Queen City Nerve Issue 13_2019

VOLUME 1. ISSUE 13; MAY 22 - JUNE 4, 2019 - QCNERVE.COM

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Charlotte’s Cultural Pulse STAFF

PUBLISHER • Justin LaFrancois jlafrancois@qcnerve.com EDITOR-IN-CHIEF • Ryan Pitkin rpitkin@qcnerve.com

EDITORIAL

ASSOCIATE EDITOR • Courtney Mihocik cmihocik@qcnerve.com STAFF WRITER • Pat Moran pmoran@qcnerve.com

ART/DESIGN

ART DIRECTOR • Dana Vindigni dvindigni@qcnerve.com

MARKETING

MARKETING MANAGER • Jayme Johnson jjohnson@qcnerve.com

ADVERTISING Pg. 3 May 22- June 4 , 2019 - QCNERVE.COM

To place an advertisement please call 980-349-3029 Queen City Nerve welcomes submissions of all kinds. Please send submissions or story pitches to rpitkin@qcnerve.com.

Queen City Nerve is published every other Wednesday by Nerve Media Productions LLC. No portion may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Queen City Nerve is located in Advent Coworking at 933 Louise Ave., Charlotte, NC, 28204. First Issue of Queen CIty Nerve free. Each additional issue $5.

NEWS & CULTURE

6 All In the Family Queen City Family Tree is Enderly Park’s haven of hope

By Ryan Pitkin 5 Editor’s Note by Ryan Pitkin 8 Keep It 100 by Shameika Rhymes 9 The Scanner by Ryan Pitkin

ARTS

10 What’s in a Handshake?

‘Oslo’ brings a neverending saga to the stage

By Perry Tannenbaum

LIFELINE

12 How not to kill your social life

MUSIC

14 Noteworthy Alternatives Nontraditional music venues fill a void in Charlotte

By Courtney Mihocik 18 Soundwave

FOOD & DRINK

20 Brunch Guide 2019 A dozen must-try dishes spread around town Fueled by Circle K Speed Street 24 The Buzz

NIGHTLIFE

26 Aerin It Out by Aerin Spruill 27 Crossword 28 Horoscope 29 Sudoku 30 Savage Love

Cover Design by: Dana Vindigni

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EDITOR’S NOTE GETTING SCHOOLED

How I learned to rock again for the first time

SCHOOL OF ROCK GRAD SCHOOL SHOWCASE: HAIR METAL May 24, 7 p.m.; Free; Heist Brewery & Barrel Arts, 1030 Woodward Ave.; locations.schoolofrock.com/charlotte

BY RYAN PITKIN

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THEY SAY THE BEST way to learn how to swim is to jump straight in the water, so that’s what I did.

It all started one night in February, as I was having drinks with my friend Dréa Atkins, front woman of local rock group Farewell Albatross and executive director at School of Rock Charlotte.

Dréa told me about School of Rock Charlotte’s new Grad School program, which will put adults together in a band to learn a bunch of covers from a specific genre — similar to how the kids do. When she asked if I’d like to take part in the first semester of Grad School, I didn’t need much convincing.

I once was a drummer, to the extent that I owned a drum set in middle school and got decent at it over the two or three years that I had it.

I’ve often wanted to get back into playing, and what better way to do so than under the instruction of the talented teachers at School of Rock Charlotte? I told Dréa I was in, and showed up for my first practice on Feb. 13 ready to learn.

When I showed up at the School of Rock Charlotte house that night, I hadn’t touched a pair of drumsticks in nearly 20 years, let alone played anything on a set. I went into it thinking that everyone else would be in the same boat, learning instruments for the first time, so we could all come up together. This was not the case.

I met my bandmates and told them about my long hiatus from playing drums, and they laughed it off, saying not to worry about it.

Some of them had barely taken their respective

guitars out of the case for the past year or so.

That should have been my first warning (these guys own the instruments they’re playing!) but it didn’t begin to sink in just how out of my element I was until we settled in to the practice room and began tuning our instruments. Listening to them warm up, I could tell that these guys could play. I was going to have my work cut out for me.

Another aspect of the experience that had me nervous was the genre we’d be covering: hair metal. I consider myself a relatively cultured music fan with interests that span the spectrum of tastes, but if there’s any era that I have ignored in my years of fandom, it is the era of hair metal.

We started that night with Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It.” I wasn’t totally unaware of this song; I just knew the chorus.

Considering I wasn’t going to be doing any singing, that didn’t help me much.

I can only imagine how it sounded to the rest of the band as I brought us into that first song, leading off with an easy enough drum beat that I’m sure I still managed to mangle. Through that night, I was able to make my way through that

and a couple of other songs, but I could see the look of exasperation on some of my bandmates’ faces. They were supportive throughout, but it was clear that this was going to take some time.

Over the next three months, we showed up to that small room every Wednesday and, under the tutelage of the talented Alexis Mattey and Nic Pugh, we eventually began to start sounding decent, though it was a struggle.

Thanks to my ignorance of the genre, I struggled the most with remembering where to go into the bridge on any given song. I tried to listen to our playlist during my free time to become more familiar with where the breaks came in, where I had to switch up the beat and where my tempo was off. I took a private lesson with Alexis to help with fills and he taught me about counts.

Through the months, we’ve gotten to a point where we actually sound decent, and it’s been more fun than I can express here. Our gig is scheduled for Friday, May 24, and I’m confident we’re going to put on a fun, if imperfect, show.

Since I won’t have a mic on Friday night, I’ll say it here: Thank you Charlotte, and goodnight!

RPITKIN@QCNERVE.COM

ALL IN THE FAMILY

Queen City Family Tree is Enderly Park’s haven of hope

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S

BY RYAN PITKIN

ITTING ON THE porch of his west Charlotte home on a Wednesday evening as dusk falls and his kids play with friends a few feet over, Greg Jarrell looks out on his small piece of land at the intersection of Tuckaseegee Road and Parkway Avenue in the Enderly Park neighborhood and knows that he made an impact, no matter how small.

In the nearly 15 years since Jarrell moved into the house with his wife Helms in 2005, the two have witnessed scenes of growth, death, hope, despair, gentrification, joy, displacement, love and hate. On this night, a group of about 15 kids have just left his home after Wednesday night devotional, a weekly gathering of neighborhood youth hosted by the Queen City Family Tree, a nonprofit community organization that Greg and Helms run out of their home.

In that moment, Jarrell looks like the antithesis of the celebrity pastors who have become so popular in Charlotte and across the country. Whereas Elevation Church pastor Steven Furtick wears $1,000 sneakers and lives in a mansion worth millions in a Union County suburb, profiting off the success of his multi-site megachurch, here’s Greg, wearing an old T-shirt he’s had since college and worn Nike running shoes; a thrift shop find that one neighborhood youth jokingly calls “the Stoplight 11s” because of their bright green and red colors.

For Jarrell — who was raised in the evangelical Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) then attended the Baptist Theological Seminary, a progressive offshoot launched in 1989 by people who didn’t like the conservative resurgence within SBC — God’s work isn’t

Greg Jarrell (right) plays the sax alongside singer Dawn Anthony at a performance and reading of his book, ‘A Riff of Love,’ on May 9.

done in million-dollar facilities through headsets and speaker systems, but in living rooms like his.

When I ask if he leads or belongs to any church, he simply looks around at his porch and says, “This is our work.”

But what does “this” look like?

At Wednesday’s devotional, hosted by Helms and Family Tree youth facilitator Kayla Pinson, the group of kids — most of which were high-school-aged — ate dinner in the Family Tree house then headed across the street to the lawn of the Nazareth Outreach Baptist Church to play kickball and ultimate frisbee.

After the games, the group gathered back into the Jarrells’ living room for a discussion led by Pinson that touched on a wide range of topics ranging from colonialism to environmental issues to veganism to whether or not it’s right to kill a bear in self-defense.

As the conversation came to a close, Pinson introduced a sentence with blanks to fill in: We honor the ____ people on whose land we stand.

We are grateful for _____. We acknowledge those who endured ______ to build this. A few of the teens helped fill in the blanks before they all filed out the front door, another devotional in the books.

Pinson and Helms also run Here 4 Good, an afterschool program at West Charlotte High

School in which students come together to discuss community issues and solutions.

Before leaving the devotional, 16-year-old Tracy, a junior at Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology in west Charlotte, said he started attending devotionals five years prior when he first moved to Enderly Park, just a block from the Family Tree house.

Tracy said he enjoys coming to the Family Tree because there are days when “it feels like life has been so stale,” between juggling school and his three part-time jobs. Though Tracy excels at the games they play every Wednesday, the discussions are what brings him back each week.

“It’s a reasonable conversation, because you can’t find that too much these days,” Tracy said.

“People ain’t really talking about stuff about the earth, or geography and stuff like that, because I talk proper in some instances, and I want to have a reasonable conversation. Sometimes you want to laugh in conversation. You can laugh, but sometimes you want to have a conversation and sit there like, ‘Hmmm, I don’t know, what do you think?’ because you don’t get that too much these days.”

Since 2005, countless children like Tracy have passed through the Queen City Family Tree. In Greg’s book, A Riff of Love, released in August 2018, he tells

PHOTO BY RYAN PITKIN

some of their stories, interwoven with insights from the jazz world, as Jarrell is a talented saxophonist who can be found performing around town regularly.

In one chapter, Greg tells the devastating tale of Khalil, a 13-year-old boy who was part of Queen City Family Tree before being shot and killed at a bus stop in front of the house one early morning in August 2012. He also tells of Alicia, an ambitious young woman who aspires to launch an organization that addresses youth violence in response to Khalil’s murder.

But behind every story in the book, and behind all the one-on-one work that the Jarrells do with area youths, lies bigger systemic issues.

Greg writes:“In Enderly Park, cruel conditions make children here more prone to suffering interpersonal and institutional violence than their peers almost anywhere else in the city. Those conditions were created and are maintained by powers beyond Alicia’s reach. They are the direct result of deliberate public policy decisions made by people who do not have to live with the harshest consequences of those decisions.

They will only be undone by deliberate decisions that finally take seriously the responsibility to every child to build the best possible streets in the best possible neighborhoods.”

PHOTO BY RYAN PITKIN

Helms and Greg Jarrell in front of their Enderly Park home, from which they run the Queen City Family Tree.

“IT SEEMS LIKE THIS NEIGHBORHOOD CHANGE HAPPENED REALLY QUICKLY ... BUT ON A DAILY BASIS IT FEELS LIKE DEATH BY A THOUSAND PAPER CUTS.”

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Greg Jarrell, co-founder, Queen City Family Tree

Just as Jarrell writes of the long history of Enderly Park — the red-lining and disinvestment that over decades did away with opportunity and bred poverty and sometimes crime — he also tells the story of its present and future, a time in which city leaders and developers have shown renewed interest in Enderly Park. As the city continues to experience rapid growth, neighborhoods like Enderly Park — less than three miles from Uptown — are attracting attention from young professionals and families that wouldn’t have considered moving to west Charlotte just 10 years ago.

One way Greg and Helms try to push back against displacement is by renting out six properties they own at rates equal to around 25-30% of the area median income to families and residents who have been pushed out of their homes due to rising housing costs.

In his book, Greg writes about the appearance of fences around the homes and yards of new neighbors, unaware (or uninterested) that they are blocking off paths used by residents for years, paths that connect the community in multiple ways. When I visited Greg in January, a string of letters from code enforcement had recently begun arriving in the mailboxes of neighbors, citing them for trivial violations, the cost to repair which would be beyond the means of most.

