TCB Sept. 27, 2018 — Chinese food, unboxed

Greensboro / Winston-Salem / High Point Sept. 27 - Oct. 3, 2018 triad-city-beat.com

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INSIDE THIS WEEK: TRIAD CIT Y BITES, THE TRIAD’S FINEST DINING GUIDE

Sept. 27 - Oct. 3, 2018

EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

When Andy Falco comes to town It’s always something when Andy Falco comes to town.

In the old days, I’d skip a few classes or take off from work in

by Brian Clarey recognition of such an event, get an extra set of housekeys made or book an itinerary of bands to catch. Once, just after I moved into the French Quarter, I purchased a couch from the Salvation Army for the express purpose of giving Andy Falco a place to sleep.

This week, Andy comes to town with his band, the Infamous Stringdusters, for a Thursday-night gig at the Blind Tiger.

And instead of a Greyhound ticket and a battered old electric slung across his back, he’s traveling in a fancy sleeper bus with his bandmates and an entire production crew. He and the fellas have a Grammy for 2017’s Laws of Gravity, a new album slated for a January release and a touring schedule that puts them on the road more than 100 nights a year.

“I don’t even count the dates anymore,” he tells me. “It’s hard for me to think about how much we’re actually out there. I’m just trying to live it.”

It’s all he ever wanted: to be a badass guitar player in a badass band, to do his best work under the lights and leave the crowd wanting more, to make something beautiful and worth preserving, no matter the cost.

The new album, he says, falls into line with that ethos he’s held to, stubbornly at times, since he was a 12-year-old kid wrestling his way through a Keith Richard lead in the junior high cafeteria.

“It’s bluegrass,” he says, “so there’s this focus on the soloists. But we became less concerned with the solo and more with the song, to make the arrangements service the song and not the musicians.”

They knew exactly which 13 songs would make the double-vinyl release, down to sides A, B, C and D. They recorded it in sequence, which was “kind of like living inside the record,” Andy says.

“The things you do on one song will influence what you play on the next,” he says. “It makes the line between the live show and the album very thin.”

They were thinking about Dark Side of the Moon, he says.

“When you listen to it from beginning to end, you feel like you’re on a journey,” he says, “and when it’s over you feel like you just walked out of a movie.”

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

How can you host this guy? This incident occurred less than a year ago! That majority of your staff are women and a large percentage of your customers are kids — what does that say to them?

— Sammie Kaufman, in the News, page 7

BUSINESS PUBLISHER/EXECUTIVE EDITOR Brian Clarey brian@triad-city-beat.com

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Sept. 27 - Oct. 3, 2018

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Sept. 27 - Oct. 3, 2018 Up Front News Opinion

CITY LIFE SEPT. 27 - OCT. 3, 2018

by Savi Ettinger

THURSDAY Migrant Mothers of Winston-Salem Panel @ Reynolda House Museum, 6 p.m. (W-S) Join the New Winston Museum and the Reynolda House for a discussion panel featuring mothers who have migrated from around the world. The panel will intersect with the Reynolda House Museum’s current exhibition Dorothea Lange’s America, as the relationship these women have with her famous photograph, “Migrant Mother” is explored. Find the event on Facebook.

Lord of the Flies reading @ Salem College, 8 p.m. (W-S) Watch the story of a group of British schoolboys as they find themselves stranded on an island and attempt to govern themselves. The Salem College Pierrettes present Lord of the Flies, based on the William Golding novel, starting Thursday at the Elberson Fine Arts Center. Find more performances and information on the event on Facebook.

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Culture

The Infamous Stringdusters @ the Blind Tiger, 7 p.m. (GSO)

Experience a night of acoustic and bluegrass music as Grammy-winners the Infamous Stringdusters take the stage. The band mixes traditional bluegrass with modern influences, forming a style that explores the possibilities of the genre. Buy tickets and learn more on Facebook.

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FRIDAY

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Greensboro Greek Festival @ Dormition of the Theotokos, 4 p.m. (GSO) Be a part of this celebration of Greek culture that runs through the weekend.

Festivities include music from the mandolin-like instrument, the bouzouki, traditional dance and a selection of authentic Greek food and wine. Visitors may also browse through vendors and experience a guided tour of the sanctuary. Find the event on Facebook.

Hocus Pocus @ Crooked Tail Cat Cafe, 6:30 p.m. (GSO)

Hoppin Beats and Eats Fest @ First National Bank Field, 4 p.m. (GSO) Picnic at the ballpark with more than a dozen food trucks and listen to live performances from Holy Ghost Tent Revival, Time Sawyer and Caleb Caudle.

This combination food-truck festival and concert offers shrimp-pineapple bowls, fresh-squeezed lemonade, folk rock and more. Purchase tickets and learn more on Facebook.

Ring in the Halloween season with the Crooked Tail Cat Café as they screen this spooky film. Enjoy some popcorn and break out your favorite pajamas for a chance to win a free visit to the cafe with their adoptable cats. Buy tickets and find the event on Facebook.

Winston-Salem Fashion Week @ Wake Forest Biotech Place, 5:30 p.m. (GSO) Celebrate this yearly event featuring a dozen designer’s fashion lines with your own red-carpet look. The theme for this showcase of local and emerging designers is transformation. Find the event on Facebook.

Dixie Classic Fair @ Dixie Classic Fairgrounds, 11 a.m. (W-S) Whether you love funnel cakes or Ferris wheels, you’re sure to find fun here.

The annual festival opens Friday and runs through the week, with attractions for the whole family. Purchase advance tickets and learn more at dcfair.com.

Parking Lot Party @ Blue Rock Pizza and Tap, 3 p.m. (HP) Come out, grab a slice and choose from one of 40 beer selections, for this daylong party. Complete with live music from local bands and family games, the fun doesn’t end until after the sun goes down. Find the event on Facebook.

