YES! Weekly - August 19, 2020

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August 19-25, 2020 YES! WEEKLY

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AUGUST 19-25, 2020 VOLUME 16, NUMBER 34

10 5500 Adams Farm Lane Suite 204 Greensboro, NC 27407 Office 336-316-1231 Fax 336-316-1930

SHERIFF TERRY JOHNSON

Publisher CHARLES A. WOMACK III publisher@yesweekly.com EDITORIAL Editor KATIE MURAWSKI katie@yesweekly.com Contributors IAN MCDOWELL DAVINA VAN BUREN JOHN ADAMIAN MARK BURGER TERRY RADER JIM LONGWORTH MELANIE LEONARD

On Saturday, Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson told activist Lindsay Ayling “YOU’RE BREAKING THE LAW” and “we know you’re with ANTIFA” after she asked him why he and his deputies were not wearing masks in downtown Graham.

Ayling recorded the encounter in a video that has received 20,000 views on social media and has been shared by Newsweek.

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DISTRIBUTION JANICE GANTT KYLE MUNRO SHANE MERRIMAN JESSE GUERRA ANDREW WOMACK We at YES! Weekly realize that the interest of our readers goes well beyond the boundaries of the Piedmont Triad. Therefore we are dedicated to informing and entertaining with thought-provoking, debate-spurring, in-depth investigative news stories and features of local, national and international scope, and opinion grounded in reason, as well as providing the most comprehensive entertainment and arts coverage in the Triad. YES! Weekly welcomes submissions of all kinds. Efforts will be made to return those with a self-addressed stamped envelope; however YES! Weekly assumes no responsibility for unsolicited submissions. YES! Weekly is published every Wednesday by Womack Newspapers, Inc. No portion may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. First copy is free, all additional copies are $1.00. Copyright 2020 Womack Newspapers, Inc.

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Those living in poverty have been bearing the brunt of this catastrophic year that is already half over. But a group of three Black women aims to change that and turn the powerless into empowered members of the community through their group, SISTAS4CHANGE. 5 At the end of August 1990, a Greensboro glamazon with lips that can be seen from outer space materialized, and 30 YEARS later, she is still turning heads and snatching crowns. Chad Taylor AKA Paisley Parque started doing drag when it was still considered taboo in Greensboro to wear clothes in public that didn’t match the assigned sex on his birth certificate.

6 A/perture cinema, Winston-Salem’s premier independent art-house theater, brings a much-loved bit of nostalgic summer fun back to the big screen with its special drive-in screening of the 1985 blockbuster BACK TO THE FUTURE this Friday. In case of rain, the film will be screened Saturday.

7 Most of us have fond memories of our first time behind the wheel of a car,

truck or tractor. My wife Pam, for example, told me that when she was a little girl, her grandfather let her drive his car up a country road to a little store. Needless to say, they did not tell her parents about the adventure. NASCAR legend Richard Petty had a similar experience...

11 Albemarle-based musician, and comedian STUART BAKER is suffering a national backlash after calling Dolly Parton a “bimbo” and “slut” and accusing her of “surrendering her race and culture” in response to Parton’s support of Black Lives Matter.

12 At the August 11 virtual meeting of the GRAHAM CITY COUNCIL, Mayor Jerry Peterman used Zoom’s “mute” function to silence multiple public comments. One was silenced and another interrupted while speaking about Alamance County’s Confederate Monument.

14 Making its Triad debut, 2:00AM WAKE UP CALL features multi-instrumentalist Micah Rutrough, who’s looking back on the roads which brought him here in the new album, “The Barriers All Seem To Disappear.”

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Sistas4Change lends a hand to the Triad’s low-income families

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he COVID-19 pandemic has affected everyone in the United States in some way or another.

The pandemic, along with the nation’s racial reckoning Katie Murawski of police brutality disproportionately against Brown and Editor Black Americans, has been the most defining aspect of this year, along with a polarizing election that is still yet to come. Those living in poverty have been bearing the brunt of this catastrophic year that is already half over. But three Black women aim to change that and turn the powerless into empowered members of the community through their group, Sistas4Change.

Inspired by the nationwide protests this past June, Winston-Salem resident Hatasha Carter, president of Sistas4Change, decided she wanted to make a bigger impact on her community beyond gathering people in the street. Three months ago, she teamed up with co-founders Ayo Powell, secretary, and Tisha Via, treasurer, to create Sistas4Change, which serves as a resource to assist, educate, and influence the residents of low-income communities in the Triad.

Let’s face it, after the cessation of the Federal $600 a week unemployment

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benefits last month, in a country where 10.2% of the population is unemployed and after four months stretching the one-time stimulus check of $1,200 to last, people who can’t return to their normal jobs are feeling helpless and forgotten— Sistas4Change aims to lend their helping hands to those barely getting by amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was inspired by the recognized need for more knowledge on local resources, less complex accessibility to common needs within the average lower-income community, trust and inspiration,” Carter said. “The founders are all Black women who have dedicated themselves to the cause. Women who have stories that relate to whom we strive to help.”

Sistas4Change provides services to assist the needs of low-income families in the Triad through donations of “household items, food, assistance for the elderly, financial education, prayer requests, referrals to other local organizations, and limited financial assistance.”

“We do, however, encourage those who are in need of help to still contact us as we may be able to offer assistance, or referrals for assistance, for issues or needs

From left: Sistas4Change’s Secretary Ayo Powell, President Hatasha Carter and Treasurer Tisha Via

for help other than those that were previously listed,” Carter added.

Carter said to receive assistance, people need to fill out the required application.

The minimum requirements are for those meeting or making less than the North Carolina poverty level. Carter said each case is evaluated as they come in, but Sistas4Change “aims to help as many people as possible and encourages anyone with a genuine need to apply.”

In addition to helping ailing Triad families, Sistas4Change has strong roots in advocacy and has organized a vigil in downtown Winston-Salem next Wednesday, Aug. 26. From 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. in Winston Square Park, Carter said that Sistas4Change would gather calling for peace and an end to gun violence. Since the beginning of August, there have been at least 15 reports of shootings within the city’s limits. The Ministers’ Conference of Winston-Salem and Vicinity joined Moms Against Gun Violence for a symbolic “Stop the Violence” hearse procession last Sunday, also calling for peace and an end to gun violence.

Carter said she hopes that the vigil causes people to “think twice.”

“We will have locals from the com-

munity come out and speak followed by a flashlight vigil in remembrance,” she said. “We invite the entire community out to support this cause and to take action to wake up. Social distancing and PPE guidelines will be enforced.”

Looking ahead, Carter said that Sistas4Change has big plans with a couple of projects now in the works, including projects “geared toward the creative arts, financial security, education and more community aid.”

When asked what has been the most rewarding experience of Sistas4Change, Carter said, “The faces of the families that we’ve helped. It just gives us more motivation to continue what we are doing.” !

KATIE MURAWSKI is the editor of YES! Weekly. She is from Mooresville, North Carolina and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism with a minor in film studies from Appalachian State University in 2017.

