45 minute read
THE NEW DEFENDERS BY RYAN PITKIN
NEWS & OPINION FEATURE anymore,” said Nicole Ash, board member with Charlotte for Choice, the nonprofit organization that defenders lined up on the street directly in front of the property that Love Life purchased next to the to enforce the few regulations that are on the books. 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 THE NEW DEFENDERS front of the clinic. “These tactics that we’ve adopted have, yes, increased the aggressiveness of anti-abortion The group of mostly women yelled anything that came to mind at the hundreds of protesters, who stood in their matching teal shirts and looked ahead marchers walked by them without wearing masks or practicing social distancing. A group of bike police rode next to the marchers, who claim to be A movement grows outside of east Charlotte women’s protesters. However, it also makes it harder and more uncomfortable for them to be out there. That’s what we want.” at the stage. Organizers asked that the marchers not engage with the clinic defenders, whom they called devils multiple times over their loudspeakers. exempt from COVID-19 regulations because they are acting as a “nonprofit providing services.” Requests 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 antivolunteers. 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 they’re at. We don’t want this to go unchallenged On that September morning, about 20 clinic perceived unwillingness of CMPD officers at the site RPITKIN@QCNERVE.COM
A CAUTIOUS RETURN Museums slowly begin to reopen as governor’s order allows
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.
Sanitation and Safety
“We’ll be cleaning during the day, but then we’ll be providing a deeper cleaning at night,” Horne offers.
Health and safety during the museums’ operational hours start with a temperature check
at the door. Masks are also required on every mouth Embracing the New Meanwhile, the Randolph location will spotlight 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. Art Jonathan Stuhlman. truncated show gets to resume its interrupted run.
“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 total attendance. PHOTO BY GRANT BALDWIN RINGING THE AMERICAN FREEDOM BELL AT CHARLOTTE MUSEUM OF HISTORY. a City Within a City, the museum implements a full array of safety standards.
Rock of Ages “We’ve spent a lot of time preparing to make Online ticket reservations and cashless ticketing
The Charlotte Museum of History (CMoH) on sure people feel safe and comfortable in the and retail transactions are recommended for Shamrock Drive has also invited the community in museum environment,” he offers. Patrons are museum patrons. (Frontline workers receive a with a welcoming celebration, a week-long series required to observe social distancing and to wear discount.) A timed ticketing system will also enable that kicked off Sept. 19 with an event titled An masks. In addition, hand-sanitizing stations are the museum to limit capacity. Afternoon on the Grounds. The self-guided, digitally situated throughout the museums. Stuhlman also Face masks are required for entry, with enhanced tour of the museum’s eight-acre grounds doubts that either facility will come close to their disposable masks available at the front desk. All encompasses the 1774 Hezekiah Alexander Rock 50% occupancy limit. guests are urged to utilize hand sanitizer upon House, the oldest surviving structure in Mecklenburg All these precautions surround a one-of-a-kind entry and throughout the building during their visit. County, along with the house’s adjoining barn, exhibit at Mint Museum Uptown, a selection of Visitors who feel ill are asked to leave the museum kitchen and springhouse. art drawn across all the different collections and and return at a later date.
Like Horne, CMoH President and CEO Adria departments within the museum. Not all of Charlotte’s museums are moving Focht is focusing on safety. Masks are required for On the fourth weekend in September the ahead immediately with reopening plans. Some adults and children over the age of 5. Patrons are museum premieres New Days/New Works, a series of the city’s galleries have different goals and pre-registered on a per-car basis and the museum of interconnected exhibits that spotlight everything specialties and a one-size-fits-all approach to is limiting the number of cars they will admit each from African textiles to contemporary paintings. museum opening will not work for them. hour. “It’s a show that highlights recent gifts to the “With outdoor space at 50% [capacity], I think that 200 is our maximum,” Focht says, referring to the total number of patrons allowed per hour. “We’re trying to keep it at 100 people or less.” 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.” 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
resources sitting idle and decided to open up the print lab, darkroom, and soon-to-be-completed lighting studio for limited use. “Our friends who visit will need to wear a mask, and we are limiting the number in the gallery at one time,” Tuttle says.
