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UNCG Men’s Basketball vs. Wofford > February 15 NCHSAA State Wrestling Championships > February 16-18 Guiford College Bryan Series presents Bryan Stevenson > February 21 Central Carolina Boat & Fishing Expo > February 24-26
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YES! WEEKLY > FEBRUARY 8-14, 2017 > VOLUME 13, NUMBER 6
5500 Adams Farm Lane Suite 204 Greensboro, NC 27407 Office 336-316-1231 Fax 336-316-1930 Publisher CHARLES A. WOMACK III publisher@yesweekly.com
FRED CHAPPELL
EDITORIAL Editor JEFF SYKES jeff@yesweekly.com Contributors KRISTI MAIER JOHN ADAMIAN RICH LEWIS STEVE MITCHELL BILLY INGRAM ALLISON STALBERG IAN MCDOWELL DEONNA KELLI SAYED MIA OSBORN
FRED CHAPPELL may be Greensboro’s most distinguished poet, short story writer, essayist and novelist, having won the Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry, the Prix de Meilleur des Livres Etrangers, the Bollingen Prize, the T. S. Eliot Prize and the World Fantasy Award.
Movies MARK BURGER marksburger@yahoo.com
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Theatre LENISE WILLIS lenise@yesweekly.com PRODUCTION Graphic Designers ALEX ELDRIDGE designer@yesweekly.com AUSTIN KINDLEY artdirector@yesweekly.com ADVERTISING
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kat@yesweekly.com Marketing BRAD MCCAULEY brad@yesweekly.com TRAVIS WAGEMAN travis@yesweekly.com CLAUDIA BURNETT claudia@yesweekly.com KAREN SCOTT karen@yesweekly.com Promotion NATALIE GARCIA
DISTRIBUTION JANICE GANTT BRANDON COMBS 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 2017 Womack Newspapers, Inc.
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the lead 8
DEVON SMITH has always been into creativity and will
soon celebrate that passion with his upcoming documentary, CreativeNC. 10 Refusing to remain impoverished in low health and housing standards, a group of residents in Greensboro teamed up with nonprofit organizations to revitalize the COTTAGE GROVE neighborhood.
voices 12
I didn’t vote for him but we ELECTED him. We, the people who live in this country. I’m a part of that We and nothing will convince me I’m not. This we-ness is a thing many factions on all sides would like us to forget, yet this we-ness is what makes a country a country.
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And at the end of the day, whom can we blame for our miseries but ourselves? Playwright Arthur Miller knew this all too well while crafting his 1968 drama THE PRICE. 30 At first glance, RECONSIDERED GOODS on Patterson Street could be mistaken for an oddly welcoming thrift store, but a closer look will reveal there’s something different about the place. 31 The “2GNC COMEDY ALL STARS” will again be shining brightly, as the “2 Guys Named Chris” radio show’s popular standup comedy event plays the Cone Denim Entertainment Center in Greensboro on Friday and the UNCSA Stevens Center in WinstonSalem on Saturday. 32 Ladies and gentlemen, you have but one week to get yourselves ready for VALENTINE’S DAY. If you desire to whisk your love to something delicious, we’ve got you covered.
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Side projects and productivity are in these days. But even in a climate of astounding busy-ness, KELLER WILLIAMS stands out as a promiscuous collaborator and a restless music-maker.
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SHILOH HILL FRIDAY
EVENTS YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS | BY AUSTIN KINDLEY ENT MT
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CIVIL RIGHTS PANEL DISCUSSION THURSDAY CABARET AROUND THE WORLD THURSDAY THURSDAY
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WHAT: The Piedmont Wind Symphony is proud to announce their first concert of the new year entitled Cabaret Around the World under the direction of new Music Director Maestro Matthew Troy. WHEN: 7:30 p.m. WHERE: Reynolds Auditorium. 301 North Hawthorne Road, Winston-Salem. MORE: Tickets are $75 each and include hors d’oeuvres, two drinks, live and silent auction, live entertainment, and one complimentary ticket to Cabaret Around the World.
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CABARET AROUND JAZZ
PANEL DISCUSSION THE WORLD WHAT: With the month of February commemorating African American heritage, the High Point Convention & Visitors Bureau (HPCVB) will host a panel discussion on the newly released documentary film, The March on an All-American City. WHEN: 1:30 p.m. WHERE: High Point Convention & Visitors Bureau. 1634 N. Main St., Suite 102 High Point. MORE: Free event.
FRIDAY
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Triad’ s Best 2017
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WHAT: This Second Friday Event will feature vocalist and keyboardist Ken Kennedy along with the Reggie Buie Trio! The trio is comprised of Triad jazz standouts Reggie Buie (piano) Paul Foster (bassist) and Jason Brashear (drummer). Concert attendees at the Piedmont Music Center are treated to a plush intimate setting surrounded by beautiful pianos! WHEN: 6:30 p.m. WHERE: Piedmont Music Center. 212 N Broad Street, Winston-Salem. MORE: $12-$15 entry.
WHAT: Shiloh Hill is a band that not only understands their roots but also understands how to create a sound that’s continuously evolving and fully unique. This is a project that focuses on a joint contribution of artists showcasing not only excellent songwriting and lyricism, but a simple yet beautiful ensemble of harmonizing vocals, guitars, banjo, and percussion. WHEN: 7 p.m. WHERE: Foothills Brewpub. 638 West 4th St., Winston-Salem. MORE: Free entry.
SATURDAY
11 FRENCH TOAST BRUNCH WHAT: First come, first served in the Harvest Room! Tasty french toast with choice of toppings, bistro cafe music, caricature artist, and valentine’s gifts across the market: flowers, jewelry, sweets and more. WHEN: 8 - 11 a.m. WHERE: Greensboro Farmers Market. 501 Yanceyville St, Greensboro. MORE: $5 event.
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6Th ANNUAL wINTER COLLIDESCOPE 3.0: mOTORCYCLE. PRAYER VIGIL, ThE SYRINGA ADVENTURES IN PRE- AND RETROSPECTIVE SILENT AUCTION TREE ART. DESIGN. POST-RACIAL AmERICA & BANQUET WhAT: The Syringa Tree is the story of WhAT: M.A.D | Motorcycle. Art. Design is WhAT: Join Authoring Action teen WhAT: Event is held annually to commemorate the first organized high school sit-in, held February 11,1960. The Vigil will start at 4 followed by a silent auction inside the hotel at 5 p.m. Program & Dinner will begin at 6 p.m. in the Queen Anne Ballroom. WheN: 4-8 p.m. WheRe: Radisson Hotel High Point (Behind the Radisson on Wrenn Street). 135 South Main Street, High Point. MoRe: $40 per ticket.
an abiding love between two families, one black, one white, and the two children born into their shared household in early 1960s South Africa. Seen first through the eyes of a child, six year old Elizabeth tries to make sense of the chaos, magic and darkness of her experience. WheN: 7:30 p.m. WheRe: Community Theatre of Greensboro. 520 South Elm St., Greensboro. MoRe: $10-$15 tickets.
WhAT: The Wake Forest University Theatre will present the science fiction play Collidescope 3.0: Adventures in Pre- and Post- Racial America, which will be directed by Ping Chong, an internationally-acclaimed director whose work focuses on race relations in modern America. WheN: 7:30 p.m. WheRe: Wake Forest University. 1834 Wake Forest Rd., Winston-Salem. MoRe: $7-$15 tickets.
a multi-media, experiential exhibition and is the first major exhibition combining cuttingedge contemporary visual art and some of the most exquisite design accomplishments of the 20th and 21st centuries related to a modern icon: the motorcycle. WheN: 2 p.m. WheRe: GreenHill. 200 N. Davie Street, Greensboro. MoRe: $8 admission.
authors & artists, as they hit the stage at SECCA. Spoken word poetry, original written works, thought provoking, powerful, a must see for all ages! WheN: 3 p.m. WheRe: SECCA. 750 Marguerite Dr., Winston-Salem. MoRe: $10 tickets in advance | $15 at door. 17 & under free.
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LOVE IS ON THE MENU
[LOCAL TALENT]
DEVON SMITH-CREATIVE STATE OF MIND BY ALLISON STALBERG
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Devon Smith has always been into creativity and will soon celebrate that passion with his upcoming documentary, CreativeNC. Today he works in New York with inventive minds that have inspired him since he worked as a student at UNCG. “When I graduated I realized I was out in the world and I was like ‘Am I really going to pursue things that I don’t really love?’” said Smith. “I was in control of my life now and I wanted to do something creative.” After graduating, Smith created a blog that evolved into an online magazine called Infinite Minds. “I would just interview different creative people who were able to acknowledge their passion and build a life or career around it,” said Smith. “I would print physical issues of the magazine and sell it out of my truck to the customers and to my friends.” Through interviewing musicians, poets and artists, Smith realized there was a whole culture of people who were similar to him. “So many of us had dope ideas and incredible things we wanted to do,” he said. “But we didn’t know where to go get funds or what resources were available and we were just trying to make it from a
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place like North Carolina.” The curiosity to find others like himself is what made Smith set out to direct his documentary. “When I started CreativeNC, it was tough. I lost my job. I had to move out of my apartment and had to throw everything in my apartment in the dumpster. I travelled to New York to find work while I was shooting the documentary and took the bus back and forth to North Carolina.” Now CreativeNC is a one hour and four minute documentary that will be released on March 18. A screening will be shown at North Carolina’s Museum of History in Raleigh. There will also be a mini conference to help teach creative minds how to grow a business from their imagination. “For CreativeNC, I definitely want to make a yearly thing and grow it into some sort of festival or a bigger conference where we could bring entertainers and really empower the state of North Carolina,” said Smith. “We have such a crazy market there with so many colleges and two of the fastest cities that are growing in the country that are three hours away from each other.” Learn more about CreativeNC at www. creativenc.info. !
WANT TO BE FEATURED AS A LOCAL TALENT? E-mail a photo and a short bio to editor@yesweekly.com
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[SCUTTLEBUTT] Items from across the Triad and beyond MERLEFEST ADDS LEFTOVER SALMON, TIFT MERRITT, JORMA KAUKONEN, DONNA THE BUFFALO AND JOHN DRISKELL HOPKINS BAND MerleFest, presented by Window World and scheduled for April 27-30, 2017, is proud to announce five more artists added to the MerleFest 2017 lineup! They are Leftover Salmon, Tift Merritt, Jorma Kaukonen, Donna the Buffalo, and John Driskell Hopkins Band. These artists join a list of performers including Zac Brown Band, The Avett Brothers, Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives and many more. This year marks MerleFest’s 30th celebration. The annual homecoming of musicians and music fans returns to the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The starpacked lineup for MerleFest 2017 is still being developed. Leftover Salmon – Colorado’s Leftover Salmon has established itself as one of the great purveyors of Americana music, digging deep into the well that supplies its influences – rock ‘n’ roll, folk, bluegrass, Cajun, soul, zydeco, jazz and blues. During its 25-plus years as a band, Leftover Salmon has headlined shows and festivals from coast to coast, released nine albums and maintained a vibrant, relevant and influential voice in the music world. The addition of new band members over the years has nurtured an unmistakable evolution and freshness in Leftover Salmon’s sound and has added an edge to the long-lasting power of the band’s music. Fueled by the rhythm section of long-time bassist Greg Garrison, drummer Alwyn Robinson and Salmon’s newest member, keyboardist Erik Deustch, the band is currently enjoying a creative renaissance. Leftover Salmon will perform on Friday. Tift Merritt – Raised in North Carolina, Tift Merritt has released five full-length albums and two live records, including a recent reissue of her debut album “Bramble Rose” earlier this year. The New Yorker has called Tift Merritt “the bearer of a proud tradition of distaff country soul that reaches back to artists like Dusty Springfield and Bobbie Gentry.” Emmylou Harris calls her a “diamond in a coal mine.” She has performed with the New York Philharmonic and toured with artists as varied as Iron & Wine, Jason Isbell, Elvis Costello and Gregg Allman. Her 2004 release “Tambourine” was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Country Album as well as three Americana Music Awards. She has recently recorded and toured with Andrew Bird’s Hands of Glory, MC Taylor’s WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM
Hiss Golden Messenger and Simone Dinnerstein. Don Henley, a founding member of the Eagles, covered Merritt’s song “Bramble Rose” to open up his first solo album in 15 years, “Cass County.” Tift won the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at MerleFest 2000 in the Country category. And, she served as a first-round judge for the 2014 contest. She will perform on Saturday. Jorma Kaukonen – In a career that has already spanned a half of a century, Jorma Kaukonen has been one of the most highly respected interpreters of American roots music, blues and Americana, and at the forefront of popular rock ‘n’ roll. A member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and a Grammy nominee, he is a founding member of two legendary bands, Jefferson Airplane and the still-touring Hot Tuna. Jorma Kaukonen’s repertoire goes far beyond his involvement creating psychedelic rock; he is a music legend and one of the finest singer-songwriters in music. Jorma will perform on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Donna the Buffalo – One of the most dynamic and determined bands continuously touring America since 1989, Donna the Buffalo has created a community environment at its shows through its distinctive, groove-heavy and danceable music. Donna the Buffalo is a band that is accessible, positive and memorable for the people. With roots in old-time fiddle music that evolved into a soulful electric American mix infused with elements of Cajun/zydeco, rock, folk, reggae and country, Donna’s music often contains social and moral responsibility as core beliefs, and its simply fun to get out and celebrate life with its band members. They will perform on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. John Driskell Hopkins Band – Over the years, John Driskell Hopkins has been in many groups, namely the Zac Brown Band, and recorded his own solo works. John Driskell Hopkins has been singing since he could talk and like many who grew up in the South, Hopkin’s earliest musical experiences were in the church choir. In fifth grade, he started piano lessons and began to learn about music theory in its simplest forms. Later, he applied what he had learned to his dad’s old Martin guitar knock-off that he found under the bed. He started playing guitar and bass in high school and formed his first band with some high school friends. !
