Yes! Weekly - January 4, 2017

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THE

INVISIBILITY OF WHITENESS

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DRAG SOUNDS 1 3 Stages of " TraditionaL Plus " Music!

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WS BURGER JOINTS

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merlefest.ORG 800-343-7857 JANUARY 4-10, 2017 YES! WEEKLY 1

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November 18-January 29 VF Seasonal Plaza at LeBauer Park, 208 N. Davie St

Visit: www.piedmontwinterfest.com for Rates and times

Call: 336-399-4710

for private reservations

November 18 Free food, skating fun & prizes

JANUARY 4-10, 2017

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January 4-10, 2017

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YES! WEEKLY > JANUARY 4-10, 2017 > VOLUME 13, NUMBER 1

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 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

THE INVISIBILITY OF WHITENESS WHITENESS, not blackness, is the foundation of racism and blindness is a function of whiteness. Whiteness infuses our world to such a degree that it is invisible to us. It is ingrained to such a degree that it takes an effort to think about it.

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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 Advertising Manager KATHARINE OSBORNE

kat@yesweekly.com Marketing BRAD MCCAULEY brad@yesweekly.com TRAVIS WAGEMAN travis@yesweekly.com CLAUDIA BURNETT claudia@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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City planners have since 2006 attempted to bring sizeable REDEVELOPMENT to the six-acre site just south of Gate City Boulevard at the edge of Downtown Greensboro. The site required extensive environmental remediation after it was declared a brownfield project and qualified for federal cleanup funds.

11 The Lincoln Financial Group has extended its partnership with local business entities by providing two GRANTS to Greensboro-based economic development and support groups.

voices 12

Did you ever feel so let down after an ELECTION?Many North Carolina Democrats have been asking each other this question every day since they learned the results of the latest presidential election.

arts, entertainment & dining 24

DRAG SOUNDS make artisanal rock-and-roll. That totally made-up designation might not have much to do with their

JANUARY 4-10, 2017

sound, which has clear debts to bands like the Velvet Underground and Television, but it has something to do with how the band — a trio with ties to the Triad — thinks about their music.

27 At the start of each year, it’s exciting to look down the road, see what each LOCAL THEATRE has in store, and mark your calendars accordingly. And it looks like 2017 has plenty of comedies, dramas, dances and concerts in store.

30 So, you’ve made a resolution to read more books in 2017--an admirable resolution as so many are---but how the devil to do it? ... My solution: read SHORTER BOOKS. 31 For all the incurable romantics who revere DIRTY DANCING (1987), you’ve got a big-screen treat in store just before Valentine’s Day.

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Winston-Salem is known for hotdogs. But besides Bad Daddy’s (based in North Carolina but kind of a chain) and Camel City Grill Food Truck, if you wanted a BURGER, you had to seek it out among the many pubs or restaurants that really did it well.

Then Local 27101 happened and then nothing for a while. And then…Pop! Pop! Pop! Up came three in a matter of weeks.

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GreensboroColiseum

@GBOColiseum GBOColiseum

October 27

February 8-12

MARCH 23

October 14, 2017 ALSO COMING: www.greensborocoliseum.com

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Friday February 3

NC Nursery & Landscape Assoc. ‘Green & Growin’ Show > January 19-20 Greensboro Gun & Knife Show > January 28-29 UNCG Men’s Basketball vs. Furman > January 28 Carolina Weddings Show > February 4

1-800-745-3000

Event Hotline: (336) 373-7474 / Group Sales: (336) 373-2632

Safe. Legitimate. Coliseum-Approved. greensborocoliseum/ticketexchange

JANUARY 4-10, 2017

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BE there

TREE TOSS SATURDAY

EVENTS YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS | BY AUSTIN KINDLEY ENT MT

ART

MU SIC

FOOD

THE ATRE

FEST

THE PURSUIT OF JUSTICE THURSDAY

OLD MAN LUEDECKE FRIDAY THURSDAY

THURSDAY

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INSIDE THE GARBAGE OF THE WORLD WHAT: Free Environmental Movie/ Speaker Series: Inside the Garbage of the World: The Ugly Truth about Plastic Pollution.The film busts the myth of a plastic island floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and unveils data that is worse.

WHEN: 7 p.m.

WHERE: Temple Emanuel.

201 Oakwood Dr., Winston-Salem.

MORE: Free.

FRIDAY

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THE PURSUIT OF JUSTICE

OLD MAN LUEDECKE

WHAT: Join us for a work-in-progress screening of IN PURSUIT OF JUSTICE how criminal justice reform freed Greg Taylor.

This documentary tells the story of Greg Taylors conviction for the murder of Jacquetta Thomas, his 17-year long battle to gain his freedom, and the precedent-setting hearing that set Greg free.

WHEN: 7 p.m.

WHERE: Hanesbrands Theatre.

209 N. Spruce Street, Winston Salem.

MORE: Free screening.

WHAT: Old Man Luedecke is an award-winning Canadian songwriter from Nova Scotia. His latest album, ‘Domestic Eccentric,’ was made with Grammy-winning artist Tim O’Brien and has been nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award in the Solo Artist of the Year category.

WHEN: 8 p.m.

WHERE: Muddy Creek Music Hall.

5455 Bethania Road, Winston-Salem.

MORE: $13-$15 admission.

SATURDAY

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TREE TOSS WHAT: When you’re facing the after-holiday blues after packing up the decorations and taking down the tree, never fear. The holidays come in January at the Conservators Center! Come celebrate the new year in a thrilling, unique way at our annual Tree Toss event. Each year, the friendly folks at Cranberry Tree Farm donate their unsold trees to the Center, and we give them to our animals as a holiday enrichment.

WHEN: 12 p.m.

WHERE: Conservators Center.

676 E. Hughes Mill Road, Burlington.

MORE: $18-$24 entry.

SATURDAY

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AUDITIONS FOR NEW SHOW WHAT: Auditions for new play ‘Our Time, Our History, Our Legacy: A Tribute to African American History Through Music’. Actors aged 16 and older of all shapes, sizes and races are encouraged to tryout. Be prepared to sing, dance and do a cold reading from the script. Chosen actors must be able to perform in all shows- February 23-26, 2017.

WHEN: 12 p.m. - 2 p.m.

WHERE: Caldcleugh Multicultural Arts Center. 1700 Orchard St., Greensboro.

MORE: Free.

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JANUARY 4-10, 2017

DIRT · VOICES · TUNES · FLICKS VISIONS · DRAMA · CHOW · & MORE

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BIT BRIGADE SUNday

SATURDAY

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O.HENRY JAZZ SERIES what: On select Saturdays, you can enjoy vintage craft cocktails and delightful tapas garnished with an eclectic array of jazz artists performing in the styles of contemporary jazz with no cover charge!

This week’s artist: Nishah DiMeo. wheN: 6:30 p.m. where: O.Henry Hotel.

624 Green Valley Road, Greensboro.

More: Free entry.

BRIDAL SHOW AT CASTLE MCULLOCH tUeSdayw

SUNDAY

SUNDAY

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24TH MINIATURE BIT BRIGADE ART SHOw what: When Bit Brigade rolls into what: Art show with over 55 nationally known artists represented. Carl Bork of Colorado will be the Featured Artist with small as well as large paintings. All other paintings will be 9 x 12 or smaller. wheN: 1 p.m. where: Germanton Gallery.

3530 HWY 8/65, Germanton.

More: Free entry.

town, the gamer elite hang up the controller for the evening and see a rock show. With unprecedented attention to detail and postrock bombast, Bit Brigade meticulously replicates every musical cue, cutscene and boss battle in perfect synchronization with master gamer Noah McCarthy’s inspiring speed-trial run of each level. wheN: 8 p.m. where: The Blind Tiger.

1819 Spring Garden St., Greensboro.

More: $9 entry.

TUESDAY

10 BRIDAL SHOw what: Eat, Drink & Be Married!! The Triad’s Most Elegant Wedding Show. Join us for Magical Evening, while strolling the grounds Castle McCulloch, meet our Hand-Selected Wedding Professionals.

Enjoy Complimentary Cocktails, & Taste Deliciously prepared Food from our selection of Caterers. Be sure to RSVP quickly for this Extraordinary Bridal Show! wheN: 6 p.m. where: Castle McCulloch.

3925 Kivett Dr., Jamestown.

More: $5 admission. RSVP required.

TUESDAY

10 BALLROOM AND LATIN DANCE REVOLUTION what: Dancing at The W On Elm every Tuesday! Music by HUMbl Media! $5 cover!

Cocktail bar opens 6:30. Free Dance Lesson 7-8. Open Dance and Lounge 8-10. All dance styles and experience levels welcome! (No partner necessary) wheN: 7 p.m. where: The W on Elm. 324 S Elm St., Greensboro.

More: $5 admission.

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January 4-10, 2017

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TEAM TRIVIA at 7:30pm

THURSDAY

JENNA RICE-BEAUTIFUL THINGS

BY ALLISON STALBERG

Since drawing at a very early age, Jenna Rice has nursed her talent for art and illustration.

Rice works primarily in paint and explores the human body.

“It’s just a part of nature,” said Rice. “I don’t see any shame in the human body.

I love painting nudes and recently I’ve been experimenting, doing abstract stuff.

I was trying to do something different. I’m trying to create a whole series of these abstract, fluid, colorful, and figurative pieces.

I hopefully will get this group of artwork into a gallery at some point. Hopefully in Greensboro or the surrounding area.”

Having graduated with her art degree in 2012 from Florida Southern College, Rice says she owes a lot to her mentor and art professor, Bill Otremsky.

“I was recruited as an art major by the head of the art department, Bill Otremsky,” said Rice. “I just couldn’t thank him enough because I owe it to him for how far I’ve come. Even though he’s no longer my professor, he’s always pushed me and influenced me and has been a really positive influence on my life.”

Since moving to North Carolina, Rice

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has worked as the program director for the Alamance Arts in Graham. Now she is putting her efforts toward building her own art career.

“I get to do what I love and I get to help people and make people happy by creating beautiful things,” said Rice. “That’s the best part about it, making other people happy and making myself happy by doing what I love.”

Rice recently attended an event at the Bearded Goat for local artists.

“I was chosen to help assist the other artists and do the picnic tables,” she said.

“I painted cool, colorful, abstract goats.

It was a really big deal to help...because I was able to meet a bunch of other artists and people who may be interested in me doing murals for them and helping to get my name out there.”

“So I think that those goats that I drew on the picnic table are going to really take me places. It definitely helped and just becoming an established part of the art community is really what I’m looking for.”

Interested in Rice’s art? See more at her website at http://www.jennariceart. com/ !

WANT TO BE FEATURED AS A LOCAL TALENT? E-mail a photo and a short bio to editor@yesweekly.com

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JANUARY 4-10, 2017

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[SCUTTLEBUTT] Items from across the Triad and beyond

SPARK GRANT: THE CITY’S BILLBOARD PUBLIC ART

Two creative spaces in downtown Greensboro -- The Forge Makerspace and Greensboro Project Space, collaborate on the installment of an interactive art piece funded by a Spark Grant from Action Greensboro.

Action Greensboro, The Forge, GPS, and Greensboro Chamber of Commerce are proud to announce The City’s Billboard Public Art Piece. If given a platform to reach 36,000 people per day, what would you want to say?

The City’s Billboard piece displays 32 characters, 18 inches tall, using community-sourced messages. It will have the ability to change the message every ten minutes, and will be placed above 219 West Lewis Street, clearly visible from the Gate City Blvd and Eugene Street intersection, an entrance to downtown that sees 30000 vehicles per day.

The structure itself will be built by members of The Forge Makerspace, students at UNCG, and volunteers interested in learning electronics. Each character will be made of 14 segments, each powered by a small motor and programmed using open source platforms, allowing certain users to change the message from anywhere.

The City’s Billboard will become on the most highly visible art spaces in Greensboro. GPS will lead curating programs.

Since artists do not necessarily have to be living in Greensboro, they are taking proposals from around the world.

The Forge Makerspace offers tools and technology to inventors, tinkerers, artisans, artists, entrepreneurs, students, or anyone else who seeks to explore themselves through making.

Greensboro Project Space (GPS) is a contemporary art space created by the School of Art at UNCG. It seeks to make the city of Greensboro a richer place to live through creative, dynamic, and collaborative public programming.

Action Greensboro is a leading voice in urban livability, civic engagement, K-12 educational advancement and initiatives to attract and retain young professionals in Greensboro. Established in 2001, the non-profit organization has championed a variety of initiatives aimed at enhancing the city’s quality of life.

“The project communicates the Maker aesthetic indirectly through its creation in terms of its creative process in wood, metal, plastic, electronics, and acrylic,... large enough to be seen blocks away” said Mike Czeiszperger, Forge member

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leading the build. He is also an instrument designer for Yamaha, and founder of webperformance.com “I hope our project will provide a portal for mindfulness….making people subtly and gradually more aware,” said Gary Heidt, a theater and music improviser, poet, playwright, essayist, songwriter and multimedia artist. He is also a cofounder of Lovesphere.

JUDGES ANNOUNCED FOR ROCK THE RUNWAY

Triad Goodwill has announced the three-person panel invited to serve as judges for Greensboro’s premier fashion show, Rock the Runway on Friday, February 24 from 5:30 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. at the Elm Street Center, 203 South Elm Street, Greensboro, NC 27401. Judges for 2017 are Ashley Carter, Creator and Editor of FabEllis, a beauty, life and style blog, Susan Ladd, Reporter and Editor at the News & Record, and Lynn Wooten, Vice President of Marketing & Public Relations at Well·Spring Services, Inc. Read more at GoodwillRocktheRunway.org/Blog. In addition to the Judges Choice, there will be an Audience Choice winner and the News & Record Unconventional Material Challenge winner for the best garment made of newsprint.

Tickets for this unique fashion fundraiser start at $50 and are the perfect Valentine’s gift for the fashionista in your life, or for a fun girls’ night out. In addition to the fashion show, Rock the Runway features a pre-show mixer with heavy hors d’oeuvres, cash bar, silent auction, and Triad Goodwill’s pop-up shop Willow’s Boutique presenting the crème de la crème from their stores. Exclusive Fashionista Tables are available with seating for four guests at a private cocktail table, wine, tasty treats to share and personal “Swag” bags. Seating is limited and available for purchase only at GoodwillRocktheRunway.org. Get a preview on the Triad Goodwill YouTube channel.