She offers that the gallery is limiting its occupancy to 30% capacity. “Technically, we could open at 50%, but we are trying to ensure that our visitors stay safe.” The Light Factory is also offering its gallery space to Creating Exposure, a nonprofit that educates and mentors youth through the arts. Creating Exposure will show their work in Behind the
“WHAT CAN WE FIX” AT THE LIGHT FACTORY PHOTO BY MICHAEL ROBINSON
Ink, a photography and film project that empowers a diverse group of people to tell the stories behind their tattoos. The show runs from late September to early October. Later this fall, The Light Factory will host its annual art auction, and in November the facility will display the results of Seeing Voices: Unheard Community. In this workshop, developed in conjunction with the School for Good Citizenship, participants added words to photographs to enhance the story the image told.
Tuttle says the work will be displayed both in The Light Factory’s gallery and out in the community. “The Light Factory is committing to being more inclusive,” Tuttle says. She vows to offer the gallery’s resources to encourage people to get to know each other, to learn from each other, and to build bonds that strengthen our community.
Artists in Residence
Another source for off-the-beaten track and iconoclastic art is the McColl Center for Art + Innovation. Unlike the other museums and galleries in this survey, McColl will not be reopening in the fall.
In fact, the museum’s vice president of marketing & operations, Armando Bellmas, says the center’s target date is closer to January 2021.
“We’re not a traditional museum or gallery,” says Bellmas. “We’re more of an 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 digital realm. Open Studio Saturday, in which people arrive at the facility to meet the artists and engage in hands-on art activities, will still take place in October but only online. An October art auction to benefit the artists will also take place, but it will also be online. “It will be an opportunity to put money in the artists’ pockets and also create awareness that artists are still creating work,” Bellmas offers.
Just like other facilities where people started going back to work after the initial lockdown, McColl has implemented safety policies based on the governor’s mandate.
Everybody wears masks and uses hand sanitizer, Bellmas says. Markings on the floor show people where to stand when waiting for the elevator, and where to stand in the elevator.
Even with four artists-in-residence, it will be easy for artists and McColl staff to maintain social distancing, Bellmas says. Each artist has their own studio. They can be in their space and keep the door closed.
McColl’s staff of nine people are rotated in groups of three, so only three staff members are working at the facility at any given time. Staff groups of three are at McColl’s converted church in Uptown for one week, and then off site for two weeks while they work at home. So, counting staff and artistsin-residence, the most people in the building at any time is seven.
“Our offices are strategically far apart from one another, so we have managed to find a way to get everybody back in the office and [also] keep everybody distant,” Bellmas says.
Green Light
Even though Discovery Place added Sundays to their schedule, their Uptown museums — Discovery Science and Discovery Nature — are only open on Saturdays and Sundays. Like Tuttle at The Light Factory, Horne and her staff at Discovery devised a way to put buildings to good use during times when they are dormant.
Discovery Place is offering a program called School Camp that uses the Uptown building Monday through Friday to support students.
“[Children] are not able to stay at home, or adults are not able to be at home, and the parents want their children in a productive learning environment,” Horne says of the program that serves children attending Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS). After students attend virtual school, they can spend the rest of the day learning and experiencing science at Discovery Place.
But before Horne could allow campers or visitors into the museum, she first had to go over the facility with a fine-toothed comb.
With hundreds if not thousands of displays across four different museums, Horne and her staff assessed every single interactive piece in each one. The museum pieces were classified green, yellow and red. The majority of the pieces were green, Horne says, meaning good to go, but red and yellow pieces required more attention.
