YES! Weekly - July 21, 2021

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ParticiPate in research Dr. Blair Wisco, a clinical psychologist at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, is currently recruiting participants for a research study. This research study examines emotional and physical reactions to memories of extremely stressful or traumatic experiences. In order to participate, you must be 18 years old or older and must be able to read and write in English. If you are interested in participating, first you will be asked to complete screening questions online or over the phone to see whether or not you are eligible for the study. If you are eligible, you will be invited to participate in the study, which involves five visits to Dr. Wisco’s lab on UNCG’s campus within two weeks. During the first lab visit (3 hours), you will be asked to complete an interview and fill out questionnaires about your emotions and life experiences. You will then wear a portable cardiac monitor under your clothes and to complete questionnaires on a tablet computer outside the lab on three separate days (30-minute set-up per day, plus time spent completing questionnaires). In the last lab visit (2 hours), you will be hooked up to a similar monitor in the lab and be asked to listen to audio-recorded scripts describing personal past experiences. If you participate in these procedures, you will be compensated $150 for your time. If you are interested in this research participation opportunity, please email copelab@uncg.edu to learn more and receive the screening questionnaire.

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JULY 21-27, 2021 VOLUME 17, NUMBER 29

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Greensboro, NC 27407 Office 336-316-1231 Fax 336-316-1930 Publisher CHARLES A. WOMACK III publisher@yesweekly.com EDITORIAL

“You can host anything, anywhere!” reads a banner at Airbnb.com. “Apparently, even if it belongs to somebody else,” said a former Greensboro resident after the company allowed a FRAUDULENT “HOST” to rent her home to UNCG students.

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

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It’s time for a cold brew and some hot tunes! The 17th Annual Rock 92/1075KZL SUMMERTIME BREWS FESTIVAL returns to the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center on Saturday, July 24 after going virtual last year.

5 If there’s one word that aptly describes A/PERTURE CINEMA and the other area businesses that have managed to weather this unexpected storm, its “resilience,” according to a/perture executive director and curator Lawren Desai. “We reopened with a returning staff of three out of 15 and we really worked hard to prep the theater for reopening,” she said. “Reopening day was the same day Gov. Cooper relaxed all capacity limits so that was a bit of a curveball, but at the moment we have chosen not to go ‘full speed’ and are currently operating at 75% capacity just to be able to offer a bit of physical distancing.”

6 Whether Democrats care to admit it or not, there is a VERY REAL danger that liberal policies and too much political correctness could land Donald Trump back in the White House in 2024, and perhaps put

far-right Republicans back in power in next year’s midterm election.

12 Matthews, who founded Punch 4 Pounds Kids to teach life skills and boxing to at-risk youth, spoke at a rally and press conference organized by Arthur Durham of Cure Violence and Gene Blackmon of Prestige Barber College in RESPONSE TO RECENT SHOOTINGS. Five people were wounded on July 11, two at One 17 Sofa Bar on N. Greene Street and three at Lucky’s Skate Shop and Lounge on Patterson Street. “There was an unfortunate event that happened here the other day,” said Durham in his opening remarks. “We’re here to speak against it, but we also want to shed light on these programs that are here and the people on the front line who are combating gun violence.”

14 COLIN CUTLER’s coming in hot, bringing his “Hot Pepper Jam’’ to the Carolina Theatre for an album-release show as part of the Ghostlight Concert Series on July 24. The Jam encompasses both a recipe and a record on which Cutler continues, “telling stories of love and loss, with characters wide open as a Midwest sky, wild as the mountains, and poetry thick as a Carolina swamp.”

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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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[SPOTLIGHT]

POPULAR PIZZERIA EXPANDS ITS LOCATION AND IDEAS IN GREENSBORO

BY NAIMA SAID

“Everyone has to eat. I know I do,” said Maher Isa, co-owner of Moe’s Pizza and Subs II. That’s the idea at Moe’s Pizza and Subs II, located at 6004-F Landmark Center Boulevard, in Greensboro. That’s why the pizzeria offers kosher substitutions for those steering clear of any pork-based meats.

Isa’s family originated from Ramallah, Palestine where he dreamed of providing for his family, both in the United States and back home. He first opened a car lot with his brothers to make ends meet, Triple-A Motors located on 605 Edwardia Dr. in Greensboro, but Isa knew he had something else in store for himself.

“Before Moe’s, it was Dobros Pizza and Grill, and I admired their food and the hard work they put in every day. I passed by them constantly on my way to work and noticed how busy they always were.

I wished to open up a pizzeria like that, where people would say ‘wow, I’m coming back’ or ‘let’s go pick up Moe’s today,’” Isa said.

Deciding that he wanted to dabble in the world of food, Isa contacted his longtime friend Mohamed Khireddine, who owns Moe’s Pizza and Subs I on 2832-C Randleman Road.

“I’ve been eating at Moe’s for six years.

They have the best damn calzone in town, so I asked Mohamed one day if he’d be interested in expanding his business to multiple locations even though at the time I had never worked in a restaurant setting before,” said Isa. Khireddine and his father Fatah, originally from Algeria, have been running their father and son business for quite some time and believed it was the right time to franchise.

“My father speaks little to no English, but he knows how to throw it down in the kitchen. He has been working in the food industry since he arrived in the United States, cooking a variety of dishes.

I wanted to provide him a space that was his, and now I’ve provided him two,” said Khireddine.

Moe’s prides itself on its halal and kosher

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substitutions, using beef products in place of any pork-based meats.

“I’ve been going to Moe’s since they opened, and the steak stromboli is to die for. I don’t eat any pork products because of my faith, and the pizzeria uses halal beef for their pepperoni and sausage pizzas, and I absolutely love it,” said Michael Neel, a regular customer at Moe’s.