As Greg pointed out, code enforcement does not

patrol neighborhoods looking for violations. They were responding to calls, either from new neighbors, real estate agents or potential developers.

“If you look back three years ago, then it seems like this neighborhood change happened really quickly,” he said. “In real estate terms, those changes are fast. But on a daily basis it feels like death by a thousand paper cuts.”

He pointed out that the city had not invested in Enderly Park in decades, save for a single bike lane and a few new sidewalks.

“We’ve got children who don’t have enough calories in a day, families who can’t maintain a place to live, and this long-term disinvestment from both public and private people. Then all of a sudden, things that those people with power couldn’t be bothered to care about for decades become a big deal,” Greg said. “‘So it’s kind of like, what changed? What’s the difference now? Well, the difference is that now white people are interested in investing in this neighborhood again.”

For those who don’t know Greg, the statement would warrant a double take. After all, he and his white wife and two white kids could be viewed as Enderly Park’s first gentrifiers, right? Greg wrote about how he’s become aware that real estate agents will drive prospective home buyers by the Family Tree

house and slow down if his family is hanging around outside. However, the Jarrells aren’t in Enderly Park to make white people feel comfortable.

After Wednesday’s devotional, Greg tells me that a few days prior a white neighbor had come to him to discuss the behavior of a black child she knew to hang around the Family Tree.

“My job in that situation is not to mediate but really to challenge her as one white person to another; to say, ‘I want you to think about the context of what you’re saying, the language that you’re using, the way that the language that you use dehumanizes,’” Greg says. “I didn’t say it this way, but it really contains the language of colonialism and the oppressive project that our people have been a part of.”

When Greg speaks about “our people,”he’s not only referring to white people, but the Southern Baptist Convention from whence he came. While he cherishes the positives that he picked up from his evangelical upbringing, he is quick to recognize the darker side — or “shadow side,” as he calls it — of the Baptist church and Christianity as a whole.

He says the Doctrine of Discovery — rooted in a papal decree from Pope Nicholas V in 1452 that sanctioned and encouraged the conquest, colonization and exploitation of non-Christian territories and peoples — “invented racism,” and refers to it as “the

project that we’ve inherited.”

Unsurprisingly, these views put Greg at odds with more traditional religious leaders of the South. That doesn’t bother him, however, because it’s those people that need to be set straight in their understanding of Christianity, he says.

“It’s a fairly basic theological claim that God stands on the side of the oppressed, so for us to be in this situation and to utilize Christian language means first to recognize that we’re the ones that need to get on God’s side — as middle class white folks who have been living here for a long time — and not to try to draw people into what could easily turn into yet another colonial project,” he says.

“The best thing I think we can do is to hold up a mirror to young people to whom our society says, ‘Your life doesn’t matter,’ and just show them the beauty of themselves and all their giftedness, and to work with them in reflecting all those gifts back on the world.”

But how is Greg to measure his success? How can he compete with celebrity pastors preaching the Lord’s word to thousands of people on any given Sunday?

Again, it depends on who you think needs saving.

“The classic Christian question that white Christians will ask is, ‘How many people have been saved because of your work?’ So I say, ‘Well, I have.’”

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RPITKIN@QCNERVE.COM

KEEP IT 100 THE SINGLE LIFE

How to heal a broken heart

BY SHAMEIKA RHYMES

Dear Shameika, I could use some help. I just had a 2-year relationship end unexpectedly. I don’t really know why we broke up because she gave me a very vague, open-ended reason for calling it quits. Here’s the thing: I had just purchased the engagement ring and was planning a huge proposal. To give you an idea of how big this was for me, I even missed my best friend’s destination wedding, where I was supposed to be the best man, to spend that money on the engagement ring. I’m no longer seeking closure, but I am wanting to know what’s the best way for a guy to move on and open himself up again?

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SINGLE AND MAYBE READY TO MINGLE

Dear Single and Maybe Ready to Mingle, First, let me offer my condolences to you. I always hate to hear about any relationship breaking up, especially if there was no cheating and fuckery going on. I’m assuming you were acting on the up and up and so was she — well, maybe.

Congrats on being the grown-up kind of man that wanted to marry your bae, because as you know there are those of us out here being ghosted and can’t even get a return text. Clearly, I still feel some kind of way about grown people that won’t use their words. But, I digress. My first question for you is this: Why? I know you already said that she didn’t tell you the details, but why not share with the class the vague reason she did give? You say you aren’t looking for closure, but are you sure? Getting your heart broken out of the blue when you are preparing in your mind to spend the rest of your life with someone is a doozy! Especially after you chose your potential future wife over your best friend’s nuptials. Inquiring minds want to know. It can’t because y’all are still friends? No way.

I also understand you are looking for the best way to move on and open yourself up again. But again I ask: Are you really? You signed your letter (cough, email) “MAYBE,” so what is the truth here? Read the next words, and, repeat them aloud: heal first. Do not — I repeat, do not — get out here breaking folks’

hearts just because you had your feelings cracked. We know that hurt people hurt people, and that misery loves company, so the first step is to take your time and truly heal your heart. Get your feelings together.

Find the things that you are grateful for in your life, regain love of yourself and what you love about you.

To forgive your ex, you have to find the gratitude in that relationship before you can totally put it behind you. Here’s a tip, make a list of the reasons you are grateful for your ex and the lessons you learned from the relationship, then forgive her and, more importantly, yourself. It will put things in perspective and help you move forward.

Once you have healed, then you can test the waters again. Go out to some of your favorite places and smile and make convo, swipe left (or is it right on these newfangled dating apps?). Try to make new friends without jumping straight into a relationship or even a situationship or even someone’s bed. What we don’t want is to read a tweet thread about you jumping into so-and-so’s bed, they get their feelings hurt, and air every bit of your biz and nekkid pics out on social media. Despite what your friends may tell you, the best way to get over one person is not getting under or on top of someone else.

It’s going to be hard to trust again, much less love, but you aren’t in a rush, are you? Here’s the thing, you have to trust yourself and your judgment before you can trust anyone else. Do you believe you are worthy of love and respect? Know the difference between a keeper and a trifling ass ... well you get the point. While you didn’t mention how long you have been single again, maybe you should just enjoy your singledom and catch up with friends.

Discover new hobbies, join some meet-up groups and meet new people.

I assume you still have the ring, so return it, get yourself something nice, or make it up to your best friend and take him on a guy’s trip. Party it up in Vegas as for a retroactive bachelor party (Just make sure he upholds his vows). As for you: What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Good luck!

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

SCANNER

BY RYAN PITKIN

INCOMING A 72-year-old woman called the police to her home in the Carmel Valley neighborhood in south Charlotte one afternoon after falling victim to one of the more perplexing crimes to ever appear in The Scanner. The woman told police that an unknown suspect broke her full-length dining room window “with a fish launched from an unknown apparatus.” Unfortunately, the report does not go any further into detail than that.

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HOW RUDE A man from Costa Mesa, California, did not have a pleasant visit to Charlotte earlier this month, and he wanted to let people know about it. According to the report, the victim was at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport at around 3 p.m. and “wanted to report that an employee was rude.” This guy must have a hell of a time at the DMV. Not surprisingly, the report stated that the so-called victim was drunk at the time he filed the report.

LOVE YOU, MA A woman spent Mother’s Day in jail after going into a local convenience store for a gift but getting too aggressive in the process. According to an employee at a Circle K gas station on East Independence Boulevard, the suspect walked into the store at around 10:45 a.m., visibly drunk. The suspect attempted to walk out of the store with a 12-pack of Bud Light and a bouquet of roses, and that’s when shit went downhill. A 43-year-old employee confronted the shoplifting suspect, who grabbed the employee around the neck. A man who happened to be in the store tried to break up the melee, only for the suspect to turn on him, scratching him and attempting to punch him. The man and employee were able to detain the woman until police arrived, at which time she cursed at officers and refused to stand up from the floor to leave the business. When officers finally dragged her ass out to the car, the woman continued to obstruct by refusing to put her feet inside the vehicle so they could close the door. She was eventually taken to jail, and somewhere a mother went without flowers.

BUT THEN I GOT HIGH It’s unclear whether a woman in the Hickory Ridge neighborhood of east Charlotte was at fault for a hit-and-run that

took place on a recent early morning or if she was just a stoner with bad luck. A Hyundai Elantra was found to be at fault for a hit-and-run that occurred at around 1:24 a.m., and when police found the car unattended, they went to the registered owner’s home. The woman told them she had come home at around 12:30 a.m. that same morning, and because she had been smoking weed, she left the keys on the floorboard and the car doors unlocked. The car was reported as stolen in the report, but we’re not so sure we’re buying that.

GHOST GARAGE A 49-year-old man in the Highland Creek area of north Charlotte was left confused after some unknown suspect started messing with him at his home recently. The man said he was asleep in his home at around 2:40 a.m. when he heard his garage door open. By the time he got up and made it to the garage to see what was going on, nobody was there, but he could see that someone had rummaged through his car. The suspect only stole one thing from the car: the garage door opener.

BUMP IT A recent road rage incident on Sharon Road West in south Charlotte ended anticlimactically, about the way you’d imagine a road rage incident in south Charlotte would end. According to one 42-year-old man who was involved, he kicked another car during an argument with a driver, and that driver bumped his car with their own car, doing $1,000 in damage to his BMW. YARDWORK Whereas romantic men used to throw pebbles at a love interest’s window to rouse them from sleep, one guy put technology to use in north Charlotte recently. A 57-year-old woman filed a report stating that a known suspect broke the window to her bedroom with a weedeater when he was working on the yard.

WHAT, NO FORK? A man working at the beloved halal cart that sets up at the intersection of Trade and Tryon streets on a daily basis ran into a man who wasn’t such a big supporter. According to the employee, the suspect came up to the food cart at 9 p.m. and asked for some free food. When the employee denied, the man became angry and punched the cart, which spilled sauce inside the cart and on the victim. Then the suspect upped the

ante by pulling out a knife, at which time the victim closed up shop for the evening.

FANNY PACKING Be careful whom you make fun of for wearing a fanny pack; that should be the takeaway from one crime report that came out of northwest Charlotte recently. A 59-year-old woman filed a report about a car break-in outside of a home she was visiting, in which the thief took off with a fanny pack she had lying in plain view. Within the fanny pack, a Windicator EAA .357 revolver.

IN THE ACT Police responded to a burglary from a business in Uptown recently and caught a man who apparently lacked a sense of urgency in his criminal activity. Police received a call from a witness who saw the suspect breaking into Woodie’s Auto Service on North Tryon Street around 7:45 p.m. The witness gave a description of the burglar, but police didn’t need it. When they arrived on the scene, they caught a man walking out of the broken glass door

he had just kicked in. He was holding a six-pack of beer, two packs of Pall Malls and a 32-ounce foam cup filled with soda. He apparently didn’t go quietly, however, as he was later charged with damage to city property for doing $500 in damage to the squad car door after his arrest.

TED WAS HERE Police responded to an apartment complex near the Hidden Valley neighborhood in north Charlotte to help on an “attempt to locate” call, but what they found was something out of The Shining. According to the report, the officer spoke with a property manager at the Hunters Pointe apartments, who told them that while doing the rounds of vacant apartments, they found blood splatter, and nearby someone had written, “I killed someone here” across the wall in a red substance that looked like blood.

