Bobby F. Kimbrough, Jr. P. 6
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On July 24, from 7-11:30 p.m., Rizzo’s in Clemmons will be one of three clubs bringing, “AN EVENING WITH JASON RINGENBERG – The Original Roots Punk Barnstormer” to their outdoor stage this summer. Singer-songwriter, Ringenberg, of Jason & the Scorchers, was on tour in celebration of his fifth solo CD, Stand Tall, when the “rock ‘n’ roll cowpunk legend” had to cancel two European tours— one in May, and one in July due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He is known for a variety of genres that include country rock, alt-country, Americana, and cowpunk.
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Publisher CHARLES A. WOMACK III publisher@yesweekly.com EDITORIAL Editor KATIE MURAWSKI katie@yesweekly.com Contributors IAN MCDOWELL KATEI CRANFORD MARK BURGER TERRY RADER JIM LONGWORTH
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The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office received flak this weekend after a VIDEO WENT VIRAL on social media, portraying what appeared to be a white FCSO deputy restraining a Black man (with help from two white men and one black man, appearing to be civilians) at Cook’s Flea Market, located at 4250 Patterson Ave. in Winston-Salem. After the video circulated, some members of the public accused the deputy of “excessive use of force.” 5 Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche are two of the great beauties of the screen, but beyond that both are first-rate actresses, and watching them spar onscreen is an undiluted delight. That is what essentially transpires in THE TRUTH (La Vérité), the latest film from writer/director Hirokazu Kore-eda and the first he’s made outside his native Japan. 6 BOBBY KIMBROUGH, JR. has faced a number of challenges in his life. In 2005, he lost his wife, and has since raised their seven sons alone. In 2018, after retiring as a special agent with the D.E.A., he challenged a popular incumbent, and became the first African-American ever elected Sheriff in For-
syth County. And in 2020, he has helped to keep order at a time when two diseases—COVID and racism—have overtaken our society. 7 Two down. How many to go? Sad news in recent weeks, as we learned that Smith Street Diner and Southern Lights have been lost to the ECONOMIC IMPACT of the virus. 12 “They thought I was done, but I’m just getting started,” said AJ at the start of THE MARCH that began at 2:20 p.m. last Friday in front of the Regal Grande 16 Cinema in Greensboro. AJ, also known as Anthony and Free Dope Major, is co-founder of The Three, the multiracial Black activist organization that shut down sections of I-40, Wendover and Battleground Avenues on previous weekends. The organization’s name is derived from both the 336 area code and the Christian Trinity. 14 MOOR_PLUTO continues transcension with Clouds, a collaborative multimedia release with psychedelic tones of nujazz, hip-hop enveloped around an array of artistic mediums. Clouds crest a wave of releases by Tyler Tyson, the synesthete artist at Moor_Pluto’s core.
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[SPOTLIGHT]
PANDEMIC UNDERSCORES IMPORTANCE OF RE-ENTRY RESEARCH
John Railey
Contributor
When Lida Calvert-Hayes started her Winston-Salem painting business 34 years ago, she never asked whether job applicants for commercial and industrial work had criminal records. Often, she would find that a recent hire did have a record. Most of the ex-offenders she hired turned out to
be good workers. “These people made my business,” she said. “These men were placed on appropriate jobs where they would not be mistreated but respected for the work they did.” Unfortunately, Calvert-Hayes, who is a member of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools board, is the exception in hiring ex-offenders. Many local employers do not. It is a perennial problem, aggravated, like so many other issues, by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many employers have eliminated positions, making it that much harder for workers to find jobs, much less workers with criminal records. Working is often a requirement for parole, and parolees without jobs can be sent back to prison. At the bedrock of the longstanding problem is a lack of understanding between ex-offenders seeking jobs and potential employers. A Research Fellow at Winston-Salem State University’s Center for the Study of Economic Mobility (CSEM), Douglas Bates, will explore potential answers to that problem this summer. As of 2018, he said, there were more than 100,000 individuals in the state who are on probation or parole. About 25% of them typically return to prison. Bates, with assistance from CSEM staff, designed a survey for released offenders that will measure the extent to which they have been impacted by their time in prison. He is an assistant professor in WSSU’s Department of Social Work. Bates and student interns will first test the survey on a small pilot group, then expand the number of those surveyed. Eventually, Bates hopes, businesses will use the surveys in designing training programs for their managers, and for the released offenders they hire. WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM
Lida Calvert-Hayes
WSSU Professor Douglas Bates
Such initiatives are needed. The city of Winston-Salem and the county of Forsyth have embraced Ban the Box, in which a job applicant’s criminal record is not the first step in the hiring process, but is part of later considerations. Yet, for many local businesses, criminal records remain a primary concern in hiring. “Our country has a whole, we still haven’t gotten over the stigma of having a criminal record,” Bates said. That causes missed opportunities for released offenders and employers. Inmates survive in prison by presenting tough exteriors. Obviously, that is often unacceptable in the 21st-century workplaces. “I think people underestimate how difficult that transition can be,” Bates said. Calvert-Hayes, whose business is S&L Painting, has hired hundreds of workers over the last three decades, she said and estimated that about half of them had criminal records. A few of those ex-offenders committed crimes, she said. One was an older man who had spent much of his life in prison. He was “institutionalized,” she said, so accustomed to the regimentation of prison life that he could not get used to life outside. Inside, Calvert-Hayes said, “Somebody was feeding him, telling him this, telling him that. Outside, the man would cry. It was just overwhelming. He had never had the tools after he’d been there so long to know what to do when he got out. He committed a crime so he could go back to prison. They are so afraid of making another mistake that it is drilled into their system. When they do have a choice, they don’t know how to make it.” Another of her workers stole a credit
card from a sub-contractor with which her company was working, thinking he was helping her company. But for the most part, Calvert-Hayes said, the ex-offenders she has hired have been good employees. As her business grew, she worked with the state prison system, finding that it “did a thorough screening system for the work-released
prisoners before making them available for actual work release. Because of the rules and regulations to qualify for this release program, I never encountered a problem with this program.” She has a full crew that has been with her business for years, she said, so she is not hiring more released offenders for now. Calvert-Hayes has spent much time trying to understand the transition from prison. Bates’s research could well complement her on-the-job learning, leading more employers to understand, hire and train released offenders, helping their businesses and the ex-offenders. ! JOHN RAILEY is the writer-in-residence at WinstonSalem State University’s Center for the Study of Economic Mobility, www.wssu.edu/csem. He can be reached at raileyjb@gmail.com.