Proceeds benefit Triad Goodwill’s mission of providing free career development services for the un- and underemployed in Alamance, Caswell, Guilford, Randolph and Rockingham Counties. Rock the Runway is presented by 99.5 WMAG and 100.3 KISSfm, Allegacy, Bank of America, Elm Street Center, Lincoln Financial Group, Marsh & McLennan Agency, McWhorter Concepts, News & Record, Premier Federal Credit Union, Torey Searcy Photography, and WFMY News 2. Sponsorship opportunities can be viewed at GoodwillRocktheRunway.org/Sponsor. !

GROUP TICKETS Enjoy a game with 10 or more people Starting at only $10 Each

First 5 groups to call and mention this ad when booking will receive a commemorative Swarm basketball!

Happy New Year!

January 13 at 7:00pm vs Delaware 87ers 500 team posters and all team autographs post game!

Greensboro Coliseum Fieldhouse

To order your tickets, visit gsoswarm.com or call 336.907.3600 @greensboroswarm @greensboroswarm /greensboroswarm JANUARY 4-10, 2017

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9

the lead

POLITICS, UPDATES, TRENDS AND OTHER VITAL INFORMATION

City seeks progress at South Elm redevelopment site

BY JEFF SYKES | jeff@yesweekly.com | @jeffreysykes

S

ignificant changes could be on the horizon for the brownfield redevelopment project on South Elm Street, now commonly referred to as Union Square.

City officials plan to put pressure on the project’s master developer to show progress at the site and will also petition for the land, currently owned by the city’s Redevelopment Commission, to be annexed into the city’s Downtown Business Improvement District overseen

by DGI. City planners have since 2006 attempted to bring sizeable redevelopment to the six-acre site just south of Gate City Boulevard at the edge of Downtown Greensboro. The site required extensive environmental remediation after it was declared a brownfield project and qualified for federal cleanup funds.

A master development agreement in place since 2013 with South Elm Development Group (SEDG) has served as a guide for the site in recent years, but city officials have remained displeased with the pace of the project.

One component, the combined nurse training facility known as Union Square Campus, came to fruition after local economic boosters stepped in under the leadership of Opportunity Greensboro to create a partnership between several area colleges and Cone Health.

The nurse training facility opened in August 2016 and just completed its first semester of operation. Construction of the facility is financed by rent payments from Cone Health and local colleges participating in the project.

Discussion in 2015 and 2016 centered on the next component developer SEDG was expected to bring to the site. One potential project came to the table in July 2016 when Weaver-Kirkland Development signed a letter of intent to pursue a 236-unit apartment complex on the west side of South Elm Street.

But little progress came from the letter of intent. At the Redevelopment Commission meeting in September, SEDG partner Bob Chapman said he intended to ask Weaver-Kirkland Development to “bow out” since their letter of intent has expired. Hurdles to the deal included negotiations with the City of Greensboro regarding

CHILI CHALLENGE

Saturday, January 28 at 9am - 11:30am

Market’s kick off fundraiser for 2017. Customers vote for their favorite chili, grab a recipe in preparation of the upcoming Super Bowl and experience the vibrant winter market. Live music by Gary Mitchell beginning at 8am followed by Laura Jane Vincent at 10am. $5 per with proceeds benefiting the market.

501 Yanceyville St. • Greensboro, NC WWW.GSOFARMERSMARKET.ORG

10 YES! WEEKLY

JANUARY 4-10, 2017

A new marketing sign went up recently at the South Elm redevelopment site in Greensboro. construction of a parking deck.

The city rebuffed an initial request for “a substantial amount of money,” Chapman told the Redevelopment Commission in September and Weaver-Kirkland scaled back their concept from 200-plus apartments to 120 units of student or low-income housing, 96 surface parking spots and a $2 million gift from city taxpayers.

With no further substantial communication between the parties, Chapman told the commission that SEDG contracted with a Raleigh real estate firm to market the site.

Maggie Quan told commissioners that her firm, Trademark Properties, would use their marketing channels to promote the site and “create a bidding war among developers for a vision of a young professional multifamily development.”

Trademark Properties would receive a commission from any land sales and would function as the seller’s agent to market the land.

With no progress visible since Weaver-Kirkland’s 2015 notice of intent, city officials pushed back against SEDG’s view that specific timelines in its contract with the city had been met.

The master development agreement requires that SEDG bring a Phase II development to the table within six months of Phase I being completed. Disagreement on this timetable could come to a head by mid-February.

Chapman told the commission that in SEDG’s view the six-month requirement was met when the city signed a five-year option with the boosters behind the Union Square Campus for a potential second project. The option does not bind USC to actually develop a second property but it does tie up the land and give USC the right to outbid any future suitors that may come to the table.

Chapman believes that Weaver-Kirkland’s 2015 letter of intent actually qualifies as a third phase of development.

But City Attorney Tom Carruthers, filling in for the commissions long-time lawyer Jim Blackwood who was disbarred in Dec. 2015, told Chapman that might not suffice.

Carruthers said the city was “very interested in SEDG’s plan for the near term” and would be seeking legal opinions regarding “when Phase II can be demanded by the Commission.” The city’s position is that Weaver-Kirkland’s letter is not a qualifier and that mere options to purchase are not sufficient to show acceptable progress.

Carruthers noted that the city wants to see “real working interest in an apartment development.”

Chapman countered that USC’s option does meet the definition because it ties up the property. He also noted that the west side of South Elm Street has been undevelopable until recent months because no one knew if right-of-way conflicts with Norfolk Southern could be resolved. Lack of clarity on this point was another hurdle for Weaver-Kirkland, Chapman said, and was not resolved until SEDG secured a quit-claim deed from the railroad in Aug. 2016.

Chapman expressed surprise at the city’s position in September, noting the technicalities of the original Request for Proposals from the city. He told commissioners that a “less desirable outcome” could arise if the project is rushed. SEDG has some $677,000 in real money and sweat equity invested in the project to date, Chapman said.

In a follow-up email in September, Chapman asked city staffers if it might be possible for SEDG to use some of the city’s recent $25 million housing bond to build “affordable housing at Union Square.”

Chapman said he had looked at the city’s promotional website for the bond package and noted that his partner in SEDG, Bob Isner, had built all the housing shown.

“We could build condominiums or townhouses ... for worker housing,” Chapman noted.

Chapman also followed up with Carruthers regarding the quit-claim deed secured from Norfolk Southern.

The city’s original RFP issued in 2010 claimed that the railroad owned an easement some 20-25 feet off the centerline into the project’s west edge. With no plans to develop along the edge, Chapman said this was of little concern.

That view changed months after SEDG won the right to serve as master developer for the project when a surveyor discovered an earlier claim that gave the railroad a claim some 112 feet into the property. Chapman expressed concern that this was not disclosed to SEDG. This claim undermined the path to a clear title to the land when it came to light that the commission’s own title insurance policy noted the 112-foot exemption.

“As you no doubt know, we would have to resolve this if we or any sub-developer was ever to interest a commercial lender in financing a project on the parcel,” Chapman wrote in an email to Carruthers.

SEDG resolved the issue in August, after two years of research and negotiations.

“Clearly, any expectations of how long it will take to develop the west side of South Elm need to be recalibrated to acknowledge that the true extent of title issues with the railroad was an undisclosed material fact, and that clear title to the property was not obtained until August 1, 2016,” Chapman concluded. !

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Lincoln Financial Foundation donates $40,000 to GSO Chamber and Action Greensboro

BY RICH LEWIS The Lincoln Financial Group has extended its partnership with local business entities by providing two grants to Greensboro-based economic development and support groups. The grants, valued at $20,000 apiece were presented through the company’s charitable foundation to the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce and Action Greensboro.

The first of the grants is targeted for the implementation of a new Chamber of Commerce program entitled Creating New Business and New Jobs. There are two parts to the program, the Minority Business Accelerator (MBA) and the Entrepreneur Navigator.

Greensboro Chamber of Commerce Vice President of Entrepreneurship Lou Anne Flanders-Stec explained that $10,000 of the money will be put into the MBA program. “The MBA is connecting small minority owned and run businesses to larger corporations in our community to help smaller businesses grow and to increase the number of minority owned businesses in our area.”

Connectivity is the cornerstone of any economic development plan and it is a founding principle of Chambers of Commerce around the nation. Efforts like MBA programs help to provide additional resources and opportunities for areas that may have been underserved in the past.

Another $10,000 of the grants will be used to continue development of the Entrepreneur Navigator.

“The Navigator is an online tool that is currently in the development phase,” Flanders-Stec said. “This tool will provide connectivity for entrepreneurs to the programs, people and resources that they need, all in one place.

“There are many ways for entrepreneurs to connect,” she continued, “we hope to provide an easy way to find what they need when they need it.”

In the modern economy, there are almost unlimited resources for business development and growing business acumen, but the difficulty is often in finding just what a particular business owner needs. A tool to collect, collate and sift through all the programs, opportunities, educational opportunities and advice could be a boon to local companies both large and small, new and established.

Chambers have long served as meeting grounds where business owners WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

and leaders can meet and share their knowledge and experience, as well as make connections within the local community to strengthen each other through connectivity.

This connectivity, Flanders-Stec explained, is a cornerstone of the Innovate Greensboro program that is overseeing these two projects. “We’re working to connect the “under connected” to resources within the community.”

“We’re also working as an entrepreneurial ecosystem to connect with each other,” she continued. “All of the providers of services for entrepreneurs are working together for the development of the Navigator program.”

The other $20,000 grant from the Lincoln Financial Foundation will be going to the Opportunity Greensboro Fellows Program. This program is aimed at talent retention in the city as a concerted effort

rather than as a group of individual initiatives within businesses.

Local colleges and universities turn out a great number of enterprising graduates each year and local businesses develop many into great performers. Keeping those performers interested in the local area and developing their skills and connections is a vital part of long term business growth.

The Opportunity Greensboro Fellows Program will allow participants to take part in local, high quality paid summer internships for 10 weeks. This can give them not just vital learning opportunities but give them solid starting experience and opportunities to explore long-term career options.

In addition, participants will take part in the two-day Leonard Kaplan Leadership Institute at the Center for Creative Leadership. This gives the participants an opportunity to make the most of a local resource that is renowned for world class learning opportunities for business leaders, both present and future.

An important part of the Greensboro employment and business scene, Lincoln Financial Group continues to invest in the local community. Through their philanthropic arm, the Lincoln Financial Foundation, they invest $10 million a year in youth education, economic and workforce development in the communities they serve. They also donate to human wellbeing and arts initiatives within those communities. !

RICH LEWIS is a father, husband, writer and cook who makes his home in Greensboro, NC.

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voices

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D

id you ever feel so let down after an election?

Many North Carolina Democrats have D.G. Martin been asking each other this question every day since they Contributor learned the results of the latest presidential election.

Some old timers remember other times when they felt like they had been hit in the stomach by disappointing election results. There are still people around who remember the way they felt after the primary election in 1950 when the legendary progressive, former university and incumbent U.S. Senator Frank Graham lost his bid to keep his office. Others will tell you the empty feeling they felt when Jim Hunt lost the 1984 U.S. senate election to Jesse Helms.

Then, there are folks who will say that the very worst they ever felt was in 1972 when Democrats lost the presidency, the governor’s mansion, and a U.S. Senate

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Galifianakis: Nick or Zach? seat to the Republicans. They remember that Helms, who won that Senate Seat and kept it for 30 years, transformed North Carolina politics, and converted many Democrats to the other party.

Many, however, may not remember that Helms’s victory also interrupted the upward trajectory of one of North Carolina’s most promising and most interesting political figures, someone whose intelligence and political skills, combined with his love of life and a compelling family background, might have made him a candidate for the presidency and made his hard-to-spell family name as familiar as Obama.

Ironically that name has been made famous, not by the 1972 losing Senate candidate, but by his nephew, popular actor Zach Galifianakis.

The nephew may be better known today, but his uncle Nick Galifianakis’s life and political career is an important one for those who want to understand our state’s history and political background.

A new book, “Pick Nick: The Political Odyssey of Nick Galifianakis from Immigrant Son to Congressman,” tells that story. Author John E. Semonche is a retired professor of constitutional history at UNC-Chapel Hill and a longtime friend of the book‘s subject.

Semonche says Galifianakis’s importance in North Carolina politics goes far beyond his contest against Helms. The book follows Galifianakis’s growing up years and early political successes. It shows how he overcame the disadvantages of his immigrant background and his strange sounding name. It was a time when North Carolinians were even more suspicious of “those other people” than they are today.

Nevertheless Galifianakis was often able to turn such disadvantages into positives. For instance, instead of a single campaign button featuring his name, he used two, one with GALIFI and the other with ANAKIS. Today, those buttons are treasures for collectors of

campaign memorabilia.

Nick Galifianakis was born in Durham in 1928 to Greek immigrant parents. His father ran Durham’s Lincoln Café. The family spoke Greek at home so that Nick had trouble adjusting to school. But, not for long. Successful at Durham High in academics, he was student body president. After undergraduate and law school at Duke and service as a Marine Corps officer, he began practicing law in Durham.

In 1960, he won election to the North Carolina House of Representatives and served three terms.

In the summer of 1965, when I was a state government intern, I watched from the balcony as a smiling Rep. Galifianakis distributed to fellow members his mother’s Greek sugar pastries. On that day, especially, he was very popular with his colleagues.

Galifianakis leveraged his popularity to win three elections to the U.S. House and to defeat incumbent and more conservative Sen. Everett Jordan in the 1972 Democratic primary.

But for all his charm and political skills he could not withstand the 1972 Republican sweep and Helms’s “He’s One of Us” campaign that cast Galifianakis as an outsider.

If things had gone the other way, Zach’s tagline might be “nephew of former U.S. President Nick Galifianakis.” !