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the lead
POLITICS, UPDATES, TRENDS AND OTHER VITAL INFORMATION
Cottage Grove Initiative: Coming together for change BY ALLISON STALBERG efusing to remain impoverished in low health and housing standards, a group of residents in Greensboro teamed up with nonprofit organizations to revitalize the Cottage Grove neighborhood. Outside focus on Cottage Grove began about 10 years ago and resulted in the collaborative Cottage Grove Initiative. “Collaborative Cottage Grove is a shared leadership between neighborhood leaders and the nonprofit organizations that want to support the neighborhood in revitalizing from the bottom up,” said volunteer Beth McKee-Huger. “This is a place where the people who live here are deeply committed to, but they recognize a lot of the problems that they wish were different. They wish more people had jobs and the housing to be in better shape and for it to be a better place for people to get healthy foods and safe to be out walking in the neighborhood and playing outside.” Now the neighborhoods work with outside support, but the residents are the ones deciding what they do and don’t want in the community. There was fear that outside developers would demolish and build anew, displacing those who live in the community. Project Coordinator Josie Williams has worked hard to build the community’s trust with the four organizations including the Montagnard Community Heath, the Greensboro Housing Coalition, the Cottage Grove Initiative and the New Hope Community Development Group. “People ask me what do you know and how do you get community members engaged and I just tell them you have to meet people where they are,” she said. “There is no secret there is a lack of trust with most residents and the city officials. It’s no secret that this community has had such disinvestment over the years that people feel unheard. They don’t feel their voices matter. “I didn’t go into the community asking them for anything, although I know this is community centered help and we need their support. For the first several months, I didn’t even ask them anything. They just knew that
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Residents of the Cottage Grove neighborhood have worked with non-profit groups to revitalize the community during the last few years. I was helping to coordinate things with these organizations and after listening to them and hearing their stories, they felt validated just from that very thing. That’s how trust built up and from that point it was just a snowball effect.” According to Williams, the community of about 1,200 households is one of the most diverse she has seen in Greensboro. “In a one block radius...over ten cultures are in one block,” said Williams. “When I began to notice that diversity, I began to think about who could help us support those four organizations. Who could we bring in to so we would be a better representation for the community? We have Burmese, we have Montagnard, Ethiopians, Latin Americans, its white and its black and it’s all these different cultures.” Despite the challenges of health and housing experienced in the diverse community, a lot of them don’t want to leave. There are elders who have been around since the 1950s who want to stay. They just want something better, to live heathy in a vibrant community. Thanks to the active community, volunteers and organizations, there is now a resurgence in Cottage Grove. “There’s this new energy and this buzz in the city regarding this area,” said Williams. “The universities are taking notice because they are into academics. You’ve got students that have service learning opportunities
and so professors started approaching me about internships and volunteers. “So I started to look at how this could be a mutually beneficial thing for the residents without taxing the community. They’re not guinea pigs, they’re not research subjects. But what could we do with the commu-
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nity members who enhance their quality of life for the research that the students are doing? That just turned into all these beautiful community partnerships.” For the past semester, Cottage Grove has had student project groups from Guilford College, Elon, Greensboro College, NC A&T and UNCG organize specific initiatives to benefit the community. One student did a digital story about residents and many joined Williams in doing focus groups for the community. “I let the community know that everyone is experiencing the same thing over here,” said Williams. “I let people know...everybody will leave out of this area if you don’t come together. So now that people are coming together, now that they are feeling more empowered, I would let them know the outcome is you can’t be so easily ignored and your voices are much stronger and louder when you come together.” Diverse projects in the Cottage Grove Initiative have included organizing for political influence and community gardens. Another group of students developed “Anytime we can bring them in, we do,” helping residents to find jobs and work your organization thinks is wonderful but policy proposal alternatives to condemnsaid Williams. on their resumes. if nobody in the community participates ing buildings. Williams believes the biggest success Cottage Grove Initiative makes sure because they don’t relate to it, then it’s “We have units condemned that are of Cottage Grove Initiative is the trust and to hire community members when work kind of a wasted effort,” said McKeenot trashed out,” said Williams. “We community engagement and their new needs to be done such yard work and pubHuger. “So everybody knows that comhave units condemned that have been on-site clinic. lic health. They have also started multiple munity leadership is sitting condemned Want to learn more? Visit www.cottagecommunity gardens. Community members necessary for it to be and boarded up for groveinitiative.org/ ! tend to the gardens and get a stipend. sustainable. Those inmonths around comstitutions don’t really munity members and There’s this new know how to do that affecting people’s kind of outreach to health.” energy and this get peoples particiAbout two years pation. ago, Blue Cross and buzz in the city “When they see Blue Shield of North that happening in Carolina funded a colregarding this area. Cottage Grove they laborative planning think ‘wow, this is our process to see how opportunity to jump Cottage Grove could on the bandwagon and be part of somedo community-centered health. The prothing that is what we know theoretically cess looked into ways that would keep is a wonderful direction to go, but we just people from getting sick to the point didn’t know practically how to make it that they needed emergency care. happen.’” A lot of research is going upstream Underemployment is a huge issue as in connection with housing and health. well. The New Hope Community DevelAccording to McKee-Huger, the moldy opment has been giving GED classes and conditions in many homes attract pests and have chemicals that trigger asthma. Not just that, but home not being a place you want to go to can cause great strain on mental health. “If there’s a lot of moisture like roof leaks or plumbing leaks...it makes it an environment for the rats and cockroaches,” said McKee-Huger. “So we have a lot of places here having roof problems or plumbing problems. If somebody has asthma, it’s going to be a lot worse in the moisture.” The large amount of input the people who live in Cottage Grove give to organizations has made the programs very sustainable. “You can always do something that WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM
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voices
WRITE US AT EDITOR@YESWEEKLY.COM
Stay uncomfortable
I
didn’t vote for him but we elected him. We, the people who live in this country. I’m a part of that We and nothing will Steve Mitchell convince me I’m not. This we-ness is a thing many factions Contributor on all sides would like us to forget, yet this we-ness is what makes a country a country. It allows us to learn and grow with each other; it brings us together in joy and sorrow. Staying angry is a discipline but it’s a necessary discipline in the face of the current political climate and the inauguration of our new President. The discipline of staying angry is in not succumbing to blind rage, in not being angry about everything, in not rejecting ideas and people based solely upon our anger or theirs. But, I can’t live only on my anger, no matter how righteous I might believe it. I
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have to allow open doorways where other things can enter. The vital choice each of us can make has to do with how large our personal We becomes. There is no well-worn path for this, no simple set of bullet points. It’s about personal connection and personal interaction, conversation, argument, and listening. It’s about how open we can be expressing ourselves and being challenged. It can be as simple as saying hello to people we pass on the street. These interactions are not always comfortable for most of us, but it’s in that discomfort that some value may lie. It’s a discomfort that stretches us and enlarges our world. The initial work is against isolation: our own and that of others around us. I’m an introvert by nature. Often, I could go all day without talking to a soul and not miss it. I can be awkward in conversation or, at least, I can feel I am. I’m often afraid I’ll say the wrong thing, offend someone, look stupid. I’m the one who must expand my We; the spectrum of people I see as a part of
my life and myself. There are people around us now every day who feel threatened and unsafe. They’ve been targeted by the White Nationalist Party (let’s call the current Republican Party what it is) and, very specifically, by the new President. Threatened populations isolate themselves, circle the wagons for safety. They are We. If we look white, if we look ‘obviously American” (we all know what that means), we must be the ones to cross the barrier, because we’re the ones who erected the barrier in the first place. It’s not the responsibility of the Othered to come to us; it’s our responsibility to go to them. In whatever way we can. This doesn’t happen on Facebook. It doesn’t happen on Twitter. It is not achieved by signing a petition or liking a meme. It’s only achieved by being face to face. It can be a conversation---even a smile in passing---but it doesn’t happen in front of a screen. How do I make a difference? I can make an effort to meet people I might not otherwise meet. Talk with people I might
not otherwise talk to. Listen for a moment without voicing my opinion or considering what I’ll say next. No one is asking me to agree with anything anyone says. How large can I afford to make my world? How crowded can I make it with actual people instead of representations of people on screens? How much can I risk by listening in dynamic, unpredictable conversations? Or even in a simple acknowledgement of another’s existence? I’ll have to go out of my way. I’ll have to step outside my well-grooved life. This isn’t happy smiley pretend-to-loveeverybody work. It is, like staying angry, a discipline: difficult, demanding. It can be intensely uncomfortable. This discipline, or our good intention, does not protect us from offense, from doing or saying the wrong thing, from making mistakes. I have to accept that I will sometimes do or say the wrong thing. Even writing this piece is a way of courting disaster. The White Nationalist Party will continue to put pressure upon our fears and despair. We will be continuously assaulted with news of what and who we should be terrified of. We will be told how threatened and fatally unsafe we are. We will be given pictures and examples of the types of people who should horrify us. If we are white, if we are ‘obviously American’, we will be told we need to be protected. We will fear differently than those on the other side of the divide, those targeted by the divisive rhetoric. Each group will be driven toward fear and distrust of the other; this is the underpinning of White Nationalism. In the face of this, we need to know more people who are not like us. We need a personal world which offsets, provides an alternative to, the divided world around us in whatever small way we can imagine. So, just maybe the next time a Muslim or Latino family, or a Trump supporter or a Liberal, is across the tangerines from you at the Food Lion, maybe say hi, ask them about their day. It might make you feel uncomfortable. Stay uncomfortable. And, for God’s sake, if you do speak to someone in the grocery store, don’t post about it after on Facebook. ! STEVE MITCHELL is co-owner of Scuppernong Books Find him at: www.thisisstevemitchell.com
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ACROSS
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Music-licensing gp. With greatest frequency Light, in a way River to Lake Geneva Many kids’ art projects “Any way is fine by me” STARDOM WEALTH “Bewitched” husband F minor, e.g. Albany hrs. Abbr. on a pay stub One of King Lear’s daughters Most like Solomon STRIKE DWELLING “... boy — girl?” Gambling place, briefly Planted “pet” “Für —” (Beethoven favorite) HUDSON OCTET “Peanuts” girl with glasses Student’s dissertation Country’s McEntire Wyatt of the Old West Hector “Mona —” Makes match up Pasty luau fare Skating rink shape PERFORM ZERO In a strict way Bovine sound Global divide NEGATIVE LEVY Tomb-raiding Croft Suffix of pasta names
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[KING Crossword] 83 84 85 87 89 91 93 96 102 105 106 107 108 113 115 116 117 119 120 122 129 130 131 132 133 134
“A Bell for —” (classic novel) Any minute “Slim Shady” rapper Blockhead Half of Mork’s goodbye Gradually withdrew Antigen attackers EMERALD JEALOUSY Path in a jet Miami- — (Florida county) Wasted Small battery size GREATLY OFFING Guevara’s commander Of the hipbone Prickly seedcase Ark.-to-Ill. dir. Mai — Frolic ALLOWED STATUTE Verdi tragedy Hold dear Flared dress Forwarded, as mail Furry marine mammal Encounters
DOWN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Terrier noise One-named Latina singer Approaches to attack Keep — on (watch) Pod spherule What touts tabulate Liquor bottle Overly
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Be incorrect Met or Phillie rival Avian runner RCA rival Fly of Kenya Pot coverer Reality TV celebrity fired by Donald three times Cry from a member of an arriving group Ship’s goods Faith Hill’s “Take Me —” Wife of Dick Cheney Prickly plants N.J. neighbor Pan for stir-frying Ex-froshes Strands post-blizzard Summer misery stat Puff piece? Actor Bert in a lion suit Footballer Tebow City transport And others, in Latin Grain storer See 72-Down El — (peak in California) Mined find Clever adage Party abbr. about drinks Append Certain wind musician Of flight technology Music of Scott Joplin Highway rig Parts of nerve cells — au vin Good name for a chef? Bob of folk
69 70 72 73 77 78 79 80 85 86 88 90 92 94 95 97 98 99 100 101 103 104 108 109 110 111 112 114 118 121 123 124 125 126 127 128
Country in West Africa Silver — (photo lab compound) With 47-Down, forensic tool Kind of TV A, in Aquila Ding- — Out-of- — (visitor) De novo Tempted Maestro Zubin Like nondefective DVDs Pakistani’s language Feel sickly Capital of Nebraska 135 degrees from 117-Across Nosh on End of some URLs Cole of song “Iglu” for “igloo,” e.g. 7’6” Ming R&D center Bursts forth Pep Make thrilled Country singer LeAnn Brother, in Brest Between, in Brest Vogue topic — -do-well Boatload Actor Stephen — Zedong Suffix with 124-Down Boy pharaoh “Whack!” Craven of horror films
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[NEWS OF THE WEIRD] WORK OF A RESEARCHER
“Field work is always challenging,” explained Courtney Marneweck of South Africa’s University of KwaZulu-Natal in a recent journal article, but studying Chuck Shepherd the sociology of a white rhino’s dung meant developing a “pattern-recognition algorithm” to figure out “smell profiles” of 150 animals’ feces — after tracking them individually to observe them in the act. Wrote Marneweck, “I think my record for waiting for a rhino to poo was 7 1/2 hours.” Conclusion: Rhinos use feces to send distinct social signals on genetically compatible herds, mating access and predator dangers. (Or, in the Los Angeles Times “clickbait” version of the story, rhino dung “has a lot in common with a Facebook post.”)
