadian border where it is cold as hell, and the options in January are a hell of a lot of snow or a little snow — basically, they can handle the damn snow. Plans can be accommodated with some preparation. Snow plows exist for a reason.

The wedding was on a Saturday afternoon. Everyone else arrived on Friday with the idea that they would adjust plans accordingly if the weather turned. Carl and his family waited until the day before the wedding to announce their plans to attend.

They drove down on Saturday morning and arrived 10 minutes before the wedding. Carl was wearing work and snow gear, his wife was in jeans and sneakers, and their son was in jeans and snow boots. It wasn’t snowing.

You can imagine how my wedding pictures turned out right?

The icing on top of the wedding cake, was they didn’t even bring a card! It’s not the fact that they didn’t bring a card, but it’s the fact that they breached all wedding etiquette and failed to even try. Now I have to interact with these Neanderthals for the rest of my life and I fear for my blood pressure. So, my question is what can I do to survive future social interactions with these bad-mannered people? What is your take on wedding etiquette?

-CONFUSED BY PEOPLE’S LACK OF ETIQUETTE

Dear Confused, You don’t know me, and we aren’t related, so the Auntie thing is weird, but it kind of has a nice ring to it, so I’ll allow it. Kudos to you for spelling my name right, so that gives you points! Now let’s dig into this scenario and keep it 100.

Congratulations on your nuptials, because some of us can barely get a text back from our baes, but that’s a whole other story. Now this brother, Carl, sounds — well, to put it bluntly, trifling. You did the right thing in giving your guests plenty of time before your wedding date to RSVP so you could get a final head count to the caterer and finalize other details like seating charts, and whatever else brides need to come up with. My first question for you is: If this is your fiancé’s brother, why wasn’t he in the wedding party, anyway? Why was he banished to the visitor’s section? I need the tea on that story, but back to what info you did give.

With the amount of time that you did give for guests to RSVP it is very easy to see how it could slip someone’s mind, so, did you follow up with a phone call, email, DM, tweet, text or something to see if he was definitely coming? Did your invitation specify a dress code?

I mean, you are pissy over his choice of attire, but did you explain it was black tie, cocktail attire, or come as you are? Was the invitation fancy and elegant and gave guests the hint that you should break out your fanciest party dress and suit? Now, I understand weather being a concern and all, but with that being said, did you take that into consideration when you and your boo decided on a January wedding date? Some folks just ain’t comfortable slipping and sliding to other destinations even for family.

However, Carl could have RSVP’d and let you know well in advance, a yes or a no, because

let’s face it, if he has been living in the tundra up north, then well, he should know how to drive in the ish or arrive early ahead of a potential storm!

Waiting until the day of the wedding and arriving 10 minutes before you walked down the aisle was pure and utter trash.

If it was my wedding he wouldn’t have been allowed inside. To top it off, the attire that he and his family thought was wedding appropriate is a slap in the face to his brother, not to mention everyone there that dressed like they have some sense.

Now let me get in your face for a minute, why did you let these fools mess up your wedding pictures? The easiest way to avoid that was to not let them be in any of the pictures the photographer you paid for was taking.

It’s one thing for them to take their own selfies and photos with their cell phone but a whole other to jump in the pics with a professional behind the lens.

As for them not even bringing a card? Judging by their lack of etiquette with the RSVP and not giving a damn about the attire, did you really expect a gift of any kind? I suppose they are ones that think their presence is gift enough.

You can’t really do anything about that but give them the side-eye and bring it up at every opportunity you can going forward, but is it worth it?

Unfortunately, you can’t really avoid interacting with this lovely bunch for the rest of your life. But what you can do is either bite your tongue, grin and bear it, or get tipsy during a family gathering and let ’em have it once and for all.

You’ll need to get it off your chest at some point, especially if this sort of behavior continues, because silently brewing and glaring across the dinner table isn’t going to resolve anything.

I suggest talking to the brother and his wife and explaining to them how you felt about their lack of respect for your wedding.

Hopefully they will be open to hearing you, and who knows, if they aren’t, they may just take the open door and walk their asses right on out of it and you won’t have to worry about dealing with them in the future anyway. Stranger things have happened, right?

The petty side of me says the next time they have an event, give them the same respect they gave you — absolutely none — and don’t bring a gift, card, bottle of wine, nada. Just show up, dressed in your rattiest clothes and be sure to jump in every damn picture. That might teach them a lesson for the future.

Good Luck!

If you have a dilemma you need help solving, drop me a line: shameika@themofochronicles.com.

THE SCANNER

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BY RYAN PITKIN

LOOKS GOOD ON PAPER In Issue 5, we reported on the accidental theft of an urn holding a grandmother’s ashes, but this week’s crematory criminal knew exactly what he was doing. According to staff at Tribute Cremation Society on Monroe Road near Oakhurst Park, the suspect came into the business to ask about some paperwork regarding his deceased father, but was told he didn’t have a right to the files, so he stole them. According to the report, the man made off with his father’s entire cremation file, which includes the cremation authorization, the death certificate, and the record of death, which sounds like it may just be the same as a death certificate.

BURNER PHONE A 57-year-old south Charlotte man filed a police report after someone snatched his phone from his hands, then used it as a weapon.

The man told police that he was looking at his phone while riding the LYNX light rail in Uptown, and when the train stopped at the 3rd Street Station, a man grabbed the phone from his hands and ran off into the station. You would think that’s a simple enough case of theft, right? Nope, because as soon as the suspect left the train, he threw the phone at the first woman he saw standing there and kept on running.

FOOL ME ONCE A 23-year-old Apple Store employee at SouthPark Mall was recently scammed out of $500 and he didn’t even know what the hell happened. Neither do we, to be honest. According to the report, the victim was approached by three people he had never met before, and they “forced him to get $500 cash from the nearby ATM.” The trio of suspects left when they got their money, and that’s when the victim realized something was up.

“This was part of an elaborate scam and the victim did not realize at the time that he was losing cash to the suspects,” the report reads. *insert shrug emoji*

NO FUZZ, NO FUSS Police responded to a Family Dollar on Eastway Drive in east Charlotte recently after a man became violent when he learned he wouldn’t be able to use the store’s merchandise for free. According to the report, a man walked into the store and immediately began using a lint roller from the shelf. When an employee asked the man to leave, the suspect became violent, swinging some clothing items at the employee, striking him in the face. The suspect fled the scene before police arrived, and the employee suffered only minor injuries and did not need medical attention.

DAMAGE CONTROL A 30-year-old man in the Hidden Valley neighborhood invited a lady friend HAPPY ENDING In a column so filled with criminal over for a drink recently, but he would quickly regret misbehavior and just plain stupidity, I’d like to wrap it. By the time he called police on the woman, she this one up with some heartwarming news out of was breaking the front windows of his home, one by one. The man later told responding officers that the woman had come over and gotten extremely intoxicated, and when he asked her to leave, she became upset and started smashing the windows.

All in all, the woman did $200 in damage to his home, and much more damage to the relationship.

PEGGED One officer was in a straightforward mood when he filled out the police report for a shoplifting call on Woodlawn Road last week. When the officer arrived to The Reddoor, he was told that the two suspects had walked out of the store with “adult items” that they hadn’t paid for. When he listed the stolen merchandise, however, the reporting officer was more direct: “a realistic looking cock and harness.”

FRIENDS LIKE THESE A 47-year-old woman won’t be doing any more favors for one former friend after recently learning that her house guest had been stealing from her over the span of a two-week stay.

The woman reported that the guest admitted to her one night that they had been slowly stealing things and bringing them to the pawn shop throughout their stay at her house, and in the end, the stolen items amounted to $11,000 worth of shoes and $6,000 worth of purses.

IF YOU GOT ’EM Someone stole an entire shipment of cigarettes from a QuikTrip on Woodlawn Road last week, although the report does not make clear how exactly they did it. Officers reported to the convenience store on a recent afternoon to learn that someone had stolen $1,730.46 worth of cigarettes of all different types. The report was listed as shoplifting, but it’s unclear how the hell someone even holds that many cigs on their way out the door.

AGAINST THE RULES Everyone knows you can’t use your hands in soccer, but apparently the rules aren’t as clear cut when it comes to what happens after the game. Police responded to a park near Evergreen Cemetery in east Charlotte after a man allegedly assaulted a fellow soccer player. Other players told officers that the man was ejected from the game, so in response he punched another player in the mouth before leaving the park.

Northwest School of the Arts, where they’re solving problems in a way that adults have completely forgotten. We’re not sure exactly what happened leading up to this report, but at some point, a police officer decided to file a non-criminal report describing how two students had solved their bickering in a mature manner. We’ll let that officer take it from here: “Two high school students had a meeting to discuss their different interpretation of an event that occurred on Monday on school campus and how their resulting actions affected more students on campus in a negative way. Both students were able to come to a peaceful resolution and apologized to one another for their own actions.” Wow. I don’t know what the hell that cop is talking about but it certainly gives me hope for humanity.

Pieces from an upcoming collaborative exhibit between Stephen Wilson and the Children’s Home Society.

ARTWORK BY STEPHEN WILSON/CHILDREN’S HOME SOCIETY

A FAMILIAL FACE

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Stephen Wilson enlists Children’s Home Society in new exhibit

M

BY EMILY PIETRAS

IXED-MEDIA ARTIST Stephen Wilson’s upcoming show isn’t just a reflection of his own creative vision, it’s also a window into the unique perspective of a group of 13- to 17-year-old foster children from Children’s Home Society of North Carolina.

Together with Wilson, the teenagers produced 30 additional pieces that will be displayed alongside his own work. The exhibit, Modularity, runs through April 15 following a benefit reception on March 5 and public opening March 6.

Wilson’s work, which often incorporates elements of pop iconography and high fashion, has been exhibited in galleries from Los Angeles to Bulgaria.

He’s also a member of the ArtPop Street Gallery Class of 2019, so you might have seen his work looking down on you from a billboard during your commute.

The Charlotte-based artist describes the aesthetic of Modularity as a combination of the series he’s worked on over the last five years.

“They look very distinctly different,” he says.

“But what I noticed is when I had pieces, or work would come back from a gallery or museum, they were hanging in my gallery or museum together, and I started to see a lot of things that tied the pieces together.”

For Wilson, one approach always remains constant: his use of fabric, embroidery and applique

to embellish and overlay his designs.

It’s a style rarely found in contemporary art, borne out of Wilson’s time as a professional embroiderer in the fashion and home décor industries.