Souljam @ Joymongers Barrell Hall, 8 p.m. (W-S) Visit the barrelhouse to grab a beer and check out Souljam as they express their energetic sound. This Winston-Salem based band encourages good vibes and dancing, so let the music move you. A food truck will also be available. Find the event on Facebook.

SUNDAY North Star’s Birthday Party @ North Star LGBTQ Center, 2 p.m. (W-S)

SATURDAY Hops & Shop: A Camel City Craft Fair @ Foothills Brewing Tasting Room, noon (W-S) This 2-day event begins on Saturday, featuring over 100 vendors, a balloon artist, face painting, and tattoo artists. Performances for Saturday include acrobatics, stilts, fire stunts and hula-hoop tricks.

Check out the event on Facebook.

Block Party @ Little Brother Brewing, 6 p.m. (GSO) Join Little Brother Brewing for the Will Caviness Memorial 5K Run afterparty, a free block party. Music by 3PC and A Biscuit accompanies the celebration. Learn more on Facebook.

North Star, Winston-Salem’s LGBTQ center, marks five years of supporting the community with a celebration open to the public. The center has provided programming and resources for the LGBTQ community and its allies since 2013. Find the event on Facebook.

NC Literary Review @ Scuppernong Books, 3 p.m. (GSO) Bookworms, get ready for an afternoon full of literary icons. Guests include John York, Alex Albright, Fred Chappell and Angela Davis Gardner, with readings going into the evening. Whether you prefer poetry or prose, check out more details on the event page on Facebook.

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Opinion

L’ITALIANO

News

PIZZERIA

Up Front

Direct action — and sometimes a pointed hashtag — superintendent. Check. Fleming El-Amin is a retired gets the goods. teacher. Check. Ted Kaplan is a Democrat running for Tripp Jeffers, a history teacher at Winston-Salem/Forre-election. Check. syth County Schools and former president of the Forsyth Still, Emory resisted.

County Association of Educators posted a highlight “We’ve tried to be grateful for what you give, and live video of two county commissioners practically begwithin it,” she said. “It’s not will. I love our teachers. It’s ging Superintendent Beverly Emory to ask the county not my style. I’m not gonna come here and say, ‘I need for funding to pay for teacher-supplement pay. Emory $20 million.’ This is not Charlotte, and it’s not Wake. If responded in a handful of ways that all conveyed that she we could continue this conversation and you want to do didn’t want to come across as demanding or ungrateful that…. I would very much, I believe our board has said for a school bond that voters approved. this is a priority as well as our staff want to do that.”

Understand that public schools don’t have any indeMartin, who has stood in Emory’s shoes before as a pendent taxing authority; the school district’s operating former superintendent, tried to help out. budget comes from funds provided by some combina“I think what Commissioner Witherspoon is saying tion of county, state and federal government. The teachis that you need to do the asking,” he said. “We’re not er-supplement pay comes from county government. going to be asking you about it. You need to be the one The full 40-minute video of Emory’s exchange with asking us with a proposal or an idea or whatever…. Ask.” the commissioners, which is posted on the county govAs a slight modification, a hashtag was born: ernment website, is just as damning as the nine-minute #JustAsk. highlight reel put together by Jeffers.

Emory responded with a video of her own on Sept. 18 Forsyth County ranks 26th in teacher-supplement pay.

— and a hashtag of her own: #JustAskMe. When you consider that Winston-Salem/Forsyth County “What I’ve learned here when I reflect, what is the Schools is the fourth largest system in the state, it doesn’t lesson in this for me is that I need to do a better job of look good. Teachers in Cumberland, Buncombe and communicating with you,” Emory told teachers in the even Alamance County make more. Looking at the five video. “Often I assume that it’s my role to keep these islargest systems, the pay isn’t even close. Commissioner sues off your back while you’re doing the important work Everette Witherspoon said during the May 10 discusof our district in our classroom, but I can do better.” sion that teacher-supplement pay averages $5,000 in In other words, come talk to me before you start Wake County, $4,000 in Mecklenburg County, $3,800 in agitating.

Durham, and $3,600 in Guilford. Forsyth County? About Emory said she’s continued to work behind the scenes $1,700. with county leaders since the May 10 meeting. She told “I hope the school board actually asks for more money teachers that a future teacher-pay supplement could to deal with the supplement issue because we are bebe funded through a quarter-cent sales tax that’s on the hind,” Witherspoon told Emory. ballot in November. In the meantime, the superintendent In response, Emory emphasized that the school district and the school board threw in a one-time $300 bonus was presenting a balanced budget to the county comfor teachers in the annual budget that was approved on mission that did not include money for a supplement.

Tuesday night.

She did offer that the school district has a task force to The bonus hasn’t mollified Emory’s critics. explore options for funding a supplement in the future, In a conversation with Witherspoon that was streamed and would welcome dialogue with the county commison Triad City Beat’s Facebook page on Tuesday, the Rev. sion.

Alvin Carlisle, president of the Winston-Salem NAACP, Witherspoon reiterated: “When you talk about teacher said, “I’m gonna call it a payoff. To me, [it’s], ‘I was caught supplements, hopefully you will come back and just talk being wrong. I was caught not fighting for my teachers, to the board about your plan for the increase in suppleso perhaps if I just give them this small supplement’ — to ments, and ask this board for the money.” He noted that me it’s very offensive.” this is the most progressive county commission he’s seen in the past seven years, adding that the economy is fairly good.

“If you’re not going to do it now, the school board is not going to do it now, the question is, when are Large 1-topping pizza 4-cheese pizza you gonna do it?” he asked.

“What this county has done every with the supplement funding Good through 10/4/18 Tuesday, is abysmal.” all day Monday – Thursday Then he counted the votes Order online at pizzerialitaliano.net on the seven-member board.

