YES! Weekly - December 29, 2021

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PANDEMIC p o T s ’ Triad tial Essen rs e k r o W

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December 29, 2021 - January 4, 2022 YES! WEEKLY

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DECEMBER 29, 2021 - JANUARY 4, 2022 VOLUME 17, NUMBER 52

12 5500 Adams Farm Lane Suite 204 Greensboro, NC 27407 Office 336-316-1231 Fax 336-316-1930

PUSHING THROUGH THE PANDEMIC

Publisher CHARLES A. WOMACK III publisher@yesweekly.com

This year has been a whirlwind, but what’s a storm without a few heroes?

This year we wanted to highlight just some of the TRIAD’S TOP ESSENTIAL WORKERS. While there are many unsung heroes in many positions, below are a few that we’ve seen, heard, or appreciate the most from 2021.

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It’s because of them that we are able to bring you arts and entertainment from around the Triad every week!

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The newest eatery and entertainment venue in High Point has been a long time coming. UNWIND ON MAIN CAFE AND BAR, located at 144 N. Main St., began work in November 2020 and opened in April, but the owners wanted to ensure it was just right for the public.

5 The RiverRun International Film Festival kicks off the New Year with the latest “INDIE LENS POP-UP” virtual screening, which will take place 7 pm January 4th.

6 “I don’t think we did our DUE DILIGENCE,” said Greensboro District 1 City Council representative Sharon Hightower to YES! Weekly on Thursday. Hightower was speaking of the Dec. 21 City Council meeting, in which Council voted 7-2 to establish a “Social District” in downtown Greensboro, in which pedestrians can wander with alcoholic beverages in designated to-go cups starting in March 2022.

8 OFF-YEAR ELECTIONS are not usually ripe with drama, but 2022 is already proving the exception. For one thing, there is still the lingering specter of Donald Trump, and how he and his false claims of voter fraud may affect turnout.

DECEMBER 29, 2021 - JANUARY 4, 2022

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Throughout his career, filmmaker SEAN BAKER (Tangerine, The Florida Project) has evinced a fondness for characters who exist on the fringes of conventional society, and nowhere is that more evident than in his latest — and possibly best — film, Red Rocket.

15 On Dec. 17, the State of North Carolina DROPPED ALL CHARGES against Hector Sanchez, co-owner of ESSENTIAL HEMP at 529 South Elm St. in Greensboro. As previously reported, Sanchez was arrested on Oct. 25 on charges of selling “marijuana” in his store, which he owns with his wife Kattya Castellón. According to the warrant, the arrest was based on retail products seized from their store on Sept. 14 or purchased there by undercover officers in August.

18 Wheels keep turning for Drew Foust and his latest outfit, WHEELHOUSE, who’ll ring in the New Year with a special show at the Flat Iron on Dec. 31. Foust is the central cog in the rotating band of characters. “Wheelhouse is collaborative,” he explained.

ADVERTISING Marketing TRAVIS WAGEMAN travis@yesweekly.com KAREN GRISSOM karen@yesweekly.com Promotion NATALIE GARCIA

DISTRIBUTION JANICE GANTT ANDREW WOMACK We at YES! Weekly realize that the interest of our readers goes well beyond the boundaries of the Piedmont Triad. Therefore we are dedicated to informing and entertaining with thought-provoking, debate-spurring, in-depth investigative news stories and features of local, national and international scope, and opinion grounded in reason, as well as providing the most comprehensive entertainment and arts coverage in the Triad. YES! Weekly welcomes submissions of all kinds. Efforts will be made to return those with a self-addressed stamped envelope; however YES! Weekly assumes no responsibility for unsolicited submissions. YES! Weekly is published every Wednesday by Womack Newspapers, Inc. No portion may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. First copy is free, all additional copies are $1.00. Copyright 2021 Womack Newspapers, Inc.

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PRESENTS

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Unwind on Main: A new scene for High Point

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Chanel Davis

Editor

he newest eatery and entertainment venue in High Point has been a long time coming.

Unwind on Main Cafe and Bar, located at 144 N. Main St., began work in November 2020 and opened in April, but the owners wanted to ensure it was just

right for the public.

“We’re about being a place where you can come, there’s a positive vibe and the energy is high,” said owner and operator Anthony Anderson. “You can get a bite to eat, something to drink, or something sweet to eat. Whatever you’re into.

We’ve got something for everybody.”

Anderson said while opening during the pandemic was slightly difficult, it’s all about the vibe that is created, which is in the name.

“We want it to be a place that people feel comfortable coming to regardless of what you have on for a day out or an

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evening to unwind,” he said. “That’s part of the reason why we moved forward with an opening during the pandemic.

People were dealing with so much, personally and emotionally, I just thought it would be a great place with a great name to identify what we all were dealing with — from being stuck in the house, having nothing to do, our social lives being disrupted by an invisible enemy.”

The cafe focuses on desserts, cocktails, and live music. Patrons can order up everything from the sweet to savory.

The menu varies and includes light meal items like roasted veggie flatbread and vegetable spring rolls to the more savior items including chicken wings, collard greens, and macaroni and cheese. Everything is prepared in-house except for the desserts, which are prepared by Favor Desserts in Durham.

“We’ve got a pretty good menu of items to offer when it comes to food,” he said.

The Thomasville native is familiar with the area and admits that corner has traditionally been a hard one for past businesses but believes the concept of live music will help drive people to the area. He said that reception so far has been great.

DECEMBER 29, 2021 - JANUARY 4, 2022

“We’ve had some challenges communicating with the public about who we are and what we do, but I believe we’re turning a corner in terms of visibility,” Anderson explained. “We have quite a few people traveling from Greensboro and Winston-Salem to hang out with us.”

The former teacher and football coach is passionate about business, also owning Cafe Unwind, located at 9 E. Main St. in Thomasville. He was originally going to open up at the exact spot in High Point years ago, but another business beat him to the punch.

“I have a passion for educating folks.

Now I just do it in business and finance,” he said. “I’m always looking for opportunities to teach and to coach.”

Anderson will have plenty of time to teach. Like most businesses within the last year, he said he’s short on an important aspect of his business — employees.

“At this moment in time, it’s so hard to find workers. It is rough. That’s the challenge to it all right now,” he said.

“Everybody’s got the same problems.

That’s why I found myself at the cafe every day for the most part. Kind of hard to find help.”

Which Anderson is desperately working on as he continues to offer High Point an alternative entertainment venue.

“That is what makes us truly different.

We have live entertainment, at a mini-

mum, two days a week. We’ve got some really good bands and talent out here.”

Anderson says he spends the beginning of his weeks reaching out to bands in the Triad and different talent to get them to come to Unwind. While space is limited, he’s willing to work with anyone willing to play.

“When they leave, they are already booking for the next month. I’m even noticing some other places have been able to get them to come to town,” he said. “I think, right now, we’re kind of, in some regard, blazing the trail when it comes to hosting live music in High Point. We have very limited space, but the response has been great.”

A trail that Anderson plans to keep ablaze.

“We plan to continue to become a fixture in the city and to continue to drive traffic downtown,” he said. “If we don’t have anything, there’s nothing going on in that corridor. Obviously, there’s no other business that is open the hours that we’re open that drives traffic downtown. So right now, we’re truly a destination. But I think we have the ability to be the melting part of the city.”

For more information, hours, and a menu, visit www.thecafeunwind.com. !

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

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RiverRun showcases award-winning documentary in first Indie Lens Pop-Up screening of 2022 The RiverRun International Film Festival kicks off the New Year with the latest “Indie Lens Pop-Up” virtual screening, which will take place 7 pm January 4th.

Reteaming with Mark Burger PBS NC, RiverRun will present the award-winning Contributor documentary feature Missing in Brooks County, a taut and timely examination of the plight of illegal immigrants, whose desperate attempts to cross the border into the United States can have fatal consequences. Since 1998, almost 8,000 have died in Brooks County, TX alone.

The hour-long film, which was codirected by cinematographer/producer Jeff Bemis and cinematographer/producer Lisa Molomot, focuses on two families seeking loved ones who disappeared near Brooks County after crossing the

Missing In Brooks County border. In addition to bureaucratic red tape, the families also face racism and scorn from those in the community adamantly opposed to illegal immigration.

