Queen City Nerve - June 30, 2021

VOLUME 3, ISSUE 16; JUNE 30 - JULY 13, 2021; WWW.QCNERVE.COM

Sal’s Pizza Factory expands as it exits the pandemic

By Annie McGowan

News:

The scary effects of misinformation pg. 4

Arts:

Nouveau Sud is back onstage pg. 8 Arts:

CHARLOTTE

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BOOK

VOL II

EXPRESS YOUR CREATIVITY Purchase the Charlotte-centric coloring book in support of local art & journalism!

The Charlotte Coloring Book II is available at: bit.ly/cltcoloringbook2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

NEWS& 6 OPINION 8 ARTS& CULTURE

4 NOT A SELF-EVIDENT TRUTH BY NIKOLAI MATHER Sophia Rosenfeld on misinformation today and throughout history

GUIDE TO THE FOURTH, 2021 A look at where to go, what to do and how to eat right this Independence Day

PUBLISHER

JUSTIN LAFRANCOIS jl afra n co i s @ q cn e r ve.com

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF RYAN PITKIN rpi tk i n @ q cn er ve . com

ART DIRECTOR

JAYME JOHNSON jjo h n s o n @ q cn er ve . com

STAFF WRITER

PAT MORAN pm o ra n @ q cn e r ve. c om

AD SALES EXECUTIVE RENN WILSON r wi l s o n @ q cn er ve. c om

DISTRIBUTION MANAGER JESSICA RAGLAND jragl a n d @ q cn er ve . com

IN THE BELLY OF ‘LA BESTIA’ BY PAT MORAN Nouveau Sud traces migrants’ desperate route to survival

10 LIFELINE: A DOSE OF REALITY

MUSIC 14 16 FOOD& DRINK LIFESTYLE

12 DRIVING THROUGH THE DARK BY JONATHAN GOLIAN Yung YuNo’s new album is propelled by ambition and struggle SOUNDWAVE

CHURNING OUT PIES BY ANNIE MCGOWAN Sal’s Pizza Factory expands as it exits the pandemic

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TO PLACE AN ADVERTISEMENT EMAIL INFO@QCNERVE.COM

18 PUZZLES 20 THE SEEKER BY KATIE GRANT 20 STRANGE FACTS 21 HOROSCOPE 22 SAVAGE LOVE

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THANKS TO OUR CONTRIBUTORS: PAT MORAN, NIKOLAI MATHER, ANNIE MCGOWAN, GRANT BALDWIN, JONATHAN GOLIAN, HOUSTON ODUM, Sal’s Pizza Factory expands as it exits the pandemic

By Annie McGowan

News:

The scary effects of misinformation pg. 4

Arts:

Nouveau Sud is back onstage pg. 8

@QUEENCIT Y N E RVE W W W.QCNERVE .C OM

Arts:

COVER PHOTO & DESIGN BY: JAYME JOHNSON

LAURA WOLFF, SOLEIL KONKEL, THORNTON DRURY, KATIE GRANT, AND DAN SAVAGE.

NEWS & OPINION FEATURE

Queen City Nerve: You published Democracy and Truth in 2018, about two years into the Trump presidency. Speaking now from the other side of that, what do you think remains imperative about this book?

Sophia Rosenfeld on Sophia Rosenfeld: Of course, misinformation today and there are some things I would say throughout history differently now because things always evolve. Interestingly, Trump

BY NIKOLAI MATHER was more a symptom than a cause.

The disappearance of Trump What is truth and who decides? That is a central from this massive platform that is question that historian Sophia A. Rosenfeld explores the presidency has not made these in her book Democracy and Truth: A Short History. questions go away at all. Some of Rosenfeld, who will give a free online lecture with them are more significant than ever. the Charlotte Museum of History on Thursday, July There’s the idea, for example, 1, is a Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History at that the last election was stolen. the University of Pennsylvania, where she studies That originated with Trump and the nature of truth in politics. was, of course, a big lie. But it turns As part of the Charlotte Museum of History’s out that a very substantial amount Independence Day celebration, her lecture of the American public, in spite will review the contemporary struggles with of there not being much concrete misinformation and disinformation as well as their evidence for widespread election PHOTO BY J.M GIORDANO historical roots. fraud, is quite convinced that the THE JAN. 6 INSURRECTION ATTEMPT BY TRUMP SUPPORTERS WAS SPURRED BY MISINFORMATION. Queen City Nerve sat down with Rosenfeld to election was stolen. something. The other is misinformation, which is to Let’s say a random bizarre conspiracy theory discuss her book and how our modern political Some people might actually landscape has transformed truth on a local and believe it and others might find it a rather expedient say incorrect information that circulates, whether starts on some obscure internet site. Well, there global level. political position to take, but the end result is that it’s based on people’s hunches, a conspiracy theory are economic and political structures in place that we don’t even have a consensus in or anything else. You could call the two of them help spread that information very easily, and for profit. One link comes up in your feed and it gets the American public as to which disinformation and misinformation.

The latter can involve spin — bending the truth sensational results and it gets passed along, and the person should be occupying the White House. That is quite unusual. in order to score political points. That is not new, but algorithms help that out and business models and tech companies help that out.

In the past, people might not there is a lot of that at the moment.

The other is the growth of simply unverifiable Soon it’s useful for a political party to amplify have liked who won the election, beliefs circulating in public life.

Those come often that in some way. You can trace how things work but the results would still be from underneath. themselves upwards. Sometimes they work something we agreed upon.

Take QAnon — it was disseminated not at first themselves downwards, too.

So to that I would say, the from up high, but from below.

Now, it sometimes With the way our media universe exists right continuing possibility that we’re in an unusual era when it comes gets kind of namechecked by people at the top, but now, those two forms come from opposite sides but to what’s true and what’s false in it’s basically a form of misinformation that’s taken end up reinforcing each other. It’s not all top-down or bottom-up either. It’s helped along by all sorts of public life, that has outlived the on a life of its own. entities on all sides: for-profit websites, people’s social Trump presidency.

Those two forms seem to come from very media feeds, political parties and community groups.

Where do we stand in terms different motivations. Spin is used to preserve of dishonesty in our political political power of the elite, whereas conspiracy North Carolina has its own history of theories like QAnon seem to come from a place dishonesty in media and politics, from the system today?

I think there are two kinds of alienation, of people attempting to figure News and Observer’s foundations in racist demogoguery to the lack of transparency of things that are the opposite out why they are so powerless.

That’s absolutely right — sometimes they start and accountability surrounding police of truth. One is dishonesty, out with a legitimate grievance and helplessness, violence, such as the murder of Andrew which is a kind of moral position but end with blaming the wrong culprit. But Brown in Elizabeth City last month. How does where someone deliberately HISTORIAN SOPHIA ROSENFELD tells a falsehood to accomplish the interesting thing is that misinformation and dishonesty play out differently in local and PHOTO COURTESY OF SOPHIA ROSENFELD disinformation reinforce each other. state politics than it does in national politics?

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NOT A SELFEVIDENT TRUTH

NEWS & OPINION FEATURE

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Something of the national discourse has entered politics at the local level. In some ways, there have been some good things.

The fact that citizen journalists with cellphones have recorded brutality against African-American people is an effect of ordinary people empowering themselves. I think you would not have the movement [for Black Lives] of this past year without the cellphone. Nor without the possibility of these videos going viral. That had a transformative effect, I think, on local politics, that people have empowered themselves.

It has also had a dangerous effect, though, because we still need vetted information in many cases. A lot of information that is just anecdotal, that is just people’s experience … when it’s not combined with other knowledge, like statistics, history — some sense of how to place things in a larger context — then it can be misleading.

It can be misleading in ways that can create the myopia of local politics, too.

This talk is part of the Charlotte Museum of History’s Independence Day celebration. How does Democracy and Truth tie into this historical event?

I’m a historian, so of course I’m going to say this, but to really understand what’s going on now, you have to go back to our founding moment.

I talk about the Declaration of Independence in Democracy and Truth. The Declaration begins with the words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident.”

And the “we” is complicated. Do the truths exist without us? Is it just PHOTO BY J.M. GIORDANO MISINFORMATION HAS BEEN THE DRIVER OF THE QANON MOVEMENT AS WELL. the things that we agree on? traditionally built into our culture of free speech. empowered to speak without limits like money, Who’s the “we?” Who gets to There are benefits and there are pitfalls, but some of power and so on. On the other hand, it opens up participate in the “we?” this is new because of the new media environment a spigot. Much of what does get said can be really I think that what we call the founding that we’re in. dangerous or harmful or offensive in ways that are generation was very interested in creating what we Some of these old problems are amplified in both hard to predict. It can empower demagoguery as call a culture of truth. They believed that democracy directions. More and more of us are democratically much as it empowers democracy. depended on truth and produced truth, but they were very unspecific about that “we” in the Declaration of Independence.

And they never empowered, deliberately, any one person or institution with the power to say definitively: “This is what is true.” As a result, though it says “we hold these truths to be self-evident,” very little truth has been selfevident in democratic history.

People fight over everything. That’s part of why democracy works, but it’s also made truth really contentious, and I think we’re in a particularly contentious moment for truth.

What might be an example of that?

NPR recently did a radio show on Stockton, California, where there’s a citizen-created media challenging the establishment press. It sort of sounds like what you do, like a kind of alternative weekly, right? But this alternative media got very personal.

It got very political in the sense of exposing things almost like a neighborhood watch list. It attacked people without any real investigative journalism behind it and no willingness to own up to who said what about who.

They claimed no real journalistic standards and it devolved into a lot of racist and homophobic attacks on people that couldn’t really be controlled in this format.

