The Mark of Distinction in World Class Home Building™ Charlotte (704) 889.1600 Charleston (843) 801.1600 www.kingswoodhomes.com
C H A R LO T T E C H A R L E S TO N World Class Living
FROM THE EDITOR
CATHY MARTIN EDITOR editor@southparkmagazine.com
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PHOTOGRAPH BY TIM SAYER
I
’m what you might call a “details” person — those who know me well might just say I’m picky. Years ago, I was searching for a unique but classic photo album to hold wedding pictures. E-commerce was in its infancy, and in perusing stationery and gift shops all I could find were generic, mass-produced books that didn’t have that “special” quality I was looking for. Then, I finally found it: a soft, leather-bound album with a small inset image of a vintage cake topper and thick cardstock pages, perfect for mounting pictures with those little photo corners you rarely see nowadays. It sounds simple, but it was exactly what I was looking for. I got it at Paper Skyscraper, the eclectic East Boulevard gift shop that Tim Hamilton and Ron Wootten started 30 years ago. If I’d gone back six months later, I doubt I would have found the exact same album since the store shuffles its inventory regularly, turning every visit into a treasure hunt of sorts. But it’s likely I would have stumbled on some other unique find. When I heard that the original owners had sold the shop, my gut reaction was surprise, tinged with a little disappointment. Paper Skyscraper is one of those venerable Charlotte businesses that gives this city a little bit of character, and it was perfect just the way it was. I didn’t want some new owner coming in and tinkering with it. (Though if they could somehow figure out a way to add parking spots, I could support that.) Then, I spoke with Bill Godwin, who bought the store in April with his wife, Sybil. The Godwins, both Charlotte natives, had gotten to know Ron and Tim and had been more or less handpicked by the store’s previous owners to take over the business (Page 32). With Bill’s customer-service background and Sybil’s creative eye, it seems the store is in good hands. With rising real-estate costs, the expansion of online shopping and a younger, more transient population, Charlotte is a tough place for small, independent businesses to survive. But if you create something special, people will seek you out. That’s what the team behind SouthPark is looking to do, and that’s what Ron and Tim did at Paper Skyscraper. I’m encouraged that the Godwins are looking to carry on their tradition. We need more people like them and more patrons supporting them. SP
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Sotheby’s International Realty® and the Sotheby’s International Realty logo are registered service marks used with permission. Each office is independently owned and operated. Equal Housing Opportunity. Property information herein is derived from various sources including, but not limited to, county records and multiple listing services, and may include approximations. All information is deemed accurate. *Source: Carolina Multiple Listing Service. Sales volume based upon sales from January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018.
June DEPARTMENTS 27 | Blvd. South End’s new doughnut spot; New England meets the South at N.C. Red; Friday nights at Camp North End; wine in Waverly.
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41 | Queen City Journal A writer’s remembrance in honor of Father’s Day.
45 | Simple Life Cabins in the sky: Houses, trees and memories of climbing them.
53 | Bookshelf June picks for readers.
82 | Travel St. Lucia caters to travelers seeking adventure or relaxation.
62
89 | Swirl The city’s best bashes and biggest galas, from the Greater Charlotte Heart Ball to Dancing with the Stars of Charlotte.
SNAPSHOT 96 | Running the Show CPCC’s Tom Hollis gathers key players for a sizzling summer theater series.
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ABOUT THE COVER Cotswold home designed by Ashley Shaw, photographed by Erin Comerford Miller.
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additions signature homes renovations
Charlotte and Boone
andrewroby.com 704.334.5477
making it home since 1950
G E N E R A L C O N T R AC TO R
FEATURES 56 | Dream Big by Page Leggett
Mint Museum Randolph celebrates the wild imagination of children’s book author and illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi.
62 | Moving On by Michelle Boudin
For wellness coach and cancer survivor Jenn Andrews, a viral movement launches a nonprofit.
66 | Light and Airy by Blake Miller
A Cotswold family builds their forever home with the help of an all-female team.
72 | Booker’s Ballad by David Perlmutt
Larry Farber became the life of the party by connecting musicians to festive occasions.
76 | Art’s Delight by Cathy Martin Peppervine is a treat for the senses.
1230 West Morehead St., Suite 308 Charlotte, NC 28208 704-523-6987 southparkmagazine.com
Ben Kinney Publisher Cathy Martin Editor
A TRADITION OF KNOWLEDGE AND TRUST
Andie Rose Art Director Alyssa Rocherolle Graphic Designer
Gay Dillashaw 704-564-9393 gay.dillashaw@allentate.com
6700 Fairview Road, Charlotte, NC 28210
Michelle Boudin Vanessa Infanzon Page Leggett Blake Miller Michael J. Solender Alicia Valenski Contributing Writers Daniel Coston Erin Comerford Miller Contributing Photographers ADVERTISING Jane Rodewald Account Executive 704-621-9198 Scott Leonard Audience Development Specialist/ Account Executive scott@southparkmagazine.com Brad Beard Graphic Designer Published by OLD NORTH STATE MAGAZINES LLC
YOUR PASSION. IGNITED.
David Woronoff PRESIDENT Jim Dodson EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Letters to the editorial staff: editor@southparkmagazine.com
STOP IN TO SEE THE NEWEST ADDITION TO OUR GRILL LINE! FAMILY OWNED AND OPERATED Find us on
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M-F 9-6, SAT. 9-5
www.thehearthandpatio.com | 4332 Monroe Rd | Charlotte, NC 28205 | 704.332.4139
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Website: southparkmagazine.com Instagram: southparkmagazine Facebook: facebook.com/southparkmagazine Twitter: twitter.com/SouthParkMag ©Copyright 2019. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Volume 22, Issue 6
SCAD
CONNECTIONS
CATAPULT YOU TO THE TOP OF RÉSUMÉ PILES.” Kat Reynolds
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A L L E N TAT E S O U T H PA R K
1524 Queens Road West UN
1515 Maryland Avenue
6433 Greenway Bend
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$3,250,000
$2,590,000
$1,799,000
Myers Park 28207
Myers Park 28209
Stonecroft 28226
Gay Dillashaw 704-564-9393
Lauren Campbell 704-579-8333
3304 Smith Point Court
5909 Masters Court
Tim & Suzanne Severs 704-564-7346
18224 Peninsula Club Drive SO
LD
$1,295,000
$1,250,000
$1,225,000
Easton Park 28226
Carmel Estates 28226
The Peninsula 28031
Cindy Gwin 704-608-3402
Tim & Suzanne Severs 704-564-7346
3015 Westfield Road
3205 Springs Farm Lane
Rebecca Hunter 704-650-4039
10506 Flennigan Way UN
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Jennifer Currie 704-258-4826
$720,000
$700,000
$625,000
Myers Park 28209
Providence Springs 28226
Ballantyne Country Club 28277
Suzanne Cowden 704-301-1012
Glenda Gravatt 704-421-2302
728 Cherokee Road
7701 Baltusrol Lane
$1,395,000
$1,395,000
$1,395,000
Myers Park 28207
Eastover 28207
Quail Hollow 28210
Jennifer Currie 704-258-4826
Gay Dillashaw 704-564-9393
1218 Biltmore Drive
Gail Craven 704-907-3178
4700 Morrowick Road UN
4132 Cornwallis Camp Drive UN
DE
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TR AC T
$1,160,000
$940,000
$855,000
Eastover 28207
McAlpine Forest 28226
Stonecroft 28226
Gay Dillashaw 704-564-9393
Rebecca Hunter 704-650-4039
10301 Avondale Avenue
2911 Arundell Drive
Bryan Criminger 704-578-2016
7425 Newmans Lane UN
DE
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TR AC T
Kaye Bender 704-904-3221
$565,000
$550,000
$355,000
Park Crossing 28210
Barclay Downs 28211
Newman Manner 28270
Harper Fox 704-804-0101
Linwood Bolles 704-905-5732
A L L E N TAT E S O U T H PA R K
2018 Radcliffe Avenue
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704.889.3301 QueenCityOnline.com/Furniture
H OW Y O U WA N T TO L I V E ...AND WHERE
Charlotte’s SouthPark area is at once posh and polished, urban and inviting. Into this unparalleled setting, we introduce The Barclay at SouthPark. As a resident, you’ll appreciate a finely appointed private apartment in a community of easy elegance. You’ll dine on chef-prepared meals, luxuriate in resort-like amenities, and thrive through individualized programs that emphasize whole-person wellness.
Now accepting Priority Partner reservations. 6 0 1 0 FA I RV I EW ROA D
LIFE PLAN COMMUNITY
C H A R LOT T E , N C 2 8 2 1 0
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B A RC L AYAT S O U T H PA R K . COM
A C o n t i n u u m O f R e t i re m e n t L i v i n g C h o i c e s Fro m T h e L i b e r t y S e n i o r L i v i n g Fa m i l y.
© 2019 Barclay at South Park
SouthPark Office 6857 Fairview Road Charlotte, NC 28210
WAVERLY OFFICE
7415 Waverly Walk Avenue Charlotte, NC 28277
Peggy Peterson Team NATALIE AMALONG 704-287-2823
KIM ANTOLINI 704-608-3831
HEATHER BONNER 704-756-1394
KATY BRADFIELD 704-965-5968
MAren BRISSON-KUESTER 704-287-7072
COOK | PIZZO TEAM 704-236-1135
MELANIE COYNE 704-763-8003
LISA EMORY 704-724-3504
SHERYL HALLOW 704-907-1144
CHRISTY HOWEY 704-996-0484
WENDY KENNEY 704-579-2554
BETH LIVINGSTON 704-778-6831
LIZ M C INTOSH 704-488-6224
ANNA MEDICA 704-620-2047
VALERIE MITCHENER 704-577-8200
RIVERS & CHIP MOON 704-619-9693
PEGGY PETERSON 704-904-6279
JOCELYN ROSE 704-975-9900
STACEY STOLAR 704-400-1539
PETER J. THEVAOS 704-576-5673
MEG WILKINSON 704-906-5747
MARGARET WOOD 704-904-6022
KIMBERLY YOUNG 704-560-1340
SHARON YOXSIMER 704-819-2567
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4400 Parview Drive N | Charlotte 28226 | $3,075,000 | MLS# 3477927 Amy Peterson (704) 533-2090
6433 Greenway Bend Drive | Charlotte 28226 | $1,799,000 | MLS# 3483349 suzAnne And tim severs (704) 564-7345
5421 Hardison Road | Charlotte 28226 | $1,795,000 | MLS# 3483361 Cindy HoPe (704) 506-4191
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blvd. People. Places. Things.
PROVIDED BY PEPPERBOX DOUGHNUTS
SOMETHING SWEET A
fter six years of selling out of their doughnuts at pop-up markets around the city, Charlotte natives Alex Beebe and Nate DeVillers have finally opened the doors of their first brick-and-mortar location. Pepperbox Doughnuts opened in early May in South End’s Design District. The rotating menu of yeast-raised doughnuts includes innovative flavors such as blackberry candied kiwi, rhubarb vanilla bean and Mexican hot chocolate, as well as standbys including plain and chocolate-glazed varieties that the duo has perfected over time. Vegan options will be offered, along with coffee, tea and other nonalcoholic beverages to pair with your sweet treats. Stop by to order one (or more likely, a dozen) at this new retail location, just across the alley from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream. pepperbox.co — Alicia Valenski
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Friday Nights at Camp North End
Through October, you can kick off your weekend at the Boileryard with the 2019 season of Friday Nights at Camp North End. Fridays from 5-10 p.m., plan to meet up with friends or bring the whole family to hang out on swing benches, watch the sunset and listen to live music. The rain-or-shine event takes
Seeing Red
place outside under the twinkly lights or inside the former Ford factory building, depending on the weather. On-site food trucks keep you satiated, and expect a few surprises — including crafts and movie nights — throughout the season. To get there, type “1824 Statesville Ave.” into your GPS and get ready for a night of free community fun. facebook.com/campnorthend — Alicia Valenski 28
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PROVIDED BY NC RED/CAMP NORTH END
The wait is finally over for Charlotte restaurateur Bruce Moffett’s newest spot: N.C. Red is now open in the former Penguin Drive-In (later Comida) space in Plaza Midwood. Enhanced by the designs of local mural artist Randall Kane, N.C. Red joins Moffett’s popular lineup that includes Barrington’s, Good Food on Montford and Stagioni. The menu features “Northern shore food with a Southern twist” and includes clams and oysters prepared four different ways; steamed mussels; and Nashville Hot or classic fried chicken from Springer Mountain Farms. “Fixin’s” include Southern staples such as buttermilk biscuits, hoppin john and corn pudding. Also on the menu: flash-fried “Point Judith Calamari” with pepper jelly, poached crab salad and a lobster roll. Johnson & Wales grad Andrew Dodd joins Moffett as a partner and executive chef of N.C. Red. The restaurant is open for dinner only Tuesday-Saturday. Future plans call for lunch and Sunday brunch service. Walk-ins only. ncredclt.com
Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden celebrates its 20th anniversary with an awe-inspiring, larger-than-life botanical glass exhibit, Grandiflora: Gamrath Glass at the Garden. Guests will be mesmerized by hundreds of pieces of glass making up dozens of installations by Seattle-based artist Jason Gamrath. Towering 10-foot orchids, vivid pitcher plants, energetic Venus flytraps and more will be on display.