“We serve a large Muslim population, as we are Muslim ourselves, and we have the tools to be inclusive,” said Isa. “As we continue to grow, we are pushing for our involvement in the community as well. We have to remember that food brings people together, it’s not only about profit but about profit sharing.”

Khireddine said what began as something for his family has evolved.

“I started this business for my family and to continue a legacy for myself, but I continue to grow because I know we are bringing joy to people in a variety of settings and events around the Triad,” shared Khireddine.

Isa said that the franchise is looking at

Maher Isa, co-owner of Moe’s Pizza and Subs II adding desserts to their menu.

“We are about to launch our new dessert pies. One pie we created consists of a cinnamon-based crust with Nutella and white chocolate with fruit on top.”

Moe’s expects to continue franchising throughout the Triad, making its way around North Carolina one slice at a time. !

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Summertime Brews Festival returns to the Coliseum

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t’s time for a cold brew and some hot tunes!

The 17th Annual Rock 92/1075KZL Summertime Brews Festival returns to the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Chanel Davis Center on Saturday, July 24 after going virtual last year.

Editor The event, presented by Bestway Grocery, will be held from noon to 6 p.m. and will offer attendees more than 100 different beers, ciders, ales and meads to sample. General admission tickets are $40 and VIP tickets, which allow for noon admission and VIP craft beer samplings, are $70. Unlike previous years, attendees will use disposable cups this year to prevent items being passed around, according to the website.

Branded as North Carolina’s Largest Beer Festival, an admission ticket includes beer samples, food trucks, vendors and live music from The Plaids and The League of Ordinary Gentlemen. A portion of all proceeds go to the Animal Rescue Foster Program.

No attendees under 21 will be admitted and serving time ends at 6 p.m.

Triad Craft Beer Week is July 14-20 and celebrates Triad Beers in conjunction with the Triad Brewers Alliance. In conjunction with the Triad Brewer’s Alliance, there will be a special IPA sampling during the VIP session.

The Brewery Lineup this year includes local favorites: Angry Troll Brewing (Elkin), Austin Eastciders, Bhramari Brewing Company (Asheville), Brown Truck

Brewfest 2019

Brewery (High Point), Bull City Ciderworks (Greensboro), Fiddlin’ Fish Brewing Company (Winston-Salem), Foothills Brewing (Winston-Salem), Four Saints Brewing Company (Asheboro), Goose and the Monkey Brewhouse (Lexington), Goofy

Foot Taproom and Brewery (High Point) Gypsy Road Brewing Company (Kernersville), Kernersville Brewing Company (Kernersville), Little Brother Brewing (Greensboro), New Belgium Brewing (Asheville), Oden Brewing Co. (Greens-

boro), Paddled South Brewing Co. (High Point), Pig Pounder Brewery (Greensboro), Red Oak (Whitsett), South End Brewing (Greensboro), Twin Leaf Brewery (Asheville), Wehrloom Honey (Asheville), Wicked Weed Brewing (Asheville), and Wiseman Brewing (Winston-Salem).

Tickets for the Summertime Brews Festival are on sale at Bestway Grocery as well as the Coliseum Box Office, online at the event website and at Ticketmaster. com. Advance ticket sales include two prices and entry times to the Festival.

For ticket pricing and times, visit www. summertimebrews.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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A/perture cinema is back in action!

For more than a decade, a/perture cinema has been the premier destination for independent and arthouse cinema in Winston-Salem.

Nestled in the heart of the downtown district, within Mark Burger walking distance of any number of restaurants, it can be Contributor safely said that a/ perture has woven its way into the hearts of Winston-Salem’s vast array of film fans as well.

But, like so many businesses here and throughout the world, the COVID-19 pandemic forced a/perture to close its doors.

Yet, during that 14-month hiatus, a/perture continued to offer entertainment for the faithful film-goer, both in virtual and outdoor, socially distanced screenings.

In mid-May, with the ease of restrictions

by Gov. Roy Cooper, a/perture re-opened its doors, operating Wednesdays through Sundays, initially at 60% seating capacity. Those who have been fully vaccinated are no longer required to wear masks, although those who haven’t are still required to wear them.

If there’s one word that aptly describes a/perture cinema and the other area businesses that have managed to weather this unexpected storm, its “resilience,” according to a/perture executive director and curator Lawren Desai.

“We reopened with a returning staff of three out of 15 and we really worked hard to prep the theater for reopening,” she said. “Reopening day was the same day Gov. Cooper relaxed all capacity limits so that was a bit of a curveball, but at the moment we have chosen not to go ‘full speed’ and are currently operating at 75% capacity just to be able to offer a bit of physical distancing.”

A/perture cinema was hardly idle during the pandemic, having implemented other viewing options, as have other theaters throughout the nation, and indeed the world.

“Over the course of the pandemic and 14 months of closure, virtual cinema was a great way to continue to offer all of the programming we would have done in-theater,” Desai said. “We showcased over 200 films from all over the globe, but in terms of the revenue, the results were maybe only 1/12th of what we would have done in the theater. That’s why we were so reliant on government, state, and local WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

grants – as well as the support of our wonderful donors – to help us make it to the other side.”

Desai admitted that the experience of actually going to a theater to see a movie remains the preferred method of many a film-goer. “I think after a while people were less and less interested in virtual cinema so we definitely saw a drop in numbers as we entered the 10th-12th month of closure, with the exception of the Oscar Shorts and Oscar-nominated films like Minari and The Father,” said Desai. “Those were pretty successful.”

As film-going returns to normalcy, “we are still offering a virtual title or two each week, but that might continue to slow down as more and more people come back inside,” she said.