Don Martin is a former 219 S Elm Street, Greensboro •

Sept. 27 - Oct. 3, 2018

Hashtag activism

by Jordan Green

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Sept. 27 - Oct. 3, 2018

The Forsyth County Commission atlarge seat — the only one that is on the ballot for every single voter in the county — typically toggles between a Democrat and a Republican.

Republican Dave Plyler held it from 2002 to 2006. Then came Democrat Ted Kaplan, until he was unseated by Republican Bill Whiteheart in 2010.

And then Kaplan won the seat back in a rematch in 2014. Whiteheart, who passed away in 2017, won’t be a factor in this election, but Kaplan faces a formidable Republican challenger in Buddy Collins. A lawyer based in Kernersville, Collins was the most popular member of the Forsyth County School Board elected from suburban District 2 when he was appointed by then-Gov. Pat McCrory to the State Board of Elections in 2013.

This year’s predicted blue-wave surge of enthusiasm among Democratic voters might seem like a good hedge against a Republican challenge, but the centrist Kaplan is also defending his left flank this year.

In 2017, the Republican majority in the state General Assembly passed legislation to reduce the number of signatures needed to get a political party on the ballot over the veto of Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper. In June, the Green Party nominated Keenen Altic, a 33-year-old electrical technician from Winston-Salem, to the county commission at-large race.

Running for office wasn’t part of Altic’s plan when he first got involved with the Greens in 2016. That year, he collected signatures to help get the party on the ballot. Earlier this year, he took part in an April 15 Tax Day protest that linked US military support for the Saudi war in Yemen with mass incarceration.

Altic and fellow Green Party activist Tony Ndege talked about the need for candidates. And in June, after an interview with party leaders, Altic accepted his party’s nomination for the county commission race. Altic said the party decided to aim for the county commission because the county legislative body controls funding for the sheriff’s office and jail, and sets the property tax.

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Culture

Opinion

News

Forsyth County Commission at-large race draws three candidates

by Jordan Green

Up Front

NEWS

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A third-party challenger from the left complicates prospects for a centrist Democrat defending the at-large seat on the Forsyth County Commission from a high-profile conservative Republican opponent.

Keenen Altic

JORDAN GREEN

Ted Kaplan

COURTESY PHOTO

plant. The county commission approved Kaplan downplayed the potential an incentives grant of $2.4 million in for Altic’s candidacy to create a spoiler exchange for the creation of 50 new effect. jobs on Sept. 20. The company already “I always have worried about elecemploys 650 people in Forsyth County. tions,” he said. “I don’t think it matters An Amazon fulfillment center expectwhether there’s a Green Party candidate ed to employ more than 900 people is or not. I’m always running as if I have under construction at the western end of opposition and it’s tough.”

Guilford County, but Kaplan noted that If Altic is an improbable candidate, it will provide opportunities to workers Kaplan is a politician out of central in Kernersville. And trumpeting hospicasting. After serving in the Navy, the tal expansion and school construction, RJ Reynolds High School graduate was Kaplan added, “We can’t take credit for elected to the state House from 1976 to all of it, but we’re doing our best to keep 1982, and then served in the state Senthe ball rolling.” ate for the next 10 years, ascending to One pall over county over county majority leader in the final four. governance in recent Kaplan, who years is a string of lives in Lewisville, health-related deaths expressed satisfaction The at-large seat on Forat the Forsyth County that the commissionsyth County Commission Law Enforcement ers have worked well Detention Center, intogether over the past typically toggles between cluding two men who four years, and have a Democrat and a Repubdied within the same avoided any major lican. month in 2017. controversies. He said “Yes, the commishe’s most proud of sioners are conthe economic develcerned,” Kaplan said. “We have been opment initiatives, some with cooperafor some time. We let an invitation to tion from the city, undertaken over the bid out to several companies.” Correct past four years.

Care Solutions, the current vendor, was “Our wages are pretty fair; they the only company that responded to the obviously can be improved,” Kaplan solicitation. said. “We’ve done our best to encour“We asked our hospital if they would age businesses to move here.” He cited take over the service; they politely deWilson-Cook Medical’s announced plan clined,” Kaplan continued. “We’re kind to move into Whitaker Park, formerly of stuck.” an RJ Reynolds Tobacco manufacturing

Buddy Collins

COURTESY PHOTO

Altic said he would not vote to renew Correct Care Solutions’ contract.

“We shouldn’t even be contracting with companies that are just trying to make profit off of jailing people,” he said. “That’s one thing that’s driving mass incarceration. In terms of how we administer public health in jails, that’s a service that should be carried out by the county itself.”

Altic also said he opposes a referendum to impose a quarter-cent sales tax to raise $120 million to pay for a new courthouse.

“Absolutely not,” he said. “I think we have an affordable housing problem.

Public health problems should take priority.”

Altic also said he wants the sheriff’s office to end its inter-governmental services agreement with the US Department of Homeland Security to house immigrant detainees for Immigration Customs Enforcement.

Collins did not respond to emails and phone calls for this story. The candidate, who lives in Kernersville, announced his resignation from the State Board of Elections, where he served as vice-chairman, in March. Chairman Bill Cobey, who himself resigned earlier this month, lauded Collins for his service in a press release at the time.

“He’s also been a great friend, willing to do everything I asked him to do,”

CONT. ON PAGE 7

CONT. FROM PAGE6

Appearance by ‘Buffy’ actor draws protest

by Sayaka Matsuoka

Up Front News Opinion

“Buffy the Vampire Slayer” actor Nicholas Brendon, appeared at an undisclosed bowling alley in Greensboro on Tuesday.

Puzzles

at Boxcar along with a link to an article describing his offenses. “This incident occurred less than a year ago! That majority of your staff are women and a large percentage of your customers are kids — what does that say to them?”

The staff initially responded to Kaufman over the weekend by attempting to distance themselves from the controversy.