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Sistas4Change is 100% donation-based and any monetary or non-monetary donations such as “school supplies, PPE, food, clothing, toys, etc.” are needed and appreciated. Carter said the organization is also looking for more volunteers.

To learn more, visit Sistas4ChangeWS.org, email Sistas4ChangeWS@gmail.com or visit the social media pages (Facebook: @S4CWS, Instagram: @ Sistas_4_Change).

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Paisley Parque celebrates 30 years of makeup, heels and hairspray In August 1990, a Greensboro glamazon with lips that can be seen from outer space materialized, and 30 years later, she is still turning heads and snatching crowns. Chad Taylor AKA Paisley Parque Katie Murawski started doing drag when it was still considered illegal in Editor Greensboro to wear clothes in public that didn’t match the assigned sex on his birth certificate.

“There was a law that you had to have on at least two articles of male clothing if you are out in public in drag, or you could be arrested,” Taylor said. “In the early ‘90s, queens were very careful about being out in public or coming and going to the bar because you could be stopped and arrested if the police chose to search you, and you didn’t have two articles of male clothing on.”

Thanks to the many iterations of VH1’s RuPaul’s Drag Race, the drag art form has been embraced by mainstream pop culture. Drag queens are celebrated and beloved through their death drops and show-stopping performances at drag queen brunches, drag queen bingo, and drag queen storytime with children. To Taylor, drag is live theatre, and it has been his passion for the last three decades.

“When I first started, drag was more secretive,” Taylor said. “It wasn’t in the mainstream—there were no drag brunches, there weren’t events where you are out in public or out in the daytime.

People would go to gay clubs to see drag shows. It was more of a taboo thing.”

Taylor described Paisley Parque’s persona and aesthetic as a cross between Mae West and Miss Piggy. Taylor said over the past 30 years, much has changed in the drag scene, and only a couple things have stayed the same.

“People are more able to be who they are or what they want to be than they were then,” Taylor said. “Then, you either did drag or didn’t do drag; there were very few out and about trans people.

Now, there are so many different spectrums: you have drag performers, trans people who are maybe not performers, then this new generation of drag that is kind of a melting pot of all genders.

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They just kind of blur the gender line, and it is OK—whereas, if you came out looking like that in the ‘90s, you would be ridiculed. I think now, people are freer to be who they are and who they want to be. They don’t have to have a label, even when it comes to drag.”

The two things that Taylor said has remained the same in drag culture today is the passion and competition.

“I see [drag queens] who were very passionate back then, and have always been passionate, or they are just as passionate today,” he said. “The other thing, in the drag community, there has always been a lot of competition with pageants or just, in general, to try to stay on top or be successful—I still see that today.”

What keeps Paisley Parque going is the love of entertaining and her character, which is entirely different from who Taylor is under the makeup.

“Paisley is a lot more out there and outspoken than I am,” Taylor said. “I have enjoyed being able to evolve over the years; to do drag as long as I have you have to constantly evolve, you have to keep up with the current trends but still not lose yourself or lose your identity.

I feel like, that I have been like a role model for other queens or newer queens coming up—I am a testament if you want something then you can eventually have it and reach these goals. It just takes time.

Everything I have had over the years, I have always done myself. It has been a very, very rewarding experience.”

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of drag artists have had to adapt and take their art online in digital drag shows.

Taylor said even though he has participated in one digital drag show, he has mainly taken time off from Paisley to rest and take a break for the first time in 30 years.

“I have always been doing drag and working a full-time job, and just right before the pandemic, and just the past couple years, I have been running myself ragged, burning the candle at both ends performing a lot and working full time.

So, I actually took most of the first several months to rest and reflect, because I haven’t had a break in 30 years. I have never gone longer than a month without performing,” Taylor said. “Then I started getting the itch again. I did one live show last month with the new standards—it’s different, but I still had a good time. I recently did something digital, and I may look at doing more digital stuff. I just basi-

cally used this time as a break and to reflect on where I want to go forward with it.

I spent some time working on costumes, revamping some of my stuff, where a lot of queens did take to the digital platform to perform spread their message, I took a break to relax and regroup.”

Paisley Parque isn’t stopping anytime soon, but Taylor said her retirement from drag would be coming in the next five years.

“I am reaching the end of my career, and I know that at the end of the day, I have made a good mark on the drag industry, and that is something that I can be proud of,” Taylor said. “Only because I have given so much of myself to being Paisley that I want an opportunity to be the person behind the makeup.”

During the pandemic, Taylor said he had gotten the chance to experience what it is like to be Chad again, but the end of his drag career won’t be the end of his passion for drag.

“You’ll know when you have given your all and your best,” Taylor said. “When I retire, I want to go out knowing that I’m still wanted and needed. I want to go out with a bang. I have accomplished everything I have wanted to do.”

Even though Paisley Parque’s time on stage is coming to an end, Taylor hopes

that the stage remains so that other queens can experience all that she has while performing live.

“I would like to see that gay bars are still open,” Taylor said. “A lot of gay bars throughout the United States have closed because people are being more accepted and all-inclusive, but I still feel like there is a need for the gay bar for people to go to have a place to call their own—where they feel like they belong and are safe. But also, I want them to still be open to give performers a venue to perform in, so they don’t have to do it digitally. That is how, back in my day, a lot of people learned the craft was from going to shows, meeting queens, and learning the trade. I hope that doesn’t die. I hope that even after I retire that is still a thing, that you can see drag live and in- person, especially in gay bars and nightclubs. That is where the queens performed all these years, but I still think it is good to have [a place] the LGBTQ community can call their own.”

Taylor said he also hopes those bar owners and show promoters value and respect all different kinds of performers and all forms of drag.

“Not just a select few, all queens who perform have something to offer,” Taylor said. “Everyone who performs can offer something to an audience.”

Parque is the host of the monthly drag show, The Sex Kitten Roundup at Chemistry Nightclub. To mark her 30th year of drag, Paisley Parque will host a socially-distant drag dinner show on Aug. 22 with performances by Aria Russo, Rose Jackson, and Ariel Knight Addams. There are two shows at 8 and 10 p.m. with giveaways, dinner and a different setting than other drag shows before the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything.

“It’s more of dinner theatre, or a drag brunch, instead of a regular night show,” Taylor said. “I wanted to do something close to the original date if I could. When things start getting back to normal, I want to have a bigger show with some of my favorite entertainers that I have worked with over the years and that I have known.” !

KATIE MURAWSKI is the editor of YES! Weekly. She is from Mooresville, North Carolina and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism with a minor in film studies from Appalachian State University in 2017.

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A/perture cinema brings Back to the Future back to the big screen

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/perture cinema, WinstonSalem’s premier independent art-house theater, brings a much-loved bit of nostalgic summer fun back to the Mark Burger big screen with its special drive-in screening of the Contributor 1985 blockbuster Back to the Future this Friday. In case of rain, the film will be screened Saturday.

The drive-in screening will take place in the parking lot of the First Presbyterian Church, 300 N. Cherry St., WinstonSalem. Gates will open at 7 p.m. and the screening will begin around 8 p.m.

Tickets are $25, and concessions can also be pre-ordered.