Grandiflora by Day Daily, May 24 – Sept. 29 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Grandiflora by Night
Photo by Lumina Studio
Thursday – Sunday, May 30 – Sept. 29 6 - 10 p.m.
6500 S. New Hope Road Belmont, NC 28012 (704) 825-4490 www.DSBG.org
|blvd.
The same Foxcroft Wine Co. you know and love from Dilworth and SouthPark expects to open its third Charlotte location — its fourth overall — in Waverly by September. Like Foxcroft’s other spots, the Waverly location will offer a massive list of both wines by the glass and bottles from around the globe, as well as a mouthwatering menu of bites that includes flatbreads, truffle fries with herbs and parmesan, and house-made signature dark chocolates. Unique to the Waverly location will be a charcoal grill, which owner Conrad Hunter plans to use to unveil a new selection of menu items only available at this new spot. foxcroftwine.com — Alicia Valenski
Picks for Dad
If you’re wrestling with Father’s Day gift ideas, Charlotte’s own Blackhawk Hardware has you covered with a few picks for this month’s holiday. For the backyard chef: Ogre Sauce: Mike “Ogre” Weeks started the Charlotte-based business with two childhood friends, basing the all-purpose BBQ sauce on his grandmother’s recipe. Customers use the tangy sauce on ribs, wings, tofu, pizza — even pineapple — and more. Available in hot and mild, $9.99 For the tailgater: Weber Q1200 LP Tabletop Grill: This sturdy, portable gas grill packs big-grill features in a compact size. $209 For the sportsman: Yeti Hopper Backflip 24 Backpack Cooler: With a capacity of 31 cans with 12 pounds of ice, this soft-sided cooler is perfect for fishing or camping excursions — or just lounging and day-drinking at the lake or beach. $299.99
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Blackhawk Hardware is located at 4225 Park Road in Park Road Shopping Center. blackhawkhardware.com
KYO NAM PHOTOGRAPHY
Wine in Waverly
CE L E BRAT I N G S U CC E S S
ED BAESEL
CHRIS BLACK
LUCY BUTLER
THE CRAIG & ALLEN TEAM
THE FAGAN TEAM
LINDA HENLEY
CATHERINE HOUGHLAND
THE HUNEYCUTT TEAM
CHIP JETTON
LAW TEAM
BECKY MCGRATH
CECELIA MCNORRILL
LINDSAY REDFERN
LISA RUPP
LISA WARREN
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|blvd.
Gift Exchange W
PROVIDED BY PAPER SKYSCRAPER
hen the previous owners of Dilworth’s beloved Paper Skyscraper started thinking about retiring, they were a little nervous about what would happen to the 30-year-old gift shop, according to new owner Bill Godwin. “They couldn’t just close — they wanted to find the right people,” says Bill, who grew up in Myers Park and bought the 5,000-square-foot store with his wife, Sybil, in April. The couple, both 38, had heard through the grapevine the store might be for sale. Tim Hamilton and Ron Wootten founded the popular business in 1989, initially selling architecture books and later adding greeting cards, stationery, candles and a multitude of uncommon gifts for all occasions. “Part of what makes the store unique is that it’s not a multilocation behemoth,” Bill says. “The store focuses a lot of effort on local products, both from Charlotte and the Carolinas. It’s got gifts for everyone.” Though Sybil will be less involved in the day-to-day operations — her job as owner and operator of Shain Gallery on Selwyn Avenue keeps her plenty busy — Bill says her eye for art will be invaluable in selecting new products so customers can discover new things whenever they visit. Bill is leaving his job as a relationship manager at Fifth Third Bank to run the store, while Ron and Tim plan to stay on as consultants over the next year. “Ron and Tim — and Patsy — are not going anywhere anytime soon,” Bill says, referring to the Goldendoodle who greets visitors at the East Boulevard shop. “We want to maintain the integrity and culture of the store and keep it going for many, many years to come,” he says. When the former owners — and Patsy — eventually step away from the business, things might not seem that different after all. “Sybil and I have commenced the search for our own Patsy,” Bill says. — Cathy Martin
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My Favorite Things ...
I
n this new feature, we ask a Charlotte tastemaker to share his or her best-loved vendors, restaurants, getaways and other other can’t-livewithout-it obsessions. This month, we feature Whitley Adkins Hamlin of the Queen City Style, a wardrobe stylist and personal shopper and a regular contributor to SouthPark magazine. “I love nostalgia and anything that triggers a happy memory or creates a happy feeling. While this city continues to grow and become more exciting every day, these things are a nod to some of my favorite Charlotte feels, then and now.”
Place to stop and stare: I call on the fellas at Taylor, Richards & Conger for almost all things related to men’s fashion and style. If you’ve been there, you know. They’re totally dialed in — not just the haberdashery‚ but the whole package: clothes, accoutrements, charm, know-how, style and grace. 6907 Phillips Place Court Hair did: I’ve been going to Aurora Casteen at Borealis Salon as long as I’ve been in Charlotte, 18 years. At this point, she’s more like a sister than a therapist. She’s got that whole cool, underthe-radar thing going on. 1317 Berkeley Avenue Place to grab a beer: Long before Michael Brawley installed a taproom 34
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you are right in Chef Grigo’s kitchen. I have never been to Italy, but if this is what it feels like to be welcomed into someone’s home for a magnificent feast, I’d like to have my own cot and pillow in the back. 4219 Providence Road
in 2014, Brawley’s Beverage was the place to get good craft beer by the bottle — and way back in the day, kegs for those wild weekend parties. Like an old classic home in one of Charlotte’s great neighborhoods, this is one of those oldschool places that has undergone exciting change all while maintaining its overall cool integrity. 4620 Park Road Portrait photographer: There is so much talent in this city, and I am lucky to have worked with a lot of them. But if I had to pick one, it would be Richard Israel. I’m not even sure I recognize myself when I look at the pictures he has taken of me, but thanks to Richard (and makeup artist Cali Stott) I feel pretty when I do. Artistic talent and style like no other and most of all, a gem of a human being and the most fun! richardisrael.com Intimate meal: After ten years as executive chef for the Conte Restaurant Group (spots include Toscana and Luce), Gabriele Grigolon opened Aqua e Vino, an intimate, cozy, romantic space in Strawberry Hill. The island in the middle of this tiny restaurant used for slicing fresh meats and cheese gives you the feel
Weekend cocktail spot: My parent’s house in Myers Park — mainly because this means I am getting some much appreciated help with my two wild boys (Hank, 11, and Worth, 8), and a little TLC. My stepfather knows my love language on a Friday night — he makes me the best dirty martini in the city, right when I walk through the door. Summertime family fun: Growing up in Asheville, I went to Sliding Rock in Pisgah National Forest often with my family and later with friends once we learned to drive. I took my boys last summer for the first time, and it was just as much fun now as it was then. After you slide, stop at Dolly’s Dairy Bar for ice cream. Rent a house in Brevard and enjoy the shops and restaurants in the cozy downtown. Super fun for all. Run: It gets super hot running the roads of Charlotte in the summer, so this is my favorite time of year to hit the 13-mile Back Yard Trail in the deep-canopied woods across from the Marion Diehl Recreation Center near SouthPark. Maintained by the Tarheel TrailBlazers, a local mountain-bike club, the trails are woodsy and technical, with several black diamond routes. Expect to get lost your first few times running … which is actually kinda fun. TarheelTrailBlazers.com
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9715 A. Sam Furr Road 704.896.9626
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9405 East independence Blvd. 704.708.4223
111523-D Carolina Place Parkway 704.527.5510
CHARLOTTE - OUTLET STORE 5419 Monroe Road • 980.505.8440
|blvd.
TO-DO
LIST
Xx
JUNE
5/30 - 6/23 6/9
6/15
6/16
6/25-30
What do you get when you cross Saturday Night Live, Broadway and the Queen City? Charlotte Squawks, of course. For 15 hilarious years, this group of talented local performers have come together to crack jokes about pop culture, sports, politics and life. Spend a side-splitting night at the group’s Quackceañera at the Booth Playhouse. Tickets start at $24.50.
Whether you prefer swimming, kayaking or stand-up paddleboarding, you can make a splash at the second annual Catawba River Races at the U.S. National Whitewater Center. All you have to do is decide whether you want to participate in a competitive or recreational race, then register for the division of your choice. Spectators welcome. Registration is $35 per race in advance, $42 on race day. usnwc.org
Spend Father’s Day on a musical journey to a galaxy far, far away at Charlotte Symphony Summer Pops, Star Wars: The Music. Bring your dad, your kiddos or any other Star Wars aficionados in your life to Symphony Park at SouthPark Mall to hear your favorite scores from this beloved series, conducted by Christopher James Lees. Other Summer Pops concerts include The Music of Queen, Saturday, June 8 at Belk Theater, and the Best of Broadway, Sunday, June 23 at Symphony Park. Ticket prices vary. For other concert dates visit charlottesymphony.org.
The beloved musical FALSETTOS by William Finn and James Lapine is back with an all-new production, which will air nationwide on PBS this fall. See the cast perform FALSETTOS live in Charlotte at the Knight Theater at Levine Center for the Arts. Tickets start at $25. blumenthalarts.org
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Celebrate the best of Broadway at the Blumenthal Performing Arts 15th Annual Tony Awards Viewing Party at McGlohon Theater at Spirit Square. WBTV’s Kristen Miranda hosts the free event — watch the awards live on the big screen while enjoying complimentary nonalcoholic beverages and light bites. Don’t forget to have your photo taken on the red carpet with a real Tony Award before night’s end.
COURTESY CHARLOTTE SYMPHONY
THIS MONTH’S FIVE ESSENTIAL DATES
LOVE STORY.