The pandemic forced a/perture to present outdoor screenings, and that trend may well continue, Desai said. “We have an entire, new 24-foot outdoor screen set-up and we are taking that around town for screenings and continuing to look for places and partners.” For more information, see https://aperturecinema. com/a-mobile/.

Control Systems Engineer in High Point, NC: Responsible for designing, maintaining, & supporting automation & control systems. Requires: Master’s + 1 yr. exp. Travel required up to 15% within the US and to Canada. Mail resume to: Computerway Food Systems, Inc., 2700 Westchester Dr., High Point, NC 27262, Attn: N. Biggs. Ref req#AK

One of the most popular a/perture events each year is the Cat Video Fest, a compilation of the latest and best cat videos taken from countless submissions, sourced animations, music videos, and classic Internet powerhouses. This year’s screening will take place on July 31 at

8:15 pm (rain date Aug. 7) outdoors at Foothills Tasting Room, 3800 Kimwell Drive, Winston-Salem. The grounds will be opened at 7 pm, and attendees are advised to bring blankets and chairs.

In addition to providing laughs and entertainment for fans of felines, it also helps a good cause, as $1.50 from each ticket sold will be donated to Forgotten Felines of Forsyth.

For more information about this screening, or to purchase advance tickets, visit https://aperturecinema.com/movies/ cat-video-festival-2021/.

During these tumultuous times, “our faithful really have been faithful,” Desai said. “Some still are waiting to return when they feel more comfortable, while others have seen everything we’ve played.

We also have seen a ton of new faces which is really exciting to me and leaves me optimistic for the future of cinemagoing!”

The official a/perture cinema website is https://aperturecinema.com/. !

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

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Political correctness could lead to Trump 2.0

W

hether Democrats care to admit it or not, there is a very real danger that liberal policies and too much political correctness could land Donald Trump back Jim Longworth in the White House in 2024, and perhaps put far-right Longworth Republicans back in at Large power in next year’s midterm election.

This warning comes from such Democratic notables as James Carville, who told VOX, “Wokeness is a problem and everyone knows it...Democrats won’t admit it because they’ll get clobbered or canceled.” The same can be said of moderate Republicans and unaffiliated voters, as former South Carolina Governor Jim Hodges noted to CNN, saying, “If we learned anything from 2020, it was that growth with suburban voters, many former Republicans, carried

Biden across the finish line, and these same voters will make the difference in competitive swing State elections.”

Recent polls bear out what Carville and Hodges are saying. In 2018, an NBC/ PBS poll showed that 52% of Americans were, “against the country becoming more politically correct”, while a PEW poll from May of this year revealed that 57% believe “people today are too easily offended by what others say.”

In some cases, these warnings and indicators come as a result of liberal talking points on the Green New Deal and defunding police, but also from social philosophies and policies. For example, until last month, if you visited Disneyworld, a recorded voice over the public address system greeted you in the following manner: “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, dreamers of all ages…” But thanks to an overly PC culture, Disney has now dropped the ladies, gentlemen, boys and girls from its greeting. Meanwhile, beginning next year, if you apply for a U.S. passport, you will be able to indicate your own gender by selecting “X”, instead of “M or F”, even if the gender

with which you identify does not match other documents, or your biological sex at birth. In like manner, if you live in the State of New York, you will soon be able to mark “X” on your driver’s license. If you run into singer Demi Lovato on the street, you must now refer to her as “they” or “them”. And if you teach school in Virginia, Lord help you if you refer to boys as “boys”, and girls as “girls”. If you do that, then students will refer to you as “suspended”.

According to thepbhscloset website, there are now over 60 gender identifications and classifications that the Left expects us to embrace. They include: Cisgender (when you identify with the gender you were assigned at birth); Bigender (identifying as two genders); Polygender (when you identify with multiple genders at the same time); Pansexual (when you are attracted to all genders) and, Genderfluid (someone who is moving between two genders).

It’s a lot to process, but if you want to be politically correct, you better bone up.

Don’t get me wrong. Every person has the right to his, her, or their own sexual

orientation, but the LGBTQ movement is getting hijacked by labels and initials, the likes of which we’ve never seen before.

You can only force just so much political correctness and social change on people before they become resentful, and when that happens, you lose their support. Older, socially conservative Whites and Blacks who were worn down

by Trump’s bullying and bluster, supported Biden in 2020. But go tell them that Biden thinks it’s OK for a 16-yearold boy who “identifies as female” to use the girls bathroom and showers at their granddaughter’s school, and see how fast they either stay home in 2024 or gravitate to the Republican party. To prevent that from happening, Biden and the Left need to focus more on improving quality of life for everyone, and less on promoting gender prefixes for a few. !

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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flicks

No Ordinary Man: Behind the music of Billy Tipton

T

here are two different narratives in No Ordinary Man, a feature documentary about the life and times of jazz musician Billy Tipton Mark Burger (1914-’89), but rather than complement Contributor or enhance the other, more often than not they interrupt and undercut the other.

Tipton, who fronted The Billy Tipton Trio, cut a couple of albums in the ‘50s and performed alongside such jazz luminaries as Billy Eckstine and The Ink Spots.

He might merely have been a footnote in the history of American jazz were it not for the one secret he guarded most preciously throughout his life: He was born a woman.

This revelation, which was undiscovered until his death, thrust Billy Tipton back into the limelight, with news stories, talk shows, and even a best-selling biography (Suits Me: The Double Life of Billy Tipton by Diane Wood Middlebrook) devoted to what columnist A.J. Benza called “a jazzy gender-bender.”

In the LGBTQ community, Billy Tipton would become a symbol of both artistic expression and personal oppression. Codirectors Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt interview a number of historians (both music and trans, and often both) who offer their observations, not only about Billy but about their own experiences.

