Queen City Nerve - Best in the Nest - December 1, 2021

VOLUME 4, ISSUE 1; DECEMBER 1 - DECEMBER 14, 2021; WWW.QCNERVE.COM

Onward to 2040: The Future of Charlotte Is Now

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 5 EDITOR’S NOTE BY RYAN PITKIN

CITY LIFE PUBLISHER

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

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF RYAN PITKIN rpi tk i n @ q cn e r ve. c om

ART DIRECTOR

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

DIGITAL EDITOR

KARIE SIMMONS ks i m mo n s @ q cn er ve.com

STAFF WRITER

PAT MORAN pm o ra n @ q cn er ve . com

STAFF WRITER

NIKOLAI MATHER n m at h er @ q cn er ve . com

AD SALES EXECUTIVE RENN WILSON r wi l s o n @ q cn e r ve . com

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6 CRITICS’ PICKS 16 READERS’ PICKS 18 HALL OF SHAME 21 OBITUARIES

CONSUMER CULTURE 23 CRITICS’ PICKS 28 READERS’ PCIKS

30 LIFELINE Ten cool things to do in two weeks

LIFELINE

FOOD& DRINK ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT 32 CRITICS’ PICKS 42 READERS’ PICKS

44 CRITICS’ PICKS 58 READERS’ PCIKS

60 CRITICS’ PICKS 63 READERS’ PICKS

LIFESTYLE

NIGHTLIFE 64 PUZZLES 66 THE SEEKER BY KATIE GRANT 66 HOROSCOPE 68 SAVAGE LOVE 71 SAVAGE LOVE

THANKS SO MUCH TO ALL OF OUR BEST IN THE NEST 2021 CONTRIBUTORS COVER PHOTO BY GRANT BALDWIN | DESIGN BY JAYME JOHNSON

Awe-inspiring acrobatics!

Symphonic holiday classics!

CIRQUE DE NOËL December 29 & 30

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EDITOR’S NOTE

NO CONTEST

Best in the Nest is a guide, not a competition

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BY RYAN PITKIN

We came into this year with such hope. A vaccine had been developed, researched, and found to be safe and effective, and after one of the more stressful years in modern history, there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

Despite the optimism that came with mass vaccination events at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Joe Bruno’s intrepid efforts to find a shot for anyone who wanted one, by mid-summer it became clear that not everyone was on the same page.

And I’m just talking about pandemic here. I won’t even mention the fact that we kicked off 2021 by watching nationalist right-wing extremists overrun our Capitol in an act of domestic terror unmatched in our country’s history, because that would take a few pages on its own.

Just in terms of public health alone, we’ve seen the undying desire to “own the libs” turn seemingly sane people into conspiracy theorists.

Now, I have no intention of using this space to shame all those folks who have done their “own research” on the vaccines, meaning they’ve scoured YouTube until they found something that justifies their crackpot ideas. It is what it is. I just get a kick out of hearing folks say the media wants to see COVID continue due to ratings or clicks or whatever they’ve come up with, when it’s those same folks who are adamantly refusing to participate in the only proven solution to the problem.

But I digress. You can scroll through any ol’ social media channel and see these same arguments play out day by day to no avail, and it’s all getting a bit tired.

So now, as we prepare for Omnicron and whatever else we’ve been left open to in the spirit of so-called personal freedom, I want to look at what we came together to accomplish in the face of adversity and divisive rhetoric this year.

While it’s certainly the most stressful time of year for me and my staff, the time leading up to our annual Best in the Nest issue also makes for the most inspiring time of year for me. It’s fitting that the final deadlines always land somewhere around Thanksgiving weekend.

As much as it annoys me that we all pretend a new year means anything other than the simple flip of a calendar, it is a helpful marker of time, and an opportunity to look back and appreciate the people, places and events that gave us hope this year.

If you’re a local news junkie like I am, it’s been a year to think about the future. In the council chambers of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center, much of the first half of 2021 was taken up by discussion and debate about the Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan, a document that aims to steer Charlotte in the right direction in terms of future development.

Much ado was made of the fact that it was the city’s first comprehensive future plan since 1975, and Lord knows a lot has changed since then, but I myself am a little skeptical of any future plan that doesn’t address the glaring fact that climate change will have transformed the entire way we live on this planet by 2040, but again, I digress.

I think this issue plays an important part in envisioning Charlotte’s future, as the folks highlighted within these pages are the ones we have found to be doing the real work in their respective fields.

Some are already celebrated locally, others all too often go unpraised.

As I state every year upon the release of Best in the Nest, my goal here is not to act as a gatekeeper overseeing some competition for attention and praise, it is to point people toward those folks we believe are doing the best things to make our city a better place — to connect the readers with their work. Whether it be a community organizer, a business owner, a bartender or a musician, we all have our roles in moving Charlotte forward.

So I ask that you view the following issue not as a contest with winners but as a guide to the city’s best, brightest and most talented. There are folks we missed — there always will be — but that’s what 2022 is for.

I don’t know what 2040 is going to look like.

Maybe we’ll have floating Amazon warehouses in the sky like Tariq Bokhari believes. Maybe I-277 will have been turned into a river by then. Maybe every damn part of the city will be underwater.

But I do know that if we are to find a way forward, the folks listed within these pages should be where we start. Except for the Hall of Shame, don’t start with those pages, please.

RPITKIN@QCNERVE.COM

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CITY LIFE

CRITICS’ PICKS: CITY LIFE

You may hear that “Uptown is dead,” but City Life don’t stop. Here are the folks that kept things moving on the gound this year to ensure a better future for our city.

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Local Hero: Adrienne Threatt

In an op-ed published by Queen City Nerve back in February, as the so-called “Tent City” along 12th Street grew bigger and it became more clear the city and/or county would need to act to help those staying there, Adrienne Threatt argued that, “Our neighbors didn’t create the Tent City we see today, we did,” adding that, “When addressing Tent City, we must not forget how and why Tent City was formed.

We must not punish our homeless neighbors for living in a space we all designated for them.”

But Threatt is not one for just talking, as cofounder of Hope Vibes, she has been on the front lines of the fight against homelessness since founding her organization with her husband in 2016 after sharing a video that documented the challenges

ADRIENNE THREATT, FOUNDER OF HOPE VIBES PHOTO COURTESY OF ADRIENNE THREAT

women who struggle with homelessness face related to their menstrual cycle.

Threatt, her husband Emmanuel and a group of others began collecting hygiene products for their homeless neighbors.

Since then, she has grown the nonprofit, hitting the road in 2020 with the Hope Tank, a large truck outfitted to serve as a mobile shower and laundry center for people living through homelessness in Charlotte.

In mid-February of this year, just a week after publishing her op-ed calling on officials to find a humane and respectful solution to Tent City, she was back on the front lines helping ensure our neighbors who were faced with a forced move — whether to the county-planned motel or elsewhere — had the appropriate luggage, hygiene items, and other necessities for their transitions. Since then, she’s continued her mission through multiple projects and programs that Hope Vibes has either spearheaded or lent a helping hand to, and the city would be far worse off without her.

Best Local Celebrity: Ohavia Phillips

Show host. Content creator. Influencer.

Advocate. Queen City Nerve Best in the Nest cover model. What can’t Ohavia Phillips do?! The Brooklyn, New York native moved to Charlotte at age 13 and proceeded to make the city her own. She left her job as a reporter at Spectrum News after being refused in her desires to shine a light on community response to the CMPD killing of Keith Lamont Scott, and has since broken out on her own. The city is better for it.

In 2018, Phillips launched The Oh Show, the title referencing her recognizable moniker. On the show, she speaks with Charlotteans who make a real impact, a slew of creatives ranging from activists to entrepreneurs to artists, including folks like her who fit all three descriptions. As an Afro-Latina woman, she’s also purposeful about highlighting diversity on her show and in other work, spotlighting the rich mix of ethnicities that make our city great. Like Adrienne Threatt above, however, Phillips is about action over words. In February, she and the team over at dupp&swatt partnered to run a fundraising campaign and supply drive for residents at Tent City, perhaps inspiring our readers to vote her Best Activist in Readers’ Picks. Like we said, there’s not much she can’t do.

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Best Twitter Account: Joe Bruno

There’s two reasons Joe Bruno has and will continue to receive awards from basically everybody this year. The first is the exhaustive work he’s done guiding Charlotte Twitter through an unprecedented pandemic, whether that’s unearthing vaccination appointments, or getting into a wrist-popping verbal spat with county health directors. “Ask the question the right way, Joe,” the response from county manager Dena Diorio when Bruno asked if the county was considering a vaccine mandate, is our nominee for quote of the year.

The second reason is more subtle. It’s the way Bruno engages genuinely with our city’s residents in a tone that’s cheerful, optimistic and human. We invite Bruno into our lives via Twitter with the same warmth television audiences in the ’60s welcomed Walter Cronkite. We are all smarter, safer, and a little bit happier with Joe Bruno in our Twitter feeds.

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Best Business Twitter Account: StarMed Healthcare

Saying the past two years has been draining for health-care workers would be an understatement.

But, like a beacon in the night, StarMed Healthcare has continued to show up day after day to provide drive-up COVID testing and vaccines to adults and now children alike. Even when other major health-care players dropped their drive-up services, StarMed persisted. How do we know that? Because they have used their Twitter account @StarMedCare religiously to share real-time resources, information and laughs with their community.

Whether they are retweeting your Thanksgiving dinner or one of those amazing #StarMedKids getting their first dose of the vaccine — StarMed has used its Twitter account for good during a time when our community needed it most. And that’s not to mention the more subversive tweets or the personal stuff, like when the person behind the account mocks their marketing manager’s orders.

It’s just all-around wholesome fun in a usually alltoo-serious industry.

Funniest Twitter Account: @CLT_ Updates

CLT Updates is hard to follow sometimes. The account is anonymous, giving the author free reign to sometimes be unnecessarily mean for no reason.

The account once referred to one of our contributors

as a “local narcissist” who likes the smell of his own farts. It’s made comments that barely qualify as jokes at the expense of people well-regarded in this city. But in a small city like ours where few are willing to rock the boat for fear of burning bridges, even the trainwreck tweets are kind of charming.

Plus, when it’s good, it’s amazing.

Some favorites of ours include turning the Epicenter into a dozen Spirit Halloweens, announcing DaBaby would headline Noble Smoke Fest after the rapper became embroiled in a homophobia controversy, and making fun of people who assumed Price’s Chicken Coop was Blackowned.

The account calls out the politicians, business owners, influencers, police departments and developers that so many of us have animosity toward. It’s uncomfortable, rewarding, obsessed with killing Sir Purr, and very, very funny.

Best TikTok: @jensensavannah

It can feel at times like our city is oversaturated with social media influencers, which in true Charlotte fashion means there’s always room for one more.

Enter Jensen Nichol, who goes by @jensensavannah on TikTok, promising us something more than videos of her eating her way around the Queen City (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

Though based in Charlotte, Nichol takes her 181,000 followers all over North and South Carolina, from Wilmington to the Blue Ridge Mountains — from Raleigh to Davidson to Folly Beach. Of course, she patronizes restaurants and coffee shops, but she also shows us things to do (other than stuffing our faces) both inside and outside the city limits of towns like East Bend that are well off the beaten path, reminding us how much the Carolinas truly have to offer.

She’s captured 4 million likes across all of her videos. Her most-watched videos include her visits to the former Land of Oz theme park in Beech Mountain, Red Crab Juicy Seafood in Durham and Dick’s Last Resort in Myrtle Beach.

Nichol also uses her platform to encourage seatbelt usage by pushing NCDOT’s #BuckleUpNC and #EverySeatEveryTime campaigns, and while that’s probably a paid promotion, it’s still public safety, and that’s cool with us.

Outside of TikTok, Nichols is the co-founder of Queen City Unity, a nonprofit with a mission to make Charlotte an equitable city for all of its residents.

Best Instagram Account: @Joey_dennis

This account is a visually intoxicating cleanse of your timeline on the ‘gram. It is quite literally just locals and friends skateboarding around different areas of the city, sometimes out of town, and really killing it.

Anyone who sat around with their friends watching the old Bag of Suck, This is Skateboarding, Video Days or Yeah Right tapes of the ’90s and ’00s would find the account nostalgic, as it’s festooned with lines of hardflips, tre flips, front-side heelflips to switch manuals, gap clearings and must-hit spots around town. Since following Joey, we’ve appreciated the cleansing nostalgia, the insane skill of an unappreciated subculture in Charlotte, and the other skaters and videographers we’ve found along the way.

Best Reporter: Nick Ochsner, WBTV

Nick Ochsner, WBTV’s chief investigative reporter, is known for digging until he unearths an injustice with the hope of spurring change. His reporting this year on sexual assault allegations and claims of a cover up by the administration at Myers Park High School aimed to do just that, and it

appears to have worked.

According to Ochsner’s reporting, former female students at MPHS reported being raped, sexually assaulted and harassed by fellow students at school over multiple years, but virtually nothing was done to address the reports until Ochsner dug in.

On Aug. 6, after months of reporting by Ochsner, CMS announced MPHS principal Mark Bosco had been suspended with pay, followed by the formation of a new Title IX Task Force that will ensure all sexual allegations within the school system are thoroughly investigated.

Oschner also wrote about a Hawthorne Academy High School student who was punished after reporting a sexual assault that allegedly occurred at the school, even after CMPD pressed charges against the suspect. School administrators accused the victim of filing a false report and suspended her.

On Nov. 2, CMS board members dodged questions from Oschner when he confronted them about the situation at a board meeting, but if we know Oschner, that won’t stop him from finding out the truth.

They don’t call him The Bulldog for nothing.

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Best Local Newsletter: Transit Time

Let’s just be honest up front, upon hearing WFAE, Charlotte Ledger and the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute were partnering on a newsletter, it didn’t matter if they said what it was going to be about, we were all in. True to its title, Transit Time is about … you guessed it … transit issues in Charlotte.

And true to the newsletter name, it is as wonky as any news junkie could wish for. But if you’re interested in local transportation issues, which have come to the forefront as the city implements and adapts its Vision Zero plan, then this is where you come for in-depth reporting and trustworthy data.

seconds of whatever episode you choose to listen challenges — challenges that tend to reignite on the best science available at the given time to to. And yet, as happens in a transplant city, the two historical transgressions into the fold of present- guide his decision making, rather than the perpetual NC A&T State grads are true Charlotte gems by now, day ideologies, begging the question: How do we outrage of a confused and frightened populace. reconcile for the sake of future generations and humanity?

Best Motivator: Justin Jones-Fosu

Best Politician: Roy Cooper

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Best State Newsletter: North Carolina Rabbit Hole

Jeremy Markovich is obsessed with local quirk. His newsletter, North Carolina Rabbit Hole, was named Best New Newsletter last year, and has only lived up to its potential as newsletters have become a dime a dozen in the inbox. See, a lot of our local media is wrapped up in banal lifestyle content: where’s the newest place to get drunk, or eat brunch, or get drunk while you eat brunch.

Markovich instead turns his attention to everything compelling, weird, little-known, and fascinating about our state.

It may not be the most profitable niche, but it’s the most interesting, and it’s sometimes bewildering how he even comes across his story ideas. He’s done it all from analyzing the meme-ification of Pat McCrory to exploring if Gladys Knight is a North Carolina resident to finding the obscure Panthers player who was featured in a barely identifiable action pic on the cover of Madden ’96.

If you enjoy New York Magazine’s The Cut, but wish it was about rural North Carolina instead, you’ll want to subscribe to North Carolina Rabbit Hole.

Best Podcast: ‘Headwraps & Lipsticks’

SHARELLE BURT (LEFT) AND SIERRA TRIBBLE

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper is in the unenviable position of having to make decisions that literally can’t please everybody. That’s par for the course for being a Democrat governor in a swing state that voted for Trump twice, but it’s even harder during a year (or two) in which a global pandemic surged, then waned, then surged, then saw the emergence a vaccine that could have easily stopped all of our problems but was instead intensely politicized by fake news and conspiracy theories. [deep breath] No matter what side of the aisle you fall on, you likely had moments in which you couldn’t stand Cooper’s decisions this year. Mask on?

Anger. Mask off? Anger. Smokers get to skip the line for vaccines? Anger. Million-dollar vaccine lotteries won by 18-year-olds? Anger. Masks back on? Anger.

Through it all, Cooper never wavered, relying

For most people around the country and the world, the past 18 months have been months of forced social isolation, and the results have been severe. Locally, we saw a rise in domestic violence and road rage, while staff at Pat’s Place Child Advocacy Center sounded the alarm bells about unreported child abuse cases.

While these recent matters are certainly troubling, Charlotte-based social entrepreneur, researcher and writer Justin Jones-Fosu pointed out that social isolation has been affecting the way Americans interact since long before the pandemic.

In his book, The Inclusive Mindset, released in March, he talks at length about how social isolation leads to further inequity, and how to push back against it.

These are the lessons that have made him successful as the host of diversity and inclusion trainings in corporate settings.

“I found that diversity and inclusion was only talked about from a very shame-based approach or deficit approach, it was always what you’re doing

PHOTO BY GAVIN BOULWARE

after having hosted five full seasons of their hilarious podcast. The two tackle serious topics around race, politics, celebrity culture and whatever’s the talk of the day with a levity that allows us to shake the doom and gloom of the 24-hour news cycle. Tribble’s explosive cackle is enough in itself to brighten a bad day.

Take the special episode that followed Jan. 6, titled “It’s the Coup For Me,” and let that lead you into Season 5, a year that saw them really come into their own as hosts. They sometimes welcome local guests that you won’t hear elsewhere — Chef Jase is a recent example — but the two of them are entertaining enough on their own to keep this show at the top of your podcast playlist.

Best Documentary: ‘The Other Side of the Coin: Race, Generations, and Reconciliation‘

The only full-length feature out of Charlotte to be included in this year’s Longleaf Film Festival, The Other Side of the Coin is a collection of experiences Headwraps & Lipsticks co-hosts Sharelle Burt and thoughts that address the complexities of and Sierra Tribble hail from Long Island and Philly, race in America. The participants represent a span respectively, and you can hear that in the first few of generations, which presents its own unique

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wrong,” he told Queen City Nerve in May. “The focus wasn’t generally on how do we grow, progress and get better, which is more an abundance thinking.”

Best Community Organizer: Kenny Robinson

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Upon his 2012 release from federal prison after serving a 10-year sentence, Kenny Robinson struggled to find work, experiencing rejection 40 times in a row before finally getting hired by Goodwill for $7.25 an hour. He eventually found a more sustainable career as a car salesman, and used his position to help others who found themselves in the situation he once did. But it wasn’t enough.

On Jan. 1, 2020, Robinson left his job and launched Freedom Fighting Missionaries with the goal of helping justice-involved folks transition back into society and find employment. Upon the onset of the pandemic, Robinson said his workload nearly doubled, but he hasn’t slowed down, only working harder to fight for affordable housing and more help for those coming out of incarceration.

Dawkins led the team at local advocacy organization ActionNC to hit the streets, going into underserved communities day after day to help fight misinformation and vaccine reluctancy by meeting people where they were and respectfully answering any questions or concerns they had. It’s hard to track the impact of these efforts, as they weren’t actually administering shots, but their intrepid efforts were admirable at a time when most were simply fine with getting their shots and shaming anyone else, as if that will get us to the end of this mess.

Best Activist/Advocate: Melody Gross

As a survivor of intimate-partner violence herself, Melody Gross has long been an advocate for other people who have gone through what she’s experienced, especially Black women.

In spring 2020, Gross took the logical next step and launched her company, Courageous SHIFT, which takes a three-pronged approach to fighting back against domestic violence.

Through the organization, Gross offers consulting services for employers to recognize when domestic violence is happening and support those experiencing it, and in the Courageous SHIFT Circle, Best Activist/Advocate she offers a space for the survivors themselves to help navigate their exit from an abusive situation.

Organization: ActionNC While Joe Bruno took the proactive approach Then near the end of last year, she launched the to help folks get find vaccines and testing sites Eva Lee Parker Fund, which helps Black women over Twitter, local community organizer Robert with immediate emergency funding needs as they flee abusive situations. This year, she has continued to see the ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought a rise in all types of domestic violence, including intimate-partner violence. While the Eva Lee Parker Fund helps in shortterm emergencies, Gross is also focused on breaking the cycle of violence that can last through generations in certain families, as she believes happened in her own experience.

“If I can help one person get to safety or even acknowledge that they’re experiencing abuse, I’m fine with that,” she told Queen City Nerve in June. “I can’t save the world but I can save those who come to me.”

ACTIONNC ORGANIZERS CALL FOR A RENT/MORTAGE FREEZE. PHOTO BY HECTOR VACA

solution to Mecklenburg County’s affordable housing crisis by quite literally building communities. After opening a pilot community of eight affordable homes in February, HAF began fundraising for its larger plan, which includes 300 homes, an outdoor theater, 24-hour child-care services, arts and crafts centers, workforce development programs, fitness centers, a commercial kitchen, community gardens, a chapel and a community center, all of which the organization says it can build for just 17 to 20 million dollars.

HAF offers housing with a lowbarrier approach and maintains that the only two things that disqualify an applicant from signing a lease would be if a potential resident has a past sex offense charge or a history of arson, for the safety of fellow residents.

By offering services and using self-sufficiency assessment matrices to connect people to other services, HAF has a goal of making productive citizens no matter how different that looks case-by-case.

Best Fan Group: Crown Club

The Hornets, and let’s be honest, mostly LaMelo Ball, have done something very special for Charlotte in the past calendar year. The team is recapturing a bit of its former ’90s cool factor, and in the process, giving Charlotte an exciting new identity at the same time the Panthers had been less than admirable.

Evan and Scotty Kent, known for running the grassroots Bring Back the Buzz campaign that

Best Hire: Belton Platt, Alternatives to Violence

The City of Charlotte tapping Belton Platt to head its new violenceinterruption program, Alternatives to Violence (ATV), is a full-circle storyline that reads like the plot of a feel-good movie.

Platt was once one of Charlotte’s cocaine kingpins. He served more than 20 years in prison, and while incarcerated, lost three sons to gun violence. Now he’s working with the city to help curb violence in the Beatties Ford Road and LaSalle Street corridors, setting a model to potentially be used citywide.

Platt and his ATV team get to know the residents and try to mediate and prevent situations that could lead to violent crimes. They also offer resources for community members in need, including connecting folks with job opportunities, educational resources, mental-health and drug-treatment services and basic needs.

At the beginning of November, a little over two months after the program’s mid-August launch, Best Solution-Based the team was mentoring more than a dozen at-risk Approach: Home Again youth. They hope to eventually expand outreach to Foundation other areas of the city where violent crime incidents Grassroots organization Home Again are occurring.

Foundation (HAF) believes they have the

BELTON PLATT PHOTO BY DAVID FLOWERS

transformed the Bobcats back into the Hornets, started the Crown Club to provide a way for Hornets fans new and old to connect with the team in a communal way. In a partnership with the brains behind Roaring Riot, the group hosts out-of-town takeovers, pre-game parties, beer releases, and more.

But deeper than that, it gives a new face to the Hornets fan base to match the new attitude on the court. If sports is one of the main avenues through which a city is transformed into a home, then Crown Club is like a weekly house party.

Best Comeback: Cam Newton

OK fine, the Panthers haven’t been on a winning streak since Cam Newton’s return. That’s understandable, given the amount of learning and new team acclimation that has to take place.

We’ll acknowledge there’s a long way to go. After

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all, a paper sheet for an offensive line isn’t going to protect Cam any more than Sam Darnold or P.J. Walker. But you can’t deny the energy among Panthers fans in the city has shifted. The swelling feeling of pride when he first walked out on the field in that No. 1 Panthers jersey, scored a touchdown, and yelled “I’m baaaackkk” right into the camera is inarguable. Don’t even pretend you’re not excited to see next week’s press conference outfit, even you Ford F-150 folks who just wanna hate. Cam is home, baby! The world feels a little more right, even if a few folks in the organization still need to be fired.

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Best Nonprofit: Center for Community Transitions

This 47-year-old Charlotte-based organization works to reimagine criminal justice and support those with a history of incarceration, also known as “justice-involved” individuals. The Center for Community Transitions provides services for people reentering society after incarceration that include family support groups, job-readiness training and a residential facility for women who are finishing out their sentences. CCT’s Center for Women houses 30 women at their facility in northeast Charlotte.

Near the end of February, CCT announced it was taking the next step in its work through a partnership with the SHRM Foundation, a national equity-hiring firm that is helping CCT launch a local initiative called Getting Talent Back to Work, which SHRM Foundation has been implementing in communities across the country. The initiative will help local employers “go beyond Ban the Box” — a movement that called on employers to remove any questions about past criminal charges from preliminary job applications — to implement internal assessments of their HR practices and strategize on how to effectively and sustainably create second-chance hiring programs.

During a summit announcing the new program, Atrium Health, the area’s largest employer, announced its own commitment to begin hiring justice-involved people through a new Reentry Entrepreneurship Program through which the health-care giant will hire 20 justice-involved people for in-demand jobs at their facilities, then help them develop a career plan and follow through with it.

Best City Government Decision: Nondiscrimination Ordinance

On Aug. 9, Charlotte City Council unanimously approved amendments to the city nondiscrimination ordinance (NDO). The amendments included: familial status, veteran status, pregnancy, natural hairstyle, gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation. This marked the first attempt at passing a city NDO since 2016, when the new protections were overturned by the infamous transphobic bill known as HB 2. Governor Roy Cooper’s so-called compromise bill HB 142 placed a moratorium on any new municipal NDOs until Dec. 1, 2020. Well, that deadline came and went, and Charlotte City Council didn’t appear to feel much urgency about it. Local activists watched as Chapel Hill, Durham and other NC cities (and small towns) reinstated protections for transgender people while Charlotte dragged its feet on creating robust, non-symbolic legislation. It wasn’t until several months after the HB 142 sunset that it was approved. Better late than never?

efforts that led to countless vaccinations from folks who needed the personal touch of a smallscale operation, early this year larger health-care companies like Atrium Health showed their strength in numbers when they partnered with government agencies to hold massive vaccination events. Atrium kicked things off at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Jan. 23, scheduling 16,000 appointments, an effort that was doubled at later mass vax events. The partnership between Honeywell, Atrium Health, Tepper Sports & Entertainment and Charlotte Motor Speedway aimed to administer 1 million vaccines to area residents by July 4, a goal of which they appeared to have fallen short, as only about half a million Mecklenburg County residents were vaccinated by that time. But hey, at the time of these mass vaccination clinics, how were we to know that so many amongst us would suddenly turn into stubborn children and conspiracy theorists? At least they were there to help the folks who knew enough to help themselves.

Best State Government Decision: Social Districts

In a surprising move for a usually useless state legislature, the North Carolina General Assembly in September passed a law allowing individual municipalities to create their own social districts, where off-premise alcohol consumption would be allowed, similar to Savannah, Georgia; or New Orleans.

Later that same month, Kannapolis became the first Charlotte-area town to enact a social district, doing so around Atrium Health Ballpark, the new home of the Kannapolis Cannonballers and anchor of a planned revitalization in the downtown area there. We’re patiently CHERENE ALLEN-CARACO OPENS THE RETREAT @ THE PLAZA awaiting word for Charlotte, and while PHOTO BY TAYLOR KNOPF we’re aware the situation will be more complex in a city with multiple potential social districts, it’s promising to know that there already is a movement underway to make this Most Exciting Development/ happen here in 2022.

Opening: The Retreat @ The Plaza

In early August, Promise Resource Network expanded its services by opening Retreat @ The Plaza, an alternative to hospitalization for While independent health-care facilities like people experiencing mental health distress. It’s StarMed along with community organizations the first peer-run respite house in North Carolina, like ActionNC were the stars in terms of grassroots meaning it’s completely staffed by people who

Best Pop-Up for a Cause: MassVaccination Events

have experienced mental illness, psychiatric hospitalizations, homelessness, incarceration, substance use or a combination of those. The peerrun respite facility is free to participants and is designed to be a completely voluntary alternative for people who would otherwise seek care in a mental health crisis through the emergency room and possibly be involuntarily committed to a hospital.

Cherene Allen-Caraco, a trauma and suicide attempt survivor who is also founder and CEO of Promise Resource Network, has been vocally opposed to any form of forced psychiatric treatment.

For years, she has advocated for and created alternatives at PRN, now taking the form of a new peer-run respite center. “And today we will do better because of effective, less costly, less traumatizing alternatives that exist,” she said at the August opening.

Most Exciting Development/ Opening Outside I-485: Free Spirit Farm

On March 4, Carolina Farm Trust broke ground on a 28-acre urban farm site in Huntersville. Free Spirit Farm, Carolina Farm Trust’s largest undertaking yet, is among North Carolina’s largest urban farms.

Located near Huntington Greene — an economically-stressed community that is predominantly home to Latinx residents — Free Spirit Farm serves those residents and other neighboring communities that face barriers in accessing fresh, nutritious and affordable food.

“During a time where we feel powerless in so many ways, Free Spirit Farm is an opportunity for all of us, as Mecklenburg county residents, to take action to protect and build our local food economy and supply chains,” Zack Wyatt, president and CEO of Carolina Farm Trust, stated in a release announcing the farm’s opening.

When finished, Free Spirit Farm will feature a high-tunnel grow building, orchards for fruit and nut trees, water features to serve as reflection and retention ponds, compost production, and a structure for a farmer’s market, produce preparation, refrigerated storage and amenities.

It will operate as a living and working farm that will cultivate change through community-led food systems with a focus on racial equity and food justice through partnerships with Black farmers in the Charlotte area. Its comprehensive urban

CITY LIFE

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farm micro-system will provide opportunities for employment, housing, learning, recreation, leisure, gathering and entrepreneurship.

Best Decision For Our Future: Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan

It was not long after Charlotte Assistant City Manager Taiwo Jaiyeoba finished his presentation to Charlotte City Council at its March 1 strategy session that it started to become clear just how much an uphill battle he was facing in getting approval for the Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan, which will most likely be the defining aspect of his tenure as the city’s director of planning, design and development.

Opponents threw fits over the inclusionary zoning aspect of the plan, which will allow for the construction of duplexes and triplexes in areas that are currently zoned exclusively for single-family housing. At the March strategy session, city council member Ed Driggs scoffed at this possibility to help allow for more of the “missing middle housing” and help put a dent in the city’s affordable housing crisis.

Despite the pushback, the city passed the Comprehensive Plan in June, two months after it was originally scheduled for a vote. But alas, the Comp Plan is just an aspirational guide, and the city is currently working on the Unified Development Ordinance that will codify it. Prepare for deja vu, as we’re surely about to hear a lot of the same arguments against inclusionary zoning that we heard in 2021. *yawn* It will pass anyway, as it should.

But alas, the two parties couldn’t come to terms on the lease agreement and, after three years of building the original park, three years of being in business, and weeks of work disassembling the whole park for the move — the deal was off.

“Our goal was to make a positive impact in the community using skating as our conduit to do so,” owner Phil Gripper said of Oso’s first three years at HUB 933. “So with Oso, we were able to have a space where people could come and have positive influence through physical activity. We also provide a space for art to be displayed and sold and for live music to be played for all ages and audiences. And so, in the time we’ve been open we’ve been able to connect with kids, we’ve been able to connect with families and adults alike, and just spread positivity as best we can through the walls that we have.”

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BEST LOCAL PRODUCT 2021

Best Lost Cause: Oso Skatepark out of the Trailhead District

Oso Skatepark was a pillar in our community’s skateboarding scene and all its adjacent subcultures.

It offered a place for expression and art, skating and camaraderie, live music and summer camps and so much more. After three years in operation, the crew behind Oso was offered a chance to move out of their space at Hub 933 and into a fledgling new development just north of NoDa. In working with Flywheel Group to grab a space in their new Trailhead District development, the park was to expand its indoor space from 4,500 square feet to 6,000, then add another 12,000 square feet of outdoor space in a Phase 2 build-out.