SouthPark Office 6857 Fairview Road Charlotte, NC 28210
WAVERLY OFFICE
7415 Waverly Walk Avenue Charlotte, NC 28277
MYERS PARK
HIGHGATE
QUAIL HOLLOW
DOVEWOOD
2201 Sherwood Avenue
6063 Foggy Glen Place
7912 Baltusrol Lane
3344 Leamington Lane
Beautifully renovated | 5BR/3.1BA $2,350,000
5BR/4.2BA | Pool & spa | 0.92 acre $1,199,900
6BR/7.2BA | 2+ acres | Private estate $1,899,000
6BR/6.3BA | Gated community | Pool $2,425,000
UNDER CONTRACT
4.5 ACRES | WATERFRONT LOT
COTSWOLD
FLETCHER CREEK
DILWORTH
LAKE NORMAN
144 S. Canterbury Road
9818 Genevieve Court
420 E. Worthington Ave.
12301 Culpepper Court, #14
Custom | 4BR/5BA | Wonderful bkyd $1,675,000
4BR/4.1BA | Screened porch, Pool $925,000
5BR/4.1BA | Detached guest cottage $1,200,000
700 ft. shoreline | Private, deep cove $990,000
MYERS PARK
PROVIDENCE COUNTRY CLUB
SOUTHPARK
MYERS PARK
2124 Sherwood Avenue
5710 Providence Country Club Dr.
4030 City Homes Place
2908 Rockbrook Drive
Renovate or build | 5BR/4.2BA $1,550,000
Golf course lot | 4BR/4.2BA | Pool $899,900
Luxury townhome | 3BR/3.1BA $725,000
3BR/2.1BA | End-unit condo | Garage $629,000
VALERIE MITCHENER 704-577-8200
PEGGY PETERSON 704-904-6279
BETH LIVINGSTON 704-778-6831
CHRISTY HOWEY 704-996-0484
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SouthPark Office 6857 Fairview Road Charlotte, NC 28210
WAVERLY OFFICE
7415 Waverly Walk Avenue Charlotte, NC 28277
1 ACRE GOLF COURSE LOT
29+ ACRES | WATERFRONT
LAKE NORMAN
MYERS PARK
SEVEN EAGLES
MYERS PARK
8151 Energy Lane, Catawba
2634 Sharon Road
8413 Eagle Glen
3423 Selwyn Avenue
Gated | 5BR/5.3BA | Pool & spa $3,990,000
Completely updated | 5BR/4.1BA $850,000
Spectacular estate | 5BR/5.1BA | Pool 4BR/4.1BA | Overlooks MPCC golf course $1,449,999 $3,900,000
CARMEL PARK
ROYDEN
CARMEL ESTATES
PROVENCE on PROVIDENCE
5501 Carmel Park Drive
4148 Moorland Drive
5921 Masters Court
8823 Provence Village Lane
Beautiful 1.76 acre lot $1,399,000
5BR/3.1BA | Bonus Room | Flat backyard $810,000
1+ acre golf course lot | 5BR/5.1BA $2,500,000
Luxury townhome | 3BR/2.1BA $574,900
MYERS PARK
UNDER CONTRACT
FOXCROFT EAST
SOUTH CHARLOTTE
ASHTON RIDGE
3111 Valencia Terrace
5312 Huntwell Commons Lane
6822 Providence Lane West
2933 Park Road
0.52 acre | Finished basement $1,199,000
Fabulous 3 story townhome | Elevator $795,000
New construction | 4BR/3.1BA $785,000
Renovated | 3BR/2BA | Screened porch $534,900
MEREDITH TOMASCAK 704-806-7650
PATTY HENDRIX 704-577-2066
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SUSAN MAY 704-650-7432
h m p ro p e r t i es .c o m
ELIZABETH M C NABB 704-763-8713
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491 DEEP WATER DRIVE | WINDING RIVER PLANTATION 4 BD/6 FULL BA/2 HALF BA | 6,944 SQFT | OFFERED AT $1,485,000 If you are looking for both lifestyle and privacy, this breathtaking riverfront estate is located in one of coastal North Carolina’s most distinctive residential resort communities, Winding River Plantation, which features a Freddie Couples Signature Golf Course and Club, a waterfront Riverhouse and Marina plus a private Beach Club with oceanfront Pool. This resort-like oasis presents a lifestyle desirable for the most discerning of buyers. Coastal Brunswick County, NC
302 N DRY STREET | SOUTHPORT, NC 28461 3 BD/2 FULL BA/ 1 HALF BA | 2,116 SQFT | OFFERED AT $774,900
56 PLANTATION PASSAGE | WINDING RIVER PLANTATION 4 BD /3 FULL BA /1 HALF BA | 4,392 SQFT | OFFERED AT $839.000
If there was ever a home that ‘’had it all’’ this is it! An exceptional location; in the heart of downtown Southport on one of the original 100 lots. Just across the street is historic Franklin Square Park where many events are held under the canopy of 200+ year old Live Oaks. And just a short walk to restaurants, quaint shops, and the waterfront. A unique style; it is evident as you walk up the paver walk that this property is different. You know it was built in 2015 but it looks just like a home built 100 years ago.
If you’re ready for the ‘wow’ factor, this could be your new home! There’s nothing like driving home along a picturesque drive and walking into this very custom, spacious home and being greeted by the beautiful outdoors through the massive windows. You’ll enjoy the relaxing with a drink on the deck while watching the water from the Lockwood Folly river swiftly pass by, the vibrant colors of the marsh, the meticulous landscaping and the spectacular sunsets. If you’re interested in boating, any water toys could be waiting for you on your boatlift and dock.
ROBERT CARROLL
DONNA FINDLAY
PAM LAWRENCE
910.465.2717 robert@robertcarrollproperties.com
910.269.3049 dfindlayrealtor@gmail.com
910.233.3333 pam@realestatecoast.com
319 North Howe Street | Southport, NC 28461 | www.southerncoastagents.com
|queen city journal
Lessons From My Father GENEROSITY, PATIENCE AND MARTINIS WITH A TWIST — A WRITER’S REMEMBRANCE IN HONOR OF FATHER’S DAY.
I
BY MICHAEL J. SOLENDER
think of my father most often early in the mornings. Many years ago, when I was a teen, it was in those pre-dawn hours that we connected so deeply, our Minneapolis home dark and shuttered as my mom and two older brothers clung to another hour of sleep as tightly as plastic wrap on a microwave burger at the 7-11. I’d inherited my father’s fondness for rising before the sun, and we developed a quiet ritual of coffee and breakfast before the others arose. It was our time to simply read the morning paper, the silence punctuated by the complaint of the furnace or a corny joke he told, usually for the millionth time — though I laughed anyway because I knew he wanted me to. It was then he showed me how to flip eggs over easy, and I convinced him that yes, chocolate chips do belong in pancakes. My dad never played catch with me in the yard. We never went fishing or camped out under the stars. He didn’t help me with my homework, take my side in arguments with my brothers, or give me “the talk” about what happens in the spring when young men’s thoughts turned to “fancy.” Despite these fatherly transgressions, ones I perceived more grievous in my youth than I do today, he was
always there for me and became a role model I strive to emulate today. When I was 17 and a junior in high school, I wanted desperately to skip my senior year and gain early acceptance into college as my best friend had done. My father was adamant in his denial of this “foolish notion,” citing immaturity over intellect as an obstacle to my ultimate success. He was right, of course, and I learned that seasoning and perspective came with experience, a commodity Dad taught me to value. During my four years at college, I was amazed at how much my father learned, as the saying goes, and in my case, it could not have been truer. Learning how much I didn’t know was a lesson he taught me not by pointing out my minimal exposure to life’s mysteries but by demonstrating how being curious and open to new people and experiences could illuminate and reward. One day, I came home from school to find my father sharing a beer at the kitchen table with a large man sporting a bushy upside-down “U” of a mustache, chomping on an unlit cigar only slightly smaller than my arm. The two joked like old friends, though the guest was a stranger to me and spoke in broken English with a heavy Cuban accent. His name was Luis Tiant, a famed Major League Baseball pitcher who
starred for the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox. Tiant played a single season for the Minnesota Twins, and there he was one late afternoon in my kitchen, cutting up with my father. Dad, who ran his own business selling commercial HVAC systems, had played in a golf tournament with Tiant and invited him home afterward. When I asked Dad how he had the gumption to invite this superstar to the house, he simply told me, “I just asked him. Extend yourself to experience new and exciting things — they don’t just come southparkmagazine.com | 41
|queen city journal to you unless you make them happen.” Dad also taught me to respect ritual, and how ceremony can cement both occasions and relationships. After I took my first professional job out of college as a recruiter and found myself on assignment in New York City, Dad insisted on hosting me for our first father-son cocktail at a “real lounge.” He and my mom were on vacation in the city, and he arranged to meet me at the fabled Oyster Bar in the basement of Grand Central Station. The NYC institution is a true guys haunt, where the bartenders wear black ties and crisp white linen coats while Sinatra provides the soundtrack and trains rumble overhead. He ordered us each a martini, straight up, with an olive and a twist — my preference to this day. “To you, Mikey-boy,” he said. “The world awaits your success.” I discovered then how the right setting, accompanied by a few choice words, can make an everlasting impact. With that cocktail, in that bar, and at
“Extend yourself to experience new and exciting things — they don’t just come to you unless you make them happen.” — Lou Solender
that moment, our relationship was on a new plane. It’s been more than two decades since my father passed. Of all the lessons I learned from him, it was his joy for life and championing of others I’ve come to revere most. Life was one great big apple for Lou Solender, and he wanted everyone — especially his wife and kids — to have a huge bite every single day. I saw how, with a discreet phone call or two, he opened doors for my mom as she started her own business late in life. He always bragged on his kids, not in an obnoxious way, but rather with pride and a bit of vicarious enjoyment at each of our successes. My dad was all about whisker rubs, bear hugs and family meals where we celebrated each other’s accomplishments. He gave more than he got, because the joy he received from giving of himself was the fuel that fired him for 78 years. What better legacy can a father leave his son? SP
HOME. OUR PLACE. YOUR CHILD’S PLACE.
, MD, L to R: Kerry Van Voorhis nce caring for your child: n, MD Bea l hae Mic , MD With over 90 years experie Shulstad, ey Scannell, MD , Andrew Stephanie Richter, MD, Kas
FA MI LIE S NO W AC CE PT IN G NE W Novant Health Pediatrics Symphony Park 704-384-9966 | 6010 Carnegie Blvd Charlotte, NC 28209 nhpediatricssymphonypark.org
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Pediatrics Symphony Park
SouthPark Office 6857 Fairview Road Charlotte, NC 28210
WAVERLY OFFICE
7415 Waverly Walk Ave Charlotte, NC 28277
MYERS PARK
LIZ M C INTOSH 704-488-6224
2241 Pinewood Circle A true gem | 4BR/4.2BA | Private corner lot $2,395,000
MAMMOTH OAKS
HEATHER GIBBS
5827 Preston Lane Open plan | 5BR/4.1BA | Pool | 0.87 acre $1,625,000
704-975-9485
SOUTHPARK
KIMBERLY YOUNG 704-560-1340
5731 Closeburn Road Simonini custom home | 4BR/4.1BA $1,600,000
SEDGEWOOD PLACE
STEVEN CHABEREK
1015 Sedgewood Place Court Custom home | 6BR/6.1BA | Cul-de-sac lot $1,399,000 | Co-listed: Valerie Mitchener
704-577-4205
COTSWOLD RETREAT
SHARON HILLS
LISA WILFONG 704-909-5062
6086 Saint John Lane Custom details | 4BR/3.1BA | Screened porch $999,000
BRIDGET GRAVES
1032 N. Sharon Amity Road Great plan | 5BR/4BA | Gourmet kitchen $799,900
704-560-2311
SOUTHPARK | PIEDMONT ROW
SOUTHPARK
STACEY STOLAR 704-400-1539
5446 Sharon View Road Former model | 4BR/4.1BA | Media & Rec Rm $775,000
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MELANIE COYNE
4625 Piedmont Row Drive, #408 Covered balcony | 2BR/2BA | Nice views $260,000
704-763-8003
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|simple life
Life and Limb MY CABINS IN THE SKY
O
BY JIM DODSON
ne of my secret pleasures is a mind-candy house program on Animal Planet called Treehouse Masters, in which an infectiously enthusiastic house designer and self-described “tree whisperer” named Pete Nelson and his merry band of workers create mind-boggling treehouse retreats for clients. His stated mission is to help customers get back to nature and in touch with their inner kid. It’s a pure fantasy show that combines three of my favorite things — houses, trees and memories of climbing them during my childhood. It was probably inevitable for a kid who grew up on a diet of adventure books, and camping and hiking forests all over the western portions of this state and neighboring Virginia, that I would eventually get around to building a treehouse, especially after I saw Disney’s 1960 version of Swiss Family Robinson. The shipwrecked but enterprising Robinson clan lashed together a furnished treehouse palace that featured running water from a turning wheel, thatchroofed bedrooms, a full-service kitchen and salvaged ship’s wheel that raised the ladder each evening to protect against wild animals or unwelcome visitors. They lived with a pair of large friendly dogs and a parrot and even had a piano that somehow survived the shipwreck. In my opinion, those lucky Robinsons had the perfect life. Of course, I was only 7, a kid who’d had a happy but fairly solitary life building forts in the woods and reading adventure books, the son of a Southern newspaperman who hauled his young family across the Deep South to his various posts before coming permanently home to Greensboro
in 1959 — shortly before the shipwrecked Robinsons showed up in Cinemascope on the big screen. My first treehouse was a distinctly modest platform affair — more lookout stand that actual shelter. Perched in a patch of hardwoods in a public park across the street from the apartment we rented while our first house was being built in a rural subdivision, it was probably illegal. But so were the Robinsons. You reached the platform by inching up a thick-knotted rope. The platform was probably only 10 feet off the ground, but it felt amazingly close to heaven in the trees, the ideal place for me to sit and read and keep an eye out for wild animals or unwanted visitors. At the rear of our new property, my father knocked together an impressive one-room treehouse he furnished with a second-hand dining-room table, four mismatched chairs and an old rickety bookcase. I spent a year furnishing that rustic pied-à-terre in the sky with my favorite childhood books and “interesting” stuff I found all over creation until one regrettable summer afternoon I found three girls from the neighborhood having an unauthorized tea party with their dolls in my cherished aerie. Without thinking of the consequences, I fetched a garden hose to cool off the party and quickly felt the wrath of several outraged mothers, hastening the demise of my beloved place on high. That’s why, when I stumbled across Treehouse Masters, my inner child was set loose from detention. The New Age treehouses Pete Nelson and his crew create are elaborate affairs that make the industrious Robinsons look like rank beginners. They typically include all the creature comforts of the modern Earth-bound home and then
some: fancy woodstoves and electric lights; flush toilets and outdoor showers; kitted-out gourmet kitchens; and decks with breathtaking views from high in the trees, rivaling anything you would find in a swanky vacation home. My favorite segment of the show, however, is when the host calls on fellow treehouse nuts who have created their own unique handcrafted cabins in the sky, retreats that display incredible craftsmanship, artistry and ecological harmony. One I particularly enjoyed involved a bearded chap who built himself a gorgeous treehouse that was more like a storybook chapel over a stony brook in the Connecticut woods. It was essentially a meditation and reading room with large windows, a simple desk, woodstove, small functioning kitchen and a room where he could sit for hours watching nature through the seasons, forgetting the rest of the world. His was a slightly more elaborate version of the treehouse I fully intended to someday create in the forest behind the post-and-beam house I helped build with my own hands on a forested hill in Maine. The spot — on a beautiful hillside deep among hemlock and birch and southparkmagazine.com | 45
|simple life proximate to geologic kettles left by the receding ice age — overlooked a seasonal stream and vernal pool dominated by a large lichen-covered stone that I named my “Thinking Rock.” This is where the transcendental kid in me often escaped with my dogs to read, think, smoke a pipe and get right with God and nature. The bittersweet irony is that the forested retreat I long had in mind never got off the ground, so to speak, because, in the blink of an eye, my own kids were grown and heading off to college, and I was feeling an unexpected gravitational pull of my old Carolina home. Impossible as it once seemed, I said goodbye to the rugged timbered house and English garden-in-the-woods that I spent nearly two decades building and cultivating, a place where I fully expected to end my days and eventually become part of the landscape when who I am moved on, leaving only a trail of ashes behind. But life, to paraphrase Emerson, is
full of compensations. A few years back, my wife and I purchased a lovely old bungalow that once upon a time was my favorite house in the heavily forested neighborhood where I grew up — two doors away, in fact, from the house where my family lived for almost 40 years. I joke that I’ve all but completed the Sacred Redneck Circle of Life. A large part of the place’s allure, I must admit, was the two-car and workshop garage in back that featured a funky little second-floor apartment you reach by climbing a set of rickety wooden steps that take you to rooftop height amid century-old white oak trees. Because the house sits on perhaps the highest point in the entire neighborhood, the first time I climbed those steps and turned around to check out the view, my heart leapt like a kid up a tree. From just under the white oak canopy that reminded me of the arched ceiling of a medieval cathedral — providing wonderful cooling shade all summer — I
Cynthia Pensiero-DeFazio Licensed Realtor NC/SC
980-253-4549
2018 Top 100 Agents for CLOSED VOLUME Company Wide! Tate Luxury Certified “
Happy Father’s Day!