THE WAY THE WORLD WORKS
— “Retiring” the Herd: Settlement of a class-action lawsuit against a group of dairy co-ops was announced in January
with milk producers agreeing to pay $52 million on charges they had conspired to fix the dairy supply for years to get top-dollar prices. Among the producers’ primary tactics, allegedly, was using what the industry calls “herd retirement,” which is “retirement” only in the sense that 500,000 healthy young cows were slaughtered — just to drive up prices by eliminating otherwise-available milk. The $52 million will be for consumers in 15 states and Washington, D.C. — Wrist-Slapping: (1) Rutgers University Athletic Director Pat Hobbs, responding to the NCAA’s announcement of violations against the school’s sports programs (including failure to penalize 16 football players who tested positive for drugs), told the Asbury Park Press in January that he would immediately dismiss from teams any player testing positive for hard drugs — upon the fourth violation (if for marijuana only, upon the fifth). (2) In January, the Russian parliament voted 380 to 3 to amend its assault law to allow a spouse one punishment-by-”ticketing” (i.e., not criminal) for domestic violence against his partner — provided the bodily harm was not “substantial” and that it happens no more than once a year.
UNCLEAR ON THE CONCEPT
The “Virtuous Pedophile”: Gary Gibson, 65, of Chiloquin, Oregon, admits he is sexually attracted to little girls but never acts on his urges, and therefore, demands that people get off his case. He formed the Association for Sexual Abuse Prevention, campaigning, he says, to keep children safe from other pedophiles whose self-restraint may not match his. Gibson describes himself as a “normal, everyday person,” married to a British nurse (whom he met via a Christian singles organization), and has three children and 10 grandchildren — none so far molested (though in an interview, London’s The Sun allowed him to explain his side of various edgy events of his life, such as his having moved for a while to the South Pacific, where little girls sometimes played naked).
WAIT, WHAT?
— Surgery on a 16-year-old Japanese girl, reported in January by New Scientist, revealed that her ovary contained a miniature skull and brain. Doctors say that finding rogue brain cells in ovaries is not that uncommon, but that an already-organized brain, capable of transmitting electric impulses, is almost unheard-of.
— The neonatal intensive care unit of Texas Health Fort Worth disclosed in January that the secret to keeping the most fragile prematurely born babies alive is to quickly stick them into Ziploc freezer bags to create, according to a clinician, a “hot house effect.” (It turns out that merely raising the temperature in the delivery room had only marginal effect.)
LEADING ECONOMIC INDICATOR
Doughnut lovers have legitimately mused for years how U.S. law could condemn, say, marijuana, yet permit Krispy Kreme to openly sell its seemingly addictive sugary delights on America’s streets. Sonia Garcia, 51, realized a while back that residents of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, so much needed Krispy Kreme fixes that she earns a handsome living running a black market from El Paso, Texas, bringing in 40 boxes at a time and re-selling from the trunk of her car at a 60 percent markup, pointing out to a Los Angeles Times reporter in January that her trafficking has already put one son through engineering school. (Mexico City now has Krispy Kremes, but apparently the company’s distribution system cannot yet vanquish Sonia Garcia’s car.) !
© 2017 Chuck Shepherd. Universal Press Syndicate.
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Treat all her senses If there’s one day in the year when even the most reticent among us have to express a bit of tenderness, it is definitely Valentine’s Day. But nobody says we have to go over the top. What if we just forgot about extravagance this year and went for pure relaxation? If you’re not sure how to woo her the way she’d like, just let the five senses be the guide.
FIRST STEP: EYESIGHT
To start the day off on the right foot, there’s nothing like a love letter or little message. It doesn’t matter if it is given in person, left in clear view on the kitchen table, or sent by e-mail. What it says is all that counts.
SECOND STEP: SMELL
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Even if you think it’s a cliché, don’t hesitate to offer a bouquet to your loved one. Be sure to choose flowers that will bewitch her with their fragrance.
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THIRD STEP: HEARING
Set the tone for the evening by putting on some soft, romantic tunes. Let your loved one know how much you love her. After all, who could get tired of hearing that?
FOURTH STEP: TASTE
Now comes the moment to enjoy some special treats, starting with a bottle of champagne. Accompany this divine nectar with creamy chocolates or even some delicious red velvet cupcakes, purchased at your favourite bakery or made with love at home.
FIFTH STEP: TOUCH
To finish the evening on the perfect note, think silky lingerie, massage and essential oils, or a romantic bath for two. Sensual pleasures, guaranteed!
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18 YES! WEEKLY
A conversation with
Fred Chappell Greensboro’s literary laureate talks about everything from shadow thieves to space monsters
BY IaN MCdOWell
F
PHOTOS BY TODD TURNER FEBRUARY 8-14, 2017
red Chappell may be Greensboro’s most distinguished poet, short story writer, essayist and novelist, having won the Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry, the Prix de Meilleur des Livres Etrangers, the Bollingen Prize, the T. S. Eliot Prize and the World Fantasy Award. Fred was a beloved English and Creative Writing professor at UNCG for 40 years, but I first met him in a cinematic context. He was my thesis professor during my second year in the MFA Writing Program, but before that I’d been assigned as his “Research Assistant,” a job which actually consisted of running the 16mm projector for the English 330: Approaches to Cinema class he taught with William Tucker. They were an amusingly mismatched pair. Mr. Tucker (students were not invited to call him by his first name) spoke with a Mid-Atlantic accent, that semi-British elocution that we associate with characters like Kelsey Grammer’s Frasier Crane. He resembled a self-caricature by the illustrator Edward Gorey; bald, with thick glasses and a prominent nose, from which he seemed to look down on the students, and Fred. They had a bit of a Siskel and Ebert act going on, and I was never sure how much of their sniping was real.
Fred, in comparison, was rumpled, impish and avuncular. In The Writer’s Voice: Conversations with Contemporary Writers (Morrow, 1973), by John Graham and George Garrett, he is described as “a guy who looks like he’s getting ready to knock over a gas station.” I’ve seen a very old publicity photo in which he resembled a combination of John Dillinger and Oliver Reed, but that wasn’t the Fred I met in 1981. To me, he looked more like the sort of folksy but crafty Southern lawyer who defends a framed hero in an old movie. Speaking of very old movies, my first day in that class I projected A Trip to the Moon (1902) and The Great Train Robbery (1903). Afterwards, Fred talked for a good ten minutes about how these early films represented different paths cinema could have taken. The Great Train Robbery was “realistic,” not in terms of its subject matter, but in the sense that it used real locations, a real train, and real horses. A Trip to the Moon was stylized and theatrical, with painted sets redolent of the 19th century stage. “I think that the movies took the wrong path from the start,” opined Fred. “They should have stayed theatrical and stylized.” Afterwards, while rewinding, I told him that I’d never heard anyone argue that before. “Of course not,” he laughed. “It’s just
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Fred Chappell at work in his Greensboro home. some bullshit I made up to annoy Bill.” Some years later, I dated a woman who was taking Fred’s Introduction to Science Fiction class and sat in with her (it wasn’t that unusual for Fred’s students to bring dates; just ask local political blogger and journalist Ed Cone). The room was packed with freshman and sophomores who’d thought this would be an easy course. Their faces fell as they looked at the syllabus, which listed six novels and several dozen short stories, and which said there would be a twenty-page research paper, unusual for a 200-level course. Fred gave an opening speech about how he considered a C a good average grade for an undergraduate. “Several of you may earn Bs, and of course there will be some Ds and a few Fs, as there always are. I try to give only one A each year, and I got generous and gave two last semester, so don’t hold your breath.” The next class, which was less than half the size of the first, Fred said “okay, now that we’ve gotten rid of the dead wood, let’s look at the real syllabus. Didn’t want to read all those damn papers anyway.” Like all great writers, Fred is an excellent liar. Over lunch at Fishbone’s recently, I ask Fred about his fantasy novel A Shadow All of Light, which was published in hardcover by Tor, Macmillan’s science fiction and fantasy imprint, last April, and which will be issued in trade paperback this coming July (the hardcover is available at Scuppernong). I first heard of what would eventually become this book when I interviewed Fred for the UNCG undergraduate literary magazine Coraddi in the early 90s and he talked about working on a novel about a “shadow thief.” I tell him that it apparently took a while. “Forever and ever and ever,” he says. The novel is about Falco, a young man from the country in a land somewhat like Renaissance Italy, but where shadows exist apart (and can be detached) from WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM
the people who cast them, and so may be stolen, bought, sold, borrowed, and preserved; another person’s shadow can even be donned for a particular effect. Falco arrives in the port city of Tardocco with the ambition of becoming an apprentice shadow thief. There he has adventures among con men, monsters, pirates, and the King of Cats. The novel grew out of a series of short stories that Fred sold to the venerable Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction over the last decade. I ask if there had been any earlier published ones I might be unaware of. “I think those were the first. A couple appeared in different anthologies. Those I wrote on request. One asked for a cat story. I thought I’d write a shadow cat story.” He elaborates on the episodic nature of the novel. “I’d originally thought of a book like The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes,” Arthur Conan Doyle’s final collection of stories about the great detective. “But my agent said it had to have to a narrative arc. I’ve since learned that’s a bullshit buzz word. This book was ill-fated because [the great science fiction and fantasy editor David] Hartwell died, He was supposed to edit it and never did. Nobody ever edited my book. Had to edit myself. Not a good thing to do.” I tell him how, reading it, it felt like a collaboration between the science-fantasy writer Jack Vance, whose first book was the similarly episodic and ornate The Dying Earth, and Fritz Leiber, who wrote a popular and award-winning series about the roguish swordsmen Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser (Michael Chabon’s 2007 novel Companions of the Road is very much Leiber homage). “Were you consciously influenced by either?” “I must have been. I’m a great fan of Leiber, and I read The Dying Earth when I was eighteen or nineteen.” I tell him that it reminds me of the best
Chappell is a diverse writer and poet, acclaimed in literary and fantasy circles. FEBRUARY 8-14, 2017
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“I’ve never really hated anybody except in the abstract, politicians and figures from history. I find it easier to admire and love people. Talking to people is like opening a book you never saw before. I like to write about what I like. “ of what was marketed as “Sword and Sorcery” rather than “High Fantasy” when I was a teenager. “Not because of muscular barbarians and near-naked wenches, but because, instead of Tolkien’s earnest nobility, there’s a rococo roguish quality to your protagonists.” He partially disagrees. “There’s no magic. It’s not sword and sorcery. It’s logical within its premise that shadows are detachable and can be independent objects. Everything follows from that. I’m like a lot of fantasy writers these days who detest magic. That’s why I can’t stand Harry Potter.” But he agrees with my description of it as being picaresque rather than epic. “The clash of fantasy armies seems more silly than I can handle. I’m used to Epic, as Latin is my home base, but that’s fake Epic. I think one of the problems is that I read almost all of The Hobbit and nothing else has seemed as good.” I tell him that many fantasy writers, from Leiber to H. P. Lovecraft (who influenced Fred’s first novel, Dagon) would approve of his love of cats, and ask if he and his wife Susan currently have any.
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“We have one left. She’s named Beatrix, after Beatrix Potter. We call her Beasley. Like most cat folk who write, I throw her into stories and poems every chance I get. I don’t know if she resents it. I’ve never dared ask her.” Backtracking a bit, and knowing that Fred graduated from Duke before he began teaching at UNCG, I ask him when that was. “I started in 1954. Got thrown out in ‘56 or ‘57. Came back and finished in 1964, then came directly to UNCG. I was booted out the first time because of a misunderstanding, let’s say. And also because I didn’t want to kiss ass. They recommended I undergo psychiatric treatment. So I became a good friend with a psychiatrist in Asheville. But we only talked about his love of Mahler and my love of Bach and we wondered if ever the twain could meet. He and his twin brother were studying PTSD, although it wasn’t called that then. We continued to be friends, but I don’t know what happened to him. I never did convert to Mahler from Bach, much less get pronounced ‘cured.’”
I ask him if Duke was a big culture shock for a mountain farm boy from Canton, North Carolina. “Yes and no. I went to Duke because of a high school friend’s recommendation of a professor there he called Blackstone, like the magician. Turned out to be Dr. William Blackburn. Duke was the one place I tried other than Western Carolina Teacher’s college. My grades weren’t good and I was a smartass. But the Depression had slowed baby production, and two decades later attendance was down and they needed to fill space. So I got in and the rest was history.” “You started teaching at UNCG a year after men were first admitted. How long was it before there was any significant male enrollment in your classes?” “The first class I taught was in the Fall of 1964. I had one male student. Poor bastard. Took a long time for UNCG to adjust.” After I eat some of my catfish, as he’s been urging me to do, and he has some more wine, I ask him when he first taught a UNCG class in either SF or fantasy.