All Scanner entries come from CMPD reports. Suspects are innocent until proven guilty.

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‘OSLO’ May 23-25 & May 30-June 1, 7:30 p.m.; $22-$28; Duke Energy Theater, 345 N. College St.; blumenthalarts.org

PHOTO BY RAMSEY LYRIC

The Oslo cast (from left): Jackson Zerkle as Uri Savir, Robert Coppel as Yossi Beilin, Tonya Bludsworth as Mona Juul, Shawn Halliday as Terje Rød-Larsen, Vic Sayegh as Ahmed Qurie and Mahbod Naimi as Hassan Asfour.

WHAT’S IN A HANDSHAKE?

‘Oslo’ brings a neverending saga to the stage

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BY PERRY TANNENBAUM

EACE AND THE MIDDLE EAST — they just don’t seem to belong in the same sentence, do they? Every week, we hear about a new flareup, a new conflict, a new bombing and more death. It’s for that reason that Oslo, the 2017 Tony Award winner for Best Play by J.T. Rogers, is what we in the journalism world call an evergreen story — always relevant, as unfortunate as that is in this case. On May 23, a Charlotte-area premiere of the play will arrive at Duke Energy Theater in Spirit Square and run through June 1.

The Three Bone Theatre production revisits the back-channel talks that led to the historic handshake between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Chairman Yasser Arafat on the White House lawn on September 13, 1993 — simpler, more innocent times.

Beginning with a guerilla production of The Vagina Monologues at the WineUp wine loft in NoDa six years ago, Three Bone has grown gradually to the point

where artistic director Robin Tynes feels ready for the challenge that Oslo presents. Ready or not, the play will be a substantial stretch for the small theatre company.

There are more than 20 roles in Oslo, and most of the 15 players covering them are making their company debuts. Actors in both the Israeli and Palestinian delegations need to feel the distrust and animosity of each side toward the other, travel the compressed journey to understanding and agreement in Rogers’ script, and repeat that threehour odyssey — starting all over again with the same ferocious edge — night after night in performance.

That journey gets rockier if you’re fielding a diverse cast of Jews, Muslims and Christians who come to the table with their own settled views.

Respecting diversity went hand-in-hand with respecting the values of each performer’s time.

“Yes, the rehearsal schedule was quite the challenge; 15 people for 65 scenes!” says director Paige Johnston Thomas. “As they say in the theatre:

I was told there’d be no math!”

Thomas, a fixture on the local scene for over 20 years, makes her Three Bone Debut with Oslo. For Kat Martin, brought aboard as assistant director and dramaturg, it’s a first time working for a theatre company in the Q.C. — and she’s already drawing accolades for her work in her Charlotte debut.

A dramaturg’s outreach to the community, after briefing directors and performers, often takes the form of explanatory materials in the show’s playbill. Martin’s involvement has been more proactive, involving the Oslo cast during her search for historical contexts. She began by speaking with Jon Cox, associate professor of Holocaust, genocide amd human rights studies at UNC Charlotte. Cox encouraged her to create a “Dramaturgy Day” during which actors could listen and learn from community stakeholders like Palestinian activist Rose Hamid and Rabbi Judy Schindler, director of the Stan Greenspon Center for Peace and Social Justice.

“Although I am not a Middle East expert, a dramaturg’s job is to become an expert quickly, then create points of entry for deepened understanding for creatives as well as community members,” Martin says.

Her solid core of local help was augmented by the participation of former Israeli soldier Stefan Pienkny, a veteran of the 1967 war, and two Palestinian refugees, Wafa Omran and Khalid Hijazi. Rounding out her gathering — and acknowledging the all-important peacemaking perspective of the Norwegians — Martin also invited facilitation expert Candice Langston, managing director of The Lee Institute.

“My biggest challenge was to keep the research real,” Martin emphasizes, “so I wanted to cultivate information for the cast while also making sure they were learning with their gut.”

She organized a three-hour crash course for Dramaturgy Day that began with a review of the historical background from Cox followed by Langston addressing the topic of building community dialogue.

and Charles Busch’s Psycho Beach Party. There’s no Kanaka shtick here, but there is a certain amount of savoir faire.

The Palestinian does provide some comedy when he lets his guard down. Before encountering Hirschfeld in London for the first time, he confides to Larsen, his intermediary: “I have never met an Israeli. Face-to-face.”

Very unique comedy, typical of the tensions Oslo whips up. But the finance minister quickly recovers in Hirschfeld’s presence, informing him that he hasn’t been to his homeland since 1967, when his whole village was forced to flee from “the advancing hordes of Zionism.” Awkwardness turns to polite hostility in a flash.

“Qurie often has an ulterior motive behind his words,” Sayegh notes. “He is very calculated. Like a poker player, he never lets his face give away his hand.”

Poker-faced or not, Sayegh sees Qurie’s Tonya Bludsworth motivations as deep and honorable. He’s relating them to his own experiences and heritage.

“As a young man, I remember meeting people Shawn Halliday as Terje Rød-Larsen (left) and Tonya Bludsworth as Mona Juul who were Palestinian and subsequently looking for So that’s why Delamar is Hirschfeld all through Palestine on a map,” Sayegh reminisces. “I would Then there were hour-long small group meetups that paired the Israelis and Palestinians the opening act — an economics professor at the ask myself why they called a place that no longer cast members with community stakeholders University of Haifa. existed, ‘home.’ Now I understand. Personally, my who represent those points of view. At the same “I connect with and enjoy playing Yair’s time, actors cast as Norwegians lingered with passion and intellect,” he says, “but also a certain Langston for more info on facilitating high-level amount of humor J.T. Rogers developed with this negotiations. The evening climaxed when the character. Sometimes he is out of his depths in the whole cast gathered after ingesting an hour of negotiations, but he’s never without a passion for diverging partisan viewpoints, then plunged the grave reason he’s there, fully invested in the into exercises designed to simulate the process of outcome, proud of his part in the start of it all. I’ve bridging those gaps, understanding the “other” and enjoyed making him relatable in an endearing and real way.” finding common ground.

It was intense.

Yes, there are comical moments that leaven “An evening as an actor I won’t forget,” recalls the animosities and tensions, but there are thriller Dennis Delamar, who will portray Yair Hircshfeld, one elements aplenty. The possibility of ruining Peres’ of the back-channel negotiators, and Shimon Peres, political fortunes keeps the Israelis on edge, the foreign minister who would share the Nobel Peace while for Mona Juul and Terje Rød-Larsen, the Prize with Rabin and Arafat after the Accords were Norwegians pushing negotiations forward, getting signed. “The evening focused on lived experiences, their government to buy into the process — personal stories, facts and some tears I observed which knowing they must keep the Americans in the dark were quite integral in shaping my mindset. Stakes were — ratchets up their anxieties.

For the Palestinian delegation — PLO finance definitely raised. I loved every minute of it.”

Peres doesn’t enter until well after intermission. minister Ahmed Qurie and liaison Hassan Asfour A political rival of Rabin, he keeps the Oslo talks — secrecy is a matter of life-or-death. Only secret because he knows the prime minister will Arafat knows about these talks and how they’re reject any agreement that isn’t airtight. It must be progressing.

Vic Sayegh will take on the role of Qurie. an offer that cannot be refused. Until the Israelis are close to that, no member of the government can Although he’s the more mellow, less militant of June 7 - June 23 be seen talking to the Palestinians. The Americans the two Palestinians, he’s a radical departure for Tickets on sale now! engaged in their endless, fruitless talks must also an actor whose Q.C. credits began in 2003 with visit: mathewsplayhouse.com be kept in the dark. appearances in Steve Martin’s The Underpants PHOTO BY RAMSEY LYRIC

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“I WAS IN TEARS WHEN I FIRST READ THE SCRIPT.”

paternal grandparents were born in Aleppo, Syria. It was once a beautiful region of the world, but many years of conflict have reduced it to rubble. I hope that one day, peace in the entire region will allow me to visit the land of my ancestors.”

While Terje is the visionary who devises a successful model for conflict resolution — with a mixture of dogged determination and quixotic optimism to keep it going — it’s the calm, meticulous and brilliantly resourceful Mona who steers her husband around the political complications that threaten to scuttle his mission.

Fresh on the heels of her pivotal role in the world premiere of Steven Dietz’s The Great Beyond, Tonya Bludsworth takes on the role of this unsung hero who buoyed her husband’s confidence while clearing his path.

“Prior to reading Oslo, I’m sure I felt like most Americans, that peace in the Middle East is not likely to ever really happen,” says Bludsworth of her journey. “But I was in tears when I first read the script — not because I was sad, but because I was overwhelmed by this incredible feeling of hope, and I still feel it every night in rehearsal. As Terje says, if we could just get past the politics and see the people, the personal, then there is a way.”

INFO@QCNERVE.COM

Summer Camp Info:

Half-Day and Full Day Summer Theatre Arts Camps for Children (Pre-k thru grade 12)

Musical Theater Intensive Acting Intensive Improv AND Many More!

WEDNESDAY, MAY 22ND MAX HATT & EDDA GLASS

What: Hatt & Glass’s Jazz Americana treads a high wire between the haunting and the ethereal. Hatt’s guitar playing enfolds folk melodies with jazz harmonic structures, and Glass’s feathery alto can plummet to earth at a moment’s notice. RSVP to attend.

More: $10 and up; 7 p.m.; Peace Family Farm, 8817 Bryant Farms Rd.; tinyurl.com/MaxHatEddaGlass

THURSDAY, MAY 23RD BEY DAY 2019

What: Dance like Beyoncé is watching for this annual dance celebration of the Bey-hive queen. Hosted by THE JAM: CLT and Sweatnet Charlotte, this hour-long dance class will include music from the singer-songwriter’s entire career, ranging from Destiny’s Child to Lemonade.

More: $20; 6:30-7:30 p.m.; Camp North End, 1824 Statesville Ave.; thejamclt.com/bey-day-2019

FRIDAY, MAY 24TH

LIFELINE

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MAY. 22ND - MAY. 2 8TH

THIS IS ART. THIS IS PUBLIC HEALTH. YOUTH-INSPIRED ART EXHIBIT

What: An innovative partnership between the Mecklenburg County Health Department and local artist Bree Stallings, this program lets youths create and curate interactive art exhibits while educating them on important issues like sexual health, teen dating violence, minors’ rights and substance abuse.

More: Free; 6 p.m.; Camp North End, 1824 Statesville Road; tinyurl.com/ArtPublicHealth

SATURDAY, MAY 25TH MEMORIAL DAY CELEBRATION

What: If there’s a summer holiday, bet there’s a Whitewater Center festival to help ring it in. For Memorial Day weekend, expect 5- and 8-mile trail races, SUP yoga, musical performances and fireworks to top off Sunday night.

More: Free; May 24-26, 8 a.m. - 10 p.m.; U.S. National Whitewater Center, 5000 Whitewater Center Pkwy.; usnwc.org

SUNDAY, MAY 26TH WALLS OF WAR TOUR KICK-OFF

What: Since its launch in 2010, the Charlotte-based Graffiti of War Foundation has collected and shared rarely seen art from veterans, local nationals and civilians involved in the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait. This exhibit will feature murals as large as 40x20 feet that provide a unique perspective on recent wars.