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Sheriff Kimbrough rebukes ‘shit-stirrers’ claims of ‘excessive use of force’ at Cook’s Flea Market
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he Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office received flak this weekend after a video went viral on social media, portraying what appeared to be a white FCSO Katie Murawski deputy restraining a Black man (with help from two white men Editor and one black man, appearing to be civilians) at Cook’s Flea Market, located at 4250 Patterson Ave. in Winston-Salem. As the video clip circulated through social media, so did allegations of “excessive use of force” by the deputy. According to an email on June 28 by FCSO Public Affairs Officer Christina Cooley Howell, the deputy in the video was working an extra duty assignment at Cook’s Flea Market, which regularly employs deputies for security. Howell identified that the others involved “offering assistance were residents and not additional FCSO deputies.” “Saturday afternoon, flea market staff asked the individual seen in the video to leave the premises. They then asked our deputy to escort him to his vehicle,” Howell wrote, stating that this is a regular occurrence for deputies working at the flea market. “The individual declined to leave. Our deputy again asked him to leave. The individual refused to leave even after multiple requests and then resisted arrest.” Howell also sent YES! Weekly a response from a representative of Cook’s Flea Market stating that “on Saturday, June 27, an individual at the flea market was asked repeatedly to comply with the state mandate to wear a mask. After verbally refusing to put on a mask, the individual was asked by management multiple times to leave the property. When the individual declined to leave, a Deputy Sheriff providing security at the market was called to escort the individual to their vehicle and was subsequently charged with Trespassing and Resisting a Public Officer.” Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough, Jr., held a press conference on June 29, where he summarized what transpired before and after the widely-shared video clip. At the press conference, it was announced that the FCSO would not release the body-worn YES! WEEKLY
JULY 1-7, 2020
camera footage of this incident to the public. “I want you all to know that these are serious times we are living in,” Sheriff Kimbrough said during the press conference. “I want you to know that we are divided in a lot of places in our country and our communities. I want you to know that anytime there is an issue in this community involving law enforcement, involving people, I am going to always do what is right, what is moral, what is legal—regardless of race.” The sheriff concluded that no excessive force was used in this arrest. “When we are wrong, I want to be the first to come and say to you that we are wrong, and how can we make it right,” Sheriff Kimbrough said. “But when we’re right, and you come for us unnecessarily—I represent all the people of this county—not Black, not white, not Hispanic, not the north, south, east or the west, I represent the county, and I take that oath seriously. But I was irritated and angry all day yesterday and today, over what happened. And what, in the words of one, the ‘shit-stirrers’ tried to create in this community.” Sheriff Kimbrough said he received outrage from as far away as California, and he had received emails calling him “nazi” over the incident portrayed in the video clip. Winston-Salem Urban League President/CEO James Perry, Bishop Todd Fulton, Pastor Tembila Covington, Rev. Alvin Carlisle, Al Jabbar, and District Attorney Jim O’Neill were all invited to view the entire body-worn camera footage and share their perspective with the community during the press conference that day. Perry agreed with the sheriff and suggested that there were more important things to focus on in the community. “This wasn’t an issue of racial profiling, in my opinion,” Perry said at the press conference. “If anything, my greatest frustration is that the state prevents the full body camera footage from being shared.” Jabbar, a Winston-Salem native and community activist said he agreed with the sheriff. “With no uncertain terms, [the body camera video]shows very clearly to me that the sheriff’s department acted according to the policy that they have been held accountable for,” he said. “There are those of us, as Sheriff Kimbrough adequately stole my words today, who in our community are shit-stirrers, who look for every opportunity to create division and discord amongst this great city. And we are
not going to stand and be silent.” Rev. Carlisle, the president of WinstonSalem’s chapter of the NAACP, agreed with the sheriff’s conclusion. “We were satisfied today with having the opportunity to view the body cam video of the officer involved before he engaged the subject of the video that has circulated on social media. We are satisfied that the officer did everything that he could to avoid an altercation with the subject. We were satisfied that the subject was given many opportunities to comply with the laws and the standards that we all have to deal with during the COVID-19 crisis.” Bishop Fulton, the pastor at Mt. Moriah Outreach Center, said he also agreed with the sheriff. “As a Black male, I understand racial profiling, as a Black male, I understand what it means for someone to treat me differently because of this Black robe I have on,” he said. “Upon watching the video, the camera footage from the officer’s video, I find no fault in the way that the officer handled the situation. I am not saying this to be friends with anybody in this room; I am saying it as a Bishop in the Lord’s church because it is the truth.” While Fulton said he appreciated the media coverage and the community’s concern, “there are so many positive things in our community that happens that never gets covered. But when we make an issue out of something that is Black or white or looks a certain way without looking at the facts, we are doing a disservice to our community. As children of God, we are doing a disservice to our Lord and Savior.” At the end of the press conference, one reporter asked if the men assisting the officer could be charged with simple assault by the District Attorney. “I don’t know where you are going with that, but they were assisting the officer in the struggle, so no, the district attorney didn’t say,” Sheriff Kimbrough replied. “There is a statute if I am not mistaken... The Good Samaritan Law.” (YES! Weekly reached out to the man arrested in the video, who said he’d love to comment but needs to speak with his legal counsel first. As of 6 p.m.June 30, YES! Weekly has not received a statement.) Before the incident at Cook’s Flea Market occurred, Winston-Salem resident Tom Peterson shared a picture of what appeared to be a uniformed Forsyth County deputy inside of a gas station not wearing a mask.
The post stated: Why is this Forsyth County Sheriff’s deputy the only person in Sheetz without a mask? It says on every door that they require them, and he’s the only person inside without one. (Let that sink in: the only person ignoring the rule is wearing a badge.) This is less than an hour before the state mandate says to wear them. (Friday at 4:15pm) What a bad look for law enforcement at a time when a huge part of the population believes law enforcement budgets should be slashed. #forsythcountysheriff #nomask #abovethelaw “It struck me as an ironic situation, there were roughly 20 people in the store, all of whom were wearing face-coverings. (The store requires them.) The only person not wearing one was in uniform, in a taxfunded role that is to ‘protect and serve,’” Peterson wrote in a Facebook message. “I think it is a particularly bad look at a time where many Americans are pushing for reductions in law enforcement budgets.” “I’m sure he’s a good officer, but I’d respect the individuals and the institution a lot more if they would simply wear the face-covering when it is required,” he added. “It’s not that effortful, and we could use their leadership and good example in a time of national and local crisis.” YES! Weekly emailed Howell the morning of June 27 with the following questions: If the photo is of a FC sheriff’s deputy, what would be Sheriff Kimbrough’s response? Does he require his staff to wear masks while on duty? Also, is Sheriff Kimbrough one of a number of sheriffs in North Carolina that aren’t enforcing masks? Howell responded with the following statement: “As with all of the restrictions implemented in response to this pandemic, if we encounter violations of the order, we will engage the involved individuals in conversation. We first and foremost seek to educate individuals with the goal of achieving voluntary compliance based on concern for the health of our entire community. We have reiterated the importance of wearing masks while interacting with the public in compliance with the executive order. It should be noted that some of our deputies fall under the exception categories, and there are circumstances in which masks are not appropriate for various reasons (i.e., officer safety). We appreciate our community’s concern for the well-being of others and for holding us accountable.” !