Red pieces and exhibits were removed from the floor or had their access limited. Then the yellow pieces were modified to make them safer, following
CREATING A SAFE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT AT DISCOVERY PLACE PHOTO BY GRANT BALDWIN
CDC guidelines to provide not only an educational experience but also a safe one.
The painstaking process Horne undertook to make sure the museums’ floors were as safe as possible is not an entirely unusual task among the museum workers and administrators Queen City Nerve surveyed. In fact, going the extra mile to ensure safety seemed to be the norm. These are people dedicated to enriching their community, be it through science, education, art — or commonsense safety standards.
Kay Tuttle suggests the task is worth the effort when you weigh the benefits of reopening museums and galleries to the public.
“Art brings people together and helps us look at life from someone else’s perspective,” she offers. “With the pandemic, hurricanes, wildfires and murders like George Floyd’s, it is important that we come together as a community to listen and share our stories with empathy and compassion.”
Fall
Tough Ass Crew Pop-Up Art Gallery
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 Barbie, Marcher Arrant and more. It’s unclear how long the crew will be showing art in the former head shop, as they are currently subleasing the space from Evening Muse, where owners are deciding between expanding or bringing a new tenant into the space. Check them out while you can.
More: 3225 N. Davidson St., Tues.-Sun., 10 a.m.-9 p.m.; Instagram: @toughasscrew
On one level, Yellow Submarine, the 1968 animated lm featuring The Beatles, is ower power trapped in amber, an artifact of its time. But on another level, this simple story of how the fab four rescue Pepperland from a pack of Blue Meanies is a sophisticated project that transcends time. While the animation is not full motion, the colorful graphic design is a marvel, including references to Peter Max, M.C. Escher and Rene Magritte. The movie’s clip art mélange of images pre gures the cut and clip art mélange of images pre gures the cut and paste animation of Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam. paste animation of Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam. Need we mention that with 11 Beatles tunes, the Need we mention that with 11 Beatles tunes, the music is pretty good too? The outdoor screening music is pretty good too? The outdoor screening at Eastway Crossing Shopping Center is presented at Eastway Crossing Shopping Center is presented by Visart Video, Tommy’s Pub, East Side Local and by Visart Video, Tommy’s Pub, East Side Local and the Charlotte Film Society. It features the restored the Charlotte Film Society. It features the restored 4K theatrical version of the lm with remixed 5.1 4K theatrical version of the lm with remixed 5.1 stereo surround sound. Visart Video will sell popcorn stereo surround sound. Visart Video will sell popcorn and candy, East Side Local will sell food, and the lm and candy, East Side Local will sell food, and the lm will be projected on the pub wall.
More: Donations accepted; Sept. 29, 7:09 p.m.; More: Donations accepted; Sept. 29, 7:09 p.m.; Eastway Crossing Shopping Center, 3124 Eastway Eastway Crossing Shopping Center, 3124 Eastway Drive; tinyurl.com/YellowSubEastCLT
Charlotte’s only midcentury modern home tour is back for its ninth year starting Saturday, Sept. 26, this time as a virtual tour.
The 2020 tour will feature 360-degree virtual tours of three homes in the Coventry Woods, Eastover and Grove Park neighborhoods. The homes were built from the 1950s, the height of midcentury modern architecture, to the 1970s, when the style’s popularity began to fade. The houses showcase key elements of midcentury modern design, including asymmetrical pro les, expansive windows, open oor plans and living areas that blur the line between indoor and outdoor. Ticket holders will get exclusive access to tours, along with a digital guidebook highlighting the signi cant modernist features of each home. Modernism expert George Smart will share examples of the best midcentury modern design in Charlotte and explain how it relates to the global modernist movement, starting with Bauhaus art and design in the 1920s and 1930s. More: Sept. 26, 6 p.m.; $20-$30; madaboutmodern.com
e Charlotte Film Festival
The 17th Annual Charlotte Film Festival goes virtual for 2020, spotlighting documentaries, narrative features, student lms and shorts. The festival’s opening night lm, 12 Hour Shift, is a darkly comedic satirical tale of a black-market organ hospital heist gone horribly wrong. It may be the perfect embodiment of the “Discover Di erent” 2020
e real and the virtual BY RYAN PITKIN AND PAT MORAN
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 nd on your computer or out in the real world is below.