What interests me is that some of what INSURRECTIONISTS AT THE U.S. CAPITOL ON JAN. 6. we’re talking about is

Sophia A. Rosenfeld will deliver a lecture on her book Democracy and Truth: A Short History on Thursday, July 1 at 6 p.m. on the Charlotte Museum of History’s Youtube channel and Facebook page. No registration is required.

INFO@QCNERVE.COM

PHOTO BY RAVEN GEARY

Where to go, what to do and how to eat right this Independence Day

In the Queen City

Fourth of July 1M, 5K, 10K, 13.1, and 26.2 virtual race July 4; $25; virtual; tinyurl.com/VirtualFourthRun Join this virtual race to help Fourth of July Drag Brunch by The House of raise money for Homes for Our Vanity Troops, which builds homes for July 4, 11 a.m.; $10; All American Pub, 200 E Bland disabled veterans.

St.; tinyurl.com/VanityHouseFourth A fabulous drag show paired with brunch offerings from the chef-driven menu at All American Pub.

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WBT Skyshow at Truist Field July 2-4, 7:00 p.m.; $11 and up; Truist Field, 324 S. Mint St.; milb.com Tradition since 1976, the Charlotte Knights will light up the sky with their annual Skyshow after Sunday’s game against Norfolk. Tune into News Talk 1110 WBT to sync the sound with the sky. And if you’re busy on the Fourth, the Knights will host fireworks Red, White & Brews shows following games on Friday and Saturday as July 3, Noon-10 p.m.; Free to; Sycamore Brewing, well.

2161 Hawkins St.; tinyurl.com/SycamoreFourth Live music all day, American fare, temporary tattoo Carowinds Celebrate America Firework Show station, tie-dye your own tee, and free sparklers. Oh, July 3-4, 8:45 p.m. ; $35-$42; Carowinds, 14523 and plenty of beer.

Carowinds Blvd.; carowinds.com Have a blast on all the rides and attractions Red, Whites & Blues Carowinds has to offer and finish off the night with a July 4, 2-9 p.m.; Free; Merchant & Trade, 303 S. Church firework show completed by a patriotic soundtrack. St.; tinyurl.com/MerchantFourth Themed cocktails, specialty BBQ menu items, and Fourth of July Ska Social some of the hottest DJs in Charlotte (we’re not sure July 4, 3-8 p.m.; Free; Tommy’s Pub, 3124 Eastway if that means popular, attractive, or sweaty, but Drive; tinyurl.com/TommysFourth probably all three).

A laid-back celebration at which DJ Johnny Starr and DJ Velvetine will play ska from over the years. This is a potluck and grills will be provided for your use.

Bring a side dish and whatever you want to throw on the coals.

4th of July Cornhole Tournament and BBQ July 4, 1-4 p.m.; $5; Billy Sunday, 1115 N. Brevard St.; tinyurl.com/BillySundayFourth An all-American afternoon with BBQ, booze and cornhole. Compete in the tournament for a grand prize and enjoy cocktail specials with proceeds going to PFLAG.

Get Active

U.S Whitewater Center Celebration July 3-4, 9 a.m.-9:30 p.m.; U.S. National Whitewater Center, 5000 Whitewater Center Pkwy.; Free to attend, prices vary on activities; whitewater.org Celebrate at the Whitewater Center with live music

by Jude Moses and Con Brio on Saturday, then Dane Page and Moon Taxi on Saturday, as well as yoga practices and firework displays on both days.

In the Charlotte Metro

THE KNIGHTS WILL HOST A FIREWORKS SHOW FRIDAY, SATURDAY AND SUNDAY.

Queen Charlotte Fair Laser Show July 3-4, afterdark; Free with admission; Route 29 Pavilion, 5650 Sandusky Blvd.; queencharlottefair.com As night falls on the Queen Charlotte Fair, for two nights only, enjoy a Fourth of July visual spectacular that poses no risk to blow anyone’s hand off or start July Jamboree July 2, 5-10 p.m.; $5; Blackberry Ridge Farm, a fire in the woods.

14820 Beatties Ford Road, Huntersville; Red, White, and Belmont Fourth of July blackberryridgefarmnc.com A local vendor market, live music from Black Coffee Celebration Quartet, food trucks, yard games, big kahuna shaved July 4, 6-10 p.m. ; Free; Main Street, Belmont; ice, balloon animals, kids’ water activities and belmont.gov Food trucks, parades and fireworks, what more fireworks at 9 p.m. could you ask for in a Fourth of July celebration?

[ORBIT] House Party July 3, 9:30 a.m.-9 p.m.; $10-$20; private address, City of Gastonia Fourth of July Celebration July 4, 4-9:30 p.m.; Free; Rotary Centennial Pavilion, Lake Wylie, SC; tinyurl.com/OrbitFourth Oba Shanti has been known to throw some of 111 S. South St., Gastonia; cityofgastonia.com the best parties in Charlotte, and now he’s going Live music, food trucks and end a firework show. lakeside for the Fourth with yoga, swimming, a fruit Town of Waxhaw Fourth of July Celebration bar and plenty of swimming. BYOB. July 4, 12-9:30 p.m.; Free; Waxhaw Community Center and along Church and McDonald streets; waxhaw.com Join the community of Waxhaw in celebration with a food truck rodeo, face painting, and live music.

Food & Drink Specials July Cocktail Special at Spindle Bar Through July; $12; Spindle Bar, 1115 N. Brevard St.; spindlebar.com Starting July 1st, enjoy the red, white and blue July cocktail special — available all month — at Spindle Bar in Optimist Hall. Featuring local coconut rum, frozen strawberry, blue curaçao, and lime, the Dog Days will run you $12, with a portion of the proceeds going to a local dog shelter.

4th of July French Macarons July 2-4, $2.39; Amelie’s French Bakery, locations vary; ameliesfrenchbakery.com These red, white, and blue macarons are filled with vanilla bean buttercream, making them the perfect treat for Independence Day cookouts.

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PHOTO BY LAURA WOLFF

DOG DAYS

PHOTO COURTESY OF SPINDLE BAR

ARTS FEATURE

IN THE BELLY OF ‘LA BESTIA’

Nouveau Sud traces migrants’ desperate route to survival

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BY PAT MORAN

In a cloud of smoke, the train will fly through the air above the stage as aerialists and acrobats depicting the train’s passengers and moving parts defy gravity. It could represent a ghost train streaking across the sky, or an unholy vision, but for Charlotte circus arts ensemble Nouveau Sud the train is La Bestia — or “The Beast,” which can offer an avenue toward a new life or kill you.

“Our train is going to be swinging and flying at different heights,” CarlosAlexis Cruz confirms.

The 40-year-old founder and producing artistic director of Nouveau Sud Circus Arts Project is discussing the central metaphor that gives the troupe’s latest production its name, La Bestia.

It is Nouveau Sud’s fifth production to date, and in a timeline that include Septem’s illustration of oppression and the seven deadly sins, Sur’s plea to preserve the safety of the city’s people of color and REVÓL’s examination of the divisive nature of the Confederate flag, La Bestia may be the troupe’s most comprehensive and hard-hitting vision.

Through physical theater, the troupe’s aerialists, acrobats, dancers and jugglers will trace the torturous and often deadly route Central American migrants take to reach the U.S. border.

“The migration route changes because it continues to reinvent itself,” Cruz says, explaining that the main path during the 2010s was a freight train that went from southern to northern Mexico.

To cut their trek short, migrants boarded the top of the train and hung on.

Onstage, “The Train” is an apparatus, built for Nouveau Sud by Montreal-based Circus Concepts.

It’s also the basis of a striking and magical aerial act,

designed to draw the audience’s focus to the risks and dangers the migrants encounter on the crossing.

“The train, La Bestia, is the emblematic figure of the journey,” Cruz says. “They called it ‘The Train of Death,’ El tren de la muerte and ‘The Beast’.”

It was a dangerous passage where death came in many ways — dehydration, exposure, mechanical accidents and people succumbing to sleep before falling to the rocky ground below.

A work-in-progress “soft” opening of La Bestia goes up at Booth Playhouse at Blumenthal Performing Arts Center from July 15–17. An audience Q&A session follows each performance, and the troupe will use this feedback to refine their story for an official “hard” opening from Oct. 27-31, which will then be followed by a national tour in the 2022-23 theatrical season.

troupe members practicing. Recent University of North Carolina-Charlotte graduate Krysta Rogden swings from a trapeze. Off to the side, Peter Ramon juggles. Aerialist Nicole “Strix” Sparks pivots and holds poses inside a heart-shaped hoop suspended from the ceiling. The hoop is a human Milagro, Odum tells me. In Mexico, a Milagro is a tin, often heart-shaped, votive or folk charm, traditionally used for healing.

“Milagro means ‘little miracle’,” Odum offers.

Instead of making one big Milagro prop for their show, Cruz and Odum decided to replace the center of it, often colored red, with a human being dressed in red. The suspended folk charm, Odum says, plays a key part in one of the show’s acts, entitled “The Heart of the Jungle,” in which a migrant becomes the Milagro.

Seated in the front row, Cruz has been watching

talked about when I moved to Charlotte: the ‘New South’,” Cruz says.

In 2014, an Arts and Science Council grant initiated the formation of the troupe. In April 2016, Nouveau Sud’s inaugural show formally launched the company. That show was simply called Nouveau Sud. “It’s like when a band starts and the first album is the name of the band,” Cruz says with a chuckle.

He sees the current show as a culmination of the troupe’s recurring themes and mission.

“With the Suds, this is not primarily a Latinx cast,” Cruz says. “We are Black, brown, white and Asian.”

The challenge is to present a story about migration that doesn’t look like appropriation. The solution, at least in part, is to look at migration as a whole.

Despite media focus on the southern border of the U.S., migration is a worldwide phenomenon that is not specific to Latin America, he says.