DAILY SUPPORT FOR IMMUNE HEALTH & SEASONAL ALLERGIES

THANK YOU! @SWEETSELDERBERRY WWW.SWEETSELDERBERRY.COM

Thank you, Charlotte, for nominating us for “Best Twitter Account for Humor” and “Best Urgent Care Facility”

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(but mostly Best Twitter Account for Humor)

THANK YOU, CHARLOTTE! We are delighted you chose Immersive Van Gogh as Best Exhibit and our engagement of Wicked – part of our Equitable Bravo Series – as Best Theater Show.

We can’t wait to see you in our venues in 2022!

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CITY LIVING BEST APARTMENT COMPLEX Winner: The Vue Runner Up: The Gibson BEST AREA TO LIVE Winner: Plaza Midwood Runner Up: NoDa BEST CHURCH Winner: Myers Park Baptist Church Runner Up: The Cathedral of St. Patrick BEST CITY IMPROVEMENT Winner: Greenways Runner Up: Parkwood Avenue bike lanes/traffic calming - CDOT BEST CO-WORKING SPACE Winner: Hygge Runner Up: Advent Coworking BEST HOTEL Winner: Grand Bohemian Runner Up: Dunhill Hotel BEST LOCAL COLLEGE Winner: UNC Charlotte Runner Up: Central Piedmont Community College

Don’t JUST Recycle,

Recycle

right!

ONLY RECYCLE THESE SIX ITEMS

BEST NEW CONSTRUCTION PROJECT Winner: CityLYNX Gold Line Runner Up: The Line South End BEST PARK IN CHARLOTTE Winner: Freedom Park Runner Up: Romare Bearden Park BEST PLACE FOR A STAYCATION Winner: Grand Bohemian Runner Up: Ballantyne Hotel

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BEST PLACE TO GET HITCHED Winner: McGill Rose Garden Runner Up: Mint Museum Uptown BEST PLACE TO HOLD AN EVENT Winner: Camp North End Runner Up: The Barrel Room at Triple C BEST PLACE TO PEOPLE-WATCH Winner: U.S. National Whitewater Center Runner Up: Optimist Hall

No Plastic Bags

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BEST PLACE TO WORK Winner: Tip Top Daily Market Runner Up: UNC Charlotte BEST BUILDING IN THE UPTOWN SKYLINE Winner: Duke Energy Building Runner Up: Bank of America Tower BEST WAY TO GET AROUND WITHOUT A CAR Winner: Biking Runner Up: Walking

BEST TV PERSONALITY Winner: Brad Panovich Runner Up: Larry Sprinkle

BEST INSTAGRAM INFLUENCER Winner: Spicy CLT Memes (@spicycltmemes) Runner up: Wynee Bermudez (@wyneesworld)

BEST RUN CLUB Winner: NoDa Run Club Runner Up: Black Men Run Charlotte

BEST TV SPORTSCASTER Winner: Steve Smith Sr. Runner Up: Taylor Zarzour

BEST LOCAL FACEBOOK GROUP Winner: NoDa Community Runner Up: Queer Society Charlotte

BEST WEEKEND GETAWAY Winner: Asheville Runner Up: Charleston, South Carolina

BEST TV STATION Winner: WSOC-TV Runner Up: WBTV

BEST TIKTOK ACCOUNT Winner: Wyneesworld Runner Up: Blackguyscook

NEWS, POLITICS & ENTERTAINMENT

BEST USE OF TAX MONEY Winner: Parks and Greenways Runner Up: COVID-19 relief

BEST TWITTER ACCOUNT Winner: @JoeBrunoWSOC9 Runner Up: @CLTdevelopment

BEST VIRTUAL EVENT Winner: Charlotte Black Film Festival Runner Up: CreativeMornings/Charlotte

BEST TWITTER ACCOUNT FOR HUMOR Winner: @StarMedCare Runner Up: @clt_overheard

LOCAL ISSUE THAT NEEDS MORE ATTENTION Winner: Affordable Housing Runner Up: Homelessness

BEST TWITTER ACCOUNT FOR NEWS Winner: @JoeBrunoWSOC9 Runner Up: @WBTV_News

WHAT WE NEED LESS OF Winner: Luxury Apartments Runner Up: Traffic Congestion

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT & SOCIAL JUSTICE

WHAT WE NEED MORE OF Winner: Affordable Housing Runner Up: Kindness

BEST ACTIVIST Winner: Ohavia Phillips Runner Up: Cameron Pruette

WORST POLITICIAN Winner: Pat McCrory Runner Up: Tariq Bokhari

BEST ACTIVIST GROUP Winner: Block Love Charlotte Runner Up: Black Political Caucus of CharlotteMecklenburg

WORST PLACE TO WORK Winner: Any restaurant owned by Jim Noble Runner Up: Amazon

BEST FREE EVENT Winner: Charlotte Pride Runner Up: Friday Nights at Camp North End

SPORTS & LEISURE

BEST HERO/HEROINE Winner: Jamie Starks Runner Up: Kaitlin Rothweiler

BEST BIKE CLUB Winner: Ales and Trails Runner Up: Bitches of Chaos BEST CAMPING SPOT (IN STATE) Winner: Stone Mountain State Park Runner Up: Mount Mitchell State Park BEST DISC GOLF COURSE Winner: Reedy Creek Park Disc Golf Course Runner Up: Renaissance Disc Golf Course BEST GOLF COURSE Winner: Pine Island Country Club Runner Up: River Run Country Club BEST GROUP WORKOUT Winner: Kahli Yoga Runner Up: Bloom Movement Artistry BEST HIKING TRAIL Winner: Crowders Mountain Runner Up: High Shoals Falls (South Mountain) BEST LOCAL MASCOT Winner: Sir Purr Runner Up: Chubby the Checker

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BEST RECREATION CENTER Winner: Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center Runner Up: Eastway Regional Recreation Center

BEST LOCAL SPORTS FIGURE Winner: Christian McCaffrey Runner Up: Steve Smith BEST LOCAL SPORTS TEAM Winner: Carolina Panthers Runner Up: Charlotte Checkers BEST PLACE TO GET BACK TO NATURE Winner: Crowders Mountain Runner Up: Grandfather Mountain

BEST LOCAL CELEBRITY Winner: Jeff Jackson Runner Up: Joe Bruno BEST LOCAL FESTIVAL Winner: Charlotte Pride Runner Up: Festival in the Park BEST LOCAL PODCAST Winner: The Charlotte Podcast Runner Up: Southbound BEST NEW THING Winner: Being vaccinated Runner Up: Charlotte Gaymers Network BEST NEWS REPORTER/ANCHOR Winner: Joe Bruno Runner Up: Molly Grantham BEST NEWS STORY OF THE PAST 12 MONTHS Winner: CMS requiring masks Runner Up: Myers Park High School rape cover-ups BEST POLITICIAN Winner: Jeff Jackson Runner up: Braxton Winston BEST RADIO PERSONALITY Winner: Ace & TJ Runner Up: Ramona Holloway BEST RADIO SHOW Winner: Charlotte Talks - WFAE Runner Up: Matt & Ramona in the Morning The Mix 107.9

WORTS USE OF TAX MONEY Winner: I-77 Express Lanes Runner Up: CMPD

SOCIAL MEDIA BEST BLOG Winner: The Queen City Style Runner Up: North Carolina Rabbit Hole BEST BUSINESS INSTAGRAM Winner: IRIS Blossom (@irisblossomclt) Runner Up: Lucky Dog Bark & Brew (@barkandbrewclt) BEST FACEBOOK PAGE Winner: Camp North End Runner Up: One Voice Chorus of Charlotte BEST INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT Winner: Allie Papajohn (@eatdrinkclt) Runner Up: Onya Nerves (@onyaofficial)

BEST EVENT FOR A GOOD CAUSE Winner: Charlotte Pride Runner Up: 24 Hours of Booty BEST NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION Winner: Block Love Charlotte Runner Up: Goodyear Arts BEST PLACE TO VOLUNTEER Winner: Time Out Youth Runner Up: Second Harvest Food Bank BEST SUPPORT GROUP Winner: Safe Alliance Runner Up: Transcend Charlotte

HALL OF SHAME We hate to be downers, but there are some people walking the streets of Charlotte who really just made a shitty year shittier for everyone. Do better, y’all.

A HOME ON THE HISTORIC LATTA SITE PHOTO BY CAROL HIGHSMITH

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Worst Event Planning: Latta Plantation

Any event planner will tell you, it’s all in the way you present your function that affects whether the public will show up — or in worst-case scenarios, how they’ll react to screenshots of your plans shared widely around the country on social media.

That’s what happened when folks began sharing the description of an event called Kingdom Coming, scheduled for Latta Plantation in Huntersville on Juneteenth weekend.

“Come out to Historic Latta Plantation for a one night event,” the description read. “You will hear stories from the massa himself. Federal troops (Yankees) have him on the run and his former bondsmen have occupied his home and are living high on the hog. Hear how they feel about being freedmen.” It went on to promise that white refugees “have a story to tell as well,” and that Confederate soldiers would be expressing their feelings about the downfall of the Confederacy, seemingly centering everyone but the enslaved person on a holiday meant to celebrate their emancipation.

The response was swift, and it quickly expanded past social media. Before the month was over, the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners decided not to renew the lease for Historic Latta Place Inc., which for years ran the circa-1800s farm where people were once held as slaves and forced into labor, and operated it as a “living history museum.”

Site manager Ian Campbell, a Black man, did release a defensive statement that took shots at the mayor for her statement decrying the scheduled event and blamed the “media corps of yellow journalists” for

stirring the public into a frenzy over the event.

In the end, HLP was forced out on July 1, and the county is currently doing community outreach to plan for the reopening of the historic site in an inclusive and respectful way.

identity theft, as management not only had copies of tenants’ drivers’ licenses but Social Security cards as well. Another renter confronted the motel manager about the board and was told the owner is frustrated: “She said, ‘He wants his money, and he wants you all out of here, so this is the last straw.’”

Most Shameful Business: City Inn Worst Faux Outrage: White on Nations Ford Road In January, WSOC reported about City Inn’s Privilege banner at Charlotte dastardly practice of shaming tenants who had Catholic football game fallen behind on rent during the pandemic.

Management of the motel, located on Nations Ford Road in southwest Charlotte, put up a display in the lobby depicting the drivers’ licenses and photos of all tenants who had fallen behind on payments in a time when an eviction moratorium had made it illegal to kick such tenants to the streets.

The display also listed how much each resident owed, showing totals ranging from $2,000 to more than $7,000, with phrases like, “Shame on you.”

This made some renters feel like the motel was trying to shame them into leaving, even though they had nowhere to go.

One tenant told WSOC they were worried about

“Sniff sniff. You smell that?” and then “PRIVILEGE” painted in white letters surrounded by dollar signs. This was the banner held up by Butler High School cheerleaders at a football game against Charlotte Catholic in October.

In the course of any high school football game, tons of stupid things are said about the opposing team. The banner echoed the kind of harmless jawing we’d all do at a bar if we met someone who went to Charlotte Catholic, a $10,000-peryear private school with an 84% white population.

But right-wing media picked up the local story, as outlets like The Blaze, the Daily Mail, and Fox News wrote weird dog-whistle stories about the banner.

THE BUTLER HIGH SCHOOL CHEERLEADING SQUAD CALLS IT LIKE THEY SEE IT.

HALL OF SHAME Twitter users who don’t even live in North Carolina demanded the cheerleaders be expelled.

Some even called the banner a hate crime. All of this for a bunch of high school cheerleaders who had an idea they thought was funny. It wasn’t a racial slur, or a call for discrimination. It was just some kids with Office Depot paper and some markers. Chill.

Worst Petty Fight: CMS & Meck County fight over funding

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If you have been paying attention to local Charlotte politics, it is no secret that our local governing bodies have regularly and consistently failed to effectively support Black and brown communities, poor folks, and people of nearly every other marginalized identity. On more than one instance, this systemic failure has turned into a technicality-laden game of Pass the Blame between governing bodies, and this petty-passing was in full display in this summer’s dramatic mediation between the Charlotte Mecklenburg Board of Education and the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners (BOCC).

Citing concerns about equity in CMS schools, the BOCC threatened to withhold 56 million dollars allocated for public education. The stipulations of this funding debacle led to accusations that the BOCC might be overstepping their role by enforcing equity quotas in CMS, particularly when the BOCC can make concrete contributions to equity in school by funding things like affordable housing and public transportation.

In the end, the struggle was resolved through mediation, which stipulated that the BOCC would release the funds to CMS and, in return, CMS would provide several updates with data on their progress toward equity. Play stupid games; win stupid prizes.

Most Inexplicable Police Response: Gastonia Police Department We got a glimpse at the lack of ethics within the Gastonia Police Department during protests there in 2020, and this year they said, “Hold my beer,” as one incident in particular showed their lack of empathy — for those struggling with

homelessness, for veterans and for animals alike.

On Oct. 13, Gastonia Police arrested Joshua Rohrer for panhandling at the same intersection he had been setting up at for months. Rohrer, who served in the U.S. Army from 2002 to 2008, was set up at an intersection near the Gastonia Mall with his best friend, a female service dog named Sunshine, who was trained to help Rohrer cope with post-traumatic stress disorder. When Gastonia PD arrived on the scene following a 911 call, witnesses say officers asked for Rohrer’s ID. When he complied too slowly, officers slammed him against their car and cuffed him.

In response to her owner being assaulted, Sunshine nipped at one of the officer’s boots, so another officer shot her with a stun gun. Sunshine ran away as the police threw Rohrer to the pavement and arrested him, charging him with panhandling and resisting arrest. While Rohrer was in jail, Veterans Affairs advocate Dave Dowell tracked down Sunshine, but she subsequently escaped the advocate’s care. When Rohrer was released from jail the next day he searched for his dog, only to discover that she had been struck by a car and killed.

A GoFundMe has been launched to provide legal fees and housing costs for Rohrer, who is depressed and devastated by the loss of Sunshine.

Worst Government Response: Mecklenburg County, Tent City

Mecklenburg County’s eviction of some 200 homeless residents from Tent City in February was about as disruptive and cruel as could be. After waiting to take action until a rodent infestation presented a public health hazard to Tent City residents along 12th Street, the Mecklenburg County Public Health department gave them only 72 hours notice to clear out. County officials stated that residents were entitled to 90 days of hotel housing, and while officials made efforts to inform Tent City residents of the order, local activists said that many residents didn’t know about the eviction order or the resettlement plan. While not as violent a response as we’ve seen in other so-called liberal cities where police have been let loose on tent communities, clearing residents out

without offering a new place to go, folks who were placed in the motel here in Charlotte still fell victim to theft, assault, COVID-19 risks, health problems (including mental health and drug addiction) and lack of shelter for pets and service animals. The chaotic eviction led a lot of already downtrodden Charlotteans to lose property, pets, community and stability. The impact of the eviction is felt to this day.

Worst Government Non-Response: CMS silence on sexual assaults

Title IX investigations are notoriously shrouded in silence and bureaucracy, and CMS policy is no exception. This summer, in response to months of public interest and critique about how sexual assault allegations were handled at Myers Park High School, the school system insisted that there were only two recorded rapes in the school systems over the last 10 years — a statistic that seems wildly disconnected from reality given the sheer volume of students enrolled in CMS schools over the last decade.

As outspoken criticism rose, the Board of Education formed a “task force” made up of students and community members to address concerns. Unfortunately, CMS never provided the public with any information about what this group would actually be doing. And as the task force met, pressure increased with public incidents and mishandled sexual assault allegations involving Olympic High School and Hawthorne Academy.

Almost a year after public concerns were first raised, CMS seems to be no closer to a tangible solution and evidence of the glaring problem seems only to be increasing. This strange saga of non-action continues with the most recent announcement by Superintendent Earnest Winston that the school system will not handle all Title IV allegations at the district level. The question of course remains, what exactly will the district do?

Worst Corporate Response: Colonial Pipeline Huntersville gas spill

If you accidentally spilled 1.2 million gallons of gas in a nature preserve, what would you do?

Would you report that it was only 63,000 gallons,

most of which had already been removed? Would you keep county residents in the dark about it for two days? Would you go out of your way to bewilder concerned locals with reams of jargon-y reports or with canned company lines? If you answered no to any of those questions, then Colonial Pipeline needs your PR expertise. Though the spill was initially discovered in August 2020, it wasn’t until January 2021 that the company admitted the full magnitude of the rupture, which was the largest spill in the U.S. since 2000. Now, over a year later, Colonial Pipeline is still trying to clean up — both the gas-soaked ground in Huntersville and the abysmal state of its public image.

Worst Restaurateur: Juli Ghazi of Pure Pizza

COVID has upended our lives in so many ways.

One that’s less talked about is how it really laid bare the values and science acumen of people we thought we knew. For years, Pure Pizza’s owner, Juli Ghazi, had made it her brand to be an ally to the marginalized in her community. She was a vocal opponent of HB2, she donated pizzas for protesters against police brutality, and assisted organizations feeding the homeless. She’s been quoted in more than one “Meet this Girl Boss”type interview as believing “food is community,” and she has a responsibility to protect it. So it’s understandable that many of her Plaza Midwood regulars were shocked and dismayed in August when she announced on social media she would not be enforcing mask mandates in her restaurant for customers or employees, nor would she be asking employees to get vaccinated, then went on a long diatribe of anti-mask, antivax misinformation on her social media channels.

When her longtime patrons, including some who are disabled and immunocompromised, expressed their disappointment at her shift in values, she dismissed them as “trolls” and doubled down.

A bevy of alt-right and evangelical commenters swarmed, vowing to drive from out of town, without masks, to patronize Pure Pizza. She did not dismiss them or even check their rhetoric. There goes the neighborhood.

HALL OF SHAME Worst Restaurant Policy: The Worst Idea: Criminalize direct Goodyear House support to the homeless Earlier this year, we were sent a Facebook post from a server named Forrest who had a story she wanted to tell.

She alleged the popular NoDa restaurant The Goodyear House had been misappropriating tips through an illegal tip pool.

Queen City Nerve contributor Dion Beary and Nerve staff writer Pat Moran looked into the story, and not only were they able to verify Forrest’s story, but also uncover a restaurant chock-full of toxic intimidation, with management sending an “us-vsthem” message in which servers were told if they spoke publicly about the situation, the restaurant would likely be boycotted and it would hurt their tips even more.

The annual 2021 State of Housing and Homelessness Report recently found that the number of people experiencing homelessness in Charlotte saw a staggering 55% increase from June 2020 to June 2021.

In June, there was a tent city growing by the day, in plain sight of people passing by who became understandably horrified and wanted to help. Sometimes they did so by just stopping and dropping off supplies. Job losses from the pandemic had exacerbated homelessness, which was already high from Charlotte’s ongoing failure to offer affordable housing. The moment called for strong leadership and good ideas.

That’s when Charlotte City Council member

“They’re only making themselves feel good,” he said, referring to people taking direct action to make sure their neighbors don’t starve or freeze to death. “I think we need a heavier dose of tough love amongst this community, especially amongst those who continually give money, and food and clothing directly to these folks.”

Although these DC Comics-villain-esque words made some international headlines, they didn’t draw much pushback from his fellow council members, which leads us to think maybe Tariq is the one who’s not getting the tough love he needs.

We’ve got a message for Tariq: The cops are never gonna love you the way you love them.

They’re not here to handle major social problems for you, whether it’s homelessness or civil unrest.

That’s on you and your colleagues to create systemic equity through policymaking before the ever-deepening fault lines between classes rip our city apart and swallow us into an abyss.

So take the boot out of your mouth, rise from your privileged perch atop District 6, and go experience the parts of Charlotte that don’t have mansions and Louis Vuitton stores. Maybe you’ll see ways resources would be better allocated to serve all of Charlotte’s citizens. Maybe the broader perspective will help you find your misplaced humanity.

Biggest Anticlimax: Charlotte City Council Elections

THE GOODYEAR HOUSE

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PHOTO BY GRANT BALDWIN

Larger than what was exposed about one restaurant is what was exposed about Charlotte media. Every outlet in the city knew of the story; all refused to report it.

The close relationship between restaurateurs and lifestyle-obsessed news outlets took precedence. One little tip pool taught us a great deal about restaurant management, social media outrage, local reporting and more.

Tariq Bokhari stepped forward at a city council meeting and, with all the unearned confidence of a corporate tech bro, offered up this hot take: We should make it a misdemeanor to give food, money and clothes directly to people experiencing homelessness.

Yes, he believed calling the cops was the bold idea he needed to speak into existence. Our own Councilman Karen, the self-described “Innov8r.”

He’s still simpin’.

It was at a Charlotte City Council meeting in February that questions first began to come up publicly about whether the city would even be able to hold it’s scheduled and much-anticipated municipal elections in 2021.

City staff knew they would need to redraw districts due to the city’s rapidly growing population before any elections could be held, as any results based on 2010 Census data could easily be challenged in court due to disproportionate districts.

Before they could carry out any redistricting, however, they would need the data from the 2020 Census.

But would the 2020 Census even be available in time for the city to use in its redistricting discussions? And would those discussions happen quickly enough for a new map to be drawn and the

polls to legally open? Or would elections have to be postponed?

The storyline had some cliffhanger moments but ultimately proved to be anticlimactic as it became clear pretty early on in 2021 that setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic would mean the data wouldn’t be ready in time.

On June 28, council officially made the decision to push back municipal primaries to March 8, 2022, and the general election to April 26, 2022. In other words, we’re stuck with who we’ve got for a few more months.

Don’t Let the Door Hit You: Richard Burr

It seems that Richard Burr, North Carolina’s senior and lame duck senator, felt he was just not rich enough. During his third successful run for U.S. senate in 2016, Burr announced he would not seek a fourth term.

Little did he know then, facing the twilight of his political career, Burr would encounter an unexpected windfall in the form of a deadly pandemic.

In early 2020, as chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Burr received classified warnings from U.S. intelligence agencies about the danger posed

by COVID. Publicly, Burr downplayed the danger posed by the virus, while privately he dumped roughly $1.6 million in stocks that he knew would take a hit.

Then he called his brother-in-law, who promptly dumped his stocks. Then he warned the wealthy businessmen who make up the Tar Heel Circle about the impending crisis, while withholding that dire information from the general public.

After an investigation, the Justice Department declined to press charges against Burr, but now he’s under a new investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for his insider trading, as well as his failure to warn Americans about the looming pandemic.

It seems that amassing an impressive nest egg was far more important to Burr than saving any of the 743,000 Americans lives lost thus far to COVID. INFO@QCNERVE.COM

OBITs Pour one out for the ones we lost along the way

Every time a business is forced to shut its doors for good, a ripple effect passes through the community. While most of the social media chatter revolves around patrons who loved the place, it hits hardest for the folks who clocked in every day and relied on that business to pay their rent or mortgage.

The Manor Theatre (1947-2020)

From Gentlemen’s Agreement in 1947, to JoJo Rabbit in 2019, the Manor Theatre has been creating movie-going memories for generations of Charlotteans.

The city’s oldest movie theater was launched

by H.B. Meiselman of Eastern Federal Corp. on April 1, 1947, with a showing of The Egg and I starring Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray. Over the years, it became the go-to venue for the kind of alternative or independent films passed over by the multiplexes.

The theater also enthusiastically supported the Charlotte Film Society, a volunteer consortium of cineastes, and its eclectic slate of artsy and outré films. Manor also partnered with the Charlotte Art League, which would display new artwork every month in the Manor’s lobby.

That all changed in 2005 when Regal acquired the theater. No longer run as a family-owned Charlotte business, The Manor ousted the Art League and the Charlotte Film Society.

But the twin screens continued to feature films beyond the industry’s superhero blockbuster norm, and the Myers Park venue remained cemented in movie lovers’ hearts and minds as a link to both tradition and artistic experimentation.

Last May, the 73-year-old theater, also known as The Manor Twin, saw its dual screens fade to black one last time.

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Price’s Chicken Coop (1962-2021)

When you’ve got a hankering for the crunch of crispy, perfectly seasoned, deep-fried batter followed by the solace of warm and deliciously tender chicken in the Queen City, the first place that pops into your mind is none other than Price’s Chicken Coop. When it comes to fried chicken, the ultimate Southern staple, Price’s had very little competition among a very diverse set of palates throughout the Charlotte community for almost six decades. Little did we know that every time we scoured for a parking space, waited in line, paid cash, and ordered a ½ chicken dark meat with

coleslaw, french fries, hushpuppies and a roll, we were actually biting into a legacy. On June 17, the restaurant shared they would be closing their doors. Two days later, the community showed up in droves as if for the funeral procession of a coveted community leader, waiting patiently and full of grief knowing they would be soon tasting their last bite of the legendary fried chicken. Price’s you were priceless and you will be sorely missed.

GoodRoad Ciderworks (2017-2021)

The perfect headstone doesn’t exist … When I die, just know that I was sweet and sour, deliciously educated, a code-switching revolutionary, and unapologetically Black. If we could physically bury our most coveted destinations in the Queen City, some version of that would be inscribed on the headstone of GoodRoad Ciderworks. When the business announced on social media on Nov. 4 that it would be closing its doors that weekend, a deep sadness spread into the hearts of anyone who’s ever tasted their artfully and spiritually crafted ciders and meads. But it wasn’t just the craft that would pass away that weekend. This closure also represented the end of Black-owned brewery representation in our city. Sure, there’s at least one on the horizon, but the hope for the future doesn’t shake the incredible disappointment of saying goodbye in the present. Instead, we look to revolutionaries like Kevin Martin, co-owner and head of fermentations, lab and IT at this beloved cidery, who we hope will be the influential force and source of knowledge that drives Black-owned breweries for decades to come.

Earl’s Grocery (2014-2021)

Earl’s Grocery was a brilliant idea. When it opened on Elizabeth Avenue in 2014, it was a model for the future: a boutique grocery store with chef-prepared takeout items, a coffee bar and bakery, a bottle shop, a wonderful counter-service restaurant, and a co-working space all in one spot.

In addition to its forward-thinking vision, it had a lot more going for it. Its owners, Bonnie Warford

and Tricia Maddrey, were Charlotte restaurateurs known for their longevity in Elizabeth. It employed some of the city’s best culinary talent, and enjoyed a strong following and near-perfect reviews on social media. It’s location near Uptown, the hospitals and CPCC seemed perfect for years. But, predictably, it became plagued by Charlotte’s ever-present road construction and rising rents. Then COVID happened. The sisters tried pivoting to an updated business model to accommodate state restrictions, but the foot traffic just didn’t return in time. “We couldn’t make it make sense anymore,” Warford said upon Earl’s closing in July. In any other year, Earl’s not succeeding is what wouldn’t make sense, but even the best ideas by the best restaurateurs with the best staff and the best execution are not immune to a global pandemic.

Mr. K’s Soft Serve Ice Cream (19672021) Back in 2020, we published a list of “30 Charlotte staples that we must protect in 2020,” including a bevy of businesses that were at least 20 years old and staples in the community. Well, you all did a pretty good job at protecting them in 2020, as they all made it through the unforeseen pandemic, but we should have been more clear: You were supposed to keep protecting them. We lost a couple this year, starting with Mr. K’s Soft Serve Ice Cream, which announced its sudden closing in March after more than half a century serving South End. Pamela Dizes, daughter of Theodore Karres (the original Mr. K who opened the business in 1967), worked side by side with her husband George behind the counter until her untimely passing in July 2019. Queen City Nerve visited George on his last day, March 5, and his spirits were high. After expressing his appreciation for the many people who showed up that day to see him off, he said he would take a vacation during his upcoming time off: “I think a trip to Vegas is in the works.”

Zack’s Hamburgers (1975-2021)

The second in our list of 30 staples that didn’t make it to the end of 2021. The burger joint had been rockin’ the Scaleybark Road and South Boulevard intersection for 46 years before announcing their closing in June. We’re already missing Zack’s Special, which was packed with two ground beef patties and double American cheese, then you have lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions, mayonnaise and special sauce all on a toasted bun for only

$6.35. The same family ran Zack’s for three generations, most recently run by George Demopoulos and his wife Elaine, and we would have loved to see another three, but labor shortages and rising food costs did them in.

Manifest Discs (1999-2021)

Longtime South Boulevard music store Manifest Discs announced on the day before Thanksgiving that you better give thanks for the spot while you still can because they will soon close their doors for good, launching a liquidation sale with the aim of getting rid of their entire inventory before closing sometime in December.

The Columbia-based Manifest Records & Tapes chain announced its closing in 2004 after 19 years, though the South Boulevard location had only been around for five years at that point. It reopened as Manifest Discs, then was bought out

by Sunrise Records in February 2020.

“Manifest was never the same after the first time it almost closed but I have a lot of fond memories,” one longtime customer responded to the news on Twitter. “I spent many a night or afternoon digging through the CDs there trying to find increasingly more obscure music to enjoy …

At its best, Manifest had a deeply knowledgeable staff who were always eager to push you to listen to new and interesting stuff.”

Roasting Company - Plaza Midwood (2018-2021) Roasting Company has been a name in Charlotte since 1991 when it was founded on Montford Drive by Doug Bell, who was inspired by tasting rotisserie chicken at a restaurant in Costa Rica.

Since then, RoCo has established themselves along with the other tenants along Montford Drive and expanded to the Plaza Midwood neighborhood back in 2018.

During their soft opening they allowed friends and family to come in over the course of a week for free meals while testing out their point-of-sale systems and general service functions. Over the three years since, thousands of new people have moved to Charlotte and now call Plaza Midwood home. To them, RoCo may have been that second home, or evening watering hole escape. Either way, the open-air rotisserie served consistent flavors with quick, walk-up food services and great drink and daily food specials.

The Montford location remains open as development hasn’t yet scratched the surface of that street.

INFO@QCNERVE.COM

consumer culture

CRITICS’ PICKS: CONSUMER CULTURE So what if you’re only adding to existing supply chain problems, shop ‘til you drop.

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Best New Place: Twigs & Figs

If you’re someone who likes to get your hands dirty, you’re going to want to check out Twigs & Figs in Ballantyne. Charlotte’s newest plant paradise has a little something for everyone — and it doesn’t stop at plants. Want to create some cool moss art or a terrarium for your home? They’ve got you covered.

Looking to pick up a book, watering can, or some other type of plant-cessory? Done. Not only does Twigs & Figs have a vast selection of plants at comparable prices, the staff is knowledgeable, kind, creative and insightful, which comes at no surprise once you’ve met the owner, Treena Chaudhuri. She is as vibrant as the plants she carries.

The only thing better than a cool new plant shop

is the opportunity to support a local woman-owned business in the process.

What makes Twigs & Figs Charlotte’s Best New Place? They’re not just focused on growing plants, they’re focused on growing a community — a place where plant newbies and green-thumbed mavens alike can come together and get their hands dirty over a drink.

McFadden identifies as a self-pleasure activist, among many things, encouraging people to touch, explore, release and heal. In safe and consensual contexts, sex can be a healing experience, and for many in the time of isolation, solo sex has become even more integral to sexual and emotional wellbeing.

The oil she created is meant not only as a lubricant but as a conduit for healing through pleasure.

“It’s pleasure and touch and healing outside of all that,” McFadden told Queen City Nerve in May, “especially for queer bodies that aren’t validated and are shamed out of full embodiment.”

Best Local Product: Solitary Magic

Like many creatives and small-business owners, Kate McFadden found herself needing to expand her brand during the financial uncertainty brought on by COVID-19.

Her pivot? She expanded her online presence from simply being a “green witch” that taught about wellness to include the sale of a lone product: Solitary Magic sex oil.

