YES! Weekly - February 10, 2021

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LOVE ON THE STAGE

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BOBA TEA AND HEARTSTRINGS

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REAL LOVE MUSIC

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FEBRUARY 10-16, 2021 VOLUME 17, NUMBER 6

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LOVING VESSEL

Publisher CHARLES A. WOMACK III publisher@yesweekly.com

For family members, you often find yourself sacrificing plans and hard-earned cash to make sure your loved ones have what they need, even if it’s just seeing your face in the stands at games. But what about giving up one of your ORGANS? Could you do it for a family member? What about someone you don’t even know? The people that work at Wake Forest Baptist Health’s Abdominal Organ Transplant Center see it all the time.

EDITORIAL Editor CHANEL DAVIS chanel@yesweekly.com YES! Writers IAN MCDOWELL MARK BURGER KATEI CRANFORD

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Explaining that he moved to Greensboro “for the love of a good woman,” actor and acting professor MICHAEL TOUREK told YES! Weekly that he proposed to his wife Sara atop a Brooklyn apartment building on New Year’s Eve, 2005. He then confessed that, when telling this story, he often undercuts the RomCom imagery with “the next day, she said she was moving to Greensboro.”

5 For the past 70 years, prime time television has been inhabited by thousands of LOVING COUPLES who’ve had to navigate either comedic or dramatic situations to stay together. Therefore, in honor of Valentine’s Day, I’ve compiled a list of memorable duos that have graced the small screen.

6 “Power at its best is LOVE implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love,” - Martin Luther King, Jr., from “Where do we go from here?” sermon, 1967.

7 Playwright August Wilson’s memory has been well honored with the screen version of MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM, his 1984 drama that earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Play.

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“I’ve always loved boba, and when an opportunity like this came up, giving me a chance to make and sell something I love, I knew it would be fun,” said Ronny Real, who owns and runs Moshi Moshi BOBA CAFÉ at 2418 Spring Garden Street with his former girlfriend of eleven years, and now wife of one month, Mary Le. 13 Raymond and Kim Larkin have found real love for themselves, which they embody and explore as a duet—with a mission to share through REAL LOVE MUSIC. “Real Love Music was ignited through our passion for music and each other,” said the pair, who consider themselves “inspiring singers, creative songwriters, and life-long best friends in marriage.”

14 MUSIC ACROSS THE WATER has recently released its debut self-titled album of English folk songs, arranged by father-daughter duo, Dan and Samantha Smith. Weaving harmony and melody with history, Music Across the Water engages a record blending a lifelong relationship of playing music together, with Dan’s life as a musician and Samantha’s career as a historian.

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DISTRIBUTION JANICE GANTT KYLE MUNRO SHANE MERRIMAN 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 2021 Womack Newspapers, Inc.

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[SPOTLIGHT]

LET’S TALK ABOUT S-E-X, BABY: HER BOX PROMOTES SELF-LOVE AND HEALING

BY CHANEL DAVIS Netricia Wilkins wants to bring out the sexy in every woman.

“I want women to be able to express their sexuality, whatever that means freely. I have to be really clear with that because, for some reason, people think sexuality, and they just go over the top, but that may not be your thing,” she explained. “I have women who come to me that haven’t worn shorts in years or that have never worn shorts. For them that’s sexy. I want women to be able to feel their type of sexy and to live in that, whatever it is, without feeling like they have to alter themselves.”

Through her Winston-Salem based business, Her Box, she and other teachers promote sex positivity, sexual awakening, self-love, yoni wellness, and healthy relationships. Through classes, wellness workshops, and retreats, patrons can learn more about yoni steams, natural herbs and ingredients to assist with feminine issues, and how to care for their vaginas naturally without the use of conventional medications and chemicals.

Some classes promote self-love through journaling, masturbation and connecting with yourself, and loving what you see, flaws and all. Yoga and meditation classes are also offered at the space.

“Sex is that one thing that we are told to avoid or try to keep private, but it is the one thing that really helps to change our lives and helps us manifest a better life,” she said.

Her Box also offers various dance classes, including sensual stretch, twerk, fantasy, and pole classes. Class sizes range from one-on-one to groups and bachelorette parties. A beginner pole class can teach everything from spins, simple transitions, and floorwork. The practice, which has become widely popular over the past decade, helps to increase flexibility, build strength, and tone the body while helping the dancer gain confidence. The last, according to Wilkins, is most important.

“A lot of my classes, that’s what they’re about. When we’re doing pole, I tell them ‘don’t worry about trying to look like me, feel you’ or ‘What makes you feel sexy while you’re doing this?’ It’s about finding, learning, and tapping into you. That just comes with learning and being vulnerable with yourself, being honest with yourself, and transparent. So I really help you to step out of your comfort zone but really in your comfort zone.”

Wilkins was first introduced to the idea after being gifted a pole class experience for her 29th birthday. While she and her WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

friends had a great time, the class sparked something more profound in her.

So much so that the spark grew into a flame as she installed poles in her garage and taught herself the practice for the next six months, eventually opening The Candy Shop in 2009. While that initiative was geared towards fitness and poling, that flame would grow into a roaring fire causing The Candy Shop to evolve into Her Box. “I really wanted to help people feel the way I did that first class, which was confident in a new way. Sex is so taboo, and we’re not really open to really embrace that publicly without feeling like we have to act a certain way or be a certain way, so it’s really hard for women to connect in that way. I wanted women to feel that confidence because it was so lifechanging for me,” she explained. “It evolved as I got more familiar with the feeling and understanding that this was sexual power that I ignited and was being tapped into. It’s about being able to teach women about the power to connect sexually and about the power that they possess. It’s about bringing a new attitude and really understanding who you are, owning that and being okay with that.”

It’s also a place of healing.

On the first and third Sundays of each month, a Robin’s Nest is offered to those who’ve suffered sexual trauma. As a victim or survivor, as Wilkins likes to say, of sexual abuse, it was vital for her to offer a space for sexual healing. The bi-monthly group, names after her mother who died of breast cancer, provides resources for those in need.

“I think that first class helped me take a place where I felt ashamed or fearful and turn it into a place where it was empowering,” she said. “It’s not always easy to reach out for help. Here I give resources to people who are wanting to own their own

power and reach out for help. It’s open to anybody and deeper than what people see first, which is just the sex part of what I do.”

Her Box also offers couples sex consultations and lap dances, a demand that Wilkins said she’s seen an uptick in as of late.

So much so that she’s expanding her classes.

“For the last six months, I’ve had more men in the background listening or making sure their wives don’t miss their classes because of the benefits of it,” she said. “To talk about sex is life-changing, but we don’t even think about it first when we think about how we can make our sex lives better.

That’s what’s going to make it easier for victims to come out from sexual abuse, and it’s going to help to build relationships at the same time.”

Wilkins said if you want to make your

sex life better with your partner or spouse, communication is key.

“Communicate your needs and desires to your partner. You should be able to freely express those, whether it be to say ‘I’m not satisfied’ or ‘I’d like to try this’. It doesn’t mean that you have to do it, but you should be about to talk about it. This includes creating boundaries.”

After you communicate your needs to your partner, you should trust that they heard you and come up with a plan to execute. She said she advises her couples to make a sex bucket list, a list of things you want to do or explore sexually.

“Does that mean everything on that list needs to be checked off? No, but it gives you a great talking and starting point,” she said. “Just because you want to explore doesn’t mean that you’re not satisfied. It just means that you want to do something new because it’s easy to get caught up in the mundane parts of life. It’s not personal, it’s about pleasure.” !

CHANEL DAVIS is the current editor of YES! Weekly and graduated from N.C. A&T S.U. in 2011 with a degree in Journalism and Mass Communications. She’s worked at daily and weekly newspapers in the Triad region.