Following the screening, there will be a panel discussion featuring local

experts and advocates in immigration and immigration services, and audience members are encouraged to ask questions and post comments via the virtual chat. This is a free event, but registration is required and can be done so by signing

up at https://riverrunfilm.com/.

Regarding the ongoing series of screenings, “we have been a partner of the Indie Lens Pop-Up series for a number of years and are honored to be one of a select group of screening partners nationwide,” said Rob Davis, RiverRun executive director.

At the 2021 RiverRun festival, Missing in Brooks County won the Human Rights Award in the documentary features competition, and the film has also won awards at the Ashland International Film Festival, Atlanta DocuFest, Doc.Boston Documentary Film Festival, Fargo Film Festival, Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, Mystic Film Festival, Newburyport Documentary Film Festival, Ojai Film Festival, San Luis Obispo International Film Festival, Tacoma Film Festival, Thin Line Festival, and Toronto Arthouse Film Festival.

The 24th annual RiverRun International Film Festival is scheduled to take place April 21-30, 2022. For more information about the free screening and other RiverRun events, visit https://riverrunfilm.com. !

Celebrating leading ladies of the stage and screen Given that this year marks the 20th anniversary of screen legend Natalie Wood, the details of that tragic case continue to generate headlines around the world. Earlier this week, Yahoo! News ran a comprehensive article on the investigation, which many believe was unsatisfactory.

Oscar-nominated screenwriter Gavin Lambert (1924-2005), who adapted his best-selling novel Inside Daisy Clover for the 1965 film starring Wood in the title role, was a stalwart friend and confidante of the actress, and his biography Natalie Wood: A Life, (368 pages, $19.95 retail), which was originally published in 2004 (shortly before Lambert’s death), has been reissued in paperback by the University of Kentucky Press.

Naturally, Lambert addresses the circumstances surrounding her drowning on Nov. 29. 1981 but is equally a compassionate, in-depth portrayal of a beautiful talent who contended with a horrendous stage mother, whose complexity and depression frequently affected her personal and professional relationships, and whose WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

star continues to burn bright in the hearts of fans the world over. Natalie Wood: A Life is a rollercoaster ride, yet Lambert refrains from maudlin sentiment — and his own, palpable, personal grief over her fate — to convey her life story in a compassionate and respectful, yet undeniably mournful manner. If it’s not the best biography of Natalie Wood, A Life is certainly part of the conversation.

The University of Kentucky Press has also reissued Lambert’s 1997 biography Nazimova: A Biography (432 pages, $24.95 retail), an equally comprehensive look at the life and career of the Russian-born actress Alla Nazimova (1897-1945), whose name is forever linked to Rudolph Valentino but whose own story has rarely been told with such depth and dimension. The official University of Kentucky Press website is https://www.kentuckypress.com/.

On a more upbeat note, becker&mayer! offers a celebration of the life of one of the most beloved television personalities in the media’s history: Betty White: 100 Remarkable Moments in an Extraordinary

Life (256 pages, $35 retail). It’s only fitting, causes. She comes across as a hard worker, as White will celebrate her 100th birthday someone with a boundless heart, and, quite simply, a genuinely nice person. It’s a in 2022. real valentine to a grand lady. The officer Award-winning journalist and best-sellbecker&mayer! website is https://www2. ing author Ray Richmond, an unabashed quartoknows.com/BeckerMayer. ! admirer of White’s, has — as the book’s title implies — eschewed the traditional biographical trappings to focus on 100 See MARK BURGER’s reviews of current movies on highlights of her life and career, which Burgervideo.com. © 2021, Mark Burger. includes a Lifetime Achievement Award from SAG (Screen Actors Guild), being the fourth woman inducted into the Television Hall of Fame, and a slew of accolades and awards, including one for hosting Saturday Night Live in 2010.

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Hightower calls Greensboro’s social district ‘recipe for disaster’ “I don’t think we did our due diligence,” said Greensboro District 1 City Council representative Sharon Hightower to YES! Weekly on Thursday.

Hightower was speaking of the Ian McDowell Dec. 21 City Council meeting, in which Council voted 7-2 to Contributor establish a “Social District” in downtown Greensboro, in which pedestrians can wander with alcoholic beverages in designated to-go cups starting in March 2022.

The Yes votes were from Mayor Nancy Vaughan, Mayor Pro Tem Yvonne Johnson, District 3’s Justin Outling, District 4’s Nancy Hoffman, District 5’s Tammi Thurm, and At-Large representatives Marikay Abuzuaiter and Hugh Holston.

The two opposing votes were from Hightower and District 2’s Goldie Wells.

Two hours and 20 minutes into the meeting, Mayor Vaughan announced that the next item was “an ordinance enacting Chapter 26, Article 11 of the Greensboro Code of Ordinances, to be titled Social District.” Vaughan then started asking the City Attorney for a “brief overview,” but as she spoke those two words, Mayor Pro Tem Johnson said, “move the item.”

Proposed map of the Social District “Madam Mayor, as soon as you have an overview, I have some concerns,” said Hightower.

“Okay, but keep in mind it has been moved by Mrs. Johnson,” said Vaughan.

“This is something that has been authorized by the Legislature recently,” said City Attorney Chuck Watts, “and also that the staff is interested in doing, so it can be done.”

Vaughan then asked Hightower to state her concerns.

“I think this is a recipe for disaster,” said Hightower. “I think that when we say we’re concerned about violent acts that have happened at nightclubs and other places that sell alcohol, and now we’re saying, let’s have a social area where they can just walk around and take their alcohol from place to place,

and it doesn’t seem contained.”

Assistant City Manager for Public Safety Trey Davis offered what he called clarity. “We’ve been working with the businesses that are inside the footprint for the identified map for the social district area.”

Davis then stated that the hours for the social district would be from 12 to 9 p.m. and that “if a person purchases an alcoholic drink from one establishment, they can’t walk into another establishment with that drink.”

The text of the ordinance, which was posted online with the meeting agenda, also states that the drink containers must clearly identify the establishment from which they were purchased, display a “logo or other mark unique to the Greensboro Social District,” that they can’t be made of glass, cannot contain more than 16 fluid ounces and must display “in no less than 12-point font, the statement, Drink Responsibly - Be 21.”

It also states, “Only alcoholic beverages purchased from a permittee located in or contiguous to the Downtown Greensboro Social District may be possessed and consumed.”

Hightower expressed concern that the ordinance “trusts the person to throw his drink away” before walking into another restaurant, “but if he’s paid $15 for his drink, he ain’t going to throw it away.”

Hightower then asked if the ordinance would allow someone to take a restaurant into Center City Park.

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restated her concerns, although she did not elaborate on her statement about Center City Park being excluded.

“For me, the main issue is that we’re saying we want to have a safety review board and that we have violent acts at certain types of establishments, but we’re promoting that very thing out in the public. When I was reading through the whole ordinance, I was like, are they kidding me? I’m a little concerned it may come back to bite us.”

She also pointed out that drinking in pedestrian areas can lead not only to violence but to ignoring social distancing. “People are already so bad about that. I just left Friendly Shopping Center, and I had to keep stepping back and telling people to back away.”

Shortly after conversing with Hightower, this writer exchanged messages with Tal Blevins, owner of the downtown restaurant Machete, who said that he does not foresee his establishment participating in the Social District by serving alcohol-to-go.

“I’m not against it per se, but I don’t see the advantages to local businesses or downtown as a whole. It’s still against the law to take alcoholic beverages into an establishment that already serves alcohol, and it’s not clear in the ordinance if you can take an alcoholic beverage off the street into a business that doesn’t have an alcohol permit, so I’m not sure how much it will positively affect retailers. I’m also not sure it will help individual restaurants and bars since someone who has to stay onpremises might have a couple of drinks and a snack, and now it may just be one grab-and-go drink for the road. It seems like it’s just trying to create an easy way to mobile bar hop and carry your drink with you, so it’s really just about drinking on the sidewalk.”