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flicks
To tell The Truth
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atherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche are two of the great beauties of the screen, but beyond that both are first-rate actresses, Mark Burger and watching them spar onscreen is an undiluted delight. Contributor That is what essentially transpires in The Truth (La Vérité), the latest film from writer/director Hirokazu Kore-eda and the first he’s made outside his native Japan. Ostensibly it’s a drama about resentment and reconciliation, but Kore-eda infuses the narrative with heart and humor, making it extremely accessible for audiences. Deneuve plays Fabienne, a legendary French actress – clearly, art imitates life here – who is visited by her daughter Lumir (Binoche), a screenwriter now living in the United States with her actor husband (Ethan Hawke) and their young daughter (adorable newcomer Clementine Grenier). The occasion is prompted by the publication of Fabienne’s memoirs. Fabienne appears affable and nonchalant, but it’s only a façade. She’s actually a diva with a ferocious ego, flippantly condescending and dismissive. Yet further underneath, she’s insecure and vulnerable, although she would never admit to it. Lumir is astonished by the memoir, which has little or no bearing to the childhood she remembers, and Fabienne’s ever-faithful minder Luc (Alain Libolt) abruptly retires upon reading it – because after years of service he didn’t rate so much as a single mention. Lumir cannot help but recognize the irony in the title of the film Fabienne is currently making: Memories of My Mother. The undercurrent of tension between Fabienne and Lumir, as well as Fabi-
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enne and nearly everyone in her orbit, is expertly managed by Kore-eda, although those expecting a knock-down, dragout battle royale between mother and daughter (a la Ingmar Bergman’s 1978 Autumn Sonata) may feel slightly let down. The Truth is more confection than confrontation, although it doesn’t want for the latter. As bitchy and disagreeable as Fabienne can be, it’s hard not to have some affection for her. Nevertheless, to its credit the film never lapses into sticky sentiment. The edginess is there, but it doesn’t take the edge off the enjoyment. Not surprisingly, Deneuve and Binoche hold sway over the proceedings, although no one seems to mind. Hawke, for example, is a good sport on both counts: His character, Hank, blithely overlooks Fabienne’s putdowns (her assessment of him as an actor is none-too-glowing), and Hawke appears to really enjoy the company of his leading ladies as they vie for center stage, and who can blame him? Ludivine Sagnier and Manon Clavel (in her feature debut) add further glamour as Fabienne’s co-stars in the film-withinthe-film, Christian Crahay plays Fabienne’s current lover, and Roger Van Hool plays Lumir’s endearingly shaggy father, who retains affection for Fabienne despite being dumped by him years before for a director she wanted to work for – and did, winning a Cesar award (France’s equivalent of the Oscar), to boot. The Truth, which was originally to have screened at the 2020 RiverRun International Film Festival, offers a breezy but heartfelt diversion in these troubled times, and the sheer power that Deneuve and Binoche bring to the film simply can’t be denied. (In English and French with English subtitles) The Truth will be available beginning Friday. For a complete list of platforms, visit www.thetruth.movie/. ! See MARK BURGER’s reviews of current movies on Burgervideo.com. © 2020, Mark Burger.
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Sheriff with a vision
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obby Kimbrough, Jr. has faced a number of challenges in his life. In 2005, he lost his wife, and has since raised their seven sons alone. In Jim Longworth 2018, after retiring as a special agent with the D.E.A., he Longworth challenged a popular at Large incumbent, and became the first African-American ever elected sheriff of Forsyth County. And in 2020, he has helped to keep order at a time when two diseases—COVID and racism—have overtaken our society. Today, Kimbrough oversees a department with 600 employees including over 230 sworn deputies. Bobby was a guest on my Triad Today program recently, and we talked about law enforcement and race relations.
JL: You wrote, “Surviving the Stop” in 2016. What kind of information do you offer in the book, and is it still relevant today? BK: Oh, very relevant. The book is a thumbnail sketch of how you should interact with police when being stopped on the side of the road, and how you interact with police in situations that could save lives. Because it’s a relationship that can take place quickly, and depending on how it takes place, determines the outcome. JL: In the book, you wrote, “Police don’t leave work in the morning planning to kill an AfricanAmerican.” Do you still believe that? And, if so, how do you account for so many recent incidents of excessive force?
found: simple pleasures
Whether delicious food, art, open spaces, unique shops or coffee that’ll jolt you awake, Downtown Winston-Salem has it. Take a stroll. You’re sure to find it. On Fourth Street.
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BK: I don’t think police wake up with the intent of killing someone, but sometimes there are people who work in law enforcement who have racial issues, racism. And so, the slightest interaction with the public can trigger all those things that have been dormant, and comes to the surface. Because how I see you will determine how I respond to you. JL: And somewhat ironically, African-American officers will tell you that for Black folks who don’t like police, it’s the uniform they see, not the skin color of the officer. BK: Of course, because their brush is painted so broad that one incident or two or three incidents affects all of us who carry a shield, whether it’s a gold badge, federal badge, local or state. It affects all of us. JL: Some cities are considering whether or not to defund or dismantle their police departments. Is that the best way to weed out bad officers? BK: I don’t think we need to defund. I think we need to re-construct, re-configure, re-tool things. But how are we going to defund an organization that is already underfunded? We need to have more funding in law enforcement to pay for better training. An example is the Federal government. Every five years they reinvestigate their agents. They send them back through the same process that they do when they hire them. Local and state governments don’t do that because of lack of funding. So, I think that more funding would help us hire and keep better officers, and also assure more quality control. JL: More and more leaders are calling for a national registry that would weed out officers who have a history of excessive force. If that happens, then those officers would not be able to get hired by any other law enforcement agency. Good idea? BK: In every state, the top law enforcement official is the Attorney General. In order for a registry to work, it has to have some teeth. In other words, it has to be mandated, not a registry that is optional. So for example, if there is a
complaint against an officer, it must be registered with the AG’s office. That way, it’s a law and the incident is documented. And if it gets to a point where your agency has so many complaints, then we notify your agency. And also, if that officer leaves, anyone wishing to hire that person would have to check with the AG’s office to see if there have been any complaints. JL: There have also been some localities who want to defund their School Resource Officer program. What are your thoughts on that? BK: I understand people talk about the school-to-prison pipeline, I get that. But there are so many things that go into that. It has a lot to do with how the children in our schools are being educated, how well they read. All of these things are factored in. But when it comes to school resource officers, the program that we have built in Forsyth County, matches our officers with their school, because each school has a different personality. We’ve also changed the SRO uniform. We also have all of our staff volunteering in schools across the county. I teach a class every Thursday, and I am grateful that the Superintendent allows me to do that. JL: You are a sheriff elected by the people. You are a man of color. You are the father of seven sons. Given what we’ve been going though in this country lately, are you at all conflicted by any of those roles in your own life every day? BK: I’ve cried a lot over the last couple of months because I’m hurt by what I see. We as a country have got to remove some of the barriers, remove some of the stigmas, remove some of the racism, and realize that we’re in this together. Both of the pandemics we’re experiencing are contagious, and both are lethal, and we need each other. So, the words I say to my sons is we have to remove the racism. It’s 2020, and we’ve got to do some things totally different. You and I just talked about why all of these things are happening now. Maybe it’s causing us to see things from a different vantage point. Think about it: 2020 also relates to eyesight. Despite recent events, Sheriff Kimbrough’s vision for the future is clear and hopeful, and that should give us comfort in these uncertain times. ! JIM LONGWORTH is the host of Triad Today, airing on Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. on ABC45 (cable channel 7) and Sundays at 11 a.m. on WMYV (cable channel 15).
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chow
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BY JOHN BATCHELOR
EAT IT!