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.
TOUGH ASS CREW POP-UP OPENING PHOTO BY KATE GALINDO
Midcentury Modern Home Tour
23-27; charlotte lmfestival.org/ mission of the festival. Other highlights include the mission of the festival. Other highlights include the
IAA Art Fundraiser
Inspiring Athletes and Academics (IAA), a nonpro t 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 re, movement, and aerial arts troupe anchored by Satya Jvala (Katie Rothweiler) and Sarah Hahn presents a digital show Shadows. The event features dancers, aerialists, re 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
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 con uence 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 is an interconnected series of exhibits drawn across all the di erent 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 stu ed textiles. “It was inspired by shapes of crocodiles in their native Brazil,” Stuhlman says. Another eye-catching piece is Pilar Albarracín’s “Ceiling for O erings,” made of hundreds of amenco 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
Gantt Center Exhibits
The Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture reopens on Oct. 1 and will launch a brand new exhibit. Inter|Sectionality: Diaspora Art from the Creole City comes from a commitment to showcase the works of artists that represent a broad spectrum of the African Diaspora. This global exhibition represents 25 Miami-based artists, 17 countries and two Charlotte guest artists: Monique Luck and Stephanie J. Woods.
More: Prices vary; Reopens Oct. 1, Thurs.-Fri., Noon–6 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Sunday, Noon-6 p.m.; 551 S. Tryon St.; ganttcenter.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 x.
Live from Crown, free on Facebook Live and YouTube Live, features interactive livestreamed performances by artists such as saxophonist Harvey Cummings II, guitarist Amos Ho man, and guitarist Luther Allison. JazzArts also o ers a series of online youth and adult jazz workshops running from 8
MIDCENTURY MODERN HOME TOUR PHOTO COURTESY OF CHARLOTTE MUSEUM OF HISTORY
‘RUN FOR HIS LIFE’ WILL SCREEN AT THE CHARLOTTE FILM FESTIVAL STILL FROM MOVIE
to 12 weeks for $100 to $250. Instructors include guitarist Troy Conn, drummer Alfred Sergel IV and vocalist Dawn Anthony.
More: Free-$250; Various days and times; thejazzarts.org/
Jazz and Soul Music from e Cube
Cube NoDa is an art space that nurtures musicians, dancers, actors and visual artists while featuring their talents through a series of special events. Every third Thursday through December, Dear Soul Music presents “Unplugged+Live.” The virtual series features performances by soloacoustic 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.
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 orchestra in Mendelssohn’s Sinfonia No. 7 in D minor and Caroline Shaw’s Entr’Acte, Dec. 4, 2020 at 7:30 p.m.
CSO’s popular ON TAP series also returns with six concerts in NoDa Brewing Company’s beer garden. These intimate orchestra experiences can be enjoyed in-person or streamed live from your living room.
More: Dates, times and prices vary. Various days and times; charlottesymphony.org
MUSIC FEATURE which was wonderful,” Farber recalls. “But then we started hearing about COVID-19.” scaled-back music and nightlife scene. “We wanted to give Charlotte a place to hear venues and theaters afloat, as well as other grants. “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 KEEP THE MUSIC GOING weekend in March, Farber pulled the plug. “We went from boom to bust quickly,” he says “It was very depressing.” missions from the start has been to host a platform where musicians can play. “These guys have been out of work for two and a consider doing so for all the folks like us.” Farber allows that he’s found a few friendly ears, such as city council member Larken Egleston, Middle C Jazz remains the only music venue open in a But Farber also knew that the mandated shutdown was the right thing to do if North Carolina was ever going to stem the tide of COVID-19. half to three months,” Farber says. Since relaunching last spring, the club has slowly but steadily rebuilt its audience. Recently, who represents the Uptown area, and he lauds the efforts of Center City Partners’ Senior Vice President 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 to the light rail line and an on-site THE ERIC BRICE GROUP PERFORMS TO A REDUCED-CAPACITY AUDIENCE AT MIDDLE C JAZZ CLUB. PHOTO BY GRANT BALDWIN 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
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 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.”