As the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis – the largest displacement crisis in the world, with 5.6 million registered refugees — illustrates, a migrant may look like anyone.

“How can we be more compassionate with each other?” Cruz asks. “Every time we see somebody from another country, we should take a moment. Instead of judging immediately we take a deep breath and say hold on. This person has gone through a lot to get to this point. Just maybe give them the benefit of the doubt.”

Coyotes, jaguars and journalists

THE NOUVEAU SUD TEAM DURING A RECENT REHEARSAL. PHOTO BY HOUSTON ODUM

The New Sud

I first encounter the magic of “The Beast” on Juneteenth. I pass the crowds celebrating the first national iteration of the holiday and go to the stage door entrance of the Blumenthal Center, where I’m met by Houston Odum. Odum, a 21-year-old student at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts at Winston-Salem, is also Nouveau Sud’s artistic director of creation. For La Bestia, he is codirector to Cruz’s director.

Odum leads me down winding passages that come out backstage onto the circus, where I see

the rehearsal intently. We leave the theater to talk in the lobby. Born in Puerto Rico, Cruz moved from Portland, Oregon, to Charlotte in July 2013 with a mission to develop circus arts in Charlotte while creating a space where underrepresented communities could be empowered to tell their stories.

“That’s where the dream started,” Cruz says. The dream became the basis for Nouveau Sud. “Nouveau Sud, which is ‘New South,’ was a play on words between the term that is used for contemporary circus, which is Nouveau Cirque, and what everybody

Given the diversity of their troupe, Cruz and Odum decided to take an unconventional yet intuitive approach to casting La Bestia.

“We’ve been looking a lot at these artists we’re working with. Who are the people of Nouveau Sud?” Odum says.

Instead of the directors telling the performers what character they will play, they let the performers dictate their character. Odum points to troupe member Brandon Lomax as an example. As Cruz and Odum observed Lomax rehearsing, they realized his movement and style reflected a story.

They decided Lomax would be the perfect fit for the part of The Coyote. Other characters also emerged organically by working with the artists one-on-one.

“There is an ensemble of migrants following a

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ARTS FEATURE lead migrant, as well as a character that references the power of the ancestors,” Cruz says. Influence from our ancestors live in all of us, he continues, pointing to the past that inspires and animates the Juneteenth celebrations going on outside the theater.

“I feel my Tejano heritage. We cannot ignore that.

When I do acrobatics, I feel now not only [myself], it’s all the people that did something similar before me — all the shoulders we’re standing on.”

For the purposes of La Bestia, the ancestral arises from the mestizo influence that undergirds Central American culture.

It’s the legacy of the Mayans, enhanced by the show’s production design, which draws on magical realism, the literary genre pioneered by Latinx authors like Gabriel García Márquez, Isabel Allende and Jorge Luis Borges, that combines naturalistic narrative with surreal elements of dream or fantasy.

The ancestral and magical realism combine when the migrants cross paths with the character of The Jaguar, which appears in “The Heart of the Jungle.”

The jaguar figure, which is prevalent in Mayan culture, represents knowledge, courage and the journey between light and darkness, Cruz says. To reflect the past with the present, the ancestral with the now, the costume for the jaguar figure mixes the organic and the metallic, Odum says.

“You’ll see a lot of angles and sharp lines in our jaguar,” he says. “Yet, the actual material looks very natural.”

With an understanding of the heritage of magical realism, the troupe creates urban-related theater, explains Cruz.

“We’re starting to call what we do magical urbanism,” he says. “We put a twist on the word ‘urban’ because it is often used to diminish the underrepresented communities in metropolitan regions. We … own the word and go deeper. We are all the diverse communities in the metropolitan urban regions in all that we bring.”

The character of The Reporter ties the production’s urban realism with current events.

Cruz points out that many reporters have been killed while covering the migrant experience, yet reportage is a double-edged sword. Bias cannot be ignored.

“We have to ask, who is reporting? From what angle? And who is the reporter serving?”

Even with bias factored in, and racist propaganda discounted, we can’t forget the ephemeral nature of

balancing on canes, juggling and performing on aerial straps, trapezes, hoops and more as they depict the migrants sharing food, dealing with solitude, escaping, encountering the wall and coming to their journey’s end.

“A migrant moves from point A to point B by necessity, not by wish,” Cruz says. “Nobody says, ‘I’m going to leave the comfort of my house and go on this perilous journey, and drag my children to the The curtain rises When the curtain rises on La Bestia, audiences border.’ Their path is a drive for survival.” will encounter a traditional Central American circus hosted by a stereotypical ringmaster.

Inspiration “La Bestia is a show eight years in the making,” In part, this is Nouveau Sud paying tribute to the rich tradition of circus arts. But then the veil is Cruz says, the inspiration for which came from several sources. The first and earliest is a classic stripped away, along with nostalgic illusions.

“The past, the traditional circus, the Golden novella, widely read in Latin America, called Lazarillo Age, is destroyed,” Cruz says. “It’s a violent act.” The de Tormes. It traces the adventures of a young circus company becomes an ensemble of migrants; man, abandoned by his family, who goes from characters shift and change. Only the ringmaster master to master, eventually learning to subvert a remains, but as the production takes audiences corrupt system in order to survive. The novella was through the migrants’ ordeal, the ringmaster proves published in 1554, during the Spanish Inquisition, by an author who wished to remain anonymous due not to be what he seemed.

The traditional circus gives way to a scene called to the work’s heretical content.

“It deals with how evil people in power, “The Invisibles,” or Los Invisibles, which reminds us that we seldom know the names of the people including the church, can be,” Cruz says. “Back then embarking on this torturous journey. Next the you could die for writing something like that.”

Elements of Lazarillo de Tormes informed migrants encounter The Coyote, who promises to take them through Mexico in exchange for money. Cruz’s solo piece Picaro, which he developed at the Baryshnikov Center in New York before debuting Then the migrants search for precious water.

“We have a scene called ‘Run’,” Odum says. “It’s the project at Children’s Theatre of Charlotte in April about the need to go and to go now. It’s about 2019.

In Picaro, Cruz employed acrobatics, masks danger and intensity.”

In the scene entitled “The Green,” Nouveau and circus arts to tell the story of a lone migrant Sud encounters the ancestral through indigenous crossing Mexico for the fabled “land of the free.” culture. The migrants’ backpacks turn vibrant and He encounters friends, thieves, priests, nuns and surreal, reflecting the jungle landscape. The scene coyotes, learning to become a trickster in order includes the Milagro in the guise of an aerial heart. to survive his treacherous journey. The narrative A dance called “B Boy Ballet” is also featured. is framed by a child telling the tale at a detention B-boys, or breakdancers, have been employed in camp at the U.S. southern border.

“Picaro is a trickster. The trickster is somebody past Nouveau Sud projects in lieu of clowns, Odum who takes the hits, the falls, the bruises and the explains.

Fun and energetic, b-boys interact with the bleeding [and] they stand up and go on,” Cruz says.

Though the solo show prompted Cruz to audience, releasing the tension that builds during internalize the trials of the migrants’ journey, and the aerialists’ and acrobats’ dangerous feats.

But for “The Green”, the Nouveau Sud crew thereby understand it better, he always felt the decided to do something different, something power of the migrants story deserved an ensemble poetic with the b-boys. In “B Boy Ballet,” a b-boy piece, “because there are multitudes of people artist comes front and center to share the stage with migrating.”

Yet the most-lasting influence for La Bestia is a a classically trained ballet dancer.

“We’re putting them in one act without trying trip Cruz took to Mexico in 2014. He was there trying to change the style of dance, to show how we can be to dream up a project with a colleague, when news alike in many ways, but still retain our uniqueness.” broke of the discovery of mass graves of migrants The first act concludes with the arrival of the in the nearby Mexican countryside. In Cruz’s mind, train. Like Act One, Act Two features the troupe the horrific fates that befall migrants in the trek facts in our instant information age, Cruz posits.

“We are a click culture now when we hit likes on any social issue, and that’s where the action stops for a lot of people,” Cruz says. He points to the heartbreaking image of a drowned father and daughter on the banks of the Rio Grande that went viral in June 2019. “Two days later, it was gone.”

across Mexico was juxtaposed with the trials of the immigrant Latinx community members he knows in Charlotte.

“Everything changed for me,” Cruz says.

With four previous projects under Nouveau Sud’s belt, Cruz feels the troupe have generated enough foundational work to start sharing the ambitious story of La Bestia. The journey to this point has included personal research, visiting refugee centers and interviewing migrants who have gone through the journey.

“There is so much truth in the development of La Bestia,” Cruz says, while cautioning that the show will provide no easy answers to the ongoing plight and incarceration of the migrants.

“We leave it open, because we want people to complete the story,” he says. “If we tell you everything, its not going to land, but if you make your own conclusions, it goes deeper, and the images — and your questioning — last a little bit longer.”

The production has received several grants to help spread its message. One $25,00 grant from the Knight Foundation was originally awarded pre-COVID. The troupe has also been awarded a NEFA (New England Foundation for the Arts) grant of $105,000, which breaks out into $70,000 for creation of the piece and $35,000 for touring. In addition, there are microgrants covering costs for at least three venues outside of Charlotte to help boost the touring life for the company once it’s on the road.

“We are just taking that next step for the company of going beyond Charlotte to represent the city, tell our stories from the people from this area, gain knowledge from the tour and come back,” Cruz says.

La Bestia represents much, Cruz says. The production shines a light on the migrants’ torturous journey, extols the common humanity that we share with migrants, pulls together the themes that thread throughout all of Nouveau Sud’s work and provides visibility for underrepresented communities.

This last item was a prime motivator for Cruz to launch the troupe in the first place.

“With La Bestia we talk about the international intercultural phenomenon of migration, but we started out by thinking about how we can serve the Latinx community,” Cruz says, “right here in Charlotte.”