“Sometime in the early 70s. There was a professor named Lloyd Krupp, author of The Drift, who invented the class. I suggested they needed a freshman comp teacher and they hired him, and he convinced them to put in the class, and then left. That class would always fill up. Always had forty or more students. I volunteered to teach it. I knew it was the worst possible move for my career, but good for the department. Bill Lane, the department head, held everything in contempt except Thackeray and Trollope and thought I was teaching trash, but I didn’t care. If you know the field, it’s not trash. I taught it the best I could. Had to make sure I taught some contemporary stuff, and also the great pulp writers. Heinlein doesn’t hold up as well as you remember him, because you’re not twelve when you start teaching. I may be the first to ever have taught [Orson] Scott Card. It’s an interesting thing to teach. You teach classic stuff on one side, entertainment on the other. There is a divide. T. H. White, author of The Once and Future King, is a terrific writer and also one of the most
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entertaining. Edgar Rice Burroughs is a lousy writer but hugely entertaining.” I ask him about using a fake syllabus to “weed out the dead wood” when teaching an overbooked undergraduate class in genre fiction in the early 1990s. He gives a shy grin. “My opening remarks were always ‘Drop this course.’ I had a little ditty and eventually we were singing it, buy a horse, drop this course. It didn’t work. I didn’t think I could teach that many kids that well, and I was sure I couldn’t learn all their names. I began to get a glimpse of what others had struggled with.” Changing the subject from teaching to writing, I ask one of my favorite questions to lob at authors. “Do you think it’s easier to write verse and fiction inspired by family members who are still alive, or those who have passed away?” “It’s almost impossible when they’re still with us. You’re so self-conscious. What would my mother say? I did have to write about her when she was still alive, but it was so hard. She didn’t recognize herself in the good parts, but identified with the dismal characters. She suspected me of not loving her, but I did, with all the depth of my heart.” Continuing with my somewhat scattershot approach, I ask him if there’s a literary or cinematic cliché about the South that particularly annoys him. “Gone with the Wind. I do not like the plantation. I do not like the whole culture. My darling Susan is from Windsor. Her mother is from the mountains and couldn’t stand the way her husband’s folk treated black people. Susan and I grew up with her mother’s traits. They were school teachers. My father was from down east [meaning the eastern lowland part of North Carolina] and I used to argue about racism with him all the time.” I ask him to name some of his favorite poets. “I’ve got too many friends. I could mention a lot of names that would mean nothing to anybody, but would still piss my friends off. I think we have some of the best poets in the United States in this town. Sarah Lindsay. Christine Garren.” I ask him to name a book that he regularly returns to for solace, wisdom or simply to revisit an old love. “Don Quixote. Read it seven times. Most translations are terrible, but Tobias Smollett never lets you down.” I decide to bring up something I’ve been meaning to ask Fred for thirty years. A former friend of mine, much given to prevarication, used to swear that the “classic” 1965 bad movie Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster was stitched together from two completely unrelated scripts. One, allegedly titled Space Age WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM
Frankenstein, was by George Garrett, the late novelist and Virginia Poet Laureate (and longtime friend of Fred’s), to whom the final screenplay is officially credited. The other, Mars Invades Puerto Rico, was supposedly a collaboration between Fred and the award-winning Virginia poet, critic and novelist Richard Dillard. “Bullshit or not?” A bit of both, says Fred. “George had indeed written one script and Richard had written a completely different one, and they had twenty-four hours to combine the two. They holed up in a hotel room and I believe alcohol was involved. At one point, they called me wanting a line of dialogue. They’d named the monster the Mull, after a professor they hated, and my sole contribution was the immortal line ‘my God, it’s the Mull!’” Me being me, I keep the conversation to tawdry matters and ask Fred about the glossy and intriguingly lurid 8x10s that decorated his office when he was my thesis advisor. These were lobby cards from the early 60s exploitation movies Faster, Pussycat, Kill Kill! and Motor Psycho, and appeared to be inscribed to Fred from director Russ Meyer, about whom Fred had written the essay “Twenty Six Propositions about Skin Flicks.” I ask him if he still has those. He laughs when I riff on the French poet Francois Villon with “Où sont les seins d’antan?” (Where are the boobs of yesteryear?) “Sadly, I do not have those and the signatures were fake. I got a few lobby cards and asked some of my drunk friends to sign them.” Finishing my lunch, I ask what defunct local restaurant he would magically bring back if he could? His reply is immediate. “Josephine’s, because of Mark Wendell the bartender. He’s a cousin of the poet Steve Lautermilch. Great concept. Friendly folks. Hops drove them out of business by taking up all the parking space. It was a shame to miss the friendly ladies who worked there and Mr. Chris Blackburn, the great chef.” I decide I must ask him about Orson Scott Card. When I interviewed Greensboro’s most popular and controversial science fiction writer in the late 80s, shortly after he’d moved here to work for a computer magazine, he expressed enthusiasm about continuing his graduate studies, which had been interrupted when his son was born and he had to drop out to become a full-time writer. In the early 90s, Card had entered the MFA Writing program at UNCG, an unusual move for a published novelist. Judging from things Card has written about it in The Rhinoceros Times over the years, and from what I’ve heard from other people in classes with him, it was not a happy experience
“We have one left. She’s named Beatrix, after Beatrix Potter. We call her Beasley. Like most cat folk who write, I throw her into stories and poems every chance I get. I don’t know if she resents it. I’ve never dared ask her.”
for anyone involved (he certainly left UNCG much more hostile to academia than he’d been previously, but a lot about his public persona changed after the midnineties). “It was difficult. Scott at first tried to be invisible. You can’t make Scott Card invisible. He didn’t want to distress the class with his renown. But I thought hey, these kids could learn from him. Then it became a little awkward. Scott had an exaggerated idea of the sophistication of the students in the class and also of their pretensions. They were not pretentious, but he had an exaggerated fear they would be. He felt like an outsider, partly because he doesn’t drink. I’ve joked that anyone who tries to get through a graduate writing program without drinking invariably either drops out, attempts suicide or kills somebody else. Scott dropped out.” “Nobody at fault, just differing mores. I do wish some of our students had got to know him better and that he’d tried harder to know them. He has a sense of organizing difficult material that would have been good for them.” Card is not the only published science fiction or fantasy writer to have been in Fred’s classroom. There’s former Greensboro resident Kelly Link, now acclaimed as one of America’s finest short story writers in any genre, whose great collection Get in Trouble was short-listed for the Pulitzer last year. When I tell Fred how outrageous I find it that the UNCG MFA Writing Program’s Wikipedia page doesn’t mention her, he says “Jesus, that tells you something about the unreliability of Wikipedia.” And then there’s me, and Fred has an opinion about that, too, and gives me a
quote I’d like to have on my tombstone. “I enjoyed teaching your first novel. It’s not your best work, but it was funny and dirty, and it was good for my students to meet an author who wasn’t full of shit and only interested in selling them books.” The afternoon sun is unseasonably warm on the Fishbones patio, but our shadows lengthen across the sunsplashed stone in a way that reminds me of Fred’s latest novel, suggesting the Whiskey District might have temporarily merged with the fictional Tardocco. My old friend and mentor lives a few blocks away and is supposed to be meeting his beloved Susan in a bit. Time for one last question. “Do you think it’s easier to write fiction or poetry inspired by people you loved, or by ones you hated?” Fred finishes his wine and waits for a motorcycle to roar past before answering, then tells me something I wish was my truth as well as his. “I’ve never really hated anybody except in the abstract, politicians and figures from history. I find it easier to admire and love people. Talking to people is like opening a book you never saw before. I like to write about what I like. One of my favorite stories is about how the Welsh clergyman Edward Edwards said to Samuel Johnson, ‘I have tried too in my time to be a philosopher, but I don’t know how; cheerfulness was always breaking in.’ That’s me. I always wanted to be a philosopher too, but cheerfulness kept breaking in.” That doesn’t happen so much with me, but right now, it’s done just that. Time to pay our check and follow our shadows home. !
FEBRUARY 8-14, 2017
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ASHEBORO
FOUR SAINTS BREWING
218 South Fayetteville St. | 336.610.3722 foursaintsbrewing.com Feb 10: Bjorn and Francois Feb 11: Abigail Dowd Feb 12: Jim Sharkey Feb 15: Traditional Irish/Celtic Music
clEmmOnS
RIvER RIDGE TAphOUSE 1480 River Ridge Dr | 336.712.1883 riverridgetaphouse.com Feb 10: Nine Lives Feb 15: Karaoke Feb 17: Big Daddy Mojo Feb 23: Seth Williams
dAnBuRy
GREEN hERON ALE hOUSE 1110 Flinchum Rd | 336.593.4733 greenheronclub.com
gREEnSBORO
CONE DENIM
812 Olive St. | 336.302.3728
ThE BLIND TIGER
1819 Spring Garden St | 336.272.9888 theblindtiger.com Feb 8: Rumpke Mountain Boys Feb 10: Brothers pearl Feb 15: Twiztid w/ Blaze Ya Dead homie, Boondox, Lex The hexmaster, The Roc, G Mo Skee
BUCKhEAD SALOON
1720 Battleground Ave | 336.272.9884 buckheadsaloongreensboro.com Feb 10: Tyler Millard Band Feb 11: Radio Revolver Feb 17: Jukebox Revolver Feb 18: Stereo Doll Fe 24: Back@ya
ChURChILL’S ON ELM
213 S Elm St | 336.275.6367 churchillscigarlounge.com Feb 11: Sahara Reggae Band Feb 18: Jack Long Old School Jam
2900 Patterson St #A | 336.632.9889 arizonapetes.com Feb 10: 1-2-3 Friday Feb 17: 1-2-3 Friday
ARTISTIKA NIGhT CLUB
523 S Elm St | 336.271.2686 artistikanightclub.com Feb 10: DJ Dan the player Feb 11: DJ paco and DJ Dan the player
ThE GREEN BEAN
341 S. Elm St | 336.691.9990 thegreenbeancoffeehouse.blogspot.com
GREENE STREET CLUB
113 N Greene St | 336.273.4111 greenestreetclub.com Feb 18: Soultriii Ep Release party Mar 16: Riff Raff LIvE Mar 23: #NastyNightOWT - A pretty
hAM’S GATE CITY
3017 Gate City Blvd | 336.851.4800 hamsrestaurants.com Feb 10: Sweet Dreams Feb 17: Michael bennett Feb 24: Sahara
hAM’S NEW GARDEN
COMEDY zONE
ARIzONA pETE’S
117 S Elm St | 336.378.9646 cdecgreensboro.com Feb 10: 2GNC Comedy All-Stars Mar 4: Appetite For Destruction Apr 5: Kehlani Apr 6: Jojo
1126 S Holden Rd | 336.333.1034 thecomedyzone.com Feb 10: James Sibley Feb 11: James Sibley Feb 14: Chris Wiles’ Love & Laughs valentines Show
COMMON GROUNDS 11602 S Elm Ave | 336.698.3888 Mar 11: Bernardus Apr 4: Tamara hansson
1635 New Garden Rd | 336.288.4544 hamsrestaurants.com Feb 10: Joey Whitaker Feb 18: Low Key Band Feb 24: Second Glance
MCphERSON’S BAR & GRILL
5710 W Gate City Blvd | 336.292.6496 mcphersonsgreensboro.com
pRINT WORKS BISTRO
702 Green Valley Rd | 336.379.0699 printworksbistro.com Feb 8: Evan Olsen & Jessica Mashburn
SOMEWhERE ELSE TAvERN
5713 W Friendly Ave | 336.292.5464 facebook.com/thesomewhereelsetavern Feb 8: Nevernauts, hale Bopp Astronauts, pavlove, Black River Township Feb 10: zestrah Feb 25: Desired Redemption, Novarium, Nevernauts Mar 11: zestrah
ThE IDIOT BOx COMEDY CLUB
2134 Lawndale Dr | 336.274.2699 www.idiotboxers.com Feb 17: Myq Kaplan
vILLAGE TAvERN
1903 Westridge Rd | 336.282.3063 villagetavern.com
WORLD OF BEER
1210 Westover Terrace | 336.897.0031 worldofbeer.com/Locations/Greensboro