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FOOD & DRINK FEATURE I became a plant-eating person 26ish years ago. As a Charlotte native, pickings were slim Ben Thanh Restaurant 1806 Windsor Square Drive, Matthews; VEGAN GEMS Knowing where to look for 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. 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 Charlotte’s best plant-based Despite the lack of vegan and vegetarian restaurants seeing old friends from back home and they know menu items during that time, I along with my small vegan just what to make you. What can I say ... Ben Thanh children needed options. Who loves to cook and has enormous flavor and is it’s own wonderful entity. BY JASIATIC ANDERSON nurse all day every day? Nah. Not this girl. What to eat: Fresh rice noodles with tofu. Just I want to highlight those that held me and the right amount of garlic, oil and love. The pineapple
Tell someone you’re a foodie and a vegan and my budding babies down — and not just the fried rice; it’s beautiful! Also, just eat anything that watch the dissatisfaction spread across their face. exclusively vegan spots you can find on a Google they can make vegan for you. Listen, it’s all good. “You can’t really be a foodie because... you know...?” search, but the ones with hidden gems on a mostly
I don’t. Gone are the days (mostly) where lay people meat-eating menu. Some of these restaurants may not have been around quite that long, but they all Kabab-Je imagine iceberg lettuce as the idealized feast of their still hold a special place in my food heart. 2233 Matthews Township Pkwy., Matthews; best vegan friend. “We got salad!” (eyes bright). “I’m kababje.com good sis” *blinks* (I’d rather eat cardboard). Listen, I like greens and all of the accoutrements that I imagine a salad to be, but I can’t trust people that treat their vegetables like a side piece. You have to grow a thing, love it, massage and be patient. Steam alone does not do it. And bagged salad won’t work here. Lang Van 3019 Shamrock Drive; 704-531-9525 If you don’t already know, you’ve been missing out on this east-side staple. And if you do know, then you’ve gone home with a bottle of wine on Where do I start? This Mediterranean and Lebanese spot opened a new south Charlotte location in the Stonecrest shopping center in 2017, giving you more options. What to eat: Mujadara ... because baby these onions! It’s like they’ve been caramelizing for days.
As I write this, I’m in The cauliflower; it’s the my brother’s Texas home best. No breading, no silly awaiting a connecting names, no pretend chicken, flight to Oaxaca, the just slathers of Tahini and gastronomic capital of yum. The spicy Lebanese Mexico — and maybe the salad is perfect and the world, I’ll have you know. potato harra will make you It’s the birthplace of mole slap someone. Add toum ... ... MOLE y’all!!! Oaxacan forget about it. (I love garlic cuisine is based on beans, if you can’t tell.) corn, chiles ... ancestral foods. Le’s Sandwiches
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 your birthday and a warm sesame ball on lucky days. What to eat: Vegan bahn mi, of course. That’s all 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. Flavor is my forte. I grew up on hot fish in the black pot, grits with loads of butter, fat back that’s simultaneously crispy and melting. How is that even possible?! It’s all magic baby. Food should be a (there is a dish for that, too), but this lemongrass goodness wrapped in rice paper is a meal of it’s own. Oh, and if sweet tea is your thing ... theirs does not disappoint. Who knew? You do now. Thai House - University 230 E. W.T. Harris Blvd., B9; thaihouse.us.com “Sometimes you wanna go ... Where everybody knows your name” mouth-watering whimsical delight. Seriously, these folks have watched my children 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.