D.G. MARTIN hosts “North Carolina Bookwatch,” which airs Sundays at noon and Thursdays at 5 p.m. on UNC-TV. This Thursday’s (January 4) guest is Kathy Reichs, author of “Speaking In Bones.” Next week’s (January 8, 12) guest is Vivian Howard, author of “Deep Run Roots: Stories and Recipes from My Corner of the South.” Preview the upcoming program on UNC-TV North Carolina digital channel (Time Warner #1276) on Fridays at 8 p.m.

To view prior programs: http://video.unctv.org/program/ nc-bookwatch/episodes/ For upcoming programs: www.unctv.org/ncbookwatch — Thursday 5pm January 5 Kathy Reichs, author of “Speaking In Bones” — Sunday noon January 8 and Thursday 5pm January 12 Vivian Howard, author of “Deep Run Roots: Stories and Recipes from My Corner of the South” — Sunday noon January 15 and Thursday 5pm January 19 Steve Sherrill, author of “The Minotaur Takes His Own Sweet Time” — Sunday noon January 22 and Thursday 5pm January 26 Art Chansky, author of “Game Changers: Dean Smith, Charlie Scott, and the Era That Transformed a Southern College Town” — Sunday noon January 29 and Thursday 5pm January Nina DeGramont author of “The Last September”

JANUARY 4-10, 2017

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“Marvy!”

Mailbox item: Abbr.

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[news of the weird] Oh-SO-Sweet DreamS The Hastens workshop in Koping, Sweden, liberally using the phrase “master artisans” recently, unveiled its made-to-order Chuck Shepherd $149,900 mattress.

Bloomberg News reported in December on Hastens’ use of superior construction materials such as pure steel springs, “slow-growing” pine, multiple layers of flax, horsehair lining (braided by hand, then unwound to ensure extra spring), and cotton covered by flame-retardant wool batting. With a 25year guarantee, an eight-hour-a-day sleep habit works out to $2 an hour. (Bonus: The Bloomberg reviewer, after a trial run, gave the “Vividus” a glowing thumbs-up.)

the JOb Of the reSearcher Humans are good at recognizing faces, but exceptionally poor at recognition when the same face’s features are

scrambled or upside down. In December, a research team from the Netherlands and Japan published findings that chimpanzees are the same way — when it comes to recognizing other chimps’ butts. That suggests, the scientists concluded, that sophisticated recognition of rear ends is as important for chimps (as “socio-sexual signaling,” such as prevention of inbreeding) as faces are to humans.

SuSpiciOnS cOnfirmeD Humanity has accumulated an estimated 30 trillion tons of “stuff,” according to research by University of Leicester geologists — enough to fit over 100 pounds’ worth over every square meter of the planet’s surface. The scientists, writing in the Anthropocene Review, are even more alarmed that very little of it is ever recycled and that buried layers of technofossils that define our era will clutter and weigh down the planet, hampering future generations. (Don’t just think of “garage sale” stuff, wrote Mother Nature News; think of every single thing we produce.)

finer pOintS Of the Law A federal appeals court agreed with a jury in December that Battle Creek, Michigan, police were justified in shooting (and killing) two hardly misbehaving family dogs during a legal search of a house’s basement. Mark and Cheryl Brown had pointed out that their dogs never attacked; one, an officer admitted, was “just standing there” when shot and killed. The officers said that conducting a thorough search of the premises might have riled the dogs and threatened their safety. (Unaddressed was whether a dog might avoid being shot if it masters the classic trick of “playing dead.”)

SOunDS Like a JOke (1) Spencer Hanvey, 22, was charged with four burglaries of the same MedCare Pharmacy in Conway, Arkansas, in October and November, using the same modus operandi each time to steal drugs.

(Bonus: Oddly, the drugs were not for obsessive-compulsive disorder.) (2) If You See Something, Say Something: Hamden

(Connecticut) High School was put into lockdown for an hour on Dec. 15 when a student was seen running in the hallway, zig-zagging from side to side, swinging an arm and leaping into the air. Police were called, but quickly learned that it was just a 12th-grade boy practicing a basketball move and pretending to dunk.

[Arkansas Online, 12-7-2016]

the ariStOcratS! Low-Tech Pervs: (1) A camera-less Alan Ralph, 62, was arrested in Sarasota, Florida, in December after being seen on surveillance video in October in a WalMart stooping down to the floor to peer up the skirt of a woman. (2) John Kuznezow, 54, was charged with invasion of privacy in Madison, Wisconsin, in November after he was discovered, pants down, up a tree outside a woman’s second-floor bedroom window.

bright iDeaS The Immigrants Wanted to Believe: For about 10 years, organized crime rings operated a makeshift U.S. “embassy”

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in a rundown pink building in Accra, the capital of Ghana, issuing official-looking identification papers, including “visas” that theoretically permitted entry into the United States. The U.S. State Department finally persuaded Ghanian officials to close it down, but it is unknown if any purchasers were ever caught trying to immigrate. The “embassy,” with a U.S. flag outside, had well-spoken “consular officers” who reportedly collected about $6,000 per visa.

WEIRD OLD WORLD (1) Wu Jianping, 25, from China’s Henan province, complained in November that he had been denied home loans at several banks for not providing fingerprints — because he has no arms (following a childhood accident) and “signs” documents by holding a pen in his mouth. He was not allowed to substitute “toeprints.” (2) Classes were canceled in early December in the village of Batagai in the Yakutia region of Siberia when the temperature reached minus 53 Celsius (minus 63 Fahrenheit) — but only for kids 15 and under; older children still had to get to school. Yakutia is regarded as the coldest inhabited region on the planet.

RECURRING THEMES Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation remains the most storied, but Venezuela is catching up. In mid-December, the government declared its largest-currency bill (the 100-bolivar note) worthless, replacing it with larger denomination money (after a brief cash-in period that has ended and which some drug dealers were likely shut out of). The 100-bolivar’s value had shrunk to 2 cents on the black market.

Stacks of it were required to make even the smallest food purchases, and since wallets could no longer hold the notes, robbers feasted on the “packages” of money people carried around while shopping.

THE PASSING PARADE (1) In October, Chicago alderman Howard Brookins Jr. publicly denounced “aggressive” squirrels that were gnawing through trash cans and costing the city an extra $300,000. A month later, Brookins was badly injured in a bicycle collision (broken nose, missing teeth) when a squirrel (in either a mighty coincidence or suicide terrorism) jumped into one of his wheels, sending Brookins over the handlebar. (2) In October, officials of Alaska’s

Iditarod reaffirmed an earlier decision to allow mushers to use mobile phones during the 2017 race; “purists” maintain that phones destroy the “frontier-ness” of the event.

A NEWS OF THE WEIRD CLASSIC Update: Every several years, News of the Weird helpfully reminds readers of what is one of the planet’s most bizarre local customs: the Christmas tradition in Spain’s Catalonia region of decorating Nativity scenes with figurines of traditional Catalonians and famous people, each squatting to answer nature’s calls.

The update this year, of course, is the availability of squatting Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, joining past presidents (including the all-time best-seller, President Obama), Queen Elizabeth and Pope Francis. (Perhaps the least-tonedeaf explanation for the tradition is that if the manger is fertilized, the coming year’s crops can be expected to flourish.) ! © 2017 Chuck Shepherd. Universal Press Syndicate.

SEX TOYS IN THE NEWS (1) The government in Saxony, Germany, chose as third-place winner of its 2016 prize for innovation and start-up companies the inventor of the ingenious silent vibrator (leading to shaming of the economy minister Martin Dulig, now known as “Dildo Dulig”). (2) An unknown armed robber made off with cash at the Lotions and Lace adult store in San Bernardino, California, in December — although employees told police they angrily pelted the man with dildos from the shelves as he ran out the door.

LEAST COMPETENT CRIMINALS Not Ready for Prime Time: (1) Leonard Rinaldi, 53, was arrested in Torrington, Connecticut, in November following his theft of a rare-coin collection belonging to his father. The coins were valued at about $8,000, but apparently to make his theft less easily discoverable, he ran them through a Coinstar coin-cashing machine — netting himself a cool $60. (2) James Walsh was arrested in Port St. Lucie, Florida, on Dec. 12 at a Wal-Mart after carting out an unpaid-for big-screen TV. Walsh said he had swiped a TV on Dec. 11 with no problem — but failed to notice that, on the 12th, the store had a “shop with a cop” event at which St. Lucie County deputies were buying toys for kids.

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THE INVISIBILITY OF WHITENESS

BY STEVE MITCHELL

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January 4-10, 2017

“Ultimately, to be white is a moral choice.

White people are imagined. White people are white only because they want to be white.” - James Baldwin

D

ave McFayden grew up in a working class neighborhood off Summit Avenue. He’s 44 and works in Facilities Operation at UNC-G. Growing up, there were no black people in his neighborhood. He never really noticed his whiteness until a black kid his age, around eleven, moved in. “We rode the same bus and that kid caught hell.”

“Ten, eleven, twelve year old boys like to create fights,” Dave continues. “So, basically, everybody on the bus decided that he and I were going to fight. We got off the bus, and I could look in his eyes and tell he was terrified. Surrounded by all these… punks.”

Whiteness, not blackness, is the foundation of racism and blindness is a function of whiteness. Whiteness infuses our world to such a degree that it is invisible to us. It is ingrained to such a degree that it takes an effort to think about it.

We are blind to everything our whiteness entails. We believe that everyone has the same opportunity and possibility of experience we do, if only they want it or work a little bit for it. We believe our suffering is equivalent and, in a sense it is, all suffering being suffering. We do not understand the suffering of those not white.

We don’t have the same bar to clear.

The history of whiteness is one of our deciding, long ago. Historically, we decided we were white; in order to elevate ourselves, in order to enslave others, in order to construct a higher moral ground.

We, as white people, separated ourselves: it wasn’t God, or the natural order, or some kind of genial meritocracy. We made the decision then conveniently forgot it had been made, accepting it simply as ‘the way of things’.

Deonna Kelli Sayed and I came up with the idea for a Story Booth on Whiteness because we both deeply believe that stories, and people, are more interesting and meaningful than politics and ideologies.

We believe it is in stories that people might meet and begin to understand each other.

We eventually decided to provide only one context before the interviews, the above quote from James Baldwin, which is, of course, political in its own way. And the question: When did you first realize you were white? In the interview itself, we added one more: What is Whiteness?

The first two sessions filled within two days so we added another, ending with eighteen 20-minute interviews. This is, by no means, a scientific or representa-

tive group. The participants self-selected by their willingness to come downtown to talk with us for a short period of time.

They were people who, for one reason or another, wanted to talk. We list their ages because it’s important to know the generation involved and how recent some of these experiences are.

“I didn’t want to fight,” Dave explains.

“He didn’t want to fight. But we’re standing face to face, this circle of kids around us.”

“Right across the street, this screen door slammed open and this old guy, he was a Vietnam vet, he started yelling at us, something about the war and people being the same and his best friends were black, and everyone just scattered. Except for me and this kid, just standing there looking at each other. Toe to toe.

So, it was like, What do you want to do?

We ended up, like, riding bikes or something.

In my neighborhood, but not in my household, there were always racist jokes and comments. The kids, their dads, were like that. And whether they accepted him, I don’t know. But Pookie became my best friend.

Being friends with him changed my complete perception about life in general and other people. I didn’t want to hear people’s racist jokes. I’m sure there were times when I was just a coward and went along. Just because I’m with too many people to do anything and what am I going to do? I’m sure I didn’t like myself for it.

As I was 11 turning 12, my mom wanted to know what kind of birthday cake I wanted. I said I wanted a rebel flag birthday cake. I was a kid, I didn’t know. Here’s my best friend standing right beside me when I’m blowing out the candles. It’s weird now to look back on it.”

Shelby Smith is 22; she works in public health. “My high school was racially diverse, not so much economically diverse.

I grew up in a relatively upper class area.

I think there was a lot of in- and outgrouping in my high school where I spent my time with people who looked like me.

My high school was very clique-y.

My parents were definitely the type who instilled in me, well, everyone’s the same, we’re all humans and whatever, and I never really thought critically about that and how racism really wasn’t just individual acts of meanness until I was a little bit older.”

The idea of color blindness, that it’s possible ‘not to see color’ and that we’re ‘all the same’ is a way of pretending to talk about racism without confronting our own whiteness and the history of that whiteness. It is the belief that we can just begin again from square one, wiping everything else away by sheer will. Our

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will, the white will. We, as white people can again decide what the conversation should be.

Only white people can believe in colorblindness. Everyone else knows better.

All Lives Matter is a current version of this belief. Of course, all lives matter.

But, that isn’t the point or purpose of the Black Lives Matter movement. It’s a bit like telling someone with Stage Four cancer that appendicitis matters too. All Diseases Matter!

Shannon Jones is 28; she’s a bookseller: “Racism was painted very much like hate groups, and the extremes of it, and I knew my parents weren’t that. It seemed all of the very well meaning, loving, white adults that I was close to understood the distinction between black and white, even if I didn’t.

There was this idea of colorblindness.

But then you noticed things in their behavior. On the one hand, you can tell you have well meaning adults in your life who don’t want you to grow up with the same hang-ups about race they did but they kind of did an over correction a little bit and you still noticed the remnants of it in their lives.

People who, if you asked them, would never consider themselves racist, still had this very slight distinction in their heads between someone being black---that was like a set of things they expected---and someone being white and a set of things they expected. Eventually, I could see that it was possible for these adults I was close to be well meaning and be kind and be close to black people and still have these racist tendencies.

I mean, not everybody’s kumbayathe-same like they tried to teach us in elementary school.”

The invisibility of whiteness, the way it permeates our culture, has meant that it’s been impossible to identify a white community. This community is visible, monolithic even, to those who are not white.

Kari Thatcher works in Public Health Research. She’s 37.

“I didn’t realize there was a white community until about five or six years ago.

Not until I started getting interested in issues of race. That’s one of the features of whiteness, I think. It’s that we see ourselves as so individual that we don’t actually realize that we have a lot in common with each other as white culture.”

“I’m really kind of curious about whether it’s possible to call whiteness a race, even though it’s certainly a thing. It’s real.” Andrew Saulters is 33; he’s an editor at Unicorn Press.