For McFadden, masturbation is part of a healing meditative process, allowing her to interact with her body and provide space for personal and emotional renewal.

Embodying her sexuality and queerness allows her to embrace where and how she seeks companionship. Because she had always had a rich sex life with herself, this process led to her finding her truth and this is what she wants for others.

SOLITARY MAGIC PHOTO COURTESY OF SOLITARY MAGIC

CONSUMER CULTURE CRITICS’ PICKS

Best Expansion: Moxie Mercantile, Betty

Best Relocation: Boris + Natasha

Clothing boutique and longtime Plaza Midwood staple Boris + Natasha moved out of its space between popular neighborhood hangouts Thomas Street Tavern and Common Market in January after 22 years there.

In the lead up to that, co-owner Hope Nicholls pointed to the changing neighborhood, citing gentrification and increasing rent as reasons for leaving.

In September, Boris + Natasha’s neighbor, vintage clothing store Stash Pad, followed suit, leaving for a more reasonably priced location on Monroe Road, next to Lupie’s Café.

Thankfully, rather than close their doors for good, Boris + Natasha found a home in a new, smaller spot between Hattie’s Tap & Tavern and Tip Top Daily Market at 2910 The Plaza. Nicholls is loving it so far.

“It’s how the ‘hood used to be: plenty of parking, diverse businesses as neighbors, a bit off the beaten path,” she wrote of the new location.

“Plaza Midwood has not just been discovered by the people, it’s been carpet-bagged by the money men. I plan to work actively to keep this stretch of the Q.C. more affordable and accessible to small businesses.”

Hot off the heels of opening her third store in Matthews in May, Moxie Mercantile founder Michelle Castelloe welcomed shoppers in October to Betty — a women’s and children’s clothing, toy and gift store just a block away from the original Moxie location in Plaza Midwood.

Betty opened at 1219 Thomas Ave. in the former City Supply Co. space. It was inspired by and named after Betty Ziegler Mims, the former owner of Bride’s House of Originals, which was housed in Moxie’s flagship Commonwealth location before she sold the building to Castelloe. The Betty logo is actually a version of Betty’s own signature.

“A personal hero in my book, Betty was a retail leader in the city and someone I truly admire, the pure definition of moxie,” Castelloe said.

The new retail shop spans more than 2,500 square feet and includes a patio area for a café-style setting and a chalkboard wall for the kiddos (or anyone feeling creative).

It showcases local vendors like Peterson Made, CB Studio and Twenty Two West, continuing with Best Book Store: I’ve Read it in Books Moxie’s focus on female and women-owned Located inside Tip Top Daily Market on The Plaza, companies and eco-friendly and sustainable I’ve Read It In Books is Charlotte’s newest progressive apparel. bookstore. Featuring all genres, I’ve Read It also

makes it a personal mission to stock Black and BIPOC titles, LGBTQIA+ titles, alternative political philosophy, music, local authors, and zines. As if the book selection and knowledgeable staff wasn’t enough, you can also pick up beer and snacks from Tip Top to enjoy while you read your newly acquired book, or check out our Best Record Store, Premium Sound, which shares the same home! A hidden gem in Charlotte’s bookstore community, I’ve Read It In Books has all the charm you’d expect from a bookstore with an innovative modern-day twist.

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Best Record Store: Premium Sound

BORIS & NATASHA’S ORIGINAL LOCATION PHOTO BY RYAN PITKIN

OK, we know, this is getting a little bit ridiculous.

How can you have the best record store and the best book store under one roof? Just look at it this way: If your goal is to get through this entire list so as to check out all the coolest businesses in Charlotte, you can kill two birds with one stone here. That being said, we’re not just throwing this in there for that reason; as with I’ve Read It In Books, the selection at Premium Sound is carefully curated, so follow them on Insta for a look at new selections as they roll in. But if you want to just go thumb through some vinyl, you’ll almost certainly find something you like (if you have any taste).

Best Clothing Store: Reece Boutique

Reece Boutique was originally launched by Jordan Holt as an online business in 2018. In June 2020, Holt, who was just four years out of Hunter Huss High School when she started the business, was able to open Reece’s first storefront in a SouthPark shopping center on the corner of Sharon and Colony roads.

We gotta hand it to Holt for not only being among Charlotte’s youngest small-business owners, but also having the fearless tenacity to open her first brick-and-mortar during a time when everything was so uncertain.

The boutique offers trendy women’s clothing, jewelry, shoes and accessories at reasonable prices in an Insta-worthy pastel pink paradise of a space.

There’s even a couch underneath a neon “Hello Charlotte” sign where you can snap pics with your friends.

Reece has amassed a pretty sizable social media following — almost 12,000 on Instagram — that she calls “Reece Babes.” Items sell out fast both in store and online due to the boutique’s popularity, so if you see something you like, you gotta act quick.

CONSUMER CULTURE

1990s. In spring 2022, they will move to a brand new building on Berryhill Road off Wilkinson Boulevard, just west of Uptown. The new $15-million, CRITICS’ PICKS 27,000-square-foot animal resource center will have more room for staff and animals; more medical, Best Plant Shop: Shades of Moss surgery and recovery rooms; an adoption center; an Barry Greene, who goes by Greene Thumbz on education center; a cat cafe; and a community dog social media, calls himself a plant stylist. His shop park.

Shades of Moss is currently a pop up, but had a dedicated store front for most of 2021. Barry’s passion for design, modernity, and civic leadership Best Rebranding: Charlotte CBD to permeates the unique way he sells plants. You don’t Crowntown Cannabis just walk up and buy a snake plant: you get a feel When we had then-Charlotte CBD owner for how greenery impacts your space. Barry is a Michael Sims on our Nooze Hounds podcast back in Black man, and it can’t be ignored that that’s double July, he talked at length about his lobbying efforts rare in the plant world. This allows him to present to wake up North Carolina legislators and get them up plant ownership in a language and atmosphere on the same track as our neighbors to the north in that’s more accessible to other Black men. Shades Virginia. of Moss is what Charlotte needs more of; different Since Sims and his team launched Charlotte CBD kinds of people doing different kinds of things. in 2018, they’ve been intrepid fighters for the right THE CORNER to legally light up, setting themselves up to become PHOTO BY MARC PROSPER a full cannabis dispensary as soon as they’re allowed Best Grocery: Cedar Land There was once a full-service restaurant adjacent to do so. Their recent rebranding to Crowntown Best Retail Pop-up: Nebel’s Alley enter through a canopy of fairy lights where they to the Cedar Land grocery store, and while it’s been Cannabis shows that they’re not giving that fight are transported to what feels like a secret utopia gone for some years now, the kitchen still exists and up. As CBD stores proliferate around the area, they’re Nightmarket of small businesses — like walking through the While Esther & Elsa host myriad amazing popkeeping their eyes on the prize. remains a popular hangout. wardrobe to Narnia and finding all your favorite up events, Nebel’s Alley stands out as a magical You can get almost anything that your eastern local vendors on the other side. The cozy affair night market you have to experience for yourself. dream palate desires at this store, including plenty features over 30 handmade and food vendors, live Tucked away in a little alley in South End, attendees of injera options, and while there’s a seat or two music, free caricatures, and lantern-lit walkways, in for you to sit and eat if need be, your best bet is to addition to a few surprises. Added bonus? You can order food and shop around for groceries while you grab a sweet treat from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams wait. That’s unless the owner Mousa gets your ear, on your way out. in which case you’ll be there for a while, but that’s a pleasure as well.

Best Vintage Shop: east 8th vintage

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Best Pet Rescue: Humane Society of Charlotte

Finding an animal that’s best suited to your lifestyle can be hard, especially when they’re all so cute, but the Humane Society of Charlotte knows how it’s done. Trained adoption experts at the nonprofit, no-kill shelter have been pairing humans with their perfect pets for 43 years. They haven’t lost their touch in that time, as HSC recently surpassed its annual goal of finding new, loving homes for 3,000 animals in 2021.

HSC also assists with behavior counseling, training, education, medical attention and wellness; helps those struggling to afford care for their pets; connects lost and found animals with their owners, and more.

The nonprofit has been headquartered on Toomey Avenue near South End since the early CEDAR LAND GROCERY

PHOTO BY GRANT BALDWIN

Nestled in the Elizabeth neighborhood on East 8th Street is one of the city’s newest vintage shops, east 8th vintage. Open since Mother’s Day, the store offers everything from Levi’s and Wrangler jeans (broken in just how we like ‘em) to funky sweaters, cool jackets, and bags and accessories to complete your look. There’s also furniture, homewares, records and decor (the old maps are the coolest), so your home can be just as cool as you.

Styles range from Midcentury to Y2K and prices hover between thrift store and antique mall. They also buy, sell, consign and trade, and are always open to donations. If that wasn’t enough, when you play with the owner’s sweet dog, Simon, you get a furry friend for life. The team at east 8th vintage has partnered with dozens of local artists and vintage sellers throughout the year to host sidewalk sales like Rogue Wave in July and a Fall Vintage Market in October.

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CONSUMER CULTURE CRITICS’ PICKS

Best Video Store: VisArt Video

This place wins this topic every year by default, since there are clearly no more video stores but this single one. Of course, we could just get rid of the topic altogether since there’s not much competition, except the VisArt team keeps coming up with fresh reasons that they deserve recognition, including the fact that they somehow this year booked Eddie Pepitone to come perform a couple intimate standup gigs in their little store. That was not on our 2021 BINGO card, but we’ll take it.

Oh, and they continue to offer up an amazing selection of movies from the mainstream to the just plain weird, and they hold screenings in their awesome backroom mini-theater. And hell, they’re hilarious on Twitter, too, which never hurts. Long live VisArt.

Best Collaborative Space: The Corner

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Walk into The Corner and you might think it’s just a small, cool store packed with NYC bodega snacks, hypebeast collectables and tees made by local designers.

But there’s more than meets the eye at this small, unassuming spot in a Huntersville mixeduse community just north of Highland Creek. Open a hidden door and it transforms into a three-story collaborative space.

On any given day you might find an art show, a listening party, or a movie screening. Maybe even a kickback on the back patio. Or you might not even see the group of young artists hatching a master plan within its walls as you stand there, and that’s why it’s unique.

It’s close enough and big enough for creatives to show off when they want, but it’s distant and private enough to host intimate gatherings or plot top secret missions without word spreading through what is still, after all, a small world.

Best Pop-Up: Rollin’ CLT

Over the summer, three local entrepreneurs and longtime friends Kendria Holmes (The Talker), Brandi Fox (The Brains) and Sh’niqua Ussery (The Creative) came together to launch a passion project that has since made headlines and garnered attention from across the country.

The project is called Rollin’ CLT, and it’s the first Black woman-owned skating rink in Charlotte. The

three women began the business as an outdoor pop-up, but this was no set-it-up-and-take-itdown affair; they built out what could be described more as a skatepark than a skating rink, sometimes clashing with the folks who had originally allowed them to use their parking lots. Rollin’ CLT events have included food trucks, hookah bars, skate rentals, and live DJs, and skaters of all skill levels are welcome.

In 2022, they’re looking to take things to the next level with a brick-and-mortar location, but first, a college tour. Yes, these women are doing big things like that.

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Best Fashion Designer: Gordon Holliday

United Nations studies show that every year a half a million tons of plastic microfibers are dumped into the ocean … and around 20% of wastewater worldwide comes from fabric dyeing and treatment.

For Charlotte-based designer Gordon Holliday, this points to one solution: upcycling.

Holliday launched his own company called Roolé, through which he implements and advocates for sustainable practices in fashion, reusing materials from a range of different materials to make clothing.

In July, Holliday used upcycled materials to create kimonos for a Waste Management and Slow Factory design challenge, a contest focused on “waste-led design.” In the lead-up to the project, he told Spectrum News, “My goal, even as a designer, I don’t think I’ll be able to break down the systems that have been built for years, but I think I could be the genesis to the generations that does do that.”

Best Stylist: Stormy Michniak

Stormy Michniak is a stylist at Bishops in Midtown who is known for giving clients the vibrant, colorful hair of their dreams. Stormy’s work is showcased on Instagram (@thehairdoer) and it’s clear there’s no color or combination of colors too wild and crazy. Stormy also does color corrections and dyes wigs, too.

The team at Bishops seems to give this hairdresser free rein to do whatever the client asks for and, to an artist like Stormy, that’s appreciated.

In June, Stormy posted: “I’ve been working [Bishops in Midtown] for a few months, and I cannot express the amount of love and acceptance I have felt from this salon family from day one. I am so excited and grateful to be a part of a team that nurtures my growth and creativity the way y’all do.

Here’s to many more.”

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ONE NIGHT ONLY!

December 22 Knight Theater

GET YOUR TICKETS TODAY! 704.972.2000 | charlottesymphony.org symphony

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CONSUMER CULTURE READERS’ PICKS

RETAIL BEST ADULT TOY STORE Winner: White Rabbit Runner Up: The Reddoor BEST BICYCLE SHOP Winner: The Spoke Easy Runner Up: Charlotte Re-Cyclery BEST BOOKSTORE Winner: Park Road Books Runner Up: Book Buyers BEST CBD SHOP Winner: Crowntown Cannabis Runner Up: Apotheca BEST CLOTHING STORE Winner: Boris + Natsha Runner Up: CLTCH BEST CONSIGNMENT SHOP Winner: Sleepy Poet Antique Mall Runner Up: Stash Pad Vintage BEST FURNITURE STORE Winner: Nadeau - Furniture with a Soul Runner Up: Sardis Marketplace BEST GIFT SHOP Winner: Paper Skyscraper Runner Up: Pura Vida BEST HEAD SHOP Winner: Infinity’s End Runner Up: High Life Smoke Shop

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BEST HOME ACCESSORIES STORE Winner: Paper Skyscraper Runner Up: Grow a plant shop BEST IN-STORE PET Winner: Page at Book Buyers Runner Up: Winnie at Good Postage BEST JEWELRY STORE Winner: Sadu Body Modifications Runner Up: Queen City’s Custom Jewelers BEST LOCAL PRODUCT Winner: Sweet’s Elderberry Syrup Runner Up: Good Postage Greeting Cards

BEST MUSIC EQUIPMENT STORE Winner: Midwood Guitar Studio Runner Up: Dave’s Guitars

BEST HAIR STYLIST Winner: Candace Stamper Runner Up: Kenzie Veurink

BEST URGENT CARE FACILITY Winner: Atrium Health on Morehead Runner Up: StarMed Healthcare

BEST NEW STORE (LAST 2 YEARS) Winner: Grow a plant shop Runner Up: Good Postage

BEST INTERIOR DESIGNER Winner: Scott Weaver Runner Up: Annie Fair Design

BEST VETERINARIAN Winner: Monroe Road Animal Hospital Runner Up: Stand for Animals Charlotte

BEST ONLINE-ONLY STORE Winner: Making Things CLT Runner Up: Cannabuddy

BEST MAKEUP ARTIST Winner: Emily Paige Runner Up: Jennifer Yates

BEST YOGA INSTRUCTOR Winner: Allison Modafferi Runner Up: The Cheeky Yogi

BEST PET STORE Winner: Pet Supplies Plus - Elizabeth Runner Up: Pet in the City

BEST NAIL SALON Winner: Sassy Nail Bar Runner Up: La Pure Organic Nail Boutique

BEST YOGA STUDIO Winner: NoDa Yoga Runner Up: Kahli Yoga

BEST PALCE TO BUY VINTAGE Winner: Sleepy Poet Antique Mall Runner Up: Stash Pad Vintage

BEST PIERCING STUDIO Winner: Sadu Body Modifications Runner Up: Made to Last Tattoo

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES & REPAIR

BEST PLANT SHOP Winner: Grow a plant shop Runner Up: Blackhawk Hardware

BEST TATTOO SHOP Winner: Canvas Tattoo & Art Gallery Runner Up: Haylo Healing Arts

BEST POP-UP MARKET Winner: VTG CLT Runner Up: Girl Tribe Pop Up

HEALTH & WELLNESS

BEST RECORD STORE Winner: Lunchbox Records Runner Up: Premium Sound BEST SHOE STORE Winner: Social Status Runner Up: DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse BEST VAPE SHOP Winner: High Life Smoke Shop Runner Up: One Love Smoke Shop

DESIGN, STYLE & MODIFICATION BEST BARBER SHOP Winner: Midwood Barbers Runner Up: Goodfellas Barbershop BEST FASHION DESIGNER Winner: Jade Sky Runner Up: Erin Foley - RCB Fashion BEST HAIR SALON Winner: Bohemian Stylehouse Runner Up: eXplicit Hair Salon

BEST DENTIST Winner: Lineberger Dentistry Runner Up: Pearl. Dentistry Reimagined BEST DOCTOR Winner: Dr. Cynthia Jamison - Novant Health Runner Up: Dr. Alan Wong - Novant Health BEST DOGGIE DAYCARE Winner: Lucky Dog Bark & Brew Runner Up: Skiptown BEST FITNESS STUDIO Winner: Bloom Movement Artistry Runner Up: Ebb & Flow Movement Studio BEST MASSAGE SHOP Winner: Okra Runner Up: Mythic Massage

BEST ATTORNEY Winner: Darlene Harris Runner Up: Michael Littlejohn BEST BANK Winner: Bank of America Runner Up: Truliant Federal Credit Union BEST CAR MECHANIC Winner: Hybrid Shop of the Carolinas Runner Up: CMD Automotive BEST CLOTHING ALTERATIONS Winner: Anna’s Alterations Runner Up: Sunny Dry Cleaners and Alterations BEST DRY CLEANERS Winner: Sunny Dry Cleaners and Alterations Runner Up: Peachy Kleen BEST GENERAL CONTRACTOR Winner: Rory Cummins Runner Up: Tri-Square Builders BEST HEATING & AIR COMPANY Winner: Morris Jenkins Runner Up: Brothers Heating, Cooling and Plumbing

BEST PERSONAL TRAINER Winner: Sarah Hahn, Satarah Productions BEST HOME/OFFICE CLEANING SERVICE Runner Up: Jamie Horn - Hygge Fit + The 360 Method Winner: Amanda’s Maid LLC Cleaning Service Runner Up: Pretty Clean CLT BEST PHARMACY Winner: Pike’s Pharmacy BEST LANDSCAPING & LAWN CARE Runner Up: Cannon Pharmacy Winner: Rusty Dinosaur Runner Up: Organic Lawns BEST THERAPIST/COUNSELOR Winner: Venus M Bobis Jendresen - Marriage & Family Therapist, MA, MS, LMFT Runner Up: Elizabeth Fallon

BEST LAW FIRM Winner: Lindley Law, PLLC Runners Up: Chandler & Gibson PLLC; The Law Offices of Troy Thresher BEST EVENT & PARTY RENTAL Winner: J. Leigh Events Runner Up: Live Event Media Group

BEST PLUMBING SERVICE Winner: Superior Plumbing Runner Up: Ben Franklin BEST REAL ESTATE AGENCY Winner: Savvy + Co Real Estate Runner Up: Keller Williams Realty South Park

BEST PEST CONTROL Winner: Truly Nolen Runner Up: Bulwark Exterminating

BEST REAL ESTATE AGENT Winner: Tracy Cummins - Keller Williams Realty South Park Runner Up: Jeff King - Savvy + Co Real Estate

BEST PET GROOMING Winner: Pet in the City Runner Up: Bubbly Pups

BEST TAX PREP & ACCOUNTING SERVICE Winner: Sunset Accounting and Tax Service Runner Up: AAA Accounting

thank you for voting us The Best Bicycle Shop In Charlotte 4 years in a row!

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PEST MOSQUITO TERMITE

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‘AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN’

The latest in a long list of movies-turned-musicals, An Officer and a Gentlemen follows in the choreographed footsteps of musicals made from Flashdance and Dirty Dancing. It’s based on the 1982 Academy Award-winning film where Richard Gere’s Navy pilot Zach sweeps Debra Winger’s factory worker Paula off her feet. Before reaching that Cinderella moment, the plot touches on the desperation of people trapped in a dead-end existence. Officer the musical flopped in 2012 when it debuted with an original score, and has since been retooled as a jukebox musical featuring an array of ’80s hits.

More: $25 and up; Dec. 7 -12 ; Ovens Auditorium, 2700 E. Independence Blvd.; blumenthalarts.org

JONATHAN GREEN’S ‘SWEET GRASS CARRIERS’ Artwork by Jonathan Green

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‘CHAMELEON STREET’

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Chameleon Street, the only feature produced, written and directed by Black filmmaker Wendell B. Harris Jr., won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 1990, but never got a distribution deal. Harris stars as Douglas Street, a real-life impersonator who assumed the role of lawyer, journalist, athlete and doctor — performing 36 successful hysterectomies.

According to Harris, Street was successful in these roles because he knew white people as well as himself, and understood what whites expect from a Black man. Ahead of its time in 1990, Chameleon Street is ahead of its time now.

More: Free; Dec. 1, 5 p.m.; Mint Museum Uptown, 500 S. Tryon St.; mintmuseum.org

‘CHAMELEON STREET’ Film still

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In February, Nige Hood and the Folk Rap Band, comprised of vocalist Hood, guitarist Zach Willard, bassist Maxwell Williams and drummer Eugene Speer, dropped their ebullient single “Bowl in the Woods” as a valentine to their listeners. The song, which garnered a feature from stoner icon Afro Man, weaves a laidback slinky groove with curls of honey-toned guitar, bouncing bass, jazzy hip-hop drums and Hood’s finegrained croon: “I took a day trip from this crazy city / I’ve got my girl, my friends and my bud with me.”

More: $7; Dec. 2, 8 p.m.; Petra’s, 1919 Commonwealth Ave.; petrasbar.com

Acclaimed for his vibrant depictions of everyday life in the Lowcountry, artist Green boasts a modern and cosmopolitan perspective as he looks to the familiar images of his ancestral home for the subjects of his paintings. Through his narrative style, Green captures and records the rich cultural heritage of the Gullah community in which he was raised.

Green’s work has been embraced by collectors and critics throughout the world. The intimate evening with the acclaimed artist celebrates the release of his newest book, Gullah Spirit: The Art of Jonathan Green.

More: $25-$50; Dec. 3, 6 p.m.; Gantt Center, 551 S. Tryon St.; ganttcenter.org

Remember when you struggled mightily to squeeze into your skinny jeans, wouldn’t leave the house without painstakingly applied eyeliner and were into Sonny Moore long before he became Skrillex?

Get Sad Y’all hosts a holiday-themed emo night featuring two bands. Atlanta pop-rock combo Glimmers draw influences from the melodic sounds of Mayday Parade and the lyrics of All Time Low. Greensboro alt-pop three-piece Lowborn cites PVRIS and Twenty One Pilots as inspirations. A DJ will also spin classics from Taking Back Sunday, Paramore, My Chemical Romance and more.

More: $12-$15; Dec. 4, 7 p.m.; Amos’ Southend, 1423 S. Tryon St.; amossouthend.com

NIGE HOOD AND THE FOLK RAP BAND

AN EVENING WITH JONATHAN GREEN GET SAD Y’ALL

NIGE HOOD & THE FOLK RAP BAND Photo courtesy of Petra’s

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A man is stabbed to death in a London park where gay men cruise in 1977. Unbeknownst to his killer, the victim has recorded his murder on a cassette tape. Meanwhile, a pirate radio station spins soul and reggae in defiance of the oppressive BBC. Isaac Julian’s 1991 thriller/musical/romance/coming-ofage story Young Soul Rebels features enough plot to fuel 12 movies, and it also investigates gay Black themes, a rarity today, much less the 1990s.

More: Free; Dec. 8, 7:30 p.m.; Bechtler Museum, 420 S. Tryon St.; bechtler.org

Audrey Baran and Baran Dance have achieved much more than earning Best Dancer/Dance Troupe in last year’s Best in the Nest. Baran’s troupe has embraced dancers of diverse genders, identities, races and backgrounds, and has applied this open-door policy to present cutting-edge experimental pieces. Two x Five is billed as a series of tiny dances. The evening is comprised of five duets featuring 10 dancers for one night with two showtimes. The afterparty features indie-rock powerhouse Modern Moxie.

More: $10-$15; Dec. 10, 7:30 p.m. & 8:30 p.m.; Petra’s, 1919 Commonwealth Ave.; petrasbar.com

Our forebears celebrated Yule/The Winter Solstice when the lifegiving sun returned after the darkest, shortest day of the year. So, why not embrace the darkness with a pair of dark-noise/metal bands with occult-inspired names. Hellfire 67 boasts “taboo lyrics served over blues-infected sludge.” The jittery drums and buzzsaw guitars of tunes like “Wicked Mystic” recall the bloodcurdling assault of Killing Joke. Fronted by Crystal Crosby’s banshee wail, Occult Fracture ranges from the pitched combat cacophony of “Suicide Pact” to the stuttering guitar grind of “Chrysalis.”

More: $10; Dec. 11, 8 p.m.; Tommy’s Pub, 3124 Eastway Dr., Ste. 710; facebook.com/tommyspub

A 1972 family film that is not merely for children, Sounder focuses on a Black sharecropper family in 1930s Louisiana. A 13-year-old boy undertakes an odyssey to find his father, who’s been hauled off to a labor camp for stealing food for his poverty-stricken family. Along the way, the boy (Kevin Hooks) encounters a teacher who opens his eyes to Black accomplishments — the kind of thing that today’s conservatives are trying to blot out with their movement against so-called Critical Race Theory.

For her performance as the mother of the struggling family, Cicely Tyson garnered an Oscar nomination.

More: $9; Dec. 12, 2 p.m.; Gantt Center, 551 S. Tryon St.; ganttcenter.org

MODERNISM + FILM: ‘YOUNG SOUL REBELS’

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BARAN DANCE PRESENTS TWO X FIVE HELLFIRE 76, OCCULT FRACTURE

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CLASSIC BLACK CINEMA: ‘SOUNDER’

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PRESERVATION HALL ALL-STAR CHRISTMAS

Keepers of New Orleans’ traditional Dixieland jazz flame, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band has been holding court at their titular French Quarter venue since the 1960s. Preservation Hall also hosts the All-Stars, an ensemble drawn from 50-plus practitioners of traditional New Orleans jazz. Think of the Preservation All-Stars as a landing party drawn from The Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s mothership.

Combining the trad jazz repertoire with the Crescent City’s genre-blending, cross-pollinated musical landscape, the All-Stars perform holiday favorites with a traditional New Orleans jazz twist.

More: $20; Dec. 9-10, 8 p.m.; Booth Playhouse, 130 N. Tryon St.; blumenthalarts.org

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AUDREY BARAN OF BARAN DANCE CO. Photo courtesy of ASC

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FOOD & DRINK CRITICS’ PICKS: FOOD & DRINK

itself was another thing entirely: smoky, stout and swirling, with wondrous depth from a roux that was flour and oil cooked down until it became the primordial stuff of life.

One of the great food journeys of 2021 has been Rob Clement’s growth as a chef, as both he and his We all gotta eat, just respect your servers while food gain confidence with each new pop-up. The you’re out. They’ve taken a lot of shit over the past weather doesn’t keep anyone away anymore — queues form before he even opens — and that year. So eat, drink, be merry and tip well. matzo ball gumbo continues to leave us feeling verklempt.

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Best Menu Item: Matzo ball gumbo at Meshugganah Best New Menu: Bardo On a dark and stormy night back in February, while huddled together in our car to protect ourselves from the cold, we had our first bowl of Meshugganah’s matzo ball gumbo. Hardly anyone had showed up at the pop-up that evening. We had all been fans of Rob Clement’s modern take on standard Jewish deli fare since that first pimento cheese knish, though, and we weren’t about to let the weather keep us away.

Magically, his gumbo, on a night like that, had all the transformative qualities of a high-pressure front. The matzo ball itself was bemusing in just how light and fluffy it was, as though a ping pong ball were dressed in tennis ball drag. But the gumbo

In late 2020, Bardo – Chef Michael Noll’s food imaginarium in South End – took the dramatic step of rebranding itself as a tasting menu-only restaurant. “Quelle horreur!” the local foodies screamed. “What is this ‘tasting menu’ of which you speak?”

They had a point. Tasting menus, and more to the point – tasting menu-only restaurants – are still relatively new to Charlotte, despite the World’s 50 Best Restaurant list being filled almost entirely with them. Tasting menus can be a lot to ask of diners, especially if asked the wrong way. But that’s what Bardo is doing so right.

Instead of positioning the tasting menu as a firm commitment, sprinkled with options for supplements that, at best, instill a sense of FOMO as soon as you sit down and, at worst, create a palpable caste system between the closely spaced tables, Chef Noll puts the experience entirely in diners’ hands and allows them to tell him just how much they’re willing to go all in.

Whether it’s three, five, seven or 12 courses, you never feel like you’re getting anything less than the full Bardo experience – which has only gotten better over the course of this year.

Best New Restaurant: Supperland

It’s a testament to how perfectly aligned the stars were at Supperland’s inception that the restaurant was able to open as though it had been around forever — its well-polished and wellmoneyed guns all ablaze – when COVID-19 at best hobbled even the strongest of its peers. For the rest, the pandemic excuse suddenly came up empty like so many gutted platters of pork can-can.

What owners Jeff Tonidandel and Jamie Brown managed to pull off was nothing short of a miracle, and they owe so much of it to two of the smartest personnel decisions they will likely ever make:

executive chef Chris Rogienski and pastry chef Liana Sinclair. With these two at the helm, injecting style and substance into an otherwise kitschy “southern church potluck” concept — and with the bar at Supperland taking on a life of its own with a speakeasy and its own special menu in the not too-distant-future — there is no limit to how far Supperland can go.

Best New Chain Arrival: Emmy Squared

Pizza doesn’t have to be complicated. Hell, it’s almost better when you have it cold while standing in your kitchen nursing a gnarly hangover. So why is pizza such a cynical topic in Charlotte? Debates rage over styles, regional favorites, and even the quality of the water for making dough. It’s just pizza.

What makes Detroit-style pizza chain Emmy Squared’s arrival in Plaza Midwood so notable is how hard they try to be more than just pizza. The dining room’s dim lighting, modern furniture, bohemian aesthetic and exposed brick go much further in establishing an intentional atmosphere than the harsh lighting of most Charlotte pizza spots.

The crispy, square pies are delicious, but the burgers and cocktails are just as good. It’s the kind

FOOD & DRINK CRITICS’ PICKS

Best Restaurant: Leah & Louise

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Leah & Louise continues to be the Best Restaurant in Charlotte, but over the past year, it has of restaurant that rises (get it?) above the debate by come to mean different things for each of us. For one nailing everything it does. Who cares if it’s a chain, or of us, it’s where he went his first week in Charlotte, even if it isn’t authentic Detroit-style? It’s fantastic, when homesickness was too much to bear, and and there’s nothing complicated about that. when one bite of slow-roasted cabbage drenched in pork neck bisque told him his new home was here, Best New Concept: Yum Yum Crumbs ready to welcome him with open arms.

For others, it’s where we went at the end of an It’s a confection built on deconstruction. Yum Election Week that lasted 10,000 days, where we Yum Crumbs is a Black-and Native-owned bakery knew we would be surrounded by anxious though launched by husband-and-wife duo Mitch Miller Jr. and Sarah Kennedy in January where you can make kindred spirits, and where we had what we all agreed was the single best scallop dish any of us had your own handheld cake and eat it, too.

The menu offers customizable servings that had anywhere in the world.

For all of us, it’s where, at special dinners that allow clients to order individually packaged desserts featured Tennessee whiskeys and oysters, we’ve for family gatherings or private events. It’s centered learned hard truths about food in the South that made us look at every dish in a new and unfiltered light.

It’s where we tell everyone who comes to town that they need to visit, and they do because as far as they’re concerned, from hearing us talk about it, it would seem like it’s the only restaurant in the States that matters — which is not too far from the truth.

