Queen City Nerve - September 23, 2020

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 22; SEPTEMBER 23 - OCTOBER 6, 2020; WWW.QCNERVE.COM

TABLE OF CONTENTS

NEWS& OPINION

4 EDITOR’S NOTE BY RYAN PITKIN 6 BLACK HISTORY OF CHARLOTTE:

PART 5 BY PAMELA GRUNDY The battle over segregation in Charlotte schools brings highs and lows for all communities

9 THE NEW DEFENDERS BY RYAN PITKIN A movement grows outside of east Charlotte women’s health clinic

ARTS&CULTURE 10

A CAUTIOUS RETURN BY PAT MORAN Museums slowly begin to reopen as governor’s order allows

12 FALL ARTS GUIDE 2020 BY PAT MORAN, RYAN PITKIN The real and the virtual

Enjoy a moment of peace on us. www.xcoobee.com

MUSIC

14 KEEP THE MUSIC GOING BY PAT MORAN Middle C Jazz remains the only music venue open in a pandemic

16 VEGAN GEMS BY JASIATIC ANDERSON Knowing where to look for Charlotte’s best plant-based menu items

Out of this world dentistry finally in your neighborhood!

-Offering Whole Family Dentistry & Oral Surgery specialty care on an extended schedule

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7am-7pm and select Saturdays

17 LIFEWAVE A dose of reality

LIFESTYLE

FOOD& DRINK

18 PUZZLES 20 AERIN IT OUT BY AERIN SPRUILL 21 HOROSCOPE 22 SAVAGE LOVE

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THANKS TO OUR CONTRIBUTORS: PAT MORAN, PAMELA GRUNDY, JASIATIC ANDERSON,

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AERIN SPRUILL AND DAN SAVAGE. COVER DESIGN BY: JAYME JOHNSON

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RECYCLE RIGHT! PUBLISHER JUSTIN LAFRANCOIS jl afra n co i s @ q cn er ve.com

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF RYAN PITKIN

PLASTIC BOTTLES & JUGS with Necks

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No propane tanks

No tanglers (no hoses, wires, chains, hangers or electronics)

EDITOR’S NOTE

A RED FLAG

Trump flags have become a signal among a community of blind loyalists

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BY RYAN PITKIN

All of the flags listed above, good or bad, symbolize a person identifying as part of a group that they take pride in, which is relatively normal human behavior. What Trump flags signal to is something wholly separate: loyalty to one man in power as a defining part of your identity.

Of course, this is nothing new. In 2016, we saw the red hats serve the same purpose, and those certainly haven’t gone anywhere. Before that, there was no shortage of Barack Obama merch, his face plastered on t-shirts worn by people who saw his election as a sign that the country was moving past its horrific racial past (so much for that idea).

I for one have always cringed at the idea that any politician should be lionized in such a way. I voted for

scapegoated the media so as to convince his followers ahead of time that every negative article — every survivor of his sexual predation, every administrative whistleblower, every sane person who can see a scam artist for what he is — is simply fake news and should be ignored.

Then he went to work on the checks and balances against his power, firing anyone who didn’t do his bidding, even if that was never their job in the first place.

His followers don’t care one iota about all his wrongdoing because he’s “owning the libs,” and that’s their priority. These people don’t want to see things get better, per se, they want to see things get worse for the people they don’t like.

In early September I took a trip down to Kure Beach to vacation with my immediate family, our first opportunity to spend time together since early March when COVID-19 clamped down on the country. It was during this trip that I began to notice a relatively new trend, one that points to a disturbing future for the so-called United States.

No, it was not an alarming lack of masks or social distancing; in fact, the few public places we did attend were doing a fine job of both. What I couldn’t help but notice, however, were the Trump flags flying all over the place, not only from patios and porches but from the actual beach, where people decided that a flag was somehow an important part of their setup on the sand.

Now, I’m not one to be offended by such things. People can fly whatever the hell flag they choose. As with the unarguably racist Confederate flag, a Trump flag is a good signal for whom I can avoid interactions with. I find it helpful in that regard.

My concern is with what else this new proliferation of Trump MEN YELLING “WHITE POWER” WERE PART OF A CONVOY OF TRUMP SUPPORTERS THAT PASSED THROUGH ELON ON SEPT. 19.

2020 flags signals.

When I think of what other I’m reminded of a Trump voter in Florida who flags I see flying on a regular basis, I think of the Barack Obama twice, yet I had more than a few issues with the way he did things — his immigration policy was quoted in a New York Times report from early United States flag, the rainbow flag at LGBTQ Pride and drone-bombing campaign to name a couple.

January of this year, when Trump’s government events, Carolina Panthers flags, etc.

When you claim a politician as your own, as you shutdown had so many people suffering around the There are also those flags that the right has do when you fly their flag — and regardless of what country so he could fight for funding for his mythical always been fond of: the aforementioned Confederate Trump sycophants say, he’s the president, so he’s a wall. flag, which only came back into fashion among racists ““I thought he was going to do good things. He’s during the civil rights movement. There’s the yellow politician — you are saying, “I’m on this team, and I’ll do whatever I need to do to defend that.” not hurting the people he needs to be hurting,” the snake flag with “Don’t Tread On Me,” brought back This is exactly the type of cult following that woman said, revealing the true nature of Trump’s into popularity by the Tea Party in 2009 in response to Trump aimed to build from the beginning.

He following.

This is not the reason to vote for a Barack Obama’s coming to power.

president, people.

Attitudes like that are how Trump was able to run and win on a racist, xenophobic platform. It’s how he built his following from a foundation of folks he has no real interest in. They believe he has just a little more interest in them than in those other people — those immigrants, those Black folks, those libs, those Antifa boogeymen — and that’s what matter.

And so now when you see hate speech, the Trump flag is never far behind. It’s just become expected. In June, when an old man yelled “White power” from his golf cart during a procession in a Florida retirement community (in a video retweeted

by Trump himself), the flag was there. In August,

PHOTO BY CAROLINA JORDAN GREEN

when Trump supporters drove through a protest in Portland and shot innocent people with paintballs, the flag was there. And in September, when multiple members of a pro-Trump convoy passing through Elon on a Saturday afternoon yelled “White power,” the flags were there.

Maybe I’m just a triggered lib, but I’d say if this is the group you stake your claim with, that’s a pretty big red flag.

RPITKIN@QCNERVE.COM

THE OUTBREAK OF CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 (COVID-19) MAY BE STRESSFUL FOR PEOPLE. FEAR AND ANXIETY ABOUT A DISEASE CAN BE OVERWHELMING AND CAUSE STRONG EMOTIONS IN ADULTS AND CHILDREN. COPING WITH STRESS WILL MAKE YOU, THE PEOPLE YOU CARE ABOUT, AND YOUR COMMUNITY STRONGER. EVERYONE REACTS DIFFERENTLY TO STRESSFUL SITUATIONS. HOW YOU RESPOND TO THE OUTBREAK CAN DEPEND ON YOUR BACKGROUND, THE THINGS THAT MAKE YOU DIFFERENT FROM OTHER PEOPLE, AND THE COMMUNITY YOU LIVE IN.

 -Fear and worry about your own health and the health of your loved ones -Changes in sleep or eating patterns -Difficulty sleeping or concentrating -Worsening of chronic health problems -Increased use of alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs

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-Make time to unwind. Try to do some other activities you enjoy.

-Connect with others. Talk with people you trust about your concerns and how you are feeling. Â? Â?

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ONLINE THERAPY OPTIONS

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OPEN PATH COLLECTIVE

A nonprofit that connects people with private practice therapists that choose to participate.

Digital therapy is available for a $59 membership tinyurl.com/opcollective

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NEWS & OPINION FEATURE

BLACK HISTORY OF CHARLOTTE: PART 5

it,” Chairman David Harris stated. “We’re picking up momentum every year.”

But board members could not stall much longer.

In January of 1965, the Swanns joined several other Charlotte families in a lawsuit, Swann v. Board, which would upend Charlotte school assignments and transform districts around the nation.

Making Law Reality

The Swann case arose because neither federal legislation nor Supreme Court rulings could advance racial justice on their own.

Turning a mandate for equality into onthe-ground reality required hard, patient work, community by community.

Julius Chambers, the lead lawyer in Swann, had

BY PAMELA GRUNDY come to Charlotte to do just that. Born in nearby The following is the final chapter in a five-part Mount Gilead, Chambers overcame the third-rate history of Black culture in Charlotte. Visit qcnerve.com to read the complete series.

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The battle over segregation in Charlotte schools brings highs and lows for all communities

In September of 1964, Vera and Darius Swann wrote the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education to request that their son James be assigned to predominantly white Seversville Elementary.

The Swanns had recently returned to Charlotte after years of mission work in India. Darius had joined the Johnson C. Smith faculty as a professor of theology, and the family had moved onto the Smith campus.

When the school year started, they sought to enroll their son at Seversville instead of all-Black Biddleville Elementary.

“We believe that an integrated school will best prepare young people for responsibility in an integrated society,” they wrote the board. “Having lived practically all of his life in India, James has never known the meaning of racial segregation. We have been happy to watch him grow and develop with an unaffected openness to people of all races and backgrounds, and we feel it our duty as parents to insure that this healthy development continue.”

Their appeal fell on deaf ears. The all-white school board was focused not on the value of school desegregation, but rather on accommodating white families who opposed it.

A decade after the Supreme Court required schools to desegregate “with all deliberate speed,” only 722 of Charlotte’s 20,000 African-American students attended predominantly white schools.

The board unanimously rejected the Swanns’ request.

“We have a plan, and we’re working toward

hundreds of cases and devised innovative legal strategies that produced landmark Supreme Court rulings in the fields of education, employment, and voting rights.

“We were the legal arm of the civil rights movement in North Carolina,” explained longtime colleague James Ferguson II. “We were litigating in court every day fully confident that we were going to bring about some change in the social and political fabric that had fostered three centuries of slavery, Jim Crow, bigotry, prejudice, and brutality against Black people . . . It was exciting to prepare a case.

It was exciting to talk to people who had a problem because you felt like there was something you could do through the courts to make a difference.”

Of all those cases, the one that would mean the most in Charlotte was Swann v. Board.

Senate in 1971. “As I view it, the only way that we can obtain quality education for all children, Black and white, is to accomplish racial mixing of students in the various schools.”

Chambers argued Swann before federal judge James McMillan in the spring of 1969. He cast his net wide. Charlotte’s still-segregated schools, he contended, were a direct result of the Jim Crow policies that had separated the city into Black and white sectors.

He laid out evidence that revealed striking gaps in performance between Black and white students, and showed that Black students who attended majority-white schools performed far better than those who remained in all-Black schools.

He ended with a staggering conclusion: The only way to remedy the wrongs of Jim Crow segregation, and to ensure that all children received equal opportunities, was to fully integrate every school in the 83,000-student system.

McMillan was taken aback by Chambers’ ambition — no one had ever called for that degree of change. But he listened carefully, and by the end he was persuaded.

In late April, he issued an order that required Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) to eliminate all racially identifiable schools — a mandate that would require cross-town busing on a massive scale.

The ruling set off five years of conflict that nearly tore the city apart.

Victory and Loss

A MEETING OF THE CONCERNED PARENTS’ ASSOCIATION, 1969.

COURTESY OF THE ROBINSON-SPANGLER CAROLINA ROOM, CHARLOTTE MECKLENBURG LIBRARY

education provided by that community’s profoundly unequal public schools to graduate first in his class at UNC Chapel Hill’s newly desegregated law school.

The NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund tagged him as a rising star and sent him to Charlotte to pursue civil rights cases.

Two months before the Swanns made their appeal, in the same week that President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the 24-year-old Chambers opened a law office on East Trade Street.

Chambers would become the most celebrated civil rights litigator of his generation. At a time when judges were especially open to applying legal remedies to racial wrongs, he and his partners filed

Why School Integration?

Participants in the Swann case saw integrated education as essential to a more equal society. As the Swanns noted in their letter, they believed that integrated learning would prepare children, Black and white, to work together in a post-Jim Crow world.

For his part, Chambers focused on resources.

Since whites controlled public funds, he argued, only schools that educated white children could be sure of getting what they needed.

“I don’t think that those who are now in power would provide the facilities and services that would be necessary in order to accomplish [separate but] equal educational programs,” he would tell the U.S.