Tickets must be ordered in advance

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and are available here: https://www. aperturecinema. com/portfolio_ page/a-ptr-drivein-back-to-thefuture/.

“I can’t think of a better film for a parking lot,” said Desai, executive director and curator of a/perture cinema. “We are so appreciative to have a sponsor – FaderRE – to help cover our equipment rental and set-up so that a/perture will be able to keep all of the tickets sold. We are just excited to be able to gather for the first time with some of our patrons in a safe and fun way. These last five months have been rather lonely without them.”

Like so many entertainment outlets, a/perture cinemas has had to adapt to

new platforms to present its screenings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus far, it’s been successful, but Desai admits it’s not quite the same.

“Virtual cinema is plugging along,” she said. “We’ve screened over 100 films at this point, including several series’ and mini-festivals. It’s definitely not the same – either financially or physically – as coming together in one of our theaters at a/perture, but it’s a way for us to continue to program our films and to connect with audiences. We are excited about all of the films we’ve booked so far for the coming weeks.”

A/perture had scheduled Back to the Future as a drive-in screening in early June, but it was (understandably) postponed in light of local protests taking place in response to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in late May. Originally released the week of July 4, 1985, Back to the Future became an immediate box-office and pop-culture sensation. It went on to become the highest-grossing film of the year, catapulted Family Ties co-star Michael J. Fox to big-screen stardom, won the People’s Choice Award for Favorite Motion Picture, and earned four Oscar nominations: Best Original Screenplay, Best Song (“The Power of Love”), Best Sound, and Best Visual Effects (which it won).

Fox plays Marty McFly, an all-American high-school student whose friend and mentor, the local eccentric Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd), claims to have developed a time-travel machine – which looks remarkably like a 1985 DeLorean.

To fuel the device, Doc has (ahem) “borrowed” some plutonium from Libyan terrorists, and when they unexpectedly arrive – guns blazing – during the test run, Marty beats a hasty retreat in the DeLorean …

… and promptly finds himself in 1955.

Joining forces with the younger Doc, Marty tries to find a way to return to his time, a task complicated when he encounters a timid teenager named George McFly (the inimitable Crispin Glover), the younger version of his own father. What’s more, he also encounters young Lorraine Baines (Lea Thompson), who is destined to become George’s wife and his own mother.

Trouble is, Lorraine develops a crush on Marty, which could inexorably alter the future. Unless George and Lorraine get together, Marty will cease to exist – because he will have never existed at all.

The screenwriting duo of Robert Zemeckis (who also directed) and Bob Gale had originally written Back to the Future in the early 1980s, following the release of their first two big-screen collaborations – I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978) and Used Cars (1980) – both produced under the auspices of Steven Spielberg and neither particularly successful.

Studio after studio turned the project down, in part because it wasn’t as salacious or raunchy as the popular sex comedies of the era. Back to the Future was simply “too nice.”

The project languished until Zemeckis and Gale hit paydirt with Romancing the Stone (1984), at which point studios were far more receptive. (That’s Hollywood, folks!)

With a budget of under $15 million and Spielberg presenting, Back to the Future revved into production – but there was an almost immediate snag. Eric Stoltz had been signed to play Marty McFly when Fox proved unavailable due to his series commitment. It soon became evident that Stoltz’s concept of the character was much more serious than the filmmakers intended.

Out came Stoltz, in came Fox – despite the fact that he was shooting Family Ties during the day and Back to the Future at night. As he noted in the NBC television special The Making of Back to the Future: “It was my dream to be in the film and television business, although I didn’t know I’d be in them simultaneously.”

The rest, as they say, is history. No pun intended.

The official a/perture cinema website is: www.aperturecinema.com/. !

See MARK BURGER’s reviews of current movies on Burgervideo.com. © 2020, Mark Burger.

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voices

Race car drivers getting younger

M

ost of us have fond memories of our first time behind the wheel of a car, truck or tractor.

My wife Pam, for example, told me that when she was a little girl, her grandfather Jim Longworth let her drive his car up a country road to a Longworth little store. Needless to say, they did at Large not tell her parents about the adventure.

NASCAR legend Richard Petty had a similar experience, which he recounted for me during an interview on Triad Today.

“The first time I ever remember driving at all was down on my Uncle’s farm. He was getting up hay one day, and had this old ’38 flatbed truck, and they was throwing hay on the back of it. And they put it in ‘granny gear’ and pulled out the throttle so it sort of crept along. And they put me up there and I was standing in the seat, just holding the wheel straight ‘till they got to the end of the row.”

I asked the King if that incident scared his Momma. “Well, they didn’t tell her”, Richard laughed.

Last month, 12-year-old Riley Neal got behind the wheel of a car, but he wasn’t driving on a country road or in a hay field, and he wasn’t afraid to tell his parents. The Walkertown Middle School student was driving in a 60 lap race at Caraway Speedway in Asheboro, and finished first, much to the delight of his proud father, Kevin, himself an accomplished driver in the Sportsman Division. Riley’s victory was his first in the 602 Super Limited Division, but it’s not the first time that a young person made headlines at a race track. In 2018, Jake Garcia, then only 13 years old, became the youngest driver to compete in a Late Model race when he finished in thirteenth place at Nashville’s Fairground Speedway. For many kids, these lower division races give them an opportunity to develop their driving skills until they can get their NASCAR

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license, the minimum age for which is 14.

One of today’s most promising drivers also started young. Thad Moffitt is the grandson of NASCAR legend Richard Petty and nephew of Kyle Petty. “Growing up at the track every weekend and being in that atmosphere makes you want to go out there and get in the car,” Thad told me. In 2017, at age 16, he did go get in a car, and today he races on the ARCA circuit, something that didn’t exist when Richard was coming along. Back then Petty learned the sport from under the hood, and spent his time working on his father Lee’s race car.

“When I was eighteen, I said, ‘Can I drive a race car?’, and he said, ‘Come back when you’re 21. You’re going to grow up a lot between now and the time you’re 21’. So I just kept working on his car, and he was winning races and championships, and then, one day, right before I turned 21 I said, ‘I’m turning 21’, and he said, ‘There’s a car over there in the corner. Get it ready to go.”

And though Richard was ready to hit the ground running, he doesn’t believe that anyone becomes an overnight success. “To be a good race car driver, it takes four or five years to see how he makes it from one year to another, and from one car to another. It takes a while.”

Many of today’s pre-teen and teenage drivers are eager to get a head start on learning their craft, and the racing world is taking notice. In a 2018 interview with NBC sports, Cathy Rice, then general manager at a track in Virginia, commented on the ability of young drivers. “Kids today mature so much so early. I’ve been in this sport for 30 years, and I’ve seen the trend in maturity in the kids. Maybe (NASCAR) will even lower the age to 12 or 13.”

NASCAR star Kyle Busch, who started driving Late Model at age 15 (until he got caught), echoed Rice’s sentiment, saying, “I don’t think it’s necessarily an age thing as much as it is an experience thing.” But Busch also told NBC that 13 is too young to race in Late Model. Meanwhile, former Cup Champion Martin Truex, Jr., had regrets about not being able to race at a young age. “For me at 13, I would say I probably could have driven a full-size car…but I wasn’t allowed

to in New Jersey. I had to be 18. I lost quite a few years in racing because of that. I can’t imagine what I could have learned from the time I was 14 until I was 18.”