“This individual has booked our private event space for an event that is not associated with Boxcar,” the staff said in the message to Kaufman.

Boxcar eventually relented after receiving a chorus of messages, and canceled the event in consideration ofthe “concern and safety of valuable customers,” according to a screenshot of a Facebook conversation provided to City Beat by Kaufman.

By late afternoon on Tuesday however, the link for tickets to Brendon’s meetand-greet was still up and a Facebook event page linking to the Squareup ticketing site.

Shot in the Triad

Scott denounced domestic violence.

Once he found out about Brendon’s arrests, he said, he quickly canceled the event even though several tickets had already been sold. Scott also posted a note on Geeksboro’s website and Facebook page stating that he wanted to “thank the customers who reached out to [him] directly.” The note also mentioned that 5 percent of all of Geeksboro’s sales today will go to Clara House Shelter, which helps victims of domestic violence in Greensboro.

Shortly after Geeksboro canceled their event however, Boxcar Bar+Arcade announced that they would be hosting Brendon instead. An unidentified staff member who responded to Triad City Beat

by Facebook did not offer an explanation as to why the venue booked Brendon after the cancellation of the Geeksboro event.

Sammie Kaufman, a regular in the Greensboro nerd scene quickly messaged Boxcar on Facebook.

“How can you host this guy?”

Kaufman said in a message to the staff

COURTESY PHOTO

Culture

Following cancellations by two venues in response to backlash over a violence against women, a popular TV actor made arrangements to appear at a third, undisclosed venue in Greensboro Tuesday night.

Nicholas Brendon, who is best known for playing Xander Harris in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” was initially booked at Geeksboro Battle Pub and then at Boxcar Bar+Arcade when local women voiced concerns on Facebook.

Brendon, now 47, was charged with one count of obstruction of breathing against a girlfriend in 2015, and he was arrested in October 2017 for violating a protective order against an unnamed girlfriend after he pulled the victim’s arm and hair during an argument. It remains unclear how the charges were resolved.

Mel Umbarger, a local trivia host who has held events at Geeksboro, said she found out about Brendon’s scheduled appearance at the venue on Facebook.

“I’m a huge fan of ‘Buffy’ and I was a little surprised when I found out about the [Geeksboro] event,” Umbarger said.

Others, mainly women, quickly joined Umbarger on social media in speaking out against the event, which cost $105 per ticket and included a meet-and-greet with the actor.

Joe Scott, the co-owner of Geeksboro Battle Pub, said he simply was not aware of Brendon’s history of violence against women.

Scott said that he had done a cursory search on Brendon when he was contacted by the actor’s representatives but that he didn’t know about his domestic violence charges.

Brendon, who has been open about his struggle with drugs and depression, but not his past domestic violence arrests, was looking to book events for his Kicking Depression in the Gutter Balls World Tour, according to his Twitter account.

Attempts to reach Brendon for comment prior to publication were unsuccessful.

Despite his publicized history of domestic violence, Brendon has held appearances in many states and cities across the nation, with dozens of fans asking him on social media to visit their cities. Just before he was scheduled to appear in Greensboro, he had a stop in Charlotte on Sunday.

“With everything that’s going on in the world right now, a guy who has this history of abusing women shouldn’t be supported,” Umbarger said.

Sept. 27 - Oct. 3, 2018

Cobey added, “but also willing to challenge me and give me ideas.”

But Collins’ state appointments have drawn controversy because of a history of opposition to LGBTQ rights.

Collins cast the only no vote on a 2009 motion approved by the Forsyth County School Board to add “sexual orientation” to a list of characteristics prohibited under the district’s bullying and harassment policies, the Winston-Salem Journal reported. The change brought the school district’s policies in line with state law.

Collins has clashed with the Gay Lesbian & Straight Education Network, a national advocacy group. The school board member argued in a 2002 guest editorial in the Journal that at the dawn of the 21st Century, “society finds itself faced with the far-reaching effects of the disintegration of the American family,” adding that schools were forced to account for “same-sex unions that a generation ago would have been ridiculed as perverse and illegal.”

The 2002 editorial continued: “Boasting more than 700 clubs in schools nationwide, [GLSEN] has an agenda to use public schools as a place to seek acceptance of its sexual practices. The members begin with seemingly innocuous requests for policy changes, move on to demand sensitivity training among the faculty, and finally insist on the infusion of their beliefs in the curriculum.”

In late 2013, Chris Sgro, then the executive director of Equality NC, protested Gov. McCrory’s appointment of Collins to the NC Task Force on Safer Schools.

“Given his derogatory views of LGBT families and willingness to put some of our state’s most vulnerable children at risk of bullying — it defies logic that Gov. McCrory would appoint Mr. Collins to a position so directly tied to protecting the rights and safety of all North Carolina students.”

Kaplan noted that politics at the national level are increasingly polarized, but expressed optimism that an upturn in the economy will promote a drive towards moderation in local politics.

“I’ve been in politics for a while, and I have noticed those years when we have extreme politics and when we have constructive politics,” he said. “The economy plays a huge role in whichever way that pendulum swings. The economy is going well. People have jobs and wages are fairly good. When I go out and give speeches people seem to be grateful and want to keep it going. I do, too.”

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Sept. 27 - Oct. 3, 2018 Up Front

GSOFW

News

2nd 3rd 4th

Opinion

5th

OCT. 2018

Meet & Greet

The Mill Entertainment Complex/6-8pm

Sponsors Gathering

Havana Phil’s Cigar Lounge/7-9pm

Kids Fashion Show

Greensboro Childrens Museum/6-9pm

Emerging Designer Competition Koury Aviation/6-10:30pm

6th

Local Boutiques/National Brands

Culture

Koury Aviation/6-10:30

7th

Kriegsman Luxury and Outwear/ Mack and Mack

Puzzles

Shot in the Triad

Van Dyke Performance Center/5-8:30pm

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Sept. 27 - Oct. 3, 2018

Purchase tickets at greensborofashionweek.com

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News

Opinion

Culture

Shot in the Triad

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Sept. 27 - Oct. 3, 2018 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

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OPINION

EDITORIAL

Cosby, Kavanaugh and #MeToo The two biggest news stories of the past week both

fall under shade cast by the umbrella of #MeToo. At his sentencing on Monday, Bill Cosby became the first high-profile sexual abuser to go to prison for being a criminal pervert. The 81-year-old man will do three to 10 years in a Pennsylvania state prison, which will probably end up being more like two years, for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his home in 2004.

