LIFEWAVE

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.

MICHELANGELO’S SISTINE CHAPEL CHARLOTTE SYMPHONY: EVENINGS More: Free; May 22 & May 29, 12 p.m.; Middleton MOVIES ON THE LAWN: The immersive Van Gogh exhibit coming to Charlotte this summer has drawn focus from this mesmerizing AT THE PARK The concert under the SouthPark bandshell McMillan Gallery, Spirit Square, 345 N. College St.; blumenthalarts.org ‘THE PRINCESS BRIDE’ No other movie except perhaps Casablanca is graced Michelangelo show. Instead of going to Rome to see spotlights African-American and Emmy Award- with so many good quotes. You practically trip over the ceiling’s frescoes 44 feet away from the Sistine nominated composer Kathryn Bostic’s “Portrait BUFF FAYE’S “100% THAT B!@CH” the lines: “My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed Chapel floor below, patrons can see them up close. The paintings cemented Michelangelo’s reputation, but the sculptor never wanted the job in the first place, and insisted he was wrong for the task. In the 1560s, Pope Pius IV had the genitals of the artist’s nude figures painted over, but modern restorers stripped away the fig leaves. More: $13-$19.40; ongoing through July 31; Savona Mill, 401 S. Gardner Ave.; chapelsistinecharlotte.com/ of a Peaceful Warrior.” The piece, commissioned by the Chicago Sinfonietta, premiered in October 2020, and centers around the theme of finding common ground. Bostick, who has scored films, TV and Broadway shows, imbues her tone poem with surging rhythms and syncopation that harken to Aaron Copeland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man.” In a way, Bostick’s “Portrait” is the spiritual descendant of “Fanfare.” Mozart’s “Serenade No. 11” and Karel Husa’s “Divertimento for Brass & Percussion” DRAG BRUNCH Buff Faye’s Drag Brunch has returned to Charlotte, and it is as fabulous as ever. Voted #1 Drag Brunch in Charlotte, Buff Faye and her divas are bringing entertainment back to Sunday. With a percentage of proceeds going to charity, it is not an event you want to miss. CDC guidelines will be strictly enforced at risk of forfeiting your admission. More: $35; May 23, 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m.: Dilworth Neighborhood Grille, 911 E. Morehead St.; my father. Prepare to die.” “Inconceivable!” “You keep using that word, I don’t think you know what it means.” “As you wish.” The tale of young Westley/ Dread Pirate Roberts’s quest to rescue Princess Buttercup from the clutches of the odious Prince Humperdinck is a hilarious, nostalgic and touching fairy tale for all ages. More: Free; May 26, 5:30 p.m.; Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden, 6500 S. New Hope Road, Belmont; dsbg.org complete the program. allbuff.com THE OFFICE MURDER MYSTERY More: $25; May 21, 7 p.m.; Symphony Park, 4400 SUNSHONE STILL PARODY Sharon Road; charlottesymphony.org VIRTUAL MODERNISM + FILM: The Muse is back baby! While shows featuring This interactive and immersive parody performance starts at Spirit Square before taking audience members on a walking tour through Uptown with characters from NBC’s The Office. Through conversations and scenes, actors will reveal clues about the Scranton Strangler. No two performances are the same as the actors improvise with every interaction. We’ve solved one mystery already: Based on promo material, it’s safe to assume audiences join the American crew led by Steve Carell’s Michael Scott, not the British team guided by Ricky Gervais’ David Bren. More: $39.50 and up; May 20, 6 p.m.; runs through June 6; Spirit Square, 345 N. College St.; blumenthalarts.org FLOCK OF DIMES: TWO HEADS Taking their name from a majestic 460-year-old tree that was finally felled by lightning in 2002, Baltimorebased Wye Oak make music that is sturdy and resilient, yet surprisingly vulnerable. That vulnerability moves to the forefront in co-founder