It’s where we go, to put it simply, for food that excites and reminds us that we’re alive, right here in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2021 – and that everything is going to be OK after all.

PHOTO BY ASHLEY SMITH YUM YUM CRUMBS’ YUM CUPS on their signature Yum Cups, consisting of layers of scratch-made cake crumbs and fillings like pudding, cheesecake, and jams, fresh berries, candy, buttercream frosting and sprinkles. There’s glutenfree, vegan and keto options, too.

The idea for Yum Cups came during a family outing when Miller brought up the concept of a build-your-own cake made for one person.

Eventually, the couple decided to go for it. Then the pandemic hit and they pivoted their plans for a brick-and-mortar dining space to a commercial kitchen from which they now operate as a delivery, catering and takeout business.

Most Underrated: The Corner Pub

Probably due to how much TV we watched in the mid 2000s, our vision of adulthood always involved meeting for a cheap beer with close friends night after night at the same bar. The Corner Pub in Uptown can be that bar, if you’re just willing to give it a try.

It’s the most underrated because we’ve all driven by it a thousand times, even if we’ve never stopped in for a drink. Longtime home-away-fromhome for our nightlife writer Aerin Spruill, and now a new regular watering hole for contributor Dion Beary, the pub is mainly frequented by sports fans in

the surrounding apartment buildings, who all know each other by name.

There, they commiserate about Sam Darnold and Mason Plumlee, celebrate Cam Newton and LaMelo Ball, and eat a club sandwich so good that it has inspired literal dreams in some of our staff.

We could complain about apartment development less if the ground-level retail always strove to be the kind of friendly, neighborhood hangout that Corner Pub provides.

Best New Brewery: Vaulted Oak Brewing

Do people even still care about craft beer in Charlotte except to make fun of it? Craft beer seems to have joined food trucks and Alive After Five in that big Charlotte graveyard in the sky. We’re joking, but only a little.

If you’re to judge only by social media and not the continued enthusiasm of brewers for new locations, people long ago got sick of drinking the same damn thing in the same damn repurposed industrial space.

Vaulted Oak, a brewery in a former bank branch, is so quintessentially Charlotte, it feels like parody, somehow making the entire brewery experience feel fresh again.

Vaulted Oak’s still-intact bank architecture makes for a fun meta game of identifying which parts of the infrastructure remain, such as the pneumatic tubes. It’s positioned across the street from Sal’s Pizza Factory, another Charlotte favorite, and the beer actually stands out (try the blonde). Vaulted Oak is the only brewery that opened this past year that could be called destination-drinking for any beer lover in Charlotte.

Antonio’s Weathered Souls Brewing Co. will change that when it opens in South End early next summer.

In 2020, the brewery’s owners were the originators of the Black is Beautiful campaign, which was embraced by the beer community here in Charlotte.

America has collectively displayed a new interest in Black-owned businesses in the last year or so, but opening this specific type of business in this specific neighborhood of Charlotte is an especially important step in the right direction to making Charlotte’s beer scene look a bit more like Charlotte’s residents.

Best Food for a Cause: Fix a Plate

The brilliant and talented Kat Martin created this immersive theater experience, which she grew from an inspiration board on parchment paper to a fullblown hybrid pop-up and theatrical performance.

The Fix a Plate story itself involves a grandmother in a gentrified neighborhood hosting a family dinner, but the extensions of the project, which included a virtual potluck dinner and a picnicstyle atmosphere during performances, made this so much more than a play.

Fix a Plate offered us the opportunity to dig deeper into the way food, family, development, and culture impacts how we experience life. With input from Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Coullors and benefiting a ton of community partners, Fix a Plate was an imaginative, innovative example of what community theater can accomplish.

Most Exciting Food & Drink Development/Opening: Weathered Souls

Craft beer enthusiasts in Charlotte take a lot of criticism. Arguments of gentrification, oversaturation, and the glorification of problem drinking plague the Instagram comments under any announcement of a new brewery.

But perhaps the most sensitive (and accurate) criticism is that the brewery scene in Charlotte is very white. Before Three Spirits opened in 2015 and after it closed in 2019, Charlotte didn’t have a single Black-owned brewery. But San

FIX A PLATE PHOTO BY MIXED MEDIA PRODUCTIONS

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reserve your experience now

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Best Breakfast: Circle G

Once upon a time in Charlotte, diner culture was huge. No matter what side of town you were on, you could get a seat in a red vinyl booth, and a delicious, piping-hot breakfast with a side of people-watching for less than $10.

But like all unique Charlotte phenomena, these places became underappreciated and abandoned for some shiny new thing that cost twice the price.

A few survived, though. You can grab a booth at Circle G on Rozzelles Ferry Road and step right back into this era where young families, elderly homies and hungover college kids alike sit back-toback enjoying proper grits you can eat with a fork, fluffy biscuits, crispy fried livermush, and perfectlyseasoned salmon patties.

The vibes are chill, but joyful. The checks are $15 or less. Snooze A.M. Eatery could never!

the Dumpling Lady. The dumpling wraps here are like silk sheets. All versions are excellent (our recommendation comes stuffed with shrimp and chicken), and all versions come swimming in a majestically ma-la Szechuan chili oil.

The best part? At lunch time only, you can get any four dumplings and a bowl of noodles (go for the shredded chili chicken and thank us later) for $13.50, making it not only the Best Lunch in town, but also — given the sheer quality and craftsmanship — the best lunch value at Optimist Hall.

Best Dinner: Little Mama’s

Charlotte has witnessed a mini explosion of Italian cuisine in the past two years. Indaco, North Italia, Volo, and Ciccheti all had highprofile openings beginning around 2019. A somewhat quieter opening was Little Mama’s, a vintage-inspired homestyle Italian restaurant in a nondescript parking lot in SouthPark.

But when you’re kin to local favorite Mama Ricotta’s, I suppose you don’t have to boast.

Best Brunch: The Waterman Fish Bar Little Mama’s understated atmosphere, scratchYou know when your friends come into town, you need to be on point with your brunch selection, choosing somewhere that not only shows off your city and cultivates a nice atmosphere but has damn good food, too. The Waterman has you covered on all fronts.

Not only does it offer one of the best skyline views from its rooftop patio, but the brunch menu is not playing. The two standout items are the salmon avocado toast, which features toasted French bread, avocado spread, smoked salmon, capers, cotija, grape tomatoes, red onion and charred lemon; and the Lobster Bene, which is basically an eggs benedict with lobster ... and delicious.

They’ve also got a nice special cocktail selection for brunch including a Shipwrecked Mary or a Brunch Punch.

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Best Lunch: The Dumpling Lady

option, perfect for anything from a first date to a 30th wedding anniversary. And it all comes without the egregious “but this is what they charge in New York” price tag.

It’s classy, yet approachable, like meeting a really nice celebrity. It would be tough to name a better plate of fettuccine in Charlotte, and even tougher to name a more satisfying dinner experience.

Best Late-Night: Halal Cart

Picture this: It’s a warm August evening in University City. You and your friends just left the party. It’s late, there’s too many of y’all to fit in a car, and you’re all too drunk to drive anyway. But your hunger feels bottomless, and all you have at home is toast and pickles.

You’re in dire straits. Hark: cast thine eyes to yonder twinkling lights of Halal Cart. The most dazzling moments of any night worth its salt are spent under the shelter of a Halal Cart awning, whether in University or Uptown. The glory of eating a tender lamb gyro with a cold dollar soda on a hot summer night remains unparalleled.

Best Comeback -— two for one.

The Batch House reopened in October at its new 1,435-square-foot location on Berryhill Road in west Charlotte after it had been closed for nearly a year due to a flood at its original location.

Charlotteans definitely did miss Cristina RojasAgurcia, aka The Batchmaker, as they lined up for hours during re-opening week to get their hands on the bakery’s famous oatmeal creme pies and s’mores brownies.

Rojas-Agurcia grew up in Honduras baking cakes and brownies for bake sales whenever she had the chance. She’s 100% self-taught, having never received any professional training in baking or decorating, which makes all the cakes, cookies, bars, cheesecakes and pies she creates that much more impressive.

“Nothing fills me more than serving others,” Rojas-Agurcia writes on her website. “Well, that and a good cup of coffee (especially if it’s from my fatherin-law’s farm in Honduras), a slice of cake, and good company.”

Best Burger: Botiwalla (tie)

Bae’s

Burgers,

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” starts many a tale of burgers here in the Queen City.

For every one burger that makes you think there might still be hope that America’s greatest comfort food hasn’t met a grisly local death, there are dozens of others that are too dry, too boring, too expensive, or too much of a hot congealed mess.

In other words, it’s not hard to stand out, but there are two that simply shine. At Bae’s Burgers food truck, it’s “The Boss.” Bacon, cheese and grilled onions check off all the boxes, but the real fun here comes from how skillfully the Maillard reaction on the grill is manipulated to turn smashed beef into crunch, which means even more great flavor.

At Botiwalla in Optimist Hall, it’s their namesake lamb burgers mixed with mint, cilantro and a fistful of spices and then served up as an Indian street food take on sliders whose wee size belies the boldness of the flavors concentrated within. For the Best Burger of 2021, it’s a tie – courtesy of Charlotte and Mumbai. Call it “A Tale of Two Cities: The Burger Version.”

There’s something of a dumpling drought in Charlotte, isn’t there? Not momos or mandu; empanada, pierogi or palt. Not samosas, or ravioli, HALAL CART or kreplach or knish. We’re talking about that PHOTO BY GRANT BALDWIN distinctly East Asian sort, or sorts – our Chinese foodie friends have given us so many to enjoy over the millennia.

Best Brunch Item: Devilish Toast at Of that type, most versions in Charlotte focus made pasta, and unpretentious entrees stand Best Bakery: The Batch House so much on the filling without paying any mind to in contrast to Charlotte’s other high-end Italian As if a pandemic weren’t enough, a natural The Goodyear House the wrap, which more often than not turns out to restaurants. disaster nearly wiped out Charlotte’s best bakery, so Despite its inclusion in our Hall of Shame, The be too thick and too unpleasant to chew through. you can consider this an award for Best Bakery and Goodyear House still has the single best brunch item This makes it a particularly flexible dinner That’s why it was so easy to fall hard in love with

FOOD & DRINK CRITICS’ PICKS

in town. Is this really possible? It certainly is. Call it the Woody Allen Effect. Or the Polanski Proxy. It is possible to love the art, but not the person who created it. Whatever. But I defy you not to love the Devilish Toast, on which at long last, egg salad is given its due.

The eggs here are smashed and mixed with nutritional yeast for umami and a bit of added color.

What really launches them into the cosmos, though, are flecks of Calabrian chilies that are just the right amount of cheeky, PG-rated fun for a Sunday morning.

For a few extra dollars, add even more eggs, in the form of a show stopping full ounce of North Carolina trout roe shoveled on top.

Pair it with a cup of black coffee and two slices of bacon, and you have The Goodyear House’s Annie Hall, or maybe even its Chinatown. “Forget it, Jake.

It’s brunch.”

Best Side Dish: Warm Corn Salad at Supperland

Chef Chris Rogienski’s menu at Supperland is filled to the brim with blockbusters, so it seems a cruel copy-editing trick for one of his best to be named simply “warm corn salad” — three words

that inspire nothing more than a nap.

On the contrary, this dish inspires sonnets. Is it the sweet corn – grilled and kissed by fire? Is it the peppers, red onions and chives – dots of color from the rainbow? Is it the bacon – when is it ever not the bacon?

What started as a seasonal vegetable offering quickly became so popular that Chef Rogienski gave it a permanent place on the menu, if not a permanent name.

This is no mere “warm corn salad.” Is it succotash? Is it elote street corn? With that sweet and playful aioli drizzled on top, who’s to say it’s not both?

Whatever you want to call it, though, it’s the Best Side Dish of 2021 by a long Southern mile.

Best Old Place: Dish

Dish will celebrate 20 years in Charlotte next summer, which is incredible in a city that seems to lose its old favorites on a monthly basis.

But if we lost Dish, we’d be losing cheap mimosas and a Carolina Country Breakfast to fight off a Saturday morning hangover.

We’d be losing impromptu bar debates about which ’90s blockbuster is the best (it’s Armageddon,

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by the way). We’d be losing the communal urge to stare at a TV that always seems to be on a show about scientists trying to get animals to have sex.

Dish, like Common Market, just feels like Plaza Midwood in a way that snooty newcomers like Supperland and Calle Sol never can.

Even if we lose every beloved restaurant in 2022, well, at least we still have Dish. Yes, it’s that important.

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Best Takeout: Le’s Sandwiches & Café

There are many varieties available at Le’s, which is tucked into a corner of the Asian Corner Mall at North Tryon Street and East Sugar Creek Road, but we recommend the #7, which has a little bit of everything: jambon, headcheese, sweet sausage, and pork roll, along with mayo and a gossamer schmear of pâté.

But it’s the baguette itself that’s the star – fresh, crisp, airy, and the perfect vessel for all that’s stuffed inside. It’s more than just great, though, it’s the most objectively perfect báhn mì you’re liable to find outside of a Saigon back alley.

Be sure to bring cash (Le’s doesn’t accept cards), and your reward will be the Best Takeout in town.

DISH PHOTO BY GRANT BALDWIN

Best Food Truck: Jimmy P’s Street Shack

Oscar Johnson and Daryl “Coop” Cooper — two chefs who are the heart and soul of everything right about food today in Charlotte — took their erstwhile Jimmy Pearls food stall at the 7th Street Public Market out on the road this year and renamed it Jimmy P’s Street Shack.

The food travels well. “Uncle Gene’s” — that fully evolved new species of fish sandwich that is already the stuff of local food legend — is still available, thank goodness, but it’s all the other things going on behind the scenes that have transformed Jimmy P’s into the Best Food Truck in Charlotte.

The pop-up oyster dinners, for example, during one of which this year the world was introduced to “The Black Oysterman,” an oyster slider from another dimension that was keenly conceived and finished with a gloriously elevated panache. That fine-dining sensibility has made its way into Jimmy P’s “Bubba Chucks,” where Oscar and Coop take French choux pastry and turn it into the best corn fritter you will ever have in your life.

But more than technique, it’s the camaraderie on display wherever they might be. There is so much love and humor shared between these two friends that it boils over into everything on the menu, and it’s hard to imagine the year of food in Charlotte without them.

FOOD & DRINK CRITICS’ PICKS

Best Food Cart: Carlos Dogs

Carlos Dogs has been a Charlotte staple for a good decade at this point. What began as a cart of what was widely considered the best hot dogs anyone in this city had ever had, has now turned into a journey through whatever Latin flavor paradise Chef Carlos Diaz dreams up on a given day. Could be birria quesa tacos, could be empanadas with salsas you want to do shots of, or maybe it’s something unnamed, but described as “just trust me, it’s Honduran and it’s bangin’.” Whatever it is, you can definitely trust him, and trust the meal will linger in your mind for days afterward and you’ll contemplate driving around NoDa and Plaza Midwood until you find him and beg him to make another. Diaz, originally from New York, recently said of Charlotte: “This beautiful city, she opened her arms, hugged me tight, and hasn’t let go.” Damn right. And we never will.

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Best Off-the-Beaten-Path: Sri Balaji Caffe

Why try to describe this South Indian eatery in Pineville when our food critic Tim already did such an amazing job. Just listen to his description of their chili parotta: “Flatbread here is sliced and diced and cubed, and then fried into something that feels at once soft and crisp. Imagine the food equivalent of a stress ball, if you will, and then marvel at how the standard parotta is transformed at Sri Balaji into something even more comforting than billions of people around the world have always known it to be.

“There’s heat from the chili, of course, but also something cheeky, like tomato and vinegar — dare I call it ketchup? When cooked together with red onions and peppers, your mind might go Chinese while the rest of you stays firmly in South India, or even Sri Lanka if you’re especially well-traveled.

You may not realize until after you’ve left — when you’re back at home and licking your lips, eyes closed, and chasing down the memory of those phenomenal flavors — that you’ve happened upon the great tradition of Indo-Chinese food and didn’t even know it.”

Enough said.

his name as a chef in the Queen City. It was there that he earned the nickname of “The Premiere Chef” while catering events such as Alive After 5 for Aloft Hotel and weddings and other events at The Ballantyne Hotel. He was known as the top chef at those locations, expected to serve whenever a big client came through, which was often. He was also working as a private chef for corporate banking executives and other big shots around Charlotte on the side. Eventually, the work caught up to him. He became burnt out, and left the culinary trade behind to pursue other opportunities.

He found success with his most recent business venture, Creative Epoxy Designs, but when COVID-19 put a stop to all of his appointments, Bardge brought his grill out to the parking lot of his shop on North Graham Street, set up under a tent and began serving food. Folks quickly took to his style, which he calls “infusion cooking,” taking traditional dishes of the American South and “infusing” the flavors used by foreign chefs in places like France, Switzerland, Peru and Morocco where he learned his craft.

Thanks to the fast-spreading word-of-mouth up and down North Graham Street, helped along further by viral social media posts from local food blogger Cory Wilkins, Bardge sees a long line of folks waiting for his turkey legs, ribs, crab legs and other specialties every afternoon when he opens the grill to start serving.

He’s moved around a bit from his Graham Street location to Enderly Park, but sometime in 2022 he plans to open a brick-and-mortar, and that will be one pandemic silver lining we can be grateful for.

economic diversity, as the fine-dining treatment of the duck and perfectly diced apples was elevated by elements presented as more homestyle and humble. In other words, this was a dish for each and every one of us. Everyone has a seat at Greg Collier’s table, it would seem, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Best Pastry Chef: Liana Sinclair

Chef Sinclair’s arrival on the Charlotte food scene is so significant that the era of pastry in the years leading up to her debut will forever be known as B.L. — “Before Liana.” Before Liana, desserts were perfectly dependable, though relegated to the other side of the menu, meant to deliver a solid afterdinner punch of indulgence whose memory would fade away by the time you got home. In this new era, though, Chef Sinclair’s complex and thoughtful desserts at Supperland hold their own against any dish on the savory side of that restaurant’s blockbuster menu. And goodness, they make you want to sing.

Who else could be inspired by the “Southern church potluck” concept to deliver the complex, perplexing, and sublime? Like the cheddar oat crumble on her absolute paragon of an apple

A TH

S!

2021 BEST IN THE NEST

WINNER BEST DESSERT

Best Chef: Greg Collier

Greg Collier is the best chef in Charlotte. No chef has so challenged American food writers by making sure that the heretofore unacknowledged stories and histories behind his food are served up unapologetically front and center. “Southern food is Black food,” he will tell you, and keep telling you, until you get the fact that what’s in front of you isn’t just a plate of delicious food. What’s more, representation and inclusion for him aren’t just the soapbox topics du jour. They’re a way of life, and everything you need to know about him appears on the plate.

For example, confit duck breast that was served back in September with XO sauce, pickled apples and whipped cou cou madeleines. On the one hand, that dish was a celebration of cultural diversity, Best COVID Pivot: The Premier Chef as European traditions shared the plate with Kevin Bardge moved to Charlotte in 2010 and components more Asian or more American South. opened It’s All Good Catering & Events, building But in a brilliant twist, it was also a celebration of

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Parishioners were upset and threatened to stop coming to the business, though the idea seemed somewhat mutual.

Chris and the crew took a stand for the health pie. Or the pickled oranges that dotted the top of and safety of their neighbors by breaking off a the pumpkin pie to end all pumpkin pies. Or that seemingly minor relationship with a group of people gorgeous pistachio Chantilly cream that laid like a who seemingly care about nothing but themselves. lover atop a wholesome cherry pie.

CRITICS’ PICKS

Best Vegan Chef: Chef Joya

Adjoa Courtney, known professionally as Chef Joya, has been shaking up the vegan food scene since she first stepped foot in it.

What makes her different? It’s not just her amazing food, though that alone is enough to shout from the rooftops about.

It’s her ability to connect with people, to overcome the misconceptions often associated with veganism, and to bring vegans and nonvegans alike together around a single table (or Instagram Live feed).

Following the plant-based foundation of the food she grew up on, Joya began to “veganize” traditional recipes that typically contained animal products, which has since turned into her specialty.

She wants her food to remind others who are transitioning to veganism, of the meals they enjoyed before they became vegan.

She’s even got several cookbooks on the market for those who want to try their hand at making delicious vegan dishes in the comfort of their own home.

The café opened Oct. 23 in Oakhurst Commons off Monroe Road, but that’s just the beginning.

The Night Swim coalition is working on a second location in the new Bank of America Tower on South Tryon, followed by a roastery and café at 4500 Old Pineville Road in the rapidly developing district that developers are calling LoSo (which our readers hate, we know). A fourth location is slated for Uptown, though specifics have yet to be announced.

ENDERLY COFFEE CO.

Best Brewery: Triple C Brewing Best Coffee Shop: Enderly Coffee Co. Company Located on Tuckaseegee Road in Charlotte,

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Best Farmers Market: Uptown Farmers Market

When you talk about Farmers Markets in Charlotte, you’ll likely hear people suggest both the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market and the Kings Drive Farmers Market as top local favorites.

And while they tend to corner the market, pun intended, there is a new kid on the block that deserves to be recognized: the Uptown Farmers Market.

With a goal of supporting local farmers, educating the community about healthy eating, and addressing food insecurity, Uptown Farmers Market brings something to the Uptown area that had been sorely missing until now. The market brings all the same great offerings (and prices!) you’ll find at other popular markets right to the Center City (or Second Ward, rather). As an added bonus, they often feature live music, activities, food trucks and more.

Best Draft Beer Selection: Charlotte Beer Garden

PHOTO BY GRANT BALDWIN

Owner Chris Harker gave a proverbial slap in the face to local church menace Freedom House when attention-hungry couple Penny and Troy Maxwell made public statements on how their congregation would ignore the mask mandate implemented by Mecklenburg County Public Health due to a rise in COVID-19 cases, stating their lawyers were on standby in case someone decided to enforce it.

Penny, Troy and the church do a lot, and we don’t mean that in a good way. In 2013 an email circulated through the church that “only white people” should stand at the front door and greet members of the congregation, according to WBTV. That’s just for context.

Harker saw the statement about the church ignoring the mask mandate and publicly said in a Facebook post that he would no longer allow them to use the brewery’s parking lot for overflow parking on Sundays.

an eight-course Harlem Nights-themed dinner based on the Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy from 1989.

Enderly Coffee Co. is a no fuss, no muss, just delicious coffee kind of coffee shop. In addition to making some of the best coffee (and beans) in town, what sets Enderly apart is their dedication to bettering their community. Started in 2021 by former teachers (and husband-and-wife team) Becky and Tony Santoro, their core values center around quality coffee, generosity, good people, and building better relationships. You can taste the love and commitment to their community in every sip.

Best Collaboration: Night Swim Coffee

The owners of two of Charlotte’s best coffee shops, Miracle and James Yoder at Not Just Coffee and Erin and Todd Huber at Undercurrent Coffee, decided to stop competing for the same demographic and combine forces to bring us Night Swim Coffee.

Night Swim offers a slew of classic coffee drinks like lattes, Americanos and espressos plus a food menu that includes avocado toast, a breakfast sandwich and a parfait, among others. Inside, the interior gives a more earthy vibe thanks in large part to the focus on natural materials like stone and quartz.

Best Food Event: Bayhaven Food & Wine Festival

The Charlotte Beer Garden, sister concept of the Raleigh Beer Garden, opened in South End in February 2020. The space hosts over 400 draft beers — advertised as the world’s largest selection — throughout a 16,663-square-foot layout that features four bars across three stories and a rooftop with a view.

The first floor features local beers, while the second level is more international, though it also includes national and regional beers like Stone Brewing and Bell’s Brewery. There can be a lot of confusion when trying to order a beer at a bar that has over 400 draft beers. Charlotte Beer Garden uses the Untappd app in lieu of printed menus to ensure accuracy and ease of ordering.

As soon as a keg kicks, a bartender takes it out of the system, which instantly removes it from the screen behind them and from the app. The beers are all broken down into different categories on the app, making it easier to find your next beverage.

The BayHaven Food & Wine Festival was a threeday celebration of Black foodways, aimed at raising awareness for Black culinary experts and creating opportunities for newcomers in the hospitality industry.

Founders Subrina and Gregory Collier were inspired by the Harlem Renaissance to create a festival that would Best Beer for a Cause: TRU Light If you’ve been to a dive bar lately, you’ve educate and entertain, and they succeeded. probably seen a TRU Light table tent. This premium Guests were treated to a Black Stork Dinner light beer is brewed out of Wilmington, and is honoring Josephine Baker, who was refused service at the famed Stork Club in Manhattan in 1951; and carried by a number of Charlotte bars. It’s flavorful

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and tasty, without the weird soapy flavor other light craft beers have. But it’s TRU Light’s mission that makes it stand out even more.

TRU Light is brewed by gang members in Wilmington, offering jobs to populations who are typically boxed out from safer avenues of revenue in an attempt to break the cycle of violence. An eight-week mentorship program introduces TRU Light employees to values that go deeper than beer. The TRU Light team has done an amazing job at creating a fantastic pathway out of violence for active gang members, and they’ve done it without a demeaning, trivializing attitude. They recognize that gang members are community leaders, abandoning the Clinton-era “super predator” myth. Do us a favor: Next time you’re drinking light, ask for TRU Light instead of Bud or Coors.

It tastes better, and it does better.

at The Punch Room in Uptown in mid-2018, knew he had to act fast to salvage some income and support his wife, Jena, and 10-year-old daughter. So he turned his double garage in Plaza Midwood into a — well, not a bar exactly. That wouldn’t be legal.

It’s partly a home studio, where Peters can broadcast

cocktail classes on Zoom or Instagram; and partly a sanctuary, a place to refine recipes and indulge in a craft that COVID — and at times the state legislature — has done its best to derail.

He quickly found an audience. Since the pandemic began, he’s hosted workshops and events for Amazon, grocery store chain Wegman’s and liquor delivery company Caskers, as well as dozens of private events, including birthday parties, bachelorette bashes and office socials.

It can be exhausting to host these events, but

Best Cocktail Class: Bob Peters’ Garage Bar

When restaurants and bars shut down and his consulting business dried up last spring, renowned mixologist Bob Peters, who stepped away from his role as head mixologist

A COCKTAIL TO-GO KIT FROM FIN AND FINO PHOTO BY JAYME JOHNSON

the little moments of revelation keep him going, as when he lets viewers in on the little tweaks that make a good cocktail unforgettable.

“Watching people’s epiphany when they see the difference — it’s so magical,” he says. “They start to put things together, and now they’re really interested in what happened.”

Best Alcohol Initiative That Should Have Lasted Longer: To-Go Cocktails

In the thick of the pandemic, the “spirited” landscape of nightlife was bleak, to say the least.

Our favorite bars and restaurants were closed and we were confined to the four walls of our homes without an inkling of how to recreate our favorite cocktails to bring our coveted bars home. But then came a loophole: to-go cocktails! Finally, amateur cocktail makers could actualize their dreams of becoming expert mixologists. In the beginning, each cocktail kit came with fool-proof mixing directions and all the accouterments such as juices, simple syrups, and garnish. The only thing you’d have to grab was your liquor of choice. Then later, the NCGA opened things up for actual to-go cocktails, as restaurants and bars were granted the ability to allow patrons to take one fully mixed cocktail to-go. Yes, we know the latter can come with a host of challenges for safety and such, but boy, we sure wish we would’ve taken full advantage of this alcohol initiative when it was a thing. But alas, the order was short-lived, expiring in June, and sparse while it lasted. The bars that did try it out found all sorts of barriers, so we’ll just sit on our hands and wait for the social districts to happen.