More: Donation suggested; May 26-27, 1-7 p.m.; Canvas Tattoo, 3012 N. Davidson St.; tinyurl.com/WallsofWar

MONDAY, MAY 27TH JAZZ UNDER THE STARS

What: For the third straight year, Daniel Stowe combines foliage with fake books and chromatic scales with chrysanthemums. Guitarist Terence Young’s clean fluid lines recall George Benson’s playing, and his funky combination of R&B and soul skirts — but doesn’t flounder in — the dreaded smooth jazz shoals.

More: $35; 6 p.m.; Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens, 6500 New Hope Road, Belmont; dsbg.org

TUESDAY, MAY 28TH ELLIE MORGAN

What: With a sweet summer voice and a plethora of cover songs and originals to show it off, Ellie Morgan takes to Whiskey Warehouse so you can appreciate two great Southern staples — those staples being whiskey and live acoustic guitar.

More: Free; 8-11 p.m.; Whiskey Warehouse, 1221 The Plaza; tinyurl.com/EllieMorgan

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QCNERVE’S LIFELINE

for cool events happening in the queen city!

WEDNESDAY, MAY 29TH FUNDAMENTALS OF WITCHCRAFT

What: Wicca is all about reverence for nature and the divine feminine — relevant priorities in the era of Me Too and climate change. Lady Raven’s 13-lesson course focuses on practice for the solitary witch who may not have the time or inclination to join a coven.

More: $300; 11 a.m.; Lady Raven HPS, 2210 India Hook Rd. #104, Rock Hill; divineraven.com

THURSDAY, MAY 30TH

LATINX PRIDE ARTS SHOWCASE

What: Funded in part by the Arts & Science Council, this exhibit will showcase the incredible works, creations and talents of the local Latinx community. The event will include performance art, visual media and a panel discussion about the importance of Latinx LGBTQ arts and culture.

More: Free; 6-8 p.m.; Camp North End, 1824 Statesville Ave.; tinyurl.com/CLTLatinxPride

FRIDAY, MAY 31ST

LIFELINE

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MAY 29TH - JUNE 4TH

LET LOVE: A CONVERSATION WITH COMMON

What: Common went from one of the dopest lyricists out of Chicago to a talented movie star to a guy who’s in Miscrosoft commercials, but it’s hard not to have love for a man who’s kept his positivity up through all these years.

He joins Bishop Claude Alexander for a “fireside chat” about his new memoir, Let Love Have the Last Word.

More: Free; 7-9 p.m.; The Park Church, 6029 Beatties Ford Road; tinyurl.com/CommonLetLove

SATURDAY, JUNE 1ST DA BABY

What: We hereby declare 2019 as The Year of Da Baby. Since signing with Interscope in January, the Charlotte rapper blew up at the national level. From Lil’ Boosie damn near crashing his car bumping to his songs on social media to throwing pounds of weed into the crowd at Rolling Loud Miami, Da Baby knows how to create a buzz.

More: Sold out; 8:30 p.m.; The Fillmore, 820 Hamilton St.; fillmorenc.com

SUNDAY, JUNE 2ND

EPIPALOOZA: A NIGHT FOR EPILEPSY

What: In its inaugural event, EpiPalooza raises money for the Epilepsy Foundation. Event founder Matt Perrone was diagnosed with epilepsy in 1993, and when one of his daughters had a seizure recently, he knew it was time to take action. Join them for music, door prizes, raffles and more.

More: $25; 5:30-11 p.m.; Visulite Theatre, 1615 Elizabeth Ave.; visulite.com

MONDAY, JUNE 3RD

THE REMARKS

What: Charlotte-by-way-of-Boone indie dream rockers The Remarks draw upon a palette from bygone eras: the gorgeous swelling harmonies of ’60s chamber pop and the ringing reverbed guitars of the ’80s paisley underground. But under it all lurk insistent contemporary riffs and hooks galore.

More: Free; 7 p.m.; Thomas Street Tavern, 1218 Thomas Ave.; theremarksband.com

TUESDAY, JUNE 4TH NEW FOUND GLORY

What: When New Found Glory’s second album, Sticks and Stones, dropped in 2002, the pop-punk band solidified themselves as a fixture in the second wave of millenium punk. Six albums later, the “godfathers of pop-punk” continue their service to evolving and raising a genre from the late-1990s and onward.

More: $26.50; 7 p.m.; The Underground, 820 Hamilton St.; fillmorenc.com

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PHOTO COURTESY OF FREE RANGE BREWING

Jared and the Mill play at Free Range Brewing

NOTEWORTHY ALTERNATIVES

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Nontraditional music venues fill a void

I

BY COURTNEY MIHOCIK

F ONE THING HAS become apparent in recent years, Charlotte is blessed with a thriving music scene.

While some venues have fallen (Tremont Music Hall, Chop Shop, Double Door Inn) or downsized (Amos’ Southend) in recent years, other venues have newly opened (Skylark Social Club) or continued offering quality acts both touring and local (The Milestone, Evening Muse, Snug Harbor).

Still, as much as those neighborhood staples have stayed strong, the recent explosion of local talent means there’s plenty of folks looking for space to

showcase their work.

Some establishments have been filling that need, serving as nontraditional venues that allow local musicians to get in quality gigs while simultaneously introducing Charlotte’s music scene to niche communities that may not be paying attention.

Perhaps the biggest example of this comingling of cultures occurs at breweries. As the craft beer scene has exploded in Charlotte over the last decade, breweries have emerged as the perfect spot for singer/songwriters, indie bands and other

acts to get in front of crowds. Primal Brewery, Legion Brewing Company and Free Range Brewing are just some of the breweries in town that host live music regularly.

Jason Alexander, co-owner at Free Range Brewing, knew from the moment he dreamt up his facility that live music would play a role.

For Alexander and his team, the advantages of embracing live music were twofold: they wanted music for the enjoyment of their customers and for their own entertainment.

“We started it for selfish reasons because we really like music and want to experience it for ourselves,” Alexander explained. “When we looked at what we have to offer as a brewery, we think that we’re always trying to consider as many aspects of experience as we can. What you hear when you’re spending leisure time somewhere is we think as important as anything else.”

When Free Range Brewing first began offering live music, it started with a free live show every Sunday that still occurs. But it wasn’t just any musician that could grace the mic at Free Range; the brewery teamed up with two music industry professionals to book and plan quality gigs in the space.

Grey Brewster from local rock band RevelWood Mission and Micah Davidson, owner and agent of Charlotte-based booking agency Midwood Entertainment, are still on board helping book shows in the Free Range taproom.

Through another partnership with MaxxMusic, Alexander was able to upgrade and refine the equipment so bands can have a better experience.

“We want people to hear and experience this music, but we want to make sure that we are creating an environment that is at the level that the musicians deserve and that is managed in a way that is complementary to the quality of music that the musicians are bringing in,” Alexander said. “We didn’t want to have that kind of disconnect: ‘Man, that’s a great musician but this brewery sounds like shit.’”

Sound treatments, a new stage and a full PA system were implemented into the live music set up that Free Range Brewing offers to live acts.

Through the MaxxMusic partnership, the brewery also began approaching the idea of doing ticketed shows.

Free Range Brewing isn’t just a niche venue for performers who can’t book elsewhere, Alexander said. The 275-seat capacity — putting it somewhere between Evening Muse and Visulite Theatre in size — means the brewery can stand with any music venue in Charlotte, said Alexander.

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The fact that it’s a brewery also gives it an edge over traditional music venues, he continued.

“We think that we’re pretty special in the fact that we’ve got really affordable beverage prices for a venue. We like the fact that as a venue, we have really distinct zones in how you can experience a show,” Alexander said. “You can be back in the back, in front of the stage and full on with the band, or you can be in the taproom, be able to hear the music, but also be able to carry a conversation that doesn’t disturb the band or others’ experience of the show.”

Charlotte-based singer/songwriter Lisa De Novo hosts a bevy of open mic nights around the city, many of them at breweries. She’s hosted a weekly open mic at Legion Brewing in Plaza Midwood for two years and plays regularly at spots like Pour

PACIFIC DUB W/ SERENATION May 24, 9 p.m.; Free; Free Range Brewing, 2320 N. Davidson St., #D; facebook.com/FreeRangeBrewing HONEY CREEK, KNAVERY, AMITY POINTE, GINGER DAWN June 4, 7-10 p.m.; $5; Oso Skate Park, 933 Louise Ave., Suite 109; facebook.com/osopropark

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LISA DE NOVO May 25, 2 p.m.; Free; Twenty-Six Acres Brewing Company, 7285 Westwinds Blvd.

NW, Concord; lisadenovo.com

Taproom and Twenty-Six Acres Brewing Company in Concord, where she’ll perform on May 25.

De Novo said she believes the interaction between an audience and a performer is heightened in a brewery.

“It’s really welcoming at the breweries because of that social aspect of it, because everybody will come in and catch up with each other, and everybody’s really, really supportive at the open mics,” she explained. “Even if it’s someone brand new, first time playing, everybody will still clap for them and encourage them to keep going because you can really see how they grow over the years, which is really cool.”

As a full-time musician who supports herself with her music, De Novo knows it can be difficult to pull enough income to cover even the basics — rent, bills, food.

Her experience in Charlotte dictates her rates, she said.

“My minimum is $200 now for anything I do just because I’ve been playing full-time for three years and I’ve noticed that if you do any less than $200, then it’s harder for you to be able to do what you love, because you’re having to do more gigs for less,” De Novo said.

Her fee may sound exorbitant for a two- to three-hour gig, but when you factor in loading and unloading gear, writing songs, practicing and paying for the gear, it hardly seems enough to live on.

Tips from the audience or merchandise sales bring in extra income and helps cover groceries, which is something that doesn’t usually happen at larger music establishments.

De Novo said the breweries and other nontraditional music venues in Charlotte are actively and consciously supporting live music by

working with musicians in scheduling, promoting shows and ensuring good rates.

“They’ll really good at working with artists, making sure that they’re happy and making sure that they hire the right [musicians] to whereas if people that are there, that people come into the bars, they’re going to make sure that they like [the musician], too,” she stated.

It’s not just breweries that are stepping up to showcase local music.

Since opening in November 2017, Oso Skatepark has been regularly hosting kickass shows that feature a wider range of variety than what taprooms often offer.

Phillip Gripper, co-owner at Oso and drummer of indie garage rock band Modern Primitives, said it’s only natural that music and skating culture would intersect at Oso. “Music goes hand-in-hand with the skating culture,” Gripper stated, “so we try to embody all of that at Oso. We’ve been doing shows as long as we’ve been open.”

Lisa De Novo, singer/songwriter Oso doesn’t shy away from any genre, either.

While plenty of venues in town are reluctant to PHOTO BY JIMMY SKI PHOTOGRAPHY book hip-hop for nefarious reasons, or metal acts are limited to spots like The Milestone and Skylark, Musician Lisa De Novo performs at an open mic night at Legion Brewing.

Oso embraces all genres and artists that want to play there.

The Oso crew usually charges around $5 at the door and splits the sales 50/50 with performing musicians.

It’s the efforts of nontraditional venues like Oso, Free Range, Legion and other spaces in the city that make them the unsung heroes of the local scene.

For musicians like De Novo, having more spaces Get a glimpse at the next issue with our editor-in-chief to play means that the community can continue to every other Tuesday night grow toward its full potential.

“I think the music scene is going to blow up soon and I just want to encourage everyone to be a part of it and experience it now while it’s just starting out,” De Novo said. “And it’s going to grow in a few years and it’s going to be just crazy.”

In the eyes of participating business owners like Gripper, the more spots want to open their doors to music, the quicker that’s going to happen.