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For the Love of a Woman ... and the Stage

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xplaining that he moved to Greensboro “for the love of a good woman,” actor and acting professor Michael Tourek told YES! Weekly that he Ian McDowell proposed to his wife Sara atop a Brooklyn apartment building YES! Writer on New Year’s Eve, 2005. He then confessed that, when telling this story, he often undercuts the RomCom imagery with “the next day, she said she was moving to Greensboro.”

“She hates it when I tell it that way,” he laughed, admitting he condensed the chronology.

Tourek explained that he did propose on the roof while fireworks lit up the New York City sky, and Sara did say yes. “I knew she’d applied to graduate programs across the country, but we didn’t find out she’d been accepted at UNCG until a couple of months later. For dramatic effect, I like to move the time up.”

In August of 2005, the Toureks moved to Greensboro, where Sara earned her Master of Fine Arts in Choreography, and Michael worked at M’Coul’s and the Green Burro. “That was the beginning of my fiveyear stint of doing what I knew how to do as an actor, which was to be a bartender.”

Tourek said that the move would have been worth it even if his acting career had not eventually taken off here. “We have two great kids and will have been happily married for 16 years this June.”

The couple met at the Lincoln Amphitheater in Indiana, where they played townspeople in Young Lincoln, an outdoor drama about the future president’s boyhood. Michael was Herr Zeller, and Sara was “the third nun from the left” in The Sound of Music. “I chased after her, and she had no interest in me, but that changed when I came back to Lincoln in 2003 to do Fiddler on the Roof.”

They started dating.

“Or, as she likes to say, dating/not dating. We dated and then not dated and then dated again and then we got engaged. I knew my life was going to be with her, so I put my stagnant acting career aside, and we moved to Greensboro. But I assumed that, once she graduated, we’d move back.”

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FEBRUARY 10-16, 2021

Sara had other ideas.

“She was not a fan of New York and the trials and tribulations that come from being an actor there. She got a job teaching locally with her Master’s Degree, and the next chapter in our lives started. The image I like to use is that of those big Linden pines that have only one taproot that bores straight down into the ground? Our taproot started to dig right down into that North Carolina red clay. That led to our first house, led to a child, led to a second child, led to our second house, and then eventually inspired me to get my own Master’s Degree.”

The Toureks live in Adams Farm, and both teach in the Triad. “She has a fulltime class load every semester at Elon. As for me, throw a rock in this town and hit a university, and I’ve taught there – Elon, UNCG, off and on at Greensboro College and Guilford, and I was teaching consistently at High Point until COVID hit.”

Meanwhile, Michael’s acting career took off here in a way that it had not in New York.

“I never knew that being a North Carolina based actor was possible until I actually was one. So, I was really, really lucky to get my foot in the door at Triad Stage and do that wonderful world premiere production of Beautiful Star in 2006, which sort of solidified my place with them as a local Equity actor.”

It was through Triad Stage that Michael met Lisa Hazlett. “A lot of people know her as Lisa Dames.

She’s an amazing singer and songwriter and was the first female president of the Rotary Club of Greensboro. Not knowing any better, I had signed with a really small local agency here in town and wasn’t getting many bookings or even auditions through them. I met Lisa through Triad Stage because her daughters were in Beautiful Star, and she introduced me to Rusty Wiggs, who’s been my agent for the last 14 years.”

Once Michael signed with Wiggs, auditions came more frequently. So did roles, which got more prominent.

“And what’s really interesting is that

Michael and Sara Tourek my success in the southeast finally started to open doors in New York, with representation and audition opportunities and what have you.”

At first, this meant continually driving to Charlotte or Wilmington or Atlanta, “I had to take 11 hours out of my day just to drive to Atlanta and stand in a room for 30 seconds in the hope I’m the person they like for a role, and then that drive back thinking ‘man, I should have done that differently.’”

That changed.

“Increasingly, my work became what they call ‘booked from tape.’ I have this little studio, and I record auditions and send them off. Of course, with COVID, I’ve been spinning my wheels for the last year, but now the auditions are starting to come back.”

Michael said he owes Sara for not only moving to a place where he could have an

acting career but for teaching him how to teach.

“I got my MFA in acting after my knees couldn’t handle bartending twelve hours a day. And then, I decided to try and teach this thing I’ve always done for a living. My first attempt at college failed when I was 18, so I just acted professionally whenever I could. But after I went to graduate school to become a better actor, somebody told me my MFA qualified me to teach.”

Despite acting all his adult life, he wasn’t sure how to teach others to do it.

“It got easier. Anytime I’m wondering about what I can talk about or do in the classroom, I go to Sara. She’s the smartest person I know and amazingly dedicated to her craft and her students. She has been my go-to for finding out how to do things in the classroom.” !

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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Prime time love: Famous TV couples

or the past 70 years, prime time television has been inhabited by thousands of loving couples who’ve had to navigate either comedic or dramatic situations Jim Longworth to stay together.

Therefore, in honor of Valentine’s Day, Longworth I’ve compiled a list at Large of memorable duos that have graced the small screen.

Lucy & Ricky Ricardo…a zany redhead from upstate New York and a Cuban bandleader, teamed up to produce and star in “I Love Lucy,” a half-hour comedy which dominated the ratings from 1951 to 1957.

Keith Thibodeaux, who played their son Little Ricky, told me that Lucy and Desi fought like cats and dogs at home, but when the cameras were rolling, all was well with the world.

Rob & Laura Petrie…on “The Dick Van Dyke Show” (1961-1966), network censors insisted that the young couple sleep in separate beds, but sparks still flew between them. Dick told me he was so nervous about starting the series that he showed up on the first day of filming, sporting three cold sores, and had to kiss Mary Tyler Moore. Any marriage that can survive that can survive anything.

Ann Marie & Donald Hollinger …I admit it. I had a crush on Marlo Thomas, so “That Girl” became a guilty pleasure for me from 1965 to 1971. They were the perfect couple, where one partner was fully supportive of the other. Even so, Marlo wanted to demonstrate that a woman could succeed without being married, so she waited until the last season to let Ann get engaged to Don (played by Ted Bessell).

Bob & Emily Hartley…Since Ann and Don got engaged in 1971, I was free to transfer my affections to Suzanne Pleshette the following year. “The Bob Newhart Show” provided a perfect format for Bob’s Dr. Hartley, who could counsel his quirky patients by day and smooch with Emily by night. The series ran from 1972 to 1978, but Bob and Emily remained a couple long afterward, as evidenced by Pleshette’s surprise cameo on the finale of Newhart’s later series, “Newhart.”

Louise & George Jefferson… I interviewed Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Sanford back in 1977 and was surprised to find that, unlike the characters, they played on WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

Jim Longworth, middle, with Isabel Sanford and Sherman Hemsley “The Jeffersons” (1975-1985), the couple sort of swapped roles in real life. For example, George did a lot of yelling and screaming in front of the camera, but his alter ego was somewhat shy off-screen.

Louise was the perfect foil for George, and the two were great together.

Jonathan & Jennifer Hart… What could be more romantic than an attractive, wealthy couple solving crimes together? Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers had great chemistry on screen, which explains the enduring popularity of “Hart to Hart,” first as a weekly show (1979 to 1984), then as a series of TV movies (1993-1996). RJ told me that the biggest problem with their love scenes was staying focused while their dog Freeway’s handler shouted out commands.

Elyse & Steven Keaton…a young Michael J. Fox might have stolen the show, but his “Family Ties” parents were the coolest former hippies on TV. Meredith Baxter told me she once asked her producer to let Elyse have an affair, and he refused, saying, “Steven could do that, but not Elyse.” Maybe so, but in real life, Michael Gross jokingly told me he was raised not to have sex until 30. The show ran from 1982 to 1989, and today Meredith and Michael are still good friends. They even share the same birthday.