Blevins also pointed out potential safety and health issues.

“What’s the plan to monitor and react to potentially dangerous situations as they occur? There are also sanitation concerns, like will there be enough trashcans for empty containers and increased access to public toilets? I just don’t see the social district as it’s defined as having a large, positive impact on downtown businesses. Unfortunately, it likely makes the area more ripe for abuse that may potentially drive shoppers away.” !

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“Center City Park is not within the footprint of the Social District,” replied Davis. “There will be signs notifying persons that alcohol is not permitted in those areas.”

Mayor Vaughan pointed out that the new statewide legislation allows social districts to operate until midnight, but the city had opted to end it at 9 p.m. “to keep people from wandering around or waiting in club lines” with alcohol later in the evening.

Hightower replied “it seems like we’re becoming more and more loose with it — we allow a lot of things with alcohol, but we criminalize marijuana to the point that people get thrown in jail for years.”

Goldie Wells then said that her copy of the agenda did not include a map, and asked Assistant City Manager Kim Sowell to describe the area encompassed by the Social District.

“If you think about it as a square, it goes from Greene to Market down to Davie and turn left. It does incorporate LeBauer Park but does not incorporate Center City Park. Then it goes back to Elm Street down to the Tanger Center.”

This was the first public discussion

by Council of the matter and occurred only after the initial motion for approval had been made. Hightower expressed concern about “just hearing about this tonight” and “it just being dropped in the agenda, with no work session on it, and now you say that LeBauer is included but not Center City.”

District 4’s Nancy Hoffman said that the reason for including LeBauer is that Café Europa opens on it, and the park includes two kiosks serving food and alcohol.

Hightower pointed out that B. Christopher’s on Elm is inside the district, and LeBauer is part of it, “but Center City, despite being sandwiched between them, is not. I think I know why Center City is not included. I’m not currently going to say out loud, but I think I know why.”

Justin Outling also commented that the map of the district was “not very contiguous.” Tammi Thurm asked what would be done about people walking out of B. Christopher’s with their drinks and “cutting through” Center City Park to reach LeBauer. Trey Davis replied that there would be both signs and public safety officers to redirect them around the excluded park.

Wells expressed concern about “people walking up and down the street with a drink” and her fear that the city does not have “enough ambassadors and police to keep up with that.”

The ordinance then passed 7-2.

In a Thursday phone conversation with this writer, Sharon Hightower

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NOMINATION PERIOD STARTS JANUARY 9 AND RUNS THROUGH FEBRUARY 6!

THOSE VOTED IN THE TOP FOUR DURING THE NOMINATION PERIOD IN EACH CATEGORY WILL MOVE ON TO FINAL ROUND OF VOTING MARCH 7-APRIL 17.

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voices

Senate Hopefuls Budd, McCrory on Triad Today

O

ff-year elections are not usually ripe with drama, but 2022 is already proving the exception. For one thing, there is still the lingering specter Jim Longworth of Donald Trump, and how he and his false claims of voter Longworth fraud may affect at Large turnout. There’s Joe Biden’s sinking poll numbers and a razorthin Democratic majority in both houses of Congress, which have Republicans salivating. And then there’s gerrymandering and the Courts. Here in North Carolina, Congressional candidates have tried to position themselves to run in districts that may or may not exist, and a primary that has been rescheduled more times than a pandemic football game. And that brings us to the race for United States Senate, and to the folks

who want to replace Richard Burr, who is retiring to count his money.

Only a few weeks ago, there were six leading contenders for Burr’s seat.

Among the Democratic candidates were State Senator Jeff Jackson, Erica Smith, and Judge Cheri Beasley, while former Governor Pat McCrory, Congressman Ted Budd, and former Congressman Mark Walker were vying for the Republican nomination. However, shortly after the GOP map was drawn, Smith and Walker dropped out of their respective Senate races and announced bids to run for Congress. Then Jackson folded his tent while Walker dipped one toe back into the Senate race until the final maps were ratified.

In an attempt to give voters an objective look at the remaining Senate field, I featured Judge Beasley on last week’s “Triad Today” show, and I interviewed Budd and McCrory for this week’s episode.

Among the questions I put to Pat and Ted were: How is Trump’s endorsement going to affect the primary and general elections? What can you do as Senator

to help stem the tide of gun violence in America? Which of your accomplishments are you most proud of? And, Who had the most impact on your decision to go into politics?

I also asked both men why they wanted to serve in Washington, a place where there was so much partisan bickering and vitriol.

Pat: The main reason I’m running for the Senate is because Washington is broken. Just look at when the federal and State government started paying people more not to work than to work. That’s when I said, “I’m running.” It reminded me of when I became Governor in 2013, and I had all these protesters because I had reduced unemployment compensation at a time when there were plenty of job openings. There were “help wanted” signs all over North Carolina, and no one was taking them. And a lot of employers told me the reason those folks aren’t taking the jobs is because they make more on unemployment than they do coming to work for us. I reduced unemployment compensation equal to what South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia

were paying, and three months later, North Carolina had the largest drop in unemployment in the country.

Ted: I think about where I came from in Davie County, about 35 minutes west of here, and the people out there and all over the State, just want someone to stand up for them. They feel like Washington D.C. has largely forgotten them, and the Beltway has. And so they need people that they elect to remember them, remember who sent them there, and that they’re standing up for the forgotten men and women of America.

I’ve never been one to stand on the sidelines. I’m not a complainer, I’m a doer.

I threw my hat in the ring back in 2016 when there was a 17-way primary, and it worked out, and I’ve had the privilege of serving since then, and now I’m trying for the U.S. Senate.

“Triad Today” airs Saturday at 7:30 a.m. on abc45, and Sunday at 11 a.m. on MY48. !

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).

2021-22 season FEBRUARY

Garrison Keillor Jim Stafford & John Ford Coley An Evening with The Machine Darin & Brook Aldridge Hedy! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr 26 Jon Reep 04 05 18 19 24

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SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 2022 DOORS OPEN @ 6:30PM // SHOW STARTS @ 7:30PM James Gregory creates an evening of non-stop laughter with his down-home sensibilities and inclusive Southern accent.

He is a master storyteller and world-class comedian. The James Gregory show turns the clock back to a time when life was simpler, to a better time before the death of common sense.

07 Voctave 25 Jump, Jive & Wail with The Jive Aces 26 Sons of Mystro

APRIL

23 In The Light of Led Zeppelin 29 Ballet Folklorico de Los Angeles

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15 Raleigh Ringers Acts and dates subject to change.

For up to date news, visit our website.

VISIT: HighPointTheatre.com for more information | FOR TICKETS CALL: 336-887-3001 YES! WEEKLY

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flicks

Red Rocket explodes with humor and unexpected charm

T Mark Burger

Contributor

hroughout his career, filmmaker Sean Baker (Tangerine, The Florida Project) has evinced a fondness for characters who exist on the fringes of conventional society, and nowhere is that more evident than in his latest — and possibly best —

film, Red Rocket.

Set in 2016, with the Presidential election simmering in the background, the narrative follows Mikey (Simon Rex), who returns home to the Gulf Coast of Texas after having left years before to find fame and fortune in Hollywood.

For a time, he was successful. As “Mikey Saber,” he was an award-winning porn star considered one of the best in the business. Now, having fallen upon hard times, he returns home, his ego battered and his career in tatters.

Mikey’s return is greeted by his estranged wife Lexi (Bree Elrod), herself a former porn star, with such affectionate sentiments as “What are you doing here?” and “Why are you here?” He’s not welcome, to say the least, but he manages to sweet-talk his way into bedding down on Lexi’s couch. His previous work experience doesn’t exactly appeal to potential employers, so he falls back on his high-school standby — selling weed.

Mikey is a marvelously realized character, a quintessential lovable loser who never accepts responsibility and blames others for a litany of failures during his lifetime. Rex, who actually toiled in the adult entertainment industry early in his career, plays Mikey with a hilariously misguided cockiness and swagger, tinged with desperation. He’s bad news and he knows it, but he’ll never admit to it.