In fact, there are lots of things for young drivers to learn about on their road to a racing career, including how to stay safe at high speeds. But there are also some lessons to be learned away from the track. After he had just turned 16, I reminded Thad

Moffitt that women love race car drivers, and I asked him if he had any girlfriends.

Motioning to his famous grandfather who was seated next to him, Thad said, “He told me to stay out of that stuff until I get older.”

Sage advice from a King to his Prince. !

JIM LONGWORTH is the host of Triad Today, airing on Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. on ABC45 (cable channel 7) and Sundays at 11 a.m. on WMYV (cable channel 15).

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AUGUST 19-25, 2020

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CREEPY

Srinivas Gupta, a businessman in Koppal, India, and his wife, Madhavi, were building their dream home when she died in a tragic car crash in 2017. But in many ways, she is still with Chuck Shepherd Gupta -- especially now that he has installed a life-size wax statue of her in the home. Madhavi’s likeness is in a seated position, clothed in a pink sari and gold jewelry. “The planning for the house was all done by her and we couldn’t imagine entering this new house without her,” Anusha Gupta, one of the couple’s daughters, told CNN. At a housewarming party on Aug. 7, friends and relatives posed with Madhavi on a couch and posted photos to social media. The family says they will keep the statue in their courtyard: “She used to enjoy the outdoors,” Anusha said.

MORE MONEY THAN SENSE

A Chinese businessman living in the United States has commissioned the priciest face mask in the world from Israeli jeweler Yvel, the Associated Press reported on Aug. 9. Yvel owner Isaac Levy said the 18-karat gold mask will cost $1.5 million and sparkle with 3,600 white and black diamonds. “Money maybe doesn’t buy everything,” Levy admitted, “but if it can buy a very expensive COVID-19 mask and the guy wants to wear it and walk around and get the attention, he should be happy with that. I am happy that this mask gave us enough work for our employees to be able to provide their jobs in very challenging times like these,” he added. Levy said he would not wear it himself, though.

O! CANADA

Social media has lit up recently in Canada with photos of unexpected additions to beaver lodges, including satellite dishes and a flagpole. Glynnis Hood, a professor of environmental science at the University of Alberta, confirmed that beavers could install a satellite dish, “but it would probably be covered in mud.”

So what gives? Hood and others think it’s the quintessential Canadian prank: “I think that Canadians have this profound connection to beavers,” she told the CBC. “It’s our national symbol. (It) just seems to go well with the Canadian identity.”

Sure enough, Grant Carlson of Thunder Bay, Ontario, confirmed that he was one of the pranksters: “We decided to help the beavers. You know self-isolation isn’t so bad with Netflix.”

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AWESOME!

It isn’t often that you can thank your overweight belly for saving your life, but a 28-year-old man in Henan Province, China, is doing just that. The man, identified as Liu, fell through a wooden cover on a well in his hometown of Fuliudian Village on Aug. 7, Fox News reported. But rather than plunging to the bottom, he got stuck in the opening with his built-in life preserver. At least five firefighters were needed to hoist the man out of the well using a rope tied around his waist, but Liu escaped unharmed.

COMPELLING EXPLANATION

In Chesterfield County (Virginia) court on Aug. 12, prosecutors and the defense attorney for 55-year-old Robert Raff floated a dubious agreement in Raff ’s grisly murder case. Raff is accused of killing his father and his mother in the same home, during the same two-day period in 2019. Two psychologists agreed that at the time of the killings, Raff was insane. But the lawyers want to hold him culpable for his mother’s death, but not guilty by reason of insanity for his father’s death. “Explain to me how he can be guilty of one and not guilty of the other?” asked Circuit Judge David E. Johnson, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Raff, who has a long history of mental health issues, admitted to killing both parents. The lawyers’ unusual plea agreement is designed to produce a suspended 40-year sentence for the killing of his mother that would compel Raff to adhere to treatment at the Central State Hospital for the murder of his father.

GOVERNMENT IN ACTION

Jade Dodd renewed her driver’s license in Hickman County, Tennessee, on time, but when she received the new card in the mail, it was missing a key ingredient: her photo. Where Dodd’s face should have been was an empty chair, WKRN reported. “The lady at the DMV did not really believe me when I was like, hey, I need my license fixed,” Dodd said. But when she saw the ID on her computer, she said, “Oh, I need my manager for this.”

Wes Moster of the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security explained that the chair photo was an old one on file for Dodd that was reused for the renewal by mistake, and she was issued a new license right away. !

© 2020 Chuck Shepherd. Universal Press Syndicate.

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DURHAM

DPAC

123 Vivian St | 919.680.2787 www.dpacnc.com Nov 12: Iliza: The Forever Tour Nov 13: Gabriel Iglesias

GREENSBORO

Baxter’s Tavern

536 Farragut St | 336.808.5837 Aug 22: Ultimate Rock Machine Aug 23: Jim Quick and The Coastline Band Aug 29: Mostley Crue Aug 30: Cruise In Sep 19: JS and the Footlights

The Blind Tiger

1819 Spring Garden St | 336.272.9888 theblindtiger.com Aug 21: Brothers Pearl Aug 22: Mean Street: Van Halen Tribute w/ Hinge Theory Aug 28: Eric Gales Aug 29: Goodie Mob Sep 5: 80’s Prom Sep 10: Casey Noel w/ Mason Via Sep 18: Whiskey Foxtrot w/ 49 Winchester & Tennessee Champagne

Cellar 23

2309 Fleming Rd, Suite 107 | 336.676.5003 cellar23gso.com Aug 22: The Hedricks

Comedy Zone

1126 S Holden Rd | 336.333.1034 thecomedyzone.com Aug 21: Don “D.C.” Curry Aug 22: Don “D.C.” Curry Aug 23: Don “D.C.” Curry Aug 25: Preacher Lawson Sep 4: Earthquake

Sep 5: Earthquake Sep 6: Earthquake Sep 11: The Christi Show Sep 12: The Christi Show Sep 18: Rodney Perry Sep 19: Rodney Perry

Rody’s Tavern

117B W, Lewis St. | 336.285.6406 rodystavern.com Sep 4: Whiskey Foxtrot Sep 7: Dave Moran Sep 11: Wickerbach Sep 13: Brothers Pearl Sep 18: Jim Mayberry Sep 21: Radio Revolver Sep 25: Low Key Sep 27: Second Glance Band

HIGH POINT

Goofy Foot Taproom

2762 NC-68 #109 | 336.307.2567 Aug 22: Mason Via and Hot Trail Mix Aug 29: Tyler Millard Sep 19: David Lin Sep 26: Zac Kellum Oct 3: Analog Crash

Ham’s Palladium

5840 Samet Dr | 336.887.2434 hamsrestaurants.com Aug 21: Rockit Science Aug 22: Brothers Pearl Aug 28: Bad Romeo Aug 29: Steel County Express

LEWISVILLE

Old Nick’s Pub

191 Lowes Foods Dr | 336.747.3059 OldNicksPubNC.com Aug 22: Lasater Union Aug 29: Exit 180 band Sep 12: The Dylan Jackson Band Sep 25: Whiskey Mic

WINSTON-SALEM

Foothills Brewing 638 W 4th St | 336.777.3348 foothillsbrewing.com Aug 23: Sunday Jazz

Winston-Salem Fairground

421 W 27th St | 336.727.2236 www.wsfairgrounds.com Sep 4: Classic Country Series: Montgomery Gentry w/ Little Texas

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9

feature

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Sheriff Terry Johnson tells woman ‘you’re breaking the law’ by being an activist

O

n Saturday, Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson told activist Lindsay Ayling “you’re breaking the law” and “we know you’re with antifa” Ian McDowell after she asked him why he and his deputies were not Contributor wearing masks in downtown Graham.