could see the world with a bird’s-eye-view: vaulting trees and rooftops across the neighborhood, not to mention birds and squirrels galore, passing clouds, a huge patch of sky by day, a glorious quilt of stars by night. Suddenly, I had the treehouse I’d always dreamed of owning, this one equipped with electric power and heat, a small kitchenette, and a bathroom with fully functioning toilet and shower. The cheap dark-wood paneling gives it a perfect rustic air and a couple of overhead fans keeps the place cool in summer. If it isn’t quite worthy of Treehouse Masters, it fits me like lichens on a thinking rock. Just outside the door, I hung a large set of Canterbury chimes from a stout limb of the massive white oak at the foot of the steps. When the wind blows a certain way, I swear I hear the first five notes of “Amazing Grace.” These days, if you visit my “treehouse,” you will find a pair of comfortable reading chairs (one of which my dog Mulligan occupies when she’s officially on duty), several bookcases filled with favorite books, a French baker’s table where I write, a wicker daybed where I sometimes seek horizontal inspiration on late afternoons, various vintage posters and prints I’ve collected from four decades of journalism and travel, a cabinet case filled with some of my own books and a few awards, a second cabinet that holds “Uncle Jimmy’s Genuine Real Stuff Museum,” framed photos of my children, and a pair of large rare portraits of Walter Hagen and young Fidel Castro. There are themed lamps (a blue coat soldier, a Bengali elephant, a monkey climbing a palm tree), several busts (Ben Franklin, Alexander the Great, a Templar knight), three sets of old golf clubs, a full golf library, several checkered golf flags, and a large replica of the first American flag with thirteen stars in a circle of blue. Nobody in their right mind would want all this stuff in their real house. But like the Swiss Family Robinson, this oddball collection from a long journey home has finally found the perfect place in my cabin in the sky. SP
Contact Jim Dodson at jim@thepilot.com. 46
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SOUTHPARK
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© 2019 Cresswind is a registered trademark of Kolter Homes. Prices, homesites, home designs and other information subject to errors, changes, omissions, deletions, availability prior sales and withdrawal at any time without notice.
KCC19_003_AD_7-5x4-834_SouthPark.indd 1
southparkmagazine.com | 47 1/31/19 5:15 PM
Selling in: Towns on Central in Plaza Midwood & 36th & Holt in NoDa sheaurban.com
New Townhomes near uptown Charlotte located in Plaza Midwood & NoDa From the mid $300’s - $500’s 1,614 - 2,529 sq ft; 2 - 3 Beds; Flex rooms 3-story townhomes; 3 plans to choose from 9’ ceilings throughout; modern, on-trend finishes Covered Terrace, attached 2-car Garage Quick Move-in Homes available
Sales conducted from our Shea Urban sales office Towns on Central: 2329 Central Ave Charlotte, 28205 | 36th & Holt: 1168 E 36th St Charlotte, 28205 Shea Urban sales office: 601 S. Kings Dr Suite EE Charlotte 28204 | Sun/Mon: 1 - 6: Tue - Sat: 11 - 6 sheaurban.com | 980.293.5886 Sales: Shea Group Services, LLC DBA Shea Realty (NC: C21630), (SC: 10424). Construction: Shea Builders, LLC, NC: 68875, SC: G116074. This is not an offer of real estate for sale, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, to residents of any state or province in which registration and other legal requirements have not been fullled. Pricing does not include options, elevation, or lot premiums, effective date of publication and subject to change without notice. All square footages and measurements are approximate and subject to change without notice. Trademarks are property of their respective owners. Equal Housing Opportunity. Photos depict virtually staged furniture and accessories not available from Seller, and designer features, optional items and other upgrades that may be available from Seller at additional cost.
M McShane Partners W E A LT H & I N V E S T M E N T A DV I S O RY
Now Open
NEW RETIREMENT RESIDENCES AT WINDSOR RUN ARE SELLING QUICKLY! Beech Hollow, the new residence building at Windsor Run, features: • Open, airy floor plans with elegant finishes • Easy access to the restaurants, amenities, and services Call 1-866-462-6351 to see these Matthews apartment homes in person.
Presenting the new residences at Windsor Run:
Matthews WindsorRunCommunity.com
13403048
Beech Hollow
southparkmagazine.com | 49
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4830 Randolph Road, Charlotte, NC 28211 Overture is an equal housing opportunity. Amenities and services vary by location. Photo of Overture resident(s). See a Greystar representative for details.
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|bookshelf
June Books NEW PICKS FOR DISCRIMINATING READERS
FICTION
The Summer Guests, by Mary Alice Monroe
When a hurricane threatens the coasts of Florida and South Carolina, an eclectic group of evacuees flee for the farm of their friends, Grace and Charles Phillips, in Tryon, North Carolina. They find the Phillips’ daughter, Moira, and her rescue dogs; famed equestrian Javier Angel de la Cruz; makeup artist Hannah McLain; horse breeder Gerda Klug and her daughter, Elise; and another island resident, Cara Rutledge. They bring with them only the few treasured possessions they can fit in their vehicles. Strangers to all but the Phillipses, they ride out the storm together. During the course of one of the most challenging weeks of their lives, relationships are put to the test as the evacuees are forced to confront the unresolved issues they have with themselves and with each other.
The Electric Hotel, by Dominic Smith
Aging mastermind Claude Ballard, the innovative filmmaker behind a lost masterpiece of silent film, The Electric Hotel, lives in a rundown Los Angeles hotel. He lives out his days walking the hills, foraging for mushrooms, attending to an elderly actress and largely ignoring the decaying film canisters surrounding him. When a curious student working on his dissertation interviews Claude, the original film and stories spanning decades and continents are unearthed. You will be mesmerized by this work of historical fiction.
The Snakes, by Sadie Jones
Bea and Dan, a young couple seeking respite from their London life, travel to Paris to spend time with Bea’s brother, Alex, in the rundown hotel her parents purchased for him. Opening the door to the hotel opens a door to the family from which Bea has long tried to distance herself. Insanely rich, dabbling in dangerous play, and with twisted ideas about familial love, Bea and Dan find themselves drawn deeper and deeper into something they never wanted. Quietly terrifying, Jones’ writing grabs the reader on page one and, no matter how much you want to look away from the downward spiral of Bea and Dan’s fate, each page demands to be turned until the hammer falls.
Recursion, by Blake Crouch
The author of the best-selling Dark Matter returns with the story of New York City cop Barry Sutton investigating the devastating phenomenon the media has dubbed False Memory Syndrome — a mysterious affliction that drives its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived. As Sutton searches for the truth, he comes face to face with an opponent more terrifying than any disease, a force that attacks not just our minds but the very fabric of the past.
Paris, 7 A.M., by Liza Wieland
In June 1937, Elizabeth Bishop, still a young woman and not yet one of the most influential poets of the 20th century, arrives in France with her college roommates. They are in search of an escape and inspiration far from the protective world of Vassar College, where they were expected
to find impressive husbands and a quiet life and act accordingly. But the world is changing, and as they explore the City of Lights, larger threats of fascism and occupation loom. There, they meet a community of upper-crust expatriates who not only bring them along on a life-changing adventure but also into an underground world of rebellion that will quietly alter the course of Elizabeth’s life forever.
Summer of ’69, by Elin Hilderbrand
It’s 1969, and for the Levin family, the times they are a-changing. Every year, the children have looked forward to spending the summer at their grandmother’s historic home on Nantucket. But like so much else in America, nothing is the same. Blair, the oldest sister, is marooned in Boston, pregnant with twins and unable to travel. Middle sister Kirby, caught up in the thrilling vortex of civil-rights protests and determined to be independent, takes a summer job on Martha’s Vineyard. Only son Tiger is an infantry soldier, recently deployed to Vietnam. Thirteenyear-old Jessie suddenly feels like an only child, marooned in the house with her out-of-touch grandmother and her worried mother, each of them hiding a troubling secret. As the summer heats up, Ted Kennedy drives a car off a single lane bridge in Chappaquiddick, man lands on the moon, and Jessie and her family experience their own dramatic upheavals along with the rest of the country. SP
Selected by Kimberly Daniels Taws, president of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance southparkmagazine.com | 53
2059 HOPEDALE AVENUE | MYERS PARK | $2,550,000 Nestled in the heart of Myers Park this spacious 6 Bed/6.1 Bath home was built by Alan Simonini in 2005. The excellent floor plan has perfect flow with traditional formal rooms plus family room open to kitchen and breakfast area. Lovely master suite with sitting area, large bath and walk-in closet. Secondary bedrooms each have direct access to baths. Exceptional space on the third floor in recreation room with bar, separate office and full bath. Lower level/basement has game room, media room, 5th bedroom and bath; wine cellar and bar. Lovely outdoor space with pool, spa and patio. Pool/guest house is 2 stories with entertaining space down and additional bedroom, bath and kitchen upstairs. Convenient side entrance under porte cochere. MLS# 3486917
SHARON & JIMMY ROUNTREE S: 704.608.0448 J: 704.608.8656 srountree@dickensmitchener.com jrountree@dickensmitchener.com RealtorsÂŽ/Brokers
Your Best Source for Residential Real Estate.