John Batchelor says a sad farewell to two great local restaurants recently asked me for advice. Close? Try to stick it out? I don’t know. Here’s what I do know. If you like to eat in restaurants, you’d better do the best you can to help them out now, because there is a real danger of more failures. Maybe many more. I am hearing that when Phase Two went into effect, allowing inside dining at half capacity in order to ensure necessary distancing, business actually declined, compared to the takeout only phase. If you want to sit inside, by all means do it. Restaurants have set aside the appropriate distances. Outdoor seating is an excellent alternative. But keep in mind that everybody has “upped their game” regarding take out. Take out is still available. So do the best you can to provide some business, especially to locally owned places. Most locally owned restaurants operate, at best, on a month to month basis. They can’t survive if they don’t have some level of revenue. Maybe some won’t, anyway. But let’s try to mitigate the impact. The solution is not in rash reopening and ignoring this insidious disease. We have to be careful. But we can still provide some degree of support. So go out and sit outdoors or sit far enough apart indoors and wear a mask to the extent it’s feasible. Or order takeout. But do something positive! And keep on doing it! One bright note: the space formerly occupied by Table 16 will become a new restaurant, Lewis & Elm, later this month. Jake Assaf, certified sommelier and proprietor of Rioja! wine bar, will be at the helm. The restaurant will be wine-focused, with lighter food fare such as seasonal salads, sandwiches, duck prosciutto, mousse, caviar, and a selection of European cheeses chosen to pair with wines. Keep up with
wo down. How many to go? Sad news in recent weeks, as we learned that Smith Street Diner and Southern Lights have been lost to the economic impact of the virus. Smith Street Diner opened in 2005. Owner Beth Kizhnerman had also formerly owned Bistro Sofia, one of my highest rated fine dining restaurants. The diner earned praise from many points of view. A well-established local following looked forward not only to breakfast and lunch, but to Southern dinners as well. Southern Living magazine named it one of the South’s best diners in 2017. I have credited Southern Lights with helping start Greensboro’s transition from a restaurant wasteland to a solid dining town. The restaurant began off Friendly Avenue, over 30 years ago. After the death of principal founder Peter Hamilton, chefpartner John Drees moved to the Lawndale Drive location, near the Kirkwood neighborhood. I have written about Southern Lights on many occasions over the years. Awhile back, a lot of people seemed to think the virus problem was over. Probably, some still do. I have seen plenty of maskless faces in public. I thought that perspective was overly optimistic. I’m not a physician, but I have doctoral level training in research and statistics. To say that we’ve passed the peak, even if true, fails to comprehend what a peak is, at least in a statistical framework. A peak is a high point between two lower points. Visualizing that image reveals that there is just as much space after the peak as there is before the peak. In North Carolina, the data does not even support the interpretation that we are past the peak. On the contrary, the spread seems to be gaining on us. The situation in which we find ourselves is medical, not political. We need to pay attention primarily to medical advice. The key is Beautiful 1965 220S Mercedes Benz with to avoid exposure in order approximately 55,800 original miles. Car purchased to restrict the spread. about 23 years ago. It’s only been owned by 2 My focus in writing these families since it was picked up in Canada in 1965. columns, of course, is It’s time to move the car on to someone else who restaurants. So what do we can love and enjoy the car as much as I have! do? A friend who has been $25,000 - Call 336-399-1012 for more info. in the business a long time WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM
developments at lewisandelm.com, facebook.com/lewisandelm, or instagram. com/lewisandelm. ! JOHN BATCHELOR has been writing about eating and drinking since 1981. Over a thousand of his articles have
been published. He is also author of two travel/cookbooks: Chefs of the Coast: Restaurants and Recipes from the North Carolina Coast, and Chefs of the Mountains: Restaurants and Recipes from Western North Carolina. Contact him at john.e.batchelor@gmail.com or see his blog, johnbatchelordiningandtravel.blogspot.com.
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Car buyer Da Tong Yang of Richmond, British Columbia, became so frustrated with his local Mercedes-Benz dealership that in January he flew to Chuck Shepherd the company’s headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, to seek help. Yang bought his wife, Guifang Huo, a brand-new S550 in 2017, partially because he believed the $155,000 car to be one of the safest vehicles available, but a year later, the couple claimed, the steering wheel locked, causing the car to nearly crash into a concrete wall. Mercedes-Benz said an “internal electrical issue” was at fault and assured the couple it was fixed. Yang wasn’t convinced, demanded his money back or a replacement car, then sued the company when it declined. The case has languished in court, prompting Yang’s trip to Stuttgart in early June “to find justice, not only for him but also for other drivers,” he told the Richmond News. Despite his personal appearance, litigation is still underway.
Marketing Manager for Ecolab, Inc. at its facility in Greensboro, NC. Provides marketing leadership that contributes to profitable sales growth of businesses by leading and driving the execution of core programs and initiatives that differentiate the company from its competitors. Master’s degree or foreign equivalent in Business Administration and 3 years of post-bachelor’s progressive experience in all of the following: collecting and aggregating team insights and voice-ofbusiness to initiate projects or make process improvements at an operational level; Leading teams that work cross-divisionally or cross-functionally to execute on a project; ability to enter a new space or project with limited understanding or information available and determine a strategy to best solve a problem; and includes experience in one of the following: food & beverage industry segments food processing, dairy, or protein with the ability to demonstrate knowledge of the customer base. Apply at https://jobs.ecolab. com/, Req. R00112814. Must have legal authority to work in the US. EOE. YES! WEEKLY
JULY 1-7, 2020
LEAST COMPETENT, MOST AMBITIOUS CRIMINALS
— Donnovan Russell Jester, 28, of Largo, Florida, was arrested on June 18 for grand theft of a vessel — a $900,000, 46-foot-long yacht. The Tampa Bay Times reported the theft took place March 20 at Thunder Marine, where Pinellas County deputies said the 2019 Jeanneau Leader was stolen and driven into four channel-marker pilings, doing about $60,000 worth of damage, before being abandoned to drift in an oyster bed. Investigators found Jester’s thumbprint on a cabin door; he was held at the Pinellas County jail on $50,000. — At 1:28 a.m. on June 20, airport air traffic control in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, contacted police about a distress call coming from an aircraft. Officers already at the airport trying to locate a car they believed had been stolen from Daytona Beach found Robert Stienstra, 22, of DeBary, Florida, sitting in the airplane on the airport apron, according to an arrest report. Stienstra asked an officer whether he knew how to fly a plane, the report stated, then explained that he had recently purchased the aircraft (valued at $1 million) for $20,000 and needed to fly to California to take marijuana and meet his girlfriend. The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported that along with a bag of weed, Stienstra had in his possession a glass pipe with remnants of methamphetamine and other drug paraphernalia. New Smyrna Beach police charged Stienstra with grand theft over $100,000; he was also wanted by Daytona Beach police on charges of grand theft of a motor vehicle.
NEWS THAT SOUNDS LIKE A JOKE
After falling asleep following a 10-bottle beer-drinking binge, and failing to heed nature’s call for 18 hours, a 40-year-old Chinese man identified as Mr. Hu was diagnosed with a burst bladder, the New York Post reported on June 23. The man appeared at Zhuji People’s Hospital in Zhejiang, China, complaining of searing abdominal pain, and doctors discovered three tears in his bladder, one of which had caused his intestines to spill into the bladder. Mr. Hu underwent emergency surgery and was able to recover. Zhuji officials said while bladder rupture is rare, they see at least one such patient every year. !
© 2020 Chuck Shepherd. Universal Press Syndicate. Send your weird news items with subject line WEIRD NEWS to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.