Historically Black schools were among the first casualties. Swann was decided at a time when Black Charlotteans had legal but not political clout. The school board continued to focus on protecting white students — especially those from well-off families — regardless of the effect on Black students.

The board had closed several historically Black schools back in 1966, not long after Swann was filed.

In August of 1969, three months after McMillan’s ruling, it abruptly shuttered several more, including Second Ward High.

In 1965, Mecklenburg County had seven Black high schools. By the fall of 1969, only West Charlotte High remained.

Many Black Charlotteans had been wary of school integration. While they knew Black schools were underfunded, they feared the loss of the supportive environment they provided.

“I never felt that our kids would get the same thing in the white situation as they would get from

NEWS & OPINION FEATURE

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us,” longtime West Charlotte English teacher Barbara Davis explained years later. “That was just my basic feeling. I was leery of being consumed. And that’s what I was afraid of. I didn’t want our people to be consumed by the white people.”

The first years of desegregation bore out those concerns. The closing of Black schools meant the loss of Black jobs — the 1966 closings had put nearly 200 Black teachers and administrators out of work.

For the 1968-69 school year, just before the second round of closings, CMS hired 722 new teachers. Only 17 were Black. In 1965, African Americans held 44% of the county’s teaching jobs.

By 1969, they were down to 22%.

Those Black teachers who remained were scattered through the system. Most Black students were bused to historically white schools.

Bill McMillan, a Second Ward graduate hired by the school system as a race relations specialist, spent the 1970-71 school year visiting schools plagued by racial difficulties at every level.

“Kindergarten teachers afraid of kindergarten children,” he noted. “Teacher white, children Black, teacher afraid of students. Throughout the entire school system we had some of those . . . I’m pretty certain without reservation that there were some people who were trying their darndest to make that environment as wholesome for all children as I was. I would say, on the other hand, that there probably were some who maybe were trying, but didn’t know how and were making a mess of things.”

For their part, many Black students felt out of place, sensed the unease of white teachers and administrators, and often had no Black administrators that they could turn to for advice or support.

The school system’s demographics — 70% white and 30% Black – meant that Black students were in the minority at every school. Almost 6,500 students were suspended that school year, double the previous year’s total. Nearly 90% of those were African American.

Opposition and Accomplishment

The busing order also sparked massive opposition in many white communities, where residents formed an organization called the Concerned Parents Association. In an effort to shift the debate from racial justice to individual rights, these families contended that busing would deprive

them of a Constitutional right to attend the schools of their choice.

“I am not opposed to integration in any way,” one parent stated at the association’s first antibusing rally. “But I was ‘affluent’ enough to buy a home near the school where I wanted my children to go. And I pay taxes to pay for it. They can bring in anybody they like to that school, but I don’t want my children taken away from there.”

Fearing a massive flight to private schools, the school board at first refused to bus students out of the city’s wealthiest white neighborhoods. That decision increased the amount of busing required not only of Black families but of white families from less-privileged neighborhoods.

The Supreme Court unanimously upheld McMillan’s order in 1971. Still, stability proved elusive, and tensions continued to rise. White

that everyone would need to do their part, the plan included every neighborhood, and assigned students from several of the city’s most prestigious white enclaves to West Charlotte High.

The plan transformed the city. Eager to put the years of strife and instability behind, a broad range of community members began to work together, sparking a period of widespread civic engagement.

Warnings that well-off families would flee the system in droves proved unfounded.

From 1974 into the 1990s, CMS was the most desegregated major school system in the nation.

Student performance rose across the board.

Charlotte became known as the city that made desegregation work, and that accomplishment became a major point of civic pride.

IN 1974, BLACK RESIDENTS RALLIED BEHIND WEST CHARLOTTE HIGH SCHOOL, WHICH THEY FEARED WOULD BE CLOSED. PHOTO BY JAMES PEELER; COURTESY OF ROBINSON-SPANGLER CAROLINA ROOM, CML

families were especially resistant to sending their children to West Charlotte High, sparking fears that the board would close that school as well.

Eventually, however, a grassroots group of parents decided to take matters into their own hands. Two dozen people, Black and white, began to hold regular school assignment discussions, calling themselves the Citizens’ Advisory Group. A few months later, Judge McMillan asked the group to draw up a plan that would distribute the busing burden more equitably. Realizing that the prolonged strife was damaging Charlotte’s reputation, the city’s business elite actively supported the new effort.

The Citizens’ Advisory Group presented its plan in the spring of 1974. In a dramatic demonstration

Forward – for Some

The favorable publicity that came with desegregation success put Charlotte in a prime position to take advantage of growing national interest in Sunbelt cities. Between 1970 and 1990, more than 1,000 new firms moved to Mecklenburg County and the population swelled by more than 150,000 residents. Civic leaders routinely cited desegregation as a key factor in that growth.

“I believe public school desegregation was the single most important step we’ve taken in this century to help our children,” leading banker Hugh McColl would famously write. “Almost immediately after we integrated our schools, the southern

economy took off like a wildfire in the wind. I believe integration made the difference. Integration — and the diversity it began to nourish — became a source of economic, cultural and community strength.”

Charlotteans could point to many benefits of working together. After Black principal Elizabeth Randolph was promoted to the central office, she developed a visionary project that established the first kindergartens in schools across the city.

Harvey Gantt, the first Black student to attend Clemson University, was elected mayor in 1982, becoming the first African-American mayor of a predominantly white Southern city.

Anthony Foxx, who grew up in his grandparents’ home in the Dalebrook neighborhood, thrived in desegregated schools, including West Charlotte High, which had become a nationally renowned example of successful integration. Foxx became Charlotte’s second Black mayor in 2009, and four years later was selected by President Barack Obama to be U.S. Secretary of Transportation.

Many more Black Charlotteans rose to key positions in business, politics and government.

Others, however, fared less well. In the 1970s, just as legal and political efforts began to open jobs to African Americans, major shifts in the U.S. economy shut down many of those opportunities.

Wages stagnated. The income gap grew. Periods of job growth, such as the late 1990s, were followed by setbacks such as the Great Recession of 2008.

Many of Charlotte’s African Americans never caught up with whites in terms of income, employment or homeownership.

The 1970s also saw a major political realignment, as opponents of the civil rights movement flocked to the Republican Party. In 1968, then-Presidential candidate Richard Nixon had launched a “Southern strategy” campaign that capitalized on dissatisfaction with civil rights legislation. Led by future North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms, conservative Southern whites began to leave the Democratic Party, where they had been so influential for so long. In 1980, these new Republicans helped carry Ronald Reagan to the presidency.

The Crescent and the Wedge

These evolving political and economic circumstances meant that Charlotte’s desegregated schools did not lead to desegregated neighborhoods.

Developers focused on building profitable subdivisions on empty farmland farther and farther out from town, with city, state and federal government providing roads, water lines, sewers

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NEWS & OPINION FEATURE and other infrastructure. The effects of generations of “redlining” — federal investment guidelines that kept banks from making mortgage loans in historically Black neighborhoods — meant that few Black families could afford homes in those new communities.

Dramatic cuts in federal housing funds made it almost impossible for city officials to build lowercost housing in them.

African-American families thus remained concentrated in aging neighborhoods around the center city, in communities that struggled to attract public or private investment.

This new form of racial segregation created a pattern known as the “crescent and the wedge” – a half-circle of high-poverty, predominantly Black neighborhoods broken by a wedge of affluent, predominantly white communities that stretched out to the county’s southern edge.

Despite the gains of the civil rights movement, Mecklenburg County was more segregated in 1990 than it had been in 1970.

The significance of these new patterns became evident as the century drew to a close. In 1997, a group of white suburban parents filed a new lawsuit, Cappachione v. Board, that challenged the use of race in student assignment.

When the case came before Reagan-appointed judge Robert Potter, he issued a ruling that forced the school system to end its busing plan.

As soon as a neighborhood-based assignment plan went into effect, schools resegregated with astonishing speed. As Julius Chambers would have predicted, predominantly white schools that educated the children of the politically and economically powerful fared far better than predominantly Black schools, most of whose families lived in poverty.

High-poverty schools were further affected by the transience experienced by so many of their students. A profound affordable housing crisis left many families homeless and forced others to move from place to place, requiring young people to constantly adjust to new schools, new teachers and new classmates.

Old patterns also began to emerge.

In 2010, over vehement community objections, the school board voted to close the predominantly Black E.E. Waddell High School, shutter three of the west side’s four middle schools, and abruptly transform eight west-side elementary schools into K-8 schools.

Residents of center city neighborhoods also had to contend with a new generation of “real estate men.” Charlotte’s rapid growth had brought an influx of well-off young professionals, some of whom had developed a taste for city living. Entrepreneurial investors, sometimes carrying suitcases full of cash, began to prowl the neighborhoods where Black residents had settled after urban renewal — Belmont, Seversville, Villa Heights — as well as older Black neighborhoods such as Biddleville.

In the 1960s, investors had purchased homes to turn into low-cost rentals. Now, profits lay in replacing older buildings with high-end houses and apartments. Once again families were set adrift, with few safe spots to land.

Looking Ahead

A century and a half after Emancipation, Charlotte remains profoundly marked by race. This long history holds too many inspiring stories and cautionary tales for one author to capture in one place.

Accounts of the past also do not offer clear solutions to present-day challenges. But efforts to address today’s many inequalities can draw on understanding of how those inequalities came to be and find strength in the courageous endeavors of those who have come before. History matters.

Resources Richard Rosen and Joseph Mosnier, Julius Chambers: A Life in the Legal Struggle for Civil Rights (University of North Carolina Press, 2016) Pamela Grundy, Color and Character: West Charlotte High and the American Struggle over Educational Equality (University of North Carolina Press, 2017) Frye Gaillard, The Dream Long Deferred: The Landmark Struggle for Desegregation in Charlotte, North Carolina (Briarpatch Press, 1999) Davison Douglas, Reading, Writing, and Race: The Desegregation of the Charlotte Schools (University of North Carolina Press, 1995) Stephen Samuel Smith, Boom for Whom?: Education, Desegregation, and Development in Charlotte (State University of New York Press, 2004) Matthew D. Lassiter, The Silent Majority: Suburban Politics in the Sunbelt South (Princeton University Press, 2006) Pam Kelley, Money Rock: A Family’s Story of Cocaine, Race, and Ambition in the New South (The New Press, 2018) INFO@QCNERVE.COM

NEWS & OPINION FEATURE

anymore,” said Nicole Ash, board member with defenders lined up on the street directly in front of to enforce the few regulations that are on the books.

Charlotte for Choice, the nonprofit organization that the property that Love Life purchased next to the On our visit in early September, about a for years has provided escort services for patients in clinic offices. dozen police officers stood by while hundreds of front of the clinic.