“Of course, when my great-grandmother came to this country in 1919, Italians were not considered white. Through the passage of time, that’s no longer true.

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“Look at my African American over there.”

-Donald Trump

What if whiteness thinks of itself as the sort of thing that isn’t? Like, it’s the baseline, the blank slate. Then everything else is added to. That seems to make a lot of sense in how white people think about themselves.

I see white people doing this: checking out of the fact of whiteness by claiming some other minority participation. Like I know I’m white, but I grew up poor. Or, I know I’m white, but I’m from the South.

It seems that being white means never having to apologize. It seems that whiteness implies a certain unconscious untouchability. If you want to give up being white, you can’t really do it. But it’s not like that’s a problem for white people.”

If you can’t give up being white, if you can’t deny it or change it, what are the options? Each of us approach the problem in a different way.

“I’d like [Michelle 0bama] to return to being male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla.”

-Carl Paladino, Co-Chair Trump New York Campaign JANUARY 4-10, 2017

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“Islamism is a vicious cancer inside the body of 1.7 billion people.”

- Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, proposed National Security Advisor

JANUARY 4-10, 2017

“I used to be very angry about my whiteness, other people’s whiteness, but that’s shifted,” Saulters said. “I think if you don’t look at other people like You have a place in this movement too, then you are hurting the movement.”

Christina Dominguez is an educator.

She’s 29.

“I think one place most people can access these issues is around popular culture.

Something as simple as, why does BET (The Black Entertainment Network) exist?

Why are there award shows just for black entertainers? Same thing for Latino folks.

White people will ask this all the time.

If you can get them to think about how little they, their actual lives, are represented in the media, then they begin to see how little these other groups are represented.

As a queer person, I think about the time I took my Dad to an LGBT Film Festival in San Diego. Right before, he’d said something like, Why does Pride exist? Why do you have a separate film festival, I don’t get it. And I said, Dad, let’s just go.

And after the movies he said, I understand now. I’ve never seen stories like this.

I’ve never seen characters like these in movies.”

Alex Rae (24) and Julia Singley (23) are members of QPOCC, The Queer People of Color Collective. They were interviewed for StoryBooth together. Both are white and both were drawn toward anti-racism work partly through their sexual orientation.

Julia: “I came to this work through three things that I love and love about myself, that is, soccer, food, and queerness. I grew up playing soccer with folks in diverse communities and, through that, came to understand that what I have access to is different from what others have access to. Some of that had to do with food and food security.

Also, coming to understand myself as queer fearlessly, then understanding that my liberation is contingent upon some sort of institutional change.”

Alex: “I’ve lost friends, and I know people who’ve lost friends and family, because of our commitment to doing this anti-racism work and to always bringing it up, not remaining silent when a racist joke is made.

Really, the only thing that I’ve come to through all my bumbles and mistakes and times I’ve just made people feel alienated, when I’ve lost friends or gotten in fights with family members, is that I have to be coming from an authentic place of love because if it comes from anywhere else like self righteousness or trying to feel like a good white person, all those places just end up in burnt conversations.

But then, sometimes, I just get mad and yell at people.”

“A lot of people, I think, associate

racism with who you are, not one small aspect of your thinking process,” explains Shannon Jones. “Like I’m not a bad person and I’m not racist, therefore I’m never racist ever whereas even I’m trying to constantly make sure like, Oh, did I cross the street because I was threatened by a large man walking by or did it have something to do with the fact he was black. I’m constantly checking myself on what am I really thinking with these actions. That last process never occurs to a lot of people I know.

I still, to this day, have trouble calling out my father for racist tendencies. My mother’s are very few and far between; a very occasional slip of using the wrong phrasing or something. There’s this little bit of something in there subconsciously from her childhood and growing up in the ‘70’s in a fairly conservative household.

With my Dad, you can tell that its still an active part of how he deals with people in the world.

I think the conversation needs to be reframed so that people don’t get so hostile because it’s seen as a reflection on them, the whole of who they are. It should be framed as, You’re a good person and if you want to keep improving yourself as a human being, then maybe be aware of these couple of things.

To be in my twenties and sort of blink and look around and think, Oh, I assumed the whole narrative of Oh, you just work hard and do what you’re supposed to do then these things will happen for you.

And I think, but wait, that’s just not true.”

Shelby Smith has had similar experiences when attempting to talk with her parents.

“My parents are conservative which already sets the tone when I want to talk about social issues. I can’t even find a place, like a page of the book, that we have in common to even start moving forward on. I can’t get enough words out before they start the denial.

In DC, they were talking about expanding the Metro to a community that was very affluent, very rich, very white, and my parents thought that wasn’t a good idea.

The neighborhood would lose its character. And I said, That sounds pretty racist.

And they said, Why do you say that? We weren’t being racist. We just think it will change the neighborhood. I asked In what way? And they said, Well, you never know who’s going to come in. And I said, Who is that person that you’re talking about?

By the very nature of me insulting that system, I’m also insulting their livelihood, because they’ve reaped the benefits of it. And I’ve also reaped the benefits of it too.”

Shelby pauses for a moment.

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“I think that the most important thing is that we shift from being what I used to think of as an ally, you know, amplifying people’s voices, to speaking about whiteness and white privilege because I think that’s part of being an anti-racist white person.

We can’t keep talking about people of color because that’s not our role. There’s a lot of people who don’t want to do that because there’s a power dynamic they’re giving up when they do.”

Adrienne McKinney is a Certified Public Accountant who has become interested in whiteness through a talk radio show she enjoys and their continuing on-air discussions of police violence.

“I’d gone to a service at one of the churches, one Sunday evening in July. I just kind of slipped into the back; I wanted to listen. There were representatives from different churches, people from the Police Department.

There was a young man from Black Lives Matter and I wanted to talk to him, but I really didn’t know what to say. I just went up to him afterward, and said, Please accept this in the spirit that I’m asking, but, I don’t know what to do and I don’t know how to help this problem. And if you can tell me what I can do, I will try and help you.

And I think it startled him a little bit. He had been very energetic and he got very, very quiet and after a moment he said, Just keep talking. Just talk to people.

I think you stumble around. And you have whatever conversations you feel comfortable getting into. You try and muster up the courage to have those conversations.”

Race is a created distinction but it carries the weight of history. It’s not like the kid in high school who wears funny clothes and is made fun of for it; once his fashion sense shifts, he might find himself more accepted. Race is unchangeable, no matter what you might do.

Racism and racial bias are in the hands of the white people. We created this system by announcing we were white and, therefore, somehow better. We continue to announce it every day. We can’t help but do this; it is so much a part of the way we move in the world. It takes constant adjustment to be able to interfere with biases within us.

Each of us is left with our own path.

Some of us try to talk with those close to us, some of us go to meetings, organize, demonstrate. The people who spoke to us for Story Booth were beginning, or continuing, some sort of conversation, if only with themselves.

They weren’t expecting forgiveness or absolution. They wanted to understand, or at least make the first small steps WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

“I don’t think there was any racism until 0bama got elected. We never had problems like this.

Now, with the people with the guns and shooting up neighborhoods and not being responsible citizens, that’s a big change and I think that’s the philosophy that 0bama has perpetuated on America.”

-Kathy Miller, Mahoning County Trump Campaign Chair

toward understanding. At a time when ideologies on both sides can crush conversation before it ever begins, this can be a courageous act; simply to want to talk and begin to find a new language in which we might be able to hear each other. That can be as simple as making a new connection or renewing an old one.

“They moved out one day and they were gone. And I didn’t see Pookie for years,” Dave McFayden explains. “And when I did see him, my wife at the time was in the hospital for surgery and this guy happened to be going down the same hallway with his wife and we saw each other for, like, all of five seconds.

We just looked at each other but we each had to go, you know. That was 1998.”

“Within the last month, I’ve reconnected with him. Via Facebook. I think I have the right phone number. I’m a little nervous ‘cause it’s been so long. But, I’m looking forward to this reconnection with somebody I lost touch with at the age of 12.” !

STEVE MITCHELL’s short story collection, The Naming of Ghosts, is published by Press 53. He has a deep belief in the primacy of doubt and an abiding conviction that great wisdom informs very bad movies. He’s coowner of Scuppernong Books in Greensboro, NC. You can find him at: www.thisisstevemitchell.com

The statistics in this image are completely fabricated. There is no organization named ‘Crime Statistics Bureau – San Francisco’ JANUARY 4-10, 2017

YES! WEEKLY

19

Submissions should be sent to artdirector@yesweekly.com by Friday at 5 p.m., prior to the week’s publication.

Visit yesweekly.com and click on calendar to list your event online. home grown muSic Scene | compiled by Austin Kindley

ASHEBORO

FOUR SAINTS BREWING

218 South Fayetteville St. | 336.610.3722 foursaintsbrewing.com Jan 6: Open Mic w/ Wolfie Calhoun Jan 7: Abigail Dowd Jan 8: Jim Sharkey Jan 13: GrayMatter Jan 14: Steely James Jan 18: Irish/Celtic Music Session Jan 20: Shiloh Hill Jan 21: Emma Lee Jan 28: Tyler Millard

clEmmOnS

RIvER RIDGE TApHOUSE 1480 River Ridge Dr | 336.712.1883 riverridgetaphouse.com Jan 27: Live Music from 3st

dAnBuRy

GREEN HERON ALE HOUSE 1110 Flinchum Rd | 336.593.4733 greenheronclub.com

gREEnSBORO

ARIzONA pETE’S

2900 Patterson St #A | 336.632.9889 arizonapetes.com Jan 6: 1-2-3 Friday Jan 13: 1-2-3 Friday

ARTISTIkA NIGHT CLUB

523 S Elm St | 336.271.2686 artistikanightclub.com Jan 6: DJ Dan the player Jan 7: DJ paco and DJ Dan the player

THE BLIND TIGER

1819 Spring Garden St | 336.272.9888 theblindtiger.com Jan 6: Justin Fulp w/ zach Burick Band Jan 7: BadAss Women of The piedmont feat: Libby Robenbough of Mipso, Anne-Claire Niver Claire, Hitchins, kate Rhudy Jan 8: Bit Brigade Jan 11: After Funk Jan 13: kelen Heller w/ Soapbox Arson, A Light Divided, The Norm

Jan 14: Unknown Hinson Jan 15: Memphis Or Bust Jan 16: Julian Sizemore Duo, The Wright Ave Jan 18: LITz Jan 19: Afroman Jan 20: Electric Soul pandemic w/ ElectroChemical Jan 26: In Her Own Words, Woven Haitus, Hazing, paperback, Cloud Hands Jan 28: Shmack Daniels Feb 8: Rumpke Mountain Boys

BUCkHEAD SALOON

1720 Battleground Ave | 336.272.9884 buckheadsaloongreensboro.com Jan 6: Huckleberry Shyne Jan 7: The Dickens Jan 13: Where’s Eddie Jan 14: Jane Doe Jan 20: Sun City kings Jan 21: Spazmatics Jan 27: Dazey Jayne Jan 28: Brothers pearl

CHURCHILL’S ON ELM

213 S Elm St | 336.275.6367 churchillscigarlounge.com Jan 14: Sahara Reggae Band Jan 21: Jack Long Old School Jam

COMEDY zONE

LUENELL www.heyluenell.com

FEATURE GUEST

AMPSTON HEWS

We have a variety of fresh baked goodies daily along with locally roasted coffee and espresso.

CUSTOM CAKES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FOR ANY OCCASION!

COMMON GROUNDS

HOSTED BY

OSAMA BIN DRANKIN

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 11 1 SHOW ONLY - $20 TICKET DOORS AT 7PM | SHOW AT 8PM 2105 PETERS CREEK PKWY WINSTON-SALEM, NC 27127 (336) 608-2270 TICKETS AVAILABLE AT

WWW.LAUGHINGAS.NET

20 YES! WEEKLY

1126 S Holden Rd | 336.333.1034 thecomedyzone.com Jan 6: Sid Davis Jan 7: Sid Davis Jan 13: Mutzie Jan 14: Mutzie Jan 20: Drew Thomas Jan 21: Drew Thomas Jan 27: kevin Lee Jan 28: kevin Lee

January 4-10, 2017

11602 S Elm Ave | 336.698.3888 Jan 16: Shelby Lanterman Music Mar 11: Bernardus

CONE DENIM

CAKES BY B - Blue House Bakery 113 EAST MAIN ST · JAMESTOWN, NC 27282 facebook.com/cakesbyb · (336) 307-4653 HOURS: Mon-Wed 6:30am-6:00pm Thurs-Fri 6:30am-9:00pm · Sat 9am-9pm

117 S Elm St | 336.378.9646 cdecgreensboro.com Jan 12: Aaron Lewis Jan 13: Breaking Benjamin Jan 26: Chippendales 2017: Best.