HigH pOint
AFTER hOURS TAvERN 1614 N Main St | 336.883.4113 afterhourstavern.net
Latham’s Luthiers
Instrument Repair
Saint Wenceslaus Saint Nicholas Saint Luke Saint Augustine of Hippo OMIE BLONDE ALE
GERMAN HEFEWEIZEN
POTTERS CLAY AMBER
UPPER ROAD IRISH RED
GENESIS BELGIAN DUBBEL
STOUT ONE STOUT
218 South Fayetteville Street | Asheboro, NC 27203 | (336) 610-FSBC (3722) | foursaintsbrewing.com
22 YES! WEEKLY
FEBRUARY 8-14, 2017
Full Evaluation of Instrument Quick Turnaround! Individual or Business Repair Works with Music Instrument Retail Businesses Will Come to You for Service Serving the Triad FOR MORE INFORMATION: @EROCK4YOU / LATHAMSLUTHIERS@GMAIL.COM CALL OR TEXT AND ASK FOR ERIC: 336-543-3499
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bluE bourbon jack’S
1310 N Main St | 336.882.2583 reverbnation.com/venue/bluebourbonjacks Feb 11: Southbound 49 Feb 18: jukebox revolver Mar 3: Too Much Toni apr 24: jukebox revolver
claddagh rESTauranT & Pub
130 E Parris Ave | 336.841.0521 thecladdaghrestaurantandpub.com
haM’S PalladiuM 5840 Samet Dr | 336.887.2434 hamsrestaurants.com Feb 10: The dickens Feb 17: Tyler Millard band Feb 24: brothers Pearl
jamestown
ThE dEck
118 E Main St | 336.207.1999 thedeckatrivertwist.com Feb 10: crossover drive Feb 18: The Plaids Feb 25: norlina
kernersville
dancE hall dazE
612 Edgewood St | 336.558.7204 dancehalldaze.com Feb 10: The delmonicos Feb 11: cheyenne & donna Miller Feb 14: Valentines dance/Skyryder Feb 17: Skyryder Feb 18: Time bandits
EclEcTion
221 N Main St | 336.497.4822 eclectionnc.com
randleman
ridEr’S in ThE counTrY 5701 Randleman Rd | 336.674.5111 ridersinthecountry.net Feb 10: Fair Warning Feb 11: Fair Warning Feb 25: darrell harwood
winston-salem
2nd and grEEn
207 N Green St | 336.631.3143 2ngtavern.com Feb 18: dj hek Yeh
6Th & VinE
209 W 6th St | 336.725.5577 6thandvine.com
bull’S TaVErn
408 West 4th St | 336.331.3431 facebook.com/bulls-tavern Feb 10: Medicated Sunfish Feb 11: The Plaids anti-Valentines Show Feb 16: little Stranger Feb 17: Stereo doll Feb 18: Soul jam Feb 23: Travis griggs & Friends Feb 24: Music club hosted by doug davis
cb’S TaVErn
3870 Bethania Station Rd | 336.815.1664 Feb 8: dj Tyler Feb 10: Squared Feb 11: Tess and The black and blues
Finnigan’S WakE
620 Trade St | 336.723.0322 facebook.com/FinnigansWake
FooThillS brEWing 638 W 4th St | 336.777.3348 foothillsbrewing.com Feb 11: Fireside collective Feb 15: Eversole brothers Feb 18: cc3 Feb 19: Sunday jazz
ThE garagE
110 W 7th St | 336.777.1127 the-garage.ws Mar 3: all Them Witches with irata Mar 24: big Thief
johnnY & junE’S Saloon
2105 Peters Creek Pkwy | 336.724.0546 johnnynjunes.com Feb 11: rick Monroe Mar 18: Muscadine bloodline Mar 24: Them dirty roses Mar 31: daniel johnson
laughing gaS coMEdY club 2105 Peters Creek Pkwy laughingas.net
MuddY crEEk MuSic hall
5455 Bethania Rd | 336.923.8623 Feb 10: candelFirth Feb 11: Muddy creek Players w/ andrea Templon, Martha bassett Feb 12: The Epiphany Project Feb 16: Sarah Mae chilton, dan dockery, Emily Stewart Feb 17: r.b. Morris Feb 18: neptune’s car Feb 19: albert lee Feb 23: redleg husky Feb 24: Wonderwall The Tribute (The beatles) Feb 25: Tom Young and Taylor Vaden Feb 26: across The blue ridge w/ Paul brown
QualiTY inn
2008 S. Hawthorne Rd | 336-765-6670 Feb 11: headlynerz band Pre Valentine’s day Party Feb 18: Motown revue
ThE QuiET PinT
1420 W 1st St | 336.893.6881 thequietpint.com
Mac & nElli’S
4926 Country Club Rd | 336.529.6230 macandnellisws.com
MilnEr’S
630 S Stratford Rd | 336.768.2221 milnerfood.com Feb 5: live jazz
MuddY crEEk caFE
5455 Bethania Rd | 336.923.8623 Feb 9: open Mic Feb 10: kimberly Sundloff Feb 12: Phillip craft
ThE EMPouriuM
734 E. Mountain St. | 336.671.9159
lewisville
old nick’S Pub
191 Lowes Foods Dr | 336.747.3059 OldNicksPubNC.com Feb 10: karaoke w/ dj Tyler Perkins Feb 11: lasater union Feat. Malia bentley Feb 18: karaoke w/ Tyler Perkins Feb 24: karaoke w/ Tyler Perkins Feb 25: The usual Suspects
oakridge
jP loonEY’S
2213 E Oak Ridge Rd | 336.643.1570 facebook.com/JPLooneys Feb 9: Trivia
mwww.YEswEEklY.com
FEBRUARY 8-14, 2017 YES! WEEKLY
23
tunes
HEAR IT!
Keller Williams and Leo Kottke to play Greensboro BY JOHN ADAMIAN | @johnradamian
K
eller Williams never really needed all of those crazy loops and multi-instrumentalist antics. Williams, who’s perhaps known best for setting up cyclical grooves and patterns using an arsenal of effects pedals, playing snippets of a beat or a phrase and then making it repeat, making layers of rhythm and harmony, showcasing his versatility and dexterity, just released an album of basically solo guitar and vocals. (In typical Williams fashion, he also released another album on the same day, figuring that if catching people’s attention is a challenge, then maybe the public would take notice of the fact that he was doing double duty.) One of the two new records, Raw, is just Williams and an acoustic guitar. Considering that Williams has basically been releasing records at a one-a-year pace, with a few minor exceptions, since 1994, doing everything from funk, to dub, to
gospel to bluegrass, it’s surprising that he hasn’t come up with the down-to-basics approach up until now. But part of his M.O. is to constantly bounce ideas off of other musicians and to document the reverberations. Side projects and productivity are in these days. But even in a climate of astounding busy-ness, Williams stands out as a promiscuous collaborator and a restless music-maker. “I have 23 other records, and they’re all very different and none of them are representative of just a guy and guitar,” says Williams, who spoke to me by phone from his home in Virginia recently. Williams has a steady touring schedule of hitting the road Thursday through Sunday, and heading back to be home with his wife and family for Monday through Thursday morning or so. When I spoke to him he was spending part of the afternoon making a creekside bonfire with his son, who was home sick from school, but not too sick to go out and mess around with the
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WALK-IN OR MAKE RESERVATIONS TODAY! 329 TATE STREET • 336.274.6684
LUNCH: MON-FRI 11:30 AM - 2:30 PM • DINNER: SAT 5-10:30 PM
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elements along with his dad. Part of the logic behind the Raw record is that Williams knew he had tour dates booked with one of his guitar heroes, Leo Kottke, and Williams wanted to make sure he had material to showcase at those concerts. Williams and Kottke play Greensboro’s Carolina Theatre on Feb. 17. “He’s one of my idols,” says Williams. “I’m just a huge fan of [Kottke’s] music, and I wanted to record an album of some-
thing representative of what folks we’re going to do in the show.” So he delved into some of his older songs -- some songs that he’d recorded in different, more elaborate settings, and he worked on some tunes specifically for Raw, coming up with a selection of songs that would work in an environment that’s somewhat more subdued than a typical show for Williams. Assembling a mix of songs that would satisfy his regular
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fans isn’t probably that hard, since his faithful listeners are pretty well versed in following Williams down different musical pathways. Raw spotlights some of Williams’ pyrotechnic guitar techniques. A big fan of Michael Hedges, Williams makes use of percussive effects on the body and fretboard, he teases out harmonics from the strings, adding a singing metallic quality to the music, and he can set up rhythmic grooves that approach the instrument as if it were a drum. It’s all made more technically impressive by the fact that he can sing and rap in an equally rapid-fire manner while playing. Williams might be playing in virtuosic fashion, but he has an unhinged sense of humor that draws attention away from the chops. “Storytelling with absurd wordplay -- I think that’s my strong point,” says Williams. “My career is just a relentless pursuit of entertaining myself.” This is billed as the Shut The Folk Up & Listen Tour, but that doesn’t mean it will be an entirely serious affair. Williams doesn’t really do excess seriousness. “This is music that might make you possibly laugh, make you possibly think, make you possibly forget about what is going on television, which is my goal,” he says. Williams has something in common with artists like Ween, Tenacious D and Frank Zappa in terms of not shying away from humor and gags, even if some listeners wince when laughs get embedded in their guitar heroics and multi-instrumental feats of looping wizardry. Listen, for instance, to “Short Show,” off of Raw. It’s a comical romp -- “a rock-and-roll story set to some poseur grass,” as Williams sings -- about that famous piece of viral video from 2010 when the Kings of Leon were bombarded with pigeon poop from birds overhead in the lighting rig during a show in St. Louis, before walking off after three songs. “You can’t shit on the Kings and get away with it,” goes the chorus. Another bit of crazed lyricism can be found on “Return to the Moon,” which WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM
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opens with the lines “I scratched a ticket with the leg of a cricket and I got triple Jesus.” As it happens, that one is a cover of a song by the band EL VY, which features Matt Berninger from the band the National. But it fits in nicely with the general manic psychedelic mood that Williams projects. “It’s not for everybody,” says Williams. “You can’t please everybody. There’s definitely folks who don’t take it seriously, because it’s not really to be taken seriously. And that’s kind of a beautiful thing.” These live dates with Leo Kottke, which generally start with a set by Kottke, a few songs by the two together a short intermission and a set by Williams, have allowed Williams to step away from the pedal-stomping and knob-twiddling demands of his regular performances, and he’s enjoying the shift. “These Leo shows have been nothing but 100 percent freeing and just very blissful for me to just not have any worry about technology,” says Williams. “Playing songs where people listen to and respond to and laugh at and laugh with. It seems like it’s so new and so fresh, I don’t want to do anything else.” !
WANNA
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WINSTON-SALEM 805-B Silas Creek Pkwy Phone: 336-722-6393
GREENSBORO
2601 Battleground Ave Phone: 336-282-4477 1827-A Spring Garden St Phone: 336-285-7516
BURLINGTON
550 Huffman Mill Rd Phone: 336-278-9045
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go?
Leo Kottke and Keller Williams bring the Shut the Folk Up & Listen tour to the Carolina Theatre (310 South Greene St., Greensboro) on Feb. 17 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20 -- $47.50. Call 336-333-2605 or visit carolinatheatre.com for more information. FEBRUARY 8-14, 2017 YES! WEEKLY
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Fri Feb 10
[CHOICE BEATS] Upcoming shows you should check out
MEDICATED SUNFISH
www.lincolntheatre.com FEBRUARY
T h 9 TRAP KARAOKE 8p Fr 10 NANTUCKET /Driver/The Commune Sa 11 BETTER OFF DEAD (Grateful Dead) Su Tu Th Fr Sa
12 14 16 17 18
w/Moon Water (Widespread Panic) 8p
AFTON MUSIC SHOWCASE 6p THE WERKS/Electric Soul Pandemic PULSE: Electronic Dance Party 8p ILL DIGITZ & DSCVRY (90’s) 7p PERPETUAL GROOVE w/Groove Fetish / ELM 8p
Su 19 KELLY HOLLAND MEMORIAL
w/Hank Sinatra/ Jive Mother Mary /Automatic Slim 6:30p
Tu 21 BOOMBOX Th 23 LOUIS THE CHILD
w/Imad Royal / Manila Killa 7p
Fr 24 THE LACS w/Almost Kings 8p Sa 25 LAST BAND STANDING 7p w/After Party feat: INDECISION Sa 25 CHERUB/FLOOZIES @ THE RITZ Th 2 Fr 3 Sa 4 We 8 Fr 10 Sa 11 Su 12 Th 16 Fr 17 Sa 18 We 22 Th 23 Fr 24 Sa 25 Su 26 We 29 Th 30 4 - 1 4 - 6 4 - 9 4-15 4-21 4-22 4-28 5-15 5-13 5-17
MARCH
JAZZ IS PHSH WHO’S BAD Michael Jackson Trib LOS LONELY BOYS DAVID BROMBERG w.Austin Shaw THE CLARKS w/Michael Tolcher BOWIE BALL Trib to DAVID BOWIE HOLLY BOWLING THE HIP ABDUCTION VANESSA CARLTON w/Tristen 7p GLOWRAGE RISING APPALACHIA 7p HIPPIE SABOTAGE REVEREND HORTON HEAT
w/Unknown Hinson / BirdCloud + LOX w/Uncle Murda 7p WHISKEY MYERS w/Steel Woods
BLUE OCTOBER TRAVELIN’ MCCOURYS/ JEFF AUSTIN BAND RUNAWAY GIN PANCAKES & BOOZE ART SHOW BOWLING FOR SOUP + PIGEONS PLAYING PING PONG JONNY LANG w/Quinn Sullivan 7p Y&T THE MANTRAS REAL ESTATE w/Frankie Cosmos MOTHERS FINEST MAYDAY PARADE
Adv. Tickets @Lincolntheatre.com & Schoolkids Records All Shows All Ages
126 E. Cabarrus 919-821-4111
26 YES! WEEKLY
St.