The group of mostly women yelled anything that marchers walked by them without wearing masks “These tactics that we’ve adopted have, yes, came to mind at the hundreds of protesters, who or practicing social distancing. A group of bike increased the aggressiveness of anti-abortion stood in their matching teal shirts and looked ahead police rode next to the marchers, who claim to be protesters. However, it also makes it harder and at the stage. Organizers asked that the marchers not exempt from COVID-19 regulations because they are A movement grows outside more uncomfortable for them to be out there. That’s engage with the clinic defenders, whom they called acting as a “nonprofit providing services.” Requests of east Charlotte women’s what we want.” devils multiple times over their loudspeakers. for comment from CMPD for this article went health clinic The change in strategy has led to an upheaval According to Hales, it was Love Life’s purchase of unanswered. of sorts within Charlotte for Choice. On Aug. 25, the this property in 2018 that led in part to her eventual So for now, clinic defenders will continue to

BY RYAN PITKIN same day the “WAP” video was uploaded to TikTok, support for more aggressive tactics there. engage protesters themselves, playing a game of Ash, Hales and Heather Peagler released a statement In 2019, Charlotte City Council passed an distraction to allow patients easier access while The video begins with a 19-year-old woman acknowledging the resignations of four fellow amendment to the city’s sound ordinance that anti-abortion protesters are busy with defenders. relaxing in a lawn chair outside of A Preferred board members who made up the organization’s prohibited amplified sound and “unreasonable They will also continue to post on TikTok, the viral Women’s Health Center on Latrobe Drive in east clinic escort team, which for years met patients in noise” within 150 feet of medical facilities, places of nature of which has helped raise awareness for Charlotte, nonchalantly reading the lyrics to the what’s happening outside of the clinic song “WAP,” which stands for Wet Ass Pussy, just and for reproductive justice in general. loud enough to drown out Philip “Flip” Benham, It can be grating on the women who who reads a Bible passage aloud just feet away post the TikToks — the two women from the woman. responsible for the most viral videos at The video, posted to TikTok on Aug. 25th, the clinic refused to comment for this garnered nearly 1 million likes on the app and story because of harassment and threats was shared around on different social media they’ve received online — but for other platforms, making national headlines on sites like clinic defenders like Britt Christmas, TMZ, Insider, and Daily Motion. it’s been an overwhelmingly positive Clinic defenders like the woman in the clip, experience. who goes by @alexthefeminist on TikTok, and the “I mostly get love and positivity,” one who shot the video, @42069horndog, have Christmas told Queen City Nerve. “I gotten growing attention for the posts they’ve know that they do get a lot of hate, but filmed in front of the clinic as things there have I’ll get [direct messages] and comments heated up over the summer. from people all the time who are like, For example, another video posted just two ‘I didn’t even know this was happening days after the “WAP” one shows counterprotesters at clinics,’ and they started volunteering blasting Gillette’s “Short Dick Man” at an antiin their own state or their own city. Lots abortion protester holding a grotesque sign A GROUP OF CLINIC DEFENDERS GATHER AT A PREFERRED WOMEN’S HEALTH CENTER. PHOTO BY GRANT BALDWIN of people tell us that they look at us and depicting an alleged aborted fetus. The “Short when they’re older they want to be able Dick Man” video built on the success of “WAP,” the parking lot and used umbrellas to block them worship and schools. According to Hales, however, to volunteer for things like this and make a positive garnering more than 1.6 million views. from the anti-abortion protesters screaming from the fact that Love Life is holding concerts on their impact on people’s lives.”

It’s all part of a new strategy in front of the clinic, the road. own private property now makes the ordinance For Winthrop student and clinic defender Grayce ushered in by a new group of young women like the “While it has been no secret that C4C has been moot.

Kellam, what’s happening on Latrobe Drive is teens that shot the above-mentioned videos. experiencing some very hard and emotional growing “You can’t escape that, even with the sound about more than making religious extremists blush The women have taken a more aggressive pains, it’s sad to see these incredibly dedicated ordinance, you cannot escape the noise and the through reading provocative lyrics. approach to confronting and confronting the women part ways with the organization,” the impact of them having a property next door,” Hales It’s a movement. protesters who stand outside the clinic every day statement read. “While we’re parting right now with told Queen City Nerve. “The real change started “We like to say that we’re the New Feminists,” from Monday through Saturday and harass patients raw emotions and different opinions, the remaining happening once people realized that the sound Kellam said. “It’s a new time, it’s a new age, it’s walking inside to receive services. board members promise to keep both their criticisms ordinance, while it has been super effective for other time to change our language, it’s time to hear other The group has gotten the support of APWHC and feedback in mind as the organization attempts people and has been helpful for other businesses in people, it’s time to come together and share art and owner Calla Hales, who for years has asked that to restructure and move forward.” the business park, it’s not helpful for us … We’re music and our thoughts and our feelings and just counterprotesters in front of the clinic simply Queen City Nerve visited the clinic on a recent all incredibly frustrated as patients, as staff, as really be here for each other. It’s just a big family; all help direct traffic and engage with anti-abortion Saturday as around 400 prayer marchers with anti- volunteers. This has been a five-year uphill battle the girls, we’ve gotten really close.” protesters as little as possible. abortion group Love Life Charlotte showed up for that has never really stopped.”

And the New Feminist family is no longer taking This year, however, that’s all changing. one of the organization’s 40 Weeks of Life marches.

Another source of that frustration has been the anyone’s shit quietly.

“We decided that we want to meet them where On that September morning, about 20 clinic perceived unwillingness of CMPD officers at the site RPITKIN@QCNERVE.COM they’re at. We don’t want this to go unchallenged

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THE NEW DEFENDERS

ARTS FEATURE

A CAUTIOUS RETURN

Museums slowly begin to reopen as governor’s order allows

Pg. 10 SEP 23 - OCT 6, 2020 - QCNERVE.COM

BY PAT MORAN

The dinosaurs got away but Catherine Wilson Horne is moving on. When Discovery Place Science in Uptown Charlotte closed last March, the museum had to shut down a major blockbuster exhibit on Antarctic Dinosaurs, Horne says. The crested Cryolophosaurus and its saurian companions are now on their way to the Utah Museum of Natural History in Salt Lake City, and the president and CEO of Discovery Place Inc. says she has no time for regrets. With four museums — Discovery Place Science, Nature, Kids Huntersville and Kids Rockingham — opening in mid-September after six months of COVID-19-imposed quarantine, there’s too much to do.

At the beginning of September, North Carolina entered Phase 2.5 of Gov. Cooper’s gradual reopening plan, which allowed aquariums and museum to open at 50% capacity. Across the city, museums prepared to receive visitors, emphasizing new exhibits, existing permanent installations or shows that were sadly cut short after opening in the spring. (For a detailed listing of Charlotte’s museum and gallery exhibits see our Fall Arts Guide on page 12.) Regardless of what was on each museum’s program, the institutions faced the same challenge, how to provide patrons with a safe path to fun, education and relief from a long quarantine.

Discovery Place kicks it off by expanding the days their four museums are open to include Sundays.

“There are a lot of families who want to do things on Sunday morning and we’re excited to bring that to bear,” says Horne. That said, all Discovery facilities will close a little early each afternoon to facilitate deep cleaning and ensure safety.

at the door. Masks are also required on every mouth Meanwhile, the Randolph location will spotlight Embracing the New and nose for anyone 2 years old or older. It’s a form The Mint Museum Randolph and Uptown Classic Black: The Basalt Sculpture of Wedgwood of early education, Horne maintains locations will be opening their doors a week after and his Contemporaries. The innovative pairing “We know that 2-year-olds can learn to wear CMoH and Discovery Place, but they voice an of Josiah Wedgwood’s black basalt pottery with masks, and it [will] give them a good excuse to identical concern for health and safety. impressionistic murals by street artist Owl premiered practice their mask wearing.”

“We’re excited to be able to welcome people in the spring but was cut short when COVID-19 There are also increased hand sanitizing stations back,” says Mint Museum Senior Curator of American spurred museums to shutter their doors. Now the throughout the four facilities. truncated show gets to resume its interrupted run.

Art Jonathan Stuhlman.

“You almost bump into one every time you turn Stuhlman says staff has been working hard on around,” Horne says. digital content to keep the public engaged on the From Cotton Fields to Skyscrapers Patrons are required to reserve tickets either museums’ website, but there’s no substitute for In a similar vein, Levine Museum of the through a membership or by purchasing them personal experience.

New South, which opened on the third week in online ahead of time.

September, premieres an exhibit The process allows the that was all set to open before the museums to manage city shut down for quarantine. attendance and the “Before we closed, we had been number of people in working on an exciting, new edition the building. Visitors’ to our core exhibit, From Cotton entries are staggered Fields to Skyscrapers,” says Levine so staff can moderate spokesperson Courtney Whiteside. the arrival process in The turbocharged exhibit now a safer and better way. boasts a new augmented-reality As a final safety component that allows patrons to measure, Discovery interact virtually with Harvey Gantt, Place has reduced Dorothy Counts-Scoggins, and Hugh occupancy at each of McColl Jr., Whiteside says. its museums to 25%, For visitors drawn to Cotton half of what North Fields or Levine’s other standing Carolina allows them exhibits, including Brooklyn: Once to have in terms of a City Within a City, the museum RINGING THE AMERICAN FREEDOM BELL AT CHARLOTTE MUSEUM OF HISTORY. total attendance.

PHOTO BY GRANT BALDWIN implements a full array of safety

Rock of Ages

The Charlotte Museum of History (CMoH) on Shamrock Drive has also invited the community in with a welcoming celebration, a week-long series that kicked off Sept. 19 with an event titled An Afternoon on the Grounds. The self-guided, digitally enhanced tour of the museum’s eight-acre grounds encompasses the 1774 Hezekiah Alexander Rock House, the oldest surviving structure in Mecklenburg County, along with the house’s adjoining barn, kitchen and springhouse.

Like Horne, CMoH President and CEO Adria Focht is focusing on safety. Masks are required for adults and children over the age of 5. Patrons are pre-registered on a per-car basis and the museum is limiting the number of cars they will admit each Sanitation and Safety hour.

“We’ll be cleaning during the day, but then we’ll “With outdoor space at 50% [capacity], I think be providing a deeper cleaning at night,” Horne that 200 is our maximum,” Focht says, referring to offers. the total number of patrons allowed per hour. “We’re Health and safety during the museums’ trying to keep it at 100 people or less.” operational hours start with a temperature check

“We’ve spent a lot of time preparing to make sure people feel safe and comfortable in the museum environment,” he offers. Patrons are required to observe social distancing and to wear masks. In addition, hand-sanitizing stations are situated throughout the museums. Stuhlman also doubts that either facility will come close to their 50% occupancy limit.

All these precautions surround a one-of-a-kind exhibit at Mint Museum Uptown, a selection of art drawn across all the different collections and departments within the museum.

On the fourth weekend in September the museum premieres New Days/New Works, a series of interconnected exhibits that spotlight everything from African textiles to contemporary paintings.

“It’s a show that highlights recent gifts to the museum that the public hasn’t had a chance to see before,” Stuhlman offers. “I think it’s probably the first time in the 14 years that I’ve been at the museum where all the curators worked together on a giant show as opposed to each doing their own.”

standards.

Online ticket reservations and cashless ticketing and retail transactions are recommended for museum patrons. (Frontline workers receive a discount.) A timed ticketing system will also enable the museum to limit capacity.

Face masks are required for entry, with disposable masks available at the front desk. All guests are urged to utilize hand sanitizer upon entry and throughout the building during their visit.

Visitors who feel ill are asked to leave the museum and return at a later date.

Not all of Charlotte’s museums are moving ahead immediately with reopening plans. Some of the city’s galleries have different goals and specialties and a one-size-fits-all approach to museum opening will not work for them.

Let There be Light

“Right now, our gallery walls stand naked, but that will change soon,” Kay Tuttle says. Along with her small staff, the executive director of The Light Factory was contemplating all of the gallery’s

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ARTS FEATURE

McColl’s staff of nine people are rotated in with a fine-toothed comb. inclusive,” Tuttle says. She vows to offer the gallery’s resources to encourage people to get to know each groups of three, so only three staff members are With hundreds if not thousands of displays other, to learn from each other, and to build bonds working at the facility at any given time. Staff groups across four different museums, Horne and her staff resources sitting idle and decided to open up the that strengthen our community. of three are at McColl’s converted church in Uptown assessed every single interactive piece in each one. print lab, darkroom, and soon-to-be-completed for one week, and then off site for two weeks while The museum pieces were classified green, yellow lighting studio for limited use. they work at home. So, counting staff and artists- and red. The majority of the pieces were green, Artists in Residence “Our friends who visit will need to wear a mask, Another source for off-the-beaten track and in-residence, the most people in the building at any Horne says, meaning good to go, but red and yellow and we are limiting the number in the gallery at one pieces required more attention. iconoclastic art is the McColl Center for Art + time is seven. time,” Tuttle says.

“Our offices are strategically far apart from Red pieces and exhibits were removed from the Innovation. Unlike the other museums and galleries She offers that the gallery is limiting its one another, so we have managed to find a way floor or had their access limited. Then the yellow in this survey, McColl will not be reopening in the occupancy to 30% capacity. “Technically, we could to get everybody back in the office and [also] keep pieces were modified to make them safer, following fall. open at 50%, but we are trying to ensure that our CDC guidelines to provide not only an educational In fact, the museum’s vice president of marketing everybody distant,” Bellmas says. visitors stay safe.” & operations, Armando Bellmas, says the The Light Factory is also offering its gallery center’s target date is closer to January 2021. space to Creating Exposure, a nonprofit that “We’re not a traditional museum or educates and mentors youth through the arts. gallery,” says Bellmas. “We’re more of an Creating Exposure will show their work in Behind the artist’s residency. We didn’t feel the need to open up right away to the public with an exhibition or anything like that.”