During a visit to a local donut shop, Mikey is immediately taken with the girl behind the counter, a precocious, freckle-faced teenager who calls herself Strawberry (Susanna Son). Mikey is smitten, to an extent, but when he sees Strawberry he sees dollar signs. With his WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

“mentoring,” he’s certain she can be the next big porn star — and his ticket back to the big time. Were Rex not so likable and Son not so assured, their relationship could have been the film’s downfall.

Remarkably, it’s just the opposite. The characters are so well realized that the sleaze factor diminishes considerably, and the actors have terrific chemistry.

Rex’s revelatory performance is matched by the other actors, many of whom have never acted before. Elrod, who had a small role in Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island (2010), brings a bruised glamor to her role as Lexi. Life, and Mikey, have dealt her enough bad hands in life, but she’s not quite able to resist her affection for him, even if she knows he can’t be relied upon and things will, most likely, end badly. One can see the hope and the hurt in her eyes.

Brenda Deiss, as Lexi’s mother Lil, may appear a bit addled, but in one remarkable scene she lays down the law to Mikey, expressing how she is determined to protect her daughter from further anguish. Ethan Darbone plays next-door neighbor Lonnie, who is unparalleled in his fan worship of Mikey but whose unswerving loyalty comes at an unexpected price. Shih-Ching Tsou, who has produced and appeared in Baker’s previous films, is deliciously deadpan as Strawberry’s disapproving manager at The Donut Hole.

The real find, however, is Son as Strawberry. This is a character that could easily have fallen into the caricature of the bubble-headed teen bimbo, but Son brings out the character’s intelligence and heart. Her promiscuity is, essentially, the result of being bored. She is flattered by the attention and praise Mikey lavishes upon her, but she’s not necessarily fooled by his promises. In many ways, she is the film’s smartest, savviest character. She can see through Mikey’s bravado but, what the hell, she’ll enjoy it while it lasts.

One of Red Rocket’s most potent qualities is how Baker and co-screenwriter Chris Bergoch deftly mine the humor — and the humanity — of the characters’ quirks and eccentricities, but the film never condescends to them. You may laugh at them — long and hard in some cases — but one develops an affection

for them. They aren’t simply the butt of jokes.

Admittedly, Red Rocket occasionally meanders, with some plot threads that aren’t fully developed, but Baker always puts the narrative right back on track.

This is an unexpected gem, admittedly

not for all tastes, but richly rewarding and even insightful at its best, which is much of the time. !

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

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[NEWS OF THE WEIRD] A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE

Chuck Shepherd

A couple in Sherbrooke, Quebec, were each fined $1,500 on Jan. 9, when police spotted the pair walking outside about an hour after the city’s 8 p.m. curfew, with the husband wearing

a leash, CTV News reported. The city’s COVID-19 curfew allows for dog-walking after 8 p.m., but police rejected the couple’s claim they were following the rules. It was the first weekend under new province-wide restrictions imposed by Premier Francois Legault, and officers throughout Quebec handed out more than 750 tickets.

AWWWWWW

Russell Jones of London couldn’t figure out why his dog, Billy, was favoring

one of his front paws while walking. He took the pet to the veterinarian to have X-rays, United Press International reported, but the vet found nothing wrong.

Jones, however, had recently broken his own ankle and was wearing a cast and limping. At the $400 vet visit, the doctor suggested that Billy was simply imitating his owner. Man’s best friend, indeed.

WEIRD SCIENCE

— Researchers have solved the mystery of how bare-nosed wombats, native to southeastern Australia, produce poop in cubes, reports the International Business Times. Wildlife ecologist Scott Carver of the University of Tasmania is lead author on a study, published Jan. 28 in the journal Soft Matter, that details the particular inner workings of the wombat’s digestive tract that produce the squareshaped dung. “This ability ... is unique in the animal kingdom,” Carver said. “Our research found that ... you really can fit a square peg through a round hole.”

— Angie Yen, 27, of Brisbane, Australia, had her tonsils removed on April 19, a simple surgery that went smoothly, News.com reported. But on April 28, as she got ready for work, she started singing in the shower and noticed something unusual about her voice. “I was singing in a different sound and also talking words in a funny accent,” Yen said. She called a friend, who agreed that her accent suddenly sounded Irish and told her about FAS, foreign accent syndrome. Yen went to the hospital, but doctors told her to go home and see if the new accent would disappear in a few days. Nearly two weeks later, the brogue remains, and Yen is scheduled for an MRI and a visit with a neurologist. “I’m very lucky to have very supportive friends and family,” she said.

“If they find something hopefully there is a cure or treatment for it.”

THE ARISTOCRATS

Rapper Lil Uzi Vert, whose real name is Symere Woods, revealed on Instagram in early February that he has had a $24 million 10-carat pink diamond implanted in his forehead, reported Rolling Stone.

According to Simon Babaev, spokesman for the New York-based jeweler Eliantte & Co. that implanted the stone, Uzi fell in love with the marquise-shaped diamond when he saw it in 2017 and has been making payments on it as he determined what he wanted to do with it. “We didn’t think he was serious about it,” said Babaev, but as it became clear that he was, “we engineered a specific mounting that clips and locks in place. There’s a whole mechanism involved.”

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DECEMBER 29, 2021 - JANUARY 4, 2022

WEIRD HISTORY

In an auction in Chesapeake City, Maryland, that closed on Feb. 8, a white wooden toilet seat pilfered from Adolf Hitler’s retreat in the Bavarian Alps sold for about $18,750, The Sun reported.

Ragnvald C. Borch, a U.S. soldier who spoke German and French, was one of the first to arrive at the Berghof at the end of World War II. His senior officers told him to “get what you want” from the damaged property, so Borch grabbed a toilet seat and shipped it home to New Jersey, where he displayed it in his basement.

Bill Panagopulos of Alexander Auctions said, “This was as close to a ‘throne’ as the dictator would ever get.” Borch’s son put the “trophy” up for auction; the buyer was not identified.

AWESOME!

In 1961, when she was 10 years old, Gwen Goldman sent a letter to New York Yankees general manager Roy Hamey, offering her services as a bat girl. Hamey responded, “In a game dominated by men a young lady such as yourself would feel out of place in a dugout.” Goldman kept the letter from Hamey on her bulletin board for the next 60 years, and her daughter recently forwarded it to current general manager Brian Cashman. On June 28, United Press International reported, Goldman was invited to Yankee Stadium to fulfill her dream. Her visit included a tour of the clubhouse, meet-and-greet with players and coaches, and photos with umpires — plus she got to throw out the first pitch wearing a full pinstripe Yankees uniform. “Sixty years thinking about this and here it is,” Goldman said.

SAY WHAT?

The Guardian reported on July 19 about a phenomenon among American preschoolers called the Peppa Effect. The hypothesis is that children who watched a lot of “Peppa Pig” during the pandemic lockdown have developed British accents and started using British terms like “mummy” (mommy), “give it a go” (try it) and “satnav” (GPS). Wall Street Journal reporter Preetika Rana tweeted that her niece “had an American accent before the pandemic. Now she has a posh English accent.” One responder agreed: “And for Christmas I had to put out a freaking mince pie for Father Christmas, or, as we call him here in the States, Santa Claus.” !

© 2021 Chuck Shepherd. Universal Press Syndicate.

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

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This year has been a whirlwind, but what’s a storm without a few heroes?

Chanel Davis This year Editor we wanted to highlight just some of the Triad’s Top Essential Workers. While there are many unsung heroes in many positions, below are a few that we’ve seen, heard, or appreciate the most from 2021.

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Pushing Through the Pandemic: Triad’s Top Essential Workers

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Dr. Christopher A. Ohl

Healthcare Workers

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center’s Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Christopher A. Ohl has seen his fair share of time in the spotlight the past two years.

He’s updated the Triad on all major television networks on the do’s, don’ts, and dangers of the unmovable Coronavirus. He continues to do just that and continues to fight off the widespread virus that crippled the nation.

The sharing of his knowledge via mass media has informed many people that he wouldn’t have necessarily come in contact with in his daily practice.