PMORAN@QCNERVE.COM

WED06_30

MOVIES ON THE LAWN: ‘A BUG’S LIFE’

A Bug’s Life, Pixar Studios’ 1998 follow-up to their groundbreaking debut Toy Story, finds a host of comedic and dramatic possibilities from life in an anthill. The plot, concerning heroic ant Flik’s attempts to overthrow the overlordship of the fearsome grasshoppers, makes room for a few moments of black comedy that are rare in family films. For instance, when Flik encounters a beggar-bug on the streets of the big city, who tells him, “A kid pulled my wings off.”

More: $8-$15; June 30, 5:30 p.m.; Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden, 6500 S. New Hope Road, Belmont; dsbg.org

BENJI HUGHES Photo by: Soleil Konkel

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The talents of legendary and quirky Charlotte singer-songwriter Hughes radiate in different directions, like spokes forming a wheel. In 1995 he co-founded the Charlotte band Muscadine, which released The Ballad of Hope Nicholls — a paean to the Queen City music icon. Hughes has also written commercial jingles for Captain Morgan’s rum, released a sprawling 2008 double-album debut A Love Extreme, and pissed off his record company Merge with his eccentric 2016 release Songs in the Key of Animals.

More: $15; July 1, 7 p.m.; Neighborhood Theatre, 511 East 36th St.; maxxmusic.com

Spawned from Sewercide Mansion, the nowdefunct house-party hotspot, Paint Fumes exploded on the Charlotte music scene in 2011 with blistering, paint-peeling garage-psych scuzz-rock featuring flailing guitar riffs, raw gargling-with-razorblades vocals and a rhythm section that swerved all over the highway before crashing through the guard rails.

Neither time, nor singer Elijah Von Cramon getting hit by a car in 2013, has dimmed their gloriously ramshackle, sand-blasting approach. They’re perfectly paired with indie-rock powerhouse Petrov.

More: $10; July 2, 10 pm; Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St.; snugrock.com

The word “contour” is French for “outline.” Contour drawing is a sketching technique that uses only lines, leaving out texture and tone to highlight the shape and depth of an object. Artist Makayla Binter will show participants how to contour draw a self portrait using a mirror and different colored pencils, and afterward they will have the option to combine their drawings with their loved ones in layers. The workshop is open to all ages and experience levels, and all supplies are included in the purchase.

More: $5; July 3, noon; Gantt Center for African American Arts + Culture, 551 S Tryon St.; ganttcenter.org

Hailing from Nashville, this five-piece alt-rock combo broke through in 2015 with the appropriately titled album Daybreaker, which found a middle spot between the group’s progressive folk leanings and traditional-sounding commercial pop rock. The group completely untethered its jam band past and entered the arena pop realm in 2018 with their fourth full-length album Let the Record Play. Their major-label debut is bigger, bolder and poppier than previous efforts but it retains an airy front porch swing that keeps spiritual ties with the band’s beginnings.

More: Free; July 4, 7 p.m.; U.S. National Whitewater Center; 5000 Whitewater Center Pkwy.; whitewater.org

BENJI HUGHES

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MOON TAXI Photo by: Thornton Drury

PAINT FUMES Photo courtesy of Paint Fumes

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FAMILY FIRST: CONTOUR DRAWING

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MAKAYLA BINTER (FAMILY FIRST: CONTOUR DRAWING) Photo by: Grant Baldwin

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Soul artist Eliah, gospel singer Isaiah Bell and R&B crooner Jay D. Jones host this monthly showcase for singer-songwriters and a cappella performers.

The intimate listening room experience is held in Uptown’s historic Brooklyn Grace. Formerly Grace A.M.E. Zion Church, the venue is owned by the Brooklyn Collective, a group committed to preserving the Brooklyn neighborhood’s culture and history. Eliah summons classic soul. Isaiah Bell aka Zae the Singer has performed in churches, opera stages and poetry showcases. Jones draws from artists such as Sam Cooke and Otis Redding.

More: Free; July 8, 7:30 p.m.; Brooklyn Grace, 219 S. Brevard St; blumenthalarts.org

The Ariel Pocock Trio opens the bill with a set of jazz standards. The Seattle Times says Pocock’s music has a “true facility for … sinewy jazz piano [and] breezy, achingly plain-spoken vocal chop.” Then Jazziando, a quintet co-led by percussionist Billy Marrero and trumpeter Alberto Carrasquillo, performs instrumental Latin Jazz with Brazilian-infused rhythms, a drum beat beyond the generic salsa, jazzy versatility and a rock-heavy Cuban downbeat.

Finally, JazzArts Youth All-Stars will showcase the future stars of jazz right here in Charlotte.

More: $20 - $25; July 9, 6 p.m.; Victoria Yards, 408 N. Tryon St.; thejazzarts.org

As a producers-only market, Uptown Farmers Market features over 40 local farms and artisan vendors selling fresh fruits and vegetables, meats, eggs, cheese, fish, baked items, coffee and tea, bread, sauces, and more right in the heart of Uptown. It is SNAP-approved and offers unlimited match. The market experience includes live music, free parking and is pet friendly. COVID-19 safety protocols remain in place with hand-washing stations, socialdistancing guidelines, and mask requirements.

More: Free; July 10, 8 a.m.; 300 S. Davidson St.; uptownfarmersmarket.com

Mike Farris dove into the blackest pit of hell and emerged not hardened and scarred, but beneficent and embracing. The Grammy-winning Nashville rocker boasts a gospel blues voice that combines Al Green’s soulful croon and AC/DC frontman Bon Scott’s barbed-wire roar. Farris is also a recovering drug addict, who at least once nearly died from an overdose. Founding blues-rock jam-band the Screamin’ Cheetah Wheelies in the 1990s, Farris pumped out music that barely contained its chaos while flirting with rock ‘n’ roll annihilation.

More: Sold out; July 10, 7 p.m.; Evening Muse, 3227 N. Davidson St.; eveningmuse.com

ACOUSTIC GRACE

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THE BROOKLYN COLLECTIVE (ACOUSTIC GRACE) Photo by: Grant Baldwin

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UPTOWN FARMERS MARKET Photo courtesy of Uptown Farmers Market

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LIL DUVAL

Perhaps it wasn’t the funniest thing comedian Lil Duval has ever said when he suggested that DaBaby is “this generation[‘s] Ludacris,” as people were quick to express their feelings about the comparison, but to be fair, some of the controversy could stem from Da Baby releasing a song with Tory Lanez, the rapper who allegedly shot Meg Thee Stallion. As a musician, Lil Duval, born Roland Powell, scored his biggest hit in 2018 with “Smile,” which debuted at no. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. He’s also collaborated with Snoop Dogg and Young Jeezy.

More: $27.50 and up; July 11, 6 p.m.; Fillmore, 820 Hamilton St.; fillmorenc.com

ARIEL POCOCK (JAZZ AT VICTORIA YARDS) Photo courtesy of Ariel Pocock

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MUSIC FEATURE

DRIVING THROUGH THE DARK

Yung YuNo’s new album is propelled by ambition and struggle

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BY JONATHAN GOLIAN

As we entered 2020, there was the typical anticipation for what each of us might do differently the moment the clock struck midnight on Dec. 31.

Looking back now a year and a half later, no matter how we all spent those long moments in our homes, time itself doesn’t stop in any way that we can control, nor does it reflect on itself by the days and hours that have passed, it just keeps ticking forward.

In that same way, looking at who was still playing on local stages and grinding out the hours to prominence — from Jah-Monte Ogbon to Deniro Farrar, Autumn Rainwater to Phaze Gawd, Joe Sig to Nige Hood — some in the Charlotte hip-hop class of 2019 have moved onto various places, leaving their foundational legacies for others to be inspired by, while some continue to grind it out in the Queen City.

One thing that hasn’t stopped is the influx of new artists whose names have begun to ring bells on the local scene — names like Farrahgamo and Jaah SLT. The Charlotte hip-hop scene continues to grow and evolve, and one of the newest faces to demand recognition this year with his third album release, Cold Nights and Dark Tunnels, goes by the name of Yung YuNo. Cold Nights and Dark Tunnels, as YuNo explains it, is translated in two ways. “Cold nights” refers to the process of chasing dreams, which require the long days and nights of practice and discipline. Instead of using “long”, however, YuNo went with “cold” to reference those that have left him during the journey and the relationships that didn’t work out.

Already absorbed in the loneliness that comes with chasing one’s dreams, the term “dark tunnels” takes on a deeper meaning.

“Dark tunnels comes from the quote ‘there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.’ When pursuing our dreams for the majority of the time we feel like the tunnel just keeps getting darker and darker, leaving

they came from, fusing the messages around You only think YuNo the importance of hard work and what it Kicking the album off, “First Off” is a hype track means to come from nothing. that seeks to draw listeners into how the artist “You definitely see things from a sees his struggles and temptations, yet pushes different view when you come from where I forward through them toward his goals. “So High” come from and been through what I’ve been complements that pursuit with feel-good moments through,” he said. “My life has never been YuNo connects into his craft, while also advising in easy. So I’ve learned at a young age that I the hook to, “Enjoy right now, ‘cause time will pass have to really hustle and anything I want in you by,” as a reminder to the audience, or himself, that life I have to work hard for it and I can’t be relaxation is also essential to the process. dependent on anybody else. I’ve learned Taken as a whole, the album, which dropped on to embrace the struggle and hard times June 4, has a little bit of everything. “On Fire”, “Run because I know it’s almost behind me now.” And Go,” and “Locked in a Safe” push up the energy in The only freestyle track on the album, the room and dial into YuNo’s ambition.