Night. Ever. Tour Feb 10: 2GNC Comedy All-Stars

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 Jan 21: Dave East

HAM’S GATE CITY

3017 Gate City Blvd | 336.851.4800 hamsrestaurants.com Jan 6: pure Fiyah Reggee Jan 13: Tre king Band Jan 20: Signature Soundz Jan 27: Sahara

HAM’S NEW GARDEN

1635 New Garden Rd | 336.288.4544 hamsrestaurants.com Jan 6: J. Timber/Joel Henry Jan 13: Heckelberry Shyne Jan 20: Tyler Millard Jan 27: Jukebox Revolver

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 Jan 4: Evan Olsen & Jessica Mashburn

SOMEWHERE ELSE TAvERN

5713 W Friendly Ave | 336.292.5464 facebook.com/thesomewhereelsetavern Jan 13: Desired Redemption, Drowning Delilah, zestrah, Swampwater Swill, Trailer park Orchestra Jan 28: Last Call Messiahs, Jen phipps, zestrah, Them Damn Bruners Feb 25: Desired Redemption, Novarium, Nevernauts

THE IDIOT BOx COMEDY CLUB

2134 Lawndale Dr | 336.274.2699 www.idiotboxers.com Jan 13: A Trump Roast

vILLAGE TAvERN

1903 Westridge Rd | 336.282.3063 villagetavern.com

WORLD OF BEER

1210 Westover Terrace | 336.897.0031 worldofbeer.com/Locations/Greensboro

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high point

aftEr hourS tavErn

1614 N Main St | 336.883.4113 afterhourstavern.net Jan 21: the norm, the terrible twos, Somewhat forgotten

bluE bourbon Jack’S

1310 N Main St | 336.882.2583 reverbnation.com/venue/bluebourbonjacks feb 18: Jukebox revolver

claddagh rEStaurant & Pub

130 E Parris Ave | 336.841.0521 thecladdaghrestaurantandpub.com Jan 4: craig baldwin Jan 5: buzzard boys Jan 6: Midnight gypsys Jan 7: david & Joel Paris avenue Jan 10: brian thompson Jan 11: craig baldwin Jan 12: buzzard boys Jan 13: Jamie leigh

haM’S PalladiuM

thE EMPouriuM

734 E. Mountain St. | 336.671.9159

lewisville

old nick’S Pub

191 Lowes Foods Dr | 336.747.3059 OldNicksPubNC.com Jan 7: karaoke w/ dJ tyler Perkins Jan 13: Exit 180 band Jan 21: karaoke w/dJ tyler Perkins Jan 27: Mezza voce

oakridge

JP loonEY’S

2213 E Oak Ridge Rd | 336.643.1570 facebook.com/JPLooneys Jan 5: trivia

randleman

ridEr’S in thE countrY 5701 Randleman Rd | 336.674.5111 ridersinthecountry.net

winston-salem

5840 Samet Dr | 336.887.2434 hamsrestaurants.com Jan 6: Jukebox revolver Jan 13: Sok Monkee Jan 20: Megan doss band

2nd and grEEn

libErtY brEwErY

209 W 6th St | 336.725.5577 6thandvine.com Jan 7: Suitcase Jan 13: Johnny bing duo Jan 20: Ears to the ground Jan 21: dJSk Jan 27: chris & ashley acoustic Jan 28: Mulligans

914 Mall Loop Rd | 336.882.4677 hghosp.com

jamestown

thE dEck

118 E Main St | 336.207.1999 thedeckatrivertwist.com Jan 6: Mezza voce Jan 7: dark water redemption Jan 13: Shmack daniels Jan 20: big daddy Mojo Jan 21: Jaxon Jill Jan 27: Southern Eyes

kernersville

dancE hall dazE

612 Edgewood St | 336.558.7204 dancehalldaze.com Jan 6: colours Jan 7: Skyryder Jan 13: texas’t’band Jan 14: cheyenne & donna Miller Jan 15: Jam Session/cancer benefit Jan 20: crimson rose Jan 21: time bandits

EclEction

221 N Main St | 336.497.4822 eclectionnc.com www.yesweekly.com

207 N Green St | 336.631.3143 2ngtavern.com

6th & vinE

bull’S tavErn

408 West 4th St | 336.331.3431 facebook.com/bulls-tavern Jan 7: Stereo doll Jan 13: chit nasty band Jan 14: disco lemonade Jan 19: Pressing Strings

thE garagE

110 W 7th St | 336.777.1127 the-garage.ws Jan 25: Mothers, finks, and i, anomaly Mar 3: all them witches with irata

JohnnY & JunE’S Saloon

2105 Peters Creek Pkwy | 336.724.0546 johnnynjunes.com Jan 6: red dirt revival Jan 7: Joey nevada Jan 14: dark water redemption Jan 20: red dirt revival

laughing gaS coMEdY club

2105 Peters Creek Pkwy laughingas.net Jan 11: luenell Jan 18: Jamie kennedy Jan 20-21: leonard outzs

MuddY crEEk MuSic hall

5455 Bethania Rd | 336.923.8623 Jan 5: carey noel, Megan Swindler, alex Smith Jan 6: old Man luedecke Jan 7: taylor vaden & Memphis thunder Jan 8: Mike Mitchell band/ Mark Mandeville & raianne richards Jan 13: corey hunt band/ von Strantz Jan 14: circus no. 9 Jan 15: Joe troop and Mason via Jan 19: the batteries Jan 20: Joe crookston Jan 21: banna Jan 23: band on the run starring denny laine of wings Jan 26: Sarah howell, Jack benedict, Meryl angelicola lee Jan 27: cashavelly Morrison w/ grace & nails

thE quiEt Pint

Mac & nElli’S

4926 Country Club Rd | 336.529.6230 macandnellisws.com

1420 W 1st St | 336.893.6881 thequietpint.com

tEE tiME SPortS & SPiritS

MilnEr’S

630 S Stratford Rd | 336.768.2221 milnerfood.com Jan 8: live Jazz

3040 Healy Dr | 336.760.4010

villagE tavErn

2000 Griffith Rd | 336.760.8686

MuddY crEEk cafE

5455 Bethania Rd | 336.923.8623 Jan 5: open Mic with country dan collins Jan 6: Phillip craft Jan 7: chris nelson Jan 12: open Mic Jan 13: Seth williams Jan 14: acoustic harmonies Jan 19: open Mic

waYward brEwS

5078 Peters Creek Pkwy | 336.652.2739 waywardbrews.com

wErEhouSE/ krankiE’S coffEE 211 E 3rd St | 336.722.3016 krankiescoffee.com

cb’S tavErn

3870 Bethania Station Rd | 336.815.1664 Jan 7: confuzion

Saint Wenceslaus Saint Nicholas Saint Luke Saint Augustine of Hippo

finnigan’S wakE

620 Trade St | 336.723.0322 facebook.com/FinnigansWake

foothillS brEwing 638 W 4th St | 336.777.3348 foothillsbrewing.com Jan 8: Sunday Jazz Sun 29: Sunday Jazz

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 January 4-10, 2017 YES! WEEKLY

21

[CONCERTS] Compiled by Alex Eldridge

CHARLOTTE

BOJANGLES COLISEUM

2700 E Independence Blvd | 704.372.3600 www.bojanglescoliseum.com Dec 31: The Avett Brothers Feb 3: Legends of Southern Hip Hop Mar 11: Casting Crowns

CMCU AMPHITHEATRE former Uptown Amphitheatre 820 Hamilton St | 704.549.5555 www.livenation.com Apr 28: Lauryn Hill

THE FILLMORE

1000 NC Music Factory Blvd | 704.916.8970 www.fillmorecharlottenc.com Jan 7: Cookies & Crafts Jan 11: Pop Evil Jan 14: Drake Night ft DJ Fannie Mae Jan 18: Rich The Kid Jan 19: Greensky Bluegrass Jan 21: Breaking Benjamin Jan 27: Hey Johnny Park - Foo Fighters Tribute Jan 27: Rumours: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac Jan 28: Bassh

22 YES! WEEKLY

Feb 2: Papadosio Feb 3: Grouplove Feb 8: Welshly Arms Feb 8: Tchami Feb 9: Excision Feb 10: The Fighters Feb 10: Jake Miller Feb 11: Nonpoint Feb 12: Safetysuit Feb 17: Dashboard Confessional Feb 21: Us the Duo Feb 22: Louis The Child Feb 23: Less Than Jake & Pepper Feb 24: Cherub & The Floozies Feb 24: Daya Feb 25: Juicy J Mar 2: Sleigh Bells Mar 5: Cold War Kids w/ Middle Kids Mar 6: Overkill Mar 7: Colony House Mar 8: Young the Giant Mar 10: Deafheaven w/ This Will Destory You & Emma Ruth Rundle Mar 11: St Paul & The Broken Bones Mar 12: Bad Suns Mar 17: The Decibel Magazine 2017 Tour Mar 17: Regina Spektor Mar 19: Katatonia

Mar 23: Blue October Mar 23: Whiskey Myers Mar 30: The Flaming Lips Apr 6: Kehlani Apr 7: Kari Jobe Apr 15: Dark Star Orchestra Apr 16: Testament Apr 20: Periphery. Sonic Unrest II. Apr 20: Trey Anastasio

OVENS AUDITORIUM

2700 E Independence Blvd | 704.372.3600 www.ovensauditorium.com Jan 21: Tim Hawkins Jan 28: Gerald Levert Feb 22: The Piano Guys Feb 24: Nu Soul Revival Tour Mar 6: We Are Here Mar 31: Johnny Mathis

TWC ARENA

333 E Trade St | 704.688.9000 www.timewarnercablearena.com Feb 19: Winter Jam Mar 9: Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience Apr 17: Red Hot Chili Peppers Apr 28: Neil Diamond

DURHAM

CAROLINA THEATRE

309 W Morgan St | 919.560.3030 www.carolinatheatre.org Jan 24: Hypnotic Brass Ensemble Jan 26: Pat Metheny Jan 28: 10th Annual Wiser A Cappella Jam Feb 7: Al Di Meola Feb 13: The Wood Brothers Feb 16: Keller Williams & Leo Kottke Feb 23: Tommy Emmanuel Mar 1: Ladysmith Black Mambazo Mar 3: Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes Mar 7: Valerie June Mar 13: Gordon Lightfoot Mar 20: Odessey & Oracle Mar 21-22: Stephin Merritt & The Magnetic Fields Mar 23: Black Violin Mar 24: Three Dog Night Apr 28: Rivive Big Band & Christian Scott Apr 29: George Clinton & Terrace Martin

CHECK IT OUT! Click on our website, yesweekly.com, for more concerts.

JANUARY 4-10, 2017

!

DPAC

123 Vivian St | 919.680.2787 www.dpacnc.com Jan 20: Tim Hawkins Jan 22: The Beach Boys Jan 27: Rick Springfield & Richard Marx Feb 19: Tony Bennett Mar 2: Martina McBride Mar 10: Get The Led Out Mar 23: Celtic Woman Mar 28: Steve Miller Band Apr 1: Earth, Wind & Fire Apr 29: Common

GREENSBORO

CAROLINA THEATRE

310 S Greene St | 336.333.2605 www.carolinatheatre.com Jan 14: The Glenn Miller Orchestra Jan 20: Cageless Birds Worship Night Jan 29: Travis Tritt Feb 17: Keo Kottke & Keller Williams Feb 23: Arlo Guthrie Feb 24: Rockin’ Road to Dublin Apr 18: Free

GREENSBORO COLISEUM 1921 W Gate City Blvd | 336.373.7400 www.greensborocoliseum.com Feb 3: Rhythms Of Triumph ft The O’Jays Feb 4: Justin Moore & Lee Brice Feb 24: Brantley Gilbert Feb 25: Twenty Øne Piløts Mar 23: Florida Georgia Line Mar 25: Winter Jam Apr 11: Panic! At The Disco Apr 14: Spring Fest

HIGH POINT

HIGH POINT THEATRE

220 E Commerce Ave | 336.883.3401 www.highpointtheatre.com Jan 26: Robin Spielberg Feb 14: Ken Lavigne Feb 25: Manhattan Transfer & Take 6 Mar 31: The HillBenders Apr 1: Will Downing Apr 29: 3 Redneck Tenors

RALEIGH

PNC ARENA

1400 Edwards Mill Rd | 919.861.2300 www.thepncarena.com Jan 22: Winter Jam Mar 10: Casting Crowns w/ Danny Gokey & Unspoken Mar 19: Stevie Nicks w/ Pretenders Apr 27: I Love The 90’s

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TEL. 336-887-3001 FOLLOW US! HIGHPOINTTHEATRE.COM

2017 SHOWS

An Evening with

Peter Yarrow

Ken Lavigne: The Road to Carnegie Hall February 14

Saturday, January 21 8:00 PM

The Summit: Manhattan Transfer and Take 6 February 25

A member of the legendary folk-pop trio Peter, Paul & Mary, this Grammy Award winner produced some of the group’s most beloved songs ever recorded, including Puff, The Magic Dragon, Day Is Done, & Leaving On A Jet Plane.

Artrageous!

Art, Music & Fun! Saturday, January 14 8:00 PM

Artists, musicians, singers and dancers pay tribute to various art forms, pop icons and musical genres culminating in a gallery of fabulous finished paintings.

A family-friendly show packed with wild inspiration, creativity and fun!

www.yesweekly.com

Pump Boys & Dinettes March 2 The Blackpack: All Laughs Matter March 25

Robin Spielberg

Thursday, January 26 7:30 PM Compelling melodies, expressive piano techniques, and story-telling combine to make the music come alive, transforming what could easily be an ordinary evening at the concert hall into a very memorable concert experience.

The Hillbenders The Who’s Tommy: A Bluegrass Opry March 31 Will Downing April 1 3 Redneck Tenors Down Home Laughs, Big City Music April 29 Dr. Elliot Engel: The Brilliance of Sir Walter Raleigh May 16

January 4-10, 2017 YES! WEEKLY

23

tunes

HEAR IT!

Highly mobile N.C. band Drag Sounds help christen new record store in Winston-Salem

BY JOHN ADAMIAN | @johnradamian

D

rag Sounds make artisanal rock-and-roll. That totally made-up designation might not have much to do with their sound, which has clear debts to bands like the Velvet Underground and Television, but it has something to do with how the band — a trio with ties to the Triad — thinks about their music.

Drag Sounds play with Brooklyn trio Boytoy at Mesmerizer Records, a new shop, in Winston-Salem on Wed., January 11, at 8 p.m.

The food-and-drink world harnessed a growing interest in all things local to turn stuff made in our backyards — smallbatch pickles, locally roasted coffees, zingy IPAs, funky tacos, down-home turnip greens, etc. — into sought-after commodities. It’s cool to buy products crafted by the hands of people in the community.

24 YES! WEEKLY

Indie rock has always been a local affair.

But bands, clubs and record-label people could probably still benefit from a little stronger “buy-local” ethos among music fans. The maker aesthetic has filtered into music culture though. Drag Sounds is a rock band that formed in Greensboro four or five years ago, moved to Durham then to Baltimore and has now returned to North Carolina. They’ve morphed from a quartet to a trio and the band’s recording its next record in the area with their Winston-Salem-based drummer Ezra Noble. They have an appealing slinky-wiry sound. And they have a humble utilitarian attitude about what they do — playing songs on electric guitars. The attitude is far from punk, and yet it’s almost punk in its distance from nose-thumbing and the need to destroy convention. When I spoke to Mike Wallace, one of the band’s two guitarists and singers, last week he compared their approach to being manual

laborers, artisans.