DECEMBER 29, 2021 - JANUARY 4, 2022

Dr. Christopher A. Ohl

It is without saying that some of the hardest-working individuals since 2019 have scrubs in their closets. The Healthcare workers in the Triad have undoubtedly worked well past any overtime they could’ve imagined and seen more than they wanted.

There have been travel nurses, flying in and out to assist, mobile morgues parked outside of the cities biggest hospitals, and nurses pulling double shifts to make sure residents in need get the care they deserve.

At a time when many people complained about their lives being on pause, our healthcare workers sacrificed everything to put their personal lives on pause to become 24-hour caregivers and companions to those who couldn’t be with their own families due to policies and procedures.

They gave medicine, care, and compassion in large doses, that way exceeding any job description that Moses Cone, Wake Forest, or Novant Health could’ve written.

There are no words that could ever thank them for their leadership, dedication, and compassion this year.

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3 4 5 6 Frontline Workers

City Managers

City Staff

Teachers

While many people were busy staying in the house, becoming pandemic teachers, and working from home, there was another group of people who ended up having to multitask the above while clocking into a physical workplace.

These Frontline workers include your local cashiers, police and fire, grocery store workers, postal workers, delivery drivers, truck drivers, janitors, and agricultural workers. All of those fine folks who can’t “work from home” nor take the day off without leaving you in a position to be able to receive goods and services.

Essentially called the “backbone of the pandemic” at one point, these ladies and gentlemen showed up every day to do his or her jobs in order to make everyone else comfortable. A sacrifice we all can celebrate and appreciate.

City Managers Lee Garrity, Tasha Ford, and David Parrish have all had the task (or burden) of running cities that didn’t really stop during this pandemic. All three work at the liberty of their respective city councils, but as history has shown, leadership matters. That didn’t change in a pandemic. These leaders have laid the groundwork for quite a successful year, with Ford beginning her work in High Point in July and Parrish exiting his post on June 30th.

Some of that leadership took the form of encouraging city staff to get vaccinated against COVID-19, including monetary vaccination incentives and weekly testing.

In an interview about one such proposed plan earlier this year, Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines said, “We believe that the only way to get this pandemic under control is for folks to be vaccinated, and so I think the city manager is offering incentives to get that going or the testing, and it’s possible in the future that we may go to a more mandated vaccination requirement.”

While City Councils voted on decisions and City Managers worked hard to put things in place, it was indeed up to the employees of those cities to ensure that policies, procedures, and the pandemic protocol was carried out.

Our cities would not be able to operate without our sewer and water technicians, waste management service workers, and transportation workers. All of the conveniences that we enjoyed in our homes would’ve been short-lived without these luxuries that make our homes comfortable.

Of course, we cannot forget the teachers!

The teachers who were already shortstaffed, underpaid, under-supplied, and burnt out before the pandemic hit. They then had to pivot (can’t be too tired of that word!!) to align their plans for online teaching for students who may or may not have access to the internet, still find time for professional development, deal with the social/emotional needs that their students had via the web and grade all work turned in. I’m sure this was doubly hard for teachers who had to not only run this obstacle course for a classroom of children but also had to make sure their own children made it in front of the computer to get their own lessons turned in, whether they were live or asynchronous.

“North Carolina’s educators work tirelessly to teach and support our children, including through a pandemic, and they deserve our gratitude, admiration, and respect,” Governor Roy Cooper said during Teacher Appreciation Week.

Kudos to these essential workers who over poured and overpowered to make sure those students still learned every day.

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School Boards and Schools

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools and Guilford County School Boards have both tackled pandemic-related issues and woes this last year. Winston-Salem/ Forsyth County Schools dealt with a new superintendent during this time and every educator’s worst nightmare — a fatal school shooting. Pandemic or not, that alone is difficult to deal with.

Guilford County Schools has dealt with massive HVAC problems and a shortage

of bus drivers and teachers. Both systems have dealt with opinionated parents when it comes to the mask mandate, looming teacher and bus driver strikes, and a learning slide that continues to get larger as COVID-19 clusters pop up in schools.

The pandemic has revealed the cracks and inequalities in the education system, and the boards have acknowledged these and are working to put things in place to counteract these issues in the future.

Guilford County Schools Board of Education

Dr. Mandy Cohen

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Guilford County Commissioners

County Commissioners

Commissioners in Forsyth and Guilford counties have worked very hard to keep residents safe this last year.

Both counties have enacted countywide mandates, lifting them as the numbers decreased, and attempted to crack down on businesses that operated without safe COVID-19 protocols. There have been meetings on how best to spend funds from the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill signed into law in response to the pandemic. They have held countless meetings with county health officials to monitor numbers and contact tracing to move forward in 2021.

“We outlined in our initial mask mandate the triggers for masking reconsideration.

At our last meeting, on November 2, our medical experts advised us that we had reached some of those trigger points and, as a result, we came together as a Board of Health to see if we are in a safer place in order remove masking in some part or in

total,” said Guilford County Commissioner Chair Skip Alston at a special called meeting on Nov. 15. “The right thing to do for your family, your friends, your neighbors, is to get vaccinated. However, we know that wearing a face mask when you’re in public indoor spaces is the second-best thing to reducing the spread of COVID-19.”

Dr. Mandy Cohen

The Readers

9 10 Cohen has graced televisions across the state for the last two years, and last year was no different as she gave weekly and monthly updates on how the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) was assisting North Carolinians during the Pandemic.

Cohen, who recently announced her resignation from the state’s health department, led residents through various color coordinated maps and statistics throughout the year as Cooper’s chief advisor and strategist when it comes to the pandemic.

“Mandy Cohen has shown extraordinary leadership during her tenure and she has worked every day during this pandemic to help keep North Carolinians healthy and safe,” said Governor Roy Cooper. “We are stronger because of her efforts, and I am enormously grateful for her service.”

Having been with the state for five years, Cohen will be replaced by Kody Kinsley, current NCDHHS Chief Deputy Secretary for Health and lead for COVID operations, beginning January 1.

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DECEMBER 29, 2021 - JANUARY 4, 2022

Forsyth County Commissioners

We must highlight you, our readers, for your diligent work in helping to keep the spread down. You’ve washed your hands and worn your masks. Remain vigilant in making sure we can continue to keep our numbers down, stay healthy, and keep covering your events.

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

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Charges dropped against hemp store owner On Dec. 17, the State of North Carolina dropped all charges against Hector Sanchez, coowner of Essential Hemp at 529 South Elm St. in Greensboro.

As previously reIan McDowell ported, Sanchez was arrested on Oct. 25 Contributor on charges of selling “marijuana” in his store, which he owns with his wife Kattya Castellón. According to the warrant, the arrest was based on retail products seized from their store on Sept. 14 or purchased there by undercover officers in August.

Castellón, former Assistant Director of Latino Affairs at UNCG, was never charged, but the arrest of Sanchez, a Latinx 15-year veteran of the US Navy, for selling products advertised by manufacturers as containing only legal Delta-8 THC, drew attention from attorneys and academics across the state.

Sanchez and Castellón called the arrest retaliation for Sanchez’s contacting the media about the alleged illegality of the September seizure, in which GPD sergeant and Homeland Security investigator D. S. Rakes confiscated merchandise and cash from Essential Hemp, but did not press charges for 41 days. The arrest came one day after the News and Record reported Sanchez’s claim that GPD had confiscated $25,000 worth of merchandise and held it 40 days without filing any charges. “We embarrassed them,” Sanchez said.

Dr. Phil Dixon of the UNC School of Government, whose specialties include cannabis/hemp law and search and seizure, said he found the arrest warrant lacking in probable cause, and called multiple statements made by Det. Rakes in the search warrant “particularly troubling” and “absurd.”

The order filed Dec. 17 by Guilford County Assistant District Attorney William H. Hill, dismissed the charges of Felony Possession of Marijuana, Felony Possession with the Intent to Sell Marijuana, and Felony Maintaining a Dwelling for the Purposes of Keeping a Controlled Substance.

It stated the rationale for the dismissal: “There is insufficient evidence to warrant a prosecution for the following reasons: Officer had PC (Probable Cause) bases for charge based on information gained from investigation. However, defendant purchased drugs from a distribuWWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

Hector Sanchez and Kattya Castellon tor who represented them as being lawful in NC, and therefor it appears that the defendant did not knowingly possess.”