“Underdog” underlines so much of his past “War” and “Who Want Smoke” brings the fight to while setting the stage for moving forward. the forefront as YuNo takes swipes at his detractors, While he might be relatively new to music, ready and hungry for the battles ahead with open beginning with the first tracks he put out aggression. back in 2019, YuNo knows more about The stand-outs on the album, however, are himself as a person than most do at his age. those that are most universally relatable, especially Taking the lessons that his family after coming through a year that had negative YUNG YUNO constantly imparted on him, along with effects on all of us.

PHOTO COURTESY OF YUNG YUNO his own struggles trying to break in as a “Percocets And Molly” explores the pitfalls that musician in an oversaturated industry, come with a constant grind, with YuNo describing us wondering when we’ll see the light. Lots of Cold Nights & Dark Tunnels serves as a milestone people give up because they think they’ll never get and point of pivot toward a world full of stages, how his undying work ethic relates to his struggle to to the end of the tunnel and see the light,” he told beginning with our local venues in the Queen City. avoid the substances that could alleviate him from the stress, even if temporarily. The track pairs well Queen City Nerve.

Rather than paint a depressing mural, as might be seen at the surface, YuNo uses the album title to express that anyone can play it safe, staying inside and never striving to accomplish something they really want, but to really want it, taking that harsh journey toward the light at the end of the tunnel is crucial.

The title offers cryptic advice while laying out how his own journey has changed the way he sees -Offering Whole Family Dentistry & Oral Surgery specialty care on an extended schedule the world, ultimately laying the groundwork for the emotionally honest and passion-filled new body of -Locally owned 7am-7pm andMonday select-Saturdays 8am - 5pm Thursday work.

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A hardened perspective

The inspirations behind all of YuNo’s music — the ambition, the struggle, the work ethic — are all rooted in his early life and the harrowing journey his family went through together to even get to the present day.

Born and raised in a Kenyan refugee camp, his parents escaped from the civil wars that flared up again in Somalia in 2004.

Now 22 years old, YuNo doesn’t remember much about his life before coming to America, having boarded a plane at the age of 5, but the issues that threatened his family overseas were constantly retold to him and his siblings in order to remind them where

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MUSIC FEATURE with the song that ended up being the album’s first video single, “Song For Depression”, the closest look listeners get to the artist’s darkest moments.

Describing his inpiration for the track, YuNo explained that it wasn’t a particular moment that brought the words to the surface, but multiple occurrences over time.

“Although my depression isn’t severe, from time to time I’ll slip into a phase for a couple weeks to a couple months,” he said. “I went through a really dark point in my life when I was 18. It was just so much. I didn’t like to talk to anybody about it so I always just sat with the pain until it passed away, but music was my drug.”

“Music helped me a lot when I was going through depression; it honestly saved me,” he continued. “This song was a result of me really going through it. I had to vent and I never talked to anybody about my pain or depression, but when I started writing songs about it, the words were just spilling out. Afterwards, since I didn’t have a studio at home, I would record it with my voice memos or on a cheap microphone with GarageBand, where I would save the songs on there just for me to listen to for myself. I’m never one to shy away from who I really am, I put my life and truth in my songs, whether it’s a breakup, success, romance, whatever I’m going through I put it in my music.”

“Song for Depression” displays Yung YuNo in a way that feels completely relatable when one finds themself at the ends of sanity. In putting the parts of the track together, YuNo also made a connection with the overarching theme of the album.

“I got out of my own head and realized that hip-hop is about you and your life experiences and struggles,” he said.“You release the songs and if it relates to the people then even better. Also you don’t hear a lot of Black men, especially in music, taking about mental health, which is a very real and serious thing. So I figured let’s be a voice for not just my people but for everyone in this world going through depression or any mental-health problems. If I can save even one life from this song than I’ve done my job.”

As the Charlotte hip-hop artists before him start to move onto their next career phases, upand-coming creatives like Yung YuNo aim to keep the hype up while imparting potentially life-saving wisdom, joining the next line of potential Queen City greats. And just like that, the Charlotte scene goes forth to its next evolution.

INFO@QCNERVE.COM

Recycle your

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June is GLASS recycling month!

Learn more at

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MUSIC JUNE 30 - JULY 13

The Menders, Lil Skritt, The Whiskey Predicament (Tommy’s Pub) Gastonia’s The Menders mix influences ranging from Crosby, Stills and Nash to the Doors into a folk-laced garage rock sound.

Paint Fumes, Petrov, Acne (Snug Harbor) Garage-psych scuzz-rockers Paint Fumes feature JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL flailing guitar riffs, raw gargling-with-razorblades Kenny Mann and Liquid Pleasure (Middle C Jazz) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA vocals and a rhythm section that swerves all over the Accompanied by their famous Philadelphia horn Alexa Jenson, Brandon Berg(Evening Muse) highway before crashing through the guard rails.

Drawing on influences as diverse as Whitney Houston, section, Liquid Pleasure and Kenny Mann bring a Janis Joplin, and Billy Joel, Jenson doesn’t quite fit into night of Soul to Middle C Jazz.

Zach Bryan (Fillmore) any specific musical mold, nor does she want to.

Singer-songwriter Bryan is joined onstage by Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey.

Emily Sage (Neighborhood Theatre) Charlotte indie artist Sage has strong leanings in jazz and soul. Her romantic and lullaby-like songwriting style is influenced by her time growing up in Portugal.

JUNE 30

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL Remember Whensdays (Middle C Jazz) Sean Higgins Trio with Tyra Scott and Joey Santo present a night of Frank Sinatra.

Open Mic: Johnny Starr (Tommy’s Pub) Starr has taken part in dance & darkwave nights at the pub. Presumably RIVER JAM IS HELD AT USNWC EVERY WEEKEND. the open mic casts a wider musical net.

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Trash Room, Symptoms, Soda City Riot (Tommy’s Pub) Female-fronted heavy hardcore punk thrash from Charlotte.

Con Brio (US National Whitewater Center) Named for an Italian musical direction meaning “with spirit,” Con Brio is a San Francisco Bay Area sevenpiece that plays energetic soul, psych-rock and R&B. Modern Primitives, Lil Skritt, Cheesus Crust (Snug Harbor) Experimental blues rock trio Modern Primitives describe their music as “Sun Ra on outer space amphetamines.” We can’t do better than that.

RAP/HIP-HOP/SOUL/FUNK/R&B B.A.M. Charlit: Phaze Gawd, Breeze We$$on, Legend Status, Renegade Gutta (Evening Muse) An evening of rap at the Muse, which is becoming a haven of sorts for hip-hop heads too often excluded from other venues around town.

Terence Young Jazz Experience (Middle C Jazz) Singer and electrifying guitarist Young has also performed the National Anthem at the NBA and various college games.

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Underground Springhouse (US National Whitewater Center) This Athens Georgia ensemble is a self-described “chill-rock-funk” outfit.

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL

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Benji Hughes (Neighborhood Theatre) Quirky Charlotte singer-songwriter Hughes cofounded the band Muscadine, wrote for films and TV, knocked out commercial jingles and has recorded masterpieces.

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JULY 4 PHOTO BY JAYME JOHNSON

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First Annual Ska Social (Tommy’s Pub) DJ Johnny Starr and DJ Velvetine play hits from all RAP/HIP-HOP/SOUL/FUNK/R&B generations and waves of ska while attendees are Ja Rule (Underground) ROCK/PUNK/METAL welcome to throw whatever they brought on the grill Bouncing back from his part in the failed Fyre Festival, JJ Grey & Mofro, Southern Avenue (Rural Hill) during this potluck.

Southern swamp-rockers JJ Grey & Mofro kick out the rapper, actor and songwriter Ja Rule returns to the stage. jams.

Moon Taxi (US National Whitewater Center) Hailing from Nashville, this five-piece alt rock combo JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL Truett (US National Whitewater Center) broke through to the public by finding a middle spot This eclectic singer songwriter draws on the singing Terence Young Jazz Experience (Middle C Jazz) between the group’s progressive folk leanings and of bill Withers and Sam Cooke, and the electrifying Singer and electrifying guitarist Young has also performed the National Anthem at the NBA and traditional-sounding commercial pop rock. guitar technique of Albert Collins. various college games.

JULY 2

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL

Christy Snow Band, Rene Russell and The Bottom End (Evening Muse) Althea René (Middle C Jazz) A soulful, R&B- and jazz-influenced flautist from Singer, songwriter, recording artist, advocate, author, Detroit, René also worked for 11 years as a Wayne minister and teacher, Charlotte’s Snow brings a full County deputy sheriff. Her 2013 album In the Flow band to the Muse. topped Billboard’s smooth jazz chart

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL

Charlotte’s well-seasoned Cajun and Creole band shares a stage with one of the region’s finest singerQuiana Parler (Middle C Jazz) Grammy-winning vocalist Parler essays a smooth songwriters. evening of jazz and soul, featuring singer Charleton JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL Singleton, another Grammy winner.

Jazz Munkee (Middle C Jazz) JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL Prepare to hear smooth jazz blended with classic and DJ/ELECTRONIC Jazz at Victoria Yards (Victoria Yards) neo-soul anchored by funk.

Walker & Royce (QC Social Lounge) Ariel Pocock Trio blends sinewy jazz piano with breezy, Walker & Royce have been producing emotive, JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL plain-spoken vocals. Jazziando performs instrumental subdued and groove-heavy deep house since 2011.

Jazz is Led (Neighborhood Theatre) Latin Jazz with Brazilian rhythms, versatility and a COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA Imagine bebopping to “Black Dog” or playing stop rock heavy Cuban downbeat.

John R. Miller (Evening Muse) time to “Stairway to Heaven.” This group of jazz cats Accomplished singer-songwriter and masterful ROCK/PUNK/METAL playing Led Zeppelin is either a or horrible idea or Quiana Parler (Middle C Jazz) Carolina Gator Gumbo, David Childers and The guitarist, Muller crafts tunes lush with intricate brilliant. I’m gonna go with brilliant.