and guitarist-vocalist Jenn Wasner’s synth-pop solo project Flock of Dimes. Wasner accentuates atmospheric and dreamy compositions which delve into desire and it’s frequent flipside, grief. With “Two Heads,” Flock of Dimes present two distinct livestream performances with different setlists on consecutive Thursdays. More: $15 each show, $25 both shows; May 20 & May 27, 9 p.m.; online; neighborhoodtheatre.com PIP THE PANSY After appearing on the Indie Fest Spring Series bill at Lenny Boy Brewing in April, Atlanta’s Pip the Pansy returns to Charlotte to an Uptown club that’s a better fit for her cool, intimate, and slightly detached dancefloor-friendly pop. Her voice is sultry and playful, and on tunes and accompanying videos like “Siren Song” and “White Line Fever,” she cuts a louche, pansexual figure going with the flow. Her music entwines pop, electronica and virtuosic flute to deliver polished tracks that scan like classical mythology filtered through a night on Ecstasy. More: $10; May 22, 7 p.m.; QC Social Lounge, 300 North College St. #105; qcslounge.com ‘OF EARTH AND SKY’ POETRY WORKSHOPS Originally presented in England and conceptualized by artist Luke Jerram, “Of Earth and Sky” is a largescale installation project featuring pieces from local poets that will debut at Charlotte SHOUT! this fall. Poets interested in participating in the project can attend one of two workshops hosted by Emmy award-winning poet Boris “Bluz” Rogers and National Poetry Slam champions Jay Ward and Jordan Bailey. Poets can learn more about the “Of Earth and Sky” vision and receive writing prompts to help guide their work. ‘GATEWAYS TO NEW YORK’ Director Martin Witz’s documentary Gateways to New York: Othmar H. Ammann and His Bridges tells the story of the Swiss structural engineer Othmar H. Ammann, who emigrated to New York in 1904 and redefined the art of bridge building in America. In addition to the iconic George Washington Bridge, a beacon of modernity, Ammann designed structures leading to the Bronx; Bayonne, New Jersey; and spanning the Verrazano-Narrows connecting Staten Island and Brooklyn. His work reflects the dynamics of the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, world war, and suburbanization. More: Free; May 25, 7 p.m.; online; bechtler.org/ ST. PAUL AND THE BROKEN BONES Maxx Music’s Cruise in Concert series in Rural Hill features gospel-soul revivalists St. Paul and the Broken Bones. With rollicking live shows centered on dynamic frontman Paul Janeway, The Broken Bones garnered an enthusiastic fanbase. Though their 2014 debut album Half a City is caught out of time in a good way, conjuring a sweat-soaked session at Muscle Shoals in the late 1960s, recent efforts like 2018’s Young Sick Camellia embrace post-disco guitars and hip-hop beats, separating the band from a crowded field of retro soul fetishists. More: $105-$135; May 25, 7 p.m.; Rural Hill, 4431 Neck Road, Huntersville; maxxmusic.com singer-songwriters Jason Eady and Adam Hood on May 19 and Hayden Lee on May 22 sold out quicker than a Charlotte gas pump, you can still get seating to experience Columbia-based troubadour Chris Smith, also known as Sunshone Still. With three full-length albums and a self-titled EP released last April, Smith crafts quiet slow-burning Americana that adds a whiplash curve of experimental, orchestral and cinematic shadings to dusky, amberhued reveries. More: $60; May 29, 7 p.m.; Evening Muse, 3227 N. Davidson St.; eveningmuse.com ALL-IN 1DER Bewithus invites everyone to a backyard music and arts event featuring artists of different mediums such as Sweat Transfer, Claire Santos, Joshua Anthony, and Arthur Brothers. From music to meditation to collaborative art projects, grab a drink and unwind. Email askbewithus@gmail.com your phone number and full name to get the location. More: Free; May 29, 3 p.m. – 11 p.m.; tinyurl.com/AllIn1DerCLT