“I think it builds the Charlotte music scene,” Gripper said. “It gives more options for places to play, too, therefore giving you more people to play for.”

More music in Charlotte can never be a bad thing.

“IT’S REALLY WELCOMING AT THE

BREWERIES

BECAUSE OF

THAT SOCIAL

ASPECT OF IT.”

Tune in to WCCB News Edge every week night at 10:30 p.m.

CMIHOCIK@QCNERVE.COM

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SOUNDWAVE MAY 22

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

No Rope, The Apartment Club, Beket, Waystray St. (Skylark Social Club) Marti Jones & Don Dixon (Evening Muse) The Business People, Ancient Cities, Human Resources, The Eyebrows (Snug Harbor) Outback, BoomChld (Petra’s) Josh Daniels, Jeremy Shaw (Smokey Joe’s)

MAY 23

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

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The Outliers, Withhold The Blood, Butterfly Corpse, Fools Generation (The Milestone) Lokella, Hail Your Highness, Fear Until Fury, Swamp78 (Skylark Social Club) Ryan Mckusick, George Banda, Pretty Baby (Petra’s)

Lovely World (Tin Roof) Water Works, Kendrix Singletary, Ciera Dumas, Chan on the Keys, Rose Royce (Uptown Charlotte)

Sinners & Saints, Hardworker, Bedsweater, Erik Button (Petra’s) Misanthropic Aggression, Novgorod, Oculum Dei, Valle Crucis, Internment (The Milestone) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA Runnin’ Down A Dream: Tom Petty Tribute, Kameron Marlowe, Abby Anderson, Corey Thought Police (Amos’ Southend) Smith (Uptown Charlotte) Mannish Boys (Smokey Joe’s) The Hackensaw Boys (U.S. National Whitewater Emmy Law, Paulina Evers (Hattie’s Tap & Center) Tavern) Matt Stillwell Band (Evening Muse) Mr. Nigel, Michelle Leigh, Reaves (Uptown Bentwater (Comet Grill) Charlotte) MAY 24 Ready 4 More (RiRa) ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Pleasures, Whispering Man, Chew, Acne (Snug Harbor) Roshambeaux (Evening Muse) The Fast Lane-Eagles Tribute (Knight Theater)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Ben Sparaco and The New Effect (U.S. National Whitewater Center)

MAY 26

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Snug 600: Cookout, Paint Fumes, Model Zero (Snug Harbor) Typecaste, Low End, Curiosity Kills (Skylark Social Club) Omari & the Hellhounds (Comet Grill) Michael Rotundo, DJ Holla (Tin Roof) Maggie Valley Band (Mac’s Speed Shop Southend) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Coddle Creek, The Local Boys (Visulite) Jason Moss & The Hosses, The Hill Country Cosmopolitans, Tony Wain (Tommy’s Pub) Lenny Federal Band (Comet Grill) Gareth Asher Record Release, Jason Adamo (Evening Muse) Caylee Hammack, Tyler Rich, Brothers Osborne (Romare Bearden Park) Vintage #18 (Thomas Street Tavern)

Anders Osborne (U.S. National Whitewater Center)

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

MAY 27

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Neckbeard Deathcamp, Theories, WVRM, No Convictions (Skylark Social Club) Dirty Art Club, Pullover, Sangre Cabrona (Petra’s) Cito Jamorah & Friends (Smokey Joe’s)

MAY 25

MAY 29

Snug 600: Temp Job, Indigo De Souza, Icky Bricketts, GASP (Snug Harbor) Monty Mak (Evening Muse) The Breakfast Club (Amos’ Southend) When Particles Collide, Motel Glory, Spy Baby (Tommy’s Pub) Shannon Lee & The Grab Bag (Smokey Joe’s) The Toni Naples Band (Comet Grill) Heavy Metal Heroes, Renegade, American Jane, Pirates and Pilots (Uptown Charlotte) Charity Case, Sugarcreek, Styx (Romare Bearden Park) Stig (Primal Brewery) Roofstock: Nappy Roots, Villanova, Sean Bing Trio, Jay Taylor, DJ Holla, DJ Payne (Tin Roof) Living Temptation (Mac’s Speed Shop Steele Creek)

Mickey Avalon, Dirt Nasty (Neighborhood Theatre) Toubab Krewe, Jonathan Scales Fourchestra (Visulite) Grizzly Goat, The New Rustics (Evening Muse) May Residency: The Business People, Sinners & Saints, Colpa Mia, The Hell Yeah Babies, DJ Will Gilreath (Snug Harbor) Josh Daniels, Jeremy Shaw (Smokey Joe’s) Bitches of the Sun (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Heywire (Mac’s Speed Shop Southend)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Reese McHenry (Evening Muse)

MAY 30

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

It Looks Sad., Haybaby, Gardeners, Dollhands (The Milestone) Holland Teed, Gabrielle Sophia (Visulite) Stephen Day, Alexa Rose (Evening Muse) Petrov, No Rope, Bad Karol (Petra’s) Red Wanting Blue (U.S. National Whitewater

SOUNDWAVE Center) Shana Blake and Friends (Smokey Joe’s Café) Phillip Michael Parsons (Tin Roof) Beni-Hana, Venomiss, Bloodline, Jones Mcshine (Crown Station) Temperance League (Mac’s Speed Shop Steel Creek) Josh Daniels (Comet Grill) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Paul Thorn Band, Steve Poltz (Neighborhood Theatre) RAP/HIP-HOP/SOUL/FUNK/R&B

Brytiago and Darell (Fillmore)

MAY 31

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ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Strange Brew, Side Project (Visulite) J.S. Ondara, Adam Melchor (Evening Muse) Appetite for Destruction, Fiftywatt Freight Train (Fillmore) Black River Rebels, Testarossa (Amos’ Southend) Spirit System, Cheveron, VIA (Snug Harbor) Anthony Gomes (U.S. National Whitewater Center) Sugarshine (Smokey Joe’s Café) Dirty South Fest 15 Night 1: Farewell Albatross, Mutant Strain, Heckdang, Smelly Felly, Dead Superstar, Black Powder (Tommy’s Pub) Ponce (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) The Soundtrack (Tin Roof) Thirsty Horses (RiRa) Rockstead (Crown Station) Ready4More (Mac’s Speed Shop Southend) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Dalton & the Sheriffs (Evening Muse) Hans Wenzel & the 86ers (Thomas Street Tavern)

The Digital Drug, American Theory, Den of Wolves, Uncle Buck (Skylark Social Club) Beyond the Fade, Sun the Raven, Fifty Flies, American Theory (Amos’ Southend) Bloodworth Project (Smokey Joe’s Café) The Flight Risks, Trash Room, The Boron Heist (Tommy’s Pub) Dirty South Revolutionaries, Evergone (Canvas Tattoo & Art Gallery) Barcerado (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern) Blue Monday (Tin Roof) Whitehall Band (VBGB) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Songs From The Road Band (U.S. National Whitewater Center)

JUNE 2

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Ol’ Sport, Forges, Plans, Glow (The Milestone) Matt Costa, JD & the Straight Shot, Matt Hartke (Neighborhood Theatre) Liz Longley, Michael McArthur (Evening Muse) Dollar Signs (Heist Brewery) Omari & the Hellhounds (Comet Grill) Jacob & the Good People (Music Yard) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Luke Bryan, Cole Swindell, Jon Langston (PNC Music Pavilion)

JUNE 3

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Highdive (Skylark Social Club)

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

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

Blackfoot Gypsies (Neighborhood Theatre) Country Music Monday (Hattie’s Tap & Tavern)

JUNE 1

JUNE 4

No Anger Control, Thing Sloth, The Unsubs, Death of August (The Milestone) Culture Shift 4: Akita, The Hawthornes, Doctor Ocular (Snug Harbor) Get Sad Y’all (Underground)

Alexa Jenson, Maya Beth Atkins, Dakota & The Straightjackets (Snug Harbor) New Found Glory, Real Friends (Underground) Honey Creek, Knavery, Amity Pointe, Ginger Dawn (Oso Skatepark)

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

PHOTO BY JAYME JOHNSON

Let’s be honest: It doesn’t really matter what time of year it is, people love to brunch. But there’s something about the weather warming up that makes us more willing to hop out of bed with a hangover or look for a post-church locale rather than go straight home. In case you’re tired of your same ol’ spot, we wanted to introduce you to 12 eateries and our favorite brunch menu item from each one, all representing different neighborhoods around town.

TAKE ‘EM TO CHURCH 5Church, 127 N. Tryon St. Uptown

Happy birthday to you! Renowned Uptown restaurant 5Church turned 7 years old on May 16, and its gained ton of acclaim in that time thanks to executive chef Jamie Lynch. One of Lynch’s creations has remained a best-seller since the restaurant opened: crab cakes and poached eggs.

The two towers rest on English muffins, but it’s what you can’t see that gives this dish the most kick. Just the right amount of jalapeno buerre blanc waits in the wings while you take down Crab cakes and poached eggs all the flavors of the main ingredients, only to hit you with a kick of an aftertaste just when you thought you were finished. Wash it down with one of four seasonal mimosas, , which rotate between pomegranate, cucumber, grapefruit or lemon merinque.

A WORK IN PROGRESS “It’s our signature brunch item, from before everyone was trying to make these fancy, NoDa Bodega, 1200 E. 36th St., NoDa Instagrammable dishes,” says 5Church marketing director Kristen Shaw.

Avocado toast gets a lot of shit from a lot of different people. According to idiot Australian More: Sat.,11 a.m.

- 4 p.m.; Sun., 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.; 5churchcharlotte.com; 704-919-1322 millionaire Tim Gurner, it’s the reason millennials can’t afford to buy their own homes. Nobody who’s thrown shade at this often simple dish could hate on what Bryan Moore and his team at NoDa Bodega have cooked up, though.

PHOTO BY RYAN PITKIN The whole thing began as a snack for Moore and his crew in the kitchen. They threw some of their avocado mash on a piece of multigrain toast with some cashew crema — a pureed blend of cashews, lime juice, cilantro, lime zest — then continued to build on it. “It was just the avocado and the crema, and it was basically just us eating it in the kitchen,” Moore recalls. “And we were like, ‘Oh, pickled onions are awesome on it.’ We used Cholula, which is my favorite all-around, go-to hot sauce, and I was like, ‘Oh this is good, too.’”

That base is just the beginning, and if you want to keep things vegan, it’s a filling meal all on its own. However, those feeling adventurous can pick up where Moore and his crew left off. Gouda cheese, eggs, bacon and/or sausage are all options.

“I like that it’s vegan but it’s infinitely customizable,” Moore says.

Cheers to experimentation.

More: Fri., 8 a.m. - Noon, Sat.-Sun., 8 a.m. - 2 p.m.; facebook.com/NodaBodega; 704-375-8704 PHOTO BY RYAN PITKIN

Avocado toast

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LOVE IN A CONTAINER

Cuzzo’s Cuisine, 3418 Tuckaseegee Road, Enderly Park

Peach cobbler waffle and lobster mac ‘n’ cheese

Cuzzo’s Cuisine may package all their food in to-go containers, but they’re not trying to push you out the door. There are plenty of tables to sit and enjoy your food, and when we dropped by on a recent afternoon, it felt like everyone in the place knew each other.

The atmosphere is one of the reasons Kathy Winbush comes from her home near Uptown down Tuckaseegee Road on the regular. The other reason? The “world famous” lobster mac ‘n’ cheese.