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n July 24, from 7-11:30 p.m., Rizzo’s in Clemmons will be one of three clubs bringing, “An Evening with Jason Ringenberg – The Original Roots Terry Rader Punk Barnstormer” to their outdoor stage this summer. Contributor Singer-songwriter, Ringenberg, of Jason & the Scorchers, was on tour in celebration of his fifth solo CD, Stand Tall, when the “rock ‘n’ roll cowpunk legend” had to cancel two European tours— one in May, and one in July due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He is known for a variety of genres that include country rock, alt-country, Americana, and cowpunk. According to his website, “Ringenberg is known globally for marrying highenergy punk with traditional country music in his former fiery band, Jason & the Scorchers that reigned as one of best bands though out the ‘80s and ‘90s... In 2002, Ringenberg created a children’s music character called Farmer Jason and won numerous awards, including an Emmy for his PBS video program, It’s a Farmer Jason. He has been known to perform a kids show in the daytime, and a Jason Ringenberg concert at night in the same city...In 2008, Jason & the Scorchers were awarded the Americana Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award for Performance. In 2019, The Times dubbed him, ‘One of the most exciting performers of his generation.’” That same year, Ringenberg joined the Cosmic Honky Tonk Revue with lauded songwriters/ artists Chuck Mead and Jim Lauderdale. Illinois-born Ringenberg said he is foraging “new territory” during this pandemic. “These last three shows in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia may be it for a while, as I’m not so sure about the Texas shows in August,” he said. “I’m a rarity right now in playing these three clubs that I really wanted to keep, but I’m not faulting anyone who doesn’t want to come out, but for those that do, I’m going to do a good show, and I urge everyone to be as safe as possible.” The joint will be jumping outside with YES! WEEKLY
JULY 1-7, 2020
Jason Ringenberg returns to rock the Triad PHOTOS BY GREGG ROTH
some serious socially distant precautions, and only 60 tickets will be sold at $20 each, said host Dale Cole, who was contacted by Lee Huber of Atomic Music Group to book this event. “Jason is one of my rock ‘n’ roll idols,” Cole said. “It’s a dream come true to host this show.” Cole’s band, The Revelators, would open with some old-school rock ‘n’ roll, and return to the stage at the end of Ringenberg’s set to join him in two Jason & the Scorchers’ songs: “White Lies” and “Broken Whiskey Glass.” The Revelators include Dale Cole (vocals), Rick Gustaitis (guitar/ vocals), Jim Moody (guitar/vocals), Jon Epstein (bass), and Rod Bettini (drums). Before booking this show in April, Cole said he had done a lot to be sure it was possible, including getting Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines’s approval. “I am positive this show will go on,” said Cole on June 26. “Gov. Cooper’s extended order for North Carolina bars expires on July 17.” Cole said, according to the fire marshal, Rizzo’s has a capacity of 750, and they plan to keep it under 10% capacity to maintain social distancing in a 4,500 square-foot outdoor space with tables and chairs—which are available on a
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first-come, first-serve basis. Additionally, people can bring lawn chairs. “Ticket sales are only through Eventbrite, and after 60 tickets have been sold, the link will shut down,” Cole said. “We will have all required precautions mandated, and in place for this show, including hand-sanitizing stations, and whatever else the State of North Carolina and Forsyth County require at the time of the show.” Ringenberg said he was looking forward to returning to North Carolina, where his song, “I’m Walking Home,” originated. “It’s always good to talk to a fellow survivor of the ‘80s,” Ringenberg said. “I so rarely get to meet people from Friday’s (formerly on Tate Street in Greensboro). I fondly remember playing Friday’s Club. It was such a small group of people and a wonderful place. I have great memories of that place. They had a lot of great bands like REM, Violent Femmes, and the club had such an element of gentility. It was so funny, even when Black Flag played; there wasn’t any violence in the mosh pits like in the Los Angeles punk rock clubs. It was always amazing at the good vibes there.” Ringenberg remembers playing at Ziggy’s (now The Ramkat) and said he really loved playing at The Garage in Winston-Salem. All of these Triad clubs have since closed. He also mused about how sacred music was to him while growing up. “Old-school people I grew up with listened to music differently than how my college daughters and their friends do,” Ringenberg said. “To us, music was a religion, and we had this bond—we talked about music a lot. It was a very communal experience, and new music was very hard to find. It took work, and you couldn’t just text messages like you can now. We cared about the sequencing of a record. In our generation, when we got a new CD, we would sit and listen to it while reading all of the notes. We wanted to know who wrote the songs, who played guitar, who played bass, drums, all of it— and even who produced it, and how it was marketed. To us, reading the album or CD covers were a part of the total experience of the ‘whole record package’ that was so very important to us.” Ringenberg said he plans to play some throwback Jason & the Scorchers’ tunes at the concert, as well as some of his new songs. “You can expect a lot of storytelling because I love to talk about the old days and the history in the songs.” Ringenberg said he did a reunion album with the Scorchers, with one original band member/guitar player, Warner E. Hodges, along with a new drummer and bass player in 2011, and the band just WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM
completed a tour of the United Kingdom last year. Ringenberg said Hodges and former band member/bass player, Jeff Johnson, still perform independently of each other, but that original drummer, Perry Braggs, passed away in 2012. Ringenberg usually plays “Harvest Moon” off of their 1993 Fervor LP (the first of 13 albums). Fervor was given a 4-star review in Rolling Stone, and was a recipient of the New York Times’ “EP of the Year award.” However, he said his main focus on this tour would be on his newest songs from Stand Tall, which was written in 2017 and released in 2019. When he was invited to be artist-inresidence in a month-long program for the National Park Service at Sequoia National Park, he said he thought he was just going to do a few park concerts and talks and was thoroughly surprised at what happened. “I hadn’t been writing songs in a long time, but just being in that environment
was spectacular, and a floodgate of activity opened up when I was out there,” Ringenberg said. “It is a whole different world. I stayed in a real cabin (not the modern-day Jacuzzi cabins) with no power or Internet at 9,000 feet. I could walk up into the beautiful Sierra Nevada Mountains, or drive down into the Sequoia Groves. I had a smorgasbord of choices to explore and experience there. I felt so inspired, songs just started pouring out, and I started writing again. I knew I had to make a record out of these songs, and my album Stand Tall is what came from this.” Some of the songs on his new LP include “Stand Tall,” “God Bless the Ramones,” “John Muir Stood Here,” “Many Happy Hangovers to You,” “Looking Back Blues,” and “I’m Walking Home.” Ringenberg said he was in North Carolina driving to a show when he began having ideas for the song “I’m Walking Home.” He said he sang it at every show since
he finished writing it in the Sequoias. This powerful upbeat, yet haunting ballad combines military drumming and “cowpunk” music that tells the tale of Will Tucker of Tennessee who was taken off his family farm at age 16 in 1862, with the lyrics: “Drafted into Confederate service for the army of Tennessee... to fight for a cause I just couldn’t see... I hated slavery and all who stood for it...This musket is heavy, but I’m walking home.” “Listening to music while staying at home has created a mental and spiritual outlet, and a lot of musicians have sent out personal messages,” Ringenberg said. “Music will certainly change; I would imagine next year’s records will be much darker.” He has made a personal Triad contribution of his song, “I’m Walking Home” to Dale Cole & The Virtual Village’s Volume 2 Compilation CD (Beyond the Mask “Resurgence,” a Virtual Village Compilation #WINSTONSTRONG”) that contains covers of several local musicians’ original songs (as done on the first CD) to raise money for COVID-19 displaced service workers in Winston-Salem. “‘I’m Walking Home’ kind of hits home for me. My great, great grandfather, Ishom Dalton, fought with General Lee and was with him when he surrendered at Appomattox. They took his weapons and allowed him to walk home to the mountains of North Carolina. He was the area blacksmith, and his wife was the local midwife. My wife’s aunt’s relative, Thomas Nelson Page, signed the Declaration of Independence.” This show is also a celebration of Ringenberg’s 39th Fourth of July anniversary, marking the day he set out for Nashville (his present home) to pursue his dream of “making a band that could kick American roots music into the modern age!” Since then, he has made history in fulfilling this dream. ! TERRY RADER is a freelance writer/editorial/content/ copy, creative consultant/branding strategist, communications outreach messenger, poet, and singer/songwriter.