Grammy-winning vocalist Parler essays a smooth wordplay and haunting imagery.

Serpents (Tommy’s Pub) evening of jazz and soul, featuring singer Charleton Singleton, another Grammy winner.

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COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

George Banda (Evening Muse) Voted Queen City Nerve’s Best Singer-Songwriter, ROCK/PUNK/METAL Banda crafts songs grounded in the daily lives of Greyson Chance (Belk Theater) average people but ready to take off into fractured In a little over 10 years, Chance has gone from talented modernity and flights of fancy. tween to open and vulnerable artist and queer role model.

JULY 2021

JULY 10

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Elonzo Wesley (US National Whitewater Center) Tosco Music Beatles Tribute (Belk Theater) Jeremy Davis arose from the ashes of his indie rock Local and regional acts perform Beatles songs in a band Elonzo, to become accomplished alt folk artist variety of musical genres.

Elonzo Wesley.

Big Daddy Love (US National Whitewater Center) JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL Thursday Night Jazz Jam and Martinis (Middle C A veteran of the jam band and festival circuits, Big Daddy Love have perfected a blend of rock, bluegrass Jazz) Rodney Shelton and Eric Brice Present the songs of and southern soul.

Luther Vandross.

Also Joe, The Draft Dodgers (Evening Muse) Also Joe stands out from the crowd with his catchy hooks, exciting arrangements, and fusion of jazz-popCOUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA rock.

Unspoken Tradition (Visulite Theatre) The five-piece crafts new, original bluegrass that COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA is inspired by their own influences and the roots of Mike Farris (Evening Muse) traditional music.

The Grammy-winning Nashville rocker boasts a gospel

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JULY 9

ROCK/PUNK/METAL Hedonistas (US National Whitewater Center) Specializing in energetic performances, Hedonistas is a five-piece funk-pop-rock band from Atlanta.

blues voice that combines Al Green’s soulful croon and AC/DC frontman Bon Scott’s barbed-wire roar.

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FOOD & DRINK FEATURE

Sal and his family soon relocated, and he opened his first pizza place in Marlboro, New Jersey, with his brother-in-law, also named Sal. Naturally, they named it DuSal’s, and over time the restaurant grew to 14 locations across New Jersey.

As Sal’s business expanded, so did his family.

Fabio Durrazo, Sal’s son, was born in New Jersey but Sal’s Pizza Factory expands raised by his grandparents in Italy while his father as it exits the pandemic continued to run his business in New Jersey.

Fabio knew from a young age that he was going

BY ANNIE MCGOWAN to carry on his Sal’s legacy in the pizza business. It was such a foregone conclusion, in fact, that Sal told Fabio’s teachers he didn’t have to do any homework It was without much fanfare that Sal’s Pizza because he already knew where he was going to end Factory opened its doors on Monroe Road in the Echo up in life: making pizza just like his father.

Hills neighborhood of southeast Charlotte in 2018, Fabio moved back to America in the late ’90s and but in the three years since, it has slowly built a cult following, earning rave reviews for its wide range of pizzas ranging — from staples like cheese or Margherita to more eccentric toppings like calamari and steak fries. Even their vegan pizza has been called the best in Charlotte.

Then in April, just as their counterparts in the restaurant industry were warily stepping back into business as usual, before North Carolina’s COVID-19 restrictions had lifted in full, Sal’s quietly opened a second location, bringing its massive menu to Dilworth.

The pizzeria is unique for its thin crust and gracious amounts of toppings.

Though it’s only been in Charlotte for three years, the popular eatery is built on a foundation PHOTO BY JAYME JOHNSON FABIO DURRAZO, OWNER OF SAL’S PIZZA FACTORY. decades in the making.

Born in Naples, Italy, Sal Durrazo made his way to New York in 1970 and worked in his father’s restaurants until he had enough soon found employment in a Brooklyn pizzeria. funds and knowledge to open a place of his own.

On a rare day off, he took a trip to New Jersey, and Opening his first restaurant in Old Bridge, New Jersey after seeing the miles of rural landscape before him, under the name Palumbo’s Pizza and Restaurant, Fabio decided the city was not the right place to start a fulfilled the fate that had awaited him all those years. family.

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CHURNING OUT PIES

Soon, Fabio opened another Palumbo’s location in Holmdel, New Jersey. Both locations were successful and Fabio was on his own and running, opening another restaurant in Sayreville, New Jersey, named Romeo’s Pizza & Pasta and eventually F&A Pizzeria near Albany, New York.

Moving south for Sal’s Pizza Factory

Over the years, one by one, Fabio’s extended family started moving south to North Carolina, settling in the Statesville area and opening their own Italian restaurants. Following his parents and siblings, he packed up shop and moved down south in 2018.

Naming his new restaurant Sal’s Pizza Factory in honor of the father who taught him everything he knew, Fabio brought his self-styled “Monmouthstyle pizza,” named for the county where Sal’s first shop was located in Marlboro, New Jersey, to the South.

With 25 years making pizzas under his belt, Fabio has mastered the craft of creating quality, delicious pies, though he remains humble about it.

“It’s tough to tell why any cult-like following occurs,” he told Queen City Nerve. “Folks seem to like what we are doing, and we are happy to be serving our community.”

But the following is far from unwarranted.

Sal’s unique crust is thin and crispy, allowing for toppings to be piled up, creating a unique flavor profile that’s only amplified by adventurous menu items like buffalo calamari or steak fry pizza. Almost impossible to fold in half like most Americanized pizzas, the pies are perfect for sitting down and savoring each bite.

Both locations sell whole pies ranging between $10-$26, or by the slice.

For first timers at Sal’s, the cheese slice should always be the go-to, Fabio said.

“You always get the cheese, and you should be able to tell on the spot how their pie is going to taste,” he explained.

But if that’s a bit too basic for you, Fabio recommends the Grandma slice. Made with a vodka sauce recipe that originates from Sal’s grandma, it’s a distinctive addition to the Sal’s Pizza Factory menu.

“Coming into Sal’s for the first time, you must get a Grandma slice!” he said. “Thin Sicilian crust, our house-made Grandma sauce, fresh mozzarella and a touch of basil, all drizzled with a little olive oil. Perfecto!”

More fan favorites include the Sal’s Special, piled with sausage, pepperoni, onions, mushrooms, and peppers on top of their iconic crust, or the classic

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FOOD & DRINK FEATURE

hailed by critics around Charlotte.

Named the best vegan pizza by one writer with CharlotteFive in 2019, Sal’s Pizza Factory also Margherita, which is a simple tomato sauce, buffalo stays inclusive to people with a range of dietary mozzarella and basil. restrictions including vegan and gluten-free.

If you’re feeling venturesome, the chicken parm, With wings, salads, pasta, and sandwiches, steak fry or buffalo calamari are all delicious and everything on the menu reflects the New Jersey heritage of Fabio and his father Sal, and by passing down recipes from generation to generation, Sal’s Pizza Factory’s menu stays true to its Italian roots, even in all of its experimentation and hybrid choices.

An expansion following a crisis

THE PEPPERONI SICILIAN.

PHOTO BY JAYME JOHNSON

Sal’s new location will be largely pick-up and to-go orders, though there’s a bar and a few bistro tables that allow patrons to sit and hang with the staff while they eat.

“The pandemic affected us by making us look at our

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Never miss the catch again.

Ride CATS and get back in the game.

R i d e t r a n s i t . o r g / C AT S C o n fi d e n c e

current business model and see what changes we could make to avoid dining room closures and staff shortages,” said Toby Hufhand, a partner at the new location who says he was the very first customer at the flagship spot on Monroe Road. “The togo and delivery option was the best alternative. We just focus on quality ingredients, family sauce recipes and creating the perfect crispy crust.”

Foot traffic was never much of a thing in the original Echo Hills location, but with the new site on Park Road, management TOBY HUFHAND. is excited to become even more of a neighborhood staple. However, it’s not just for folks walking by. Sal’s also delivers within a fivemile radius, which opens them up to thousands of new South End and Dilworth customers.

“We were getting a lot of delivery orders for South End and it’s a bit complicated to get back into these neighborhoods, so finding a location in Dilworth that was available was a blessing for sure,” said Hufhand. “We love Dilworth, we love the people

PHOTO BY JAYME JOHNSON

walking, live music at Comet Grill, the juice at Green Brothers is amazing, we feel like we fit in well here in Dilworth.”

Sal’s Pizza Factory is the go-to spot for Monmouth-style pizza, especially considering they appear to have invented it, and with this new location, Sal’s is ready to continue expanding their reach, pandemic be damned.

INFO@QCNERVE.COM

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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.

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©2020 King Feautres Syndicate, Inc. All rights reserved.

TRIVIA TEST

BY FIFI RODRIGUEZ

1. TELEVISION: What is Agent Mulder’s nickname on “The X-Files” drama?

2. MEASUREMENTS: How many gallons are in one barrel of oil?

3. GAMES: How much money do you get when you start a board game of “Life”?

4. SCIENCE: When was the sound barrier broken for the first time?

5. MOVIES: What was the name of the whale that swallowed the title character in Disney’s “Pinocchio”?

6. GEOLOGY: What is diagenesis?

7. GEOGRAPHY: Which river runs through the Grand Canyon in Arizona?

8. U.S. STATES: How many states did U.S. Route 66 pass through?

9. FOOD & DRINK: Which vegetable has the highest water content?

10. MEDICAL: What is a more common name for the condition called pharyngitis?

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Livestream annoyances 5 Mark for omission 9 Tennis star Seles 15 Feudal drudge 19 Like -- out of hell 20 Special periods 21 Tesla vehicle 22 Court claim 23 THREE OF A KIND 26 Himalayan hoax subject 27 -- Lodge (motel chain) 28 British title 29 Yoko who appeared in “Let It Be” 31 Op. -- (footnote abbr.)