Ayling recorded the encounter in a video that has received 20,000 views on social media and has been shared by Newsweek.

The incident occurred in front of a small group of members of the neo-Confederate organization Alamance County Taking Back Alamance County (ACTBAC), who were counter-protesting the People’s Referendum, a symbolic vote conducted by Down Home NC, Siembra NC and Forward Motion Alamance on whether to move the city’s Confederate monument and repeal the sheriff ’s 287g agreement with ICE. Sheriff Jonson has on previous occasions expressed solidarity and support with ACTBAC by such physical gestures such as, putting his arm around the organization’s founder Jerry Williamson.

The video begins with Johnson speaking in a friendly manner to people offscreen at his left. At his right, a deputy readies a video camera, raising it and pointing it at Ayling as she approaches.

Neither the sheriff nor the deputy are wearing masks.

“I’m just curious why any of the police aren’t wearing masks,” Ayling asks, “in violation of the governor’s order?”

“What are you doing?” asks an unmasked woman appearing to be counterprotesting with the neo-Confederate group from off-screen. An unmasked man with the woman comes into view at the sheriff ’s left. ACTBAC was an organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center identified as a hate group in 2017.

As reported by Kate Croxton of Burlington’s TimesNews, ACTBAC was removed from the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “Hate Map” in 2018 because the group did not meet the “Hate Group” definition by making statements, “denigrating others based on immutable characteristics,” YES! WEEKLY

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

according to director of SPLC’s Intelligence Project Heidi Beirich.

“Why are y’all breaking the law by not wearing masks?” asks Ayling, in apparent answer to the woman’s question.

“Ma’am, you’re breaking the law,” says Johnson, taking a step toward Ayling. “We know you’re a member of antifa.”

“Antifa” is an umbrella term for an extremely loose-knit quasi-coalition of anti-fascist groups, some far left or Marxist, others simply liberal or even centrist.

The anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that it is a single unified organization funded by billionaire financier George Soros has been debunked by historian Mark Bray, among others. (Ayling said she does not identify with any particular organization, but even if she did, it would be no more illegal than belonging to ACTBAC or the League of the South.)

“We know you’re with antifa!” repeats Johnson, stepping back and laughing, as he is clapped on the back by his deputy, who videos Ayling with his right hand and reaches out to Johnson with his left, gently pulling the sheriff back.

“Take all the pictures you want, sweetheart,” Johnson says.

Ayling replies, “you know it’s not illegal to be against . . . “ At this point, the woman interrupts, stepping into the shot and putting her

unmasked face very close to Ayling’s.

“Elizabeth Baird, hello!” she says loudly, identifying herself and waving into camera, while yelling in Ayling’s face.

“Hold on,” says Ayling to woman purporting to be Elizabeth Baird, then, to Johnson, “does the Alamance County Sheriff ’s Office believe it’s illegal to be against fascism?”

Johnson, who has been leaning into the deputy and laughing, says, “she’s such as sweetheart.”

“Because you just said I’m breaking the law by being anti-fascist.”

“It’s not a law,” Johnson says.

“Dumbass,” Baird says.

“So, what you’re saying is, I’m not breaking the law,” Ayling says.

“There’s no law,” Baird replies.

“There’s no law against not wearing masks,” says the man with Baird, gesturing at his own face. “[Inaudible] when you wear a mask, guess, what all that stuff goes up your nose, that mask don’t do anything . . .”

“There’s violating masking stuff,” Ayling says, “but I’m not violating any . . .”

“But you are in my personal space,” says Baird from off-camera. “So back off!”

“Now!” shouts Baird, as Ayling shifts the camera toward her. “Back off 6-feet, bitch, back off!” The man with Baird

glowers at Ayling from behind. At no point does Ayling appear to have approached Baird. Instead, Baird appears to have remained where she was when she stepped toward Ayling.

“Maybe you should back off six feet,” Ayling says, “because you’re the one not wearing . . .”

“You were the one [inaudible] before you walked up, lady,” Baird says.

“I’m wearing a mask,” Ayling says.

“And you’re pain in my ass in my ass, too,” Baird snaps in reply.

“Don’t let her worry you,” says Johnson to Baird.

“What’s your name?” Ayling asks.

Baird steps forward, her face filling the screen, her mouth wide open, and so close the viewer can clearly see her lower teeth and tongue.

“My name is Elizabeth Hodges Baird!

You get a close-up?”

“Yeah,” Ayling says,” but you touched me, and I would like you not to do that.”

Baird has already turned away and walked back toward the man she was there with.

A repeated allegation made by antimonument protesters is that they are immediately arrested when they touch or even insult a neo-Confederate counterprotester, but when a counter-protester is arrested for touching one of them, the

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Unknown Hinson fired over slurs against Dolly Parton, BLM Albemarle-based musician and comedian Stuart Baker is suffering national backlash after calling Dolly Parton a “bimbo” and “slut” and accusing her of “surrendering her race and culture” in response to Parton’s support of Black Lives Matter. Baker is best-known nationally for voicing Early Cuyler, the drunken head of a country clan of dysfunctional Ian McDowell mollusks on the Adult Swim cartoon Squidbillies, which was created in 2005 by Jim Fortier and Wake Forrest Contributor University alumni Dave Willis (Aqua Teen Hunger Force). The show was recently renewed for a 13th season, but it will be without Baker, who was fired on Friday. As a musician, Baker has enjoyed a strong regional following for his “rockabilly vampire” persona Unknown Hinson, which he created on the Charlotte-based public access T.V. show The Wild Wild South in 1992. He has been a popular draw at such Triad venues as The Ramkat and The Blind Tiger. He last performed in Greensboro on May 1 and was rescheduled for July, and canceled due to COVID-19.

On Aug. 13, Dolly Parton told Billboard Magazine, “Of course Black lives matter. Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter? No!” That night, Baker responded to Parton on his Stuart Baker Unknown Hinson Facebook page with a series of now-deleted public sheriff or police officer always arrests both parties.

Sheriff Johnson moves forward, stepping between Ayling and the couple. At that point, the video ends.

Ayling told YES! Weekly that, after she turned off her video, “other anti-racists started pointing out that the woman in the video was getting in my face, trying to start a fight. Terry Johnson said that I started it.”