“I saw that as soon as someone used fabric or embroidery, they would immediately think of folk art and that whole vibe,” Wilson says. “It was never modern. It was never contemporary. So I started making pieces for myself just to really push the envelope of what I could do as an embroiderer that wasn’t commercial, that was more experimental.”

Wilson is a longtime supporter of CHS, whose mission it is to provide every child with a “permanent, safe and loving family,” whether that

is through foster care and adoption or additional social services that help parents provide a more stable home for their children and preserve families in crisis.

Over the last eight months, local teaching artists have been working with 10 youths from CHS, and when Wilson heard about those efforts, he immediately wanted to become involved.

It was Wilson who suggested the Modularity collaboration, as well as exhibiting the teenagers’ work as a finale for this arts experience.

The participating youth are all part of CHS’s child-specific recruitment program, which focuses on addressing the unique needs of “older youth, regardless of their placement in foster care,” says

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‘MODULARITY’ ART OPENING Children’s Home Society Benefit Reception, March 5, 6-9 p.m.; Public Opening, March 6, 6-9 p.m.; Free; New Gallery of Modern Art, 435 S. Tryon St., Suite 110; tinyurl.com/ StephenWilsonCHS

Donna Henderson, senior program director at CHS. Each year, between 40 to 50 youth in Mecklenburg County “age out” of the foster care system, meaning they turn 18 years old without having a permanent family, Henderson says. That population is at greater risk of homelessness, undereducation, unemployment and incarceration.

“That negatively impacts our community,” says Tara Spil, regional director of philanthropy at CHS. “It negatively impacts our society and, most importantly, negatively impacts our children. So with this project, we’re really hoping to connect with the community so that they will be aware of these issues and feel compelled to support this organization, either through philanthropic dollars or becoming resources, becoming families for these kids.”

While placing these teenagers with permanent families is a major priority of child-specific recruitment, the program also goes beyond that effort, Henderson says.

“It really is about helping them understand who they are, where they’re going and how they’re

going to get there,” she says.

“We do that through different experiences,” she continues. “And this one started out with some teaching artists who were working specifically with the youth around topics of who they are, to kind of help answer some of those questions but also to provide an opportunity for their voice to be heard.

And it ended with Stephen really tying it into the community and giving a platform for the youth to be showcased and for awareness to be brought around that.”

All sale proceeds from the collaborative works in Modularity go directly to CHS, so Wilson sought to create pieces that will entice people to purchase them.

“My goal is for people to buy these pieces and help this amazing charity, but also really be excited about hanging that piece in their home,” he says.

“So I wanted to really be cohesive, so that people can buy three of them and they’d go together, or they can combine them with other pieces of my work or other work they have and it still looks good.”

Wilson also wanted the collaborative works to complement the pieces he was already planning to show in Modularity while still highlighting the teenagers’ imagination and creativity.

He had recently begun incorporating photographs into his work by stitching over them with thread and fabric. For the collaboration, Wilson decided to have the CHS group create the assorted pieces that would become the embellishments for his black-and-white scenic photographs of Charlotte.

“The kids all came into my studio one day, and instead of painting like individual works of art, they actually decorated and painted individual pieces of paper and fabric and really spent the whole day throwing paint around the room,” Wilson says.

“And then I took those painted fragments and used those in the photographs and stitching …

The unique part was that they didn’t know, really, what I was going to be doing with them. So they’re expressing themselves in one way, and I’m taking their pieces and turning them into something else, which is really cool,” he continued.

“The projects were fun,” says one participant, a 14-year-old boy. “It was fun to be together with all the other kids to talk and chat and relate with each other.”

The collaboration with Wilson, and the other experiences with the teaching artists, will have an enduring impact on the kids, Henderson says.

“Art is like music, and it helps us connect with who we are,” she says. “I mean, it’s a safe place to explore. And it’s also a talent that many youth have or don’t really know they have. They’ve learned things about themselves that they might not have known, and they’ve connected to the greater community around them. So, really, to me, it’s a lifelong impact. No matter what their experience was when they went through it, they leave with something that is very individual to them.”

Wilson says he’s excited to watch the kids reactions when they see the exhibit, since they currently don’t have a clue what it will look like.

“So now they’re going to be picking little elements out, like ‘I painted that,’” he says. “And hopefully, it’s an uplifting experience for them.”

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 27TH FRED ARMISEN

What: Portlandia co-creator and longtime SNL star Fred Armisen is a jack-of-all-trades in the entertainment industry, and the name of his new show, Comedy for Musicians but Everyone is Welcome, touches on his two biggest areas of expertise. Armisen will jam a little bit, riff a little bit, joke a little bit and good times will be had.

More: $30-35; 7 p.m.; Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E 36th St.; neighborhoodtheatre.com

THURSDAY, FEB. 28TH BATTLE OF THE BREWS

What: Three breweries enter Carolina Beer Temple, but only one leaves as the reigning champion of beer. Mother Nature from Kinston; Great Lakes Brewing Co. from Cleveland, Ohio, and Charlotte’s own Town Brewing go headto-head, vying for your selection. First keg to kick wins.

More: Free; 6-9 p.m.; Carolina Beer Temple Charlotte, 2127 Ayrsley Town Blvd.; carolinabeertemple.com

FRIDAY, MAR. 1ST

LIFELINE

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FEB. 27TH - MAR. 5TH

CONVERSATIONS WITH NATURE

What: What does nature say to you? What do you hear when you experience Mother Nature? Immerse yourself in a multisensory event cultivated by seven different artists and curated by C3 Lab and learn more about yourself through a conversation with nature.

More: Free; 7-10 p.m.; C3 Lab, 2525 Distribution St.; c3-lab.com

SUNDAY, MAR. 2ND

AMIGO, TEMPERANCE LEAGUE

What: Amigo has been the talk of the town since releasing the amazing album And Friends in January 2018, but this will be your last chance to see them in 2019, as the group will go on hiatus from live music after playing the Muse so frontman Slade Baird can focus on becoming a father in April, then they begin work on a new album.

More: $10-12; 10 p.m.; The Evening Muse, 3227 N. Davidson St.; eveningmuse.com

SATURDAY, MAR. 3RD

SUPER SMASH BROS. TOURNAMENT

What: Since Waluigi got shafted in the new Super Smash Bros. character lineup, you can take your anger out on other characters while going up against the other contestants for a cash prize. Just, for the love of all that is good, don’t play as Lucario.

More: $7 and up entry fee; 3 p.m.; Fox & Hound, 8500 Pineville-Matthews Rd. tinyurl.com/SuperSmashTourn

MONDAY, MAR. 4TH

DR. DOG

What: Dr. Dog co-frontman Scott McMicken said it feels like he’s in “a totally new band” after the group released its newest album, Critical Equation, its most adventurous collection yet. Be sure to catch the opening act, Boone locals The Nude Party, a band of badasses (and bare asses) that harkens back to ’60s-era garage rock.

More: $25-28; 7 p.m.; Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E 36th St.; neighborhoodtheatre.com

TUESDAY, MAR. 5TH BLACK VIOLIN

What: Kev Marcus and Wil B. bring violin and viola, respectively, to the hip-hop party, fusing classical techniques like whirling tremolo and buzzing hornets’ nest ostinato with jaxx, R&B, rap and soul.

More: $25 and up; 7:30 p.m.; Belk Theater, 130 N. Tryon St.; blumenthalarts.org

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for cool events happening in the Queen City!

WEDNESDAY, MAR. 6TH

TASTE OF THE NEW SOUTH 2019

What: The Levine Museum of the New South’s annual food-and-social-justice event has gotten so popular, they needed a bigger venue. This year, Taste of the New South moves to the Fillmore, and will host Jose Antonio Vargas, award-winning journalist and author of Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen.

More: $150-175; 6-9 p.m.; The Fillmore, 820 Hamilton St.; museumofthenewsouth.org

THURSDAY, MAR. 7TH WHITNEY CUMMINGS

What: Whitney Cummings got her television start making celebrities look stupid on Punk’d, but now she’s a celebrity in her own right. Known as co-creator of sitcoms Whitney and 2 Broke Girls, she’s been plugging away in the stand-up world for 15 years now, and that’s where she’s at her best.

More: $27.50-$32.50; through March 9, times vary; Comedy Zone Charlotte, 900 NC Music Factory Blvd., Suite

FRIDAY, MAR. 8TH

LIFELINE

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MAR. 6TH - MAR. 12TH

ARETHA FRANKLIN TRIBUTE

What: Pay R-E-S-P-E-C-T to one of the most iconic voices of the century for International Women’s Day. Proceeds benefit RAINN, but even if it didn’t, who wouldn’t want to get down to some Aretha Franklin throwbacks?

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

SATURDAY, MAR. 9TH WATER DOG MUSIC FESTIVAL

What: This alt-music jamboree features local food plus power trio The Mongoes, hip-hop indie rockers Messenger Down, down-home pop punks Never Home, prog garage rockers The Dirty Low Down and emo grungers Reaves.

More: $12-15; 6 p.m.; Camp North End, 1824 Statesville Ave.; waterdogfest.com

SUNDAY, MAR. 10TH ROBERT GLASPER

What: Equally at home with Miles Davis and Kendrick Lamar, pianist and composer Glasper turns his beloved jazz into the spine of an all-encompassing American music enfolding R&B, hip-hop and neo-soul.

More: $67.50; 7:30 p.m.; Fillmore, 820 Hamilton St.; fillmorenc.com

MONDAY, MAR. 11TH GUERILLA POETS COMMUNITY READ

What: In The Hate U Give, a teen’s world unravels when she witnesses a cop shoot and kill her best friend. The Guerilla Poets Ltd. present a spoken-word performance based on the young-adult bestseller.

More: Free; 6 p.m.; Mountain Island Library, 4420 Hoyt Galvin Way; cmlibrary.org

TUESDAY, MAR. 12TH

BUILDING FUTURES: A SYMPOSIUM ON AFFORDABLE HOUSING

What: As our fair city continues to grow at a rapid rate, the affordable housing crisis continues to be the most urgent issue facing Charlotte. In its fourth annual Building Futures event, Habitat for Humanity Charlotte welcomes Marc Lamont Hill author, academic and activist to discuss how housing impacts health, education, equality and more.

More: Free; 6-8 p.m.; Halton Theater, 1206 Elizabeth Ave.; habitatcharlotte.org

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PHOTO BY BERND IHNO EILTS

Brent Bagwell (left) and Seth Nanaa of Ghost Trees.