Sanchez told YES! Weekly “while there is some relief in this, it is certainly not a proper conclusion.” On Dec. 23, he sent the following statement: “The test results that allegedly show the products to have an illegal amount of Delta-9 THC have never been shown to me, nor has there been a forum convened in which I could have access to those documents. The document uses the word ‘drugs’ to describe the products in question and continues to say that the distributor who sold them to me misrepresented them as lawful in NC. This is problematic because the GPD seized over 900 products from our store, and we have not been told which have been deemed illicit ‘drugs.’ Therefore, we do not know which product we should discontinue the sale of.

Moreover, we know all of our suppliers to be of high integrity and honesty.”

He also asked “if GPD thinks that I got duped into buying and reselling ‘drugs’ then why isn’t GPD asking for my cooperation in an investigation of those

suppliers? I know that many other stores around the city sell the same products from the same sources.”

His attorney Julia Wall also offered a statement: “We’re glad the state recognized that Hector Sanchez should not have been charged with any crimes, and the case was quickly dismissed. Unfortunately, the Greensboro Police Department used this situation to seize Essential Hemp’s business inventory and caused over $25,000 in damage to the business. We never learned what products they believed were illegal, and they never turned over the lab report that was used to get the search warrant. That is frustrating and scary for other owners of legal hemp stores in town who are left vulnerable. What is to stop GPD from using the same type of search warrant in the future to take their property and shut their business down without explanation? That is why we are ready to move into the civil suit against the City of Greensboro to recover for the property and revenue lost by Essential Hemp at the hands of GPD.” As he had with the statements of Det.

Rakes, Dixon had concerns about the ADA’s explanation.

“The language about Probable Cause isn’t really relevant to the dismissal.

Whether or not the arrest and charges were supported by Probable Cause is a judicial determination to be made by a reviewing judge. That didn’t happen here, because the case was dropped, and the warrants were not challenged in a suppression hearing.”

GPD Public Information Officer Ronald Glenn was emailed and called on Oct. 27 to inquire whether GPD is aware that Delta-8 THC is legal under the 2018 Farm Bill. They were also asked if it was unusual for an officer such as Det. Rakes to be simultaneously employed by both the GPD and the Department of Homeland Security.

Two months later, neither Glenn nor anyone from the City of Greensboro has responded to those queries. !

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.

DECEMBER 29, 2021 - JANUARY 4, 2022

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[FACES & PLACES]

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Jake’s Billards 12.27.21 | Greensboro

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Wheels keep turning for Drew Foust and the Wheelhouse

heels keep turning for Drew Foust and his latest outfit, Wheelhouse, who’ll ring in the New Year with a special show at the Flat Iron on Dec. 31.

Katei Cranford Foust is the central cog in the rotating band of characters.

Contributor “Wheelhouse is collaborative,” he explained. “So there are these intersections where influences get stacked or merged.

Having an ensemble of interchangeable musicians is so much fun. Some nights we have stew and some nights we have gumbo.”

Pulling various flavors, “if Jive Mother Mary is backing me then the audience is in for a rock show,” he noted of the ways the wheels turn. “If Sam Fribush is playing, it’s gonna get funky. Chuck Pinckney brings a hip-hop element to my songs. DaShawn Hickman’s sacred steel gospel goodness on my tunes is something very special, as is Molly McGinn’s sweet vocal harmonies.”

Growing up around Alamance County, Foust began playing guitar as a teenager. He picked up the harmonica in his mid-20s, briefly dabbling in the world of being a one-man band. “I soon found out that it was too much work to be playing guitar, drums, harmonica, and singing at the same time,” he said. “It was fun until it wasn’t.”

Now at 30, he continues to “never stop listening and learning,” as both a bandleader and friend, putting the wheels of his latest project in motion thanks to an acoustic duo with longtime pal, Mason Keck (from Jive Mother Mary). “After several years of reaching out to different folks and developing close friendships, the project inadvertently snowballed into a collection of amazing musicians that I can call on individually.”

Setlists roll with Foust’s original material, mixed with covers that suit the particular Wheelhouse in rotation. “It just has different flavors depending on the personnel,” he noted of the open-ended approach mirrored within his songwriting.

“Most of the time the theme shapes itself within the song,” he explained. “Rarely do I know what I’m getting into until I’m YES! WEEKLY

PHOTO BY ANNA NORWOOD

PHOTO BY JUSTIN GARTMAN

there. What may start out as a sappy love song could end up a satirical narrative.

That process is always interesting; serving the song.”

Over his incarnations, Foust maintains a “play it as I feel it” mantra. “I use the phrase not only as a reminder not to overthink but also as a lifestyle,” he explained.

“To embrace or lean into a moment or feeling. It helps with keeping honest when creating, or doing anything for that matter.”

And he does a lot. “As a full-time working, single father of two daughters, I’ve got all the feelings,” he said. “Happy, joyful, overwhelmed, tired, depressed, deranged. Mostly, I try to focus on gratitude.

There’s so much to be grateful for.”

While “leaning into gratitude,” Foust

DECEMBER 29, 2021 - JANUARY 4, 2022

embraces emotions and an array of musical styles. ”There are so many influences to my sound and style, but I suppose it all comes back to the blues for me. Everything I love has that element,” he said, turning to his musical upbringing; and the influence both sets of grandparents hold over his work. “My paternal grandmother wrote southern gospel songs, and my maternal grandfather played blues and boogie piano,” he explained. “Though I’m not religious and hardly a pianist, those elements from my childhood are indirectly relevant in my music.”

Foust intends to tune toward more soulful elements for the New Year’s Eve lineup, with the Wheelhouse of the night featuring George Sluppick, Molly McGinn, DaShawn Hickman, Jimmy Washington,

and Jared Church. “It’s sure to be a large time,” Foust said. “A Memphis drummer, sacred steel, funky guitar and bass, and angelic harmony vocals—New Year’s Eve will be greasy, funky, and soulful,” he added, with the performance foreshadowing the record he’s working on over the holidays.

“I’m excited to announce that I’ll be tracking a full-length album between Christmas and New Year’s Eve,” Foust said. “I’ve assembled a team of my favorites at a sweet studio at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia.” Alex Bingham from Hiss Golden Messenger is on board as engineer. Wheelhouse players, including Sluppick, Keck, McGinn, Fribush, Hickman, and Washington are along for the ride, as well as Matt Laird and Maia Kamil. The goal is a classic soul record. “Sort of in the same vein of Memphis labels Stax and Hi Records,” he noted. “Needless to say, I’m really excited about this.”

Looking back on 2021, and to what lies ahead, “I’m just happy to be back at it, after everything that’s happened in the world,” Foust said. “It feels great to be performing. I needed it. Everyone needs it.

I’m hopeful that things continue to grow, for me and everyone. I think we’re all due for some prosperity.”

Drew Foust rings in the New Year with Wheelhouse on December 31, at the Flat Iron in downtown Greensboro. !

KATEI CRANFORD is a Triad music nerd who enjoys spotlighting artists and events.