FEBRUARY 8-14, 2017
Bull’s Tavern (408 W. 4th St. Winston-Salem) Friday Feb. 10 9 p.m.
Nantucket
“Having just formed in early 2014, Wilmington NC’s own Medicated Sunfish are quickly becoming one of the premier live shows in eastern NC. Already having supported national award winning acts such as ZAPPA PLAYS ZAPPA, Passafire and many others, the Sunfish have accomplished a remarkable amount in their first year together. They have hit the ground running performing over 150 shows in their first year together as a band and aren’t stopping anytime soon! The members include guitarist Josh Boyd, drummer Alex Lee, Isaac Clowers on the Mic and the newest member Derek Lane on bass. The Sunfish are here to make the room rock with their high energy performances combined with intricate original songs and instrumentals that will leave you counting down the days till the next show!” - via Facebook
The Werks Tue Feb 14
Sat Feb 18
Perpetual Groove
BLACK 2 HIP HOP MUSIC FESTIVAL
The Blind Tiger (1819 Spring Garden St. Greensboro) Saturday Feb. 11 6 p.m. “Black 2 Hip Hop is an annual music festival held every February in honor of Black History Month in Greensboro, NC. Our mission is to help enlighten a people upon a culture that has a huge role in the expansion of music and society today.
Boombox
Tue Feb 21 Thu Feb 23
The B2HH Music Festival provides a platform for a multitude of independent talent, fashion designers, and entrepreneurs of all sorts. With the key goal of uniting generations together to manifest a substantial support base for one another, through each representative’s craft that’s being showcased each year.
Louis The Child
General Admission Online Ticket Price: $10.00 Day of Show: $12.00 ($5.00 UpCharge per Guest under 21)
Fri Feb 24
AUDIENCE TICKET, VENDOR PAYMENTS, DONATIONS LINK: www.Black2HipHop4.EventBrite.com Business, Sponsorship, Press, Volunteers and all other Inquires: Email: Black2HipHopFest@Gmail.com Social Media Hold: Black2HipHop Come celebrate the Culture of Hip Hop with us! Peace, Unity, Having Fun...See you soon!” - via Facebook !
The Lacs
[CONCERTS] Compiled by Alex Eldridge
CHARLOTTE
THE FILLMORE
1000 NC Music Factory Blvd | 704.916.8970 www.fillmorecharlottenc.com Feb 8: Tchami Feb 9: Excision Feb 10: The Fighters Feb 10: Jake Miller Feb 11: Nonpoint Feb 11: Trial by Fire Feb 12: Safetysuit Feb 16: Big Gigantic Feb 17: Dashboard Confessional Feb 18: DJ Fannie Mae Feb 21: Us the Duo Feb 22: Louis The Child
OVENS AUDITORIUM
2700 E Independence Blvd | 704.372.3600 www.ovensauditorium.com Feb 22: The Piano Guys Feb 24: Nu Soul Revival Tour
TWC ARENA
333 E Trade St | 704.688.9000 www.timewarnercablearena.com Feb 19: Winter Jam
DURHAM
CAROLINA THEATRE
309 W Morgan St | 919.560.3030 www.carolinatheatre.org Feb 13: The Wood Brothers Feb 16: Keller Williams & Leo Kottke Feb 23: Tommy Emmanuel
DPAC
123 Vivian St | 919.680.2787 www.dpacnc.com Feb 19: Tony Bennett
GREENSBORO
CAROLINA THEATRE
310 S Greene St | 336.333.2605 www.carolinatheatre.com Feb 17: Leo Kottke & Keller Williams Feb 23: Arlo Guthrie Feb 24: Rockin’ Road to Dublin
GREENSBORO COLISEUM 1921 W Gate City Blvd | 336.373.7400 www.greensborocoliseum.com Feb 24: Brantley Gilbert
HIGH POINT
HIGH POINT THEATRE
220 E Commerce Ave | 336.883.3401 www.highpointtheatre.com Feb 14: Ken Lavigne WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM
drama
[PLAYBILL]
STAGE IT!
Triad Stage evaluates cost of living in The Price
W
hen it comes to the true cost of living—the consequences of our actions—singer Janice Joplin said it best, “You’re only as much as you settle for.” There’s a fine line Lenise Willis between responsibility and self-sacrifice, Contributing resentment and regret. And at the columnist end of the day, whom can we blame for our miseries but ourselves? Playwright Arthur Miller knew this all too well while crafting his 1968 drama The Price. In the intimate production family secrets and rivalries are revealed when two brothers who led very different lives are forced to unite to settle their late father’s estate. In Triad Stage’s opening-night production last Friday, Miller’s family drama came to life and begged the audience to contemplate, “What is a life worth, what consequences does a decision demand, and what is the balance due on a moral debt?” Besides a few bumps in dialogue, which can be expected on an opening night, the Dina Ann Comolli, Triad Stage debut cast did a phenomenal Jim Shankman, job drawing the audience in and keeping Christopher them invested in a complex conversation. Gerson and Robert Dina Ann Comolli, who performs as the wife Zukerman preform of one of the two brothers, encapsulated a in The Price loyal, but desperately exacerbated wife of at Triad Stage. the 1960s. Christopher Gerson (Victor Franz) gave a solid performance throughout as a security guard who gave up his future when he chose to quit school and care for his unemployed father. I could feel his understated frustration and resentment, and when it came time to argue with his brother, who chose to abandon the family in pursuit of a medical career, I found myself taking his side and arguing on his behalf. Robert Zukerman, who performed as the 89-year-old antiques dealer, stole the show as the loveable, comic relief. As a, “registered, certified and even vaccinated” used furniture dealer, Zukerman’s character, Gregory Solomon, not only adds the much-needed warmth and captivating friendliness to the play, but also his wisdom of age. Of course, as with all of its productions, Triad Stage turned the set of the rundown New York flat on its head. Instead of merely crowding the stage with pieces of furniture to give an old, cramped and cluttered feel, scenic designer Fred Kinney instead created a ceiling of antique chairs, trunks, stools and lamps. The stage itself was framed by chests, dining-room tables and nightstands, and even more worn furniture filled three holes in the stage. The sunken furniture helped to highlight Victor’s regret of “sinking with his father’s ship,” and of giving up on his dreams WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM
TRIAD STAGE
by Lenise Willis Continuing its 2017 kickoff production is Triad Stage with Arthur Miller’s The Price, which thoughtfully discusses the price of our actions and how we choose to live our lives. In the intimate story, two brothers came to a crossroads when their father, a successful and wealthy businessman, lost his job in the Great Depression. One brother abandoned his education, took a blue-collar job as a security guard and stayed home to care for his father. The other abandoned his family in pursuit of a medical career. Both have regrets, resentment and secrets that have been hidden for decades—until it comes time to settle their late father’s estate. On a more light-hearted note, one fun production continuing its run this week is Barn Dinner Theatre’s The Kitchen Witches, in which two competitive TV hosts are paired together for a dramatic cooking show that likens to Martha Stewart combined with Jerry Springer. Productions run this week through Feb. 26. New this week, beginning Thursday and running through Feb. 19, Open Space Café Theatre performs Stephen Sondheim’s musical Company, a dark comedy about a sworn bachelor contemplating the pros and cons of marriage as he approaches his 35th birthday.
VANDERVEEN PHOTOGRAPHERS
and becoming stuck in a stale existence. I also admired how well the scenic design played with the lighting design and special effects. Lamps were turned on at the precise “ping” of the soundtrack, and soft lighting and a gentle fog created the effect of dust washing over the apartment that hadn’t been touched in 16 years. Overall, the performance is thought provoking and well executed, though be prepared to pay close attention in the second act, which is a bit more daunting due to the absence of old man Solomon. In the end, like me, you’ll contemplate your own decisions and if there are any you regret, or of which you erroneously place the blame on someone else. Miller’s play makes it very clear that we are the maestros of our own lives and should act accordingly. If we don’t like where we are, change it—it’s certainly within our power. !
WANNA
go?
Triad Stage performs The Price this week through Feb. 19 at the Pyrle Theatre, 232 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Tickets are $10-$50. For tickets or more information call 336-272-0160 or visit triadstage.org.
Thursday through Sunday, Twin City Stage continues to highlight the life and inspiring struggle of Helen Keller in its production of The Miracle Worker. In the colorful and textured drama, a young teacher tackles the violent and spoiled Helen Keller to teach her sign language and connect her to the world. Friday through Feb. 26, Theatre Alliance continues its electric production of Rock of Ages, which includes the hits from such 80s rock bands as Pat Benatar, Journey, Poison and Bon Jovi. The musical, or rather rock concert, follows a wanna-be rock star who must save a legendary venue from being turned into a strip mall. Next week, Feb. 16, Helen Simoueau Dance begins its 7th company season with a co-screening of Mr. Gaga at A/ perture Cinema in Winston-Salem. The unique documentary tells the story of an internationally renown choreographer who created “Gaga,” a form of dance. ! FEBRUARY 8-14, 2017
YES! WEEKLY
27
SCREEN IT!
flicks
A Split decision for Shyamalan’s latest
Mark Burger
Contributing columnist
Even though it overstays its welcome, Split is easily M. Night Shyamalan’s best film in a long while – certainly better than The Happening (2008), The Last Airbender (2010), After Earth (2013) and The Visit (2015) … and need we go back to The Village (2001) or Lady in the Water (2004)?
Indeed, had the writer/producer/director condensed his basic central idea (a good one) and not over-indulged himself, particularly in terms of a repetitious script that reiterates said central idea ad nauseum, Split might have been his best film ever. The set-up is simple but effective: Three teen-aged girls (Anya Taylor-Joy, Haley Lu Richardson, Jessica Sula) are kidnapped and imprisoned by Kevin (James McAvoy), a schizophrenic with multiple personalities (23 and counting). One of Shyamalan’s patented twists is the ultimate revelation of precisely where Kevin is holding them captive.
Politics and pursuit in Larrain’s Neruda Narrain’s Neruda combines historical fact with speculation. Neruda, however, is more exaggerated in style and tone and narrative ironies. The sense
28 YES! WEEKLY
of satire and whimsy are much more pronounced here, and it succeeds on its own terms. The principal character, as the title implies, is the Nobel Prize-winning poet and Communist politician Pablo Neruda (Luis Gnecco), whose condemnation of Chilean president Videla (Alfredo Castro) has made him a fugitive in his own country, spurring dissent and protest among his followers and fellow Communists, the likes of whom include Pablo Picasso (Emilio Gutierrez Caba). Gnecco creates a memorable portrait of the artist, who views the oppression and corruption in Chile with a weary, wry resignation, even as he tries to remain one step ahead of the authorities – in particular the dogged, fedora-clad inspector, Oscar Peluchonneau (Gael Garcia Bernal). Despite being a wanted man and a symbol of oppressed freedom, Gnecco’s Naruda spends as much time frequenting whorehouses as putting his passions to paper. Bernal provides caustic, cynical narration right out of film noir as the stalwart, incorruptible flatfoot, who seems blithely unaware that he is a pawn in the machinations of a corrupt system. This is amusingly symbolized in scenes where he confronts those in power, who invariably tower over him. In the end, he too will be betrayed and discarded – and, indeed, his very existence will come into question. (In Spanish with English subtitles) – Neruda opens Friday !
FEBRUARY 8-14, 2017
The three girls exhibit varying degrees of panic and pluck, with only Casey (Taylor-Joy) making any serious attempt to communicate with any of Kevin’s various personalities, which emerge suddenly and without warning. There’s Patricia and Dennis, Barry and Hedwig, Orwell and, most ominously, “The Beast.” McAvoy has a field day in his role(s), changing voice and demeanor, running the gamut from fearful to ferocious to frightening – and back again. The actor, earning something of a reputation in the genre (after the X-Men prequels and 2015’s Victor Frankenstein), is a whirling dervish and a wicked delight. It’s his
tour-de-force performance that stands out, and imbues Split with considerable energy. Betty Buckley enjoys her biggest screen role in some time as Kevin’s therapist, Dr. Fletcher, whose compassion far outweighs her common sense. It is the good (if incautious) doctor’s opinion that Kevin’s condition represents a leap in human evolution. That’s all well and good, but Shyamalan (who does his usual cameo scene) has her reiterate this assessment so frequently that it slows the film’s momentum and dampens its suspense – although he does provide a fun kicker at the fade-out. !