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go?
July 24, 7:00-11:30 p.m., Rizzo’s outdoor stage, 6353 Cephis Dr., Clemmons, 336.893.9257, limited capacity to keep socially distanced (only 60 tickets available) on 4500 square foot outdoor patio, tickets $20 (plus tax service fee) at www.eventbrite.com/e/an-eveningwith-jason-ringenberg-tickets-108397076574, Jason Ringenberg tour/music/merch: www. jasonringenberg.com, www.jasonandthescorchers. com. JULY 1-7, 2020 YES! WEEKLY
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GPD with sonic weapon warn Friendly Center protesters of ‘risk’ “They thought I was done, but I’m just getting started,” said AJ at the start of the march that began at 2:20 p.m. last Friday in front of the Regal Grande 16 Cinema in Greensboro. AJ, also known as Ian McDowell Anthony and Free Dope Major, is cofounder of The Three, Contributor the multiracial Black activist organization that shut down sections of I-40, Wendover and Battleground Avenues on previous weekends. The organization’s name is derived from both the 336 area code and the Christian Trinity. The march began with about 40 demonstrators and grew slightly, but unlike previous ones, never numbered in the hundreds. “Lot of people who would be here are working,” said the young Black man marching beside me. “Look at the livestream, and you’ll see a bunch of white folks getting salty about us not being at work. They either think we don’t got jobs or this our job, and we paid by Soros.” (He then pointed out the establishment where he said he would be clocking in at 5 p.m., but asked me not to use his or the business’s name.) A cursory glance at the comments on the YES! Weekly live stream of the march proves him correct, with none of the commenters mentioning why they themselves had time to watch a long Facebook video on a Friday afternoon. Turning right out of the Regal Grande parking lot, the march headed east on Northline Avenue. “How are you doing, beautiful people?” said one of AJ’s fellow organizers to the drivers of approaching cars. One vehicle did a screeching U-turn, but three stopped. Two drivers opened their windows and exchanged fist bumps with marchers. The Bike Patrol, activist bicyclists who protect protest marchers in the Triad by riding ahead and behind and blocking intersections, did just that at Northline and Pembroke. “It’s time for you to really feel us,” said AJ through his bullhorn as he waved at chain stores. “We gonna cut all these milliondollar companies. Guess what, Old Navy! We coming in there and we ain’t buying no clothes!” An Old Navy employee moved to lock the door, stating the store was at capacity, but not before AJ and a couple of others YES! WEEKLY
JULY 1-7, 2020
Police face protesters on Pembrook Road in Greensboro got inside. (I didn’t, and couldn’t hear what was said there.) A few minutes later, they emerged and led the march through Green Valley Road. The bike patrol zipped ahead and blocked the intersection of Northline, Green Valley and the Wendover ramp. “She got a gun!” yelled someone as AJ led the march down the Wendover exit. One of the drivers stuck on the exit ramp, white and appearing to be in late middleage, had a pistol, which she placed on the seat beside her as she stared stonily ahead, hands-on her steering wheel. “Don’t walk up on these people’s cars,” AJ said. “They so scared, they might actually shoot us.” I walked ahead to see just how far the exit lane was backed up on Wendover. The jam appeared to extend past the Benjamin Parkway overpass. A driver screeched out of the blocked lane into the clear westbound one, pounding angrily on his horn as he roared by. “Fuck you, cracker, we ain’t going nowhere,” AJ yelled, as he walked back up the ramp. At the intersection of Northline and Green Valley, the bike patrol and about half the march still blocked traffic in four directions. A man in a medical delivery vehicle honked. AJ shook his head, but when the driver indicated the nature of his vehicle, AJ told marchers to let him through. Next to the Circle K, a woman revved her engine and appeared to aim her car at marchers in her way, then braked. “We got a Karen!” shouted a marcher. An organizer named Josh walked up beside her vehicle.
“Calm down and enjoy your day. No reason to be so upset, baby.” Two police officers had arrived on the scene but watched without intervening. The march proceeded down Green Valley toward Friendly Avenue. “This is a physical statement,” AJ said. “Been doing this for a whole month, and I ain’t been arrested yet! Think I’m gonna get arrested because I’m on this side of town? Guess what! I ain’t going nowhere! Look at the traffic jam we caused back there.” More police officers arrived. AJ recognized Sgt. Eric Goodykoontz, of whom he once said to me, “I call him Goody ‘cuz he’s a good man.” “We’re not getting off the street, Goody!” AJ shouted. “No reason to yell at me,” Officer Goodykoontz replied. “I know they sent you over here because I’ll talk to you,” AJ said. “Let’s talk, then,” Goodykoontz said. He and AJ moved off Green Valley to speak in the shade of Fidelity Investments. At least 20 officers stood in a line further west, with more arriving on bicycles. The marchers were reluctant to let AJ stand so near them by himself, but AJ repeatedly told them and the media to back off while he spoke with Goodykoontz, whom he appeared to trust. “They don’t care when we’re on Elm, but now we’re inconveniencing white people it’s a problem,” said a Black woman shading herself with a rainbow umbrella. More officers arrived. “Y’all boys coming out to play today,” Josh said, booming through his mega-
phone at the assembling riot squad. “Got those shields, but why none of y’all wearing masks?” No officers were. Of the 40-50 marchers, I counted 27 wearing masks. Three of the four Black men who appeared to be AJ’s fellow organizers wore masks—AJ did not. AJ walked back to the march, his discussion with Goodykoontz apparently resolved. As the march proceeded toward Friendly Avenue, one riot squad officer said that the vehicles driven by protesters and containing bottled water and other supplies could not continue. “AJ, they’re not letting the cars through,” a marcher yelled. “They better let ‘em through,” said AJ as he walked toward a tall Black officer. “Goody said cars can go through! Said they got to stay behind us and be on only one side of the street, but they can come through.” One white officer scowled, but they all stepped back and let the cars pass. The march reached Friendly Avenue at about 3:20 p.m. In the middle of the intersection, AJ addressed the demonstrators and onlookers who’d strolled over from Belk’s. “This could have all been so simple, but guess what, until the world wakes up, we will continue to inconvenience you. This is not something that’s gonna stop. Roy Carroll and Nancy Vaughan, I know you hear us, and you feel us, and I know you see us now. It’s because you don’t have a choice.” AJ then spoke about The Three’s intentions. “If it wasn’t for this movement, nothing would be getting stopped. Everybody