Claire & Cliff Huxtable… So long as Bill Cosby and Phylicia Rashad were together, NBC owned Thursday nights. “The Cosby Show” aired from 1984 to 1992 and was also strong in re-runs until the real-life Dr. Cosby was convicted of multiple sexual assaults and sent to prison. It’s a shame that Cosby’s personal behavior has tainted this groundbreaking comedy, but fortunately, you can still enjoy the sparks between Claire and Cliff on YouTube.

Dan & Roseanne Conner…speaking of a show tainted by the star’s personal behavior, “Rosanne” was at the top of

its game from 1988-1997, but when ABC staged a return in 2018, Ms. Barr got caught tweeting racial slurs, and she was fired from her series. Too bad, because Roseanne and John Goodman were bluecollar gold together.

Tami & Eric Taylor … “Friday Night Lights” (2006-2011) might have been a TV show about high school football, but it was really all about relationships, with none stronger than the one between the

coach and his wife, played by Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton respectively. They often had serious talks in bed at night, but we’re pretty sure that talking is not all that went on.

Anita Van Buren & Frank Gibson…

Though S. Epatha Merkerson appeared in the “Law and Order” franchise for most of its 20-year run, we only got to see her significant other in the last season as Van Buren was battling cancer. Her fiancé Frank (“Ghostbusters” Ernie Hudson) was supportive and caring, and the two of them were role models for how a couple can love each other for better or worse, the second time around.

Marge & Homer Simpson…This animated couple of “The Simpsons” has been together since 1989, and they’re still hot for each other. No matter what dumb thing Homer does, Marge always has his back and always loves him. Homer doesn’t deserve his wife, but then I think most of us old married guys are in the same boat.

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! !

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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All We Need is Love “Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love,” - Martin Luther King, Jr., from “Where do we go from here?”

Chanel Davis sermon, 1967 Let’s all admit Editor it. 2020 was a hell of a year.

There were many ups and downs, tumultuous moments, and great causes of concern throughout the United States.

We fought a worldwide pandemic that no one had ever encountered, held protests for black and brown men and women who realized that they couldn’t sleep, run or make purchases at a store without dying.

We saw where the effects of police negligence and misconduct led to the police getting more time for putting bullets in walls instead of answering for shooting sleeping EMTs.

We saw the nation come together from one man’s call of “mama” in a matter of 8 minutes and 46 seconds where just four years earlier, in 2016, a kneel during the National anthem separated many people who didn’t believe that freedoms fought for, and thousands of lives sacrificed in war, included this right.

We saw more people with the double X chromosome throw their hat in the ring for their name to appear on the ballot to sit in the Oval Office, openly gay and trans members of Congress whose colors weren’t necessarily blue or red but the entire rainbow, politicians ignoring those Americans who placed them in office and a threatened repeated attempt at the 1860 state secession.

There were lies masquerading as facts straight from the highest form of government. At the same time, the unbiased watchdog of all things political was painted as a fake entity at its core by those using the very same amendment that allows agents of the press to do their jobs.

Yeah, 2020 was a dumpster fire full of QAnon conspiracies, virtual school days,

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It’s time to become just as united and not enough bandwidth for students as a country as we claim to be in the and parents in the same home. It was name. That’s why this special issue is full of a boatload of maybes, hashtags, important. To show that love from difshould of’s, and mind-numbing Zoom’s ferent folks in different ways is importhat we now know really could have tant to our society, and mental health, been an email. as a whole.

There were Christians NOT asking After a year of fighting for what would Jesus do? And just justice in the face of unas many non-believers bridled hate, I’m hoping were quick to point it out for a time of love and —- while also not doing healing. I’m hopeful that anything to better the even those who hate situation. have someone they love Apathy and audacity enough that they’d want seemed to be on clearance to leave a better world for. while empathy and common Someone who they care sense were in short supabout so deeply ply. During a time that they want where everyone to see things should’ve been change so caring for each their loved other, and ones may it seemed It’s time to become have a that the chance to nation best just as united as a enjoy what known for its country as we claim others have individualism fought for and kicked it up a to be in the died trying to get to. notch. Forgetting For that to happen, its original roots of name. we have to build upon being a “refuge for all the work that has already immigrants” and its ideals been completed. Breaking of opportunity, equality, and down systems that we know are upward social mobility for chilwrong and holding people, dren and families from all and ourselves, accountcultures and backgrounds. able for their missteps In a nutshell, there and blatant discriminawere some times where tory practices and biases. we seriously failed as Am I looking for utohumans. pia?

As the calendar page No. turns on to 2021, we seem to I am looking for a day better be waiting for a magical wand than yesterday. I’m prepared to to transform situations, systems, do what I need to do to make sure and silos. As if it could wipe away my loved ones are guaranteed a better the graffiti of rage, hate, and brokenshot at this mixing pot that should be ness that supremacy has too long been full of culture, ethnicities, opportuniallowed to vandalize our nation’s soul ties, democracy, and other fundamental with. rights guaranteed to every American It’s time for us to be willing to conregardless of how they got here or how tinue the work of building a nation that long they’ve held their citizenship or is actually built on justice, opportunity, permanent address. and equality versus on the backs of In the words of Tobe Nwigwe, the those who can’t afford to be anything remixed words of Teddy Pendergrass’s but the hired help. It’s time for us to give “Change the World,” “the world won’t get voice to those whose voice may get lost no better if you just let it be. We got to in the crowd or who may not be able to change for you and me.” ! speak the language. It’s time to provide an opportunity to those who’ve not only shown that they can do the job but CHANEL DAVIS is the current editor of YES! Weekly exceed all expectations and that they and graduated from N.C. A&T S.U. in 2011 with a degree should be paid accordingly regardless of in Journalism and Mass Communications. She’s worked gender. at daily and weekly newspapers in the Triad region.

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Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom: Lady sings the blues

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Although Davis and Bosewick have the dominant roles, there’s a spectacular ensemble on hand. Glynn Turman, Michael Potts, and especially Colman Domingo register strongly as Ma’s back-up band.

Having played with Ma so long, they’re alltoo-familiar with her temperament and idiosyncrasies, but they can also identify with Levee’s aspirations, having been young men themselves.

Yet because of their position as performers, they enjoy something of a rarified status. At a time when achieving the American Dream was made infinitely harder to achieve based on one’s skin color, each has managed to carve out a measure of self-satisfaction in their work, despite the hardships along the way.

That, however, isn’t enough for Levee. He’s not content with his present; he’s looking toward the future – his future. He’s even exacted a promise, or so he thinks, from Ma’s long-time, longsuffering manager Irvin (Jeremy Shamos) and producer Mel Sturdyvant (Jonny Coyne), to use his version of the title track and to potentially record his own numbers.

It is at this point that Ma makes her “grand” entrance at the studio. It’s almost shocking to see Davis immersed in the role of this slatternly, sloe-eyed, Coke-swilling dragon lady. It’s an unforgettable portrayal: Grotesque, manipulative, even monstrous. What Ma wants, she gets, or she takes – no questions asked, no quarter given. There’s only room for one star – and she’s it.

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acter’s favor, as it makes Boseman look younger, and the moment where Levee goes into an uncontrollable rage, it’s difficult not to ponder whether Boseman wasn’t bringing a part of his own life and its imminent end, to inspire the scene.

As far as film adaptations of August Wilson’s work go, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom doesn’t have the dramatic sweep or the family dynamic of Fences (2016), and it’s structured in an episodic fashion that doesn’t necessarily transcend its theatrical roots or even aspire to.