As a sacrifice on the altar of #MeToo, it’s pretty weak sauce.

Brett Kavanaugh, on the other hand, would make a fine trophy for the movement.

His Supreme Court confirmation hearings continue with all the twists and turns of a telenovela, with first one, then another and then a third woman coming forward with accusations of what our president might term “locker-room behavior.”

Add to that the We can foretell a right’s steady assault real conflict brewon Roe v. Wade and other women’s issues, ing in this reality and we can foretell a show that has bereal conflict brewing in this reality show come our national that has become our narrative. national narrative.

Can a judge with Kavanaugh’s history be named to the Supreme Court in the #MeToo era?

Should he?

It’s insidious how his defenders are using the standard of proof applied to criminal proceedings. We don’t have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he did it for him to not be fit to serve on the nation’s highest court. Don’t we deserve a nominee that is unblemished by even the suggestion of impropriety?

Kavanaugh’s confirmation would erode faith in yet another of our national institutions, in this case the highest court in the land. It’s already happened to the FBI, the Justice Department, the National Security Agency, the Census, the Department of Energy, the Consumer Protection Bureau, the US Congress and the entire Executive Branch. Why not SCOTUS? And it would be seen as a blow to American women — or, at least, those women who haven’t been sexually assaulted.

The most terrifying revelation of the #MeToo era for middle-class American men of a certain age has been just how widespread this form of psycho-sexual terrorism has been among our peers.

Now what’s terrifying is how far these guys — and some women — will go to defend it.

CITIZEN GREEN

Tattoos to guns: Passing the outlaw torch

You could find guns and you — essentially the trigger, magazine well and stock, and the could find tattoos at the Ink & portion of the gun where the serial number is located. For Arms Tattoo & Gun Expo at what it’s worth, AR stands for “Armalite Rifle,” not “asGreensboro Coliseum on Sept. 22, sault rifle.” The Keres Tactical owner said AR is merely the but the people who are into guns platform for a pistol or rifle; he doesn’t like the term “assault aren’t necessarily displaying that rifle” because “assault” might not accurately describe the fact on their skin. intended use, particularly if the owner is using the weapon “I know a lot of people that own for defensive purposes.

by Jordan Green guns that don’t have tattoos,” said The Keres Tactical owner likes tattoos as well, but his Scott Hendren, the owner of Inferno Ink Tattoo in Burlinginterest in guns doesn’t translate into body art. He has ton, who happens to be really into guns. And also said he tattoos of his kids’ names, and he said he planned to get a couldn’t remember the last time someone came into his sleeve done during the expo that tells his life story through shop and asked to have a gun tattooed on their body.

Star Wars scenes.

He owns several firearms and some crossbows. After six Greensboro police Sgt. Ben Altizer, who was working the years in law enforcement, he said he came to appreciate event off-duty for time-and-a-half pay, received a friendly the need for protection when a police officer isn’t close reception from the crowd. They wanted to check out the enough to respond. He ink on his forearm. He also likes the idea of havknows a lot of cops with a ing firearms in the event tattoos; none of them have of societal collapse. If the guns inked on their bodies. dollar loses value, he said, He pulled out his cell phone you can trade a gun for and showed a photo of the something else you might full-length sleeve of his need. Or you can use it to right arm — a female Dia de hunt and kill food.

Los Muertos figure cradling While skin-and-ink a skeleton in her arms. representations of guns It’s meaning and personal are not all that popular, significance? “It’s cool.” his shop is seeing a lot Although he finds the of demand for patriotic physical pain almost unexpressions: American bearable, Altizer is into the flags, “We the people” exhilaration of tattooing. inscriptions and eagles.

“It’s all about getting an Customers are requesting adrenaline rush,” he said. them as forearm sleeves “That’s why I ride motorbecause they want others cycles, too.” to see them.

While there may not be “It’s coming from the a perfect union between SAYAKA Tattoos and guns, but very few tattoos of divide in our country,” guns and ink, they make MATSUOKA guns.

Hendren said. “They’re easy companions, said Scott wanting to show their Sheene, a tattoo artist who patriotism and their love for the country.” traveled from Harrodsburg, Ky. to attend the expo.

Firearms vendors were the second half of the equation, “You have a whole lot of people who are enjoying alongside tattoo artists, at the expo, so it’s no surprise that something that is almost taboo,” said Sheene, who wore a the political iconography at the event displayed a rightward Gadsden “don’t tread on me” flag patch on his cap. “The lean. But with the exception of the mildly Islamophobic latattoo has been on the far outside for a long time. And bel “infidel” on one gun vendor’s case and a T-shirt on one now, with all the media attention, guns are getting more patron bearing the defiant pro-gun slogan “Molon Labe” and more vilified.” (“come and take them”), the political content hewed to the While tattoos are so common now that even cops can center. Black-and-white American flag patches — colors display them without raising an eyebrow, for one part of meant to avoid drawing attention on military combat uniAmerica at least, guns are increasingly becoming badge of forms — were the most ubiquitous feature. outlawdom.