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CHARLOTTE

BOJANGLES COLISEUM

2700 E Independence Blvd | 704.372.3600 www.boplex.com Dec 30: Charlie Wilson Jan 7: Ron White Jan 14: Tom Segura: I’m Coming Everywhere Jan 21: Jason Isbell w/ Special Guest Adia Victoria Feb 2: Joss Stone & Corinne Bailey Rae Feb 6: Winterjam22

CMCU AMPHITHEATRE former Uptown Amphitheatre 820 Hamilton St | 704.549.5555 www.livenation.com Apr 20: Modest Mouse May 16: Leon Bridges Jun 5: Barenaked Ladies

THE FILLMORE

1000 NC Music Factory Blvd | 704.916.8970 www.livenation.com Dec 30: Wakaan Takeover Jan 8: Wooli Jan 11: Allen Stone Jan 14: Anderson East Jan 15: Sainted feat. DJ Fannie Mae Jan 18: Motion City Soundtrack Jan 21: Two Friends Jan 25: Set It Off Jan 27: Cheat Codes Jan 28: Tenille Townes Feb 1: YUNGBLUD Feb 1: BIGBABYGUCCI Feb 5: Subtronics Feb 6: Mammoth WVH & Dirty Honey Feb 8: MUNA Feb 10: K.Flay

PNC MUSIC PAVILION 707 Pavilion Blvd | 704.549.1292 www.livenation.com Apr 30: Jimmy Buffet YES! WEEKLY

May 8: AJR - The OK Orchestra Tour May 12: Tim McGraw May 24: Foo Fighters May 29: Nick Cannon

Feb 3: Alan Parsons Live Project Feb 5: Shana Tucker Feb 9: Pat Metheny Side-Eye Feb 10: Al Strong & Trio

SPECTRUM CENTER

DPAC

333 E Trade St | 704.688.9000 www.spectrumcentercharlotte.com Jan 16: Trevor Noah Feb 6: Billie Eilish Feb 10: Jeff Dunham

DURHAM

CAROLINA THEATRE

309 W Morgan St | 919.560.3030 www.carolinatheatre.org Jan 9: The Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle Jan 15: Donna Washington Jan 16: Citizen Cope Jan 24: The Movement Jan 27: Tig Notaro Jan 28: Ashley McBryde Jan 29: Whitney Cummings

DECEMBER 29, 2021 - JANUARY 4, 2022

123 Vivian St | 919.680.2787 www.dpacnc.com Jan 12-13: Tom Segura Jan 14: Jo Joy Jan 16: Boyz II Men Jan 18: Erasure Jan 22: Trey Kennedy Jan 28-30: RENT Jan 31: Mystery Science Theater 3000 Feb 1: The Choir of Man

ELKIN

REEVES THEATER

129 W Main St | 336.258.8240 www.reevestheater.com Fourth Thursdays: Old-Time Jam Dec 31: NYE w/ Reeves House Band

Jan 8: Reliably Bad Jan 14: Cruz Contreras Jan 21: Jim Lauderdale Mar 4: Della Mae

GREENSBORO

BARN DINNER THEATRE

120 Stage Coach Tr. | 336.292.2211 www.barndinner.com Jan 8: Stephen Freeman Jan 22: The Lagacy - Motown Revue Jan 29: The Spirit of Harriet Tubman Feb 12: Walter Johnson Encounter Feb 19: Ms. Mary & The Boys

THE BLIND TIGER

1819 Spring Garden St | 336.272.9888 www.theblindtiger.com Dec 31: NYE 2022 w/ Jukebox Rehab Jan 7: Camel City Yacht Club Jan 8: Maiden Voyage Jan 18: Inhuman Condition w/ Crusadist Jan 20: Pressing Strings

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Jan 28: The Breakfast Club Feb 10: Big Mountain w/ Mighty Mystic

Carolina ThEaTrE

310 S. Greene Street | 336.333.2605 www.carolinatheatre.com Jan 9: Doug Baker

CoMEDY ZonE

1126 S Holden Rd | 336.333.1034 www.thecomedyzone.com Dec 31: Shaun Jones w/ Chris Wiles Jan 6-8: David a. arnold Jan 14-15: Kier “Junior” Spates Jan 28-30: David Koechner Feb 11-13: Jesus Trejo apr 1-3: Jason Banks

FlaT iron

221 Summit Ave | 336.501.3967 www.flatirongso.com Dec 26: The hit w/ Chuck Pinckney Dec 29: inTheBeatofThenight feat.

Prez Jan 2: The hit w/ Chuck Pinckney

GaraGE TavErn

5211 A West Market St | 336.763.2020 www.garagetaverngso.com Dec 30: Tony & Katy Dec 31: nYE Party w/ DJ Todd

GrEEnSBoro ColiSEuM

1921 W Gate City Blvd | 336.373.7400 www.greensborocoliseum.com Dec 31: The avett Brothers Jan 8: Greensboro hip hop Festival

PiEDMonT hall

2411 W Gate City Blvd | 336.373.7400 www.greensborocoliseum.com Feb 12: andy Gross

SouTh EnD BrEWinG Co. 117B W Lewis St | 336.285.6406 www.southendbrewing.com Tuesdays: Trivia night

STEvEn TanGEr CEnTEr

300 N Elm Street | 336.333.6500 www.tangercenter.com Jan 4: Shen Yun Jan 14: leanne Morgan Jan 15: The Texas Tenors Jan 21-23: Porgy and Bess feat. rhiannon Giddens Jan 25: Steve Martin

ThE iDioT Box CoMEDY CluB

503 N. Greene St | 336.274.2699 www.idiotboxers.com Dec 29: Trouble With Shapes Jan 1: 40 First Jokes of the new Year Jan 8: Maddie Wiener www.yesweekly.com

Jan 15: Brad Tassell Jan 22: ryan Bender Jan 27: Mo alexander Jan 29: Paul hooper Feb 5: Cabell Wilkinson Feb 12: robert Baril Feb 12: Eric Brown Feb 16: Drew harrison Mar 5: J Bliss

high point

haM’S PallaDiuM 5840 Samet Dr | 336.887.2434 www.hamsrestaurants.com Dec 31: hampton Drive

hiGh PoinT ThEaTrE

Read us on your phone when you can’t pick up a paper!

THE ALL-NEW

YESWEEKLY.COM

220 E Commerce Ave | 336.883.3401 www.highpointtheatre.com Jan 15: James Gregory

SWEET olD Bill’S

1232 N Main St | 336.807.1476 www.sweetoldbills.com Dec 30: Chris Sheppard Jan 6: Big Bump and the Stun Gunz Jan 13: TBD Jan 20: ladies auxiliary Jan 27: Matt Walsh’s Blue revue Feb 3: Shiela’s Traveling Circus

jamestown

ThE DECK

118 E Main St | 336.207.1999 www.thedeckatrivertwist.com Dec 31: Soul Central

kernersville

BrEaThE CoCKTail lounGE

221 N Main St. | 336.497.4822 www.facebook.com/BreatheCocktailLounge Wednesdays: Karaoke Fridays: DJ

lewisville

olD niCK’S PuB

191 Lowes Foods Dr | 336.747.3059 www.OldNicksPubNC.com Fridays: Karaoke

liberty

ThE liBErTY ShoWCaSE ThEaTEr

101 S. Fayetteville St | 336.622.3844 www.TheLibertyShowcase.com Jan 8: Mark Chesnutt Jan 22: The isaacs

December 29, 2021 - January 4, 2022

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22

raleigh

CCU MUSiC Park at WalnUt CrEEk

3801 Rock Quarry Rd | 919.821.4111 www.livenation.com nov 19-Jan 2: Magic of lights

linColn thEatrE

126 E. Cabarrus St | 919.831.6400 www.lincolntheatre.com Dec 29: Big Something w/ Maggie rose Dec 30: Big Something Dec 31: Big Something w/ Josh Phillips and ranford almond Jan 1: Big Something w/ Dr. Bacon Jan 8: the Eric Strickland Band, Sixteen Penny, rebels Fox Jan 9: School of rock raleigh Jan 13-14: ZoSo: led Zeppelin Experience Jan 15: anderson East w/ Bendigo Fletcher Jan 21: the Breafast Club 80’s Party Jan 22: Moon Water: tribute to Widespread Panic Jan 25: railroad Earth Jan 26: Cheat Codes w/ kastra Jan 27: Dopapod Jan 28: Who’s Bad: the Ultimate Michael Jackson Experience

Feb 3: american aquarium w/ old 97’s Feb 4: american aquarium w/ aaron lee tasjan Feb 5: american aquarium w/ Zach Bryan Feb 5: ripe w/ the Collection Feb 9: Cory and the Wongnotes feat. antwaun Stanley w/ Sierra hull

rED hat aMPhithEatEr 500 S McDowell St | 919.996.8800 www.redhatamphitheater.com May 7: aJr Jun 16: Cody Johnson Jul 16: Barenaked ladies