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FOOD & DRINK READERS’ PICKS

BY NEIGHBORHOOD BEST BALLANTYNE RESTAURANT Winner: Midwood Smokehouse Runner Up: Ma Ma Wok BEST EAST CHARLOTTE RESTAURANT Winner: Lang Van Runner Up: Portofino’s Italian Restaurant

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BEST LOCAL RESTAURANT GROUP Winner: High Tide Hospitality Runner Up: FS Food Group

BEST STEELE CREEK RESTAURANT Winner: Sabor Latin Street Grill Runner Up: Mac’s Speed Shop

BEST FARMERS MARKET Winner: Charlotte Regional Farmers Market Runner Up: Kings Drive Farmers Market

BEST STEAKHOUSE Winner: Beef ‘N Bottle Steakhouse Runner Up: Steak 48

BEST UNIVERSITY CITY RESTAURANT Winner: Boardwalk Billy’s Runner Up: Passage to India Indian Cuisine

BEST FOOD TRUCK Winner: What The Fries Runner Up: Tin Kitchen

BEST TAPAS & SHAREABLES Winner: Soul Gastrolounge Runner Up: Good Food on Montford

BEST UPTOWN RESTAURANT Winner: Alexander Michael’s Runner Up: Fin & Fino

BEST GOURMET/SPECIALTY FOOD STORE Winner: Pasta & Provisions Runner Up: Reid’s Fine Foods

BEST VEGAN FOOD Winner: Oh My Soul Runner Up: Luna’s Living Kitchen

BEST WEST CHARLOTTE RESTAURANT Winner: Pinky’s Westside Grill Runner Up: LuLu’s Maryland Style Chicken & Seafood

BEST HEALTH FOOD STORE Winner: Earth Fare Runner Up: Berrybrook Farm Natural Foods

BY DISH

BY CONCEPT

BEST ICE CREAM SHOP Winner: Two Scoops Creamery Runner Up: Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams

BEST NODA RESTAURANT Winner: Haberdish Runner Up: The Goodyear House

BEST BAKERY Winner: Suarez Bakery Runner Up: Sunflour Baking Company

BEST NORTH CHARLOTTE RESTAURANT Winner: Leah & Louise Runner Up: Livy’s Neapolitan Pizzeria

BEST BARBECUE Winner: Midwood Smokehouse Runner Up: Sweet Lew’s BBQ

BEST PLAZA MIDWOOD RESTAURANT Winner: Soul Gastrolounge Runner Up: Dish

BEST COFFEE SHOP Winner: Not Just Coffee Runner Up: Smelly Cat Coffee

BEST SOUTH END RESTAURANT Winner: Hawker’s Asian Street Food Runner Up: The Waterman Fish Bar

BEST DELI & MARKET Winner: Common Market Runner Up: Rhino Market & Deli

BEST SOUTHPARK RESTAURANT Winner: Little Mama’s Italian Runner Up: The Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar

BEST FARM-TO-TABLE RESTAURANT Winner: Leah & Louise Runner Up: Haymaker

BEST INTERNATIONAL FOOD STORE Winner: Super G Mart Charlotte Runner Up: Compare Foods Supermarket BEST JUICE BAR Winner: Green Brothers Juice Co. Runner Up: Clean Juice BEST SEAFOOD RESTAURANT Winner: Sea Level NC Runner Up: Fin & Fino BEST SOUL FOOD Winner: Leah & Louise Runner Up: Mert’s Heart & Soul

BEST BAGELS Winner: Poppy’s Bagels Runner Up: Einstein Bros. Bagels BEST BREAKFAST Winner: Zada Jane’s Corner Cafe Runner Up: The Original Pancake House BEST BRUNCH Winner: 300 East Runner Up: Bistro La Bon BEST BURGER Winner: Ace No. 3 Runner Up: Pinky’s Westside Grill BEST DESSERT Winner: Amelie’s French Bakery & Café Runner Up: Villani’s Bakery BEST DOUGHNUTS Winner: Duck Donuts Runner Up: Pepperbox Doughnuts

FOOD & DRINK READERS’ PICKS

BEST FRENCH FRIES Winner: What The Fries Runner Up: Ace No. 3 BEST FROZEN TREAT Winner: King of Pops Runner Up: Popbar BEST HANGOVER FIX Winner: Midnight Diner Runner Up: Billy Jack’s Shack BEST HOT DOGS Winner: JJ’s Red Hots Runner Up: Pinky’s Westside Grill BEST LUNCH Winner: Rhino Market & Deli Runner Up: Mama Ricotta’s BEST PHO Winner: Lang Van Runner Up: Pho Hoa Noodle Soup BEST PIZZA Winner: Sal’s Pizza Factory Runner Up: Inizio Pizza Napoletana BEST SANDWICH Winner: Rhino Market & Deli Runner Up: Crispy Banh Mi BEST TACOS Winner: Cabo Fish Taco Runner Up: Tacos El Nevado

BEST ITALIAN CUISINE Winner: Mama Ricotta’s Runner Up: Portofino’s Italian Restaurant BEST JAPANESE CUISINE Winner: New Zealand Cafe Runner Up: YUME Ramen Sushi & Bar BEST KOREAN CUISINE Winner: Seoul Food Meat Company Runner Up: Let’s Meat Kbbq BEST MEXICAN CUISINE Winner: Three Amigos Runner Up: Paco’s Tacos and Tequila BEST MIDDLE EASTERN CUISINE Winner: YAFO Kitchen Runner Up: La Shish Kabob BEST SUSHI Winner: New Zealand Cafe Runner Up: Ru San’s BEST THAI CUISINE Winner: Deejai Thai Restaurant Runner Up: Thai Taste BEST VIETNAMESE CUISINE Winner: Lang Van Runner Up: Phở Hoà Noodle Soup

BY THE LOOK & FEEL

BY CUISINE

BEST CHEF Winner: Greg Collier - Leah & Louise Runner Up: Christa Csoka - The Artisan’s Palate

BEST CARIBBEAN CUISINE Winner: Calle Sol Latin Café & Cevicheria Runner Up: Punta Cana Restaurant BEST CHINESE CUISINE Winner: Ma Ma Wok Runner Up: Baoding Restaurant

DOUGHNUTS COFFEE ESPRESSO KOMBUCHA

BEST INDIAN CUISINE Winner: Copper Modern Indian Cuisine Runner Up: Curry Gate

BEST WINGS Winner: Moosehead Grill Runner Up: Seoul Food Meat Company

BEST AFRICAN CUISINE Winner: Enat Ethiopian Restaurant Runner Up: Red Sea Ethiopian and Eritrean Cuisine Pg. 43 DEC 2 - DEC 15, 2020 - QCNERVE.COM

BEST FRENCH CUISINE Winner: Bistro La Bon Runner Up: Cafe Monte French Bakery and Bistro

BEST LATE-NIGHT EATERY Winner: Midnight Diner Runner Up: JackBeagle’s BEST PATIO Winner: NoDa Company Store Runner Up: Edge City Brewery BEST WAIT STAFF/SERVICE Winner: Lang Van Runner Up: Alexander Michael’s

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FOR THE LOVE OF ALCOHOL BEST BEER SELECTION Winner: Salud Cerveceria Runner Up: Common Market BEST BLOODY MARY Winner: Moo & Brew - Large Marge Runner Up: Boudreaux’s Louisiana Kitchen BEST BOTTLE SHOP Winner: Salud Cerveceria Runner Up: Common Market BEST BREWERY Winner: Wooden Robot Brewery Runner Up: Edge City Brewery BEST COCKTAILS Winner: Idlewild Runner Up: Dot Dot Dot BEST COCKTAIL MENU Winner: Dot Dot Dot Runner Up: Supperland BEST DISTILLERY Winner: Great Wagon Road Runner Up: Muddy River BEST MARGARITAS Winner: Three Amigos Runner Up: Superica BEST MOCKTAILS Winner: NoDa Company Store Runner Up: Elsewhere

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BEST NEW BREWERY (LAST 2 YEARS) Winner: Petty Thieves Brewing Co. Runner Up: Edge City Brewery BEST NON-ALCOHOLIC MENU Winner: YAFO Kitchen Runner Up: The Artisan’s Palate BEST WINE SELECTION Winner: Dilworth Tasting Room Runner Up: Rosie’s Wine Garden

BY COVID-19 ADAPTATION BEST COCKTAIL KIT Winner: Haberdish Runner Up: Dot Dot Dot BEST DELIVERY Winner: Mama Ricotta’s Runner Up: Fuel Pizza BEST HEALTH PRACTICES (SOCIAL DISTANCING, ETC.) Winner: Camp North End Runner Up: Free Range Brewing BEST ICONIC RESTAURANT THAT CLOSED Winner: Price’s Chicken Coop Runner Up: Zack’s Hamburgers BEST REHEATED FOOD Winner: Mama Ricotta’s Runner Up: Midwood Smokehouse BEST TO-GO FOOD Winner: Mama Ricotta’s Runner Up: Chef Alyssa’s Kitchen

arts & Entertainment CRITICS’ PICKS: ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Here’s to the creatives, the heart and soul of our city.

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Best Creative: Carla Aaron-Lopez

You could barely walk into an art space in Charlotte this year and not see something that Carla Aaron-Lopez had her hand in, and we’re here for it.

But it’s not just art spaces.

As new chair of the Talking Walls Mural Fest, Aaron-Lopez was in charge of organizing the artists putting up pieces you cannot miss if you wanted to. Hell, every time we walk into our office we have the privilege of perusing her curation in the Big New Things exhibit she helped put together here at Advent Coworking.

Most notable, however, were her partnerships with Mint Museum Randolph where she held the LOCAL/STREET pop-up exhibit in March, then was heavily involved with the collaborative It Takes a Village exhibit in June. In the fall, she curated the

JOY exhibit at Elder Gallery, and oh, did we mention she’s a full-time arts teacher at CMS? Next year promises to find her having an even bigger impact on the Charlotte arts scene, as she’s been appointed one of 18 members on the new Arts and Culture Advisory Board, which will develop a comprehensive arts and culture plan for the city and allocate approximately $4.4 million in remaining funds from the 2022 fiscal year to support arts, culture, and artists, and $12 million each in the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years. Give ‘em hell, Carla.

told Queen City Nerve in October.

“The finished sneakers tend to be rewarding because an initial idea from my mind to a mockup was transformed into wearable art.”

The Artvst is self taught; she started by customizing her own pair of Nike Roche Runs at 15 years old and has since connected with hundreds of

clients looking for colorful, standout sneakers not sold in stores.

Over the years, her shoes have paid homage to history, social justice movements and breast cancer awareness. They’ve even caught the attention of corporations like Taco Bell, Subway, Converse and the Carolina Panthers.

Best Niche Artist: Destiny Wilson, The Artvst

There are artists and then there are transformers.

Destiny Wilson is the latter — proof that anything can be your canvas as long as it can be painted on.

The 20-year-old UNC Charlotte grad, who goes by the name The Artvst, turns plain white sneakers into colorful masterpieces with a few strokes of her paintbrush and a creative mind that’s only just beginning to unlock.

“I love that I get to create colorways that don’t yet exist with inspirations drawn from my everyday life experiences, or the most ordinary thing that I can turn into a nice looking color block,” The Artvst DESTINY WILSON, AKA THE ARTVST

PHOTO BY THE ARTVST

arts & entertainment CRITICS’ PICKS

Best Emerging Artist: Kalin Devone

If you haven’t heard the name Kalin Devone yet don’t worry, you will. Whether she is painting on floors, walls or canvas, her artwork has a way of leaping up from the confines of its medium and coming alive.

Currently working out of a studio near Plaza Midwood as part of an artist’s residency, there’s a good chance you’ve already seen her work around town without realizing it.

Maybe you caught her in real-time at a Talking Walls event or spotted some of her work at Harvey B. Gantt Center, or you may have walked across the floor mural she recently painted in the restroom at Camp North End’s Van Gogh exhibit, or at one of the various pop-up art shows across town.

You may have even passed by her work at local businesses around town — like in the lobby of Sodoma Law or at Advent Coworking.

Her vibrant large-scale oil paintings often focus on the human body and the way social media shapes our identity.

Versatile, creative, and passionate, you’ll want to keep your eye on this emerging artist as she continues to make waves in Charlotte and beyond.

six luminaries of the Beatties Ford Road corridor.

His most recent mural in front of Charlotte Fire Department No. 7 in NoDa depicts superhero Static Shock and was commissioned as part of Ally bank’s Milestone initiative, which honors Black comic book writers.

His beautiful visuals and sense of local history makes him a great asset to the community, with an impact that goes far beyond painting at bar mitzvahs.

Best Sculptor: Kenny Nguyen

Kenny Nguyen was one of 10 artists featured in the Brooklyn Collective’s August show, Reconstructing Deconstruction, which told stories of cultural heritage, from breaking down to rebuilding, acting as a mirror of each individual journey. It was an exhibit that appeared to be made for Nguyen, who deconstructs silk garments and rebuilds them

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Best Muralist: Abel Jackson

A native of Greenville, South Carolina, Abel Jackson moved to Charlotte in 2002 and began building his name in the local arts scene with work in a number of different mediums and side gigs: airbrush pieces, portraits, signage, shoes, clothes — he even worked a bar mitzvah or two.

In recent years, however, he’s become one of the city’s most prolific muralists, with high-profile pieces including “Self Love,” a mural depicting children — his niece and two family friends — on the side of The Chamber at Wooden Robot in NoDa, looking out on the East 36th Street light rail station. He’s also highlighted Charlotte’s Black history in multiple murals, including one honoring the history of the West End at the Arts Factory at Johnson C. Smith and another paying homage to the founders of the Brooklyn neighborhood on the old Mecklenburg Investment Company building.

This year, he finished “The River of Life” at the West End Fresh Seafood Market depicting

KENNY NGUYEN PHOTO BY PATRICK CAUSEY

into creatively painted sculptures.

Nguyen moved to the United States from Vietnam in 2010, when he was a 20-year-old university student working in fashion design. He would get lost in the process of design as he sculpted silk into evening gowns and wedding dresses, the body of the wearer acting as a canvas, the silk his medium.

With fine art he found more freedom to use the materials abstractly, keeping with the flow of sculpting elegant gowns absent of a body through the antithetical process of destruction.

arts & entertainment

so much time to paint a realistic picture of your fridge, when you already had the picture? Is still-life painting obsolete in 2021?

“It’s a really good question,” Leventis said. “For one, there’s a historical value because whenever you’re painting, you’re having a conversation with the paintings that came in the past. It’s a really human impulse to paint and draw.”

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After first arriving in Charlotte, Nguyen would join his family on trips to the Mint Museum. Unable to speak the language, he allowed the artists’ work to speak to him.

As Nguyen explored mediums of his own, he found himself working in silk, a fabric with significant cultural implications.

“Silk is a surprising fabric,” Nguyen told Queen City Nerve in August. “It’s delicate yet strong. To destroy a piece of silk is a breakthrough — you just have to do it even though you really don’t want to and push the limits of the material. Something new might come out of it, something more exciting.”

Best Arts Organization: Brooklyn Collective

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Best Multitasker: Rosalia TorresWeiner

Rosalia Torres-Weiner sees her boldly colored, animated murals that depict immigrants, neighbors and friends as stories that need to be told. She coined the term “artivist” to describe her role in creating and sharing stories at the intersection of art and activism.

So far in 2021, Torres-Weiner has partnered with master puppeteer Hobey Ford to give a puppet workshop to North Carolina school children and created a group of paintings for the Moore & Van Allen law firm, focusing on themes of inclusion and diversity.

In June, she collaborated with Latinx activists Moises Serrano and Cornelio Campos for “My Roots, My Dreams,” a Greensboro exhibition where her paintings featured augmented reality through RedCalacAR, a free app that allows people to hear each painting’s subject speak.

In addition, she’s continued to create her distinctive murals while teaching herself to play the flute. Despite the variety of projects and commissions she’s undertaken, Torres-Weiner says her main work continues to center on immigration and social justice.

She remains a storyteller, drawing a community together with vivid murals, exposing injustice with impactful paintings or helping children process heartache with whimsical puppet shows.

ANDREW LEVENTIS PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREW LEVENTIS

larger-than-life-sized paintings for the past year that depict the insides of refrigerators and freezers.

The series, titled Refrigerators (Vanitas), is a collection of photorealist oil paintings that make art of pandemic nutritional necessities like frozen chicken teriyaki, Wonder Bread, and lots of Corona (the beer, not the virus).

Two of his fridge paintings were shortlisted for this year’s Aesthetica Art Prize, a prestigious award offered by the U.K.-based Aesthetica Magazine.

The paintings are currently featured in the York Art Gallery.

The paintings are striking in their realism, making the viewer question if they’re looking at a picture or a painting before further inspection.

Leventis uses Best Series: Andrew Leventis, photography as a Refrigerators (Vanitas) tool for reference, but Andrew Leventis, a local artist and professor preceding the sharing of at UNC Charlotte, has been working on a series of his images are months

of labor. His paintings take days to dry. He works in layers, and in the case of the fridge paintings, which are each one-and-a-half to two times the size of an actual refrigerator, each one takes about a month.

The question could be raised then, why take

When The Mecklenburg Investment Company (MIC) was constructed in Charlotte’s Brooklyn neighborhood in 1922, few would have imagined that it would be one of the only buildings to survive the tragic razing of the historically Black neighborhood that would take place during the 1960s.

Nearly a century after The Mecklenburg Investment Co.’s founding, amid great racial injustice and a global pandemic, The MIC has been resurrected as the home of The Brooklyn Collective, a potential leader in Charlotte’s emerging art scene and supporter of nonprofits and small businesses.

Through partnerships like a recent collaborative effort with SouthEnd ARTS, the collective aims to amplify the voices of history, heritage, science and art through equity art exhibitions featuring a curated group of artists in a variety of mediums, acting as an incubator as much as a space to hold artistic events.

“Our goal is to make sure that we are honoring the history of where we are, that we are the stewards of social consciousness and the programming, and things that we have here are all going towards enriching the community,” Monique Douglas of The Brooklyn Collective told Queen City Nerve in February.

“We celebrate the arts at The MIC. We provide our location as a space where local musical artists, as well as visual artists, can feel like they have a home or place where they can be showcased.”

Best New Art Space: Stone House Art Gallery THE BROOKLYN COLLECTIVE GALLERY SPACE PHOTO BY GRANT BALDWIN

Kilee Price opened the Stone House Art Gallery in an 11-by19-foot building behind her

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Of course, you can’t celebrate Charlotte’s longtime arts district without the artists and musicians who made it that way, so Astro Pop founder Brett Toukatly got them all together for this inaugural event on Sept. 25.

The illustrator and muralist, who goes by the name TWOKAT, used his position as a bartender at Wooden Robot Brewery to make Astro Pop a reality, as ownership gave him full rein to curate the festival at The Chamber by Wooden Robot on East 36th Street and build the lineup.

The bill included live mural painting by visual artists like Hnin Nie, John Hairston Jr., Maryssa Pickett, Matt Moore and Noirs One; plus musical performances by Alan Charmer, Cuzco, Erick Lottary, Late Bloomer, Natalie Carr, Paint Fumes, Sweat Transfer and That Guy Smitty. There were also food trucks, vendors and Wooden Robot released a new beer.

North End over the summer.

Laura Sexton, Rosalia Torres-Weiner, Zaire McPhearson, Eva Crawford, Mike Wirth, Alvin C. Jacobs Jr., Cat Babbie, Tara Spil, Justin Ellis and Elizabeth Palmisano were chosen out of about 60 applicants to create, showcase and sell original art to attendees during a paid one-month-long stay at the exhibit that rotated throughout the summer.

Bree Stallings, director of artistic experiences with Blumenthal Arts, was instrumental in reaching out to Charlotte creators about the opportunity.

Thanks to her, those who came to relive Van Gogh’s masterpieces also got the chance to see and talk to living, working artists from their own community, connecting art of the past with art of the here and now.

“People are sometimes intimidated by interacting with artists but these are sweet, good people who just want to share their work and the

photography exhibit, In the Line of Sight, at The Light Factory.

The exhibit was compiled from photos Galloway took during his coverage of the Black Lives Matter movement during the summer of 2020, some of which he did for Queen City Nerve. With the exhibit, Galloway aimed to provide truth to the Black narrative while inspiring racial inclusivity in the local photography scene.

As Galloway described it to Queen City Nerve before his exhibit’s originally scheduled opening in January, photojournalism has always been a “staple in history,” crucial to accurately depicting the Black narrative.

It’s known that history books only tell a part of the story, but photojournalism offers a truth that has to be seen and can’t be distorted. In the Black community, specifically, photojournalism has an important, though emotional role to play.

“A portion hurts and a portion gives us something to cheer for,” he said.

childhood home in Coulwood that was once a machine shop where her dad worked to restore antique Fords.

Price returned to Charlotte in 2018 after earning degrees at Columbus College for Art & Design and the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. She began brainstorming ways to renovate the old shop, calling it a “perfectly photographical space.”

After much contemplation and collaboration with students and colleagues at UNC Charlotte and Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, where she’s worked as an art instructor, she turned the old shop into a small pop-up gallery space with the goal of highlighting outside artists who could connect with creatives in the local scene.

The gallery’s fourth exhibit, Spawning Point, covered the gallery’s three small windows and overhead LED lights with pink film, creating an Electric Best Collaborative Exhibit: Mint Ladyland feel, while collaborative rock Museum, LOCAL/STREET and It sculptures littered the floor and two Takes a Village chiffon sheets printed with 3-D scans OK, so these are two exhibits, so sue us; but of Detroit-based artist Clare Gatto’s skin with so much overlap in participants and an meshed into amorphous textures are overwhelming amount of great pieces in each suspended in the center of the room. of these summer exhibits at Charlotte’s oldest The work was meant to invoke the arts museum, why force us to choose? inquiry of perception versus reality, the LOCAL/STREET was a three-day pop-up art juxtaposition of live waterfall footage exhibit that showcased the work of 40 local beneath stock imagery creating the artists, with a focus on artists of color and conundrum we face in this internetunderground street artists. centric world: What is real?

It featured works from photographers such “I think Charlotte can benefit from as Alvin C. Jacobs Jr., Carey J. King, and Kevin this being different than what the “Surf” Mitchell, alongside pieces from visual McColl Center or the Mint would pick artists like Lo’Vonia Parks, Saloan Goodwin and up,” Price told Queen City Nerve in Kyle Mosher.

March.

The pop-up was curated by none other than “I’m trying to give a voice to new FROM JOSHUA GALLOWAY’S IN THE LINE OF SIGHT EXHIBIT BLKMRKTCLT co-founder Carla Aaron-Lopez, artists who haven’t been seen in PHOTO BY JOSHUA GALLOWAY who of course had a hand in what came to Charlotte before and that differ from follow in June, a longer running exhibit titled what our artists are currently creating. I want to It Takes a Village that brought together three of “I hope this event inspires someone or at least best way we can honor van Gogh’s legacy is by show Charlotte what’s out there. This is a way to Charlotte’s most talented and prolific art collectives: bring something to the table that hasn’t existed reminds them this is what NoDa was about and still introducing people outside of the art world to local is,” TWOKAT said. artists and this is such a great opportunity to do BLKMRKTCLT, Goodyear Arts and Brand the Moth. before now.”

Speaking to Queen City Nerve in the lead up to that,” Stallings said. the second exhibit, Aaron-Lopez discussed the value Best Residency: Immersive Van Best New Arts Event: Astro Pop of working at such an institution as the Mint, which Best Individual Exhibit: Joshua Gogh Mural and Music Fest was founded in 1936 and is housed in a building Ten Charlotte artists got to show off their skills Galloway, In the Line of Sight With all the changes and new construction that was built in part by enslaved people. as an added, localized layer to Immersive Van Gogh, Though it was delayed a few times due to a in NoDa comes a need to keep the spirit of the “There are so many people in Charlotte who neighborhood alive. That’s the goal of Astro Pop Mural the 76,000-square-foot digital arts show featuring second (or was it the third) wave of COVID-19, it was have not visited the Mint Museum on Randolph or and Music Fest: to celebrate what makes NoDa special. the works of Vincent van Gogh that opened at Camp worth the wait to catch Joshua Galloway’s debut Uptown,” she continued. “And a lot of those people

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are Black and brown people, because when spaces are created to exclude groups of people, they do not feel comfortable returning to those spaces, and that can stay that way for generations.”

These two exhibits went a far way in changing that dynamic.

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Best Pop-Up: Good Times

They wanted to honor West End legends, so they put together a list of about 15 people who have had a lasting impact on the corridor and, with the help of city staff, began outreach efforts.

Making use of the extra time afforded by the COVID-19 shutdowns, the group canvassed as best they could amid a pandemic, utilizing social media and email lists from local community organizations and church groups to reach as many West End residents as possible. The participating residents voted, and the top six members were set to be included.

The title “River of Life,” which Jackson will add as he completes the mural in the coming week or so, comes from an expression that appears to have been coined by Rev. Clifford Jones, pastor at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, in a 1990 Charlotte Observer article written by Frye Gaillard about an attempt to rename a three-mile stretch of Beatties Ford Road to Martin Luther King Drive.

In the article, Jones is quoted as saying, “It’s the river of life for the black community,” referring to Beatties Ford Road.

Powell, who attends Friendship Missionary, heard Jones use the same expression during a sermon there and it stuck with her, eventually inspiring the name of the artwork.

Earth as it appears from the moon while serving as a into the 1950s.

Spread along eight shelters on West Trade reminder of the need to protect our planet.

So you can go ahead and scratch the moon off Street and Beatties Ford Road in the Historic West End, artist George Bates’ designs are made up of your bucket list now. hundreds of smaller ones, each one revealing its own story from the history of the West End. Best Public Art as Part of “There’s a lot to unpack, if you want to take the Government Project: CATS Gold Line time,” Bates said of his pieces. We suggest you take Shelters the time.

If you take the CATS CityLYNX Gold Line on its new extended path, which opened on Aug. 30, you’ll Best Photographer: Will Jenkins travel past a secret garden, through a time machine BLKMRKTCLT co-founder Will Jenkins, aka and into a world of historical beauty.

Simplisticphobia, is a digital content creator Four artists were handpicked to develop specializing in video, film, and photography. As three distinctive visions for the Gold Line’s transit highlighted in his works in LOCAL/STREET and It shelters, creating original art for each new stop in Takes a Village, his multimedia approach makes his the Elizabeth neighborhood, Uptown and Historic photos all that more striking, but a look through West End. Despite not being based in Charlotte, his portfolio shows that his pictures stand alone as each artist spent their time digging into Charlotte’s powerful pieces of art. history to come up with ideas that highlight the His main focus is women of color because of his city’s past. connection to women that raised and influenced Four shelters in the Elizabeth neighborhood, him, as he explains on his personal website. done by Amy Cheng, shine translucent pink, green Jenkins has created an impressive collection of landscapes, portraits and collages that capture Charlotte and the Black experience during the four years that BLKMRKTCLT has been active, contributing heavily to its role as a force in the city’s arts scene.

On the first weekend of May, The Underground featured a slew of Charlotte’s best visual artists with Good Times, a pop-up organized by IMEK Studios that highlighted work from a dozen local artists.

The exhibit was not like your average gallery, as it consisted of installations that were not only Instaready but also thought-provoking.

The experience included installations by artists including Cheeks, Dammit Wesley, Fiberess, Fred Smith, Georgie Nakima, Hnin Nie, Nico Amortegui, Rebecca Lips, TWOKAT, Primetime Signs, and NOIRS ONE. Those installations included a walk-through floral experience, a wooden sculpture garden, a “Taxidermy Wall” with 20 to 30 hand-painted animal heads, a giant abstract UV-reactive throne and more.

The entire experience was a huge relief, as it was one of the first public events that many from the art scene attended as vaccinations became more Best Public Art available and people felt comfortable to come out. (Visiting Artist): Gaia But even without that as the driver, this was by Luke Jerram one of the more memorable art pop-ups in recent Thanks to the ol’ Delta memory. variant, this year’s Charlotte SHOUT! Festival was a pop-up in Best Public Art (Local Artist): “River the most literal sense, meaning that, while some of the events of Life” mural by Abel Jackson Jackson’s new Beatties Ford Road mural, titled and installations were outright “River of Life,” was a commission from West End canceled, you still might stumble Fresh Seafood Market owner Bernetta Powell, across something extraordinary, like humongous inflatable whom he’s known for years.

GAVIN BOULWARE,CO-HOST OF ‘PAID IN EXPOSURE’ It depicts six luminaries of the Beatties Ford bunnies grazing across from PHOTO BY CODY CARLSON Road corridor: Dr. Maxwell-Roddey, James Ferguson First Ward Park, or a relatively small but still humongous globe II, Julius Chambers, Hattie “Chatty Hatty” Leeper, floating in Founder’s Hall as you walked into a and blue, with interweaving black and silver curves Harvey Gantt and Sarah Stevenson. surrounding floral centerpieces that pay homage to Funded by a Placemaking Grant from the city production of Charlotte Squawks.

The latter was called Gaia, a three-dimensional, a neighborhood rose garden that’s been gone for of Charlotte, the mural has long been a goal of illuminated 23-foot sculpture of Earth that was more than half a century.

Powell’s. Once she was awarded the grant, she jaw-dropping for everyone who had the privilege to Jim Hirschfield and Sonya Ishii’s designs for 10 reached out to Jackson, who’s been creating art in Gold Line shelters along Trade Street in Uptown Charlotte for nearly 20 years, and the two got to come across it.

Created by renowned British installation artist serve as portals into Charlotte’s past, utilizing an work on community outreach.

Luke Jerram, Gaia was meant to allow viewers to see archive of Charlotte postcards from the early-1800s

Best Arts Podcast: ‘Paid In Exposure’

Paid in Exposure is a podcast that aims to support and uplift Black and brown photographers. Having surpassed 100 episodes this year, co-host and photographer Gavin Boulware explained to Queen City Nerve in May why it’s important for him to provide a platform for marginalized voices in the photo community.

“I just haven’t stopped just because I’ve noticed not only how many people I’m helping, but how much I’m helping myself as well. And so, I just want to keep the resource going,” Boulware said in the lead-up to his 100th episode.

“The podcast isn’t a shortcut, but more of a navigation for Black Photographers, because our journey is so different. Every photographer goes through their ups and down, which is why I know this podcast is vital for everyone, but nobody is directly speaking to Black artists and the issues we face. “

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recent opening of Starlight on 22nd, a new bar in Optimist Park that aims to serve as an incubating space for artists, musicians and the like by providing CRITICS’ PICKS a laid back atmosphere for them to create.

As explained on their website, “Our place has an Best Hire: Bree Stallings, Blumental eclectic blend of artsy and retro that has a creative Arts appeal. Future cultural events of art and music to Multi-media artist, illustrator, writer and be announced.” We’ll be patiently awaiting those activist Bree Stallings was named Blumenthal announcements.

Performing Arts’ director of artistic experiences, a new position designed to help expand its programs Most Exciting Arts Development/ and connections to local artists, back in March.

She wasted zero time putting the institution’s Opening Outside of I-485: Corks, resources to work for Charlotte’s independent Cooks & Books artists. While she helped maximize the impact of Friends Mindy Kuhn and Shonali Thomas always events like Charlotte SHOUT! and We Are Hip Hop, shared a dream of opening a bookstore that doubled Stallings’ truly shined in the way she built local as a wine bar — they just didn’t know it until it engagement around the anticipated Immersive Van came up.

Gogh exhibit at Camp North End, ensuring that once Over the summer, they finally combined their the projections were long gone, the city’s artists passions and professional ventures as a caterer and would be left with lasting support. a publisher, respectively, and opened Corks, Cooks, “Simply put, I love Charlotte. One of my passions & Books. is creating opportunities for artists. I don’t believe Nestled in the Millwood Shopping Center on in the starving artist myths. I think there’s enough Herlong Avenue in Rock Hill, the spot combines sunshine for all of us, we just need to learn how casual tapas with a signature wine bar and a to leverage our skills with the people who are bookstore, creating a new hangout that allows interested in them,” Stallings told Queen City Nerve patrons a space to grab a drink and settle into a good at a preview of the Immersive Van Gogh exhibit in read. One of the most popular items is the glutenJune. free cheesecake.

“So it’s been really cool because they’ve never Corks, Cooks, & Books holds books of all genres done this level of local artist engagement with from romance to mystery to cookbooks to children’s the external exhibition area, with the merch and books. the boutique sales, with the artists-in-residence.

It’s Kuhn’s mission to have something in stock Basically I was given permission that, if I could pull it for everyone who comes through the doors. She off, I could do it. So I like a challenge.” keeps up with book clubs, best-seller lists, and of course her own authors from Warren Publishing to curate the collection.

Most Exciting Arts Development/

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Opening: Starlight on 22nd

In 1986, Ruth Ava Lyons and her partner, sculptor Paul Sires, were the first pioneering artists who started the NoDa Arts district. They owned Center Of the Earth Gallery for 23 years and Eden Orion Realty, which focuses on artist studio spaces and commercial venues.

As NoDa has gone through many changes in the time since, Lyons and Sires have continued to support the local arts community, working with tenants in properties they own like Evening Muse refusing to price them out when they could easily sell to developers.

They also support artists who rent studios from them in Optimist Park.

We say all that to say this: They have come back into the spotlight from behind the scenes with the

Best Move: Open Door Studios

Providing a variety of dance classes for all ages and experience levels, Open Door Studios has been a consistent Plaza Midwood mainstay for many years — a space for dancers to train while making and sharing small-scale work.

Jaqueline White, who founded the studio to counter the dearth of professional dance training for adults in Charlotte, saw her business blossom into an oasis for local performers while building up a roster of exceptional teachers and classes.

Then, in the midst of COVID lockdowns, developers pushed Open Door out of the space they’d called home for a decade.

Open Door rebounded, and in 2020 White relocated to Eastway Crossing shopping center at the

corner of Eastway Drive and Central Avenue. Joining VisArt Video, Tommy’s Pub, the displaced Plaza Midwood Dairy Queen, and many more businesses, Open Door has found the perfect fit in what should be an oxymoron — a cool strip mall.

As developers determine to push the last remaining ounce of individuality out of Open Door’s old neighborhood, an organic and growing community of entrepreneurs and small business owners have nurtured a new space for character, funkiness, cool and affordability.

Best Dance Company: Baran Dance

Best New Music Event: Stargazer Music Fest

In July, Charlotte New Music founder and artistic director Elizabeth Kowalski curated Stargazer Music Fest. One of the most eclectic and inspiring music events of the year, the fest was a close encounter with out-of-this world music, celestial vibes and telescopes.

With a mission to create and promote original music in Charlotte, Kowalski described the fest as “a night of stargazing accompanied by interstellar grooves to amplify the cosmic exploration experience.”

The event coupled innovative music with astronomy using a battery of telescopes for perusing the heavens, provided by the Charlotte Amateur Astronomy Club.

The kickoff event was held at Hodges Family Farm, which practices regenerative agriculture, a discipline designed to reverse the effects of climate change.

Then in November, CNM hosted a second iteration of Stargazer Fest, this time at Greenlife Family Farm and the interstellar bill of hip-hop, electronic, and contemporary classical featured FLLS, Master Kie, Starlitmire, Deku, Half Caste, RoyalCity Life, and Your Neighborhood Orchestra.

Dance isn’t often thought of as the most accessible expression of creativity, and yet it’s the one thing we can all do — some better than others.

Founded by Audrey Ipapo Baran in 2012, Baran Dance collaborates with local musicians and artists through multimedia movement experiences, seamlessly blending bold physicality with thoughtful artistry and performing on stages, in galleries, at bars, and on sidewalks, creating work that is accessible and exciting for wide audiences.

This will be exemplified at their upcoming two x five show, which features “an evening of tiny dances” made up for five duets by 10 dancers for the attention-span-impaired, so if you’re bored with one, have a drink at the bar and wait for the next, then watch Modern Moxie at the afterparty.