This, however, is where the film falters.

It can’t find a steady balance between documenting Tipton’s life and then dissecting it from a contemporary – and more enlightened – point-of-view. In addition, the filmmakers hold a “casting call” for trans actors to play Tipton in their

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film. They too share their observations, but most are about their own experiences.

Most weren’t even born when Tipton died, so they – and the filmmakers – can only guess what Tipton’s experiences were like.

Their observations and opinions are certainly valid, and some quite telling, but every time the film goes to them – which is all too frequently – the film’s momentum hits a wall. Tipton’s story is fascinating enough on its own that the gimmick eventually becomes unnecessary, repetitive, and even exasperating.

Billy Tipton almost seems to get short shrift in his own documentary. A straightforward approach would likely have been more conventional, but it also might have been more informative overall.

Most compelling are the reminiscences of Billy Jr., Billy’s son, which are unquestionably the highlights of the film. Tipton had five (common-law) wives and three sons, but you’d scarcely know that here.

The amazing thing is that Tipton apparently kept his secret from every one of them.

As for Billy Jr. – the only one of Tipton’s sons to have kept the Tipton name (which you also wouldn’t know here) – he remembers his father with fondness and respect, and appears to have come to terms with his unique legacy.

At one point, the trans actors interviewed are asked what they’d ask Billy Tipton were they to meet him. It’s too bad the film doesn’t address those questions itself. There’s an extraordinary story here, but in the end, No Ordinary Man doesn’t quite capture it. What’s a shame is that all the elements are present, but they don’t coalesce in a satisfying fashion.

– No Ordinary Man opens Friday at a/ perture cinemas in Winston-Salem. !

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

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[NEWS OF THE WEIRD] MEDICAL MYSTERY

The Washington Post reported on July 14 that Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, is expected to be under observation at the Armed Forces Hospital in Chuck Shepherd Brasilia for a few days while doctors try to determine the cause behind his chronic hiccups. Bolsonaro has been hiccupping for more than 10 days, even at public events.

The leader is no stranger to weird health scares: While he suffered from COVID-19 last year, he was bitten by a large emu-like bird. For his part, he thinks the hiccups may be related to medicines he was taking after dental implant surgery.

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AWESOME!

David Olson, 33, was demolishing the back steps outside his home in Norton Shores, Michigan, on July 1 when he rolled a strike, so to speak: Olson found at least 160 bowling balls buried in the sand under the home. Upon seeing the first ball, he thought, “Maybe there were just a couple in there just to fill in. The deeper I got into it, the more I realized it was just basically an entire gridwork of them,” he told the Detroit Free Press. Olson said many of the balls are in bad condition, and they all had spiral grooves cut into them. Former employees of a Brunswick plant nearby got in touch with him, explaining that workers used to take scrapped balls to use as an alternative to gravel or sand. Olson donated eight balls for a local church to use in a bowling ball cannon at a pig roast; his stepfather plans to use some as legs for custom furniture.

LEAST COMPETENT CRIMINALS

— A 48-year-old unnamed woman from Brock Township, Ontario, Canada, managed to get herself arrested on July 9 for the theft of a surveillance camera in May, CP24-TV reported. “A suspect proceeded to take pictures of themselves with the stolen camera, which were remotely sent to the owner, unbeknownst to the suspect,” the report from the Durham Regional Police reads. She was charged with possession of property obtained by crime.

— Stephan Elash, 24, of Campbell, Ohio, was pulled over by a state trooper on July 3 for speeding, WKBN-TV reported. In a panic, Elash put a baggie of marijuana in his mouth and tried to swallow it — but he choked. Trooper Charles Hoskins used the Heimlich maneuver to force the bag out of Elash’s throat, likely saving his life. Afterward, Elash

apologized, and Hoskins responded, “I know. It’s all right. It’s a minor misdemeanor. Do you want to die over a minor misdemeanor?” Elash was charged with speeding and not wearing a seat belt, and he got a misdemeanor summons for possession.

NEWS THAT SOUNDS LIKE A JOKE

You are now free to get a haircut and shave in New York on a Sunday. Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation on July 13 to repeal an “archaic” law banning barbers from working on Sundays.

“Though rarely enforced, the law was shear madness,” Cuomo quipped, according to United Press International. !

© 2021 Chuck Shepherd. Universal Press Syndicate.

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

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[KING Crossword]

[weeKly sudoKu]

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July 21-27, 2021

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Airbnb accused of allowing scam artist to list Greensboro home

You can host anything, anywhere!” reads a banner at Airbnb. com. “Apparently, even if it belongs to somebody else,” said a former Greensboro Ian McDowell resident after the company allowed a fraudulent “host” Contributor to rent her home to UNCG students.

The homeowner asked to be called Ann Bailey rather than her married name, and for the address of the property not to be printed. After verifying her identity, ownership, and address, which were also confirmed by the Greensboro Police Department and Airbnb, this writer agreed.

On May 1, Bailey received a phone call from a former neighbor, who said, “there’s a huge party going on in your backyard.”

The Baileys moved to Florida in late 2019, and their Greensboro residence is for sale, but they were not renting it out.

“My husband and I called our realtor and asked him to go meet the officer,” said Bailey. The partying strangers turned out to be UNCG students, who had rented the house on Airbnb.

The Baileys had not listed it on that popular service, and neither knew about nor made any money from the rental.

According to the website’s listing for the property, the “host” (meaning one who lists with the company, which gets a cut of the rental), listed only as “Marie,” had been “verified.”

Journalists and consumer advocates have been documenting problems with Airbnb’s verification system since 2015 when the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) released a report alleging that the company allowed large rental agencies to create pseudonyms that made them appear to be private homeowners. One particularly prolific host identified by LAANE was a now-defunct company that ran an Airbnb profile under the pseudonyms “Danielle and Lexi.”