“On some level though we’re like craftsmen,” says Wallace. “We’re like cabinetmakers. A lot of people make cabinets; we just want to make good ones. We’re not reinventing the kitchen.”

Then again, punk always valued workman-like rudimentary proficiency — even a certain crudeness — over cultivated virtuosity. But the idea of finding satisfaction in the routine hoe-your-row method of steady work is somehow at odds with the discharge of Bacchic energy that has often been central to rock and punk.

“The only real satisfaction is the work itself and the people you get to meet,” says Wallace.

It’s fitting that Drag Sounds will be playing at Mesmerizer Records, a spanking-new local, music venture in WinstonSalem, around the corner from the beloved and sadly departed Reanimator Records, around the corner from Krankies Coffee, and next door to The Black Lodge, creating a critical mass of good taste and JANUARY 4-10, 2017

counter-programming at the Innovation Quarter.

Twenty-five years ago — before the complete implosion of the music industry — bands could still reasonably harbor fantasies of making it big, major-label deals, and fat checks from publishing royalties.

Excess and rebellion still seemed kind of cool. But how do you rebel against rebellion when rebellion itself has become a cliche co-opted by market forces? Simply making music for the pleasure of it, not expecting to get rich — that’s countercultural in a landscape where people once routinely bought and sold mostly bogus dreams of stardom.

“As long as we’re able to get together and work on music, that’s about our only ambition really,” says Wallace. “We just want to be a good rock and roll band and get to meet people and have experiences.”

Drag Sounds released their most recent record, Sudden Comfort, in the summer of 2016. Recorded in early 2015, it document-

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OFTEN IMITATED NEVER DUPLICATED

Cover art of Drag Sounds’ 2016 album Sudden Comfort. ed the band’s sound as it existed while they were a quartet in Baltimore, with two guitars, bass and drums. They’ve since distilled themselves into a trio, losing the bass. The stripped-down line-up has forced Wallace and fellow guitarist/vocalist Trevor Reece to make the interplay of their instruments sturdy, while not losing its brittle bite.

“There’s ways that we miss having a bass player, but it also makes each element work a little harder,” says Wallace.

“Hopefully just the tunes and the melodies come through. It’s always been about the balance of two guitars.”

The ring and chime of the guitars is generally clean, only scuffed a little by the volume and treble of their amps. You can hear how the parts wind around each other, climbing and darting in between spaces left between their patterns. The twang, reverb and bend of the metal strings and the electricity gives the ramshackle sound a gleaming edge. There are points of connection with bands ranging from Modern Lovers to Big Star, Half Japanese, Built to Spill and Pavement.

“One of the main things about the Velvets and groups like that is that it’s very raw,” says Wallace. “Everything is out there, it’s not covered up with a lot of effects.”

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Drag Sounds work from that template, but the band’s music still manages to be enveloping and hypnotic. Listen to “One Across,” which ripples along, with a murky, misty feel. It’s empty and full at the same time. “Talking’s no good, but neither is nothing,” goes one line, in suitably inscrutable triple-negative fashion.

Pushing the unfussy interactive drive of a song, letting the vocal harmonies do what they do without too much restraint or caution, giving the unstable intonation of twin guitars the space to flicker and wobble — it’s part of what gives Drag Sounds a tight spark. You can’t manufacture uncertainty, but Drag Sounds leaves a few songs with improv sections, and the fickle behavior of equipment and the live setting makes shows inherently nonuniform.

“Lately, we try to come at the thing with a lot of energy and some amount of abandon and some amount of unpredictability,” says Wallace. “Having done it for a while, the most fun for me is when things are not predictable.” !

WANNA

go?

Drag Sounds play with Brooklyn trio Boytoy at Mesmerizer Records, 290 E. 4th St., WinstonSalem on Wed., January 11, at 8 p.m.

YES!

SIMPLY BETTER

WEEKLY

JANUARY 4-10, 2017 YES! WEEKLY

25

Fri Jan 13 BEATS [CHOICE Sat Jan 14 ] Upcoming items you should check out

2 Shows Covering 7 Albums 2 night ERIC GALES TO RELEASE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD ON FEB 24 passes avail.

www.lincolntheatre.com JANUARY

T h 5 ROCK THE BALL w. MIPSO 7p F r 6 NANTUCKET w/Monika Jaymes 7p Band/The Commune w.Tony Davis

WINTER METAL FEST AFTON MUSIC SHOWCASE 6p LETTUCE 7p THE INFAMOUS STRINGDUSTERS 8p Fr 13 ZOSO Led Zeppelin Experience Sa 7 Su 8 We 11 Th 12

Albums I,II,III w/The Whom 7:30p

Sa 14 ZOSO Led Zeppelin Experience

IV, Houses, Presence,Pys Grafitti w/Mojo Rising (Doors Tribute) Th 19 DWEEZIL ZAPPA “Dweezilla On The Road” Guitar Masterclass 2:30p

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Mipso

Provogue / Mascot Label Group will release Eric Gales new studio album Middle Of The Road on February 24. Memphis-born Gales shares, “Unfortunately you have to go through some things to be free. Now, I feel the most free I’ve ever been in life, even more so than when I was a kid. You gotta help yourself man, once you can help yourself you can genuinely help someone else.” The title, “Middle of the Road,” is the running theme throughout the record.

He offers, “It’s about being fully focused and centered in the middle of the road. If you’re on the wrong side and in the gravel you’re not too good and if you’re on the median strip that’s not too good either, so being in the middle of the road is the best place to be.”

The release is Eric Gales fourth album on Provogue/Mascot label Group (Joe Bonamassa, Beth Hart, Black Stone Cherry, Warren Haynes, The Robert Cray Band, Robben Ford, Eric Johnson, The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band) after Transformation (2011), Relentless (2010) and The Psychedelic Underground (2007) and it sees him at his most expressive yet; it is a deeply personal and reflective record that echoes where he is in his life right now and he opens himself up and allows himself the chance to really flourish.

It’s well documented that Gales was a child prodigy and heralded as the second coming of Jimi Hendrix when he released his debut album The Eric Gales Band in 1991 as a 16 year-old on Elektra Records. It was the first of 10 albums on a major label through a blistering career. He has released 14 studio albums in total ahead of Middle of the Road and a host of other collaborations, one of which led him to work with producer Fabrizio Grossi (Alice Cooper, Joe Bonamassa, Billy F. Gibbons, Ice T, Leslie West, Slash, Walter Trout, Steve Lukather, Steve Vai, Paul Stanley, Supersonic Blues Machine).

Talking about working with Eric, Grossi offers; “I’ve been a fan of Eric since I first worked with him 15 years ago on a project with George Clinton & the P.Funk. His tone and his playing was wicked.

Personally and musically Eric grew into a ‘monster’ , a really good one and he’s set on a path of huge success with a ‘taking no prisoners’ type of attitude! I know a very few musicians with such a musicality and Eric is right there a head of the bunch. I hope fans will dig. There’s lots of love, tears, sweat and “truth” in this record, which is what classics are made of. As far what I think about him: Eric is simply Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix’ love child, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”

Recorded in several locations; Room A Studio and Fab’s Lab in North Hollywood as well as Cuz Studio and Sound in Cleveland, MS and ‘Cotton Row Studios in Memphis, TN. With Aaron Haggerty (drums), Dylan Wiggins (B3 Organ), LaDonna Gales (All backing vocals), Maxwell ‘Wizard’ Drummey (Mellotron on Repetition) and Eric Gales providing all lead vocals, guitar and bass. It’s a beautiful snapshot of life right here, right now. “I played bass on the entire record, it was beautiful” he beams. “I’m a bass player at heart so Fabrizio was like ‘bro you need to be playing the bass’. It was something that was very natural for me to too, I loved it.”

Recent years have seen an array of musicians singing the praises of Eric Gales. Dave Navarro (Jane’s Addiction – Red Hot Chili Peppers) exclaimed that “How Eric Gales isn’t the hugest name in rock guitar is a total mystery”, modern blues icon Joe Bonamassa said he is “One of the best, if not the best guitar player in the world”, whilst Mark Tremonti (Alter Bridge) said in a Classic Rock Magazine interview (Oct 2016) that “me and Myles [Kennedy] were on the bus looking up clips and we ran into some Eric Gales clips and we were just like ‘this guy could be the best player on Earth.” !

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by Lenise Willis The holidays are sadly over, but the silver lining is that businesses, including our local theatres, are getting back to their normal hours.

Saturday, Theatre Alliance is presenting a staged reading of The Rose Tattoo, a Tennessee Williams play set in Louisiana. In the drama, an ItalianAmerican widow has withdrawn from the world after her husband’s death and expects her daughter to cope in the same way. Her story, along with that of the lover she chooses and the daughter she denies, come together to weave a tale filled with power, humanity and soaring emotion.

Written in 1951, the play is reminiscent of the Great Wave migration of the late 1800s, featuring characters that were likely direct descendants of the mass influx of Italian immigrants to small, rural communities. The thoughtful production examines grief, isolation, stereotypes, love, passion and growth.

The stage reading will be on Saturday only at 8 p.m.

Theatre Alliance’s next full production won’t be until the end of this month, but it’s one sure to see for a fun way to kick-off your New Year. The musical comedy Zanna Don’t! puts a twist on homosexuality in high school. Set in Heartsville High, in this production almost everyone is gay and it’s cool to be the captain of the chess team and involved in theatre. After writing a controversial show, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the students create a catalyst for a young man and woman to fall in love.

Next Wednesday and Thursday, Community Theatre of Greensboro is hosting auditions for its production of Grease. Visit ctgso.org for more information. Next up for CTG will be the The Laramie Project, a heart-wrenching play opening Jan. 27. The drama, written in 2000, was a reaction to the 1998 murder of a homosexual student at the University of Wyoming. Hundreds of interviews were conducted by the Tectonic Theatre Project to develop the script, in which eight actors play more than 60 characters.

Also at the end of this month will be Triad Stage’s production of The Price, which begins previews Jan. 29. The Arthur Miller play is set in New York, where secrets and rivalries shake the foundation of two brothers’ home. !

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drama

STAGE IT!

Fresh productions and new space for a New Year

A

t the start of each year, it’s exciting to look down the road, see what each local theatre has in store, and mark your calendars accordingly. And it looks like Lenise Willis 2017 has plenty of comedies, dramas, Contributing dances and concerts in store. Beyond the columnist usual line-up, more importantly, we have a new venue to keep an eye on, too.

The exciting new space that promises to present newfangled productions this year, as well as give budding artists and professionals alike a venue for expression, is the Van Dyke Performance Space, a recent development in the Greensboro Cultural Center downtown.

The 7,500-square foot performance space, created in memory of the late renowned choreographer and Dance Project artistic director Jan Van Dyke, has moveable seating and staging, and state-of-theart sound and lighting equipment.

“Young artists and producers often leave Greensboro after graduation because they lack opportunities to present their work,” the late Van Dyke previously explained.

“This facility will enable dancers and other artists to showcase their work costeffectively in a professionally outfitted space. With an appropriately-sized stage, outstanding technical capabilities, and a ‘sweet spot’ of 400 to 500 incomegenerating seats, this facility will answer that need.”

The Van Dyke Performance Space is a joint project between the City of Greensboro and ArtsGreensboro. The new venue’s creation began in October 2014 when ArtsGreensboro announced that renowned choreographer and Dance Project artistic director Jan Van Dyke had pledged up to $1 million to create a new downtown performance and rehearsal space by expanding existing facilities at Greensboro’s Cultural Center on Davie Street. Van Dyke said she had been looking for potential property downtown for nearly two years.

When a recent Cultural Center Visioning Study sparked interest in the idea of expanding space there, Van Dyke and

ArtsGreensboro President and CEO Tom Philion worked together and proposed the creation of a flexible downtown venue in which to produce dance, theatre, music, and a variety of other events with professional technical capabilities and seating for 400 to 500 patrons. Unfortunately, Jan Van Dyke passed away on July 3, 2015 after a two-and-half-year battle with primary peritoneal cancer.

“Jan’s remarkable commitment will help us create something unique and special downtown,” Philion said. “This new space will complement the Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts, filling a gap for smaller arts groups as well as entrepreneurs, event producers, and the community. Just as importantly, it will achieve all this at a modest cost.”

“This is a tremendous opportunity that could be a win-win for the arts community and our city,” Philion added. “It’s the domino effect. Jan Van Dyke has a long-held dream of creating a unique performance space; the Cultural Center needs to be reimagined and reconfigured so it can thrive and serve our community in an evolving downtown landscape; and the City envisions the creation of a cohesive Cultural District. Jan’s incredibly generous gift has set all this in motion.”

The space exists in her memory. Visit artsgreensboro.org for more information and upcoming events.

Other must-sees for 2017 include Twin City Stage’s The Miracle Worker, opening in February. The drama, written by William Gibson, recounts the inspiring tale of Helen Keller and her dedicated teacher, Annie Sullivan.

Coming this spring in Greensboro, don’t miss Triad Stage’s production of And So We Walked, an artist’s journey along the Trail of Tears. The surprisingly frank and sometimes funny production tells the misguided

story of a contemporary Cherokee woman who decides to retrace the Trail of Tears, taking on the six-week, 900-mile journey with her father. The play is a personal odyssey as the woman is tested along the way and finds her inner heroic self.

Written by DeLanna Studi, this fascinating production digs into the issues that Studi, a member of the Cherokee tribe, and her peers wrestle with each day. !

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MOVIE TIMES

(LUX) HIDDEN FIGURES (PG) 11:55A, 2:40P, 5:25P, 8:10P, 11:00P (LUX) FENCES (PG-13) 11:30A, 2:25P, 5:20P, 8:15P, 11:10P (LUX) ARRIVAL (PG-13) 11:35A, 2:10P, 4:40P, 7:05P, 9:35P, 11:55P A MONSTER CALLS (PG-13) 12:00P, 2:30P, 5:00P, 7:35P, 10:10P

UNDERWORLD: BLOOD WARS (R) 3:00P, 7:30P, 9:40P, 11:50P (3D) UNDERWORLD: BLOOD WARS (R) 12:40P, 5:10P

SCREEN IT!