Best Music Organization: Baran has also worked in recent years to increase diversity in local dance, encouraging more Pachyderm Music Lab In a video produced by Pachyderm Music Lab, expression and input from voices that often go 13-year-old Logan’s ethereal “February Sun” features ignored in this medium. haunting imagery over pensive, pulsing indie-rock instrumentation: “Gaze through the window as I spill upon the ground/ Fill to the brim, I could sink

Best Band: Jail Socks Best New Band: Ogres arts & Three-piece rock band Jail Socks released their It was in the Cramer Mountain Club on the entertainment CRITICS’ PICKS

until I drown.”

Helping students like Logan find their voice through music is a mission for musician, mother, teacher and TED-talker Krystle Baller, who founded Pachyderm Music Lab (PML) in Indian Trail in 2016 then relaunched in Optimist Park in 2019.

The LGBTQ-friendly school teaches music to students aged 5 through 50s, or at least that’s the range at the moment, but anyone is welcome. Baller and her team operate out of a renovated house on East 22nd Street, teaching students to play instruments, write songs and gain the confidence to access their inner power.

Baller’s own story is an inspiration.

Growing up impoverished and abused in West Virginia, Baller plunged into alcohol and drug abuse before finding encouragement in music from bands like White Zombie, Coal Chamber and, in particular, Primus. In addition to running PML, Baller is the founder and frontwoman of the band Hey RICHARD, which you’ll see deservedly recognized here in Critics’ Picks as well as Readers’ Picks.

first full length album, Coming Down, on Sept. 3 and are currently on a national fall tour. The melodic, emo-tinged punky power trio, comprised of vocalist Aidan Yoh, drummer Colman O’Brien and bassist Jake Thomas, has gone through a nearly four-year growth period that included a line-up change, a record label switch and a musical and artistic rejuvenation.

Yoh formed the first version of Jail Socks as a two-piece along with a drummer. While playing

continues to employ the Queen City as his muse.

“This area is so rich with inspiration, you know,” Childers says. “I take from the city of Charlotte and South Fork Catawba River that local musician and being around here and what I see is what I write restaurateur Scott Blackwood opened Khakis and brought on his brother Justin Aswell and longtime about, and it syncs up with the music somehow.” friend Robert Childers to work with him. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the trio found themselves Best Rapper: Jay Pluss in what they now call a “bizarre” situation, dealing Jay Pluss, whose real name is Joshua Hosch, with the “Gaston County rich” who weren’t interested attended J.M. Alexander Middle School from 2005 in taking orders from any government or health to 2008. It was there that he met Jah-Monte Ogbon, official. Despite the annoyance of dealing with the known by most as simply Jah-Monte, the renowned “Gaston County rich,” the group of longtime friends rapper formerly known as King Callis. Pluss also had a classmate in Ismael Abdallah, who would go on to become Charlotte rapper/producer Brio, and his friend Darien would grow up to be local video director Dark Master.

Pluss has stayed close with all of these local talents, who have gone on to consistently make some of the best work Charlotte’s seen in recent years, and it’s clearly inspired him to stay on top of his game. In October, he released Ashigaru (Dungeons of Rap), a 12-track collaborative project with producer TenTen that highlighted Pluss’ growth since the 2019 release of his debut More of Everything.

Pluss is a collaborator at heart, and maybe that’s where his strength lies, as each new joint project leaves the listener wanting more … of everything.

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Best Studio: Grindhaus Studios

In January, soulful R&B artist, songwriter and educator Jason Jet added a new occupation to his prodigious list of accomplishments: studio owner.

Jet’s facility, GrindHaus Studios, is a creative oasis for all, a concept inspired by the co-working spaces that have shot up around Charlotte.

“Grind together. Grind better,” reads the motto on the studio’s website. It’s an encapsulation of Jet’s concept of GrindHaus as a reasonably priced plugand-play facility for musicians.

In addition to catering to artists’ recording needs, the multi-purpose facility also hosts events like production classes and songwriting workshops.

Eventually, Jet wants the GrindHaus concept to grow into a “YMCA for creatives,” housing 15 to 20 workspaces in facilities spread across the country.

By creating a local space where artists feel comfortable enough to create, Jet feels he’s addressing flawed perspectives and stigmas about the music industry — and Black artists.

Best Emerging Rapper: Farrahgamo

JASON JET IN HIS GRINDHAUS STUDIOS. PHOTO BY GRANT BALDWIN

in that configuration, Yoh crossed paths with a local band called Placeholder and was particularly impressed with the band’s drummer, O’Brien, and its bassist, Thomas, both of whom left the band to join Jail Socks.

In the band’s early days, Yoh was the primary songwriter, creating tunes fueled by the compressed, foregrounded nostalgia people often feel as they move out of their teens and into their 20s, a time when experiences are deeply felt and long remembered.

Today, Yoh shares lyric-writing chores with bassist Thomas, and while the band’s lyrics keep touch with its emo past, Jail Socks has transformed into a forward-looking unit with polished, yet still rocking, tunes.

couldn’t be happier with what came of it: Ogres, their genre-bending punk, hip-hop, Southern rock experiment.

“We’re serving [club members], and in our leisure time writing these subversive songs that are coming out of our experiences with people who think we’re their fucking servant,” Childers told Queen City Nerve in September. “That’s all in there, and the project probably would not have happened had it not been for that.”

The group brought on guitarist Cody Bennett of the once-popular Charlotte Southern rock band Swamp da Wamp, and have been steadily releasing tracks since the fall. As Ogres, the band members have put together all their diverse areas of expertise to craft a mashup of genres that changes as the tracks do, while persistent songwriter Childers

Having moved to Charlotte from Raleigh in 2018, Quiyana Marti, aka Farrahgamo, was living with local producer and InSynction Music founder Chris “CJ” Jeffreys Jr. when the COVID shutdowns hit. Unable to go to her job as a dancer, she decided she wanted to make beats. Producing didn’t do it for her, and eventually, through a mix of ennui and alcohol, she tried her hand at rapping.

“Shit just came out of boredom,” she recalls. “I was just like, ‘Fuck it. I don’t like producing,’ and I was sitting in the studio with CJ and he had some beat playing, and I was drunk off my ass, and I just went in the booth, and I said, ‘How I do this? I’m just ‘bout to goddam do something.’ And then that’s how it happened.”

What came out was a flow all her own — husky but feminine, New York but Southern — that she’s continued to build on since April, recording tracks, shooting videos and doing small performances when she can, honing her skills until she was ready

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to drop Brimcess, a nine-track album that set the stage for what looks to be a promising if unexpected career. We offer the same advice she and her team offer on social media regularly: Stream Farrahgamo today.

Best Producer: Simon SMTHNG

Local producer simon SMTHNG started the year out hot with an eight-track solo tape, on which he hit the mic, dropping bars on tracks like “condos on freedom,” a song title that’s only beat out by “vegan mac and cheese is the devil.” But that wasn’t all he had up his sleeve in the spring, as he provided the backbone for five tracks on the inimitable collaborative project The Hovis House. His “Juke Edit” of Cyanca’s “PB&J” shows his range, creating the perfect dreamscape for Charlotte’s Queen of Neo Soul.

He kept it real. Even on the radio. Even out in the streets where he was a local celebrity with influence and shine. Boney B was always ready with a fist pound, a smile, or an ear to check a hot 16. He put out mixes and compilations that highlighted up-and-coming Charlotte artists on a regular basis.

He collaborated with local rappers with the same energy in which he collaborated with Ludacris — maybe more.

That’s because he was serious about hip-hop culture and how it was portrayed in his city. His mix mastery helped shape Charlotte’s sound and scene for the better part of two decades, and his legacy is undeniable.

There will never be another.

his repetition of the line “I care about you” takes on the power of an incantation. Yet, it is the uplifting “Good Day” that serves as the album’s calling card.

Featuring gospel artists Shay and Isaiah Templeton, the tune rides soaring swarming vocals and rolling gospel organ until a splash of tumbling keyboards segue to Cox’s upbeat exhortation: “Wake up now / Put the cold water in your face / Gotta put the naysayers in their place/ I can feel it in the air…”

Best Breakthrough Artist: Ray Singleton

On the July 13 episode of America’s Got Talent, 31-year-old Ray Singleton, Charlotte singer and minister of music at First Calvary Baptist Church in Rock Hill, SC, sat down at his keyboard and eyed

Best Emerging Producer: CJ Chat

As The Geek Squad on Soundcloud, the name for his production duo with fellow producer Red Ark, CJ Chat is constantly dropping fire instrumentals and remixes, but it’s on his collaborations with local artists like Cuzo Key, Autumn Rainwater and FLLS that his strengths truly shine through, providing beautiful boombap backgrounds to bolster some of our city’s best talents. Listen to Jah-Monte Ogbon’s “Bringing the City Out” on The Hovis House and try not to vibe. We dare you.

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Best DJ: DJ Boney B

The Charlotte hip-hop community was stunned to learn the day before Thanksgiving that it had lost a legend. For more than 20 years, Brent “Boney B” May was a DJ mainstay at clubs and events and on the airwaves. No other DJ can boast his resume.

He headlined CIAA alongside Doug E. Fresh and Biz Markie. He may have single-handedly coined the nickname “Gashouse” for Gastonia, and opened a national tour for Limp Bizkit where he was introduced by fellow Gastonian Fred Durst as “a lifelong homie.” His Midday Lunch Mix on Power 98, hosted by Artie the One-Woman Party, consistently topped ratings in the early 2000s and defied all expectations of corniness in an era of rap defined by shiny suits and all things jiggy.

RAY SINGLETON

Best R&B/Soul Artist: Greg Cox

At 19, Greg Cox thought he lost his big break by way of playing in executive producer Sean “Diddy” Combs’ band when he was cut from the 2009 MTV reality show Making His Band.

Now a Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and producer at age 31, Cox embraces that setback, reasoning that it set him on the path that brought him to where he is today. Milestone, Cox’s latest full-length album, dropped on July 2.

The album kicks off with the slice of progressive soul “Freedom,” where layered currents of voices, keyboards and beats float as free as birds wheeling overhead. On the yearning heartache ballad “Care,” Cox’s fine-grained vocals implore a lover to stay as

In July, Singleton came back on the show.

Despite garnering a strong following, he did not make it into the Top 36 on AGT, and was cut from the competition. No matter, Singleton dropped his song “Forever” on Sept. 1 and has a bright future.

He’s also claimed the richest prize of all: His wife has been declared cancer-free.

Best Performer: Natalie Carr

During an especially hectic couple of days in May, Natalie Carr nearly drowned on one afternoon, then lived to pull herself from a burning car on the next.

She had a blast. The two near-deadly doppelganger encounters were scenes in the elaborate music video for the singer-songwriter’s sixth single, “Fate,” released in July.

Spun off by the lyric, “Fate hasn’t killed me yet / I’m still holding my breath,” the R&B-tinged groove sets Carr apart from the pack of young pop singers by her thoughtful — and thoughtprovoking — lyrics delivered with just the right amount of gravel in her lush and soothing vocals.

You don’t have to be an industry insider to see that Carr is poised to break out, and it’s not just due to her engrossing video performances, but her onstage performances as well.

Carr was spellbinding in her virtual performance for January’s Tribute to Benefit Roof Above, hosted on Facebook by Neighborhood Theatre, but her starpower was finally able to truly shine through in June when she headlined an in-person show at Neighborhood, where she showed off her charismatic stage presence and put the crowd’s energy to good use. We see her engaging with even bigger crowds in the not-sodistant future.

PHOTO COURTESY OF NBC

the four judges facing him — Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel and Sofia Vergara. Singleton’s wife Roslyn, a brain cancer survivor, was watching from the wings. “Simon said, ‘Are you ready, Ray?’” Singleton remembers.

“I heard myself say, ‘I am prepared.’” He looked to his wife, saw that tears were already streaming down her face, and began to play and sing in a lilting soulful croon. “It was the most beautiful moment ever,” Singleton recalls.

The moment had its beginnings in an online video Singleton shot of himself serenading Roslyn with Daniel Caesar’s song “Get You” as she was preparing for surgery to remove a cancerous mass from her brain in January 2020.

Best Singer/Songwriter: Kadey Ballard

With performances at Goodyear Arts, Visulite Theatre and Eastside Local, Kadey Ballard has used this year to fill Charlotte stages with her enchanting “moody love spells.”

In July 2020, Ballard released a new album, 7 of Cups, which fully embraces the trance-like effect of her haunting, breathy vocals. On stage, Ballard’s doe-eyed strumming has an otherworldly effect that draws her audience into a world saturated with mood and memory.

In addition to these live shows, Ballard also shares her ephemeral voice as an actor in performance art pieces by XOXO, a local theater company run by her husband, Matt Cosper. The pair seem to find their creative inspiration in all

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things witchy and dream-like, inviting audiences into strangely curated experiences that escape an easy description or narrative. This year, Ballard has proved that Charlotte audiences are ready to embrace strange and lovely incantations when they are presented in the right package.

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Best Metal: Blackwater Drowning

Viky, encapsulates the Leone brothers’ chiaroscuro approach to rock — a clash between light and dark, cacophony and compassion, brutality and beauty. It’s an intense statement, coming from a power trio with perhaps the most un-rock name you’ve ever heard: Wilma. The band picked it because they wanted a feminine band name to confound expectations. Confound the band does, with acoustic sets and songs like the grinding yet swinging “Just Like That” and “Pathomancer,” a song about being manipulated.

Best Experimental: Space Ballet

In Space Ballet’s cosmic torch song “Out of the Blue,” vocalist Kim Irene Milan projects her feathered alto beyond the stars — literally. The video accompanying the psychedelic trip-hop duo’s song features Milan and drummer/keyboardist Jedd Lygre superimposed over quasars and spiraling galaxies. As the duo jams amid the cosmos, it seems like the coolest band at the end of the universe.

Founded in February 2020, Space Ballet crafts music that shifts from the shuffling trip-hop of “Out of the Blue” to the pulsing electronica of “Both of Us,” but Milan’s free-falling, hypnotic vocals remain Best Country/Folk/Americana: at the heart of each song. She can sound hopeful, Elonzo Wesley Performing under a moniker that honors his mystical, and forlorn all in the same breath: “You’ve

Blackwater Drowning burst upon the city’s metal scene in 2015 with their debut EP Delusionary. Amid Chris Peavy’s machine-gun drumming, spiraling guitar arpeggios by guitarists Jeremy Bennett and Ron Dalton Jr. and Aria Nova’s relentless double bass, Morgan Riley’s sustained, siren’s-call vocals duel with her throaty growls. But the band’s adept fealty to metal standards is punctuated with sonic experiments like the hardcore-punk chorus of “Liar Inside” and the electronic progressive-rock synths that introduce “Making Glass.”

Critics lauded the EP’s release as a breath of fresh air that helped revitalize Queen City metal.

The band followed through on that promise with their eclectic 2019 album Ruthless, and accompanying single “Saint,” where grinding chords and tremolo guitars seesaw like current crackling up a Jacob’s ladder as Riley growls, gasps and hisses like H.P. Lovecraft’s demonic deep ones.

In 2020, the inventive group joined forces with Ass Clown Brewing in Cornelius to conjure up the custom-crafted, limited-run brew “Blackwater Clowning” to support live music venues in the Charlotte area. One year later, they’re bringing their durable yet flexible metal to The Milestone WILMA on Dec. 11. father’s name, Jeremy Davis rose from the ashes of his alt-rock band Elonzo Wesley to become solo Best Hard Rock: Wilma In Wilma’s video for “Soap Head,” drummer Americana and folk artist Elonzo Wesley. He has DJ Buchanan’s hi-hat hisses and Viky Leone’s bass since branched out, however, and now leads a string bubbles like a witch’s cauldron before brother band also under the Elonzo Wesley imprimatur.

Matthew Leone’s whiplash guitar riff swoops and Davis draws much of his subject matter — and his distinctive point of view — from his childhood, circles.

As the hard-rock trio ratchets-up the tension, growing up as a farmer’s son amid the woods Viky’s jittery line-drawn animation shudders across and fields of South Carolina’s Lowcountry. An the screen depicting a horrified finger-pointing authenticity drawn from a closeness to the land and woman, a huddled figure spiraling in the void and the wheel of the seasons informs his lyrics, delivered a cloudburst of accusing eyes. As Matthew’s arching with soulful vocals that entwine with a folk rock vocals ascend, lyrics appear onscreen: “The closet’s backbeat and soaring Appalachian strings. Davis has unlocked ‘cause it’s skeleton-free/And the beast of released two EPs, To Be True and This Ain’t No Country Song, a concert album Live at the Evening Muse, and temptation has choked on the key…”

The song and accompanying video, animated by two full length albums.

in the title of the band’s latest album, Hearts of Gold, which dropped in March. “The band is about taking these bad experiences in your life and trying to see some catharsis, to give yourself closure through art,” singer and chief lyricist Erik Button told Queen City Nerve in March.

The effect is like listening to a close friend tell a riotously funny story about a painful predicament.

You laugh, but you also suspect that the incident was probably a living hell. Case in point: the video for “Bad News,” the second single off Hearts of Gold. As the tune gallops to a raucous crescendo, the band — pianist Luke Gunn, guitarist Tommy McPhail, bassist Dylan Wachman and drummer Arion Chamberlain — are replaced with creepy mannequins, and the chorus delivers the song’s ironic message, “Bad news goes down better with a beer.”

“Drinking songs are a great way to express this general feeling I have [that] even when I’m trying to have a good time, I’m always worrying about something,” Button said.

Best New Sound: Cyanca

PHOTO BY NICK KING

reached the platform of the universe / So why not jump into oblivion?” Milan comes up with Space Ballet’s intense and spiritual lyrics on the spot, freestyling to Lygre’s improvisations. “A lot of the times the words will come out and I won’t know what they mean, until after I go back and tidy things up lyrically,” she offers. In October the duo released an intimate yet universal video for “Time to Spare,” a song they describe as a journey of self-love and cosmic exploration.

Best Pop Punk: Dollar Signs

Dollar Signs trades in rowdy punk-rock tunes with roaring guitars, triumphant horns and rollicking shout-along choruses, all coalescing around a warm and cuddly heart. This last attribute is acknowledged

Charlotte’s queen of neo-soul has had an incredible year. First in April, she starred in Your Neighborhood Orchestra’s longform music visual project. Then, after teasing a new single “Dancing Dirty,” she released a new EP called Fast Times in September. It was her first EP since I’m Staying Home, which came out in 2019.

Fast Times represents a sonic shift for Cyanca: the EP retains the grounded sound she’s perfected over the years while still leaving room for her vocal dynamism. There are layers of inspiration in every song, from classic ’80s dance grooves to gospel to R&B. This woman is dynamic.

Best Breakout Project: Alan Charmer

About a month and a half into the pandemic, Terrence Richard, frontman of the popular Charlotte alt-rock outfit Junior Astronomers, began to branch out, and over the next year went on to develop an entirely new sound with his solo project, performing as Alan Charmer.

The differences between Junior Astronomers and Alan Charmer are day and night. Where the band blows audiences out with their anthems, throwing them into a frenzy on the dance floor or in the pit, Alan Charmer pulsates an emotional energy that draws listeners in for a more minimalistic atmosphere. For him, breaking out into the solo world was about expressing himself more as an individual, wearing his emotions on his sleeve even

Best Vocalist: Maria Howell Best Debut: Jail Socks, ‘Coming Down’ arts & Everybody sounds good in the shower, but to be “Peace of Mind,” the lead single for Jail Socks’ entertainment CRITICS’ PICKS

more so than he already had with Astronomers.

Richard used his time in quarantine to hone his vocals and even learned to play the piano, all while writing a small library of songs that would become the Alan Charmer library.

He has dropped three singles so far: “Squeeze,” “Lost/Control” and “Call U Soon,” and while we’re still waiting on that EP he promised us in the second half of this year, it’s the full-length in 2022 that really has us excited.

a working musician is different. There is the honing of a craft, with all the fine details of diction and theory and timing and leading a band. You need to know your preferred key for every tune, you need to keep the rhythms and the forms, and you need to be able to hold a crowd — whether a couple dozen or a couple thousand.

In other words, most singers just sing; only a few

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Best Comeback: Evergone

“We’ve been threatening to put out an album for a couple years,” Scott Harding told Queen City Nerve over the summer, and now we’ll have to wait just a bit longer.

The lead singer and rhythm guitarist for Evergone discussed the band’s scheduled July release of the much-anticipated album What Went Wrong, which has since been delayed further.

It’s not often that new music from a group of mature rockers inspires such anticipation, but the resumes of Evergone’s members read like a who’s who of Charlotte and regional rock: Harding toured with Circle in the late ’90s, lead guitarist Larry Kohler has been in Mother Fungus and Stunt Shot, Colin Welch-McLoy drummed for Charlotte ska outfit Bums Lie, and bassist Thornton plays with The Menders and Witch Motel.

Despite Evergone’s ephemeral-sounding name, it’s made up of road-hardened veterans, a rock ‘n’ roll band of brothers who craft complex, propulsive, rough-edged music that makes a lasting impression.

What Went Wrong was completed and slated for a late summer release, but now it’s been delayed.

“We had to push our release date back, due to us needing to finish it to our liking,” Harding recently told Queen City Nerve.

The band goes back into the studio in January to re-record their songs, but they’ve been back onstage for a slew of local shows this year, which was enough to quench that thirst.

MARIA HOWELL PHOTO BY APRIL FRIEDLINE

singers are musicians. Maria Howell is a musician.

A Gastonia native, Maria Howell has taken her craft seriously since singing in church and with choirs as a young person. The energy of a congregation calling back to her while she sang a solo in church opened the musical world to her.

She thought she wanted to sing professionally, but traditional music school routes did not present themselves. She pursued a medical degree in college but kept pushing herself musically.

Her former high school choir teacher testified as much a few years ago during one of Howell’s gigs at The Bechtler, where she performs regularly.

“She stood up after I recognized her from the stage,” Howell recalled. “She told the crowd that she remembered me saying, ‘I want to sing every note better than the last note.’ And that’s right. I’m my own challenge. I’m my own standard. And I’m still pushing myself.”

“I’ll just say what everybody’s thinking/This boat is sinking/And we can’t get off.” Hey RICHARD is triumphant yet nuanced debut album Coming Down, the perfect amalgam of political commentary, draws on the soaring guitars, propulsive rhythms unvarnished confessional and hand-waving, hipand aching vulnerability the band established shaking singalong. on previous releases, ramping up those elements to craft a spacious, anthemic guitar-driven tune Best Album: Autumn Rainwater, with an arrangement that sounds just right while ‘lowkey highkey’ incorporating inventive twists and turns.

Throughout 2020, Autumn Rainwater kept a Jail Socks rips through the rocking, plaintive consistent drizzle of projects coming our way, from three-minute song with nary a the impressive Cloudy and Raincheck EPs to her wasted chord, drumbeat or howl. follow-up “date night” single.

From the mid-tempo straight ahead In 2021 she hit us with the perfect somewhatrocker “Losing Everything” to the kinda-post-COVID anthem with lowkey highkey, a mostly hushed and delicate “Pale 12-track full-length that dropped in July and made Blue Light,” the album plays to the for the perfect cruising music at a time when folks band’s strengths, tightening the weren’t really sure if getting out of their car was sound to accentuate heartfelt lyrics worth it. and catchy tunes.

Threading together consistently hot tracks with For Coming Down, Jail Socks “lowkey highkey radio” snippets, the album was worked with producer Brett Romnes both nostalgic and exactly what we needed in the of Brooklyn-based punk band I Am moment. the Avalanche.

The standout track is “homebody,” on which Working with him proved to be she sings “I think I’m gonna kick it at the crib I don’t a revelation for Jail Socks. Vocalist want to go out tonight, I got shit to do,” perfectly Aidan Yoh says Romnes pushed the capturing the vibes in her desire to stay at home and band to do more than they thought binge watch TV rather than bother with plans. As they could: “It just made us feel like long as you’ve got lowkey highkey playing, there’s no we were capable of more. It was need to go anywhere. inspiring.”

Best EP: Hey RICHARD, self-titled

Fronted by Pachyderm Music Lab’s Krystle Baller, the all-female, queer-friendly band Hey RICHARD is comprised of bassist/vocalist Baller, keyboardist Savanna Baxter, guitarist Sarah Kuhaneck and drummer Laura Staples.

On the band’s self-titled five-song debut EP, the four-piece plays melodic punk-rock songs that are by turns hilarious, blistering and insanely catchy.

Over Kuhaneck’s winding melodic guitar line that recalls the fretwork of Lunachick’s Gina Volpe, leadoff track “Coming Out” plays like a raucous LGBTQ cousin to Bikini Kill’s “Rebel Girl” as it shares Baller’s experience coming out as queer.

Insistent strummed guitars anchor “Pixilated Soapbox,” a take-down of sociopathic demagogues.

The coiling and pensive “Tough” is a vulnerable punk-rock confessional on par with Iggy Pop’s “New Values.”

The collection closes with the galloping rocker “Sinking,” which recasts the grotesque circus of modern elections as a leaky boat taking on water:

Best Concept Album: Lawn Friends, ‘Siesta Sands’

Thunder growls and a zigzag of lightning cracks the sky. Tires spitting gravel, a rain battered MGB pulls into a hotel parking lot. MC, an out-of-work private eye, fishes his last cigarette out of the pack before crumpling it while he eyes Siesta Sands, the seedy resort south of Atlantic City’s bustling boardwalk.

The vacancy sign flashes on. This is the opening scene, detailed in story and song on Siesta Sands, a stunning concept album released on Sept. 24

by Lawn Friends, a nom de plume for Charlotte musicians Colby Dobbs (The Colby Dobbs Band) and Mike Ramsey (The 5 Ensemble).

Collaborating with over 20 local musicians and a handful of national recording artists, Dobbs and Ramsey have fashioned a film noir-styled project with 11 layered, impeccably produced songs that mix Sam Spade with Steely Dan, along with brief betweenthe-tunes scenes reminiscent of old-time radio, and an illustrated booklet containing a libretto that lays out dialog, lyrics and hard-boiled action.

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2021

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elisa sanchez

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The video is a hybrid of performance and animation that lends a surrealist vibe to an introspective track.

After cutting together three high-energy performances of one of the band’s most confessional songs, the band thought they had a pretty good video. Then guitarist Syd Little suggested taking it to the next level with animation. As the band’s performance surges toward an epic conclusion, small bits of illustrated imagery give way to a full transition into a dreamscape.

As Little steps on his guitar pedals in the video, the frame is transformed. Rotoscoped animated versions of the band members power through the tune as the scene blossoms with bold colors. The humorous and hallucinogenic sequence carries through to a shot where drummer Garrett Herzfeld sprouts a flaming skull when viewed through a phone filter. As Mary Grace McKusick’s impassioned singing brings “Outlier” to a rousing close, her head abruptly explodes and her brain pops out.

The event began with a vendor fair composed of community groups and local artisans underscored by the rhythmic stylings of That Guy Smitty before transitioning into a showcase of local musicians later in the evening.

Put together to celebrate Charlotte’s return to live local music, the show highlighted six Charlottebased bands and musicians in hopes of infusing the rapidly developing South End area with some of its old musical flare (we miss you Tremont Music Hall).

Representing a blend of genres, the bands shared new work developed during the height of pandemic quarantine alongside some more familiar melodies from their repertoires — particularly notable were Modern Moxie’s “Big Wave” and The Phantom Friends “Catch the Feeling.”

With each set, the audience and musicians seemed to have an enlivening sense that live local music would soon be able to make a strong postquarantine comeback.

Wave,” Modern Moxie’s first new track since the preCOVID era.

Written by frontwoman Madison Lucas just as the pandemic clamped down on our society, she described “Big Wave” as “an anger-fueled, riproaring ride through all the emotions associated with political, biological and intellectual fear.”

Lucas told Queen City Nerve that — with a mom who’s a nurse, a sister who’s a teacher, a brother who is high-risk, and a dad who works in a factory — she had spent a lot of time at the beginning of the pandemic pacing around her house and yelling at the news.

“It’s hard not to write songs about [COVID-19] when it’s so top of mind,” she said. “I wrote the lyrics and chords at the very beginning of the pandemic when everything was extra fresh and visceral … I tried to channel it into music and this song came out.”

It’s not all doom and gloom, however, as the song goes through troughs and crests both sonically and lyrically, including calls for the youth to rise up in the face of misinformation, miseducation and misrepresentation.

With a smile and a friendly wave, the eccentric 72-year-old man greets his 3 million followers. A longtime staple of the Charlotte music scene, the man they call Funky Geezer became the subject of a newfound fame on an app associated with folks just a fraction of his age: TikTok. In his short videos, he fires off a soulful cover of a classic song, or launches into an original composition.

Born Woody Wilson, he’s been an x-rated theater projectionist, a guitarist in a blues rock band, a Vietnam War-era Army draftee, and more. At age 60, he adopted the moniker Funky Geezer and has played at practically every music venue in town. In his Geezer guise, he scored a spotlight on America’s Got Talent, and went viral with a song that parodied then-governor Pat McCrory and the transphobic bathroom bill.

But nothing has been as big as his TikTok fame.

“I’m doing things old people shouldn’t do; I’m dancing with a walker,” says Williams. “It juxtaposes. It’s a quandary, and I think that’s what catches [people] off guard.” Funky Geezer is the embodiment of embracing your passions, no matter how old you are.

Best Video: Petrov, “Outlier”

Best Local Show: Hindsight 20/20 at

high finance to produce and promote music and music makers. There are a lot of artists counting their lucky stars that she did so. Schroeder launched Dear Soul Music Company, which helps independent artists like herself to self-promote effectively.

Schroeder founded the Unplugged + Live Concert Series, which brings musicians and fans together in stress-free settings that foster listening and communication. It’s in her role as a promoter that Schroeder presents the Unplugged + Live: Virtual Music Festival in partnership with live entertainment promotion company Jazz N Soul Music.

The concert series has featured several shows, including a September lunchtime gig on the lawn of Eastway Regional Recreation Center. The concert featured a live DJ, food trucks, and special performances by Charlotte artists AftanCi and Monalisa Music. An accomplished singer-songwriter herself, Schroeder often hosts and performs in the Best Virtual Concert: Love Thy Unplugged + Live shows. “From Unplugged + Live I hope that people get a chance to unwind, to really Neighbor Fest unplug from the chaos of life,” Schroeder told Queen Justin Fedor was driving past a homeless tent City Nerve. “I want everyone to leave refreshed.” encampment in Charlotte in 2020 when one of his stepchildren sparked his interest in what would become a January musical and philanthropic Best Venue: The Evening Muse Joe Kuhlmann has noticed a curious thing venture, Love Thy Neighbor: A Tribute to Benefit about The Evening Muse, the cozy yet legendary Roof Above. The 7-year-old wanted to know who music club that celebrated 20 years at the corner was doing anything to help the homeless, so he did something. Love Thy Neighbor benefited Roof of East 36th and North Davidson streets in April.

Above, a charitable organization that formed from “When people show up here, the comment that I hear more often than not is, ‘Man, this reminds me

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Best Worth the Wait Album: Lute, ‘Gold Mouf’

Lute takes his time on his projects. After dropping West1996 Pt. 1 in 2012, it was another five years before we got Pt. 2. Ever since, he’s been playing with the fans on Twitter who were constantly begging for a new album, but in October he finally dropped the 13-track full-length Gold Mouf.

Hey, it was only four years so I guess we should be thankful, right? Absolutely right. Gold Mouf shows a ton of growth from Charlotte’s Dreamville rep, with slow beats and insightful lyrics that go deeper than what you’ll find in so many sloppily produced projects these days.

the merger of Urban Ministry Center and Men’s Shelter of Charlotte.

Thematically, the show paid tribute to the artists who passed away in 2020 with pre-recorded compositions from studios spread across the country.