PHOTO BY MIKE LOWERY

Brent Bagwell, saxophonist.

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BEYOND ALL THAT JAZZ

Ghost Trees Petra’s residency embraces music in the moment

I

BY PAT MORAN

F THERE’S ONE word to define free jazz, it’s emotional, according to Seth Nanaa, drummer with experimental duo Ghost Trees.

“It has one purpose, and that’s to grab you and keep you in the moment,” he says.

Nanaa is animated as he discusses the music that first stirred his soul 20 years ago. Free jazz

is an attitude as much a genre, a celebration of exploration and spontaneity.

It’s the Voyager Probe of instrumental music, tracking an orbit of regular tempos, tones and chord changes before slingshotting out beyond the Kuiper Belt and back. It’s the antithesis of the neutered rhythm and blues which often passes for

jazz in the Queen City.

“You can’t put [free jazz] on in the background and play checkers or have a conversation,” Nanaa explains. “It demands your attention.”

Nanaa and saxophonist Brent Bagwell, the other half of Ghost Trees, will bring “in-themoment” free jazz to join up with performers of

varying genres at Petra’s for a three-night spring residency that kicks off March 11. Each show will feature a musical duo as a headliner, Nanaa says, augmented with at least one local rock band and plenty of surprises.

If there’s any criterion for booking the trio of shows, it’s that Ghost Trees wants to host good

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SPRING RESIDENCY NIGHT ONE PRESENTED BY GHOST TREES Featuring TKO Faith Healer, Okapi, MOA March 11, 7 p.m.; $5; Petra’s, 1919 Commonwealth Ave.; petrasbar.com

music.

“I think everybody understands that there’s not a lot of money to be made here,” Nanaa says. “We’re just doing it for love.”

Love means playing eclectic bills, he continues, being willing to mix genres and giving the audience something they’ve seen before.

As an example, Nanaa points to a show Bagwell once played with the now disbanded exotica act Don Telling’s Island Mysteries. “They had a magician [onstage] one night. That sounds crazy but it really isn’t.”

Nanaa, who just turned 47, believes he was born a musician. He’s been into music for as long as he can remember, honing his percussion chops by playing air drums to 1980s hits in the back seat of the family car. When Nanaa turned 12, he and his twin brother Adam got into punk rock.

By the time they were 18, the brothers had moved to California from their childhood home in Miami, and were looking for something that went beyond the Dead Kennedys. Nanaa found what he was looking for in emo, though it wasn’t called that then.

“It wasn’t three-chord punk rock. It was three -chord octaves instead. So there was a difference,” Nanaa says laughing.

He played with Indian Summer. The band was obscure at the time, but it has recently garnered attention. Nanaa remembers it as an intense time, an era when people lived out loud.

“It was a big community of friends, basement shows for no money, and nobody knew what they were doing,” he says. “Twenty years later people are saying these five bands are great, and Indian Summer just happens to be one of those bands.”

Nanaa was 27 and living in Austin, Texas, when Adam brought him Meditations, John Coltrane’s brilliant 1965 album in which the saxophonist embraced free jazz. “I thought it was awesome but super far-out. It was crazy with two drummers [Elvin Jones and Rashied Ali], and [saxophonist] Pharoah Sanders blaring away.”

Nana decided that free jazz was the only kind of music he ever wanted to play. Drumming in jazz trios, he bounced around from Portland to Oakland before landing in Brooklyn where he met Bagwell.

A veteran of Charlotte’s music scene, Bagwell

had studied with legendary saxophonist Bob Feldman before becoming a fixture in New York’s art, noise and improvisational music landscape. It was a case of kindred souls coming together.

“We talked for 10 minutes and I thought, ‘Yeah, this guy’s the man.’” Nanaa recalls about the first time the duo riffed together. Bagwell went out on a musical limb and Nanaa stopped him.

“I said, ‘You see where you’re at right now? That’s where I want you start.’ I had to goad him a little into playing scorched-earth free jazz.”

Nanaa and Bagwell hooked up with artist and bassist Jordan Schranz and started playing as the Eastern Seaboard, a combo that claimed to pledge allegiance to free and improvisational music on their Bandcamp page.

The trio cut a pair of albums — Nonfiction in 2004 and The Sound Power in 2010 — for the Italian independent label Black Saint Records.

“We toured extensively,” Nanaa remembers.

“We’d go out and do 30 shows in 30 days. We went everywhere and back again five or six different times.”

Over time the trio scattered across the country.

South Carolina-native Bagwell moved to the Charlotte area, Nanaa attended nursing school in California and Schranz left to pursue his painting career. In 2011, Nanaa realized everyone he cared about was in North Carolina, including his girlfriend (soon to be wife) and his best friend. So he moved to Charlotte.

With barely a hitch, Nanaa and Bagwell went from being the remnants of Eastern Seaboard to the newly born Ghost Trees.

The band’s upcoming residency is not the first they’ve hosted at Petra’s. In September 2017, the duo anchored Antidote, a series celebrating the fusion of jazz and poetry. June 2018 saw Ghost Trees hosting a series of all-instrumental music concerts.

Perhaps the oddest thing about the new residency is that Ghost Trees, the host of the series, will not be playing the first night. Like the magician he once booked for an exotica show, Brent Bagwell will have disappeared.

Well, not really. He’ll just be out of the country on March 11. He’ll be in the Netherlands presenting a dance piece with Queens University Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religion Eric Mullis at the Performance Philosophy Conference in Amsterdam, he says.

The piece, Sherman’s Neckties, explores a little known aspect of Civil War history, Bagwell explains.

The titular neckties refer to a Union Army tactic of twisting railroad ties and making the tracks

Seth Nanaa.

impassable.

A Chicago Tribune review referring to a previous performance notes that Bagwell “pans the back of the house, playing as though his instrument is equally bent and blocked.”

Though Ghost Trees is — well, ghosting — for the first night of their residency, their influence will be felt in the eclectic bill they’ve booked. The lineup includes Charlotte bands TKO Faith Healer and MOA (formerly Sam the Lion). Headlining the show is Asheville duo Okapi, comprised of cellist Lindsey Paige Miller and stand-up bass player and vocalist Scott Mitchell Gorski.

Okapi is definitely not free jazz, Nanaa says, but still pretty far out there.

“I’d call [their music] an Appalachian Tom Waits thing,” Nanaa explains. “There are free jazz cello breakdowns every once in a while, but most of their songs are structured and written.”

The “weird duo” theme carries over to the second night of the residency. Ghost Trees will headline April 8, sharing the bill with Greensboro duo Canonises, comprised of alto saxophone player Justin Holt and drummer Nic Stott. For the

PHOTO BY ERND IHNO EILTS

third night, May 13, Bagwell and Nanaa will host Space Saver from Charlottesville, Virginia.

“They are a drum and tenor sax duo much like us,” Nanaa says. “They play sort of like Ghost Trees except I think they use pedals.”

In a nutshell, that’s the outline of the residency template, he continues. “It will definitely be us, a duo and then another band.”

Beyond the players, another important component of each evening is the venue, Nanaa adds.

“Petra’s is such a great space, easily one of the best places to play in all of Charlotte,” he says.

Drums sound incredible in the space, and the room seems designed for listening to music, he continues, pointing to where the stage is situated directly across a narrow floor space from the bar.

“You go there and the show is what’s happening.

It’s not like you can mill about and talk.”

It’s the perfect set up for three evenings of “out there” music and a player like Nanaa who craves the “in-the-moment” connection with his audience.

PMORAN@QCNERVE.COM

MIC CHECK THE NEW FUNKADELIC

Leone’s debut EP is the throwback we all needed

BY RYAN PITKIN

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GROWING UP IN Orangeburg, South Carolina, D’Amontae Breland hated the music his mom played around the house. Or at least he thought he did.

But somewhere in his subconscious, his mom’s ’70s soul and funk records were making an impact on him, and that all comes out when Breland becomes Leone, his musical alter-ego, who released his debut EP Angst on Feb. 1.

Angst is a funkadelic throwback to a bygone era. Beginning with the release of his first single “Cut U Loose” in 2016, the now-23-year-old Breland is following the lead of contemporary inspirations like Anderson .Paak, Solange and Blood Orange to breathe life back into the dance floors of America.

As the title denotes, however, Angst isn’t all about having a good time. Leone’s lyrical content covers heavy themes like depression and anxiety, issues that he has struggled with throughout his life.

Breland, who has lived in Rock Hill, South Carolina, since arriving at Winthrop University in 2014, from his hometown of Orangeburg, recently stopped by the Queen City Nerve offices on his way to a .Paak concert to chat about the rebirth of funk, his new life as a musician and striking a balance between dancing and darkness.

Queen City Nerve: Why Leone?

D’Amontae Breland: I really to be honest just love the name Leon. If I could have, I would have had that name. That’s my great-grandfather’s name.

But I can’t just go by Leon. I used to tell people that I was from Sierra Leone in west Africa because people thought I was African when I first got to [Winthrop], so I just went with that.

You didn’t start making music until 2016. Had music played a large role in your life before then?

Oh for sure. My mom, she sings around the house, at family events and stuff, and she loves music.

I love to listen to music. A lot of my friends that I had in high school, they were singers and musically

inclined. But I never played an instrument — I wished I did — or sang. I took choir in my 12thgrade year, and that was my only experience.

What made you decide to finally start making your own music?

I knew I always wanted to. I always wanted to be a producer, but it takes a lot of money to have the computer, the laptop and all that stuff. So I knew I always wanted to do something with music.

I know I don’t have the voice of Luther Vandross, but I always wanted to sing, I always wanted to get it out in that way, so I just was like, “Fuck it, let’s go for it.” I only live once, so I don’t have time to be thinking about what I would’ve done.

Leone at the Queen City Nerve offices in Advent Coworking.

To be honest, I hated it when I was little. I wanted to hear the music that was on the radio.

But then as I grew older I learned to embrace it.

And then when I started to hear different artists like Blood Orange, when he first came out, that had that sort of old-school feel, then Solange put out True, What was the process like for you making “Cut and Anderson .Paak had some things out back then, U Loose” once you decided to go for it?

I was like “Dang, so it’s OK for me to make this retro That was fun. I worked with [local singer/producer] music that I like to listen to.”