JAM SESSIONS

Menastree resumes a running staple at Evening Muse

BY PAT MORAN

Resistance, in 2010. The eight-song studio collection “These guys allowed me to grow,” Williams says. Music runs in his family’s blood, says 31-year-old captures the intensity of the quintet’s live shows, “They pushed me to go as hard as I could.” Williams. His father Andrew Williams played guitar, and still leaves Williams amazed at the level of Williams was also learning how to treat his earning himself the nickname “Jukebox” jamming at maturity he and his bandmates had attained at such music-making as a business, with an invigorated gigs at spots like the historic Excelsior Club in west a young age. focus on content, merchandise, social-media Charlotte, which is currently being restored after a “We were some badass kids,” he says with a presence and branding. long closure. laugh. “I started watching these guys move like a mob,” Jesse’s great uncles were musicians too, serving Then, life happened. Bassist Andy Morimoto Williams remembers. as sidemen for gospel artists and James Brown. Jesse went to college in Chicago to study political science. “It was tactical and organized — and this was grew up listening to R&B, jazz, funk and gospel. Guitarist Jonny Fung moved to New York so his wife [for] music. It was like watching a drug movie, but “Around the house, mom would be cleaning up could attend college. it was audio dope.”

Menastree founder and leading light Jesse and gospel and R&B is playing — Anita Baker, Stevie Meanwhile, Williams, Nash and Elizondo poured An idea for a new group, subconscious at first, Lamar Williams has jumped in and out of multiple Wonder and Cece Winans,” Williams remembers. “It their energy into Electric Cartel. Nowadays, Williams began brewing for Williams. He started noticing genres, including rock, soul, R&B, jazz, and hip-hop, was always happening with dad too, because pops feels the Cartel’s music is more powerful in some particular musicians around town. but in 2014 he was in a deep funk. had me at his rehearsals.” ways than Lucky Five’s. Through his expanding circle of peers, Williams

As drummer for Lucky Five, a Charlotte quintet In high school, Williams started playing in “It includes colors of loss, growth, season met, played with and was inspired by songwriter, that fused each member’s influences into change and maturity,” he says. producer and soul-inflected jazz saxophonist Harvey an impassioned pop-rock package, he had Williams’ cousin Adrian Cummings. Cummings has played with Anthony rocketed into the spotlight, playing powerful Crutchfield, who played saxophone for Hamilton, Carlitta Durand and Angie Stone, and has high-profile gigs at Charlotte Speed Street, Prince’s New Power Generation Hornz, scored the hit animated series The Boondocks. and South By Southwest in Austin. frequently sat in with Electric Cartel. “We would be in the Ritz-Carlton, all over the

When Lucky Five dissolved in 2012, Talented multi-instrumentalist Marcus town,” Williams says. “Harvey taught me how to Williams tried to keep the flame alive with Jones came in on bass. maneuver that inner-city crowd.” a combo called Electric Cartel, along with In retrospect, Williams feels his Cummings is also an alumnus of Northwest former bandmates Marques Nash and Shago time in the band planted several School of the Arts. Williams began participating Elizondo. When that project unraveled, seeds that bore fruit in Menastree, in master classes for the school’s students, many Williams picked up gigs as an in-demand but as Nash embraced fatherhood, the of whom were itching to get into the music scene drummer, but his inspiration flagged. Cartel’s flame guttered and went out. outside of academia.