However, if the intent, as producers Denzel Washington and Todd Black have stated, is to preserve Wilson’s work on film in an authentic fashion, there is no question that Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom achieves that goal. It also preserves the efforts of a flawless ensemble cast, and the final performance of a great talent lost too soon. !

– Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is currently streaming on Netflix.

See MARK BURGER’s reviews of current movies on Burgervideo.com. © 2021, Mark Burger.

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Ruben Santiago-Hudson, better known as an actor, wrote the screenplay for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. He has illustrious ties to Wilson’s work, copping a Tony Award for Seven Guitars in 1986 and later directing an off-Broadway revival of The Piano Lesson. The script adheres closely to the source material, so there are some lengthy soliloquies delivered throughout.

Yet, these add insight into the characters.

What fuels Levee’s drive is rendered in heartbreaking fashion by Boseman, and a later one by Davis goes so far as to explain, to some extent, her abrasive and abusive personality. (It doesn’t necessarily make her more likable, but it does humanize her to some extent.)

The film is dedicated to Boseman, who died during post-production. Here was an actor who played Jackie Robinson (42), James Brown (Get On Up), and Thurgood Marshall (Marshall), to say nothing of the title role in Black Panther (2017) – and was convincing in every one of them. He’s convincing here, too, bringing a cocky, loose-limbed energy to the charismatic yet vulnerable Levee. That he appears slightly gaunt actually works in the char-

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laywright August Wilson’s memory has been well honored with the screen version of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, his 1984 Mark Burger drama that earned a Tony Award nominaContributor tion for Best Play.

Under George C. Wolfe’s direction, himself a Tony winner (twice over), and thanks to a stellar ensemble, it’s hardly a stretch to predict that the film will likely find itself in heavy contention this awards season – and deservedly so.

As the titular blues singer Gertrude “Ma” Rainey (played here

by Viola Davis) was an actual historical character, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom could be interpreted as “historical speculation.” There’s no account of it having actually happened, but it conceivably could have.

Much of the film takes place in a recording studio in Chicago just prior to the Great Depression. Ma has come to town to cut an album and perhaps cut loose Levee Green (Chadwick Boseman), an undeniably talented but zealously ambitious trumpeter anxious to form his own band and make his own name. It’s this conflict that ultimately becomes the heart of the drama.

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[NEWS OF THE WEIRD] THE WAY THE WORLD WORKS

Chuck Shepherd

The Staten Island Zoo is weathering a storm of controversy over the prediction made by its resident groundhog, Staten Island Chuck, on Feb. 2 — an annual event at the zoo. Chuck popped up on a Face-

book “livestream” at the designated hour, on the designated day, but something seemed ... off. After hours of accumulating snow in the New York area, the New York Post reported, Chuck was seen to emerge into bright sunlight with no snow on the ground, his handlers wearing sweatshirts.

“So there ya have it, folks, we’re gonna have an early spring,” announced zoo executive director Ken Mitchell. Viewers weren’t fooled, one commenting, “Welppp this isn’t live.” Previous Groundhog Day

celebrations at the zoo have also raised a ruckus. In 2014, a stand-in groundhog named Charlotte died after being dropped

by Mayor Bill de Blasio, and in 2009 Chuck bit Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s finger.

LEAST COMPETENT CRIMINALS

— Edner Flores, 34, entered a PNC Bank branch in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood on Jan. 27 and allegedly tried to rob it by handing a teller a note stating that he wanted $10,000, with “no die (sic) packs,” and that he was armed, according to a federal criminal complaint. The teller activated a silent alarm and the man to fill out a blue withdrawal slip, which he did, then asked for his ATM card. The helpful Flores instead produced a temporary Illinois state ID card, authorities said.

WMAQ-TV reported police arrived while Flores was still at the window, arrested him and found a knife in his jacket, according to a police report.

— Women changing in the locker room at Onelife Fitness in Stafford, Virginia, were unhurt on Jan. 30 when Brian Anthony Joe, 41, fell through the ceiling, according to the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office, landing on one of them. Joe, who fell about 10 feet, the sheriff said, was also uninjured, and the New York Post reported the women held him there in the locker room until authorities arrived to arrest him on charges of burglary, vandalism and peeping.

BRIGHT IDEA

Drag queen Spar-Kelly and her neighbors in St. Johns, Florida, are tired of parents parking along their street during school pickup to avoid the traffic at the nearby Creekside High School. So she dressed in her finest and for three days held up a simple sign that read, “THIS IS NOT STUDENT PICK-UP, HONEY.” “If what it takes is just me standing here and telling people to move along, I’ll be a diva and I’ll tell someone to move right along,” she told WJXT-TV. On Jan. 27, her efforts paid off: A St. Johns County Sheriff’s deputy showed up to patrol the street, and plans are being made to install new “no parking” signs.

MOUNTAIN > MOLEHILL

Roger Broadstone, 67, was at home in Twining, Michigan, when state police officers arrived on Jan. 20 to investigate allegations of $1,500 worth of merchandise purchased with a stolen credit card, but he refused to let them in without a search warrant, WJRT-TV reported. When the troopers returned with the warrant, they found the illegally purchased items inside the house, but they also found that Broadstone had barricaded himself inside and allegedly set a booby trap and other items

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FEBRUARY 10-16, 2021

designed to harm the officers. Broadstone was charged with two counts related to the credit card transaction, and 16 counts related to the confrontation with authorities, including five counts of attempted murder and four counts of resisting police. He was being held on a $1.125 million bond.

WEIRD SCIENCE

Researchers have solved the mystery of how bare-nosed wombats, native to southeastern Australia, produce poop in cubes, reports the International Business Times.

Wildlife ecologist Scott Carver of the University of Tasmania is lead author on a study, published Jan. 28 in the journal Soft Matter, that details the particular inner workings of the wombat’s digestive tract that produce the square-shaped dung. “This ability ... is unique in the animal kingdom,” Carver said.

“Our research found that ... you really can fit a square peg through a round hole.”

OH, THAT OLD THING?

Italian police arrested an unnamed 36-year-old in Naples on Jan. 16 on suspicion of receiving stolen goods and found a 500-year-old copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvatore Mundi,” a painting they returned to the museum it belonged to, surprising museum officials, who had no idea it had been missing. The painting is part of the Doma Museum collection at the San Domenico Maggiore church in Naples, where the room it had hung in “has not been open for three months,” Naples prosecutor Giovanni Melillo told The Guardian.

The copy was made by Giacomo Alibrandi in the early 1500s; da Vinci’s original painting sold in 2017 for a record-breaking $450 million at auction and hasn’t been seen in public since.

MISINFORMED

Authorities in Essex County, England, received a tip on Jan. 16 and arrived at the Freemasons’ Saxon Hall expecting to put an end to the illegal “rave” reported to be happening there, but instead of loud music and wild teenagers, officers found old people lining up to get their COVID-19 vaccines, Echo News reported. “Grumpy old men and grumpy old women were in abundance,” confirmed Dennis Baum, chairman of the hall, with “wheelchairs, Zimmer frames and walking sticks.” Baum said things got testy when the vaccine was late arriving: “It was absolute chaos ... The car park became chock a block with 80-yearold-plus drivers.” Police remained to offer their assistance with the traffic. !

© 2021 Chuck Shepherd. Universal Press Syndicate.

Send your weird news items with subject line WEIRD NEWS to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.

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Loving Vessel: Loving thy neighbor through donation

Y

Chanel Davis

Editor

our first thought about love is caring for someone or something deeply.

You care enough to donate your time, money and even pledge to spend the rest of your life with them in a ceremony that usually costs you thousands of dollars and in front of hundreds of

people.

For family members, you often find yourself sacrificing plans and hard-earned cash to make sure your loved ones have what they need, even if it’s just seeing your face in the stands at games.