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YOUR BEST SOURCE FOR RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE
$4,900,000 | 6 Bed/5.3 Bath | MLS# 3484908
7214 BALTUSROL LANE | QUAIL HOLLOW
This classic custom home is located on the 15th fairway of the Quail Hollow Club golf course. The welcoming foyer provides expansive views through the French doors to the covered porch. The main floor offers a study with custom built-ins, large family room with great natural light, a formal dining and well equipped kitchen that features dual islands as well as a large casual dining area. Additionally, there is a family office, exercise room and a guest suite. Dual staircases take you to the oversized Master Suite that features a private balcony, spa-like bathroom and 2 dressing room/closets with custom built-ins. In addition to the large covered porch with an outdoor fireplace, there are 2 terraces to allow plenty of room for outdoor entertaining. This spectacular home has wonderful views of the very popular Quail Hollow golf course. For more information contact Realtor®/Broker Vicky Mitchener at 704.517.0177 or vmitchener@dickensmitchener.com today.
$2,875,000 | 5 Bed/6.2 Bath | MLS# 3496341
4735 CARMEL CLUB DRIVE | TUCKAWAY PARK
Remarkable European Estate in the Carmel Country Club community of Tuckaway Park. From the entryway featuring a grand staircase & marble flooring inlaid with walnut to the outdoor space featuring a saltwater pool, cabana, & outdoor kitchen, you will find that details & design are at the forefront of this custom home. Inside is a wine cellar with an antique stained glass window rescued from old church & a 3D high-def movie theater. Enjoy the chef's kitchen with double islands, double pantries, & subzero refrigerator drawers. The study has a secret door leading to the master bath. Outdoor entertaining could not be better on the screened porch featuring gothic doors & remote screens, a Kalmazoo pizza oven, pool with sundeck & swim jets. Park in the gated motor court with golf cart garage. For more information contact Realtor®/Broker Jeff Murdock at 205.276.6488 or jmurdock@dickensmitchener.com today.
When you choose our Dickens Mitchener team, you are putting your trust in the most talented, experienced and technologically astute Realtors® in the Charlotte region. We are committed to setting new standards for extraordinary customer service as well as providing our clients with intimate community knowledge and expertise. Contact your preferred Dickens Mitchener real estate expert to discover your dream home today!
704.342.1000 | DICKENSMITCHENER.COM
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ART PROVIDED BY THE MINT MUSEUM, COPYRIGHT TONY DITERLIZZI
Dream Big
THE MINT MUSEUM RANDOLPH CELEBRATES THE WILD IMAGINATION OF CHILDREN’S BOOK AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR TONY DITERLIZZI. BY PAGE LEGGETT
C
hildren place no limits on themselves, declaring ambitious plans to become astronauts, movie stars — even the president of the United States. It takes a lot of courage to hold on to the grandiose dreams of childhood. New York Times-bestselling author and illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi made his childhood dream of being a children’s book author and illustrator come true. “It would have been so easy to give up and take a (quote) “real job,” he says. “But I held on to the idea that younger Tony had. It’s not easy to hold on to the pie-in-the-sky dreams of youth.” Today, DiTerlizzi, 49, is one of his generation’s leading authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults. He’s created wildly popular picture books, including The Spider and the Fly, a Caldecott Honor book; chapter books Kenny & the Dragon and the WondLa trilogy; and The Spiderwick Chronicles, a middle-grades series he co-wrote with Holly Black that has sold more than 20 million copies and was made into a 2008 movie featuring Freddie Highmore, Mary-Louise Parker and Nick Nolte. In an uncommon twist, he partnered with Lucasfilm Ltd. to retell the original Star Wars trilogy southparkmagazine.com | 57
The exhibition, which broke attendance records when it premiered last year at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass., includes interactive elements that allow visitors to engage with DiTerlizzi’s whimsical characters. In one area, visitors can curl up with one of DiTerlizzi’s books; another spot allows visitors who feel a sudden creative impulse to sketch their own masterpieces. (Adults: Take note.) “[Illustrators] are not always viewed as artistes,” DiTerlizzi says. “Yet, this is the first visual art we’re exposed to when we’re young.”
CREATIVITY FOR ALL
as a picture book. Whereas typically a book gets adapted as a movie, in this case the perennially popular film franchise was turned into a book. The Mint Museum Randolph will celebrate DiTerlizzi’s artistry with Never Abandon Imagination: The Fantastical Art of Tony DiTerlizzi, the most extensive look at the art of book illustration The Mint has ever done. More than 150 original works will be on view at the exhibit, which opens June 22 and runs through November 3. The artist himself can’t quite believe it. “Take me out of the equation,” he says. “Just the idea of any children’s book illustrator in a museum excites me. Children who might not ever visit a museum may now have the chance to go. And maybe that visit will turn into a lifelong love of the arts.” 58
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Children are inherently artists: All kids draw, and the lucky ones have their work displayed in a gallery — aka the family fridge. All kids use their imagination, though many of us tend to outgrow our innate creativity as we grow older. If DiTerlizzi’s art — his kindly teal dragons, whimsical grass-colored ogres, starry dreamscapes and dreamy moonscapes — has a message, it’s this: Creativity lives in all of us. “Never abandon imagination,” DiTerlizzi’s personal motto, is an exhortation to grown-ups that imagination is essential for, well, everything. “Imagination is so key to us as a people,” he says. “All the advances we’ve seen throughout history are due to imaginative thinkers.” On the day we spoke, scientists had just released the first photograph taken of a black hole. “At some point, someone thought of that idea,” DiTerlizzi says. In that case, someone turned out to be Katie Bouman, a 29-year-old computer scientist. DiTerlizzi believes science isn’t separate from imagination, and that scientific breakthroughs actually are the result of imagination — the kind children naturally have, and the kind adults can cultivate if they’ve lost it along the way. “If I can manage to impart the importance of imagination through a silly book for kids — and maybe for the adults reading to them, then what more could I ask for?”
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THE MAGIC OF BOOKS DiTerlizzi never lost his love for his favorite childhood books. Roald Dahl, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Beverly Cleary are some of his heroes. As early as high school, he knew he wanted to create fantastical worlds for children. But having his own daughter — Sophia, who’s now 12 — changed everything. “I realized how much I didn’t know,” he says. When he published his first picture book, “I was trying to write for the 5- and 6-year-old version of me. But children’s books have evolved so much in the last couple of decades. They’re much shorter now. They’re simpler — not in context, but in language. My early books were a little wordy.” He recognized this in his daughter’s preferences for bedtime stories. “I’d say to her, ‘Don’t you want to read this one? It’s a really famous book.’ And she’d say, ‘No, read me the one about the cat.’” So he learned to give his young audience what they wanted: elaborate illustrations with minimal text.
The exhibition spans DiTerlizzi’s entire career and includes his early work as a designer for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and Magic: The Gathering, a collectible card and digital game. “Gaming has had an unbelievable impact on pop culture,” he says. “It really excites me to see Dungeons & Dragons inside a museum. The gamers and nerds of the ’70s were pariahs in their day, but now it’s OK to be nerdy — it’s encouraged,” he says. “This is a moment,” says the lifelong big dreamer. “I’ll take it.” SP Let your imagination run wild. Never Abandon Imagination: The Fantastical Art of Tony DiTerlizzi opens at the Mint Museum Randolph on June 22 and runs through Nov. 3. The Mint Museum’s Randolph Road location is open Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Thursdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m. mintmuseum.org southparkmagazine.com | 61
Moving On FOR WELLNESS COACH AND CANCER SURVIVOR JENN ANDREWS, AN UNEXPECTED VIRAL MOVEMENT LAUNCHES A NONPROFIT.
or 3 miles, Jenn Andrews had deliberately paced herself, determined to complete the entire race without slowing to a walk at any point. But when the cancer survivor and amputee rounded the last curve of the Isabella Santos Foundation 5K for Kids Cancer, the finish line was in sight and she realized she no longer had to keep anything in reserve. “When we turned and saw that last incline, I was kind of struggling, so we put on some Cardi B and somehow pushed through. I got runner’s high, so I took off sprinting to the finish line, and when I got there I was crying.” More than 30 friends surrounded her on that day in September, including her oncoclogist and her high-school sweetheart husband, Miles, who ran by her side throughout the race. They all wanted to see her cross the finish line and achieve the goal she’d set for herself five months before. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt as accomplished ... in my entire life, out of anything I’ve ever done. So much had been taken away from me, and [finishing the race] gave me a sense of gaining some of what was taken away back.” That race was just five months after Andrews, a health and wellness coach, had surgery to remove her right foot. She’d found a cancerous tumor while getting a pedicure in 2013. When it came back in early 2018, doctors told her her best hope of seeing her young kids grow up was to amputate. A week before the surgery, the 35-year old mother of two made a video for her Facebook friends asking them to spend the day of her surgery “moving” in her honor. “I wanted people in my network to do some sort of exercise or something that day, because I couldn’t.” That video reached far beyond her followers, receiving almost 90,000 views and starting a movement that quickly
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turned into a nonprofit foundation. “When my story went viral, we started getting back all these messages from people who felt inspired to get moving because they realized what a gift mobility was, and it inspired us,” the Waxhaw resident says. Unfortunately, Andrews realized, not everyone can afford the prosthetics that enable that mobility. Running blades, which last three to five years, can cost $5,000 to $50,000 and typically aren’t covered by insurance. “Once we realized how expensive it is to be an active amputee and how much out-of-pocket expense there is, we realized how many people want to be more mobile but don’t have the financial resources to do so. So we came up with Move for Jenn to help bridge that gap.” Move for Jenn officially became a nonprofit last July. In December, the group granted its first gift, a running blade, to Jacob Poteat, a 21-year old firefighter from Rutherfordton who lost his left leg to cancer. Poteat was stunned by the generosity. “Oh my gosh. It’s nothing short of amazing. Jenn cares about helping others. I never thought I’d be able to run again and exercise.” Having the blade has helped give him the courage to go to school to be a police officer, he says. “I couldn’t be more grateful to Jenn. The fact that she started a foundation to help amputees like us, it’s just so selfless. If there were more people like Jenn, the world would be a better place.”
PHOTOGRAPH BY CAROLINE TAYLOR
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BY MICHELLE BOUDIN
PHOTOGRAPH BY BETH WADE
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LEFT PHOTOGRAPH BY AMY PLAYER, RIGHT PHOTOGRAPH BY BETH WADE & MELISSA BIGGERS PHOTOGRAPHY.
Though less than a year old, the Move for Jenn Foundation has already held a dozen fundraising events in the community. Upcoming fundraisers include a Swing for Sarcoma event at Topgolf on July 20 and summer art camps at local AR Workshop locations — registrants can use a special promo code to get $10 off their enrollment, and a $10 donation will be made to the foundation. Move for Jenn is already planning for what it hopes will be a big annual event. Fittingly, it’s a 5K, scheduled for November. Renee Schreibman, a local wellness coach, serves on the Move for Jenn Foundation board. “Jenn is just unstoppable. She’s a warrior who just wants to turn something really bad into something really good — to be able to show people that you can rise up from that. She’s just a role model,” Schreibman says. “It feels amazing to have this nonprofit,” Andrews says. I feel like all of 2018 was like Groundhog Day — my entire life was on hold at the end of the year. I was so ready for a fresh start of 2019, and with the Move for Jenn Foundation, I’ve got it. Being able to use my story to help other people and being able to gift these running blades shows some purpose for what happened.” SP
“Jenn is just unstoppable. She’s a warrior who just wants to turn something really bad into something really good — to be able to show people that you can rise up from that.”
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Light and Airy A COTSWOLD FAMILY BUILDS THEIR ‘FOREVER HOME’ WITH THE HELP OF AN ALL-FEMALE TEAM.