She also gave the following description: “The husband of Ms. Baird said something like, ‘if you come at my wife ever again,’ and Johnson tried to prevent the anti-racists from coming to help me. I turned away to track Johnson because I was more interested in videoing him than the aggressive racists. I have that part on video too, and Johnson’s comment that I started it, but I didn’t tweet it because it also has the faces of some anti-racists.”

In the same Twitter message, Ayling gave YES! Weekly the following statement: “If you do get ahold of Johnson, you may want to ask him why he thinks I’m ‘antifa.’ A while back, someone sent me an email that a deranged neo-Confederate sent to Johnson, a bunch of other LEOs, and journalists accusing me of terrorism and saying I was an ‘antifa leader” (which has been a common accusation WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

Facebook posts: So, now this freak titted, old Southern bimbo is a BLM Lover?

Remember, slut, Rednecks made you a Millionaire! Yeah leave. Leave Liberals! Unfriend me, please. Because I don’t want you UN-AMERICANS around! Have fun becoming an Eloi or something without a thought of your own where you bow down to the ALLKNOWING-MINORITY! HAVE FUN forsaking your own race, culture and heritage. Have a nice time! Dolly is on her knees sucking one. On her knees, like everybody else. Surrendering her race and culture like everyone else for popularity gain. If you’re white, wake up!

On Saturday, Baker posted an apology, which was also subsequently deleted. That same day, the Ohio-based company Reverend Guitars, which has been offering an Unknown Hinson signature guitar model, replied to a post about Baker on the company’s Facebook page: We are no longer associated with Unknown Hinson.

We have stopped production on his guitars and we have removed him from our website.

On Sunday, Squidbillies creators Willis and Fortier tweeted the following statement:

ever since neo-Nazi Daniel McMahon started stalking me obsessively. McMahon is currently in prison, but before he was arrested, he communicated with a ton of locals and sent them info on me).”

Daniel McMahon of Brandon, Florida, was arrested by the United States Justice Department in September of 2019 and indicted on counts of “willful interference with a candidate for elective office, biasmotivated interference with a candidate for elective office, threats to injure interstate commerce and cyber stalking.”

The U.S. Department of Justice arrested a man on Aug. 12, who has long coordinated death threats, harassment and personal information exposure throughout the country, including toward University of North Carolina students and faculty. His threats toward Ayling and other UNC students and faculty have been covered in The Daily Tarheel and The Tampa Bay Times. The Alamance County Sheriff ’s Office has not responded to YES! Weekly’s several calls and email requests for comment. The woman claiming to be “Elizabeth Baird” could not be reached to comment. !

IAN MCDOWELL is the author of two published novels, numerous anthologized short stories, and a whole lot of nonfiction and journalism, some of which he’s proud of and none of which he’s ashamed of.

We are aware of the extremely offensive and derogatory social media posts made late last week by Stuart D. Baker. The views he expressed do not reflect our own personal values of the show that we and many others have worked hard to produce over the past 15 years. For those reasons, production of ‘Squidbillies’ will continue without Mr. Baker, effective immediately.

On Monday, Baker made another Facebook post: Folks, I’ve been fired from my Cartoon Show, lost my endorsements and my chance of ever being booked by any Music Venue as Unknown Hinson again. I just hope you assholes are happy you took a good Man and talent down. You succeeded. Be proud that you ruined a person’s life all because of the Freak Show called “Dolly Parton and BLM.” Thanks a lot.

I gave my best to you assholes for 30 years. I guess you just love to kick someone when they’re down. That’s so twisted and perverted. Again, thanks! I’ll remember you bastards! !

IAN MCDOWELL is the author of two published novels, numerous anthologized short stories, and a whole lot of nonfiction and journalism, some of which he’s proud of and none of which he’s ashamed of.

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YES! WEEKLY

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Graham mayor mutes critics of monument and nepotism at city council meeting At the Aug. 11 virtual meeting of the Graham City Council, Mayor Jerry Peterman used Zoom’s “mute” function to silence multiple public comments.

One was silenced and another interIan McDowell rupted while speaking about Alamance County’s ConfederContributor ate Monument. A third criticized the council for allowing Councilwoman Jennifer Talley to vote for her husband Chuck Talley’s appointment to the Alamance County Historical Museum Advisory board, a move the speaker called “nepotism” before being shut off.

The reason cited by Mayor Peterman for shutting off discussion of the monument was litigation over free speech.

Peterman and the city council are listed, along with City Manager Frankie Maness, Police Chief Jeffrey Prichard, Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson and County Manager Brian Haygood, as defendants in NAACP Alamance v.

Peterman (Protest Rights), an emergency lawsuit filed on July 2 by the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina on behalf of the Alamance branch of the NAACP and nine civil rights leaders.

The lawsuit seeks to end the city’s antiprotest ordinance, which, the ACLU of N.C. alleged, has been “used to suppress protests against racism, police brutality, and white supremacy.”

On Aug. 1, the city and county restricted protest to “free speech zones,” banning anti-monument demonstrators from the courthouse grounds, steps and sidewalks.

On Aug. 14, Judge Catherine Eagles issued a preliminary injunction striking down that ban, stating it violates protesters’ First Amendment rights. The object of this contention is the Alamance County Confederate Monument, which stands on the site where Black constable and political organizer Wyatt Outlaw was lynched and was erected by the Klansmen who lynched him. Protesters want the monument moved out of the pubic square and into a museum or a cemetery.

At the Aug. 11 meeting, the first item of new business was discussion of the efforts by Graham, Mebane and Alamance County to entice United Parcel Service to YES! WEEKLY

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

Screenshot of the virtual Graham City Council Meeting on Aug. 11

locate a proposed regional headquarters and distribution facility in the North Carolina Commerce Park. At 34:19 of the meeting, a speaker identified only as Maggie asked UPS representative Kevin Zaletel if he was aware that Graham “has a history of working with known white supremacists and will not vote to take down the statue that is bringing armed white supremacists downtown.”

“All right, let’s stop that one and go to the next,” Peterman said. The next speaker, Nikki Cassette, condemned Peterman for muting her predecessor.

“I think that’s a really valid point, that if UPS really wants to bring their business into a town, a lot of businesses would really like it to be a town that . . .”

Councilman Ricky Hall interrupted her.

“Mayor, I think this is irrelevant.”

Carey Kirk Griffin, a frequent speaker at council meetings, also said she was bothered by speakers being cut off. While Griffin was not silenced then, she was during the Boards and Commissions section of the agenda, after Councilwoman Talley voted for her own husband for the Historical Museum Advisory Board.

At 1:10:46, Griffin said that Talley should have recused herself, but instead nominated her husband.

“Do you understand what nepotism means?”

Mayor Peterman cut her off and asked City IT manager Jeff Wilson “have we got anyone else?”

Peterman later addressed Griffin’s comments by stating “it doesn’t have anything to do with nepotism, as there’s no money involved.”

Councilwoman Melody Wiggins disagreed. “While it is not illegal in local government to put forth that information and to nominate your own spouse, it is highly unethical in the oaths on ethics that we have taken, so they are partially correct, in that it is unethical and inappropriate.”