“I’ve had different people’s versions of lobster mac ‘n’ cheese but this is more authentic as far as that true Cajun cuisine, and they’re nice pieces of lobster,” Winbush said. “That’s an extra because it’s usually minced, but theirs is not.”

The lobster mac is the most popular menu item, brunch or not, but if you’re in the mood for something more traditional to brunch, we recommend the peach cobbler waffle. The waffle itself has a taste similar to pumpkin bread, with just the right amount of crunch. Add a slice of peach and cream cheese icing drizzle and that’s bliss for the Southern soul.

More: Tues.-Sat.,11 a.m. - 8 p.m.; Sun., Noon - 5 p.m.; cuzzoscuisine.com; 980-298-6811

PHOTO COURTESY OF FAMOUS TOASTERY

STRAIGHT OUTTA HUNTERSVILLE Famous Toastery, multiple locations

Technically, Famous Toastery is a franchised “chain restaurant,” owners Brian Burchill and Robert Maynard opened up their first breakfast spot in Huntersville as a house-turned restaurant, meaning this chain was born-and-raised in the Charlotte area.

While the original Huntersville location is no longer around, there are four locations inside the I-485 loop and one up north in Mooresville. Brunch menu highlights include five different ways to order eggs Benedict, but we always have a special hankering for the one in which avocado is substituted for the biscuit. Not up for avocado? Try the strawberry and cream cheese stuffed French toast. Fresh-squeezed orange juice for morning mimosas makes Famous Toastery a great hangover stop for those stumbling in at noon after a long night.

More: Every day, 7 a.m.-3 p.m..; famoustoastery.com; 980-237-8081 (Uptown) PHOTO COURTESY OF KNIFE & FORK

Strawberry and cream cheese stuffed French toast

FORKIN’ DELICIOUS COMFORT FOOD Knife & Fork, 6416 Albemarle Road, East Charlotte

Knife & Fork is the antithesis of what the Charlotte restaurant landscape is transforming into, and it’s holding its own with diner-style comfort food at delicious prices. It can be hard to approach a goat cheese puree on top of a deconstructed pancake with capers and other unkown culinary touches but Knife & Fork serves up no-frills, fill-your-stomach-without-emptying-your-wallet dishes like Belgian waffles, country ham and nine different omelets — they even go so far as to serve it for 24 hours, three days out of the week.

One of the best plates you can order at Knife & Fork is a breakfast combo of hot cakes, with a side of protein, but this à la carte-style eatery has enough inexpensive add-ons to make brunch a feast fit for the Queen City. Our hats go off to this true diner in east Charlotte.

More: Sun., 5:30 a.m. - 3 p.m., Mon.-Wed., 5:30 a.m. - 10 p.m., Thurs.-Sat., all day; facebook.com/ KnifeandForkCharlotte; 704-817-7621 PHOTO BY RYAN PITKIN

All the brunch

ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE

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Letty’s, 2121 Shamrock Drive, Plaza-Shamrock

At Letty’s, a homey diner tucked into an unassuming strip mall on Shamrock Drive in east Charlotte, it’s all about knowing what to ask for.

The actual brunch menu lists the possible sides for the honey pecan chicken as regular fare like potato wedges or black-eyed pea salad, but those in the know will tell you that the restaurant always has pearl sugar Belgian waffles ready to accompany the chicken, which is fried in a special seasoned batter then drizzled with a honey butter sauce and topped with roasted pecans. If you want it, all you have to do is ask.

“It combines two things that we have at brunch and shows them off to their best advantage in my way of thinking,” says owner Letty Ketner.

And yet even those who are wise to the best brunch item in the restaurant still find a way to get it wrong sometimes.

“I do have people that will go, ‘I just want regular syrup with it,’ to which I my roll my eyes and go, ‘OK, whatever. You probably have macaroni and cheese and potatoes with it at the same time,’ which is all wrong,” Ketner says. “It’s meant to be savored.”

Contrary to popular belief, there is a wrong way to brunch.

More: Fri.-Sun., 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.; lettysonshamrock.com; 704-817-8702 Honey pecan chicken and waffle

PERFECTING THE PALATE

PHOTO COURTESY OF PORTRAIT GALLERY

The Portrait Gallery Restaurant & Bar, 118 East Charles St., Matthews

This small-plate restaurant specializing in fresh and local foods is situated in an historic 100-year old building in the heart of Matthews. In previous incarnations, the quaint structure housed a fish market, a barber shop, a dry cleaners and a photographer’s studio. This last tenant gives the current establishment its picturesque and pictorial name.

Locally sourced ingredients figure prominently in the Portrait Gallery’s brunch menu, which features their house granola, a seasonal quinoa bowl with kale, a braised short rib with fried egg and crispy onions, honey-glazed pork belly with pimento cheese on focaccia, seasonal beignets and more.

“Our best-selling brunch item is our eggs Benedict,” says Portrait Gallery’s managing partner, Alistair Williams. The dish comprises two poached eggs with crispy prosciutto, dressed with a crab hollandaise sauce on a toasted English muffin. “It gets rave reviews from everyone who tries it,” Williams continues.

Several entrees are gluten-free or vegetarian. The restaurant also offers craft cocktails, boutique wines and locally brewed beers from Matthews’ first brewery, Seaboard Brewing Company.

More: Sat.-Sun., 10 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.; pgmatthews.com; 704-369-9982

Eggs Benedict

PHOTO COURTESY OF ROOTS

GETTING TO THE ROOT OF BRUNCH ROOTS Cafe, 2135 Southend Drive, Ste. 109, South End

The Persistence Bowl

STANLEY’S STEAMIN’

Fast-casual places can be hit-or-miss, but this South End gem is weeding out its competition with piled-on fresh ingredients and new brunch conconctions every day. The goat cheese grit bowl is topped with shaved asparagus and charred spring onions, not a bad option, but if you’re looking for the best, go with Huevos Rootscheros; a crispy tortilla topped with spiced black beans, corn quinoa, New Mexico chili verde, over easy egg, poblano crema and cilantro. And we don’t know who needs to hear this, but it’s gluten free. Second place? The Persistence Bowl, consisting of fresh greens, chopped applewood smoked bacon, a free-range egg, black beans, quinoa, roasted red pepper vinaigrette and crispy tortillas.

“We pride ourselves on using ingredients that represent the season,” says ROOTS owner Craig Barbour. “We try the best we can to use as many local ingredients, products, and vendors as possible. Eating well doesn’t have to be complicated or difficult. We use combinations of ingredients to create layers of flavor instead of loading dishes up with processed ingredients.”

More: Tues. - Fri., 7 a.m. - 3 p.m., Sat. - Sun., 8 a.m. - 3 p.m.; rootscafesouthend.com; 980-260-3111

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The Stanley, 1961 East 7th St., Elizabeth

The building on the corner of 7th and Pecan streets in Elizabeth has been the site of several eateries, including Schlotzsky’s deli and the salad-centric Crisp Foods, but the latest tenant may be the most eclectic and upscale restaurant at that busy locale. Launched by James Beardnominated chef Paul Verica and his sous chef and son Alex, the Stanley focuses on foods that are seasonal and locally sourced.

Verica’s pays more than mere lip service to the farm-to-table credo. Ingredients come from farms like Small City Farm, Newtown Farms, The Farm at Flat Creek, Boy & Girl Farm, Burton Farms, The Gardner’s Table, Urban Gourmet Mushrooms, A Way of Life Farm, Heritage Farms and Springer Mountain, and the menu can change daily.

For brunch, starters range from a salad comprised of mixed greens, blueberries, goat cheese and walnuts to homemade donuts and a chicken liver mousse. But that’s just a preliminary to the main foodie event — a brunch menu that boasts homespun dishes like blueberry pancakes and a pork chop plate served with a biscuit, gravy, scrambled eggs and grits; as well as more exotic fare like a chef’s omelet stuffed with foie gras and shaved truffle.

The best seller of the spread is buttermilk fried chicken on a house-made biscuit. A tostada that changes based on what the Vericas source locally comes in a close second.

More: Sunday 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.; thestanleyclt.com; 980-299-2741

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE STANLEY

Fried chicken biscuit

PHOTO COURTESY OF TERRACE

RED VELVET GOODNESS

Terrace Cafe, 14815 Ballantyne Village Way, Ste. 150, Ballantyne

If you think you can’t have dessert for brunch, think again. Although some people (like us) might ruin the fun and point out that red velvet batter is just regular batter with some red food coloring and added vinegar for extra smoothness, there’s something special about a fluffy, thick, deep-crimsoncolored waffle staring you in the face. Besides, we all know the real attraction to red velvet anything is the cream cheese frosting, and these waffles have that drizzled up and down, with a strawberry to top things off so you can tell people you at least ate some fruit that morning. Feeling extra Southern?

Add a piece of fried chicken to make this the most colorful chicken ‘n’ waffles meal you’ve ever put down your gullet. What used to be a late-night drunk snack is now a rich and indulgent brunch item at Terrace Cafe.

More: All week, 8 a.m. - 3 p.m.; terracerestaurants.com; 704-369-5190 PHOTO COURTESY OF UPSTREAM SEAFOOD

Red velvet waffle

ON THE UP AND UP

Upstream Seafood, 6902 Phillips Place, SouthPark

Upstream is awash in accolades. Esquire Magazine called the upscale contemporary SouthPark establishment one of the best new restaurants in the U.S., and Zagat’s guide named Upstream “Charlotte’s most popular restaurant.” Most of the enthusiasm focuses on the restaurant’s freshly caught seafood and sushi, but don’t let those denizens of the briny deep avert your gaze from Upstream’s sumptuous brunch spread.

“We offer an unlimited brunch tasting menu that’s unique to Charlotte,” says Executive Chef Sam Diminich. “For years and years Upstream had this celebrated Sunday buffet, but we found that we could do it better.” Today brunch is still served like a buffet but it’s vastly upgraded, offering a selection of small plates from the establishment’s raw bar, sushi bar and appetizer and salad selections. Patrons can also sample the roast of the day sliced to their specifications at the carving station. That’s just the overture to Upstream’s brunch favorites, which include a walnut pumpkin pancake, the Upstream Slider and avocado salmon toast. The place of pride belongs to the pork belly Benedict, Diminich enthuses. Soft poached eggs are served over fresh pork belly and a butternut squash pickled ginger rice cake, and it’s all topped with sambal hollandaise.

Fresh ingredients are paramount, Diminich continues, and every item is made to order. Ample reasons for patrons to set sail for Upstream’s upscale buffet-style brunch.

More: Sat., 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.; Sun., 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.; upstreamseafood.com; 704-556-7730

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PHOTO BY JAYME JOHNSON

Bunny Rancheros

Walnut pumpkin pancake

A BUNNY HOP DOWN CENTRAL

Zada Jane’s Corner Cafe, 1601 Central Ave., Plaza Midwood

“We do brunch seven days a week, for all of our operating hours” Courtney Varnum says. “It’s what we do.” Varnum is general manager of Zada Jane’s Corner Cafe, the turquoise joint with a shuffleboard court in the heart of Plaza Midwood. Business is steady weeklong but it’s particularly brisk on weekends. Patrons pack the small establishment and its patio, fortifying themselves before heading into the artsy neighborhood.

The brunch crowd is most likely to choose Bunny Rancheros, Zada’s version of huevos rancheros.

The “Bunny” comes from the look of the two over-easy eggs, resembling ears, Varnum explains. The eggs are served on a bed of black beans, home-fried potatoes and a meat of your choice, topped with a pepper jack queso and salsa verde with sour cream, guacamole and two warm flour tortillas on the side.