Covering artists such as Van Halen, John Prine, Rush, Billy Joe Shaver, Little Richard, Fountains Of Wayne and more, were musicians such as Adam Lazzara (Taking Back Sunday), guitarist Jeremy Lynn Woodall (Billy Joe Shaver), Tyler Ramsey (Band of Horses), Graham Sharp (Steep Canyon Rangers) and more.

Also on the bill were Charlotte performers Benji Hughes, Petrov, Moa, Swim in the Wild, Time Sawyer, Alright, Ian Pasquini, The Eyebrows, Elonzo Wesley, Wes Hamilton and more. Fedor recorded with his current roots music project Fedor & the Denim Denim, played bass with Chris Shinn (Live) and reteamed with his bandmates in Ancient Cities.

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Best Concert Series: Unplugged + Best Song: Modern Moxie, “Big Live Wave” Best Second Wind: Funky Geezer on Best National Show: Phoebe While she was attending Pfeiffer University, On Oct. 28, Queen City Nerve premiered “Big TikTok Arsena Schroeder stepped away from a career in Bridgers at CMCU Amphitheater

Releasing a video to accompany a song about Common Market South End feeling like a perpetual outsider may seem an Located on the outdoor patio at the new(ish) unusual choice for a popular band like Petrov. But Common Market South End, Hindsight 20/20 was the Charlotte indie rock powerhouse — whose a late-summer evening designed to be part music accolades include Queen City Nerve’s Best in the Nest celebration and part fundraiser for Safe Alliance.

2020 award for best pop-punk band — did just that.

We were first exposed to Phoebe Bridgers in small doses. First, a sad-girl jam called “Motion Sickness.” Then, a collaboration with Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus called boygenius, followed by a duet with Courtney Barnett. But nothing prepared us for Punisher, a record released during the early months of the pandemic, loaded with more lush arrangements and lyrics that cut deeper and truer than ever before.

By the time Bridgers was ready to tour, her star had grown so hot in Charlotte that lines stretched around the corner of the Music Factory further than we’ve ever seen them before. With a pop-up book background and a crowd of extremely emotional fans, Bridgers tore up the CMCU Amphitheater with ballad after ballad. The existential dread of a global pandemic washed away among a vaccinated crowd of people screaming “The end is here!” as if in celebration of the fear that brought us to this moment.

Best Storytelling Event: arts & entertainment Intersections, Stories of Home CRITICS’ PICKS

of home,’” Kuhlmann, who co-owns the club with Don and Laurie Koster, told us in the lead up to the anniversary.

When the little club that could launched an official recognition of its anniversary, the program boasted recorded performances and well wishes from artists around the world, many of whom are Muse alumni, including Jonathan Spottiswoode, Ashlee Joy Hardee, Susto, Jim Avett, George Banda, Sam Tayloe and many more.

Even better, the club reopened for live performances in May, helping the city shake off the chill imposed by COVID. Because of its comforting vibe, exquisite sound and eclectic booking policy, which has added hip-hop, poetry and comedy to its bills in recent years, The Muse has garnered praise across Charlotte, but the highest praise comes from patrons, players and staff who’ve made the Muse part of their lives.

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Best Jam Session: Menastree at the Muse

Menastree founder and leading light Jesse Lamar Williams has jumped in and out of multiple genres, including rock, soul, R&B, jazz, and hip-hop.

But in 2014, after the dissolution of the Lucky Five, a legendary Charlotte quintet Lamar Williams cofounded, he was in a deep funk.

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 masterminded Menastree, a collective that encompasses the emotion of soul, the swing of R&B, the complexity of jazz and the firepower of rock.

Menastree first coalesced when Williams began noting and recruiting musicians he saw playing around town. 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. Starting in 2017, the band has hosted the Menastree Jazz Jam, a residency at The Evening Muse. There is no typical jam for a band that can include vocals, guitar, bass, horns, keys, vocoder, drums, percussion, sax and samples. Both old fans and newcomers to Menastree will experience a pleasant culture shock at a Menastree gig.

something written about yesterday because you’re of living with schizophrenia that demystifies the still going to have to find the tricks of craft to nail disease.” Waters simply calls his book, “A field guide down era, culture, popular culture, those kinds of to recovery.”

Hannah Hasan is a thoughtful and intentional things … So everything is situated in history.” artist who has mastered the craft for storytelling.

Best Use of Technology: Levine Her work is carefully parsed and honest, always Best Nonfiction Book: Jason Waters, underscored by the optimism of potential human Museum of the New South, KnowCLT connection. Hasan’s genuine belief in storytelling ‘Unbalanced: A Life of Schizophrenia The app/exhibit/augmented reality experience as a method for overcoming difference and building and Skateboarding’ KnowCLT is this year’s crowning achievement of the new pathways forward changes the gravitational Fascinated with skateboarding since the age of Levine Museum of the New South. It tells the story center of her performance spaces. This combination 5, Jason Waters hopped on his first board at 10. A few of Brooklyn, a once-thriving Black neighborhood in of craft, dedication, and heart is rare, and Hasan’s years after graduating from Myers Park High School, Charlotte that was destroyed in the 1960s to make persistent work does make tangible change in Waters made a long-planned trip to Philadelphia, a room for what is now I-277.

Charlotte and beyond.

KnowCLT stems from the app-assisted Levine mecca of American skateboarding.

The efficacy of Hasan’s work was on full display Museum exhibit #HomeCLT, created by Dr. MingIt should have been a high point in Waters’ life, in the first in-person edition of Stories of Home, but he was harboring a secret that was beginning to Chun Lee of UNC Charlotte to connect users with the held in June at Spirit Square. This history of Charlotte neighborhoods like event, part of Hasan’s Intersections Hidden Valley, Eastland and Dilworth. program, paired young people with The success of that exhibit eventually leaders in the Charlotte community led to another in 2019, called Brooklyn: with the goal of finding unexpected A City Within a City. commonalities and lessons. Hasan Museum staff members Willie led participants through storyGriffin and Eric Scott wanted to make sharing workshops, supporting it accessible for everyone, so after each person in authentically telling securing a partnership with Michael their own in an effort to connect Zytkow of Potions & Pixels, KnowCLT with others. was born. The admission-free, What resulted was a lovely smartphone-powered experience interplay of joy, heartbreak, and brings Charlotte residents closer to humor as each participant’s stories their history than ever before. folded into one another. By the end of the night, audiences were Best Theatre Series: Actor’s left with a narrative mosaic of our Theatre of Charlotte, Rock community and much hope for the the Barn young people who are our future.

Over the years, Actor’s Theatre Charlotte has faced more than their Best Fiction Book: Wiley share of space-related woes; however, WILEY CASH Cash, ‘When Ghosts Go ATC was able to put these trying PHOTO BY RYAN PITKIN Home’ experiences to good use as they Renowned NC author Wiley Cash’s latest release, have adapted effectively to new, socially distanced drastically alter his life. Soon after turning 19, Waters which takes place in the southeastern Brunswick theater spaces. After a short hiatus and several fully started hearing voices and found it difficult to sleep.

County towns of Oak Island and Southport, is the virtual experiences, ATC shifted the start of their He became delusional and paranoid, convinced that Gastonia native’s first mystery novel, and it reads as new season to the Barn at MoRa. friends, family and strangers were out to get him. such — meaning you might not put it down upon With a well-selected lineup of crowd-pleasing, After being diagnosed with schizophrenia, Waters your first time picking it up. energetic rock musicals, ATC was able to offer a safe refused to believe the doctors, convinced they had The book still sticks to certain themes that space for cautious but enthusiastic audiences to made a mistake. have popped up in his previous novels such as experience their first taste of live theatre in nearly By age 45, Waters had been in recovery for more development and displacement, fatherhood and a year. Though ATC’s enthusiasm was tempered by than 20 years. He’d accepted his condition, and family. It also takes place in the 1980s, the most several setbacks — they had to cancel a portion of even self-published a book about it. Unbalanced: A contemporary book he’s written yet. the run of Rock of Ages as well as the entirety of Head Life of Schizophrenia and Skateboarding debuted in His past books could be considered historical Over Heels — the company was able to face these February on Amazon. fiction, but as he explained to Queen City Nerve in new challenges with honesty and clarity. In the end, “It’s a book about dreams deferred and hard September, so should almost all novels.

ATC’s creativity and persistence was rewarded with truths,” writes local author Jeff Jackson (Destroy “I think of all fiction as historical, even a successful run of The Rocky Horror Show in the fall.

All Monsters), “a candid and clear-eyed account

arts & entertainment CRITICS’ PICKS

Best Rise From the Ashes: Theatre Charlotte

Speaking of space-related woes, even as almost everyone in the performing arts field suffered horribly in 2020, long-standing Theatre Charlotte suffered a devastating blow when their Queens Road Theater endured massive damage from a fire at the end of December. After nearly a year of COVID-related show closures and session shifting, Chris Timmons, the newly appointed acting executive director had to contend with this unimaginable new hurdle. After the initial shock of the fire wore off, Theatre Charlotte supporters of all kinds stepped in to offer resources, clean the space, and invest in the company’s future.

Choosing to embrace the challenges of their circumstances, Theatre Charlotte rebranded their 94th Season as a “Road Trip’’ and took community theatre directly into the community, stopping for shows at places like the Palmer Building, Central Piedmont Community College, Warehouse 242, and The Mint Museum. The company even created Highway 94 T-shirts to commemorate this whirlwind experience!

Despite their significant challenges, Theatre Charlotte was able to effectively reroute their season because, as they say, “No fire can stop the arts.”

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Best Student Production: Migrant X, UNC Charlotte

Playwright Georgina Escobar and UNC Charlotte theatre professor CarlosAlexis Cruz wove magical realism and movement-driven storytelling into what became the first Latinx play at UNC Charlotte. The production takes inspiration from the courageous activism of Manolo Betancur, a baker and immigrant rights advocate living in Charlotte, and actually played himself in this student-led project.

Migrant X dove into the unknown and the interconnected: what it means to migrate and what it means to be a migrant. As Escobar told Queen City Nerve before the play’s run in September, “[Migrant X] is less the story about a journey, and more the story about algebraic components; how do you solve for X? What makes us this? What does this journey mean?”

shows and spaces reopen, the team at Petra’s appears to have doubled down on curating the space, transforming the walls from a compulsory display to a true, albeit tiny, gallerystyle experience.

The space reopened alongside Petra’s in August with an aptly named installation called “Now Times: A Welcome Back Gallery Show,” before moving through a monthly cycle of curated art selections including “Priority Main: A Sticker Art Show,” “Spiritual Blast,” and “By Their Touch.” The shows have featured a combination of old and new artists, and stayed true to a gritty, unpretentious aesthetic. Each show is complete with a gallery opening scheduled on the first Friday of the month, which are all accompanied by local music favorites. Next time you’re at Petra’s, give yourself an extra 15 minutes after your bathroom break to soak in the art.

Best Art Space Transformation: Arts Factory

If you are an avid attendee of Charlotte theatre performances, you may remember the Arts Factory space at Johnson C. Smith University as one of the homes of On Q Productions, which produced Funny House of A Negro and The Dutchemen in the space alongside shows by JCSU’s Theatre program.

As companies and audiences return to live theatre, this performance space has emerged under the name Wonderland West End Studios @ Arts Factory.

Despite the building’s history in Charlotte’s theatre community, Wonderland West End Studios appears to have become an unofficial “new” home for performances displaced by the destruction of the Duke Energy Theater at Spirit Square. Local companies Three Bone Theatre and Charlotte’s Off-Broadway, as well as storytelling artist Hannah Hassan have recently produced their shows in the space.

While this uptick in traffic marks Wonderland West End Studios as a viable and important space for the ongoing work of community arts organizations, the space’s history serves as a signal to proceed with caution to ensure accessibility and support for the Black organizations that have long utilized the space.

Best Investment in Emerging Artists: Queen City New Play Initiative

Stacey Rose has returned home and Charlotte creatives couldn’t be more thrilled. Her newest project, the Queen City New Play Initiative (QCNPI), Easily missed if you are just popping in for a is designed to develop and amplify the voices of show, Petra’s art gallery has always been there in emerging Charlotte playwrights. Rose, whose the small room just before the bathrooms. As live

Best Unexpected Gallery: Petra’s Art Lounge

CARLOS ALEXISCRUZ LEADS A REHEARSAL OF ‘MIGRANT X’ PHOTO BY GRANT BALDWIN

playwriting experience includes 2018 Sundance Theatre Lab Fellow, 2019-20 McNight Fellow, and 2020-22 Playwrights’ Center Core Writer, is well qualified to run this local incubator.

QCNPI’s kick-off project, a series of theatre artist talks in which local artists were paired with national creatives for a discussion of their work and experiences, set the tone for the initiative’s lofty mission to bring Charlotte into the national artistic conversation. These talks included names like Robin Tynes-Miller, LeSea Stukes, and CarlosAlexis Cruz at the local level and Stephanie Ybarra, Jeremy O’brien, and Daaimah Mubashshir as national interlocutors.

These conversations effectively built a foundation

of community and shared vision for QCNPI as the organization has begun to take on larger projects, including their current mini-play series Remember When?, which will produce shows about specific areas throughout Charlotte.

QCNPI is an exciting development for Charlotte Arts, providing a much-needed platform for long underrepresented local talent to share new work on a national stage. With Rose’s help, Charlotte might build a reputation for something more than banks, beer and banality.

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arts & entertainment

BEST COMEDIAN Winner: Jason Allen King Runner Up: Kevin Delgado

BEST OPEN MIC NIGHT Winner: Find Your Muse at The Evening Muse Runner Up: Tommy’s Pub Thursdays w/ Johnny Starr

BEST R&B SINGER Winner: Arsena Schroeder Runner Up: Cyanca

VISUAL ARTS

BEST DRAG PERFORMER Winner: Onya Nerves

BEST PLACE TO HEAR COUNTRY MUSIC Winner: Thirsty Beaver Saloon Runner Up: Coyote Joe’s

BEST RAPPER Winner: Elevator Jay Runner Up: Lil Skritt

BEST PLACE TO HEAR JAZZ MUSIC Winner: Petra’s Runner Up: Middle C Jazz

BEST SINGER/SONGWRITER Winner: Lisa DeNovo Runner Up: Dylan Gilbert

BEST RECORDING STUDIO Winner: Sioux Sioux Studio Runner Up: Grindhaus Studios

BEST SOLO PERFORMER Winner: Lisa DeNovo Runner Up: Natalie Carr

READERS’ PICKS

BEST ART GALLERY Winner: Goodyear Arts Runner Up: The Artisan’s Palate BEST DISPLAY OF PUBLIC ART Winner: Camp North End Murals Runner Up: ArtPop Street Gallery

BEST PERFORMING ARTIST(S) Winner: Flamingo Revue Runner Up: Satarah

BEST EXHIBIT Winner: Blumenthal Arts - Immersive Van Gogh Runner Up: Mint Museum Randolph - It Takes A Village

BEST PLACE TO TAKE IN SPOKEN-WORD POETRY Winner: The Evening Muse Runner Up: Petra’s

BEST STREET ARTIST Winner: Bree Stallings Runner Up: Matt Hooker

BEST PLACE TO SEE COMEDY Winner: Comedy Zone Runner Up: The Evening Muse

BEST MOVIE THEATER Winner: VisArt Video Screening Room Runner Up: Cinemark Movie Bistro (Monroe Road)

BEST THEATRE COMPANY Winner: Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte Runner Up: Theatre Charlotte

BEST MUSEUM Winner: Mint Museum - Uptown Runner Up: Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts + Culture

BEST THEATRE SHOW Winner: Blumenthal Arts Broadway Lights, Wicked Runner Up: Free Reign Theatre Company, [they fight] An Immersive Dinner Theatre Experience

BEST PHOTOGRAPHER Winner: Brian BT Twitty Runner Up: Joseph Prater

MUSIC BY VENUE

BEST EXPERIMENTAL MUSICIAN/BAND Winner: The Flight Risks Runner Up: Hey RICHARD

BEST LOCAL RECORD LABEL Winner: Pachyderm Music Lab Runner Up: Self Aware Records

BEST INDIE ROCK BAND Winner: Modern Moxie Runner Up: The Fill Ins

BEST LOCAL SHOW (PAST 12 MONTHS) Winner: The Flight Risks at Tommy’s Pub Runner Up: Dylan Gilbert at Goodyear Arts

BEST LIVE PERFORMER(S) Winner: Natalie Carr Runner Up: Lisa DeNovo

BEST TATTOO ARTIST Winner: Elisa Sanchez Runner Up: Hayley Moran BEST VISUAL ARTIST Winner: Lo’Vonia Parks Runner Up: Katrina “Fiberess” Sánchez Standfield

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BEST IMPROV TROUPE Winner: Now Are the Foxes Runner Up: Therapy Adjacent

MUSIC BY ARTIST BEST BLUES/JAZZ/SOUL BAND Winner: Harvey Cummings Project Runner Up: Chad Andrews Harris and the Blue Herons BEST COUNTRY/FOLK BAND Winner: Sinners & Saints Runner Up: Amigo BEST DJ Winner: That Guy Smitty Runner Up: DJ Fannie Mae

BEST NATIONAL CONCERT (PAST 12 MONTHS) BEST LOCAL ALBUM Winner: Phoebe Bridgers at CMCU Amphitheater Winner: Hey RICHARD, self-titled Runner Up: My Morning Jacket at CMCU Amphitheater Runner Up: Pluto Gang, Live From the Unknown

BEST ACTOR Winner: Bryan Pierce Runner Up: Jermaine Gamble

BEST IN-STATE MUSIC FESTIVAL Winner: MerleFest Runner Up: Hopscotch Music Festival

BEST NEW BAND Winner: Hey RICHARD Runner Up: Stop Talking!

BEST ACTRESS Winner: Rasheeda Moore Runner Up: Becca Worthington

BEST MUSIC SCHOOL/LESSONS Winner: School of Rock Charlotte Runner Up: Pachyderm Music Lab

BEST POTENTIAL BREAKOUT ARTIST Winner: Hey RICHARD Runner Up: Natalie Carr

BEST MUSIC VENUE Winner: Neighborhood Theatre Runner Up: The Evening Muse

BEST PRODUCER Winner: Stephen Warwick Runner Up: Dark Adaptation

BEST BALLET DANCER Winner: Zoë Ross Parker Runner Up: Sarah Hayes Harkins

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NIGHTLIFE CRITICS’ PICKS: NIGHTLIFE

the eye rolling. It embraces the experimental nature of Charlotte dining in a way it totally doesn’t have to, and more often than not it pulls it off. It’s the weirdest, coolest, nicest and most fun nightlife spot opened in Charlotte this year.

If there’s one thing we’ve done our research on, it’s where to have a good time in this town. We’re more than happy to share what we’ve found.

Best New Bar: The Vintage Whiskey & Cigar Bar

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Best New Nightlife Spot: Trolley Barn Fermentory

What’s the most cliche thing that could open in South End? A brewery? A food hall? A cocktail bar?

Trolley Barn Fermentory challenges your patience by being all three things at once. But aren’t hybrids sort of what Charlotte’s food scene loves?

We all love corn dog shrimp-and-crab hushpuppies after all. And like crab puppies, Trolley Barn has created something warm yet quirky, new yet familiar, and so easy to both love and hate. You can have the trash-healthy greens at Greenworks or a burger loaded with mac and cheese, and wash it down with a cocktail or a craft beer.

Trolley Barn is proof that the cream truly rises to the top, and eye-catching food always overcomes

more than 120 varieties of whiskey and includes a full espresso bar in collaboration with westCharlotte roaster Enderly Coffee. Cocktails at The Vintage range from $13 to $18 and are crafted with house-made teas and syrups as well as ingredients from the kitchen.

The Vintage is located in South End and has an inviting yet bougie neighborhood feel when you walk in for the first time. The 1,000-squarefoot stone patio leads to a set of garage doors.

The indoor space isn’t sprawling by any means, with a small front-bar area off to the right and a custombuilt walk-in cigar humidor off to the left. But once you sit down the feel of the space lets the smallness of it sink away.

The bar program offers THE VINTAGE WHISKEY & CIGAR BAR

The inside of the space is surprisingly not smoky due to their custom-engineered HVAC system.

It is a fully automated and integrated system using commercial-grade products from Trane and Greenheck. It has been specifically engineered for the abatement of smoke and particulates and can exchange air in the room up to 60 times per hour, just in time for a new worldwide appreciation for fresh air inspired by the pandemic.

Best Place To Get Dressed Up For: The Crunkleton

PHOTO BY KENTY CHUNG

Arriving in Charlotte from Chapel Hill to rave reviews in 2019, Charlotte folks haven’t dropped this spot for the newest shiny thing.

It remains the perfect space to bring your friends when you want to celebrate a successful

nightlife CRITICS’ PICKS

project or celebrate a birthday. It’s also the spot for the most serious whiskey drinkers, as owner Gary Crunkleton takes his spirits seriously, even helping create House Bill 909, aptly nicknamed “The Crunkleton Bill,” which changed North Carolina ABC laws by allowing the regulated sale of antique liquor.

Even in this shortage situation, The Crunkleton is sure to have some liquor you won’t find anywhere else.

Best Hidden Gem: BackStage Lounge at Southbound

staples, NoDa Co. is the G.O.A.T. When the word “community” comes to mind, this spot is the pinnacle of leading by example. From organizing free community dinners to providing a multifaceted space for gathering, NoDa Co. is owned by members of the community and created for the unequivocally genuine “ALL” that is the larger Charlotte community.

Complete with snacks, food trucks, bottled wine, beer, spirit-free options, games, spiked creations, and all the patio nooks and crannies (we’re talking Butterfly Highway by summer and personal fireplaces by winter), you’ll have everything your heart could desire. The only hang-up? If you think you’re going to ONLY want to day drink there, think again. Chances are, once you cozy up to the patio

You may have been to SouthBound, the SoCal street food taqueria on South Boulevard, but did you know there’s a hidden speakeasy around the back?

BackStage Lounge is described as a modern take on the traditional neighborhood speakeasy, with an intimate romantically elevated vibe.

On the menu are food and drinks named after 1970’s rock ’n’ roll bands and songs.

To get to BackStage Lounge you have to enter and go down the hall of Modern Classics Grooming Lounge, then there’s a mural-lined hallway leading to a secret phone booth. Pick it up, say the password of the week posted on social media, and only then you can walk inside.

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Best Regular Party: Hazy Sundays at Petra’s

playing minigolf at Stroke before ending the night with drinks under green velvet at Single Barrel Room.

The dives are a great option as well. From Common Market to the Thirsty Beaver, down to Midwood Country Club and Skylark Social Club, there is an option for everyone at any time. Thomas Street Tavern is a local favorite and Hattie’s Tap & Tavern is a two-minute drive up the street. Add in Workman’s Friend for the Irish pub night or Moo & Brew for a craft draft night.

For live music you can bounce around between Petra’s or Thomas Street Tavern or Snug Harbor or Skylark Social Club or *gasp* a brewery. The point is, Plaza Midwood has it all and there isn’t a better

Mars, Fish Tales, and our favorite Jurassic Park.

You can grab a cheap beer, convert that $10 bill you found in your winter jacket into quarters, and enjoy a night surrounded by relaxed pinball fans.

It’s nothing like South End’s other game bar, which tends to either feel like a nightclub or a church Bible camp on any given night. Paranoia Pinball is more grown and sexy. Or, shall we say, grown and gamey.

Best Bowling Alley: AMF University Lanes

Bowling alleys nowadays look to draw in customers with fancy neon lights and DJs and all that other bullshit. AMF lanes, for now, stays true to the authenticity of the cigarette-smokefilled lanes of decades past leaving that lingering nostalgia. A pitcher of Miller Lite runs cheap and foamy, with liquor choices the most basic and overpoured.

These are the places with the snack bars serving burnt-cheese pizza and hand pump-dispensed cheese substitutes on off-brand Tostitos. Heaven. AMF University Lanes is a great spot for that low-key date night you’ve been looking for, or the next alley to sign your league team onto — bowling shirts not included.

Best Place to Spend a Sober Night: Elsewhere

ROOM & BOARD

There is no better cure for your Sunday Scaries than the highly curated sounds of Probably Will and Ray Krol, taking over the back deck at Petra’s every Sunday evening and making you forget about the nightmare that will be Monday morning. A brand new outdoor stage has only made things more hype.

Walking out of Calle Sol after having just finished a chill Sunday evening meal with the family? Hear that acid rock drop and let yourself be pulled into Petra’s.

heaters with a seasonal spiked hot chocolate, you won’t want to leave and the day will quickly turn into night.

Best Place to Bar Hop: Plaza Midwood

The options to drink are plentiful in Plaza Midwood and Commonwealth, and the proper bar crawl can fit into any themed night you are looking to have in the neighborhood. Dive bars, cocktail bars, Best Place to Day Drink: NoDa music venues and the like are scattered throughout the neighborhood.

Company Store For a cocktail night you can travel from Soul Name a better all-around day-drinking or hangout spot in NoDa besides NoDa Company Store Gastrolounge to KiKi and Tattoo just downstairs. … we’ll wait. When it comes to neighborhood Then cross the intersection and sip cocktails while

The world is slowly becoming a friendlier place for non-drinkers. According to Nielsen, in 2019, nearly two-thirds of millennials were reducing their alcohol consumption, and that trend is only continuing to grow.

PHOTO BY GRANT BALDWIN The Charlotte hospitality industry is starting to do more to accommodate non-drinkers as well. Just a few years ago, the fanciest non-alcoholic place to bar hop. drink you could typically find at a restaurant here was a Shirley Temple or a seltzer (back in the day Best For Fun and Games: Paranoia before spiked seltzer was a thing) or a bevy of mixed juices topped with soda water.

Pinball Now there are places like Elsewhere, a cocktail Charlotte can’t seem to maintain a barcade. bar with an impressive non-alcoholic menu that Such a simple, fun concept seems like it should be goes beyond just a soda. They serve a Moscow an easy win in a city full of young people looking Midnight with mint, lime, cane simple and fever tree for something to do. However, Blind Pig is really the smoked ginger beer, and even have a Ritual zeroonly game bar that seems to have found a consistent proof tequila alternative for use in other cocktails. niche. We’re hoping Paranoia Pinball is next.

Paranoia used to be Palmer Street Arcade, but the new iteration focuses on just pinball and ditches Best Patio: Room and Board Room and Board has suffered from a bit of an the food and cocktails (although a cocktail menu is identity crisis — or at the very least an identity possibly in the works). Paranoia houses many of the favorites of the pinball world, including Attack From question — in the two years since it opened. Is it

nightlife

experience. It is an added bonus that you can dress Think we’re describing the latest bougie Southend up (or down) for a date night on the roof and watch gentrification bar? Get ready to have your mind all the South End Sallys go sober into Lost & Found blown. I’m talking about The Milestone Club.

Yes, the grimey AF historic punk club housed in supposed to be a pizza place? A sports bar? A night and stumble out drunk. a 100-year-old building has emerged from COVID club? A place to grab a beer real quick while you wait with a serious glow up. Gone are the duct-taped for your high top to be ready at Billy Jack’s Shack? Best New Patio: Novelty House A place where everyone who quits Billy Jack’s Shack The category is Uptown patios. What’s your barstools, sagging ceiling, and bathrooms that can go to work? answer? Imperial’s rooftop, finished. Flight, gone. looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since opening The problem in figuring out what a place is The Daily, closed. Merchant & Trade, excellent but day in 1969. There are even windows now to let in trying to be, however, is in assuming that everyone pricey. Any other mention may be honorable but natural light.

Don’t worry, the 18 layers of graffiti on the walls is trying to be something. Some places are just … will conjure, “Been there, done that.” are still there, as is the beloved staff, and the vibe places. That’s what makes Room and Board such Enter Novelty House, the rooftop patio that a great patio bar. You can dance, watch sports, the Queen City didn’t know they were thirsty for. remains unchanged. Owner Wyley Buck Boswell plans to start hosting outdoor shows on the patio this spring. And the kicker? You won’t have to drunkenly fumble around with the ATM anymore, because they take cards now. What a time to be alive!

CRITICS’ PICKS

More than just a beloved local dive bar, Hattie’s is known for its fundraisers in support of local organizations and ongoing commitment to the Charlotte community.

Stop by for a beer on the patio with friends (furry friends invited and encouraged), shoot a quick game of pool, or sing karaoke on Thursday night. Whatever your reason for stopping by, just remember to Mind Your P’s and Q’s.

Best Comeback: The Comedy Zone

If laughter is the best medicine, why the hell did we ever let the Comedy Zone close?! We’re joking obviously, but we were psyched when Comedy Zone quietly made their little comeback, not announcing it with much fanfare, just letting word of mouth spread when an icon like Chris Rock stops by to work out material like he did in November.

December alone has some heavy hitters on the Best Dive Bar: Hattie’s Tap & Tavern schedule, too: Sam Morrill, Clint Coley, Mark Norman Named for owner Jackie DeLoach’s and Chris Tucker to name a few. grandmother, it makes sense that Hattie’s Tap & INFO@QCNERVE.COM Tavern is a place where everyone feels a little like family. Whether you’re wearing sweatpants or sequins you’re welcomed into the fold with open arms and a cold drink by the staff.

THE MILESTONE CLUB PHOTO BY GRANT BALDWIN

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take shots, or eat pizza. The DJ seems to have two speeds: 2000s emo and songs from TikTok, a playlist designed to elicit as many reactions of “I LOVE THIS SONG” as possible. With the noises of NoDa on a Friday night in the background, an evening spent on the patio at Room and Board is a cheap and easy time that deserves a spot in the weekend rotation of any active Charlottean.

Best Rooftop: Lincoln Street Kitchen & Cocktails

Tree planters and string lights tend to be the norm decor for most rooftop bars and patios around Charlotte, but at Lincoln Street Kitchen & Cocktails it gives off more of a je ne sais pa feel that tucks you away into the corner of South End, away from all the hubbub. A glimpse at the Uptown giants protruding through the skyline, or a view of the flat west side of Charlotte, offers each guest a different visual

Also, it’s important to note, it took the place of the coveted back patio at Connolly’s on bustling East 5th Street. Novelty House is donned with a neon “Wish you were here” sign, floral walls, ample seating, an L-shaped bar that almost spans the entire length, and a view that rivals any you’ll find around town, let alone from a four-story building.

After months of anticipation, Novelty House burst onto the nightlife scene and drummed up attention right from the jump, packing out the house with patrons from near and far.