Last week The McColl Center welcomed four new artists-inresidence. The artists, hailing from Seattle, Baltimore, Brooklyn and Miami, have already moved into their studio spaces at the center and started working.

Given the state of the pandemic, Bellmas says that McColl programs and events normally taking place face-to-face will be moved to the CREATING A SAFE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT AT DISCOVERY PLACE digital realm. Open Studio Saturday, PHOTO BY GRANT BALDWIN in which people arrive at the facility experience but also a safe one. to meet the artists and engage in hands-on The painstaking process Horne undertook to art activities, will still take place in October Green Light but only online. An October art auction to Even though Discovery Place added Sundays make sure the museums’ floors were as safe as benefit the artists will also take place, but it to their schedule, their Uptown museums — possible is not an entirely unusual task among the Discovery Science and Discovery Nature — are museum workers and administrators Queen City will also be online.

“It will be an opportunity to put money only open on Saturdays and Sundays. Like Tuttle at Nerve surveyed. In fact, going the extra mile to “WHAT CAN WE FIX” AT THE LIGHT FACTORY in the artists’ pockets and also create The Light Factory, Horne and her staff at Discovery ensure safety seemed to be the norm. These are PHOTO BY MICHAEL ROBINSON awareness that artists are still creating devised a way to put buildings to good use during people dedicated to enriching their community, be it through science, education, art — or commontimes when they are dormant. work,” Bellmas offers.

Ink, a photography and film project that empowers Discovery Place is offering a program called sense safety standards.

Just like other facilities where people started a diverse group of people to tell the stories behind Kay Tuttle suggests the task is worth the effort going back to work after the initial lockdown, School Camp that uses the Uptown building Monday their tattoos. The show runs from late September to when you weigh the benefits of reopening museums McColl has implemented safety policies based on through Friday to support students. early October. “[Children] are not able to stay at home, or and galleries to the public. the governor’s mandate.

Later this fall, The Light Factory will host its “Art brings people together and helps us look Everybody wears masks and uses hand sanitizer, adults are not able to be at home, and the parents annual art auction, and in November the facility at life from someone else’s perspective,” she offers.

Bellmas says. Markings on the floor show people want their children in a productive learning will display the results of Seeing Voices: Unheard where to stand when waiting for the elevator, and environment,” Horne says of the program that serves “With the pandemic, hurricanes, wildfires and Community. In this workshop, developed in children attending Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools murders like George Floyd’s, it is important that we where to stand in the elevator. conjunction with the School for Good Citizenship, Even with four artists-in-residence, it will be (CMS). After students attend virtual school, they can come together as a community to listen and share participants added words to photographs to easy for artists and McColl staff to maintain social spend the rest of the day learning and experiencing our stories with empathy and compassion.” enhance the story the image told. distancing, Bellmas says. Each artist has their own science at Discovery Place.

Tuttle says the work will be displayed both in The But before Horne could allow campers or visitors studio. They can be in their space and keep the door INFO@QCNERVE.COM Light Factory’s gallery and out in the community. into the museum, she first had to go over the facility closed.

“The Light Factory is committing to being more

Fall

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Tough Ass Crew Pop-Up Art Gallery

The real and the virtual

BY RYAN PITKIN AND PAT MORAN

2020

With Gov. Cooper’s recent announcement that “Phase 2.5” of his reopening plan allows museums to open, folks around the city started gearing up for how they could safely reopen their doors to local arts lovers. We’ve got a look at what some of them have planned for this fall, but not just the museums, any and all culture and art you can find on your computer or out in the real world is below.

Sunshine Daydreams moved out of its 20-year home in NoDa and into a new space in downtown Mint Hill, but a coalition of more than 60 artists known as Tough Ass Crew wasted no time taking over the room while its future use remains in limbo. On Sept.

20, the crew launched a pop-up gallery in the space.

Just 15 people at a time are allowed in the gallery, where consignment art from local artists hangs on walls freshly sprayed by muralists like Stencil Spray, Arko & Owl, Sydney Duarte, Mike Wirth, Backwoods TOUGH ASS CREW POP-UP OPENING PHOTO BY KATE GALINDO Barbie, Marcher Arrant and more. It’s unclear how long the crew will be showing art in the former head guidebook highlighting the significant modernist shop, as they are currently subleasing the space from Evening Muse, where owners are deciding between Midcentury Modern Home features of each home. Modernism expert George Smart will share examples of the best midcentury expanding or bringing a new tenant into the space. Tour modern design in Charlotte and explain how it Check them out while you can.

Charlotte’s only midcentury modern home tour More: 3225 N. Davidson St., Tues.-Sun., 10 a.m.-9 is back for its ninth year starting Saturday, Sept. 26, relates to the global modernist movement, starting with Bauhaus art and design in the 1920s and 1930s. p.m.; Instagram: @toughasscrew this time as a virtual tour.

More: Sept. 26, 6 p.m.; $20-$30; The 2020 tour will feature 360-degree virtual madaboutmodern.com tours of three homes in the Coventry Woods, ‘Yellow Submarine’ On one level, Yellow Submarine, the 1968 Eastover and Grove Park neighborhoods. The homes animated film featuring The Beatles, is flower power were built from the 1950s, the height of midcentury The Charlotte Film Festival The 17th Annual Charlotte Film Festival goes trapped in amber, an artifact of its time. But on modern architecture, to the 1970s, when the style’s virtual for 2020, spotlighting documentaries, another level, this simple story of how the fab four popularity began to fade. The houses showcase key narrative features, student films and shorts. The rescue Pepperland from a pack of Blue Meanies is elements of midcentury modern design, including a sophisticated project that transcends time. While asymmetrical profiles, expansive windows, open festival’s opening night film, 12 Hour Shift, is a the animation is not full motion, the colorful graphic floor plans and living areas that blur the line darkly comedic satirical tale of a black-market organ design is a marvel, including references to Peter between indoor and outdoor. Ticket holders will hospital heist gone horribly wrong. It may be the Max, M.C. Escher and Rene Magritte. The movie’s get exclusive access to tours, along with a digital perfect embodiment of the “Discover Different” mission of the festival. Other highlights include the clip art mélange of images prefigures the cut and paste animation of Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam.

Need we mention that with 11 Beatles tunes, the music is pretty good too? The outdoor screening at Eastway Crossing Shopping Center is presented

by Visart Video, Tommy’s Pub, East Side Local and the Charlotte Film Society. It features the restored 4K theatrical version of the film with remixed 5.1 stereo surround sound. Visart Video will sell popcorn and candy, East Side Local will sell food, and the film will be projected on the pub wall.

More: Donations accepted; Sept. 29, 7:09 p.m.; Eastway Crossing Shopping Center, 3124 Eastway THE BEATLES IN PEPPERLAND IN ‘YELLOW SUBMARINE’ Drive; tinyurl.com/YellowSubEastCLT PHOTO CORTESY OF SUBAFILMS LTD.

documentary Run For His Life, a moving story of a man entering a marathon for personal reasons, and Stucco, a study of agoraphobia that attains the intensity of psychological horror. More: $7-50; Sept.

23-27; charlottefilmfestival.org/

IAA Art Fundraiser

Inspiring Athletes and Academics (IAA), a nonprofit that supports underserved youth in Charlotte through free tutoring and athletic training, is set to host a month of celebration and fundraising throughout October. Pilot Brewing, Lower Left Brewery, Lenny Boy Brewing Co., and over 20 local and regional artists are participating in the art auction charity fundraiser. An exciting variety of custom art will be displayed both on-site at the breweries and on IAA’s website. The proceeds from the fundraisers will enable IAA to continue providing high-quality tutoring to underserved students in need.

More: Pilot Brewing, 1331 Central Ave., 104; Lower Left Brewing Co., 4528 Nations Crossing Road; Lenny Boy Brewing Co., 3000 S. Tryon St.; iaaathletics.com

Satarah Presents ‘Shadows’

Satarah, a fire, movement, and aerial arts troupe anchored by Satya Jvala (Katie Rothweiler) and Sarah Hahn presents a digital show Shadows. The event features dancers, aerialists, fire performers and more in what promises to be a visually astounding encore performance. “In 2019, we presented something very unique,” Rothweiler says.

“On the hottest day of the year thus far, we packed 85 people into our non-air conditioned space and shared some deep, dark and intimate pieces with our audience. It was a beautiful and at some points intense evening ... and we’re bringing it back! This evening will be about honoring the shadow sides of ourselves, the part that we may not often share with the world.” The performance will be livestreamed from Satarah’s performance arts training studio Bloom Movement Artistry.

More: TBA; Nov. 7; satarahpresents.com/

Levine Museum Exhibits

The Levine Museum of the New South continues its pioneering work with augmented reality by adding new aspects to the long-running exhibit Cotton Fields to Skyscrapers, allowing museumgoers to interact with Harvey Gantt, Hugh McColl and Dorothy Counts-Scoggins. The new additions add to the use of augmented reality in the museum’s Brooklyn: Once a City Within a City exhibit, which opened last fall and will remain open for those who weren’t able to check it out before the coronavirus closed everything down.

Other exhibits include It Happened Here: Lynching and Remembrance, #HomeCLT: People. Places.

Promises., and CountingUP: What’s On Your Ballot. The museum is open Friday-Monday, with one hour on Saturday mornings (9-10 a.m.) reserved for elderly and at-risk folks.

More: 200 E. 7th St.; Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sunday, Noon5 p.m.; Monday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; $8-$10; museumofthenewsouth.org

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‘Classic Black’

When Mint Museum’s Randolph location shut down to help stem the rising tide of COVID-19 last March, it meant that one of the facility’s most innovative exhibits also had to pull the plug less than a month after it opened.

Now Classic Black: The Basalt Sculpture of Wedgwood and his Contemporaries is back. It’s a conjoined sculpture and mural exhibit, the confluence of 18th-century English sculptor Josiah Wedgwood’s black basalt pottery and the colorful and immersive murals of contemporary Charlotte street artist Owl. Fortunately, Mint Randolph was able to hold onto all the pieces they had borrowed from private collections and other museums, so Wedgwood’s distinctive obsidian-hued ceramics are surrounded, contrasted and cradled by murals dominated by Owl’s distinctive “blobs,” line drawings of amoeba-like shapes that spiral in successive iterations like fractals.

More: Free-$15; Reopens September 25; Tuesday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.; Wednesday, 11 a.m.–9 p.m.; Thurs.Sat., 11 a.m.–6 p.m; Sunday, 1 p.m.–5 p.m.; 2730 Randolph Road; mintmuseum.org/mint-museumrandolph/

‘New Days/New Works’

New Days/New Works is an interconnected series of exhibits drawn across all the different collections and departments within Mint Museum Uptown, says

the Mint’s Senior Curator of American Art Jonathan Stuhlman. Centered on the strikingly colorful acrylic painting “With Side, With Shoulder” by Brooklynbased artist Summer Wheat, the exhibit also features the Campana Brothers large snaking sofa composed free-form, multiple stuffed textiles. “It was inspired by shapes of crocodiles in their native Brazil,” Stuhlman says. Another eye-catching piece is Pilar Albarracín’s “Ceiling for Offerings,” made of hundreds of flamenco dresses.

More: Free-$15; Reopens Sept. 25, Tues., 11 a.m.–6 p.m.; Weds., 11 a.m.–9 p.m.; Thurs., 11 a.m.– 6 p.m; Fri., 11 a.m.– 9 p.m.; Sat. 11 a.m.–6 p.m.; Sun., 1 p.m.–5 p.m.; 500 S. Tryon St.; mintmuseum.org

JazzArts Charlotte

JazzArts is a Queen City gem, a music organization that develops an audience for jazz and foments community involvement through education, performance and musician support.

Throughout the fall, JazzArts provides a weekly virtual jazz fix.

Live from Crown, free on Facebook Live and YouTube Live, features interactive livestreamed performances by artists such as saxophonist Harvey Cummings II, guitarist Amos Hoffman, and guitarist Luther Allison. JazzArts also offers a series of online youth and adult jazz workshops running from 8 to 12 weeks for $100 to $250. Instructors include

acoustic and duo-acoustic singer-songwriters such as Kenya Templeton & Shannon Grier and Ali Steele & Katera, hosted by vocalist, composer, musician Arsena Schroeder and streamed live from The Cube.