BY BLAKE MILLER • PHOTOGRAPHS BY ERIN COMERFORD MILLER
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t was one of the few projects designer Ashley Shaw has ever been a part of that was led by all women. “With most homes, either the architect or the builder are men,” says the Dallas native, who started her Charlotte-based business, Ashley Shaw Designs, in 2014. “So it was really exciting to be a part of a team of all women, from the designer to the architect to the builder.” The project was a 6,000-square-foot new-construction home in Cotswold. Shaw had previously designed a Myers Park condo for the homeowner, and when that client got married years later, the designer was near the top of her list of contacts to help build her family’s dream home. Contractor Kim Lineberger of Lineberger
Building Group headed up the homebuilding process. (The project architect requested to remain anonymous.) Like Shaw, the homeowner was equally excited about the collaboration between like-minded, design-focused women. “The women I worked with are a unique and talented mix of creative, sophisticated, efficient and pragmatic,” she says. “They would bring an awesome idea to the table, and I always trusted that it would be completed on time, within the budget and with the highest quality standards maintained. The fact that the women on the team are mothers of young children helped a lot as well. We really trusted their advice on how to design a beautiful yet practical space.” Beautiful, practical and clean were top priorities for southparkmagazine.com | 67
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the homeowners, who viewed this project as building their forever home where they’d raise a family. “We really wanted to start with a clean, neutral color palette for all of the open spaces, and layer in color with printed fabrics and bold wallpaper and texture with window treatments and a variety of different rugs,” the homeowner says. “We also wanted a mix of different styles through accent pieces [added] over time.” Enter Shaw, who knew exactly where to turn to pull together a cohesive look that brought her clients’ requests to fruition. In the dining room, the designer looked to her
client’s china collection, an heirloom set from her grandmother. “These beautiful, 19-century china plates had this stunning, colorful pattern that really sparked the inspiration for this space,” she says. Shaw displayed some of the plates in place settings and hung others on an adjacent wall, where the vibrant designs pop against the all-white backdrop. The traditional English mahogany dining table and midcentury console table are offset by the vintage dining chairs, which Shaw had painted white then covered in a rich velvet by Kravet and backed in a stunning floral southparkmagazine.com | 69
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Highland Court Fabrics that draws colors from the china. “I love that the antique Louis XVI crystal chandelier accentuates the blush lacquer ceiling, too,” Shaw says. The result is a dining room that’s clean and simple but timeless. In the family room, Shaw took a similar approach by using the colorful rug as inspiration for the rest of the space. “The homeowner fell in love with this rug from Charlotte Rug Gallery, so it really became the starting point for everything,” Shaw says. Crisp, clean sofas by Lee Industries coupled with the Highland House chair in a subtle pattern allow the Charles Stewart ottoman swathed in olive green to pop. “We tried to mix timeless, staple furniture pieces and more fun and eclectic accents that can be moved from room to room over time,” says the homeowner. In smaller spaces, Shaw loves to have a little fun, and the mudroom was just the place. “It’s along the main artery of the home. You see it often, so we wanted to do something interesting there,” the designer says. “The Thibaut wallpaper brought that room to life.” Complemented by custom, navy painted lockers, it’s one of Shaw’s favorite rooms in the home. “We always wanted the vibe of the house to feel ‘light and airy,’ with a few surprises in each room,” the homeowner says. “It’s been really fun to watch the rooms be thoughtfully finished over time. … The layering in of color, texture, dimension and personal touches will continue as our family continues to grow into the house.” SP
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s ’ R E K O BO BALLAD E CAME THE LIF E B R E B R A F LARRY NS TING MUSICIA C E N N O C Y B Y OF THE PART CCASIONS. TO FESTIVE O RLMUTT BY DAVID PE A BISE HS BY DONN PHOTOGRAP
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S
ince his boyhood in Charlotte, Larry Farber has savored the art of breathing life into a great idea. Usually he’s got 20 rolling around. They mostly involve music or entertainment, the source of his ravenous passion — and livelihood — since he was 12 playing piano in his first band, The Nightcaps. Over the years, Farber has performed in many dance bands, even brokering basement gigs for his Nightcaps to make a few bucks. At UNC Chapel Hill in 1972, Farber sold enough $73 round-trip tickets (a discount he wheel-and-dealed with a United Airlines agent) to fill two planes with students to fly to Los Angeles and cheer on the Tar Heels playing in the Final Four that year. He’s owned a popular Charlotte beach music club, and as president of a Charlotte synagogue, he created a ball that ultimately raised more than $1 million for two synagogues and the Jewish Community Center. But it’s Farber’s virtuosity of pairing entertainers with audiences that has carved him a musical legacy. In 1986, he opened the Charlotte office of EastCoast Entertainment, and now at 67, he’s a senior partner of the rebranded Charlotte-based ECE Entertainment, the country’s largest regional entertainment agency. The agency books 10,000 acts a year, from bar mitzvahs and high-end weddings or anniversaries, to festivals and corporate and
college events — even the opening of a luxury Ethiopian hotel. Bookings aren’t limited to regional bands, but global stars, too, such as John Legend, Gladys Knight, Jon Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow, Justin Timberlake, Steely Dan and The B-52s. In addition to bands, DJs, performance artists and celebrities, ECE recently added comedians in a serious way, acquiring Charlotte-based Comedy Zone Worldwide — another idea that Farber helped nurture. He and Comedy Zone’s Brian “Heff” Heffron had talked for years about merging. The marriage took place in January, with the 60 franchised Comedy Zones continuing to operate under that name but falling under ECE Comedy, a new division that Heffron leads. Now at year’s end, after 46 years in the entertainment-booking business, Farber plans to sell his shares back to the company and retire from ECE. But not to dawdle. Instead, he’ll pursue more ideas that’ve had to wait. “I’m always challenged by creating ideas,” Farber says. “When I go to bed, I’m creating. When I wake up, I create. If I’m not doing something different, a little bit of me is dying. It keeps me from suffocating.” For starters, he and son Adam Farber, his oldest of three, have begun upfitting an uptown Charlotte space for a jazz club — Farber’s dream for a dozen years. Middle C Jazz is scheduled to open in August. And much of Farber’s newfound time will be devoted to expanding an old idea, perhaps his best — and clearly his favorite.
COUNTRY CLUB FOR MUSIC LOVERS
It spilled onto a table in October 2006 as Farber ate lunch with longtime friend Jeff Davis, a Charlotte lawyer. Thirty years earlier, he had suggested Farber promote concerts at a then-newish concert hall in Charlotte’s downtown Spirit Square. Davis had just seen “American Pie” songsmith Don McLean and was charmed by the theater’s acoustics and intimacy. “First thing Larry told me: ‘I’m not a promoter,’” Davis recalls. “And then he said he didn’t think Charlotte was ready for [such events].” At that 2006 lunch, Farber declared Charlotte ready. But he still wasn’t a promoter. He offered an idea that had been percolating for years: What if the two recruited friends and friends of friends — mostly deep-pocketed baby boomers — to pony up money for three private concerts a year? They’d hire the biggest music legends they could afford and serve up cocktails and heavy hors d’oeuvres, before and post-concert. Their pitch: a real VIP experience for music lovers whose days of going to concerts in stuffy arenas or crowded outside amphitheaters may have passed. Music With Friends was born, sort of a country club for music lovers. Their clubhouse: Spirit Square’s McGlohon Theater, the repurposed Byzantine-domed Baptist church sanctuary named for Charlotte’s beloved jazz pianist and songwriter Loonis McGlohon, who died in 2002. Farber and Davis partnered up. Farber contacted agents he knew across the country, seeking stars on tour who could stop in Charlotte for a weeknight concert on their way to the next show. By April 2007, they’d recruited 400 members. That month, singer Michael McDonald kick-started the club at McGlohon.
The next morning, Davis checked on McDonald and his musicians at an uptown hotel. “Michael called me over and said, ‘Jeff, last night was magical. I wanted to play all night long,’” he recalls. “We heard that a lot.”
‘A PRETTY DIME OR TWO’
Within months, the economy tanked. Bank-heavy Charlotte fell on difficult times during the 2007-09 recession. “I was nervous that this idea might run into roadblocks,” Farber says. “But we created such a cool product that people bought in and we survived.” Twelve years later, Music With Friends has hosted nearly 40 legends for 90-minute concerts, each typically drawing 600 members and guests to the 720-seat theater. That first year, Gladys Knight and Tony Bennett followed McDonald. Entering the theater, Bennett told Farber that Loonis McGlohon had once accompanied him on piano. He sang a few unamplified notes and declared the theater acoustically flawless. The slate has since included Aretha Franklin, two members of the Eagles (the late Glenn Frey and guitarist Joe Walsh) performing solo shows, Al Jarreau, Steely Dan, a reunion of Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina, ZZ Top, Diana Ross, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Hall & Oates, Willie Nelson, Chicago, Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne. The membership nominates and picks the acts. “It works because Larry does everything totally top-notch,” says member and local clothier Bruce Julian. “It’s not just a concert where southparkmagazine.com | 73
you fill two seats, watch a concert and go home. It’s an experience, with great food and drinks, in a small venue where everyone is close to the stage and the sound is pristine. It’s like having your own concert. “There’s nothing not to like — except it does cost a pretty dime or two.” The one-time seat fee is $550; yearly dues total $1,650 per person. Farber and minority partners started clubs in Charleston, S.C., Nashville, Tenn., and Houston. Charleston and Nashville didn’t survive because the venues weren’t large enough. Houston remains active. Now that he’ll have more time, he and minority partner Clay Boardman of Augusta, Ga., hope to sell the idea in other cities. They’ve already sold licenses to groups in Washington, D.C., and Newark, N.J. Farber will guide the upstart and bookings. He owns 70% after buying out Davis and other partners including Charlotte developer Johnny Harris and Charlotte lawyer David Rudolf. “Music With Friends has turned out to generate little profit but much enjoyment,” he says. “It was never meant to make a lot of money. We’ve tried to make sure it doesn’t become a financial drain, either. So far, it hasn’t.”
‘PRACTICE, DAMN IT! PRACTICE!’
You can credit famed pianist Peter Nero for inflaming Farber’s musical passions. Farber was 11 when he
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announced to his parents that he wanted to take piano lessons. Shortly after his father, Charles, a textile salesman, bought Larry a Wurlitzer upright, Nero performed a concert in Charlotte. The after-party was at the Farbers’ home. Nero autographed the piano, emphatically adding: “Practice, damn it! Practice!” Young Larry did practice, and he’s never quit. After The Nightcaps, Farber has never been without a band, with names such as Main Street, In the Pocket and Now and Then. At Myers Park High School in Charlotte, he played piano in the popular Rivieras band. Farber couldn’t dance at his prom — he played for it. “We weren’t the high-school quarterback, but playing in a band was cool,” Farber says. “Our away games weren’t at someone else’s home court, but the Phi Delt house at Chapel Hill or the Sigma Nus at Georgia.” Those bands caught the ear of Charlotte talent agent Ted Hall of Hit Attractions, who began booking them for dances or weddings or to open for acts like The Temptations and Diana Ross at Charlotte’s Park Center (now Grady Cole Center). Farber didn’t know it, but he was finding his future — just not as a performer. His weekend performing continued at UNC Chapel Hill, where he studied psychology and music. There, he got a taste of negotiating a deal.
At the Tau Epsilon Phi house in 1972, Farber and a few frat brothers were scheming ways to get to Los Angeles to watch their beloved team play in the NCAA’s Final Four. Someone suggested chartering an airplane. They all laughed it off. Except Farber, who called a Chapel Hill travel agent, who put him in touch with a United Airlines agent. They negotiated a $73 roundtrip fare if Farber could sign up 140 students, enough to fill a plane. He placed an ad in the campus newspaper, and in no time had 240 students who paid to go, enough to fill two jets. His parents hoped he’d be a lawyer or doctor, and during his senior year, he applied to several law schools. After earning his bachelor’s degree at UNC in 1973, he was wait-listed at the Chapel Hill law school. He decided to take a year off with plans to reapply, when booking agent Hall offered him a job. “I graduated on a Saturday and started working at Hit Attractions on Monday,” Farber says. “I found I liked entertainment. I made $150 a week and thought I was rich. I wouldn’t have made a good lawyer.” Instead, he worked for Hit Attractions for 13 years, learning he was built for the job: affable with high energy and a musician’s sense of what bands need and customers want. “Because Larry’s a good musician, he understands the bands he represents. He understands what different
types of audiences want to hear,” says Bill Bolen, a retired Chapel Hill piano player whose band was represented for many years by Farber and ECE. “He’s a consummate professional.”