Jason Jet, and it was the shit. It was a mess, though, honestly. (laughs) It was my first time writing and Your songs are a really interesting mix of soul my first time singing, and you’re hearing it back and funk that you don’t really see from a lot from the studio like, “Ahh shit, I sound like that?” So of local musicians coming up these days, save I had to practice and do all that. for Mercury Carter and one or two others. Did So it was a process, it took a while for me to that style come natural for you because of make that song, because I ran through so many what you listened to with your mother? songs I thought I wanted to do and so many I love all types of music, and I plan to make different different ideas, and finally ended up with that after types of music for sure, but as of lately, I just was a year and a half or so. listening to a lot of funk and listening to a lot of dance track ’80s music. I love how coherent the What was your mother listening to when you lyrics were back then. were a kid that made it into your own list of They were somewhat a little too straightforinspirations? ward, just basic, but then I gravitated toward that Her mother, my grandmother, was very religious, style of writing. I would listen to those types of so she used to listen to a lot of gospel growing up. beats on YouTube thinking I could maybe write But [my mom’s] era was the ’70s, that was her time, something to it, and if it sounded good I’m like, so I heard a lot of that music. She’s a party animal, “OK, I’mma use this shit.” she loves to dance, so I heard a lot of dance music from the ’80s, girl groups like Klymaxx. She had a Your lyrical content is far from basic, though. lot of records; she had Tina Turner’s Private Dancer, You’re covering themes like depression and and Michael Jackson records, so a lot of that stuff, anxiety. Are those things you’ve dealt with in Culture Club. She loves dance music, fast music, so I your life? grew up listening to that.

Oh yeah, for forever. For as long as I can remember.

PHOTO BY RYAN PITKIN

Then at the same time, you’re producing music that’s fun to listen to and dance to. Is it tough for you to strike that balance between these two seemingly contrasting themes?

I wouldn’t say it’s tough. I like to put the medicine in the candy. You can enjoy it rhythmically, you can dance to it, but then also when you listen to it, there’s a message. I like sad music. I listen to a lot of sad R&B, sad alternative and stuff like that. When I first wanted to make music back in 2016, when I tried to make that kind of stuff and Jason’s telling me, “That can’t just be the only thing you make.” So I learned to find that balance. I had to lift it up a little bit.

Is songwriting therapeutic for you? Does it help you deal with the anxiety and depression in a way that you didn’t have before you started writing?

It’s a bit therapeutic. I ain’t about to sit here and be like, “Every time I write something all my problems go away and I’m OK.”That’s not the case, but it helps a bit. I suppose a lot people, therapy helps them, talking to somebody, and I don’t do that. I’m usually a closed-in person emotion-wise. I don’t like to speak out to people, so I guess this is a form of me telling people what’s going on with me.

The EP has been online for about three weeks now. What’s the response been like?

PHOTO COURTESY OF HIGH CUBE

High Cube (left to right): Scott Thompson, Brett Green, Nicholas Hollman, Taylor Knox, Bo White.

B-SIDE ENTERING THE DREAM WORLD Leone

So many people like it. I’m really taken back, because I’m a local artist, and I see a lot of very good local artists and they put out good music, and I don’t see it getting as much attention as it should have been, and I see my music getting a lot of attention and I’m like, “Whoa. I’m glad that y’all liked it.” I really appreciate it.

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Will you be playing any live shows in the near future?

My first live show will be on March 29 at The Courtroom down in Rock Hill. That’s a small venue where they have live shows, mostly local alternative bands. I just met with the guy Sunday, went there and toured the space and I’m putting everything together to put on a great show.

So that’s your first live performance, not just for this EP, but ever?

I peformed “Cut U Loose” once in 2017, and then I performed in a pageant when I was in high school.

Are you excited? Nervous? Being on stage as a relatively new musician is a whole different world from recording.

It sure is. I’m definitely nervous, but I’m excited also because I feel like this will be much better than people just hearing my music. When you go to a live show you expect something more than just the music, and I want to give that to the people that do come to see it. I want them to feel the reason why I do make music.

I’m going to have a lot of different jam sessions

PHOTO BY JAKE FRANCEK

— because I’ll be performing with a band, so we’ll have some interaction between, and some dancing.

I want people to see my dancing. I used to dance as a kid, I want to bring some of that. I want people to see a different side of me.

How does your mom take to your music, knowing that her tastes inspired so much of the style you use today?

She likes it a lot. She listens on YouTube, her and her boyfriend, they’re real proud of me. When I had my old song out she used to play it every chance she got.

She works at a plant [in Orangeburg], so when she has an opportunity she says, “Here, listen to my son’s song.” She’s real supportive with it. She especially likes “Josephine,” because that’s a dancey song.

What do you hope people take away from the EP as a whole after listening through?

As a whole, first I want them to look at it as a work of art. Don’t just focus so much on the lyrics, don’t focus so much on the singing, because it’s not just one thing that I do.

I drew the album artwork and I wanted that to symbolize the theme of the EP. It was adapted from Roy Lichtenstein of course, but just that feeling of anxiety, that feeling of dread — but in correlation with the music, knowing that it’s not going to be that depressed.

RPITKIN@QCNERVE.COM

High Cube and Skewed set to live-score Maya Deren films

BY VERONICA COX

FOLLOWING THE RELEASE of their second EP, Skewed Collective is embarking on yet another artistic challenge, this time with synth improv band High Cube — with whom Skewed shares guitarist Brett Green — to live-score four silent films by experimental filmmaker Maya Deren.

The show, hosted by Goodyear Arts on March 2 at 8 p.m., will run about 45 minutes in total with each black-and-white film projected on a screen behind the band. Two of Deren’s works will be divided between High Cube and Skewed, before they merge to score the last two features collectively.

Deren, a Ukrainian-born American lauded as a pioneer in the avant-garde film genre throughout the ’40s and ’50s, has captivated filmmakers and audiences with her use of camera techniques like jump-cutting, slow motion and multiple exposures to create mind-bending realities.

Deren’s low-budget films stood in stark contrast to the standard glamorous Hollywood productions of the era, and she often criticized the “Hollywood bubble” for stifling creative expression.

High Cube and Skewed will score Deren’s officially released works, including Meshes of the Afternoon, At Land, Ritual in Transfigured Time and Meditation on Violence. Each 15-minute film explores themes related to self-perception, time, space and human behavior.

JM Askew, lead singer for Skewed, is excited to work with High Cube because of their similar approach to making music.

“I’m really excited to get the chance to step away from my instruments for a bit and watch High Cube

do their thing for the one that they’re scoring, I heard them do it last practice on their own and it sounded really awesome,” Askew said.

“High Cube is all synthesizer stuff — it’s all drum machines and keyboards — but it’s interesting because they have a similar approach where Bo [White] will write a lead part and some lyrics, and then the rest of them will just know what key it’s in and they’ll just noodle around,” he continued.

Askew added that creating compositions that match the complex and often dreamlike films that Deren is known for has long been a goal for Skewed. “[It’s] something we’ve wanted to do for a while but we haven’t really dedicated the time to it. But we’ve been talking about it for so long that I finally emailed Goodyear and I was like, ‘Hey, give us a date when we can do this because otherwise it’ll keep being a hypothetical thing,’” said Askew.

While both bands’ musical identities are based on spontaneity, Askew admits that the project required rehearsals between all members to establish a general vibe for the show.

“We had eight people in a pretty small room rehearsing this the other night, [there was] not a ton of space on a physical level,” Askew said.

“It’s been a really good challenge though because writing the music for this is very different from writing our normal songs. A little bit of sound goes a long way. If someone does something too dramatic or too loud at the wrong moment, it’s extremely uncomfortable, and because we’re doing two of the pieces with nine people, I think this is the most restraint we’ve ever had to show.”

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FEBRUARY 27 Pg. 18 Feb. 27 - Mar. 12, 2019 - QCNERVE.COM

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Fred Armisen: Comedy for Musicians but Everyone is Welcome (Neighborhood Theatre) Karaoke Wednesday’s w/ KJ Michelle Ma Belle (Tommy’s Pub) Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes (McGlohon Theater) February Residency: Hectorina w/ Wild Trees, minthill (Snug Harbor) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Open Mic with Leebo (Comet Grill) Lindsay Lou (Free Range Brewing)

FEBRUARY 28

POP

Music Open Mic (Crown Station)

Winston Ramble (Thomas Street Tavern) Lucky Dogs (Mac’s Speed Shop, Matthews)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

DJ/ELECTRONIC

David Childers (Comet Grill) Nate Randall (RiRa) Jacob Dixon (Summit Coffee House, Davidson) ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Sparkman, Chris Larkin (Evening Muse) Open Mic Night w/ hosts Capt. D (Tommy’s Pub) Future Thieves (Neighborhood Theatre) Shana Blake and Friends (Smokey Joe’s Café) Kairos., Artificial Oceans, Rites To Sedition, Played

By Kings (Skylark Social Club) Modern Moxie, Jessie Frye, Kevin Goodwin (Petra’s) DJ/ELECTRONIC

DJ Apollo (Tin Roof) BYOC Thursday w/ Josh Robbins (Milestone) Le Bang (Snug Harbor) RAP/HIP HOP/SOUL/FUNK/R&B

A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie (Fillmore) Claflin Alumni Tournament: DJ Phat BoI (Crown Station)

MARCH 1

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Interstellar Overdrive (Visulite) Cypress Hill, Hollywood Undead (Fillmore) A Fragile Tomorrow, Mitch Easter (Evening Muse) The Menders, The Gone Ghosts, Wes & The Railroaders (Petra’s) Kris Atom and Natty Boh (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Angwish w/ Torino Death Ride and Broke Jokes (Tommy’s Pub) Marc Broussard (McGlohon Theater) Sweet Lizzie Project, Sub-Radio (Evening Muse) Alluvion, Pleasure to Burn, Dark Sun Kult, Something Went Wrong (Milestone)

CIAA Party: DJ Holla, DJ Ynot (Tin Roof) Release Tournament Weekender: Tale of 2 Cities (Brick City & Chicago) (Snug Harbor) Blow Your Head (Snug Harbor) Rotation Open Decks (Skylark Social Club) DJ Twist (RiRa) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Lenny Federal Band (Comet Grill) Evan Button (Primal Brewery) RAP/HIP HOP/SOUL/FUNK/R&B

Kodie Shane, Baby Goth, Killumantii, Young Bull, Lor Choc (Neighborhood Theatre) DJ Kool Big Day Party & Tanglewood’s 25th Anniversary: DJ Syd, MC Oh My God (Coyote Joe’s) Str8 House CIAA: DJ Salah Ananse and Keisha Hall, w/ DJ Badala B, DJ Tony Cutlass (Crown Station) ROOTS/BLUES/INTERNATIONAL