Every third Sunday through November, Dapper Street Presents “The Dope Jazz Music Series,” where Charlotte musicians pay tribute to jazz greats. On Nov. 15, Dawn Anthony sings Dee Dee Bridgewater.

Also streaming from The Cube, the “Jazz N Soul Live Music Series” features The Kevin Jones Experience on October 3, and Reggie Graves and Jazz Theory on October 10.

More: Free; Dates and times vary; cubenoda.com/

Charlotte Symphony

The Charlotte Symphony (CSO) recently announced details for a reimagined fall season in which all previously scheduled live concerts through Dec. 6 will be replaced with an array of virtual concerts and smaller-format/limited-capacity live outdoor performances as safety permits.

The Charlotte Symphony will work to gradually phase in live, indoor audiences as local conditions safely allow, according to a release.

MIDCENTURY MODERN HOME TOUR PHOTO COURTESY OF CHARLOTTE MUSEUM OF HISTORY Music Director Christopher Warren-Green will open the series by leading a socially distanced string orchestra in Grieg’s Holberg Suite for Strings and Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, Oct. 23 at 7:30 p.m. Maestro WarrenGreen will also conduct Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzes and Dvořák’s Serenade for Strings on Nov. 20 at 7:30 p.m.

Resident Conductor Christopher James Lees will conduct a concert of Americana music including works by Copland, ColeridgeTaylor, Grainger, and John Williams, Nov. 6, 2020 at 7:30 p.m. Lees will also lead a string ‘RUN FOR HIS LIFE’ WILL SCREEN AT THE CHARLOTTE FILM FESTIVAL STILL FROM MOVIE orchestra in Mendelssohn’s Sinfonia No. 7 in D minor and Caroline Shaw’s Entr’Acte, Dec. 4, guitarist Troy Conn, drummer Alfred Sergel IV and 2020 at 7:30 p.m.

Gantt Center Exhibits vocalist Dawn Anthony.

CSO’s popular ON TAP series also returns with six The Gantt Center for African-American Arts + More: Free-$250; Various days and times; concerts in NoDa Brewing Company’s beer garden.

Culture reopens on Oct. 1 and will launch a brand new thejazzarts.org/ These intimate orchestra experiences can be enjoyed exhibit. Inter|Sectionality: Diaspora Art from the Creole in-person or streamed live from your living room.

City comes from a commitment to showcase the Jazz and Soul Music from More: Dates, times and prices vary. Various days works of artists that represent a broad spectrum of the and times; charlottesymphony.org The Cube African Diaspora. This global exhibition represents 25 Cube NoDa is an art space that nurtures Miami-based artists, 17 countries and two Charlotte musicians, dancers, actors and visual artists while guest artists: Monique Luck and Stephanie J. Woods. featuring their talents through a series of special More: Prices vary; Reopens Oct. 1, Thurs.-Fri., events. Every third Thursday through December, Noon–6 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Sunday, Dear Soul Music presents “Unplugged+Live.”

Noon-6 p.m.; 551 S. Tryon St.; ganttcenter.org The virtual series features performances by solo-

MUSIC FEATURE

which was wonderful,” Farber recalls. “But then we scaled-back music and nightlife scene. venues and theaters afloat, as well as other grants. started hearing about COVID-19.”

“We wanted to give Charlotte a place to hear “We’re asking that people on the city council, After one more sold-out show on the second live music again,” he offers. One of Farber’s main people who have some money to appropriate, to weekend in March, Farber pulled the plug. missions from the start has been to host a platform consider doing so for all the folks like us.”

“We went from boom to bust quickly,” he says “It where musicians can play.

Farber allows that he’s found a few friendly was very depressing.”

“These guys have been out of work for two and a ears, such as city council member Larken Egleston, But Farber also knew that the mandated shut- half to three months,” Farber says. who represents the Uptown area, and he lauds the Middle C Jazz remains the down was the right thing to do if North Carolina was Since relaunching last spring, the club has efforts of Center City Partners’ Senior Vice President only music venue open in a ever going to stem the tide of COVID-19. slowly but steadily rebuilt its audience. Recently, of Community and Economic Development Richard pandemic “I’m a Charlottean, a father, a husband, and I Farber says he’s seen a shift in momentum, with the Thurmond to help small music venues. have two elderly parents,” Farber says. “I care greatly venue coming closer to maximum reduced capacity.

“To be honest, it’s really easy for me to be selfish

BY PAT MORAN about Charlotte and I put my own best economic This means staff has become doubly vigilant and say, ‘We want this. We want that,’” Farber says. interests well behind that.” with a laundry list of safety precautions, including “But I know that they’re being pulled in a lot of Larry Farber distinctly remembers one particular Farber’s patience paid off in May when Gov. Roy taking patrons’ temperatures, removing almost directions to help support all kinds of businesses.” show at Middle C Jazz in May. He was watching the Cooper loosened restrictions with Phase 2 of his two-thirds of the club’s chairs and tables to ensure As of this writing, more than 1,000 independent audience as well as the musicians at venues have come together across his Uptown music venue, thrilled to the country to form the National see producer and keyboardist Rodney Independent Venue Association, which Shelton taking the stage with R&B aims to support local venues and help vocalist Robyn Springer. But that’s not them lobby for aid. why it was special.

The club relief picture is also It was the first show Middle C Jazz complicated by alcohol. had hosted since March, when the club, Last July, video surfaced of along with others across the state, establishments skirting public safety went on a COVID-19-imposed hiatus. restrictions put in place to staunch “It was like having been on a the tide of COVID-19. The footage of hunger strike and not having eaten for tightly packed, unmasked crowds at weeks, and you get that first morsel of local restaurants and bars prompted food,” Farber says. “It puts you over the Charlotte City Council to ban alcohol mountain.” sales at such establishments after 10 That satisfying view from the p.m. Gov. Cooper extended the ban mountaintop had been hard-won. statewide later that month, although Farber, a music industry veteran he raised the cut-off for sales to 11 p.m. who started booking acts in 1973 with Farber is aware that a few clubs’ talent agency Hit Attractions, had reckless disregard for public safety can originally opened Middle C Jazz last tar all such venues with the same brush, November. With a strategic Uptown but he says the alcohol curfew has had location at 300 S. Brevard St, proximity little effect on Middle C Jazz. Most of the PHOTO BY GRANT BALDWIN to the light rail line and an on-site THE ERIC BRICE GROUP PERFORMS TO A REDUCED-CAPACITY AUDIENCE AT MIDDLE C JAZZ CLUB. club’s shows end before 11 p.m. anyway. restaurant, the music club was a sound Farber is emphatic that he does not business venture. But it was much more than that. reopening plan. Because they were a restaurant as proper distancing between visitors, and putting up feel his industry has been targeting by politicians.

“It’s been [my] dream for well over a decade to well as a sit-down club, Middle C Jazz was allowed to protective Plexiglas in the venue’s entryway. In the “When the governor put those things in effect, have a world-class jazz club in Charlotte,” Farber told open again with limited seating capacity, a privilege bathroom, they only use every other sink and toilet. nobody, in my opinion, was trying to hurt any one Queen City Nerve last fall, “one that would rival the not afforded any other live music venues in town.

“I couldn’t live with myself if we weren’t doing particular business,” he offers. “They’re trying to clubs that I’ve experienced throughout the country.”

“We’ve been open ever since,” Farber offers. The everything humanly possible to keep everybody bring down COVID, and they’re asking us to make With the club’s successful launch last year, venue is allowed to seat 60 to 70 people per show safe,” Farber says. sacrifices to do so. I get that.”

Charlotte finally had its top shelf music venue, one under current guidelines.

At the same time, Middle C Jazz has joined other He feels the regulations are reasonable and named after the middle note on a piano’s keyboard, Though Farber and his business partners, which businesses in pleading their case for economic aid data-driven, and he only asks for the assurance that one that hit the sweet spot for Farber’s lifelong include his sons Adam and Reid, are aware that they from the state government and city council. Options once trends head in the right direction that some of dream. can’t break even under these conditions, they’ve include the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic the restrictions will be eased.

Then last March, as the coronavirus surged jumped at the chance to open their doors and keep Security (CARES) Act, a federal response to the But all the financial aid and safety precautions through communities, the country began to close them open. economic fallout from pandemic, and the proposed will be for naught if people don’t come through the for business. After being open for only four months, One reason for reopening, says Farber, is that the Save Our Stages (SOS) Act, which would provide club door, Farber maintains.

Farber was forced to put shutters on his dream. club wanted to retain a pulse in the city’s admittedly six months of financial support to keep live music To that end, Farber and his crew took care in “We had sold out the first weekend in March

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KEEP THE MUSIC GOING

MUSIC FEATURE

Pg. 15 SEP 23 - OCT 6, 2020 - QCNERVE.COM

preparing their club before it opened, implementing a design focused on providing the best acoustics, and then augmenting the room with a state-ofthe-art sound system, the best technicians on the soundboard and a four-camera system for live streaming. The result is a room absolutely perfect for musicians, Farber maintains.

But even that is not enough to make Middle C Jazz a go-to destination for music fans.

“For us, programming is everything,” Farber offers. “You can have a beautiful club, but if it’s not programmed properly then it won’t work.”

When Middle C Jazz launched last November, Farber recruited Jonathan Gellman to book the venue’s shows. It was a savvy decision given Gellman’s familiarity with the local jazz scene. In the 1980s and early ’90s Gellman owned and operated Jonathan’s Jazz Cellar at the corner of 7th and North Tryon streets. The Uptown venue shut down in 1992 after a successful 10-year run.

Then, about three months ago, Middle C Jazz and Gellman parted ways, with Gellman launching arts lab and performance space The Cube in south Charlotte. Farber, who has been booking acts for

47 years, took over programming responsibilities, assisted by his son Reid. The pairing makes for a complementary team, Farber says. “[Reid’s] in the [music] business, and he offers a different perspective with great ideas,” he says.

With an average of five shows a week — one on Thursday, two a piece on Friday and Saturday, plus the occasional Sunday gig — the Farbers’ booking philosophy can be summed up best with the word “eclectic.”

“We took a look at the word jazz,” Farber offers.

“For me, jazz means improvisation, a more creative form of expressing music which captures everything from classical, smooth and funk jazz, as well as rhythm and blues, and more.”

Farber points to a recent weekend that kicked off with Brazilian jazz, with a show spotlighting Brazilian artist Reinaldo Brahn paired with legendary Charlotte session drummer Jim Brock, who has played with Joe Walsh, Joan Baez, Kathy Mattea, Joe Cocker, Janis Ian and more. Later that same weekend, Cuban Music filled the hall, when the Buena Vista Legacy Band took the Middle C stage.

Future shows will feature still more Charlotte artists. Jazz and soul bassist John Shaughnessy, an artist equally at home with freestyle and funky, plays on October 1. Jazz drummer and songwriter

Alfred Sergel IV takes the stage on October 22.

Farber is particularly psyched for the club’s run of shows from Oct. 8-10. The headliner will be classically trained, Emmy Award-winning actor Keith David (Crash, Platoon and the series Greenleaf on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network). In addition to his versatile acting and voiceover work, Keith is also an accomplished singer.

“He’s coming in and performing with Maria Howell and Noel Freidline, who in my opinion are the best jazz and R&B artists in Charlotte,” Farber says. “I think the show will be off-the-charts phenomenal.”

The Farbers have also embraced technical innovation for their bills. Several acts offer streaming versions of their club gigs at Middle C Jazz, in a kind of online simulcast. The idea to offer live-streamed versions of in-person shows was a product of COVID-19, Farber offers.

“We realized with our limited [seating] capacity that there were a lot of people who still wanted to stay at home and see our shows.” So, the Farbers made a major investment in digital cameras to livestream several of their shows.

Feedback for the Farbers’ bookings and innovations have been overwhelmingly positive.

Farber says people come up to him to thank him for reopening his club and bringing live music back to Charlotte. Since reopening in May, Farber

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say he delights in watching audiences react to the performances on the Middle C stage.

“I look and see people’s faces and their expressions and know that they really love [it],” he says. “It’s a rewarding experience.”

Nevertheless, the debate over reopening music venues still rages in Charlotte and across the country. When it comes to opening safely, a central argument rebounds back and forth. We need to open up sooner because of the dire economic impact of staying closed, one camp maintains.

The counter argument insists that if we just follow data-based precautions, we won’t be getting the kind of COVID-19 spikes that have set reopening back to square one.