‘WELL BEYOND THE EAST COAST’
By 1986, Farber had grown restless and wanted to strike out on his own. He approached two Richmond, Va., booking agents, Dennis Huber and Steve Thomas, who’d started EastCoast Entertainment in 1976. “They had the infrastructure, and I had strong relationships and some of the strong bands in the Carolinas,” Farber says. The three became partners, with Farber opening a Charlotte office, taking with him his customers and bands he’d cultivated at Hit Attractions. The first year, the merged EastCoast booked fewer than 1,000 acts. Now, with 16 offices from Palm Beach, Fla., to New York, ECE employs 70 people. “Our sphere of influence is well beyond the East Coast,” Farber says. “When we first started, what one agent is now booking is probably more than what the whole company used to do.” ECE managing partner Chris McClure, who recently booked Justin Timberlake for a wedding anniversary in California, says the agency earns its money. He and his wife, singer Hester Kast-McClure, manage a band called Sol Fusion and line up gigs across the U.S. “The band members ask all the time if it is worth being under the ECE umbrella and the company getting 20% off the top,” he says. “I say ‘absolutely.’ Because Larry’s relationships are worth it. We’d never get booked in Sun Valley, Idaho, without ECE.”
A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE
Farber’s music stories are endless, never with bombast — just a part of the job. One day, he got a call from a woman in Washington, D.C., requesting high-profile entertainment for an Arab sheik opening a luxury hotel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Farber spent months on the project and finally booked soul and funk legends Kool & the Gang. Farber couldn’t attend, so ECE senior partner Ed Duncan flew to Ethiopia to oversee the entertainment.
Farber spent another day squiring N.C.-raised James Taylor around Charlotte looking for a harmonica. He’d booked Taylor for a private party of investment bankers. Music With Friends generates more memorable stories. Before Jackson Browne played for the club, Farber told him he’d invited Charlotte singer Maurice Williams. In 1960, Williams wrote and recorded the hit song “Stay” that Browne made popular again 17 years later. To the surprise of members, Browne invited Williams to the stage to sing a duet. Shortly after Aretha Franklin arrived for her Charlotte performance in 2012, she learned that singer Whitney Houston, a close friend, had died. “Aretha was devastated and wasn’t sure she could do the show,” Farber says. “I took her manager to McGlohon and said, ‘You can see this used to be a church. What better place is there for Aretha to grieve?’ She decided to perform.” On stage, Franklin launched into a tribute to Houston. “She sat at the piano, closed her eyes and just started playing. It wasn’t a song — just words about ‘my sister Whitney is gone,’” Farber says. As much as he’s a stickler for details, Farber’s a worrier — especially about Music With Friends. At a recent concert with bluegrass singer Alison Krauss, Farber arrived three hours early to make sure there were no glitches. Workers from Charlotte caterer Porcupine Provisions had readied white-linen tables for piles of shrimp, prime rib and wine and top-shelf booze. Inside the theater, Krauss’ band ran through a sound check, as sound engineer Al Smith of Rock Hill, S.C., listened. The sound is tailored to each performer, he says. “Larry is totally about overall atmosphere,” he says. “This kind of performance and venue is totally unique. The idea that you take acts of this level and put them in a small, intimate venue like McGlohon — where you can almost
touch the performers — doesn’t happen anywhere else. It’s the way music should be consumed.” That’s not lost on members Alan Simonini, a Charlotte developer, and wife Libby. “The performers always comment on what a great place it is,” he says. “They feel connected to the audience. It probably reminds them of when they first started out.” As members arrive, Farber greets as many as he can. They are a cheery and back-slapping crowd, mostly in their 50s and 60s with some 70-somethings. The theater lights dim, and Farber steps on stage with Becky Mitchener, Music With Friends’ membership/ development director, to welcome the club’s reconvening and introduce Krauss. Several songs in, Krauss gets chatty, commenting on McGlohon’s beauty with its stained-glass windows. She mentions she’d played there before. In his balcony seat, Farber can finally relax. “I do get anxious. You’re putting on a party for 600 people, and you want everything to be perfect.” he says. “These people pay a lot of money for this, and there’s a lot that can go wrong.” He’s clearly satisfied with his club’s response: “I’m just a guy who grew up loving music and who has been able to meet and hear his favorite artists in an acoustically perfect venue — surrounded by friends. “I hope, when it’s all said and done, I’ve made at least a small mark on the music business.” SP southparkmagazine.com | 75
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PHOTOGRAPH COURTESEY OF PEPPERVINE
Art’s Delight
WITH INVENTIVE CUISINE AND MODERN, ELEGANT DECOR, PEPPERVINE IS A TREAT FOR THE SENSES. BY CATHY MARTIN
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PHOTOGRAPH COURTESEY OF PEPPERVINE
L
ike kudzu, peppervine is a vigorous, climbing plant that traces its roots to Asia and runs rampant across much of the southeastern U.S. The team behind Peppervine restaurant, which opened at Piedmont Town Center in March, thought it a fitting depiction of their new concept. “With our partners, Bob and Robb Lackey [of Imagine One Hospitality], we collectively wanted a representation of something hearty, something a bit wild, and something that will endure,” says Chef Bill Greene. His wife, Anita, is general manager of the SouthPark restaurant. For the last decade, the Greenes have made a name for themselves in culinary circles as the operators of Artisanal, a seasonal fine-dining restaurant in Banner Elk adjacent to Diamond Creek Golf Club. The club, featuring a Tom Fazio-designed course, was started in the early 2000s by golf professional John McNeely and business and sports magnate Wayne Huizenga as a secluded
getaway for an elite crowd — the exclusive club even offers helicopter service, shuttling its members to and from nearby airports. Artisanal’s reputation earned Peppervine a mention as one of the “Most Anticipated” spring restaurant openings in the U.S. by Food & Wine magazine. Bill Greene grew up in Avery County before attending the Culinary Institute of American in Hyde Park, N.Y. His resume includes stints at New York’s LeCirque 2000 and the Phoenician luxury resort in Scottsdale, Ariz. He and Anita, a former mechanical engineer who is originally from Aiken, S.C., had always wanted to open a place in the Queen City, Greene says. “We have a deep connection with the city, it’s where we met, and we feel that Charlotte has a lot of potential.” The result is a breathtaking space that’s as much about the ambience as the food and has quickly become one of Charlotte’s buzziest dinner spots. southparkmagazine.com | 79
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF PEPPERVINE
|cuisine
THE SPACE “The inspiration for Peppervine’s décor came from our desire to lighten up what was originally a very dark space,” Greene says. “When we first came in, it was a mixture of different styles. We wanted to incorporate many tones of soft neutrals, balancing it with tons of texture.” A striking installation piece by Alabama-based artist Alex Pate separates the bar from the main dining room. Light fixtures by Charleston, S.C.-based paper artist Jocelyn Châteauvert brighten the space, along with the tall windows and lofty ceilings. The restaurant also has teamed with Shain Gallery to provide a quarterly rotation of artwork. “Art has always been an inspiration for the Greenes,” says Sybil Godwin, owner of the Selwyn Avenue gallery. “The gorgeous neutral wood interiors and culinary artwork are the perfect complement for Shain Gallery’s talented artists … and all of the art is for sale!” On a recent weekend, patrons ranged from small groups of couples and ladies out for a low-key but upscale girls’ night, to younger couples on dates or enjoying a peaceful night away from the kids. What you won’t see are many people on cell phones: While the carefully 80
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crafted plates would be sure to spice up your Instagram feed, Peppervine feels like a respite, best experienced by unplugging, unwinding and taking in the bright, airy space and surrounding art, both in the dining room and on the plates.
THE FOOD Greene’s menu, which is updated daily, emphasizes local farms and seasonal produce and seafood. More than a dozen small plates are offered, plus a smaller selection of entrees. “Small plates are popular because they allow for diners to try several items on the menu rather than just sticking to a conventional appetizer and entrée,” Greene says. “Guests are able to experience more and try unique flavor combinations and sample culinary experiences from across the globe.” The menu at Peppervine shares a few elements with Artisanal, including a popular King Crab dish, Greene says. “Guests who are familiar with my cooking will taste things they may have experienced before, but also be prepared for new, complex flavor profiles. Standouts on a recent visit included bigeye tuna sashimi served with citrusy yuzu gelee, Fresno chili and shoyu, a type of soy sauce; and earthy baked sun-
chokes with crème fraiche, shallot butter and malt vinegar. Breads, charcuterie and desserts are made in-house, including the baked-toorder yeast rolls and pimento-cheese scones served with pepper jelly and sorghum butter. Peppervine offers an extensive wine selection, featuring a mix of West Coast and Old World choices and representing both classic labels and up-and-coming vintners. Greene also has a hand in developing the cocktail menu, incorporating techniques and ingredients from his kitchen. The Occidental Rose — Grey Goose vodka, PAMA pomegranate liqueur and Cremant, a sparkling wine — is a refreshing pick for a warm summer night. A limited beer selection is also available.
THE DETAILS Peppervine is open for dinner Monday-Thursday 5 – 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 5 – 10:30 p.m. The upstairs mezzanine seats private groups of up to 16; larger groups of up to 32 can be accommodated in the back of the main dining area. Patio seating is available. Reservations can be made on OpenTable. 4620 Piedmont Row Dr., Suite 170B SP
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Tropical Tranquility WITH MAJESTIC VIEWS OF THE TWIN PITON MOUNTAINS, SENSATIONAL SNORKELING AND DIVING, AND LUXE ACCOMMODATIONS, ST. LUCIA CATERS TO TRAVELERS SEEKING ADVENTURE OR RELAXATION. BY ALICIA VALENSKI
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ordering the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the West Indies, St. Lucia is a glittering gem of a destination tucked between Barbados, St. Vincent and Martinique. What the island may lack in size and population — its 180,000 residents inhabit roughly 240 square miles — St. Lucia makes up for in a vibrant local community, spectacular landscapes and abundant opportunities for both adventure-seekers and visitors looking to relax and unwind. PHOTOGRAPHS PROVIDED BY JADE MOUNTAIN AND ANSE CHASTANET
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STAY
Just 17 miles from Hewanorra International Airport and 600 feet above the Caribbean shoreline on Morne Chastanet, Jade Mountain is an exclusive resort within a resort at Anse Chastanet. Anse Chastanet was architect and owner Nick Troubetzkoy’s first project on the island. Dozens of octagonal, whitewashed cottages tucked behind coconut palms offer panoramic views of either the ocean or jungle — or both. The resort encompasses two soft sand beaches, a marine reserve with miles of protected coral reefs and more than 600 acres of lush tropical flora. Troubetzkoy, a native of British Columbia, brought a new level of sophistication to visitors when he later designed Jade Mountain. Each of Jade Mountain’s “sanctuar
ies” — the resort’s preferred term for its lodgings — is individually designed and unique in layout, shape and furnishings. Personal infinity pools range from 450 to 900 square feet, and the fourth wall is missing entirely, offering stunning views of the majestic Pitons and Caribbean Sea. The only similarities across all sanctuaries are the king-sized beds, 15-foot ceilings and oversized whirlpool tubs. Each infinity pool is designed with a unique reflective glass-tile color scheme, ranging from deep plum to bright emerald to ruby red. The recycled glass tiles, designed in collaboration with David Knox of Lightstreams Glass Tile of Monteca, Calif., were individually handcrafted to create an iridescent visual display in the sunlight. You won’t find televisions, radios or telephones in the sanctuaries, and guests
are asked to keep their cell phones on silent throughout the property. The goal is to keep the outside world from intruding so that guests can truly disconnect and relax during their stay. One exception is a “firefly” remote communication device that guests receive upon arrival, which allows them to instantly summon their major-domo 24 hours a day. Trained by the British Butlers Guild, the major-domos are available to provide any service guests might need during their stay at Jade Mountain: breakfast in bed — or your infinity pool — or fetching forgotten items. While Jade Mountain offers a bit more privacy and exclusivity than the larger resort, its guests also enjoy access to Anse Chastanet’s beaches, restaurants, bars, boutiques, art gallery and watersports facilities. southparkmagazine.com | 85
EAT & DRINK If you decide to venture outside the resort, the Soufriere area offers plenty of local libations and cuisine. For a no-frills, home-cooked lunch, make your way to Martha’s Tables, open Monday through Friday at the base of Petit Piton. When you enter this cheerful yellow restaurant owned and operated by a local family, you can expect to find authentic St. Lucian fare, large portions and friendly service. Main courses, which include a pan-fried pork chop and fish in Creole sauce, are served with fresh vegetables, rice, beans, macaroni and cheese, and potato salad — yes, five sides per person. Back at the resort, Apsara at Anse Chastanet serves East Indian-Caribbean fusion cuisine in an oceanfront setting. 86
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Start off with a Caribbean cocktail such as the Stairway to Heaven, a blend of rum, coconut cream, orange juice and Seventh Heaven Liqueur made of Ginger and Bois Bandé, which is known as a local aphrodisiac. The Chatpati Crab Ki Tikki appetizer is made with tangy spiced potatoes and Caribbean crab. For the main course, seafood lovers can try the Machli Chat, mahi mahi in a mango pickle marinade then cooked in a tandoor and served with fennel-seed crushed potatoes. More adventurous eaters might opt for the Caribbean Goat Vindaloo: St. Lucian pickled goat with extra-hot chilis and garlic. At Jade Mountain Club, consulting chef and James Beard Award winner Allen Susser has developed a tropical-inspired cuisine he describes as “fresh, simple and succinct.”