Running a close second in popularity is the Booker T’s East Side Hasher, a frittata-style egg dish served on a bed of sweet potato hash browns. It’s topped with a molten layer of cheese and green onions — a nod to the iconic Booker T and the MGs hit, “Green Onions.”

Zada Jane’s offers a full selection of wine, beer and liquor to wash it all down, and their bloody mary mix is made in-house. Brunch, like every other meal at Zada’s, is first come, first serve. Call first if you have a large party, and the small establishment might be able to accommodate you on their patio.

More: Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m. - 3 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.; zadajanes.com; 704-332-3663

DILWORTH

DILWORTH NEIGHBORHOOD GRILLE

BAKERSFIELD

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

Monday: $3 Jack Daniels Tuesday: $3 Tres Generaciones, $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

SUMMIT ROOM

Tuesday: $4 drafts Monday: 1/2 off wines by the glass Tuesday: 1/2 off beer cans and glasses of Italian Wednesday: 1/2 off glasses of wine Thursday: $7 Summit cocktails reds Thursday: $3.50 local drafts, $8.50 Matilda Wong cocktails SOUTH END Sunday: 1/2 off wine bottles, $5 mimosas & bloody marys, $6 Bellinis COMMON MARKET SOUTH END BAD DADDY’S BURGER BAR

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

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

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

BIG BEN PUB

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

Monday: $3 pints, $5 Titos Tuesday: 1/2 price wine, $3 mystery draft Wednesday: $4 tall boys, $5 Lunazul Blanco Thursday: $3 mystery cans and bottles, $4 Jim Beam Friday: $1 off brewery of the month (Stone), $5 Fireball Saturday: $1 off North Carolina pints Sunday: $4 mimosas & bloody marys

UPTOWN THE LOCAL

Monday: $7 Casamigos, $2 Natty Boh and Miller High Life, $5 Jager Tuesday: $3 Modelo, $5 house margaritas, $5 Don Julio Wednesday: $5 Crown & Down, $3 Southern Tier Thursday: $5 Captain Morgan, $7 craft mules, $16 Bud Light buckets Friday: $3 Jell-O shots, $4 drafts, $5 wells Saturday: $3 PBR, $5 Jager Sunday: $7 loaded mimosa, $7 Grey Goose bloody mary, $16 Bud Light buckets THE DAILY TAVERN

Wednesday: $5 whiskey Thursday: $4 pint night Sunday: $4 Miller Lite, $6 bloody marys DANDELION MARKET

GIN MILL

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

Monday: $3 select drafts Tuesday: $15 select bottles of wines Saturday-Sunday: Bloody mary bar

I REMEMBER MY FIRST TIME, DO YOU?

ROXBURY

Friday: $5 flavored vodka drinks, $5 fire shots, $3 bottles Saturday: $5 fire shots, $4 ZIMA, $3 bottles

NODA CABO FISH TACO

Monday: $5 El Cheapo margarita Tuesday: $3.50 Tecate and Tecate Light, $5 Altos silver tequila WORLD OF BEER Wednesday: $7 Absolut Lime Moscow mule Monday: $2 off North Carolina drafts and spirits Thursday: $1 off neighborhood beers on draft Tuesday: 25 percent off bottles and cans, $5 Friday-Saturday: $8 margarita special mules Sunday: $5 mimosas, $6 Absolut Peppar bloody Wednesday: 1/2-priced wine, wheats and mary, $7 Absolut Lime Moscow mule sangrias Thursday: $4 old school, $4 well, $4 signature JACKBEAGLE’S shots Monday: $5 Cuervo margaritas Friday-Saturday: $3 shot of the week Tuesday: $3 drafts, $5 vodka Red Bull Sunday: $2 mimosas, $3 bloody marys & Wednesday: $1 off whiskey beermosas Thursday: $6 Deep Eddy’s vodka Red Bull PROHIBITION

Tuesday: 1/2 off everything Wednesday: $3 drafts Thursday: $2 PBR, $4.50 wells, $6 vodka Red Bull Friday-Saturday: $4 call-its

Friday: $5 Fun-Dip shots, $5 Crown Black Saturday: $5 Gummy Bear shots, $5 big mimosa, $6.50 double bloody mary Sunday: $5 big mimosa, $6.50 double bloody mary SANCTUARY PUB

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Monday: $7 Bulleit and Bulleit Rye, $3 Yuengling and PBR APA

Tuesday: $6 Tuaca, $6 Tullamore Dew Sunday: $4 mimosas, $5 Brunch Punch, $5 Wednesday: $3 Birdsong beers, $5 Sauza, Fireball, $10 champagne bottles Thursday: $2 Bartender Bottles, $6 Crown Royal Sunday: $3 Birdsong, $3 Tall or Call

PLAZA MIDWOOD

NODA 101

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

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 INTERMEZZO

Monday: $4 Makers Mark, $2 domestic bottles Tuesday: $4 margaritas, $7 Titos mules, $3 Blanche de Bruxelles, $3 OMB Copper Wednesday: 1/2 price wine bottles, $2 off bourbon of the week BILLY JACK’S SHACK Thursday: $6.50 Ketel One Botanical Series, $4 Monday: $1 off moonshine, $3 domestics Stoli Tuesday: $1 off all drafts, $7 Jameson Friday: $4 20-oz. Birdsong LazyBird Brown Ale Wednesday: $1 off bottles and cans and Birdsong Jalapeño Ale Thursday: $4.50 wells Saturday: 1/2 price martinis Friday: $5 Fireball, $1 off local bottles and cans Sunday: $3 drafts Saturday: $4 mimosas $5 Brunch Punch,

Do you want your bar or restaurant featured in The Buzz?

Contact Ryan Pitkin rpitkin@qcnerve.com

THE LONG NIGHTLIFE

Inebriated White Walker encounters in Charlotte

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BY AERIN SPRUILL

IF YOU DON’T KNOW a thing about Game of Thrones, I apologize in advance. But the reality is, according to HBO, ”... a staggering 17.4 million viewers across cable, HBO Go and HBO Now tuned into the Game of Thrones season eight premiere.

Since the series ended just a few days before Queen City Nerve’s issue No. 13 prints, this is the last you’ll probably hear of the show.

If you haven’t subscribed to the 10-year fantasy series, this article isn’t for you.

Game of Thrones is my jam and I don’t care about how many memes you’ve reposted about how you don’t like the show, they mean nothing to me.

There’s one main point of relation between the show and our fair city: White Walkers. If you’ve frequented any spot in the Queen City, you know that these frozen zombies under command of the Night King truly exist in nightlife.

Let’s back up: I met the owners of Moo & Brew one recent night, only to find out later that they would remember parts of the conversation that I wouldn’t.

Not only that, they liked to watch Game of Thrones and had just watched a critical episode. That played into my constant line of thinking, ”What can I write about next?”

If you ask me, I was a White Walker when I met those guys. Read: a drunken zombie.

And for those of you #GOT haters who have kept reading, you don’t need to be familiar with the show or White Walkers to know what a drunken zombie looks like.

I thought I’d channel my fellow Nerve Nightlife columnist Justin Zalewski by identifying some of these rabble rousers, in honor of the passing of my favorite television series.

White Walker No. 1: The person who walks right through a tables in the middle of the day, stumbling into the bar, already White Walker wasted for the day. Of course, they can’t walk, but they can keep drinking.

White Walker No. 2: This one loves the snow, and they love to ski. They’re totally invested in extending the Long Night by imbibing in drugs that rhyme with Jon Snow-caine. And if they run out, they fall like someone stabbed their Night King.

White Walker No. 3: The lights are on … but nobody’s home.

This person is able to hold entire conversations with everyone, despite being drunk. They’re so friendly and well-meaning that no one has the wherewithal to tell them, “Go home, you’re embarassing yourself.”

White Walker No. 4: The person who’s so wasted that they are only focused on converting everyone to their perspective.

They’re going to argue about everything regarding social norms — from Juul pods, to politics. Disengage with this White Walker! You can stand your ground, but you can’t reach them.

White Walker No. 5: Designated drivers. They have only one train of thought: When are we going home?

They’re in charge of entertaining the drunk folk

LILLY SPA 704-392-8099 MON-SUN 9AM-11PM EXIT 37 OFF I-85

WE ACCEPT ALL MAJOR CREDIT CARDS

SOUTH ON BEATTIES FORD THEN FIRST RIGHT ON MONTANA DRIVE (LOCATED 1/2 MILE ON THE LEFT 714-G MONTANA DRIVE

despite having absolutely no desire to do so. These are the real heroes of the Long Night.

White Walker No. 6: ”You don’t go here; you can’t sit with us.” This is the white walker who thinks they run the place. All the bartenders know them, even if they don’t necessarily like them, so whatever they want, they get.

White Walker No. 7: The gal or guy that has their eyes on the prize. They have a certain person in mind that they want to take home, and they’re sure they’ve been spitting the right game to make that happen.

In reality, they’re a sputtering mess and the object of their affection has would rather go home with Jaime Lannister, or a wildling, for that matter.

White Walker No. 8: I love dogs! They pet every dog in the vicinity, and they don’t care how you feel about them doing so.

They are going to do it anyways, so just let it happen and they’ll eventually move on — but only after using “the dog voice” and yelling, “Oh, you

must smell my dog!”

White Walker No. 9: The pusher. The person who can’t leave their job at home. Whatever their pushing, whether it’s drugs or a brand, all they’re focused on is getting you to buy into their business model. From Under Armour to juice to drugs, you’re sold!

After nine, even if you’re not a GOT fan, you know what a White Walker looks like in real life.

They are alive and well in Charlotte nightlife.

Even when they are the ”walking dead,” they are ever-present and effervescent in nightlife. They exist.

If you know what White Walkers are, you should you’re very aware of how those people compare to drunkards, who simply can’t hold their liquor and end up passed out in an Uber or on the street.

I’m curious, what do White Walkers look like to you when it comes to nightlife?

INFO@QCNERVE.COM

SIX-WAY ARRANGEMENT

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ACROSS

1 Taken -- (surprised) 6 Beach flier 13 Opens, as some jackets 20 “Gigi” star Leslie 21 Talk-show host Hall 22 River of Washington, D.C. 23 Teaching a dog to stay in a pen 25 Law 26 Ease off 27 Many, informally 28 One, in Berlin 30 “Invisible” singer Moyet 31 Epson product 33 Mineral required only in minute amounts 36 Tex-Mex snack 37 Less tough 40 Develop 41 Sorority letter 44 Learning by repetition 45 Brooklyn art institute 46 EMT skill 49 The mark “^” 53 Quietude 54 “The Cosby Show” son 55 “I love,” in Latin 56 False identity 57 Castro of Cuba 58 Pulitzer winner Dove 59 “NY Ink” design 60 Stoop (over) 61 Regard as 63 Fretted 65 Very slow pace 67 Feature of the starts of 23-, 33-, 49-, 86-, 100- and 114-Across 70 Petri dish gelatins 71 “Howdy” 74 Use a pressing tool 75 Lacking color 78 Tippling type 79 Tennis’ Nastase

80 Use as a dining surface 82 Took to the slopes 83 Suffix with Timor 84 Musk of Tesla 85 Lacking color 86 One who may carry around a plate of hors d’oeuvres 89 Tarzan player Ely 90 Emmy winner Woodard 91 Got a perfect score on 92 Broadway loc.