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AJ sits in silent vigil at Friendly Center Harris Teeter else is downtown, but they’re not actually stopping the money. We’re inconveniencing you like you been doing to us for years, economically and academically. All l want is free education!” Free college education for AfricanAmericans is one of The Three’s oft-stated demands. “It’s a Black Friday, but ain’t nothing on sale,” said another organizer. “They can’t get in to shop, they can’t get in to eat, and they got to look at all our Black asses out here.” The march proceeded west on Friendly. Police in riot gear formed a line on the other side of Friendly and Avondale, but AJ had already stated his intention of turning back into the mall and going to Ben and Jerry’s, where management would have free ice cream and bottled water for the demonstrators. Before doing that, he led the marchers in a prayer for the police facing them and burned sage. Then he pointed out several officers. “I wonder what this Black man had to go through to get here on this front line of police? I wonder what this woman had to go through? Why are there not more women on the front line? Because they don’t get the same opportunities. They don’t get the same opportunities we get as men.” Turning back into the shopping center, the march continued to Whole Foods, where it was greeted with scattered applause from cashiers and customers. Then it continued to Ben and Jerry’s for a 45-minute ice cream break. At 4:05 p.m., the march returned to Friendly and Avondale, where AJ set off WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM
canisters of green, yellow and red smoke before turning back to the Shoppes at Friendly. The march entered REI for several minutes of chanting and speeches. A store employee on the second-floor admonished marchers not wearing masks. Harris Teeter was the next destination. The march entered the store at 4:25 p.m. “This is the re-education of America,” Josh declared. In front of the check-out stations, the marchers observed 8 minutes and 46 seconds of silence in honor of George Floyd, who took that long to die with a police officer’s knee on his neck. During this time, one customer, a balding red-bearded white man, bought a case of bottled water and handed it to AJ. “I was with you until Black Lives matter equals Defund the Police,” said another shopper, a tall, gray-haired white man. “I say anything now, all of a sudden, I’m against Black lives?” said a young AsianAmerican man in a muscle shirt. “You’re coming into a grocery store and making a bunch of noise!” Josh and a young Black woman spoke to both men, but neither tempers nor voices were raised on either side. “Chill, don’t worry about it, don’t argue with them,” AJ said. Several Harris Teeter employees sat on the floor with protesters during moments of silence. After that interval, AJ and Josh spoke of the school-toprison pipeline and the corporate privatization of America’s penal institutions. “They want us incarcerated,” AJ said. “Black bodies in the Guilford County jail are worth a quarter-million dollars. If that
jail is at less than 90% capacity, they have to pay the state. They don’t put us in jail because we’re bad people, they put us in jail to make money. It’s monetized slavery. In the Constitution, it says that slavery will be abolished unless you become a felon. If you become a felon, you are a slave again. Now, slaves make jeans, make license plates, clean the highways off— they do a lot of free labor, and they do it right up under our faces. That is the disgusting system that we live in.” “In 1994, Bill Clinton passed the threestrike rule,” Josh said. “And Joe Biden passed the Crime Bill. Because they didn’t know how to keep the prisons full, they created the school-to-prison pipeline.” Josh then spoke of white privilege. “It means that your son or your daughter has the privilege of going to this store in the middle of the night without worrying they’ll end up lying face down, either in cuffs or shot dead!” As the marchers prepared to leave, two men in three-piece suits and Harris Teeter name tags set up a cooler full of ice water near the exit. “Have a good day and take care,” they said as they handed out Dixie cups. After a recess in the shade, where AJ handed out freeze-pops donated by the shop West Elm, the march continued to the Sears parking lot. There it was met with a black GPD van equipped with the department’s Long Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD. While LRADs can be used as a directional PA system (Greensboro Police Department and other police departments have touted how clear and undistorted the directional
sound is), the devices can also be used as sonic crowd control weapons capable of inducing vomiting and damaging eardrums. “Attention,” boomed a male voice from the LRAD. “This is the security director of Friendly Central Property. You are now being directed to leave the property. You will be trespassing if you do not leave.” “How is a mall cop using that damn thing,” a protester asked. “GPD work for Friendly Center now?” “Because we messed up your money, you gonna blow our heads off,” AJ asked. The next voice to emerge from the LRAD was that of GPD Lt. Daniel Knott. “You are currently trespassing on the property of Friendly Center. I order all those in front of Sears to immediately disperse. If you remain on the property you will be in violation of the law. If you don’t disperse, you may be arrested or subject to other police action. Other police action may include physical removal, the use of riot control agents, and/or less lethal munition, which could cause risk of injury to those who remain.” “Go back to your cars,” AJ told the marchers. “Don’t be stupid. They want to fuck people up.” A line of officers in riot gear and shields had formed across Pembroke. When a protester strode toward them, AJ dashed after him and physically dragged him away. “I said, get back to your car now!” As the marchers departed, Lt. Knott emerged from his vehicle to talk to some of them, including Josh, several Black women, and an older Black man in a button-down long sleeve shirt and khakis, who had recently joined the demonstration. “You usually be with us,” shouted a departing organizer. “I just want to know how we were breaking the law,” a woman asked Knott. “I’m not trying to be rude, but I want to know. Isn’t it our right to protest?” “Ma’am, it is,” Knott said. “What happened here today is that Friendly Center decided they wanted you guys to leave.” When the group continued to argue, Knott told them to address their concerns to the management of Friendly Center, and that more information would have to come from the GPD public information officer. On Monday, I asked GPD Public Information Officer Ronald Glenn about the use of the LRAD, which Lt. Knott’s command seemed to imply might be used as a weapon if the marchers did not disperse. “We use it as a directional PA system,” Glenn wrote in an email. ! IAN MCDOWELL is the author of two published novels, numerous anthologized short stories, and a whole lot of nonfiction and journalism, some of which he’s proud of and none of which he’s ashamed of. JULY 1-7, 2020
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HEAR IT!