The Keres Tactical booth drew a line of patrons waiting “With our grandfathers’ and fathers’ generation, it wasn’t for the opportunity to get timed while breaking down and uncommon to have people carrying guns on the gunracks reassembling a Glock pistol. Nobody could do it faster than of their truck,” Sheene said. “You hear about all these the owner, who timed at 13 seconds. A young man wearing school shootings — people are responsible for that, not “Space Force Recruit” T-shirt, he said he didn’t want to guns. I’m at the tail end of the generation that we brought give his name because he’s still an enlisted soldier. Later, he our guns to school, and it was no big deal.” demonstrated how to put together an AR lower receiver

Sept. 27 - Oct. 3, 2018

CULTURE Captain Chen’s unboxes the Chinese dinner

by Sayaka Matsuoka

T

here’s a yin for every yang. The crowd-pleasers versus the acquired tastes. The listicle versus the long form. Food is no differ-

Up Front News

The eggplant with garlic sauce was the star of the table.

SAYAKA MATSUOKA

Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

favorite), a plate of moo goo gai pan for my sister, eggplant with garlic sauce, my personal pick, and a plate of the baby shrimp with tofu.

All come out fairly swiftly and quickly decorate ent. the table with beautiful hues of deep brown, A cursory glance at Captain Chen’s green and red with dots of orange where pieces Gourmet China menu might lead one of carrot peek through. to believe that the 3-month-old restauBoth the lo mein and moo goo gai pan, which rant in the Brassfield Shopping center can be found at Chinese restaurants around the in north Greensboro is just another country, are flavorful and satisfying, and the fast, paper-box Chinese takeout joint. contrasting of flavors of fried, savory noodles One would be wrong. Like the hibachi pair well with the more subdued, salty notes desteakhouses that save authentic Japarived from the chicken in the moo goo gai pan. nese food for the sushi bar menu (order The baby shrimp with the tofu, a dish we’d the stuff that’s not sushi), Gourmet never tried before, is also more on the mellow China offers a swath of complex, homey side. Cubed pieces of carrots and sliced green Sichuan dishes alongside its Chineseonion mingle with the blocks of silken tofu and American menu — the authentic yin to the baby shrimps in a clear, slightly salty sauce its Americanized yang. And they make that’s not unlike the sauce in the moo goo gai it easy for you. While 75 percent of pan. It’s good, but a little too light in flavor for the offerings list the familiar sesame my mom. chicken and lo mein, the other quarter is The star of the table? The eggplant with garlic listed under the “Highly Recommended sauce. A favorite of mine since I discovered it at Authentic Sichuan Cuisine” section. the Sichuan fixture in Carrboro, Gourmet KingItems like spicy, double-cooked pork and dom, the dish is as good as I remember it. Plump sichuan-bean jellyfish grace the menu, and silky asymmetrical cuts of Chinese eggplant allowing those ready to up their game (softer and with a thinner skin than Italian egga chance to try what the owners eat at plant), are coated in a delicious, smoky, slightly their own dinner tables. vinegary soy sauce-based gravy and garOn a Sunday at noon right when Gournished with long slivers of green onion. met China opens its doors, I’m the first It’s hard to say whether it’s the texture one in, but within half an hour, the place or the flavor that makes the dish but has filled up, mostly with Asian customit’s a knockout and my family’s favorite ers. I bring along my family for extra besides the wontons at the beginning of stomach space and we order a range the meal. of items off the menu, some standard While we only ended up ordering a Chinese-American fare and some off the few picks from the authentic portion of authentic side. the menu, other customers in the renoFirst up is vated space, the Sichuan complete with Captain Chen’s Gourmet China is wontons with dark wood located at 3709 Battleground Ave E red oil off the flooring, could highly recombe seen orderin Greensboro. mended appeing an array tizer section. of items like A small, oval plate with little dumpthe hot pots, some sort of noodle dish ling-like wontons swimming in a red chili offered in a steaming pot, and what oil graces the table, which is covered in looked like the sauteed string beans. It’s a sheet of white paper so messy eaters exciting to know that this place exists; don’t grease up the otherwise pristine it’s like discovering that there’s a sequel surfaces. to your favorite book coming out — Despite the bright red color of the there’s more to be discovered. The vast oil, the wontons are not at all spicy and variety of Captain Chen’s Gourmet Chiinstead activate the taste buds with na will definitely keep us coming back subtle umami of pork. Juicy and wrapped and I encourage those who normally in soft, delicate wonton wrappers that order the fried rice or beef with broccoli look like they’ve been steamed, these to peel back a layer and try something are an absolute treat. Plus they’re highly off their highly recommended Sichuan recommended by the restaurant. menu. And if you already do? Invite me We also order a hefty serving of next time. vegetarian lo mein noodles (my dad’s

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Sept. 27 - Oct. 3, 2018 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

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CULTURE An avant garde trio of acts makes an evening at Monstercade

by Lauren Barber

A

t small shows like this there is almost always a woman who strides up to the stage and lays her purse at its altar. Tonight, the autumnal equinox, her long garment flows with her; it’s the color of blood at the first kiss of oxygen, dotted in black.

Hectorina, an indie-rock outfit based in Charlotte, is opening with a quick-paced number on a small, raised stage in the back. Summoned, Monstercade’s other concert-goers abandon mostly empty cans of PBR and Tecate outside and peter back into the horror-themed bar and arcade from the courtyard, passing underneath a stock ticker that is flashing scarlet, scrolling letters: “Monstercade!!!...now with 40% less spiders!,” “Eddie Garcia played here once…that was enough,” and “Sorry, we’re still learning to program this thing.”

We find ourselves drawn into a web of dancing red, green and blue sprinkles of light like sentient moths. The black lights pick up event flyers’ white borders but no one’s teeth are alight, thank goodness.

Hectorina is Dylan Gilbert, John Harrell III and Zack Jordan; they almost definitely listened to the Pixies and the Strokes in high school, and they rock. Gilbert isn’t afraid to fiddle with a multi-effects workstation, contorting sound waves to psychedelic effect. They perform some oldies but came to play tracks from their June release, Muck, and they ride out on a somewhat indulgent breakdown to no complaints.