32 THREE OF A FIND 39 -- awkward position 40 Broadcast 41 Severe spasm 42 Chicken, e.g.

45 Destruction 48 Opposite of alway 50 Merits, as an income 52 “Put a sock in it!”

53 THREE OF A HIND 57 Pro at alterations 59 Way out 60 British title 61 Green tract 62 Put lube in 63 Deny, as a statement 66 Blue-skinned race in “Avatar” 69 THREE OF A BIND 75 Wry comic Mort 76 Bitter complainers 77 Troll’s cousin 78 Famed coach Parseghian

81 Edmonton’s prov.

83 Like boys 84 Certain granola snack 85 THREE OF A WIND 91 Rink star Bobby 92 “Silas Marner” novelist 93 On the cutting edge of art, informally 94 Fluids in blood 95 Car part on a wheel, to Brits 96 Airport town on Long Island’s South Shore 98 Bite gently 101 Giddy delight 103 THREE OF A MIND 110 In the past 111 Really strain 112 -- -Ball (arcade favorite) 113 Slight ridge on a surface 114 Tiny particle 116 THREE OF A RIND 122 Calf’s father 123 More dilettantish 124 Cuisine with many curries 125 Under sail 126 Apple discard 127 Jeb the reb 128 Desiccated 129 Gen -- (millennials) DOWN 1 Like skates 2 Crude counters 3 Cats, in Spanish 4 Letter-printing aid 5 “Gloria in Excelsis --” (hymn) 6 Act human, so they say 7 Crust, mantle or core

8 Expository piece 9 Dry red wine 10 Fall mo.

11 In no way 12 Super-cold 13 Dinner chicken 14 “The Human Condition” author Hannah 15 CIA figure 16 Concerned with voting 17 Inclination to keep silent 18 Islam, e.g.

24 Hired tough 25 Structured gps.

30 Orangy shade 33 Knightly virtue 34 Slaughter in an outfield 35 Ian Fleming novel 36 Forecaster 37 Water pitchers 38 Part of UAE 42 Aperture setting for a shutterbug 43 Atheist Madalyn Murray -44 During which 46 Geyser stuff 47 More alluring 49 Signs again, as a contract 51 Jamaican pop genre 53 Orators’ platforms 54 Lisa of “Melrose Place” 55 “The hour has arrived” 56 Asia’s shrunken -- Sea 58 Kinds of bulbs, in brief 63 Big name in polls 64 “Sounds like --!” (“Let’s do it!”)

65 Gives up 67 Human herbivore

THREE OF A... ©2020 King Feautres Syndicate, Inc. All rights reserved.

68 “-- it rich?”

70 Converse 71 Minoan land 72 N’awlins sub 73 Celebrity astrologer Sydney 74 -- Haute (Indiana city) 78 Master pilot 79 Eliminating as a possibility 80 Plato’s pupil 82 Rodeo ride 84 Dental care brand 86 Mouselike critter 87 Half-cocked 88 Broadcast 89 Hale- -- (comet) 90 Strong desire 95 Afternoon service salver 97 Public squares 99 Contend 100 Young ‘un 102 Irish Gaelic 103 Bard’s feet 104 Really strain 105 Boston hoopsters 106 Actress Anne 107 Angelou’s “And Still --” 108 S.F. NFLer 109 Epic stories 115 Hardwood tree 117 VW lead-in 118 Carrere of “Rising Sun” 119 -- capita 120 Sculling item 121 Contend

LIFESTYLE COLUMN

grounding meditation, focusing on the “power of now” by following certain steps:

THE SEEKER HARNESSING THE POWER OF NOW

‘We have always had all the time there is’

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BY KATIE GRANT

Pause, and consider for a moment that your life is shaped by every choice that you make (or don’t make).

Become aware of any emotions that may swell during this moment of stillness. Do you feel overwhelmed, paralyzed, or empowered?

Everything comes down to choices — whether to act in the moment or put it off until later.

According to James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, the word “procrastination” comes from ancient Greek, in which “akrasia is the state of acting against your better judgment. It is when you do one thing even though you know you should do something else.”

Doing the hard thing first and harnessing the “power of now,” or living in the moment, is an opportunity for empowerment — to overcome fear, permission to follow our divine decree.

What I was reminded of during a virtual intentionsetting meditation over the weekend is that the “power of now” helps us create a life by design instead of by default.

Instead of viewing life as something that happens to us and becoming a victim of circumstance, we can instead claim life as our own and create our own destiny.

“But how?” the online group collectively implored.

The pair of coaches from P3 Holistic Health, which facilitated the virtual event, replied ever so simply, “By living in the present moment”.

Coach Harriet, a certified wellness empowerment coach, jump-started the conversation with a quote by Arnold Bennet from his book How to Live on 24 Hours a Day: “Which of us is not saying to himself all his life: ‘I shall alter that when I have a little more time?’ We never shall have any more time. We have, and we have always had, all the time there is.”

I haven’t read the book, but apparently, it offers practical advice on how to live fully versus just existing. It has now been added to my summer to-read list, which at this point may roll over into next summer’s.

Through virtual dialogue, Coach Harriet and Coach Dahlia, a certified relationship coach also from P3, remind us that along the path of life there will be challenges, conflicts, and hurdles to overcome.

It is how we respond to these tests that either make us stronger or break us down.

I view my own response mechanisms as a creative license — the freedom to overcome the negative voices in my head that tell me I’m not good enough or smart enough to accomplish such and such.

Through my yoga practice, writing, and selfimprovement work I have come to understand these thoughts are “self-limiting beliefs generated by my subconscious. In short, my subconscious is an asshole.

The coaches invite us to check in with ourselves, asking what time zone we live in? Meaning, the past, present, or future.

Odds are it is not the present, but by living in the past or future we lose the present — a conundrum really, since the breath we take in each present moment is the only one that is guaranteed.

Tomorrow is not a promise, so when we go to sleep each night we are leaving everything in the hands of the universe.

The moral of the story: Stop putting your dreams on hold! Don’t procrastinate, act now, because no one is going to do it for you.

Coach Harriet urges us to use each moment to our advantage, and move in the direction of whatever dreams we may have or the future we envision for ourselves.

She clarifies that movement also looks like a baby step.

Coach Dahlia supports this statement with Lao Tzu’s quote: “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

The coaches close our virtual session with a

• • • • • • • •

Bring your awareness to the surface underneath you, feel its support.

Take a few deep breaths, in and out.

Envision your feet and your hands, and the energy within them.

Do a mental body scan, starting at the feet and working towards the crown of the head. Notice where you can release tension.

Notice any sounds, the trees rustling or a dog barking.

Accept everything as it is in this present moment without judgment.

Observe the quality of the thoughts as they drift in and out, don’t attach to them but let them go.

Return to presence.

What I love about this practice is its accessibility — it can be done anywhere at any time for free. The virtual event itself was free, an amazing resource during a period when not everyone may feel comfortable being in a group setting but may still seek health and wellness opportunities.

If the best way to predict our own future is to design it ourselves, then let’s take a baby step together toward the life we want instead of bemoaning our current circumstances. I don’t want to look back in regret realizing my inner asshole is what prevented a life of joy and fulfillment.

INFO@QCNERVE.COM

Connect with free virtual arts, science, and history experiences for all ages.

CULTURE

BLOCKS

Find upcoming events at ArtsAndScience.org/CultureBlocks

By Lucie Winborne • In Tikrit, Iraq, there’s a 6-foottall monument of a shoe that journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi threw at then-President George W. Bush.

• Speaking of shoes, a collector of same is called a Sneakerhead.

• Researchers were able to mimic the voice of a 3,000-year-old Egyptian mummy by re-creating much of its vocal tract using medical scanners, 3D printing and an electronic larynx. The mummy had little to say, however, even after all that time, as they produced just a single sound somewhere between the vowels in “bed” and “bad.”

• Magnolia plants are so ancient that they’re pollinated by beetles, as they existed prior to the appearance of bees.

• A study by psychologists found that when 4- to 6-year-olds pretended to be Batman while doing a boring but important task, it helped them resist distraction and stay more focused.

(We’re trying this the next time we wash the dishes.)

• Tootsie Rolls were added to soldiers’ rations in World War II due to their ability to withstand all weather conditions.

• In medieval games of chess, pawns that had been promoted to a queen were given the title of “adviser,” so as to not imply that the king had more than one queen or was guilty of adultery!

• Those tears you see in the Tin Man’s eyes in “The Wizard of Oz” were made of chocolate syrup, as machine oil didn’t photograph well.

• Ancient Egyptians loved their cats so much that household members would shave their eyebrows as a sign of mourning when the cat died.

Mourning ended when their brows had grown back. *** Thought for the Day: “I never thought in terms of being a leader. I thought very simply in terms of helping people.” — John Hume © 2021 King Features Synd., Inc.