Airbnb’s Community Standards state that no host should “provide inaccurate information,” but the report alleges that the company does not rigorously enforce this rule. “In spite of the fact that Danielle and Lexi received a verified ID badge on their profile page, we have no way of YES! WEEKLY

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Photos taken and posted after “Marie” broke into the home. knowing if they had any role in the properties other than having their photo taken,” the report stated. “This case also undermines one of the cornerstones of Airbnb’s business model, namely that the company’s ratings and identity verification system are a viable means by which travelers can vet their prospective hosts.”

That profile was used by a real estate company that owned the properties it listed under a deceptive pseudonym.

“Marie” was running a more audacious scam.

According to Bailey, the GPD officers who ejected the hapless students did not seem concerned about the deception.

“They said this stuff happens all the time, people show up for Airbnb listings and can’t get in because the host didn’t actually own the house. I said, but they DID get in! It’s someone renting our house out and getting away with it, and she’s clearly doing it elsewhere.”

On the early morning of Saturday, May 1st, the Baileys logged onto Airbnb and

found their house.

“We called Airbnb to inform them that ‘Marie’ was using their site to commit fraud. The call center rep said this was something the service department couldn’t handle, and that Airbnb would have to get back to me the next day.”

Unsatisfied with that response, Bailey and her husband tweeted at Airbnb that the company was fraudulently listing their home. “Shortly after our tweets, the listing disappeared, and we went to bed.”

But on May 2, the listing was reposted around 10 a.m.

“I spent almost two hours on the phone with a customer representative. I asked to be transferred to a supervisor, but she refused, saying all she could do was have someone call us back in 24 hours. She hung up on me, and nobody ever called us back.”

Bailey and her husband spent the next few days regularly tweeting at Airbnb and emailing the company’s website. “They eventually emailed to say the resolution was that they could not do anything

about it. The quote was something like ‘the individual listing the house has been verified through us, and we respect our hosts’ privacy and we can’t help you with this issue. We recommend that you reach out directly to this individual who is renting your house.’ They actually told me to contact the person who had broken into our home and taken photos for her listing.”

Angered by this response, the Baileys decided to investigate “Marie” themselves.

“She also had other listings of different properties in Greensboro. They were all kind of sketchy like ours. Some were clearly Zillow pictures, but there were also freaky photos of an empty house taken on a cellphone. Our listing had a bunch of photos from our Zillow.com listing, and then a photo taken through the backdoor where you could see her reflection, and then a couple from inside the house which were really blurry with all the lights off.”

Still, said Bailey, the Greensboro police did not begin investigating until a police officer from New York got involved.

“I work for a law enforcement agency in Orange County, New York, but can only speak to you as a civilian who almost got

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scammed,” said Anna Briceno in a phone interview. “I go to Greensboro every year for a swim meet for my children. The property I saw listed by ‘Marie’ was not the Baileys’, but on Willoughby Boulevard.”

Once she booked it, she was notified of the address. “Often, they wait until the week before you check in to tell you where it is, but in this case, provided it when I booked.”

Something made Briceno uneasy. “I googled the address, and it came up as a lease-to-own for people with credit problems. This didn’t make sense, so I went to the county tax system, located an owner of record, and contacted him. He put me in touch with the lease-to-own manager, who was appalled, and assured me it was not an Airbnb. I canceled immediately.”

Although Briceno got her money back, she was still bothered.

“I couldn’t let it go, knowing what this person was doing. I continued to scroll ‘Marie’s’ listings and soon noticed new ones. I internet-sleuthed their addresses and this led me to the Bailey home. I started with their real estate agent, who said yes, we have the police involved. I said, you’re not the only one, and gave them other homeowners’ information.

There was a suspicious townhouse that was listed, and there was a bunch of blurry photos from inside the property, including one with her reflection in the mirror.”

Briceno forwarded that to the Baileys and advised them to ask if their neighbors had any Ring video footage of strangers arriving at the Bailey home, get information from agents showing the property, and compare those visits to time stamps on the neighbors’ videos and motion detectors inside the home. “[Bailey] provided all that to the Greensboro detective, who was extremely thorough, and obviously did his job very well, because an arrest was made.”

Briceno said she also followed up with the Rent-to-Own manager of the Willoughby Boulevard properties, who was surprised when she told him those residences were booked for the next several months on Airbnb. “He said his house wasn’t booked; I told him it was and showed him the listing.”

Which, according to Briceno, Airbnb then refused to delete.

“I kept reporting them, and until the arrest happened, the listings stayed up, as did ‘Marie’s’ profile. After that, it was all taken down. But it took a lot.”

Bailey said that she was hugely grateful to Briceno for her persistence and sleuthing skills.

“Our motion detectors showed some odd activity in our house. When our WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM

realtor would show it, he always entered through the garage. But there were instances of people entering through the back patio doors. A neighbor’s camera caught ‘Marie’ getting out of a cab and meeting a realtor. In the video, you can see and hear her introducing herself as Rose Marie, and it’s the spitting image of the lady in the mirror.”

On that particular occasion, “Marie” had not entered through the patio doors, but arrived for a legitimate showing as if she was a prospective buyer.

“I talked to our realtor, who was working with this lady named Rose Marie.

She claimed to own a charter school in downtown Greensboro that she was taking virtual, and said she was getting a business loan to purchase a house to run her virtual school out of. At least, that was her story.”

There were other videos of “Marie” from neighbors’ Ring cameras. “You could see her unloading suitcases and boxes and things into our driveway. She’d been in and out of our house a couple of times.”

Bailey said that GPD detectives arranged a sting operation with her realtor, who asked “Marie” to come back for another showing and discuss whether she was ready to buy the house.