Mambo Fridays Featuring Rumbao! (Rabbit Hole)

MARCH 2

DJ/ELECTRONIC

CIAA Party: DJ Holla, DJ Ynot (Tin Roof) ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Justin Hayward, Michael Dawes (Neighborhood Theatre) The Sammies (Tommy’s Pub) Amigo, Temperance League (Evening Muse) All Them Witches, Plague Vendor (Visulite) Jazzology (Comet Grill) Josh Daniels (Thomas Street Tavern) The Hawthornes (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Paul Hooper (Heist Brewery) Ol’ Sport, Absinthe Father, Wild Trees, Charles

Walker, Rowdy Lea (Milestone) Winston Ramble (Mac’s Speed Shop, Matthews) Scott Moss (Primal Brewery, Huntersville) Dogs of NoDa Release Party w/ Menestree (Canvas Tattoo) 5.5ish Music Fest: Empire Strikes Brass, Hipgnostic, The Up and Up, Akita (Unknown Brewing Company) RAP/HIP HOP/SOUL/FUNK/R&B

Off The Wall: the Cool of the Night (Petra’s) Outkast on a Quest: DJ Boney B & The Mighty DJ DR, Quentin Talley and the Soul Providers (Crown Station) Sisters in Song (McGlohon Theater) House Iz My Release feat. Lady Alma & Terry Hunter w/ The Release Therapist, DJ Gary Wallace hosted by Bluz (Crown Station) DJ/ELECTRONIC

#LocalOnly Saturday with DJ Teddy & Mike Boyer (Milestone) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Jim Avett (Evening Muse) The Original Hopewell Group’s 33rd Annual Day Party! (Coyote Joe’s) Grievous Angels (Summit Coffee House, Davidson)

MARCH 3

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Fool’s Ghost, Wailin Storms, Whispering Man (Milestone) Metal Church Sunday Service (Milestone) Richard Shindell (Evening Muse) Omari & The Hellhounds (Comet Grill) Commander Keen, Jim Shorts, The Cocker Spaniels (Tommy’s Pub) RAP/HIP HOP/SOUL/FUNK/R&B

Bone Snugs-N-Harmony (Snug Harbor)

SOUNDWAVE DJ/ELECTRONIC

Hazy Sunday (Petra’s) CIAA Party: DJ Holla, DJ Ynot (Tin Roof) ROOTS/BLUES

Charlotte Blues Society’s Blues Sunday featuring the Instigators (Rabbit Hole) Bluegrass Open Jam w/ Greg M Clarke & Friends (Tommy’s Pub) JAZZ/CLASSICAL/INSTRUMENTAL

BCDI-Charlotte Presents: A Jazzy Sweetheart Brunch (Hilton Charlotte University Place)

MARCH 4

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Dr. Dog, The Nude Party (Neighborhood Theatre) Sabrina Carpenter (Fillmore) Find Your Muse Open Mic: Davey O. (Evening Muse) Cito Jamorah and Friends (Smokey Joe’s) Piano Bar w/ Ryan Stamey (Petra’s) Earth That Was, Chosovi, Dares (Tommy’s Pub) RAP/HIP HOP/SOUL/FUNK/R&B

Pg. 19 Feb. 27 - Mar. 12, 2019 - QCNERVE.COM

Jazz Jam Hosted by Occie Davids, Troy Conin, Ron Brendle (Crown Station) Knocturnal (Snug Harbor) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Them Sedgefield Boys (Comet Grill) Michael Martin Murphey (McGlohon Theater)

MARCH 5

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Open Jam with the Smokin’ Js (Smokey Joe’s) Sutphin, Asbestos Boys, Joules (Skylark Social Club) Taking Meds, Dollhands, Acne, Problem Addict (Milestone) Sneaks w/ High Cube, Sidenote (Snug Harbor) The Choir of Man (McGlohon Theater)

Citizen Cope, David Ramirez (Fillmore) March Residency feat. Run Engine w/ special guests Josey Wails (Tommy’s Pub) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

The Last Bison (Neighborhood Theatre) Red Rockin’ Chair (Comet Grill) Young Elites (Summit Coffee House, Davidson) DJ/ELECTRONIC

GLBL (Snug Harbor) RAP/HIP HOP/SOUL/FUNK/R&B

The Skinny Bully Slam (Evening Muse) Soulful Tuesdays (Crown Station) JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL

Black Violin (Belk Theater)

MARCH 6

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Sexy Dex & the Fresh w/ Joshua Cotterino (Snug Harbor) Karaoke Wednesdays w/ KJ Michelle Ma Belle (Tommy’s Pub) Weakened Friends, Well Wisher, Stress Fractures, Faye (Milestone) Tosco Music Open Mic (Evening Muse) B# (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Open Mic with Leebo (Comet Grill) Open Mic Night (Summit Coffee House, Davidson) DJ/ELECTRONIC

Subtronics, Blunts & Blondes, Zia (Underground) ROOTS/BLUES/INTERNATIONAL

Bugalú: Old School Latin Boogie (Petra’s)

SOUNDWAVE MARCH 7

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

The Motet, No BS! Brass Band (Neighborhood Theatre) Wild Moccasins (Evening Muse) Shana Blake and Friends (Smokey Joe’s Café) Emo Night: Stand Atlantic, Never Home, Sherman Neckties (Skylark Social Club) Crystal Fountains (Comet Grill) Weedeater, ASG, Toke, Beitthemeans (Rabbit Hole) Whiskey Myers, Bones Owens (Fillmore) Here Come the Mummies (Underground) Open Mic Night w/ Felicia Nicole Castelow (Tommy’s Pub) POP

Music Open Mic (Crown Station)

Savannah Conley, Katie Pruitt (Neighborhood Theatre) Sean McConnell, Caleb Elliott (Evening Muse) Clay Walker (Coyote Joe’s) Lenny Federal Band (Comet Grill)

Mickey Stephens & Friends (Evening Muse) Caroline Keller Band (Summit Coffee House, Davidson) Jim Garrett & the Dirty Water Dogs CD Release Party feat. David Childers (Comet Grill) Bill Noonan Band w/ Chris Edwards (Tommy’s Pub)

RAP/HIP HOP/SOUL/FUNK/R&B

DJ/ELECTRONIC

Player Made: An Ode To Southern Rap of All Eras (Snug Harbor) Aretha Franklin Tribute: A Benefit for RAINN (Petra’s) ROOTS/BLUES/INTERNATIONAL

ROOTS/INTERNATIONAL

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/INSTRUMENTAL

Latin Night In Plaza Midwood w/ ORQUESTA MAYOR (Snug Harbor) Jontavious Wills (Free Range Brewing)

DJ/ELECTRONIC

DJ Jeyone (Tin Roof) Le Bang (Snug Harbor)

MARCH 9

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/INSTRUMENTAL

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Page Mackenzie (Tin Roof)

MARCH 8

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Veaux, AfroBear (Evening Muse) Metal Madness: Black Ritual, Violent Life Violent Death, Kairos. (Underground) Surreal Nation (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Big Head Todd & the Monsters (Fillmore) Vita Diamata Trio (Mac’s Speed Shop, Matthews) Mike Strauss Trio (Summit Coffee House, Davidson) Jay Taylor (Tin Roof) Elonzo Wesley, Darby Wilcox (Free Range Brewing) V.O.O.M. (Vortex Of Old Men) w/ Turbo Gatto (Tommy’s Pub)

#LocalOnly Saturday with DJ Teddy & Mike Boyer (Milestone) Midnight Ravers — A Saturday Night Get Down: That Guy Smitty, VonFunkhauser, Jah Sun Rising (Petra’s)

Mambo Fridays Featuring Rumbao! (Rabbit Hole) Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets in Concert (Ovens Auditorium)

Chris Botti (Belk Theater)

Pg. 20 Feb. 27 - Mar. 12, 2019 - QCNERVE.COM

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Get Sad Y’all (Underground) The Peculiars + Zack Bowes Band (Skylark Social Club) Hipshack (Mac’s Speed Shop, Matthews) Cory Wells, Kaska Sun (Evening Muse) On the Border (Fillmore) Ponce (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) P!nk (Spectrum Center) Jouwala Collective (Thomas Street Tavern) Blue Monday (Tin Roof) Southern Culture on the Skids, Esther Rose (Visulite) The Tune Hounds (Primal Brewery) Water Dog Music Festival: Messenger Down, Never Home, The Dirty Low Down, Reaves, The Mongos (Camp North End) Harm, Falling Through April, Fear Until Fury, Earther (Milestone) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

(Tommy’s Pub) DJ/ELECTRONIC

DJ Holla (Tin Roof) JAZZ/CLASSICAL/INSTRUMENTAL

Robert Glasper (Fillmore)

MARCH 11

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Find Your Muse Open Mic: Michael Kelsey (Evening Muse) Cito Jamorah and Friends (Smokey Joe’s) Spring Residency presented by Ghost Trees – Night 1: MOA, TKO Faith Healer, Okapi (Petra’s) Nathan Arizona & The New Mexicans (Tommy’s Pub) RAP/HIP HOP/SOUL/FUNK/R&B

POPPA 8TH Annual Notorious BIG & Bad Boy Tribute (Loft and Cellar)

Jazz Jam Hosted by Occie Davids, Troy Conin, & Ron Brendle (Crown Station) Knocturnal (Snug Harbor)

MARCH 10

MARCH 12

Metal Church Sunday Service (Milestone) Omari & the Hellhounds (Comet Grill) Deaf Comet, The Stone Eye, The Hazytones, Izar Estelle (Milestone) Paint Fumes, Scott Yoder, Plastic Man, Pet Bug (Petra’s) Winded, Modern Moxie (Lunchbox Records) The Kind Thieves, Sean Mills (Heist Brewery) Cheesus Crust CD Release feat. Modern Primitives, Busco Mujo Palace (Skylark Social Club) Aloha Broha w/ Dial Driver (Tommy’s Pub)

Open Jam with the Smokin’ Js (Smokey Joe’s) Jason Eady (Evening Muse) Lawrence (Visulite) Green Fiend, Heavy Temple, Flesh Mother, Crossed Off, Slowride (Skylark Social Club) Uptown Unplugged with Greg Adams (Tin Roof) Second Tuesday Songwriters: Justin Faircloth, Matt Faircloth, Benji Hughes, Randolph Lewis, Mike Strauss, Grant Funderburk, Chad Edwards, Jay Garrigan, John Morris (Tommy’s Pub)

RAP/HIP HOP/SOUL/FUNK/R&B

Red Rockin’ Chair (Comet Grill)

RAP/HIP HOP/SOUL/FUNK/R&B

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Bone Snugs-N-Harmony (Snug Harbor) ROOTS/BLUES/INTERNATIONAL

Bluegrass Open Jam w/ Greg Clarke & Friends

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

RAP/HIP HOP/SOUL/FUNK/R&B

Soulful Tuesdays (Crown Station) GLBL (Snug Harbor)

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POSTRE CON PATRIOT

East Charlotte bakery owner defines the American Dream

BY COURTNEY MIHOCIK

Pg. 22 Feb. 27 - Mar. 12, 2019 - QCNERVE.COM

M

ANUEL MANOLO Betancur came to America from Colombia with $100 in his pocket, two shirts and two pairs of pants.