Moor_Pluto rises in ‘Clouds’
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oor_Pluto continues transcension with Clouds, a collaborative multimedia release with psychedelic tones of nu-jazz, hip-hop enveloped around an array of artistic meKatei Cranford diums. Clouds crest a wave of releases by Tyler Tyson, the Contributor synesthete artist at Moor_Pluto’s core. “I have this thing where I see colors when I’m listening to music,” Tyson explained. “I try to paint pictures in my head with the sounds. My goal is to portray visually what I’m hearing.” The senses swirl with Moor_Pluto: music into art, art into language, language into stories, and into music again. Tyson sees the realm of art and music as pathways of communication that channel into other realms. “They say things that we cannot say,”
he said. “They provide experiences that exist outside of our perception, but all the same, have so much impact on us and our life.” Tyson finds beauty in the impact of arranging tones and colors to tell stories. “I’ve set forth to go on this journey of
SPRING THEATRE
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SUMMER CAMPS SPRING THEATRE JACK-OF-ALL-TRADES CAMP July 13-17, 2020, 1-4pm THE SPRING THEATRE VARIETY SHOW July 20-24, 2020, 1-4pm Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts 251 N. Spruce St. Winston-Salem, NC 27101
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JULY 1-7, 2020
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liberation, and picking up some cool cats along the way,” he said of his own story as a Black artist growing up in Pittsboro before moving to study music at UNCG. “Art from Black men doesn’t just start out from the urban streets where you get back inside once the street lights come on,” Tyson explained. “It doesn’t just come from being surrounded by graffiti buildings and making a beat for the next street battle at the bus stop. Art from Black men can come from the country skyline, creating hues of gods coloring on the sun, or learning how to fight like a man while handling a horse while not having a gun.” Attuned to astrology, Tyson aligns himself with the extremities of the planet Pluto; and holds an affinity for the Moors of middle-aged Europe. “I felt like this Black boy in the white man’s artistic space,” he noted of his time in music school. As a result, “my music is used to heal and tune-in. Acceptance of Black people who know hip-hop, but also know jazz. I’m not lukewarm with my art; I am hot and cold; my creativity serves when needed.” Celestial themes weave throughout Tyson’s work, as he looks to grow amongst the stars. “The next step in our process of becoming is to tackle outer space,” he noted, “and I want black people in outer space, like yesterday. If we get on some outer space tip, that would be amazing.” Crediting his metaphysical awareness to Sun Ra and John Coltrane, Tyson considers their music the spiritual place from which his journey began. “Then I fell in love with language,” he explained of studying French and poetry. “Poetry brought me back to my childhood when I used to get down with rapping,” he noted,
“then I started studying art so that I could see how these things correlate to one another.” The correlation culminates in Clouds, where visual art combines with music, tapping into Tyson’s pursuit. Visually, he’s been digging on mid-20th century European works, notably French stylings and German artist, Mati Klarwien. “I’ve been trying to come to terms with the Vorticist movement,” he added, “there’s something I can learn, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.” Artists coming to terms with the times pave pathways. And between the coronavirus and protests, art continues acting as a metric. “The times are always crazy,” Tyson noted, “and times now are crazy in that there’s so many things we’re facing at once. But artists move with the times-they’re the embodiment of what’s around them. As the movement progresses, so will its representation through the art. It’s a good time for growth.” Clouds is a projection of that growth wrapped in joy--playing as an interlude as unrest broke around its release. “People need breaks from their realities sometimes,” he explained. “I do support the push of bringing the Black community up through society’s eyes so we can see what’s going on. But, let’s not forget to take time to enjoy yourself.” Joy is different in the wake of the coronavirus, but growth remains the silver lining. “I miss the feeling of live music with a group of people, vibing to the same songs, rocking out and having fun,” Tyson lamented, “but artists should adapt to bring this joy in a different way.” His next attempt, another multimedia endeavor, “Word to the Mothership,” is already underway. “Creating something beautiful comes from the highs and lows, the rising and falling, and for all artists involved to be on that same wave,” he said of expanding beyond a single medium or genre. “The sadness, the joy, the in-between. Being able to feel all of those at their deepest level and sitting with them. My goal is to take the listener on the experience with me.” Clouds, the latest wave from Moor_Pluto is available now via Bandcamp, www.moorpluto.bandcamp.com/album/clouds. ! KATEI CRANFORD is a Triad music nerd who hosts the Tuesday Tour Report on WUAG 103.1FM, a radio show on hiatus due to COVID-19.
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last call
[THE ADVICE GODDESS] love • sex • dating • marriage • questions
MERRY GOO ROUND
I’m a straight woman with a boyfriend of three months. I’m falling in love but don’t know how to say it. Is there a way that’s “safer” than others? Say it super casually? Slip it in at the end of a phone convo? In the middle of sex? — Wondering Woman
Amy Alkon
Advice Goddess
For originality and visual appeal, you can’t beat the interior decorator approach to ILY: Your boyfriend walks into your apartment, and you have a little shrine with a small gold statuette of him surrounded by candles and oranges. But let’s back up from the “how to tell him” question to why you feel the need. Sure, you care about him, and it’s romantic to be all heart-baring. However, it’s possible the suspense from not knowing how he feels is causing uncomfortable psychological tension, the mind’s version of a really bad need to pee. Unfortunately, what’s best for a full bladder might not set up the best dynamic for a relationship. Consider research by evolutionary social psychologist Joshua Ackerman and his colleagues. Though people believe “it takes men an average of 3 weeks longer than women to confess love,” men tend to be the ones to “express love and commitment first.” This makes sense when you consider that
sex could leave a woman a single mom with a kid to feed. Women evolved to be “commitment skeptics,” erring on the side of doubting a man’s willingness to stick around and provide. A man in love is a man unlikely to be clandestinely swiping right on the hot hussies of Tinder. Because men and women coevolved, men expect commitment skepticism from women. And because of this, I suspect it creates a stronger foundation for a relationship if a man perceives his female partner to be higher in mate value (say, an 8 to his 6.5). Heresy, I know. But note that it’s generally seen as romantic if a husband says about his wife, “Just glad she didn’t realize she could do much better!” and if a woman said that, we’d probably pity her. If a longing to escape emotional limbo is behind your desire to get blurty, recognize that you aren’t without information about how the guy feels. Look to his behavior. Does he show you he loves you and longs to be around you even when you’ll be spending hours and hours fully clothed? Does he show concern for your well-being, helping you with some thorny work issue or giving you emotional support when you’re down? If you, through your own actions, show that you care, you signal that he can safely express love for you, in which case, you can say it back. As a woman, judicious honesty about your feelings is probably the best policy. Sure, let a man know you’re into him, but hold back on exactly how much: “If we weren’t together, I’d chain you to a wall in my basement and lower your food in a bucket.”
answers [CROSSWORD] crossword on page 9
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I want to end a relationship, but I don’t know how. I don’t want to hurt my boyfriend’s feelings, but we’re just not a good fit. I really hate conflict and would rather just ghost, but I know that’s not right. What’s the easiest way to break up with someone? Is there a way to make it less traumatic? —Avoidant The easiest way to break up with someone is to be crushed by a flaming meteorite. There’s no uncomfortable conversation; your smoking ashes say it all: “It’s not you. It’s me, and specifically, the way I’ve been turned into a pile of fireplace trash.” You, on the other hand, are turning this guy into a human beetle trapped in relationship amber because you’re letting your emotions do your thinking. Psychologist Daniel Kahneman explains that our brain has two informationprocessing systems, a fast-responding emotional system and a slower rational system. Our fast emotional system jumps in automatically. (You just get angry when someone keys your car; you don’t have to decide to be angry.)
Reasoning, however, is “mental work,” Kahneman explains. It requires choosing to make the effort, like considering whether your initial emotional reaction (in this case, “avoid conflict at all cost!”) is actually a wise response. You might, for example, calculate how much time you spend daily fretting over procrastinating and add up the weekly “cost.” Chances are you’re actually having a ton of “conflict”; it’s just not with the person it would be helpful to. Telling this guy, “I just don’t think we’re a good fit,” on the other hand, releases him to find somebody who actually wants him. It also eliminates relationship issues that tend to crop up when you stay with somebody who isn’t doing it for you anymore. (If your partner’s inspired to get a batteryoperated device to liven things up in bed, it shouldn’t be a defibrillator.) ! GOT A problem? Write Amy Alkon, 171 Pier Ave, #280, Santa Monica, CA 90405, or e-mail AdviceAmy@aol. com (www.advicegoddess.com) © 2020 Amy Alkon Distributed by Creators.Com.
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