“When they arrested her, she had a big suitcase and two or three big handbags on her, and the detectives told us afterward that were thousands of forged documents and stolen identities in those bags and suitcases, so they thought this was something she had been doing for quite a long time. Plus, she had continued to rent it out. Probably ten minutes after she was arrested, a group of moms showed up to move in.”

On June 28, YES! Weekly contacted the Greensboro Police Department and requested confirmation of Bailey’s claims that officers arrived at her Greensboro home on May 1, discovered a party by students who’d rented it on Airbnb, and, ten days later, Detective Joseph Harrill arrested a female suspect at the same address.

GPD Public Information Officer Ronald Glenn responded with the following statement: “I can confirm that the incident was reported and is being investigated. There are no additional details outside of the information you mentioned in your email. The investigation is active and ongoing.”

It took longer to get a statement from Airbnb. After YES! Weekly reached out to the company on June 29, Trust Communications Director Ruthie Wabula responded over the course of 8 days with multiple requests for additional details about the complainants. Given a deadline of July 5 for a statement, Wabula sent the

following on July 6. It is reproduced below (including boldface headings), with only the homeowner’s real name redacted: Statement Attributed to an Airbnb Spokesperson: These issues are rare, but we take them very seriously. The listings associated with these reports are no longer active and the host was removed from the Airbnb community in early May. Background: When signing up to host on Airbnb, hosts agree to abide by Airbnb’s Community Standards, which prohibit the use of someone’s property without

their permission. Hosts also agree to our Terms of Service, which stipulate that they must be in compliance with local rules and regulations, and any contracts with third parties. The property associated with this incident was removed on May 11th, within 10 days of [the homeowner’s] complaint to Airbnb on May 1st. !

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 21-27, 2021

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Community leaders in Greensboro and Winston Salem respond to the increase of violence, canceled concert

Rev. C.J. Brinson of Genesis Baptist Church and NC Black Alliance speaks.

Arthur Durham of Cure Violence co-organized the call to action.

Community activist and business owner Gene Blackmon speaks at the event.

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JULY 21-27, 2021

“I know where the money goes and where it doesn’t,” said Steve Matthews at a sidewalk podium in downtown Greensboro on July 13. “Two months ago, the city was Ian McDowell awarded $59 million, yet we gotta come here and Contributor talk about why Mothers Standing Against Gun Violence has to beg for funding.”

Matthews, who founded Punch 4 Pounds Kids to teach life skills and boxing to at-risk youth, spoke at a rally and press conference organized

by Arthur Durham of Cure Violence and Gene Blackmon of Prestige Barber College in response to recent shootings. Five people were wounded on July 11, two at One 17 Sofa Bar on N. Greene Street and three at Lucky’s Skate Shop and Lounge on Patterson Street.

“There was an unfortunate event that happened here the other day,” said Durham in his opening remarks. “We’re here to speak against it, but we also want to shed light on these programs that are here and the people on the front line who are combating gun violence.” He referred to his fellow speakers as “grassroots individuals who are on the ground 365 and 24/7, trying to interrupt and stop any type of violence, particularly that which manifests in guns.”

Along with Durham, Blackmon, and Matthews, these included Rev. Wesley Morris of Faith Community Church and the Pulpit Program of Greensboro; Rev. C J. Brinson of Genesis Baptist Church and NC Black Alliance; Tevin Whiteside of Urban Renaissance Culture; and Shaun Jackson of Cure Violence.

The most emotional speech came from Denise Crawford of Mothers Standing Against Gun Violence. Crawford, whose son Brandon was murdered last November, spoke movingly of how that loss has devastated her family, and of her fears for her grandchildren.

“We just need for the city to reach out and help us as much as they possibly can like they’re supposed to because I don’t want to see my 17-year-old grandson in the system. He’s not in the street, but I don’t want to see him have to turn to the streets

because the city and its programs failed him after his dad was murdered,” she said.

“Many folks would have you believe that what is happening is pathological in our community, or that it is a Black internal issue,” said Brinson, who called the problem “the results of a community that has been economically depressed and oppressed by a system - a system that is inherently violent, that handles every situation with violence.”

The last speaker was Greensboro’s NAACP President Rev. Bradley Hunt, who urged his listeners to vote in Greensboro’s mayoral and city council elections next Spring, and the Guilford County Sheriff and District Attorney elections in November of 2022. “All of these folks will be seeking our support next year, and its time that we let them know that no longer will we give them our support if they do not support our community.”

Some in the Greensboro political establishment have responded to shootings in downtown clubs by suggesting the establishments be penalized, or even shut down.

These suggestions have been denounced by some Black community leaders and activists as performative “band-aid” solutions that address the symptoms rather than the cause, an approach opposite to what Cure Violence and other community organizations recommend.

Thirty-one miles away, Winston-Salem officials canceled a rap festival over

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Denise Crawford of Mothers Standing Against Gun Violence speaks at the rally concerns that violence might occur. The stated objections were not to the venue, which the city owns, but the criminal associations of some contracted performers.

While blaming venues for past violence is common in local political discourse, blaming performers for potential violence is new, and has prompted a lawsuit from the Kernersville-based agency the city contracted to host the festival.

On June 21, the city sent a letter to Starr Entertainment LLC, stating that the Carolina Summers Fest scheduled for July 31 at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds was canceled. According to a July 12 article by Winston-Salem Journal reporter Wes Young, assistant city attorney John Lawson informed Starr’s attorney Jessie Fontenot that the Winston-Salem Police Department investigated scheduled performers Moneybagg Yo, Big Latto, and Pooh Schiesty, among others. According to Lawson’s letter, the city is concerned that “there exists a chance of violence and gang activity” at the concert. Lawson’s letter also stated that the city would not host the event, and would not let a private group host it, “if there is a risk of violence to attendees or to members of the general public.”