“The sooner other restaurants and pubs open, the better it will be for them,” says Farber. He cites a New York Times article from early September that says if the situation continues for another 13 weeks, many restaurants and clubs won’t survive.

“It’s a fine balance of opening as soon as possible, but not at the cost of closing again after two or three weeks because we didn’t do things right,” Farber says. “That hurts us way more than waiting another week or two.”

PMORAN@QCNERVE.COM

FOOD & DRINK FEATURE

VEGAN GEMS

Knowing where to look for Charlotte’s best plant-based menu items

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BY JASIATIC ANDERSON

I became a plant-eating person 26ish years ago. As a Charlotte native, pickings were slim here. Remember Kelly’s Cafe on North Davidson Street, when it was actually an arts district? To my knowledge this was the first vegetarian restaurant (circa 2000) and it was only around for a moment.

Despite the lack of vegan and vegetarian restaurants during that time, I along with my small vegan children needed options. Who loves to cook and nurse all day every day? Nah. Not this girl.

I want to highlight those that held me and my budding babies down — and not just the exclusively vegan spots you can find on a Google search, but the ones with hidden gems on a mostly meat-eating menu. Some of these restaurants may not have been around quite that long, but they all still hold a special place in my food heart.

Ben Thanh Restaurant

1806 Windsor Square Drive, Matthews; facebook.com/benthanhcharlotte I live to see the owner’s smiling face. Back in the day they worked at another amazing Vietnamese restaurant, but that’s not my story to tell. It’s like seeing old friends from back home and they know just what to make you. What can I say ... Ben Thanh has enormous flavor and is it’s own wonderful entity.

What to eat: Fresh rice noodles with tofu. Just the right amount of garlic, oil and love. The pineapple fried rice; it’s beautiful! Also, just eat anything that they can make vegan for you. Listen, it’s all good.

Tell someone you’re a foodie and a vegan and watch the dissatisfaction spread across their face.

“You can’t really be a foodie because... you know...?”

I don’t.

Kabab-Je Gone are the days (mostly) where lay people 2233 Matthews Township Pkwy., Matthews; imagine iceberg lettuce as the idealized feast of their kababje.com best vegan friend. “We got salad!” (eyes bright). “I’m Where do I start? This Mediterranean and good sis” *blinks* (I’d rather eat cardboard).

Lang Van Lebanese spot opened a new south Charlotte Listen, I like greens and all of the accoutrements 3019 Shamrock Drive; 704-531-9525 location in the Stonecrest shopping center in 2017, that I imagine a salad to be, but I can’t trust people that If you don’t already know, you’ve been missing treat their vegetables like a side piece. You have to grow out on this east-side staple. And if you do know, giving you more options.

What to eat: Mujadara ... because baby these a thing, love it, massage and be patient. Steam alone then you’ve gone home with a bottle of wine on onions! It’s like they’ve been caramelizing for days. does not do it. And bagged salad won’t work here.

The cauliflower; it’s the As I write this, I’m in best. No breading, no silly my brother’s Texas home names, no pretend chicken, awaiting a connecting just slathers of Tahini and flight to Oaxaca, the yum. The spicy Lebanese gastronomic capital of salad is perfect and the Mexico — and maybe the potato harra will make you world, I’ll have you know. slap someone. Add toum ...

It’s the birthplace of mole forget about it. (I love garlic ... MOLE y’all!!! Oaxacan if you can’t tell.) cuisine is based on beans, corn, chiles ... ancestral Le’s Sandwiches foods.

In fact, much of the food & Cafe that we consume outside of 4520 N. Tryon St.; what is deemed American lesbanhmishop.com cuisine holds these truths.

It’s tucked in the Asian Trust the basics. Eat from the Corners shopping center, earth. Gather more often LANG VAN ON SHAMROCK DRIVE PHOTO BY JAYME JOHNSON but if you grew up here you than not. just call it Tryon Mall.

I love all the foods. I love What to eat: Vegan bahn mi, of course. That’s all your birthday and a warm sesame ball on lucky days. the magic and creativity of what it takes to make a What to eat: #123 forever. An amazement of they do. They do this, however you want, right before reeeally good vegan carbonara (that’s my new shit to vegetables and garlic sauce with the starchiest of your eyes. They are Bahn Mi pros and your taste buds make). I love to play in the kitchen and I love to eat. rice. Get it spicy ... even if you’re not. There’s also will confirm. Bring cash. Be there before 5.

A solid “vegan restaurant” elicits both excitement and #62, unless you wanna roll your own spring rolls gratitude. Honestly, there’s nothing like it. (there is a dish for that, too), but this lemongrass Thai House - University Flavor is my forte. I grew up on hot fish in the goodness wrapped in rice paper is a meal of it’s own.

230 E. W.T. Harris Blvd., B9; thaihouse.us.com black pot, grits with loads of butter, fat back that’s Oh, and if sweet tea is your thing ... theirs does “Sometimes you wanna go ... Where everybody simultaneously crispy and melting. How is that not disappoint. Who knew? You do now. knows your name” even possible?! It’s all magic baby. Food should be a Seriously, these folks have watched my children mouth-watering whimsical delight. grow up. Imagine being vegan 20-plus years ago

and having tofu as the only faithful meat substitute and then — bam! — mock duck!

What to eat: Sweet and sour mock duck with rice. Any curry (I love the red, my children love the Massaman) with mock duck or tofu. The best fried spring rolls. Fried tofu appetizer (extra crispy, please). For lunch they will bring out a soup that’s almost always vegan (just ask). The lunch specials are plentiful; try Pad Krapow if basil is your thing. For dinner, if no one’s counting the carbs, Pad Woosen (why is this so good?). The jasmine sweet tea is one of a kind and there are refills (who does that??).

Cedar Land

4832 Central Ave.; (704) 535-9662 Remember when there was a full-service restaurant adjacent to the Cedar Land grocery store? I do. Although I was saddened to see it go, I was thrilled that the kitchen still exists! You can get almost anything that your eastern dream palate desires at this store, including plenty of injera options. Before you shop though, put in an order.

What to eat: The falafel sandwich (the best one in Charlotte). The fries taste like my childhood. The spinach pies are delectable and the fattoush is on point.

BerryBrook Farms

1257 East Blvd.; berrybrookfarm.com You know, the spot with the red wagon outside.

Your grandma gets her alkaline water from here, but it’s not just herbs and vitamins. Once upon a time I worked in this kitchen. We made soups, smoothies and possibly the only veggie burger in town. Before “beyond” when it was “impossible” to find a simple plant-based burger, BerryBrook had it on lock. I learned a lot, mostly about food integrity. “The juice bar” as it’s affectionately called, is to be trusted.

What to eat: Soup of the day; just ask them to taste the daily options. The veggie burger (soft and yummy, get in my tummy!). The black bean burrito (hold the olives for me). A Funky Monkey when your mind says smoothie but your heart wants a milkshake. Also grab one of those cold spinach pies from Sami’s Bakery out of the cooler. Eat it cold, in the car, warmed up near or far ... just eat it.

We are ever grateful for all of the exclusively vegan spots that are always holding us down. But for those of us that have been in the game a while it’s always good to keep expanding and finding the hidden gems.

For the full list, visit qcnerve.com.

INFO@QCNERVE.COM

We’re kind of opening, kind of not, so not all of these are virtual events as we were highlighting at the beginning of the lockdown, but plenty are. COVID is still going strong, so party at your own risk.

‘TUNE IN’

moms and corporate professionals — who all have What: Don’t touch that dial! If you’re planning one thing in common, the ink that links them. on enjoying some innovate art at Mint Museum More: Price TBA; Sept. 25-Oct. 9; The Light Factory; Uptown’s Sept. 25 opening, you’re in for a bonus 1817 Central Ave.; creatingexposure.com exhibit. Tune In, a 12-foot-tall diorama fashioned like a very large television, will sit in the plaza in LUA FLORA front of Mint Museum Uptown for the next two What: Cultivated in the mountains of North weeks and is designed to let people view the art Carolina, Asheville’s Lua Flora is a floral mixture of in a responsible and socially distanced manner. Six reggae and world folk. In a variety of formats, the vintage televisions inside the diorama showcase a trio has played together for more than six years, multi-media collage that Charlotte artist Rick Lazes and members have opened for bands such as and local filmmaker Seth Koch created to examine Satsang and Dangermuffin. Lua Flora is comprised television shows from the 1960’s. The video content of Evan Button (vocals, guitar), Sean Gorham (bass, includes clips from I Love Lucy, The Jeffersons, Sanford charango), and Hinton Edgerton (mandolin, bass, and Son and Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood combined harmony vocals). On Aug. 14, Lua Flora released with speeches from influential leaders from that era their debut single. Attendees of this all-ages show including John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. are required to follow strict CDC guidelines.

More: Free; Sept. 25–Oct. 4.; Mint Museum More: Free, Sept. 25, 6 p.m.; Camp North End, Uptown, 500 S. Tryon St.; Keswick Stage, 1701 N Graham St.; biglink.to/luaflora qcnerve.com/uptown-art-installation/

BAKALAO STARS

What: Serving up rock-steady Latin reggae since 2002, Charlotte rock en español veterans Bakalao Stars helped launch Charlotte’s 2004-’09 alternative Latin boom. That wave has subsided, but the Stars remain, growing richer, deeper and funkier. The band consistently delivers a message of dignity and respect, but never forgets to set hips snaking. And always at the core of their grooves is a celebration of the transformative power of music. The Queen City Streams Series live-stream performance is powered

by Mandolin.

More: $10; Sept. 30, 7 p.m.; tinyurl.com/Bakalao

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‘BEHIND THE INK’

What: Charlotteans have taken the chance to share their tattoos and the stories behind them. Creating Exposure and The Light Factory presents “Behind The Ink,” an interactive, multi-disciplinary visual arts exhibit, which showcases vivid images and a short film documentary about people from various races, cultures, ethnicity and age groups that tell stories behind their tattoos. The exhibit explores similarities among various identities and shares dialogue across their differences. The series of photo workshops, digital images and video has captured Charlotte residents — professional athletes, stay-at-home

NO MORE STOLEN LIVES RALLY AND MARCH

What: Seeking Justice CLT is sending out the call for the Charlotte community to come together, stand tall and find solutions to stop the killing and violence in the city’s communities. Organizers are asking those who have lost a family member or loved one to violence to come out and bring pictures and signs with their loved ones’ names so they will not be forgotten and that their sacrifice will be honored. #TogetherWeCanCreateChange More: Sept. 26, 6 p.m.; Black Lives Matter Mural, South Tryon St.; rallylist.com/no-more-stolen-livesrally-march/

MECKTOBERFEST

What: If we can open the museums, why not make room for beer? Olde Mecklenburg Brewery’s 12th annual Mecktoberfest is spread over three days and claims the largest biergarten in the South. The celebration of brats and suds will take place on OMB’s 10.5-acre wooded grounds, which offers plenty of well-spaced seating outdoors and on a covered patio. Expect pretzels, lederhosen, sausages, dirndls and bier-filled steins. The Holzhackern Tyrolean Band will be playing high-energy arrangements of traditional Bavarian songs that include audience

participation, dancing and sing-alongs. Other bands on the bill will be playing a mix of bluegrass, rock, covers and country.

More: Free; Sept. 25-27, Olde Mecklenburg Brewery, 4150 Yancey Rd.; oldemeckbrew.com

CHARLOTTE FILM SOCIETY’S VIRTUAL SCREENING ROOM

EXPLORE MORE FUTURE LAB

What: Welcome back to the wonder! Explore and test the future through hands-on learning at the reopened Discovery Place Science in Uptown Charlotte. The newly reimagined lab invites adults and children to play, investigate and discover chemistry, physics and all things S.T.E.M. Museum visitors get a chance to experiment with forces that are controlled only by the laws of physics and chemistry. Patrons can access their inner scientist, put on their thinking caps and immerse themselves in the world of physical sciences — even exploring the fascinating technology behind 3D printers. The lab is constantly evolving but it always includes dynamic activities that provide opportunities to explore big ideas through inquiry. Reservations are required and tickets must be purchased online.