Scorcese stumbles with Silence Like The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and Gangs of New York (2002), filmmaker Martin Scorsese has long pursued a dream of bringing Shusaku Endo’s novel 1966 Silence to the big screen, and it’s easy to see why given its themes of faith, redemption, and endurance. Yet this somber and ponderously slowmoving epic marks a major disappointment from one of the great American filmmakers. It occasionally recalls Roland Joffe’s The Mission (1987) or Joseph Conrad’s original novella Hearts of Darkness, but Silence remains moribund throughout, and all the sincerity that Scorsese can muster can’t bring it to life. Set in 1640, the story focuses on Sebastiao Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Francisco Garupe (Adam Driver), two young Jesuit priests who set off for Japan to locate their mentor, Father Ferrera (Liam Neeson), who has reportedly renounced his faith. These are troubled times in Japan, where Christianity is outlawed and punishable by death. The two priests are something of a clerical equivalent of “good cop/bad cop” – Sebastiao is hopeful, Francisco is cynical. Garfield and Driver are appropriately earnest in their roles, with Garfield’s narration designed, unsuccessfully as it turns out, to pick up the slack. With his beard and bearing, Garfield is clearly meant to represent Christ, which Scorsese underscores (none too subtly) by having Sebastiao see a hallucination of Jesus’ face in his reflection in a pond. Later still, he will hear Jesus’ voice – a device that simply does not work. When Sebastiao and Francisco part company, ostensibly to avoid persecution,
Sebastiao is nevertheless captured and forced to watch Christian converts tortured, drowned and beheaded in scenes that go on forever. The film does offer an interesting historical insight into Japanese culture at that time, but its long-winded debates about faith and leaden pacing drain the story of its emotion until there’s none left. Driver’s reappearance in the narrative, which should be a sequence of immense power, seems almost an afterthought, and when Neeson is reintroduced he looks much younger than he did at the beginning. (The role also bears a strange, surely unintentional similarity to Ra’s al Ghul in Batman Begins). At least the film looks terrific, with cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto (who earned the film’s only Oscar nomination) and costume/production designer Dante Ferretti recapturing a time and a place long gone. But in the end, Silence is more wearying than enlightening. Even great directors miss the target sometimes. !
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[CARMIKE] GREENSBORO
Feb 10 - 16
A DOG’S PURPOSE (PG) – 12:15, 2:35, 4:55, 7:15, 9:35 ARRIVAL (PG-13) – 4:00 COMEDIAN (R) – 4:00 FENCES (PG-13) – 1:00, 6:45 FIFTY SHADES DARKER (R) – 12:00, 1:00, 3:00, 4:00, 6:00, 7:00, 9:00, 10:00 HACKSAW RIDGE (R) – 1:00 HIDDEN FIGURES (PG) – 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00 JOHN WICK CHAPTER 2 (R) – 12:00, 1:00, 3:00, 4:00, 6:00, 7:00, 8:45, 9:45 LA LA LAND (PG-13) – 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00 LEGO BATMAN MOVIE 2D (PG) – 12:15, 1:30, 2:35, 4:00, 4:55, 6:15, 7:15, 8:30, 9:30 LEGO BATMAN MOVIE 3D (PG) – 12:45, 3:05, 5:25, 7:45, 10:00 LION (PG-13) – 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00 MOONLIGHT (R) – 9:45 PASSENGERS (PG-13) – 6:50 RESIDENT EVIL: THE FINAL CHAPTER 2D (R) – 4:45, 9:45 RESURRECTION OF GAVIN STONE (PG) – 12:30, 2:55, 5:20 RINGS (R) – 11:45, 2:20, 4:55, 7:30, 10:05 SLEEPLESS (R) – 2:30 SPACE BETWEEN US (PG-13) – 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00 SPLIT (PG-13) – 11:45, 2:20, 4:55, 7:30, 10:05 The Founder (PG-13) – 9:35 UNDERWORLD: BLOOD WARS 2D (R) – 7:45, 10:00 XXX: THE RETURN OF XANDER CAGE 2D (R) – 12:00, 7:15
Feb 10 - 16
[RED]
FIFTY SHADES DARKER (R) LUXURY SEATING Fri - Thu: 11:30 AM, 2:15, 5:00, 7:45, 10:15 FIFTY SHADES DARKER (R) Fri & Sat: 12:40, 3:25, 6:05, 8:45, 11:20 Sun - Thu: 12:40, 3:25, 6:05, 8:45 JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2 (R) Fri - Thu: 11:40 AM, 2:10, 4:40, 7:25, 10:00 MANCHESTER BY THE SEA (R) LUXURY SEATING Fri & Sat: 11:50 AM, 2:45, 5:35, 8:25, 11:15 Sun - Thu: 11:50 AM, 2:45, 5:35, 8:25 HIDDEN FIGURES (PG) LUXURY SEATING Fri & Sat: 11:55 AM, 2:40, 5:25, 8:10, 11:00 Sun - Thu: 11:55 AM, 2:40, 5:25, 8:10 RINGS (PG-13) Fri & Sat: 12:30, 2:55, 5:10, 7:25, 9:40, 11:55 Sun - Thu: 12:30, 2:55, 5:10, 7:25, 9:40 A DOG’S PURPOSE (PG) Fri & Sat: 12:15, 2:30, 4:45, 7:00, 9:15, 11:30 Sun - Thu: 12:15, 2:30, 4:45, 7:00, 9:15 KAABIL (HINDI) (NR) Fri - Sun: 12:00 PM Mon: 6:15 PM Tue - Thu: 12:00, 6:15 RAEES (NR) Fri: 3:00, 9:30 Sun & Mon: 9:30 PM Tue - Thu: 3:00, 9:30 SPLIT (PG-13) Fri - Thu: 11:40 AM, 2:20, 4:55, 7:20, 9:55
XXX: THE RETURN OF XANDER CAGE (PG-13) Fri & Sat: 2:05, 7:10, 9:30, 11:50 Sun - Thu: 2:05, 7:10, 9:30 SLEEPLESS (R) Fri & Sat: 12:25, 7:40, 9:50, 11:55 Sun - Thu: 12:25, 7:40, 9:50 SOPHIE AND THE RISING SUN (R) Fri - Thu: 2:40, 5:05, 7:30 La La Land (PG-13) Fri - Thu: 11:30 AM, 2:10, 4:50, 7:30, 10:10 THE COMEDIAN (R) Fri - Thu: 11:35 AM, 4:35 JACKIE (R) Fri & Sat: 11:35 AM, 2:05, 4:30, 7:10, 9:25, 11:45 Sun - Thu: 11:35 AM, 2:05, 4:30, 7:10, 9:25 ARRIVAL (PG-13) Fri - Thu: 2:30, 5:00 A MAN CALLED OVE (EN MAN SOM HETER OVE) (PG-13) Fri - Thu: 12:15, 9:45
ARTHUR MILLER’S
The Sportscenter Athlectic Club is a private membership club dedicated to providing the ultimate athlectic and recreational facilities for our members of all ages. Conveniently located in High Point, we provide a wide variety of activities for our members. We’re designed to incorporate the total fitness concept for maximum benefits and total enjoyment. We cordially invite all of you to be a part of our athletic facility, while enjoying the membership savings we offer our established corporate accounts. Visit our website for a virtual tour: sportscenterac.com/sportscenter-virtual-tour Contact Chris King at 841-0100 for more info or to schedule a tour!
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[A/PERTURE] Feb 10 - 16
MR. GAGA: A TRUE STORY OF LOVE AND DANCE (NR) Thu: 8:00 PM THE SALESMAN (FORUSHANDE) (PG-13) Fri: 3:15, 6:00, 8:45, Sat & Sun: 9:45 AM, 12:30, 3:15, 6:00, 8:45, Mon: 6:00, 8:45 Tue: 3:15, 6:00, 8:45, Wed & Thu: 6:00, 8:45 FENCES (PG-13) Fri: 2:30, 5:30, 8:30, Sat & Sun: 11:30 AM, 2:30, 5:30, 8:30, Mon: 5:30, 8:30, Tue: 2:30, 5:30, 8:30, Wed: 5:30, 8:30, Thu: 5:00 PM MANCHESTER BY THE SEA (R) Fri - Sun: 4:00 PM, Mon - Thu: 9:00 PM NERUDA (R) Fri: 6:30, 9:00, Sat: 1:15, 6:30, 9:00 Sun: 1:15, 6:30, Mon: 6:30 PM Tue: 4:30, 6:30, Wed & Thu: 6:30 PM 2017 OSCAR NOMINATED SHORTS ANIMATED (NR) Fri: 4:30, 9:30, Sat: 10:30 AM, 4:30 Sun: 10:30 AM, Mon: 6:45 PM Tue: 4:15, 6:45, Wed & Thu: 6:45 PM 2017 OSCAR NOMINATED SHORTS LIVE ACTION (NR) Fri: 6:45 PM, Sat: 1:30, 9:15 Sun: 1:30, 4:30, Mon - Thu: 9:15 PM
311 W 4th Street Winston-Salem, NC 27101 336.722.8148
THE PRICE
Triad Stage celebrates the work of one of America’s greatest playwrights in a 50th anniversary production of what the The Wall Street Journal calls “the best thing (Arthur) Miller ever wrote.”
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2 3 2 S O U T H E L M S T R E E T | G R E E N S B O R O | 3 3 6 . 2 7 2 . 0 1 6 0 | T R I A D S TA G E . O R G FEBRUARY 8-14, 2017
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Greensboro’s Reconsidered Goods saves artists money while saving the environment
BY MIA OSBORN
t first glance, Reconsidered Goods on Patterson Street could be mistaken for an oddly welcoming thrift store, but a closer look will reveal there’s something different about the place. Unlike most thrift stores, there are no clothes for sale. The mismatched couches aren’t up for grabs, either; they’re for guests to sit on while they finish a knitting project or flip through a magazine. Art is everywhere, along with tons of art supplies. Deep buckets of beads and colored pencils lie like lakes at the edges of mountains made of fabric, yarn and wood scraps. Reconsidered Goods is more than a shop: it’s a nonprofit creative reuse center. Creative reuse centers teach people how to, well, creatively reuse unwanted items. Everything in Reconsidered Goods was donated to the shop in the hopes that someone could use it again, either by itself or as part of a larger project. “It’s all about reducing what goes into the landfills. That’s our main mission,” said Reconsidered Goods’ Director Paige Cox. Reconsidered Goods is just one of 42 creative reuse centers in the whole country, but that number is slowly growing. Cox was inspired to start a Greensboro center after her visits to the Scrap Exchange, the creative reuse center in Durham. She attended a Scrap Exchange boot camp and learned how to put their plan into action in her area. A SPARK grant from Action Greensboro allowed Cox to hold a series of free popup maker spaces to show people what a creative reuse center did. From there, Cox held an advisory meeting to connect her with interested parties in the Triad. Two of those interested parties ended up being her co-founders, Martha Hughes-James and Joseph Edwards. The three opened Reconsidered Goods on Oct. 1 of last year, and it has been expanding its inventory and its community outreach ever since. “We’re still figuring things out day to day and adding to our programming,” said Hughes-James. Programs help Reconsidered Goods extend its mission beyond the shop and into the Greensboro area. Many are educational outreach programs meant to teach
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kids about the value of recycling. To that end, Reconsidered Goods hosts workshops, birthday parties, and field trips to their Make and Take area. Make and Take is the successor of Cox’s original pop-up space. It’s a place where visitors can craft anything their hearts desire from bins of craft supplies and odd parts. As the name suggests, guests can take their art with them when they leave, but Cox says school groups are encouraged to give their creations back to the center as a way of learning about reuse. “We only use tape because we want to teach kids to take it back apart when they’re done and recycle what they can,” said Cox. The Make and Take area is mostly used by school groups, but plenty of adults use
it, and the rest of the center, for inspiration. According to local sculptor Mike Potter, Reconsidered Goods is an artist’s playground. “Hands down, this is the best and most useful store in Greensboro,” said Potter. “There’s no other place like this. I normally would have to scrounge around for months to find what I can find here in a week. For a person like me, this place is priceless.” Reconsidered Goods also holds classes so that artists and crafters of all skill levels can try their hands at new techniques using items from the shop. Wednesday nights are Make It nights, in which groups tackle Pinterest-inspired crafts from wall art to poetry to leather work. Cox and the other founders are always evolving their
ideas for classes and creative programs based on what gets donated. “Inventory changes, so we’re constantly reinventing what we’re doing because we never know what’s going to come through the door,” said Cox. In 2017, Cox wants to establish more ties with local manufacturers to get large quantities of craft items. This will help Reconsidered Goods keep a regular core inventory while also keeping costs down. “When we get a lot of the same thing, we can keep prices really low,” Cox explained. “Right now we’re selling two pieces of map board for 25 cents, which is incredibly cheap. Teachers are loving it, artists are loving it, so that’s one thing I want to do more of.” As Reconsidered Goods approaches its first birthday, its co-founders hope people in the Triad will come to see the center as more than just a store. “We like to nurture and make a place for people to create,” said Cox. “We pull from the community and it’s going back into the community, so we want everybody to feel ownership of this place.” Reconsidered Goods is open for volunteers and donations of reusable items and art supplies. For a list of accepted donations and more information, visit www. reconsideredgoods.org. !
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Spend the night with stand-up guys The “2GNC Comedy All Stars” will again be shining brightly, as the “2 Guys Named Chris” radio show’s popular stand-up comedy event plays the Cone Denim Entertainment Center in Mark Burger Greensboro on Friday and the UNCSA Contributing Stevens Center in Winston-Salem on columnist Saturday. A talented trio of stand-up comedians headline the bill: Ronnie Bullard, Rich Aronovitch, and Bo Dacious (or “Bodacious,” if you prefer) – all of whom have appeared on the popular radio show heard on 92.3 WKRR-FM (Rock-92). They’ll be introduced by the on-air team of Chris Kelly, Chris Demm, Josh “Biggie” Ellinger, “Weather Dave” Aiken and Lauren McCombs. (Truth in disclosure: Yours truly reviews movies on “2GNC” every Friday – usually between 9:30 and 10 am.) The first Comedy All Stars event took place in 2010 and was an instant success. So they did another, and another, and still another … and seven years later there’s no end in sight. Not that anyone’s complaining, mind you. As Chris Demm related to me at a previous All Stars event: “Usually the first thing we hear from people is ‘When’s the next one?’ – and that’s very gratifying.” “What we try to do with these shows is get some of our favorite comedian guests to perform for one weekend a year,”
entire city. He’s currently making a documentary called The Opener, (in which) he interviews guys who have owned for very famous comedians.” Prior to the show at the Cone Denim Entertainment Center, there will be a free “meet-and-greet” with the 2GNC team at H/Q Greensboro (111 W. Lewis St.) from 5-6 pm, and prior to the Stevens Center show a free “meet-and-greet” at The Beer Growler (3434 Robinhood Road, WinstonSalem) from 5-6 pm. !