Starr Entertainment’s breach-of-

contract suit against the City of WinstonSalem requests a restraining order to keep the city from canceling the event. The lawsuit alleges that a Starr representative met with city fairgrounds manager Roger Mulhearn on June 9 and that Mulhearn indicated familiarity with the headline artists and expressed no concerns.

A July 14 press release from the organization Hate Out of Winston accused the city of the “stereotype of associating hiphop with concert violence” and a double standard by not putting the upcoming Winston-Salem Gun Show to the same scrutiny to see if its vendors had any militia or insurrectionist associations. “This decision was not about public safety but was mired in bias and stereotype. This is not how to address the uptick in violence and shootings.”

When queried on the controversy, Winston-Salem City Manager Lee Garrity stated that city staff had been instructed to make no comment on the lawsuit to the media. !

IAN MCDOWELL is the author of two published novels, numerous anthologized short stories, and a whole lot of nonfiction and journalism, some of which he’s proud of and none of which he’s ashamed of.

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Steve Matthews, Punch 4 Pounds founder, speaks about the violence.

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HEAR IT!

Colin Cutler’s coming in hot with “Hot Pepper Jam”

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olin Cutler’s coming in hot, bringing his “Hot Pepper Jam’’ to the Carolina Theatre for an album-release show as part of the Ghostlight Concert Katei Cranford Series on July 24.

The Jam encompasses both a recipe Contributor and a record on which Cutler continues, “telling stories of love and loss, with characters wide open as a Midwest sky, wild as the mountains, and poetry thick as a Carolina swamp.” Though it’s piedmont references, which run thickest through his latest work, the purchase of which comes with its own jar.

While continuing to wrestle familiar notions around home and travel, “Hot Pepper Jam” offers a flavorful return to Cutler’s more roots Americana style; and sees his personal return from overseas. “It’s good to be back,” he said. “As an Air Force brat, moving comes naturally, so a lot of my songs got their start on the road. Sometimes I think I name-drop places just so I remember where I’ve been.“ Born in England, Cutler moved across the country—mostly the south and Midwest—as a kid. “Seven cities between five states, and several more houses,” he said of growing up on the go. After attending college in Virginia, Cutler “floated down here” for grad school at UNCG. He picked up the banjo, put out a record, and left with the Army in 2016—getting stationed in Qatar and Eastern Europe—before roaming around the UK and settling shortly as a teacher in Romania.

The pandemic brought him back stateside in 2020. And an angry sort of epiphany waltzed him back to the Triad. “I was working on a lawnmower on a farm down east when the former president gave his Rose Garden speech,” he explained. “I was livid and sad and realized that there was nowhere else I wanted to be in that moment than Greensboro—unless it was burning my old uniform on the Capitol steps. But I could actually do something constructive back here.“ Armed with a banjo and harmonica braces, Cutler fell in love with the songwriter scenes he initially encountered. “I’ve realized it’s the people that make a place a home,” he said acknowledging artists like YES! WEEKLY

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Wake Clinard and Christen Blanton Mack, who appear on “Hot Pepper Jam,” which was recorded by fellow GTCC faculty member Mark Dillon and mixed by Tom Troyer.

It’s an essence Cutler especially taps into on “Back in Gate City Again,” which features Jack Gorham’s piano work and Mark Byerly’s steel guitar, to, as Culter noted, “capture the broader arc of coming back to a place that isn’t perfect but is full of love and the energy of knowing I can lend a hand.”

That energy’s been brewing since Cutler’s first record, the heartily old-time “Nelson County Wayside,” released just before his Army departure. Playing heavier on fiddle and banjo than the successive “Peacock Feathers” EP and “Stranger in the Promised Land,” the debut established a catalog reflecting his musical journey from teenaged metalhead to old-time rambler—a transition to which he credits Blind Willie Johnson.

“When an old man with a voice and a slide guitar could give me the same feeling that Iron Maiden could,” he said, also acknowledging standards like The Carolina Chocolate Drops, Our Native Daughters, David Ramirez, Tim O’Brien, Johnny Cash, and Paul Simon as general influences.

And while taking solo-performance cues from Willie Watson and Tyler Childers, Cutler contends the new album fits soundly between Pat Benatar and John Prine. “For no good reason other than I like ‘em,” he said, turning toward ways his latest work more closely mirrors his first. “It’s kind of a ‘Hey, y’all, I’m back,’” he continued, “and it’s much more light-hearted. I think only one person dies.”

Indeed, “Cruel Willie” meets his demise in one of the record’s old-time covers. ”It’s a twist on the usual murder ballad plot of guy-gets-girl-pregnant-chucks-herin-a-river,” Cutler explained, denoting a preference for darker material. “Musically, I like anything that reminds me of gravel and train whistles and rusty spikes,” he said, referencing a life spent living near railroads—his folks’ house in Nebraska is close enough to a Union Pacific line to shake when trains pass.

Walking back his jam-packed history, Cutler began making mulberry varieties back in Nebraska; and wineberry jams while in Virginia. “I’d experiment with different herbs,” he said of his process, recalling a “banging” wineberry lavender jam from yesteryear. In 2020, he canned an abundance of hot peppers (including habanero, jalapeno, Tabasco, and cayenne)

and began jam batches with various fruits like peaches and apple cloves. Ones with a pineapple base have been the most popular, but “they all go great on pork, cheese, chicken, and fish,” he said.

Cutler’s experience canning in the Carolina sun inspired the “Hot Pepper” song.