More: Free-$19; Saturday and Sunday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Discovery Place Science, 301 N Tryon St.; science.discoveryplace.org/explore/labs/exploremore-future

What: Once again the Charlotte Film Society culls and rejuvenates their collection of foreign and indie art films that you can’t see anywhere else. “It’s a look behind that T-shirt you just bought on sale for $9.99 at The Gap, and the human labor, sweat and suffering that went into it,” said the Hollywood Reporter about the drama Made in Bangladesh. In this urgent cry for human rights, a young woman working in a garment factory starts a union despite threats from her boss and her family’s disapproval. In the taut Japanese thriller A Girl is Missing, a private nurse’s life unravels when her nephew becomes involved in a kidnapping. In the Colombian drama Days of the Whale, two young graffiti artists defy a street gang. It’s a battle between art and power that ENCORE DRIVE-IN NIGHTS FEATURthe artists aren’t ready for, but it’s one they have to ING KANE BROWN undertake.

What: Initially attracted to R&B, multi-racial, genreMore: $10-12 for 72 hours; charlottefilmsociety.com bending singer Kane Brown later embraced country, and his first single, “Don’t Go City on Me,” went viral upon release in 2014. His self-titled debut album LIVE CONVERSATION WITH JULIE dropped in 2016, and in 2018, Experiment cemented GRAHAM What: The Light Factory’s 12th Juried Annuale his hold on post millennial country. Despite its is a photography competition that showcases title, Brown’s most recent LP is less iconoclastic challenging and inventive new work from than its predecessor. Brown drops some of his R&B photographers throughout the international affectations for a more traditional “country” voice, photographic community. From traditional to and he steps away from vulnerable confessionals to digital, still and moving, all photographic techniques embrace smooth Southern grooves. Brown is slick and approaches were welcome, and juror Julie without being calculated, and his eclectic country is Graham chose five compelling artists from a wide a damn-sight closer to real life and honest-to-God range of talented applicants who submitted work. people than the holy trinity of beer, tan lines and Graham has licensed thousands of images, reviewed tailgating that dominates the late-but-unlamented hundreds of portfolios, sold untold prints, judged bro country of craven performers like Billy Currington dozens of competitions and published a handful and Luke Bryan. Encore Drive-In Nights features a of websites, including her pride and joy, full screen never-before-seen Brown show that was recorded magazine aCurator. Registration is required for the live, exclusively for this one-night-only event. The pre-show features Granger Smith. online exhibition and live conversation.

More: $76 per car; September 26, 8 p.m.; Hounds More: Free; Sept. 24, 7 p.m.; lightfactory.org Drive-In, 114 Raven Circle, Kings Mountain; houndsdrivein.com/

Pg. 18 SEP 23 - OCT 6, 2020 - QCNERVE.COM

LIFESTYLE PUZZLES

LIFESTYLE PUZZLES SUDOKU

BY LINDA THISTLE

PLACE A NUMBER IN THE EMPTY BOXES IN SUCH A WAY THAT EACH ROW ACROSS, EACH COLUMN DOWN AND EACH SMALL 9-BOX SQUARE CONTAINS ALL OF THE NUMBERS ONE TO NINE. ©2020 King Feautres Syndicate, Inc. All rights reserved.

TRIVIA TEST

BY FIFI RODRIGUEZ

1. GEOGRAPHY: Which modern city was originally named Byzantium?

2. AD SLOGANS: Which national company’s slogan is “We’ll leave a light on for you”?

3. ANATOMY: Which bone are babies born without?

4. HISTORY: Which European monarch was known as the “Sun King”?

5. GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: What is Samhain?

6. MEDICAL TERMS: What is the condition formally known as diastema?

7. ART: Which famous painting is also known as “La Gioconda”?

8. LITERATURE: Where does Winnie-the-Pooh live with his friends?

9. MUSIC: Which country is the rock group AC/DC from?

10. FOOD & DRINK: What is the primary ingredient in traditional hummus?

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Renounces the throne 10 Hexa- plus two 14 Best results possible 20 Right Guard, e.g.

21 Oom- -- (polka sounds) 22 Drink of beer after a shot 23 2014 Oscar show host 25 In a position facing 26 Standing in good -27 “Put it -- tab” 28 Tiny charge carrier 29 In times past 30 Grazing site 32 Sociologist who coined “survival of the fittest” 36 La-la lead-in 39 Mushroom variety 41 Tavern 42 Author and activist on Alabama’s state quarter 45 Little -- (tots) 46 Appends 50 Egg shapes 51 Get defeated 52 “Kapow!”

54 Bar garnish 55 Kosovo citizen 56 LXX / X 57 He wrote “He’s Just Not That Into You” with Liz Tuccillo 61 Ticklish red Muppet 62 Dawn direction 64 A, in Argentina 65 Part of many German names 66 Suffix with lion or seer 67 Player of Colonel Klink on “Hogan’s Heroes”

72 -- -pitch 75 “The Catch” network 76 Wedded 77 Verve 78 Verge 82 “The Pink Panther” co-star 86 “-- you with me?”

87 End a flight 88 Bird-related 89 Tahiti, par exemple 90 Posterior 92 Egyptian peninsula 93 Vapor 94 Guitar’s kin, for short 96 Longtime “What’s My Line?” panelist 98 Amer. body with 100 members 102 “Aladdin” figure 103 Cagey 104 1965-66 poet laureate 108 Chichi retreat 110 Coop cackler 111 PC key 112 Mani- -113 “There Is Nothin’ Like --” 117 Not tardy 119 “Nurse Betty” star 124 Vexes 125 A hat hides it 126 Deviations 127 Drive home 128 Finds to be refined 129 Small-stakes poker DOWN 1 Fruit drinks 2 Boxing prize 3 Portion (out) 4 Utopian

5 Denounces 6 Ending for dull or drunk 7 -- kwon do 8 Mem. of the U.K. 9 Canonized Fr. woman 10 Where drinks are on the host 11 Monterey County city 12 “-- playing our song” 13 Balking beast 14 Ink-squirting sea creature 15 Gives a ring 16 “I taut I -- a puddy tat!”

17 Newton who was knighted 18 Come together 19 Enthusiasm 24 --’easter (storm type) 28 Currently has the stage 31 Just fine 32 Hint-offering columnist 33 Architectural add-ons 34 Twiddled digit 35 Zora -- Hurston 36 The ones there 37 Make merry 38 Make fearful 40 Trust 43 Bodily joint 44 Brain wave test, for short 47 Sup stylishly 48 Blockbuster rented them 49 Places 52 Nota -53 Top competitive effort, informally 54 Novelist Sarah -- Jewett 56 “Live” and “learn,” e.g.

58 Shah or czar 59 She played Miss Brooks

Pg. 19 SEP 23 - OCT 6, 2020 - QCNERVE.COM

PG.18 PUZZLE ANSWERS

LIVING A LIFE OF E’S ©2020 King Feautres Syndicate, Inc. All rights reserved.

60 Lena of song 63 Gremlin’s kin 68 Be worthy of 69 Bodily joint 70 Appointment calendar 71 Vestige 72 Inbox junk 73 Jeans-maker Strauss 74 Big elevator name 79 Copenhagen citizens 80 Make twisty 81 Uplift morally 83 Devour 84 Claims on property 85 That miss 91 “Bus Stop” playwright William 92 Move aside 94 Of no help 95 Smallville’s Clark 96 Drinking sprees 97 “-- the season to be jolly” 99 Dishonors 100 Emerge 101 -- -weenie 104 Bazaar units 105 Creed part 106 PC key 107 Fritz out 109 Writer -- Rogers St. Johns 114 Not “fer” 115 Come together 116 Irish Gaelic tongue 118 “-- done it!”

119 Frat letter 120 Electric jolt 121 Ending for ethyl 122 Chaney of old chillers 123 Run after K

LIFESTYLE COLUMN

AERIN IT OUT SOUTHERN CUISINE FIT FOR THE QUEEN A Camp North End juke joint with soul

Pg. 20 SEP 23 - OCT 6, 2020 - QCNERVE.COM

BY AERIN SPRUILL

I sold my soul to food during COVID-19. The absence of real nightlife experiences for six months forced me to equate my nightlife experiences with the tastes of Charlotte. I won’t venture to say I’m a foodie or even a qualified critic, nor do I speak in the same vein as those hoity-toity types, but dammit, I know great food when I see it and taste it!

At the start of the pandemic, I was honing my culinary skills at home. Takeout wasn’t lackluster, and other restaurant favorites were closed. But Phase 2 presented light at the end of the tunnel as some of my go-to’s started opening back up alongside a few new faces that have been pleasantly surprising.

When I asked my boyfriend where he wanted to eat for his birthday a couple of weeks ago, he namedropped Leah & Louise. I immediately went to the website to peruse the menu, and he says, “I know you don’t like Southern food.” But who was I to refuse a birthday request? I booked the reservation.

Friends will tell you I’m not a fan of eating at Southern or soul food restaurants. I’ve always felt if I was itching for some real home cooking, I’d drive the 90 minutes to my family to get it. And other than an occasional visit to Dish or Mert’s Heart & Soul, I’ve practiced what I’ve preached. But then Leah & Louise happened.

Opened by renowned Charlotte chef Greg Collier and his wife Subrina, Leah & Louise entered the food scene offering take-out and delivery only when other restaurants started to close their doors during the first weekend of Phase 1.

Nestled in a nook of Camp North End that I hadn’t explored, surrounded by murals exploding with color sat our date-night destination, a self-described “Memphis-style juke joint.” From the moment we entered, it felt like home from the velvet couches and rustic decor to the long community dining table that served as a centerpiece of the room. And the aroma! Well-seasoned, as if the good Lord was serving up food himself.

We’d already combed through the menu, so we knew exactly what we wanted. Our server walked us through crowd favorites — cuisine inspired by the flavors and

heritage of Memphis, Tennessee; Jackson, Mississippi; and New Orleans. Salivating at this point, our extensive order tumbled out of my mouth.

It was love at first bite. “You KNOW Black people are cooking THIS food!” I said, brimming with excitement to my boyfriend. We were six feet of safe from eavesdroppers, so I felt completely comfortable chatting with him about the explosion of seasoning and flavor I was experiencing in my very first bite of Dirty Grits! Might I mention, I don’t even like usually grits? But these aren’t just any grits.

I waited in anticipation as each dish came out (we got five more), almost expecting that at least one would disappoint. But the disappointment never came. With each bite, I fell deeper in lust with these culinary creations. When a chef can transform Southern classics such as grits, catfish, okra, and dumplings into food destinations that you actually enjoy traveling to while maintaining the comfort of home-cooked food that’s familiar, it will leave you speechless.

My top three favorites that led to a chef’s kiss? The Dirty Grits (think dirty rice, but with grits), Leah’s Cab-

bage (slow-roasted cabbage, pepper honey, smoked sausage, and pork neck bisque), and Mud Island (blackened catfish, smoked catfish stew, rice grits, pickled field pea, and candies pepper)!

And make sure you wash it down with a Tomboy, a signature cocktail created by “Liquid Alchemist” Justin Hazelton.

But Leah & Louise is more than just cuisine. It’s a community. It’s a family. And while COVID-19 regulations are currently keeping us from being close to one another, you can tell that at this local staple, a pandemic won’t stop us from coming together. I felt in the air a sense of a community in which everyone was welcome, from the thoughtful presentation of food and decor to each staff member.

I guess I should say I sold my soul to soul food? The first restaurant to open at the ever-growing Camp North End, Leah & Louise certainly reinvigorated my excitement for food and nightlife in the Queen City. While I was reluctant to see how the landscape would change at the beginning of quarantine, I am now looking forward to returning to some sense of normalcy as the city begins to reopen slowly.

(Update: We loved it so much we decided to go back with my parents the following weekend. Now THAT’S what I call making an impression!)

INFO@QCNERVE.COM

By Lucie Winborne • In early 2016, a 155-year-old mousetrap caught a mouse in a British museum. The trap was part of the exposition and hadn’t even been considered operational for a long time.

• Bill Nye the Science Guy holds a patent for ballet pointe shoes.

• Some odd things have been sold online, but an entire country? Yep, a fellow from Brisbane, Australia, tried to sell New Zealand on eBay in 2006!

The site closed the auction at a top bid of $3,000.

• A mental phenomenon called the Troxler effect, discovered in 1804, causes people to see monsters in mirrors — whether they say “bloody Mary” three times or not.