The last half-hour of the meeting was devoted to items not on the agenda. No further speakers were cut off, but the mayor and council members did not respond to criticisms and refused to answer several questions. Speaker Janet Ethelberger said it was “uncomfortable to see the discord in our elected officials making it all the way to a feature article in the Washington Post,” and that “for decades, Graham and its surrounding area have practiced undeniable racism.”

Nikki Cassette spoke again at 1:34:44, directly addressing Councilwoman Talley

about a controversial social media video recorded on May 31 inside Colonial Hardware, a downtown Graham store owned

by Jennifer and Chuck Talley.

In the video, titled “Looters Beware,” two young men display a small arsenal of weapons, including a stainless-steel K-frame revolver, a composite stock AK, another AK with a thumbhole stock, two AR-15s and a 9mm pistol. “Get this on video” says one young man, unzipping a case to reveal a heavily accessorized AR15. “Sick!” responds the other. They then turn the camera on a Black driver parking across the street. “Get back in your car, take your sign, and go home,” There was no indication the driver, who carried no sign and was too far away to hear what they were saying, was there to protest.

“Can you clarify your public statement regarding that infamous video showing armed people inside your business outside normal operating business hours?” asked Cassette. “Councilmember Talley has stated that the person was unknown, but many in the community, including present employees, know who he is, and that he has done business there in the past.

Further, Talley’s daughter also appears in the video, and that, plus the persons with guns clearly having access to the business

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when it is closed, seems to counter your public statement. Can you clarify?”

“I would advise Jennifer not to say anything about that,” Mayor Peterman said.

“We are still under litigation. If you’ve got any other comments, please direct them to me instead of attacking one of the council members.”

Cassette then directed a question to Maness.

“Has the city of Graham or its police department followed up on questions about that video as well?”

Maness did not answer.

Griffin then asked how the video was relevant to the ongoing litigation.

“Isn’t the lawsuit in regards to protesting?

“The lawsuit is in regards to the First and Fourteenth Amendments,” the mayor said.

“Is that video in litigation?” Griffin asked.

“Is that what you’re telling us?

“I am telling you that we are still under litigation,” the mayor said, “and I don’t know if that video is part of it or not.”

“I feel like your lack of answer is definitely voluminous and I understand what you’re saying,” Griffin said.

At 1:38:00, a speaker Eric Christman asked why Councilwoman Talley does not appear onscreen during the city council’s virtual meetings, even though all the other council member do (there is also no photo of Talley on the Graham City Council website).

“If it’s a public meeting, I think we ought to be able to see everyone that is attending the meeting. It certainly would not be acceptable for a council member to attend the meeting in the council chamber and sit behind a screen where we could not see that council member’s face.”

“We had some members that didn’t want to be seen,” Mayor Peterman said. “We ran it through the attorneys, and they said it was her priority, or whatever that word is.”

Clerk of Court Darcy Sperry read public comments received via email. One, dated Aug. 4, was from Vaughn Johnson.

Johnson said that downtown Graham had become uncomfortable for him and his 5-year-old son in the past few weeks, that he had been called the N-word five times, and that he had been addressed as “boy” on several occasions since the last council meeting. He also referred to the signs in Talley’s shops that read “Keep Graham like it is,” by asking, “Why would anyone want to keep this town dangerous and unwelcoming to local residents and their friends and family?”

An email from citizen Amy Cooper dated Aug. 11 also expressed concern about people of color being made to feel unsafe downtown.

“There are Black and Brown families in your community that are being targeted by WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

Confederate supporters who are drawn to our town because we have the last standing Confederate statue in North Carolina.

No one is addressing this issue. It is appalling to me that the public safety of everyone is not of vital importance to the members of county government. Your silence on this issue speaks volumes. Your community is suffering. Will you respond?”

Neither the mayor nor any council member did.

An Aug. 11 email from Bennett Harris also referred to the video shot in the Talleys’ hardware store.

“My questions (to follow) are not in any way against the Second Amendment or open-carry, but instead are about public safety (during protests) and also about the soul of Graham and the image we want to share with the world of Alamance County.”

Harris’s email then asked the city council three questions.

“Has law enforcement (Graham PD or the Sheriff’s Office) identified the people in this video, and if so, have they spoken to them? Is there any other information available?”

“Will each of the city council members and the mayor be willing to state publicly that they disagree with vigilante action by citizens, and that bringing weapons (concealed or open-carry) to protests is not allowed by North Carolina state law? Further, will each of you publicly state that you are against members of ACTBAC, pro-statue counter-protesters (who have been bringing open carry weapons to past events), as well as any protesters or anti-statue people bringing weapons to Downtown Graham?

“Can you admit (if not publicly, then at least to yourselves personally) that even though the actions by the young men in this video are solely their own responsibility, that continued curfews, states of emergency, and public statements about the dangers of protests (that have thus far been peaceful on the part of the anti-statue protesters) may have helped to create the environment of fear that pushed these young men to do this action?”

The response from the council and mayor was several minutes of silence, during which one council member appeared to have fallen asleep, and it became evident that Mayor Peterman’s video had frozen.

“I think that you froze at the end of Darcy’s last letter,” said Maness once Peterman’s feed was restored.

“Hate I missed part of that,” Peterman said. “I’m sorry, Darcy. I’ll read ‘em tomorrow when I see you.”

The meeting then adjourned. !

The Confederate statue located at the Alamance County Courthouse in Graham

IAN MCDOWELL is the author of two published novels, numerous anthologized short stories, and a whole lot of nonfiction and journalism, some of which he’s proud of and none of which he’s ashamed of.

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

YES! WEEKLY

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tunes

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Making an appearance with 2:00AM Wake Up Call

M

aking its Triad debut, 2:00AM Wake Up Call features multiinstrumentalist Micah Rutrough, who’s looking back on the roads which brought him here in Katei Cranford the new album, The Barriers All Seem To Disappear. SettlingContributor in as a High Point resident, Rutrough has been plucking away in his “band of one,” making indie-folk records for the past few years. “I’d been planning to find more members and start gigging more seriously once I graduated and got more settled,” he explained. “But that plan was put on indefinite hold by COVID, so it’s just me for a while longer.”

As coronavirus swept the country, Rutrough was driving through it. The album itself chronicles a road trip taken with his sister following his college graduation in California to their home state of Kentucky.

A job search led him to High Point, where he’s hoping the new record will help acclimate and introduce his music. ”I haven’t had a chance to get to know the area as well as I’d like,” Rutrough noted. “I moved out at the beginning of March, and it was only a week or two before it became apparent that COVID was serious.” He got the chance to play a single open mic at Common Grounds before the shutdown.

“It’s been very surreal because I started my job the same week that I started selfisolating,” he added. “It’s been a challenge adapting to both at once.“ Rutrough’s new record seems up to it, maintaining the thematic flow and influence of narratives explored in his previous work while exhibiting a more distilled stream-of-conscious storytelling and calculated tracking approach. Conceptual division continues, displaying his affection for liner notes, and splitting the storied album into two sides: “Leaving” and “Home.”