An unavoidable pun on “jam” named the album. He’s now excited to share both— born from his own little “hot pepper field,” a front-yard garden in Glenwood. “Urban gardening is a lot more difficult than how I started, which was on a retired cattle farm on the Virginia Blue Ridge,” he noted, “but it’s fun.”

A mover and shaker, he’s amongst those reading at the “Poetry Pop Up,” hosted

by Dasan Ahanu (in collaboration with the North Carolina Poetry Society and the Greensboro Public Library) at the People’s Market on July 22. And is already working on two more records.

The first will expand his “Peacock Feathers” EP into a full album—with songs based on short stories from Flannery O’Connor.

(He’s currently scheduled to perform as part of the International Flannery O’Connor Conference, happening over ZOOM, on Aug 2.)

Ever the English Professor, Cutler’s also penning an American re-envisioning of “Dante’s Inferno”.

“It’s easy,” he said. “One song per circle of hell, an intro and conclusion, and you’ve got an album.” He envisions the tricky part will involve “putting it on the stage as a folk opera a la Hadestown,” but that’s another year or so down the road.

For now, he’s savoring “Hot Pepper Jam.” “It’s gonna be a hootenanny and a half,” he said of the upcoming show, which opens with electric-folk from Laura Jane Vincent, followed by a banjo-and-fiddle duo from Cutler and Mack, an interlude of “spiritual walkabout Americana” from Viva La Muerte, and a showcase set—featuring the whole bill—to close the night.

“Plus, I’m making up a fresh batch,” Cutler said of his actual jam. “Come get you some!”

Colin Cutler’s looking to spread his latest album, “Hot Pepper Jam,” with a release show at the Carolina Theatre on July 24. !

KATEI CRANFORD Is a Triad music nerd who hosts the Thursday Tour Report, a radio show that runs like a mixtape of bands touring NC the following week, 5:30-7pm on WUAG 103.1fm.

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last call

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

WHEN HAIR GEL MET SALLY

I’m a 28-yearold woman. My boyfriend of three months is a great person, and I started to think he might be The One. However, he got a new haircut Amy Alkon — one that had him using excessive gel.

Advice Looking at him, I felt Goddess a wave of revulsion and needed to get away...permanently.

I don’t understand the sudden change in my feelings. —Disgusted You, like many women, want a man who appears to have the grooming routine of a golden lab: running across the lawn when the sprinklers are on and then shaking off.

Many women find it disturbing when a man spends more time in the bathroom or uses more “product” than they do. Evolutionary psychology research suggests we women evolved to seek a man who will protect us — as opposed to one who’ll fight us to the death for the last of our poshbrand conditioner.

Sure, hair gel could be the “gateway” goop to your dude dolling up with Fenty eyeshadow, contour foundation, and sparkly self-tanner by the weekend. But chances are he just went heavy on the stuff because he’s a first-timer at using it.

And chances are your sudden extreme reaction is not about him but about you — and probably your panicking at the prospect of commitment. Commitment involves finding not the perfect right

person but a right enough person at the right time, observes clinical psychologist Judith Sills. Being ready for a relationship is a key factor. This requires getting yourself “sorted,” as the Brits say, meaning developing both self-respect and self-acceptance, including a realistic and self-compassionate understanding of your limitations.

Sensing that you “could be lovable in the eyes of another person,” leads to a shift, explains Sills. “You stop being so critical of a potential partner’s shortcomings and begin to appreciate his or her strengths.” This doesn’t mean you are “without anxiety or ambivalence” — wanting and not wanting a relationship at the same time — but readiness for a relationship helps you push through those feelings.

If you aren’t yet ready, you should make that clear to men you date. If becoming ready will require some personal development work, you might want to hop on that. In general, the more “up there” in years women get, the more they find their standards for a partner in need of relaxing — in the direction of “not currently incarcerated and has at least a weak pulse.

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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.

BROTHEL, WHERE ART THOU

My male roommate began having women over for one-night stands almost daily, even meeting one for the first time at our apartment with no heads-up for me.

I’m a woman and very careful about whom I have over: usually only friends I’ve known for a while. I’m uncomfortable having my space constantly intruded on by strangers, but he seems surprisingly unaware of this.

—Unsettled You need a needlepoint for the kitchen

answers [CROSSWORD]

that comes with each of these.

Now, it could be argued that no guest policy was spelled out. However, most people know roommates won’t be happy with a revolving cast of sex-providing strangers marching through their home.

Chances are your roommate is counting on your being too uncomfortable to speak up — which means there’s no reason for him to stop.

Explain how unsettling it is for you to constantly have these strangers in your place — people he barely knows — and ask him to think on it and propose a solution.

Should he suggest, “You just hafta suck it up” or close, tell him straight up what you need (which might ultimately be “a new living situation”). If you wanted to encounter strangers in your kitchen at 6 a.m., you’d live in a bad neighborhood on the first floor and leave a window wide open. !

wall: “Home sweet sex den.”

People who live with roommates tend to make allowances for the occasional drunken hookup — even those that end with some stranger in their kitchen drinking their OJ out of the carton. However, when there’s a new hookuperella every few mornings, it crosses a line.

It’s a shared space. You agreed to share it with your roommate, not your roommate and half of local female Tinder. His behavior calls to mind “the tragedy of the commons,” ecologist Garrett Hardin’s term for individuals with access to a shared space trashing it or taking more than their fair share of resources, ruining it for everyone. Hardin was referring to public land and, say, one farmer letting his sheep eat all the communal grass, leaving only dirt for the other farmers’ hungry sheep, but it seems to apply to your situation.

Granted, the resources being depleted here are not tangible (grabbable, like grass). However, they’re highly valuable and are generally understood to be benefits of renting an apartment — including a level of privacy and the sanctity (aka safety) of “home” and the peace of mind

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