But what about giving up one of your organs? Could you do it for a family member? What about someone you don’t even know?

The people that work at Wake Forest Baptist Health’s Abdominal Organ Transplant Center see it all the time.

“We have more donors now that are not related to their recipients than relatives of recipients, including friends and wives.

There’s also a lot more strangers than there used to be,” said Dr. Colleen Jay, a transplant surgeon at the center. “One of the most common things I’ve seen is people meeting each other now thru Facebook. We also see a lot of donors who come forward after reading stories or seeing something on the news, realized the need, and wanted to see if they could be a potential donor.”

According to its website, the WFBH Abdominal Organ Transplant Center, is the largest kidney and pancreas transplant center in the state. The 50-year-old program performs three types of transplants at the center: kidney, pancreas, and a combination of a kidney/pancreas transplant since pancreas transplants are rarely done alone. According to the website, there are 160 to 180 transplants performed annually, and the program is ranked top 30 most active kidney and pancreas transplants programs in the nation. To date, there have been 3,389 total kidney transplants and 290 pancreas transplants completed at the center.

According to Jay, transplant surgeon at the center, there are currently 91,315 people on the kidney transplant list right YES! WEEKLY

FEBRUARY 10-16, 2021

Saavedra (r) and his wife Norma

Ismael and Norma Saavedra

now and almost 108,000 people waiting on the organ transplant. She said that while it is more common to see more female donors than males, all donors are unique and fulfilling a need that everyone takes care of.

“I think of all kidney donors as altruistic because you’re truly giving of yourself to help someone else. They really don’t get anything in return other than getting whatever emotional benefits they get out of knowing that they’ve done this wonderful thing and caring for people they love,” she said. “To me, donors are people who take care of their community.

Whether they’re donating to their husbands, their child, a friend from church, or someone they saw in the local newspaper

- these are the people who have figured out how to step up and take care of their community. They’re far more common than people realize.”

Transplant surgery is done to replace one of your organs with a healthy one from another individual. The center boasts about being committed to patients from the beginning of their journey to the end, including the pre-transplant process of education classes and placement on the waitlist to surgery and recovery.

While many patients wait a very long time to find a match, some patients have potential living donors that can come to their rescue, “fast-tracking” the process of finding an organ that may meet their

needs. A living kidney donor is someone who voluntarily donates their kidney to someone who needs a new kidney. A person only needs one kidney to survive, so for those who need a new kidney, a living donor is often a viable option as long as the donor is compatible. Usually, the most successful living kidney transplants come from family members and come from unrelated donors such as spouses, friends, or strangers.

“Many people wait many years for a kidney from the list, and in fact, many older patients will age out before they get high enough on the list to get a transplant. They will either get too sick or die before they get access to an organ. Living Donor Kidney Transplant is sort of their way to avoid that reality of waiting too long or waiting a long time for a kidney,” said Dr. Jay. Transplants can be planned ahead of time, around the donors and recipients schedule, and a living donor kidney “usually works immediately and lasts longer with better kidney function than a deceased donor kidney. On average, a living donor kidney can last as long as 15 to 20 years compared to 8 to 12 years with deceased donor kidneys,” according to the website.

“Those people who are able to find living donors also have longer survival. They live longer, and their kidneys live longer.

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The Wake Forest Baptist Health Living Donor Surgical Team

The chances of them having kidney problems in their lifetime afterward are less than 1 percent, it’s actually about 0.3 percent, and it’s a surgery that we do minimally invasively, either microscopically or robotically,” explained the doctor.

Ismeal Saavedra is one of the recipients she speaks of and is thankful for the shot at an extended life that his wife, Norma gave him when she donated her kidney to him. Married for 20 years, he and his wife enjoyed their experience through the program despite being there for life-changing surgery.

“My wife is pretty happy about how they did the whole process. There’s no words really to describe how good everyone - the nurses, doctors, secretaries - I mean everyone in the hospital, including the pharmacists, because I do get my medication there, is to us.”

Saavedra said that the experience has brought him and his wife closer together.

“I can tell you that one day I got on my knees and I told her that anything, anyway, whatever - I’m with her. She’s really an angel. I told her after my Lord Jesus Christ, she’s next. There’s no words to describe how special she is to me. It’s amazing what she’s done,” he said.

Another option is paired kidney donations. Roughly a third of all living donors are not compatible with those they would like to donate their organs to due to WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

incompatible blood types or differences in their immune systems. A kidney swap can overcome this. Recipients swap kidney donors so that each recipient can receive a kidney from a donor with whom they are compatible. All medically eligible donor/ recipient pairs may participate in paired kidney exchanges. In some cases, additional donor/recipient pairs may be used to increase the chances that multiple matches will be achieved.

Dr. Jay remembers a couple from Texas that came up to donate to a family friend.

Both were worked up as a donor for the same person, and both were approved, but obviously, the patient didn’t need but one of their kidneys.

“They ultimately decided that they both still wanted to continue to donate and decided to do it at the same time. We had never had a couple decide to do it at the same time. As a physician, my first thought was, ‘well, I don’t know if that’s a good idea because if you’re both recovering who’s going to take care of who’ and ‘what if one of you has a complication?’

‘How are you going to handle that?’”, she reflected. “In the end, I thought I should probably respect their wishes, and their mindset was that they wanted to go through this experience together, including the recovery process. And so they did.

They donated one day apart. The wife donated to their family friend, and the

Like Dr. Jay, Saavedra agrees that it takes a special person to be willing to donate, calling them superhuman.

“Sometimes people donate, and they don’t even know the person. It’s something out of this world that they are willing to do in giving something from their own body. It’s amazing. There’s not anything that someone can do to really thank them.”

According to the cost associated with donating, your evaluation as a potential donor and donor follow-up appointments is paid by the transplant recipient’s medical insurance, according to the WFBH Living Donor program’s website. This includes physical examinations, laboratory blood tests, X-rays, scans, imagining, surgery, and any necessary post-donation discharge medications. Financial concerns regarding donation can be discussed with someone from the Abdominal Organ Transplant Program living donation team or the National Living Donor Assistance Center.

To make the sacrifices that are made, both physically and financially, Saavedra husband donated credits a higher power. the second day “This is the love through one of that the Lord talks our kidney swap about. These people programs, and so are really kind and his kidney went to Dr. Colleen Jay, WFBH Transplant have a true heart. Love help someone in Surgeon thy neighbor - that’s New England.” the kind of love these To become a people are really living donor, you showing. Even though some of them must volunteer to donate to someone, don’t know about the Lord, but that’s be 18 or over, and be in good health. how big it is, and I think that’s how the You cannot have diabetes or chronic Lord wants us to feel about other people,” medical conditions, be obese, have active he explained. “To those people who are substance abuse or infection, and have rethinking about donating, just know you’re current kidney stones. It is recommended saving a life. We really don’t think about that you have a strong support system to it like that, but if you saw someone dying, help you recover after your surgery. Dr. Jay falling off a cliff, or something, you would recommends contacting the transplant save them. This is similar to that. You’re recipients center or your closest center for not only saving one person’s life. You’re more information. actually saving the next person’s life too “In general, what it means to be a because once a recipient like me gets put good donor is to be reasonably healthy. off of the list, someone else gets a chance With kidney donation, we just don’t at life.” worry about health for the surgery but For more information, visit https:// worry about long-term health and kidney www.wakehealth.edu/Specialty/a/ health,” she said. “The best way to be Abdominal-Organ-Transplant-Program. ! healthy enough to be a kidney donor is cutting those lifestyle issues and making sure you’re managing your weight and CHANEL DAVIS is the current editor of YES! Weekly and avoiding obesity so you can avoid diabegraduated from N.C. A&T S.U. in 2011 with a degree in tes and high blood pressure. You do this by Journalism and Mass Communications. She’s worked at eating healthy, staying physically active, daily and weekly newspapers in the Triad region. and maintaining healthy body weight.”