• In order to prevent Boggle players from using a certain swear word, the letters F and K appear only once on the same cube, making it impossible for them to both be played at the same time.

• In 1987, Steve Rothstein paid $250,000 for a lifetime unlimited firstclass American Airlines ticket, even hopping on planes to get a sandwich or go to a baseball game in other cities.

It cost American Airlines around $21 million, and they unsurprisingly ended his contract in 2008.

• A full 12% of sighted people dream exclusively in black and white.

• Levi’s once made an all-denim tuxedo for singer Bing Crosby after he was refused admittance to a hotel simply for wearing jeans.

• Japan has the highest density of vending machines worldwide, with approximately 5 million machines, or one for every 23 people. You can buy everything from live lobsters and bread in a can to underwear and Buddhist amulets from a vending machine.

• Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader meets six of the nine diagnostic criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder. Five are sufficient for a diagnosis. *** Thought for the Day: “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”

— Andy McIntyre © 2020 King Features Synd., Inc.

Enjoy a moment of peace on us. www.xcoobee.com

LIFESTYLE

HOROSCOPE SEPTEMBER 23 - SEPTEMBER 29

SEPTEMBER 30 - OCTOBER 6

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Personal matters LIBRA

(September 23 to October 22) A clash ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Although practical LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) A business claim a good deal of the Lamb’s time in the early of work-linked viewpoints needs to be discussed situations continue to dominate this week, there’s matter that unexpectedly turns into a personal part of the week. But by midweek, pragmatic openly, honestly and calmly by all concerned before time for the Lamb to indulge in the fun things in situation could create complications. Best to resolve considerations (work, school, job-seeking, etc.) it can impede progress on an ongoing project. life -- like maybe taking a special someone out for the matter now before too much harm can be done. begin to take priority. a great evening.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) The seasonal shift ignites the Bovine’s creative aspects. You could do well if you try to combine your penchant for innovation with the more pragmatic demands of the week.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Ideas come easily to you this week. And never mind that some might suggest they’re unworkable and/or impractical. It’s your vision that counts. Work them out and see what turns up.

CANCER (June 21 to July 22) Personal matters

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continue to dominate the early part of the week.

By midweek, more workaday issues once again begin to emerge. Balance your time to give both the attention they need.

SCORPIO

(October 23 to November 21) The Scorpion’s pragmatic side helps you accept the TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) This week favors possibility that a change of plans might be the wise relationships. Take time to renew old ones, and thing to do. Be sure to weigh all your considerations make time to go where new friends can be found.

On a more practical note, expect news about a carefully. business deal.

SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) Emotions can run high when they involve personal matters that no one really wants to talk about. But this could be a good time to create the means to a workable outcome.

SAGITTARIUS

(November 22 to December 21) A positive response to a workplace request Some people might not take no for an answer. Never some progress on that new workplace situation. could lead the way to other long-sought changes. mind. Keep your resolve if you’re sure you don’t want Meanwhile, family matters might demand more Congratulations. A personal situation also takes a to be involved in a potentially sticky situation. attention, and you’ll want to set aside time to deal welcome turn. with them.

CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) All CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) other facts and figures aside, it’s what you learn CANCER (June 21 to July 22) A relationship Patience pays off, as that once-overwhelming work about potential colleagues that can be most helpful suddenly might present some challenges you never situation continues to become easier to handle on in assessing any decisions you’re likely to make expected. After talking things out, you might want a one-by-one basis. Look for positive news from a regarding a new project. to consider taking some time to assess what you’ve colleague. learned.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) You should be seeing

AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) You might want to reconsider some of your outside LEO (July 23 to August 22) A disappointing response LEO (July 23 to August 22) A new contact could commitments if they continue to demand more to a request might dampen the Lion’s spirits. But provide an expanded opportunity. But be sure you time than you can spare. Be honest with yourself you might want to ask the reasons behind it. What you learn can be of great importance in a future get all the facts before you consider signing on. Ask when making a decision. undertaking. questions, and be wary if you don’t get the right answers.

PISCES (February 19 to March 20) Pay attention to that inner voice of Piscean wisdom counseling VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) A onceVIRGO (August 23 to September 22) An unexpected you to remove those rose-colored glasses and take volatile situation should be settled by now, giving development could cause some supposedly resolved an honest look at any decisions you might face this you a chance to refocus on a project you’ve been planning for. Look for an interested party to rally to disagreements to reignite. Deal with the situation week. your support. before it leads to some really serious problems.

BORN THIS WEEK: You have a penchant for

AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) It might be a good idea to take more time to reassess your next move in working out a complex situation. You could benefit from a new perspective on the matter.

PISCES

(February 19 to March 20) You might want to consider making time to discuss a change of plans with everyone concerned. Be prepared to explain your actions. Also be prepared to listen to alternatives.

BORN THIS WEEK: You have a strong sense of what is right, and you try to work from that foundation. Friends see you as reliable.

persuasion that would make you a fine candidate for a political career.

2020 KING FEATURES SYND., INC.

LIFESTYLE COLUMN

PG.19 PUZZLE ANSWERS

SAVAGE LOVE MISSED CONNECTIONS A personal transaction

BY DAN SAVAGE

Married guy here. I’m 33, the wife is 31. Our fifth anniversary is next month but we’ve been together for almost eight years. We’ve recently both come out to each other as bi. She tried to tell me a long time ago whereas I came to the realization only recently. We’re both interested in new sexual encounters and this weekend we met up with a male escort. It was my first sexual experience with a man and the first sexual encounter between my wife and another man in eight years … and we found it lacking. It was too short, and too impersonal. Is this how it usually goes with escorts?

Should we have been more upfront with our interests ahead of time? We don’t want to keep spending the money if we’re not getting the experience we want. We need to stay fairly discreet for most of these encounters due to our careers. Appreciate any input.

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BASKING IN CONFUSION OVER UNDERWHELMING, PITIFULLY LACKLUSTER EXPERIENCE

If you weren’t clear about your wants and your sex worker didn’t ask or you couldn’t articulate them after he asked, you put your sex worker in the position of having to guess. And your sex worker may have guessed wrong — some clients prefer sex that’s athletic, impersonal, or aggressive. And if your sex worker had a bad experience with a husband who got upset when his wife seemed a little too into him, he may have erred on the side of maintaining some emotional distance even as you got physically close.

If what you wanted — if what you were most interested in — was a more intimate and connected experience, then you weren’t just expecting sexual labor from the sex worker you hired, BICOUPLE, but his emotional labor too.

While affection and intimacy can certainly be faked, we don’t typically expect a strong emotional connection when we’re hooking up with a stranger. Being sexually intimate can build that connection, BICOUPLE, but it can take time and a few meetings to get there.

To avoid winding up in bed with another sex worker you don’t click with, I would advise you to take the time — and spend the money — to make a real connection.

By which I mean: Go on a date. Find a sex worker you’re interested in and make a date — for dinner. Pay them for their time, pay for their meal, and if you click, BICOUPLE, if you feel like you could connect, book them for a sex date.

P.S. A shoutout to my amazing wife for going Straight male here, divorced four years ago, from learning I’m bi to fucking another dude with just entering my fifties. I recently expanded my me three months later! dating app parameters to see everyone in my area. I wanted to check out the competition and Some sex workers love their jobs, some don’t; some sex possibly give myself a little ego boost. I have a gay workers are good at their jobs, some aren’t. Sometimes a sex male friend who is in his forties. Mr. Forties has a worker doesn’t click with a particular client for some ephem- boyfriend of two years who is in his twenties. They eral, hard-to-define reason; sometimes a client gives off a are great together — they vacation together, bad vibe — or a bad odor — and the sex worker bails or they quarantined together, Mr. Twenties and Mr. hurries things along not because they’re a shitty sex worker, Forties worked on redecorating a home together, BICOUPLE, but because their client is shitty or smells shitty. etc. The problem is I spotted Mr. Forties on several But here’s the thing, BICOUPLE: No sex worker can dating apps. It would have been perfectly acceptread minds. You tell me you’re wondering if you should’ve able for him to say, “None of your business,” when been “more upfront with [your] interests ahead of time.” I asked him why. Instead he told me they were old If you left something important out when you made the profiles, implying they pre-dated Mr. Twenties. booking, well, that could’ve been the problem. No sex He lists pets on his profiles that he adopted a few worker likes having things sprung on them. A sex worker months ago. I have a sore spot about this behavior who doesn’t do kink is going to feel very uncomfortable because my ex-wife started “auditioning” my reif there’s a bunch of bondage gear laid out when they placement before we filed divorce papers. I really arrive; even a sex worker who does kink is going to feel don’t like being lied to. What do I do? Confront Mr. uncomfortable if kink wasn’t discussed in advance. Sim- Forties? Mind my own business and hope Mr. Forilarly, BICOUPLE, if you didn’t explain to your sex worker ties doesn’t crush Mr. Twenties by cheating? Help! that there were two of you, your sex worker might’ve felt FUMBLED INTO FRAUGHT TERRAIN INVOLVING EXPANDED SEARCH uncomfortable when they arrived.

TRIVIA ANSWERS: 5. A Gaelic festival Oct. 31-Nov. 1 8. Hundred Acre Wood 1. Istanbul, Turkey celebrating the end of the harvest and 9. Australia 2. Motel 6 beginning of winter 10. Chickpeas 3. Kneecaps, which develop after birth 6. A noticeable gap between two teeth 4. Louis XIV of France 7. Mona Lisa Maybe Mr. Forties and Mr. Twenties have an open My boyfriend and I first heard the terms “sexrelationship. Maybe they have a closed relationship but ual monogamy” and “social monogamy” on your both regard flirting on dating apps as harmless. Maybe podcast. They describe us: not sexually monogaMr. Forties was charged with finding a very special guest mous, but we present that way socially and most star for a threesome. Or maybe Mr. Forties has profiles on people in our lives assume we are. Including my dating apps for the exact same reason you expanded the mother. We’re both from very Republican famparameters on your profiles, FIFTIES: the ego boost. ilies that struggled to accept us. My attitude is If it was any of the above — if there was an inno- that if my brothers don’t have to tell our parents cent explanation — why did Mr. Forties go with, “Those about their kinks, I don’t have to tell them about were old profiles,” instead of, “We sometimes have three- my threesomes. (Both of my older brothers have somes”? Well, in my experience, FIFTIES, some straight confided in me about their kinks, which I wish that people have a hard time wrapping their heads around hadn’t.) the kind of non-monogamy practiced by most gay male But it got back to me via my sister that my couples. Hell, some closed-minded gay people have a Trump-worshipping, Obama-despising mother hard time with it. I can imagine a scenario where Mr. only accepts me and my boyfriend because we are Forties was honest with people in the past and got a bad “good” gays. Good because we’re monogamous, reaction and consequently no longer feels safe — much like good straight people, and not promiscuous, less obligated — to share the details of his sex life with like bad gay people. Now I feel like I should say straight or gay friends. So he gave you the answer a lot of something. But what? straight people and some gay people prefer to hear when THEY REALLY UNDERESTIMATE MY PROCLIVITIES they ask pointed questions of partnered friends they assumed to be monogamous: “Of course I’m not sleeping “Good people can be ‘promiscuous,’ Mom, and awful around! Those were old profiles! My monogamous boy- people can be monogamous. Take Donald Trump. That asfriend would never want me to shove my monogamous shole has been married three times and cheated on every dick down his throat while some other dude non-monog- one of his wives. Barack Obama, whom you despise, has amously rearranges his guts! Heavens! We’re far too busy been married once and has never been caught cheating. redecorating our lovely home to arrange threesomes! Which means Obama either doesn’t cheat or, like everyWhich we’re totally not interested in having!” thing else he’s ever done, from being someone’s husband Look, FIFTIES, you put a question to Mr. Forties that to being our president, he’s better at it than Donald he wasn’t obligated to answer at all, much less answer Trump.” truthfully. So what do you do now? What you should’ve done when you first stumbled over Mr. Forties’ dating promail@savagelove.net; Follow Dan on Twitter @ files: You do nothing. You drop it. The issue you shouldn’t FakeDanSavage; On the Savage Lovecast, learn a thing or have brought it up in the first place? You don’t bring it two from power sub Lina Dune. www.savagelovecast.com up again. Even if Mr. Forties is auditioning replacements for Mr. Twenties — even if he lied to you for a selfish, self-serving reason — it’s still none of your business.

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