For something a bit different, the culinary team at Anse Chastanet and Jade Mountain offers “Eat Them to Beat Them” gourmet dinners featuring lionfish, a destructive species that has invaded the western Atlantic, the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. The lionfish has no natural predators, and its growing population is negatively impacting the native marine life of St. Lucia. In an effort to reduce the population, divers and snorkelers remove the lionfish and deliver them to the chefs at Jade Mountain. Lionfish meat is white, flaky and firm with a flavor similar to grouper or mahi mahi. At a private candlelit table on the beach, guests can enjoy six courses including lionfish sashimi and citrus ceviche, with wine pairings for each course.
PLAY St. Lucia is known as one of the world’s top diving destinations. In the heart of the island’s marine reserves you’ll find Scuba St. Lucia, a PADI Five Star Dive Resort founded in 1981. Snorkelers can venture out to the Anse Chastanet Reef to look for peacock flounders, octopus, needlefish and turtles in the shallow areas. Divers can drop down deeper, past the dense coral growth, to see puffer fish, moray eels, parrot fish and seahorses. For a boat dive, Superman’s Flight is a 10-minute boat ride from the dive center across Soufriere Bay at the base of the Petit Piton. The site was featured in the film Superman II. In the film, Superman flies down the face of the mountain toward the water — and divers can follow that same route, continuing beneath the surface of the ocean. The
underwater slope is covered with corals, and the strong current offers excellent visibility of a bright array of tropical fish. For a wreck dive, a 20-minute boat ride north of the dive center brings you to the Wreck of the Lesleen M, a 165-foot freighter sunk in 1986 as part of a project by the Department of Fisheries to provide artificial reefs. More than 30 years later, the wreck is now covered in soft corals and sponges, providing an ideal habitat for a variety of marine life including Nassau grouper and French angelfish. If you’d prefer to explore the local flora and fauna on land, you can wander through 6 acres of lush tropical plants at the Diamond Falls Botanical Gardens, where you’ll find exotic species ranging from hibiscus to ixora to balisier. Then marvel at the colorful Caribbean waters at the site’s Diamond Waterfall. A variety of minerals present in the water give the falls a rainbow-like appearance.
No visit to St. Lucia would be complete without a trip to Sulphur Springs, the world’s only known drive-in volcano. As its name implies, Sulphur Springs is home to hot springs and a waterfall, but the Soufriere site’s best-known attraction is its mud baths. The baths are said to detoxify the body and aid in the healing of sunburn, sore joints and more. Locals will tell you that a dip in the mud baths will leave you looking a decade younger. And if looking and feeling younger is what you’re after, then a trip to St. Lucia could be just what you need. Soak up some sun on the beach, explore underwater worlds like you’ve never seen before, and enjoy uninterrupted serenity in some of the most luxurious accommodations the Caribbean has to offer. It’s all just a flight away. SP jademountain.com, ansechastanet.com southparkmagazine.com | 87
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A montly guide to Charlotte’s parties and galas
Greater Charlotte Heart Ball A black-tie gala benefiting the American Heart Association at the NASCAR Hall Of Fame Crown Ballroom In its 61st year, one of Charlotte’s biggest annual galas took patrons to the stars and beyond. Nearly 1,000 people attended the space-themed event on March 9. Event chair Tom Finke, chairman and CEO of Barings, awarded the gala’s first-ever Heart of Gold honor to Greg and Kara Olsen for their work with The HEARTest Yard, the foundation they established to assist parents of children with congenital heart disease.
Greg & Kara Olsen
Tom & Heather Finke
Brad Panovich
DANIEL COSTON
Jesse & Angela Cureton
Dr. Vincent & Sandra Valencia Voci
Angie Simmons, John Reid
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A montly guide to Charlotte’s parties and galas
Dancing with the Stars of Charlotte Gala Benefit for the Charlotte Ballet at Knight Theater Each year, six of Charlotte’s finest corporate and community leaders hit the stage to raise money for the Charlotte Ballet and other local charities. This year’s gala, held March 2, raised a record of more than $1.5 million. Carl Showalter of Showalter Construction took home the People’s Choice Award, while Erin Santos and Dr. Courtney Stephenson tied for the Judge’s Choice Award.
Jerry & Midge Barron
Jeff Wallin, Luis Machicao
Sarah French, Fred Shropshire
Carl Showalter, Sarah Lapointe
Johnny & Sherrard Georgius
PHOTOGRAPHS BY DANIEL COSTON
John FitzHugh dancing with Elizabeth Truell
Sonya Barnes, Meg McElwain
Lucy & Hooper Hardison
Carol & Stacy Nicholson
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Take it Outside! in outfits that feel like a breath of fresh air The Tally Ho woman: - Garden party - Graduation - Lakeside picnic - Tea party
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A montly guide to Charlotte’s parties and galas
Laugh for the Cure A benefit for Susan G. Komen Charlotte at McGlohon Theater at Spirit Square Laugh for the Cure has raised nearly $1.5 million for Komen Charlotte since 2002. This year’s gala provided plenty of laughs from comedy trio Country Cool and the Pink Tie Guys, a group of local men who raise money by competing online for the best joke. The February 28 event was presented by Parsec Financial and was hosted by WBTV’s Molly Grantham.
Lynn Erdman, Stamie Despo
Francine Rodriguez, Mary Hollins
Ernest Perry
Brian Heffron, Tammy Greyshock, Stephanie Greyshock, Margie Moschetti
Brook Murray, Lucia Berry, Sandra Niven, Mary DeWalt, Ann Nelson
Molly Grantham
PHOTOGRAPHS BY DANIEL COSTON
Catherine Lane and Rob Tanner, emcees of the VIP party for Laugh For A Cure
Brian & Whitney Leary
The Pink Tie Guys
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A montly guide to Charlotte’s parties and galas
We Believe Luncheon A fundraiser for YWCA of Central Carolinas at the Westin Hotel The annual We Believe Luncheon is YWCA of Central Carolinas’ largest fundraising event of the year. More than 800 patrons packed the Westin Ballroom to hear from Taiwo Jaiyeoba, director of planning, design and development for City of Charlotte. The Feb. 28 event also recognized Kirsten Sikkelee, chief executive officer of YWCA Central Carolinas, for 25 years of service to the community.
Ophelia Garmon-Brown, Kirsten Sikkelee
Whitney Simpson, Penelope Wilson
Jane McIntyre, Lauren Harkey, Johanna Harkey
Ron & Jan Kimble, Sherill Carrington, Sheila Causieestko
Cynthia & Roy Wiley, Barbara Burkholder, Jeff Nerret
Natalie Frazier Allen, Richard & Sonja Nichols
Crystal Dunham, Jamie Hayes
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Dianne Chipps Bailey, Braxton Winston
PHOTOGRAPHS BY DANIEL COSTON
Taiwo Jaiyeoba
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A montly guide to Charlotte’s parties and galas
Beans & Bundles A benefit for Baby Bundles at Myers Park United Methodist Church Since 2010, Baby Bundles has provided essentials including clothing, blankets, books and developmental toys to moms in need through its community partner agencies. This year’s coffee drew its largest crowd to date. The Feb. 26 event included remarks from Allison Latos of WSOC and Carol Hardison of Crisis Assistance Ministry. Chris Nobili of Wells Fargo Securities received the inaugural Kathy Boozer Boone Leadership Award.
Jen Bryson, Meghan Hampton, Lindsay Howard
Amy Burleson, Rebecca Canady
Wizzie Irvin, Catherine Mark
Tchernavia Montgomery, Dalong Sivongxay, Carol Hardison, Haradii Jones
PHOTOGRAPHS BY DANIEL COSTON
Rainey Carey, Allison Chatman, Katie Brigulio, Dr. Lucy DesPortes
Krystion Nelson and James Nelson
Katie Deterding, Amy Kerr, Georgina Lilliard
Cat Long, Heather Leavitt, Emily Harry
Brian Boone, Chris Nobili
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SNAPSHOT
Running The Show
CPCC’S TOM HOLLIS GATHERS KEY PLAYERS TO CREATE A SIZZLING SUMMER THEATER SERIES.
CPCC’s 2018 production of Gypsy
om Hollis produces five shows in nine weeks each summer at Central Piedmont Community College. As program chair for drama and visual and performing arts, Hollis has been at it for 15 of his 36 years at the school. Some of his favorite shows have included Mama Mia, Les Misérables and Phantom of the Opera, all performed in the college’s Pease Auditorium, which was recently torn down. Theatergoers can expect a new 400-seat auditorium in 2022, part of a new $113 million library and student-center complex. Summer stock, as it’s commonly referred to, depends on what the department has on hand: Hollis and his crew reuse sets, costumes and props from previous shows. When possible, even actors are recycled for shows. This year, it will take 75 actors and technicians to produce Show Boat, Jekyll & Hyde, Madagascar —A Musical Adventure, Beehive: The ’60s Musical and A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder in the 1,020-seat Dale F. Halton Theater on CPCC’s main campus. Comments were lightly edited for brevity and clarity. HOW DO YOU CHOOSE THE SHOWS FOR THE SUMMER SERIES? It’s a collaborative process. Full-time staff, our adjuncts, professors, other directors, designers and costumers make 96
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suggestions. And then we sit down and start looking at what other theaters here in Charlotte have been doing in the last five years. We coordinate with the other theaters to make sure that we’re not all doing the same thing. Then we just kind of throw it all in the hopper and see what happens. WHICH SHOW MIGHT SURPRISE GUESTS THIS YEAR? A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder is a very different musical — it’s an Edwardian farce put to music. It’s based on a [1949 British] movie called Kind Hearts and Coronets. The gimmick is that you have one actor who plays all the murder victims. He’s killed eight times. He’s always playing different members of the same family. The storyline is about a young man who is ninth in line to be an earl. By accident, the first person in his way dies, and it gives him the idea that if the others were dead, he could be earl. So, it becomes the story of him bumping off all these people. WILL THERE BE MANY FAMILIAR FACES? All 100% this year are from Charlotte. We have quite a strong talent pool. We have a lot of young people, students here at the college and kids from the local community. We’ve got kids that have started with us at 7 or 8 years old, stay with us until they’re in college and then move on for their professional careers.
HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU’VE DONE A GOOD JOB? I sit and listen to the audience to see if my prediction of how [they] would react at a given moment was correct. I learn a lot from the audiences’ reactions. Are they seeing what I wanted them to see? Are they focusing in on what we wanted them to understand at any one given moment? HAVE YOU CHANGED YOUR TEACHING METHODS FOR A YOUNGER GENERATION? I try not to. I’m becoming the old guy. The craft that we’re practicing is 2,000 years old, and what an actor was doing on the Greek stage and what an actor is doing today still involves the same processes. While the technology has grown, and we’re using projections and lasers and fancy lights that move themselves and all the other stuff, when you get down to what the actor’s job is, it’s still the same. It’s a discipline that they have to learn. SP
Central Piedmont Community College’s 2019 Summer Theatre season kicks off with Show Boat, which runs June 7-15 at the Halton Theater at CPCC’s downtown campus. Tickets start at $10. tix.cpcc.edu
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