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Boba Tea and Heartstrings “I’ve always loved boba, and when an opportunity like this came up, giving me a chance to make and sell something I love, I knew it would be fun,” said Ronny Real, who owns and runs Ian McDowell Moshi Moshi Boba Café at 2418 Spring Garden Street with YES! Writer his former girlfriend of eleven years, and now wife of one month, Mary Le. “And I wanted to do something different than what every other boba tea house in the Triad has,” said Mary. “Green tea and taro and mango and the other standbys are great, but have you ever had black sesame and ube blended together?”

I told Mary that I love black sesame paste in sweet dumplings and ice cream, but I have never tried it in boba tea and didn’t know what ube was. It turns out it’s a bright purple sweet potato from the Philippines, sweeter than its American relative, but also with a nutty and somewhat vanilla taste. And yes, it’s really good mixed with black sesame paste.

Before writing more about the newlyweds and the delectable beverages and desserts they sell, it may be necessary to explain boba tea to those who’ve never tried it.

Also called bubble tea and pearl milk tea, the sweet cold beverage first became popular in Taipei, then a sensation across Asia before making its way to America.

“Boba” is Taiwanese slang for the tapioca “pearls” that are added a mixture of black tea, various fruits, vegetables or syrups, and/or sweet condensed milk, after all the other ingredients are blended with ice. Some sources claim it also means “breasts” due to the shape of the chewy tapioca beads. As Ronny is the son of Cambodian refugees and was born in San Jose before moving to Greensboro when he was five, and Mary is Vietnamese-American and was born Ngoc Xuan Le here in Greensboro, I did not ask them about Taiwanese slang.

I did, however, ask about their romantic history.

“We’ve been together for 11 years but made it official and tied the knot just two weeks ago,” said Ronny when I first spoke to him on Jan. 20, when Mary wasn’t in the shop. “I met her at the Greensboro Icehouse on August 17, 2009. I like to say ‘I skated and fell for you,’ but neither of YES! WEEKLY

FEBRUARY 10-16, 2021

us was even interested in each other at the time.”

“He was just this little clown skating and making a fool of himself by showing off and being silly,” said Mary with an affectionate laugh when I sat down with both of them a week later.

“I had to keep skating around you doing stuff,” said Ronny, “because I didn’t know how to stop, so it was either that or crash into a wall.”

But shortly after meeting on the ice, they reconnected on social media. Two months later, they started dating and never stopped until they were married on January 6 of this year.

“We planned to have a wedding two years ago,” said Mary. “But it didn’t happen then because we were getting ready to open this business, and then it didn’t happen last year because of COVID. In fact, we still haven’t had our official wedding, but we finally said, okay, let’s just do it and get married, and we invited his sister and my sister, and then David surprised us by showing up and taking great photos.”

She was speaking of their friend and co-worker David Nguyen, a videographer and choreographer who teaches hiphop dancing at UNCG, and who took the photo of the couple that accompanies this article.

Moshi Moshi opened in March of 2020, but temporarily shut down for remodeling and menu revisions last Fall and reopened in early January. “We added the swing, redid the tables, repainted the walls, all to make it more aesthetic and appeal to our customers more,” said Ronny, who was quick to credit Mary with the changes in ambiance. “She’s the idea and mind, and I’m the hands.”

“My aesthetic is simple, but with a bit of flair,” said Mary. “A little bit of green, a little bit of wood. I’ve visited Japan, and a lot of their aesthetic is like this. I’m still working on a couple of things and am waiting for some better ideas to come to my head, rather than just throwing everything together. It’s a work in progress but completely different from how we started. We looked too much like a corporate chain then, and our menu was too much like every other boba place.”

Now that menu not only features boba tea, but fruit tea slushies, fusion fruit tea, sparkling green tea blended with yogurt, and “refreshers,” which are coconut water with fruit. Then there are the spectacular signature drinks, such as the Red Cosmo

(blended dragon fruit with marble strawberry whip and a milk cap sprinkled with salt) and Mangonada (mango puree, charnoy, and Tajin tamarind candy).

Mary’s favorite is the Winter Soldier.

“It’s winter melon fruit tea made with black tea and with a splash of lemonade,” she said. “It’s really good. My favorite milk tea is the Typhoon, which is Oreo blended with Thai tea.”

She and Ronny are also justifiably proud of their Vietnamese coffee.

“We actually slow drip our coffee in the traditional way,” she said. “Growing up, my parents would drink that every morning. You use a traditional kind of canister called phin. It’s the best way to enjoy espresso, I think. It rakes roughly around five to seven minutes to brew, but it’s so worth it. I remember how my parents would take their time getting ready in the morning, waiting for the coffee to be brewed. Then all you have to do is mix it with sweet condensed milk, pour it over ice, mix and drink. As the water dilutes, it actually makes the coffee smoother.

It’s not like the American way, where you take a coffee to go and drink it as fast as you can. You just drink it as slow as you can and enjoy the moment.” Moshi Moshi is colloquial Japanese for “hello,” and that country’s influence is found in the taiyaki, delicate piping hot fresh-made fish-shaped waffle cakes with sweet or savory fillings. I had one with red bean paste, a second with Nutella, and a third with mozzarella. All were delicious.

Then there’s the rolled ice cream served in bubble waffle bowls. The ice cream spread thinly on a cold metal surface,

scraped up into a tight spiral, and served in a warm, freshly made bubble waffle bowl with fresh fruit and other toppings.

“Bubble waffles are a kind of egg waffle that originated in Hong Kong,” said Ronny. “We pair it with ice cream and toppings of the customer’s choices. It pairs really well because we’re careful not to make the bubble waffle too sweet, as we’re going to put toppings and ice-cream in it. It’s very airy and hollow inside, and the outside is very crunchy. It’s puffed but able to maintain its crunchiness. Our choices are based on what we love, such as the mango flavor, or the Macha Love, which is green tea. Ours is so much flavor. But we also have the Rocky Road, Kit Kat, brownies, and Oreos. We make our batter with fresh eggs, evaporated milk, baking powder, and the timing is important. Just like donuts, you have to wait a little bit as it cools.”

Both Ronny and Mary asked that this article mention Chastity (who did not give her last name when I spoke to her), their full-time employee, who, along with David Nguyen, comprises their Moshi Moshi family. “We couldn’t do it without Chastity and David,” said Ronny. “We appreciate everything they’ve done so much.”

When I last spoke to Mary and Ronny, they were making decorating plans for Tet, the Vietnamese version of Chinese New Year, which is celebrated on the same date. This year, it’s February 12. But they both agreed with me that Moshi Moshi is also an excellent place for a Valentine’s Day date.

“Bubble waffles and fruit tea taste even better when you share them with somebody special,” said Mary.

They agreed it would have been great if they’d had a place like Moshi Moshi to go to when they, in Ronny’s words, “impulsively jumped into dating.”

But, he added, “it doesn’t really matter how that kind of history starts; it’s what happens in the middle, and then how it ends. So here we are today, together, building a business, delivering to the Triad, and seeing where that takes us.

Hopefully, we’ll have kids, and we can give them an easier life, just like our parents worked to be sure we had easier lives.” !

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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Raymond and Kim Larkin find real love in Real Love Music Raymond and Kim Larkin have found real love for themselves, which they embody and explore as a duet—with a mission to share through Real Love Music.

Katei Cranford “Real Love Music was ignited through our passion for music Contributor and each other,” said the pair, who consider themselves “inspiring singers, creative songwriters, and life-long best friends in marriage.”