WANNA
Kelly explains. “We call them the ‘2GNC Comedy All Stars,’ and we try to get a very diverse group.” Each “All Star” has his own specialty, whether it’s talking about himself, riffing on relationships, discussing current events or simply telling funny stories. It’s all about chemistry – and variety. “Ronnie Bullard is Southern-born but he’s been all over the world,” says Kelly. “He tells fantastic stories about flying, living, and growing up in the South. He played football in high school but was so bad he never saw the field! However, in the championship game when the star quarterback’s helmet broke, the coach told Ronnie to give his helmet to the quarterback – and the helmet, not Ronnie, scored the winning touchdown!” This event marks Bo Dacious’ introduction to the Comedy All Stars. “He was born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia, (and) he learned to be funny because he was
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bullied as a kid for being the only bi-racial kid on the block, so his comedy has a real edge to it,” says Kelly. Rich Aronovitch “is a New Yorker – and is hilarious,” praises Kelly. “He’s a real rising star. He says his dream of entertaining started as a kid in his bathroom. He has so many funny quirks and unique life experiences and he lives them all very publicly. He lived in New Orleans for a time and said he was the only Jewish kid in the
go?
The “2 Guys Named Chris Comedy All Stars” will be presented 7:30 pm Friday at Cone Denim Entertainment Center, 117 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Tickets are $20. For tickets or more information, call 336.378.9646 or visit the official website: http://cdecgreensboro.com/. The “2 Guys Named Chris Comedy All Stars” will be presented 7:30 pm Saturday at the UNCSA Stevens Center, 405 W. Fourth St., Winston-Salem. Tickets are $20. For tickets or more information, call 336.721.1945 or visit http://www.uncsa.edu/ performances/stevens-center/. The official “2 Guys Named Chris”/Rock-92 website is: http://www.rock92.com/.
Dave Bennett
From the King of Swing to Rock and Roll! NATE BEVERSLUIS, CONDUCTOR
Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2017 8PM, Westover Church
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Valentine’s Day: A guide to suit your style and budget
adies and gentlemen, you have but one week to get yourselves ready for Valentine’s Day. If you desire to whisk your love to something delicious, we’ve got you covered. A list of some of our favorite options from romantic to nostalgic to fit your style and budget. Many places are reservation only so please prepare accordingly. Romantic but Traditional With its European grand decor and quiet ambiance, Undercurrent (327 Battleground Ave., GSO) is always a great choice for a quiet evening for two. Locally mastered dishes and excellent cocktails and wine make for a delicious experience. For Valentine’s Day, the restaurant is offering a four-course prix fixe dinner. In Winston-Salem, you may enjoy Bernardin’s (901 W. Fourth Street). Instead of a vast restaurant space, the restaurant is in the historic Zevely House, making for a more low-key environment with smaller dining spaces. Both of these restaurants offer the kind of
local upscale dining that give you exactly what you are expecting. Sexy Romance Maybe when you go out with your guy or gal, you want something a little sexy? Gia has IT. Located at 1941 New Garden Road in Greensboro, it’s just dark and glossy enough. The drinks are fab, the food is amazing and beautiful, just like your love. Seriously, with that bar and that seating, it doesn’t get much more swanky and sexy than Gia. In Winston-Salem, my hubby and I love the feel of the Library Bar at Spring House Restaurant, Kitchen & Bar (450 N. Spring Street, WS). The restaurant itself is quite romantic and cozy (and also highly recommended for your V-Day date night), creating one of the best environments, The bar, with its plush, low seating and fireplace is one my favorite places to be on any date night. You can enjoy a full menu, or nosh on some small plates and get a little primal by eating with your hands. You’re welcome to order an entree too.
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University Lyceum Series Presents
CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH
TAMI LEE HUGHES’
THE LEGACY SHOW
Her solo album, “Legacy: Violin Music of African-American Composers.” is heralded as one of the top 10 albums
RICHARD B. HARRISON AUDITORIUM THURSDAY, FEB. 23, 2017 7:30 P.M. THIS EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC North Carolina A&T State University is an AA/EEO and ADA compliant institution. N.C. A&T does not discriminate against any person on the basis of age, color, disability, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any other basis protected by law. For inquiries regarding nondiscrimination policies, contact the Title IX Coordinator at titleixcoordinator@ncat.edu.
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MERIDIAN RESTAURANT
When You Just Need a Quiet Evening… 1703 Restaurant & Catering (1703 Robinhood Road, WS) has a quiet, romantic feel with unparalleled service. And Chef Curtis Hackaday’s cuisine is some of the most creative in the entire Triad You owe it to yourself to eat here. Greensboro’s Table 16 is a terrific option because it such a small restaurant and low key. And get this…Table 16 is serving its Valentine’s Day menu this week, from Thursday until February 14. If you’re like me and like to avoid the madness by celebrating on a day other than the 14th, it’s a good choice. A touch of nostalgia… For something a bit nostalgic but not old-fashioned, enjoy supper by candlelight at The Tavern in Old Salem. The tavern is also separated nicely for cozy rooms. It’s romantic in its own way. Chef Jared Keiper’s menu always embraces the Tavern’s Moravian history while thinking out of the box by serving up wonderfully fulfilling dishes with locally sourced ingredients, often from their own garden. His brother, Jordan, is in the tiny historic bar creating some of the most innovative cocktails. And you can enjoy a nice handin-hand stroll through Old Salem as well. Does your budget concern you? We suggest Meridian Restaurant (411 South Marshall Street). Yes, yes…the food is amazing off the regular menu but at a more fine dining price. But you can enjoy such a great experience ordering Meridian small plates and tapas. We love the ambiance here.
1703 RESTAURANT And for something different… If you’re looking for a departure for your celebration, consider M’Coul’s Public House (110 W. McGee St) in Greensboro as shabby meets chic for your Valentine’s Day. It’s a M’Coul’s take on the classic favorites of fast food and beer. Dinner will include five courses paired with five different beers. Tickets are $40 per person. Want something a little extravagant? Childress Vineyards in Lexington is having a Valentine’s Dinner and Dance on Saturday, February 11. Five courses with five wine pairings and live entertainment. $270 per couple. 1618 on Location at The Barn at Summerfield Farms: The popular 1618 food truck is taking it to Summerfield Farms (3203 Pleasant Ridge Road, Summerfield) for a farmto-table dinner in the barn. You’ll enjoy a three-course dinner with wine pairings
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GIA and bubbly upon arrival. $120 per person. Also…a twist at Camino Bakery…….The bakery has announced they’ll have heartshaped and Valentine’s Day treats in their 4th Street and Brookstown shops (as well as making them available for ordering). You’ll have to check their Facebook page for more details but you could win a chance to win a one-hour reservation in the coveted 4th Street booth seat, plus a bottle of wine and dessert to go with it. Drawing is Friday, February 10th. On Saturday, February 11, The Original
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Farmer’s Curb Market in Greensboro is serving up French toast for a Valentine’s breakfast with all the eggs and other fixings (from the market) and bread provided by Cheesecakes by Alex. The $5 price per person benefits the farmer’s market. While you’re there, you can shop for all the other yummies you might need for the big day (like flowers, fruit, etc). ! KRISTI MAIER is a food writer, blogger and cheerleader for all things local who even enjoys cooking in her kitchen, though her kidlets seldom appreciate her efforts.
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Bob Marley Celebration @ Churchill’s Bar Greensboro | 2.4.17
hot pour presents
BARTENDERS OF THE WEEK | BY NATALIE GARCIA Check out videos on our Facebook!
BARTENDER: Maritza Guerrero BAR: Cabo’s Grill
Q: What’s your favorite drink to drink? A: Cold Modeló
BARTENDING: One Year
Q: What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen while bartending? A: A man having dinner with his wife and his girlfriend at the same table.
Q: What’s your favorite drink to make? A: Vampiro
Q: What’s the best tip you’ve ever gotten? A: $100
AGE: 30 HOMETOWN: Mexico
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Q: How do you deal with difficult customers? A: I let them feel like they are right and apologize. Just try to make it up to them, that usually works. Q: Single? A: In a complicated relationship
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DOORS: 7 | SHOW: 7:30 | ENTRY: $7 707 W MAIN ST, JAMESTOWN, NC
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First Friday Greensboro | 2.3.17
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ADVICE GODDESS] last call [THE love • sex • dating • marriage • questions FLEE WILLY
Amy Alkon
Advice Goddess
I’m a 27-year-old woman, dating again after a six-year relationship. I slept with a guy on the third date and was dismayed when he didn’t spend the night. It didn’t feel like just a hookup, and it wasn’t a work night. Is this just how people date now -- going home immediately after sex -- or does this mean he’s not serious? -- Confused
There are two ways to solve this problem. One is to say, “Hey, I’d really like you to stay the night.” The other is to hide his shoes and keys. The “half-night stand” -- avoiding the early-morning walk of shame, often via middle-of-the-night Uber -- is being proclaimed the new one-night stand. The truth is, the just-post-sex adios isn’t exactly a new phenomenon; it’s probably just more prevalent, thanks to how easy smartphones make it to swipe office supplies, Thai food, and sex partners right to your door. As for why this guy left, it’s hard to say. Maybe he’s gone for good, or maybe he just wasn’t sure you wanted him to stay. Maybe he sleepwalks, sleep-carjacks, or can’t fall asleep in a strange bed. Or maybe he’s got some early-morning thing -- seeing his parole officer, walking the goat, or (more likely) making the bathroom smell like 12 dead goats. Your fretting about what the deal is suggests you might not be as comfortable as you think about having sex before there’s a relationship in place. You may unconsciously be succumbing to a form of peer pressure -peer pressure that mainly exists in your own mind -- called “pluralistic ignorance.” This is social psychologists’ term for when many people in a group are personally uncomfortable with some belief or behavior but go along with it anyway -- incorrectly concluding that most people are A-Okay with it and thinking they should be, too. (Basically, “monkey assume/monkey do.”) Consider how the millennial generation is supposedly “Generation Hookup.” Looking at survey data from Americans ages 20 to 24, psychologist Jean Twenge actually found that people born from 1990 to 1994 (millennials) were “significantly more likely” than those born from 1965 to 1969 (Gen Xers) to say they’d had ZERO sex partners since the age of 18. (Fifteen percent of millennials went sexless, versus 6 percent of Gen Xers.) And if millennials were clued in on pluralistic ignorance, the number in the “no FEBRUARY 8-14, 2017
sex for now” column might be even higher. For example, biological anthropologist Chris Reiber finds that women seriously overestimate other women’s comfort level with “hookup behaviors” (from “sexual touching above the waist” to sex) in situations “where a more traditional romantic relationship is NOT an explicit condition of the encounter.” Figure out what actually works for you emotionally -- whether you can just say “whatevs!” if a guy goes all nail-’n’-turntail or whether you might want to wait to have sex till you’ve got a relationship going. That’s when it becomes easier to broach uncomfortable subjects -- so you won’t have to wonder, say, why he’s running out at 2:27 a.m. You will know: It’s not you; it’s his sleep apnea and how he likes to go home to his CPAP machine rather than die in your bed.
GIMME SUM OF YOUR LOVIN’
Resolve an argument, please. How often should married people be having sex to have a happy marriage? -- Married Person It is kind of depressing if the last time you screamed in bed was two months ago when your husband rolled over in his sleep and elbowed you in the eye. However, consider that more of a good thing is not always better. For example, having more in the boobage area is generally great -- unless that means having three. Well, according to social psychologist Amy Muise and her colleagues, once you’ve got a relationship going, sex works kind of the same way. They find that having sex once a week is associated with greater happiness; however, more sex than that doesn’t make for more happiness, and it can sometimes make for less. The researchers explain that many people are exhausted and feel overwhelmed, so “the pressure to engage in sex as frequently as possible may be daunting and even stressful.” But, interestingly, comparisons with one’s peers -- positive or negative -also color how people feel. Sociologist Tim Wadsworth finds that, beyond simply having sex, what really makes people happier is thinking they’re having more of it than everybody else. Having sex just once a week can keep the spouse with a stronger sex drive feeling satisfied enough while keeping the less lusty spouse from feeling like a sexual pack mule. This, in turn, helps keep resentment from taking over your relationship to the point where you go around grumbling that the last time somebody got into your pants, it was because they paid $3.79 for them at Goodwill. ! GOT A problem? Write Amy Alkon, 171 Pier Ave, #280, Santa Monica, CA 90405, or e-mail AdviceAmy@aol.com (www.advicegoddess.com) © 2017 Amy Alkon Distributed by Creators.Com.
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