Departing from previous subjects around inner-struggles, “Barriers” reflects broad themes and open roads—the eerie untethering of life after college. “The whole thing felt kind of like it was in mid-air,” Rutrough said of his mindset writing the record, “I’d already left the last stage of my life, but I hadn’t started the next yet.”

Under the influence of songwriters like YES! WEEKLY

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

2:00 AM Wake Up Call courtesy of Micah Rutrough Tom Petty and John Prine, experiences entwine with stories in a style Rutrough calls “Southern Emo.” “It combines the imagery and instrumentation of Americana with indie, lo-fi rock-inspired structures, and production techniques,” he explained. Introspective lyrics remain paramount.

In that vein, the track “Relay Station (Lost Travelers),” flows in between Jason Isbell and Car Seat Headrest. At the core, Rutrough hopes to engage emotional music as a means of establishing a connection. Breaking barriers for a sort of reciprocated vulnerability, which he considers especially important in art, and when calling a new place home.

“The album deals a lot with liminal spaces, transition and change,” Rutrough explained of titular themes throughout the record. “‘The Barriers all Seem to Disappear,’ really gets at the idea that the closer you look at the distinction between two things, the more you start to question whether there’s any distinction at all.”

The first single, “Clear the City,” based

on Rutrough’s time in Irvine, CA, explores feelings of isolation fostered from living in a city entirely planned by developers in the 1960s. “I wasn’t raised way out in the country, but something about that city just made me feel claustrophobic, and when I left, it was like letting out a breath that I didn’t know I was holding.”

Thanks to COVID, the material is both timely and not. “Releasing a road-trip based album when people aren’t traveling has its drawbacks,” Rutrough noted, “but it also gives people a window back to when you could just drive across the country because it was there.” The experience manifested through slogans and signage, highlighting real times and places behind the tracks “Juniper Groves,” “Caprock Blues,” and “Arkansas River.”

“I tried to incorporate a lot of the sights into the record in some way,” he added, “something that I didn’t get a chance to include but that I liked a lot was a warehouse in Oklahoma with ‘Joan Jett for President.’”

As life picks up in High Point, Rutrough

intends to broadcast livestream performances, while holding vague plans for future releases. “My only real goal is for people to keep finding and connecting with my music,” he insisted. “I’d love to be able to make a living doing it, to tour the country, and all that stuff too, but on a fundamental level, people getting something from my music is all I want.”

“Support artists, support your friends, support yourself,” he added. !

KATEI CRANFORD is a Triad music nerd who hosts the Tuesday Tour Report, a radio show on hiatus until tours return

WANNA

listen?

2:00AM Wake Up Call will begin livestreaming over Twitch, every Tues and Thur at 5:30pm.

Meanwhile, “The Barriers All Seem to Disappear,” is available now via streaming platforms. Bandcamp: www.2amwakeupcall.bandcamp.com/ album/the-barriers-all-seem-to-disappear On break. Streaming live music every Tues/Thurs at 5:30 p.m. EST twitch.tv/2amwakeupcall

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[THE ADVICE GODDESS] love • sex • dating • marriage • questions

MC YAMMER

My friend won’t stop talking about her new crush, and it’s driving me up the wall. I was annoyed, but now I’m getting increasingly angry, and I don’t appreciate this toxic feeling Amy Alkon rising up. It’s all her and her new love all Advice the time. If she asks anything about me Goddess or how I’m doing, it’s an afterthought.

I try to avoid conflict, so I haven’t said anything. I keep hoping she’ll realize she’s behaving really selfishly. What will it take to get her to recognize this and start being a better friend? —Upset There’s actual friendship, and then there’s calling somebody a friend but using them as a giant ear-shaped trash can.

Not surprisingly, being treated this way has left you feeling angry. Like many people, you’re uncomfortable with anger.

Anger is often characterized (wrongly) as a “negative” emotion. Sure, the expression of anger — ours or that of somebody around us — can make us feel stressed out, uncomfortable, and even poisoned.

Uncontrolled anger can get us in trouble (sometimes for 20 years to life).

However, anger, like the rest of our emotions, is actually functional. Over millions of years, our emotions evolved to be the factory foremen of human behavior, motivating us to behave in ways

that solved problems humans dealt with on a recurring basis, such as finding a mate, avoiding a beat down, and getting a friend to be more give-and-take than take, take, take.

Evolutionary psychologist Aaron Sell, who researches anger, explains that it is one of a few emotions that serves to regulate not just our behavior but also that of others (as do shame and sadness).

When we express sadness, for example, like by sobbing, it evokes empathy in others, which makes them want to reach out and give us a hug and maybe even let us use their shoulder as a substitute for snotty Kleenex.

Sell calls anger a “recalibrational emotion” and explains that it functions as a bargaining tool for us to negotiate for better treatment. When we notice that another person doesn’t place enough value on our “welfare” (meaning our interests, our well-being), anger rises up in us, motivating us to take action to get the other person to correct — that is, recalibrate — the imbalance, to treat us better.

Anger does its recalibrational work — that is, incentivizes better treatment — through two tactics, explains Sell: the potential for the angry person to inflict costs (sometimes just through the scary ugliness of aggression) or to withdraw benefits (such as the various social and emotional perks of being somebody’s friend). Either of these tactics suggests to the person doing the short shrifting that they’ll be worse off if they continue to put too little weight on the angry person’s interests, and this can motivate them to

mend their selfish, neglectful ways.

In other words, in anger, you’ve got a fantastic tool to protect you from being taken advantage of...that is, if you use it instead of trying to suppress it. Because anger is triggered automatically, stifling it won’t make it go away; it’ll make it go away and get bigger and uglier. It’s likely to leak out at inappropriate times (like in sniping hostility when you speak), and there can be an eventual out-of-proportion explosion, often at some seriously minor perceived “slight,” like the person you’re angry with not passing a condiment quite zippily enough.

Healthy assertiveness, on the other hand, requires the expression of what I’d call “timely, judicious honesty.” “Timely” means expressing that you have unmet needs relatively quickly — as soon as you can after you realize there’s an issue.

Being “judicious” means taking an emotionally strategic approach: framing the discussion with how you feel rather than how someone’s wronged you. In practice, this means evoking the other person’s empathy (saying, “I feel bad when...”) rather than using language of accusation or blame (“You do this rotten

thing...”), which makes a person feel attacked and motivates them to fight back instead of listening.

The third step, “honesty,” is expressing, “Here’s what I need...” and seeing whether the other person says they’re up for providing it. Then, of course, there’s seeing whether they actually will (perhaps with a reminder or two from you if they automatically fall back into their old ways).

If you accept responsibility for being delinquent in expressing what you want from your friend, it should help you cool off enough to do that now in a civil way. If it turns out she isn’t genuinely interested in your welfare — that is, in being a real friend to you with all the give-and-take that involves — you can downgrade her accordingly (like from friend to “someone I know”). Of course, you really couldn’t be a better friend to her right now — that is, unless you had your jaw wired shut for a month. !

GOT A problem? Write Amy Alkon, 171 Pier Ave, #280, Santa Monica, CA 90405, or e-mail AdviceAmy@aol.com (www.advicegoddess.com) © 2020 Amy Alkon Distributed by Creators.Com.

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