After working as a dishwasher near Tampa, Florida, and later unloading and packing fish behind an airport in Miami, he was selected for a scholarship to go King University in Bristol, Tennessee in 2001.

He joined the Americorps in his last year of college, visiting farms in the Midwest and the South. This experience opened his eyes to the conditions that immigrants faced in this country.

“When I saw the agriculture department and low industry points, the labor of immigrants, and I saw how much they suffer and how hard they are working, it changed my vision about that reality,” Betancur recalled. “And that’s when I started noticing the hypocrisy of the system and how broken the [immigration] system is.”

He explained that all immigrants working in America — documented or not — receive W-2 tax forms and pay taxes, paying into the welfare programs of the country, but rarely seeing the benefits.

“So all these millions and millions paid in that you, and I, now an American citizen,

A chocolate dessert created for Taste of the World 2018.

[recieve in] our Social Security our Medicaid our unemployment,” Betancur continued. “And they’re not going to receive that money back.”

Those that seek refuge from violence and crumbling economies come to the U.S. in search of their version of the American dream, but are often met with anti-immigrant rhetoric.

“It pisses me off when they say immigrants come here to steal their work, to take their jobs, to take a bunch of assistance and not pay taxes.

I’ve paid thousands and thousands of dollars. It doesn’t hurt me to pay taxes,” Betancur explained.

Even before he became a citizen, Betancur was paying taxes, and he knows that there are hundreds of thousands of immigrants that are feeding money into welfare programs and not receiving benefits.

Before Betancur became an American citizen, he received a deportation order in 2006.

It took $20,000 and a trip to Washington, D.C. to appear in front of a federal judge. After recounting his story of immigration, college, Americorps and owning a business, his charges were dropped and he completed the citizenship

process.

After acquiring the rest of the shares from his partner for the well-known east Charlotte Latinx bakery, Las Delicias, Betancur rebranded and changed the name to Manolo’s Bakery. He also sends a message with his staff’s new uniforms: Made in America by Immigrant Hands.

The new logo color and shift away from a Spanish name coincides with Betancur’s vision to include everyone in Charlotte, regardless of creed, race or color.

“I don’t identify myself with flag or color or race. So you see our sign is yellow. It’s not relating to the American flag or Mexican flag,” Betancur explained. “We get customers from Africa, from Europe, we got Christians, Muslims, Asians, all kind of cultures here.”

Most importantly, he wants to provide the opportunities that he was provided when he came to America. But that vision was threatened in early February.

When Immigrations and Customs Enforcement conducted raids on the east side of Charlotte in early February, the fear that the

PHOTO COURTESY OF MANOLO’S BAKERY

community felt was a fear he is familiar with.

“I had the deportation order, so I take very seriously things with immigration,” Betancur stated.

Betancur took to social media and posted a call-to-action for Charlotte.

“Dear member of this community,” his Feb. 7 Facebook post read, “if you say you care about East Charlotte and you are proud to be part of this welcoming city; come and support our immigrant owned business. Yesterday’s ICE actions towards this side of Charlotte and targeting the immigrant community drastically affected our local economy.”

He wrote that in 36 hours, his sales dropped 70 percent and uploaded pictures of his empty business.

But it goes beyond the economy when ICE terrorizes a neighborhood, he explained.

“Forget about the business, forget about the money,” Betancur said. “Money comes and goes, you win and lose money every day. But the way that the system is going, ICE is screwing over our kids. And our kids are our future.

Pg. 23 Feb. 27 - Mar. 12, 2019 - QCNERVE.COM

“The kids are afraid the system are going to take their father or mother because that’s what ICE is doing in Charlotte. So that is my biggest pain is knowing that our kids are shown that.”

The actions of ICE and the economic damage done to his bakery in that stretch of time caused Betancur to consider closing shop and moving to a different city — one that is more immigrant-friendly.

But the response of the community and the outpouring of support from those visiting and promoting Manolo’s Bakery persuaded him to drop those plans.

“Thanks to the community, I changed my plans,” he explained. “Because there have been too many demonstrations of love and affection and sense of community that have made me realize that good people are more than the bad people, and the bad people is just a minority.”

To further cement a sense of community in east Charlotte, Betancur recently partnered with Joseph Castro at Inspira.

Inspira is a church-turned-social-venue outfitted with meeting rooms, a small auditorium, coffee lounge and part-time daycare for businesses and entrepreneurs in the city to hold meetings and training sessions when needed. Manolo’s Bakery provides pastries and other baked goods to patrons who utilize the space.

Because the bakery doesn’t have the space, privacy or accommodations for meetings to take place and Inspira has the functions for all, but no treats to munch on, the two entities complement each other.

It’s another expansion into the community for Betancur and Castro while serving the public.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MANOLO’S BAKERY “Inspira is like Manolo’s Bakery — Manolo’s Betancur, owner of Manolo’s Bakery, with a selection of cakes.

Bakery is not just for the Latinos, it’s not just for a minority. Manolo’s Bakery is for Charlotte as Charlotte is for Manolo’s,” Betancur said. “Inspira grows the same. It’s in the same way, Inspira is for everybody, it’s not just for the Latinos.”

From washing dishes in Tampa and taking out garbage in the dining halls at college, to the successful staple bakery nestled on Central Avenue, Manolo worked hard to achieve his dreams.

That’s the American dream that he grew up Manuel Manolo Betancur, owner of Manolo’s Bakery hearing about. Living in Colombia, a country heavily influenced by American involvement,

“THE KIDS ARE AFRAID THE SYSTEM ARE GOING TO TAKE THEIR FATHER OR MOTHER BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT ICE IS DOING IN CHARLOTTE. SO THAT IS MY BIGGEST PAIN IS KNOWING THAT OUR KIDS ARE SHOWN THAT.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF MANOLO’S BAKERY

“Made in America by Immigrant Hands,” adorns Manolo’s Bakery uniforms.

Betancur knew about the ubiquitous aspirations.

“I was raised in a country under the influence of the American culture, as I was influenced by Jon Bon Jovi and Guns N’ Roses, I was also influenced by the American dream,” Betancur recalled. “I was influenced by the American history.”

To Betancur, the American dream isn’t just gathering wealth. In fact, instead of advertising, he allocates money and resources to dozens of organizations around the city.

These connections help him build a better business and a better community.

“It’s something bigger than the money,” he said. “It’s happiness, it’s freedom. The American dream has a huge connotation. It’s bigger than just money.”

Many people are quick to forget that this country was founded by immigrants, either escaping religious persecution in the mid-20th century or flooding Ellis Island in the 1900s.

Those that came to America with no money, job or family and worked hard to establish a family and life in this country.

And that’s why Betancur’s story from immigrant to business owner is as American as apple pie and chocotorta.

CMIHOCIK@QCNERVE.COM

DILWORTH BAKERSFIELD

Monday: $3 Jack Daniels Tuesday: $3 Tres Generaciones, $10 Don Julio 1942 Wednesday: $3 Bulleit Bourbon Thursday: $3 Espolon Friday: $3 George Dickel No. 8 Saturday: $3 Lunazul Sunday: $3 Larceny Bourbon 300EAST

Monday: 1/2 off wines by the glass Tuesday: 1/2 off beer cans and glasses of Italian reds Thursday: $3.50 local drafts & $8.50 Matilda Wong cocktails Sunday: 1/2 off wine bottles, $5 mimosas & bloody marys, $6 Bellinis BAD DADDY’S BURGER BAR

Pg. 24 Feb. 27 - Mar. 12, 2019 - QCNERVE.COM

Monday: 20-oz. draft for 16 oz. price Tuesday: $5 specialty cocktails Wednesday: $3.50 local drafts Saturday-Sunday: $5 bloody marys and mimosas

DILWORTH NEIGHBORHOOD GRILLE

Monday: $4 Crown & Down Tuesday: $4 drafts, $12 pitchers, $5 flights of North Carolina drafts Wednesday: 1/2 price wine bottles and martinis Thursday: $12 domestic buckets, $18 import buckets Friday: $3 craft drafts, $5 flavored vodka Saturday: $5 mason jar cocktails Sunday: $4 bloody marys SUMMIT ROOM

Tuesday: $4 drafts Wednesday: 1/2 off glasses of wine Thursday: $7 Summit cocktails

SOUTH END COMMON MARKET SOUTH END

Monday: 1/2 off select pints Tuesday: Free beer tasting 5-7 p.m.

Wednesday: $2 off select pints, wine tasting 5-7 p.m.