“That was a very emotional time,” “I’m flabbergasted by these young people who Williams remembers. “I was very From audio dope to are extremely talented, not much younger than me, disappointed [and] I took it personally.” But from this low ebb, a wellspring of new energy emerged. Drawing from a pool of longtime friends and collaborators, as well as a wave of newer and younger musicians, Williams launched and masterminded Menastree, a collective that encompasses the emotion of soul, the swing of R&B, the complexity of jazz and the firepower of rock. Starting in 2017, the band has hosted the Menastree Jazz Jam, a monthly residency at The Evening Muse. After a COVID-enforced absence, the party returned to its NoDa home on May 18. Longtime fans of Williams’ band of rocking funk-soul crusaders knew to expect a house party as much as a concert, and Williams made sure the entire band was there for the big return. As to how he has navigated his path through career and musical highs and lows, it might be best to borrow a lyric from a similarly multifaceted, but completely different-sounding band: “What a long strange trip it’s been.” bands, expanding his repertoire to rock and his listening choices to bands like Sevenfold, Rage Against the Machine, and System of a Down. “I was still living with my mother,” he says. “I was going on tour with random rock bands, and eating ramen noodles topped with potato chips.” Williams also started working at Guitar Center at age 17, where a few members of Lucky Five heard him warding off boredom by playing drums. When the band’s original time-keeper John Peer left for college, Williams stepped in to fill the slot. During Lucky Five’s six-year life span, which began in 2006, the band released just one album, La musical ministry “Menastree was something that I was afraid to do,” Williams says. “In more ways than just music, I had been let down a lot. Disappointment was becoming normalized.” After the Cartel collapsed, Williams was doing wedding gigs. To make ends meet, he was traveling 12 hours a day to do something he didn’t care about. He also said no to a lot of projects because he wasn’t in “the spiritual space to be creative.” That’s when 10 Tonz, also known as Steven Jackson, stepped in. Jackson, who subsequently became co-manager of Menastree, introduced Williams to a new circle of friends and peers. “He dropped me off at this tree house where all these dope people were driving and being creative,” Williams says. The collective of musicians, rappers and artists, which dubbed itself the HK Movement, included Jackson, J. Davon Harris, Young Aziz and producer and MC Anthony Heron, who composes and performs as DJ Lil Tone. JESSE LAMAR WILLIAMS PHOTO COURTESY OF JLM and still hungry and vibrant.” Williams says. Two of those students, multi-instrumentalists Braxton Bateman and Malcolm Charles, were drawn into Williams’ orbit. Williams also frequented The Double Door Inn in the days before the venerable music venue was demolished. He was hanging out when he was reintroduced to saxophonist and keyboard player Zach Wheeler. Wheeler and Williams had crossed paths before, both playing in middle-and highschool bands. Williams also reconnected with vocalist, bass player and songwriter Jeremy Mayher, who had filled in on Lucky Five shows when bassist Morimoto wasn’t available. “During this time, I’m eyeballing some guys that I feel are being under-appreciated and overlooked,” Williams says. “And they’re on fire.” He noted that Charles was sitting in with jazz musician and Davidson College adjunct professor of piano Lovell Bradford, while Wheeler was bouncing back and forth from Asheville to Charlotte playing jazz. One night, Williams and Heron were sitting and talking in a car when Heron asked Williams when

he was nally going to start a band, and what that band was going to be called.

“He was like, ‘Every time you’re a part of something, you bring people together that in any other circumstance wouldn’t be in the same place. It’s like church,’” Williams remembers. He realized that he was like a minister, fostering a community. In addition to musical “ministering,” he was also mentoring fellow musicians. Thus, the name Menastree was born.

Initially, the core of the band coalesced around Williams, Mayher, Bateman, Charles, Wheeler, Heron and Jones. Williams feels the group came together organically, a result of his renewed motivation and inspiration.

“I was reaching out my soul to nd something to hold onto, because I wanted to be part of something that was bigger than myself.”

Nerds on re

With Bubonic Funk nished, Kallander was “They always gave me love,” Williams says. “Joe looking for a new challenge. Williams brought him is like my big brother. Don is like my adopted pops. into the Menastree fold. Before I had Menastree, I had The Evening Muse.”

“This thing was new and growing,” Williams In 2017, Williams decided to pluck the fruit from remembers. all the seeds he’d planted, launching Jesse Lamar

The band auditioned additional guitarists Williams and The Menastree Jazz Jam on the third and pianists, but few could t in with Menastree’s Tuesday of each month at The Evening Muse. experimental yet accessible direction. Not everyone “I decided to jump out of the tree and see if I could hang with the band, Williams says. can y,” Williams says. “The worst thing that could

“They were like, ‘I don’t know what you guys are happen is we got to climb the tree and try again.” doing. I can’t follow it.’” The jam soared for four years, and now after a

Williams leadership style emerged organically. year-long respite, Menastree’s new-age mashup of In a nutshell his approach is to lead by not taking hip-hop, trap, jazz, house, R&B and rock returns to the reins, he says. the Muse.

At rst Williams was going to manage his new band, but Jackson took on that mantle so Williams could guide the group. Williams realized that the main reason he wanted to start a band was to help other artists and vocalists.