Mark Burger

Contributing columnist

Passions in Pittsburgh Fences, the screen version of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning stage drama, is firstclass and first-rate all the way – a triumph for all concerned, especially Denzel Washington, who re-creates his Tony Award-winning role from the 2010 Broadway revival and also produced and

directed the film.

Like much of Wilson’s work, Fences is set in Pittsburgh in the ‘50s. The story follows the lives of a black, blue-collar family and their day-to-day relationships and struggles. Wilson is (deservedly) renowned for his insight into what would be euphemistically be called “the black experience,” but it’s as much about the American

ASSASSIN’S CREED (PG-13) 1:00P, 4:00P, 7:00P, 10:00P THINGS TO COME (PG-13) 12:15P, 2:30P, 4:40P, 7:00P, 9:15P, 11:30P DANGAL (NR) (FRI-SUN) 11:30A, 2:55P, 6:20P, 9:45P (MON-THU) 11:30A, 2:55P, 7:30P DOCTOR STRANGE (PG-13) 11:40A, 2:15P, 4:50P, 7:25P, 10:00P FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHER (PG-13) 1:00P, 4:00P, 7:00P, 10:00P HACKSAW RIDGE (R) 11:45A, 7:25P

bility is the result of injuries sustained in World War II, and the source of terrible guilt for Troy; and Russell Hornsby as Troy’s older son Lyons, who’s never been able to win his father’s approval. Jovan Adepo, a screen newcomer, plays Troy and Rose’s son Cory, whose own ambitions put him at odds with his father. Saniyya Sidney (also a screen newcomer) has a pivotal role late in the proceedings that is best not revealed here.

Even characters who are never seen but merely described seen seem almost as vivid as those portrayed, which is the mark of great writing. Wilson, who wrote a screen adaptation for Fences before his death in 2005, receives solo screenwriting credit, but Tony Kushner (himself a Tony- and Pultizer Prize-winner) is billed as a co-producer, so it’s entirely likely he did some work on the script – but in no way does it detract from Wilson’s original story. On the contrary, Fences works stunningly well. A great play has been made into a great movie – one of 2016’s very best. !

All God’s children

MANCHESTER BY THE SEA (R) 11:55A, 2:45P, 5:35P, 8:25P, 11:15P A MAN CALLED OVE (PG-13) 12:10P, 2:35P, 5:00P, 7:20P, 9:40P

experience and the human experience – and Fences is a quintessential and superb example. The characters are believable and sympathetic, the words are rich and incisive, the observations penetrating and quite often devastating.

Washington holds center stage as Troy Maxson, the proud patriarch given to selfaggrandizement. Believing himself a font of wisdom and only too eager to point out the inadequacies in others, he is himself with anger, self-loathing, and contradictions.

The other characters have been just as beautifully realized. Viola Davis, who also won a Tony for the 2010 production of Fences (the revival itself also won), plays Troy’s wife Rose, the only one who can call him on his boasting, whose unswerving devotion to him comes at a steep price to her self-esteem.

Other holdovers from the 2010 production are Stephen McKinley Henderson as Troy’s best friend Bono, who all but worships him; Mykelti Williamson as Troy’s brother Gabriel, whose emotionally insta-

Those with an aversion to religious satire would do well to avoid The Brand New Testament , Jaco Van Dormael’s manic and cheeky black comedy, which posits the Almighty (played by Benoit Poelvoorde) as an ill-tempered, even abusive deity whose bad attitude so disgusts his daughter Ea (appealing Pili Groyne) that she decides to write the titular New Testament on her own – replete with apostles.

To this end, she runs away from home – but not before disabling her father’s computer, without which he is powerless, but only after sending text messages to the entire population of the world, informing each person when they will die. This enrages God, whose increasingly frustrat-

ing search for her is hampered by the fact that no one believes who he says he is, and evidently God didn’t have the foresight to grant himself the same powers he bestowed upon his children. (He can’t walk on water, for example.)

The film (originally titled Le tout nouveau testament) takes a unique, sometimes scabrous approach to the traditional trappings of Christianity. Not only does God smoke, drink and swear, but he loathes baseball and doesn’t necessarily have the well-being of those he created foremost in mind. Even Jesus (played by David Murgia) didn’t care for him, hence their estrangement. (For his part, God criticizes Jesus’ tendency to improvise.)

There’s a palpable absurdist bent to the proceedings – how could there not be? – but Van Dormael goes even further, pushing the envelope and taking risks. Sometimes they don’t pay off, but at its best The Brand New Testament is inspired and inventive – and the cast is totally in tune with the filmmaker’s intent, including the everluminous Catherine Deneuve (surely one of God’s perfect creations), as a disenchanted woman of means who becomes one of Ea’s apostles. She also takes up with a gorilla, which is by no means the only surprise to be found here. (In French with English subtitles) – The Brand New Testament opens Friday !

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Manga mania Aficionados of the anime format ought to enjoy One Piece Film: Gold, the latest in the manga franchise created

by Eiichiro Oda, which over the last two decades has included a TV series and TV movies, short films and feature films – all of them centering around the adventures of the Straw Hat Pirates, a team of adventurers who come in all shapes, sizes and species.

This time around, the gang travels to Grand Tesoro Island, an enormous casino/ resort lorded over by the mogul Gild Tesoro (voiced by Keith Silverstein), a megalomaniac who has basically enslaved much of the inhabitants – with the Pirates next in his sights.

It all culminates, not surprisingly, in a grand-scale tag-team grudge match between them and the minions of Tesoro, who is capable of changing his own size, shape and musculature as the situation dictates. This is the “Gold Stella Show,” with thousands of screaming fans cheering the warriors on.

Taking its cue from any number of inspirations, including samurai films, spaghetti Westerns, comic books, video games and even the recent Now You See

Me films, One Piece Film: Gold is awash in color (gold, most specifically – and appropriately), flash, and exaggeration gestures – all very much in keeping with the anime attitude.

Running two hours, the film is somewhat overstuffed. Do we really need flashbacks – near the climax, no less – depicting what childhood trauma made Tesoro turn mean?

A big hit in its native Japan, and with an international fan fanbase, future One Piece installments are surely to follow. So flows the Gold.

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MARK BURGER can be heard Friday mornings on the “Two Guys Named Chris” radio show on Rock-92. © 2017, Mark Burger.

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Brief and intense: Short reads to keep you literate in 2017

S

BY STEVE MITCHELL

o, you’ve made a resolution to read more books in 2017---an admirable resolution as so many are---but how the devil to do it?

You can’t expect to have more time and there’s a new series you’re supposed to binge watch each weekend, just so you can keep hip and current.

My solution: read shorter books. For instance, I’ve read three books in the last four days. I’m going to tell you about them.

Each of these books are more akin to novels than to short stories, regardless of their length; they have that kind of narrative rhythm; they’re intense, exciting, and a little challenging. In addition, each is from a different part of the world so, not only am I using my reading time wisely, I’m also exploring another culture. It’s a kind of literary multitasking.

Canek Sanchez Guevara’s 33 Revolutions, translated by Howard Curtis (Europa Editions, $14.00, 94 pages) tells

the story of a black Cuban man in a modern Cuba who gradually begins to see beyond the slogans of his parent’s era and the glories of the Revolution.

He spends his days on the streets, photographing the spontaneous rebellious eruptions that occur there, then going down to the shore as a new number set off in rafts every day for a faraway coast.

This is not the story of the fiery awakening of a revolutionary; there is no political epiphany here, simply the slow wearing away of artifice that eventually leaves our hero searching for something to believe in. A spinning record serves as an ongoing metaphor, with the needle occasionally jumping tracks, sometimes forward and sometimes back, yet always locked within the same

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groove. In short chapters and evocative prose, Guevara (grandson of Che Guevara) constructs a fragile society clinging to old ideas because there is nothing else to hold on to.

Raduan Nassar’s A Cup of Rage, translated by Stefan Tobler (New Directions, $10.95, 64 pages) is set in the Brazil of the 1960’s and concerns itself simply with the evening and next day of a man and his lover. Here we are locked inside the mind of our nameless protagonist as he arrives home to find her awaiting him, teases her, makes love with her, then finds ways to humiliate her in order, he imagines, to make her leaving more bearable.

In short, taut chapters which focus the play of the senses with balances of power between the two, Nassar charts the impossibility of separating sexuality, intimacy, and rage in the male psyche.

This is a furious chamber piece in which no actual blood is ever drawn, yet wounds are opened and re-opened. Nassar’s style is dark, internal, and relentless, relying on a flowing awareness of his character’s internal struggles broken by the occasional devastatingly sensual observation.

If I tell you that Laszlo Krasznahorkai’s The Last Wolf, translated by George Szirtes (New Directions, $15.95, 96 pages), is written as a single, unending sentence, you might think it’s just some kind of gimmick, but Krasznahorkai has other things in mind and it’s not impressing you with his cleverness. He’s best known for his longer novels, Satantango and Animalinside, which are richly compelling works, by their own right.

Yet, if you wanted to take all the themes, the existential dread, the hope-

lessness, the compulsion, the occasional limp sparks of humanity that comprise his books and compress them---the way geological plates shift and conspire with heat to produce diamonds from coal--you’d have The Last Wolf.

A man is hired, through a case of mistaken identity, to write the story of the last wolf of Extremadura, a barren and blasted swath of Spain. He’s put up at a hotel and taken out daily onto the cold countryside as he follows leads, searching for the last person to see the last wolf. At some point, it becomes impossible for him to admit that he’s an imposter; all he can do is proceed with the job as if it is really his own.

All Krasznahorkai’s grim humor is here: our narrator is telling his story, after the fact, to a bartender who couldn’t care less, a captive audience because it’s early afternoon and there are no other patrons.

Yet, our narrator presses on with his story, as he pressed on with the earlier task, grumbling all the time about how it’s cold and he’d rather be home in bed. Strangely, over the course of this one sentence which soldiers on over ninety-six pages moving back and forth in time, the reader begins to get the sense of something else. It’s something the narrator doesn’t know, the bartender doesn’t know, and Krasznahorkai asserts, the author doesn’t know either. And what that is, of course, you’ll have to find out for yourself. !

STEVE MITCHELL’s short story collection, The Naming of Ghosts, is published by Press 53. He has a deep belief in the primacy of doubt and an abiding conviction that great wisdom informs very bad movies. He’s co-owner of Scuppernong Books in Greensboro, NC

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Dirty turns thirty For all the incurable romantics who revere Dirty Dancing (1987), you’ve got a big-screen treat in store just before Valentine’s Day. Once again, Fathom Events, which has brought Mark Burger such classics pictures as Dr. StrangeContributing love (1964), Jaws (1975), National columnist Lampoon’s Animal House (1978), Thelma and Louise (1991), From Here to Eternity (1953), and Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel (1956) – as well as the ever-popular “RiffTrax” screenings – back to the big screen, now joins forces with LionsGate to do likewise with Dirty Dancing.

The “Dirty Dancing 30th Anniversary” screening event will be shown twice on Sunday, Jan. 29, with encore screenings Wednesday, Feb. 1.

Some 550 select theaters will be hosting the event, including the Regal Greensboro Grande Stadium 16, located in the Friendly Center in Greensboro.

In an official statement, Michael Rathauser, the senior vice-president of marketing for LionsGate Home Entertainment, said: “Dirty Dancing is one of the quintessential classics in our film library, and we are thrilled to commemorate its 30th anniversary by bringing it back to movie theaters. 2017 will have an array of exciting activations for all fans with this big-screen experience, specialty homeentertainment release, television event, and more.”

Set in the Catskills in the summer of 1963, Dirty Dancing details the friendship, and later romance, that develops between lonely teenager “Baby” Houseman (Jennifer Grey) and resort dance instructor Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze), augmented by such classic tunes as “Be My Baby,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Some Kind of Wonderful” and “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” as well the as songs created for the film: “She’s Like the Wind” (performed by Swayze himself), “Hungry Eyes,” and “(I’ve Had) The Time of My WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

gail Breslin as Baby and Colt Prattes as Johnny, with Katey Sagal, Bruce Greenwood, Sarah Hyland, Debra Messing, Billy Dee Williams, Nicole Scherzinger and Tony Roberts.

“Dirty Dancing is one of those really rare films that feels just as fresh and fun as it did the first time you saw it,” said Tom Lucas, vice-president of studio relations for Fathom Events. “As an ‘80s classic set in the ‘60s, it’s a double-dose of cinematic nostalgia and we couldn’t be more delighted to welcome Baby and Johnny back to the silver screen.” !

MARK BURGER can be heard Friday mornings on the “Two Guys Named Chris” radio show on Rock-92. © 2017, Mark Burger.

WANNA Life,” which won both the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Song.

The film, co-starring Jerry Orbach, Jack Weston, Cynthia Rhodes, Kelly Bishop and future “Seinfeld” favorite Wayne Knight in his first major screen role, cost a mere $5 million to make but became an immediate hit, grossing over $60 million in the United States and over $150 million worldwide. Its success gave big boosts to the careers of Swayze, Grey and first-time director Emile Ardolino, and put indie studio Vestron Pictures on the map. (Vestron never produced or released a film that came anywhere close to the success of Dirty Dancing, and did its own swan dive into bankruptcy only three years later.)

Audiences will not only get to reexperience this ‘80s favorite onscreen again, but will also enjoy a sneak peak of the special feature “Happy 30th Birthday, Dirty Dancing,” which will be included on the upcoming home-entertainment release, which will be released by LionsGate in February.

The big-screen return of Dirty Dancing is only the first in a series of special events designed to commemorate its 30th anniversary. In addition to LionsGate’s 30th-anniversary special-edition Blu-ray, DVD, and collector’s-edition boxed set, there’s the ongoing North American tour of Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story on Stage, a new mobile game, and Legacy

Recordings has scheduled a spring release for the new special-edition Dirty Dancing soundtrack.

Later this year, ABC will broadcast a live television adaptation of Dirty Dancing, directed by Wayne Blair, starring Abi-

go?