Between sets is the time to escort fresh cocktails outdoors or take a

eyeballs with glittered irises hanging from the ceiling, so who can talk?

As they change out of their full white suits, anyone not inthe-know learns that the woman in red is Liz Simmons, Future Nature’s percussionist. Jay Dunbar, lead vocalist and acoustic guitarist, joins her with bare feet and a bandana that’s as much for sweat as aesthetic. Soundcheck is rocky, Liz is a bit piqued and a tipsy, a pugnacious fellow is hollering for the music to start. He knows them, and eventually sets one insolent foot on the stage, arm wrapped around a woman who joins in LAUREN BARBER Future Nature’s Jay Dunbar and Liz the invasive spectacle. (Sometimes ironic aggravation is actuSimmons get weird at Monstercade. ally just aggravating.)

The snowy coat of some animal drapes over her bass drum, cigarette break. While Marcho Butcher and Luis Tissot of São hooves meeting the stage floor. She stations a massive gemPaulo, Brazil assemble their stage, guests prop themselves stone — maybe black tourmaline, maybe obsidian — just in against the establishment, take seats outside of Slappy’s front.

Chicken next door or on newly-crafted wooden benches where They release stream after stream of intense, richly-layered a young ivy has been crawling up a column to meet string sounds that moan like Santa Ana winds, surreal and feverish. lights, promising enchantment a few years out as the vines Dunbar and Simmons sound like desert voyagers who’ve seen venture up and across the lonely wooden canopy. It’s peacetoo many heaps of roadside carrion roasting under cloudless ful under the waxing harvest moon, despite the zeitgeist. skies, kicked too many little skeletons traversing sandy hills to Monstercade’s symbolic sea-diving beast rises from the brickstretch the legs and smoke something or other. and-mortar’s rooftop, claws and all. Godzilla devastates Japan Her tambourine is a rattlesnake. on a television monitor where you’d expect to find the fictive At some point, probably unbeknownst to most, she drops monster’s face. But as The Tempest notes, all the the beat. devils are here.

“I f*cked up,” she self-deprecates with a Someone finds a way to bring up the rapier — a Learn more at hectorina. falsely-coy attitude. slender, lightweight sword — and riffs on wordcom, jesusandthegroup“Liz f*cked up!,” Pugnacious Dude No. 2 play far less incisive than the weapon, fumbling ies.bandcamp.com and echoes. an attempt at some sort of imagined selffuturenature.bandcamp.

This is an intimate venue. During some transiawareness and letting out the nervous chuckles com and find Monstertion on stage, Simmons voices a not-quiteof someone who knows he is prodding the coals cade on Facebook. under-the-breath comment about boundaries too brazenly. crossed. Nothing fazes her during their final The woman an arm’s length from him shifts in song, “Lust,” though, when many outstretched hands cross her seat. So do I. And then the music kicks up over the loudthe stage to capture her in photos and videos with smartspeakers outside and we are done here. phones. She takes her seat and focuses on the hand-saw she’s Butcher and Tissot, a duo known as Jesus & the Groupies, curved over her left thigh from foot to left hand and, despite launch a stripped-down set of their catchy hybrid of punk it all, chooses to wield a bow in the right, closes her eyes and and Delta blues sound. Their act feels forcibly avant-garde at gifts smooth sonorous whistles like smoke signals into the times, to the point of caricature, but there are neatly-painted night.

Sept. 27 - Oct. 3, 2018

CULTURE At the library, cushioning the effects of immigration

by Lauren Barber

S

Up Front News

The pillows are a response to 34,000 beds in detention centers across the US.

LAUREN BARBER

thing,” Castro says. “These fabrics belong to somebody who has a history. God knows if they have conflict or not, if they are immigrants or not. But with this project, these pillows fill up with history.”

Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

ewing machines chug and hum tentiveness to issues around immigration given human-rights over the sounds of conversation abuses documented in detention centers. in a small room on the second “There’s been a lot more dedicated engagement since the floor of the Forsyth County escalation of detention at the border and the news that has Central Library that overlooks the front come out of that,” Lewis says. “I think people understand the lawn facing Fifth Street in downtown issue now where before it was veiled. This has been going on Winston-Salem, where the national and for 10 years but… our job is less about awareness and educastate flags wave in the breeze. tion than it is giving individuals a way to actually feel like The artist collaborative Díaz Lewis, they’re enacting change.” comprised of Alejandro Figueredo DíazJordan Buzzett, a first-year Wake Forest student, is one Perera and Cara Megan Lewis, brought of the volunteers who’s stuck in Lewis’ mind most. Her high their 34,000 Pillow Project to Winstonschool guidance counselor set up tutoring relationship beSalem last week in collaboration with tween her and a teen, who hadn’t had access to formal schoolthe Southeastern Center for Conteming for years and had been recently released from a detention porary Art and Wake Forest University, center in Texas. among other community partners.