A lot of vocalists don’t know what it’s like to work with a band, Williams maintains. Singers’ creative opportunities are often limited to working with a producer, which can narrow aesthetic choices. THE MENASTREE CREW AT THE MUSE.

“It’s [the singer] and a person they don’t know who thinks they know everything,” Williams He lets each player develop to nd their groove For the gig, group included “everybody” Williams says, “There’s no conversation.” and their muse. says — Massey, also known as Queen Nisha, on

So, in addition to developing new material Instead of Menastree tting instrumental talent vocals; Kallander on guitar; Bateman on horns, keys, for themselves and other artists, Menastree also into a box, the collective found its direction by vocoder, and samples; Wheeler on sax and keys; rehearsed cover songs to help hone their chops for following the music. Charles on percussion and keys; Jones on bass and backing singers. “I had these nerds and there was nothing I could keys; Mayher on vocals and Williams on drums and

“Then Nisha came along,” Williams says. Vocalist do to put out the re,” he recalls. samples. Waneisha “Nisha” Massey and Williams go back The process had taken three years, from 2014 to middle school. She returned to Charlotte from to 2017, but Menastree was solid. The band was California just as Menastree was looking for a singer. rehearsing at Mayher’s house weekly, and they She sat in with the band and everything clicked. already had a place to play. The entire time Williams

Williams also reconnected with guitarist Stefan was forging a pathway toward Menastree, The Kallander. Years before, Lucky Five had played Evening Muse had been in his corner bills with Kallander’s band Bubonic Funk. While Venue owners Joe Kuhlmann and Don Koster attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston, had steadily supported and encouraged Williams Kallander had also played with funk legends George through the years, while gently nudging him to Clinton and Bernie Worrell. launch a new project. be the commercial kiss of death in Charlotte, but adds that many listeners don’t understand what the genre is about. Jazz runs through Menastree’s bloodline, Williams says, through the jazz his father played and through Bateman’s grandfather who was playing and kickin’ it with jazz-fusion pianist Chick Corea. Part of the genre’s perception problem stems from self-appointed curators of the genre, Williams o ers. Classicist band leaders such as Wynton Marsalis posit that jazz reached a watershed in the mid1950s when hard bop incorporated in uences from R&B, gospel and blues. According to gatekeepers, anything after this pinnacle is a watered-down version of jazz. Williams rejects this thesis. To him, popular groups like Steely Dan as well as hip-hop and rap are jazz. “There would be no hip-hop without jazz,” he says. “It was instrumental music with no lyrics. So, they decided to rap it with poetry. “Miles Davis and John Coltrane would turn over in their graves if they knew that people weren’t progressing,” Williams continues. “We appreciate the foundation but why are we living in the fucking past?” Hard bop is what jazz was, he says. “It is a foundation for me to take the baton and nish running the marathon.” To that end, Williams hopes that both old fans and newcomers to Menastree will experience a pleasant culture shock at the upcoming gig. “I want people feeling refreshed,” he PHOTO COURTESY OF JLM says. “I want people to be able to claim [the music]. I want them to take it personally [and] to support it because it represents Charlotte.” Williams is adamant that groups like Menastree should represent the city rather than the ambitions of any individual member. He says the music industry is littered with examples, for better or for worse, of the individual abandoning community for self — NSYNC and Justin Timberlake, The Jackson Five and Michael, Destiny’s Child and Beyonce. To jazz or not to jazz While Menastree may serve as a stepping

The band is more than ready to rekindle its stone for the talented players in its ranks, Williams’ relationship with the Muse, though the recurring hope is that audiences will recognize Charlotte in session won’t be held monthly as it was before. Menastree’s genre-bending polyglot sound.

There will also be one other prominent change, “I got to put together something that is bigger Williams says than myself,” Williams says. “Now, our goal is to

“We will drop the ‘jazz,’ not from the music but represent this city because no one has had the balls de nitely from the name [of the event],” he says. to do it.”

Williams acknowledges that the word “jazz” can PMORAN@QCNERVE.COM