WINE LOFT

Sunday: $5 mimosa, $45 house cabernet or chardonnay bottle with appetizer and dessert Monday: $6 glass of house cabernet, red blend or chardonnay Tuesday: $6 well liquor Wednesday: 1/2 off martinis Thursday: 1/2 price bottle of $40-100 wine BIG BEN PUB

Monday: $5.50 20-oz. NoDa craft beer, $2.00 off vodka Wednesday: $5.25 20-oz. Spaten, 1/2 price wine bottles Friday: $5.50 20-oz. Crispin & Guinness, $5 Dale’s Fireball shot Saturday: $5.50 20-oz. seasonal beers, $5 mimosas and bloody marys Sunday: $5.25 20-oz. Boddington, $5 mimosas and bloody marys MAC’S SPEED SHOP

Monday: $3 pints, $5 Titos Tuesday: 1/2 price wine, $3 mystery draft Wednesday: $4 tall boys, $5 Lunazul Blanco Thursday: $3 mystery cans & bottles, $4 Jim Beam

Friday: $1 off brewery of the month (Ballast Point), $5 Fireball Saturday: $1 off North Carolina pints, $6.50 vodka Red Bull Sunday: $4 bloody marys and mimosas GIN MILL

Monday: $5 Titos & New Amsterdam, $4 craft beer Tuesday: 1/2 price wine Wednesday: $4 draft beer Thursday: $2.50 PBR, $5 Jack Daniels & Titos

UPTOWN THE DAILY TAVERN

Wednesday: $5 whiskey Thursday: $4 pint night Sunday: $4 Miller Lite, $6 bloody marys WORLD OF BEER

Monday: $2 off North Carolina drafts and spirits Tuesday: 25 percent off bottles and cans, $5 mules Wednesday: 1/2 priced wine, wheats and sangrias

Thursday: $4 old school, $4 well, $4 signature shots Friday-Saturday: $3 shot of the week Sunday: $2 mimosas, $3 bloody mary and beermosas

NODA CABO FISH TACO

Monday: $5 El Cheapo margarita Tuesday: $3.50 Tecate and Tecate Light, $5 Altos silver tequila Wednesday: $7 Absolut Lime Moscow mule Thursday: $1 off neighborhood beers on draft Friday-Saturday: $8 margarita special Sunday: $5 mimosas, $6 Absolut Peppar bloody mary, $7 Absolut Lime Moscow mule JACKBEAGLE’S

Pg. 25 Feb. 27 - Mar. 12, 2019 - QCNERVE.COM

Monday: $5 Cuervo margaritas Tuesday: $3 drafts, $5 vodka Red Bull Wednesday: $1 off whiskey Thursday: $6 Deep Eddy’s vodka Red Bull Friday: $5 Fun-Dip shots, $5 Crown Black Saturday: $5 Gummy Bear shots, $5 big mimosa, $6.50 double bloody mary

Sunday: $5 big mimosa, $6.50 double bloody mary

$4 Draft special every day!

SANCTUARY PUB

Monday: $1 off moonshine and moonshine cocktails, $3 domestics Tuesday: $1 off all drafts, $7 Jameson Wednesday: $1 off bottles and cans Thursday: $4.50 wells Friday: $5 Fireball, $1 off local bottles and cans Saturday: $4 mimosas $5 Brunch Punch, $5 Fireball Sunday: $4 mimosas, $5 Brunch Punch, $5 Fireball, $10 champagne bottles

Monday: $7 Bulleit & Bulleit Rye, $3 Yuengling and PBR APA Tuesday: $6 Tuaca, $6 Tullamore Dew Wednesday: $3 Birdsong, $5 Sauza, $6 Espolon Thursday: $2 Bartender Bottles, $6 Crown Royal Sunday: $3 Birdsong, $3 Tall or Call NODA 101

Monday: $4 Ketel One Lemon Drop, $4 well liquor, $5 Camerena Tuesday: $6 seasonal cocktails, $6 Jameson, $4 Grape Gatorade Wednesday: $1 off whiskey, $5 Green Tea Shot, $6 Blue Balls Thursday: $5 Jagermeister, $6 vodka Redbull, $6 Oxley Gin Cocktail Friday: $5 Fireball, $6 vodka Red Bull, $6 Jameson Saturday: $6 Tito’s, $5 Fireball, $6 vodka Red Bull Sunday: $5 Deep Eddy Flavors, $1 off tequila, $5 White Gummy Bear shots

BILLY JACK’S SHACK

PLAZA MIDWOOD WHISKEY WAREHOUSE

Monday: $3.50 George Dickel Lemonade Tuesday: $3 Michelob Ultra, $6 classic cocktails Wednesday: $4 drafts, $3 sparkling rosé Thursday: 1/2 price wine, $3 Truly cans Friday: $5 remix classics, $4 Corona & Corona Light Saturday: $2.50 Miller Lite bottles, $3 Dos Equis drafts Sunday: $2.50 Bud Light, $5 Tito’s

Saturday-Sunday: $2 mimosas, $4 bloody mary bar, $5 Tito’s , $2.50 Bud Light HATTIE’S TAP & TAVERN

Monday: $6 Pabst & Paddy’s Tuesday: $5 Fireball Wednesday: $3 mystery craft beers Thursday: $6 margaritas Friday-Saturday: $5 well drinks Sunday: $10 domestic buckets

ELIZABETH CASWELL STATION

Monday: $2 domestics, $4 well drinks Tuesday: $3 pints, $5 Deep Eddy’s Vodka Wednesday: $3.50 North Carolina drafts, $5 Bulleit, 1/2 price bottles of wine Thursday: 1/2 price signature cocktails, $2 Tecate cans, $3 Dos Equis & Modelo Friday: $3 Yeungling drafts, $6 Crown Apple Saturday: $3.50 pub cans, $6 Jameson Sunday: $2 mimosas, $4 bloody marys, $10 domestic buckets

YEEHAW, Y’ALL

Trading in basketball shoes for cowboy boots at Coyote Joe’s

Pg. 26 Feb. 27 - Mar. 12, 2019 - QCNERVE.COM

BY AERIN SPRUILL

AT FIRST GLANCE, people tend to assume I love to be around large groups of people. However, this is a false assumption. As an extroverted introvert (yes, this is a real thing) who’s also an only child, large and congested groups of people will send my anxiety through the roof. That’s why I traded in basketball shoes for cowboy boots in the Queen City during the NBA All-Star Weekend.

The people of Charlotte anticipated the NBA All-Star Game since the announcement in May of 2017. Whether a sports fanatic or a local, the news brought its fair share of excitement from the beginning. But unlike many social media influencers, visitors, photographers, media personnel and other well-connected folks, I didn’t have a source, enough money or an extra limb to sell to get tickets or attend the events. But what’s worse, my nerves were keeping me from even wanting to walk around the large crowds exploring Uptown let alone attend an All-Star event, even if I wanted to.

In the days leading up to the highly anticipated events that would bring 150,000 people into Charlotte, I pondered alternatives to Uptown.

From lunch spots to nighttime entertainment, I was trying to figure out how I could stay occupied without being smothered by a large group of people. Turns out, it wasn’t that hard.

My favorite watering hole, aka my living room, provided the majority of my nightlife pleasure — as much that can be had when you’re fighting a week-long cold. But Friday brought a unique adventure all its own. It involved cowboy boots and an Uber to a hidden gem off of Wilkinson Boulevard — a hidden gem for me, anyways.

Coyote Joe’s is a country nightclub that’s been bringing some of the most recognized country

music singers to Charlotte since 1991. My boyfriend and his friend had visited the venue a few times before and told me what great experiences they’d enjoyed. However, I’d never visited or seen the venue before. Not a surprise, as I’ve only recently started taking a likin’ to (yes, I wrote that with a drawl in mind) country music.

In fact, the same friend who’d invited us to last fall’s Chris Stapleton show at PNC Music Pavilion was the catalyst for this past weekend’s visit to Coyote Joe’s. Not too long ago, he introduced us to Drake White. A country singer with a soulful vibe, Drake White plays the kind of music that’s easy for a rookie country music listener to sit back and enjoy.

That’s why I was more than down to pay $15 to see him live at Coyote Joe’s.

I had absolutely no idea what to expect as we pulled into the parking lot. To be honest, at first glance, if there weren’t neon signs on the outside of the building, you’d think you were walking into an abandoned warehouse. But as soon as we walked in, I could tell why one of our other friends was overwhelmed with nostalgia about visiting Nashville, Tennessee, for her bachelorette party for the first time. A massive saloon that’s rough around the edges, Coyote Joe’s gives a Tennessee vibe of epic proportions to Charlotte’s west side.

This sprawling venue can easily fit over 2,500 people and is complete with three bars (unless there’s another basketball court-sized room I overlooked), outdoor patio, upstairs overlook, an electric bull, pool tables and, of course, a central stage area. While there was a sizable audience waiting for Drake White to perform, the size of the venue kept my anxiety at bay and, to my surprise, this black gal in cowboy boots felt quite at home.

At 11:00 p.m. on the dot, Drake White stepped on stage donning his wide-brimmed fedora. I must say, there’s something special about a musician who has the ability to transcend boundaries of music. Whether he was playing his own music or a cover, I felt connected to his stage presence from start to finish — even when I didn’t know a single word. But you best believe I sang to my boo when he started singing Salt-N-Pepa’s “Whatta Man!” While I would’ve loved to be the lucky gal to run into J. Cole on the Queen City streets, I don’t feel like I missed out on very much. All in all, a Friday night at Coyote Joe’s offered a fair trade to the congestion I expected at All-Star Weekend and quite the refreshing entertainment.

Things to note before your first visit to Coyote Joe’s: bars are cash only (ATMS throughout), you can pay for shows at the door, memberships are $1 and ride the mechanical bull at your own risk.

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ACROSS

1 Not meant to be heard by the audience, in a way 8 Blend in 13 Maker of stringed instruments 20 Author Huffington 21 Nary a soul 22 In a group 23 Give a nonnative a smooch?

25 Causes of sudden fear 26 Env. alerter 27 Small drink 28 Make up for 29 Defeat Dorothy’s dog decisively?

34 Trip to an underworld river?

39 Singer Buddy 40 Egg 42 Stools, say 43 Actress Mendes 44 Certain Siouan 45 “The Jerk” actor M. -- Walsh 47 “Well well!”

48 Use a pool 49 Specialty of Windy City bakeries?

52 Uses Dixie diction 54 Door turner 55 Expire, as a subscription 59 Ballpark fig.

60 New princess of ‘81 63 One who doesn’t succumb to a potent toxin?

68 Clean energy org.

69 Bombard with e-junk 71 “Zip- -- -Doo-Dah” 72 Hard wood 73 Glorious state of bliss?

79 Military units 82 Prefix with hazard 83 Achieve 84 Obi-Wan Kenobi, e.g.

85 Rob

88 Desert haven mentioned in the first book of the Bible?

94 Guitars’ kin, for short 95 Actor Rob 99 Bits of matter 100 Car for a VIP 101 Mr., in India 102 Have a cow, with “out” 103 Ltr. insert 104 Arrangement 105 Ruler of the Sunflower State?

108 Palpitation?

111 Menu fish 112 Audiotapes’ successors 114 Cato’s 1,052 115 Main female character 118 Stuff hauled by Beantown trash collectors?