93 Camporee participant 94 “Jobs” star Kutcher 96 Terminal guesses, for short 100 Free rein 104 Involve in strife 107 Cautions 108 Mythical bird 109 Artist’s prop 111 Teachers’ org.

112 Put in position 114 Have a pronounced response 118 Forced out 119 Confess having done 120 Author Zora -- Hurston 121 People on a quest 122 Unintended radio silence 123 Grant giver

43 Elba, for one 45 -- donna (vain sort) 46 Group of matching dishes for fancy meals 47 1975 World Series MVP 48 Open-top, two-seat car 49 More apt to attract attention 50 City in Texas 51 Movement around an axis 52 Yang’s partner 54 Calc prereq, often 57 Flowerless plant 61 Fix, as holey socks 62 Braggart’s problem 64 Employees’ check time 66 “-- pigs fly!”

68 Weeper of Greek myth 69 Get along 72 Seafood chain 73 Sharp scolding 76 Churchill’s title 77 Rough- -81 Dental buildup 82 “Undo” mark

DOWN

1 Allow in 2 Entertainer Streisand 3 Syrian’s language 4 Bivouac bed 5 Posed to propose 6 “No Exit” dramatist 7 History units 8 Laos locale 9 Mil. title 10 Start to cycle?

11 Having one dimension 12 Sound reasoning 13 Raises 14 Very 15 Least fresh 16 ‘Sorry, can’t, I’m late” 17 Make smile 18 “Cry, the Beloved Country” novelist Alan 19 Smell 24 Stubbable body part 29 Closed in on 32 “Unh-unh” 33 One of the Jackson 5 34 Film segment 35 Pencil tip 38 Naval fleet 39 Cries hard 42 Steady

SOLUTION ON PAGE 30

86 Dough 87 Yearn 88 Champagne bucket 90 Protective sheet of film 93 Punched, e.g.

94 Bow (to) 95 Trojan War sage 97 Resident of an island kingdom 98 Danny of “Off Key” 99 One doing in a dragon, e.g.

100 Bulk buys 101 Full of zip 102 Knot again 103 U.S.-Can. air watch 105 Body of eau 106 Fair-haired 109 Kett of old comics 110 Bubbly wine, familiarly 113 Zine staffers 115 Doc’s gp.

116 Spain’s El -117 Prefix with colonial

2018 KING FEATURES SYND., INC.

MAY 22 - MAY 28 ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Untangling personal problems might take more time than the impatient Lamb expected. But it’s important to hang in there until all those knotty situations are straightened out.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) You still need to work out last-minute snags in your dealings with a rival. Hold your ground despite a perceived lack of support. Things should turn around before you know it.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Best not to delay preparing for that upcoming family event. The sooner you get things started, the better chance you have of finding potential problems and making needed changes.

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CANCER (June 21 to July 22) The romantic Moon Child might be reluctant to see the reality behind that “ideal” situation. But by midweek, the practical Crab emerges to help clear away the moonbeams.

LEO (July 23 to August 22) Although the Big Cat might be receptive to more “purr-suasion” to get you to agree to a workplace change, make sure you can distinguish the fine line between facts and flattery.

VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) Your positive attitude in the workplace helps get you noticed by the right people. Now go ahead and use some of that new self-confidence to help shore up a personal relationship.

LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) Although you might still have to work out some problems with a

MAY 29 - JUNE 4 business partner, things go more smoothly on the ARIES (March 21 to April 19) An unexpected home front. An investment opportunity might need development could change the Arian’s perspective on a potential investment. Keep an open mind. more study.

Ignore the double talk and act only on the facts.

SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) Don’t be reluctant to act on your suspicion. Even if others see TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) A surge of support nothing wrong, the astute Scorpio could sense an helps you keep your long-standing commitment to underlying problem that isn’t always obvious on the colleagues who rely on you for guidance. Ignore any surface. attempts to get you to ease up on your efforts.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) A new opportunity presents some obstacles that need to be dealt with as soon as possible. Delaying action in hopes that the problems will go away could be counterproductive.

CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) A friend or family member’s request might carry some hidden factors that could later create problems. Be sure you know all the facts before you make your decision.

AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) A setback in implementing a plan could turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Use the downtime to rework your original concepts and see where changes could be made.

PISCES (February 19 to March 20) You might not be consciously fishing for compliments, but admit it — won’t you feel great when your efforts are noticed? So accept the praise gracefully. You earned it.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Family continues to be the dominant factor, but career matters also take on new importance. You might even be able to combine elements of the two in some surprising, productive way.

CANCER (June 21 to July 22) A realistic view of a workplace or personal situation helps you deal with it more constructively once you know where the truth lies. Reserve the weekend for someone special.

LEO (July 23 to August 22) As much as you Leos or Leonas might be intrigued by the “sunny” prospects touted for a potential investment, be careful that you don’t allow the glare to blind you to its essential details.

VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) A friend’s problem brings out the Virgo’s nurturing nature in full force. However, don’t go it alone. Allow others to pitch in and help share the responsibilities you’ve assumed.

BORN THIS WEEK: Your love of beauty in your personal life extends to your efforts to protect and LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) A business preserve the natural world around you. decision might need to be put off until a colleague’s personal matter is resolved. Use this time to work

on another business matter that you’ve been anxious to get to.

SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) Relationships (personal or professional) might appear to be stalled because of details that keep cropping up and that need tending to. Be patient. A path begins to clear soon.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) A promotion could cause resentment among envious colleagues. But others recognize how hard you worked to earn it, and will be there to support you if you need them.

CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) Handling a delicate personal matter needs both your wisdom and your warmth. Expect some setbacks, but stay with it. The outcome will more than justify your efforts.

AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) Resist the temptation to cut corners just because time is short. Best to move ahead step by step so you don’t overlook anything that might later create timewasting complications.

PISCES (February 19 to March 20) Use the good will you recently earned with that well-received project to pitch your ideas for a new project. Expect some tough competition, though, from an unlikely source.

BORN THIS WEEK: Your love of family extends beyond your personal life to include others to whom you generously extend your care and affection.

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HARD FEELINGS

When empathy turns into codependency

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BY DAN SAVAGE

I keep running into the same issue with my best friend of five years. (She’s also my maid of honor at my upcoming wedding.) We’re both empaths — most of my friends are — and we’re both in therapy working on how to cope with that. I have severe anxiety that impacts my physical health, so one of the empathrelated issues I’m working on is not following through with plans when I need to take time alone. My friend claims she understands this but my actions severely impact her mood.

Example: We’ll make tentative plans to get together, I’ll feel too sick to follow through, and then she’s in a negative emotional spiral for days. The final straw came when she called me late this past Friday night — just once, with no subsequent voice mail, text message or follow-up call. On Monday morning, I sent her a text message asking how her weekend was and got an icy reply. Evidently, something happened to her on Friday, she called me for support and my failure to return her call left her feeling very upset. I apologized for the accidental trigger and tried to lay down some protocols for reaching out in an emergency situation (leave me a voice mail and send a follow-up text) so I know it’s urgent. She hasn’t replied. I’m really frustrated. She has a lot of baggage around being shamed for being emotional, so I try to be careful not to invalidate her feelings, but I don’t know if that’s even making a difference. We’ve had several conflicts over the last year, always triggered by something I did or said, almost always accidentally, that caused her to “take a step back.” She insists she understands

I’m doing my best to be a good friend while also working through my own emotional shit. But that’s not the sense I’m getting. I’m feeling increasingly like it’s impossible to be a human being and her friend. Until recently, I had zero emotional boundaries and made myself available to her at a moment’s notice to help shoulder her emotional burden. But now that I’m trying to be more conservative with my abundance and take better care of myself, it seems like all I do is hurt her. What the fuck do I do? I’ve tried to be open-minded and patient with her dramatic mood swings, but she seems unable to give me the benefit of the doubt, which I always try to give her.

This rocky ground between us is adding more stress to the whole wedding situation.

(You’re supposed to be able to rely on your maid of honor, right?) This thing we have is not sustainable as it is, although I love her deeply. Help me figure this out?

EMOTIONS MAKING PERSONAL AFFECTION TOO HARD

Being so attuned to other people’s emotional states that you feel their pain — being an empath — sounds exhausting. But Lori Gottlieb, a psychotherapist in private practice, isn’t convinced your empath superpowers are the problem here.

“EMPATH’s moods seem overly dependent on what the other person does,” said Gottlieb. “That’s not being ‘an empath.’ Most people are empathetic, which isn’t the same as what these two are doing.

They’re drowning in each other’s feelings. This is what pop culture might call codependency, and what in therapy we’d call an attachment issue.”

From your letter, EMPATH, it sounds like you

might be ready to detach from your friend — you mentioned a final straw and described the relationship as not sustainable — and detaching would resolve this attachment issue.

“This feels less like a friendship and more like a psychodrama where they’re each playing out their respective issues,” said Gottlieb. “A friendship isn’t about solving another person’s emotional issues or being the container for them. It isn’t about being devastated by another person’s feelings or boundaries. It should be a mutually fulfilling relationship, not being co-therapists to each other.

In a strong friendship, each person can handle her own emotions rather than relying on the friend to regulate them for her.”

Gottlieb started writing an advice column because, unlike psychotherapists, advice columnists are supposed to tell people what to do. I’m guessing your therapist mostly asks questions and gently nudges, EMPATH, but since Gottlieb has her advicecolumnist hat on today and not her psychotherapist hat, I asked her to tell you what to do.

“She should act more like a friend than a therapist/caretaker,” said Gottlieb. “She shouldn’t treat her friend or herself as if they’re too fragile to handle basic communication or boundaries. And they should both be working out their issues with their respective therapists, not with each other.”

And if you decide to keep this woman in your life (and your wedding party), EMPATH, you’ll both have to work on — sigh — your communication skills.

“Right now, they don’t seem to know how to communicate directly with each other,” said Gottlieb.

“It’s either an icy text or complaining to outside parties about each other. But when it comes to how they interact with each other, they’re so careful, as if one or both might break if they simply said, ‘Hey, I really care about you and I know sometimes you

want to talk about stuff, but sometimes it feels like too much and maybe something you can talk to your therapist about.’”

Lori Gottlieb’s new book, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, is a New York Times best seller. Follow her on Twitter @LoriGottlieb1.

I will be driving to New Orleans from Toronto.

It’s almost impossible to drive from Ontario to Louisiana without stopping for fuel/food/ hotel in Ohio, Georgia, or Alabama. But I want to boycott Handmaid states during my trip.

Even then, I feel I have to check the news every day to see what state is next. Do you have any practical advice for me? Or should I just stay home until your democratic systems and your courts are fixed and your Electoral College is abolished?

CANADIAN AVOIDS NEARING TERRIBLE GEORGIA, OHIO…

Why head south, CANTGO? Even if you’ve lived in Canada all your life, you couldn’t possibly have explored every corner of your beautiful country. But if you absolutely, positively must board the Titanic — excuse me, if you must visit the United States — take a hard right after you cross the border and head west instead. Enjoy Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, check out some of those lakes they’re always talking about in Minnesota, speed through the Dakotas, Montana and the skinniest part of Idaho, and pretty soon you’ll be in Washington State, where a woman’s right to choose is enshrined in the state constitution.

The summers are lovely, we’ve got hiking trails that will take you to mountain lakes and Democrats control both houses of the state legislature and the governor’s mansion, so you won’t have to check the news every day when you’re in Seattle.

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