PnC arEna

1400 Edwards Mill Rd | 919.861.2300 www.thepncarena.com Feb 10: imagine Dragons Mar 2: Eagles Mar 19: Winter Jam 2022

winston-salem

BUll’S tavErn

408 West 4th St | 336.331.3431 www.bullswsnc.com Wednesdays: karaoke

BUrkE StrEEt PUB 1110 Burke St | 336.750.0097 www.burkestreetpub.com tuesdays: trivia

CB’S tavErn

3870 Bethania Station Rd | 336.815.1664 www.facebook.com/cbtavern Dec 31: the o.S.P. Band

Earl’S

121 West 9th Street | 336.448.0018 www.earlsws.com Dec 31: Shane Pruitt & Sam robins Jan 1: killer Wabbits

FoothillS BrEWing 638 W 4th St | 336.777.3348 www.foothillsbrewing.com Dec 29: Banjo Earth Jan 2: Sunday Jazz

MiDWaY MUSiC hall

11141 Old US Hwy 52, Suite 10 | 336.793.4218 www.facebook.com/midwaymusichallandeventcenter Wednesdays: line Dancing w/ Denise Dec 31: Sidekix Jan 1: Sidekix

thE raMkat

170 W 9th St | 336.754.9714 www.theramkat.com Dec 31: the Plaids Jan 7: Men in Black Jan 8: Donna the Buffalo Jan 13: Brown Mountain lightning Bugs, Sarah Sophia Jan 14: Spirit System, Ships in the night, Buried in roses Jan 15: rumours: a Fleetwood Mac tribute Jan 20: Bad Dog, Unknown nobodies, the Camel City Blackouts Jan 21: Marty Stuart & his Fabulous Superlatives Jan 22: leo kottke Jan 27: Songwriter’s Circle w/ Emily Stewart, ryan Johnson, Billie Feather, & Colin Cutler Jan 28: abbey road Feb 3: runaway gin: Phish tribute Feb 12: Cosmic Charlie Feb 19: Cannibal Corpse, Whitechapel, revocation, Shadow of intent

WiSE Man BrEWing

826 Angelo Bros Ave | 336.725.0008 www.wisemanbrewing.com Wednesdays: game night thursdays: Music Bingo Dec 31: DJSk

Small Business Spotlight

Listen every Sunday at 9 AM for WTOB’s Small Business Spotlight.

Hosted by Josh Schuminsky, you will learn about the many small, locally-owned businesses in the Winston-Salem area.

JANUARY 2

DeMarius Simmons - Southern Drone Company Rohit Sharma - AI Technology and Systems THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS

The Sportscenter Athletic Club is a private membership club dedicated to providing the ultimate athletic and recreational facilities for our members of all ages. Conveniently located in High Point, we provide a wide variety of activities for our members. We’re designed to incorporate the total fitness concept for maximum benefits and total enjoyment.

We cordially invite all of you to be a part of our athletic facility, while enjoying the membership savings we offer our established corporate accounts.

3811 Samet Dr • HigH Point, nC 27265 • 336.841.0100 FITNESS ROOM • INDOOR TRACK • INDOOR AQUATICS CENTER • OUTDOOR AQUATICS CENTER • RACQUETBALL BASKETBALL • CYCLING • OUTDOOR SAND VOLLEYBALL • INDOOR VOLLEYBALL • AEROBICS • MULTI-PURPOSE ROOM WHIRLPOOL • MASSAGE THERAPY • PROGRAMS & LEAGUES • SWIM TEAMS • WELLNESS PROGRAMS PERSONAL TRAINING • TENNIS COURTS • SAUNA • STEAM ROOM • YOGA • PILATES • FREE FITNESS ASSESSMENTS FREE E QUIPMENT O RIENTATION • N URSE RY • T E NNIS L E SSONS • W IRE L E SS INT E RNE T L OUNGE YES! WEEKLY

December 29, 2021 - January 4, 2022

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last call

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

BED OVER HEELS?

I’m a 29-year-old guy with a “keep it casual” relationship history, but I can’t stop thinking about this new girl at work. Beyond not wanting her to date Amy Alkon anyone else, I don’t want someone to Advice hurt her or make Goddess her sad. No other woman has ever made me feel this way. How do I know whether this is lust or the beginnings of falling in love? —Confused It’s easy to believe you’re “in love” when you’re really just in lust. To be fair, lust is a form of love...if you broaden the field to stuff like “I love, love, LOVE your boobs in that inappropriately tight sweater.”

In other words, lust is animal attraction, so the “inner beauty” that’s elemental to loving somebody is immaterial. I know this firsthand, having repeatedly been the target of interspecies sex predators, large and small.

A giant male goat chased me across my friend’s parents’ farm, trying to mount me — while my friends looked on laughing. A previous perv was six inches high and green: a friend’s lorikeet (a kind of parrot). He ran after me on his little bird feet all around another friend’s apartment, squawking the oh-so-sensual pickup line, “Otto, bird! Otto, bird!” I

bolted into the bathroom, slammed the door, and refused to come out till he was behind bars. #beaktoo Complicating the detangling of “love or lust?” is another important question: “Love or infatuation?” Falling in love is not love. It’s infatuation — an intense, usually lust-fueled obsession with our idea of who a person is: a projection of our hopes and romantic fantasies that often has little relationship to who they really are. That said, the sheer strength and intoxicating nature of infatuation — like being blind drunk on romantic possibility instead of Jim Beam — often leads to premature feelings of “We’re perfect for each other!”

People tend to believe the more they learn about a new person they’re into, the more into them they’ll be — a la “To know them is to love them.” However, psychologist Michael I. Norton finds that when we have the hots for someone we barely know, we’re prone to read ambiguity — foggy, partial information about them — as signs the person is like us.

These (perceived!) similarities amp up our “liking” for them — at first.

However, as time goes by, we can’t help but notice all the dissimilarities poking up, which leads us to like them less and less — a la “To know them is to loathe them.” In other words, rushing into a relationship of any permanence is the stuff dreams are made of — if you’ve always dreamed of being financially and emotionally incinerated in a grotesquely ugly divorce.

“Buyer beware” in love is best exercised in two ways: The first is “buyer be seriously slow.” Consider putting the person

you’re dating on secret probation for a year (or more). This will give you time to not just see the best in them but give it much-needed company: glimpses of the worst.

Second, explore whether your compatibility with a person is surface — “I love sushi! She loves sushi!” — or sustainably deep. The ideal tool for assessing this is the best definition of love I’ve ever read, and by “best,” I mean the most practically useful. It’s by Ayn Rand. (And no, I’m not one of the glassy-eyed worshippers of everything she ever said or wrote, but she nailed it on this.)

“Love is a response to values,” writes Rand. “It is with a person’s sense of life that one falls in love — with that essential sum, that fundamental stand or way of facing existence, which is the essence of a personality. One falls in love with the embodiment of the values that formed a person’s character, which are reflected in his widest goals or smallest gestures. ... It is one’s own sense of life that acts as the selector,” identifying one’s own core values in the other person.

Using this “values model” to determine compatibility requires some preliminary

work: figuring out your own values, meaning the principles you care most about — the guiding standards for the sort of person you want to be. If you’re in the “gotta get started on that” stage, recognizing what isn’t love — those love fakers, lust and infatuation — should help you avoid sliding into the committed relationship nightmare zone.

Ultimately, love is nautical: It’s both the ship that launched a thousand sappy cliches and, more vitally, a lifeboat. In lifeboat form, it gets romantic partners through the worst of times, major and, um, somewhat less major — like when your bae spends your entire date night searching Hulu for a movie to watch. Love is dropping your phone in the goldfish bowl to keep yourself from whispering, “Hey, Siri, where’s the legal line between murder and involuntary manslaughter?” !

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

answers [CROSSWORD] crossword on page 11

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[WEEKLY SUDOKU] sudoku on page 11

DECEMBER 29, 2021 - JANUARY 4, 2022

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make a brighter future happen make a way forward happen make a fresh start happen make opportunity happen make amazing happen AND DO IT ALL DEBT-FREE. The question isn’t whether you’ll make amazing happen, it’s when you’ll make amazing happen.

Now enrolling for Spring 2022

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