124 Not ceasing 125 Homer work 126 St.- -- (capital of Loire) 127 Mice and whales, e.g.

128 “The Rose” singer Midler 129 Plunder

DOWN

1 Hard wood 2 Wk. day 3 Hi- -- (old LP players) 4 Moms 5 Notoriety 6 Noted berry farm founder 7 Turn a deaf -- (ignore) 8 Musical artist DiFranco 9 Barking pets 10 Doctrine that reality is one organic whole 11 Ham-handed 12 Gen -13 Certain boxing punch 14 Not firmly implanted 15 Pre-liftoff term 16 Jenna Bush -17 “Kinda” suffix 18 Ballpark fig.

19 Scale notes 24 Lay to rest 28 Skating leap 29 Ice cream flavor, briefly 30 Writer Philip 31 H.G. Wells race 32 Smart- -- (cocky) 33 At an end 35 Fashion inits.

36 Synthpop artist, say 37 Sinister 38 They may be candied 41 Wombs 45 Self-conceit

46 Unruly crowd 47 Social Security fig., e.g.

48 Delhi dress 50 Not only that 51 Vienna loc.

53 Crank (up) 56 -- upswing 57 Meat stamp letters 58 Wk. day 60 The, in Paris 61 “The Simpsons” store clerk 62 Work at as a dilettante 63 Breathe hard 64 Leave out 65 Intermission 66 Bullfight cry 67 Apt. units 70 Stew veggie 74 Eye covers 75 Bettor’s note 76 Tatty clothes 77 Strive (for) 78 U.N.’s Kofi 80 Hubbub 81 Call placer 84 Actor Parsons 85 Corn cover

SOLUTION ON PAGE. 30

86 Stew veggie 87 Part of PIN 89 Carve 90 Somber 91 In -- (as found) 92 Don of radio 93 Last year’s frosh 96 “Part II” films 97 Tightly strung 98 Squeak (out) 102 Cereal meal 103 Breaks up 104 Add to the batter, say 106 Charge at 107 School, in Nice 109 Writer Horatio 110 Calf catcher 113 ESPN datum 115 -- and haw 116 Greek vowel 117 Dream-time acronym 118 Baby’s wear 119 Lyric tribute 120 Wanna- -- (aspirants) 121 Santa -- (hot wind) 122 Big health supplement chain, familiarly 123 “I see mice!”

FEBRUARY 27 - MARCH 5 ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Try to say as little as possible about the work you’re doing through the end of the month. Then you can make your announcement and accept your well-deserved plaudits.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) You face a more difficult challenge than you expected. But with that strong Taurean determination, you should be able to deal with it successfully by week’s end.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Before you act on your “feelings” about that upcoming decision, it might be wise to do a little fact-checking first. You could be very much surprised by what you don’t find.

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CANCER (June 21 to July 22) A recent workplace success can open some doors that were previously closed to you. On a personal level, expect to receive some important news from a longtime friend and colleague.

LEO (July 23 to August 22) Put your wounded pride aside and do what you must to heal that misunderstanding before it takes a potentially irreversible turn and leaves you regretting the loss of a good friend.

VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) One way to kick a less-than-active social life into high gear or rebuild an outdated contacts list is to throw one of your well-organized get-togethers for friends and associates.

LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) Getting out of an obligation you didn’t really want to take on can be tricky. An honest explanation of the circum-

MARCH 6 - MARCH 12

stances can help. Next time, pay more attention to your usually keen instincts.

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Your efforts in behalf of a colleague do not go unnoticed, let alone unappreciated. Meanwhile, arrange to spend more SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) Use your time investigating that troubling fact you recently Scorpion logic to push for a no-nonsense approach uncovered. to a perplexing situation. This could help keep present and potential problems from creating TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Devoting a lot of time more confusion. to a current career move means having less time for those in your private life. But once you explain SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) A the circumstances, they should understand and be friend’s problem might take more time than you supportive. want to give. But staying with it once again proves the depth of your Sagittarian friendship and GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Organizing your loyalty. many duties in order of importance should help you get through them pretty quickly. Additional CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) The Sea information puts that still-to-be-made decision in Goat can benefit from an extra dose of self-confi- a new light. dence to unsettle your detractors, giving you the advantage of putting on a strong presentation of CANCER (June 21 to July 22) Lingering bad feelings your position. over a recent misunderstanding should fade as reconciliation efforts continue. Meanwhile, AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) You might vacation plans might need to be revised because of want to ask a friend or relative for advice on an new developments. ongoing personal matter. But be careful not to give away information you might later wish you had LEO (July 23 to August 22) Love dominates the kept secret.

Lion’s heart this week, with Cupid shooting arrows at single Leos and Leonas looking for PISCES (February 19 to March 20) Use the weekend romance. Partnered pairs also enjoy strengthened for a creativity break to help restore your spiritual relationships. energy. Once that’s done, you’ll be back and more than ready to tackle whatever challenge you need VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) “Getting to to face.

Know You” should be the single Virgo’s theme song as you and that special person discover more BORN THIS WEEK: You get great joy out of creating about one another. That workplace situation needs beautiful things and sharing them with others who looking into. appreciate them.

LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) You might

be upset at having your objectivity questioned in the handling of a dispute. But it would be wise to re-examine your feelings to make sure you’re being fair with both sides.

SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) A family dispute creates mixed feelings about how you hope it will be ultimately resolved. Best advice: Stay out of it and let the involved parties work it through by themselves.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) Making an effort to smooth over even the smallest obstacles now will go a long way to assuring that things run smoothly once you’re set to move on with your plans.

CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) A challenge to your authority can be upsetting, but your longtime supporters want you to defend your position so you can win over even your most adamant detractors.

AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) Being unable to get involved in a friend’s problem calls for an honest approach. Provide explanations, not excuses. Another friend might be able to offer support for your decision.

PISCES (February 19 to March 20) You find yourself swimming in circles, looking for some way to get back on a straight course. But things get easier once you’re able to refocus your energies.

BORN THIS WEEK: You’re known for your charm and your wisdom, and there’s no one who wouldn’t want you to be part of his or her life.

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in that house.

DISHONEST GAY BROTHER-IN-LAW

OUTER LIMITS

Secrets, lies, bi guys and closets

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BY DAN SAVAGE

I’m a gay guy in my late 40s with a straight sister in her early 50s. She’s been married for a bit over two decades to a guy who always registered as a “possible” on my average-togood gaydar. But I put “BIL,” aka my brotherin-law, in the “improbable” bucket because he actively wooed my sister, was clearly in love with her, and fathered four boys with her, all in their late teens now.

I’m sure you already saw this plot development coming: It turns out BIL has been far more “probable” than I thought. He has a boyfriend but is still very much closeted and denies he is gay. My sister has apparently known about this arrangement for four years, but has kept it a secret for the kids’ sake. But she recently filed for divorce and told our parents and me what’s been going on. Their kids have been informed about the divorce, but not about their father’s boyfriend.

BIL needs to gay-man-up and admit the truth to himself and the rest of his family and start the healing process. That’s obvious.

Unfortunately, there’s no way I can talk him into it (we’re not close), and my sister is left holding this terrible secret while her bewildered kids watch their parents’ marriage crumble with no clue why. I think the kids deserve the truth, and that neither my sister nor the kids can start to heal until that happens. If BIL won’t do the right thing, my sister is going to have to tell them the truth. What can I do to help her with this?

She’s awfully fragile right now and I don’t want to pressure her and I can’t tell the kids without causing a big stink. But dammit, Dan, someone needs to start speaking some truth

Secret second families — and a secret boyfriend of four years counts — aren’t secrets that keep.

So your nephews are gonna find out about dad’s boyfriend sooner or later, DGBIL, and sooner is definitely better. Because in the absence of the actual reason why their parents are splitting up — in the absence of the truth — they’re likely to come up with alternate explanations that are far worse.

And when they inevitably discover the real reason, your nephews’ anger at having been lied to or left in the dark will reopen the wounds.

Backing way the hell up: seeing as BIL actively wooed and “was clearly in love with” your sister, and seeing as he successfully scrambled his DNA together with hers four times and remained married to her for two decades, DGBIL, I don’t think BIL is a closeted gay man. My money’s on closeted bisexual man.

I shall now say something that will delight my bisexual readers: I’m sure you’d like to live in a world where everyone is out, DGBIL, or, even better, a world where no one ever had to be in. But in the world we live in now, bisexuals are far less likely to be out than gays and lesbians, DGBIL, and the belief that a guy is either gay or straight keeps many bisexual guys closeted.

Because if a bisexual guy who’s married to a woman knows he’s going to be seen as gay if he tells the truth — if no one will ever believe he loved his wife or wanted all those kids — he’s unlikely to ever come out. So you can’t fault BIL for not being out, DGBIL, when it’s attitudes like yours that keep bi guys closeted in the first place.

I shall now say something that will piss off my bisexual readers: a family-minded bi guy can have almost everything he wants — spouse, house, kids — without ever having to come out so long as that bi guy winds up with an opposite-sex partner.

Coming out is a difficult conversation and it’s one many bi people choose to avoid. And who can blame them? I wasn’t thrilled by the idea of telling my mom I put dicks in my mouth, but it was a conversation I couldn’t avoid.

Faced with the choice between telling my mother the truth and possibly being rejected by her and thereby losing her or cutting her out of my life in order to keep my secret and definitely losing her, I chose to tell her the truth. If I’d been, say, your average hetero-romantic bisexual man instead of a huge homo — if I enjoyed sex with men and women but only fell in love with women — I could’ve avoided coming out to her and very well

might have.

Back to your nephews, DGBIL: they should be told the truth but you shouldn’t be the one to tell them. Their parents should. Sit down with your sister and make the argument I did above: Yes, your kids are upset about the divorce and it will add to their upset to learn their father is in a relationship with a man. But they’re going to be angry about being lied to when they inevitably find out.

And if she’s keeping this secret solely at BIL’s request, well, he can’t ask that of her if doing so will damage her relationship with her kids. I don’t think she should immediately out BIL, but she can and should let him know that she will have to tell the children if he doesn’t.

You should have a conversation with BIL. Open it by telling him that life is long, marriages are

complicated, and that you know he loved your sister.

But to stick the dismount here — to end his marriage without destroying his relationship with his kids — he can’t hide from them. If he doesn’t want to tell his boys about his boyfriend because he fears he might lose them, DGBIL, then he’ll have to cut his kids out of his life — and that means losing them for sure. And then butt the fuck out.

On the Lovecast, Dan chats with Johann Hari about the depression epidemic: savagelovecast.com; mail@savagelove.net; @FakeDanSavage on Twitter; ITMFA.org

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