LIFESTYLE

HOROSCOPE

JUNE 30 - JULY 6

JULY 7 - JULY 13

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) You feel ready to face LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) Be careful: ARIES (March 21 to April 19) You clever Ewes and LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) You might up to a major change, although it might involve What appears to be a solid financial opportunity Rams love nothing more than to rise to a challenge. well feel uneasy as you face a difficult situation some risks. A once-dubious family member comes might have some hidden risks attached. A hazy So, by all means, if you feel sure about your facts, involving someone close to you. But you know you’re around and offers support and encouragement. personal matter needs to be cleared up. step right up and defend your side of the issue. doing the right thing, so stick with your decision.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Move forward with SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) It’s a good TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) You’ve done some SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) You’re

your plans, despite discouraging words from those time to strengthen ties with family and friends. great work recently. Now it’s time to reward yourself a good friend to others. Now’s the time to allow who underestimate the Bovine’s strong will. Your You might feel unsure about a recent workplace with something wonderful, perhaps a day at a spa or them to be good friends to you. Rely on their trusted keen instincts will guide you well. decision, but time will prove you did the right thing. a night out with someone very special. advice to help you get through an uncertain period.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) A misunderstanding SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December is easily cleared up. Then go ahead and enjoy some 21) Just when you thought your relationship was fun and games this week. A Libra might have ideas comfortable and even predictable, your partner that merit serious consideration for the future. or spouse could spring a potentially life-changing surprise on you.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) You love to talk, SAGITTARIUS but don’t forget to make time to do a little more listening; otherwise, you could miss out on an important message someone might be trying to send to you.

(November 22 to December 21) Family and friends are always important, but especially so at this time. Despite your hectic workplace schedule, make a real effort to include them in your life.

CANCER (June 21 to July 22) You might feel as

if you’re in an emotional pressure cooker, but the CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) Your CANCER (June 21 to July 22) Your aspect indicates CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) That situation is about to change in your favor. Take time usually generous self is overshadowed by your some uncertainty about one of your goals. Use this project you’ve been working on is almost ready for equally strong suspicious nature. You might be period of shifting attitudes to reassess what you presentation. But you still need some information out for some well-earned fun. judging things too harshly. Keep an open mind. really want and what you’re ready to do to get it. from a colleague before you can consider it done.

LEO (July 23 to August 22) A shift in your workplace

responsibilities creates resentment among some co- AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) Love and LEO (July 23 to August 22) Your social life is picking AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) Don’t workers. Deal with it before it becomes a threat to romance dominate the week. Married Aquarians up, and you’ll soon be mingling with old friends and let those negative attitudes that have sprung up your success on the job. enjoy domestic harmony, while singles could soon making new ones. But ‘twixt the fun times, stay on around you drain your energies. Shrug them off, and be welcoming overtures from loving Leos. top of changing workplace conditions. move ahead with the confidence that you can get the job done.

VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) Expect some surprises in what you thought was one of your PISCES (February 19 to March 20) An old health VIRGO (August 23 September 22) A trusted friend typically well-planned schedules. Deal with them, problem recurs, but it is soon dealt with, leaving offers understanding as you vent some long-pent- PISCES (February 19 to March 20) Aspects favor and then enjoy some lighthearted entertainment. you eager to get back into the swing of things. A up feelings. Now, move on from there and start some dedicated fun time for the hardworking favorable travel period starts this week. making the changes you’ve put off all this time.

Piscean. A nice, refreshing plunge into the social swim can recharge your physical and emotional BORN THIS WEEK: You have an independent batteries. spirit that resists being told what to do. But you’re BORN THIS WEEK: You love to travel and be also wise enough to appreciate good advice. with people. You probably would be happy as a social director on a cruise ship.

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2020 KING FEATURES SYND., INC.

PG.18 PUZZLE ANSWERS

LIFESTYLE COLUMN

PG.19 PUZZLE ANSWERS

SAVAGE LOVE

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QUEER QUICKIES

and actually call your niece on the phone and ask her if she’s queer … if you were to list all the traits you regard as proof both she and her husband are queer … it’s possible she might suddenly come out. Unlikely, UNCLE, but possible.

Clearing up any confusion But it’s almost certain you would be scratched from the guest list for all future family events — whether or

BY DAN SAVAGE not your niece comes out — which seriously tips the I just attended the nauseating wedding of my scales in favor of making that call.

30-year-old niece to her boyfriend of several years.

Recently my nephew informed the whole Both of them seem as gay as possible but they are family that he is gay. We all said supportive things diehard religious fanatics. I can list 50 signs these and I told him about a “coming out” series of two are gay and once you point it out to someone movies (Boys Life) and he appreciated the gesture. who isn’t a Bible-thumper they go, “Yeah, that Now I come to the real reason for my writing to makes so much sense.” The bride’s father, who was you.

Though I enjoy the company of women — I also the minister, praised them for not moving in am a man — my secret is that I find pleasure in together before the wedding — another sign. sucking the pecs of muscular males.

I personally find hetero abstinence until age In my college days I made several male students 30 to be highly suspicious. In fact, refraining and professors quite happy and I got pleasure from from heterosexual intercourse until that age only these encounters as well.

Occasionally, when the seems realistic if someone is gay or asexual. Our opportunity presented itself, I came while being extended families are all religious blowhards and dominated by a muscular man with big nips and we’re the only queer-friendly outlet in the family. it was heaven.

My family knows nothing about I want badly to let the newlyweds know it’s OK to question the complexities of sexuality and that this “other side” of me. I find myself envying my we’re here to support them. I fear they’ll live nephew’s openness. Perhaps a naive question, Mr. for decades in awkwardness because my niece’s Savage, but are there others out there like me?

PENSIVELY EXAMINING COMPLEX SEXUALITY minister father is beyond judgmental and insists P.S. Maybe one day I can take the same brave love (and marriage) can only exist between one step my nephew has.

MAN and one WOMAN. Is there any tactful way to ask someone if Yes, PECS, there are other bi guys out there. Some are they’re gay? Or to at least offer support if they into muscular pecs (although we just call them tits now), are closeted? How do we let them know our little some keep this side of themselves from their spouses and corner of the family will love and support them? I families (which exacerbates bisexual invisibility and poor wish someone had asked me when I was trying to mental health outcomes among bisexuals), and some figure it out. really get off on being dominated (because, like, that shit UNION NOT CONCEALING LGBTQ ENERGY is hot). So you are definitely not alone.

P.S. Today could be the day.

Why would you go to that wedding when it’s still possible to plead pandemic? And avoid having to sit Just wanted to say thanks for the push I in a room full of unpleasant people and their equally needed to come out as bisexual to my family. I told unpleasant friends? Both real and imaginary? A group of my parents a couple weeks ago and just told my people who are also highly likely to be unvaccinated? sisters.

Surprise response? My oldest sister is also Anyway, UNCLE, if you’re out to the family about bisexual.

Not the response I was expecting but it being queer and/or being queer-friendly — it’s unclear was a moment of recognition for both of us. what you ultimately figured out about yourself — your I’m 31 years old and for years I convinced work here is done. myself that labels weren’t important but I feel like Your niece knows queer people exist because you a huge weight was lifted off me.

This is who I am exist; she knows queer people live openly because you and it is important. live openly. So she knows she has options and she knows Thanks for talking about bisexual visibility for she has at least one family member she can turn to. Now a long time. For some reason it took that repetition if you were to take the next step — a radical step — for me to feel like my bisexuality mattered and

TRIVIA ANSWERS: 1. Spooky 2. 42 3. $10,000 4. 1947

5. Monstro 6. The process by which sediment is turned into sedimentary rock 7. Colorado River

8. Eight (Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California) 9. Cucumbers (96% water) 10. Sore throat

that coming out is important for me and the whole to dudes. While it might feel like a complicated and LGBTQ+ community. complicating way to be a straight guy, CIS, the straight PROUDLY UNMASKING SILENCED HEART label still applies.

Welcome out, PUSH, and how cool to learn you have “LGBT” patterns are neurotic, preventable, — that you’ve always had — a queer sister! and treatable. The Left has been lying about this for decades. Friskiness is one thing, perversion I’m a man. As a teenager I had crushes on is another. Early-life problems in parental women but I was usually too shy to do anything bonding are the root of most conditions of sexual about it. I had a girlfriend for two years and I irregularity. enjoyed her romantically and sexually. After the SHARON OFFERS AN OPPOSING VIEW relationship ended — and after struggling to find women that were attracted to me — I decided Lemme guess, Sharon-Rhymes-With-Karen: Many, to explore my sexuality. This is when I discovered many years ago you caught your husband with a cock trans women and became very confused. I am very in his mouth — the same husband who was never big aroused by them, even more than to cis women, on initiating sex (at least with you) — and somehow and this is very confusing to me because they were your husband managed to convince you it was just one women with very feminine appearances but their of those things, just one of those frisky things, a trip to genitals were still masculine. the moon on cocksucker wings, just one of those things.

At first I thought this was just some passing I’m here to tell you there wasn’t just one. Your kink but then I decided to experiment with trans husband has sucked more cock than you know, SOAOV, sex workers. I got very aroused and enjoyed these and less cock than he’d like. And for the record: LGBT encounters. describes people, not patterns, and everything you claim Does this make me gay? I have never felt — that we’re neurotic, that we can be cured, that we anything towards a cis or trans man and can’t failed to bond with one parent or bonded too much with picture myself doing anything with one. I have another — was debunked decades ago. always identified as straight but this makes me I would urge you to do a little reading but your time think the label doesn’t fit. Also I haven’t told might be better spent checking in on your husband. anyone else but my friends think trans women are Where is he right now? men and doing anything with them sexually is gay.

Are they right?

Follow Dan Savage on Twitter @FakeDanSavage; COMPLICATIONS IMPLICATING STRAIGHTNESS mail@savagelove.net; savagelovecast.com Your friends are wrong. You’re a straight guy who likes dick — dick, not dudes. And luckily for you, CIS, there are plenty of dicks out there that aren’t attached

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J�i� Q�e�n C�t� N�r�e i� d�s�u�s�o�s a�o�t l�c�l n�w� t�p�c� o�e� c�c�t�i�s w�t� f�a�u�e� g�e�t� o� t�e Q�e�n C�t� P�d�a�t N�t�o�k�

CHARLOTTE BOOK

VOL II

EXPRESS YOUR CREATIVITY Purchase the Charlotte-centric coloring book in support of local art & journalism!

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