“I asked him what his family did in Guatemala, and he said Human Rights Watch, a global fact-findtomatoes and potatoes, so when I saw the red fabric I decided ing and advocacy nonprofit for human to make a tomato and potato for him [on my pillow],” she rights, invited Díaz Lewis to create an art says. “I didn’t really know much about detention centers… but project centered on immigrant detenthis is my first year at Wake and I feel like in my first couple tion centers in the United States. weeks here I’ve heard so much about immigration detention “The fact that there’s a mandatory centers already. Knowing this project is here and has been quota of 34,000 beds that’s not based going on all this time when I didn’t even know about the issue, on anything was what made us really it’s definitely mind-opening for me, and a little embarrassing. upset,” Díaz-Perera says. “We decided But it’s also nice to know more people are noticing.” we needed to do some sort of project Wake Forest professor Linda Howe — who collaborated with that envisions these beds and we decidElvia Rosa Castro to bring the 34,000 Pillows Project to Wined to make pillows ston-Salem in conjunction with SECCA’s in response. Then Cubans exhibit — wants her students to we raise funds be thinking how they can enact change in Learn more at diazlewis.com through [selling Winston-Salem. and elbuenpastorlcs.org. the pillows] to give “You don’t want people in academic to local organizabubbles their whole lives, so it’s good tions that help for them to be out and about, gaining an immigrants.” understanding of the issues people are A pillow costs the same amount the facing in the community,” Howe says. “So it’s good for awaregovernment spends per detainee bed per ness but also they are making connections between social day: $159. issues and their own lives and understand that they’re part of Díaz Lewis began constructing the helping people.” ever-growing pile of pillows in Chicago Anthony DeVincentis, a student who recently joined her on where volunteers used fabric solely a month-long cultural program in Cuba, plays guitar throughfrom undocumented people’s donated out the afternoon work session — everything from “Wagon clothing, and then took the project to Wheel” to crooning in Spanish. Castro, one of the curators of a handful of other US cities over the Cubans: Post Truth, Pleasure, and Pain at SECCA, spends much last two years. Funds raised from the of the day stuffing freshly sewn pillows with fluff. collaboration will benefit El Buen Pastor “Linda asked me for a project that could involve the stuLatino Community Services. dents and the community and organizations that support “This iteration has become more like immigrants and I thought, Oh my goodness, the Pillow Project! a peña, like a… cultural space where Seems to me this is a noble cause, and has been beautiful,” people are singing and reading poetry,” she says. “You can see how art is capable of engag[ing] people Lewis says. “It adds another dynamic with different ideas, nationalities. These pillows are beautiful; element to the piece, other art forms you think they are made by designers or artists… but you see added that speak to the same issue. people here cutting fabrics maybe for the first time.”

Yesterday, students were reading poetry Wake Forest students certainly weren’t the only volunteers; about immigration as they were workover the course of five workshops, parents with young chiling. They didn’t stop pinning [together dren, women from a local quilt collective, Sawtooth School fabrics]. The designing piece isn’t necesstudents and others in Winston-Salem all took time to mesarily for everyone, so incorporating morialize the time that thousands of people spend waiting to other art forms lets everyone contribute be released from detention, remembering that each detainee in their own way.” comes with their own story, despairs and dreams alike.

Lewis says she’s noticed increased at“These fabrics are full of histories and that’s an important

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Sept. 27 - Oct. 3, 2018

S. Hamilton Street, High Point

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SHOT IN THE TRIAD

14

Three weeks before Furniture Market.

PHOTO BY CAROLYN DE BERRY

by Matt Jones

EVENTS

Every Tuesday Jullian Sizemore 7-10pm Every Wednesday Matty Sheets 7-10pm Every Thursday Open Mic Night

Up Front

©2018 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com)

News

602 S Elam Ave • Greensboro

Answers from previous publication.

(336) 698-3888

Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

Across 1 Bela Fleck’s instrument 6 Buca di ___ (Italian restaurant chain) 11 “Spring forward” clock abbr.

14 Dizzy 15 Open, as a toothpaste tube 16 Egypt’s org. from 1961 to 1971 17 Natural furniture that’s only good for serving stew, thanks to some spoons?

20 “That’s funny” 21 Group within a group 22 Country home 23 Air quality index issue 25 Gather wool from 27 Overlook 28 Moves on 30 Some baseball stats 32 Law professor Hill 34 Laborious way to open an envelope 36 Distress signal ©2017 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com) 39 Starting note for an underwater orchestra, thanks to some forks?

42 Highland Games wear 43 Pass, as a law 44 Keep away from 45 “The King ___” 46 “Rhinestone Cowboy” singer Campbell 47 Rook’s cousin 50 Bring joy to 53 Neighbor of Wyo. 56 “The Bathers” artist Pierre-Auguste 58 Microsoft MP3 player discontinued in 2012 60 Latin for “where” (or prefix for “soft” in a video game publisher name) 61 Writing implement that’s realer than margarine, Answers from previous publication. thanks to some knives?

64 Tikkanen who won the Stanley Cup five times 29 All finished 65 World’s smallest island nation 31 Push forward 66 “___, c’est moi!” (Louis XIV claim) 32 At the back of the boat 67 “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” hero 33 Actress Vardalos 68 Actor Lew of “All Quiet on the Western Front” 34 Epitome of slowness 69 Dispatched, Biblical-style 35 Nervous twitch 36 Confront Down 37 Monk’s condition 1 Scolds, with “out” 38 “___ Will Be Loved” (possible song at the next 2 “___ of One’s Own” (Virginia Woolf work) Super Bowl halftime show) 3 Addition to the dictionary 40 In progress 4 Buddy’s “Beverly Hillbillies” role 41 “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” narrator Burl 5 Some World Cup cheers 45 Off-base designation 6 Brewery founder Adolphus 46 Courteous fellow 7 Quick Internet message, back at the beginning 47 Jon of “Two and a Half Men” of the Internet 48 Actress Witherspoon 8 1994 campus comedy with a cameo by George Clinton 49 Dental crown alternative 9 Groceries holder 51 Bright blue shade 10 Makes a decision 52 Ballet outfits 11 City with the world’s tallest man-made structure 54 Without missing ___ 12 Adds seasoning to 55 “Roots” family surname 13 Radiohead’s “Fake Plastic ___” 57 Macbeth’s burial isle 18 Capone’s nemesis 59 Long swimmers 19 They rarely give ones 62 Clinger on a hiker’s sock 24 Noel Fielding’s character on “The IT Crowd,” e.g.

63 “Bang and Blame” band 26 “___ You Glad You’re You?”

SUDOKU

Sept. 27 - Oct. 3, 2018

CROSSWORD “Silverwhere?”--check your place setting.

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