“The concept describes our relationship as a couple and what we love,” added the couple, who seem to live the way they shared their answers: in harmony. The practice extends to their videos, which often start like newlyweds on a landline answering machine.

“This is real love music,” they say together, in-sync. It’s befitting of their self-generated genre of “Love and Inspiration,” a concept, as they put it, “uniquely derived from the melodies and message they share.”

Those melodies resonate through both their life and music. “We believe our purpose is not only to share great music,” they said, “but to display and encourage others to experience FUN in love and life!”

While Kim couldn’t “have ever imagined” the singing career which has unfolded— their families and upbringing hinted at what was to come. “We both come from families with a talent for singing,” the couple said of what attracted them to song, “and we both come from backgrounds of singing in church and school as kids.”

As it was the church that got them into singing, so was it the church that brought them together. “We were familiar with each other since our churches would fellowship together.” They officially met in 1998, began dating in 2004, and were married on Sept. 30, 2006.

Their first duet also came from church, in 2005, as the then newly-engaged couple performed at a baptismal service in Lake Norman. “A friend invited us to come, and that was our first time singing together,” they explained. The crowd of strangers and friends alike could see the two had something special.” Bystanders thought we had been singing together for years. “ “Shortly after the Lake Norman event, we knew there was something unique about us singing together,” they noted.

They married the following year—performWWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

ing “their song,” “When God Made You” by New Song (featuring Natalie Grant) as part of the ceremony.

By 2007, they had officially formed a singing group, with recording for their first release underway—using music, as Grant sings in their wedding song, to “solve the mystery of how two hearts can come together.”

Like any good couple, they roll with the tides and keep things fresh, and in their pursuit, Real Love Music has taken many forms. “From 2007-2010, we operated under the name Real Love Ministries because we sang mainly for church events at the time,” they explained. “In 2011, we understood more about our purpose and realized that singing ‘love and inspirational’ music is what we enjoyed the most.

Therefore, we updated the name to Real Love Music.”

The joy they get from singing comes from their enjoyment of each other— though musical influences like Ashford & Simpson, Kindred, and Peaches & Herb help carry their tune. Artists they enjoy covering include: Alexander O’Neal & Cherrelle, Kem, Bebe & Cece Winans, The Gap Bap, Anita Baker, Sade, Maxwell, Jill Scott, Anthony Hamilton, and Luther Vandross.

The pair is especially fond of gospel singer Fred Hammond, with whom they’ve performed.

Looking back on the experience so far has helped define their motto of “bringing fun back to love through music and entertainment.”

“Every so often, we evaluate where we are in our musical journey,” they explained of the process. “We felt like our music had captured the “definition” of our love, so now the focus is on what we do with that.

In our relationship, we like to have fun. So we bring more of that in our music and shows.”

They keep the fun in their relationship by keeping their focus, “don’t let distractions deter you from what matters in your life,” they advised. For themselves, “we have weekly date nights on Fridays—we’ll go to dinner and a movie which seems simple, but we love it.”

The simplicity extends to their grounds of putting their relationship first. “Our marriage relationship is the highest priority, which is what will reflect on any stage,” they explained, “it’s not always easy working together because we have differences of opinions at times. But we always try to find a median.”

And it helps to have fun. “Over the years, we’ve learned a healthy balance between home life and music life,” they said. “The

work we have put in is never stressful because what we love to do is not seen as ‘work.’”

That balance is managed through roles they’ve cemented within their songs. “Kim is more of the songwriter and melody specialist,” they noted, “and Raymond is more of an arrangement specialist.” The pairing has worked throughout their recording history, beginning with their first release, “Love Defined,” in 2009.

For production, the pair collaborated with Roderick Carter of House of Phat, and Producer Luguzy Atkins, with whom they’ve continued to work with for followups: “I love You” (2014), “Celebrate Love” (2016), and “Every Christmas With You” and “Rock 2 the Rhythm,” (2018). “We have a great working relationship,” they said of their production team, “and have all grown better musically.”

The couple celebrated the “Celebrate Love” single with a video filmed by Okeeze Artz Videography. “It showcases couples, along with friends and family, in the community just celebrating love,” they explained of the video, which features the “Real Love Shuffle,” a dance created by Smooth Grooves Urban Ballroom Dance.

Beyond their releases, the couple looks fondly on where Real Love Music has taken them—and where they look to go. “We love to perform in intimate settings,” they said, though they’ve enjoyed performing at “concerts, festivals, fairs, weddings, birthdays, anniversaries and sporting events.”

They’ve had the pleasure of singing the National Anthem for various sports teams, including the Charlotte Hornets, WinstonSalem Dash, and a crowd of 8,000 at the Greensboro Grasshoppers Pre-July 4th game in 2017.

Other honors they’ve enjoyed range from a nomination for “Best Duo” at the 2019 AMG Heritage Awards, to opening

for Men at Large and the Rude Boys, and performing for the Ben & Jerry’s Summer Music Series.

They also treasure memories of attending the Carolina Bridal Show in 2018, playing at Jackie’s Place in High Point, concerts they’ve hosted at Dynacon Event Center, and their first concert breakfast at Chandlar’s Florist & Coffee House. “The concert breakfast was unique because breakfast was served prior to the show,” they said, “while the guests were serenaded by a harpist.”

Around this time in 2020, they spread the love at a Valentine’s Soiree presented

by Dynacon Events Center. These days, they’re only performing for private events following pandemic protocols. But hope to return to larger stages soon.

The couple is keeping things low key for Valentine’s Day this year. “We plan to have a nice dinner. Maybe watch some romantic movies on Netflix,” they said, noting Raymond’s knack for surprising Kim with flowers and balloons at work. The couple still finds joy in “little things like holding hands and looking into each other’s eyes.”

Their Valentine suggestion for couples is simple: “Be sure to spend quality time with the ones you love without hesitation,” they said. “Enjoy the moment and be present in it.”

Taking their own advice, they continue enjoying moments together and finding ways to connect with audiences through new means—like TikTok lip-synch videos of characters, and snippets fans of Martin and Coming to America are likely to enjoy. Kim’s personal favorite she’s filmed so far, called “Hey, how y’all doing?” has more than one million views.

Eyeing the future, they’re working on new songs and hope to release a new music video later in the year. And the couple has something special in the works for the 15th wedding anniversary they’ll celebrate later this year. But beyond that, the future is out of their hands. “Our hope is that someone can look at our lives and see God’s love,” they explained. “We’re far from perfect and are still learning how to deal with life. But in the midst of it all, we can still expect good and enjoy life to the fullest. We hope to spread love and hope globally.”

Raymond and Kim Larkin have found real love for themselves and look to share that with the world through Real Love Music. !

KATEI CRANFORD is a Triad music nerd who hosts “Katei’s Thursday Tour Report,” a radio show spotlighting area artists and events. Thur. 5:30-7 p.m. on WUAG 103.1FM. FEBRUARY 10-16, 2021

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A father and daughter carry Music Across the Water

M

usic Across the Water has recently released its debut self-titled album of English folk songs, arranged by fatherdaughter duo, Dan and Samantha Katei Cranford Smith.

Weaving harmony and melody with Contributor history, Music Across the Water engages a record blending a lifelong relationship of playing music together, with Dan’s life as a musician and Samantha’s career as a historian.

“Music is one of the most intimate ways we can communicate with people in the past,” said Samantha Smith, who works as Director of Community Engagement and Digital Learning at Old Salem Museum and Gardens. “Folkways and traditional music have always fascinated me, especially the way music reveals cultural confluence.”

The pair resides across two houses in the same historic nook of College Hill in Greensboro. And while the album marks their first official release, they’ve been playing music together for as long as Samantha can remember.