Showtimes for the 30th-anniversary screening of “Dirty Dancing 30th Anniversary” are 2 pm and 7 pm Sunday, Jan. 29, with encore screenings 2 pm and 7 pm Wednesday, Feb. 1 at the Regal Greensboro Grande Stadium 16, 3205 Northline Ave., Greensboro. Tickets are $13.34 (all seats, all screenings). For advance tickets or more information, check out www.FathomEvents.com.

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chow

EAT IT!

Winston-Salem: Not just dawgs anymore

BY KRISTI MAIER | @triadfoodies

F

or a while there…heck since forever it seems, Winston-Salem has been a “burger desert.” As far as “artisan burgers” are concerned, the city didn’t have a place that was singularly known for a burger, at least not like our neighbors down the road.

Greensboro, aka “Greensburger”, as it’s known, has for years had a plethora of burger joints. Winston-Salem is known for hotdogs. But besides Bad Daddy’s (based in North Carolina but kind of a chain) and Camel City Grill Food Truck, if you wanted a burger, you had to seek it out among the many pubs or restaurants that really did it well. Then Local 27101 happened and then nothing for a while. And then…Pop! Pop! Pop! Up came three in a matter of weeks.

We’ve tried each and here’s how they stack up. This is by no means a detailed report on all the fine burgers in Winston-Salem. Simply a review of the three hot new spots in the Twin City.

FOOD FREAKS & BEER GEEKS

1630 Fox Trot Court The popular food truck has now added a brick and mortar establishment, sort of. Located on Hanes Mall Boulevard in the location that used to be Kernel Kustard, Food Freaks is walk-up to order, then you have a seat outside or in the covered patio. It’s heated in the winter and has a picnicking feel, if picnicking includes television. Yes, large screens adorn the wall along with heaters and a fireplace that is going in the winter. Food Freaks is known for its stuffed burgers. Stuff your burger with goat cheese or

mozzarella or pimento cheese. You can bet it’ll be gooey and flavorful. I got the Pimento Cheese Stuffed burger that had bacon jam on it and it was perfectly cooked and piping hot. Then Mr. Foodie got an Italian-themed burger with Italian meats and his was awesome too. Big streak fries alongside were a hit. The littlest one, who doesn’t care for burgers, got a grilled cheese and that was pretty tasty. You can grab a local craft beer at the attached bar while you wait. Food Freaks seems to always be concocting new burger creations so you’ll have to follow their Facebook page to see what’s in the works and being added to their small, but creative menu. It appears they’ll accommodate a custom request as well. A must visit.

CIN CIN BURGER BAR

1425A First Street (Pronounced cheen-cheen) By far the largest, most family-friendly and group friendly of the three newbies, Cin Cin comes from the Michael family that owns the beloved Mama Zoe Michael’s and Waldo’s Wings in Winston-Salem. It’s housed in the old Twin City Diner and doesn’t resemble its predecessor in the least. A beautiful space. It’s gourmet burgers meets speakeasy. The bar plays on that with lots of prohibition references. Large cozy booths line the walls with a sun room and patio dining too once it warms up. The menu is the largest of the three as well, with plenty of starters, salads and sandwiches to choose from. The burgers are very inventive and fun with a slew of options if you decide to build your own.

The concept is very scalable and I wouldn’t be surprised to see another Cin Cin pop up elsewhere once this proves profitable. We made two visits to Cin Cin. The first burger I

BURGER BATCH

FOOD FREAKS

CIN CIN

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JANUARY 4-10, 2017

CIN CIN

CIN CIN

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BURGER BATCH ordered was the Juice Joint burger. With caramelized onions and mushrooms and a dipping jus. Perfectly cooked and hot.

Second go round, I ordered the Carolina style Southern Belle burger with chili, slaw and mustard. Also delicious and cooked as I ordered it, however my burger wasn’t as hot the second time and neither were my fries. The service was impeccable both times, so I’m not quite sure why the food wasn’t hot since my server seemed to be on it. There’s also the milkshake option at Cin Cin, with a variety of options that you can even make “grown up” with some spirits. Fries are great, when hot, and so are the onion rings. Highly recommend the saganaki for an appetizer…especially if you like cheese that’s lit on fire!

BURGER BATCH

237 West Fifth Street The most recent edition but probably the one that was most anticipated of the three. It’s the baby sister of Small Batch Brewing, which already serves a tiny menu of eats along with its impressive artisan beer and expert cocktails. Small Batch has been doing burger pop-ups getting a lay of the land, all the while knowing that owner Tim Walker and his cohorts were going to open a sit down restaurant in the space next door to the brewery. Walker is trained as a chef and he uses that knowledge for brewing his beer. Now, the burgers are ridiculously delicious. I opted for an old school burger called The Reynolds that was made less old school by homemade everything (tobacco onions, pickles, mayo, ketchup) and yummy local grassfed beef and locally sourced ingredients.

Super cute and served in a pan. You can go WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

simple here, get one of their creative burgers and go gluten-free too. There are some pretty cool non-burger options as well.

The fries are hand-cut and perfect. Or you may opt for sweet potato tots. But you must save room for one more thing. And you will have to share, or you should, because the Burger Batch’s milkshake brings all the boys to the yard and theirs is better than anybody’s. It is the milkshake you see in photos for restaurants in cities that are way bigger than Winston-Salem. It’s the milkshake for food tv. You get a choice of four and my family of four ordered two.

And we lived to tell about it! Barely.

We ordered “It’s a Surprise” with a cake batter shake, lots of fun stuff (which in our case was cotton candy, strawberry syrup, sprinkles galore, icing with sprinkles). But it literally had a giant piece of birthday cake on it. I mean, come on. The other half of the table ordered an Oreo inspired chocolate shake called the Black & White. The other options are a peanut butter Elvis-inspired shake with Whoppers and a banana pudding cake with vanilla wafers and Cap’n Crunch, among other fun things. Truly, seeing is believing.

I’d have to say, Burger Batch was my overall favorite. It’s just smaller and lowkey, yet full-service and the burgers are on point, service is excellent and well, those gorgeous, dreamy milkshakes don’t hurt either. But all of these new artisan burger joints are worthy of a visit. Just, go really, really hungry. !

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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photos [FACES & PLACES]

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BARTENDERS OF THE WEEK | BY NATALIE GARCIA Check out videos on our Facebook!

BARTENDER: Dena Corthum BAR: Stumble Stilskins AGE: 28 HOMETOWN: Greensboro BARTENDING: 10 Years Q: How did you become a bartender?

A: I waited tables at Forest Oaks Country Club and one day the main bartender quit, so they basically shoved me behind the

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bar and I taught myself.

Q:What’s your favorite drink to make?

A: Chocolate milk Q:What’s your favorite drink to drink?

A: Anything that doesn’t have alcohol in it.

Q:What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen while bartending?

A: My friend Kevin bat winging at a pool table at Pour House, black out wasted.

Q:What’s the best tip you’ve ever gotten?

JANUARY 4-10, 2017

A: A Rolex. A customer had a huge crush on me, but it was presented to me in a full glass of beer.

Q: How do you deal with difficult customers?

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last call

[HOROSCOPES]

[LEO (July 23 to August 22) You begin the year in a work mode. Now is the time to start a diet or exercise routine. It calls for reorganization of your schedule but you will probably choose to do so anyway.

[VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) Mercury, your avatar among the planets, has been retrograding since mid-December.

So you have experienced a slower holiday season than many. You may be reflecting upon your relationship to a lover or a child.

[LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) Jupiter, the original Zeus, is firmly in your sign until Oct. He tends to lighten any load, and soften burdens. He is a carrier of good fortune as well. You may already be involved in a new relationship and it is likely to continue. Venus, the original goddess of love, romance and the arts, is your planetary avatar.

[SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) Mars, the Warrior god, is one of your ruling planets and it begins the year in your 5th house of romance, children and creativity. Near Jan. 11 you likely will have a bright idea in one of these areas.

REAL PEOPLE REAL DESIRE REAL FUN.

[SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) You have one more year of serious work on your new identity. Saturn has been in your sign for 1.5 years. 2.5 years is a long time, but you are re-creating yourself and that requires effort and energy, and multiple beginnings. It is not the type of thing that can be managed briefly.

[CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) During December of 2016, Mercury was retrograding in your sign. That phenomenon often represents a feeling of difficulty concluding anything. During January there will be a slow move toward better motion and accomplishments.

[AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) In August of 2016 you may have taken on a major responsibility at your work or in the community around you. At the time you did not know the depth of the challenge or you might have bypassed it.

However, you are not a quitter so if you adopt a responsibility you generally will see it through to its end. This project likely

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has one more year to the finish line, so you must pace yourself.

[PISCES (February 19 to March 20) Mars, the Warrior god, is your companion for all of January. You may use it to take initiatives beyond your normal reticent self. It is also a great starter signal for a new exercise routine. Jupiter, one of your ruling planets, spends much of this year in the sign of Libra. This brings partnership(s) of all kinds to the fore. It suggests the sharing of resources with others for whom you care.

[ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Mars, the god of war and your avatar in the zodiac, begins this year in the laid back sign of Pisces. The pace is slow until it moves into your personal sign on Jan. 28. At that point you will sense a new surge of power and self-confidence.

[TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Venus, your avatar in the zodiac, begins the year in romantic and artistic Pisces. Near the end of January she moves into a sign that causes you to feel cautious and hesitant about all her interests. “Something” just doesn’t feel quite right in a relationship and by March, you will be certain that you need to depart a situation so you can give it more thought.

[GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) You begin this year with Mercury, your ruling planet, in retrograde motion. So you will enjoy a pause in activity while you continue to ponder your life and your investments.

Mercury turns direct on Jan. 8, giving you the sense that you can move forward again.

[CANCER (June 21 to July 22) We cannot look at Cancer without giving thought to this year’s eclipses. The Full Moon eclipse on Feb. 10 shines a spotlight on your financial affairs. If there are errors in calculation, they will be discovered, or perhaps a new resource becomes available.

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[the advice goddess] love • sex • dating • marriage • questions

Rump FoR Joy

I am a curvy girl with a big butt. I hate it. I have a small waist, and it makes my butt look even bigger. I don’t care that the Kardashians have made big butts Amy Alkon cool. I’d like to lose weight in that area.

However, my boyAdvice friend LOVES my butt Goddess and told me there’s research that says girls with bigger butts are smarter and healthier. Is that true? That can’t be true. — Tushy Galore Welcome to the science-inspired catcall: “Woooo, girl...you look like a nuclear physicist in them hot pants!”

Yes, there seems to be a cognitive edge in being a woman with a big caboose — provided you have a low “waist-to-hip ratio.”

That’s professor-speak for women who have small waists relative to their hips — an “hourglass figure” like yours, as opposed to a body that’s more No. 2 pencil-esque or beerguttylicious.

Epidemiologist William Lassek and anthropologist Steven Gaulin find that being voluptuous in the way you are is associated with both being a bit smarter and having smarter children. To understand why starts with understanding “parent-offspring conflict,” evolutionary biologist Robert Trivers’ term for how it’s in each child’s genetic interest to suck as much in the way of resources out of their parent as they can.

This battle for resources starts early,

which is to say a fetus is a little hog. It hoovers up its share of nutrients and then may go after some of its mother’s share, too — not so much that it kills her but maybe, “Hey, Ma, enjoy the gestational diabetes!”

Lassek and Gaulin note that this competition for resources is especially rough on teen mommies, whose own brains are still developing. Both the teen mother-to-be and her child are prone to having their cognitive development “impaired” — irreversibly diminished from what it could be — when she’s forced to compete for a limited supply of nutrients with the fast-growing fetusmonster.

However, Lassek and Gaulin find that women with bodies like yours seem to be cushioned — or, you could say, “seatcushioned” — against this cognitive impairment, apparently because the butt and hip area serves as a supplemental food storage locker for the developing fetus. There’s a special kind of fat that gets deposited in this area — gluteofemoral fat.

This booty fat is different from and healthier than belly fat. It’s loaded with omega-3 fatty acids — especially DHA, docosahexaenoic acid — which we can only get from things we ingest, like seafood, walnuts, cooked spinach, and krill oil supplements. DHA is essential for dayto-day cognitive functioning in all people.

And, Gaulin emphasized to me, it’s “the most important brain building resource” for little fetus people. He and Lassek controlled for things like parents’ income and education and the number of dollars spent per student and found mothers’ higher DHA to be the strongest predictor of kids scoring significantly higher on tests in

answers [crossword] crossword on page 13

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math, reading, and science.

You’re packing more DHA than a woman who carries her fat Santa-style, but any woman can increase her DHA through diet, especially by eating fish. As for your desire to shave off some of Mount Buttmore, bad news: Gluteofemoral fat is extremely resistant to weight loss (as that basically would amount to throwing away some of your brain’s lunch).

But to lose weight overall — while feeding your brain and protecting it from cognitive decline — consider this from Lassek and Gaulin’s book, “Why Women Need Fat”: “The single dietary factor most strongly related to women’s weight gain was the amount of omega-6 linoleic acid in their diet.”

A major source of omega-6 is factory Frankenstein oils — polyunsaturated, heat-processed seed oils like soybean, sunflower, corn, and canola. (Extra-virgin olive oil is healthy — an omega-3 source.)

And, surprise! Eating fish cooked in these omega-6-packed Franken-oils makes us “unlikely to retain the valuable omega-3 present in the fish.”

Getting back to your back end, it seems you owe it an apology. Maybe you were

swayed in what you find attractive by the cadaverishly thin women that gay male designers send out to faint on the catwalk.

Consider that you may be confusing body weight and booty shape in how self-conscious you feel about your behindquarters.

Now, whether men prefer heavier or slimmer women varies by culture. However, the late evolutionary psychologist Devendra Singh found that men across cultures overwhelmingly are hotter for the smarterbaby-producing hourglass bod that you have — though without any conscious understanding of why this preference evolved. (No, their penises didn’t put on their reading glasses and pore over Gaulin and Lassek’s research.)

Instead of longing for a body type that men don’t find as sexy, maybe resolve to start appreciating what you have — including your own special version of the trickiest no-win question a woman can ask a man: “Baby, does our future Einstein look fat in these pants?”

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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