Best Renovation: The Milestone remodel

An artisan bar handcrafted from a fallen century oak tree, a spacious patio with ample seating and skyline views, a booming PA system with top-notch sound quality, a premium selection of local spirits and craft beers, toilets clean enough to sit on.

nightlife

READERS’ PICKS BEST ARCADE BAR Winner: Abari Game Bar

Runner Up: Pins Mechanical Co BEST BOWLING ALLEY Winner: 10 Park Lanes

Runner Up: Queen Park Social BEST CIGAR BAR Winner: The Vintage Whiskey & Cigar Bar BEST COCKTAIL BAR Winner: Soul Gastrolounge

Runner Up: Dot Dot Dot BEST DIVE BAR Winner: Thirsty Beaver

Runner Up: Snug Harbor BEST DOG BAR Winner: Lucky Dog Bark & Brew

Runner Up: Hattie’s Tap & Tavern BEST HOOKAH BAR Winner: Crave Dessert Bar

Runner Up: Red @ 28th BEST NEIGHBORHOOD BAR Winner: Snug Harbor

Runner Up: Hattie’s Tap & Tavern BEST POOL HALL Winner: Smokey Joe’s Cafe

Runner Up: Montford Billiards BEST SPORTS BAR Winner: Brazwells Pub

Runner Up: Sidelines Sports Bar BEST STRIP CLUB Winner: The Men’s Club

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Runner Up: Paper Doll Lounge BEST WINE BAR Winner: Dilworth Tasting Room

Runner Up: The Artisan’s Palate BEST CLUB DJ Winner: That Guy Smitty

Runner Up: Flock of Slagles

BEST DANCE CLUB Winner: The Roxbury

Runner Up: Lost & Found BEST KARAOKE BAR Winner: Snug Harbor

Runner Up: NoDa 101 BEST ANNUAL PARTY Winner: Charlotte Pride

Runner Up: Durag Fest

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BEST BAR TO MAKE A NEW FRIEND Winner: Snug Harbor

Runner Up: Hattie’s Tap & Tavern BEST PLACE FOR A QUICK DRINK Winner: Hattie’s Tap & Tavern

Runner Up: Growlers Pourhouse BEST SINGLES BAR Winner: Snug Harbor

Runner Up: The Peace Pipe BEST BAR TO PEOPLE-WATCH Winner: Sanctuary

Runner Up: Hattie’s Tap & Tavern BEST BARTENDER Winner: Chris Burns

Runner Up: Nadira Martin BEST LGBTQ-FRIENDLY BAR Winner: Petra’s

Runner Up: Hattie’s Tap & Tavern BEST MIXOLOGIST Winner: Nadira Martin

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Runner Up: The Artisan’s Palate

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BY FIFI RODRIGUEZ

BY LINDA THISTLE

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

1. GEOGRAPHY: What percent of the world’s population lives in the Northern Hemisphere?

2. MOVIES: Which 1987 film contains the catchy line, “May the Schwartz be with you”?

3. LITERATURE: Author John Steinbeck contends that his dog ate the first draft of which of his novels?

4. ANIMAL KINGDOM: What is a group of parrots called?

5. MUSIC: Who is considered the “Father of the Blues”?

6. U.S. PRESIDENTS: Who was the first sitting president to throw out the first pitch on baseball’s opening day?

7. FOOD & DRINK: Which fruit also is sometimes called a “love apple”?

8. TELEVISION: Where do the vampires live in “What We Do in the Shadows”?

9. HISTORY: In what year did East Germany start to build the Berlin Wall?

10. INVENTIONS: Which scientist invented the color wheel?

CROSSWORD

ACROSS 1 Skipper’s site 5 Las Vegas attractions 12 Part of WMD 16 Dol. fractions 19 Safe, at sea 20 Venezuela’s main river 21 Brand of skin cream 22 “-- Abner” 23 Limit for riding a roller coaster, often 26 Oath reply 27 In -- by itself (unique) 28 ‘60s muscle car 29 Port-au-Prince locale 30 Profound 31 Spherical bacterium, for short 32 Payoff of athletic training 35 “Othello” foe 37 Grammy category 38 Rocker Patty of Scandal 39 Animal that hunts, but isn’t hunted 45 Is remorseful 48 Life’s work 49 Frazier foe 50 Mauna -51 Peel, as fruit 52 Preteen 53 It has a “3D White” product line 58 Reproachful clicks 59 Fish in a garden pond 60 Writer Levin 61 Be fixated 62 Company that owns Log Cabin, Vlasic and Mrs. Paul’s 67 Decides to participate 71 Sallie --

72 Gp. backing arms 73 Auntie played by Lucille Ball 77 The Isle of Man, to Britain 82 Sealed up, as a package 83 Singer Basil 84 About half of all adults 85 Prevaricate 86 Lubing 87 Begins 90 NCAA conference of the Midwest 93 Barkin of film 94 Sinking ship’s call 95 Hippie’s “Got it” 96 Source of wacky products in Road Runner cartoons 102 Jab gently 106 Dress shirt ornament 107 Company shuffle, for short 108 PC undo key 109 Fetus’ place 110 Grafton’s “-- for Alibi” 111 Onetime competitor of Magnavox 114 -- polloi 115 Kitchen scraps 116 Discard from the memory 117 “Puppy Love” singer Paul 118 Kin of Ltd. 119 “To be,” to Brutus 120 “My friends,” in France 121 Vodka brand DOWN 1 Good laughs 2 Choose (to) 3 1983 J.P. Donleavy novel 4 Digital camera resolution units 5 Foldup beds

6 ETA part: Abbr.

7 Long attack 8 Photo-sharing app, for short 9 Totally unacceptable 10 Bar code-scanning gizmo: Abbr.

11 “That’s how it was told to me” 12 Artistic theme 13 Supreme Court’s Samuel 14 2015 and 2017 Best Actress nominee Ronan 15 Similar-meaning wd.

16 Set of regular customers 17 Tables with data on daily ebbs and flows 18 Steepness 24 Like the Greek letter eta 25 Type of fish that a 59-Across is 30 Places to get body wraps 32 “The Raven” writer 33 Positive aspect 34 Roman 2,050 36 Cur’s threat 39 Bank stmt. ID 40 Oom- -- (tuba sounds) 41 TV’s Estrada 42 Singer Bobby 43 Bar order 44 “-- a pity” 45 Egg -- yung 46 Scarf down 47 Poor grades 50 Bread buy 53 33-Down’s opposite 54 Like mosaics 55 Uno + due 56 “Today” co-host Kotb 57 “Nova” airer 59 Variety

GET BACK TO DOING WHAT YOU LOVE.

Pg. 65 DEC 1 - DEC 14, 2021 - QCNERVE.COM

# YO U I M P R OV E D # YO U I M P R OV E D

YOUR CARE. YOUR WAY. | ORTHOCAROLINA.COM BEGINNING AT THE TOP ©2020 King Feautres Syndicate, Inc. All rights reserved.

62 ATM code 63 “That’s right!”

64 Spam holder 65 “-- had a secret love ...”

66 Suffix with contradict 67 They precede Novs.

68 Shelter 69 Key-centered compositions 70 Eddied 73 Spanish dances like fandangos 74 Happy as -- in mud 75 List of dishes 76 Verge 78 Aussie bird 79 Verve 80 Stately tree 81 Takeaway game of strategy 82 Link with 86 Ancient 88 Sleuth, slangily 89 Noisy nappers 90 Tropical cereal grass 91 D.C.’s home 92 Spam holder 94 Variety 96 Tokyo beer 97 Sublets, e.g.

98 Social grace 99 Narrates 100 “-- bad moon rising” 101 Philosopher with a “razor” 103 Bar order 104 Slimy 105 Think piece 109 Footed vases 111 Actress Saldana 112 Detroit-to-Montreal dir.

113 Hexa- halved

LIFESTYLE COLUMN

THE SEEKER LETS’ GET SWEATY

Building a routine at a local infrared sauna studio

Pg. 66 DEC 1 - DEC 14, 2021 - QCNERVE.COM

BY KATIE GRANT

Sweating is a very normal, essential bodily function.

Its primary purpose is to cool our human body down when threatened by the possibility of overheating. Each of us is equipped with an average of 3 million sweat glands, controlled by our autonomic nervous systems. This allows us to sweat without our conscious control. Sweat is released through ducts in our skin as temperatures rise, moistens the surface of our body, and cools us down as it evaporates.

OK, now before I continue on, sounding like the kid in Jerry Maguire, let me explain where I’m going with this.

As winter approaches, encouraging perspiration through a sauna routine can benefit our physical and mental state. Sauna — which can be used interchangeably as a noun or a verb — can have an extraordinary impact on our skin, body, and mood.

According to Men’s Health, the benefits of sauna include helping preserve muscle mass, boosting heart health, improving skin strength, encouraging water weight loss, improving skin strength, and clearing pores.

Globally, folks sauna for different reasons. In Finland and other Scandinavian countries, sauna plays a culturally significant role. Coworkers may bond in a sauna the way colleagues in the United States do at happy hour. But because sauna is less prevalent in our country, adopting a sauna routine here in the States may take more persistence.

This fall, I visited Perspire Sauna Studio, located in Providence Park, with hopes of creating my own routine here in my home city. According to the website, Perspire strives to bring the benefits of infrared saunas to communities like ours in a friendly, comfortable, spa-like atmosphere.

Infrared saunas differ from traditional saunas in that they utilize infrared wavelengths to heat the body rather than steam. Traditional saunas use a heater — be it a box of hot rocks or a more contemporary version — that is heating the air and this hot air heats the user. In contrast, infrared saunas use advanced therapy to promote heat generation in the body with only a small percentage of the heat heating the air. Proponents say this results in a deeper sweat at a lower ambient air temperature.

I booked by first session at Perspire Sauna Studio through my ClassPass subscription. The staff was

incredibly knowledgeable. Because I am a sauna novice, they took the time to explain the benefits of sauna, control amenities like temperature and Smart TV, and during and post-session care.

Here are some tips I’ve picked up in my short time on this journey.

First and foremost, drink water to hydrate yourself.

Staying hydrated is critical if you plan to step into an infrared sauna where sweating will undoubtedly occur.

Always drink plenty of water before, during, and after your sauna session. It’s also important to enter the cedar sauna sans-makeup, which will allow your skin to receive the full benefits of the infrared heat.

For appropriate sauna attire, think athleisure — comfortable and lightweight. You may even consider rocking a bathing suit, or even better, your birthday suit like I did during my first visit. Something cozy is best to change into after your session’s shower.

Here’s what you can expect during your sauna session. Perspire Sauna Studio features private infrared saunas that emit far, mid, and near-infrared for maximum wellness benefits. Your experience includes medicalgrade color light therapy to enhance your session, mood, and wellness benefits. Each private room consists of a large-screen Smart TV with access to apps like Netflix and YouTube. Each session includes a body, face, and floor towel, as well as their signature, chilled eucalyptus towel for refreshing yourself during or after the sauna session.

You may notice that it takes 10-20 minutes to break a sweat in your first session. That’s because of the aforementioned differences in how infrared saunas work.

As your body becomes more accustomed to raising your core temperature regularly, your sweat will become more excessive and start sooner into your session.

Post-session, private showers are available. Based on personal experience, the more comfortable the outfit you can change into, the better. I was fortunate enough to wear my pajamas home and cuddle up in bed for the evening.

Pro tip: remember, if you’re like me and have been indulging in excess holiday cheer, your body just flushed out a lot of toxins. Be sure to replenish and rehydrate with alkaline water, coconut water, or other nutrient-dense beverages.

A key takeaway for me has been that saunas provide a relaxing experience along with many health benefits.

Local franchise Perspire Sauna Studio has package rates available, ranging from four visits per month to unlimited. I can assure you I have added a Perspire Sauna Studio package to my holiday “wish list.”

INFO@QCNERVE.COM

HOROSCOPE

DEC 1 - DEC 7

DEC 8 - DEC 14

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Keep those sharp Sheep eyes focused on a hazy situation. As things begin to clear up, you’ll find a sharper picture emerging, showing something you’ll need to know.

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Your curiosity might not be appreciated by everyone. Expect some resistance in getting answers to your questions. But stay with it. You need facts in order to make important decisions.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Watch your expenses through the end of the month. Later, you’ll be glad to have extra money to pay for something that will make an acquisitive Bovine’s heart beat faster.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Some of the mystery surrounding your recent fiscal situation soon will be dispelled with a clear explanation. Use this new knowledge to help you chart a fresh financial course.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) You’re now ready to make that oft-deferred commitment, if you still believe it’s what you want. Don’t be afraid to change your mind if you feel you should go in another direction.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Start your holiday giftbuying now. This will help avoid problems caused by possible mid-December delays. A family member has important information.

CANCER (June 21 to July 22) Now that you are moving on with your life after that recent disappointment, how about reactivating your travel plans and taking someone special along with you.

CANCER (June 21 to July 22) Use a little more sense in how you plan to spend your end-of-the-year holiday dollars. Meanwhile, you continue to gain support for your stand on a workplace issue.

LEO (July 23 to August 22) Many new friends come into your personal life, which suits all of you social Lions just fine. However, one new friend might make demands that you could find difficult to deal with.

LEO (July 23 to August 22) Wearing that big, loving Lion’s heart of yours on your sleeve leaves it unprotected. Let things develop a little more before you allow your emotions to spill over.

VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) Communication doesn’t exist unless it’s two-way. So, if you’re getting no replies to the signals you’re sending, it could be time to look for someone more receptive.

VIRGO (Aug. 23 to September 22) You might feel you’re not ready to patch up an unraveled relationship. But the longer you wait, the more difficult it will be for all parties to take the first healing step.

LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) A workplace complication that you thought was ironed out develops new wrinkles that need attention. Meanwhile, expect continuing improvement in your home life.

LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) Your end-of-theyear holiday plans could be disrupted by something out of your control, but stay the course. Ultimately, things will settle back into a normal pace.

SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) A tense personal problem needs to be talked out before someone decides to walk out. Resist making decisions until full explanations are offered from both sides.

SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) Your honest approach to a workplace project earns you both respect and credit from those in charge. Meanwhile, that personal problem still needs to be dealt with.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) A technological glitch that caused problems recently will soon be repaired, and life can return to normal. A colleague has a surprising message to deliver.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) Money could be a little tight this month. This means the usually bargain-oblivious Sagittarian should look for ways to save on end-of-the-year holidays.

CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) Your partner might feel that you haven’t been as open with him or her as you should be. Deal with this now, before it turns into something more difficult to handle.

CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) Examine the facts, and you might find that it’s a wiser move to shift gears and redirect some of your goals before the end of the year. Someone close to you offers good advice.

AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) Good news: Many of the stumbling blocks that affected the progress of some of your career projects are fading away. Things also start to look up on the home front.

AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) Be careful that your generosity is not abused. Find out more, both about the special favors you might be asked to grant and who is asking for them.

PISCES (February 19 to March 20) You’ll need that strong Piscean pluck to get through waters that will be turbulent for a while. A more positive aspect soon emerges, along with some welcome news.

PISCES (February 19 to March 20) You’ve come through a recent rough time in great shape. Congratulations.

Now go out and enjoy your well-earned rewards. More good news comes in mid-December.

BORN THIS WEEK: You are zealous in the pursuit of truth. You would make an excellent research scientist.

BORN THIS WEEK: You aim for truth, and you usually find it. Your honesty earns you the friendship and respect of others.

2021 KING FEATURES SYND., INC.

November 29, 2021

King Features Weekly Service

PG.64 PUZZLE ANSWERS

Pg. 67 DEC 1 - DEC 14, 2021 - QCNERVE.COM

By Lucie Winborne • During the first Gulf War in 1991, every U.S. soldier was sent a frozen Snickers bar as a Thanksgiving treat.

• Mario Puzo, author of “The Godfather” books who also helped adapt them to film, had no formal training and had never written a screenplay before. After winning two Oscars for the first two movies, he bought a book to help himself learn how to be a screenwriter.

• Delaware and Colorado allow a marriage to be annulled if it was performed as a dare.

• At the center of every snowflake is a pollen or dust particle on which an extremely cold water droplet has frozen to form an ice crystal.

• “Passion purpura” is the medical term for a hickey.

• Saccharin, the first artificial sweetener, was discovered by accident when chemist Dr. Constantine Fahlberg forgot to wash his hands after work and tasted something “unspeakably sweet” during dinner. He interrupted the meal to sample every beaker in his lab, which fortunately contained nothing poisonous.

• The distress signal SOS does not actually stand for anything.

• “Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo” is a grammatically correct sentence using buffalo as a proper noun, verb and noun. To put it more simply: “Buffalo bison that other Buffalo bison bully also bully Buffalo bison.”

• Donald Trump was the first president in 168 years not to have a pet in the White House.

• It took Frank Lloyd Wright 15 years, 700 sketches and six sets of working drawings to create the Guggenheim Museum in New York. *** Thought for the Day: “The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe, the less taste we shall have for destruction.” — Rachel Carson © 2021 King Features Synd., Inc.

ALL THINGS PODCASTING! ALL FREE! ALL ONLINE! FEATURING EXPERTS FROM NPR, WFAE, WNYC AND MORE! Your podcast your way / Powered by

Summer Summer Camps Camps 12 12 chances chances to to rock! rock!

Come out out and annd play! playy!

Rock Bands Lessons Camps

Voted Best Music School/Lessons 2021

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL

Charlotte Symphony: Handel Messiah (Knight Theater) Tracy Hamlin (Middle C Jazz)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Willow Smith (The Underground)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ

No Future feat. DJ Diet Mondrian, DJ Needles & Pins (Snug Harbor)

OPEN MIC

Tosco Music Open Mic (Evening Muse)

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

San Haim w/ True Lilith, Flat Out Insult, Ink Swell (The Milestone) Bad Luck w/ No Rope, Dull Mourning (Skylark Social Club)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B

Nige Hood & the Folk Rap Band w/ Seven Day Haze, Lil Skritt (Petra’s)

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL

Mark Black: A Night of Motown and R&B (Middle C Jazz)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Clark Beckham w/ Casey McQuillam (Evening Muse)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ

Pg. 68 DEC 1 - DEC 14, 2021 - QCNERVE.COM

COIN (The Fillmore) Friends & Family Night feat. Elon, Mr. Reader, Nice D and Stevie P (Snug Harbor) Mipso w/ Lowland Hum (Visulite Theatre)

LATIN/WORLD

Rauw Alejandro (Bojangles Coliseum)

OPEN MIC

Open Mic w/ Chase & Sug (Tommy’s Pub)

A CAPELLA

Home Free (Ovens Auditorium)

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 5

Jeff Rosenstock (Amos’ Southend) Bergenline w/ Council Ring (Evening Muse) ROCK/PUNK/METAL Petrov w/ Well Wisher, Faye, Raina Dawn (The Milky Chance (The Fillmore) Milestone) Jackson Fig w/ Troubleshoot (The Milestone) Church Girls w/ Heavy Liquid, Heavy Baby (Snug Some Kind of Nightmare w/ Aloha Broha, The Not Harbor) Likelys (Tommy’s Pub) Third Lock Fest Night #1 feat. Skyfunk, White Elephant, Gamblers Band, Bryan Bielanski (Tommy’s POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ Pub) Ballantyne School of Music Presents Winter Jam Southern Culture on the Skids w/ The Malamondos 2021 (Amos’ Southend) (Visulite Theatre) Hazy Sunday (Petra’s)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B

Charlotte R&B Festival (Spectrum Center)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Midland (The Fillmore) Paul Thorn Band (Neighborhood Theatre)

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL

Charlotte Symphony: Handel Messiah (Knight Theater) Tracy Hamlin (Middle C Jazz)

SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC Eliot Bronson (Evening Muse)

The Waybacks (Booth Playhouse) American Aquarium w/ Tommy Prine (Neighborhood POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ Staff Show III feat. Natalie Carr, Ogres, Nic Pugh, Theatre) Probably Will (Petra’s)

SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC

Ben Schuller w/ Nemraps, Nerdout (Evening Muse) Crissy Criss w/ ND Skyz, FONZ, Stranger: MC (SERJ) Melt w/ Reliably Bad, XOXOK (Visulite Theatre)

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 4 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL

Charlotte Symphony: Handel Messiah (Knight Theater) Art Sherrod Jr. (Middle C Jazz)

BLUES/FUNK/JAM BANDS

Davy Knowles: Charlotte Blues Society Christmas Bash (Neighborhood Theatre)

MONDAY, DECEMBER 6 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Neck Deep (The Fillmore)

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/INSTRUMENTAL

Taylor McCall (Evening Muse) Sierra Ferrell (Neighborhood Theatre) Kane Brown (Spectrum Center)

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Intervals w/ Thank You Scientist, Cryptodira, Satyr (Amos’ Southend) Maxwell Williams w/ Lady Winchester, Ryan Lockhart, Reid Ferguson (The Milestone)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Delta Rae (The Underground) Elonzo Wesley w/ Pullover, Dylan Gilbert (Visulite Theatre)

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL

Preservation Hall All Star Christmas (Booth Playhouse) Emanuel Wynter w/ Yung Citizen (Evening Muse) Big Swing and the Ballroom Blasters perform Earth Wind & Fire (Middle C Jazz) Blue Dunes w/ Don Telling’s Island Mysteries (Petra’s)

OPEN MIC

Open Mic Night w/ Chase & Sug (Tommy’s Pub)

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Dave Koons & the Koyotes w/ Michael Tracy Band, Pam Taylor (Amos’ Southend) Wilma w/ Duckbeak, Komodo (The Milestone) Griffin House (Neighborhood Theatre) Baran Dance presents Two x Five feat. Modern Moxie (Petra’s) Honey Creek w/ Amity Pointe, Mercury Dimes (Skylark Social Club) Violent Life Violent Death w/ REZN, Empty Devils in the Hotel (Snug Harbor) Southside Watt (Visulite Theatre)

Jim Brickman: The Gift of Christmas (Knight Theater) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA Bill Hanna Legazy Jazz Session (Petra’s) Kameron Marlowe w/ The Mikel Buck Band (Coyote Joe’s) Caleb Caudle (Evening Muse)

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Robert Earl Keen w/ Waylon Payne (Knight Theater) Get Sad Y’all feat. Glimmers, Lowborn (Amos’ Starset (The Fillmore) Southend) Tetanus w/ Mindvac, Youoncewere, This Is Your God POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ (The Milestone) Matt Walden w/ Annelle Staal, Raquel Lily (Evening Bob Fleming & The Cambria Iron Co. w/ Jacob Muse) Danielsen-Moore, Alexa Jenson (Petra’s) Cathedral Bells w/ GASP, Spirit System (Snug Harbor) Third Lock Fest Night #2 feat. Selah Dubb, Bert Wray BLUES/FUNK/JAM BANDS Tab Benoit’s Swampland Jam w/ Samantha Fish Blues, The Inn, Leisure McCorkle (Tommy’s Pub) Band (Neighborhood Theatre) Silverstein (The Underground)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8 POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ

Fotocrime w/ Fools Ghost (Evening Muse)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ

Reflexions Dark Wave & New Wave Dance Party w/ DJ Velvetine & DJ Marvin Lynch (Tommy’s Pub) He$h (The Underground)

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL

Preservation Hall All Star Christmas (Booth Playhouse) Charlotte Symphony: Magic of Christmas (Knight Theater) Kirk Whalum (Middle C Jazz)

BLUES/FUNK/JAM BANDS

Sons of Paradise w/ The Destinators (Evening Muse)

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Savage Empire w/ Blackwater Drowning, Key of Betrayal, Inferior Design (The Milestone) Donna the Buffalo (Neighborhood Theatre) Horseburner w/ Tyger, Burned, The Dirty Low Down (Skylark Social Club) Show Me The Body w/ Candy, Regional Justice Center (Snug Harbor) Trans-Siberian Orchestra (Spectrum Center) Hellfire 76 w/ Occult Fracture (Tommy’s Pub) Idlewild South (Allman Brothers tribute) (Amos’ Southend) Cosmic Charlie (Grateful Dead tribute) (Visulite Theatre)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 14 POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ

Old Tyme Holiday Party with DJ Nostalgia (Tommy’s Pub) The Aces (The Underground) Ondas Do Brasil (Petra’s)

BLUES/FUNK/JAM BANDS

Bobby Rush (Neighborhood Theatre)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

WIlliam Elliot Whitmore w/ Miss Tess (Evening Muse)

VISIT QCNERVE.COM FOR THE FULL SOUNDWAVE LISTING.

The Tan & Sober Gentlemen w/ The Local Boys (Evening Muse)

SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC

Caiola w/ Airpark, Kirby Sybert (Evening Muse)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC Stanton Warriors (SERJ)

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/INSTRUMENTAL

Charlotte Symphony: Magic of Christmas (Knight Theater) Kirk Whalum (Middle C Jazz)

CHRISTIAN/GOSPEL/RELIGIOUS

A Very Dave Barnes Christmas (Booth Playhouse)

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 12 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Pollyanna w/ Latewaves (The Milestone)

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL

Charlotte Symphony: Magic of Christmas (Knight Theater) Rhonda Thomas: Soulful Christmas (Middle C Jazz)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA David Finch (Tommy’s Pub)

check out lunchboxrecords.com to order for pickup or shipping CELEBRATE THE HOLIDAYS WITH THE GLORIOUS SOUNDS OF

VINYL

THANK YOU FOR VOTING US “BEST OPEN MIC NIGHT IN CHARLOTTE”

FIND YOUR MUSE OPEN MIC EVERY MONDAY!

Pg. 69 DEC 1 - DEC 14, 2021 - QCNERVE.COM

SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC

Sam on Sunday feat. Sam Tayloe & Friends (Evening Muse)

MONDAY, DECEMBER 13 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Negative Approach w/ Mutant Strain, Militar (Snug Harbor)

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/ INSTRUMENTAL

Bill Hanna Legacy Jazz Session (Petra’s)

thanks for voting us best record store!

lunchboxrecords.com 825 CENTRAL AVE. CHARLOTTE, NC 704-331-0788

eveningmuse.com

3 3 2 7 n d av i d s o n s t, c h a r l o t t e n c

Pg. 70 DEC 1 - DEC 14, 2021 - QCNERVE.COM

LIFESTYLE COLUMN

PG.65 PUZZLE ANSWERS

SAVAGE LOVE FULL DISCLOSURE

Ghosts of relationships past

Pg. 71 DEC 1 - DEC 14, 2021 - QCNERVE.COM

BY DAN SAVAGE

So, my husband (42-year-old straight male) and I (38-year-old bi female) have had a closed relationship so far, but we have an active fantasy life. We’ve been together for about four years, and we both had our fair share of partners (casual and serious) before that.

We like to talk about fantasies involving other people during sex, be they actual (past partners) or imagined (my beautiful surfing instructor on a trip).

Once while he ate my pussy, I asked him about all the pussies he’s enjoyed in the past and he brought up one of his exes — a relationship that ended 10 years before we met — and he said he sometimes thought about her when he went down on and/or fucked subsequent partners, including me. This turned me on. A lot.

I started bringing her up every now and then while we fucked, I asked him more about her, I fantasized about meeting her and eating the pussy he enjoyed so much.

Like other past partners, she became part of the mental/verbal porn reel we sometimes enjoy during sex.

Then one day, in an unrelated conversation, it came out that he’d been engaged to her, that the reason they broke up was because they couldn’t make a long-distance relationship work after he moved to the country where we live, and that it took him years to get over her. This killed it for me.

Not only that, but I also now feel weird about all of the times we fantasized about her in the past. It’s not like he did anything wrong — I never specifically asked how serious the relationship was or why it ended — but I can’t shake the irrational feeling there was an omission.

I sometimes think about past experiences during masturbation or sex, but never about serious partners — never about men I’ve lived with, been married to, or had a child with.

Those experiences are too emotionally loaded to mix in with my current sex life in a healthy, detached way.

I know my husband may process/feel things differently, but I can’t help but equate what he was doing to me fantasizing about my ex-husband during sex, which I haven’t done and would feel weird as fuck even contemplating.

I don’t see her as a threat — they’re not in touch and she lives in another hemisphere — and I believe him when he says he has no significant baggage about any of his exes, including her.

But knowing she was one of the most significant relationships in his life makes fantasizing about her — out loud, with me — feel “off.”

I don’t just have this feeling just about her now, but about his past overall. How do I shake this? Thoughts?

TURNED ON TURNS INTO TURN OFF

If thinking and talking about your husband’s past doesn’t turn you on anymore, TOTITO, stop thinking and talking about your husband’s past. But if you want to get back to enjoying these fantasies with your husband — dirty talk about your previous sex partners — you’re going to need to reason with yourself.

Let’s give it a whirl.

So, your husband was engaged to this woman and presumably lived with her for a time, but your husband’s relationship with this woman nevertheless meets just one of your three somewhat arbitrary criteria for “pussy it’s not okay to think about during sex with a current partner.”

Yes, it was a serious relationship, but they never married or had kids. And if they had wanted to be together, they would’ve found a way to make it work despite the distance. If she had wanted to be with your husband more than she wanted to remain where she was living when they broke it off, she could’ve married him and emigrated.

Likewise, if your husband had wanted to be with this woman more than he wanted to remain where he was living when they broke it off, he could’ve married her and emigrated. Neither made that choice, TOTITO, and I’m guessing neither made that choice because the serious wasn’t as serious as the “engaged” thing makes it sound. Yeah, yeah: someone proposed (most likely your husband), someone said yes (most likely his ex).

But words are cheap and “engaged” is a just a word. It’s a promise and a serious one, TOTITO, but in the end it’s just air.

And now, since I’m feeling daring, I’m going to risk doing some math: You say been with your 42-year-old husband for four years. His relationship with his former fiancée ended 10 years before you two met. So, that

TRIVIA ANSWERS: 1. 90% 2. “Spaceballs” 3. “Of Mice and Men”

4. A pandemonium 5. W.C. Handy 6. William Howard Taft (1910) 7. Tomato

means your husband was at most 28 years old when he broke off his engagement with his ex and assuming they’d been dating for a few years, he was what? In his mid-twenties when they met? That means his prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain involved in executive functions like decision-making, long-term planning, and higher reasoning, wasn’t even fully formed when he proposed to this woman.

So, you have a choice. You can attach a lot of significance to the fact that they were engaged or you can look at the other facts in evidence — that they both chose the place where they lived over the relationship, how old they were at the time they got engaged — and see the relationship as far less significant than the “engaged” label makes it sound.

All that said, if hearing about the pussies in your husband’s past isn’t doing anything for your pussy right now, tell your husband you don’t want to hear about them for the moment. If you miss dirty talk during sex, instead of talking about hot sex you’ve both had in the past, TOTITO, try talking about all the hot sex you’re going to have in the future.

8. Staten Island, New York 9. 1961 10. Sir Isaac Newton

me. I have improved his life, and he has improved my mental state, but he’s also kind of a bad influence and has gotten me back into bad habits.

To make matters worse, the new guy at our work seems to be into me and he’s cute and way closer to my age, and we get along really well, so I might want to give that a shot. I don’t know whether to end things, or even how to end it if I wanted to.

Any advice on how to get out of this gracefully?

PRETTY HORRIBLE AT SOMETHING EASY

When you say you want to get out of this “gracefully,” what you mean is you want the impossible from me.

You want me to tell you how to end this relationship so subtly that the guy you dumped doesn’t even notice or get upset.

Sorry, PHASE, but there’s no way to end things with the coworker you’re currently fucking so you can start fucking the coworker you’d rather be fucking without the coworker you’re currently fucking finding out you dumped him so you could start fucking a different coworker. If it was just your family that objected to the relationship because of the age difference, I would urge you to stay in it. But you want out and the relationship isn’t healthy. (You don’t mention the bad habits he’s gotten you back into, PHASE, but I’m going to assume it’s not double parking and public grooming.) You can’t stay just because he needs you.

P.S. I’m supposed to tell you not to sleep with coworkers — it’s right here in my dogeared copy of the Writing Advice Columns For Dummies — but I’m going to set that aside, seeing as that ship has already sailed, struck an iceberg, and sunk to the bottom of the ocean.

For the past few months, I’ve been hooking up a lot with my coworker (I’m a bi woman, he’s a straight man). Things are going well, we really like each other (we’ve even said “I love you” to each other), but there are a couple of problems. First, I’m 23 and he’s 40. The age difference doesn’t really bother me if I don’t think about it too much, but it matters to a lot of my loved ones.

Second, I’m not looking for a serious relationship, as I haven’t been single in a while and am kind of going through my “ho phase,” but Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage; questions@ it seems like he wants to be exclusive. I’ve tried to break things off or slow things down, but he’s savagelove.net; Savage Lovecast, books, merch, and more going through horrible shit right now and needs at www.savage.love.

THANK YOU, CHARLOTTE! We are delighted you chose Immersive Van Gogh as Best Exhibit and our engagement of Wicked – part of our Equitable Bravo Series – as Best Theater Show.

We can’t wait to see you in our venues in 2022!

A Play by

Directed by

Oliver Butler

©Disney

Heidi Schreck

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