“Some of my earliest childhood memories are singing with my dad,” she said. “I remember the day we sat down for the first time, in a serious way, to play music—he told me about the importance of singing in our family history—and taught me the harmony of a song by The Louvin Brothers. I’m grateful to be singing together today!”

Dan, a classically trained musician with a career spanning nearly five-decades, echoed the musical relationship he’s fostered with his daughter. “She was still strapped in a car seat the first time I heard that very big voice come from a very tiny girl,” he said,” and we’ve always enjoyed singing English folk songs.”

While the self-titled release ushers their recording debut, this isn’t their first foray as bandmates—the pair also plays in a 60’s-style psychedelic group, Alone Again Or. “It’s a way for us to enjoy playing other music we enjoy,” Dan explained of the quartet, which dives more into the psychedelia and soul music of the late 60s and early 70s. “I love psychedelic rock and even the ‘candy’ pop of the 1960s,” YES! WEEKLY

FEBRUARY 10-16, 2021

Samantha added, “and to be able to perform some of those songs on stage was thrilling.”

As live shows have taken a backseat, they’ve delved more deeply into Music Across the Water. Though Alone Again Or guitarist, Edward Holm, makes notable appearances on the record, performing on “Who’s the Fool Now” and “Daddy Fox,” and engineering the violin recordings bestowed by acclaimed violinist Jennifer Curtis.

Visually the album is brought to life through illustrations by Patti Pogodzinski, which helps create a storybook atmosphere for the audience—enhanced by bits of history and “Dan’s Notes” included with each track.

For Samantha, Pogodzinski’s work enhances the record’s personal nature.

“Patti brought her own interpretation and style to the songs through her illustrations. It was already a meaningful project, but that was amplified tenfold by working with my best friend.”

The family affair resonates, with an audible closeness, throughout the work.

“We’re able to build on our years of comfortable singing together,” Dan explained, “it’s created a blend special to family members.”

Samantha agreed on the blend they’ve developed, with both remarking on her input on production and song choice.

Their rendition of “Geordie,” a song Dan considers one the best on the record, was at her request. “It just came together, as if by magic,” he explained of the track.

“Everything on the song is a first take— recording it only took a day, while some others (which will remain nameless) took all year!”

“Geordie’s” delicate arrangement is aided by guest recorder player Rosemarie DiGiorgio—Dan’s wife, Samantha’s mother, and manager for Music Across the Water. “It’s given us all something to work on together as a family,” Dan said. “Music has always been a huge deal to both sides of my family—it’s the reason I exist!”

Samantha added, noting her parents met at a show her dad was playing.

Beyond their family, Dan’s influences for the project came largely from English

folk musicians Robin and Barry Dransfield, with hints of Fairport Convention, Albion Band, Shirley Collins, and even a bit of early Genesis. Samantha found vocal inspiration from Susanne Sundfør, Maddy Prior, Rosalia, Sandy Denny, and Oumou Sangare.

As their debut album picks up radio play across the country, recording is underway for a second LP of traditional English folk songs, followed by an intended third album featuring American material.

“I’m excited to see how we can incorporate different musical traditions and explore new stories with our music,” Samantha noted, “we’ve put out our first record, but it won’t be our last.”

Looking ahead, Music Across the Water will be featured in an upcoming episode of the Prairie Public Broadcasting radio network’s The Great American Folk Show.

Their self-titled debut is out now. !

KATEI CRANFORD is a Triad music nerd who hosts “Katei’s Thursday Tour Report,” a radio show spotlighting area artists and events. Thur. 5:30-7 p.m. on WUAG 103.1FM.

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

ANCESTRY DOT CON

I’m a single woman in my mid-30s with an older half brother I haven’t seen in 20 years.

He started calling me several years ago, and we speak Amy Alkon sporadically (always instigated by him).

Advice He’s married and Goddess refers to me as the aunt to his four children (whom I’ve never met). Recently, he asked whether they could all stay with me for a while. On the next call, he asked to borrow money. I have yet to give him answers. I can’t help but suspect he just intended to use me all along. Is there a way to figure out whether that was the case? If so, I really don’t want anything to do with him. —Wary If you have to give a 40-year-old kid a home in your basement, the kid should at least be yours.

Unfortunately, a lack of money is sometimes the root of newfound family.

When your half brother first called, it probably seemed like a nice thing. But now that he’s hitting you up for money and housing, it’s natural you’re wondering whether he was just priming you for financial seduction.

There are two clashing evolutionary motives in play here: our motivation to sacrifice in order to help our relatives and our motivation to avoid being scammed.

It’s in our genetic self-interest to sock

away our money and other resources for any children we might have, who’ll carry approximately 50% of our genes (plus 50% of their other parent’s). However, evolutionary psychology research consistently finds we’re prone to set aside our own interests when people in need are related to us, well beyond whatever generosity we’d show to friends or even needy strangers.

This makes genetic sense. Half siblings like you and your brother have about 25% of the same genes, on average.

That’s not the 50% you’d share with a full sibling (on average), but it’s not nothing. Half bro’s children might share a smattering of your genes (maybe 12.5% or thereabouts). So, by helping half bro, you potentially help at least some of your genes show up in coming generations. That said, our level of relatedness factors into how willing we are to incur costs, though these calculations are done subconsciously. In other words, if this guy were your full brother, you might be more inclined (or a little less disinclined!) to fork over money and bedrooms.

We likewise evolved to be on the lookout for scammers. In a harsh ancestral environment, getting conned out of our share of bison McNuggets might be a life-or-death issue. Evolutionary psychologists Leda Cosmides and John Tooby find that the human mind has a specialized mechanism for detecting “cheaters,” meaning people who intentionally try to take a benefit they aren’t entitled to.

An example of this would be someone scooping up the benefits of being family when his real motivation was just

milking you. Granted, you and half bro are family; however, had he not asked for money along with a place to stay, you might not feel so set up. Behavioral economist Dan Ariely’s research finds that outside of business situations, the mere mention of money sours relationships, “introducing market norms” into interactions with friends, family, nice neighbors, and romantic partners.

“Market norms” are “give to get” business norms. The supermarket gives us a loaf of bread, and we give them $3 to get out the door without getting arrested for shoplifting. “Social norms” are the loveand liking-driven standards that guide our giving to friends, family, neighbors, and romantic partners. We don’t expect instant payback (or, sometimes, any payback), and we don’t keep an accounting ledger: “I helped you move your couch.

You need to come over and spend a halfhour mopping my floor.”

Elements of social norms do emerge in market situations (like if the butcher is fond of you), and when friends or romantic partners are “all take,” we eventually give them the boot. However, muddying the two norms — like if a guy has sex with

his girlfriend and leaves a wad of cash on the nightstand afterward — can be disastrous. As Ariely puts it, once market norms spill into social norm-driven situations, “recovering a social relationship is difficult.”

Because of the pandemic, many are struggling and suddenly desperate, so it’s possible your half brother’s intentions were warm and familial rather than cold and calculating. It’ll probably take time (with continuing contact) to suss out where he’s coming from. Saying no to him (at least initially) might also do the job — leading him to blow up and disappear if he’s just there to milk and bilk. Of course, if he’s a scheming sociopath, he might take the long view, deciding Auntie ATM just needs more “grooming” before he can pull off the middle-class version of the vagrant who tells you you’re beautiful so he can ask you for a dollar. !

GOT A PROBLEM? Write Amy Alkon, 171 Pier Ave., #280, Santa Monica, CA 90405, or email AdviceAmy@aol.com (www.advicegoddess.com). Follow her on Twitter @amyalkon. Order her latest “science-help” book, Unf*ckology: A Field Guide to Living with Guts and Confidence. ©2021 Amy Alkon. Distributed by Creators.Com.

answers [CROSSWORD] crossword on page 9

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